♪ I've been waiting and yearning ♪ For our Lord's returning ♪ When Jesus, our Savior, will call us away ♪ No more sickness, no dying ♪ There'll be no reason for crying ♪ For all will be glory on that homecoming day and this time tomorrow we could be home we'll see in one moment the half not yet told and the one who died for me My eyes shall behold and we could be there this time tomorrow. ♪ Every tear and every trial ♪ And every weary mile ♪ Will all be forgotten ♪ When we hear that trumpet sound ♪ Oh, and can you imagine What then will happen when the clouds are rolled back and the saints leave the ground? And this time tomorrow we could be home. We'll see in one moment ♪ The half not yet told ♪ And the one who died for me ♪ My eyes shall behold ♪ And we could be there this time tomorrow ♪ And the one who died for me my eyes shall behold and we could be there this time tomorrow amen take your bibles if you would and turn with me to the book of Haggai tonight Haggai Chapter 1. I want to just say I appreciate you coming out and being here tonight. And it's just a blessing in my heart to see people who want to hear the Word of God preached. And I just praise the Lord for that. Had a great time with your pastor and pastor's wife, and they have treated us in just as gracious way today. Took us to see some of the beauty of the Ozark and Branson area and top of the rock, is that what it's called? And just beautiful there. And then on the way home, Andes. We don't have that in Florida. And honestly, it's a sweet memory that I have here, more than just the ice cream. Ask my wife, I have an ice cream weakness. Some people eat up by the bowl, I eat up by the carton. Often I hear somebody open up and say, where's the ice cream we just bought? And I'm like, well, you should have got it when we had it. And you snooze, you lose. So maybe there's some others like that. But I want to encourage you to go to the book of Haggai tonight. And I was talking to your pastor. I remember I don't know if it was last year, but the first time I came, a bunch of the church folks went out and were just fellowshipping and loving on each other at Andy's eating ice cream. And I thought, that's a sweet, it's a sweet thing to see people who get out of church and still want to hang with each other. It is a good thing. It really is just to see the love of God and the love of God's people. And then I also think about 2019. I remember this, man, we had some rain back then. You all remember that? I think I think we had to move back in for one night into the service and had a sit in that air condition and no revival that night. No revival that night. But then the next night we came back out here. I don't know if you all remember. And it was like a downpour. And there was like a bolt of lightning right over here. How many remember that? And everybody got right with God. I mean, it like flashed, kaboom. I was hugging this pulpit here. Thought we were going home. And everybody was confessing their sins. Man, we had revival that night. But anyway, it is a joy to be with you tonight and looking forward to what God has with us. Well, if you're in the book of Haggai, I want you to stand with me if you would. And we're in chapter one. And we'll pick up in verse 12. Then Zerubbabel the son of Sheltiel, and Joshua the son of Josedek the high priest, with all the remnant of the people, obeyed the voice of the Lord their God, and the words of Haggai the prophet, as the Lord their God had sent him. And the people did fear before the Lord. Then spake Haggai, the Lord's messenger, in the Lord's message unto the people, saying, I am with you, saith the Lord. And the Lord stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel, the son of Shelteel, governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua, the son of Josedec, the high priest, and the spirit of all the remnant of the people. And they came and did the work in the house of the Lord of hosts, their God, in the four and 20th day of the sixth month in the second year of Darius the king. Father, I pray in Jesus' name. Lord, it's been good to be here tonight. And Lord, we thank you for the singing. Lord, our hearts have already been encouraged just to think about the returning of the Lord. And Lord, as we sang, Lord, some songs tonight that were prayer and request. Lord, as we thank you for saving us and asking you to lay some soul upon our hearts. And then, Lord, the last verse, the last song, revive us again. and God we do pray that tonight you would do a work in us and Lord we ask for the help of the Holy Spirit tonight and it's in Jesus name we pray amen thank you may be seated I enjoy exercising and Going to the gym Occasionally and and I remember my my son and I wanted to work out and so we had gotten a gym membership together and I had a staff guy that had come on and and We had a little deal to where I could take a friend with me to the gym And so I would get up pretty early and go to the gym and I asked him if he wanted to go with me And he said yes And so I kind of had a routine that I would do and usually I would be there around 45 to 50 minutes at the gym and just kind of certain days I'd do certain things. And so I remember taking this staff guy with me and he wanted to go and work out and see what it was all about. And I remember about 10 minutes into it looking over and he was sitting on the bench by the door. And so I walked over and I said, everything good? He goes, yeah. I said, you feeling all right? He goes, yeah. I said, did you see everything? He goes, yeah. I said, are you still working out? He goes, no, I'm done. I'm done. And I thought, I mean, we've been here like nine and a half minutes. And I said, did you see