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Establishing Priorities

Bishop Terry L. Hill, Jr.Sunday, November 9, 20259am
📖 Haggai 1:2-13
We heard God’s call from Haggai 1:2–13 to put worship back in its rightful place by establishing God as our top priority. The message pressed the question of where God really fits in our lives, warning that misplaced priorities show up plainly in how we spend our time and our resources. When we make ourselves the priority, we can end up working hard yet staying unsatisfied, experiencing life that feels like constant loss and frustration. The word challenged us to reorder our lives so that spir…
Key Points
1.
God must be the top priority of our lives, not an afterthought squeezed in around everything else.
2.
Our true priorities are revealed by our time and our spending; they expose what we value most.
3.
When God is not first, our efforts can become unfulfilling and insufficient, producing frustration instead of satisfaction.
4.
When God is first, he orders everything else and assumes responsibility for what we need as we seek his kingdom.
5.
Reverence and obedience reposition us to receive God’s assurance and presence: “I am with you.”
📖 Haggai 1:2-13
[2] Thus speaketh the LORD of hosts, saying, This people say, The time is not come, the time that the LORD’s house should be built. [3] Then came the word of the LORD by Haggai the prophet, saying, [4] Is it time for you, O ye, to dwell in your cieled houses, and this house lie waste? [5] Now therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts; Consider your ways. [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. [7] ¶ Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Consider your ways. [8] Go up to the mountain, and bring wood, and build the house; and I will take pleasure in it, and I will be glorified, saith the LORD. [9] Ye looked for much, and, lo, it came to little; and when ye brought it home, I did blow upon it. Why? saith the LORD of hosts. Because of mine house that is waste, and ye run every man unto his own house. [10] Therefore the heaven over you is stayed from dew, and the earth is stayed from her fruit. [11] And I called for a drought upon the land, and upon the mountains, and upon the corn, and upon the new wine, and upon the oil, and upon that which the ground bringeth forth, and upon men, and upon cattle, and upon all the labour of the hands. [12] ¶ Then Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and Joshua the son of Josedech, the high priest, with all the remnant of the people, obeyed the voice of the LORD their God, and the words of Haggai the prophet, as the LORD their God had sent him, and the people did fear before the LORD. [13] Then spake Haggai the LORD’s messenger in the LORD’s message unto the people, saying, I am with you, saith the LORD.
Sermon Summary

We heard God’s call from Haggai 1:2–13 to put worship back in its rightful place by establishing God as our top priority. The message pressed the question of where God really fits in our lives, warning that misplaced priorities show up plainly in how we spend our time and our resources. When we make ourselves the priority, we can end up working hard yet staying unsatisfied, experiencing life that feels like constant loss and frustration.

The word challenged us to reorder our lives so that spiritual things take precedence over physical pursuits, trusting that when God is first, he takes responsibility for what concerns us. We were urged to respond with reverence and obedience, remembering that God’s promise—“I am with you”—meets us on the other side of renewed priorities. The practical invitation was to examine our calendars and finances, reestablish consistent space for worship, and live daily in a way that proves God is first in time, treasure, and talent.

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