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Episode Library Blog About Listen Resources Connect Donate Never miss an episode! Subscribe today and we’ll deliver Groundwork directly to your inbox each week. Current EpisodeSpiritual Apathy and Justice in Malachi Learn from Malachi’s warnings against spiritual apathy and his encouragement to examine our hearts, and discover how our faithfulness to God impacts our lives and our communities. Go to Episode View Transcript Play Audio Share this EpisodeGroundwork is a half-hour weekly audio program that digs deeply into scripture as a foundation for people’s lives. Learn More Where to Listen Recent Episodes The Minor Prophets: God’s Judgment and Hope May 10 , 2024 Spiritual Apathy and Justice in Malachi Learn from Malachi’s warnings against spiritual apathy and his encouragement to examine our hearts, and discover how our faithfulness to God impacts our lives and our communities. Listen to this episode The Minor Prophets: God’s Judgment and Hope May 3 , 2024 Spiritual Priorities in Haggai and Zechariah Glean biblical wisdom for navigating and enduring our own spiritual and physical challenges today and find courage to continue trusting God. Listen to this episode The Minor Prophets: God’s Judgment and Hope April 26 , 2024 Our Hearts and God’s Character in Nahum and Zephaniah Both Nahum and Zephaniah urge God’s people to examine their hearts and act in ways that honor God and reflect his character. Through these prophets, we’re reminded that ultimately, God longs to show us mercy. Listen to this episode Recent Series April 5, 2024 – May 10, 2024 The Minor Prophets: God’s Judgment and Hope Join us in this Groundwork series as we examine the pointed accusations, harsh words of judgment, and promises of restoration found in nine of the Minor Prophets and discuss the purpose these messages served for their original audience. Together, we’ll unpack how we can continue to find hope and guidance in these prophetic messages as we read them through the lens of Jesus Christ today. Explore series January 5, 2024 – February 9, 2024 Christlike Virtues In this Groundwork series, we will study Christlike virtues of compassion, humility, thankfulness, gratitude, generosity, truthfulness, and forgiveness that​ the apostle Paul urges believers to put on” in Colossians 3:1-17 and Ephesians 4:17-32. Explore series December 1, 2023 – December 22, 2023 The Nature of Jesus Our Messiah Join us for this Groundwork series as we reflect on Isaiah 9:6 and examine additional New Testament scripture references that help us more fully understand the meaning of each title and the nature of Jesus Christ, our Messiah. Together, we’ll also discuss how these titles impact the way we live as disciples of Jesus today. Explore series Never miss an episode! Subscribe today and we’ll deliver Groundwork directly to your inbox each week. Groundwork Links Episode Library Blog About Listen Connect Donate Sitemap Privacy Policy Episodes by Series Blog Posts by Topic Where to Listen Apple Podcasts Google Podcasts Spotify Google Play Music TuneIn Alexa Groundwork is brought to you by: 1700 28th Street SE Grand Rapids, MI 49508 3475 Mainway PO Box 5070, STN LCD 1 Burlington, ON L7R 3Y8 Call: 616.942.9383 Toll Free: 800.879.6555 Other programs from ReFrame Ministries: © 1950–2024 ReFrame Ministries . All rights reserved. User Experience Design by Five Q Web Development by MRP.LLC Play Audio 0:00:03.0 Darrell Delaney As a preacher and pastor, it bothers me when I teach a well-known passage of scripture, and people sometimes tune me out with the phrase: Oh, I know this one. I heard it already. As if hearing it and being familiar with the story is all that is required. In a world where spiritual apathy can take over because meaningful actions of worship become mundane and repetitive threats, God is calling for our hearts again in a refreshing way. Join us today as we unravel the profound messages embedded in the book of Malachi, exploring how its timeless wisdom can illuminate our faith and transform our worship, next on Groundwork . 0:00:41.5 Scott Hoezee Welcome to Groundwork , where we dig into scripture to lay the foundation for our lives. I am Scott Hoezee. 0:00:45.5 Darrell Delaney And I am Darrell Delaney; and Scott, we are going into part six of our six-part series. This is the last episode of our minor prophet series; and we know they are minor not because they are less important than the major prophets, but because they are shorter in length in book. There are twelve of them, but we have gone through…this will be the ninth one. 0:01:04.0 Scott Hoezee Exactly; and Malachi, in the canonical order of books, is the final book in the Old Testament. We think it was written during yet another period of spiritual decline in Israel, about 430 BC. So, that would make it after the time of the exile, after the time of the return, around or maybe just after the work of Ezra and Nehemiah, when they were rebuilding the walls and the temple. So, Malachi really goes after where the people are at now. You would think they would have been chastened after the exile. You would think they would have gotten things straightened around, but Malachi has some real concerns about the people’s worship. 0:01:44.5 Darrell Delaney And so, even though his name means my messenger , it is really powerful to see that he has a very weighty message to give to the people; and similar to a lot of the prophets that we have spoken about before in this series, there is a judgment and then restoration theme. So, Malachi actually goes in that format as well, being heavy on the justice at first, and then turning toward mercy. 0:02:08.4 Scott Hoezee Exactly; God doesn’t want to deliver judgment. He wants to deliver good things, but our evil and our sin often get in the way of that; but God’s default setting is that he wants to give good things. Well, let’s listen to Malachi 1: [A prophecy]: The word of the Lord to Israel through Malachi. 2 I have loved you,” says the Lord. But you ask, ‘How have you loved us?’ Was not Esau Jacob’s brother?” declares the Lord. Yet I have loved Jacob, 3 but Esau I have hated, and I have turned his hill country into a wasteland and left his inheritance to the desert jackals.” (A little farther down in verse 6): A son honors his father, and a slave his master. If I am a father, where is the honor due me? If I am a master, where is the respect due me?” says the Lord Almighty. It is you priests who show contempt for my name. But you ask, ‘How have we shown contempt for your name?’ 7 By offering defiled food on my altar. But you ask, How have we defiled you?’ By saying that the Lord’s table is contemptible. 8 When you offer blind animals for sacrifice, is that not wrong? When you offer diseased animals, is that not wrong?” In other words, yes; you are coming to worship, you are sacrificing, and you are giving me…not the best…not the firstfruits…you are giving me the stuff you don’t want, and that doesn’t make me feel... You know, if you have ever been given a gift, and you realize the only reason the person gave it to you is that it is something they didn’t want anymore, it is like, that doesn’t feel like much of a gift! 0:03:30.5 Darrell Delaney Yes; yes, it is not much of a gift at all; and these are two of the six indictments that God has against the people. He names these two, and he also names breaking marriage vows; he names meaningless worship; he names robbing God in tithes and offerings; he also names they say terrible things about him. You know, what is really important is that he is zeroing in on their hearts. I mean, are their hearts really in what they are doing? Do they really honor God with their hearts? That is a challenge when that is not happening. 0:04:02.8 Scott Hoezee Yes; I think, Darrell, it is a question we can ask ourselves, right, when we are in worship. So, the people kind of, in a way, were going through the motions, but their hearts were not in it, as you just said; and it is a...