Let us begin with a word of prayer this morning.
Lord, what love!
Lord, it is true that we cannot fathom, with our human understanding, Your love. So You have chosen to demonstrate it to us in Your Son, Jesus Christ, who loved us so much that He gave His own life for us.
We do thank You this morning that Your Word says to rest in Your love. We thank You, Lord, that by Your grace, we can do that.
And as we come in the glory of Your love this morning, Lord, we are also grateful that You are not silent toward Your people. Lord, it is Your heart to commune with us. It is Your heart to share with us, to give a word to us, to build us up, to encourage us, even, Lord, to train us and discipline us.
Your Word is a mighty thing, Lord Jesus, more powerful than any energy upon this earth. So, Lord, we look to You in Your Word this morning.
Lord, You would anoint. I stand in the anointing of the Lord Jesus Christ this morning. And Lord, may the anointing be upon our ears, in our hearts, and in our spirits as we come before You this morning.
Lord, meet each one where we are. You are so good at that. We thank You in Jesus’ name. Amen.
It is a wonderful morning. The Lord loves us, and we can come and share together in the context of His great love for each one of us.
The message on my heart this morning is Consider Your Ways. Actually, I would entitle it, “God’s Cry: Consider Your Ways.”
As we come this morning, I asked people if they could read the book of Haggai. I hope you were able to do that. This morning, I have two verses out of Ezra, which give us a little history, and then verses out of the prophet Haggai, which give us his prophecy to the remnant that had returned to build the house of God.
Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia,
that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom,
and put it also in writing, saying,
Thus saith Cyrus king of Persia,
The Lord, the God of heaven, hath given me all the kingdoms of the earth;
and He hath charged me to build Him a house in Jerusalem, which is in Judah.
Whosoever there is among you of all His people, his God be with him,
and let him go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judah,
and build the house of the Lord, the God of Israel (He is God), which is in Jerusalem.
Then rose up the heads of fathers’ houses of Judah and Benjamin,
and the priests and the Levites,
even all whose spirit God had stirred,
to go up to build the house of the Lord which is in Jerusalem.
In the second year of Darius the king, in the sixth month, in the first day of the month,
came the word of the Lord by Haggai the prophet unto Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah,
and to Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, saying,
Thus speaketh the Lord of hosts, saying,
This people say, The time is not come, the time that the Lord’s house should be built.
Then came the word of the Lord by Haggai the prophet, saying,
Is it a time for you yourselves to dwell in your ceiled houses, while this house lieth waste?
Now therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts: Consider your ways.
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 into a bag with holes.
Thus saith the Lord of hosts: 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.
Then Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel,
and Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest,
with all the remnant of the people,
obeyed the voice of the Lord their God,
and the words of Haggai the prophet,
as the Lord their God had sent him;
and the people feared before the Lord.
Then spake Haggai the Lord’s messenger in the Lord’s message unto the people, saying,
I am with you, saith the Lord.
In the seventh month, in the one and twentieth day of the month,
came the word of the Lord by Haggai the prophet, saying,
Speak now to Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah,
and to Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest,
and to the remnant of the people, saying,
Who is left among you that saw this house in its former glory?
And how do ye see it now?
Is it not in your eyes as nothing?
Yet now be strong, O Zerubbabel, saith the Lord;
and be strong, O Joshua, son of Jehozadak, the high priest;
and be strong, all ye people of the land, saith the Lord,
and work: for I am with you, saith the Lord of hosts.
The latter glory of this house shall be greater than the former, saith the Lord of hosts.
Consider, I pray you, from this day and backward,
from the four and twentieth day of the ninth month,
even from the day that the foundation of the Lord’s temple was laid, consider it.
Is the seed yet in the barn?
Yea, the vine, and the fig tree, and the pomegranate, and the olive-tree hath not brought forth:
from this day will I bless you.
God spoke to this remnant, the ones who had chosen to return to build the house of God. Praise the Lord. This remnant had returned with a good heart to build this house.
I have said this before, but it appears that about four percent of the people, around fifty thousand, actually returned to build the house of God.
