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All right, good evening, everyone. Welcome back to Mountain Baptist Church. We're going to go ahead and get started. We're going to start with song number 44 in our songbooks. Song number 44. If we would all stand, we'll sing We'll Work Till Jesus Comes. Song number 44. O land of rest for thee I sigh, when will the moment come? When I shall lay my armor by and dwell in peace at home. We'll work till Jesus comes, we'll work till Jesus comes, we'll work till Jesus comes and we'll be gathered home. To Jesus Christ I've fled for rest, he made me cease to roam and lean for soccer on his breast till he conduct me home. We'll work till Jesus comes, we'll work till Jesus comes, we'll work till Jesus comes and we'll be gathered home. I sought at once my Savior's side, no more my steps shall roam, with him I'll brave death's chilling tide and reach my heavenly home. We'll work till Jesus comes, we'll work till Jesus comes, we'll work till Jesus comes and we'll be gathered home. Let's pray. Father, thank you for bringing us back to church this evening. Thank you for everyone that was able to make it out. Please just bless the service and fill Pastor with your power and your spirit and help us to be identified. In Jesus' name, amen. All right, you may be seated and turn to song number 47. Song number 47, Let the Sun Shine Again in My Heart. Song number 47. I remember the time when I first knew the Savior, when the sunlight of blessing so flooded my heart. Oh, the sweetness of first love with Jesus so near me. And I thought such devotion would never depart. Let the sun shine again, let the flowers bloom again, stir the embers of love in my heart. Holy Spirit, reprove, then embrace me again, let the sun shine again in my heart. Then how sweet were the scriptures, they spoke to me daily, how they guided my steps but my zeal did not last. And the sweet place of prayer where I met with my Savior, I neglected and so soon my joys were all past. Let the sun shine again, let the flowers bloom again, stir the embers of love in my heart. Holy Spirit, reprove, then embrace me again, let the sun shine again in my heart. Though I loved well to walk in the way with God's children when we met with glad heart in a fellowship suite, but the pull of the flesh and some worldly companions in the paths of sin's pleasure attracted my feet. Let the sun shine again, let the flowers bloom again, stir the embers of love in my heart. Holy Spirit, reprove, then embrace me again, let the sun shine again in my heart. Lord, I come now again for forgiveness and blessing, as thy penitent child I am seeking thy peace, for the blood paid my debt and thy spirit within me bids me come to my Father, my wandering to cease. Let the sun shine again, let the flowers bloom again, stir the embers of love in my heart. Holy Spirit, reprove, then embrace me again, let the sun shine again in my heart. Amen. So hopefully my mic will work properly this time, but just some announcements here. Welcome back to Mount Baptist Church on this Wednesday or Wednesday. I always say Wednesday when we come back to this afternoon service, Sunday after, yeah, no, but I just feel like I've been here that long now. Let me, did we have any saved outsourcing today? Three? Is that three total? Okay, and then I think Brother Richie, didn't we have three earlier this week? Or did you have one earlier this week? One, okay. And then Brother Jim said he had two this week, so six. Does that sound right? Is there any others that I'm missing? So good job with soul winning this week. And then just some general church announcements here. Service times are all the same here. This Wednesday I will be preaching, but then I'm going to be going on vacation, so we're going to have some of the men in the church preaching on Sunday. So be sure to be in your places and support the men that will be preaching. And then I'll be back that next Sunday. And so we're actually going to be planning on having a baptism that Sunday. Young man that got saved that's been coming is going to get baptized. So be sure to be in your places on that too. And I know Clara, we may obviously make sure that she's got it with salvation. Maybe we'll get her baptized too that day, once we'll have the water warm and all that. But be in prayer for that. And then upcoming events. We had the men's prayer meeting on the list here, and the women's prayer meeting obviously in June, beginning of June. And then the soul winning marathon is going to be June 26th. And I know this is the 12th, but we kind of moved it around a little bit to try to just accommodate some different things that are going on, as far as those weekends are concerned. And then we were going to do the 19th, but then that's like Father's Day weekend. So we didn't know if people would be kind of visiting family. So 26th, we're just going to lock that one in. So if you can't make it, it is what it is. But be in prayer for that, because I'm excited for that. We've never gone and done a soul winning marathon, I've never gone soul winning in my recollection in Charleston. So I'm excited to see how it goes down there. And obviously, if it's very fruitful, well, we're going to plan on going down there again anyway. But I want it to be a yearly thing that we go down there. But if it's really fruitful, maybe we'll do more than once a year or so. But we'll see how that goes there. Bible memory, we have Galatians chapter one for the month here. So if you're working on your Bible memorization, don't forget that you can win some Bibles, you know, depending on how many chapters you memorize, how many books you memorize. And there's different Bibles for that. But if you do a chapter, you get a sword drill Bible. So any chapter of the Bible, sword drill Bible, minus like a Psalm that has like two verses in it or something like that. So obviously, you got within reason here that we're dealing with that. But a typical chapter of the Bible. And when it comes to the books of the Bible, we can't memorize Philemon, 2nd and 3rd John and be like, I got three books memorized and use that. Obviously, we're talking about medium sized books and stuff like that. So but then Galatians 4 26 is our memory verse for this week. And so the Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all. So that's my Mother's Day verse for you. If you don't like it, then I don't know what to tell you. So but should have been the little coat, you know, that verse. So but so many times Monday, brother Richie's leading up that time on Monday at 6pm. And then Tuesday, brother Charles leads up so many time. And I know on Monday too, sometimes, you know, brother Richie will kind of go out earlier than that. So, you know, just be watching on the WhatsApp there, because he always puts out where you're gonna be meeting up time, all that. So I'm probably gonna try to go out with you tomorrow. But yeah, earlier and six is fine with me. So if you want to try to do something earlier than that, we'll make that work. So and then we got the birthdays, anniversary, pregnancy, those that are on the pregnancy list to be in prayer for those. So all the ladies here, Miss Joyce, Miss Tabby, Miss Anastasia, and Miss Amanda, just be in prayer for all these ladies, you know, that they don't have a whole bunch of sicknesses. And obviously for the babies themselves, that the babies are healthy, and that the delivery process and all that stuff goes well. And so just be in prayer for that. And one thing that I've been meaning to get out, but is the the rooming list for our retreat. And so I'm kind of wanting to get a head start on that. And so if you if you know that you're going to be able to make it to that, I'm going to get the rooming list. And so you just put your name on there and say what dates you're going to be there. So whether you're going to be there from Thursday to Sunday, you don't have to leave on Sunday. But that's like the time of the retreat is from Thursday, and then checking out Sunday morning. But if you say, well, I'm not gonna be there till Friday, let me know. And just put it on there, you know, that you're going to be coming in Friday, or whatever the case may be. And so but I want to try to get that together sooner than later, and just get that all locked in. And so we don't lose our cabins, because I don't get the names or the the the rooming list in like I should. So if you have any questions about that, let me know. But I know that's a little ways away. That's the end of September. And you know what? That'll be here before you know it. But we still got to get to summer, right? We don't want to just skip out on summer there. Brother Nick's going to come sing one more song. And then Shane's gonna be reading Haggai, Haggai chapter one. Okay, turn your song books to song number 43. Song number 43, we'll sing We're Marching to Zion. Song number 43. Come we that love the Lord and let our joys be known. Join in a song with sweet accord. Join in a song with sweet accord. And thus surround the throne. And thus surround the throne. We're marching to Zion. Beautiful, beautiful Zion. We're marching upward to Zion. The beautiful city of God. Let those refuse to sing who never knew our God. The children of the heavenly king. The children of the heavenly king. May speak their joys abroad. May speak their joys abroad. We're marching to Zion. Beautiful, beautiful Zion. We're marching upward to Zion. The beautiful city of God. The hill of Zion yields a thousand sacred sweets. Before we reach the heavenly fields. Before we reach the heavenly fields. Or walk the golden streets. Or walk the golden streets. We're marching to Zion. Beautiful, beautiful Zion. We're marching upward to Zion. The beautiful city of God. Then let our songs abound. And every tear be dry. We're marching through Emmanuel's ground. We're marching through Emmanuel's ground. To fairer worlds on high. To fairer worlds on high. We're marching to Zion. Beautiful, beautiful Zion. We're marching upward to Zion. The beautiful city of God. Man, if you would turn your Bibles to Haggai chapter one. Haggai chapter one. Brother Shane will read it for us. Haggai chapter one. If you found your place, say amen. 