Speaker 1: How are you doing, Christian amazing? Have you recovered from
Speaker 1: tour fully? I was recovered last Sunday? Huh I felt
Speaker 1: good last Sunday. Yeah, last Sunday was crazy? Were you here?
Speaker 1: God is so faithful? I wanted to I wanted to
Speaker 1: just mention real quick, how good of a timing this
Speaker 1: is for you to be in church every week. Some
Speaker 1: people are here for the first time or back for
Speaker 1: the first time. This is a good one. This weekend,
Speaker 1: we're getting ready, we're starting getting ready for our year
Speaker 1: end offering. Why is that exciting? Because it builds our faith,
Speaker 1: it shows our love for God. And we're inviting everybody
Speaker 1: all over the world that's a part of this ministry
Speaker 1: to be a part of this year end offering. Now,
Speaker 1: the official date of the offering is December twelve. How
Speaker 1: do y'all know it better than the pastor they already
Speaker 1: talked about it, But we do it every year. It's
Speaker 1: an opportunity for those who have been blessed by this ministry,
Speaker 1: who God has used this ministry to change your life
Speaker 1: to be a blessing. And so for thousands we'll begin
Speaker 1: the process of tithing and putting God first in the
Speaker 1: area of your finances with that first ten percent that
Speaker 1: belongs to him anyway, the whole hundred is his. You
Speaker 1: know that right, So for all of you who already
Speaker 1: trust the Lord in that way, thank you for making
Speaker 1: the ministry possible. For those of you who are praying
Speaker 1: about it. We always do an above and beyond offering
Speaker 1: every year, Holly and I have been doing that every
Speaker 1: year for over fifteen years now. It's a privilege to
Speaker 1: do it. It's a privilege to do it. It's an
Speaker 1: honor to do it. When I look around and see
Speaker 1: what God has done and what He's building. Nobody has
Speaker 1: begged me to give. I invest in this ministry because
Speaker 1: I believe in this ministry and I believe God's promise.
Speaker 1: How about you? Do you believe? Do you take God
Speaker 1: at his word? Well, this is an excellent time and
Speaker 1: they'll share all the details about how to do it,
Speaker 1: but I just wanted to mention it. I always pick
Speaker 1: a word at it's been getting later and later. I
Speaker 1: used to pick a word that we could focus on,
Speaker 1: and I would pick it in the summer and then
Speaker 1: they would make all these graphics and videos around that word. Lately,
Speaker 1: I've been picking it just so late that I don't
Speaker 1: even tell Hollywood it is until I tell the whole church.
Speaker 1: And last week I was preaching the passage, the same
Speaker 1: passage that I'm going to preach here today. I'm going
Speaker 1: to continue what God started last week. God dropped something
Speaker 1: amazing last week. And there was a scripture in Hagi
Speaker 1: two nine that said that the glory of this present
Speaker 1: house will be greater than the glory of the former house.
Speaker 1: And we'll unpack it a little week by week. I'm
Speaker 1: not going to preach about giving today. Okay, So if
Speaker 1: you're like exit strategy, texting your church partner or something
Speaker 1: like that, you don't need to do that. But our theme,
Speaker 1: our one word that we're going to come around, is
Speaker 1: a simple word better. Doesn't that feel good to believe
Speaker 1: that whatever, whatever you've seen before, tell somebody you haven't
Speaker 1: seen anything yet. Oh oh oh, you want to say it? Okay,
Speaker 1: say it in the King James, you ain't seen nothing yet.
Speaker 1: God is always bringing us into something better. So for
Speaker 1: our year end offering, I wanted to mention that I
Speaker 1: also want to celebrate the eleventh year anniversary of elevation
Speaker 1: and Blakeney, let's give God praise for Elevation Blakeney. Oh yeah,
Speaker 1: that's where I preached live for about five years before
Speaker 1: we moved over here to Valentine, and I might go
Speaker 1: back if you'll ever stop acting righting. I love it
Speaker 1: over there. A lot of great stories in that place,
Speaker 1: not the building, but the people saw God do amazing
Speaker 1: things there. So Father, I thank you for your presence today.
Speaker 1: Your presence is real, it's not abstract. We thank you
Speaker 1: that your presence is more than just like energy. Your
Speaker 1: presence is more than just feelings. Your presence is the
Speaker 1: bedrock where I can come back to every time and
Speaker 1: just know that you are with me in every moment.
Speaker 1: I thank you for the promise that I have concerning
Speaker 1: your presence, that in your presence is fullness of joy
Speaker 1: at your right hand, pleasure Forevermore so, Lord, we want
Speaker 1: to enjoy your presence today. We're taking a moment just
Speaker 1: to put everything out of our mind that's causing confusion,
Speaker 1: everything that's got us tied up in knots, everything that's
Speaker 1: got us just like poppin' alka Seltzer with heartburn because
Speaker 1: we're worried about it. Everything that's got us angry, frustrated, offended,
Speaker 1: we're putting all that that doesn't get to play on
Speaker 1: the movie screen right now, Lauren. But we want to
Speaker 1: see your goodness, your love, your glory. We want to
Speaker 1: see it revealed. We want to see Jesus. We want
Speaker 1: to see the one who is and was and is
Speaker 1: to come. We want to see him as he really is.
Speaker 1: Reveal Jesus to us today through your word. It's in
Speaker 1: his name. We pray. Amen. Everybody say amen. Act achieving.
Speaker 1: All right, be seated. We're going back to Hagai chapter two.
Speaker 1: So it's like, my mom cooks so much food. You're like, Mom,
Speaker 1: what were you thinking that the whole football team was
Speaker 1: coming over here? She over prepares. And I felt a
Speaker 1: little bit like that last week. Honestly, when I look
Speaker 1: back over my outline, I had four points and we
Speaker 1: got to one. So I just put it in the
Speaker 1: fridge and I figured, all right, well we'll we'll get
Speaker 1: this out this week. And then God, God was speaking
Speaker 1: to me in such a unique way. I'm excited about it.
