Through the ordinary means of ordinary men, God used preachers. These preachers gave them a reason to live. They freed them up to live by giving them a kingdom bigger than their own. We shrink-wrap our world and vision to the size of our lives. God used the prophets to increase their kingdom view–from the small kingdom of self to the big kingdom of God in Christ.

At the end of Ezra 4 the people who started out rebuilding the temple with a head of steam had fizzled out. They were crippled by a fear of man. As they cowered in discouragement and shame, the dust settled on the building project.

So what does God do?

He sends a couple of preachers, Haggai & Zechariah to preach. And do they ever.

God reminds his people that he is for them, is close to them, has a plan bigger than their life, that his Son is coming, that sin will be conquered, that the kingdom will come, and that he will finally and ultimately destroy all of his enemies. In short: God loves and wins through Christ!

If you read Haggai 2.12-15 and Ezra 5.1-3, 6.14-15 you will see that it worked.

Isn’t this a great encouragement to you? Especially if you are preaching on Sunday, you need to remember that God still uses ordinary means and ordinary men to accomplish extraordinary things!

Through the ordinary means of ordinary men, God used preachers. These preachers gave them a reason to live. They freed them up to live by giving them a kingdom bigger than their own. We shrink-wrap our world and vision to the size of our lives. God used the prophets to increase their kingdom view–from the small kingdom of self to the big kingdom of God in Christ. This gave them the reason to live and to die. May God grant us the same as he uses the same ordinary means!

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