1 00:00:00,200 --> 00:00:05,160 We ready hey glad y'all are here today, familiar faces all as 2 00:00:05,160 --> 00:00:07,840 always and then those of you that are here for the first 3 00:00:07,840 --> 00:00:09,960 time. Glad you decided to come check 4 00:00:09,960 --> 00:00:12,440 out Vita. I was going to add on to what 5 00:00:12,440 --> 00:00:15,240 Kurt was saying about our membership series class that's 6 00:00:15,240 --> 00:00:20,040 coming up in a few weeks. That is not a like only if I 7 00:00:20,040 --> 00:00:22,560 plan to become a member, I'll go to those. 8 00:00:23,000 --> 00:00:26,200 That's for any of you who would just be curious. 9 00:00:26,840 --> 00:00:29,640 It is completely fine to get through those classes and come 10 00:00:29,640 --> 00:00:32,520 to the conclusion that this is not the right local church for 11 00:00:32,520 --> 00:00:34,960 me. But we hope that you'll come to 12 00:00:34,960 --> 00:00:38,000 those because that that's maybe one of the best places to learn. 13 00:00:38,680 --> 00:00:40,920 We'll show you all our cards. Here's who we are, here's what 14 00:00:40,920 --> 00:00:44,080 we believe, Here's what it would look like to be a part of Vita 15 00:00:44,080 --> 00:00:46,560 Springs Church. So I would encourage any of you 16 00:00:46,560 --> 00:00:48,760 in that camp that you're just curious. 17 00:00:48,760 --> 00:00:51,040 Come to those, come to those classes. 18 00:00:52,520 --> 00:00:54,760 All right, we're going to jump into the book of Malachi. 19 00:00:55,040 --> 00:00:59,040 If you have your Bible with you, go ahead and jump there. 20 00:00:59,040 --> 00:01:01,520 Malachi chapter 2. If you don't have your own 21 00:01:01,520 --> 00:01:04,319 Bible, you can grab one of the black Bibles in the seat in 22 00:01:04,319 --> 00:01:07,720 front of you. That will be page eight O 1 23 00:01:09,880 --> 00:01:12,200 while you're flipping there. If you've not been with us the 24 00:01:12,200 --> 00:01:17,120 last two weeks, The aim of the book of Malachi, Old Testament 25 00:01:17,120 --> 00:01:18,920 book. It's a minor prophet. 26 00:01:18,920 --> 00:01:20,880 Maybe you're not that familiar with it. 27 00:01:20,880 --> 00:01:24,880 Probably a lot of us. The book of Malachi really 28 00:01:24,880 --> 00:01:30,160 overall, it's calling God's people to honor him through 29 00:01:30,160 --> 00:01:33,920 faithful living When we are he has always been faithful to us. 30 00:01:34,160 --> 00:01:39,360 When we live faithful to him, then we bring him honor and the 31 00:01:39,360 --> 00:01:43,480 book of Malachi's broken up into six different disputes where God 32 00:01:43,480 --> 00:01:48,200 is calling out Israel, the nation of God's people. 33 00:01:48,840 --> 00:01:51,400 So God, he's calling out of God's chosen people. 34 00:01:51,400 --> 00:01:53,120 You've been unfaithful in these ways. 35 00:01:53,360 --> 00:01:55,720 And there's a back and forth where God is calling them back 36 00:01:55,720 --> 00:01:59,200 to faithfulness. The first week we looked at how 37 00:01:59,200 --> 00:02:01,480 they have simply forgotten his love. 38 00:02:01,880 --> 00:02:05,400 And that was a reminder in Malachi that before God does any 39 00:02:06,240 --> 00:02:09,800 rebuke or correction, before any of that, he comes. 40 00:02:09,800 --> 00:02:12,800 And basically, I remember telling you it's basically God 41 00:02:12,800 --> 00:02:14,960 giving him a hug. It's like, hey, just remember 42 00:02:14,960 --> 00:02:17,200 first, I love you. I've always loved you. 43 00:02:17,600 --> 00:02:20,840 And now these things we've got to talk about. 44 00:02:20,880 --> 00:02:25,360 And so we're, we got into the second dispute last week and 45 00:02:25,360 --> 00:02:28,800 we're going to have a Part 2 to that dispute today. 46 00:02:29,200 --> 00:02:34,000 And so Malachi Chapter 2 last week, it began pointing out the 47 00:02:34,000 --> 00:02:38,080 failures of the priests. The priests have failed to guard 48 00:02:38,080 --> 00:02:41,440 God's honor. And we're going to kind of recap 49 00:02:41,440 --> 00:02:43,960 that in our verses today. But then we're going to spend a 50 00:02:43,960 --> 00:02:47,800 lot of time looking at what success would be for a priest or 51 00:02:47,800 --> 00:02:52,160 what the ideal priest would be. And so I've got a story for you 52 00:02:52,160 --> 00:02:56,520 to kind of set the tone. When I was in high school, my 53 00:02:56,520 --> 00:02:58,640 dad knew what high school boys were like. 54 00:02:59,120 --> 00:03:03,440 And so when I would leave the house plenty of times he would 55 00:03:03,600 --> 00:03:06,520 stop me. Hey, Gordon, remember who you 56 00:03:06,520 --> 00:03:08,840 are. And there was no context. 57 00:03:08,840 --> 00:03:11,200 There's nothing else. But he's, he's kept saying it. 58 00:03:11,200 --> 00:03:14,680 Gordon, remember who you are. And to the point where I started 59 00:03:14,680 --> 00:03:16,480 thinking what, what does he mean? 60 00:03:17,000 --> 00:03:19,080 And he kind of, I think intentionally left it up to me 61 00:03:19,080 --> 00:03:22,480 to figure that one out. Gordon, when you go out, no 62 00:03:22,480 --> 00:03:24,560 matter who you're with, no matter what you're doing, 63 00:03:24,960 --> 00:03:28,600 remember who you are. I think we've lost something in 64 00:03:28,600 --> 00:03:30,960 our generation now that we have last names. 65 00:03:31,680 --> 00:03:34,440 It used to be before that I would have just been known as 66 00:03:34,440 --> 00:03:37,800 Gordon, son of Kevin, son of Dan, son of Monroe. 67 00:03:38,240 --> 00:03:42,280 And that would have told you a lot about who I am. 68 00:03:42,600 --> 00:03:46,160 And if I walked around remembering, ah, I'm not just 69 00:03:46,160 --> 00:03:48,960 living for Gordon. It's not just my name that I 70 00:03:48,960 --> 00:03:52,200 carry around. I am Gordon, son of Kevin, son 71 00:03:52,200 --> 00:03:54,880 of Dan, son of Monroe. That would cause me to live 72 00:03:54,880 --> 00:03:58,160 differently, wouldn't it? What we're going to see today is 73 00:03:58,160 --> 00:04:01,400 that God is pointing out the failures of the priests, and he 74 00:04:01,400 --> 00:04:03,960 points them back. Hey, priests, your son of 75 00:04:03,960 --> 00:04:07,360 Phineas, your son of Levi. And I'm going to give you some 76 00:04:07,360 --> 00:04:11,000 background, but he's essentially saying, hey, priests, remember 77 00:04:11,000 --> 00:04:14,560 who you are. When you go walk around and you 78 00:04:14,560 --> 00:04:18,640 remember who you are, it causes you to live quite differently. 79 00:04:19,279 --> 00:04:23,400 And there's going to be a thing I think hopefully all of us 80 00:04:24,000 --> 00:04:26,240 figure out by the end of the teaching. 81 00:04:27,080 --> 00:04:29,640 We represent much more than we realize. 82 00:04:31,960 --> 00:04:36,720 So we're in Malachi 2, as we regularly do at Vida, before we 83 00:04:36,720 --> 00:04:39,120 read God's Word, we want to approach it carefully. 84 00:04:39,560 --> 00:04:42,400 We want to make sure that our hearts are right, that we're 85 00:04:42,400 --> 00:04:46,640 prepared as best we know. And so we're going to give 1520 86 00:04:46,640 --> 00:04:50,080 seconds for each of us just to pray in our hearts. 87 00:04:50,800 --> 00:04:54,040 Maybe that's confessing sin. Maybe it's a simple prayer. 88 00:04:54,040 --> 00:04:56,160 God, point out whatever you want to point out today. 89 00:04:56,160 --> 00:04:59,880 Help me and then I'll read and we'll get into the teaching. 90 00:05:23,160 --> 00:05:27,680 Malachi chapter 2, starting in verse one. 91 00:05:28,000 --> 00:05:31,200 And now, O priests, this command is for you. 92 00:05:31,840 --> 00:05:34,560 If you will not listen, if you will not take it to heart to 93 00:05:34,560 --> 00:05:38,720 give honor to my name, says the Lord of hosts, then I will send 94 00:05:38,720 --> 00:05:41,320 curse upon you, and I will curse your blessings. 95 00:05:41,600 --> 00:05:45,840 Indeed, I have already cursed them, because you do not lay it 96 00:05:45,840 --> 00:05:49,080 to heart. Behold, I rebuke your offspring 97 00:05:49,360 --> 00:05:52,880 and spread dung on your faces, the dung of your offerings, and 98 00:05:52,880 --> 00:05:58,280 you shall be taken away with it. So, so shall you know that I 99 00:05:58,280 --> 00:06:02,040 have sent this command to you, that my covenant with Levi may 100 00:06:02,040 --> 00:06:05,920 stand, says the Lord of Hosts. My covenant with him was one of 101 00:06:05,920 --> 00:06:07,960 life and peace, and I gave them to him. 102 00:06:08,240 --> 00:06:10,440 It was a covenant of fear, and he feared me. 103 00:06:10,680 --> 00:06:14,000 He stood in awe of my name. True instruction was in his 104 00:06:14,000 --> 00:06:16,760 mouth. No wrong was found on his lips. 105 00:06:17,000 --> 00:06:21,080 He walked with me in peace and uprightness, and he turned many 106 00:06:21,080 --> 00:06:25,160 from iniquity. For the lips of a priest should 107 00:06:25,320 --> 00:06:29,880 guard knowledge, and people should seek instruction from his 108 00:06:29,880 --> 00:06:34,480 mouth, for he is the messenger of the Lord of Hosts. 