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Empowering multimedia ministry for bold Christian living: Weekend Messages, Deep End Podcast, Deep Dive Bible Study. Tim Hatch, Lead Pastor, Waters Church, 26 years of pastoral ministry, book author.
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0:00 You are listening to Waters Church podcast. Waters Church is a multisite, multigeneration community of faith on the East Coast of America. Now for a message from our pastor.0:36 This is the time. Somebody say it again. This is the time. This the time. We just read from Haggai, and some of you are like, I didn't even know that was a book in the Bible. That's okay. You came to the right0:48 church. Haggai is 1 of 3 prophets who ministered or spoke to God's people, ancient people Israel, when they had come back into the land1:00 of Israel where they are now where they are now in 5 30 BC.1:12 Everybody's throwing out that that date, 19 48. They are ignorant of history. They've been there for 3500 years.1:24 They've been punished a couple times because they didn't obey the Lord, but he's always brought them back. And let me just tell you, for all of those who think there's any other outcome of what's1:36 going on there right now, they're gonna stay there. And they're gonna stay there until their son and our savior1:48 comes back. And they're gonna turn their hearts back to him, and the end is coming. That's how it's going down. And all of2:00 this war and all this all these these university presidents who are just exposing the educational filth in our2:11 system of educate in this country, there's all this clamor, all this back and forth, you know what it's all about? It's about the fact that God's word is sure.2:22 That's their land, like it or not. God said it, God redeemed it, God has a purpose for it, and by the way, Jesus Christ is not coming to Washington2:34 DC, he's coming back to the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem, and he will rule and reign on this earth. You gotta get your bible right and not listen to secular historians.2:46 So how did I get on that? Because Haggai is talking to people who came back from exile after 70 years, 77 decades. They were in exile to Babylon.2:58 Why? Because they disobeyed the Lord. So God said, okay, you won't you won't do right by me. It's time to punish you. And like a good father, he punishes his children and he sent them off into exile.3:10 Babylon destroyed their temple, murdered, executed, every son of their king and then gouged out his eyes and threw him in a prison.3:22 This was led by a guy named Nebuchadnezzar, a very famous bible character, and, hauled off their young best and brightest to be reindoctrinated, reeducated into the Babylonian mindset. 3 4 of3:34 those guys you know, Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego. And, so 70 years goes by, and they come back. And there's they come back by a miracle. Here's the thing about Israel. You need to understand something. They're a3:43 miracle. In the ancient world, when a people were conquered by another people, you never heard about those people again. Okay. You never heard about them. Like, has anybody ever has anybody3:55 ever met a Hittite? Has anybody ever met an Edomite? Has anybody ever met a Philistine? No. But you've met a Jew, haven't4:07 you? You've met an Israelite. It's a miracle. They were conquered. They were conquered by a foreign emperor empire and wiped4:19 out. And normal human history demands that we never hear of them again. But God got involved because they're his people. And this applies to4:31 the church because we are adopted. We are grafted into the vine of Israel. Their blessing in Christ Jesus is now our blessing. You gotta understand this. Okay? That's why it's4:43 important for Christians to get their history right. So God raises up a a king. So Babylon takes them captive. Babylon is Babylon is conquered by the Persians, and the Persians are4:54 conquered by the Medes. All this happens while Israel is out of the land. And then there's this there's this king named Cyrus. Cyrus the Great, who who says, I think I'm going to let the Jews go back5:06 home and rebuild their temple. Things like this does did not happen in the ancient world. How does a pagan king show mercy to a conquered people5:18 that should be wiped out. You know how? Because my Bible tells me that the king's heart is in the hand of the Lord. It doesn't matter who's in the White House. It doesn't matter who's in the state5:29 house. The heart of the leader is in the hand of the Lord, and he can speak through a Republican and a Democrat, a Conservative and a Liberal, and he can speak to their heart on the behalf of his