WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.839 in the hallway out there and we realized, he 00:00:02.839 --> 00:00:04.500 said, well, they can't really do anything if 00:00:04.500 --> 00:00:06.500 we're back here. It made me question, I wonder 00:00:06.500 --> 00:00:09.359 just how long y 'all would just keep fellowshipping 00:00:09.359 --> 00:00:15.060 if we just never came back. But we love that 00:00:15.060 --> 00:00:17.660 time of you guys getting to see each other. As 00:00:17.660 --> 00:00:20.859 we know, as you come in, you're finding your 00:00:20.859 --> 00:00:24.350 seat. A lot of us... my family included, are 00:00:24.350 --> 00:00:26.370 getting here late, and so you're trying to rush 00:00:26.370 --> 00:00:28.510 and get to your spot. So we love that time of 00:00:28.510 --> 00:00:30.649 getting to spend time together. We're going to 00:00:30.649 --> 00:00:35.049 continue in our series of little books, big truths. 00:00:35.189 --> 00:00:36.710 We're going to be in the book of Haggai today, 00:00:36.829 --> 00:00:38.570 which you'll notice so far all the books we've 00:00:38.570 --> 00:00:40.549 done have been only one chapter. This one is, 00:00:40.609 --> 00:00:45.710 what, two chapters? Yeah, if you need a little 00:00:45.710 --> 00:00:47.770 bit of help finding it, it's right towards the 00:00:47.770 --> 00:00:50.530 end of the Old Testament, okay? So you'll find 00:00:50.530 --> 00:00:53.270 it there. But we're going to read, and Alex is 00:00:53.270 --> 00:00:57.049 going to preach through Haggai chapter 1 today. 00:00:57.450 --> 00:00:59.369 We also want to say it's really cool to see the 00:00:59.369 --> 00:01:01.649 Alabaster House visiting back with us, so thank 00:01:01.649 --> 00:01:03.990 you guys for being here, and we're really excited 00:01:03.990 --> 00:01:09.209 to have you. So, if you read with me, Haggai 00:01:09.209 --> 00:01:11.849 chapter 1, we'll get through these Hebrew names 00:01:11.849 --> 00:01:16.400 together. Let's read. In the second year of Darius 00:01:16.400 --> 00:01:19.019 the king, in the sixth month on the first day 00:01:19.019 --> 00:01:21.459 of the month, the word of the Lord came by the 00:01:21.459 --> 00:01:24.299 hand of Haggai the prophet to Zerubbabel, the 00:01:24.299 --> 00:01:27.239 son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua 00:01:27.239 --> 00:01:30.780 the son of Jehozadak, the high priest. Thus says 00:01:30.780 --> 00:01:33.840 the Lord of hosts, these people say the time 00:01:33.840 --> 00:01:35.939 has not yet come to rebuild the house of the 00:01:35.939 --> 00:01:38.799 Lord. Then the word of the Lord came by the hand 00:01:38.799 --> 00:01:41.790 of Haggai the prophet. Is it a time for you yourselves 00:01:41.790 --> 00:01:44.629 to dwell in your paneled houses while this house 00:01:44.629 --> 00:01:47.909 lies in ruins? Now therefore, thus says the Lord 00:01:47.909 --> 00:01:51.189 of hosts, consider your ways. You have sown much 00:01:51.189 --> 00:01:54.150 and harvested little. You eat, but you never 00:01:54.150 --> 00:01:57.189 have enough. You drink, but you never have your 00:01:57.189 --> 00:02:00.230 fill. You clothe yourselves, but no one is warm. 00:02:00.469 --> 00:02:03.650 And he who earns wages does so to put them into 00:02:03.650 --> 00:02:06.870 a bag with holes. Thus says the Lord of hosts, 00:02:07.069 --> 00:02:10.259 consider your ways. Go up to the hills and bring 00:02:10.259 --> 00:02:12.960 wood and build the house, that I may take pleasure 00:02:12.960 --> 00:02:15.560 in it and that I may be glorified, says the Lord. 00:02:15.860 --> 00:02:18.919 You looked for much, and behold, it came to little. 00:02:19.099 --> 00:02:21.159 And when you brought it home, I blew it away. 00:02:21.639 --> 00:02:25.379 Why? declares the Lord of hosts. Because of my 00:02:25.379 --> 00:02:28.439 house that lies in ruins, while each of you busies 00:02:28.439 --> 00:02:31.210 himself with his own house. Therefore the heavens 00:02:31.210 --> 00:02:33.650 above you have withheld the dew, and the earth 00:02:33.650 --> 00:02:35.990 has withheld its produce. And I have called for 00:02:35.990 --> 00:02:38.610 a drought on the land and the hills, on the grain, 00:02:38.669 --> 00:02:41.469 the new wine, the oil, on what the ground brings 00:02:41.469 --> 00:02:44.669 forth, on man and beast and all their labors. 00:02:45.270 --> 00:02:48.129 Then Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, and Joshua, 00:02:48.250 --> 00:02:50.650 the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, with all 00:02:50.650 --> 00:02:53.009 the remnant of the people, obeyed the voice of 00:02:53.009 --> 00:02:55.229 the Lord their God, and the words of Haggai the 00:02:55.229 --> 00:02:57.530 prophet, as the Lord their God had sent him. 00:02:57.650 --> 00:03:00.419 And the people feared the Lord. Then Haggai, 00:03:00.500 --> 00:03:02.360 the messenger of the Lord, spoke to the people 00:03:02.360 --> 00:03:06.039 with the Lord's message. I am with you, declares 00:03:06.039 --> 00:03:08.479 the Lord. And the Lord stirred up the spirit 00:03:08.479 --> 00:03:10.860 of Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, governor 00:03:10.860 --> 00:03:13.280 of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua, the son of 00:03:13.280 --> 00:03:15.460 Jehozadak, the high priest, and the spirit of 00:03:15.460 --> 00:03:17.639 all the remnant of the people. And they came 00:03:17.639 --> 00:03:19.780 and worked on the house of the Lord, of hosts, 00:03:19.960 --> 00:03:22.500 their God, on the twenty -fourth day of the month, 00:03:22.539 --> 00:03:24.719 in the sixth month, in the second year of Darius 00:03:24.719 --> 00:03:29.500 the king. Let's pray together. God, we thank 00:03:29.500 --> 00:03:32.560 you for another opportunity to hear and learn 00:03:32.560 --> 00:03:36.560 from your word today. God, we pray that you would 00:03:36.560 --> 00:03:39.939 prepare our hearts to hear the message that you 00:03:39.939 --> 00:03:42.099 have placed on your servant Alex. God, we pray 00:03:42.099 --> 00:03:45.599 that you would fill him with boldness, fill him 00:03:45.599 --> 00:03:48.180 with your spirit as he brings this truth to us. 00:03:48.240 --> 00:03:51.750 And God, we pray that you would convict us. God, 00:03:51.810 --> 00:03:54.789 that just like the people of Israel were neglecting 00:03:54.789 --> 00:03:58.009 the house of the Lord, God, I pray that if we 00:03:58.009 --> 00:04:00.469 have been neglecting what you have called us 00:04:00.469 --> 00:04:04.189 clearly to do for you in our lives, that you 00:04:04.189 --> 00:04:06.710 would convict us of that today. God, that you 00:04:06.710 --> 00:04:11.909 would redirect our hearts and our minds and our 00:04:11.909 --> 00:04:15.229 actions to be about your business, to bring about 00:04:15.229 --> 00:04:18.860 your glory. And so, God, help us to focus on 00:04:18.860 --> 00:04:20.959 that today. Help us to hear from you. In Jesus' 00:04:21.060 --> 00:04:28.439 name we pray. Amen. All right, I'm excited to 00:04:28.439 --> 00:04:31.480 get started with the book of Haggai. When you 00:04:31.480 --> 00:04:33.839 think about the story of the Bible, in the beginning, 00:04:33.980 --> 00:04:38.699 God's people dwelled in God's place, and they 00:04:38.699 --> 00:04:41.779 enjoyed God's presence. And that was the ideal. 00:04:41.899 --> 00:04:44.620 That was the plan that God wanted for the people 00:04:44.620 --> 00:04:47.860 to have. He wanted people to be in his place, 00:04:47.920 --> 00:04:50.399 enjoying his presence as his people. And so that 00:04:50.399 --> 00:04:51.959 was the Garden of Eden. And it kind of served 00:04:51.959 --> 00:04:55.639 as this first type of temple where heaven met 00:04:55.639 --> 00:04:58.339 earth and God and man had a place where they 00:04:58.339 --> 00:05:01.720 could interact together. And as you know, mankind 00:05:01.720 --> 00:05:03.899 messed that up. And Adam and Eve, they sinned 00:05:03.899 --> 00:05:05.899 against God. And so they are kicked out of the 00:05:05.899 --> 00:05:09.519 garden. God's people were no longer dwelling 00:05:09.519 --> 00:05:14.060 in God's place or enjoying God's presence. And 00:05:14.060 --> 00:05:15.639 so then it's really interesting that the story 00:05:15.639 --> 00:05:17.920 of the Bible becomes a story of how do we get 00:05:17.920 --> 00:05:21.220 back to this ideal? How do we get back to God's 00:05:21.220 --> 00:05:23.839 people dwelling in God's place and enjoying God's 00:05:23.839 --> 00:05:26.439 presence? And there were little snippets throughout 00:05:26.439 --> 00:05:28.660 history, right? I mean, at first you had the 00:05:28.660 --> 00:05:31.240 tabernacle in the wilderness where the people 00:05:31.240 --> 00:05:34.100 of Israel were together and God would come down 00:05:34.100 --> 00:05:36.259 and he would meet with Moses in the tabernacle. 