Well, Mort said he was praying for efficiency of words for me this morning. Rather, what I decided to do was chain the doors locked. No, I’m just kidding, of course.
We are so grateful for our times that we can freely meet around the Lord Jesus Christ and enjoy His presence at His table—enjoy our Lord Jesus Christ. I do not know how we live without it. Anyway, let’s begin with a word of prayer.
Lord, we are so grateful to Thee that we have been captured by Thee, Lord; that we have been taken in hand by Thee, Lord Jesus. Lord Jesus, You are in control. You are the One who said You love us with an everlasting love, and will never let us go, and will be with us to the end.
Lord, in those interim periods between the beginning and the end, there have been a lot of side trails, rabbit trails, problems, issues, pulling back, and pressing on. Lord Jesus, through it all, I want to say You have been faithful.
Lord, without Your faithfulness, we would be a lost people. So this morning, we are depending on Your faithfulness as we come to look into Your Word—that, Lord, You would make it a living Word, because You are living. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Well, saints, we have been recently talking very much about this matter of the testimony—passing the torch of testimony. My last messages have concerned the testimony of Jesus and have come out of my own desire just to share, personally, what I would want to pass on to any of my brothers and sisters, regardless of age.
A good bit of what I share is born out of my own personal experience in the Lord. Previously, I shared on seeing the greatness of Christ in your life.
You know, when we accept the Lord Jesus Christ, we see Him as our Savior, as our sin-bearer, the One who loves us and takes care of us. He is our high tower, to whom we run. He is our help in trouble. He is our Counselor. He is the Son of God expressed in the flesh to mankind.
Jesus Christ is Head of the Body. We see that. He is the coming Bridegroom, King of kings, and Lord of lords.
But having said all that, I thank the Lord for His continuing revelation of Himself to us personally. It has to be born in personal experience. It does little good to say, “King of kings and Lord of lords,” if He is truly not King of kings and Lord of lords.
But a day comes in our lives before the Lord—which I think is so critical—and that is the revelation where we see the immensity of Christ. I do not want anyone to miss that: the immensity of Christ.
I did share that in those very early days, even before the assembly began, the Lord had brought Kenny and me together. I was in the fundamental Baptist church. We were doctrinally oriented and evangelically oriented. In other words, we concentrated on knowing the doctrines, being able to defend the doctrines, and giving generously to evangelical work.
Then I met Kenny. Kenny was a brand-new believer in the Lord at that time. As soon as I met Kenny—that first time, or actually the second time, after he had come to the Lord—the life was there.
That is what I saw in my brother: the life of the Lord Jesus Christ. At that point, Kenny knew very little about the doctrines, but he knew the Lord. He knew the life, and he was experiencing the life of the Lord personally.
The Lord drew us together, and we would get together every day at lunch and just share Christ with one another. It was such a marvelous, living time of fellowship. For the first time, my fellowship became living fellowship as we fellowshipped together in the Lord. It was just living, real, fresh, and alive. I remember those days.
I knew the doctrines, but now I was experiencing life. You know, doctrine is just a way of describing the life. That is what doctrine is. But the Lord was really showing me.
I had read The Normal Christian Life, and that was the thing that impressed me in that book: the normal Christian life was life. I could see it in Brother Nee as he shared in that book what the normal Christian life was. I shared that book with my brother Kenny.
I do not know exactly how long it was after that, but I remember one day Kenny came to me. He said, “Jerry, it’s Christ, isn’t it? It’s just Christ. There is nothing but Christ. The Christian life is Christ. There is no other life. It’s Christ.”
You see, the Lord opened my brother’s eyes to the greatness and immensity of Christ—to the importance of Christ. That moment affected me deeply. I do not know if Kenny ever realized it.
I said, “Lord, I have been missing something—something that I needed to see: Your greatness. You are the center of everything.” I am thankful that the Lord used my brother Kenny in that way. He opened my eyes to see the immensity of this Christ whom we have in our life.
