First Assembly is a gateway church.
- A portal between earth and Heaven
- And like our current understanding, the two became one to fulfill this destiny
The gateway church stopped building.
- When the foundation was built, somehow the momentum stopped – 14 years and no new work until Haggai
- There would be naysayers, and doubters – Haggai 1:2
- Started to be concerned about themselves over the temple, the house of God – Haggai 1:4
- They were looking at the old temple and had become critical of the new thing God was doing – Haggai 2:3
- They look and laugh at things like the flowers in the women’s bathroom
There was a remnant
- And they would heed the command of the Lord – Haggai 1:7-8 – Thus says the Lord of hosts: “Consider your ways! 8 Go up to the mountains and bring wood and build the temple, that I may take pleasure in it and be glorified,” says the Lord.
- the remnant is too busy Building and fighting to worry about flowers
- they would continue with the vision to build a gateway church – but what does this look like??
Building to a pattern laid out years prior.
- God instructed Moses to build the Tabernacle according to a pattern that God gave to Moses – Exodus 25 and 26
- What’s the pattern in Haggai, the anointings working together – Haggai 1:13-14 – 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 Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and the spirit of all the remnant of the people; and they came and worked on the house of the Lord of hosts, their God - These stones are different in shapes and sizes, different anointings – Romans 12:3-5 – Because of the privilege and authority God has given me, I give each of you this warning: Don’t think you are better than you really are. Be honest in your evaluation of yourselves, measuring yourselves by the faith God has given us. 4 Just as our bodies have many parts and each part has a special function, 5 so it is with Christ’s body. We are many parts of one body, and we all belong to each other. – (serving, teaching, leadership, prophetic, encourager, kindness, etc.)
- Only happens when one is transformed by the Spirit of God, and is walking in faith, not by sight
We are that temple, the gateway to God.
- 1 Peter 2:5 – … you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
- From the Greek word, oikos, a home/community – the tabernacle, a house of God – many of these
- And when the anointings come together as living stones, they form little tabernacles, little temples
- 2 or 3 gathered in His name, He is in the midst – Matthew 18:23
- What are we building? – a place of worship, a house of prayer – Mark 11:17 – Then He taught, saying to them, “Is it not written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations? But you have made it a ‘den of thieves.’
- Proseuche – prayer/worship – Acts 2:42
Why? So that He will become the desire of all nations once again
- Haggai 2:6-9 – “For thus says the Lord of hosts: ‘Once more (it is a little while) I will shake heaven and earth, the sea and dry land; 7 and I will shake all nations, and they shall come to the Desire of All Nations, and I will fill this temple with glory,’ says the Lord of hosts. 8 ‘The silver is Mine, and the gold is Mine,’ says the Lord of hosts. 9 ‘The glory of this latter temple shall be greater than the former,’ says the Lord of hosts. ‘And in this place I will give peace,’ says the Lord of hosts.”