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Haggai: The Shaking and the Coming Harvest Pt 3 - Haggai: The Shaking and the Coming Harvest

The Road Church Podcast

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  1. You're listening to the road with Pastor Teacher Steve Holt.

  2. According to the word that I coveted with you, when you came out of Egypt, so my spirit remains among you.

  3. Do not fear.

  4. Say to your neighbor, do not fear.

  5. Say to your neighbor, do not fear.

  6. Point at them and say, do not fear.

  7. You have nothing to fear, because the spirit of God's with us, you guys.

  8. At The Road, our mission is to empower people to change the world.

  9. For more information on The Road, visit theroad.org.

  10. We hope you are encouraged by today's message from Pastor Teacher Steve Hope.

  11. All right, guys, so turn to Haggai.

  12. So Haggai is where we're at.

  13. God has led us into Haggai.

  14. And if you're new with us today, you're like going, where is Haggai?

  15. Okay, so think Old Testament, that's three-quarters of your Bible.

  16. Malachi's the last book.

  17. Go back two books between two Z's.

  18. Zephaniah and Zechariah right in the middle is Haggai.

  19. And we've been in Haggai, so last Sunday we're going to be in Haggai.

  20. But here's the vision of Haggai.

  21. The vision of Haggai is the rebuilding of the temple.

  22. If you haven't been with us, he comes in.

  23. The Jews have come from Babylon from an order of Cyrus.

  24. They go in, they start, and then as soon as the Samaritans, which were kind of a half-breed, they were Assyrians and Jews and intermarried, and they became, they lived in Samaria.

  25. They became known as the Samaritans.

  26. They started to oppose the rebuilding of Solomon's temple, which had been leveled.

  27. Okay?

  28. So in that they start to get scared.

  29. How many of you have gotten scared under opposition for your faith?

  30. Well, they did too, you know?

  31. And so God raises up Haggai.

  32. So Haggai gets raised up by God, and he only he only prophesies for four months.

  33. And yet he rocks the place.

  34. And so this is his prophetic words.

  35. We've been through chapter one, but look at chapter one, verse 14.

  36. I want to start there this morning.

  37. So the Lord stirred up circle, underline, highlight, stirred up the spirit.

  38. Stirred up the spirit.

  39. Stirred up the spirit.

  40. How many of you need your spirit stirred up sometimes?

  41. I'm telling you guys, the only way to get it stirred up is to be under preaching of the word and reading the word.

  42. You read the word, it'll stir you up.

  43. I was with some ladies before the service who just got saved last week, came to know the Lord.

  44. They came early, they were 30 minutes early, and they're sitting there and they're fired up, they're ready to get into church, and I said, aren't you the ladies that stood up to receive Christ?

  45. Yeah.

  46. And I said, How's it going this week?

  47. Well, I don't have a Bible.

  48. One didn't have a Bible, the other one I said, Well, I mean, I got a library in here, man.

  49. I went and grabbed two Bibles and gave it to them.

  50. They're like, whoa! And they were leather-bound NIVs, they're pretty nice.

  51. One even had a little zipper and everything.

  52. It was really cool.

  53. But we we started talking, and I opened up Hebrews 4.12, and I said, the word of God's like, it's like a two-edged sword, and it's living and active, and and and you gotta start reading it.

  54. Just start with the Gospel of John.

  55. And I said, don't get mixed up with the John that has a one in front of it, okay?

  56. And the two, you know, so I had explain all that.

  57. So it's really fun.

  58. But my point is, their hearts were stirred up.

  59. They were fired up.

  60. You gotta get stirred up, gang.

  61. And from time to time you kind of get lazy, right?

  62. Because we dig comfort.

  63. I mean, that's kind of where we go, is whatever's the most convenient, whatever's the most comfortable.

  64. And God sometimes just shakes us.

  65. And that's what Zarebabel is experiencing.

  66. He's getting stirred up.

  67. So Zarebabel, the son of Shateil, the governor of Judah, the spirit of Joshua, the son of Jehosadak, the high priest, the spirit of all the remnant.

