It's Not Enough to Get Out of Babylon — David Wilkerson

This message is one of the Times Square Pulpit Series. It was recorded in the Sanctuary of Times Square Church in Manhattan, New York City. Other tapes are available by writing to World Challenge P .O. Box 260, Lindale, Texas 75771 or calling 214 -963 -8626.

None of these messages are copyrighted and you are welcome to make copies for free distribution to your friends.

Coming Out of Babylon Is Not the Final Goal

It's not enough to get out of Babylon. To get out of Babylon. You know the story, of course, that after 70 years the prophet's voice was heard among the Jews in Babylon. Go forth out of Babylon and flee.

Isaiah 48, 20. Jeremiah came along and what a prophetic voice his was. In those days and in that time Israel and the children of Judah together will go forth and weeping they shall go and seek the Lord, their God.

They shall ask the way to Zion with their faces to the word. Remove out of the midst of Babylon. That's Jeremiah 50, 4, 5 and 8. Jeremiah cried out in chapter 5, flee out of the midst of Babylon and deliver every man his soul.

Be not cut off in her iniquity. You know from church history that approximately 42 ,000 men and their dependents fled out of Babylon and they returned to Jerusalem with great weeping and supplication their hearts were broken for God.

They returned to the Lord with all their hearts. Immediately they restored the altar. They instituted the daily sacrifices. And here we have a picture of a people now completely out of Babylon. They've come out of an idolatrous system.

They've come out of apostasy. They've come out of the wickedness of that age. They're separated unto God and they represent a holy remnant, a righteous holy remnant that had been stirred and moved upon and they have come out.

They've come out of the dead religiosity. They've come out of all those things that had hindered their spiritual growth. They were a separated people unto God. Now, God's goal for these people is not just separation.

And I want to make a statement and I want you to hear it in your soul. God's ultimate goal for His church is not simply separation from the world. It is not just saying I came out of a dead church. Many of you have come out of a dead Babylonian system.

You came out of something that brought death to your soul. You were down. You were cast down. Many of you were living a double life. You were hooked on pornography. You watched filthy television. Your mind was corrupted.

And you were not growing in the Lord. And you heard a call. God was stirring you. And you wanted to be among Christians of like precious calling. And God brought you out. I know I'm not speaking out of just a denomination.

I'm speaking out of something that brought death to you. And now you're separated. And now you can say honestly, I believe I'm growing. I believe I have a heart for God. And I've been separated from the world.

But it's not enough to be able to say as the Jews did as they were in Israel, worshiping at the altar, back to the daily sacrifices, a heart turned to God, we have arrived. This is God's ultimate goal.

Rebuilding the Testimony of God

Separation from sin, out of Babylon, now given unto God. But you see, there was a testimony in Jerusalem that was lying in ruins. The testimony of God. You see, the temple represented the presence of God.

And when everything was lined up in God's divine purpose, God came down in that tabernacle, in that temple. And there was something about it awesome. People like the Queen of Sheba would come and watch Solomon go to the temple.

And it took her breath away that the presence of God and the reverence and the awe that these people had. But you see, sin caused God to turn from the temple. The testimony was laying in ruins. And in that economy of Israel, the testimony of God was represented by a restored temple where God's presence was manifested.

But God had told them to come out of Babylon, not just to get away from the wickedness of that corrupted city and society, but God called them to go to Jerusalem to raise up a testimony, to restore, to build his house.

That was their first calling. Go to Jerusalem, rebuild my house, take my interest upon you first. Your interest comes secondary. My interest comes first. And God stirred the hearts. He stirred the heart of Joshua, the priest.

He stirred the heart of Zerubbabel, the prince. And he stirred the heart of the people. And they went with great vigor and built the foundations. But opposition began to set in and they began to lose heart.

And for 16 years that temple stands ignored. And a thousand excuses came to mind why they couldn't continue the work of God. Now, folks, I want you to hear the story of Haggai tonight, this prophetic message, because it's very vital to this church and to all of us in light of what God's been saying in the past five or six weeks about building his house, about putting his interest first, about getting a burden for the homeless, a burden for the poor and the needy, the cart people who push the carts, the beggars, and not just to sit here and to eat our morsel alone and to soak in all the blessings on ourselves.

But God is saying the same thing to us that he was saying to the Jew. I didn't call you just a separation. I didn't call you just a holiness. I didn't call you just to praise me and to worship me. Yes, that's a very vital, that's the heart of it.

