WEBVTT 00:00:00.440 --> 00:00:09.160 Father, we ask, we have a passage like this in the Bible, and it's talked about people we don't know about, people we don't care about, names we can't even pronounce. 00:00:09.939 --> 00:00:16.019 It can be hard to know why on earth are we talking about this rather than about something more relevant. 00:00:16.940 --> 00:00:20.179 And Father, often we don't even want to come out and say this to you in prayer. 00:00:20.339 --> 00:00:23.559 We think it in our minds, but with our lips, of course, we pretend. 00:00:23.559 --> 00:00:31.219 So, Father, we ask that you would do a mighty work and bring this word, your word, deep into our hearts. 00:00:31.799 --> 00:00:33.899 Speak into our hearts, rule in our hearts. 00:00:34.019 --> 00:00:38.659 We give you unconditional permission and an invitation, Father, to do this. 00:00:39.239 --> 00:00:42.320 Pour out the Holy Spirit, we ask in Jesus' name. Amen. 00:00:43.599 --> 00:00:51.340 So, this week I was talking, or just recently I was talking to somebody, 00:00:51.340 --> 00:01:00.440 and they were sharing how they, in their workplace, and those of you who work in, whether it's the government or very large corporations, 00:01:00.680 --> 00:01:06.420 you know there can be, there's a greasy pole that people like to try to climb to get higher up. 00:01:06.939 --> 00:01:08.500 It doesn't even have to be big corporations. 00:01:08.900 --> 00:01:13.800 It can be something smaller like a Starbucks or some Tim Hortons or something like that, 00:01:13.820 --> 00:01:18.340 and there's a greasy pole to become like the shift supervisor or the manager to get promotions. 00:01:18.340 --> 00:01:24.560 And so, there was a person working in a large corporation, and he was sharing with me how, in fact, 00:01:24.780 --> 00:01:29.240 somebody had tried to move in, take credit for things he had done, 00:01:29.700 --> 00:01:34.879 move into his area of responsibility in such a way that he would look bad and they would look really good. 00:01:35.780 --> 00:01:41.040 And they sort of had the, you know, because they were really trying, working very hard to climb that greasy pole. 00:01:41.040 --> 00:01:46.660 And then at the last second, everything came crashing down for this person. 00:01:47.400 --> 00:01:53.900 And the thing that the person was sharing with me when we were chatting was that everybody in the office said, 00:01:54.240 --> 00:01:56.900 isn't karma A, B? 00:01:57.080 --> 00:01:58.620 And you can fill in the rest of the word. 00:01:59.100 --> 00:02:00.320 Isn't karma A, B? 00:02:00.580 --> 00:02:01.600 Fill in the rest of the word. 00:02:01.599 --> 00:02:05.000 And it's a very, very common thing in our culture, isn't it? 00:02:05.079 --> 00:02:11.859 That, you know, it doesn't matter sort of if you're very secular, very spiritual, if you're an atheist or whatever. 00:02:11.959 --> 00:02:17.919 You have this basic idea that there's a type of karma and that sometimes it just comes and bites you in the butt, you know? 00:02:18.280 --> 00:02:19.699 You get what you deserve. 00:02:20.159 --> 00:02:26.599 People in this particular case didn't feel sorry for the person who was climbing the greasy pole and hence trying to step on others. 00:02:27.060 --> 00:02:29.620 They just sort of thought, well, there you go, karma. 00:02:29.620 --> 00:02:35.819 And in fact, a lot of us live in a sense between two types of poles. 00:02:36.599 --> 00:02:40.439 That on one hand, we say, well, we're going to try to be a good person, do the right thing. 00:02:40.560 --> 00:02:40.740 Why? 00:02:40.860 --> 00:02:44.020 Because we want to avoid having karma bite us on the butt. 00:02:44.379 --> 00:02:49.700 On the other hand, we also try to do things that will actually contribute towards success. 00:02:51.439 --> 00:02:52.360 And you know what it is. 00:02:52.439 --> 00:02:55.200 Maybe it's, you know, like I was just reading the paper. 00:02:55.420 --> 00:02:57.240 So it must be true if it's in the paper, right? 00:02:57.240 --> 00:03:04.680 I was just reading the paper that, you know, there's an increase of people who are very interested in spells and in magic, in potions. 00:03:05.240 --> 00:03:07.960 It could be books like The Secret. 00:03:08.120 --> 00:03:14.980 It could be different types of meditation or thinking whereby you visualize success to achieve success, 00:03:15.100 --> 00:03:21.140 where you align yourself with the universe or put yourself in a certain way so that the universe will get and help you to advance. 00:03:21.139 --> 00:03:23.439 But there's a variety of ways that we do it. 00:03:23.500 --> 00:03:28.559 It might be that we're just using our, you know, our modeling and our techniques and our technology and our science. 00:03:28.719 --> 00:03:33.779 But there's a variety of ways that on one hand, we try to do certain types of things to get success. 00:03:34.119 --> 00:03:39.539 And we try to not do certain things so that karma won't come and bite us on the butt. 00:03:39.539 --> 00:03:44.900 But the fact of the matter is, if you think about this, that none of these things really work. 00:03:45.699 --> 00:03:55.620 It's as if we have a type of addiction to the belief that it must work, while at the same time, it doesn't actually seem to work very well for us. 00:03:56.180 --> 00:04:03.060 And now if you're watching this and you're 18 or 19 or 20 and you've only tried one of these things, you're just trying your first one, you might not realize it. 00:04:03.060 --> 00:04:13.800 But talk to somebody who's a little bit older and if you push them and if you can get them to get by their own type of amnesia, they'll tell you, well, they, you know, when they were, you know, when they're 22, they did this. 00:04:13.860 --> 00:04:15.420 And when they're 24, they tried this. 00:04:15.479 --> 00:04:17.459 And when they were, you know, 28, they tried this. 00:04:17.500 --> 00:04:19.019 And when they were 31, they tried this. 00:04:19.519 --> 00:04:27.660 And if you look, there's in fact been a long list of different things that they've attempted over the years to achieve that success. 00:04:27.660 --> 00:04:34.180 And when one fails or just doesn't work out, we still have this belief that there must be some type of thing like that. 00:04:34.640 --> 00:04:39.800 And so we pursue it even while we forget about the fact that these things haven't worked in the past. 00:04:40.140 --> 00:04:51.660 At a societal level, despite the fact that COVID has proven that governments are not omnicompetent and can't know the future, we all want them. 00:04:51.860 --> 00:04:54.220 We want to double down on that belief for the future. 00:04:54.220 --> 00:05:00.180 We don't say, okay, one moment, you know, whoa, whoa, whoa, COVID has shown that there's a real limit to human power and technique. 00:05:00.340 --> 00:05:06.580 Maybe we should be thinking, no, no, no, we just want more of it, as if having more of it is somehow or another going to guarantee it. 00:05:08.020 --> 00:05:18.140 Thinking about this, believe it or not, what happens in the book of Haggai speaks directly to this desire that we have to have things work out. 00:05:18.139 --> 00:05:24.639 And it speaks directly to it in a very, very interesting and counterintuitive way. 00:05:25.219 --> 00:05:26.860 And so let's look. 00:05:27.860 --> 00:05:34.979 I mean, it doesn't look like it at first, as I said in my prayer, with these names that we can barely pronounce and all these odd cultural references. 00:05:35.699 --> 00:05:39.360 But if you turn in your Bibles to Haggai, it can be a little bit of a hard book to find. 00:05:39.360 --> 00:05:44.180 And the Bible is divided into what Christians call the Old Testament and the New Testament. 