1 Chronicles 28:1-10, 20-21

1David assembled at Jerusalem all the officials of Israel, the officials of the tribes, the officers of the divisions that served the king, the commanders of the thousands, the commanders of the hundreds, the stewards of all the property and cattle of the king and his sons, together with the palace officials, the mighty warriors, and all the warriors. 2Then King David rose to his feet and said: ?Hear me, my brothers and my people. I had planned to build a house of rest for the ark of the covenant of the Lord, for the footstool of our God; and I made preparations for building. 3But God said to me, ?You shall not build a house for my name, for you are a warrior and have shed blood.? 4Yet the Lord God of Israel chose me from all my ancestral house to be king over Israel forever; for he chose Judah as leader, and in the house of Judah my father?s house, and among my father?s sons he took delight in making me king over all Israel. 5And of all my sons, for the Lord has given me many, he has chosen my son Solomon to sit upon the throne of the kingdom of the Lord over Israel. 6He said to me, ?It is your son Solomon who shall build my house and my courts, for I have chosen him to be a son to me, and I will be a father to him. 7I will establish his kingdom forever if he continues resolute in keeping my commandments and my ordinances, as he is today.? 8Now therefore in the sight of all Israel, the assembly of the Lord, and in the hearing of our God, observe and search out all the commandments of the Lord your God; that you may possess this good land, and leave it for an inheritance to your children after you forever. 9?And you, my son Solomon, know the God of your father, and serve him with single mind and willing heart; for the Lord searches every mind, and understands every plan and thought. If you seek him, he will be found by you; but if you forsake him, he will abandon you forever. 10Take heed now, for the Lord has chosen you to build a house as the sanctuary; be strong, and act.?

??????????? 20David said further to his son Solomon, ?Be strong and of good courage, and act. Do not be afraid or dismayed; for the Lord God, my God, is with you. He will not fail you or forsake you, until all the work for the service of the house of the Lord is finished. 21Here are the divisions of the priests and the Levites for all the service of the house of God; and with you in all the work will be every volunteer who has skill for any kind of service; also the officers and all the people will be wholly at your command.?

Over the course of the past few weeks we have been doing some pretty intense work for the church. The leadership has met to discuss finances, the budget, ministry teams, and our thematic goal and focus is for the next few months. As we are looking at these avenues to help us dream about what the next 25 years could be like for a worshiping community in this area. As I have thought about our time together and planning for what is to come, I realized that we are talking about issues that we consider to be essential to rebuilding a faith community. Some of these aspects we would consider foundational needs to continue to grow and move forward in church transformation. Others we would consider aspects that help us feel more secure in doing church transformation. So the foundational aspect the leadership has chosen to focus on is what we are naming as our thematic goal: Worship. One of our values here is ?worship.? We define this value in the following way: ?We engage in uplifting, meaningful, and inspiriting praise of God through sermons, music, and scripture.?? We are going to be empowering the Worship Ministry Team to help lead in these efforts of enhancement. We believe worship is foundational to being a faith community. Then when we look beyond this foundational element, we realize that there are things we need to have in order to helps us feel secure in the future. For the leadership, and probably for many of you, having financial security for the congregation is important for the future of a worshiping community as well. Now there are other aspects that are important for our foundational strength and there are other elements important to create a sense of security, but neither are possible if we don?t put our full trust and faith in worshiping God. Our story from 1 Chronicles 28 shares how important it is to put our trust and faith in worshiping God first as our foundational building block in order for those securities to be laid as well.

Yet sometimes I think as in our families and in our congregation, we get our foundational blocks and our securities mixed up. For instance, last week, we named the foundational rocks we need to build a church. Yet as I reflected on your ideas for what is needed for a strong foundation, I realized that sometimes we get securities mixed up with foundational necessities in our lives and in the life of being a congregation. In some ways, I could say, we get our priorities mixed up and we need to realign our priorities in the ways of God. So I have taken the rocks and our words of foundations and separated them out into two piles: foundations and securities. As I thought through this difference, I was reminded of how King David functioned in his life. I believe he lived out his life from his foundations, and built up his future through his securities. I believe there is a key difference for churches today when going through church transformation. We need to realign our foundation in order to instill security for what is next.

Now, we have two piles up here. In the Foundation pile are the following words: In the Security pile are the following words: Does that work for you? Is there anything else you would like to add to the foundation or security pile?

With that being sorted, let?s look at the passage from 1 Chronicles. King David, a man after God?s own heart, was a man who made it foundational in his life as a King and warrior to worship God. David had built a kingdom through war and conquering, yet do so under the guidance of God. David had a dream to build a temple to God. Creating a place where people knew the importance of worshiping God. In essence, David desired for all the people to know and experience his God, God?s love, support, friendship, and tenacity in a way that rocked them to the core of their being.

