Life.Church with Craig Groeschel - Are You an Invisible Christian? 21st Century Temples: Part 1

Episode Date: October 11, 2020

WELCOME PASTOR JOAKIM LUNDQVISTPastor Joakim Lundqvist is Senior Pastor of Word of Life Church in Uppsala, Sweden, with 3,200 members and an international network including over 700 churches. Before stepping into the ministry of Senior Pastor at Word of Life, Pastor Joakim founded the Christian cross-denominational student organization New Generation in Sweden. His 30 years of experience in youth ministry shines through in his creative sermons, aiming to relate to every generation. He is married to Maria, who serves as Music Director at Word of Life, and they have two daughters, Evelina and Julia, who are also both involved in the church and ministry. CONNECT WITH PASTOR JOAKIMInstagram: http://www.instagram.com/joakiml  Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/joakim.lundqvist  Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/joakimlundqvist  ABOUT 21st CENTURY TEMPLESMiracles beyond belief, truth pushing back fear and lies, answered prayers: They don’t just belong in stories from the past. They’re happening today—and they can happen through you, too. Learn more about this series: https://www.life.church/templesLIFE.CHURCH LOCATIONS ARE OPENTo ensure safety at all of our Life.Church locations, our weekend services have been redesigned to create a sanitary, touchless environment that allows for physical distancing. Learn more about everything we're doing to keep you safe and how you can help by using hand sanitizer, washing your hands often, and more:: https://www.life.church/updatesNEXT STEPSHave you made a decision to follow Jesus? You may be wondering what’s next on your journey. We want to help! Let us guide you to your next steps in your walk with Christ: https://www.life.church/nextABOUT LIFE.CHURCHWherever you are in life, you have a purpose. Life.Church wants to help you find your next step. Our hope is that your journey will include joining us at a Life.Church location throughout the United States or globally online at https://www.live.life.church. Find locations, videos, and more info about us at https://www.life.church or download the Life.Church app at https://www.life.church/app. FIND US ON SOCIAL MEDIAFacebook: http://www.facebook.com/life.churchInstagram: http://www.instagram.com/life.churchTwitter: http://www.twitter.com/lifechurchCONNECT WITH PASTOR CRAIGYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIIdiIO-Y20hRW9niR0CA8AFacebook: http://www.facebook.com/craiggroeschelInstagram: http://www.instagram.com/craiggroeschelTwitter: http://www.twitter.com/craiggroeschel Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

And I'm so excited to speak to you about what I call 21st century temples. 21st century temples. Now, in order for us to speak about 21st century temples, first of all, we need to kind of lay a foundation in speaking a little bit about the original temple back in the day, the building that was erected by King Solomon in Jerusalem. That was by far the most important building ever built in human history. and not primarily by design and by exterior, but by purpose. And in order for us to understand why this building was a revolution to the God's people back then,

Jewish people, we need to understand that they had a relationship with God that was very different from ours today. Of course, they believed in the same God. But, you know, you and I really have to pinch ourselves every day or the week. And thank God that we live in the new country. government. Thank God that we live post Calvary. Thank God that we live in a day and a time where Jesus has shed his blood and we know every morning when we wake up, we can just go straight into the throne room of God. There is no one got to hold you out of there. God will have you

come. Not only will he accept you, but he will also listen to you and he will answer your prayers. We should be constantly cheering about that throughout our lives, amen. Even though you might go through hard times, every single day of your life will bring you one day closer to the day where you're going to see him face to face. Nothing can take that away from you. Nothing can take that away. But you need to understand that the people who lived in the old covenant, they didn't have that. You know, there's still sin was an unsolved problem. Sin was this black cloud hanging over the people of God separating them from their God.

And it was impossible to penetrate. Of course, now, God broke through sometimes in the Old Testament. Sometimes there was a burning bush over here. Sometimes there was like a pillar of cloud over here. And sometimes, you know, there was fire that came down on Mount Carmel. But the problem was you never knew when God was going to show up. And you never knew where God was going to show up. If you were lucky, you were at the right place at the right time.

