Tuesday, December 31st: Malachi 3:1-4:6, Revelation 22:1-21, Psalm 150:1-6, Proverbs 31:25-31 ~ Tammy

Today's passage from the Bible In a Year Reading Plan is Malachi 3:1-4:6, Revelation 22:1-21, Psalm 150:1-6, Proverbs 31:25-31

Congratulations to everyone who completed the Bible in a Year today!!

I want to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has participated in this blog with me over the past 10 years. It has been an incredible journey for me and I hope it has been for you as well. 10 years also seems like a good time to move on. There has been less participation by posters over the past few years and I am unable to continue on my own doing so many posts, so I have decided that this will be the last year I will host this blog.

If you would like to continue with something similar there are other blogs to follow. If you're interested in doing this same plan again, you can follow the One Year Bible Blog. If you're interested in a chronological plan, you can follow the Chronological Bible Blog. No matter what, I hope you continue to make reading the Word a priority in your life! May God bless you!

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Malachi 3:1 “Look! I am sending my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me. Then the Lord you are seeking will suddenly come to his Temple. The messenger of the covenant, whom you look for so eagerly, is surely coming,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.
We've just finished celebrating (or are continuing to celebrate, if you celebrate the 12 Days of Christmas until epiphany) the fulfillment of the Promise of Jesus' 1st coming.  And we know that He will come again!  Something we're also reminded of in our Revelation passage today as well. May He come soon!

Monday, December 30th: Malachi 1:1-2:17, Revelation 21:1-27, Psalm 149:1-9, Proverbs 31:10-24 ~ Tammy

Today's passage from the Bible In a Year Reading Plan is Malachi 1:1-2:17, Revelation 21:1-27, Psalm 149:1-9, Proverbs 31:10-24

I want to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has participated in this blog with me over the past 10 years. It has been an incredible journey for me and I hope it has been for you as well. 10 years also seems like a good time to move on. There has been less participation by posters over the past few years and I am unable to continue on my own doing so many posts, so I have decided that this will be the last year I will host this blog.

If you would like to continue with something similar there are other blogs to follow. If you're interested in doing this same plan again, you can follow the One Year Bible Blog. If you're interested in a chronological plan, you can follow the Chronological Bible Blog. No matter what, I hope you continue to make reading the Word a priority in your life! May God bless you!
Malachi 1:2a
“I have always loved you,” says the Lord.
May the wonder of this truth fill your heart and mind.  God has always loved us and will love us forever.  His love is amazing!

Do we love Him?  May our love for Him continue to grow deeper as we continue to get to know Him better.

Tomorrow's Bible In a Year Passage:  Malachi 3:1-4:6, Revelation 22:1-21, Psalm 150:1-6, Proverbs 31:25-31

Friday, December 14th: Malachi 1-4; Revelation 13:1-10 ~ Emma

Today's passage from the Bible In a Year Reading Plan is Malachi 1-4; Revelation 13:1-10

“Ever since the days of your ancestors, you have scorned my decrees and failed to obey them. Now return to me, and I will return to you,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. “But you ask, ‘How can we return when we have never gone away?’”

‭‭Malachi‬ ‭3:7‬ ‭NLT‬‬

I like how the verse ends with the fact of God’s people saying they haven’t done anything wrong, when clearly they have. This shows that God promises to love us even though He knew we would disappoint Him, doubt Him, deny Him, and claim we have never run from Him, when really we do these things everyday.

He knew we would do all of these things, yet still He chose to love us. Even though we think “we have never gone away”, He is still waiting there, with open arms, calling us to run to Him. 

What a loving, merciful Father we serve.