00:05:44.620 --> 00:05:48.160 What we call the Old Testament, our Jewish friends call the Torah or the Tanakh. 00:05:48.759 --> 00:05:54.900 And it's in most English Bibles that Haggai is, I think, the third book from the end. 00:05:55.000 --> 00:05:57.639 There's Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi, and then the New Testament. 00:05:57.759 --> 00:05:59.500 Or you can just look it up in the table of reference. 00:06:00.000 --> 00:06:02.600 Great if you can follow along in a Bible of your own. 00:06:02.600 --> 00:06:08.760 And just before we start reading Haggai chapter, well, actually, we'll read chapter one. 00:06:08.820 --> 00:06:10.060 I have a couple of, first one. 00:06:10.420 --> 00:06:19.379 And here's a couple of things which, if you think of it in this way, it'll help you to get over the hoop of reading something which seems so foreign. 00:06:20.240 --> 00:06:21.200 And it goes like this. 00:06:21.199 --> 00:06:36.500 In the second year of Darius the king, in the sixth month, on the first day of the month, the word of the Lord came by the hand of Haggai, the prophet, to Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua, the son of Jehozadak, the high priest. 00:06:36.639 --> 00:06:39.259 And just sort of pause right there for a couple of things. 00:06:39.719 --> 00:06:45.779 So, first of all, I've been in the process of reading a couple of novels by Dion Meyer. 00:06:46.019 --> 00:06:49.860 They were originally written in Afrikaans, and they've been translated into English. 00:06:49.860 --> 00:06:52.680 And I enjoy them very much. 00:06:53.120 --> 00:07:09.139 And one of the things which is remarkable, it's the same thing when I read Swedish fiction or Norwegian fiction or Gahanian fiction or something like that, is that the sense of place is actually part of what gives it pleasure. 00:07:10.040 --> 00:07:11.620 And gives me pleasure. 00:07:12.020 --> 00:07:13.960 And actually makes it far more interesting. 00:07:13.959 --> 00:07:26.620 And so, if you read a Dion Meyer novel, that even though they've translated it into English, they leave lots of Afrikaner or Zulu or Hossa terms in it. 00:07:27.120 --> 00:07:32.479 And that, on one level, I mean, I sometimes have to go to my phone or go to the glossary and try to figure out what they're saying. 00:07:32.560 --> 00:07:33.979 But it actually adds to it. 00:07:33.980 --> 00:07:35.939 And so, I just want to encourage you. 00:07:36.560 --> 00:07:43.980 One of the things about this book, and it's very, very clear here, is that the writer wants to give you a sense of place and time. 00:07:44.400 --> 00:07:49.160 Not as something which keeps you at arm's length, but actually something that can increase pleasure. 00:07:49.580 --> 00:07:58.220 It just may mean that it's not as easy to read as the tweet or the Instagram post from The Rock or, you know, whoever it is that you happen to follow. 00:07:58.220 --> 00:07:59.920 It just takes a little bit more work. 00:08:00.020 --> 00:08:03.660 But if you actually just sort of say, one moment, this is really trying to give me a sense of place. 00:08:04.240 --> 00:08:05.980 And what the sense of place is, is this. 00:08:06.160 --> 00:08:10.540 It's actually a very, very – the whole way that it's written, it's really cool. 00:08:10.660 --> 00:08:15.400 The whole way it's written, it's trying to tell you this is something where it's in the level of realism. 00:08:15.860 --> 00:08:16.800 It's historical. 00:08:17.520 --> 00:08:19.300 And it has a real sense of place. 00:08:19.920 --> 00:08:21.340 And Darius does exist. 00:08:21.460 --> 00:08:23.440 In fact, it's really, really, really funny. 00:08:23.580 --> 00:08:25.800 Darius is the head of the Persian Empire. 00:08:25.800 --> 00:08:33.440 And some of you might not know this, but I think it was only in the 1920s or the 1930s that Iran used to be called Persia. 00:08:33.539 --> 00:08:34.659 Maybe it was later than that. 00:08:35.320 --> 00:08:37.700 And so what we see here is really, really cool. 00:08:37.820 --> 00:08:43.960 Right now, you have Iran funding Hamas to send rockets into Israel to kill them. 00:08:44.240 --> 00:08:52.600 But here, you have the emperor of Persia actually working to get the temple rebuilt in Jerusalem. 00:08:52.600 --> 00:08:54.540 Like, that's sort of interesting. 00:08:54.639 --> 00:08:56.560 All of a sudden, they go, whoa, that's sort of an interesting thing. 00:08:56.639 --> 00:08:58.920 I mean, obviously, there's 2,500 years separating it. 00:08:59.200 --> 00:09:08.240 But because of the way they mentioned Darius and these other people, we know that what happened – this all happens on August the 29th, 520 B.C. 00:09:08.240 --> 00:09:28.460 So in August the 29th, 520 B.C., the emperor of Persia, who's – if you read sort of the companion bits to this, which is mainly the book of Ezra, but also a little bit of Ezekiel, but mainly the book of Ezra, you see that Darius has been significant. 00:09:28.460 --> 00:09:41.220 In fact, the Persians were significant in allowing the people of Israel to return to Jerusalem after they'd been carried away into exile in Babylon when the Babylonians defeated Israel and sort of stopped it existing as a nation. 00:09:42.100 --> 00:09:51.860 And in fact, this is all a fulfillment of prophecy by Jeremiah that God was going to do this remarkable thing two generations roughly after the ending of Jerusalem. 00:09:51.860 --> 00:10:04.620 And so what we have here is that this is all part of Iran, or what we would have called back then Persia's interest in having the temple in Jerusalem rebuilt. 00:10:05.440 --> 00:10:06.960 And it's very interesting. 00:10:07.159 --> 00:10:11.600 Now, Zerubbabel is an actual heir to the throne. 00:10:11.940 --> 00:10:15.860 He's a literal physical descendant of David. 00:10:16.659 --> 00:10:18.500 He is the heir to the throne. 00:10:18.500 --> 00:10:21.740 But his name means seed of Babylon. 00:10:21.860 --> 00:10:24.820 And that's going to be significant in a couple of weeks when we look at it again. 00:10:25.340 --> 00:10:27.480 But here he is, in a sense, the Messiah. 00:10:27.840 --> 00:10:30.159 Jesus the Messiah comes from this line. 00:10:30.580 --> 00:10:41.019 And one of his forefathers, in a sense, one of Jesus' forefathers in terms of through the lineage, is actually named Seed of Babylon. 00:10:42.060 --> 00:10:42.899 Seed of Babylon. 00:10:43.100 --> 00:10:43.940 Sorry, not Seed of Babylon. 00:10:44.039 --> 00:10:44.659 Seed of Babylon. 00:10:44.899 --> 00:10:45.759 And he's the heir of David. 00:10:45.759 --> 00:10:49.800 And the other person, the priest, is a physical descendant of Aaron. 00:10:49.799 --> 00:10:54.059 And now, here they are, under the authority of Persia. 00:10:54.740 --> 00:10:56.519 Israel is a conquered nation. 00:10:57.039 --> 00:10:59.139 The city is in fundamental ruins. 00:10:59.839 --> 00:11:03.500 There's not that many Jewish people back, but there is a Jewish settlement there. 00:11:03.599 --> 00:11:09.199 They are trying to rebuild the city, the people, the culture, to reclaim the land. 00:11:09.200 --> 00:11:13.020 And in a sense, they're trying to – what's going on here? 00:11:13.560 --> 00:11:21.200 And this is another reason – one of the reasons I chose this is that we're talking about we're going to have to be rebooting everything once the lockdowns come to an end. 00:11:21.259 --> 00:11:22.379 Whatever that's going to look like. 00:11:22.420 --> 00:11:24.200 Is it going to look like the roaring 20s? 00:11:24.360 --> 00:11:27.340 Or will we be wearing masks for the next 30 years? 00:11:27.460 --> 00:11:29.540 Let's pray we are not wearing masks. 00:11:29.640 --> 00:11:32.759 The second we can stop, there's something about a face. 00:11:33.160 --> 00:11:34.320 Anyway, that's a whole other sermon. 