Written by: Nick Treby - Boys Brigade
Malachi 3 v 16-18
Then those who honored the LORD spoke with each other, and the LORD listened and heard them. The names of those who honored the LORD and respected him were written in his presence in a book to be remembered.
The LORD All-Powerful says, “They belong to me; on that day they will be my very own. As a parent shows mercy to his child who serves him, I will show mercy to my people. You will again see the difference between good and evil people, between those who serve God and those who don’t.
Notes
What does it mean when we honour someone? When the British Olympic team got back from Sydney, the medal winners received
CBE’s, OBE’s, MBE’s and Knighthoods from the Queen. Their success led to the country honouring them for their past achievements. It’s a recognition of respect for what has been done in the past. So I guess that to honour someone is to respect them – but respect has to be earned (like Steve Redgrave got his Knighthood for 20 years consistent high standard performances).
So we should be giving God respect by listening to him, taking his advice, and talking to him. We remember everything he's done for us and this passage tells us that when we honour God like this, he listens to us and hears us. It’s a good feeling when someone has time to spend with us listening to us talk as everyone seems so busy these days. Often it feels like we talk, and the other person is not listening.
When we're listened to, we feel important to the other person. You don't listen to someone you're not interested in. So, when God judges everyone, he will show us mercy because we belong to him.
So, do you respect God because of what he's done? If so, you can enjoy what he promises you.
Malachi 4 v 1-3
“There is a day coming that will burn like a hot furnace, and all the proud and evil people will be like straw. On that day they will be completely burned up so that not a root or branch will be left,” says the LORD All-Powerful. “But for you who honor me, goodness will shine on you like the sun, with healing in its rays. You will jump around, like well-fed calves. Then you will crush the wicked like ashes under your feet on the day I will do this,” says the LORD All-Powerful.
Notes
I really don't like thinking about dying. It's even worse, and weirder thinking about the end of the world. We've all heard people shouting that "The end of the world is nigh". Maybe I'll think about it when I'm older. Except that a friend of mine died when she was 18 and another friend my age had Cancer. I don’t want to scare you (or me) but we should think about it now.
Well, the Bible says that no-one knows when the world will end. This is talking about the end of the world though, and it doesn't sound nice to me. All proud people and evil people will be completely destroyed.
Is it really that bad being proud? Have you ever heard a mate boasting continually about their new girlfriend or boyfriend? Don't you get sick of it after a while, especially when you know they're not as great as your mate thinks? What about when you do well in an exam - telling everyone all about it isn't the best way to make friends! When we're Christians, we should be thanking God for what he has given us - he's given me the brain to do well in the test. So when we are proud, we are saying that we did things on our own, without needing God. That's why he doesn't like it! We need to give him credit for what he's done for us - that's how we honour him!
So, if you honour God you'll enjoy the heat - like lying on the beach or playing in the sunshine. You'll be energised from it!
It's a stark choice. We can honour God, or we can ignore him. What are you going to do?
Malachi 4 v 4-6
“Remember the teaching of Moses my servant, those laws and rules I gave to him on Mount Sinai for all the Israelites.
“But I will send you Elijah the prophet before that great and terrifying day of the LORD’s judging. Elijah will help parents love their children and children love their parents. Otherwise, I will come and put a curse on the land.”
Notes
In this bit of Malachi, God tells us that we must remember the teachings of Moses, the laws and rules that God made to govern Israel. The problem is, there's loads! The Israelites would have found it really hard, if not impossible just to remember them all. That's before they have to start keeping them!
But God also says here that he'll send someone to help - Elijah. Elijah was a prophet, and it was his job to remind Israel what the rules were.
Perhaps you don't like rules much either. It's bad enough remembering people's birthdays, let alone rules. But God had a purpose - he wanted parents to love their children, and children to love their parents.
As rules go, that's not a bad one, but sometimes pretty difficult! It doesn’t even get easier as you get older either. But God wants us to treat each other really well, because it makes life nicer for those around us.
I have a weird job (an acoustic consultant!) and was working in a night-club a few nights ago. Two blokes came in, best mates for years. They both liked the look of the same girl. They got into a fight over her, and whilst one of them was going off in an ambulance, she went off with someone completely different.
God’s rules to Israel were to make the society a bit of a nicer place to live: they wouldn't kill each other when they were wound up; they'd have enough food; the sick were looked after. Pretty essential things for society really.
So when people say Christianity is full of rules, you can remind them that God put the rules there to help us get on with each other (peace, man!). It's not bad trying to remember rules like that.
Acts 8 v 26-29
An angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Get ready and go south to the road that leads down to Gaza from Jerusalem—the desert road.” So Philip got ready and went. On the road he saw a man from Ethiopia, a eunuch. He was an important officer in the service of Candace, the queen of the Ethiopians; he was responsible for taking care of all her money. He had gone to Jerusalem to worship. Now, as he was on his way home, he was sitting in his chariot reading from the Book of Isaiah, the prophet. The Spirit said to Philip, “Go to that chariot and stay near it.”
Notes
Spiritual things are quite relevant to society today - a search on the web gave me just under 7 million hits on the word "angel"! Phoebe (of "Friends") is renown for her interest in all things spiritual. But somehow, we don't hear much about Angels in Church today.
It's because we don't really know much about them. We do know that God often uses angels to speak - an angel told Mary that she'd give birth to Jesus, here, an angel tells Philip what God wants him to do.
For Philip, going south, as the angel instructed, was a complete change of direction, but still, Philip got ready and went.
Are you good at listening to God and doing what he says? I find it quite easy sometimes, when God is saying something I'd quite like to do. When God says "I want you to watch the football on the TV this evening" I have no problem at all!
