Consider Your Ways

Raul Ries: Are you feeding upon God's word? Are you coming and learning about God's word and what you need to do? And this lesson this morning is for me, it's for you, and it's concerning priorities. Seek ye first the kingdom of God. In my worship, in my reading, in my giving, in my witnessing, God is number one.
Announcer: Welcome to Somebody Loves You Radio, the Bible teaching ministry of Raul Ries in Diamond Bar, California. Today's message is part of our ongoing series on living lives fully devoted to God. Like the ancient Israelites who were stubborn and determined to follow their own desires, you may find your own personal desires have been taking precedence over God's. If that's the case, you'll want to keep listening today for a call to reset and put the Lord first. Here's Raul Ries with today's message.
Raul Ries: Turn to the book of Haggai, chapter 1. Consider your ways. Do you know what you do? Do you know how you live? Do you know how you give? Do you know how God has called you to be a servant of the Lord? Haggai's name means festival or feast one. He was probably born in a festival, and they gave him the name Haggai. In Hebrews 12:26, he says, whose voice then shook the earth, but now he has promised, saying, yet once more I shake not only the earth, but also the heaven. So Haggai's chapter here, not only two chapters, but he has a lot to say about priorities. I don't know what your priorities may be, but you're going to hear about priorities this morning. You got to understand that you have these guys, this whole 40,000 Jews coming back to Jerusalem. They've been in captivity for 70 years when the Babylonians came and took them captive to Babylon. And while they were in Babylon, 45,000, they were not only taken there, but Jeremiah said to them, look, if you submit and you go over to Babylon, you'll be cool, but if you resist, then you're going to have to be killed. Those that resisted, where there was no water, no food, they ate their babies. They became cannibals, eating their babies. The temple was very important to the people of God. The prophet was saying, look, you guys, this is a place of worship, and then you can not only be part of the land, but God will honor you, and you can come to that place and then bring other people to worship. But you know what they did? They built their beautiful homes, and they neglected the house of God. Think of how many people today neglect God's priorities, and they care about their priorities. In the first message here, two chapters only, in the first message, the Lord rebukes and judges. It's actually a call of judgment to rebuild the temple because they had so caught up with their homes that they forgot about worshiping God. In his first message here, we have two sections. Number one is an exhortation for the people to put God number one first. In the second word, he encourages them not only to respond to the prophet's exhortation, because in chapter 2, the judgment of God comes because they had neglected their first love. They had neglected the house of God where you come and you worship God. They were so interested in themselves, so caught up in themselves that God says to them, you'll see in a moment, he says, the more you get, the more I'll take from you. You have bags of gold, you put it in, and I'm taking it out. Look at Haggai chapter 1, verse 1, he says, in the second year of King Darius, in the sixth month, in the first day of the month, the word of the Lord came to Haggai the prophet, to Zeruabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest. So first of all, we see here, thus saith the Lord. Notice what he says here. Now you're going to see God speaking because when he speaks, he's going to speak in his power. He's going to say, you guys, I'm the one speaking, you better listen because if you don't listen, then I'm going to have to judge. And God's judgments are very, very different than our judgments. Now, notice that it's important that you understand that God not only speaks through his word, but he speaks through people too. But I find it interesting in the first chapter, verse 2, look what he says. Thus saith the Lord of hosts. Now keep your eye on that. Underline it. Thus speak the Lord of hosts or the God of the armies, saying, these people are saying, the time has not come, the time that the Lord's house should be built. Notice what they said. Hey, the house of the Lord, hey, it's not time to build it. Billy Sunday said this, he called an excuse this. He says, the asking of a reason stuffed with a lie. Benjamin Franklin wrote, I never knew a man who was good at making excuses, who was good at anything else he did. And that's true. What are the excuses you make in giving to God of your