Haggai - Message & Summary

I wrote an expositional (explaining) study of the book of Haggai. I share with you the message, outline and summary:

Message

Misplaced priorities by God’s people are cause for discipline, but obedience allows for His promised presence and blessings.

Outline

I.                    Misplaced Priority #1 [1:1-15]

a.       Priority IS NOT establishing the community economically

b.      Priority IS establishing the Lord’s Temple

II.                 Misplaced Priority #2 [2:1-9]

a.       Priority IS NOT present (or past) situation

b.      Priority IS future hope

III.               Misplaced Priority #3 [2:10-19]

a.       Priority IS NOT ceremonial rituals

b.      Priority IS holiness

IV.              Misplaced Priority #4 [2:20-23]

a.       Priority IS NOT earthly kingship

b.   Priority IS divine kingship

Summary

The prophet Haggai speaks four messages from the Lord to the people of Judah who have returned from exile in Babylon to Jerusalem. He urges them to consider their ways, for they have misplaced priorities, neglecting their covenant priority of the Lord, illustrated through their neglect to rebuild the temple. Instead they have labored to build their own houses and establish their community. Therefore, the Lord has been disciplining His people. Zerubbabel, Joshua, and the remnant of Judah respond to the Lord’s rebuke through the prophet Haggai and obey the Lord’s instruction. This allows God’s blessing to come to them again and His presence to be among them. With the Lord as their main priority, the people have a great future hope, for He is the divine King who rules over all nations.

 

 

This, I believe, serves as a great reminder to us (Christians) today. Our priority is our relationship with God through Christ. Far too often we have misplaced priorities, though we make them sound quite righteous!

“THANKS, SWEETIE!!” update & more

Little did I know that I had an additional bonus related to Settler’s of Catan…the expansion pack (it was delivered yesterday)!! So, come on peeps…I can take on 5 of you at the same time (muuuhahahahahah)!!!! Not sure how she did it, but Mere found the deal of deals on this one. For less than half the price of the original game, she got the game AND the expansion pack! So, who wants to be one of the original/pioneer/maiden players on this voyage of strategy and domination?? I do believe 2 of the possible 5 spots are taken by wheeler and miller…they won’t last long…

Now this is the type of weather I’ve been waiting for: high of 77 and tonight it will be about 54! The only problem is it REALLY deters me from sitting in class…or sitting in a room reading a book under artificial lighting while outside the sun is shining and it’s warmth is momentarily pushed away by a crisp breeze… This is a time when I feel invigorated and going to conquer the world…then I remember that I still only have 24 hours each day

Luke has his first fever today. We are blessed that he is almost 4 months old (next week!) before having his first. Not sure why…maybe he is already working on a tooth or maybe he is fighting a minor infection. Mere, going for the “most accurate” (as we have been told) temperature reading, braved a rectal reading…oooooohhhhhh, not fun! It was at 101, so for now just tylenol and lots of luvin’

THANKS, SWEETIE!!

So, Friday was my birthday. I am my age last year + one. I’ve had tons of awesome birthdays, but I must say (no disrespect mom!) this one was an incredibly special one! It started off like any other day of my “adult” life: go to work, go to school, come home. The special part was in the coming home! I walked in the house from the garage and was met by my son looking cute as usual, my wife dressed up, a birthday cake on the table and a package next to it. What a treat! Luke was all smiles and Mere had baked a birthday cake and had a surprise present for me! Then she took me out to dinner!!

The surprise present turns into an invitation to all of you (though I may have to say “no” at some point[see previous post], but keep nagging me…I’m weak):

COME PLAY SETTLERS OF CATAN!!!

Just Say No…

…well, I can’t. Actually, I don’t want to. There are just too many “good” things to be doing. Sometimes maybe I can turn down a single event, but not the long term deal. Am I addicted to busyness, or perhaps I am that presumptious that I need to be involved? I hope it is neither! There has been a whittling process, a paring down of things that I am committing to.

It’s not fun to have to make choices about this stuff. Specifically when it is “ministry” type things. There are some number of pages to read for school but a friend calls and you know it will be a chance to encourage and challenge a brother in Christ. Do you answer? Sure…it’s never really that easy. It’s a series of intertwined choices with varying effects. But complexity is no excuse. There is still a question. There is still a choice. Yes…No…??

Contemporary Interpretations

So, I’m a parent now (I catch on fast, I know). As such, I’ve entered the realm of wisdom for parents, especially new parents. I don’t mind most of it…I do have a LOT to learn, after all. But some of it is just plain ridiculous! It seems magnified in the Christian subculture. So allow me to share a sad/comical piece of “Christian” parenting wisdom with you.

Train a child in the way he should go,
and when he is old he will not turn from it.
Proverbs 22:6

No pressure all you parents! You are just going to be judged based on the adherence of your child to the Christian values that you teach them. If you do it right, then it is promised that they will follow these values all their life. Have you ever heard of a pastor being fired because his teenage daughter became pregnant? I’ve heard stories. What about a professor who was asked if the seminary had fired him yet because his son is an alcoholic? Whaa…? I’m not going to delve into interpreting wisdom SAYINGS, not promises.

