Reading the Bible by John.

Do You Read the Bible? How much? How well? These are three questions I asked myself many years ago, and I was not happy with the answers. I knew it was easy for a minister to fall into the habit of preaching the same thing over and over again perhaps changing the text, but preaching the same sermon. I was worried that I was doing that.

I had already discovered that the sermon well runs dry from time to time, and it takes a lot of prayer sometimes before God gives a message. I wondered why that was true. Then it seemed to me a voice whispered in my spiritual ear, "When do you have the most ideas for messages?" And I knew it happened when I read a lot of Scripture. That's when that same whisper said, "Your Bible is full of messages."

From that time on, when in need of a message, I read the Bible. Sooner or later, God's Spirit laid something on my heart that was "like a fire shut up in my bones!" (Jeremiah20:9). That desire to preach is so strong that I can understand how a minister without a church congregation has a hard time containing himself. Having that fire will not make you an eloquent speaker, (and I've never been one), but it will assure you that God's will for the hearers will be plain. His Spirit will see to that.

Of course, if you only read the same Scripture over and over, you will still be preaching the same sermon again and again. I made myself a schedule for reading the whole Word of God every year. I discovered I could complete it if I read just four chapters a day every day. The problem is, there are a lot of days when we just have so much to do, perhaps preaching, or teaching, or visiting, or illness, that we miss some days. To take care of that, I try to average four chapters a day. My aim is to read six chapters a day. At the moment I am writing this, I am 126 chapters ahead of schedule. If I miss some days, I won't need to make them up, and at the end of the year, I will have read the whole counsel of God!

It helps, of course, to have an easy to read translation. I struggled with the King James, which I love, for many years. When Taylor's paraphrase came out, I sailed through it with ease. I graduated from that to the American Standard the next year, and then to the New International Version which I use all the time now. I don't consider any translation as being better than another. They are, after all, translations, not exact duplicates of the original. No one has the original either! We must depend on God's Holy Spirit to guide translators as they prepare God's Word in the vernacular of the present people, and that's what the original scrolls were written in. We should expect either a constantly updated version, or a new version for every generation. Our language changes, and our ideology, make it necessary.

Now, would you like something to help you read God's Word, whatever version you use? Let me suggest this one to you that I use and prepare new each year. It contains a listing of the Books of the Bible in order with every chapter numbered. If you print it out, you can mark through a chapter when you read it. If you have it on your computer, you can erase a number or numbers as you read. By having it this way, you can read from any section of the Bible at any time, and still get it read by the end of the year.

If you choose to do this, don't wait until January 1. Start immediately. You can just mark the date down, and you will know you will be through by that date next year. You'll find an address below where you can send an e mail, and I'll send the file to you, or you can just make up your own form. God be with you as you read His Word consistently!

One of my addresses is: hjajah@yahoo.com. I will happily send you one for this year, and for 2007. You can change

Mothers' Day 2006 by John

Mothers' Day, 2006

1. Are you old enough to have noticed holidays come around a lot faster than they used to when you were a little kid?
2. Whether she is living or dead, how many of you here today have good reason to honor your mother?
3. It is a wonderful thing to have a godly mother, and I think it is a wonderful god-given privilege for you to be given the opportunity to be a godly mother.
4. History has recorded many mothers who deserve our praise and some who were infamous!
(1) I like the stories of Samuel, Jacob, Moses and Jesus, don't you?
(2) But how do you feel about Lot's two daughters who slept with their father because they had no husbands?
(3) How do you feel about Athaliah in II Kings 11 and II Chronicles 22? She ordered all of her grandchildren put to death so she could be the undisputed queen of Judah.
5. Mothers, like all people, come in all sizes, shapes, and colors. Some are good. Some are bad. And the great majority comes somewhere in between good and bad.
6. Let's think about mothers and their relationship to children, husbands and God.

I. Children, Your Primary Order from God Is Obedience.

1. Paul said, "Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. Honor your father and mother (which is the first commandment with a promise) that it may be well with you, and that you may live long on the earth." (Ephesians 6:1-3)
2. I discovered very early in life that my mother and I did not agree on many things.
(1) Our disagreements caused both of us much suffering.
(2) I suffered when she spanked me.
(3) And she suffered when she had to!
3. I soon found my mother was molding me.
(1) She wanted me to be a worthwhile individual.
(2) I wasn't quite sure I wanted to be one!
4. She constantly envisioned for me how proud she was going to be when I was an upstanding young man. (I wasn't at all sure that would ever happen!)
5. It took me a lot of years to discover my mother was trying to give me, not only a happy life, but a long life as well!
(1) She knew the Scripture.
(2) She also had experienced the joy of living in and for Jesus!
(3) She believed every word the Bible said about Jesus, and so do I! Do you? Amen??
6. If you believe the Bible, you believe God has given you your parents to mold your life into something useful to God, something that will last a long, long time!
7. Where would Moses have been if Miriam had disobeyed her mother?
(1) She might have in good conscience. Everyone knew then like they do now that the Nile River is full of crocodiles, and Moses would scarcely have made a meal for one of them!)
(2) Through Miriam's obedience Moses' life was prepared to bless his people!
(3) God saw to it that Jochebed, Moses' mother, became his wet-nurse!
(4) It was no accident that Moses identified with his own Israelite people! His mother prepared him!
8. Being obedient to your mother and father is just good sense, kids!
9. That obedience stops when you establish and pay for your own home, but love and respect never end! Ill. Jesus on the cross said to John, "Son, behold your mother..."