00:11:34.320 --> 00:11:35.879 I don't want to get you sidetracked on that. 00:11:36.000 --> 00:11:39.640 But they're all talking about rebuilding and rebooting and all of that type of stuff. 00:11:39.720 --> 00:11:40.620 And that's what's going on here. 00:11:40.680 --> 00:11:47.100 They're trying to reboot, rebuild the people under the auspices, on one hand, of Persia. 00:11:47.460 --> 00:11:52.280 But, of course, at the end of the day, ultimately because God has called the people to be there. 00:11:54.260 --> 00:11:57.540 Anyway, let's – oh, and there's one other thing here. 00:11:57.539 --> 00:12:03.439 The message of the Lord, the word of the Lord comes by the hand of Haggai the prophet. 00:12:03.599 --> 00:12:05.159 It's a very, very powerful image. 00:12:05.279 --> 00:12:08.379 It's almost as if – think of it as a mailman. 00:12:08.819 --> 00:12:14.099 Those of you who still get snail mail, it's as if God has written a letter and gave it to – 00:12:14.099 --> 00:12:20.559 God sat down, wrote a letter to the people, gave it to Haggai, and Haggai just comes and gives you the letter that comes from God. 00:12:20.559 --> 00:12:39.459 That's the imagery here, that when Haggai is speaking in these particular ways – not that every word that Haggai ever says is like that, but in these particular cases, it's as if the living God, the triune God, has written something down by hand, given it to Haggai, and Haggai comes and gives it to the people. 00:12:39.639 --> 00:12:44.219 And when they open the letter and read it, what they're hearing is God speak to them. 00:12:44.220 --> 00:12:52.480 It's a very interesting thing because when they're rebuilding the temple, one of the things that can't be in the new temple is the Ark of the Covenant. 00:12:53.279 --> 00:12:54.680 That's gotten lost to history. 00:12:54.920 --> 00:12:57.540 Watch Indiana Jones and you'll figure out where that actually went. 00:12:57.660 --> 00:12:58.360 I'm just joking. 00:12:58.899 --> 00:13:00.240 Indiana Jones won't tell you. 00:13:03.040 --> 00:13:09.800 It would be really funny if at the end of the end of the end it did turn out that it was in some nameless warehouse in the U.S. or something. 00:13:09.960 --> 00:13:11.960 That would just be too funny for words, wouldn't it? 00:13:11.960 --> 00:13:21.160 But anyway, in the Ark of the Covenant were the Ten Commandments written by the Word of God, and that's now lost. 00:13:21.639 --> 00:13:27.160 But here we have a message from the Lord delivered by the hand of Haggai to the people. 00:13:27.920 --> 00:13:29.360 And boy, let's keep going. 00:13:29.740 --> 00:13:31.100 We've only got to verse 1. 00:13:31.160 --> 00:13:32.400 We haven't even got to the crux of the year. 00:13:32.600 --> 00:13:33.180 Verse 2. 00:13:33.840 --> 00:13:34.680 Here's the message. 00:13:34.680 --> 00:13:36.680 Thus says the Lord of hosts, 00:13:37.120 --> 00:13:41.259 These people say the time has not yet come to rebuild the house of the Lord. 00:13:41.960 --> 00:13:44.000 And we'll just sort of pause there for a second. 00:13:44.780 --> 00:13:52.460 Remember I've said the city is fundamentally in ruins, but they've built some houses. 00:13:52.639 --> 00:13:53.720 They've cleared some spaces. 00:13:53.920 --> 00:13:55.000 They made some houses. 00:13:55.480 --> 00:13:59.820 And the other thing that you don't know, you have to read the companion book from the Book of Ezra to know this, 00:13:59.820 --> 00:14:03.980 is that 12 years earlier they started to build the temple. 00:14:04.560 --> 00:14:07.580 But they got some pushback by the locals who weren't Jewish. 00:14:07.720 --> 00:14:10.080 And as a result of the pushback, they stopped. 00:14:10.760 --> 00:14:13.620 So for 12 years they've been working on their own houses. 00:14:13.860 --> 00:14:17.600 They've been working on their own stores, their own businesses, their own fields, their own crops. 00:14:17.600 --> 00:14:23.360 But they've completely and utterly stopped working on the temple or as the house of the Lord. 00:14:24.300 --> 00:14:30.340 And in fact, in the original language, the idea is it's now become a settled opinion of people. 00:14:31.019 --> 00:14:37.019 Like that common sense wisdom that it's not the time to rebuild the temple of the Lord, 00:14:37.100 --> 00:14:39.759 that in fact it is the time to do all these other things that they're doing. 00:14:39.980 --> 00:14:42.720 That's sort of the settled wisdom that they have. 00:14:42.720 --> 00:14:44.259 Then verse 3, 00:14:44.320 --> 00:14:50.540 Notice that they'll continue to use this imagery, by the hand of. 00:14:51.300 --> 00:14:54.100 Then the word of the Lord came by the hand of Haggai the prophet. 00:14:54.720 --> 00:15:01.160 Is it a time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses while this house lies in ruins? 00:15:02.660 --> 00:15:04.300 Now, it's interesting. 00:15:04.399 --> 00:15:08.639 The word paneled here, what it's saying is that it's not as if God has gotten mad. 00:15:08.840 --> 00:15:10.460 It's not as if God's saying to them, 00:15:10.460 --> 00:15:13.780 Listen, you know, when you come into this new area, 00:15:13.920 --> 00:15:16.200 I don't care if you don't have a house to live in. 00:15:16.280 --> 00:15:18.259 I don't care if you don't have a tent to live in. 00:15:18.500 --> 00:15:20.639 I don't care if you don't have a roof over your head. 00:15:20.740 --> 00:15:23.960 I don't care if you don't have any food growing in the fields. 00:15:24.120 --> 00:15:27.139 I want you to build my house first and then you deal with... 00:15:27.139 --> 00:15:28.300 No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. 00:15:29.040 --> 00:15:30.440 That's not what's going on here. 00:15:31.300 --> 00:15:35.360 This is the idea of the panel that's actually quite significant to the story. 00:15:35.360 --> 00:15:43.220 Them having a place for them to have a roof over their head and the crops, that's been dealt with like 12 years ago. 00:15:43.940 --> 00:15:46.220 Now they're putting luxury items in. 00:15:47.759 --> 00:15:49.620 Now they're putting luxury items in. 00:15:49.620 --> 00:16:06.039 You know, now they're going to Architectural Digest and they're looking at different magazines and they're getting the latest, most expensive countertops and kitchen appliances and bathrooms and all of those types of things. 00:16:06.419 --> 00:16:10.840 And they're getting the good stuff for their place. 00:16:10.940 --> 00:16:14.320 So this is long gone beyond them meeting their basic needs. 00:16:14.320 --> 00:16:17.300 They've just decided that God... 00:16:17.300 --> 00:16:20.640 In a sense, really what's going on here is it said that the Lord isn't first in their lives. 00:16:21.820 --> 00:16:25.879 Now if you're watching this and you're not a Christian, you might think, okay, well, why is that a big issue? 00:16:25.960 --> 00:16:27.180 Well, we're going to talk about it in a moment. 00:16:27.340 --> 00:16:28.680 But for them... 00:16:28.680 --> 00:16:30.580 And here's the thing. 00:16:31.720 --> 00:16:38.320 For those of us who are Christians, when the Lord is no longer first place in our lives, he's rarely second place. 00:16:38.320 --> 00:16:45.320 In fact, it might be that at first, when the Lord is no longer first in your life, he moves to second. 00:16:45.400 --> 00:16:49.640 But he very quickly slides to second, fifth, tenth, twelfth, twentieth, thirtieth. 00:16:50.280 --> 00:16:51.240 Like way down. 00:16:51.400 --> 00:16:53.320 Maybe not all the way to thirtieth, but way down. 00:16:53.720 --> 00:16:55.040 It happens very, very quick. 00:16:55.700 --> 00:16:57.980 Like either he's first or he drops way, way down. 00:16:58.040 --> 00:17:00.860 Because once he's no longer first, there's all these other... 