(Anuman ang ginagawa mo sa iyong buhay ay maaaring mas ilapit ka o mas ilayo ka sa Diyos.)
HAGGAI 1:5-7
“Now therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts; Consider your ways.
Hag 1:6 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.
Hag 1:7 Thus saith the Lord of hosts; Consider your ways.”
Introduction:
a.
Haggai gave a serious reminder to every Christian.
b.
Many Christians today are happy and content with their
lives in a successful world but this will cause them to turn away from God.
1JOHN 2:15 “Love not the world, neither the things [that are] in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.”
Four (4) important things to examine in the Christian
life:
I.
THE CHRISTIAN IS TOO BUSY WITH THE WORLD BUT NOT TOO BUSY WITH
THE LORD
(Ang Kristiyano ay masyadong abala sa mundo
ngunit hindi masyadong abala sa Panginoon.)
2TIMOTHY 4:10 “For Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present
world, and is departed unto Thessalonica; Crescens to Galatia, Titus unto
Dalmatia.”
a. Demas is just
one example of Christians busy with the world but not busy with God and His
work.
b. God warns us
not to love the world because if we love the world we will lose the love of
God.
1JOHN 2:15-17 “Love not the world, neither the things [that are] in the
world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
1Jn 2:16 For all that [is] in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of
the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.
1Jn 2:17 And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth
the will of God abideth for ever.”
c. Friendship
with the world is enmity with God.
JAMES 4:4 “Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the
friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a
friend of the world is the enemy of God.”
II. THE CHRISTIAN ENJOYS THE BLESSINGS OF THE WORLD BUT
DOES NOT PARTICIPATE IN THE WORK OF THE LORD
(Ang Kristiyano ay nagtatamasa ng mga pagpapala
ng mundo ngunit hindi nakikilahok sa gawain ng Diyos.)
MALACHI 3:8-9 “Will a man rob God? Yet ye have
robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings.
Mal 3:9 Ye [are] cursed with a curse: for ye have robbed me, [even] this whole
nation.”
a. God has
blessed the Christian life with many blessings in their life but they have not
been faithful in giving to the Lord.
JOHN 10:10 “The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and
to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have [it] more
abundantly.”
PSALM 1:3 “And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water,
that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither;
and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.”
b. That is why
God is the One who prevents from pouring out the abundant blessings that He has
promised.
HAGGAI 1:6 “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.”
c. Those who
have been faithful can expect many blessings as promised by God to faithful
Christians.
MALACHI 3:10 “Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may
be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I
will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that [there
shall] not [be room] enough [to receive it].”
III. THE CHRISTIAN IS TOO PREOCCUPIED WITH EARTHLY THINGS
BUT NOT WITH HEAVENLY THINGS
(Ang
Kristiyano ay masyadong abala sa mga bagay sa lupa ngunit hindi sa mga bagay na
makalangit.)
MATTHEW 6:25, 32 “Therefore I say unto you, Take no
thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for
your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body
than raiment?
Mt 6:32 (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:)
for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.”
a. They are
always worried about what they will eat, what they will wear and what they will
drink in their daily lives.
MATTHEW 6:31 “Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or,
What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?”
b. The Lord said
it was just a proof of unbelief in God and they were like the unsaved Gentiles.
MATTHEW 6:32 “(For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your
heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.”
c. Jesus'
challenge to them was to seek first the things of heaven and His righteousness.
MATTHEW 6:33 “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his
righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.”
Ø Paul also
challenged the Colossians.
Ø That we will
devote our minds and hearts to the things above.
COLOSSIANS 3:1-2 “If ye then be risen with Christ,
seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of
God.
Col 3:2 Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.”
IV. THE CHRISTIAN HAS THE COURAGE TO FACE THE
CHALLENGES OF LIFE IN THE WORLD BUT DOES NOT HAVE THE COURAGE TO PROCLAIM THE
GOSPEL TO THE SINFUL WORLD
(Ang
Kristiyano ay may lakas ng loob na harapin ang mga hamon ng buhay sa mundo
ngunit walang lakas ng loob na ipahayag ang ebanghelyo sa makasalanang mundo.)
JAMES 4:13 “Go to now, ye that say, To day or to morrow we will go into
such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain:”
a. Paul's challenge is not to be afraid and not to
be ashamed to proclaim the gospel of Christ because God will give us power.
2TIMOTHY 1:8 “Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord,
nor of me his prisoner: but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel
according to the power of God;”
b. God's warning to every Christian who is ashamed of
the Lord to proclaim the gospel is that Christ will also shame them before God
the Father and the angels in heaven.
MARK 8:38 “Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of me and of my words
in this adulterous and sinful generation; of him also shall the Son of man be
ashamed, when he cometh in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.”
c. Paul is a good example of a Christian who is
willing to proclaim the gospel to people with courage and without shame.
ROMANS 1:15-16 “So, as much as in me is, I am ready
to preach the gospel to you that are at Rome also.
Rom 1:16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of
God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to
the Greek.”
Conclusion:
God has a serious reminder to every Christian to examine
or meditate on our Christian life because it determines whether we are getting
closer or farther from God in our way of living.
HAGGAI 1:5 “Now therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts; Consider your ways.”
MATTHEW 6:33 ““But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his
righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.”
God bless you all
[Let Us Pray For One Another]
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