people. So5:41 Cyrus says, just go. It was the great edict of Cyrus, and they went back and they started to build the temple. And the scripture says this in Ezra. This all happens in Ezra, by the way, and if anybody wants to read more5:51 about it. But here's what happened. They go back, they say, we've gotta build the temple again because the temple was destroyed. Ezra chapter 3 verse 10. It says, when the builders laid the foundation of the temple5:59 What's the foundation? That's just the beginning of any building project, the foundation. It says, when they laid the foundation, the priests in their vestments came forward with trumpets and the Levites, the son of6:08 Asaph with symbols to praise the Lord according to the directions of David, king of Israel, and they sang responsibly praising and giving thanks to the Lord. And they sang responsibly. When we sing, we're responding to6:18 God. That's important. And then it says, they said, for he is good, his steadfast love endures forever. They laid the foundation. They got the building project started, and the people sang. They they gave6:29 joyfully. They worked joyfully. And then look at this next verse, and all the people what? Shouted. And when you say shouted, you gotta say it like it's what it is. Shouted.6:41 Shouted. There you go. Yeah. They shouted with a great shout. How many know it's not it's not a sin to shout? Depends on what you're shouting about.6:53 My God likes a good shout. I mean, my word. You shout for the Patriots, you shout for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, You shout for the Red Sox. You shout for the Rays. How about we shout for7:05 Jesus? Yeah. Oh, I like that. Okay. They shout with a great shout. They praise the Lord because of oh, because just the start, the foundation of the7:17 house of the Lord was like, in other words, the project just got started and they were already shouting. You gotta learn how to shout when you're just getting started. Oh, you say, I just got7:28 saved last week, shout. Something beautiful just started in your life. You just got married last week. Shout to God. I think the more you shout to God, the less you'll shout at each other. Come on somebody. You7:40 just had a baby. Learn to shout to God. Some of you got a prodigal son, a prodigal daughter. They're not walking with the Lord right now. Are you shouting to God and believing that there's gonna be a new day? A7:51 repentance coming to their hearts. So they got started with a bunch of excitement. But like every other person knows and I know and you know that you might be starting at the8:03 beginning of a project, but eventually it just gets kinda old. You pick up the new hobby and you're excited and you're thinking about it and planning, and then it just gets old, and then it becomes more work8:15 than hobby. You know what I'm talking about? Or you buy a new house, you buy your first house, you're like, wow. I'm gonna put curtains here. I'm gonna put our furniture there. I'm gonna get this carpet lifted up. I'm8:25 gonna put new carpet there. We're gonna redo the you start, and then you're like, after, you know, after 10 years, you're like, I hate this house, but you but you were shouting when God gave you the house.8:37 Right? You get married. Come on. And, you know, at the reception, you guys are twisting and shouting. Whoo. We are gonna have a great week in Cabo,8:49 baby. Amen. Then you come back from Cabo and you pump out about 3 kids, and 13 years later, you're like, I hate you. That's that's how everything9:01 goes, by the way. There's an initial burst of enthusiasm about a project, and then eventually, just you kinda settle into the mundane. That's what happened to Israel. Take out your notes so I I know you're9:13 getting what we're talking about today. They they lost their luster. They lost their passion for God's work in their life. The temple9:25 was God's work. Right? And Haggai saw it, and he called them out on it. And here's what he says in verse 2. We we just read it. He says, thus says the Lord of hosts, these9:36 people say the time has not yet come to rebuild the house of the lord. What happened? They they they faced 3 problems, and I I think we faced these 3 problems in our9:48 day. So I'm gonna do a lot of contextual transformation information transmission to you just so you know the context of these words. Okay? So the first thing that they faced, write this10:00 down, they faced political headwinds. They faced are we facing political headwinds, church? Oh, yes. Oh, yes. You know, all these free speech or10:12 anti free speech people right now on elite college campuses, guess where they're gonna be in 10 years? Presidents of companies, legislatures, con