We are so blessed!

“God does not help those who help themselves. Rather, He helps those who cannot help themselves, know it, and rely on Him.” 

Dean Ulrich

  Over the years I’ve been at several grand openings and building dedications. I was at the grand opening of our local Walmart and both area Kwik-Trips. Typically, at those events, they recognize the owner, architect, bankers, contractors, various dignitaries and key management personnel. On Sunday, February 18^th, we will have our Grand Opening/Building Dedication and will thank and recognize many of those individuals. Today though we want to praise, thank and honor the One behind this building.

  If God had not been with us, if our Heavenly Father had not blessed us and undertaken for us – we would not be here this morning. There are so many things that we need to thank Him for that I hardly know where to begin. Let me mention a few…

  We are so thankful for God’s protection. Life is so fragile. It’s easy for construction workers, particularly if they have been doing the same task for years to become overconfident or hurried. Years ago, when I was in commercial roofing, I saw my share of accidents. In fact, I have a scar on my forehead that I’ve carried all my life from my first day on the job when the boss was too hurried and caught me in the face with a roofing shovel. I remember holding a friend down and urging him not to move after he fell 15’ through an uncovered skylight backwards. Blood was trickling out of his ear. Fortunately, he was not killed though he ultimately lost the hearing in that ear, but it could have been so much worse. To my knowledge there were no accidents on our project. Sadly, one of the contractors did have some equipment stolen but the God of all justice may still bring that to a fulfilling conclusion.

  We are so thankful for God’s provision. This was a huge step of faith for our church family. Our original budget was $1 million. You could hear an audible gasp when the first estimates came back at $2.2 million. Yet, with lots of hard work and some very difficult decisions, we whittled it down again and again. Yet, we still came out with a beautiful building that is a viable tool that enables us to minister and accomplish our mission of reaching our world with the gospel for the glory of God! I feel both blessed and humbled to pastor such a generous church family. So many of you sacrificed, not just money, but hours upon hours.

  Then, we had friends across the country who helped us and sent funds to assist us. And we made new friends who for some reason that we can only explain as a “God thing,” were burdened to help us. I am awed by it all. There are horror stories of the difficulty of working with governmental authorities, yet repeatedly we found them stepping up to assist us!

  We are so thankful for God’s providence. Are you like me? I find that I’m often in a hurry. Patience is a fruit of the Spirit that God is continually cultivating in me. Unfortunately, I’m a very slow learner. It seemed to take so l-o-n-g from the time the land was purchased, to paying it off, to organizing a building committee, to selecting a contractor and putting that first shovel in the ground. But I wasn’t in the driver’s seat, the Father was.

  What a tragedy it could have been if we had begun building and faced the economic downturn our nation went through a few years ago. We have sought to err on the side of being fiscally conservative. If we had failed financially, it’s not just our testimony that would have been hurt, it would have hurt the cause of Christ and given skeptics cause to mock.

  When we built, interest rates were very low and financial institutions were looking for worthy projects. Construction was beginning to catch on fire (which is one reason our costs increased). Yet, with Foxconn coming to our area and some major Milwaukee projects, further delay would have only increased our costs where they could have become unreachable for us and given us less options of contractors. God’s timing is always perfect!

  We are so thankful for God’s pressure. We human beings love comfort and ease. This project has helped my prayer life grow. So many times, I didn’t have a clue on how we were going to put something together or finance it. And I just prayed…and over and over again, God answered our prayers. It’s truly been a very humbling experience. It’s helped Jane and I, and our whole family learn to be more generous. As opportunities came up, God would lay on our hearts to be the one to take care of it. That’s true for many of you as well. And I need that pressure. My faith and dependence on the Father needs to grow deeper. This pressure has been a blessing for me!

  We are so thankful that this is only Phase #1. This project has created a buzz and excitement in our church family that I’ve never seen. It’s drawn us closer together. We’ve spent hours with each other. It’s given us a greater love and appreciation for each other. And we need the pressure of a project unfinished to keep us dependent on the Father. It reminds us that though this phase of our building is complete, the task is unfinished. Our mission is not about a building, it’s about the Great Commission!

  In fact, I’m even thankful our new chairs didn’t arrive for today (though it sure would have been nice). It reminds us that we do not need all the bells and whistles to worship our Father. It reminds us that a church is people, not a building. We have each other! Your brothers and sisters are the church. This building is only a tool for us to get together in.

  This building, serving, worshiping and honoring the Father is only a foretaste of what we have waiting for us in Heaven, when we join King Jesus and all our brothers and sisters through the ages – and the Church finally meets for the very first time! It won’t be a soft opening. It will be the real deal!

Can we help you spiritually? Can we help you know Jesus better? Please check out more resources on our church's web page, Gracechurchwi.org. Or, call us at 262.763.3021. If you'd like to know more about how Jesus can change your life, I'd love to mail you a copy of how Jesus changed my life in "My Story." E-mail me at Carson@gracechurchwi.org to request a free copy. Please include your mailing address.