1. Introduction

Good morning brothers and sisters. May the Lord bless you today. Let's look at the word of God. I'm so happy to have this time with you. And we will set apart this time for the Lord so that we will become the people who please God.

When I study the Bible, I see a lot of people who please God, God puts them on high. God has a great plan for all of us. He wants to put us on high, not underneath. He will make our name and our nation great. He will make us above and not underneath, the head and not the tail. This is the desire of God.

If we follow in the footsteps of people like Nehemiah or Zerubbabel, we will become the people who please God. Do you know what will happen? God will be satisfied by our ministry and satisfied by what we are doing for him. We are building a church that is full of the glory of Almighty God. There will be a day when people are blessed, and they will experience God. When we look around, we see the situation we are in. We need to take up this burden and push forward. We need to push the gospel of God forward and become a blessing for many nations.

There are many types of people, especially at this interesting time. If we count the number of genders, some say there are 60 genders. That is amazing! There are different kinds of professions, and different kinds of classes, but there are only two types of people: Man who pleases God, and Man who draws the wrath of God.

All The Great People Were Pleasing to God

Last week, we talked about Nehemiah, a man who pleased God. That was about 2400 years ago, around 440 BC. This week, we will talk about a person who lived in a similar era, called Zerubbabel. He lived in 539 BC. That is over 2500 years ago, about a hundred years gap between Nehemiah and Zerubbabel. Both were governors and were trying to restore the city of Jerusalem and the temple of God. Both lived in the Persian empire. And these were two similar people that God used heavily. Both are related to rebuilding the city of Jerusalem, and that is the key factor in pleasing God. God is looking for people who will build His church and the body of Christ. He is looking for people who will build the church and devote it to Him so the glory of Almighty God can fill the entire church.

If we list down everyone who pleased God, you can see that most of them were governors or above! Daniel was a prime minister in the Babylonian Empire; Joseph was a prime minister in Egypt; David was a king, Solomon was a king; Nehemiah and Zerubbabel were governors, the chief in that province. All of these people were doing well and living well. They also faced tremendous challenges in building the Temple of God. All these people were connected through one thing: they pleased God. God was so pleased by these people that He put them on high.

As a follower of Jesus Christ, pleasing God is our desire. That is why the song said, "We only have one desire." We have to know that these people have something in common: they are concerned about what God is concerned about. David (the older days we don't count), was concerned about the temple of God. His son, Solomon, took over the kingship at a very young age. So why did David pass on his throne to Solomon? That is very interesting. We need a little bit of speculation. Solomon, since he was very young, showed a great interest in the temple of God. God used Solomon to build the temple of God. "What did the Temple of God look like?" David had many other sons, but they didn't have any interest in building the temple. Little did they know that the interest in the Temple of God made him the King of Israel. Those two were related in this respect.

Have The Desire to Build Or Rebuild The Temple of God

I would say that Nehemiah and Zerubbabel were both made governors of the province of Judah because, in their hearts, they had a desire to build or rebuild the temple of God. Daniel also was concerned about the Temple of God in Jerusalem. These people God put on high. He made them head, not the tail. He put them above, not underneath. So if you are always busy and concerned about your things, like your job, exams, or a project, and say to God, "I have no time for you", guess what? Something will happen that is different from Nehemiah or Zerubbabel. Israel lost their country because they were busy with their things. Brothers and sisters, we should learn from history, and use history as a mirror to look at our ways of living.

Let me tell you that before God blesses a person, He puts them to the test. The moment when God tests you, giving you a busy task, would you put down God? Are you going to say, "I have no time"? In the time of Zerubbabel and Nehemiah, the prophet Haggai and Malachi both mentioned one thing: The Israelites were only interested in their matters.

When I minister to someone, I always draw them away from the people who attract the wrath of God into the side of people who please God. Yesterday I was ministering to someone who was suffering from cancer. Cancer has already gone into the last stage. I encouraged her to minister to others and pray for them. The interesting thing is whenever she prays for others, she gets better. This is so interesting.

