Feeling a bit disconnected in your walk with Christ?
Well, Pastor Greg Laurie has a great new book called What Every Growing Christian Needs to Know that'll help. Let's say you're feeling lethargic and tired. You know, if you have a diet of social media and you don't take time for the Word of God, this is going to have a damaging effect.
So this is just one of the things we talk about in this new book called What Every Growing Christian Needs to Know. Available at harvest.org. Hey there, thanks for listening to the Greg Laurie Podcast, a ministry supported by Harvest Partners. I'm Greg Laurie, encouraging you. If you want to find out more about Harvest Ministries and learn more about how to become a Harvest Partner, just go to harvest.org.
Well, it's a joy, yes. And a privilege to get to be here today to open up God's Word. If you have a copy of the scriptures, we're going to be in Haggai chapter 2.
So please turn there. If that wasn't in your bingo card, finding Haggai in the Bible, I understand. I love teaching what can be forgotten nooks and crannies of the scripture. I think it's so incredible. Don't worry, we're going to be back to the Gospel of Luke next week.
We left Jesus in the grave, but have no fear.
Next Sunday, we're going to find spoiler alert that he is alive. Amen. And so come back next week as Pastor Greg brings us into the final chapter of the Gospel of Luke. But today, the third to the last book of the Old Testament. The hack is just find Matthew and go to the left a few pages to get to Haggai.
Haggai is one of three post-exilic prophets.
Okay, this is not going to be on the test. But there is this thing called the Babylonian exile, and three different times you have prophets who ministered after the exile. Haggai is one, Malachi is another, and then you have Zechariah. And to help you understand or anchor where these prophets ministered in the story of God, they line up with Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther. And these are our three post-exilic examples of biography in the Old Testament.
So Zechariah, Malachi, and Halagai, Haggai can help you understand what God was saying to his people during the events you read about in Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther. But really quickly, before we get to the message going, we have a slide we're going to put up which will help you get for free two chapters of my newest book we have on the screen, Blessed Are the Spiraling. And all you have to do is send a word. I think we have that graphic. It's got a tornado of wildflowers.
There it is. If you text Spiral to 97000, we'll send you the first two chapters to Blessed Are the Spiraling. This can be hopefully an encouragement to you if you find yourself in a season of transition. They say the old trope about midlife crisis is actually even more common in early life, and the average age someone experiences a sense of crisis or destabilizing existential forces is actually 20 years old to 25 years old. But whatever it is that makes you spiral.
Kids going off to college, new career, postpartum. We all go through seasons where we feel like we need a map to navigate. We feel lost in our own lives. That's what this book's all about. And it's been encouraging to hear stories of God using it.
If after you read the two chapters you don't find it encouraging, delete it and throw it away and don't complain. It was free. But we are also going to email you a link to purchase it if you want to. And as well, last plug, if you have kids who are 9 to 12, I have a huge passion for helping the next generation. And as you heard a minute ago, but we have been hearing these reports of young people dealing with massive skyrocketing levels of anxiety and depression.
That's especially true for pre-teens. And so I have a brand new book out called Don't Worry Warrior. I wish I would have thought to bring some, but if you have a child ages 9 to 12, this is 10 ways to battle anxiety with truths from God's Word. You can get it wherever books are sold, but Don't Worry Warrior is out there for you who are parents or grandparents.
Alright, so if you found Haggai 2, we're going to jump in. If you haven't found it yet, you probably should abandon hope and just read the verses on the screen. Because if you haven't found it by now, you're probably not going to find it. But the title of this sermon is, My Trauma is Not My Template. You could jot that down.
My trauma is not my template. Let's start with a question. Have you ever noticed How much easier it is to see someone else's dysfunctional behavior than it is to discover it in your own life. What is it about being blind to your own blind spots that makes it so much easier to grab for a speck in someone else's eye than see the 2x4 in your own eye? And every once in a while we get these moments of self-awareness when we can see ourselves through someone else's eyes to realize, oh wow, I'm not as good at living as I thought I was.
I had this happen to me the other day. When I pulled into my garage, or tried to, with a friend who was in my car, and I pushed the garage door button, as I always do, and the garage didn't open.
So I jumped out, went inside, opened the garage door from the inside, came back out, got in the car, and pulled into the garage. And he looked over at me and said, What's the matter with you? I said, well, it it doesn't always work.
Sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn't.
So I sometimes have to just go in and do it the hard way. And he said, do you know there are garage door repairmen in this world, right? I said, yeah, but that's going to cost all this money. And besides, sometimes it works. And he goes, he spoke in a way I could understand.
He said, do you realize how much of your life you're giving to this? If you add it up, you're going to probably have a whole year of your life at the end of your life that you spend on this prop. He said, call the grocery company.
So I did. You know what the guy said to me on the phone? He goes, you probably don't want us to come out. It's very expensive. I said, do you understand how sales works, right?
And so he came out. Turns out we had had a rolling brownout where the power went out, and it partially fried the circuit that controls the receptor that takes the signal from my garage door, which is why it works some of the time and not other times, right? I think if it had just not worked, I would have caved immediately. But because sometimes it did, sometimes it didn't, it had a little bit of a slot machine thing going on to it. It's kind of like, is today going to be one of those days?
