Inward Prayer

Small Group Questions:

1. Haggai calls God’s people back to obeying God and reprioritizing their lives. What are the priorities in your life?
2. Out of a place of repentance and obedience God sends the Holy Spirit to be with the Israelites. When was the last time you experienced the presence of the Holy Spirit? Think about the last time you repented (turned back to God) and share about what changed going forward.
3. God promises that his future temple will be glorious, as it will be full of his glory. Paul reminds us in 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 that we are the temple of the Holy Spirit, therefore God wants to show his glory through you! How does that make you feel? What are some things you could be doing to show that your body is a temple?
4. What do you think a healthy community at Beulah Youth looks like in light of today’s message? And what can you do to contribute to making our community healthy.

Outward Prayer

Week 2 | Sept 22
We Won’t be the Same | Realigning our priorities

Value: Healthy Community

The Main Point: Returning from exile, we won’t be the same people, and that’s OK! But who are we becoming? What are our priorities?

The Bible: Haggai 2: 5-9

The Context:

Haggai challenges returned exiles to remain faithful and rebuild the temple.

The recently returned exiles face hardship in their rebuilding efforts and struggle to remain faithful after so much loss and disappointment. Haggai assures the people that their efforts and faithfulness will be blessed. God will one day build a new Jerusalem and live amidst his people.

Haggai 2:5-9 reminds the people that it is always God who has been in control, and to live as followers of him in healthy community we must remain in his Spirit and trust him to do what only he can do. Haggai encourages the reader that this starts out of a place of repentance and faithfulness. From this, God’s kingdom will come.

The Core:

As you prepare your core of the message using story and questions keep in mind these points:

1. What priorities have shifted through Covid?
2. What may be some of the things we have to repent of, and trust God for again?
3. How do we live as we are filled with the Holy Spirit? (“The future glory of this Temple will be greater”) We are God’s temple.
4. What does a healthy community look like in regards to Haggai’s challenge?
   

The Challenge:

As you think of a call to action or challenge for your listeners, keep in mind these points:

1. Realigning priorities is a deliberate action. Therefore we have to take steps. What would that look like?
2. Who are you becoming?
3. Do you trust God that he will bring to fruition all he has promised?