One Hour. One Book: Haggai

a guy is actually about three things and chapter one is about apathy apathy chapter two in the beginning of chapter 2 beginning in verse 1 to verse 9 is about discouragement from chapter 2 verse 10 to the end of the book contaminating sin contaminating sin that is one bad apple really can spoil the whole bunch contaminating sin alright the book is about three things and it starts with about with something about apathy now I want you to notice some things that I'm just gonna ask you to write into your text cuz they're gonna help you how do I know when this book was written exactly because it's built around dates so go to verse 1 of chapter one in the second year of Darius the King on the first day of the sixth month right above that August 29th 520 BC we know exactly when that was August 29th 520 BC the word of the Lord came by the Prophet Haggai to Zerubbabel son of shealtiel governor of Judah and to Joshua son of josedech the high priest and then he goes on and tells what the word of the Lord was now drop down to chapter 2 verse 1 chapter 2 verse 1 says on the 21st of the seventh month the word of the Lord came by a guy the Prophet saying right above that October 17th 520 BC that is October 17th 520 BCE or BC before the Common Era now go to chapter 2 verse 10 and a third date is mentioned the third date is in chapter 2 verse 10 on the 24th of the ninth month in the second year of the rious the word of the Lord came to a guy the Prophet saying that would be December 18th 520 BC December 18th 520 BC so this book is from August to October to December essentially it's the autumn and winter of 520 so you first of all you have to know the dating of the rious and when he was King if you don't know that you don't get anything okay and then the months of the year are told by the civil calendar so when we're in Israel I'm going to teach you that there are four different calendar systems for Jews there's a sacred calendar which is what priests go by but the names of the of the months are different than on the civil calendar which is what Kings go by or governors then there's a new year for trees and a new year for animals so you get four new years a year okay and the calendar systems are two calendars but for New Year's days which is kind of weird but just animals are on a different cycle than trees that are on a different cycle than kings that are on a different cycle then priests so if you say seventh month seventh month of the civil calendar is the first month of the high holy calendar so they're not the same and you'll learn about these a little bit later on in the year but notice three times what happened the word of the Lord came it came in August so let's go to the summer time and take out the August message of God okay this is message from the hot season can I just tell you what August is like in Jerusalem but very very hot okay and yeah this is the time of year when if you're sensible you are down near some water or in it all right thus says the Lord of Hosts this people says circle the word says the time has not come even the time for the Lord's house to be rebuilt then the word of the Lord came by hug I the Prophet saying is it time for you your selves to dwell in paneled houses while this house lies desolate now therefore thus says circle says the Lord of Hosts consider your ways consider your ways is one of those phrases that will come up a number of times in the book God says you're saying you know Lord I'm glad you brought us back from Babylon and all but the timing isn't really right to build the house of the Lord wait a minute if this is 5:20 when did when were they told to come back and build the temple the decree of Cyrus was 539 the return was 536 it's 16 years later after 16 years they're gone we're just not ready can I just tell you something if you have a friend that gets married and they're really happy and they've been married say sixteen years saying you know we're just not ready to have a baby yet you're running out of time okay some things you just have to do whether there seems like the right time or not if God sends you somewhere 16 years before get it done now what's interesting is God dealt with the leaders in the beginning and he says if you look at the end of verse one that he's taught a guy the word of the Lord came by huh guy is aruba Bell and Joshua so by the Prophet by the administrator and by the priests God spoke to all three of them laying it on their hearts saying look the people are saying it's not the right time but they are not supposed to make that determination I sent them here to do a job I want you to stop and consider your ways verse 6 now in considering your ways I want you to do more than just pray and look into the Scriptures I'd like you to open up your eyes and see what's happening verse 6 you have sown much but you harvest little you eat but there's not enough to be satisfied you drink but there's not enough to become drunk you put on clothing but no one warm enough and he who earns earns wages to put it into a purse with holes he says every time you turn around you have less than you're working for inflation is eating your lunch you can't seem to make ends meet would you please consider the fact that I'm the one that gives you what you have and if you don't have it must be because I'm not happy says the Lord just remember this God's work undone God's Way will not lack God's supply Hudson Taylor said it God's worked on God's Way will not lack God's supply if you don't have the supplies it's either that you're not doing the right thing or you're not doing it the right way and one of the nice things is I personally fall back on this if God doesn't supply it I don't feel the need to do it so I feel off the hook until he gives me the money or gives me the assets or whatever okay verse 7 thus says the Lord of Hosts here it is a second time consider your ways when you see something more than once in Hebrew more than once in Hebrew more than once in Hebrew he's trying to emphasize it okay so I would underline consider your ways in verse 5 and consider your ways in verse 7 and connect them this is God speaking and what he's saying is would you please pay attention so then he says okay now pay attention