00:00 Introduction and Special Guests

00:55 The Role of Deacons in the Church

02:06 Discussion on the Book of Haggai

06:29 Lessons from Haggai for Modern Christians

13:35 Concluding Thoughts and Prayer

14:19 Outro and Podcast Information

Find out more about Compass Bible Church.

Learn more about our Bible Reading Plan.

Questions or Comments? Email us podcast@compassntx.org

Hey everybody.

2

Welcome back to another edition

of the Daily Bible Podcast.

3

Hello and good morning.

4

We have special guests

in office slash studio.

5

Oh, thanks man.

6

I'm here all the time.

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Yeah but I do appreciate you

acknowledging my presence.

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You are special Pastor Rod,

but it actually wasn't you

9

that I was thinking about.

10

Oh, it was the people

right over your shoulder.

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Oh, yeah.

12

Yeah.

13

Hannah.

14

Yeah.

15

Matt and Hannah are here because we put

out a, an offer, a request saying, Hey,

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if anybody wants to help us with the

editing of the podcast, and they said,

17

you guys need all the help you can get.

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And we're and the thousands of people

that submitted their desire to help.

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Yeah.

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Matt and Hannah Rose to the surface.

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They were at the top.

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The background check was helpful

that we ran the background check,

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the three hour interview that we put

them through the obstacle course.

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The obstacle course was a twist.

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It was extreme.

26

They weren't prepared for that.

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But they did.

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Admirably They did.

29

Yeah.

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And so we thought, we're gonna give you

guys a job and we're gonna pay them too.

31

Yes.

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Double what we were paying,

double the heavenly rewards that

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we were gonna initially offer.

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They were getting twice that amount.

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Yes.

36

Yeah, absolutely.

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Anyways, we are thankful for

you guys and it does free us up.

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This is, in some ways this

is deacon work, right?

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That's right.

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And you may wonder what

makes something deacon work?

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If we look biblically at, what is it?

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A deacon is somebody that serves

the church in order to free up.

43

The pastors are the leaders of the

church to do some of the other work that

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is not available for everybody to do.

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And it's not that it's holier than

serving tables or editing podcasts,

46

but there are some works that are more

accessible and others that are not.

47

Do you want me to just lay out so

you can smack your lips into the mic?

48

Louder here.

49

Go.

50

Go for it.

51

Go for it.

52

That's a delicious.

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Treat.

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Yeah.

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What is it?

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What are you eating?

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Eating a Rice Krispy treat.

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See, I've got mine still in my bag

'cause I'm looking forward to enjoying

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it after we're done recording.

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Hannah made that I needed the energy,

so I thought it'd be you be a good time

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to inject my we were just at Starbucks.

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Didn't you drink an energy

drink there or something?

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No, it, no.

64

Yeah, I did.

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I did.

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I did have a zipz.

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Okay.

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And one of the cold pressed

juices, but not a rice crispy

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street isn't a rice crispy.

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Okay.

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Fair enough.

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But yes, it is Deacon work.

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Yeah.

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Acts chapter six they brought deacons

on for the very purpose of freeing

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them up so they could focus on prayer.

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Yep.

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And the ministry of the word, which

is a lot of what we get to do.

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Not all that we get to do.

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But we're really thankful for our deacons.

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Yeah, for sure.

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So Matt and here, thank you.

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We are grateful for it.

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Let's jump into our DBR for today.

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We are in an entire book today.

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We're in the book of Haggai, which

if you were with us during our minor

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profit series over the summer, this

is one of the books that I preached.

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'cause it doesn't start

with Z so That's right.

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A qualified, it was one of the

ones that that got preached there.

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And we are dealing with

a post exilic prophet.

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So again, post exilic prophet is somebody

that was serving and ministering.

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After the time of the exile, so after

the return, we've been talking a lot

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about everything going on with the

70 years in exile, the return from

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exile, the rebuilding of the temple.

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Remember we talked about, I think

yesterday the laying of the foundation of

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the temple in Ezra and how that was done.

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But then that was.

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All that was done for a period of time.

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And that's where we pick up with Haggai

and Zechariah, which we get to tomorrow at

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least the first four chapters of Zacharia.

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These are two that served during this

time when the Temple Foundation was

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laid, but the temple had been neglected,

and that's where Haggai comes in.

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And Haggai's going to really focus

specifically on the building itself.

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And when I preach through this

I think one of the reasons why

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he focuses on the building.

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Is in order to remind the

people of the conduit really,

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of their relationship with God.

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You remember when the people first got

back from exile, the first thing they

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did, they built the altar because they

wanted to worship the Lord and the altar

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was necessary for them to be able to

offer the offerings and the sacrifices on.