00:05:36.319 --> 00:05:38.379 So you had God's people and God's presence, but 00:05:38.379 --> 00:05:41.759 they weren't in God's place yet. And then under 00:05:41.759 --> 00:05:43.800 Joshua, they go into the promised land, they 00:05:43.800 --> 00:05:45.680 conquer the land and the people inhabit the land. 00:05:45.980 --> 00:05:49.100 And you remember that the people of Israel, they 00:05:49.100 --> 00:05:52.209 did not want God as their king. And so they rejected 00:05:52.209 --> 00:05:53.790 God as their king. They said, give us a king 00:05:53.790 --> 00:05:56.149 like all the other nations. We want to be like 00:05:56.149 --> 00:05:59.170 the people of the world. And so God relented, 00:05:59.189 --> 00:06:02.170 and he gave them a king. And for a time, it did 00:06:02.170 --> 00:06:04.870 seem like, once again, you had God's people in 00:06:04.870 --> 00:06:08.029 God's place enjoying God's presence. And we know 00:06:08.029 --> 00:06:09.529 the story of the Old Testament, though, right? 00:06:09.550 --> 00:06:11.829 That didn't last long, did it? They even built 00:06:11.829 --> 00:06:13.670 the temple, and it was an even clearer picture 00:06:13.670 --> 00:06:16.550 of here we have the presence of God. This is 00:06:16.550 --> 00:06:19.730 like Eden all over again. Everything is great. 00:06:20.750 --> 00:06:24.189 But they continued to sin. And God was incredibly 00:06:24.189 --> 00:06:28.110 merciful and gracious and kind and patient. And 00:06:28.110 --> 00:06:30.189 he kept warning the people. He kept saying, if 00:06:30.189 --> 00:06:32.670 you do not return to me, if you do not give up 00:06:32.670 --> 00:06:34.910 these foreign gods, if you do not stop your sinful 00:06:34.910 --> 00:06:38.050 ways, you're going to go into exile. And that's 00:06:38.050 --> 00:06:40.480 exactly what happened. The people continued to 00:06:40.480 --> 00:06:43.860 rebel against God, and so God banished them from 00:06:43.860 --> 00:06:45.939 the promised land, and they went into captivity 00:06:45.939 --> 00:06:49.720 in Babylon for about 70 years. And so God's people 00:06:49.720 --> 00:06:51.660 were no longer in God's place, and they certainly 00:06:51.660 --> 00:06:54.959 weren't enjoying God's presence. And so they 00:06:54.959 --> 00:06:57.839 stayed in Babylon for 70 years. And then you 00:06:57.839 --> 00:07:00.279 have Persia, who became the new big bad of the 00:07:00.279 --> 00:07:03.860 land. And they overtook Babylon, and so the people 00:07:03.860 --> 00:07:06.199 were now under Persian rule, and there was a 00:07:06.199 --> 00:07:10.439 king, King Cyrus. And God moved in the heart 00:07:10.439 --> 00:07:13.639 of King Cyrus to issue this decree that said 00:07:13.639 --> 00:07:15.699 that the people of Israel could literally go 00:07:15.699 --> 00:07:18.300 back to their homeland, reestablish themselves 00:07:18.300 --> 00:07:20.860 as a nation, rebuild their temple and their walls, 00:07:20.980 --> 00:07:25.339 and they are free to go. You would think that 00:07:25.339 --> 00:07:28.759 if you were in captivity, Under a different king 00:07:28.759 --> 00:07:30.620 and a different government and a different nation, 00:07:30.720 --> 00:07:33.360 you would think that if God had moved in this 00:07:33.360 --> 00:07:36.040 way to bring about your freedom and deliverance, 00:07:36.079 --> 00:07:38.240 that when the king said you could go, you would 00:07:38.240 --> 00:07:41.019 think you'd run, right? Everybody's going back. 00:07:41.839 --> 00:07:44.680 The amazing thing is when he issued that decree, 00:07:44.939 --> 00:07:49.500 only about 50 ,000 people went back. And that 00:07:49.500 --> 00:07:52.370 might seem like a lot to you. But if you remember, 00:07:52.550 --> 00:07:54.550 when the people of Israel first entered the Promised 00:07:54.550 --> 00:07:57.709 Land under Joshua the Conqueror, they had about 00:07:57.709 --> 00:08:00.629 2 million people enter the Promised Land. And 00:08:00.629 --> 00:08:03.029 now, when they re -enter the Promised Land under 00:08:03.029 --> 00:08:05.990 a different Joshua, Joshua the High Priest, only 00:08:05.990 --> 00:08:08.970 about 50 ,000 go back. Because it turns out, 00:08:08.970 --> 00:08:11.689 when Babylon is all you know, it's really not 00:08:11.689 --> 00:08:14.259 someplace you want to leave. Well, as they were 00:08:14.259 --> 00:08:16.639 in captivity, the people had started families. 00:08:16.740 --> 00:08:18.860 They had built houses. They had started businesses. 00:08:19.459 --> 00:08:22.720 Babylon was their home. It was their life. And 00:08:22.720 --> 00:08:25.000 God's people didn't really care about being in 00:08:25.000 --> 00:08:27.379 God's place or enjoying God's presence anymore. 00:08:27.920 --> 00:08:31.339 But this 50 ,000 people who did care about this, 00:08:31.379 --> 00:08:33.720 they go back to the land. They're excited to 00:08:33.720 --> 00:08:36.120 get there. And what's amazing is as soon as they 00:08:36.120 --> 00:08:39.019 get to the land of Israel, they immediately rebuild 00:08:39.019 --> 00:08:42.179 the altar. They immediately lay down the foundation 00:08:42.179 --> 00:08:44.799 of the temple, and everything seems to be going 00:08:44.799 --> 00:08:49.220 great until it doesn't. And the surrounding nations 00:08:49.220 --> 00:08:52.539 started rising up with opposition towards the 00:08:52.539 --> 00:08:54.879 people as they were rebuilding the foundation 00:08:54.879 --> 00:08:57.879 of the temple and the altar. And so they experienced 00:08:57.879 --> 00:08:59.720 all this opposition from the world, and then 00:08:59.720 --> 00:09:02.120 they start worrying about themselves. And so 00:09:02.120 --> 00:09:03.659 they stopped working on the temple altogether. 00:09:04.059 --> 00:09:05.340 And you might be saying, well, how long did they 00:09:05.340 --> 00:09:07.259 stop? Maybe a couple days? No, it wasn't days. 00:09:07.950 --> 00:09:10.610 It wasn't weeks, it wasn't even months. They 00:09:10.610 --> 00:09:15.669 stopped working on the temple for 16 years. God 00:09:15.669 --> 00:09:19.429 delivered them. Think about how ungrateful this 00:09:19.429 --> 00:09:22.850 is, that God literally moved in the heart of 00:09:22.850 --> 00:09:25.909 a foreign king to release his prisoners to ensure 00:09:25.909 --> 00:09:28.090 that you could go back to your homeland, the 00:09:28.090 --> 00:09:30.809 promised land, and enjoy his presence again, 00:09:30.970 --> 00:09:33.409 and you completely neglect what he's telling 00:09:33.409 --> 00:09:37.120 you to do for 16 years. And it's not because 00:09:37.120 --> 00:09:40.159 of anything dramatic or drastic. It's exactly 00:09:40.159 --> 00:09:43.399 what happens to us. They just got busy. They're 00:09:43.399 --> 00:09:44.840 back in the land. They say, hey, we've got to 00:09:44.840 --> 00:09:46.600 have houses too. And so they started focusing 00:09:46.600 --> 00:09:48.940 on building their own houses. They started saying, 00:09:49.080 --> 00:09:50.899 hey, we've got to get the crops growing, so we've 00:09:50.899 --> 00:09:52.820 got to plant some farms. And then they said, 00:09:52.879 --> 00:09:54.000 well, you know, we've got to make some money, 00:09:54.039 --> 00:09:56.240 so we've got to start businesses. And life just 00:09:56.240 --> 00:09:58.559 continued to happen. And what once seemed like 00:09:58.559 --> 00:10:03.059 an urgent need, rebuild the temple, became something 00:10:03.059 --> 00:10:05.669 that was no longer on their priority list. And 00:10:05.669 --> 00:10:07.789 that's exactly where the book of Haggai begins. 00:10:08.009 --> 00:10:11.370 God raises up this elderly prophet named Haggai. 00:10:11.830 --> 00:10:14.970 And his message, it is amazing because he only 00:10:14.970 --> 00:10:17.769 preaches for about four months. And yet within 00:10:17.769 --> 00:10:20.090 that four month time span, you see one of the 00:10:20.090 --> 00:10:23.029 greatest revivals in all of biblical history 00:10:23.029 --> 00:10:25.250 where the people of Israel, they are going to 00:10:25.250 --> 00:10:27.730 receive God's word. They're going to repent of 00:10:27.730 --> 00:10:29.429 their sins and they're going to resume the work 00:10:29.429 --> 00:10:32.490 of the temple. And it's all because God is going 00:10:32.490 --> 00:10:34.740 to move in their hearts through the words. of 00:10:34.740 --> 00:10:37.100 Haggai the prophet. And you might be asking yourself, 00:10:37.240 --> 00:10:40.100 Pastor, this seems like it's a construction passage. 