Consider Your Ways (3)
Notes
Transcript
I want to thank you all for coming tonight. We are at a pivotal moment in the RBA, and if we are going to get a Word from the Lord as to how we need to proceed, we are going to have to be diligent in seeking His face during this time, and we are going to have to do it together.
Tonight, I felt led to read from the Book of Haggai.
Read Haggai 1.
The Babylonian captivity had ended and all of God’s people had been released to return home. God had spoken to them through the prophets and through King Cyrus as to how they were to rebuild. Their instructions were to rebuild the temple of God. They started to do so, but through certain circumstances that took place, they halted on the project and decided to rebuild their personal homes instead.
Many years went by and God’s house still lay in ruins, while their homes were rebuilt and furnished. So God comes to them through Haggai and Zechariah the prophets and challenges them on the issue.
3 Then the word of the Lord came by Haggai the prophet, saying,
4 “Is it time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses, and this temple to lie in ruins?”
God had commanded them to work together to rebuild His temple, but they had chosen rather to isolate themselves from the communal work of God and focus rather on their individual needs.
This seems to speak to where we are tonight. For the last several decades, the church has been moving in this direction. Instead of us coming together for the work of the Lord, we seem to isolate ourselves to our own silos, putting all of our energy into our own individual church needs.
I don’t have to tell you that the true church has no silos. Denominations mean nothing to God. Individual church names have their place, but the church is made up of all Christians in all communities. If the whole church comes together, it is an unstoppable force, and I say that on the authority of the Word of God. Jesus said:
18 And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.
Now, more than ever, we need the collaboration of our local churches. We are in unprecedented times and we are facing things today that we have never faced before. We must stand together.
Because they had lost their focus, they also lost their fruitfulness.
5 Now therefore, thus says the Lord of hosts: “Consider your ways!
6 “You have sown much, and bring in little; You eat, but do not have enough; You drink, but you are not filled with drink; You clothe yourselves, but no one is warm; And he who earns wages, Earns wages to put into a bag with holes.”
7 Thus says the Lord of hosts: “Consider your ways!
Though they had been working hard to reestablish their community, their work was troubled. They saw little progress to the rebuilding and expansion of their homes because they had not put God first and been obedient to His Word.
Now we all know full well that the local association is never mentioned in the Bible, but the principle of each local church working together for the common good of the whole church is. We see this all throughout the New Testament. Apostles were sent out to support one another. Men were sent from one church to help establish other churches. Funds were raised by the church as a whole and distributed to each local assembly to meet their needs.
We have an obligation by God to work together, to worship together, and to do the work of ministry together. And if we choose not to do this, we should not be surprised when out own individual local assemblies struggle as a result.
As a result of their decisions to pull away and isolate themselves from the communal work of God, they lost the favor of God upon them:
9 “You looked for much, but indeed it came to little; and when you brought it home, I blew it away. Why?” says the Lord of hosts. “Because of My house that is in ruins, while every one of you runs to his own house.
10 Therefore the heavens above you withhold the dew, and the earth withholds its fruit.
11 For I called for a drought on the land and the mountains, on the grain and the new wine and the oil, on whatever the ground brings forth, on men and livestock, and on all the labor of your hands.”
They were struggling so much because God was actually working against them. He blew away their resources. He withheld the dew from heaven so that their crops would not grow. Without the hand of God upon us and our ministries, we cannot succeed. Every good gift and every perfect thing comes from the Father. We need His blessings. We need His guidance. We need His hand upon each of us if we are going to make any kind of a difference in this community.
In order to maintain the favor of God upon us, we must be willing to do it God’s way. We must be willing to come together so that each member of the body can perform its God given function. When we do this, I believe we will see the Almighty hand of God upon our individual lives, our individual assemblies, and our community.
1 is too small of a number to achieve greatness, but when we pool our resources and our gifts together for the name of Christ, nothing can stop the advancement of the Gospel.
8 Go up to the mountains and bring wood and build the temple, that I may take pleasure in it and be glorified,” says the Lord.
I do not believe that God has given up on us quiet yet. If each of us are willing to do our part in glorifying God, I firmly believe that the blessings of the Lord lie ahead of us. Souls will be saved; lives will be changed; and this community can be a haven for believers as God places a hedge of protection around us.
Let us consider our ways and see exactly what role that God has called each of us to play in the rebuilding of this association. Amen!
