FBC Morning Light – December 10, 2022

Good Saturday morning, people of faith. We're in the book of Haggai this morning, and a little bit of background here. Haggai is one of the last books written in the Old Testament, and it is written after the Babylonian exile while the remnant of Israel is back in the land.

And what's going on here is people are taking care of their homes and doing quite well with taking care of their homes, and they have neglected the rebuilding of the temple. And that temple they had started to rebuild and stopped, and they just haven't restarted it yet.

Neglecting the Temple and the Call to Consider Your Ways

And so I'm going to read in chapter 1 of the book of Haggai, starting in verse 3. Then the word of the Lord came to Haggai the prophet, saying, Is it time for yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses, and this temple to lie in ruins?

Now therefore, thus says the Lord of hosts, Consider your ways. You have sown much, and bring in little. You eat, but do not have enough. You drink, but you are not filled with drink. You clothe yourselves, but no one is warm.

And he who earns wages, earns wages to put it into a bag with holes. Thus says the Lord of hosts, Consider your ways. Go up to the mountains, and bring wood, and build the temple, that I may take pleasure in it and be glorified.

This passage here, particularly verse 6, when it says, You have sown much, and bring in little, certainly reminds me of what Pastor has been preaching on these last several Sundays, and we'll continue this tomorrow, in the fruitful life.

The lives that these Israelites were living, that the Jews were living here, was a life of self-focus. They were taking care of their own needs, and neglecting the things of the Lord. And let me say this, fruitfulness is never found, never found, in self-focused living.

The People's Obedience and the Lord Stirring Their Hearts

And that's where these people were at. Well, they did respond, and they responded in a very positive way, unlike many of their predecessors, which is why they went into exile. Let me read verses 12 through 15 of chapter 1.

It says, Then Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, and Joshua the son of Jehoshadak, the high priest, with all the remnant of the people, obeyed the voice of the Lord their God, and the words of Haggai the prophet, as the Lord their God had sent him, and the people feared the presence of the Lord.

Then Haggai, the Lord's messenger, spoke the Lord's message to the people, saying, I am with you, says the Lord. So the Lord stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua, the son of Jehoshadak, the high priest, and the spirit of all the remnant of the people, and they came and worked on the house of the Lord of hosts, their God, on the 24th day of the sixth month in the second year of King Darius.

Notice here that as they heard the word, the Lord stirred the hearts of the leadership.

Of the people.

And hopefully this is true of us, that the Lord, as we hear the word preached on Sunday and we spend time in the word, that the Lord stirs our hearts and we respond as a result of what the Lord has done and will continue to do in us.

Let us ponder this today as we think of things and ways we can let the Lord stir our hearts today. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, thank you so much for your word. Thank you that we are able to hear your word, to preach your word, to respond to your word.

Let us be a people today that responds to your word. As we look forward to meeting together tomorrow in fellowship with one another on the Lord's day to hear your word preached, may you be glorified in us and through us.

It's in your son's name, Jesus, we pray, amen. At this time, normally I say have an excellent day, people of faith, but I'm not ready to say that yet. I'm going to give you a little bit of a riddle based on the second part of the reading from the book of Proverbs in chapter 30.

The Riddle from Proverbs 30

So I'm going to give you a riddle, and if you think you have an answer to it and you're watching on YouTube, please put that answer in the response below the video. I am not alive, but I grow. I don't have lungs, but I need air.

I don't have a mouth, but water kills me. What am I? The answer to that question is found in our reading from Proverbs chapter 30. Have an excellent day, people of faith.