0:00 Lord, Father, thank you for your word, Lord. Thank you for your Holy Spirit, the comforter that gives us what we need when we need it, and you bring to memory all the things that Jesus told us and all the things that we need. Lord, in 0:12 due time, you speak to us, Lord. Please speak to us today, Lord. There's no one else that can possibly help us except you, Lord. And all all of our different places of need. We need you, Lord. And thank you that you're a good father. 0:23 Jesus name. Amen. Okay. So, I wanted to talk today about the from the book of Haggi. And um if you want to turn there, it's toward the end of the Old Testament. If you're not familiar, you'll find uh before Matthew is Micah and then Zechariah and then 0:39 Haggi. Um and I'm going to say Haggi. I know people say Haggi. He don't know what's proper, but I'll find out one day. I'll ask him how was I supposed to say your name. But um and before we look at some verses, I want to kind of give 0:54 some background because if I just if we just drop into Haggi 1, we don't really get the full picture. You know, when you meet somebody at your work or here at church or a neighbor, you meet them at that point in time. And then as time 1:10 goes on, as you as you walk with that person, work with them, whatever, you find out more of the history of what they've been through, what what they've done, what's happened to them. And as you learn more about the person, it can 1:20 really help you understand why they're that way or maybe how they can maybe they've been through something they can help you. Maybe you've been something through something you can help them. So it's a little bit unfair to just drop 1:33 into Haggi 1 and go from there without understanding all that's happened before that. So to me, I don't want this to be some intellectual head head knowledge to to give you information, but this was very helpful to me as I was really 1:48 encouraged by Haggi and I thought, well, I need to figure out what's going on here. So, we'll just for a brief background, you know, throughout the history of Israel, God established uh King David and and the kingdom there and 2:02 with Solomon and the reign of peace and then the kingdom split into two. There was Israel with the 10 tribes and Judah with with the two. And through time they they kind of waxed and waned with their obedience to God. More often than not, 2:16 they wandered from God. And God would send prophets and God would send trials and God would send enemies. All these things to get their attention. And over time they maybe came back. Maybe they had a good king that led them in the 2:27 right way and they responded. But eventually it was on a decline. And God because of this because of their disobedience to his law God had said every seven years don't plant any crops give the land a rest. God said don't 2:39 worship idols. All these many many things they disobeyed. So in the end God sent Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon to come and capture God's people and take them away from their land and to destroy. He destroyed the city, destroyed the walls, destroyed the 2:53 temple. Everything that was so precious and that was part of their identity as God's people. It was all wiped out. And God caused Nebuchadnezzar to to take most of the people away to Babylon. And during that time, they were exiles. They 3:09 were they had nothing. They were exiles. They were strangers in this land. And then over time after Nebuchadnezzar, the other kings of Babylon, God brought the king of raised up the king of Persia, the kingdom of Persia, and they came and defeated 3:23 Babylon. And so that's kind of what's going on when we're in Haggi, the history of what they've been through. But before I talk about Haggi, I want to talk about Ezra because in the book of Ezra, we we see what's going on. 3:36 And before we go to Ezra, I want to talk about this man named Zerubbabel, who we'll end up talking about in Haggi. And Zerubbabel, and we'll get to the verses, I just want to give a background to help us. Zerubbabel, he was a one of the leaders at this time 3:51 in the book of Haggi. And you read a name like Zerubbabel and you hit one of his companions was Joshua, the high priest. So, Zerubbabel was the leader of the people and Joshua was the high priest. And when I read that name, 4:03 Zerubbabel, that didn't sound like a nice Hebrew name like Joshua or, you know, David or one of these. And so, you look at the meaning of his name. His name means born in Babylon. That's where he was born. And you could turn briefly 4:17 if you if you like to Matthew chapter 1. If you look in Matthew 1 and in Luke 3, you have the line of Jesus. You see all the people in the in the physical lineage of Joseph is in Matthew 1 and Mary is covered in Luke 3. But this 4:33 man's rubbel actually shows up in Matthew 1. And I want I point this out for a reason. So if you look in in chapter 1, you can see all the the kings and the names. In verse six, David is born and then Solomon and Rahab goes 4:47 through all the kings. And verse 11, and to Josiah were born Jeaniah and his brothers at the time of the deportation to Babylon. So the king, one of the last kings before Nebuchadnezzar came was Jeaniah or Jehookin is another name of 5:04 his. So all these people were born in Israel. Then they're deported. Then verse 12, and after the deportation to Babylon to Jeaniah was born Shiltiel and to Shiltiel Zerubbabel. So Zerubbabel was just born in captivity. He didn't 5:21 know the land of Israel. He didn't know what it was like the old days of the temple and the glory of the kingdom of Israel. He was literally born in Babylon. And Sheltiel, his dad, when he they, you know, they had a baby boy. 5:34 They said, "What are we going to name him? We're just going to call him he's born here in Babylon." That was kind of a hopeless name. There was no nothing, no reference to God. There was no, you know, like Daniel's God is my judge. you 5:44 know, there's a little bit of hope in in some of these names, but his parents, for whatever reason, just