6.14.26 – SERMON STUDY GUIDE

by | Jun 16, 2026 | Sermon Study Guide

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CONSIDER YOUR WAYS: THE TEMPLE GOD WANTS TO BUILD

Based on the message by Chris Pollard

OVERVIEW

In Consider Your Ways: The Temple God Wants to Build, Chris Pollard teaches from Haggai 1 and calls the church to wake up, examine our ways, and return to what matters most.

Haggai spoke to a people who had returned from exile but had allowed the house of the Lord to lie in ruins while they lived in their own paneled houses. Through this prophetic message, Chris challenges believers today to ask whether we have become more concerned with maintaining our own lives than building what God has called us to build.

This message reminds us that God is not merely interested in buildings, platforms, performance, or external appearance. He is building people. Believers are the temple of the Holy Spirit, and God desires a living temple where His Spirit can dwell, take pleasure, and be glorified.

Chris emphasizes that we are not in the early hours, but in the late hour. Because of that, the church cannot afford to remain asleep, passive, comfortable, or compromised. The hour requires urgency, surrender, and obedience.

The message also exposes three dangerous patterns that hinder the people of God: distraction, deception, and delay. Distraction divides the mind. Deception distorts the truth. Delay postpones obedience until it becomes disobedience.

Ultimately, this sermon is a call to consider our ways, come out of comfort and compromise, reject spiritual apathy, and allow God to continue building what He has started in us.

HOW TO USE THIS STUDY GUIDE

Read → Respond → Reflect

Open your Bible. Read the Scripture carefully. Let the Word answer the questions.

As you work through this guide, keep your Bible open and allow Scripture to shape your understanding. The goal is not simply to remember sermon points, but to encounter Jesus, hear His voice, and apply His Word personally.

This guide is designed for individual study, family discipleship, and Roads Groups.

 

SECTION 1 — CONSIDER YOUR WAYS

Focus

God calls His people to examine their priorities and return to what He has asked them to build.

Read

Haggai 1:2–8

Respond

  1. According to Haggai 1:2, what were the people saying about the timing of rebuilding the Lord’s house?
  2. What question does the Lord ask in Haggai 1:4?
  3. What repeated instruction does God give in Haggai 1:5 and Haggai 1:7?
  4. What does Haggai 1:6 reveal about the condition of the people’s lives?
  5. According to Haggai 1:8, what does God tell the people to do, and why?

Reflect

• Are there areas of my life where I have delayed what God has asked me to build?
• Have I become more focused on maintaining my own comfort than obeying the Lord?
• What would it look like for me to honestly “consider my ways” before God this week?

Further Scripture Reading

Psalm 139:23–24, Lamentations 3:40, 2 Corinthians 13:5

 

SECTION 2 — GOD IS BUILDING PEOPLE

Focus

God is not merely looking for buildings, platforms, or performance. He is building His people as a dwelling place for His Spirit.

Read

1 Corinthians 6:19–20, 1 Corinthians 3:9, John 2:19–21

Respond

  1. According to 1 Corinthians 6:19, what does Paul say about the believer’s body?
  2. What does 1 Corinthians 6:19–20 say about ownership and the price that was paid?
  3. In 1 Corinthians 3:9, how does Paul describe God’s people?
  4. In John 2:19–21, what temple was Jesus speaking about?
  5. How do these passages help us understand that God is building something within His people?

Reflect

• Is my life a place where the Holy Spirit is welcomed, honored, and obeyed?
• Have I relied on external appearances, activity, or performance instead of cultivating a life where God is glorified?
• What needs to be strengthened, surrendered, or rebuilt in me as God’s temple?

Further Scripture Reading

Ephesians 2:19–22, 1 Peter 2:4–5, Romans 8:9–11

 

SECTION 3 — THE LATE HOUR CALLS FOR AWAKENING

Focus

The church is living in a late hour and must wake up from comfort, compromise, and spiritual sleep.

Read

Romans 13:11–14, Galatians 5:13, Haggai 1:14

Respond

  1. According to Romans 13:11, what does Paul say it is time to do?
  2. What does Romans 13:12 say believers should cast off and put on?
  3. What specific behaviors does Romans 13:13 warn against?
  4. According to Galatians 5:13, what have believers been called to, and how should that freedom not be used?
  5. In Haggai 1:14, what did the Lord stir up in the leaders and the people?

Reflect

• Have I allowed comfort, compromise, or convenience to dull my urgency for obedience?
• Where have I been spiritually asleep when God is calling me to be awake?
• What would it look like for the Lord to stir up my spirit again?

Further Scripture Reading

Ephesians 5:14–17, Matthew 25:1–13, Revelation 3:1–3

 

SECTION 4 — DISTRACTION, DECEPTION, AND DELAY

Focus

The enemy uses distraction, deception, and delay to hinder obedience and pull believers away from what God has spoken.

Read

Romans 12:1–2, Galatians 5:7–8, James 1:22–25

Respond

  1. According to Romans 12:1, how are believers called to present their bodies to God?
  2. What does Romans 12:2 say believers must not be conformed to?
  3. What happens through the renewing of the mind according to Romans 12:2?
  4. In Galatians 5:7, what question does Paul ask about obedience to the truth?
  5. According to James 1:22, what danger comes when people hear the Word but do not do it?

Reflect

• What distractions are currently competing for my attention and devotion?
• Have I allowed deception to distort what God has clearly spoken through His Word?
• Is there an area where I have postponed obedience and called it waiting, timing, or discernment?

Further Scripture Reading

Hebrews 2:1, 2 Corinthians 10:4–5, Matthew 7:24–27

 

SECTION 5 — THE KINGDOM PATTERN OF TRANSFORMATION

Focus

God transforms His people as truth enters in, the mind is renewed, the Spirit leads, and the life begins to change.

Read

Romans 12:2, Galatians 5:16–25, Philippians 1:6

Respond

  1. According to Romans 12:2, what must happen for believers to be transformed?
  2. What does Galatians 5:16 instruct believers to do?
  3. What conflict is described in Galatians 5:17?
  4. What fruit should be evident in the life of someone led by the Spirit according to Galatians 5:22–23?
  5. According to Philippians 1:6, what confidence can believers have about the work God has begun in them?

Reflect

• What truth from God’s Word needs to enter my heart more deeply in this season?
• Is my mind being shaped more by the patterns of the world or renewed by the truth of God?
• Where do I need to follow the leading of the Holy Spirit instead of the desires of the flesh?

Further Scripture Reading

John 15:4–5, Colossians 3:1–10, Titus 3:3–7

 

FINAL ENCOURAGEMENT

God is still building His people.

The call from Haggai is not only about what was left unfinished in the past. It is a call to respond now. Consider your ways. Come out of comfort and compromise. Reject distraction, deception, and delay. Do not allow the patterns of the world to dictate whether you will obey what God has spoken.

You are the temple of the Holy Spirit. God desires to dwell in you, take pleasure in you, and be glorified through your life.

The hour is late, but it is not over. The One who began a good work in you is faithful to complete it. Now is the time to wake up, surrender fully, and keep building what God has placed within you.