Reference

Haggai 2:1-9

Sermon Notes

Haggai Part 2

Haggai 2:1-9

Finding Hope in the Present

 

 

Illustration:

Several years ago, I went back and visited Anderson University campus. It was nothing like I remembered. I remembered the old student center, where you could get about 6 or 7 different things all coated in grease, but it was delicious. 

I remembered the people and the size of the campus. It was a smaller community of students and I knew a lot of them. When I went back, I saw a student center that was enormous with a Chik-fil-A. The old tennis courts where I got my rear end handed to me playing tennis with Braxton were gone, and I barely recognized it. 

My heart was a little sad because I loved my time there, and I liked it the way it was. But I was happy for the new and vibrant future of the school.

Have you ever remembered the way something was and compared the landscape to today? My dad and grandad tell me about the town of Lancaster and how much it has changed. Just the other day, my dad was telling me about how my grandad could have bought a track of land, that we were driving by, for 75 bucks an acre. It is worth several million dollars now. Whoops.

 

Transition: Sometimes looking back can bring us joy, and sometimes it can bring us sorrow.

 

3 ‘Does anyone remember this house—this Temple—in its former splendor? How, in comparison, does it look to you now? It must seem like nothing at all! 4 But now the Lord says: Be strong, Zerubbabel. Be strong, Jeshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest. Be strong, all you people still left in the land. — Haggai 2:3-4

 

One of the first points we gain from Haggai’s prophecy tonight is:

  1. MAJOR POINT: Don’t Get Down About What Was because God Is Still in Control of What is.
  2. We may not be able to get the past back, but that doesn’t mean we do not have a future.
    1. God encourages the people through Haggai-
    2. He gives two commands:
      1. 4 “But now the Lord says: Be strong, Zerubbabel. Be strong, Jeshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest. Be strong, all you people still left in the land…” — Haggai 2:4
      2. And now get to work, for I am with you, says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. — Haggai 2:4
    3. Be Strong and Get to Work
    4. Be Strong
      1. We know strength is not only physical.