Amen. Right, so we're up to Ezra chapter five and as is sort of the way I've been doing
things just to remind you where we were, well it wasn't last week, it was a fortnight ago.
So if you remember the returning after captivity and the return is, the goal is to rebuild
the temple, okay, to rebuild the house of God and we'll be looking at sort of parallels
and the way we can apply that to what we're trying to do here. In Ezra chapter four, we
saw the adversary showed up pretty quickly and it wasn't with swords and an army, was
it? They claimed to want to help them. They said, oh, we want to help you build, we're
one of you. They claimed that they worship the same God and obviously there's a big lesson
there, isn't there? Okay, we get a big lesson from that and I don't need to re-preach that.
You'll be pleased to know after what was probably a false prophet week or two of preaching,
this isn't going to be false prophets this week and we kind of hit on them a little bit
in the morning anyway, just for good measure. So, but it wasn't because the temple was built
and they had problems with the way things are being done, was it? Okay, because people,
they'll try and find their reason, their excuse, you know, something else. They try to infiltrate
right after the foundations were laid, didn't they? Okay, just remember that it was right
after because it's the foundation, it's the chief cornerstone that they really hate, isn't
it? Now, of course, they'll claim not to, they claim to worship the same God, but ultimately
usually it's grace through faith, that's usually their issue, isn't it, in one way or another.
Well, we saw Zerubabbel, Jeshua and the rest of the chief fathers do the loving thing, didn't they,
with them and they kicked them out. Yeah, that's a loving thing to do, kick them out onto the curb.
They kicked them out and what did these so-called believers do? Well, they tried to sabotage the
work, they hired counselors against him, didn't they? They didn't go, okay, well, things didn't
work out, let's move on. No, they tried to sabotage it. Then in the reign of Ahasuerus,
and given, you know, what seems to be a generic Persian king name of Artaxerxes as well,
this guy was known historically as Canvassus, he was Cyrus' son. The enemies of God team up
together, if you remember at the end of chapter four, they write a letter to the king against
the Jews with false accusations. This results in him writing a letter back ordering the rebuilding
work to stop, okay, and this is what he said in verse 21 of Ezra chapter four. He said,
give ye now commandment to cause these men to cease and let this city be not builded until
another commandment shall be given from me. Take heed now that you fail not to do this,
why should damage grow to the hurt of the kings? Now when the copy of King Artaxerxes' letter was
read before Reham and Shimshi the scribe and their companions, they went up in haste to Jerusalem
unto the Jews and made them to cease by force and power. Then cease the work of the house of
God which is at Jerusalem, so it ceased unto the second year of the reign of Darius king of Persia.
And then we're going to move on now and we're in Ezra chapter five and verse one which reads then
the prophets Hagei the prophet and Zechariah the son of Edo prophesied unto the Jews that are in
Judah and Jerusalem in the name of the God of Israel even unto them. I'd like to pray
before we get going with this chapter. Father thank you for your word, thank you for
all this book which is for me just giving us so many sort of just parallels and things that we
can apply to our work here trying to rebuild the house of God in this nation. Help me to just
preach the message that you know I've got from this chapter just clearly and boldly now Lord,
help just everyone to be motivated by it, help them to understand why it's being preached,
what it's about. Ultimately it comes comes down to just doing the work of God, getting people saved,
being a productive church. Lord help me to preach that clearly and accurately. Lord please fill me
with your spirit, help everyone to have attentive ears now, stay awake after what's been a long warm
day, just staying full of this. Amen. Okay so according to chapter four and verse 24,
the work ceased for several years throughout Cambyses reign until the second year of Darius who
who features a lot in Daniel if anyone's wondering why they've heard that before.
Ezra 4 verse 6 said and in the reign of Ahasuerus in the beginning of his reign wrote they unto him
an accusation against the inhabitants of Judah and Jerusalem and I doubt that it was a long time
after that he replied and the work ceased. I don't know how long a letter takes to get there and back
and everything else but I would imagine it wasn't a great deal of time. And then chapter five
verse one then starts with the word then. It said then, did it say then the people met up, had a chat,
a vote and decided to get building again? You didn't did it? Or then they all got convicted
enough through their private reading of the scriptures? Did it say that? No, God wants us to read
his word but that's not how we're whipped into action. It didn't say then God pointed at the
temple and it was built did it? Then God pointed at the temple it miraculously built. He could do
that couldn't he? God can do anything but look that's not how God gets things done here. He sets
his people to work doesn't he? And what's the best way to get his people working? Well look at verse
one. Then the prophets Haggai the prophet and Zechariah the son of Edo prophesied unto the Jews
that are in Judah and Jerusalem in the name of the God of Israel even unto them. It was it was good
old-fashioned preaching wasn't it? Good old-fashioned hell-raising barnstorming fire-breathing
pulpit banging preaching wasn't it? That's what I see there. Then the prophets Haggai the prophet
and Zechariah the son of Edo prophesied unto the Jews that are in Judah and Jerusalem in the name
of the God of Israel even unto them. Prophesied means they preach and do you know what they preach
to these people? What do you think they preach to these people? Well turn over to Haggai 1.
You know they didn't just tell them to serve God in their own way. That's not what these preachers
did. They didn't say well the government has told you that you can't build the temple so you'd
better just be good citizens. They didn't say that either. They didn't say well sit at home and
listen to thousands of sermons and gain a load of knowledge to sit at home with. Did they? They said
get your lazy backsides up off your sofas and get to work. That's what they said. That's what they
preached to them. They said get up and get grafting for God. Get working for God. Look at Haggai 1 and
verse 1 it says this. In the second year of Darius the king in the sixth month in the first day of
the month came the word of the Lord by Haggai the prophet unto Zerubabel the son of Shealtiel
governor of Judah and to Joshua the son of Josadec the high priest saying thus speaketh the Lord of
hosts saying this people say the time is not come the time that the Lord's house should be built.