00:10:40.139 --> 00:10:41.879 This seems like a building passage. Are we starting 00:10:41.879 --> 00:10:43.659 some building project and that's why we're here? 00:10:43.759 --> 00:10:45.659 Let me put you at ease. We're not starting a 00:10:45.659 --> 00:10:48.960 building project of any sort anytime soon because 00:10:48.960 --> 00:10:52.100 this passage isn't ultimately about construction 00:10:52.100 --> 00:10:55.460 and it isn't ultimately about building. This 00:10:55.460 --> 00:10:59.929 passage is ultimately about priorities. The people 00:10:59.929 --> 00:11:03.490 of Israel no longer viewed God as a priority 00:11:03.490 --> 00:11:06.929 in their lives. They began to put God behind 00:11:06.929 --> 00:11:09.389 all their other things that they wanted in their 00:11:09.389 --> 00:11:11.470 lives. And they decided that their affection 00:11:11.470 --> 00:11:13.909 for God was going to be crowded out by the demands 00:11:13.909 --> 00:11:16.029 of this life. And I want you to understand, we 00:11:16.029 --> 00:11:17.730 struggle with the same thing. If you think you're 00:11:17.730 --> 00:11:20.169 any different than them, you're not. We have 00:11:20.169 --> 00:11:22.389 the same thing happen to us because we have careers, 00:11:22.669 --> 00:11:25.870 we have hobbies, we have finances, we have children's 00:11:25.870 --> 00:11:28.759 schedules. Y 'all know how busy that is? We have 00:11:28.759 --> 00:11:31.240 home projects, husbands. You know how busy that 00:11:31.240 --> 00:11:34.940 is. We have entertainment. And so we get all 00:11:34.940 --> 00:11:37.860 these good gifts from God. And even the good 00:11:37.860 --> 00:11:40.139 gifts that we receive from God, we can, if we're 00:11:40.139 --> 00:11:43.220 not careful, turn them into idols and value them 00:11:43.220 --> 00:11:45.980 more than the one who gives the gift. And this 00:11:45.980 --> 00:11:48.259 is where Haggai's message is going to confront 00:11:48.259 --> 00:11:50.100 us. He's going to tell us this in chapter one. 00:11:50.139 --> 00:11:53.480 He's going to say that God's people put God first. 00:11:54.029 --> 00:11:57.090 That's the whole point of chapter one. God's 00:11:57.090 --> 00:12:01.350 people put God first. There's some of you here 00:12:01.350 --> 00:12:03.049 this morning, you want to say, listen, I'm a 00:12:03.049 --> 00:12:04.950 Christian and I know that I'm a Christian. And 00:12:04.950 --> 00:12:06.769 I hear people say that all the time. And that's 00:12:06.769 --> 00:12:08.350 great. If you have that confidence, you have 00:12:08.350 --> 00:12:10.549 that assurance, that's what I want for you. And 00:12:10.549 --> 00:12:12.409 God wants you to have that assurance as well. 00:12:12.570 --> 00:12:15.409 But I also want you to understand that you can't 00:12:15.409 --> 00:12:17.509 go around claiming to be one of God's people 00:12:17.509 --> 00:12:19.570 if you're not actually putting God first in your 00:12:19.570 --> 00:12:22.690 life. That's not just a problem of, oh, well, 00:12:22.730 --> 00:12:25.210 I put him first sometimes. No, this is the consistent 00:12:25.210 --> 00:12:27.529 character and pattern of the Christian life. 00:12:27.610 --> 00:12:30.629 If you don't see this in your life, if you are 00:12:30.629 --> 00:12:33.070 not consistently putting God first, then you 00:12:33.070 --> 00:12:35.490 should be asking yourself and questioning whether 00:12:35.490 --> 00:12:37.750 or not you're actually part of God's people. 00:12:38.330 --> 00:12:40.190 And so the question I want us to consider this 00:12:40.190 --> 00:12:42.570 morning is, what keeps us from putting God first 00:12:42.570 --> 00:12:45.440 in our lives? If we know that it's what we're 00:12:45.440 --> 00:12:46.879 called to do, we know that it's something that 00:12:46.879 --> 00:12:49.460 we must do, then what is it that actually keeps 00:12:49.460 --> 00:12:52.320 us from putting God first in our lives? And I 00:12:52.320 --> 00:12:54.659 want you to notice what God says here in verse 00:12:54.659 --> 00:12:58.240 1. In the second year of Darius the king, so 00:12:58.240 --> 00:13:00.960 Cyrus has now passed on. There's a new king in 00:13:00.960 --> 00:13:04.159 Persia. It's Darius. In the sixth month, on the 00:13:04.159 --> 00:13:06.559 first day of the month, the word of the Lord 00:13:06.559 --> 00:13:09.600 came by the hand of Haggai the prophet to Zerubbabel, 00:13:09.759 --> 00:13:11.820 the son of Shealtiel, the governor of Judah. 00:13:12.250 --> 00:13:15.110 and to Joshua the son of Jehozadak the high priest. 00:13:15.789 --> 00:13:18.850 Thus says the Lord of hosts, these people say 00:13:18.850 --> 00:13:23.330 the time has not yet come to rebuild the house 00:13:23.330 --> 00:13:25.710 of the Lord. Now I want you to focus on that 00:13:25.710 --> 00:13:28.230 for just a second, because notice that the people 00:13:28.230 --> 00:13:32.149 of Israel, they did not reject God here. They're 00:13:32.149 --> 00:13:34.110 not saying, hey, we don't actually believe in 00:13:34.110 --> 00:13:36.809 God anymore. Cyrus is great, he sent us back, 00:13:36.929 --> 00:13:38.789 but we just don't actually believe in God. They're 00:13:38.789 --> 00:13:41.200 not saying that. I want you to notice they're 00:13:41.200 --> 00:13:43.100 also not saying that the temple is not important. 00:13:43.639 --> 00:13:45.639 They're not even saying we're never going to 00:13:45.639 --> 00:13:48.200 rebuild the temple again. Their problem is not 00:13:48.200 --> 00:13:51.299 outright rebellion. Their problem is perpetual 00:13:51.299 --> 00:13:56.320 postponement. They say it matters and we're going 00:13:56.320 --> 00:14:01.120 to get to it eventually. They were saying we're 00:14:01.120 --> 00:14:03.230 going to get around to it. There's a better time. 00:14:03.509 --> 00:14:05.370 Now is not the time. That's exactly what the 00:14:05.370 --> 00:14:07.429 Lord says to them. He says, these people say 00:14:07.429 --> 00:14:10.169 it is not time to rebuild the house of the Lord. 00:14:10.250 --> 00:14:13.490 And they had been saying that for 16 years. They 00:14:13.490 --> 00:14:16.289 kept telling God for 16 years, we'll get to it 00:14:16.289 --> 00:14:19.129 later. We'll get to it eventually. I know that 00:14:19.129 --> 00:14:21.730 we need to do this and I'm going to do this when 00:14:21.730 --> 00:14:24.649 the time is right. And I hear so many people 00:14:24.649 --> 00:14:28.440 sound just like this today. Just like the people 00:14:28.440 --> 00:14:29.879 of Israel, I have people who will say to me, 00:14:29.940 --> 00:14:32.399 Pastor, I'll get serious about my walk with Christ 00:14:32.399 --> 00:14:36.980 when work slows down. As if you cannot be serious 00:14:36.980 --> 00:14:40.559 about Christ if you have a job. And I know that's 00:14:40.559 --> 00:14:42.860 not the case because some of the strongest Christians 00:14:42.860 --> 00:14:44.720 I know work full -time jobs. I want you to understand, 00:14:44.860 --> 00:14:46.940 it's possible to be committed to Christ and work 00:14:46.940 --> 00:14:49.320 a full -time job. But people use that excuse 00:14:49.320 --> 00:14:50.779 all the time. They'll say, hey, listen, when 00:14:50.779 --> 00:14:52.820 work slows down, I'll get serious about my walk 00:14:52.820 --> 00:14:55.220 with Christ. Or I hear people say, I'll spend 00:14:55.220 --> 00:14:58.350 more time in God's Word. When the kids get older, 00:14:58.450 --> 00:15:00.450 because right now it's kids schedules. And listen, 00:15:00.549 --> 00:15:03.049 I do get that. I understand that. And I have 00:15:03.049 --> 00:15:04.870 people say it's hard to kind of carve out that 00:15:04.870 --> 00:15:06.909 time to spend time in prayer and God's word. 00:15:07.590 --> 00:15:09.570 Yes, but if you don't make it a priority now, 00:15:09.649 --> 00:15:11.129 I promise you, you're not going to make it a 00:15:11.129 --> 00:15:14.730 priority then. If it's not your kids later, it's 00:15:14.730 --> 00:15:16.590 going to be something else later. There's always 00:15:16.590 --> 00:15:19.330 going to be some other excuse. You hear people 00:15:19.330 --> 00:15:21.970 say, I'll start serving in the church once life 00:15:21.970 --> 00:15:25.250 becomes less busy. Or they'll say, I know that 00:15:25.250 --> 00:15:27.190 I have this sin in my life, and there's something 00:15:27.190 --> 00:15:29.250 that the Lord's been convicting me of, and God 00:15:29.250 --> 00:15:31.850 has made it clear to me through His Word, through 00:15:31.850 --> 00:15:34.029 the counsel of godly people, that this is something 00:15:34.029 --> 00:15:36.210 that I need to address in my life. And people 00:15:36.210 --> 00:15:38.990 will say, I'm going to get to it eventually. 00:15:40.210 --> 00:15:42.090 I'm going to turn it over to God eventually. 00:15:42.289 --> 00:15:44.309 I want to enjoy it just a little bit more, and 00:15:44.309 --> 00:15:46.610 then I'm going to turn it over to God one day. 00:15:47.309 --> 00:15:50.490 We rarely tell God no. We usually tell God later. 