Priorities

Priorities

November 11, 2018 Morning Service

Immanuel Baptist Church, Wagoner, OK

Rick Boyne

Message Point: God and His Kingdom must come before our own selfish desires.

Focus Passage: Haggai 1:1-7 (Pew Bible page 1089)

Introduction: A little boy, who loved his grandfather dearly, wanted to help him on his farm. The grandfather told him that when he was old enough, he could. Finally, at age 7 or 8, the grandfather told him he could help. The little boy was so excited. Grandma tucked him in to bed early, after grandpa said they’d get up early and get busy. The little boy was hard to rouse at 4:30 and complained a little that it was still dark outside. But, he finally woke up and helped his grandpa milk the few cows they had, then feed the chickens, the horses, the pigs and make sure the dogs had water. At about 7:30, grandma called them in and they had a HUGE breakfast. The little boys eyes were delighted with the sight of bacon AND sausage, eggs, grits, biscuits and even pancakes! He ate until he was full. When he was done, he began to complain that he was really sleepy and thought he might take a nap. Grandpa said that he couldn’t take a nap, that they had to get to work! The little boy protested that they milked the cows and fed the horses, pigs, and even the chickens. Grandpa said, “Why son! Those were only the chores! The real work is in the fields!” Christians are too much like this little boy. We think that if we simply come to Sunday School or church that we have done all that is expected of us. We don’t realize that the real work is “in the field.”

I. Procrastination (vs 2)

a. “The time has not come”

b. If only we had more

i. money

ii. resources

iii. help

iv. time

II. Apathy (vs 4)

a. The Lord’s “house lies desolate”

b. What does it matter?

c. Who really cares, anyway?

d. What difference does it make?

III. Selfishness (vs 6)

a. You never have enough

b. You always want more

c. We can take vacations, but can’t go on a mission trip or volunteer at church camp

d. We can buy new cars, but let the vans and buses fall apart

e. We can dine at fancy restaurants, but never attend a fellowship dinner

f. We can decorate our house and yard for Easter, July 4th, Halloween and Christmas, but won’t help hang the greens or take them down.

g. We can throw fancy dinner parties at our home, but can’t be bothered to take a dish to someone sick

h. We’ll tell our friends, neighbors and even the person next to us in line at Walmart about our new grandchild, boyfriend, car, etc, but we won’t tell anyone about the Good News of Jesus Christ!

i. We’ll work for our kids/grandkids band/scout/soccer/football/baseball/volleyball/etc but we won’t lift a finger to build the Kingdom of God! (VBS, Wed night, youth events, etc)

Application/Invitation: The Lord God says, “CONSIDER YOUR WAYS!”