Speaker 1: I'm excited about it. Y'all sound excited too. I'm gonna
Speaker 1: be honest, it feels exciting in here. It's amazing. Wow,
Speaker 1: y'all quiet down now this church. Let me read you
Speaker 1: this scripture. See if this will put a spark plug
Speaker 1: in your spirit real quick. In the second year of
Speaker 1: King Darius, on the twenty first day of the seventh month,
Speaker 1: the word of the Lord came through the prophet Hagi.
Speaker 1: The word of the Lord came through the prophet Hagi.
Speaker 1: All right, so we got we gotta talk about that
Speaker 1: for a minute. God is going to give you a
Speaker 1: word for your weakness. The more you work the word
Speaker 1: that He gives you, the more strength you will discover
Speaker 1: that was there all alone. The word of the Lord
Speaker 1: came through Hagi. And I love how God speaks through
Speaker 1: people in seasons when we need it, don't you. And
Speaker 1: this is what the Lord said to Hagi. Speak to Zarabebel,
Speaker 1: son of Shialtl, governor of Judah, to Joshua's son of
Speaker 1: Josephac the high Priest, and to the remnant of the people.
Speaker 1: Ask them, so this is crazy, because God speaks. How
Speaker 1: many need God to speak to you today? Put a
Speaker 1: hand in the chat. Put a hand in the chat,
Speaker 1: Put a hand in the chat. Put your hand in
Speaker 1: the ear. I need God to speak to me. But
Speaker 1: here's what's crazy. God doesn't speak with an answer. He
Speaker 1: speaks with a question. Sometimes you will ask God for
Speaker 1: an answer and he will answer with a question. One day,
Speaker 1: I'm going to preach a sermon called the Blessing of
Speaker 1: a better question. So a better question would be like,
Speaker 1: instead of God, why did I have to go through
Speaker 1: all that? It would be God, what do you want
Speaker 1: to do now through the things that I went through?
Speaker 1: And why is the devil so intimidated of me that
Speaker 1: he brought all that against me? What is it in me?
Speaker 1: That's a better question, because a bad question it would
Speaker 1: be like, God, why did they reject me? Well, you
Speaker 1: can never know that. Maybe they rejected you because they
Speaker 1: they are stupid. Maybe they didn't see the value of you.
Speaker 1: A better question is God, what were you using rejection
Speaker 1: to protect me from? That's a better question. And so
Speaker 1: we rejection proof our spirit by asking three questions, or God,
Speaker 1: are you redirecting me through this rejection telling me that
Speaker 1: this is not the one? God? Are you protecting me
Speaker 1: from something that I can't see? And there was a
Speaker 1: third one, but I forgot it. All right, Let's go on,
Speaker 1: And he said, ask them, ask the people who of
Speaker 1: you is left? Who saw this? House. Everybody say this
Speaker 1: house good, good, good, good good, this house in its
Speaker 1: former glory. How does it look to you? Now? Does
Speaker 1: it not seem to you like nothing? But now be strong?
Speaker 1: But now I feel you're anointing God. Be strong, But
Speaker 1: now be strong. That's my title for this message today.
Speaker 1: But now be strong. Say it, but now be strong.
Speaker 1: Last night you were a little weak, But now be strong.
Speaker 1: Three years ago you just gave into the temptation. But
Speaker 1: now you're resisting the devil a little bit more. But
Speaker 1: now be strong, Zorabebel, declares the Lord. Be strong. Joshua
Speaker 1: was son of Joseph Aak be strong, brit be strong,
Speaker 1: Might be strong, Holly, be strong, Elijah, be strong, all
Speaker 1: you people of the land, declares the Lord, and work
Speaker 1: for I am with you, declares the Lord Almighty. This
Speaker 1: is what I covened with you. I didn't say nobody
Speaker 1: would be against you. I just said that I would
Speaker 1: be with you. God never promised the absence of problems.
Speaker 1: He promised his presence right in the thick of it.
Speaker 1: He said. I was with you in Egypt, and I'm
Speaker 1: with you to this day, declares the Lord. My spirit
Speaker 1: remains among you. Do not fear. This is what the
Speaker 1: Lord Almighty says. In a little while, I will once
Speaker 1: more shake the heavens and the earth, the sea and
Speaker 1: the dry land, and I will shake all nations, and
Speaker 1: what is desired by all nations will come. And I
Speaker 1: will fill which house, this house, this house, with glory,
Speaker 1: says the Lord Almighty. The silver is mine and the
Speaker 1: gold is mine, declares the Lord Almighty. And the glory
Speaker 1: of this present house will be greater, better, greater than
Speaker 1: the glory of the former house. Now it's not going
Speaker 1: to have as much gold as the old house, because
Speaker 1: Solomon's temple had a lot of gold, but it's going
Speaker 1: to have more glory. Oh Jesus, the glory of this
Speaker 1: present house will be greater than the glory of the
Speaker 1: former house, says the Lord Almighty. And in this place
Speaker 1: I will grant peace, declares the Lord Almighty. There's a
Speaker 1: book called Making Peace with Your Past, and you may
Speaker 1: have read it. There's a course or program that goes
Speaker 1: along with the book, and millions of people had probably
Speaker 1: benefited from it. I don't know. I never did the course.
Speaker 1: I've always remember the title Making Peace with Your Past.
Speaker 1: It's about dealing with the trauma that happens to you,
Speaker 1: so that your trauma watch this doesn't become your template,
Speaker 1: so that what you went through doesn't become the ceiling
Speaker 1: of what you think can be possible in your life.
Speaker 1: Like we discussed last week a little bit, you know,
Speaker 1: not only are they building a temple, but they are
Speaker 1: reinventing their template. They're getting a new blueprint for how
Speaker 1: God is going to bless them now, and they need
Speaker 1: one because they've been in Babylon for over fifty years.
Speaker 1: And while they were in Babylon as exiles, almost an
Speaker 1: entire generation died that had seen the former temple. So
Speaker 1: now when we get to Haggai chapter two, the prophet
Speaker 1: is encouraging the people because they have become two things
Speaker 1: that you have become distracted and discouraged. Distracted and discouraged,
Speaker 1: distracted in that they have lost their sense of priorities.
