HAGGAI 1 (Kent Smith Notes 12/31/23)
HAGGAI (CHAPTER 1)
WORKING HARD AND BEING BUSY FOR THE WRONG GOALS
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Israelites taken into captivity.
Israel (Northern Kingdom) 722 by the Assyrian Empire
Judah (Southern Kingdom) 597 / 587 / 582 by the Babylonians
The Temple destroyed 586
Israelites begin to return from captivity 538 under Persian Empire
The Temple foundation laid 536
The Temple reconstruction begun 521 (Haggai 520)
The Temple completed and dedicated 516
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THE WORD OF THE LORD
This people says, “The time has not come, even the time for the house of the Lord to be rebuilt.”
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Haggai 1:2 ‘This people says, “The time has not come, even the time for the house of the Lord to be rebuilt.
The people had been in the land for 17 years.
The temple foundation had been laid for 15 years.
The actual temple construction had begun a year earlier and then been abandoned.
God is not content to be ignored, dismissed, disregarded, or put off by His people.
HE HAS DONE TOO MUCH AND BEEN PATIENT TOO LONG TO BE IGNORED.
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THE EVIDENCE OF PRIORITIES
Questions: “Is it time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses while this house lies desolate?”
Consider your ways!
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v. 4 “Is it time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses while this house lies desolate?”
v. 5 Consider your ways
We often tend to our own welfare first, to the neglect of God’s agenda, and ministering to others.
There is little thought of sacrifice in the present-day church, of putting others before our own desire and preferences.
We tend to operate on what’s best for me, my family, and my church; with little thought of our community.
Mt 6:33 But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
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THE EVIDENCE OF EFFORT
You have sown much, but harvest little; you eat, but there is not enough to be satisfied; you drink, but there is not enough to become drunk; you put on clothing, but no one is warm enough; and he who earns, earns wages to put into a purse with holes.”
“Consider your ways!”
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God’s assessment of our endeavors shows the shallowness of our heart.
All our efforts to achieve comfort and satisfaction will not last long, nor truly satisfy.
Mt. 6:20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal;
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THE REQUIREMENT OF GOD
“Rebuild the temple that I may be pleased and be glorified”
Consider your ways!
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v. 8 “Go up to the mountains, bring wood and rebuild the temple, that I may be pleased with it and be glorified,” says the Lord.
The Nation of Israel was created by God and for His glory.
We are an extension of God’s work, grafted into His work through Israel and ultimately through Christ
We exist to bring Him glory!
How are you fulfilling God’s purpose in your life to bring Him glory?
Are your life priorities and productivity pleasing to Him?
How is our church pleasing Him and glorifying Him?
Consider your ways!
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GOD’S RESPONSE TO OUR DELAYS
God will not favor the disobedient.
God opposes the proud.
Consider your ways!
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Haggai 1:9-11 You look for much, but behold, it comes to little; when you bring it home, I blow it away. Why?” declares the Lord of hosts, “Because of My house which lies desolate, while each of you runs to his own house. Therefore, because of you the sky has withheld its dew and the earth has withheld its produce. I called for a drought on the land, on the mountains, on the grain, on the new wine, on the oil, on what the ground produces, on men, on cattle, and on all the labor of your hands.”
Matthew 6: 33 But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
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THE RESULT OF REFOCUSING
The people obeyed the voice of the Lord
The people showed reverence for the Lord
God declared “I am with you.”
God stirred the people to accomplish His will
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Haggai 1:12-15 Then Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, with all the remnant of the people, obeyed the voice of the Lord their God and the words of Haggai the prophet, as the Lord their God had sent him. And the people showed reverence for the Lord. Then Haggai, the messenger of the Lord, spoke by the commission of the Lord to the people saying, “‘I am with you,’ declares the Lord.” So the Lord stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and the spirit of all the remnant of the people; and they came and worked on the house of the Lord of hosts, their God, on the twenty-fourth day of the sixth month in the second year of Darius the king.
This coming year we must ask, “for what purpose has God placed us here, in this community, in this facility, with these resources, and with these people?”
“What is it that He wants us to do?”
If all we do is what we have always done, then we will only get what we already have.
We must discern what God intends for us to do, and that must become our preeminent priority and the goal of our every effort as a church.
Join me in this month of January that we would pray and fast for God to show us what we as His church must do in this community to bring Him glory!
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