What About the Lord's House?
By Dr. Bill Rains, Senior Pastor | October 11, 2026
Father, thank You for this great host of people gathered in Your house today. Open our hearts and minds to a fuller understanding, a greater appreciation, and a willingness to make a greater sacrifice to prioritize the house of the Lord. Help us to listen, and if anyone does not know for sure they are going to heaven, give them boldness to come. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
On October 11, 2026, Dr. Bill Rains, Senior Pastor, preaches What About the Lord’s House? from Haggai 1:1-11. In this opening message of a new series, he challenges God’s people to examine their priorities and asks whether the Lord’s house still holds first place in our hearts and lives.
1. The People’s Attitude Toward the Temple and the Things of God
Haggai begins with a sobering observation from the Lord of hosts: “This people say, The time is not come, the time that the Lord’s house should be built” (Haggai 1:2). Fifteen years after the foundation of the temple had been laid, the work still sat unfinished—not because of enemy opposition, but because God’s own people had decided other things were more important. They were living in their own “ceiled houses” while the house of God lay waste. The Lord does not forbid nice homes, comfortable vehicles, or the enjoyment of His good gifts. He has “given us richly all things to enjoy” (1 Timothy 6:17). What grieves Him is when material things become more important than the things of God. The divine order remains unchanged: “Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you” (Matthew 6:33). When the cart is placed before the horse—when self and stuff come first—life is out of order.
2. The Problems That Follow Misplaced Priorities
God does not leave His people without consequences when they reverse His order. Haggai lists the painful results: “Ye have sown much, and bring in little; ye eat, but ye have not enough; ye drink, but ye are not filled with drink; ye clothe you, but there is none warm; and he that earneth wages earneth wages to put it into a bag with holes” (Haggai 1:6). They looked for much and it came to little. When they brought their harvest home, the Lord Himself “did blow upon it.” Why? “Because of mine house that is waste, and ye run every man unto his own house” (Haggai 1:9). Heaven withheld its dew, the earth refused its fruit, and drought fell on the land, the mountains, the corn, the new wine, the oil, the cattle, and all the labor of their hands. Putting self first never profits. It empties the soul even while the body is clothed, and it leaves a bag with holes where wages should have been.
3. The Pleasure God Takes in His House and His Worshipers
Yet the message is not only rebuke; it is invitation. The Lord of hosts says, “Consider your ways. Go up to the mountain, and bring wood, and build the house; and I will take pleasure in it, and I will be glorified, saith the Lord” (Haggai 1:7-8). God delights in His house and in those who put Him first. When His people reorder their lives—seeking the kingdom first, giving Him the place of priority—He takes pleasure in their obedience and promises to supply everything they need. The same God who sent drought because of neglect will send provision because of faithfulness. Putting the Lord’s house first is not loss; it is the pathway to blessing.
What about the Lord’s house?
Let that question rise in every conversation and every decision.
Seek Him first—and watch Him add all the rest.
Friend, it is a serious thing to put everything in the world before God. The order of heaven is still the same: seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. When that order is restored, the Lord takes pleasure in His house and in His people, and He faithfully supplies every need. Consider your ways. Put His house first.