But He is crying out. He says, “Consider your ways.” He prophesied three times over a four-month period—very short. In this short prophecy of only two chapters, He exhorts the people five times to consider, to consider their ways, to consider their lives.
As I read this, I said, “Lord, this is not just a word from You. This is a cry from Your heart to Your people, to these ones who have responded to Your call.” It is a cry to them.
It is not a gentle word. It was a very strong word, a word that would awaken this remnant. Praise the Lord. But it was His cry to His people: “Consider your ways.”
What is your purpose? What are your priorities? What is number one in your lives? How are you using your time?
They were working hard, but they were not gaining much. They sowed seed, but the harvest was small. They earned wages, but it was like the bag they put it in had holes in it. Why? Why was it this way?
They were under the Lord’s discipline to awaken them. And He says, “You need to consider your ways.” All of this had been going on almost unnoticed, but you should have awakened, and you have not.
You have become unaware of your condition and your purpose for returning to Jerusalem. Where is your concern for building My house? Where is the passion? Where is the spark? Where is the fire? Has it gone out?
You need to awaken from your slumber. Awake, and consider your ways.
I think, in a sense, this is very appropriate. As the Lord calls His people to consider their ways, I think He is calling us—calling me—to consider our ways.
I think this is especially relevant since tonight we are going to be registering for the CFC conference. You know, the conference is all about God’s eternal purpose, about building His house, about being matured into the bride.
Consider your ways. Brothers and sisters, there are times in our lives when we just need to be awakened. Thank the Lord, He is gracious, and He does this. Not just one time, but He will do it many times in your life.
He has those special times when He has to awaken us once again to our spiritual condition. And He wants us to seriously consider our ways. Are we serving His purpose today? Are we serving our own purposes? Are we just going through the motions of life?
I call it just surviving, so to speak—a passive state that we can get in concerning God’s calling on our lives and what He has called us to.
It is a great calling, a holy calling, a calling made before the world was even formed. Brothers and sisters, we cannot be passive.
When I say, “Consider your ways,” this morning, and when God said it to His people, He was not asking them to become introspective. He was asking them to consider their lives, consider their ways, in His light—the light that He would give to them.
That is how we consider our ways. That is the way we examine things, brothers and sisters.
Let me go into a little background here. The nation of Israel had become a very rebellious people. They had turned away from God, and God brought discipline upon them.
He brought the Babylonian nation in to conquer them. They even destroyed Jerusalem and the temple itself. And they were in captivity for seventy years, according to the word of Jeremiah.
The Lord raised up a Gentile king, the king of Persia, Cyrus, to put out the edict: “You need to go back and build God’s house.” Praise the Lord.
Daniel had probably gotten to Cyrus and shown him the prophecy. Cyrus believed, and so, in cooperation with God, he asked God’s people to go back and build the house. What a sovereign, wonderful Lord we have.
The call went out to the entire nation, but only a few—a remnant—came out and responded to the call.
I think we find this even true today, brothers and sisters. The Lord loves all. The Lord loves all of His own. The Lord does not give up on all of His own.
But, brothers and sisters, there has to be a response. There has to be a going on, giving your heart totally to the Lord, to follow His calling on your life, to follow His purpose, brothers and sisters, to build the house of God.
The call had gone out to all, but only a few responded. And now He is speaking to this remnant.
The remnant had loved God when they came out. They had a heart for God. They had a heart for His purpose, and they returned with the sole purpose—think of this—of building the house of God. That was their charge, their sole purpose.
It was to be God’s dwelling place once again, where He could be in the midst of His people. There was no other place that could serve His purpose.
Brothers and sisters, in those days in captivity, they had come up with a system of synagogues. Actually, they have them even today.
But the Lord was not satisfied with the synagogues. Why?
Because God had already commanded His people: only in the temple in Jerusalem could the blood sacrifices be offered, to make it an acceptable place for God to dwell in the midst of His people.
Without the blood sacrifice, there could be no forgiveness. There could be no redemption, no hope, no place for the Lord, no testimony.
The blood sacrifice was so needed. The remnant had returned out of a heart of love, and they had a fervent desire, a passion, to please the Lord. They wanted to build His house, to serve His purpose, not their own purpose.