Tomorrow's Bible In a Year Passage: Job 1-3; Revelation 13:11-18

Sunday, December 31st: Malachi 1-4; Revelation 22 ~ Emma

Today's passage from the Bible In a Year Reading Plan is Malachi 1-4; Revelation 22

“He who is the faithful witness to all these things says, “Yes, I am coming soon!” Amen! Come, Lord Jesus!” - Revelation‬ ‭22:20‬

Jesus was mentioned through every story, and every book we read in this plan. Everything written pointed to Him, and how glorious, merciful, strong, loving, and powerful He is. He spoke to us through so many people, stories, and workings of His hand. Everything we ever need to know about Him on this earth is written for us in His Word. How fitting it is that after a Book full of the wonders of Him,  that He ends it with reassuring us, “Yes, I am coming soon!”.

“Amen! Come, Lord Jesus!”

Tomorrow's Bible In a Year Passage:  Genesis 1-3, Mark 1:1-28

Friday, October 7th, 2016: Malachi 1-4 ~ Conrad

Today's passage from the Bible In a Year Reading Plan is: Malachi 1-4

The words Malachi spoke to God's people were powerful and practical; not just to Israel then, but to us today too.

"When you offer blind animals for sacrifice, is that not wrong? When you sacrifice lame or diseased animals, is that not wrong? Try offering them to your governor! Would he be pleased with you? Would he accept you?” says the Lord Almighty."  Malachi 1:8

The Israelites priests were performing their religious duty - offering sacrifices.  But they were doing it with the wrong motives and with complacency.  They were not giving God their first rate animals, but rather offering up their diseased and lame animals.

Are we doing tasks like the Israelites did to simply get them done?  Do we say a quick prayer before we eat or go to bed so that we can check off "prayer" on our to-do list?  Do we speed read through our devotions possibly missing the main point of the reading just so we can get on with the rest of our day?

Well God responds to the Israelites with the following message:

"And now, you priests, this warning is for you. If you do not listen, and if you do not resolve to honor my name,” says the Lord Almighty, “I will send a curse on you, and I will curse your blessings. Yes, I have already cursed them, because you have not resolved to honor me."  Malachi 2:1-2

When we withhold from God, we short change ourselves on what God will do for us.  He does not want us to give a partial tithe or offering, He wants us to trust and obey Him.  He wants us to be faithful to our spouse.  He does not want us to be complacent bobbing around in luke warm water, but rather to prioritize Him so He is first and foremost in our lives.

So how do we do this?  "Return to me, and I will return to you", says the Lord Almighty.  (Malachi 3:7)

We need to renew our relationship with the Lord Almighty so that we will be spared on the day of judgment.  Just as the Lord would receive the Israelites back, He will do the same for us if we renew our relationship with Him through a sincere heart of repentance.  Our God is a God of love and justice, and He does not change.  So we can be sure that He will take our guilt away if we repent and turn to Him.

God wants to bless us beyond our comprehension; we just have to trust Him.

"Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the Lord Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it. I will prevent pests from devouring your crops, and the vines in your fields will not drop their fruit before it is ripe,” says the LordAlmighty."  Malachi 3:10-11. 

One of my favourite television sitcom series taped a show pointing out that in every relationship there is a reacher and a settler.  This, of course, was done with comedy in respect to a dating or married relationship.  However, God as our loving Father, pleads with us to recommit our lives to Him and His ways, and yet He has so much more to offer us, than we can offer Him.

Are we going to reach, or are we going to settle in our relationship with God?    

Tomorrow's Bible In a Year Passage: Mark 1:1, Luke 1:1-4, John 1:1-18, Luke 1:5-80

Thursday, December 31st: Malachi 1-4, Luke 24:36-53 ~ Tammy

Today's passage from the Bible In a Year Reading Plan is Malachi 1-4; Luke 24:36-53

It's hard to believe that we've come to the end of another year on the Bible in a Year and Beyond blog, and another year of reading through the entire Bible in a year.  Thanks so much to all the posters, commenters, as well as all the people who follow along and read with us.  If you'd like to participate in a more active way this coming year, please email me to let me know!