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They observed the Feast of Booths.

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They were doing all of these things

that were good for the time being,

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but when opposition came, they.

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You forgot how urgent it was in

their minds to get this temple built.

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And so that was a, that was really

a metaphor for the people neglecting

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their relationship with God.

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In fact, in Haga chapter one,

Haga is gonna ask a pretty

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indicting question about their

walled and well paneled houses.

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And basically he's going to ask them

what good has it done you to neglect the

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temple and focus on your own comfort,

your own wealth, your own wellbeing,

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instead of doing what God wants you to do.

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And haggai is really a book where he

is challenging the people to get back

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after doing the right things, doing

the things that God wants them to do.

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They were giving God their

leftovers instead of giving

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him the worship that he has.

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Rightfully do

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I.

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I guess one quick note here before we

continue on in the book of Haggai is

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to recognize that Joshua in verse two

lemme see verse one, actually Verse one.

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The hand of the Lord the word of Lord by

the hand of Haggai, the prophet to the rub

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bull son of she ltl, governor of Judah n.

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Joshua, the son of Jeh Dak.

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You might have recalled that he was called

Joshua in another place, and that's true.

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Joshua and Joshua are the same person, in

fact, so you're not crazy to think that

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here he, he's called Joshua because those

two names actually are the same name.

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In fact, you might recall that

Jesus himself is called Yeshua.

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His name is Joshua as well.

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And so those names are similar enough

that you can say one and the other,

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and they they say the same thing.

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So don't get tripped up over that.

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Ezra chapter three, verse two is

where you would see his name as

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Joshua, but again, it's Joshua.

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Joshua is also the same thing.

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Yeah.

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In chapter two of Haggai God does promise

the people something that's noteworthy.

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Hearing verse five, he says, according

to the covenant that I made with

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you when you came out of Egypt, my.

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Spirit remains in your midst.

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Fear not.

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And so one of the reasons why the

temple was not being rebuilt at

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the time was the opposition and the

opposition was instilling a sense

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of fear within the people there.

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And so God is reminding his covenant

people, my spirit remains in your midst.

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Which is interesting

because we talked about.

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Yesterday or the day before,

how the glory of the Lord is

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not gonna be in this temple.

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Yep.

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And yet that doesn't mean that

God has abandoned his people.

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That's right.

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And so even though the glory of

the Lord is not dwelling there,

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God is encouraging his people,

Hey, my spirit is still with you.

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My spirit is in your midst.

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And I had God chapter two

verses six through nine.

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Then he.

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Points forward to the time that

the glory of the Lord will return.

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And that is the millennial kingdom temple.

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And that's gonna be more glorious

than even the first temple, the

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temple that Solomon had built.

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And you may recall that the men, the

older men that had been there from the

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very beginning and seen Solomon's temple,

they wept when they saw the foundation

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of this this post exilic temple.

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And God was reminding them and and the

others through haga, Hey, you may be

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disappointed with this temple, but there's

gonna come a temple that's gonna be even

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more glorious than the Temple of Solomon.

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And that will be the temple that is

gonna be there during the millennial.

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Kingdom.

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Zacharias gonna talk

specifically to that as well.

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And Haga and Zacharia go hand

in hand because Zacharias really

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focused on the spiritual condition

of the people, whereas Haga is

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focused on the spiritual condition.

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But specifically the fact that they

needed to get after building the temple

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and doing the work that God was calling

them to, Haga is successful at his job.

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He's calling the people to get up and

move successful to a degree anyway.

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And he reminds me that e even though

this is not the same thing as a

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New Testament, this is a different.

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Covenant, different dispensation

than what we exist under.

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God's approach to us

is not that different.

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He's telling them, give attention

and priority to my temple.

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You need this.

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This is part of how you

honor me and worship me.

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For New Testament Christians,

the difference is that we're no

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longer going to a temple, but the

similarity is that God does tell

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us to prioritize his kingdom.

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Jesus said as much, he said, seek

first the kingdom of God and all

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these other things that you desire.

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You need a house to live in.

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You need food, you need clothing,

you need all those things.

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I will give those to you as you

focus on the things that matter most.

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Prioritize my kingdom.

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Seek first.

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The kingdom.

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I'll bless you in that.

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And that call for us in the same day,

in the same way that it was a call

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for Haggai's audience is still there.

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Our job is not to get distracted by

the things that are important and

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necessary, but to focus on what's most

important and what's most necessary.

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So how do we think then about our

own paneled houses, so to speak?

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We live in a pretty affluent area.

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Here in Prosper, Texas and Salina

and those in McKinney, Frisco.

