WEBVTT 00:00:00.320 --> 00:00:00.640 Morning. 00:00:02.560 --> 00:00:04.559 Well, here we are again. 00:00:04.879 --> 00:00:06.160 Second chapter of Haggai. 00:00:06.320 --> 00:00:12.160 If you missed last week, let me give you a quick rundown of what's happening with the people of Israel in the book of Haggai. 00:00:12.240 --> 00:00:20.399 We came last week and we saw that they had been in captivity for a great period of time because of their disobedience from the Lord. 00:00:20.480 --> 00:00:28.640 And when they were released from captivity, they were released with a command from their captor to go home and rebuild their temple. 00:00:28.800 --> 00:00:34.799 And he had said, You are free, go rebuild your place of worship, go worship your God. 00:00:34.960 --> 00:00:42.560 And they went home and they rebuilt the walls of their city for safety, and then they built their houses and they stopped. 00:00:42.960 --> 00:00:47.679 And they focused on their own lives and they were worried about their own comforts. 00:00:47.840 --> 00:00:51.679 And the Lord challenged them and said, Should you be living in paneled houses? 00:00:51.840 --> 00:00:58.399 Which was a new technology, so to speak, of that day, referring to the comfort of their houses and how nice they were. 00:00:58.479 --> 00:01:01.759 He says, You're living in paneled houses, and my house is a ruin. 00:01:01.840 --> 00:01:06.879 And you're so worried about your comfort that you've forgotten about my glory amongst you. 00:01:07.200 --> 00:01:15.120 And last week we looked at that challenge and how we reflect that same heart and how we fight and scratch and claw for our comforts. 00:01:16.079 --> 00:01:19.519 And sometimes we do that forgetting about God's glory. 00:01:19.920 --> 00:01:24.799 And at the end of that, the people's hearts are changed. 00:01:25.040 --> 00:01:26.239 It's a work of the Spirit. 00:01:26.319 --> 00:01:36.400 It says that the Lord stirred up the spirit of the governor and the priest and the people, and that they came to rebuild the temple because of the Lord's work in their heart. 00:01:37.760 --> 00:01:40.239 And that's how we come to Haggai too. 00:01:42.480 --> 00:01:48.400 That they're they've come and they said, okay, we're ready to work, God. 00:01:48.560 --> 00:01:57.359 But they get to the temple site and they look at the rubble and they're overwhelmed at the task of rebuilding God's temple. 00:01:57.519 --> 00:02:00.959 So let's read in Haggai chapter 2, verses 1 through 9. 00:02:01.280 --> 00:02:07.359 In the seventh month on the 21st day of the month, the word of the Lord came by the hand of Haggai the prophet. 00:02:07.599 --> 00:02:20.800 Speak now to Zerubbabel, the son of Sheelteel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua, son of Jehoshack the High Priest, and to all the remnant of the people, and say, Who is left among you who saw this house in its former glory? 00:02:20.960 --> 00:02:22.319 How do you see it now? 00:02:22.639 --> 00:02:25.199 Is it not as nothing in your eyes? 00:02:25.439 --> 00:02:28.240 Yet be strong, O Zerubabel, declares the Lord. 00:02:28.400 --> 00:02:36.960 Be strong, O Joshua, son of Jehosadakh the high priest, be strong, all you people of the land, declares the Lord. 00:02:37.280 --> 00:02:41.520 Work, for I am with you, declares the Lord of hosts. 00:02:41.680 --> 00:02:47.439 According to the covenant that I made with you when you came out of Egypt, my spirit remains in your midst. 00:02:47.599 --> 00:02:48.560 Fear not. 00:02:49.680 --> 00:03:02.000 For thus says the Lord of hosts, yet once more in a little while I will shake the heavens and the earth, and the dry sea and the land, and I will shake the nations, so that the treasures of all the nations shall come in. 00:03:02.240 --> 00:03:06.080 And I will fill this house with glory, says the Lord of hosts. 00:03:06.319 --> 00:03:09.840 The silver is mine and the gold is mine, declares the Lord of hosts. 00:03:10.080 --> 00:03:14.960 The latter glory of this house shall be greater than the former, says the Lord of hosts. 00:03:15.199 --> 00:03:20.479 And in this place I will give peace, declares the Lord of hosts. 00:03:20.560 --> 00:03:21.599 Let's pray. 00:03:22.639 --> 00:03:41.919 Lord, we ask that today you would open our eyes and our ears and our hearts, most of all, to see your work that you want to do through us, to take comfort in the fact that you are with us, to put aside reliance in our own strength and seek your strength as our source of achievement. 