So there are many people around the world saying something like that don't they? Well there's no
church where we live let's just keep praying you know just not the time is it? I just keep praying
and just keep kind of listening to some sermons and keep praying and look nothing wrong with
praying yeah by all means pray but if you can't get to a church and obviously look we you know
I'm talking to a church here but this is how we should advise other people and obviously we do
have people that listen online and look there are some great people out there that don't have a
church they can't get to a church okay it's not possible for them for one reason or another you
can't just snap your fingers I know we'd like to think that everyone can just right that's it
jack in their job they've suddenly got a new job and a home and everything else near a church
it's not always the case but if they can't get to a church what should they do they should get to
work they should get to work how do you get to work well there's an obvious way of getting to
work get out soul winning get out soul winning get out preaching the gospel find other people
get get networking try and find people if you can't get to church you'll be doing the work
that you would be doing at church shouldn't you that's how it should be and look now's the time
to build isn't it now's the time to build look if you don't have anything built yeah get working
he said he said the time that the lord's house should be built he said the time he said this is
what they're saying the time has not come at the time of the time that the lord's house should be
built well no he's basically saying it is the time now how do you do that well like I said you get
soul winning you get working for god you get out there grafting that's how you build the house
that's how you laid the foundation you lay the foundation by getting enough people saved in your
area you preach the gospel now if you can't do that and there are people out there just can't
they're like i can't motivate i can't get out there doing that well then they definitely need
to find a way to move to a church then because that's the christian life and there's too many
lazy apathetic christians that won't do anything for god but that's not what we're called to we're
called to serve we're called to work either get to a church or or if not then you need to find
a way of laying that cornerstone at the beginning enough saved people in your area for there to be
a possibility maybe for a church and and that that's what i see look verse three then says
then came the word of the lord by haggai the prophet saying is it time for you oh ye to dwell
in your sealed houses and this house lie waste now therefore thus saith the lord of hosts consider
your ways he said consider your ways and god's house is lying waste around this nation isn't it
around this world look god's house is is everywhere where well where there's believers willing to
serve the lord or at least where there's believers because they should the house should then encourage
them to be willing to serve the lord it's lying waste everywhere and and really god's saying
consider your ways consider your ways whilst his children are dwelling in their nice homes
watching sermons online and saying we just really need a church nearby he said consider your ways
consider your ways what are you doing what are you doing and there are people out there like that if
only you could plant the church in wherever if only you know and they come to like people like
our pastor and others and go we need a church here we need a church there now look great if
there's a group of people all serving god preaching the gospel and everything else great
but a lot of the time it's not a lot of the time it's people sitting at home not even considering
going out and doing anything for god you know i would look i want to inspire people like that
and we want to do as well don't we want to encourage other people yeah get out there consider
your ways but however we can also get on our high horse can't we and go well we're going to church
or you've considered our ways yeah but if you're turning up at church are you here to build are
you here to build are you here to get stuck in with the work or is it all about you there's a
lot of people that come to church and it's just all about them and i think i've said this many
times i think part of that is just we most people have been exposed to basically false churches
false churches where it's pat-back time and it's like what can i get out of this place well i'm
going to go this one because it's very nice and i find them very friendly and you know the tea's
good the biscuits are nice or maybe this one i really like the building it's a very pretty
building a lot of people go to a church based on how pretty the building is did you know that
well the c of e church types these old beautiful old buildings that one looks nice let's go there
you know people get married in churches just because it looks nice yeah but but really when
it comes to a real church what's the point of a church is to serve god obviously we come to worship
him we come to praise him we come to grow as well it's not just all just that however how do we
ultimately grow by serving him and we come here because it's like the headquarters to go out and
work isn't it and look there are people sadly that don't come to build to serve they're just
here leaning on the shovel really there are people that come to a church in the show well now look
just to make this clear there are people that are in seasons of life you know those with young kids
things like this pregnant ladies etc not going why aren't you grafting break your back you know
it should be at pandas pan the pavements more but ultimately what's our goal why are we at church
are we at church to see what we can get or are we at church to see how we can serve because for me
i see here him telling them to build the temple right and and when you look through the book of
acts what people are doing they're there serving god going out preaching the gospel daily in the
temple in every house they cease not to preach didn't they so what are we doing well because
some people look some people go and learn look i'm here to help with the work yeah
i'm here to soul win yeah i'm soul winning but you know there are many people that go out soul
winning that are actually so hindering you know that and we've got to be careful we're not soul
hindering we've got to be careful that when we're out preaching the gospel going out knocking on
doors that our whole goal is i want to get people saved i don't want to put people off i don't want
to make this person never want anything to do with the bible and the gospel again i'm not here
to have a debate i'm not here for apologetics time i'm not here to copy my favorite favorite
youtube debater or whatever i'm here to try and preach the gospel and if not leave a good taste
their mouth and move on and that's a big part of soul winning isn't it soul winning we're trying
to look we're trying to get people stay that's our goal to get people saved we're there to to
win souls but it's not just about the the soul winning door knocking debater because you know
there's a big part of church as well is supporting the work of the church supporting the leadership
of the church as well we need your support you know are you praying for for our pastor and his
family you know is that something that's on you are we on are we is he on your prayer list are we
on your prayer list me and my family because we need it you know others in the church other people
in the church need your prayers you know when you see those prayer requests come up on our group
show we need to be praying for people don't we they're obviously on their heart those things
they weren't praying for when we pray on a wednesday night we're here to pray aren't we we want to pray
for people we want to help people and sometimes you'll just see things that maybe you just know
