(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

Let me pray, amen. Amen. Okay, this morning we're in the book of Haggai, and what I'm gonna preach on this morning is the prophet Haggai. We're gonna go through both chapters here this morning and basically just talk about his message to the people of Judah. Now, Haggai is actually, it's obviously two chapters, but it's actually broken up into four different sermons. There's four different sermons found within this book, and I'm gonna give you a bit of a background of what's taking place here. Hold your place there in the book of Haggai and go to Ezra, if you would. Ezra, chapter number six. So Ezra, Nehemiah, Haggai, and Zechariah are basically all contemporaries. All the events that take place within each and one of these books are all happening around the same time, okay? And so Haggai and Zechariah are contemporary preachers, and by contemporary, I don't mean like they're liberal preachers. I'm saying like, you know, they're there during the same time, okay? And they're preaching basically somewhat the same message. Obviously, there's diversity in their message, what they're addressing, but as a whole, it's basically the same thing. Basically, what God is basically telling all of Israel throughout all history, which is repent, right? Get right with God, stop serving false gods, getting them out of the seat of apathy, et cetera. And so what we have here taking place in the book of Haggai is what we see in the book of Ezra, and let me just give you a bit of a rundown of what's taking place here. Cyrus the Great basically has sanctioned the rebuilding of the temple. As we know, the children of Israel sin against God by committing idolatry and serving false gods, and God told them in the book of Deuteronomy, chapter number 28, what's going to happen to them if they were to do something like that, okay? If they were going to sin against God and serve false God, what was going to be the result of those actions? And he basically told them a foreign army is going to come and take you away, okay? A foreign nation is going to come and punish you and destroy your land and take you into captivity, and that's exactly what happened, okay? And just notice this is that the book of Deuteronomy is actually prior to them having a physical king, right? You know, this is even prior to the book of Judges and all that, and so he's basically forewarning them and telling them, hey, if you sin against me by serving false gods and doing that, which is wicked in the eyes of the Lord, you know, basically doing like all the nations that are around you, I'm going to punish you, and part of that punishment is that I'm going to allow a foreign army to come in and destroy your land and your people, and that's exactly what happened with the Babylonian army. They came in and took the children of Israel captive into their land, and they took them for a total of 70 years, okay, in order to allow the land to have its rest, so they're in the land of Babylon for 70 years, and then we see that Cyrus the Great sanctions the rebuilding of that temple because they go in there, they destroy the temple, they destroy everything, they take them for 70 years, and then what happens is the people of God get right with God, okay, they get right with God, they start believing in the true God, and therefore God allows them to come back into the land again and to rebuild that temple, and he uses Cyrus the Great in order to decree that they should be able to do so. Now the problem is this, is that once that happens, they're going there, and you've read through the book of Ezra and Nehemiah, they begin to rebuild the temple and get the work done, but then you have the enemies of God going in trying to discourage the work, okay, trying to stop the work of God, and what they do is they go to Artaxerxes, who's the king at that time, and they persuade him to create a law and a decree to cause the work to cease, okay, they basically tell him hey, these Jews are really bad, you know, they're not going to give you tribute, they're not going to pay taxes, they are a rebellious people, and obviously there's a little bit of truth to that, the difference is this is that not these particular ones, okay, these are the ones that actually got right with God, and they want to serve the Lord, and they just want to get back to their normal schedule, back to worshiping the Lord, being in their land, et cetera, but we have these people persuading Artaxerxes to do so, he puts out this law and this decree that says you guys have to stop building, okay, so the law gets involved, they bring in this army, and they basically tell them you guys got to stop or you're going to be punished for this, and so the work ceases, okay. Now here's the thing is that who cares what the government says, if God sanctioned for the building of the temple, and God sanctioned them to come back into the land because they believed on him, if he's sanctioned and has decreed that they should rebuild the walls and go back there, who cares what Artaxerxes says, who cares what his army does, they have God on their side, okay, but obviously that's not the case, they become afraid, they stop rebuilding, now here's the thing, they still go back to their land though, so they go back to their land, they're going back to their houses, they fix their little cottages and their houses and they're planting vineyards, and they're living off of that, the only thing that's being neglected though is what, the house of God. The walls of Jerusalem of course and the house of God, but their houses are fine, they're rebuilding their stuff and planting their vineyards, they're taking care of their possessions, but yet the possessions of the land so to speak, as far as the wall's concerned, and the house of God is being neglected. And when they ask them, hey, why are you not building, they say, oh, because they told us not to. They told us not to build, they told us not to rebuild these things, and Haggai's message is basically this, yeah, but you're taking care of your stuff. Oh, you're taking care of your possessions, you're taking care of your vineyard, and yet the house of God is still laying waste, it's still in ruins, you're not doing anything about that, okay? And by the way, this law that he is decreed to go forth that you guys should stop the work, you know, obviously it didn't stop you from taking care of your possessions, but yet you're allowing it to hinder you to basically rebuild the house of God, okay? So Haggai comes in, along with Zechariah, and he preaches to them and changes their mind, he helps them to recognize the error of their ways. And let me just say this, this is why we need hard preaching, amen? We need biblical preaching, hard preaching, because it gets us off our rear ends to do what God wants us to do. Because sometimes the people of God, we grow apathetic towards the things of God. We grow apathetic, or