00:03:43.520 --> 00:03:44.719 In Jesus' name. 00:03:44.960 --> 00:03:45.599 Amen. 00:03:46.400 --> 00:03:55.759 So we have these people, and they have been walking away from God, ignoring the fact that he wants to dwell in their midst. 00:03:55.919 --> 00:04:01.120 And when he returns to them and says, Let me be among you. 00:04:01.840 --> 00:04:03.919 Don't forget about my glory. 00:04:04.080 --> 00:04:05.439 They say, Okay. 00:04:06.159 --> 00:04:16.000 And they come to the temple and they stand there at the ruined foundations and they go, Whoa, I don't know if we can do this. 00:04:16.959 --> 00:04:19.680 They look at it and they're frustrated. 00:04:19.920 --> 00:04:21.839 The task was overwhelming. 00:04:22.000 --> 00:04:25.519 The task of rebuilding the temple seemed impossible to them. 00:04:25.759 --> 00:04:30.800 They looked at it, they read the scriptures, they read the account of what the temple was supposed to look like. 00:04:31.040 --> 00:04:34.480 They knew their history, they knew that it was built under Solomon's rule. 00:04:34.639 --> 00:04:46.000 They knew that Solomon had amassed a great amount of wealth and that there had been years of prosperity in Israel before the building of the temple, and they knew that they did not have any of these resources at their disposal. 00:04:46.240 --> 00:04:49.759 They were a people that had come out of captivity and were rebuilding. 00:04:49.920 --> 00:04:55.839 They were a people that had lost all of the wealth that had been amassed under the years of prosperity of other leaders. 00:04:56.000 --> 00:05:00.000 And they said, How are we going to rebuild this temple? 00:05:00.240 --> 00:05:14.079 The one that is adorned with gold everywhere, that had gold plating all of the pillars and all of the decorative, the one that was built with the finest cedars in the land that have been vanished from the earth now. 00:05:14.319 --> 00:05:23.600 In a lot of ways, they felt like they just couldn't come up with what was needed to present the temple to the Lord. 00:05:24.000 --> 00:05:29.360 The previous temple had been a magnificent structure undertaken during Solomon's rule. 00:05:29.600 --> 00:05:33.439 1 Kings 6 talks about the details of the gold that adorned everything. 00:05:33.519 --> 00:05:37.199 But even before 1 Kings 6, the tabernacle existed before the temple. 00:05:37.439 --> 00:05:39.600 See, God always wanted to dwell with his people. 00:05:39.680 --> 00:05:53.439 And before they had a permanent place to build a temple, as they wandered in the desert, he had them build the tabernacle, which was a tent that they took down and put back up everywhere they went, that made sure they realized God was traveling with them. 00:05:53.600 --> 00:06:03.360 But in this tent there was all this decorative tools that had different purposes that showed the glory of the Lord and pointed towards Christ in many, many ways. 00:06:03.439 --> 00:06:17.360 And so you read the descriptions of the tabernacle, and everything that was in the tabernacle was basically in the temple, but you combine that with 1 Kings 6 and the gold that's mentioned there and the ornamentation, and they're looking at this and they're going, how do we do it? 00:06:18.800 --> 00:06:20.959 And it seems overwhelming to them. 00:06:21.199 --> 00:06:25.279 It's so much so that God recognizes this is overwhelming. 00:06:25.439 --> 00:06:34.160 It's actually, it points us to the fact that it looks as if God wants them to be overwhelmed at the task. 00:06:34.800 --> 00:06:42.800 Verse 3, God says to the people, who is left among you who saw this house in its former glory? 00:06:42.959 --> 00:06:44.800 How do you see it now? 00:06:45.680 --> 00:06:49.759 Is it not as nothing in your eyes? 00:06:50.319 --> 00:06:58.399 He points them to this fact that this is gonna be impossible. 00:07:00.000 --> 00:07:01.439 And they're frustrated. 00:07:05.439 --> 00:07:08.639 That's great, that's a great history lesson, but what does it mean to us today? 00:07:09.279 --> 00:07:09.920 Right? 00:07:11.920 --> 00:07:15.839 What is our task that we have been called to? 00:07:17.279 --> 00:07:18.959 Is it not the same? 00:07:19.439 --> 00:07:23.519 Is our task not to build the house of the Lord? 00:07:24.720 --> 00:07:27.519 Is that not our call in Matthew 28? 00:07:28.160 --> 00:07:38.879 Where he says, Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son, of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. 00:07:39.279 --> 00:07:42.480 Is it not our call in Acts 2.8 or 1-8? 00:07:42.720 --> 00:07:49.040 Sorry, you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in Judea and in Samaria and to the ends of the earth. 