OUR FUTURE IN MINISTRY
DR. JIM DIXON
REVELATION 2:18-19
MARCH 21, 1993
The construction of the Swan Quarter Methodist Church in Swan Quarter, North Carolina was completed on September 16, 1876. It was a little church made out of wood, a country style church with a beautiful steeple on top. The congregation of the Swan Quarter Methodist Church was proud, and they were pleased at their new church facility. There was one problem, however. The church was built on the lowland. It was built on low ground and there was the danger of flooding.
Well, it was only three days later, September 19, 1876, when the rains came. Torrential rains, a horrible storm. It rained all day, and it rained all night. The next morning, people in Swan Quarter, North Carolina, looked out their windows and they were just astonished at the vast waterscape. Now, those people who lived on Oyster Creek Road in Swan Quarter, they looked out of their windows and they were more than astonished. They were stunned because the Swan Quarter Methodist Church was floating down the road. It had come off of its brick pilings. It was just floating down the road, floating down Oyster Creek Road right into the center of Swan Quarter.
Now, in town, people looked out, they saw the church floating by. Some of them thought, “Well, you know, we ought to try to stop this thing.” They tried to get out of their houses, but they couldn’t anchor the church because the water was more than waist deep and the church just kept right on going through Swan Quarter. Finally, about halfway through town, the church suddenly just made a right-hand turn. As though it had a mind of its own, as though it was kind of being led, it made a right-hand turn. It went up this other street and it went up the street for a couple of blocks. Suddenly it made a right hand turn again. It went onto this vacant lot, and it went up onto that lot and just sat there. That is where the Swan Quarter Methodist Church has remained for the last 117 years and that’s where the Swan Quarter Methodist Church sits today. The amazing thing is that lot that the church came to rest on was the very lot the Swan Quarter Methodist Church congregation initially had planned to buy. They had prayed about it. They had sought to buy that land, but the owner of the land had refused to sell it.
But when the church, in the midst of the storm, began to move and it went right through town and it made two right turns, inexplicitly, and when it went uphill to the high ground… Well the owner of the land came to the leaders of the church and he just gave them the deed to the land.
Now I know that’s a really hard story to believe, but there is a stack of sworn statements and legal documents in Swan Quarter, North Carolina, attesting to the historicity of the event and it is called “The Miracle of Swan Quarter ” and it has been called an act of God. Perhaps it was an act of God, but if so, a highly unusual act of God because God does not normally move churches. Normally, God tells His people to move, and the people have to move the church. The people have to go to work. God does not normally build churches. Normally God tells His people to build, and the people must do the work.
Almost 3,000 years ago, God told the people of Israel He wanted the temple built. He wanted it built on Mt. Moriah. There were already temples in Israel. There was the temple at Nob. There was the temple at Shiloh. There was the temple at Shechem. There was the temple at Gilgal. There was the temple at Gibeon. You see, God wanted a greater temple built and God wanted it built on Mt. Moriah. He wanted it built in Jerusalem. God told Solomon to build. God said what He wanted built. God said where He wanted it built and God said why He wanted it built, but you see, the people had to do the work. The people had to be faithful.
They had to build the structure and the Bible tells us that 80,000 Jewish people, 80,000 children of God, went into the hill country and they began to cut stone and to shape the stone. Seventy thousand Jewish people began to carry the stone from the hill country to Mt. Moriah. Twenty thousand people worked on the temple mount, worked on the actual construction of the temple. Ten thousand people every month were sent up to Lebanon to get the wood from the forests that were there. People had to work to attain the will of God. They had to give. The Bible tells us they had to give. So, we are told how the leaders of Israel came forth. The leaders of the people of Israel gave first. They gave 10,000 denarii of gold and they gave 5,000 talents of gold. A denarius was a coin. A talent was a measure of weight. Five thousand talents of gold was a lot of money. It had a lot of worth. The leaders of Israel gave 10,000 talents of silver and 18,000 talents of bronze and 100,000 talents of iron.
Then the Bible tells us that those who had much, those who were very wealthy, they gave exceptional gifts, special gifts. So, David, the King, came and he gave 3,000 talents of gold the Bible says and 7,000 talents of silver for the building of the temple. The aggregate giving of the people of Israel as recorded in 2 Chronicles, the 22nd chapter. The people gave 100,000 talents of gold and a million talents of silver and bronze and iron and stone and timber beyond reckoning the Bible tells us. The people responded to the will of God.
The will of God, the call of God is upon us. The leaders of this church have heard God’s voice. As a congregation, we have, through affirmation of vote, affirmed our commitment to this call of God upon this church. Our future is just as bright as our faithfulness. Our future is just as bright as our willingness to work.
You know, in the 18th century and the 19th century, people used to travel by stagecoach. This was true in the eastern United States. It is also true in the western territories. If you came to Kansas City and you wanted to travel west, you’d get on a stagecoach. Now historians tell us that when you get on that stagecoach, you could buy a first class, a second class, or a third-class ticket. Yet all the seats were the same. You did not have some seats wider than others. All of the seats were the same. In fact, as the stagecoach traveled, generally passengers rotated their seats to give everyone a chance to sit in different places. The food service was all the same. It did not exist. There was not any food service. Whatever food you had you brought with you, or you purchased at weigh stations was what there was to eat.
So why did they have first, second, and third-class seats? They had first, second, and third-class seats because, as the stagecoach journeyed, sometimes they would come to tough places. They would come to muddy stretches in the road. It was hard for the coach to get through. They would come to steep hills that were hard to climb. First class passengers got to stay onboard. Second class passengers got out and walked and third-class passengers were required to push.
Now I believe with all my heart that as a church, as we look to our future, we’ve got some rough spots in the road. We have got some muddy places. We’ve got some steep hills to climb, and we need more third-class passengers. In fact, the truth of the matter is, in the body of Christ, everybody is called to serve. We have all been called to serve. We’ve all been called to labor in this great work of the kingdom of God. So, as we look to our future, the call of God is upon us. God’s faithfulness is not in question. God has been faithful in times past. God will be faithful in the times to come. We have seen God’s power. We have seen God’s protection. We have seen God’s provision and, in the future, we will continue to see God’s power and we will continue to see His protection and we will continue to see His provision. The only question is our faithfulness. It is the only question.
We are not building a temple. You see, the Greek and Hebrew words for temple literally mean “sacred house or sacred dwelling.” In the Greek and Roman world, they built temples as residences for the gods. Even the temple at Jerusalem in part was built as a residence for the one true God but we’re not building a temple. Each and every one of you who believe in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior—you are a temple. In you Christ has come to dwell by His Holy Spirit and all of us who believe are temples of the Living God.
We are not building a temple down there. We are simply building a church facility, a facility that is designed to facilitate ministry. The future of this church has very little to do with buildings. It has everything to do with ministry. The whole reason that we have felt called of God to build this building is because we have been called of God into ministry.
There is a vision upon us that we might minister to children, that we might minister more effectively to you, that we might minister here in South Denver as we are called to do, that we might bring people to Christ, that we might bond them in Christ, that we might build them up in Christ, that we might send them out in Christ. God is faithful and our future is just as bright as our faithfulness and our willingness to work for the furtherance of Christ’s kingdom. Let us look to the Lord for a word of prayer.