1 00:00:05,520 --> 00:00:07,000 Good morning. We're going to be in the book of 2 00:00:07,000 --> 00:00:09,240 Malachi. It's the last book of the Old 3 00:00:09,240 --> 00:00:12,560 Testament, and you can find it in your copy of your scripture 4 00:00:12,560 --> 00:00:31,290 on your seat on page 753. Starting in verse 6, a son 5 00:00:31,290 --> 00:00:34,170 honors his father and a servant his master. 6 00:00:34,720 --> 00:00:37,400 If then I am a father, where is my honor? 7 00:00:37,800 --> 00:00:40,080 And if I am a master, where is my fear? 8 00:00:40,080 --> 00:00:44,440 Says the Lord of hosts to you, O priests who despise my name. 9 00:00:44,840 --> 00:00:47,600 But you say, how have we despised your name? 10 00:00:48,080 --> 00:00:51,360 By offering polluted food upon my altar. 11 00:00:51,640 --> 00:00:55,640 But you say, how have we polluted you by saying that the 12 00:00:55,640 --> 00:01:01,080 Lord's table may be despised? When you offer blind animals and 13 00:01:01,080 --> 00:01:03,480 sacrifice, is this? Is that not evil? 14 00:01:03,800 --> 00:01:07,480 And when you offer those that are lame or sick, is that not 15 00:01:07,480 --> 00:01:10,040 evil? Present that to your governor, 16 00:01:10,040 --> 00:01:13,720 will he accept you, or show you favor, Says Lord of Hosts. 17 00:01:14,280 --> 00:01:17,720 And now entreat the favor of God, that he may be gracious to 18 00:01:17,720 --> 00:01:20,160 us. With such a gift from your hand, 19 00:01:20,200 --> 00:01:23,880 will he show favor to any of you, Says Lord of Hosts. 20 00:01:24,200 --> 00:01:29,040 Oh, that you were one among if they're Oh, that there were one 21 00:01:29,040 --> 00:01:32,200 among you who would shut the doors, that you might not Kindle 22 00:01:32,200 --> 00:01:36,120 Fire on my altar in vain. I have no pleasure in you, says 23 00:01:36,120 --> 00:01:39,520 the Lord of Hosts, and I will not accept an offering from your 24 00:01:39,520 --> 00:01:42,200 hand. For from the rising of the sun 25 00:01:42,200 --> 00:01:46,240 to its setting my name will be great among the nations, and in 26 00:01:46,240 --> 00:01:49,560 every place instance will be offered to my name. 27 00:01:49,560 --> 00:01:53,480 And a pure offering for my name will be great among the nations, 28 00:01:53,480 --> 00:01:56,920 says the Lord of Hosts. But you profane it when you say 29 00:01:56,920 --> 00:02:00,080 that the Lord's table is polluted, and its fruit, that 30 00:02:00,080 --> 00:02:05,360 is, its food, may be despised. But you say what a weirdness 31 00:02:05,360 --> 00:02:09,400 this is, and you snort at it, says the Lord of Hosts. 32 00:02:09,400 --> 00:02:13,560 You bring what has been taken by violence, or is lame or sick, 33 00:02:13,960 --> 00:02:16,240 and this you bring as your offering. 34 00:02:16,560 --> 00:02:18,880 Shall I accept that from your hand? 35 00:02:18,880 --> 00:02:21,720 Says the Lord. Cursed be the cheat who has a 36 00:02:21,760 --> 00:02:26,240 male in his flock and bows it, and yet sacrifices to the Lord 37 00:02:26,400 --> 00:02:29,480 what is blemished. For I am a great king, says the 38 00:02:29,480 --> 00:02:33,640 Lord of Hosts, and my name will be feared among the nations. 39 00:02:34,640 --> 00:02:38,120 And if we can turn chapter 3, we're going to start in verse 6. 40 00:02:42,200 --> 00:02:46,240 For I the Lord do not change. Therefore you, O children of 41 00:02:46,240 --> 00:02:49,880 Jacob, are not consumed from the days of your father's. 42 00:02:49,880 --> 00:02:53,320 You have turned aside from my statutes and have not kept them. 43 00:02:53,680 --> 00:02:56,960 Return to me and I will return to you, says Lord of Hosts. 44 00:02:57,320 --> 00:02:59,800 But you say, how shall we return? 45 00:03:00,000 --> 00:03:04,040 Will man rob God? Yet you are robbing me. 46 00:03:04,320 --> 00:03:08,120 But you say, how have we robbed you and your ties and 47 00:03:08,120 --> 00:03:12,080 contributions? You are cursed with a curse, for 48 00:03:12,080 --> 00:03:15,240 you are robbing me, the whole nation of you. 49 00:03:15,840 --> 00:03:19,480 Bring the full tithe into the storehouse that there may be 50 00:03:19,920 --> 00:03:23,920 food and my house, and thereby put me to the test, says the 51 00:03:23,920 --> 00:03:26,840 Lord of hosts. If I will not open the windows 52 00:03:26,840 --> 00:03:30,720 of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there 53 00:03:30,720 --> 00:03:35,280 is no more need, We're going to skip down to verse 16 of the 54 00:03:35,280 --> 00:03:38,560 same chapter. Then those who fear the Lord 55 00:03:38,560 --> 00:03:41,800 spoke with one another. The Lord paid attention and 56 00:03:41,800 --> 00:03:44,800 heard them, and the book of Remembrance was written before 57 00:03:44,800 --> 00:03:48,720 them, before him, of those who fear the Lord, and esteemed His 58 00:03:48,720 --> 00:03:51,200 name. They shall be mine, says the 59 00:03:51,200 --> 00:03:53,080 Lord of hosts. And the day when I make up my 60 00:03:53,080 --> 00:03:58,040 treasured possession, and I will spare them, as a man spares his 61 00:03:58,040 --> 00:04:01,600 son who serves him. Then once more you shall see the 62 00:04:01,600 --> 00:04:03,960 distinction between the righteous and the wicked, 63 00:04:03,960 --> 00:04:07,840 between one who serves God and one who does not serve him. 64 00:04:09,360 --> 00:04:13,040 Chapter 4, verse one. For behold, the day is coming, 65 00:04:13,560 --> 00:04:16,800 burning like an oven, when all the arrogant and all the 66 00:04:16,800 --> 00:04:21,160 evildoers will be stubble. That day that is coming shall 67 00:04:21,160 --> 00:04:24,760 set them ablaze, says the Lord of hosts, so that it will leave 68 00:04:24,760 --> 00:04:30,640 them neither rot nor branch. But for you who fear my name, 69 00:04:30,720 --> 00:04:34,640 the Sun of Righteousness shall rise with healing in its wings. 70 00:04:35,160 --> 00:04:38,680 You shall go out leaping like calves from the stall, and you 71 00:04:38,680 --> 00:04:41,720 shall shred down the wicked, for they will be ashes under the 72 00:04:41,720 --> 00:04:46,120 soles of your feet on that day when I act, says Lord of hosts. 73 00:04:46,520 --> 00:04:54,440 Ladies and gentlemen, this is the word of the Lord on our own 74 00:04:54,440 --> 00:04:56,360 poor city, family and friends. How we doing? 75 00:04:57,520 --> 00:04:59,200 Good. My name is Tanner. 76 00:04:59,200 --> 00:05:01,800 I'm happy to be with you, y'all Port City. 77 00:05:01,800 --> 00:05:03,480 There's just a few things we want for your life. 78 00:05:03,480 --> 00:05:05,600 We want a big God. That's what you need. 79 00:05:05,600 --> 00:05:07,320 You need a real and relevant God. 80 00:05:07,480 --> 00:05:09,080 You need iron that sharpens iron. 81 00:05:09,080 --> 00:05:12,120 You might have heard that phrase in a football team or something 82 00:05:12,120 --> 00:05:13,400 like that. It came from the Bible. 