00:07:49.279 --> 00:08:15.040 In Ephesians 2.19, he says to us, consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God's people and members of God's household built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets, with Christ Jesus Himself as the chief cornerstone, and in him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. 00:08:16.000 --> 00:08:22.399 And in him you two are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his spirit. 00:08:22.560 --> 00:08:26.399 I want to read those last two verses and I want you to hear them spoken to you. 00:08:26.639 --> 00:08:42.080 In him, the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord, and in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which he lives by his spirit. 00:08:42.720 --> 00:08:45.200 We are the temple of the Lord. 00:08:45.519 --> 00:08:56.559 This temple that they are building, he is saying to us in Ephesians that we as the body of Christ represent God's dwelling on earth. 00:08:56.879 --> 00:09:08.799 We are the place where God dwells, not this building, but amongst us as a body, and not just as individuals in the body, though he does reside in our hearts individually. 00:09:08.879 --> 00:09:13.519 He is saying that there is something special about us being built together. 00:09:14.240 --> 00:09:26.159 That we come together, and when we come together, different from different backgrounds and different places and ages and periods and experience, that we come. 00:09:27.039 --> 00:09:41.360 And when we recognize we're united, not because of our similarities, but of what the earth has to offer, not because we both like football or the things that people join together over, but because we've all been saved by the same Savior. 00:09:42.320 --> 00:09:49.200 That when we are united, it is bonding the bricks of God's temple together. 00:09:51.120 --> 00:10:06.399 This means building the structure of God's temple by gathering the bricks to ourselves through evangelism and strengthening the structure as it is secured to the foundation and discipleship. 00:10:06.559 --> 00:10:18.240 That's why in Matthew 28 it says, Go make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and Son of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I've commanded you. 00:10:18.559 --> 00:10:20.639 We share the message of God. 00:10:20.960 --> 00:10:29.440 We offer his grace, and when those bricks come to faith, we then build them stronger in the foundation. 00:10:31.200 --> 00:10:34.159 And it says that Christ is a chief cornerstone. 00:10:35.200 --> 00:10:40.480 Christ is a chief cornerstone, and on him is the foundation of the apostles and the prophets. 00:10:40.639 --> 00:10:42.720 Well, you say, well, what does that mean? 00:10:42.879 --> 00:10:47.519 Well, the apostles wrote the New Testament and the prophets wrote the Old Testament. 00:10:47.600 --> 00:10:54.799 So Christ as our chief cornerstone and the foundation connected to him of the word of God, because he is the word. 00:10:55.039 --> 00:10:56.399 The word became flesh, right? 00:10:56.559 --> 00:11:04.960 And so we have the scriptures, and so in Christ and the word that proclaims him, we are built up on top of those things. 00:11:07.200 --> 00:11:13.360 And it says, you're being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his spirit. 00:11:13.679 --> 00:11:25.759 And this task of building the house of God that we have been charged with, that is the same task that was charged to the people in Haggai, can be overwhelming. 00:11:26.080 --> 00:11:27.200 Can it not? 00:11:27.840 --> 00:11:31.759 It can be intimidating in the same way that they said, I can't do it. 00:11:31.919 --> 00:11:35.759 I look at this task and I go, how am I supposed to do this? 00:11:35.919 --> 00:11:36.720 I am but one man. 00:11:36.799 --> 00:11:37.519 I am weak. 00:11:37.679 --> 00:11:39.360 I am sinful and flawed. 00:11:39.519 --> 00:11:45.039 How am I supposed to tell others to rest in his grace and walk forward in purity when I struggle with that myself? 00:11:45.200 --> 00:11:47.039 And so I don't want to preach the message. 00:11:47.120 --> 00:11:55.600 And we all let these little things hold us back, and we become overwhelmed and frustrated, and we hold back because we think we're unworthy of the task. 00:11:55.840 --> 00:12:01.679 Maybe we look at leaders that came before us and say, well, I can't do as good a job as they did, so I'm just not going to. 00:12:02.080 --> 00:12:06.399 Or maybe we get intimidated because of how little we know about the Bible compared to somebody else. 00:12:06.480 --> 00:12:14.000 And we say, you know what, I just I need to study more, maybe four, five, six, seventeen, twenty more years or so, and then I'll know enough to start building God's house, right? 