Author: Jim Pruett

February 12, 2015

Malachi

Thoughts About What We’re Reading!

This week we turn our attention to the Book of Malachi.  This will be the last book in our Old Testament reading plan.

It’s been my pleasure to go on this journey with you – next week we will do some sort of a wrap-up.  After that, we will spend the following weeks leading up to Easter with a special daily devotional.

Following Easter, we will begin a new reading plan through the New Testament that should take us all the way up to Advent. I will continue the weekly blog when we start the New Testament.

So, what can we learn from the book of Malachi?

As we explore the book of Malachi we see that the temple had been rebuilt and the walls around the city of Jerusalem are either complete or in process.

But after all this was done the people seem to be falling into a state of mediocrity. Lukewarm might be a way to describe the people.  The people of Israel seem to just be going through the motions.

Here we find that life is not easy for the people – they remain under Persian rule. Harvests seem to have been poor and subject to locust damage.

Maybe this is the reason the people were so indifferent or even resentful toward God. Both the priests and the people were guilty of violating the laws regarding sacrifices, tithes, and offerings.

Maybe their hopes in God’s covenant promises were dimmed.

So the Lord sent Malachi to speak to His people concerning the lukewarm state of their hearts. This reminds me of the warning given to the church in Revelation Chapter 3:14-22.

Even though the book is made up of a series of rebukes from the Lord, God continues to affirm His love for them – which is the reason they continue to exist after the judgment of the exile.

Malachi pointed to God’s past, present, and future dealings with Israel in order to renew their perspective, reestablish their hope, and motivate them to proper covenant faithfulness.

I conclude with what the Holman Christian Standard Bible says about the book of Malachi:

 “Malachi was the last prophetic message from God before the close of the Old Testament period.

This book is a fitting conclusion to the Old Testament and a transition for understanding the kingdom proclamation in the New Testament.

Malachi spoke to the hearts of a troubled people whose circumstances of financial insecurity, religious skepticism, and personal disappointments were similar to those often experienced by God’s people today.

The book contains a message that must not be overlooked by those who wish to encounter God and His kingdom and to lead others to a similar encounter.

We have a great, loving, and holy God, who has unchanging and glorious purposes for His people.

Our God calls us to genuine worship, fidelity to Himself and to one another, and to expectant faith in what he is doing and says He will do in this world and for His people.”

Until next time… Keep reading!

Jim

Other excerpts taken from: Bible Knowledge Commentary and Gospel Transformation Bible

 

February 5, 2015

A Praying People

Thoughts About What We’re Reading!

This week, we turn our attention to the book of Nehemiah.

We only have a couple weeks left in our reading plan, so I thought it might be helpful to summarize where we are in our story.

Following the reign of Solomon, the kingdom of Jerusalem was split in two as a result of Solomon’s sin and the apostasy of the people – the Northern and Southern Kingdoms.

Both kingdoms continued to be characterized by idolatry and immorality.

God had forewarned His people through His prophets that judgment would surely fall upon them if they did not repent and turn from their ways – judgment finally came, the Nation is conquered, Jerusalem – God’s holy city and the temple are sacked and the people are taken into captivity.

Under the leadership of Ezra and Zerubbabel, some of the captives return to Jerusalem and re-build the temple. Through Ezra’s teaching, the majority of the returning exiles turn from their sins, and once again follow God’s will for their lives.

Nehemiah also returned during this time and God used him to guide the exiles in rebuilding the city walls, protecting the people from their enemies and restoring order to their social and economic lives.

The Book of Nehemiah is an incredible book on Christian leadership and stewardship. I have turned to it over the years as a model for my own life and ministry.

Nehemiah serves a great example of how through prayer and the work of the Holy Spirit, we can use our own skill mix, experiences, gifting, and resources to accomplish the tasks God has given us to do, once we have bathed the situation in prayer.

In Nehemiah, we see a person grieved at the situation in Jerusalem.  He prays in Chapter 1 and when the prayer starts coming to fruition in Chapter 2, Nehemiah is prepared to mobilize.  Opportunity was knocking and Nehemiah knew exactly what to do.

He uses everything at his disposal, his own intellectual capabilities, his past experiences, his accumulated wisdom, his role and position in life, and the people with whom he came in contact with – especially the king of Persia.

When you read through the book of Nehemiah, explore how Nehemiah went about his work. Use this time to think through how you can use your God-given resources and gifting to go about Kingdom work.

Keeping in mind that what matters most is the love of Christ in a shattered world – a redeemed and praying people, focused on His work and the willingness to go when called, or when opportunity presents itself.

