Today’s drink comes from the book of Haggai. The setting is the year 3606 = 441 BCE, in the second year of Darius Hystaspes (Artaxerxes, Ahasuerus), King of Persia. The children of Israel had been back in the land of Judah for 17 years, since their 70 year captivity in Babylon. The rebuilding of the Temple had been delayed 15 years, because of the opposition of the locals. Yahweh wanted them to get back to work on His Temple, so he sent Haggai the prophet to the Jews. Look at 1:3-11, “Then the word of Yahweh came by Haggai the prophet, saying, 4“Is it time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses, and this temple to lie in ruins?” 5Now therefore, thus says Yahweh of hosts: “Consider your ways! 6“You have sown much, and bring in little; You eat, but do not have enough; You drink, but you are not filled with drink; You clothe yourselves, but no one is warm; And he who earns wages, Earns wages to put into a bag with holes.” 7Thus says Yahweh of hosts: “Consider your ways! 8Go up to the mountains and bring wood and build the temple, that I may take pleasure in it and be glorified,” says Yahweh. 9“You looked for much, but indeed it came to little; and when you brought it home, I blew it away. Why?” says Yahweh of hosts. “Because of My house that is in ruins, while every one of you runs to his own house. 10Therefore the heavens above you withhold the dew, and the earth withholds its fruit. 11For I called for a drought on the land and the mountains, on the grain and the new wine and the oil, on whatever the ground brings forth, on men and livestock, and on all the labor of your hands.”” Yahweh was a little upset with His people, because they had neglected His Temple, which today we understand to be His Church, housed inside of you. We humans tend to get overly involved in the physical world around us, self-centered as we are, and neglect building up of the Body of Messiah, the Church of Jesus Christ. Zerubbabel and the boys in Judah took the word of Haggai to heart and got back to work on the Temple in Jerusalem. Won’t you do the same? The Church of Yahweh is so neglected in this world. We need to concentrate all our efforts and wealth on the Kingdom of Messiah and Yahweh.
What did Yeshua say in Matthew 6:24-34, “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve Yahweh and mammon. (mammon is wealth personified, rich folk, wealthy business people) 25“Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? 26Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? 27Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature? 28“So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; 29and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30Now if Yahweh so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31“Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. 33But seek first the kingdom of Yahweh and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. 34Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.” Yeshua wants to know, are we going to serve the world, the flesh, or Him? I would suggest you fall madly in love with Yeshua. It’s the final hour to make up your mind. If Baal is god, serve him, if Yahweh is God, serve Him and His Kingdom. Which means you will serve Yahweh’s people. You will help build the Temple of His body, the Church. Any delay may mean you miss His will for you in this final hour of human history.
Luke 18:18-25, “Now a certain ruler asked Him, saying, “Good Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” 19So Jesus said to him, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, Yahweh. 20You know the commandments: ‘Do not commit adultery,’ ‘Do not murder,’ ‘Do not steal,’ ‘Do not bear false witness,’ ‘Honor your father and your mother.’” 21And he said, “All these things I have kept from my youth.” 22So when Jesus heard these things, He said to him, “You still lack one thing. Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.” 23But when he heard this, he became very sorrowful, for he was very rich. 24And when Jesus saw that he became very sorrowful, He said, “How hard it is for those who have riches to enter the kingdom of Yahweh! 25For it is easier for a camel (rope in Hebrew) to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of Yahweh.”” Do you see the problem of the rich young ruler? He had his priorities messed up. He was hung up on mammon. He would not serve Yahweh’s Kingdom, because he was serving his wealth. He was mammon, or wealth personified. You cannot serve both Yahweh and mammon. Being religiously holy or righteous doesn’t cut it. Notice what Yeshua said, you can keep ALL the Torah, all the written Law of Yahweh and still lack one thing, a humble attitude. You can DO the right actions but with the wrong attitude, and miss out on the entire Kingdom of Yahweh. Don’t let that happen to you. Yeshua wants, needs, and demands sold out disciples today. Please be one of them.
Yahweh gave me a personal word today. Psalm 16. Here’s just a portion of it, verses 5-9, “O Yahweh, You are the portion of my inheritance and my cup; You maintain my lot. 6The lines have fallen to me in pleasant places; Yes, I have a good inheritance. 7I will bless Yahweh who has given me counsel; My heart also instructs me in the night seasons. 8I have set Yahweh always before me; Because He is at my right hand I shall not be moved. 9Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoices; My flesh also will rest in hope.” Wow, He is so good to me. I love Him with all my being, that’s why my glory rejoices. My inheritance is in Him, not in this world. Sell out to Yeshua today, I did years ago, and my life has not been the same since. Come, follow me.
May Yahweh bless and keep each of you through the dark days ahead, because He is the light at the end of the tunnel. Seek Him with all your heart.
Gene Benjamin II
July 9, 2010 CE
John 4:13a, 14, “Jesus answered and said to her, “ . . . whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.””