The Last Prophecy

Malachi 3:1-4 The Last Prophecy 2nd Sunday of Advent Year C Prelude Greeting Lighting of the Advent Candle Reader One: The prophet Malachi calls us to watch for the messenger God will send us, a messenger who burns with a passion for God’s coming salvation. “For he is like a refiner's fire and like fullers' soap; he will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the descendants of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, until they present offerings to the LORD in righteousness” (Malachi 3:2b-3). Congregation: In a world driven by a passion to maintain the status quo, we choose to live with a passion for God’s peace, to listen to those who call us to righteousness, and to submit ourselves to God’s grace, that we might be refined and purified until we reflect God’s love throughout the earth. Reader Two: We light this candle of peace as a sign of our commitment to passionately pursue the work of making peace in our hearts, our families, our communities, and throughout the earth until God’s kin-dom comes on earth as it is in heaven. Light the second candle of the Advent wreath. (United Methodist Board of Discipleship) Call to Worship Children of God, prepare the way! The Word of God is coming! We come to listen and receive God’s Word among us. Children of God, the prophets call to us now and from generations past, urging us to prepare and refine our hearts for the coming of the Word of God. Are you listening? We come to listen and prepare to receive God’s Word among us. Children of God, this is the mark of our preparation: that passion for God’s Word would burn within us, cleansing us and renewing us to reflect God’s love throughout the world. May God ignite our passion for God’s Word that has come among us as we listen, prepare, and receive all that God has for us today. Amen. Written by Dr. Lisa Hancock, Discipleship Ministries, June 2024. Opening Prayer Compassionate God, greet us with your grace this day, for we need you. We cannot save ourselves. Though we may be frantic with activity, our efforts do not yield peace, peace as you can give. Today we would be quiet enough to hear your voice. Today we would be still enough to feel your touch. Help us to find that place where we can receive as well as give, wait as well as act, and listen as well as speak. Our whole world needs your peace. Let us come before you and learn your ways, laying down our weapons and feeding the hungry. Come to us now, through Jesus the Christ. Amen. Written by Ruth C. Duck in Touch Holiness: Resources for Worship, Updated(Cleveland: Pilgrim Press, 2012), 5. For use in worship, using the following attribution: Reprinted by permission of the publisher from Touch Holiness, ed. Ruth C. Duck and Maren C. Tirabassi. Copyright © 1990 by The Pilgrim Press. Song Angels from the Realms of Glory UMH 220 A Sermon for all ages Each of us is holding a copy of the Bible. The Bible is God’s Word to us. The Bible is true. The Bible teaches us about God’s promises and plans for all men, women, boys and girls. Everything that God says He is going to do is going to happen. As we have studied God’s Word together we have had opportunities to see how God made promises to His people and how He has kept His promises. We have seen how God promised His people that if they would repent and turn away from their sin and turn back to Him, He would forgive them (Joel 2:13). God loves His people and will never stop loving them. Because He loves them He has to punish their sin. The Jewish people ignored the prophets God sent to warn them to turn away from their sin. God kept His word and punished them by sending them to Babylon for 70 years to be prisoners (Jeremiah 25:11). After 70 years God kept His promise to let His people return to Jerusalem. God sent prophets to encourage the Jewish people who returned to their city that was destroyed. He sent prophets like Haggai and Zechariah to remind His people that the Messiah would come and they would finally live peacefully with God’s blessings. God used Ezra and Nehemiah to help rebuild the temple and the walls. Today we are going to be studying Malachi the last minor prophet in the Old Testament. Let’s open our Bibles and find the Book of Malachi. The name Malachi means “my messenger”. God had a message for His people. Malachi reminded the people that God loved them. 1. What does Malachi’s name mean? (My messenger) 2. What did Malachi remind God’s people? (He loved them) 3. Why was God disappointed with His people? (They weren’t bringing the best offerings, the priests were not teaching the people to live according to God’s truth, they were robbing God and they said it was useless to serve God) 4. What kind of offering did God require the people to bring for a sacrifice? (An animal that wasn’t sick or injured, one without blemish) 5. What is the Day of the Lord? (The day God will punish all the wickedness on the earth) 6. How long was God silent after Malachi gave His message? (400 years) 