By Michael C. Mack

1. What excuses do people tend to make for putting their own comfort and self-interests above God’s priorities? 

Read Haggai 1:1–11. 

2. How would you describe the priorities and the hearts of the people in this passage?

3. What is the inference behind the Lord’s question for his people in verse 4? (Also see verse 9.) 

4. Why did God desire for the temple to be rebuilt? 

5. What overriding principle(s) did God want his people to understand and live by? (Also see Matthew 6:33; Proverbs 3:9, 10; and, if you want to go even deeper, see Leviticus 26:3-13; Deuteronomy 16:17; 28:1-14; 30:3-9.) 

6. How are God’s people today like or unlike the people of Haggai’s day? Share some specific examples. 

7. What are the consequences of making our own comfort our primary concern over God’s priorities? 

8. Twice in this passage God instructs, “Give careful thought to your ways.” As you examine yourself, what do you sense God saying to you about your priorities?

Michael Mack is the author of 16 small group books and discussion guides, including I’m a Leader . . . Now What? (Standard Publishing). He also leads church training events and consults with churches through his ministry, Small Group Leadership (www.smallgroupleadership.com).