Disciples Put God First

in the hallway out there and we realized, he

said, well, they can't really do anything if

we're back here. It made me question, I wonder

just how long y 'all would just keep fellowshipping

if we just never came back. But we love that

time of you guys getting to see each other. As

we know, as you come in, you're finding your

seat. A lot of us... my family included, are

getting here late, and so you're trying to rush

and get to your spot. So we love that time of

getting to spend time together. We're going to

continue in our series of little books, big truths.

We're going to be in the book of Haggai today,

which you'll notice so far all the books we've

done have been only one chapter. This one is,

what, two chapters? Yeah, if you need a little

bit of help finding it, it's right towards the

end of the Old Testament, okay? So you'll find

it there. But we're going to read, and Alex is

going to preach through Haggai chapter 1 today.

Haggai 1 · chapter mention

We also want to say it's really cool to see the

Alabaster House visiting back with us, so thank

you guys for being here, and we're really excited

to have you. So, if you read with me, Haggai

Haggai 1 · chapter mention

chapter 1, we'll get through these Hebrew names

together. Let's read. In the second year of Darius

the king, in the sixth month on the first day

of the month, the word of the Lord came by the

hand of Haggai the prophet to Zerubbabel, the

son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua

the son of Jehozadak, the high priest. 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? Now therefore, thus says the Lord

of hosts, consider your ways. 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. Thus says the Lord of hosts,

consider your ways. Go up to the hills and bring

wood and build the house, that I may take pleasure

in it and that I may be glorified, says the Lord.

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. Therefore the heavens

above you have withheld the dew, and the earth

has withheld its produce. And I have called for

a drought on the land and the hills, on the grain,

the new wine, the oil, on what the ground brings

forth, on man and beast and all their labors.

Then Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, and Joshua,

the son of Jehozadak, 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 feared the Lord. Then Haggai,

the messenger of the Lord, spoke to the people

with the Lord's message. I am with you, declares

the Lord. And the Lord stirred up the spirit

of Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, governor

of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua, the son of

Jehozadak, the high priest, and the spirit of

all the remnant of the people. And they came

and worked on the house of the Lord, of hosts,

their God, on the twenty -fourth day of the month,

in the sixth month, in the second year of Darius

the king. Let's pray together. God, we thank

you for another opportunity to hear and learn

from your word today. God, we pray that you would

prepare our hearts to hear the message that you

have placed on your servant Alex. God, we pray

that you would fill him with boldness, fill him

with your spirit as he brings this truth to us.

And God, we pray that you would convict us. God,

that just like the people of Israel were neglecting

the house of the Lord, God, I pray that if we

have been neglecting what you have called us

clearly to do for you in our lives, that you

would convict us of that today. God, that you

would redirect our hearts and our minds and our

actions to be about your business, to bring about

your glory. And so, God, help us to focus on

that today. Help us to hear from you. In Jesus'

name we pray. Amen. All right, I'm excited to

get started with the book of Haggai. When you

think about the story of the Bible, in the beginning,

God's people dwelled in God's place, and they

enjoyed God's presence. And that was the ideal.

That was the plan that God wanted for the people

to have. He wanted people to be in his place,

enjoying his presence as his people. And so that

was the Garden of Eden. And it kind of served

as this first type of temple where heaven met

earth and God and man had a place where they

could interact together. And as you know, mankind

messed that up. And Adam and Eve, they sinned

against God. And so they are kicked out of the

garden. God's people were no longer dwelling

in God's place or enjoying God's presence. And

so then it's really interesting that the story

of the Bible becomes a story of how do we get

back to this ideal? How do we get back to God's

people dwelling in God's place and enjoying God's

presence? And there were little snippets throughout

history, right? I mean, at first you had the

tabernacle in the wilderness where the people

of Israel were together and God would come down

and he would meet with Moses in the tabernacle.

So you had God's people and God's presence, but

they weren't in God's place yet. And then under

Joshua, they go into the promised land, they

conquer the land and the people inhabit the land.

And you remember that the people of Israel, they

did not want God as their king. And so they rejected

God as their king. They said, give us a king

like all the other nations. We want to be like

the people of the world. And so God relented,

and he gave them a king. And for a time, it did

seem like, once again, you had God's people in

God's place enjoying God's presence. And we know

the story of the Old Testament, though, right?