109 00:06:35,040 --> 00:06:39,800 But you have turned aside from the way you have caused many to 110 00:06:39,800 --> 00:06:43,080 stumble by your instruction. You have corrupted the covenant 111 00:06:43,080 --> 00:06:47,800 of Levi, says the Lord of Hosts. And so I make you despised and 112 00:06:47,800 --> 00:06:51,360 abased before all the people, in as much as you do not keep my 113 00:06:51,360 --> 00:06:53,440 ways. But show partiality in your 114 00:06:53,440 --> 00:07:00,960 instruction. Heavenly Father, you deserve all 115 00:07:00,960 --> 00:07:06,600 honor and glory. We as humans made in the image 116 00:07:06,600 --> 00:07:10,920 of God. You deserve our honor, and then 117 00:07:10,920 --> 00:07:13,840 especially those of us that would claim to be Christian. 118 00:07:14,240 --> 00:07:16,680 You deserve lives that honor you. 119 00:07:17,040 --> 00:07:20,440 God, help us prepare our hearts today. 120 00:07:20,960 --> 00:07:24,600 Help me as I teach. I pray nobody would stiff arm 121 00:07:24,600 --> 00:07:27,320 you today. We pray we'd all be receptive to 122 00:07:27,320 --> 00:07:29,800 your Holy Spirit. And I pray, Lord, that you would 123 00:07:29,800 --> 00:07:33,160 help us to become like the first song we sung this morning. 124 00:07:33,600 --> 00:07:35,880 You're coming for a spotless bride. 125 00:07:36,240 --> 00:07:40,040 I pray, Lord, we would be spotless and we know You're 126 00:07:40,040 --> 00:07:44,040 going to help us get there. Thank you, Jesus Christ, for 127 00:07:44,360 --> 00:07:46,560 your mercy, your patience, your help. 128 00:07:47,640 --> 00:07:49,160 We pray these things in your name. 129 00:07:49,800 --> 00:07:55,720 Amen. OK, so Malachi's got some good 130 00:07:55,720 --> 00:07:59,240 verses in there, huh? Often when I'm reading through, 131 00:07:59,240 --> 00:08:00,920 I'm like, oh, I said it the first week. 132 00:08:00,920 --> 00:08:03,480 Oh boy, how, what am I going to say about this one? 133 00:08:04,560 --> 00:08:06,400 But let's let's go through verse by verse. 134 00:08:07,120 --> 00:08:09,600 So the first 3 verses, I'll just start there. 135 00:08:09,600 --> 00:08:13,240 And again, it's kind of recapping the failures of the 136 00:08:13,240 --> 00:08:16,760 priest that we talked about last week, last week, if you were 137 00:08:16,760 --> 00:08:22,160 here, the people are bringing to God sacrifices that are 138 00:08:22,160 --> 00:08:26,320 blemished, improper, not according to what God instructed 139 00:08:26,680 --> 00:08:30,240 and worse. The priests are OK with it. 140 00:08:30,680 --> 00:08:32,039 They're allowing it. They're out. 141 00:08:32,039 --> 00:08:34,720 So I translated for us last week. 142 00:08:35,039 --> 00:08:37,360 They're bringing improper worship and the priests are 143 00:08:37,360 --> 00:08:40,440 allowing it. And for us as Christians today, 144 00:08:40,799 --> 00:08:45,080 our lives are described as living sacrifices to God. 145 00:08:45,360 --> 00:08:49,440 And so if we live improperly, it dishonors the Father. 146 00:08:49,720 --> 00:08:53,000 That was the dispute last week. God was saying, if I'm your 147 00:08:53,000 --> 00:08:57,040 father, then where's my honor? Priests, you've not been helping 148 00:08:57,040 --> 00:09:00,240 the people honor me. Where's my honor? 149 00:09:00,640 --> 00:09:04,400 And so verse one and now a priest, this command is for you. 150 00:09:04,400 --> 00:09:07,440 If you will not listen, if you will not take it to heart to 151 00:09:07,440 --> 00:09:12,200 give honor to my name, says the Lord of hosts, then I will send 152 00:09:12,200 --> 00:09:14,400 the curse upon you and I will curse your blessings. 153 00:09:14,400 --> 00:09:18,320 Indeed curse your blessings indeed I have already. 154 00:09:18,640 --> 00:09:21,960 And so there's there's two things happening here with God's 155 00:09:22,160 --> 00:09:24,920 dispute. He's saying in one effect, I 156 00:09:24,920 --> 00:09:29,080 have already judged you, you're already under discipline. 157 00:09:29,360 --> 00:09:31,840 But in another sense, he's holding out an offer. 158 00:09:32,120 --> 00:09:34,840 He's saying if you will not take, if you will not listen, if 159 00:09:34,840 --> 00:09:38,800 you will not take it to heart, there's this offer to you could 160 00:09:38,800 --> 00:09:43,440 turn, you could listen, you could take it to heart, and then 161 00:09:43,800 --> 00:09:47,160 this can be reversed. But you're already under 162 00:09:47,160 --> 00:09:49,280 judgment in one sense. And if you don't take it to 163 00:09:49,280 --> 00:09:52,080 heart and turn, this is what will happen. 164 00:09:52,840 --> 00:09:55,680 What will happen? Behold, I will rebuke your 165 00:09:55,680 --> 00:09:59,440 offspring, spread dung on your faces, the dung of your 166 00:09:59,440 --> 00:10:03,480 offerings. Now dung, it's originally it, 167 00:10:03,480 --> 00:10:05,920 it's referring to entrails, K guts. 168 00:10:06,440 --> 00:10:10,200 Now, I grew up very interested in hunting. 169 00:10:10,680 --> 00:10:13,960 I had a friend from our church that took me hunting as probably 170 00:10:13,960 --> 00:10:16,800 like an eighth grader. And I shot my first deer. 171 00:10:17,240 --> 00:10:20,920 I shot it in the guts and tradition, at least in the 172 00:10:20,920 --> 00:10:22,880 South, would be when you're cleaning the deer. 173 00:10:22,880 --> 00:10:26,760 If you gut shoot a deer, they take the guts from a 5 gallon 174 00:10:26,760 --> 00:10:30,720 bucket and they tip it on your head, OK, They spread dung on 175 00:10:30,720 --> 00:10:35,480 your face and that would teach you to never gut shoot a deer 176 00:10:35,480 --> 00:10:37,520 again because of how gross it is. 177 00:10:37,720 --> 00:10:42,160 Now the guy that took me hunting because of how gross that is did 178 00:10:42,160 --> 00:10:46,520 not have the heart to do it, thankfully so, and I still 179 00:10:46,520 --> 00:10:49,160 though understood the warning. I don't think I've shot a a deer 180 00:10:49,160 --> 00:10:54,360 in the gut since. Anyway, God's saying here's what 181 00:10:54,360 --> 00:10:57,120 would happen when you touch something unclean. 182 00:10:57,360 --> 00:11:01,160 If the entrails were to touch the priests, they would become 183 00:11:01,160 --> 00:11:06,760 unclean and they would no longer be pure and able to serve God as 184 00:11:06,760 --> 00:11:09,640 priests. The dung, the entrails, was 185 00:11:09,640 --> 00:11:13,640 supposed to be carried out outside the camp and burned 186 00:11:13,760 --> 00:11:17,720 because it's unclean. And God is saying I will make 187 00:11:17,720 --> 00:11:21,040 you like the dung priest because you've despised my name. 188 00:11:21,040 --> 00:11:24,400 You've not guarded proper worship, giving me the honor I 189 00:11:24,400 --> 00:11:28,120 deserve because of that. Here's the curse that's coming. 190 00:11:28,320 --> 00:11:32,280 If you don't turn and repent, I will walk you outside the camp 191 00:11:32,280 --> 00:11:35,280 and the people of Israel will see it and that will be a 192 00:11:35,280 --> 00:11:39,600 display of God's justice because it is not OK to live proper 193 00:11:39,600 --> 00:11:44,600 improperly in his world. And so jump down to verse 9. 194 00:11:44,920 --> 00:11:48,080 God says and so I make you despised and abased. 195 00:11:48,080 --> 00:11:50,880 Isn't that interesting? God started out the dispute with 196 00:11:50,880 --> 00:11:55,640 saying you despise my name and now justice would be I will 197 00:11:55,640 --> 00:11:59,280 despise you. I will make you abased in as 198 00:11:59,280 --> 00:12:02,280 much as you do not keep my ways. You show partiality in your 199 00:12:02,280 --> 00:12:06,920 instruction, verse 82. You've turned aside from the way 200 00:12:06,920 --> 00:12:09,760 you've caused many to stumble by your instruction. 201 00:12:10,120 --> 00:12:12,560 This is why God is coming to the priests first. 202 00:12:12,720 --> 00:12:15,320 The people are guilty. Remember from last week, the 203 00:12:15,320 --> 00:12:18,480 people are guilty of bringing improper worship, but God's 204 00:12:18,480 --> 00:12:21,360 coming down on the priest because they're the ones that 205 00:12:21,360 --> 00:12:25,640 we're supposed to instruct in what's proper and guard from 206 00:12:25,920 --> 00:12:28,960 what's improper. And those two things I just 207 00:12:28,960 --> 00:12:32,520 said, those are two of the big functions of priests in the Old 208 00:12:32,520 --> 00:12:35,440 Testament. That's why God established an 209 00:12:35,440 --> 00:12:40,920 office of priests for the people is because we as God's people, 210 00:12:41,160 --> 00:12:44,920 we need instruction towards what's proper. 211 00:12:44,920 --> 00:12:48,280 That's one function of priests. We need an instruction towards 212 00:12:48,280 --> 00:12:53,480 what's proper and we need guarding from what's improper. 