Sunday, June 27, 2010

Not a Random Summer

6-27-10
Ezra/Haggai
Lesson 3a
Haggai

It never ceases to amaze me how God will send me the same message over and over through different venues. Many times our lesson will correlate directly to my quiet time material, or a friend's comment, or our Pastor's message. For the past few weeks, our lessons in Ezra and Haggai have tied into Pastor Brook's summer series, "Not a Random Summer." He has implored us to make active choices that this summer will be a major deciding crossroad for the rest of our lives. He has urged us to stop procrastinating and do the things we never take the time to do like: watch a sunrise and a sunset, walk through the grass barefooted, go on a picnic, etc. Today's message, once again, coincided with our lesson from Haggai, a prophecy written around 520BC during the time of Ezra and Zerubbabel. Haggai wrote five messages over a brief four months of time. He strongly instructs and exhorts a stagnate people to:

1. Consider your ways (self examine your focus in life)
2. Take courage and be strong to do the work
3. Do not fear, for God is with you

The leaders and remnant of Israel had started out well - they returned to their demolished city and laid the foundation for the temple and celebrated with great joy. Then it happened, the "ites" and the naysayers showed up, leaving them discouraged. The word used here for discourage actually means "their arms fell limp." Of course, then after this opposition, they got distracted with the details of their everyday lives - busy-ness and the concerns of the world became their focus. Yet, according to Haggai one, they were toiling in vain for God was causing the fruit of their labors to literally blow away in the wind as He brought drought and withheld the rain. God was trying to get their attention. They were living in nice paneled houses while God's house lie in desolation. They had contracted a bad case of the Deadly D's - disappointed, then discouraged, then distracted, then disillusioned, then delayed, then disobedient, and then despaired, as life seemed to be like being on a treadmill, busy but going nowhere!


In today's sermon, our Pastor instructed and exhorted us as well. His title was "Realize The Necessary" by:

1. You need some necessary endings
2. You need some necessary beginnings
3. You need some necessary breakthroughs

Let's look at how these steps relate to Israel's dilemma and to ours as well.

1. Israel needed to STOP being disobedient and realize that God was judging them so to get their attention. They needed to STOP having their focus on their own lives. They needed to STOP being fearful of the enemies of the land. They needed some "endings" in the summer of 520BC. (Haggai's messages were actually written over a four month period ranging from August to December of 520BC)

2. Israel needed to take some actions. They needed to gather the wood for the temple. They needed to take courage and do the work, They needed to become clean and holy, set apart from their sin BEFORE they lifted even one stone in the construction of the temple. Because unholiness spreads like leaven, and God would not allow an unclean and unholy people to do His work. They had to have a new beginning in 520 BC in order to have a restored temple in 516BC. Is not that what I Pastor told us this morning? Don't just let the summer of 2010 be an ordinary summer - let it be so life changing that you look back and say, "In the summer of 2010, I _______________ and my life has never been the same." We are ALL the temples of God, both individually and corporately as the body of Christ. What do we need to Stop or Start in order to complete this project? I suggest we do the same things Haggai and our Pastor exhorted and instructed us to do.

3. Israel needed a Breakthrough - not a breakdown. They had to look beyond the failures of the past. They had to look past the monotony of lifting each stone and nailing each nail. If you do not breakthrough and keep your eyes focused on the ultimate goal of restoration - you will have a breakdown!!!


Now, we have just briefly touched on the messages of Haggai, and I hope to complete Lesson three next Sunday for those of you they plan to share your July 4th with us. Here are a few things to ponder this week as we continue to "NOT HAVE A RANDOM SUMMER."

Take some time this week and

1. "Consider your ways." Is there anything you need to STOP?
2. "Take courage, be strong and do the work" Is there anything you need to START?
3. "Do not fear, God is with you." Rely on these truths so that you can BREAKTHROUGH and not Breakdown!

Whatever it is that God is stirring you heart to do, I pray these truths, both exhortations and instructions, will be as fruitful to you as they were to Israel when Haggai penned them long ago. I close with the Pastor's key verse:

"The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved." Jer. 8:20

In the Name of OUR SOVEREIGN AND GREAT GOD,

Monday, June 7, 2010

Hearing God's Yes When the World Screams No!

6-6-10
Ezra/Haggai
Lesson 2a
Ezra Ch. 4

What is God stirring your heart to do? You know it's Him, but you are scared, afraid of the response or rejection of others. Perhaps, you started the project, but because of opposition, you are now discouraged and wonder if you were ever suppose to do this at all? Yet, you have not completed the task, your hands have gone limp and your are discouraged just like the people of Israel were in Ezra chapter four as they tried to restore the temple. God had stirred their hearts, that was NOT the problem - the problem was the opposition they faced as they tried to follow the will of God. Listen, it's WAR out there and we need today's lesson more than ever. We have to learn how to hear God's YES when the world is screaming NO!