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 on his Zerubbil, the son of Shalatul, governor of Judah, and to Joshua, the son of Jozdek, the high priest, saying, Thus speaketh the Lord of hosts, saying, This people say, The time is not come. The time that the Lord's house should be built. Then came the word of the Lord by Haggai, the prophet, saying, It is time for you, O ye, to dwell in your sealed houses, and this house lie waste. Now, therefore, thus saith the Lord of hosts, Consider your ways. Ye have sown much and bring in little. Ye eat, but ye have not enough. Ye drink, but ye are not filled with drink. Ye clothe you, but there is none warm, and he that earneth wages earneth wages to put it into a bag with holes. Thus saith the Lord of hosts, Consider your ways. Go up to the mountain and bring wood and build the house, and I will take pleasure in it, and I will be glorified, saith the Lord. You looked for much, and lo, it came to little, and when you brought it home, I did blow upon it. Why, saith the Lord of hosts? Because of mine house that is waste, and ye run every man unto his own house. Therefore the heaven over you is stayed from dew, and the earth is stayed from her fruit. And I called for a drought upon the land, and upon the mountains, and upon the corn, and upon the new wine, and upon the oil, and upon that which the ground bringeth forth, and upon men, and upon cattle, and upon all the labor of the hands. Then Zerubbel the son of Shealtal, and Joshua the son of Jozdek the high priest, with all the remnant of the people, obeyed the voice of the Lord their God, and the words of Haggai the prophet, as the Lord their God had sent him, and the people did fear before the Lord. Then spake Haggai the Lord's messenger, and the Lord's message unto the people, saying, I am with you, saith the Lord. And the Lord stirred up the spirit of Zerubbel the son of Shealtal, governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua the son of Jozdek the high priest, and the spirit of all the remnant of the people, and they came and did work in the house of the Lord of hosts their God. In the four and 20th day of the sixth month in the second year of Darius the king. Let's pray. Dear Heavenly Father, Lord, thank you to be gathered in your house tonight. I just pray that you feel pastored with this spirit. Let let us be edified in Jesus name. Amen. Amen. So you're there in Haggai chapter one, and we are continuing our study through the prophets. So we're almost done. So we have Haggai, then we're going to get into Zechariah. Then Malachi. And so then we're going to go off to do something different. So, but I hope this series is helping you kind of just get a nice overview of these prophets. Obviously, I can't be exhaustive in all of them. Haggai is a couple chapters, but you know, when I get into Zechariah, I don't think that that's an all, you know, encompassing view of everything that's said in there. But I do enjoy going through this and just kind of seeing an overview, who we're dealing with, when we're dealing with them. And Haggai, we're going to see when when Haggai, you know, was prophesying. And we see from the very beginning here in Haggai one in verse one, it says, In the second year of Darius the king, in the sixth month, in the first day of the month, came the word of the Lord by Haggai the prophet, unto Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Joshedek, the high priest, saying, Thus speaketh the Lord of hosts, saying, This people say, The time is not come, the time that the Lord's house should be built. Okay, so where are we at in the timeline here? Well, we're after the Babylonian captivity because we're dealing with Darius the king, and he's the king of Persia. Okay, now when you think of when you're going through the book of Daniel, for example, right, Daniel's in captivity. But then when Cyrus comes on the scene, or Darius actually, King Darius, he's Darius the mead. Okay, and you'll see this basically stated for a reason. And that's why, you know, it's not just saying that just to say it, Darius the mead, which means media, right? The Medes and the Persians are, they're very well linked, but, you know, the Persians were the ones that really took over, right? You think of that, the ram that had the two horns, and it says that the one in the front was smaller than one in the back, meaning that the Persians were the stronger portion of that kingdom, right? And the Persians in the end are the ones that pretty much took over. But in the very beginning, when Belshazzar was taken out, you had Darius the mead, okay? This Darius is a different Darius, okay? So this is Darius the king of Persia later on, okay? So because we're dealing with after Cyrus, and, you know, Cyrus the great, and then you go down the line, you have Ahasuerus, and you kind of think of that with Esther, Arctic Xerxes, Xerxes, like all these different names that you'll kind of see there. So Darius, this is not the Darius of Daniel chapter 6 and Daniel in the lion's den, okay? This is after all that, okay? But go to Ezra chapter 4. Ezra chapter 4. So just to give you an idea, where are we at in this story? They're talking about building the house of the Lord. Well, Ezra is dealing with, just to give you a quick synopsis, when you get done with the kings and the chronicles, right, what ends those? You know, second kings, what's the end of that? They go into captivity, right? What's the end of second chronicles? They go into captivity. The Babylonian captivity, that's what ends that. And in both those, you know, obviously they're paralleled, right? The chronicles are paralleled with the kings. And at the end there, you're dealing with, they're in captivity, but there's this promise that there's going to be King Cyrus that's going to make a decree, okay? And when you get done with second chronicles and you go into Ezra chapter 1, it's like you're like, I just read this, right? Because the last chapter of second chronicles is stating pretty much the same thing that Ezra is stating in the fact that King Cyrus of Persia is going to make a decree to rebuild the temple, okay? But they start rebuilding it, okay? So basically, and I'm just giving you a synopsis. I'm not going to read all that. You can read Ezra chapter 1 and see that. Ezra chapter 3 is where you actually see the foundation of the temple being laid, okay? Ezra chapter 4, there's now adversaries are coming in trying to stop the building of the house of the Lord, okay? And we'll see how does this happen, what starts this off to where you got people that are basically coming against them to cease the work of the house of God, okay? So in verse 1 here, so Ezra 4 in verse 1, it says now when the adversaries of Judah and Benjamin heard that the children of the captivity built of the temple unto the Lord God of Israel, then they came to Zerubbabel and to the chief of the fathers and said unto them, let us build with you, for we seek your God as ye do, and we do sacrifice unto him since the days of Esarhaddon king of Assur, which brought us up hither, okay? So they're basically saying, you know, let's build with you, you know, we sacrifice unto your God and, you know, we seek your God. And what does Zerubbabel say in verse 3? But Zerubbabel, Zerubbabel's the governor of Judah. Joshua is Joshua, the son of Jossabak, that's the high priest, okay? So you have Zerubbabel's the governor, Joshua is the high priest, and then you have the prophets like Haggai, Zechariah, and you have Ezra and Nehemiah and all those people. Nehemiah is not really on the scene yet. Nehemiah, the book of Nehemiah is dealing with the building of the wall in the city, okay? They start off building the temple. That's the first thing they do when they get there is build the temple, okay? But keep reading there. It says, but Zerubbabel and Joshua and the rest of the chief of the fathers of Israel said unto them, ye have nothing to do with us to build and house unto our God, but we ourselves together will build unto the Lord God of Israel as King Cyrus the king of Persia hath commanded us. Then the people of the land weakened the hands of the people of Judah and troubled them in building and hired counselors against them to frustrate their purpose all the days of Cyrus king of Persia, even until the reign of Darius king of Persia. And in the reign of Ahasuerus in the beginning of his reign wrote they unto him an accusation against the inhabitants of Judah and Jerusalem. So we see that they're wanting to join in on this. Now, I believe Zerubbabel and all them were right to say you don't have any law in this because what you're dealing with is you're dealing with people saying, hey, we worshiped your God back with Esarhaddon king of Asher, okay? You're dealing with Assyria at that time. So what you're dealing with is people that supposedly, it'd be like Catholics saying, hey, we're going to help you out. We want to be in on this building too, be like, no, you have no part with us, okay? You know, there's people that say, well, we worship the same God, right? Would you want a bunch of Catholics to come join in us? Like, let's say we're building something, we're doing something, we're doing some work. Do you want a bunch of Catholics coming in and saying, hey, we're going to do this with you? Not until you get saved, right? But what are they going to do? What they're going to do, what they would have done if they would have said, okay, yeah, come in and join with us. They're going to basically corrupt the house of God as it's being built. Okay? So I definitely believe that they were right to shun them out of there and say, you're not going to