But he said, I called you out to put you in a place, to put you in a place to prepare you, to use you, to raise up my testimony. And, beloved, that's why I believe God raised up this church as he is doing with many churches around the world, because there is a testimony that lies in total ruin.

There is a testimony that has absolutely been ruined. We have not shown the will of Christ of compassion. Do you know what the world has seen of Jesus in the past 15 years? Through Christian television most of all.

Church has put before the people ministers whose wives are dripped in diamonds and gold, ministers of television who are chauffeured around in stretch limos, and multi-million dollar recreation centers.

And we have placed before the world of Christ of riches and wealth and prosperity, of begging and pleading for men's visions and men's empires. And, consequently, the temple or the testimony of Christ has laid in ruin.

And God is calling a church and a people in these last days to rebuild the true testimony of who Christ is, that he hears the cry of the poor, that it's not made up of rich men robbing God's saints to create their own dreams and their own visions and their own empires, that there is a loving Christ who cares.

There's a loving Christ who hears the heart cry of the needy, the poor, the homeless. John, no clapping please, John in Revelation 18 cried out to a New Testament church, Babylon is falling. Come out of her, my people, that you be not partakers of her sins and that you receive not of her plagues.

I've been preaching that message for 12 years now, about coming out of Babylon, Babylon representing a backslidden society in collusion with an apostate church, an apostate people. That's the Babylonian system, and the message is come out of her, my people, don't be a part of that.

Now, there is a growing remnant, a holy remnant now, separating themselves. There's a call of the Holy Ghost all over the land and around the world today. It's a sovereign work, God awakening. I see it among young pastors especially.

I was up till almost midnight last night talking to two young pastors, and almost every day of the week now I'm hearing from young pastors, Brother Bob, Pastor Bob and Pastor Don are ministering to young pastors especially, whose hearts are burning and yearning for holiness and righteousness and to go deeper in the Lord.

They know that in these days the games are all over. The ego has to go, and the competition has to go, and the only thing that can be left is a man broken before God who hears the word of the Lord. Now, we have a people, multitudes that have come out of Babylon, out of the deadness and corruption and apostasy.

The Prosperity Gospel and the Purpose of Blessing

But you see, God is trying to say something to us, and I believe this is where the prosperity, so-called faith prosperity gospel got off the track. I believe that that particular gospel started out with some very pious godly men.

And they said there's got to be more to it than the deadness that they saw in the church, and God really awakened. Many of them were lay people who were awakened. And they began to see that God wanted to bless His people.

God wanted to put resources in their hands for a purpose. That purpose, and you'll find, I find it in every single book, all of the tracts, all the literature of the so-called prosperity gospel. You see it in the early days.

God wants to bless you to be a channel of resources to reach the poor, the needy, the destitute. God wants to pour out His blessings upon us so that we can give it. But you see something happen. There's something in human nature.

Once we get our hands on resources, once God begins to bless, if we don't immediately, instantly begin to give it out, we set goals for ourselves. And here's what's happened to the prosperity gospel in this last hour.

I believe God was saying something. God was trying to raise up a testimony. He was trying to prove that His Son, Jesus, in the darkest days to come, a depression coming upon the land, that there would be a church prepared, that believed God for resources, believed God for an anointing, but a people God could trust, that would not keep these resources and consume them on themselves, but give it so that Jesus in the last days would be seen as a Christ who could do what no other government could do, what no society could do, Jesus could do through His church.

And so what's happened? God began to bless, and they began to set goals. Well, if I reach this goal, then I'm in a place to give more to God. The only trouble is we kept upping the goal. You see, we kept upping the ante.

Lord, when my investments come through a little more, maybe when I get my Mercedes, then I begin to release the money to God. The truth is the money was never released. There was no burden for missions, no burden for the poor.

It was consumed on themselves. It was consumed in supersonic airplanes and big projects. And then what came forth were showcase charities that were just showcases to raise money for airtime. And when the judgment day comes, every one of us as ministers are going to answer for showcasing and not following through, and not having something behind it other than something there to advertise and to have a hook to get the money out of the wallet.

And many of you know that's true. Many of you have given your... I mean, you gave your food money to support the dream of some man. I hope you've learned some lessons from the preaching you've been hearing from this pulpit.

If you send any money to that kind of foolishness, I don't think you truly have been hearing what we're saying. And I say that lovingly. But you see, what the idea behind it is, Lord, just wait. One of these days you're going to strike it rich.

