WEBVTT 00:00:01.960 --> 00:00:05.400 This is your daily reminder. God has not run 00:00:05.400 --> 00:00:09.199 out of mercy, not for you, not today. Welcome 00:00:09.199 --> 00:00:12.519 to the New Mercies Podcast. Welcome back to the 00:00:12.519 --> 00:00:16.620 New Mercies Podcast again today on... February 00:00:16.620 --> 00:00:19.920 the 17th, this is Tuesday. My reading today takes 00:00:19.920 --> 00:00:23.600 me to the book of Haggai, chapter 1. I know what 00:00:23.600 --> 00:00:25.600 some of you are thinking, oh yeah, I read Haggai 00:00:25.600 --> 00:00:28.539 the other day. Most of us are always in the book 00:00:28.539 --> 00:00:32.439 of Haggai at some point, but it is an Old Testament 00:00:32.439 --> 00:00:36.740 minor prophet towards the end of the Old Testament, 00:00:36.759 --> 00:00:42.609 and it is a book with incredible depth, a book 00:00:42.609 --> 00:00:45.270 with incredible challenges to it. Just a couple 00:00:45.270 --> 00:00:48.170 of chapters, not very long, but I want to look 00:00:48.170 --> 00:00:51.729 today in Haggai 1. I've read it and looked at 00:00:51.729 --> 00:00:53.630 it over and over again, and something stood out 00:00:53.630 --> 00:00:56.090 to me that is in the very first part of the chapter. 00:00:56.210 --> 00:00:57.850 I encourage you, read the whole chapter today. 00:00:58.660 --> 00:01:01.740 great, wonderful place to start, a little bit 00:01:01.740 --> 00:01:04.099 heavy and a little bit convicting. But I want 00:01:04.099 --> 00:01:06.659 to share just a little bit about Haggai as we 00:01:06.659 --> 00:01:10.819 jump in here. This is a prophet who is a part 00:01:10.819 --> 00:01:14.099 of the remnant that has come back to Jerusalem. 00:01:14.219 --> 00:01:16.629 So here's what's happened. If you go back to 00:01:16.629 --> 00:01:19.349 history, you will see that the Israelites, or 00:01:19.349 --> 00:01:22.109 God's people, Israel and Judah, that when the 00:01:22.109 --> 00:01:24.469 nation used to be one under King David, King 00:01:24.469 --> 00:01:27.409 Solomon, and then after Solomon, the nation split 00:01:27.409 --> 00:01:30.069 into two parts, a southern kingdom and a northern 00:01:30.069 --> 00:01:32.810 kingdom, Judah and Israel. They went about their 00:01:32.810 --> 00:01:36.019 ways. Northern kingdom didn't do so well. ever, 00:01:36.019 --> 00:01:40.079 never had a godly king in their throne. The southern 00:01:40.079 --> 00:01:42.540 kingdom had some godly kings in it, but eventually 00:01:42.540 --> 00:01:44.840 they were taken over. Both kingdoms were taken 00:01:44.840 --> 00:01:48.540 over and put in exile. You may have heard a lot 00:01:48.540 --> 00:01:51.219 of the history of that. If you've been around 00:01:51.219 --> 00:01:54.760 any of the podcasting that I've done, we've gone 00:01:54.760 --> 00:01:56.879 through the entire Old Testament before. We've 00:01:56.879 --> 00:01:59.480 gone through every book and looked at how the 00:01:59.480 --> 00:02:00.819 northern kingdom and southern kingdom, how they 00:02:00.819 --> 00:02:03.099 were attacked and how they're... put in exile, 00:02:03.260 --> 00:02:06.219 and then you read about Daniel, and Daniel was 00:02:06.219 --> 00:02:08.819 in exile in Babylon, and he said, oh, we're about 00:02:08.819 --> 00:02:11.819 to go back home. That's about to happen. There 00:02:11.819 --> 00:02:14.120 was a prophecy. I read it in Jeremiah. This is 