Our message today comes a very small book in the Bible. Ever heard of the saying that dynamite comes in small packages? That just about sums up the book of Haggai. Dynamite in a small package. Our scripture comes from Hagai 2:4-9.
4Yet now be strong, O Zerubbabel, saith the LORD; and be strong, O Joshua, son of Josedech, the high priest; and be strong, all ye people of the land, saith the LORD, and work: for I am with you, saith the LORD of hosts:
5According to the word that I covenanted with you when ye came out of Egypt, so my spirit remaineth among you: fear ye not.
6For thus saith the LORD of hosts; Yet once, it is a little while, and I will shake the heavens, and the earth, and the sea, and the dry land;
7And I will shake all nations, and the desire of all nations shall come: and I will fill this house with glory, saith the LORD of hosts.
8The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, saith the LORD of hosts.
9The glory of this latter house shall be greater than of the former, saith the LORD of hosts: and in this place will I give peace, saith the LORD of hosts.
Not a lot is known about Haggai, but what we do know is that he can be found in the book of Ezra and that within a 10 year period, he brought 4 messages to the house of Israel. To understand the message today, we must look at what was going on historically at that time. At that time, Israel had been ordered to hault erecting the temple. God had told them to stop and work on their own homes. Our message today is on our homes.
We will be diving in and studying 3 different types of "home".
The first is your personal, physical home.
What does your house look like? Its not really what type of home you live in because value means nothing. It is about how you take care of your home and the things God has given you. Why should this matter? Because our daily lives are a mirror reflection of our spiritual lives. God tells us in verse 4 to "work". Did you read over that word without thinking about it. Yeah, it's there. If you fail to take care of your yard or yourself.....it is a reflection of how much you care. If you are a lazy person, most likely you are a lazy Christian. Many a man live in what we would consider, shacks. Does he/she take care of that shack though? Is it clean, taken care of? Or are the weeds grown so high that you can't walk through the yard without brushing them with your elbows? Are there dirty dishes piled high in the sink and on the counter full of last week's meal? It doesn't matter how much your home is valued.....it does matter though how you take care of it. Now, really....why should anyone care about my house but me? I'll tell you why....
The second is your spiritual home.
Our daily lives and how we take care of what we have is a mirror reflection of how we take care of our spiritual lives. If you are dedicated to keeping the things you have in good condition, chances are that your spriritual life is also in good condition. You are more likely to pick up your Bible on more days of the week than just on Sunday. You probably pray for those on the prayer list on a daily basis. It all goes back to DEDICATION. When you dedicated to keeping things nice, you keep them nice in ALL areas of your life, including your spiritual walk with God. We have all heard that everything we own is not really ours. It is like rental property. What happens when you are renting but you don't take good care of the item or home? You end up paying a price for it. There is always some fee or charge for damages. Everything we have in life is God's. We are only renting it. Our entire life as we know it, including our physical body is rental property. We have to take care of it all, our physical and spiritual homes included.
Now, before we jump into the 3rd house, let's look at some more scripture. It says in Haggai 1:9:
9"You look for much but you find little. When you bring it home, I destroy it. Why? asks the Lord. Because you all work hard for your own houses while my house is still in ruins."
The third house is God's house.
Do you honor God with your tithes and offerings? Do you use your spiritual gifts for the glory of God? Are you working as hard to fill the church with believers and take care of the church body and building as you are your personal homes? God wants His people to build His house. He says, "I blessed you with your own house, now it's times to build the house of God." Consider your ways. Are you walking for you and your own pride or are you walking for God? When your spiritual house is in order....then your personal house and God's house will be in place. You have to get yourself right with God first. God tells us in today's scripture to begin building His temple......but you have to remember what happened before this. He had stopped them from building His temple so they could all work on their own homes. It is time for us to clean the cob webs out of the corners and add a fresh coat of paint to our spiritual homes so that we can work the way God calls us to do in His house.
Now is the time to invest in your real estate. Take care of what you have been given physically and spiritually. Use your spiritual gifts to do the work God has called us to do. Study the word. Work on your spiritual property. The property is worth the price. Afterall, it is God's!
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