213 00:12:53,840 --> 00:12:56,360 OK, so there's two things we'll we'll end up highlighting 214 00:12:56,600 --> 00:12:59,360 throughout the teaching. But the priests have failed at 215 00:12:59,360 --> 00:13:01,680 both of these. They have not instructed towards 216 00:13:01,680 --> 00:13:04,200 what's proper. They've not guarded from what is 217 00:13:04,200 --> 00:13:08,680 improper. And thus the Father, Heavenly 218 00:13:08,680 --> 00:13:13,760 Father, Creator, our Master, our Lord, has not received the honor 219 00:13:13,760 --> 00:13:18,720 he's due. God is now going to tell the 220 00:13:18,720 --> 00:13:24,760 priests remember who you are. And verses 4 through 6, he's 221 00:13:24,760 --> 00:13:28,680 pointing back to the original covenant he made with the tribe 222 00:13:28,680 --> 00:13:33,040 of Levi, and he's saying, hey, priests, remember, remember who 223 00:13:33,040 --> 00:13:36,280 you are. Now, if you're not familiar, the 224 00:13:36,280 --> 00:13:41,120 priests, we're specifically from the tribe of Levi. 225 00:13:41,440 --> 00:13:43,320 We talked about Jacob in the first week. 226 00:13:43,320 --> 00:13:46,360 He was the father of the 12 tribes of Israel and the tribe 227 00:13:46,360 --> 00:13:50,520 of Levi was the priestly tribe. And so you've got priests, 228 00:13:50,720 --> 00:13:53,960 you've got high priests, which were there was 1 high priest 229 00:13:53,960 --> 00:13:55,840 that was kind of over the under priests. 230 00:13:56,040 --> 00:13:59,840 That'll be relevant in a second. But you got to know some some of 231 00:13:59,840 --> 00:14:01,280 the background of who the priests are. 232 00:14:01,840 --> 00:14:05,400 And we'll talk a little bit more about Levi in a second. 233 00:14:09,040 --> 00:14:12,240 Before we dig into who the priests were meant to be, the 234 00:14:12,240 --> 00:14:16,760 ideal, can I make a case for all of us that we as Christians are 235 00:14:16,760 --> 00:14:20,040 modern day priests? Because that will mean a very 236 00:14:20,040 --> 00:14:22,120 different application for today's teaching, right? 237 00:14:22,680 --> 00:14:24,600 And so there's 4 supports for this. 238 00:14:25,040 --> 00:14:29,000 Number one, the Bible calls Christians priests. 239 00:14:29,240 --> 00:14:34,400 And we could stop there. Look at first Peter 2 Peter says 240 00:14:34,680 --> 00:14:38,800 as you come to him, Jesus, a living stone rejected by men, 241 00:14:39,120 --> 00:14:42,600 but in the sight of God chosen and precious, you yourselves, 242 00:14:42,600 --> 00:14:46,320 like living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house to 243 00:14:46,400 --> 00:14:52,000 be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable 244 00:14:52,000 --> 00:14:55,080 to God through Jesus Christ. OK, way back in the Old 245 00:14:55,080 --> 00:14:57,400 Testament, God actually promised through Moses, you're going to 246 00:14:57,400 --> 00:15:00,640 be a Kingdom of priests one day. And this is what Peter's talking 247 00:15:00,640 --> 00:15:01,920 about. South, the Bible calls us 248 00:15:01,920 --> 00:15:05,760 priests. How is this possible #2 support 249 00:15:06,040 --> 00:15:08,760 through Jesus Christ, our high priest. 250 00:15:09,040 --> 00:15:13,760 He commissions us as his. You might call us under priests. 251 00:15:14,080 --> 00:15:17,120 He's the capital P priest. We're the lowercase P priests. 252 00:15:17,880 --> 00:15:21,720 Hebrews wonderful book talks a lot about the high priest. 253 00:15:22,480 --> 00:15:26,680 Hebrews 414 calls Jesus a great high priest, calls Jesus that 254 00:15:26,680 --> 00:15:30,520 about twelve other times. I want to point out Hebrews 10 255 00:15:31,080 --> 00:15:35,000 to support that he's commissioned us as his priests. 256 00:15:35,560 --> 00:15:39,720 Hebrews 10/19 through 22. Therefore, brothers, since we 257 00:15:39,720 --> 00:15:43,280 have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of 258 00:15:43,280 --> 00:15:44,280 Jesus. Pause. 259 00:15:45,000 --> 00:15:49,240 Who could enter the holy places? Only priests. 260 00:15:49,960 --> 00:15:53,640 Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the 261 00:15:53,640 --> 00:15:58,400 holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way 262 00:15:58,400 --> 00:16:01,800 that he opened up for us through the curtain that is through his 263 00:16:01,800 --> 00:16:05,960 flesh, and since we have a great high, a great priest over the 264 00:16:05,960 --> 00:16:09,240 House of God, and so Jesus Christ is the high priest, he 265 00:16:09,240 --> 00:16:11,880 commissions us read through the rest of Hebrews. 266 00:16:11,880 --> 00:16:14,120 It talks a lot of I think you'll see pretty clearly. 267 00:16:14,360 --> 00:16:18,160 I only had time to mention one mention pretty clearly that we 268 00:16:18,160 --> 00:16:22,160 give spiritual sacrifices. We serve as priests. 269 00:16:22,640 --> 00:16:23,960 It talks a lot about the curtain. 270 00:16:23,960 --> 00:16:26,400 When Jesus died on the cross, the curtain was torn in two. 271 00:16:26,400 --> 00:16:29,280 And now we have confidence to enter into God's presence, 272 00:16:29,480 --> 00:16:31,080 something only priests are able to do. 273 00:16:31,520 --> 00:16:35,760 So #1 Bible calls us priests #2 Jesus commissions us as priests. 274 00:16:36,080 --> 00:16:42,520 And if you think about it, there's the curse. 275 00:16:42,800 --> 00:16:46,400 And the priests were supposed to be walked outside the camp, made 276 00:16:46,400 --> 00:16:49,960 unclean. Who was the great high priest 277 00:16:50,440 --> 00:16:52,920 who got walked outside the gates of Israel? 278 00:16:53,080 --> 00:17:01,400 Jerusalem was made unclean. For whose improper living ours, 279 00:17:02,480 --> 00:17:05,440 Jesus was made unclean. Jesus was hung on a cross. 280 00:17:05,800 --> 00:17:09,720 Jesus said it is finished and the temple was torn in two. 281 00:17:09,960 --> 00:17:12,599 We were cleansed, we were made clean. 282 00:17:12,800 --> 00:17:18,079 Now we're able to do this holy service as priests because of 283 00:17:18,119 --> 00:17:22,319 Jesus Christ, our high priest. If those two supports are 284 00:17:22,440 --> 00:17:26,720 supports aren't enough. Put simply, those two functions 285 00:17:26,720 --> 00:17:30,720 that priests are given the Bible, the New Testament tells 286 00:17:30,720 --> 00:17:33,760 Christians to do those all the time, instruct towards what's 287 00:17:33,760 --> 00:17:36,120 proper guard from what's improper. 288 00:17:36,640 --> 00:17:41,200 The Bible tells us to instruct one place it says that Romans 289 00:17:41,200 --> 00:17:44,760 1514. Paul says I myself am satisfied 290 00:17:44,760 --> 00:17:49,280 about you, my brothers, that you yourselves are full of goodness, 291 00:17:49,600 --> 00:17:52,840 filled with all knowledge, and able to instruct one another. 292 00:17:53,560 --> 00:17:56,240 Benchmark expectation for Christians is that we would be 293 00:17:56,240 --> 00:17:59,680 able to instruct one another. Also. 294 00:17:59,720 --> 00:18:02,160 The 4th support. Christians are commanded in the 295 00:18:02,160 --> 00:18:05,720 New Testament to function as garters from what's improper? 296 00:18:06,320 --> 00:18:10,280 Improper teaching, sure. Improper living, too. 297 00:18:11,440 --> 00:18:15,240 The New Testament calls us to admonish one another, which is 298 00:18:15,240 --> 00:18:19,280 to caution, to reprove, to warn, to correct. 299 00:18:19,920 --> 00:18:22,800 The New Testament calls us to exhort one another, which is 300 00:18:23,120 --> 00:18:27,600 often to plead with an old English word to beseech OK, 301 00:18:27,600 --> 00:18:31,560 we're to exhort one another. We're to restore the one among 302 00:18:31,560 --> 00:18:33,720 us who's caught in any transgression. 303 00:18:35,440 --> 00:18:40,080 There's even in Galatians. Paul writes to the Galatian 304 00:18:40,080 --> 00:18:42,600 church, not to the pastors to the church. 305 00:18:43,240 --> 00:18:49,120 I am astonished that you have so quickly deserted the gospel, 306 00:18:50,040 --> 00:18:52,840 deserting him who called you and turning to a different gospel. 307 00:18:54,280 --> 00:18:58,240 And so have I made a case that Christians or modern day 308 00:18:58,240 --> 00:19:03,960 priests. There should be an oh boy in the 309 00:19:03,960 --> 00:19:06,240 room. Oh boy. 310 00:19:07,120 --> 00:19:11,080 We're supposed to do this as Christians, not just pastors, 311 00:19:11,320 --> 00:19:16,200 not just elders, not just kids teachers, not just those with 312 00:19:16,200 --> 00:19:19,240 titles. If you're a Christian, you have 313 00:19:19,240 --> 00:19:23,920 a title as priest. I'm now clarifier. 314 00:19:23,920 --> 00:19:26,800 I'm a pastor and so am I irrelevant. 315 00:19:26,800 --> 00:19:29,800 No. God gives teachers and shepherds 316 00:19:29,800 --> 00:19:34,680 and pastors and elders as gifts to the church to set the pace in 317 00:19:34,680 --> 00:19:38,680 this. If you, if you're familiar with 318 00:19:38,680 --> 00:19:42,400 NASCAR or marathons or running, there's a pacesetter, right? 