Today, I would like you to turn with me to an Old Testament prophet that we are going to deal with in the next couple of weeks in the will of the Lord. And the prophet's name is Haggai. And if you please turn with me to the short message or messages that the prophet Haggai had preached and shared with the people of Israel. And we are going to look over some of the lessons that we can learn from the prophet Haggai. I've chosen this passage because, I don't know if you feel this in your own heart, when we first became believers in the Messiah, in the Lord Yeshua, we have had a lot of zeal and burden for the things of the Lord.

To be reading the Bible, or to pray, or to attend a meeting or to share the message of the Lord Jesus our Messiah was something very common in our lives when we first believed on Yeshua. He was very precious to us and our hearts have been so engaged with this wonderful person. But time passes by and we become very cold if you will or cool towards the things of the Lord and it reminds me what the Lord said to the churches in the seven churches of the book of the Revelation where the Lord was dealing with every church and he was giving a challenge to every local assembly he was dealing with those seven churches and if you.

Remember, he said some things that were very unique to every assembly, every church. And the church of Ephesus, he said to the church of Ephesus in Revelation 2 and verse 4, I have something against you, he said, because you have left your first love. Now what the Lord has said to the church of Ephesus in a new testament present time it is the God of Israel who said to our people of old through the prophet Haggai long before the Messiah came in his first coming and i want you just to read with me first of all today the first 11 verses of Haggai chapter 1 Haggai of course is a minor prophet.

He spoke to the people of Judah who came back from captivity after the 70 years where the tribe of Judah and Benjamin had been in Babylon for 70 years. They had been restored back to the land and something had happened to the people of Judah after a while when they were back in the land today we're going to look at some introductory remarks and perhaps a few verses in the. Beginning and then Lord willing will continue to follow these two chapters and four messages that Haggai was giving to the people of Judah but listen first of all to the first 11 verses 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 and to Zerubabel the son of Sha'altiel the governor of Judah and to Yehoshua the son of Yotzedek the high priest saying Thus speaketh the Lord of hosts saying These 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 time for you or ye to dwell in your cedar houses and this house lies in waste? Now therefore, thus says the Lord of hosts, Consider your ways. In the Hebrew words, it's much more than just what we have here in the English. Simu levavchem al darkechem. Let me just give it to you in English. Put your hearts and see the ways in which you are going. And he continued in verse 6. Ye have so much, 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 to put it into a bag with holes. I stop here with these verses that are found here in Haggai. Very interesting book, beloved brothers and sisters, the book of Haggai. You know, there are various prophets of our own people, the people of Israel, that have spoken to the nation of Israel. Some have spoken to the nation of Israel before Israel went into captivity. Before the nation of Israel went into the Syrian, the northern tribes, and before the southern tribes went into captivity by the Babylonians. Those are some prophets that we have in the Scriptures that have spoken to the nation to wake them up.

There were other prophets who spoke to the nation of Israel, to the tribe of Judah specifically, that we are speaking here in the Scriptures today. The prophets spoke to the people of Israel when they were in captivity. Like Daniel and others that have spoken to Judah, he prophesied in the time where our own people, the Jewish people, have been in the captivity. But then there are prophets that have spoken to the people of Israel what we call post exile or post captivity when the people of Israel came back to the land the people of Judah specifically they came back to the land and they needed a message from the Lord after they have returned back to the land so we see in the Scripture that that those prophets that God had raised while Israel was before have been taken captive then there were prophets that God raised when Israel were in captivity, but also God had a message to the people of Israel while they were back from captivity in the land of Israel, in the city of Jerusalem.

Now let's just to make a parallel, it's very similar to the church age in which we live in. You see, when the church was formed and began in Acts chapter 2 in the city of Jerusalem, and the Spirit of God came and descended and formed the body of Messiah the church had begun and God used early prophets. And apostles to speak to the body of Messiah in the foundation of the church but then there was a time of the dark ages very long period of time where the church had been in the dark ages where all kind of things have been brought in God have dealt with the church and in discipline have done have allowed things to happen and there were those who were speaking in this time to the church to the professing church but there is also a period of time in which there was a recovery of the truth of the word of God and in which you and i are privileged to live in these days where there is The recovery of the truth of God.

The gospel is being preached in many areas of the world in a proper way. The people have a Bible in their hands. The Lord had been enlightened. The later company of believers. And even in this present time, he is speaking to the revived church, if you will, in this present day. And I think the prophet Haggai is very much appropriate for us to study in this present day. You and I live as believers just the same like the Jewish people lived in the time of Haggai and the prophecy of Haggai to the people of Judah. What happened then? What happened then? You see, let me tell you what happened.