You know, it's like opens like yes, you know, and that feeling of that high, you know, I would carry into the next week and get cocky, right?
So the guy explains this to me. He says, I can put a new garage door in for opener and for a couple hundred dollars. I said, please, yes, just do it.
So he does it, and I'm pleased to report to you today, my garage door opens 100% of the time.
Okay. But the feeling of success was short-lived because that very same week I lifted my truck but didn't do the math, and now my truck can't fit in my garage door at all. The problem has been solved, but the dysfunction continues. All right, so the point is, I saw myself through his eyes, and it took that for me to realize what was actually going on. Bring that with me.
If you can, to Haggai chapter 2, as we read verses 3 through 9, God speaking through the prophet Haggai: who is left among you? who saw this temple in its former glory. And how do you see it now? In comparison with it, Is this not in your eyes as nothing? Yet now be strong, Zerubbabel, says the Lord.
And be strong, Joshua, son of Jehosadak. The high priest. And you'll notice now the third repetition Of the word be strong. Why? One of the marks of a good teacher is repetition.
Let me say that again. Be strong, be strong, be strong. But God doesn't anchor his command to be strong in their ability to be strong on their own. God never tells you to do something he's not willing to give you the power to do. You see what I'm saying?
So he says, Be strong, be strong, be strong. And then he anchors it with this: For I am with you, says the Lord of hosts. This is how they're able to be strong, because God is with them. And if God is with you, he's going to give you everything you need to do everything he has called you to do. If you join the military, it's not like bring your own F-16.
They're not going to say, what, you didn't bring a plane with. They're going to give you everything you need to do to do the calling that's on your life in the military.
So it is with God. If God tells you to be strong, He intends to supply the strength. All you have to do is be willing to obey, take Him at His word, and do what He's called you to do in Jesus' name.
Okay?
So He says, I am with you, so you can be strong, says the Lord of hosts. Verse 5: According to the word, That I covenanted. That's a big important Bible word. It talks about God making a promise, right? God says, I covenanted with you when you came out of Egypt.
So my spirit remains among you.
So he had said, I'm going to be with you wherever you go, whatever you put your foot on, the sole of your foot, wherever you put the bottom of your shoe, I'm going to bless you there. I'm going to be with you. I'm not going to leave you. I'm not going to forsake you.
So you never have to be afraid because I'm always with you. My spirit's always with you. And did not Jesus say the same thing? Until the end of the age. I will never leave you.
I will never forsake you. Lo, I am always with you. One person said he doesn't fly because Jesus said, I'm with you, lo. This is a joke. He's with you high, he's with you low, he's with you wherever you go.
Okay. Uh My spirit remains among you.
So now look at verse 5.
So do not fear. Exclamation mark. Look, go back one verse. Look at this, verse 5. Do not fear.
Fear is faith in the enemy. And our faith is not in the enemy, it's in God.
So when we feel fear, we have to choose faith. God says, do not fear. He didn't say don't feel afraid. There's going to be plenty of times in your life when you feel afraid. In fact, I would say if you never feel afraid, you're not doing anything big enough.
You need to do things in life that are impossible on your own, that you need to rely on God's strength to get you through. And then when you feel fear, you choose faith anyway. And what do you do when your knees knock? You kneel on them and keep trusting God. You pray and keep trusting God.
You believe God is with you and keep trusting God. I'm telling you, all these years, there's been fear in this ministry, taking on stadiums, doing the call of God on their life, having a radio with a station broadcast, a new beginning that reaches coast to coast. There's been so many moments, I guarantee you, when Pastor Greg and Kathy have felt fear. There's going to be lots of times for Jonathan and Brittany in the future, and all that God calls this ministry to do, that there's going to be the feeling of fear. But as the great missionary to China, Jay Hudson Taylor, once said, If there's not an element of risk in our adventures for God, there's no need for faith.
So we're going to need faith precisely because we're not going to know how it's all going to work out. But it is never a mistake to trust a known God when we're facing an unknown future.
So we can step into that future choosing to not be afraid, even when we feel afraid. And God says, I'm with you as you do it.
So verse 6, he says, Thus says the Lord of hosts, once more. It is a little while. I will shake heaven and earth, the sea and dry land, and I will shake all nations when they shall come. Notice capitalized to the desire of all nations. Pro tip, that's shorthand for Jesus.
That's one of Jesus' names, the desire of all nations, which is crazy because Isaiah 53 says, when he gets here, there will be nothing to be desired when you see him. That Jesus wasn't like six foot three, dreamy blue eyes. You know, his profile picture looked amazing. No, there's no form or comeliness to him when you see him. And yet, on the inside, who he truly is, God in human flesh, that he is the desire of all nations.
Translation: He's what every single person on earth is craving, even though they don't understand that. We get thirsty for water all around this world, and yet he is the one who has living water. If we drink it, we will have our thirst quenched forever and never thirst again. And so, this desire of all nations shall come to the temple that's going to be full of his glory, says the Lord of hosts. Verse 8: The silver is mine, the gold is mine.
