WEBVTT

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This is your daily reminder. God has not run

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out of mercy, not for you, not today. Welcome

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to the New Mercies Podcast. Welcome back to the

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New Mercies Podcast today, February the 24th,

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Tuesday, and our reading plan today is Haggai

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chapter 2. Now, I encourage you, read the whole

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chapter. We've just finished Haggai 1. If you've

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been following along with us from the beginning,

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you've read Haggai 1 at least three times, and

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you have heard it preached from the pulpit. I

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preached on Haggai 1 on Sunday this past week,

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and so now we are looking into Haggai 2. The

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story continues. It doesn't stop in chapter 1.

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The end of chapter 1 sounds great. The people,

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the remnant, had come back. They had been there

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for 15 years. They had built their own houses.

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They had not finished the house of the Lord,

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the temple of God. God calls them out for it

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and says, hey, you've delayed your obedience.

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That's disobedience. It's time to work on my

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house. Get to work. The Spirit gets stirred in

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all of them, and they jumped in and started working.

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Now, here's where we come to in chapter 2. It

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would be nice to say, oh, they started working,

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and they finished the task, and now they celebrated.

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But there's a part that they got a little discouraged.

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I want to read a couple of verses out of Haggai

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1 today. Again, I encourage you to read all the

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verses. I'm going to read verses 3, 4, and 5.

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And then if we have time, I'm going to jump into

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verse number 9. But we're going to go through

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Haggai 2 again on Friday. So I've got to leave

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a little bit more for then. But here we go. I'm

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going to read a couple of verses out of Haggai

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2. We're going to start in verse number 3, and

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then we're going to talk about it. Who is left

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among you who saw this house in its former glory?

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How do you see it now? Is it not as nothing in

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your eyes? Yet now be strong, O Zerubbabel, declares

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the Lord. Be strong, O Joshua, son of Jehozadak

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the high priest. Be strong, all you people of

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the land, declares the Lord. Work, for I am with

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you, declares the Lord of hosts. According to

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the covenant that I made with you when you came

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out of Egypt, my spirit remains in your midst.

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Fear not. A couple of things that have happened.

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They have started working on the temple. and

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they got discouraged. How did they get discouraged?

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Well, let's go back a little bit further. Before

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they were in captivity, before Jerusalem was

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sieged, they had a temple before. The temple

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before was Solomon's temple, the most magnificent

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temple you can imagine. If you go back through

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the scripture, I thought about having this episode

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be a lot about Solomon's Temple because it was

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so magnificent. There's places in the scripture

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that tells you about each nail weighing several

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pounds each. Absolutely beautiful, spectacular

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feat of architecture and beautiful building that

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was the Solomon's Temple. Now, it was overtaken,

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destroyed. They were taken captive. They were

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in captivity. Then this is the remnant that came

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back. It lies in ruins. They're there for 15

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years. Nothing really gets done. Nothing really

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gets built on God's temple. He then calls them

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out. They now start working. Excitement shows

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up until someone makes the phrase, makes the

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statement, it's not like it used to be. This

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is not as spectacular. as the temple once was.

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It is a moment of discouragement that begins

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to filter through to everybody. You've heard

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it said before, if you've been in a church, you've

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heard it said, well, the glory days were this,

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this, this, this, this. Well, it used to be really

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great. Now it's turned into this. I'm a pastor

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of a church, and I can tell you that my father

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was the pastor of the church that I am pastoring

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now for 20 -plus years. And as his son, I came

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and accepted the call to be the pastor here about

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a year and a half after he had passed away. And

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here's what I heard a lot when I started the

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ministry here. Well, your dad did it like this.

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Well, it used to be really great. Well, New Providence

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used to be this great, powerful church in the

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community. Now it's changed so much. Now it's

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so different. And here's what I'll have to say

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about that. We all are inclined to say, to look

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back with nostalgia and say something was really

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great. And here's the deal. I don't want to take

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away from that. Sure, it was great. The things

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that the ministries that were going on or the

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way that God was moving or the things that happened

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before were great in their time. And the time

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is different. God is continuing to move. He's

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continuing to do things. He wants to do something

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fresh and new every day. I mean, this whole podcast

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is called New Mercies. Why? Because in the book

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of Lamentations, it says his mercies are new

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every single morning. He's doing something new

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today. Now we just lean in and listen and see

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what he's doing. In Haggai 2, what happened was

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they began to build, and someone made the phrase,

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this isn't as nice as the last time. It's not

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as nice as the last building. The temple before

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was better than the temple is now. And what does

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God do? That scripture, he tells his people,

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The first couple of verses, it says that God

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is speaking through Haggai once again, and he

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tells him to be strong three times. Be strong,

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Zerubbabel. He's the secular leader, if you remember.

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Be strong, Joshua, high priest. He's the spiritual

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leader. Be strong, people that are being faithful

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and obedient. We've looked. Haggai 1, all about

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obedience. It started out with misplaced priorities.

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Now we're going to obey the work and the call

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of the Lord. And now obedience has come and the

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work has started and it is wonderful and beautiful

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and amazing. Here we go. As soon as obedience

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starts, there is a discouragement that comes

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in. The enemy begins, if he can't stop the work,

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he'll discourage the work. If he can't stop the

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work from happening, he'll bring some complainers

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in and slow the work down and slow the progress

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down and bog everything down with negativity.

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That's what he'll do. I love how God, he doesn't

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even deny that Solomon's temple wasn't magnificent.