said, "Just call him born in Babylon. I don't know. There's there's no point here." But despite of all that, I just want to 5:54 point that out because a lot of us maybe, you know, depending on what you've been through and how you were raised, we may look at your you don't have a some heritage to brag about or maybe there's family history or whatever 6:04 that you're not proud of. But it doesn't matter. God God doesn't worry about any of that stuff. Um, and the other thing I want to point out is if you look through in Matthew 1, you see all the kings and you start to think, well, what if there 6:17 was no what if Israel would have kept going and following God? What if there was no captivity? Zerubbabel would be one of the kings sitting on the throne of Israel. If if all this stuff wouldn't have been erupted by the interrupted by 6:30 the captivity, Zerubbabel had the right to be a king on the throne. But here he is, he's just some guy born in Babel. But he didn't stay that way. He he he followed the Lord with his with his whole heart. Um and we won't turn there, 6:43 but if you look at Jehook and his his grandpa who's mentioned there, the last one of the last kings, it says that he was 8 years old when he began to reign and he did evil in the sight of the Lord. And you wonder how bad can you be 6:54 to be an 8-year-old that you're doing that the Lord looks at you and said, "You are doing evil in my sight." That's pretty bad. That's a pretty bad heritage to come from. But Zerubbabel, it didn't affect him. He he he saw what had come 7:05 before him and he chose the Lord instead. So that that's hope for us that if we look at our parents and they make bad decisions or our family or spouses or friends or brothers or whatever, we don't need to get to stay there 7:19 because of what they've done, we can choose the Lord. So that's just a brief on um Zerubbabel. And so if we go to the book of Ezra before you get to Haggi, um Ezra is right after 2 Chronicles. And I'm I'm doing all this to because I 7:34 want to I want to I want us to see what all when we get to Haggi what's going on. So in the book of Ezra this is when Cirrus as we covered Babylon came and took Israel away to Babylon. Um and then Persia conquered Babylon. So now Persia 7:52 is in charge. They've wiped out the Babylonian rule and now they're in charge and they have these people here these exiles from Israel and God had raised them up for this purpose. And God had even said 200 years ago, he named 8:04 King Cirrus, who was going to send God's people back. And just in Ezra 1:1, now in the first year of Cirrus, king of Persia in order to fulfill the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah, the Lord stirred up the spirit of King of Cirrus of Persia. 8:20 So that he sent a proclamation through all his kingdom and put it in writing, saying, "Thus says Cirrus, king of Persia, the Lord." Now, this is a heathen king. He's not a Jew. He's not a believer, but this is what he says from 8:31 his mouth. The Lord, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth. And he has appointed me to build him a house in Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Whoever there there is among you of all his people, may his God be with 8:45 him. Let him go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judah in Judah, and rebuild the house of the Lord, the God of Israel. He is the God who is in Jerusalem. And every survivor, wherever he is, let him give silver, gold, cattle, and and help 8:59 pay for this. So this is amazing thing. this world, the most powerful ruler in the world. He's stirred up and he realizes that God is the one, Jehovah, the God of Israel, is the one that put him there. And he says, "Whoever among 9:10 you," so he's, you know, picture this, all these exiles, they've been exiled and away from home, just strangers in this land. And all of a sudden, everything's turned around. And now the king is telling them, "Any of you guys 9:23 who want to go back and build, go. I'm going to let you go and I'm going to help you pay for it." It's just such a miracle that of what happened. And and as you go through there, it lists some of the things that they gave him. The 9:34 king brought money and all that stuff. And chapter 2 lists all the people. And God sees all these people who are interested in going back and in obeying and being obedient and returning to the Lord. They know why they're there in 9:45 Babylon from their disobedience, from their wandering, and they're eager to come back. And so God makes a note of that, and God makes note of us as we respond to his word. So in chapter 3 we see all the people coming together. 9:58 In verse one, the seventh month came and the sons of Israel were in the cities and they were gathered together as one man to Jerusalem. They were completely unified. We don't know if they, you know, how how they were in Babylon and 10:10 if they were, you know, fighting or arguing or if they were unified. They were they had no leadership. They were just kind of sitting there. But now they come back and this unity bring us brings them together. And in verse two, and 10:22 Joshua the son of Josec and his brothers, the priests, and Zerubbabel, the son of Shel, and his brothers arose, and they built the altar of the God of Israel to offer burnt offerings on it, as it is written in the law of Moses, 10:34 the man of God. So they they for all these years, they did not have an altar that we know of. They didn't have an organized return to follow what God had said they should be doing. And so this is the beginning of of this wonderful 10:46 revival. And verse three, so they set up the altar on its foundation. Now, this to me, I would I would expect in this verse as you're reading about they Joshua, Zerubbabel, all the people, they get together, they build the altar, they're 10:59 going to start following God's word again cuz they had wandered. And as they build the altar, you just the next few words that are written here kind of surprise me. So, they set up the altar on its foundation for they were 11:11 terrified because