Category: Malachi

Reading

Audio, Visual

SAA Notes

Robbing God! These words startle now as then. How do I rob God? This is a good question to ask yourself. 4:5,6 closes the Old Testament with the coming of John the Baptist prophesied. John the Baptist opens the New with his testimony of Jesus.

SJA Notes

* God Above, please teach us this day from Your word as we look to the new year.

“The day that is coming shall set them ablaze, says the LORD of hosts, so that it will leave them neither root nor branch.”

This was a word for Israel, going into the many hundreds of years of quiet before Jesus was born.

And this is absolutely a word for us today.

The end of things for anyone outside of Christ, is fire. The lake of fire that burns with sulfur (Revelation 19-20).

As we end the year, it is so important to be reminded of.

Our unbelieving friends and family need Jesus!

And we who are believers, we need Jesus too!

“But for you who fear my name, the sun of righteousness shall rise with healings in its wings.”

This is Jesus, the SON OF RIGHTEOUSNESS.

He rises with healing in His wings – He has bought us, healed us, whistled for us and called us home.

We are His sheep. He is our Good Shepherd.

Hallelujah, what a Saviour!

* Father God,

As we finish another year, we give You thanks!

Thank You for saving us, for healing us.

Thank You for Jesus, the Son of righteousness.

Please bless and keep us for another year, for the sake of Your Name, for Your glory alone.

Amen.

Reading

Audio, Visual

SAA Notes

2:13-16 are words on adultery that search out our hearts. They were necessary then and are still so today. 3:1 is the prophecy of John the Baptist. The essence of true religion is not feeling good, but in wanting to please God.

SJA Notes

* God Above, please show us today Your word, what You want for us from it.

“Did he not make them one, with a portion of the Spirit in their union? And what was the one God seeking? Godly offspring. So guard yourselves in your spirit, and let none of you be faithless to the wife of your youth.”

This can be a hard word for us today, as the world prompts us to be spending time on ourselves, to be self-serving first and other-serving second, to be free to move with the winds of the heart.

First. Marriage is a three-fold cord. God considers this covenant so important that a portion of His Spirit makes up the union of believing husband and wife.

Second. God wants us to produce godly offspring. If we cannot, then we cannot. But if we are able, then that is a call on us if we are married.

Third. Faithfulness is to be the prime marker of our marriages. Reflecting God’s faithfulness to us His people, husband and wife maintaining covenant in thought, word and deed.

Remember the truth of our broken hearts! From Jeremiah chapter 17,

“The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?”

Don’t trust in our own ability to defend against temptation.

Don’t trust in our own righteousness to ward off evil.

Don’t trust in our own goodness to resist the worldly allure.

We need Jesus!

* Father God,

Please help us Lord God to show Your faithfulness to those around us, in all of our relationships.

Please mark us as a faithful people, holding to Your covenant with us.

Thank You for Jesus, through whom both sides of the covenant with You are kept.

Amen.

Reading

Audio, Visual

SAA Notes

What offerings should we bring Him in worship? Be generous towards God with our heart, time, talents, possessions. These are searching chapters regarding hypocrisy between profession of honouring/respecting God and my actual practice.

SJA Notes

* Dear God, please write Your word on our hearts today, that we might know how to please You.

“He stood in awe of my name. True instruction was in his mouth, and no wrong was found on his lips.”

In this final book of the old testament God the Lord calls out false worship and bad church leadership.

“He walked with me in peace and uprightness, and he turned many from iniquity.”

This is true of our great High Priest, Jesus.

“For the lips of a priest should guard knowledge, and people should seek instruction from his mouth, for he is the messenger of the LORD of hosts.”

These are the marks of a faithful priest.

In 1 Peter chapter 2 we read that we are a priesthood,

“… you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.”
 

As with Jesus when on earth, so with us. As He spoke God’s word, so should we.

In whatever situation the Lord places us we can bring the good news, messengers about Jesus!

* Father God,

Thank You for our great High Priest, our King, Your beloved Son Jesus.

Please restrict the evil of bad church leadership today, wolves who rip and tear, despising Your Name and causing sheep to stumble.

Please save those around us Lord God, for Your Name’s sake, for Your glory.

Amen.