Episode Transcript
Speaker 0 00:00:07 Hey everyone. And welcome to another episode of serving Q and a I'm Vicki Basinger. I am sitting here with pastor Michael and pastor Alex, and we are talking through some questions from the sermon series on the tabernacle. And this one is from August 1st, 2021. And Alex, I am going to start with you on this one is God's presence uniquely in a church building.
Speaker 1 00:00:28 Okay. So let's, uh, rewind back to the old Testament. God especially gave his presence to be in a particular place and that place was the temple and the tabernacle, you know, you follow through Israel, there's a temple built. And, uh, and then what's really interesting, even as you read through the old Testament, is that, uh, at a particular moment, God actually lifts his presence out of that place and takes it away. Right?
Speaker 2 00:00:54 So, uh, so yes, in the
Speaker 1 00:00:56 Old Testament, God's presence was at a particular place. Now let's just push, pause on that thought for just a second. There are people that I have encountered, especially I grew up in a Methodist church. I think you see this in particular, maybe in more mainline denominations, but, um, you could not do certain actions if you were in a church building because that building is God's house. And I was just
Speaker 2 00:01:23 Like, kind of took it for what it was. So it was like, you know, people
Speaker 1 00:01:26 Are like, oh, you shouldn't cut us while you're in a church building. Well, should you maybe not
Speaker 2 00:01:30 Know, like you can't lie to a pastor that's right. You can't lie to him.
Speaker 1 00:01:36 So that's a, that's just something really interesting, like a cultural reality that exists. But, but the new Testament doesn't actually conceptualize God's presence in that way. In fact, if we were to say, God has a house, that house is within his people, right? So instead of his presence, being in a particular building, uh, at Pentecost, the holy spirit comes and inhabits human beings who have believed and trusted in Jesus lives inside of them. So the presence of God that was in the temple at one particular place now takes up residence inside every believer in Jesus. Okay. So it's not in a building, it's not the building that makes the presence significant. It's the people. Okay. So there are things that happen inside of church buildings that, that seem to particularly move God, um, or, uh, in which God seems our awareness of God's presence becomes, you know, particularly important.
Speaker 1 00:02:40 So, uh, when we gather together, Jesus talks about, Hey, wherever two or more are gathered in my name, there I am with you also. Right? So there's that, there's a, when we pray together, when we worship and proclaim the name of Jesus, when God's word is proclaimed, uh, when we like, uh, imagine, so God gives you the holy spirit and then calls you Michael, to then go into your neighborhood and like, love your neighbors. And in the process of loving your neighbors, share the gospel with them. You know what you're told God is with you in that moment, like you're carrying God's presence with you as you go when we fellowship together. Right. So it is it in a building? No, it's in the people, but there are certain things that we do in church buildings that would make it particularly noticeable. You feel it more, you feel it more. Yeah.
Speaker 3 00:03:34 Yeah. They, I I've been trying, because over these last couple of sermons, I've been trying to think through ways to articulate. I've, I've come up with some really weird terminology, like, like prayer and preaching and worship are like portals. No, that's
Speaker 2 00:03:45 Not right. You go through. And then, you know, and then I was
Speaker 3 00:03:48 Like, well, maybe like, what they do is they open up like access. Like there's something, but it's not like we have more of the presence of God in those moments, but it's almost there. But when you do those things, you there's a higher probability that you would feel the movement of God, whether it's conviction or peace or something,
Speaker 1 00:04:05 Let's talk about it. Like more like peeling back on us. What is restricting us? Right. So there are sinful parts of us. Like God's presence is fully here, as much as it can be, uh, right now, right? Like God is no less present here. Uh, but there are some things that he does to me. There are some experiences that I have that might make me, I use the word awareness a lot, make me more aware of, and
Speaker 3 00:04:31 So those things happen in a church building, which is interesting because people will often say, uh, I don't, I don't feel God in church. I feel God in nature. Well, what you're feeling is actually probably the presence of God in awe and wonder, right? So that's actually a legitimate statement. The spirit of God is in me. And I'm like, whoa, look
Speaker 2 00:04:50 At crowds, amazing. God created things. Oh, I'm like prompted now to recognize him. Right. You
Speaker 3 00:04:56 Can wear it. So I don't think it's an accident that people are, are more likely to think these things happen in spiritual and church buildings because of the kind of things that happen there. So, um, yeah. It's, God's presence uniquely in the church building. I want to say no, but I want to say actually yes, because in the terms
Speaker 2 00:05:12 Of the things that happened in the Jasper,
Speaker 3 00:05:14 But his presence is always everywhere. I do think it's funny. People are so funny with me. They're like, oh, you're a pastor. Oh, like pastors and church buildings. It's like, oh, like,
Speaker 2 00:05:22 Oh, I have to be <inaudible>, it's hilarious. Especially people
Speaker 3 00:05:28 Who come from more Catholic churches and Orthodox churches, uh, and they don't, they have like this God concept, they might believe generically and God's out there. It's a good, the very transcendent view of God.
Speaker 2 00:05:38 And they come in, they're like, does he know? It's, it's just two by fours, I wall and paint, you know? And we do
Speaker 1 00:05:45 Things in here that make us more aware.
Speaker 3 00:05:48 I love the way you said that I'm going to steal that for my next sermon.
Speaker 0 00:05:52 Awesome. Well, thank you guys so much for helping us process through that. We invite you back for more episodes of sermon Q and a, by going to village church, digital.org. We'll see you next time.
