Remain Strong In the Lord

We are wrapping up our sermon series entitled “Life.” We have looked at how God is with us during the worst of times. How God can help us live life to the fullest if we are willing to let him. We then turned our focus towards a God that makes all things new, how we become transformed through following him.

Last week we examined how God offers us blessings in our lives This week we end this series with a reminder to stay “Strong in the Lord.” Our scripture comes from Haggai 2:1-9. The words will be on the screen.

2 on the twenty-first day of the seventh month, the word of the Lord came through the prophet Haggai: 2 “Speak to Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, to Joshua son of Jozadak, xthe high priest, and to the remnant of the people. Ask them, 3 ‘Who of you is left who saw this house in its former glory? How does it look to you now? Does it not seem to you like nothing? 4 But now be strong, Zerubbabel,’ declares the Lord. ‘Be strong, Joshua son of Jozadak, the high priest. Be strong, all you people of the land,’ declares the Lord, ‘and work. For I am with you,’ declares the Lord Almighty. 5 ‘This is what I covenanted with you when you came out of Egypt. And my Spirit remains among you. Do not fear.’

6 “This is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘In a little while I will once more shake the heavens and the earth, the sea and the dry land. 7 I will shake all nations, and what is desired by all nations will come, and I will fill this house with glory,’ says the Lord Almighty. 8 ‘The silver is mine and the gold is mine,’ declares the Lord Almighty. 9 ‘The glory of this present house will be greater than the glory of the former house,’ says the Lord Almighty. ‘And in this place I will grant peace,’ declares the Lord Almighty.”

Please pray with me…

We have been on quite the journey over the last few weeks. We have gone through what I often call the bad and the ugly. We have looked at the life of the Jewish people under captivity and how God was with them through the words of Jeremiah and Joel.

They may have felt at times that God had abandoned them, but these words expressed by these prophets of God would have reminded them that God is still at work through them and through those around them.

(Transition)

Today’s text brings us to the next step on the journey. Freedom from captivity. The opportunity to start over and to rebuild what had been broken. The chance to renew their relationship with what was and to begin with what God has made new.

The problem that the people seem to be facing is that they had heard of what Jerusalem was before. They want to rebuild their lives based off of the stories they heard from the past and not from their current reality.

How many times have you expressed how life was before the pandemic? How many times have you heard those around you speak of what they desire now instead of what is possible today. This is where the people are in today’s text.

The finances are limited. The number of people is limited. The skill set is limited. They want what was, without a way of living out the stories of what had been. They are struggling with living out their new identity.

(Transition)

Many of us can return back even further to life before 9/11. A much simpler time. A time in which it could be said that the United States was naïve as far as understanding what it means to be attacked in such a brutal manner.

We find many people still struggling with the way life is now compared to how we lived before these two events. It is why we are often seeing division and separation within the United States and the world. Some continue to struggle with what it means to be made new.

The problem that the people that Haggai is speaking to are facing is that they are most likely struggling with where to start. Most of them never lived outside of captivity to remember what life was like before in Jerusalem.

There was around 48 years before some of the people returned to rebuild the city of Jerusalem after it was destroyed in 586 BCE. There was approximately 70 years from the date Jerusalem was destroyed to these words coming from Haggai.

The average life expectancy of someone that survived infancy during that time was around 50 years. Therefore, anyone who was still alive probably was very young before the Jewish people were in captivity.

(Transition)

The point I am trying to make is that Haggai is attempting to allow for them, and I believe us to realize that even though life isn’t what it had been before, that does not mean that God is not still with them and with us. Life may be different but God desires to remain a part of our lives.

We are to remain strong during the good, the bad, and the ugly of life. Haggai is making sure that those that are with him in Jerusalem know that God is with them. He states it to the government first.

We may not like to hear it, but Romans 13 says to “13 Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established.” This is why I attempt to emphasize around election time, especially during Presidential elections that the world doesn’t stop existing based on if our candidate wins or loses.

We are supposed to not be focusing on the world but on God. This may mean that we focus on those that we believe our being hurt through whoever is our elected leaders at that time. Our focus should be on serving those that God places before us.

(Transition)

God also tells the religious authority to be strong. The church is called to do what God calls us to do through the gifts and talents that he has given to them. We are called to discover how we can best serve God here at The Church of the Good Shepherd.

This goes back to the Jewish people. They knew how things had been and were discovering they were not able to return things back to how they were. We are in a similar situation. The world is different and the church is different. We are to serve God as he desires for us to serve him under the circumstances that we find ourselves in as a church.

(Transition)

The last group that God is telling to be strong is “all the people of the land.” This would be you and me. We spoke of this last week through the blessings that God gives us. We are a blessed people. We need to do our best to remain strong through whatever is happening in our lives.

What does it mean for us to remain strong? It means that we are to stay connected to God. We are to not focus on the ups and downs of the world. Our focus is to be on the one who helps us and leads us.

We have spoken of this many times before, we are to live out our lives here on earth seeking the spiritual exercises that can best help us to stay connected to God. These can vary from person to person but there are two that should be important in each one of us who are followers of Jesus.

(Transition)

These are spending time connected to God through the word of God and through prayer. We need to spend time reading or listening to what God is trying to say to us through scripture. This can look different for each one of us.

