September 23, 2007
Morning Worship
Text: Haggai 1:1-15
Subject: Sowing and Reaping
Title: Are You a Blessing Blocker or a Blessing Bringer?
You live in the most blessed nation in the world. You have more freedom to do as you like. You have the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. You have the privilege to protest against your government without fear of imprisonment (though maybe some should be in prison). You have the ability to do just about anything you would want to do that isn’t illegal and can get by with a lot that is.
Now that you see how blessed we are, have you ever stopped to think about all the blessing we are missing out on? God told Abraham that He would bless those who blessed him and curse those who cursed him. We often mention the fact that as soon as America turns its back on Israel that we will lose our supernatural blessing from God. The reality is, though on the surface it appears that we are backing Israel, over the last century America has continually provided arms and military technology to Israe’s enemies in an effort to maintain a balance of power in the Middle East. When it comes right down to it we have to stop and ask ourselves this question, “Are we using our relationship with God’s chosen people as an excuse to protect the investments of the very rich in the world? Or, Do we really believe that we need to be Israel’s ally because it is the right thing to do?
As we look at our scripture passage today we see the same situation among the people of Israel as the return from Babylonian captivity to rebuild the Temple of God. Are they using their God given liberty as an excuse instead of doing what they were called to do? We want to look at this time in Israel’s history and see the attitudes that prevented them from becoming what God wanted them to be.
I pray as Paul did in Ephesians 1, 18 that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, 19and his incomparably great power for us who believe.
I. ARE YOU WANTING TO PLEASE YOURSELF (1-5) 1In the second year of King Darius, on the first day of the sixth month, the word of the LORD came through the prophet Haggai to Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest:
2This is what the LORD Almighty says: “These people say, "˜The time has not yet come for the LORD’S house to be built." I want you to notice a couple of things here. 1) The Word of the Lord came to Haggai. He was a prophet of God. He spoke God’s word. He heard God’s voice. He knew when to speak and when to remain silent. 2) The people who had returned to Jerusalem were "spiritual". They knew God’s will for Israel. The time has not yet come for the LORD’S house to be built. This is what had happened in Jerusalem. King Darius of Babylon had released 50,000 of the captives (as was spoken by Isaiah and Jeremiah) and had allowed them to go back to Israel in order to rebuild the temple and the city. During the second year of their return the foundation of the temple was laid. It was at that time that Samaritan opposition arose to the rebuilding so the people stopped. It was during that time also that the people became "spiritual". In truth, they became spiritually apathetic. They assumed that if God had intended for them to rebuild the temple, He would never had let the opposition rise against them. Ezra 4:24, 24Thus the work on the house of God in Jerusalem came to a standstill until the second year of the reign of Darius king of Persia. Thus they said, "2The time has not yet come for the LORD’S house to be built." Does that sound like an attitude you might hear in the church today? God must want to teach me a lesson through this sickness or else He would have healed me by now! Or, God will heal me in His timing. Or, I’ll wait for God to open the door before I share the gospel with anyone. (Don’t you understand that if God has put in contact with someone then you He has already opened the door)? Or, I’m not going to speak a message in tongues or give an interpretation or believe God to use me for healing or have a word of knowledge or a word of wisdom, or faith or the discerning of spirits unless the Holy Spirit makes me say something. That way I"ll know it’s God and not the flesh. You see when the church gives in to doubting God’s word and then not acting on it, you are living under the devil’s authority and not God’s. Do you think that God didn’t want Israel to rebuild the temple? That’s what they were sent back to do. But they surrendered to the devil’s opposition. But a prophetic word came against them. 4 is it a time for you yourselves to be living in your paneled houses, while this house remains a ruin? Not only had the exiles given in to the devil, they became comfortable enough in their oppression to say, Well, if this is God’s will I guess we’ll just have to make the best of it. They actually had taken the resources that were intended for the temple and finished their own homes with them. How convenient! 5Now this is what the LORD Almighty says: Give careful thought to your ways. This is the call to the church today. Stop and think about where your focus is. Are you actively building God’s house? Or are you using His spiritual resources for your own benefit without concern for His house? Psalm 127:1, Unless the LORD builds the house, its builders labor in vain. Jesus said, I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. Who do you think Jesus is going to use to build His church?
II. ARE YOU WORKING TO PLEASE GOD (6-11) I want you to look at the comparisons that Haggai gives after the Lord spoke through him in verse 5 Give careful thought to your ways.
6You have planted much but have harvested little
You eat but never have enough.
You drink, but never have your fill
You put on clothes, but are not warm.
You earn wages, only to put them in a purse with holes in it.