Years ago, she suffered from cancer. When I prayed for her, she was healed. After the healing, every time I asked her to minister to someone else, she had a lot of fear and worry. She was very reluctant. Then cancer came back, and it developed to the last stage. Her family members were already preparing for her last day to come. It is a horrible situation. I know the family, her husband, her daughter, and her son-in-law. It is so sad.

But I told her, "Come, become a person who pleases God, and God will heal you." The doctors and the family all lost hope. But God started to do His healing in her because her mindset started to turn to God. I took away her fear of ministering to other people. When she prayed for other people, she had the fear that the devil would come into her. So praying for her is no better than herself building the church of God, the temple of God.

Many years ago, a home cell leader had a tumour on their bottom which required surgery. After the surgery, she was discharged from the hospital. She had to frequently exercise, or else there would be a problem. There was intense pain striking her. At that time, I prayed for her for two hours, and the pain was gone, she was able to sleep for an hour. Then the pain struck back, and I prayed for her again. The pain was gone, but after a little while, it came back. This dragged on for three days. After three days, I had a problem because I was exhausted! People said, "That is interesting, I have never heard anything like this!" Yes, that is the time I was ministering to her.

After a little while, I decided to give myself a break and pause it for a little while. She asked me why. I said, "The surgery is on your bottom, but you can use your mouth to minister to others." She had a lot of people under her that needed a minister so she could pray for them. She said, "Pastor, I am sick, I am on the sickbed!" I said, "The surgery is on your bottom, not on your mouth. When you were suffering, I prayed, and the pain came back again and again. You need to become someone who pleases God!" "What are the things that please God?" She said, "Ministering others." So she prayed for others, and the pain was completely gone. It didn't come back.

That incident gave me a revelation. I always draw people to devote themselves to the Lord and pray to Him. Have the one desire to love Him and know Him because He is God. He is God, the God of the universe and the whole world, the God of everything. Worshipping him, ministering to people, managing the church, and the tasks given by the Lord, how gracious can that be?

I found a spiritual law many years ago. The moment you please God, the moment you will see the hand of God in your life. The moment you draw the wrath of God, the moment you will get big problems. So God is the God who curses, but he is also the God who blesses. The source of both curses and blessings is God. That is a good point I want to put across, so you know never to draw the wrath of God. The Israelites were concerned about their own house, their own family, their pocket, their money, etc. Their country ended up being lost.

The mystery of God is this. He will demonstrate His wisdom and power through the body of Christ, the church. This is our destiny. We have only one desire, to have God dwell among us. How nice is that, to gain access to the promise of God!

Let me share with you a person named Zerubbabel. Zerubbabel was the one who went through many struggles. But in the end, he completed the task of rebuilding the temple of God and the city of Jerusalem. Open the Bible, to the book of Zechariah, chapter four, verses 6-9. This is a famous phrase in this chapter.

2. Scripture

So he said to me, “This is the word of the LORD to Zerubbabel: ‘Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,’ says the LORD Almighty. “What are you, mighty mountain? Before Zerubbabel, you will become level ground. Then he will bring out the capstone to shouts of ‘God bless it! God bless it!’ ” Then the word of the LORD came to me: “The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this temple; his hands will also complete it. Then you will know that the LORD Almighty has sent me to you. (Zechariah 4:6-9)

3. Prayer

Lord, we praise you. Lord, we want to follow the example of Zerubbabel. Lord, we want to be the person who pleases you. We want to devote our lives to building a church full of your glory. We want to devote our lives to building the body of Christ. Lord, dwell among us. Lead us, Lord, by what you have said to us, not by might, nor by power, but by your spirit. Let your spirit move among us. Lord, we want to see you doing mighty work among us. You lift us on high, put us above, not underneath. Make us the people who please you. Thank you, Lord Jesus, speak to us today Lord, in the name of Jesus, Amen!