Next year we have decided to follow a Chronological Plan - reading through the Bible in the order the events occurred.  I have a Chronological Life Application Study Bible that is set up this way (which makes it super easy for me!) and I have typed out a One Year Bible plan according to the way it is laid out in this Bible. I ended up making it a few days shorter, giving more freedom around the Christmas holidays.  Click here to see the new Bible reading plan for 2016!  I have also changed the link on the sidebar.

On to the final post for 2015!

I appreciated John Piper's thoughts on the beginning of Malachi 1.....

When God said in verse 2, "I have loved you, says the Lord," the Israelites respond skeptically, "How hast thou loved us?"

Now test yourselves here. How would you answer that question in your own life? How would you describe God's love to you. Is your life and family in such a shambles that you feel as skeptical about it as the Israelites did? Do you want to say, "How hast thou loved me?"...

Answer: "Is not Esau Jacob's brother? says the Lord. Yet I have loved Jacob, but I have hated Esau."

Now what sort of answer is this? The descendants of Jacob have asked, "How hast thou loved us?" How is it an answer to say, "Jacob I loved, Esau I hated"? Isn't that just a repetition of what he already said in the first part of verse 2, "I have loved you, says the Lord"?

No it's not, because of the little question, "Was not Esau Jacob's brother?" What does that mean? Why did God ask that? He asked it because he knew that the answer to that question contained the key to the essence of his love.

What is the answer? Was not Esau Jacob's brother? The answer is yes. In fact as every Israelite knew, Esau was not only Jacob's brother, he was his twin brother, conceived in the womb of Rebecca by their father Isaac. Jacob and Esau were not like the sons of Abraham, Isaac and Ishmael. They had different mothers and one of them wasn't even an Israelitess. But Jacob and Esau were twins. And not only were they twins, Esau was the elder, which means that by all customary rights and privileges he would be the main heir of the father's blessings.

Now what is the point of saying, "Is not Esau Jacob's brother?" The point is this: Based on what you and Esau were in yourselves I could just as easily have chosen Esau as you. Isn't he your brother? Weren't you twins? Isn't he in fact your elder? But I chose you, and passed him by.

What then is God's answer to the question, "How hast thou loved us?" His answer is, I have loved you with free, sovereign, unconditional, electing love; that is how I have loved you.

• My love for you is electing love because I chose you for myself above your brother Esau.
• My love for you is unconditional love because I chose you before you had done anything good or evil—before you had met any conditions—while you were still in your mother's womb (Genesis 25:24).
• My love for you is sovereign love because I was under no constraint to love you; I was not forced or coerced; I was totally in charge when I set my love upon you.
• And my love for you is free because it's the overflow of my infinite grace that can never be bought.

Now I ask you, if you are a Christian here today, and if you say to God, "How have you loved me?" can you answer the way God answered the Israelites? Do you look at your sister or brother living in sin and tremble that you have been chosen? And that your election is not because of anything in you? And that your faith and hope are owing wholly to God? Do you look at that childhood friend or college roommate who took a turn away from God when you stayed on the path, and tremble at the awesome thought that God chose you?
Piper notes that God's hatred of Esau (the descendants of Esau) means that He opposed them, will continue to oppose them, they will be given up into wickedness, and God will be angry with them forever.

Why does God tell us this?

• To humble you.
• To take away your presumption.
• To remove every ground of boasting in yourself.
• To cut the nerve of pride that boasts over Esau as though your salvation were owing to anything in you.
• To put to naught the cavalier sense of self-reliance that lets you dally in my presence as though you were an equal partner in this affair.
• To make you tremble with tears of joy that you belong to God.

As the psalmist says, "There is forgiveness with thee that thou mayest be feared!" (Psalm 130:4).
But above all, that we may know that He reigns over the whole earth.
5 Your own eyes shall see this, and you shall say, “Great is the Lord beyond the border of Israel!”
May we humbly give glory to Him and Him alone for our salvation.

Luke 24:46-47 “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.