You're worried about the cost, don't worry, I own the cattle on a thousand hills, is what he's saying. Verse 9: The glory of this latter temple shall be greater than the former, says the Lord of hosts. And notice this last part. And in this place I will give Peace, says the Lord of hosts. Can we take a moment and thank God for his word?
What a joy it is to read it, to proclaim it, to hold it above our opinion, to hold it above our circumstances, to hold it above our feelings. An altar was all they had. The year is 520 BC. And as I mentioned, the children of Israel had come back from captivity, back from exile, thus post-exilic, they're returning to the promised land. Their goal is to rebuild the temple.
The first temple had been torn down when Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonian army laid waste to the city of Jerusalem, stole all the gold vessels, brought them back to Babylon. There, Belshazzar used them to toast his gods, right? Didn't work out so good for Belshazzar, by the way, right? And it never does when you lift up something else above the most high God. But the children of Israel needed to spend 70 years in captivity because for 490 years they had dishonored God by not observing the Sabbath.
They had been brought into the promised land with this mighty show of God's power, mighty show of God's strength. Hello, part of the Red Sea? Hello, plagues of frogs and lice and darkness, and then even the death of the firstborn to finally get Pharaoh to let them go.
So God had proven his strength, proven his ability to be able to bring them into the promised land. It took 38 years longer than it should have because coming from Mount Sinai, when they got the instructions as to how this new civilization was to work out, they were told to go into the promised land, but they chose to get afraid and believe their fear, thus putting their faith in the enemy instead of God. And so they wandered and did doughnuts in the desert for 38 years. But now, after that generation died, they get brought over with Joshua into the promised land. And no sooner do they get there when all of Israel has that new nation smell to it that they begin dishonoring God.
They begin to not obey the Sabbath. They begin to trust in themselves. They begin to get greedy. They begin to neglect worship. And God warns them, and warns them, and warns them, and warns them through all of the prophets.
If you do this, it's not going to go well. If you do this, it's not going to go well. God sends his prophets to wave their hands saying, Hey, danger, danger, bridge is out. Do not keep going this way. God does not delight in the death of the wicked, but they don't listen.
And so, what happens? They end up in exile. The land is still theirs because through covenant to Abraham, it's an everlasting possession, but they're not getting to enjoy it. Which is why one of the reasons why the book of Ephesians helps us in the New Testament to understand that we can miss out on the blessings of what can never be taken away from us. In Christ, you and I Have been blessed with every spiritual blessing.
Now, as you look at your life, you go, I don't seem to be living out every spiritual blessing. That's because something can be yours, but you not get the benefit out of it. And tragically, this can go your whole life to where you end up in heaven if you have faith in Jesus with a saved soul, but you look back and realize, oh my gosh, I had a wasted life. It was mine in Christ potentially, but it wasn't mine actively because I wasn't by faith taking hold of the promises. Which is why Paul told the church at Ephesus: I pray that God would open the eyes of your understanding, that you have your spiritual senses enlightened to see what is the hope of his calling, what are the riches of the inheritance of his saints in the light, and what is the exceeding greatness of his power towards you to believe who believe.
What a tragedy to wake up in heaven and look back on your life and realize what it could have been like had you trusted God. Had you taken him at his word? Had you, by faith, laid hold of some territory? Had you driven out some of those giants who are always trying to take back the promised land from the people of God?
So for 70 years. They're doing their time in Babylon. But now their time is done and it's time to return to the promised land. The exile is over and God wants them to come out and rebuild the temple. Here's what's beautiful about it, and it's one of my favorite, like Christopher Nolan Easter eggs in the Bible.
Kind of an example of prophecy that's eight-ball, corner pocket, God calling his moves ahead of time. Jot this reference down, Isaiah 45. God says when exile is done through the prophet Isaiah, there's going to be a new king over the area once called Babylon who's going to be called Cyrus. And apparently, this guy, Cyrus, is going to look favorably upon the Jewish people and be his servant and be his shepherd to lead them like a flock of sheep out of exile and allow them to return to once again worship.
Now, you know what's crazy about this? 120 years after Isaiah writes this letter, The Babylonian Empire ends in a night. And the Persians take over.
So they went into Babylon and they come out of Persia. The literal name of the country changes while they're staying in this property. It happened to me once. I stayed at a hotel once, and while we were staying there, the hotel. Went by a new name.
So we checked into one hotel and checked completely out of a different one. It was very bewildering. You would call it. It was like, this is not the hotel I checked into. That happened to the children of Israel.
So now they're a part of the Persian Empire. And guess who's on the throne? Cyrus the Great.
Now the Jewish people brought the scroll of Isaiah, Josephus tells us, and showed it to him. And they said, you're going to want to read Isaiah 45, where it talks about Cyrus the Great being magnificent and in charge and then letting the Jewish people out. And he goes, when was this written? And they go, Loki about 100 years ago. And he goes, here's an edict.
The Jewish people can do whatever they want because their God is awesome. That's what he said, basically. It's a translation of what he said. And by the way, next time you're in London, stop by the British Museum. There is something called the Cyrus Cylinder discovered by British archaeologists in the year 1879 on display, where all of his edict pronounced throughout the whole world in his kingdom that the Jewish people can go back to the promised land.
