How Do You Keep Going?
Surrendering To God Is A Vital Step To Moving Forward In Life
Kevin Garcia
Feb 20, 2022
Have you found yourself feeling stuck and unsure of what to do? Do you wonder how you got to this place in your life? This message taught from the Book of Haggai reminds us that surrendering to God is necessary to move forward in life. Video recorded at Upland, California.
TranscriptionmessageRegarding Grammar:
This is a transcription of the sermon. People speak differently than they write, and there are common colloquialisms in this transcript that sound good when spoken, and look like bad grammar when written.
This is a transcription of the sermon. People speak differently than they write, and there are common colloquialisms in this transcript that sound good when spoken, and look like bad grammar when written.
Life Bible - How Do You Keep Going?
Intro: [00:00:00] Hey, there. Thanks so much for checking out one of our messages here at Life Bible Fellowship Church. And we know there are two great ways you can connect with us. You can visit our website at LBF.church to learn more about all of our ministries and what we believe. And also, you can subscribe to us on YouTube to make sure that you don't miss one of our future videos.
Kevin Garcia: [00:00:19] In the late '90s, early 2000s, a famous American artist emerged, and he was very popular. In fact, it was estimated that one out of every twenty American households had one of his paintings. And one of the reasons why a lot of you in this room probably know who I'm talking about is because he was an artist that had a faith that he professed, and it was really part of his paintings, and part of his walk, and his name was Thomas Kinkade. And if you don't have a painting of his, you might have a bookmark or a plate or a Bible, I mean, his art was everywhere, and he made a lot, a lot of money. And he professed that he was a painter of light, and one of those reasons was that he came to a knowledge and a relationship with Jesus Christ. And as I'm talking about this, some of you guys were probably like, yeah, what happened to that guy? And the truth of the matter is, is that in 2012, April 6th, he died of acute intoxication of alcohol and Valium, self-administered. And the lesson that we learn from that story is, man, how does somebody with this great life right, and a willingness to have a testimony for Jesus, end so badly? And how can we keep from finding ourselves in that position? Because no matter how long you've had this faith, there are pitfalls and some of those actually come with the longer that you're there.
Kevin Garcia: [00:02:01] And today we're going to be talking about, how do we keep going? In Galatians 5:7, Paul asked the Galatians right, he says, you were running a good race, what happened? Who cut in on you? And sometimes that happens with time, we get comfortable with where we're at. The series that we're going through is called Rebuilding. And if you haven't been here for the last couple of weeks, we talked about taking stock, looking at what's going on in your life, and then stepping out, and then last week we looked at looking forward, and to today we're going to be talking about, how do we keep going.
Kevin Garcia: [00:02:42] And when we jump into this book of Haggai, this isn't meant to just be a study of ancient Middle Eastern history. The reason that we're here in this time is this is something that God is doing at this time in this church, and we're hoping that this word of God speaks to us, and transforms us, and gets us to look at things and take action. So if this is your first week and you're like, oh, I'm too late. You're not too late, you can easily catch up, look at these steps, take stock, step out, and then when you get to this step, talk about keeping going.
Kevin Garcia: [00:03:20] And we both hit these hurdles, right? If you're a new Christian, if you're new in the faith, you get, I don't know if you if you've been around, well, at least if you're a Christian at one point you were a new Christian, right? And you're really excited, you've found this new joy in God, your life transformed, your full of this, this light, and this strength, but then things happen, right? Some of us have had this happen in a smaller window, right? Sometimes, if you ever get to go on a retreat, right, you go on a retreat and you're around all these wonderful Christian people, and you get to read the Bible and sing worship songs, and you're like, this is the best, this is great, and you come down the mountain and you're like, man, this world sucks, right? And just like takes a second, and then you're like, I was just doing so good, and now I'm so dejected, and sometimes it's hard to find the strength to keep going.
Kevin Garcia: [00:04:13] Let's jump into the Scripture. We're in Haggai chapter 2, starting in verse 10, it says, "On the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month, in the second year of Darius, the word of the Lord came to the prophet Haggai." So, I'm sure a lot of you remember because it's a long time ago, way back in chapter 1, it's a very short book, but that started on the first day of the sixth month, so four months have passed since the beginning of this book of Haggai. And if you remember in the beginning, if you were here, the question at the beginning was, should we start rebuilding this temple? The building they were going through was a very literal rebuilding, but also a spiritual one. And the people answered and said, no, we don't think it is time. Like, we don't think this is the time. And they had a lot of reasons for saying that, right? It's not that they hadn't tried, it's not that the Israelites had not tried. They tried, and people didn't like it, right, there was some opposition, it wasn't just all easy going. They started, and there was opposition, and so now when they're asked again, they're like, I don't think it's a good time. What if we just quietly kind of live our faith, and we don't have to make it this big external thing that everybody can say see? And Haggai replied, right, look, I talked to God, and he says it is time and this is what's happening. So they started on this journey of starting to rebuild the temple.
Kevin Garcia: [00:05:43] And he goes on in verse 11, right, “This is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘Ask the priests.'" And right here, God is going to speak through a Haggai and give the priests, because this is one thing they really knew, right, they knew the law, they knew how to do this. And he is going to give them some real softball questions, even if you don't know the law today, I'm going to guess that you could probably get the answers to these questions, right? He's going to give them these softball questions because he wants to show them where they're at. And the first one, he says is, "Ask the priests." The Lord says in verse 11 going to 12, "If someone carries consecrated meat in the fold of their garment, and that fold touches some bread or stew, some wine, olive oil or other food, does it become consecrated?’ ” The priests answered, “No.” Now, first of all, eww. Like, I don't know, I tried to look this up to find out if this was a thing, like who carries meat in their clothes? It's like that weird kid, you know, after school, he had like a pocketful of tater tots or something like that. It's just like, I don't know why anyone...Like I told you'd get these questions right. Like if you carry some good food, and you wrap it in your clothes, and then that clothes touches some other food, does that food become clean? And they're like, No, that's not how it works. And he's like, right, right, right, it was an easy question, you gave the right answer. And here's what you need to know about that, you don't become clean by association.
