How do you measure success? When we define success by the tangibles such as wealth, house size, or employment accomplishment like the world we will generally find that we do not measure up. Maybe we need a new rubric for success. The measure of success God uses is faithfulness. The people of Haggai's day came to realize that the Temple they were building was way less glorious than the one it was replacing. Yet God commended them for being faithful, and told them the glory of their temple would one day far exceed Solomon's Temple. What we find is that outcome of faithfulness is always legacy.

"The Word of the Lord came by the hand of the prophet Haggai..." This phrase is in the first verse of this short little book, and then is repeated multiple times. In fact, in two short chapters there are 22 phrases indicating that the message in this book came directly from God Himself. What this means is that God speaks, and what He says is important. For the ancient Jewish people the word of the Lord came through the hand of the prophet. This was necessary because the Scriptures were in the process of being written. For us, we have the word of the Lord in a book, actually a collection of divinely inspired works given as a gift to us from a transcendent God who has chosen to make Himself known. This morning we will seek to answer two basic questions. First, what is the Word of the Lord. Second, what is our proper response to it?

This week we have all heard people wishing us a prosperous and happy New Year. Of course, we all want this, but what if in 2016 you got everything you wanted, but the result was a poverty of soul? Would you make that trade? During January we are going to do a study of the Old Testament Prophetic book of Haggai. Haggai compares us to people who keep putting our money into a purse with a hole in the bottom, and then we don't This morning Haggai is going to show us some key priorities we will need if we hope to experience all God has for us in the coming year.

Continuing with our series titled Doxa we will finish this morning focusing upon the single title LORD. As we keep rolling through Luke 2:11, our text this morning, we learn that the baby born in a manger was proclaimed to be more than all other babies born before and ever since. The desire to be our own lord will never allow you to achieve shalom, or peace. We must abide in the revealed gospel that Jesus is Lord over all to achieve shalom in this Christmas season and in the New Year.

Christmas awakens something inside of us the longs for ideals that often seem out of reach. We sing songs about joy, peace, hope, and wonder, and we watch TV shows and movies that seem to tell us that there is a magic in Christmas that will bring out the best in our humanity. But, the reality is that often the season of Christmas exposes the worst in us, things like materialism, despair, loneliness, competitiveness, and frustration. Maybe the longing of our heart is not answered by the season, but by the message that gave us the season. Maybe our very experience of Christmas is one of the greatest reminders that we need a Savior.

Christmas awakens something inside of us that longs for ideals that often seem out of reach. We sing songs about joy, peace, hope, and wonder, and we watch TV shows and movies that seem to tell us that there is a magic in Christmas that will bring out the best in our humanity. But, the reality is that often the season of Christmas exposes the worst in us, things like materialism, despair, loneliness, competitiveness, and frustration. Maybe the longing of our heart is not answered by the season, but by the message that gave us the season. Maybe our very experience of Christmas is one of the greatest reminders that we need a Savior.

We have spent the last several months examining how we as Christians can "Think Different" as we address and interact our culture with the beauty of the Gospel. The goal has been to challenge us to follow the model of Jesus who was full of grace and truth. We will end our series this morning looking at one of the most divisive struggles in our culture, that of race, and what we will find is that the Gospel answer to this issue is the same as every other issue. The Gospel will move us toward the culture with humility and the desire to see people see the glory of Jesus.

The Greco-Roman world at the time of Jesus was interesting. Through power the Romans had gained control over every inch of land between England and India. At the time of the New Testament, every religious, social, and political party in Israel had formed as a response to the occupation of Rome and their goal of Hellenization. The groups we meet in the pages of the Gospels had vastly different goals, beliefs, and political ambitions. We can learn quite a bit about our politics and relationship with the government from Jesus, which is our goal today.

You don't have to look very far to find people claiming the name of Jesus involved in horrible things. Recent church history includes sex scandals, child abuse, and a long list of fallen leaders. The longer term story of Christianity includes the church's involvement in slavery, the Crusades, the Holocaust, and the Spanish Inquisition. This can be a major source of doubt for outsiders wondering if the King we serve is real if his followers are so messed up. Today we will talk about some ways we can answer this question and still point to the hope found in Jesus and the good work He does through His people.

We are entertainment junkies. The average American watches 5 hours of TV per day and we spend 30 billion dollars annually at movie theaters. Services like Redbox and Netflix are so popular ,because we love our media and the stories they tell. But, our movies do more than just entertain us. Every story has a purpose and a point. What is it that our movies are trying to tell us about worldview? As Christians, we need to stop and think about what our movies are saying about us, but also see the positives of living in a culture that loves stories.