00:15:51.080 --> 00:15:53.000 And I want you to just understand this morning, 00:15:53.100 --> 00:15:56.059 a really important point. Delayed obedience is 00:15:56.059 --> 00:16:02.220 disobedience. Delayed obedience, it is disobedience. 00:16:03.200 --> 00:16:05.100 Now, we want to make a bunch of excuses, and 00:16:05.100 --> 00:16:06.539 we say, well, it's not actually disobedience 00:16:06.539 --> 00:16:10.259 because I am going to get to it. No, no. Delayed 00:16:10.259 --> 00:16:12.799 obedience, it is disobedience. And I can prove 00:16:12.799 --> 00:16:16.299 it because we would never make this distinction 00:16:16.299 --> 00:16:19.539 anywhere else in our lives. Right? Like on Saturdays, 00:16:19.539 --> 00:16:23.039 especially yesterday, I told my boys, you both 00:16:23.039 --> 00:16:25.440 have to clean your room today. That is your one 00:16:25.440 --> 00:16:28.600 job. Clean your room. That's all I'm asking you 00:16:28.600 --> 00:16:32.379 for 24 hours. Just please get your rooms clean. 00:16:32.539 --> 00:16:35.039 All right. Now, let's imagine that I go to them 00:16:35.039 --> 00:16:38.120 at the end of the day, particularly Ezra. And 00:16:38.120 --> 00:16:42.429 I look. And Ezra has not cleaned his room. In 00:16:42.429 --> 00:16:44.730 fact, what if it looks like he intentionally 00:16:44.730 --> 00:16:47.950 got out everything he owned just to prove his 00:16:47.950 --> 00:16:50.490 point and assert dominance in the household? 00:16:51.529 --> 00:16:57.049 Hypothetically. Now, if I came to him, and the 00:16:57.049 --> 00:16:58.409 reason I'm using Ezra is because he would be 00:16:58.409 --> 00:17:00.470 the one to say this. If I was like, Ezra, you 00:17:00.470 --> 00:17:02.950 had one job today. It was to clean your room. 00:17:03.070 --> 00:17:05.329 You disobeyed me. Why did you disobey? Imagine 00:17:05.329 --> 00:17:07.450 if he were to say to me, I didn't actually disobey, 00:17:07.529 --> 00:17:10.140 Daddy. I'm going to get it done. Eventually. 00:17:10.400 --> 00:17:13.240 The day is not over. I haven't not done it. I 00:17:13.240 --> 00:17:15.759 just haven't done it yet. Am I going to be like, 00:17:15.839 --> 00:17:17.440 you know what? That's really sound reasoning 00:17:17.440 --> 00:17:19.059 for a four -year -old. I think that makes a lot 00:17:19.059 --> 00:17:21.880 of sense. You're totally in the clear. No, every 00:17:21.880 --> 00:17:24.400 parent in here knows would be like, absolutely 00:17:24.400 --> 00:17:28.220 not. You had one job. You didn't do it. It doesn't 00:17:28.220 --> 00:17:29.880 matter if you keep kicking it down the road. 00:17:30.019 --> 00:17:32.440 This is what you were called to do. And that's 00:17:32.440 --> 00:17:34.779 exactly what's happening here in the book of 00:17:34.779 --> 00:17:36.720 Haggai with the people of Israel. They're trying 00:17:36.720 --> 00:17:39.519 to tell God, hey, we haven't disobeyed. We just 00:17:39.519 --> 00:17:42.539 haven't obeyed yet. And God is saying, that's 00:17:42.539 --> 00:17:45.720 the exact same thing. Delayed obedience, it is 00:17:45.720 --> 00:17:48.400 disobedience. And the reason this matters for 00:17:48.400 --> 00:17:50.359 us is because I know for a fact that there are 00:17:50.359 --> 00:17:52.880 some people here this morning where you know 00:17:52.880 --> 00:17:55.359 that God has been calling you to do something 00:17:55.359 --> 00:17:58.500 in your life and you have not done it yet. And 00:17:58.500 --> 00:18:00.380 you keep telling God later. There's some people 00:18:00.380 --> 00:18:02.700 here this morning, you know that your next step 00:18:02.700 --> 00:18:05.779 of obedience, it is baptism. And you've been 00:18:05.779 --> 00:18:07.920 knowing this for a while and you've been telling 00:18:07.920 --> 00:18:10.140 God, I know that I need to do it. I know that 00:18:10.140 --> 00:18:11.920 it's something that should be done. I'm going 00:18:11.920 --> 00:18:14.839 to do it eventually. For other people, it's church 00:18:14.839 --> 00:18:17.000 membership. And we preach this here all the time, 00:18:17.079 --> 00:18:19.359 not because we have any desire to grow George's 00:18:19.359 --> 00:18:21.839 Creek, but we have a desire to be biblical. If 00:18:21.839 --> 00:18:24.319 you're not a member of a local church, you need 00:18:24.319 --> 00:18:26.859 to be. You need to commit yourself to a local 00:18:26.859 --> 00:18:29.519 body. And you know this, you know the Bible says 00:18:29.519 --> 00:18:32.000 it, and you keep telling yourself, I know it's 00:18:32.000 --> 00:18:34.119 important. I know it needs to be done. I'm going 00:18:34.119 --> 00:18:38.119 to get to it. And think about how this applies 00:18:38.119 --> 00:18:41.299 in every area of our life. Some of you here this 00:18:41.299 --> 00:18:42.720 morning, you know that there's someone in your 00:18:42.720 --> 00:18:45.640 life that you need to forgive. You know that 00:18:45.640 --> 00:18:46.900 there's someone that you need to have a very 00:18:46.900 --> 00:18:49.000 serious conversation with and you need to reconcile 00:18:49.000 --> 00:18:52.000 with. And you've been hurt. And there's some 00:18:52.000 --> 00:18:53.519 bitterness in your heart. And you're having a 00:18:53.519 --> 00:18:55.920 hard time moving past that resentment. And God 00:18:55.920 --> 00:18:58.220 has made it clear to you. Now is the time to 00:18:58.220 --> 00:19:00.680 reconcile. Now is the time to forgive. Now is 00:19:00.680 --> 00:19:02.740 the time to have that hard conversation. And 00:19:02.740 --> 00:19:04.599 you're not telling God no. You're just telling 00:19:04.599 --> 00:19:09.420 God sometime later. And it's been maybe weeks 00:19:09.420 --> 00:19:12.430 or months or years. And I want you to know what 00:19:12.430 --> 00:19:13.769 you're doing is you're just trying to convince 00:19:13.769 --> 00:19:16.630 yourself that your delayed obedience is somehow 00:19:16.630 --> 00:19:19.089 different than disobedience. And I want to tell 00:19:19.089 --> 00:19:21.670 you this morning, if God has convicted your heart, 00:19:21.750 --> 00:19:24.410 and if God is calling you to do something, and 00:19:24.410 --> 00:19:27.190 if God has given you opportunity after opportunity 00:19:27.190 --> 00:19:31.309 to do that thing, now is the time to act. The 00:19:31.309 --> 00:19:34.430 people of Israel kept saying, now is not the 00:19:34.430 --> 00:19:36.890 time, Lord. And the Lord responds and says, brother, 00:19:37.049 --> 00:19:40.900 it's been time for 16 years. Many of us this 00:19:40.900 --> 00:19:43.960 morning need to stop making excuses, lay it at 00:19:43.960 --> 00:19:45.819 God's feet and say, Lord, whatever that next 00:19:45.819 --> 00:19:47.839 step is, whatever you're calling me to do, I 00:19:47.839 --> 00:19:51.119 want to be obedient. But the problem is the people 00:19:51.119 --> 00:19:53.460 of Israel, they kept putting themselves before 00:19:53.460 --> 00:19:55.420 God. I want you to notice in verse 3, look what 00:19:55.420 --> 00:19:59.220 it says. Then the word of the Lord came by the 00:19:59.220 --> 00:20:02.759 hand of Haggai the prophet. Is it time for you 00:20:02.759 --> 00:20:06.859 yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses while 00:20:06.859 --> 00:20:10.779 this house lies in ruins? Now, therefore, thus 00:20:10.779 --> 00:20:15.779 says the Lord of hosts, consider your ways. Now, 00:20:15.799 --> 00:20:18.519 I do want to make it clear. If you've got paneling 00:20:18.519 --> 00:20:20.440 in your house, God's not condemning you, okay? 00:20:20.660 --> 00:20:23.740 That was a style. That's really not what this 00:20:23.740 --> 00:20:26.420 is about at all. God's not mad about them living 00:20:26.420 --> 00:20:29.220 in houses. If you had a paneled house back then, 00:20:29.279 --> 00:20:30.660 it meant that you'd actually put a lot of time 00:20:30.660 --> 00:20:32.819 and effort, had some money to put towards that. 00:20:32.980 --> 00:20:35.339 This isn't a resource problem. This is a priority 00:20:35.339 --> 00:20:37.819 problem. God is saying, hey, look at your house. 00:20:37.900 --> 00:20:41.029 It's pretty nice, right? It looks good. My house 00:20:41.029 --> 00:20:44.250 is over here lying in ruins while you were taking 00:20:44.250 --> 00:20:46.369 care of yourselves. It wasn't enough for you 00:20:46.369 --> 00:20:48.490 to just put up a roof and some walls. Now you're 00:20:48.490 --> 00:20:50.630 going on to paneling and all sorts of other things. 00:20:50.789 --> 00:20:54.049 You have dedicated too much time to this while 00:20:54.049 --> 00:20:56.269 neglecting what I've called you to do. And so 00:20:56.269 --> 00:21:00.410 notice what he says. He says, consider your ways. 00:21:01.250 --> 00:21:03.329 And that might be the most important phrase in 00:21:03.329 --> 00:21:05.450 the entire book of Haggai. He's going to say 00:21:05.450 --> 00:21:07.809 it multiple times in this chapter. He's going 00:21:07.809 --> 00:21:09.730 to say it multiple times in the next chapter. 