QT 6/30/2021 Acts 9:23-31, Taking risks for Jesus

 

QT 6/29/2021 Acts 9:20-22, Transformed

 

QT 6/28/2021 Acts 9:10-19, Seeing and yet blind

 

QT 6/24/2021 Acts 9:9, Too busy to listen

QT 6/23/2021 Acts 8:34-40, Being open to God's leading

 

QT 6/22/2021 Acts 8:25-30, The gospel is inclusive of all peoples

QT 6/21/2021 Acts 8:18-24, We are not perfect but we should be changing

 

QT 6/18/2021 Mal 4:5-6, Preparing for the end times

 

QT 6/17/2021 Mal 3:13-15, Living for God, not stuff

 

QT 6/16/2021 Mal 3:8-10, Tithing misses the point

 

QT 6/15/2021 Mal 3:1-4, It's getting serious, am I?

 

QT 6/14/2021 Mal 2:14-15, Marriage is the apex of our creation

 

QT 6/11/2021 Mal 2:10-12, Loving God versus loving things

Malachi 2:10–12 (ESV) — 10 Have we not all one Father? Has not one God created us? Why then are we faithless to one another, profaning the covenant of our fathers? 11 Judah has been faithless, and abomination has been committed in Israel and in Jerusalem. For Judah has profaned the sanctuary of the Lord, which he loves, and has married the daughter of a foreign god. 12 May the Lord cut off from the tents of Jacob any descendant of the man who does this, who brings an offering to the Lord of hosts! 

NOTE: Judah is the Lord's. But Judah has been faithless to its covenant with God. What does it mean when it says that Judah has married the daughter of a foreign God? This is a common motif used in the Old Testament for faithlessness. God also calls Judah a prostitute, harlot, and an adulterer. The idea is that Judah was supposed to be committed to the Lord, but instead Juda sought other ways to satisfy its fleshly appetite contrary to God's law, thereby breaking her covenant. Jesus says that you cannot serve God and Mammon. The end result is that you will love one and hate the other. As Christians, we try to love both even though we vehemently deny it. We really want the comfortable middle-class American Christianity. We worship comfort more than God, and so we too are idolaters and prostitutes spiritually.

PONDER: 

1) How do we really love God first and avoid the temptation of the world to love things? Where do we start?

2) And how can we tell if our affections are more for things than for God?

PRAYER: Father, help me to give my time and energy to you. Help me to make you the first thing I do every day and the last things I do every day. I want to start and end my days with what is really important to me. Amen.

QT 6/10/2021 Mal 2:5-8, The seriousness of teaching God's word

Malachi 2:5–8 (ESV) — 5 My covenant with him was one of life and peace, and I gave them to him. It was a covenant of fear, and he feared me. He stood in awe of my name. 6 True instruction was in his mouth, and no wrong was found on his lips. He walked with me in peace and uprightness, and he turned many from iniquity. 7 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. 8 But you have turned aside from the way. You have caused many to stumble by your instruction. You have corrupted the covenant of Levi, says the Lord of hosts, 

NOTE: In context, God is referring to the tribe of Levi when it did what was good. I seriously doubt it referred to Levi himself (since he was a man of violence who slaughtered a whole town). Moses and Aaron and Samuel, to name a few, came from the tribe of Levi. I think he describes individuals who took their role (a member of the tribe of Levi) seriously and who trained the people in God's word. In that sense, these verses form a job description for a teacher or pastor (I am going to use the NT word 'elder' to avoid repeating 'teacher and/or pastor'). God provides life and peace, but the elder is expected to live in fear and awe of him. He teaches "true" instruction. No "wrong" instructions was found on his lips. Elders fall into this trap when they fail to teach the bible and instead try to match the bible up against culture. The elder walks with God and he helps others in their battle with sin. The elder guards knowledge -- what does that mean? Truth does not change. God's truth never changes. And elders should not change it to fit the times either. If an elder changes the truth or turns aside from the way, he will have a devastating impact on others, causing them to stumble, as was the case during the time of Malachi. It is a serious thing to teach the word. Elders need to do it properly and fearfully.