sometimes we get lazy, or sometimes we just get involved with other things, we start paying attention to things that are temporal, and not things that are heavenly, and so we need a man of God to come up and light a fire under our rear ends to get us going, amen? Look at Ezra chapter six, so Ezra is actually, listen to this, your first prosperity preacher. Look, verse 14, and the elders of the Jews builded, and they prospered through the prophesying of Haggai, the prophet and Zechariah the son of Edo, and they builded and finished it according to the commandment of God of Israel, and according to the commandment of Cyrus Darius and Artaxerxes, king of Persia. So what do we see here? They prospered under his preaching. That's why I say he's the prosperity preacher, amen? He put forth the commandments of God, he preached the word of God, and what did he do? They prospered. Now, the difference between this prosperity preacher and the prosperity preachers of today is that Haggai's not saying serve God and you'll be rich. Serve God and you'll have health and wealth and prosperity, you know, blessings upon you, you're gonna be successful, nothing bad's gonna happen to you, that's false. Okay, the Joel Olsteins of today, the John Haggis of today, the, who else, who's the prosperity preacher? The preachers of LA of today, I don't even know if they're still around, anybody else? What, Clefflow Dollar, is that his name? Who else, give me another name. I know you guys know who I'm talking about. Benny, he had repented apparently. Now he's going against the prosperity preachers, now that he's made millions of dollars. He's like, gotta choose a new occupation, a new position of a pastor. Who else, what's another prosperity, give me one more. Is there any more? There has to be more. There we go, TD Jakes and Joyce Meyers. All right, we'll stop there, okay. You know, these pastors and pastorettes, they're going around telling you that if you serve God, nothing bad's gonna happen to you. I got news for you, they crucify Jesus. So if you live like Jesus, if you preach like the prophets, you're gonna suffer the consequences of a prophet, which is sometimes death. You know, sometimes it's persecution, it's loss of possessions, it's loss of your life sometimes. Why, because the Bible tells us, yea, all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution, okay. I don't remember seeing in the book of, or in the gospels, the time that Jesus Christ rolled around in a Mustang, literally, or something, you know, in a horse, or he had possessions in mansions. I don't remember him having those things and having millions of dollars. From what I remember, Jesus Christ said that the son of man hath not where to lay his head. The foxes of the holes, the foxes, or what is it, the birds of the air have nests, the foxes have holes, but the son of man hath not where to lay his head, okay. You know, he wasn't preaching a prosperity gospel. He was telling people, if you follow me, you know, if they call the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more shall they call they of his household? The prosperity message that Haggai preached was this, you know, you're focusing too much on your possessions. You're focusing too much on your prosperity and you're neglecting the house of God. Now, here's the thing, we need to be balanced. Obviously, it's okay to have nice things. So if you have a Mustang, I'm sorry, you know. You know, if you have nice things, that's not a bad thing. The bad thing is this, is that when those possessions possess you and you're not focusing on the things of God. It's funny they call them possessions, when sometimes those possessions actually end up possessing you and hindering you from doing the work of God. You know, every good gift and every perfect gift coming from above from the father of lights and whom there is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. We understand that God gives us good things to enjoy and we can utilize them and use them and they can be a blessing, but it's when those things begin to take our attention away from the things of God, then it becomes a problem. And that's exactly what's happening here. Because here's the thing is that God promised them after 70 years that they would come back. He said, I know the thoughts that I think towards you, thoughts of peace and not of evil to give you an expected end in Jeremiah, okay? He's like, I'm gonna give you an expected end, you're gonna come back and you're gonna have your houses, you're gonna have your vineyards, you're gonna be able to prosper, but here's the thing, the stipulation is this, is that you need to serve me. That's what he's saying, okay? And you need to make sure that Jesus Christ, obviously to us, because we know the name of Jesus Christ, needs to be the preeminent one in our lives and not put him on the back burner, not put him in the back seat and just kind of take care of your things. No, we need to make sure that we focus on the kingdom of God. Amen? So this is the message that Haggai is bringing forth, okay? So go back to Haggai chapter one, if you wouldn't. Haggai chapter one. And the lesson that I wanted us to learn here regarding Ezra chapter six, is that if you want to succeed in the Christian life, if you want to prosper, listen to the preaching. Apply the preaching of God's word. Don't be a hearer of the word only, be a doer of the word, okay? Because the person who is a doer of the word shall be blessed in his deed according to the Bible. You know, you don't necessarily get blessed, although, you know, you can get blessed by hearing the word of God being preached or being read, but you actually, the full extent of the blessing comes when you actually apply the word of God, okay? And what did the people of Judah do? They actually applied what Haggai was saying. That's why the Bible says that they prospered by his preaching, okay? They listened to him, they listened to the wisdom of his words, and they took heed to it, and thereby they prospered, succeeded, and God blessed them, okay? Now look at verse number one. It says, in the second year of Darius, the king in the sixth month and the first day of the month came the word of the Lord by Haggai the prophet to Serubabel, the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Jozedek, 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 what do we see here? Haggai comes in, and look, one thing I like about the prophets of the Old Testament is they're party poopers. They just kind of ruin everything, which is good. Sometimes you need things to be ruined. Everyone's having a good time, and they come in and you're like, you guys are wicked. You guys are saying that the house of the Lord shouldn't be built right now, and everyone was just like, oh great, here comes the cloud, here comes the rain, here comes the brimstone, here comes the truth. So what the prophet is supposed to do is kind of give you a reality check. You