be building with us. Why? Because they're not, they don't believe the same, right? They're saying they seek the same God, but you know what? There's tons of religions out there that say that we seek the same God. But do you want them working with you? Or you want them to be with you in the work? No. Okay? But they got all offended about that. And so they're like, oh, you don't want us to build with you? Then we're going to cause, so you can see their true colors, right? Because if they really believed in the true God and the God that's basically decreeing for this temple to be made, they'd be like, you know, that stinks. We wanted to be a part of that, but you know what? It's God's temple. You know, we're not going to fight against God. But their true colors come out that they're like, we're going to stop this. If they're not going to let us build with it, it's not going to build at all. You know, they're showing their true colors. Okay? As far as the fact that it's not about God, they just wanted to be, you know, part of this group and do all this and everything else. Okay? But notice in verse 23, it says, so it starts off that in the reign of Ahasuerus, okay, so in Cyrus reign, they're not going to do anything, right? God, if you read about, read Ezra chapter one in your free time and read that passage, and I believe Cyrus was saved. Okay? He's like talking about the God of Israel, which is the God, right? And he's like declaring this. And he's basically stating that God told me that this needed to be built. He's given them substance. He's given them a decree. And he's sending them forward to build the temple. And so in his day, good luck. Good luck stopping the building. He's the one who's made the decree to build it. But as other kings come along, you say, well, how long was this building? Well, the Jews say in John chapter one, 40 and six years was this temple and building. And we all thought rear it up in three days, right? Because Jesus said, destroy this temple, and in three days, I will raise it up, right? But he did speak not of this temple, but the temple of his body, right? So he's obviously talking about death, death, and resurrection. They didn't get that. They're thinking about this physical building, right? And they're saying 40 and six years. So 46 years is what they say, okay? So I'm not saying to take it to the bank that they're right about that, okay? But let's just say for argument, it's around 40 to 50 years that this is being built, okay? So that makes sense that you're going through some other kings, okay? That it wasn't just in Cyrus' day that this thing's being built, okay? So in Cyrus' day, I don't believe they, I think they were getting accusations, but they, nothing, nothing doing, right? They're not going to, you know, sway the king that made the decree. But then as you get kings that come down the line, it comes to the point of like, well, who made this decree? You know, they don't know what's really going on. You know, it's been 20 years this thing's been in building or something like that. And now I'm getting all these accusations. What's going on? They're not the king that made the decree. They didn't have any, you know, say in it. So they bring it, they bring these letters to Hasuares. Now, whether this is the same Hasuares as in the book of Esther, I don't know. Because when you look at the kings of Persia, a lot of them have the same names, right? And you'll see like Hasuares the second, you know, Archduke Xerxes the second, you know, and you're like, which one, you know, is this one, which one? You'll have Xerxes, then you have Artaxerxes, and then you'll have Xerxes the second, and then you'll have Hasuares the second, and you're like, well, which one was the one in Esther, you know? And I'm not here to decipher that for you. But what I'm saying is that, you know, in Hasuares day, so we're after Cyrus, obviously. Then it says in verse 23, now when the copy of king, so they send it to Archduke Xerxes, okay? So this Archduke Xerxes king of Persia is the one that's going to stop the work, okay? So get that. They're starting, they're building this. Cyrus gives them the decree. Chapter 3 of Ezra, they built the foundation, okay? The foundation is laid. Now, how long that took, I don't know. But the foundation is the most important part, so they should take their time on that. But in verse 23, it says that they wrote these letters out, and they wrote one to King Archduke Xerxes. It says, now when the copy of King Archduke Xerxes' letter was read before Reham and Shimshi, the scribe and their companions, they went up in haste to Jerusalem unto the Jews, and made them to cease by force and power, then ceased the work of the house of God, which is at Jerusalem. So it ceased unto the second year of the reign of Darius king of Persia, okay? So we see that it was building, and then this Archduke Xerxes basically receives these letters and accusations, like, oh, these are the kings that rebelled against the king of Babylon. They're bringing up this past of Jerusalem, and how they had all these coups. And we've already gone through that with the kings, and how he'd set up a governor, and then they would double-cross the king of Babylon. They had to come back and destroy it, and just back and forth with them. And they're bringing up this history, saying, hey, they're building the temple, and they're going to come after you, just like these other kings did back in the past. And that's where Archduke Xerxes comes in and just, you know, cuts off the work, right? But it says until the second year of the reign of Darius king of Persia. That's actually where we start off in Haggai, right? In the second year of Darius the king, okay? Does that make sense? So what is stating that the work was already going on, then it ceased, and now it's starting back up again, okay? So this is where Haggai is coming in. Now go to Ezra chapter 5, because we'll see that Haggai was prophesying during that time. Him and Zechariah are prophesying at the same time. So when you see Haggai, Zechariah, I mean, these are two prophets that were together, prophesying about the same things. And so you'll see Joshua and Zerubbabel brought up both in Haggai and Zechariah, okay? And Ezra chapter 5 here, notice what it says in verse 1. It says, then the prophets, Haggai the prophet and Zechariah the son of Ito, prophesied unto the Jews that were in Jerusalem, the Judah in Jerusalem, in the name of the God of Israel, even unto them. So we see that they are prophesying unto them, okay? Go to chapter 6 and verse 1, chapter 6 and verse 1. Chapter 6 and verse 1, it says, then Darius the king made a decree, and search was made in the house of the rolls, where the treasures were laid up in Babylon. So what's going on here? And I'm trying to give you an abridged version of this without reading to you Ezra, okay? Is that in Darius' reign, basically they're bringing up this point that, hey, Cyrus made this decree that we're going to build the temple. And what Darius does is he's like, search for it, find the decree. They find the decree, and then Darius is going to lay down the hammer on the adversaries of those that were trying to stop the building of the temple, okay? Verse 6 there, so Ezra chapter 6, verse 6 says, Now therefore, Tatni, governor beyond the river, Shethar-Bosni, and your companions, the Arphossachites, which are beyond the river, be ye far from thence. Let the work of this house of God alone, let the governor of the Jews and the elders of the Jews build this house of God in his place. So once he finds the decree from Cyrus, then he says, yeah, no, you need to let them build this and don't hinder this. Notice what it says in verse 11, so Ezra chapter 6 and verse 11. Also I have made a decree that whosoever shall alter this word, let timber be pulled down from his house, and being set up, let him be hanged thereon, and let his house be made a dunghill for this. So Darius is like, all right, if anybody tries to alter this, what I'm saying right now, let them pull down timber from their own house and hang them on it and then make it a dunghill. That's serious, right? So both Cyrus and Darius, and we know that Darius the Mede was also a good king that loved Daniel and ultimately said, hey, if anybody speaks against the god of Daniel, let their house be made a dunghill. It's interesting how that works, right? So that being said is that, OK, now they have a decree saying, start the building. And that's really where Haggai is picking up that, hey, they had this decree to start. Where you at? And Darius is making this decree. Notice in verse 11, it says, and the god that had caused his name to dwell there, destroy all, I'm sorry, name to dwell there, destroy all kings and people that should put to their hand to alter and to destroy this house of God, which is at Jerusalem. I, Darius, have made a decree. Let it be done with speed. OK, so Darius is not only saying, hey, you have leave to build this house. Anybody that tries to alter it, let him be destroyed. Let him be hanged by their own wood in their own house and then let their house be made a dunghill. But he says, let this be done with speed. He's like, hasten to this. Get it done. Build the house of the Lord. And anybody tries to alter it, deal with them. And you can go on further with this as far as that goes. I don't want to just read Ezra to you. But obviously, Haggai is dealing with the times of Ezra. Ezra, the priest, or the scribe, Ezra, and all that stuff, and that whole book there, you could read through there and see. Basically, they're building the house of the Lord, and they have some hiccups with these adversaries. Then you get to Nehemiah, and they're building the wall, right? And then they have hiccups in that, and they try to stop them building the wall. And then they have to go back. And it's kind of like the same story, but different things they're building when you're