It matters not if it is in your own neighborhood, community, city or the other side of the world.

And may we, God’s people, like Nehemiah, use prayer as a distinct and consistent approach to problem-solving for whatever situation or task we may face.

Paul reminds us in 1 Corinthians 3:8-9, “that neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. He who plants and he who waters are one, and each will receive his wages according to his labor. For we are God’s fellow workers.”

Until next time… keep reading!

Jim

Sources used for this blog: The Bible Knowledge Commentary.

 

January 15, 2015

Our God Reigns

Thoughts About What We’re Reading!

This week, our reading plan takes us to the book of Daniel. When reading this book I suggest you stay focused on the central theme of the book – God’s sovereignty. You will see this throughout the book.

We read the book of Daniel in two parts. The first half contains narratives concerning the lives of Daniel and his three friends, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.

The second half of Daniel, contains apocalyptic visions, designed to reassure God’s people that in spite of persecution and suffering, God is in control and will ultimately be victorious.

In the first half of the book, Daniel and his friends are taken as captives from Israel to Babylon and are introduced into a new culture. We see how their belief in God enables them to endure, and even succeed, in an alien culture.

We see the mighty hand of God rescue them time after time. When reading the narrative portion however we should not miss the big picture – Daniel and his friends trusted in God throughout the ordeals, and were willing to live or die according to His will and purpose. 

The sobering thought in the last six chapters of Daniel is that God calls all nations, all kingdoms that oppose Him into judgment and destroys them.  There are times when God uses them to fulfill His purposes for a span of time, something we can find hard to understand.

But scripture teaches us that God remains sovereign over all the events of world history. It is also comforting to know, even when we do not feel or see it, His greatest concern remains with His people.

God is sovereign over all of the kingdoms of this world, the book of Daniel teaches us that all the kingdoms of this world will come to an end and be replaced by the Lord’s Kingdom.

Much like Daniel and his friends, we too are aliens and strangers in a land not our own. We are citizens of heaven. 

At times, when we read about the market, the terrorist attacks in Paris, Ebola and other global events that impact all of us, when we feel the pain of death of our loved ones, divorce and other issues that strike our hearts, we think the time must be near, the end must be coming.

We do not know the day or hour but we know where our hope lies – and it causes us to raise our eyes toward Jesus.

Someday the end of the world will indeed come. Jesus will return to draw history to its conclusion and to usher in a new heavens and earth.

Indeed, our God Reigns.

Until next time… Keep reading!

Jim

Sources used: ESV Study Bible, Bible Knowledge Commentary, Daniel by Philip Ryken

January 8, 2015

Take Heart

Thoughts About What We’re Reading!

Well we’re back! After our Advent series and Christmas break, it is time to get back to our reading!

We will be finishing up the Old Testament in the next few weeks and then moving on to a new specific plan during Lent starting on Ash Wednesday, February 18th, leading up to Easter.

Following Easter, we will begin a New Testament reading plan that will carry us until the next Advent season. That’s right, Christmas is only 11 1/2 months away!

This week, we are finishing up the book of Ezekiel, you can refresh your memory with my blog on Ezekiel prior to the Advent break.

If you’ve been hanging in with the reading so far, I have applaud you for a job well done – pat yourself on the back! Only a few more weeks and you will have completed the Old Testament!

Today however, I would like to share with you a few thoughts on the book of Joel as we will be reading through that book in our reading plan on the way to Daniel, our focus for next week’s blog.

As I write this, the stock market had one of its largest drops in quite a while. When things like this happen, it is a gentle reminder (and in some cases maybe a not so gentle reminder) how temporal our holdings and investments can be.

In much the same way, the book of Joel begins with a description of the total devastation caused by locusts in the land of Judah. We are told in Matthew that John the Baptist used to eat them!

Now there’s much debate between scholars about when the book of Joel was written and whether the invasion of the locusts was an actual event or an illustration for the people of Israel.

Regardless, we need to keep in mind when reading the book of Joel, we read both the bad news of God’s judgment and the good news of His promised deliverance.

We can take the book of Joel and divide it into two parts. The first part concerns the day of the Locusts and runs from Chapter 1 through Chapter 2 verse 27.  From verse 28, through the remainder of the book we read about the coming day of the Lord.

When I was reading through the book of Joel last month, I had a couple of commentaries on hand, one by James Montgomery Boice and one by Jon Courson. Boice by far is my favorite commentator but Courson approaches his commentary from an application point of view and I like that as well.