But actually, the majority of the people of God have to come to terms with the fact that they will never, ever encounter the presence of the God they believed in. They would just have to believe in him and then live and die. Until one day where God spoke to King David and said, I want a house built. and David raised the funds, handed the project over to his son, Solomon, who got the building built, but without really knowing in detail why this building was erected in the first place. But as this building was built and dedicated, that same night, God spoke to Solomon and told him the true purpose of this building.

Now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to the prayers offered in this place. for I've chosen and consecrated this temple so that my name may be there forever. My eyes and my heart will always be there. For the very first time, God now attached his physical, to a physical place, his presence. For the first time, the people of God could come to a place and not only hope, but know that they would encounter the Lord. Not only hope, but know that His God. presence will be there, not only hope, but know that he will hear their prayers. The temple, my friend, was more than a physical, beautiful building.

It was the first ever point of connection between heaven and earth. For the first time in Jewish history, now everybody had a place they could go to and know that God would be there. Amen? And you might say, well, this is really amazing, this is nice, but you know, the temple is gone. You know, he was tore down, he was rebuilt and then tore down again, and we live like 2,000 years after. So why are you really telling us this? Well, you see, the temple building is gone, but the temple principle remains. There is a New Testament temple, there is a new covenant temple that carries the same vision. There's a new place to which God is attaching his presence permanently.

There's another place that is the point of connection between heaven and earth. And we're going to read about that place in 2 Corinthians chapter 6 and verse 16. It says, for we are the temples of the living God. Boom! We are the temple of the living God. Love Church, do you think this was just poetic? The Word of God is not poetry, my friend. It's divine revelation that will change your life so that you can go out and change your world.

That's what the Word of God is all about. And if God says you are the temple of the living God, it means more than you're quite beautiful. It means that you are the new covenant point of connection between heaven and earth. It means you are the place, the person to which God attaches his presence permanently. and you are called to reflect and reveal God to this world. That's what this is all about. And you know, Hebrews 8 says that we live in a better covenant based on better promises. So God has not just recreated the temple principle, but improved the temple principle.

I see three improvements, major improvements right away. First of all, back then, it was just a very important. one temple serving the needs of the entire world. Today, there are millions of temples. All over the world, there are temples everywhere. Secondly, back then, the temple was fixed to a certain place and a certain city. And if you wanted to deal with God, you need to move to that place. But today, the 21st century temples are equipped with two of these. The temple, the temple, is now movable. And rather than saying, come to the temple if you want to encounter God, the temples of the 21st century can go out in all over the world and preach the gospel to every

living creature. Praise God. Number three, a third improvement of the temple principle. Back there, the temple only came in one design. Today, the temples of God comes in all shapes and forms and designs. Some temples are even undercover temples, like guerrilla temples, that the world may look upon and say there's nothing good in there, but you know what? The temple is not about the exterior. The temple is about the one who lives inside the temple. Praise God. Now, I want to introduce you to my favorite church member from back home. I know as a pastor that you're not allowed to have favorite church members, but I do. And if I pick one church member, you're going to pick one church members, member from Word of Life Sweden, that I would say this is my favorite one. It will be Jonathan.

Jonathan is a wonderful young guy with Down syndrome. Jonathan gives the best hugs at Word of Life. And every Sunday as we close service and I come down from stage, Jonathan comes running teddy bear in his hand and he gives me the hardest and the longest hug that anyone in the church will give me. Now, I'm ashamed to tell you guys that in my society in Scandinavia, there's a message sent out to kids with Down syndrome. Every pregnant woman does a pregnancy scanning to find out if the baby she is expecting has got downs. And if they do, 98% of these babies are aborted.

Our society tells Jonathan and his peers that you are not really welcome, you're not really wanted. Thank God there is someone else with a completely different message. That says Jonathan is love. Jonathan is here with a purpose, and Jonathan has a race to run, just like anyone else of us, amen. And we as a church want to be a counterculture to this. We are now started and running 11 Christian schools in our city, and two of them are specifically four kids with special needs.

