1. Psalm 118:24

2. Haggai 2:10-19 (NASB)

3. Haggai 2:10-19 (NASB)
10 On the twenty-fourth of the ninth month, in the second year of Darius, the word of the Lord came to Haggai the prophet, saying, 11 “Thus says the Lord of hosts, ‘Ask now the priests for a ruling: 12 If a man carries holy meat in the fold of his garment, and touches bread with this fold, or cooked food, wine, oil, or any other food, will it become holy?’” And the priests answered, “No.” 13 Then Haggai said, “If one who is unclean from a corpse touches any of these, will the latter become unclean?” And the priests answered, “It will become unclean.” 

4. Haggai 2:10-19 (NASB)
14 Then Haggai said, “‘So is this people. And so is this nation before Me,’ declares the Lord, ‘and so is every work of their hands; and what they offer there is unclean. 15 But now, do [e]consider from this day [f]onward: before one stone was placed on another in the temple of the Lord, 16 [g]from that time when one came to a grain heap of twenty measures, there would be only ten; and when one came to the wine vat to draw fifty [h]measures, there would be only twenty.

5. Haggai 2:10-19 (NASB)
17 I smote you and every work of your hands with blasting wind, mildew and hail; [i]yet you did not come back to Me,’ declares the Lord. 18 ‘Do [j]consider from this day [k]onward, from the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month; from the day when the temple of the Lord was founded, [l]consider: 19 Is the seed still in the barn? Even including the vine, the fig tree, the pomegranate and the olive tree, it has not borne fruit. Yet from this day on I will bless you.’”

6. Do you ever wish you could just start over
Do you ever wish you could just start over? Like those commercials on tv from Staples office supplies. Just press the “Easy Button and everything is made super easy!
You Know Staples has made a fortune with their easy button commercials. It would be nice if there was such a thing as an easy button, wouldn’t that make life so much “EASIER”!?

7. BUT, you know what I’d rather have? I’d rather have an undo button.
Can you imagine having a button that allowed you to undo anything that you’ve messed up?
OOPS! Messed up that project—undo!
OOPS! Messed up that relationship—undo!
OOPS! Messed up that good intention—undo!
That would be nice. But unfortunately, we all know there’s no such thing as
an undo button in life! Once we do something, it’s done.
No matter how bad we’d like to, we can’t undo the past.
I can really think of Several occasions when I made a choice that I WISH I COULD TAKE BACK AND MAKE A DIFFERENT CHOICE!
Ive heard it said “That if God is Omnipotent, If God is All Powerful, Why doesn’t He fix everything that is wrong in this world?
Why doesn’t God stop the Child Molesters, or the Murderers or Rapists, or Homelessness or Hunger or This or That etc….
God IS all-powerful—He can do anything.
But there are some things He won’t do—and that’s one of them. He will not change the past. But even though the Lord won’t change the past, do you know what He will do? He’ll do something even better. Even though He won’t change the past, He will give you a fresh start for the future.
He did it for the people of Israel in our passage this evening, and He’ll do it for us as a church and He’ll do it for you. As we go into 2017 lets keep our minds open to what God can do through us this year.

8. First lets take A Short History trip— You may remember During the time of Ezra & Nehemiah that the remnant of Israel had returned to Jerusalem after 70 years of exile in Babylon and Medo-Persia. And when God allowed them to return to their land, He commanded that they rebuild the city of Jerusalem —starting with the temple. They got started right away, but all they got done was the wall around the city, the foundation of the temple and the altar. And then they quit for 16 years.
After 16 years of doing nothing, God sent Haggai and Zechariah to remind them of what they were supposed to be doing. And to their credit, they listened. They listened and got busy rebuilding the temple. But now in our passage tonight here it was, three months later, and there was a problem. Things weren’t going as well as they seemed. Oh there was still some work being done. But there was a problem. The people had the wrong attitude.
• They hadn’t really changed. They were working hard like they always did, but their hearts were in the wrong place. Stones were being laid upon one another, but they didn’t really want to be working for the Lord they wanted to be working for themselves.
• back in chapter 1 we are told what their problem was. The people were basically self-centered. They were more focused on their personal wants and needs and desires than they were with the Lord’s desires. They were more concerned with what was going on in their day-to-day lives than they were with glorifying God. They were so focused on their relationships with their own families and friends that they had completely neglected their relationship with God.
• And, three months later… even though they had started rebuilding the temple… they still had those same problems.

