Daily Archives: September 24, 2013

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September 24, 2013

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Book Review, Pastoral

12 Final Quotes On Leadership

Here are twelve final quotes from Al Mohler’s book The Conviction to Lead. 

“Humor is the virtue of allowing people to see your humanity and your comfort in being fully human, quirks and all.”

“Never apologize for having a message and wanting that message to receive the widest possible coverage and exposure. That is why you are leading.”

“Leaders are writers.”

“The digital world is itself a real world, just real in a different way.”

“The scarcity of time is the great leveler of humanity, affecting the rich and the poor, the powerful and the powerless.”

“The expectation of constant availability will defeat any leader and render leadership ineffective.”

“The leaders who make the biggest difference are those with long tenure. Great impact requires a lengthy term of leadership, and the leader who wants to make a difference had better make a public commitment to stay.”

“Time and opportunities are precious and perishable.”

“In truth, there are no indispensable people, only indispensable convictions.”

“Build your core leadership team around those who share key convictions most intensely.”

“The leader unconcerned about leaving a legacy is a leader who will leave the job undone.”

“In a healthy institution, the younger members are even more openly and deeply committed to the group’s convictions than the older members are.”
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September 24, 2013

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Malachi

The Law and the New Elijah

Here is my last blog post on Malachi. It covers 4:4-6. You can read the passage here.


 Exegesis
            Malachi closes with an odd set of three verses.  But they serve as a fitting reminder of what Christians of all times have been called upon to do.  First, Malachi tells Israel to remember the Law of Moses. (vs. 4) This word “remember” is used thirteen times in Deuteronomy.  It is a call to remember the covenant that God instituted at Mount Sinai and to obey.  True prophets, like Malachi, do not reject the Law of Moses or add to the Law of Moses. They expound or preach the Law of Moses.  Just like the great prophet Jesus, they do not destroy the law. (Matthew 5:17-20) Here at the end of the history of Israel, over a thousand years after Moses was on Mt. Sinai the command remains; remember the law.  It is worth noting that following Malachi there was four-hundred years of silence. However, during this time, Israel still had God’s word.  She still had the law.
            Second, Malachi says that a new Elijah will come who will help Israel obey the law. (vs. 5-6)  Elijah was one of the greatest prophets of the Old Testament. He changed the course of Israel’s history by his ministry. But his change was temporary. Malachi, like many of the prophets, saw a coming day, when God would judge and save his people; the day when Elijah would come. This Elijah will help God’s people fulfill the fifth commandment, “honor your father and mother.”  He will restore broken relationships, especially in the home.  He will do this so that Israel will not become a curse. The word “curse” is the same term used for the nations in Canaan that God drove out by Joshua.  Elijah will come so Israel will not become like the nations.  These last verses began to be fulfilled in the ministry of John the Baptist. (Luke 1:17, Matthew 11:10, 11:14)
  
Applications
Do not forget the law of God. The Mosaic Law has change and been adjusted in the New Covenant, but it has not been discarded.  A study of the first five books of the Bible are worth your time and energy (Exodus 20-25 and Deuteronomy 19-25).
Christ came to restore broken relationships, especially those in the home.  Therefore one of the fundamental jobs of the church is to preach the word of Christ so that it builds and strengthens marriages and the bond between parents and children.  It is unfortunate that often the church tears apart the relationship between parents and children, thus undermining God’s law and the gospel.  This principle of reconciliation also extends to other relationships as well. With the coming of Christ true unity in families and communities became possible. Without Christ all we have is brokenness, separation, and war.