II. God Gave More Than One Primary Command to Husbands.

1. The famous Scripture nearly all preachers use in weddings is Matthew 19:4-6: "Have you not read that He who created them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, 'For this cause a man shall leave his father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife; and the two shall become one flesh'? Consequently they are no longer two, but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let no man separate."
(1) God's first order to husbands concerning their wives is to "cleave" to them.
(2) That means, mom, dad, brothers, sisters and business people all come in a poor second!
(3) A man doesn't just add a wife to his home like he was buying a car! His whole life is supposed to change to include her in everything!
a. Some people, from a shallow understanding of homes in the Old Testament, think wives are the property of their husbands.
b. As far as I can tell, that was never God's intention!
c. I think the New Testament gives a totally
different picture.
aa. I believe things on earth are patterned after heaven, don't you?
bb. In heaven there is neither marrying nor giving in marriage, Jesus said. (Luke 20:34,35)
cc. To me that shows equality of the sexes in heaven!
2. The next command I think we should mention right now is in Ephesians 5:25, "Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy..."
(1) I don't know of any place that specifically tells a wife to love her husband, but this Scripture definitely says a husband is to love his wife.
(2) That same Scripture says a wife should "respect" her husband.
(3) That love and respect is to be patterned after the love of Christ for His Church!
(3) That means we should give our lives for our wives, husbands!
(4) Now, let me remind you part of love is not just sacrifice, but care. I Timothy 5: 8 says, "If anyone does not provide for his own, and especially for those of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever." (KJ uses "Infidel" here. "Unbeliever" is the more accurate ts, but infidel is fitting considering the promises of marriage).
3. God has given husbands the role of leadership in the family.
(1) A lot men throw their weight and strength around, but don't give any real leadership to the family.
(2) Our wives may treat us like kings, but we ought to have the Christian grace to treat them like Queens!
4. Now, let's spend a little more time on mothers.
III. Mothers Have a Tremendous Responsibility to God!

1. Mother, have you really realized the trust God puts in you?
(1) God knew just what husbands would be like. There has never been one trick a husband could teach Him!
(2) Considering the normal husbands, God bound your children to you mothers.
a. You carry them before they are born.
b. You nourish them after they are born.
c. It may be you teach them the only graces they will ever know. (Too many are single parents)
d. More often than not, you are responsible for their spiritual destination as well as orientation.
aa. They'll do their own sinning.
bb. But when the convicting power of the Holy Spirit hits them, it will probably be mother's teachings that will lead them to Jesus!
e. God trust you will all these things. He's counting on you!
2. It is a wonderful thing when a Christian father will take his place as the head of the family, but I'm so thankful God can trust most mothers to lead their children to Him! Even when we husbands fail!

Conclusion:
1. Children, do you show your mother the respect she should receive? The best way you can, is to obey her.
2. Husband, are you giving your wife and your children the leadership they have a right to expect?
3. Mother, can God trust you with His children?
4. It has been said, "The father is the head of the home. Children are the hope of the home. The mother is the heart of the home," but there is usually a blending of the roles.
(1) What good is a head if there is no heartbeat?
(2) What good is a heartbeat without a head?
(3) What good are head and heart if they are hopeless?
5. Each of us has a responsibility to God for our position in our family, and it is a sin not to fulfill it.
(1) We can be like Athaliah.
(2) Or we can be like Hanah and Jochebed.
6. The choice is ours, but God determines the cost!
7. Jesus has the wisdom to make life worth living. Do you have Him? Is He your Lord and Savior?

Emmanuel 5/8/1988
Emmanuel Community Church 5/14/2006

Heart Problems by John

HEART PROBLEMS
Malachi 2:10-16

1. Doctors have said that smallpox has been eradicated from the earth.
(1) If true, that means we won't see American Indians sporting vacination scars in movies while they attack the wagon train!
(2) It also makes us wonder, is it really gone?
2. Did you know malaria probably still kills more people today than cancer, aids, or heart disease?
3. Many diseases were grouped under the name "leprosy" in the Old Testament. We've narrowed that down to just one disease today.
4. All of these diseases kill the body, but cannot kill the soul.
(1) God has compassion for people with any of the varied illnesses that confront us.
(2) Jesus proved that by the healings He did, and the compassion He showed while on earth.
(3) God has always been more concerned about the problems that affect the soul.
(4) Jesus said we were not to fear those who kill bodies, but fear the One Who has power to cast body and soul into hell! (Mt 10:28). That's our Heavenly Father!
5. God is concerned with our heart problems, and this Scripture in Malachi deals with a whole slate of heart problems.
6. Today, I want us to consider just the family heart problem Malachi dealt with.
7. Husbands were not pleasing the Lord when they sent their first wives away.
8. Let's note three things.