to this verse 8 go up to the mountains bring wood and rebuild the temple that I may be pleased with it and be glorified says the Lord you look for much but behold it comes to little when you bring it home I blow it away why declares the Lord of Hosts because of my house which lies desolate well each of you runs to his own house therefore because of you the sky is withheld it's due the earth has was held withheld it's produce I called for a drought on the land on the mountains and the grain and the new wine and the oil and what the ground produces and on men and on cattle and and all the labor of your hands now stop right there God says I want you to consider very carefully that when I give you a job to do and you don't do it you're not busy in doing what I called you to do I will dry up your resources do what I tell you to do and let me take care of you then he comes back and he says in verse 12 then there's a rubber ball the son of shale Joshua the son of your host deck the high priest with all the remnant of the people obeyed the voice of the Lord their God in the words of haggai the prophet as the Lord their God had sent him and the people showed reverence for the Lord then a guy the messenger of the Lord spoke by the commission of the Lord to the people saying I am with you I want you to notice the formula between verse 11 and verse 13 the people obeyed God and God said I am with you notice that it does not say that people did whatever they wanted and God was with them it doesn't work that way when God gives you a commission you do it and when you do it God empowers it but God is not into making you important he's into making the mission he gave you important so then it says so the Lord stirred up the spirit of zerubbabel the son of shealtiel governor of judah and the spirit of joshua son of josedech the high priest and the spirit of all the remnant of the people and they came and they worked on the house of the lord of hosts now verse 15 gives you another date I skip this one I should have given it to you verse 15 on the 24th day of the sixth month in the second year of dereyes that is September 21st 5:20 now I want you to notice something chapter 1 begins August 29th and ends September 21st it's less than three weeks and God changed the outcome of the people based on their obedience do you see what happened and he tells you right down to the time look 16 years you're not obeying me in three weeks I'll change your life what what's the difference you took me seriously you started doing what I told you to do that means for 16 years of your life you could have been doing something wrong if God gets ahold of your heart and you genuinely lay it down and say God I am ready to do what you called me to do and I will this down in three weeks he can change your life he can change the atmosphere he can bring in Dew and bring in rains and start to bring in progress all that can change sixteen years and all he's looking for is take me seriously and in three weeks I can change the whole thing I think that's a good message for chapter one now what's their problem their problem was that they had grown into an apathetic structure how did it happen people don't see what's in front of them all the time I I walk into the dorms and I see something different than you do so you can have something laying on the steps for six weeks and everybody walks by it nobody pays attention since I hardly ever go in there if I walk in there the first thing I say is what's this thing laying on the steps oh well that's just been there for six weeks what is it oh I don't know somebody move it because it's easy not to I mean seriously do you have a spot in your home back home where it's like maybe a flat surface so it just like accumulates things do you have a do you have like a junk spot in your home where everybody walks in and puts their keys their phone and then there's like a whole pile of stuff and then we work on a new section or do you how many of you have a drawer that is the official junk drawer it's like you know it's clean okay it's not clean its relocated okay that's what it is so my point is that one of the things that happens in our lives is we can become apathetic let me give you a tip and maybe it will help you one of the things that saps your energy more than anything else is undone tasks okay better to not start than to half do because you'll be more at peace when you have three things that you started and finished yesterday than 14 things you started and didn't finish okay so smart is the person who understands that the done task you put that one to bed you feel good about it organize your life so that some things come off your list by the end of the day so that you can drop in bed and say well I didn't get everything done but I got those three things done go to chapter 2 if apathy was chapter 1 and the fact that they just are their eyes adjusted to the darkness around them and they just plain lost sense of their vision then chapter 2 is an apathy it's discouragement now there was a reason they were discouraged they were running against governmental principles zoning boards were coming in giving them a hard time I'll use that as an illustration okay so now we're now we are a month later almost a month October 17 520 speak now the Lord said speak now to zerubbabel the son of shealtiel governor of judah to joshua son of josedech the high priest and to the remnant of the people saying who is left among you who saw this temple in its former glory and how do you see it now does it not seem to you like nothing in comparison stop right there what were the people discouraged about in 16 years they had stalled out on building the temple in three weeks they got busy doing it and now another four weeks past seven weeks of building it and they're looking at the layout of the temple and what is it that they are discouraged about it's a big project and it's not as good as the one that they're replacing take courage zuru Babel declares the Lord notice take courage stop being afraid Zuba bell there the leader was fearful he was fearing something it says take courage drew bubele declares the Lord take courage also Joshua son of josedech the high priest and all you people of the land take courage declares