319 00:19:42,800 --> 00:19:44,880 There's someone that would go out in front and they would set 320 00:19:44,880 --> 00:19:48,200 the pace for how to run that others can follow. 321 00:19:48,200 --> 00:19:51,480 It gives them a a gauge for how quickly to run, how to run. 322 00:19:51,920 --> 00:19:58,160 OK, as a pastor, I ought to be a pacesetter in how to live 323 00:19:58,160 --> 00:20:02,120 properly and bring God honor. And so we need pastors. 324 00:20:02,480 --> 00:20:05,320 But more than anything, we equipped you. 325 00:20:05,760 --> 00:20:10,600 Ephesians 4 talks about we are to equip you to teach you to do 326 00:20:10,600 --> 00:20:13,880 the ministry. And Ephesians 4 says when every 327 00:20:13,880 --> 00:20:17,040 part's working together properly, the body builds itself 328 00:20:17,040 --> 00:20:19,840 up in love. So if we as a church were 329 00:20:19,840 --> 00:20:23,680 healthy in these things. If we had a strong base of 330 00:20:23,680 --> 00:20:27,960 Christians who understood their role as priests, wonderful 331 00:20:27,960 --> 00:20:33,520 things would happen. Let me say one thing to those of 332 00:20:33,520 --> 00:20:35,600 you that you're in the room and you're not a Christian. 333 00:20:37,400 --> 00:20:40,520 Why is priest relevant to you? Why? 334 00:20:40,520 --> 00:20:42,400 What's the deal with priests for me? 335 00:20:42,400 --> 00:20:47,040 How should I think about it? The reason we have priests is 336 00:20:47,040 --> 00:20:53,040 because sinful people cannot dwell with a holy, sinless God, 337 00:20:53,920 --> 00:20:58,400 and so that there ought to be a reflection right away for you. 338 00:20:58,400 --> 00:21:02,840 I hope it's that because of my sin, I can never know my 339 00:21:02,840 --> 00:21:05,320 Creator. I can never come into His 340 00:21:05,320 --> 00:21:08,240 presence. I can never know the way that 341 00:21:08,240 --> 00:21:11,840 this world was meant to operate. I can never know what it is to 342 00:21:11,880 --> 00:21:15,760 live proper, and I certainly cannot bring Him honor because 343 00:21:15,760 --> 00:21:20,040 of my sinfulness. And God gives Jesus Christ, the 344 00:21:20,040 --> 00:21:23,880 great High Priest, to make a way for you to have your sin 345 00:21:23,880 --> 00:21:28,560 cleansed so that you can know your Father, your Creator, so 346 00:21:28,560 --> 00:21:31,280 that you can be made pure and have a relationship with Him. 347 00:21:31,640 --> 00:21:36,360 It is only through Jesus Christ who is able to forgive sins, 348 00:21:36,720 --> 00:21:39,920 that you can be forgiven of anything you've ever done, the 349 00:21:39,920 --> 00:21:42,440 worst thing you've ever done, the thing you're most ashamed 350 00:21:42,440 --> 00:21:44,600 of. Nothing would prevent Jesus 351 00:21:44,600 --> 00:21:48,440 Christ from forgiving you. If you're coming to Him with all 352 00:21:48,440 --> 00:21:52,800 your heart sincerely, if you want to have your eyes opened to 353 00:21:53,280 --> 00:21:56,640 the way this world was meant to be, and you want to have your 354 00:21:56,640 --> 00:22:00,800 eyes open to who God is, Jesus Christ is your great High Priest 355 00:22:00,800 --> 00:22:02,480 and He would love to welcome you in today. 356 00:22:02,760 --> 00:22:06,280 It's a prayer of repentance, faith in Him, and then a 357 00:22:06,280 --> 00:22:11,880 commitment to follow Him. We have a bunch of under priests 358 00:22:11,880 --> 00:22:15,320 around you today who would love to walk through those steps with 359 00:22:15,320 --> 00:22:16,960 you. And so I would encourage you 360 00:22:16,960 --> 00:22:18,880 talk with one of them before the end of today. 361 00:22:23,560 --> 00:22:28,240 All right, now, priests, let's dig into what the ideal priest 362 00:22:28,240 --> 00:22:29,720 is. Verse 4. 363 00:22:30,320 --> 00:22:33,360 So shall you know that I have sent this command to you, that 364 00:22:33,360 --> 00:22:36,520 my covenant with Levi may stand, says the Lord of hosts. 365 00:22:36,800 --> 00:22:39,560 My covenant with him was one of life and peace. 366 00:22:39,840 --> 00:22:42,840 I gave them to him. It was a covenant of fear, and 367 00:22:42,840 --> 00:22:45,880 he feared me. He stood in awe of my name. 368 00:22:47,560 --> 00:22:49,880 There's references here that we have to go back to. 369 00:22:49,880 --> 00:22:53,600 OK, so they're fun. They're pretty fun stories. 370 00:22:53,600 --> 00:22:56,200 OK. The Old Testament has some, you 371 00:22:56,200 --> 00:22:59,520 know, like movie type blockbuster scenes, and we're 372 00:22:59,520 --> 00:23:02,840 going to go to a couple of them. So first we're to understand 373 00:23:02,840 --> 00:23:05,720 what he means when he says covenant of Levi in verse 4. 374 00:23:06,040 --> 00:23:08,560 We'll go back about 1000 years before Malachi. 375 00:23:09,080 --> 00:23:11,560 This story shows up in Exodus 32. 376 00:23:12,080 --> 00:23:16,280 Israel, God's chosen nation, has been LED out of slavery to Egypt 377 00:23:16,760 --> 00:23:22,800 and God has shown Israel his power, his might, and his love 378 00:23:22,800 --> 00:23:25,480 for them by bringing them out. So all this is in the 379 00:23:25,480 --> 00:23:28,200 background. God tells Moses, go to the top 380 00:23:28,200 --> 00:23:30,560 of the mountain and I'm going to give you proper instruction, the 381 00:23:30,560 --> 00:23:34,360 10 commandments. While he's up there, the people 382 00:23:34,720 --> 00:23:39,240 who just got rescued by God are making a golden calf to worship 383 00:23:39,240 --> 00:23:43,320 that. Instead, Moses comes down and is 384 00:23:43,880 --> 00:23:47,280 appalled, furious, and it, it's crazy. 385 00:23:47,280 --> 00:23:49,960 I could give you more details, but go read the story Exodus 32. 386 00:23:50,280 --> 00:23:57,480 What I want to point out is Moses says to all the people who 387 00:23:57,480 --> 00:24:00,720 will stand on the Lord's side today, this is not OK. 388 00:24:00,720 --> 00:24:04,000 Justice needs to come. Who will stand on the Lord's 389 00:24:04,000 --> 00:24:05,520 side? And you know what tribe came 390 00:24:05,520 --> 00:24:09,920 forward? Levi, the tribe of Levi stepped 391 00:24:09,920 --> 00:24:13,840 forward. And Moses says, all right, all 392 00:24:13,840 --> 00:24:19,080 the sons of Levi go slay all the men who participated in this. 393 00:24:19,720 --> 00:24:23,560 And about 3000 men were killed by the sword by the sons of 394 00:24:23,560 --> 00:24:26,760 Levi. And after that, God says this 395 00:24:26,760 --> 00:24:29,360 verse will be up on the screen today. 396 00:24:29,440 --> 00:24:33,560 You have been ordained for the service of the Lord, each one at 397 00:24:33,560 --> 00:24:37,920 the cost of his son and of his brother, so that he might bestow 398 00:24:37,920 --> 00:24:40,800 a blessing upon you this day God makes. 399 00:24:41,520 --> 00:24:44,960 So there's the covenant broadly with Israel, but God makes a 400 00:24:45,280 --> 00:24:48,600 covenant just with the tribe of Levi to be to serve him as 401 00:24:48,600 --> 00:24:50,320 priests. This was the beginning of it. 402 00:24:50,720 --> 00:24:55,200 It was a covenant of fear because Levi, in a different way 403 00:24:55,200 --> 00:24:59,960 than the other tribes feared God stood on his side. 404 00:25:00,200 --> 00:25:03,840 I'll come back to this in a second, but the first, the first 405 00:25:03,840 --> 00:25:09,520 trait we have of the ideal priest is the priests have fear. 406 00:25:10,400 --> 00:25:14,760 Priests have fear, fear of God. They stand in all of his name. 407 00:25:15,200 --> 00:25:18,680 So let me talk about fear and all and what it would look like 408 00:25:18,680 --> 00:25:25,240 to stand in all of God's name. First, His name, his, the name 409 00:25:25,240 --> 00:25:29,400 of the Lord shows up a lot in Malachi, OK, To have all of his 410 00:25:29,400 --> 00:25:34,280 name or fear of his name, His name kind of embodies 2 things. 411 00:25:34,280 --> 00:25:39,760 Reputation, OK, His name, like the Yoder name, my last name has 412 00:25:39,760 --> 00:25:43,520 a reputation about it. OK, It's his reputation and it's 413 00:25:43,680 --> 00:25:47,040 his identity. Yoder has a reputation, but also 414 00:25:47,040 --> 00:25:50,840 I am a Yoder. OK, the name of the Lord, It's 415 00:25:51,040 --> 00:25:55,240 God's reputation, what he's known for, and it's just who God 416 00:25:55,240 --> 00:25:57,600 is. I know who God is. 417 00:25:57,600 --> 00:25:59,920 I know who is, what his reputation is. 418 00:26:00,200 --> 00:26:05,560 Therefore it would be right for me to have a kind of fear about 419 00:26:05,560 --> 00:26:08,840 it. Not just anyone can approach 420 00:26:08,840 --> 00:26:12,880 God. This God, God showed with a 421 00:26:12,880 --> 00:26:18,720 mighty hand to Egypt, to Pharaoh, that he is the God 422 00:26:18,720 --> 00:26:22,400 above all gods. He showed to the people of 423 00:26:22,400 --> 00:26:25,920 Israel that you don't get to just worship anything you want 424 00:26:26,240 --> 00:26:28,240 and you don't get to just live however you want. 425 00:26:28,680 --> 00:26:30,520 OK. There is a fear, a right kind 426 00:26:30,520 --> 00:26:33,680 of, we kind of muddy that word sometimes. 