need praying for anyway for people that they haven't requested for and it's all part of it
isn't it but definitely like me and my family need your prayers yeah there's a big target on our back
you know we need your help your support your prayer because many will come to a church and
you know and really instead they're like yeah but what can i get what can i get and then suddenly
they're just focusing on petty grievances between other people at church and this one said that
but that's not what we're here for is it we're here to serve and we're all going to get stuff
wrong everyone in the church is going to wind people up annoy people save things down again
but does that really matter when really our job is here to serve the lord isn't it we're here to
build the temple to build the house of god is that our mentality is our focus building god's house or
is it about you what is it hopefully it's about building god's house god said consider your ways
and he has ways to get you working did you know that he's got ways to get you working other than
just some preacher shouting at you to get working he he said consider your ways and one of those
ways is chastisement it's chastisement it's chastisement for us to reflect upon as well
in our lives and here's a question before we look at that is it always obvious when you're
being chastised no or he wouldn't constantly remind us the way he does it there'll probably
just be one passage in the bible going these are sort of chastisements keep an eye out you know
but he constantly reminds us because i think many times people get chastised in life and then argue
it away that it can't have been chastisement well it's probably nothing to do with the fact that i
just did this or did that or said this or i've been behaving like this or i've been coming to
church with this mentality i haven't been coming to church or whatever it is but god clearly spells
that chastisement here he does that says in verse six you have so much and bring in little you eat
but you have not enough you drink but are not filled with drink he clothe you but there is none
war and he that earneth wages earneth wages to put into a bag with holes and and over the past
several years of inaction of a lack of work for god this is what's happened in their lives they're
working hard for little reward they're constantly hungry they're constantly thirsty they're
constantly cold their earnings just seem to disappear and we often preach that about tithing
don't we but it's not that's not the only thing it's about it's about all forms of different ways
of working for god and how look he'll warn you he'll warn you i don't know at what point all these
started kicking in but they started kicking in within that seven years didn't they and then
suddenly these guys are you know and that happens to many people don't they just feel like where's
my money going when you're not right with god you're saved but you're not right with god it
just seems to just disappear you don't ever seem to be satisfied it's not necessarily just food and
drinking things out but often it is you're just not quite satisfied you're just not quite happy
or maybe you're getting chastised maybe you need to consider your ways said in verse seven thus
saith the lord of hosts consider your ways he said it twice didn't he he said consider your ways
that's something we're called to do consider our ways consider what we're doing is what we're
doing is our heart is our is our mind is our focus lined up with how god wants it to be and or other
things going in our life that could be chastisement and we should be considering our ways these are
things to make us consider our ways now many christians will go through this stuff yet refuse
to consider chastisement won't they i mean he won't now there's you then get the opposite you
get people whenever they hear of anything that christian goes through will then just constantly
accuse it of them being chastised it might nice to look at other people and go you must be getting
just that he must be getting chastised it makes us feel good doesn't it and whitlock he didn't say
consider everyone else's ways did he consider your ways yeah we should be reflecting we know whether
we're right with god we know whether it's a trial we should know whether is it a trial or is it
chastisement yeah is it are we just going through you know life as we are you know we have to go
through life don't we yeah and and the same afflictions you know that that are with our
brethren are in the world aren't they or or is it chastisement and only we know really because we
should be considering our ways he said consider your ways verse 80 then said go up to the mountain
and bring wood and build the house and i will take pleasure in it and i will be glorified saith
the lord so he said forget the order not to build didn't he said forget the government rules be like
the apostles in acts 529 who said we ought to obey god rather than men that's what he said didn't he
he said and obviously they didn't know the apostles at this point all right you know of them but this
is what happened obviously after that as well but he said he said go up bring wood and build a house
okay i will be glorified saith the lord and they were stopped by force and power under command of
the king i mean they had a pretty strong excuse didn't they not to be working for god did god
accept that as an excuse god they were forced by power and force and the commandment of the king
to stop working and he said get to work in fact he chastised them during that time for not working
what excuse do some of us have what excuse to the many many saved people around this nation those
many people that you've got saved that aren't working for god what excuse what excuse do they
have are they being forced physically threatened not to work for god is anyone here being physically
threatened not to work for god yet and again you get a bit of it outdoor knocking don't you
but not much not nothing like that right he said in verse 9 you look for much and lo it came to
little and when you brought it home i did blow upon it why saith the lord of hosts because of
mine house at his waist and you run every man unto his own house he basically said he was just
like getting rid of whatever they were gathering collecting etc therefore the heaven over you has
stayed from dew and the earth is stayed from our fruit and i call for a drought upon the land and
upon the mountains and upon the corn upon the new wine upon the oil and upon that which the ground
bringeth forth and upon men and upon cattle and upon all the labor of the hands god still punished
them didn't they they were threatened by force and he punished them he punished them for not
working for their lack of work and up for me their excuse sounds a lot more reasonable than
most christians i mean compare that to some of our excuses sometimes for not working for god
and look and let me tell you look do you know what the result of this sort of preaching should be
and the preacher that haggai did there and ultimately what i'm repeating here
it should be a kick up the bum shouldn't it and that's how it should be should be a kick up the
bum and people here are people listening online people listening in the future be like i need to
get working for god i need to either get in church i need to try and do the work you know of a church
if i can't get in church or if i'm in church i need to be doing the work when i'm in church i
need to get my head right i need to get my mentality right i need to be here to work
they should be listening to it considering their ways shouldn't they considering the chastisement
of life being like joshua is saying but that's for me and my house we will serve the lord that's how
they should be however what is the reality so many people listen to stuff like this and get
stubborn they'll stiffen up maybe they'll do a good sign of not showing it sometimes they do
sometimes they'll stiffen up they make the excuses for why they're justified that happens so often
