I’m no longer young, 

And not too pretty;

Not much fun

Or terribly witty.

I would smile more, 

But my smile is crooked, 

And my heart is torn.

Often overlooked, 

Better to be with those who mourn.

Don’t much appeal

To a post-truth world. 

But I try to be real.

A banner unfurled,

Blowing in the Spirit-wind,

But not the spirit of the age.

Build the Lord’s House
Not a building, a Church

“Do you not know that you (all) are God’s temple and that God’s Sprit dwells in (among) you?” (1 Cor. 3:16)

“And you are living stones that God is building into his spiritual temple” (1 Pe 2:5, NLT).
The people of Israel sinned against their God and worshiped idols, so the Lord disciplined them by sending Nebuchadnezzar to destroy their temple and take them as captives to Babylon (2 Chron. 36:15-21).

The LORD promised through His prophets that a Remnant would return, however (Isaiah 10:20-22, 11:11, Jer. 23:3).

A Remnant of Israel returned from Babylonian exile to their land under a command from Cyrus of Persia (Ez. 1:1-4).

The purpose for this Remnant’s return to Jerusalem was to rebuild the temple (Ezra 1:3-5)

Zerubbabel and Jeshua led the return (Ez. 2:2).

Cyrus gave the temple articles back, and many people offered gifts for its rebuilding (Ez. 1:6, 2:68)

Shortly after they arrived the Remnant rebuilt the altar of “Israel’s God” and offered sacrifices according to the Law (Ez. 3:2-3).

Then they bought materials for the temple and laid its foundation (Ez. 3:7) 

There was a great celebration when the foundation was completed (Ez. 3:11-13)

Then the people who worshiped false gods alongside YHWH (2 Kings 17:24-28) offered to help build the temple but the builders rejected such help (Ez. 4:3). 

These people who been transplanted into the land of Israel by the Assyrians many years earlier (Ez. 4:2) are called “enemies of Judah and Benjamin” (Ez. 4:1).

So, the idolators and their leaders began to vigorously oppose the rebuilding of the temple (Ez. 4:4).

The Remnant gave up building the temple.

The priests continued offering sacrifices on the altar, even though the temple was still in ruins.

The Remnant was not bothered by this, for they had turned their attention to their own homes.

God tried to get their attention by keeping them from succeeding at their selfish pursuits, but they continued to divert their limited resources to building their own homes and lives.

The Remnant was failing in their personal lives because they had failed to fulfill the purpose that brought them back to Zion.

Enter Haggai, the first authentic prophet to speak since the exile.

To Z & J: “These people say, ‘The time has not yet come to build the House of the Lord.’ (v. 2)

The people had taken opposition to be a sign that it was not yet time to build the temple.

To the Remnant: “Is it time for you to live in nice houses while my House lies in ruins?”

These were not bad people. They had not returned to idolatry… yet. Although, later some of them began to marry idolators, which is a major compromise leading to unfaithfulness to the Lord.

To the Remnant: “Consider your ways. Go up to the hills and bring wood to build the house, that I may take pleasure in it and that I may be glorified.”

Hag 1:7b-8

The response: “Then Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, with all the remnant of the people, obeyed the voice of the Lord their God.” Hag 1:12.

The foundation was laid in 538, but opposition followed by apathy and indifference caused building to cease until 520. 

That’s 18 years… 

Do you see our church in this story yet? Have you seen yourself?

The Temple is not a building any more. It is people; it is the church of Jesus. “Do you not know that you all are the temple?” 

The church is not an ambiguous entity. It is local groups of believers called out from the world and called together to worship, fellowship, become like Jesus in discipleship, minister to one another and preach the Gospel to the poor.

18 years ago the Lord sent me out of the traditional, institutional church to build a people for his great Name. I started with high hopes.

Only four individuals remain who were members in 1999. Several more are here who joined a year later, and a few more of you who came when we called ourselves Zion.

We came together all those years ago and offered the sacrifice of praise. And we came together to fellowship. I’ve always tried to call people to discipleship.

I led us to lay the only foundation that can be laid to build an authentic church: Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 3:11).

However, there were idolators and doubters and even a few who wanted to build something else on that foundation. They all left. We’ve encountered opposition, at times even from former members and supposed supporters. 

What began as a fellowship of friends who loved hanging out together has become The Church That Will Not Grow.

Why?