4. Background of The Scripture

It happened long ago in history, in the time of the Persian empire. If you study the history of Persia, you would know that it was founded by King Cyrus. In 539 BC, the Persian King Cyrus conquered the Babylonian Empire. King Cyrus eventually conquered all the land in Egypt, Turkey, and somewhere near India. It was a huge empire, much bigger than the Babylonian empire. King Cyrus also knew that all the land and nations he ruled were not because of his mighty power, it was because God was using him. King Cyrus probably read the Bible. Because in the book of Isaiah, the name Cyrus was quoted, which was the same name as this king. And also mentioned how the mighty God used him to conquer the land and become a blessing for many people.

In the first year after he conquered Babylon, King Cyrus asked Zerubabbel to go back to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple of God. He also gave all the gold and silver articles of the temple of God, which were taken by King Nebuchadnezzar 70 years ago. When King Nebuchadnezzar conquered Judah, he took all the gold, silver, bronze, and other valuable items from the Temple of God. God was not defeated, but the Israelites were. They turned away from God and behaved badly in the eyes of God. 70 years after the prophet Jeremiah, the Israelites came back to the land to rebuild the temple of God.

King Cyrus was a very famous person in the Persian empire. His son, Xerxes, took over the throne and issued an instruction to stop building the temple. After 8 years, King Xerxes passed away. Then another king succeeded the throne whom they called Darius. In history, King Cyrus, Xerxes, and Darius were all the kings in Zerubbabel's life. King Darius took over the throne and allowed Zerubbabel to start building the temple again.

After King Darius, ruled the country for 36 years, his son, took over the throne. He was the king who ruled in Esther's time. After that, there was another king called Artaxerxes who ruled in Nehemiah and Ezra's period. During the period of King Darius, there were two prophets called Haggai and Zechariah. This is the history of the background.

The issue was after Zerubbabel went to Jerusalem for 9 years, he did not accomplish much. He only laid the foundation of the temple. And during that 9 years, there were a lot of problems. As a governor in Judah, Zerubbabel had to deal with the people and the local power. There were a lot of locals who intermarried people nearby. They tried to disturb the project so it was hard to carry on the building.

Other than that, Zerubbabel was also facing issues with his people. The Israelites were busy with their own houses and didn’t care about building the temple of God.

After King Cyrus passed away, the new King Xerxes issued an instruction to stop building it for 8 years. Altogether, it took almost 19 to 20 years. At this time, Zerubbabel must be quite discouraged. He had a task given by God, to go back to Jerusalem to build the temple of God. But he faced a tremendous challenge. 19 years later, nothing happened, there was only a foundation.

Why did it take so long? The first factor is the disruption of the people, the second factor was that the Israelites were busy with their own houses and lives and matters. Do you know what happened? When Haggai wrote his book, it stated that the Israelites faced tremendous losses. It was like money being put inside a pocket with a hole.

Zerubbabel tried to rebuild it, but the Israelites said that the time had not yet come. Then 100 years later, the wall of Jerusalem was destroyed, and the city gate was burnt. Last week, I talked about how Nehemiah tried to rebuild it. In Nehemiah’s time, Malachi was the prophet. In his book, he was testifying that the people in Israel, including the priests, were defiling the temple of God. That's so horrible. In the book of Nehemiah, this was also mentioned how badly the Israelites were behaving. This is the revelation to you and me, are we behaving like Israelites? If we are, then are we going to have a similar fate to the country of Israel?

5. Testing of Faith

Zerubbabel went through the test. That was exactly why Zechariah was trying to encourage and prophesy the heart of the desire for God through the Bible verses.

“Not by might nor by power, but by my spirit."(Zechariah 4:6,l)

"The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this temple; his hands will also complete it.” (Zechariah 4:9)

God knew he could trust Zerubbabel. Although he might have had a lot of inner struggles, he was the right person who could complete the task assigned by God. During the 26 years, he completed the temple, but during the time of 19 to 20 years, the prophet Zechariah said this.