Kevin Garcia: [00:07:19] And I don't know about you for you, but for the Israelites, ooh, because for the Israelites, as a people, right, I mean they have a moniker, we still refer to them today, right, as God's chosen people, the nation of God. The people that were living in this time, though, did nothing to earn that name. I mean, they have this fabled history, right, it goes back, and probably we could point from the beginning of time, but really with Abraham, when God made that covenant with Abraham. Paul refers to in Romans chapter 4, right, it says, “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.”. Not just a belief, not just a prayer, but in action, his life proved that he had faith in God, and it was credited to him as righteousness. And because of that, God made with Abraham a covenant, right, and said, I will make you into a great nation. And Abraham was very thankful because his problem was that he just wanted a kid, right, do you remember this story? And he and his wife were very old, and they're just like a kid would be great. And God was like, how about a nation? And not only that, right, because God had a great plan that was for all people, to redeem all of humanity through this nation. And then the Israelites have the story of Moses being brought out of slavery, being brought to the Promised Land, they have all this history. They can just lean back and go, we're the chosen people. God said so a long time ago. And God's telling these people, you don't become clean by association, you don't become clean because you are a part of a line of people that believed in me a long time ago.
Kevin Garcia: [00:09:10] We, in America, can associate with that, right? If you look at history, I would say it's undeniable, some people still want to argue this, right, in the Declaration of Independence, penned by Thomas Jefferson in 1776, right, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights.". That is a man who believes in God, right, he wrote it in the Declaration. And because of that man, this is a great place to live out a faith, right, and you probably didn't do anything to earn any of that. A lot of times it is just very fashionable to complain because it's easy. Anybody can look at something and go, I know what's wrong with that, right, you know you're all skilled at it. Sometimes we have to stop and give gratitude for the people that came before us and laid the work that we are taking part of.
Kevin Garcia: [00:10:19] Jesus talked to the disciples, right, when people were coming to him, and they're like, man, this is great, all these people are receiving Jesus. And Jesus reminds them, right, you are reaping what others have sowed, the prophets before you. You're living in this time of great harvest, but there was so much work that went on before this.
Kevin Garcia: [00:10:38] And even more locally, Life Bible Fellowship here, some of you may have been here for a long time, you may have been here in the beginning, you may have been here when the sanctuary was built. A lot of us were not, we just walked into a great church and went, this is great, great worship, great message, I come and I'm fed. And to be honest, you haven't done anything to build it. And God is saying you're not going to be saved because you're hanging around great people that once did great things.
Kevin Garcia: [00:11:10] He goes on, right, and gives them another example in verse 13. He says, Then Haggai said, “If a person defiled by contact with a dead body touches one of these things, does it become defiled?” “Yes,” the priests replied, “it becomes defiled.”. And again, eww, right? Can we all like, there's a lot of like the Old Testament law that we would say, that's weird, we don't need that anymore. But this one, I'm like, let's keep this one, I like this one, right, where no dead bodies touch my food. Can we all like just agree, we'll keep that one, it sounds good? Again, it's a softball question, right? The question is like, hey, if a dead body touches your food, or somebody touches a dead body, then touches your food, I don't want to eat that food, that's not something that I want.
Kevin Garcia: [00:11:59] And what is he trying to tell them? He says, in verse 14, "Then Haggai said, “ ‘So it is with this people and this nation in my sight,’ declares the Lord. ‘Whatever they do and whatever they offer there is defiled." And so we get from this, from that verse, 14, right, that they were still doing things, it says they were still offering things there, but it was unclean. And part of the reason that it was unclean, as we look at this story of Haggai, is that people were spending time rebuilding because they had been in exile and they're coming back to Jerusalem to rebuild it, and they started with their own houses. And God notices, your houses are looking great, your garden is pristine, and the and the temple is in ruin.
Kevin Garcia: [00:12:50] Some of you may have been thinking for this week, or maybe if you've been here last week, it is like what is the big deal like with this temple thing, right, it's just a building? Like why does God care? And you might discern, oh, you know, it's just, you know, God wants a building, he needs this thing to be built so that other people can see him and think God is great. And you don't know God very well, if you think he needs us to lift him up, right, that's not how this works, right? It's not like, you know, tell others about me so other people can know how great I am, right, that is not the heart of God. The situation is that we're in trouble, mankind is in trouble, because of the sin in our lives that has condemned us to death, and God desires to be in a relationship with us to redeem us out of that pit. Why does the temple matter? Because the temple was the testimony to this people and all the other pagan nations around, right, that this is the one true God and he is here, his presence is in this temple.
Kevin Garcia: [00:14:01] Can you imagine being in that time and in that era, where there are all these temples, all these places you worship, and you go in and at the front is this wooden bear, right, or golden calf? And everyone's like, this is the thing we worship, this inanimate object, and we all bow down and give praise to this thing that we made. And the Israelites say, we have the presence of Almighty God in our temple, living, and breathing. And you look at it, and then you go, wait a minute, like what was taking them so long? Here they are in their houses doing their thing, and God is saying, there's a place where I want to be in your midst. The temple was the place where God met with the people, so it was important, it was much more than a building.
Kevin Garcia: [00:14:57] And for those of you, I know Bible buffs out there that you know, the Second Temple sets the stage for, ultimately, Jesus coming, right, Jesus coming and redeeming all mankind. These people here, as you look at it, they were still going through the motions, right, it says they were giving their offerings, but it was defiled. And in this book, and all throughout the Bible, God gives a very clear reason why that happens. It's because we're doing the things on the outside that look good to other people, but inside our heart is dead towards Him.
Kevin Garcia: [00:15:41] Jesus called the religious leaders in his time, right, the Pharisees and Sadducees, and he said, you are whitewashed tombs, on the outside, no one could say anything, but on the inside, you have no desire to be known or purified by God. A lot of us, to be honest, right, we were very upset about the whole pandemic thing, and I know, and some of us were upset when we couldn't meet. And let's be honest, a lot of that was not for the right reasons, a lot of it was because we don't like our routine disturbed. We wanted the routine because there is still an opportunity that we had, right, I mean, we went through the effort, right, it was online, there were places to meet. We were trying, we were trying, the church, and I'm not just saying this church, I'm saying the church, I have many friends that are pastors, right? It's out there, you could get fed, but you were upset about the lack of your routine. And Jesus is calling us to task, he's saying, look, what is it that you want because you're not going to be saved by your ritual?