You're going to get a lot out of me. You keep blessing me, and you keep my money coming in. One of these days, Lord, you're going to get a bundle. But God never gets the bundle. Because God intended for a flow to begin, and that flow didn't come.

It didn't come. It never has come. And now God's saying something to the church. He said, this time I won't miss it. I won't allow it to be missed because it's too late, and Jesus' coming is at the door.

Now he's going to have a people that this prophet Haggai has so convicted me. I'll tell you about it as we go on in the message. The prayer of God's people has always been, and it's very subtle, Oh God, if you bless me, the more you give me, the more I am able to give you.

Now that sounds good. But I just don't think outside of a broken heart, that that will ever work, and it has not worked with many, many Christians. The Jews stopped building God's house for 16 years. And they said, I go to Haggai first chapter, Haggai 1.

There are only two chapters in this prophetic book. I'm going to begin to read verse 1. In the second year of Darius the king, in the sixth month, in the first day of the month, came the word of the Lord by Haggai, the prophet, unto Zerubbabel, the governor of Judah, unto Joshua, the high priest, saying, Thus speaketh the Lord of hosts, saying, This people say, The time is not come, the time that the Lord's house should be built.

The time is not ripe. You see, only the foundation has been laid up to this time, and they stopped. The reason that they stopped, now listen closely, their harvest was failing. The economy was failing.

Now we're going to see why that was happening. But the funds were drying up, and the future looked very bleak. They did not have resources at this time. They said, look, we barely have enough, we barely have enough to, for our own sustenance and our families.

We just don't have the resources. This is not economically correct time to build God's house. This is not the time to take on this heavy project. And it was a very, very expensive project. And I'm sure somebody came up with the thought, well, look, Solomon with all of his riches burdened the people.

When he built the first temple, how do we? He had all of David's resources. He was blessed beyond any man on earth. They brought him gold from all over the world. And even then they came to him and said, our burden is heavy.

Now it wasn't the temple that burdened the people. These were all the false temples, the Astaroth and all of the other gods that burdened and taxed the people. But their thinking is, now wait a minute, if Solomon with all of his wealth can't do it, and we're going down financially, how can we go on?

There was opposition. They had a thousand excuses. This is not the right time to go on. Now God understands that. He knows we don't have the money. He knows that this can't possibly be the time. This is not the right time.

We know it's a godly vision. God told us to do it. But this is not the time. And they stopped building. They stopped the interest of God. Another stone was laid. And I want you to go on with me now to verse 3.

Then came the word of the Lord by Haggai the prophet, saying, Is it time for you to dwell in your sealed houses, and this house lie waste? Now look at me, please. You know what they had been doing in the 16 years up to the moment Haggai steps on the scene?

They'd stopped building God's house because the economy was collapsing. Their fields were laying waste. They had all their wages. It's like putting money in a bag with holes in it. The same bag that you have.

You put money in it and it goes in one way and out ten. And yet they had managed, all of them, to build fine houses for themselves without considering the economy, without considering the opposition, and sealed here means a fine-carved wainscoting.

He said, You've wainscoted your house. You've got fine carvings in your house. You're beautifully furnished, and for 16 years you say it's not time for God's house to be built. It's not time for God's interest.

Yet what you wanted you went out and got. I think you're getting hit while I'm under conviction. And God spanked literally, literally put me on my face. And it'll unfold as we go a little further. You see, these people could not get enough for themselves.

They did not consider any opposition whatsoever, and they built fine houses. And Haggai comes along and he says, Is this your theology? That this is not the time for God's interest? This is not time to step out by faith and do what I commanded you to do?

And yet, you can go home to your fine houses with your lovely furniture and all that you have, and you're comfortable, and you say, Well, God understands. Is this your theology? That you can buy what you want, do what you want.

If you want what you want, you go get it. You don't consider anything else. You get it. But when you think of my work, it's too costly, too expensive. This is not the right time. The future's too dark.

How do we undertake such a huge project when we can't even make ends meet ourselves? Let's do it, but let's just wait. Isn't it amazing they found the money, the time, the resources to build their own houses, to do their own thing?

And I'm sure they said, Surely God expects me to care for my family. He's a good God. We love Him. As soon as we get our needs fulfilled, as soon as we get our families established, then we'll get busy on God's house.

I want you to look at verse 4. Is it time for you, O ye, to dwell in your sealed houses, and this house lie waste? Now therefore, thus saith the Lord of hosts, Consider your ways. He said, I want you to stop.