00:21:10.269 --> 00:21:12.990 Here's what it means in Hebrew. Literally, it 00:21:12.990 --> 00:21:18.170 means to set your heart on your ways. It's a 00:21:18.170 --> 00:21:21.569 meaning that means stop to think, to evaluate. 00:21:22.069 --> 00:21:24.069 When he's calling people to set their hearts 00:21:24.069 --> 00:21:26.410 on their ways, he is saying, I want you to look 00:21:26.410 --> 00:21:30.150 deeply inside yourself. I want you to look at 00:21:30.150 --> 00:21:32.910 your heart and ask yourself, what is it that 00:21:32.910 --> 00:21:35.579 is sitting on the throne of your heart? What 00:21:35.579 --> 00:21:38.839 is it that has a grip on your heart that is making 00:21:38.839 --> 00:21:41.559 you give all your time and your effort to all 00:21:41.559 --> 00:21:43.680 these other things besides me? He is wanting 00:21:43.680 --> 00:21:46.599 them to stop and actually consider, does God 00:21:46.599 --> 00:21:51.000 matter most to you? And if not, what is it that 00:21:51.000 --> 00:21:54.079 does? I think it's actually pretty humbling when 00:21:54.079 --> 00:21:58.500 you stop and take the time to consider. I mean, 00:21:58.519 --> 00:22:00.789 think about the fact that... That screen time 00:22:00.789 --> 00:22:02.809 report on your phone, y 'all get those too, right? 00:22:03.250 --> 00:22:04.690 If you have a smartphone, you get this screen 00:22:04.690 --> 00:22:07.130 time report. You can choose to ignore it, or 00:22:07.130 --> 00:22:09.349 if you look at it, it's pretty humbling. Because 00:22:09.349 --> 00:22:11.509 it might tell you on a Sunday, hey, this past 00:22:11.509 --> 00:22:14.490 week you averaged six hours on your phone per 00:22:14.490 --> 00:22:16.069 day. I'm not saying that's what mine is, I'm 00:22:16.069 --> 00:22:18.009 just saying let's say for you, maybe that's what 00:22:18.009 --> 00:22:21.849 yours is. Six hours, and you're like, okay, that 00:22:21.849 --> 00:22:25.190 might not be bad, grand scheme of things. But 00:22:25.190 --> 00:22:26.849 let's consider the fact that you're maybe only 00:22:26.849 --> 00:22:30.450 awake for 17 hours a day. That means more than 00:22:30.450 --> 00:22:33.670 a third of your time is being spent on your phone. 00:22:34.410 --> 00:22:36.329 And then if you break down that report, it'll 00:22:36.329 --> 00:22:37.789 tell you where you're actually spending your 00:22:37.789 --> 00:22:39.390 time on your phone. It's not going to be your 00:22:39.390 --> 00:22:41.289 Bible app for most of you, right? Like if it 00:22:41.289 --> 00:22:43.569 was, hey, I spent six hours on my Bible app, 00:22:43.630 --> 00:22:46.009 that's great. It's going to be social media for 00:22:46.009 --> 00:22:49.329 most of us. And you ask yourself, do these things 00:22:49.329 --> 00:22:52.250 deserve six hours of my time and attention per 00:22:52.250 --> 00:22:56.029 day? If you want an even more humbling example. 00:22:57.049 --> 00:22:58.869 I want you to think about the fact that you have 00:22:58.869 --> 00:23:03.569 168 hours in a given week. So if you're wondering 00:23:03.569 --> 00:23:04.829 how many hours are there in a week, there are 00:23:04.829 --> 00:23:09.089 168. How many of those hours do you think you're 00:23:09.089 --> 00:23:11.650 giving to God? You know, well, pastor, that's 00:23:11.650 --> 00:23:13.289 not fair because we've got to sleep. All right, 00:23:13.309 --> 00:23:16.029 I'll give that to you. Let's say you get an average 00:23:16.029 --> 00:23:17.990 of eight hours of sleep a night. And some of 00:23:17.990 --> 00:23:19.730 you, you're like, that would be great. I know, 00:23:19.769 --> 00:23:22.450 me too. But let's just say that you do. If you 00:23:22.450 --> 00:23:25.309 get eight hours of sleep per night, you're left 00:23:25.309 --> 00:23:28.529 with 112 hours that you're awake. And I hear 00:23:28.529 --> 00:23:30.009 another complaint. Someone's saying, but pastor, 00:23:30.089 --> 00:23:31.829 I work a full -time job. I'm going to give you 00:23:31.829 --> 00:23:34.829 that as well. Let's subtract 40 hours. So here's 00:23:34.829 --> 00:23:39.049 the number I want you to write down. 72. There 00:23:39.049 --> 00:23:42.829 are 72 hours in the week where you are awake, 00:23:43.029 --> 00:23:47.750 not sleeping, and not at work. There are 72 hours 00:23:47.750 --> 00:23:51.490 that you have available to you. And here's my 00:23:51.490 --> 00:23:55.250 question. How many of those hours do you think 00:23:55.250 --> 00:23:57.930 you're giving to God? Well, let's break that 00:23:57.930 --> 00:24:00.049 down as well. Why not? Let's just go for it. 00:24:01.049 --> 00:24:03.750 Most Christians only go to church once per week 00:24:03.750 --> 00:24:07.769 on Sunday morning. And most do not come to Sunday 00:24:07.769 --> 00:24:10.289 school. So you get one hour if I don't preach 00:24:10.289 --> 00:24:13.269 long. One hour. And let's say you do go to Sunday 00:24:13.269 --> 00:24:14.809 school, I'm going to give you two hours. So there's 00:24:14.809 --> 00:24:18.089 two hours right there. All right? And then let's 00:24:18.089 --> 00:24:19.930 say that, I know it's not all about gathering 00:24:19.930 --> 00:24:21.630 with the church, so let's say that you're spending 00:24:21.630 --> 00:24:25.910 an average of one hour a day in prayer, Bible 00:24:25.910 --> 00:24:31.049 study, gospel conversations, evangelism, or kingdom 00:24:31.049 --> 00:24:33.609 activity. I think an hour is pretty generous. 00:24:33.650 --> 00:24:35.329 I'm feeling very generous today, so I'm going 00:24:35.329 --> 00:24:37.650 to give you one hour every day where I think 00:24:37.650 --> 00:24:40.170 you're doing all of that stuff, God -related 00:24:40.170 --> 00:24:43.420 things, for one hour. And then if you come on 00:24:43.420 --> 00:24:44.880 Wednesdays, I'm going to give you another hour 00:24:44.880 --> 00:24:47.420 there. So that puts you at about 9 or 10 hours 00:24:47.420 --> 00:24:50.000 per week that you're giving to God out of that 00:24:50.000 --> 00:24:54.420 72. I hope you can see that that is hardly more 00:24:54.420 --> 00:24:57.599 than 10 % of your time that is being given to 00:24:57.599 --> 00:25:02.099 God every single week. You have 72 hours and 00:25:02.099 --> 00:25:05.660 10 are going to God. Now, here's my question 00:25:05.660 --> 00:25:08.660 to you. If you found out that I had this much 00:25:08.660 --> 00:25:11.859 time available, And out of all my given time 00:25:11.859 --> 00:25:14.920 that I had at my disposal, if you found out that 00:25:14.920 --> 00:25:18.059 I only spent 10 % of my time with my wife and 00:25:18.059 --> 00:25:20.279 kids, would you think that I was a good husband 00:25:20.279 --> 00:25:25.759 or father? Anybody? No? Would you say that my 00:25:25.759 --> 00:25:28.059 wife and kids were a priority in my life if I 00:25:28.059 --> 00:25:30.160 was only giving them 10 % of my available time? 00:25:30.920 --> 00:25:33.339 No, you'd be like, you're an absentee father. 00:25:34.079 --> 00:25:36.920 You're not taking care of your wife or acting 00:25:36.920 --> 00:25:39.119 like she's a priority at all. You need to step 00:25:39.119 --> 00:25:41.880 it up and do better. So then my question is, 00:25:41.960 --> 00:25:44.619 why do we excuse ourselves or let ourselves off 00:25:44.619 --> 00:25:47.799 the hook when it comes to God? If we're only 00:25:47.799 --> 00:25:50.380 giving God 10 % of our time, do you not think 00:25:50.380 --> 00:25:53.339 that that is a pretty big issue? If we're only 00:25:53.339 --> 00:25:55.799 giving God 10 % of our time, would you think 00:25:55.799 --> 00:25:59.110 that God is a priority in our lives at all? No, 00:25:59.110 --> 00:26:01.750 absolutely not. Here's what I found going off 00:26:01.750 --> 00:26:04.170 script here for a second. Everybody that I've 00:26:04.170 --> 00:26:06.329 ever met says that they want to go to heaven. 00:26:06.529 --> 00:26:08.849 I want to challenge you and I want to say, I 00:26:08.849 --> 00:26:11.549 don't actually think that's true. I think the 00:26:11.549 --> 00:26:13.349 majority of people don't want to go to hell. 00:26:13.750 --> 00:26:15.730 But just because you don't want to go to hell, 00:26:15.789 --> 00:26:17.589 that does not mean that you want to go to heaven. 