00:12:14.080 --> 00:12:20.080 Like, or we leave it to the people that we pay in the churches, and we say, oh, well, we hire pastors to do that part. 00:12:23.279 --> 00:12:26.799 And we get overwhelmed, and we say, I can't do it. 00:12:26.960 --> 00:12:30.240 And we're just like the people in Haggai. 00:12:31.440 --> 00:12:43.440 So what does God want to say to his people as they stand before this rubble and they say, I can't rebuild the temple, it's too overwhelming, I'm not equipped, I don't have the goods to bring. 00:12:44.720 --> 00:12:46.960 And God has a simple message. 00:12:47.360 --> 00:12:49.120 Simple but profound. 00:12:49.279 --> 00:12:53.120 And that message is I am with you. 00:12:55.600 --> 00:12:58.480 I am with you. 00:13:03.600 --> 00:13:07.600 God looks at Israel and says, I'm with you. 00:13:08.320 --> 00:13:25.440 He says, Yet now be strong, O Zerubbabel, verse 4, declares the Lord, be strong, O Joshua, son of Jehosedak, the high priest, be strong, all you people in the land, declares the Lord, Work, for I am with you, declares the Lord. 00:13:25.600 --> 00:13:32.720 And he says in verse 5 that he's with them, according to the covenant that I made with you when you came out of Egypt, my spirit remains in your midst. 00:13:32.960 --> 00:13:34.559 Do not fear. 00:13:39.279 --> 00:13:41.360 He says, I've always been with you. 00:13:41.840 --> 00:13:43.039 I've always been with you. 00:13:43.200 --> 00:13:44.960 Look, look at your history. 00:13:45.200 --> 00:13:47.600 Look at what I've done with you over the ages. 00:13:47.759 --> 00:13:51.440 Look at the covenant I made with you when you came out of Egypt. 00:13:53.600 --> 00:13:56.480 I told you I would not leave you, and I have not. 00:13:57.360 --> 00:14:04.799 You have look at when I led you through the Red Sea and parted the waters before you. 00:14:05.039 --> 00:14:15.759 Look at the nations that you overcame to take the holy land, that you thought you could not, that your spies went into the land and said, There's no way we could take that land, there's giants living in it. 00:14:15.919 --> 00:14:24.159 And look at the way that by marching around the city the walls came down in my might because I was with you, and not because of your might, but because of my might. 00:14:24.320 --> 00:14:25.759 Look at what I've done. 00:14:25.919 --> 00:14:28.159 I've always been with you. 00:14:28.720 --> 00:14:31.039 Do you think it will be different now? 00:14:32.000 --> 00:14:39.679 And he points them to his presence with them as a source of comfort and as a source of strength. 00:14:41.200 --> 00:14:44.639 And he says, He will remain with them. 00:14:44.879 --> 00:14:49.519 Not only have I always been with you, but I'm with you now, and I will stay with you. 00:14:52.000 --> 00:14:56.159 Be strong, all you people of the land, declares the Lord. 00:14:57.120 --> 00:14:59.840 Work, for I am with you, declares the Lord of hosts. 00:15:00.399 --> 00:15:05.200 According to the covenant that I made with you when I came out of Egypt, my spirit remains in your midst. 00:15:05.440 --> 00:15:10.159 And that word remains has a sense of currently, but that it's not going anywhere. 00:15:11.039 --> 00:15:13.200 That it is here and forward. 00:15:14.720 --> 00:15:18.320 Not just now, but I'm not going anywhere. 00:15:18.639 --> 00:15:22.799 My spirit remains and will remain with you. 00:15:24.480 --> 00:15:25.919 So don't fear. 00:15:29.759 --> 00:15:39.120 So as we take on the overwhelming task of building the house of God and we have the same encouragement laid before us, are we going to let it give us peace? 00:15:40.159 --> 00:15:44.480 Because we have the same encouragement laid before us. 00:15:44.799 --> 00:15:50.480 Go back to Matthew 28 that we just read, when our call is the same one to build the house of the Lord. 00:15:50.639 --> 00:15:55.039 Then Jesus came to them and said, All authority in heaven and earth has been given to me. 00:15:55.200 --> 00:16:11.039 Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you, and surely I am with you always to the very end of the age. 00:16:12.240 --> 00:16:14.559 The same promise is given to you. 00:16:15.200 --> 00:16:30.159 As you build his house, as you seek to spread his word and make his name great and draw people to him through the power of the Spirit and grow in the church in your knowledge of how to serve him. 00:16:33.679 --> 00:16:35.279 He is with us. 00:16:47.919 --> 00:16:50.559 Look at the history before the temple was built. 