Sunday 01:27:13

God’s Presence, Our Hope When Nehemiah heard about the condition of Jerusalem and was undone. He fasted and prayed for four months. It seems that during that time, God gave him a vision, a calling and inspiration to rebuild the wall. If our lives lack vision, it’s probably from a lack of wholehearted seeking the Lord. While they worked to rebuild the wall, they faced constant threats from their enemies. God uses adversity to strengthen faith. By it, He showed the Jews and their enemies that He was with them and by His power the wall was rebuilt. When they completed the work on the wall, Ezra read the book of the Law to them and they wept. But Nehemiah told them it was a time of joy – the Lord showed his favor to them and helped them. He said, The joy of the Lord is your strength. Last week in Ezra we read that Cyrus the Persian king sent out a decree to allow the Jews to rebuild the temple. This fulfilled a prophecy written 120 years before when God spoke to Isaiah and said he would use “Cyrus” to rebuild Jerusalem. Cyrus was not a Jew, but God used him to accomplish His will. Don’t pray small prayers; remember God can accomplish anything He desires. Ezra 3:10-13 vv. 10-11 – When you worship God through music, you are a part of the continual praise of God from his people that began 3,000 years ago and will continue through all eternity. No one took credit for this work. They knew God had helped them do it. vv. 12-13 – The young people shouted for joy – they had not seen the first temple. The temple was destroyed 66 years before by Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar. The old men wept because they knew it would never be as glorious as the first. During this time, God sent 2 prophets to encourage the Jews who returned to Jerusalem: Haggai and Zechariah. We know that during this time Haggai addressed the people and encouraged them to continue. Haggai 2:1-9 vv. 1-2 – On October, 17, 520 B.C., God sent Haggai to speak to Zerubbabel, the governor of Judah; and Joshua, the high priest, and the remnant of people God returned to Jerusalem. v. 3 – “Who saw the former temple” – 66 years prior, some saw it as children. “How does it look now?” The previous temple was built from the wealth of the united kingdom under Solomon. He had large stores of gold, skilled craftsmen, imports of the finest wood. It was one of the wonders of the ancient world. These residents of Jerusalem were poor. This temple could never be as extravagant. This new temple was inferior to the old one – and it discouraged the people from going on. We can be discouraged because God is not doing things like he did before. We can be discouraged by the loss of respect of God by our society. We can be discouraged by the loss of influence of the church in our world. We can be discouraged that God isn’t doing things like he used to. Discouragement is one of the most powerful weapons of our enemy to halt the work of God. If Satan can discourage you, He can get you to give up, to lose hope and stop you from fulfilling God’s calling on your life. That’s what happened to the Jews. They were discouraged and stopped building the temple. vv. 4-5 – Haggai’s message: 1. Be strong 2. Work 3. For I am with you 4. Do not fear There was discouragement that no matter what they did, it would not matter. There was fear that God had abandoned them and that no amount of prayer could help. But God reminded them: I am with you. My presence is with you. I am here as I promised. vv. 6-9 – God’s presence would make this temple glorious We can become discouraged. Our attitudes can become bad. The enemy will work to demoralize you. He will lie to you and tell you it’s hopeless, it’s pointless, give up. But God would say to you and me, “I am with you. So be strong, do my work, do not fear.” The work we do may look different today than it did years ago. Our society has changed. People have changed. God does not change. He still does extraordinary things through ordinary people.