you don't see it, but I see it. I see them10:23 going into and laws are going to eventually get passed where it might become a crime to do what I'm doing right now. Political headwind. We we might be we we we could give in to fear like the Israelites because that's10:35 what happened. They came back to the land because Cyrus said, build the temple, and they laid the foundation. Well, guess what happened? Guess what happened? Life happened. Cyrus died in battle.10:47 2 years in, he's dead. He's gone. The king that they had, the favor from that king, gone. His replacement was an antisemitic king. Hated the Jews.10:59 Wrote another edict, undead. Executive orders, undead. What Cyrus said, so they had to stop because the law was no more building your temple. Political headwinds. By the11:11 way, let me just give you a principle for life. Everybody listen to me. I'm gonna do you a favor right now. As soon as you start something for God, expect the devil's best punch to smack you in the face the11:23 next day. You gotta learn to expect it. Because I've seen too many Christians, they start, oh, I'm so excited. I'm so excited.11:35 Woah. Woah. Woah. Maybe I should just dial it back a little bit. Or you start the small group leadership and pop. Or or you start going to church regularly. Or you get baptized as, and and the devil's just11:47 he's got his best right hook, bam, ready for you whenever you take your first step to serving God in whatever it is. Starting a business, I think, is a godly thing.12:00 I want our church people. I want you guys Listen to me. Some of you need to start a business. You've been thinking about it, praying about it, talking about it, mulling it over. It's time to do it. But as soon as you do12:10 it, watch the right hook. Bam. The devil's gonna come and say, no, no, not so fast. And you gotta learn to Mike Tyson that sucker. Pre 19 90 Mike Tyson, you12:22 know what I'm talking about? Pay per view show was 30 seconds long Mike Tyson. How many remember that? And you gotta, like, just right hook from the devil and you just uppercut. In Jesus' name, I'm gonna do12:33 this. Don't let the initial pushback set you back. That's what Israel did. The king came in, said shut it down. They shut it down, and and they12:45 they should've when 2 kings later, after Cyrus' replacement said, no. 2 kings later, the guy said, go ahead and build again, and they just they didn't.12:58 What happened? They let the punch knock them out. Second, they faced personal attacks from their own. Something else that you have got to learn to13:10 expect, Christian, if you're going to serve the Lord. So there was a group of Jews that were already back in the land. In fact, they almost never left the land. Okay?13:22 And and, let let me give you, again, contextual history. So the people of Israel reached their zenith under a guy named Solomon. Solomon has a son named Rehoboam. Rehoboam is a young punk who doesn't listen to anybody.13:34 He divides the kingdom into 2, and 10 tribes in the north align with a guy named Jeroboam. And Rehoboam has 2 tribes in the south, Judah and Benjamin.13:47 So the the kingdom is divided, north and south. Well, 100 years before the southern kingdom was dominated by Nebuchadnezzar, the Babylonians, the northern kingdom was dominated by the Assyrians, Sennacherub, in 100 years13:58 earlier, and they were taken captive. And then what the Bible says that the king of Assyria repopulated the land. That's what ancient kingdoms did, repopulate the land with foreigners so we can wipe this nation off the14:10 face of the earth. So he does that. Well, the Bible says this in second Kings. It says that lions came and started to eat the people in the land. And the king of Assyria was told this, and they said, we don't14:22 know what to do because the lions won't stop attacking people. He said, alright. It must be that the god of that land is angry with us, so let's go find some Jews that we just took out of the land, bring them back into14:32 the land so they can teach the people how to worship their god properly, and these lions will go away. So they do. They bring some Israelite leaders back in to the land and but they aren't faithful to14:44 the Lord. And so they start to intermarry with the pagans in the land. And what happens is they produce this is all in the Bible. They produce a half breed Jewish race,14:56 and their capital city is called Samaria. And when you get to the New Testament, these people are the Samaritans.15:08 That's where they come from. You are are is this starting to put some stuff together for you about the bible? Okay. So they were half Jewish, half Israelite, half pagan. Well, when the when the Judahites in the15:20 