And that is just by way of introduction to the book of Haggai. What is the historical setting? Israel disobeyed the Lord. And he, as you know, the kingdom have been divided. The northern tribes have gone, taken by the Assyrian. The southern tribes remained for a while, but it didn't take too long, and the southern tribes were taken by Nebuchadnezzar to Babylon. You know very well the Psalm that we love to read. And we think of the sadness that these people have had in Babylon, Psalm 137. When they were singing, by the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, and we wept as we remembered Zion. There, they that took us captive told us, sing unto us one of Zion's songs.

And they said, how shall we sing? The Lord's song in a strange land. Here we see that the psalmist, a Levite perhaps, were writing this Psalm when the Jewish people were in Babylon, in captivity. They were mocking them. They were laughing at them. They were joking at them. They were accusing them. They were treating them in an awful way. And there they sat down and they wept when they remember Zion. And then they make a decision that they are going to remember Jerusalem. If thou will forget, if I will forget Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning. They were singing. And they decided that they will not forget Jerusalem.

And then they knew that God will restore them back to the land. But you know what happened? That in the book of Ezra and Nehemiah and Esther, the historical setting of the Jewish people that have come back and some remain in Babylon, God have revived the heart of a man, a king by the name of Koresh, we call him in Hebrew, Cyrus. Cyrus was the king of the Middle-Persian king, after, you know, the Babylonians were first the kingdom, the worldwide kingdom, then the Middle-Persian, And Cyrus, Koresh, God revived him and he used him to bring a message to the Jewish people to go back to the land.

And you know, beloved brothers and sisters, when Cyrus gave this request, and Cyrus in chapter 1 of the book of Ezra, Cyrus said, Who is among you, speaking to the Jewish people in Ezra chapter 1 and verse 3, Who is among you of all his people? This is God's people, the Jewish people. His God will be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judea, and build the house of the Lord, the God of Israel. He is the God, which is in Jerusalem. Well, you know what happened? God had used Koresh to give this message to all the Jewish people which were in Babylon.

At that time, under the Medo-Persian authority and kingship. And you know what happened, beloved brothers and sisters? Out of the millions that lived there, there were only about 50,000 Jewish people who went back to the promised land. You read that in the book of Ezra, and you will find out that it's about 42,000 servants and so on. About, I took a note of it, probably about 50,000, 49,690 people in total went back to the city of Jerusalem to rebuild the temple. What about the rest? Where were the rest of the Jewish people that God had given them the challenge? Who is among you who would go back to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple?

The rest of them were just the same like the ones who have gone to Jerusalem. They were Hebrews, they were Jewish, they were Israelis. And yet they were content to remain there in Babylon. They were content. In fact, what we see today, by the way, even today, out of 14, 15 million people that are existing, Jewish people in the world today, only about 5, 6 million maximum living in the land of Israel. The rest, including myself, live in a diaspora, outside of the land, and not in the land of Israel. Spiritually speaking, applying it to the church of the Lord Jesus, the Messiah, in the professing church today, only a minority of the minority want to come back into the gathering center, namely that the Lord Jesus will be the Messiah the center of the gathering saints while the rest of the professing christian are very content to be saying i belong to the Lord i'm a christian i'm a child of God but i don't need to read my Bible i don't need to go to the church meeting i don't need to pray i don't need this i know that i'm a child of God at least that's what they say and it's very similar to the condition in which you and i live today in the body of Messiah 49,000 50,000 alone have gone back Into the promised land While the rest were satisfied To stay in Babylon Now by the way the book of Esther Is the book that tells us Of the events that occurred For those who remain outside of the land And you remember Even though.

They were not obedient in coming to the promised land Yet God had preserved them from the enemy of the Jews His name was Haman, the Agagite A descendant of the people of the Amalek Who always sought to destroy the people of Israel And God preserved the Jewish people You know the wonderful story when we celebrate Purim And we read the story of Esther and how God had preserved His people who were still in disobedience. He preserved them because He had a purpose and a plan for them. Even when they were in the Babylon, we don't have the name of the Lord mentioned in the book of Esther, but we see His moving hand throughout the whole book of Esther.

How He moves and shifts and go around and put all the picture together to preserve his people from the enemies of the Jewish people. And so, what happened? Those 49, 50,000 individuals who came back to Jerusalem came there and they began to build the house of the Lord. You see, they started well. They started very well. They have left Babylon. They have listened to the word of the Lord through Koresh, Cyrus. They move to the promised land. And what do you think they see? A broken walls, burnt up gates, a rubble all over. The temple which once stood. The temple where God once had set his name there, broken down.