There were many applications from the lesson and I plan to get them to you in letter form in an upcoming lesson. But for now, I want to focus on the major truth we can apply to our lives. We have to learn how to move from fear to faith. In our Matthew study we saw that faith fixes fear, but how do we grow our faith? Well, our lesson shows us - by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. "For whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction, that through perseverance and encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope." (Romans 15:4) Have you ever been really down and discouraged and God sent messages to you throughout that day or week? Sometimes He will send me the same verse over and over; this reminds me that He is a God that is always with me, and like in says in Ezra 5:5 that "His eye is on me" just like it was on the elders of Israel. He sends me "Haggai's and Zechariah's" just like He did Israel. As a matter of fact, many of you have been used by God to bring me encouraging words many times; He uses you and perhaps you didn't even know that He was speaking through you!

God's Word is a sure Word and we can count on Him to do what He says. Our problem is that we wanted it yesterday - 20 years to re-build, is too long to wait! Perhaps it would not have taken as long if they had greater faith. So too, is our problem - FAITH. I don't know about you, but each week as I do my homework and study His Word, my faith grows. Then, we come together and corporately study, my faith grows more, and we are encouraged by the assembling of ourselves together. His Word and the fellowship with other believers is like a booster B-12 shot to my soul! I am renewed each Thursday - I am a better wife, mother, and friend because His Word has renewed my mind. This renewing grows my faith, as I not only drink in His truths, but I see that God has woven the tapestry of His covenant keeping ways throughout the Bible. I can count on Him - I can trust Him. The result - PEACE and confident Faith!

As I listened to the video, I was reminded of all of the nourishing verses we learned in some of the minor prophets. I went back and grabbed them from that letter and listed them below because they so relate to our lives as we face opposition from the enemy. I encourage you to pray these out loud over yours or some else's warfare and opposition:

When I reach a crossroad of distress in this life …

I will Remember…
The Lord is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble. And He knows those who take refuge in Him.
(Nahum 1:7)
The Lord is slow to anger, but great in power, but He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished.
(Nahum 1:3a)

What I will Do…
“But as for me, I will watch expectantly for the Lord, I will wait on the God of my salvation. My God will hear me. Do not rejoice over me, O my enemy. Though I fall, I will rise. Though I dwell in darkness, the Lord is a light to me. (Micah 7:7-8)
I will stand on my guard post. I will station myself on the rampart. And I will keep watch to see what He will speak to me. (Hab. 2:1)

Even though…
… the fig tree should not blossom.
And there be no fruit on the vine.
Though the yield of the olive should fail.
And the fields produce no food.
Though the flock be cut off from the fold,
And there be no cattle in the stalls.

Because I know
The righteous man will live by faith. (Hab. 2:4) not by sight. If it was seen it would not be faith –
because faith is the assurance of things hoped for and the conviction of things unseen. (Heb. 11:1)
And I know The Lord is in His Holy Temple ...(Hab. 2:20a)

Therefore ...
I will exult in the Lord.
I will rejoice in God of my salvation.
The Lord God is my strength.
And He has made my feet like hinds feet and has made me to walk on my high places.(Hab 3:17-19)
so…let all of the earth be silent before Him (Hab.2:20b)

So, what do I mean by hearing God's yes when the world is screaming no? In Romans 4:18, it says, "In hope, against hope, Abraham believed in order that he might become a father of many nations, according to that which had been spoken, "So shall your descendants be." In the next couple of verses it describes how he looked at his and Sarah's bodies - good as dead, but with respect to the promise of God, he did not waiver in unbelief, but grew strong in faith. Abraham's faith grew because he believed the promises of God rather that the screams of a world that would say NO WAY! The word here for hope literally means, in hope (God's yes) against hope (the world's no) to hear God's YES when the word screams No! Abraham knew that the world only saw the outer circumstances - they did not know that He had a promise keeping God. God promised Him that He would have a seed from whom ALL the nations of the earth would be blessed. The only problem was that it would be 25 years before it came about. Oh, if God would only beat to our drum? Maybe, we should learn to beat to His!

You know, the Christian's life is sort of like sitting in the middle of the LSU stadium - DEATH VALLEY (appropriately named) and trying to hear God's whispering YES while almost 100,000 are screaming NO! Now, listen closely for His stirring your heart, and perhaps His whisper of YES. You can do this! Why? Because He said you could - He keeps His promises! YOU ARE NOT TIGER BAIT! Arise, and do the work, and do it by faith!


In the Name of OUR GREAT GOD,