south came back under Cyrus's edict, the half hearted, half in, half out Jews to the north started to attack the15:32 Jews in the south. Understand something. This is a principle for every Christian. Listen to me. Your greatest enemy is not the devil. Your greatest15:44 enemy is not pagans and not non believers. Your greatest enemy The greatest threat to your spiritual growth is not an atheist. The greatest threat to your spiritual growth is a half hearted Christian.15:58 Watch out when you get involved with Christians who are half in the church and half in the world. They got 1 foot in, they got 1 foot out. They play with Jesus on Sunday and they sleep with the world on Monday.16:10 You gotta watch out for these people. They will tear down your spiritual life. They will pull you back into old ways. They'll get you tied up in all kinds of worry and anxiety and fears and depression, and they don't16:20 have a heart for God because they've never fully surrendered their life to him. God is looking for some people who will run-in the way of his commandments, who will shed their skin, shed their weight, shed their16:32 sin, and run after Jesus and not turn back and not partner with half hearted Christians and go all the way with the Lord. I'm telling you, I have16:43 met these people my whole life. They don't tithe, they don't serve, but man, can they complain. Oh, the church should do this. Oh, the church should do16:55 that. I was offended when you talked about that. So? You understand that if you get offended because we're talking about money and you leave because you don't wanna give, you understand17:07 that we actually don't lose anything in that equation. Right? You you do understand this. I'm not talking just about finances. I'm talking about spirits because the the the the lord said, where17:19 your treasure is, there your heart is. If your treasure is not in the house, your heart's not in the house. The people who will tear your faith down faster than any atheist or agnostic17:31 is a half hearted Christian. And that's exactly what they faced. The Samaritans do you know that the Bible tells us in Ezra that the Samaritans reported the Jews to the17:43 authorities when they started to build the temple? Do you know that? They went to pagan authorities and tattletailed on their brothers. I was17:55 ministering in this church. I've been the pastor for 20 years in this church, and I remember during COVID when all the mask stuff was happening. And, we said on the outside, wear your mask.18:07 But on the inside, I was like, nah. And we didn't police it, and we didn't enforce it, and because because we had brains that didn't fall out during COVID. That's18:19 why. I mean, come on. You don't breathe in the same breath that your body has been programmed to breathe out. But, evidently,18:31 people with doctorate degrees at antisemitic universities thought otherwise. So I had to stand for truth, and I said, no. You don't have to worry about your mask. Do you know what happened?18:43 Some of you don't remember this. We got tattletailed on by people in our own church. They went to the board of health and tattleted. We got 6 calls from the board of health. I got complaints from people saying, you're18:53 not wearing enough masks. That actually happened in this church. So I got up on this stage on the first Tuesday, and I said, listen to me, anybody who's calling the board of health. Let me tell you something. It's an old19:03 saying of mine, snitches get stitches. Alright. So the call stopped19:15 and everything was all set. History proved me right. Amen. Half hearted Christians are the greatest threat19:26 to the mission of Jesus on this planet. They are. Give me some Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego people who will say we will not bow.19:39 I don't care what law you pass. I don't care what mandate comes down. I don't care what the CDC says. I don't care what the governor says. If you tell me to break the laws of God, I'm going with the laws of God. God will19:50 bless you. I'm telling you. But watch out that it doesn't cause you to slip back. And then the third thing that they faced, listen, write this down, they grew accustomed to the ruins. So because the temple was in ruins20:00 and it had been in ruins for 70 years, and they just laid the foundation, but there was blocks, there was weeds growing up, and there was, you know, maybe stray animals and maybe stray dogs just sleeping in the ruins.20:10 And and and so they they the the Bible says that they laid the foundation. I didn't read this passage to you in Ezra, but it says that they also put the altar there. So they had an altar, a foundation, and a bunch of20:19 rocks just randomly