It's on display. This is not just biblical history. This is world history, baby. The Most High rules in the kingdom of men and gives it to whomever he wishes. God's word always comes to pass, and standing in front of it, it bolsters your faith.
Okay?
So the Jews are all excited because not only does Cyrus say you can return, but he says, I'm going to protect you. I'm going to be your backing. I'm going to be your financier. And so they're pumped, right? They're going back to Jerusalem singing, hi-ho, hi-ho.
It's to build the temple we go. They're all bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. Like, you know, that feeling when you're starting a project, when you're going to clean the garage out, right? But what happens halfway through? Let's just shove it all back and not talk about it anymore.
You know what I mean? That happened to them too. Because they built the the altar first. And then they marked out on the ground where the new temple was gonna go, kind of a chalk outline, if you will, of what the foundation was gonna be. And right when they got done with that, you will not believe what happened.
Cyrus the Great died. And his successor, well, he wasn't mentioned in Isaiah 45. Let's just put it that way.
So he had no dog in the hunt. And at the same time, the Jewish enemies, the Samaritans, their sworn enemies, they began to do the same thing that they'll eventually do under Nehemiah. They'll start to bicker, they'll start to be jealous, so they launch a smear campaign trying to discredit the Jews and make the Persian authorities believe that they have ill intent. And so now Zerubbabel, he's the governor, and the 50,000 Jewish people who came to rebuild the temple don't know what to do, so they stop. The work stops.
The wheelbarrow is sitting there. The stuff from Home Depot, it's just in a pile over here, okay? There's a sign that says future home of the temple. But guess what? Sixteen years goes by.
And nothing. has been done. Kind of dysfunctional to have a garage, but your truck is sitting in the driveway, right? Kind of dysfunctional to be pushing the button, but nothing is happening. You meet them, you're like, What are you guys doing?
Oh, we came back to build the temple. Oh, when was that? Recently? Almost two decades ago. Wh when are you going to build the temple?
Uh one of these days. Dysfunctional. Why? They were traumatized. Not only by their origin story, knowing what happened last time, this is why we can't have nice things, right?
Last time we tried to have Israel, it didn't work out so well here. Last time we had the temple, it got torn down, we got taken off as slaves. They've heard those stories. Plus, when they tried to do something about it, well, then Cyrus died. The one they counted on had died, and so now they're sort of traumatized.
Why? Because their template for building a temple was based on a traumatic experience they had gone through, and they're playing that out into the future. They've ended up. Once stung, and twice shy. Let me explain.
My daughter Clover, who's with the youth today, when she was very young, we took her to Disneyland, and I said, Hey, let's go ride the Autopia ride. And you know what she said? I'm not going on that ride. Don't you remember, Dad? First time we wrote Autopia, what happened?
I go, What happened? She goes, I got stung by a bee. Don't you remember this? And the way she said it, I could see it in her eyes, like the pain was fresh. I said, When was that?
She goes, First time I came when I was like four. I was like, Sweet Pete, that was a long time ago. I said, Do you know the odds? Do you know how many people ride Autopia every day who don't get stung by bees? And she goes, Oh no, you're not getting me on that ride.
You're right. Her template was based on a traumatic experience that she was. You laugh, I laugh, but how many of us, when God calls us to do something, We don't do it and the first thing we think of is a painful thing that happened the last time we tried to share our faith. The last time we signed up to get in a small group. The last time we tried to get, when we actually began to take action to do something that God called us to do, we end up in those situations where we're living in dysfunction, far away from what God has called us to do, and yet we're just sort of there in this holding pattern and not moving it forward at all.
They've got this altar. Sitting on a slab in the middle of a field where a temple is supposed to go. All the excitement is gone, and they're living far from purpose. They're living far from peace. And what this can do is, it can cause us to live at a place where we're sort of like living in a muted reality, a muted version of what life is meant to be like.
Jesus said that he came for us to have life and life that's abundant, not just we're sort of eking out an existence and not moving towards what God has called us to. And I can prove to you they were not living with the sense of vitality. They were not living with the sense of the Spirit of God upon their lives. They were not living in the exceedingly, abundantly beyond anything we can ask or imagine, right? This is what God wants our day-to-day life to look like.
That it's an adventure following Jesus, and we're watching our prayers be answered, and we're believing for this, and we're watching it happen. We're seeing giants fall. That's what God wants the Christian experience to be like. And yet, what were they living?
Well, Haggai 1, verse 6 says, You have sown much. And you bring in little. He said, you eat, but you do not ever have enough. You drink, but you are not filled with drink. You clothe yourselves, but no one is warm.
And he who earns wages earns wages to put it into a bag with holes. How interesting to be at a place where you're gaining the whole world. But you're losing your own soul, right? He's saying you're here, you're doing all this that you're doing, but there's not meaning, right? You can have money, but there's no sense of purpose in it.
You can have accomplishments, but it can be hollow. I got a friend who sold companies. For what he said in the moment that the signature was affixed to the docu-signed document, he said he knew not his children, nor his children's children, nor likely his kids' kids' kids would ever want for money. You know what he told me? It was the most empty he ever felt.