of the peoples of the lands. So, what should I do when I'm terrified? I should be obedient. I should remember the altar. I should remember I need the Lord. I need to go to him. And it's an encouragement for they were 11:25 terrified because of the peoples of the lands. Imagine if this city, if Flugerville, Round Rock was abandoned for 70 years and we all got captured and had to go somewhere else and then after 70 years during that time people trickle 11:37 in and they start using the land or doing whatever they want. And then we come back and we start, okay, we're going to build our temple and build our city. do those people in that area aren't going to be like, "Oh, yeah, 11:47 that's great. You can have it back." They're not happy about it. They they don't want these people back here. They they weren't expecting them. They don't want them. And so, the enemies of the Lord were here and they were threatening 11:55 them. We'll read in a second. And so, they were this was not an easy thing for them to do. But in spite of all their fear, they went forward in obedience. And that's one thing that encouraged me that when I'm afraid, I will trust in 12:07 you. We sang that song and that's part of it. But when I'm afraid, I need to obey you. Go forward in obedience and God will be with you and bless you. And and here we have it again. And at the end of the verse, and they offered on it 12:17 burnt offerings on to the Lord, burnt offerings, morning and evening, just like they were supposed to do a thousand years ago when the law of Moses came. This is what something that was set up. And it doesn't matter what their fathers 12:28 did. Doesn't matter how messed up their lives were before. They're coming back to the Lord and they're doing part of the law, doing what they're supposed to be doing. In verse four, even they celebrated the feast of booze. That was 12:38 a a remembrance that they had to build tents and sha um shelters out of sticks and everything. And they're doing that even while surrounded by their enemies, even while they're scared of their enemies. That's not a very safe place to 12:49 be. Just go build a little teepee out of sticks. But that's what they did because that's what God said. In spite of their enemies, in spite of the adversity, as it is written, and they offered a fixed number of burnt offerings daily 13:01 according to the ordinance each day required after there was continual burnt offering. So they were they were going forward despite no matter what happened before. And for me that was an encouragement that no matter how many I' 13:13 I've messed up, maybe how my circumstances have changed, I can come and follow the Lord today. I can go forward today continually. And it says they follow the fixed festivals of the Lord that were consecrated and and all 13:24 these things. And verse six, they started all these things before they started the work of building. They got right with got right in their relationship with the Lord. They got right with the sacrifices, the altar, the things they were supposed to 13:38 be doing with their relationship with him, having their sins forgiven and being cleansed. From the first day, verse six, of the seventh month, they began to offer, but the foundation of the temple of the Lord had not been 13:49 laid. Verse 7, then they gave money to the masons and carpenters, food and drink and oil to the Zidonians to bring wood from Lebanon. So, start bringing in materials. We're going to start building now. It's a it's a wonderful thing to see. And uh we go 14:05 down to verse 10. They start building and the builders laid the foundation of the temple. The priests stood in their apparel and trumpets blowing s bl bl bl bl bl bl bl bl bl bl bl bl bl bl bl bl bl bl bl bl bl bl bl bl bl bl bl bl bl 14:13 bl bl bl bl bl bl bl bl bl bl blowing trumpets and symbols praise to the lord according to the directions of king David. They were going back to the way they were. They should have been on all these years. And they sang praising and 14:22 giving thanks to the Lord for he is good for his loving kindness is on Israel forever. And the people shouted, "This is such a wonderful." Imagine if you've been in exile for 70 years. Everything's been taken from you. Your land, your 14:33 heritage, your pride, all those things. You're nobody. And now you can come back and you can start over. And God is giving them a wonderful fresh start. And they are so happy. They are praising the Lord. What? Because the foundation of 14:44 the house of the Lord was laid. in verse 12. But there's another group of people here who are not as happy. It says in verse 12, "Yet many of the priests and Levites and heads of the father's households, the old men who had seen the 14:57 first temple, they wept with a loud voice when the foundation of this house was laid before their eyes, while many shouted for joy." And we'll read about them in Hagi. There were people who remembered the old days before 15:09 captivity. They were pretty old, but they remembered seeing that temple. They remembered having all this cultural, you know, happiness and contentment and they were on their land. They had their pride. They were they were their people 15:21 and they had everything and they had a memory of that. And then now now they're looking at this destroyed city and now they're just starting to put the foundation together and they're like, "This is never going to be as good as 15:31 what it was." And they're weeping. They're grieving over this. And but at the same time, you don't see the young people doing that. The young people, they don't know what that was like. They were born in Babylon. You got 15:41 Zerubbabel, a guy just born in Babylon. He He's not weeping. He's rejoicing. And it says, "Many shouted for joy." Verse 13. So the people couldn't distinguish the sh sound of the shout of joy from the weeping for the people shouted with 15:54 a loud shout and the sound was heard far away. So just the Lord is beginning to do this work and it's it's a wonderful thing. Uh verse four and five of the next chapter, we won't