May we proclaim His death and resurrection until He comes again!

See you in 2016!


Tomorrow's Bible In a Year Passage passage: Genesis 1-3

December 31st, 2011

Today's reading from the Chronological OT/NT Reading Plan is  Malachi 3-4; Revelation 22

I can't believe we've reached the end of 2011 already!  What an amazing journey this has been again this year for me. Tomorrow we start our new plan for 2012!!  I'm excited about going in another direction with this blog (in depth studying of the Word with more of a conversational style posting/commenting discussion).  A huge thank you to all the participants of 2011, especially our regular posters: Tammi, Miriam, Kathryn, Jody and Pamela.  I know some of you will not be joining us this year and we will miss you!  Maybe we'll see you back in 2013 or maybe you won't be able to stay away and we'll see you in 2012 after all :)

Anyway, on to today's post.

A few things stood out to me in today's passages. (all emphasis in the following scripture is mine)

"But you ask, 'How do we rob you?'
"In tithes and offerings. You are under a curse - the whole nation of you - because you are robbing me. Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this," says the Lord Almighty, "and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it."  Malachi 3:8b-10

When we rob God of what is His, we are actually also robbing ourselves.  We are robbing ourselves of God's blessings.  God even says to test Him in this!  I love His response - He will throw open heaven's floodgates and pour out blessing upon blessing!  Truly we rob ourselves when we do not give to God what is rightfully His - whether that is tithes and offerings, our worship, our love, or our obedience.

But thankfully, the Lord has never-ending patience!

"I the Lord do not change. So you, O descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed. Ever since the time of your forefathers you have turned away from my decrees and have no kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you," says the Lord Almighty. Malachi 3:6

No matter how many times we mess up, He is faithful.  He is faithful to forgive us and to restore us to right relationship with Him as long as we return to Him.

But in this struggle against flesh and blood (where we do what we don't want to do, and don't do what we want to do), we have hope.  First, we have hope for this present day because we are filled with the power of His Spirit and strengthened by His very Word.  But in the future, we can look forward to the day that is coming!

No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will serve him. They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. There will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light. And they will reign for ever and ever.  Revelation 22:3-5

And that promise holds true for everyone who will come and accept the free gift God gave us in His Son, Jesus Christ.

The Spirit and the bride say, "Come!" And let him who hears say, "Come!" Whoever is thirsty, let him come; and whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life.  Revelation 22:17

Come, Lord Jesus!

Tomorrow's passage: Hebrews 1:1-3
Bible in a Year: Genesis 1-3

 

Friday, December 30 ~ tammi

Today's reading from the Chronological OT/NT Reading Plan is Malachi 1-2; Revelation 21.

So we approach the end of the year with a sober warning from Malachi and the glorious presentation of the Bride of Christ in Revelation.

God's words through Malachi in chapters 1 and 2 blast the post-exile priests, who, within just a hundred years of the initial returning wave of exiles, have once again begun profaning the name of God and desecrating His house of worship ~ they're allowing imperfect animals to be offered as sacrifices.  And we're not talking small, hidden imperfections either. They're allowing blind, crippled, and diseased animals!!  God's Law clearly stated PERFECT, UNBLEMISHED animals were the only acceptable sacrifice, and the priests are teaching the nation by example that it doesn't matter what they give to God.

Not only that, but they're seeing worship and their duty as a burden.  They're complaining about God's requirements and design for their lives.  Because they broke the covenant that, centuries earlier, God had made with Levi, God essentially made the priests a laughingstock among the people.  Everyone knew of their corruption and they were no longer revered or sought out when wisdom or advice was needed.  Because they were responsible for leading God's people, they were held to a higher standard and God curses them.

Interestingly, roughly 450 years later, when the veil of the Holy of Holies was torn in half at Christ's death on the cross, that was the end of the line for the priests.  The position of human intermediary between God and man was terminated as Jesus became our Great High Priest.

God then addresses the entire nation and accuses them similarly ~ of breaking their covenant relationship with Him.  Notice though, that even though God voices His displeasure, there is no curse.  He parallels what has happened in Israel as a nation spiritually, with what has been happening among them in reality: divorce.  Because our relationship with God is what's to be mirrored in a marriage relationship, the fact that inter-marriage with pagans was again being regularly practiced and divorce was rampant, this was clear evidence that their hearts had turned from God, their deliverer, their first Love.

I find both of these warnings so applicable to us today.  Pastors and other spiritual leaders are still leading church-goers astray.  Christians ~ at least, particularly those in the Western world ~ are continually plagued with the feeling that church and serving in the Body of Christ is a chore, an obligation.  We tend to grumble about not being able to sleep in on Sundays, about having to teach Sunday school or lead singing week in, week out, month after month, year after year...  Not many of us see it as a privilege, a high honour.

But when we see the picture of Christ's Bride appearing, the Holy City, made pure and clothed in dazzling robes, covered with every imaginable precious stone, doesn't that give us incentive to change our hearts and our attitudes, to continue seeking to know Him better, and to remember why we love serving God?  I think it does.  We have an incredible reward awaiting us, and because it's there despite our failings and our sin, we should desire to live our lives as a sacrifice of gratitude to Him ~ faithfully, JOYFULLY serving Him each and every moment until He returns to perfect the work He began in us.

















Tomorrow's readings: Malachi 3-4; Revelation 22

September 23rd

Today's reading from the One Year Bible Chronological Reading Plan is Malachi 2:10-4:6, Joel 1-3

Commentaries on Malachi passage
Let None by Faithless to the Wife of His Youth by John Piper (Malachi 2:10-16)
He is Like a Refiner's Fire by John Piper (Malachi 2:17-3:6)
You Will Be a Land of Delight by John Piper (Malachi 3:7-12)
I Will Spare Them as a Man Spares His Son by John Piper (Malachi 3:13-18)
The Sun of Righteousness Will Rise by John Piper (Malachi 4:1-3)
He Will Turn the Hearts of the Fathers to the Children (Malachi 4:4-6)
Commentaries on Malachi on Bible.org
Sermons on Malachi by David Legge

Commentaries on Joel
Sermons on Joel by John Piper

I love how my Life Application Bible sums up the book of Malachi....
Malachi gives us practical guidelines about commitment to God. God deserves the best we have to offer (1:7-10). We must be willing to change our wrong ways of living (2:1,2). We should make family a lifelong priority (2:13-16). We should welcome God's refining process in our lives (3:3). We should tithe our income (3:8-12). There is no room for pride (3:13-15).

There are so many different things that we could focus on in these passages, but the one that jumped out at me was this one.....
"Will a man rob God? Yet you rob me. But you ask, 'How do we rob you?' In tithes and offerings. You are under a curse - the whole nation of you - because you are robbing me. Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this," says the Lord Almighty, "and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it." Malachi 3:8-10 (emphasis mine)

Now that is an incredible word picture for an incredible promise.

Money is a pretty sensitive topic. But I'm gonna tackle it anyway! ;)

As a whole, I think that Christians have taken advantage of the freedom we have in Christ to avoid giving back to God what is His to begin with.

In Malachi, God was telling the people that they were robbing Him by refusing to tithe - and their excuse at least, was that they were experiencing hardship and couldn't afford to tithe. Now that is still wrong.

But we in America, have the opposite "problem". We are refusing to tithe - and we have, if anything, too much! We are a wealthy people. Of course, some of wealthier than others, but the statistics show that the more money we have made, the less we have tithed.

Why is that?

I think there are 3 main reasons.

1) Because we love our money and we love our stuff and we love to spend our money on ourselves. Harsh, but true.

2) Because we view our money as our money and not God's money. A wrong perspective results in wrong action every time.