7. What change do you need to make in your life to give God your very best? (Ministry to Children, Kelly Henderson) PRAYER OF CONFESSION God of Grace, you blow the breath of life into our lungs, you have formed us in your image. And yet we acknowledge that sometimes we are not who you would have us be. You challenge us to embrace the refining fire of your love, to meet you on the threshing floor of life, to be washed as with fuller's soap. But in our heart of hearts we would rather keep those things that would be removed in such an encounter. Through your Grace, life-giving God, accept us as we are, Unrefined, unwashed, the chaff mixed in with the grain. And help us to move into a new way of being ...time of silence... Listen! For this is Good News! God's Grace is wider than our wildest imaginings. God's Grace embraces us as we are and where we are and draws us out to be the people we were created to be. Thanks be to God! Amen. Written by Rev. Gord Waldie on his blog, Worship Offerings. http://worshipofferings.blogspot.ca/. Re-posted on the re:Worship blog at https://re-worship.blogspot.com/2013/08/prayer-for-grace-malachi-3-1-4.html. Scripture Malachi 3:1-4 Sermon The Last Prophecy The major themes of the advent season are prophecy and promise. In the 4 weeks before Christmas we look at the ancient promises that God made to the people of the world. And we follow along with how those promises and prophecies have played themselves out in modern times. Malachi is the last prophecy of the Hebrew Bible. It is believed that Malachi was the prophet Ezra – he convinced the Hebrews to purify themselves and to rebuild the temple so that they would have a place to come and worship God. The Hebrew bible never really says why – but it seems that after the words of Malachi – God slowed down in sending God’s words through prophets. There are 400 years between the end of the book of Malachi and the beginning of the book of Matthew- the New Testament begins in prophecy. In the new testament, we hear confirmation that all that the prophets said was fulfilled in the birth of Jesus. There are several places where the new testament says that God will not send any more prophets to the world. To be fair, the muslims do consider Jesus to be a prophet, but they say that Muhammad was the last prophet that God sent to the world. Either way, it is significant for us that as the age of prophecy ends, the age of fulfillment begins. The Holy Spirit speaks to us in a brand new way, the spirit works in the hearts of the righteous, in the life of Jesus Christ and in the words of scripture. It is interesting, that the last big question of the last Hebrew prophecy is still a question for today. Where is the God of justice? For some reason it seems like evil prevails. Crooked people seem to get aways with anything now. It seems like we live in a world where there are no rules, no respect, no need to do the right thing. Malachi is a series of conversations between God, God’s messenger, and God’s people. In our scripture, the message to us is two fold or may even three fold – first, don’t worry, justice is coming. God sees what is going on in the world. God does not have a police force to enforce righteousness, but God knows what is going on and who is doing it. The presence of God came to us in the life of Jesus Christ. - Second we need to prepare ourselves for the coming of justice in the world. It is easy for us to expect justice for other people. But God’s justice is for us all. Instead of focusing on what others are doing wrong, we need to focus on our own lives. When justice comes into the world permantly, how will that affect our own actions. - Third we have to be careful what we ask for. In order for the world to heal, it will be painful. God’s justice will be painful, but it will be in our own best interest. Sort of like old school medical cures. Today, medicine is sugar coated. They do everything to make medical cures comfortable. That was not so in the olden days. I used to hate to come down with a cold, because my mother would make me drink nasty cod liver oil. And as a child, it was never a good day when my mother would pull out the mercurochrome to put on a scape or sore. That stuff would burn and hurt so much more than the original wound. And yet supposedly, it bought about healing. The day they took that stuff off of the market was a good day. And yet that is a good image of what God’s justice is like. Malachi says that it is like a refiners fire – it will burn, but it will make you a better person. Justice leads to repentance, and repentance leads to forgiveness, grace and peace. Justice is coming, but it will affect us all. With God’s judgement better days are coming. If you thought that 400 years was a long time to wait for the biblical story to continue with the birth of Jesus, imagine to 2024 years since Jesus’ birth that we are waiting for Jesus to return. When we look at the news it is easy to believe that the spirit of God is not