Monday, March 2, 2009

You don't have to give it, but you aint gonna keep it!

Haggai Chapter 1 is a powerful passage that hit me like a brick wall all week long as I prepared for my message this morning. Click here to read it! I've read this passage many times, but never through the lens of economic times like these. New insights emerged. There's a lot of great stuff in this passage, but here are just a few thoughts I shared this morning:

God seriously wants to come first in your life! He wants you to honor Him first! If you are not, you may just find yourself wondering why nothing seems to be enough and things seem to be falling apart (a familiar story to many these days). I love this quote by Dietrich Bonhoffer, "Satan does not here fill us with hatred of God, but with forgetfulness of God." Don't forget him just because the volume of bills and needs yell at you!

God never rebuked Israel for building their house. He rebuked them for not building HIS house FIRST! Likewise, God is not disapproving of your stuff. He just wants to come before it! What moves might you need to make toward building into God's House today?

Look, I believe that God owns a cattle on a thousand hills. He is God! It is all His. I also believe that God does not need your money and you do not have to give it....but you aint gonna keep it. Allow me to repeat that. You do not have to give it, but you aint gonna keep it!

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