00:02:14.120 --> 00:02:16.479 great. We're going to go back home. Well, now 00:02:16.479 --> 00:02:18.360 they've gone back home. There's been groups that 00:02:18.360 --> 00:02:21.039 have gone back home. Haggai is one of those that 00:02:21.039 --> 00:02:23.400 they're back from exile, and they're free to 00:02:23.400 --> 00:02:26.259 build now in Jerusalem. Now, there's a couple 00:02:26.259 --> 00:02:28.620 of remnants that go back, okay? So there's a 00:02:28.620 --> 00:02:32.060 lot that happens in that time frame that, one, 00:02:32.139 --> 00:02:34.360 they go back and they start to rebuild the temple 00:02:34.360 --> 00:02:36.259 and start to rebuild their houses and start to 00:02:36.259 --> 00:02:38.159 rebuild the walls. And maybe you've heard of 00:02:38.159 --> 00:02:40.159 some of those things with Nehemiah. He was the 00:02:40.159 --> 00:02:42.479 wall builder, right? You've maybe heard of some 00:02:42.479 --> 00:02:44.259 of that that's gone on in the Old Testament. 00:02:44.340 --> 00:02:46.740 But today, as we look at Haggai 1, that's kind 00:02:46.740 --> 00:02:48.900 of the backdrop. The people have shown back up, 00:02:48.979 --> 00:02:51.879 and their call is to rebuild the temple. Well, 00:02:52.020 --> 00:02:54.819 they don't rebuild the temple first. They start 00:02:54.819 --> 00:02:56.599 a little bit of the temple, but then they build 00:02:56.599 --> 00:02:59.379 their own houses first. And they build them with 00:02:59.379 --> 00:03:03.620 kind of some luxury to them. And so Haggai is 00:03:03.620 --> 00:03:09.280 not about money. It's not about money or resources. 00:03:09.419 --> 00:03:11.800 It's about priority. I want to read just a couple 00:03:11.800 --> 00:03:15.139 of verses out of Haggai 1 today so that we can 00:03:15.139 --> 00:03:18.800 see what's happening. Verse 1 gives the year, 00:03:19.099 --> 00:03:24.319 the month, the day. So just know that. It says, 00:03:36.159 --> 00:03:39.280 governor of Judah, and to Joshua, the son of 00:03:39.280 --> 00:03:43.180 Jehozadak, the high priest. Thus says the Lord 00:03:43.180 --> 00:03:46.780 of hosts, these people say that the time has 00:03:46.780 --> 00:03:48.620 not yet come to rebuild the house of the Lord. 00:03:48.680 --> 00:03:50.719 I'm going to stop right there. So this is the 00:03:50.719 --> 00:03:53.659 word that God gave Haggai to tell the people. 00:03:53.780 --> 00:03:56.819 So this is God saying to the people, he says, 00:03:56.919 --> 00:04:02.800 they say it's not time yet to rebuild the house 00:04:02.800 --> 00:04:07.060 of the Lord. I don't know. This is a very, very 00:04:07.060 --> 00:04:11.659 slippery slope that the people of God have found 00:04:11.659 --> 00:04:14.919 themselves in. They have said, oh, the time's 00:04:14.919 --> 00:04:18.279 not come yet. They didn't say, we're never going 00:04:18.279 --> 00:04:21.000 to build the house of the Lord. They said, we'll 00:04:21.000 --> 00:04:27.199 build the house of the Lord later. As I look 00:04:27.199 --> 00:04:30.360 at that, there's a part of me that thinks, okay. 00:04:30.910 --> 00:04:32.870 Maybe they want to get it right, and so they 00:04:32.870 --> 00:04:35.350 want to settle in first, and then after everybody 00:04:35.350 --> 00:04:38.069 gets their affairs in order, then they will all 00:04:38.069 --> 00:04:39.910 come together and build a household. It almost 00:04:39.910 --> 00:04:43.910 sounds