Consider Your Ways

Consider Your Ways

Haggai 1:3-7

Then came the word of the LORD by Haggai the prophet, saying, (4) Is it time for you, O ye, to dwell in your cieled houses, and this house lie waste? (5) Now therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts; Consider your ways. (6) Ye have sown much, and bring in little; ye eat, but ye have not enough; ye drink, but ye are not filled with drink; ye clothe you, but there is none warm; and he that earneth wages earneth wages to put it into a bag with holes. (7) Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Consider your ways.

I would like us to focus in on verse 7. We read, "Thus saith the lord of hosts; CONSIDER YOUR WAYS."

The prophet Haggai had a message from God that he was to give unto the people of God.

Notice, he wanted them to know how important this message was by introducing the message by saying, “Thus saith the Lord of hosts…” before he gave the message.

In other words, he wanted them to know that what he was going to tell them came straight from God, not from himself.

The message he gave was brief but very clear.

Many times the messages we get in church are not that clear and easy to receive because we are not listening.

Revelation 2:7 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches;

Here are some messages that actually came from churches:

Think about what you hear as I read them to you.

• Bertha Belch, a missionary from Africa will be speaking tonight at Calvary Memorial Church in Racine. Come tonight and hear Bertha Belch all the way from Africa.

• "Ladies, don’t forget the rummage sale. It’s a chance to get rid of those things not worth keeping around the house. Don’t forget to bring your husbands."

• The peacemaking meeting scheduled for today has been canceled due to a conflict.

• At the evening service tonight, the sermon topic will be "What is Hell?" Come early and listen to our choir practice.

Did you hear the message or did you hear something else?

Remember, Haggai wanted the people of Judah to know that the message he was about to give them was straight from the Lord.

This is why he said, “Thus saith the Lord.”

Through the word of God the messages that we preach come from GOD’S WRITTEN WORD!

This is why Paul told Timothy,

2 Timothy 4:2 Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.

That is what every preacher ought to be doing!

Preaching THE INFALLIBLE, INERRANT WORD OF GOD, and it will convey the message from God to man.

The church needs to hear the word.

Many times as we preach the written Word of God, people hear it but they do not seem to get the message.

There is a story told of an old man and you’ve heard me tell this before. (Just a couple of weeks ago in fact…)

His neighbors, a friendly family with two young kids drove up to his house in their SUV and offered to take him to the shelter, but the man shook his head and said,

"Don’t worry about me. You go ahead but I’ll stay here. I know nothing will happen to me, because God is watching from above and will come to my rescue."

Faced with such a strong faith, the family left without arguing with the man.

Disturbed by the radio reports of flood waters filling up their town they returned the next day in a motorboat and saw the man’s house already flooded up to the porch and him sitting in a rocking chair in his living room, in two inches of water.

Again, they offered to take him to the shelter, and again the man refused, saying, "Have no fear - it’s all in God’s hands and I know he’ll rescue me. I’m staying here."

The family left again, but as the waters continued to rise, they returned the next day, this time in a helicopter.

The man’s house was now entirely under water and the poor chap, submerged up to his waist, tied himself to the chimney so as not to be swept away.

Yet his conviction that God would come to his rescue was as strong as ever, and he refused to climb the rope ladder to the helicopter.

A few hours later he drowned.

Soon thereafter he found himself at the gates of heaven and, after filling the necessary paperwork at St. Peter’s desk, he requested to have a talk with God himself.

The request was granted and the man, standing before his Creator, did not hide his bitterness and disappointment: