Henderson—Many Kentucky Baptists may be reading through LifeWay’s adult Bible study series for January, “Complacency Exposed,” a study of the book of Malachi. However, they may not know that a contributor to the study is one of their own.

Bill Patterson, director of missions for Green Valley Baptist Association in Henderson, is the author of the expository notes and preaching guide for the January study. A veteran author for various LifeWay publications, he has authored around 200 magazine articles.

The study consists of six sessions and walks its readers through the book of Malachi, focusing on “perhaps the most difficult period of his (Malachi’s) nation’s history—a time of waiting for God’s promises to be fulfilled.”

Throughout the book, the prophet delivers compelling messages, calling God’s people to “repentance and renewed faithfulness.”

The study then points out that many believers have become complacent in their spiritual walk, and using Malachi’s pleas with Old Testament Israel, calls them to respond to who God is.

Patterson drew attention to the fact that Malachi is the last book and prophecy in the Bible for more than 400 years, before John the Baptist and Christ come in the New Testament. As such, “it is a very interesting book,” he says.

“It’s a work that begins with the love of God. He’s going to confront the people for their complacency, but before he does that, he assures them deeply of how much the Lord loves them,” Patterson said. “I think that’s the message that we need to hear as well.

“I think LifeWay did a good job in naming it, ’Complacency Exposed,’” he added. “If we’ve ever been in a time where there was complacency in our churches, it’s now.

“Malachi deals with the complacency of his day, and I think studying this will help us understand and deal with the complacency in our day,” he said. (WR)