noble, but spiritual procrastination is 00:04:43.910 --> 00:04:47.649 never a good thing. This is God calling them 00:04:47.649 --> 00:04:51.529 out. And by the way, God says in the second year 00:04:51.529 --> 00:04:53.990 of the king, in the sixth month, on the first 00:04:53.990 --> 00:04:57.050 day of that month, God gives it a pinpoint accurate 00:04:57.050 --> 00:05:01.360 day. This is when I'm going to say this. because 00:05:01.360 --> 00:05:04.100 delayed obedience, you heard it said before, 00:05:04.240 --> 00:05:08.100 delayed obedience is disobedience. They have 00:05:08.100 --> 00:05:11.319 disobeyed me, and I am pinpointing the day that 00:05:11.319 --> 00:05:14.079 I am setting this straight. This is the day. 00:05:14.199 --> 00:05:17.220 It may sound reasonable to you to say, we'll 00:05:17.220 --> 00:05:19.160 do it later, we'll do it later, we'll do it later. 00:05:19.800 --> 00:05:21.779 God says, I want you to do it now, and we say, 00:05:21.860 --> 00:05:23.879 well, let's get our house. done. Let's get our 00:05:23.879 --> 00:05:26.019 houses done. Let's get our stuff settled. I want 00:05:26.019 --> 00:05:27.379 to read the next two verses, verses three and 00:05:27.379 --> 00:05:29.259 four. Listen to what it says. This gets very, 00:05:29.300 --> 00:05:33.199 very personal from God. He says this, then the 00:05:33.199 --> 00:05:35.040 word of the Lord came by the hand of Haggai the 00:05:35.040 --> 00:05:38.199 prophet. Is it a time for you yourselves to dwell 00:05:38.199 --> 00:05:40.759 in your paneled houses while this house lays 00:05:40.759 --> 00:05:46.899 in ruins? Not good. God comes to Haggai the first 00:05:46.899 --> 00:05:50.540 time and he says, hey, everybody says that it's 00:05:50.540 --> 00:05:52.199 not time to rebuild the house of the Lord yet. 00:05:53.040 --> 00:05:55.019 And then it says, the word of the Lord came to 00:05:55.019 --> 00:05:57.720 Haggai again. Is it time for you to live in the 00:05:57.720 --> 00:06:00.360 big, fancy, nice houses and let my house lay 00:06:00.360 --> 00:06:03.740 in ruins? Not the word I'm looking for, right? 00:06:03.920 --> 00:06:07.879 That's immediate conviction. He says, look at 00:06:07.879 --> 00:06:11.040 what all you have, and then what's supposed to 00:06:11.040 --> 00:06:16.139 reflect my glory, you've given nothing to. You've 00:06:16.139 --> 00:06:20.060 not prioritized it at all. That is a scary thought. 00:06:22.779 --> 00:06:28.019 their comfort with his neglect. Now, I could 00:06:28.019 --> 00:06:31.540 stop right there, turn this microphone off, turn 00:06:31.540 --> 00:06:35.660 this camera off, and say, go look at your comforts 00:06:35.660 --> 00:06:37.379 and go look at what you've neglected that should 00:06:37.379 --> 00:06:40.379 belong to the Lord. And we should all go crying 00:06:40.379 --> 00:06:43.399 and be broken and realize that he's better than 00:06:43.399 --> 00:06:47.480 everything that we've ever done. And we're wrong 00:06:47.480 --> 00:06:49.560 is what we should do. We could do that today. 00:06:49.980 --> 00:06:51.360 I'm not going to because I got a couple things 00:06:51.360 --> 00:06:53.620 left I need to say that are really standing out 00:06:53.620 --> 00:06:55.980 to me. I hope you know this isn't just me preaching 00:06:55.980 --> 00:06:59.139 at you. It hit me first, right? This is what 00:06:59.139 --> 00:07:01.899 the way the word works. It hits me first, then 00:07:01.899 --> 00:07:04.800 I share it with you. The issue is not wealth. 