strewn about from what the Babylonians did to the temple in 5 86 BC. And so what hap they still came. They still offered their sacrifice amongst the ruins, and what happened was they just got20:31 used to it. They just got used to it. Watch out in your life, please, of the just get used to it mindset.20:44 Some some of you are in a marriage that's full of animosity and hate, and you're very close to just getting used to it. Or or or you're you're in a business where they're just causing to start20:56 to, you know, cheat God and do some questionable activities, you said, I I gotta stay here because I gotta pay my and you're just gonna get used to it. Watch out for the just get used to it mindset. And21:07 and I I read this commentary on this verse, and it just and I never share direct quotes from commentaries, but this 1 just was so powerful. My 1 of my favorite preachers from last century, he's dead now, but21:19 his name was James Montgomery Boyce, and he was, the pastor of tenth Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Here's what he wrote about this this text. It says, when the work ceased, the people turned to21:29 private affairs and gradually became listen to this, used to worshiping among the ruins of the once great temple. I wonder who's used to it right now. I21:41 you ever go to a church in New England, especially in New England, and maybe too in Florida? No. Actually, it's everywhere. And the people just got used to it. There was no life. You21:53 you ever have this experience? I've had it. You walk into you walk into an old church, and it's like walking through a time warp. Time travel is possible. Just go to 1 of these old churches where vision22:05 died 50 years ago, and they still got the same carpet, the same curtains, the same chairs, and the same smell. And you just say, well, this is why Christianity is dying in America because somebody stopped22:17 caring about the kingdom of God. And they got busy with their own business, and they got busy with their own endeavors, and they got busy with their own homes, and they started to put more money into those things. They22:27 started to put more money into sports. They started to put more money into their kids' college fund than into the kingdom of God, and the church just got used to the ruins.22:39 I said on first Tuesday, and I wanna say it again, if I ever stop asking you for money to build more churches, fire me. We're gonna continue to go forward. We're gonna continue to believe God for more. We're never gonna22:49 stop. We're never gonna have it. We're never gonna stop pursuing God's vision for our church to grow and expand. Never ever ever. I believe that without vision, the people perish, the Bible says. We gotta have a vision23:00 for where we're going, and we're not gonna stop. Because I do not wanna get used to this. I do not wanna get used to where we are as a church. I want us to get full go forward and run the race marked out for23:11 us. Amen. We got greater things than we've ever seen happen ahead of us than we've ever seen in our past. Some of you have gotten used to, your children being rebellious. You've23:23 gotten used to that. Some of you have gotten used to spiritual lethargy, spiritual apathy, and church and church is just something that you do on Sunday, and and that's it. That's it. Just come, and you just punch the23:34 clock, and then you're gone. And you've gotten used to that, and there's no movement, and there's no blessing because it's just routine. That's a ruinous lifestyle. Some of you have gotten used to and this is what's23:45 happening in America. This is America's problem. We've gotten used to our cities becoming homeless encampments. I mean, except when president Xi visits from China, then we clean it up. But then right after he's gone, we23:57 put it all back. And that should tell you a lot about the leaders of our country right now, where their hearts really are. They're not for you. They're not for you. Therefore, foreign24:08 money and foreign dignity is unbelief. It's shocking to me. Shocking. And, you know who's weeping? God. God's weeping because the leaders of a country are also considered the shepherds of the country in the Bible,24:21 and their job is to protect and build and bless the people. And when they don't and they start having hearts for foreign affairs, that's what that's what, the kings of Israel had. They had hearts for Assyria. They had24:32 hearts for Egypt. They had hearts for foreign dignitaries and their approval, and they neglected to care for the people, and God judged them for it. And we're getting used to, in this country, tent cities in our biggest24:42 cities, glorious cities that we we used to have in