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Well now that we come to the book of Haggai and Zechariah, we find them writing in a time period when the 70 years of exile was ending and the people were returning to Jerusalem. What a time to have been alive, right?! Seeing God’s people be able to return to their homeland, the land God promised them surely had to be exciting. And it was! But Haggai and Zechariah wanted to warn them too. They tell the people that God has great things planned, His promises are still true, if the people commit to the Lord and His ways as they return to the land.   Haggai focuses on the rebuilding of the temple in Jerusalem and how it’s important that they do it the right way so that it’s holy and honoring to God. Remember that the temple was where God’s presence would dwell, so it’s important to get it right! That’s what Haggai was communicating. And God cheers the people on through Haggai’s words by saying things like ‘be strong’ and ‘don’t fear, my spirit remains among you.’   And then there’s Zechariah….like any good prophet, Zechariah has all sorts of crazy dreams with crazy images. Things like horsemen and horns and a guy who has a measuring tape and a gold lampstand and olive trees and my favorite, the flying scroll…. but these dreams were like symbols and confirmations to Zechariah and the people of God’s plans for them. And while these dreams spoke of things that would happen Zechariah’s lifetime, they also pointed forward to when Jesus would come both as Messiah and Conquering King. Almost like setting the stage for God’s grand plan that He’s writing throughout history.

This book is interesting because in other episodes we’ve talked about how God would speak to the prophet and then the prophet would go tell the people what God said….but here, this book is almost like a conversation or journal between Habakkuk and God. ...... But Habakkuk is sad and upset with the ways he sees everything going around him. In chapter 1 Habakkuk says things like “Lord, how long do I have to call out for help? Why don’t you listen? How long must I keep tell you that things are terrible?” He goes on to explain to the Lord the bad things he sees like people hurting others and not treating others fairly. And the Lord answers…he tells Habakkuk the Lord is going to do something in his day that he wouldn’t even believe if he was told. That sounds like a pretty cool deal, right? Weeellll, God goes on to say that He’s going to send the Babylon army to attack them even though He knows how bad Babylon is. ..... And while the Lord agrees that Babylon is bad and does terrible things, God reminds Habakkuk how GOD is the one in control and one day Babylon will pay for the bad things they’ve done. God says in chapter 2 how terrible it will be for the Babylonians. You see, God is going to let the evil Babylon take over Judah, but they were just God’s instrument for His wrath towards sin. One day, the sin of Babylon will face God’s wrath. You see, it’s not like God is letting them get away with something here by conquering Judah. God sees all sin and we know that the wages of sin in death from Romans 6:23. That just means that all sin must be paid for. ..... This is a perfect example of taking all of our thoughts and feelings to the Lord and trusting Him to answer. You see, it’s not that Habakkuk LIKED or AGREED with God’s answer, but it’s just that the more they talked it out together, Habakkuk realized that God knew what He was doing and that He could be trusted. Habakkuk was reminded of God’s character, the things He had done in the past, and so Habakkuk trusted God to be the same unchanging God in the future even though this bad thing was going to happen when Judah was taken away by Babylon.

Well now that we come to the book of Haggai and Zechariah, we find them writing in a time period when the 70 years of exile was ending and the people were returning to Jerusalem. What a time to have been alive, right?! Seeing God’s people be able to return to their homeland, the land God promised them surely had to be exciting. And it was! But Haggai and Zechariah wanted to warn them too. They tell the people that God has great things planned, His promises are still true, if the people commit to the Lord and His ways as they return to the land. Haggai focuses on the rebuilding of the temple in Jerusalem and how it’s important that they do it the right way so that it’s holy and honoring to God. Remember that the temple was where God’s presence would dwell, so it’s important to get it right! That’s what Haggai was communicating. And God cheers the people on through Haggai’s words by saying things like ‘be strong’ and ‘don’t fear, my spirit remains among you.’ And then there’s Zechariah….like any good prophet, Zechariah has all sorts of crazy dreams with crazy images. Things like horsemen and horns and a guy who has a measuring tape and a gold lampstand and olive trees and my favorite, the flying scroll…. but these dreams were like symbols and confirmations to Zechariah and the people of God’s plans for them. And while these dreams spoke of things that would happen Zechariah’s lifetime, they also pointed forward to when Jesus would come both as Messiah and Conquering King. Almost like setting the stage for God’s grand plan that He’s writing throughout history.