read all this. We don't have time. But the enemies of God 16:08 see this and they're not happy. They hear the shouting. They see what's going on. They see the momentum. They don't want this to happen. And verse four and 5, then the people of the land discouraged the people of Judah and 16:17 frightened them from building. So there was adversity. There was when when we turn to the Lord, we should not have some delusion that it's just going to be smooth sailing. There's going to be adversity. There's going to be could be 16:28 people, could be situations, whatever it may be. Here it was the enemies. They discouraged the people. And verse 5, they even hired counselors against them to frustrate their counsel all the days of Cirrus until Darius. So there's 16:40 there's adversity here. And I won't go into it because of time, but as you read chapter 4, they wrote a letter to the king and said, "Hey, there was a new king and they said, "Hey king, you got to watch out. These Israelites, they're 16:53 going to build this city. They are so rebellious and they're going to have their own kingdom. They're not going to pay taxes to you and you're going to lose control. You better watch out." So he and they said, "Actually, just look 17:02 in the records." And so the king looks in the records and he's like, "Yeah, you're right. This they had a wonderful kingdom in the past and they were rebellious. They didn't do what we said." So the king sent orders, "Stop 17:12 building right now." And verse uh chapter 4 23. uh as soon as the copy of the king's document was read before the Jews, they went in or before not the Jews, the enemies before Rahel and Shimshi, they went in haste to Jerusalem to the Jews 17:30 and stopped them by force of arms. So they got the king's backing. They convinced the king to stop them and the enemies of God came and they said, "You guys stop." And they brought weapons and they threatened them. And verse 24, then 17:43 the work of the house of God in Jerusalem ceased and it was stopped until the second year of the reign of Darius king of Persia. So they stopped. They were threatened. They stopped and they were the over the adversity was too 17:56 much in spite of God coming behind them and saying do this. I'm with you. It was too much for them. And in this period between right now where we stopped and the next verse in Ezra and between the book of Haggi, there's about 10 to 15 20 18:12 years maybe where nothing happens. And so they were sent there to build the city, build the temple. They the adversity is too much and they stop. And they could have appealed like they do later on back to the king said, "Hey, 18:26 listen. Cyrus told us we could do this." They didn't do that at that time. So at 10 to 15 years of nothing, of coasting. These were wholehearted people. These were not just idol worshippers or people who were just doing their own will, they 18:39 were yielded, but they they ran into a wall. And I see that too in our lives as we seek the Lord. There's going to be adversity. And there could be things that a wall that we hit or adversity or something goes wrong, something that we 18:50 never expected would happen or a hardship or some some resistance and it can make us it can knock us off course and cool us down. The thing that they did is that 10, 15, 20 years they they lost sight of the vision and the 19:03 obedience of what God said for them to do. And when when we get to Haggi now, we're going to go to Haggi. When we go to Haggi chapter 1, what Haggi has to say is going to make a lot more sense because these are the people they were 19:16 wholehearted one day at one time and they've cooled off. They've lost their their love. It's not there's no idols. There's no rebuke saying, "Put away your idols." They were fa they were faithful to Jehovah, to the Lord, the God of 19:28 Israel, but they cooled off and they left off what God had called them to do in the obedience. And so when we get to Haggi chapter 1, in the second year of Darius the king, the first day of the sixth month, the word of the Lord came by the prophet 19:42 Haggi to Zerubbabel and Joshua the priest, saying, "Thus says the Lord of hosts, this people say, the time has not come, even the time for the house of the Lord to be rebuilt." So the people are saying, this is kind of a quote from 19:57 what people say from one to another. Yeah, it's not, we don't think it's time. Maybe at, you know, it's been 15, 20 years. Maybe once in a while somebody brings it up. Hey, should we try to rebuild the temple we started? Do you 20:07 guys remember what happened? That was such a long time ago. Maybe we should restart. But there was a prevailing voice that said as as Haggi says in verse two, this people says, "The time has not come. The time to build the 20:19 house of the Lord." No, it's I don't think we should do that. And and why? You can kind of see in a minute. In verse three, then the word of the Lord came by Haggi again, saying, "Is it time for you yourselves to dwell in your 20:30 paneled houses while this house lies waste? Why were they not interested in building the temple and and maybe starting up that conflict with the king or the enemies? They had a comfortable life." And God says, "Are you so now 20:45 it's time for you to have your own way and now you're comfortable and now you have everything kind of how you want it. You're back in Israel, right? You're not in Babylon anymore. and I brought you here and it's been 10, 15 years and 20:57 you've built your own house. You got your farms, you got your family, you're settled in and you're just coasting along. You're not worshiping idols. That's wonderful, but you're not doing what I asked you to do, what I told you 21:07 to do, why I sent you here. And so this excuse, this cooling down, they've grown cold and they're they were just talking and said, "Yeah, it's not it's not time. I don't think it's God's will for me to do that right now." Well, yeah, it is. 21:19 And God loves the people enough to send Haggi. And in verse 5, he says, "Consider your ways." And here's what we're going to