Haggai Week 2

August 19, 2021

Haggai 1:1 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, governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest:

The word of the Lord comes to Haggai.....

What does the Psalmist show us about the Word of the Lord?

Psalm 138:2 ESV

2 I bow down toward your holy temple and give thanks to your name for your steadfast love and your faithfulness, for you have exalted above all things your name and your word.

Why is it so hard for us to stop and listen to the Word of the Lord?

Why does so much of the world ignore the words of the Lord?

1 Corinthians 2:14 ESV

14 The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.

When God sent His word to Haggai the prophet responded in obedience sharing and preaching.

Remember when Peter preached on Pentecost?

Acts 2:37–39 ESV

37 Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?” 38 And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.”

Later on that day 3000 people were added to the church. Were they responding to Peter’s eloquence or the work the Holy Spirit did in affirming and working through Peter’s speech?

Acts 2:41 ESV

41 So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls.

Those who heard the word to Haggai

What is our responsibility when we hear the Word of God preached?

1 Thessalonians 2:13 ESV

13 And we also thank God constantly for this, that when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men but as what it really is, the word of God, which is at work in you believers.

Have you had an experience of God speaking to you personally whether in a sermon, Bible reading, conversation with someone or something else?

Haggai 1:2–11 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? 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.”

What is the danger of spiritual apathy?

Mark 4:18–19 ESV

18 And others are the ones sown among thorns. They are those who hear the word, 19 but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it proves unfruitful.

Opening Up Haggai The Wrong Sense of Priorities

If we are not careful, our lives can easily become so cluttered with secular interests and non-essentials that there is less and less time for the things that really matter, such as prayer, the reading of God’s word, and meditation and worship.

God challenges the Israelites to consider their ways and build a temple to honor God.

God tells the Israelites of His power.

How can we apply this passage to us today?