That didn't last long, did it? They even built

the temple, and it was an even clearer picture

of here we have the presence of God. This is

like Eden all over again. Everything is great.

But they continued to sin. And God was incredibly

merciful and gracious and kind and patient. And

he kept warning the people. He kept saying, if

you do not return to me, if you do not give up

these foreign gods, if you do not stop your sinful

ways, you're going to go into exile. And that's

exactly what happened. The people continued to

rebel against God, and so God banished them from

the promised land, and they went into captivity

in Babylon for about 70 years. And so God's people

were no longer in God's place, and they certainly

weren't enjoying God's presence. And so they

stayed in Babylon for 70 years. And then you

have Persia, who became the new big bad of the

land. And they overtook Babylon, and so the people

were now under Persian rule, and there was a

king, King Cyrus. And God moved in the heart

of King Cyrus to issue this decree that said

that the people of Israel could literally go

back to their homeland, reestablish themselves

as a nation, rebuild their temple and their walls,

and they are free to go. You would think that

if you were in captivity, Under a different king

and a different government and a different nation,

you would think that if God had moved in this

way to bring about your freedom and deliverance,

that when the king said you could go, you would

think you'd run, right? Everybody's going back.

The amazing thing is when he issued that decree,

only about 50 ,000 people went back. And that

might seem like a lot to you. But if you remember,

when the people of Israel first entered the Promised

Land under Joshua the Conqueror, they had about

2 million people enter the Promised Land. And

now, when they re -enter the Promised Land under

a different Joshua, Joshua the High Priest, only

about 50 ,000 go back. Because it turns out,

when Babylon is all you know, it's really not

someplace you want to leave. Well, as they were

in captivity, the people had started families.

They had built houses. They had started businesses.

Babylon was their home. It was their life. And

God's people didn't really care about being in

God's place or enjoying God's presence anymore.

But this 50 ,000 people who did care about this,

they go back to the land. They're excited to

get there. And what's amazing is as soon as they

get to the land of Israel, they immediately rebuild

the altar. They immediately lay down the foundation

of the temple, and everything seems to be going

great until it doesn't. And the surrounding nations

started rising up with opposition towards the

people as they were rebuilding the foundation

of the temple and the altar. And so they experienced

all this opposition from the world, and then

they start worrying about themselves. And so

they stopped working on the temple altogether.

And you might be saying, well, how long did they

stop? Maybe a couple days? No, it wasn't days.

It wasn't weeks, it wasn't even months. They

stopped working on the temple for 16 years. God

delivered them. Think about how ungrateful this

is, that God literally moved in the heart of

a foreign king to release his prisoners to ensure

that you could go back to your homeland, the

promised land, and enjoy his presence again,

and you completely neglect what he's telling

you to do for 16 years. And it's not because

of anything dramatic or drastic. It's exactly

what happens to us. They just got busy. They're

back in the land. They say, hey, we've got to

have houses too. And so they started focusing

on building their own houses. They started saying,

hey, we've got to get the crops growing, so we've

got to plant some farms. And then they said,

well, you know, we've got to make some money,

so we've got to start businesses. And life just

continued to happen. And what once seemed like

an urgent need, rebuild the temple, became something

that was no longer on their priority list. And

that's exactly where the book of Haggai begins.

God raises up this elderly prophet named Haggai.

And his message, it is amazing because he only

preaches for about four months. And yet within

that four month time span, you see one of the

greatest revivals in all of biblical history

where the people of Israel, they are going to

receive God's word. They're going to repent of

their sins and they're going to resume the work

of the temple. And it's all because God is going

to move in their hearts through the words. of

Haggai the prophet. And you might be asking yourself,

Pastor, this seems like it's a construction passage.

This seems like a building passage. Are we starting

some building project and that's why we're here?

Let me put you at ease. We're not starting a

building project of any sort anytime soon because

this passage isn't ultimately about construction

and it isn't ultimately about building. This

passage is ultimately about priorities. The people

of Israel no longer viewed God as a priority

in their lives. They began to put God behind

all their other things that they wanted in their

lives. And they decided that their affection

for God was going to be crowded out by the demands

of this life. And I want you to understand, we

struggle with the same thing. If you think you're

any different than them, you're not. We have

the same thing happen to us because we have careers,

we have hobbies, we have finances, we have children's

schedules. Y 'all know how busy that is? We have

home projects, husbands. You know how busy that

is. We have entertainment. And so we get all

these good gifts from God. And even the good

gifts that we receive from God, we can, if we're

not careful, turn them into idols and value them

more than the one who gives the gift. And this

is where Haggai's message is going to confront

us. He's going to tell us this in chapter one.

