Title: A Call to Courage (3 of 4)
Series: Avoid Apathetic Worship-No Procrastination!
Author: Keith Krell
Text: Haggai 2:1-9
I once read a short story about the devil. It was fiction, but the observations were 100% true. In the story, the devil is having a yard sale. Laid out on a blanket are a bunch of tools with stickers showing different prices. Demons are checking out the selection and deciding which ones to buy. Nothing is new. All the tools are well-used. The demons look closely at the tools. Hatred and jealousy are pretty affordable. Lust and deceit cost more. Hypocrisy and pride are quite expensive. But then the demons notice there is one tool all by itself. It's dinged up and scarred. The handle is completely worn from heavy use. But the price is way higher than all the others. The tool is discouragement. The demons don't understand, so they ask the devil about it. He replies, "It's been more useful to me than any other tool. I use discouragement when I can't bring down my victims with any of the rest of these tools. It crushes spirits, removes hope, and almost always creates defeat and despair." The demons ask why discouragement works when the othertools don't. The devil wryly responds, "Because so few people realize that it belongs to me."
I'm sure we would agree that discouragement is from the devil. And in our more honest moments, wewould all probably acknowledge that we know a thing or two about discouragement. But how can we deal with the discouragement in our lives? Haggai 2 provides two important remedies to discouragement.
1. Stop Looking Back (2:1-3). In 2:1-2, Haggai writes, "On the twenty-first of the seventh month, the word of the LORD came by Haggai the prophet saying, 'Speak now to Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and to the remnant of the people."Judah is discouraged because they have a short-term memory. After Haggai's barnburner of a sermon in ch. 1, G ...
Series: Avoid Apathetic Worship-No Procrastination!
Author: Keith Krell
Text: Haggai 2:1-9
I once read a short story about the devil. It was fiction, but the observations were 100% true. In the story, the devil is having a yard sale. Laid out on a blanket are a bunch of tools with stickers showing different prices. Demons are checking out the selection and deciding which ones to buy. Nothing is new. All the tools are well-used. The demons look closely at the tools. Hatred and jealousy are pretty affordable. Lust and deceit cost more. Hypocrisy and pride are quite expensive. But then the demons notice there is one tool all by itself. It's dinged up and scarred. The handle is completely worn from heavy use. But the price is way higher than all the others. The tool is discouragement. The demons don't understand, so they ask the devil about it. He replies, "It's been more useful to me than any other tool. I use discouragement when I can't bring down my victims with any of the rest of these tools. It crushes spirits, removes hope, and almost always creates defeat and despair." The demons ask why discouragement works when the othertools don't. The devil wryly responds, "Because so few people realize that it belongs to me."
I'm sure we would agree that discouragement is from the devil. And in our more honest moments, wewould all probably acknowledge that we know a thing or two about discouragement. But how can we deal with the discouragement in our lives? Haggai 2 provides two important remedies to discouragement.
1. Stop Looking Back (2:1-3). In 2:1-2, Haggai writes, "On the twenty-first of the seventh month, the word of the LORD came by Haggai the prophet saying, 'Speak now to Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and to the remnant of the people."Judah is discouraged because they have a short-term memory. After Haggai's barnburner of a sermon in ch. 1, G ...
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