Consider Your Ways

I'm from the University of Ambassador Bible College. One of the classes that I get to teach there is what I'm right in the middle of right now, which is the book of Acts. And just a few weeks ago, I was going through a passage in Acts in chapter 5 and verse 20, where the apostles had been thrown in jail for preaching the gospel, and they were released by an angel that night. So they had a very short stay. I guess you could say God posted bail for them, and they were released. But in Acts 5 and in verse 20, the angels said to them when they were let go, Go stand in the temple and speak to the people all the words of this life. When I read that this time, it kind of stood out and just kind of struck a chord in my mind. You read over a passage, a book, a chapter, you know, time and time again, and it depends on what's going on in your life or whatever it is you focus on at any given time. You read something and you say, I didn't see that before, or it strikes you in a different way. That time, on that day, this one kind of struck me with that they were told to go and stand in the temple and to speak to the people the words of this life, this life that speak to the words of eternal life, the gospel that they were preaching, and they were standing in the courtyard of the edifice that we call historically the Second Temple, this large ornate building that was a part of that covenant system and that time, and that's where the people in Jerusalem gathered. Today, we still are standing in the temple speaking the words of life, but we are standing in a different temple today. The church is the temple of God. Paul tells us that we are the temple and we are being built up into a spiritual temple today. We don't have a large temple that houses priests and sacrifices under the new covenant. The church is the temple. And in a sense, today, I'm standing in the midst of you, a part of that temple being built, being put together by God. There are other parts of that scattered as God has His people scattered around the world. But I'm standing in the midst of you. And there's always a message in front of us that is very much in the same spirit as what the apostles had. And that is to have a real sense of who we are, the times we're living in, and a sense of urgency that all of us must have as we are being built up as part of this spiritual body of Jesus Christ, also called the temple of God, and to understand who we are, the times we live in, and to see that this is our time.

We've chosen the theme on these personal appearance campaigns to say, to America, the time is now. That is a biblical theme that comes from actually Mark 1, verses 14 and 15, where Jesus came preaching the gospel, saying, the time is at hand, repent, and believe the gospel. In His day, it was the time to repent. In our day, it's always the time for you and I to change, to grow, to repent, and to be closer to God and to have a sense of urgency that this is our time, this is your time. Your calling, and what is in front of us is that calling of God. With this particular scene in mind, I'd like to take us back to an earlier time, again, a temple, but it was a different temple than the one that the apostles stood in front of here in Acts, chapter 5.

It wasn't the original temple. It was actually the original edifice of really where they stood in front of, because there was a destruction of what is called the first temple when Jerusalem was destroyed by the forces of Babylon. Then, about 70 years later, there was a concerted effort made to rebuild that temple.

We read about it in the Old Testament Scriptures, but the one portion that I want to turn our attention to is in the book of Haggai. You will turn back to the minor prophet, Haggai, one of those 12 minor prophets in the Old Testament. Haggai is the shortest of the prophets. It is only two chapters long.

It contains a very compact, succinct story and admonition for us to be about standing in the midst of the temple and proclaiming the words of life, doing the work of God that has befriended us today. As we look at the lessons to be learned from a group of people who had been commissioned to return to Jerusalem and to rebuild the ruins of the temple called the First Temple, the temple that had been built by Solomon, that had been destroyed. And they had set about doing. Let's begin the story. I'll fill in some of the details. We'll pull in some material from the book of Ezra, just a corollary to what we read here in this book of Haggai.

Let's just jump into it. We'll get the setting and know where we are historically and the application for you and I today, because that's the most important lesson. And Haggai, indeed, has a very important lesson for each of us today to have a sense of urgency about the spiritual building God is putting together.

Chapter 1 and verse 1 of Haggai sets the scene. It's in the second year of King Darius. This is a Persian king. The Persian Empire is the second empire of the story in Daniel, where there are four world empires that are pictured in Daniel 2 and Daniel 7, the first being Babylon, that's the empire of Nebuchadnezzar, and was used of God to take the nation of Judah captive. And then Babylon was replaced by the Persian Empire, under a man known to us in the Bible and in history as Cyrus, Cyrus the Great.

Cyrus was succeeded by a king named Darius, and that is the setting year of the second year of Darius in the sixth month. On the first day of the month, the work of God came by Haggai the prophet to Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, and to Joshua, who was the governor of Judah, and Joshua, who was the son of Jehoshadech the high priest.

Now these were the two leaders, one the political leader, the other the spiritual leader of a group of Jews who had returned to Jerusalem from Babylon according to a prophecy that Jeremiah uttered that there would be 70 years of desolation, and then there would be a return. And that indeed took place.