dealing with that. But when you're dealing with Haggai and Zechariah, you're mostly dealing with the temple. But go to Haggai chapter 1. Haggai chapter 1. So what's the point of this book, or what's the point of this prophecy that he's stating? He's basically calling them out and saying, is it not time to build the house of God? And you can understand, now that you get the idea of what's going on here, they were building the house of the Lord. They were given a decree by Cyrus. Then it was ceased. Then Darius, in his second year, gives the decree to build it again. And he's basically like, all right, guys, it's time to build. What are you doing, right? You kind of get that idea that he's waking them up. It's time to build. You know, Darius has made the decree. We have license to build. Let's get on it, right? So let's read this in verse 2 here. It says, Thus speaketh the Lord of hosts, saying, This people say, The time is not come, the time that the Lord's house should be built. So he's basically saying, this people saying it's not time to build it. Then it says in verse 3, Then came the word of the Lord by Haggai the prophet, saying, Is it time for you, O ye, to dwell in your sealed houses, and this house lay waste? So what does this mean? Well, sealed doesn't mean like sealed, like sealed from like water. That's like S-E-A-L-E-D, right? Like sealing something. But sealed, you see the word sealing in there, right? It's basically talking about like you have these sealed houses, meaning like you have houses that have all these like architectural features to them, right? It's not, the sealing isn't the structure, right? That's the roof structure, you know. That's the beams, the timbers that they were going to pull down and hang you on them if you try to alter this decree. The sealing would be like this drop sealing right here. If you took all the drop sealing out right now, the building ain't going anywhere. It's going to look really, well, it may actually look better. I don't know. You know, people go for that. You know, the industrial look or the architectural look, see the structure, whatever. But when you're dealing with sealing, you're thinking of like drywall or you're thinking of spackling that's going to look architectural, right? You're thinking of like the crown molding that would be around, right? So he's basically saying you got all these like cute little features on your house. You have all this nice fluff and icing on your, the icing on the cake, if you will, on your house, but you're letting God's house lay waste. Now, this is obviously a lesson to us spiritually that, hey, you know what? If you're too busy about the things of your life that you're worried about, all these little ancillary things in your house and things that you have, but then like nuts to the church, nuts to doing things for God, you know, obviously what's more important, your sealed house or the house of God? Okay. And spiritually speaking, obviously, is the fact that, hey, you know, it is time to build the house of God. Keep reading there in verse five, it says, Now therefore, thus saith the Lord of hosts, consider your ways. Ye have so much, and bring in little. Ye eat, but ye have not enough. Ye drink, but ye are not filled with drink. Ye clothe you, but there is none warm. And he that earneth wages, earneth wages to be put into a bag with holes. I love that. I just love that visual, right? And the idea here is that, you know what? If you work for this world and it's all about this world, you know what? God's not blessing you in that. I'm talking to Christians right now. You say, well, Donald Trump's blessed, you know, he's got a whole bunch of money or, you know, rich people out in the world, they have a bunch of money. But listen, if you're a Christian, you're going to be basically like I have a bag with holes in it if you're just going to leave off the things of God. And he's basically stating that, you know, you don't have enough, you seem like you keep taking one step forward and two steps back. Why is that? Maybe because you're leaving off the house of God, because you're letting the house of God lay waste, okay? Keep reading there. It says, Let's let the Lord of hosts consider your waste. Go up to the mountain and bring wood and build the house, and I will take pleasure in it, and will be glorified, saith the Lord. Ye looked for much, and lo, it came to little, and when ye brought it home, I did blow upon it. Why, saith the Lord of hosts, because of mine house that is waste, and ye run every man unto his own house. So you see the picture here? Why is everything not working out for them? Why is everything they're doing just basically falling apart? Why are all their income, you know, is just falling through the, it's kind of like, you know, oh, you know, I got this extra raise, but then my car broke down or, you know, like things like that can happen, and I'm not saying that's like definitely a judgment of God, you know, we all have cars that break down, you know what I mean? But what I'm saying is that, you know what, if you're feeling like, hey, everything just keeps falling apart, every time I get ahead, it comes back, you know, I come back two steps forward, the first thing you should be thinking of, am I right with God? You know, am I doing what I should be doing? Am I going to the house of God? Am I soul winning? Am I reading my Bible? Am I praying? Am I doing what I should be doing? To the point where he's saying, consider your ways, right? Consider your ways. And he's kind of reminding him like, don't you, doesn't it seem like everything that you do keeps falling apart? Don't you, doesn't it seem like every time you make some money, it just falls through your, your pants? Like, it's like, you know, it's just like, anytime you have some extra money, well, got to fix that now, you know, or something like that, okay? You know, like that's the story of my life. You know, I'm not here to say like, every time that happens, you know, you're not right with God. I'm just saying that if you're right with God, and you're doing what you should be doing, then you know what, if that's just life, you know, maybe those are things that God is wanting you to go through to give you character, all that stuff. But you should consider your ways either way, right? If everything starts going bad for me, you know, when I look, I look in the mirror, be like, am I doing something wrong? That's a natural thing you should be doing as a Christian is just saying, is there something I need to get right? Is there something I'm doing wrong? To just look at myself first and be like, is it me, right? Is it something I'm doing? And then if you're like, well, no, I'm going to church, I'm doing this, I'm doing this, I'm not like doing anything wicked, then you just got to deal with it and just pray that God will help you through it, right? But God's kind of saying, hey, look in the mirror, this is why this is going on. You know why they're having such a hard time? Because they're not building the house of God. Keep reading there. In verse, I think verse 10, it says, therefore, the heaven over you is stayed from dew and the earth is stayed from her fruit. And I called for a drought upon the land and upon the mountains and upon the corn and upon the new wine and upon the oil and upon that which the ground bringing forth and upon men and upon cattle and upon all the labor of the hands. So from verse two to verse 11, do you see the synopsis here? They're basically trying to eat, drink and be merry, have their nice things, have their sealed houses, right, or their nice houses, but they're not building the house of God. They're letting that lay waste, and God's saying, this is why all this is happening to you, okay? This is why you can't get ahead. This is why there's no fruit in the land. This is why you're having drought. This is why this is all going on, because God caused it to be that way because you're just sitting on your hands not doing anything. You know, the whole point here is that it's time to get to work. It's time to get to work on the house of God. Now, when it comes to the house of God, obviously, we're talking about the church of God. The New Testament, right? They're talking about a physical building back then, being built, the temple of God, the decree is being brought forth to build the house of God, but you can obviously see the spiritual aspect and the fact that we're talking about building the church. Now, notice what it says in Psalm 127. Psalm 127 and verse one. Psalm 127. So lest you think that I think that, okay, we're changing our vision on what we need to be doing in life, listen, we're going to do the Great Commission. Go out and get people saved, get them baptized, and to teach them to do all things. But we can't force people to do any of that stuff, okay? And when it comes to the church being built, I leave that to God, okay? But God's not going to build a church that's not doing what he wants it to do, okay? So ultimately, God's the one building the church. I'm going to show you that. God's the one that's building the church, but it's going to be contingent on whether you are actually doing what you should be doing, okay? God's not going to build a church, you know, with actual, you know, good fruit that's going to produce good fruit and the fruit's going to remain. He's not going to build that church if you're not actually going out doing what you should be doing, okay? And so you can have a lot of churches that have a lot of people in there. That doesn't mean it's alive. You know, you can have big churches filled with a bunch of unsaved people, okay? Do you want that? Is that God building that or is that man building that? You know, when people do the CCM stuff, this contemporary Christian music, or these, you know, these liberal churches, they're filling it up by man. Man is filling that up with their own ways, okay? But when people