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NOTICE:   THESE SERMONS ARE FREE TO BE USED BUT ARE NOT TO BE SOLD!

PEOPLE OF THE BIBLE

Introduction

We all face pressures, demands, expectations, and other things that seem to push us in from all sides and fill up our schedules.

It seems as though everyone wants us to do something–Our families, our work, our school, our clubs, our Church, you name it.

Soon we find ourselves with little to give as we run out of both time and energy. We constantly rush through life attending to the immediate and urgent tasks that are before us, but too often we find that we have left that which is most important undone.

Our problem may appear to be the volume of demands placed on us. Or we may think that we are somehow lacking in scheduling skills. However, our problem really lies in what our values are. Values are those things that are truly important to us!

What our values actually are and what they should be may be two entirely different things!

Our values and priorities are reflected in how we use our resources–the resources of time, talent, treasure and strength. Often our actions contradict our words. We say that God is number one, but then we push Him down the line on our “to do” lists. Our actions show that, in reality, He is not number one.

The people of God had their priorities all out of place. Haggai was God’s voice calling the men and women of his time to get their priorities right. Haggai knew what was important and what needed to be done, and he challenged the people of God to respond.

I.         HAGGAI’S BACKGROUND.

Haggai’s name mean “born of a festival day.” Which implies that he was born on a Feast Day. All we know about him is told to us in the first verse of his book. (Vs 1)

            He prophesied in the second year of the reign of Darius, King of Persia, which was

sixteen years after Cyrus had issued a decree which permitted the rebuilding of the Temple.

            As a prophet, he was contemporary with Zechariah.

Ezra 5:1–“Then the prophets, Haggai the prophet, and Zechariah the son of Iddo, prophesied unto the Jews that were in Judah and Jerusalem in the name of the God of Israel, even unto them.”

II.       HAGGAI’S MINISTRY.

The last of the people of Judah had been exiled to Babylon in the third invasion in 586 B.C. and Jerusalem and the Temple, which was the symbol of God’s presence with His people, had been destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar’s forces.

After the Medes and Persians defeated Babylon, Cyrus allowed the exiled Jews to return to Judah and rebuild their Temple in 538 B.C.

God had given the Jews the assignment to finish the Temple in Jerusalem when they returned from captivity.

The people returned to Jerusalem in 536 B.C. to begin rebuilding the Temple. When the exiles first returned from Babylon, they set about rebuilding the temple right away. Although they began with right attitudes, they slipped back into wrong behavior. After working on it for a short time, the work came to a standstill.

After 15 years they still had not completed it. It lay half-finished while the people built and lived in beautiful homes. The people of God were more concerned with building their own homes than in finishing God’s work. So, God sent Haggai to the Jews in 520 B.C. to tell them to get their priorities straight!

Haggai encouraged the Jews to finish rebuilding God’s Temple. He warned them against putting their possessions and jobs ahead of God. He encouraged them as they worked and he assured them of the Divine presence of the Spirit of God with them, He assured them of final victory, and He assured them of the hope that Messiah would eventually reign.

As a prophet, he preached righteousness and predicted the future. As a man, he was simple, strong in faith and bold in hope. He urged the people to work and be strong.

He assured them that when they began to build the Temple, God would begin to bless them.

Unlike most of the earlier prophets we’ve looked at, Haggai (along with Zechariah) had a fruitful ministry.

Ezra 6:14–“And the elders of the Jews builded, and they prospered through the prophesying of Haggai the prophet and Zechariah the son of Iddo. And they builded, and finished it, according to the commandment of the God of Israel, and according to the commandment of Cyrus, and Darius, and Artaxerxes king of Persia.”

The message of Haggai is a message that is needed in our times just as much as it was in Haggai’s time.

We live in a time when the majority of those who claim to be Christians are attentive to everything else in the world but God’s business.

It is easy to make let other things become more important than doing God’s work.

But God wants us to follow through and do the work He has called us to do (i.e. carrying out the Great Commission.)

            When we begin to do the work of God again, then God will bless us again.

Matthew 6:33–“But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.”

            We need to set our hearts on that which we know is good and right to do and do it!

            We need to get our priorities straight!

            When God gives us a task, we need to remember that His resources are infinite.

            God will help us do what He calls us to do by giving us encouragement along the way.

III.      HAGGAI’S PROPHECY.

            A.        The Call To Rebuild The Temple. (1:1-15)

                        1.         The Message Of Stern Rebuke. (1:1-11)

                                    Judah’s problem was confused priorities.

The Temple was the focal point of Judah’s relationship with God, but it was still lying in ruins.

Instead, the people put their energies into rebuilding and beautifying their own homes.

But, the harder they worked for themselves , the less they had, because they were ignoring their spiritual lives and spiritual priorities.

