Haggai 1

If you get a copy of the scriptures with you,

we'll be starting a new little mini -series tonight.

It'll be in the Old Testament in the book of

Haggai. So it's Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah,

Malachi, right there towards right before the

New Testament starts. Interesting book, not a

book that if you do a little bit of research

is preached on very often. One of the least preached

books in the United States, so it seemed very

interesting to dig in a little bit. Just two

chapters, I think we'll be here for four or five

Sunday nights, so not too terribly long, but

we'll take our time and move through it well.

Haggai is a minor prophet with contemporaries

such as Zechariah and Malachi, and we know very

little personally about the prophet, which is

interesting. He is only mentioned here, obviously,

in this book, penned, and then in the book of

Ezra as well. What is interesting in the book

of Haggai is that there are very specific dates.

A lot of times when we get into some of the minor

prophet books, we know a little bit about the

prophet themselves, but the dates are a little

open -ended. Haggai does not fit that particular

model. The dates he gives are very, very specific.

So we know exactly when he ministered, not just

the year, but even the day and the month for

every single thing that happens. He began to

minister in the second year of King Darius, so

520 B .C. If you're taking notes, we'll lay a

bit of historical context before we get started.

But you might say, what was the state of the

nation at this time? Why do we have this book

and how did we get here? You may remember that

it was prophesied for quite a while that Judah

would be carried off into exile. Ultimately,

that began to happen by the nation Babylon, King

Nebuchadnezzar. Israel had to, or Judah, had

to endure 70 years of exile because they had

repeatedly chased after false gods and idols.

And we would normally get that date as 586 B

.C., but really that was the destruction of the

temple. There were three different waves in which

they were carried off. The first of which was

605 B .C., which was when Daniel and some of

his contemporaries were taken off to Babylon.

So there's three different waves of that, and

that's where we would start that story. 70 -year

countdown. When the Babylonians, though, were

conquered by Persia, in fact, at that time it

would be King Cyrus that conquered Babylon, there

was a decree issued that the Jews were allowed

to return back to their homeland and then begin

to rebuild their temple. The challenge was, as

soon as they came back, they immediately faced

opposition and they abandoned the project. It

lay dormant for about 17 or 18 years. Insert

Haggai. Haggai's first prophecy is almost 20

years to the date after these first exiles had

returned back. And it was not what they had hoped.

They had came back from being in exile, very

expectant. They were going to rebuild the temple.

Things were going to go their way. They were

going back home. And they had settled into a

very uncomfortable status quo where they were

just barely eking out an existence. Things were

not good. We'll read that in the text tonight.

And into this situation, when things are just

not good, it's not what they've hoped for, God

then sends his prophet with a message of, new

hope for His people, a message that will speak

hope to us as well. We'll see in this book that

there are four different sermons delivered by

Haggai. And he's so specific in dates, we know

they were from August to December in the year

520 BC. So he did not prophesy for a terribly

long time, but it was very effective. A lot of

times when we get into these minor prophet books,

there is cries of judgment. There is a lot of

foretelling, a lot of prophecy, but not a lot

of reaction on the part of the recipients. Here

in Haggai, there is a lot of reaction. of the

Word of God, a response to the Word of God. The

people are repentant. They then begin to rebuild.

So there is a lot of good exchange here, if you

will. And although it is the second shortest

book in the entire Old Testament, it is rich

and it's profitable teaching for the church today.

So it's very applicable to us. We will see the

Lord call upon this unfaithful remnant, His covenant

people, to repent, to rebuild the temple. And

Haggai ultimately anticipates the day of the

Lord. The day in which God has said in the person

of His Son that He will fulfill all the promises

that He has made to His people. So, let's get

into verses 1 and 2 tonight of chapter 1, the

book of Haggai. It says, So the first thing we

see is that it was not a good time. for the people.

King Cyrus, who allowed them to first go back

home, and not only go back home, but issued a

decree that they should rebuild their temple

and was going to supply some funding for that.

died after about a short eight -year reign. His

son took over for a while. There was sort of

a coup. And then we see Darius come up, who was

a general there. And in 522, he becomes king

over this Persian empire. And in 520 BC, Haggai

begins then to speak on God's behalf. And we

see a couple people listed here. First of all,

Zerubbabel would deal with civil matters. Joshua

is going to deal with religious matters as far

as the Persian government was concerned. And

my wife, Kay Lynn, was at Cedarville. She had

an Old Testament professor there whose name was

Dr. Chris Miller. And he was a wonderful man

of God, a wonderful professor, and had a way

with words. It was very captivating as he taught.