that? Oh, yeah, yeah. I'm not going to do that today. I don't want to overdo it. I'm like, OK, and did you see that? Yeah, yeah, I'm good. I'm really good. And so I was like, all right. And so I thought in my mind, well, maybe he doesn't like the gym. And then he was like, hey, are you going back tomorrow? I was like, yeah. He says, can I go with you again? All right, you worked out nine minutes, and you sat and watched for 45 minutes. But I'll take you, you know. And so I thought, well, maybe the next day he'll do a little bit more. And sure enough, he did a little bit more. And about 12 minutes after we had been there, I looked over, and he's sitting at the bench. And I'm thinking in my mind, you know, I mean, there's like equipment for anything and everything you want to do. I mean, if you want to work your neck, if you want to work your toes, I mean, there's equipment that'll exercise those muscles for you. And so I walked her again, you know, the conversation, you good? Yeah, I'm good. I said, did you work out? Yeah. He says, I'm fine. And then we left. And he said, you know what I think I'm going to do? He says, I'm going to join this gym. And I'm thinking, two days in a row, you've only spent like a total of 19 minutes working out. And so he bought a gym membership. And I remember asking him after he bought the gym membership, so, so how's it, how's the exercise? Is it going well? He goes, well, I'm planning to get there, but I haven't really started working out yet. Six months later. How's the gym membership going? Because I haven't seen you there. Well, I've gone about three times. I was like, well, the three times you've gone, I haven't seen you. And the truth is, is that He liked the idea of the gym, but he didn't really like the gym. And he didn't really get out of the gym what the gym was there for. Everybody with me on that? We talked about something yesterday. We talked about these people who 16 years earlier had come out of Babylon, 42, 43,000 of them, and their purpose was to was to build the temple. It was to establish that. And 16 years ago, they had laid the foundation and then they had kind of been paused from that building. There had been no more work. They had been derailed. And we talked about this last night that their priorities had shifted from the house of God to their own personal life. And we talked about this, that when there is a shift, and the priority is no longer the house of God, and it becomes your own personal life, that it's not just a problem with the house of God, but it is a problem with your relationship with your Savior. So, Haggai has come, and he is preaching a message. Consider your ways. And we talked about how that there's been a drought in their life, how that they have sown much, and they have little. They have brought in much, but God has not blessed it. And the illustration that Haggai gives them is your life is literally like a bag with holes. You're putting your life, you're pouring your money into this bag of holes, and the more you make, the less you have, because God's hand's not on you. There is a call to consider their ways and to return back to the house of God, to return back to the priorities. The relationship with God's house revealed their lack of devotion to the Lord. I heard one preacher say it this way. He said it this way. He said, you're saved and now you want the head, which is the Lord Jesus Christ, but you don't want the body, which is the church. I thought that was an interesting way of putting it. But here is a return to the priority of the house of God and God's being exalted in their life. And I want you to notice just a couple of things. I want you to notice in verse 12 that a return to the house of God is an individual response. Notice what it says in verse 12. Then Zerubbabel, the son of Shotil, and Joshua, the son of Jozedek, the high priest, with all the remnant of the people, obeyed the voice of the Lord their God, and the words of Haggai the prophet, as the Lord their God had sent him, and the people did fear before the Lord. I want you to notice here how it lists Zerubbabel, how it lists Joshua, how it lists the remnants, and how that their response was an individual response. Each one of them had to choose, we're going to turn back to the Lord and God is going to be a priority in our life. This priority or this returning back, you'll notice in verse 11, notice what he says in verse 11. And I called for a drought upon the land. Does everybody see that? So I want you to see how that God brings in a drought, and that drought was necessary to turn their attention back to the things of God. Sometimes in our life, God brings in circumstances. He brings in droughts. He brings in problems. And the reason that He does that is because our Father is a Father who chastens His children. Can I get an amen? There are times in our life when we know that we're derailed, if I can use that expression, when we're off course, when our priorities have drifted from where they ought to be, and all of a sudden God begins to bring in drought, and there's arguments in our marriage, and fighting in our household, rebellion that's going on in our family and struggles and turmoil and problems and sometimes those droughts, those situations is the hand of the Lord who is trying to divert our attention back to where it needs to be and that's on Him. So when we talk about this individual response to the message of the Lord that would change their priority. I want you to notice here as he lists these people, the Bible tells us something that they did in verse 12. The Bible says here, all the remnants of the people obeyed the voice of the Lord. So catch this, catch this. Not only did God begin to