Good morning, church. Thank you so much for being here today. I'm really excited to be worshiping with you for one. That's just a joy and a pleasure in and of itself. But I'm also excited to get to bring up some of my friends who are motivated right now in ways that I'm excited about for them.

And so I wanted to give them a little bit of time. So y'all gotta share this. All right? Y'all gotta get used to sharing if you haven't already. So for last week, me and my wife talked a little bit.

This week, we're going to talk to the donaters. If you haven't met John and Cassidy, fix that before the day's out. They've been with our church since the very beginning. I had John sweating in a trailer early on. Cassidy withheld her singing gift for several years.

Finally, she came clean about that. And so I'm thankful to see them both serving the Lord faithfully all these many years. And I wanted to just ask them a couple of questions today. The primary purpose of this is just to get you thinking of what the Lord might be calling you to as we endeavor to serve him and sacrifice with a lifelong sacrifice, we've been called. Romans says that you would present your bodies as living sacrifices, that that's what the Christian life should be.

And we've kind of watered that down. And it's been that way, I think, in our culture for some time. But we're called to. To sacrificially give all of ourselves, not just this thing that bothers us, this money thing, but everything and that he's Lord of all. And so, Dennaders, I gave you a little bit of heads up, and either one of you can answer and share on this, but what are you doing these next three years, if you will, to try to give more?

What are you trying to do more? I guess. Are you trying to make more in certain areas in order to possibly give more over the next few years? Yeah. So for us, I think it's gonna be a little bit of combination of a lot of certain things.

For one, for me, just, you know, taking on some extra work, whether it be overtime at work or I've gotten kind of out of teaching, so looking to get back into teaching, making some of that extra income that I did prior years, and I saw that recently on my W2s, so definitely can use that income for this time campaign. Cassidy as well. I think she's looking to do some overtime with her work, you know. You know, just bearing more Work for us on our own jobs. But, you know, also, you know, we're just, you know, looking to, you know, sell some assets that we have.

Okay. Some of the very large assets that we just took on this past year that, you know, we. We've been in talks with it and, you know, we hate to see it go, but, you know, I think it's. It's the Lord's, and so I know for me, it's called On My Heart, so. All right, well, let's let Cassidy answer the second question.

This follow up question is because John's about to get touched. I don't know what that means. Maybe he'll tell us, but. But the follow up would be, are y'all making any. It sounds like you're making one big cut.

Are there any other cuts or things you're trying to do this year to be more sacrificial in your time, talent and treasure? I mean, sure, for time and talent. We try to ramp that up as much as we can with serving within the church, like he said, put him outside of his comfort zone. Yeah, I heard him say that last night. Hold him to it.

But no, just sticking with our budget, trimming out anything that's excess. Go through subscriptions, unnecessary things, cut those out. And then practice some minimalistic views as well. Try to stick to what we need, not all the unnecessary excess.

Good. What else? Did we have anything to add to that, John, or.

All right, well, scaling back, making a little more, working a little harder, selling some stuff that is good stuff, but maybe not need it. What a plan. What a plan. Y'all give them a hand. Thank you so much, John and Cassidy told you that one was crazy.

John, be careful now.

What a wonderful time to be a pastor, and what a wonderful time it's always been. True, you came into service today and saw something sitting on your chair. If you're a guest today, I don't want you to feel any compulsion on that. Just know we're in the middle of something together as a church. We're trying to move into a new space in the next few months.

So if you're new here, just know that's what we're up to. And it might all be shocking at the moment. Don't let it be. We're going to preach the word of God today, and that's really the purpose of this, is worship and encourage one another in the Lord. But I do want to pause for just a second for the rest of you in here, that you saw this as you walked in, and I Know, there's a bunch of numbers on here, and it might be like, what in the world am I looking at?

But we want to give you the opportunity over the next week, Next week. We've been saying for some for over a month now that February 16, Sunday, February 16, is going to be commitment Sunday commitment to make a gift towards whatever God is calling you to. And I don't know what that's going to be, but the Bible teaches something very specific. It teaches the principle of proportional giving, and I think that's valuable. There's a story that Jesus tells about the widows.

In the King James, it says the widows might. And she comes and brings a few coins and throws them in the bucket. And Jesus tells his disciples, she gave more than everyone else. Now, we know for a fact she didn't give financially more than everyone else, but for her, it was a greater sacrifice. And that, I believe, is what God is calling us to with our lives, is that we would give him our very best.

And that's all she could give. That was the best of what she could give. And so that's the principle of proportional giving. This little chart is just a help to you to think, what can I do monthly? You know, maybe can I find an extra 100 bucks a month?

I'll give you a little personal story. This past week, I spent some time trying to figure out the kind of stuff I don't need. And I already found $310 a month that I don't need to spend. I bet you've got stuff like that. And maybe you're thinking, wow, Jonathan, how wasteful are you?

Just know that when you have four kids, they'll start streaming things that you didn't realize, like they. They'll start giving you access. Alexa Music, by the way, doesn't even require parental anything. You can just, hey, I want to play this song. Well, you need Alexa Music Unlimited.

And do you want that? Alexa says, and my kids will go, yeah, all right, 15amonth. Now, from now on, I'm like, why is this even a thing? There's probably a way to fix that. Mike, tell me later how to fix that.

