Hey everybody. Welcome back to another edition of the Daily Bible Podcast. Hello and good morning. We have special guests in office slash studio. Oh, thanks man. I'm here all the time. Yeah but I do appreciate you acknowledging my presence. You are special Pastor Rod, but it actually wasn't you that I was thinking about. Oh, it was the people right over your shoulder. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Hannah. Yeah. Matt and Hannah are here because we put out a, an offer, a request saying, Hey, if anybody wants to help us with the editing of the podcast, and they said, you guys need all the help you can get. And we're and the thousands of people that submitted their desire to help. Yeah. Matt and Hannah Rose to the surface. They were at the top. The background check was helpful that we ran the background check, the three hour interview that we put them through the obstacle course. The obstacle course was a twist. It was extreme. They weren't prepared for that. But they did. Admirably They did. Yeah. And so we thought, we're gonna give you guys a job and we're gonna pay them too. Yes. Double what we were paying, double the heavenly rewards that we were gonna initially offer. They were getting twice that amount. Yes. Yeah, absolutely. Anyways, we are thankful for you guys and it does free us up. This is, in some ways this is deacon work, right? That's right. And you may wonder what makes something deacon work? If we look biblically at, what is it? A deacon is somebody that serves the church in order to free up. The pastors are the leaders of the church to do some of the other work that is not available for everybody to do. And it's not that it's holier than serving tables or editing podcasts, but there are some works that are more accessible and others that are not. Do you want me to just lay out so you can smack your lips into the mic? Louder here. Go. Go for it. Go for it. That's a delicious. Treat. Yeah. What is it? What are you eating? Eating a Rice Krispy treat. See, I've got mine still in my bag 'cause I'm looking forward to enjoying it after we're done recording. Hannah made that I needed the energy, so I thought it'd be you be a good time to inject my we were just at Starbucks. Didn't you drink an energy drink there or something? No, it, no. Yeah, I did. I did. I did have a zipz. Okay. And one of the cold pressed juices, but not a rice crispy street isn't a rice crispy. Okay. Fair enough. But yes, it is Deacon work. Yeah. Acts chapter six they brought deacons on for the very purpose of freeing them up so they could focus on prayer. Yep. And the ministry of the word, which is a lot of what we get to do. Not all that we get to do. But we're really thankful for our deacons. Yeah, for sure. So Matt and here, thank you. We are grateful for it. Let's jump into our DBR for today. We are in an entire book today. We're in the book of Haggai, which if you were with us during our minor profit series over the summer, this is one of the books that I preached. 'cause it doesn't start with Z so That's right. A qualified, it was one of the ones that that got preached there. And we are dealing with a post exilic prophet. So again, post exilic prophet is somebody that was serving and ministering. After the time of the exile, so after the return, we've been talking a lot about everything going on with the 70 years in exile, the return from exile, the rebuilding of the temple. Remember we talked about, I think yesterday the laying of the foundation of the temple in Ezra and how that was done. But then that was. All that was done for a period of time. And that's where we pick up with Haggai and Zechariah, which we get to tomorrow at least the first four chapters of Zacharia. These are two that served during this time when the Temple Foundation was laid, but the temple had been neglected, and that's where Haggai comes in. And Haggai's going to really focus specifically on the building itself. And when I preach through this I think one of the reasons why he focuses on the building. Is in order to remind the people of the conduit really, of their relationship with God. You remember when the people first got back from exile, the first thing they did, they built the altar because they wanted to worship the Lord and the altar was necessary for them to be able to offer the offerings and the sacrifices on. They observed the Feast of Booths. They were doing all of these things that were good for the time being, but when opposition came, they. You forgot how urgent it was in their minds to get this temple built. And so that was a, that was really a metaphor for the people neglecting their relationship with God. In fact, in Haga chapter one, Haga is gonna ask a pretty indicting question about their walled and well paneled houses. And basically he's going to ask them what good has it done you to neglect the temple and focus on your own comfort, your own wealth, your own wellbeing, instead of doing what God wants you to do. And haggai is really a book where he is challenging the people to get back after doing the right things, doing the things that God wants them to do. They were giving God their leftovers instead of giving him the worship that he has. Rightfully do I. I guess one quick note here before we continue on in the book of Haggai is to recognize that Joshua in verse two lemme see verse one, actually Verse one. The hand of the Lord the word of Lord by the hand of Haggai, the prophet to the rub bull son of she ltl, governor of Judah n. Joshua, the son of Jeh Dak. You might have recalled that he was called Joshua in another place, and that's true. Joshua and Joshua are the same person, in fact, so you're not crazy to think that here he, he's called Joshua because those two names actually are the same name. In fact, you might recall that Jesus himself is called Yeshua. His name is Joshua as well. And so those names are similar enough that you can say one and the other, and they they say the same thing. So don't get tripped up over that. Ezra chapter three, verse two is where you would see his name as Joshua, but again, it's Joshua. Joshua is also the same thing. Yeah. In chapter two of Haggai God does promise the people something that's noteworthy. Hearing verse five, he says, according to the covenant that I made with you when you came out of Egypt, my. Spirit