back to indexConsider Your Ways
00:00:00.000 |
Turn with me to Haggai. It's toward the middle and I believe it's gonna be up here on the 00:00:05.600 |
screen for you. We're gonna read chapter 1 verses 1 through 7. Can we put the put 00:00:12.480 |
it up on the screen? In the second year of Darius the king on the first day of 00:00:18.840 |
the sixth month, the word of the Lord came by the prophet Haggai to Zerubbabel, 00:00:23.320 |
the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua, the son of Jehoshaddak, the 00:00:27.960 |
high priest, saying, "Thus says the Lord of hosts, 'This people says, 'The time has not 00:00:33.560 |
come, even the time for the house of the Lord to be rebuilt.' Then the word of the 00:00:37.560 |
Lord came by Haggai, the prophet, saying, 'Is it time for you yourselves to dwell 00:00:42.800 |
in your paneled houses while this house lies desolate? Now therefore, thus says 00:00:48.120 |
the Lord of hosts, 'Consider your ways. You have so much but harvest little. You eat 00:00:53.440 |
but there is not enough to be satisfied. You drink but there is not enough to 00:00:57.240 |
become drunk. You put on clothing but no one is warm enough. And he who earns 00:01:02.040 |
earns wages to put into a purse with holes. Thus says the Lord of hosts, 00:01:07.520 |
'Consider your ways.'" Would you please pray with me? Truly speak, O Lord, for 00:01:16.000 |
your servants are listening. And we pray, God, that you would help us to hear what 00:01:25.040 |
you have to say and supply the things that we learn to our lives accordingly. 00:01:30.760 |
Help us also, Lord, like the people that we will read about today, to obey the 00:01:36.500 |
voice of the Lord so that you will receive the glory that you do. We thank 00:01:41.320 |
you for the freedom to worship together and gather together as a family. We pray 00:01:46.160 |
for your help to have attentive ears, especially as the context is very 00:01:50.920 |
different from what we often read about or pray about. So we thank you for this 00:01:56.200 |
opportunity to study your Word together. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. 00:02:02.200 |
Earlier this year, our church started a sermon series in the book of Hebrews and 00:02:07.120 |
many of the sermons have been focusing on the theme of drifting from the faith. 00:02:11.560 |
And coincidentally, each of our departments at church has also studied, 00:02:16.360 |
discussed, and reflected on this theme to varying degrees. We've been strategizing 00:02:22.440 |
and praying over how to stay anchored and how not to drift. And for all of us, 00:02:28.800 |
this is actually a very important topic. This is an absolutely important topic 00:02:32.520 |
because if you've been a Christian for any length of time, you know how our 00:02:37.800 |
hearts are so prone to wander and how naturally and easily we drift. It's not 00:02:44.400 |
difficult to start out with a bang. We may start out in a flurry, but sometimes 00:02:50.280 |
as you and I get distracted by our day-to-day lives, God starts moving down 00:02:54.960 |
on our priority list. And I'm sure you can relate, as I can. This is very common. 00:03:02.320 |
And there's nothing new under the sun. The people of God have always easily 00:03:08.680 |
gotten sidetracked. So here in the book of Haggai, we're looking at a very major 00:03:14.280 |
event, one of the biggest events in Jewish history, and we see how the Jews, 00:03:19.920 |
the chosen people of God, find themselves entangled, frustrated, discouraged, and 00:03:26.160 |
sidetracked. So in these first seven verses that I just read of this short 00:03:30.800 |
verse or a short book, we read, "Consider your ways twice." Two times through this 00:03:38.600 |
prophet Haggai, God says, "You guys had one job to do. Have you forgotten your 00:03:44.760 |
purpose? Have you forgotten me? Consider your ways and get back to work." God shows 00:03:52.580 |
up and says that. The book of Haggai is a very short book, just 38 verses. If you 00:03:57.480 |
want to start memorizing books of the Bible, this is a good place to start. 00:04:00.440 |
It's relatively painless. But it is a supremely important book, and I 00:04:07.640 |
believe that there's much that you and I can learn even from a quick study of it. 00:04:11.080 |
And that's what I would like to do together today. And I want to walk you 00:04:14.680 |
through the historical background to help us better understand what the Jews 00:04:19.760 |
are supposed to do and why God comes and says, "Consider your ways." If you're 00:04:26.480 |
taking notes, I want to outline today's sermon by exploring four questions that 00:04:31.280 |
we will be thinking through as we examine this short book. First, what is 00:04:37.560 |
the historical context or background of this short book? Two, who are the 00:04:44.040 |
recipients? Three, why was Haggai written? And four, how are the people of God to 00:04:53.720 |
respond? And we're actually going to see how all of this applies to us living in 00:04:59.360 |
the 21st century America here in Orange County. And all of the important points 00:05:05.360 |
today and the historical facts and stuff are on the church app, okay? So you 00:05:10.000 |
actually don't need to, like, scramble to write down everything. They're all on 00:05:13.720 |
there for you, so you can just kind of follow along with your eyes and your ear. 00:05:18.320 |
So first, what is the historical context and background of this short book? Verse 00:05:24.960 |
one, I'll read it again for you. "In the second year of Darius the king, on the 00:05:30.200 |
first day of the sixth month, the word of the Lord came by the prophet Haggai to 00:05:34.400 |
Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, the governor of Judah, and to Joshua, the son 00:05:38.840 |
of Jehozadok, the high priest, saying..." So the book of Haggai and Zechariah are 00:05:44.840 |
very important books of prophecy. They're contemporaries. They're speaking to the 00:05:49.680 |
same people. And the historical context of these two books is found in Ezra's 00:05:55.400 |
chapter 1 through 6. And I'm going to be walking you also through some details in 00:06:00.320 |
the book of Ezra, okay? So you got to pay close attention. So I'm putting up some 00:06:05.240 |
dates and some facts that you can kind of track along with. 612 is a very 00:06:11.160 |
historically significant year. Babylon overthrows Assyria and takes over as the 00:06:17.760 |
major world power. And this spells great trouble for the people of Judah. So 612 00:06:23.520 |
is important. Try and memorize that, okay? And in 606, Nebuchadnezzar, the king of 00:06:29.960 |
Babylon, turns his attention to Jerusalem, the capital of Judah. And then Jerusalem 00:06:36.040 |