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This is suburbia and a lot of it is new.

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A lot of it is new

construction, new builds.

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We have nice things, granite

countertops, things like that.

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How can we live in those homes?

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I was thinking about this recently,

even just hosting our community

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group, and we don't live in a, a.

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Palatial estate by any

stretching, the imagination.

216

But I'm just, you live

next to Dak Peterson?

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No, I don't.

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What's his name?

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Dak Harrison pr.

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Scott Prescott.

221

That's the guy he moved and

I didn't live next to him.

222

He lived on the other side of the

tracks, literally in my neighborhood.

223

Still live next to the, he lived

down the OU side of the tracks.

224

The Dallas Cowboy quarterback.

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Anyways, I was just gonna say that, but

I was thinking about it in light of,

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we've been talking a lot about eternity

and everything going on and living ready

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for the bema seat and just making sure

we're not living for the wrong things.

228

You talked about priorities there.

229

Yes.

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So let's talk about the balance of.

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Having nice things being quote unquote

comfortable in our homes, having our

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home be a place that we want to be.

233

And I, I don't think that's wrong.

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And yet making sure that we're not falling

pre to what Israel is falling pre to here.

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Yeah.

236

I think what we understand in the New

Testament is that all of God's gifts

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are meant to be stewarded for the

purposes of bringing glory to his name.

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So if God has made you rich,

and I think by most standards.

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Anyone listening to this podcast

would be considered rich to some

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degree, at least globally speaking.

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We are very wealthy, and Jesus

offered some pretty strong warnings

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to those of us who have money.

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He says, you gotta be careful

because often rich people are so

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enamored with their riches that they

lose sight of what matters most.

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In fact, first Timothy chapter six,

he tells his young protege, Hey,

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the people that are rich there tell

them to be content with what they

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have and not to desire to be rich.

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He says, the love of money

is the root of all kinds of

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ungodliness, all kinds of evil.

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And so it's incumbent.

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On us who have a lot of

resources, and let's just say

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that's all of us on the podcast.

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Even if you're on the lower

end of the spectrum, we are all

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very wealthy by most standards.

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That said, we have a greater

responsibility to care for God's

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people and to care for God's church

and to use the resources that

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he's given us for his purposes.

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I think using your house as a

place to have a community group

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meet is one great example.

260

Using your car to serve the needs of the

church is another, but there's a lot of.

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A lot of intangible ways to use your

resources to bring glory to God, but

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not the least of which would be to

give away your money, to give to the

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church, to give to God's projects

and his desires, and that's the way

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that I think a Christian demonstrates

worldly riches and treasures are not.

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My hope.

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They're not my help.

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They're helpful, but they're not my

greatest security and Jesus is, and

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that I'm gonna show that by using my

resources to invest into his projects.

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And I think even just our mentality

about the things that we do have, like

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maybe you've got a couch and you've

got a television in your home and

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you like to sit down on your couch.

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I know.

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I look forward to my couch

after Sundays and preaching.

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I come home, I take a nap on my

couch sometimes during the afternoon.

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Being thankful to the

Lord for those things.

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Instead of looking at them as

a source of entitlement or as

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a source of I'm disengaging.

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This is compartmentalized.

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This isn't connected to my Christianity.

280

When we're thankful for the things

that God has given us, that's another

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way that we are stewarding them

well, by recognizing him as the

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ultimate gift giver in those things

and not just thinking look what my,

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it's nebuchadnezzar's thing, right?

284

When he walked out and said, look

at Mighty Babylon that I have built

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by my great power and my Majesty.

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We have to be careful to

recognize everything that we

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have as a gift from the Lord.

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And return the glory back to him

by being thankful in our hearts for

289

these things that he's given to us.

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Yeah I'm reminded of what the

Book of Ecclesiastes says.

291

There's nothing better for a

man than to be joyful, than to

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do good as long as he lives.

293

Take pride in the fact, not pride in

the negative sense, but take delight

294

and joy in the fact that God is the

one who's provided you these things.

295

Enjoy the life that God has given

you, and if he's given you riches

296

to enjoy, this is the gift of God.

297

In fact, that's what the author of

Ecclesiastes says, king Solomon.

298

He says, look if you have all

these great things and not the

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power to enjoy them, that's vanity.

300

That's awful.

301

And imagine the wealth and the

resources that some of these greatest,

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some of these great entrepreneurs

and company builders have, they have

303

these massive reservoirs of resources

and many of them are miserable.

304

Yeah, because they live for that and

their God has let them down substantially.

305

Our God doesn't do that.