427 00:26:33,680 --> 00:26:35,800 Fear is just reverence. It's respect. 428 00:26:36,280 --> 00:26:38,640 OK? Think about guns and alligators. 429 00:26:38,680 --> 00:26:42,760 You live in Florida. I have a respect for guns. 430 00:26:42,760 --> 00:26:45,960 I also have a fear for guns. If I'm not careful with guns, 431 00:26:45,960 --> 00:26:48,520 guns could hurt me and it wouldn't be my fault. 432 00:26:48,640 --> 00:26:50,240 It wouldn't be their fault. It would be mine. 433 00:26:50,920 --> 00:26:54,800 I have a respect for alligators and I also have an awe for 434 00:26:54,800 --> 00:26:58,200 alligators. If I'm not careful, they might 435 00:26:58,200 --> 00:27:00,120 hurt me and it wouldn't be their fault. 436 00:27:00,120 --> 00:27:04,000 It would be my fault. OK, there's a healthy kind of 437 00:27:04,000 --> 00:27:09,680 fear we have with God and a kind of all OK, let me put something 438 00:27:09,680 --> 00:27:12,320 real quick for those of you Christians, because you've been 439 00:27:12,320 --> 00:27:16,440 cleansed and made clean by Jesus Christ, Hebrews says you have 440 00:27:16,440 --> 00:27:20,880 confidence to draw near to God. OK, you don't need to have a, a 441 00:27:20,880 --> 00:27:25,880 kind of like, I'll just, I'll steal one of our other members 442 00:27:25,880 --> 00:27:29,160 words he used when talking about this, a kind of dark fear or a 443 00:27:29,160 --> 00:27:32,960 demonic fear or a but there can be a, a trembling and a 444 00:27:32,960 --> 00:27:39,520 reverence and an awe like gazing at a mountain, like there's a, a 445 00:27:39,520 --> 00:27:43,440 beauty about it. OK, so there's awe and fear 446 00:27:43,440 --> 00:27:46,360 towards his name. And that's why the Levites would 447 00:27:46,360 --> 00:27:48,520 be asked who's going to stand on the Lord's side? 448 00:27:49,160 --> 00:27:52,040 And they're more afraid to be against God than they are to be 449 00:27:52,040 --> 00:27:55,080 against the people. I'm I'm going to stand on the 450 00:27:55,080 --> 00:27:57,360 Lord's side. I would rather be right with 451 00:27:57,360 --> 00:27:58,720 God. I would rather do the right 452 00:27:58,720 --> 00:28:01,520 thing than to be afraid of people. 453 00:28:04,160 --> 00:28:10,560 God's name is great. God himself is great and great 454 00:28:10,560 --> 00:28:14,480 is a puny word for God. We used great to describe our 455 00:28:14,480 --> 00:28:16,960 dinner last night. Awesome. 456 00:28:17,320 --> 00:28:20,720 Like think about what awesome was meant to be like. 457 00:28:21,120 --> 00:28:25,640 Awe inspiring God is an awesome and the Bible uses that word. 458 00:28:25,840 --> 00:28:30,000 He is an awesome God. And yet that's a puny word for 459 00:28:30,000 --> 00:28:33,240 God because we talk about a movie as awesome. 460 00:28:34,120 --> 00:28:38,840 OK, but you start using words like glorious, OK, God to to 461 00:28:38,920 --> 00:28:42,880 honor God or to give him glory can be kind of synonymous. 462 00:28:43,240 --> 00:28:48,920 He is a glorious God. He is a holy, that word holy. 463 00:28:49,880 --> 00:28:53,200 There's no one like him. I can't, I can't think of a 464 00:28:53,200 --> 00:28:58,560 close comparison. Who is like our God, glorious, 465 00:28:58,560 --> 00:29:05,040 holy Almighty, When Jesus teaches his people how to pray 466 00:29:05,160 --> 00:29:10,000 the Lord's Prayer, he tells them, Our Father, who art in 467 00:29:10,000 --> 00:29:16,280 heaven, hallowed be thy name. In that hallowed it means holy 468 00:29:16,280 --> 00:29:24,040 be thy name. So priests have fear, and that's 469 00:29:24,040 --> 00:29:30,200 a quality that God said I need that for those who would do my 470 00:29:30,200 --> 00:29:34,760 service. I'm going to make you the tribe 471 00:29:34,760 --> 00:29:38,160 of priests because you have a right kind of fear for my name. 472 00:29:38,480 --> 00:29:44,400 And so priests, do you have fear and all towards God's name? 473 00:29:45,920 --> 00:29:47,720 Are you flippant when you approach them? 474 00:29:48,960 --> 00:29:52,880 Do you draw near and don't really examine yourself too 475 00:29:52,880 --> 00:29:56,440 much? Do you care more about what 476 00:29:56,440 --> 00:29:59,080 other people think? Would you, Do you fear them more 477 00:29:59,080 --> 00:30:04,280 than you do God? Are you so captivated with God 478 00:30:04,280 --> 00:30:09,400 and his power and his might and his beauty, his glory, His 479 00:30:09,400 --> 00:30:14,240 Holiness, that it compels you to stand on his side, even if 480 00:30:14,240 --> 00:30:19,400 you're the only one? Even if, like Moses says, at the 481 00:30:19,400 --> 00:30:24,240 cost of his son and of his brother, at the cost of 482 00:30:24,240 --> 00:30:27,720 friendship, at the cost of your earthly reputation? 483 00:30:28,880 --> 00:30:33,320 Do you have all? If so, that is a needed trait 484 00:30:33,440 --> 00:30:40,600 for priests. And if not, ask him I I bet 485 00:30:40,600 --> 00:30:46,720 he'll give it to you. Pastors, elders, we're 486 00:30:46,720 --> 00:30:50,960 pacesetters in this. Do you have all and fear in 487 00:30:50,960 --> 00:30:53,520 God's name? Would others describe you that 488 00:30:53,520 --> 00:30:57,840 way? All right, let's go to trait 2. 489 00:30:57,840 --> 00:31:00,480 There's another back story mentioned in our verses. 490 00:31:00,760 --> 00:31:04,240 It says covenant of peace and life, and this picks our brains 491 00:31:04,240 --> 00:31:06,120 up. Brains to another story. 492 00:31:06,440 --> 00:31:09,680 This one will be in Numbers 25 if you want to go read the whole 493 00:31:09,680 --> 00:31:12,280 account later, but here's the brief version. 494 00:31:12,880 --> 00:31:16,960 There's a guy named Phineas. The people of Israel are 495 00:31:16,960 --> 00:31:20,160 mourning over sin at this moment. 496 00:31:20,160 --> 00:31:23,320 They're mourning over sin because many of the Israelites 497 00:31:23,320 --> 00:31:27,800 have disobeyed God and taken wives from other nations and, 498 00:31:28,000 --> 00:31:34,480 the story says, yoked themselves like, bonded themselves to their 499 00:31:34,480 --> 00:31:37,960 gods. And so the people are mourning 500 00:31:37,960 --> 00:31:40,680 over sin. And as that's happening, an 501 00:31:40,680 --> 00:31:45,640 Israelite has the gall to bring a daughter of another nation 502 00:31:45,680 --> 00:31:49,400 into Israel's camp. OK, this is tone deaf. 503 00:31:49,640 --> 00:31:51,720 This is oblivious, this is ignorant. 504 00:31:51,920 --> 00:31:55,960 It's probably too defiant against God by this guy in the 505 00:31:55,960 --> 00:32:00,880 midst of this morning over sin, putting the very sin in the 506 00:32:00,880 --> 00:32:04,880 faces of God's people. And the account says Phineas, 507 00:32:05,200 --> 00:32:09,840 one of the priests, sons of Aaron, son of Levi, Phineas took 508 00:32:09,840 --> 00:32:13,880 his spear and went and stabbed the Israelite and the woman 509 00:32:13,880 --> 00:32:19,960 through the belly. And because of that, God says 510 00:32:20,520 --> 00:32:21,840 he, this verse will be on the screen. 511 00:32:21,840 --> 00:32:23,600 I'm just going to read a few parts. 512 00:32:23,840 --> 00:32:27,600 He was jealous with my jealousy among them. 513 00:32:28,120 --> 00:32:33,680 And then later, behold, I give to him my covenant of peace, OK. 514 00:32:33,680 --> 00:32:36,440 And Malachi uses this word. It was a covenant of peace and 515 00:32:36,440 --> 00:32:41,880 life because honoring God with proper living leads to peace and 516 00:32:41,880 --> 00:32:45,680 life. Phineas is concerned with the 517 00:32:45,680 --> 00:32:51,440 people's peace and life, and he's concerned with how this 518 00:32:51,440 --> 00:32:55,080 would affect his God. He was jealous with God's 519 00:32:55,080 --> 00:32:58,840 jealousy. OK, Phineas understands that 520 00:32:58,840 --> 00:33:04,840 action hurts God and I'm going to have a right expression of 521 00:33:04,840 --> 00:33:07,760 God's jealousy would be to pick up the spear and go. 522 00:33:08,240 --> 00:33:12,800 Now we don't have Spears and swords anymore. 523 00:33:12,800 --> 00:33:14,920 I'm going to tackle that one towards the end of the teaching, 524 00:33:15,240 --> 00:33:17,800 but I want you to see the action, OK? 525 00:33:17,800 --> 00:33:20,240 He takes action. He does something about it 526 00:33:20,440 --> 00:33:22,640 because he's jealous with God's jealousy. 527 00:33:23,040 --> 00:33:27,280 OK, When I was in high school, I had the 1st girl I really liked 528 00:33:27,760 --> 00:33:30,040 and I'm away on a trip with a high school friend. 529 00:33:30,040 --> 00:33:34,080 This is I think end of senior year and we're just trip to the 530 00:33:34,080 --> 00:33:35,920 beach. I was with him and his family. 