#bookofmalachi

Sermon recap

“No matter how dark this world gets, so long as we have breath, there is hope. We have a Savior!” -Ric Garland.

Scripture Focus Malachi 3:13-4:6

Today Pastor Ric wraps up our seven-week study of the book of Malachi. We discover four types of people represented at the time- and that we still embody today. Pastor Ric challenges us to listen to the description of each type and choose which groups we personally fit into. When we can relate to one or two of the group more than the others, it reveals some specific areas of growth we can benefit from or serve as an encouragement to keep going and growing.

The Deceived

These are the people we hear about most in the book of Malachi. To onlookers, they appear to be “doing everything right.” They even THINK they are doing everything right. However, they are entirely missing the fact that they are not truly honoring God. They are upset that He is not blessing them as they feel they deserve to be blessed. The reality is they have traded their personal relationships with God for the upkeep of their religion. The deceived check off boxes, like attending church every Sunday, but their hearts are not in it.

The Determined

These are people who are consumed by the knowledge of their insufficiency in the presence of God Almighty. They are deeply rooted in their faith. They made a firm decision about God and will never change their mind about Him no matter what heartaches they might face—knowing that God understands their hurt and sees each of their tears. They understand deeply that God is ALWAYS on their side, no matter what circumstances are surrounding them.

The Devastated

These are the unsaved. People unwilling to acknowledge that Jesus is our Savior in this lifetime will spend eternity in Hell. A day will come, as it is promised- when all knees will bend and acknowledge Him, but for some, the acknowledgment will sadly be too little too late.

The Devoted

The devoted are the people who work hard at living lives that bring Glory to God. They are active in their pursuit of Him and present in their relationship with Him. They follow the Law of Christ as best they can daily. They don’t just “talk the talk.” What the devoted say they believe will be evidenced by their actions. They are faithful and true followers of Christ.

Which do you identify with?

Sermon recap

The motive behind any and all giving should always come from a desire to bring glory to God.

Scripture focus Malachi 3:7-12

This week Pastor Ric continues on in our study of the book of Malachi. God has pointed out the Israelites multigenerational disobedience and asks that they turn from this disobedience and return to Him. Unfortunately, the Israelites yet again fail to see where they have disobeyed. So, the Lord reveals to them their fault- calling them out on their misplaced faith, as evidenced by their half-hearted tithing. Old Testament law was clear- Obey, and God will bless, disobey, and He will curse. Yes, the Israelites were paying their tithes- But not the complete 10% that God desired, and not with correct motives or humble hearts. God is ALWAYS more interested in our hearts than our words or actions. Here again, the Israelites were simply checking off boxes; they did not have genuine relationships with God, just ones that appeared good on the surface.

Why does God need my money?

God does not need our money, and no one could ever “out-give” God. The 10% tithe from the OT was not a requirement from God because He needed money, rather it was a requirement because He desires His people to have humble hearts and always keep him first. God does not want money to get in the way of our relationship with Him. The problem arises when people grip so tightly onto their money that it becomes an idol. They idolize their money and the things they can buy with it. We have probably all been guilty of this at one time or another- maybe even right now. Whether it stems from a scarcity mindset, or a desire to appear a certain way towards others, regardless of reason when we allow money to become an idol in our lives, we rob God of the glory He is due. Choosing instead to claim the glory for ourselves. The issue here is NOT the amount of money we have OR the amount we give. The problem is who we are giving the glory to. The desire to be the one receiving glory rather than giving the glory to God is precisely why Satan fell, and the root of all sin.

Under the Law of Christ, God promises to bless and asks us to obey. Giving demonstrates that we understand the grace of God and shows a sacrificial heart. Giving is a form of worship and demonstration of our trust in God to meet our needs.

So….. What should I be giving?

There is no standard for giving, each of us should give within our means. We can pray for guidance on an amount or percentage- and remember that this may change up, or down as time - and life happens. Just because you have always given a certain amount does not mean you should continue to give that amount- pray for guidance!

Giving to the church helps us extend our reach with the Gospel in many ways including the ability to send out more fully funded missionaries, capital region outreach programs, starting our church revitalization, and building a sanctuary!