They began laying the foundation. But the people around them—the neighboring people, the tribes—rose up against them in opposition. If you read the book, you will see it. The opposition was intense, and it was unrelenting. There was a lot of warfare going on.
It greatly weakened their hands, their resolve, and their spirit. They became discouraged, and they stopped working on building the house.
Well, they stopped for three months. But they did not return to building the house. It went on to a whole year, and they had not returned to building the house. They went on to the next year, and they had not returned to the building of the house.
Brothers and sisters, this had gone on for fifteen years. Fifteen years.
They still remembered that they had come back to build the house of God. And I think they probably hoped that it would still get built. But they began to reason.
“Now is not the time. Now is not the time.”
This seemed to appease their conscience, and that is why it could go on so long. It is not that they did not want to build a house; that desire was still there. But it just was not the time.
They began to focus on themselves instead of the house of God. They began to focus on their desires. They began to build bigger houses, decorate the ones they had, make them bigger, and add an addition.
They began to tend their crops, take care of their farms, and take care of their animals. They became mostly concerned with the cares of life.
The cares of life. We have been warned, have we not, by the Lord Himself, to beware that the cares of life can eat your life up.
So now their time was being consumed with these things, and this was their interest in life as they came and went.
As time went on, this vision, this purpose they had in the beginning, began to fade. It got dimmer and dimmer. Yes, it was still there, but it was dim now. It did not seem as pressing as it used to.
They had come to a point, brothers and sisters, where, frankly, they had become indifferent toward this matter of building God’s house.
They could go by the building site, look at it, and pass on without noticing it. It had been there like that so long—a little bit of the foundation, but it had been there. You know, it is like we all do this: we get used to things around us and do not notice them anymore.
They had just become indifferent. Maybe a few times their conscience might have been pricked, but they thought, “No, that is for another day. Now is just not the time.”
The remnant had entered into a state of spiritual lethargy—passivity. Like the Laodicean church, they were neither hot nor cold. It was a slow, almost unnoticeable process of decline: fifteen years.
The spirit of first love—that first love they had in their heart—where was it? That first love that puts God’s interest and desire first and in first place, brothers and sisters, was almost gone.
The remnant’s desire to build the house of God, to be a testimony on this earth, was at a point of no return. Think of that.
God’s heart for His people to enter into and serve His purpose was almost gone.
Now this is the heart of my burden today, brothers and sisters. It is a warning of danger that is always lurking, almost unnoticed, ready to take any of us into captivity, to keep us from our full calling in God’s purpose and in His purpose to build His house.
It keeps us from a real desire to serve Him. He is looking for that place to dwell, but brothers and sisters, we can become captive to passivity—a spiritual lethargy.
This is a quote I am going to make from Stephen, our brother Kong. This is the quote that so captured my own heart, and I want to read it.
There is nothing more serious with God’s people who once have seen the vision, who once have known the will of God, who once offered themselves for God’s purpose. There is nothing more serious than to have that sensitivity gradually fade away.
For those who have not seen the vision, they do need to see something by the grace of God. But for those who have had a heavenly vision, for people who have gone a step further and returned to Jerusalem, laying the foundation, their greatest danger is spiritual lethargy.
Brothers and sisters, that pierced my own heart. I think it is something the Lord has to say, not just to Jerry alone—which He definitely needs to do—but, brothers and sisters, for all of us.
Oh, brothers and sisters, have you heard the call to rebuild the house of God? This is still our burden. Have you heard the call to rebuild the house of God?
Have you not given up much? Have you not laid the foundation, which is nothing but Christ? You would reject everything if it was not Christ. You have done well, but to build the house of God is not an easy thing.
You cannot expect the enemy to allow you to go on without interference. Spiritual lethargy—so insidious. Apparently, one of the greatest dangers to us, to those who have a desire—not just as people in general, but those who really have a heart for the Lord, a heart to serve the Lord’s purpose, to do His will, to see that His house is being built.
This is a great, great danger because it is a slow, gradual, almost unnoticeable decline.
But thank God, He is always faithful to Himself, to His people, and to this remnant.