get into with verse six. You have sown much. This is God talking to them. You have sown much. You've gone and tried to plant all these 21:35 things, but your harvest has been very small. You've harvested little. You eat, but there is not enough to be satisfied. You drink, but there is not enough to become drunk. You put on clothes, but you're not warm enough. And he who earns 21:46 money earns money to put it into a hole with or into a purse with holes. Thus says the Lord, consider your own ways. God had sent in these, we don't know the time frame exactly, but during this period, God had sent trials. God had 22:00 sent drought. We'll read later. God had brought financial hardships. God had sent trials to their lives and could to constrain them to to get their attention, that they would respond to him, that they would wake up. He didn't 22:13 He loved them, and he still wanted his will to be done. He still wanted the temple to be built. And these people were coasting along comfortably. And so he he did he brought trials and he brought adversity. And Haggi had a very 22:24 clear message. These things are not just coincidence. This is not just a you know some kind of climate thing where it's a bad year. This is God doing this. And there are times where God certainly will bring trials into our life directly 22:37 because of our disobedience. He will chastise us. He will discipline us as a father does to his children. But one thing that has saved me and I know I've said this a lot because I know in my life I've struggled with that when a 22:48 trial comes what did I do Lord are you punishing me is this you know and you can get all frazzled and you can get over anxious and analyze your your life to some minute level but the thing that has really encouraged me over these last 23:01 years is that there's always a clear message. If the trial is because of something I've done to get my attention God will very clearly state it. And that's what Haggi is doing here in verse 6. You guys have done this and I'm 23:13 trying to get your attention. This is me doing it. In verse 7, consider your ways. In verse 8, go up to the mountain, bring wood, build the temple that I may be pleased in it, and be glorified, says the Lord. You look for much, but behold, 23:25 it comes to little. When you bring it home, I'm blowing it away. God says, I am doing this. Hello. And so it's just another of the many examples in scripture that when God is disciplining, God is bringing trials or adversity in 23:38 our lives because of something we've done or to get our attention, he will very clearly make that known. We should not have to wonder for months and years all these things that have happened to us. Is this God's trying to get my 23:49 attention? He will tell you. He loves the people. He loves you. He loves me. He's going to let us know. And back then it was through Haggi. through us. It's the Holy Spirit. Through reading his word, through a message, through 23:59 fellowship and talking with people, God will take anything and he will speak to us and he will let us know if our hearts are towards him. We don't have to doubt and wonder. We don't have to go into introspection and worry about all these 24:10 things. And we don't want to park there and and sit and wonder all these things. And I thought of the illustration of when you go, many of us have had to go to the airport to pick someone up. you know, a friend or relative is coming 24:21 into town and you go into the drop off area and there's a lot of cars and kind of chaos and you're trying not to crash and all that stuff. You're looking for your friend or whoever, but there's one person who is always in that area, at 24:35 least one, and it's a police officer or security guard, and their job is to make sure you don't sit there too long. You may be able to pull up and and keep your foot on the brake. Don't park. Just kind of look look for your friend, you know, 24:47 wonder what's going on, but maybe 30 seconds, maybe a couple minutes, but you're not going to park, get out, and go inside. You will you will find out what the police has to say about that. The police's job is to make sure you 24:57 don't park there. Okay? You can pause here for a minute. If your friends here, good. If not, go around and call them or whatever. And so I thought of that as the Holy Spirit as we as we come into trials or some crazy thing happens or we 25:10 just wonder, Lord, is this you? Are you trying to say something to me? We can pull up. We can just put our foot on the brake. We can look around. Lord, that's the time we say, Lord, are you is this a is this because of something I've done? 25:22 And the Lord will say he'll let you know or he doesn't. And he'll say, don't park here. Don't stay here for months and months and months and years condemning yourself questioning all these things. I love you. I'm your dad. I will tell you, 25:35 I think all of us who are parents, we all want our children to know if they've done something wrong. We we don't play a game. How cruel would it be to to punish them for something and never tell them that it was a punishment for what they 25:47 did? God is so much a better father for us. But he he doesn't want us to park there. He wants us It's good to stop and ask the Lord, but move on in faith that he will tell you. He's a good father. This this truth has really helped me and 25:58 it saved me from a lot of condemnation. So in verse 8, God said, "Go up to the mountains and bring wood. Rebuild the temple that I may be pleased with it and glorified." And he talks about, "You look for much. I blew it away. I'm 26:12 trying to get your attention." And he says, "Why, declares the Lord of Hosts, because my house which lies desolate while each of you runs to his own house." And this is a picture of our will, giving in to our own will, just 26:24 coasting along. This isn't about building some temple or a structure. Obviously, it's it's applies to our life that the focus of the people over these years. They've been comfortable. They've been the king of Pers has been favorable 26:36 to