start coming to, like, churches like ours or, you know, churches that are preaching the gospel and preaching hard against sin, you know what? It's not me that brings them in, okay? I'm not some great, you know, orator or preacher of, you know, like, of yesteryear and they're just like, man, we found them. We found the preacher, you know? We found the guy that we can listen to, right? It's about the work that's getting done because people come to this church and many of you have, you know, some of you have moved to this church. Why did you come to this church? For sound doctrine and for soul winning. Aren't those the two big things that you probably came to this church for? Is that I want to hear sound doctrine. I don't want to hear some cute poem and a prayer and just go home feeling fluffy inside. I want to hear what does the Bible actually say? What does it teach? And you know what? Let's win people to Christ. Let's get on fire for God. Let's change and turn this country upside down. Let's turn West Virginia upside down. Let's turn this area upside down with the gospel of Jesus Christ. You know what? That's what you came here for, okay? And whether it's me up here saying that or another man in this church that's coming up and saying that, that's why you're here. That's why I'm here. You know, I don't want to be here with a church full of people that don't want to do anything for God, that don't love the Lord, that don't love sound doctrine, that want to put a wet blanket on soul winning. No, I want to be at a church that is on fire for God and God blesses that, okay? And it's interesting how our church has grown every single year, but yet we don't have gimmicks to get people to come to church. You know what? I haven't begged anybody to come to church, okay? And a lot of you, you know this and you know my stance on this. I don't ask anybody to ever move to our church, okay? I'm glad for the people that did move, you know, and I'm, you know, happy you guys are here, but you may have visited and say, hey, we're thinking about moving. Be like, oh, you know, well, you know, if this is the best, you know, this is what you want to do, then, you know, that'd be great. But I'm not like calling you up and like, hey, man, I know you said you were going to come. You still down for that? Can we, you know, I really want you to come. I think, I mean, I think this is God's calling for you, brother. You know, like this is definitely what you need to do. No, actually I do quite, I almost, I almost to the point be like, you know, you may want to just check out other churches and just make sure that, you know, we're the ones you want to go to. The serious thing, I want you to be here because you want to be here because this is where, you know, you believe God wants you to be here and that you're going to do great things for God when you're here. I don't want to be at a church where people don't want to be here. Okay, I'd rather, I'd rather to preach to a smaller group of people that love God, want to do great things, than a whole stadium full of people that are all aloof to the things of God. Okay, but ultimately, notice what it says in Psalm 127 verse one. Psalm 127 verse one, it says, except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it, except the Lord keep the city, the washman waketh but in vain. And listen, if you try to, if we try to build this church ourselves, the way we think it should be built and try to pull people in here that, you know, by our own means, it's in vain. You're just going to have a bunch of people in church that don't want to be here, that don't like sound doctrine, and that's where you get a bunch of church splits in a lot of cases. You get a whole bunch of people in here that don't know sound doctrine. Okay, just imagine we start pulling people in or just like, hey, just come to church, come to church, come to church. And let's say we just leave off soul winning, right? And we're just like, we're just going out and trying to get people to come in the church. And we got all these schemes to get people to come in the church. And then I've toned down the doctrine and just get a little more fluffy with everything. Well, now there's still people in here that know sound doctrine. You know, the pastor may know sound doctrine. Well, now I preach hard against sin. I preach against the Sodomites. I preach hard against, you know, the Jews and Zionism and, you know, the Antichrist religion. I start preaching hard against things that, well, half the church doesn't agree with that. And then half the church is like, you know what, we're splitting. You know, that's how a lot of that stuff happens. But if you preach hard from the beginning, you don't hold anything back from the beginning, you know what you get when you come in. Okay, it's not like this shock later on to where everybody's just like, oh, you know, I can't believe you said that. I can't believe you believe that. I can't believe that you've been here this long and don't know that. But, you know, that being said is that the Lord builds a house, and you don't have to turn that around. In Matthew 16, verse 18, Jesus said, I say also unto thee that thou art Peter, and upon this rock will I build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. Notice who's building the church. Jesus. Upon this rock, he didn't say, thou art Peter, and upon this rock you will build the church. That's what, you know, the Catholics want you to believe, because he's the first pope, even though he had kids and a wife, and that's not what he's saying here. But he's saying, upon this rock, I will build my church, right? And so it's very clear that it's Jesus building his church. It's the Lord building his house. But, you know what? You need to do the work to get that to happen, okay? And I believe we've seen the fruit of that. You know, we've just been going out week in, week out, going soul winning, doing what we should be doing, preaching sound doctrine, and you know what? Year by year, you know what we've been doing? Growing. Little by little. But you know what? I'd rather grow little by little than have these big bursts of people that don't want to be here, don't like sound doctrine, don't want, you know, I'd rather just be at this slow build of good people that want to do the work of the Lord and just keep building and building and building and building, and good luck when false doctrine comes in. Good luck to the person that wants to bring in false doctrine when you've got a church full of people that love the Lord, love sound doctrine. I don't even have to say anything. If someone came in here and started preaching repent of your sins, I wouldn't even be able to get to them. Like, imagine them in the back right there, right? And I know a lot of people are out right now and sick, but even, I mean, with the amount of people we have right now, do you know how many people that it has to get through before it gets to me? Okay? Brother Richie. It had to get through Brother Richie. It had to get through Brother Aaron. It had to get through Brother Nick. It had to get through Brother Charles. I'm just kind of going down the line right here, but obviously there's other people in here. Do you know how many people they had to come through? Like, let's say they started back with Brother Richie and be like, you've got to repent of your sins to be saved. Well, he'd be out the door at that point right there, okay? But let's say Brother Richie wasn't feeling well. He's just like, you know what? Talk to Brother Aaron. Brother Aaron just, you know, slams him out on that. Let's say Brother Aaron is just busy with his kids. His kids are, you know, he's like trying to, you know, like, one of his kids fell over or whatever, and it got through Richie. It got through Aaron. Well, it got to get Brother Nick, okay? I, you know, barring they come right up to me and start bringing this false doctrine up to me, which usually doesn't happen, by the way, when it comes to churches, they usually go through the members to try to find a weak link, okay? They find the one that doesn't know the sound doctrine or they're trying to find it out, and it makes me laugh to think of them trying to find that person in our church, and you know what? I love that about our church because our church is not filled with a bunch of babes in Christ. Now, we do have babes in Christ, okay? But there's a difference between having babes in Christ in the church and being filled with babes in Christ, okay? That's the difference. We should have all levels, okay? And I believe we do. I believe we have people that are very knowledgeable about the Bible. I believe we have people that are growing and getting very knowledgeable, maybe in some areas, and in other areas they're not, and in other areas, you know, and people are different as far as where their, you know, strengths are when it comes to certain doctrines. And obviously we have kids, you know, that are obviously babes in Christ, and a lot of them that are saved, or then that are getting saved. People are getting saved and coming to our church, and then they come in and they're learning, and you know what? We should have all of that, but it shouldn't just be a bunch of babes, okay? And you know what? That's going to be the determining factor between a strong church and a very weak church. That's going to be the determining factor between a church that man builds and a church that God builds. You know what? A church that God builds, the gates of hell should not prevail against it. You know why the gates of hell aren't going to prevail against it? Because we're winning people to Christ every single week. Every week people are getting saved. And you know what? That's going to be a strong church that's built by God, okay? Now go to Haggai chapter 1 and verse 12. Haggai chapter 1 and verse 12. So get the timeline here. In the second year of Darius the king, in the sixth month, in