Sermon Snippets with Max Taylor
Each week we take fifteen minutes to explain, illustrate, and apply God’s Word to your everyday life. Thank you for listening!
Episodes
Malachi 3:13-16
We look at our last accusation today, statement #8 in which the children admire the works of the wicked. It might seem like a long way away from where we are, but this progression starts small. Don’t get to the point where you are apathetic in your walk with God, it leads to departure from Him altogether. Thankfully, we don’t have to be part of that crowd, we can be the faithful who are described at the end of cha...
Malachi 3:10-12
We are challenged here to give God the little bit that we have (rather than trying to keep it for ourselves) and then see how He will bless us. There is nothing more fulfilling than living for the Lord and trusting His promises. This does not mean life will be easy, but we can depend upon God’s promises to meet our needs, just as Israel can trust God’s promises to make them a blessing and cause the land to be frui...
Malachi 3:7-10
We’re covering questions six and seven in our episode today. And we are learning that when we are not close to God, we are often confused, accusatory of God, and stubborn in our ways. Rather than resorting to these reactions, we should return to the Lord, and we will find that in humble and simple obedience to Him, He will richly bless us with spiritual sustaining grace.
Malachi 3:1, 4-6
This is the first of two times we will look at John the Baptist in our study through the book of Malachi. John is really a near type of messenger of God and Christ is the ultimate messenger sent from the Father. When Jesus began His earthly ministry, John was subordinate to Him in every way, shifting the focus and the attention onto Him. That is exactly how we should be.
Malachi 2:17-3:3
After a quick recap of the Lord’s accusations against the Israelites, we zero in on the weariness of God with the people. It is important that we properly understand the indifference and apathy as the backdrop against which God gives hope in the coming prophecy. Jesus shows us God’s faithfulness, justice, and His ultimate desire for restoration. God’s desire is for us to be made righteous so that we can serve Him...
Malachi 2:14-17
We close off the chapter by looking at God’s purpose and the beautiful spiritual picture of marriage to represent our union with God made possible through Christ. There are some good lessons on marriage from these verses that we should glean, as well as a warning about divorce or viewing marriage too loosely. Then Malachi closes out with a description of God’s weariness at the people’s apathy and indifference. Loo...
Malachi 2:10-13
We see two sad realities concerning the children of Israel in today’s verses, their callousness towards each other and their lack of commitment to God. They took awful advantage of one another and they arrogantly refused God’s love and instead pursued a strange woman as it were. These acts were not taken lightly by God. He denied their offerings and did not regard their cries to Him because of their insincerity. M...
Malachi 2:10-11
Today we are just beginning to look at these verses, and we are seeing that how we treat one another is directly linked to how we treat God, just as New Testament books like 1 John teach. Their cold treatment of their brethren (brethren in a spiritual sense) was connected to their abandonment of God to pursue their own selfish desires. We will continue to unpack these thoughts next episode.
Malachi 2:7-11
This rebuke is relevant for us because as New Testament believers, we are all priests. We have been dedicated to God just as the Levites and the firstborn of the Israelites before them. So when we read this indictment, we ought to read it from the viewpoint that it could be addressing us as priests. What are we doing with the covenant of Levi that we have inherited?
Malachi 2:1-7
I love that God’s Word is personal, its messages are directed to us individually. And it is also sufficient to meet our deepest needs and speak into our deepest problems. The question is, will we take His Word to heart? The Levites of this time failed that question, but it didn’t have to be that way. We can take God seriously. We can share Him with others and be a mouthpiece for truth in our communities. May we pray...
Malachi 1:12-14
In the final verses of Malachi chapter one, God contrasts the sad condition of Israel with His own greatness. The people are described as defiling and destroying God’s name, calling the table of the Lord marred, and counting God a weariness, and God will not accept their offering. But then we get a glimpse of Him. Perfect, exalted, loving, holy, a great king. May we fix our thoughts on Him and shift our gaze to H...
Malachi 1:10-11
As we continue to unpack accusations two and three, God traces the root of their problem to covetousness. It is our love for other things that creep in and redirect our love for God that causes us to offer unworthy service to Him, profane His name, and ultimately question His love for us. God shows His people here that their greed and desire for gain is what caused contempt for the Lord to fester. And as a result,...
Malachi 1:6-9
We cover the next two questions against God today. The people’s offering showed what they really thought about God’s name. Their thoughts of God corrupted their service for God. Because they didn’t appreciate His love, they didn’t view Him as a loving Father, and therefore they did not offer Him their best. Are we offering God less than we would offer someone else? We need to stop justifying ourselves and humbly acc...
Malachi 1:1-5
When God describes you as having a certain attitude, you do. It is so important that we realize it is only by being near to God that we can actually discover ourselves. We must spend time with Him, not only to know His thoughts towards us, but so that He can reveal our true thoughts towards Him. If you are struggling with knowing God loves you (and you might not have even realized it), just think on the cross of Cal...
Outline of Malachi
There are eight rebuttals against the children of Israel in this short book, and God describes the people as having these views:
- “Wherein hast thou loved us?” (1:2)
- “Wherein have we despised thy name?” (1:6)
- “Wherein have we polluted thee?” (1:7)
- “Wherefore?” (2:14)
- “Wherein have we wearied him?” (2:17)
- “Wherein shall we return?” (3:7)
- “Wherein have we robbed thee?” (3:8)
- “What have we spoken so much aga...
Background to Malachi
Welcome to the last words of God before the coming of the Messiah to the world. These writings precede over four hundred years of silence from God before the He broke the silence with the glorious announcements that the promises of the Messiah (and of this prophecy) were being fulfilled. Today we lay the groundwork for this book and introduce the theme of these special words from God to mankind.
2 Corinthians 1:3-7
The words “comfort” and “consolation” appear ten times in this short passage. In today’s bonus episode, we are going to pause and reflect on Christ’s consolation in the midst of our suffering in this life. And we also remember the imminent rapture of believers which will end all suffering for the followers of God.
1 Peter 5:5-14
Hope is the thread that runs through the entirety of this epistle, and it goes all the way to the end. In the concluding statements, Peter instructs us believers to continue in the daily disciplines listed here, to understand the duration of our suffering, and to keep our eyes on the final destination. May we be able to say as Paul did that none of these things move us when we are faced with suffering. When we have...
1 Peter 5:1-4
When it comes to pastoral qualifications, many of us turn to 1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1, however I have grown to treasure this section in 1 Peter 5 as one of the best passages on God’s expectations for a pastor. Unfortunately, many pastors have “cared more about the mission than the people. And they [don’t] realize that the people are the mission (July Roys Report Podcast ‘The Body of Christ Keeps the Score,’ 28:10).” ...
1 Peter 4:12-19
The end of chapter four and the majority of chapter 5 contains some of the best condensed teaching on suffering, in my opinion. We have already mentioned suffering several times as we have gone through this book, and I think that is one of the major themes God had in mind for this book. Chapter four closes with some helpful reminders and straightforward charges on how to handle suffering. Next week we will look at...
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