Counting time is not nearly as important as making time count.
Sermon Title: MAKING IT COUNT
Sermon Text: HAGGAI 1:1-15 NIV
Sermon Series: HAGGAI: THE TIME IS NOW
By: PTR NIC SY
Sermon Notes:
HAGGAI 1:1-15 NIV
1 In the second year of King Darius, on the first day of the sixth month, the word of the LORD came through the prophet Haggai to Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest:
2 This is what the LORD Almighty says: “These people say, ‘The time has not yet come for the LORD’s house to be built.’” 3 Then the word of the LORD came through the prophet Haggai: 4 “Is it a time for you yourselves to be living in your paneled houses, while this house remains a ruin?” 5 Now this is what the LORD Almighty says: “Give careful thought to your ways. 6 You have planted much, but have harvested little. You eat, but never have enough. You drink, but never have your fill. You put on clothes, but are not warm. You earn wages, only to put them in a purse with holes in it.” 7 This is what the LORD Almighty says: “Give careful thought to your ways. 8 Go up into the mountains and bring down timber and build the house, so that I may take pleasure in it and be honored,” says the LORD. 9 “You expected much, but see, it turned out to be little. What you brought home, I blew away. Why?” declares the LORD Almighty. “Because of my house, which remains a ruin, while each of you is busy with his own house. 10 Therefore, because of you the heavens have withheld their dew and the earth its crops. 11 I called for a drought on the fields and the mountains, on the grain, the new wine, the oil and whatever the ground produces, on men and cattle, and on the labor of your hands.” 12 Then Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and the whole remnant of the people obeyed the voice of the LORD their God and the message of the prophet Haggai, because the LORD their God had sent him. And the people feared the LORD. 13 Then Haggai, the LORD’s messenger, gave this message of the LORD to the people: “I am with you,” declares the LORD. 14 So the LORD stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and the spirit of the whole remnant of the people. …
… They came and began to work on the house of the LORD Almighty, their God,
15 on the twenty-fourth day of the sixth month in the second year of King Darius.
There’s a time and there’s a place to do something for God just because he’s God.
MATTHEW 26:10 NIV
10 Aware of this, Jesus said to them, “Why are you bothering this woman? She has done a beautiful thing to me.”
ALWAYS PUT GOD FIRST
We are all prone to put our agenda first above God’s agenda.
It’s always easy to make excuses when you don’t want to prioritize God.
Application
Is there some unfinished assignment in your life?
MAKE THE BEST OF SECOND CHANCES
PSALMS 86:5 NIV
5 You are forgiving and good, O Lord, abounding in love to all who call to you.
MICAH 7:18 NIV
18 Who is a God like you, who pardons sin and forgives the transgression of the remnant of his inheritance? You do not stay angry forever but delight to show mercy.
LAMENTATIONS 3:22-23 ESV
22 The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; 23 they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.
God is not only the God of second chances; he is the God of another chance.
Application
What do you do with God’s second chance?
2 CORINTHIANS 6:1 NIV
1 As God's fellow workers we urge you not to receive God's grace in vain.
No matter how badly you’ve messed up, God has not changed your mission.
Application
Is there someone you need to give a second chance?
GOD BLESSES OUR OBEDIENCE
Blessings come through obedience.
Reflection
How are you spending your time?
Reflection
How are you spending your money, which is really God’s money?
Reflection
What do you think about the most?
If we have God with us, there is nothing else that we need.
Application
What does obedience to God look like to you today?
Obedience is God’s way of giving us what’s best for us.