Can you remember where we’ve heard about a place called Ninevah? It should sound familiar at this point! Ninevah was the city in Jonah’s story. You know, the one that he didn’t want to go to and ended up in the belly of a fish before he prayed to God and told God he would actually go to Ninevah. Well, Nahum, our next book of the Bible, was written to Ninevah about 100 years after Jonah went there. And remember, when Jonah went and talked to the people, they turned their lives around and followed God’s ways. They repented! But sadly, here 100 years later, they’ve gone back to their sinful ways. And God, being the God who never changes, is still not okay with them living in these sinful ways. So the Lord sends Nuhum to warn them….again. Do you see the grace of God in that? I mean God has already warned them yet He keeps reaching out to them, speaking to these sinful people over and over. We see God’s heart in this…full of love and grace towards sinners.

What usually happens when you get in trouble at home or at school or somewhere else? Does an adult tell you what you did wrong and even WHY it was wrong? I keep thinking about how these minor prophet books, and even the major prophets, seem like these types of conversations where God’s people are getting in trouble for something they’ve done. And they kinda are like that. But we see God’s kindness in that because He was willing to keep talking to the people and redirect them when they did wrong things AND even warn the people of bad things that would happen if they kept acting those ways. ....... And this prophesy about a ruler coming from Bethlehem was written 700 years before Jesus was even born! Wow! Isn’t that a great reminder to us that God is the only one who can write these stories? His story is connected throughout all of time and history. So even today we have to remember that He is writing that story in our world and in our lives today. ...... And we can see that He is writing our story having told us all the details of how He expects us to live! He doesn’t leave us guessing about what will make Him happy or not or what makes Him mad. He tells us! In fact, Micah 6:8 is our special verse for this book. You can repeat after me as we read it together. “The Lord has shown you what is good. He has told you what he requires of you. You must act justly and love mercy and walk humbly with your God.” Micah 6:8

God wanted Jonah to go to the people of Nienvah and tell them about God’s love for them and how they should stop sinning against God. Well, there was just one problem. Jonah didn’t like the people of Ninevah. He didn’t think they deserved to hear from God. So……he just didn’t do it. He disobeyed God and that’s where everything went wrong. He tries running away to this other place and I mean, you can’t sneak around God, He sees everything. And he controls everything….so much so that he sends a storm to Jonah’s boat and next thing ya know Jonah is swallowed sitting in a stinky fish for days. ....... God’s love and mercy chase Jonah down until God gets Jonah’s attention. Can you imagine? Well, we should try to because the same God that continues loving Jonah even when he makes dumb choices and disobeys is the same God who continues loving me and you when we make dumb choices and disobeys even today. And the same God that wanted someone to go warn the people of Ninevah about how they should live is the same God who instructs me and you today how WE should live. He does that mostly through His word, the Bible, and also through wise godly council like our parents or pastors. ...... Well, that’s how Jonah’s story ends. It ends with him being mad at God for giving mercy to the people of Ninevah because Jonah didn’t think they deserved it! Wow. You should read that chapter because I appreciate Jonah’s honesty and it’s very much relatable. But God puts Jonah in his place. These decisions are up to God and not up to humans like Jonah or me or you. And it’s such a picture of God’s mercy and grace that He extends towards ALL people. Even people that you and I might think don’t deserve it!