9. Haggai 2:10-19 (NABS)
• In our passage this evening Haggai 2:10-2:19, Haggai Reminds them that it has been almost exactly three months since they had started working on the temple and although they are working, they have lost the heart/desire for what they were asked to do.
• But more than that, he shows them That God wants to give them a fresh start. He says: And don’t worry about the past! You can’t go back and change the past. You can’t go back and change the 70 years of captivity or the 16 years of just self indulgence here or even the last 3 months but what we can do is… start fresh! Start Fresh from where you are Verse 18 that we started off reading starts with the words, “'Do consider from this day onward.”
• In other words the Lord is saying, “I don’t care what brought you to this point today.” “It doesn’t matter what brought you here or what has happened in your life up until this point.” “That is the past, and you can’t change the past.”
“There is no undo button.” “But today is a new day.” “Today can be the start of a brand-new beginning for you.” “It can be a fresh start.”
• Just like the day that Haggai spoke these words to the remnant, this can be a new day for our church. AFTER ALL THIS IS A NEW YEAR! AND WE HAVE TWO NEW MINISTERS! AND A BRAND NEW CHANCE FOR A NEW BEGINNING!
• This can also be a new day for you personally ) Are you ready to make that fresh start Today? ) Are you ready for us as a church to make that fresh start?
If you are, then it’s going to require us to do three things.
I.) First, a fresh start requires a fresh look at where we are.
Look at verses 11-14:
Okay, That passage doesn’t even make sense! How in the world does that have anything to do with what we are talking about today
• Basically what He asks is, “If you are carrying something holy in your pocket, and you touch something else, does the thing that you touched become holy?” In other words, is holiness something that will rub off onto something else?
And of course, the priests answer—no, holiness doesn’t rub off on something else
• And then He uses the example of a dead body as something obviously known to be unclean. He asks, “If you touch something unclean like a dead body, that makes you ceremonially unclean Then what happens if you turn around and touch something else?” So, the priests answered Him, “It will become ceremonially unclean.” That was the illustration, and they got it Let me put it in an illustration that is easier for us to get. Imagine that your hands are scrubbed perfectly clean. Then imagine that I’ve been loading manure all day with no gloves on. Then we shake hands. Who rubbed off on whom? Did your clean hands make mine clean? Of course not.
• My filthy hands made yours unclean. That’s the illustration.
• But why was he using that illustration? To get the people to take a fresh look at where they were. They were working hard doing the Lord’s work. They were building the temple just like they were supposed to. They were doing it begrudgingly! They didn’t really want to. So what erver they did kind of made them hypocrites.
• Now That was where THEY WERE!
• If we Take a look at where we Were, What we have been doing We will see a different scenario.
• I know this church has been very active in the lives of its members
• And Very active in the Community it serves!
• SO WE SEEM TO BE ONE STEP AHEAD, RIGHT?
Second, Not only does a fresh start require us to look at where we are, it requires us to look at where we once were. Look at verses 15-17:
HAGGAI 2:15-17
And here for the first time, we see the phrase, “'Do consider from this day onward.” In other words, the Lord is saying “Here is what I want you to think about from this point forward.” But what’s interesting is, even as He says that, the Lord is telling them to remember what’s gone on before.

10. Philippians 3:13-14 (NASB)
13 Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to that lies ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
• It’s like when Paul says in Philippians 3:13-14, “Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead,14 I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”
• Keep in mind here that immediately before Paul says that he’s forgotten his past, he goes through a condensed version of his whole history in 3:4-6: ”although I myself might have confidence even in the flesh. If anyone else has a mind to put confidence in the flesh, I far more: 5 circumcised the eighth day, of the nation of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the Law, a Pharisee; 6 as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to the righteousness which is in the Law, found blameless. 7But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ.”
• The Lord is telling the remnant in Israel to do the same thing that He told Paul to do. What both Haggai and Paul are telling us to remember about the past is to remember what the Lord has saved us from.
• If you have obey the Gospel & are redeemed by the blood of Jesus Christ-- it’s a good idea to reflect on exactly what Jesus has saved you from.

