Sunday evening Prayer Meeting

In response to the Gift Day, David D_ brought the following reading to the Sunday evening prayer meeting:
Ezra Chap 2 v 68 and 3 v 7 v11 to 13
Ezra 2:68
When they arrived at the house of the LORD in Jerusalem, some of the heads of the families gave freewill offerings toward the rebuilding of the house of God on its site.

Ezra 3:7
Rebuilding the Temple
Then they gave money to the masons and carpenters, and gave food and drink and oil to the people of Sidon and Tyre, so that they would bring cedar logs by sea from Lebanon to Joppa, as authorized by Cyrus king of Persia.

Ezra 3:11 – 13
With praise and thanksgiving they sang to the LORD : "He is good; his love to Israel endures forever." And all the people gave a great shout of praise to the LORD, because the foundation of the house of the LORD was laid. But many of the older priests and Levites and family heads, who had seen the former temple, wept aloud when they saw the foundation of this temple being laid, while many others shouted for joy. No one could distinguish the sound of the shouts of joy from the sound of weeping, because the people made so much noise. And the sound was heard far away.

John F_ picked up on the theme of foundations:

John spoke about the church being built on the solid rock foundation of the Word of God and of the Holy Spirit – about all our individual lives being built on that sure foundation, upon Jesus Christ. John spoke about how if a house’s foundation is on sand, when the streams of water come, they wash away the sands – the church needs to be built on the solid foundation of Word and Spirit so that it doesn’t move – doesn’t get swept along with any shifting doctrine or give way to any fashionable ideas, not going by modern thinking or our own ideas but standing firm with the Word of God as the final authority.