work in their hearts, but when they had the prophets, the Bible says that they obeyed, or let me use another word, they submitted to His authority. Obedience precedes revival. It always does. And notice here that the Bible is going to give us something that takes place. There was a change in their perspective when they obeyed the voice of the Lord. So Haggai comes, this older gentleman, remember that there's two contemporaries, Zechariah and Haggai, and as Haggai is preaching they begin to turn to the Lord, they begin to obey the Lord, they begin to turn back to the temple, and there is a change in their, not just their priorities, but in their perspective when they obeyed the Lord. George Hutchinson said this, let me read a quote if I can. When God is speaking in His Word as a party to the sinner, and when His love is believed for all that, even in His reproving, it will make the guilty, the smitten, sinner to stand in much awe, will both break and melt him, and will make him look at his former ways wherein he hath lain secure with much of frighten and horror. Here is a man who is telling us that when they obeyed the voice of the Lord, here's what he's saying. They had to look at their new journey with respect and they had to look at their old journey of sin with horror and dismay. You see, we can't just put one next to the other. But somewhere we've got to exalt the work of God in our life. And I want you to notice what takes place in there, in verse 13. Then spake Haggai the Lord's message Then spake Haggai, the Lord's messenger, in the Lord's message unto the people, saying, I am with you, saith the Lord. So here they are returning back to the priority of God's house, and we've got an unusual verse where it says, Haggai, the Lord's messenger, in the Lord's message. Did everybody see that phrase? That's the only time in scripture that that phrase is ever used. Here's what they're talking about. Alright? Brother Jeff, let me use you just for a second. Here comes the prophet Haggai. And all of a sudden, remember I said this Sunday morning that there was a popular message that was well received and was accepted as the authority. Do you remember what the message was? Anybody remember? It's in verse 2. What's the message? It was popular. What all the people say? It's not time! It's not time to build. Are you sure about that? Oh yeah! Why are you sure about it? Because he agrees with me. And she agrees with me. And she's a pastor's wife. She agrees with me too. And so since we're all in unison and we all agree that This is how the Bible ought to be interpreted, and we've got all of our opinions cultivate together as one opinion, then that's how Christianity flows. Is that right? Let me help you. I want you to follow me just for a second. You know, we talk about the broad way. Can I tell you that there's a broad way in the Christianity world as well? No, you know, I know the preacher gets kind of upset and he talks about, you know, that Christians shouldn't drink. But I know a lot of Christians and they interpret the Bible differently. And all of a sudden our view of things becomes mainstream Christianity. And he agrees with me, and I saw this Christian show, and they were drinking, so it must be the way it is. And I was watching this guy on the internet, and that's the way it is. And all of a sudden, here comes Haggai, and Haggai's calling them back to getting their priorities back, but Haggai comes with something that's interesting. Haggai comes with the authority of God's word. He is what we would refer to as a prophet of the Lord's. Now I want to just challenge us with something. One of the things that's missing in our generation is what I would call prophet preaching. where a man of God stands up and proclaims, thus saith the Lord. Haggai did not come with his opinion. He didn't come with how he felt things ought to be. When he came, Haggai came with the message of the Lord. And I want you to see something. I want you to see something. When the people obeyed, their perspective of Haggai changed. So I want you to catch this. We've been struggling in our priorities. And our priorities haven't been the house of God. Our priorities have been our own house. Everybody with me? But now we're coming back to the house of God. And as we're coming back to the house of God, and we begin to make this journey back, then our perspective changed. That this isn't just some old man named Haggai with his own opinions. This man is a prophet from God. God sent us somebody. God sent us somebody to help us. God sent us somebody to declare to us His Holy Word. Haggai is not some guy that we can laugh at. By the way, can I just help us? Israel has had that problem, have they not? Can I remind you, can I remind you of Elisha when 42 children came up after they had heard their parents mocking about Elijah going up in a whirlwind? And they came up and they see this old bald guy. And I don't know what stories were told. I don't know what laughter was around the kitchen table when they came out and heard about Elijah going up in a whirlwind. But 42 children come out and they mock the man of God because their parents mocked the man of God. And the parents had no authority about the man of God and the word of God. Are you with me? And so 42 children come out and say, go up, thou bald man, go up. Go up, thou man of God!" And Elisha cursed them. You know why he cursed them? Because they were a resemblance of their home that had no respect for the authority of God. You remember two shoe bearers came out and devoured 42 children. Yes or no? Because God is... Listen to me. Whether man is serious about the man of God, God is serious about the man of God. So I want you to kind of