The prophet's saying, I want you to think about something now. He said, I want to show you what happens to people who put off obeying the command of God. Now, beloved, the time to obey God is when the prophetic word comes and the revelation comes, and we receive it.

When God speaks through revelation, when the prophetic word comes and God says, act, move, He expects no delay, no excuses, because we're going to see, He said, all the silver and gold is mine. Everything I own anyhow.

God doesn't consider the economy. He doesn't consider anything. There are no considerations other than His word. When He says, do it, He says, I expect you to do it. I expect you to obey me. No excuses, no delays.

And He said, if you do, I'm going to show you. And what He's saying, look at the past years. In fact, I was reading, Calvin believes that this stretches back as much as 15 years. Some of the remnant, all the way back, for all these years, they were building the foundation and then stopped for 15, almost 16 years.

He believes this was the pattern. And here it is. He says, you've sown much and bring in little. Verse 6. You eat, but you have not enough. You drink, but you're not filled with drink. You clothe you, but there is none warm.

And he that earneth wages to put them into a bag with holes. Thus saith the Lord of hosts, consider your ways. He said, now, look this way, please. He's explaining something inexplainable that was happening inside.

Now, literally, this did happen. God blew on their blessings and He wilted them. And I'll tell you, when we don't obey God, He blows on our blessings and He withers them. And there's an inner withering that takes place.

We can have all the blessing of God. We can have the glory of Jesus in this house. But if we don't obey Him when He speaks to us, and Pastor Bob spoke exclusively on that this morning, powerfully. And God's speaking it to our hearts again tonight.

He said, when I tell you to take on this burden of mine and to build my testimony, my house. I know that in these last days, this body is the temple of the Holy Ghost. And He's the builder. He's building something.

But folks, if we are stone upon stone, if we are built together as this building, this temple of God in these last days, Jesus being the head of this house, then we're going to reflect His nature. We're going to reflect who Jesus is.

And Jesus is loving. He's caring. He's giving. We're going to... That still is going to happen to us. We're going to be just a channel. We're going to show the world a Jesus who cares and who is loving.

But, you know what happens? God says, I'm going to call for drought upon you. I'm going to call for a drought. I want you to look at verse 11. And I called for a drought upon the land, the mountains, and the corn, the new wine, the oil, upon that which the ground bringeth forth, men and cattle, upon all the labor of the hands.

He said, I called for a drought. And folks, this literally happened, but He's describing in the way it's applicable to us. He's describing what happens, a curse, a literal curse that comes upon a people who put off the commandments of the Lord, who put off obeying God when He speaks prophetically to our hearts.

And we just say, well, this is not the time. And we begin to justify our delay. We begin to lean on excuses. And we say, oh, God understands. No, God does not understand our delaying when He speaks so clearly to our hearts.

He expects us to hear and obey. And when we don't, something happens. Something in the heart happens. There's an unexplainable emptiness. There's a coldness. He said, you are cold, but there's still a chill on you.

There's something very chilling. There's a boredom that sets in. And we become self-introspective when we begin to get focused on our problems. We don't see the need of a dying city anymore. We're talking about our little family, our little problems.

We become introverted. And we dwell on our own little problems. And we spend all of our time and our money and our resources on ourselves. We start out white. We get the foundation up. And then the devil comes in and succeeds in getting our eyes on ourselves.

And God says, no, I will not have that. He said, there's something that's happened to you. Look back and center your ways. Look what's happened in the last 15 years since you stopped putting my interests first and your interests have become first and foremost and paramount in your mind.

He said, look what's happened. He said, you're so much and you bring in so little. Now, I know what that's like to do so much for God and feel so unfinished. To work so hard and feel like I'm not getting anywhere.

To have a restlessness inside of me. To have something digging down inside and it's I can't scratch. To love God with all my heart and soul and yet not to, there's a feeling I've not touched something that God wants.

There's not a fulfillment. There's something I'm missing. Now, I'm explaining what's happened to some of you right here now. You love the Lord, but you're not totally fulfilled. You're not totally satisfied in your Christian walk.

There's a spiritual drought that comes on you. A dryness, a deadness. While everybody around you is moving under the Lord, there's an emptiness, a dryness. And God said, I called for the drought. I called for it.

Now, folks, this is not a message of wrath. It's a message of love. And God called for the drought in love for his people. These were godly people and he loved them. He said, I'm not going to stand by and let you get so absorbed in yourself and your own interests, your houses, your clothes, your needs.

