It Is Time To Build (Part Five)
Haggai 1: 12 – 14
12 Then … 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 feared the presence of the LORD. 13 Then Haggai, the LORD’s messenger, spoke the LORD’s message to the people, saying, “I am with you, says the LORD.” 14 So the LORD stirred up the spirit of … all the remnant of the people; and they came and worked on the house of the LORD of hosts, their God.
Ephesians 2: 19 – 22
19 Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, 20 having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, 21 in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, 22 in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.
IT IS TIME FOR THE LORD’S HOUSE TO BE BUILT!
Acts 15: 14 – 17
14 Simon has declared how God at the first visited the Gentiles to take out of them a people for His name (church = ekklesia = called out ones). 15 And with this the words of the prophets agree, just as it is written:
16 ‘ After this I will return and will rebuild the tabernacle of David, which has fallen down;
I will rebuild its ruins, and I will set it up;
17 So that the rest of mankind may seek the LORD, even all the Gentiles who are called by My name, says the LORD who does all these things.’
Why the Tabernacle of David? Because it represented a heart after God! It was a prophetic picture of the church!
The religious system also breeds the Michal spirit that ridicules and tries to prevent those who desire to worship God with all of their heart, soul, mind, and strength – by seeking to enforce a false sense of propriety. The religious system wants to impose its own faulty definition of “decently and in order”.
Sadly, even those who love God can be bound by this spirit. According to 1 Samuel 18: 20 Michal loved David, and yet she despised his wholehearted, whole-life, worship.
2 Samuel 6: 14 – 16; 20 – 23
14 Then David danced before the LORD with all his might; and David was wearing a linen ephod. 15 So David and all the house of Israel brought up the ark of the LORD with shouting and with the sound of the trumpet.
16 Now as the ark of the LORD came into the City of David, Michal, Saul’s daughter, looked through a window and saw King David leaping and whirling before the LORD; and she despised him in her heart.
What is really tragic is what happens next!
20 Then David returned to bless his household. And Michal the daughter of Saul came out to meet David, and said, “How glorious was the king of Israel today, uncovering himself today in the eyes of the maids of his servants, as one of the base fellows shamelessly uncovers himself!”
21 So David said to Michal, “It was before the LORD, who chose me instead of your father and all his house, to appoint me ruler over the people of the LORD, over Israel. Therefore I will play music before the LORD. 22 And I will be even more undignified than this, and will be humble in my own sight. But as for the maidservants of whom you have spoken, by them I will be held in honor.”
23 Therefore Michal the daughter of Saul had no children to the day of her death.
David returned to BLESS his household! Those who worship in spirit and in truth – with all of their heart, soul, mind, and strength are always a blessing – they carry the manifest presence of God wherever they go!
David was humble in his own eyes! Saul had been okay when he was humble in his own eyes but it was when he got proud and puffed up in his own opinion of himself that he fell. The religious system is always great in its own eyes even though others can see how weak and ineffective it really is.
Our God is worthy of everything that we are and everything that we have – if we can play music we should play it for the LORD, and if we have breath in our bodies it is to praise the LORD! Every talent and every gift should be brought into the house of the LORD so that it can be built! At last we are seeing dance and drama and other expressions of giftedness and talent being restored to the house of the LORD!
What a tragedy in Michal’s life! The religious system breeds this spirit that always results in barrenness!
At some point Michal had been married off to someone other than David by Saul (the system)(1 Samuel 25: 44) Remember what Paul said to the Corinthian church.
2 Corinthians 11: 1 – 4
1 Oh, that you would bear with me in a little folly—and indeed you do bear with me. 2 For I am jealous for you with godly jealousy. For I have betrothed you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. 3 But I fear, lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. 4 For if he who comes preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or if you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a different gospel which you have not accepted—you may well put up with it!
Keep it simple – love God with all of your heart, all of your soul, all of your mind, and all of your strength. Express your love for him by devoting your time, your talent, and your treasure to him and to his house! When the lame man at the temple gate was healed and went leaping and jumping and praising God it doesn’t say that Peter and John took him aside and told him to settle down and behave himself. He was free at last and he was going to use his freedom to express his thanksgiving and praise and worship!
People serve in the religious system through fear. The heart after God serves by choice – because it has chosen to!
Because the religious system rules through fear it is in fear! The devils believe and tremble! The religious system is always insecure!
1 Samuel 18: 15, 28 – 29
15 Therefore, when Saul saw that (David) behaved very wisely, he was afraid of him.
28 Thus Saul saw and knew that the LORD was with David, and that Michal, Saul’s daughter, loved him; 29 and Saul was still more afraid of David. So Saul became David’s enemy continually.
1 Samuel 28: 5
5 When Saul saw the army of the Philistines, he was afraid, and his heart trembled greatly.
The religious system rules through witchcraft – domination, intimidation, and manipulation.
For example – domination says, “We don’t speak in tongues in this church”; intimidation says, “You better not speak in tongues in this church”; and manipulation says, “If you speak in tongues in this church we will kick you out!”
