Check Your Pockets
Haggai 1:5-9 (NIV) · Pastor Otis J. Petteway, III · September 13, 2026
For Small Groups
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What is one thing you are always losing, like your keys or your phone charger?
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Now this is what the Lord Almighty says: “Give careful thought to your ways. You have planted much, but harvested little. You eat, but never have enough. You drink, but never have your fill. You put on clothes, but are not warm. You earn wages, only to put them in a purse with holes in it.” This is what the Lord Almighty says: “Give careful thought to your ways. Go up into the mountains and bring down timber and build my house, so that I may take pleasure in it and be honored,” says the Lord. “You expected much, but see, it turned out to be little. What you brought home, I blew away. Why?” declares the Lord Almighty. “Because of my house, which remains a ruin, while each of you is busy with your own house.
Haggai 1:5-9 (NIV)The Big Idea
Lack in our lives often traces back to not being locked in with God, and being locked in shows up at His house. Being locked in with God is the blessing itself, not the means to some other blessing.
The Message
- The Leak (Haggai 1:5-6). God tells His people to give careful thought to their ways because everything they gain keeps slipping away. They plant much and harvest little, and they earn wages only to put them in a purse with holes in it. The leak is a sign of distance from God before it is a budgeting problem.
- The Lumber (Haggai 1:7-8). God's remedy is specific: go up into the mountains, bring down timber, and build My house. Locking in with God shows up in what we do about His house, not only in what we feel about Him. He wants to take pleasure in it and be honored.
- The Ledger (Haggai 1:9). God explains the account plainly: you expected much, but it turned out to be little, because My house remains a ruin while each of you is busy with your own. When the people obeyed, God's first entry in the ledger was not a payment but a promise: "I am with you" (Haggai 1:13). At the cross the debt we could never pay was canceled, and His presence is the blessing.
Talk About It
- Haggai tells the people twice to "give careful thought to your ways." Why do you think God repeated Himself?
- Verse 6 describes people working hard and still coming up short. Where do you see that pattern in people's lives today?
- God's instruction in verse 8 was practical: go get timber and build. What does being locked in with God look like in practical terms for you?
- In verse 9 the people were busy with their own houses. What keeps you busy enough to neglect God's house?
- How does it change things to see God's presence, "I am with you," as the blessing itself rather than a way to get something else?
Live It Out
Sit down this week with your calendar and your bank statement and give careful thought to your ways. Mark one place where God's house can get your time or your giving first, and do it before Sunday.
For Families
God's people came home from a faraway land and started building their own houses, but they left God's house broken. They worked hard, yet it always felt like they never had enough. God told them to think about it and build His house, and when they listened, God told them, "I am with you."
Ask Your Kids
- What happens when you put something in a pocket with a hole in it?
- Why do you think God wanted His people to fix His house?
- What is one way our family can show God that He comes first?
Do It Together
Poke a small hole in the bottom of a paper bag and try to carry a handful of coins or dry beans across the room. Talk about how the people in Haggai kept losing what they worked for, and how God's best gift to them was being with them. Then pick one way your family will help at church this week.
Memory Verse
Then Haggai, the Lord’s messenger, gave this message of the Lord to the people: “I am with you,” declares the Lord.
Haggai 1:13 (NIV)dailylovefromhimabove.com · Daily Love is a ministry of Victory Community Church, Houston, Texas.