Lessons From Haggai
Haggai (12/26/13)
December 26, 2013 • Benham Brothers
The Jews were back in Jerusalem from Babylonian captivity and began to rebuild the temple Two years in they finished the foundation, but were then opposed by the surrounding countries They stopped the work - the minute opposition arose they shrank back - they didn't fight and give God a chance to come through for them Their enemies didn't resist them so long as they were focused on building their own estates and not God's kingdom Before God sent Haggai to rebuke them He sent curses - God cursed their work (the same curse as Cain) Why curse work? Because that's one of the main ways where we can be like God - taking DOMINION over something - if we can't do that then we can't be like Him. Work is worship, so if you don't have a heart of worship then you won't have blessed work! 3 levels of the curse - 1) You work lots for little gain 2) The little you eat doesn't fulfill you 3) The money from the little you sell disappears 3 things you do with the product of your work - 1) Use it 2) Sell it 3) Give it. Because they weren't "giving it" to God then their using and selling of it amounted to nothing Outline of Haggai: Chapter 1: vs 4: They had nice, elaborate houses but God's Temple was in shambles. vs 5: God told them to Consider their ways - they needed to take a look at what was going on and REASON to themselves as to why it was happening. vs 6: God had cursed their work! This is how God deals with us today as well vs 7: God says it again - "Consider your ways!" When something is repeated in Scripture it means you must pay VERY close attention to it! vs 8: Once they considered their ways and they've REASONED in their hearts as to why they were cursed, then they were to REFORM their ways! Repent, Reform, REBUILD! Get to work, God's work! vs 9-11: After God told them to rebuild He reminded them AGAIN of the things He had been doing in the background to blunt their effort in work. vs 12: They changed! They began the rebuilding process Chapter 2: vs 1-9: The people were discouraged because they knew they couldn't build the temple as glamorous as Solomon did, so God sent word to encourage them that He already owned all the silver and gold on the planet, and that the second temple would be more glorious because of God's increased presence, not because of the ornate fixtures and fineries. (Zech 6:11-13) vs 10-14 - HOW you work is what makes your work WORSHIP. Simply rebuilding the temple wasn't good enough to bring God's presence back - HOW they went about doing it was. There were some Jews who were defiled and were taking part in the work. This needed to be corrected, so Haggai brought word to the people essentially saying that if you throw a white glove in the mud the glove gets dirty - the mud doesn't get "glovey." They needed to purify themselves for the work. The means justified the ends and not the ends justifying the means. vs 15-19: I love these verses - God is saying, "Give careful thought to this very day" because they would be able to go back to this specific day and see God's increased blessing on their work. They would see more wine in their vats, more crops in their fields, more money in their pouches - and they would be able to trace it back to the VERY day that they decided to rebuild the temple! God was going to bless them and give them a specific date in which they could prove this blessing. Ultimately what took place was total and complete RESTORATION of the temple and a restoring of God's presence among His people! If you want restoration in your life then you need to follow the Haggai formula: 1) Reason - talk with God about why the stuff that's happening in your life is happening. 2) Repent - make it right! Turn from your wicked ways. 3) Reform - start doing things right. 4) Rebuild - whatever has been destroyed by your previous actions, rebuild it. 5) Restore - God will handle the restoration! This story is so true for us today - we have been focusing on building our own mega-churches and personal estates while the state of the church is in turmoil!!
Haggai 1:4 (12/29/16)
December 29, 2016 • Benham Brothers
* When persecution arose the Israelites stopped working on God’s temple and started working on their own houses. * If you don’t stand when the enemy comes at you then your focus will naturally move away from God toward yourself. * You’ll start focusing on your own thing and not His. * If you’re a soldier the only way you’ll run toward the bullets is to focus on your objective and the reason why you’re fighting. * If you focus on yourself you’ll start running from the bullets, not toward them. * Today, so many Christians are running from the battle. Why? * Because their focus is off - they have the wrong objective. * They’re more concerned about “their thing,” even though it’s disguised as God’s thing. * The devil isn’t threatened by anyone who’s focused on building their own thing. * If we run from the enemy we’ll end up like these Israelites - we have nice houses but no temple….. * We’ll have outwardly successful ministries void of the presence of God. * We’ll be no threat to the devil.
Haggai 1:4-11 (12/27/18)
December 27, 2018 • Benham Brothers
* With faithfulness will come success. * I teach my kids to “trust the process.” * When success comes, however, it becomes increasingly difficult not to be overcome by it. * This is normal for people with ambition. * What’s vital gets overrun by what’s urgent. * Faith becomes optional when you’re successful. * We begin to focus on our thing over God’s thing. * So what do we do? * We do what God told the Israelites to do - “Consider your ways!” * Some were working hard and making good money but they had nothing to show for it. * Others were working hard and making no money. * There was no fulfillment in the work they were doing. * They all needed to “consider” their ways. * They needed to look around and notice God was standing against them in their work, not with them. * ** God is a fantastic business partner, but we have to go at His pace and according to His plan ** * If not, He becomes our competitor - and we’ll never win! * Today, stop, get alone, and consider your ways.
Haggai 2 (12/31/15)
December 31, 2015 • Benham Brothers
• vs 1-9 - The temple was being rebuilt, but the people grew discouraged. • Their temple paled in comparison to God's temple. • This was during the Feast of Tabernacles when Solomon dedicated his temple - Haggai wanted them to remember. • God told them that He would accept their temple just as He accepted Solomon's. • We don't have to be the best as what we do, we just have to be faithful at what God has given us to do. • This is how our work becomes worship. • vs 10-19 - 2 months later, God had to rebuke them for HOW they worked. • Two scenarios: • 1) Holiness (vs 12) - something that's holy CANNOT transmit holiness to anything else. • 2) Defilement (vs 13) - something that's defiled CAN transmit its defilement to something else. • Point - the people working on the temple could not transmit their holiness to the building, but they could defile it. • God is more concerned about HOW you work than what you work.
Haggai 2:10-19 (12/28/17)
December 28, 2017 • Benham Brothers
* vs 10-14 - God had just encouraged them to keep doing the work even though the temple wasn’t as glorious as Solomon’s. * Two months later He talks with them about “how” they are to continue the work. * Some of them were defiled but still working on the temple, which wasn’t good. * They needed a little rebuke, so God poses two scenarios: * 1) Holiness (vs 12) - something that is holy CANNOT transmit its holiness to anything else. * 2) Defilement (vs 13) - something that is defiled CAN transmit its defilement to something else. * His point - the people working on the temple could defile it by their uncleanness. * They needed to live holy lives while they were working - they needed “holy work!” * vs 15-19 - God then reminded them of how their unclean living negatively affected their work in the past. * But He reminded them if they work holy He will bless them. * “How” you do your work is what commands the blessing. * The work itself isn’t as important as how you do it. * God wants us to work from pure hearts that are devoted to Him. * If we mow a lawn with a thankful heart that is devoted to honoring God He accepts our work as worship. * But if we do it just for money it is not worship. * Let’s make our work our worship.