  68. Circle remnant, highlight remnant.

  69. God doesn't need a lot.

  70. He can work with a remnant.

  71. Sometimes I feel like we're a remnant these days.

  72. That's good.

  73. That's not bad.

  74. Jesus started with 12, he ended up with 11.

  75. And then you count the women and the on the outskirts of the bridge, 120.

  76. That's all he had.

  77. Not very good church growth.

  78. Three and a half years had 11 main guys and about 109 others.

  79. One guy committed suicide.

  80. I mean, it's not a really good track record, right?

  81. Then the Holy Spirit fell and 3,000 get saved.

  82. Just boom.

  83. And then a few weeks later, 5,000.

  84. Boom! And before you know it, here we are today with over half of the world's population, some would say 65% Christian, by one guy with a group of 12 that ended up as 11, grew to 120, and then explosion came.

  85. That's the power of the Holy Spirit, folks.

  86. That's the power of God working through a remnant.

  87. So don't be discouraged.

  88. Young people all over this room, don't be discouraged.

  89. If there's not many strong believers in your high school, if there's not many strong believers that you hang out with at college, it's okay.

  90. Get a group together, start praying together, start worshiping together, start believing God together, and you watch what God will do on your campus.

  91. You watch what God will do in your job.

  92. It might be just one other person, maybe nobody.

  93. I mean, I got saved at Georgia, and I'm on the gymnastics team, and it's just me.

  94. It.

  95. I come in and I mean we were partying the night before, and suddenly I'm radically saved.

  96. And they're going, we're on rings, chalking up, put chalk in your hands and all that stuff.

  97. And I'm telling them about Jesus, and they go, whoa, whoa, whoa, wait, wait, wait.

  98. I remember one guy just goes, wait, dude, we were like, we were drunk last night.

  99. How did you get saved?

  100. I said, No, I was walking home, man.

  101. I was walking back and I went into this, that, you know, that little Lutheran church across, and then nobody, they're like, no?

  102. I mean, they all walk past it every day to class and everything, and nobody ever notices it.

  103. But I did, and so I went in and I got saved.

  104. And then they're like, have you lost your flipping mind?

  105. And then one gets saved.

  106. And then another one gets saved.

  107. And then another one gets saved.

  108. Man, it made our coach mad.

  109. By my junior year, half the team was saved.

  110. I mean, they weren't saved like, you know, like hymnal singing in church, saved.

  111. They're like fire breathing saved.

  112. So they were they were fired up, man.

  113. And I think all of them are walking with the Lord today.

  114. It's really cool.

  115. So this move of God comes on a remnant, and they came and they worked on the house of the Lord of hosts.

  116. You know, when you get saved, you gotta start working on something.

  117. And it's not just you, but it's also God's got something for every one of us in this room to do.

  118. You're not just supposed to sit around, you're actually supposed to get going because you're filled with the Holy Spirit.

  119. When he fills you, he moves your feet.

  120. You start moving out.

  121. And so that's what they start to do.

  122. They go, whoa, we got to start rebuilding the temple.

  123. Chapter 2.

  124. In the seventh month, the 21st of the month, so this has now been two months.

  125. He's only been prophesying for two months, the word of the Lord came by Haggai the prophet, saying, Speak now to Zerebel, the son of Shateel, the governor of Judah, so secular government, and to Joshua, the son of Jehosedak, the high priest, spiritual government, and to the remnant of the people, saying, Now this is really important, look at verse 3, you guys, if you are over fifty in this room, and I am, this is our struggle.

  126. Verse 3.

  127. Who is left among you who saw this temple, meaning Solomon's temple, in its former glory?

  128. And how do you see it now?

  129. In comparison with it, is this, meaning Zerebel's temple, not in your eyes as nothing?

  130. Yet now, be strong, Zerebel, says the Lord, and be strong, Joshua, the son of Jehosedak, the high priest, and be strong, all you people of the land, says the Lord, and work.

  131. Work.

  132. For I am with you, says the Lord of hosts.

  133. Here's what he's saying.

  134. You guys are looking at, you're remembering anybody over 80 at that time, and I would just say this to everybody who's over 50 here, you remember some of those glory days, right?

  135. How many got saved in this room in the 70s?

  136. Okay.

  137. How about the six?

  138. Anybody from the 60s?

  139. Who's brave enough to raise their hand?

  140. Okay.

  141. All right.

  142. Yeah.

  143. That's the Jesus movement.

  144. That was some of that stuff that was happening.

  145. And here's what you tend to do: you tend to have a memory.

  146. Listen, you have a memory that's more vivid of the past, then you have a vision for the present to take you into the future.