the first day of the month, okay? Now you say, why is it so specific? I think there's always a reason for that, okay? If the Bible is going to give you like the day of the month, you know, of someone's reign, you know, you may not know at the time why that's there, but notice what it says here in, oh, it's on the next page. I was like, I know there's a verse that says the time on there. But read this at the end of Haggai here in verse 12. Notice this, in the four and 20th day of the sixth month in the second year of Darius the king. So when did they get back to work? It was like 23 days later. So it kind of gives you just a time frame as far as when Haggai started preaching this and how long it took them to finally take heed and get back to work, right? It wasn't instantaneous. It's not like it was just like one day, be like, you guys need to get back to work. This is why this is going on. No, it's almost a month. A month of him preaching, Zechariah preaching, and getting them to say, hey, we need to get back to work. And it's about a month later. You know, it's still in the sixth month, but you know, it's getting close to that. But you see that they finally get back to work. And I just want to point that out. When you're going through these prophets and you're going through the kings, when it gives you those specific days, you know, obviously you're not going to maybe see the reason why the first time you read it. But I see that to show you some time lapse there, okay? The time from when it preached from when it was made applicable. You know, the applied moment, you know, they preached it, but you didn't apply it until about a month later, okay? But here's the key. Make sure you apply it, okay? It's better that they did it 23 days later, right? Then they didn't do it at all, okay? Now, there's a lot in Haggai that you can look at. And even in Zechariah, I'm not going to do it in this sermon, but the parallels between Joshua, the son of Jostadag, the high priest, and Jesus. In Zechariah, you'll see that a little bit. But how about Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, the governor, okay? And the idea of how he is very paralleled to the Lord Jesus, okay? Because Jesus is prophet, priest, and king, okay? So governor would be another way of like being a ruler, right? They didn't have a king at the time. They had the governor, Zerubbabel, because they're under Persian rule, right? But that being said, you definitely see, you know, with Zechariah, Joshua, and Zerubbabel, and how these three men are kind of like representing Jesus being the prophet, priest, and king, and how that works, okay? So when you're reading through Haggai and Zechariah, kind of look for that type of stuff. You'll see that where he's talking about Zerubbabel being a signet and just different things about Zerubbabel. And you're like, man, it kind of sounds like it's a little prophetic. And it probably is, okay? Dealing with how, hey, this is Zerubbabel. And he obviously was the governor, and he was doing this. But how's that picture Jesus? Joshua is a derivative of the name Jesus, okay? So you definitely see how Joshua, the son of Josh, would picture Jesus being the high priest after the order of Melchizedek, right? And even the name, you know? But going on from that, go to Haggai chapter two. Haggai chapter two. So Haggai is all about building the temple, okay? So the first chapter is basically calling them out, like, what are you doing? Get to work. You're in your sealed houses. You know, I'm not blessing you because you're letting God's house lay to waste, okay? You need to get back to work on building this thing, okay? And once you understand when this is taking place, then you understand why he's saying that. You know, they started work on it. It was ceased. Now it's time to get back to work, okay? But in Haggai chapter two, we see them comparing the new temple that they're building to the former temple that Solomon built, okay? That's what it says in verse two here. I'm sorry. Verse one. Haggai two, verse one. In the seventh month, in the one and 20th day of the month, came the word of the Lord by the prophet Haggai, saying, speaking out to Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Jossadeh, the high priest, and to the residue of the people, saying, Who is left among you that saw this house in her first glory, and how do you see it now? Is it not in your eyes in comparison of it as nothing? So they're basically saying, you know, who here was alive when you saw the first house, okay? And what you got to understand is that that's 70 years of captivity, okay? So these people that saw this were probably kids when the temple was destroyed, okay? Now we know you have the 70-year captivity, but it wasn't until like 11 years in when they destroyed the temple, okay? So you're dealing with like 59 years of captivity, you know, that they may have seen this temple, and then you have like, well, how long have they been building this thing, right? If it took 46 years to build it, okay, how much time is going on there? So these people had to be old, okay? Would anybody doubt that these people had to be old to know what the first building looked like, okay? But there were people alive that saw the first building before it was torn down or burned and that sees this building, okay? And they're basically saying, you know, you see this building, in comparison, it says nothing, right? You're just like, man, the former was so much more magnificent. And when you read in 1 Kings about like Solomon building this temple, you're like, this thing sounds glorious, right? And we don't have any pictures of it, obviously, to really know what it looked like, but just all the intricate gold working and the cherubims and all these different things that they were doing in there and all the stones and just everything that was going on, I'm sure it was magnificent. And they're basically saying this building is as nothing compared to that as far as just the intricacy of it. But go to Ezra chapter 3. Ezra chapter 3, remember in Ezra 4 is where we see the adversaries coming in and ceasing the work, right? But in Ezra chapter 3, it hits on this a little bit, too, when the foundation was laid in verse 12. So Ezra chapter 3 and verse 12. Ezra 3 verse 12, it says, but many of the priests and Levites and chief of the fathers who were ancient men that had seen the first house. So obviously ancient, they're old, okay? They have to be to have lived through this whole captivity and see this thing being built. When the foundation of this house was laid before their eyes, wept with a loud voice and many shouted loud for joy. So you had this mixed feelings, right? Yet the ancient people that saw the first building, they're just weeping. And then you have the other people that are just shouting for joy. You're like, oh, we're building the temple, okay? It says, verse 3, who is left among you that saw this temple? I'm sorry, I'm reading the wrong verse there. In verse 13, verse 13, not three. So that the people could not discern the noise of the shout of joy from the noise of weeping of the people. For the people shouted with a loud shout and the noise was heard afar off. Okay, so when you're dealing with this, you kind of have this mixed feeling, if you will. The older people that saw the first building are just like, it's nothing compared to what we had before. Then you have other people that are just shouting for joy because the foundation is laid and you know, the temple is being built and all of that. So you kind of see this mixed feeling. But notice, go to chapter 2 of Haggai in verse 4, and notice that the latter building is going to be more glorious than the former, okay? Because it's not about all the frills and all the intricacies of this building. That's going to matter. What's going to matter is who's going to be standing in this building, okay? What's going to matter is what this building, who's going to be in the halls of this building, okay? In the flesh, okay? And notice in verse 4 here, so Haggai 2 in verse 4, it says, Yet now be strong, O Zerubbabel, said the Lord. And be strong, O Joshua son of Josadeh, the high priest. And be strong, O ye people of the land, said the Lord. And work, for I am with you, said the Lord of hosts. According to the word that I covenanted with you, when ye came out of Egypt, so my spirit remaineth among you, fear ye not. For thus, said the Lord of hosts, yet once it is a little while, and I will shake the heavens and the earth and the sea in the dry land, and I will shake all nations. And the desire of nations shall come, and I will fill this house with glory, said the Lord of hosts. The silver is mine and the gold is mine, said the Lord of hosts. The glory of this latter house shall be greater than of the former, said the Lord of hosts. And in this place will I give peace, said the Lord of hosts. So they're basically saying, you know, this building says nothing compared to the former building, but what's God's response to that? He's stating here, notice in verse 7, and I will shake all nations, and the desire of all nations shall come, and I will fill this house with glory, said the Lord of hosts. Who are we dealing with? The Lord Jesus Christ. And it says that the glory of this latter house shall be greater than of the former. Why? Because in this place I will give peace. Go to Malachi chapter 3, Malachi chapter 3. Who was in that temple, that latter temple? The Lord Jesus Christ himself. Now, there's cases where you see him as a 12-year-old boy in the temple and hearing and asking questions, right? But then you see where he's throwing people out of the temple for selling oxen and doves and throwing over tables. He says, make not my father's house a house of merchandise, and you made it a den of thieves. And, you know, but you see Jesus going to the temple all the time. And he's filling it with glory. Why? Because you have the glory