doesn't it yeah preach a message you preach a hard message and people just stiffen up and then they
start just getting stubborn and thinking well you don't know my life well you don't know what i've
been you don't know what my history you don't know you don't know but do you think god would
have accepted that did he accept them being threatened physically threatened by the king and
and and his basically forces no not here in ezra though here in ezra they responded look at verse
12 it says then zeru babel the son of shealtiel and joshua the son of joseph the high priest with
all all the remnant of the people obeyed the voice of the lord their god and the words of haggai the
prophet as the lord their god has sent him and the people did fear before the lord so you know
whether it's because you you just love and want to obey our awesome god or it's because of a healthy
fear of him either way a big part of preaching is to encourage us to work for him isn't it
that's that's a big part of it that's one of the big goals of preaching so you know if you you
might be sitting here going oh not another one of these oh we've got to work for god oh we've got to
make sure we're in church oh yeah but that's that's a big part of the job here because without
it without the motivation without the encouragement without sadly the threats of chastisement as well
many people will just drift will stop coming won't come to the services will start drifting out of
church will come less and less and less and less will stop working for god when they're here will
do less part of preaching is to encourage isn't it and some of that is shining the light on those
sins that get in the way as well yeah that's a big part of preaching as well is shining the light
on the sins whether it's the laziness or whether it's some other sins in your life that will then
get in the way of you working for god but you're not getting that sitting at home singing kumbaya
and sharing each other's private interpretations of scripture are you that ain't happening because
there's that movement out there as well that you come across and you get people trying to
attack churches like ours go we should all just be sitting in homes playing a guitar or something
it's like no one's getting preached at like that in those home places are they
you're you know god calls us to work to keep building the house of god and it's an ongoing
job isn't it and he calls us through preaching that's how he called them it was through preaching
it's through hard preaching look at verse 13 then haggai the lord's messenger sorry then haggai the
lord's messenger in the lord's message unto the people saying i am with you saith the lord then
spake haggai sir and the lord stirred up the spirit of zera babel the son of shiite l governor of judah
and the spirit of joshua the son of joseph the high priest and spirit of all the remnant of the
people and they came and did work in the house the lord of hosts a god in the four and 20th day of the
sixth month in the second year of darius the king so how did he stir up the spirit it said in verse
14 the lord stirred up the spirit of babel through a preacher preaching god's word but it's not all
on the preacher though is it so yeah the preacher needs to preach it he needs to encourage he needs
to get you working but those men had the right spirit when they listened as well didn't they
they clearly had the right attitude they had the right spirit they listened they listened
preacher they got up and started working they could have hardened their heart couldn't they
they could have hardened their heart to the preaching they could have been out the back
making coffee when the preacher was going on finding excuses to get out of the room
or whatever else and i'm not knocking anyone who's just gone but people look sometimes people
they'll just hide out you know i'll hide out just avoid just find something else to start you know
flicking through i remember we had some clowns here before while you're preaching hard messages
they'll just be flicking through their bible yeah look at that you know it's amazing you know
however they didn't do that here did they because the lord stirred up their spirit through that
preaching but part of that is on them as well verse 14 said that they came and did the work
didn't it said and they came and did the work in the house the lord of hosts their god that
was the result of hard preaching and make no mistake that was hard preaching you know look
haggai it doesn't really matter whether he was shouting whether he was screaming whether he was
screaming you know insults or anything else look sometimes there's a time and a place for that
stuff who knows but what's written in haggai one isn't all that he preached obviously as we were
told that zechariah got stuck into but however the book of zechariah we see at least a book just
shows us from the eighth month and we're going to look at that soon but what exactly they had
preached at this point you know at the end of the sixth month here isn't clear but i'm sure most of
it was along the lines of what we've just read in chapter one of haggai where he said consider your
ways you're getting chastised because you're not getting work basically getting to work for god
then he said get to work slackers that's basically what he said didn't he
he spelled it out he spelled out the chastisement and that's hard preaching isn't it
and then he told them what to do now put something in haggai internal isaiah chapter 58
look don't get me wrong there's a time for teaching okay there's a time for doctrine there's
a time for exposing the sins of the world there's a time for exposing false prophets there is a time
for all of that okay you can't just literally preach motivational songs you can't just preach
on people's sins as well but the hardest preaching is when the preacher is calling out your sins and
telling you to get right that's hard preaching and that it's not just you know what it's not just
hard to sit in yourself it's also hard to preach you know look that's not easy sometimes because
look you know ultimately people in life you know you don't always want to be disliked
especially not by your brothers and sisters in crisis stuff and and a lot of people then veer
away from that sort of stuff don't they oh well i'm going to upset so and so this is going to
annoy someone else or suddenly just think someone's going to get annoyed by this but in in isaiah 58
in verse 1 isaiah is told cry aloud spare not lift up thy voice like a trumpet and show my people
their transgression and the house of jacob their sins and that's why preaching has to be direct
has to be direct has to name the sin it has to name it has to shame it no matter who it who it
upsets as well right and look people are sitting in here look you're not going to it's where are
you going to get preaching like this at least in this nation and and ultimately it's not because
you know i don't think i'm special other than men of god here can preach like this as well
it's really because we have a good background in in understanding and seeing and knowing the
effects that ultimately we're grounded in the word and the word of god says to preach like this the
word of god says quiet out spare not it says to show my people their transgression and the house
of jacob their sins and it's not always easy to listen to either is it it's not always easy and
you gotta you have some fiber amongst you however however you're better to have a smaller church who
wants to get right than a church for you know a church of people that don't want to get right
yeah you're better to have a church of people tough enough and humble enough to take a whipping
from the pulpit because look you got you got to deal with that don't you sometimes it's not easy
that then a church of self-important little snowflakes which sadly is probably like most
people around the world where what will happen then sin will run rampant and the work will start