83 00:05:13,400 --> 00:05:15,280 Amen. You need people in your life. 84 00:05:15,400 --> 00:05:17,440 We're going to help you. But for iron to sharpen iron, 85 00:05:17,440 --> 00:05:19,080 you got to actually get around each other. 86 00:05:19,080 --> 00:05:22,040 That's called the church. The third thing you need is a 87 00:05:22,040 --> 00:05:24,600 mission, something bigger than yourself to be a part of. 88 00:05:24,600 --> 00:05:27,160 And that is the mission of God. And we just want to connect 89 00:05:27,160 --> 00:05:31,520 those dots through God's word here at Port City for the glory 90 00:05:31,520 --> 00:05:33,800 of God, the good of Norfolk. And we don't really know what 91 00:05:33,800 --> 00:05:35,080 we're doing, but we're trying. Amen. 92 00:05:35,640 --> 00:05:38,000 That's what we're all about. And if you want to learn more 93 00:05:38,000 --> 00:05:40,720 about our church, starting point next week is a great step. 94 00:05:40,720 --> 00:05:42,080 We would love to have you at that. 95 00:05:42,440 --> 00:05:44,640 So what I'm going to do is I'm going to pray and then we're 96 00:05:44,640 --> 00:05:47,200 going to dive into Malachi, which are last of the minor 97 00:05:47,200 --> 00:05:49,120 prophets. Little bit sad. 98 00:05:49,640 --> 00:05:51,480 It's been an awesome journey. You could go back, listen to 99 00:05:51,480 --> 00:05:54,800 them all, but I'm really excited because this is a great way to 100 00:05:54,800 --> 00:05:55,840 end it. All right, let's pray. 101 00:05:56,920 --> 00:05:59,520 Our Father, we love you. Thank you for your word. 102 00:05:59,520 --> 00:06:03,760 God, we continue to beg you to give us clear sight of you. 103 00:06:03,760 --> 00:06:06,080 Give us fear of the Lord. Give us honor. 104 00:06:06,080 --> 00:06:08,760 Give us a big God. God, you are big. 105 00:06:08,760 --> 00:06:11,800 We need you to illuminate that for us today through your 106 00:06:11,800 --> 00:06:14,600 scriptures. So God, what we know not right 107 00:06:14,600 --> 00:06:17,040 now, would you teach us what we have not would you give us and 108 00:06:17,040 --> 00:06:18,880 who we are not? Would you make us let the words 109 00:06:18,880 --> 00:06:21,960 of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in 110 00:06:21,960 --> 00:06:24,040 your sight, our rock and our strength and everybody agree 111 00:06:24,040 --> 00:06:25,880 with it. Say it, Amen. 112 00:06:26,560 --> 00:06:28,840 Have you all ever been in an argument with somebody you love, 113 00:06:28,840 --> 00:06:31,880 like a spouse or a friend or a teenager? 114 00:06:31,880 --> 00:06:36,640 Amen somebody and you're you're kind of having a discussion 115 00:06:36,640 --> 00:06:40,760 where you see a thread of what they're doing in everything and 116 00:06:40,760 --> 00:06:43,200 they go, when did I do that? Have you have y'all ever had 117 00:06:43,200 --> 00:06:45,800 that where the argument is like so clear to you? 118 00:06:46,280 --> 00:06:48,040 And then they say, but when did I do that though? 119 00:06:48,360 --> 00:06:51,240 And you're like in your head, you're like every second of 120 00:06:51,240 --> 00:06:53,520 every day. But now that you're asking for 121 00:06:53,520 --> 00:06:55,720 like proof, I really don't know, you know what I'm saying. 122 00:06:55,720 --> 00:06:57,120 And you're a little tongue tied of like what? 123 00:06:58,720 --> 00:07:00,840 Like you feel a little like, and then you're getting frustrated. 124 00:07:00,840 --> 00:07:01,680 Proof. You want proof. 125 00:07:01,680 --> 00:07:03,800 But in your mind it's a thread that's in everything. 126 00:07:03,800 --> 00:07:05,800 Some of you are looking at me like this argument has happened 127 00:07:05,800 --> 00:07:07,560 this morning. Some of you are like, what is he 128 00:07:07,560 --> 00:07:12,720 talking about? In the book of Malachi, this 129 00:07:12,720 --> 00:07:15,680 happens between the priests and the people and the Lord. 130 00:07:16,520 --> 00:07:19,600 The book is structured around six question and answer 131 00:07:20,040 --> 00:07:21,880 responses. And what you're going to pick up 132 00:07:21,880 --> 00:07:24,240 on is the people, the priests, they say things like, when did 133 00:07:24,240 --> 00:07:25,840 we do that? How did we do that? 134 00:07:26,280 --> 00:07:29,040 And what they're leveraging is technicality. 135 00:07:29,040 --> 00:07:31,280 Well, technically we made some offerings. 136 00:07:31,680 --> 00:07:35,960 Technically we're tithing. And what is the thread behind it 137 00:07:35,960 --> 00:07:38,360 all that the Lord can see through and we can as we read it 138 00:07:38,600 --> 00:07:41,520 is y'all don't love him. Y'all don't honor him. 139 00:07:41,520 --> 00:07:43,640 Y'all don't fear him. You don't care for his name. 140 00:07:43,640 --> 00:07:47,640 His name doesn't weigh on your souls with love and delight. 141 00:07:47,640 --> 00:07:51,840 It doesn't impact what you do. Actually, this God that you say 142 00:07:51,840 --> 00:07:55,200 you worship is getting smaller and what he claims over your 143 00:07:55,200 --> 00:07:56,760 life is getting smaller. Watch this. 144 00:07:56,920 --> 00:07:58,840 What we're going to see in Malachi, I'm going to show it to 145 00:07:58,840 --> 00:08:03,120 you on a chart, is either God is going to get smaller and less 146 00:08:03,120 --> 00:08:05,200 relevant in your life or bigger and more relevant. 147 00:08:05,200 --> 00:08:06,840 That's what's going to happen. Check this out. 148 00:08:07,720 --> 00:08:10,160 For some people in the book of Malachi, they need to wake up 149 00:08:10,640 --> 00:08:14,480 because when God is small, only part of life is technically 150 00:08:14,480 --> 00:08:16,800 worship. Think Sundays. 151 00:08:16,800 --> 00:08:18,760 Think when I'm reading the Bible, think what I'm giving, 152 00:08:18,760 --> 00:08:22,240 think when I'm technically in a space or time of worship, right? 153 00:08:23,400 --> 00:08:27,040 And thus God's future appearing will being bring fear to those 154 00:08:27,040 --> 00:08:28,640 people. All right. 155 00:08:28,640 --> 00:08:31,040 For another group of people in the book of Malachi, for those 156 00:08:31,040 --> 00:08:33,720 of you who love Jesus, this is This Is Us. 157 00:08:33,720 --> 00:08:37,559 It should encourage us that when God is big, not just Sunday is 158 00:08:37,559 --> 00:08:40,600 worship, not just when you read the Bible, but all, all of life 159 00:08:40,600 --> 00:08:41,600 is worship. Amen. 160 00:08:42,000 --> 00:08:45,040 And as God gets bigger and more and more of your life becomes 161 00:08:45,040 --> 00:08:48,160 worship, God's future appearing will bring healing. 162 00:08:48,760 --> 00:08:50,320 So that's what this book is going to do. 163 00:08:50,520 --> 00:08:54,040 It's designed to wake up people for whom God is getting less 164 00:08:54,040 --> 00:08:57,720 relevant and less big. If God feels like a technicality 165 00:08:57,720 --> 00:09:00,440 to you, hopefully this book will wake wake you up. 166 00:09:00,880 --> 00:09:04,280 But if God is big and life is worship, but life'll hard, this 167 00:09:04,280 --> 00:09:06,680 book will encourage you. Does that make sense? 