What would happen if you hold your place here and turn over to the book of Ezra, just a few chapters, a few books back in the Old Testament here, the book of Ezra, chapter 1, tells us and shows us the giving of the decree to return to Jerusalem under the Persian king Cyrus.

1 of Ezra, chapter 1, says that in the first year of Cyrus, the king of Persia, this was just a few years before what we just read in Haggai, chapter 1, that the word of the Lord by the mouth of the prophet, mouth of Jeremiah, might be filled. The Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus, king of Persia, so that he made a proclamation throughout his kingdom.

And this was, again, Cyrus, a historical figure.

You'll know that from the book of Isaiah, Cyrus was a man who was prophesied about 150 years before he actually lived and did this by God. And it was told that he would issue this decree. He would conquer Babylon. It's one of the proofs of prophecy and God's ability to foretell events ahead of their time.

And so it was that he came onto the scene, and the Persians had a different approach toward people that they beat up on than the Babylonians did. The Babylonians, when they would conquer a city and a kingdom, they would round up everybody and deport them.

And what they did with the Jews, they brought them to Babylon. They made slaves out of them, and they resettled them there.

That's what happened with Daniel, the story of Daniel. He and his friends. Well, the Persians, they had a different approach. You know, how it is, regime change. A new guy buys the company, and there's changes that are made. Well, the Persians, they had a different approach to the peoples. They kind of let things be. As long as they didn't rock the boat, religion, culture, politics could go on, as long as they obeyed the instructions of the king. Cyrus had a unique approach, and he was petitioned, and he allowed the Jews to return. What he does, beginning here in Ezra 1-2, he made a decree. He is the king of Persia. And he says, All the kingdoms of the earth, the Lord God of heaven, has given to me, and he's commanded me to build him a house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah.

Who is among you of all his people? May his God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judah, and build the house of the Lord God of Israel. He is God, which is in Jerusalem. And whoever is left in any place where he dwells, let the men of his place help him with silver, gold, and goods, and livestock, and offerings for the house of God, which is in Jerusalem. That's the essence of the decree that went out. That the Jews could return, and they were to be aided financially and materially to rebuild the house of God in the temple in Jerusalem. This was according to prophecy and God's will, and so it happened. Now, the Jews had been in captivity in Babylon for about 70 years. And so a group of Jews returned. We have that recorded in the subsequent chapters of Ezra. We're not going to go into that part of the story. This was about the year 538, 537 B.C. So we're in the sixth century B.C. when this takes place, and they go back. Now, here's a little bit of a background you should understand.

There had been quite a number of Jews taken to Babylon, and 70-plus years had transpired. That's almost two generations of people. Think about that and what happened with the settlement of those Jews throughout the region of Babylon. We read about the story of Daniel and his three friends, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. That gives us a little bit. You can read portions of Ezekiel and know that there were captives scattered around.

Ezekiel talked and spoke to those captives while as a prophet during that period of time. What happened with the Jews is as they settled into Babylon, they got used to where they were. Things would be loosened up. They became merchants. They became traders. They settled into Babylonian society.

Some kept the Jewish identity, like Daniel and his three friends did. You remember the story from Daniel 1, where they would not defile themselves with the king's food. Daniel and his three friends remained faithful to God. In other words, they obeyed God. They kept the Sabbath. They kept the Holy Days, as we would relate and understand. They would even eat pork. They remained faithful.

You get the hint in chapter 1 of Daniel that not every group of young Jewish men, like Daniel's group, did that. We know of only four. You can well imagine human nature being what it is. Not all the Jews who lived in Babylon remained faithful, as we would look at it. They got used to living in Babylon. They kind of got used to the Babylonian culture, which was radically different than what the Jewish culture was. They absorbed it. Over nearly two generations, some of them forgot that they were Jews. They knew, but when the time came to go back home, not all of them went. Why? Because they had homes. They had jobs. They had children. They had grandchildren who had grown up a little bit closer to the Babylonian culture than the Jewish culture. We're in Kentucky. You know what happened in Kentucky about 60, 70, 80 years ago? There were no jobs in Kentucky, West Virginia. And so there's a highway called Route 31 going north to Indiana, Ohio, Michigan. And everybody came out of the hills, and they went north. And they got jobs working for General Motors, Bork Warner, all these other places up north. And they had families, and they had grandchildren. And so when they retired, did they all go back to Butcher Hollow, Pikeville, Hazard, War Eagle? Been to all those places. No more. And a few more. No. Now some did. When I lived down in Eastern Kentucky, everybody had relatives up in Ohio, in Michigan. And many of them had lived up there, but had come home. But as we know, they haven't all gone home because you get a new life. Not all the Jews went back. This is the point. Those who did, though, went back according to this decree. And they knew who they were, and they knew what their story was. They were people of God. They remembered that they were a special people, a kingdom of priests. They remembered what God said in the foot of Mount Sinai to their ancestors, that I will make of you a kingdom of priests, a unique people above all. They knew their story, and they wanted to go back and revive it, renew it, and rebuild the temple. While some chose to stay in Babylon where it was more comfortable. They had a retirement to take care of. They had a business. And they had grandchildren. They wanted to bounce on their knees. Human nature and human life doesn't change. And so those who went back were a special breed. I like to say that those who stayed in Babylon opted for a life of mediocrity. While those who went back to Jerusalem, and the hardship that that would have been tailed, were those that decided to run with the horses. Jeremiah was told by God in chapter 12 and verse 5 that when he kind of got worn down with things alive, God said, you can either be run down by these footmen, or you can decide to run with the horses. The big boys. Or the big dogs. And so those who went back did. They believed that they were exceptional. And they went back with this decree to rebuild the temple. To rebuild their way of life. But you know what happened? When they went back, they met opposition here in Ezra chapter 4. We find that they met resistance.

Chapter 4 of Ezra verse 1. When the adversaries of Judah and Benjamin heard that a sentence of the captivity were building the temple of the Lord God of Israel. Adversaries. The people who were living in and around Jerusalem, Judea, who had gotten used to being, they were, you know, they'd taken over those properties. It was their land now. The Jews had been deported. There was not a sovereign Jewish state.

And now comes this ragtag group of Jews back. And they're re-establishing something from the past. They came to Zerubbabel in verse 2. They said, Let us build with you, because we seek your God as you do.

We've sacrificed to him since the days of the king of Syria. And this is a group of Gentiles who weren't quite the same. Without getting in all the ethnicity aspects of it, the religious. What Zerubbabel and Joshua said in verse 3 was, You may do nothing with us to build a house for our God.

We alone will build to the Lord God of Israel, as Cyrus has commanded us to do. And then verse 4, the people of the land tried to discourage the people of Judah in building them. They hired counselors against them to frustrate their purpose during the days of Cyrus. They took legal action to stop this rebuilding of the temple. And what the net effect was, it discouraged the Jews and they stopped.

That's what the story shows. You go back now to Haggai, and you go to verse 2 of chapter 1. They went back and they started to rebuild, and they met this opposition, and they stopped. They got discouraged. They became fearful. God stirs up this prophet named Haggai, who we know nothing about. He was obviously among the captives that returned. And he stirs up Haggai to say to the people in verse 2. Thus speaks to the Lord hosts of hosts saying, This people says the time has not come, the time that the Lord's house should be built. They had decided, oh, this is not the time.

It's too hard. We've got some opposition. We can't do it. And they folded at the first sign of opposition. And they stopped rebuilding. And they went about their own lives, kind of putting their own lives together. They had to plant crops. They had to rebuild homes. And so, after a few years, this had been neglected. And so in verse 3, the word of the Lord came by Haggai the prophet saying, is it time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses and this temple to lie in ruins?

The temple was in ruins. They were getting about their own business and forgetting the main mandate that they had for going back, which was to rebuild the temple. Keep in mind, the obvious lesson for you and I, we're not in the process of building a physical temple, but we are in the process of building a spiritual temple. We are standing in that spiritual temple being put together, fitly framed together, as Ephesians 4 tells us, into an edifice that is a spiritual building, a spiritual body.

This is the lesson for us. And what God says through Haggai in verse 5 is this, Thus says the Lord, consider your waves. Look at what you're doing. Analyze what has happened to you. You had a decree and the support of the Persian king by his decree, which was a fulfillment of the Word of God, the prophetic Word of God, and that is to rebuild this temple for his glory, God's glory, and you're not doing it.

You know, anytime you look at any story, any phase of God's working with people in the Bible, whether it's the Old Testament, New Testament, Israel, the church, a person, a family, if God sends them to do something like he did with Jonah, and they don't do it, God's not too happy with that. And things don't always work out. You know, even in the Apostle Paul, you find as you look in the Acts, they're out preaching the gospel, they thought on a couple of, as they looked at the map and said, where do we go next?

Paul and his companions said, well, let's go here. They couldn't go. Well, we'll go over here. No, we can't go. He says the Holy Spirit forbid them to go. God didn't open the door, and that means for it to do it. Then Paul has a vision at one night, and there's a man from Greece saying, come over here. And finally Paul says, oh, that's what he's talking about. We're supposed to go there. And they go into Greece and preach the gospel. When God tells us and gives his people something to do, he expects it to be done, or things don't go exactly right.

And that's what we're seeing here. And he says, consider your ways. And six weeks you and I will be keeping the Passover. We'll be into the Days of Unleavened Bread, a little more than six weeks. And really, there's a theme to the Days of Unleavened Bread, which is right here in verse 5. Consider your ways. Otherwise said by Paul, examine yourself, whether you are in the faith. Where are you today?

Where are you this year? 2016? What is your spiritual life like? What is it that needs to be adjusted, corrected, in relation to the perfect example of Jesus Christ? Those are things we ask ourselves as we prepare our heart and mind for the Passover service. And as we put out the leaven and eat the unleavened bread during the Days of Unleavened Bread and focus upon the life of Christ within us, consider your ways is the message.

And that's what the prophet here is saying, as God is saying it, really through the prophet. It goes on in verse 6.

Verse 6 describes a general condition of many aspects of their life that was not quite satisfactory. There was uncertainty, and things weren't all hitting on all cylinders. Most of us have four cylinder cars today. We used to all drive big V8s. Gas customers drive down the road eight cylinders.

And you know, when a car is not hitting on all eight cylinders, or six cylinders, it doesn't run right. It can be moving, but you know when it's not hitting on all cylinders, as we say. Israelite life, Jewish life, wasn't hitting on all cylinders at this point. I love this phrase at the end of verse 6, You earn wages, you put into a bag with holes.

That kind of sounds like my 403 account right now, my retirement account. Since the first of January. With all the gyrations of the stock market, I get this annual monthly receipt from my broker. What is my retirement account? I'm thinking, well, I'm going to have to work another couple of years. Then I got it in February, looking at the market. Another year, probably going to add on to it. I thought we had recovered from 08, and then we started off with a rocky start.

You can live or die by where the stock market might be or these things. But inflation, recession, stagnation, markets up and down, accounts fluctuating, and economic uncertainty is a sign of really present times in many ways, but it kind of always is. At the end of the day, we still live in the most abundant land that's ever lived at the peak of human experience.

I look out here and I see Cracker Barrel and home stores, and we pass all of this, and life is going on even while there's fear and uncertainty in terms of the economy. When you really stop and analyze what God says to the people here in verse 6, can describe the general human condition, most of the time, as people who are not focused upon the real work and the real purpose of life and have that dialed in correctly, there's not going to be anything that really satisfies us.

The government's always going to be corrupt, or the leader's not going to quite satisfy us, or there's going to be something going on here and there, and there can be some very real problems, there can be imagined problems, but at the heart of it, life goes on. You put in your 30 years, your 40 years, and you're out. You get your pension, you get your social security, you get your house paid off, you buy a new car, you fix it up, you keep going, you can go to the grocery store and fill it up with whatever we want, basically, whatever you can afford.

No matter how bad it might seem, or somebody, some prognosticator says about it, our lives go on. And when you are locked into the understanding of who you are, what your story is in relation to God, then those other things we don't get too anxious about, which is what Jesus told us to do. Don't be anxious, he said. These people knew who they were. They really knew their story, but they got distracted. And God had to stir them up. So he said in verse 7 again, consider your ways. That's one of the themes. Mark that down in your notes.

Write that out in your margins. Underline it. Consider your ways. He tells them, go to the mountains, bring wood, and build the temple. I will take, that I may take pleasure in it and be glorified, says the Lord. That was the real reason. God wanted, that pleased God, and God was glorified in that temple. That was the ultimate aim of the tabernacle in the wilderness, and the temple that Solomon later built, and now they were trying to rebuild.

Because there were sacrifices there, there was a priesthood according to God's instruction and law, and the whole intent of that structure and that system was to glorify God as at the center of life, and to help people know how to come to God, and have a relationship with God. It was an imperfect structure. It involved animal sacrifices, human priesthood, blood offerings, and all of that. But the real spiritual intent of it was for people to be brought into the presence of God, and God to be glorified, and His purpose to be fulfilled.

Now, we have a different structure under the New Covenant. We have a high priest. We don't have a holy of holies, and we don't have animal sacrifices. We have the sacrifice of Christ. And that should bring us to God. That should please God. That should glorify God far more, as Hebrews tells us, than what they were doing. This is the lesson. They weren't even doing it there. And He said in verse 9, You looked for much, but indeed it came to little. When you brought it home, I blew it away. Again, God, if we're just focused on ourselves, and our wants and our needs and our lives, and God is not at the center of our lives, then whatever talents, abilities we have at the end of the day can get just blown away, or we might not be completely satisfied.

And even if it is blown away, how do we react? You know, all of us think about these things through the years in the church, through the years in our life, as we get to the point of retirement and we transition into those years. We perhaps come a little closer to understand some of the teachings of Jesus, that be not anxious for what you're going to put on.