But somebody who knows things. But anyway, it's not that difficult to find a few extra if you're willing to make some cuts and just say, hey, God, I don't know what you want me to do right now, but would you just show me a way? The principle here of proportional giving comes from many places. One is here in Second Corinthians 8, where it says, whatever you give is Acceptable if you give it eagerly and give according to what you have and not what you don't have, and so find what you already have. There's some things maybe you're wasting, maybe some things you just don't need that you can give the Lord.

This is the whole principle, and this is kind of the big motto, if you will, underneath proportional giving. And that is, it's not about equal gifts, it's about equal sacrifice. I just desperately want to see God move in my life. I'm becoming more convinced that if I want to see the miracles of God in my life, it's going to require me to give him my best, that I got to give him my all. If I give him anything less than that, it's like I can't even see him show up.

Because if I want him to be strong in me, I've got to be courageous. So that's where we're going to be today. Hopefully. This testimony from John and Cassidy was encouraging to you to know they're just normal people at our church. They're not on staff here.

There's a lot of people here just functioning in life like you are and trying to figure out how to trust God better. And that's all I can possibly encourage you to do, is trust God in every part. And so that's where we're going to be today, talking about this idea that it's time to trust God for the end result. I want to remind you of what it says in Haggai chapter one, and then in chapter two, it says, these people say, the time has not yet come to rebuild the house of the Lord. Yet now be strong, work, for I am with you, declares the Lord.

My spirit remains in your midst. So fear not. That's the theme passage for the whole thing. Do the work, be strong, do the work, and do not fear. Last week, we hope if you saw that sermon, if you were here with us, if you missed it, you can catch it online.

But we got this thing, this message from God, from the words of God to the people, and it was encouraging them. It was these imperatives, but they were all encouraging. Hey, be strong, have faith, be fearless. This week we've got something pretty amazing as well, where God is actually making promises. And I love those passages of scripture.

I don't know about you, those passages where God says, here's what I'm going to do, and let's be thankful church. I just want to pause for a second. Let's be thankful that we're a part of a faith where God has made a lot of promises and has done all the work. Our part is important. Our part is faith.

Our part is a confession of faith and obedience to the Son of God. That's true and it's significant. I'm not trying to belittle that at all. When God truly calls you to Himself, he's calling all of you, not just part of you. He's calling all of you.

But I want you to understand something. The salvation you've received, you didn't do anything for. You did none of the work. He made all of the promises and he did all of the work. Your part was merely.

I agree, and I want to be a part of it. That's your part. So that's what's so amazing about Christianity, that God makes promises. And guess what he does? He keeps them.

He keeps them every time. And he's making some promises today that I think are timeless. I really do. I believe these are timeless. You'll see as we unpack it.

Timeless promises first to the nation of Israel and now to the church. Last week we heard encouragement. Now we hear his promise. Now I wonder something. This title, I don't know how it speaks to you initially.

It's time to trust God for the end result. I don't know how that moves you at first, but I bet a lot of you are struggling to trust God in everything. It's pretty difficult. This is, I think, one of the most difficult parts or processes of. Of the Christian faith is to learn to trust him in everything and certainly to trust him with the results.

Those of you in the room know this already. If you have children or if you're in a workplace, which I imagine all of you are in one of those things, or have been at some point, you will notice that there's either people, either small people in your house or people at your workplace that when you give them tasks, there's a lot of times where you're thinking, I don't know how the results will be. If you give your kids some tasks, you can assume most of the time, unless you've got an incredible kid, they're going to do the bare minimum. They're going to do just enough to where you don't have any reprimands for them. And what I've noticed is people don't grow up.

I don't know if you've observed this. I haven't worked in the private sector in a while, but I know this much, that the times I worked in the pharmacy and the times I did landscape and the times I was a janitor for a while. Here's what I noticed. People do the bare minimum. They just do.

And sometimes you do. And maybe you have reasons for that. That would be a whole different topic to call you towards more than that because you're working to the Lord and not for man. But I've observed something that people do the minimum. Our kids, our co workers.

And maybe it's because they don't care. I don't know. But for you, what would it look like to trust God with the end results of your life? That, you know, some of you are this way. You give a kid a task, but at the end of the day, you know you're going to have to come back and redo it.

Hey, kid. Hey. Go wash the dishes. But you know, I'm going to have to go in behind them and find all this water all over my counter. My kids wash dishes like they're in some kind of Sesame street thing.

Like, suds are everywhere. I'm like, what are y'all doing? And they always forget the final step of can you please dry? There was a gallon of water in here. I always know I'm gonna have to come back.

And sometimes I wonder that in my life. I wonder when I trust God with my life, my next steps, the next conversation. This step I'm trying to take at work, this thing I'm trying to do in my relationship with my wife or my children. I say with my lips, I trust God. But I keep coming back and checking in.

You sure you got this God? I want you to know, friends, it's not trust at all. And a lot of us are there. We're worried. We're anxious about how things are going to turn out.

What are our kids going to be when they grow up? Who will they marry? Will they be happy? Will they love the Lord? Boy, that's a hard, hard, important question.

What will they be? What will I be? Who will I be in five years? Will I be doing? Will it be important?