00:17:00.860 --> 00:17:01.920 You know, you need to make money. 00:17:02.040 --> 00:17:03.420 You have this thing you have to deal with. 00:17:03.500 --> 00:17:04.320 You have your friends. 00:17:05.340 --> 00:17:06.039 You have your kids. 00:17:06.039 --> 00:17:08.240 You have the hockey playoffs. 00:17:08.500 --> 00:17:09.200 You have the NBA. 00:17:09.539 --> 00:17:10.839 You have the Major League Baseball. 00:17:11.619 --> 00:17:16.460 Like before you know it, you know the kids have to have this lesson and this lesson and this lesson and this lesson and this lesson. 00:17:17.139 --> 00:17:21.460 And in fact, this is one of the things which is really important if I lose you for the rest of it. 00:17:21.619 --> 00:17:22.899 And this is a Christian message. 00:17:23.000 --> 00:17:28.240 And I'll explain to those of you who are watching who are trying to figure out the Christian thing, why this is important. 00:17:28.240 --> 00:17:40.880 But the temptation is going to be for us as individuals is that when things open up, what we say was, well, okay, George is going to be doing this thing every Sunday and Daniel will be doing this thing and Matt will show up. 00:17:40.920 --> 00:17:42.440 And, you know, we have a few who are doing all those things. 00:17:42.740 --> 00:17:44.960 But gosh, I got to get my kids back into sports. 00:17:45.120 --> 00:17:47.160 Gosh, I got to get my kids back into lessons. 00:17:47.380 --> 00:17:49.740 Gosh, you know, I need to take those trips. 00:17:49.920 --> 00:17:51.460 Gosh, I got to get all this done. 00:17:51.460 --> 00:17:54.220 And we got to get all of that type of stuff done. 00:17:54.840 --> 00:18:01.980 And there's no desire to think that the first thing that we need to do is to start to rebuild the Christian community and Christian fellowship. 00:18:03.120 --> 00:18:05.460 That's going to be the great temptation for us. 00:18:06.779 --> 00:18:08.180 Anyway, back to the text. 00:18:08.600 --> 00:18:12.140 So here's the here's in a sense the charge that God has made to them. 00:18:12.220 --> 00:18:15.380 He's confronting them about the priorities of their life. 00:18:15.380 --> 00:18:24.000 Because, you see, it's not a matter that the temple, in a sense, what the temple's presence, we'll get to it in a second. 00:18:24.300 --> 00:18:25.000 No, no, I'll say it now. 00:18:25.380 --> 00:18:32.560 The temple's presence is a sign that the Lord is with them and that they want the Lord with them. 00:18:33.340 --> 00:18:34.080 That's what it is. 00:18:34.120 --> 00:18:37.260 It's a sign and an indicator of their priorities. 00:18:38.620 --> 00:18:42.740 And if they aren't doing that, it shows they don't really care if the Lord is with them. 00:18:43.560 --> 00:18:45.080 They don't really care about it at all. 00:18:45.079 --> 00:18:48.759 Like, it's gone down to a lower and lower and lower and lower priority. 00:18:49.539 --> 00:18:52.359 Because we want to get that the more expensive faucet. 00:18:52.419 --> 00:18:54.480 We want to get the more expensive big screen TV. 00:18:54.619 --> 00:18:56.199 We want to get the more expensive car. 00:18:56.319 --> 00:18:59.079 We want to get all these other things set up in our own lives. 00:18:59.139 --> 00:19:01.500 And these things and the Lord becomes a low priority. 00:19:02.419 --> 00:19:03.699 So what happens next? 00:19:03.759 --> 00:19:04.819 Verses 5 and 6. 00:19:05.839 --> 00:19:07.539 And this is still the Lord speaking. 00:19:08.079 --> 00:19:11.699 Now therefore, or now then, thus says the Lord of hosts, consider your ways. 00:19:11.700 --> 00:19:15.140 You have sown much and harvested little. 00:19:15.319 --> 00:19:17.000 You eat, but you never have enough. 00:19:17.120 --> 00:19:18.860 You drink, but you never have your fill. 00:19:18.980 --> 00:19:20.980 You clothe yourselves, but no one is warm. 00:19:21.380 --> 00:19:22.519 And I love this phrase. 00:19:23.120 --> 00:19:24.480 Many of us will relate to this. 00:19:24.799 --> 00:19:29.080 And he who earns wages does so to put them into a bag with holes. 00:19:29.079 --> 00:19:31.939 Now, it's very interesting. 00:19:32.079 --> 00:19:35.839 Some of you, if you're looking on different English translations, it's not going to sound 00:19:35.839 --> 00:19:36.720 exactly the same. 00:19:36.799 --> 00:19:40.839 And it's because in Hebrew, the original language, two different things are being communicated at 00:19:40.839 --> 00:19:41.539 the same time. 00:19:42.079 --> 00:19:44.740 And it's a very, very, very relevant problem. 00:19:45.099 --> 00:19:46.939 And it isn't saying that they're starving. 00:19:47.519 --> 00:19:51.079 It's saying that there's not as much as they hoped and expected for. 00:19:51.179 --> 00:19:52.799 That's on one level of the sense. 00:19:52.799 --> 00:19:59.259 You know, gosh, I put my money in that TFSA and I was expecting an 8% return, but I only 00:19:59.259 --> 00:20:00.759 got that 6% return. 00:20:01.700 --> 00:20:05.599 Or I was expecting 12% because of the way the market is and I only got 10. 00:20:06.539 --> 00:20:06.759 You know? 00:20:07.259 --> 00:20:11.680 But the other aspect of it, and some of your English translations will reflect it, is that 00:20:11.680 --> 00:20:14.899 it's like that Rolling Stone song, I Can't Get Satisfaction. 00:20:14.900 --> 00:20:22.400 That, in fact, you drink that craft beer, but it's just not as satisfying as you thought 00:20:22.400 --> 00:20:23.080 it was going to be. 00:20:23.140 --> 00:20:27.000 You drink that expensive coffee and it's just not as satisfying. 00:20:27.259 --> 00:20:39.200 You know, the kids being in sports, the piano lessons, the weekend away, you know, it just 00:20:39.200 --> 00:20:40.780 wasn't quite as much beer as I thought. 00:20:40.779 --> 00:20:45.859 But more importantly, it just didn't quite have that meaning or significance that I thought. 00:20:46.559 --> 00:20:48.259 And that's what the Bible here is saying. 00:20:49.019 --> 00:20:52.240 Now you can see where it starts to have a bit of a thing when I said that at the beginning, 00:20:52.379 --> 00:20:56.920 remember I said a thing which is a common human issue, especially in North America today, 00:20:57.359 --> 00:21:00.240 is that on one hand we want to avoid the things that are going to bite us in the butt. 00:21:00.519 --> 00:21:04.079 On the other hand, we also want to do those things which will give us that satisfaction 00:21:04.079 --> 00:21:07.680 and give us those material things because we want both. 00:21:07.680 --> 00:21:11.460 And that's what this, the beauty of the Hebrew is it's capturing both. 00:21:11.560 --> 00:21:17.420 Both we want more, more stuff, but we want more satisfaction and meaning along with the 00:21:17.420 --> 00:21:18.080 more stuff. 00:21:18.259 --> 00:21:19.700 And that's what's going on here. 00:21:20.019 --> 00:21:23.100 And now we come to verses 7 and 8. 00:21:24.240 --> 00:21:32.460 And this is where we start to see the indication of the temple being not really just about a building, 00:21:32.640 --> 00:21:36.620 but about whether they actually want God, the Lord, to be with them. 00:21:36.619 --> 00:21:38.219 Listen to what it says, verse 7 and 8. 00:21:38.579 --> 00:21:41.099 Thus says the Lord of hosts, consider your ways. 00:21:41.959 --> 00:21:43.239 Think about your ways. 00:21:43.359 --> 00:21:44.239 Think about your life. 00:21:46.559 --> 00:21:49.599 You know, none of us want to live an unexamined life. 00:21:50.179 --> 00:21:54.679 In fact, one of the ways we would put down another person is to say that they don't live an examined life. 00:21:54.739 --> 00:21:56.519 But the question is, do we live an examined life? 00:21:56.619 --> 00:22:01.039 Do I, do you live an examined life thinking about our ways? 00:22:01.039 --> 00:22:04.359 Do we think about what it means that we don't get that satisfaction? 