remains in your midst. Fear not. And so one of the reasons why the temple was not being rebuilt at the time was the opposition and the opposition was instilling a sense of fear within the people there. And so God is reminding his covenant people, my spirit remains in your midst. Which is interesting because we talked about. Yesterday or the day before, how the glory of the Lord is not gonna be in this temple. Yep. And yet that doesn't mean that God has abandoned his people. That's right. And so even though the glory of the Lord is not dwelling there, God is encouraging his people, Hey, my spirit is still with you. My spirit is in your midst. And I had God chapter two verses six through nine. Then he. Points forward to the time that the glory of the Lord will return. And that is the millennial kingdom temple. And that's gonna be more glorious than even the first temple, the temple that Solomon had built. And you may recall that the men, the older men that had been there from the very beginning and seen Solomon's temple, they wept when they saw the foundation of this this post exilic temple. And God was reminding them and and the others through haga, Hey, you may be disappointed with this temple, but there's gonna come a temple that's gonna be even more glorious than the Temple of Solomon. And that will be the temple that is gonna be there during the millennial. Kingdom. Zacharias gonna talk specifically to that as well. And Haga and Zacharia go hand in hand because Zacharias really focused on the spiritual condition of the people, whereas Haga is focused on the spiritual condition. But specifically the fact that they needed to get after building the temple and doing the work that God was calling them to, Haga is successful at his job. He's calling the people to get up and move successful to a degree anyway. And he reminds me that e even though this is not the same thing as a New Testament, this is a different. Covenant, different dispensation than what we exist under. God's approach to us is not that different. He's telling them, give attention and priority to my temple. You need this. This is part of how you honor me and worship me. For New Testament Christians, the difference is that we're no longer going to a temple, but the similarity is that God does tell us to prioritize his kingdom. Jesus said as much, he said, seek first the kingdom of God and all these other things that you desire. You need a house to live in. You need food, you need clothing, you need all those things. I will give those to you as you focus on the things that matter most. Prioritize my kingdom. Seek first. The kingdom. I'll bless you in that. And that call for us in the same day, in the same way that it was a call for Haggai's audience is still there. Our job is not to get distracted by the things that are important and necessary, but to focus on what's most important and what's most necessary. So how do we think then about our own paneled houses, so to speak? We live in a pretty affluent area. Here in Prosper, Texas and Salina and those in McKinney, Frisco. This is suburbia and a lot of it is new. A lot of it is new construction, new builds. We have nice things, granite countertops, things like that. How can we live in those homes? I was thinking about this recently, even just hosting our community group, and we don't live in a, a. Palatial estate by any stretching, the imagination. But I'm just, you live next to Dak Peterson? No, I don't. What's his name? Dak Harrison pr. Scott Prescott. That's the guy he moved and I didn't live next to him. He lived on the other side of the tracks, literally in my neighborhood. Still live next to the, he lived down the OU side of the tracks. The Dallas Cowboy quarterback. Anyways, I was just gonna say that, but I was thinking about it in light of, we've been talking a lot about eternity and everything going on and living ready for the bema seat and just making sure we're not living for the wrong things. You talked about priorities there. Yes. So let's talk about the balance of. Having nice things being quote unquote comfortable in our homes, having our home be a place that we want to be. And I, I don't think that's wrong. And yet making sure that we're not falling pre to what Israel is falling pre to here. Yeah. I think what we understand in the New Testament is that all of God's gifts are meant to be stewarded for the purposes of bringing glory to his name. So if God has made you rich, and I think by most standards. Anyone listening to this podcast would be considered rich to some degree, at least globally speaking. We are very wealthy, and Jesus offered some pretty strong warnings to those of us who have money. He says, you gotta be careful because often rich people are so enamored with their riches that they lose sight of what matters most. In fact, first Timothy chapter six, he tells his young protege, Hey, the people that are rich there tell them to be content with what they have and not to desire to be rich. He says, the love of money is the root of all kinds of ungodliness, all kinds of evil. And so it's incumbent. On us who have a lot of resources, and let's just say that's all of us on the podcast. Even if you're on the lower end of the spectrum, we are all very wealthy by most standards. That said, we have a greater responsibility to care for God's people and to care for God's church and to use the resources that he's given us for his purposes. I think using your house as a place to have a community group meet is one great example. Using your car to serve the needs of the church is another, but there's a lot of. A lot of intangible ways to use your resources to bring glory to God, but not the least of which would be to give away your money, to give to the church, to give to God's projects and his desires, and that's the way that I think a Christian demonstrates worldly riches and treasures are not. My hope. They're not my help. They're helpful, but they're not my greatest security and Jesus is, and that I'm gonna show that by using my resources to invest into his projects. And I think even just our mentality about the things that we do have, like maybe you've got a couch and you've got a television in your home and you like to sit down on your couch. I know. I look forward to my couch after Sundays and preaching. I come