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What is the only hope in life and death for sinners? That question is the focus of our study today from the book of Malachi. After years of hard lessons, we find in Malachi a generation of Israelites that still hadn't learned their lesson and whose hearts were still distant from God. How could anyone put up with such people? And what does God's patience towards Israel teach us about the hope that all sinners have in him? Consider these things in another episode of transforming our thinking through the power of God's word.

In response to Israel's continued profession of innocence, and their accusation against what they perceived as God's failure, God made a promise of a coming purification of his worshippers and judgment against the ungodly. Time and again, the behavior of people demonstrates we are hopelessly unable to change ourselves. Though we can rightly identify what we should do, we prove unable to do that which would lead to our own flourishing and that of our neighbor's. Malachi's message and placement in the Old Testament perfectly leads the reader to readiness to receive the message of the gospel. We'll consider these things and more in another episode of transforming our thinking through the power of God's word.

There's an account of Josef Stalin's death which stated that Stalin died with his arm outstretched "shaking his fist" at God. This is an amazingly ironic act from a man who lived a life claiming there is no God. Historians estimate that Stalin was responsible for more than 25 million of his own people's deaths. And yet from the account of his own death, we see Stalin had a heart posture of anger and bitterness towards the one he claimed didn't really exist. Somehow, Stalin thought it was he who had a right to be angry with God. In Malachi 2:17, we read of the Israelites accusing God of being unjust. According to their observation of circumstances, they thought God didn't have any reason to be frustrated with them, but they had reason to be upset with God. What can we learn from these mistaken perspectives, and how should we examine ourselves to check whether we might be susceptible to the same type of spiritual hardheartedness? Consider this and more in another episode of transforming our thinking through the power of God's word.

In Malachi 2:10-16, God rebuked the men of Israel for faithlessness in two covenant relationships - their relationship with him, and their relationship with the "wife of their youth." Israel's OT history is rather frustrating and confusing. Things went well when they obeyed God, and were miserable when they broke his commandments. Why didn't the people just change after learning all these lessons? Was it actually possible for them to change or any of the rest of us to change ourselves? We'll consider these questions and more in today's episode of transforming our thinking through the power of God's word.

Recorded for Impact Radio broadcast week of September 23, 2026.

The opening of Malachi 2 shifts from condemnation of the congregation of Israel to condemnation of its priests. God gave the priests two main duties. They were to intercede on behalf of the people leading them in proper worship, and they were to teach the people God's words accurately. In Malachi 2, we find the priests completely failing in both these categories. What parallels can we connect to churches today and these same patterns of worthless spiritual leadership? Consider this question and more in another episode of transforming our thinking through the power of God's word.

God's second rebuke against Israel in Malachi 1 was about how the Israelites were profaning and despising God through acts of worship that failed to follow God's prescribed methods of acceptable worship in the law. This made the Israelites' worship so empty and meaningless that God actually declared he would prefer they closed the doors to the temple rather than continuing their current practices. Where might we find correlations in some professing churches to this empty religion, and where should we examine ourselves to see if we might also be condemned for offering hollow worship? Find out in another episode of transforming our thinking through the power of God's word.

Colossians 2:7 exhorts believers to "abound in thanksgiving." When we consider much of the dialogue between people, it's easy to observe that people are more apt to complain than they are to be grateful. In fact, it seems complaints are often most prevalent in cultures and parts of the world where they have least to complain about. In the opening statements of Malachi, we find the people of Israel questioning God's love for them. From God's response to them and other passages of scripture, we'll consider the danger of the sin of ingratitude in making us susceptible to greater sin and causing our worship to empty. We hope you are blessed and challenged by this another episode of transforming our thinking through the power of God's word.

Today, we begin a new series on the book of Malachi. Malachi is the last of the OT prophet group. He seems to have ministered around 100 years after Cyrus the Great had decreed the Jews could return to their homeland. The contents of Malachi portray God as frustrated by spiritual apathy and empty religion prevailing amongst his people. In spite of their knowledge of their ancestors' history, the Jewish people remained hollow and self-interested in their worship. As we study this prophetic book, we will see these rebukes are still current for us today, especially if we've grown up within the church. We will also see that Israel's continued failure set the stage for the next revelation God would give after a 400-year-period of silence - John the Baptist preparing the way, and then Jesus Christ preaching "repent for the kingdom of heaven is near." We hope you will be blessed and instructed in another episode of transforming our thinking through the power of God's word.

Recorded for Impact Radio broadcast week of September 16, 2026.

After Charles Darwin's "Origin of Species," there has been a concerted effort within the scientific community to deem religious people as "non-intellectual." But in the past 100 years, modern scientific discovery has actually proven Darwin's theory, and therefore all who base their worldview on his theory, as incorrect. In spite of these discoveries, little change has taken place in the worldview of the majority of the scientific community. What does this example teach us about man's rejection of God and the various excuses he might use to justify doing so? What's the true root cause of disobeying the gospel of Jesus Christ, and how can Christians best prepare themselves to seek to lead unbelievers to saving faith in Christ? That's the focus of today's episode of transforming our thinking through the power of God's word.

In the conclusion of Haggai, God addressed a message of hope to Zerubbabel, a descendant of David, who was acting as governor of the people in Jerusalem. Studying God's predictions of the end-times is certainly the most challenging part of Bible study. We understand that part of this is intentional as "It is God's glory to conceal a matter," and "the secret things belong to God." At the same time, we understand that a believer's hope is based on the promises God has made to his people. Today, we consider how the fulfillment of promises to God's people in the past gives us, not only assurance for the fulfillment of his other promises, but also a basis for understanding how those promises will be fulfilled. We hope you are blessed and encouraged by this episode of transforming our thinking through the power of God's word.

How do you diagnose difficult circumstances in your life? While Jesus told us we could expect trouble every day in this world, can you be honest with yourself when you are actually the one who caused the trouble? In this study from the book of Haggai, we look at God's exhortation to the Israelites to consider why all of their labor kept being frustrated. In this example, it was because Israel was failing to obey God, and so he was actually working against their labors and plans. From this passage, we'll seek to apply the principle from scripture of "reaping what we've sown" and learn to "consider" our own ways. We hope you are blessed and challenged by another episode of transforming our thinking through the power of God's word.

Can gifts offered to God be unacceptable and even offensive to him? That's exactly what we find in Haggai chapter 2. The Israelites were going through many of the motions of lawful worship, but there was a key feature they were missing: true obedience. Throughout scripture, God consistently tells people he desires obedience and not sacrifice. What implications does this have for us, and how might we be deceiving ourselves into thinking some compromises in ourselves don't matter because of other things we do for God? This is the focus of today's episode of transforming our thinking through the power of God's word.

For most of us, the Christian life will be a marathon, not a sprint. In Haggai chapter 2, God gave the Israelites' an encouragement that though they felt like the temple structure they were rebuilding was small and less glorious than Solomon's, there was coming a greater and final glory for God and his people. The implication of that encouragement, and how believers today still foreshadow God and his people's coming glory, are the focus of today's episode of transforming our thinking through the power of God's word.