IT IS TIME TO BUILD GOD'S HOUSE

Thus says the Lord of hosts: These people say, The time is not yet come that the Lord's house should be rebuilt [although Cyrus had ordered it done eighteen years before]. Then came the word of the Lord by Haggai the prophet, saying, Is it time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses while this house [of the Lord] lies in ruins? Now therefore thus says the Lord of hosts: Consider your ways and set your mind on what has come to you. You have sown much, but you have reaped little; you eat, but you do not have enough; you drink, but you do not have your fill; you clothe yourselves, but no one is warm; and he who earns wages has earned them to put them in a bag with holes in it.—Haggai 1:2-6 Amp.

The Lord has a controversy with his people on April 9, 2009: His people say with their actions that it is not time to build the house of the Lord. We may say otherwise with our mouths, but how we spend our time proves that our hearts are far from him. Jesus as the Lord of the harvest is saying that it high time to wake up and start building his house. There are many that will be added to the church in the immediate days ahead if we obey the Lord and go preach the gospel to those that are waiting. The Lord has risen and we are in a set time of his favor!

The word time here means a short lived season that gives one a chance to accomplish the will of God. It is what we mean when we say that there is a window of opportunity. It is the growing season: You can plant beans and corn in April and they will make it; plant them in late September and the window has closed. Implied within the meaning of time is this: You do what you have to do whether it is convenient sunny weather or if it is storming all around.

This was demonstrated on 9/11 when the Fireman and Policemen of New York city went through their window of opportunity when it was anything but convenient. At that crises hour, many died as they loved not their lives unto death so that others could live. Another lesson learned that day was once the planes hit there was time to get out for some in the first tower and then the window closed. In the second tower, many could have escaped if they had only known how short their time was.

As tragic as those events were; there is a far greater human heartbreak. All those who died who were not born again, went into hell and will one day be cast into a lake of fire. It could have been eternally different for every one of them, including the terrorist’s, because the Blood of Jesus was shed for all. For God to command every man to repent means that he has through the grace of the cross made that possible for every man. The absolute shame of it all is that some of those that died eternally lost, did so by stumbling there way into hell over a sleeping church! God have mercy on us all.

We have spent our lives on our own security; our own ambitions; our own dreams and pleasures to the point of being totally bankrupt. Make no mistake about: The nations’ financial crisis is a direct reflection of the spiritual bankruptcy of the church!! As a nation all we have done to answer this disaster is to, as it were, swipe a trillion dollar credit card. As a church we have done the same; we are borrowing against time that we do not have in order to feed our never ending greed for self indulgence.

What is even worse, many T.V. preachers would convince you that self serving is the heart of the gospel. How else could you explain the preacher who said "I live in a 8,000 square foot house. I am going to build a bigger one now. One that King Solomon would be proud of. I just paid $15,000 for a dog. You see this gorgeous ring on my finger; I was in Jamaica and just paid $32,000 for it. I want you know that when the people in my town come past my mansion and they see my Rolls Royce sitting in the driveway, they know there is a God in heaven."

God is saying it is enough! Shake yourself from this madness: WAKE UP!! Go build my house!