168 00:09:06,920 --> 00:09:10,160 And hopefully by the end you walk out of here with a gigantic 169 00:09:10,160 --> 00:09:12,120 God and you realize when I'm brushing my teeth, I'm 170 00:09:12,120 --> 00:09:13,240 worshiping. When I'm married, I'm 171 00:09:13,240 --> 00:09:15,280 worshiping. Everything I do is worship, not 172 00:09:15,280 --> 00:09:17,760 just when I'm reading the Bible or out of service. 173 00:09:17,760 --> 00:09:20,000 Amen. That's encouraging though. 174 00:09:20,000 --> 00:09:22,840 And even if you don't follow Jesus here today or not, a lot 175 00:09:22,840 --> 00:09:24,920 of this makes sense. Hopefully it makes sense to you 176 00:09:24,920 --> 00:09:28,280 that if God is as big as the Bible claims he is, that he 177 00:09:28,280 --> 00:09:30,280 would impact more than just when we're in this room. 178 00:09:30,280 --> 00:09:33,000 Amen. Like, and that's why a lot of 179 00:09:33,080 --> 00:09:36,480 Jesus's ministry is so cool to a lot of people because he was the 180 00:09:36,480 --> 00:09:39,400 first human to live with God at his actual size and his heart, 181 00:09:39,400 --> 00:09:41,360 but he was also God is crazy. I digress. 182 00:09:41,360 --> 00:09:44,600 Let me let me let me get into the to the sermon. 183 00:09:44,600 --> 00:09:47,760 So because questions play such a role in the book, we're going to 184 00:09:47,760 --> 00:09:49,840 structure the sermon around 4 questions. 185 00:09:49,840 --> 00:09:51,960 All right, is God big or small to you? 186 00:09:52,200 --> 00:09:54,480 Is all of your life a living sacrifice? 187 00:09:55,320 --> 00:09:58,360 Third one is there. And then the 4th 1 is, Oh yeah, 188 00:09:58,360 --> 00:10:02,280 it's does God's future appearing make you happy or or fearful and 189 00:10:02,280 --> 00:10:05,000 #4 what do you do if you're ready for a radical change in 190 00:10:05,000 --> 00:10:07,040 your life? If you are ready, let me hear 191 00:10:07,040 --> 00:10:09,200 you say I'm ready. All right. 192 00:10:09,560 --> 00:10:16,160 Is God big or small to you? Is God big or small to you? 193 00:10:16,160 --> 00:10:19,720 Let's start with Malachi chapter 1, verses 6 through 8. 194 00:10:19,720 --> 00:10:23,440 This is what it says, A son honors his father, and a servant 195 00:10:23,440 --> 00:10:25,800 his master. If I then am a father, where's 196 00:10:25,800 --> 00:10:28,360 my honour? And I am a master, where's my 197 00:10:28,360 --> 00:10:30,080 fear? Says the Lord of Hosts to you, O 198 00:10:30,080 --> 00:10:33,840 priest, who despised my name. But you say, how have we 199 00:10:33,840 --> 00:10:37,120 despised your name? By offering polluted food upon 200 00:10:37,120 --> 00:10:38,600 my altar? But you say, how have we 201 00:10:38,600 --> 00:10:41,560 polluted you by saying that the Lord's table may be despised? 202 00:10:41,560 --> 00:10:44,600 When you offer blind animals and sacrifice, is that not evil? 203 00:10:44,840 --> 00:10:47,240 And when you offer those that are lame or sick, is that not 204 00:10:47,240 --> 00:10:49,000 evil? Present that to your governor. 205 00:10:49,200 --> 00:10:50,680 Will he accept you or show you favor? 206 00:10:50,680 --> 00:10:54,280 Says the Lord of hosts. You all the the God of the 207 00:10:54,280 --> 00:10:58,280 Scriptures from the first pages speaks things into existence. 208 00:10:59,600 --> 00:11:01,240 I did a little research this morning to make sure what I'm 209 00:11:01,240 --> 00:11:04,000 about to tell you is accurate. At any given time in the world, 210 00:11:04,000 --> 00:11:07,560 there could be up to 20,000 flights occurring concurrently, 211 00:11:07,600 --> 00:11:11,160 which means at the same time at any given time there can be up 212 00:11:11,160 --> 00:11:14,120 to 2000 thunderstorms occurring concurrently. 213 00:11:15,320 --> 00:11:19,640 Your. Body pumps 2000 gallons of blood 214 00:11:19,640 --> 00:11:20,760 a day. That's what your heart does. 215 00:11:20,800 --> 00:11:24,280 2000 gallons. So kids, just imagine a gallon 216 00:11:24,280 --> 00:11:26,880 of milk that your Mama makes you bring in from the from the 217 00:11:27,200 --> 00:11:28,840 imagine 2000 of those full of blood. 218 00:11:28,840 --> 00:11:32,320 That's what your hearts doing. God is navigating complexities 219 00:11:32,320 --> 00:11:36,360 you would be mind blown about every second of every day. 220 00:11:36,840 --> 00:11:38,760 It's crazy. That's the God of the scriptures 221 00:11:39,240 --> 00:11:41,600 and what these priests were doing and they're in 222 00:11:41,600 --> 00:11:44,120 relationship with this guy. They claim to be in covenant 223 00:11:44,120 --> 00:11:47,040 relationship like a spouse, spouse type relationship. 224 00:11:47,040 --> 00:11:48,520 That's what it means to know God. 225 00:11:48,800 --> 00:11:51,960 They are bringing to him the animals in their herd that are 226 00:11:51,960 --> 00:11:56,840 sick, got a broken leg, that are lame, blind and they're saying, 227 00:11:57,000 --> 00:12:00,520 but we're worshiping. We make his sacrifices. 228 00:12:00,520 --> 00:12:02,960 You hear the spirit of technicality and the way they're 229 00:12:02,960 --> 00:12:05,040 approaching this conversation are y'all are y'all tracking 230 00:12:05,040 --> 00:12:07,920 with that. It's just insanity to us as we 231 00:12:07,920 --> 00:12:10,400 read it. And one thing we've got to feel 232 00:12:10,400 --> 00:12:12,240 throughout this sermon, y'all, 'cause I could hear somebody 233 00:12:12,240 --> 00:12:16,040 being like God is a little like, where's my honor? 234 00:12:16,040 --> 00:12:17,120 Where's my this? Where's my that? 235 00:12:17,120 --> 00:12:18,880 Is God like needy? Hold up now. 236 00:12:19,400 --> 00:12:20,680 Yeah. What you got to understand about 237 00:12:20,680 --> 00:12:24,120 the big God of the Scriptures? He's not insecure and he's not 238 00:12:24,120 --> 00:12:26,320 needy. He is full and overflowing, OK? 239 00:12:26,320 --> 00:12:29,960 You need him. He don't need you OK, your the 240 00:12:30,040 --> 00:12:34,360 the the idea here is is God is good to you by being committed 241 00:12:34,360 --> 00:12:38,200 to you seeing him accurately. It would be unloving of him to 242 00:12:38,200 --> 00:12:40,520 not be committed to him. Does that make sense? 243 00:12:40,840 --> 00:12:43,400 Like if what satisfies your soul is him. 244 00:12:43,560 --> 00:12:46,760 He doesn't love you if he doesn't tell you to be satisfied 245 00:12:46,760 --> 00:12:48,880 in him, right. So when he demands honor. 246 00:12:48,880 --> 00:12:53,040 It's not like a distant deity. This is a relationally committed 247 00:12:53,040 --> 00:12:56,600 God who is sustaining you through common grace, like the 248 00:12:56,600 --> 00:13:01,880 2000 gallons of blood, but also to you relationally through the 249 00:13:01,880 --> 00:13:03,440 sending of His Son, Jesus Christ. 