Encouragement in the Work

June 20, 2025|Encouragement in the Work|Haggai 2:1-9

JD Cutler

Click here for the sermon audio

In the summer of 2018 we moved from our dream house in Kilgore to a little house in Pine Tree.

From over 2,000 sq ft less than 1,500 sq ft, from over 2 acres to around a quarter of an acre.

From an enclosed garage office, a 30x30 shop, and a swimming pool to a carport, a small storage building, and no pool.

From a landscaped yard to a yard full of pine trees.

Maybe you have had an experience like that. Where you look around at your current situation and think about how much better it used to be. Even though you know you are where you are supposed to be, it can be tempted to look back.

In church we hear these kind of things all the time. I remember when we used to run 400 in service, I remember when we used to have to use buses to fit all the kids going to camp, and on and on it goes. It must have been like that for many of you who were here before the old brick building had to be torn down and a new, smaller metal building had to be built where it once stood.

This can be a discouraging experience, one where in lamenting over the past we become discouraged in the present. This can cause us to become apathetic or depressed and hinder our current situation. This is especially harmful when we are talking about engaging in the work of the Lord.

Sometimes in studying the book of Acts for our Wednesday night Bible study, or the reformation, or the great awakening, or even in looking at other churches around us, it can be tempting to think: why isn't our church like that, why aren't people responsive to the gospel or engaging in the work, etc...

However, Jesus calls us to put our hand to the plow and do what is in front of us, not worry about what is behind us.

In the same way, God calls the remnant in Haggai to go forward, to work, and to trust him, even when their current situation was causing them to be discouraged.

In God’s second message to the people in Haggai, he offers encouragement.

An encouragement that I think is not only relevant today, but needed.

Open your Bibles to Haggai chapter 2.

Here is where we are in the history of God’s people. Jerusalem and the temple had been destroyed and most of God’s people were taken into Babylon captivity, where they were for 70 years, during which Babylon was defeated by the Medo-Persian empire and those taken captive were allowed to return to their homelands and rebuild their religious places of worship. A remnant of about 50,000 of God’s people, led by Zerubbabel, who was of kingly lineage, but had been appointed governor of Judah by the Persian king, and Joshua, the high priest returned and began work on rebuilding the temple. Within the first year of so they had restored the altar of burnt offerings, cleared the rubble and laid the foundation for the temple. Because of opposition they ceased working on the temple and went to focusing on their own homes and building their own lives among the ruins of Jerusalem and the temple. After around 15 years God sent prophets by the name of Haggai and Zechariah to call his people back to the work and back to himself. So far in Haggai, we have looked at God’s first message to the people to repent of neglecting his house, to gather supplies, and to get back to building his house, the temple. Last week, Will led us to look at their response which is summed up in verses 14 and 15 of chapter 1.

14 And the LORD stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and the spirit of all the remnant of the people. And they came and worked on the house of the LORD of hosts, their God, 15 on the twenty-fourth day of the month, in the sixth month, in the second year of Darius the king.

Just twenty four days after God’s message, we see them engaging in what he had called them to do.

Considering that many of God’s messages to His people through his prophets fell on deaf ears or even hostile ears, it s refreshing to see a people respond so quickly and totally in obedience.

This is where we left the story last week, in a place of renewed obedience, courage, and of hope.

God’s next message comes to the people through Haggai just about 24 days later, 50 days from when God originally spoke to them through Haggai.

It is to that message we turn our attention this morning, under the heading ‘encouragement in the work’. If you haven’t already, open your Bibles to Haggai, chapter 2. Let’s read verses 1-9 together this morning.