know, kind of come to you and say, yeah, I know you think everything's a bed of roses right now and everything's going good, but I just want to let you know you guys are forsaking the house of God, and you're making excuses why you're not serving the Lord. That's basically what he's saying. He came to them, he said, hey, God wanted me to tell you that you're saying the time has not come, that the time that the Lord's house should be built. Basically what he's saying is this. What you're stating is this. I don't feel like building the house of God yet. It's going to come one day, but right now is not the time. Okay? Now is not the time. Well, here's the problem with that, is that since they came into the land, it was already time. And the proof of that is found in Ezra and Nehemiah, because they began to rebuild the walls, and they're building, they're doing the plans and everything and they're taking care of business. But here they're saying, well, you know, they already stopped us from doing that. They set forth the decree and the rule and the law that we can't build the house of God, therefore it's not time yet. No, it's time. Okay? Now go with me if you would to, go to Ecclesiastes if you would. Ecclesiastes chapter number 12. Go to Ecclesiastes chapter number 12 if you would. I'm going to read to you from John nine, verse four says, I must work the works of him that sent me while it is day. The night cometh when no man can work. So really the time that it's not time to work, the time that it's time for the work to cease is when we die. Okay? That's when we can say, all right, it's time to clock out. It's not time to work. It's time to finish up what we're doing here. But until then, it's time to get to work. Amen? Now you say, what work are you referring to? Well, the Christian life is just filled with all types of work. Right. You know, obviously the most important work is the first work, which is soul winning. But how about this? Working on your marriage. Right. Working on your child rearing, working on your home, working on your Bible reading, working on your prayer life. Amen. Right? So I'm not married, then working on getting married. Gotcha. You know, working on preparing to get married. Well, I haven't found anybody yet, but you can still labor and work and prepare to be a wife and to be a husband, to have the right mindset and the right mentality. You know, you don't want to just get married and, you know, just figure it out from then on end. You know, you understand? You kind of want to figure some things out prior to getting married. You want to mature and save and do what you need to do in order to prepare for that. How about wives, you know, or not wives, but women who want to get married. How about, you know, learning to cook and clean and serve your husband. Oh, is that a cuss word? You know, obey your husband. Right? Amen. I mean, am I preaching something that's not biblical here? I mean, this is biblical, amen. You know, having that mentality of understanding that when I get married, I'm to serve my husband and my husband obviously is supposed to love me as Christ loved the church. These are the biblical roles. This is the work that we need to put into the Christian life, you understand? And so, you know, now's the time to win souls. Now's the time to disciple the people that we've won to the Lord. Now's the time to baptize people, or that's a piano, but baptize people right over there. Now's the time to do the work of God. We can't have this mentality to say, well, now's not the time yet. I'm waiting for the perfect time to come before I can go preach the gospel, you know? No, now's the time. And let me just say this, there is no perfect time. Doesn't exist, okay? You know, the perfect time when you have all your ducks in order and all the verses memorized. Folks, I'm a pastor and you know what? I'm still memorizing verses on soul winning, okay? I've been soul winning for 14 years and I'm still working on soul winning because you can always sharpen the sword, you can always get better, but now's the time. Well, you say, well, what if someone poses a question to me that I just don't know? Then guess what? Then it's back to the drawing board. You know, you get humbled, okay? And then you go back to the drawing board and you study what the Bible says about that and you say, the next time this question comes up, I'm ready to mode that person. I know what I'm gonna be talking about, okay? But here's the thing, if you're a brand new soul winner, you don't have to worry about that happening to you. You get to enjoy your soul winning partner getting moded. If they don't know that question, you know? They don't know that answer, okay? But now's the time. Now's the time to become a silent partner, amen? Now's the time to get baptized, if you have not yet been baptized. Now's the time to get into church. Well, I'll wait till summer's over though, like, it's really hot and you know, I got a lot of things going on and you know, yeah, we all got a lot of things going on. Join the club. Now is the time and here's the thing, what if you die by the end of summer, your time is up, okay? You say, well, that's great, yeah, but here's the thing is, a lot of times is people go home early and there's a reason why God takes people home early. Why, because they spend so much time saying now is not the time, okay? The Bible says in James chapter four verse 13, go to now ye that say today or tomorrow, we will go into such a city and continue there a year and buy and sell and get gain. Notice this, you know, he says, ye that say today or tomorrow. I'll read my Bible today or tomorrow. I'll pray today or tomorrow. I'll get into church today or I'll do it next Sunday. He says, verse 14, whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow, for what is your life? It is even a vapor that appearth for a little time and then banisheth the way, for that ye ought to say, if the Lord will, we shall live and do this or that. But now ye rejoice in your boasting, all such rejoicing is evil. Therefore to him that knoweth to do good and doeth it not. Listen to this, here's the party pooper, to him it is sin. So if there's something that you know you're supposed to do and you're not doing it, the Bible says you're sinning. Sorry to reign in on your parade here, but I mean, that's what the Bible says, right? You say, what are you doing? Why are you being so negative this morning? Why are you telling us these things? Well, this is the same reason Haggai told the people of Judah, hey, this is what God said about you guys. Look what the Bible says in Ecclesiastes 12, verse 10. The preacher sought to find out acceptable words and that which was written was upright even words of truth. The words of the wise are as goads and as nails fastened by the masters of assemblies which are given from one shepherd. What are goads? Goads is basically like a prod that helps the cattle, right? Go in