Sunday Scripture

5 weeks ago I announced here on Sunday Scripture that I had recently completed writing a future sermon titled “Church & State”, and that I had begun writing my next sermon titled “Malachi & Messages”. That’s still a tentative title, but as I wrap-up the writing of it I think (so far) it makes sense to leave that as the title. I’m into Page 8 of “Malachi & Messages”, so I’m essentially at the 30-minute mark of what will likely be a 40-minute sermon. (I don’t use some fancy sermon-writing software. I simply use Microsoft Word, and each page generally represents 4 minutes of preaching.)

“Malachi & Messages” covers Malachi’s first 2 of 6 messages on God’s love for Israel (1:2-5) and the calling-out of corrupt priests and their worthless sacrifices (1:6-2:9). Once I complete this one I’ll immediately begin working on my follow-up sermon of Malachi’s 3RD message on faithfulness.

This could end-up being a 4-part message series later this year. There’s a lot of great material within those 6 messages, 4 chapters, and 55 verses.

Here’s an excerpt from “Malachi & Messages”:

… You know that out of the 55 verses in the Book of Malachi – that 47 of them are spoken by God ? 47 out of 55 verses. Over 85% of Malachi – is our God speaking. You wanna learn more about our God and gain wisdom from Him ? Read Malachi, but don’t read the book in 6 minutes. Read it slowly. Read it – one verse at a time.

Chapter 1 Verse 1 sets the tone for the next 54 verses, and it’s 1 of the 8 verses in which God is not speaking:

This is the message that the LORD gave to Israel through the prophet Malachi. (1:1)

So it’s the prophet Malachi – giving a message – to the homeland. It’s the LORD speaking through Malachi, and it’s actually a series of messages – a series of 6 messages on topics such as God’s love for Israel, faithfulness, repentance, and the impending Judgment Day.

Oh ! – and Malachi – means “My messenger” in Hebrew. Malachi was God’s Messenger – just as you and I – we – are God’s Messengers.

What does a messenger do – according the Bible ? A messenger – carries and sends and spreads a message. A messenger evangelizes. What do you do when you evangelize ? You spread and preach the Gospel. What’s “preach” ? How about “proclaim” and “teach” – “preach”. I am going to teach you what I believe to be true, and I will proclaim it to be the Truth. What’s the Gospel ? The Gospel is the Good News of God. So a messenger – you and I – we – preach God’s Good News – His Message – to the masses. We are God’s messengers. He chose us to do that.

Malachi was God’s messenger. He was a writer, and he wrote letters, and messages, and sermons to the people. He was a Proclaimer. He was a Teacher. He was a Preacher …