Perhaps our small membership is not consciously stating: “The time has not yet come to build the House of the Lord,” but we are not, in fact, building this church. We simply occupy what little we’ve built. Most of us feel no more need for fellowship because we have families and friends, often times outside this church. We do not grow, friends, because we refuse to reach out. Now, I know that some of us invite people to church on occasion. Yet I wonder, have we left our first love (Rev. 2:4? Has your love for Jesus grown cold? The result is that your passion for his church and his Gospel has disappeared. You’re just going through the motions. Some of you have been attending this church for years, but your level of commitment is exactly the same as it was a year ago, five years ago, maybe a decade ago. 

You see, you are the material the Lord is using to build his church.

“And you are living stones that God is building into his spiritual temple” (1 Pet. 2:5).

However, some of you won’t to take your place in the walls of this temple. You’re like stones that refuse to be mortared and set. You just want to sit on top of the foundation wherever you please.

As a result, we’re effectively saying, “The time has not yet come to build the House of the Lord.”

In addition to the obvious fact that our church never grows numerically, I wonder if some of you are experiencing the same issues as the Remnant when Haggai preached.

“Look at what’s happening to you! You have planted much but harvest little. You eat but are not satisfied. You drink but are still thirsty. You put on clothes but cannot keep warm. Your wages disappear as though you were putting them in pockets filled with holes!”

You hoped for rich harvests, but they were poor. And when you brought your harvest home, I blew it away. Why? Because my house lies in ruins, says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, while all of you are busy building your own fine houses.” Hag 1:5–6, 9 NLT.

So, people of Lifewell, I am preaching to you today with the message of Haggai, and I pray the Holy Spirit will speak it to your hearts: “Build the house, that I may take pleasure in it and that I may be glorified” says the LORD of Hosts.

What do you need to do in order to obey the LORD’s command?

 1.  If you have not yet been baptized into the church of Jesus Christ as he commanded, commit to do it today.

 2. If you have yet to join this church, takes steps to do so now.

 3.  If you’re not a regular giver to the ministry of this church, start today, or the next time you receive income.

 4.  If you’re not meeting in one of our small groups, choose one today and commit to meet with them beginning next weekend.

 5. If you’ve not committed to participate in our Teaching Emphasis starting next weekend, do so today:

 A. Get the Purpose Driven Life and read a chapter a day for 42 days.

 B. Partake of our worship service every week for the next 7 weeks.

 C. Participate in a small group for 6 weeks.

It will require the strength of discipline to follow through with this commitment, and it will require energy and strength for us to build this church as the Lord wills. 

What is the goal?

Next year at this time, I am praying for 500 people to be attending

with 40-50 Life groups helping to bring them to maturity and leading them to minister.

That sounds exciting, and exhausting, and it may sound impossible to you. I considered not sharing that goal because I will be ashamed if I cannot lead us to meet it. However, we will never grow beyond the vision we have.

Help me. I cannot do this alone. but I am not alone, am I? We have one another, and most importantly, we have the Holy Spirit’s presence and guidance and encouragement. “

Not by might and not by power, but by my Spirit, says the LORD” (Zech. 4:6)

“Be strong, Zerubbabel. Be strong, Jeshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest. Be strong, all you people still left in the land. And now get to work, for I am with you, says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. My Spirit remains among you, just as I promised when you came out of Egypt. So do not be afraid.’ Hag 2:4–5.

There are blessings for our church promised when we obey the Lord. I have always wanted this church to grow according to God’s promises, not mere methods of men.

“In just a little while I will again shake the heavens and the earth, the oceans and the dry land. I will shake all the nations, and the treasures of all the nations will be brought to this Temple. I will fill this place with glory, says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies…

“The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. The future glory of this Temple will be greater than its past glory, says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. And in this place I will bring peace. I, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, have spoken!” Hag 2:6–9.

The glory is the Presence of the Holy Spirit.

The treasures of the nations are people of all races and ethnicities coming here, worshiping, fellowshipping, becoming disciples of Jesus, ministering and being sent out into all the world to preach the Gospel.

We will have the money to accomplish this goal because the silver and gold are the Lord’s.

We will not have to endure the division and strife that is on the increase in the world because we are promised peace.

“Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful.” (Jn. 14:27)

“I have told you this so that you may have peace. In the world you will have trouble, but take courage, I have overcome the world.” (Jn. 16:33)

There are also blessing that extend to your family when you have faith, obey and build this House of the Lord.

“I am giving you a promise now while the seed is still in the barn. You have not yet harvested your grain, and your grapevines, fig trees, pomegranates, and olive trees have not yet produced their crops. But from this day onward I will bless you.”  Hag 2:19.

I said this once in the year 2000 or 01, and those present were not ready to receive it by faith, so I say it to you again this day, Lifewell.