00:26:17.750 --> 00:26:19.609 I hate to tell you this. Some of you don't want 00:26:19.609 --> 00:26:22.230 to hear this, but heaven is going to be like 00:26:22.230 --> 00:26:25.049 a giant church service. And I know a lot of you 00:26:25.049 --> 00:26:27.240 have problems with Christians. Guess who's only 00:26:27.240 --> 00:26:30.660 going to be in heaven? Did you guess exclusively 00:26:30.660 --> 00:26:33.720 Christians? Because that's the answer. A lot 00:26:33.720 --> 00:26:35.359 of you don't like to spend your time with God 00:26:35.359 --> 00:26:38.480 now. We are only going to be spending all of 00:26:38.480 --> 00:26:41.339 our time with God in heaven. You're going to 00:26:41.339 --> 00:26:44.400 be with God constantly, with Christians constantly, 00:26:44.480 --> 00:26:48.299 praising the Lord for his goodness and majesty 00:26:48.299 --> 00:26:52.869 forever and ever. That is heaven. And that's 00:26:52.869 --> 00:26:54.509 why I tell people all the time, the majority 00:26:54.509 --> 00:26:56.710 of people don't actually want heaven, they just 00:26:56.710 --> 00:27:00.089 don't want to go to hell. You say that God is 00:27:00.089 --> 00:27:03.730 a priority in your life, but I think your calendars, 00:27:03.730 --> 00:27:06.289 your checkbooks, your routines and your habits 00:27:06.289 --> 00:27:10.009 will reveal who your gods actually are. And I'm 00:27:10.009 --> 00:27:12.069 not saying that you've now got to go home and 00:27:12.069 --> 00:27:14.450 you've got to block off a huge chunk of your 00:27:14.450 --> 00:27:16.069 day and you say, all right, I've got to do six 00:27:16.069 --> 00:27:18.009 hours straight of Bible study and prayer. That's 00:27:18.009 --> 00:27:20.500 not what I'm saying. I'm saying that the true 00:27:20.500 --> 00:27:23.160 Christian is going to incorporate God into every 00:27:23.160 --> 00:27:26.539 aspect of his life. When you go to work, you're 00:27:26.539 --> 00:27:28.519 not just punching a clock and just going through 00:27:28.519 --> 00:27:31.039 the motions of your job. You understand that 00:27:31.039 --> 00:27:33.599 God has placed you there for a reason, that your 00:27:33.599 --> 00:27:36.160 work is a ministry, even if it is a secular job, 00:27:36.319 --> 00:27:38.500 and you're going to work for the glory of God 00:27:38.500 --> 00:27:41.359 every single day of your life. The Bible says 00:27:41.359 --> 00:27:43.359 whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, 00:27:43.440 --> 00:27:46.880 do everything for the glory of God. So I guarantee 00:27:46.880 --> 00:27:49.019 you, I promise you, you can punch a clock and 00:27:49.019 --> 00:27:53.160 glorify God at the same time. You start looking 00:27:53.160 --> 00:27:55.680 at your conversations that you're having. You 00:27:55.680 --> 00:27:58.660 take every conversation and you bring God into 00:27:58.660 --> 00:28:01.519 the conversation. Use every conversation as an 00:28:01.519 --> 00:28:04.059 opportunity to talk about God's goodness, His 00:28:04.059 --> 00:28:07.220 mercy, salvation in Christ, the wonders of the 00:28:07.220 --> 00:28:11.019 gospel of Jesus Christ. It means that you pray 00:28:11.019 --> 00:28:12.779 throughout the day. You don't just have to do 00:28:12.779 --> 00:28:14.559 six hours straight. One of the best things you 00:28:14.559 --> 00:28:17.859 can do is when you're driving, turn down the 00:28:17.859 --> 00:28:21.279 radio from time to time and use that as an opportunity 00:28:21.279 --> 00:28:23.299 to pray. With your eyes open, that's allowed. 00:28:23.660 --> 00:28:27.480 Your eyes don't have to be closed. But use that 00:28:27.480 --> 00:28:29.420 opportunity to pray. I do this so often when 00:28:29.420 --> 00:28:31.119 I'm driving. I just look around at creation. 00:28:32.159 --> 00:28:35.019 And you see the wonder and the creativity of 00:28:35.019 --> 00:28:38.039 God in creation. You can use that time to thank 00:28:38.039 --> 00:28:40.779 God for all that he has given you. Thank God 00:28:40.779 --> 00:28:42.839 for the blessings that he's given you. I mean, 00:28:42.859 --> 00:28:45.099 the old hymn says, name your blessings, count 00:28:45.099 --> 00:28:48.200 them one by one. Thank God for what he has done. 00:28:48.240 --> 00:28:50.099 That is what we should be doing on a daily basis. 00:28:50.259 --> 00:28:52.359 So I don't want you to hear me say, you've got 00:28:52.359 --> 00:28:54.519 to go home and just put seven hours on the clock 00:28:54.519 --> 00:28:56.940 of straight Bible reading and prayer. The Christian 00:28:56.940 --> 00:29:00.000 life is Christ -centered. It means that Jesus 00:29:00.000 --> 00:29:03.000 is part of everything that we do, say, and think, 00:29:03.180 --> 00:29:05.599 and that is how we can put him first in our lives. 00:29:06.460 --> 00:29:09.660 The problem is if you don't do this, no matter 00:29:09.660 --> 00:29:12.980 how hard you try to find fulfillment and happiness, 00:29:13.220 --> 00:29:16.079 you're going to feel tired and empty. I mean, 00:29:16.079 --> 00:29:17.400 that's what he says in verse 6. Look what he 00:29:17.400 --> 00:29:21.180 says. You've sown much and harvested little. 00:29:21.900 --> 00:29:24.359 You eat, but you never have enough. You drink, 00:29:24.500 --> 00:29:27.180 but you never have your fill. You clothe yourselves, 00:29:27.440 --> 00:29:30.980 but no one is warm. And he who earns wages does 00:29:30.980 --> 00:29:34.859 so to put them in a bag with holes. Thus says 00:29:34.859 --> 00:29:39.640 the Lord of hosts, consider your ways. Go up 00:29:39.640 --> 00:29:41.779 to the hills and bring wood and build the house 00:29:41.779 --> 00:29:44.420 that I may take pleasure in it and that I may 00:29:44.420 --> 00:29:47.539 be glorified, says the Lord. You looked for much 00:29:47.539 --> 00:29:49.660 and behold, it came to little. And when you brought 00:29:49.660 --> 00:29:53.579 it home. I blew it away. Why, declares the Lord 00:29:53.579 --> 00:29:55.980 of hosts, because of my house that lies in ruins. 00:29:56.500 --> 00:29:58.779 While each of you busies himself with his own 00:29:58.779 --> 00:30:02.259 house. Therefore, the heavens above you have 00:30:02.259 --> 00:30:04.640 withheld the dew and the earth has withheld its 00:30:04.640 --> 00:30:06.980 produce. And I've called for a drought on the 00:30:06.980 --> 00:30:08.859 land and on the hills and on the grain and the 00:30:08.859 --> 00:30:11.119 new wine, the oil, on what the ground brings 00:30:11.119 --> 00:30:14.180 forth on man and beast and all their labors. 00:30:14.819 --> 00:30:17.680 What is God saying? He's saying, you worked really 00:30:17.680 --> 00:30:22.140 hard. and you enjoyed things a lot less. You 00:30:22.140 --> 00:30:26.059 earned a lot more, and you felt a lot emptier. 00:30:26.559 --> 00:30:30.079 No matter how hard they worked, no matter what 00:30:30.079 --> 00:30:33.839 they did, they always felt tired and empty. Like 00:30:33.839 --> 00:30:35.859 they're accumulating stuff to put in a bag with 00:30:35.859 --> 00:30:39.319 holes in it. And it's revealing what their priorities 00:30:39.319 --> 00:30:42.700 actually are. God's command here, I want you 00:30:42.700 --> 00:30:44.980 to notice, His first command is not, now I want 00:30:44.980 --> 00:30:46.980 you to go and start rebuilding the house. Remember, 00:30:47.099 --> 00:30:51.160 His first command is, consider your ways. But 00:30:51.160 --> 00:30:53.259 before He's going to change their actions, He's 00:30:53.259 --> 00:30:54.740 going to confront their hearts. Because I want 00:30:54.740 --> 00:30:56.960 you to notice, the people of Israel had started 00:30:56.960 --> 00:30:59.059 to believe a lie that many people in our world 00:30:59.059 --> 00:31:03.319 believe today too. And it was this lie that something 00:31:03.319 --> 00:31:07.200 else out there is going to make you feel a way 00:31:07.200 --> 00:31:10.369 that only God can make you feel. It was this 00:31:10.369 --> 00:31:12.269 lie that there's something else out there. I 00:31:12.269 --> 00:31:13.769 don't even know what it is, but there's got to 00:31:13.769 --> 00:31:15.630 be something out there that's going to make me 00:31:15.630 --> 00:31:17.730 fulfilled, that's going to make me happy, that's 00:31:17.730 --> 00:31:20.009 going to make me feel complete and whole. There 00:31:20.009 --> 00:31:22.190 is something out there, and I'm going to keep 00:31:22.190 --> 00:31:25.190 searching for it. And Haggai is saying, from 00:31:25.190 --> 00:31:28.630 the Lord, no matter what you do, if you're looking 00:31:28.630 --> 00:31:31.230 for something other than God to satisfy you, 00:31:31.309 --> 00:31:34.210 you're never going to be satisfied. Here's his 00:31:34.210 --> 00:31:36.950 point here. We will never put God first as long 00:31:36.950 --> 00:31:39.269 as we believe that something else can satisfy 00:31:39.269 --> 00:31:43.750 us more than him. We will never put God first 00:31:43.750 --> 00:31:46.150 as long as we believe that something else can 00:31:46.150 --> 00:31:49.970 satisfy us more than him. And that's exactly 00:31:49.970 --> 00:31:53.750 what Israel believed here. They said, if we can 00:31:53.750 --> 00:31:57.089 just get our houses finished, then we're going 00:31:57.089 --> 00:32:01.549 to feel great. If we can just get the farms producing. 