The most important piece is not the amount you give but the motive behind your giving. Your motive for giving should always come from a desire to bring glory to God.

Sermon Recap

We think...

“Why is it, God? I thought when I came to know Christ as my Savior, and I leaned into your word, and I started trusting in your values and in your principles that everything would go right….But it’s not!!”-RG

Scripture Focus Malachi 2:17-3:6

As we continue on in our study of Malachi, we get into the very relevant topic of justice. Pastor Ric helps us to see some common pitfalls Christians find themselves in and some ways to reframe how we see and experience injustice.

Have you ever asked God, or wondered, why He doesn’t hear you? Why He isn’t helping you? Why your life has to be so hopeless? Or why He is hiding from all the sin going on around you?

You have?

You are not alone.

The Israelites were feeling the same way here in Malachi. Truthfully-all throughout history, people have asked these same questions. Like the Israelites, we often believe we deserve to understand the why behind each injustice we see or experience. We believe that by doing “all the right things,” we deserve problem-free lives. We weary God with our grumbling and arguing about what is and is not just. But, it can feel especially difficult to understand when we see people living in sin yet appearing to be simultaneously living the good life. What is the point, God, of following you if this guy over here can have such a great life and not know you while I am over here suffering? The short answer is: We can not see the whole picture, but God does.

Our perception of God’s justice is not necessarily reality.

Trusting God when you feel like questioning His fairness:

Remember, God’s timing is always perfect. He is ALWAYS working in our lives even when we can’t see it, even when it doesn’t make sense, and even when it doesn’t fit within the mold of our expectations for what should or should not be. There is nothing that has not been sifted through His hands.

Remember, God will ALWAYS accomplish what He has promised to do. There is nothing we can do to affect this.

Remember, God ALWAYS keeps His promises. No sin will escape the judgment of God. It is either covered under the blood of Jesus or will be paid for by eternal death.

People often get it backwards. They think, “When I accept Christ as Savior, God will bless me with everything I want and extraordinary life.”What they should be thinking is, “When I accepted Christ as Savior, I dedicated my life to living in a way that glorifies Him because I owe all to Him who saved me.” We are not the center of the universe as much as we might think we are. God is!

God is Immutable. We can find rest in this truth because it means:

“Nothing ever happens to God.”

His person never changes. Not his mood, not His love for you, not His enthusiasm for you. He is always wise, in control, fair, good, holy, merciful, loving, and just.

His passion never changes. NOTHING can separate you from God. He is ALWAYS on our side.

His plans never change. No matter how much you think you mess up, nothing can thwart the plans God has for you.

His promises never change.

“On this side of glory, He has never promised a fair life. Injustice will happen, so will hurt, hate, and horrible things. But through it all, He has promised to give you what you need to carry out His purpose.” -RG.

Sermon recap

We live in a world where it is acceptable to edit out things we dislike, disagree with, or find offensive. But that isn’t how God operates. God’s Word always tells the truth- even when the truth is not what we want to hear.

Scripture Focus Malachi 2:10-16

This week Pastor Ric delivers another truth-filled but potentially challenging to receive message regarding sex and marriage.

God created marriage before sin ever entered the world. God created marriage as a means for us to find deep, lifelong, loving companionship with another in a manner different from any of the other relationships in our lives. The marriage relationship is different from the other relationships for many reasons, but the main difference is that it involves having sex. Sex is a good and meaningful act between a husband and wife. God lays this out for us way back in Genesis 2:24-25. He created marriage, and He controls its character and laws. God says marriage is a permanent and physical union between one man and one woman for one lifetime. Marriage was God’s first covenant to humankind. A covenant is never meant to be broken. Marriage is a commitment to not only your spouse but also God. But successful marriages take all three being active participants!

Here in Malachi, God calls the Israelites out. His design for marriage was being cast aside; the Israelites were making their own decisions about right and wrong, and in doing so, had been unfaithful not only to each other but also to God.

Is that not exactly what the world is doing today? Making up our own rules about what's right and wrong when it comes to our sexual relationships?

As the Israelites did then, we too attempt to argue our faithfulness and rationalize our sexual sins and immorality by customizing our Christianity to fit what is convenient, feels good at the moment, or is widely “accepted” by the world. But, unfortunately, just because the world widely accepts something does NOT mean it’s okay with God.

