Difference between revisions of "Sermon for November 26th, 2017"

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Haggai 2:10-19

10 On the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month, in the second year of Darius, the word of the Lord came by the prophet Haggai, saying: 11 Thus says the Lord of hosts: Ask the priests for a ruling: 12 If one carries consecrated meat in the fold of one’s garment, and with the fold touches bread, or stew, or wine, or oil, or any kind of food, does it become holy? The priests answered, “No.” 13 Then Haggai said, “If one who is unclean by contact with a dead body touches any of these, does it become unclean?” The priests answered, “Yes, it becomes unclean.” 14 Haggai then said, So is it with this people, and with this nation before me, says the Lord; and so with every work of their hands; and what they offer there is unclean. 15 But now, consider what will come to pass from this day on. Before a stone was placed upon a stone in the Lord’s temple, 16 how did you fare?[a] When one came to a heap of twenty measures, there were but ten; when one came to the wine vat to draw fifty measures, there were but twenty. 17 I struck you and all the products of your toil with blight and mildew and hail; yet you did not return to me, says the Lord. 18 Consider from this day on, from the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month. Since the day that the foundation of the Lord’s temple was laid, consider: 19 Is there any seed left in the barn? Do the vine, the fig tree, the pomegranate, and the olive tree still yield nothing? From this day on I will bless you.

Stew(ardship) - Haggai's Stew

Vincent Calloway III was, by all accounts, a man blessed with financial prosperity. He also had a reputation for being excessively materialistic; more concerned with his many exotic possessions than with the people or circumstances around him.

One day, as Vincent arrived at the office, eager to show off his brand new BMW to his colleagues, an eighteen wheeler came from out of nowhere, and took off the driver's side door with Vincent standing right there beside it. "NOOO!" he screamed, because he knew that no matter how good a mechanic tried to fix it, the car would never be the same again.

At that moment, a police officer came by, and Vincent ran up to him yelling, "My Beamer was just ruined by some idiot truck driver! Can't you do something?" To which the police officer responded, "Sir, it's just a car, and in any case the car should be the least of your worries--it looks like that truck tore your left arm completely off at the shoulder!

In Shock, Vincent looked down at the mangled shoulder where his left arm had once been, and with a horrified yelp, exclaimed, "Oh No! Where's my Rolex?"

1:3-6 Then the word of the Lord came by the prophet Haggai, saying: 4 Is it a time for you yourselves to live in your paneled houses, while this house lies in ruins?Now therefore thus says the Lord of hosts: Consider how you have fared. 6 You have sown much, and harvested little; you eat, but you never have enough; you drink, but you never have your fill; you clothe yourselves, but no one is warm; and you that earn wages earn wages to put them into a bag with holes.

9 You have looked for much, and, lo, it came to little; and when you brought it home, I blew it away. Why? says the Lord of hosts. Because my house lies in ruins, while all of you hurry off to your own houses

Growing up in my six-person family, there was never any question if, whether, or which of the evening leftovers would go into the giant stew-pot that lived in the freezer. Each night, everything that wasn't eaten for dinner got added to that stew pot and frozen, waiting to be thawed, reheated, and reclaimed at the end of the week. The only real question was how this particular leftover ingredient or that would affect the taste and character of the stew when the pot was full. And despite some highly questionable additions (like pancakes, or spaghetti, or applesauce) somehow the stew always ended up being surprisingly good--and completely different every week!

Story of the spoons in heaven/hell