the direction they need to go in. Shepherd comes and just prods them and prods them and push and it's uncomfortable, but it makes them go in the direction they're supposed to go. Well, the Bible says here that the words of the wise are just the same thing. You know, when the preacher gets up and preaches to you, what are we doing? Are we just trying to offend you? Are we trying to, you know, cause you to be offended or something like that? No, we're trying to get you to go in the right direction. We're trying to push you in the right direction which is exactly what Haggai was trying to do. Go back to the book of Haggai, chapter one. So he says there, he says, verse two, thus speaketh the Lord of hosts saying, this people say, the time has not come, the time that the Lord's house should be built. Then came the word of the Lord by Haggai, the prophet saying, it is time for you, O ye, to dwell in your, excuse me, is it time for you, O ye, to dwell in your sealed houses? And this house lie waste? Now therefore, thus saith the Lord of hosts, consider your ways. So this is the message of his first sermon. Okay, and by the way, the first sermon that he preaches is in chapter one. The second sermon is obviously in chapter two, verses one through nine. The third sermon is from verse 10 through verse 19. Now, how do we know that? Well, because every time he begins a new sermon, he states, then came the word of the Lord to the prophet Haggai saying, okay? And so chapter one is primarily dealing with the message of basically telling him, hey, you need to consider your ways, I know everything's going good for you, I know that you're enjoying your house, you're enjoying your possessions, but the reality is this, is that you need to consider what you're doing because the house of God is laying waste. He wants them to check their priorities. He says in verse number six, ye have sown much and bring in little. So even though they're back in the land, even though they have their sealed houses, in other words, they have a home to live in, they're not really succeeding much. And one thing I've noticed is that when people get out of church, okay, when they get out of church, they backslide, they can deceive themselves into thinking they're actually succeeding, but when they look at the overview of their life in comparison to where they were when they were in church, they're actually not succeeding at all. And one of the reasons for this is because God is not allowing them to prosper. Look what it says, ye have sown much and bring in little. How is it that you're working so many hours and yet you're bringing in so little? Ye eat, but ye have not enough, not satisfied. Ye drink, but ye are not filled with drink. Ye clothe you, but there is none warm. And he that earneth wages, earneth wages to put it into bags with holes. I mean, that's pretty much all of us because of taxes, amen? It's like we just put it into this thing and it's just going away. What is he saying? He's saying this, look, you think you're prospering, but at the end of the day, you're working so hard to earn all these wages, but you're putting them into bags and they basically, you lose all your money. These bags have holes. What is he basically saying? He's basically saying this, that the Lord of hosts is removing your prosperity. He's removing your wages. He's removing your success and your prosperity. He's removing all these things from your life because you're not considering your ways. You're not putting God first. You're not making him a priority. The Bible tells us, seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and these things shall be added unto you. And the reverse of that could be, the same could be said of the reverse of that, right? Which is this, if you don't seek the kingdom of God and his righteousness, these things can be taken away from you. You see, one thing you have to understand is that the Christian life, yes, God provides for you, amen? He'll provide for you. He will make sure that there's food on the table, that you're paying your bills. But if you forsake God, then it's not his responsibility to keep his end of the bargain. So the stipulation to his provision is that you serve him, that you're in church, that you're reading your Bibles, you're serving your husband, you're serving your wife, you are winning souls to Christ, you're serving God. But if you choose to remove those elements from your life, then God says, okay, then I don't have to provide for you that. Because he provides for those who are serving him. That's how it works. If that wasn't the case, then he wouldn't have needed to say, seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and these things shall be added unto you. He says, in order for me to add clothing and food and raiment and all these things to your life, you need to make sure you put God first, okay? Go to Deuteronomy chapter 28, if you would, Deuteronomy chapter 28. So we're still in his first sermon. And what is he saying in his first sermon? Consider your ways. Think about what you're doing. Evaluate your Christian life. Evaluate your heart, evaluate your mind, your thoughts, your attitude, your service. Take inventory of that what you're doing. And make sure you're right with God, amen? Consider your ways, make sure you're seeking the kingdom of God and his righteousness, et cetera. Look at Deuteronomy 28 verse 16. This is the cursed chapter, okay? It's basically God telling him, these are all the bad stuff that's gonna happen to you if you don't serve me. What do you mean bad stuff? Like God would do bad stuff to me? Oh yeah. Oh yeah. He will definitely do a lot of bad stuff to you if you don't serve him. Because he's a strict God, amen? Now, I will say this is that God is very merciful, he's gracious, he's long suffering. What does that mean? Well it means that even if you go astray a little bit, he might permit for you to go astray a little bit so that you can get your bearings and understand where you're at, and then you can come back and get right with God. But you say, well how long can that last for? I don't know. And here's the thing, I don't wanna know. We don't wanna push the limits of God's long suffering. We just understand that the goodness and forbearance of God leadeth thee to repentance, that's what the Bible says. So wherever you're at, this is what I'm telling you, consider your ways. Because you might be at that brink where God says, okay, no more long suffering, you're out. You're tapped out on God's mercy. Now since you're not adhering to my long suffering and mercy and graciousness, then I guess I have to use judgment. Think about that. Sometimes God says, you know what? If my long suffering is not working for you, I got something else I can use to get your attention. It's called judgment. It's called wrath. And wouldn't you say that pain is a good teacher? Pain gets our attention pretty well, does it not? The removal of possessions, the