Altogether. And it was sad. And yet happy to know that they are coming back to the center, to Jerusalem. Where God set his name and God have called them to come to build this temple back and to establish what God has given to the people of Israel. Again, I want to make a parallel here. It reminds us, beloved brothers and sisters, when the truth of the word of God to the church had been revived, after the many dark ages, the long dark ages that we have, from the time that God had raised people that they have brought to light and used them to bring to light the truth concerning the things of the Lord the way of salvation by grace alone through the Lord Jesus the Messiah the way of gathering where the saints can gather and Yeshua is the gathering center and you know the things that have happened for example in the time in the Reformation where we had one that God had raised to give us the truth concerning the just shall live by faith It's not by works that we earn our salvation, but it is on a basis of grace.

Luther had given us, the Lord had used him to give these truths to us. Even though we know certain things that we were not happy at all about what he had done because of his background and what he had been taught all his life. Nevertheless, God used men to revive the truths that we have today in our hands. Well, this is exactly what happened. Israel, Judah, came back to Jerusalem. And you know what happened? They have started to rebuild the temple in the city of Jerusalem. Look, if you turn with me for a moment to the book of Ezra, I want you just to see something very interesting there in the book of Ezra.

Ezra, in chapter 3, Ezra chapter 3. Look what we read there in verse 8. Ezra 3 verse 8, now in the second year, of their coming into the house of God at Jerusalem. And it says here, the house of God in Jerusalem, and in the second month began Zehubavail, the son of Shaltiel, and Joshua, the son of Yotzadak, and the remnant of their brethren, the priests and the Levites, and all that were come out of captivity unto Jerusalem, and appointed the Levites from 20 years old and upward to set forward the work of the house of the Lord. They began to build the temple. They began to build the house of the Lord.

In fact, if you will look a little bit further down, you notice what it says in verse 10. And when the builders laid the foundation of the temple of the Lord, They set the priests in their apparel with trumpets, and the Levites and the son of Asaph with cymbals to praise the Lord. After the ordinances of David, the king of Israel, and they sang together by chorus in praising and giving thanks unto the Lord, because he is good, for his mercy endures forever towards Israel. And all the people shouted with great joy when they praised the Lord because the foundation of the house of the Lord was laid.

I would have loved to be there. I would have loved to watch these people. Can you imagine 70 years they were in Babylon? Some of them were born in Babylon, never seen the city of Jerusalem. Some of them perhaps have been, when they were young children, have been taken captive by Nebuchadnezzar. Maybe they were 10 years old or 5 years old or 15 years old by the time that 70 years passed by they were 85 and 90 years of age and they're coming and they see the foundation of the house of the Lord being laid down never mind the house yet it's only the foundation and they began to sing and then we read what they were singing the Lord is good his mercy endueth forever towards Israel the Lord is good the Lord's mercy towards us towards them the Lord is good he's gracious and it gives us a reason to sing to him and to praise him for what he has done for us and what he has done for them and the Bible tell us Look what the Bible tells us in verse 12 of this same chapter, Ezra 3 and verse 12.

Many of the priests and the Levites and the chief fathers who were ancient men, old men, that had seen the first house, when the foundation of this house was laid before their eyes, what do you think they have done? They wept with a loud voice. And many shouted aloud for joy. So that the people could not discern the noise of the joy from the noise of the weeping of the people. For the people shouted with loud shout, and the noise was heard afar off. You can just imagine, the old men, when they saw the foundation, they began to cry. Because when they look at the foundation, they remember the days when the temple stood, and they were there with their parents, worshipping the Lord.

The young never saw the temple. They came, they were born in Babylon. They were Jewish people who were born in the land of Babel of Babylon. And they looked at this foundation and they rejoiced because now they are going to be part of the worship of the God of Israel in the land, in the city of Jerusalem. So they could not discern because some wept for memory and some rejoiced and shouted because they were first time seeing that place. But the scene, you can just imagine the scene. What a wonderful scene it must have been there in the city of Jerusalem at that time. But everything started well, beloved brothers and sisters.

Just the same like you and I in our lives as believers. Everything started well. We can rejoice that the Lord has forgave our sins. We can weep when we think of our sins. There's so great, so many that the Lord Yeshua the Messiah bore in His body on the tree for us. And we too as well can look back. But then what's happened? When they began to build the house, there is always an enemy to seek to hinder the spiritual growth of the people of God. That's why the Bible tells us that there is an enemy constantly at the door of the heart of each and every one of us seeking to destroy our spiritual growth.

