I love our theme scripture for the year here at Church Street, and I love doing different studies and cross-refereces about similar verses. Our theme scripture is Psalm 127.1 - "Unless the Lord builds the house, the people that build it labor in vain."

My dad being a construction worker and contractor for years, I was in and around a lot of building of houses. Any of you who have built a house know that it is a monumental task. Now think about what goes into building an apartment complex. Or a skyscraper. It takes planning, preparation, careful attention to detail to build such things. And it takes lots of different people - contractors, welders, concrete pourers, nail drivers, etc. - to build even the simplest structure.

1 Kings 5 discusses Solomon seeking out King Hiram to help him with the construction of the temple. There were 30,000 laborers summoned for the house of the Lord. There were 70,000 who carried burdens. There were 80,000 who were stonecutters. There were 3,300 who supervised. All essential jobs, all essential people. All different types of work. All contributing to a house that would glorify the Lord.

God wants people. God wants different people. God understands and it is by design that we are all doing something meaningful to build His house.

So tonight I ask you are you carrying the burden to build God's house? Are you doing the work to build a Godly home for your spouse and children. If not, why not? Come back to God tonight. Come forward and we can pray with you. And if you haven't been baptized for the forgiveness of your sins to be added to God's family, you can do that tonight. Come now, while we stand and sing.