3) We do not believe God. If the reason we are not giving is because we are tight for cash, our actions say that we do not trust God and we do not believe God.

And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:19

Contrary to popular belief, the NT has not abolished tithing per se. No, tithing is not specifically commanded. But it is assumed.

"Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices—mint, dill and cummin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former." Matthew 23:23 (emphasis mine)

Jesus was not telling them that their tithing was wrong, in fact He states that they shouldn't be neglecting it. He was telling them that they were neglecting the spirit of the law - justice, mercy and faithfulness. They were to practice EVERYTHING.


In fact, not only is at assumed, MORE is commanded. We are commanded to give, not 10%, but sacrificially! We are commanded to give cheerfully. We are commanded to store up treasure in heaven, not on earth (the only way to do that with our money is to invest it in things that will impact eternity - like church, missions, etc).

Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. 2 Corinthians 9:7

Giving our 10% because we feel we have to, will not be blessed. Paul is emphasizing willingness!

And now, brothers, we want you to know about the grace that God has given the Macedonian churches. Out of the most severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity. For I testify that they gave as much as they were able, and even beyond their ability. Entirely on their own, they urgently pleaded with us for the privilege of sharing in this service to the saints. And they did not do as we expected, but they gave themselves first to the Lord and then to us in keeping with God's will. So we urged Titus, since he had earlier made a beginning, to bring also to completion this act of grace on your part. But just as you excel in everything—in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in complete earnestness and in your love for us—see that you also excel in this grace of giving. I am not commanding you, but I want to test the sincerity of your love by comparing it with the earnestness of others. 2 Corinthians 8:1-8 (emphasis mine)

Poverty resulting in generosity. Sacrificial giving. Giving in love. Giving out of joy.

Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. 2 Corinthians 9:6

In his sermon You Will be a Land of Delight, John Piper says of this verse....
In other words the issue isn't meeting a minimum limit. The issue for Paul is how to unleash the maximum liberality. The command to tithe just doesn't suit this approach. (emphasis mine)

He who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work, doing something useful with his own hands, that he may have something to share with those in need. Ephesians 4:28 (emphasis mine)
The opposite of stealing, is not working to earn a living, but working in order to be able to give!!

In his sermon on this Malachi passage, David Legge says....
William MacDonald has made this very piercing statement regarding the lack of stewardship in the church of Jesus Christ today: 'We rob God in this sense: often times the Lord's own money is not available to Him'. Imagine and contemplate the possibility that God's own money is not available to Him, because the Christians of Malachi's and today's day are so tight-fisted that they won't let go of it and allow Him to use it! This is the principle of stewardship. (emphasis mine)

Our view on money should not be.... "What is the minimum amount of my money I can give to God and still receive His blessing?" We should acknowledge everything we have as God's, and seek to find out how He wants us to use everything we have to bless others.

I think that it is easy for me to be legalistic, and it's actually easy to become legalistic in the area of generosity too. In other words, does that mean that we all have to live in little shacks and literally give everything away? I don't think so.

I believe this is where the Spirit comes in. We are to give as we are led. If you hear of a need, and you feel the Lord tug at your spirit to give - give! If you don't, and you not just looking for an excuse not to give, but truly don't feel led to give to that particular ministry - don't! Maybe God is waiting for a different opportunity for you. If we sincerely pray and ask God to direct our giving, He will.

And don't just give of your money. Give of your time! If every member of our church used their gifts to serve, even in only one area, imagine what we could accomplish for God!!

And in Malachi - God issues a challenge. A dare, if I may. He challenges us to outgive Him.
"Test me in this," says the Lord Almighty, "and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it."

Are you up for the challenge?

Tomorrow we're taking our first steps into the NT! I am especially looking forward to reading the gospel's chronologically - to really see the different perspectives of these 4 men.