around. It seems that things have gotten out of hand. Even I ask God, if God is all powerful and has control of all of life, why does God allow the things in the world to go on? When will Jesus return and end all of this craziness? When will justice prevail? When will the prophecy be fulfilled? Experiment of couples juggling too much There was as advent experiment – where couples were asked to stand on stage and to literally juggle some important symbols of life – 10 couples were given a wedding ring, a soccer ball, a tablet computer, a crystal vase, a cup and a saucer, and a cross. As you can imagine, as the couples lined up and started juggling, you could hear broken glass, and bouncing balls everywhere. Every couple dropped these symbols as they tried to juggle them all at one time. That is the sound of the beginning of advent – the sound of chaos and broken glass. The sound of God shaken up our symbols, our priorities, our beliefs, our hopes and our dreams. But there was one couple that did not drop the things that they were juggling. They realized that they couldn’t keep everything in the air – so they took some time to prioritize what was most important to them – their faith – the cross, their children – the doll, and the wedding ring. Everything else had to be put aside. Most of the things that come to us that shake us – is God’s way of telling us that we cant have everything, we cant do everything, we cant be everywhere – so we have to be forced to pick what is really important to us – and focus just on those things, and let everything else fall to the ground and breaking. Being shaken up is a sign of God’s love. It is a sign that God plan for salvation is working full speed ahead. On the second Sunday of Advent – that is what the world sounds like – chaos, confusion, and wanting of a sense of justice. If 400 years is a long time, 2024 is so much longer. Advent starts with us wating for Jesus to return. When will that be? The New Testament prophecy sais that there is no way of us every to know. Remember the words of Malachi – the day is coming – so now we wait, we prepare, we open our hearts. God’s justice will affect all of the world. God’s peace will benefit us all as well. The coming of Christ is a moment for everyone to rejoice. Did you know that some of the most popular Christmas songs were actually written by Jewish people? These songs include: Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer, Let is Snow, The Christmas song, It is the most wonderful time of the year, Santa Baby, Silver Bells, Winter Wonderland. There are many others. Perhaps it is just a matter of making money for them, perhaps they understand what it means to wait for the messiah, Perhaps God’s vision of a world where justice prevails and we all chose to live as righteous people is the fulfillment of a promise made to all of humankind, regardless of our religion or creed. This advent, remember that even in the midst of silence God still speaks. We can find peace, in a world where the unjust prevail. Let us pray…….. Song All the Earth is Waiting UMH 210 Pastoral Prayer Lord’s Prayer Stewardship Moment In Advent and during the Christmas season stories are often told of people eager to offer something to the baby Jesus. The story of the poinsettia comes from Mexico, focusing on two young children, so poor they picked weeds on the side of the path they walked to church. When they arrived to offer their weedy gift, they found the weeds blossomed into brilliant red when they laid them at the manger bed. The classic story of “The Other Wise Man” by Henry Van Dyke details the travels of Artaban, who wanted to join the wise men following the star. He had several gifts when he began his journey. Side-tracked when he used a gift to help a dying man, Artaban finally got to Bethlehem, only to discover Jesus and his family had left for Egypt. Artaban traveled for 33 years, searching for Jesus until he finally comes to Jerusalem, where his last gift is used to redeem a woman who was up for sale as a slave. What story might be told because of the gifts you bring to offer to the Redeemer today? Let us share our gifts with joy. Prayer of Thanksgiving With grateful hearts, O God, we bring our gifts and ourselves to offer our lives back to you. Thank you for redeeming us. Thank you for claiming us as your own beloved children. Accept this offering. Help us put it and ourselves to use this week, that we might share the Good News of your peace with the world. AMEN. (Disciples of Christ Center for Faith and Giving) Announcements Closing Prayer for Facebook May the Spirit of Light, The Christ of Love, And the God of Joy Infuse our souls with peace and a song of thanksgiving As we seek the presence of God in our world. Community Time Joys and Concerns (United Church of Christ Worship Ways) Benediction Go, now, blessed with a passion that refines, molds, and shapes each of our hearts to reflect God’s glorious love that transforms despair into hope, violence into peace, and distress into flourishing. Amen. Written by Dr. Lisa Hancock, Discipleship Ministries, June 2024. Postlude