We have three enemies. We have been talking about it already many times in the past. The devil who shoot his arrows at the weakest point that we have. We have the world who influence us with all its activity. And we have the greatest enemy, and the closest enemy is our own sinful flesh, our own sinful nature. Those three enemies are constantly attacking the people of God, whether it is individually, in my own personal life, in your own personal life, or whether it is the collective aspect of the saints of God. And so, look what we read. If you look with me to the next chapter of Ezra, I'm still in Ezra here.

I know we are studying the prophet Haggai, but just by way of introduction, beloved brothers and sisters, look what we read in chapter 4 of the book of Ezra. It says there in verse 1. Look at this. While we already read about the foundation of the house that had been laid down in chapter 3, the first thing we find out is adversaries. Chapter 4 and verse 1. When the adversaries of Judah and Benjamin heard that the children of the captivity builded the temple unto the Lord God of Israel, they came unto Zerubbabel, and you know, beloved brothers and sisters, the adversaries, in Hebrew the word is Tzarei. Tzarei means those who give you Tzarot.

Tzarot means those who give you trouble. Those who give them trouble. Those who give us trouble. There are those who want to give trouble to the people of Israel, to the people of Judah, to the people of God. And you know how they do that? They do it in two ways. They first come, and they do it in a sneaky way, like an angel of light. And then they come, and they do it in an aggressive way, like a roaring lion. Like we have it in the book of 2 Corinthians. Look, they first come, look what it says here in verse 2. And they came to Zubabel, to the chief priest of their fathers, and they said unto him, let us be with you.

For we seek your God. As ye do, we do sacrifice unto him since the day of Esar Hadon, king of Ashur, which he brought us to here. You see, these were actually the Samaritans. These were the people who were really a mixed breed. They not only were mixed breed, but they were also mixed in their religious belief. They were believing in Jehovah. But they were also believing in this God, and in this God, and in this God, and in this God. It's a mixture of religion. So what do they do? They come to you and say, wow, we believe in your God. Let's build together, you see.

Let's work together, you know. Well, let's build because we believe also in your God. Well, look what Zerubbabel sees. Zerubbabel discerned the reality of the condition of the people who lived at that time in the land, who was really the mixed breed, the mixed religious individuals there. He says, Zerubbabel and Joshua and the rest of the chief fathers of Israel said unto them, ye have nothing to do with us to build the house of our God, But we ourselves together will build unto the Lord God of Israel as King Cyrus, the king of Persia, had commended us. You see, they first come and they tell you that they want to build with you and they're going to help you and we have the same things in common.

And if you are not careful, and if you are not discerning, and we are not close to the Lord to have discernment, We will very quickly, we'll say, well, fine, let's build together. But the Zubbabel here, Joshua, and the elders, the chief fathers of Israel discern, and they say, you are not going to build with us, you have nothing to do with us. We are going to build a house to our God alone, without you seeking to build for us, or with us. So, once they have heard that, look at the second thing. Once they were rejected from building together, they went to Acts 2. In other words, they went to a second phase of dealing with the Jewish people.

Because in the next verse, in verse 4, it says, The people of the land weakened the hands of the people of Judah and troubled them in building. Now, it is so interesting. It's a continuous verses that follow one after the other. In one side of the mouth they say, we're going to build with you. In the other side of the mouth they destroy and they don't want to let them build the house of the Lord. You can see the reality that are existing here in the hearts of these men from Samaria, or these men that were living in the land at that time, who were actually a mixed breed, who really did not have any intention to help in the building of the house of the Lord.

And so, first time they are saying, we're going to build with you, once they have been rejected, immediately they are going to destroy that whatever Judah was going to build will not succeed. And they weakened the hands of the people of Judah. And they troubled them as they were building the house of the Lord. Now, it says, if you just go down, if you go down a little bit later down, in the same chapter of Ezra, Look what they succeeded to do in Ezra chapter 4 and verse 24. Then cease the work of the house of God, which is at Jerusalem. So it cease unto the second year of the reign of the rise king of Persia.

You see what happened, beloved brothers and sisters? This is exactly similar to the believer's life. We start right. We have a zeal for the Lord. But then the enemy comes. And the enemy comes and he, first of all, trying to beguile us. He's coming like an angel of light. Appearing to us to draw us. To mix things. To pull us in a direction that is not right with the Lord. And then, when he does not succeed to do that, and we focus on the Lord and stand for the Lord, he goes to step number two. He's a roaring lion. First Peter teaches us, seeking whom he may devour.

