Check Yourself Before You Wreck Yourself

Sermon Title: Check Yourself Before You Wreck Yourself

Main Text: Haggai 1: 1-11

Haggai 1:1–11 ESV

1 In the second year of Darius the king, in the sixth month, on the first day of the month, the word of the Lord came by the hand of Haggai the prophet to Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel (Shaw-ti-el), governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Je-ho-za-dak, the high priest: 2 “Thus says the Lord of hosts: These people say the time has not yet come to rebuild the house of the Lord.” 3 Then the word of the Lord came by the hand of Haggai the prophet, 4 “Is it a time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses, while this house lies in ruins? 5 Now, therefore, thus says the Lord of hosts: Consider your ways. 6 You have sown much, and harvested little. You eat, but you never have enough; you drink, but you never have your fill. You clothe yourselves, but no one is warm. And he who earns wages does so to put them into a bag with holes. 7 “Thus says the Lord of hosts: Consider your ways. 8 Go up to the hills and bring wood and build the house, that I may take pleasure in it and that I may be glorified, says the Lord. 9 You looked for much, and behold, it came to little. And when you brought it home, I blew it away. Why? declares the Lord of hosts. Because of my house that lies in ruins, while each of you busies himself with his own house. 10 Therefore the heavens above you have withheld the dew, and the earth has withheld its produce. 11 And I have called for a drought on the land and the hills, on the grain, the new wine, the oil, on what the ground brings forth, on man and beast, and on all their labors.”

Prayer

Father, we are in need of your spirit and power. Please use this sinful preacher, and do not allow me to get in the way of your work.

Open up our ears so we can hear your word,

Open up our eyes so we can see your word,

Open up our minds so we can understand your word,

And open up our hearts so we can receive your word.

Speak for we are listening, in Jesus name, Amen.

Introduction

Back in the early ‘90s, the well known hiphop rapper Ice Cube dropped a track that had the streets talkin’. This track was more than a hit—it was a warning. The song was called “Check Yo Self,” and the hook said something we all remember:

“Check yo self before you wreck yo self.”

You remember this don’t you? Come on tell the truth and shame the devil.

Now I know Ice Cube wasn’t writing a devotional when he made that track and I would not encourage you to go check out the song —but y’all, if I can be honest the meaning behind his message could be considered a lesson in many areas of life.

See while his intention was warning others to be careful how they step towards him because of what he could do to them, I want to help you see his message in another way.

See essentially what Ice Cube was saying is if you don’t stop, reflect, and make some changes in how you’re living… you could end up destroying yourself without even knowing it. It was a street prophet’s way of saying: “Your current path is dangerous—and if there is no course-correction, there's going to be consequences.”

And church family, here in the book of Haggai, I believe the message check yourself is relevant to what is displayed here. See in the book of Haggai we find an audience of Jews who had returned to their homeland after being in exile in Babylon.

When King Cyrus of Persia took over Babylon, he gave them permission to go back to Jerusalem and rebuild the Temple—the place that represented God's presence among His people. At first, the people were excited. They laid the foundation of the Temple.

But over time, they faced opposition—especially from the Samaritans, who didn’t want to see them succeed. And eventually that pressure discouraged them, so they stopped building.

Years went by, The Temple—the symbol of God's presence—sat neglected. And spiritually, the people grew cold. They got stuck in a cycle of doing life their way, not God’s way. As a result, The Lord visited them with a drought and confronted them with defeat in all their plans.

That’s when God raised up a prophet named Haggai to deliver a bold message. A message to arouse the people to action. Haggai provides the people in his book with three messages from The Lord.

And I believe like the street gospel writer, Ice Cube… Haggai summarizes this first message by simply saying, “Check yourself before you Wreak yourself.”

Transition

And church family, I believe Haggai’s message is still relevant for us today. See the reality is that many of us have found ourselves in a world where everything is fast paced, overwhelming, and self-oriented.

What do you mean pastor?

See you and I live in a world that promotes taking care of ourselves so that we can live a great life. The encouragement we receive in today’s time is go get what’s yours. See this world teaches us that our value is based on the investment we make in ourselves.

Culture has taught us to focus on self. Many of us live life being led by the question, what’s best for me? If the album of our lives were to be entitled today we would have to borrow from the gospel of Beyonce who says, Me, Myself and I.

Because many of us have bought into a life that is about taking care of me.

We see it on the news. A President who model the “all about me” lifestyle. We see it in the social media era where everyone is trying to go viral whether it’s their original work or they trying to take your work. It’s all about me.

We see it in book sales as everyone is looking for the next big self help book.