PONDER: 

1) If I am a teacher, do I take that role seriously?

2) If I am a teacher, do I maintain the authority of the bible or do I try to fit it into culture?

3) Do I recognize my impact on others such that I truly seek to do what is right and teach what is true?

PRAYER: Father, protect me in my teaching. May I always be serious and put effort into my classes ahead of time. Also, protect my lifestyle. Keep me from sin. Help me to grow in holiness. I need to fear you in the right sense. Give me grace and mercy. I desperately need it. Amen.

QT 6/9/2021 Mal 1:10, Does my worship honor God?

Malachi 1:10 (ESV) — 10 Oh that there were one among you who would shut the doors, that you might not kindle fire on my altar in vain! I have no pleasure in you, says the Lord of hosts, and I will not accept an offering from your hand. 

NOTE: The reference here is strictly specific to the Jewish worship process. This is not a call to block the doorways of every entity where we feel God's word is being disobeyed. There were a lot of immoral practices in Jesus' day but he did not try to stop any except for the worship process. In the temple, he turned over the tables of the moneychangers because of where they placed them and the hypocrisy in how they were run. The leaders were profiting over worship in a deceitful way. Among those who call themselves Christians, we are called to challenge immoral behavior especially as it relates to worship. But, I do not find a requirement in scripture to force those who do not know God to live in a manner worthy of God. There is a saying we have used, "do not expect regenerate behavior for the unregenerate." Also, Jesus himself says to leave vengeance to God. Someday God will judge the world for their immoral ways.

PONDER: 

1) What do I do in worship that makes my worship in vain? Does my mind drift off to worldly thoughts? Or do I focus on what God has done in my life in the worship music?

2) In the message, do I listen for what God is telling me I need to change? Or am I only there to confirm my own biases and walk out unchanged in direction?

PRAYER: Father, the days grow short before your coming. So many people need to know the savior. The world is shaming our heroes and canceling the messages of the godly. I pray that we would be bold to take you word forth into the world and not ashamed to proclaim the name of Jesus. Amen.

QT 6/8/2021 Mal 1:13-14, Relationship with Jesus versus Religion

 Malachi 1:13–14 (ESV) — 13 But you say, ‘What a weariness this is,’ and you snort at it, says the Lord of hosts. You bring what has been taken by violence or is lame or sick, and this you bring as your offering! Shall I accept that from your hand? says the Lord. 14 Cursed be the cheat who has a male in his flock, and vows it, and yet sacrifices to the Lord what is blemished. For I am a great King, says the Lord of hosts, and my name will be feared among the nations. 

NOTE: The issue in this paragraph of Malachi (verses 6 - 13) is that the people believe they can do the minimal acceptable act of service and that is good enough. Instead of giving something of value, like an unblemished lamb, they give something they don't need, like an injured animal or something someone else gave them or something they took in battle but does not fit in the herd. They are killing two birds with one stone (a sacrifice), getting rid of something they don't need and fulfilling their religious commitment. And that is all that it is -- religion. When people think this way, there is no heart, there is no reality to their faith. They are going through the motions and doing the least amount of effort to fulfill the requirement. They do not understand a relationship. When you love someone, you don't do the least, you do the most to express your love. Their faith is actually fake. It is religion -- worthless and boring. They have no idea of the greatness of the God they supposedly serve.

PONDER: 

1) Do I realize that God is not fooled by lip service or worthless acts that have no meaning to me? If it really does not mean anything to me, it means less to God.

2) Do I give my very best to God?

3) Do I recognize that Christianity it is a relationship, not a religion?

PRAYER: Father, open the eyes of the blind, those who think they are Christians but do not have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. They are nice people who go to church, but they have no true life in them. They have not confessed their sin, repented, and put their faith in Jesus. They serve and do good  things but they are like the Pharisees, religious people and empty graves. I pray they can see the real Jesus before it is too late.

QT 6/7/2021 Mal 1:2-3, Our "good" shows our misunderstanding of God's grace and holiness