is soon defeated, besieged, and conquered. And under Nebuchadnezzar, the ruthless 00:06:41.920 |
and very pagan king, the people of Judah are stripped of everything. As the 00:06:48.680 |
Babylonians start displacing and exiling the people and separating family members 00:06:52.840 |
from one another, the people of Judah find themselves that they've lost their 00:06:56.400 |
homes, they've lost their loved ones, their armies are massacred, and the once 00:07:03.040 |
mighty, powerful nation now has zero military power. So they no longer had a 00:07:10.160 |
country or land. And from that point on, the people are called the Jews, meaning 00:07:16.280 |
those from Judah, because they needed to be identified somehow, since they were no 00:07:21.140 |
longer a nation. So historically, this is where they start being called the Jews. 00:07:27.160 |
So if you actually are flipping through your Bibles and you don't ever see the 00:07:31.240 |
word "Jew" in the first half of the Old Testament, this is why. "Jews" means those 00:07:36.040 |
of Judah, now that they don't have a land. Okay? So they had no land, no power, no 00:07:42.240 |
wealth, and they are now slaves to a pagan nation, and they hated it. And then 00:07:49.280 |
in 586, the people of Judah suffered the most devastating, most traumatic, most 00:07:56.920 |
pain-filled event in the nation's history. And the book of Lamentations 00:08:01.360 |
describes the pain. The Jews foolishly plot a rebellion, and it fails. And in a 00:08:09.840 |
rage, Nebuchadnezzar destroys the temple that Solomon had built. Now this temple 00:08:16.720 |
of God is very important. The temple was the center for the worship of God 00:08:23.280 |
and the dwelling place of the Most High God. You have a visual home of God. And 00:08:31.280 |
they see it destroyed. So this could not have but crushed all hope for the people 00:08:37.480 |
of God. So it seemed now that God had either rejected his people or was not 00:08:44.080 |
all that powerful. And then for the next 70 years, most Jews are taken into 00:08:50.240 |
captivity, and the land formerly known as Jerusalem became a wild land 00:08:56.440 |
inhabited by beasts, the poor and the diseased, and various nomadic tribes. And 00:09:03.880 |
then for the next 50 years or so, there is almost complete biblical silence 00:09:09.520 |
outside of a few happenings that you read about in the book of Daniel. But at 00:09:14.360 |
the end of those 50 years, in 538, something absolutely astounding happens, 00:09:20.120 |
almost a miraculous event. The alliance between a nation called Media and a 00:09:26.280 |
nation of Persia, the Empire of Persia, join forces and they overthrow Babylon. 00:09:31.440 |
And interestingly enough, Cyrus, the Persian king, allows all the exiled 00:09:38.280 |
captives to return to their homelands. He even commissions and finances, bankrolls, 00:09:44.760 |
the Jewish people to return to Jerusalem to rebuild both the city and the temple. 00:09:50.880 |
And then the first wave of exiles, 49,697 of them, commit to returning. So for the 00:10:01.000 |
remainder of my sermon, I'm just gonna say 50,000, that's easier to remember. The 00:10:07.400 |
50,000 return to a very different Jerusalem from what they have expected. 00:10:12.880 |
The Jerusalem of 536 was a wasteland. But the people have a holy burden to rebuild 00:10:21.520 |
the house of God and to rebuild the temple. So God's people have returned 00:10:27.520 |
with one job to do, and this one job started in 536. So they begin to 00:10:34.000 |
work, lay the foundation on this new temple that's going to replace Solomon's 00:10:38.800 |
broken one. But then the work stops and it's left incomplete and under 00:10:45.920 |
construction for 20 years until 516. For 20 years, no further work is done on the 00:10:53.600 |
temple. It would just lay there partially built. So people would go about their 00:10:58.800 |
day-to-day lives passing this under construction temple of God that is just 00:11:07.280 |
there for 20 years. So if you're 18 years old, you're like, "What is that? How come 00:11:11.360 |
we're not using that for anything? Oh, that's the house of the Lord." So for 20 00:11:15.000 |
years, there is no work that is done. So in the context of the book of Haggai, we 00:11:21.480 |
find these people have basically just gotten busy with their day-to-day lives 00:11:25.920 |
and 20 years, an entire generation, there's nothing done. I've heard people 00:11:33.640 |
say that the God of the Old Testament appears to be an angry God, a God of 00:11:37.200 |
wrath, and that the God of the New Testament is a God of grace, patience, and 00:11:41.440 |
love. And I do understand that just on a cursory reading how you can kind of end 00:11:47.440 |
up thinking that, but here in Haggai, I see just one of the many examples of the 00:11:53.880 |
long-suffering patience of the Old Testament God. We learn from Malachi 3:6, 00:12:00.320 |
we learn from Hebrews 13:8 that God does not change, that Jesus Christ, who is God, 00:12:06.880 |
is the same yesterday and today and forever, and that because God does not 00:12:11.880 |
change, we are not consumed. We serve a very, very patient gentleman of a God. The 00:12:20.680 |
Old Testament saints also served a very, very patient God. And because God did not 00:12:27.720 |
change, the people in the book of Haggai were also not appropriately consumed. So 00:12:34.760 |
here you have the background of the prophecy of Haggai in this short 00:12:39.960 |
book. So that's the first question, what is the context? The second question is, who 00:12:46.480 |
are the recipients? And are they at all similar to us here living in the 21st 00:12:51.920 |
century Orange County? Verse 2 says, "Thus says the Lord of hosts, 'This people says, 00:12:59.840 |
'The time has not come, even the time for the house of the Lord to be rebuilt.'" 00:13:05.840 |
Basically, it's a hard attitude of, "Not right now." Later, when things are more 00:13:11.440 |
settled, "Not right now, we have mouths to feed. Not yet, because we have to get 00:13:16.400 |
married. We have to have children. Not yet, because we have to have just food on the 00:13:21.840 |
table, clothes on our backs. Not yet." So who are the "this people" that has the 00:13:28.240 |
"not yet" attitude? First of all, it's very important to mention that they were a 00:13:33.880 |
well-meaning people. They were people who were passionate about the renown of God. 00:13:40.440 |
They were people who started this journey with an understanding that God's 00:13:45.600 |
glory was of utmost priority. And they were the 50,000 who accepted Cyrus's 00:13:52.520 |
invitation to go back to Jerusalem. I'm gonna read Ezra 1, 3 to 5 for you. 00:13:57.040 |