I want to share with you the following from Courson’s Application Commentary, Old Testament, Volume 2 regarding the Book of Joel:

“Three things happen simultaneously in this short but powerful book. First, Joel was speaking to the people practically. After all, they had seen their land, their investments, their future wiped out by locusts.

Second, he was speaking to the people prophetically. That is, he was talking about the day of the Lord, a day yet to come.

Third, he was actually speaking to us personally. You see, maybe in the last year, your marriage, ministry, business, or family has been eaten away by locusts of one kind or another.

Take heart! This book is for you because Joel addresses the issue for those who feel as if they’ve been eaten up, destroyed, setback, or devoured in any area of life.”

May the Book of Joel be a blessing to you.

Until next time… Keep reading!

Jim

December 1, 2014

The Return of the King – A Message of Hope

As we enter the advent season, let’s remember to be mindful of both Advents. Yes, we celebrate the birth, life, ministry, atoning work on the cross and the Resurrection of Jesus our risen Lord, but we must also be mindful of His return.

As Christians, we live between the times of the First Advent and the Second Advent.

We affirm that Christ has come, He is present in the world today, and He will return as King in glory and power.

In Genesis 1 & 2, we’re told that God created a perfect world, a good world were there was no sin and no death. No crime. No hatred or animosity. No need for escape. It was paradise.

But that good world was fractured when we chose to rebel against our Creator and now sin and death are a part of our experience on this planet.

But even in the midst of our rebellion, God provided HOPE.

He said that He would one day send a Hero to rescue us from sin and death and not only us, but also all of creation, so that by believing in Him we could have a relationship with God.

We would be adopted into His family, sons and daughters of the King of the Universe.

The good news is: the Hero has come.

Jesus, God’s Son, came and lived a perfect life, the one we could never live. He died a bloody, horrible death and was raised again to life the third day, conquering both sin and death so that we could have life – life today and life eternal.

So as we go through the Christmas season let’s spread the good cheer, we have a message of HOPE – the good news of Jesus!

Jim

November 20, 2014

Christmas Time Is Here!

 

Thoughts About What We’re Reading…

 

This week I will pause from our normal blogging pattern to share with you what we are doing at Central in the coming weeks heading into Advent. Next week we will have a special “Thanksgiving” blog set apart from our reading.

Please continue to read through the plan, which should take you as far as Ezekiel 39 ending on Friday, November 28.

On that date, we will take a break from our normal reading and normal blog pattern until January.

Starting in December and all the way through the Advent Season, we will switch our reading plan and blogs to follow through the Advent series at the church that we are calling, “The Ultimate Christmas Story.”

Andrew Alesso will be our guest blogger through the Advent season, I will pick it back up when we resume our Old Testament reading plan in January. When we conclude that plan at the end of January, we will begin a new plan that takes us through the New Testament! Yea!

So what is Advent?

The word Advent means “coming” or “arrival.”

Advent is a season celebrated in the church, typically identified as the last four weekends leading up to Christmas Day, concluding on Christmas Eve.

When we celebrate Advent, we celebrate the revelation of God in Christ whereby all of creation might be reconciled to Him.

The focus of the entire season is the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ in His First Advent, and the anticipation of the return of Christ the King in His Second Advent.

Advent also symbolizes our spiritual journey as we affirm that Christ has come, that He is present in the world today, and that He will come again in power.

It is a time when we celebrate and acknowledge that we live “between the times” of His First and Second Coming and are called to be faithful stewards of what is entrusted to us as God’s people.

That is why we celebrate Advent.

We will follow the traditionally recognized themes of Hope, Peace, Joy and Love each week as we work our way through the series.

We have been working hard to prepare for Advent and I HOPE (I am first up in the Advent Series with a sermon on HOPE on Thanksgiving weekend) you will be blessed and invite others to come all four weekends leading up to Christmas Eve Services.

If you want to be in the know… wear something purple to services Thanksgiving weekend.

He is coming!  King Jesus is coming!

Until next time…keep reading!

God bless you all!

Jim

November 13, 2014

God Strengthens

 

Thoughts About What We’re Reading…

 

This week we begin our reading through the Book of Ezekiel. Ezekiel’s name literally means “God strengthens”.

The arrangement of the book (the announcement of judgment in the beginning and the declaration of restoration at the end) suggests that Ezekiel’s message was ultimately one of hope and encouragement.

Borrowing from the HCSB Study Bible – we find six major theological statements made in the book on behalf of the Nation of Israel:

(1) The Lord will re-gather His scattered people.

(2) The Lord will bring the nation back to their land and will cleanse them from defilement.

(3) The Lord will give His people a new heart and a new spirit so they might walk in His ways.

