Making a Differencewith Pastor Phil Erickson

Sep 30th, 2017 From This Day Will I Bless You – The Saturday Morning Post

Today’s Passage – Haggai 1 – 2 (Click on the references to listen to the audio – click here to view the text from the Blue Letter Bible website)

(Second Milers also read – Revelation 21 – 22; Psalms 146 – 150; Proverbs 30 – 31)

Read the “0930 Evening and Morning“ devotion for today, by the late Charles Haddon Spurgeon.

“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.” (Haggai 1:2-5)

“If one bear holy flesh in the skirt of his garment, and with his skirt do touch bread, or pottage, or wine, or oil, or any meat, shall it be holy? And the priests answered and said, No. Then said Haggai, If one that is unclean by a dead body touch any of these, shall it be unclean? And the priests answered and said, It shall be unclean. Then answered Haggai, and said, So is this people, and so is this nation before me, saith the LORD; and so is every work of their hands; and that which they offer there is unclean. And now, I pray you, consider from this day and upward, from before a stone was laid upon a stone in the temple of the LORD: Since those days were, when one came to an heap of twenty measures, there were but ten: when one came to the pressfat for to draw out fifty vessels out of the press, there were but twenty. I smote you with blasting and with mildew and with hail in all the labours of your hands; yet ye turned not to me, saith the LORD. Consider now from this day and upward, from the four and twentieth day of the ninth month, even from the day that the foundation of the LORD’S temple was laid, consider it. Is the seed yet in the barn? yea, as yet the vine, and the fig tree, and the pomegranate, and the olive tree, hath not brought forth: from this day will I bless you.” (Haggai 2:12-19)

Good morning. Tomorrow is Sunday. People will be going to church in the morning. Going home or dining out with family. Watching football. Then going back to church (hopefully) in the evening. Good for the week, but maybe have a little refueling stop at the mid-week service. And then we go about our merry ways to our cieled houses: cozy and comfy with a roof over our heads. Everything is nice and tranquil. But what about God? Is His house in disarray? Was there something you could do about it? Was there a someone in need, physically or spiritually? Could you edify them?

“For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ, Who died for us, that, whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him. Wherefore comfort yourselves together, and edify one another, even as also ye do. And we beseech you, brethren, to know them which labour among you, and are over you in the Lord, and admonish you; And to esteem them very highly in love for their work’s sake. And be at peace among yourselves. Now we exhort you, brethren, warn them that are unruly, comfort the feebleminded, support the weak, be patient toward all men. See that none render evil for evil unto any man; but ever follow that which is good, both among yourselves, and to all men.” (1Thesselonians 5:9-15)

Did you get a handshake? No? All you have to do is reach out and shake somebody’s hand. It’s that easy, and could brighten somebody’s day. When God sees you caring about others, He will make sure the seeds are planted, and the vine, the fig tree, the pomegranate, and the olive tree will bear fruit for you. The Jews were going about their religion. God was only blessing them partially: ten measures instead of twenty, twenty vessels instead of fifty. All the seeds where still in the barn, and not planted. God told them, “I smote you with blasting and with mildew and with hail in all the labours of your hands; yet ye turned not to me.”

God also told them, “From the four and twentieth day of the ninth month… from this day will I bless you.”

The Jews were informed where they had gone wrong, and that their offerings were unclean. What could they do to clean themselves up? Nothing.

“Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost…” (Titus 3:5)

God did it all, and at this point in the Jews history God said He would bless them.

“We love him, because he first loved us. If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen? And this commandment have we from him, That he who loveth God love his brother also.” (1John 4:19-20)

“But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8)

It’s only human nature to love someone who loves you (it’s God’s supernatural power that enables you to love someone who hates you).

“Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.” (Matthew 22:37-40)

God loved us first, maybe we should love others before we love ourselves? Maybe God will say, “From this day I will bless you.”

Peace.