of God in that building. You have the Lord Jesus Christ, the second person in the Trinity, the Son of God, is going to be in this building in the flesh. Notice what Malachi chapter 3 says. Malachi chapter 3 in verse 1, it says, behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me. That's what's quoted in the New Testament dealing with John the Baptist, okay? And obviously that's coupled with a voice crying in the wilderness of Isaiah 40, right? So you have Malachi 3, I will send my messenger to prepare the way before me. And then you have Isaiah 40, the voice of one crying in the wilderness to make his path straight, right? They couple these together. They sound very similar because obviously it's talking about the same thing. But notice, keep reading there, okay? Because now it's not talking about John the Baptist. And it says, and the Lord whom ye seek shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom you delight in. Behold, he shall come, said the Lord of hosts. Who's coming? The desire of all nations, the Lord Jesus Christ himself, the Lord. Who's coming? It says, and the Lord whom you seek shall suddenly come to his temple, okay? So you have the Lord Jesus Christ himself coming to his temple. You even see this when he's a child, when he's first born, and they bring him to the temple, right? Because they're doing basically what they're supposed to do with the circumcision and everything else. And you have Simeon saying, basically, I've seen the salvation of Israel. I've seen God's salvation. He beholded him before he died. Then you have Anna the prophetess that's basically saying the same things about him in the temple, okay? Then you see him as a 12-year-old boy in the temple being taught, asking questions, and they were amazed at his understanding. Then you go on from that, and I believe that was happening every year that he was going up there, right? It doesn't tell us all the time, but it seems like they were praying regularly, coming up to the feast, the Passover, and doing what they should be doing. And then you see when he's in his ministry, and what's he doing? He's going up to the temple, teaching in the temple, throwing people out of the temple, right? And doing all these things in the temple. And keep reading there, but it says in verse 2 of Malachi 3, it says, but who may abide in the day of his coming, and who shall stand when he appearth, where he is like a refiner's fire, and like fuller soap? And he shall sit as a refiner in a purifier of silver, and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness. And, you know, you think about, I mean, obviously he's constantly, you know, basically purifying the doctrine, if you will, of the Pharisees and the Sadducees. The Sadducees were those of the high priest, right? The priests and all that stuff were of the Sadducees, which don't even believe in the resurrection, don't believe there's a spirit or angel or anything like that, which is crazy when you think about that. But, you know what? The Jews today don't believe that either. So I'm sure there may be some that believe that, but, you know, there's a lot of the Jews don't believe in heaven or an afterlife or anything like that. But do you see how in Haggai, it's stating here that, hey, this former temple, this latter temple is going to be more glorious than the former. Why? Because the desire of nations is going to be there and come into it. Because the Lord whom you seek shall suddenly enter into his temple, and he's going to purify the sons of Levi. And if you think about it, didn't he purify them when he threw them out of the temple? Right? He purified the temple, didn't he? And you can think about all, obviously, the teachings and what Jesus did in his ministry and show you how he's like full of soap and like fire, right? Because his word is as a fire and like a hammer. And he is the word of God. He's the word made flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory, the glory of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. And that son of God was in the temple of God in that latter temple. That when they looked at it, they're like, ah, it's nothing like the first temple. But which temple would you rather stand in? Okay, if you had a choice today, if you could go back in time, be like, which temple would you want to see? Okay? One, you can only pick one. Would you want to pick the temple that Solomon built that was really beautiful and had all the different, you know, intricate things on it? Or would you want to stand in the temple where Jesus stood? Okay? Now a saved person, and I'm not here to question your salvation if you picked the other one, but what I'm saying is that a saved person that loves the Lord Jesus Christ would say, I want to see the temple where Jesus threw them out. I want to see the temple where he was there as a 12-year-old boy asking questions. I want to be in the temple where he went in and you had Simeon and you had Anna that was coming up to him as a child. I want to go to the temple where they're saying, you're going to go up to the feast, and he says, my time has not yet come, but your time is all the way ready. You think about all these different times that you'd be like, he was at the temple, he was teaching at the temple. He came in sitting lowly upon the cult, the fall of an ass, and came in there saying, Hosanna unto the highest. That was the temple that he was going to in Jerusalem. Or would you want to see this beautiful building over here? Okay? Now the world, which one would they pick? Okay? Obviously, they're going to be like, I want to see the more beautiful, elegant building, and everybody wants to know what Solomon's building looked like, right? Because even if you're not saved, you know Solomon, you know that he had a lot of riches, and you'd want to see that building. I'm not saying I wouldn't want to see that building, okay? That'd be cool to see what it actually looked like. But I'll tell you this, it's not hard to tell you which building I'd rather stand in. It would definitely be the one that Jesus stood in, okay? Now that's kind of just like an earthly, fleshly example of like, where would you rather be? You know, where would you, what would you rather see? Because here's, here's the thing. I don't really care about all the frills about the building. I don't really care, I care about the Lord Jesus Christ. You know, I would love to see like, what it looked like when he was on the earth. If there was a time that I could go back and look at, yeah, it'd be cool to go back in Moses' day and see the parting of the Red Sea. But listen, I would love to see the Lord Jesus, you know, calming the sea. See the Lord Jesus walking upon the sea. See the Lord Jesus feeding the five thousand. See the Lord Jesus, you know, doing all these different things, and be in his presence, and be around him. You know, out of all the stories in the Bible, where would you rather be? You know, and I'm not here to say, well there's, you know, you wouldn't want to be there with Moses when he's talking to God on the mount. Listen, I'm not saying that's bad or anything like that, but listen, everything is pointing to the Gospels. Everything from the Old Testament is pointing to Jesus, the Gospels, his ministry, and the cross. Everything after that, everything that's written in the New Testament that happens after that, is all pointing back to that. That whole area of Jesus' ministry and his death, burial, and resurrection is the pivotal point of the whole Bible. Okay, and so just an interesting thing dealing with Haggai, but notice also in verse 20 of Haggai 2, and this is the last point I'm going to make here, is that there's something else that's said here about shaking the heavens and the earth. You notice that it mentioned that. He's going to shake the heavens and the earth. So you have the case where he comes in his temple, right? And the desire of nations shall come. He also talks about the fact that he's going to shake the heavens and the earth, because in the Old Testament, a lot of times it doesn't give you the timeline of his first coming and his second coming, okay? But that's what it says in Haggai 2 in verse 20. It says, and again, the word of the Lord came unto Haggai in the fourth, fourth and 20th day of the month, saying, speak to Zerubbabel, governor of Judah, saying, I will shake the heavens and the earth, and I will overthrow the throne of kingdoms, and I will destroy the strength of the kingdoms of the heathen, and I will overthrow the chariots and those that ride in them, and the horses and the riders shall come down, every one by the sword of his brother. In that day, said the Lord of hosts, will I take thee, O Zerubbabel, my servant, the son of Shealtiel, said the Lord, and will make thee as a signet, for I have chosen thee, said the Lord of hosts. Okay, now obviously this is talking about something that's going to happen with Zerubbabel. I'm not to take that out of there, but you can definitely see how Zerubbabel will be like the king of kings coming down, and what we're going to be dealing with, the shaking of the heavens and the earth. And this is something that's mentioned in Isaiah, in Joel, and in Hebrews, and I want to just show you that, about this idea of shaking the heavens and the earth. Now look at Isaiah 13 in verse 13. This is the last point I'm going to make here about the shaking of the heavens and the earth, and when does this take place? And I believe it takes place when Jesus is going to come back the second time. So this is talking about his second coming. Obviously when the desire of all nations shall come into his temple, that's talking about his first coming. Okay, that's when he came the first time, but he's also going to come again. He's going to come the second time without sin and the salvation, the Bible says in Hebrews chapter nine. So there is going to be another coming of the Lord. And Isaiah 13 verse 13 