"The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this temple; his hands will also complete it.” (Zechariah 4:9)

Can you imagine if you start a project but it gets stuck there for 20 years and the place still lies there in ruins? How discouraging can that be? I know the spiritual law of testing faith. From now and then God will give you a test. God purposely made it difficult, and not suddenly finished. Somehow he made the whole thing so jerky, with a lot of hiccups, problems, and a lot of troubles. Sometimes we may say, “Is this what God planned for us to do? Is this what God desires? Is God even among us?” Yes, he is. He is purposely trying to test our faith. It didn’t just start from Zerubbabel, it started from Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph.

It’s the same thing. At the moment when Joseph had an idea to be used by Almighty God, God sold him away to Egypt as a slave. We don't understand all these problems, but it's to test our faith. When Abraham went to the promised land, do you know what happened? The land had a famine, and he ran away to Egypt facing a multitude of problems and hiccups, which served as the testing of his faith.

Many years ago, I wanted to start an English congregation, I wanted to preach and have Bible studies in English. I failed badly. Later I started again and then failed. Then a year later I tried. But even so, I still failed. This is not the first time I’ve tried, this is not the second time. I have tried so many times that I lost count. But even if I get defeated this time, I will try again. And if I lay the foundation, I will complete the rest.

People always ask me, “What happens if you pass away?” Even if I pass away, God can still accomplish my goals, not by might, not by power, but by the spirit of God. So what if we go through struggle and the testing of faith? Nevermind! I am pleasing my God, that's where the fun is! Every day, God is in control. Even if I have failed a thousand times, so what? The testing of the faith is a spiritual law, it's very fundamental. You might be stuck there for a year, maybe 20 years, who knows? You can not imagine the kind of struggle that people go through. Their faith is almost gone, and you only have a very little bit of faith left. All are testing of faith.

Many years ago, although I had a secure job where I worked in a corporation, I started to build a church. So I also had to do my duty as a church pastor. There were a lot of problems. A couple of years since I started the church, I lost my job. Even so, I did not say, “God, why is it like this?” Because I knew the testing of faith. I started to study the Bible and examine myself. If I made a mistake, I would make corrections. As a full-time pastor, I got a lot of things to pay for. But suddenly I lost my income, it was a very tough situation. But never mind, faith in God sustained me. Many years later, God helped me so much. All the properties I owned were rented out at a good price. It didn’t just cover my installments, I had a little bit left for me to live on. I said, “Wow, God is a wonderful God!” If I had no God, that would have been a disastrous situation for me. If you want to push forward and serve God, things will not come smoothly, and there will be lots of hiccups, but if you go through, you will see your faith growing and growing until the day you see how nice it is to have God in our life.

6. Inner Struggles within Zerubbabel

You have to know that as a man who pleases God, you will still have a lot of inner struggles within yourself. But as a man of faith, a man who wants to please God, you will see that he had a lot of characteristics, not the stubbornness of unbelieving, but the stubbornness of believing. Zerubbabel had probably seen tremendous struggle because, after 19 years, nothing happened. Everything was still in ruins just like what it was in the beginning. Everything was in chaos.

As a governor of Judah, he could not do much because the King, Xerxes, issued a decree to stop building. There were a lot of political opposites and constraints. But in his heart, he thought about the church. Every day, when he left his house to work, he would pass by the Temple of God. He would think, “I am not here to be a governor, I'm here to build the Temple of God, but it is still lying in ruins!” Can you imagine that kind of feeling? Going back home, coming to the office, and then going back home again? Now and then he would stop by and see all the ruins. There were a lot of struggles. Sometimes he wanted to give up, and sometimes he had the urge to do it. This is exactly what you're supposed to go through as a man of God. Do you want to go through that?

Only a Few people want to go through that. Most people only want to go through the small, easy things. Then bang! The project is done. How wonderful is that? Everyone was cooperative and nice, and everyone devoted themselves to the building of the Temple of God. How nice can that be? But this was just an imagination, it does not work like that.