Cyrus says, "Whoever there is among you of all his people, may his God be with him. 00:14:04.760 |
Let him go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judah, and rebuild the house of the Lord, 00:14:09.320 |
the God of Israel. He is the God who is in Jerusalem. Every survivor, at whatever 00:14:14.640 |
place he may live, let the men of that place support him with silver and gold, 00:14:19.440 |
with goods and cattle, together with a freewill offering for the house of God, 00:14:23.600 |
which is in Jerusalem. And then the heads of fathers' households of Judah and 00:14:27.920 |
Benjamin and the priests and the Levites arose, even everyone whose spirit God had 00:14:33.160 |
stirred to go up and rebuild the house of the Lord, which is in Jerusalem." So who 00:14:37.840 |
are the "this people"? They were the 50,000 the Spirit of God had stirred up. 00:14:43.360 |
And I Google-searched, actually, how many Jews were living in Babylon at the time 00:14:47.880 |
of Cyrus's decree, because I wanted to kind of see, in contrast to all of the 00:14:53.000 |
people who are living in Babylon, what percent this 50,000 encompassed. But I 00:14:58.640 |
couldn't find an exact answer. But it has been suggested that the majority scoffed 00:15:04.560 |
at the idea of returning to the wasteland that was Jerusalem. Remember, 00:15:09.280 |
for 70 years, Jerusalem had been a dangerous and uncultivated place. For the 00:15:15.400 |
great majority, Babylon had become home. So there was no desire to return to 00:15:20.920 |
Jerusalem to rebuild the temple of God. If you and your parents and your 00:15:25.640 |
grandparents were living in a place for 70 years, you're not going to be so eager 00:15:30.280 |
to move away. If you are a third or fourth generation person of a different 00:15:35.920 |
ethnicity, as many of you in here are, how would you feel if you were called to 00:15:41.840 |
return to China, Japan, the Philippines, Mexico, or Korea? Nah. Home is America. 00:15:49.520 |
I don't want to go back. But not "this people." So the recipients of the book of 00:15:57.760 |
Haggai and Zechariah were those who decided to leave home and go. They were 00:16:03.720 |
the ones who took a risk and placed a higher priority on God's glory than 00:16:09.240 |
their own comforts. But something happened. Something derailed them. 00:16:15.160 |
Something caused them to drift. And that's the "why" of "Why is Haggai Written?" that 00:16:23.360 |
we're gonna get to. So what caused the stoppage of the work amongst this 00:16:28.880 |
well-meaning, missions-minded people? Good intentions only got them so far. They went 00:16:37.960 |
to the mission field, basically, and stopped doing their mission. They were 00:16:42.240 |
people that took a risk to go, and then now they get rebuked. So why was Haggai 00:16:49.440 |
Written? And what was the stoppage a result of? First, there was opposition 00:16:57.520 |
from those who had since moved into the area formerly known as Jerusalem. So when 00:17:03.960 |
the people were exiled for 70 years, those who remained in the land were the 00:17:08.520 |
weak, the poor, the elderly, and the small-time criminals. And a lot can change 00:17:13.120 |
in 70 years. And the folks who have been calling Jerusalem home for 70 years 00:17:19.440 |
likely were not happy when they saw 50,000 strangers coming and saying, "We 00:17:26.280 |
need to build a temple of God. We need to build a city. Get out. This is our home." 00:17:30.680 |
And they're like, "We've been here for 70 years, bro. This is not your home." So 00:17:35.840 |
there's opposition. So the Jews kind of forcibly settle, and they are constantly 00:17:42.120 |
harassed because they have no city walls. And because there are no city walls, 00:17:45.560 |
they're constantly living in fear. Opposition, tension, fear. These 00:17:52.560 |
contributed to the work stoppage and the rebuilding of the house of God. And I 00:17:57.120 |
can imagine the people thinking, "Hey, God, you're the one who called us to return 00:18:02.080 |
to your holy city to build your temple. Why are you making it so hard? Why don't 00:18:07.520 |
you come help us wipe them all out? Why are you allowing all of this opposition? 00:18:13.120 |
We did not leave the comforts of Babylon to struggle like this. It's your fault. 00:18:20.080 |
You're not that powerful after all, are you?" These are the thoughts that might be 00:18:25.360 |
going on in their heads. And it's not hard to imagine this because people of 00:18:30.840 |
God have always said similar things like this, especially when they left their 00:18:35.080 |
lives in Egypt as slaves. Secondly, the well-meaning people of God faced 00:18:41.480 |
physical and economic hardship. Their day-to-day lives were hard. So we see 00:18:47.680 |
that they never had enough to eat, they never had enough to drink, their clothes 00:18:50.680 |
and their wages were not enough. So they did not expect a life devoted to serving 00:18:56.960 |
God would be so rough, would be so difficult. The years shortly after their 00:19:04.160 |
return to Jerusalem were met with a severe drought in the land. So in an 00:19:08.480 |
agrarian economy, drought meant no food. So how can they focus on rebuilding the 00:19:14.080 |
temple when there's no food? They had mouths to feed. If God really wanted this 00:19:19.760 |
work to be done, wouldn't he not rain down quail? Would he not allow manna to 00:19:24.960 |
come forth? We're hungry. Where is God in all of this? Perhaps the people thought 00:19:30.480 |
it was God's will just to take care of their families for the time being, until 00:19:37.400 |
time of harvest. Third, there were also generational differences and 00:19:43.080 |
expectations. Among the 50,000 that returned, there were a number of old men, 00:19:49.640 |
heads of clans, many of whom had seen Solomon's temple. These were old men 00:19:56.520 |
whose dying wish was likely to rebuild the temple of God. And they probably 00:20:01.320 |
shared stories of the grandeur and the glory of Solomon's temple to the younger 00:20:06.040 |
men and their families. They probably talked at length of all the freedoms 00:20:11.000 |
they used to enjoy as children and the renown their once mighty nation had 00:20:15.600 |
enjoyed. And it's not hard to imagine that these old men, these patriarchs who 00:20:22.120 |
are holding on to the hope of seeing Jerusalem again -- 00:20:38.520 |
it's not hard to imagine that these patriarchs were the ones who convinced 00:20:45.120 |
their families to take them back to the homeland that they had left 70 years 00:20:48.120 |
before. So in addition to these old men, there were also young men who were 00:20:53.080 |
excited for these new adventures, who were passionate about glorious causes. So in 00:20:59.160 |
