Faith Walk / William Carroll
We will be talking about the word of God and how he moved in my life as I stood on his word. His signs and wonders that I have seen during the last forty years praying for my needs and the needs of others. I hope to encourage a new generation of believers to pray the word of God and to believe that He will move on their behalf. God answers prayers!
Faith Walk / William Carroll
Ep 64 Beyond Building Churches: The Temple Within Us
The mountaintop experience of the Transfiguration reveals something profound about human nature. When Peter witnessed Jesus transformed before his eyes—face shining like the sun, clothes radiating light—standing with Moses and Elijah, his immediate response was to build. "Let's make three tabernacles," he suggested, already planning the construction project before fully processing the divine encounter unfolding before him.
This tendency to institutionalize our spiritual experiences runs deep. We witness something transformative and immediately want to build a structure around it, contain it, control it. Yet the voice from heaven redirected attention away from building projects and back to Jesus himself: "This is my beloved Son... listen to Him." When the disciples looked up, they saw no one but Jesus alone—a powerful metaphor for where our focus belongs.
Throughout Christian history, this pattern repeats. After Pentecost, believers receiving the Great Commission to go into all the world instead settled in Jerusalem, organizing church life until persecution finally scattered them abroad to spread the Gospel. We still struggle with this today—rushing to build physical churches when perhaps our primary calling is to BE the church, to embody Christ's presence wherever we go.
The transformative message here challenges us to reconsider what it means to follow Jesus. Rather than constructing more tabernacles, we're called to become living temples of the Holy Spirit—God's hands, feet, and voice bringing hope to a broken world. When we grasp this truth, we move beyond the limitations of physical buildings into the boundless potential of being Christ's ambassadors in everyday life. Ready to stop building and start being? Join us on Faith Walk as we explore what it truly means to be transfigured by God's presence.
Well, good morning, welcome to Faith Walk. Look, this morning we're going to be in chapter 17 of Matthew, so get your Bibles out, chapter 17 of Matthew, and anyway, listen, welcome, welcome. I hope you're enjoying the podcast, I'm hoping you're enjoying the teaching and just looking into the Word of God and I hope you're going along in the Scriptures with me and then afterwards it feeds a fire in your soul and in your spirit and you begin to take little rabbit trails and and and go where the scripture leads you to go. A good reference bible will send you on little rabbit trails, you know, but I, I, just, I just pray the Lord that it's blessing you. Um, hit a like, hit a follow, subscribe, share with your friends. If one of these touches your heart in a certain way, you know it's there to touch other people's heart too. But anyway, drop me a note, go to faithwalkbuzzsproutcom or go to faith walk, william carroll, spotify, oh, everyone. Apple, google you can either alexa and turn in if you want to. I heart there's just. You can find me just wherever you listen to podcasts. You know, and I'm trying to keep it to a 10 minute podcast. Send me a letter. Do you like the 20 minute? Do me a letter. Do you like the 20 minute, do you like 15 minute, do you like 10? Let me know. But anyway, let's jump into the word, because I don't have long here and I need to get on about this.
Speaker 1:But I wanted to talk about, in chapter 17, the transfiguration. So in chapter 17, after six days, jesus takes Peter, james and John, his brother, and bring them up to a high mountain apart and was transfigured before them. And his face did shine as the sun and his raiment was as white as the light. And behold, there appeared unto them Moses and Elijah talking with him. Then answered Peter and said unto Jesus, lord, it is good for us to be here. If you will, let us make here three tabernacles one for you, one for Moses and one for Elias. And while he yet spoke, a bright cloud overshadowed them and behold, a voice came out of the cloud and said this is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Hear him. And when the disciples heard it, they fell on their face and they were sore, afraid. And Jesus came and touched them and said Arise, be not afraid. And when they had lifted up their eyes, they saw no man save Jesus only. And then they came down from the mountain, jesus charged them, said tell the vision to no man until the Son of man be risen again from the dead. Now listen, the first thing they did when they saw this transfiguration and this thing happen is they wanted to make a holy place out of it. They wanted to build a church. Oh no, let's don't just build one church, let's build three churches so that we can do one for Moses, one for Jesus and one for Elias. And Jesus said you know? He said listen, he said don't tell nobody about this until after I'm already resurrected. But I want to talk to you today about this building of church.