250 00:13:03,440 --> 00:13:05,360 OK, so this is a God who loves you. 251 00:13:05,520 --> 00:13:09,840 This is a God who is for you. And the way He is for you is by 252 00:13:09,920 --> 00:13:12,800 allowing you to see His greatness and orbiting around 253 00:13:12,800 --> 00:13:14,920 that. He is the one being for whom if 254 00:13:14,920 --> 00:13:18,240 He wasn't committed to himself by being committed to you, He 255 00:13:18,240 --> 00:13:19,960 would not love you. Does that make sense? 256 00:13:19,960 --> 00:13:22,520 We just got to have that anchored in our mind. 257 00:13:22,520 --> 00:13:24,600 Or if we did this, like, where's my honor? 258 00:13:24,600 --> 00:13:26,160 Dads? You do not have that permission 259 00:13:26,400 --> 00:13:31,000 to talk to your kids that way. God does OK, so that's the first 260 00:13:31,000 --> 00:13:33,280 thing. So God is either what we're 261 00:13:33,280 --> 00:13:36,720 going to see increasingly getting big or he is getting 262 00:13:36,920 --> 00:13:40,680 small throw up the the next portion of Scripture there for 263 00:13:40,680 --> 00:13:47,080 us or the next. A big God, sorry a big God 264 00:13:47,080 --> 00:13:50,600 desires genuine passion. So what God is looking for 265 00:13:50,600 --> 00:13:53,480 through the the offering system isn't just technically that 266 00:13:53,480 --> 00:13:57,200 you're worshipping him, it's that he wants the worship to 267 00:13:57,200 --> 00:13:59,800 reflect your love for him. He's not just looking for, did 268 00:13:59,800 --> 00:14:03,840 you do your your worship today. He's looking for love through 269 00:14:03,840 --> 00:14:06,480 it. We see later in verse starting 270 00:14:06,480 --> 00:14:10,480 in verse 11 for from the rising of the sun to its setting, my 271 00:14:10,480 --> 00:14:12,920 name will be great among the nations and in every place 272 00:14:12,920 --> 00:14:16,280 incense will be offered to my name and a pure offering for my 273 00:14:16,280 --> 00:14:18,680 name will be great among the nations says the Lord of hosts. 274 00:14:19,440 --> 00:14:21,400 Well, you profane it when you say that the Lord's table is 275 00:14:21,400 --> 00:14:24,280 polluted and it's fruit that it's it's food may be despised, 276 00:14:24,280 --> 00:14:26,960 but you say what is a weary? What weariness does this? 277 00:14:26,960 --> 00:14:28,600 And you snort at it says the Lord of hosts. 278 00:14:28,800 --> 00:14:31,840 You bring what has been taken by violence or is lame or sick, and 279 00:14:31,840 --> 00:14:34,680 that you bring as your offering. Y'all what? 280 00:14:34,680 --> 00:14:39,640 What God is trying to show is that He has this place of 281 00:14:39,640 --> 00:14:42,720 passion and He wants to be seen accurately. 282 00:14:42,720 --> 00:14:46,000 Y'all and he, he, he sees through their sick. 283 00:14:46,080 --> 00:14:48,680 They're finding the sick one in their herd and bringing it to 284 00:14:48,680 --> 00:14:50,040 him. They're like, come on, man. 285 00:14:51,000 --> 00:14:53,320 But technically we. Worshipped you and God is saying 286 00:14:53,320 --> 00:14:56,280 I see right through that and he compares to the governor the the 287 00:14:56,520 --> 00:14:59,160 anytime you use a rhetorical question, the answer is obvious. 288 00:14:59,160 --> 00:15:02,320 You would not bring that to your governor, but you're bringing it 289 00:15:02,320 --> 00:15:04,040 to the God of heaven. Are you with me? 290 00:15:04,520 --> 00:15:07,600 And he says I'm a great king says the Lord of hosts. 291 00:15:08,000 --> 00:15:11,520 So God is trying to get them to be honest with themselves. 292 00:15:12,000 --> 00:15:16,600 And he actually even says in verse verse 10, oh that there 293 00:15:16,600 --> 00:15:20,280 were one among you who would shut the doors and not Kindle 294 00:15:20,280 --> 00:15:23,600 Fire on my altar. So actually he's saying passion 295 00:15:23,600 --> 00:15:27,160 for me would look like seeing this corrupt system of 296 00:15:27,160 --> 00:15:28,760 technicality and shutting it down. 297 00:15:29,680 --> 00:15:33,080 Y'all I wonder for some churches in America and if this church 298 00:15:33,080 --> 00:15:35,760 ever gets this way if passion for God's name would be 299 00:15:35,760 --> 00:15:38,520 frustration at. Whack. 300 00:15:38,520 --> 00:15:41,240 Worship of God, are you with me? Like there's a time and a place 301 00:15:41,240 --> 00:15:44,000 for like, yo, we don't we're not loving him through what we're 302 00:15:44,000 --> 00:15:47,320 we're faking right here. He's looking for a genuine love 303 00:15:47,320 --> 00:15:51,600 of his name that shows itself not just in checking the box, 304 00:15:51,760 --> 00:15:55,320 but in actually a a love and an adherence to his ways and what 305 00:15:55,320 --> 00:15:58,120 he loves. Are y'all with me And if we ever 306 00:15:58,120 --> 00:16:01,240 get there, if I'm ever up here not sharing his word with you, 307 00:16:01,240 --> 00:16:04,480 if anyone up here is proclaiming not Christ but themselves. 308 00:16:04,680 --> 00:16:07,280 If it feels like we're off, ask a question. 309 00:16:07,520 --> 00:16:10,480 You are people of God and you play a role in this as well. 310 00:16:10,960 --> 00:16:13,760 But it is clear that he has an issue with the priest because 311 00:16:13,760 --> 00:16:16,360 they are leading them to treat God as irrelevant. 312 00:16:16,360 --> 00:16:18,720 Are y'all tracking with that? The priests kind of are the 313 00:16:18,720 --> 00:16:22,760 first ones to see God as big, but in our text they're the 314 00:16:22,760 --> 00:16:25,280 first ones to think that God is small. 315 00:16:26,440 --> 00:16:28,600 So y'all. The first thing I just want to 316 00:16:28,600 --> 00:16:32,480 push us on for a few minutes before we move on is that God 317 00:16:32,480 --> 00:16:35,320 desires to be as big as He really is in your life. 318 00:16:35,520 --> 00:16:39,160 It's not that God isn't big. It's that. 319 00:16:39,160 --> 00:16:42,160 Functionally, he isn't always big in our lives. 320 00:16:42,520 --> 00:16:47,320 You can get to a place where God is real, but he's not relevant. 321 00:16:48,360 --> 00:16:51,280 Y'all with me? He's real enough for me to know 322 00:16:51,280 --> 00:16:54,800 things, but he's not relevant when it comes to work. 323 00:16:54,800 --> 00:16:58,800 I got to make my money. He can be real and you know what 324 00:16:58,800 --> 00:17:02,160 his word says, but it doesn't weigh on how you parent. 325 00:17:02,160 --> 00:17:04,720 It doesn't weigh on how you forgive your spouse. 326 00:17:04,720 --> 00:17:09,079 It doesn't weigh on what you do. You just know it, but you don't 327 00:17:09,079 --> 00:17:11,920 live it because it doesn't matter to you. 328 00:17:12,720 --> 00:17:15,359 So the first thing I want to do, and again, some of y'all don't 329 00:17:15,359 --> 00:17:17,359 follow Jesus, which is totally fine. 330 00:17:17,599 --> 00:17:20,839 But hopefully, like Einstein was this way, he would look at the 331 00:17:20,839 --> 00:17:23,440 stars, be like, OK, like he kind of believed in intelligent 332 00:17:23,440 --> 00:17:26,319 design pretty quickly. But then he would look at 333 00:17:26,319 --> 00:17:30,040 Christians, the ones who know this God through Jesus, and he 334 00:17:30,040 --> 00:17:33,520 just didn't respect what he saw in the community. 