  147. Dangerous ground.

  148. Dangerous ground when your memories are more vivid than your future.

  149. Right?

  150. And here's the problem with it.

  151. The problem is your memories tend to embellish what really happened back then.

  152. Well, I mean, everybody was falling on the ground, and everybody was getting saved, and there, and there was a hundred miles of lines of people getting baptized.

  153. Oh, it was the glory.

  154. And then you go, really?

  155. It was that good?

  156. Oh yeah, yeah.

  157. Well, tell me about it.

  158. And then it well, and then it gets kind of whittled down a little more, a little more, a little more.

  159. And the reason we do that, we all do it by the way, but the reason we do that is because it's easier and safer to embellish the past than it is to work on the present, because to work on the present's harder work.

  160. Right?

  161. That's what he's saying.

  162. He's saying, look, you guys that are older, don't get so fixated on Solomon's temple.

  163. I'm now building a beautiful temple.

  164. It's the Rebabel's temple, and I need you to get to work.

  165. So don't sit there and go, I just remember, man, Solomon's temple was like, it was 17 feet longer over there, and it was 27 feet higher.

  166. And they got their little tape measure and everything.

  167. And it's like, get over it, man.

  168. This is not Solomon's time.

  169. This is the Rebel's time.

  170. And men and women, this is not 1965.

  171. This is not 1968.

  172. This is not 1972.

  173. This is 2020, and God wants to do a new work in our day, and he just needs some people who'll believe it.

  174. And he's not doing it.

  175. Maybe he's not doing it.

  176. I don't know if he is or not.

  177. He might not be doing it in Southern California.

  178. But he's doing it in Colorado Springs.

  179. So let's join up.

  180. Let's be a part of the army that he's building, whatever your age is.

  181. Let's be a part of it.

  182. Well, here's the problem.

  183. The problem's verse 5.

  184. Especially in our time with COVID and everything else that's happening.

  185. According to the word that I covenanted with you, when you came out of Egypt, so my spirit remains among you.

  186. Do not fear.

  187. Say to your neighbor, do not fear.

  188. Say to your neighbor, do not fear.

  189. Point at them and say, do not fear.

  190. You have nothing to fear.

  191. The Spirit of God's with us, you guys.

  192. Holy Spirit is with us more.

  193. Listen, Holy Spirit is more with us now than when this book was written.

  194. Because the outpouring of the Holy Spirit in the last days that we see in Acts chapter 2 hadn't occurred yet.

    Acts 2 chapter mention

  195. So they're speaking from the presence of a spirit that tended to move around in the Old Testament.

  196. But in the New Testament, every believer is filled with the Holy Spirit.

  197. You have the Holy Spirit.

  198. Let me say this: you're not always filled.

  199. You are, you have, the Holy Spirit has resonance within you, but he may not be the president of your life unless you surrender all.

  200. And I'm going to give you that chance today to surrender all to him.

  201. Because what we have today is not a COVID-19 pandemic.

  202. We have a fear pandemic.

  203. We have a fear pandemic.

  204. And I want to be get a little radical here.

  205. Get a little radical.

  206. And I don't, you know, you know me, I don't like to be radical.

  207. I'm very quiet and kind of shy.

  208. Struggle in crowds.

  209. But there's a booklet here by a New York Times bestselling author that Amazon did not want to put out.

  210. They were going to censor it until Elon Musk came out and said, you must print it.

  211. And he carries a little bit of weight.

  212. But I would just encourage you.

  213. It's only two bucks.

  214. It's called The Unreported Truths About COVID-19 and lockdowns.

  215. So I already was familiar with most of this, but there was a flood of people wanting us.

  216. I'm not, I'm not selling it.

  217. So everybody went to the back.

  218. So where is it?

  219. Where's the thing see?

  220. I'm not, you have to buy it.

  221. Okay?

  222. So anyway, there it is.

  223. I encourage you to read it.

  224. There's nothing to fear.

  225. There's so much that we don't have to fear.

  226. But the media makes us so fearful.

  227. And I want to encourage you men and women to be critical thinkers.

  228. Use your brain.

  229. You know, today it's different than it used to be.

  230. You really do have to do your own research.

  231. And man, I'll tell you what, this church is full of geniuses.

  232. And I really mean that.

  233. I believe if we if we were to compare this church with any church in Colorado Springs, our IQ level is like off the charts.