And one of the classes he taught very well was

a survey of the Old Testament. And his lectures

were recorded at that time, like on the internet

somewhere, for students to reference. And she

thought they would be such a help to me that

she burned every single Old Testament lecture,

and there was a lot of them, onto CDs. And I

had a 45 -minute drive to work, and I would listen

to them on the way there and on the way back,

because it was so captivating. And I was so hungry

at that time, early on in my ministry. I listened

to them so much, they quit playing. They'd get

scratched and they'd quit working. But one thing

that Dr. Miller said that I'll never forget,

and my kids have been saying it for two weeks

now in the car, is that when he would talk about

the minor prophets, specifically when he got

into Haggai, he would always say Zerubbabel.

And every time he would say Zerubbabel, he would

always say, who picked up the rubble? And it

was just a very interesting way to tie him to

the rebuilding of that temple. And it obviously

worked. It was very catchy because I still remember

it now almost 20 years later. But who was Zerubbabel

and why was he important? Why do we see that

name right here in the first part of this book?

Well, Zerubbabel was a grandson of King Jehoiachin,

who was a descendant about 20 generations worth

of David. Now, that's very important. Even though

Zerubbabel was a governor, he was not a king,

he was a true Davidic... And as he served as

governor in this rebuilding effort, as we would

see, under the Persian Empire, we see a continuing

of the line of David, despite the monarchy's

apparent collapse when they had been in exile.

This preserved the Davidic covenant, and it pointed

toward a coming Messiah, that God had not broken

his promise, a sermon that he had kept them,

even through this exile that Judah had to go

through. And we see Zerubbabel... His name is

mentioned in the genealogies in Matthew 1 and

Luke 3. They both include him, and it ties this

important link and lineage between David and

Jesus Christ. Now, a charge is quickly laid against

the inhabitants of Judah here in verse 2 that

now had not been the time to rebuild the Lord's

house. And certainly no one disputed the necessity

of needing to rebuild, but they had... Enemies

come on them immediately. 17, 18 years had went

by. They wanted to build the temple, but they

just hadn't got to it. And it wasn't a good time.

It wasn't a good time. And as often happens,

as we tend to put things off, they can sometimes

get put off for a long time. And we look around

a couple years went by like, oh, yeah, I was

going to get to that project. And you just never

got to it. And, you know, they were difficult

times. We'll give them that. The remnant was

small. that had returned. There was a general

lack of funds. Just keeping food on their tables

had been very difficult. But look at what Haggai

says in verses 3, 4, and 5. Then the word of

the Lord came by Haggai. So here's the first

prophecy. Saying, is it time for you yourselves

to dwell in your paneled houses and this temple,

the temple of the Lord, to lie in ruins? Now

therefore, thus says the Lord of hosts, consider

your ways. Now, The Lord's response to their

words was, if now was such a bad time to rebuild

God's house, why was it the time for the people

to dwell in paneled houses of their own? And

that word paneled is very interesting. That doesn't

just jump out at us, but let's talk about it.

It's going to make a lot more sense. That doesn't

just mean that their houses were ornately decorated.

That is a word that was only used a handful of

times, and every time it was used in the Old

Testament, it was to describe the beauty of Solomon's

temple as it was being built. I mean, splendor

beyond compare. There had been so much effort

put into their houses of their own, but now it

wasn't a good time to rebuild the Lord's house.

And Haggai's point is this, that the people had

been quite happy to put precisely... amount of

time and what resources they could put together

into their own houses while they claimed they

had no time, no effort, no money to restore the

Lord's house. And during difficult times... It

can be very easy to retreat or withdraw from

God or from serving others. That is what our

flesh wants. In our flesh, we do retreat. We

do withdraw. We flee. But we cannot allow the

difficulties of life to become an excuse for

centering our existence on ourselves. Church,

we were created for so much more than that. We

were created for community. We were created to

serve one another. isolated, we were created

for so much more. What is the chief in a man?