He act in violence. He hurt the child of God. Seeking to hurt the child of God. And you know what it leads to? It leads to discouragement, which leads to eventually stopping to build the house of the Lord. And that's what happened here. Now remember, these people were already 70 years in Babylon. They have come back by the revival that God had used Cyrus to bring them back to the land. In the land, they were thrilled when the foundation of the temple were built. And then the enemy appears. And in a sneaky way, and if he does work in a sneaky way, he does it in an aggressive way, and then the house of the Lord starts to be built.

And I would like to make a suggestion here, spiritually speaking, that many times, because of discouragement in our own lives, we end up not building our own personal life, our family lives, and our collective lives. We say to ourselves, the enemy is one. What can I do? Now, beloved brothers and sisters, they were children of God. They were the children of Judah, the people of God. Just like every believer in the Lord Jesus, the Messiah, today a true believer is a child of God. But the child of God can get so discouraged and so disappointed and so out of focus that when trouble is coming, instead of looking to the Lord and asking Him for grace and mercy to help us on, he or she can get discouraged and says, I'm giving up.

What's the use? And then spiritual progress stops. He or she will never lose their salvation because they never gained their salvation on their own merit anyway. They received it. We received it. But there is a loss in the growth, in the blessing that God intends for His people while we are here in this world. And you, as well as I, are in the same possibility to be in the same condition unless the Lord revive us and speak to us and we are occupied with him. I was speaking this morning to someone and someone reminded me of the story that we have in Matthew chapter 14 where the Lord Yeshua the Messiah was walking on the sea towards the boat where the disciples were there.

And there were storms and the waves and the billows. And the disciples were scared and all of a sudden the Lord Yeshua appearing walking on the sea. And they were scared. They were so fearful that they did not even realize that it was the Lord. And once they got a hold of the fact that it was the Messiah Yeshua himself, Peter said to him, Lord, if it is you, bid me to come to you. So the Lord told him, come. As long, beloved, that the Lord Jesus was before the mind and the eyes of Peter, of Shimon Petos, he could walk on the water. The Bible tells us, if you read Matthew 14, that Peter walked to go to Yeshua.

He walked on the water. But what happened when he took his eyes from off the Lord? He looked at the storm. He looked at the waves. He looked at the problems. And he began to sink. Was Peter a child of God? Sure he was. Was Peter loved the Lord? He sure did. Did Peter want to be closer to the Lord? He sure did want to be closer to the Lord. But when he sunk, there was someone to lift him up. It was Yeshua who said to him, he picked him up, and he brought him to the ship, and he told him, O you of little faith, why did you doubt?

And you see, Peter teaches us an important lesson. Just like the people of Judah here in Ezra time. Just like us in our time. Peter teaches us a lesson that we, by the grace of God and with the help of God, must have our eyes not on men, not on problems, not on issues, but on a person of the Lord Jesus. And He can help as we walk with Him through these trials. He can help us to go through those trials. And at the same time, come out on the other side, giving glory to Him and giving blessing to others. So the house of the Lord has ceased from being built.

And now is where we come to the prophet Haggai. If we are still in Ezra, look how beautiful in chapter 5. In chapter 5 of Ezra, we find the first time the name Haggai mentioned. And it's so interesting that when the prophet mentioned, we don't even hear anything about his background. We don't hear about his father. We don't hear about his family. All what we hear is it says here in chapter 5 verse 1, And then the prophets Haggai and Zechariah the son of Edo prophesied unto the Jewish people that were in Judah and Jerusalem in the name of the God of Israel even unto them. You notice by the way that when it's come to Zechariah it says whose father was Zechariah.

Zechariah's father was Edo. But when it's come to Haggai we don't know who is his father. And I think it is very significant here to point out because sometime God will raise a man for the season. That he seems to be unqualified by the human standards. A person that God would raise in a time when the people of God needed a message from God. And God will raise these men, these brothers, these men, these brothers. It could be a woman in a certain area, in a certain direction. God has a place for a sister in the ministry of God, but in the public expression, he raised a man by the name of Haggai.

But he doesn't tell us about his father. He doesn't tell us who is his parents, who is his family at all. All what he tells us, that he was a messenger of the Lord, a prophet of God. And you know when we need these kind of prophets? In a time of decline, We need these kind of messengers. He doesn't have credibility. My father was a believer, and my grandfather was a believer, and my great-grandfather was a believer, and I had all kind of pedigree, and I have all kind of schooling that I have taken, and I've learned here, and I've learned here. Nothing of a sort, beloved brothers and sisters.