If you're not living out the purpose of God on your life, I'm telling you, there's a hollowness to every single victory. It'll all be Perik, whatever victories you have in this world. Haggai 2:16, when you hoped for a 20-bushel crop, You harvested only 10. When you expected to draw 50 gallons from the wine press, you found there was only 20. What are you hearing?
The children of Israel are living A one-pocket life in a two-pocket world. And I found the hard way that this is not great. My wife Jenny, she bought my son Lennox, who's nine, and I, a few years back, matching shorts. And she had this whole story: these are your adventure shorts. This is our first son.
We have four girls in a row, then a little boy. I'm no longer living as the minority in a sorority, okay?
So I've got another guy with me in the house. And so she says, You guys can wear these on your adventures and all the rest. And so he would insist, this was years ago, but he would insist I wear them. If I came out not wearing them on an adventure, he'd be like, You need to go change. They were little shorts from Patagonia with alligators on them.
Okay, and we wore them so much, canoeing and camping and all this stuff. And then one day I put my phone in the pocket and it fell through the bottom. And I was like, oh no, my pocket's blown out.
So I changed shorts. And he said, Dad, I need you and your adventure shorts for this adventure.
So you know what I did? I wish I could tell you I taped them or sewed them or fixed them and somewhere. I just stopped using my right pocket. I only would put my phone in my left pocket. And then one day I found myself with jeans on, not even those pants, going to put my phone in my pocket.
And almost like the instinct was, nope, don't use that pocket. And I was like, what have I become? I'm living a one-pocket life in a two-pocket world. There's more to this, right?
So if anybody out there has any pull at Patagonia, I know they've been discontinued, but your boy could use some alligator shorts in a size 32. But here's the thing. Here's the thing. These people, they're going through the motions of life in Israel. But everything they're doing is sort of empty.
They're putting it into a pocket with holes. And here's the scary thing about that: when you abandon the use of the range of motion of a joint, in time you will discover that when you stop using it, you will lose it. And you lose more than just the use of that joint. Studies have found that reduced flexibility of a human body takes an average of 12 years off the life of that human. 20% lower all-cause mortality is found to be the result of retaining the full use of all your joints.
You know, one day maybe you realize when I lift my hand over my shoulder, it hurts.
So instead of dealing with it and going through the physical therapy and maybe even the painful, difficult surgery, you just say, well, I just won't raise my hand up over my arm. And that's a small example to talk about how relationally we've just said, hey, it hurts when I do this.
So I'm just not going to do it. I'm just not going to have conversations. I'm just not going to have friends. I guess I'm just not cut out for love. I'm just going to keep people at arm's length.
I'm just going to wall up every time someone gets close enough to actually hurt or to help me. And we can end up at a place where we're not experiencing what God has for us.
So what do we need to do? We need to realize that every time we get wounded, we have to make a choice. Every time in life we get wounded, We have to make a choice because you're going to get wounded. What are you going to do about it? The choices are as follows.
There are going to be eight things. I want you to jot them all down. The choice number one is to be defined by them. How easy is it to internalize the wound and for it not just to be something you face or something that's a part of your story, but actually who you are? It can get down into the groundwater of how you see yourself.
Your identity can be shaped by life's brutality instead of the victory that comes from the Son of God who loved us and gave Himself for us. And we don't even realize we're doing it, but I think you probably maybe will feel like, ah, I'm a little seen here. Have you ever had something bad happen to you? And you go, huh, story of my life. Is it?
Is that the story of your life? Or is the story of your life that you were made by God? He knit you together in your mother's womb. When you were lost, he sent Jesus Christ to die for you. Your name, seated and sealed in heavenly places, in Christ, who is your life, is going to return.
And when he returns, you're going to return with him in glory? That's the story of your life. How about he goes before you, anoints your head with oil? How about. You see what I'm saying?
But it's the story of our life that we got a flat tire. Like, are you joking here? But but What do we find in the book of Ruth? Naomi loses a husband and then loses two sons. And what does she do?
She changes her name. Do you know what Naomi means? Pleasant. What does she change her name to? Mara.
What does mean that mean? Bitter. What is she saying? She's saying I am bitter because my life has been bitter She was at least honest enough to have a name change procedure. A lot of us just act salty and we point to, well, you would be too if you had gone through what I've been through.
I am this way because this happened to me. That's a whole lot different than Paul, who says we always have a choice, the choice to rejoice. And he went on to write an epistle called Philippians, where he uses the word joy, joyful, or rejoicing 18 times while chained up in a Roman prison. Hello, somebody. Just because it's happened to you doesn't mean it has to become who you are.
You can still be a child of God, even in a difficult situation.
So don't be defined. You are not a divorcee. You are not a cancer survivor. You are a blood-bought son or daughter of the King of Kings. You are not what you've had to face in this world.
So don't let it become your identity. Secondly, you can run from. Your wounds. That is to say You can Okay. Wrap yourself up in bubble wrap.
This world will coddle you and enable you in a life that avoids everything that triggers you. Oh, that triggers me. I can't have that conversation. They're saying staggering, baffling amounts of people are cutting people out of their life quicker and quicker than ever. Labeling them as toxic.
