WEBVTT - This Is The Time (Jonathan Josephs) 0:00:01.520 --> 0:00:02.800 Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick. 0:00:02.840 --> 0:00:05.840 I'm the pastor of Elevation Church and this is our podcast. 0:00:05.880 --> 0:00:08.320 I wanted to thank you for joining us today. Hope 0:00:08.320 --> 0:00:11.040 this inspires you. Hope it builds your faith. Hope it 0:00:11.039 --> 0:00:13.080 gives your perspective to see God is moving. 0:00:12.920 --> 0:00:18.760 In your life. Enjoy the message. What an awesome atmosphere 0:00:18.800 --> 0:00:22.560 of thanksgiving and praise today. And I'm so grateful to 0:00:22.560 --> 0:00:24.239 be able to be here with you today to share 0:00:24.320 --> 0:00:26.400 God's word. My name is Jonathan. If we haven't got 0:00:26.400 --> 0:00:29.880 the chance to meet, everybody calls me a lot of 0:00:29.920 --> 0:00:32.559 love from over here at Valentine. I have the privilege 0:00:32.560 --> 0:00:35.199 of serving here as the Valentine Campus pastor. I've had 0:00:35.200 --> 0:00:38.280 the honor of serving under Pastor Stephen and Pastor Hawley 0:00:38.360 --> 0:00:41.360 for twelve years now, almost thirteen years now, and it's 0:00:41.360 --> 0:00:43.120 been the joy of our life. How man, You're grateful 0:00:43.240 --> 0:00:46.360 that pastor of Stephen and Pastor Hawley gave God there 0:00:46.479 --> 0:00:49.000 yes and created a place for us to live out 0:00:49.440 --> 0:00:54.800 the calling and mandate on our life. And and I'm 0:00:54.800 --> 0:00:57.080 so grateful I get to share God's word with you today. 0:00:57.120 --> 0:00:58.960 I've been praying about what to share, and I felt 0:00:58.960 --> 0:01:01.360 like the Lord gave me a real clear assignment. I 0:01:01.440 --> 0:01:04.000 was asking God to give me a word that would 0:01:04.080 --> 0:01:06.440 inspire you to give as we are in this special 0:01:06.480 --> 0:01:08.720 time in our church, and the Lord said, don't inspire them, 0:01:08.760 --> 0:01:11.160 instruct them, And so I came with a word of 0:01:11.200 --> 0:01:13.720 instruction today. How many you know that God's words serves 0:01:14.040 --> 0:01:16.440 different purposes in our life. He can encourage us through 0:01:16.480 --> 0:01:19.360 his word. He can inspire us through this word. Sometimes 0:01:19.360 --> 0:01:22.120 this Holy Spirit will give us an insight. But I'm 0:01:22.160 --> 0:01:24.880 growing more and more grateful for the times the Lord 0:01:24.880 --> 0:01:27.800 shows up with an instruction for me. And that's my 0:01:27.880 --> 0:01:31.160 assignment for today. And this really is a special time 0:01:31.200 --> 0:01:33.399 a year for us here at Elevation Churches. We're getting 0:01:33.440 --> 0:01:35.880 ready for our expansion offering. In just a couple of weeks. 0:01:35.880 --> 0:01:38.520 We got a new building coming in Raleigh, North Carolina. 0:01:38.560 --> 0:01:43.400 Shout out through our Raleigh campus. We just opened a 0:01:43.480 --> 0:01:46.120 brand new Greenville campus. We're about to launch a campus 0:01:46.160 --> 0:01:49.440 in Somerville, South Carolina, outside of Charleston. And can we 0:01:49.480 --> 0:01:56.520 thank God for all the outreach that's happening Goodest Ministry. Well, 0:01:56.560 --> 0:01:58.760 I want to read this scripture to you today from 0:01:58.840 --> 0:02:01.000 Hey Guy, Chapter one. If you haven't heard of Hagai. 0:02:01.720 --> 0:02:04.520 He's a minor prophet that the Lord uses in a 0:02:04.600 --> 0:02:08.680 major way. And one thing that caught my attention was, 0:02:08.880 --> 0:02:11.200 you know, in your Bible there's the inspired word, and 0:02:11.240 --> 0:02:13.280 then there's the parts the publishers kind of put out 0:02:13.280 --> 0:02:15.160 the top of each section to give you an idea 0:02:15.639 --> 0:02:17.760 of what that chapter's about. Well, right at the top 0:02:17.840 --> 0:02:21.120 of hey guy, chapter one, it says, this a call 0:02:21.320 --> 0:02:24.760 to build the House of the Lord. And I just 0:02:24.840 --> 0:02:27.120 thought that was so fitting for the season that we're in, 0:02:27.200 --> 0:02:29.240 because whether you've been a part of this church for 0:02:29.320 --> 0:02:31.000 just a little while, or whether you've been a part 0:02:31.040 --> 0:02:33.880 of this church for over a decade or all twenty years, 0:02:33.880 --> 0:02:36.800 maybe there's a call on each of us, an assignment 0:02:36.800 --> 0:02:39.520 from God right now to build the House of God. 0:02:40.200 --> 0:02:42.040 And while, of course, you know this offering will go 0:02:42.080 --> 0:02:44.720 towards helping us launch new campuses, y'all know this. It's 0:02:44.760 --> 0:02:47.680 never been about new buildings. The Bible says God does 0:02:47.720 --> 0:02:49.840 not live in houses built by men, but we are 0:02:49.880 --> 0:02:52.280 the temple of the Holy Spirit. It's always been about 0:02:52.280 --> 0:02:55.560 seeing people far from God raised to life in Christ. 0:02:55.600 --> 0:02:58.280 But there's something powerful that happens in our lives when 0:02:58.280 --> 0:03:03.280 we connect our purpose to the purpose and priorities of God. 0:03:03.760 --> 0:03:07.360 So let's look at Hagui. Chapter one says in the 0:03:07.400 --> 0:03:09.880 second year of King Darius, on the first day of 0:03:09.919 --> 0:03:12.320 the sixth month, the word of the Lord came through 0:03:12.360 --> 0:03:16.720 the prophet Hagui Ti Zerubabyl son of schieltial I worked 0:03:16.720 --> 0:03:20.160 really hard on pronouncing that the governor of Judah and 0:03:20.280 --> 0:03:23.760 Joshua son of Josephac the high priest. This is what 0:03:23.800 --> 0:03:28.160 the Lord Almighty says. These people say, the time has 0:03:28.240 --> 0:03:32.040 not yet come to rebuild the Lord's house. Then the 0:03:32.040 --> 0:03:34.640 word of the Lord came through the prophet Hagi. Is 0:03:34.639 --> 0:03:37.240 it a time for you yourselves to be living in 0:03:37.320 --> 0:03:42.080 paneled houses while this house remains a ruin. Now, this 0:03:42.200 --> 0:03:45.320 is what the Lord Almighty says. Give careful thought to 0:03:45.400 --> 0:03:50.080 your ways. You applanted much, but harvested little. You eat 0:03:50.680 --> 0:03:54.560 but never have enough. You drink but never have your fill. 0:03:55.120 --> 0:03:57.920 You put on clothes, but you are not warm. You 0:03:58.000 --> 0:04:01.200 earn wages only to put the in a purse with 0:04:01.320 --> 0:04:04.680 holes in it. This is what the Lord Almighty says. 0:04:04.840 --> 0:04:07.720 Give careful thought to your ways. Go up into the 0:04:07.720 --> 0:04:13.600 mountains and bring down timber and build my house. Go 0:04:13.680 --> 0:04:17.320 up into the mountains, bring down timber, and build my 0:04:17.480 --> 0:04:20.480 house so that I may take pleasure in it and 0:04:21.080 --> 0:04:26.599 be honored, says the Lord. Title of my message today 0:04:27.120 --> 0:04:30.400 is this is the time. This is the time. Touch 0:04:30.440 --> 0:04:32.200 your neighbor as you take your seat, say this is 0:04:32.240 --> 0:04:37.400 the time. Last week Pastor Stephen preached this is then, 0:04:37.480 --> 0:04:40.000 what a powerful word for us, and today I want 0:04:40.000 --> 0:04:43.520 to stay in that spirit. This is the time. I 0:04:43.560 --> 0:04:45.640 thought about opening up this message with a little bit 0:04:45.680 --> 0:04:48.840 of audience participation, but then I decided against it because 0:04:49.400 --> 0:04:51.280 I was gonna ask the question. I was gonna have 0:04:51.320 --> 0:04:54.200 you raise your hand and self identify if you are 0:04:54.240 --> 0:04:57.159 a procrastinator. But the more I thought about it, I 0:04:57.240 --> 0:05:00.680 realized you wouldn't be honest, and so better way would 0:05:00.680 --> 0:05:02.480 have been to say, raise your hand if you're sitting 0:05:02.520 --> 0:05:07.800 next to a procrastinator, and then I'm like a yeah, yeah, yeah. 0:05:07.839 --> 0:05:09.240 But the more I thought about it, I thought it's 0:05:09.279 --> 