  234. If I make one mistake on some statistic, I get hammered.

  235. Okay?

  236. I mean, nice.

  237. I mean it's really nice and everything.

  238. But and I love that, it's fine.

  239. But what I mean is that guys, use your mind.

  240. And some of you young people are so smart, and you're such good critical thinkers.

  241. I know I'm speaking to the choir, but I just want to encourage you, you know, the battles between the ears.

  242. And um, and so don't let don't let fear get on you.

  243. You know, seriously.

  244. Take give me my phone, Liz.

  245. It's right there.

  246. It's right there by my seat.

  247. It's over here.

  248. So take my phone.

  249. Okay, see this thing right here?

  250. Okay, this can be really, really good or it can be really, really bad.

  251. And some of you are using it right for really good things right now because you're you're in the word with it.

  252. That's fantastic.

  253. But really, how we use this device is up to you.

  254. And it can, how many of you would say that you probably feel like you've been you're on the device a little more than you need to be?

  255. And it's yeah, almost everybody.

  256. Me too.

  257. So we're putting these at night in the laundry room.

  258. It's going in the laundry room.

  259. I mean, that's like that's like 50, 75 feet from our bedroom.

  260. So if you guys ever have an emergency at night, your pastor's not coming to help you.

  261. I'm sorry.

  262. You'll have to figure out some other way.

  263. Like drone, come over with a drone and let me know.

  264. I don't know, but but be careful with this.

  265. It can create fear in you by staring at it all the time or going to your apps, or especially reading some of the, you know, the things that go out on social media and everything.

  266. You understand what I'm saying?

  267. So be careful with that because it can it can create fear.

  268. And he's saying, don't be fearful, I am with you.

  269. And then this is the theme, the next few verses are the theme of Haggai, and really the theme of this church, since all this has happened.

  270. Verse 6.

  271. For thus says the Lord of hosts, once more, it is a little while, I will shake heaven and earth and the sea and the dry land, and I will shake all nations.

  272. He's shaking the whole world.

  273. I've told you guys before.

  274. World War II did not shake the nations.

  275. World War I did not shake the nations.

  276. This is the first time in my lifetime.

  277. And I think I can say historically that one thing has so shaken all the nations, and it's this coronavirus.

  278. It says, I will shake the nations for a purpose, that they shall come to the desire of all the nations.

  279. And I will fill this temple with glory, says the Lord of hosts.

  280. I will fill this temple with glory, says the Lord of hosts.

  281. The silver is mine and the gold is mine, says the Lord of hosts.

  282. The glory of this latter temple shall be greater than the former, says the Lord of hosts, and in this place I will give peace to the Lord of hosts.

  283. So look at verse five.

  284. Last word in verse five, fear.

  285. Last part of the statement of verse nine, peace.

  286. Fear, peace.

  287. God is sometimes he has to shake us, right?

  288. So I have seven kids.

  289. And sometimes we get up early to go on a hike or to go hunting or fishing or something like that.

  290. And some of my kids are, man, they are dressed and ready to go, and they've got bacon and eggs going in the kitchen, and I can smell it.

  291. And then I have some other kids, you kind of have to shake them.

  292. You gotta shake them to wake them up.

  293. And that's the way it is in the church.

  294. God's shaking us.

  295. He's shaking us to wake us.

  296. He shakes us to wake us because of the desire of the nations.

  297. So we've been downtown witnessing, we've been downtown worshiping so many times, and you're down there and around Acacia Park or City Hall, and you see all the young people coming for the demonstrations and stuff.