home, I take a nap on my couch sometimes during the afternoon. Being thankful to the Lord for those things. Instead of looking at them as a source of entitlement or as a source of I'm disengaging. This is compartmentalized. This isn't connected to my Christianity. When we're thankful for the things that God has given us, that's another way that we are stewarding them well, by recognizing him as the ultimate gift giver in those things and not just thinking look what my, it's nebuchadnezzar's thing, right? When he walked out and said, look at Mighty Babylon that I have built by my great power and my Majesty. We have to be careful to recognize everything that we have as a gift from the Lord. And return the glory back to him by being thankful in our hearts for these things that he's given to us. Yeah I'm reminded of what the Book of Ecclesiastes says. There's nothing better for a man than to be joyful, than to do good as long as he lives. Take pride in the fact, not pride in the negative sense, but take delight and joy in the fact that God is the one who's provided you these things. Enjoy the life that God has given you, and if he's given you riches to enjoy, this is the gift of God. In fact, that's what the author of Ecclesiastes says, king Solomon. He says, look if you have all these great things and not the power to enjoy them, that's vanity. That's awful. And imagine the wealth and the resources that some of these greatest, some of these great entrepreneurs and company builders have, they have these massive reservoirs of resources and many of them are miserable. Yeah, because they live for that and their God has let them down substantially. Our God doesn't do that. But the fact is he gives us great gifts to enjoy and we should enjoy them to His glory and to his honor and how we used them and the heart before them are really what matter as is always the case. Yeah. When Jesus told the rich young ruler, you need to sell everything that you have, that wasn't a universally applicable. Statement that wasn't, he was telling that to everybody. That was the rich young ruler's problem was that, that was where his idol was. That's where his heart was. So that's why God told him that. But you have Lydia, who was a wealthy individual in the New Testament. Yeah. And she used her wealth to serve the church. You have Paul writing to the church in Corinth. The church in Corinth was in a, a. Pretty financially lucrative area, and he doesn't say to everybody, Hey, you need to sell ev everything that you have and get outta that area and move to the sticks. It's, you're right. It's about how do we steward these things for the glory of God and use them in such a way that gives him honor and is grateful for the things that he does. Yeah. Haggai reminds me that this is what God wants us to do with our lives. It's not just giving our resources. That's a part of it, but he really wants our heart. And where our heart goes, there are money follows. This is what's at the heart of Haggai. God's calling his people through Haggai to invest in the worship of King Jesus. That's anachronism, but you get my point. Yeah. This is investing in God, in the worship of God, the glory of God for the good of God's people. And I think that message remains the same, even under the new covenant where your heart is there, your money will follow that. That sounds really good. Maybe that. I'm gonna trademark that. Are you okay? It's gonna be mine from now. Mark. Maybe change money to treasure. Okay. I just might be a little bit more catchy. I'll fill it out a little bit. Just one note here real quick. At the end of the book of Haggai verses 20 through 23 you've got of chapter two, you've got a reference to Zabel. It says The word of the Lord came a second time to Haggai on the 24th day of the month. Speak to Za, rub be. And then it says, governor of Judah Abel is significant. He was actually in the Davidic line, but he's not a king. Yeah. In fact, there's not going to be a king. In post exilic Judah until Jesus comes. And even that is not the true king. You've got Roman people that are and Roman officials that are gonna be known as kings during the time of Christ, but there wasn't a king as far as a Davidic king that's gonna reign. Until the millennial kingdom really, that's gonna be the next Davidic king on the throne. But Zobel was in the line of David. He just wasn't considered a king. He was a governor. And part of that was they were still a vassal state under the authority of the Persian Empire at this time. They had been dispatched by Cyrus and that's why when people want to oppose the temple building, they appeal to the Persians. They're saying, Hey, you need to stop this, because Israel wasn't yet fully restored as a nation in the true sense that it was under David and Solomon. Let's pray and then we'll be done with this episode of the Daily Bible Podcast. God, thanks for the book. Like Haba or Habakkuk. Yes, also, but also hi Guy, which is the one that we're studying today. Lord, because it does remind us of the way that we need to steward the things that you've given to us. It reminds us of the importance of our relationship with you, that we can't neglect our relationship with you, that we can't ignore the means that you've given us to to further our relationship with you, chief among those being the word of God. And so I just pray that we would give ourselves over to the study of your word on a regular basis that we would not. The riches that we have in the 66 books in which you've revealed yourself, but that we would plum plumb them for the truth that will change and transform our lives by your spirit. And so we pray that would be true in Jesus' name. Amen. Keep in your Bibles. Tune in again tomorrow for another edition of the Daily Bible Podcast. Bye folks. Bye.

Well, thank you for listening to another episode of the Daily Bible Podcast, folks! We're honored to have you join us. This is a ministry of Compass Bible Church in north Texas. You can find out more information about our Church at compassntx.org. We would love for you to leave a review, to rate, or to share this podcast on whatever platform you're listening on, and we hope to see you again tomorrow for another episode of the Daily Bible Podcast. Ya'll come back now, ya hear?

Yeah. I would agree with everything that you said