Kevin Garcia: [00:16:55] Now, you may have noticed, as we looked at it, there's a time lag here, right? Four months have passed, and you see in this chapter that not a lot has changed. And you think, well, what's going on, like they've started the work, like why haven't things really turned around for them? And there's really, this is the big question of the chapter, and I have a couple of good speculative points that probably you could understand. Because I don't know about any of you, but me personally, right, have you ever had anyone tell you they would do something so that they could get what they want? Anybody? I'm the only one with children? No, others out there? Right, this is why we try to warn kids when they're dating, right? They are like, but he loves me. Look, he says he loves you, right, and we have to give them this lesson, right? Sometimes people tell you what you want to hear in order to get what they want, right? I'm sorry that the world's not all rainbows and puppies, to have to bring the sad, dark news to you, right? There are people that will lie and manipulate you to get what they want. And honestly, right, a lot of us, when it comes to our relationship with God, it's not that much different. And maybe it's like, OK, OK, God's clearly upset, right? He says, like, we're not getting the things that we want because...Let's go over here and start building this thing, right, and then maybe we'll start to get the things that we really care about, right? And then if he gets upset again, we can go back over here and we can and we can start, you know, putting some pain, and then we can go back over here to the things that we care about.
Kevin Garcia: [00:18:40] In First Corinthians chapter 13, Paul says, right, you guys know, a famous love chapter. Most of you have heard the part that they say at weddings, you know that part very well, right, "Love is patient, Love is kind." But at the beginning of the chapter, it says, "If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but have not love, I'm just making noise." And God says, it starts with this relationship. In Proverbs 16:9, it says, "Men make their plans, but the Lord establishes their steps." And if this is your relationship with God, here's a hard thing, and it's hard for me too, right? I have to lay my plans down. It's not, I'm going to bring this thing, my desires, my own corrupt will, and then bring it to God and say, hey, can you bless this thing that is already twisted and make it clean?
Kevin Garcia: [00:19:42] When I read this, and I don't know if any of you have ever had food poisoning, but I have. And I'm pretty sure I didn't keep a record, but I'm pretty sure that I prayed for those meals, right? In fact, I've had people say this to me, and I'm like, I hope you're kidding right now. People will say that and be, like, you know, pastor, can you pray for the food? Because that way, if it's poisoned, we'll be all right. I'm like, I don't think we will be. Like, I'm just being honest, you know? But that's the way that we approach God, right, let's take this poisoned, contaminated thing, bring it before God, and ask Him to bless it. Wouldn't it be much smarter to take something clean, and know that God would bless it? You don't have to cross your fingers with God, right? So just think about what your desires are, and what the motivation behind that is, is it greed, is it material possession, is it wealth, is it your own image or power or lust? Do you want to bring that before God and ask Him to bless it? I can tell you the answer right now.
Kevin Garcia: [00:20:52] When I was a pastor of a high school group, I had this kid, and I think I've shared the story before, I'm going to share it again because it's funny. This kid asked, we have small groups, everyone breaks up, right? And I asked, what do you want us to pray for this week? I was speeding, I got a ticket, and I just want to pray that the judge will dismiss it. And I said, no, I'm not praying that. And he looked at me like, right, like, you can ask God, you can pray for anything. And I told him, I said, if you were sorry about speeding, you would pay the fine twice over. Right, because that's what we read in the Bible, the people that are repentant, they don't look for a cheap way out. They realize the damage they've done by the decisions they made, and they try to rectify it. If you've done something that's wrong, you would confess and you would do the time. If you want God to bless you, sometimes you have to walk through the valley of your own decisions.
Kevin Garcia: [00:21:59] He goes on in verse 15, right, “ ‘Now give careful thought to this from this day on —consider how things were before one stone was laid on another in the Lord’s temple. 16When anyone came to a heap of twenty measures, there were only ten. When anyone went to a wine vat to draw fifty measures, there were only twenty. 17I struck all the work of your hands with blight, mildew, and hail, yet you did not return to me,’ declares the Lord." First, part of me is like, why did he write this down, like they know? Do you remember when things were really bad, when you went to go get your stuff and it wasn't there? Yeah, we remember, it was yesterday. And he's like, I struck these things. And you're looking at this, and here's the point, he says at the end, right, I mean, blight, mildew, and hail, yet you did not return to me.
Kevin Garcia: [00:22:51] And when we read that right, we're reminded of the most hard-hearted person that you can think of in the Bible, we could probably all say his name in unison, right, Pharaoh. When we think of that guy, like, ten plagues, really, like 10 national crises, one on top of another. And you just like, I don't know, some of this, you could look at that, I think maybe he's just dumb, right? This isn't really even a spiritual thing; he just doesn't get it. And what you underestimate is Pharaoh's will. Because he had an enslaved, people and he had a lot of plans, cheap labor was the best way to get it done, right, he had a lot of statues and temples and things that he needed erected in his name. And so when water gets turned in the blood, and most of us go, man, right there, I'd be out, check yourself and your will.
Kevin Garcia: [00:23:50] I remember when I was in high school, I noticed this book on my mother's bed stand, and it was called the Strong-Willed Child. I don't know exactly why she was reading it, right? She just didn't understand what was wrong with this kid, right? She didn't understand how strong my will was to do what I wanted. Like, yeah, yeah, I know you want me to do that, I hear you want me to do that, great, I'm going to go do what I want. And most of us are not different than Pharoh, but very alike, think about how many times God has tried to get your attention. And you go, yeah, I hear you, God, I know this is not going great, but I really want this, and so I'm just going to try to push my nose into the wind and fight my way until I get there.
Kevin Garcia: [00:24:53] Verse 18, he says, "From this day on, from this twenty-fourth day of the ninth month, give careful thought to the day when the foundation of the Lord’s temple was laid." And so he's telling us exactly, this is just not an arbitrary day, something has been finished, something has been established, they have laid the foundation. And if any of you have ever built anything, or had a construction project done, you know that it's not just laying the foundation. There's a reason why we say that the foundation is important, you at least know that, right? You have to know everything you're going to do when you lay that foundation. You have to know everything that's going to be stacked upon it. You have to know exactly where it's going to go. The foundation is where all your plans are built upon, and so God waits, God waits for them to finish this phase.
Kevin Garcia: [00:25:45] And what's happening during this time, right, he says in verse 19, "Is there yet any seed left in the barn? Until now, the vine and the fig tree, the pomegranate and the olive tree have not borne fruit." I'm going, man, they have been doing the right thing for four months, and here they are, situation unchanged. And a lot of us find ourselves there, right? We're like, OK, I'll try this God thing for a hot minute. Day one, get up, pray, day sucked, I'm done with this, right? And sometimes we have to think about, right, what got us where we are, because some things are very hard to dig out of and they're not going to turn around. If you've made some egregious sins against your family, against your coworkers, against your friends, and hopefully, you're having a sincere come to Jesus’ moment, but don't think that everything is going to turn around tomorrow.