Haggai 2:1–9

1 In the seventh month, on the twenty-first day of the month, the word of the Lord came by the hand of Haggai the prophet: 2 “Speak now to Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and to all the remnant of the people, and say, 3 ‘Who is left among you who saw this house in its former glory? How do you see it now? Is it not as nothing in your eyes? 4 Yet now be strong, O Zerubbabel, declares the Lord. Be strong, O Joshua, son of Jehozadak, the high priest. Be strong, all you people of the land, declares the Lord. Work, for I am with you, declares the Lord of hosts, 5 according to the covenant that I made with you when you came out of Egypt. My Spirit remains in your midst. Fear not. 6 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. 7 And I will shake all nations, so that the treasures of all nations shall come in, and I will fill this house with glory, says the Lord of hosts. 8 The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, declares the Lord of hosts. 9 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.’ ”

Now this is not so different of a situation than we find ourselves in today. We have been called, as God’s chosen people, to the work of participating in the building of God’s temple, only in the context of the New Testament and in light of the coming of Jesus Christ, we are told that the temple, the dwelling place of God is now within those who together make up the house of God, the temple of God. One passage that speaks directly to this and will come up often today is what is commonly called the great commission. Jesus Christ, post death and resurrection and pre-ascension, having called his disciples together, gives them their marching orders if you will, he outlines the mission of His church on Earth until he returns.

You can find it in Matthew 28:18-20

Matthew 28:18–20 18 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

Make disciples of all nations. This is the mission.

Go out, proclaim the good news of the gospel and call men and women to repentance, upon which you will baptize them (signifying their union with Christ and relationship to both Christ and his church) and then teaching them to obey Christ, which includes being men and women who go out, proclaim the good news of the gospel and call men and women to repentance.

One of the things that Haggai ought to produce in us is a desire to evaluate our lives and ask, am I busy with the work God has called me to as a Christian, are we busy with the word God has called us to as a church, as the body of Christ? Many of us started out strong like the people in Haggai, only to grow complacent or cold towards the kingdom of God and overcome by the concerns of our own little kingdoms, building our own houses as we saw in week 2.

One of the things that Haggai ought to produce in us is a desire to evaluate our lives...

My prayer is that we will hear God’s heart through his word and there would be a renewed desire to participate in the building of the kingdom, and God willing, there has already been some of that happening over the last couple of weeks as we have looked at Haggai.

That is exactly the reason Haggai 2 is so relevant for us today, because as the people reengaged with God’s work, they were tempted to be discouraged, the were tempted to be overwhelmed and possible even to give up or slink back from the task God had called them to.

It is to these people with these temptations that God’s voice comes to the people through Haggai, bringing encouragement to His people in the midst of doing the work he had called them to.

We are going to look at three ways we can be encouraged in the work by considering three truths we see about our God in this passage.

The first truth we see is that…

I. God knows our hearts.

God begins his word to his people by asking a series of questions that gets to the heart of what the people are experiencing in their labors. We have to remember that when God asks a question, he is not seeking information. I saw a sickening video of Jesse Duplantis saying that God asks him every morning what they are doing that day, as if any day is a mystery to God.

The Bible declares in Psalm 139:16 “16 Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.” To think that God needs new information from you is not only mistaken it is a direct contradiction to his omniscience.

So why is the Bible full of God asking questions? Just to look at a few. In the garden after man’s rebellion and sin, God asks, “Where are you?”, followed by “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat? and to the woman, “What is this that you have done?”

In Genesis 16:8 “8 And he said, “Hagar, servant of Sarai, where have you come from and where are you going?” She said, “I am fleeing from my mistress Sarai.””

In Exodus 4:2“2 The Lord said to him, “What is that in your hand?” He said, “A staff.””

When God the son was on the earth, he asked many questions.

Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? (Matthew 6:27)

Why do you worry about clothes? (Matthew 6:28)

Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? (Matthew 7:3)

Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? (Matthew 7:16)

If God does not need information, why ask questions?

So that we will learn through self-reflection and deeper examination of ourselves.

He wanted Adam to understand that his sin was causing him to hide himself from God, he wanted Moses to understand that it was not the piece of wood in his hand, but the power of God that would be a mighty sign to God’s people. Jesus wanted man to think about their lack of ability to produce anything meaningful by worry, and the foolishness of trying to help a brother with his sin problem when we had such blinding unrepentant sin in our own lives.

So what questions did he ask his people in Haggai?

‘Who is left among you who saw this house in its former glory? How do you see it now? Is it not as nothing in your eyes?

Here is the interesting thing, we are not told that anyone who was working had expressed any hesitation in building the temple, outside of the foundation being laid some 15 years ago, we are not told that anyone had expressed any sorrow about the new temple, and yet, God knows the heart.