00:22:06.200 --> 00:22:07.319 Consider your ways. 00:22:08.079 --> 00:22:15.500 Verse 8, go up to the hills and bring wood and build the house and that I may take pleasure in it and that I may be glorified, says the Lord. 00:22:15.579 --> 00:22:18.079 And some of your translations will be a little bit different there. 00:22:18.079 --> 00:22:22.939 It's both that I may be glorified and I will glorify myself through this. 00:22:23.439 --> 00:22:28.079 But the heart of the message is that God isn't looking for something extravagant. 00:22:28.460 --> 00:22:30.419 He's saying, listen, you live amongst ruins. 00:22:30.519 --> 00:22:32.859 There's all sorts of rocks right there to rebuild the temple. 00:22:33.699 --> 00:22:40.339 You know, and there's all sorts of, you know, when you're rebuilding things, you know, you need some shimmies and other types of things to help balance the rocks. 00:22:40.419 --> 00:22:41.159 It's all around you. 00:22:41.240 --> 00:22:42.559 They've got all around there already. 00:22:42.679 --> 00:22:43.980 All you need is this one extra thing. 00:22:43.980 --> 00:22:46.440 You just make a trip up there, get something for the bigger beams. 00:22:46.740 --> 00:22:49.019 And I don't care if the house is extravagant. 00:22:49.259 --> 00:22:51.079 I don't care if the house is rich. 00:22:51.099 --> 00:22:52.400 I don't care about that stuff. 00:22:52.500 --> 00:22:53.720 I want to be with you. 00:22:56.360 --> 00:22:58.319 I want to live with you. 00:22:59.380 --> 00:23:07.799 I want to be in your midst, in the midst of your mess, in the midst of your successes, in the midst of your trials and tribulations, your joys. 00:23:08.059 --> 00:23:09.480 I want to be with you. 00:23:10.380 --> 00:23:13.440 I want to be your God and have you as my people. 00:23:13.980 --> 00:23:19.039 I'm asking for a sign, an indicator that that's what you would like. 00:23:19.160 --> 00:23:25.420 But I, they're not saying to him, gosh, Lord, we're here worshiping, hoping you'll show up. 00:23:25.640 --> 00:23:27.299 No, it's not like that at all. 00:23:27.779 --> 00:23:33.019 He's there and he wants some sign that they want him to be there with them and for him to be their God. 00:23:33.019 --> 00:23:38.019 Now, the next thing is going to be very shocking to us. 00:23:38.019 --> 00:23:42.920 And it's for many of us, it's going to be a sign of why we go, oh, gosh, good grief. 00:23:43.039 --> 00:23:44.259 How stupid can this be? 00:23:45.379 --> 00:23:49.079 Because it's going to, well, that's going to be a response of many people. 00:23:49.299 --> 00:23:52.539 And you're going to maybe hope, okay, George, you know, he looks at the commentaries. 00:23:52.680 --> 00:23:53.519 He looks at the Hebrew. 00:23:53.960 --> 00:23:55.960 He's going to tell us that, no, no, no, no, no, no. 00:23:55.960 --> 00:23:57.359 The English here is very accurate. 00:23:57.460 --> 00:23:59.660 It actually is saying what it seems to say in English. 00:23:59.660 --> 00:24:02.620 And it's going to be a bit shocking and off-putting to a lot of us. 00:24:02.700 --> 00:24:03.660 But listen to what it says. 00:24:04.060 --> 00:24:05.660 Verse 9, still God speaking. 00:24:07.140 --> 00:24:10.259 You looked for much and behold, it came to little. 00:24:11.080 --> 00:24:14.840 And when you brought it home, I blew it away. 00:24:18.220 --> 00:24:22.820 In other words, what he's saying is, you know that purse that seems to be losing money? 00:24:23.060 --> 00:24:25.980 I made a couple of those holes in it. 00:24:27.519 --> 00:24:28.920 I made a couple of the holes. 00:24:29.660 --> 00:24:32.040 I blew it away. 00:24:32.160 --> 00:24:32.500 Why? 00:24:33.140 --> 00:24:34.300 We're still in verse 9. 00:24:34.400 --> 00:24:39.500 Declares the Lord of hosts, because of my house that lies in ruins, while each of you 00:24:39.500 --> 00:24:41.279 busies himself with his own house. 00:24:42.400 --> 00:24:48.060 Therefore, the heavens above you have withheld the dew, and the earth has withheld its produce. 00:24:48.980 --> 00:24:49.800 And listen to this. 00:24:50.000 --> 00:24:54.820 I have called for a drought on the land and the hills, on the grain, the new wine, the oil, 00:24:54.820 --> 00:24:58.500 on what the ground brings forth on man and beast and all their labors. 00:24:59.660 --> 00:25:00.779 I have done this. 00:25:03.200 --> 00:25:09.500 I have reduced from 12% to 10% on your TFSAs or 8 to 6. 00:25:09.500 --> 00:25:12.680 I have no idea what people are getting on their TFSAs nowadays. 00:25:12.680 --> 00:25:17.660 I can give you some biblical advice about money. 00:25:17.740 --> 00:25:20.820 Don't come to me for advice about stock markets or anything like that. 00:25:21.140 --> 00:25:22.860 But I was just talking to a financial guy. 00:25:23.700 --> 00:25:24.740 No, I was talking to him. 00:25:24.740 --> 00:25:29.700 I was on the board of directors of an organization, and we were talking about the budget. 00:25:29.840 --> 00:25:31.700 And I said, listen, I'm trying to figure out the book of Haggai. 00:25:31.799 --> 00:25:35.860 So I don't know if I'm giving you the right thing about this budget and all of that. 00:25:35.859 --> 00:25:40.500 But here we see this very, very specific thing, that God stops us. 00:25:40.599 --> 00:25:48.099 Now, many of us say, okay, gosh, George, this is unscientific. 00:25:48.359 --> 00:25:49.240 It's primitive. 00:25:50.619 --> 00:25:52.319 Like, come on, George, really? 00:25:53.439 --> 00:25:55.679 How can you even read something like this? 00:25:56.419 --> 00:25:58.659 Well, let's think about this for a second. 00:25:58.660 --> 00:26:03.660 The fact of the matter is, is that what you are longing for is what's being said right here. 00:26:03.779 --> 00:26:10.279 And in fact, the only way to actually conceptualize and get what you want is what the Bible here is telling us. 00:26:10.779 --> 00:26:12.019 Like, think about it for a second. 00:26:12.920 --> 00:26:14.820 Many, many people in Canada pray. 00:26:16.440 --> 00:26:17.940 Many atheists pray. 00:26:19.300 --> 00:26:23.720 And even people who don't pray, I've had atheists who've asked me to pray for them. 00:26:23.820 --> 00:26:24.700 I'm not making that up. 00:26:25.620 --> 00:26:27.480 And then, you know, people do spells. 00:26:27.480 --> 00:26:29.779 They work with crystals. 00:26:31.120 --> 00:26:40.240 They try to do meditation techniques and other types of exercises to try to get the universe to move in a way so that they get what they want. 00:26:40.380 --> 00:26:42.380 But how does that work? 00:26:43.240 --> 00:26:51.700 Doesn't that show that you have a fundamental desire, that there is some way that by your actions you can communicate with something greater than nature, 00:26:51.960 --> 00:26:55.960 that can actually change nature in a way that's going to help you? 00:26:55.960 --> 00:27:02.460 Like, isn't that what's at the work when you think that karma is a, and when it bites you in the butt, 00:27:02.640 --> 00:27:10.200 that you are thinking that there is in fact something beyond what you can touch and feel and touch and eat, 00:27:10.360 --> 00:27:18.100 and that there is some type of a transcendence or some type of a something in the universe that has some type of an impact on what is happening? 00:27:18.099 --> 00:27:19.939 And what about love? 00:27:19.939 --> 00:27:20.879 What about love? 00:27:21.179 --> 00:27:23.579 When we're in love, what about sex? 00:27:24.459 --> 00:27:29.339 Isn't there often a sense that what's happening is that you're touching something transcendent? 