I think it is so important to see Christ, similar to what Paul did on the Damascus road. When he saw Christ, it altered his life forever. It altered Kenny’s and my life forever.
As we began to share, we knew God had a purpose for our lives. We knew there was something to which He was calling us. We knew, brothers and sisters, that we were born with a purpose, and that was to be a testimony to the greatness of our Lord Jesus Christ.
One day, I think it really came through Marianne Myers, frankly, I got word that this Chinese brother was coming into town. I mentioned it to Kenny, and you have heard the story before. I said, “I wonder if this fellow knew Watchman Nee?” Of course, I had no idea that, among so many Chinese people, they would ever have known each other. But he did.
That night, we went and heard our brother Stephen share from Acts 1—the church being born, birthed: a living organism, not an organization. Oh, once again, brothers and sisters, we saw something. I know Kenny did too.
We saw something of what God was after: this living Body, to be a full testimony to Jesus Christ Himself—the immense Christ. It was all about Him, and it was through His Body that He was going to show His great immensity.
As we continued in fellowship, the Lord showed us that He was after a house where He could dwell in the midst of His people. It was impossible for one individual to be even something of a full testimony to our Lord Jesus Christ.
Christ is in all of us. His life is in all of us. Brothers and sisters, how can any one person ever express all the fullness of Christ? It is impossible. But God wanted a house where He could dwell in the midst of His people and be expressed as a testimony to the world. We call that house the church.
How the Lord has always desired to dwell in the midst of His people. The last time I shared with you, I shared some Scriptures to show how much it means to the Lord to be able to dwell not only in you and me individually, but to dwell in our midst—to dwell in the midst of a people.
In Exodus 25:2, the Lord says:
Speak unto the children of Israel, that they may bring unto Me an offering:
of every man that giveth it willingly with his heart ye shall take My offering.
And then He says:
And let them make Me a sanctuary; that I may dwell among them.
That was His heart—in the tabernacle and in the building of the temple. In fact, when the tent was constructed, it was called the tent of testimony, and the glory of the Lord filled that tent.
Later, David, who was a man after God’s heart, had one thing on his heart. In Psalm 132:4-5, David said:
I will not give sleep to mine eyes,
Or slumber to mine eyelids,
Until I find out a place for the Lord,
A habitation for the Mighty One of Jacob.
Then, in Psalm 132:14, the Lord responds:
This is My rest for ever:
Here will I dwell; for I have desired it.
How the Lord desires to dwell in the midst of a people. It is important to Him, and it is the way in which He is going to express Himself in fullness.
When the Lord Jesus came to the earth, He was the temple of God. All the fullness of the Godhead dwelt in our Lord Jesus Christ. Yet our Lord Jesus said, “I have a baptism to be baptized with; and how am I straitened till it be accomplished!”
In other words, He was limited. That physical body so limited Him in space and time. He was constrained, and He felt it. He desired to be released and to have a Body that was not restrained and limited.
Brothers and sisters, our Lord Jesus died on Calvary for the church. Scripture says He gave His life for her. From His blood and His broken body, the church was born—birthed.
You know, while the Lord was on earth, as I said, He was the temple. But the Lord gave revelation to His disciples, and He mentioned the church only twice.
The reason for that is because Calvary needed to occur before there could be a full revelation and understanding of what the church is.
In Matthew 16, when the Lord questioned the disciples, “Who am I?” Peter responded:
Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.
The Lord Jesus said, in effect, “Yes, that is right. But you need to know something else.” Then He said:
Upon this rock I will build My church;
and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.
Again, in Matthew 18, He speaks about the church and says:
Where two or three are gathered together in My name,
there am I in the midst of them.
You see, the disciples were tied to that physical temple, but the Lord had in mind that spiritual temple of His Body, the church. Where two or three are gathered in His name, there He is in the midst.
Now, brothers and sisters, I wonder how much we think about that on Sunday morning when we come to this table. The Lord’s presence is here. You may come and never feel it, but He is here. He is here.