0:05:11.440 not really a fair question to ask, because the more 0:05:11.480 --> 0:05:13.880 I gave a thought, the more I realized that, well, 0:05:13.920 --> 0:05:16.200 each of us have certain areas and aspects of our 0:05:16.240 --> 0:05:20.359 life that we treat with urgency and diligence. At the 0:05:20.360 --> 0:05:22.440 same time, all of us have areas in our life 0:05:22.440 --> 0:05:26.359 where we procrastinate. So what you treat with diligence and 0:05:26.520 --> 0:05:28.720 urgency might not be the same thing as someone else. 0:05:28.720 --> 0:05:31.640 But there's something you procrastinate on that's probably driving your 0:05:31.680 --> 0:05:34.200 spouse nuts. And I thought about. Just a couple of 0:05:34.200 --> 0:05:36.839 weeks ago, I got really aggravated with my wife Ann. 0:05:36.880 --> 0:05:38.839 And now before I know, I don't get the preacher 0:05:39.120 --> 0:05:41.080 all that often. All of you know us, so trust me, 0:05:41.200 --> 0:05:43.760 I say, we're good. We've been married fifteen years. She's 0:05:43.800 --> 0:05:48.240 the love of my life. She's obsessed with me ever 0:05:48.320 --> 0:05:50.560 since I grew out my hair. She calls me her Maui, 0:05:50.600 --> 0:05:55.640 her Canadian, Chinese Jamaican Maui. I don't know, and uh. 0:05:56.120 --> 0:05:58.120 I always like to make the message weird right at 0:05:58.120 --> 0:06:00.400 the top. But a couple of weeks ago, got real 0:06:00.440 --> 0:06:05.840 aggravated because one thing I can't stand is subscriptions. And 0:06:05.880 --> 0:06:08.440 there's nothing worse than looking at my bank account and 0:06:08.480 --> 0:06:10.839 realizing that I've been paying for something that I haven't 0:06:10.839 --> 0:06:14.560 even been using. And the other day I open up 0:06:14.600 --> 0:06:16.440 my inbox and I see an email that says that 0:06:16.480 --> 0:06:21.719 we had subscribed to Apple TV through Amazon Prime. Help 0:06:21.760 --> 0:06:24.160 me make sense of this. We'd subscribed to Apple TV 0:06:24.279 --> 0:06:28.640 through Amazon Prime. They're all in cahoots, and I said, Anna, 0:06:28.720 --> 0:06:31.520 did you subscribe to Apple TV? And she said, yeah, 0:06:31.520 --> 0:06:33.120 I did. There was a movie I wanted to watch 0:06:33.160 --> 0:06:34.800 with the kids and it was on Apple TV, so 0:06:34.839 --> 0:06:36.600 I subscribed it. I said, well, that's not the problem 0:06:36.600 --> 0:06:39.280 that you subscribe to Apple TV. The problem is we 0:06:39.320 --> 0:06:43.839 already have Apple TV and Amazon Prime. And she's like, 0:06:43.839 --> 0:06:46.080 oh my goodness, I'm so sorry. I didn't realize that. 0:06:46.120 --> 0:06:47.880 She said, don't worry. I already put a reminder in 0:06:47.920 --> 0:06:50.400 my phone to cancel it. I said, we'll go ahead 0:06:50.400 --> 0:06:52.760 and just cancel it right now, and she's like, well, no, 0:06:52.800 --> 0:06:54.599 I'm busy right now, but don't worry. I put a 0:06:54.640 --> 0:06:57.680 reminder in my phone to cancel it. And y'all, I 0:06:57.760 --> 0:06:59.960 know how this goes. We've been married for fifteen year. 0:07:00.279 --> 0:07:03.320 That reminder might go off when our daughter's having a breakdown, 0:07:03.320 --> 0:07:05.719 that reminder might go off when she's in the middle 0:07:05.720 --> 0:07:07.840 of a conversation, and next thing I know, I might 0:07:07.880 --> 0:07:10.960 be paying another to nine ninety nine for Apple TV 0:07:11.040 --> 0:07:13.560 through Amazon Prime when I already have Apple TV. So 0:07:13.600 --> 0:07:16.679 I said, no, cancel it. Now. This is the time. 0:07:17.600 --> 0:07:21.640 This is the time. Now I can share that story 0:07:21.680 --> 0:07:23.840 because I'm the one with the microphone. But Anna could 0:07:23.880 --> 0:07:28.400 give you hundreds of examples of when my procrastination cost us, 0:07:28.480 --> 0:07:30.160 Like when she kept telling me to make sure I 0:07:30.160 --> 0:07:33.040 added her engagement ring to our insurance policy in case 0:07:33.040 --> 0:07:36.240 