Priorities-4

PRIORITIES—IV—Haggai 1:1-15

Attention:

Cooking—a microcosm of the importance of priority—

•I love pumpkin pie.(that is a hint to anyone listening or reading).

My favorite recipe for pumpkin pie, is one which I stole from the Libby’s pumpkin can but have tweaked the ingredients. I always add 2-teaspoons of nutmeg to the recipe & add slightly less sugar.

If you do NOT get your ‘priorities’ straight, then your recipe will fail!

The cook must Prioritize the fulfillment of the recipe because it is tried & proven.

WE Need GOD’s:

Priorities in our country/Land.

Priorities in our ‘sphere of influence.’

Priorities among God’s people overall.

Priorities upon a true Return to God.

•Perhaps you have spent some time away from God.

•Perhaps you have withheld an area of your life from God.

•Perhaps you don’t know what to do next...Lonely, Fearful, Unsettled...

•Forced to live with the effects of the poor choices of others upon your own life.

•Living with the results of your own poor choices & you feel trapped.

Haggai exhorted/urged those Jews returning from exile to prioritize their relationship with God.

God’s people must prioritize their relationship with God.

How must God’s people prioritize their relationship with God?

Some assessments securing a proper relationship with God.

We’ve already found that, •A prioritized relationship with God properly assesses...

1. The TIME(:1-2)

2. The WORD(:1, 3)

3. PERSONAL MOTIVATION(:4-5)

4. SURROUNDINGS/CIRCUMSTANCES(:6-7)

5—A prioritized relationship with God properly assesses...

PERSONAL EFFORT(:8)

Explanation:(:8)

:8—“Go up to the mountains & bring wood & build the temple, that I may take pleasure in it & be glorified,” says the LORD.”

The trees of “the mountains” surrounding Jerusalem have had 70 years to grow during their ‘Sabbath’ from the exiled Jews(Jer. 25:4-11; 29:8-14). Thus God even made the material readily available for the building of His house(“temple”). Not that those remaining in the land did not harvest the wood, but that the full-scale harvesting & over-harvesting did not occur to the extent it had previously.

The personal efforts of the returnees was to be focused, NOT upon their own desires, BUT upon “building the temple”(house).

YHWH could not & cannot find “pleasure” in the ABSENCE of His “temple”(house) among the people He has chosen—those of Israel, & any who come to YHWH by faith in Jesus.

•The “building” of YHWH’s “house” by His people would signify that His “glory” was secured among His people & thereby to & in the world.

*The body of Christ:

1Cor. 12:11-14, 27—“But one & the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually as He wills. For as the body is one & has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ. For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body--whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free--& have all been made to drink into one Spirit. For in fact the body is not one member but many.”.....“Now you are the body of Christ, & members individually.”

?How is your body being used?

?What are you using your body for?

?How is your individual body involved with the overall function of Jesus’ body locally, nationally, & globally?

YHWH “takes pleasure” in being TRUTHFULLY presented to a lost world, & TRUTHFULLY recognized among those whom He indwells & inspires.

In the ABSENCE of truthfulness, God is not “glorified”, & thus He cannot “take pleasure” in your living!

*Verse 8 is not the statement of a ‘wanna-be’ prophet, but is rather Haggai’s faithful & courageous declaration of God’s heartbeat for the people who claim to love Him.

Whoever, in whatever, & wherever God leads...He lovingly equips the ‘whoever’ for the ‘whatever’ & in the ’wherever.’

Argumentation:

Mk. 12:30—‘And you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, & with all your strength.’ This is the first commandment.”

Js. 4:2-10—“You lust & do not have. You murder & covet & cannot obtain. You fight & war. Yet you do not have because you do not ask. You ask & do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures. Adulterers & adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. Or do you think that the Scripture says in vain, “The Spirit who dwells in us yearns jealously”? But He gives more grace. Therefore He says: “God resists the proud, But gives grace to the humble.” Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil & he will flee from you. Draw near to God & He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; & purify your hearts, you double-minded. Lament & mourn & weep! Let your laughter be turned to mourning & your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, & He will lift you up.”