306

But the fact is he gives us great gifts

to enjoy and we should enjoy them to

307

His glory and to his honor and how we

used them and the heart before them are

308

really what matter as is always the case.

309

Yeah.

310

When Jesus told the rich young ruler, you

need to sell everything that you have,

311

that wasn't a universally applicable.

312

Statement that wasn't, he was

telling that to everybody.

313

That was the rich young ruler's problem

was that, that was where his idol was.

314

That's where his heart was.

315

So that's why God told him that.

316

But you have Lydia, who was a wealthy

individual in the New Testament.

317

Yeah.

318

And she used her wealth

to serve the church.

319

You have Paul writing to

the church in Corinth.

320

The church in Corinth was in a, a.

321

Pretty financially lucrative area, and he

doesn't say to everybody, Hey, you need to

322

sell ev everything that you have and get

outta that area and move to the sticks.

323

It's, you're right.

324

It's about how do we steward these things

for the glory of God and use them in

325

such a way that gives him honor and is

grateful for the things that he does.

326

Yeah.

327

Haggai reminds me that this is what

God wants us to do with our lives.

328

It's not just giving our resources.

329

That's a part of it, but

he really wants our heart.

330

And where our heart goes,

there are money follows.

331

This is what's at the heart of Haggai.

332

God's calling his people through Haggai

to invest in the worship of King Jesus.

333

That's anachronism, but you get my point.

334

Yeah.

335

This is investing in God, in the

worship of God, the glory of God

336

for the good of God's people.

337

And I think that message remains

the same, even under the new

338

covenant where your heart is

there, your money will follow that.

339

That sounds really good.

340

Maybe that.

341

I'm gonna trademark that.

342

Are you okay?

343

It's gonna be mine from now.

344

Mark.

345

Maybe change money to treasure.

346

Okay.

347

I just might be a little bit more catchy.

348

I'll fill it out a little bit.

349

Just one note here real quick.

350

At the end of the book of Haggai verses

20 through 23 you've got of chapter

351

two, you've got a reference to Zabel.

352

It says The word of the Lord

came a second time to Haggai

353

on the 24th day of the month.

354

Speak to Za, rub be.

355

And then it says, governor

of Judah Abel is significant.

356

He was actually in the Davidic

line, but he's not a king.

357

Yeah.

358

In fact, there's not going to be a king.

359

In post exilic Judah until Jesus comes.

360

And even that is not the true king.

361

You've got Roman people that are and

Roman officials that are gonna be

362

known as kings during the time of

Christ, but there wasn't a king as far

363

as a Davidic king that's gonna reign.

364

Until the millennial kingdom

really, that's gonna be the

365

next Davidic king on the throne.

366

But Zobel was in the line of David.

367

He just wasn't considered a king.

368

He was a governor.

369

And part of that was they were still

a vassal state under the authority

370

of the Persian Empire at this time.

371

They had been dispatched by Cyrus

and that's why when people want

372

to oppose the temple building,

they appeal to the Persians.

373

They're saying, Hey, you need to stop

this, because Israel wasn't yet fully

374

restored as a nation in the true sense

that it was under David and Solomon.

375

Let's pray and then we'll be done with

this episode of the Daily Bible Podcast.

376

God, thanks for the book.

377

Like Haba or Habakkuk.

378

Yes, also, but also hi Guy, which is

the one that we're studying today.

379

Lord, because it does remind us

of the way that we need to steward

380

the things that you've given to us.

381

It reminds us of the importance of

our relationship with you, that we

382

can't neglect our relationship with

you, that we can't ignore the means

383

that you've given us to to further

our relationship with you, chief

384

among those being the word of God.

385

And so I just pray that we would give

ourselves over to the study of your word

386

on a regular basis that we would not.

387

The riches that we have in the 66 books

in which you've revealed yourself,

388

but that we would plum plumb them

for the truth that will change and

389

transform our lives by your spirit.

390

And so we pray that would

be true in Jesus' name.

391

Amen.

392

Keep in your Bibles.

393

Tune in again tomorrow for another

edition of the Daily Bible Podcast.

394

Bye folks.

395

Bye.

396

Bernard: Well, thank you for

listening to another episode of

397

the Daily Bible Podcast, folks!

398

We're honored to have you join us.

399

This is a ministry of Compass

Bible Church in north Texas.

400

You can find out more information

about our Church at compassntx.org.

401

We would love for you to leave a

review, to rate, or to share this

402

podcast on whatever platform you're

listening on, and we hope to see

403

you again tomorrow for another

episode of the Daily Bible Podcast.

404

Ya'll come back now, ya hear?

405

PJ: Yeah.

406

I would agree with

everything that you said