this country. Now they're homeless in Camden. It's all up and down the the streets of those cities. You know what's happening? We're getting used to it. That's the24:50 saddest part. We're getting used to it. And and when I see these things happen, I see the judgment of God, but I also see an opportunity for the church. This is an opportunity for the church to say, no, wait a second.24:58 We're gonna tell people about Jesus. We're gonna get louder. We're gonna get stronger. We're gonna get bolder. We're gonna gonna tell more people about Jesus because the hope of this country is not in Washington or not25:06 in Beacon Hill and not in Tallahassee. The hope of this country is in the gospel of Jesus Christ. That's the hope. That's the hope. They just got used to it. I don't wanna get used to what we got. I don't wanna get used25:18 to it in my life. Some of you, that's where you are spiritually. You're just used to it. It's time to do something new. It's time to kick start your your your heart, kinda kick start your faith, and do something that25:26 you've never done before. Step out in faith. The result of these 3 oppositions, what did I say what they were? Number 1, political headwinds, personal attacks, and accustomed to the ruins. Here's the result. Right? Look25:38 at this. It's on the screen. You have to write this down. For 16 years, they let the political situation, personal attacks, and comfort of what they knew stop them from rebuilding. And they said to themselves, now is not25:45 the time. Now is not the time. Okay. Write this down. The world, the flesh, and the devil all want God's people to say, now is not the time. When it comes to building the kingdom,25:57 when it comes to starting this school, the world, the flesh, and the devil all want you. When it comes to you getting your, your family in church, getting your family dedicated to the church, dedicated to God's26:09 kingdom, don't you understand that the devil will always tell you, just wait. I think that's those are his 2 favorite words for every Christian that's listening to right now. Just wait.26:21 Just wait. You can do that later. Do it later. Do it later. And enough. Enough waiting. Do it. Start. Do something. This is this is what Haggai tells the people in verse26:33 7. He says, thus says the lord of hosts, consider your ways. Underline consider your ways. And the reason why I want you to underline that is so is so important. Because what Haggai is saying is the ball's in your court.26:46 Consider your ways. Do something different. Go up. Somebody say go up. Go up. You gotta climb. Somebody's somebody's gotta climb some mountains that are in front of you.26:59 You've been waiting for somebody else to take the mountain outside, to take the money mountain out for you. You've been waiting for somebody to install 1 of those cable pulley systems to pull you up, so just you can ride27:09 up the mountain. That's not the life of faith. We gotta climb some mountains. We gotta dig our heels in. I I fear that some of you have lost your will to fight in the spiritual realm. We wrestle not27:21 against flesh and blood, but against the powers and principalities and spiritual powers of wickedness in the heavenly realms. There's a war going on. Don't lose your fight. Don't lose your will to to fight back against27:32 the devil that's coming for you and your family. You gotta climb up that mountain. You gotta get some wood. You gotta pull it down. I I used to cut down trees. I I love it, by the way. A chainsaw,27:43 do the whole thing, bring it home, chop it. You know, it was an awesome time. Great. I loved you. I used to love doing it, but it's work. It's effort. So you gotta put some effort27:55 in, and then he says, build the house. That's what today is about. We're building the house. See, and and and and it the the 2 words, just wait. Just wait. The other side, just wait. Just28:07 wait. Some of you family family friends, just wait. Don't go too far. Don't go too just give it some time. Wait. Wait. Wait. No. No more wait. No more wait. Start. Write this down. The key to life with God is just get28:17 started. I have found that out in my own life. Many, many years ago, when we were just 1 location here in North Ottebro, Massachusetts, we had 2 services on a Sunday. The first service28:28 was packed. The second service was half full. And we just felt that God said to our hearts, start a Saturday night worship service. And I was mentally28:41 calculating this. I said, well, we don't have 2 full services on Sunday. And the devil came and said, yeah, that's right. Just wait. Just wait until 2 services are full. Just wait. And I I simply I just said to say, no.28:51 We're just gonna do it. So we