to dwindle because sin look sin gets in the way of hard work for god right that's why we're
constantly trying to clean ourselves up motivate ourselves at same time as well to work and work
for god go back to ezra 5 which also then shows the result of this preaching and go back to ezra
5 and verse 1 says then the prophets haggai the prophet and zechariah the son of ido prophesied
unto the jews that are in judah and jerusalem in the name of the god of israel even unto them
them now look at this look at verse 2 then then rose up zera babel the son of shealtiel
and jeshua the son of josadak and began to build the house of god which is at jerusalem with them
were the prophets of god helping them so they got back to work and did that then mean that it was
piping slippers time for the preachers so they did their job they got them working yeah was that
right okay we're done let's relax and just you know high five about you know good preaching we
did haggai and zechariah you know just hanging out having a little relax now those prophets
got stuck in too they said then rose up zera babel the son of shealtiel and gesture of the son
josadak began to build the house god which is at jerusalem and with them were the prophets of god
helping them they led by example that's important isn't it whether it's leadership or people
preaching the word of god you have to practice what you preach don't you okay you have to and
how can someone preach for example about soul winning if they're not so winning do you know
what why there are believers in churches around this nation that don't soul win is because
the preacher doesn't so win and if the preacher pastor whatever he is doesn't so win he ain't
going to preach about soul winning is he and it comes down to him how can they preach about
working hard for the lord and then preach like a 15-minute sermonette once a week because people
you know you know writing sermons takes a long time yeah studying it out looking trying to get
together a sermon which which you're hoping is going to affect people look and sadly there are
guys out there that will just do a little little sermonette little worldly speech 15 minutes do
you think they're going to preach about working hard for the lord no no one's going to take them
seriously if they did but it but it's much more than that as well and you know it's been something
i've been thinking about a bit recently it's why those qualifications that we looked at previously
when we you know in i think the first week of studying it ezra um we looked at first timothy
three and we also see him in titus one it's why they're so important now i want you to turn to
titus one quickly just to look at this because it's not just about having a wife and kids
because there are those out there and there's a joke our pastor talks about it sometimes where
you had these people especially at the beginning of of the nifb type movement when it was getting
popular that sort of preaching that sort of soul winning sort of churches was
sort of you know you get someone to go right wife tick kids tick read the bible 10 times tick
ordination time you know and there were there were those people out there you know they were
like i could do this just stand behind a pulpit and shout right yeah it looks fun you get some
fame because they saw obviously like it's sort of you know the youtube fame and stuff as well
but but do you know what do you know what's something that's more ridiculous than that
is no wife no kids but read books read books about the bible 10 times at bible college
i haven't even read the bible through that's half of them out there but at least i've read books
about the bible 10 times i mean that's even more bizarre isn't it and that's the majority of so
called baptist pastors around this nation and others yeah that's even more ridiculous so let's
not go too far on this however both are ridiculous really now the reason i say because in the future
look we're going to both look to send out men from here we that's something we'd like to do in
the future as we grow we're going to look to plant churches and also we're going to look at men in
remote areas groups that get together who have the potential to meet these qualifications but
i've started to understand more and more how important these are and look it's not just for
the health of the church but it's also for your own good it's for your own good too because i
think some people look and there'll be people out there'll be people in time to come that just like
yeah that looks like fun oh i fancy a bit of that for one reason or another but it's for your own
good as well it's for the church it's good because how can you preach about many of the topics in the
bible if you're not writing it you can't do it sincerely can you if i'm standing behind you and
i'm preaching you gotta sort this out get this out of your life and i'm i've got an issue with
it i mean that would that would be bizarre wouldn't it absolutely i can't do that with
any strength of character or anything else and but in the same way if if for yourself because
this job is like no other being a and i'm not a pastor yet but leading being in the ministry
leading a church is like nothing else if if if you're not qualified you will fail or or or
well basically you'll you'll either fail or quit okay because this job like you and it's one of
those things and it's not because it's not for violin because it's such an honor as well it's
such a blessing to be able to do a job like this don't get me wrong yeah it's a great thing to be
able to do it's an honor it's not something that i'd ever regret however you can you have no idea
no one has any idea about job until you start doing this job they really don't you know no one
no one you can't have an idea what this job really entails okay but it's a blessing okay however you
need to you need to have the qualification especially when it comes to becoming a pastor
look at titus chapter one and verse five it says for this cause this is paul writing to titus for
this cause left i thee in cree that thou should have set in order the things that are wanting
and ordain elders in every city as i had appointed thee if any be blameless the husband of one wife
having faithful children not accused of right or unruly if a pastor is full of serious sins how's
he going to preach about them sincerely he can't can he but if a pastor is on his second wife
how's he going to preach about divorce if a pastor's kids are wayward how's he going to preach
about parenting and suddenly you've just cut out big chunks of the bible that suddenly you can't
even preach about big topics big issues in life that he cannot preach really and look it's not
that they have to be perfect it's not that the children have to be perfect even then trying to
hold this stick up here but however they should be faithful and not accused of right or unruly
right he said it says for a bishop must be blameless as a steward of god not self-willed
not soon angry not given to wine no striker not given to filthy luca if he's self-willed how's
he going to yield to god's will if he's a if he's a hot head basically you know not soon angry if
he's a hothead how's he going to take the constant provocation in a job like this and it's constant
sometimes if he's a boozer i mean how on earth is he going to warn others about booze if he's
constantly rowing how's he going to encourage others not to strive and if he's covetous how
on earth is he going to be a steward of god's money and there's a lot of covetous people out
there all they think about all they can talk about all that's on their minds is money money
money money and not just the unsaved reprobates either there's a lot of people like that it says
but a lover of hospitality a lover of good men sober just holy temperate he needs to be welcoming
love good people be sober in all its forms be honest be right with god have self-control
says holding fast the faithful word is he had been taught that he may be able by sound doctrine both