11. 1 Corinthians 6:9-11 (NASB)
9 Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor [a]effeminate, nor homosexuals, 10 nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God. 11 Such were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God.
• 1 Corinthians 6:9-11 does that perfectly. “Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, 10 nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God. 11 Such were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God.”
• When you think back, ask yourself, What were you saved From?
• When we see lost sinners all around us acting like lost sinners, what is our reaction to them? Do we look down our noses at them and think “EWW! Im Glad They are not Part of This Church?
• Or do we realize that, “there, but by the grace of God, THAT WAS ME!” You see, the Lord was telling the remnant to remember how things were before He called them. Remember what it was like before they got to work. Remember the frustration. Remember the futility. Remember what it felt like to be lost.
• Do you remember what it felt like to be lost? If you do, maybe you’ll have more of a heart to live like you’re saved.
• When we truly remember what Jesus has saved us from, we’ll have the right heart to do the work that He’s called us to do.
• Remember, He has called us to be His witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and the outter most parts of the earth.
• That’s our own immediate neighborhood, our outlying area, the people who don’t look like us or act like us, and the world.

12. Ephesians 2:8-10 (NASB)
8 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; 9 not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.
• 1 Corinthians 6:9-11 does that perfectly. “Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, 10 nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God. 11 Such were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God.”
• When you think back, ask yourself, What were you saved From?
• When we see lost sinners all around us acting like lost sinners, what is our reaction to them? Do we look down our noses at them and think “EWW! Im Glad They are not Part of This Church?
• Or do we realize that, “there, but by the grace of God, THAT WAS ME!” You see, the Lord was telling the remnant to remember how things were before He called them. Remember what it was like before they got to work. Remember the frustration. Remember the futility. Remember what it felt like to be lost.
• Do you remember what it felt like to be lost? If you do, maybe you’ll have more of a heart to live like you’re saved.
• When we truly remember what Jesus has saved us from, we’ll have the right heart to do the work that He’s called us to do.
• Remember, He has called us to be His witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and the outter most parts of the earth.
• That’s our own immediate neighborhood, our outlying area, the people who don’t look like us or act like us, and the world
• That is Our Calling, our job. We love to quote Ephesians 2:8-10: “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; 9 not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.”
• So, We need to take a fresh look at 1.) where we are and 2.) where we were.
Third, A fresh start requires us to take a fresh look at where we’re going. Look at verses 18-19:

13. 18 ‘Do consider from this day onward, from the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month; from the day when the temple of the Lord was founded, consider: 19 Is the seed still in the barn? Even including the vine, the fig tree, the pomegranate and the olive tree, it has not borne fruit. Yet from this day on I will bless you.’”
Haggai 2:18-19 (NABS)
HAGGAI 2:18-19
This is the Big question tonight is, where are we going?

14. Matthew 28:19-20 (NASB)
19 Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you [b]always, even to the end of the age.”
The Lord has brought us here for a purpose. And That Purpose is to
• Accomplish the Great Commission,
• Matthew 28: "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age."

15. • In the same way that God brought the remnant together to rebuild the temple, He’s brought us here to Build His Church and win our world to Christ.
In verse 18, the Lord told His people to stop and think about it Then in verse 19 he gives another illustration:
19'Is the seed still in the barn? Even including the vine, the fig tree, the pomegranate and the olive tree, it has not borne fruit. Yet from this day on I will bless you.'"
This time it was something we can relate to. The Question asked though: “Is the seed in the barn or is it in the ground. Why does he ask this?
Because if the seed is still in the barn it HASN’T BEEN PLANTED! IF IT IS NT PLANTED IT WONT GROW!
But He says don’t worry about that because from this point on… I am going to Bless You!
What that means is that they agreed and began the work God ask them to do and He is going to Bless Them, They can’t Undo what they did before but they can start now and With God Blessing complete the work He prepared them for.

16. Conclusion
This evening, This is what I ask you: ARE YOU READY FOR A NEW START?
I Know You have been working hard preparing the soil for planting and watering the soil and all kinds of Good works” BUT NOW IS THE TIME FOR A NEW BEGINNING! A REVIVAL In THIS COMMUNITY, It This CHURCH! IN YOUR LIFE!
ARE YOU READY? IF SO THE LORD SAYS: Consider From This Moment Onward! I Will Bless You!
Now is the time, In the coming months we are going to begin reaching out to our community and planting seeds that The Lord will Bless. In rhe coming months We are going to be looking at ways we can get [people more involved in fulfilling the Great Commission using the Gifts and skills The Holy Spirit has given you.
Are you ready for a Fresh Start? Then I ask you to begin … TONIGHT…. Begin with a Prayer tonight, tomorrow and everyday the God will Give the Strength and the courage and the resources and whatever it takes us to Deliver His Word to the World around us.
Ask Him To Bless Us – “From this Moment Onward!”

17. Invitation”
If you Need to respond in some way to the Lords Message tonight We encourage you to take this opportunity to come tonight.