And those schools are our pride and joy. And a few years ago, Jonathan was downtown with his teacher doing what we call city training. City training is when we take these kids downtown and help them maneuver in a city environment. You know, how to cross a street and how to go into a store to make a purchase and all that. Jonathan and his teacher was doing city training, but all of a sudden, they crossed the big main square that is the center of our city. and Jonathan stops and he starts to sing at the top of his voice

which is a very unswedish thing to do and the teacher is a bit astonished because Jonathan is singing a song that she's never ever heard him sing there is a tree in my garden Jonathan sings that is a hundred years old moments later a woman comes up to the teacher tears run

down her face, pointing to Jonathan asking, why is that boy singing that song? Teacher says, I have a no idea. She tells her story. She's been suffering long-term depression, and that very morning she came to a point where she was considering suicide. Desperate all alone in her house, she prayed a prayer to God for the very first time in her life. God, if you're out there somewhere. And if there is a little bit of her life, and if there's a reason for me to go on living, give me a sign. Have me hear the song that I loved when I was a little girl. The song about the tree in the garden that was a hundred years old. Moments later, she passes by the main square, not knowing that there is a temple, a 21st century temple standing right

there. And as she passes by Jonathan, 11 years old, The glory fills the temple. The glory fills the temple. And Jonathan hears the voice of the spirit, and he starts to sing, and that woman gets the sign that she asked for that same morning, and she gave her heart to Jesus right there on the square. This is where we thank God, friends.

Later, the teacher asked Jonathan to sing the song again. He couldn't. He didn't know the song. But at that blessed moment, He was a temple. He was her connection point between heaven and earth. Amen? And we need to flood this world with temples of all sorts and forms and shapes.

Can we say amen in the house of God? Thank God. You know, if we are the present day, the modern day temples, the 21st century temples of the living God, and if God now uses this comparison, then whatever was true about the temple back then should be true about us here and now. Amen?

And right now I want to take you through a few things that was true about the temple back then and therefore should be true about our lives today being 21st century temples, amen? And the first statement I want to make, number one, the temple was visible. The temple was visible. The temple could be seen, my friend.

When God spoke to David and Solomon and asked for a billion, to house his glory, he did not ask for a bunker. He did not ask for an underground building with a secret entrance that only the holy chosen few would know about. He wanted a big place. He wanted a place that would be seen from all over

miles and miles and miles away. Just for you to get the idea of the size and the visibility of the temple, can we just have a picture of a modern, day Jerusalem right here. This is a picture taken from the Mount of Olives from which Jesus ascended. Now, if we would just take the measurements of the temple, the dimensions of the temple to give you an idea of its size, this is what it would be. That's not something that you would miss coming into Jerusalem. Nobody would go back around in Jerusalem back then and say, shouldn't there be

a temple here somewhere? Everybody saw it. It stood out. It was visible. It was visible. It was a temple. it was easy to see. And it reminds me about what Jesus said in Matthew chapter 5, verse 14 to 16. You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden, nor did they light a lamp and put it under a basket. But on a lamp stand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works. and glorify your father in heaven. You know, back where I come from in Europe, so many Christians talk negatively about our continent and the people of it,

and they will say, people are not interested in God. People are interested in God. That's not the problem. The problem is we have a lack of visible temples, my friend. We need to get some Christian submarines up to the surface, amen? You know, there's submarines underneath there, you know? vessels that exist but they're not seen. Every Sunday the periscope comes up temporarily,

checking things out, and then Monday, we need to be in the business of calling some Christian submarines up to the surface, amen? You know, one of the things we do at Word of Life in regards to this is we do a Bible school program. We do it all over the world. We have Bible schools in Vietnam, in China, in Armenia, in Lebanon, in Iraq, many of the nations.

Last year, I heard that we had two guys in our graduating class of Bible school in Kolkata, India. Now, these two guys were in the early 20s, and they graduated from Bible school, committed to be 21st century temples, revealing Jesus to their world. And they thought about after graduation, how do we do this? What should be our first project? And they came up with this idea of inviting all of their friends and family into their apartment, and they will give them food, and they will preach Jesus to them. And then as they plan this project, they thought to themselves,

well, we better keep it a bit quiet, you know, because in India there's a lot of persecution, and you can get in big trouble for being loud and outspoken about their faith. But then they realized, no, we've heard, we should. be visible temples. So we're going to do this loud. So off they went inviting friends and family and had a pack, squeezed apartment full of people. Some days later, they served food, and then they started preaching about Jesus in a very, very loud voice. People started responding to the gospel, and they started praying for people. While they were, they heard a knock on their door. and there's a woman out there.