335 00:17:33,520 --> 00:17:35,160 Or Gandhi was this way. It's like when I see the 336 00:17:35,160 --> 00:17:38,680 Christians, I just, I can't, I reject the whole system based on 337 00:17:38,680 --> 00:17:41,360 what I'm seeing. We all, what we've seen in the 338 00:17:41,360 --> 00:17:44,680 minor prophets is when God is real but not relevant. 339 00:17:44,680 --> 00:17:47,760 That lack of ethical living flows from that. 340 00:17:47,760 --> 00:17:51,280 Does that make sense? So it's like once God is small, 341 00:17:51,440 --> 00:17:55,720 he doesn't shape how I live. So I live how I want and then no 342 00:17:55,720 --> 00:17:57,360 one takes us seriously. Does that make sense? 343 00:17:57,360 --> 00:18:00,600 They see how we live and they don't see a big God behind that. 344 00:18:00,600 --> 00:18:04,480 Does that make sense? So the lack of ethical living 345 00:18:04,480 --> 00:18:10,000 flows from how big your God is. And even if I, as I say how big 346 00:18:10,000 --> 00:18:11,920 your God is, I don't mean like your personal one. 347 00:18:11,920 --> 00:18:15,160 I mean like the real one, true living godfather, son, spirit. 348 00:18:15,360 --> 00:18:18,680 But it's functional size in your heart, in your soul. 349 00:18:20,040 --> 00:18:23,640 So the first thing I want to do is just tell you that the goal 350 00:18:23,640 --> 00:18:27,520 of your life is for the God you love in your heart to match the 351 00:18:27,520 --> 00:18:31,840 God you know in your brain. That's the goal is for his size 352 00:18:31,840 --> 00:18:35,280 to align with his actual size and it to actually be that way 353 00:18:35,280 --> 00:18:37,800 in your heart. And for some of the mighty 354 00:18:37,800 --> 00:18:41,040 people in scripture and in world history, what we see in them is 355 00:18:41,040 --> 00:18:42,640 they just live like those were aligned. 356 00:18:42,640 --> 00:18:45,600 They lived more aligned than we did and we aspire to it. 357 00:18:45,840 --> 00:18:48,760 But really what you aspire to is not what they did, but the God 358 00:18:48,760 --> 00:18:50,800 they saw. Because if we live like he's 359 00:18:50,800 --> 00:18:53,120 that big, it'll all the same stuff will pop. 360 00:18:53,120 --> 00:18:55,360 Are you with me? They get in alignment with it 361 00:18:55,360 --> 00:18:56,680 and they go. So let me ask you some 362 00:18:56,680 --> 00:18:59,320 diagnostic questions at the end of the service. 363 00:18:59,320 --> 00:19:02,320 I'm going to end with here's kind of a way for your God to 364 00:19:02,320 --> 00:19:04,960 increase, for God to increase in size in your heart. 365 00:19:04,960 --> 00:19:08,320 For right now, I just want to beg the question, OK, here's the 366 00:19:08,320 --> 00:19:10,880 first one. Do you just tremble at His word? 367 00:19:13,080 --> 00:19:15,600 In the Scriptures, when God is big, you tremble at His word. 368 00:19:16,000 --> 00:19:18,080 Like God is speaking to me through His word. 369 00:19:18,080 --> 00:19:21,400 He's telling me to do things. He's speaking truth over my 370 00:19:21,400 --> 00:19:23,360 identity. Do you just tremble when He 371 00:19:23,360 --> 00:19:25,840 calls you the beloved? When he says you are His, that 372 00:19:25,840 --> 00:19:29,120 your sin is separated from you? Do you tremble when you read who 373 00:19:29,120 --> 00:19:30,320 you should be and you're just not? 374 00:19:30,320 --> 00:19:31,840 Which leads to the second question. 375 00:19:32,240 --> 00:19:35,040 Does God's holiness, His bigness, His size just push you 376 00:19:35,040 --> 00:19:38,680 to confession of sin? Yeah, I know. 377 00:19:38,680 --> 00:19:41,800 Many people who sat in churches for years and just don't confess 378 00:19:41,800 --> 00:19:43,360 sin. It's not a regular part of your 379 00:19:43,360 --> 00:19:48,160 diet to other people or to God. And I just want to say y'all, 380 00:19:48,160 --> 00:19:51,960 it's just a natural expression of seeing who God is makes you 381 00:19:51,960 --> 00:19:54,640 just confess who you're not. That's how that works. 382 00:19:54,640 --> 00:19:56,960 It's not that you're aiming to confess. 383 00:19:57,200 --> 00:20:01,000 It's the natural byproduct of seeing something big and 384 00:20:01,000 --> 00:20:05,320 beautiful and displacing you. Just respond with I am not that. 385 00:20:05,960 --> 00:20:11,000 Are y'all with me, y'all. Does God's word shape how you 386 00:20:11,000 --> 00:20:13,720 weight on things? Does God's size. 387 00:20:14,200 --> 00:20:15,720 Or are we just the most like man? 388 00:20:15,960 --> 00:20:17,960 Life's just practical. I got to do what I got to do. 389 00:20:18,280 --> 00:20:21,080 You know what I mean? Does God's means of how to go 390 00:20:21,080 --> 00:20:23,080 about things shape how you go about them? 391 00:20:23,080 --> 00:20:25,240 Or is life too practical for that for you? 392 00:20:26,440 --> 00:20:28,720 Does life feel? Too practical to take God's word 393 00:20:28,720 --> 00:20:30,280 seriously would be another way to ask that. 394 00:20:30,280 --> 00:20:34,120 Is God's word not relevant to how you actually live and make 395 00:20:34,120 --> 00:20:38,560 your money and treat Co workers? Like if I stopped the gossip 396 00:20:38,560 --> 00:20:40,200 culture would I not get a promotion? 397 00:20:40,200 --> 00:20:42,320 Have you ever thought about things like that? 398 00:20:43,080 --> 00:20:46,800 Does it play into everything you do in your workplace? 399 00:20:48,400 --> 00:20:50,000 There's a lot more. Questions I could ask, but I'm 400 00:20:50,000 --> 00:20:52,720 going to start right there. I'm going to start right there. 401 00:20:53,440 --> 00:20:55,760 I just want you to hear that God's goal for your life is to 402 00:20:55,760 --> 00:20:57,280 get bigger and bigger and bigger. 403 00:20:57,280 --> 00:20:59,080 And the next question is natural from that. 404 00:20:59,080 --> 00:21:04,520 Let's go to point #2 is your entire life a living sacrifice? 405 00:21:04,520 --> 00:21:10,200 Is your entire life, Somebody say entire life, Entire life, 406 00:21:10,760 --> 00:21:12,840 y'all? So naturally what flows is when 407 00:21:12,840 --> 00:21:14,400 God is big, he covers everything. 408 00:21:14,400 --> 00:21:17,000 When he's small, you start to section him off to certain 409 00:21:17,000 --> 00:21:17,960 areas. OK. 410 00:21:18,280 --> 00:21:20,600 And in the text we're going to deal with two areas. 411 00:21:20,600 --> 00:21:23,400 The first one is divorce and the second one is money. 