People are locked into the system and so if they achieve or do anything extraordinary it makes them a target.
1 Samuel 18: 5 – 10
5 So David went out wherever Saul sent him, and behaved wisely. And Saul set him over the men of war, and he was accepted in the sight of all the people and also in the sight of Saul’s servants. 6 Now it had happened as they were coming home, when David was returning from the slaughter of the Philistine, that the women had come out of all the cities of Israel, singing and dancing, to meet King Saul, with tambourines, with joy, and with musical instruments. 7 So the women sang as they danced, and said:
“Saul has slain his thousands,
And David his ten thousands.”
8 Then Saul was very angry, and the saying displeased him; and he said, “They have ascribed to David ten thousands, and to me they have ascribed only thousands. Now what more can he have but the kingdom?” 9 So Saul eyed David from that day forward.
10 And it happened on the next day that the distressing spirit from God came upon Saul, and he prophesied inside the house. So David played music with his hand, as at other times; but there was a spear in Saul’s hand. 11 And Saul cast the spear, for he said, “I will pin David to the wall!” But David escaped his presence twice.
This singing (that was really just a form of flattery) didn’t affect David. It didn’t puff him up because he wasn’t in competition with anyone – his heart was after God and his kingdom. But Saul was upset and opened up his life to a distressing spirit!
The only role and function that the system requires of those under its control and domination is that they serve and maintain the system!
However, those who have a heart after God cannot be contained by the system. They are not under domination – they know that they have dominion and so they will always be looking for opportunities to exercise dominion! Because the religious system rejects the the freedom of the Spirit-filled and Spirit-empowered life it has to resort to domination to control and protect its interests. But those who embrace the freedom of the Spirit-filled and Spirit-empowered life have dominion!
Daniel 11: 32
32 …the people who know their God shall be strong, and carry out great exploits.
David was a bear and lion killer long before he took on Goliath! And look at some of David’s mighty men!
1 Chronicles 11
11 …Jashobeam …chief of the captains; he had lifted up his spear against three hundred, killed by him at one time. 12 …Eleazar…who was one of the three mighty men. 13 He was with David at Pasdammim. Now there the Philistines were gathered for battle, and there was a piece of ground full of barley. So the people fled from the Philistines. 14 But they stationed themselves in the middle of that field, defended it, and killed the Philistines. So the LORD brought about a great victory.
15 Now three of the thirty chief men went down to the rock to David, into the cave of Adullam; and the army of the Philistines encamped in the Valley of Rephaim. 16 David was then in the stronghold, and the garrison of the Philistines was then in Bethlehem. 17 And David said with longing, “Oh, that someone would give me a drink of water from the well of Bethlehem, which is by the gate!” 18 So the three broke through the camp of the Philistines, drew water from the well of Bethlehem that was by the gate, and took it and brought it to David. Nevertheless David would not drink it, but poured it out to the LORD. 19 And he said, “Far be it from me, O my God, that I should do this! Shall I drink the blood of these men who have put their lives in jeopardy? For at the risk of their lives they brought it.” Therefore he would not drink it. These things were done by the three mighty men. 20 Abishai the brother of Joab was chief of another three. He had lifted up his spear against three hundred men, killed them, and won a name among these three. 21 Of the three he was more honored than the other two men. Therefore he became their captain. However he did not attain to the first three. 22 Benaiah…He had killed two lion-like heroes of Moab. He also had gone down and killed a lion in the midst of a pit on a snowy day. 23 And he killed an Egyptian, a man of great height, five cubits tall. In the Egyptian’s hand there was a spear like a weaver’s beam; and he went down to him with a staff, wrested the spear out of the Egyptian’s hand, and killed him with his own spear.
These are the type of people who have been delivered out of the religious system – whose mission and vision is to advance and extend the kingdom of God!
Personally, the night I was baptised in the Holy Spirit the brother who prayed with me said that he had seen a vision of my heart. He said it was like an open book and that the pages were clean and white with a hand poised above the pages holding a pen that was ready to begin writing great exploits for God. I didn’t know that night that in order to continue in what I had just experienced I would have to come out of the religious system of which I was a part.
IT IS TIME for the LORD’s house to be built – for that which is in ruins to be rebuilt!
Obviously, there are those to whom this message will be offensive. There are those who don’t want to admit or acknowledge that they are part of a religious system. To some the things that have been said here will be deemed unnecessary and even unkind. Obviously, we all want people to like us and it would certainly make life easier for us sometimes if everyone did. But if Jesus had taken that line with the religious system that he was anointed to dismantle so that he could build his church according to God’s pattern and design, then he would never have spoken to the pharisees and religious leaders the way he did.
Only the truth exposes the false and only the entrance of God’s word creates light that infiltrates and dispels the darkness created by religious systems that are weak and ineffective in dealing with sin and its effects and yet still control and dominate people through fear!
More next time…