It is time to rebuild the temple of God, The Body of Christ!

The Command to Rebuild the Temple

1 aIn the second year of Darius the king, in the sixth month, on the first day of the month, the word of the Lord came by the hand of Haggai the prophet to bZerubbabel the son of cShealtiel, governor of Judah, and to dJoshua the son of eJehozadak, the high priest: 2 “Thus says the Lord of hosts: These people say the time has not yet come to rebuild the house of the Lord.” 3 Then the word of the Lord came fby the hand of Haggai the prophet, 4 g“Is it a time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses, while hthis house lies in ruins? 5 Now, therefore, thus says the Lord of hosts: iConsider your ways. 6 jYou have sown much, and harvested little. kYou eat, but you never have enough; you drink, but you never have your fill. You clothe yourselves, but no one is warm. And he who learns wages does so to put them into a bag with holes.

7 “Thus says the Lord of hosts: iConsider your ways. 8 Go up to the hills and bring wood and build the house, that mI may take pleasure in it and that nI may be glorified, says the Lord. 9 jYou looked for much, and behold, it came to little. And when you brought it home, oI blew it away. Why? declares the Lord of hosts. Because of my house hthat lies in ruins, while each of you busies himself with his own house. 10 Therefore pthe heavens above you have withheld the dew, and the earth has withheld its produce. 11 And qI have called for a drought on the land and the hills, on rthe grain, the new wine, the oil, on what the ground brings forth, on man and beast, and son all their labors.”

The words of the prophet Haggia are just as true for today's church as they were for God's people in the past.  Church as we know it has become nothing more than a half hearted attempt to win people to the gospel when we tell them to come to church and they encounter God and the people of God are too concerned with their own lives, homes, possessions and are not willing to pour into the lives around them in order to truly function as a the body of Christ.

The American church is not placing Jesus Christ as the chief cornerstone.  Their works have become more important and as a result they do not operate out from under the of the banner of His love over their lives.  Without the true leadership of Jesus as chief in the body, without a grasping of the head being first and foremost, the church functions as the world functions.

God is very clear that nothing works unless we our under the headship of Christ.  God will actually remove His spirit and allow a people to continue in their path of self reliance.  We as the church need to repent and ask the Lord to restore Christ's leadership within the body as a whole or this world will never experience the spirit of God when they encounter the church.  This is a shame.  I have had many friends over the years that want nothing to do with the church and I realize this is the reason.  If Christ reigned supreme and was placed as the chief cornerstone, then everything the church touched would prosper and blossom.  Their would be an over abundance of fruit as we lead others under this context.  

The Lord is calling to His church to rise up and become the bride, passionate lovers of Jesus Christ, so that Christ's spirit can be poured out over His body and they can in turn step into their destiny as the bride- passionately desirous to see His spirit manifest on earth through His people.

7 “Thus says the Lord of hosts: iConsider your ways. 8 Go up to the hills and bring wood and build the house, that mI may take pleasure in it and that nI may be glorified, says the Lord.

So pray today that God would restore the headship of Christ Jesus in the church.  Pray for you leaders to return to their first love so that all other areas of ministry would be effective and bear much fruit and fruit that remains.  As He is high and lifted up He will draw men unto himself!  This makes our job easy!

Isaiah 57

14 And it shall be said,

m“Build up, build up, prepare the way,

remove every obstruction from my people's way.”

15 For thus says nthe One who is high and lifted up,

who inhabits eternity, whose name is oHoly:

p“I dwell in the high and holy place,

and also qwith him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit,

rto revive the spirit of the lowly,

and to revive the heart of the contrite.

16 sFor I will not contend forever,

nor will I always be angry;

for the spirit would grow faint before me,

and the breath of life that I made.

John 12

32 And I, cwhen I am lifted up from the earth, dwill draw eall people to myself.”