to exhort and to convince again say it he needs to be sounded doctrine as well doesn't he not a
novice with the word because a lot of people out there that like novices with the word yet they
somehow have these desires to to preach or to to pastor even and that's most sadly bible college
kind of products isn't it and so much of that there that list is to be able to lead by example
to be able to preach that stuff but it's also the breastplate of righteousness isn't it because when
you do a job like this and when we send people out in the future when we try and get people in
the future leading groups out there look you and you're suddenly you and your family will suddenly
gain a load of enemies straight away overnight you'll suddenly have a load of enemies and you
can't be going around in all sorts of wicked sin or anything like because they're looking for
anything on you they want something anything to criticize you to disqualify you to make the
slander sound more believable it's a serious job right it's serious and and here obviously
we're talking about this because we're seeing that the prophets just to be able to just preach
about working hard for god they had to get up and get involved didn't they well who was going to
take them seriously but think about it with a pastor it's across the board right it's a serious
job and like i said in the future in this church and when it comes to groups around this world you
and i'll tell you now i won't be ordaining anyone that i have doubts about with this stuff
because for their own good as well because you can't you know look yeah you can aspire to these
qualifications and ultimately you know as a leader or as an evangelist that's not the same quality
you know you should be aspiring towards that though you should be on your way towards that
but it's a pastor i won't be doing that because it's madness because it will just fall it will
fail but it's not just for the people that that that want a church because do you know what's
worse than having no church is having a destroyed church having a church having the house of god
torn down and just ruining people's lives and people just ruining their spiritual lives
afterwards because they just give up on the things of god and believe me this this look people want
to tear this church down believe me okay there are many enemies of this church that want it torn down
that want me destroyed that want my family destroyed that want us torn down and just
just cause a massive issue and destruction this church and look it's not just any church in the
future it's going to be the same it's not just because oh because we're like this church in the
uk all churches they all have enemies and this stuff's really important stuff isn't it but
leading by example is really important and and back in ezra five like i said those prophets
they didn't just take just talk a good talk didn't they they they walked it too at least on what
they're preaching and obviously that's something that even like when the men get up here and
preached is a man going to get up here and preach something that he has an issue with
that he cut that he's not on top of that he's not now he might have got right with that fairly
recently okay but and he might learn and understand how he can get right with that how to do that how
to be able to preach that but but with all no one you'd be mad too wouldn't you you're getting up
there and you just be a hypocrite right well the prophets they weren't hypocrites look at them verse
two says then rose up zera babel the son of shiite on jeshua the son of josiah and began to build the
house of god which is at Jerusalem and with them were the prophets of god helping them okay they're
getting stuck in they're working they're grafting they're not just got their feet up out the back
going well i've made it now because i'm preaching at the same time came to them tatni governor on
this side of the river and shethar bosni and their companions and said thus unto them who
have commanded you to build this house and to make up this wall so here comes trouble this is
the government getting involved again first forces then said we unto them after this manner what are
the names of the men that make this building so they basically answered it's the same people
building it that have commanded it that's what i see that they're going well what are the names
these men that make this building basically the ones who are commanding it the ones grafting we're
all at it yeah we're just doing what we've been told to do or what we what we want to do type thing
but the but the eye of their god was upon the elders of the jews and they could not cause
emphasis till the matter came to darius and then they returned answer by letter concerning this
matter so why didn't they panic and stop building was it those sermons that they had heard that got
them started that had stayed in their mind do you think look sermons can you might look back
to sermons that you've heard in the past and think yeah that that hit me that one you still
remember parts of it but as life changes a sermon can be do you know what's more what's
more effective than a hard-hitting inspiring sermon lots of hard-hitting inspiring sermons
that's what it that's what it is turn a haggai one again because look and you where are you
going to get lots of hard-hitting inspiring sermons in church that's where you need to be
ezra five five said that the eye of their god was upon the elders of the jews how was the eye of
their god upon them through his preachers through his preachers look at haggai one it said in verse
one haggai one one said in the second year of darius the king in the sixth month in the first
day of the month okay so the sixth month in the first day of the month came the word of the lord
by haggai the prophet unto zara babel the son of shealtiel governor of juda and to joshua the son
of joseph the high priest saying thus speak of the lord of hosts saying this people say this
time has not come the time that the lord's house should be built so when was that that was basically
the first day of the sixth month yeah now we in our in our ways we would call that the first of
june wouldn't we okay but obviously that we've got different months a month starting in the
springtime but let's say the first of june verse 14 the lord stirred up the spirit of zara babel
look at verse 14 then the lord stirred up the spirit of zara babel the son of shealtiel governor
of jude and the spirit of joshua the son of joseph the high priest and this and the spirit
of all the remnant of the people and they came and did work in the house the lord of hosts their god
verse 15 says in the four and 20th day of the sixth month in the second year of darius the king
so this is the 24th now of june so he preached it seems the word of the lord came unto him and
he's actually preached it he said thus speak of the lord of hosts saying etc he goes on and
preaches to them somewhere around the first of june it took over three weeks for them to respond
and get to work didn't it now maybe he had to preach a sermon series maybe they had to kind
of get up you know the strength to do it maybe preach a few sermons like i said maybe zechariah
was preaching as well at this point did he then leave it there after the 24th of june
as we're calling it yeah well no look at chapter two so haggai chapter two and verse one then says
in the seventh month okay remember we were looking at what seemed to be the 24th of what we would
call june of the sixth month in the seventh month in the one and 20th day of the month came the word
of the lord by the prophet haggai saying so this is now about a month later okay speak now to zera
babel the son of shealtiel governor of judo and to joshua the son of joseph the high priest and
to the residue of the people saying who is left among you that saw this house in her first glory
and how do you see it now is it not in your eyes in comparison of it as nothing she's going this
