So What?

8-1-10
Ezra 9-10
Lesson 5a
"So What?"

One summer, I took a few college courses to try to get a some of the general type of classes out of the way. One of those was a general history course with an older professor. I was dreading it because I had never enjoyed history, and I found it to be boring and useless to my everyday or future life. On the first day of class, the professor walked into the room and said, "So what?" He told us a story about one of his history course final exams where his professor walked into the room and up to the board and wrote those two words, "So what?" As he gave us his introduction to the course, he interjected great moments of history and then would say, "So what?" He then would explain what we as a nation had learned from our past and quoted this phrase:

"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." by George Santayana

How true this statement is as I have matured and learned the importance of not only studying history out of the textbook, but God's story out of His book - the Holy Scriptures. So, with that said, I propose that to you, as well, "So what?"

So what - there were 3 sieges on Jerusalem from 605 to 586 BC
So what - there were 3 returns to Jerusalem between 536 to 445 BC
So what - it took them 20 years to rebuild the temple, though they only worked on it for six of those years
So what - they stopped for 14 years because of opposition, fear, lack of focus, self-absorbed with life
So what - Ezra set his heart to study the law and to practice and teach it
So what - Ezra respected the pagan authority over him, but was also able to do the will of God
So what - Ezra fasted and prayed before he set out on the 2nd return home
So what - God is sovereign over the hearts of pagan kings and also believers
So what - God was grieved when Israel had taken foreign pagan wives

I could go on and on, but if you cannot take these "so what" statements off the pages of both history and scripture into your life, I can assure you, you are doomed to repeat the past. And here lies the difference between the believer and the non-believer's heart, "I sin. I sin all I want to. I don't want to." by Adrian Rogers

As we hunger for spiritual food from the pages of His Word, we must take it from the page to the pavement of our lives. People do not care that you know all of those "so what" statements I wrote above. But... they do care when you can sit down with them, giving them hope of how they can re-build their temples. They do care when you can counsel them on the dangers of marrying a non-believer. They do listen when you can give them hope that God is in control of even their un-believing boss. Again, I could go on and on, but do you get the point? Can you say "so what" and answer that "so what" into your daily life and the lives of those around you? THIS IS THE PURPOSE OF BIBLE STUDY - TRANSFORMED LIVES! TRANSFORMATION NOT INFORMATION!

I was laughing when I got home yesterday about my "senior" moment about the Rahab and Ruth connection as in-laws. Does it matter that you now know they were mother and daughter in-law OR is it more important that you know that the Bible is filled with dysfunctional families, and that the lineage of Christ had not only contains gentile blood, but also a reformed harlot and a banned Moabite? God's grace is greater than all our sin; we need to understand that our knowledge of God's big story, His-story, is truly what will guide us to NOT repeat the sins of our past.

So, as we sturdy this wonderful historical narrative, we must always step back and ask ourselves - "So what?" What does this mean to me? How do I apply these truths about God and His ways to my life? Am I holy? Do I need to put way some foreign things from my life? Do I Respond or React when I am first confronted with disappointments in others? Have I "turned any sinners? toward or away from God? I have been changed by the knowledge and truth of His Word?" "So what?"

In the Name of our Lord of Hosts – the Sovereign Lord over all,

He Died to Make Men Holy

7-4-10
Ezra/Haggai
Lesson 3b
Haggai

"He Died to Make Men Holy"

Today's class met on July 4th, 2010 - some two hundred and thirty four years after the signing of the Declaration of Independence of this great nation. Freedom came to us all and continues to come at a cost. It has many times been said freedom never comes cheap. We, as Americans, can do and say the things we do because many others shed their blood on our behalf. Let's talk about another type of freedom - the freedom from eternal death because of our sins. That freedom was costly as well, but it would not and could not be paid by mortal men, but by the blood of our precious Savior, Jesus Christ.

As I sat in the pew of my home church, listening to the Battle Hymn of the Republic, that precious verse was sung: "He died to make men holy, let us live to make men free." Tears whelped up into my eyes as I truly reflected on the cost of freedom, both my national and my heavenly. Since Jesus has paid the cost of my freedom from the slavery of sin and death, I can truly live to make men free. I can lead them to the same Redeemer I encountered years ago - to the same Mount Calvary we must all go to if we are truly to be set free.