Zerubbabel was facing a terrible situation, where the Israel people had intermarriages with the local people, and they ganged up and formed a level of class that had the power to dominate the place, where the governor also listened to them, or you would be in trouble. They knew how to fight against and deal with this governor.

Even in the time of building this place. The prophet Zechariah says,

“The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this temple; his hands will also complete it. Then you will know that the LORD Almighty has sent me to you. (Zechariah 4:9)

How to complete it? The king did not agree, and he didn't have a license. If you do not have a license, you can’t just hide in your house and do something secretly without people knowing. The construction site is big, and the stones are huge. You can’t just pretend people won't know.

Zerubbabel asked, “Am I going to start the construction?” And the prophet Haggai says, “Please start. Hey, come on, Zerubbabel starts the project.” Then Zerubbabel says, “I don't have a license. If other people or my opponents see the project and write a letter to the king, my head will change place, it will drop. Are you going to be responsible for my head? I don't have a permit.”

If you try to build your house without a permit, the next day the government will send an official letter to come to destroy it, to stop it and issue a summon, issue a fine. They have to make sure all buildings are under control. They call it a Building Control Unit. But the Zerubbabel did something without a license. He led the Israelites, and everyone rushed to the construction site. Sure enough, the opponent came and wrote a letter to the King. King Darius replied, “Oh, you'd better keep yourself away from this project. Let them continue to build the Temple of God.”

Finally, the heart went back to its place. The struggles were gone with a lot of unknowns. It was an offence. Without permits, when you do house renovation, it’s an offence. The court can issue a summon and issue you a fine, and there are a lot of problems. But Zerubbabel, a man who pleased God, trusted in God and God was in control.

Although we struggle and sometimes our flesh is afraid, our spirit has faith. Even when Jacob went back to the promised land after serving his uncle Laban, for 20 years, his elder brother, Esau, brought 400 men fully armed, riding on horses coming to kill Jacob. They were not going to cross the little stream. He let the people go but was struggling inside. As a result, God sent an angel to wrestle with Jacob. After wrestling, Jacob believed in the blessing of God. Then he moved to the front of the team and greeted his brother Esau. Suddenly, God changed Esau's mind. Esau looked at his younger brother Jacob who tricked him, and came down from the horse, they hugged and wept together. They recognized each other. God did a wonderful job.

The same thing happened to Zerubbabel who started the project without permits, but the king issued an order saying, “Oh, you can continue. Not only that, but you can also draw funds from the government, from the Revenue.” Fantastic! Now Zerubbabel got funding, got people, got the king's decree, got the king's instructions and he went, “Oh I have this.” Zerubbabel knew God was with him. That was what God promised, “Not by might, not by power, but by the spirit of God, things will be accomplished.”

So, trust me, if you want to live an exciting life, you'd better have the spirit of God in you. It’s okay to have struggles, and for sure we will have struggles, but the moment our faith gears up in our hearts, we trust in God, God is in control. The spirit of God is working in us. No matter how challenging it is, and no matter how broken my English is, we will still reach out to English-speaking people. There will be a day when a lot of English-speaking people hear the Doctrine of Destiny, and they will know the word, Ming Ding. Ming Ding is a Chinese word, but that’s not the problem. Everybody will know Ming Ding. They will learn the true meaning of this word.