For every action that the people have taken to find fulfillment in their lives the result has always been less than what they seek. Galatians 6:7-8 is a simple passage the lays down an important biblical law the Law of the Harvest. 7Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. 8The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life.
Haggai says, Give careful thought to your ways. Don’t just think about what you are doing but look at the ulterior motives that you might have for doing them. 8The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction¦ That’s exactly what Israel was doing. They were trying to fill themselves up in the flesh when what they were really lacking was in the spirit realm their obedience to God. And the results are the same as what I have been telling you for the last two months. They were trying to fill up what was lacking in their lives with the things of this world. They were trying to fill the Christ shaped hole in their hearts with something other than Christ. Galatians 6:7, 7Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. If you are sowing in the flesh you will never be filled up. If you are sowing in the spirit God will bless you in ways you never imagined. 7This is what the LORD Almighty says: “Give careful thought to your ways. 8Go up into the mountains and bring down timber and build the house, so that I may take pleasure in it and be honored, says the LORD.
9You expected much, but see, it turned out to be little
What you brought home, I blew away.
Why? declares the LORD Almighty. Because of my house, which remains a ruin, while each of you is busy with his own house. 10Therefore, because of you the heavens have withheld their dew and the earth its crops. 11I called for a drought on the fields and the mountains, on the grain, the new wine, the oil and whatever the ground produces, on men and cattle, and on the labor of your hands.
Deuteronomy 28:1-10 1If you fully obey the LORD your God and carefully follow all his commands I give you today, the LORD your God will set you high above all the nations on earth. 2All these blessings will come upon you and accompany you if you obey the LORD your God:
3You will be blessed in the city and blessed in the country.
4The fruit of your womb will be blessed, and the crops of your land and the young of your livestock the calves of your herds and the lambs of your flocks.
5Your basket and your kneading trough will be blessed.
6You will be blessed when you come in and blessed when you go out.
7The LORD will grant that the enemies who rise up against you will be defeated before you. They will come at you from one direction but flee from you in seven.
8The LORD will send a blessing on your barns and on everything you put your hand to. The LORD your God will bless you in the land he is giving you.
9The LORD will establish you as his holy people, as he promised you on oath, if you keep the commands of the LORD your God and walk in his ways.
Give careful thought to your ways. Who are you pleasing - self or God?
III. WAITING TO RECEIVE BLESSING (12-15) 12Then Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and the whole remnant of the people obeyed the voice of the LORD their God and the message of the prophet Haggai, because the LORD their God had sent him. And the people feared the LORD.
I want you to know this. I have never considered myself anything special. I’ve always considered my preaching as something I continually needed to work on. I’m not a prophet. I don’t have a new revelation from the Lord to share with you. But I did not choose to come to Palmyra six years ago. The Lord called us here and if He is the one who called He must have had a purpose behind it. I can look out and see that purpose. I see the Bourisaws. I see Lyndell and Tyler Dunn. I see Dianne and Joann and Becky and James and Janet. I see all of you who were here when we got here who needed to here the Word of God from a different perspective. I see the growth that has taken place and I see the potential that is in this church. I see that God is waiting for you obey the word of the Lord and begin building the church with all your effort in order to receive His blessing. 14So the LORD stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and the spirit of the whole remnant of the people. Something had to happen before the Lord stirred up their spirits. They had to be moved to obedience. They came and began to work on the house of the LORD Almighty, their God!
Paul told Timothy, I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands. The Bible way to be stirred up is to stir yourself up. That comes from obedience to the Word of God. That comes from having the kind of faith to believe that God is still able to perform what He has promised. That comes from stepping out in that faith to build the church of God.
What kind of church are you going to build? Will it be the church of the last harvest? Will it be a church that endures forever?
Are you willing to be obedient to the Word of God and be a part of the harvest?
Whether you know it or not you are going to partake in some kind of harvest.
1. The harvest God provides: "Seedtime and harvest...shall not cease" (Gen. 8:22).
2. The harvest sin produces: "Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap" (Gal. 6:7)
3. The Gospel harvest: "They (fields) are white already to harvest" (John 4:35).
4. The harvest of judgment: "The harvest is the end of the age" (Matt. 13:39).
If you are going to sow to the flesh then the church will be a worldly church never reaching the potential that God has set for us.
But if we sow in the Spirit and sow abundantly we will reap in the Spirit and reap abundantly.
I don’t have an agenda. I don’t want a full church as a testimony to my abilities. But I am longing for you to be a reaping church and not just a sowing church. I am ready for you to step out in faith and talk to people you don’t even know about coming to church here. I am ready for Holy Spirit revival to begin to fill the hearts of everyone of you here.
Give careful thought to your ways.
Check your heart. Check your motives. Check your power source. Get ready for the blessing.