I always like to say, “Lord, I want to come in faith this morning. I want to touch Your presence. I want to know You at this table.” May the Lord be gracious. He has made His promise, and I believe He keeps it: where two or three are gathered in His name, He is in the midst.
It is His desire to be here in our midst among His own.
Then we know our Lord went to Calvary and made provision for the church. At Pentecost, the glory of the Lord filled the church. The church was actually birthed at Pentecost, and the glory of the Lord filled it by the anointing that came upon our Lord Jesus when He ascended back to the throne.
That anointing which came upon the Lord is spoken of in the Psalms: on the priest’s head, the anointing oil went all the way down to the skirts of the garment. In other words, it reached the church. It was anointed, and the glory of the Lord filled the church.
Our Lord spoke to Peter about the church: it would be His church, and the gates would not prevail against it. Peter saw it. Our brother read the verse this morning, 1 Peter 2:5:
Ye also, as living stones, are built up a spiritual house,
a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices.
You are living stones. Verse 4 says that He is the living Stone, and verse 5 says that you also are living stones. He is the great, massive Stone out of which all the living stones come forth. That is what we are, and how He desires to dwell.
The Lord desires a spiritual house—living stones built together. He says, “I will dwell in the midst.” Two or three gathered in His name.
At the end of the millennium, we see the New Jerusalem coming down. It is the church in fullness and completeness. In Revelation 21:3, it declares:
Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men,
and He shall dwell with them.
He will dwell with them in their midst. There was the tabernacle, then the temple, and now the church, where He dwells in the midst of His people.
Brothers and sisters, what I guess I am saying is that in those very early years, the Lord, in His great mercy and grace, gave us a vision of the immensity of Christ and of the house He desired to build and dwell in among His people for a testimony to this world.
It was not a physical building, but living stones built together. That is what we saw. We are to be living stones built together—not just attending, but being built together.
All living stones should be very vital; all living stones should function. The house was to be one where our Lord Jesus was received and loved. It would be a house, a home, for our Lord, where He was recognized, where He could be satisfied, where He could rest, where He could be loved and receive worship—a dwelling place for the Lord.
You know, when the Lord was on earth, He said:
Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests;
but the Son of man hath not where to lay His head.
He came unto His own, but His own received Him not. Yet there was one place where you find our Lord returning, particularly in those last days just prior to Calvary. You find Him at Bethany, the house of Martha and Lazarus.
Bethany was where He was loved, cherished, and taken care of; where He would stop to reflect and consider what lay ahead of Him. He went to Bethany.
We wanted the house of God here to be a Bethany for our Lord Jesus. That is still our desire. It has been our heart throughout the years.
Kenny has shared well on this matter of the open sharing time that we want. The very purpose of that time is that the living stones might come forth and show forth the greatness and excellency of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Testimonies from brothers and sisters greatly enhance, encourage, and strengthen us. I remember a couple of months ago, a young sister stood up and was sharing about her walk with the Lord.
She said that the Lord met her concerning something in her life and said, “If you are going to continue to carry that baggage, we are not going to be able to walk on together.” And she dropped the baggage.
You know, that touched me. It touched me deeply, and it has helped me very much. There have been other testimonies as well through the years.
That is what we want to do, brothers and sisters: that the life of Christ might be manifested; that we all would be responsible for bringing life to the assembly and for caring for one another.
The prayer time is important as well. We meet every Tuesday night. The four of us share together and pray together about what is on the Lord’s heart—the burden from the Lord—and we present that on Wednesday nights.
We really believe that it would help us all, because it is hard to pray without burden, isn’t it? We already have a little heads-up on what that burden is before we come.
We would like for others to take up the responsibility of seeking the Lord concerning what His burden is for prayer. It is critical to be able to pray with burden. May the Lord encourage us through these times that we are talking about.
Now, is this matter of the Lord dwelling in the midst of His people that important? Does it really matter? Does it matter to the Lord? Does it matter to you and me?