God sovereignly moves. He intervenes. The remnant, remember this, had not done anything worthy of hearing a message from the Lord. In fact, it had been fifteen years. They had not even inquired of the Lord, “What is going on, Lord?”
They were unaware of their spiritual condition and where they were. The Lord, for His own name’s sake, brothers and sisters—not just for the sake of His people, but for His own name’s sake and the sake of His testimony—cries out, “Awaken!”
He cries out to the remnant to remind them of their purpose.
Brothers and sisters, this is the remnant that had given up everything with the sole purpose of returning to Jerusalem to build His house. These were the committed ones, the ones that God could use to serve His purpose.
He had set aside the rest of the nation of Israel. They had remained in captivity, and now only this remnant remained.
The remnant had lost their sense of commitment, but God was committed to them.
The Lord did not pull any punches. When He speaks, He gets right to the point.
You say, The time has not come, the time that the Lord’s house should be built.
Is it a time for you to dwell in your fine houses with paneled walls, while this house of Mine lies waste?
Now therefore, saith the Lord: Consider your ways.
Consider your purpose. What is your priority? He reminds them of their purpose and what should be their priority.
The Lord was saying, “Brothers and sisters, I have brought you out of captivity. I brought you out of bondage. I brought you into liberty to be able to do My will.”
They were not able in captivity, but He had brought them out. And now you can do My will. You have returned out of love for Me and for serving Me and My purpose. What has happened to this first love?
Your priority has become yourself: providing for you, providing for your family, building a house, convincing yourselves that now is not the time.
You started out well, but you have wearied from the battle and the work. You have become passive. You have drawn back.
You have been biding your time until you feel like it is the right time. That time will never come. If you are waiting for the right time, that time will never come.
With the Lord, it is always, “Now is the time.” Now is the time. It has always been the time. You should never have stopped. Consider your ways.
The whole controversy and issue now comes to this matter of time. “It is not the time.” A real controversy over this matter of time. And it was delaying God’s will being done concerning His house.
So He challenges them over the issue of time.
Now, where did this thought come from, you think? “Now is not the time.”
Well, the enemy had aroused the opposition in the beginning, and they began to make false accusations—a real spiritual attack, so to speak. They made accusations to local authorities who tried to shut them down.
The opposition was intense. It was relentless. They became weary, discouraged, and they began to reason.
You know, the Lord said, “Come, reason with Me,” but they reasoned among themselves: “Something is wrong. We returned to build the house of God, but instead of being blessed, there is all this opposition. There is all this resistance and warfare going on.”
“If something is not right, it might not be the right time to build this house. It is just not the right time.”
Now, where did this thought come from, brothers and sisters? It came from Satan, and it began to take root in their minds.
In over fifteen years, it had become a mental stronghold—a mental stronghold put in their minds by the enemy and supported, according to their way of thinking, by their circumstances.
So they stopped. They had stopped building the house and started doing things concerning their own purpose.
I thought about these things that we think of today: “Oh, I need to landscape the yard. I need to remodel the house, add an addition. I need to get another job. My money is just going out and going out. I do not have enough.”
“Oh, I need to be more involved in my local social activities. Oh, what I really need is a bigger TV. You know, I really think my restful time, my time of relaxation, is so necessary, and it would be so much better if I just had that big widescreen TV.”
Their desires and these things began to occupy their minds. We do this, brothers and sisters, ourselves.
So I had two takeaways, or two observations, that we should, I think, consider.
There is something very fundamental about time. We need to grasp this matter of time. We need a revelation from the Lord in our lives about time.
If we receive His revelation, His understanding of what time is, I think it will alter our view of how we use our time. And what is it?
God created time. It is a God thing. It is not something man came up with when he developed the clock.
Time is that space in infinity in which God is doing something special to serve His own purpose, brothers and sisters. We are given that time to serve His purpose, not our purpose.
We are given that time, brothers and sisters, for Him. It is not really for us.
They thought that the time was theirs and that they could use it as they chose. And so what they ended up saying was, “Time is in our hands, but now is not the time.”
It is because they did not have a proper concept, a revelation from God Himself, that your time is really My time.