00:07:05.199 --> 00:07:07.639 That's not the issue. The issue is what got finished 00:07:07.639 --> 00:07:11.379 first. The issue is what got priority. It says, 00:07:11.459 --> 00:07:13.259 is it time for you to live in your paneled houses? 00:07:13.800 --> 00:07:16.100 Paneled houses in this time, very, very expensive, 00:07:16.279 --> 00:07:18.740 very affluent. I'm not saying you can't have 00:07:18.740 --> 00:07:20.740 money or you can't have nice things. That's not 00:07:20.740 --> 00:07:23.519 what he's saying. He's saying, why did you take 00:07:23.519 --> 00:07:26.720 care of your own self before you allowed my glory 00:07:26.720 --> 00:07:29.639 to be on display? Why did you put these other 00:07:29.639 --> 00:07:32.579 things first? What you prioritize, let me tell 00:07:32.579 --> 00:07:35.019 you this, what you prioritize is what you worship. 00:07:35.660 --> 00:07:37.920 That's what you worship. Whatever you prioritize 00:07:37.920 --> 00:07:40.899 in your life is what you are worshiping. What 00:07:40.899 --> 00:07:43.480 is it you prioritize today? Do you prioritize 00:07:43.480 --> 00:07:45.949 the bigger, fancier, nicer things? Or do you 00:07:45.949 --> 00:07:48.470 prioritize getting the gospel to the world? Do 00:07:48.470 --> 00:07:51.370 you prioritize feeding the hungry? Do you prioritize 00:07:51.370 --> 00:07:55.269 those needy people around you? And you say, well, 00:07:55.350 --> 00:07:57.670 I can't be about that all the time. That's not 00:07:57.670 --> 00:07:59.290 what I'm going to be about. I got to make sure 00:07:59.290 --> 00:08:01.529 I'm taken care of first. That's what they said 00:08:01.529 --> 00:08:04.769 in Haggai's day too. I got to make sure my stuff's 00:08:04.769 --> 00:08:07.790 taken care of before I give anything to the Lord. 00:08:09.009 --> 00:08:11.170 I'm pretty sure God says, I want your first fruits. 00:08:11.790 --> 00:08:13.769 I'm pretty sure God says, I want you to get back 00:08:13.769 --> 00:08:16.129 to your first love. I'm pretty sure God says, 00:08:16.230 --> 00:08:19.810 I'm first. Everything you can do. Listen, God 00:08:19.810 --> 00:08:21.709 can do more with your 10 % than you can do with 00:08:21.709 --> 00:08:25.110 110%, right? We just don't seem to give him the 00:08:25.110 --> 00:08:28.649 first fruits. Haggai is a very specific, I mean, 00:08:28.670 --> 00:08:32.629 dated moment of conviction. He says, you took 00:08:32.629 --> 00:08:35.309 care of yourself first. I never asked for your 00:08:35.309 --> 00:08:38.750 leftovers. I want your first love. I don't want 00:08:38.750 --> 00:08:40.669 your leftovers. I'll read just a couple more 00:08:40.669 --> 00:08:42.879 verses here and then I'll be done. And so we 00:08:42.879 --> 00:08:45.500 can all go and weep and pray together. It says 00:08:45.500 --> 00:08:49.080 this in verse number five. Now, therefore, thus 00:08:49.080 --> 00:08:51.399 says the Lord of hosts, consider your ways. By 00:08:51.399 --> 00:08:53.700 the way, he says consider your ways a lot in 00:08:53.700 --> 00:08:57.799 Haggai. I will say this is a refrain he repeats. 00:08:58.700 --> 00:09:00.779 If I could encourage us in one thing, consider 00:09:00.779 --> 00:09:05.159 your ways. Just consider what you're doing. That's 00:09:05.159 --> 00:09:06.980 what he's saying. Consider what you prioritize. 