it ever got lost, and I didn't add the engagement 0:07:36.320 --> 0:07:38.560 ring to the insurance policy. How many you know that 0:07:38.560 --> 0:07:40.600 that ring that got lost costs a lot more than 0:07:40.600 --> 0:07:44.920 a subscription. But all of us have places in our 0:07:44.960 --> 0:07:48.520 life that we procrastinated on, And that's really what the 0:07:48.560 --> 0:07:50.760 Lord is addressing in the hearts of his people in 0:07:50.800 --> 0:07:53.240 this passage. You see God, of course, you know, had 0:07:53.280 --> 0:07:55.800 delivered his people out of Egypt, taken them into the 0:07:55.840 --> 0:07:58.720 Promised Land through King Solomon. He built a temple for 0:07:58.760 --> 0:08:00.840 the Lord in the Promised Land. Along the way. Through 0:08:00.880 --> 0:08:04.360 their disobedience, they get invaded by foreigners, they get taken 0:08:04.400 --> 0:08:06.320 into exile. And now when we pick up in the 0:08:06.320 --> 0:08:09.160 Book of Hegui, God has brought them back into the 0:08:09.240 --> 0:08:12.480 Promised Land and he's giving them this charge to rebuild 0:08:12.600 --> 0:08:16.480 his temple because they have been procrastinating on it. Because 0:08:17.200 --> 0:08:19.840 what is not a priority to you, you will always 0:08:19.960 --> 0:08:23.600 procrastinate on. And so when God sends this word of 0:08:23.600 --> 0:08:26.360 instruction to his people, it's because he is trying to 0:08:26.440 --> 0:08:31.200 make important to them what is important to him. And 0:08:31.240 --> 0:08:34.040 he's frustrated. And how do I know they're frustrated. He's frustrated. 0:08:34.040 --> 0:08:36.160 Look at verse two and verse two. It says, this 0:08:36.240 --> 0:08:39.360 is what the Lord Almighty says. These people say, not 0:08:39.520 --> 0:08:43.040 my people. These people say. It's like when Anna says, 0:08:43.080 --> 0:08:46.920 your daughter has an attitude today, these people say. And 0:08:47.000 --> 0:08:49.320 the Lord sends this word in his grace and and 0:08:49.360 --> 0:08:51.800 his mercy, through the prophet Hagui, to the leaders of 0:08:51.840 --> 0:08:54.760 the nation, saying, it's time for you to get back 0:08:54.760 --> 0:08:57.839 to work. It's time for you to prioritize in your 0:08:57.920 --> 0:09:01.400 life what is important to me. Now, it's important to 0:09:01.400 --> 0:09:03.520 know that one of the ways the devil keeps you 0:09:03.559 --> 0:09:06.959 stuck in your life is by getting you to procrastinate 0:09:07.400 --> 0:09:09.920 and push off the things that God is calling you to. 0:09:10.920 --> 0:09:13.520 He's smart, you know. So if the enemy just tried 0:09:13.520 --> 0:09:16.120 to get you to disobey, hey, just ignore what God said. 0:09:16.120 --> 0:09:17.840 You're too smart for that. And he knows that you'd 0:09:17.840 --> 0:09:19.240 be like, Ah, that's the devil. I'm not going to 0:09:19.320 --> 0:09:22.040 listen to that. So when the devil can't get you 0:09:22.120 --> 0:09:26.320 to disobey, he'll get you to delay. And we have 0:09:26.400 --> 0:09:28.720 a way of putting off the things that God has 0:09:28.800 --> 0:09:31.680 called us to over and over and over again. And 0:09:31.720 --> 0:09:34.120 they're saying, now is not the time. Now is not 0:09:34.200 --> 0:09:36.480 the time. They've set a reminder in their phone, and 0:09:36.520 --> 0:09:39.320 God's saying, you can't keep putting this off anymore. Now 0:09:39.440 --> 0:09:41.760 is the time to build my house. All the parents 0:09:41.760 --> 0:09:43.760 can testify with what I'm about to say, and it's 0:09:43.760 --> 0:09:46.080 true of the scripture. How many you know that delayed 0:09:46.160 --> 0:09:50.360 obedience is still disobedience. All the parents make some noise, 0:09:53.160 --> 0:09:58.080 delayed obedience is still disobedience. And the real premise of 0:09:58.120 --> 0:10:00.160 this whole text that I want to encourage you with 0:10:00.320 --> 0:10:02.400 is the truth that you see in the principle that 0:10:02.440 --> 0:10:05.480 