To glorify God, not to pursue our own ambitions

and build up our own houses. Verse 6, Haggai

continues. He says, you have sown much, but you

bring in little. You eat, but you don't have

enough. You drink, but you're not filled with

drink. You clothe yourself, but no one is warm.

And he who earns wages, earns wages to put into

a bag with holes. Feel the tension in verse 6.

You've planted much, but you've harvested very

little. You've ate. They didn't starve to death,

but they were still hungry. You had something

to drink, but it wasn't enough to fully satisfy.

You've had some clothing. They weren't naked,

but yet they weren't warm. And they've earned

some wages, but they might as well have just

dropped them into a bag with holes in it. Their

strategy had been counterproductive up until

this point. They had been busy to pursue their

own goals, their own ambitions, but yet they

hadn't accomplished them. They had sown abundantly,

but they had not reaped in what they would hope.

Everyone had something to wear, but not enough

to keep out the cold. And what they were getting

out of life was not equal to what their inputs

were. in effort and resource. So they did not

experience, they had not experienced since the

return of his exile, almost 20 years, the fullness

of God's blessing. The pleasure that they sought

seemed elusive, something that they just could

not get a hold of. Why was life this way? I think

it's important to say it was certainly not an

issue of God's lack of power to bless them. It

was God who had been with this exact people as

they wandered through the wilderness for 40 years

and their shoes never wore out from off their

feet. They never went hungry and never had any

lack. It wasn't the Lord's inability to bless

them. It was their inability to begin to look

to the Lord and to build His house and to put

their time and their efforts there instead of

focusing on their own homes and their own things.

Verse 7 and 8. Thus says the Lord of hosts, consider

your ways. Go up to the mountains and bring wood

and build a temple, that I may take pleasure

in it and be glorified, says the Lord. Now, we're

going to go to verse 15 tonight. But immediately

in verse 7, Thus says the Lord of hosts, Consider

your ways. To me, that just jumps off the page.

For God to speak to His people through this prophet

and say, Consider your ways. That's a hard stop.

You know, the Lord's saying, pay attention. You

know, let's get it together. You've been over

here and I need you, you know, right here. They

had put their own interests before the interests

of God. And that was a very dangerous ground.

And the Lord was calling them to task here. They

were reaping the results. of what they had done.

They were running faster and faster, but they

weren't getting ahead. They weren't actually

getting anywhere. And that sounds like the lives

that so many are living right now. Racing through

life at a breakneck pace, yet never quite catching

the elusiveness that always seems like it's out

ahead. Here in America and in the Western world,

we go harder than we've ever went before. Our

flesh reaches and yearns, but cannot be Fully

satisfied. But you know, not only did God challenge

them to consider their ways, he also gave them

the solution. He said, stop what you've been

doing. You went up into the hill country to get

timber to build your own houses. You went up

in the hill country to get the resources that

you needed to panel your house. He said, go again.

Get the wood. Rebuild my temple so that I might

be... Isn't that wonderful that God doesn't just

rebuke them, but He does rebuke them because

they needed it. Praise God when we step out,

when we have sinned, God has indwelled us believers

with His Holy Spirit, and He convicts us. Praise

God for that, because we need that conviction.

And it shouldn't just drive us to pursue our

own ambitions, but to repent once we've been

convicted of our sin. But not only does God convict

them and rebuke them, He gives them the solution.

Isn't that amazing? He said, stop this, do this.

Look at verses 9, 10, 11, and 12. Haggai says,

You have looked for much, but indeed it came

to little, and when you brought it home it blew

away. Why? says the Lord of hosts. Because my

house it is in ruins, while every one of you

runs to his own house. Therefore the heavens

above you withhold the dew, and the earth withholds

its fruit. For I called for a drought on the

land, and on the mountains, and on the grain.

and on the new wine and the oil, on whatever

the ground brings forth, on men and livestock,

and on all the labor of your hands. So this returning

remnant had mixed up their priorities, and as

a result, they had not experienced a hand of

blessing from God. The Lord had not blessed the

effort that they had put forth. The Lord asked

them to abandon their excuses. It wasn't a good

time. It wasn't a good time. Not now. Oh, we're

being oppressed. Oh, we don't have enough time.