Speaker 1: They have gotten comfortably settled now they've come back to
Speaker 1: their homeland, but in the process of building the Lord's
Speaker 1: Temple where God's presence would dwell at that time, they
Speaker 1: got distracted by building their own houses. Never happens to you,
Speaker 1: happens to me sometimes Sometimes I go to read my Bible.
Speaker 1: Then I see a text. The text makes me think
Speaker 1: of something else that I need to text. Before I
Speaker 1: know it, I'm on Wikipedia searching about giraffes. How did
Speaker 1: I get here? But it does put a question in
Speaker 1: your mind? Are you distracted? And are you discouraged? Now?
Speaker 1: I love how Guy's method because, as I mentioned, he
Speaker 1: asks a question, who of you is left That's what
Speaker 1: we talked about last week. The remnant remnant it means
Speaker 1: whatever is left over. Now get this picture. They're looking
Speaker 1: at a city that is still for the largest part
Speaker 1: in Ruin. When the Babylonians came to take the people out,
Speaker 1: they actually destroyed everything that they left behind. Now at
Speaker 1: this point they haven't seen Neemiah yet. You've heard of him, right.
Speaker 1: He rebuilt the walls of the city, which was the
Speaker 1: protection of the city. But he did that later. The
Speaker 1: walls are still down. The infrastructure of the city was
Speaker 1: completely shut down, or at the very least, it was
Speaker 1: about as organized as the DMV. It was about like
Speaker 1: the airport's security right about. Now, it's just it's a mess.
Speaker 1: But in the middle of all of that mess, God
Speaker 1: sends a messenger to ask a question, who of you
Speaker 1: is left. You have to learn how to focus on
Speaker 1: what is left, not what is lost. Sometimes the distraction
Speaker 1: is you thinking about something that you had in the
Speaker 1: past that you don't have right now. Sometimes you are
Speaker 1: missing things that God is bringing because you are missing
Speaker 1: people that God removed. I'm not saying that everybody that
Speaker 1: leaves your life is because God took them out because
Speaker 1: they couldn't handle you on the next level. That's not
Speaker 1: my message. But there was a word in there where
Speaker 1: he said, speak to the remnant. There are only sixty
Speaker 1: thousand Jews that came back. Talk to those, Speak to
Speaker 1: the ones who are still here. Work with the strength
Speaker 1: that you still have, Muster the energy that is left
Speaker 1: in your body. Take the opportunity that you have seriously.
Speaker 1: And that's the first r that we mention. But the
Speaker 1: second one, I think, I think it's really important because
Speaker 1: his second rhetorical question, he says, who of you verse
Speaker 1: three is left that saw this house in its former glory?
Speaker 1: And then the second question, it's also a rhetorical question,
Speaker 1: how does it look to you? Now? What a question?
Speaker 1: This is not just rhetorical, this is historical because there's
Speaker 1: a few of these, a few of these returning exiles
Speaker 1: who saw Solomon's temple firsthand, and they remember what they
Speaker 1: think it was like. Oh, by the way, the future
Speaker 1: and the past have one thing in common. They're both fiction.
Speaker 1: The future you imagine for you, you you know, thirty pounds
Speaker 1: lighter or or thirty million richer or whatever it is.
Speaker 1: You know what I'm saying. Like that future, that future
Speaker 1: is no more imaginary than the story you tell yourself
Speaker 1: about how the past was. Because watch this, the future
Speaker 1: is filtered through your ignorance. You don't know what's gonna
Speaker 1: happen at one thirty today. You didn't even know cam
Speaker 1: was coming back, did you. Nobody told you that, nobody
Speaker 1: called you, nobody approved that with you. You You didn't see
Speaker 1: that coming, And you really think you can predict what
Speaker 1: it's gonna be, Like, I love people. You need to
Speaker 1: make a ten year plan, Honey, I need a ten
Speaker 1: minute plan. It's twenty twenty one. I need a ten
Speaker 1: second plan. I need a way right now, in this moment.
Speaker 1: Not to freak out. Now, no certificates you so far
Speaker 1: out there in the future and see yourself married, or
Speaker 1: see yourself divorced, or see yourself whatever condition you are
Speaker 1: praying about. That's opposite of the condition that you prayed
Speaker 1: yourself into. Right now, that's a fantasy, but so is
Speaker 1: what we tell ourselves about our best. You know, nobody
Speaker 1: ever really believed in me. I wish I could ask
Speaker 1: all of your middle school teachers how much they had
Speaker 1: to put up with out of you just not to
Speaker 1: kick you out of school, because the truth is you
Speaker 1: should have been expelled. The fact that they believed in
Speaker 1: you is the fact that they graduated you and gave
Speaker 1: you a C just to get you out of their class.
Speaker 1: You know, I'm having fun with it, but it's real.
Speaker 1: It's really it's really kind of a deep thing to
Speaker 1: consider that sometimes what holds you hostage is a story
Speaker 1: that you have told yourself that never really happened, like
Speaker 1: you memorized it in your heart, and then with time
Speaker 1: you look back and say, oh, well, maybe actually I
Speaker 1: was part of the reason to blame for that, huh,
Speaker 1: Because now I've seen the same exact pattern play out
Speaker 1: in eight straight relationships. Maybe it wasn't eight dysfunctional devils
Speaker 1: that I was dating. Maybe the smell is coming from
Speaker 1: inside the car. I'm gonna give y'all twenty seconds to
Speaker 1: wake up hear the word of the Lord. I think
Speaker 1: it's something under the floor mats, I don't think. I
Speaker 1: don't think it's And so the people who were there
Speaker 1: to see it firsthand. You gotta imagine this amazing moment
Speaker 1: right back from Babylon. Future is in front of us. Man,
Speaker 1: maybe we can be a nation again, Maybe the glory
Speaker 1: of God will visit us again. And at the moment
Speaker 1: of great possibility comes the memory of the past, the
Speaker 1: past as it never really was the past, as you
Speaker 1: imagine that it was the past, as you remembered that
Speaker 1: it was. I keep a list of stuff that I
Speaker 1: did for my kids, So when they go to therapy
Speaker 1: one day as adults, I'm gonna make sure their therapist
Speaker 1: gets that list before they start. Here's what they're not
Speaker 1: telling you. Here's all the vacations that they don't remember.
