Haggai 1:1‐13 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 ceiled 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?
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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. 12 Then Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and Joshua the son of Josedech, the high priest, with all the remnant of the people, obeyed the voice of the LORD their God, and the words of Haggai the prophet, as the LORD their God had sent him, and the people did fear before the LORD. 13
Then spake Haggai the LORD'S messenger in the LORD'S message unto the people, saying, I am with you, saith the LORD. 14 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, 15 In the four and twentieth day of the sixth month, in the second year of Darius the king.
Revelation 3:17 “Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked:” When the Lord repeats Himself twice in the same chapter, you should give very great heed to what it is He’s saying. In verse 5 and 7, “consider your ways”
So your bills are paid, your credit is good, you have a nice home and nice cars and your health is good but what are you doing to help advance the work of the Lord? There have been millions of souls who have had all the creature comforts one could desire and still died and went to Hell. What really matters in the end is the works you do for the Lord because that is what
we will be judged on. The entire New Testament teaches us that. In fact, the whole bible does. To simplify things, God has called everyone who claims to be a Christian to be involved in His work. And if you don’t know what your calling is, you are supposed to be helping someone who does until you do; period! Otherwise, you are living in disobedience and are backslid. Consider your ways!
Matthew 16:27
For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels; and then he shall reward every man according to his works.
Revelation 20:12
And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.
Thank God It's Over!
My favorite part of Christmas is when it’s over. I don’t celebrate Christmas. Why? For starters, all the pagan symbolism involved in it and some of it was going on thousands of years before Jesus was revealed. Before I go further, please read this with a biblical perspective and not as an opinionated editorial because it’s not. You can do what you want.
Worship of the evergreen tree was going on as far back as the days of Jeremiah because God instructed him to warn His people not to do it and His displeasure with it. Plus, Jesus wasn’t born in December and nothing about His birth was of a carnal nature except His actual physical birth. Matthew 1:18 "“Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise:..." Which comes after the all the verses before mentioning the genealogy of the bloodline
of Christ. Jesus was Emmanuel, which being interpreted, means “God with us”. The reason He was born in a manger is because there were no rooms at the inn. Not because Joseph and Mary were poor and couldn’t afford it. And also that the scripture might be fulfilled about His humble beginnings.
But the one thing that angers the Lord more than anything else is those who claim to be Christians and have children and lie to their children for years and tell them that Santa Claus is real! God doesn’t condone white lies any more than bold faced ones. Hear this. You lie to your children who you punish for lying and teach them not to do it. You tell them during the most impressionable years of their life that Santa is real and Jesus is real but you can’t see either of them. Then when they get of age and learn Santa is a lie, Satan has
already planted major seeds of doubt in that child’s mind about Jesus being real either! Lying is wrong of any magnitude and willful lying is gross disobedience. Especially to your children which are not yours if you claim to be a Christian parent. They belong to God and you are under strict instructions to teach them His ways and raise them accordingly. James 4:17
“Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.”
Deuteronomy 6:7
And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.
One thing you never read in the bible. And that is where God asked anyone what they believed. Still that is what you hear countless number of times Christians asking others what they believe. And telling others what they believe. There is zero bible for that friend. In fact, when someone asks you what you believe, what they are really asking you is what is your opinion. But in the kingdom of God there is no room for opinion or flexible opinions. God simplified it for us in this verse.
Ecclesiastes 12:13 “Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the WHOLE duty of man.” God gave us His Word and His preachers to interpret it for His sheep and commanded all of us simply to obey. That carried over to the New Testament when the apostle Paul taught us to beware of those that tried to steer us away from the simplicity of the gospel. There is not multiple interpretations of THE truth. There is no room for what we think the bible means. There is no partial obedience or 90% Christians. With God, it’s all or nothing. There is no fence to be straddled.
Everything about the word of God, when rightly divided, is one. One Lord, one God and Father of us all, one faith, one church, one truth, one way, one life and so on. I’ve never heard of anyone who truthfully said that God asked them how they thought something ought to go. My very dear friend and former pastor had a décor
thing in the church which said, “For God so loved the world, He did not send a committee.” When anyone asks me what I believe, my stat answer is “What does the bible say?” I don’t have any personal beliefs and I don’t need any. Thank God. The Christian walk is very simple. You either strive to do all you can do to live faithful and obedient to the Lord every day and learn as much of His Word by the Spirit of God or else. It’s redundant to say but God is either first in your life or not in it at all.