Ezra chapter 3, we see an almost comical and yet depressing scene. I'll read this 00:21:04.560 |
for you. "Yet many of the priests and Levites and heads of fathers' households, 00:21:10.160 |
the old men who had seen the first temple, wept with a loud voice when the 00:21:15.280 |
foundation of this house was laid before their eyes, while many shouted aloud 00:21:19.520 |
for joy, so that the people could not distinguish the sound of the shout of 00:21:23.920 |
joy from the sound of the weeping of the people. For the people shouted with a 00:21:28.160 |
loud shout, and this sound was heard from far away. So when the 00:21:33.520 |
foundation is laid, the old men weep, because this was such a tiny, run-down, 00:21:38.440 |
ugly temple, nothing like the one that they grew up looking at and marveling at. 00:21:43.720 |
'This temple sucks!' the old men are saying. 'We did not come back to do this! You 00:21:49.840 |
young men need to work harder!'" So there is a shout of just sadness and sorrow, but 00:21:55.720 |
at the same time, the younger men, what are they doing? They're pumping their 00:22:00.160 |
fists and shouting and celebrating as if they had done something absolutely 00:22:03.080 |
grand for the Lord. "Look what we did! God is using us! We built the temple of God! 00:22:07.880 |
Woohoo! We are awesome!" That's this tension that these two generations are facing 00:22:14.960 |
with each other. So it's not hard to imagine that the old men were constantly 00:22:19.080 |
criticizing the efforts of the young men who were actually doing the building. So 00:22:23.760 |
the young men were probably thinking, "We just need these old men to die, so we 00:22:28.120 |
could build it our way." And it stopped. Lastly, there was also probably some 00:22:34.960 |
disunity in the leadership. Joshua, the son of Jehoshadoc the high priest, wanted 00:22:40.320 |
the Jews to submit their religious liberties to the Persian government, 00:22:44.120 |
since the Persians were very tolerant people and seemed to be pro-Yahweh. 00:22:49.640 |
Zerubbabel, the governor and a descendant from the line of David, felt that the 00:22:54.960 |
only way to truly honor God was to have a complete independence from all pagan 00:22:59.520 |
nations, including Persia. So basically, one leader wanted separation of church 00:23:04.600 |
and state. One leader wanted pure theocracy. Again, there's nothing new under 00:23:09.960 |
the sun. So could it be that perhaps these differing opinions on how this new 00:23:16.160 |
nation-state should be run and governed contributed to the stoppage in the work? 00:23:22.040 |
After all, when your leadership is divided and there's disunity, you really 00:23:26.600 |
can't move forward as a people for any kind of work. Opposition, the demands of 00:23:32.320 |
the day-to-day, generational differences, disunity in leadership -- all these things 00:23:37.760 |
contributed to the temple being left under construction for 20 years. So God 00:23:43.920 |
appears and explicitly says to his people, "Consider your ways. Let's 00:23:51.000 |
reevaluate these priorities. Have you forgotten the very purpose for which you 00:23:56.560 |
return to Jerusalem?" And I want to read Haggai 1, 8 through 11 for you. "Go up to 00:24:03.320 |
the mountains, bring wood, and rebuild the temple, that I may be pleased with it and 00:24:07.640 |
be glorified," says the Lord. "You look for much, but behold, it comes to little, and 00:24:12.800 |
when you bring it home, I blow it away. Why?" declares the Lord of hosts. "Because 00:24:17.000 |
of my house, which lies desolate, while each of you runs to his own house. 00:24:22.520 |
Therefore, because of you, the sky has withheld its dew, and the earth has 00:24:26.960 |
withheld its produce. I call for a drought on the land, on the mountains, on 00:24:31.280 |
the grain, on the new wine, on the oil, on what the ground produces, on men, on cattle, 00:24:36.720 |
on all the labor of your hands." Basically, God is saying, "You know why your lives 00:24:41.920 |
are so frustrated? It is because you have forgotten the purpose for which you have 00:24:47.280 |
come." And so here's God's charge to get back on track. And I'm so blessed and 00:24:54.600 |
encouraged by their response. Verse 12, "Then Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, 00:25:01.200 |
and Joshua, the son of Jehoshadoc, the high priest, with all the remnant of the 00:25:05.120 |
people, obeyed the voice of their Lord their God and the words of Haggai the 00:25:08.840 |
prophet, as the Lord their God had sent him. And the people showed reverence for 00:25:13.760 |
the Lord. Then Haggai the messenger of the Lord spoke by the commission of the 00:25:18.040 |
Lord to the people, saying, 'I am with you,' declares the Lord. So the Lord stirred up 00:25:23.800 |
the spirit of Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, the spirit 00:25:27.360 |
of Joshua, the son of Jehoshadoc, the high priest, and the spirit of all the remnant 00:25:31.160 |
of the people. And they came and worked on the house of the Lord of hosts their 00:25:34.440 |
God on the 24th day of the sixth month in the second year of Darius the king." The 00:25:39.400 |
people hear the words, they're like, "You are right. We have forgotten our purpose." 00:25:45.520 |
And they all somehow rally together in a period of three weeks. They strategize, 00:25:50.560 |
they obey, and then they finish the work. Work that has been left untouched for 20 00:25:55.920 |
years, God unites their hearts and they get to work. And they finish the temple. 00:26:03.560 |
So it's a long history lesson, but it's very important because there's a lot of 00:26:09.240 |
similarities between them and us. Those in Haggai's audience and you and me 00:26:15.080 |
sitting here this Sunday have two things very much in common. In fact, the twelve 00:26:20.960 |
disciples of Jesus Christ and the early Christians shared this commonality with 00:26:25.560 |
us as well. For all of human history, actually, all the people of 00:26:32.040 |
God have these two things in common. And though the historical and cultural 00:26:37.080 |
contexts may differ to varying degrees, there are two things that are exactly 00:26:41.680 |
the same for them, for us, for the Apostles, for everybody who are called 00:26:46.560 |
God's children. The first one is our purpose is exactly the same. Our purpose 00:26:52.400 |
is the same. And secondly, our priority list, our to-do list, I will call it task. 00:26:59.160 |
Our tasks are exactly the same. And allow me to show you a passage you are likely 00:27:06.400 |
already very familiar with. If you look at this side, you have Haggai. If you 00:27:11.160 |