(4) The Lord will restore the Davidic dynasty.

(5) The Lord will bless Israel with unprecedented prosperity and security in their land.

(6) The Lord will establish His permanent residence in the midst of Israel.

All the covenants made with Israel will be fulfilled when the nation is restored to the promised land and the messianic kingdom is established.

Borrowing from the Gospel Transformation Bible notes on Ezekiel, we find that the whole structure of the book points to God’s grace toward His people in spite of their sin.

In the first 24 chapters, the book contains a succession of oracles that promise judgment against the people of Israel. Jerusalem will be placed under siege and destroyed, this will happen because of the peoples’ sin.

The exile has not happened by accident, and neither will the destruction of Jerusalem. All of it comes from the hand of God in response to the peoples’ rebellion against Him.

In chapters 24–33, the focus changes as God turns His attention to judging the nations around Israel. He is sovereign not only over His people but over all the nations of the world. None of them will be excused for their rebellion.

In chapter 33, the focus of the book changes again. With God’s judgment against Jerusalem carried out in full, and with judgment pronounced against Israel’s enemies, God now begins to promise His people that they will be restored.

Life will reign where there has been only death. God will pour out His Spirit on the people. God will once again dwell with His people.

One day, God will restore His people and a new ruler will sit on David’s throne. This king will not only reign for eternity but will also make atonement for His people’s sins and bring them back into God’s presence.

In all this, Ezekiel points powerfully both to the coming of Jesus Christ and to the grace of God in forgiving sinners.

Until next time… keep reading!

Jim

Excerpts for today’s blog were taken directly from the HCSB Study Bible and The Gospel Transformation Bible.

November 6, 2014

Lamentations

 

Thoughts About What We’re Reading…

 

Today we turn to the Book of Lamentations.  Most scholars attribute this book to Jeremiah. We will address this book from that point of view.

We can consider Lamentations as an addendum to the Book of Jeremiah. Through the use of five funeral laments, Jeremiah is grieving, lamenting over the fate of Jerusalem, because of her sin.

Lamentations would have been written after the actual fall of Jerusalem, a desperate time following the long siege the people of Jerusalem had experienced.

After breaching the city, the armies of Babylon burned the temple, the king’s palace, and all the other major buildings in the city; and they tore down the walls of the city, which provided her protection.

Jeremiah would have witnessed these events (cf. Jeremiah 39:1-14; 52:12-14).

The once-proud capital had been destroyed. Her people were now under the harsh hand of a cruel taskmaster – the Babylonians. With this on his mind, Jeremiah sat down to compose his series of laments.

Lamentations both mourns the fall of the city and offers reproof, instruction, and hope to its survivors.

When you read Lamentations you should lay it side by side with Deuteronomy 28.

Read together, you see the sovereignty and mercy of God  – Moses had predicted all of this 900 years earlier.

God had warned of the fearful consequences of disobedience and, as Jeremiah carefully noted, God faithfully carried out those curses. Israel was punished for disobedience, but she was not consumed because God’s covenant was still in force.

Throughout the Bible we see God faithfully working with His remnant, the people of God.

Jeremiah’s message to the Israelites in captivity was to learn the lessons of Deuteronomy 28 and turn back to their Lord.

The prayer of Lamentations 5:21-22 was not a doubting cry from a discouraged remnant. Rather it was the response of faith from those captives who had mastered the lessons of Deuteronomy 28 and the Book of Lamentations. They were calling on God to fulfill the final part of His covenant and to restore them as a nation from captivity.

The book of Lamentations shows that God is a fierce enemy to those who trample on His Word and despise His grace. But He is also rich in mercy and unfailingly faithful to His covenant promises.

Lamentations is a confronting book, showing us the seriousness of rebellion against God. It spares no detail in revealing the radical sinfulness of sin and its awful consequences.

But it also points beyond itself to the mercy of the God of the new covenant in Christ who, despite everything, fulfills God’s covenant promises to His people, wayward though they are.

Until next time…  keep reading!

Jim

Excerpts for this blog were taken extensively from: The Bible Knowledge Commentary and The Gospel Transformation Bible Study notes.

October 30, 2014

Where is God?

 

Thoughts About What We’re Reading…

 

Looking through the reading plan as I write this, my normal course of action is to write about whatever we will be reading on the Thursday the blog comes out.

Looking at the plan, I have decided to diverge from my normal routine this week to write about the Book of Habakkuk as it fits between our Thursday readings.

If I do not write about Habakkuk, one of the more explicit sections of scripture dealing with the Sovereignty of God, we will have missed a chance to think through this book together.