Joel talks about giant bugs, called locusts, that attack the land and destroy it like a big army. Yuck! Can you imagine an army of giant bugs?! Well, this was to warn the people of Judah what would happen if they didn’t turn to God and start living by His ways. Joel 2:1 God says “return to me with all your heart. There is still time.” And the next verse says God is gracious, tender and kind, slow to get angry, full of love. And we see that in this small book. God is so patient with His people in sending them warning after warning about what would happen to them if they didn’t live by God’s ways. But we also see that doesn’t tolerate sin forever. His love doesn’t mean that people can take advantage of Him and just do whatever they want. No, God is serious about how His people live because it’s an overflow from their heart. While God is a judge and He will judge sin fully, there’s also hope here. There is great promise for those that DO turn to the Lord. ........ Amos focuses on doing what is right, treating people fairly, especially poor people and not being mean to others. Again, God is calling out the sinful ways that people were acting. And it’s not like they didn’t know any better. God is clearly telling them over and over that they are doing wrong and how they should correct their behavior. Do your parents ever do that? ........ The teeny tiny book of Obadiah. We see God telling the people that despite the bad consequences for their behavior, those who stick with God’s ways will be protected in the end. They are promised to get their land back even though it was taken away from them for a time. And the people who took things from them? The enemies of God’s people? They will be punished for what they’ve done. You see, God doesn’t miss anything here. Every detail of how we live, how we act, the things we do, the way we treat others, the ways others treat us. God sees it all and He doesn’t let anything slip through the cracks.

Has anyone ever hurt your feelings? Okay, the answer for all of us is yes. Having our feelings hurt in some form or fashion is something we’ve all experienced. And it’s not something any of us enjoy. It HURTS us when someone does something that hurts our feelings, right? Have you ever thought about how we might hurt God’s feelings? Just like we can do things or not do things that can end up hurting someone’s feelings, when we sin, we basically hurt God’s feelings. Because, remember, He hates sin. He is holy and always without sin and when we sin it makes Him really sad. ........ God told Hosea to go and marry a lady named Gomer. But this wasn’t a happy story, sadly. God and Hosea knew that Gomer was a lady who made bad decisions that would hurt their chance of having a happy marriage. And that’s just what happened….Gomer hurt Hosea’s feelings over and over and over again yet Hosea kept loving her and pursuing her, wanting to stay married to her despite all the things she had done. .......... The story of Hosea is heartbreaking to think about but there’s lots to learn here. We learn about God’s faithful love for us. He keeps loving us no matter how many times we mess up and sin. His love is unchanging even when we make bad decisions. In fact, God loves us so much, even in our sin, that He sent Jesus to die for our sins so that we could be forgiven and live with Him forever. But, we also learn from the book of Hosea that we are like Gomer, we often do things that hurt God’s feelings. We aren’t always faithful to God and His ways despite His perfect love for us.

Daniel is a guy I’d like to sit down and talk with one day. Maybe we could go to lunch or something and I’d ask him all sorts of questions. I’d ask him what it was like being taken away from his homeland of Judah and taken to Babylon when he was a teenager. And I’d ask him what he thought when the king of Babylon wanted to train him up to work for him. Oh and I’d have lots of questions about how he felt when he found out that his friends were thrown into the firey furnace but God protected them so not a single hair on their head was burned. And I’d ask where he got his confidence from to stand up to the king and do what was right in God’s eyes even when he was threatened. I’d ask him how in the world he was able to interpret or listen to the dreams the king had and then tell the king what God meant through those dreams. I’d ask him about the hand that appeared during a party one time and wrote something on the wall and I’d ask him was it scary or cool at the time. I’d DEFINITELY want to ask him about being thrown into the lion’s den where hungry, angry lions waited to eat him, but then by God’s power, the lions did NOT eat him and he just ended up spending the night with lions. That had to be crazy scary but also so cool. ......... Daniel’s life is so cool and awesome because he chose to do the hard thing. He chose to stick to God’s ways even when others didn’t. And guess what? God protected Daniel in these things! In fact, God even put Daniel in a place of power and status because of these things! When we honor God above all and obey Him more than anyone else, then God has a million cool ways that He can use us for His kingdom!

This classic episode helps us get excited for Easter where we celebrate Jesus' resurrection! The best news ever is that Jesus came to this earth, died for our sins, and rose to life again. He conquered sin and death and now offers us the victory and hope of eternal life!  Listen to this podcast with your kids and get ready for Easter! 

