Reading Through The Bible - HAGGAI

Some of the Books of the bible are very short and this is one is the second shortest in the Old Testament.    (Shortest is Obadiah)

HAGGAI  -  OLD TESTAMENT  -  PROPHECY 

37th book of the NT 

37th book of the Bible

What is it?

The Book of Haggai is one of the Minor Prophets in the Old Testament.

Who was it written to?

It was spoken to the governor of Judah and the High Priest as mentioned in verse 1.

Who wrote it?

The prophet Haggai spoke it 

How Long is it?

It has only 2 chapters and only 38 verses.

When was it written?

It covers the period of 520 BC.

We know this because it specifically mentions when in the very first verse by referring to the reign of King Darius 

"In the second year of Darius the king, in the sixth month, in the first day of the month, came the word of the Lord by Haggai the prophet unto Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Josedech, the high priest," 

This book is also linked to the Book of Ezra ch.1-6

Why was it written?

God had a specific message for the leaders & the people to tell them to continue with the restoration of the Temple because they had put rebuilding of their own homes first and then didn't bother about the temple.

He wanted to get their attention for them to "consider their ways" and to make sure they took it seriously he said it at the start of His Word to them in ch.1 v 5 and then repeated himself 2 verses later.

Then when He had their attention in verse 8 God told them:

" ....build the house (temple); and I will take pleasure in it, and I will be glorified,  saith the Lord."

The Overview Bible  tells us the following

"The people have abandoned the work of restoring God’s temple in Jerusalem, and so Haggai takes them to task."

 

Teach Sunday School  tells us the following

"Haggai's messages are simple and straightforward.  God tells the people through Haggai to rebuild the temple first.  It would keep them from falling back into errors that had caused the great exile."

What was the result of the message?

The leaders and people listened and took the words to heart v.12 and took action v.14 and they started to rebuild the temple.

The Lord spoke again and again through Haggai in ch. 2 where He spoke of the nations that He would bring to the temple in the future, that He would fill it with glory and that this latter glory would be greater than the former glory. 

What format does this book take?

The Overview Bible  tells us the following

1. God calls the people to complete the temple (Hag 1:1–11)
2. The people obey (Hag 1:12–15)
3. God responds with encouragement and blessing (Hag 2)

My Pastor tells us the following  (see his Bible Study video on Haggai)

The name Haggai means festive so it is something to get excited about.

1. God challenges the people and they obey Him (Hag 1:1–15)
2. God deals with the shattered dreams of the people (Hag 2:1–9)
3. Haggai calls them to a place of  (Hag 2:10–19)
4. The Future Hope of the Kingdom (Hag 2:20–23)

How does it end?

With encouragement, a personal word to Zerubbabel, the governor of Judah, saying that God had chosen him.

OTHER BOOKS OF THE BIBLE ARE ADDED REGULARLY AND AN UPDATED LIST CAN BE FOUND AT OUR READING THE BIBLE PAGE 

Another 10 Easy Ideas for Face Timing with Kids - Stuck at Home & Need Help!

Are you stuck in the house?

If you are confined to home

                                      or just a long way away from your grandchildren   

 then you probably need some good ideas for things to do

                            when face timing or on a Zoom call with your grandchildren.

If So  

THEN 

This is the place to find ANOTHER 10 Easy Ideas that you can do to have fun & interesting Facetime calls or Zoom meetings.

Yes Another 10 easy Ideas 

but you also might like to check out our previous posts

10 Easy Ideas for Face Timing with Kids

10 Easy Games to Play on Face Time with Kids

1.   Where's the Rock? 

We do not always have to be indoors to facetime.

We can go outside into the back garden sometimes and do things there that the kids would like to do when they visit.

On Easter Sunday we did a family Zoom Call which included the Banbridge Blacks (Fred & I), the Belfast Blacks (our son and daughter-in-law and the 3 grandchildren), the Malvern Black (our son who lives in England) and the Korean Blacks (really the Yoons - our daughter and son-in-law in South Korea).

I had hidden just 6 small Easter Eggs in two of the rooms and we took some time to walk round the house and do an Easter Egg Hunt for Matthew & Ruby.

In previous years we have done one inside and one outside in the back garden when of course they have been with us.

Another version of this is hiding large stones (possibly even painted ones) in the garden and then let the kids watch as you walk or run round the garden to see who can spot each stone first.

OR

The grandkids could hide stones in their garden and take you out to find them!

2.   Telling a Story

As well as enjoying to read books together we can also tell stories.

