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This is your daily reminder. God has not run

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out of mercy, not for you, not today. Welcome

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to the New Mercies Podcast. Welcome back. Monday,

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February the 23rd, and today's reading is in

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Haggai 1. again. I know last week we read Haggai

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1 a couple of times, and I know that Sunday we

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went through Haggai 1 in the pulpit on Sunday

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morning with our church family. And so once again,

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I want to read Haggai 1. On the podcast, I know

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I've been, I will take just a couple of verses

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and just kind of pull something out. As I've

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said before, and maybe you're new to all this,

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maybe you're kind of new to this podcasting thing.

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If you're watching on YouTube, you can kind of

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see I put some scripture up on the the screen

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for you. But if you're listening, maybe you're

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wondering why we do this this way, but here's

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what happens. So this is all overflow from the

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messages and the study time that God has given

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to me. And I hope and pray as you go through

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this, as a church family, we've been going through

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this reading plan and these journals, and the

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goal is always that you would search the scriptures

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and that you would allow the Lord to speak to

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you. That's the goal. Don't just take what I

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say and run with it and say, oh, this is what

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the Lord's telling me today. I'm revealing to

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you, I'm showing to you some of the things the

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Lord is speaking to me. They don't all fit in

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a sermon on Sunday, right? I wish I could pack

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everything into a 35, 40 -minute message, but

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there's just so much in the Scripture that's

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so rich, I don't ever want you to think I've

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discovered it all. I've figured it all out. So

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this is all Haggai 1 has to say. There's more.

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I hope you're reading it today with fresh eyes.

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You're listening today with fresh ears. I just

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want to read a couple of verses. verses to you

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in Haggai 1 towards the end of the chapter. So

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I want to read verses 12 and following. We'll

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probably make it all the way to verse 14 is my

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guess, those three verses. We'll see what happens.

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So here we go, Haggai 1, beginning at verse 12.

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Then Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, and Joshua,

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the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, with all

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the remnant of the people, obeyed the voice of

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the Lord their God and the words of Haggai the

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prophet, as the Lord their God had sent him.

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And the people feared the Lord. Then Haggai,

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the messenger of the Lord, spoke to the people

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with the Lord's message. I am with you, declares

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the Lord. Here's what is amazing about Haggai

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1. Now tomorrow, spoiler alert, you're going

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to be in Haggai 2. It is a... Really beautiful

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conclusion to what we are talking about today

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and to Haggai 1. Haggai, again, little background.

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There's been a remnant of the people that have

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gone from captivity. out to Jerusalem. Now they're

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there. They had started out, as we read in the

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first part of the chapter, I hope you read it

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again today, that they took care of themselves

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first before they took care of the Lord's house.

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But then something incredible happens. God tells

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them in the middle of the chapter there, there

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in verses 7 and following, he says, listen, I,

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you know, you... You took time and you built

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your own stuff, but then you realized that the

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land was drying up, the crop was bad, everything.

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I've shut off the heavens. I have done this.

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And it was obviously powerful enough that everybody

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realized it, right? Everybody realized it. In

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verses 12, 13, and 14, what we saw was that the

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secular leader, right? You've got this guy named

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Zerubbabel who is the secular leader of the time.

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That means he's the leader that's in charge.

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He's the elected guy, the governor. He's the

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one that's in charge. He gets it. He puts it

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together. He puts the idea together. God is not

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happy with us. He has done this, and so we need

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to honor him, right? The spiritual leader, Joshua,

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the guy, the high priest, he realizes it. So

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you've got the secular leader, you've got the

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spiritual leader, and then it says that with

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all the remnant of the people. Everybody started

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to recognize God is the one that's done this.