531 00:33:36,080 --> 00:33:39,760 While I'm there I get a call from my girlfriend and she said 532 00:33:39,760 --> 00:33:43,360 she's like in tears and she confesses that she was hanging 533 00:33:43,360 --> 00:33:45,400 out with her ex-boyfriend and they kissed on the back of his 534 00:33:45,400 --> 00:33:48,760 truck tailgate and oh man I was devastated. 535 00:33:48,760 --> 00:33:53,880 I'm like man I could net based on how hurt I feel after a one 536 00:33:53,880 --> 00:33:58,280 month relationship based on based on how hurt I feel. 537 00:33:58,280 --> 00:34:02,360 I cannot understand what it would be like to be betrayed by 538 00:34:02,360 --> 00:34:06,720 a spouse and I was there was a jealousy in my friend though 539 00:34:06,720 --> 00:34:09,400 that I was with he. He was like what happened 540 00:34:09,400 --> 00:34:12,040 Gordon? I was like she cheated on me. 541 00:34:12,239 --> 00:34:15,600 She kissed her ex-boyfriend and he got jealous. 542 00:34:15,600 --> 00:34:18,480 He got fired up. He was like saying all kinds of 543 00:34:18,480 --> 00:34:21,719 things that had she been there, he was going to put her straight 544 00:34:22,239 --> 00:34:26,719 And I felt like yes, thank you. He is. 545 00:34:26,760 --> 00:34:28,920 You are jealous with my jealousy. 546 00:34:29,560 --> 00:34:33,280 We went and cooled off by shooting guns later and eating, 547 00:34:33,520 --> 00:34:35,000 going to a really good donut shop. 548 00:34:35,000 --> 00:34:39,840 I still remember that Phineas acted with God's jealousy. 549 00:34:40,159 --> 00:34:43,080 In his actions. We see something about how God 550 00:34:43,080 --> 00:34:47,080 feels when people live improperly and when His chosen 551 00:34:47,080 --> 00:34:51,440 people live improperly. Theologian Ji Packer defines 552 00:34:51,440 --> 00:34:56,560 God's jealousy as this praiseworthy zeal to preserve 553 00:34:56,560 --> 00:35:01,640 something supremely precious. Praiseworthy zeal to preserve 554 00:35:01,640 --> 00:35:07,160 something supremely precious. For some of you, you get more 555 00:35:07,160 --> 00:35:14,640 fired up, more zealous, more jealous when someone offends the 556 00:35:14,640 --> 00:35:19,360 name of your political party, because that is more supremely 557 00:35:19,360 --> 00:35:23,840 precious than God's name. Some of you would get more fired 558 00:35:23,840 --> 00:35:27,680 up if someone hurt your own reputation than you would if 559 00:35:27,680 --> 00:35:31,520 someone hurt God's reputation. Some of you would get more fired 560 00:35:31,520 --> 00:35:36,480 up, passionate, when someone would offend your spouse's honor 561 00:35:36,960 --> 00:35:39,080 than when someone would offend God's honor. 562 00:35:40,240 --> 00:35:43,800 To be a priest means to have this second trait. 563 00:35:43,800 --> 00:35:49,600 Priests embody God's jealousy. Priests embody God's jealousy. 564 00:35:50,320 --> 00:35:53,800 They see God's name, which again, his reputation and his 565 00:35:53,800 --> 00:35:58,440 identity, who he is. They see God's name as supremely 566 00:35:58,520 --> 00:36:05,360 precious, worth defending. OK, we we see it as noble to go 567 00:36:05,360 --> 00:36:07,760 defend your country's honor, and it is noble. 568 00:36:08,080 --> 00:36:11,520 We see it as noble to go defend your wife's honor, which it is. 569 00:36:12,080 --> 00:36:14,840 We see it as noble to go defend your mom's honor. 570 00:36:15,000 --> 00:36:18,360 OK, mothers, if anyone talked about my Mama, it would be right 571 00:36:18,360 --> 00:36:21,720 for me to take action. I'm jealous with her jealousy. 572 00:36:22,400 --> 00:36:28,560 And in the same way, God's name is supremely precious and 573 00:36:28,560 --> 00:36:33,240 Christians priests are to embody that jealousy. 574 00:36:33,800 --> 00:36:36,480 One time I was sitting across the in a coffee shop across the 575 00:36:36,480 --> 00:36:39,720 table from a college student, and he was telling me about how 576 00:36:39,720 --> 00:36:41,600 he's growing in his spiritual life. 577 00:36:41,680 --> 00:36:45,480 And it was, he was talking about the kind of peace he has now 578 00:36:45,840 --> 00:36:48,160 where he used to just be very, very anxious. 579 00:36:48,760 --> 00:36:52,200 And he says, it's like this, like the Holy Spirit's given me 580 00:36:52,200 --> 00:36:56,560 peace. And it's like this, like Zen and 581 00:36:56,560 --> 00:36:59,680 something like, and I'm like trying to think, how am I going 582 00:36:59,760 --> 00:37:05,000 to, you know, what Zen is? He took the Holy Spirit's peace 583 00:37:05,320 --> 00:37:11,280 and attributed it to a, a Buddhist figure. 584 00:37:12,440 --> 00:37:15,840 OK, that Zen describes a different kind of peace, not 585 00:37:15,840 --> 00:37:18,400 from God. And to attribute it to God's 586 00:37:18,400 --> 00:37:24,320 peace, that's not OK. And I, and I approached it. 587 00:37:24,320 --> 00:37:26,280 I made sure he knew the difference. 588 00:37:26,280 --> 00:37:28,200 And like, what do you mean when you say Zen? 589 00:37:28,200 --> 00:37:31,280 And if you mean like you got to be, you can't say that. 590 00:37:31,640 --> 00:37:33,600 If you're talking about the Holy Spirit's peace, you can't say 591 00:37:33,600 --> 00:37:35,520 that. I don't want anyone else in the 592 00:37:35,520 --> 00:37:39,000 world to hear that and be confused about God's reputation 593 00:37:39,000 --> 00:37:44,080 and God's identity. Priest, do you get jealous for 594 00:37:44,080 --> 00:37:46,440 God in his honor? Do you get fired up when 595 00:37:46,440 --> 00:37:48,320 something would offend God's reputation? 596 00:37:50,560 --> 00:37:55,040 And elders and pastors, do you set the pace in this embodying 597 00:37:55,040 --> 00:37:58,520 God's jealousy? So there's two traits. 598 00:37:58,520 --> 00:38:01,200 And now we're going to go to two actions, those two functions of 599 00:38:01,200 --> 00:38:02,480 priests that I've been talking about. 600 00:38:03,120 --> 00:38:05,600 Now I want to highlight something, and it's kind of a 601 00:38:05,600 --> 00:38:08,520 warning. If you go to these next two 602 00:38:08,520 --> 00:38:12,800 actions as priests, instructing and guarding and you don't have 603 00:38:13,200 --> 00:38:19,600 awe and jealousy, you will treat people like projects or you will 604 00:38:19,600 --> 00:38:24,040 do dutiful religious service, but it won't be service to God. 605 00:38:24,840 --> 00:38:27,800 OK, if it's coming out of somewhere else and it's not 606 00:38:27,800 --> 00:38:31,520 coming out of I'm doing this for God and for his name, I'm 607 00:38:31,520 --> 00:38:33,800 jealous for him. I'm doing this out of fear of 608 00:38:33,800 --> 00:38:37,160 him. If we don't have those traits 609 00:38:37,160 --> 00:38:41,440 first and foremost, we it's a warning. 610 00:38:41,680 --> 00:38:46,760 It's dangerous then to start instructing or guarding and so 611 00:38:47,200 --> 00:38:50,640 all fear towards God embodying his jealousy. 612 00:38:50,640 --> 00:38:53,840 And now let's talk about the first action we see in priests. 613 00:38:53,920 --> 00:38:58,800 Look at verse 6. True instruction was in his 614 00:38:58,800 --> 00:39:01,280 mouth. No wrong was found on his lips. 615 00:39:01,520 --> 00:39:03,480 He walked with me in peace and uprightness. 616 00:39:03,480 --> 00:39:07,040 He turned many from iniquity. For the lips of a priest should 617 00:39:07,040 --> 00:39:10,920 guard knowledge, and people should see construction from his 618 00:39:10,920 --> 00:39:13,720 mouth, for he is a messenger of the Lord. 619 00:39:14,760 --> 00:39:18,120 And so you see in these verses how priests are called to 620 00:39:18,120 --> 00:39:22,000 instruct towards what's proper. Hey, that's the action we see in 621 00:39:22,000 --> 00:39:24,280 priests. They instruct towards what's 622 00:39:24,280 --> 00:39:28,800 proper one by their words. OK, look at all the words that 623 00:39:28,800 --> 00:39:33,800 reference on his lips, in his mouth the word messenger which 624 00:39:34,720 --> 00:39:37,120 he is instructing with his words. 625 00:39:37,760 --> 00:39:41,920 He's careful to make sure that no wrong is found on his lips. 626 00:39:42,800 --> 00:39:45,760 Now, before you would go teach someone else to do something, 627 00:39:46,000 --> 00:39:48,280 you have to possess that knowledge yourself, right? 628 00:39:49,280 --> 00:39:52,280 You can't go instruct other people on how to live what's 629 00:39:52,280 --> 00:39:55,520 proper if you don't yourself know what's proper. 630 00:39:55,880 --> 00:39:59,480 And so this is being a lifelong learner of your Bible. 631 00:40:00,160 --> 00:40:03,760 This is always seeking to know more, because you and I do not 632 00:40:03,760 --> 00:40:07,600 know at all. It's being very careful when you 633 00:40:07,600 --> 00:40:10,440 would press a conviction on somebody. 634 00:40:11,080 --> 00:40:13,440 It's very careful that there's no wrong in it. 635 00:40:13,440 --> 00:40:16,040 It's very careful that you would teach. 