412 00:21:23,400 --> 00:21:25,960 Neither of which the sermon is not a divorce sermon or a money 413 00:21:25,960 --> 00:21:28,960 sermon, but he's putting fingers on the ways that they're kind of 414 00:21:30,360 --> 00:21:32,320 locating God in only parts of their life. 415 00:21:32,320 --> 00:21:34,000 Does that make sense? Kind of the technicality 416 00:21:34,000 --> 00:21:36,080 mindset. So let's look at the the divorce 417 00:21:36,080 --> 00:21:40,400 one first. It comes in chapter 2, verse 13. 418 00:21:41,880 --> 00:21:45,240 In this second thing you do, you cover the Lords altar with 419 00:21:45,240 --> 00:21:48,480 tears, with weeping and groaning because he no longer regards the 420 00:21:48,480 --> 00:21:50,680 offerings or accepts it with favor from your hand. 421 00:21:50,680 --> 00:21:55,280 But you say, why does he not? Because the Lord was witness 422 00:21:55,280 --> 00:21:57,960 between you and the wife of your youth, to whom you have been 423 00:21:57,960 --> 00:22:00,840 faithless, though she is your companion and your wife by 424 00:22:00,840 --> 00:22:02,880 covenant. Did he not make them one with 425 00:22:02,880 --> 00:22:04,600 the portion of the Spirit in their union? 426 00:22:04,800 --> 00:22:07,200 And what was the one God seeking godly offspring. 427 00:22:07,440 --> 00:22:09,760 So guard yourselves in your spirit, and let none of you be 428 00:22:09,760 --> 00:22:11,920 faithless to the wife of your youth. 429 00:22:14,360 --> 00:22:16,360 Take a deep breath. This is not a divorced sermon, 430 00:22:16,360 --> 00:22:18,960 OK? We have preached on that before 431 00:22:18,960 --> 00:22:21,640 from the Sermon on the Mount. Y'all, in general, the 432 00:22:21,640 --> 00:22:25,400 Scriptures like marriage speaks to the union God wants to have 433 00:22:25,400 --> 00:22:27,520 with his people, which is a covenant. 434 00:22:27,520 --> 00:22:30,560 It is an unbreakable bond. So yes, when divorce occurs, it 435 00:22:30,560 --> 00:22:33,520 breaks God's heart. It is not in alignment with 436 00:22:33,520 --> 00:22:37,280 reality as God intended it. And you know, Jesus talks about 437 00:22:37,280 --> 00:22:39,480 a concession with things like adultery, all that. 438 00:22:39,480 --> 00:22:43,680 Okay, but what these people were doing is that again, 439 00:22:43,680 --> 00:22:46,280 technicality. I I gave her a divorce papers, 440 00:22:46,280 --> 00:22:48,480 didn't I? I did, I did the the law says I 441 00:22:48,480 --> 00:22:51,680 could do this and they were with that heart doing that, but then 442 00:22:51,680 --> 00:22:54,880 have the audacity to go to the altar and weep and say, Lord, 443 00:22:54,880 --> 00:22:57,200 where you at in my life? He's like, I'll tell you where 444 00:22:57,200 --> 00:22:58,920 I'm at. I'm by the night stand by them 445 00:22:58,920 --> 00:23:01,920 divorce papers that you just filled out in the red ink. 446 00:23:02,120 --> 00:23:05,240 Are you with me? So his he's like, do you see the 447 00:23:05,240 --> 00:23:07,280 inconsistency there? Like do you see? 448 00:23:07,280 --> 00:23:10,600 But again, they're trying to say, well technically I did 449 00:23:10,600 --> 00:23:12,240 right by her because I filled out the papers. 450 00:23:12,320 --> 00:23:14,840 Are y'all tracking with that? OK. 451 00:23:14,840 --> 00:23:19,760 The second one that God puts his finger on is money, chapter 3, 452 00:23:20,600 --> 00:23:24,840 verse 6. For I the Lord, do not change. 453 00:23:24,840 --> 00:23:27,560 Therefore, you, O children of Jacob, are not consumed from the 454 00:23:27,560 --> 00:23:29,520 days of your father's. You have turned aside from my 455 00:23:29,520 --> 00:23:32,840 statutes and have not kept them. Return to me and I will return 456 00:23:32,840 --> 00:23:35,400 to you, says the Lord of hosts. But you say, how shall we 457 00:23:35,400 --> 00:23:38,560 return? Well, man, rob God, yet you are 458 00:23:38,560 --> 00:23:40,760 robbing me. But you say, how have we robbed 459 00:23:40,760 --> 00:23:42,800 you and your ties and contributions? 460 00:23:42,800 --> 00:23:44,960 You are cursed with the curse, for you are robbing me, the 461 00:23:44,960 --> 00:23:47,160 whole nation of you. Bring the full tithe into the 462 00:23:47,160 --> 00:23:49,840 storehouse that there may be food in my house, and thereby 463 00:23:49,840 --> 00:23:51,760 put me to the test, says the Lord of hosts. 464 00:23:51,760 --> 00:23:54,640 If I will not open the windows of heaven for you, and pour down 465 00:23:54,640 --> 00:23:57,160 for you a blessing until there's no more need. 466 00:23:59,000 --> 00:24:01,040 Money. Some of y'all's bodies getting 467 00:24:01,040 --> 00:24:04,560 anxious, I say that word. Y'all. 468 00:24:04,560 --> 00:24:09,080 What was happening is that they had the mindset that to give was 469 00:24:09,080 --> 00:24:11,920 to lose. And this is still true for the 470 00:24:11,920 --> 00:24:14,200 New Testament church, even though we're going to talk about 471 00:24:14,200 --> 00:24:15,640 some things that are similar and different. 472 00:24:16,160 --> 00:24:19,200 Y'all, the mindset is giving is losing. 473 00:24:19,200 --> 00:24:22,480 So I'm going to hold back what I give so I lose less. 474 00:24:22,640 --> 00:24:26,040 And he's saying bring the full tie then see if I don't provide 475 00:24:26,800 --> 00:24:28,160 y'all. Just to be clear, in the New 476 00:24:28,160 --> 00:24:31,200 Testament era, Jesus has fulfilled the law. 477 00:24:31,400 --> 00:24:34,800 OK, so the tithe was an Old Testament principle giving the 478 00:24:34,800 --> 00:24:37,680 1st 10% of what you get back to the Lord. 479 00:24:37,920 --> 00:24:40,840 So in the new covenant era, Jesus has fulfilled the law. 480 00:24:40,840 --> 00:24:43,640 And the way we relate to the tithe is more like a guide or an 481 00:24:43,640 --> 00:24:47,080 example, OK? It's less conscious, binding and 482 00:24:47,080 --> 00:24:50,240 commanded as the Old Testament era was now. 483 00:24:51,560 --> 00:24:53,440 Does Jesus? Make us more generous or less 484 00:24:53,440 --> 00:24:56,040 you know, does the fact that Christ died for us that he was 485 00:24:56,040 --> 00:24:58,000 rich, yet for your sake he became poor. 486 00:24:58,000 --> 00:25:00,840 Is he going to make us less generous or more? 487 00:25:01,280 --> 00:25:03,960 The New Testament is always assumed God's people will be 488 00:25:03,960 --> 00:25:06,440 generous. The New Testament is more 489 00:25:06,840 --> 00:25:09,040 concerned with your motives than whether you give. 490 00:25:09,040 --> 00:25:12,400 It's assuming you do. Jesus assumes you will give. 491 00:25:12,400 --> 00:25:15,640 He wants the power of money to be broken in your life as a fake 492 00:25:15,640 --> 00:25:19,080 false God that it can become and giving us a way to love your 493 00:25:19,080 --> 00:25:23,760 neighbor in the New Testament. Now that is why a poor city. 494 00:25:23,760 --> 00:25:26,120 We do recommend you all that you give routinely that you give 495 00:25:26,120 --> 00:25:28,200 spontaneously. I hope you have margin in your 496 00:25:28,200 --> 00:25:30,720 life where you can give to needs in the city as they arise. 