says, Therefore I will shake the heavens and the earth shall remove out of her place in the wrath of the Lord of hosts and in the day of his fierce anger. So he's talking about shaking the heavens and the earth. What is he dealing with? He's dealing with the wrath of God coming. Okay, so you can definitely see the distinction between his coming into the temple, and obviously when Jesus came into the temple, he came meek and lowly and sitting upon the fold of an ass. Right, now when he comes, ultimately what's he going to be sitting on? On a white horse with a two-edged sword proceeding out of his mouth. Okay, so you can definitely see a difference in that. Okay, and notice in Joel chapter three, Joel chapter three and verse 15. Joel chapter three and verse 15. Joel chapter three and verse 15 it says, The sun and the moon shall be darkened and the star shall withdraw their shining. The Lord also shall roar out of Zion and utter his voice from Jerusalem and the heavens and the earth shall shake for the Lord will be the hope of his people and the strength of the children of Israel. So you can see that, you know, the sun and moon being darkened. What is that like and done to? But immediately after the tribulation of those days, shall the sun be dark and the moon shall not give her light and the star shall fall from heaven. And what are you going to see? The sun and man coming in the clouds. Okay, and he's gathering together his elect. But that same day that he does that, wrath is being, fire is being poured out on the earth and his wrath is coming down. Okay, go to Hebrews chapter 12. And last thing I'm going to show you here. Hebrews chapter 12. So just something to think about when you see this about shaking the heavens and the earth. You see this, you know, I shake not just the earth only, but also the heavens, right? He's kind of making a point that it's not just shaking the earth, but he's shaking the heavens because you have basically the stars falling from heaven. You have all this stuff going on in the heavens and it's not just stuff that's going on the earth. Now in Hebrews chapter 12, to get some context here, he's showing you the difference between the old covenant and new covenant. And he's basically talking about Moses and how there's this great earthquake that happened when he brought, you know, he was in the mountain and God spoke from the mountain. He spoke the 10 commandments. When he was setting up that first covenant, right? And talking about the Old Testament and all that. And he's basically saying that started with an earthquake. And then he's talking about it. Then Jesus, you know, obviously is the high priest and he's the mediator of the New Testament, established upon better promises, all that stuff. But then he's stating here in verse 25, see that you refuse not him that speaketh, for if they escape not who refused him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven. So he's basically stating that, you know, in Moses' day, you know, he's kind of comparing the two as far as, you know, you heard Moses and what he spoke and how God shook the earth back then. You know, how much more now, you know, you got the Lord Jesus Christ that's speaking to you from heaven and he came down from heaven and all that. Verse 26, whose voice then shook the earth, but now he hath promised saying, yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven. See where we're coming out here with Haggai chapter two? Haggai chapter two says, I will shake the heavens and the earth, right? And not the earth only, but also the heavens. It says in verse 27, it says in this word, yet once more signify the removing of things that are shaken as of things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain. Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear for our God is a consuming fire. See how all this stuff kind of fits together when you're dealing with shaking the heavens and the earth, but it's not going to shake kingdoms, like the kingdom of God can't be shaken, right? It's kind of like he's shaking the heavens and the earth, but you think God's throne and everything that's going on up there is like just getting moved out of place. No, he's shaking all the kingdoms and, you know, Haggai hits into that as far as how all the nations and the heathen, he's going to destroy all of them, all that's going on there, but he's going to shake all that and he's going to remove all that so that the kingdom that can't be shaken is the only thing left, right? Imagine you had a whole bunch of things that could be moved out of place, but there's one thing that can't, and you're basically just like shaking this thing until everything falls off except for that one thing that can't be shaken, right? That's pretty much kind of a picture he's given you as far as how he's going to destroy everything, right? He just shakes everything, and the one thing that can't be shaken is the only thing left standing, right? And he's kind of hitting on that here, and Haggai is obviously showing you that the desire of nations shall come into his temple, talking about the Lord Jesus Christ coming into this temple, and that's really, you know, Haggai's talking about building this temple and hey, you know, this temple is going to actually have more glory than the former temple because of who's going to be in it, right? But also after that, that same, you know, desire of nations is going to come again and shake the heavens and the earth, and all the nations are going to be crumbled and taken away because the only thing that's going to be left is the kingdom that can't be shaken, which is the kingdom of God, the kingdom of heaven. And ultimately, the new heaven, new earth, the only thing that's left standing is the saved. Everything else has been destroyed. And so Haggai, it's only two chapters, but, you know, there's a lot of information in it. I love the book of Haggai, you know, just a lot of stuff in there dealing with the house of God and just prophecies about Jesus, you know, the desire of nations. And we even have a hymn that talks about the desire of nations. And I can't remember if it's Hark the Herald Angel Sings, but it probably is because that hymn, that Christmas song has so much doctrine and I would not be surprised if that's the song that talks about the desire of nations come. Okay, yeah, I knew it was a Christmas song though. I knew the song leader would know, right? Yeah, no, but you're right. Yeah, all right. But yeah, so, you know, in a lot of these Christmas songs, there's a lot of good doctrine. But did you know that came from Haggai, you know? And same thing with when you go into my favorite Christmas song, which is Hark the Herald Angel Sings. I'm not saying the same Christmas song after this brother, but I'm just saying like, my favorite Christmas song is Hark the Herald Angel Sings. But one of the big reasons why I love it, besides the melody is cool and the song sounds cool, is the words. The words are very biblical. They're very much scripture-based. And, you know, it's always cool to see, where did that come from? Where did they pull that from? And sometimes you'll see things and be like, that's really profound. Yeah, because it came from the Bible, you know? But that's the book of Haggai. We still got Zechariah and Malachi. And then we'll be done with the prophet series. And I'm going to be getting into so-called contradictions of the Bible. And so, again, come up to me if you have any that you've heard that you want answered. And, you know, because sometimes I just haven't heard of them, you know, when it comes to that. But I'm going to be going down a list of different, you know, like the, I think the Muslims have their, like, hundred, you know, like the most damning, you know, Bible contradictions, you know? And I'm going to go through them all. Now, a lot of them are going to be silly, but that's the point. Because I want to go through all the ones that are stupid, so that, you know, this is what people are, this is why people don't believe the Bible. And you're going to be like, that's dumb. That's really dumb. And I'll go through the hard ones, too. But you know what? The Bible's right in every single one of those. The Bible doesn't contradict. The Bible's right. There's no contradictions. And, you know what? We'll go through them. Bring it, you know? So, but if you have any that you've heard, and that you say, hey, I'd love to hear an answer on that one. And some of them I may have already answered, but you know what? If it's something that you want to, you know, want to be taught on, I'll hit it again. Or if it's something I haven't taught on, I'll hit it. I'll hit it. So just let me know, because I'm going to be, obviously, getting those, you know, turning up there. So let's end with a word of prayer. Heavenly Father, we thank you today. Thank you for your word. Thank you for the Book of Haggai. And just pray that you'd help us to understand. I know it's just two chapters, but just packed with full of great information, and great verses, and prophecy. And Lord, just pray that you'd be with us throughout the rest of this week. Pray that you'd give us safety, give us health. Be with those that aren't feeling well, or that are recovering from sicknesses. Lord, thank you for our mothers, here on Mother's Day. And Lord, just pray that you'd be with us the rest of this week, in Jesus Christ's name. Amen. All right, Brother Nick, we'll come, sing one more song, and then we'll be dismissed. All right, if you would, turn to song number 41. Song number 41, if we'd all stand, we'll sing Sweet Bye and Bye. Song number 41. There's a land that is fairer than day, and by faith we can see it afar, for the Father waits over the way to prepare us a dwelling place there. In the sweet bye and bye, we shall meet on that beautiful shore. In the sweet bye and bye, we shall meet on that beautiful shore. We shall sing on that beautiful shore.