00:32:02.269 --> 00:32:04.970 If we can just become financially stable, if 00:32:04.970 --> 00:32:07.349 we can just have peace, then we'll be satisfied. 00:32:07.730 --> 00:32:09.809 And every time they thought they were getting 00:32:09.809 --> 00:32:13.890 ahead, it slipped through their fingers. And 00:32:13.890 --> 00:32:15.710 I want you to understand, we believe the same 00:32:15.710 --> 00:32:19.089 lies today. People believe the same lies about 00:32:19.089 --> 00:32:20.910 success. There are people today who will say, 00:32:20.990 --> 00:32:24.289 if you just achieve enough, then you're going 00:32:24.289 --> 00:32:26.680 to finally feel significant. And you're going 00:32:26.680 --> 00:32:29.259 to finally feel like you have value because you're 00:32:29.259 --> 00:32:32.000 basing your value based on what you do and what 00:32:32.000 --> 00:32:34.700 you achieve rather than on who God says you are. 00:32:35.480 --> 00:32:37.380 People make the same mistake with money, do they 00:32:37.380 --> 00:32:41.359 not? How many people say, if I just had infinite 00:32:41.359 --> 00:32:44.059 money, life would be as good as it could possibly 00:32:44.059 --> 00:32:46.859 be? And then you go and talk to people who do 00:32:46.859 --> 00:32:48.819 have money and they're like, actually, money 00:32:48.819 --> 00:32:51.670 cannot make you feel happy. Money can buy you 00:32:51.670 --> 00:32:54.109 a lot of things to give you temporary happiness. 00:32:54.349 --> 00:32:57.269 But no matter how rich you are, you're never 00:32:57.269 --> 00:33:00.509 going to feel deeply satisfied as long as money 00:33:00.509 --> 00:33:03.630 is your God. People think the same thing about 00:33:03.630 --> 00:33:05.470 comfort. And they're like, hey, if my life could 00:33:05.470 --> 00:33:08.069 just slow down for a little bit, if the trials 00:33:08.069 --> 00:33:11.170 could ease up, then life would be great and everything 00:33:11.170 --> 00:33:13.509 would be dandy. And people believe the same thing 00:33:13.509 --> 00:33:15.589 about relationships. If I just find the right 00:33:15.589 --> 00:33:18.339 person, then I'm going to feel complete. They're 00:33:18.339 --> 00:33:20.180 thinking about approval. If everyone likes me, 00:33:20.200 --> 00:33:21.900 then I'm finally going to feel accepted. And 00:33:21.900 --> 00:33:23.680 I want you to understand something this morning. 00:33:23.900 --> 00:33:27.440 Every single idol in the world is going to make 00:33:27.440 --> 00:33:31.259 you a promise that only God can fulfill. It is 00:33:31.259 --> 00:33:33.619 going to make you a promise that it has no ability 00:33:33.619 --> 00:33:36.319 to fulfill on its own. It is going to leave you 00:33:36.319 --> 00:33:41.640 feeling empty and hollow and tired. I remember 00:33:41.640 --> 00:33:45.279 last year, Anna and I were working on a puzzle. 00:33:46.089 --> 00:33:47.829 And it was a pretty hard puzzle. I know we're 00:33:47.829 --> 00:33:49.630 nerds. We like to listen to audio books and do 00:33:49.630 --> 00:33:51.349 puzzles. That's date night, all right? So you 00:33:51.349 --> 00:33:53.390 can judge us later for that. But we're doing 00:33:53.390 --> 00:33:56.029 a puzzle. And we finally got this puzzle finished. 00:33:56.190 --> 00:33:57.829 And then the worst thing that can happen when 00:33:57.829 --> 00:33:59.930 you're doing a puzzle happened to us. And I'm 00:33:59.930 --> 00:34:02.829 still upset about it. We looked and we saw that 00:34:02.829 --> 00:34:05.849 it was missing one piece. And not in a convenient 00:34:05.849 --> 00:34:08.289 location either. I mean, this was like a thousand 00:34:08.289 --> 00:34:10.570 piece puzzle of like an impressionist painting. 00:34:10.670 --> 00:34:13.650 It was not easy, okay? Finish it and it's missing 00:34:13.650 --> 00:34:17.239 a piece. And even though we put every other piece 00:34:17.239 --> 00:34:20.360 together in its right place, and even though 00:34:20.360 --> 00:34:22.320 you could pretty much tell what it was supposed 00:34:22.320 --> 00:34:25.420 to be, and you got this picture, all you could 00:34:25.420 --> 00:34:30.000 focus on was that missing piece. Yes? And no 00:34:30.000 --> 00:34:33.300 matter what you did, it never felt whole. It 00:34:33.300 --> 00:34:37.320 never felt complete. It always just felt missing 00:34:37.320 --> 00:34:40.119 and lacking. And I want you to understand that's 00:34:40.119 --> 00:34:44.219 exactly what life apart from God is like. So 00:34:44.219 --> 00:34:46.159 many people today, they try to fill that empty 00:34:46.159 --> 00:34:50.380 space with success or money or pleasure or relationships 00:34:50.380 --> 00:34:53.360 or entertainment. And we keep forcing pieces 00:34:53.360 --> 00:34:56.219 into a place that they were never designed to 00:34:56.219 --> 00:34:59.400 fit in the first place. And I want to just tell 00:34:59.400 --> 00:35:02.019 you from firsthand experience this morning. As 00:35:02.019 --> 00:35:05.599 someone who has tried to fill that missing piece 00:35:05.599 --> 00:35:08.599 with everything under the sun for years, I did 00:35:08.599 --> 00:35:11.719 it for years thinking this next thing is surely 00:35:11.719 --> 00:35:13.980 going to make me happy. This next thing is surely 00:35:13.980 --> 00:35:16.320 going to make me feel complete. I tried it all 00:35:16.320 --> 00:35:18.659 under the sun. I feel like Solomon when he was 00:35:18.659 --> 00:35:20.940 writing Ecclesiastes and he's like, listen, if 00:35:20.940 --> 00:35:23.079 it's out there and you can try it, I've tried 00:35:23.079 --> 00:35:24.659 it. And at the end of the day, you know what 00:35:24.659 --> 00:35:28.480 he said? All is vanity. It's worthless. It's 00:35:28.480 --> 00:35:31.820 fleeting. It's momentary. Now, I want to tell 00:35:31.820 --> 00:35:34.159 you this morning, you will never truly be satisfied 00:35:34.159 --> 00:35:37.179 or feel complete until you put God at the center 00:35:37.179 --> 00:35:40.239 of your life. He is the missing piece in your 00:35:40.239 --> 00:35:43.260 life, and he is the one who can bring you lasting 00:35:43.260 --> 00:35:46.179 and true satisfaction. And you can choose not 00:35:46.179 --> 00:35:48.619 to believe me. You can choose to make the same 00:35:48.619 --> 00:35:50.940 mistakes I did and think that something else 00:35:50.940 --> 00:35:53.699 out there is going to make you feel complete 00:35:53.699 --> 00:35:56.000 and whole. But I'm telling you right now, until 00:35:56.000 --> 00:35:59.099 you put God on the throne of your heart, you're 00:35:59.099 --> 00:36:01.340 never going to feel complete. You're never going 00:36:01.340 --> 00:36:03.340 to feel whole. And there's always going to be 00:36:03.340 --> 00:36:06.739 an empty space there. But when you do put God 00:36:06.739 --> 00:36:08.920 back where he belongs, on the throne of your 00:36:08.920 --> 00:36:11.480 heart, I want you to also understand everything 00:36:11.480 --> 00:36:14.599 else begins to come together. And all the pieces 00:36:14.599 --> 00:36:16.840 begin to fit. That's what happened in Haggai. 00:36:16.900 --> 00:36:20.059 Look at verse 12. It says, Then Zerubbabel, the 00:36:20.059 --> 00:36:23.539 son of Shealtiel, and Joshua, the son of Jehozadak, 00:36:23.559 --> 00:36:26.079 the high priest, with all the remnant of the 00:36:26.079 --> 00:36:28.960 people, obeyed the voice of the Lord their God. 00:36:29.559 --> 00:36:31.400 and the words of Haggai the prophet as their 00:36:31.400 --> 00:36:33.920 Lord God had sent him. And the people feared 00:36:33.920 --> 00:36:36.519 the Lord. Then Haggai the messenger of the Lord 00:36:36.519 --> 00:36:38.579 spoke to the people with the Lord's message. 00:36:38.619 --> 00:36:43.539 Listen to the message. I am with you. What do 00:36:43.539 --> 00:36:47.340 we have? God's people in God's place, enjoying 00:36:47.340 --> 00:36:50.800 God's presence. I am with you, declares the Lord. 00:36:51.320 --> 00:36:53.480 And the Lord stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel, 00:36:53.619 --> 00:36:55.340 the son of Shealtiel, the governor of Judah. 00:36:55.880 --> 00:36:58.059 in the spirit of Joshua, the son of Jehoshadak, 00:36:58.059 --> 00:37:00.059 the high priest, in the spirit of all the remnant 00:37:00.059 --> 00:37:02.360 of the people. And they came and worked on the 00:37:02.360 --> 00:37:04.699 house of the Lord of hosts, their God, on the 00:37:04.699 --> 00:37:07.400 24th day of the month, in the sixth month, in 00:37:07.400 --> 00:37:10.320 the second year of Darius the king. Now just 00:37:10.320 --> 00:37:14.099 notice these three very quick things. When you 00:37:14.099 --> 00:37:18.320 repent of your sins and you return to the Lord, 00:37:18.440 --> 00:37:21.400 there is immediate obedience. When the people 00:37:21.400 --> 00:37:24.320 were convicted by the word of the Lord, they 00:37:24.320 --> 00:37:26.739 repented of their sins and they immediately obeyed. 