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You realize that's happened, right? It says in

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verse 4, work, I am with you. He's saying, yes,

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it was formerly an incredible, beautiful temple,

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but I'm asking you to work today, and I am with

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you today. part of what you are doing. There's

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a couple of things prophetically that happen

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here also that point to the future, right? I

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can imagine him saying to this remnant, listen,

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the temple you build, my son's going to walk

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through. You think about that. Jesus didn't walk

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through Solomon's temple. Solomon's temple was

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destroyed before Jesus came. Jesus showed up

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and walked through this temple that they're building.

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Have you thought about that? The Son of God himself

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is going to walk through. Whenever I was with

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my dad on work projects, he always used to say

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if we were hanging drywall somewhere or we were

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painting or we were doing something at a church

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or whatever, his phrase to me was always, I want

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you to paint this doorframe as though Jesus is

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going to walk through it and look at it. And

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I remember thinking, that's a heavy thing. If

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Jesus was walking through it, would he see the

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brush strokes that I lazily just threw on the

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doorframe? Or would he see smooth and well done

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and properly executed paint marks and all the

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things? I used to think, what if Jesus walked

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through here and saw my work? This is what happens

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in Haggai. He's saying, listen, the temple that's

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being built right now, my son Jesus is going

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to walk through. Now, he doesn't say that in

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those exact terms, but there is a prophetic emphasis

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that happens if you keep reading. And here's

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what I know about what he's calling the people

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to do. He's saying, I don't want you to be discouraged.

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I want you to focus on what matters. What matters

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is I am with you. I am with you. And then he

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says in verse 5, according to the covenant that

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I made with you when we came out of Egypt. Do

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you remember what happened when they came out

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of Egypt? God was with them in a pillar of smoke

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and a pillar of fire. He was leading them. And

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then he was fine to stay when they built the

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Ark of the Covenant. His presence was fine to

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reside between the two cherubim there at the

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mercy seat in the Ark of the Covenant. Here's

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what I think is absolutely amazing. God saying

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to them in that phrase, He's pointing backward

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to Egypt before there was ever a temple, before

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there was ever a place, before the tabernacle

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showed up, right? He's talking about whenever

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they left Egypt. Then they built the tabernacle

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with very specific instructions. So it was a

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tent out in the wilderness. God's saying, listen,

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I was with you before there was a temple, before

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there was a tabernacle. When I led you out of

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Egypt, I was with you. I was with you when the

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tabernacle showed up. In the first temple, yes,

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I was there, and I'm still here now. No matter

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what situation you've gone through, no matter

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what circumstance you've dealt with, I have been

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with you. I am still with you. I am a covenant

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-keeping God. Whatever you are dealing with and

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going through today, know that he is a covenant

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-keeping God, and he is going to be with us.

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So fear not. Why does he say fear not? There's

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discouragement. He should have said, be courageous

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because discourage and courage are different.

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Discourage means you lose your courage. So what

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does God say? He says, fear not. Don't be afraid.

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Don't let discouragement bring you out of the

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courage that I've tried to call you to. It's

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courageous to step into a new work and do something

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new. It's courageous to do something that's hard,

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that's not easy. As I think about this text today,

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I want to read one more verse to you, the verse

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number 9. The Bible says this, it says, The latter

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glory of this house shall be greater than the

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former, says the Lord of hosts. And in this place

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I will give peace. declares the Lord of hosts.

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In those verses that are in between that, God

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gives a little bit of an emphasis that he's going

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to shake some things, and what remains is what's

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eternal. What remains is what matters. I want

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to encourage you today to know that here's what

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God is saying. Listen, your obedience, what you're

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doing is you're measuring your obedience by the

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size of the task. He says, I'm asking you to

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measure your obedience by the presence of God.

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That's what I'm doing. Now, it doesn't mean that

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the size of the temple, the beauty and the splendor

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of the temple and the materials, it's not the

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materials that matter. It's the presence of God

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that will reside in it. It's not the flashiness

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of your life. It's not the magnitude of how many

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influences you have and how many people follow

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you on social media and how much greatness is

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about who you are. That's not what it is about.

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Is the presence of God in your life or not? That's

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what matters. We don't measure our obedience

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by the size of the task. We measure it by the

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amount of presence that is in it. by how much

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God is in it, right? That's how we measure things.

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We stop measuring how beautiful and how expensive

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and how lavish and how many. Is God in it or

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not? That's the question that we have in our

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heart. The temple didn't need better bricks.

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The temple needed the presence of God. That's

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what was needed. I want to say that one more

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time. Maybe we can grasp it a little bit better.

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In verse 9, he says, the latter glory of this

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house shall be greater than the former. He's

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talking about Solomon's temple. He says, Solomon's

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temple had way better bricks, but I'm about to

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do something through this one that's eternal

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and that's way bigger. His son is going to walk

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through this one. You think about that. His son's

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going to teach in this one. That is amazing.

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That's incredible. The temple doesn't need better

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bricks. It needs the presence of God. That's

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what it needs. I don't know what God's calling

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you to do, but here's what I'm saying. Be obedient

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today, no matter the size of the task, no matter

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the amount of influence, no matter the amount

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of things that come from it or how lavish it

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may look or how small it may look. The presence

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of God matters more than anything else. What

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feels small in obedience could be massive in

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eternity. Whenever you obey him today, keep in

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mind, if he's calling you to it, then he's going

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to walk with you through it.