life? Anything that you have to do for God. You have to understand that if Matthew 6:33 says, seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and then all these things will be added unto you. Now, here is the exhortation as he goes from here, and what's really awesome about the exhortation is that he says in verse 3, then the word of the Lord, there it is again, then the word of the Lord came to Haggai the prophet, saying, now look, Haggai, this is what I want you to tell the people. Who's the authority? God, not Haggai the prophet. He has the authority over people. He's going to speak to the people because he loves his people, just like he loves you, he loves me, and he wants us to be obedient to what he says in his word. Now, the message that he's going to give to Haggai for the people is a message of rebuke. Rebuke. And these people, notice what it says here in verse 4. He says, is it time for you yourselves to dwell in your beautiful paneled houses and this temple to lie in ruins? My house is a mess, no place to worship. In this rebuke that he gives here is a rebuke of selfishness, neglect, neglecting what God's word says concerning the building of the house of the Lord. And here these people, they got so caught up with themselves, they had no temple to worship, and yet they couldn't see. But God has ways of paying attention to our neglection. Look what he says, verse 4 again. It's a time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses, and this temple to be in ruins. Verse 5. Now, therefore, what I just told you, he takes you back. Here it is again. Thus saith the Lord of the armies, thus saith the Lord of hosts. Four times he's going to say this, consider your ways. Underline that. Consider your ways before God. Four times he wrote, consider your ways. Literally, he says this, get your hearts on your way. Get your hearts on your way. When you have God in your life, he gives you not only the wisdom and the knowledge, but he rescues you. Yes, it's a trial, it's a temptation, and I'm going through the fire, but it's so awesome because God will what? Will rescue me from the fire. Read Daniel chapter 3. The 3 Hebrews, they were in the fire, and God rescued them. God's not gonna leave you in the fire. Sometimes God uses the fire to see what your emotions or what your desires are in life. And he not only put you in the fire, but he wants to see your emotions, your motivation. What are you gonna do? What I just told you to do, he says? Well, let's test it and see if it's real. And if it's not real, it's gonna burn in the fire. And who's gonna suffer the loss? You and me. We're gonna suffer the loss. Watch what he says. Verse 4, the rebuke. He says, it's a time again for yourselves to dwell in your panel houses and this temple to lie in ruin. So we see here rebuke of what? Selfishness and neglection. Rebuke and neglect in the house of God. God wants to get their attention because they're only paying attention on themselves. Verse 5, here it comes again. Thus saith the Lord of hosts, consider your ways. Verse 6, you have sown much and do what? And bring in little. Man, you work so hard and you bring in so little. So little you bring in. You eat, but you don't have enough. Notice, but you are not filled with drink. You close yourselves, but you're not warm. He who earns wages, earns wages, put us into a bag, and what does he God say? You have a hole in the bag. I take it from you. You put it into your bank account, I take it from you. Because you're not being honest with God. You're not doing what God says. God is first. God is first, you're second. And many times we put God last, and we put ourselves first. So all of a sudden we begin to see, well, I lost my job, I can't pay my bills, I can't pay my rent, I can't do this, I can't do that. Well, you better look in the mirror. Look at yourself. What is it that you're doing that is not right? And I would tell you right off, you don't put God first. You don't put God first, which God's supposed to be first. God's way of chastening people for their disobedience, not because he wants to spank you, but he wants to spank you so you get your life right with him because he loves you. So maybe God is speaking to your heart because of these things that you're doing to get your attention not to do them so that your heart is with God and God is with you.
Announcer: You're listening to Somebody Loves You Radio with Raul Ries. Connect with us anytime at somebodylivesyou.com for biblical resources to deepen your faith and direct your steps in God's ways. Raul's 10-part series titled Called, Chosen, and Committed is available on CD and USB. We'll tell you more about that in just a few moments. Here's Raul Ries now with more of today's study.
