Minor Prophets

Introduction:

We just finished up the book of Acts, so I have been thinking about and praying about where to go for our Wednesday night Bible study.

We have been going through a lot of studies for a while in the new Testament, so we are going to jump over to the Old Testament and spend so time there.

We are going to spend some time going through the Minor Prophets.

Point 1:

The Minor Prophets are called “Minor” not because they are less important than the Major Prophets but because of the length of the book.

There are a total of 12 minor prophets in the Old Testament.

Hosea: the main theme of Hosea is the call to an authentic covenant relationship with the Lord.

14 Chapters

Joel: calls believers to live knowing that the Lord’s return could happen at any time.

3 Chapters

Amos: we are all accountable to the Lord.

9 Chapters

Obadiah: call to give God the worship that He deserves.

1 Chapter (21 verses)

Jonah: call to repentance.

4 Chapters

Micah: call to reject being a follower of God by name only for genuine, practical covenant-life.

7 Chapters

Nahum: call to trust that vengeance is the Lord’s.

3 Chapters

Habakkuk: call to remain faithful to God even when we are going through trials.

3 Chapters

Zephaniah: call to trust the Lord's purifying judgement.

3 Chapters

Haggai: call to renew God’s work.

2 Chapters

Zechariah: call to anticipate God’s intimate victory.

14 Chapters

Malachi: call to authentic faith.

2 Chapters

What does the Bible say about prophets?

Amos 3:7 “7 Surely the Sovereign Lord does nothing without revealing his plan to his servants the prophets.”

A prophet is someone chosen by God to speak for Him.

God calls people to speak for Him just as He did years ago.

Ephesians 4:11–12 “11 It was He who gave some to be apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers, 12 to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up”.

We do know that there are also false-prophets today just as there was before.

A way we can test whether something is from the Lord is:

Does it align with the Bible?

Does it come true?

2 Peter 1:21 “21 For prophecy never had its origin in the human will, but prophets, though human, spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.”

Even though we are human, God’s desire is to work through His people.

We always need to be careful and use “Thus says the Lord” with extreme caution.