removal of health, the removal of that which is dear to you, it'll get your attention. Now he doesn't want it to get to that point, right? That's why he says the goodness and forbearance of God should lead you to repentance. You know, in recognition that God has been good to you, that he hasn't destroyed you, that he's blessed you, he's fed you, in recognition of that you should say, you know what, I need to get my butt back in church. I need to get my butt back in the Bible, back into the word of God, back into prayer, back into serving him because God has been good to me. But then there's another category of individuals who because they're prospering, they say, well I guess God is just pleased with me even though I'm not in church. And God has to flip it on them and say, okay, let's just remove that element, judge you and chastise you instead to basically humble you and get you back into church, okay? But look at the cursings, verse 16, cursed shall thou be in the city and cursed shall thou be in the field. Cursed shall be thy basket and thy store. Cursed shall be the fruit of thy body and the fruit of thy land, the increase of thy kind and the flocks of thy sheep. Cursed shall thou be when thou comest in and cursed shall thou be when thou goest out. Dang. Look, folks, if anything, you should learn this from this passage of scripture. Running away to another state ain't gonna help you if you're backslitted. Amen? Amen. Oh, I'm so bad here in California and I'm just not gonna go to church and I'm just gonna go off grid. I'm gonna go move to the sticks where I can grow my own water. I can grow my own cattle. I can pump out my own water and I'm gonna succeed. Well, actually, the Bible says that you'll be cursed anywhere you go. Because the location doesn't equal a blessing. Your physical location, where you're geographically located, does not help you at all. You say, what helps you just being right with God? That's right. And here's the proof, okay? Goshen is proof of that. You guys remember Goshen in the book of Exodus? When God is judging Egypt, he's sending all the 10 plagues to the land of Egypt. The only people who are not affected by it are the Israelites. Now, it's not because they're special, it's because they're in Goshen. They're in a particular part of the land called Goshen where God is blessing them. So in the midst of all the plagues, what happens? The children of Israel are still being taken care of. Egypt is like California. He said, what is First Works Baptist Church? It's Goshen. Goshen, baby! It's where the darkness, we still have lights and God's still blessing and people are still having babies and stuff. You know, we still, the world, I mean, Egypt is falling apart. Pharaoh, Newsom, is trying to destroy this land that reprobate, that wicked, adulterous, scumbag reprobate, known as Newsom, the hypocrite, that disgusting, sorry excuse for a governor, known as Newsom, nuisance. You know, he's trying to destroy the land. That's why we gotta vote him out! No, I'm just gonna let God plague him. Not let him, because I don't permit anything. I'm just gonna leave up, you know, let him be destroyed by God's plagues. And live in Goshen. Goshen is a picture of God's will, okay? And everyone else, if they're not in God's will, it doesn't matter how nice of a city they're in or how great of a Republican, red state they're in. They could be in Texas, Florida, you know, I don't even, you know, yeah. They could have DeSantis as their leader. They can have the best governor, the best laws, folks, if they're not in God's will, they're done. Because it doesn't matter where you're at physically, it matters where you're at spiritually. Let me just remind you of that. You know, oh, I'm gonna go to all the vaccines. But what about all the vaccines? Stay in Goshen, you'll be fine. Just keep serving God and you'll be fine. But that's all these laws that they're instituting and all these things. Are you moving out of Goshen? Because I can tell you about people who moved from Goshen. And here's the thing, there's a family who was in our church, they were in Goshen, and then they left Goshen. Before they left physically, they left Goshen spiritually. Right. They were gone, okay? And what did they do? They ran with their tail tucked between their legs because they're scared of everything that was happening in California, you know? And here's the thing, maybe it was God's mercy allowing them to leave because a year after, we got bombed and if they couldn't handle just what was taking place then, they definitely couldn't have handled the bombing. Because it takes Christians of grit and to be able to withstand such persecution, right? But what I'm saying is this, is that it doesn't matter where you're at physically, what matters is where you're at spiritually. Because even if you were to move to Boise, Idaho, by the way, if you go to Boise, Idaho, you better go to Shield of Faith Baptist Church. Okay? If you go to Texas, you better go to, you know, Steadfast Baptist Church. Don't move off grid to some hill where all the hillbillies are at. Just because you can grow your own whatever, have these natural chickens, you know what I mean? Folks, these are people who are just too temporal minded. They love this world too much. They just want to grow all their natural, we just want, forget the cell phones, what do you mean we need cell phones? I don't want to be on the internet and I don't want to, why, that's how we get the message out. But don't you know that's how they're going to get you? They already got you. Son. We got to use fake names and fake this. They got you already. If that's what you're worried about, you're done. Let them find me, they're going to find me no matter what. They're going to find you no matter what. Unless God's hand of blessing is on you. He said, cursed shall thou be when thou comest in, cursed shall thou be when thou goest out. Hey, if you're not right with God, you'll be cursed in here and you'll be cursed out there. That's what the Bible says. The Lord shall send upon thee cursing. Oh man, if that wasn't emphasized enough. Vexation and rebuke and all that thou setest thine hand unto for to do until thou be destroyed, until thou perish quickly because of the wickedness of thy do. Is this the God of the Bible? I thought he was so loving and kind. Yeah, he is loving and kind, absolutely. But you know, let's not sugar coat who God really is too. Which is, he's wrathful. Whereby thou has forsaken me, the Lord shall make the pestilence cleave unto thee until he hath consumed thee from off the land where that thou goes to possess it. The Lord shall smite thee with the consumption and with the fever and with an inflammation and with an extreme burning and with the sword and with blasting and with mildew and they shall pursue thee until thou perish. He's just throwing stuff in there. He's like, you'll get a sword and you'll get like this bug I made and you'll