  298. You know why they're coming?

  299. It's because they're longing for something better.

  300. They're longing, they have a desire in their heart.

  301. Ecclesiastes says he put desire in our hearts.

  302. And I just find myself saying, Oh, God, get a hold of their hearts.

  303. Get a hold of their hearts and bring a kingdom of God revolution in our day.

  304. God, a kingdom of God revolution.

  305. The greatest revival that our country has ever seen.

  306. Eclipse anything that happened with the Jesus movement.

  307. Eclipse whatever happened in the first Great Awakening.

  308. Eclipse whatever happened in the second Great Awakening.

  309. God, do something in our day that shakes our nation to come back to God.

  310. And in many cases, for the first time.

  311. Because we are a, you know, we're a godless generation.

  312. So many broken homes, so many broken marriages.

  313. But God wants to come and I believe he's a restoring God.

  314. I believe he restores things that are broken.

  315. And that's what he's doing.

  316. He's shaking us to wake us because he loves us.

  317. On the 24th day of the ninth month, in the second year of Darius, the word of the Lord came by Haggai the prophet, saying, Thus says the Lord of hosts.

  318. Now ask the priest concerning the law, saying, If one carries holy meat in the fold of his garment, and with the edge he touches bread or stew, wine or oil or any food, will it become holy?

  319. Then the priest said, No.

  320. Then Haggai said, Well, if one who is unclean, because of a dead body, touches any of these, will it become unclean?

  321. And the priest said, Yes, it'll become unclean.

  322. Then Haggai, verse 14, answered and said, So is this people, so is this people, and so is this nation before me, says the Lord, and so is every work of the of their hands, and what they offer here is unclean.

  323. Here's what he's saying.

  324. It's a little confusing.

  325. What he's saying is, you can't transfer holiness.

  326. Just because you're holy doesn't necessarily mean that's holy.

  327. You can't just touch something and it becomes holy.

  328. So listen up, especially young people and moms and dads.

  329. Just because you walk with the Lord doesn't mean your kids are gonna walk with the Lord.

  330. Just because you chose the way of the Lord doesn't mean that any of your kids are gonna choose the way of the Lord.

  331. Just because you had a holy house and you had a holy matrimony with your wife, and you guys are committed to Jesus, and maybe you even drag them to church.

  332. I mean, some of you kids are here because you got dragged to church.

  333. They just dragged you here.

  334. And you're on your phone right now texting your boyfriend.

  335. I mean, I don't know.

  336. I mean, it might be.

  337. That's the kind of stuff I was doing.

  338. So I'm just Assuming you still some things never change.

  339. But I didn't have a little phone back then.

  340. I just I remember there was this one girl at church.

  341. She's really, really cute.

  342. And I liked her.

  343. She didn't like me.

  344. And I would always look for her.

  345. And I knew we had dad had three services and she came to the middle one.

  346. And so I suddenly I was interested.

  347. Before I always wanted to go to the first service, because then I could leave and go home, and the parents weren't there because they're still at service.

  348. Because my mom's a pastor's wife.

  349. She has to be at the service.

  350. Okay?

  351. So she's still at the service, and I'd get in all kinds of trouble.

  352. You don't even want to know some of those stories.

  353. But she started coming to second service.

  354. So I wanted to go to second service.

  355. And my parents, I'm telling you what, they were not born yesterday.

  356. They knew exactly what was going on.

  357. So I know there's a lot of you, you're on you're here for all kinds of varied reasons, and that's okay.

  358. I'm glad you're here.

  359. Better than sleeping in.

  360. And I'm so glad you're here.

  361. But God wants to get a hold of your heart.

  362. God wants to get a hold of you, and you're gonna have to make this faith your faith.

  363. You can't ride on the laurels of mom and dad or the grandparents.

  364. You gotta make it your faith.

  365. You gotta decide you're gonna be all in and be wholehearted.

  366. And there was that point in my life where I had to make that decision.

  367. Some of you, it might be this morning, that this is your day, that you gotta you're gonna become a whole-hearted disciple.

  368. Verse 15.

  369. So this is what he says about that.

  370. So now, carefully consider from this day forward.

  371. June 14, 2020, this day forward, what are you gonna do?

  372. What are you gonna do?

  373. From before stone was laid upon stone in the temple of the Lord, since those days when one came to a heap of twenty ephas, there were but ten.

  374. When one came to the wine vat to draw out fifty baths from the breast, there were but twenty.

  375. I struck you with blight and milled you and hail and all of your labors of your hands, yet you did not turn to me, says the Lord.

  376. Consider now.

  377. Say it to your neighbor, consider now.

  378. Don't wag a finger at them, just say, consider now, because they might slap you.

  379. But consider now, from this day forward, from the 24th day.

  380. Look, he he just documents it, man.

  381. The 24th day of the ninth month, from this day, the foundation of the Lord's temple was laid.

  382. Consider it is the seed still in the barn, as yet the vine, the fig tree, the pomegranate, and the olive tree have not yielded fruit, but from this day, from this day, I will bless you.