Now, I'm all for drawing boundaries at times. That's for sure important. But just to say that's hard, that would trigger me. That's difficult. You know, my boss is toxic.
Is he toxic, or did he expect you to be on time? You know, like, there's. You see what I'm saying?
This is hard, therefore it's bad.
Something can be hard and important, hard and good. This next week, 9-11, it's hard to go back and think about and look at and actually take a deep look at what happens, right? And yet, that's good at the same time.
So, a hard thing isn't always a bad thing.
So, a hard conversation, a difficult defining of the relationship. Hey, this is where you hurt me. That's not someone coming at you. That's someone trying to get to reconciliation in the friendship.
Okay, so let's not run from. and and and and abandon parts of our lives just because it's challenging. The third would be to delay facing. This is where you're running from it, but pretending you're not, right? And I think this is actually what the children of Israel were doing with their wounds.
How do you know that?
Well, verse 2 of chapter 1, God speaks through Haggai, thus speaks the Lord of hosts, saying, This people says, meaning they continued to say, The time has not come. That the Lord's house should be built. Oh, this one is going to get you and get me, get us all convicted. Why? They're saying, it's not that we're not going to do it.
It's just that the Lord's will is not yet there for us to do it. They're blaming it on God that they're not building the temple, meaning it's just not time yet. And they probably said, brother, right? Because whenever you're trying to really spiritualize things, everybody's brother for some reason. You know, well, sister, it's just, I haven't felt that impression yet.
It's not time yet. We're going to get around when the Lord opens some things up. Hey, hey, check this out. The right time to do the right thing is right now. You're here for such a time as this.
Delayed obedience is disobedience. God brought them out using 120-year-old prophecy to build the temple. Just because there's opposition, just because there's difficulty, doesn't mean it's not God's will. In fact, I would argue: if you're not experiencing the gates of hell pushing back on the work, you're outside of the will of God. The very fact that it's hard, the very fact that it's difficult, the very fact that there are enemies, the very fact that there's challenges to it.
Jesus said, Woe to you if all men speak well of you. At this point in my ministry, I'd be worried if there wasn't some sort of demonic attempt trying to discourage me or push back on it or bring criticism to it. It's part of the table stakes of doing something great for God. Just ask Jesus, who said, They hate me, you follow me, they're gonna hate you, but be a good heart. Because the gates of hell cannot prevail against the church of Jesus Christ that he is building, even though it's going to try.
And so, yeah, there's going to be all kinds of stuff going on. But don't spiritualize it and thus delay facing it, because the road to hell is paved with good intentions. All right? And then, number four. When we get wounded, we can numb the pain.
Are you talking about drugs and alcohol? Certainly. But I'm also talking about social media. And I'm also talking about spending. Oh yeah, I came to convict everybody today, right?
In fact, in Haggai chapter 1 verse 4, look what God says. God says, is it time? Because you keep saying, oh, it's the time, it's the time, it's not the right time. Is it time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses while my temple lies in ruins? Come on, touch your neighbor and say, ouch.
God's saying, if it's not the time to build, then why are you at Home Depot every time I turn around? Why are you always on the Magnolia YouTube page getting inspiration for your next remodel you're going to do of your bonus room? If it's not time to build, then why is your guest house that you're flipping to put on Airbnb looking so good and so comfy?
Meanwhile, my Holy Spirit's got no place for people to come meet with me and worship me. The problem isn't that they had nice houses, the problem was a problem of priority. Jesus said, Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these other things will be added unto you. The problem is, we seek the other things and we put them in God's place in our heart, but you will never come in last when you put God's first. When you prioritize His house, He'll always be faithful to build your house.
But as I read Psalm 23, we follow the shepherd, goodness and mercy follows us. The problem is we start like little sheep chasing the goodness and mercy, turning our back on the shepherd.
So he's saying, You're medicating. Your wounds with the numbing, why do I have to feel my feelings? I can just go eat them. Right? Why why do I have to feel my feelings?
I got a package coming from Amazon. And us unholy Christians in Montana, we gotta wait four days. Y'all got same-day delivery up in here, right? You don't even have to wait long. It's already there.
It's like, I think I want it, it's there. Yeah. Did I even order that? No, we just knew you probably would. And you're like, you're not wrong, but that's creepy.
Number five. When you're wounded, you can choose to pass the blame. Passing the blame is where I'm this way because they hurt me. And here's the problem with this one: it can be true. It can be true.
It can be true that your stepdad was abusive. It can be true that your boss unfairly terminated you. It can be true that your coworker took credit for your ID. It can be true that your sister-in-law, you know, but that's not the point. This this victim blaming, where does it leave you?
John chapter 5, man on the ground, 38 years, can't move. Jesus walks up one day. We know what he says: Do you. want to get up. What does the guy say?
Yes, Master, Teacher, Lord, Savior, thank you. That'd be great. I'd love to get up. No, no, no. He says, I'm only here because other people don't help me.
And Jesus is thinking, be that as it may, would you like to get up now? I am indeed somebody here offering to help you up. For freedom, Christ has set you free. And today he can say, be that as it may, it's not excusing the wrong done, it's not excusing who hurt you, it's not excusing the sin and treachery of other people. Joseph could have had a victim mentality.