And she says, actually, I live in the apartment next door, and I couldn't help but hearing what you were saying because you were really loud. And then she said, my son, 16-year-old Nanda, is in there lying in his bed. A few months ago, he had an accident in the construction site where he is working. A big container tipped over and crushed both of his legs.

and we're not talking about broken legs, we're talking about crushed legs. And the doctor said there's nothing we can do about you. The 16-year-old will never walk again. So the desperate mother went to the Muslim mullah and had him pray for Nanda. He did, nothing happened. Then he went to the local Buddhist monk and had him pray for Nanda, and he did and nothing happened. But then I heard through the wall, she said, how you were talking about Jesus. Would you please pray for my son?

So these two guys, early 20s, walks over to the apartment next door. They take Nanda and his bed and carries them back to their own apartment. I still don't know why they just prayed for him right there and then, but that's not how the story goes. They lifted this guy and brought him into their own apartment. Maybe the anointing was stronger there. I don't know. They prayed for this 16-year-old boy,

and Nanda was completely healed. Completely healed. And now he can walk. And now he's got Jesus in his heart. Why? Because there were visible temples around. People who dared to come out as Christians. People who dared to be loud about their faith.

This, my friend, is what the world needs. Can we say amen? Okay, number two, the second thing I want to share. with you guys today that was true about the temple back then and therefore should be true about you and I being 21st century temples here and now. The temple was a house of prayer. The temple was a house of prayer. Jesus says in Luke chapter 19 and verse 46, my house is a house of prayer, clearly referring to the temple. Now with the house of

God, if the temple back then was a house of prayer, the 21st century temple needs to be a house of prayer. Why? Because God's presence did not come upon the temple back then because of its exterior or its beauty. The temple was finished, but still there was no glory. The glory came as they started to pray and worship. Same with you. God is not so impressed with you that he looks at your exterior and say, oh man, I need to get down and hang out with that person. God does not respond to your perfection. He responds to your prayers. Can we say amen? That's why we need praying temples that carries the holiness and the atmosphere and the glory of God. Amen? And I just want to share one final story and introduce you to a few more fellow sweets from back home. Is that okay?

church. Okay, I want to introduce you to Madeline from back home. Madeline is a very classic Swedish girl. And when she was 17 years old, going to high school, she heard me speak about being a house of prayer, being a 21st century full of prayer. And it really got to Madeline's heart. She never used to pray before, but all of a sudden now she made a commitment. I'm going to pray. I'm going to be a house of prayer. And she thought to herself, I want to create some kind of prayer strategy. So she did. And the way she set this apart, set this together, was that she made a list of the 10 hardest, toughest, meanest bullies in her school. And she graded them 1 to 10, the meanest number one. And she decided, I'm going to pray for name number one until that person gets saved.

That's what I'm going to do. And then I'm going to drop down to name number two. I'm going to pray for that person until that person gets saved. And then I'm going to work my way down the list, being a temple, a house, a prayer. So she started praying for name number one. And name number one was a guy named Nils, very Swedish name. Nils was the wound of Madeline crowned the worst bully of her school. Nils hated God. He hated Christians. He made fun of Madeline and the other believers in the school and seemingly from the outside, he was furthest away from God. So Madeline decided every single morning, I'm going to call out to God for the salvation of Nils. She told me at one point Little did he know that every morning I was pointing my prayer bazooka at him.

I don't know. I didn't even know there was such a thing as praying bazookas, but you learn a whole lot from teenage kids, right? Every morning she was praying for Nils and his salvation. As she passed him in school, you know, she would say, hi Niels. Just praying to God for the salvation of his soul. Now, gradually, as the days and weeks went on, Nils found out to his discomfort that he was starting to think about God all the time. He didn't want to. You know, he was thinking about Jesus and life and death and eternity and forgiveness and stuff, and he didn't know where this was coming from.