He knew they were discouraged, he knew they were being tempted to despair over their current condition.

Most likely they had not really done the difficult work of examining their own hearts and minds, and God wanted them to look inside and understand what was going on.

Why were they depressed and discouraged? Listen to the scene in Ezra when the foundation is laid, And all the people shouted with a great shout when they praised the LORD, because the foundation of the house of the LORD was laid. 12 But many of the priests and Levites and heads of fathers’ houses, old men who had seen the first house, wept with a loud voice when they saw the foundation of this house being laid, though many shouted aloud for joy, 13 so that the people could not distinguish the sound of the joyful shout from the sound of the people’s weeping, for the people shouted with a great shout, and the sound was heard far away. (Ezra 3:11-13)

Solomon’s temple was a beautifully ornate masterpiece of architectural grandeur, built at a pinnacle of Israel’s thriving as a nation. Not only had David stored up resources of gold, silver, bronze, iron, wood, precious stones, and marble, he personally have a small fortune of gold and silver and the people made a freewill offering of gold, silver, bronze, iron, and precious jewels.

It took almost 200,000 workman approximately 7 years to build it.

Now, a little less than 50,000 people with limited resources were rebuilding the temple.

What hope did they have to accomplish such a great task?

No wonder in their hearts were they thinking this new temple was nothing compared to the previous one.

Without a word, God knew what was in their hearts and asked them to look inward, not to deny the truth, but to firmly grasp it. The bible speaks again and again about God’s knowledge of our hearts.

Psalm 44:21 “21 would not God discover this? For he knows the secrets of the heart.”

Hebrews 4:13 “13 And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.”

This knowledge of the heart of man is attributed to Jesus as well.

John 2:24–25 “24 But Jesus on his part did not entrust himself to them, because he knew all people 25 and needed no one to bear witness about man, for he himself knew what was in man.”

What does this mean for us today? That God knows our hearts better than we do.

That when we are overwhelmed by the task in front of us, when we are discouraged by the smallness of the work or the lack of fruit, when we compare what we are doing with previous generations or even other ministries, God knows what is in our hearts, even if we aren’t fully aware.

This is one of the reasons we regularly pray that God would search our hearts in the words of Psalm 139. Psalm 139:23 “23 Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts!”

Not that there is anything hidden from God, but how desperately do we need divine assistance to even understand our own hearts.

Having searched the hearts of his people, knowing what is in them, God also knows exactly what they need to carry on the work he has called them to.

Do they need resources, silver and gold? Of course they do, but God doesn’t start there.

He starts with what we desperately need to be able to carry out the work he has called us to.

Encouragement from the Almighty God.

It is a call to not measure resources, but trust the infinitive God, to not be overwhelmed by the work, but overcome by the might and power of the God you serve. It is a call to have faith that God will not call you to work that he won’t equip you for.

Is the work too much for you? Yes.

Do you have the resources you need to complete it? No.

Yet, be strong.

Three times, God calls his people to be strong.

4 Yet now be strong, O Zerubbabel, declares the Lord.

Be strong, O Joshua, son of Jehozadak, the high priest.

Be strong, all you people of the land, declares the Lord.

This imperative is the idea of stand firm. Be courageous, be confident.

It is a call to not measure resources, but trust the infinitive God, to not be overwhelmed by the work, but overcome by the might and power of the God you serve. It is a call to have faith that God will not call you to work that he won’t equip you for.

The people needed to be reminded of who they served and take their eyes off the perceived littleness of the work before them and put them on the greatness of the God they served.

Because God knows their hearts, he knows what their hearts need,

I was reminded of what the author of Hebrews says… Hebrews 12:1-2 (ESV) 1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2 looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.

God knows your heart this morning, in many ways, better than you do, and he knows the work he has called you to is bigger than you and that you have no chance of accomplishing it in your own power, and yet, he calls us to stand firm, to be courageous, to be confident.

Why? Because he calls us to take our eyes off of our current situation and even our weaknesses and place them firmly on Him. This is what everyone of us needs everyday as we engage in the work God has called us to. Turning to our second truth we see this morning, let’s look at how…

II. God gives us what we need to accomplish the work.

Let’s revisit verses 4 and 5.

