Christmas time brings memories of God's graciousness and Christ's humility. The Book of Haggai surprisingly captures fresh and deep pictures of these two themes. One might wonder how a book speaking about the need to finish rebuilding the temple would speak about these things, but it does with such depth and penetrating insight that it has brought me to tears and a heart exploding of thankfulness many times over.
God's graciousness?
How do you respond to children or other people under your authority who regularly ignore your orders? We get to see how God works with difficult people. No loud voices, but clear firm and caring instructions. You should see how God got them going with the vigor of a stampede!
Christ's humility?
During Christmas, we have a manger that reminds us of Christ's willingness to live a most simple life for our sakes. The book of Haggai shows us how the Lord chose to use the humble, inferior second temple to picture Christ rather than the first, ornate and glorious temple that Solomon built.
Full with a 'Living Commentary,' special introductory charts and chronology, both basic and advanced questions, and two special studies, this series truly serves to motivate us to serve God and ready ourselves to take part in the special work He has called us to at the end of this age.
The way the world does things is not working. Families, churches, marriages, relationships, even societies are suffering so much because they reject God's principles taught in the scriptures.
Let's see how God models both a leader and a counselor in the book of Haggai. There are so many exciting principles to discover in each special study. More than this, we elaborate the reasons these biblical methods work. Whether it be in your corporate office or in your humble home, we hope you join us in learning from these biblical models!
What do you do when people don't carry out your instructions? Your answer shows some things about your leadership style. What you would like to do, though, really reveals how you will lead those you are responsible for!
God met up with the same problem that we often face. Incompetency. Laziness. Neglect. By examining God's response to such a people in Haggai, we are able to clearly see a most effective leadership model that enables us to effectively lead at work, home or in the church.
Two ineffective models of leadership will also be discussed: authoritarian and libertarian, but our main focus will be explaining the effective biblical standard of leadership.
Two cycles of despair are seen with both their lows and highs. We see what happens when guilt is piled up and certain things God has asked us to do are neglected.
Cycle #1 shows us how to overcome discouragement while Cycle #2 gives us tremendous insight into how to overcome discouragement.
In an age of despair, we not only have to guard ourselves from depression, we need to learn how to help others step from despair into the joy of service.
Biblical Foundations for Freedom