How Shall We Return?

Sunday, August 30, 2015
Malachi 3:1-10 NIV

1 "I will send my messenger, who will prepare the way before me. Then suddenly the Lord you are seeking will come to his temple; the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, will come," says the LORD Almighty. 2 But who can endure the day of his coming? Who can stand when he appears? For he will be like a refiner's fire or a launderer's soap. 3 He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; he will purify the Levites and refine them like gold and silver. Then the LORD will have men who will bring offerings in righteousness, 4 and the offerings of Judah and Jerusalem will be acceptable to the LORD, as in days gone by, as in former years. 5 "So I will come to put you on trial. I will be quick to testify against sorcerers, adulterers and perjurers, against those who defraud laborers of their wages, who oppress the widows and the fatherless, and deprive the foreigners among you of justice, but do not fear me," says the LORD Almighty. 6 "I the LORD do not change. So you, the descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed. 7 Ever since the time of your ancestors you have turned away from my decrees and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you," says the LORD Almighty. "But you ask, 'How are we to return?' 8 "Will a mere mortal rob God? Yet you rob me. "But you ask, 'How are we robbing you?' "In tithes and offerings. 9 You are under a curse--your whole nation--because you are robbing me. 10 Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this," says the LORD Almighty, "and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it.

OBSERVATION QUESTIONS
1) What will the "messenger" do for the Lord and where will the Lord go to? (v.1)
2) What questions are asked of the readers? (v.2a)
3) How is the Lord described in this passage and what will He do for those who serve Him? Why? (v.2b-4)
4) Why will the Lord appear on earth? (v.5)
5) What does the Lord say about Himself and His relationship with His people? (v.6)
6) How have the people of God transgressed against the Lord, how can they be restored to Him and what will He do when they are obedient to His will? (v.7-10)

APPLICATION QUESTIONS
7) Do you tithe your time, talent and/or treasure? If not, why not.

LIFE LESSONS
8) The Lord blesses His people to be a blessing to all people, but espectially to those in the household of faith.
9) The Lord prospers those who bless His people with His overflowing goodness, mercy, and love.