He's going to say that God's people put God first.

That's the whole point of chapter one. God's

people put God first. There's some of you here

this morning, you want to say, listen, I'm a

Christian and I know that I'm a Christian. And

I hear people say that all the time. And that's

great. If you have that confidence, you have

that assurance, that's what I want for you. And

God wants you to have that assurance as well.

But I also want you to understand that you can't

go around claiming to be one of God's people

if you're not actually putting God first in your

life. That's not just a problem of, oh, well,

I put him first sometimes. No, this is the consistent

character and pattern of the Christian life.

If you don't see this in your life, if you are

not consistently putting God first, then you

should be asking yourself and questioning whether

or not you're actually part of God's people.

And so the question I want us to consider this

morning is, what keeps us from putting God first

in our lives? If we know that it's what we're

called to do, we know that it's something that

we must do, then what is it that actually keeps

us from putting God first in our lives? And I

want you to notice what God says here in verse

1. In the second year of Darius the king, so

Cyrus has now passed on. There's a new king in

Persia. It's Darius. In the sixth month, on the

first day of the month, the word of the Lord

came by the hand of Haggai the prophet to Zerubbabel,

the son of Shealtiel, the governor of Judah.

and to Joshua the son of Jehozadak the high priest.

Thus says the Lord of hosts, these people say

the time has not yet come to rebuild the house

of the Lord. Now I want you to focus on that

for just a second, because notice that the people

of Israel, they did not reject God here. They're

not saying, hey, we don't actually believe in

God anymore. Cyrus is great, he sent us back,

but we just don't actually believe in God. They're

not saying that. I want you to notice they're

also not saying that the temple is not important.

They're not even saying we're never going to

rebuild the temple again. Their problem is not

outright rebellion. Their problem is perpetual

postponement. They say it matters and we're going

to get to it eventually. They were saying we're

going to get around to it. There's a better time.

Now is not the time. That's exactly what the

Lord says to them. He says, these people say

it is not time to rebuild the house of the Lord.

And they had been saying that for 16 years. They

kept telling God for 16 years, we'll get to it

later. We'll get to it eventually. I know that

we need to do this and I'm going to do this when

the time is right. And I hear so many people

sound just like this today. Just like the people

of Israel, I have people who will say to me,

Pastor, I'll get serious about my walk with Christ

when work slows down. As if you cannot be serious

about Christ if you have a job. And I know that's

not the case because some of the strongest Christians

I know work full -time jobs. I want you to understand,

it's possible to be committed to Christ and work

a full -time job. But people use that excuse

all the time. They'll say, hey, listen, when

work slows down, I'll get serious about my walk

with Christ. Or I hear people say, I'll spend

more time in God's Word. When the kids get older,

because right now it's kids schedules. And listen,

I do get that. I understand that. And I have

people say it's hard to kind of carve out that

time to spend time in prayer and God's word.

Yes, but if you don't make it a priority now,

I promise you, you're not going to make it a

priority then. If it's not your kids later, it's

going to be something else later. There's always

going to be some other excuse. You hear people

say, I'll start serving in the church once life

becomes less busy. Or they'll say, I know that

I have this sin in my life, and there's something

that the Lord's been convicting me of, and God

has made it clear to me through His Word, through

the counsel of godly people, that this is something

that I need to address in my life. And people

will say, I'm going to get to it eventually.

I'm going to turn it over to God eventually.

I want to enjoy it just a little bit more, and

then I'm going to turn it over to God one day.

We rarely tell God no. We usually tell God later.

And I want you to just understand this morning,

a really important point. Delayed obedience is

disobedience. Delayed obedience, it is disobedience.