Children like to hear about the grown-ups when they were little boys and girls so I knew our grandkids would enjoy short stories about things their dad and uncle Jonathan and auntie Linda did when they were young.

(Some day we need to get uncle Stephen involved to tell them stories of when he was a young boy growing up in South Korea because we don't know those things yet either.)

One way of doing this would be to show some pics of when their parents were young or of a family outing and tell the story from there.

eg.  we could tell the story of the day we went to the Ark in Vlissingen in the Netherlands

3.   Seek & Find Books 

This type of activity book is great for this type of event.

We have 

"Where's Wally?"

and

"Old Testament - find the parts of the pictures or find the characters"

Kids love trying to see who can find the things first.

In this I would hold the book and then Grandad could see if he could beat them in finding the items or people.

4.   Ballerinas & Ninjas

This is something our grandkids are very much into at the moment.

We have Matthew showing us his "Ninja Moves"

These are mostly cartwheels now (but started off with forward rolls) with some punching of air thrown in as he runs about.

We also have Ruby showing us her "Ballerina Poses" and then running round the room.

She started off with dainty steps and standing still with arms lifted high but progressed to running steps and trying to stand on tiptoe now.

Then the youngest one Sarah has found a way to join in - she leans over forwards and puts her head on the floor, we guess any day now she will tip on over into a forward roll.

They have so much fun doing this that we just have ask them to show us and then have a good laugh and clap them.

In other words remember what they are interested in that is very active and get them to "show you their moves"

5.   Colour, number, sound, action QUIZ!

This is actually a four-in-one idea but just think about things they might be interested in and it can be used several more times than this.

In the first "10 Easy Ideas for Face Timing with Kids" post I gave suggestions for quizes but this time you can use these new ideas and you can also have the kids use these simple ideas to prepare and be the Quiz Masters.

Colour Quiz:

Get various items they have seen before (of different colours) - then describe the item and see if they can remember the colour.

Number Quiz:

Can they remember or guess the number of items you have in certain places - lamps in the living room,  cushions in the sun room,  pictures in the hall,  ornaments on the windowsill?

Sound Quiz:

Do some little recordings of certain noises and then have them guess what made the noise (or who made the noise - Grandpa snoring!)

Action Quiz:

A quick demonstration of something they will have seen you do before without any props.

A bit like charades.

6.   Teach them to draw something.

I'd been learning to draw things to amuse the kids but some of the things I have learnt to draw are easy enough for them to try as they watch me do it.

So just warn their mum or dad that they will need some pencils and paper for this activity.

Here is a picture of the book I had bought to learn from

The birds, fish, rockets and robots are simple for them to start with and of course they will add their own flair to them all.

There is also a site online where you can get more ideas 

How to draw Cartoon Animals

7.   Indoor simple exercises and dancing.

Just warn their mum or dad that they will need a bit of space.

Make sure you know what music you want to play.

Now this is good for you and them because we know we need to keep exercising too.

Make up some silly dance moves to go with some of their favourite songs and then have a few laughs.

8.   Indoor Scavenger Hunt.

Make up a list of at least 5 or 7 items - make it an odd number so that there will be a winner.

Have grandpa race against the kids and they can work together or the kids can race against each other or they can all race against each other.

My list below is an example thinking of what I know would be available on the ground floor of the grandkids home so that there is no rushing up or down the stairs

1.  1 blue item

2.  2 cuddly toys

3.  Hair brush

4.  3 crayons or colouring pencils or pens - 1 red, 1 black, 1 blue

5.  a slipper

6.  4 coins

7.  a musical instrument

9.   Guess the family member.

Think of 10 different things that would either describe a certain member of the family or tell something someone did when they were young or think of something one particular person likes and have the kids guess which family member you are talking about.

You can easily reuse this idea just by getting grandpa to do the thinking of the descriptions, or have the kids do it for you to guess.

OR

Print out 5 pictures of different family members and cut them each up into 4 /5 pieces.

Then place one piece down after another and see if they can guess the person after just two or three pieces - keeping the head to the last of course.

10.   Learn a Bible Verse.

There are several ways to do this that will be fun for the kids.