you see in this passage of when I build God's house, 0:10:05.800 --> 0:10:10.559 He'll bless mine. When I build God's house, He'll bless mine. 0:10:11.440 --> 0:10:13.640 And so no wonder the enemy wants to keep us 0:10:13.679 --> 0:10:16.360 in this cycle of delaying and putting off the very 0:10:16.400 --> 0:10:20.000 things that God has asked them to do. And if 0:10:20.000 --> 0:10:22.560 the enemy can keep us stuck in these cycles of 0:10:22.600 --> 0:10:26.000 delay in procrastination, then he can keep us back from 0:10:26.000 --> 0:10:27.800 the things that God has in store for us. If 0:10:27.800 --> 0:10:30.959 he can delay our sowing, he can delay our reaping. 0:10:31.520 --> 0:10:34.120 So God, in his grace sends this word to his 0:10:34.200 --> 0:10:36.320 people saying no, no, no, You've been saying the time 0:10:36.400 --> 0:10:39.120 is not yet calm, but he's saying, now is the time. 0:10:39.240 --> 0:10:42.240 It is a call to build His house. And that 0:10:42.400 --> 0:10:44.720 is really the invitation in the season that we have 0:10:44.880 --> 0:10:48.160 before us as a church right now. It's not about buildings. 0:10:48.160 --> 0:10:51.040 It's not just about this offering. It's about aligning our 0:10:51.080 --> 0:10:56.199 priorities with the priorities of God. So much of spiritual 0:10:56.240 --> 0:10:58.720 growth in your life is simply that God getting you 0:10:58.880 --> 0:11:01.240 to care about the things that matter to His kingdom 0:11:01.559 --> 0:11:04.360 and getting you to deprioritize the things that the world 0:11:04.360 --> 0:11:07.600 tells you are important. That is spiritual growth. The more 0:11:07.640 --> 0:11:10.920 I align my priorities with the priorities of Heaven, the 0:11:10.920 --> 0:11:13.280 more peace I have, the more joy I have, the 0:11:13.280 --> 0:11:15.400 more blessing I walk in, the more favor I have. 0:11:15.760 --> 0:11:18.320 And so God is always calling us into something, and 0:11:18.320 --> 0:11:20.319 the enemy will get you to say, ah, it's not 0:11:20.440 --> 0:11:22.760 just the time yet. So there's a few things in 0:11:22.800 --> 0:11:26.160 this passage of Scripture that I think we're keeping the 0:11:26.280 --> 0:11:29.920 Israelites in this moment, in this cycle of waiting, in 0:11:29.960 --> 0:11:32.520 the cycle of putting off. See, most people never say 0:11:32.559 --> 0:11:36.760 no to God. Sometimes we just say not yet. One 0:11:36.760 --> 0:11:38.400 of the things that I think they were waiting on 0:11:39.000 --> 0:11:42.280 is that they were waiting on peace. They were waiting 0:11:42.320 --> 0:11:46.560 for peace. Now, when I first read this passage, I thought, 0:11:47.040 --> 0:11:49.920 what is the problem with They've just come out of exile, 0:11:50.200 --> 0:11:52.360 They're back in the land. What's the problem with them 0:11:52.400 --> 0:11:55.000 putting together their own homes and making sure that they 0:11:55.000 --> 0:11:57.760 have shelter over their heads and for their families. And 0:11:58.280 --> 0:11:59.920 once they get through that, then of course they could 0:12:00.520 --> 0:12:03.000 the temple. But there's an important detail in this passage. 0:12:03.320 --> 0:12:05.680 In this passage, in hey Gi, God says, is it 0:12:05.720 --> 0:12:09.559 a time for you to be living in paneled houses? 0:12:10.679 --> 0:12:13.720 That's an important detail because the panel was not functional, 0:12:14.120 --> 0:12:16.800 it was aesthetic. And so what the Lord is saying 0:12:16.920 --> 0:12:20.440 is that you are continuing to live in comfort and 0:12:20.559 --> 0:12:25.000 luxury while my house remains and ruins. And listen, God 0:12:25.080 --> 0:12:27.280 is not bothered when we have nice things. God is 0:12:27.320 --> 0:12:30.160 not upset by our comfort. But sometimes we get so 0:12:30.360 --> 0:12:33.920 trapped in comfort and we call it peace. Some of 0:12:34.000 --> 0:12:35.920 us are waiting for peace. And when we say the 0:12:35.960 --> 0:12:38.480 word peace, we don't mean the