00:09:07.279 --> 00:09:10.240 Take a moment and look at your bank account. 00:09:11.149 --> 00:09:13.889 Get on your banking app, open your checkbook 00:09:13.889 --> 00:09:16.110 if you're over 100 years old or whatever it is 00:09:16.110 --> 00:09:17.789 that you're looking at, whatever you've balanced. 00:09:17.909 --> 00:09:21.029 Look at your calendar and just consider what 00:09:21.029 --> 00:09:24.669 you are prioritizing in your life. If it is prioritizing 00:09:24.669 --> 00:09:29.070 yourself over the Lord, well, I'll just keep 00:09:29.070 --> 00:09:33.429 reading. Consider your ways. You have sown much 00:09:33.429 --> 00:09:37.259 and harvested little. You eat, but you never 00:09:37.259 --> 00:09:40.720 have enough. You drink, but you never have your 00:09:40.720 --> 00:09:44.519 fill. You clothe yourselves, but no one is warm. 00:09:45.159 --> 00:09:48.960 And he who earns wages does so to put them in 00:09:48.960 --> 00:09:52.700 a bag with holes. Thus says the Lord of hosts, 00:09:52.779 --> 00:09:56.240 consider your ways. He keeps going. I could keep 00:09:56.240 --> 00:09:58.500 reading, but I'm going to stop reading the scripture 00:09:58.500 --> 00:10:00.220 right there because that's enough for me to dwell 00:10:00.220 --> 00:10:02.519 on today. It's enough for me to think about today. 00:10:03.950 --> 00:10:07.269 He says, consider your ways. I'm going to confront 00:10:07.269 --> 00:10:10.929 this with absolute clarity. He says, you are 00:10:10.929 --> 00:10:13.450 constantly eating and you're never full. You're 00:10:13.450 --> 00:10:15.190 constantly drinking and you're never satisfied. 00:10:15.610 --> 00:10:17.870 You're constantly working and your money goes 00:10:17.870 --> 00:10:20.389 into bags with holes in it and it's just pouring 00:10:20.389 --> 00:10:24.210 right out. You harvest, you plant, but you don't 00:10:24.210 --> 00:10:28.529 get enough. He says, I need you to look at your 00:10:28.529 --> 00:10:30.960 life. I need you to consider your ways. Look 00:10:30.960 --> 00:10:33.559 at your life. I want every one of us today to 00:10:33.559 --> 00:10:36.700 look at our life and say, is my life, no wonder 00:10:36.700 --> 00:10:40.259 I'm chasing everything. I'm stressed out all 00:10:40.259 --> 00:10:41.840 the time. Why am I stressed out all the time? 00:10:41.899 --> 00:10:44.019 Oh, because I've prioritized myself over the 00:10:44.019 --> 00:10:46.360 Lord. God says, look at the birds of the field. 00:10:46.419 --> 00:10:48.059 I'll take care of them. They don't do anything. 00:10:48.059 --> 00:10:50.740 They're not stressing. Look at the flowers of 00:10:50.740 --> 00:10:52.720 the field. I've dressed them in more splendor 00:10:52.720 --> 00:10:55.320 than Solomon. I can take care of you. And we're 00:10:55.320 --> 00:10:58.200 like, yeah, but if I give you anything, I'm not 00:10:58.200 --> 00:11:01.659 going to have it. If I don't build my own house, 00:11:01.740 --> 00:11:03.700 how am I going to get there? I said before in 00:11:03.700 --> 00:11:07.539 an episode last week or some point that God's 00:11:07.539 --> 00:11:09.210 building my house in heaven. I don't have to 00:11:09.210 --> 00:11:10.970 get there and take my blueprints and say, God, 00:11:11.009 --> 00:11:12.110 here's what I want you to build. Here's what 00:11:12.110 --> 00:11:13.710 I want to build. I'll be sure and build this 00:11:13.710 --> 00:11:15.629 out and build this out. He's taking care of all 00:11:15.629 --> 00:11:17.389 of it. And he wants to take care of everything 00:11:17.389 --> 00:11:20.590 now. And he says, consider your ways. You are 00:11:20.590 --> 00:11:23.169 doing all of this work and realize that you keep, 00:11:23.230 --> 00:11:26.230 you're unsatisfied. You're stressed out. You 00:11:26.230 --> 00:11:29.450 can't sleep at night. You're worried about everything. 