The only time you are right in answering someone when they ask you what you believe is if the answer lines up perfectly with the word of God; the spiritual interpretation. The whole mission of us Christians is to point unbelievers to Jesus Christ and His gospel. If someone asks you and you have any doubt, just instruct them to go search the word of God for the answer to their question. Better for you to do that than to bear false witness. False witness doesn’t always mean deliberate lies. One very effective answer to a “what do you believe about a certain thing” question is to answer it with a question. For example, “I’m not sure but have you checked the bible for the answer?” In many cases, when someone asks you that they are trying to corner you and stir up strife. So the answering a question with a question in that incident is the perfect solution.
Finally, there is one right
way to ask another about how or what they believe when you are sincerely trying to understand if they have any knowledge of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Or if they have ever said yes to Him. To reiterate, the simplicity of being a Christian is to fear God and keep His commandments and His commandments are not grievous. And to remember there is only right interpretation of the word of God spiritually. But God only gives it to those who seek Him diligently. The world has never been so full of man made doctrines as it is right now. The word of God refers to them as doctrines of devils. A true preacher of God will point you to Jesus Christ; period! Repent, Jesus is coming.
John 14:15 If ye love me, keep my commandments.
1John 5:3
For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are NOT grievous.
You won't always be able to come to the Lord if you take Him for granted. That is why the scripture teaches us to seek Him "while He may be found". If God has convicted you in the past to seek Him in prayer and you kept refusing, it may be too late for you. God does and has turned many over to reprobate minds. Which means they have no more hope of salvation. If you are trusting in religion instead of walking by faith every day, you are in danger of hell fire my friend. The only sure way to know you aren't reprobate is if you are walking by faith every day in the fear of the Lord.
Trillion With a T
If the sheer idolatry of smartphones wasn’t bad enough, consider the egregious and gross waste of money that has already been spent since their inception. And what is currently being spent worldwide. The smartphone phenomena has caused an evolution into a society who now truly believes they can’t live without them. Which is a bold faced lie. According to the latest research, smartphone sales have exceeded $4.6 trillion dollars over the last decade. There are 6.92 billion smartphone users worldwide with the average cost of a smartphone plan worldwide projected to be $141 per month. Let’s lower that monthly cost to $80 for the sake of being conservative. That would mean that the monthly cost of smartphones worldwide would be roughly $553,600,000,000!
According to WebFoundation.org, across 187 countries studied, the global average cost of a smartphone is around 26% of an average monthly income. In South Asia and Sub‐Saharan Africa, the number surpasses 40%. Those in low‐income countries almost 70% of their average monthly income. As of December 2024, the US national debt is $36.11 trillion dollars. But their not idols right? God Almighty does not like
waste. He commands us to be wise stewards of the blessings He bestows upon us. Which includes money, time, resources and even the help we provide others. It’s hard to fathom that the money that is wasted on smartphones in this nation alone could completely wipe out the national debt in a few years. 2 Peter 2:3 “And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you: whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not.”
And these money men are no dummies. No they come out with a new models of these phones about every 6 months and gouge you again. Always chiming on about giving them to you for free but the price is built into that exorbitantly expensive monthly fee you are paying them. Satan loves smartphones! I haven’t met a Christian yet or heard of one who has the courage to get rid of that wicked little idol and go back to a basic phone. But God doesn’t excuse your disobedience and idolatry friend. What could be done with the insane volume of money being wasted on smartphones worldwide?
For starters, you can feed 4.8 million children for a year for $1 billion dollars. Child hunger could be eradicated in this country for one. According to more research, it would take 1% of the
GDP of the United States to lift every citizen above the poverty level. That 1% equals $293.7 billion dollars. Are you understanding the math here?
Bear in mind what I’ve said for years. Anything that can be done on a smartphone can be done on a laptop computer but without the idolatry and constant distraction of your little idol. If the financially catastrophic monetary waste wasn’t enough, consider the spiritual debt in judgment from God that is mounting for the idolatry and disobedience and waste. The rain is coming. Matthew 24:38‐39 "For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, And knew NOT UNTIL the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be." Jesus is coming back the second time in judgment to usher in the wrath of the Lamb on the world and judgment must begin at the house of God.
1Peter 4:17 “For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?"
Luke 6:46
“And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?”