  383. Here's what he's saying.

  384. He's saying, look, you have a choice now.

  385. You got a choice.

  386. You want to just keep on putting all that time into your 20 ephas and I mean the 50 ephaws that you were gonna draw and you only get 20?

  387. You still want to keep investing your time in all of this and you only get half of it back?

  388. Or do you want to let me bless you?

  389. Do you want to start taking the seed out of the barn and trust me with your finances and start trusting me with your personal life and trusting me with that addiction you have?

  390. When are you gonna start to let start trusting me?

  391. Because I want to, man.

  392. I just want to bless you if you'll get the seed out of the barn.

  393. I promise you, what does he say?

  394. I will bless you.

  395. Church.

  396. God wants to bring a kingdom of God revolution in your heart.

  397. He wants to explode with his spirit coming forth from us if we'll let him have his way.

  398. And then he says this.

  399. And I believe he's moving into the last days, the last days prophetic word here.

  400. And again, the word of the Lord came to Haggai on the 24th day of the month, saying, Speak to Zerebel, governor of Judah, saying, I will shake heaven and earth, I will overthrow the throne of kingdoms, I will destroy the strength of the Gentile kingdoms, I will overthrow the chariots, and those who ride in them, and the horses and their riders shall come down, everyone by the sword of his brother.

  401. In that day, says the Lord of hosts, I will take you, Zerebel, my servant, the son of Shateel, says the Lord, and I will make you like a signet ring.

  402. For I have chosen you, says the Lord of hosts.

  403. Men and women, Zarebabel was of the line of Jesus.

  404. He was the line of the Messiah.

  405. He's prophetically speaking.

  406. This is the latter temple.

  407. Go back to, go back to verse 9.

  408. The glory of this latter temple shall be greater than the former.

  409. Just so you know, historically and archaeologically, Zarebabel's temple was never bigger or greater than Solomon's temple.

  410. So what's he talking about?

  411. It wasn't bigger.

  412. It was not greater.

  413. He's talking about Jesus.

  414. He's talking about the temple that's coming.

  415. And that temple is you guys in this room.

  416. You are Jesus came and he was the temple.

  417. And then in Acts chapter 2, some 10 days after his resurrection, the release of the Holy Spirit upon the believers, and you are now a temple of the Holy Spirit.

    Acts 2 chapter mention

  418. Listen, one of you, just one of us in this room, is greater than anything here.

  419. What God can do through anyone in this room who starts to believe that through the power of the Holy Spirit, grounded in the Word, you can move mountains with your life.

  420. You can move mountains.

  421. God uses regular people, no great talent, no great education, and then they get filled with the Holy Spirit.

  422. And what happens is they start having, they start believing that God can use me.

  423. God, you can use me.

  424. Even me.

  425. And what happens is God begins to open doors supernaturally.

  426. He begins to drive back demons.

  427. He begins to create faith in your heart.

  428. He continually fills you with the Spirit.

  429. Here's what He does: He starts to surround you with other people like you.

  430. He starts to come along with fellowship.

  431. And that's what this church is about.

  432. We gotta be, man, guys, we gotta be in fellowship together.

  433. We've got to constantly be in fellowship together because there's days that there's gonna be dark days ahead.

  434. There's dark days ahead.

  435. I believe the darkness is getting darker, but the light is getting brighter.

  436. And what happens for a lot of believers is we get half in and half out.

  437. This carpet's a pretty good example.

  438. So what happens is we're living this straddled life.

  439. And before it was like a little creek.

  440. So let's say this creek is going this way, and this creek is going that way, and it's just a creek.

  441. So you're it's fine.

  442. That's the old days.

  443. But I'm telling you, this creek is getting faster, and this creek is getting faster.

  444. So God's light and his power is increasing on the world stage today, and demonic powers and satanic powers are increasing on the world stage today, and you if you're standing in two, I mean it's gonna rip you apart.