look at the other side, you have the Great Commission. When they saw him, they 00:27:16.280 |
worshipped him, but some were doubtful. And Jesus came up and spoke to them, 00:27:20.640 |
saying, "All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore 00:27:26.840 |
and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father 00:27:30.960 |
and of the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I 00:27:34.600 |
commanded you. And lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." 00:27:39.760 |
There are parallels here. There is worship, there is a commission, and there is a 00:27:46.880 |
promise that God is with them, and he is with us. I said that the two things all 00:27:53.920 |
the people of God throughout the history of time have in common are our common 00:27:57.280 |
purpose and our common task. So what is your purpose? What in the world are you 00:28:04.560 |
doing here this Sunday? Well, James 4:14 says that we are just a vapor that 00:28:09.720 |
appears for a little while and then vanishes away. The purpose of our short 00:28:14.800 |
and vapor-like lives is to be spent for the kingdom of God. Let me say this to 00:28:21.960 |
you again. The purpose of your existence is to be spent, to be exhausted, to be 00:28:30.120 |
maximized for the kingdom of God. The only reason your life has any value is 00:28:37.360 |
for the building up of the kingdom of God. Outside of giving glory to God, your 00:28:43.920 |
life has zero purpose. Let that truth sink in. Outside of giving glory to God, 00:28:53.840 |
your life is meaningless and has zero purpose. Our natural ear and our flesh 00:29:02.560 |
and our natural man may hear this and be offended. Outside of giving glory to God, 00:29:10.080 |
your life has zero purpose. This is offensive. And if it's so offensive as 00:29:19.600 |
you hear this that you have already rejected it, I can almost guarantee that 00:29:24.800 |
the Holy Spirit of God does not abide in you and you are an unbeliever. For that 00:29:33.440 |
is the root of atheism, agnosticism. People do not become atheists because 00:29:40.000 |
they've done careful research. People become atheists because they want to 00:29:46.600 |
live for themselves and however they want. And the easiest way to do that is 00:29:52.360 |
to remove from their religious paradigm a God that is all-demanding. But the 00:29:59.520 |
Bible from cover to cover, you cannot land on any other conclusion that 00:30:04.640 |
outside of giving glory to God, your life has zero purpose. Now if you do have the 00:30:11.840 |
Spirit of God residing in you, there will be a passionate amen that echoes in your 00:30:17.200 |
heart when you hear your life's purpose. When you hear that your life is supposed 00:30:23.440 |
to be spent for the glory of God, in your hearts there's gonna be a reaction that 00:30:27.520 |
says, "You know what? Amen." You may struggle always to remember it because I 00:30:32.560 |
struggle all the time to remember this. But there will be a natural, almost 00:30:38.400 |
reflexive agreement with this because that's what the Holy Spirit of God 00:30:44.000 |
points to every time you open up your Bible, that your life outside of serving 00:30:49.120 |
the Lord has zero purpose. The truth is actually also very liberating. It's 00:30:55.800 |
exciting. We serve a God in whom there is ultimate satisfaction and joy. We are 00:31:02.840 |
being spent for the purposes of the Creator of the universe who knows each 00:31:06.520 |
and every creature by name. You are loved as a believer. So revel in your purpose. 00:31:15.200 |
This makes me think of the Toy Story movies. You guys all seen Toy Story? There 00:31:21.720 |
are few movies that are as theologically rich as Toy Story. Early on in the movie 00:31:29.280 |
we are introduced to Buzz Lightyear, Space Ranger, and he has been pre-programmed 00:31:35.680 |
with a mission and with delusions of grandeur that he's a savior. He believes 00:31:41.600 |
himself to be of utmost importance and vital to defeat of the empire of the 00:31:47.800 |
Emperor Zurg. So when the other toys in Andy's room try and welcome him, Buzz is 00:31:55.440 |
friendly but yet condescending. And when the leader of the toys, Sheriff Woody, 00:32:01.200 |
Andy's favorite and yet super friendly, selfless, loving leader of the toys 00:32:07.640 |
proceeds to speak the truth in love, Buzz scoffs at him. So later in desperation 00:32:14.800 |
and frustration when the two of them are stranded at a gas station before they go 00:32:20.360 |
to Pizza Planet, Woody loses his mind and he yells at Buzz, "You are a toy! A child's 00:32:32.440 |
plaything! T-O-Y, toy!" And you see his mouth just explode in righteous rage. And 00:32:43.120 |
it's not until later that Buzz Lightyear has an "aha" moment when he sees hundreds 00:32:50.000 |
and hundreds of boxed up Buzz Lightyear's and he is finally liberated. 00:32:57.480 |
The truth sinks in and then in Toy Story 2 and 3 and soon to be 4, he is 00:33:07.000 |
happier than he has ever been when he discovers that his primary purpose is to 00:33:12.520 |
be loved and played with. Because he's loved by a good, good owner. Buzz Lightyear 00:33:21.840 |
was created and purchased solely for the purpose of bringing delight to this 00:33:27.360 |
loving owner who treats him with so much affection. And this delight in his 00:33:35.520 |
purpose is good because his owner is good because he is loved by the owner 00:33:42.640 |
who is good. So what is your purpose? What is my purpose? The chief end of man is to 00:33:48.520 |
glorify God and to enjoy him forever, to be loved and to love as we learned 00:33:56.000 |
What is your purpose? You are created by God and for God to love God and to serve 00:34:03.360 |
God. I will say it again. You are created by God and for God to love God and to 00:34:13.360 |
serve God. This is the backbone of the meta-narrative in the Scriptures. This is 00:34:19.880 |
the heartbeat of the gospel of Jesus Christ. And if that is our purpose, then 00:34:27.480 |
how is that played out in our lives? What is the application of this purpose? What 00:34:30.640 |
are we to do with all that we just learned? The specifics may vary for each 00:34:37.000 |
and every one of us who has accepted Christ Jesus as both Savior and Lord, but 00:34:42.480 |
our primary task, obligation, and duty in this life for you and for me is one in 00:34:48.160 |
the same. It's to make the fulfillment of the Great Commission our life's chief 00:34:53.560 |
obsession. Our purpose is to glorify the Lord. Our primary task is to build this 00:35:00.040 |
church, to build his kingdom. But if you forget your purpose, you will be 00:35:05.280 |
faithless and unfaithful to your task. Again, for the natural man, this is 00:35:14.620 |