00:16:50.639 --> 00:16:52.080 We already talked about it some. 00:16:52.480 --> 00:16:56.720 The tabernacle and what it represented, as they were a wandering people. 00:16:56.879 --> 00:16:59.840 That God didn't say, Come march to me. 00:17:00.399 --> 00:17:01.919 Come, come find me. 00:17:02.080 --> 00:17:03.519 I'm here waiting for you. 00:17:03.679 --> 00:17:06.960 He said, You have a great journey before you, and I'm going to take it with you. 00:17:07.119 --> 00:17:21.839 And so his dwelling with the people was a tabernacle, a tent that could be set up everywhere they went, so that every night when they stopped and set this up, when they could stop and set up camp, it was a great reminder that his presence is with them. 00:17:21.920 --> 00:17:26.079 And it pointed them to the fact that he wanted to stay with them when it became more permanent. 00:17:26.160 --> 00:17:36.799 And when they developed and found a kingdom to call their own, when he gave them the land that he told them he would give them, and they established a more permanent temple under Solomon. 00:17:37.279 --> 00:17:40.240 Again, I'm with you. 00:17:40.400 --> 00:17:42.240 My presence is amongst you. 00:17:42.559 --> 00:17:48.880 And it pointed to a fact and a day that his name would take even more meaning. 00:17:49.039 --> 00:17:57.279 His name, Emmanuel, which we sung about, Emmanuel, which literally translates God with us. 00:17:59.119 --> 00:18:04.720 So that not only would he dwell in the temple, but that he would walk amongst us one day. 00:18:05.279 --> 00:18:22.960 And he did that when Jesus came and walked this earth and gave up the glory of the throne in heaven to be born of a virgin and be united to humanity and walk amongst his own creation, showing them love because he is a God that desires to be with his people. 00:18:23.119 --> 00:18:37.039 And he even took it further after his death on the cross and ascension to heaven when he gave his spirit to dwell inside of us, so that he no longer walks just amongst us, but within us. 00:18:38.880 --> 00:18:43.680 And that we are filled with his glory in the temple of our hearts. 00:18:43.839 --> 00:18:58.960 Scripture says that our body is his temple, and our body is his temple, and both are true, so that as individuals he fills us, and that as a community he empowers us to do the work of building his house. 00:19:02.400 --> 00:19:10.000 God has always intended that his people know that he dwell among us and that his presence should bring us peace. 00:19:10.640 --> 00:19:13.119 Shortly after Beth and I got married. 00:19:13.599 --> 00:19:14.559 I remember. 00:19:15.839 --> 00:19:18.400 We had come home from one of our first visits. 00:19:18.799 --> 00:19:23.039 We got married and we immediately moved to Colorado where I was going to seminary at the time. 00:19:23.680 --> 00:19:27.279 And we went and had coffee with my little sister who wasn't married yet. 00:19:27.759 --> 00:19:31.279 And she was talking to us and she's like, it's just so weird that you're married now. 00:19:31.519 --> 00:19:32.559 Is it weird, Beth? 00:19:32.720 --> 00:19:34.079 Like, does it does it feel different? 00:19:34.319 --> 00:19:37.359 She looks at Beth, she goes, Do you feel any different now that you're married? 00:19:38.000 --> 00:19:38.880 She goes, I guess. 00:19:39.039 --> 00:19:41.759 She goes, what's the main, what do you, what would you say the main difference is? 00:19:42.160 --> 00:19:43.599 And Beth, I'll never forget it. 00:19:44.079 --> 00:19:45.200 It touched me deeply. 00:19:45.599 --> 00:19:47.119 She paused really long. 00:19:48.160 --> 00:19:53.920 And she goes, You know, I'd have to say the main thing is just knowing that he's always there. 00:19:56.559 --> 00:19:58.480 And that was a real source of strength for her. 00:20:05.279 --> 00:20:17.359 And what I felt there, in comparison to the strength we should gain from God's presence with us and the fact that he has promised to never leave. 00:20:21.920 --> 00:20:26.160 Do you take comfort in knowing that he's with you? 00:20:27.680 --> 00:20:33.279 Do you take on tasks on your own that overwhelm you when he's saying, just let me help? 00:20:35.359 --> 00:20:40.559 Do you tremble in fear at the thought of sharing the gospel with a loved one? 00:20:41.440 --> 00:20:43.759 Because you feel inadequate to the cause. 00:20:43.920 --> 00:20:45.920 And he's going, I'm with you. 00:20:46.799 --> 00:20:48.000 Lean on me. 00:20:50.079 --> 00:21:02.880 Do you struggle to take positions of leadership you think he's pushing you towards in the church to grow others and build into their lives because you feel inadequate and he's going, but that's okay because I'm not. 00:21:03.440 --> 00:21:06.720 I'm not inadequate, and I am with you. 00:21:08.079 --> 00:21:10.400 See, he takes it a step further. 