I. MEN WHO SWAPPED THEIR OLD WIVES FOR YOUNG ONES LOST GOD'S BLESSINGS.

1. When you hear someone say, "I want justice!" is it possible they are really saying "I want to get even!"
2. Real justice is not revenge. It is a positive way of life.
(1) It's not a matter of doing unto others what they did unto you. That's taking revenge.
(2) It's a matter of treating people fairly with love and respect.
3. Micah 6:8 says, "He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you, but to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?"
4. If a man treats the wife of his youth justly, he doesn't send her away and replace her with a younger, more attractive (to him!) woman!
5. The same holds true now for both husbands and wives!
6. God says the real reason for divorce is our hearts are hard! (Mt. 19:8).
7. He also said He did not accept their sacrifices because of their hearts were hard! (Mal 2:13).
8. Some of us today feel like God is far away, and that He pays no attention when we pray...Could that be the reason? Yes it could!

II. GOD HATES THE SENDING AWAY OF A WIFE.

1. The word "divorce" means "a sending away."
2. From the very beginning God made two people one flesh!
(1) He only made one woman for Adam!
(2) When questioned about divorce, Jesus said, "Moses permitted you to divorce your wives because your hearts were hard. But it was not this way from the beginning." (Mt 19:8).
3. If He had wanted man to have more mates, he could have made two Eves for one Adam, or vice versa.
4. V 14 is the only time this Hebrew word, chabereth, is used in the Bible of husband and wife. It is used of men who are equals and friends.
5. It is evident God expects husbands and wives to enjoy an equality in marriage that most families today never experience.
6. Husbands and wives become one flesh, and to separate them destroys something God has approved.
(1) There is no marriage service in the Bible.
(2) Here, God says He has been a witness between husband and wife! v. 14. God was at their wedding!
(3) These men wronged their wives by divorcing them, and they put aside something God approved!

III. GOD WANTS YOU TO TAKE HEED TO YOUR SPIRIT!

1. If a person's heart is so hard he can't treat his mate with respect and justice, he does not have even a vestige of God's Holy Spirit, v. 15.
2. Abraham discovered he could have children with other women, but only the child of Sarah would be the godly offspring of his covenant with God! (She was the wife of his youth!)
3. If Abraham learned from that, we too, must guard our spirits.
4. Twice, in vv 15 and 16, God tells us to guard our spirits!
5. If we take heed of our spirits and get them right with God, these other things will not happen!
(1) James said, "Each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death." (James 1:14,15)
(2) Divorce of an older wife was equivalent to a death sentence in that time. She probably could not go home to her parents (They were probably dead!) and she had no way to make a living!
6. God's way is the way of life! Any other way is the way of death! Take heed to how your spirit is doing!

Conclusion:

1. The trouble in families has always been heart trouble!
(1) When our hearts get hard toward the Lord, we see all kinds of sin resulting.
(2) What appears to be hard hearts between Christian husbands and wives is really a hardness of heart toward the Lord!
2. The solution to family problems is essentially getting the heart of our beings right with the Lord!
3. Every family problem is a spiritual problem because God attends, witnesses and approves our marriages!
(1) He hears the vows we make.
(2) He sees our hearts.
(3) He sees the way we sin against our mates.
4. And He refuses to treat us as if everything is okay when it is not!
5. The secret of a happy marriage is:
(1) Know the Lord.
(2) Know the Lord well.
(3) Keep your heart soft toward Him by watching out for things that hurt our spirits.
6. Young person, if you want a happy marriage, start by making Jesus the Lord of your life.
7. If you've been married a while and things aren't going well, is Christ the center of your life?
8. This is the time you can set things straight with the Lord, and He will hear you when you pray.


ECC 5/07/2006

My Messenger by John

"MY MESSENGER"
Malachi 1:ff

1. The title of this message is actually the name of this Book of Prophecy.
(1) Malachi is a Hebrew word brought over into English.
(2) The root meaning of Malak is, "Messenger."
(3) The ending can mean "My" or "of the Lord." Either way it means "The Lord's messenger."
2. Let's dive right into the authorship of the Book.