understand something tonight. that when they returned back to the house of God, and they said this, we need to get serious about going back. that going back to the house of God was not just about playing bingo and going back to the house of God was not about just having a dinner on the ground, but going to the house of God was more than just showing up at the gym and then doing some activity for nine minutes and then leaving. It's more than just having a membership at the church. Is everybody getting a picture here? You see, you see, Changing my priority is more than just having church membership. It's where I say, hey, everything in there that God is doing, I want it in my life. And when they begin to obey, I want you to catch something. Haggai became more than just an old man with a biblical opinion. He became the authority of God's Word. You can be seated, but I'm going to use you in a little bit. Now notice this. Verse 13. Notice how the Bible speaks of Haggai. Then spake Haggai the who? The Lord's messenger in the what? unto the people, saying, I am with you. Notice this, notice this. This is what I think God is trying to say. No, no, no, no, no. I am with you, saith the, what? All right. So, so understand that when they returned to the priority of the house of God, and they begin to obey, perspective changed. That man is the Lord's messenger. And if that man has the Lord's, if that man is the Lord's messenger, then he has the Lord's message. I'll be honest with you, um, I fly, uh, not a lot, but, but, but I do fly quite a bit and when I get on the plane, I know, I, I appreciate the flight attendants and they will say a phrase, could I have your attention, could I have your attention for a brief moment to give you instruction? And when I hear that, immediately, I drop everything I'm doing. And I grab my wife and children. Listen up! Our lives are depending upon this message. And that's probably what you do while you're flying as well. I feel bad for those ladies, because I do what everybody else does on the plane. I tune them out. Yes or no? I've heard it so many times. I could quote it to you. The lights on the floor will come on. Above your seat is a flotation device. Pull that out, put it over your head, and put the belt and connect it, like you wouldn't do that if you were going down. And if the oxygen masks fall down, put it on yourself first, then put it on your child, and take the little band and pull it tight, snug to your face. And even though the bag doesn't inflate, oxygen is still flowing. Now, I don't respond like this. Baby, we've got to listen to this message one more. No, the truth is I'm tuning it out. I've got the earbuds in, I'm turning it up. I've got my book, I'm still working or reading. Because I've heard it so much that I've tuned it out. But when these people came back to the house of God, The revival was not just returning back to the house of God, but returning back to the activity that God does in the house of God. And you know what activity God does in the house of God that is priority? He speaks to His children. And the way that He speaks to His children is through His Word. There ought to be a lot of amen shouting right there. The way that He speaks to us is through His Word. The way that He speaks to us is through His Word. And through the man of God. And so understand something. That when they return, they recognize, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. This man is the man of God. Number one, let me say it this way. He has the authority. He represents the voice of God. And if He represents as the authority of God's Word, if He is the spokesman for God, then it requires our full-hearted attention whenever the book is open. I'm afraid too often times you and I have come to church And although our eyes may be on the preacher, and our book may be open to that page that he's reading, we've tuned him out just like on the plane. I'll never forget when I was 26, I became the pastor of a church in West Virginia, and I had a man that came up to me, he worked in the sound booth, He was an older man in his fifties. I was 26. He looked at me and he said this phrase. He said, you know, I've been in this church longer than you've been alive. And he was true. He was right by saying that. And then he followed it up with this statement. There's nothing you can say that I haven't already heard. Now he, listen to me, at least he had the guts to come to my face and say it. But many sit in the pew and they live it. Oh, Jonah and the whale, boop. Oh, this is the parables, boop. Oh, is he talking about the Lord's Supper again, boop. Is he talking about salvation again? I've already gotten saved. I don't even need this message. Listen to me. There is a great danger that's happening in your heart that you don't even realize that's taking place. You're drifting in your attention from the man of God and from the Word that God has for you. You see, because here's the situation. Haggai didn't get over in his corner and say, you know what? Let me think about this. What should I preach on with these people? Let me give them, you know what I think I'll do? I think I'll give them three happy tips of how to have a happier life. Haggai got with the Lord. When Haggai stood up, he wasn't giving them some sales pitch because he was on TV. He was a real man of God. And I meant to say that just exactly how it came out. Because there's a lot of charlatans that are out there. That are not men of God. Who do not preach the Word of God. They're out trying to get a buck. And I'm going to tell you something. Sometimes we look at the fakes. And we look at the phonies. And maybe you're sitting in this crowd. And you've been hurt before by