My galaxy 8 note has suddenly changed how its receiving and answering my texts.

[Android Central Question]

I use to get my incoming texts in a systematic order of recently received was at the top of the screen. now they are just anywhere on my screen amongst all my texts and I actually have to scroll through all my texts to see if any are new. I use to get a red dot on my text icon 'message +' that told me i had messages, too; on my home screen, now that's gone; And when I answer any texts, my input is not added to the last entry of the conversation, but shows randomly in the text being sent. How do I fix these haphazard events?