The Scriptures I previously shared with you support that He does have this great desire. It is very important for Him to dwell in the midst of His people.
In Revelation 21:24, it says of the heavenly Jerusalem that, in that day, it will be the light of the nations. The church, the heavenly Jerusalem, will be a light unto the nations.
It will be a place where the nations come for their resources, for life. In that city is the tree of life, and its leaves are for the healing of the nations.
We may not understand all that is going to be going on in eternity, but one thing I do know, brothers and sisters: this heavenly Jerusalem, of which we are to be a part—a living part—is key to the Lord’s testimony throughout eternity. It will be the strength and life of the nations that will be living in the new heaven and new earth.
As I was considering this—considering where we are and the Lord at this point in our lives together—I was drawn to Haggai 1:9. I think it shows the importance of a place for the Lord to dwell in the midst of His people.
The Lord is speaking to the remnant who had returned to build the house of God, and He says:
Ye looked for much, and, lo, it came to little;
and when ye brought it home, I did blow upon it.
Why? saith the Lord of hosts.
Because of Mine house that is waste,
and ye run every man unto his own house.
The remnant who had returned to build the house, brothers and sisters, had gone into a period of passivity. They began to concentrate on their own needs and on building their own houses, while the Lord’s house was not being strengthened. The Lord’s house was lying waste.
The Lord spoke these words. He said, “You are in this condition. It is not favorable. The reason you are in this condition is that you are under discipline. My discipline is to draw you back to Myself—to draw you back to what your purpose is.”
He says, “Where is My house? Build My house.”
Because of the nation of Israel’s unfaithfulness, they had been taken into captivity in Babylon. You all remember that. They were in captivity for seventy years, as had been prophesied by Jeremiah.
King Cyrus, the Persian king—Persia being Iran today—was probably shown by Daniel, who was in his court, the prophecy in Isaiah 44:28. God had declared two hundred and fifty years beforehand that Cyrus would accomplish His purpose and command that Jerusalem and the temple be built.
That so affected King Cyrus that he humbled himself before God and said, “I want your people to go back and build God’s house.” He gave them the resources to do that. He said that all who were willing could go.
In Ezra, it says that those whose spirits God stirred up went back. I have shared this before: fifty thousand returned.
But there were over a million people there in captivity. I worked it out one time—I do not remember my figures exactly—but around four or five percent of the people actually had enough concern for the Lord’s heart that they were willing to leave Babylon.
That was not easy, because in captivity they had been allowed to build houses and have businesses. They had even developed synagogues, where they could have religious services.
But the synagogue was not God’s heart. The temple was God’s heart. That was where He had determined to dwell in the midst of His people. Many had become satisfied and passive concerning the Lord’s house.
The Lord gave them the grant to go back through Cyrus the king. It is interesting: Zerubbabel led them out to go back. Do you know who Zerubbabel was?
He was a young man. He was the grandson of Jehoiachin, the king who had been taken into captivity. His name means “born in Babylon.” He was born in Babylon. He had never seen the old temple.
He grew up there in Babylon. But somehow, and I think probably through Daniel, his heart was stirred for the house of God—a place where the Lord could dwell in the midst of His people.
This younger man actually led the charge to go back. Praise the Lord. I hope the Lord will raise up many like Zerubbabel, and I hope us older ones will go too as we return.
The older ones returned as well, because you remember when they laid the foundation, the older ones were lamenting and crying because they could see how small it was compared to the old temple. They were discouraged.
But the younger ones were rejoicing because, hey, we were moving on. We were building the house of God.
The Lord had to speak to them. He said:
The glory of this latter house shall be greater than of the former.
So the Lord encouraged them in that way.
They began well. Within two years, they had set up the altar to worship God. But they had to put up their tents, plant their crops, and take care of the cattle they had carried with them.
They began to build the foundation, and it was completed in two years. But more and more, they received threats from the local people—the Syrians at that time. They were threatening them and even got the king, at one point, to say, “You have to stop this.”