00:21:12.559 --> 00:21:15.839 He wants us to know he's with us, and he wants it to give us peace. 00:21:15.920 --> 00:21:17.119 So much of Scripture talks about it. 00:21:17.200 --> 00:21:18.400 I'll read just a couple of verses. 00:21:18.559 --> 00:21:30.880 Isaiah 54, 10 says, Though the mountains be shaken and the hills be removed, yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken, nor my covenant of peace be removed, says the Lord who has compassion on you. 00:21:31.119 --> 00:21:35.440 Isaiah 41.10 says, Fear not, for I am with you. 00:21:35.680 --> 00:21:38.400 Be not dismayed, for I am your God. 00:21:38.559 --> 00:21:43.839 I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. 00:21:44.079 --> 00:21:51.759 So he wants us to get that he's with us, but more than just being with us, he wants us to understand that he is in control. 00:21:53.440 --> 00:21:56.640 He is in control, and that's where he points them. 00:21:56.880 --> 00:22:08.640 He points them and he says, I am with you, fear not, but in verse Six, right after that, he says, For thus says the Lord of hosts, yet more, yet once more, in a little while, I will shake the heavens and the earth and the sea and the dry land. 00:22:08.799 --> 00:22:11.839 He's going, I'm gonna shake the whole world. 00:22:12.640 --> 00:22:13.839 I'm a God of power. 00:22:14.000 --> 00:22:15.599 This God that is with you is a God of power. 00:22:15.759 --> 00:22:22.000 See, we can have somebody with us in a difficult situation, but if they're powerless to help, what good does it do, right? 00:22:22.640 --> 00:22:29.279 How many of you have been in a tough situation and the person with you seemed to be of no help, with no power to help? 00:22:32.160 --> 00:22:39.839 Because just presence isn't enough if the one who is present with you is incapable, right? 00:22:41.039 --> 00:22:45.519 And how often do we place our faith in ones who are not capable? 00:22:46.559 --> 00:22:50.480 And so God is saying, not only am I with you, but I'm in control. 00:22:50.640 --> 00:22:58.160 And he and he and he kind of tells them the big scope and draws them down to a pinpoint and goes, if I can do all of this, then why can't I do this? 00:22:58.240 --> 00:23:00.240 And if I can do this, then why can't I do this? 00:23:00.400 --> 00:23:04.319 And it and he's going, look, I'm in control of all creation. 00:23:04.480 --> 00:23:09.039 He says, yet once more in a little while, I will shake the heavens and the earth and the sea and the dry land. 00:23:09.200 --> 00:23:10.799 So all of creation. 00:23:11.119 --> 00:23:12.160 But not just creation. 00:23:12.319 --> 00:23:13.839 He says, more specifically, the nations. 00:23:13.920 --> 00:23:22.079 He says, I will shake the nations, so that the treasures of all the nations shall come in, and I will fill this house with glory, says the Lord of hosts. 00:23:22.720 --> 00:23:38.400 He says, So I'm in control of everything, because he says, the silver is mine and the gold is mine, declares the Lord, and the latter glory of this house shall be greater than the former, says the Lord of hosts, and in this place, this specific place, I will grant peace. 00:23:38.480 --> 00:23:43.119 So I'm in control of all creation, I'm in control of all nations, I'm in control of this house that is before you. 00:23:48.079 --> 00:23:50.000 Do you understand his power? 00:23:52.799 --> 00:23:55.440 Do you recognize that he spoke us into creation? 00:23:56.480 --> 00:24:00.640 Do you recognize that nothing is out of his control? 00:24:02.799 --> 00:24:04.720 Because that's where he points his people. 00:24:05.440 --> 00:24:09.359 He points them to his overwhelming might. 00:24:11.680 --> 00:24:13.599 His overwhelming might. 00:24:24.079 --> 00:24:28.640 And in our lives, do we see this? 00:24:30.559 --> 00:24:35.519 When I was a little kid, my brother and I wanted to go camping. 00:24:35.839 --> 00:24:37.599 I mean, we really wanted to rough it. 00:24:37.680 --> 00:24:41.119 We wanted to go 10, 20 feet away from the house. 00:24:41.680 --> 00:24:54.400 And because that's how long the extension cord was, so that we could put the little portable TV in the tent with us, with the fan, and we could go inside and pop the popcorn and bring it out. 00:24:54.480 --> 00:25:12.480 And so we had this tent going, and we had all these little blankets and stuff on there, and it was the cushiest tent in the world, and we had a light hanging from the ceiling off the extension cord, and we had a little TV going in there that we were trying to watch TV with, and we just thought we were the coolest things in the world, and we hadn't even, you know, it's not even really sleep time yet, right? 