Now, we want to make a bunch of excuses, and

we say, well, it's not actually disobedience

because I am going to get to it. No, no. Delayed

obedience, it is disobedience. And I can prove

it because we would never make this distinction

anywhere else in our lives. Right? Like on Saturdays,

especially yesterday, I told my boys, you both

have to clean your room today. That is your one

job. Clean your room. That's all I'm asking you

for 24 hours. Just please get your rooms clean.

All right. Now, let's imagine that I go to them

at the end of the day, particularly Ezra. And

I look. And Ezra has not cleaned his room. In

fact, what if it looks like he intentionally

got out everything he owned just to prove his

point and assert dominance in the household?

Hypothetically. Now, if I came to him, and the

reason I'm using Ezra is because he would be

the one to say this. If I was like, Ezra, you

had one job today. It was to clean your room.

You disobeyed me. Why did you disobey? Imagine

if he were to say to me, I didn't actually disobey,

Daddy. I'm going to get it done. Eventually.

The day is not over. I haven't not done it. I

just haven't done it yet. Am I going to be like,

you know what? That's really sound reasoning

for a four -year -old. I think that makes a lot

of sense. You're totally in the clear. No, every

parent in here knows would be like, absolutely

not. You had one job. You didn't do it. It doesn't

matter if you keep kicking it down the road.

This is what you were called to do. And that's

exactly what's happening here in the book of

Haggai with the people of Israel. They're trying

to tell God, hey, we haven't disobeyed. We just

haven't obeyed yet. And God is saying, that's

the exact same thing. Delayed obedience, it is

disobedience. And the reason this matters for

us is because I know for a fact that there are

some people here this morning where you know

that God has been calling you to do something

in your life and you have not done it yet. And

you keep telling God later. There's some people

here this morning, you know that your next step

of obedience, it is baptism. And you've been

knowing this for a while and you've been telling

God, I know that I need to do it. I know that

it's something that should be done. I'm going

to do it eventually. For other people, it's church

membership. And we preach this here all the time,

not because we have any desire to grow George's

Creek, but we have a desire to be biblical. If

you're not a member of a local church, you need

to be. You need to commit yourself to a local

body. And you know this, you know the Bible says

it, and you keep telling yourself, I know it's

important. I know it needs to be done. I'm going

to get to it. And think about how this applies

in every area of our life. Some of you here this

morning, you know that there's someone in your

life that you need to forgive. You know that

there's someone that you need to have a very

serious conversation with and you need to reconcile

with. And you've been hurt. And there's some

bitterness in your heart. And you're having a

hard time moving past that resentment. And God

has made it clear to you. Now is the time to

reconcile. Now is the time to forgive. Now is

the time to have that hard conversation. And

you're not telling God no. You're just telling

God sometime later. And it's been maybe weeks

or months or years. And I want you to know what

you're doing is you're just trying to convince

yourself that your delayed obedience is somehow

different than disobedience. And I want to tell

you this morning, if God has convicted your heart,

and if God is calling you to do something, and

if God has given you opportunity after opportunity

to do that thing, now is the time to act. The

people of Israel kept saying, now is not the

time, Lord. And the Lord responds and says, brother,

it's been time for 16 years. Many of us this

morning need to stop making excuses, lay it at

God's feet and say, Lord, whatever that next

step is, whatever you're calling me to do, I

want to be obedient. But the problem is the people

of Israel, they kept putting themselves before

God. I want you to notice in verse 3, look what

it says. Then the word of the Lord came by the

hand of Haggai the prophet. Is it time for you

yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses while

this house lies in ruins? Now, therefore, thus

says the Lord of hosts, consider your ways. Now,

I do want to make it clear. If you've got paneling

in your house, God's not condemning you, okay?

That was a style. That's really not what this

is about at all. God's not mad about them living

in houses. If you had a paneled house back then,

it meant that you'd actually put a lot of time

and effort, had some money to put towards that.

This isn't a resource problem. This is a priority

problem. God is saying, hey, look at your house.

It's pretty nice, right? It looks good. My house

is over here lying in ruins while you were taking

care of yourselves. It wasn't enough for you

to just put up a roof and some walls. Now you're

going on to paneling and all sorts of other things.

You have dedicated too much time to this while

neglecting what I've called you to do. And so

notice what he says. He says, consider your ways.

And that might be the most important phrase in

the entire book of Haggai. He's going to say

it multiple times in this chapter. He's going

to say it multiple times in the next chapter.