I will not let you get swallowed up in selfishness. So, I'm going to send a drought on you to save you from your selfishness. To save you, David, from going off into some obsession over here. I love you too much and I put a burden on your heart and I have a mission for you to accomplish and I won't let you go.

I love you too much and I'm going to let you get so restless, so empty sometime and I'm going to let you feel so unfulfilled that you'll know you'll have to take notice. This is not natural. This is not supposed to be.

Consider your ways. Consider what's happening to you. Consider it. Stop. Think. This divine restlessness, this deep unknown dissatisfaction, this spiritual drought. It's God trying to destroy all self-interest.

You know, I've experienced that over my ministry. That unexplainable sense of accomplishing so little. Not of wrath, but of feeling God loving me, but I've not reached something in Him. Now, the wonderful thing about these people is that they believe God's messenger had God's message.

I want you to look at verse 13. Verse 13. Then speak Haggai, the Lord's messenger, in the Lord's message. Now, that's a powerful statement. The Lord's messenger in the Lord's message. Look at me, please.

I don't believe God has ever sent a true awakening to a church or a people who didn't have a high regard for the messengers that He sent. I've known people who actually have come to this church. Now, I don't believe that they're here now.

Most of them have left. But there are times that the pastors that stand up here, we pour our heart out. Spend a week seeking the face of God. Come here with tears and brokenness, preaching a prophetic word, and add their hands full.

I hear of God just as well. What I see and what I hear. In fact, some have been backstage and said, well, who are you? I hear from God just as well. That's what they said to Moses just before they were swallowed up and destroyed by fire.

But you see, unless there's a high regard, unless you can sit in a church and say, I know that I sit under men of God. I know that the man who stands there is God's messenger. He has God's message. And I can look you in the eye tonight and tell you I'm God's messenger with His message tonight.

And it's up to you to know whether or not that's true. That has to bear witness, but that bore witness of these people. They said, you see, what they heard was, this is not the time. And if they had the spirit that a lot of people have had that I've seen come and go through these doors, they would come backstage and say, well, you may say it's God's time, but I prayed and God said, this is not the time.

But they listened to this man. This man has come from God and he says, it's time now to build my house, to put away your self-interest. Now, I want to tell you something. He's not condemning them for their houses.

Not at all. He's not condemning them for being blessed. That's a byproduct of walking in covenant with God. That happens naturally. You don't even give it a thought.

All you do is give Him thanks. This is the end of side one. You may now turn the tape over to side two. He does want to bless you.

You think God's jealous of your house? God's looking around and saying, you've got a better house. I've got a house that makes God jealous. What does God want that you have but your heart? No, God, that's not the point at all.

God said, yes, that's fine. But He said, you should not have neglected my house. You put off my concerns and you focus all your time and effort and resources on your own. He's just calling them back to the proper balance and this is to put God's work first.

And here's God's messenger. And they laid aside all of their own thoughts and the Lord stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel, the son, I'm not even going to try that one, governor of Judah, the spirit of Joshua, the high priest, and the spirit of all the remnant of the people.

And they came and did work in the house of the Lord of hosts. Do you know it only... I wish I could preach like that man. It only took him 23 days to get him out of this hoping into the doing. Only 23 days this man preaches this message and suddenly they have a heart and a mind to obey God and to get busy on the house of God.

Just 23 days from a stirring to a doing. Now, I want to show you how quickly God moves in when we set our hearts to obey Him and put His purposes first in our lives. Go to Haggai 2, verse 8. By the way, these people start getting excited about God's work.

Give me your good eye and your good ear. I'll tell you what. There's nothing that blesses me more than to see people who love God getting excited, totally excited about the things that are happening in their church, what God's doing.

They talk it up to all their friends. They get on the telephone. They're not talking about their job. They're not talking about their clothes. They're not talking about their house or anything else. Guess what's happening?

I've been invited to go on the food truck and I'm going next Tuesday for four hours to pass out soup and donuts and put gloves on people's heads. I'm so excited to be excited about what God is doing, about the things of God.

Oh, that blesses me when I hear people just... They're not talking up the church while we've got the best church in New York. No. That's abominable. God's moving in many, many areas. Just to be excited about what God is doing through His body.

These people got excited as they had made a commitment. And God got so excited He couldn't wait till they laid the first stone. My Lord is right. You know what? Here comes the prophet. God says, go back to the people.