  445. It's called spiritual schizophrenia to use a theological term.

  446. And so you you gotta decide are you are you gonna be in this river or are you gonna be in this river?

  447. And I want to challenge you.

  448. Get in God's river.

  449. And man, it's fun, it's exciting, it's a little scary, but not nearly as scary as this.

  450. Because that's where Satan's gonna take you.

  451. He comes, listen, Satan comes to steal, kill, and destroy.

  452. Jesus says, I came that you might have and more.

  453. I like abundant life.

  454. I'm from Georgia, I'm not very smart, but I figured it out.

  455. I like life better than death.

  456. And so we jump in.

  457. So now turn real quick.

  458. Look at 1 Thessalonians 2, and then we'll close.

  459. 1 Thessalonians 2.

  460. So I'm sorry I say that wrong.

  461. 2 Thessalonians 2.

  462. Go to 2 Thessalonians 2.

  463. Okay, I'm not gonna read it all because of time.

  464. I'm gonna cover it in depth on Wednesday, July 8th at 6 p.m.

  465. at our prayer gathering.

  466. We'll have a prayer gathering on Wednesday night at 6 p.m., July 8th.

  467. Put that in your calendar, invite your friends.

  468. So what, let me just tell you what's happening here.

  469. So in 2 Thessalonians, Paul is explaining the last days.

  470. He's talking about the restrainer.

  471. That's why that's partly why I opened with what I did today, is to say there's two restrainers over culture.

  472. Two restrainers.

  473. One is government, and the other is the Holy Spirit.

  474. And it says in the last days there'll be a lifting of the restrainer so that lawlessness will abound.

  475. It's called the mystery of lawlessness in Matthew 24.

  476. Again, I don't have a lot of time to go into this.

  477. So there's restrainer lifted, mystery of lawlessness flowing.

  478. And then he says, many are gonna fall away during that time.

  479. So look at verse 7.

  480. The mystery of lawlessness is already at work.

  481. Even in the first century it was at work.

  482. It's increasing.

  483. Only he who now restrains will do so until he is taken out of the way.

  484. And then the lawless one will be revealed.

  485. I believe that's the Antichrist, whom the Lord will consume with the breath of his mouth and destroy with the brightness of his coming.

  486. Now listen, you know, we compare this in position, juxtaposition to Matthew 24 and other passages.

  487. There's going to be increased lawlessness, okay?

  488. I'm not saying we're in the last days.

  489. I don't know if we're in the last days, but it's the laster days than yesterday.

  490. And at my age, it's in my age, it's the last days, okay?

  491. Verse 9, the coming of the lawless one is accordance to the workings of Satan with all power, signs, and lying wonders.

  492. Again, I'll cover this later.

  493. But this is what I want you to camp on, and I'm gonna stop right here.

  494. Verse 10.

  495. With all unrighteous deception among those who perish, listen, because they did not receive a love of the truth.

  496. Folks, we you will fall away if you don't love the truth.

  497. You will.

  498. Because the deception is intensifying.

  499. This river right here is getting higher and higher and more and more intense.

  500. Well, how do you judge it?

  501. Well, you you judge it according to God's word.

  502. Man, I just challenge us, you guys, be in God's word constantly.

  503. Be careful with all the stuff on here.

  504. Some of it's very, very deceptive.

  505. And God wants you to be a lover of the truth.

  506. So, first of all, be wholeheartedly loving God with all of your heart, soul, mind, and strength.

  507. And your neighbor as yourself.

  508. Everybody's your neighbor.

  509. No matter their racial background, their ethnic background, their socioeconomic, everybody's our neighbor.

  510. And we love them with the love of Christ.

  511. We shower love wherever we go.

  512. Some of you, anybody going out, you can go out and eat now.

  513. Right?

  514. So, whoever's that waiter, that waitress, pray for them.

  515. Take a chance to pray with them.

  516. You go home to your neighbor, you see them out in the art, pray for them.

  517. Because people are full of fear right now and they and they would they need faith, and we have the answers to them.

  518. You've been listening to The Road with Pastor Teacher Steve Holt.

  519. We hope you have been blessed by today's message.

  520. To connect with us further, visit theroad.org.

  521. If you are walking through a difficult time, we want to pray for you.

  522. Go to theroad.org, click on the ministries tab, and go to our prayer page to send us your prayer request.

  523. Thanks again for tuning in today, and be sure to listen to the next edition of The Road with Pastor Teacher Steve Holt.