Haggai 2:4–5

4 Yet now be strong, O Zerubbabel, declares the Lord. Be strong, O Joshua, son of Jehozadak, the high priest. Be strong, all you people of the land, declares the Lord. Work, for I am with you, declares the Lord of hosts, 5 according to the covenant that I made with you when you came out of Egypt. My Spirit remains in your midst. Fear not.

Stand firm, be confident, all you people from the greatest to the least.

Work. This is God’s second command to his people. Keep going, keep working, keep obeying me.

What do the people need to accomplish the work?

God has already given them encouragement, now he promises that his presence will be with them.

Work, for I am with you.

More than resources, more than physical strength, what they needed was to know that God’s presence and Spirit was with them.

This is especially important considering their recent past. Because of disobedience, God had raised up Babylon to come in and remove them from their homeland. Their punishment was to be separated from their homeland, their temple, and subsequently their ability to worship God. Their very identity as the people of God had been challenged. Their prolonged unfaithfulness, in spite of God’s many warnings to repent and return to him, had cause them to be taken into captivity.

But make no mistake, God had not forgotten about his people or his promises to them.

Even in the midst of their judgment God graciously preserved them, even, as we talked about in week one, preserving the utensils and vessels of the temple. In addition to preserving them, he also was purifying them, breaking their reliance on physical structures and creating a remnant, a smaller group of Israelites that would return to the land, more faithful and dedicated to God’s covenant.

As we will see in later verses in Haggai, through this remnant, he would promise a future renewal.

It’s not hard to see why the Israelites might be tempted to question whether or not God was still with them after the destruction of Jerusalem, the temple, and their captivity.

Haven’t we been tempted in times of difficulty to question whether God was angry with us or withdrawn from us? Haven’t we doubted his goodness in seasons of want or need?

God reminds them again as he had from the beginning of their work in response to Haggai’s message, I am with you.

As Will pointed out last week, it would be hard to think of better words coming from the Lord in this moment than ‘I am with you’. The God of the universe, the Lord of Hosts, the one over all the armies on earth and in heaven is with you.

Furthermore, not in some abstract way, but in an intimate covenantal way.

Listen to what God says again, I am with you according to the covenant I made with you when you came out of Egypt.

Now none of these people were alive when God brought the people under the leadership of Moses out of Egypt and yet God applies this covenant promise to them. Listen to what God says to the people when he brings them out of Egypt. Exodus 29:45–46 “45 I will dwell among the people of Israel and will be their God. 46 And they shall know that I am the Lord their God, who brought them out of the land of Egypt that I might dwell among them. I am the Lord their God.” Twice God says he will dwell among the people of Israel and that he will be their God.

Encouragement is great, but if we are going to accomplish the work God has called us to, we need more than encouragement, we need the assurance of his presence with us.

Let’s revisit the great commission passage from Matthew 28.

At camp the missionaries talked about the great commission in terms of 1, 2, 3. One command- make disciples, two promises- Christ has all authority, he is with us always, three tasks- go, baptize, and teach

Matthew 28:18–20 “18 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.””

Jesus first claims the right to command them (all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. He is the Lord of Lords and King of Kings. Second he tells them to make disciples of all nations by going and proclaiming the gospel and bringing the repentant into the visible church through baptism and then teaching them all that Jesus commanded.

What an impossible task. This little group of Christians are called to go into the world and proclaim Christ to all nations, hostile nations, enemy nations, and not only proclaim him but to embrace those we respond in repentance, and not only to embrace them, but to commit to teaching and discipling them towards maturity in Christ.

But what does he promise immediately after issuing this command? I am with you, for how long, always, how long is always, to the end of the age.

What they need in order to accomplish the work he has given them is not brilliant strategies, larger than life personalities, new marketing techniques, money or prestige, what they need is the presence of Christ working in and through them, which is what he promises them.