Speaker 1: Here's all of the times that I was nice to
Speaker 1: them and didn't take their phone. Here's the time I
Speaker 1: could have thrown them out a window, but I didn't
Speaker 1: because I'm a good, good father, and I got a
Speaker 1: list to prevent. It's been it's been traumatic. It's been traumatic. No,
Speaker 1: it's really been traumatic for these people. This is not
Speaker 1: like they the economy was shut down for months. Their
Speaker 1: nation was completely destroyed. No, no, no, I don't mean
Speaker 1: like the economy was destroyed and the stock market was fluctuating.
Speaker 1: I mean they had to they had to develop a
Speaker 1: completely new template in Babylon. So now you've got two
Speaker 1: things happening simultaneously, and you always do. You've got the
Speaker 1: new generation who didn't see Solomon's temple. You've got the
Speaker 1: older generation, specifically the priests, the Leevites, and the leaders
Speaker 1: who saw the old one. And Ezra tells us what
Speaker 1: happened that made Haggi's encouragement necessary. Go to Ezra chapter three.
Speaker 1: Please right there on the y'all aren't flipping your bibles.
Speaker 1: You got it on your phone. See, this is one
Speaker 1: of those things where as a preacher, I want to fuss.
Speaker 1: I remember when people used to bring their Bibles to church.
Speaker 1: But you know what, I don't think that's necessarily better
Speaker 1: than having it right there on your phone. Because if
Speaker 1: it's right there on my phone, I can just have
Speaker 1: it any time that the devil hits me. I could
Speaker 1: just look at it. Nobody even knows that I'm reading
Speaker 1: my Bible. I'm acting like I'm paying attention. To this meeting.
Speaker 1: Let me check my notes real quick. But I'm really
Speaker 1: over here in Obadiah. So notice the temptation. Oh it
Speaker 1: was better when people used to bring their Bibles to church.
Speaker 1: Oh it was better before they didn't read them during
Speaker 1: the week back then. So now watch this. This is
Speaker 1: on the screen. Put it up on the screen. Ezra
Speaker 1: chapter three, when the builders laid the foundation of the
Speaker 1: Temple of the Lord, I'm a preacher ready for this.
Speaker 1: They lay the foundation, and the priests, the sons of Asaf,
Speaker 1: with their vestments and trumpets, and the Levites, the Sons
Speaker 1: of Asaf with symbols, took their places to praise the Lord,
Speaker 1: as prescribed by David, King of Israel. Next verse, please
Speaker 1: with praise and thanksgiving. They sang to the Lord. He
Speaker 1: is good, good, his love toward Israel endures forever. So
Speaker 1: they were singing, I am good, you are loved, I
Speaker 1: am good, you are loved. And all the people you'll
Speaker 1: get ready to act out the text gave a great shout.
Speaker 1: That's a medium shout. Wasn't a bad shout, but it
Speaker 1: wasn't a great shout. All the people gave a great shout.
Speaker 1: I want to see which campus can shout the loudest.
Speaker 1: Make a video of your campus and send it to
Speaker 1: me real quick. Ah, the people take a great shout,
Speaker 1: a great shut I'm coming a baby shout. No, no, no,
Speaker 1: that's a great shout, a great shout. Look at the foundation.
Speaker 1: This is amazing. We're gonna have a temple again. We're
Speaker 1: gonna have a temple again. We're gonna have a temple again.
Speaker 1: Touch three people and tell them we're gonna have a
Speaker 1: temple again. Touch twelve people. Tell them we're gonna have
Speaker 1: a temple again. That's twenty four people till we're gonna
Speaker 1: have a temple again. Oh, I heard about the temple.
Speaker 1: Always wish I could have a temple. My grandad would
Speaker 1: tell me about temple. You talk about the instances. He
Speaker 1: tell me about the bulls, tek about the prayer, time
Speaker 1: about the Holy of Holies, talking about sacrifice, about you
Speaker 1: told me talking about the mercy, talking about the press,
Speaker 1: time about the glory, tell me about the interesting, talking
Speaker 1: about the better. We have a temple. We have a temple.
Speaker 1: We're getting a temple. We're getting a temple. So they
Speaker 1: they start blowing trumpets, they start playing at at OHA's.
Speaker 1: They start having a party and praising God over the progress.
Speaker 1: You have to learn to prace God over progress, not
Speaker 1: just product. You have to learn that's what gives you momentum.
Speaker 1: That's what gives you momentum. You have to praise God
Speaker 1: for ten yards, not just touchdowns. You have to praise
Speaker 1: God for every trimester. You have to praise God. You
Speaker 1: have to do it, or you'll get distracted and discouraged
Speaker 1: like the Levites. Because while one generation is praising God, Oh,
Speaker 1: we're gonna have a temple, y'all. It's gonna be amazing.
Speaker 1: I can't wait to get in this temple and praise God. Oh,
Speaker 1: this is gonna be incredible. And here come the people
Speaker 1: who should be leading the praise party. And while the
Speaker 1: young people are blowing trump is you got trumpet sound
Speaker 1: or anything like that, get one ready, and we just
Speaker 1: do it real quick. It says verse twelve. Many of
Speaker 1: the older priests and Levites and family hads who had
Speaker 1: seen the former temple wept aloud when they saw the
Speaker 1: foundation of this temple being laid, while many others. But
Speaker 1: here's the problem. Thirteen. No one could distinguish the sound
Speaker 1: of the shouts of joy from the sound of weeping
Speaker 1: because it all just started sounding like noise. Has it
Speaker 1: been noisy in your heart lately? You can't tell the
Speaker 1: difference of whose voice is this? Is this God or
Speaker 1: is this the devil? Or is it just my Twitter feed?