All what it says here, Haggai the prophet. And you know, it's interesting, that the Bible teaches us the responsibility of the prophet. In fact, we have a verse that I want to read in 1 Corinthians chapter 14. It says, He that prophesying speaketh unto men to edification and exhortation and comfort. 1 Corinthians 14, 3. The one that is speaking for God, he is to speak to exhort. He is to speak in order to comfort. He is to speak to edify, to build up the people of God. And I'm telling you, beloved brothers and sisters, that was the intention of this man by the name of Haggai. That was the intention that God had for these men towards the people of Judah.

To exhort them, to instruct them, to build them up, and to encourage them. What a ministry. This is something we should ask ourselves, you and I. What is the purpose when we're speaking about the things of the Lord? Are we intent to build up people or to turn people down? Are we intend that the body of Messiah will grow? Or are we intend that they will fall apart? And this is essential, beloved brothers and sisters. Here we see a man that come from nowhere, and God is just bringing him into the forefront of the people of Judah, that he will speak to them, to encourage them, to build them up, to restore the nation of Israel.

And we see that even his background, we don't read about his father, his pedigree, his schooling, nothing. All what we read, that he was Haggai, the prophet. Hanavi, in Hebrew, Navi. He spoke for God. He prophesied for God to the people of Judah. And so we find Haggai coming into the picture. Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi are the three prophets that spoke to the people of Judah, what you call the post-exile prophets. All these three prophets spoke to the people of Judah after their captivity, after their return from the 70 years in Babylon, after they had been brought to the city of Jerusalem. And they spoke to them because you know what happened to them?

In the beginning they started well. But it didn't take too long when decline came in and they needed correction and encouragement. And you and I know it in our own personal life, we are just like the people of Judah in the time of Haggai, the prophet. They were discouraged. The enemy came and stopped the work of the building of the house of the Lord. Maybe you have an enemy in your life, something that come into your life that have discouraged you from continuing the things of the Lord. Maybe something crept into our own life. Sin came into our hearts. Our own flesh has been interfering.

The world has been influencing us. Satan has been shooting his arrows towards us, knowing our weakest points and succeeded. So what do we do? Do we stop to grow spiritually? Do we stop to read our Bibles? Does Jesus change? Didn't He remain the same? Isn't His love just the same like it was yesterday? Isn't the Bible teach us that Yeshua the Messiah is the same yesterday, today, and forever? He's unchangeable. It is us that have changed. It is sin that came into my life, into our lives. It is discouragement that came across into our lives that have happened, that brought us to a situation that I don't have the same zeal that I've had before.

And I need to judge us before the Lord. And sometime God will use a brother or a sister like the prophet Haggai to give us a message of encouragement and perhaps correction that we need so we can repent and be restored back to the Lord and that our hearts will be revived spiritually towards the things of the Lord. And so, beloved brothers, the theme of the message that Haggai was giving to the people of Judah is simply this. And I'm back now in Haggai chapter 1. The theme that he wanted to convey to the people of Judah is consider your ways. Consider your actions. Consider your lives.

In fact, the word consider mentioned five times in these two chapters. Five times. Consider. And the Hebrew word is simu na levavchem. In other words, the word consider really has to do with the heart. Have your heart in the right place. It's a heart matter in our relationship with the things of the Lord. It's not only the head we need to know in our head, but it's our hearts. Our hearts that need to be affectioned and warmed up and stood up towards the things of the Lord. It is our hearts, beloved brothers and sisters, that are always seems to incline to be set somewhere else.

And God has to challenge us and to tell us, how about your heart? Where your heart is? And our heart's affection needs to be drawn towards the things of the Lord. And so the theme is consider your way. Have your heart, look at your heart, where is your affection? And this man by the name of Haggai, He was writing and speaking to the people of Judah 15 years after they returned from Babylon. They started to build the temple and it ceased. And for 15 years, they did not continue to build the house of the Lord. In the beginning, you could say they had a reason. What was the reason?

Well, we had many enemies. They stopped us from building the house of the Lord and we could not continue because a letter was given that we should not continue. The letter came from the king and the king suddenly said, you're supposed to tell them not to continue the building of the house of the Lord. So they could say that legitimate, we couldn't build the house of the Lord because the king told us to stop. But something happened. And what's happened, beloved brothers and sisters, after 15 years passed by, the people of Judah had no longer interest in building the house of the Lord. They had no more zeal towards the house of the Lord.

They were occupied with themselves. And you know what? This is exactly what happened in the life of the Christian, the life of the believer. What we used to have interest in the past, in leading souls to the Lord, in building the body of believers, in being in a meeting and having the assembly grow, now it's not the same anymore. I don't come to church meeting to see what I can give, but I come to the meeting to see what I can get. I don't come to build, but I come for necessity that I'm just, you know, I just have to. I'm a Christian. I'm a Messiah follower.