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It is not his fault. It's not his fault. It's

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not his fault. It's not his fault. It is God

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that has done this to bring us back to him. I

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absolutely love their response. It says that

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these guys got together. They said, you know

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what, let's get together and let's realize what

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we've done and what's happened. It wasn't just

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the prophet's great powerful words. It wasn't

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that Haggai was this. overwhelming orator that

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stood up and convinced everybody. Haggai just

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said, here's what God just said to me. He said

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that you guys paid attention to yourselves. That's

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why the crop's failing. That's why we're having

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some problems. That's why we're never full. We're

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never satisfied. That's why we can drink and

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never get enough. That's why it's our fault.

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God's the one that's setting us. That's the response

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of these people. And then we see a reassurance.

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What happens in verse 13 is God says, I'm with

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you. Now, here's something that you may not catch

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in this scripture if you only stick to Haggai

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1. If you just read this as a singular event

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and you never connect it to anything else in

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scripture, you miss something. Because what happens

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in Haggai 1 is also described in a place in Ezra.

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Ezra was a writing scribe. He writes about what

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happened with the remnants whenever they came

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back. And so whenever you realize that the Jews,

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whenever they began to rebuild the temple, there

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was opposition that came. Now, we don't see that

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in these couple of verses, but we can go and

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look in a couple places in Ezra, specifically

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chapter 5 in Ezra, and what you'll find is that

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there was this opposition that arose, but God

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says here, I'm with you. I'm with you. No worries.

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I'm with you. If we've learned anything from

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our reading plan in Psalm 127, if God builds

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a house, we're good. If he's protecting the city,

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we're good. If he's providing for our families,

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we're good, right? If we lean into him and allow

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him to work, we're good. It's going to be okay.

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Here's what I've seen as this goes on. In Ezra,

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we see there was this opposition that happened,

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but it's okay. God says he's with us. What happens?

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It gets ruled in favor of the Jews. Of course

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it does. God's with him. He's there. He's there

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to take care of it. So there's this response

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from the people, the remnant and the secular

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leader, the spiritual leader. There's this response

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that says, God is the one doing this. We need

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to come together. As soon as they come together,

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God says, hey, don't worry, I'm with you. No

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matter how much resistance is going to show up,

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I am on your side. You're on my side. We are

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going to win. There's this massive thing that

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happens. A lot of things that go on in history

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in this moment, but I don't want to jump into

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all that today. I just want to say, If you listen

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and notice what the Lord is doing, then you agree

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with him and say, I'm going to be a part of what

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he's doing. He says, I'm with you. Now you've

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come on to my side. We're going to get this done.

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Then it says in verse 14, the revival that takes

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place. It says they all came together and they

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came together and worked on the house of the

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Lord, the Lord of hosts, their God. That's what

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they did. Then verse 15, he gives the actual

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day. So this is the day in which it happened,

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when the revival took place. I'll tell you when

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the revival takes place. When we see what God's

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doing. We decide to join him in his work. And

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then he says, now we're cooking together. Let's

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do this together. I hope and pray you're encouraged

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today by Haggai 1. I hope that you maybe spend

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whatever time you spend looking at the misunderstanding

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in the beginning of it, the misplaced priorities

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that the people had, but then moving to a place

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knowing and trusting that he's the one that's

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doing it. He's in control. He's working. We're

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going to respond to his. his work. We're not

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going to just respond to our work. We're going

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to respond to his work, to his actions. That's

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what happened in Haggai 1, right? He says, you're

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struggling because I've cut some supplies off.

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So we respond to his actions and his work. When

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we respond to his work, then he says, now that

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you responded to me, let's go forward together.

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You were going away from me. I've drawn you in.

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Now we're going to go forward together and know

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if you're with me, we're going to be okay. You're

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going to be fine. So we're going to go and do

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this together. Then what happens? Revival takes

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place. We're working on what the Lord is doing

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together. We're going to be a part of the building

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of what God is doing. He wants to invite us in

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so that we can build with Him. We can build for

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His glory with Him alongside us. It is an incredible,

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powerful passage of Scripture today. I hope and

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pray you spend time meditating over Haggai 1

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as we prepare this week to look into the next

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chapter. Don't read ahead too far. Focus in on

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Haggai 1 today. What is the Lord speaking to

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you about?