peace of God, the 0:12:38.480 --> 0:12:41.960 peace that God gives, because the peace that God gives 0:12:42.280 --> 0:12:45.240 means the presence of God, even in the midst of trouble, 0:12:45.520 --> 0:12:49.160 even in the midst of difficult circumstances. And so sometimes 0:12:49.240 --> 0:12:51.520 when we say peace, what we really mean is when 0:12:51.559 --> 0:12:54.720 things feel comfortable. I just didn't have peace about that. No, 0:12:54.920 --> 0:12:58.320 things just weren't comfortable yet, things just weren't easy. Sometimes 0:12:58.360 --> 0:13:00.560 when we say peace, we mean that we're waiting on 0:13:00.600 --> 0:13:03.959 the ideal circumstances for everything to line up. And hey, 0:13:04.000 --> 0:13:07.040 when I get all my stuff figured out, then I'll 0:13:07.080 --> 0:13:10.120 prioritize the things that mattered to God. And so they 0:13:10.160 --> 0:13:13.120 stay stuck in this place, saying if then, if I 0:13:13.160 --> 0:13:14.760 can just get to this, if I can just get 0:13:14.760 --> 0:13:18.040 the kids graduate, then then then we'll prioritize the things 0:13:18.040 --> 0:13:20.720 that matter to God. But the other interesting thing is 0:13:20.760 --> 0:13:24.120 that this wasn't one year or two years or three 0:13:24.200 --> 0:13:26.400 years after they'd been in the land that God sends 0:13:26.440 --> 0:13:29.800 us word through Hagui. When God sends this word through 0:13:29.800 --> 0:13:34.000 his prophet Hagui to Joshua and to Zarubabel, they had 0:13:34.040 --> 0:13:39.480 been back in the land for eight teen years. Eighteen 0:13:39.559 --> 0:13:41.560 years they've been living back in the land. That's like 0:13:41.600 --> 0:13:44.480 Anna asking me to take the trash out, and I say, oh, 0:13:44.520 --> 0:13:46.120 I'll get to it, and I finally do it when 0:13:46.360 --> 0:13:50.040 my son is twenty nine years old. Eighteen years then 0:13:50.120 --> 0:13:53.040 been waiting in the land. In the Book of Ezra, 0:13:53.200 --> 0:13:55.120 it tells us the account of when they got back 0:13:55.160 --> 0:13:57.439 out of exile as well, and how they begin right 0:13:57.480 --> 0:14:00.640 away rebuilding the temple. And in the first two years 0:14:00.679 --> 0:14:03.920 they built the foundation of the temple. But then there 0:14:04.000 --> 0:14:08.319 is external attacks from nearby enemies, there was internal discord, 0:14:08.360 --> 0:14:11.520 they had pressures from the outside, pressures from the inside. 0:14:11.600 --> 0:14:14.640 And after two years of building the foundation and Ezra 0:14:14.760 --> 0:14:17.280 chapter four it ends with this horrible verse where it 0:14:17.280 --> 0:14:19.760 says that the work on the Lord's house came to 0:14:20.320 --> 0:14:25.920 a standstill when the circumstances got hard. They stopped. And 0:14:26.040 --> 0:14:29.160 somewhere along the way, we've convinced ourselves or brought into 0:14:29.200 --> 0:14:32.040 this idea that following God was supposed to be easy, 0:14:33.200 --> 0:14:35.360 and so we say things like, oh, the Lord just 0:14:35.400 --> 0:14:37.520 shut the door, the Lord just shut the door, or 0:14:37.560 --> 0:14:40.120 you just gave up because it got hard, Because I 0:14:40.160 --> 0:14:41.960 know a God who can open up doors that no 0:14:42.080 --> 0:14:44.320 man can shut. And if you would just keep moving 0:14:44.360 --> 0:14:47.480 in accordance to His word, he could open that door 0:14:47.520 --> 0:14:49.640 for you. And so all of us have a decision 0:14:49.720 --> 0:14:51.320 we get to make in our life when it comes 0:14:51.320 --> 0:14:53.800 to how we live. I can either base my decisions 0:14:54.160 --> 0:14:57.720 on my circumstances, or I can base my decisions on 0:14:57.760 --> 0:15:01.160 what God says. When and I choose to build my 0:15:01.440 --> 0:15:05.200 life on what he says, then I can't consult my circumstances. 