Do you trust God with the results? We can put the work in, but how do we become successful in the end? Well, it's more about trusting than anything. So we're going to be in Haggai, chapter six, just a handful of verses where the Lord tells the prophet Haggai and the people of God to persevere in the building. And the reason they can do it is because of what God is up to.

They can trust him because he's made promises and he keeps them. We can join in this kingdom, work and trust God. For the results. So let's dig in. Haggai Chapter two, six, nine.

Listen to this. Notice something as we read that God calls Himself the Lord of Hosts. Every time there's a reason for that. For thus says the Lord of Hosts. Yet once more in a little while, I will shake the heavens and the earth and the sea and the dry land.

I will shake all the nations so that the treasures of all nations shall come in, and I will fill this house with glory, says the Lord of Hosts. The silver is mine, the gold is mine, declares the Lord of Hosts. The latter glory of this house shall be greater than the former, says the Lord of Hosts. And in this place I will give peace, declares the Lord of Hosts. God bless the reading of his word.

Amen. Hey, this is good news to you today. Because these timeless principles have everything to do with where you are right now. It's not just about this temple. In fact, it almost has nothing to do with this temple.

As you'll find out. What God is talking about here is something far beyond their imagination. So here's the first reason, if you will, that we can trust God with the end result. And it's first, by recognizing God's sovereignty over all things. God is sovereign over all things.

Not just a couple of things in your life. Not just a couple of things that you've truly handed to him and went, you know what? He really does have that. No, it's the stuff that's still in your closet that you've not been willing to give him yet. He's over that too.

And if you let him have it, you'll find out he's sovereign overall. And it takes a little bit of humility and trust. Notice there's three I Will statements in these handful of verses. This is where I'm getting my reasons today. These three I will these promises that God makes.

He says in verses six and seven, I will shake. He says in verse seven, I will fill. Then he says in verse eight, I will give. Those are God's promises to you, my friends, my church. This is God's promise.

First I will shake, and twice he says it. Now, why does he call Himself five times in this little text? Why does he call Himself the Lord of Hosts? He doesn't want you to miss that. He wants to remind you of something about who he is.

This is the word Yahweh here. Lord, if you had certain versions of your Bible, we'll even show it in all caps. This is the most holy name of God. This is the Almighty God. This is a Name that we don't even really know how to pronounce.

The Hebrews would not even try to. They would often call him Adonai or, or Jehovah. But this name, they didn't try. It literally means I am that I am the almighty God. He says I am the Lord Yahweh of hosts.

Hosts here has to do with armies. It could be used for warfare. It could also be used for the moon and the stars and the whole creation. God is saying to us, I am the almighty God of heaven's armies of all the creation, the sun, the moon and the stars. This is who's talking to you.

And I want to keep saying it over and over. Declares the Lord of hosts. Declares the Lord of hosts. Church. He doesn't want you to miss this piece.

I am king. God is saying to you, I am in charge. Worry not, Trust me, I'm the Lord of heaven's armies. Then he goes on in verse six to say some very odd things. Yet once more in a little while, I will shake the heavens.

What do you want about here, God? What does this mean? What does it mean to them? What does it mean to us? Almost every commentator I read on this, everything I did research wise on this seemed to be in pretty good agreement on this.

And I think this is true, that what God is intending to tell them here is that there was a time in the past where I shook the heavens and the earth and I'm about to do it again. What's the time in the past he's talking about? One commentator says this is the moral world by God's revelation by Moses. This is the Mount Sinai moment that he's speaking of. And guess what?

He literally shook the earth at Mount Sinai, the mountain. It says I would love. I've said this before church. I so hope that there's a theater in heaven that I can watch how this stuff went down on earth. God, can I get a refresher on what David did to kill Goliath?

I want to see that. I want to see what they saw when God, it says, spoke to all the people. Don't miss this. Yes, God shares it with Moses. Yeah, that's true, but why?

Because the people said, you go talk to him. We're not ready to hear. Was so terrifying that God speaks from the mountain. It says the mountain's on fire and the earth is shaking and it's lightning. And so now the Lord says to the people of Haggai, I'm about to do it again.

I'm about to shake it all up again. You remember Mount Sinai? Exodus chapter 19. It says this in verse 18. Now Mount Sinai was wrapped in smoke because the Lord had descended on it in fire.

The smoke of it went up like the smoke of a kiln and the whole mountain trembled greatly. He shook the heavens and the earth once and he's going to do it again. He says there's this instruction he gives the nation of Israel. Hey, don't touch the mountain, don't come up to it or you will surely die. The people didn't even.

He didn't even have to worry about them doing that. Because when God does this whole moment of shaking and speaking, it says that the people stood a long ways off. I get the impression maybe it was a hot fire. You ever tried to stand real close to a hot fire? Can't do it, not for long.

They stood a long ways off and they said, hey, Moses, you go talk to him. He's too holy for us. I don't know how Moses felt about that. Probably the same. He says, yet once more in a little while.

Now what is he talking about? Once more we know what he's done in the past, what's coming. Well, this I think tells there's a present, there's a past, there's a present and there's a future promise that God is making here. It seems the past promises what I did in Sinai, I will do again. When does he do it again?

He does it again with Christ Jesus. There's events all around the cross and resurrection of Christ that emulate every bit of this story. Does he shake the earth? Yes he does. He shakes the earth.