My brother sold me here. That's true. But he chose to say, God sent me here. If it happened to me, he allowed it. He's got a plan to redeem it.
He's sovereign, you're not. And so I'm gonna help you, the people who put me here. That's a man who's been set free. from the wounds. That could have become infested into a victim mentality.
Number six is you can compare yourself to others.
Okay. There was fifty thousand Jews who came back with Zeroble. And I wonder. Imagination. If every time they felt convicted, they thought to themselves, yeah, but there's a bunch of people back in Persia who didn't even come.
We came. Never mind the fact that we've been here 16 years in a holy family. We came. But they felt better about themselves. Why?
Because they could think of someone more jacked up than they were. And that is so human. We all have people in our minds that are our holdouts, right? I'll change when so-and-so. As long as we can benchmark ourselves as slightly less messed up than someone else, we feel better.
But that, Paul said, we don't rank each other by each other. To your own master, you're going to be judging, right? You're not going to stand before God and be asked, who is more alcoholic than you, right? Like, who had a bigger gossip problem than you? It's going to be, what did you do with this one life that I gave you to use for my glory?
So don't compare. John chapter 20, Jesus said, John 21, he said to Peter when he asked about, would you be willing to die for me on the cross? You know what Peter said? What about John? That's right.
John, Peter said. Jesus said, Would you die for me on the cross? And Peter goes, What about John? What's he gonna do for you? You can take the boy out of kindergarten, but you can't take the kindergarten out of the boy.
And you know, Jesus said, What does it matter what I've called him to do? I want you to follow me. Listen, wherever people are at, that's their own spot. What is God calling you to do today?
Alright, lastly, or second to last, we have a good one at the end of this list of bad things. We can choose to perpetuate our wounds, which is what we will do if we choose to do all of these things and not treat what's really gone wrong inside. we will push them onto other people. Abraham lies about his wife being his sister. Isaac lies about his wife being his sister.
Jacob lies about almost everything. Patterns of generational dysfunction can get transmitted. The examples we see backwards and forwards, you don't want to be like your mom, so you end up creating a child who's exactly like your mom by being the exact opposite of your mom. You see what I'm saying?
We get stuck in these sin cycles like the children of Israel did in the book of Judges. The point is, whatever doesn't get treated gets transmitted. And none of these things have to get transmitted. Why? Because of our eighth and final item on the list.
Every time you get wounded, you make a choice, but the right choice to make is to let God heal them so that they can be used to help and heal other people too. Every time you get wounded, if you let God heal your wound. And you don't let your trauma be your template for how the future is going to go, but you let God's truth be the template for how this life is going to go, that we're going to let that inform our decisions.
Now, our wounds, once healed, no longer control us, but they instead, like jujitsu, which uses the enemy's force against them, can be used to accomplish what God wants to do. And the ultimate proof of this is what? Jesus. You're like of course you were gonna say that.
Well, yes, of course, it's church. That's what we do, but But Jesus. Luke 24, we're going to be there next Sunday. Jesus shows up in the room, and what does he show the disciples to give them confidence? They're afraid.
He says, look at my hands. And what do they see? Wounds. Jesus Kept. His wounds.
Now, if I'm interviewing Jesus, I didn't get this privilege, but if I'm interviewing Jesus, I go, why would you keep them? He came out with a glorified body. He didn't need to keep them. He could fly. He could pass through walls.
He could have said wounds, gone. He could have gone to see a plastic surgeon, gone. He kept him. He kept him. And I wonder if you said, Jesus, why'd you keep your wounds?
If you wouldn't look at them almost surprised and go, oh, these? Oh, I don't know. I kinda like them. Because without these You're not mine. And how his wounds shown to the disciples take their fear and turn it into faith so they can get back to work like these people are supposed to do in this day.
And the same can happen to your wounds. Once healed, they can be used to do something brand new.
Now, I know that doesn't make it hard, not hard, that doesn't make it not scary. It's going to be that way. But what I'm trying to get you to see is that just like the wounds of Jesus were used to do great things, yours can. Two. What's hard and daunting about it is we got to go through grief to get to that healing.
We gotta open this stuff up. We'd rather just keep shoved down. And I'm not preaching something I've not lived out. I have a daughter. who this week will celebrate what would be her 19th birthday.
And she's been in heaven for 14 years. And she died in my arms five days before Christmas while I was doing CPR. There was a season where I could not face any scene of CPR in a movie without having almost a panic attack. I could not see the sign next to every hot tub and pool without being taken back to the most traumatic and difficult moments of my entire life. Two years ago, my father, my best friend, he died of pancreatic cancer the day after Easter.
And here am I as a pastor, these are kind of big work days, guys. I got to show up on Christmas. I got to show up on Easter. And so I've got associations. I've got ratatouille taking me back to some pretty hard things.
But instead of allowing what has been taken from us to define my template for how the future is going to go, we have had to, one day at a time, allow God's truth to be the template. And I've had to say, sort of almost stiffening a little bit, Devil, you can't have my pain. It belongs to Jesus. You don't get Christmas. You don't get Easter.