them. He doesn't persecute them. They're in their own land. They got back. At least they have that much. But they're they're comfortable. They're in their own they're in their own mind and their own will. And God says, "I'm doing 26:47 this to get your attention because my house is desolate and each of you is running to your own house." Verse 10. Therefore, because of you, the skies withheld its due. I called for a drought and on the wine and the on the cattle 26:58 and all the labor of your hands. God is very again God is very clearly telling them this is why the trial is coming. So again for me this is it's a it's a done deal. It's a settled case that if God's correct me he will let me know. I don't 27:09 have to wonder. He is a good he's a good father. So after all this from Haggi comes to these people who are the same people. They long ago they were zealous on fire doing what God wanted them to do. Some adversity came. They maybe they 27:24 we don't know all their reasons. Maybe they got upset with God for allowing this. Who knows? But these people hear the hear the rebuke hear the correction from Haggi. A picture of the Holy Spirit. In verse 12, then Zerubbabel son 27:36 of Shel and Joshua the son of Josec the priest with all the remnant of the people obeyed the voice of the Lord their God and the words of Haggi the prophet as the Lord their God had sent him. And the people showed reverence for 27:48 the Lord. I wish every prophet had this result. This is more rare. This is a wonderful book because the people actually responded in obedience. They turned from their ways and their complacency and they're just coasting 28:01 along and just doing their own will and they heard the word and they repented and they obeyed. It's such a wonderful s a wonderful example in verse 13. Then then Haggi the messenger of the Lord spoke by the commission of the Lord to 28:14 the people saying I am with you. That's the comfort we need. That's what we need to hear. I am with you. But you notice he says it after they chose to obey. After they cho after they heard the correction and they realize all that 28:28 they've gone through and they realize that they've drifted from the Lord and they choose to obey. Then the Lord brings that comfort of I am with you. And verse 14, so the Lord stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel and Joshua and the 28:41 spirit of the remnant of the people and they came and worked on the house of the Lord of hosts their God. And one thing stands out to me here very clearly is that we can we can be in a dry season of life. We can feel like maybe drifted 28:56 from the Lord or things are cold and we can ask the Lord to stir us up and that's fine. That's not wrong. But you notice very clearly verse 12 they obeyed first. Then in verse 14, then it says, "So the Lord stirred them up." The 29:10 stirring might have to come after we do what we know we're supposed to do. If we know what we're supposed to do, he he may not give us that stirring until after we start in faith. We we go forward in faith and obedience. And it 29:23 says then he stirred them up to build. And it says then they when they obeyed, they showed reverence for God. And God said, "I'm with you." And God stirred them to do what he's called them to do. And they came and worked on the house of 29:35 the Lord their God. And that's just a a wonderful it's freedom because I it it again brings us back to it's our choice. I don't have to obey. He's not going to make me. But as I choose to obey him, as we read in Ezra, they were terrified, 29:49 but they built an altar. They didn't they didn't gather their armies and figure out how can we defeat all these enemies. They said, "Lord, what I there there's no one else that can possibly help us. Let's build an altar. If they 29:59 kill us, whatever, but Lord, you are it." And that's where that place of surrender and trust and acceptance and that place of obedience. And then he can stir us up to do what he wants us to do. And then in chapter 2, uh, Haggi speaks 30:15 again. This is a couple weeks later, Haggi gives you the time frame so you can see, but a couple weeks later in verse two, he says, "Speak now to Derbabel and Joshua and to the remnant of the people." And he says, "Who is 30:29 left among you who saw this temple in its former glory? How do you see it now? Does it not seem to you like nothing in comparison? He's God saw all that weeping. Those people who were upset about the temple is not as good and they 30:42 were weeping when they should have been praising and God's addressing that. You said, "You see this temple? It's nothing compared to remember the if you we don't have time to go back to Kings where Solomon built this amazing temple, all 30:54 this gold and just the wonderful celebration of all the sacrifices, the huge kickoff party when he built that thing. This this thing is nothing compared to that." And God says, "You I know I know what you're thinking. You're 31:06 looking on the outside. You're looking and saying, "This would never be as good as that. This will never be what those what those things were in that day. But now take courage." Verse four. Take courage. You even though you didn't see that, you 31:22 can take courage because you can just listen to my word and go by what I'm saying. You're not going to go by your memories or your mind or your eyes what you saw. You're not going to be discouraged because you can just listen 31:32 to me and believe me. He's talking to Zerubbabel and Joshua. And all you people of the land, take courage, declares the Lord, and work for I with you, says the Lord of hosts. Do what I said. Do fulfill the calling I put on your life and do what I've told 31:48 you to do. Take courage and do this and I will be with you. Again, he says, I'm with you. That promise. And I feel like a lot of us that's lacking in our life. That awareness that God is with us as we follow him, as we yield and obey, he is 32:02 with us. and with if he is with if he is for us who can be against us. Do not fear. In verse five, as for the promise which I