get that inflammation. You'll get an extreme burning. Like from what? I'll figure it out, you'll get an extreme burning somehow. Here's the worst part though. This is the worst part of the cursing. Look what it says in verse 23. And thy heaven that is over thy head shall be brass and the earth that is under thee shall be iron. What does it mean when it says that it shall be brass? God's not gonna listen to you. He says when you pray, it'll be like there's a brass ceiling where the prayers are not making it through into heaven. That's scary. In other words, when you cry out to me, I'm not gonna listen because you're so rebellious, you're being wicked and I'm not gonna bless you for it. You know, it sounds to me like we just need to stay in Goshen, sounds to me like we just need to keep God's blessing upon our life. And it sounds to me that we need to consider our ways. Go back to Haggai, if you would. He says in verse number eight, go up to the mountain and bring wood and build a house and I will take pleasure in it and I will be glorified, saith the Lord. You looked for much and lo, it came to little and when you brought it home, I did blow upon it. He's like, oh man, we finally got everything that we needed and God goes, you had everything that you needed. He's like, look at all this, I worked so much overtime, here it is and then God just brings some ridiculous expense and just goes, what are you talking about, you have nothing. Right. What overtime? Not enough, just blows it away. Scary. He says, you looked 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 that is waste and ye run every man unto his own house. He's saying, look, the reason I'm doing this is because you're not putting the house of God first and obviously, he's referring to a physical edifice but there's a spiritual significance to this. He's basically saying you're not putting spiritual things first and look, a lot of things would go well for us as Christians if we just learned the simple principle of putting spiritual things first. No matter what you do. Putting spiritual things first in your home, putting spiritual things first in your marriage, with your children, at work, just waking up in the morning and saying, God, I wanna walk in the Spirit, not fulfill the lust of the flesh, I'm gonna take up my cross today and follow you. And look, don't think, oh man, take up my cross today, is that, what does that entail? Well, it just entails you dying to self and putting him first, that's what it means, okay? And that's what he's frustrated with them about. Look at verse 10, therefore the heaven over you is stayed from dew and the earth is stayed from her 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, upon all the labors of the hands. He's just covering every facet. So everything's gonna be, it's not gonna bring forth any kind of fruit, you're gonna suffer here, okay? Then Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel and Joshua, the son of Jazadek, the high priest with all the remnant of the people, look what it says. Obey the voice of the Lord their God and the words of Haggai the prophet as the Lord their God had sent him and the people did fear before the Lord. So look, you know, these people are pretty wise, are they not? They're like, you know what, he's right. We need to get right with God. He's right, we have been putting our houses first, our possessions first, we haven't been putting the house of God first, it's time to hit a reset button. And look folks, this is what the Christian life is. It's doing what? Hitting a reset button. What is a reset button? It's like you take inventory of your spiritual life, you recognize that you're lacking and you say, you know what, I need to hit a reset button on my Bible reading, on my soul winning, on my prayer life, on just the Christian life period, I need to hit the reset button. That's what he's doing. And look, he wasn't sending Haggai over there to say, you guys are done, you're done. He's going there, he's sending them there to rebuke them so God's people can say, oh snaps, we're in trouble. This is not good, let's get right with God. And they obeyed the voice of the Lord and the words of Haggai and they started just serving God again. And that's how it is folks. That's how every Sunday basically is, right? It's like you're going through your week and you had a really bad week, you had a really bad whatever, fill in the blank, got in the flesh, you got a little worldly, you got a little fleshly, a little carnal, a little sinful, and then you're just like, you know what, I need to get right with God. And here's your public service announcement for this week. Get right with God. Amen. Because if not, you shall be cursed. A burning shall come upon you, the inflammation. So which one comes first? I don't know, I don't want to know. You just throw it into a hat and it's like, there you go, emerods. I mean, that's one of them. Why are you laughing, that's one of them. Diseases, something can come, that's one of them literally. And it's a reminder to us, amen. So his first sermon here, it was a success. And he tells them, consider your ways, and they're like, yeah, what are we doing? We're like failing at our crops and God's not necessarily blessing us. And we're just too, we're too introspective. We're just focusing on things that belong to us. We're not really focusing on the house of God. The main reason why God's bringing us back is to rebuild the temple. And they lost sight of that. Now look at chapter two. This might be a two-part series actually, because I'm barely in chapter two. Look at verse one, in the seventh month, in the one and 20th day of the month, came the word of the Lord by the prophet Haggai, saying, speak now to Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua, the son of Jozedek, the high priest, and to the residue of the people, saying, who is left among you that saw this house in her first glory? So what do we see in chapter two? Now he's switching from considering themselves to now considering the work that they've done. Because now he comes back about a month later, and now they're rebuilding the temple. Now it's going back to work, and they built the house, or the temple of God, it's there. And then here comes the party pooper again, known as Haggai. You know, they're done, they're just, you know, they're laboring, and they rebuild the temple. And he comes, and he's like, hey, I got a question for you guys. Who was here when Solomon's temple was still around? I was, I was, me, me. And he says, and how do you see it now? Is it not in your eyes in comparison of it as nothing? Let me just translate that for you. Who was here when Solomon's temple was here? I was, doesn't this one suck in comparison to that one? That's what he's telling him. Isn't this one like crappy compared to what he built? What a party pooper. Everyone's like, man, why do you have to be so mean about it? He's basically saying, look, is