Your time has a purpose, and it is to serve Me and My purpose. We cannot forget that, brothers and sisters. Time is something that we have only because God has given it to us, but He has brought us into this period of time.
Think of what He is doing, brothers and sisters: to build His house, to build that bride that He is looking for, that holy city, the New Jerusalem. That is what it is all about.
The God of grace did not create us as robots. You are not a robot. He wants us, out of love and by His Spirit, to work with Him, so that His will and purpose of time can be carried out by us.
Amazingly, He gives us the power of choice in how we use our time. We must always remember: it is not our time; it is His.
We cannot be indifferent about how we use the time given to us. God was saying, “Consider your ways. Where is the time to build My house?”
Where is the time for My people to gather together? In His Word, He said, “Let us not forsake the assembling of ourselves together.” Very direct. Do not forsake it.
Where is the time? Are we saying, “Well, now is not the time. It is not convenient”?
Where is the time for My house of prayer? You know, the Lord in His Word says, “I looked for an intercessor, and found none.” Prayer—corporate prayer—is so critical and important in God’s purpose and plans being carried out.
But we say, “Not the time. I am tired today.” And legitimately, that happens on Wednesdays a lot. We get extra tired. It is a hard day. “I just need to rest.” Where is the time?
Where is the time for the Word, the Word of God, being together?
Brothers and sisters, when we go into the Word, that is when we get that living word, the rhema that the Bible speaks of, from the Lord. It is being in His Word that we get that rhema.
And you know what is so great about our times together? Brothers and sisters, we can share that rhema with one another. That is how the house of God is built up: sharing the rhema that is given to each one of us.
But we say, “No, now is not the time. I just do not have the time.”
Brothers and sisters, it can go on and on. Where is the time? “Now is not the time.”
Brothers and sisters, the enemy has put this thought, and it has become a stronghold not only in the remnant in those days, but he does it in our own lives today.
And the Lord says, “Consider your ways. What is your priority? Is it My priority or your own?”
Well, just a short story. I remember in college, I took a course in psychology. I took it for extra credit. I needed a credit, and I took what was supposed to be an easy extra credit.
So I started going to class, but this professor—out of all my professors, none of the rest of them cared. If you wanted to show up, you could. If you did not, it was your life.
But this professor said, “No. You are going to come to my class, you are going to attend the session, and you are going to be on time.” He was a real stickler about that.
I remember one day—I do not know whether I woke up late; I cannot remember what my excuse was—but I was too fearful not to attend. I decided I would just go late anyway and at least be there.
So I got there. After the class, I went up to him and tried to explain my excuse for being late.
He said, “If you had not wanted to be late, you would not be late. Where is your priority?”
Brothers and sisters, that really taught me a lesson about being on time. It was probably one of the greatest lessons I learned in college: being on time. So praise the Lord for that little psychology class. That is the only thing I got out of it, unfortunately, I guess. But anyway, I did get that much.
On time. Priority. Priority.
I remember Brother Stephen, when we talked to him about all his doings, he would say, “Priority.” I cannot say it the way he said it. “Priority.” It was always priority.
The second takeaway, the second thought I got out of this, was over the issue of mental strongholds.
Brothers and sisters, there is a great spiritual battle going on in your life, particularly concerning the house of God. Satan will use any tactic to stop the building of the house of God.
You know, in the beginning with the remnant, he knew that they still had it in their minds that they were supposed to build the house of God. So, to assure that they really would not get back to building the house of God, he came up with this insidious scheme.
They were discouraged and wearied, as I said before, and had become real targets for Satan’s assault. As they were reasoning among themselves about their condition, he injected this subtle suggestion: “Now is not the time.”
Well, this seemed so good to them. It appeased their conscience. They did not need to be that concerned anymore. It was just not the Lord’s timing. It was not His time.
They had made every effort to build His house. They had worked hard, but they were not getting anywhere. There was a lot of opposition. And so this thought, this little thought from the enemy—“Now is not the time”—took root in their hearts.
