June 9, 2019

Haggai 1

Preacher:
Series:
Passage: Haggai 1, Ezra 3:8-11, 4:3-5, 4:24-5:1
Service Type:
  • Haggai should have a practical impact upon our lives
    • The people had neglected God
    • God sent a prophet to wake them/stir them up
    • God did stir them up
  • Quote from AW Tozer
    • Do you agree?
    • What is a church that does not have the Holy Spirit involved?
    • A church should be captivated by Christ
  • Quote from Dr Martin Lloyd-Jones
    • Superficiality
    • Is there a depth, reality and heart?
  • Quote from RT Kendall
    • Asleep
  • There are exceptions
    • Example of Sri-Lanka
  • What of the Western Church - is it asleep?
    • The words of God through the prophet Haggai were a challenge to the people back then
    • May it be a challenge to us today
  • God says - consider your ways (four times)
    • A challenge to renew our lives and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ
    • The Jews had arrived in Jerusalem and had seemed to learn their lesson
      • The temple started to rebuilt in 536 BC
      • They recognised they needed God's presence
    • Haggai - 520 BC
      • The work had stopped
      • Haggai challenges them
    • Haggai shows us that we need God's presence
  • v1 - The word of the Lord came to Haggai
    • Little is known about Haggai
      • We know he is in the time of Zechariah
      • We know he was a prophet
    • We concentrate on God and not the man
    • The word first came to the two leaders - Zerubbabel and Joshua
      • The first message was for the leaders
      • If you are a leader - have you fallen short or forgot your responsibility before the Lord?
  • v2 - The people are saying the time hasn't come to build God's house
    • Not a 'no', but a 'not yet'
    • If we live life like this, nothing will get done
      • Example
  • v3-4 – God speaks to all the people
    • Can you live in your comfortable houses when My House is in ruins?
    • Is it time to prioritise your own life over God?
    • A joy in Ezra of laying the foundation of the temple - but 16 years later nothing had been done
    • Yes - they faced hostility and poor economics, but these were superficial reasons
    • The problems lay deeper - in the hearts of the people
    • It shows a faltering of faith and the neglect of God in their hearts
  • v5 - The first exhortation: 'consider your ways'
    • An easy life is not life, is not Christian living and is disobedience to God
    • God requires a Christian to give their whole life in furtherance of the kingdom of God
    • The people became lethargic and lost their focus on God
    • They were living in the midst of the consequences of neglect
  • v6 - Great are the consequences when we neglect the Lord God Almighty
    • You have so much but bring in little
    • Deut 28:1-2 ...
    • Haggai does not quote these blessings but curses
      • Deut 28:15-16, 38
    • Are we non the wiser to our current situation?
      • Explanation
      • Quote from JJ Packer
    • Do we have depth in our relationship with God?
      • What are we seeking? What do we desire?
  • v7 - The second exhortation: consider your ways'
  • v8 - Build the temple
    • Bring what is needed
    • Go back to Jesus Christ
      • If not, the church will remain fruitless
  • v9-11 – God brings chastisement on His people
    • He withdraws His blessings
    • He caused a physical drought to bring them back to Him
    • He had left them to their own devices
    • In love God causes droughts to cause us to turn to him
      • Quote from Alexander McLaren
      • If you desire only a little - that is all you will have
      • If you desire much of God - He will shower you with blessing
    • He desires that we would turn back to Him - a repentant heart
  • v12 - Obedience came
    • Repentance brings on obedience and the fear of the Lord
    • God is our loving Father, Jesus is our friend and Saviour, the Holy Spirit is the Comforter
      • Yet God is the Lord Almighty, the Lord of Hosts
      • The awesome, the mighty, the majestic
    • God desires a relationship with us despite our shortcomings
  • v13 - God is with the people
    • When we repent - He says 'I am with you'
    • Jesus said at His ascension - "I am with you always, even unto the end of the age"
  • v14-15 The Lord stirred up their spirit
    • Pray the Lord would stir up our spirit
      • Look at the periods of time when the Church was stirred up by the Holy Spirit
      • Lives are changed and God is glorified
    • We cannot stir ourselves up - we must open our hearts and our minds to God
    • They came to work on the house of God

Closing Remarks

« What do you want me to do for you? A man’s faith, a Sovereign Lord »