it not in your eyes in comparison of it as nothing? In other words, it can't compare to the first temple. And obviously, he's talking to the elders. Because the elders, remember, this is 70 years after the captivity, okay? Captivity has already taken place, and after the, when they were first taken captive, 70 years thereafter, so, you know, some of the folks that were there, they were younger during that time, but they still remember what Solomon's temple looked like. They come back, and they rebuild this new temple, they're just like, oh, man, this is bad. This can't even hold a candle to the first temple. And they're mourning because it's like, it's not the way it used to be, okay? It says in verse number four, yet now be strong, O Zerubbabel, saith the Lord, and be strong, O Joshua, son of Jossidic, 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 of 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. She's basically saying, look, but either way, I'm still with you, okay, I'm with you. Now, why is this happening? Why is it that they built a really bad temple in comparison to the old one? What's the significance there? Well, we're gonna see in this third sermon, the problem is not necessarily the temple, the problem was still their heart. It's like they had a dirty heart, and they were still working like that, okay? But another reason why this happened this way, or God allowed it to be this way, is because of the fact that he wants them to be discontent with the physical building, because he wants them to look forward to a better temple, which is the New Jerusalem. So he's basically saying, hey, don't worry about this one, this is the best you guys got, okay? That's okay. Thank you. Thank you. If you're not disgusted by it's because you're embracing it, you love what's going on in the world today. But the more you get into the Bible, the more you recognize, you look at the world through a biblical lens, the more you're disgusted by everything that's taking place. You're mad at the governor, you're mad at the laws, you're mad at the wickedness and the false doctrine and the sodomy and all this filth that's being pushed down our throats each and every day, you're mad at how the world is going, and what is it causing you to do? Look forward to a new heaven, a new earth, that new temple, right? But if you're enjoying whatever you're doing, it's just like you're not even being heavenly minded. You're so earthly minded that you're no heavenly good. But it also represents our bodies, remember in the New Testament, our bodies are the temple of the Holy Ghost, which you have of God and you are not your own. And you know what? Just as this temple was defiled in like manner, our physical body is corrupted, it's defiled. And here we see that the elders, they mourn, right? They're mourning for how bad that temple is. And what does the Bible say in Romans chapter number eight? It says, the whole creation groaneth, okay? Go to Romans chapter eight, let's take a look at it. So being in this temple right now, we recognize that it's imperfect, it's not where it should be. You know that old temple that Solomon built is like the old body of Adam prior to the fall. It's like the Garden of Eden and how beautiful it was and how great it was and it was without sin and it was just so perfect. But now we have this temple and it's just like, it's corrupted, the flesh lusted against the spirit, against the flesh, these are contrary to one to the other, so you cannot do the things that you would. It's just a constant battle and clashing of the flesh and of the spirit. Look at verse 19 of Romans chapter eight, it says, for the earnest expectation of the creature waited for the manifestation of the sons of God. For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who had subjected the same in hope, because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption to wit the redemption of our body. What does it mean when he says we groan within ourselves? We just get fed up with this body, right? You're just like, man, just battling sin every single day, battling this corruptible body, this corruptible flesh, this corruptible mind, you know, battling this fleshly body, and the sins that come attached to it, it can grow weary on you, just like constantly fighting. So what do we do? We groan within ourselves, waiting to wit the redemptions of our body. We're waiting for that new temple, the new one that's gonna descend from heaven, that new resurrected body, where you no longer have to battle sin, you'll be sinless, amen? Go back to Haggai, if you would. So sermon number one is consider your ways. Sermon number two is consider your work, because now they built the temple, and this should give us hope, folks, because look, sometimes you're like, man, I put so much work into the Christian life, and then I just fail tomorrow. I tried so hard, I tried so hard to please the Lord, and to serve God, and to have spiritual disciplines, and then I just have a bad day. Well, you know what, let that be a reminder to you that there's a better temple coming, a better body that shall not struggle, where you're not gonna have a bad day. You're not gonna fall into sin, or you're not gonna have a sinful thought, or a sinful action, those things will be passed, okay? That's what it's supposed to do, you understand? Now here's the thing is that today you have these repent of your sins people out there, and they love this temple. They build this temple, they're not mourning, they're like, this is the greatest thing ever. It's better than Solomon's temple, all right? That's what they're saying, because they think they're sinless now. They think they can stop sinning today. Folks, it's impossible to stop sinning. It's not a just man upon earth to do with good and sin, it's not, and you know what? As we're mourning, they're like, why are you guys mourning, this is great. It's perfect, it's better than what God can do. That's basically what the repent of your sins crowd is saying. No, we recognize that even this temple, as hard as we work and exercise ourselves rather unto godliness, there's always gonna be a struggle, and that should be a reminder to us that we should look forward to heavenly things, okay? Sermon number three is to consider their sin, verse 10, it says, in the four and 20th day of the ninth month and the second year of Darius came the word of the Lord to Haggai the prophet, saying, thus saith the Lord of hosts, asked now the priest concerning the law, saying, if one bear holy flesh in the skirt of his garment, and with his skirt do touch bread, or pottage, or wine, or oil, or any meat, shall it be holy? And the priest answered and said, no. Then said Haggai, if one that is unclean by a dead body touch any of these, shall it be unclean? And the priest answered and said, it shall be unclean. Then answered Haggai and said, so is this people. He just like, hooked them. He's like, well, I'm talking