the Lord and work why because I am with you declares the Lord of Hosts if the prize is intimacy with God then doing the work was already gaining them intimacy God's not looking for you to finish the temple so that he has one if he wants to build one he can build one himself he made the Grand Canyon what do you got okay seriously God has made God has made beautiful cathedrals out of stalactites and stalagmites he doesn't need us to do this he wants to do with us threw us something for us he doesn't need a temple we do we need a temple so he says listen stop being afraid that you can't get it done I'm here where else did you see the same phrase over and over I don't speak well Exodus 3 I'm with you I'll go with you yeah but but here's the thing the prize is intimacy with God that's the prize so it says as for the promise which I made you when you came out of Egypt my spirit is abiding in your midst I promised you I would come with you out of Egypt I'm here I don't know what else you want you want to build a temple so that I'll come I'm already here you want to make it look cool because that's gonna really do what I'm right here you have a little dinky temple that isn't even done but I'm already here you don't need a temple if I don't show up then it's just a big building you want a mall make them all but I want a temple because I want you to experience me I'm already here so the discouragement that is going on in their lives is because they're looking at the physical size of their ministry not the intimacy that they have with God stop right there and contemplate that for a minute you've never been in a place where the people were discouraged because of the physical size of ministry more than the power of God in their life the prize isn't the number of chariots in the parking lot the prize is the power of God in your life so you're gonna end up looking around and saying well you know there's a bigger one up there and there's another bigger one over there you don't know what's real you just know that the prize is what God is doing in you walk in obedience to him and be blessed with his presence because that's the prize then he goes on and says thus says the Lord of Hosts once more in a little while I'm gonna shake the heavens in the earth to see also in the dry land I will shake all the nations and they will come with the wealth of all nations and I will fill this house with glory says the Lord of hosts the silver is mine the gold is mine declares the Lord of hosts you're not poor I own everything God says you know what the Babylonians the other mine Greeks yeah they're mine Etruscans yeah I own them too mine Midianites mine Malekith mine Moabites mine ammonites mine gileadites mine Hittites mine Egyptians mine nobody has anything that I didn't give them and that is well worth remembering no one has anything I didn't give them so here's what it says the latter glory of this house will be greater than the former I'm gonna show up and it's going to be more powerful than I more powerful than what I was doing before says the Lord of Hosts and in this place I will give peace see from the discouragement and from the fear God said I'll replace it with peace remember Shalom is actually when things are as they should be I will write what's wrong declares the Lord of house okay so apathy was all about them losing track of God's call discouragement was all about them living in fear because the physical world didn't reveal the spiritual power do not do not assume that you can see with the eyes of your flesh what's going on powerfully in the spirit and you cannot very often it's that little old lady sitting in the third row who can barely get up and walk who has the power of God in her life like you have never seen you can't tell by looking at the outside okay now one more message you ready apathy discouragement this one contaminating sin let's see if we can make this make a little bit more sense verse 10 is December 18th now December 18th is the rainy season so now the rains have already begun the cold winds have started to come into Jerusalem verse 11 thus says the Lord ask now the priests for a ruling if a man carries holy meat in the fold of his garment and touches bread with his fold or cooked food wine oil or any other food will it become holy and the priest answered no here's the question can you get holiness by osmosis one of the things I learned in high school is you can sleep on your geometry book but it doesn't make you know geometry you cannot learn geometry by osmosis you can lay your head on it all night long you can drool in its pages as you sleep it will not transmit those words into your head in order to do that you must go through the I gate or the ear gate you could also chew it but that probably won't help you so here's what I know for a fact geometry doesn't come from osmosis and holiness doesn't either if something is right and straight it doesn't bump into something that's bent and make it straight now here's the opposite question hug I said if one who is unclean from a corpse touches any of those things which are clean will the things which have been cleaned become unclean answer what you betcha Leviticus 13 you can't touch anyone who shakes hands with anyone who bumped into anyone who combed the hair of anyone who touched something dead transmission by osmosis in other words bad spreads good doesn't the only way to get people to act distinctly before God that's the word holiness to act distinctly before God is for them to put enormous effort into it you want to act badly you don't even have to try how many of you agree with that I do not have to try to act badly in order for you to look beautiful you must get up in the morning and order yourself cosmetic means to reorganize cosmos to reorganize yourself left to yourself you will become disorganized some of you will come up in the morning looking like disorganization okay I'm not pointing any fingers in any direction at all I'm not hag I said so is this people so is this people so is this nation before me declares the Lord and so is every work of their hands what they offer there is unclean in other words allowing contaminating sin in this area of their life is affecting all of their life what he's saying is