(UPCOMING MESSAGE) (3 Post-Exile Prophets Series-1) Building The Lord's House on Your Own?

BUILDING THE LORD’S HOUSE OR YOUR OWN?

Haggai 1:1-15 (Go to the ESV Bible Verses)

Key Verse: 1:8, “‘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.”

1. What was the time, what was the word of the LORD, through whom, and to whom (1-2)? Why is God called “the LORD of hosts” (14 times in Haggai)? With what question did the LORD respond (3-4)?
2. What did the LORD of hosts want them to “consider” (5-6)? What did this reveal about their labor and activities? What was the real reason and cause for their unsatisfying and unfruitful labors (9-11)?
3. What was the LORD’s command and direction (7-8)? Why would the LORD “take pleasure in it” and “be glorified”? Why was the LORD’s house so important for Israel? Why do you think they neglected the LORD’s house?
4. Who responded to the LORD’s message and how (12)? What was the LORD’s message to them, following their response (13)? What did the LORD do in them and with what practical result (14)? How long did all this take (15; see verse 1)?
5. Consider how the LORD spoke to this community, to whom, and their collective response? How do you think the LORD can speak to our church community? How can there be a similar positive response?
6. How have you focused on your own affairs rather than the LORD’s will, and found it wasteful and fruitless? What might building the LORD’s house rather than your house mean to you or look like in your life, your home, and your community?