00:25:12.799 --> 00:25:16.880 And uh something scary happened. 00:25:17.839 --> 00:25:20.480 A brick came flying through our tent. 00:25:21.200 --> 00:25:24.240 And it came about this far from hitting us in the head. 00:25:24.480 --> 00:25:37.039 It just crashed through and ripped through that little tent structure, fell between our heads, and we're staring at a red brick, and we don't know where it came from. 00:25:38.079 --> 00:25:53.839 We run in the house, and we go, somebody's a bat's a brick, and my dad stood up and he ran outside. 00:25:54.640 --> 00:25:57.119 And he starts looking around the backyard. 00:25:57.440 --> 00:26:03.839 And he sees two teenage boys pop up and run, who were hiding behind this little electrical box. 00:26:04.160 --> 00:26:13.200 See, there were two teenage boys that thought it would be a funny trick to scare little kids, and so they threw the brick to scare us, but meanwhile, it could have knocked us in the head and caused serious damage. 00:26:13.279 --> 00:26:20.720 And when they saw my dad, who's not a small man, come out of the house, they got scared and they ran. 00:26:21.200 --> 00:26:27.440 And my dad, again, remember I said he's not a small man, but I've never seen him run like he ran that night. 00:26:27.680 --> 00:26:36.079 And he ran after those teenage boys and he caught them and he brings them back to our house, grabbing them by the backs of their jackets, and he brings them to the edge of the house and he goes, get in the house. 00:26:36.160 --> 00:26:42.480 And they go, I'm not going in the edge and he throws them in the house and he starts, he's like, tell me, give me your parents' name, number. 00:26:42.559 --> 00:26:43.759 We're called, I'm not telling you my parents. 00:26:44.720 --> 00:26:52.000 And he, man, but all of a sudden, whatever fear I had was gone because my dad was in control of that situation. 00:26:54.559 --> 00:26:55.920 And I felt peace. 00:26:57.200 --> 00:27:03.200 I felt peace because those that threatened me did not stand up to my dad. 00:27:03.440 --> 00:27:14.559 And let me tell you, we have a father in heaven that no one can even think of threatening, that no one can outrun, that no one can escape. 00:27:14.720 --> 00:27:27.839 And as you have the task before you of building God's house, do you let man intimidate you, or do you recognize that your father in heaven is not only with you, but he is in complete control? 00:27:31.599 --> 00:27:34.319 It is a great source of strength. 00:27:36.400 --> 00:27:46.559 And he says, in light of this, that he is going to bring glory to this temple. 00:27:47.119 --> 00:27:57.279 It says the treasures of all nations in the ESV that's in your pew Bibles, but a lot of Bibles, and actually I like it a little bit more, it says the desired of all nations, that he's going to bring the desired of all nations. 00:27:57.359 --> 00:28:00.640 Because desired does not have to mean treasure. 00:28:00.960 --> 00:28:04.720 What we desire does not have to mean gold and silver. 00:28:04.799 --> 00:28:07.200 Now, there's obviously a reference to gold and silver here. 00:28:07.359 --> 00:28:09.359 He says, the gold is mine and the silver is mine. 00:28:09.519 --> 00:28:12.079 The tools you need to rebuild this temple I will bring. 00:28:12.240 --> 00:28:19.039 But there is something about that he is in control, and anything that is desired from the nations, that he can bring it to this temple. 00:28:19.920 --> 00:28:22.799 Because let me tell you what the Lord desires. 00:28:23.759 --> 00:28:29.440 You, your heart, your attention, your worship. 00:28:32.559 --> 00:28:42.319 And other scripture points us to this so that when he says to them, Look, I'm gonna bring the desired of the nations, and the gold is mine, and the silver is mine, and you're gonna have whatever you need to rebuild this temple. 00:28:42.640 --> 00:28:44.640 Other parts of scripture point us to this. 00:28:44.799 --> 00:28:54.319 See, now, first of all, recognize that as God says, the glory in this temple is gonna be greater than the glory in the former temple. 00:28:54.559 --> 00:29:04.799 It was not lost on him that in the future his son would be standing in front of this very same temple as he said, Destroy this temple and I will raise it again in three days. 00:29:05.039 --> 00:29:10.000 And the Jews replied, It has taken 46 years to build this temple, and are you gonna raise it in three days? 00:29:10.160 --> 00:29:13.279 But the temple he had spoken of was his body. 00:29:13.599 --> 00:29:24.799 See, because he's gonna bring glory not only to the physical representation of this temple, but to the fulfillment of the temple and the prophecy of Jesus Christ, his son, who would come and bear our sins for us. 00:29:24.960 --> 00:29:35.920 And Revelation 21:2 talks of Jesus being the fulfillment of the temple again, where it says, I did not see a temple in the city, because the Lord Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. 00:29:36.799 --> 00:29:46.720 The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp in us as the body of Christ. 00:29:47.200 --> 00:29:58.799 This goes back to the task of undertaking the building of God's house, and we are the offering of the other nations that much of Scripture points us toward. 00:29:59.200 --> 00:30:19.200 Scripture speaks of us as the church, as an offering brought to God from the other nations, that Israel was meant to be a beacon and a light to draw the other nations in to proclaim the name of the Lord, that they would see Israel, and that they would say, Whoa, their God is something. 00:30:20.240 --> 00:30:30.000 And that we would come in and be grafted in and join to them in the worship of the one true God. 00:30:30.720 --> 00:30:46.240 Isaiah 2, starting in verse 2, it says, It shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and it shall be lifted above the hills, and all the nations shall flow to it. 00:30:47.440 --> 00:31:10.000 And many peoples shall come and say, Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob, that he may teach us his ways, and that we may walk in his paths, for out of Zion shall go the law and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem, and he shall judge between the nations, and shall decide disputes for many peoples, and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks. 00:31:10.240 --> 00:31:14.400 Nation shall not lift sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore. 00:31:14.559 --> 00:31:19.200 O house of Jacob, come, let us walk in the light of the Lord. 00:31:19.839 --> 00:31:30.240 And we come from all the nations, as he draws that which he desires, our worship, out of the nations to his house. 00:31:34.559 --> 00:31:36.400 And we worship him there. 00:31:38.559 --> 00:31:40.799 Paul labored towards this. 00:32:00.880 --> 00:32:03.119 He mentions us as an offering. 00:32:03.599 --> 00:32:09.920 That he's laboring towards the gospel in the nations outside of Israel, so that we may be brought to God as an offering. 00:32:11.119 --> 00:32:31.759 1 Peter 2, 4 says, As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men, but in the sight of God, chosen and precious, you yourselves, like living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Christ Jesus. 00:32:32.400 --> 00:32:46.720 As you tackle the overwhelming task of building the house of the Lord, find comfort in the fact that He is with us and that He is in control. 00:32:47.440 --> 00:32:57.279 And that He has seen you from the beginning, and that He has said time and time again, I want that nation to be with me. 00:32:58.000 --> 00:33:13.680 And that you are part of the fulfillment of that prophecy, and that as Christ is our temple and we are his body, we are joined together in him through the law and the prophets and the apostles, and that he will do the task. 00:33:14.720 --> 00:33:21.440 So as you leave here today, do you find peace in your God? 00:33:22.160 --> 00:33:34.640 Do you let the task overwhelm you anymore, or do you submit, not in your strength, but because of his great might, do you say, though I am weak, I know you can use me. 00:33:34.960 --> 00:33:36.960 Because you are not limited. 00:33:38.799 --> 00:33:39.680 Let's pray. 00:33:42.000 --> 00:33:44.319 Lord, we come before you thankful. 00:33:45.759 --> 00:33:54.160 Thankful, moved, feeling unworthy and yet joyful that you have chosen to be with us. 00:33:55.359 --> 00:34:00.960 That though you have a throne in heaven, you desire to dwell amongst us as well. 00:34:04.400 --> 00:34:25.840 We ask that in our individual hearts you would convince us of your power and presence, and that that would contribute to us as a body, building your kingdom, building your house in this community, reaching the peoples that do not know you for the sake of your glory. 00:34:27.920 --> 00:34:28.960 In Jesus' name. 00:34:29.440 --> 00:34:30.000 Amen. 00:34:30.400 --> 00:34:30.800 Thank you.