Speaker 1: Is this God? Is this the devil? Or is it
Speaker 1: just me? Is this fate or is this foolishness? How
Speaker 1: could a group of people from the same nation be
Speaker 1: standing at the same foundation and one of them pulling
Speaker 1: out trumpets, and one of them in tears, trumpets and tears,
Speaker 1: trumpets and tears, both at the same time, trumpets and tears.
Speaker 1: She shouting, come on now, he's sleeping in the same surname.
Speaker 1: Trumpets and tears. Celebration, devastation, expectation, disappointment looking at the
Speaker 1: same thing, one voice of saying this is a amazing
Speaker 1: one voice of saying in length, oh, oh, one went better.
Speaker 1: I mean we had solomon Temple and Solomon's temple it
Speaker 1: was so good, and it was so much gold, and
Speaker 1: Solomon's Temple, Solomon's Temple was visiting gonna be like it was,
Speaker 1: and I used to have so much more. And at
Speaker 1: some point the disappointment starts drowning out the faith has
Speaker 1: that been happening in your temple, in your temple where
Speaker 1: there's something to celebrate. Oh, by the way, the second
Speaker 1: art that I want to talk about, because I did
Speaker 1: rhymnet last week and apparently I'm only going to do
Speaker 1: one this week is reference. There is a point of
Speaker 1: reference that you could come to today in your temple.
Speaker 1: And I remember, your body is the temple of the
Speaker 1: Holy Spirit. So when we talk about temples and Solomon's temple,
Speaker 1: this temple, by the way, it is eventually, everybody say,
Speaker 1: eventually put it in the chat if you know how
Speaker 1: to spell it. Eventually it is eventually going to be
Speaker 1: between two and three times bigger than the one that
Speaker 1: they're weeping over. But right now it seems like nothing.
Speaker 1: You have to be strong in seasons where it seems
Speaker 1: like nothing, or it will always be what it is
Speaker 1: right now. And I don't know who needs this medicine.
Speaker 1: But wishing won't get the temple built. Wanting won't get
Speaker 1: the temple built. Waiting won't get the temple built. Well,
Speaker 1: the Bible says wait on the Lord. I know I
Speaker 1: wrote a song about it. I believe that Bible verse two.
Speaker 1: But when waiting on what God is going to do
Speaker 1: or wishing for what God used to do, replaces working
Speaker 1: with what God gave you. Right now, I mean right now,
Speaker 1: be strong, right now, Man up right now, square up
Speaker 1: with your enemies and say it's not gonna be what
Speaker 1: it was, It's gonna be better. Here o preaching, I
Speaker 1: feel like preaching. So the builders lay the foundation, and
Speaker 1: there's trumpets, and the builders the foundation, and there's tears.
Speaker 1: And it's not two different foundations. It's how you see it.
Speaker 1: It's how you see it. Three months ago, he was
Speaker 1: praising God because he could breathe, because he had COVID
Speaker 1: so bad he wondered, am I ever gonna breathe normal again?
Speaker 1: Made him almost cry with joy when he would breathe,
Speaker 1: talking about my buddy Chunk started the church with me.
Speaker 1: But you know, let a little time go by. He's
Speaker 1: Olympic level breathing again. Just auto breath, mister, auto breath.
Speaker 1: When you have been somewhere so low, you appreciate moments
Speaker 1: of joy. Look, look, look, look, look, look how am
Speaker 1: I saying this because I've been depressed. I've been depressed.
Speaker 1: I'm not glad I was depressed. I'm not glad. If
Speaker 1: you're going through depression. But one thing it did for
Speaker 1: me is it made me know how valuable choy is.
Speaker 1: It made me know how valuable happy is. That's the
Speaker 1: thing about the bottom. That's what shows you where to
Speaker 1: build from. But the problem is when you stop at
Speaker 1: the bottom, when you stop at the bottom and go, oh, well,
Speaker 1: this is the worst thing that ever happened to me,
Speaker 1: or this is what I never saw coming, and then
Speaker 1: you stop building. Do you know? That's what the people
Speaker 1: did for sixteen years after Ezra chapter three. So the
Speaker 1: first scripture I read you was actually the second scripture.
Speaker 1: The second scripture I read you was the first script
Speaker 1: sure chronologically. So what happened was they started building the
Speaker 1: people under twenty five. Really, they would have had to
Speaker 1: be really old to see Solomon's temple. They would have
Speaker 1: had to be like seventy and stuff. I'm not saying
Speaker 1: that's really old, but that's really old. That's a lot
Speaker 1: of experience. And watch this. Their experience became the enemy
Speaker 1: of their expectation. So people will tell you, oh, the
Speaker 1: benefits of experience, there are some benefits to inexperience. Why
Speaker 1: do you think Jesus didn't pick Bible scholars to be
Speaker 1: His disciples. There is a benefit of ignorance. There's a
Speaker 1: benefit to somebody who's just coming to the church for
Speaker 1: the first time today that you won't have if you've
Speaker 1: been here too. Now, there are benefits of being here
Speaker 1: a long time. I really appreciate people been here a
Speaker 1: long time. That's why I really celebrate. I used to
Speaker 1: go to to church to be like, let's welcome all the
Speaker 1: first time. Guess I'm like, why are you clapping for them?
Speaker 1: They didn't do anything yet, they're the first time. Guess,
Speaker 1: let's hear it for the fourteen year veterans. Let's hear
Speaker 1: it for everybody who's stuck with it. So I get that,
Speaker 1: But there is sometimes a benefit of not knowing that
Speaker 1: this temple is not really that great compared to the
Speaker 1: last one. When they came over to the worship night
Speaker 1: mom in Jacksonville, I said, I'm sorry, y'all, this was
Speaker 1: the lowest night we had because it was the eighth
Speaker 1: night of the tour. They said, the lowest night. It
Speaker 1: was awesome. They hadn't been to the otherwise. There is
Speaker 1: a benefit when you haven't been there yet, never had
Speaker 1: a temple. So they got the trumpets out while those
Speaker 1: who had the old template were in tears. Wow, one
Speaker 1: of the knights on tour, I had a real encounter
Speaker 1: with God, Okay, and it was one of those where
Speaker 1: sometimes God will comfort you, sometimes he will correct you.