about you. I like how these prophets, like, the prophet who came, who's the prophet that came to David? Nathan. Nathan the prophet came and he just gave, put forth that parable, and then David's just like, yeah, that guy deserves to die, and all this. And he's like, you're the man. Got you. These prophets are, they're a little sly when it comes to these parables. But he's basically saying, look, you're the one. You are unclean. This is why your temple is unclean, it's because you're unclean, okay? And by the way, the spiritual application there is this, is that don't think that you can go to be, you can go hang out with your worldly friends or be in a bad environment, and somehow you're gonna rub off on them. No, the way it works is that something unclean that touches you will make you unclean. Well, if I go to this Friday night party and go hang out with my friends, I'm gonna give them the gospel. I'm gonna get them saved. I'm a, man, we're gonna do it. No, they're gonna do you. They're gonna win you over. They're gonna cause you to sin, because the principle is that if something unclean touches that which is clean, that which is clean does not make the unclean clean. Try to say that five times fast. What happens is the unclean defiles that which is clean. Okay, and of course, we know that what he's specifically referring to is the fact that the temple's been defiled, because they have a dirty heart, okay? That's why it looks the way it looks. No man that warth entangled himself with the affairs of this life, that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier. If a man also strive for mastery, as the Bible says in 2 Timothy, yet is he not crowned, except he strive lawfully. Let's finish up here, verse 20. Now he's basically telling them in the last sermon, consider the new temple. He says that again, the word of the Lord came to Haggai in the fourth and 20th day of the month, saying, speak to Zerubbabel, governor of Judah, saying, I will shake the heavens and the earth, and I will overthrow the throne of kingdoms, and I will destroy the strength of the kingdoms of the heathen, and I will overthrow the chariots, and those that ride in them, and the horses and their riders shall come down, and everyone by the sword of his brother. In that day, saith the Lord of hosts, will I take thee, O Zerubbabel, my servant, the son of Sheytiel, saith the Lord, and will make thee as a signet, for I have chosen thee, saith the Lord of hosts. He's basically saying, you know, eventually you're not gonna have to deal with any of these physical kings, these earthly kings. Zerubbabel, who's of the lineage of David, who's a picture of Jesus Christ, he will one day reign over you. The government shall be upon his shoulders, is basically what he's saying. And what's the application there? Don't worry about the governor. Don't worry about Biden. Seriously, you don't have to worry about Biden. That guy has, that guy, you know, he has other issues. I mean, the guy is wicked, don't get me wrong. We need to preach against these people, by name, amen. All these wicked governors, you know, Pelosi and Newsom, who are related, Biden, you know, Cuomo, and all these wicked people who are just liars and thieves and just wicked individuals. Yeah, you know, they're wicked, but you know what? Don't worry about it, because one day there shall be a governor who is a perfect governor. And it's not Newsom. And it's not that beast who's trying to run for governor, that animal who's trying to run for governor after Newsom. But they're Republican! So? I'm looking for a different, you know what, governor? I'm looking for Jesus Christ. And look, folks, I mean, you see Haggai saying, don't worry, we're going to vote someone better in. Is that what he's saying? Did he say at the end of his sermon, don't worry, we're going to vote someone better in? You know, Trump 2024, it's going to change, it's going to be better. Is that what he's reminding him of? Is he saying, hey, don't worry, a better king is going to reign over you, we're going to have a, no, he's saying the king, Jesus Christ, by the way, this is thousands of years ago, he's saying, don't worry, he's going to reign over you one day, what is he telling him? Look forward to the real king. Don't worry about who's getting voted in and how these next four years are going to go, and you know, let me just do a little, let me just be a party pooper, it's going to go really bad. It's going to be so, it's going to be so bad. It's going to be terrible. And it's going to be terrible no matter where you go. It's going to be bad. The next four years are going to be terrible. It's going to be horrible. But don't worry, because Jesus Christ is coming. And when he comes, he's going to set up his millennial reign and the coming couple, whatever, however long that takes for his second coming, and then, you know, his third coming comes and he establishes his millennial reign, he's the governor, and then it's all good. But up until then, it's going to be really bad. So, you know, we as Haggai need to be reminded, or as Judah should be reminded that we need to look forward to our heavenly king, our heavenly kingdom, that new heaven, that new earth. You know, but man, but I mean, we have to live here. Yeah, but we are sojourners, pilgrims and sojourners in this world. Don't bury your stakes too deep into the ground where it's painful to just draw it out when you need to. Just dwell in Goshen. Recognize everything you have here is borrowed. It's rented, even if you think you own it. Recognize, you know, don't worry about the governors and the presidents of this world, we'll have a better governor one day. And I'm not talking about 2024. We'll have a better president one day, it's not 2024, okay? You know, I'm talking about Jesus Christ, okay? So the message of Haggai is good, you know? The basically, the overview is this, just consider. Take Sunday to consider a little bit. Take today to consider tomorrow. And the decisions that you need to make, the changes you need to make, that's what we need to do, let's pray. Father, we thank you so much for your word. Thank you for the book of Haggai. And what a great four sermons that he preached, Lord, to help us to consider them, to be reminded of them, to put you first no matter where we are. And recognize it's not about a geographical location. It's good to be in a good geographical location, because obviously even they were taken back to Jerusalem. But the reality was is that they were still being blessed if they're serving you, even in Babylon. You told them to build houses, to build vineyards, to have children, and that you would be with them. It's just a reminder to us that it's not necessarily about the physical location, but rather the spiritual location of our hearts, where we are at spiritually is what matters most. And I pray, God, that you'd help us take it to heart, help us to consider, in Jesus' name, amen. Amen.