This shouldn’t have come as a surprise to them because Moses said this would happen in Deuteronomy 28:37-46.

                                    The same thing happens to us if we’re not careful!

                                    Our priorities relating to work, family and God’s work are often confused.

Jobs, homes, vacations, and leisure activities must not rank higher on our list of importance than the things of God.

What is most important to you? What does your life show is most important? We must put God first and then He will provide for our every need!

                                    If we relegate Him to any other place, all our efforts become futile.

Caring only for our physical needs while ignoring our relationship with God will lead to ruin in our lives!

                        2.         The Message Of Comfort And Commendation. (1:12-15)

                                    We see that from Haggai’s first message, Revival came.

The people began rebuilding the Temple just 23 days after Haggai’s first message. When Revival comes, the spirit of God’s people gets stirred.

                                    When Revival comes, the work gets done.

Haggai’s second message when Revival came was this, “I am with you, saith the LORD!”

The LORD had been present with them all the time, but now he was WITH them! (i.e. The LORD was behind what they were doing! His manifest presence was WITH them!)

                                    When Revival comes, the LORD is WITH us! AMEN!

            B.        The Encouragement To Complete The Temple. (2:1-23)

                        1.         The Message Of Encouragement. (2:1-9)

Haggai’s third message came during the Feast of Tabernacles (which would have been in October of 520 B.C.)

The older people could remember the incredible beauty and glory of Solomon’s Temple which had been destroyed.

Many of the people were discouraged because they viewed the Temple that they were building as being inferior to Solomon’s.

But we see that Haggai encouraged them with God’s message that the splendor of this Temple would surpass that of its predecessor.

The most important part of the Temple is God’s presence. Five hundred years later, Jesus Christ would walk in the temple courts.

                                    Notice the Lord’s encouragement to be strong and work!

Ephesians 6:10–“Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.”

1 Corinthians 15:58–“Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.”

God wants to change the world through us. He has given us a job to do for Him! The time has come for us to get our priorities straight and then to be strong and work, for God is with us!

No matter what difficulties we face or how frustrating our work for Him may be, God’s Spirit is with us!

                        2.         The Message Of Cleansing And Blessing. (2:10-19)

This message was given in December in 520 B.C. The message here is clear. Holiness does not rub off on others, but contamination will!

Now that the people were beginning to obey God, He promised to encourage and prosper them, but they needed to understand that activities in the Temple would not clean up their sin.

                                    Only repentance and obedience could do that!

If we insist on harboring wrong attitudes and sins or on maintaining close relationships with sinful people, we will be contaminated.

Sin and selfish attitudes stain everything they touch. Even good works done for God can be tainted by sinful attitudes. The only remedy is God’s cleansing!

                                    Holy living will come only when we are empowered by God’s Holy Spirit!

In verses 18 and 19 we see that the people relaid the Temple foundation, but the drought of divine judgment from previous disobedience had already affected the year’s harvest so that their barns were already emptied of the sparse harvest.

They didn’t have their staples or luxuries. They were to give careful thought to this. But the Lord promised that things would be different.

He would now bless them. Their faithful obedience in continuing to rebuild would enable them to experience God’s blessing.

Often God sends His encouragement and approval with our first few obedient steps. He is eager to bless us!

                        3.         The Message Of Assurance. (2:20-23)

Haggai’s final message was to Zerubbabel, the governor of Judah.

                                    It was a Messianic Prophecy concerning Zerubbabel.

Just as the people had needed encouragement to rebuild, Zerubbabel needed encouragement to lead this people.

In verses 21 and 22, the LORD spoke of the future judgment of the Gentile nations to come.

In verse 23, the LORD says that He will take Zerubbabel and make him as a signet. A signet ring was used to guarantee the authority and authenticity of a letter. It served as a signature when pressed in soft wax on a written document.

God was reaffirming and guaranteeing His promise of a Messiah through David’s line. (Matthew 1:12)

God closes His message to Zerubbabel with this message, “I have chosen thee!”

Such a proclamation is ours as well! Those of us who are saved are chosen of God!

Ephesians 1:4–“According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:”

The fact that we have been chosen by God should make us see our value in God’s eyes and motivate us to work for Him!

                                    When Satan gets you down, remind yourself that God has chosen you!

Conclusion

There are several lessons that we can glean from this book:

1.         We must see the danger of lapsing into self-contentment!

            We can begin right in the Lord, but we must keep right to experience His blessing!

2.         We must see that the time of doing for God is always at hand!

3.         We must see that God’s blessing is contingent upon our being obedient to God!

4.         We must see that God will bring about His promises concerning the Lord Jesus Christ! God is Faithful!

Home Page   Contact Us    Service Times   Sermons   Are You Going To Heaven?

NOTICE:   THESE SERMONS ARE FREE TO BE USED BUT ARE NOT TO BE SOLD!