is nothing like it was is it he said yet now be strong oh zera babel saith the lord and be strong
oh joshua son of joseph the high priest and be strong all you people of the land saith the lord
and work for i am with you saith the lord hosts according to the word that i covenanted with you
when you came out of egypt so my spirit remaineth among you fear ye not that's a motivational
sermon now isn't it that's a motivational one don't stop doing what you're doing remember what
it was like of old that's what we're aspiring to be like be strong don't fear okay a motivational
sermon and we need those often too don't we and then often we also need the reminders of the bad
examples of how we shouldn't be okay and and look that's why when you come to a church like this
you're going to hear similar messages like this okay you're going to hear it and obviously we're
going through a bible study and this is a clear message in this chapter but you're going to hear
that time and time again work hard don't give up stay strong do you know that being in churches
is a sign of strength people who are just here week in week out month after month year after year
that's a sign of strength it's not oh well you know they probably obviously ain't got better
things to do or something else no sign of strength strength of character it's discipline it takes it
takes something doesn't it to just keep coming week in week out to take that hard preaching
sometimes to get whooped from the pulpit sometimes to keep getting out to keep preaching the gospel
to go through sometimes those weeks sometimes longer when just no one even wants to hear it
it takes strength and he said be strong be strong be strong fear ye not
now turn over to zechariah chapter one that last sermon by haggai was on what we would call the
21st of july it's the 21st of the seventh month now in zechariah one we then see a different
angle from another preacher look at zechariah one and verse one and zechariah by the way if
you're wondering is right after the book of haggai and it said this in verse one
zechariah one one in the eighth month so now we're into the eighth month remember that was
the 21st of the seventh month in the eighth month in the second year of darius came the
word of the lord unto zechariah the son of barakah the son of ido the prophet saying
the lord has been sore displeased with your fathers therefore say thou unto them thus saith
the lord of hosts turn ye unto me saith the lord of hosts and i will turn unto you saith the lord
of hosts that you want god on your side will turn unto him then you know there are many people that
i want god on my side i need god i need god to help me with this to help me with this issue
well turn to him first yeah make sure you're turning to him he said he said uh he said turn
you unto me and i will turn unto you verse four says be ye not as your fathers unto whom the
former prophets have cried saying thus saith the lord of hosts turn ye now from your evil ways and
from your evil doings but they did not hear nor hearken unto me saith the lord he said don't
be like previous generation don't be like the failures sometimes that we people need reminding
of the for example with this church often i'm going to remind you of the failing churches
around this nation those previous churches have failed that are just lily livid little liberal
limp-wristed little wastes of space just out there just doing nothing too scared of their
own shadow to preach the truth too scared of their own shadow to go out and preach the gospel
too scared of their own shadow to actual just preach the word of god and preach what the bible
says they're too scared they're just and we need reminding of what what a joke these churches have
become in this country don't we yeah that's what he's doing now he's going don't be like your
fathers don't be like the previous generations yeah don't start thinking oh we could just act
like them no he's saying don't be like them they're an example how not to behave he said
your fathers where are they and the prophets do they live forever but my words and my statutes
which i commanded my servants the prophets did they not take hold of your fathers and they
returned and said like as the lord of hosts sought to do unto us according to our ways and according
to our doings so hath he dealt with us so basically we don't want to look back in time to come and say
well he did warn us if we get slack if we ignore his warnings what will happen and it just happened
oh well you know he did warn us didn't he well at least we knew that god was god was right look
we don't we don't want to tempt the lord do it don't tempt the lord thy god and basically from
all of this so we've seen a hard-hitting sermon saying what the you're sitting at home while my
house is empty yeah and look you can preach that from this pulpit lot sometimes can you who's
sitting at home while his house is empty he then we saw that from haggai then we saw a motivational
be strong be strong be strong you know we saw from zechariah we saw him saying look don't
be like the past don't be like your past fathers and what was the result well back in ezra chapter
five it said in verse five but the eye of their god was upon the elders of the jews that they
could not cause them to cease till the matter came to darius now it seems like they wanted to
them to cease didn't they they could not cause them to cease till the matter came to daria so
look there was some pressure right and there'll be pressure on this church at times there'll be
pressure on you there'll be pressure individually on you there'll be pressure on your families to
stop serving god they'll try and call you an extremist they'll try and act like we're some
sort of crazy cult or something else because we dare to believe the bible they're going to come
out with all that stuff at different angles they're going to try and act like you've changed
you know you you need to stop going to that church you're not so fun anymore you're this
there'll be all these different angles coming at you all the time and there'll be there'll
be official angles sometimes coming at this church that we've had obviously had a small
amount of that before there'll be all these different ways that people try and stop the word
however the eye of their god is upon the elders of jews that they could not cause them to cease
okay they could not cause them to cease why because they had preachers preaching at them
be strong be strong be strong fear not and and you know what when i see people that are just
in church week in week out year after year you go yeah we've got some strong people in this church
right we've got strong people and everyone can be strong if they're listening to the preacher and
they're responding to the preaching right he said it said till the matter came to darius and then
they returned arts by letter concerning this matter then said the copy of the letter the
tatni governor on this side of the river and shethar bosni and his companions the apharsakites
which are on this side of the river sent unto darius the king they sent a letter unto him wherein
was written thus unto darius the king all peace be it known unto the king that we went into the
province of judia to the house of the great god which is builded with great stones and timber is
laid in the walls and this work go fast on and prosper in their hands that preaching had some
results didn't it but just last bit about the preaching you know because sometimes you think
well you know that kind of seems to be the main point of our church so where's the band you know
where's the lights where's the kind of you know where's the food bank and the homeless ministry
look there are two main things that our church is going to do one it's going to go out and preach
the gospel and number two we're going to focus on preaching hard out of the bible right preaching
the word of god because it gets results it always has got results it always will get results now