I. WE KNOW SEVERAL POSSIBILITIES ABOUT THE AUTHOR.

1. Scholars have known the meaning of the name "Malachi" for many years, but it occurs nowhere else in the O.T. In fact, the name is not used anywhere in the N.T. although the Book is quoted!
(1) The Targum of Johnathan records the author as being Ezra.
(2) Jerome, who translated the Scriptures into Latin, was aware of the meaning and suggested the prophet was actually Ezra, and that Malachi was just a name descriptive of his position.
(3) John Calvin supported this point of view at a much later date.
(4) The Jewish Talmud had a different idea. They said the men of the synagogue composed the Book.
a. I don't think their view has much validity.
b. It seems unlikely those men would have preached against themselves!
c. And much of the Book prophesies against the sins of the priests. I don't think the men of the synagogue had that much courage.
2. It has also been suggested that Malachi was originally the third section of Zechariah, and separated from it to make the minor prophets number 12.
3. The ancient source, the Targum of Jonathan, adds a note by the title that says, "who is called Ezra the Scribe."
4. The Greek translation of the O.T., the Septuagint, translates the opening words, "The oracle of the word of the Lord to Israel by the hand of his angel." (angel means messenger.)
5. We don't really know who the author was.
(1) It could have been Ezra, or a man named Malachi. Either is possible.
(2) Unless this was originally a section of Zechariah, it seems unlikely "Malachi" is the name of the author. Every other Minor Prophet is named in the opening words of his prophecy.
6. It both thrills and amazes me that God would leave us so many mysteries about His Word to keep our minds active and our spirits searching for His Truth!

II. NOW LET'S THINK ABOUT THE TIME IT WAS WRITTEN.

1. We do know the author lived in Jerusalem and probably did most of his preaching in Jerusalem.
2. We also know many Jews returned to Jerusalem about 538 BC and more about 498.
3. The exact time of writing loses its importance in light of the eternal truths it expresses.
4. We can be sure the people at the time of writing were in critical circumstances.
(1) Remember, the Children of Israel were in Egypt almost 400 years before God spoke to them!
(2) The handwriting on the wall appeared before King Darius II in Daniel when he lost all compassion for God's people!
(3) God speaks to us when we really want to hear Him! And we want to hear Him when we are in trouble!
5. In troubled times, we need a Malachi! (1) When people are affluent and things are going well, we don't seem to feel any need for God!
(2) On the other side of life's coin, there are so many people who are deliberately leading their neighbors into destruction through drugs, sex, and even religion!
6. We need people who will speak out fearlessly the Word God has given them for this day and age! We need a Malachi right now!
(1) Some years ago on the program West 57th Street, they interviewed two "ministers."
(2) Both made fortunes by bilking elderly people out of their savings!
(3) I can imagine what Malachi would have said to them!
7. I don't believe any period of history shows much more degradation in the ministry than this one!

III. NOW LET'S CONSIDER THE REASON IT WAS WRITTEN.

1. Of course, we've already landed on one reason. Who can believe God wants His people to suffer because of a corrupt priesthood?
2. God wanted these Hebrews who returned to Jerusalem to become aware of the sins they were committing and of His position in their lives.
3. We already know the Hebrews liked the numbers 7 and 12. God used 7 questions and answers to make indelibly clear where they were going wrong.
4. Malachi's first question in years past always threw me.
(1) I couldn't believe God could be so harsh just because the sacrifices were not made according to His directions.
(2) Without considering just how important these sacrifices were, look at what they were doing!
a. They offered lame animals as sacrifices. b. They offered sick animals as sacrifices. c. The offal from sacrificial animals was supposed to be carried outside the camp, but they offered their sacrifices with the offal.
5. The original intent of these sacrifices was to be a sweet-smelling savor to God (and His people)!
(1) Cooking meat smells good, right?
(2) But what about cooking barnyard fertilizer?
6. These sacrifices represented the atonement of Jesus on the cross! And they were messing up the picture.

IV. WHAT IS THE IMPORTANCE OF THIS BOOK TO US?

1. It tells us God has a standard for us which we have not reached in our living.
2. It rebukes a priesthood which treats the worship of God carelessly.
3. It gives us God's view of divorce almost 500 years before Jesus told us practically the same thing.
4. It indicates the home is intended to be a place where husband and wife find good companionship, and children can be born and raised in a godly atmosphere.
5. It also gives us the concept that God is the God of the Gentiles as well as God of the Jews.
6. Other values will come out as we study the Book.

Conclusion:

1. Let's wrap this up for now.
2. We don't know who the author was if it wasn't a man named Malachi, but we know it was traditional for the man's name to be included in the opening passage.
3. He decries an ungodly priesthood.
4. Malachi strongly supports the institutions of marriage and home.
5. He also supports the ten commandments pointing out the spiritual principles behind them.
6. This is a good time to begin examining our lives to discover how well we are living with the Lord, and where we can improve our lives.

Ecc 4/30/2006