0:15:05.360 --> 0:15:08.160 And the moment things in their life got difficult, whether 0:15:08.200 --> 0:15:10.240 it was a tax from the inside or at tax 0:15:10.320 --> 0:15:12.800 from the outside, they stop on the work that God 0:15:12.840 --> 0:15:15.440 had called them to do. Two years they built a foundation, 0:15:15.600 --> 0:15:18.600 and then for sixteen years it sat there while they 0:15:18.640 --> 0:15:22.520 continued to work on their houses. Some of us in 0:15:22.520 --> 0:15:25.240 our church we built some of you have built a 0:15:25.360 --> 0:15:28.600 foundation of faith. Yeah, there was a time where you 0:15:28.640 --> 0:15:30.640 trusted God and you were pushing through and you were 0:15:30.640 --> 0:15:32.600 diligent about the things that He had called you to 0:15:32.880 --> 0:15:35.480 and you sacrificed and you were living by faith. And 0:15:35.560 --> 0:15:37.600 somewhere along the way you said that's good enough, and 0:15:37.640 --> 0:15:41.280 you stopped building. What I love why this is a 0:15:41.320 --> 0:15:43.640 tradition for us as a church is because this is 0:15:43.640 --> 0:15:45.520 not a one time thing. We invite you to be 0:15:45.560 --> 0:15:47.880 a part of every year. When we have this year 0:15:47.960 --> 0:15:50.680 end offering, it's an opportunity for you to decide is 0:15:50.720 --> 0:15:55.720 God finished or is this just the foundation. I don't 0:15:55.760 --> 0:15:57.640 want it to be said of me what was said 0:15:57.680 --> 0:16:00.000 in Ezra chapter four that the work of the Lord finnish. 0:16:00.560 --> 0:16:02.560 I want to continue to see God take me from 0:16:02.600 --> 0:16:06.440 glory to glory, to strength to strength. And whether that's 0:16:06.440 --> 0:16:09.000 in your own life, or your own family, or your business, 0:16:09.080 --> 0:16:12.160 or certainly this ministry. I don't believe that God is 0:16:12.240 --> 0:16:15.160 done yet, so I can't keep waiting for the perfect 0:16:15.160 --> 0:16:18.840 circumstances and the ideal scenarios before I say yes to 0:16:18.920 --> 0:16:21.920 what God has asked us to do. God has asked 0:16:21.960 --> 0:16:24.840 us to see people far from God raise to life 0:16:24.840 --> 0:16:27.920 in Christ, and that is the invitation before us. Now, 0:16:28.200 --> 0:16:30.280 they were waiting for peace, but not the type of 0:16:30.320 --> 0:16:32.960 peace that God gives. Because one thing I've just learned 0:16:32.960 --> 0:16:37.000 in my life is that very rarely did peace precede 0:16:37.400 --> 0:16:41.360 my obedience. Often it was when I obeyed, then I 0:16:41.480 --> 0:16:45.720 experience the peace of God. And so when someone gets 0:16:45.760 --> 0:16:47.360 up and says we're getting ready for our year end 0:16:47.400 --> 0:16:50.800 offering on December fourteenth. Someone might say, I just don't 0:16:50.800 --> 0:16:53.040 have peace about that. But what if you sought the Lord, 0:16:53.720 --> 0:16:56.080 listen to his voice, and obeyed what he said. I 0:16:56.120 --> 0:16:59.240 promise you would experience the peace that God gives on 0:16:59.320 --> 0:17:02.640 the other side. The other thing that I think had 0:17:02.680 --> 0:17:05.440 them stuck, Thank you, Praise the Lord, everybody. That's a 0:17:05.480 --> 0:17:09.879 good word. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, because the enemy keeps 0:17:09.920 --> 0:17:12.080 us in this cycle because we're saying, ah, it's just 0:17:12.119 --> 0:17:14.800 not the right time. The economy's hard. When I get 0:17:14.800 --> 0:17:17.080 this deb paid, no, no, no. If the Lord speaks 0:17:17.080 --> 0:17:19.120 to you, today is the day to obey. And Hebrews 0:17:19.119 --> 0:17:22.040 says today when you hear God's voice, do not harden 0:17:22.040 --> 0:17:24.840 your heart. And every time God speaks to you, it's 0:17:24.840 --> 0:17:27.480 an opportunity for obedience. Y'all. If you think this message 0:17:27.520 --> 0:17:29.800 is just about money, you're missing the point. This is 0:17:29.840 --> 0:17:33.840 about obedience to his voice. The other thing that kept 0:17:33.840 --> 0:17:36.400 them stuck was that they were waiting for more. Look 