7. God Is Stirring Up Their Heart

God was stirring up the heart of Zerubbabel. He had struggles and God knew his struggles, but He did not comfort Zerubbabel. Instead, God was like, “Oh, I know you are struggling, but that’s all right. I will give you one more trouble.” So in the year, everything was normal, but the revenue dropped significantly. Before the harvest, they looked at the crops and thought, “I can get 10 barrels.” But after the harvest, they only got 5 barrels, and after they finished, on the grain, they only filled up 3 barrels. God was sending a lot of problems his way, not blessings. As a governor, the revenue has dropped, how are you going to report this to the government? Are you going to say, “Hey, come on, this year, you know, I had some problems.” No one cares. They say, in the book of Haggai,

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.” This 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. Therefore, because of you the heavens have withheld their dew and the earth its crops. I called for a drought on the fields and the mountains, on the grain, the new wine, the olive oil and everything else the ground produces, on people and livestock, and on all the labor of your hands.” (Haggai 1:3-11)

Can you see that God was not comforting Zerubbabel? Instead, God brought all these things on Zerubbabel. " Are you struggling? Do you want more? I can give you more struggles." This is called stirring up their heart. My brother and sister, I encourage you to give careful thought to your ways, you'd better observe.

One day I was attending a church overseas to learn from the church. The pastor who came to receive me brought me along to the church. I asked, “Where is your son?” He said, “Oh, my son is preparing for the enrollment exam so he cannot come to church today.” In my heart, I said, “Oh, I'd better keep my mouth shut.” Because the moment I speak, I will speak like prophet Haggai.

After a year, I met the pastor again and I asked, “What happened to your son?” The pastor said that he didn’t pass the exam. I say, “Oh, I wanted to tell you that he would surely fail the exam. But I didn't.” Why was this the case? Every prophet has been telling us since the very beginning: Do not act in the ways that will draw the wrath of God, give careful thoughts to your ways. If you observe, you will conclude that **the moment you please God, you will be blessed. The moment God is unhappy with your ways, you'd better give careful thought to your ways.

Either you draw the wrath of God, or you draw the blessing of God; either you draw the wrath of God, or you please God. You'd better give careful thoughts to your ways.** God stirred up the heart of this man. Now, what can we learn? Zerubbabel will complete it. You will get in trouble if you don’t do it. If you do it, when you face challenges, God will help you. If you do it, you will fulfill the task given by God, and you will be blessed, not by anything else, but by the spirit of God.

8. Put An End to It

If you start a project, no matter how many years you have struggled, you are going to complete it and put an end to it. If you refer to Genesis chapter one, it says, "Things are accomplished". Remember, God did not stop before the sixth day. After the sixth day, God passed on the jobs to Adam and Eve to look after the matter. If you start a project, you cannot stop halfway through. For example, if you are building a house and you stop it halfway through. After a couple of years, all the metal goes rust, and you will have to redo everything. If you start something, you'd better finish it. If you start a project and cannot finish it, you probably are not the man who pleases God.

When we start, we give it careful thought. If we have problems to finish, we'd better give careful thought to our ways. Go with God’s way, even if we cannot finish, but you will surely finish by the spirit of God because God will help you. God is not a God who does not complete works. God is not pleased with unfinished projects.

9. Conclusion

Are we going to be the man who pleases God? Yes, God knows our struggle. But are you going to rely on the spirit of God, or do you want to rely on yourself? God can control the mind of the king. If you start building the Temple of God without licenses, and you face a tremendous challenge, a lot of tests, and many times you want to give up, we thought we could not finish and we packed up the project halfway through, then this is the time you need the spirit of God.

Looking at your surroundings and looking at the church today. Churches are no longer like a church, God no longer dwells in churches and churches are lying in ruins. The church members behave like the Israelites who lost their country and have the Temple destroyed. But this is the time for us to rebuild it. So, we learn a lesson from Zerubbabel: if we behave properly before God, God will help us to finish the project, and this is our destiny! Amen!

We will surely accomplish the Doctrine of Destiny, the Doctrine of Ming Ding, and this will bring a new round of reformation. Many fundamental concepts will be redefined, and the spirit of God shall dwell among churches. This is what we are looking for. This is not seen by our eyes, but by our spiritual eyes. In the spiritual world, we can see the future, the spirit of God will dwell in churches, and the glory of Almighty God will be manifested all over the world just because you and I have the heart of Zerubbabel, the heart to please the Lord!

Amen!

See you next week!