made to you when you came out of Egypt, when I brought you all out of Egypt, he says, "My spirit is abiding in 32:19 your midst. Do not fear. Do not be afraid." So often we hear that. Do not be afraid. In verse 7, and I will shake all the nations, and they will come with the wealth, I'm sorry, verse six. For once in a little while, I'm going to 32:34 shake the heavens and the earth, the sea, and also the dry land. And this is in Hebrews, the verse that we talk about, I think maybe even last week, Brother Zach mentioned it. I'm going to God says, I'm going to shake the heavens 32:44 and the earth. I'm going to shake the sea. I'm going to shake the dry land. All this is temporary. All this is temporary. all the all your houses that you were and it's not wrong to improve your house. Don't misunderstand, of course, but it was a 32:57 picture of they were just living for themselves. They weren't worshiping idols. They weren't off in the world doing evil, but they were living for themselves comfortably and they weren't following what God had said. God says, 33:07 "I'm going to shake all these things. I'm going to shake all the nations. They will come with the wealth of all the nations and fill this house with glory, says the Lord of Hosts." The silver is mine and the gold is mine, 33:18 declares the Lord of Hosts. This verse has comforted me many times. I underdied it long ago when I saw this that if I'm worried about how am I going to financially how how are things going to go? God, every penny, every every piece 33:32 of silver in the world, every piece of gold that is discovered or not discovered, every dollar in the treasury belongs to my father and it's his that's his declaration. And so I don't have to fear. I don't have to fear. And he says 33:44 in verse 9, the latter glory of this house will be greater than the former. this house who some of you are weeping because of how poor it looks. The the glory of this house will be greater than the former. And if we think about our 33:57 lives, we don't all each other's all detailed stories, but we've me we've all messed up. We've all maybe can look back and say, "Wow, it was so much better then in this situation." I know I've I've had that in my life. I look back 10 20 34:11 years. Wow, it was a lot easier then. Or things were better in this way or that way. And I could think, "Oh, if I could just get back to that glory." No. Ecclesiastes says, "Don't don't say that the old times were better than than now, 34:24 cuz that's not a wise thing to do." And this is the promise that the Lord encouraged me with. The latter glory of this house will be greater than the former. And in this place, I will give peace, declares the Lord of Hosts. And 34:35 now, if you're if you're one of the old men that saw all the the glory of the old temple, this might be harder for you to believe because you have your what you saw. But for Zerubbabel, he was born in Babylon. He's on the upward course. 34:48 Even though, you know, initially when they started built the altar, they were there and then even though they stopped for 15 years, he came back. And it God isn't beating him up with that fact. He wandered, maybe they paused, maybe they 35:00 stopped doing what God said. But God is treating them just like they never did it. God is treating it just like it's it's it's gone. He's forgiven them. And he says, "The latter glory will be greater and I will give peace in this 35:13 place. I will give you my peace." And we can have that faith that no matter what we've been through or how we've messed up or some maybe somebody did something and messed up our life, whatever the situation, the latter glory of our lives 35:23 can be greater than the former. And that's God's will. And for the sake of time, I I'll skip the next section, but I want to look at the at the end of the chapter in verse 20. Then the word of the Lord came a second time to Haggi. 35:39 Speak to Zerubbabel, governor of Judah. Speak to him. Speak to Zerubbabel. And God has a word for us. And remember, like we said, Zerubbabel, if all things would have continued, Zerubbabel would have been on the on the throne. He would 35:51 have been the king in the palace. He would have been in charge of everything, having a a good and luxurious life. But he suffered because of the mistakes and sins of his forefathers. And God wants to encourage him because Zerubbabel has 36:03 chosen God. He's chosen to obey. He has responded. When God rebuked him, he he said, "Yes, Lord. You're right." And he says, "Speak to Zerubbabel, governor of Judah." And he says the same thing he said before. He said, "I'm going to 36:14 shake the heavens and the earth. I'm going to shake all this. Don't get settled." Remember how before in that 15 years you went and left off and you built your own house. You were caught up in your own your own will and your own 36:25 comfort. I'm going to shake the heavens and the earth. I'm going to shake it. And verse 22, I will overthrow the thrones of kingdoms and destroy the power of kingdoms of the nations. And if God is going to overthrow everything in 36:39 this world, the most powerful thing is the is the kingdoms of the world. And he's going to overthrow them. And I will overthrow the chariots and their riders. The chariots were the best uh machines, the best war machines they had in those 36:49 days. Doesn't matter. All that stuff and the horses, their riders will go down. Everyone by the sword of another. All this stuff is not going to last, says Rabbel. But on that day, declares the Lord of hosts, I will take you, 36:59 Zerubbabel, son of Shelto, my servant, declares the Lord, and I will make you a signant ring, for I have chosen you, declares the Lord of hosts. And that's all we have preserved what Haggi wrote and written. But that encouragement that 37:13 God sees, even if we if we maybe we started out good and then we cooled off or we wandered, if we come back, we can come back today. We can come back at any minute and come back to him and obey him. And he's not asking you or me to be 37:25 Zerubbabel, governor of Judah, and