0:17:36.440 --> 0:17:39.840 at this description that the Lord gives in verse six. 0:17:40.400 --> 0:17:44.479 You planted much, but harvested little. You eat but you 0:17:44.520 --> 0:17:46.680 never have enough. You drink but you never have your fill. 0:17:46.720 --> 0:17:49.080 You put on clothes, but you are not warm. You 0:17:49.119 --> 0:17:52.199 earn wages only to put them in a purse with 0:17:52.320 --> 0:17:54.919 holes in it? Does that not describe our lives in 0:17:54.960 --> 0:18:00.159 so many ways? Sometimes that cycle of discontentment that we 0:18:00.200 --> 0:18:02.439 live in, where it feels like no matter what we do, 0:18:02.520 --> 0:18:05.000 it's never enough. You look at your bank and you're like, 0:18:05.000 --> 0:18:07.280 I know, I got paid. Where did it all go? Target, 0:18:07.320 --> 0:18:10.440 that's where it all went. Put it in a purse 0:18:10.520 --> 0:18:12.440 just to have holes on it? Where did this end up? 0:18:13.400 --> 0:18:15.960 And the Lord is addressing one of the excuses that 0:18:16.080 --> 0:18:17.800 so often we care because how many of you have 0:18:17.800 --> 0:18:20.200 found yourself in one moment or another in your life 0:18:20.640 --> 0:18:23.320 simply saying well, if I had more, I would do more. 0:18:23.840 --> 0:18:26.760 If I had more, I would give more. And that's 0:18:26.800 --> 0:18:29.520 the place that the Israelites find themselves in. They keep 0:18:29.560 --> 0:18:34.400 saying they feel economically frustrated, and they're using that as 0:18:34.400 --> 0:18:38.000 a reason not to rebuild the Lord's temple. So they 0:18:38.080 --> 0:18:41.520 keep saying, well, we just don't have enough. And it's 0:18:41.560 --> 0:18:44.040 interesting how what the Lord is describing here is the 0:18:44.160 --> 0:18:46.600 very thing that they use as a reason not to give. 0:18:47.160 --> 0:18:49.240 But what the Lord is trying to get them to 0:18:49.280 --> 0:18:52.199 see is that what they are calling a reason is 0:18:52.280 --> 0:18:56.320 actually the result. Let me say that a little more clearly. 0:18:56.359 --> 0:18:58.520 They're saying, well, Lord, if we had more, we would 0:18:58.560 --> 0:19:01.080 build your house, and the Lord saying, no, no, no, if 0:19:01.119 --> 0:19:08.680 you built my house, you would have more. Because it's 0:19:08.720 --> 0:19:12.399 about priorities. His temple represented his priority amongst his people, 0:19:12.440 --> 0:19:15.440 his presence amongst his people, And so he's saying no, no, no, 0:19:15.560 --> 0:19:17.560 you keep waiting to have more, But when will you 0:19:17.680 --> 0:19:21.000 prioritize me and your presence. When you begin to do that, 0:19:21.080 --> 0:19:23.760 you'll see that it's better to have God in a 0:19:23.800 --> 0:19:26.480 little with me than to have much without God. Amen. 0:19:29.119 --> 0:19:32.000 When I was in high school, I spent a month 0:19:32.040 --> 0:19:34.760 living on a missions trip in Namibia, Africa. And while 0:19:34.800 --> 0:19:37.000 I was there, I met a pastor who had a church. 0:19:37.080 --> 0:19:39.080 His church was just a piece of sheet metal off 0:19:39.280 --> 0:19:41.280 the side of his house where his church met, and 0:19:41.320 --> 0:19:43.359 it made such a profound impact on my life, and 0:19:43.400 --> 0:19:45.880 we developed a great relationship. And then when I went 0:19:45.920 --> 0:19:48.679 off to college, he actually ended up living with my 0:19:48.840 --> 0:19:52.080 family in Canada while he was attending school in Canada, 0:19:52.080 --> 0:19:53.600 And so when I was home for the summers, we'd 0:19:53.600 --> 0:19:56.040 spend all the time together and we'd go to the 0:19:56.119 --> 0:19:58.080 church that I grew up in, and no matter what 0:19:58.200 --> 0:20:00.240 the pastor preached on, we'd get back in the car 0:20:00.280 --> 0:20:02.720 after church and Kamati would always say to me, John, 0:20:03.040 --> 0:20:05.760 why don't they talk about giving? No matter what the message, 0:20:05.760 --> 0:20:08.000