Kevin Garcia: [00:26:52] Sometimes you're going to have to walk through that valley and continue to do the right thing and see no change in the situation around you. Why? Because there's that time lag, right? We talked earlier about the time lag of blessing. Where you're growing up in, what you have, was based upon decisions that were made before you were even born that gave you this, right, you were blessed by other people's faithfulness. And there's this time lag when we decide to start doing the right thing, that sometimes we still have to walk in the midst of. Have you ever looked at yourself naked in the mirror? I mean, I have, I didn't want to give you that visual. You look and go, how did this happen? And it probably, right, it probably wasn't just one night of overnight eating, because you probably experimented when you were in high school college, right? You're like, I ate a whole pizza, got on the scale the next day, same weight, it's great, you can do whatever you want. It's these little decisions over a longer period of time that build up, and all of a sudden, you're looking and you're going, how did I get here?
Kevin Garcia: [00:28:13] I know that it's an uncomfortable image, so I'll shift you away from that really quickly, and let's talk about your finances. Did you ever look at that and go, how do we have this much debt? And it probably wasn't just one big shopping spree, and if it was, shame on you for not inviting me because it sounds like it was a blast, right? It was probably a bunch of little decisions over time that got you where you were. And now, all of a sudden, you decided that it's too much, you've realized, and you've decided that you're going to change it, and guess what? It's going to be uncomfortable for a while. Not because God doesn't want to bless you, but because there are consequences to our actions.
Kevin Garcia: [00:29:06] And if you're not in that place, and this is the warning right, for the long-standing Christian, if you're the standing Christian and you're like, no, every once in a while, I go off the rails a little bit, and you know what, God didn't strike me with lightning. And the next time you think maybe I can, maybe a little bit of gambling is OK, you know, maybe a little bit of flirting with sin is going to be all right. Maybe I'm good enough, right, that these little indiscretions will be covered up by my righteousness, man, that's not how it works. I mean, I told you a cautionary tale in the beginning, and I wish that I had to search long and hard to find that story, but I got to choose from a bounty of fallen leaders that didn't take seriously the caution of this verse in the Bible, that tells us, right, that faithfulness has its rewards.
Kevin Garcia: [00:30:20] And, you know, I've been married for 20 years, my wife is great, my kids are great. And just to be honest, I'm aware of this and I think any good Christian is, right, how quickly I could mess all that up. And it's a caution to me, and it's a caution to you, the things that you have that have been rewards that you have gotten by your faithfulness to God and him crediting it to you, right, taking away your sin and looking at those things and blessing you, is something that you don't want to take lightly.
Kevin Garcia: [00:31:01] A lot of you might be looking at this and going, OK, I have one big question here because your history buffs are out there, your Bible buffs are out there, right? You're like, what was the big point of all of this? Because they go and rebuild the Second Temple, and it's awesome, and it's wonderful, and God resides there, and then the whole thing is destroyed, right? It's not there today, it's gone. And you're right, the temple was important for a time, and then it was no longer needed, it was supplanted when God decided to become flesh and come dwell among us. And not just to be here, not just to see your wonderful face, not just to heal you of your temporary maladies, right, to give his life on the cross to take away your sins and give you eternal life, to wash you and make you clean. Because look, there is one exception to this rule about clean and unclean things, right? It's that Jesus, on the cross, through his blood is able to make the unclean thing clean. We don't become clean by ritual, we don't become clean by association, we become clean through Christ by repentance, that is the way that we get there.
Kevin Garcia: [00:32:31] In the last part of that verse, right, he says, "From this day on, I will bless you." I know some of you you're looking at this and you're going, man, if you only knew, right? You're like the Israelites, you have that thing with God speaking to you, I know, God's telling you, hey, this is the next step we need to take. And I know, God, you've brought this up a couple of times, right? And if you're there, and you're looking at this and going, look, I've tried, right, I was earnest, and I tried, and it just didn't work, and I still have this thing. And I want to invite you, you know, I lead worship at a group on Friday nights called Celebrate Recovery that we have here at the church, if you have something going on in your life and you're at the point where you're ready to admit, I need help with this, there's a place that we have here at this church where you can come and you can lay this down, and you could say, look. The first thing you're going to be surprised by is you're not the only person in the room, you're going to be surprised by how many people in the room are there and honestly saying, look, I'm not perfect, I'm struggling with this, and I'm trying to give it to God.
Kevin Garcia: [00:33:44] This Friday, I'm giving my testimony, we'd love to have you there to be a part of that. And I just offer that as one of the many things that we have in this church, that you're not alone walking through this, God is with you, and this church is with you. We have groups, we have a grief group that meets, we have Divorce Care that meets, come talk to Mike Cloud or one of the other pastors, whatever you're going through, don't try to go through it alone. Because I know where at, you're saying I tried this before on my own and it didn't work, right, because you tried to fix it in the dark and that's not how God works. You bring it out in the light, you say, look, I'm broken, this is my problem, and this is how I want God to move. And we are excited to walk through that with you and see God move.
Kevin Garcia: [00:34:29] And again, I just want to say this is, Haggai is a great book, I like it because it's short, but this isn't about ancient Middle Eastern history, this is about us looking at the word of God and saying...Because, and I know we talked in men's group, this is the most overused word of the last two years, right, unprecedented times. You know, I did have to say it, these are unprecedented times, and it is, uncomfortableness and change that we didn't want thrust upon us. And what you've noticed now, and the world is kind of noticing like, well, everything's not going back to the way that it was, you know, things are different now. Yes, people are changed by this. A lot of people go, man, like if life is short, which a lot of people have realized, I'm not sure I want to be doing this job anymore, right? You're like, people aren't going back to their jobs. If life is short, right, I want to spend more time with family, or I want to make more money, or I want a better job, and people are not just accepting to go back, and we as Christians should not either. We should not be excited to be, like, I just want things to go back to the way they were. Because I'm telling you right now, that's not what God is thinking. He's not thinking, I want things to go back to the way they were, remember how great the world was three years ago? No, he's thinking, I don't want these people to go back to the way they were, I want them to continue to allow me to continue the work that I started in them and follow it through to the day of completion. And part of that, in us, is painful purification that allows us to say, God, I surrender to you, even this thing that I have been holding on and fighting with you for so long, I now give up and surrender and I'm ready for the change. And I know it's not going to be easy, and it's not going to be quick, but God, you are the Healer, and you are the Redeemer.
