A MESSAGE OF ENCOURAGEMENT

Sermon Notes, April 12, 2015

Rev. Lonnie Wilkerson

            Rev. Wilkerson filled our pulpit Sunday as Rev. Guizar finished the revival he held in our sister church in Christiansburg.  Pastor Lonnie gave a brief summary of his family’s activities in the three and a half years they’ve been gone from Culpeper.  Then he preached a message of encouragement based on Haggai 2:1-9.
            After 70 years of captivity, a remnant of the people had returned to Jerusalem.  In chapter 1, the people were apathetic, and the prophet rebuked them, encouraging them to rebuild the house of the Lord.  A rebuilding process never goes smoothly, and the second temple didn’t meet expectations.  The old men remembered the glory of Solomon’s temple, and the rebuilt one was as nothing in comparison (v. 3).  The people were discouraged, sad, and ready to give up.  Their perspective needed to change.
            In verses 4 & 5, Haggai brings the word of the Lord: be strong O Zerubbabel (the governor), be strong Joshua (the priest), and be strong all you people, and work.  He said it three times.  This was during the Feast of Tabernacles, when they read from Deuteronomy the covenant God made with the people coming out of Egypt.  They drew on the strength of God’s promise:  My spirit remains among you (v.5).  In verse 8, God says the silver and gold is His—why are you worrying?
            In verses 6 & 7, the exiles were discouraged because they couldn’t see the glory of what God was doing.  Hebrews 12 says we are surrounded by a cloud of witnesses.  We can find new ways to tell what God is doing.  Change the perspective of what is valuable, and you can’t be discouraged about service. 
            In verse 9, He says the glory of the present house will be greater than the glory of the past house.  Solomon’s temple was great, but it was really the downfall of Judah.  They put all their work and energy into the temple’s glory, not into God’s glory.
            David Brainerd was a missionary to the Indians in the 1700s.  For 3 and a half years he ministered with no apparent results.  He kept a journal of his activities.  Finally, 150 souls were saved, but then David died.  It looked like failure.  But then William Carey read Brainerd’s journal, and was inspired.  Carey is seen as the father of modern missions.  Brainerd didn’t see that his life was not in vain, nor did he see the people that came to God because of his journal.  He was faithful. 

The message of Haggai 2: DON’T GIVE UP!