extremely offensive. Worthy of scorn, derision, ridicule, and objection. How dare 00:35:21.880 |
you tell me what my purpose is, that I'm created to serve someone else? That's the 00:35:28.420 |
natural man's rejection. But that is the teaching of the Bible, and you can't get 00:35:34.200 |
it any other way. If you search the Scriptures carefully, you cannot but land 00:35:39.680 |
on this conclusion. So it says, "Consider your ways, consider your purpose, and 00:35:46.120 |
consider the task you have been assigned to in this life. You and I are not unlike 00:35:51.000 |
the 50,000 well-meaning people of God who returned to Jerusalem from 00:35:54.800 |
Babylonian captivity. We too get discouraged by opposition. We're derailed 00:36:00.840 |
in life by our challenges and hardships. We're distracted with the good and noble 00:36:06.680 |
responsibility of putting food on the table, making a living, providing our 00:36:10.800 |
children with homes and with futures. But you need to remember, consider your ways, 00:36:16.560 |
that your primary purpose is the worship of God, and our collective purpose is in 00:36:22.720 |
the building up of his church. And I'm not just talking Berean community church, 00:36:27.200 |
but rather his global church. So let me ask you guys a question. Is the Great 00:36:32.120 |
Commission your life's obsession? Is making disciples of all nations and both 00:36:37.960 |
learning and teaching all that the Lord has commanded you in his Word your life's 00:36:42.120 |
primary obsession? Is the work of God your daily obsession? You don't need to 00:36:49.080 |
be clergy or in the full-time pastorate have this as your daily obsession. You 00:36:52.840 |
don't need to be on the missions field abroad to have this be your daily 00:36:56.400 |
obsession. So let me ask you, what is your daily obsession? Is it your kids? Your job? 00:37:05.920 |
Your workout regimen? Getting pregnant? Saving for a house? Entertainment? Your 00:37:18.760 |
food? Your meals? Others' opinions of you? Being loved by people? Because whatever 00:37:25.560 |
you daily obsess over, you will build your life around. Whatever you daily 00:37:32.840 |
obsess over, you will build your life around those things. Scripture says, "Make 00:37:38.640 |
your obsession his kingdom and his righteousness. Seek first, zay tay tay. 00:37:44.000 |
Have as utmost priority his kingdom and his righteousness and all these things 00:37:49.680 |
will be added to you," says the oft-quoted Bible verse. So is your daily obsession 00:37:55.920 |
kingdom work? Or are you saving that for later? The time has not come. Even the 00:38:01.960 |
time for the house of the Lord to be rebuilt. I have to finish my degree. I 00:38:05.200 |
have to finish my career. I have to get married first. I have to have kids first. 00:38:09.960 |
I have to wait till my kids are grown and in college first. My job right now is 00:38:15.800 |
to focus on me. God's kingdom is for later when I have more time and my 00:38:20.440 |
retirement fund comes in. Are you saving all of your passions for later? If you're 00:38:37.600 |
in the habit of praying regularly, may I ask you, what do you spend most of your 00:38:42.280 |
time praying for? That will be the dead giveaway to what your heart's 00:38:46.840 |
obsessions are. Because I know guys who they pray hardest when there's a girl 00:38:51.200 |
that they like. "God, grant me success but not as my will but your will be done. But 00:38:58.320 |
grant me success and help her like me back." I know guys because they come and 00:39:01.840 |
talk to me. "Boss Peter, I like this girl. What do you think?" And I don't even ask 00:39:06.600 |
them, "Did they pray about it?" Because I know they did. Because they pray 00:39:09.560 |
passionately about that kind of stuff. Can I challenge you to spend more time 00:39:14.720 |
praying for church and for evangelistic needs than your prospective job, spouse, 00:39:19.720 |
or health? Can I challenge you to not pray for the well-being or the safety 00:39:27.080 |
of your kids? I purposely do not pray for my kids' safety. As a father, I absolutely 00:39:39.000 |
desire their safety. And I will gladly put myself in harm's way to keep my son 00:39:46.160 |
and my daughter safe. But I've discovered something about prayer and its effects 00:39:50.600 |
on my heart. The more I pray for something, the more that slowly becomes 00:39:55.240 |
my objective, my aim, or my goal. Perhaps God desires to use Charis to be a 00:40:02.480 |
martyr in the missions field. What if God wants Maddie to glorify him through a 00:40:08.280 |
terminal childhood disease? There is something in my flesh, in my paternal 00:40:13.240 |
instinct that screams, "No way! God, no!" But if I truly trust in a God who is 00:40:22.640 |
perfectly good, and in a God whose will is perfect, I have to trust that he loves 00:40:27.480 |
my children more fiercely than I ever could. And in this fierce love, if he 00:40:33.500 |
desires their momentary physical death, then as a created being whose sole 00:40:38.640 |
purpose is to give glory to God, my soul must cry, "Hallelujah! God be praised." 00:40:45.460 |
Because Maddie and Charis, they too have been created by God, for God, to love God, 00:40:53.040 |
and to serve God. My prayer for my son and daughter is that they will seek 00:41:00.400 |
first his kingdom and his righteousness, that they will be useful in building 00:41:04.680 |
God's kingdom, that their lives will be spent and exhausted in honoring Christ. 00:41:10.640 |
For therein lies their purpose. My task is the great commission and the greatest 00:41:17.700 |
good, and their task is a great commission and their greatest good. And 00:41:25.200 |
currently what God is teaching me is that the best thing that I can do for my 00:41:29.040 |
kids is not to give them what this world tells me to give them, what some of you 00:41:33.880 |
tell me to give them, but rather to teach them and to show them the love of God. To 00:41:40.080 |
teach them and to practice in front of them the fierce love and grace of God. 00:41:44.680 |
And to teach them about the broken heart of God. And one of the saddest things 00:41:49.160 |
about leaving my former job at Compassion is I can't take my kids to 00:41:53.240 |
meet the poor as easily as I could have, as easily as I can. I can't now take 00:42:02.480 |
them to just meet the poor, to show them the broken heart of our God. My primary 00:42:08.480 |
job as a father is to help my children know the broken heart of our God, to know 00:42:13.600 |
the deep, deep love of my God, and to have Christ be Lord over all of their lives. 00:42:18.800 |
This is your job as a parent. What kind of theology are your children forming as 00:42:26.240 |