We don't have enough money. They produced so

many excuses as to why they could not begin rebuilding

the temple. And the thing about excuses is they

can sideline us. We can make up an excuse for

almost anything to sort of spin out in our own

minds why we can't do this, why we can't fulfill

that obligation, why we can't go there. And we

can tell ourselves a lot of things. But the Lord

tells them, you've already done this for yourself.

Now do it for me. Make my house your priority,

not your house your priority. He's saying that

they should turn and labor and take a place that

is lying in desolate ruin and turn it into a

place that God might delight and that he might

be glorified. And until their priorities were

reordered, until God's house was restored, they

could not expect. any of the Lord's blessing

to produce fruit in their lives, their lands,

their families, all of these ways that they felt

they had just not been getting out of life, what

they had been putting in. Look at an immediate

response here in verse 12. Then Zerubbabel, the

son of Shealtiel, and Joshua, the son of Jehozadek,

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. And as the

Lord their God had sent him, and the people feared

the presence of the Lord. So what is that verse

saying? First of all, they heard the words of

the prophet. They were rebuked. They obeyed the

voice of the Lord their God, the words that came

through Haggai. And they all feared the presence

of the Lord. So from the highest governor all

the way down to the lowest citizen, the entire

remnant. It didn't say a pocket. It didn't say

half. It said all of them. All of this remnant

obeyed God's word, not just some, but they all

heard it, and then they all obeyed it. I mean,

that's a whole other step there. Haggai's preaching

had an immediate and powerful effect on the hearts

of the people. They are sorrowful, they are then

convicted, and then they become repentant. Why?

Because they understood God's justice that had

been poured out on them. The Word of God should

have the same effect on us. As we sit under faithful

preaching, as we hear God's Word opened and it

is exposited, we should then, through that Word,

consider our ways as we hear the Word of God

preached. There should be areas in our lives

that do not line up. With God's standard that

should come out when we read God's word, when

we hear it preached. Ian Duguid said this in

his commentary. He said, which of us could truly

say that we have always sought first God's kingdom?

And who could say that he has always pursued

his righteousness with our whole heart? None

of us could say that. Even on our best days,

the best 15 minutes of our life, we're not there.

We are all guilty at points in our lives, in

various seasons of our lives, of building our

own houses while neglecting the Lord's. And when

we are convicted of that, that is not the time

to shrug it off and say, well, I'm doing the

best I can. It's not the time to shrug it off

and say, I'm just going to keep going my way.

It is a time, just like the people of Judah here,

to be sorrowful and repentant and pour ourselves

out in front of a holy God and say, God, This

started out as a hobby to me. This started out

as something that was fun to me, and now it's

got out of hand. My priorities are mixed up.

I'm now pouring way too much into this. It was

a good thing, but my heart's became an idol factory.

It's all I can do. It's all I can think about.

And we get mixed up like that. No one sets out

to go do things all the time that take them away

from God's house. It happens little by little.

But if they're God's children, the world will

convict them. It will convict us. Praise God

for that. But when we are convicted, we should

be sorrowful, absolutely, but repentant. And

go to the Lord in that way. Verse 13. This is

beautiful. Then Haggai, the Lord's messenger,

spoke the Lord's message to the people saying,

I am with you, says the Lord. So at the conclusion

of verse 12, we don't want to lose this. It said

that the people feared the Lord. Now that's a

good response because God is pure and God is

holy and there is a healthy, reverent fear of

the Lord. However, In their fear of him, they

corrected their vision of the Lord as well. And

Haggai announces comforting news to them as the

Lord says, I am with you. As the people have

become sorrowful and repentant and they are turning

back to God, what do they hear from the prophet?

It's beautiful that the Lord had already turned

towards them. That as they were repentant, God

turns towards them is also that in spite of their

sin, when they repented, there was restoration.

This is good news for us as well, church. The

Lord is not a harsh taskmaster, is what His Word

tells us. He is not a God that just sits upon

His throne, looking down on us, waiting for us

to slip up in some way or step out of line in

some way so He can punish us severely. God does

not do that. But God does confront our sin. And

He confronts our sin so He can forgive us and

show us grace and mercy when we are repentant.

Praise God that he is not a harsh taskmaster,

as his word would say. Verses 14 and 15, we see

here action, not just words. It's one thing,

you know, sometimes we are sorrowful over our

sin. There are several times we are repentant

over our sin, but it can stop at the words. And

we don't really follow through with action. Verse

14 and 15, so the Lord stirred up, this was not

an accident, 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 they worked

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

didn't say a God, their God, on the 24th day

of the sixth month in the second year of King

Darius. Now, we see the sovereignty of God on

full display here. It was the Lord, L -O -R -D.