497 00:25:30,720 --> 00:25:35,960 Giving regularly helps kind of flex the generosity muscle in 498 00:25:35,960 --> 00:25:38,760 your soul that we love to think we're more generous than we are 499 00:25:38,760 --> 00:25:41,600 usually. So by giving regularly, that 500 00:25:41,600 --> 00:25:44,200 helps build that habit and then having margin in your life 501 00:25:44,200 --> 00:25:47,120 allows you to be spontaneously giving to to people, needs, 502 00:25:47,120 --> 00:25:50,880 nonprofits, all the things. But what we have in common as 503 00:25:50,880 --> 00:25:54,880 the New Testament church is that we too can begin to think that 504 00:25:54,880 --> 00:25:56,840 giving is loss. Do you see that? 505 00:25:58,000 --> 00:26:00,600 God. Says put me to the test. 506 00:26:01,160 --> 00:26:04,160 He's basically saying you can trust me. 507 00:26:04,800 --> 00:26:08,520 I want to be very clear, we are not a prosperity church, OK? 508 00:26:08,520 --> 00:26:12,840 The prosperity gospel mindset is that if you give, God will bless 509 00:26:12,840 --> 00:26:14,080 you. And usually that just means your 510 00:26:14,080 --> 00:26:15,520 life's going to get better. OK? 511 00:26:15,520 --> 00:26:17,080 You could just open your Bible and read it. 512 00:26:17,400 --> 00:26:19,640 Your life don't always get better when you follow the Lord. 513 00:26:19,760 --> 00:26:24,800 Amen, somebody. But the flip side of that is if 514 00:26:24,800 --> 00:26:27,880 you do begin to think that giving is just losing, you've 515 00:26:27,880 --> 00:26:31,120 missed the whole point. Y'all think about like the the 516 00:26:31,120 --> 00:26:33,960 the similar principle just to go to a different concept is the 517 00:26:33,960 --> 00:26:35,960 the Old Testament concept of Sabbath. 518 00:26:36,040 --> 00:26:40,400 OK, the idea is you give up 1, you work 6, give up one, but God 519 00:26:40,400 --> 00:26:43,000 will multiply what you do in the six. 520 00:26:43,120 --> 00:26:47,760 Hello Chick-fil-A somebody OK, the idea is I'll do more in six 521 00:26:47,760 --> 00:26:50,680 than you can do in seven. But if you begin to look at your 522 00:26:50,680 --> 00:26:54,000 time or your money like losing it is just losing. 523 00:26:54,000 --> 00:26:57,640 You don't know the God of the Scriptures because he calls us 524 00:26:57,640 --> 00:27:00,280 to give as gain. Now how that works out 525 00:27:00,280 --> 00:27:03,560 mathematically, that's part of this thing called trust and 526 00:27:03,560 --> 00:27:05,440 mystery. OK, but the God of the 527 00:27:05,440 --> 00:27:07,480 Scriptures is clear that you could trust me. 528 00:27:07,800 --> 00:27:11,840 And even here today, if you have never given God in some kind of 529 00:27:11,840 --> 00:27:13,160 way of saying put me to the test. 530 00:27:13,640 --> 00:27:15,680 If you've never given regularly, put them to the test. 531 00:27:15,680 --> 00:27:19,080 If you've never sacrificially given, put him to the test. 532 00:27:19,360 --> 00:27:21,600 And don't hear me saying that your life is going to get better 533 00:27:21,600 --> 00:27:24,160 and you're going to get blessed. I'm saying just the mathematics 534 00:27:24,400 --> 00:27:26,720 of gospel calculus in your soul have got to change. 535 00:27:26,720 --> 00:27:28,080 And they're not going to change till they change. 536 00:27:28,080 --> 00:27:30,680 Because naturally, we're just Americans with our money, we 537 00:27:30,680 --> 00:27:33,920 tend to spend, maybe save, maybe give. 538 00:27:34,800 --> 00:27:36,920 The Bible just. Flips that it thinks like give 539 00:27:36,920 --> 00:27:40,080 then save and then you live OK and the more you can get that in 540 00:27:40,080 --> 00:27:43,160 your DNA over time it'll make sense. 541 00:27:43,160 --> 00:27:45,720 And there are many people in this room who do not profit from 542 00:27:45,720 --> 00:27:47,240 the church in any way shape or form. 543 00:27:47,240 --> 00:27:50,120 Many of the men who stand up here and teach do not that would 544 00:27:50,120 --> 00:27:53,600 love to talk to you about gospel principles of generosity and 545 00:27:53,600 --> 00:27:56,440 money and all the things and and I pray that that will bless you. 546 00:27:57,120 --> 00:27:59,760 So talk to the people in this room about about spending money. 547 00:27:59,760 --> 00:28:03,040 Can I say one more money thing I was telling Ron this this week. 548 00:28:03,520 --> 00:28:05,200 Here's what I've noticed about money journeys. 549 00:28:05,200 --> 00:28:08,480 This is me y'all. I didn't know nothing. 550 00:28:08,880 --> 00:28:11,800 I was 21 emailing a friend's dad, like should I get a credit 551 00:28:11,800 --> 00:28:13,240 card? I didn't have financial 552 00:28:13,240 --> 00:28:15,120 literacy. I didn't have a wasn't really 553 00:28:15,120 --> 00:28:16,920 raised to understand those things with my family. 554 00:28:17,120 --> 00:28:19,680 Then you go through phases where you listening to podcasts or 555 00:28:20,080 --> 00:28:22,320 Dave Ramsey or whatever it is you do OK. 556 00:28:22,840 --> 00:28:26,160 Then you're like calling people like did you know you could save 557 00:28:26,160 --> 00:28:27,840 money? Did you know there's this thing 558 00:28:27,840 --> 00:28:29,720 called a budget? Did you know did you know in 559 00:28:29,720 --> 00:28:31,960 your height? Then you get in your 30s and now 560 00:28:31,960 --> 00:28:35,520 you get like weird jaded where you're like skeptical of any 561 00:28:35,520 --> 00:28:38,160 process. Like, no, don't act like that 562 00:28:38,160 --> 00:28:39,920 stuff didn't help you land somewhere. 563 00:28:40,080 --> 00:28:42,800 I'm not saying you've got to like glorify whatever system. 564 00:28:43,000 --> 00:28:45,560 So like maturity is you don't glorify a system. 565 00:28:45,720 --> 00:28:47,480 You don't tell people exactly what to do. 566 00:28:47,480 --> 00:28:49,600 But if somebody is on a journey where they're learning good 567 00:28:49,600 --> 00:28:52,320 gospel principles of generosity and stuff, encourage them. 568 00:28:52,960 --> 00:28:55,000 You know what I'm saying? Like you want to create a space 569 00:28:55,000 --> 00:28:57,720 where like, man, I'm so glad learn like the the Bible 570 00:28:57,720 --> 00:28:59,560 principles, do whatever you got to do to get there. 571 00:28:59,560 --> 00:29:01,720 I'm here to help. But don't be the jaded old 572 00:29:01,720 --> 00:29:04,040 people were like, well, I've been through the money journey 573 00:29:04,040 --> 00:29:06,360 and I'm on the mountaintop and I could tell you what to do and 574 00:29:06,360 --> 00:29:08,800 what not to do. And that guy is a dummy. 575 00:29:08,880 --> 00:29:11,480 You know, it's like, you know, good and well, at 28 you were 576 00:29:11,480 --> 00:29:13,200 texting your Mama. Have you ever heard of this? 577 00:29:13,240 --> 00:29:16,000 And the you know what I'm saying you did envelope method. 578 00:29:16,000 --> 00:29:20,000 Be quiet. So some of y'all in Jesus name 579 00:29:20,000 --> 00:29:23,880 get a budget, others of y'all, I love you, God bless you. 580 00:29:23,880 --> 00:29:27,480 But the point is y'all, giving with the Lord is not losing. 