Speaker 1: Sometimes he will comfort you, correct you, and then comfort
Speaker 1: you again like a little rebuke sandwich. You ever had
Speaker 1: the Lord do that? Be very tactful. So I'm out
Speaker 1: there in the particular night, all I could see because
Speaker 1: we had just done this elevation night worship thing, and
Speaker 1: I've still been processing it because I don't know how
Speaker 1: to talk to you about it. Because there was so
Speaker 1: much God showed me about our ministry and our future.
Speaker 1: There were times over the past two years where I wondered,
Speaker 1: have we seen our best days? Because you know, not
Speaker 1: everybody's gonna come back, and so you're really scared. You're
Speaker 1: really scared. But I kept going in these arenas night
Speaker 1: after night, man, and it was powerful because thousands of
Speaker 1: people be singing the songs we sing here, just singing
Speaker 1: them out, every single song like it's their favorite. Just amazing,
Speaker 1: and every song that they were singing was like a
Speaker 1: scene in my life from when I remember either when
Speaker 1: we wrote it or when our church sang it or
Speaker 1: a season it got us through. So it was crazy
Speaker 1: because there's a soundtrack like a song like do It Again.
Speaker 1: I've seen You Move the Mountains and they're watching one
Speaker 1: movie of how their nephew had cancer and got healed
Speaker 1: in and I'm watching another movie how when they came
Speaker 1: for me so hard, I was so discos i was like, well,
Speaker 1: maybe I'll just give up the church, you know what
Speaker 1: I mean, like just being kind of a whimp about
Speaker 1: the whole thing. But I'm remembering how God strengthened and
Speaker 1: sustained me. Brings us all to the same soundtrack with
Speaker 1: so many different movies, same foundation, totally different response. You know,
Speaker 1: I'm listening to a song like Rattle, remembering when I
Speaker 1: was writing the lyrics on the window of the room
Speaker 1: in my house where I work out, and I'd send
Speaker 1: a new lyric over to Chris and he had a
Speaker 1: mic set up in his living room because we couldn't
Speaker 1: be together because of the thing, so he would record
Speaker 1: the new line and send it to me, and we
Speaker 1: did that what about thirty times. So when we're rocking
Speaker 1: to Rattle, I'm not just partying. I'm praising God because
Speaker 1: it went from the window to the worship service. God said,
Speaker 1: I will open up the window. So I'm out there. Yeah,
Speaker 1: they're screaming it back, but we're all all scream and
Speaker 1: live for a different reason. Something we didn't think we
Speaker 1: would survive. But look at you right now, Look at you,
Speaker 1: right now, Look at you, bisto. It's your frame of reference.
Speaker 1: And this is what I had, this heart to heart
Speaker 1: with God, you know, like not out loud, just in
Speaker 1: my heart. The night that I told you about where
Speaker 1: we didn't sell as many tickets, still more people in
Speaker 1: the room that night than the town. I grew up
Speaker 1: in sad frame of reference, frame of reference. I'm looking
Speaker 1: up there and I'm like, look at all those empty
Speaker 1: rows up there. The Lord said this, he may as
Speaker 1: well said it in Hebrew and Greek. And because I'm
Speaker 1: telling you it was just like a sentence. He said,
Speaker 1: for almost a year you preached in an empty room.
Speaker 1: Now you want to complain about empty rows. You see,
Speaker 1: that's the devil. That's the devil. I went from being
Speaker 1: like all I need is Jesus and a camera, reach
Speaker 1: them for the gospel. But watch how entitled how quick,
Speaker 1: Watch how the devil can shift your frame of reference
Speaker 1: to where you used to feel like, Oh, my god,
Speaker 1: if we could ever just get back together again. But
Speaker 1: then we're back together again, and I'm going, oh, there's
Speaker 1: some empty seats up there. Maybe we didn't do it
Speaker 1: too good. Maybe we didn't. And it's almost like the
Speaker 1: Lord said, stop crying, dry your tears, and blow your trumpet,
Speaker 1: because if you really take a good panoramic look at
Speaker 1: the situation, you don't even deserve the stuff that God
Speaker 1: gave you. On the foundation, I mean, really, really, really,
Speaker 1: the mercy that i'm walking in, the favor that i'm
Speaker 1: walking in, the grace that I perceive, the breath I
Speaker 1: breathed in the day that i'm standing in, the strength
Speaker 1: to stand here that came from God. He said, the
Speaker 1: silver is mind and the gold is mind. And I
Speaker 1: want you to get grateful about what I gave you again.
Speaker 1: I want you to dance on the foundation. I want
Speaker 1: you to dance on the dirt floor. I want you
Speaker 1: to dance in an unemployment. I want you to dance
Speaker 1: in a season of heartbreak. Blowyard trump it, lift your
Speaker 1: voice and give you God great sound, a break sound,
Speaker 1: A great gray gray gray? Is that great? How great
Speaker 1: is your God? How pray is your prey. I'm gonna
Speaker 1: get fifty people a little space to try your tears
Speaker 1: and blow your trumpet. Lord law God damn hold me.
Speaker 1: I got roll. Whoa huh, Because y'all, I didn't know
Speaker 1: if we'd ever be back in the building a south again.
Speaker 1: I gotta blow this trumpet. I am free, sane, whoa.
Speaker 1: Because I've had the enemy try to get me so
Speaker 1: discouraged that I would just give him back up everythink
Speaker 1: God gave me I have. I've had seasons where I'm like,
Speaker 1: all right, God, these kids are yours. I'm so glad.
Speaker 1: But now but now, but now, but now, but now,
Speaker 1: but now, but now but now. I remember, you ever
Speaker 1: get an attitude and you don't even know where it
Speaker 1: came from, and it's kind of like faith, it's kind
Speaker 1: of like anger, and you don't know which one it is.
