Sermon Study Guide | Series: Hope For Everyone | Sermon: Don’t Stop Believing | Scripture: Haggai 1:2-9 | Date: November 16, 2025

CONNECT - “A Personal Reflection”

This section is designed to help you relate personally to the theme of the sermon. It encourages you to reflect on your own life experiences and how they connect to the message.

Have you ever had a project or passion you started with great excitement but eventually let slide because life got in the way? Maybe it was a home project, a new habit, or even a spiritual rhythm. What made you stop? What does it take for you to restart something that matters? Share with your group

ENGAGE - “Exploring the Scripture”

This section invites you to dive into the biblical passage, discuss its meaning, and apply it to your life through thoughtful questions.

Read Haggai 1:2-9 together as a group.

• What stands out to you about the tone and timing of God’s message through Haggai?
  
  
• The word “priority” didn’t have a plural form until about 100 years ago. What do you think it means to treat God as the priority, not just a priority?
  
  
• God’s message wasn’t a rebuke for building homes, but a call to rebuild what matters most. What are some “paneled houses” in your life—good things that might have taken the place of the best thing?
  
  
• In Verse 6, Haggai uses phrases like “you eat, but never have enough” and “you earn wages, but put them into a bag with holes.” Can you relate to this sense of futility? Where have you experienced it?
  
  
• What does it look like to “consider your ways” (v.5, v.7) in our current cultural moment of busyness and over-commitment? What does that spiritual inventory reveal for you?
  
  
• God’s command wasn’t just to reflect, but to go—to bring wood and rebuild. What’s the difference between knowing what matters and doing something about it?
  
  
• Haggai’s audience responded. They got back to work. What would it look like for our group, or even just for you, to finish something God started in you?
  
  

APPLY - “Putting the Scriptures into Action”

This section challenges us to take what we’ve learned and implement it in practical ways in our daily lives.

• Where have you drifted from calling to comfort? Identify one specific area where you’ve prioritized ease over obedience. What’s one concrete step you could take this week to return to God’s calling? 
  
  • Write it down and share it with someone who can help you stay accountable.
    
    
• Where have you rationalized “tipping” God instead of investing fully in His work? What does generous, faithful investment (of time, energy, or resources) look like for you right now? Share with a trusted friend
  
  
• What is God asking you to start, stretch, or stay faithful in during this season? Listen for the Spirit’s prompting and write it down in a journal or note on your phone. 
  
  • Then take one small step this week toward obedience in that area—whether that’s making a phone call, signing up to serve, or setting a spiritual rhythm.
    
    

PRAY - “Seeking God’s Guidance”

This section offers a short prayer to help us center our hearts and invite God to work in our lives through his scripture.

God, we confess that we often get distracted—by the urgent, the comfortable, the things that make us feel in control. Thank you for calling us back, not to guilt or pressure, but to partnership with you. Stir in us the courage to build what matters, to consider what we’re really living for, and to go—trusting that what we build with you will last far beyond us. Help us respond, not with delay, but with devotion. Reignite what’s grown cold. Amen.