Kevin Garcia: [00:36:25] Let me pray. Dear God, we thank you for who you are, we thank you for your word, Lord God, that speaks to us, and that each one of us, Lord, would just surrender. And I know that's not easy, and not everyone's ready today, but God, our strong wills are keeping us from experiencing the fullness of you in our lives. And, Lord God, we ask that you move powerfully in this church, that this church would surrender to your will and look at what it is that you have for us next. We pray this in your name. Amen.
Recorded in Upland, California.
Intro: [00:00:00] Hey, there. Thanks so much for checking out one of our messages here at Life Bible Fellowship Church. And we know there are two great ways you can connect with us. You can visit our website at LBF.church to learn more about all of our ministries and what we believe. And also, you can subscribe to us on YouTube to make sure that you don't miss one of our future videos.
Kevin Garcia: [00:00:19] In the late '90s, early 2000s, a famous American artist emerged, and he was very popular. In fact, it was estimated that one out of every twenty American households had one of his paintings. And one of the reasons why a lot of you in this room probably know who I'm talking about is because he was an artist that had a faith that he professed, and it was really part of his paintings, and part of his walk, and his name was Thomas Kinkade. And if you don't have a painting of his, you might have a bookmark or a plate or a Bible, I mean, his art was everywhere, and he made a lot, a lot of money. And he professed that he was a painter of light, and one of those reasons was that he came to a knowledge and a relationship with Jesus Christ. And as I'm talking about this, some of you guys were probably like, yeah, what happened to that guy? And the truth of the matter is, is that in 2012, April 6th, he died of acute intoxication of alcohol and Valium, self-administered. And the lesson that we learn from that story is, man, how does somebody with this great life right, and a willingness to have a testimony for Jesus, end so badly? And how can we keep from finding ourselves in that position? Because no matter how long you've had this faith, there are pitfalls and some of those actually come with the longer that you're there.
Kevin Garcia: [00:02:01] And today we're going to be talking about, how do we keep going? In Galatians 5:7, Paul asked the Galatians right, he says, you were running a good race, what happened? Who cut in on you? And sometimes that happens with time, we get comfortable with where we're at. The series that we're going through is called Rebuilding. And if you haven't been here for the last couple of weeks, we talked about taking stock, looking at what's going on in your life, and then stepping out, and then last week we looked at looking forward, and to today we're going to be talking about, how do we keep going.
Kevin Garcia: [00:02:42] And when we jump into this book of Haggai, this isn't meant to just be a study of ancient Middle Eastern history. The reason that we're here in this time is this is something that God is doing at this time in this church, and we're hoping that this word of God speaks to us, and transforms us, and gets us to look at things and take action. So if this is your first week and you're like, oh, I'm too late. You're not too late, you can easily catch up, look at these steps, take stock, step out, and then when you get to this step, talk about keeping going.
Kevin Garcia: [00:03:20] And we both hit these hurdles, right? If you're a new Christian, if you're new in the faith, you get, I don't know if you if you've been around, well, at least if you're a Christian at one point you were a new Christian, right? And you're really excited, you've found this new joy in God, your life transformed, your full of this, this light, and this strength, but then things happen, right? Some of us have had this happen in a smaller window, right? Sometimes, if you ever get to go on a retreat, right, you go on a retreat and you're around all these wonderful Christian people, and you get to read the Bible and sing worship songs, and you're like, this is the best, this is great, and you come down the mountain and you're like, man, this world sucks, right? And just like takes a second, and then you're like, I was just doing so good, and now I'm so dejected, and sometimes it's hard to find the strength to keep going.
Kevin Garcia: [00:04:13] Let's jump into the Scripture. We're in Haggai chapter 2, starting in verse 10, it says, "On the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month, in the second year of Darius, the word of the Lord came to the prophet Haggai." So, I'm sure a lot of you remember because it's a long time ago, way back in chapter 1, it's a very short book, but that started on the first day of the sixth month, so four months have passed since the beginning of this book of Haggai. And if you remember in the beginning, if you were here, the question at the beginning was, should we start rebuilding this temple? The building they were going through was a very literal rebuilding, but also a spiritual one. And the people answered and said, no, we don't think it is time. Like, we don't think this is the time. And they had a lot of reasons for saying that, right? It's not that they hadn't tried, it's not that the Israelites had not tried. They tried, and people didn't like it, right, there was some opposition, it wasn't just all easy going. They started, and there was opposition, and so now when they're asked again, they're like, I don't think it's a good time. What if we just quietly kind of live our faith, and we don't have to make it this big external thing that everybody can say see? And Haggai replied, right, look, I talked to God, and he says it is time and this is what's happening. So they started on this journey of starting to rebuild the temple.
Kevin Garcia: [00:05:43] And he goes on in verse 11, right, “This is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘Ask the priests.'" And right here, God is going to speak through a Haggai and give the priests, because this is one thing they really knew, right, they knew the law, they knew how to do this. And he is going to give them some real softball questions, even if you don't know the law today, I'm going to guess that you could probably get the answers to these questions, right? He's going to give them these softball questions because he wants to show them where they're at. And the first one, he says is, "Ask the priests." The Lord says in verse 11 going to 12, "If someone carries consecrated meat in the fold of their garment, and that fold touches some bread or stew, some wine, olive oil or other food, does it become consecrated?’ ” The priests answered, “No.” Now, first of all, eww. Like, I don't know, I tried to look this up to find out if this was a thing, like who carries meat in their clothes? It's like that weird kid, you know, after school, he had like a pocketful of tater tots or something like that. It's just like, I don't know why anyone...Like I told you'd get these questions right. Like if you carry some good food, and you wrap it in your clothes, and then that clothes touches some other food, does that food become clean? And they're like, No, that's not how it works. And he's like, right, right, right, it was an easy question, you gave the right answer. And here's what you need to know about that, you don't become clean by association.
Kevin Garcia: [00:07:19] And I don't know about you for you, but for the Israelites, ooh, because for the Israelites, as a people, right, I mean they have a moniker, we still refer to them today, right, as God's chosen people, the nation of God. The people that were living in this time, though, did nothing to earn that name. I mean, they have this fabled history, right, it goes back, and probably we could point from the beginning of time, but really with Abraham, when God made that covenant with Abraham. Paul refers to in Romans chapter 4, right, it says, “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.”. Not just a belief, not just a prayer, but in action, his life proved that he had faith in God, and it was credited to him as righteousness. And because of that, God made with Abraham a covenant, right, and said, I will make you into a great nation. And Abraham was very thankful because his problem was that he just wanted a kid, right, do you remember this story? And he and his wife were very old, and they're just like a kid would be great. And God was like, how about a nation? And not only that, right, because God had a great plan that was for all people, to redeem all of humanity through this nation. And then the Israelites have the story of Moses being brought out of slavery, being brought to the Promised Land, they have all this history. They can just lean back and go, we're the chosen people. God said so a long time ago. And God's telling these people, you don't become clean by association, you don't become clean because you are a part of a line of people that believed in me a long time ago.