started a Saturday night service. Do you know that within 6 months of starting a third service, both services on Sunday were jam packed full. Then the29:03 Saturday was full. Then some of you remember this from our history. We had to add a fourth service, and all 4 services are full. We had to add a fifth service, and all 5 services. Not all of them, but most of them were29:13 full. And then God, through that time, gave us the capacity to start this project building where we are right now, 100000 square foot building in Massachusetts29:24 between the most secular cities in our country. And here we are, Christians born again, the crazy charismatic freaks telling people about Jesus in a place where most people think we're29:36 nuts, and that God is growing us and sending us to this to the nation. You gotta start. Somebody just touch your name and just say start. Start. Go29:47 back to college. Go back to school. Get the business started. A file for the, you know, DBA. Do something. Have the baby. Well, get married29:59 first. Then have the baby or get married or get engaged. Sir, I don't understand this. We're just gonna try it out. We're gonna play house. We're gonna live together for 5 years, see if it works.30:11 Hello? That won't work because God does not bless those things. Get married. Commit to each other for better30:23 or for worse. Do it God's way, not the world's way, God's way. And then have a baby for heaven's sakes. Have a baby. Repopulate the earth. Outbreed the pagans. Let's go.30:39 Really? I mean, just start. Some of you, 2024, it's gonna be the year that you read through the bible front front to back. Start. Get30:50 started. And and you say, well, if I start, I got so long ago. But this is what the Bible says in Zechariah chapter 4 verse 10. I love this verse. This is a life verse for me. It says, do not despise these small31:01 beginnings. And then why? The Lord rejoices to see the work begin. What's the synonym for begin? Start. Start. The Lord31:13 rejoices to see you start. That means that's how I've always lived my life. There's another verse. There's another life verse in Ecclesiastes 11 verse 4. We don't have it on the screen. But the message translation says,31:25 that if you wait for perfect conditions, you'll never get anything done. Perfect conditions don't exist. And all the people who are listening to me say, I just wanna wait until I'm 100 percent. You will be waiting31:37 forever. You can't wait for 100 percent. You're lucky if you get 73 percent. I know I wanna be 100 percent sure. Are you crazy?31:49 There's no such thing. You could die tomorrow. You could have a car accident, you could lose the, you know, the use of your limbs tomorrow. I don't know. I don't want that to happen, but you don't know what tomorrow.31:59 Start something. Get involved in something. Give to really big things starting now if you haven't planned to. Start. Some of you, challenged you last week, tithing, about32:11 tithing, 1 tenth. You don't think it's it's possible. God has blessed my life amazingly because of that thing. I I'm telling you, start. Start. And you have my permission. If God doesn't bless you, stop. But32:24 give it 6 months. Seriously. At least 6 months, and you see what God does. So this is what Haggai's mission, get going. Don't worry about all your other little things. Get worried. Get32:36 concerned about God's big thing. And then it says this in verse 12. So then Zerubbabel, the son of Shethiel and Jehoshua, these are the leaders, the governor and the high priest, the civic leader and the spiritual32:45 leader. It says, with all the remnant, obeyed. They got started. And then look at what it said last line. It says, and the people feared the Lord. And I love that principle because here's the principle that I wanna give32:53 you. Write this down. We get started with God the moment we fear him more than anyone or anything else. You will get moving with God. Let's put it up on the screen, guys. You will get you will get moving with God the33:05 moment that you fear him more than anyone or anything else. You gotta fear God. He's gotta be first and not care about what33:17 other people think. And not care what other people might do. And not care what other people might say. Just go for what the Lord has given you to do33:29 because you care about his opinion more than other people's opinion. There's a fascinating animal I wanna talk to you about. It used to be a Chevy car. It's called the Impala. You ever see these cars?33:40 I think, like, they should have renamed the car because then I I learned about Impalas. These are fascinating animals. They are only about 3 feet tall. We're gonna put some pictures up here on the screen, and their33:52 leaping ability is through the roof. They can jump 10 feet high. They're 3 feet tall. They can jump 10 feet high. They tell LeBron James, hold my beer. And they34:04 can leap 30 feet in distance. 