They have a mind. They're going to go through with the project. They're going ahead. They've made up their mind. I see it. He said, get back quickly. And here He comes. Not a stone has been laid yet, but they've made a commitment.

They're all getting excited. They're probably collecting the mortar. They're getting all the things together. They're getting the people in order and everything is being planned and they're all excited and God can't wait.

God gets excited. And He sends the prophet back and He said, tell them the silver is mine. The gold is mine, saith the Lord of hosts. He said, now I'm going to bless this people. Now, I will tell you something.

New York City is running out of money. It's already run out of money. New York City is literally bankrupt. And the banks are bellying up now. Their S &L's are going bankrupt. And New York State is one of the worst financial conditions of any state outside of probably Massachusetts.

Dear brother Cuomo, Cuomo, Governor Cuomo, and he wants to be president of the United States. He's broke. The state's broke. The city's broke. The counties are broke. The whole country's going broke. But God hasn't lost one ounce of wealth.

He said, the silver and gold is mine. It will be that so depressing, it will be that all the time God's wealth is never diminished. He said, the silver and gold is mine. Hallelujah. And he's not going to trust it to the mayor or the governor.

They've messed it up. He said, I'm going to trust it to people of God who are going to spend it for my glory. Not on themselves, but to establish my testimony. I'm getting to shouting again. Yeah. Hallelujah.

You know what? God told Haggai to tell him, he said, you can work now because I'm with you. Look at verse 4, chapter 2. Yet now be strong, O Zerubbabel, saith the Lord. Be strong, O Joshua, the high priest.

Be strong, all ye people of the land, saith the Lord, and work, for I am with you, saith the Lord of hosts. According to the word that I've coveted with you when you came out of Egypt, so my spirit remaineth among you.

Fear you not. He said, don't look at the economy. Don't look at the future. Don't look at anything like that. He said, keep your eyes on me. I'm with you. Get to work because I'm with you. That's all you need.

I am with you. Glory to God. Folks, if we can be totally convinced and stand on our believers, God is with us. God said, don't be afraid. God says, get to work. I'm going to work. I'm going to do everything.

I don't care. Lord, you told me to do it. I'm going to do it. You have everything under control. You know what the Lord says? You tell them. I'm going to shake everything it can be shaken. I'm going to shake heaven and earth, and I'm going to shake loose all the resources they ever needed.

Now, I know that you'll find that in Hebrews, and that speaks to the shaking of the last days. It speaks of the establishment of the messianic kingdom, but it also has an immediate application. Verse 6,.

And thus saith the Lord of hosts,. Yet once, it's a little while. He said, in just a little while now. He said, I've already told you. I've given you promise. Silver and gold is mine, and I'm going to start blessing you now.

And now, he said, once in a little while, just a little, I'm going to shake the heavens and the earth and the sea and the dry land. Now, that's the immediacy of the prophecy. The long range duality is in the second.

Then I'll shake all nations and the desire of nations will come. That's the Messiah. But he's speaking that in the sixth verse. He said, this is for you. I'm going to shake. And you know what he's talking about?

He's talking about the kingdom of King Darius. He said, I'm going to shake. You see, up to this time, the local governor stopped the work. The local government, the governor wouldn't even sell them any local products.

They were being hemmed in on all sides. And for 16 years, they had been hempered into work. Now that, you see, and all that's happened so far is that they have committed themselves to put God's interest first.

God Supplies What Is Needed for Obedient Work

Now, why don't you go to Ezra, sixth chapter, and see the shaking. Ezra, the sixth chapter. You'll see it fulfilled exactly to the letter. I got so happy reading this this afternoon. I was shouting in my study.

Well, you talk about God shaking things up. You see, Ezra is prophesying during the same time period. There were three prophets all sent by God to awaken his people, as was described in chapter seven.

I'm sorry, chapter six. Chapter six. And I want you to start reading with me at verse seven. Just follow me. I'm reading from King James. Beloved, up to this time, they've been worrying about the economy.

Where are we going to get the lumber? Where are we going to get all the things that we need? Where are we going to get it? Our neighbors won't even say hello to us. Our neighbors are cursing us. All right, verse seven.

Let the work of the house of God... Now, remember, this is coming from Darius the king. God had shaken up the kingdom, he said, just a little while, and this is what the shaking is. The first verse says, Darius the king made a decree, and you find they searched the rolls and they found the history, and here's the commandment that came forth.