The Armor of God

August 26, 2018 Ephesians 6:10-20 The Armor of God 14th Sunday after Pentecost Year B Children’s Sermon Lesson: Take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. Key verse: 17. Object: A baseball cap Good morning, boys and girls. I brought a baseball cap of my favorite team with me this morning. (Show the cap.) How many of you like this team? (Let them answer.) What are your favorite baseball teams? (Let them answer.) I want to tell you a story about some friends who loved to play baseball. Are any of you in (the name may vary from community to community) T-ball/Pee Wee/Little League this summer? These friends weren't in a league. They just played often in their backyard. Each of the friends had a baseball cap of his favorite team. Each friend had a glove. Each friend had a bat. Each friend had a ball. Each friend had shoes. Each friend had a shirt of his favorite team. You can see that the friends were ready to play baseball. Before they played, each of the friends put on the clothes I just mentioned and had the proper equipment to play the game. When they had the proper clothes to play the game each felt ready to play. Each felt good about playing. Getting ready to play a game like this makes me think of this morning's lesson. The lesson tells us that as Christians we should put on the armor of God. (As you tell the next part go through the motions of putting the specific garment on your body as you talk.) Here's what this morning's lesson says: Fasten the belt of truth around your waist ... put on the breastplate of righteousness ... put on whatever (shoes) will make you ready to proclaim the gospel of peace ... take the shield of faith ... take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. Now you know why this lesson makes me think of getting ready to play baseball. Here's what I want you to remember this week. Christians wear the same clothes as all other people. We don't put on helmets or carry swords. But we should be ready to help make our world a safe and peaceful place to live. We want to be good neighbors. We want to be honest with our friends. We want to share God's love with others. To do that we must be ready. The children playing baseball were ready to play after they put on their caps. Christians must be ready to share God's love by being ready to share it when it is needed. CSS Publishing Co., Ephesians 6:10-20 Common English Bible (CEB) Put on the armor of God 10 Finally, be strengthened by the Lord and his powerful strength. 11 Put on God’s armor so that you can make a stand against the tricks of the devil. 12 We aren’t fighting against human enemies but against rulers, authorities, forces of cosmic darkness, and spiritual powers of evil in the heavens. 13 Therefore, pick up the full armor of God so that you can stand your ground on the evil day and after you have done everything possible to still stand. 14 So stand with the belt of truth around your waist, justice as your breastplate, 15 and put shoes on your feet so that you are ready to spread the good news of peace. 16 Above all, carry the shield of faith so that you can extinguish the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17 Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is God’s word. 18 Offer prayers and petitions in the Spirit all the time. Stay alert by hanging in there and praying for all believers. 19 As for me, pray that when I open my mouth, I’ll get a message that confidently makes this secret plan[a] of the gospel known.20 I’m an ambassador in chains for the sake of the gospel. Pray so that the Lord will give me the confidence to say what I have to say. Footnotes: a. Ephesians 6:19 Or mystery Common English Bible (CEB) Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible I think that all of us were shocked a few weeks ago when the news reported that 76 people had been shot in one weekend in Chicago. As I read the reports this weekend it appears that 7 people had been shot. When I was in Englewood, I used to light a candle on the altar for everyone that had been shot that weekend. It got to the point when I would have to light a candle every week, because the violence was so prevalent. And as we continue to hear of these statistics, we struggle to explain what it going on. We struggle to find solutions to the problems. I saw on the news last night that there was a violence conference, were they have said that violence is a disease. The violence has been attributed to poverty and lack of jobs. We are all praying that the day will come when we will be able to address and stop violence not only in Chicago, but throughout the whole world. There are indeed explanations for many of the wounds of our world. There are many social ills in our world that need to be addressed and stopped. There is selfishness, greed, and cruelty everywhere. There are many explanations that