Yahweh, the spirit of Yahweh who stirred up these

powerful men, one over civil matters, one over

religious matters, to begin this restoration

work on the temple. After their repentance, after

their restoration, it was the Lord who stirs

the spirits of the people. And they come and

they begin preparation. They go up in the hill

country. They get the timber. They get the materials.

They do all those laborious tasks. They bring

all these things down. And when they hear the

word of God, It pricked at their hearts. That

should be the response of each and every believer

who is indwelt by the Holy Spirit. The Word of

God is used for rebuke and for encouragement.

It is used to convict us of our sin, but also

to encourage us and give us joy. We should never

just be consumers of godly content. When the

Word is preached, there should be a response.

Certainly, as we hear God's Word preached, as

we read it on a daily basis and take in Christian

content, we should sorrow over our sin. Our sin

is grievous to God. It is heinous in His sight.

And it should break us at times. Because as much

as we try not to, we are going to sin because

we are in this body of... flesh. We're in this

natural man. MacArthur said it best. It was our

unredeemed humanness, and we will be in it till

the day we leave this world and are united with

the Lord and experience ultimate glorification.

While we are here, our sin should grieve us.

Some of the greatest preachers, commentators

that were in the Reformation and from then until

now were broken constantly over their sin. The

prayers of the Puritans, many were broken over

their sin. They understood how just grievous

it was and the separation between them and God,

and yet it drove them to repentance. It should

do the same for us. But what about these men?

Did they just go and begin to rebuild because

it seemed like the right thing to do? No. They

were broken over their sin. They were repentant.

It's not sheer willpower, but it said the Lord

stirred up this spirit within them that God had

moved their hearts in this way. When we obey

the Lord, it is because He has given us the desire

and the strength to do so. It's not because we

got up and thought it would be a good idea. It

is God who is sovereign over the sanctification

of his people. And we see that here. You say,

okay, this is really good. What about us? We

are not much different than Haggai's original

audience because we too, at times, have been

distracted by building our own houses and not

being focused on building the Lord's house. Our

world moves so fast. And it comes with its own

unique set of challenges. It is increasingly

harder for parents raising children to keep them

involved in doing kid things and still making

church their ultimate priority. It is harder

now than it was in generations past to work a

good job that doesn't require a lot of travel.

It doesn't require you to be away in the midweek

and on the weekends. And things move very...

Quickly, in our flesh, we have a propensity to

chase. You say, chase what? We want to chase

success. We chase wealth. But what is the problem?

Those are unfulfilling masters. They sound good

at the time, but they will always be elusive.

It will never be enough. It's an unfulfilling

master. What's the ultimate frustration of the

hamster? He never reaches the top of the wheel.

It just goes and goes and goes. Whatever satisfaction

we do feel from anything like that is temporary

and fleeting. What we will find is the paneled

houses will never be enough. The pleasures are

elusive. Paul said in the New Testament that

all we have gained will eventually be rust, rot,

burned, or forgotten. Jesus said in Mark 8 36,

what does it profit a man to gain the whole world

if at the same time he loses his Soul. Our priorities

matter. And they don't just matter in eternity.

They matter right now. They matter no matter

if we're 80. or raising young children. It does

not matter. Our priorities matter now. And as

believers, our priorities, we are called out

that they must align with Scripture. We cannot

say and be justified in, well, in this season

of my life, I'm going to do this, and I'm going

to do this, and I'm going to go out of town to

work, and I'm going to make this money, and then

I'm going to do this, and then I've got time

to rebuild the Lord's house. Then I've got time

to teach Sunday school and invest here. That's

not what God's Word said. Our priorities matter

now, not for later. Even though Haggai finds

these returned exiled Jews focusing on their

own homes, their own lives, their own priorities,

their own ambitions, he offers them another avenue.

And the Lord does the same for me and you. We

have that avenue to repent, to humble ourselves

before God, to pour out our energy into building

God's house, as serving is the only true way

of blessing. Jesus said again, In Mark, he said,

but seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness,

and all these things will be added unto you.

