Sunday Morning Service at Beulah Worship Center, October 31st 2021, Matthew 22:11-4: "Many are called, but few are chosen." Not everyone who replied to the invitation was sincere. Some people were like the man who wanted to go to the feast but was either too lazy or busy with his own concerns to properly prepare. Like the King He is, Jesus extended an invitation to all, but those who wished to reap the advantages of his feast without changing their self-centered habits were denied entry (Matthew 22:11-14).
Haggai 1:5-8: As we see with the people through the Prophet Haggai, God had punished them with poverty and famine as a result of their greed. People grumbled because of this, it wasn't that they couldn't afford to build the temple. Rather, they were in the condition they were in because of their self-centered attitudes, solely concerned with what they desired rather than what God desired, leading them to refuse to build the temple. They had to return to the forests and cut down the wood for the building of God's temple.