It's recorded in non biblical texts that the world shook when Christ was crucified, that the veil was torn in the temple. That's how earth shattering it was. But Hebrews, the writer of Hebrews tells us that in a little while it's going to be fully fulfilled. Look at verse 26. It says @ that time his voice shook the earth.

And now he has promised yet once more I will shake not only the earth, but also the heavens. This phrase yet once more indicates the removal of things that are shaken, that is things that have been made in order that the things that cannot be shaken may remain. He is speaking of a future glory church, that there is a time coming when the only thing that will stand are the unshakable things. Those are those in Christ he speaks of. Here there will be a new heavens and a new earth, that the brokenness of this creation will be restored.

Oh, you thought you was just going to read Haggai today. We had to hop almost in Revelation to get ahold of this one. Like God's doing something way bigger. And the people had no idea. They're hearing, oh, this is encouraging.

God's going to shake the earth. God's going to help us build the temple. His glory is going to fill the place. And that's all true. But God to this little bitty people says, I'm going to tell you the future.

I think that's wonderful church, because I got to admit something. Sometimes I look at our church, I look through the rolls, I look at you on Sunday morning and go, we're a small little body of believers, and they're faithful. They look great. They're worshiping and they're trying to be faithful to what God's called them. But sometimes I feel like the little remnant of Israel, right?

I feel like the little guy trying to build a little temple. And God says, but I can reveal my glory to people that are faithful.

If you'll do the work and be strong, then I can show up. But if you think it's all about you, I can't show up. I can't show up in that. I guess I'm thankful at the end of the day that we've been humbled enough and been on this journey long enough together to know that if anything's going to happen, God's going to do it. There's nothing we can do in our power to change people.

It's always been true. The gospel has always necessarily needed God to move people's hearts. We can tell them the truth, but God's got to stir their soul. We can't do that. God says, I'm going to shake the earth.

I'm going to shake the nations. He says, in a little while. Now, I have to admit something. He's told people a promise here that we have no idea what God means by a little while. Because honestly, even the first shaking that God's going to do with the person of Christ Jesus happens 500 years after this.

So what God means by a little while is not what man means by a little while. I can just tell you that right now when God says to us, in a little while, hey, I'm going to shake up the earth, and the only thing that's going to be left are the things that are unshakable. Any of you that drink the Kool Aid and say, hey, that's probably going to be next year, you're a fool. I'll just tell you that straight up. And anyone who tells you that and you believe it, don't be that foolish.

No man knoweth the hour, we can't possibly know it. And God's in a little while is his own kind of word. I'll give you a passage of Scripture to help you to think about this. Peter writes in Second Peter three, do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord, one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. God stands outside of time.

Do you know that time is not above God? He created it. So one day is as a thousand to him. So what does in a little while mean? Who knows?

But. But it could be tomorrow. And we ought to be giving him our very best sacrificing in every way that we can. Because he is shaking up the earth and the nations. Now, when he says nations, this is the word.

I don't know how many of you know any Jewish people in your life to this day. I think there are some people who speak Hebrew who would still call those outside of the Jewish culture or faith. They would call them goyim. I've heard that term before. I'm not sure they still use it.

But the word here is the word goy or goyim, which literally means people outside, non Hebrew people, gentiles, if you will. Goyim is the term in Hebrew. He says, I'm going to shake up all of the nations. All of those outside of the Hebrew faith. I'm going to shake them.

And guess what I'm going to shake them to do. The ISVs says, I'm going to shake them to bring in treasures. Well, that's partially true. This word treasures literally means delight, desire, pleasant, precious. I'm going to cause all of the nations to bring in their precious things.

That's part of what's going on here. I like what the new King James says here. It says that the desire of all nations will come. We're going to sing that at the end of service today. A little piece of the song that we wrote called Haggai some years ago.

The King James says that the desire of all nations will come. This is like a twofold meaning. If you will hear that God's promising two things. First of all, the work that's going to be done in this temple, I'm going to provide the means. I'm going to cause the nations to bring it in.

But not only that, I'm going to give you a prophetic, messianic prophecy here that the desire, the precious of all nations will Come. The Septuagint, which is the Greek translation of the Old Testament, literally says, the chosen or elect one will come. Now, I think this is partially to help us learn that. What's happening? Ezra, chapter 6 says that moreover, I will make.

This is Darius, King Darius of Persia speaking. He says, I will make a decree regarding what you shall do for these elders of the Jews for the rebuilding of the house of God. The cost is to be paid to these men in full and without delay from the royal revenue, the tribute of the province from beyond the river. That means like Persia, Babylon, beyond the river, beyond the Tigris and Euphrates. So what's God telling.

What's God telling them here? He says, look, I'm going to make the nations help you pay for this. That's wild. Look, don't worry about where you're going to get the means to rebuild. I'm going to cause the goyim, the nations to come in.

And here we have, in Ezra, literally, a decree coming from the most powerful king in all the world at this time. Pay it in full. How cool is that? Hey, we like to really. Let's pause for a second.

We like to limit God, do we not? We just do. Most of us come and approach the world, approach our lives, certainly approach our relationship with God with a scarcity mindset. That's just what we do. We come thinking, if God wants this done, it's going to require me to do things and take risks that I don't even know if I can manage.

