August 29, 2021
Sunday
God gave His heart and mind to Malachi for the nation. His heart was heavy and grieved for the nation. The people’s heart was turned away from God. The human heart is very deceiving. Israel was God’s chosen people and were to be a picture and a light to the rest of the world. They were to show the goodness and blessings of God in comparison to the gods of foreign nations. But Israel had turned from God and were worshiping and entertaining the very gods they were supposed to be above. The church today has the very same problem. It is very hard to differentiate a christian from the world. They dress the same, talk the same, live the same. God never called us to be a segregated people, but He did call us to be a people who are separated. Not from people, but the world system. We are to go into the world and shine the light. We must get a look at and see ourselves as God sees us. Even in the church we have created a false image of God and the things of God. We have let man form an image of God to us. We must see ourselves the way God sees us.
Malachi 1:1-2 The burden of the word of the Lord to Israel by Malachi.
2 “I have loved you,” says the Lord.
“Yet you say, ‘In what way have You loved us?’
Was not Esau Jacob’s brother?”
Says the Lord.
“Yet Jacob I have loved;
God loves you. God loves His people. There is nothing more valuable on the planet to God, than people. He values people because they are eternal. In this verse you have two brothers. Out of those two, God chose one. Esau was evil and a man of the flesh. Jacob was not perfect. But there was something in his heart that God could use.
Deuteronomy 7:6-11 “For you are a holy people to the Lord your God; the Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for Himself, a special treasure above all the peoples on the face of the earth. 7 The Lord did not set His love on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any other people, for you were the least of all peoples; 8 but because the Lord loves you, and because He would keep the oath which He swore to your fathers, the Lord has brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you from the house of bondage, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.
9 “Therefore know that the Lord your God, He is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and mercy for a thousand generations with those who love Him and keep His commandments; 10 and He repays those who hate Him to their face, to destroy them. He will not be slack with him who hates Him; He will repay him to his face. 11 Therefore you shall keep the commandment, the statutes, and the judgments which I command you today, to observe them.
God chose them because He loved them and to keep His promise to Abraham. All God was asking in Malachi is that they love Him too. You must ask yourself, “who or what do I love more than God?” You can’t love God and never spend any time with Him. We are living in a world that is offering you everything. Society’s picture of success has become more important than God. God wants to bless us, but when anything comes to a place of higher importance than Him, your life isn’t right. Anything that gives you more enjoyment than spending time with God, is showing you that you’re not where you need to be. He loves you more than anything, and all He is asking is that you love Him too. People want God to put them and their problems as His priority when He is not their priority. If you put Him first, He will take care of all the problems. You don’t run to God only when you have a problem, you run to Him daily because you want Him! To God, your actions mean more than your words. There is no such thing as Sunday worship, if there isn’t worship every other day. Because we should need Him and want Him as much on Monday as we do on Sunday! Love is not a feeling it is a choice. And if you will choose to do it, the feelings will come with it. If you’ll choose to love God the way He loves you, that love will grow and develop. But you must do it daily! Because we live in an unredeemed body that wants to do its own thing!
If you look at our nation and do not see the trouble it’s in, you are in denial. The condition of our nation mirrors the condition of the church. It’s easy to point fingers at the government, but we are the ones with the authority. It’s easy to see that some things need change.
Malachi 2:1-9 “And now, O priests, this commandment is for you.
2 If you will not hear,
And if you will not take it to heart,
To give glory to My name,”
Says the Lord of hosts,
“I will send a curse upon you,
And I will curse your blessings.
Yes, I have cursed them already,
Because you do not take it to heart.
3 “Behold, I will rebuke your descendants
And spread refuse on your faces,
The refuse of your solemn feasts;
And one will take you away with it.
4 Then you shall know that I have sent this commandment to you,
That My covenant with Levi may continue,”
Says the Lord of hosts.
5 “My covenant was with him, one of life and peace,
And I gave them to him that he might fear Me;
So he feared Me
And was reverent before My name.
6 The law of truth was in his mouth,
And injustice was not found on his lips.
He walked with Me in peace and equity,
And turned many away from iniquity.
7 “For the lips of a priest should keep knowledge,
And people should seek the law from his mouth;
For he is the messenger of the Lord of hosts.
8 But you have departed from the way;
You have caused many to stumble at the law.
You have corrupted the covenant of Levi,”
Says the Lord of hosts.
9 “Therefore I also have made you contemptible and base
Before all the people,
Because you have not kept My ways
But have shown partiality in the law.”
When you look at the leaders of our nation, you can see the lost confidence in them. It is no different with the pastors of our churches because they speak out of both sides of their mouth just like the politicians do! As a leader, your people should be able to come to you, and get the truth even if it hurts. The pastor has a responsibility to share what God is saying whether you like it or not!
God does not want your leftovers or lame offerings. He wants your best because He gives you His best! It is not a money issue it is a heart issue! You can live your life with an open hand or a closed hand! Be a giver! There is no shortage of money or provision. God will take care of you!
Malachi 2:11-15 Judah has dealt treacherously,
And an abomination has been committed in Israel and in Jerusalem,
For Judah has profaned
The Lord’s holy institution which He loves:
He has married the daughter of a foreign god.
12 May the Lord cut off from the tents of Jacob
The man who does this, being awake and aware,
Yet who brings an offering to the Lord of hosts!
13 And this is the second thing you do:
You cover the altar of the Lord with tears,
With weeping and crying;
So He does not regard the offering anymore,
Nor receive it with goodwill from your hands.
14 Yet you say, “For what reason?”
Because the Lord has been witness
Between you and the wife of your youth,
With whom you have dealt treacherously;
Yet she is your companion
And your wife by covenant.
15 But did He not make them one,
Having a remnant of the Spirit?
And why one?
He seeks godly offspring.
Therefore take heed to your spirit,
And let none deal treacherously with the wife of his youth.
This is a picture of leaving your first love. God gave these laws to them that they were not to marry any foreign people. It was not a race issue; it was a foreign god issue. If they intermarried, other gods would enter the relationship. A good example of this is Abraham and Sarah with Ismael.
Malachi 3:6-7 “For I am the Lord, I do not change;
Therefore you are not consumed, O sons of Jacob.
7 Yet from the days of your fathers
You have gone away from My ordinances
And have not kept them.
Return to Me, and I will return to you,”
Says the Lord of hosts.
Return to Him, and He will return to you. Place value on your relationship with Him!
Malachi 3:16-18 Then those who feared the Lord spoke to one another,
And the Lord listened and heard them;
So a book of remembrance was written before Him
For those who fear the Lord
And who meditate on His name.
17 “They shall be Mine,” says the Lord of hosts,
“On the day that I make them My jewels.
And I will spare them
As a man spares his own son who serves him.”
18 Then you shall again discern
Between the righteous and the wicked,
Between one who serves God
And one who does not serve Him.
God is saying, after all these things He has pointed out, that He loves you! Even if you have turned away, all you must do is return to Him! God loves you that much! And He deserves your love! He is watching and recording names in the book of remembrance! Judgement is coming! Are you ready?