As I said, brothers and sisters, it got deep because it went on for fifteen years. And we know that if God had not spoken to them, they would have never gotten back to building that house. There would not have been a continuation of the testimony of God.
Brothers and sisters, we have to be aware. This is one of the enemy’s greatest tactics: inserting thoughts in our minds. We have to be careful.
He does a great work. He uses it not only to deceive us about time, but he uses it against one another. You know, he puts these thoughts in our minds about our brothers and sisters.
“Well, you know, something is wrong. They are not happy. I do not like the way they looked at me today, or they did not look at me at all.” And we begin to become suspicious of one another.
He uses a little thought to break up the building of the house of God, to divide us. But brothers and sisters, ultimately, what he is after is stopping the building work among us. So how can we build when we are divided?
For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh,
but mighty before God to the casting down of strongholds,
casting down imaginations,
and every high thing that is exalted against the knowledge of God,
and bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ.
May we learn that lesson of bringing our thoughts into captivity, brothers and sisters. Let us not let our thoughts run rampant in our minds, but really keep them before the Lord. There is a great battle, and we need to be vigilant.
These little thoughts become great strongholds. This thought that now is not the time to build God’s house.
Have you been thinking that way? Is it your thought: “Now is not the time”? Has it become your reason for not participating, for not entering in when you are here, for backing off, for not pressing on, for not going after that rhema to build the house of God?
“It is just not the time.”
The Lord has told us to consider our ways. We cannot become spiritually passive. The remnant started out with a real heart to serve God and gave themselves to it. But they became discouraged and eventually took in this thought: “Now is not the time,” and they became passive concerning their purpose.
They were not aware of it in the beginning, but God did awaken their heart.
Brothers and sisters, we are all living stones together. It is God’s intention to build you into His house, to be a supply of the riches of Christ, so His house can be built.
Your time is not your own. It is His. Use it to serve His purpose.
The Lord said, “Consider your ways. You sow much, but you bring in little.” Remember, He talked about making money, but it is all going—you do not know where.
What is the Lord saying? He is saying, “You are under My discipline because My house lies waste. I love you, and I am trying to awaken you, to draw you back to Myself and My purpose.”
Thus saith the Lord of hosts: 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.
What did He say? “Go up to the mountain.” Let us go up to the mountain.
Brothers and sisters, this is the way of recovery. It is communion. That is what it means to go up to the mountain: to commune with Him, to get back in fellowship, seeking Him, seeking His face, engaging in fellowship with Him—in prayer with Him, in worship with Him.
Seek Him. Brothers and sisters, this is going up to the mountain. That is what it means. It is the way out, the way of deliverance—the way of deliverance from spiritual lethargy, from the malaise that we get into at times, and to be freed from mental strongholds.
That is where the Lord can speak to us and deal with us concerning these things. This is the way back. This is the way of grace.
Brothers and sisters, what is so critically important is that you cannot just wait and sit by and say, “Well, Lord, You do it.” You need the grace to engage yourself.
You need to take that first step—going up to the mountain. You need to respond. And I said it is by grace, because I have found that in myself, the old man just will not do it.
I got this little verse a couple of years ago on this matter of grace. It was a prayer, and I have kept it these couple of years. I want to read it to you. It has to deal with the fact that we are not able, but He is.
God of all grace,
give me grace to feel my need of grace.
Give me grace to ask for grace.
Then give me grace to receive grace.
And when grace is given to me,
give me grace to use that grace.
In Jesus’ name, I pray.
I will read it one more time.
God of all grace,
give me grace to feel my need of grace.
Give me grace to ask for grace.
Then give me grace to receive grace.
And when grace is given, give me grace to use that grace.
That is the way, brothers and sisters. As we commune with Him, that is where we get the material to build the house of God. But we need to engage.
Then the Lord—thank the Lord—does not just leave it there with that charge. He encourages them. He says, “I am with you.”
He said, “You need to go up to the mountain, and I am with you.” Now, my brother Ken has shared some wonderful messages from the Lord on “I am with you.”
What greater encouragement can you ask from God than for Him to say to you, “You need to do this. I am with you”?
If He is with you, brothers and sisters, it does not matter if the boat is sinking—you are going to get to the other side. You know what I am referring to.