there's no such thing as hidden sin because the hidden sin is like a rotten apple right stuck in the middle of the of the bushel basket that's affecting everything so he goes on and says now consider from this day onward and this is another one of those consider your ways but he says don't look back look forward I want you to start watching the clock just see how this goes from this day onward before one stone was placed on another in the temple the Lord from the time when one came to a gray-green heap of twenty measures there would be only ten and when one came to wind that to draw 50 measures there would be only 20 I smoked you and every work of your hands with blasting wind mildew hail yet you did not come back to me here's the age-old principle every time you tried to put away sin and hide it I gave you huge consequences in your life to try and get you to stop I kept saying hollow knock it off and I would take away all the stuff that you're working so that you go man I got to stop doing this I'm getting nowhere struggling with God do you ever have an argument with God she ever win there's a universal no on that one and he says you didn't come back to me so alright so he said now I see you're serious I see that you're ready to follow me do consider from this day one onward from the 24th day the ninth month from that day when the temple of the Lord was founded consider is the seed still in the barn even including the vine the fig tree the pomegranate the olive tree it has not borne fruit yet from this day onward I will bless you this is the rainy season he says I want you to keep your eyes open I'm about to pop the ground with every kind of green thing you're about to see unbelievable growth right in front of your eyes it's you you haven't even planted everything I'm gonna I'm gonna bring up stuff you don't even know where it came from you didn't even plant the garden I'm gonna bring up the flowers you didn't even plant the olives I'm gonna bring out the olives I'm gonna bring out the pomegranates I'm gonna bring out the figs over this next winter you keep watching I'm about to do something in front of you you think that this land won't yield you don't understand this land will yield when I make it yield and yeah well I won't make it yield if you don't take me seriously now that you're ready to now I'm gonna do it so he says this is God going hey watch this I got crayons I like the color and then he says the word of the Lord came a second time to a guy on the 24th day of the month speak this room about governor of Judah saying I am going to shake the heavens in the earth I will overthrow the thrones of kingdoms and destroy the power of the kingdoms of the nations and I will overthrow the chariots and the riders and the horses and their riders will go down every one by the sword of another on that day declares the Lord of Hosts I will take use aruba bell son of shout say o my servant so Claire's the Lord and I will make you like a signet ring for I have chosen you declares the Lord I'm gonna take the work that you're doing right now and I'm gonna make you like a stamp impression that's going to be the stamp by which other people are gonna measure things to look at you think your life is small you think what you're doing is unimportant I'm gonna make of you I'm gonna write you into the Bible people are gonna be reading about you in Sebring Florida thousands of years from now you're there people are gonna know you buddy do you know what his problem was he saw his life is too small he saw his mission as not important enough he was being called on by God to do a specific thing and he didn't see it as that big and some people in this room we're gonna go right through this problem God's gonna give you a junior high sunday-school class and you're gonna go what the heck am i doing I studied the Bible poured out my heart and I got these seven stinky dweeby nutty junior highers what am i doing the greatness of a man or woman of God will be seen in the latrine assignments of their life and how they fulfill them faithfully for God I promise you that is true do not ask God to give you great assignments if you do not want to do ones that you consider beneath you there isn't anything beneath you the fact of the matter is Jesus saved you and you are best when you were doing whatever he called you to do and there is nothing nothing more fun it is the reason I sit in this chair it is the reason I look forward to coming back in this room there is nothing more fun than doing what you're called to do nothing and I got to tell you that my joy doesn't come from teaching you or from you thinking I know my joy comes from you going out that door and becoming something that's where my joy comes from and I know you will and I know you will even though you don't intend it because the Spirit of God already has his handle in your lives and he's gonna do something with you even some of you who just don't want him to he's gonna some of you are gonna raise some godly kids the world needs some godly kids some of you are gonna go out and you are gonna come alongside someone else in life who God has given a call that is different than yours and you're gonna be the strength for their call it's just it's gonna happen and all of that's good stuff it's all great stuff here's the bottom line don't ever treat God's call in your life like it's a small thing because you want to go to a bigger town or a bigger Church or a bigger ministry or be better known that's nothing more than ego talking stop it doesn't matter it doesn't matter and all I can tell you is if you will let God tell you what to do he'll take you all over and do all kinds of cool stuff follow God do what he tells you to do keep your eyes off of whether or not it's as big as somebody else's thing okay you're not more significant cuz you're 500 pounds okay you might be more noticeable but you're not more significant and the most significant thing you can be is walking intimately with God obeying him hi guy I don't have to you

Channel: One Hour. One Book.

Views: 17,721

Rating: 4.835443 out of 5

Keywords: GCBI, Dr. Randy Smith, Bible teaching, Bible class, Hebrew, Greek

Id: T_NRw4qVU38

Length: 30min 17sec (1817 seconds)

Published: Wed Dec 14 2016