WHAT House are You Helping to Build?

Jesus says “I will build my church (people, not physical buildings or the church/religious organizations of men)” (Matthew 16:18-19).

Jesus promised “I will build my church” and He’s doing it today through those few laborers He instructed us to pray that the Father would send forth (Matthew 16:18; 9:35-38). Are you participating?

They are known by the relentless teaching of the “sound doctrine” of God’s pure Word and the refusal to build up anything but the name of Jesus and His beloved people.

“For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves your servants for Jesus’ sake.” 2 Corinthians 4:5

False leaders spend a lot of energy and rejoice at getting their physical “church” building built in order to have a larger more extravagant stage to perform on. True, God-fearing leaders rejoice when God’s kingdom is built in the hearts of God’s people. Think about this. Stop giving to physical building funds. Invest in the LORD’s kingdom – that He is building in the hearts of men!

Many have poured their all into their own “ceiled houses” and left the house of God, the work of His bless-ed kingdom in the hearts of men undone (Haggai 1:4). The house of God is the people and work of God, not a physical building or church organization! Watch this …

Haggai 1

“In the second year of Darius the king, in the sixth month, in the first day of the month, came the word of the LORD by Haggai the prophet unto Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Josedech, the high priest, saying, 
2  Thus speaketh the LORD of hosts, saying, This people say, The time is not come, the time that the LORD’S house should be built. 
3  Then came the word of the LORD by Haggai the prophet, saying, 
4  Is it time for you, O ye, to dwell in your cieled houses, and this house lie waste? 
5  Now therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts; Consider your ways. 
6  Ye have sown much, and bring in little; ye eat, but ye have not enough; ye drink, but ye are not filled with drink; ye clothe you, but there is none warm; and he that earneth wages earneth wages to put it into a bag with holes. 
7  Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Consider your ways. 
8  Go up to the mountain, and bring wood, and build the house; and I will take pleasure in it, and I will be glorified, saith the LORD. 
9  Ye looked for much, and, lo, it came to little; and when ye brought it home, I did blow upon it. Why? saith the LORD of hosts. Because of mine house that is waste, and ye run every man unto his own house. 
10  Therefore the heaven over you is stayed from dew, and the earth is stayed from her fruit. 
11  And I called for a drought upon the land, and upon the mountains, and upon the corn, and upon the new wine, and upon the oil, and upon that which the ground bringeth forth, and upon men, and upon cattle, and upon all the labour of the hands … And the LORD stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua the son of Josedech, the high priest, and the spirit of all the remnant of the people; and they came and did work in the house of the LORD of hosts, their God,”

Lots of Christians are too busy building or adding to their earthly home while neglecting and even jeopardizing their mansion in glory. They are like the people in Haggai who were not putting God first. They were not seeking first Christ’s kingdom but rather putting themselves first and therefore made to be miserable and their earthly riches were being scattered as God blew upon them due to their idolatry, their spiritual adultery.

“Is it time for you, O ye, to dwell in your cieled houses, and this house lie waste?” Haggai 1:4 

There is no sin in dwelling in a nice house. The sin occurs when Christ and His Great Commission becomes anything but “first love” of our lives (Revelation 2:4-5).

WHEN MICK JAGGER sang the lyrics “I can’t get no satisfaction,” he was telling the truth – the truth of misery and dissatisfaction that plagues, haunts, and owns all who do not obey God. Does this include those whom the LORD has previously saved? Yes. WHY did God tell His own people that they had holes in their bags? Ever wonder why perhaps no matter how much money you earn it all seems to just drop out of the bottom, get lost, get wasted, disappear? Why could the LORD’s people of that day and today not enjoy what they had? They made money and spent it and yet received no satisfaction. Like the Laodiceans who had much in the way of material and monetary prosperity, the church in Haggai’s day were miserable, empty, guilty, and anguishing (Revelation 3:14-21). Find out below why the law of diminishing returns is happening to many today who have been saved.

God is able – but only if we do things His way and no other!

Support | STORE | Podcasts | The Return of Christ | Stewardship | Where to Give and Where Not to Give | Fruit Abounding to Your Account! | Consider Your Ways [podcast] | Consider and Build [podcast] | Holes in Your Money Bags? [podcast] | Dollar Dialogue | Jesus Sat Over Against The Treasury [podcast]

Which World are You Rich In?

Jesus Sat Over Against The Treasury [podcast]