Do you ever day dream? Or let your imagination run wild? Well, Ezekiel had some pretty crazy and imaginative dreams or visions too. But the things he saw were straight from God. And honestly, I think they are way more creative than anything I could ever imagine. ..... Ezekiel was so willing to listen to the Lord and look for what God was doing that he becomes a prophet, which remember is like a spokesman for God to the people. The book of Ezekiel tells us about all these different crazy visions and encounters that Ezekiel has with the Lord that he is then supposed to go back and report to the people. The 2 main messages that he takes back is that 1. The people of Judah have NOT followed God’s ways and God won’t tolerate their sinfulness. But the second message is that God won’t punish them forever. He will bring them back to their land one day. And in fact a new temple will be built in Jerusalem one day. ..... You see God was trying to do all sorts of things to get the attention of His people. He cared about them so much that even when they were being punished for their sins by being slaves in Babylon, God was still reaching out to them. Longing for them to repent and turn away from their sins. And He was willing to go to any lengths to do so. Ezekiel was also willing to go to any lengths to tell God’s people all the things God was wanting to tell them.

Did you know there’s a book of the Bible that shows us what do to when we are sad and complainy about things? The book of Lamentations is a book of laments. And laments are literally sad complaints. ..... And if you read some of this book, you’ll see that the laments are pretty dramatic. They say things like, “all the people are groaning,” and “all you who are passing by don’t care about what had happened,” and they even say, “Lord, see how upset I am! I am suffering deep down inside.” It’s really sad stuff! ..... But about halfway through the book it takes a turn. In chapter 3 verse 20-23 it says, “My spirit is very sad deep down inside me. But here is something else I remember. And it gives me hope. The Lord loves us very much. So we haven’t been completely destroyed. His great love is new every morning. Lord, how faithful you are!” ..... So all of this shows us that God can be trusted with all of our feelings and emotions. We can take hard questions to Him. We can cry to Him and ask WHY when we don’t understand or we aren’t happy with how things are going. But it’s also just as important to remind ourselves of the truths about God in these moments. We have to stick with what we DO know about Him. We must declare truth about God even when it’s hard for us to feel it. We must focus on what He’s told us about Himself and what He will do even when things hurt us and make us sad.

Our next major prophet and book of the Bible is Jeremiah. And did you know that Jeremiah has a nickname of “the weeping prophet”? This isn’t because he was just sad all the time for different reasons, this is because he shows really deep sadness over the sins of the people of Judah. He was so upset that they continued to disobey God and he knew what that would mean for the people. It meant that they would be removed from God’s blessings and be overthrown…taken away as captives to another country. And guess what? That’s just what happened. ...... So Jeremiah not only warns the people of what God has said about their disobedience, but Jeremiah reminds them of how much God loves them! In fact, chapter 31 verse 34 shows just how much God loves them when after all the bad things the people have done, God says to them, “I will forgive their evil ways. I will not remember their sins anymore.” Talk about forgiveness and grace!

Have you ever played a game of telephone? Where you whisper something to someone and then they whisper that same message to someone else and it goes on and on until you get to the last person and they say the message out loud. It’s usually pretty funny because the last person never gets it right. They say some gibberish that’s totally different from what the first person said.   Well, in some ways, the Bible for thousands of years, was like a game of telephone. They didn’t have it written down like we do today. For thousands of years they just told the next person and they told the next person and they told the next person. Like a game of telephone. So, how do we know that the Bible we have today isn’t some gibberish version of what the first person said? I think that’s a great question to ask. So let’s talk about how we know the Bible can be trusted today.....

Isaiah starts us in a new section of the Bible. It’s the first of 5 books called the major prophets. After these next 5 books, we will have a section called the minor prophets. Now, it’s not like the major prophets were major league players or more important than the minor prophets. The different between major and minor prophet books are simply their length. If it took more than one scroll, then it was a major prophet book. But all of these books are super cool, because even though they were written hundreds of years before Jesus was born, they actually say so many things about how He would come and the life He would live and all that He would do to save us from our sins. ..... Which leads us to our special verse for this book. It’s where Isaiah is being called to be a prophet and talk about God. Let’s look again at his response to what God was asking him to do. You can repeat after me. “Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, whom shall I send? And who will go for us? And I said, “here I am. Send me!” Isaiah 6:8