The house of God lay waste for sixteen years.
Then the Lord raised up the prophets Haggai and Zechariah to speak to them: “My house lies waste. You need to rise up and build.”
They had run into spiritual passivity. Now remember, these were not the ones who were still in Babylon and never left. These were the ones who had left with a purpose to build the house of God, where He could dwell in the midst. That was their heart.
Yet even they began to concentrate on their own needs, taking care of their own houses, and eventually the work stopped for sixteen years.
Let us read Haggai 1. I have just got to read it. I am sorry; I am trying to remember Mort’s prayer about expediency.
In Haggai 1:1-15, the word of the Lord came through Haggai the prophet to Zerubbabel, the governor of Judah, and to Joshua the high priest. The Lord said that the people were saying, “The time is not come, the time that the Lord’s house should be built.”
Then the word of the Lord came through Haggai:
Is it time for you, O ye, to dwell in your ceiled houses,
and this house lie waste?
Ceiled houses—paneled houses, fancy houses. And this house lies waste.
Then the Lord says:
Consider your ways.
That is a key word in Haggai’s message. He uses that expression five times: “Consider your ways.”
The Lord continues:
Ye have sown much, and bring in little;
ye eat, but ye have not enough;
ye drink, but ye are not filled with drink;
ye clothe you, but there is none warm;
and he that earneth wages earneth wages to put it into a bag with holes.
Then He says again:
Consider your ways.
Go up to the mountain, and bring wood, and build the house;
and I will take pleasure in it,
and I will be glorified, saith the Lord.
The Lord says that they looked for much, but it came to little; and when they brought it home, He blew upon it. Why? Because His house lay waste while every man ran to his own house. Therefore, the heavens were stayed from dew and the earth from its fruit, and the Lord called for drought upon the land, the mountains, the grain, the new wine, the oil, the produce of the ground, men, cattle, and the labor of their hands.
Then Zerubbabel, Joshua, and all the remnant of the people obeyed the voice of the Lord their God and the words of Haggai the prophet. The people feared before the Lord.
Then Haggai spoke the Lord’s message to the people:
I am with you, saith the Lord.
The Lord stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel, the spirit of Joshua, and the spirit of all the remnant. They came and worked in the house of the Lord of hosts, their God—twenty-four days later.
I think this was a reminder to me, brothers and sisters. The Lord brought me to that Scripture, and I hope it is a reminder to all of us.
In the beginning, the Lord did a mighty work. He brought us together as one people. He brought us out of many backgrounds, many religious backgrounds—out of our synagogue, so to speak. He brought us together, and we had a purpose.
That purpose was for the Lord to have a house where He could dwell in our midst.
We wanted to return, as the Word of God says, to the simplicity and purity of Christ. In other words, Christ is everything. He is the Head. He is the life. He is the expression.
And the purity of Christ means that our lives have to come in line with Christ’s life. We wanted simply to return to Him. Our heart was for Him to have that place which He so much wanted.
Brothers and sisters, I think in recent months, as we have been talking about the testimony and passing it on, I think it is time.
Haggai mentioned that the people were saying it was not time. The Lord was saying, “It is time.” I think the Lord is stirring our hearts.
You know, if the Lord does not stir, nothing gets done. The fifty thousand would never have returned if their hearts had not been stirred. Once again, the Lord stirred their hearts sixteen years later.
Brothers and sisters, the Lord was so blessing in those early days. But in the year 2000, we had a great breaking up in our midst—a lot of hurt, a lot of confusion, and a lot of difficulty. We drew back.
When you draw back, you do start thinking more about yourself than the Lord, in all honesty. But it has been sixteen years, and I believe that the Lord is stirring our hearts once again.
These things that we want to do concerning the open time together, both in testimony and prayer, are, I think, a means by which the Lord wants to stir us, renew us, and bring us more into the fullness of what He has. He is saying, “Okay, it is time to get back to building My house.”
I really feel that very strongly and deeply.
