On Perseverance
Haggai: The Word of The LORD • Sermon • Submitted
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· 9 viewsHaggai delivers a message from the LORD to the discouraged remnant of Israel: keep building the temple!
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Evangelical Commentary on the Bible B. The Encouragement (2:4–9)
The principle of this message serves as a powerful incentive to believers of today. As long as we are doing the work God has given us to do in accordance with his will, we are valued participants in God’s great program of making his salvation known to the lost, no matter how small our part may seem to be in comparison to others.
God Speaks to His People
God’s People Will Face Discouragement
God Has Made Promises to His People
The Promises of God
God Has a Plan for the Future
Jesus Has Saved Us
God Has Given Us His Spirit
All Nations Will Give Glory to God
Introduction and Overview
Introduction and Overview
Last Haggai sermon: October 29, 2017.
Haggai Overview
Haggai Overview
Obedience to God brings him glory and must be our priority.
God’s Promises Fuel Perseverance
If the purpose of the first message from God to Israel was a call to rearrange their priorities, then the purpose of the second message which we’ll look at today is an encouragement to stick to it.
How do you see something through to its completion?
How do you get to the finish line instead of quitting halfway through?
(Jewish remnant, commission to rebuild temple, opposition both external and internal, apathy towards God, shift in focus, quick discouragement, God is faithful and speaks encouragement, hope for the future, motivation to press forward).
In the seventh month, on the twenty-first day of the month, the word of the Lord came by the hand of Haggai the prophet: “Speak now to Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and to all the remnant of the people, and say, ‘Who is left among you who saw this house in its former glory? How do you see it now? Is it not as nothing in your eyes? Yet now be strong, O Zerubbabel, declares the Lord. Be strong, O Joshua, son of Jehozadak, the high priest. Be strong, all you people of the land, declares the Lord. Work, for I am with you, declares the Lord of hosts, according to the covenant that I made with you when you came out of Egypt. My Spirit remains in your midst. Fear not. For thus says the Lord of hosts: Yet once more, in a little while, I will shake the heavens and the earth and the sea and the dry land. And I will shake all nations, so that the treasures of all nations shall come in, and I will fill this house with glory, says the Lord of hosts. The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, declares the Lord of hosts. The latter glory of this house shall be greater than the former, says the Lord of hosts. And in this place I will give peace, declares the Lord of hosts.’ ”
Main Point: God’s Promises Fuel Perseverance
Main Point: God’s Promises Fuel Perseverance
God wants the us to stay focused on him and his promises. When we begin to compare our present reality to our past experiences, and this is particularly true for the local church, discouragement will inevitably take hold and keep us from moving forward. But when we focus on what God has done and what he has planned, we will be motivated to work towards something new and better for his glory.
Discouragement: What’s the Point?
Discouragement: What’s the Point?
It’s been 3 weeks since they resumed construction. Already, some of the people can tell…this place isn’t going to be anywhere near as magnificent as Solomon’s temple. How in the world can we regain our status as a nation with a temple like this.
We need gold. We need silver. We need cedars from Lebanon.
(Two years after they returned from Babylon and begin laying the foundation of the temple).
And when the builders laid the foundation of the temple of the Lord, the priests in their vestments came forward with trumpets, and the Levites, the sons of Asaph, with cymbals, to praise the Lord, according to the directions of David king of Israel. And they sang responsively, praising and giving thanks to the Lord,
“For he is good,
for his steadfast love endures forever toward Israel.”
And all the people shouted with a great shout when they praised the Lord, because the foundation of the house of the Lord was laid. But many of the priests and Levites and heads of fathers’ houses, old men who had seen the first house, wept with a loud voice when they saw the foundation of this house being laid, though many shouted aloud for joy, so that the people could not distinguish the sound of the joyful shout from the sound of the people’s weeping, for the people shouted with a great shout, and the sound was heard far away.
Younger Israelites rejoice. The older Israelites weep.
Discouragement turned into vocalized doubt and possibly bitterness. Excitement faded away for the entire people.
What’s discouraging you?
Are you comparing your efforts?
Has your discouragement spread?
NorthLife Church
Present Promise: I Am With You
Present Promise: I Am With You
Deliverance from Egypt.
If God isn’t with us, then there is no hope.
Present Promise: I Am With You
Present Promise: I Am With You
Present Promise: I Am With You
Present Promise: I Am With You
If God is with us, then there is no need to fear.
Miracles and wonders.
(Great Commission)
And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
Establishing
Past Promise: I Made A Covenant With You
Past Promise: I Made A Covenant With You
Deliverance from Egypt.
Miracles and wonders.
Salvation through Jesus Christ.
Future Promises: I Will Bring Glory and Peace
Future Promises: I Will Bring Glory and Peace
Herod would further beautified the temple.
Jesus, God in flesh, would be in the temple as a baby, a boy, and then a man.
The temple would be destroyed.
Colossians 1:20-23
We are now the temple of God.
In the new heaven and earth, there will be no temple. But God will dwell with his people and from Jerusalem the whole earth will be filled with glory and peace.
Colossians 1:20-23
And I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb. And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb. By its light will the nations walk, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it, and its gates will never be shut by day—and there will be no night there. They will bring into it the glory and the honor of the nations. But nothing unclean will ever enter it, nor anyone who does what is detestable or false, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s book of life.
Colossians 1:20-23
We don’t always live to see the fruit of our labor. But at the same time, we will live to see the fruit of our labor.
We don’t always live to see the fruit of our labor. But at the same time, we will live to see the fruit of our labor. Colossians 1:20-23
Colossians 1:20-23
We don’t always live to see the fruit of our labor. But at the same time, we will live to see the fruit of our labor.
Colossians 1:20-23
The physical appearance of a church (building, numbers, programs) is not as important as the presence of God with his people. That is why God can say to his people not to be concerned with how the new temple looks compared to Solomon’s temple. It doesn’t matter what the temple looks like if God decides to fill it with his glory. And his glory is Jesus Christ, who is greater than the temple.
Colossians 1:20-23
Perseverance: Be Strong, Fear Not, Work
Perseverance: Be Strong, Fear Not, Work
The physical appearance of a church (building, numbers, programs) is not as important as the presence of God with his people. That is why God can say to his people not to be concerned with how the new temple looks compared to Solomon’s temple. It doesn’t matter what the temple looks like if God decides to fill it with his glory. And his glory is Jesus Christ, who is greater than the temple.
Observation: The physical appearance of a church (building, numbers, programs) is not as important as the presence of God with his people. That is why God can say to his people not to be concerned with how the new temple looks compared to Solomon’s temple. It doesn’t matter what the temple looks like if God decides to fill it with his glory. And his glory is Jesus Christ, who is greater than the temple.
Main Point: God’s Promises Fuel Perseverance
Main Point: God’s Promises Fuel Perseverance
God wants us to stay focused on him and his promises. There will be times when comparing our present reality to our past experience will lead to discouragement and keep us from moving forward. But when we focus on what God has done and what he has planned, we will be motivated to work towards something new and better for his glory.
What’s discouraging you?
Are you comparing your efforts?
Has your discouragement spread?
NorthLife Church