And here is the crazy part. Can I be real today? Well I was going to be real anyway…

The reality is that we adopted this secular self centered mindset in the church now. We’ve gotten so comfortable in our routines where we show up to church but don’t really show up for God.

We gotten so good at church that we can do church things, without living with God priorities. Yeah, the truth of the matter is that for many of us, we have become professional church goers.

One preacher said, that if Jesus left our churches, 80% of us would still operate as usual.

See church has become about you and I more than it has been about Christ. Many of us, have put God on the back burner and have put us in the front. We are more worried about what’s going on in our lives more than we are worried about the things of GOD.

And if you don’t get anything from this message today, please don’t lay this nugget on the pew and forget it when head home… Because here it is… The vital message we ought to all grab attention to today, is that “We must put God first, and put ourselves last.”

We must put God first in our lives, and put ourselves as last.

And Church family, I’ve come with a word today that simply says, “Check yourself Before You Wreck Yourself.

See this idea is so imperative for us to understand because not all of us are on a journey of wrecking ourselves cognitively…

Let me try that again for the people who thought I wasn’t talking about them.

Not all of us are on a journey of wrecking ourselves cognitively… In other words, some of us are wrecking ourselves and don’t even know it.

See the scary thing for some of us is that we can be on a dangerous path in our lives and not even know it.

And Cap City, this is important for us to acknowledge because here in 2025, God has called us to throw some evangelistic parties in Indianapolis.

And in order for us to throw parties that will connect with people who have lost hope, you and I gotta stop playing church and start being the church.

There are people all around this city who needs to experience the one and true living God, but we can’t allow ourselves to get in the way because we don’t care enough. And this is why I beleive God placed on my heart this preaching series to “Wake Up The House,” because we have parties we gotta start throwing.

And we can’t think that throwing dead or phony parties are going to catch the attention of people seeking hope and fulfillment.

So, at the end of the day all of us need to check ourselves. Yes, everyone of us under the sound of my voice.

Subject

And church family, I believe there is an important question that all of us need to answer today. And that question is simply this… How do we check ourselves?

Church family, I believe that we find our answers in the first message given to the prophet Haggai here in our texts today. And I would like to present to us two of those answers today.

The first way we can check ourselves is…

Compliments

By Evaluating our Priorities

Now church family, I don’t want you to miss whats happening here. Prior to our sermonic text in Haggai, God’s people have experienced exile.

If you read your bibles you remember the prophecy of Jeremiah, who had given a prophecy before the Babylonians destroyed Jerusalem. He said that God’s people would be taken into exile for 70 years because of their sin and disobedience.

And you remember that in Daniel this takes places as King Nebuchadnezzar and the babylonians take the Hebrew people captive. And King Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonian army destroyed the Temple in Jerusalem.

That moment symbolized the fall of God's people and the loss of His visible presence among them. Then what we find is that years later, Babylon falls to King Cyrus of Persia. And we find in the book of Ezra that King Cyrus issued a decree to allow God’s people to return from exile to their homeland.

Now when you read Ezra, you will find that God’s purpose in allowing His people to return from exile was to rebuild the temple in Jerusalem.

Just stick with me, I’m going somewhere…

So, the main purpose of the return from exile is to rebuild the temple, and at the begin of their return God’s people are granted the opportunity to rebuild the temple.

And the people start to lay the foundation of the Temple. However when the exiles return home, things didn’t look like what they were.

See these new set free people saw the ruins of the temple, but they were facing a drought, they faced food shortages and poverty. And God’s people ran into opposition and resistance as a result of their plans to rebuild the temple. And one of the main enemies seeking to stop their efforts were the Samaritans.

So, as a result of all that was going on, God’s people even though they returned from exile with the main purpose being to rebuild the temple, they actually stopped working on the temple.

And now here in Haggai it is believed that we are 20 years later since the first group of exiles returned and the unfinished temple has been just sitting there.

And it is here where I want grab your attention because God uses Haggai as a mouth piece to let the people know to “check themselves before they wreck themselves.”

See look at what the word says… Look at Haggai 1: 2-4

Haggai 1:2–4 ESV

2 “Thus says the Lord of hosts: These people say the time has not yet come to rebuild the house of the Lord.” 3 Then the word of the Lord came by the hand of Haggai the prophet, 4 “Is it a time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses, while this house lies in ruins?

Teaching

God’s people are saying it’s not time to rebuild the house of the Lord. (They were experiencing difficulty and resistance so they didn’t want to deal with it.)

God says, so you can’t rebuild the house of the Lord but you can take care of your house?

Application

Sub Point 1: We need to check the depth of our complacency.

It had been 20 years since they returned but was not rebuilding the temple

Avoiding the difficult road for comfort

Illustration

I remember when I was little and me and a few friends had the opportunity to go over one of our other friends home. And we were all invited in the home and our friend immediately escorted us to his room.