Lets just tag along this far-to-often-used interpretation of the proverb. It’s always good to apply scripture to scripture, right? Let’s look at Isaiah 1:2

I raised children, I brought them up,
but they have rebelled against me!

Does this make God a bad parent? I mean, the proverb promises that children will follow the training of their parents, so…

Well, gotta go train my child!

Rolling Right Along

And we’re into the rolling baby stage! It seemed sudden…one day Luke had his head thrown back and one leg cocked over his hips, but with no real effort to try to roll…and then we found him waking up from a nap because he had rolled over!

Rolling Over

Two days later, after many, many rolls, he finally figured out how to untuck his shoulder after he rolled, making it complete. Now it seems like we lay him down, he rolls over, he gets tired of being on his tummy, we roll him onto his back, he rolls over, he gets tired of being on his tummy, we roll him onto his back…repeat. Perhaps we will soon have some video!

Luke is changing so fast! He has become increasingly verbal with us and is working on his motor skills. For more pictures, click here.

Inexperience

There’s nothing like having a task before you when you know you are inexperienced and thus it will take FOREVER to complete!!! I’m a newbie grader…fresh out of newbie grader training school, where we were given our newbie grader training wheels (or not). Aghghghghghg!! I need to be efficient…streamlined…fast! But no, I’m the old clunker going 33 mph on the highway!

Task: biblical study based on Acts 17
Stats: ~20 assignments, 10 questions per assignment, essay responses
Result: estimated 8 hours

I don’t wanna be a newbie grader anymore!! (This took FAAAAAAAR to long!)

Quarter Year

My argument for the existence of God: Luke is alive and healthy…and so are mama and papa (well, I’m at least alive)!

This past week Luke made it through his first quarter of a year…we documented with plenty more pics, but I just haven’t gotten them online. So, here are a couple for you!

Luke 3 months

To celebrate this milestone, we thought Luke might enjoy some rice cereal…or maybe we might enjoy smearing it all over his face

Rice Cereal Smear

He also got a new onesie from Aunt Jenn (thanks Aunt Jenn!!) that is now very fitting. In the midst of excitement of adding something new to his diet, mama and papa forgot what this meant for the poopy’s…gone are the days of odourless diapers…they are already but a faint memory…

Lil

And no update is complete without a bit of mommy love! We enjoyed a walk in the park Sunday afternoon. We had hoped for a picnic, but it was a bit too hot to be there that long.

Mommy & Luke

 

P.S. Perhaps soon Luke’s latest acrobatic routine will leak out. Till then, here is a still of his karate high kick…

Karate Kick

all about dates

Just finished my first paper for the semester. Yaaay!

 

Okay. I’m not really that excited at the moment. But, I’m sure I will appreciate it more later…or at least hope I will. I spent 10 pages making this argument:

the gospel of Mark was written in the late fifties, probably AD 57-59

There, done! Okay, sure, there are other options and one of them has some good evidence to build its case, but this is the date of writing that I think best deals with all the evidence. What does this really matter, you ask? Well, the synoptic gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke) have the problem that there is so much similar material in them, but sometimes they are completely different. So, how come? Can these similarities and differences be explained? Sure! I argued in my paper that Mark is the first gospel written, thus it is a source for both Matthew and Luke when they wrote. This is helpful in understanding the gospel of Mark in relationship to Matthew and Luke, what was written that is similar, what was written that was different, yadda yadda yadda.

Cool. G’night

this n’ that

what can I say?  the semester is off and running…and apparently I don’t run too fast as I’m starting to hack on its dust as it leaves me behind

May I have your attention please! City authorities have now reset the emergency panel. You may return to your normal business activities. All building systems are fully operational.

This is the “all clear” message at work AFTER an emergency…problem is, we were all still sitting at our desks when it came over the PA. Makes me curious about the evacuation message…why didn’t we hear it? Care for irony? This happened the day after our quartely safety meeting where we were assured, yet again, how prepared and organized our safety procedures and personnel are…

Our “lil’ bruiser” is doing great!! He is 3 months old and as of this weekend, we have started adding rice cereal to his milk, which just wasn’t cutting it anymore. At first we were excited…then our smellers caught wind of other changes…gone are the days of odorless diapers! Oh my!!

Couch Gang

 

I teach again tomorrow night on angel terminology in the Bible, then have a break for about 4 weeks while my co-teacher works through an understanding of angels. I then come back with demons and Satan…nothing like giving a platform to subject material we don’t often discuss!

In Sunday School I kicked off our series on the book of Romans. We will be here pretty much through next spring. I’m thinking I may post my outline to the book and then the weekly text and questions we are working through…perhaps some of you will work through it as well and share some insights…(that was a challenge, by the way)

Hopefully I’ll get some posts going that have a little more substance to them…or at least thought provoking to my mind. It seems every day I have thougts for a great post…but then something else comes along, I never post, another thought pushes through, rinse and repeat.