00:27:29.799 --> 00:27:40.639 That when you're in love, that you're touching something in something which is bigger than just stuff, than just bank balances, than just atoms and molecules. 00:27:40.640 --> 00:27:43.560 Don't you have that sense that there is something which is bigger? 00:27:43.960 --> 00:27:50.600 What about when you go out into nature and you look around and you just have something about the glory of it and the beauty of it? 00:27:50.940 --> 00:28:01.440 And don't you have sometimes in your lives when you sort of have a sense that this can't just be mere atoms in motion, 00:28:01.440 --> 00:28:05.000 that there is something transcendent? 00:28:05.880 --> 00:28:12.259 Don't you even talk sometimes to your friends as if there's something almost mystical, almost magical, 00:28:12.779 --> 00:28:18.480 something above nature when you see nature and experience it in different ways and you have different experiences? 00:28:19.340 --> 00:28:22.200 That in fact, that's what you think, that's what you long for, 00:28:22.259 --> 00:28:28.920 that's why you think that there's some way that you can have success or that there's something that you do that you avoid so you don't have karma bite you on the butt. 00:28:28.920 --> 00:28:30.880 But here's the problem with that. 00:28:31.440 --> 00:28:46.100 That people, when we feel that, science and philosophy, science just like hard thinking, just undermines that, cuts that out from underneath you. 00:28:47.600 --> 00:28:56.340 The fact of the matter is, is that science would tell you that you're just a bag of cells that poops and pees. 00:28:56.700 --> 00:28:57.539 That's all you are. 00:28:57.539 --> 00:29:04.379 That in fact, everything just came about as a result of scientific processes. 00:29:04.619 --> 00:29:12.279 In fact, those scientific types that are those, that guy at the party that everybody finds unbelievably irritating and they don't want to talk to 00:29:12.279 --> 00:29:19.660 because he just explains scientifically why crystals are anti-science and only an idiot would believe something like that. 00:29:19.740 --> 00:29:25.940 You know, if you ever come into a party and there's that guy, it's usually a guy, that guy. 00:29:25.940 --> 00:29:29.160 There was one other time, actually, it's very funny. 00:29:29.320 --> 00:29:38.100 There was, I've seen him in Bridgehead and there was this guy talking all mystical and all of that and it was his girlfriend who kept puncturing it all the time with science. 00:29:38.720 --> 00:29:41.100 And it was a very, very funny conversation. 00:29:41.279 --> 00:29:49.420 He would get all dreamy-eyed and everything like that and then she'd puncture it with how science and the real world works and he'd look a bit startled and he'd move on in a different direction. 00:29:49.420 --> 00:29:52.779 But you don't want to, you know, that's what that, there is that guy that goes against it. 00:29:53.160 --> 00:30:02.080 But here's, you see, where only the gospel, only the gospel makes, helps you to understand why it is that those senses that you have, 00:30:02.440 --> 00:30:08.180 that there is, there is a transcendence, that there is mystery, that there is something greater than nature, 00:30:08.600 --> 00:30:17.820 that there are ways that when you see something in nature, you're on a canoe trip or you have a campfire by the edge of a lake at the cottage 00:30:17.819 --> 00:30:25.519 and you have the good food and everything is still and you hear the loon and you just have this sense that there's something in nature that is greater than nature 00:30:25.519 --> 00:30:30.079 or that when you're in love and then you have this sense that there's something that when you're in love, 00:30:30.339 --> 00:30:36.319 it's not just, it's not just your neurons firing, that you've touched on something bigger. 00:30:36.439 --> 00:30:39.559 Only the gospel and the Bible makes that clear and comprehensible. 00:30:41.279 --> 00:30:45.779 Because you see, at the very, very heart, and at the same time, which preserves science, 00:30:45.779 --> 00:30:50.839 only the gospel, only the biblical narrative does this. 00:30:51.299 --> 00:30:56.960 You see, because what it is, is that the Bible reveals that everything that exists was designed by God. 00:30:57.960 --> 00:31:02.019 And because everything that exists was designed by God and sustained by God, 00:31:02.440 --> 00:31:04.819 it means that, well, there is order. 00:31:05.799 --> 00:31:07.660 You can see how his design worked. 00:31:08.420 --> 00:31:12.680 That, in fact, scientists can go into the tiniest little bits of stuff, 00:31:12.680 --> 00:31:17.640 and the biggest bits of stuff, and they can learn things about how the whole thing works, 00:31:17.700 --> 00:31:20.560 and from those things about how they work, they can develop new medicines, 00:31:20.759 --> 00:31:25.759 and they can develop new ways of reaching Mars or the moon or whatever, 00:31:26.019 --> 00:31:28.360 and because there is a design behind it. 00:31:28.380 --> 00:31:31.220 It's not just mere random stuff just happening. 00:31:31.320 --> 00:31:33.900 There's a design, and so we can look at the design. 00:31:34.000 --> 00:31:34.940 We can look at the world. 00:31:35.019 --> 00:31:36.240 We can see the design. 00:31:36.240 --> 00:31:39.099 But at the same time, it was designed by God. 00:31:39.200 --> 00:31:42.319 That means there is something really, both there is a God that does exist, 00:31:42.380 --> 00:31:44.220 that is transcendent over all things. 00:31:44.559 --> 00:31:45.960 That, in fact, when the psalmist says, 00:31:46.079 --> 00:31:49.480 the heavens declare the glory of God, and the firm proclaims his handiwork, 00:31:49.799 --> 00:31:50.839 that we can see that. 00:31:50.920 --> 00:31:53.180 This is expressing something that we feel. 00:31:54.120 --> 00:31:58.460 But at the same time, the Bible reveals that because God has designed everything, 00:31:58.599 --> 00:32:00.240 the triune God has designed everything, 00:32:00.359 --> 00:32:02.099 the triune God sustains everything, 00:32:02.099 --> 00:32:06.819 it means that not only can you look for science to explain things, 00:32:07.439 --> 00:32:12.879 but that we don't live in a closed universe but an open universe. 00:32:13.799 --> 00:32:14.919 Why is that significant? 00:32:15.119 --> 00:32:16.740 You see, here's how all science works. 00:32:17.480 --> 00:32:19.000 Science always works. 00:32:19.500 --> 00:32:24.079 The scientific method and scientific laws always assume something being closed. 00:32:25.279 --> 00:32:30.599 So they say you develop an experiment where you try to control as much as possible. 00:32:30.599 --> 00:32:34.059 We won't get into the Heisenberg principle of indeterminacy and all that stuff, okay? 00:32:34.119 --> 00:32:38.139 But you try to keep as much as you can outside of it to create a closed system and say, 00:32:38.259 --> 00:32:42.279 well, if you do A and B and C, then what's going to happen in a closed system? 00:32:42.339 --> 00:32:44.799 But it's all different if, in fact, the system is open. 00:32:45.740 --> 00:32:46.919 And that's what the Bible teaches. 00:32:47.059 --> 00:32:48.139 The system is still open. 00:32:48.259 --> 00:32:49.819 God still intervenes in things. 00:32:50.439 --> 00:32:56.199 It would be as if, you know, my son was to move to another city, 00:32:56.200 --> 00:32:59.720 and he opens up a bank account and he opens up a line of credit. 