Here's what it means in Hebrew. Literally, it

means to set your heart on your ways. It's a

meaning that means stop to think, to evaluate.

When he's calling people to set their hearts

on their ways, he is saying, I want you to look

deeply inside yourself. I want you to look at

your heart and ask yourself, what is it that

is sitting on the throne of your heart? What

is it that has a grip on your heart that is making

you give all your time and your effort to all

these other things besides me? He is wanting

them to stop and actually consider, does God

matter most to you? And if not, what is it that

does? I think it's actually pretty humbling when

you stop and take the time to consider. I mean,

think about the fact that... That screen time

report on your phone, y 'all get those too, right?

If you have a smartphone, you get this screen

time report. You can choose to ignore it, or

if you look at it, it's pretty humbling. Because

it might tell you on a Sunday, hey, this past

week you averaged six hours on your phone per

day. I'm not saying that's what mine is, I'm

just saying let's say for you, maybe that's what

yours is. Six hours, and you're like, okay, that

might not be bad, grand scheme of things. But

let's consider the fact that you're maybe only

awake for 17 hours a day. That means more than

a third of your time is being spent on your phone.

And then if you break down that report, it'll

tell you where you're actually spending your

time on your phone. It's not going to be your

Bible app for most of you, right? Like if it

was, hey, I spent six hours on my Bible app,

that's great. It's going to be social media for

most of us. And you ask yourself, do these things

deserve six hours of my time and attention per

day? If you want an even more humbling example.

I want you to think about the fact that you have

168 hours in a given week. So if you're wondering

how many hours are there in a week, there are

168. How many of those hours do you think you're

giving to God? You know, well, pastor, that's

not fair because we've got to sleep. All right,

I'll give that to you. Let's say you get an average

of eight hours of sleep a night. And some of

you, you're like, that would be great. I know,

me too. But let's just say that you do. If you

get eight hours of sleep per night, you're left

with 112 hours that you're awake. And I hear

another complaint. Someone's saying, but pastor,

I work a full -time job. I'm going to give you

that as well. Let's subtract 40 hours. So here's

the number I want you to write down. 72. There

are 72 hours in the week where you are awake,

not sleeping, and not at work. There are 72 hours

that you have available to you. And here's my

question. How many of those hours do you think

you're giving to God? Well, let's break that

down as well. Why not? Let's just go for it.

Most Christians only go to church once per week

on Sunday morning. And most do not come to Sunday

school. So you get one hour if I don't preach

long. One hour. And let's say you do go to Sunday

school, I'm going to give you two hours. So there's

two hours right there. All right? And then let's

say that, I know it's not all about gathering

with the church, so let's say that you're spending

an average of one hour a day in prayer, Bible

study, gospel conversations, evangelism, or kingdom

activity. I think an hour is pretty generous.

I'm feeling very generous today, so I'm going

to give you one hour every day where I think

you're doing all of that stuff, God -related

things, for one hour. And then if you come on

Wednesdays, I'm going to give you another hour

there. So that puts you at about 9 or 10 hours

per week that you're giving to God out of that

72. I hope you can see that that is hardly more

than 10 % of your time that is being given to

God every single week. You have 72 hours and

10 are going to God. Now, here's my question

to you. If you found out that I had this much

time available, And out of all my given time

that I had at my disposal, if you found out that

I only spent 10 % of my time with my wife and

kids, would you think that I was a good husband

or father? Anybody? No? Would you say that my

wife and kids were a priority in my life if I

was only giving them 10 % of my available time?

No, you'd be like, you're an absentee father.

You're not taking care of your wife or acting

like she's a priority at all. You need to step

it up and do better. So then my question is,

why do we excuse ourselves or let ourselves off

the hook when it comes to God? If we're only

giving God 10 % of our time, do you not think

that that is a pretty big issue? If we're only

giving God 10 % of our time, would you think

that God is a priority in our lives at all? No,

absolutely not. Here's what I found going off

script here for a second. Everybody that I've

ever met says that they want to go to heaven.

I want to challenge you and I want to say, I

don't actually think that's true. I think the

majority of people don't want to go to hell.

But just because you don't want to go to hell,

that does not mean that you want to go to heaven.