00:11:29.669 --> 00:11:32.809 You don't have enough money for the week. The 00:11:32.809 --> 00:11:36.789 money runs out before the month. You're overspent. 00:11:36.789 --> 00:11:39.389 You're exhausted. You're tired. He says, it's 00:11:39.389 --> 00:11:41.129 because you've gotten your priorities wrong. 00:11:41.970 --> 00:11:45.250 Line up your priorities right, and everything 00:11:45.250 --> 00:11:47.889 will fall into place. That's what will happen. 00:11:48.669 --> 00:11:53.070 You've got all this effort, and you are so frustrated. 00:11:53.350 --> 00:11:56.620 You have no satisfaction, none at all. You're 00:11:56.620 --> 00:11:59.039 working overtime and you still can't make it. 00:11:59.120 --> 00:12:01.620 You're still barely keeping your head afloat. 00:12:01.759 --> 00:12:05.080 That's not working. You've got misaligned priorities 00:12:05.080 --> 00:12:08.779 and they are going to produce diminishing returns. 00:12:09.259 --> 00:12:13.679 You are not going to get, you can be busy and 00:12:13.679 --> 00:12:17.519 still be barren. You can be busy and be hungry. 00:12:17.799 --> 00:12:21.740 You can be busy and unsatisfied. He says, listen, 00:12:21.840 --> 00:12:27.320 you've got full schedules. but empty souls. I 00:12:27.320 --> 00:12:30.600 cannot help but think this is the message we 00:12:30.600 --> 00:12:36.220 need today for every day. What are our priorities? 00:12:36.580 --> 00:12:41.220 How are we living our life? Are we living in 00:12:41.220 --> 00:12:43.320 the paneled houses, taking care of number one 00:12:43.320 --> 00:12:47.059 first, ourselves? Or are we saying, God, we want 00:12:47.059 --> 00:12:49.860 to align with your priorities. We want to give 00:12:49.860 --> 00:12:52.700 to your work. We want to support what you are 00:12:52.700 --> 00:12:54.500 doing, the kingdom of God. That's what we want 00:12:54.500 --> 00:12:57.620 to support first and foremost. If that's how 00:12:57.620 --> 00:12:59.679 we're living our lives, we're not going to be 00:12:59.679 --> 00:13:01.580 stressed out. We're not putting our money in 00:13:01.580 --> 00:13:03.600 bags with holes in it. We're not putting our 00:13:03.600 --> 00:13:07.820 hope in food that doesn't return, enough sown 00:13:07.820 --> 00:13:09.840 crop that doesn't yield. That's not what we're 00:13:09.840 --> 00:13:11.960 doing. We're saying, I trust God with every bit 00:13:11.960 --> 00:13:15.279 of this. Today, here's what I want us to do. 00:13:15.559 --> 00:13:19.159 In this short little time we have together, I 00:13:19.159 --> 00:13:21.549 want you to consider your ways. Look at your 00:13:21.549 --> 00:13:25.149 bank account or your checkbook or your social 00:13:25.149 --> 00:13:28.429 media or your calendar or your whatever your 00:13:28.429 --> 00:13:30.850 planner thing, whatever it is that shows what 00:13:30.850 --> 00:13:33.710 your life is about. I want you to look at it 00:13:33.710 --> 00:13:37.470 and consider who is it prioritizing.