a pastor. Or by some preacher. Or by some Sunday school teacher. And so your mindset is, I'll go to church. but I'll tune it out. I'm telling you, you're on a dangerous road. Haggai was the authority of God's Word. You say, Brother Nance, you're trying to put pastors up where they shouldn't be. No, I can tell you something about pastors because I am one of them. They're flesh and blood. They're made of clay. They have to deal with sin just like everybody else has to deal with sin. I want to just be transparent if I can. They make mistakes. We do. Listen, if you want to get an honest conversation, go talk to my wife and say, has your husband ever had to apologize to you because I'm sure he's just been flawless as a husband. You know what she'd tell you? There's been times my husband's had to come and apologize to me because he's a male, he's a man, he's flesh and blood. Is that true, yes or no? But, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa You and I have no, we have no excuse to stand before God someday and say, you know what? When I was 12, I got hurt by a preacher and so I'd have tuned him out for the rest of my life. Listen my friend, that's a shame. And that's wrong. The church building that we used. There was a church there that one time called Bayview Baptist Church. They had two pastors back to back that were in immoral conditions and immoral sin. There was a young man that was a teenager who was about 17 who went through both of that. And his wife and, is it four kids or five, Amy? Four kids, two teenagers come to church. Dad will not step into the door of a church because of what happened almost 28 years ago. Well, some pastor hurt me. But God didn't. And you know what God did in His loving kindness and His mercy? He brought a Haggai. He brought somebody to proclaim exactly what you needed to hear. And shame on us when we don't give the attention to the person that God has placed in our lives to proclaim His Word. Everybody with me on this? So what should it look like when you go to church? We're talking about returning back to the house of God. We're talking about the steps of obedience. Because we really can't work for God until we get our worship right with God. Come on. Y'all are making me work too hard for the amens. Come on. A little bit more out there under the trees. We can't get our work right until we get our worship right. Yes or no? And God sent them a Haggai, and the Haggai represented the authority. He was the Lord's messenger, and so because he was the Lord's messenger, the Bible makes it very clear that he had with him the Lord's message. I don't want to go to church and say, God, I've already got it all. I've heard it all. I want to go to church every single Sunday and I want to learn. Because I know this, listen to me. As David prayed, open my eyes that I may behold the wondrous things out of thy law, out of Psalm 119. How many know the verse I'm talking about? That verse makes it very clear that the problem is never the Word of God. The problem is my eyes. And if I'm not receiving what's happening in church, if I'm not receiving of the Lord, say, well, it's the messenger. No, no, no, no, no, no. Can I help you with something? And you've got a preacher. Thank God for that. But can I tell you something that I've seen God work through men that I would not call preachers? We had a man in West Virginia and He owned a cable business in our little county and our little area and he, good man, we had witnessed to him for years, years, years. I mean, we had witnessed to him and I will never, I'll never forget. Man, one Sunday morning, I'll be honest, I preached what I call a lame duck. You know what a lame duck is? I was preaching on 1 Kings. I can't even remember the message, but I was talking about the pride of this king. And it was one of those things, when it was like closing in prayer, I thought, well, that was a lame duck. And the altars were empty, and this guy who's probably come to church maybe four times in his entire life, showed up that Sunday. I mean preachers had, and I was number 19, I was a 19th preacher at that church. So for years, different preachers had tried to witness to this guy. Nobody could... Nobody could break him. Nobody could get him to come to, nobody could get him saved. I mean, they had tried. They had brought evangelists in and they would take the evangelist over to his house and he would try to witness to him and tell him about the gospel and get him, nothing. I preached this lame duck message and I'll never forget Jim walking the altar, coming forward, and he looked at me and he said, my pride has kept me from God, I need to get saved. And I'll tell you what, my mouth opened up and hit the floor. Can I tell you why? Because I thought in myself, man, that's not a very good message. But it's not me that does the work. It's the Holy Spirit of God that does the work. If God can use a stuttering Moses to speak to Pharaoh, oh my friends, listen to me, the problem is not the messenger, the problem is mine eyes! God, open my eyes! I'm not being stirred anymore! I'm not being challenged anymore! Sometimes we want to talk about the big sins, and how they blind us and darken our hearts. Can I tell you, sometimes just coming to church and being nothing more than a member, and sitting by the door and waiting for the clock to finally strike 12 so I can get out of here, I'm gonna tell you something, we're not putting our attention and receiving what God has for us. Returning to the house of God as their priority meant that we must recognize Haggai as our authority, God's word. Therefore, it requires our hearts attention to receive what God has for us. Everybody got it? Well, Brother Nance, what do you think will happen? All right. I want you to catch something. Verse 13. The who? Say it out loud. Who is it? In the what? The Lord's message. So here they are. They're returning. They're obeying. They come back and they said this. God sent us a prophet, Haggai. He's declaring the... He represents the authority of God and he's preaching the Word of God, so we're going to give him our attention. By the way, parents, let me just encourage you. Teach your kids how to listen. And you learn how to listen. Put that attention on there. And notice what happened when they returned. Verse 14. And the Lord stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel, the son of Shittil, governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua, the son of Josedek, the high priest, and the spirit of all the remnant of the people. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Stop just for a second. Verse 14. Everybody with me on verse 14? If you're there, say Amen. By the way, that's a good thing to do when you're in church. Say Amen. And the Lord stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel, the son of Shittil, governor of Judah, the spirit of Joshua, the son of Josedek, the high priest, and the spirit of all the remnant of the people. Did everybody see that? Well, how did that happen? Because all that happened in verse 13 was that Haggai preached, and the Bible tells us the message, I am with you, saith the Lord, How did that happen that they were stirred up? Because I thought for you to get stirred up, I mean, I thought we needed like maybe more lights in the background. Maybe like a strobe. That would stir us up. Amen? Maybe a drum set behind the preacher and every time Haggai says something we could go, boom, boom. Turn in your Bibles, boom, boom. And the Lord said, you know, maybe that would, maybe we need a little bit more help to stir up our spirit than just a prophet declaring the Word of God. Everybody with me? But that's not how God works. By the way, I'm not, I'm not, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please don't walk out of here and say, I think Brother Nance is against music. I'm all for music. I love choir. I love the music here. Man, it's been awesome. Boy, wasn't the specials tonight a blessing? I thought the congregational singing, I think that was very honoring to the Lord and preparing our heart. But let's get something very clear today. God does not need the ethics and the props of this world to stir our spirits. You and I need to understand something that our spirit needs to be touched by the Lord. And you know what? Can I tell you what stirred them up? What stirred them up was they heard God. You see, they didn't hear Haggai as much as they heard the voice of the Lord. And it stirred them up. You know why it stirred him up? Listen to me. It stirred him up because, because they recognized God's trying to speak to me. He sent me a prophet and I need to give it my full attention. And when they recognized the authority and they gave it their full heart attention, God does the rest. I was, uh, Andrew's senior year. He and I went on a mission trip to Cuba. And I was doing a lot of the preaching and I told him, I said, I want you to preach. And Andrew was like, oh, I'm a little nervous about this. I said, I want you to preach. And so one afternoon we were driving out to the sugarcane fields and there was a church out in the middle of the sugarcane fields and We were going out there to a pastor. It was a national pastor, but we were going out there, and they had asked us to come, and the guy, the missionary with us said, I don't know if anybody's going to show up, but we're just going to go out there. We want to encourage the pastor. There might be some people there. We'll just have like a 10-minute service. Give them a little devotion, and then we'll be on our way. I looked at Andrew, and I said, Andrew, Perfect time for you. 10 minute devotion. You can handle this. You know what I mean? And we'll just be a blessing to the, we'll just be a blessing to the preacher and we'll just be a blessing to them. We pulled up and the church was probably half this size and they had about 25 to 30 people in this church. And I was talking with the missionary and I was talking to the pastor there and I said, I said, where do these people come from? He says, well, these are all migrant workers. He says, they're losing a day's page to be here. I said, and by the way, I don't know that I can take you to a communist land and show you the poverty that comes from communism. I'm not trying to preach about communism, but whoever props that up as a great way of life has never been to Cuba because I'm telling you it has robbed the people of their livelihood and made them paupers. I asked him, I said, so all of these people, migrant workers, so we already know their level of income. I'm talking about people who live in cardboard houses with no doors and windows. Their front door is maybe a curtain that they've had for 20 years. Everybody with me on this? Their meal for the entire week has been rice and beans. If a man, if a man in Cuba eats beef at all, it is five years in prison. Not allowed to eat beef. Only government officials are allowed to eat beef. I looked at the pastor and I said, so these people are losing a day's wage? He goes, yes. And he said, you see these folks right over here? One of them was a young pregnant lady. He says they've walked 10 miles so they could hear the Word of God. I said they walked 10 miles, a pregnant lady walked 10 miles in the middle of the day to hear the Word of God. Everybody with me on this? I pulled my son to the side and I said, son, we had the wrong attitude coming here. We came in