Listen to what he says to his disciples shortly before his betrayal and crucifixion. John 14:15-17 (ESV) 15 “If you love me, you will keep my commandments. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, 17 even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you. John 14:23-24 (ESV) 23 Jesus answered him, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. 24 Whoever does not love me does not keep my words. And the word that you hear is not mine but the Father’s who sent me. John 14:25-26 (ESV) 25 “These things I have spoken to you while I am still with you. 26 But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you. John 15:26-27 (ESV) 26 “But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me. 27 And you also will bear witness, because you have been with me from the beginning. John 16:7-15 (ESV) Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you. 8 And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment: 9 concerning sin, because they do not believe in me; 10 concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father, and you will see me no longer; 11 concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged. 12 “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. 13 When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. 14 He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. 15 All that the Father has is mine; therefore I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.

What they (we) need in order to accomplish the work he has given them (us) is not brilliant strategies, larger than life personalities, new marketing techniques, money or prestige, what they (we) need is the presence of Christ working in and through them (us), which is what he promises them (us).

In the New Covenant, God’s dwelling place among his people moves from a centralized location in the temple to the personal indwelling of believers. Christ promises that in the indwelling of the Spirit, the Godhead will come and make our home with the one who loves him. Literally come and make our dwelling place in him. He will be with us forever, dwelling with us, teaching us, bringing to remembrance, bearing witness concerning Christ, convicting the world, guiding us into all truth, glorifying Christ who glorifies the Father.

What a promise!

What else could we possibly need to accomplish the work God has called us to? Nothing.

The same promise God makes here, My Spirit remain in your midst, fear not is the same promise Jesus makes to those that are his.

God knows our hearts and not only does he encourage us through his word and his church, he has given us everything we need to accomplish the work of building the living temple of God through evangelism and discipleship.

But like the Israelites, standing amidst the smaller, less glorious foundation wondering how they were ever going to accomplish the work and when they did, how inferior it was going to be to the first temple, God is not done with his word to his people. The final truth we see this morning is that…

III. God calls us to trust Him to bring the work to its intended goal.

Haggai 2:1–9

6 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. 7 And I will shake all nations, so that the treasures of all nations shall come in, and I will fill this house with glory, says the Lord of hosts. 8 The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, declares the Lord of hosts. 9 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.’ ”

Why should they not fear? Why should they stand firm?

Because the Lord of hosts was with them and he was going to do what they could not do.

Their plans might be for a modest 2nd temple, but God was going to use their efforts to produce a more glorious house than the first.

God says, in a little while I will shake the heavens and the earth and the sea and the dry land and all nations. What would be the result of this shaking? So that the treasures of all nations shall come in.

What we get to see from the benefit of our position in time that they could not possibly see is that through the defeat of the Persian empire by the Greeks and the subsequent defeat of the Greeks by the Romans, that this temple, through Herod, the Roman backed ‘king of Judea’, would become part of a much larger temple complex than and in many ways be more grand than Solomon’s temple ever was.

Extra-biblical accounts record sayings such as “He who has not seen the Temple of Herod has never seen a beautiful building" and "He who has not seen the Temple in its full construction has never seen a glorious building in his life.”l

Not only would Herod’s temple be more glorious in terms of size and grandeur, this would be the same temple where the son of God would come and teach the people. The glory of God in human flesh literally walked and taught and cleansed the second temple. Truly the latter glory of this temple was greater than the former.

God could promise this because he is sovereign over all of his creation.

The nations are his, the silver is his, the gold is his. All creation serves his purposes.

What a thought! We do not serve a God who is in heaven wringing his hands, worried about whether or not his purposes will come to fruition. God does not pace heaven hoping his people will accomplish his purposes.

Isaiah 46:8-11 (ESV) 8 “Remember this and stand firm, recall it to mind, you transgressors, 9 remember the former things of old; for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me, 10 declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose,’ 11 calling a bird of prey from the east, the man of my counsel from a far country I have spoken, and I will bring it to pass; I have purposed, and I will do it.

Here is the challenge for the Israelites in Haggai’s day and the challenge for us.

Do we have faith that God will do what he has said he will do even when our circumstances and immediate situations seem to indicate otherwise.

What reason did the Israelites have to believe that the meager temple they were building would one day exceed the glory of Solomon’s temple? None.

Standing in a ruined Jerusalem with broken down walls and a temple that was little more than a foundation and an altar, with not even 50,000 Jews, who could possibly look around and say, one day this place is not only going to be rebuilt, but it will be more glorious than before? No one.

