Building His House

Scripture for the week:
Humans can reproduce only human life, but the Holy Spirit gives birth to spiritual life. John 3:6 NLT

Thursday reading:
Haggai

key verse (s): 1:7

observations & questions:

Haggai 1:7

God challenged the people to quit building their own thing, but to begin to build His house.

Haggai 1:12

the whole remnant of Gods people began to obey the message from the Lord their God.

Haggai 1:12
God sends His message to them "I am with you, says the Lord".

after this Haggai tells us the Lord sparked the enthusiasm of the leaders and people. 1:14

The glory of this latter house will be greater than its past glory. 2:8

God will fill it with glory 2:7

God will bring peace there. 2:9

From this day onward I will bless you. 2:19

Even in the shaking of the world in those days, God would honor those who followed Him. 2:23


application or concept:
When our hearts and our minds pursue building God's house we put ourselves on Gods side and have His supernatural help to fulfill his purposes.

prayer:
Lord, show us how to build your house, how do we build a house of prayer for all nations ?

Learning Agenda:

Lead chapter 1

4 W's - keys to a healthy cell group meeting

1. Welcome (15 minutes) - The idea is to connect each person in the group with the others. An icebreaker is typically used here.

2. Worship (20 minutes) - worship time centers on Gods worthiness. you can worship with songs, prayer, silence, reading a Psalm, etc. Don't be afraid to use a CD player or ipod if you don't have someone playing guitar.

3. Word (40 minutes) - the goal is talking about Gods word and applying it to our daily lives. The best leaders are those that help facilitate the conversations away from political discussions, criticism of the church, etc and keep people focused on applying Gods word to their lives. One challenge for the leaders is not to talk too much. This is not a preaching platform but a place to discuss Gods word.

4. Witness (15 minutes) - This time is focused on reaching out to others in the form of planning outreaches, social action, or praying for those who don't know the Lord.

The two keys to good home group leaders were that they cared and they prayed.

Prayer:
God, you are the God who supplies all our needs. I pray that the new singles lifehouses will be filled with your supply. I pray for each of our new leaders and those of us who have been leading that you would give us caring hearts for those that come to our groups. God continue to show us how to pray for those you send us to influence.