Sermons About Malachi
ADVENT WEEK 2
This is an audio devotional featuring improvised keyboard score by Bob Ravenscroft, while Rev. Richard Parrish reads scripture from the Revised Common Lectionary for the 2nd week of Advent (Year C).
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A God of Unchanging Faithfulness
We live in a world of constant change. We are used to the weather changing. These days of extended summer are a nice change. Sometimes people change, and it is not so nice. They get angry and bitter, and they take it out on those close to them. The truth is that change is a part of life, but it can sometimes be very unsettling. Out of everything in our lives that does change, we can rest assured that God is not one of them. He never changes. He is the same God today that he has been from the beginning. This brings us great comfort in times of trouble, and great encouragement throughout all our lives. The unchanging faithfulness of God should call us to a life of obedience. Today, in this fifth talk from Malachi, we see the unchanging nature of God and the effect that it should have on our lives. God is a God of amazing grace and mercy who gives us great blessings, but he wants us to follow him in obedience.
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A God of Purifying Judgment
It is easy to get disillusioned with God's apparent lack of concern for evil. And it is easier to let that disillusionment turn into attacks against God and disobedience in our own lives. We figure that if God isn't going to judge it, we might as well do it. God reminds us that he has not forgotten. He is coming in judgment to purify his people. So do not give up your faith.
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Extreme Hope
We sure live in the NOW culture, don’t we. The future means nothing to Americans. We want it now. We have to wait for God. We have an extreme hope that God is in control. We will have to be a church with an extreme HOPE if we are to complete the vision God has given to us.
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A God of Covenant Marriage
Marriage is found in every society since the dawn of time. It has always been recognized as a beneficial relationship for the sake of a community and for raising children. However, all societies have not understood the biblical teaching on marriage. In some of these societies, God’s plan has been ignored and marriage has been severely corrupted. In our teaching from Malachi this morning, we learn that marriage was facing some serious challenges because people were unwilling to live by God’s plan for marriage. As a result, families and communities were being affected in a negative way. In pointing out these sins of marriage, God teaches us all about the importance of living by his standards of marriage. Those who listen to God and learn about how to do marriage his way will find that one of God’s first institutions—marriage—is a source of lasting joy and peace. Those who reject God’s teaching will find heartache and trouble. Through God’s grace, he can build or rebuild marriages that are solid pictures of his love for us.
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Extreme Stewardship
In these Malachi verses, God calls back his people. He tells them how and where they have cheated and robbed Him, "in tithes and offerings". If there was a thermometer for their love for God and others, it would read very low. Do not think of tithes and offerings as investments- they are gifts.
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A God of Acceptable Worship
Worship matters. God does care how we come to him and how we respond to him. He has not left it up to us to figure out. He has rather revealed to us how to worship and given spiritual leaders the responsibility to teach his people how to worship. In this message, we talk about the important role of spiritual leaders in teaching and modeling worship that pleases God.
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Extreme Righteousness
How we live and serve today is not overlooked by God. It is stored for “that day of justice.” Is Christian living really worth it?
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A God of Love ... and Hate?
God is love. The Bible plainly declares it and people naturally believe it. At times, people go through situations that lead them to believe that God hates them, but the reason that is unsettling for them is because of their belief that God is a God of love. How could a God of love allow the kinds of things that he allows? Because we live in a broken world, it is difficult to understand what it means for God to be a God of love. This morning we being a new series of teachings on the Old Testament prophet named Malachi. Malachi is the very last book of the Old Testament. He was writing to the children and grandchildren of the group of Jews that had returned from captivity in the land of Babylon. These were people who knew all the promises of God, but were living lives of disbelief. In the first message today, we see Malachi talking to them about what it means to be loved by God. And he reminds us all that God’s love is a cause for great praise to God.
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Extreme Worship
In these verses, God is not condemning His people, but rather convicting them to bring them back. The church will not rise above the spirituality of her leaders. Privileges bring responsibilities, and leaders must fulfill their responsibilities.
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