David realized that a temple was important and began the process of preparing to build the temple. So what were the foundational elements David had in place to dream about the future of a temple for God?

First, David had a strong relationship and connection with God through prayer and conversation, the study of the Torah, and a group of people who he walked the journey with. Second, David had a plan and vision from God about what was to come. Third, he had a vision for the people to have a physical reminder of the presence of God. Fourth, he had the Ark of the Covenant, which was the tent where God resided. And fifth, throughout waging war, winning battles, David knew that God was with him-he constantly sought God first in everything. And a majority of the time, David put God first in every decision and took his relationship with God seriously. These are 5 of the foundational pieces that King David put into his life. As he kept these foundational elements, he was very successful to plan for the future.

So what did David do to put securities in place to make sure his son, Solomon, would have the resources to build and sustain a temple?

First, David had a vision and plan for how to build a temple and for what the purpose of the temple would be. Second, he had a leader to carry out the vision and building. Third, he created a ?nest egg,? a financial cushion for the temple and the future of the kingdom. Fourth, he created a team of leaders-a division of priests and Levites, volunteers for every service and officers as well. And fifth, David knew that since everything was built upon God, that it didn?t really matter the location of the temple. David knew that if the foundation was solid, and God was at the center of his life and the life of the people, then others would know the power of God and worship.

As I thought through the foundations and securities of King David in building the temple, I could only imagine what would happen if David had mixed up the foundational needs with what brought him security?or if he didn?t align his priorities in a way where the worship of God was central.? It would have been like he was skipping essential steps. Like building the walls of the building before laying a solid foundation. Could you imagine if you were building a house and the contractor instructed the team to bring in the cinder block to build the four walls first, then had the team come in to lay the foundation, and then the team come in to put in the plumbing lines? It wouldn?t work well, and it would be as if the building was set up to fail. That is mixing up the foundation and the securities.

As I look at this section in 1 Chronicles, I believe one of the biggest things that David had going for him was time. David knew that sometimes it was important to wait in order to create a more sustainable place of worship. For instance, David listened to God for what God wanted him to do and not rush and do what David wanted to do. David embraced God?s words to plan and prepare for what was to come through his son Solomon.

Could you imagine if all the money was there, but the people didn?t have a heart for God or a relationship with God, or a desire to reach the people for God?yet the money was there.

Or what if King David only acted like he spent time in prayer with God, telling people that God had a plan, God was central to his life; but it wasn?t really doing those things and was misleading the people.

Or what if there were people who really liked to eat, laugh, drink, and be merry together. But didn?t base all of that in a strong relationship with God. Then it would just be a group of people who like to get together, a social club-but not a worshiping community for a greater vision and purpose-the purpose of being the people of God and sharing God?s love.

Or what if King David had said, we have all these leaders, all of this money, and great plans for a building?and he fudged his numbers on the amount of leaders, the amount of money, and exaggerated plans for a building; maybe King David lied a little bit about the amount of money, people, and plans?Do you think that if King David had lied that his work would have been blessed through his son Solomon and those after him? Or would the following generations of people struggled with building the temple and always wondered why?

As I have reflected on the dream of building a house of worship in this community that started over 25 years ago, I have heard stories that the foundation wasn?t as solid as it should have been. Instead of focusing on those in the community growing in their faith and trust and worship of God, the focus was on creating a place where people would feel secure, a building.

I want us to regroup- as a congregation and individually. I want us to rebuild the foundation. Meaning, I want us to focus on our relationship with God, our prayer lives, reading through God?s word, and a vision for the future-meaning, it is important for our community and those we meet to know the love of God and you can share that. It means looking at our lives and examining where we place our priorities?does your day open with looking at Facebook, watching the news, reading the paper, or rushing off to get things done? Or does your day start with a cup of coffee or tea, while reading the bible and spending time in prayer and reflection with God, to see what God has in store for your day as well as what is scheduled? Regrouping means refocusing the amount of time we are spending in growing our relationship with God. Just as the video mentioned, are we spending more time on our phones, getting ready, watching TV, or are we willing to make some changes in how we go through each day and spend more time with God and what God deems as important in our lives? King David didn?t do everything perfectly, he failed many times with and before God. But he kept trying. I sure don?t do everything perfectly, but each day I am trying to spend more time refocusing and re-prioritizing what is important for me, my family, and my faith. This week, look at how you are spending your time. Keep track of it, write it down. Look at your routines and where you spend your energy. What are the things to take you away from God and what are the things that bring you closer to God? It is my hope that you can spend some time in prayer, reflection, and scripture reading to see how God is speaking to you this day and in the days to come. King David gave us some great examples on looking at what is important for the foundation of our lives and good ideas about how to prepare for the future through establishing securities for the future. Regrouping allows us to evaluate the foundations and prepare for the future.