God's Plan of Economy
Put God First
November 6, 2022

Today’s Scriptures
II Chronicles 24, Haggai 1

You cannot score a home run without touching first base.


The foundational principle of Stewardship is

.



Embrace the principle of God being first, or you will aways struggle to properly steward His resources.



How you spend the money you possess what is to you.



We will never have the right perspective of giving to God until we make sure He is in our lives.



Two characteristics that kept the nation of Israel from experiencing all God wanted for them:
1. They made .

I never knew a man that was good at making excuses who was good at doing anything else. —Billy Sunday



2. They were

.



3. They missed God’s .



Blessings come through .

Don’t miss out on God’s blessings in your life by making your life all about you.

To be on the receiving end of God’s unmatched Generosity, how can we be stingy on the giving end of His resources with which He supplies us?

Discuss in a Life Group

Read Together

Temple Repaired
8 So the king commanded, and they made a chest and set it outside by the gate of the house of the Lord. 9 They made a proclamation in Judah and Jerusalem to bring to the Lord the levy fixed by Moses the servant of God on Israel in the wilderness. 10 All the officers and all the people rejoiced and brought in their levies and dropped them into the chest until they had finished. 11 It came about whenever the chest was brought in to the king’s officer by the Levites, and when they saw that there was much money, then the king’s scribe and the chief priest’s officer would come, empty the chest, take it, and return it to its place. Thus they did daily and collected much money. 12 The king and Jehoiada gave it to those who did the work of the service of the house of the Lord; and they hired masons and carpenters to restore the house of the Lord, and also workers in iron and bronze to repair the house of the Lord. 13 So the workmen labored, and the repair work progressed in their hands, and they restored the house of God according to its specifications and strengthened it. —2 Chronicles 24:8-13

Haggai Begins Temple Building
1 In the second year of Darius the king, on the first day of the sixth month, the word of the Lord came by the prophet Haggai to Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, saying, 2 “Thus says the Lord of hosts, ‘This people says, “The time has not come, even the time for the house of the Lord to be rebuilt.”’” 3 Then the word of the Lord came by Haggai the prophet, saying, 4 “Is it time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses while this house lies desolate?” 5 Now therefore, thus says the Lord of hosts, “Consider your ways! 6 You have sown much, but harvest little; you eat, but there is not enough to be satisfied; you drink, but there is not enough to become drunk; you put on clothing, but no one is warm enough; and he who earns, earns wages to put into a purse with holes.”

7 Thus says the Lord of hosts, “Consider your ways! 8 Go up to the mountains, bring wood and rebuild the temple, that I may be pleased with it and be glorified,” says the Lord. 9 “You look for much, but behold, it comes to little; when you bring it home, I blow it away. Why?” declares the Lord of hosts, “Because of My house which lies desolate, while each of you runs to his own house. 10 Therefore, because of you the sky has withheld [h]its dew and the earth has withheld its produce. 11 I called for a drought on the land, on the mountains, on the grain, on the new wine, on the oil, on what the ground produces, on men, on cattle, and on all the labor of your hands.” —Haggai 1:1-11

DISCUSS

Discuss what it “looks like” to put God first in our lives.



How should putting God first transform our stewardship and generosity towards His work?



Discuss the problems that come by making excuses to God and by being selfish with our finances.



Discuss specific ways God has been extravagantly generous to us.

Pray Together

Pray for each other and record any prayer requests here.