we have for all of the things going on in the world. But we don’t talk about very much in church or anywhere else, is the underlying reason for violence. Ephesians tells us that we have to realize that there is evil in the world. We don’t like to dwell on the fact that the devil is real, and that the are real effects of the presence of evil in our world. People are getting hurt. People are making poor decisions that affect other people. I am not going to dwell on that point this morning, but there is a point in all of our lives when we realize that what we are fighting in life is beyond our understanding and explanation. but our experience will tell us that there is an active power of evil in the world. Robert Louis Stevenson once said: “You know the Caledonian Railway Station in Edinburgh? One cold, east windy morning, I met Satan there.” We do not know what actually befell Stevenson but we recognize the experience; we have all felt the force of that evil influence which seeks to make us sin. Ephesians says that what we are fighting in life is not people, but forces of darkness and spiritual evil in the heavens. But We are encouraged to fight and to stand up to those things. There is no way that we can totally eliminate the bad things that happen in the world. But we are told that as the faithful followers of Christ, that we can protect ourselves from the effects of these evil things. We are encouraged to put on the armor of God. The armor is not a physical helmet, breastplate, shoes or even a sword. It is the spiritual armor of truth, faith, peace,salvation and the word of God. If we rely on those things in our lives, then we are less likely to be affected by evil. Join the Winning Side! Jim Wallis writes that when the South African government canceled a political rally against apartheid, Desmond Tutu led a worship service in St. George’s Cathedral. The walls were lined with soldiers and riot police carrying guns and bayonets, ready to close it down. Bishop Tutu began to speak of the evils of the apartheid system -- how the rulers and authorities that propped it up were doomed to fall. He pointed a finger at the police who were there to record his words: "You maybe powerful -- very powerful -- but you are not God. God cannot be mocked. You have already lost." Then, in a moment of unbearable tension, the bishop seemed to soften. Coming out from behind the pulpit, he flashed that radiant Tutu smile and began to bounce up and down with glee. "Therefore, since you have already lost, we are inviting you to join the winning side." The crowd roared, the police melted away and the people began to dance. Don’t go away, Paul says. Put on your armor and dance. I am inviting you to join the winning side. John Ortberg, "Roll Call," article in The Christian Century, August 9, 2003, p.16. We are encouraged to be a part of the winning side – Christ’s side. It is interesting that the writer of Ephesians calls evil a ruler and authority. Usually when violence is used, it is used as a form of power over a person. There are 4 kinds of power talked about in the new testament. There is dunamis, like our word dynamite – which is a form of strength. There is kratos – like our word democratic – or ruling power, there is ischus – which is the power to influence others with your actions, The last form of power is energia – energy – which is the power of God. When we put on the armor of God, we are using the 4th type of power – God’s power. Ephesians tells us that the power behind the armor of God – faith, truth, righteousness, and peace – is prayer. We should take everything to God in prayer – waiting for an answer and a solution. I try to have a morning routine to start my day off. I try to exercise for 30 minutes, 30 minutes of devotion, 30 minutes of journaling and 15 minutes of prayer. I don’t do so well with the exercise everyday. But I try to be intentional about the prayer. The prayer makes a difference. I remember when I was at Our Saviour’s - I talked about needing to pray everyday, and the Christian educator said – I can tell the days that you have not done your prayer – you get pretty mean. I don’t know about that, but I know that it does make a difference in how I face the day. Prayer William Barclay, in his commentary, points out that the sign of the Christian is when he or she is eager to be on their way to tell the story of Jesus: his death, his resurrection and his ascension. This is the commitment of being a servant for the Lord. Barclay emphasizes that for servant ministry there are three conditions people must have in their prayer life: (1) Prayer must be constant. It is from daily prayer that we find daily strength and holy guidance. (2) Prayer must be intense. No beating around the bush. When you have a clear message from the Lord about a particular concern, be bold about your prayer life. Be the prayer warrior he has called you to be. (3) Prayer must be unselfish. We must learn to pray as much for others as for ourselves. We