For some that may mean getting out a physical Bible and reading it, for others it could mean listening to someone else read it to you. You may decide that a devotional book or app may be the best answer for you. We also offer our own devotional that is available on weekdays on our Facebook page.

No matter the manner what is most important is that you create time in your schedule to spend time with God and to allow God to speak to you through his word. These words have changed many lives and can also change yours.

(Transition)

We also should spend time in prayer. This goes back to the way that I prepare us for prayer during our services. We are to ask for God to intervene in our lives on how we would like for him to act, but we also should ask for his help to guide and direct us on how we are to serve him.

This is where listening becomes important. We need to make sure that we are giving God time to speak to us. We need to be open to what God says to us and then be willing to do what God has called for us to do.

(Transition)

Another aspect that should be important to followers of Jesus is spending time in worship and community. We are not called to be in relationship with God by ourselves. We are called to follow God along with others that believe in Jesus.

This matters because it is through the worship and fellowship with others that we can become closer to God. We can discover how others view God and how those around us spend time with God.

This is a gift that we should offer to those that we meet that do not have a church. We can offer to them a safe place to be themselves and to receive an understanding of what it means to be the hands, feet, and voice of Jesus with others that are on a similar journey.

(Transition)

That is where we find our first reading. There have been many people that have preceded us here at The Church of the Good Shepherd. There are many more that have most likely had an impact on your faith journey individually.

Today is All Saints Sunday. It is the Sunday that we remember those that have been close to the church and us individually that we have lost in the last year. These are names that I have heard so much about. People who have led many of you towards serving the church today.

Our first reading reminds us that we are co-workers with God. God doesn’t give us our marching orders and leaves us to do what he has called for us to do. God is working along side us. He is helping us. He is attempting to guide and direct our steps.

(Transition)

It is no coincidence that the first person recorded to have received the Holy Spirit within them was Bezalel and he was given the task of building the “Tent of Meeting.” The place where God was to reside for the Jewish people.

God had a specific way he wanted this space built. Therefore, he entered into Bezalel to make sure that it was being done right. But Bezalel didn’t do all the work by himself. He led the work, but others joined in and helped him accomplish the job that God had given to him.

We also should be working along with God in serving those around us. We should help those that may have been given a task by God accomplish that task. We accomplish more when we are joined together as co-workers with Christ.

We, like Bezlel, have God within us. We have the same Spirit given to Bezalel, given to Jesus, given to Jesus’ disciples, given to those Saints that have come before us. We have God within us helping us become the person and people that God desires for us to be.

(Transition)

We are not only co-workers, but we are building on the foundation of those that came before us. We aren’t creating anything new. We are building on the years and years of previous followers of Jesus.

Here at The Church of the Good Shepherd we are building on the vision of a church in the Sharon Woods neighborhood started by the Reverend Jim Wilson in 1969. We are building on what those before us started.

We are to use the foundation of Jesus and those before us to bring light to our little corner of the world. We are to help God help those around us find a place where they can be like us and experience the love of God and those that are here following him.

(Transition)

The foundation that we are building on means that although we don’t dwell on the past, we can allow our past and our memories of those that came before us to help us become the individuals and the church that God desires for us to be.

This is where stories can come into play. Those that Haggai is writing to may not have been old enough to remember what it was like in Jerusalem, but he hoped that others had told them about it.

I know that many of you have stories of events that have taken place here or at one of your other churches that you have attended. Some of them funny, some serious, and some just a fond memory of a person and your interactions with them.

Stories can help keep the memories alive. Stories can point out what had been experienced, what was, how it was, and can lead us to believe that God is not done with the story known as The Church of the Good Shepherd.

We are looking to create new stories. A time when the church was in a place of unknown but rose out of it and is now thriving. 2026 is to be a time in which we seek to reconnect with our community.

(Transition)

We are to be God’s co-workers in the world. We have been released into our communities to serve our God. God wants us to serve him and tell others about him. He helps us to serve those that need served and speak to those that need to hear about Jesus.

Verse five of our main reading tells us that God is in our midst while we do his work. Therefore, we should have no fear. Many times, what prevents us from helping those around us is a literal fear of if what we do and say will not be accepted.

God wants us to not fear him and to also not fear those around us. It is possible that one of the reasons why the people stayed away from the Temple was that they were afraid of getting too close to God. They were afraid they would end up back in captivity.

We have no reason to fear God. God had his son come down to earth to end our fear, to remove the power of sin from our lives. God knew that we would sin therefore something had to be done to save us from our sins. That something was Jesus dying on the cross for each one of us.

(Transition)

God is still with us. God is still helping us. This is why we should not be afraid of what others may think of us. We should believe that God is already at work in the situations we find ourselves in. We should believe that God has already prepared the way.

We have a hymn that we sing to remind us of the foundation Jesus has built with the help of those that came before us called “The Churches One Foundation. Laurence Hull Stookey took that song and adapted it into a poem. The first two stanzas say this… (Hymnal page 546)

Jesus is as 1 Corinthians 3:10 tells us a “skilled, master builder.” He knows how to build the foundation that will lead us individually and as a church into becoming a foundation that can stand up to all that life throws at us.

Let us on this “All Saints Sunday” remember the past while also preparing for what God desires to do in the future. Let us remain “Strong in the Lord.”

Please pray with me…