00:32:59.940 --> 00:33:02.420 And he has, you know, he has virtually, he has a terrible credit ready 00:33:02.420 --> 00:33:04.720 just because he hasn't worked for very long or anything like that. 00:33:04.940 --> 00:33:08.000 And so my wife and I, we co-sign that. 00:33:08.080 --> 00:33:10.279 And so we're also signatories on the bank. 00:33:10.420 --> 00:33:15.420 And on one level, the law of mathematics will all tell you infallibly how money is being spent 00:33:15.420 --> 00:33:16.620 by my son. 00:33:16.720 --> 00:33:18.740 And, you know, he spends this much and so there's this much. 00:33:18.740 --> 00:33:19.859 But it doesn't say anything. 00:33:20.000 --> 00:33:26.160 In that system, my wife and I can, after thinking about it or after talking to my son 00:33:26.160 --> 00:33:28.079 and hearing about his need, we can put in $500. 00:33:29.500 --> 00:33:31.500 Because his bank account isn't a closed system. 00:33:31.579 --> 00:33:32.579 It's an open system. 00:33:34.200 --> 00:33:38.160 And me putting in $500 doesn't destroy the laws of mathematics. 00:33:39.420 --> 00:33:42.359 And that's what the Bible says about the entire world. 00:33:42.460 --> 00:33:43.720 There is a God who does exist. 00:33:43.819 --> 00:33:45.140 The triune God does exist. 00:33:45.140 --> 00:33:50.840 And the triune God who does exist can write a letter and use a human being to bring it 00:33:50.840 --> 00:33:54.320 into his creation, into his creatures, to tell them things. 00:33:54.900 --> 00:33:56.880 That I want to be with you. 00:33:57.000 --> 00:33:58.400 I love you. 00:33:58.800 --> 00:34:01.720 I want to be with you as your God. 00:34:02.500 --> 00:34:07.700 And for us as Christians, Jesus says, I want to be with you as your Savior. 00:34:08.140 --> 00:34:10.180 I want to be with you as your Lord. 00:34:11.619 --> 00:34:13.780 I want to walk with you through your day. 00:34:13.780 --> 00:34:16.280 I want to be with you on Sundays in church. 00:34:16.380 --> 00:34:18.420 I want to be with you in your small groups. 00:34:19.240 --> 00:34:23.380 I want to be with you as you try to figure out the important things in your life and the 00:34:23.380 --> 00:34:26.620 unimportant things of your life, the major decisions and the micro decisions. 00:34:26.800 --> 00:34:27.920 I want to be with you. 00:34:30.440 --> 00:34:32.880 You see, how can we know that such a universe exists? 00:34:33.040 --> 00:34:35.220 Well, I mean, Jesus is the preeminent example. 00:34:35.320 --> 00:34:36.320 And that's where we would begin. 00:34:36.440 --> 00:34:39.580 How Jewish people or Jewish friends would, that's a bit of a different issue. 00:34:39.579 --> 00:34:44.039 But for us, the whole thing is that Jesus is the great miracle. 00:34:45.039 --> 00:34:51.159 He is the great miracle whereby God intervenes in a sense in the created order and by an act 00:34:51.159 --> 00:34:55.199 of creation creates a zygote in the womb of the Virgin Mary. 00:34:55.719 --> 00:35:01.179 And Jesus walks amongst us perfectly modeling that he desires to be with us in our mess. 00:35:01.639 --> 00:35:03.639 That he comes to a captive people. 00:35:03.779 --> 00:35:06.920 Only this time they're under Roman authority, not Persian authority. 00:35:06.920 --> 00:35:11.980 And he comes to his people and he suffers all the things that we do only without falling 00:35:11.980 --> 00:35:12.599 into sin. 00:35:12.700 --> 00:35:14.960 He suffers our trials, our temptations. 00:35:15.500 --> 00:35:21.280 He denies himself or is denied things just as we are denied particular types of things. 00:35:21.680 --> 00:35:26.079 And that he dies upon the cross and he dies upon the cross in our place, in our stead, 00:35:26.180 --> 00:35:27.280 because he is with us. 00:35:27.340 --> 00:35:28.139 He has been among us. 00:35:28.460 --> 00:35:30.280 And he takes all there is to taste of death. 00:35:30.559 --> 00:35:32.480 And on the third day, he rises from the dead. 00:35:32.539 --> 00:35:33.440 The body is gone. 00:35:33.519 --> 00:35:34.360 The grave is empty. 00:35:34.420 --> 00:35:35.440 He has risen from the dead. 00:35:35.440 --> 00:35:36.559 He has defeated death. 00:35:37.720 --> 00:35:40.800 And that is all in a piece of the things that he did throughout his life. 00:35:40.900 --> 00:35:42.480 The way he could turn water into wine. 00:35:42.599 --> 00:35:45.360 The way he could heal a man who was born blind. 00:35:45.480 --> 00:35:47.920 The way he could heal people with physical deformities. 00:35:48.039 --> 00:35:52.619 He could heal not only the leprosy so that the leprosy is gone, but that limbs are rebuilt 00:35:52.619 --> 00:35:53.380 or restored. 00:35:53.760 --> 00:35:58.980 That time after time after time, Jesus is modeling that we do not live in a closed universe. 00:35:59.180 --> 00:36:00.559 We live in an open universe. 00:36:00.740 --> 00:36:02.300 That there is a God who does exist. 00:36:02.579 --> 00:36:03.659 That he does speak. 00:36:03.659 --> 00:36:07.579 And he speaks because he desires to dwell with you. 00:36:07.579 --> 00:36:10.460 And he can only dwell with you if he is first. 00:36:13.960 --> 00:36:18.460 Because to think that the Lord is dwelling with you when he's 15th means you don't really believe he's the Lord. 00:36:18.460 --> 00:36:29.179 Christians, if you think that the most important thing for you, those of you who have young children, 00:36:29.639 --> 00:36:34.699 is that, well, first I'm going to get my kid in three different sports, two different music lessons, 00:36:34.840 --> 00:36:38.480 one thing for math improvement, one for science improvement, and something else. 00:36:38.519 --> 00:36:42.139 And whatever time is left, we'll put him in Sunday school or we'll put him in the youth group. 00:36:42.139 --> 00:36:48.159 Jesus isn't first. 00:36:50.500 --> 00:36:55.779 See, the fact of the matter is, is that it's never the right time in the eyes of the world to put Jesus first. 00:36:57.460 --> 00:36:59.799 See, it's like a lot of other things. 00:36:59.879 --> 00:37:02.059 It's never the right time to forgive. 00:37:02.059 --> 00:37:05.779 People say, well, you know, you have to, you know, it's too raw. 00:37:05.940 --> 00:37:07.059 It's too, it's too hurtful. 00:37:08.039 --> 00:37:11.860 You know, you need to do this to try to tampen it down and get some type of control over it. 00:37:11.980 --> 00:37:14.159 And before you know it, there's always some other type of thing. 00:37:14.219 --> 00:37:17.199 But the fact of the matter is, is like, and this is all part of following Jesus. 00:37:17.320 --> 00:37:18.719 The fact is you begin with forgiveness. 00:37:18.920 --> 00:37:20.900 You begin with being obedient to trying to forgive. 00:37:20.900 --> 00:37:30.740 You begin by saying, Lord, I am in such, I am in such mind-breaking, heart-breaking pain and sorrow. 00:37:32.940 --> 00:37:35.440 I can hardly say a word to you. 00:37:36.720 --> 00:37:38.800 Your word says I need to forgive. 00:37:39.380 --> 00:37:43.500 And I don't even know what that looks like, but I'm crying out to you that you would help me to forgive. 00:37:44.539 --> 00:37:47.700 Begins with that, because it begins with God being present with you. 00:37:47.800 --> 00:37:48.900 Jesus has died for you. 00:37:48.980 --> 00:37:49.680 It begins with that. 00:37:49.679 --> 00:37:51.440 Same with generosity. 00:37:51.819 --> 00:37:53.139 It's not as if you have all the money. 00:37:53.339 --> 00:37:55.339 No, no, it begins with, you never have enough time. 00:37:55.379 --> 00:37:56.739 You never have enough money to be generous. 00:37:57.119 --> 00:37:59.179 You never have enough time to read the Bible. 00:37:59.839 --> 00:38:00.739 You never do. 00:38:01.259 --> 00:38:02.919 So you've got to put him first. 00:38:03.679 --> 00:38:06.980 But you only put him first because he put you first first. 00:38:09.719 --> 00:38:13.039 That he died for you when you weren't even seeking him. 00:38:13.399 --> 00:38:16.519 That long before you ever loved him, he loved you. 00:38:16.879 --> 00:38:19.599 Long before you even might have known that he existed. 