When we choose to disregard God’s intentions for marriage or His rules about sex before and within marriage, we allow Satan to create a counterfeit relationship. Satan loves to create cheap counterfeits of the beautiful and wholesome things that the Lord creates. The statistics on pre-marital sex and abortion rates of people who consider themselves to be Christians are jawdropping. Never mind infidelity and divorce! Satan is hard at work lulling people into the false belief that these things are no big deal and will not have lasting effects on their lives. But, they are a big deal, and the result is always harmful to us in the long run.

God takes purity in relationships very seriously because His design for a loving, lifelong marriage is perfect.

“We need to raise up our value system. God is not a cosmic killjoy. He created us for sex!” -RG.

But when we make up our own rules about marriage, His perfect design is lost, and our purity- lost with it.

God gives us 8 principles of purity when it comes to sex and marriage

Principle of Origin- Sex between husband and wife is a good thing. It should never stop.

Principle of Honor-Marriage was God’s first covenant, and He still thinks it’s essential!

Principle of Intimacy- Sex is not just a physical act; it involves the body, soul, spirit, and heart.

Principle of Propagation- A product of sex is children, which is only positive within a marriage

Principle of Temptation- God tells us to resist all sin, except sexual immorality; God tells us to FLEE from this one!

Principle of Ownership- Your body is God’s. He created it, and He dwells in it. He owns it. Therefore, we need to be glorifying God with our bodies.

Principle of Partnership- A Christian is not to marry an unsaved person.

Some of these principles seem easy to follow, others may not, but it’s not up to us to pick and choose. The Israelites missed this. They treated their marriages as a convenience rather than a covenant and then were surprised when their lives and relationships weren’t what they had hoped.

"God doesn’t play games."-RG.

We can not knowingly live in sin while also having true fellowship with God.

Thankfully, where there is repentance, there is restoration. So whether you are married, divorced, or single, as the day you were born, let us be people who commit to purity and holiness in our relationships with one another so that we may live out God's perfect design of companionship.

“We need to stop playing church.”

-Ric Garland, Lead Pastor

Sermon Recap

Scripture Focus Malachi 1:6-14, 2:1-9

Continuing in our study of Malachi, Pastor Ric gets into the heart and depth of worship and how we respect- or fail to respect our wonderful God.

Respect can be defined as worthy of honor. And honor, glory. When we respect someone, we admire them. We look up to them and follow their guidance. We wish to be more like them. When we honor someone, we glorify their name.

In today’s Scripture, God is calling the Israelites out on their lack of respect for Him. Their worship appears to glorify God, but in reality, their worship is only glorifying themselves. Their hearts are not in their worship. They have lost their fear of God. They are no longer working out their salvation. They have incrementally cut their relationship with God right out of their customized religion. The worst part is that they have become so far removed from real relationship and rationalized in their sin so much that they don’t even realize they are living in sin! They are going to church, and they are bringing offerings-so what if they aren’t the best quality? The Israelites are doing everything they are “supposed to do.” So please God, they snicker; please spell this out for us... How exactly can you tell us we are doing you wrong?

God’s response is clear.

They are giving God their leftovers.

They would never dream of providing a blind or lame animal to their governor, so what makes it ok for them to bring such offerings to God? God calls out their lack of respect.

What happens when we deny God the respect He is due?

We lack awareness of the presence of God. Sometimes, we get too caught up in outward appearances and performances. You can sing every worship song, serve on the weekends, and host small groups, but if your fellowship with God is off-kilter, then you can be doing all these things and not even realize that God has “left the building.”

We misunderstand our self-worth. We are not chosen by God because of what we do, say, or believe. We are not better than anyone else. There will come a day when every knee will bow, and every tongue will confess. God does not NEED us; He WANTS us. How cool is that?!