That's what happened in our own lives because our attitude changed. Our hearts have changed. And so it says 15 years. We don't read it here, but if you know, he was writing it about 520 B.C. 605 B.C., the people of Israel were taken to Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar. Seventy years pass by, and they are already back into the land, started to build the temple, stopped to build the temple, and now Haggai is speaking to the people of Israel 15 years later, after they have stopped to build the house of the Lord. And here is where we come with the beginning of the chapter, of Haggai chapter 1. And I'm just going to go through the first few verses.

First of all, look at the timing in verse 1. Haggai 1.1 In the second year of Darius, the king, in the sixth month of the first day of the month, came the word of the Lord unto Haggai the prophet, unto Zerubabel the son of Shealtiel, the governor of Judah, And to Joshua, the son of Yotsedek, the high priest, say, That date, the sixth month of the first day of the month, that is 520 B.C. 85 years, the people of Judah have been taken captive by Nebuchadnezzar into Babylon. They already went back to the land, 46,000 or 49,000 of these Jewish people. They have started to build a temple, but they stopped to build a temple because of whatever happened.

Their hearts have been now removed from the desire to build a temple. And here God raised a man by the name of Haggai. By the way, the name Haggai in Hebrew means my festivals. Even in his name there is a proclamation to the nation of Israel. What about my festivals? God is saying to the nation. What about my celebrating me, worshipping me, occupying with me people of Judah, people of Benjamin. What about me? And the Lord Jesus will say the same thing to us. What about me? I am the one that saved you. I am the one that brought you out of bondage and to liberty.

I am the one who you should be occupied with. When two or three are gathered together unto my name, he promised to be in the midst of his people. And so, that's the time when Haggai, notice again, like we have in Ezra chapter 3, we have in Haggai chapter 1, he was only a prophet. No parents mentioned. No grandparents. Simply Haggai, the prophet, and God used him to give a message to the people of Judah and to the people of Benjamin and look what he tells them in verses 2 to 6 Haggai now is speaking or the Lord is speaking to Judah and he's speaking to them his concern about their condition he's telling them in verses 2 to 6 the things that they have done wrong.

And look what he's saying. He says in verse 2, first of all, to the people, you are saying in your mind, you are saying in your words, that the time to build the house of the Lord is not now. Look, verse 2. Thus speaketh the Lord of hosts, saying, these people say, the time is not come. The time that the Lord's house should be built. You see, he's now accusing the people of Judah. And he's saying to them, look what you are saying. You are saying, Judah, that the time is not come to build the house of the Lord. We'll do it later. It's not the time.

You see, earlier the house of the Lord stopped because of the offense of the adversaries of the people of Judah. And you can say that's legitimate. There was opposition. The letter came from the king to say to stop the building of the house. They stopped the building of the house. But now the condition of the heart of the people changed. It's no longer now to put the guilt upon the king and upon the opposition of the adversaries. Is here we see that the condition of the heart has changed. They say it's not the time. It's not time now to build the house of the Lord.

It's not the time, you know, like you and I might say, you know what, really, the time for Jesus, I don't have now. I don't have the time for the things of the Lord. I don't have time to go and share the gospel. I don't have time to go and come and study the Word of God. I don't have time in making visitation and visiting people who have a need. I don't have the time, you see. I don't have the time. I'm busy. I have work to do. I have family to take care of. I have business. I have all kind of activities in my life.

I don't have the time. Beloved, that's the language of today that we see it in the time of Haggai. And you notice it said, the people say it's not the time to build. The house of the Lord. Now you and I don't have to build a house like this. We don't have to go necessarily to buy an air conditioner or heater. We don't have necessarily to buy bricks and mortar and to build a house like this. But we're talking and I'm making the application spiritually to the house of God. You and I are composition of the house of God wherever we are. Either in this building or elsewhere on the street.

The house of the Lord is a composition of all believers in the Lord Jesus, the Messiah. And how is it in my life, in our lives? Do we spend energy and heart desire to build the house of the Lord? Do we like to see people encouraged and built up in their most holy faith? You see, in the book of Jude that we read earlier, what Jude was charging the early Hebrew believers, he said, earnestly content for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints. Earnestly content. We are saved by grace. But we live in light of what God is teaching us in His Word.

We have to have a desire for the things of God. I cannot give it for you, and you cannot give it to me, but we can sure, when we give, when we speak with each other, we can sure encourage each other in the things of the Lord. Build each other up. And so, the people were saying, it's not time to build the house of the Lord. It's not the time. And can you imagine the house is sitting there. Fifteen years passed by. Perhaps the foundation was already covered with rubble. What they have seen in the beginning and they rejoiced, now perhaps was covered and there was nothing there that was to look at.