00:38:20.139 --> 00:38:22.079 He knew you existed and he loved you. 00:38:22.299 --> 00:38:28.980 And if you feel any tug in your heart right now, it's because from all eternity the Lord has desired that you would be his child. 00:38:29.099 --> 00:38:32.379 That you would put your faith and trust in Jesus as your Savior and your Lord. 00:38:32.380 --> 00:38:55.340 You see, if there's in fact a God that does exist who can speak, if there is in fact a God who exists who has created all things, if there is in fact a God who exists that in fact has created a universe that's open to him doing things, then the fact of the matter is he can work through circumstances, which is what you believe in prayer. 00:38:55.340 --> 00:38:59.680 And he is the standard of right and wrong. 00:38:59.679 --> 00:39:04.919 He communicates that and makes it clearer to us than we could ever know by ourselves. 00:39:05.579 --> 00:39:15.000 But he confronts, he speaks, it's all out of love because he desires to be with you, with me, with us. 00:39:15.000 --> 00:39:20.940 Let's just finish the text just to bring it to the end. 00:39:20.980 --> 00:39:21.539 Verse 12. 00:39:21.539 --> 00:39:39.440 I'll talk about the fear of the Lord a little bit later. 00:39:39.440 --> 00:39:43.420 But it's all the language. 00:39:43.599 --> 00:39:49.400 You see, the sign of their putting him first and their desire to have him with them is their obedience. 00:39:50.820 --> 00:39:57.980 It isn't that their obedience will make him present, but that because he's present, the right way to respond to him is obedience. 00:39:58.619 --> 00:40:00.220 It's a very important significance. 00:40:00.420 --> 00:40:04.519 I mean, he first declares he wants to be with them after they've ignored him for 12 years. 00:40:04.860 --> 00:40:05.700 That's grace. 00:40:05.699 --> 00:40:13.639 Jesus wants to be with you even if you've ignored him this morning, this week, this month, this year, this decade, your whole life. 00:40:14.259 --> 00:40:16.659 And he makes that offer to you first. 00:40:18.679 --> 00:40:28.119 And to respond to him and begin to desire to have him as Lord and Savior, that one of the things that that same desire is a desire to obey. 00:40:28.219 --> 00:40:31.939 It's the same thing in any type of a, like in a love relationship. 00:40:32.119 --> 00:40:34.019 There's obedience that goes along with love. 00:40:34.019 --> 00:40:39.840 If you can't have love, if there's love but no obedience in the couple in terms of their desires, you don't have love. 00:40:40.480 --> 00:40:40.599 Right? 00:40:40.639 --> 00:40:41.659 Isn't that what you tell your friends? 00:40:42.219 --> 00:40:42.320 What? 00:40:42.400 --> 00:40:48.239 He didn't want to, you asked him to do that and he said, no, I was going to go fishing with his buddies and drink a lot of beer. 00:40:48.559 --> 00:40:49.360 He doesn't love you. 00:40:50.019 --> 00:40:50.360 Right? 00:40:50.420 --> 00:40:51.079 Isn't that what we say? 00:40:51.639 --> 00:40:53.340 That's the way you understand this. 00:40:53.340 --> 00:41:00.000 Not that he's Stalin ordering you around. 00:41:02.500 --> 00:41:06.800 But this is love himself, desiring love. 00:41:07.180 --> 00:41:08.720 And you can't have love without obedience. 00:41:08.719 --> 00:41:13.199 Verse 13. 00:41:13.679 --> 00:41:17.079 Then Haggai, the messenger of the Lord, spoke to the people with the Lord's message. 00:41:17.500 --> 00:41:19.959 I am with you, declares the Lord. 00:41:19.960 --> 00:41:32.960 And the Lord stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel, the son of Sheilatel, the governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua, the son of Jehoshadak, the high priest, and the spirit of all the remnant of the people. 00:41:33.740 --> 00:41:37.519 See, it isn't even, because he's with you, he doesn't leave you all by yourself to figure things out. 00:41:37.559 --> 00:41:38.360 He's with you. 00:41:38.860 --> 00:41:41.579 And as he's with you, he moves in your life. 00:41:41.579 --> 00:41:53.519 I've run out of time, but as long as you live for number one, meaning yourself, you will never, ever, ever have meaning in your life or purpose. 00:41:54.039 --> 00:42:00.360 You only have purpose and meaning in your life when you understand that the center of your life is outside of yourself. 00:42:04.779 --> 00:42:05.420 Continuing on. 00:42:05.539 --> 00:42:07.960 And they came and worked on the house of the Lord of their God, their hosts. 00:42:08.119 --> 00:42:09.059 And then it gives you the date. 00:42:09.059 --> 00:42:12.639 It's actually the 21st day of September, 520 BC. 00:42:13.679 --> 00:42:18.900 On the 24th day of the month, on the 6th month, in the year of second, second year of Darius the King. 00:42:19.420 --> 00:42:21.820 Friends, consider Jesus. 00:42:23.219 --> 00:42:26.299 He only wants to be with you as your Savior and as your Lord. 00:42:27.659 --> 00:42:31.179 And he saves you because he put you first. 00:42:31.759 --> 00:42:33.960 And now he will always put you first. 00:42:34.139 --> 00:42:35.980 He asks that you will put him first. 00:42:35.980 --> 00:42:41.079 Trusting that as you put him first, it isn't that he will remove all the things in your life. 00:42:41.139 --> 00:42:43.639 Of course he knows that your kids need to have some friends. 00:42:44.079 --> 00:42:48.099 Of course he knows that you need to have a house to live in or have friends yourselves. 00:42:48.179 --> 00:42:48.860 Of course that. 00:42:48.920 --> 00:42:52.960 But it's not a matter that he becomes first and abolishes all of that. 00:42:53.219 --> 00:42:59.559 But that when he becomes first in your life and in the life of our church, he puts all those other things in their proper place. 00:42:59.559 --> 00:43:05.380 And we begin to enter into a life of true meaning and significance for the glory of the Lord. 00:43:05.440 --> 00:43:05.840 Let's pray. 00:43:06.219 --> 00:43:08.299 Father, thank you so much for this, your word. 00:43:08.739 --> 00:43:11.500 We thank you, Father, for the flavor and the character of it. 00:43:11.559 --> 00:43:18.500 The odd names, Father, that these aren't things that should push us away, but that we can revel in and delight in. 00:43:18.500 --> 00:43:23.300 And the Jewishness of it, the Persian-ness of it, the ancient-ness of it. 00:43:23.360 --> 00:43:26.360 And at the same time, Father, we realize it speaks directly to our hearts. 00:43:26.980 --> 00:43:32.820 Father, we ask that you help us, those of us who are Christians, who have put Jesus, made Jesus their Savior and Lord. 00:43:32.920 --> 00:43:37.059 Father, help us to once again desire to have Jesus be first in our lives. 00:43:37.539 --> 00:43:38.360 First in our money. 00:43:38.599 --> 00:43:39.480 First in our family. 00:43:39.699 --> 00:43:40.659 First in our relationships. 00:43:40.980 --> 00:43:41.940 First in our career. 00:43:41.940 --> 00:43:43.900 First in our fears. 00:43:44.179 --> 00:43:45.200 In our loves. 00:43:45.440 --> 00:43:46.659 In our desires. 00:43:46.820 --> 00:43:47.380 Our plans. 00:43:47.960 --> 00:43:54.340 And, Father, if there's any here who are watching, who have, they start to feel the Holy Spirit tugging on their heart. 00:43:54.440 --> 00:43:59.980 We ask, Father, that your Holy Spirit would just move in their mind and heart with great power and deep conviction. 00:44:00.200 --> 00:44:01.920 And bring Jesus to them. 00:44:01.980 --> 00:44:05.780 And help them, Father, to call out to you that Jesus might be their Savior and their Lord. 00:44:05.980 --> 00:44:09.220 And all these things we ask in the name of Jesus, your Son and our Savior. 00:44:09.860 --> 00:44:10.220 Amen.