The Message Of Haggai—Finish What You Start!

Haggai 1:3-5, “Then came the word of the LORD by Haggai the prophet, saying, Is it time for you, O ye, to dwell in your cieled houses, and this house lie waste? Now therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts; Consider your ways.”

The Jews had returned from 70 years of captivity in Babylon. They were now back in the holy city of Jerusalem. Zerrubbabel began to rebuilt the temple and altars so the Jews could worship God. The Samaritans discouraged them from rebuilding, looking down on the Jews as troublemakers. The rebuilding halted for about 16 years, but the Jews worked on their own houses instead. Put another way, Jesus said in Luke 16:13, “No servant can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.” Nothing has destroyed soulwinning churches all across America like money-making Bible colleges, training young people to pursue careers instead of preparing them for a calling from God to preach the Word.

Sadly, that is so much like the Bible colleges and churches today. We see clergy of all sorts (pastors, Bible professors, Bible college executives, evangelists, missionaries, et cetera) working to make money, pursuing careers instead of soulwinning, turning God's house into a business instead of an orchard to win souls. They are lining their own pockets in their human religious efforts, instead of letting the Lord build the churches. Psalms 127:1, “Except the LORD build the house, they labour in vain that build it: except the LORD keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain.” For the entire year that I attended the Harvest Baptist Church on Guam in 2014, I never once heard any mention about the Holy Spirit, or the power of the Holy Spirit. The church congregation applauded after special music, instead of saying “Amen.” The purpose of special music ought to be to prepare people's hearts for the preaching, not entertain them!

Haggai and Zechariah preached a revival to encourage the people to finish what they started. Years later, Nehemiah rebuilt the city walls. Haggai 1:6-8, “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. Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Consider your ways. Go up to the mountain, and bring wood, and build the house; and I will take pleasure in it, and I will be glorified, saith the LORD.” The prophet Haggai told the people why their crops were failing. Haggai told them why they were not prospering. The reason why is because they had forgotten about the house of the Lord. Haggai's message was simple—finish what you start!

Here is a helpful slide presentation showing the chronology of events. This picture is helpful, which is taken from the preceding Bible presentation...

The preceding chart will help you understand the Bible better, as you read these Old Testament historical books.

I love the boldness and honesty of Nehemiah, who didn't hesitate to tell their enemies why he wouldn't meet with them. Nehemiah boldly told them that he had better things to do! I love that! Nehemiah said he was doing a GREAT WORK! Nehemiah 6:1-3, “Now it came to pass, when Sanballat, and Tobiah, and Geshem the Arabian, and the rest of our enemies, heard that I had builded the wall, and that there was no breach left therein; (though at that time I had not set up the doors upon the gates;) That Sanballat and Geshem sent unto me, saying, Come, let us meet together in some one of the villages in the plain of Ono. But they thought to do me mischief. And I sent messengers unto them, saying, I am doing a great work, so that I cannot come down: why should the work cease, whilst I leave it, and come down to you?” 

Dear reader, I am doing a GREAT WORK! Preaching the truth is the most important thing in the universe. Nothing is more important or greater than preaching the Gospel. If I were to become the President of the United States, it wouldn't be as great as what I am doing through my website ministry! I am soulwinning! I am upholding the deity of Jesus Christ. I am contending for the Christian faith. I am proclaiming the infallibility and inspiration of God's Word in the King James Bible!!! God called me to be a preacher before I was even conceived (Jeremiah 1:5).

It frustrates me that nothing matters much to the Bob Jones University crowd. They use, sell and promote umpteen Bible versions. That is not the Lord's way. The once great citadel of Fundamentalism in the United States—Bob Jones College (founded in 1927)—has deteriorated since 1968 (the year Dr. Bob Jones Sr. went to Heaven) into a cesspool of iniquity, preaching the Devil's lie of Lordship Salvation! 

Luke 8:14, “And that which fell among thorns are they, which, when they have heard, go forth, and are choked with cares and riches and pleasures of this life, and bring no fruit to perfection.” The Bob Jones' crowd have been choked by the love of career, social acceptance, ecumenism, ecclesiastical peer pressure, along with the cares and pleasures of this life. The Bob Jones' crowd are spiritually barren. I've lived at my present residence for 6 years, and not once has Harvest Baptist Church knocked on a single door anywhere on Guam with the Gospel. I know because they have no soulwinning outreach. Oh how I wish they had a soulwinning ministry! 

But hey, they're making big bucks with their religious school! Cha-ching! Whoo hoo... money, money, money! That's the Bob Jones theme—we've got the money! Money is the universal language. People don't care unless something affects their money, then they get angry (Acts 19:24-27). But people dying in their sins and going to Hell, well, that's just the way it is, right? Hardly any professed Christians care about winning souls anymore, because our shameful pastors have turned the churches into entertainment fun centers and psychology classes. This woeful evil is the consequence of people sending their kids off to apostate Bible colleges to pursue a career! if you want to make money, don't parasite off Christendom!

I digress! There is nothing more important than the work of God. Somebody's got to care! The reason why the homosexual agenda is spreading like the plague across America is simply because the ungodly newsmedia are relentlessly promoting this evil. Hollywood is promoting this evil incessantly. Netflix is promoting the evils of hardcore Satanism (gore, blood, guts, violence, human sacrifice, torture, sexual immorality of all forms, feminism, gender-bending, blasphemy)! Netflix has nearly 200,000,000 paid subscribers worldwide and still climbing! The Antichrist is coming soon folks, clearly evidenced by the way the world is morally deteriorating so quickly. However, the primary reason why evil is triumphing over good is simply because the churches are dead today! Pastors no longer preach! Sin is no longer hated. 

Professed Christians are really bad these days. There's a professed Christian man on Guam named Andrew, that owns his own auto-repair business. He is a Korean man. Unfortunately he is also a liar. Immanuel Auto Repair is the name of the place. I asked him the other day if he would replace the brake pads on the front. He insistently said that he would call me the next day. He reminded me three times. Yet, he never called. That's not the first time he's lied to me like that. It is his way of letting me know that he doesn't want to work on my car. The last time I let him work on my car, he charged me $500 just to change the oil, one ignition coil, and four spark plugs. That is highway robbery! When I asked him about it he became offended, because he knows that he rips people off. Regardless, a man is a liar who says he will do something, but then doesn't. For a professed Christian that is very bad!!! Proverbs 6:2, “Thou art snared with the words of thy mouth, thou art taken with the words of thy mouth.” I often say, “No promises!,” to people, because I don't want to be a liar!

As Christians our word ought to mean something. When we say we are going to do something, it should be so! Haggai 1:5, “Now therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts; Consider your ways.”