I hate to tell you this. Some of you don't want

to hear this, but heaven is going to be like

a giant church service. And I know a lot of you

have problems with Christians. Guess who's only

going to be in heaven? Did you guess exclusively

Christians? Because that's the answer. A lot

of you don't like to spend your time with God

now. We are only going to be spending all of

our time with God in heaven. You're going to

be with God constantly, with Christians constantly,

praising the Lord for his goodness and majesty

forever and ever. That is heaven. And that's

why I tell people all the time, the majority

of people don't actually want heaven, they just

don't want to go to hell. You say that God is

a priority in your life, but I think your calendars,

your checkbooks, your routines and your habits

will reveal who your gods actually are. And I'm

not saying that you've now got to go home and

you've got to block off a huge chunk of your

day and you say, all right, I've got to do six

hours straight of Bible study and prayer. That's

not what I'm saying. I'm saying that the true

Christian is going to incorporate God into every

aspect of his life. When you go to work, you're

not just punching a clock and just going through

the motions of your job. You understand that

God has placed you there for a reason, that your

work is a ministry, even if it is a secular job,

and you're going to work for the glory of God

every single day of your life. The Bible says

whether you eat or drink or whatever you do,

do everything for the glory of God. So I guarantee

you, I promise you, you can punch a clock and

glorify God at the same time. You start looking

at your conversations that you're having. You

take every conversation and you bring God into

the conversation. Use every conversation as an

opportunity to talk about God's goodness, His

mercy, salvation in Christ, the wonders of the

gospel of Jesus Christ. It means that you pray

throughout the day. You don't just have to do

six hours straight. One of the best things you

can do is when you're driving, turn down the

radio from time to time and use that as an opportunity

to pray. With your eyes open, that's allowed.

Your eyes don't have to be closed. But use that

opportunity to pray. I do this so often when

I'm driving. I just look around at creation.

And you see the wonder and the creativity of

God in creation. You can use that time to thank

God for all that he has given you. Thank God

for the blessings that he's given you. I mean,

the old hymn says, name your blessings, count

them one by one. Thank God for what he has done.

That is what we should be doing on a daily basis.

So I don't want you to hear me say, you've got

to go home and just put seven hours on the clock

of straight Bible reading and prayer. The Christian

life is Christ -centered. It means that Jesus

is part of everything that we do, say, and think,

and that is how we can put him first in our lives.

The problem is if you don't do this, no matter

how hard you try to find fulfillment and happiness,

you're going to feel tired and empty. I mean,

that's what he says in verse 6. Look what he

says. You've 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 in a bag with holes. Thus says

the Lord of hosts, consider your ways. Go up

to the hills and bring wood and build the house

that I may take pleasure in it and that I may

be glorified, says the Lord. 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. Therefore, the heavens above you have

withheld the dew and the earth has withheld its

produce. And I've called for a drought on the

land and on the hills and on the grain and the

new wine, the oil, on what the ground brings

forth on man and beast and all their labors.

What is God saying? He's saying, you worked really

hard. and you enjoyed things a lot less. You

earned a lot more, and you felt a lot emptier.

No matter how hard they worked, no matter what

they did, they always felt tired and empty. Like

they're accumulating stuff to put in a bag with

holes in it. And it's revealing what their priorities

actually are. God's command here, I want you

to notice, His first command is not, now I want

you to go and start rebuilding the house. Remember,

His first command is, consider your ways. But

before He's going to change their actions, He's

going to confront their hearts. Because I want

you to notice, the people of Israel had started

to believe a lie that many people in our world

believe today too. And it was this lie that something

else out there is going to make you feel a way

that only God can make you feel. It was this

lie that there's something else out there. I

don't even know what it is, but there's got to

be something out there that's going to make me

fulfilled, that's going to make me happy, that's

going to make me feel complete and whole. There

is something out there, and I'm going to keep

searching for it. And Haggai is saying, from

the Lord, no matter what you do, if you're looking

for something other than God to satisfy you,

you're never going to be satisfied. Here's his

point here. We will never put God first as long

as we believe that something else can satisfy

us more than him. We will never put God first

as long as we believe that something else can

satisfy us more than him. And that's exactly

what Israel believed here. They said, if we can

just get our houses finished, then we're going

to feel great. If we can just get the farms producing.

If we can just become financially stable, if

we can just have peace, then we'll be satisfied.

