The Return Home
Teaching Notes
Most Christians know how to live forgiven, but few know how to live free.
Freedom is not the ability to do anything you want to do. Freedom is the capability to become who you were always destined to be.
In the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, in order to fulfill the word of the Lord spoken by Jeremiah, the Lord moved the heart of Cyrus king of Persia to make a proclamation throughout his realm and also to put it in writing “This is what Cyrus king of Persia says: “ ‘The Lord, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth and he has appointed me to build a temple for him at Jerusalem in Judah. Any of his people among you may go up to Jerusalem in Judah and build the temple of the Lord, the God of Israel, the God who is in Jerusalem, and may their God be with them. And in any locality where survivors may now be living, the people are to provide them with silver and gold, with goods and livestock, and with freewill offerings for the temple of God in Jerusalem.’ ”
Ezra 1:1-4
Returning home is not the same thing as going home. Going home is about changing location. Returning home is about a change of direction.
Reality #1
The Opportunity: Returning home always begins with God’s initiative.
Despite their fear of the peoples around them, they built the altar on its foundation and sacrificed burnt offerings on it to the Lord, both the morning and evening sacrifices.
Ezra 3:3
Reality #2
The Temptation: Returning home requires a life of continual repentance.
In the second year of King Darius, on the first day of the sixth month, the word of the Lord came through the prophet Haggai to Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua son of Jozadak, the high priest: This is what the Lord Almighty says: “These people say, ‘The time has not yet come to rebuild the Lord’s house.’ ” Then the word of the Lord came through the prophet Haggai: “Is it a time for you yourselves to be living in your paneled houses, while this house remains a ruin?” Now this is what the Lord Almighty says: “Give careful thought to your ways. You have planted much, but harvested little. You eat, but never have enough. You drink, but never have your fill. You put on clothes, but are not warm. You earn wages, only to put them in a purse with holes in it.” his is what the Lord Almighty says: “Give careful thought to your ways. Go up into the mountains and bring down timber and build my house, so that I may take pleasure in it and be honored,” says the Lord. “You expected much, but see, it turned out to be little. What you brought home, I blew away. Why?” declares the Lord Almighty. “Because of my house, which remains a ruin, while each of you is busy with your own house.
Haggai 1:1-10
Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself.
Leo Tolstoy
It’s easy to say the world is broken. It’s harder to say that I am broken.
Reality #3
The Disappointment: Returning home means moving through mundane moments of discouragement.
on the twenty-first day of the seventh month, the word of the Lord came through the prophet Haggai: “Speak to Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, to Joshua son of Jozadak, the high priest, and to the remnant of the people. Ask them, ‘Who of you is left who saw this house in its former glory? How does it look to you now? Does it not seem to you like nothing? But now be strong, Zerubbabel,’ declares the Lord. ‘Be strong, Joshua son of Jozadak, the high priest. Be strong, all you people of the land,’ declares the Lord, ‘and work. For I am with you,’ declares the Lord Almighty. ‘This is what I covenanted with you when you came out of Egypt. And my Spirit remains among you. Do not fear.’ “This is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘In a little while I will once more shake the heavens and the earth, the sea and the dry land. I will shake all nations, and what is desired by all nations will come, and I will fill this house with glory,’ says the Lord Almighty. 8‘The silver is mine and the gold is mine,’ declares the Lord Almighty. ‘The glory of this present house will be greater than the glory of the former house,’ says the Lord Almighty. ‘And in this place I will grant peace,’ declares the Lord Almighty.”
Haggai 2:1-9
Disappointment comes in 2 forms.
Nostalgia:
Remembering the past in order to try to recreate the past.
Disillusionment:
Forgetting the past and being overwhelmed by the present.
Vision:
Remembering the past in order to create the future.
Reality #4
The Promise: Returning home rests on the belief that God's better future is coming.
All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance, admitting that they were foreigners and strangers on earth. People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. Instead, they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.
Hebrews 11:13-16
Setlist
WFC Lenexa + WFC Anywhere
Joy- Maverick City
Arise- Mitch Langley/Mike Weaver
Still Waters- Leanna Crawford
Running Home- Cochran and Co.
WFC Speedway
The Joy- Maverick City
We Crown You- Bethel Music
Way Maker- Leeland
Agnus Dei/Worthy- Michael W. Smith
Be sure to save our Spotify Worship Playlist, updated weekly with the upcoming Sunday’s set!