they watch your life? Parents, does God exist for them? Is that what you're 00:42:34.560 |
teaching them with your life? Or are you teaching them that as for me and my 00:42:39.160 |
household, we will be exhausted for the purposes of God? And my purpose, and 00:42:47.760 |
this is what I daily obsess over in my prayers for my children. And this is also 00:42:52.960 |
my primary job as a pastor. Some of the people that I love the most, if they are 00:42:59.240 |
straying from the purposes of God, I actually pray that God would wreck and 00:43:03.920 |
break their comfortable lives. If they are straying from God's purposes, I am in 00:43:11.120 |
this room praying for the wrecking ball of God to enter into their lives. Now I 00:43:17.400 |
don't tell them. That's what I'm praying for for them. But this is sometimes what 00:43:22.560 |
I pray. And this is what I pray for some of you. But on a side note, if your life 00:43:29.840 |
has been hard recently, don't come and TP my car or something. I'm not sure that 00:43:34.560 |
my prayers are that effective. Our life's purpose is we are created by God and for 00:43:42.000 |
God to love God and to serve God. Our life's primary purpose, our one job, is to 00:43:47.720 |
do our part in fulfilling the Great Commission. So what then is our 00:43:50.400 |
application? How do I tangibly and practically go into my mountain and 00:43:55.480 |
bring down wood and then build in my life? Here it is. Fulfill your duty as a 00:44:01.280 |
missionary. Fulfill your duty as a missionary. You are a chosen people, a 00:44:08.480 |
royal priesthood, a missionary, 1 Peter. Now the first thought that enters your 00:44:15.120 |
mind should not be, "Is God calling me to drop everything and go overseas for 00:44:20.520 |
mission work?" No. The first question that enters your mind should be, "In the 00:44:26.400 |
mission fields that I am already in, am I being faithful to the task? In the mission 00:44:34.000 |
fields that God has already divinely placed me in, am I being faithful to the 00:44:38.320 |
task? Am I not always when converts in my fields?" Because God is the one who makes 00:44:43.400 |
them grow, but am I faithfully sowing seeds? Am I faithfully watering in the 00:44:48.080 |
fields that I'm already in? I actually strongly dislike the romanticizing of 00:44:53.800 |
overseas mission work. In fact, I think the phrase, "Go on missions," that you hear 00:44:59.520 |
around Throne a lot, especially before summer, I think it's dangerous and it's 00:45:03.400 |
an unbiblical phrase. And I hate it. "Go on missions." I understand it, but I really 00:45:11.200 |
strongly dislike it. So if you ever say that with me, I might just give you a 00:45:14.000 |
look. Some people think that serving God as a long-term missionary or a 00:45:18.960 |
full-time pastor is the holiest of calls and living an ordinary day-to-day life 00:45:23.680 |
is a compromised life. No. Some think overseas mission work is the best way to 00:45:28.840 |
fulfill the Great Commission. No. The only verb, the only command in the Great 00:45:35.200 |
Commission is "ma'athe tu'o," "make disciples." Going is just one of the attendant 00:45:40.040 |
participles. You can spend all your life in Orange County and be exceptionally 00:45:44.320 |
useful in the building up of the kingdom of God. So some of you guys are like, "Yes! 00:45:46.960 |
Woohoo! God is not calling me." So the point and emphasis of our message today is this. 00:45:54.400 |
Daily faithfulness, not long-term legacy, is what you need to think about. Pray over 00:46:01.480 |
it and be open to going overseas, but do not glorify overseas mission work or 00:46:06.640 |
pastoral ministry. Glorify the Lord, and if he calls you to glorify him 00:46:12.920 |
specifically in a cross-cultural context, then go and glorify him there. Until then, 00:46:19.680 |
be here passionately. I know Jameliot is a hero to many Christians, and I've heard 00:46:27.320 |
some people say, "Oh, I want to be like Jameliot and be martyred for the Lord." 00:46:30.880 |
And I have to hold my tongue because I almost want to tell them, "Don't aspire to 00:46:36.520 |
die like Jameliot in Ecuador. Aspire to live like he did in America." And I'm like, 00:46:42.200 |
"I want to wrap him, knock him in the head." Your focus and your aspiration has to be 00:46:48.040 |
daily faithfulness, not long-term legacy or glory for yourself. So if you are 00:46:54.160 |
failing today, right now as a missionary in the field you are already in, please 00:46:58.320 |
do not go abroad. If you are banking on the summer trip to snap you out of your 00:47:04.080 |
spiritual stupor and perpetual dryness, do not go abroad. You will do more harm 00:47:10.080 |
than good. Well, since we are on the topic of overseas mission work, let me add one 00:47:14.400 |
more thing. This next statement is more my personal preference and opinion than 00:47:18.240 |
it is biblical truth, okay? So, it's still going to be recorded, but whatever. If 00:47:25.040 |
you're planning to go on a summer trip, may I encourage you to work, save money 00:47:31.120 |
for it, and put your money where your mouth is rather than hit up everyone 00:47:34.680 |
around you for support. I guarantee you you will get more out of the trip that 00:47:39.520 |
way. You will be taken more seriously. There are other ways to ask for prayer 00:47:46.800 |
and raise awareness. I want to reserve all my giving to long-term people. If you 00:47:53.840 |
can fund your own trip, do so. If you can't, just be missional in a less expensive 00:48:00.000 |
field that you're already in. Again, this is not necessarily an official charge of 00:48:05.120 |
the church, so don't go tell Pastor Peter and get me fired or some kind of 00:48:08.240 |
prohibition. It's just a response from an older Christian and a former overseas 00:48:14.880 |
missionary seeing summer short-term missions and missionaries who are 00:48:19.280 |
treating mission work like a Christian resume builder or a glorified vacation. 00:48:25.960 |
If you're daily faithful in the field to which God has already called you, He will 00:48:33.280 |
enlarge your field, guys. If you are faithful right now in the field you are 00:48:40.160 |
already in, He will enlarge your field is the kingdom economics that we find in 00:48:45.920 |
Scripture. So the call is to daily faithfulness, not shooting for long-term 00:48:50.360 |
legacy. The call is to build His spiritual or to build His church one 00:48:54.780 |
spiritual brick at a time, and that has to be your obsession. And this can't just 00:48:58.680 |
be the obsession of those on the pulpit. Be faithful in the field you're already 00:49:03.760 |
in, and He will enlarge your field. You know, I'm very unimpressed by believers, 00:49:11.160 |