And every time they thought they were getting

ahead, it slipped through their fingers. And

I want you to understand, we believe the same

lies today. People believe the same lies about

success. There are people today who will say,

if you just achieve enough, then you're going

to finally feel significant. And you're going

to finally feel like you have value because you're

basing your value based on what you do and what

you achieve rather than on who God says you are.

People make the same mistake with money, do they

not? How many people say, if I just had infinite

money, life would be as good as it could possibly

be? And then you go and talk to people who do

have money and they're like, actually, money

cannot make you feel happy. Money can buy you

a lot of things to give you temporary happiness.

But no matter how rich you are, you're never

going to feel deeply satisfied as long as money

is your God. People think the same thing about

comfort. And they're like, hey, if my life could

just slow down for a little bit, if the trials

could ease up, then life would be great and everything

would be dandy. And people believe the same thing

about relationships. If I just find the right

person, then I'm going to feel complete. They're

thinking about approval. If everyone likes me,

then I'm finally going to feel accepted. And

I want you to understand something this morning.

Every single idol in the world is going to make

you a promise that only God can fulfill. It is

going to make you a promise that it has no ability

to fulfill on its own. It is going to leave you

feeling empty and hollow and tired. I remember

last year, Anna and I were working on a puzzle.

And it was a pretty hard puzzle. I know we're

nerds. We like to listen to audio books and do

puzzles. That's date night, all right? So you

can judge us later for that. But we're doing

a puzzle. And we finally got this puzzle finished.

And then the worst thing that can happen when

you're doing a puzzle happened to us. And I'm

still upset about it. We looked and we saw that

it was missing one piece. And not in a convenient

location either. I mean, this was like a thousand

piece puzzle of like an impressionist painting.

It was not easy, okay? Finish it and it's missing

a piece. And even though we put every other piece

together in its right place, and even though

you could pretty much tell what it was supposed

to be, and you got this picture, all you could

focus on was that missing piece. Yes? And no

matter what you did, it never felt whole. It

never felt complete. It always just felt missing

and lacking. And I want you to understand that's

exactly what life apart from God is like. So

many people today, they try to fill that empty

space with success or money or pleasure or relationships

or entertainment. And we keep forcing pieces

into a place that they were never designed to

fit in the first place. And I want to just tell

you from firsthand experience this morning. As

someone who has tried to fill that missing piece

with everything under the sun for years, I did

it for years thinking this next thing is surely

going to make me happy. This next thing is surely

going to make me feel complete. I tried it all

under the sun. I feel like Solomon when he was

writing Ecclesiastes and he's like, listen, if

it's out there and you can try it, I've tried

it. And at the end of the day, you know what

he said? All is vanity. It's worthless. It's

fleeting. It's momentary. Now, I want to tell

you this morning, you will never truly be satisfied

or feel complete until you put God at the center

of your life. He is the missing piece in your

life, and he is the one who can bring you lasting

and true satisfaction. And you can choose not

to believe me. You can choose to make the same

mistakes I did and think that something else

out there is going to make you feel complete

and whole. But I'm telling you right now, until

you put God on the throne of your heart, you're

never going to feel complete. You're never going

to feel whole. And there's always going to be

an empty space there. But when you do put God

back where he belongs, on the throne of your

heart, I want you to also understand everything

else begins to come together. And all the pieces

begin to fit. That's what happened in Haggai.

Look at verse 12. It says, Then Zerubbabel, the

son of Shealtiel, and Joshua, the son of Jehozadak,

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 their

Lord God had sent him. And the people feared

the Lord. Then Haggai the messenger of the Lord

spoke to the people with the Lord's message.

Listen to the message. I am with you. What do

we have? God's people in God's place, enjoying

God's presence. I am with you, declares the Lord.

And the Lord stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel,

the son of Shealtiel, the governor of Judah.

in the spirit of Joshua, the son of Jehoshadak,

the high priest, in the spirit of all the remnant

of the people. And they came and worked on the

house of the Lord of hosts, their God, on the

24th day of the month, in the sixth month, in

the second year of Darius the king. Now just

notice these three very quick things. When you

repent of your sins and you return to the Lord,

there is immediate obedience. When the people

were convicted by the word of the Lord, they

repented of their sins and they immediately obeyed.