Raul Ries: He says in verse 7, as he's moving forward, he says, thus saith the Lord of hosts, there it is. Now watch this again. Consider your ways. Why does God have to repeat himself? Consider your ways. Why? Because we don't do what he says. God says, when are you going to get it? When are you going to obey so that I can bless you, so that I can speak to you, you can listen to what I have to say? And these people were going on, you know, business as normal, doing this, doing that, and God says, you know what, I have ways of getting to you, and the best way is to take everything from you. I'm gonna take everything from you because you don't listen to me. This is what he says in verse 8. Go up to the mountains and bring wood and build the temple. Hey, go up and build my house. Why? That I take pleasure, he said, I take pleasure in it and be glorified. God is pleased when we are what? Are doing his will, and that is what? Building up the church. Giving for crusades, giving for the building of the church, giving for whatever ministry needs to be out there because you're giving to the Lord, you're not giving to Calvary Chapel. You're giving it to the Lord. And we have to be good stewards of that. Because I realized I'm going to have to stand before the Lord and give an account for this ministry. And surely I don't want to be chastened by the Lord and say, I never knew you, and be cast out into darkness? Because you cannot cheat God. God loves his place. He loves his house, and this is not the house of the Lord. You are the house of the Lord in the New Testament. So I think that when we're listening to the word of God, you have to take an examination of your heart. And when you leave here, don't leave the same way you came here, changed. For me and my house, we're gonna do what is right. And as you do, you're gonna see, you're gonna see in a day, in a week, in a month, a year, you're gonna look back and say, wow, man, the Lord is right. God has blessed me. Look what God has done because I was obedient to the word of God, obedient to what he says. Verse 9, he says, you look for much, you go to your bank, but indeed it came to little. Came to little. And then he says, and when you brought it home, I got blew it away. I got blew it away. Why? Saith the Lord of hosts, because of my house that is in ruins, while, notice, every one of you runs to his own beautiful house. There it is. God says that. If you're not giving, we don't care if you give here or not, but if you're not giving to God what belongs to God, shame on you. Shame on you. Because, again, God has the ways of taking more away from you where you have nothing to give to yourself or to anybody else. That's why this lesson is so important for me and for you. Verse 10, therefore, because of this again, the heavens above you withhold the dew, and the earth withholds its fruit. Have you been to the store lately where a lemon is 50 cents? Just one lemon. Oranges, peaches, plums, everything keeps going up, up and up and up. The Bible says in the book of Revelation that when the church is taken out of here, in the book of Revelation, people buying a loaf of bread for 25 dollars. A loaf of bread for 25 dollars. And surely everything is going up. Who enriches themselves? The government. People that don't have anything to do with you or with me, they're only thinking of not one person, me. Me. That's what they think about. And yet, there are people that are millionaires, man, that give so much to the Lord. I thank God for them. Because they're doing what God says. God has given, and they're giving to God. You can't lose when you give to God. You can't. You will lose if you don't give to God. And it will be a big, big thing that you will lose. He goes on, verse 8, he says, go to the mountains and bring wood and build my house or my temple that I may take pleasure in me glorified. And I went back to this because I want you to get it again, repetition. You looked for much indeed, it came to little. When you brought it home, I blew it away. Why, saith the Lord of hosts, because of my house that is in ruins, while every one of your house is run and is beautiful. Therefore, the heavens above withhold the dew of the earth withholds its fruit. For I called for a drought. Who calls? God calls for a drought on the land, on the mountains, on the grain, on the new wine, on the oil, and whatever the ground brings forth, he says, I am the one doing it. Men and livestock and all the labor of your hands. Notice what he says there. He says, I am the one that is messing with you because you're being disobedient to me. People go so far from God. They don't even, even know that he's judging them. They don't even see it. They say, Mother Nature, Mother Nature. Who's that? Mother Nature? Father Nature's, I mean, they had all these weird things. It's God. God's in control. Obedience to God's word, he says now. Then Zerubbabel, the son of Shadiel, and Joshua, the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and with all the remnant, underlined remnant, there's only a remnant in the church. All the way back to the Old Testament, there's a remnant that obey and do what God says. The remnant of the people, what they do? Obeyed. Underline that. Circle it. What did they obey? The voice of the Lord. What are you hearing this morning? Right here, the voice of the Lord, the Bible, the word of God. The word of God. He says, the voice of the Lord their God, their God personal. And the words of Haggai the prophet, as the Lord their God, notice, had said him, and the people feared the presence of the Lord. That's one thing people don't have fear, the