00:37:26.739 --> 00:37:29.019 They didn't wait around for another 16 years 00:37:29.019 --> 00:37:32.159 or 16 days. They immediately did what God was 00:37:32.159 --> 00:37:34.840 calling them to do. And then notice this, they 00:37:34.840 --> 00:37:38.619 also feared the Lord. When they finally heard 00:37:38.619 --> 00:37:40.539 the word of the Lord and they received the word 00:37:40.539 --> 00:37:43.579 of the Lord, they stopped fearing what the surrounding 00:37:43.579 --> 00:37:46.409 nations were going to do. They stopped worrying 00:37:46.409 --> 00:37:49.130 about their finances. They stopped worrying about 00:37:49.130 --> 00:37:51.750 their personal comfort or their personal conveniences. 00:37:51.809 --> 00:37:55.050 And they finally began to care more about God 00:37:55.050 --> 00:37:59.070 and His way than their own way. And then I want 00:37:59.070 --> 00:38:01.429 you to really pay attention to this. When they 00:38:01.429 --> 00:38:03.610 received the word of the Lord, they repented 00:38:03.610 --> 00:38:07.590 their sins, and they returned to God. God promises 00:38:07.590 --> 00:38:10.530 that He is with them. Now I want you to think 00:38:10.530 --> 00:38:13.000 about why this matters. because they had been 00:38:13.000 --> 00:38:16.460 astray for 16 years. Now, there's some of you 00:38:16.460 --> 00:38:18.480 in here this morning, you've probably been astray 00:38:18.480 --> 00:38:20.460 from the Lord, and maybe you're there this morning 00:38:20.460 --> 00:38:22.300 where you're like, this is my first attempt back 00:38:22.300 --> 00:38:25.000 at church. I've been wandering for a while. It's 00:38:25.000 --> 00:38:27.019 been a rocky road, and I'm just kind of getting 00:38:27.019 --> 00:38:30.280 back. You would think if they're going to return 00:38:30.280 --> 00:38:32.699 to God, you expect God to say something like, 00:38:32.780 --> 00:38:35.159 hey, you've been messing up for 16 years. You're 00:38:35.159 --> 00:38:37.099 going to be in a little trial period. We're going 00:38:37.099 --> 00:38:38.599 to see how you do for a little bit. And then 00:38:38.599 --> 00:38:41.250 if you can prove yourself, then you're going 00:38:41.250 --> 00:38:45.050 to be back in my good graces. And do not so many 00:38:45.050 --> 00:38:46.929 people think that exact same way in their own 00:38:46.929 --> 00:38:49.369 lives. They say, I know I need to return to God. 00:38:49.510 --> 00:38:51.469 I know I need to get serious about my walk with 00:38:51.469 --> 00:38:53.250 Christ, but I'm just so worried because of how 00:38:53.250 --> 00:38:56.630 far astray I have gone and what my life has looked 00:38:56.630 --> 00:38:59.250 like. And you're so concerned that when you come 00:38:59.250 --> 00:39:01.250 back to God, he's going to say, I need you to 00:39:01.250 --> 00:39:03.550 prove yourself. I need you to do something. I 00:39:03.550 --> 00:39:06.639 need you to show me that you're serious. And 00:39:06.639 --> 00:39:07.860 you think that God's going to put you through 00:39:07.860 --> 00:39:09.599 the wringer. And I want you to notice this. When 00:39:09.599 --> 00:39:12.380 God's people return to him, God says, I'm with 00:39:12.380 --> 00:39:15.159 you. You don't have to do a thing to earn his 00:39:15.159 --> 00:39:17.300 approval. You don't have to do a thing to get 00:39:17.300 --> 00:39:20.619 back in his good graces. God is gracious and 00:39:20.619 --> 00:39:23.900 loving and kind and merciful. And he meets his 00:39:23.900 --> 00:39:26.860 people where they're at. And I love serving a 00:39:26.860 --> 00:39:29.219 God like that. Do you not? Because I don't know 00:39:29.219 --> 00:39:31.219 about you. Maybe you've been perfect for your 00:39:31.219 --> 00:39:34.119 whole life. I have not. Okay. I've got a rough 00:39:34.119 --> 00:39:37.730 past. And the moment in my life that I'm more 00:39:37.730 --> 00:39:39.769 thankful of than anything else is on the day 00:39:39.769 --> 00:39:42.050 that I was going to take my own life after I 00:39:42.050 --> 00:39:45.389 had been wandering astray from God for 18 years. 00:39:46.610 --> 00:39:49.969 That when I finally called out to God, He answered 00:39:49.969 --> 00:39:53.250 me. And He heard me. And He said, I am with you. 00:39:53.710 --> 00:39:56.409 And He didn't say, I need you to prove yourself. 00:39:56.650 --> 00:40:00.090 I need you to do this or that. God said, I see 00:40:00.090 --> 00:40:02.929 you in your brokenness and I am here to rebuild 00:40:02.929 --> 00:40:07.099 you. Isn't that an amazing church? That's exactly 00:40:07.099 --> 00:40:10.079 what God does for us. That is the grace of God 00:40:10.079 --> 00:40:13.219 that we have in Christ. God is not saying, I 00:40:13.219 --> 00:40:15.159 want you to come back to me so that I can just 00:40:15.159 --> 00:40:17.780 try to make you a better person. I want you to 00:40:17.780 --> 00:40:19.840 come back to me so that you don't have to go 00:40:19.840 --> 00:40:21.900 to hell and you can just do all these things 00:40:21.900 --> 00:40:23.440 that I tell you to do and you're not really going 00:40:23.440 --> 00:40:24.639 to want to do them, but you're just going to 00:40:24.639 --> 00:40:27.920 do them anyways. That's not the gospel. The gospel 00:40:27.920 --> 00:40:31.000 says you come to God and he makes you a new creation. 00:40:31.219 --> 00:40:33.960 He gives you a new heart that actually desires 00:40:33.960 --> 00:40:37.699 to do his will and desires to obey him so that 00:40:37.699 --> 00:40:41.280 it is the joy of your life to do exactly what 00:40:41.280 --> 00:40:44.280 God has called you to do. It is not a begrudging 00:40:44.280 --> 00:40:47.079 obedience. It is a thankful everyday occurrence 00:40:47.079 --> 00:40:49.719 where you say, Lord, I am so thankful that you 00:40:49.719 --> 00:40:52.639 saved me and that you allow me to get to be part 00:40:52.639 --> 00:40:56.599 of your plan. I had gone astray. As we sang earlier, 00:40:56.699 --> 00:41:00.820 I'm prone to wander. Lord, I feel it. Prone to 00:41:00.820 --> 00:41:04.139 leave the God I love. And as we said in the book 00:41:04.139 --> 00:41:06.619 of Jude, if it were not for God holding on to 00:41:06.619 --> 00:41:09.460 us, we all would have departed a long time ago. 00:41:10.019 --> 00:41:11.980 And one of the greatest truths of the Christian 00:41:11.980 --> 00:41:15.679 life is that you cannot possibly lose your salvation. 00:41:16.429 --> 00:41:18.710 Because your salvation is not dependent upon 00:41:18.710 --> 00:41:21.849 you. It is dependent on Jesus who died for you, 00:41:21.929 --> 00:41:25.030 who was nailed to the cross with your sins, who 00:41:25.030 --> 00:41:28.510 rose again in power to declare his victory over 00:41:28.510 --> 00:41:32.489 death, sin, and Satan himself. And the good news 00:41:32.489 --> 00:41:35.449 of the gospel is that we get to walk in what 00:41:35.449 --> 00:41:38.550 Christ has done. If you could lose your salvation, 00:41:38.809 --> 00:41:42.030 you would have already. The reason you still 00:41:42.030 --> 00:41:45.010 have it is because God refuses to let go of his 00:41:45.010 --> 00:41:48.880 people. And Haggai is showing us here that the 00:41:48.880 --> 00:41:51.860 heart of a disciple is a heart that puts God 00:41:51.860 --> 00:41:54.760 first because that is where he deserves to be 00:41:54.760 --> 00:41:57.579 in your life. If you're here this morning and 00:41:57.579 --> 00:42:00.800 you have been wandering for a while and you've 00:42:00.800 --> 00:42:02.239 been saying, I know I need to get right with 00:42:02.239 --> 00:42:04.800 God. I know I need to come back and I'm just 00:42:04.800 --> 00:42:07.679 planning on doing it sometime later. Today is 00:42:07.679 --> 00:42:10.639 the day of salvation. Paul says, I put no obstacle 00:42:10.639 --> 00:42:13.760 in front of you. Be reconciled to God today. 00:42:14.800 --> 00:42:16.679 Or if maybe you're here this morning and you 00:42:16.679 --> 00:42:18.300 know that God's been calling you to do something 00:42:18.300 --> 00:42:21.199 for a while, whether that's join a church, get 00:42:21.199 --> 00:42:24.300 baptized, repent of your sins and come to faith 00:42:24.300 --> 00:42:28.900 in Christ, start serving, get involved, and you 00:42:28.900 --> 00:42:31.679 keep telling God, I'm going to do it later. God 00:42:31.679 --> 00:42:35.260 says, today is the day. Now is the time. Put 00:42:35.260 --> 00:42:38.360 God first in your life. Put him on the throne 00:42:38.360 --> 00:42:41.199 of your heart and watch how he brings your life 00:42:41.199 --> 00:42:45.559 to wholeness and completeness in Christ. Amen? 00:42:45.559 --> 00:42:46.039 Let's pray.