As he lay down to sleep, the lasting on his mind was Jesus. No! What's happening to me? Am I going crazy? waking up in the morning, Jesus, no, I can't get this out in my head. What is happening to me?

Am I going crazy? And then finally, after like one month and a half, Niels came to the point where he decided to put God to the test. Okay, if this is God messing with my mind somehow, I'm going to put him to a test. So all alone in his room, quite arrogantly, he said, God, if you're out there,

there, show yourself to me, give me a sign, make me vomit. And I'm thinking, nils, nils, out of all the things in the world, out of all the things you could have prayed for, why? But I don't know, but we know one thing, God is a good God, that hears our prayers and respond so that our joy may be fulfilled. Amen? it took two seconds and the answer of prayer arrived when nils had to run to the toilet experiencing the answer of prayer humbly go down on his knees before the face of the lord and everything inside of him came out and he told me later pastor you know when you've eaten something you shouldn't have been eating. You can get that reaction, but then it will go away after like 20, 30 minutes. This went on

for 12 hours. And I thought, God is the God of abundance, praise God. He is El Shadai. He's more than enough. And if anyone wants to vomit, they're going to vomit all right. After 12 hours, Nils praise his second prayer in life. God, if you're out there, make this stop, please. It stops in a second. God, Niels crawls back to bed, sleeps for 12 solid hours, then he gives his life to Jesus Christ. Praise God. He joins Madeline and the two of them started praying for name number two. After six months only, they were down praying for name number eight on the list. The seven biggest, hardest, toughest bullies had all given their lives to Jesus Christ. This is not happening by accident, my friend. It's happening because the prayers of the temple is what God responds to.

As the prayer is a house of prayer, and as the temple becomes visible, hope is communicated through the world. And if I can ask you for one thing, if you're listening to my voice right now, is that you would just ask God, God make me a visible temple. It's that you would make up your mind that in the coming weeks and months and years, you're going to devout your life to be a visible temple. Maybe you're in the range of my voice right now. maybe in one of the campuses, maybe online. And maybe you realize you've been one of those invisible Christians,

one of those Christian submarines. Right now, God is calling you to come up to the surface. Because when you speak out, when you dare to show God's love and God's mercy and God's power, there's so much He will do. And maybe you're one of those people who used to pray, but don't pray anymore. Let me just remind you. Let me just be God's voice to you right now,

encouraging that flame of prayer to stir. up again in your heart. Become a temple, a house of prayer, some place that God can respond to with his glory and a communicator of the gospel and his peace. Let's pray together. Father, in Jesus name, we thank you that you have made us 21st century temples. And Father, we pray for the grace and the strength to be visible temples, Father, that can communicate your gospel and your love. And Father, we pray that we will be temples full of prayer, houses of prayer. We pray all this in Jesus' mighty name. Amen.

What an incredible message we just heard. In fact, let's pray together. God, I thank you for allowing us to hear this word. I pray, God, that we will be able to change our lives and align ourselves according to your word. Help us be a reflection of you in this world. As we continue in an attitude of prayer, I know that there are some of you here who might have a question in your mind wondering, I don't know if I'm in right standing with God.

I don't know if I can truly say that I am a child of God. If that's you, I am so glad that you're here. I want you to know that God loves you so much that he wanted you to hear this message, that you would know that without him, that we are all lost, I'm lost, your loss. Without God, we are absolutely nothing. But the Bible says that God so loved this world that he gave his only son Jesus Christ to die on a cross and pay the price so that you and I could have eternal life with him. And how do we receive that eternal life? We just need to say yes.

We just need to ask Jesus to come and be the Lord of our lives. There are some of you right now listening to me and your heart is moving in that direction. You know there's something happening in you where you feel like you know. need to say yes to him. That's the work of the Holy Spirit happening right now. So I want you to make that decision right now. Say yes to Jesus. And if it's you, if you're saying yes, I want you to let us know and pray this prayer after me. Pray this, dear Jesus, I thank you for speaking to me. I know that you love me. I realize that I'm a sinner. I pray that you would save me. Change my heart. make me new. From this moment on, I ask you to be the Lord and Savior of my life. And it's in Jesus

name I pray. Amen.