here and we thought we were just gonna be a blessing and we're gonna give them a 10-minute message. I'm gonna tell you right now, these people have sacrificed their day, their pay, they've walked 10 miles just so they can hear the Word of God. You stand up and you'd better give them the Word of God. Oh, I wish we could bottle up that attitude and bring it to the United States. Come on. When's the last time you fought and crawled and wrestled to get to church because you wanted to hear from God? You know what I think happens when somebody comes with that type of spirit? I think they hear from God. You know what's wrong with us today? Oh, I'd like a 10 minute devotion. Don't go too long because I want to get home for lunch. No, no, no. We need some people to get back to calling. Get back to just walking. Get back to whatever it takes. I will king the church and I want to hear from God today. And oh, that we might have that attitude once again in our hearts. He goes, you know what happens when we... When we return to the house of God with that attitude, you know what happens? The Lord stirred him up. The Lord stirred him up. Can I ask you a question? When's the last time you came to church and the Lord stirred you up? Hey! When's the last time God stirred you up? Well, you know, the preacher's just, you know, if he was a little bit more animated. Hey! It's the Lord that stirs you up. I think we need to go back to the prayer of David. God, open my eyes that I may behold the wondrous things out of thy law. The problem is my heart. The problem is I've not put the attention upon the Lord. I'm like in that plane with the flight attendant there, and, oh yeah, I've heard it before, and doing something else, and checking texts, and busy with my own life, and God says, the reason you're not stirred up, you've not put your attention upon the things of God. That word stirred up is an interesting word. The word stir up is a breakdown of two Hebrew words and one means self and the other one means to awake. It's literally, here's the idea of that word stirred. It's the idea of somebody who is drifting asleep and somebody comes along and grabs him and shakes him, stirs him, wake up! Wake up! I'm speaking to you. Don't fall asleep. Are you with me tonight? Ephesians Paul says, Awaken to righteousness. Awaken to righteousness. Some have not the gospel. I speak this to your shame. Can I just challenge you today? I'm greatly concerned. Listen to me. I'm not concerned with the membership of our churches. I'm concerned with those who are asleep in our churches. And the preacher, day in and day out, Sunday morning and Sunday night, Wednesday night, gets up. He gets up with the Word of God and he gets up and he proclaims not his ideas and not his opinions. He preaches the Word of God. And sometimes we say, well, yeah, that's Haggai rumbling again. And that's Haggai going off on another tangent. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. We need to give proper attention so that God might stir up our hearts. So let's finish out the verse. And the Lord, verse 14, stirred up. I want you to notice this. Everybody that individually sought the Lord was individually stirred up. Have you noticed I want you to look with me back in verse 12 and notice how the Bible lists the names. Then Zerubbabel, the son of Sheltiel, Joshua the son of Josedek, the high priest, with all the remnant of the people, obeyed the voice. Notice verse 14. Everybody that obeyed, everybody that said, hey, we've got to come back to the house of God. We've got to come back to our priorities. That's not just a man. That's the messenger of the Lord. And you know what he's got? He's got the Lord's message. We've got to come back to that. And everybody that did, notice verse 14. If I was writing the Bible, I'd have probably just saved some time and said, they were all stirred up. That's not what it says, does it? That's not what it says, does it? Then the Lord stirred up, who? The spirit of Zerubbabel, the son of Shittil, the governor of Judah, the spirit, and notice how it says the spirit of each one. The spirit of Joshua, the son of Josedec, the high priest, and the spirit of all the remnant of the people. He stirred them up in their spirit. Hey, God's work is not external until it's first internal. I want to get stirred up about the things of God. And I want God to stir me up. Everybody with me? Well, what will happen if they get stirred up? Alright, what does it say? And they came and did what? Work in the house of the Lord of hosts their God. Do you know, He told them to consider their ways They've had a two-month revival. If you'll notice, it was the sixth month now, or the fourth month. Now we're in the sixth month, or excuse me, the fourth month and 20th day. It's literally 23 days later that the first message came. And now, man, they're stirred up. And watch this, watch this, watch this, watch this, watch this, watch this, watch this. When they were stirred up, The work of God, listen to me when I say this, the work of God is the overflow of being stirred up by the Word of the Lord. Everybody with me? The work of God is the overflow of being stirred up by the Word of God. Oh, preacher's calling on me to go help again. I don't know what he's gonna ask me this time, but I gotta do it. If I don't do it, he'll text me, oh, I gotta go to Sunday school class. If I'm not in Sunday school class, I'm gonna get a phone call and they're gonna say, where were you? And then we gotta make up kind of a little white lie and say, well, Junior was sick this week and we couldn't come and, hey! Do you know the Christian life is totally opposite from that when you're stirred up by the Spirit of God? When you get