And God tells these people, don't sweat it. I'm going to make other people pay for it. People that don't even believe. Now, I don't know how to, one to one, apply that to your life, but just know this. God owns the cattle on a thousand hills.

Do you know that? He owns it all? He says, five times here, I'm the Lord of hosts. All the stuff you see, the silver's mine, the gold is mine. All this stuff you're stressed about.

I don't even know how I'm going to pay my bills this month, Jonathan. Yeah, but God, well, he has all the means in the world to take care of little things like that. I don't know if I really can give God more of my time. Really? Well, I don't know how, but both of us got 24 hours a day.

I don't know how that happened. And I found that I waste a lot of my time. I don't know if you've discovered this yet. I'm really I'm going to keep doing these devotions on Instagram for the next two weeks. And then after that, I think I'm getting rid of that thing because I find myself just wasting time watching other people's cats.

You know, I'm not really watching the cat one so much, but, like, just goofy stuff. I'll look and go, wow, I just did an hour of watching other people goof off. I don't have time for that. I got time to be spending with the holy of holies, with the Lord of hosts. So do you.

So do you.

But more than that, he says the desire of all nations will come. He promises this little humble people, in a little while, I'm sending the Messiah. You want to know why this temple is greater? Because Christ Jesus is going to walk in these halls. That's why this temple is greater.

You want to know what makes one church greater than the other? It's not people and it's not numbers. It's not, hey, we've got smoke coming out as we worship. You know, it's not. When we get everything right and guess what we do.

We make mistakes. I've been involved in a lot of different churches. They all make little mistakes every week. And some of them, even in between services, say, all right, we've got to fix all those little. Those little things we did wrong.

And I kind of get that because I'm a bit ocd. I understand that. However, what I know is none of that stuff is all that relevant. It's important that we get up here, that I get up here, that you come to church and try to give him your best, make sure it's him your best and not somebody else. You know, I'm not going to get up here and preach and try to make you smile, because I need your smiles.

I needed that some years ago, like in this first few years at RMA, when it'd be 12 of you sitting out there. I really need people to just smile for a second because I'm dying up here. But I'm past that if I'm going to keep doing this. I want to see the move of God in your life and in mine. I don't really need applause.

I don't want them. And if I'm going to keep doing this thing, I just want to see God move in my life and I want to see the desire of all nations impact new people in these seats. That's the only reason I want to see them filled, is so that I can see life change and see people baptized and see People come into Christ. That's my great desire for this church. He makes this wonderful promise to this little bitty body of believers.

Have you come to the place, as Job once did, where you recognize God's sovereignty? Job had to really go through the wringer. I pray you don't need to do that. Job 42. It says that Job answered the Lord and said, I know that you can do all things and that no purpose of yours can ever be thwarted.

I have to keep asking myself this question. And some of you. Some of you are getting maybe tired of this conversation that we've been having for about a month. But I have to keep coming back to something in my mind that there was this random Tuesday about a year ago where God sent a small little group of people over to Redeemer Church just to ask a simple question. Are y'all trying to buy a piece of land?

And then they told us, actually we're moving and we want somebody, another church, to buy this property. I can tell you right now, that makes no sense to me. I can't get over that miracle. And so when I come to this sovereignty of over all things, I just have to lay that at the feet of Jesus and say, I don't know what your people are going to do. I don't know how they're going to respond to this.

Some of them are probably getting sick and tired of hearing me talk about it. Okay? But that's not up to me. We're trying to go through a door that it looks like God just swung wide open. I know pastors and churches all over our city that would love to have that property.

Love it. And for some reason, we were the first ones to walk through the door. I don't get that at all. But God does. All I can believe is that God thinks.

Well, he doesn't just think. He knows that there's some faithful people here. Do you know this church? Introspection for a second? He believes that there are faithful people in this church that will honor him with opportunities he gives.

This is just one little bitty door. There's a greater glory. There's a greater glory than the temple. That's what he's trying to tell you today. That's what he's trying to remind me of.

That doesn't matter. I think he's given us that opportunity and we ought to take it. But the latter glory is greater. And that is God filling his house with glory. That is God doing the part only he can do.

And that is rescuing people all over Nash County. Some of you moved here and you didn't even know the statistics. Some of you came to Rocky Mount because there was a job offer or something like that. I want you to know something. This place is dangerous.

All right. Stats aren't great. Just look them up sometime. We got some crazy stuff going on in Nash County. Shouldn't say Nash County.

It's really Rocky Mountain City. I think the county's fairly normal.

Some of you are like, I haven't looked into those stats. What are you talking about? Sorry.

To that very place. He's called us and he looked around and said, these people will be faithful. Will you? Trying to be. Oh, God, I'm just trying to be faithful.

I've noticed something about myself. It's never a good time. It never feels like a good time to be faithful to God's call. It never feels like a good time. I didn't.

Just so you know, I have four children. Most of you know this. I wasn't ready to do that.

I'm going to wait until I'm ready to have kids. I'm going to wait until I'm financially ready. What?

I'm going to wait until I'm mature enough to have kids. Well, you'll die without them. You'll never be mature enough to have them. We're kids having kids. That's what we're doing.