Kevin Garcia: [00:09:10] We, in America, can associate with that, right? If you look at history, I would say it's undeniable, some people still want to argue this, right, in the Declaration of Independence, penned by Thomas Jefferson in 1776, right, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights.". That is a man who believes in God, right, he wrote it in the Declaration. And because of that man, this is a great place to live out a faith, right, and you probably didn't do anything to earn any of that. A lot of times it is just very fashionable to complain because it's easy. Anybody can look at something and go, I know what's wrong with that, right, you know you're all skilled at it. Sometimes we have to stop and give gratitude for the people that came before us and laid the work that we are taking part of.
Kevin Garcia: [00:10:19] Jesus talked to the disciples, right, when people were coming to him, and they're like, man, this is great, all these people are receiving Jesus. And Jesus reminds them, right, you are reaping what others have sowed, the prophets before you. You're living in this time of great harvest, but there was so much work that went on before this.
Kevin Garcia: [00:10:38] And even more locally, Life Bible Fellowship here, some of you may have been here for a long time, you may have been here in the beginning, you may have been here when the sanctuary was built. A lot of us were not, we just walked into a great church and went, this is great, great worship, great message, I come and I'm fed. And to be honest, you haven't done anything to build it. And God is saying you're not going to be saved because you're hanging around great people that once did great things.
Kevin Garcia: [00:11:10] He goes on, right, and gives them another example in verse 13. He says, Then Haggai said, “If a person defiled by contact with a dead body touches one of these things, does it become defiled?” “Yes,” the priests replied, “it becomes defiled.”. And again, eww, right? Can we all like, there's a lot of like the Old Testament law that we would say, that's weird, we don't need that anymore. But this one, I'm like, let's keep this one, I like this one, right, where no dead bodies touch my food. Can we all like just agree, we'll keep that one, it sounds good? Again, it's a softball question, right? The question is like, hey, if a dead body touches your food, or somebody touches a dead body, then touches your food, I don't want to eat that food, that's not something that I want.
Kevin Garcia: [00:11:59] And what is he trying to tell them? He says, in verse 14, "Then Haggai said, “ ‘So it is with this people and this nation in my sight,’ declares the Lord. ‘Whatever they do and whatever they offer there is defiled." And so we get from this, from that verse, 14, right, that they were still doing things, it says they were still offering things there, but it was unclean. And part of the reason that it was unclean, as we look at this story of Haggai, is that people were spending time rebuilding because they had been in exile and they're coming back to Jerusalem to rebuild it, and they started with their own houses. And God notices, your houses are looking great, your garden is pristine, and the and the temple is in ruin.
Kevin Garcia: [00:12:50] Some of you may have been thinking for this week, or maybe if you've been here last week, it is like what is the big deal like with this temple thing, right, it's just a building? Like why does God care? And you might discern, oh, you know, it's just, you know, God wants a building, he needs this thing to be built so that other people can see him and think God is great. And you don't know God very well, if you think he needs us to lift him up, right, that's not how this works, right? It's not like, you know, tell others about me so other people can know how great I am, right, that is not the heart of God. The situation is that we're in trouble, mankind is in trouble, because of the sin in our lives that has condemned us to death, and God desires to be in a relationship with us to redeem us out of that pit. Why does the temple matter? Because the temple was the testimony to this people and all the other pagan nations around, right, that this is the one true God and he is here, his presence is in this temple.
Kevin Garcia: [00:14:01] Can you imagine being in that time and in that era, where there are all these temples, all these places you worship, and you go in and at the front is this wooden bear, right, or golden calf? And everyone's like, this is the thing we worship, this inanimate object, and we all bow down and give praise to this thing that we made. And the Israelites say, we have the presence of Almighty God in our temple, living, and breathing. And you look at it, and then you go, wait a minute, like what was taking them so long? Here they are in their houses doing their thing, and God is saying, there's a place where I want to be in your midst. The temple was the place where God met with the people, so it was important, it was much more than a building.
Kevin Garcia: [00:14:57] And for those of you, I know Bible buffs out there that you know, the Second Temple sets the stage for, ultimately, Jesus coming, right, Jesus coming and redeeming all mankind. These people here, as you look at it, they were still going through the motions, right, it says they were giving their offerings, but it was defiled. And in this book, and all throughout the Bible, God gives a very clear reason why that happens. It's because we're doing the things on the outside that look good to other people, but inside our heart is dead towards Him.
Kevin Garcia: [00:15:41] Jesus called the religious leaders in his time, right, the Pharisees and Sadducees, and he said, you are whitewashed tombs, on the outside, no one could say anything, but on the inside, you have no desire to be known or purified by God. A lot of us, to be honest, right, we were very upset about the whole pandemic thing, and I know, and some of us were upset when we couldn't meet. And let's be honest, a lot of that was not for the right reasons, a lot of it was because we don't like our routine disturbed. We wanted the routine because there is still an opportunity that we had, right, I mean, we went through the effort, right, it was online, there were places to meet. We were trying, we were trying, the church, and I'm not just saying this church, I'm saying the church, I have many friends that are pastors, right? It's out there, you could get fed, but you were upset about the lack of your routine. And Jesus is calling us to task, he's saying, look, what is it that you want because you're not going to be saved by your ritual?
Kevin Garcia: [00:16:55] Now, you may have noticed, as we looked at it, there's a time lag here, right? Four months have passed, and you see in this chapter that not a lot has changed. And you think, well, what's going on, like they've started the work, like why haven't things really turned around for them? And there's really, this is the big question of the chapter, and I have a couple of good speculative points that probably you could understand. Because I don't know about any of you, but me personally, right, have you ever had anyone tell you they would do something so that they could get what they want? Anybody? I'm the only one with children? No, others out there? Right, this is why we try to warn kids when they're dating, right? They are like, but he loves me. Look, he says he loves you, right, and we have to give them this lesson, right? Sometimes people tell you what you want to hear in order to get what they want, right? I'm sorry that the world's not all rainbows and puppies, to have to bring the sad, dark news to you, right? There are people that will lie and manipulate you to get what they want. And honestly, right, a lot of us, when it comes to our relationship with God, it's not that much different. And maybe it's like, OK, OK, God's clearly upset, right? He says, like, we're not getting the things that we want because...Let's go over here and start building this thing, right, and then maybe we'll start to get the things that we really care about, right? And then if he gets upset again, we can go back over here and we can and we can start, you know, putting some pain, and then we can go back over here to the things that we care about.