Brothers and sisters, when He says, “I am with you,” that is His promise to you, and He will not go back on His promise. You need to make that first step.
But they started back. After a month of relaying the foundation, they began to get discouraged because they began to see that this house they were building was so small and insignificant compared to that glorious house that Solomon had built.
They became discouraged. They said, “What is this? God has brought us all the way back here, but there is no way this house is going to come to the glory that Solomon’s temple was.” And they became very discouraged.
I began to think, brothers and sisters, that this becomes a problem to us sometimes in our personal lives, particularly in our lives together.
I think sometimes we begin to say, “My part is so insignificant. What I am doing in the assembly and among the saints is so insignificant. There does not seem to be any glory about it.”
Maybe you even go further and think, “I am insignificant.” Now, there is a sense in the Lord that there is nothing in us, no good thing, but it is Christ that we are talking about. Christ in you is not insignificant.
That is why you are not insignificant, because Christ is in you.
So once again, He encourages them.
Who is left among you that saw this house in its former glory?
The latter glory of this house shall be greater than the former, saith the Lord of hosts.
Brothers and sisters, this is so powerful. He does not say, “The glory in this house is going to be greater than Solomon’s.” What He said is this: they are not two separate houses.
He says, “Who saw this house?” Speaking of the one they were building, “in its former glory,” speaking of Solomon’s temple. It is the same house.
He said it might be smaller; it might not be as magnificent. But, brothers and sisters, it is not a small, insignificant thing.
In the end, the glory of this house—speaking of the house that we are building today, the spiritual house made without hands, the New Jerusalem that will come down from heaven, that heavenly city, the house of God full of glory—that is what we are building.
It may seem insignificant. It may seem that what we are doing here in this fellowship is insignificant compared to the mighty glory. But, brothers and sisters, we are part of something wonderful.
Do you not see? The tabernacle, Solomon’s temple, the rebuilt temple, the house made without hands—they are all the same house. We are part of something that has been going on for centuries, brothers and sisters.
Thank God, the remnant was once again stirred, and they continued to build the house of God.
Now we come to the last encouragement. I hope that encourages you, brothers and sisters. You are part of something so much greater than you can even imagine or think.
Revelation 21:1-22:5 gives you a glimpse of it, as best as our brother John could do in trying to relay what he saw from the Lord. But it is a glorious, glorious thing: this bride adorned for her husband.
Well, the Lord had withheld His blessing in order to wake them up to their condition. It was evidence of their condition, because they were not engaged in building His house.
They had started rebuilding and had been going on now for almost four months. They began to get discouraged again because they were looking for the Lord to bless them now that they had started rebuilding the house.
But the vine was still empty. The fig tree was not blooming. It did not seem like God was with them at all, but He was.
Then the Lord finally says—really, what He is saying to them is—“I had to make sure you were serious.”
“These last four months, now that you have started, your blessing has not come yet because I needed to see if you were serious, if you trusted Me more than the blessing.”
Praise the Lord. He is saying, “You were under discipline. I withheld your blessing in order to make sure you would really return to building My house.”
And so He speaks to them.
From this day will I bless you.
“I will bless you.” And the blessings returned. May we not give up, brothers and sisters.
Brothers and sisters, let me end with this.
This thing of time, this monumental concept of time—we have to understand that it is not ours. He has created time for a real purpose: for this glorious house He is building, this city, the New Jerusalem, a new heaven and a new earth, the kingdom.
Brothers and sisters, it is glorious. That is what time is all about.
If we are not serving His purpose, time is wasted. We use that term, do we not? “Waste time, waste time.” Brothers and sisters, there can be wasted time. It does not have to be that way.
We just need to go up to the mountain. Go up to the mountain, get the wood—communion, fellowship with the Lord. Enter in to the house of God, doing the Lord’s work.
Well, may the Lord bless His Word.
Lord, we just come to You today and thank You for those precious times. They do not seem precious at the time, but Lord, those times when You speak to our hearts in a very thorough way to awaken us.
“Consider your ways.”
Oh, Lord, we thank You. In Jesus’ name, amen.