What was interesting was that when we arrived to his room we were slapped by a disgusting smell. And all of us with our little blunt reactions started screaming “yuck, and ewwww.”

Our little friend who was hosting us in his room for those few seconds was caught off guard by our reactions and asked the question, whats wrong. We stated that his room smelled bad and as one of my friends would say “this room stinks.”

Eventually our friends parents came in the room and was able to find that there was some food that had fallen in a small crevice behind his bed and had developed a bad smell.

What was interesting was that we could smell that bad oder but he didn’t.

And this is what I learned, church family. The longer you stay in a bad smelling space, the lessor you will notice the smell. And this is actually due to a system in your brain called the olfactory bulb.

See the olfactory bulb processes smells But it also has a function called "olfactory adaptation.” In other words, the brain will filter out constant stimuli so that you are not overwhelmed. Essentially, the smell doesn’t change, but your brain decides to ignore it. In other words, you become desensitized!

And this is what we see with God’s people here in the book of Haggai. They purpose was to rebuild the temple, but their inactivity in doing what God had purposed in them to do, caused them to become desensitized to the mission, and operate in what was comfortable.

And the reality is that you and I in areas of our lives have done the same thing.

expound…

So, the first way we can check ourselves is by evaluating our priorities.

The second way we can check ourselves is…

2. By Examining our Trust

Read Haggai 1: 5-11

Haggai 1:5–11 ESV

5 Now, therefore, thus says the Lord of hosts: Consider your ways. 6 You have sown much, and harvested little. You eat, but you never have enough; you drink, but you never have your fill. You clothe yourselves, but no one is warm. And he who earns wages does so to put them into a bag with holes. 7 “Thus says the Lord of hosts: Consider your ways. 8 Go up to the hills and bring wood and build the house, that I may take pleasure in it and that I may be glorified, says the Lord. 9 You looked for much, and behold, it came to little. And when you brought it home, I blew it away. Why? declares the Lord of hosts. Because of my house that lies in ruins, while each of you busies himself with his own house. 10 Therefore the heavens above you have withheld the dew, and the earth has withheld its produce. 11 And I have called for a drought on the land and the hills, on the grain, the new wine, the oil, on what the ground brings forth, on man and beast, and on all their labors.”

Teaching

Application

Relationship with God is weak.

We trust in our stuff more than God.

God shows He is in control of all things around us.

Illustration - Dad and I on the bike going up the hill

Closing

And I came by to Cap City, to let somebody know, stop focusing on all you’re trying to do, and neglecting the things God has called you to do. Don’t allow yourself to believe that your things are more important than God’s things.

It’s time to put down your stuff and pick up God’s stuff.

Because God is able to do exceedingly, abundantly, above all you can ask or think. Don’t get caught up into thinking you can have the power to take care of yourself.

Cause every good and perfect gift, comes from the father up above.

Has anybody tried Jesus before!?

Has anybody tasted and seen that the Lord, He is good!

Tis so sweet to trust in Jesus, just to take Him at His word, just to rest upon His promises, just to know thus saith the Lord!

Jesus, Jesus, how I trust Him, how I proved Him oar and oar, Jesus, Jesus precious Jesus, oar for grace to trust Him more.

Church family, don’t get so comfortable, that you think you can put yourself first and put God on the back burner. It’s time to check yourself!

Whatever situation you maybe in, its time to stop trying to figure it out, and give it to God because He’s already worked it out!

So get out of the way, and Let God Work!!

Put down your will, and pick up God’s will!

It’s time to check yourself!!

Check yourself on your job,

Check yourself in your marriage,

Check yourself with your finances,

Check yourself with that degree,

Check yourself in that doctors office,

Check yourself with that mortgage,

Check yourself when you’re in the house of God!

It ain’t about you, its all about Jesus!!!

Check yourself before you wreck yourself!!!

Expound if need too

Appeal Song

Appeal

 1. Seek God First Every Day This Week

Scripture Reference: “Give careful thought to your ways...” – Haggai 1:5

Why: Spiritual lethargy starts with neglecting God's voice in your personal life.

Action Step:

Spend 15 minutes daily in prayer and Scripture before starting your day.

Ask: “Lord, what are You asking me to build today?”

2. Reflect Honestly: What Have You Put Before God?

Scripture Reference: “You plant much, but harvest little...” – Haggai 1:6

Why: When we prioritize self over God, nothing we do brings lasting fulfillment.

Action Step:

Take 30 minutes this week to write down what’s been consuming your time, money, and energy.

Ask: “Is this helping me build God’s house—or just mine?”