Many here were present in those early days when we saw God’s heart. Like David, we saw God’s desire for this house—not the physical house, but the spiritual house—and we were persuaded.
There has been a lot of pressure and a lot of difficulty. As you know, everybody here, even those in leadership, has jobs to take care of and families to care for. You have the same thing.
It is so easy, when you back off a little bit, to start concentrating on these things. These things need to be done, but they cannot be primary. It really has to be the Lord.
I was encouraged also by the first use of the word “consider” in Haggai. He said, “Consider your ways.” I guess what is on my heart this morning is that maybe we all should take some time in the next few weeks just to consider.
Consider where we are before the Lord. Consider where we are in reference to God’s calling on our lives. Just consider. Look back and consider.
Is it time? I am convinced, but are you? You need to consider. Consider our ways.
Then, praise the Lord, the second “consider” in verse 7 says:
Thus saith the Lord of hosts; Consider your ways.
Go up to the mountain, and bring wood, and build the house.
Going up to the mountain is simply returning to the Lord Himself: “Lord, You are primary. What You desire is primary. Lord, I am coming to You that I might have material with which to build Your house.”
You see, that is the only way you can get the material. You have to go to the Lord. It is your experience in the Lord that is the material to build God’s house. That is why we think the testimonies are so important: we all have a part in building the house of God.
I was reminded that in the temple there was wood, but it was covered with gold. Gold is the nature of Christ. We are humanity—that is what wood stands for—but we have the gold.
What we should be looking for is the gold. Often in our time, I am afraid we have a tendency to look at the wood and say, “Hey, I am not sure that is sufficient.” The Lord says, “No, look at the gold. It is covered with gold.”
“My life is in every brother and sister, and that is the gold.” We want that gold to come out. So may the Lord bless us.
Then, in verse 12, it says that they obeyed the voice of the Lord. I would only ask you all to pray and consider before the Lord. My voice means nothing, but if the Lord is speaking to you, just obey.
Simply obey the Lord. Prepare to be able to share the life of the Lord with your brothers and sisters.
That does not have to occur only in that time once a month. It occurs in our lives together—in our times when we assemble, in our times at home, when our brothers and sisters are in need of a spiritual lift or even physical help.
We can do that in the house of God, and the Lord will be in our midst. Let us obey the Lord’s calling in our lives to be living stones together.
I was so encouraged when I got to verse 13, where Haggai, the Lord’s messenger, brought the Lord’s message to the people, saying:
I am with you, saith the Lord.
“I am with you.” Do you know of any greater encouragement that you can have than to have the Lord say to you, “I am with you”? “I am with you.”
Yes, you may have messed up. You may have drawn back. You may have done a lot of things. Just return.
Go up to the mountain. Bring in the supply of the Lord. Share it in the house of God, that it may be strengthened and built up.
“I am with you.”
Mort’s prayer was answered.
Lord, we come to You today. Lord, shine Your light into our hearts. Lord, I ask that You would stir our hearts so that we might say, “This is the time.”
Lord, cause us to consider our ways, that we might in reality be on proper ground to go on. Lord, that we might return to Thee and go up to the mountain.
Lord, gather Your supplies and bring them into the house of God. Lord, this house is Your desire. You desire to dwell in the midst of Your people.
We want that to happen, Lord. We want to be that Bethany for You. And Lord, one day, when Your house is completed, You will come and take it.
Then we will see it without spot or blemish, coming down out of heaven as a bride adorned for her husband. Lord, what a glorious thing to be a part of all of that.
Lord, may we somehow be encouraged. Open our eyes to see how glorious is Your plan, how glorious is Your love, and how glorious, Lord, is Your great purpose.
Lord, I thank You that You have always had a desire to dwell in the midst of Your people. I remember even with Adam and Eve, it says You walked with them in the cool of the garden. Lord, they gave that up through sin.
Lord, we want You now to return and be satisfied in Your house. We ask in Jesus’ name. Amen.