But when God's instruction to me is a bit more difficult, I struggle. I don't often hear God's voice, directly and I've never seen an angel. Sometimes my friends say things which I know are from God, but most often, I hear God directly through the Bible. So when the Bible says "love your
neighbour" I know that is God speaking, and that's the sort of instruction I find hard to obey.
It's all very well hearing what God says. It's quite easy to hear God because he's written everything down in the Bible for us. Some people claim they never hear God speak - when someone says that to me, I ask if they've ever read the Bible. It's more difficult to do what he says, but if we don’t, what's the point of hearing him in the first place?
Acts 8 v 30-31
So when Philip ran toward the chariot, he heard the man reading from Isaiah the prophet. Philip asked, “Do you understand what you are reading?”
He answered, “How can I understand unless someone explains it to me?” Then he invited Philip to climb in and sit with him.
Notes
Are you any good at explaining things? I remember some of my teachers at school as being really brilliant - lessons were fun and I seemed to learn things without
realising. Other teachers were hard work. We'd struggle through subjects and nothing seemed to stick in my mind.
All the teachers seemed to really know and understand their subject, but the difference was whether they enjoyed it. I remember reading through a Shakespeare play in my English class where the teacher would explain the jokes and the language, and laugh with us at our hopeless attempts to read Olde English. It was great fun, and in no time at all we didn't need him to explain much at all - and we enjoyed doing the plays.
The Ethiopian was a senior official - he would have been really bright but still couldn't understand what he was reading. Philip was enthusiastic and keen to explain it.
Do you love talking about God? Philip did! Some preachers tell us all about how exciting God is, but don’t sound convincing! Others are genuinely excited and enthusiastic. Only once when preaching did I go on too long - I got a bit carried away by what I was talking about, and went on for an hour and a half! The students on the houseparty didn't seem to mind, I was just really excited by what God was saying in the Bible!
We should be keen to explain things to people - although I wouldn't recommend going on for ages like I did! We need to be prepared to learn things like the Ethiopian. We shouldn't make the mistake of thinking we know it all!
Lets make sure that we, like Philip, are ready to teach with enthusiasm, and like the Ethiopian, prepared to learn.
Acts 8 v 32-35
The portion of Scripture he was reading was this:
“He was like a sheep being led to be killed.
He was quiet, as a lamb is quiet while its wool is being cut;
he never opened his mouth.
He was shamed and was treated unfairly.
He died without children to continue his family.
His life on earth has ended.”
The officer said to Philip, “Please tell me, who is the prophet talking about—himself or someone else?”
Philip began to speak, and starting with this same Scripture, he told the man the Good News about Jesus.
Notes
The bit of the Bible the Ethiopian was reading here is a summary of the basics of Christianity.
It was actually written about 700 years before Jesus was born, so when it was written the first time, it probably didn't make much sense. It wouldn't if you didn't know anything about Jesus, which they wouldn't 700 years before he was born, and the Ethiopian didn't when he was reading it! But Philip knew about Jesus so explained.
The scripture talks about Jesus (who is the sheep). He was taken to be killed (on the cross). Jesus didn't fight against it, he kept quiet despite the fact he was innocent, so shouldn't have been crucified. He was treated unfairly by being killed, and his life on earth ended.
The good news is that three days later he rose from the dead. (Details in Luke chapter 24.) This proved Jesus was special. When he died, he took all the sins of everyone on his shoulders, so we didn't have to take the blame ourselves. Jesus could do it because he was innocent of everything. So, what this means is that if you trust Jesus, God will put all our sins on him, and treat us as innocent - what an amazing thing!
That's why Christianity is good news - because when God sees you as innocent, you can have a relationship with him. It is pretty cool to be able to talk to the creator of the universe, to call him your friend. Why don't you put your trust in him now? You just need to say a prayer to ask forgiveness for your past sins, and ask God to help you to get things right in the future. If you do, send word on the web an email, and let them know!
Acts 8 v 36-40
While they were traveling down the road, they came to some water. The officer said, “Look, here is water. What is stopping me from being baptized?” Then the officer commanded the chariot to stop. Both Philip and the officer went down into the water, and Philip baptized him. When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord took Philip away; the officer never saw him again. And the officer continued on his way home, full of joy. But Philip appeared in a city called Azotus and preached the Good News in all the towns on the way from Azotus to Caesarea.
Notes
Three weeks ago I got married. On our wedding day my wife and I promised each other that we would stick together, come what may for the rest of our lives.
Baptism is a bit like a wedding. If you accept Jesus died for you, baptism is when you make a promise to him that you will stick with him. That's what is happening here - the Ethiopian officer has accepted Christ and asks Philip to baptise him. The officer is promising God that he'll try his best to serve him, and asks for God's help to do it.
Jesus said it was important to do this. It would be a bit daft if I had got married but didn't want anyone to find out - we invited 180 people along! It's the same with God; if you believe in him baptism is when you make your promise to him, and it lets other people see what you believe.
Different churches do baptism in different ways - I go to a Baptist church, and we have a small pool so that people go right under the water. Some churches sprinkle water on you, some might use a swimming pool, and I know one that actually used a river!
The important thing is this; if you have chosen to follow Jesus, you should be
baptised. (You can read why in Matthew Chapter 3.) It is an important promise between you and God - you shouldn't do it because your friends are, or your parents want you to, but because you want to. So do you believe in Christ? Have you been
baptised? Talk to you youth leaders/church leaders about it if you haven't been.
word-on-the-web uses the Scripture text taken from the
Youth Bible, New Century Version (Anglicised Edition) copyright 1993 by Word
Publishing Milton Keynes