2 Chronicles 29:3 In the first year of his reign, in the first month, he opened the doors of the house of the Lord and repaired them.
Hezekiah became king and he was the first good and godly king in a long time. He set about restoring the temple, which had fallen into disrepair, and cleaning up the worship, which had fallen into all kinds of bad practices. I'm not sure if he did anything about the parking lot or not - it's not clear from the Bible and we don't have copies of the contracts anymore.
The point is that buildings and property matter. Yes we could worship God in the fields. We could worship God in a storefront church and simply pay rent and not worry about the rest. That would be fine. But sometimes buildings can be tools for ministry. They can be expensive and it can be a pain in the rear to deal with, but if they help us do the ministry to which we're called, it can be worth it. Hezekiah thought it was worth it to repair the temple. Buildings and places can bear witness to God and be tools by which we proclaim God's love and grace. What building or place inspires you with God's love?
In Christ,
Pastor Seth
This message is part of the ministry of All Saints Lutheran Church. See our website for more information and calendar. If you wish to no longer receive these messages, please reply and ask to be removed. Remember to join us for worship this weekend: Saturday at 5 pm or Sunday at 9 am. Due to the work of Hezekiah, our parking lot is closed until Saturday. It will be available for next weekend's worship.
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