some of those results will be basically a bit of a purging process and some of those results will
be people coming in here turning straight back around at the end of the service and never coming
back sometimes the week will slowly just be getting smashed by the pulpit and instead of
sorting themselves out and cleaning themselves up they'll also go out that door but you know what i
say i say that you know let the door hit you on your way out yeah let the door hit you because
really what do we want we want to work for god we need some hard workers in here don't we need
people that can respond to the preacher get grafted now look don't get me wrong well there'll
be people in all stages of love we want people in here want them to be inspired to be those hard
workers but the result comes from the preaching that's why preaching is so important that's why
an hour of this service give or take is preaching and it always will be and we won't cut it down
to a little 25-minute owner and a little 20-minute so we can get a couple of specials in for someone
to stand up here and you know really show everyone how great their voice is or something how great
their musical skills look that's all good we'll sing a nice song to the lord but ultimately the
main part of this service is preaching because preaching gets results doesn't it and that's why
you're here and that's why many people are here because they've heard preaching in the first place
to get them into church in the first place so they were busy though the house is built with great
stones timbers laid in the walls this work goeth fast on remember at this point it was only the
foundations it seems now we're starting to see loads more in this short amount of time then asked
me those elders and said and said unto them thus who commanded you to build this house to make up
these walls we asked their names also to certify thee that we might write the names of the men that
were the chief of them and thus they returned us answers saying we are the servants of the god of
heaven and earth yeah don't forget that we are servants okay we are servants don't let your
pride get in the way you're a servant of the god of heaven and earth they said and build the house
that was builded these many years ago which a great king of israel builded and set up obviously
referring to solomon but after that our fathers had provoked the god of heaven unto wrath he gave
them into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of babylon the caldean who destroyed this house and
carried the people away into babylon don't say they're not making excuses are they they
acknowledge the truth of what happened yeah they're not going oh well yeah i don't know really what
went on there no god whooped him god god smashed them through Nebuchadnezzar but in the first year
of cyrus the king of babylon the same king cyrus made a decree to build this house of god and the
vessels also of gold and silver of the house of god which Nebuchadnezzar took out of the temple
that was in jerusalem and brought them into the temple of babylon those did cyrus the king take
out of the temple of babylon and they were delivered unto one whose name was chesh bazaar
whom he had made governor remember that chesh bazaar was a caldean name given to zerababil yeah
verse 15 and said unto him take these vessels go carry them into the temple that is in jerusalem
and let the house of god be builded in his place then came the same chesh bazaar and laid the
foundation of the house of god which is in jerusalem and since that time even until now
had it been in building and yet it is not finished now therefore if it seemed good to the king let
there be search made in the king's treasure house which is there at babylon whether it be so that a
decree was made of cyrus the king to build this house of god at jerusalem and let the king send
his pleasure to us concerning this matter that's a good answer isn't it in case you've got a bit
lost there that's what the the jews the people building have replied okay they're they're
pulling it back to the original decree not obviously the king in between who ordered them
to stop yeah so they're going look look for what the original decree was and sometimes look
sometimes we have to deal with the powers that be in a smart way don't we okay sometimes we have to
be clever sometimes we have to be smart with how we deal with things how do we know how how do we
know how then to deal with them because you know are we smart enough you know we just need to some
really clever guys to come around and work things out well who's where do we really where's our
ultimate wisdom and knowledge going to come from it's going to come from god isn't it
so how do we do that well turn to proverb 16 basically when we do things his way we serve him
we work for him he then guides us that's what it comes back to doesn't it is that when we serve him
when we're doing things for god he's going to guide us and help us to deal with people that
maybe we wouldn't otherwise be able to deal with on our own would we and proverbs chapter 16 and
verse 3 proverbs 16 3 says this commit thy works unto the lord and thy thoughts shall be established
commit thy works unto the lord and thy thoughts shall be established and you could add to that
therefore if your thoughts of establishment dealing with people like this you're just going
to know how to answer aren't you when you're walking in the spirit we're guided by the spirit
we're able to deal with these situations deal with things in the right way right and but when
we don't when it's in the flesh it all goes wrong doesn't it and here they commit they committed
their works unto the lord and they gave a pretty good response said didn't they and as we're going
to see they're going to go back and see what what darius actually originally said and they're going
to get blessed with that aren't they um so that was a good answer for me but that was that was
isra chapter five and um look what's the main lesson from that is just the benefit of preaching
but but what's the truth with that is that you have to want that benefit from preaching
you have to come without with an open heart to preaching you have to come with the right spirit
you have to come to a church like this and accept look sometimes i'm going to get a whooping
sometimes i'm going to get i'm going to feel it sometimes i'm going to feel like i've been
spiritually beaten up you know from from the pulpit but it's for your own good but even more
important than being for your own good it's for the good of the kingdom of god isn't it because
we're here to serve we're here to serve god and the way he motivates us to do that is through
hard preaching yeah on that let's pray father thank you for well just a great chapter in the
bible there it just just shows clearly the effects of of men of god preaching practicing
what they preach as well preaching preaching you know encouragement to work hard to get grafting
to get working for for you lord and just we see see a result straight away then they began to work
they began to get grafting again lord we see motivational sermons there we see sermons which
remind them of of failures of the past we see a sermon there that just just gave them a rocket up
you know you know up the back side there really just told him to get going kick up the bum and
get grafting for for the lord and we need that lord help everyone here to just take it in the
right spirit as and when that does come in the future i'm going to keep preach preaching those
sort of sermons and we're going to keep preaching you know the whole council of god as well and
lord help us to just just be guided by you help us to commit our works unto you so our thoughts
are established help us to do that this week help us do that um you know with with trying to trying
to make a way of getting here on wednesdays as well getting here on sunday um to to to just
serve you and to just be a part of your church lord in jude's name promise amen