Tomorrow's passage: Mark 1:1, Luke 1:1-4, John 1:1-18, Matthew 1:1-17, Luke 3:23-38, Luke 1:5-38

September 22nd

Today's reading from the One Year Bible Chronological Reading Plan is Nehemiah 12:27-13:6; Nehemiah 5:14-19; Nehemiah 13:7-31; Malachi 1-2:9

Wow, there are a lot of commentaries available on today's passage in Malachi. Here are some of them...

You Shall Go Forth Leaping like Calves by John Piper (Christmas)
The Greatness of God's Electing Love by John Piper (Malachi 1:1-5) which discusses that little phrase "Esau have I hated".
Honor Thy Majestic Father by John Piper (Malachi 1:6-14)
The Curse of Careless Worship by John Piper (Malachi 1:6-14)
The Curse of Priestly Failure by John Piper (Malachi 2:1-9)
The Glory of Priestly Success by John Piper (Malachi 2:1-9)
Message on Love by David Legge (Malachi 1:1-5)
Message on Service by David Legge (Malachi 1:6-14)
Message on Discipline by David Legge (Malachi 2:1-9)

But, today I'm going to focus on the last chapters in Nehemiah.

In his sermon, A Praise Service to Remember, David Leggee, speaking about the celebration that occurred at the dedication of the wall of Jerusalem, says.....
Holiness precedes happiness! If you look at verse 30 of Nehemiah chapter 12, you will see that Nehemiah called for the priests and the Levites, and they purified themselves, and they purified the people, and they purified the place, and they purified the walls. You've got to understand, if you want to be happy as a Christian, if you want to have the joy of the Lord, you've got to be pure - because holiness precedes happiness. They didn't just say: 'Oh, the walls are built, let's have a party and a great celebration!', but the first thing that was done before all the joyous festivities was that the priests came, they were cleansed, the people were cleansed, the walls were cleansed, the gates were cleansed.....
Charles Swindoll put it this way: 'Moral carelessness and borderline sin give laughter a hollow ring'. Have you a hollow ring in your laughter? Is it because there's sin in your life, there's compromise, there's backsliding in your heart? (emphasis mine)

So happiness takes some effort. We all just want to be happy. Just be happy. It doesn't work that way. We need to be holy first. We need to get our focus off of ourselves, and focus on God.

His second point is that the expression of happiness is celebration and singing. The sound of rejoicing in Jerusalem could be heard far away. Nehemiah 12:43b
Not just the music.... the joy!! And though their celebration was exuberant, it was also organized. And what a procession it must've been! One group led up and around the wall by Nehemiah and one by Ezra - can you just see it?

And his last point is that the secret to happiness is our focus. When we focus on ourselves, we inevitably lose our happiness. But when we focus on the Lord and on His attributes - we cannot help but be filled with happiness.

David Legge also has a sermon on Chapter 13 which I haven't had a chance to read yet.

I wanted to close with this quote from my Life Application Bible....

Nehemiah's life story provides many principles of effective leadership that are still valid today. 1) Have a clear purpose and keep evaluating it in light of God's will. Nothing prevented Nehemiah from staying on track. 2) Be straightforward and honest. Everyone knew exactly what Nehemiah needed, and he spoke the truth even when it made his goal harder to achieve. 3) Live above reproach. The accusations against Nehemiah were empty and false. 4) Be a person of constant prayer, deriving power and wisdom from your contact with God. Everything Nehemiah did glorified God.

Leadership appears glamorous at times, but it is often lonely, thankless, and filled with pressures to compromise values and standards. Nehemiah was able to accomplish a huge task against incredible odds because he learned that there is no success without risk of failure, no reward without hard work, no opportunity without criticism, and no true leadership without trust in God. This book is about rebuilding the wall of a great city, but it is also about spiritual renewal, rebuilding a people's dependence on God. When we take our eyes off God, our lives begin to crumble. (emphasis mine)

Can you believe that tomorrow is our last day in the OT?
Tomorrow's passage: Malachi 2:10-4:6, Joel 1-3