Isn't God able to take care of us just as He closed the birds of the field or the flowers of the field? Yes, He is. But we have to come to a point, ultimately, where if what we bring home is blown away, we still will be faithful to God. No matter how much you and I earn, save, accumulate, no matter how many toys we've got built up, how many toys do you have? How many cars do you have? How many boats do you have? How many guns are in your closet? How many trinkets are on the shelf in your family room, your living room?

Think about what it is that we've accumulated, that we cherish, that we've collected. Coins, guns, dolls, ladies. What? I don't know. Money? Is it a big fat account? Is it gold coins? Gold bullion? Silver? We bought that as a hedge. At the end of the day, we should be prudent, we should be wise, and prepared. But what if it's blown away? What if it is blown away? By whatever. Will we still stand before God and obey God?

Will we do what we're told? Or will it discourage us and cause us to stay in Babylon? Every one of us has to ask that question and think about it. He said in verse 9, You looked for much, and it came to little, you brought it home, and I blew it away. At the end of the day, if we're called to Him, if we are a part of His people, then God is involved in our life. He says, why? A rhetorical why is asked here, says the Lord of hosts.

And He gives the answer, because of my house that's in ruins, while every one of you runs to His own house. There's a very strong life lesson there. I was reading recently about this particular concept, and I was reading about Queen Elizabeth I. Not the one that's currently, she's the second. But Queen Elizabeth I, who reigned back in the late 1500s in England, she was the first woman queen in England.

And she feared for her life almost every day she was on the throne, because there was always some plot that she had to deal with. And if it wasn't her own people, then it was the Spanish and the Armada. She was famous for one statement, many statements, but she had one. She says, if I am thrown out of my realm, my kingdom, with nothing but my petticoat, I will fend for myself. She was, by that she was saying, you know, if they throw me out, as long as I've got my life in a thin petticoat on, I won't have my crown and my robes, I'll take care, I'll fend for myself. If you and I, if everything's blown away, what will we do?

Will we fend for ourselves? Will we get by? And, seriously, will we remain faithful? God was showing them a lesson here. You're running about your life, and you've got a potato, maybe you've got a little pail of potatoes, but you don't have a whole warehouse full of potatoes. You've got enough to get by, but you're not getting ahead.

And He's showing them that the heart of it has got to be the spiritual meaning of life and the work, the mission to which you've been called. He goes on, He says, therefore the heavens above withhold the dew and the earth withholds its fruit. I've called for a drought on the land, the mountains, on the grain, the new wine and the oil, on whatever the ground brings forth on men and livestock, on all the labor of your hands.

God's showing that He was involved in all of this, and the reason why things weren't hitting on all cylinders, ultimately, He was involved with that. That's what He was showing. And they didn't get it. He's kind of ripping back the curtain, and He's showing them that He actually was involved in life, and He's involved in our lives, even if we don't always acknowledge it or keep it in the forefront of our minds. So in verse 12, Zerubbabel, the son of Shaltiel and Joshua the high priest, with all the remnants of the people, obeyed the voice of the Lord their God, and the words of Haggai the prophet, and the people feared the presence of the Lord.

They came to an understanding, and they considered their ways, and they began then to straighten up and talk about it among themselves, and they laid out a plan to get back to doing the work of rebuilding the temple. This message that Haggai is giving is having an impact.

Verse 13, Haggai spoke the Lord's message to the people saying, I am with you. That's the second point to take from the book. The first is, consider your ways. The second, God says, I'm with you. I'm with you all the way. I'm supporting you. I am your God. I am with you, says the Lord. So in verse 14, the Lord stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel and the spirit of Joshua, the high priest, and the spirit of all the remnant of the people. So it was a complete stirring and renewal and revival from the top down, from the two top leaders, Zerubbabel and Joshua, all the way through to every person.

Their spirit was stirred up, and they came and they worked on the house of the Lord of hosts, their God. They got back to doing what they were supposed to be doing. Now, hold your place here. There's a scripture back in 2 Timothy that should be brought in at this point to help us understand how this applies and what we are dealing with.

In 2 Timothy 1, verse 6, Paul says to Timothy here, 2 Timothy 1, verse 6, I remind you to stir up the gift of God, which is in you, through the laying on of my hands, the Holy Spirit. That is, God's gift to us, given through the laying on of hands.

Verse 7, for God has not given us a spirit of fear, but a power and of love and of a sound mind. We don't have a spirit of fear. We'll find the third point that God tells the people to touch through Haggai is don't be afraid. Don't fear. They got fearful of the opposition, and they laid down their axes and their saws and their hammers and their chisels, and they stopped building. God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, love, and of a sound mind.