636 00:40:17,320 --> 00:40:22,200 Carefully, it's why teachers, God says shouldn't want to be 637 00:40:22,200 --> 00:40:25,640 teachers because they're going to be judged with greater 638 00:40:25,640 --> 00:40:29,680 strictness. So we need to know it to to 639 00:40:29,680 --> 00:40:32,120 instruct it. The other thing we see about 640 00:40:32,120 --> 00:40:35,000 priests instructing towards what's proper is they do it by 641 00:40:35,000 --> 00:40:37,040 their example. It's with their words and with 642 00:40:37,040 --> 00:40:40,360 their example. So it says in verse 6, He walked 643 00:40:40,360 --> 00:40:44,320 with me in peace and uprightness that he lived it out. 644 00:40:44,680 --> 00:40:47,320 How many of you are going to trust me if I'm telling you to 645 00:40:47,320 --> 00:40:49,600 do something and then you go see me living the opposite? 646 00:40:50,600 --> 00:40:54,240 How many of you learn something from another Christian simply by 647 00:40:54,240 --> 00:40:55,640 watching the way that they lived? 648 00:40:56,440 --> 00:40:58,520 It's with our words and it's with our example. 649 00:40:58,520 --> 00:41:04,160 And so question priests, do you instruct towards what's proper? 650 00:41:05,200 --> 00:41:10,200 Do you cause many to stumble or do you instruct towards what's 651 00:41:10,200 --> 00:41:15,160 proper a practical? And one thing we've been harping 652 00:41:15,160 --> 00:41:18,880 on as a church is that for all of the members of Vita Springs 653 00:41:18,880 --> 00:41:24,360 Church, each one teach one. OK, It was stolen from a local 654 00:41:24,360 --> 00:41:28,040 track coach who was teaching one of Tony, our lead pastor, 655 00:41:28,040 --> 00:41:30,520 teaching one of his sons. He was teaching the whole track 656 00:41:30,520 --> 00:41:33,880 team. Hey, older athletes, each one 657 00:41:34,320 --> 00:41:35,920 teach one. Take some of the younger 658 00:41:35,920 --> 00:41:38,680 athletes and everything you've learned, pass it on. 659 00:41:39,240 --> 00:41:42,320 And that is biblical. That's something we're called to 660 00:41:42,320 --> 00:41:44,120 do as Christians. Older women teach the younger 661 00:41:44,120 --> 00:41:48,800 women, OK, we're all called to each one, teach one. 662 00:41:48,800 --> 00:41:50,240 And there's a practical for each of us. 663 00:41:50,240 --> 00:41:53,440 And so priests, Christians, do you understand this is your 664 00:41:53,440 --> 00:41:56,360 responsibility? God has given you a title of 665 00:41:56,360 --> 00:41:59,040 priest. Are you teaching someone? 666 00:41:59,520 --> 00:42:01,960 Are you discipleling someone? Are you taking them under your 667 00:42:01,960 --> 00:42:04,160 wing? Are you bringing them along with 668 00:42:04,160 --> 00:42:05,520 you? Are you opening up the Bible 669 00:42:05,520 --> 00:42:09,000 together? Each one, teach one, even if 670 00:42:09,000 --> 00:42:12,160 you're new to it, you've got something to help others with. 671 00:42:13,760 --> 00:42:17,040 And then do you walk it out? Would others look at your life 672 00:42:17,360 --> 00:42:21,200 and say they're walking in uprightness? 673 00:42:22,440 --> 00:42:26,080 Elders, husbands, dads, are you setting the pace in this? 674 00:42:26,560 --> 00:42:29,920 I sprinkled in husbands and dads because you're pace setters too. 675 00:42:30,880 --> 00:42:33,040 Are you setting the pace in these things? 676 00:42:33,040 --> 00:42:38,560 Kids, teachers, youth, you've got a really special job to 677 00:42:38,640 --> 00:42:42,040 instruct our little ones and our student, our not so little 678 00:42:42,040 --> 00:42:43,600 students, sorry to call you little. 679 00:42:44,880 --> 00:42:47,680 You've got an important job to instruct them towards what's 680 00:42:47,680 --> 00:42:55,280 proper. Moms, Oh moms, you, you have 681 00:42:55,280 --> 00:42:59,600 such a key role that no one else can fill for you. 682 00:43:01,000 --> 00:43:03,800 Your kids, they look up to you like no one else. 683 00:43:04,360 --> 00:43:08,720 They watch you and the world is trying to teach them a lot of 684 00:43:08,720 --> 00:43:14,720 wrong things and they need you to have no wrong on your lips 685 00:43:15,160 --> 00:43:18,280 and to teach them what's true and to walk it out. 686 00:43:19,160 --> 00:43:21,960 They need you. The reason I'm here today, my 687 00:43:21,960 --> 00:43:25,600 parents dedicated me as a child, raised me in the church, in the 688 00:43:25,600 --> 00:43:31,600 faith, and I have man no words to thank them. 689 00:43:38,520 --> 00:43:42,360 Action 2 we see in priests, this is the final one. 690 00:43:42,760 --> 00:43:45,840 Priest guard from what's improper. 691 00:43:46,320 --> 00:43:49,800 And so look in, look in verse 7 for the lips of a priest should 692 00:43:49,800 --> 00:43:53,680 guard knowledge. They should guard true 693 00:43:53,920 --> 00:43:57,200 instruction from what's improper. 694 00:43:57,480 --> 00:43:59,800 They should keep it pure, untainted. 695 00:44:00,280 --> 00:44:03,040 They shouldn't let other false doctrine creep in. 696 00:44:03,520 --> 00:44:05,880 They should guard knowledge, protect it. 697 00:44:06,240 --> 00:44:09,640 OK, if you think about a guard, a security guard in front of a 698 00:44:09,640 --> 00:44:15,480 vault with a ring, pop OK there. It's not precious. 699 00:44:16,240 --> 00:44:19,480 No one is trying to break into that vault to steal it. 700 00:44:19,640 --> 00:44:24,720 There's no threat or danger. But our truth, supremely 701 00:44:24,720 --> 00:44:29,720 precious, the truth about God, who he is, the gospel, which is 702 00:44:29,720 --> 00:44:32,880 described as the mystery that's been hidden for the ages, that's 703 00:44:32,880 --> 00:44:37,200 now revealed in Jesus Christ. We finally have the keys to 704 00:44:37,200 --> 00:44:39,640 eternal life and to know God through Jesus. 705 00:44:39,960 --> 00:44:43,320 We have something precious and it's under threat. 706 00:44:43,880 --> 00:44:45,880 The evil 1 is trying to pollute it. 707 00:44:46,320 --> 00:44:50,560 He does it from within. He lets Christians take heresy, 708 00:44:50,560 --> 00:44:53,080 false teaching. There's wrong on their lips and 709 00:44:53,080 --> 00:44:56,440 he sprinkles it in. And who's supposed to guard it? 710 00:44:57,000 --> 00:45:00,600 US priests guard from what's improper. 711 00:45:01,920 --> 00:45:06,800 The first Timothy it talks about, it refers to the Church 712 00:45:06,800 --> 00:45:09,720 of the living God, a pillar and buttress of the truth. 713 00:45:10,080 --> 00:45:13,960 A pillar, the church, not a building, the church, 714 00:45:14,160 --> 00:45:18,800 Christians, you're a pillar to hold up true instruction. 715 00:45:19,640 --> 00:45:22,320 You're to defend it. You're to keep it from being 716 00:45:22,320 --> 00:45:26,040 tainted. You use your words to do this. 717 00:45:27,440 --> 00:45:29,520 We must keep it pure and untainted. 718 00:45:29,800 --> 00:45:35,400 We must defend God's honor. And then I told you I'd 719 00:45:35,640 --> 00:45:38,520 translate Spears and swords for us today, right? 720 00:45:40,040 --> 00:45:44,720 A guard needs a weapon. Sometimes it requires a more 721 00:45:44,720 --> 00:45:48,880 severe reaction to defend it. Hey, I'm not just going to be 722 00:45:48,880 --> 00:45:53,920 able to use my my words to refute you or to stop you. 723 00:45:54,560 --> 00:45:59,280 OK, here, here's the sword. Today, Hebrews 412 will be up on 724 00:45:59,280 --> 00:46:04,760 the screen. For the Word of God is living 725 00:46:04,760 --> 00:46:08,280 and active, sharper than any 2 edged sword, piercing to the 726 00:46:08,280 --> 00:46:11,560 division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and 727 00:46:11,560 --> 00:46:13,400 discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. 728 00:46:13,920 --> 00:46:18,520 OK, the literal sword that God's people used to have was only 729 00:46:18,520 --> 00:46:21,760 sharp enough to stop a physical body from continuing to sin. 730 00:46:22,200 --> 00:46:26,160 You know what's sharper? God's word. 731 00:46:26,920 --> 00:46:33,720 That, unlike an actual sword, is able to stop the soul, the heart 732 00:46:34,240 --> 00:46:37,560 from sinning. When you Christian, when you 733 00:46:37,560 --> 00:46:42,960 wield God's word, you should see it for what it is. 734 00:46:43,120 --> 00:46:46,040 This is sharp. You should put a lot of faith in 735 00:46:46,040 --> 00:46:50,480 it. If you go around believing this, 736 00:46:50,680 --> 00:46:55,960 you will. You won't just be combating 737 00:46:55,960 --> 00:46:59,440 someone who is living improper or guarding God's truth. 738 00:46:59,440 --> 00:47:02,760 You won't just be walking around like kind of using your own 739 00:47:02,760 --> 00:47:05,120 logic or persuasiveness or opinion. 