Speaker 1:Sometimes we all we feel like you know, a lot of times people are radically saved and they get a change of life and they get going for God. The first thing they want to do is start a church. And the thing is, if you haven't been in church, if you cannot surrender your life to a man like a pastor or somebody over you, then how are you going to surrender your life completely and totally to a God who you cannot see? It's awful hard to do. You have to learn to be obedient, to walk the walk. You have to learn to serve others, you know, because our flesh wants what's good for me, Our flesh wants what makes me feel good, and a lot of times our flesh will have us act like we are something that we're not, in order to get a gratification or a thank you or something like that. But right here he says you know, they went in and I can't see nothing today. They went in and they said they said we're just going to build a church. Well, where else, where else did Peter say let's start church, let's have a church.
Speaker 1:If you remember, after Jesus ascended and had told them to tarry in Jerusalem and the promise of the Father was come upon them and that they were filled with power, power to be witnesses into Jerusalem and to all the world. And he ascended and they waited in the upper room. What's the first thing they did after they were filled with the Holy Spirit? You know, the Lord said that they would be witnesses into all the world, all the world, jerusalem and all the world. Go into all the world and preach the Gospels and all the world. Go into all the world and preach the gospel is what it says in Mark, chapter 16 and, I think, matthew 24. So they were supposed to go into all the world and preach the gospel, but what did they do? They started a church in the upper room and they started going about church business. They started voting on a well, we need another apostle because Judas is gone and they started building the church.
Speaker 1:See, jesus came, there was a church and he went, and he really what he did was he said listen, I'm the fulfilling of the church. We don't need the church, we don't need sacrifices, we don't need the hierarchy. What we need is people to believe in me, trust in me, walk with me and my spirit that I give you and you will be the church. Each one of you will be at the temple of God and his spirit will be in us and upon us as we go about doing the work. You know, and so many times though, we just want to build a church, we want to build a church upon us as we go about doing the work. So many times, though, we just wanna build a church. We wanna build a church.
Speaker 1:You know, you've heard a lot of times probably, or maybe you haven't, but I have, in the circles I run in, I've heard a lot of times people saying build the church and the people will come. Well, that's not scriptural. I had never found that in the Bible. It says build the church and the people will come. You know? Now it says to pray for a harvest. You know the word of God says that we ought to pray for the church and pray for those around us. You know, and we can command, you know, the north to give up the south, to give up the east, to give up the west, to give up the lost, the hurt and the main. And Lord, let us come in contact with them, that we might be your witnesses unto them. But it never says build the church and they will come.
Speaker 1:He wanted to build three tabernacles, three temples here. And then the first thing he did, when he was filled with the holy spirit and people were coming to the lord, you know, five thousand the first day, uh, and I think three thousand, maybe three thousand the first day and five thousand the second time, when he, when he preached after healing the lame Peter, did I'm talking about Peter Then you know, they wanted to stay in Jerusalem. What caused them to get out of Jerusalem? What caused them to leave the upper room? What caused them to start spreading the gospel? It was persecution First, the persecution of Stephen, where he was stoned with rocks and he saw Jesus and he says Lord, don't hold this to their charge, you see. And then people started going out because they were starting to kill the Christians. So they started going out, they started going into other countries, they started going to the Gentiles, they started preaching the gospel and you know, everywhere they went there was Jews from Jerusalem preaching the gospel and you know, everywhere they went there was Jews from Jerusalem that followed Paul around and just created all kinds of turmoil and tried to get him, you know, stoned and killed, because they couldn't stand the Word of God being preached, because their livelihood was at stake for one thing, and they thought that they were, you know, the men of God.
Speaker 1:Anyway, I'm being silly, but listen, we don't have to build a temple everywhere we go. What we need to do is be the temple of God, be the hands and feet of God, be the mouth of God to go forth in the world to share to those who don't know Christ. If you don't know Christ today, I'm going to tell you, ask Him, call upon Him, just open up your heart, tell Him what's going on in your life and what you need and ask Him are you there? Do you know who I am? Do you know what I am? Do you know where I am? Lord Jesus, I need to know today if you're real, I need to know right now. If you're real, I need you to change my life because I'm not going in the right direction.
Speaker 1:That's an honest prayer. That is an honest prayer right there and it's honest to God saying you know, I need to know today, I need to know if you're real. Pray that prayer. You'll understand that God is real and he'll start making changes in your life and he'll start teaching you. But you got to read the word, you got to get in the word and if you're a new Christian, read John chapter, the Gospel of John, the whole Gospel of John. That's where I would start and follow these podcasts. In Jesus' name, I've got to go Bye.
