Open—John Kemp
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Iggy Azalea one, I'm not going to speak too long.
Verse two. Chapter one.
Las Vegas, 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 Hagii the prophet saying.
Is it time for you or ye to dwell in your sealed houses, and this house be waste now? Therefore, thus saith the Lord of hosts.
Consider your ways, ye have so much and bring in little. Ye eat, but you have not enough. You drink, but you are not filled with drinks. We close you, but there is none warm and he that.
Earneth wages, earnest wages, to put it into a bag with holes. Thus saith the Lord of hosts. Consider your ways. Well, I think we're familiar with this passage of Scripture, Children of Israel.
That little remnant had been brought back from Babylon. It was a work of God, without doubt.
Their hearts were stirred, they responded to the call, and they returned. They were in through Jerusalem. They were in the right place. They were in the center that God had chosen.
To put his name there.
They were energetic when they arrived under the leadership of Zerubbabel to build the temple. They laid the foundation, they made progress. And then they stopped and they.
Succumbed to their own company.
There wasn't any prohibition. They had Cyrus's permission to proceed. They became careless in their souls. The Lord's interests were no longer a priority with them.
They wanted their houses to look nice. They spent time and effort and money, no doubt, to erect their beautiful houses and to embellish them, urbish them.
It tells us that but they did not have the blessing of the Lord upon their work.
They weren't prospering even materially. The Lord did not, uh, descend with the dew of heaven there.
Like we had on the fleece this morning.
They were occupied with their own interests, no doubt.
Doesn't say they went into immorality, but they sought their own comfort and their own.
Prosperity.
This was first in their minds, and the Lord raised up a prophet, Hadiya by name, and he had a message for them from the Lord. He spoke to their conscience. He stirred them up from their lethargy.
And, uh, they listen to Hagee Ayah.
They, it, it touched their conscience with, with Zachariah, it's a little bit different. He's speaking to the heart and looking onto the day of the glory and encouraging word. But Hegeia was one who spoke to the conscience of the people and, uh, verse, uh.
Verse 8 Go ye up to the mountains, and bring wood, and build the house, and I will take pleasure in it, and I will be glorified, saith the Lord.
You want prosperity in your material life. Doesn't mean that you're going to accumulate riches and be at the very top of your class, but if you put the Lord first.
Now those that honor me, I will honor. Some way. The Lord will honor you for what you give up for him. You've been studying in Ottawa.
00:05:11
Mark chapter one where we have fasting mentioned not a very popular subject. I haven't had much fasting in that character here at the conference and uh.
It's, uh, was applied by certain brethren in a different way to its actual meaning, and I have no objection to that. Umm.
Fasting, depriving ourselves of that which is legitimate. There is no wrong in it.
But we know in our conscience that it's a weight and that it is a hindrance to our progress, our understanding, our enjoyment of heavenly things. We know that, and we're loath to give it up.
Let us lay aside every weight and the sin which does so easily beset us.
But weights are not sins, and they're not morally wrong. But the point is, it's our interest first, our comfort first.
Then if we have time, we'll go to the meeting. Matter of convenience if I'm tired.
Weather is not good, you know the children need me. I won't miss the meeting.
This happens in Brazil a lot.
And, uh, it's been a concern of mine, uh.
Many brethren, God bless them, they're a wonderful group and, uh, very loving and kind and appreciative, appreciative of any ministry, but they're careless about attending the meetings.
This is a burden that I've had.
It would go to the beach. Oh yes, that wouldn't be a problem.
As part of Brazilian life.
But I don't think that is the place to be any time.
Especially on Lord's Day morning.
No, we need to realize the Lord's claims upon us is love. What He has done for us, His sufferings, His sacrifice, He gave everything that we might have a happy eternity and a happy pathway through this dark and sinful world. Are we going to hold back and say no?
It's too difficult to give that up.
Are we present at the assembly meetings? We've covered this already.
Where the Lord is in the midst.
What excuse are we going to give?
Yes, we missed the assembly meeting Zechariah Chapter 2. Just a few thoughts and I'm finished.
I lifted up mine eyes.
Uh again, and looked, and behold, a man with a measuring line in his hand, Then said, I whither go a spell? And he said unto me to measure Jerusalem, to see what is the breadth thereof, and what is the length thereof. And behold, the Angel that talked with me went forth, and another Angel, uh.
Went out to meet him, and said unto him, Run, speak to this young man, umm saying, Jerusalem shall be inhabited as towns without walls, or the uh, multitude of men and capital therein, or I saith the Lord will be.
A unto her a wall of fire roundabout, and will be the glory in the midst of her.
Well, as I said, Zachariah looks on to the glory, He gives an encouraging word for the, uh, remnant that had come back and they listened to the, uh, exhortation of Hageia, and they began to build a house. There was restoration in their souls, in their actions. They, they ha, they received the Lord's blessing, as you read on in the book of Hezekiah, uh, Hagiah.
But brethren, let's not pull out the measuring stick.
Like this young man here, let's not pull the measuring tape out and measure things down here according to man's estimate. Remember, the assembly may be very small sometimes. It's some places it's getting smaller all the time. And uh, we have the tendency to.
00:10:20
Judge things by what they were before looking back 30-40 years.
We pull out the measuring stick. What is being done here? There's no activity.
Uh, we can go to places where there's a lot more.
IA lot more umm.
So we say, uh, energy, as they say, and, uh, results and so on. Let's not do that, Bradman. He has gathered us to his name in the place where he would have us to be. And those things are weak, and we are part of that weakness ourselves. We have to acknowledge we're part of the failure. We have contributed to it. Let us not judge.
By human standards.
Obedience to the Word of God, gathering according to His mind and His will in the place where he has put His name, will have its reward. And although things may sometimes be discouraging, but all discouragement comes from the enemy, you know, And we go on year after week after week in the same.
Condition circumstances, perhaps of the Lord values.
Faithfulness book of Nehemiah. There are some that were faithful. The nobles, they had a position they putting up there next to the work. You'll see in Nehemiah 3 in the building of the old gate, the sisters had a part. New sisters have a part the building of the old gate.
In maintaining, uh, in maintaining the truth of God, uh.
Uh, as He has given it to us in being present in the gathering that is helping, that is contributing to, uh, the testimony that God would have maintained. So let us not.
Pull out the measure measuring stick and, uh, compare ourselves with others, other groups that might be, you know, there's a lot that have drifted into the systems of math. There's more activity, there's entertainment and outwardly sometimes.
There seems to be a lot of fruit, but God values obedience.
We obey us better than sacrifice, and so let us remain and seek to strengthen the things that remain. And remember, the day is coming, as Zachariah mentions, when the glory will be manifested, we'll no longer be a weak company. We'll be together in the presence of the Lord, and He will acknowledge any faithfulness.
What a glorious day is coming and all the Saints will be gathered. Uh.
Uh, to Christ himself. And uh, I believe the Lord will reward any measure of faithfulness there has been in our lives. May the Lord bless His word.
Yeah.