especially young guys who talk a big game, who like to speak theology, who tell 00:49:17.120 |
everyone they're praying over going for overseas. I've seen it all, and I'm very 00:49:24.740 |
unimpressed. What I am impressed by is a believer who steadily and faithfully 00:49:31.340 |
lives to please the Lord in all situations, whether at work or at home 00:49:35.420 |
or at church, in his relationships with people, and especially what he does with 00:49:41.940 |
his free time and with his free money. That's what I'm impressed by. And when I 00:49:49.300 |
see a faithful Christian like this, I go after him. I want to disciple him. I want 00:49:54.100 |
to train him up. I want to just walk alongside him. Someone who needs an 00:50:01.780 |
overseas mission trip to be missional is a danger both to himself and to the 00:50:06.460 |
field. So with that said, I pray for many missionaries to be sent off from this 00:50:14.860 |
church. And I pray for many martyrs to be from this church. Not that martyrdom is 00:50:28.540 |
something you aspire to. Martyrdom is never a goal. But it's evidence, and it's 00:50:37.580 |
fruit of faithful Christian living. Second Timothy 3:13, "Indeed, all who 00:50:44.340 |
desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. All men will hate you 00:50:50.380 |
because of me, says the Lord Jesus. When you shine brightly in the darkness, do 00:50:56.820 |
you think that there is not going to be a hostile response from those in 00:51:00.780 |
darkness? If my son and daughter are hated because they are shining brightly, 00:51:07.660 |
though my flesh screams no, my spirit cries out, 'Hallelujah, Amen, let it be.'" And that 00:51:15.140 |
is how I am supposed to live, and that is how you are supposed to live, because our 00:51:19.020 |
purpose is one and the same. What kind of theology are you teaching your kids? What 00:51:26.740 |
is your role in building up the universal Church of God? And more 00:51:30.300 |
specifically and contextually, what is your role in building up this local 00:51:35.100 |
Church of God and building up the community at Berean? There are many roles. 00:51:40.620 |
So if you actually look at Ezra chapter 2 in the context of the return from 00:51:45.340 |
Babylonian captivity, you had a governor in Shesh Bazar, you had a Zerubbabel, 00:51:49.420 |
then you have a high priest in Joshua, the son of Jehozadak, you have the prophets 00:51:53.460 |
in Haggai and Zechariah, and then in Ezra chapter 2, there's a list and number of 00:51:57.420 |
all the other people who returned from the land to build the temple. You have 00:52:02.420 |
male servants, female servants, caretakers, male singers, female singers, you have 00:52:08.020 |
people to tend 736 horses, 245 mules, 435 camels, 6,720 donkeys. I guess donkeys 00:52:17.380 |
procreate faster. You had gatekeepers. You have...the list goes on and on. I'm sure 00:52:22.340 |
there were carpenters, masons, stonecutters, architects, and just buff 00:52:26.180 |
men to do the lifting. 50,000 people returning with the sole purpose of 00:52:31.100 |
rebuilding the Temple of God and the city of Jerusalem. One purpose, one task, 00:52:35.100 |
many moving parts. What moving part are you? Are you being faithful to that task? 00:52:43.820 |
Maybe you and I need to be careful to consider our ways. Daily faithfulness, not 00:52:51.900 |
long-term legacy. Consider your ways. And my prayer is that we respond the same 00:52:57.820 |
way I see the people responding in Haggai 112. They did not beat themselves up or 00:53:04.340 |
wallow in their guilt. They obeyed the voice of the Lord, and they showed 00:53:09.740 |
reverence for the Lord. Can we have that up on the slide? 00:53:20.340 |
Then Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, the Joshua son of Zeruzalot, the high priest, 00:53:26.020 |
with all the remnant of the people, obeyed the voice of the Lord their God, 00:53:29.740 |
and the words of Haggai the prophet, as the Lord their God had sent him, and the 00:53:34.140 |
people showed reverence. So they reflected, they worshipped, they obeyed, 00:53:39.100 |
and they got moving, and they finished the work. Here's the application. Trust 00:53:46.380 |
and obey, for there's no other way to be what? Someone say it. Trust and obey, for 00:53:55.180 |
there's no other way to be happy in Jesus. Maybe your frustration is due to 00:54:01.320 |
the fact that you've forgotten your purpose. Maybe your depression is due to 00:54:05.980 |
the fact that you've forgotten your purpose. Kory Ten Boom once said, "Never be afraid 00:54:11.260 |
to trust an unknown future to a known God." In verse 13, God says, "I am with you. I am 00:54:20.380 |
Immanuel." He waited 20 years. He's a patient God. And I want to close for us 00:54:26.380 |
by reminding us what kind of God it is that we serve, what kind of God we have 00:54:34.540 |
been created for, what kind of God we are loved by, and what kind of God we are 00:54:40.380 |
called to serve. In Psalm 103, one of my favorite psalms, reads this, "The Lord is 00:54:49.340 |
compassionate and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in loving-kindness. He will 00:54:55.580 |
not always strive with us, nor will he keep his anger forever. He has not dealt 00:54:59.940 |
with us according to our sins, nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. 00:55:03.900 |
For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his loving-kindness is 00:55:09.060 |
for those who fear him. As far as the east is from the west, so far has he 00:55:14.540 |
removed our transgressions from us. Just as a father has compassion on his 00:55:21.060 |
children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him. For he himself knows 00:55:27.100 |
our frame, and he is mindful that we are but dust. As for man, his days are like 00:55:33.740 |
grass, as a flower of the field, so he flourishes. When the wind has passed over 00:55:39.980 |
it, it is no more, and its place acknowledges it no longer. But the 00:55:46.500 |
loving-kindness of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting on those who 00:55:50.580 |
fear him, and his righteousness to children's children. As for me and my 00:55:59.260 |
household, we will serve the Lord. And may that be your cry at your house. May that 00:56:07.740 |
be our church's main obsession to see his Great Commission fulfilled. Consider 00:56:17.860 |
your ways. God is good, and he is deserving of all of who we are. How can 00:56:38.220 |
Lord, help us to respond appropriately and to show you reverence and to give you 00:56:55.340 |
the honor that you're due. We stray. We are prone to wander. Help us to stay 00:57:03.900 |
anchored and not to drift. For these things we pray in Jesus' name.