That's what they had. And so, when you go back to the story of Haggai here, then, you see that Haggai must have gone through the streets of the city preaching this message over and over again, what we have just read. You got bags with holes in it. You sow a lot, but you're not harvesting a lot. And he elaborated and explained this to them time and time again, where he found a group of people, meetings in the streets, in the marketplace, and he preached this over a period of time.

And verse 15 of Haggai 1 tells us that this renewal to go back and to work on the house began on the 24th day of the 6th month. Now, if you do the math, from verse 1 to verse 14, the message began to be given on the... Look at it very carefully here. Let's see. Verse 1 was on the first day of the month. First day of the month when Haggai came and did this.

Now we're on the 24th day of the month. So 23 days later, little more than 3 weeks. Haggai preaches for 3 weeks. And in 3 weeks, he turns the people around. He turns the whole community around. There's a revival that takes place. There's a renewal that has taken place. By every article that I've ever read through the years about making a change, changing a habit, you want to quit smoking, you want to start not being late for appointments, work, or whatever, and you really start working on yourself to change a habit.

Most people who... behaviorists who study this study that says that actually, literally, change a habit takes about 3 weeks. Effectively. It means you've got to stay with it. 3 weeks can be a long time. But if you stay with it, there are better chances that you're going to actually affect a change in some part of your behavior. Haggai preaches in 3 weeks. They got the message and they went back to rebuilding the temple.

It doesn't take long for a revival to take place. It doesn't take long for a renewal to take place. They had a minor shake-up here with the words of the prophet. And it shakes them out of their lethargy. It shakes them out of their inattention that that has taken place. And now they began a renewal. This was the little jolt that it took. You know, in the whole scheme of how God dealt with...

deals with His people, a few strong fiery sermons is not a whole lot if it gets the job done. It's not that large of an earthquake or an eruption. Sometimes the students... sometimes in class I have to kind of... they say I bark at them. Well, you know, I tell the students if they... if they're... you can tell they're getting a little antsy or, you know, after a few weeks things begin to slide.

I have a habit of just kind of barking at them a bit. Or, you know, they tell me I need a snickers bar to calm down. You know, you're teaching a room full of kids. There has to be an order, and I like a sense of order. So, you know, you folks stay awake this morning, so I don't bark at you. I'm not planning to do that, but, you know, day after day in a classroom at ABC you kind of...

sometimes you have to kind of... straighten up here, let's be here on time, get your paper out, and don't get too distracted. Sometimes kids will sleep because they've been up late at night working hard, and days get long, and you may... you have to take measures to kind of deal with that. But, you know, a few words, that's not much.

A few messages like Haggai gave in the whole scheme of things. It's not like it's a drought for three and a half years, like in the days of Elijah, to get their attention. It's not like it's something else. But it got the job done. God will do what it takes to get it done. There will be a sense of renewal. And they began to get back to the work that they had.

Now, they... the heat was off. You move into chapter 2. They kept doing the work. And the messages kept coming. They had to be encouraged. Verse 3 says, Who's left among you who saw this temple in its former glory? And how do you see it now? In comparison with it, is this not on your eyes as nothing. The rebuilding had...the temple nowhere closely resembled the Temple of Solomon. The ornaments, the gold, the furnishings had been removed to Babylon. That didn't come back with them.

And it was a inferior building in many ways, even though it was still the temple. But they persisted with that. It tells them in verse 4, Be strong, Mr. Rubblebell. Be strong, Joshua. Be strong, all you people of the land. And work, says the Lord, for I am with you. Again, God encourages. He keeps it going through the prophet. According to verse 5, According to the word that I covenanted with you, when you came out of Egypt, so my spirit remains among you. Do not fear.

Here's the third point of the book. Don't fear. God shook them up and said, consider your ways. Examine yourself. He said, I'm with you. Number two. Number three, He says, don't fear. My spirit remains among you. You know, when the heat is off, really, we still have to be alert and on guard because when the heat's off, we tend to let down. I work better under pressure. How about you? Jim was asking me how things are going. I said, I'm swamped. I'm busy. I've got four classes I teach every week, seven hours of class work, which means you've got about two hours for every hour you're in class, prep time, that you've got to get done.

That's just my part-time job. My day job still goes on, and I've got to do that as well, and we're very busy. So the weeks just fly by, literally, for me. But the pressure's on every day to get things done that I have to do. That's on my plate. But I think I'd rather have it that way. I get more done. When the heat's off, or when the pressure's off, then things slide. Let's go channel surf. Is there a UK basketball game on? Or in my case, it'd be Indiana, since we grew up in Indiana.

Or a football game, or a movie, and we all need a bit of down time, but the pressure brings you back after a reasonable period of rest, brings you back, hey, I've got to get ready for Monday morning. I've got to get ready for this class. I've got to write this article. I've got to read this book. I need to do this research. I've got the script to write.