It's what you did. And you realize that those of you who've already gotten through that, you know, a lot of you are better grandparents than you were ever parents. You figured it out, maybe messed him up a little bit, but God's in control, you know, it's going to be all right. It's never a good time to be faithful. If God says, I want you to be a father, it's never a good time to be faithful.

If God says, I want you to talk to your father about the gospel, there's never going to be a good time to be faithful. You just have to say, yes. But you don't know what he did to me. It's never going to be a good time. If you feel God just pressing in on your heart, that co worker that keeps having these weird conversations with you that almost feels like they're moving towards something spiritual.

And that's the Lord pressing in and saying, share the good news. Move towards the gospel. Just know this. There's never going to be a good time.

Some of you might remember this back in your early days when you were trying to ask a girl out for the first time, or maybe you were patiently waiting for some guy to ask you out. I don't know. There's never a good time, is what I've observed, to ask a girl out. Her friends are around. I can't do it today.

I don't know if her friends like me or not. They probably don't. He's not good enough for you. You know, just. It's okay.

It's never gonna be a good time to reconcile with that family member. It's never gonna be a good time to be sacrificial. With your time, talent and treasure. There's never gonna be a good time to be faithful. You just have to say, I trust you.

It's a yes from me. It's a yes from me. God, I don't know how we're gonna do this together, but you've got my yes. Are you afraid of being generous towards God? Thinking that he isn't a generous God?

Have you somehow missed the story of the gospel here that says our God is the most generous being that has ever been and will ever be? Do you want to know what generosity looks like? I would point you to the scriptures. If someone asks me, what does perfect generosity look like? I would say, let's look to Jesus.

I can't think of a better place that the God of the universe would make things right with me by his own sacrifice. I don't get that. You want to know what it looks like to be generous? He did it first and he's calling you to simple generosity. Hey, I just want to know, are you mine?

Are you a son, a daughter of the king? Then be about the purposes of the king. Don't be afraid. I've noticed something about rich kids. They seem to never be afraid to spend Daddy's money.

But some of you have forgotten that that's exactly the life you live on this earth. It's just stuff. And he owns it all. Use it for the kingdom. Here's the second reason.

By serving for God's glory in all that we do. And this is about to feel like a shotgun because I got a lot to cover in no time.

Hey, did you start that when I had them up here? I'm going to count that. By serving in God's glory in all that we do. He goes on to say, I will fill this house with my glory. He says in verse seven and nine, what's going to happen here is a later glory that's going to be greater than you can imagine.

And why is this? The silver and gold is mine. Why does he mention that in the middle there in verse 8, I want you to know something, Church. If God had wanted the temple to be greater than Solomon's Temple, because the people are looking at it going, this is not going to be astounding. We're rebuilding this thing.

But the gold and the magnitude and everything that Solomon did, it's going to be. It's not even going to be close in comparison. If you think for a moment that if God wanted something greater than Solomon's Temple, he couldn't have accomplished it, you're looking at God all wrong. If God had wanted this little remnant of Israel to build something more grand than Solomon had, guess what they would have done? They would have accomplished it because God would have provided.

He didn't want that. He's teaching him a new lesson. I don't need big, huge temples. I need you to be faithful. I need you to believe that the Son of God is coming and walking in these places, that there's a greater glory coming and that glory is going to be within you.

No longer is the presence of God going to be on an ark in a building. The presence of God is going to be in your life wherever you go. That is a greater glory that's beyond compare.

Matthew Poole, when writing on this, he says, the first had a fullness of glory and its magnificent structure, its rich ornaments, its costly sacrifices. But this was a worldly glory. That which is here promised is a heavenly glory from the presence of Christ in it, he that was the brightness of his Father's glory. The glory of the church appears in the second temple. A greater glory.

John 1 tells us, the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. In Matthew 12, Jesus says, Yet I say to you that in this place there is one greater than the temple. Jesus says some wild stuff while he's walking the earth. Gets himself in a lot of trouble with some very influential people. He says to those people without any shame, there is one greater than this temple.

What was the promise? Hey, the Messiah is coming now. Church. He has come. He taught on the Sermon on the Mount that we should live in such a way that it brings glory to God.

Matthew 5 says, Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven. I think this is one of the best parts about being a Christian. Let me just make a crazy argument for just a second. One of the best parts about being a Christian, getting to be a part of the Kingdom of God. One of the best parts is that I don't have to worry about the results.

I think that's the maybe one of the certainly it's great that I'm saved and I get to go to heaven. It's hard to compete with that and get to spend eternity with my family and my Lord. But a close second would be the fact that I don't have to worry about what's happening and I don't have to worry about the glory. Most of you are working in places where what we would say is it's a dog eat dog world. In order for me to get up the ladder, I'm going to have to stomp on a few people to climb the rungs.

A lot of you have worked in places like that. Some of you work there now. It's uncomfortable, isn't it? You know why it's uncomfortable, believer? Because that's not how you were built.

That's not what you were saved for. You were set free from such silliness. Oh, I don't have to worry about climbing the rungs of that ladder. God has called me to a greater purpose. He says, work hard as unto the Lord and not unto men.

I work for his glory. If he wants to lift me up, he will do it. If he wants to set me low, he will do that. Either way, I give him glory. I gotta admit that is extremely freeing because now I don't have to say, well, I gotta make sure my resume looks good.

