Tag: build God’s house
Rejoicing in Christ’s House!
Scripture reading for April 19th: 1st Chronicles 14-17
Key Scriptures: 1st Chronicles 17:10-13 “‘I declare to you that the Lord will build a house for you; When your days are over and you go to be with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring to succeed you, one of your own sons, and I will establish his kingdom. He is the one who will build a house for Me, and I will establish His throne forever. I will be His Father, and He will be My Son. I will never take My love away from Him. . .”
King David wanted to build a house for God. But God turned the tables and declared that He would build a house for him through One of his offspring that God would raise up. This One would be established on God’s throne forever! He would be “God’s Son” and God would be His Father!
Rejoice today in God’s House: “”But what about you?” He asked. “Who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by My Father in heaven. And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My Church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.”” (Matthew 16:15-18)
The Desired of Nations is coming!
Scripture reading for September 26th: Haggai 1-2
Mary and I had just about gotten our children through college and the last one was ready to get married. We were enjoying our first senior pastorate in Lacey, Washington and an empty nest. On our day off, we would go antiquing and sight-seeing. Then God spoke to us through a missionary about enlarging our family by adoption. To be honest, that choice did not initially look like something we wanted to do.
Haggai was speaking to people who had chosen to come back from Babylon and rebuild the temple in Jerusalem. Initially, these Israelites had the right priority and obeyed the Lord. But they had drifted away from the priorities that once motivated them and began to focus on themselves. They neglected the house of the Lord! (Haggai 1:2-4)
“Give careful thought to your ways. You have planted much, but harvested little. You eat but never have enough. You drink but never have your fill. You put on clothes, but are not warm. You earn wages, only to put them in a purse with holes in it.” “Give careful thought to your ways. Go up into the mountains, and bring down timber and build a house, so that I may take pleasure in it and be honored,”says the Lord.” (Haggai 1:5-8)
Have you experienced lack of satisfaction and lack of fulfillment? It may be your priorities have lost their focus on God and His will. The Israelites had gotten their focus onto themselves and their houses and neglected God’s house! God was gently reminding them of their priorities. If we seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, everything we need will be added to us. If we try to grab what we need, even what we have will be lost! (Matthew 6:33)
God is once again going to shake the earth, sea, and all the nations of the earth. The ‘desired of the nations’ (Jesus Christ) is coming and will fill His house with glory! Jesus Christ did this in human form about 500 years after Haggai’s time. He will do it again during the millennial reign following the rapture of the church. “”The glory of this present house will be greater than the glory of the former house,” says the Lord Almighty. “And in this place I will grant peace,” declares the Lord Almighty.” (Haggai 2:9)