It just goes on and on. We all have to keep ourselves active, even in retirement, to be sharp, to keep from just vegetating, and recognize that there's nothing to fear. God says here in verse 5, I covenanted with you when you came out of Egypt, so my spirit remains among you.

You do not fear. And then God goes on through the prophet, and he says something in verse 6. He said, once more, I will shake heaven and earth, the sea and the dry land, and I will shake all nations, and they shall come to the desire of all nations.

And I will fill this temple with glory, says the Lord of Hosts. He did fill that temple with glory, ultimately. Literally, when Jesus walked in that temple in his own lifetime, he was the is, and was, and is the desire of all nations. And when he did literally walk in that temple as God in the flesh, he did fill that temple with his glory. One thing about this rebuilt temple, it did not have the glory of God that the original temple had.

You read back in Kings, when Solomon dedicated that temple, God's presence came upon that temple. But after that, when it was destroyed at the time of the Babylonian captivity, it leaves Ezekiel 10, shows the Spirit of God literally leaving that temple. And it's well known that this rebuilt temple did not have the presence of God in it in the same way. The only time it did have that glory was when Jesus walked in it. You see, when he was carried in as a baby, the impact of it there in Luke's account were Anna the prophetess, and I forgot the name of the other individual, the gentleman who both prophesied about him.

And then he taught in the temple and was there. John 7, he stood on that last day and spoke the words that he did about, if anyone thirst, let him come unto me, and out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. The only time is when that glory was there.

But the glory of God, as it resides in us through the Holy Spirit, then, is the real lesson to have. He goes on to, he says here, he goes to talk about the silver and the gold that's his. The glory of this latter temple will be greater than the former.

And in this place I will give peace, says the Lord of hosts. He goes on to the prophet here to talk about their condition. Beginning in verse 11, Thus says the Lord, Ask the priests concerning the law, saying, If one carries holy meat in the fold of his garment, and with the edge he touches bread, stew, wine, or oil, or any food, will it become holy? The priests answered, No. According to the ritual laws of uncleanness, the holy meat would be defiled. And he brings up another example in verse 13, If one who is unclean, because of a dead body, touches any of these, will it be unclean?

They said, Well, yeah, it will be unclean. So, Haggai answered, So is this people, and this nation before me, and so is every work of their hands, but they offer us unclean. Really what God is doing through the prophet here is showing the distinction between clean and unclean, between holy and unholy, and how very thin the line is between the two. How narrow is the distance between clean and unclean, and holy and unholy. And what is holy or clean can be very easily contaminated according to the ritual law. Life can, we can tip into the unclean real easily, like.

Can't we? Things that are unholy can grab our attention or change even a little bit rather quickly. And this is the point that it is really making for us to understand. The people needed to be kept on guard. We assemble every seventh day on the Sabbath to be instructed to fellowship, to most importantly, fellowship with God with Jesus Christ on this day.

It gives us the encouragement. It gives us what we need as we go through the remaining six days. We keep the festivals as they walk us through the plan of God. We pray. We study. We can't let up in the spiritual disciplines of our lives that keep us focused on God because very quickly, very easily, we can wander off into our own world of minds and envy and anger and our own dysfunction or into actual, literal ways of life where we just would forget about God. We would not want to be among His people.

And our life would become totally unclean. This is the real lesson to take from this part, how easy it is if we let fear take over. If we let down and become indifferent. The people were not getting the job done initially. They let the opposition get to them. And they had a name and a story but the fire wasn't lit. Haggai came among them and stirred it up. There's one other thing that I will just tell you we won't turn there. But even after they went back and rebelled, you go back to the story of Ezra and you see in chapter 5 and 6 that they were actually opposed again when they restarted the building of the temple.

But that time they didn't give in. They appealed to the court, the Persian court, and they went and researched the archives and found oh yeah, Cyrus did say that this was to be done. And according to the laws of the Medes and Persians, it was kind of so let it be written, so let it be done. Remember from the story in Daniel, once something was said, it was a law. And the Jews actually appealed because one of the local governors, a man named Katnai, said, wait, you guys are doing this again and you're kind of an unruly, rebellious group of people you choose.

And he said to the Persians, you shouldn't be letting this happen. The Jews kept on building. They got the job done. And they didn't give in the second time. There's always going to be opposition. There's always going to be opposition. Whether it comes from the outside or we generate it among ourselves to keep us from really becoming the people that we are and holding back. Either doing the work of God, preaching the Gospel, or even on a personal level of overcoming. When we... In the version of the temple that's being built today, it's you and I.

And we're the people of God. And we have to catch fire, and we have to burn bright in the roles that we have with our hearts in the work. When I was growing up in this church, I was always told that spiritual growth was dependent and to the degree that our hearts were in the work of God. I still believe that to be a truism. That we grow to the degree our hearts are in the work of God. To make known, to share the good news of Jesus Christ in the kingdom of God is the work of God.