Oh my goodness. When I was in the army, people were freaking out about their oers and their and these things. This officer evaluation report, I've got to make sure that thing is tied up in a bow. I did enough reports. I want them to report that I did 12 reports this year and they were well done.

And some of you are in businesses like that. I've got to put on my best face when I come in for my job review or whatever, my 90 day review, my two year review, I got to come in there and I got to set the tone. This guy works hard. Guess what? If you work really hard, they're going to give you more work.

I just want to go ahead and warn you of that because everybody else does not work hard. So they're going to see you and go, here's more, here's more, here's more. But you don't have to worry about all that stuff. God's in control. Hey, say I work for God and no man.

I work for no one else. I work for his glory. And if he wants to promote me, he will do it. So I'm not going to get so frazzled about climbing this rung and stepping on everybody else. Whose glory am I in it for?

I got to admit, that is so freeing. I don't need credit. I don't need to stand out. If God wants to raise me up, he will. And when he does that, I'll give him even more glory.

I'm confident of this church that he loves me enough to not raise me up if I'm not going to give him the glory. I don't know why he's been that gracious with me, but I appreciate his mercy that he wouldn't say, hey, here's a huge platform, Jonathan, with your big old head. No, he didn't do that. He said, I'm going to lay you down here for a little while so you can figure this out. Because that pride's got to die so that you can give me glory.

And then we'll see. I think we're in that we'll see phase, church. I don't know. The Israelites were so worried about this temple. It's not going to look glorious.

We're not going to stand out. God says, I'm about to fill you with my glory. Here's the third reason, boy, I'm thankful for this one. By receiving God's peace given in Christ Jesus, this I will statement just wins. I will shake the nations.

I will give glory. I'll fill my house with glory. And lastly, I will grant you peace. I gotta admit something, church. This is all I hunger for nowadays.

There was times where I wanted a pool in my backyard or I wanted something cool to be driving and things like that. And I think those are natural urges, very worldly kind of urges. And I found that the more I finally got the kitchen I wanted. You know, when I first moved in there, the kitchen was pretty crummy. And we did a remodel.

And here's what I've realized. I still owe on that kitchen remodel. And I would pay good money to not have to owe that. I'd take back that ugly kitchen with them crooked shelves. And my wife, if you ask her, she'd say, nah, I'm good with the debt.

Like, forget those nasty. The shelves were warped and crazy. I'd take that in a heartbeat to be out of debt. Because why? Because you can't purchase peace.

You can't buy it.

Christ says, I will give you peace, the comfort you've longed for. The word here is the Hebrew word shalom. Which is a massive word. So massive that in almost every Middle Eastern dialect they still say it as a greeting. Salaam, shalom, Peace be with you.

Most common greeting in all of the Middle east and everywhere that Islam has been prevalent too. Peace be with you. This word shalom is more than just quiet tranquility. Those are true. It's also safety, it's health.

It's more than just, hey, I'm not at war.

It's that I can actually rest. That's what shalom's about. Randy was talking about this earlier and I just want to put a caveat to Sabbath.

It's not enough to not work on the Sabbath. That won't even be a Sabbath, because guess what? You'll fill your day with unrestful things. I don't have to work today, so I'm going to mow my yard. That could work if you're spending time with the Lord on that mower.

I find a great peace and tranquility on my zero turn mower. Silly as that sounds. I would like very much to keep that Lord, if you don't mind, but it's up to you. I'll give that too. That's a place where I can put a headset on and just talk to him.

Hopefully not run over a trunk or something. You know, pay enough attention. But rest isn't just not working. Sabbath is not just working. How was that?

Time well spent. It's not just time. All day. Alright, I'm going to do crafts with my kids all day. Cool.

That very well may not be Sabbath. Sabbath is. I'm going to spend this day really focusing and resting in the Lord. What does that even look like? Jonathan, you haven't figured out how to Sabbath yet.

Ask that question. What does it mean to rest today in the Lord?

That's the right question. Hunt for that one next time you're trying to Sabbath, look, rest, peace, he says. Shalom, I will give it. And true peace comes first by reconciliation to God through Christ Jesus. If you've come to church today, I want you to know you're never going to understand eternal, permanent peace until you've been reconciled with the Lord.

You won't understand it yet. Paul writes to the Romans, chapter five. He says, therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. The peace comes by faith and the justification by faith. And then we can finally feel a sense of sonship, of being adopted into the family of God.

There's where it starts. Jesus gives this peace that's different from worldly peace. It's lasting, it's unshakable. It's not just, hey, things are good. I've got enough money in the account and my wife's not fighting with me today and my kids are semi behaving.

That's not peace. That's just the absence of bad. I want you to understand that's not peace. The circumstances are perfect right now. Everybody would be smiling in that good job.

Everybody smiles on the back of a Waverunner, you know, Jet Ski. Everybody smiles there. Maybe some of you might be a frightened at that moment. I don't know. I found that most people smile on a roller coaster when things aren't well.

That's where you can really identify true peace. Though the absence of circumstances is not peace. John 14 Christ says peace I leave with you, my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.

Are you worried today what's stilling your peace? What's stilling your shalom, if you will. Are you looking for peace in the wrong places? Maybe. I mean, most of us want that.

