What?? The time is not yet come?

Um, I'll have to explain the title in a minute. 

First of all, I'll tell you why I am posting this. As the pastor was going through his sermon yesterday, I have to admit. I was getting tired. It was a wonderful sermon, but it was warm, and it had been a long week. And then... he quoted from Haggai chapter one. And all of a sudden, I was wide awake. I'll quote it here:

“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. Then came the word of the LORD by Haggai the prophet, saying, Is it time for you, O ye, to dwell in your cieled houses, and this house lie waste? Now therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts; Consider your ways. 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. Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Consider your ways. 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. 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.” Do you have any idea now, why I was suddenly wide awake? This is a hard-core passage. Are we saying, 'the time is not yet come.' What? Sorry, I get a little excited here. This is preaching to me. What? The time is not yet come? Are we waiting for the Holy Spirit to be poured out? My friends! The Holy Spirit is waiting to be poured out on us!! Am I, are we, so caught up in being successful, yet never being able to attain it? This passage was written to the church of the time. They were waiting to build the Lord's house. It 'wasn't time yet.' Brothers and sisters, we have a house to build. Maybe a literal one, maybe not. The “house”, as I see it, is taking the counsel God has given us, for the work that remains to be done in these last days, seriously. Doing it, now. It's time. And then, only then, can God bless us. Amen? Let's not put our wages in bags with holes. Let's not be content to dwell in our houses, enjoying the benefits God has blessed us with. Let's build the house.

God has said to me: “Consider your ways.”

By His grace, I'm considering. And I think all are welcome to join.

Let's start building.

Your brother in Christ,

-Schane