presence of the Lord. We don't fear. We don't fear God, and yet every one of us will stand before God and give an account of our lives. Very important. What are you doing with your life? How are you doing in your giving to God? How do you treat your wife, your husband, your children? What about physically taking care of yourself? All right, but what about spiritually? Spiritually, are you feeding upon God's word? Are you coming and learning about God's word and what you need to do? And this lesson this morning is for me, it's for you, and it's concerning priorities. Seek ye first the kingdom of God in my worship, in my reading, in my giving, in my witnessing, God is number one. Everything that we have to do with God, because then he says this in verse 13. Then Haggai, the Lord's messenger, spoke the Lord's message to the people, saying, I am with you, saith the Lord. Isn't that neat? Those that repent, the Lord says, I am with you, and you are with me. It's a word of encouragement to us, an encouragement that God not only loves me and he cares for you, but that God wants to bless you and take care of you, and he wants to take care of your family because he takes that role not only as our God, but our Father and our Savior. That Jesus Christ has done so much for you, wiping out every one of your sins. Why? Because he paid the penalty on the cross. The cross of Jesus Christ. The cross of Jesus Christ, that's why we're here. And when you speak of the cross, what can you do? This cross speaks of death. Have you died to yourself? Have I died to myself? Reckon the old man to be dead, Paul says in Romans chapter 6. If we're not reckoning the omen to be dead, then we're going to be selfish. We're only going to think of ourselves. We're going to be bragging about all the things that we do, all the things that we have. And then, if we are truly following the Lord, guess what's going to happen? We're giving all the glory to Him. All the glory to Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, for what he's done, for what he's doing, and for what he will do in the future. That's why we worship him, that's why we serve him. That's why we're here today, and those who listen to the radio, watching through the internet. It's not just church, it's the message. The message that God gives to us so that we can, what, be convicted by the Holy Spirit. And then verse 14, I love this. Look what he says. Here God moves into their hearts. 18 years early in the book of Ezra chapter 1:5, now he moves into their hearts. So the Lord stirred up what? The spirit of Zerubbabel and son of Shadiel, governor of Judah. So the first person to get stirred up is the governor. Secondly, in the spirit of Joshua, the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, in the spirit of all the remnant, now the people, of the people, and they came and they worked on the house of the Lord of hosts, their God. Everybody came together. Guess what happened? Revival. Revival. The people, the priests, all these people that God has called the spirit of the Lord, the spirit of the Lord, the spirit of the Lord. And I wonder if today God can bring revival. I think he can. I think he can. But do people want revival? Do you want to be revived? To see the power of the Holy Spirit take over your life? To watch your children worshiping God. To watch your children say, Dad, I don't want to watch it. That's evil. That's bad. Why? Because you're teaching. You're teaching them about God and his presence and his Holy Spirit. Then he finishes with this. On the 24th day of the 6th month in the second year of the king's liars, he comes to the conclusion of the prophecy. This date here is September the 21st, 520 BC. My conclusion is this. Let's put God first and give to him what belongs to him first. And then he says this in the scripture, to much is given, much more will be required.
Announcer: As you contemplate how easy it is to focus on the world rather than Christ, we encourage you to stop and give careful thought to the place the Lord has in your heart. You're listening to Somebody Loves You Radio with Raul Ries. Today's lesson was titled Consider Your Ways. We'll be happy to send an unedited version to you for a donation of 5 dollars or more. To get your copy, just call us at 800-634-9165. Now, to support you in being more diligent about putting the Lord first, we'd like to tell you about Raul's 10-part study, Called, Chosen, and Committed. It's available on either CD or thumb drive. This resource will guide you in wholeheartedly living for God, trusting him with your future, and honoring him with your talents and resources. Visit somebodylivesyou.com or call 800-634-9165 to order Raul's 10-message series, Called, Chosen, and Committed. We'll send you the CD collection for 22 dollars or the flash drive for 13 dollars. The number again is 800 6 3 4 9 1 6 5, or write to Somebody Loves You Radio, PO Box 4440, Diamond Bar, California, 9 1 7 6 5. Our Somebody Loves You app features live streamed teaching, digital Bible studies, and much more. You can also find a wealth of biblical teaching on the Somebody Loves You worldwide YouTube channel, and podcasts of all of these programs are available on iTunes and Spotify. Thank you for your partnership in our mission to share biblical truths from God's word. Every contribution you make is tax deductible. And join us again next time for more insight into what it looks like to follow the Lord in undivided devotion. You'll see that your love for him can shine through in every act of obedience to his word. This program is sponsored by Somebody Loves You Radio in Diamond Bar, California.