Prophecy to the People Part 3
Prophecy to the People • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Build His House Better
Build His House Better
What if you hired a builder and he half built, half painted it and said it’s done? This is religion verses God’s intent and desire for what He wants to see of you in the relationship. What if while being built it was left unsecured and critters moved in and defiled it? This is what happens when you are content with just being a good Christian but not a disciple seeking to grow in your walk with the Lord.
When God blessed us with the home we currently live it, it was a foreclosure. It had holes in all the walls, windows busted out, nicotine stains running down the walls, nasty thirty year old green and yellow carpet. When we went through it, all the plumbing had been ripped out and the old toilets had been used and left to rot. It was disgusting. But we had a vision. And with that vision we had over 20 plus years of equity from trusting God. Our children and others looked at us like we were crazy for investing in this horrid house. But today it looks nothing at all like it did when we first walked into it. In fact, the state even saw a new appreciation for it and raised our taxes on it.
This is how God sees you. You are His house, His temple, the dwelling place of His Holy Spirit for His glory. You may have looked like a horrible mess when you first met Him. But He could see beyond the filth in your life, beyond the holes in your souls, and past the dirt and missing parts. You may even considered yourself dysfunctional or even non-functional. But He could see the potential in you for His presence to work in and through.
Now when we first moved in, it was so awesome to have new floors, freshly painted walls and doors, new windows and fixtures, new appliances and so on. But these things start wearing and taring and maintenance and repairs become continuous. The same with the church building. Once we got moved in it was real easy to say, “Okay, we are in and done.” but there are still areas that remain unfinished while others need touching up or repaired.
We see the same situation in the book of the prophet Haggai. In verse 1 we see that everyone of God’s people were busy doing their thing in life but with little regard for sustaining their spiritual life.
As we look at this passage, it says, “The Word of the Lord came.” Keep in mind that God is not really concerned with a physical structure but the spiritual wellbeing of His people and their covenant connection in relationship with Him.
Look at what God tells them:
“Thus says the Lord of hosts: These people say the time has not yet come to rebuild the house of the Lord.” Then the word of the Lord came by the hand of Haggai the prophet, “Is it a time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses, while this house lies in ruins?
You have sown much, and harvested little. You eat, but you never have enough; you drink, but you never have your fill. You clothe yourselves, but no one is warm. And he who earns wages does so to put them into a bag with holes.
You looked for much, and behold, it came to little. And when you brought it home, I blew it away. Why? declares the Lord of hosts. Because of my house that lies in ruins, while each of you busies himself with his own house.
How easily do we put more emphasis on our physical and natural wellbeing and needs yet so easily we are willing to neglect the weightier things that maintain and sustain our spiritual wellbeing?
If it is easy to for you to curse, lie, gossip, lust, envy, be apathetic about worship or learning the Word of God, then your spiritual house is being neglected.
Often, how you steward one is reflected in the other. Many times the man or woman who has a hole in their roof where the water comes in when it rains will say, “No need to fix it if it’s not raining.” This same hole in the roof logic will spill over into their spiritual thought process. Church, Bible Study Group, prayer, investment in church family relationship building, these are not important if I am not in a crisis. But when I am in a crisis, I feel disconnected and no one to turn to relationally because I have made no effort to invest. Instead, I have a hole in my roof when it rains that I could have fixed when it was not raining. But I did not deem it important at the time.
But if you will invest in your spiritual house, it will flow over into your natural house. It will flow over into your marriage, your children, your physical health and the wellbeing of your soul.
Beloved, I pray that all may go well with you and that you may be in good health, as it goes well with your soul.
When you make God’s dwelling place your highest priority, God will take care of your dwelling place.
Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?
I guarantee you this, that God cares for you more than birds. I know that our God desires for His dwelling place, His house to be a House of Prayer, a House of Righteousness, a House of Hope, a House of Peace, and a solid secure house. But we cannot neglect building His House, His way.
Whatever your life was before you met Christ, I know my God can build it better than it ever was and better than you could ever build it. But you have to let Him be the general contractor and you must be a laborer. If you will follow His blueprint I promise you that His dwelling place will be a glorious one and He will fill it.
Hear what God says to the people if they listen to His words and obey:
‘Who is left among you who saw this house in its former glory? How do you see it now? Is it not as nothing in your eyes?
Yet now be strong, O Zerubbabel, declares the Lord. Be strong, O Joshua, son of Jehozadak, the high priest. Be strong, all you people of the land, declares the Lord. Work, for I am with you, declares the Lord of hosts,
according to the covenant that I made with you when you came out of Egypt. My Spirit remains in your midst. Fear not. For thus says the Lord of hosts: Yet once more, in a little while, I will shake the heavens and the earth and the sea and the dry land.
And I will shake all nations, so that the treasures of all nations shall come in, and I will fill this house with glory, says the Lord of hosts. The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, declares the Lord of hosts.
The latter glory of this house shall be greater than the former, says the Lord of hosts. And in this place I will give peace, declares the Lord of hosts.’ ”
We are living in these days of verse 9. The later house of the Lord, that is you, is more glorious than any structure built by the hands of men. It is more precious than silver or gold to God. And the House where He dwells is a House of His Peace no matter what goes on outside the house in the streets of this world.
Are you building His house better than your own? You are not your own. You are His.
Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.
Are you glorifying God with your life? Your are His temple and His desire is that your life reveal His glory to others as you live it by His Word. Let Him be the interior designer of your soul. Let His vision for His house be in you!