They didn't wait around for another 16 years

or 16 days. They immediately did what God was

calling them to do. And then notice this, they

also feared the Lord. When they finally heard

the word of the Lord and they received the word

of the Lord, they stopped fearing what the surrounding

nations were going to do. They stopped worrying

about their finances. They stopped worrying about

their personal comfort or their personal conveniences.

And they finally began to care more about God

and His way than their own way. And then I want

you to really pay attention to this. When they

received the word of the Lord, they repented

their sins, and they returned to God. God promises

that He is with them. Now I want you to think

about why this matters. because they had been

astray for 16 years. Now, there's some of you

in here this morning, you've probably been astray

from the Lord, and maybe you're there this morning

where you're like, this is my first attempt back

at church. I've been wandering for a while. It's

been a rocky road, and I'm just kind of getting

back. You would think if they're going to return

to God, you expect God to say something like,

hey, you've been messing up for 16 years. You're

going to be in a little trial period. We're going

to see how you do for a little bit. And then

if you can prove yourself, then you're going

to be back in my good graces. And do not so many

people think that exact same way in their own

lives. They say, I know I need to return to God.

I know I need to get serious about my walk with

Christ, but I'm just so worried because of how

far astray I have gone and what my life has looked

like. And you're so concerned that when you come

back to God, he's going to say, I need you to

prove yourself. I need you to do something. I

need you to show me that you're serious. And

you think that God's going to put you through

the wringer. And I want you to notice this. When

God's people return to him, God says, I'm with

you. You don't have to do a thing to earn his

approval. You don't have to do a thing to get

back in his good graces. God is gracious and

loving and kind and merciful. And he meets his

people where they're at. And I love serving a

God like that. Do you not? Because I don't know

about you. Maybe you've been perfect for your

whole life. I have not. Okay. I've got a rough

past. And the moment in my life that I'm more

thankful of than anything else is on the day

that I was going to take my own life after I

had been wandering astray from God for 18 years.

That when I finally called out to God, He answered

me. And He heard me. And He said, I am with you.

And He didn't say, I need you to prove yourself.

I need you to do this or that. God said, I see

you in your brokenness and I am here to rebuild

you. Isn't that an amazing church? That's exactly

what God does for us. That is the grace of God

that we have in Christ. God is not saying, I

want you to come back to me so that I can just

try to make you a better person. I want you to

come back to me so that you don't have to go

to hell and you can just do all these things

that I tell you to do and you're not really going

to want to do them, but you're just going to

do them anyways. That's not the gospel. The gospel

says you come to God and he makes you a new creation.

He gives you a new heart that actually desires

to do his will and desires to obey him so that

it is the joy of your life to do exactly what

God has called you to do. It is not a begrudging

obedience. It is a thankful everyday occurrence

where you say, Lord, I am so thankful that you

saved me and that you allow me to get to be part

of your plan. I had gone astray. As we sang earlier,

I'm prone to wander. Lord, I feel it. Prone to

leave the God I love. And as we said in the book

of Jude, if it were not for God holding on to

us, we all would have departed a long time ago.

And one of the greatest truths of the Christian

life is that you cannot possibly lose your salvation.

Because your salvation is not dependent upon

you. It is dependent on Jesus who died for you,

who was nailed to the cross with your sins, who

rose again in power to declare his victory over

death, sin, and Satan himself. And the good news

of the gospel is that we get to walk in what

Christ has done. If you could lose your salvation,

you would have already. The reason you still

have it is because God refuses to let go of his

people. And Haggai is showing us here that the

heart of a disciple is a heart that puts God

first because that is where he deserves to be

in your life. If you're here this morning and

you have been wandering for a while and you've

been saying, I know I need to get right with

God. I know I need to come back and I'm just

planning on doing it sometime later. Today is

the day of salvation. Paul says, I put no obstacle

in front of you. Be reconciled to God today.

Or if maybe you're here this morning and you

know that God's been calling you to do something

for a while, whether that's join a church, get

baptized, repent of your sins and come to faith

in Christ, start serving, get involved, and you

keep telling God, I'm going to do it later. God

says, today is the day. Now is the time. Put

God first in your life. Put him on the throne

of your heart and watch how he brings your life

to wholeness and completeness in Christ. Amen?

Let's pray.