We want the absence of bad. God, can you please remove the bad from my life? It's not a terrible prayer. I find that that's most of our prayer life. God, can you remove this sickness from my life?

Can you help me to have enough to pay those bills? Can you help me to make good enough grades on this test? Can you? It's generally the kinds of prayers about God, can you remove the bad from my life? I'm not saying you can't pray for stuff like that, but there's a better prayer maybe.

God, would you help me to have peace in the things that you've called me to walk through? Maybe some of these valleys I had to walk through, the loss of loved ones, the hardship of that, some brokenness that I had to suffer through. God, would you show me how to have peace and trust you in the valleys?

Those are the three reasons that God gives. These are promises to you church, I will shake up the nations. You don't have to worry where anything is coming from. Am I going to have enough time? What can I do to serve you?

Am I going to have enough? That question. God is sovereign overall.

What's going to happen next? Who's going to get the credit? Serve him in such a way that you don't have to worry about that stuff anymore. Will I get promoted? I really need to get promoted.

God. Okay, I might give you that who's going to get the glory?

I'd rather him not give it to me. If I'm not going to give him the glory. Keep it. I won't know what to do with it if you gave it. Serve him for his glory and then find true peace in the only place where it exists.

It doesn't exist in the absence of circumstances. I know this. I've seen this already. That I can feel like something's missing. Right when everything seems to be going well.

Because I'm this kind of guy that says, when is the other shoe gonna drop? I can't even find peace when nothing's going wrong. Cause that's not true peace at all. I want to leave you with a couple of thoughts this week. I hope you'll take this home and just simply ask.

I don't even care if you write anything on this. I hope that the Lord will call you to. But what I would really love to hear is that you're praying this prayer. Lord, what do you want to do in and through me at my workplace, in the kingdom of God, at my church? How do you want me to serve?

How do you want me to give God? You tell me what you want from me. Because I don't know. I have to admit, I come to this reluctant. You and I both.

I come to this with reluctance. In my heart, I don't know. Would you pray simply, Lord, what do you want to do in and through me? This Thursday we're doing something challenging. Some of you may have to work.

I understand you may have things going on. You can't be there. But this Thursday, I'm calling the church to a day of fasting. And we're going to have a prayer night. That night I'm literally going to do a day of fasting from food.

That might be a hard day for you. You might have really difficult work. Don't fast from that. Fast from something that would guide your attention to the Savior. That's the point of the fast.

It's not to try to lose weight. That's not a fast. That's called a diet. A fast is when I feel a grumbling. I go, God, you are good.

And you're a provider of all. When I get that little headache because I'm going to fast from caffeine, too. That's a risk. That little headache's going to be God. Look how small I am and insignificant that I need these little chemicals.

I don't really need them, God. But right now I'm feeling it. That's what we're going to do this Thursday together. I would ask you fast from something that would guide your attention to the Savior and be in prayer. God, what do you want to do in and through me?

And then that night we're going to pray together. It's going to be a very simple time. I don't have any plan. I'm not going to be up here playing stuff or doing anything. We're going to pray.

Whoa. You mean we're just going to come and pray? Yes, that's what we're going to do. I don't have a plan at all. I don't know what God's going to do.

Come and pray with me. I pray that you'll do that. And then next week, I just hope and I hope that God will respond to your request and show you how he wants to move in your life. Let's spend some time now in prayer together. Heavenly Father, we thank you for your word.

First to the nation of Israel, to the people in Haggai's day. I'm thankful for that. It's good to see. It's refreshing to see in your word the promises you make and then to see you keep them. That's very helpful to me in my faith.

But I'm thankful, God, that there's a greater promise on display to the people here that goes not only to our present day, but something in our future. That God, you've made a promise that you will shake out the nations and they will all come and respond. Respond to what you call the desire, the precious chosen one of all nations, that they will come and respond to it. That's good news for me, God. That's good news.

That the work that we're trying to do as a church in ministering and sharing the gospel with our city, that all you've called us to is to be obedient to that and to say yes and say, all right, where you want me to speak, I will speak. Where you want me to serve, I will serve. But I don't have to worry about the results. Because, God, you said, I will shake out the nations, those who clearly understand that their desire, the desire of all nations has already come, that Christ Jesus has come and died and set them free. You will shake them out.

If we would simply say, yes, God, I will be your voice in my workplace. That person you've been calling me to reconcile with, that person you've been challenging me to speak on your behalf. I will do it. And God, I'm asking, will you, as you promised, shake out the nations. Bring people to yourself.

That's all I can ask for as a member of this church. God, you will shake out the nations. Those who you seek to set free. Use us to do it. God, give us peace in this.

Those uncomfortable conversations that you've been challenging us to have. Those areas where you're asking us to sacrifice, give us peace.

You promised to give it. Lord, I'm asking for your people this week that you would simply speak towards this one prayer. I don't know what you're calling them to do with their time, their talent and their treasure. I know that I'm reluctant. That's the natural bent of man that we come reluctant with you.

God, would you just respond to them as they pray? God, what do you want to do in my life? How do you want me to serve you? How can I better serve your kingdom's purpose in my life? Would you respond and show them this week big and small ways that they can love you and serve you?

God, do this in all of us. We pray in Jesus name, Amen.