These belong to Christ, and so do I. And even if you're shaking, you gotta shake these things down because the wounds are just gonna be waiting one day for you to have to treat and have to do something with. I close with this. I've preached what I felt like God wanted me to preach today. My son Lennox and I were going through security yesterday to fly here, and we were at the TSA checkpoint, and we went through the metal detector, because we have pre-like sane people.
I don't know who these people are who haven't gotten pre- yet, but although I almost don't want the secret to get out because it'll take it all away from us. But. We were going through the metal detector, and the light went off when he went through. He didn't notice, but I did. I said to the guy, Did he get a random?
And the guy goes, Yeah, but don't worry, I'll put it on you. Uh I said, cool. Lennox didn't even notice. He went over to get his backpack, and I just went over to the table and said, Do you want my devices or do you want my hands? He goes, I'll take your palms.
So I put my hands out. He began swabbing my hands. And now Lennox sees me over here, realizes we got separated, and rushes over thinking, oh, I'm supposed to do this too.
So he rushes right over, puts his hands out. You know what he says? You know what the guy says to him? He says, Hey, son, that won't be necessary. Your father took care of it.
Oh Tell me that won't preach the truth and shame the devil today. We're going, Lord, how am I going to handle all this pain? How am I going to handle all this difficulty? God is saying to you today, don't you worry about it, my child. My son took care of it.
I put it on Jesus. There's forgiveness in the cross, there's healing in the cross, there's power in the cross, there's life in the cross. And so, God, we thank you for your kindness. And we thank you today. That you're trying to redirect the compass of our souls to get back to the good work you've called us to.
Because we got discouraged somewhere along the way. We got set back somewhere along the way. We got taken out somewhere along the way. But today you're inviting us back into the story that you're writing.
Okay. If, as we're praying, if you would say all across the church in Riverside and Maui here in Orange County or online. I needed this today. I want to say that God's word is going to be the truth for my pain and not my trauma. I'm going to live a story of a victor, not a victim.
If that's you, I'm describing with heads bowed and eyes closed. Could you raise a hand up today? Just to the Lord, just between you and God, saying, I need your help, God. This is going to be scary, but I need you to help me, God. Thank you, Jesus, for the freedom in this moment and the healing.
the peace And the glory, it might not be bigger, what we're going to build. It's going to be more glorious because Jesus is going to be in it. The new temple they built, the second temple, was not as big as Solomon's temple, but it was the glorious one where the veil tore. It was the glorious one where Jesus came. It was the glorious one Jesus cleansed.
So, Lord, whatever we do through it, it might not be as big as it once was. The grief may have made it smaller, but it's going to be glorious. Because you're going to be with us in it. You could put your hands down, and I now want to invite anybody who's here today and you've not said yes to Jesus. to make the most important decision of your life.
to invite Christ into your heart to forgive you of your sins. to make your heart his home and to give you heaven to look forward to. You can't get there by doing You can't get there by earning. Jesus did it all. But you must receive him into your heart to be your Savior and your Lord and your friend.
So, with our heads bowed and our eyes closed, if you would say, Pastor, I want to give my heart to Christ. I want to pray with you. Because the Bible says, if we confess with our mouths and believe in our hearts, we will be saved.
So I'm going to pray with you to give your heart to Christ. Jesus knocking, you must open. This is how you do that. No one praying alone. All of us praying together.
Are you ready to give your life to Christ? Say this with me. Dear God. Church, pray with us. Dear God.
I open my heart to you. Thank you for setting Jesus. To die for my sins. To rise from the dead. I turn from my sins.
To you. Come into my heart. Be my Lord. and my Saviour. In Jesus' name.
Heads still bowed, eyes still closed, all of us praying. If you just gave your heart to Christ, the Bible talks about hands being raised as a picture of hearts being surrendered.
So I'm going to count to three. And when I get to three, all across the church, everywhere you can hear me, I'm gonna ask you to shoot your hand up in the air as a way of saying, This is me, this is real, this is my new beginning, this is my turning point. I'm coming to Christ today. I'm going to ask you to put your hand up as a way of saying. What's happened in your life today?
When I get to three, shoot it up. One. Two, three. Shoot your hands up. Shoot your hands up.
Praise God. Church hands are going up all around this room in Riverside, in Maui, online. God sees each of you. Praise God. Praise God.
Praise God. Hey, do me a favor. Stand up to your feet all across the church. And if you just prayed to give your life to Jesus Christ, in every room, it's different, but you're going to see someone in Harvest Riverside, it's to your left, to my right. Here in Orange County, it's to my left, to your right, where a sign says New Believer Bibles.
We would like to give every new believer a Bible and have the chance to pray with you.
So, if you just raised your hand as we begin to sing, I want you to make your way towards that sign, make your way out of your seat. Don't leave without getting a Bible and talking to someone, letting them pray for you. It'd be our honor to do so. You can begin to do so as soon as we sing. Will God bless you, Harvest?
It was a great privilege to be with you. Until next time. Hey everybody, thanks for listening to this podcast. To learn more about Harvest Ministries, follow this show and consider supporting it. Just go to harvest.org.
And to find out how to know God personally, go to harvest.org and click on Know God. Mm.