stirred up, man, it's like, hey, what can we do? Hey, you know Jesus? Let me introduce Him to you. You're passing out tracts. You're talking to people. I mean, it's the overflow of being stirred up by the Lord. Nobody has to pull you. Nobody has to twist your arm. Nobody has to manipulate. It is the overflow. It is the overflow of being stirred up by the Word of the Lord. So here we come to our point right now. When's the last time you were really stirred up? When's the last time you were stirred up? When's the last time God got a hold of your heart? When's the last time you were stirred about sin in your life? When's the last time you were stirred about souls? When's the last time you were stirred about the scriptures? When's the last time you came to church and said, man, I can't, I can't, I can't wait, I can't wait for God's preaching in my life? I'll never forget I had a young man in West Virginia who got saved. He had gotten saved and he had come to church with a young little girl that he had. She was probably about four years of age. His girlfriend or wife was out of the picture so he was pretty much raising her. Now I'll never forget about the third week. I'll never forget him coming to me. And you know how preachers can sometimes be long-winded and people will joke about it. And I remember him coming to me after a service and he said this. He said, Brother Nance, he said, I come to church and he says, you know, you open up the Bible and you start talking to us. I love how young Christians don't know all the terms. He didn't even know what the word preaching was. He just says, you start talking to us. And he says, Something just happens inside of me and he says, I just get so fired up about it. He says, I hate when you quit. I said, what? He said, I just hate when you quit and stop talking about the Bible. He says, it helps me so much. I remember a couple weeks later I don't know what I preached on on a Sunday night and I was walking out of the church and walking to the house and I remember him coming up and saying, Mr. Carey, can I talk to you for a second? I turned around and he had just been saved for less than two months and I remember him just standing there and he just started weeping and he had his little girl in his hand. I said, you okay? He goes, I am. I said, I said, I said, what can I help you with? He says, no, I just, I just wanted you to know what's going on in my life. I said, well, what's going on in your life? He says, I've been clean for six weeks. I didn't know he had a problem. He just sat there and he wept. I saw a guy being stirred. When's the last time you were stirred? When's the last time your cup just overflowed and you're like, man, I want to serve God. I want to do something for God. He's been so good to me. When's the last time you were stirred? A lot of people come just like the gym membership. I'm a member. I got my nine minutes. I walked around. I'm going to go sit by the back door and wait till it's over. That's not what church is all about. Don't miss what God has for you. Drawing nigh to the church is returning to the attention of God's Word. Oh, may God stir our hearts tonight. Father, I pray in Jesus' name that You would help us, Lord. We need to be stirred. We need Your Word once again to become alive in our life. We want the work of God not to be duty in our life, but we want it to be the overflow of being challenged and changed from Your Word. And I pray tonight that You would do that. With heads bowed and eyes closed tonight, can I ask a question tonight? Can I pray for you tonight? I wonder who would say this, Brother Nance? I need a return back. I need to return back to the house of God. And I'm not talking about to start coming again. I'm talking about being stirred again. I want my heart to be stirred again. I want that attention and that placement that I once had. Like those people who walk ten miles. I want to be that Christian that just hungers and comes to church. I want God to stir me. I'm tired of coming in dead and leaving dead. I'm tired of coming in and leaving the same. I want Him to stir my heart. Pray for me. Would you raise your hand tonight if God spoke to your heart? Put it up high. God bless you. God bless you. God bless you. Tonight, can I encourage you? Can I encourage you to come to an old altar and say, God, stir my heart. Stir my heart. I don't want church to just be another membership. I want you to stir my heart again. Stir my heart again. I wonder who would say this, Brother Nance, I'm not saved. I'm not saved tonight and I feel like God is dealing with me about my salvation. I don't want to die without Christ. I feel like He is convicting me. Maybe I can say this word, He's stirring my heart. But the reason He's stirring my heart is because I need Jesus Christ as my Savior. Would you pray for me? And you would raise your hand tonight. Pray for me, Brother Nance. I need Christ to save my soul. I need Him to change my heart. Here's my hand. Would you put it up tonight? Would you put it up tonight? Would you put it up tonight? Father, I ask, oh God, tonight, that your Holy Spirit would move amongst us, that you would stir us, that you would help us to return back to not just attendance, but Lord, that we would return back to the attention of God's Word. And I pray that you would stir our hearts. Lord, move in the hands that were raised. Save the lost, I pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Let's all stand to our feet. We're gonna sing a verse of invitation tonight. If God spoke to your heart, I would invite you to come. Would you come right now? God is speaking as he sings. Come. ♪ Search me, O God, and know my heart. ♪ O Savior, know my thoughts, I pray.