To live the kingdom of God today, to let God's spirit stir us up so that we can stand today in the spiritual temple of God and live righteously, knowing who we are, our story, that we are called to be a kingdom of priests, that's important as well. And to grow in the love of God. And to not let the opposition wear us down. Where does the opposition come from today? You know something? In all my years, and there are over 50 in the church, I've seen a lot come down, come and go.

And you know what? You know where the most opposition has come? Maybe. I see more of it among ourselves. Is anybody waiting for us outside the door here this morning to beat us with sticks and rocks because we're keeping the Sabbath? Sometimes people have lost jobs, yes. And family have been alienated, yes. I have alienated family today. But by and large, the opposition that I've noticed, the splits, the distention, gets all generated within. A few years ago we had a state of California situation receivership, but frankly at the end of the day, that was generated from within.

And the opposition has come more within. We can get a... we've got enough to overcome within. And if we're going to consider our ways, and if we're going to stand in the temple and declare the words of this life and to be built together into an edifice that reflects what Ephesians chapter 4 and verse 16 says that a body of people fitly framed together with every part supplying that which it can to the edifying of the body, which is the essence of our vision statement in the United Church of God, we're going to have to continue to nurture the bonds of fellowship, the bonds of cooperation, and the bonds of true love among ourselves to get that done.

And that'll be enough for us to accomplish. We have 20 fundamentals of belief in the United Church of God. I teach them in the class at the Ambassador Bible College every year. I know them pretty well. We have an amendment process that will allow either alterations of those. It's a pretty stiff one. In recent months, a group of ministers saw a need, a sincere need, to attempt to put a new amendment, or a new fundamental belief in about marriage.

And the elders, according to our process, we elected not to take that particular one this year. And so when we meet here in a few weeks in our annual conference, we'll not be voting on one. The Council of Elders has made a statement. The thought was that because of the same-sex marriage ruling by the Supreme Court, the way culture is going, that we needed an amendment.

We needed a fundamental belief to state our... stated on marriage. And maybe we do. What was really just decided was that the one that was put forth by a few elders was not the appropriate one for us to have. We may yet come up with a fundamental belief that will be a statement on marriage.

We had certainly a strong teaching on marriage. And so that will eventually be decided according to the process. But in my way of thinking as I look at ourselves, I think I'm going to... I might put forward a fundamental belief of my own for the elders to consider. And I think I'm going to call it love. We love one another. Okay? I think we don't have a fundamental belief on love. I'm a little tongue in cheek on this, to understand.

There's plenty of teaching on this. But, you know, the opposition that... we tend to chew ourselves up. And if the impediment to progress and growth and the development of the church, in my experience, has been more at times because of the internal opposition that will keep us from... that will bring us to the point of laying down our saws and our chisels and stop working on the spiritual temple. So, let me leave you with this, out of this lesson of Haggai, that you might turn over to Colossians chapter 3.

And you take this passage from verse 12 down to verse 17. And consider this. As the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, and long-suffering. Bear with one another. Even when we stink spiritually. When it's really hard to bear with one another, well, bear with one another. Not the humanity that we have. Forgive one another. If anyone has a complaint against another, even as Christ forgave you, so you must also do. And we must be willing to forgive. We must be willing to work together. But above all these things, put on love, which is the bond of perfection. It's the glue that really unites us. Let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body, and be thankful. Sometimes, when we've had times of peace, sometimes people don't like peace, and they feel that something's wrong. Find the loose brick over here, or things are not quite over there, quite right there. There has to be a time of struggle, resistance, or opposition, or peace, sometimes for people, is not tolerated. They would rather have war or conflict. Don't let that be like it. Let the peace of God rule in your hearts. Look toward peace. If there's a time to pick up the sword, fine. But don't have it picked up all the time, and don't go around trying to always chop a head off, or to run somebody through. If there's a situation or problem, let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which you're called in one body, be thankful. But the word of God, Christ dwelling you richly at all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another, and psalms in him, and spiritual psalms, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. Use the time of peace to build the temple of God, the spiritual temple, and to let it be built in our own lives and minds. And to stand in the temple and let the words of this life be implanted in our minds and their lives. Remember the lesson of Haggai. Consider your ways. Don't fear, and realize God is always with us. And if we can do that and stand in the midst of the church, then God's work will get done, and the church will be built together in a spiritual edifice. It's a very important and a very profitable message for us to consider as we all begin our preparation for the Days of Unleavened Bread and Passover. Consider your ways. Don't be afraid. And know that God is with us.

And know that God is with us.