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Malachi: Overcoming Spiritual Lethargy // Summer of Prophets // 08.09.26
As we conclude our Summer of the Prophets series we come to the Malachi. He bursts on the scene at a time that Israel is doubting God's love for them. Let's be honest, it is easy to fall into this lie especially if we base our relationship with God on unfavorable circumstances. The danger of doubting God's love for us is that we can fall into spiritual lethargy which can translate into a drifting away from the person you think no longer loves you. Malachi will challenge us to come back to the reality that God loves us all!
MESSAGE NOTES:
Malachi: Overcoming Spiritual Lethargy
Malachi 1:1-2
Get the Fire Back...
1. In spiritual ______________________________
Malachi 1:6-8
2. In ______________________________
Malachi 2:14-16
Revelation 2:4-5
3. In ______________________________
Malachi 3:7-12
Malachi 4:4-6
Discussion Questions – 08.09.26
Malachi 1:1-2 God tells the people He loves them. But they instantly question Him saying,
“HOW have You loved us?” Two questions:
*What might be some reasons Christians question God’s love for them?
*Can you remember a time when you questioned God’s love for you and why?
1.Malachi is a prophet who writes to the Israelites who have become spiritually lethargic. Can
you think of a time when YOU lost your fire and went through a season of spiritual lethargy?
What were the steps that led to that lethargy?
2. In Malachi 1:6-9 they are not offering God their best. What is interesting is, they are still
serving but in their serving they are not offering up their best. Now for a question you must
THINK about. Is there an area where you know you are not offering God your best? And if so,
why not?
3. In Malachi 2:14-16 He attacks spiritual lethargy from the perspective of marriage. He is using
marriage to describe the nation’s spiritual lethargy, but it can also be applied to marriage itself.
Notice in verse 14 the words “witness AND youth.” First thing is, “God witnessed your
marriage. He heard you say your vows.” What if we really believed that?
Now here is my question: Malachi says, “Wife of your YOUTH.” It seems to infer that some
were keeping their wives until their wife was passed her youth. Then they would divorce them
and so in verse 16 God says, “I hate divorce.” Here are my questions:
*How do you keep a marriage alive?
*If a marriage is dying or dead, what should a person do to get the flame going again?
*Let’s revisit Revelation 2:4-5 to see what to do in a dying marriage. What does it say we
should do to get the marriage back on track again? Explain
4. Okay so we cannot listen to Malachi and skip over Malachi 3:7-12. They grew lethargic in
their tithes. List all the negatives of not tithing…. THEN list all the positives of tithing. In your
thinking, what is the inner motivation of a person to NOT tithe? Explain
*Write out personal benefits of tithing that you’ve seen in your own life.
*If you are not a tithing skip the previous question and write out what is really keeping
you from tithing?
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