must seek a community of believers to pray with us and for us. Together we will know the wisdom of the Holy Spirit as it uses us to be a vehicle of servant ministry. Harry Denman, adapting William Barclay’s Commentary Pray to Gather Strength One time, some time ago, some army troops were participating in a military training exercise in the Mojave Desert. Jim Bolton was on a crew that became separated from the rest of the troops. One of the vehicles in their convoy had lost its traction and had come to rest at the edge of a sand cliff above a fifty-foot drop. The vehicle was hopelessly mired in the sand, and the soldiers in the unit tried to free it several times unsuccessfully. Meanwhile the rest of the company was getting farther away. After another fruitless attempt, when the troops were hot, tired and discouraged, the commander gathered the men together to pray. It seemed kind of out of place for a group of soldiers, and some of the group were uncomfortable with the idea. But after spending a few minutes in prayer, Jim remembers that everyone seemed refreshed. One last time they tried to free the vehicle from the sand, and this time they were successful. Jim doesn't know whether their prayer actually dislodged the vehicle from the cliff's edge or not. But when they took the time to pray, they had a chance to focus their attention on God, relax, and gather their strength. The greatest spiritual weapon we possess is prayer. We can turn to God in prayer at any time. And we can be assured that our prayers will be heard. King Duncan, www.Sermons.com So what is going on in your life? What is it that you need to pray about? We all face evil on some form or another each and every day. Ephesians teaches us that the armor of God is more than protecting us from death, it is what leads us to life. As we live, we can face everyday and everything with prayer. Lets pray. Other illustrations….. When Queen Victoria ruled in England, she had several daughters. And her daughters were just like girls are today. They went to school, and saw the latest fashions, and they wanted to wear their dresses just like the girls down the street. And so they'd come shouting to their mom, who just happened to be the queen of the British Empire. And they'd tell her they wanted to wear their clothes like this and their hair like that. And she stopped them short one day. She said to them: "You are the daughters of the Queen, And the Queen's daughters do not follow fads. They establish fashion!" You know you’ve crossed into some new station in your life when you visit the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art and realize as you are leaving that you completely skipped all the paintings. That’s right, the entire Renaissance wing just was not on the agenda. Suddenly it hits you: You are no longer a student, or a tourist, or an art lover. No, you are a parent of small, squirming children who need to see something big, and strong, and hard-hitting. So your museum tour was through the pyramids. Your museum circuit consisted of huge tombs and temples, the mummies and the caskets of ancient Egypt. But perhaps most importantly, you meandered through the mists of the medieval ages. This means rooms and rooms of ancient, awful-looking weaponry, and the Met’s huge collection of all types of “awesome” armor. There are over 15,000 pieces of ancient armor and weapons in the Metropolitan’s collection — dating from 400 BCE, through the heavily weighted years of medieval Europe, and including a huge collection of Japanese implements and armories, from the fifth through the nineteenth centuries. As you wander around the Museum complete coats of heavy iron armor stand at attention all over the place… God’s Armor There is a big difference between striving just not to die, and doing all you can to live a life of purpose and meaning. There are freeways, and factories, and families full of people who are just trying not to die. These people keep going to work, keep going on. But they don’t know why. Weekends and vacations become blurry, frantic “festivals” — parties devoted to trying to celebrate something other than the mere survival of another week, another season, another year. For Christians who feel the (enlightening) protective weight of “God’s armor,” there is a different goal: to “stand firm” and to “keep alert.” Christians recognize there are evil forces and genuine enemies. But Christians know that there is a protective layer of divine love that always offers the safety net of salvation. God’s armor does not so much keep us from dying as God’s armor keeps us alive — alive in Christ, alive to love, alive to hope, alive to peace. Leonard Sweet Don't Take It! Once I was standing in line at a Catholic mass for Holy Communion. The woman in front of me was holding her daughter. In that solemn and silent moment, as the priest recited the words, "receive the body and blood of Christ," her three-year-old screeched, "Yuck! Don't take it mom!" Laurie Manning