1.  Do it as a rap.

2.  Use puppets.

3.  Dress up as a pirate or an astronaut or anything else and use a silly voice.

4.  Use a whiteboard or chalkboard

5.  Use Word Cards

6.  Use Picture Cards

7.  Make it into a Jigsaw

8.  Sing it

1.  I have done this years ago and I regret it was never taped.

2.  See Video

3.  Our son did this for his church during lockdown - see video

4.  See Video

5.  See Video

6.  Same idea as 5 but with pictures instead of words

7.  Pic

8.  See Video

Reading through the Bible - PHILEMON

Some Books of the bible are very short and some are very long but this one is one of the shortest.

PHILEMON  -  NEW TESTAMENT  -  EPISTLE 

18th book of the NT 

57th book of the Bible

What is it?

The Book of Philemon is one of the Epistles in the New Testament which means it is a letter.

Who was it written to?

It was written to Philemon, a Christian and church leader, who owned a slave Onesimus.

Who Wrote it?

The Apostle Paul (previously called Saul) 

Although Paul does include Timothy in the first line of the letter

"Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus, and Timothy our brother"

How does it start?

It starts with a greeting v.1-3    

This is not only to Philemon but also to the church who meet in His house.

pronouncing a blessing of Grace and Peace on them all.

I love the blessings pronounced in God's Word and they are still blessings to us as well.

Then it continues straight away in verse 4 with an encouraging statement that they are not forgotten and are prayed for regularly.

How Long is it?

It has only 1 chapter which contains 25 verses.

When was it written?

It is generally thought to have been written around 60AD.

Why was it written?

It was written so that believers would accept a slave, called Onesimus, as a brother in Christ since he had met Paul and got saved.

Paul actually sent the letter with Onesimus to Philemon and asks Philemon to whom Onesimus had been a slave to forgive him for running away but also requests that he may let him return to stay with Paul.

The Overview Bible  tells us the following

"Paul strongly recommends that Philemon accept his runaway slave as a brother, not a slave."

 

which is seen in verse 16

 "no longer as a slave but more than a slave—a beloved brother, especially to me but how much more to you, both in the flesh and in the Lord."

 

Teach Sunday School  tells us the following

"Paul's message is that even though slavery was an accepted part of Roman society, we should treat each other as equals, like he encouraged Philemon to treat his slave like a brother "

What format does this book take?

The Overview Bible  tells us the following

1. Paul greets and affirms Philemon (Phm 1–7)
2. Paul requests that Onesimus be accepted as a brother (Phm 8–19)
3. Paul anticipates Philemon’s obedience (Phm 20–25)

How does it end?

With greetings from 5 others that are with Paul in verses 23 & 24

and with a blessing

 

An example of how we should remember to bless others

OTHER BOOKS OF THE BIBLE ARE ADDED REGULARLY AND AN UPDATED LIST CAN BE FOUND AT OUR READING THE BIBLE PAGE 

The 5 Best Quotes on Forgiveness + Free Printable - Coffee & Conversation

I am not a fan of QUOTES

In fact sometimes I get very annoyed at how people almost treat a quote

 as more important than the Word of God

I actually wrote a blog post about Do We Really Need This Quote?

However I've been thinking about Forgiveness this month and there are some good quotes on the topic.

I have seen quotes from so many people on Forgiveness but I prefer to only refer to or recommend ones from people who I trust as standing firm on the Word of God.

So in the list below I will quote

Not Joel Osteen   but   St. Augustine

Not Joyce Meyers   but   Corrie Ten Boom   

Not William P Young (author of the Shack)   but   C.S. Lewis

1.  Saint Augustine

"Forgiveness is the remission of sins. For it is by this that what has been lost, and was found, is saved from being lost again."

2.  John Bunyan

"No child of God sins to that degree as to make himself incapable of forgiveness."

3.  Charles Spurgeon

"I believe that as often as I transgress, God is more ready to forgive me than I am ready to offend.  "

4.  Corrie Ten Boom

"Forgiveness is an act of the will, and the will can function regardless of the temperature of the heart."

The visual above is available as a  Forgiveness Quotes Free Printable

5.  C. S. Lewis

I could not decide between these two quotes so I've included them both

(I had the same problem in The 5 Best Quotes on Love too)

"I think that if God forgives us we must forgive ourselves.  Otherwise, it is almost like setting up ourselves as a higher tribunal than Him."

 

"I find that when I think I am asking God to forgive me I am often in reality.... asking Him not to forgive me but to excuse me."

and I cannot but think that C.S. Lewis is definitely speaking for us all when he said

"We all agree that forgiveness is a beautiful idea until we have to practice it."

 

A personal Question of my own about Forgiveness is

Don't forget to download  your Forgiveness Quotes Free Printable