The Lord says, “From this day forth I will bless you.”

Do you receive it?

Then prove it.

Get to work!

This year a death must come,

And may it be sudden.

For the only way to live

Is to die to me. 

Beyond humility, 

This death to Self

Will set me free. 

Suicide is selfish,

And self-denial too,

So I speak of something else. 

Crucifixion!

Not mine but Christ’s, 

Which was not His,

But mine. 

Identification. 

“I have been crucified

With Christ, and

No longer do I live, but

Christ in me.”

So every time I post something about homosexuality or gay marriage, the same people come to the defense of the individuals who are being persecuted, who are committing suicide, who are genetically predisposed to be gay, and so on and so forth. The reality is, if I had my preference I would simply either: A) leave these people alone altogether, or B) support them because I really don’t care who you have sex with. Honestly, I really don’t care. I don’t want to know; I don’t want to hear details I don’t want to hear sordid little stories. Am I a homophobe? I must laugh: far from it my friend; far far from it. In a culture that is so positively homosexual that avidly defends and promotes same-sex marriage, that promotes the LGBT agenda, to try to indicate that those who are in the LGBT “community” are martyrs is ridiculous. They are a protected species, they have favored status. They’re not martyrs.

So why do I post these articles; why do I write things like this? Because everyone needs to realize that there is a God, and he created man and woman; he created male and female. And yes, in fact, that does correspond to your physiology. If you have a penis, you are male; if you have a vagina you are a female. Indeed, there is a small percentage who are born with additional vestigial sexual members ehich on the surface could indicate that they could be one or the other sex, and these persons should be treated with respect modesty and privacy. However, the aberration is not the norm, the exception is not the rule. Overwhelmingly, there is a clear indication in one’s genetics as to their gender. 

However, we have come to a place in our country where we are being led to believe that one can choose to be whatever they want to be, which includes gender. This is absolutely, positively preposterous; it is absurd and ridiculous. Yet that has now become the standard moral position of a vocal, influential and powerful group within our culture. I’m sorry but I can’t agree. 

I would love for you to be able to be whatever you want to be, but that doesn’t include your gender. Similarly, if you choose to be Superman you can’t be Superman– even if you wear the T-shirt. If you choose to be Batman you can’t be Batman because Batman isn’t a real man, he isn’t a real person. So we’ve arrived at this bizarre, counterfactual conclusion that you can be whatever you want to be, and that extends to gender. Well, that’s utter and complete nonsense. There is a God. He has created us and we need to understand that we are in designed to be either male or female. Beyond that, each one of us is designed to do and to be something in this life that is meaningful. No one is going to be able to make that decision on their own. Each one of us must discover who we are as God has designed us. 

Now, let’s come down to a question that may be related to these other questions, and that relates to marriage and divorce. Recently, one of my Facebook friends posted a couple of quotes by Jesus concerning the sinfulness of adultery and remarriage. “And He said to them, “Whoever divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery against her;”)Mark‬ ‭10:11‬ ‭NASB‬‬) If one is divorced and then remarried, they commit adultery. God considers marriage permanent, but most of us, of course, do not. Our repudiation of the truth is at the root of our social problems.

There is a positive correlation between the increase in divorce and the increase in homosexuality and other perverse behaviors. This is true because there must be a father and a mother figure in the home to teach and model for their children what male and female actually is. However, in a divorce situation there is often a weakened father who has forsaken his children, who may have gone out and chosen to marry someone else. There may also be a weakened mother figure. In either case, children are in a compromised position wherein they don’t know what a father and a mother should be. Therefore, such children don’t know what a man what a woman should be. They don’t know what strength should look like. They don’t know what compassion and tenderness should look like, which although may be seen in men, is very definitely something normative among women. But I have to say fathers, by and large you have– many of you have– failed your children, because you have not been there for them. You have not taught and exemplified what you ought to have to in order to rear your kids. You have not endured and stayed with the woman that you committed yourself to I marriage. Do I blame you, men, fathers? Yes, I do blame you: you’re supposed to be strong; you’re supposed to endure; you’re supposed to take it– that’s what it means to be a man. Protect, provide, love, serve. That means you don’t give up on your wife and kids. You don’t pursue your pleasure and your passion at the expense of your family and home. When you have chosen to promise your life to a woman, you give your whole life to her. When you have children, you are there for them for life, whether they like you or not, whether they are willing to believe in you or obey you or not. You are there for your children, and you lead them the right direction. Without you they are lost, and, so, my friends, my father friends, many of you have failed because you haven’t been there for your children. You need to take responsibility for your actions, right now. You need to go back, you must invest in your children. You need to pray for your children. In fact, that is something which is significantly wrong with many fathers: you have not chosen to be spiritual men, to be men of God. You’re just selfish little boy-men.

