Consider Your Ways:

Introduction:
1... The message of Haggai is a message encouraging the rebuilding of the Temple.
A... It is a message about priorities.
B... It is a message about considering your ways.
2... Have you considered how and why you are blessed? Have you considered how much more
that you could be blessed?
Hag 1:5
Now therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts; Consider your ways.
KJV
The Book of Haggai draws attention to common problems most people face even today.
1... Haggai asks us, to examine our priorities to see if we are more interested in our own
pleasures than doing the work of God;
2... Haggai asks us, to rest secure in God's hands knowing that He will abundantly bless us as we
faithfully serve Him.
Priorities:
1... A woman was sitting next to an empty seat at the Super Bowl stadium. A man asked the
woman about it. The woman explained, It was my husbandsbut he died. The man said to
her, Im surprised that another relative or friend didnt jump at the chance to take his seat. She
answered, I dont understand it either. But, they all decided on going to his funeral instead.
2... A farmer ran this classified ad in the Sunday News Paper: Farmer with 160 irrigated acres
wants marriage-minded woman with a tractor. When replying, please send picture of the tractor.
3... Whether we think about it or not, we all live according to priorities.
4... A priority is something that has first importance in our life.
5... (Matt.6:33) says; But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these
things will be added to you.
6... (Lk.12:42-44) says, And the Lord said, Who then is the faithful and wise manager, whom
his master will set over his household, to give them their portion of food at the proper time?
Blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes. Truly, I say to you, he
will set him over all his possessions.
On Judgment Day I believe God will check on at least three measurable priorities during our
lifetime:
Our schedule.
1... What do we spend most of our time doing? (Just between you and God, How much time have
you given God this week?)
2... The founder of McDonalds, was asked by a reporter about his order of priorities. He said, I
believe in God, my family and then McDonalds.

3... (Eph.5:15) tell us to Look carefully how we walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best
use of the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the
will of the Lord is.
4... (Jam.4:13-17) goes right to the point. Come now, you who say, Today or tomorrow we will
go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit yet you do
not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little
time and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or
that. As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. So whoever knows the right
thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.
Our spending.
1... Would we be embarrassed if God saw what we bought and how much we spent?
2... Our checkbook is a record of what our priorities are in life.
3... Our spending reveals our priorities.
Matt 6:19-21
19 Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and
where thieves break through and steal:
20 But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt,
and where thieves do not break through nor steal:
21 For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
KJV
4... (Lk.14:28) tells us, For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and
count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it?
5... (Prov.3:9) says; Honor the Lord with your wealth and with the firstfruits of all your produce.
Our speech.
1... We will be judged by our words.
2... Do spiritual things excite us or do they bore us?
3... Our words show what condition our heart is in!
Luke 6:45-46
45 A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good; and an
evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil: for of the
abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh.
46 And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?
KJV
The people in Jerusalem thought that their priorities were just fine.
1... Shortly after returning from their seventy year exile they rebuilt the walls of Jerusalem under
the leadership of Nehemiah. They also laid the foundation for the Jewish temple under the
leadership of the Jewish priest Ezra.
2... But that was sixteen years earlier. They started out strong, but something happened and they
lost their focus. They kept saying, "The time has not yet come to rebuild the temple." They didnt
deny that it was their responsibility, but they kept putting it off for another day.
3... The real problem was misplaced priorities among Gods people.
4... This is why he told them in (Vs5) to consider your ways.
Hag 1:3-5
3 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.

KJV
5... Their priorities were on their house, not the house of the Lord. For 17 years they were
building their own houses, while the house of God had not been finished. (The word the Lord
gave me is this, the Lord can't bless your house until we bless the Lord's house).
6... In (Vs4) the Lord says to them, "It is time for you." (What the Lord was saying to them, it is
time for you to break the curse, and start living the blessed life).
7... Because of mispriorities they limited the blessings of God. The prophet was asking the Jews
to carefully attend to, or carefully assess, their neglect of the temple, since the Lord was not
obligated to bless their lives.
Hag 1:6
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.
KJV
8... In (Hag 1:7) he once again reminded them to; Consider your ways.
9... In (Vs9) we see the effects of mis-priorities. Ye looked for much, and, lo, it came to little; and
when ye brought it home, I did blow upon it. Why? saith the LORD of hosts. Because of mine
house that is waste, and ye run every man unto his own house.
10... In (Vs10) we find; Therefore the heaven over you is stayed from dew, and the earth is
stayed from her fruit.
11... In (Vs11) we find that mis-priorities will bring about a drought. And I called for a drought
upon the land, and upon the mountains, and upon the corn, and upon the new wine, and upon the
oil, and upon that which the ground bringeth forth, and upon men, and upon cattle, and upon all
the labour of the hands.
He will abundantly bless us as we faithfully serve Him.
1... (Pro.28:20) says; A faithful man will abound with blessings, but whoever hastens to be rich
will not go unpunished.