Kevin Garcia: [00:18:40] In First Corinthians chapter 13, Paul says, right, you guys know, a famous love chapter. Most of you have heard the part that they say at weddings, you know that part very well, right, "Love is patient, Love is kind." But at the beginning of the chapter, it says, "If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but have not love, I'm just making noise." And God says, it starts with this relationship. In Proverbs 16:9, it says, "Men make their plans, but the Lord establishes their steps." And if this is your relationship with God, here's a hard thing, and it's hard for me too, right? I have to lay my plans down. It's not, I'm going to bring this thing, my desires, my own corrupt will, and then bring it to God and say, hey, can you bless this thing that is already twisted and make it clean?
Kevin Garcia: [00:19:42] When I read this, and I don't know if any of you have ever had food poisoning, but I have. And I'm pretty sure I didn't keep a record, but I'm pretty sure that I prayed for those meals, right? In fact, I've had people say this to me, and I'm like, I hope you're kidding right now. People will say that and be, like, you know, pastor, can you pray for the food? Because that way, if it's poisoned, we'll be all right. I'm like, I don't think we will be. Like, I'm just being honest, you know? But that's the way that we approach God, right, let's take this poisoned, contaminated thing, bring it before God, and ask Him to bless it. Wouldn't it be much smarter to take something clean, and know that God would bless it? You don't have to cross your fingers with God, right? So just think about what your desires are, and what the motivation behind that is, is it greed, is it material possession, is it wealth, is it your own image or power or lust? Do you want to bring that before God and ask Him to bless it? I can tell you the answer right now.
Kevin Garcia: [00:20:52] When I was a pastor of a high school group, I had this kid, and I think I've shared the story before, I'm going to share it again because it's funny. This kid asked, we have small groups, everyone breaks up, right? And I asked, what do you want us to pray for this week? I was speeding, I got a ticket, and I just want to pray that the judge will dismiss it. And I said, no, I'm not praying that. And he looked at me like, right, like, you can ask God, you can pray for anything. And I told him, I said, if you were sorry about speeding, you would pay the fine twice over. Right, because that's what we read in the Bible, the people that are repentant, they don't look for a cheap way out. They realize the damage they've done by the decisions they made, and they try to rectify it. If you've done something that's wrong, you would confess and you would do the time. If you want God to bless you, sometimes you have to walk through the valley of your own decisions.
Kevin Garcia: [00:21:59] He goes on in verse 15, right, “ ‘Now give careful thought to this from this day on —consider how things were before one stone was laid on another in the Lord’s temple. 16When anyone came to a heap of twenty measures, there were only ten. When anyone went to a wine vat to draw fifty measures, there were only twenty. 17I struck all the work of your hands with blight, mildew, and hail, yet you did not return to me,’ declares the Lord." First, part of me is like, why did he write this down, like they know? Do you remember when things were really bad, when you went to go get your stuff and it wasn't there? Yeah, we remember, it was yesterday. And he's like, I struck these things. And you're looking at this, and here's the point, he says at the end, right, I mean, blight, mildew, and hail, yet you did not return to me.
Kevin Garcia: [00:22:51] And when we read that right, we're reminded of the most hard-hearted person that you can think of in the Bible, we could probably all say his name in unison, right, Pharaoh. When we think of that guy, like, ten plagues, really, like 10 national crises, one on top of another. And you just like, I don't know, some of this, you could look at that, I think maybe he's just dumb, right? This isn't really even a spiritual thing; he just doesn't get it. And what you underestimate is Pharaoh's will. Because he had an enslaved, people and he had a lot of plans, cheap labor was the best way to get it done, right, he had a lot of statues and temples and things that he needed erected in his name. And so when water gets turned in the blood, and most of us go, man, right there, I'd be out, check yourself and your will.
Kevin Garcia: [00:23:50] I remember when I was in high school, I noticed this book on my mother's bed stand, and it was called the Strong-Willed Child. I don't know exactly why she was reading it, right? She just didn't understand what was wrong with this kid, right? She didn't understand how strong my will was to do what I wanted. Like, yeah, yeah, I know you want me to do that, I hear you want me to do that, great, I'm going to go do what I want. And most of us are not different than Pharoh, but very alike, think about how many times God has tried to get your attention. And you go, yeah, I hear you, God, I know this is not going great, but I really want this, and so I'm just going to try to push my nose into the wind and fight my way until I get there.
Kevin Garcia: [00:24:53] Verse 18, he says, "From this day on, from this twenty-fourth day of the ninth month, give careful thought to the day when the foundation of the Lord’s temple was laid." And so he's telling us exactly, this is just not an arbitrary day, something has been finished, something has been established, they have laid the foundation. And if any of you have ever built anything, or had a construction project done, you know that it's not just laying the foundation. There's a reason why we say that the foundation is important, you at least know that, right? You have to know everything you're going to do when you lay that foundation. You have to know everything that's going to be stacked upon it. You have to know exactly where it's going to go. The foundation is where all your plans are built upon, and so God waits, God waits for them to finish this phase.
Kevin Garcia: [00:25:45] And what's happening during this time, right, he says in verse 19, "Is there yet any seed left in the barn? Until now, the vine and the fig tree, the pomegranate and the olive tree have not borne fruit." I'm going, man, they have been doing the right thing for four months, and here they are, situation unchanged. And a lot of us find ourselves there, right? We're like, OK, I'll try this God thing for a hot minute. Day one, get up, pray, day sucked, I'm done with this, right? And sometimes we have to think about, right, what got us where we are, because some things are very hard to dig out of and they're not going to turn around. If you've made some egregious sins against your family, against your coworkers, against your friends, and hopefully, you're having a sincere come to Jesus’ moment, but don't think that everything is going to turn around tomorrow.