This is what is wrong with our culture; this is what is wrong with our society. This is why there is such an increase in homosexuality. It’s not biological. If it were biological, then there would be no increase in homosexuality because homosexuals do not reproduce. Has anybody really thought about this? I don’t think that many of us are thinking; we’re just buying the boilerplate that is fed to to us by our culture, by the media. Stop listening to what you’re told. You must think. Stop listening to individuals who propound their personal opinions and feelings as facts, who tell you that science has informed us concerning these things. If you really believe in evolution, evolution is very very clear, it is the survival of the fittest; is the survival of those who are able to propagate the species. Homosexuals don’t propagate the species! Are you paying attention to this? If there’s a homosexual gene, then why is homosexuality increasing? The homosexual gene should decrease with the increase of exclusively homosexual sexual relationships. 

However, that’s not what’s happening because homosexuality is increasing as the result of a decrease in family values. It is, in large part, the result of a decrease in the presence of fathers in the family. That’s why we have the society and culture that we have. Wake up America! Wake up society! Wake up world! God made us, and God has a plan, and it’s better than yours or mine. 

 “You, God, are my God,
earnestly I seek you;
I thirst for you, my whole being longs for you,
in a dry and parched land where there is no water.”
(Psalm 63:1-2)

It seems to me that we live (or at least I live) not in a dry and parched land, but in a swamp, a swamp near a sewage treatment facility where filthy water leaks into the soil. There is water, but it is not drinkable, so people choose to slake their thirst with other liquids (particularly alcohol, aptly called “spirits” because of its accompanying surrogate spiritual feeling).

Many, like me, just don’t feel the need to drink much water at all. I’m satisfied with coffee. This is why I get headaches, I think. I’m depriving my brain of needed water and electrolytes. Now, applying this to our spiritual condition I’d say that if the water is Your written Word, then it is brackish and polluted because of how it has been handled by today’s Scribes. There is too much built-in interpretation, beginning with the more contemporary translations and continuing with the way it is taught in books and sermons. Celebrity Pastors write books to their audience. These works may contain truth but may also be perverted by the motive behind their writing: to sell books. The Word is politicized, both by Conservatives and Progressives, who find their viewpoint authenticated by carefully choosing verses that appear to do that.

The Word is also prepackaged by teachers with a particular doctrinal or theological viewpoint, such as Calvinism or Dispensationalism. Who reads it with an honest heart, a desire like that spoken in the Psalm above? The trouble is a double mind. There is an apparent desire to learn from the Bible, perhaps even a stated intention to seek You, but the heart is deceitful, even wicked. So, duplicity dictates the rationale and the outcome of reading the Bible, and Your Spirit is ignored or absent because of active sin in the heart of the putative seeker. We’re looking for something for ourselves, instead of seeking You like the Psalmist.

However, the most common reason for the swamp where we live is the proliferation of alternate ideologies with their competing messages. Some would appeal to the Bible as another religious work that has something so say. Increasing numbers are forsaking the Bible and its God altogether, espousing atheism and evolution, humanism and postmodernism. Polluted water floods the plain and creates the swamp. This is a bog where hideous plants grow and nothing is healthy, not even the stinking air we must breath.

“The Word is living and active,” so we aren’t merely dealing with the Bible, but the very Word of God, which is the written word incarnated in the Son of God and continued in His body the church. The church is without power because it is without Your Spirit. The church is deceived because it is self-seeking, rather than God-seeking. In the verse above the Psalmist seeks you in a dry and weary land where there is no water. We are not seeking You because we believe we have You, but what we may possess is a surrogate, an image of You in our minds. Rather than seeking You in the Bible, we seek helpful tips on living our selfish little lives. We seek our own glory, to build our own kingdoms, to prosper and be in health, to extend our territory, to build our brand. Self has replaced You and that’s just exactly what Your enemy planned.

I must begin by denying myself and forsaking self-love. I receive Your love for me, and choose to take up my cross and follow Jesus.”Know thyself” is not the solution but the problem. Cease self-seeking altogether. Know the Lord. Help me to escape the Slough of Despond, this bog of postmodern story. Wash me with clean water. Put me on the narrow path, the highway of holiness, and lead me to higher ground, apart from the filth of the world. Give me pure water to drink, Your Spirit and Your Word.

Amen.