Speaker 1: I put you a little bit too far. This dude,
Speaker 1: one time, I never told you this story to be
Speaker 1: this guy. One time in Nashville. He was talking down
Speaker 1: to me right before we start church. He's talking down
Speaker 1: to me. He said, now, listen, you need to give
Speaker 1: me all your publishing and this and that and the
Speaker 1: other and you're not getting none of it, but you
Speaker 1: ought to thank me for it because you're a nobody.
Speaker 1: And he was. He was right in the sense of
Speaker 1: my illustrious, non existent career. I got on that verse
Speaker 1: I couldn't get out. Does it not seem to you
Speaker 1: like nothing? But now be strong? That's what Hag Guy said.
Speaker 1: That's what Hag Guy said. I want, I want to
Speaker 1: I want to be Hag guy for you today it
Speaker 1: seems like nothing. It's a foundation. But now I don't
Speaker 1: even know where it came from. But I told the
Speaker 1: guy on the phone over there Sycamore Comments, he's getting
Speaker 1: my Q Dobi Bowle in that where it is Sycamore
Speaker 1: Comments just moved to Charlotte. Nobody in the church hadn't
Speaker 1: even gone to Sunday morning. I interrupted him. I say, hey,
Speaker 1: appreciate it what you're saying. I'm out here starting at church.
Speaker 1: God called me to start it, and I know it's
Speaker 1: nothing right now, But one day I don't even know,
Speaker 1: because God knows I have my doubts. But in this
Speaker 1: moment something took me over. It was like I heard
Speaker 1: my voice, but I w wasn't making it talk. And
Speaker 1: I'm telling the guy like I had good sense one
Speaker 1: day this church that God is building. Now, the key
Speaker 1: about it was I didn't argue with him about who
Speaker 1: I was, see because I know what John says that
Speaker 1: without him I can do nothing. But see, I'm not
Speaker 1: without him. So I'm just an instrument. And without the breath,
Speaker 1: the trumpet sits there looking stupid. But if God breaths
Speaker 1: in that trumpet, if God breathes all that business, if
Speaker 1: God breathes on that marriage, if God breathes on that idea,
Speaker 1: if God breathes on a ministry, what's it? Go wants it?
Speaker 1: So I said one day, somebody shout one day, one day,
Speaker 1: it's gonna be a church and we're gonna write songs
Speaker 1: and sing up all over the world. I didn't scream
Speaker 1: at him like that, but I said that that's not
Speaker 1: the challenge to shout about it now. The challenge is
Speaker 1: to shout about nothing. Can I talk to you like
Speaker 1: I talked to my kids. Your comparisons are killing you.
Speaker 1: I said it last week, I'm gonna say it this week,
Speaker 1: and if you come back, I'll say it again the
Speaker 1: next week too. You keep comparing your foundation with other
Speaker 1: people's finishes, and so you are distracted and you are discouraged.
Speaker 1: But if you change your frame of reference, I mean
Speaker 1: really really change your frame of reference. Remember how Dad
Speaker 1: used to talk about heads of hair because he was
Speaker 1: a barber. We'd be going out to Ryan's Jaba, go
Speaker 1: to nice restaurants or where they had the yeast rolls.
Speaker 1: What was that one, the big fat, big fat yeast
Speaker 1: roll Quincy's, Quincy's. How not forget Quincy's, Oh Jerusalem, if
Speaker 1: I forget you. But when we would be eating, he
Speaker 1: would be doing calculation how many heads of hair he'd
Speaker 1: have to cut the pay for the meal heads of hair?
Speaker 1: And you know, and then today, you know, God will
Speaker 1: do a little something for you. I'll bless you a
Speaker 1: little bit and all of that. And I guess, like
Speaker 1: compared to some people, I don't have a lot, but
Speaker 1: I guess compared to some people, I have so much.
Speaker 1: And yet either one is a death trap sea if
Speaker 1: I think about my dad, who had to drop out
Speaker 1: of school when he was still in middle school to
Speaker 1: help with the family expenses, and I look at what
Speaker 1: God did through me are for me? Really it wasn't
Speaker 1: even me the foundation that he laid. I can get
Speaker 1: so grateful, so quick and stuff stops being such a
Speaker 1: big deal. I reframe. That's the word reframe. It's your
Speaker 1: frame of reference that makes you praise God. It's your
Speaker 1: frame of reference that makes you have a pity party.
Speaker 1: Same foundation, different frame. And honestly, some people probably if
Speaker 1: they had all the things that God gave me, they'd
Speaker 1: probably do much better with it, you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1: And some people that you look at and you're jealous
Speaker 1: of the stuff that they are hiding from you, the
Speaker 1: expense of what you envy. The people you think you
Speaker 1: want to trade lives with, some of them would give
Speaker 1: anything to have what you think for granted, Graham asked
Speaker 1: me the other day, would you trade this and that
Speaker 1: to be Kanye? Oh, I'll be Kanye, I said, so.
Speaker 1: I get his creative brilliance and all that, but I
Speaker 1: don't get to be your dad. No bad trade deals
Speaker 1: off devil. I'm gonna be me. I'm gonna be me.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna dance over this foundation that God gave me,
Speaker 1: and I'm gonna work on it, and I'm gonna get
Speaker 1: better at it. And I'm gonna read the Seven Habits
Speaker 1: of highly Effective People and proverbs and Philippians. And I'm
Speaker 1: gonna do it, but I'm not gonna wish I was you,
Speaker 1: because wishing won't work, and neither were worrying. You've been
Speaker 1: so disappointed that you become distracted, discouraged, comparing the empty
Speaker 1: rose in the arena. What in the world has the
Speaker 1: devil got you focused on that is so bad that
Speaker 1: you can't just simply like look around for a moment.