to rebuild a temple or do do some to get busy in doing some church building work for God. He has a calling for each of us. He He There's simple things every single day that we know we're supposed 37:36 to do. These are not the big huge things that people are going to see. There's little things in all of our lives. The Lord speaks to us and he wants us to to just obey and just yield and obey. And he says, "On that day, as I shake 37:47 everything in the world, I I shook all these things. I I hit your crops. I blew on your money. I blew all your stuff away so you would listen and I could get your attention. If everything's easy and you just coast along, you're not 37:58 listening. So God will do those things in our lives and he will to get our attention because he loves us. He wants us restored to him. And he says, "I will take you on that day. You're my servant. I will make you like a signant ring and 38:08 I've chosen you." And that signate ring is something the kings would wear on their hand. Nobody else could get that signate ring because you had to pry it off the king's hand. Who's going to come up to the king on his throne and yank it 38:19 off his finger? Nobody. It's a precious and protected. If you're wearing a ring and someone tries to take it from you, no, you're not you're not getting this off of me. It's a safe and secure place and it's on the hand of our father. And 38:30 that can be us. Each one of us can be that ring on our father's finger that he's he's so pleased with us. He will give us peace. He's with us. He's given us his holy spirit. He's given us everything we need for life and 38:40 godliness. Let's seek him with all our hearts. And if we haven't responded, if we haven't walked in obedience to those things that he's spoken to us, let's do that today. and the and the l the glory of our latter life can be much more than 38:52 the former than anything we've ever gone through. So pray the Lord will encourage us and speak to us through this. Thank you brother Jared for the uh the 39:16 message that challenged me a lot uh the life of uh Hagai and uh um the the word of God uh in the new covenant days u uh we are the temple of 39:33 uh God and uh how challenging uh when we link uh uh what uh what's written in Hag guy with uh our spiritual life and uh uh our love for God and uh how much we need 39:49 to uh pay attention to when uh we are all focusing uh I know we all focus on the health and uh the physical being and how much more we need to uh focus our attention on uh the spiritual 40:07 life. uh again and again uh in Hagai um verse uh 5 and uh uh verse 7 he says consider your ways and uh um 40:22 uh in uh in Ephesians 4 it says uh uh we are equipped to um build the body of Christ. Yes. uh we are the temple of uh God and uh we need to grow in that area first and then uh 40:40 uh the the body of Christ uh we have to uh pay importance uh uh to the um also that's so another area I was challenged by uh that uh and also the another thing uh I noticed and is uh when uh brother 40:59 Jared was sharing uh why did God um spoke through Hagai. It says in the second year of uh Darius the king uh the word of lord came 41:17 by the prophet Hagai to Zerubbabel. um that uh when when I was uh meditating on this it's uh when we talk about Darius uh we can uh easily link uh uh 41:36 Darius to Daniel. Um if you go back to Daniel chapter 9, uh in the first year of uh Darius, uh um 41:54 Daniel started praying and uh and in the second year God speaks through Hagai to Zerubabel. how important in our lives uh to pray 42:11 for the body of Christ as well and uh Daniel pray uh it was amazing prayer and uh I know it may look uh slightly deviating but uh it's it's so amazing to uh read the prayer of uh Daniel and in 42:31 the following year uh God speaks to uh speaks to Zerbab through uh prophet Hagai. He says Daniel says open uh incline your ear and hear Lord open your ear. It's in verse 18 chapter uh Daniel 42:51 chapter 9:e 18. Open your eyes and see our desolation and the city which is called by your name. the city is in desolation and uh he was praying about it and for we are not presenting our pleas before you based on any merits of 43:09 our own but based on your great compassion. In 19 he says Lord hear Lord forgive Lord listen and take action for your own sake my God do not delay because your city and uh your people are 43:27 called by your name. Even the same thing uh uh uh in in Hagai God says the same thing actually in verse 7 consider when he says consider your raise go up to the mountains and bring the wood and rebuild the temple rebuild the temple that I may 43:46 be pleased with it and be glorified. Uh that's our primary goal. Uh thank you brother Jared and uh uh bringing to the bringing us to that uh point of uh glorifying God and uh how to build uh in the new covenant days uh us as the 44:05 temple of God and uh the church body. Yeah. Sh sh sh sh sh sh sh sh sh sh sh sh sh sh sh sh sh sh sh sh sh sh sh sh sh sh sh sh sh sh sh sh sh sh sh sh sh sh sh sh shall we all pray? And uh heavenly father uh thank you so much uh 44:14 for this time you have graciously provided and the message that that challenged us uh in various aspects. Father uh uh we want to Yes. Uh we don't uh we are uh called uh to build the 44:31 church build uh the temple uh that our body is the temple and uh the church we have here in Austin. And uh father help us lord uh in uh in keeping our focus on that in in our spiritual life in our uh 44:49 in our growth uh uh spiritual growth and uh the building of church and also father uh uh thank you for being in our midst uh during this time and uh bless us uh uh blessed us uh with your 45:06 presence here Lord. uh uh bless the rest of the time we are going to spend here uh and be with us father. May uh your name be praised. May your name be glorified through the rest of this week. Asking all this in the pre precious name 45:22 of Jesus Christ. Amen. Uh that's uh we are coming to the end of uh um the Sunday morning service. Uh uh thank you all for coming. Thank you all who called in Nathros.