Kevin Garcia: [00:26:52] Sometimes you're going to have to walk through that valley and continue to do the right thing and see no change in the situation around you. Why? Because there's that time lag, right? We talked earlier about the time lag of blessing. Where you're growing up in, what you have, was based upon decisions that were made before you were even born that gave you this, right, you were blessed by other people's faithfulness. And there's this time lag when we decide to start doing the right thing, that sometimes we still have to walk in the midst of. Have you ever looked at yourself naked in the mirror? I mean, I have, I didn't want to give you that visual. You look and go, how did this happen? And it probably, right, it probably wasn't just one night of overnight eating, because you probably experimented when you were in high school college, right? You're like, I ate a whole pizza, got on the scale the next day, same weight, it's great, you can do whatever you want. It's these little decisions over a longer period of time that build up, and all of a sudden, you're looking and you're going, how did I get here?
Kevin Garcia: [00:28:13] I know that it's an uncomfortable image, so I'll shift you away from that really quickly, and let's talk about your finances. Did you ever look at that and go, how do we have this much debt? And it probably wasn't just one big shopping spree, and if it was, shame on you for not inviting me because it sounds like it was a blast, right? It was probably a bunch of little decisions over time that got you where you were. And now, all of a sudden, you decided that it's too much, you've realized, and you've decided that you're going to change it, and guess what? It's going to be uncomfortable for a while. Not because God doesn't want to bless you, but because there are consequences to our actions.
Kevin Garcia: [00:29:06] And if you're not in that place, and this is the warning right, for the long-standing Christian, if you're the standing Christian and you're like, no, every once in a while, I go off the rails a little bit, and you know what, God didn't strike me with lightning. And the next time you think maybe I can, maybe a little bit of gambling is OK, you know, maybe a little bit of flirting with sin is going to be all right. Maybe I'm good enough, right, that these little indiscretions will be covered up by my righteousness, man, that's not how it works. I mean, I told you a cautionary tale in the beginning, and I wish that I had to search long and hard to find that story, but I got to choose from a bounty of fallen leaders that didn't take seriously the caution of this verse in the Bible, that tells us, right, that faithfulness has its rewards.
Kevin Garcia: [00:30:20] And, you know, I've been married for 20 years, my wife is great, my kids are great. And just to be honest, I'm aware of this and I think any good Christian is, right, how quickly I could mess all that up. And it's a caution to me, and it's a caution to you, the things that you have that have been rewards that you have gotten by your faithfulness to God and him crediting it to you, right, taking away your sin and looking at those things and blessing you, is something that you don't want to take lightly.
Kevin Garcia: [00:31:01] A lot of you might be looking at this and going, OK, I have one big question here because your history buffs are out there, your Bible buffs are out there, right? You're like, what was the big point of all of this? Because they go and rebuild the Second Temple, and it's awesome, and it's wonderful, and God resides there, and then the whole thing is destroyed, right? It's not there today, it's gone. And you're right, the temple was important for a time, and then it was no longer needed, it was supplanted when God decided to become flesh and come dwell among us. And not just to be here, not just to see your wonderful face, not just to heal you of your temporary maladies, right, to give his life on the cross to take away your sins and give you eternal life, to wash you and make you clean. Because look, there is one exception to this rule about clean and unclean things, right? It's that Jesus, on the cross, through his blood is able to make the unclean thing clean. We don't become clean by ritual, we don't become clean by association, we become clean through Christ by repentance, that is the way that we get there.
Kevin Garcia: [00:32:31] In the last part of that verse, right, he says, "From this day on, I will bless you." I know some of you you're looking at this and you're going, man, if you only knew, right? You're like the Israelites, you have that thing with God speaking to you, I know, God's telling you, hey, this is the next step we need to take. And I know, God, you've brought this up a couple of times, right? And if you're there, and you're looking at this and going, look, I've tried, right, I was earnest, and I tried, and it just didn't work, and I still have this thing. And I want to invite you, you know, I lead worship at a group on Friday nights called Celebrate Recovery that we have here at the church, if you have something going on in your life and you're at the point where you're ready to admit, I need help with this, there's a place that we have here at this church where you can come and you can lay this down, and you could say, look. The first thing you're going to be surprised by is you're not the only person in the room, you're going to be surprised by how many people in the room are there and honestly saying, look, I'm not perfect, I'm struggling with this, and I'm trying to give it to God.
Kevin Garcia: [00:33:44] This Friday, I'm giving my testimony, we'd love to have you there to be a part of that. And I just offer that as one of the many things that we have in this church, that you're not alone walking through this, God is with you, and this church is with you. We have groups, we have a grief group that meets, we have Divorce Care that meets, come talk to Mike Cloud or one of the other pastors, whatever you're going through, don't try to go through it alone. Because I know where at, you're saying I tried this before on my own and it didn't work, right, because you tried to fix it in the dark and that's not how God works. You bring it out in the light, you say, look, I'm broken, this is my problem, and this is how I want God to move. And we are excited to walk through that with you and see God move.
Kevin Garcia: [00:34:29] And again, I just want to say this is, Haggai is a great book, I like it because it's short, but this isn't about ancient Middle Eastern history, this is about us looking at the word of God and saying...Because, and I know we talked in men's group, this is the most overused word of the last two years, right, unprecedented times. You know, I did have to say it, these are unprecedented times, and it is, uncomfortableness and change that we didn't want thrust upon us. And what you've noticed now, and the world is kind of noticing like, well, everything's not going back to the way that it was, you know, things are different now. Yes, people are changed by this. A lot of people go, man, like if life is short, which a lot of people have realized, I'm not sure I want to be doing this job anymore, right? You're like, people aren't going back to their jobs. If life is short, right, I want to spend more time with family, or I want to make more money, or I want a better job, and people are not just accepting to go back, and we as Christians should not either. We should not be excited to be, like, I just want things to go back to the way they were. Because I'm telling you right now, that's not what God is thinking. He's not thinking, I want things to go back to the way they were, remember how great the world was three years ago? No, he's thinking, I don't want these people to go back to the way they were, I want them to continue to allow me to continue the work that I started in them and follow it through to the day of completion. And part of that, in us, is painful purification that allows us to say, God, I surrender to you, even this thing that I have been holding on and fighting with you for so long, I now give up and surrender and I'm ready for the change. And I know it's not going to be easy, and it's not going to be quick, but God, you are the Healer, and you are the Redeemer.
Kevin Garcia: [00:36:25] Let me pray. Dear God, we thank you for who you are, we thank you for your word, Lord God, that speaks to us, and that each one of us, Lord, would just surrender. And I know that's not easy, and not everyone's ready today, but God, our strong wills are keeping us from experiencing the fullness of you in our lives. And, Lord God, we ask that you move powerfully in this church, that this church would surrender to your will and look at what it is that you have for us next. We pray this in your name. Amen.
Recorded in Upland, California.
Read More