3 feet high. 3 feet tall, 10 feet high, 30 feet in distance. But do you know the fascinating thing34:15 about impalas is that you can cage them with a 5 foot high fence? They'll never jump the fence. Do you know why? All you gotta do to keep them from jumping out is34:27 get the wall just above their line of sight, because an Impala will never jump anywhere where he can't see he's gonna land. I wonder34:39 how many Christians are the exact same way. You'll never jump because you're so worried about where you're gonna land, And the devil just he knows. It doesn't34:51 take a big wall for you. It doesn't just a little bit of doubt. Just a little bit of I'm not 100 percent sure. Just a little bit of, I know I'm insecure. And you know what I've realized? In our35:03 country, we don't even need in in our day, we don't even need a 5 foot high fence. We just need a 5 inch high fence. This is a fence right here. This is a fence right here. This is fence. The devil just loves to put this35:13 in our face. Oh, look at the stock market. Not jumping today. Mm-mm. Oh, look what happened. Oh, gosh. In some random city, some rando shot up a mall. Oh, gosh. I'm not going shopping today.35:24 Mm-mm. Mm-mm. Mm-mm. Oh, my word. Look what's happening in the educational system. Oh, my word. Look what's happening in the political Oh, they're starting another war. Oh, there's another country. There's another35:32 country going to war. And you just let this 5 inch high fence stop you. I want somebody to get free today.35:46 I want all you to get to get free today. You got a God who's for you. He's not against you. Somebody needs to hear that God's not mad at you. God is looking for you to activate some faith so that you can start to35:57 see him meet you on the other side of that jump. Get out of the fence. Get out of the cage. Get out of the devil's trap, and get into the promise and pleasure of God. So I got 3 points, and then we're done.36:10 That's my introduction. Number 1, when we build in spite of the opposition, number 1, God will get involved. Now this is quick points. God will get involved. You jump, God gets involved. You step out36:21 in faith, God gets involved. This is what it says in Haggai chapters chapter 1 verse 7. He says, consider your ways, go up to the hills. In other words, start. Somebody say start. Start. Go up, get36:33 some wood, build a house, and then look at the next line, that I may take pleasure in it. Some of you want God to be involved in your life, but you're not involved in anything God's up to.36:46 You're involved in everything else. For heaven's sakes, your kid's baseball game takes you out of church on Sunday, and you want the blessing of the36:58 Lord. I what? Get involved in what God is involved in, and then he will be involved in your life.37:10 You gotta live a regular life. I understand you can't live in this building. We don't want you to. We want you to go out and do great things in the community, own businesses, own property, own lands, prosper,37:22 be flourish, but God first. God first. As for me and my house, we'll serve the Lord. And when you do that, God gets involved in what you're doing. We got people who could get up37:34 here. They could tell you, tithing, putting God first, has been the biggest blessing in my life. My wife and I are prepared to give big, and I told you that we're gonna give big, and I said37:46 a number to Cheryl. She said, okay. She's always done that her whole life, and it was gonna be the second largest gift we've ever given to this church. And I've been blessed to do this. So,37:58 then I had a conversation with 1 of our location pastors, and he said, well, after Sunday service last week, he said, I'm gonna I'm gonna increase our giving. And then I said I had a conversation with 1 of our worship38:08 leaders backstage after first Tuesday, and he said, the Lord gave me a number, and I was shocked. And I'm I'm scared, but I'm gonna do it. It's higher than I expect expected. I gave the Lord a number. He gave me a a38:19 different number, and I'm gonna go with his number. And then I went home that night, and the Lord said to my heart, and this is alright. I don't say this often, but he38:30 said, you know that your number is not a sacrifice. Right? Wow. And I said, yeah. I do. In fact, I was kinda like hoping you wouldn't notice.Show more
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Guest Message - Pastor Geyser Pastor Tim Hatch
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