And so they say, it's not the time to build the house of the Lord. And so the Lord is charging them here. He is really showing them their wrongdoing. Just like the Lord through John in the book of Revelation, He says, I have something against you to the Ephesians assembly. You have a lot of truth in your theology, but your affection towards Yeshua the Messiah has no longer is the same. You have left your first love. Your affection for Yeshua is not there the way it used to be. It's no time to build the house of the Lord. There's time for business, there's time for pleasure, there's time for every kind of activity, but very little time for to build the house of the Lord.

It's not the time, they said. And so in the next verses, in verse 3 and 4, God is challenging the people of Judah in those two verses. And he's saying to them, Then came the word of the Lord by Haggai, the prophet, saying, Is it time for you, O ye, to dwell in your cedar houses, and this house lie in waste? See what he's saying? It is amazing. They had the time to build their own houses, but they did not have the time to build the house of the Lord. You see, he didn't tell them that it's wrong to have a house. He didn't tell them that it's wrong to take care of their homes and to take care and to provide for their family.

This is not his accusation here. His accusation is this. You have time to build your house. And by the way, you notice it says the sealed houses. And then you allow the house of God to be wasted and not to be built. You know, it reminds me of a believer that had time to take care of his physical needs, but not to take care of his spiritual need. Isn't it true, brothers and sisters, that we can be like that and act like that? And it creeps into our lives that we can be just like these Jewish people who came from the captivity? That we can neglect the spiritual aspect of the life of the believer and yet have all the time in the world to do everything else.

I don't need to point at you, I can point right at my own self. And I'm amazed that how we are capable of knowing our sins for giving, knowing what the Lord has done for us, and yet have no desire, no stimulation towards Him in the spiritual realm. It's amazing. And yet we see it all the time. The capability that we have in our own self. We can build our own houses, we can take care of everything else, and yet neglect the spiritual life. I always was impressed when I saw, when I first became a believer, when I saw believers who came to the meetings.

And some have been a wealthy people. A people who have means. And then farmers who have a lot less. And then an ordinary individual who would gather together around the Lord Jesus, the Messiah. And there we are on a common ground. The rich, the poor, the one who has a great background, the one who has not such a great background, the people who are capable, the one who is less capable, when they can gather together around the Lord Yeshua the Messiah to worship Him and to adore Him and to praise Him. Isn't it such a sight to see? And hear what the Lord is telling us, telling the people of Judah here who return back.

He says, listen, you say that it is not time for the house of the Lord, Is it time for you or ye to dwell in your sealed houses, and this house lie west? Now he says to them in verse 5 and 6, he's telling them, consider your ways. God is pointing to the results of such attitude. Look, now therefore, he says to them in verse 5, says the Lord of hosts, consider your ways. You have so much, but bring in a little. You eat, and ye have not enough. You drink, and ye are not filled with drink. Ye clothe you, and there is none to worm. And he that earneth wages, earneth wages to put it into a bag of holes.

It's amazing. And we want to take a spiritual lesson here. A spiritual lesson is those people, you know, just like they have worked hard, but there was nothing gained. Nothing came out of it. In other words, you notice the contrast here? He says, you saw much, but you reap very little. You drink, but you are not filled, you are not quenched. You put clothes on you, but you are really not warmed. You earn wages, but really there is nothing. It's for putting into a pocket that have holes. What he's telling them is simply this. Is this, when you are not occupied with the house of God as well.

And again, I want you to know that he doesn't knock them down because they build their houses. He knocked them or he's telling them what he tells them is because they only were occupied with themselves and not with the things of the Lord as well. And that is the lesson for us as well. I mean, the Lord wants us to earn, make a living, take care of our families, take care of ourselves. But what about our spiritual life? He told this to Israel many years ago in Deuteronomy chapter 8. Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord.

It goes hand in hand. It goes parallel. It goes together. And that's what God is showing them. And beloved, the lesson, and we're going to continue with this later on, the lesson is, consider your ways. Simu levavchem al darkechem. Put your heart and see where you are walking, and where are you spiritually before the Lord. That's the challenge that he is giving those Jewish believers who came back, Jewish people who came back to the land whose hearts were now called towards the things of the Lord and we trust that as we look at this book we will learn and we will challenge ourselves also that our hearts will also be in the right place and that the Lord will receive His portion And when he receives his portion, we also will receive much from him.

And he's going to bless us and he will use us for his own glory and for his own honor. Can you say Amen to that?