Speaker 1: So I'm I'm working on it. You know it's hard
Speaker 1: for me. For me, I'm more of a tears than
Speaker 1: a trumpet person. I'm more of a what's wrong than
Speaker 1: what's right person? Glass half empty? Didn't I tell you
Speaker 1: last week? I'm not a glass half empty or a
Speaker 1: glass half full. I'm a hoospilled the water so I
Speaker 1: could put you. But I'm working on it. I'm working
Speaker 1: on what God gave me, what God gave me, And
Speaker 1: in't it crazy? Faris? Their enemies opposed the rebuilding to
Speaker 1: the temple, but they couldn't stop them. Yet what their
Speaker 1: enemies couldn't do, they could do to themselves. Sixteen years,
Speaker 1: the foundation sat there until the word of the Lord
Speaker 1: came through Hagod and said that what God is going
Speaker 1: to do next will be better than what he did before.
Speaker 1: Better will not be found in going backward. Tewod Corinthians
Speaker 1: three seventeen and eighteen says, now there's that word again.
Speaker 1: Now so they wrote the book making Peace with your Past.
Speaker 1: I wonder does somebody need to write a book called
Speaker 1: making peace with your present, with how it is, with
Speaker 1: how it really is the idolatry of tomorrow and the
Speaker 1: lie of yesterday. Now the Lord is the spirit. And
Speaker 1: where the spirit of the Lord was wrong? Answer Ferdick,
Speaker 1: Where the spirit of the Lord will be? Pay attention class,
Speaker 1: Pay attention class. Where the spirit of the Lord is,
Speaker 1: there is freedom. But now be strong. But now be strong.
Speaker 1: And we all who with unveiled faces. That's the old
Speaker 1: veil that they had to wear to look at the
Speaker 1: glory because Moses would come down wearing a veil, and
Speaker 1: so they couldn't see his face. But they don't need
Speaker 1: that anymore. Now we contemplate not the old glory, not
Speaker 1: the former glory, the Lord's glory. We are being transformed
Speaker 1: into his image. The hard part is God gives you
Speaker 1: an image of himself, that's who you're becoming. But the
Speaker 1: enemy gives you a different image. Worst case scenarios, past mistakes,
Speaker 1: other people's life. The Bible says, where the spirit of
Speaker 1: the Lord is, there is freedom. It is the freedom
Speaker 1: to become the version of me that God sees. It
Speaker 1: is the freedom to build the life with the resources
Speaker 1: he gave me that he called me to build. We
Speaker 1: are being transformed into His image. So when I say
Speaker 1: our word is we in the year is better, I'm
Speaker 1: not saying that because you're going to get a better
Speaker 1: spouse or a better house. I'm saying that He is
Speaker 1: transforming you the better image with ever increasing glory. And
Speaker 1: watch where it comes from. It comes from the Lord.
Speaker 1: It comes from the Lord, who is the spirit. The trumpet.
Speaker 1: Did you get a trumpet? I don't know. L J.
Speaker 1: Doesn't sound too much like a trumpet. Yeah, mh, LJ.
Speaker 1: This is about to put me in tears. Right now,
Speaker 1: you've a job. Oh you know what? You know what?
Speaker 1: We don't need it. They got one. If you believe
Speaker 1: the word that came through hag I. I want you
Speaker 1: to give God sixty seconds of chlor But now be strong.
Speaker 1: Yesterday's over, but now be strong. Lit your hands to
Speaker 1: come on. Open it up, Open it up, Open it up.
Speaker 1: River walk open eath, mam, open, open, open, open, Oh, oh,
Speaker 1: bit open, come on, open your mouth. Guess long, but
Speaker 1: now be strong say it. But now be strong. Not
Speaker 1: one day in the future when you get stable, but
Speaker 1: now be strong. Does it not look like nothing, But
Speaker 1: now be strong. The spirit of the Lord is here,
Speaker 1: But now be strong. I will grant peace in this place.
Speaker 1: When Joshuva got ready to fight the battle, he was
Speaker 1: looking at walls. God told him something very strange. He said,
Speaker 1: before the walls fall, blow a trumpet. That's the exact
Speaker 1: of logic. But when you have faith, when you have
Speaker 1: holy ghosts, have a increasing glory. The spirit of the
Speaker 1: Lord is here. Faith. When you got that hack ey
Speaker 1: word of the Lord, the glorious coming, the glorious coming.
Speaker 1: When you got that kind of faith, you announced to
Speaker 1: the enemy, I am strong in the Lord. He's strong
Speaker 1: in the Lord and in the power of his mind.
Speaker 1: Get back to work. Sixteen years you're going to stand
Speaker 1: there and cry over something that's never coming back. Be
Speaker 1: strong in the Lord and in the power of his mind.
Speaker 1: We give you glory. Lord. Some people will look at
Speaker 1: this sermon and they'll laugh at it. Oh, they look
Speaker 1: so stupid, shouting like that. Well, God, I'd rather look
Speaker 1: stupid shouting than be depressed cry. So I give you
Speaker 1: my shout, my Hollylujah, I give you glory, GLORI. We're
Speaker 1: not shouting over the finished product. We're shouting over the foundation.
Speaker 1: The deeper you dig, the higher you build. God, So
Speaker 1: thank you for everything you've dug out. Thank you for
Speaker 1: everything you've cleared away. Thank you even for the tears,
Speaker 1: because the tears taught us how to praise you. I
Speaker 1: pray for every man and woman, boy and girl who
Speaker 1: heard this word today, not just that the word would
Speaker 1: come through the microphone, but that it would get into
Speaker 1: their temple. And the glory of this present house, the
Speaker 1: one I'm looking at right now, the job you gave
Speaker 1: me right now, the place you put me right now,
Speaker 1: the challenge you gave me right now, the season you
Speaker 1: gave me right now, will be greater above anything I
Speaker 1: could ask, beyond anything I could imagine. We received this
Speaker 1: word right now in Jesus's name. Amen. Well, if you
Speaker 1: enjoy today's podcast, there are a couple things I'd love
Speaker 1: for you to do. Make sure to subscribe, rate, and
Speaker 1: review this podcast. You can also help us reach others
Speaker 1: by investing today at Elevation Church dot org, slash give
Speaker 1: and thanks again for joining us on the Elevation Podcast