740 00:47:05,440 --> 00:47:09,400 If you trust as in the sharpness of God's word, there will be a 741 00:47:09,400 --> 00:47:12,880 Bible between you and you'll be opening it up and you'll be 742 00:47:12,880 --> 00:47:16,600 saying look what God says. And it's from false teaching, 743 00:47:16,600 --> 00:47:20,000 right? But it's also, it's also from 744 00:47:20,000 --> 00:47:24,600 improper living. OK, what's 1 of the one of the 745 00:47:24,600 --> 00:47:29,240 things that taints God's reputation, His name more than 746 00:47:29,240 --> 00:47:35,600 anything else, His people who bear his name, who do not 747 00:47:35,600 --> 00:47:40,280 remember who they are, and they go around dishonouring God. 748 00:47:41,560 --> 00:47:45,960 And the message of Malachi is this, honor God through faithful 749 00:47:45,960 --> 00:47:48,480 living. And the message of the second 750 00:47:48,480 --> 00:47:52,040 dispute is this. God's people need priests to 751 00:47:52,040 --> 00:47:54,800 help with this. We need priests. 752 00:47:55,160 --> 00:47:57,200 We need others to hold us accountable. 753 00:47:57,360 --> 00:48:01,000 We need others to guard us from living what's improper. 754 00:48:01,560 --> 00:48:07,600 All of your friends, your brothers and sisters who claim 755 00:48:07,760 --> 00:48:13,240 to be Christian need you to help them live what's proper and to 756 00:48:13,240 --> 00:48:19,200 guard them and the witness of God's church and God's honor. 757 00:48:19,720 --> 00:48:23,320 They need you to guard from what's improper. 758 00:48:23,600 --> 00:48:26,440 You have to use your words, God's words. 759 00:48:26,960 --> 00:48:30,480 You have to use the sword at times, OK, when it's not a quick 760 00:48:30,480 --> 00:48:36,920 turning from iniquity, it's hey, can we go to the Bible about 761 00:48:36,920 --> 00:48:39,440 this one? Because I think, I think God's 762 00:48:39,440 --> 00:48:49,750 got something to say about this. Priests, will you guard from 763 00:48:49,750 --> 00:48:53,600 what's improper? Will you pick up the sword at 764 00:48:53,600 --> 00:48:58,360 times? Will you guard from improper 765 00:48:58,360 --> 00:49:01,520 teaching? Will you study your Bible? 766 00:49:01,520 --> 00:49:04,920 Will you be a lifelong learner and help us as a church make 767 00:49:04,920 --> 00:49:07,920 sure that we're teaching what's true because we need that. 768 00:49:10,840 --> 00:49:12,880 Will you help each other in your? 769 00:49:13,000 --> 00:49:14,960 I know some of you maybe aren't part of Vita Springs. 770 00:49:14,960 --> 00:49:16,360 You're a part of another local body. 771 00:49:16,640 --> 00:49:21,440 Will you help each other at your local church honor God through 772 00:49:21,440 --> 00:49:24,760 faithful living? Well, Gordon, I don't. 773 00:49:24,880 --> 00:49:27,520 I don't have enough relational equity with everybody. 774 00:49:27,600 --> 00:49:29,800 I'm not sure if I have enough friendship with them. 775 00:49:30,480 --> 00:49:33,320 OK. If they claim to be a Christian 776 00:49:33,320 --> 00:49:36,120 and you claim to be a Christian, you've got all the relationship 777 00:49:36,120 --> 00:49:38,280 in the world to talk to them about improper living. 778 00:49:38,280 --> 00:49:40,760 You know why? They're your brother and your 779 00:49:40,760 --> 00:49:42,960 sister. You're their brother and their 780 00:49:42,960 --> 00:49:45,840 sister. They may not like you talking to 781 00:49:45,840 --> 00:49:49,440 him about it, but you have a God-given obligation as priests 782 00:49:49,600 --> 00:49:58,960 to guard from what's improper. I had a friend here, he was in 783 00:49:58,960 --> 00:50:02,800 my small group and a newer Christian, him and his wife and 784 00:50:02,800 --> 00:50:07,080 super fun story about how they came to faith and he always wore 785 00:50:07,080 --> 00:50:09,160 long sleeves when he came to church. 786 00:50:09,520 --> 00:50:11,640 And then one time we were just hanging out and he had a short 787 00:50:11,640 --> 00:50:14,840 sleeve and I saw why he wore long sleeves, which it's not it, 788 00:50:15,120 --> 00:50:18,920 he had a tattoo sleeve and he was newer. 789 00:50:18,920 --> 00:50:21,080 He didn't know like if that was cool or not. 790 00:50:21,080 --> 00:50:24,360 And so anyway, but I was just, I was just asking him about his 791 00:50:24,360 --> 00:50:28,400 tattoos and he pulled it up a little higher and there is a, a 792 00:50:28,400 --> 00:50:33,080 picture of a demon on his arm. And it was, I asked, I was like, 793 00:50:33,360 --> 00:50:35,920 again, I, I got to say something. 794 00:50:37,960 --> 00:50:40,280 I asked him about it. He said, oh, it's this band that 795 00:50:40,280 --> 00:50:45,040 I like. And it's a rock, metal, hardcore 796 00:50:45,040 --> 00:50:50,200 band, but the the musicians, they dress up as demons when 797 00:50:50,200 --> 00:50:51,760 they come onto the stage and perform. 798 00:50:52,040 --> 00:50:55,240 And he loved their music. And when I started asking him 799 00:50:55,240 --> 00:50:58,760 about it and talking to him about it and why that's not cool 800 00:50:58,760 --> 00:51:02,800 to I, I know it's not easy to go and scrub a tattoo off your arm. 801 00:51:03,080 --> 00:51:05,560 I was mostly concerned about what he's letting in his ears 802 00:51:05,560 --> 00:51:07,040 that he's continuing to listen to it. 803 00:51:07,600 --> 00:51:10,160 And it didn't really go anywhere. 804 00:51:10,360 --> 00:51:11,680 And here's another beautiful thing. 805 00:51:11,880 --> 00:51:16,360 We were still friends, we still hung out, we still saw each 806 00:51:16,360 --> 00:51:17,680 other. I didn't make it awkward. 807 00:51:17,920 --> 00:51:21,840 I I kept checking in about it. It wasn't till two years later 808 00:51:21,840 --> 00:51:25,120 they moved away and I got a text on a random day. 809 00:51:25,440 --> 00:51:28,920 He's like Gordon, I get it now. And I'm so thankful that you 810 00:51:28,920 --> 00:51:30,600 were willing to talk to me about that. 811 00:51:30,600 --> 00:51:32,400 I'm not listening to that band anymore. 812 00:51:35,000 --> 00:51:38,280 Priests, there's going to be plenty of times where you stand 813 00:51:38,280 --> 00:51:40,320 on the Lord's side and it's going to be at the cost of your 814 00:51:40,320 --> 00:51:43,880 brother, but there's going to be plenty of times where you get 815 00:51:43,880 --> 00:51:49,360 the fulfillment and joy of being able to do this holy service 816 00:51:49,840 --> 00:51:53,320 that God gives to you and you get to turn someone from 817 00:51:53,320 --> 00:51:58,960 iniquity. Look at the verse, got to find 818 00:51:58,960 --> 00:52:00,920 it again. Last part of verse 6. 819 00:52:01,040 --> 00:52:04,120 He walked with me in peace and uprightness, and he turned many 820 00:52:04,120 --> 00:52:07,440 from iniquity. OK, there's a verse in Daniel 12 821 00:52:07,440 --> 00:52:11,760 verse three it says, and those who are wise shall shine like 822 00:52:11,760 --> 00:52:15,080 the brightness of the sky above and those who turn many to 823 00:52:15,080 --> 00:52:17,560 righteousness like the stars forever and ever. 824 00:52:18,400 --> 00:52:20,440 You want that on your tombstone at the end of your life. 825 00:52:21,360 --> 00:52:27,960 Man, what a blessing. Those of you who are trigger 826 00:52:27,960 --> 00:52:31,000 happy and you're ready to go have some conversations. 827 00:52:32,360 --> 00:52:38,680 Let me caution you with this. We are to speak the truth in and 828 00:52:38,680 --> 00:52:42,040 we are to correct our opponents with gentleness. 829 00:52:46,840 --> 00:52:53,200 OK, so to wrap all this up, priests, remember who you are. 830 00:52:54,120 --> 00:52:57,520 Remember who you are. You're not just sons of Kevin, 831 00:52:57,520 --> 00:53:00,160 sons of Dan, sons of Monroe. You're sons of the living God. 832 00:53:00,640 --> 00:53:03,080 He's your heavenly Father and he deserves honor. 833 00:53:03,360 --> 00:53:08,640 Remember who you are as a church, we want to help with 834 00:53:08,640 --> 00:53:11,160 these things, and I'm calling every member of Vita Springs 835 00:53:11,160 --> 00:53:14,880 Church to take this a little more seriously, to guard each 836 00:53:14,880 --> 00:53:20,040 other from what's improper and to instruct each other towards 837 00:53:20,360 --> 00:53:22,600 what's proper. And there was one thing 838 00:53:22,600 --> 00:53:24,360 specifically that kept coming to my mind. 839 00:53:24,360 --> 00:53:28,000 There's some of you men who feel especially fired up about these 840 00:53:28,000 --> 00:53:32,160 things, and I think it might be God giving you an aspiration for 841 00:53:32,160 --> 00:53:35,480 the office of Elder. And so without any promises or 842 00:53:35,480 --> 00:53:38,960 predictions of what that'll mean for you down the road, if God is 843 00:53:38,960 --> 00:53:43,200 firing up, firing you up to be an instructor and a Garter, we 844 00:53:43,200 --> 00:53:45,320 at Vita Springs need more pacesetters. 845 00:53:45,800 --> 00:53:48,080 And so I would encourage you practically pay attention to 846 00:53:48,080 --> 00:53:52,200 your character and develop that and keep having conversations 847 00:53:52,200 --> 00:53:55,120 with the elders at Vita. We would love to know that 848 00:53:55,760 --> 00:53:57,680 that's what God's doing in your heart. 849 00:53:58,040 --> 00:54:00,720 And either way, go do some instructing and guarding.