He died to make men holy - set apart. So too, in our lesson from Haggai, God speaks clearly to the people to consider their ways. He exhorted them to examine their lives and the focus there of, to become holy and clean before even one stone of the temple is put into place. Jesus died to make us HOLY not HAPPY! We must examine our own temples and do the work to restore the very dwelling place of our Lord. Yet, if we are to follow the instructions of Haggai, we should drop to our knees, confessing before our God any hurtful way in us. Don't even lift one stone of repair before we have set ourselves apart!

The word tabernacle means, to dwell. God wants to dwell with YOU! Yet, He is holy, and He desires for your heart to be holy as He is holy. Your body, His tabernacle, is His dwelling place, and if it needs some re-building, the writings of Ezra and Haggai are extremely beneficial to guide us toward that restoration. Here is a list of applications from the writing of Haggai which came in 520BC to a people who had STOPPED the repair of the temple for fourteen years. Have you stopped the work? Prayerfully read the list below and ask God to reveal to you any areas that need some repair.

Life Lessons from Haggai

1. When “droughts” come in my life – stop and remember two things:

a. God is sovereign over whatever the “drought” is and has you and the situation in His hands

b. Consider your ways = set your heart upon God’s Glory –Then confess it before Him

2. Am I a procrastinator? When God stirs the heart of His children, He is calling them to DO something. Like the story of Jonah, don’t make God ask you a second time to do the task

3. Am I a quitter when opposition comes? Do I use opposition as my excuse perhaps saying God has closed the door? [Opposition may mean that we doing something RIGHT... in God’s will]..

4. Am I too busy with my own personal life and all its comforts to respond to God’s stirring of my heart? The remnant of Israel was “paneling” their own houses while God’s house was desolate.

5. God is a “with us” God = Immanuel. Two times in Haggai He reminds them saying, “I am with you.” Remember when He stirred Moses to deliver His people, and Moses was more concerned about opposition, and what the people would say and who he was to respond to the task? How did God deal with Moses? He reminded Him that: 1.He was God and 2.That He would be with Him, and 3.To tell them that Yahweh had sent him, and 4.He would equip him to do the job. In other words, IT IS NOT ABOUT US!

6. God is sovereign, but we are responsible to do the work. God stirred them to not fear and to rise up and do the work. David had to go down to the river and gather the stones and had to sling one of them in the name of the Living God. God parts the sea, but we have to be willing to walk through it!

7. Beware of temple comparisons. Sometimes, we like to live in the “glory” days and never move forward. We need to know that God is going to do something new among us. We need to know and remember that the latter glory will be greater that the former.

8. Do not fear. Take courage or be strong and do the work.

9. Better days are ahead – there is always hope in Christ and the future. His Holy Spirit is within us! He is not only WITH us, but He is IN US! SO……restore and rebuild your temple!

10. Obedience brings blessing! From Genesis to Revelation, we see this over and over! To obey is better than sacrifice.

11. Hanging out with holy people will no more make me holy than being ill and hanging out with healthy people will make me well!

12. BUT – when the well hang out with the ill – they will become sick. Uncleanliness and sin spreads like leaven within the bread. Be set apart, holy unto the Lord. Live in the world, but not of the world.

13. God is a promise keeper. He kept His promises to Israel and will keep His promises to us as well. He promised that the Lamp of David would never go out. Zerubbabel was placed in the lineage of Jesus Christ; though he never sat on the throne as a king, he is in the lineage of a King – King Jesus!

14. God’s plans will NOT be thwarted. He is sovereign over kings and kingdoms – over peoples and nations – over life and death – over the rain and the drought...and finishes his building projects right on time (70 years from it’s destruction)

15. Remember that opposition can bring discouragement. Comparing “temples” also brings discouragement.

16. Why did God want them to rebuild the temple? Because He wants to “tabernacle or dwell” with us! From Genesis 3, the story is all about a holy God who calls to Himself an unholy people. He provided atonement with death and blood, and He provided our atonement with the death and blood of Christ. He wants to tabernacle with you! His Spirit dwells within your body, His temple, when you invite Him to reside there and become Lord of your life. Have you done this? Maybe He is stirring your heart to become His child and rebuild your temple for His occupation.

17. Finally, Haggai boils down to two exhortations:

a. Consider your ways (Re-set your priorities, passions)

b. Take courage and be strong ...in order to FINISH the WORK that GLORIFIES HIM!


Those who know their God will display strength and take action! Daniel 11:32b



In the Name of OUR SOVEREIGN AND GREAT GOD,

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,