Worship becomes boring. When we lack respect for God, worship is done in duty rather than in devotion. Church becomes a box to check off. “If God is boring in your heart and life, then that’s not the God of scripture. He is exciting and dynamic! God doesn’t want to put chains on you and make your life miserable! He is there to say, “ I want to give you the most dynamic life I could ever offer. But you’ve got to lay down and worship me. You have to take yourself out and put me in!” -Ric Garland

"We give God enough to quiet our conscience, but we do not give God our best."-Ric Garland. Lead Pastor

God does not give us His leftovers! Not even close. God gave us His only Son! He loves us so much that He sacrificed His Son, Jesus Christ, who lived a sinless, blameless, worth life for us! You, me.. unworthy sinners. Jesus paid the full price of sin for all. God doesn’t just deserve our respect the depths of what He deserves can’t even be described or truly even understood.

What then does true worship look like?

Wisdom of Worth. You understand and feel in the depths of your soul l the worth of having a great relationship with your Compassionate Creator. Whatever we truly worship in our hearts, we find the time, money, or resources for.

Humility. When we lack humility, we glorify ourselves. God desires us to come to him with humble hearts. When we come to him bearing our hearts and showing repentance, and humility He takes pleasure in restoring us.

Fellowship. God created people to be in relationship with not only Him but also each other. Therefore, we should be giving too and depending on others so that we can work together as one body.

Transformation. God’s word tells us not to be conformed by the world but transformed by the Holy Spirit. “The world is squeezing us, saying, I want you to change your viewpoint, your clothes, I want you to change everything about you. The world is trying to conform us and put us into a box and make us think and act in a certain way.”-RG. God desires our hearts to be changed so that our focus is always on Him, and our worship is always true. True worship to God is a sacrifice of worldly desires so that we can become a living sacrifice.

“The problem with a living sacrifice is that it keeps crawling off the altar.” -Ric Garland, Lead Pastor

We aren’t perfect.

We never will be here on earth.

Somedays, we will feel God’s presence so intensely that we can’t help but fall to the ground and weep, overcome but humility and awe. Other times we will realize we are just going through the motions without much of a second thought- and certainly no due respect to our Lord, the LORD of armies. We are incapable of elevating ourselves to where He stands. God stands alone, the only one worthy of worship, surrender, and the love of every human heart.

Sermon recap

We can’t let religion get in the way of our relationship with God.

Scripture focus Malachi 1:1

Pastor Ric begins laying the foundation for us of the last book in the Old Testament, Malachi.

History

The book of Malachi was likely written somewhere around 397 BC and is the last book in the Old Testament. The Old Testament recounts the story of the beginnings of humanity. Throughout the Old Testament, God sets clear guidelines about living, acting, behaving, and having fellowship with Him. People agree to God’s directions, even signing covenants, but ultimately, time and time again, humanity fails to fulfill their agreement. In Malachi, the Lord speaks directly in 42 of the 55 verses. Nothing is sugar-coated here!!! It is clear to Malachi that the ultimate answer would be the Messiah because humanity, with its sinful nature, would continue to fall short. After the book of Malachi, the Lord would be silent in prophetic writings until the coming of Jesus, about 400 years later.

Overview

Sometimes people let their religion get in the way of their relationship with God. This is exactly what was going on in Judah. The Lord uses Malachi to call out the people of Judah, to rebuke them. They had lost their biblical perspective. Worship had become mechanical rather than relational to everyday people and priests alike. Sadly they were so deluded in their worship that they didn’t even realize they were out of fellowship with God!

They built a temple (but God was not in it.)

They made sacrifices (but used blemished animals.)

While outwardly they appeared to be religious people, inside their hearts had turned cold towards God.

Purpose

Malachi is called to rebuke the people in Judah for their apathetic disobedience. He calls them to repent their wrong thinking and behavior to restore their relationships with God. The purpose was to realign the perspective of the people to personal holiness and authentic corporate worship and to remind the people of God’s clear desire and demands for relationship and His glory.

Do you ever feel like you are just going through the motions when it comes to your faith?

Do you show up to church on Sunday to “get right with God” then live like the devil himself the other six days of the week?

Maybe it’s even less noticeable.

A prayer without any faith attached. An unwillingness to admit and confess certain sins. A reluctance to give of your time, talents, or finances.

The people of Judah placed expectations about how their life should be on God rather than acknowledge His expectations of them. Think about that this week; pray for God to open your eyes to areas of your life where you are placing expectations on Him rather than living out His expectations of you.