Now this is the type of thing that can and will

lead to lasting fulfillment of our souls. God

can bless his people in ways we never dreamed

of. Every one of us probably has a story that

at some time in our life, things were not looking

so good. There was an expense, there was a bill,

there was something going on. And the Lord provided

the means for that in a way that just seems almost

extraordinary. But to put God first, to seek

his righteousness, to build into his kingdom,

the Lord cares for his children. We're not lost

on him. Not only is he not a harsh taskmaster,

the Lord loves his children. He meets their needs

no matter how large or how small they are. If

we ate food today, praise God for that. He gave

us enough to eat. So what about building God's

house in our day? We can be rest assured that

it will not be by our zeal alone. It will be

by the zeal of Christ that we will build into

the Lord's house. Just as it was the Lord's spirit

that stirred up Zerubbabel and Joshua, we do

not come and do any work here of ourself. It

is Christ who will give us zeal to do that. Christ

has already shown great zeal for his people.

As much as Jesus cleansed the temple and He drove

out the money changers, remember, He took the

whip and did so. God would turn the whip on His

very own Son as He took the punishment that our

sins deserved as He was on the cross. Our lack

of zeal was paid for on the cross. The gospel

message of our sins was paid for by Jesus Christ,

and His righteousness was imputed to us as it

were our own, and that is the foundation on which

God builds His church. God is the one who is

building. His new temple, the church, by the

means of His Holy Spirit. You say, how? Paul

wrote about it in Ephesians chapter 2. Having

Ephesians 2 · chapter mention

been built on the foundation of the apostles

and the prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being

the chief cornerstone, in whom the whole building,

being fitted together, grows into a holy temple

in the Lord. And here you are, in whom you also

are being built together for a dwelling place

of God in the Spirit. Now, what this doesn't

mean, it doesn't mean that we watch from the

sidelines. Of course not. God's work is the foundation

and encouragement for our work. It was because

God roused the spirits of Haggai's hearers that

they began to work with enthusiasm. And it is

because God is at work in our earthly bodies

by this Spirit, His Holy Spirit, that we are

called, motivated, and empowered to glorify God

with... the bodies that he has given us. It is

because God is committed to establishing his

kingdom in and through us that we are called

to seek his kingdom first above all other things,

above all other priorities, above all other things

we could chase. We should be a people stirred

by a holy zeal to love and build God's church.

Think back to Haggai's heirs. They planted, but

they didn't harvest much. They had clothes, but

not enough to stay warm. What about the church?

What promises has God made to us? God promised

his children real food. And in Christ, he gave

us the bread of life. In Christ, he gave us a

fountain of living water. We are clothed in Christ's

righteousness. And as opposed to those returning

exiles, these things provide lasting satisfaction

for our souls. Ain't do good again. Yet we do

not receive the fullness of this promised blessing

here and now. There is a feast that is yet to

come, a feast that will fully satisfy our soul

with the richest affair. Church, it's the last

thing. New Jerusalem awaits us. There are promises

that God has made to his people. And in the present,

right now, life is hard and it can be frustrating.

And it was no less hard or frustrating to these

returning exiles that we will read about here

in Haggai. We find ourselves struggling to be

faithful in the midst of challenging life circumstances.

But each week as we come to the Lord's table,

we are reminded that we experience tokens of

the promise that God has gave to his people.

In just a morsel of bread and just a very small

amount of juice in the cup, it is a constant

reminder and it arouses our hunger. It should

at least every week. to hunger for a day that

from God we will be fully satisfied. When the

construction of his new city will be complete

and the Lord Jesus Christ will be united with

his people forever. Amen. It's a good word. Interesting

book that we'll get into a little deeper week

by week, but the prophet Haggai, if you want

to read ahead, feel free. It's not a long book.

Very interesting read. Haggai gives four different

sermons to the people. And the first is a rebuke.

But it's beautiful how they respond and are broken

and then repentant over their sin. And certainly

so much we can take out of that ourselves. All

right. We will go ahead and dismiss from this

part of the service. If you would stay, if you're

a member of the church, we would ask that you

stay. We'll have a short monthly business meeting.

So if you're able to stand. we would invite you

to do so. We'll have a benediction prayer, and

we would ask our members stay for the business

meeting. Brother Mike Thompson, do you care to

have the benediction prayer?