And yet not only does it happen, God said it was going to happen long before it did.

We can’t possible understand everything God is going to do as he brings this world to its conclusion and ushers in the new heaven and the new earth, but we know not only will he do so, but that there will be people from every nation, tribe, peoples, and languages standing before the throne and before the Lamb declaring in unison the glory of God.

The same God that said, go therefore and make disciples of all nations has already revealed that in the end there will be worshippers of God from every nation, tribe, peoples, and language.

We trust that although our reach and influence may feel small, that our discipleship and evangelistic efforts may seem insignificant, God will use them for his purposes and furthermore his purposes will come to fruition.

When it comes down to it, evangelism really comes down to ‘do we trust God’s word and work or not’.

Do we trust that God’s Spirit draws men to himself?

Do we trust that the gospel is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes?

Do we trust that faith comes by hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ?

Do we trust that Jesus Christ is the way, the truth, and the life and no one comes to the Father except through him?

Our job in evangelism is not to get someone saved. I can no more save someone than I can fly off this platform by flapping my arms. God is the one who saves by the power of his Holy Spirit through the proclamation of his word. So our job in evangelism is simply to share the message of Christ, from the word of God, and trust that God will carry my work to its intended purposes, in the same way it was Israel’s job to simply lay one stone on another until they had completed the work before them, trusting that even though they may not see it, God would take their work to its intended goal in his way and in his time. The same goes with discipleship, I point people to the word of God and the example of my life as I bring it under the control and influence of his word.

Three truths about God we see in our text that encourage us in the midst of our work. God knows our hearts.

He knows exactly what you need this morning. Is it to be encouraged, challenged, corrected?

We are told that God’s word is profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness. God uses his word through the power of his spirit to meet us exactly where we are and to give us exactly what we need.

God gives us what we need to accomplish the work. The most important and necessary thing being his presence through the indwelling of the Spirit. As a believer, you have everything you need to accomplish the work God has called you to.

God calls us to trust Him to bring the work to its intended goal. We may not be able to see how it is all going to work out, we may not see how our seemingly insignificant effort in our lives will bring about what God desires, and yet we can stand firm and be confident that God is going to take our work and bring about its intended goal as the sovereign God of the universe. You can go and make disciples of all nations by making disciples of those around you in the power of the Spirit, under the authority of Christ, to the glory of God and trust that God will use you as one of many laboring to bring about that glorious scene in heaven where a multitude too numerous to count stands united in praise of almighty God.

Here in the midst of Haggai, we see a God that has not only not abandoned his people, but has work for them to do, work that he promises to not only honor, but multiply into something greater than they could even comprehend. That same God, invites us to join him in the work of building the living temple, the body of Christ by making disciples. Will you, like the people in Haggai’s day, heed God’s call and work on the house of the Lord?

This morning’s message has been aimed at those who belong to Christ, those who know him as their Lord and Savior, but I do not want to close without addressing those here this morning that may not know Christ in that way. We have been talking about God’s work in the lives of believers, but make no mistake, the same truths apply to you this morning. God knows your heart. And apart from his regenerative work, the Bible says that it is wicked and desperately evil. The Bible tells us that we need to repent and believe. If that was the end of the story, we would be in trouble, because none of us want to turn from our sin, from our ways to God. But it’s not the end of the story. God gives us what we need to accomplish the work. If you even have the desire to repent and trust in Christ, then understand the Spirit of God is already at work in your life calling you to believe. And finally, God calls us to trust him to bring the work to its intended goal.God takes our imperfect faith in Christ and our sin tainted confessions and because of his grace and mercy brings salvation and life into our lives, telling us that he will complete what he began in us. If that is you, after we dismiss this morning, please come find me or Will or someone you know is a Christian, and just tell them, God is calling me to repent and believe and I’m sure any one of us would love to have a further conversation with you this morning or set up a time to do so.

The same God who encouraged His people in the days of Haggai, encourages us today in the work he has called us to. May we be renewed and revitalized to go out and carry out the work God has given us with a renewed zeal and passion.

Let us pray.