Habakkuk was the last of the Minor Prophets to preach in Judah, the southern kingdom, before the final Babylonian invasion.

Unlike other prophets who declared God’s message to people – this prophet dialogued with God about people.

While, most Old Testament prophets proclaimed divine judgment, Habakkuk pleaded for divine judgment – but was surprised with the response.

Like the book of Job, this book presents important biblical truths for people who encounter difficulties that seem incomprehensible.

Habakkuk seeks to understand where is God in a time where the world has gone bad. Why is there so much oppression and injustice? Why do the evil prosper and the righteous suffer?

Why doesn’t God do something? Where is He?

Throughout the ages, God’s people have often expressed this complaint.

Job wondered why God seemed absent amid his difficult circumstances (Job 3), and Israel cried out during its wilderness wanderings, “Is the Lord among us or not?” (Ex. 17:7).

God’s response was not what the prophet ever imagined or desired: God is surely among his people, will help them, and will bring them justice.

But… he will do it through the violent and haughty nation of Babylon (“the Chaldeans”; Hab. 1:6).

Through this perplexing response, God challenges not only Habakkuk’s faith but ours as well.

That God can bring about good from evil is a theme that echoes down through the whole Bible, such as in Joseph’s statement to his brothers: “As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good” (Gen. 50:20).

God’s response to Habakkuk also foreshadows the ultimate good—eternal salvation—that would come through the ultimate evil—execution of the sinless Son of God upon a cross.

Yet in the unfathomable wisdom of God, on that cross justice and mercy meet.

Jesus receives the penalty that the justice of God requires for sin; and we receive, through faith, God’s mercy in forgiveness of sin and the promise of eternal life (Rom. 3:21–26).

This is why we can continue to have faith, trust and hope amid the brokenness of our world: God’s providential use of people and events is both purposeful and personal.

So, where is God? He is in sovereign control.

Until next time… keep reading!

Jim

Excerpts for this blog were taken directly from: The Bible Knowledge Commentary and extensively from The Gospel Transformation Study Bible.

October 23, 2014

Success or Faithfulness

 

Thoughts About What We’re Reading…

 

Today, we turn our attention to the book of Jeremiah, one of the Major Prophets and the longest of the Prophetic books.

So, who was Jeremiah?  The text teaches us he was a son of a priest called to be a prophet from his mother’s womb.

We know that Jeremiah prophesized during the years leading up to the fall of Jerusalem and exile into Babylon. The overarching theme of the book is judgment.

We call Jeremiah the “Weeping” Prophet for good reason. As we read through the book, we feel his anguish, lamenting over the fallen people of Judah and its capital city, much like Jesus laments over Jerusalem in Luke 13:34-35.

Despite some valiant attempts at reform by kings such as Hezekiah and Judah, this process of decline is irreversible and ends with the ultimate destruction of all the visible element’s of Israel’s covenant relationship with God, such as Jerusalem and the temple.

We feel Jeremiah’s frustration in dealing with the stubbornness of the people. The people felt immune to any threat of divine judgment, but Jeremiah repeatedly warned them about the vanity of their reliance on ritual and external formalism.

Jeremiah’s story is one of courage and endurance. Imagine, preaching for 40+ years and it doesn’t appear that there was even one convert!

His enemies cast him in a dungeon, his family and friends rejected him, other priests and prophets made fun of him. He was beaten, humiliated, and ridiculed.

At times in the text, we see how Jeremiah grows tired of bringing God’s message of judgment to an unresponsive people.

But God’s word would bring blessing to Jeremiah’s own soul, we read in Jeremiah 15:16, “Your words were found, and I eat them, and Your words became to me a joy and a delight of my heart…”.

Jeremiah’s message carried three main points as did most of the Old Testament Prophets – The Lord will judge His people for their sin, God is faithful and merciful, and will bring about restoration and salvation.

Faithfully, he preached and proclaimed the message that judgment was coming to the nation of Judah. Judgment would indeed come.

We see also the gospel foreshadowed in Jeremiah as he points to the sovereign grace of God in His control over world history and his faithfulness to His covenant – fulfilled in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

In Jeremiah, we learn a great lesson when it comes to ministry. Ministry isn’t so much about success as it about faithfulness. The Lord doesn’t ask us to be successful. He asks us to be faithful. Each of us has a job to do and the Lord isn’t asking for success, for only He can bring that about. He simply asks us to be faithful—to do what He says.

Until next time… Keep reading!

Jim

Excerpts for this blog were taken directly from The Gospel Transformation Study Bible, The Bible Knowledge Commentary, and Courson’s Application Commentary, Volume 2.