581 00:29:27,480 --> 00:29:29,320 We could trust Him with our money. 582 00:29:29,320 --> 00:29:31,800 But let me tell you what's behind all of it. 583 00:29:31,800 --> 00:29:34,840 Those are symptoms of the problem y'all. 584 00:29:34,840 --> 00:29:38,160 The point is when your God is small, you start to worship God 585 00:29:38,160 --> 00:29:40,480 on a technicality. But when God is big, He covers 586 00:29:40,480 --> 00:29:42,600 everything. Watch what they say y'all. 587 00:29:42,800 --> 00:29:48,360 This is at the heart of all of it right here, chapter 3 verse 588 00:29:48,360 --> 00:29:50,200 13. Y'all this is crazy. 589 00:29:50,200 --> 00:29:54,600 They said this and it's showing their money, it's showing their 590 00:29:54,600 --> 00:29:56,960 divorce stuff, but this is it. Your words have been hard 591 00:29:56,960 --> 00:30:01,640 against me says the Lord, but you say how have we spoken 592 00:30:01,640 --> 00:30:05,200 against you? You have said it is vain to 593 00:30:05,200 --> 00:30:07,680 serve God. What is the profit of our 594 00:30:07,680 --> 00:30:10,440 keeping his charge of walking as in mourning before the Lord of 595 00:30:10,440 --> 00:30:14,080 hosts. It is vain. 596 00:30:14,760 --> 00:30:19,760 There's no point. Doesn't help, doesn't make a 597 00:30:19,760 --> 00:30:21,320 difference. It's vain. 598 00:30:22,840 --> 00:30:24,520 They were. Pragmatists, they're like it 599 00:30:24,520 --> 00:30:29,840 just don't work not doing it. And notice it used the phrase 600 00:30:29,840 --> 00:30:33,040 Lord of hosts. One thing you can go do as you 601 00:30:33,040 --> 00:30:36,880 reread Malachi later, the phrase Lord of hosts is used over 20 602 00:30:36,880 --> 00:30:40,000 times in 55 verses. Lord of hosts could also be 603 00:30:40,000 --> 00:30:44,800 translated God of Angel armies. Hello, Chris Tomlin, the God of 604 00:30:44,880 --> 00:30:48,480 Angel armies is always by my side. 605 00:30:48,680 --> 00:30:52,240 That comes from this title. It's being purposefully used. 606 00:30:52,240 --> 00:30:54,560 The Israelites are under Persian rule at this time. 607 00:30:54,560 --> 00:30:57,240 So post to Syria, post Babylon, they're under Persian rule 608 00:30:57,240 --> 00:31:00,320 around the four hundreds. And he keeps using the phrase 609 00:31:00,320 --> 00:31:03,400 Lord of hosts because the God that they think is small is the 610 00:31:03,400 --> 00:31:06,200 Lord of hosts, right? And then to the group that is 611 00:31:06,200 --> 00:31:09,760 still trusting him and life is hard and the people of God 612 00:31:09,760 --> 00:31:12,200 aren't demonstrating God's goodness, he's saying, look, I'm 613 00:31:12,200 --> 00:31:15,480 still the Lord of hosts because there is a group that God wants 614 00:31:15,480 --> 00:31:17,400 to encourage. You want to see some encouraging 615 00:31:17,400 --> 00:31:19,200 verses if you love the Lord of hosts. 616 00:31:19,440 --> 00:31:22,520 And sometimes you're tempted to do the gospel calculus of is 617 00:31:22,520 --> 00:31:24,400 this worth it? Read these verses with me. 618 00:31:24,600 --> 00:31:28,520 Go to verse 16. Then. 619 00:31:28,520 --> 00:31:31,560 Those who feared the Lord spoke with one another. 620 00:31:33,040 --> 00:31:35,720 The Lord paid. Attention and heard them, and a 621 00:31:35,720 --> 00:31:38,520 book of remembrance was written before him of those who feared 622 00:31:38,520 --> 00:31:41,800 the Lord and esteemed His name. This is what God says. 623 00:31:41,800 --> 00:31:43,840 Y'all. They shall be mine, says the 624 00:31:43,840 --> 00:31:45,720 Lord of hosts. In the day when I make up my 625 00:31:45,720 --> 00:31:48,280 treasure possession, I will spare them as a man spares a son 626 00:31:48,280 --> 00:31:50,600 who serves him. Then once more you shall see the 627 00:31:50,600 --> 00:31:52,280 distinction between the righteous and the wicked, 628 00:31:52,280 --> 00:31:54,840 between one who serves God and one who does not serve him, 629 00:31:55,680 --> 00:31:59,360 y'all. Book of Remembrance. 630 00:32:00,840 --> 00:32:08,600 Book of Remembrance. Let's go to point. #3 and we'll 631 00:32:08,600 --> 00:32:10,040 talk about this book of remembrance. 632 00:32:11,200 --> 00:32:15,720 Is God the thought of God appearing, bringing you joy or 633 00:32:15,720 --> 00:32:17,600 fear? Is the God of thought of God 634 00:32:17,600 --> 00:32:20,840 returning, appearing, bringing you fear or joy? 635 00:32:22,360 --> 00:32:24,520 Yo, what's happening in this book is for one group. 636 00:32:24,520 --> 00:32:26,680 God is getting bigger. He covers everything. 637 00:32:27,520 --> 00:32:30,040 When God is big in your life, he doesn't just apply to your 638 00:32:30,040 --> 00:32:31,600 marriage. He doesn't just apply to your 639 00:32:31,600 --> 00:32:33,200 your giving. He applies to everything. 640 00:32:33,440 --> 00:32:35,200 When you're brushing your teeth, you're worshiping God. 641 00:32:35,440 --> 00:32:37,160 When you're on your way to work, you're worshiping God. 642 00:32:37,160 --> 00:32:41,520 Life is worship for some of y'all just want you to hear life 643 00:32:41,520 --> 00:32:42,800 is worship. Can we say that phrase you 644 00:32:42,800 --> 00:32:49,040 already on 3123 Life is worship. When I was a kid we used to say 645 00:32:49,040 --> 00:32:52,200 ball is life. Which is a dumb phrase, by the 646 00:32:52,200 --> 00:32:55,800 way, but the idea is that everything is about basketball. 647 00:32:55,800 --> 00:32:57,400 When you're at home, you watch videos of Kobe. 648 00:32:57,400 --> 00:32:59,120 When you you buy those shoes, you do this. 649 00:32:59,120 --> 00:33:01,000 All of life oriented around basketball. 650 00:33:01,280 --> 00:33:03,880 And what the book of Malachi is pushing us towards is not that 651 00:33:04,240 --> 00:33:06,360 Sundays are worship, not that Bible reading is worship, not 652 00:33:06,360 --> 00:33:08,440 that prayer is worship, or even listening to Chris Tomlin is 653 00:33:08,440 --> 00:33:11,040 worship. It's that life is worship. 654 00:33:11,040 --> 00:33:13,520 It's not that those things aren't, it's that everything 655 00:33:13,520 --> 00:33:15,160 else is. Are you with me? 656 00:33:15,640 --> 00:33:17,720 So you don't need my job to be closer to God. 657 00:33:18,280 --> 00:33:20,280 You don't need to be a missionary to be closer to God. 658 00:33:20,520 --> 00:33:22,920 You can love the Lord when you brush your teeth and you go to 659 00:33:22,920 --> 00:33:24,960 work and you forgive your Co worker and you. 660 00:33:25,200 --> 00:33:28,360 Everything you do brings glory to the Lord. 661 00:33:29,280 --> 00:33:31,040 The people of. Malachi made the mistake of 662 00:33:31,040 --> 00:33:33,680 thinking God only cared about the sacrifices, the offerings, 663 00:33:33,680 --> 00:33:36,400 the tithes, the divorce papers. And what I'm telling you is God 664 00:33:36,400 --> 00:33:39,840 cares about everything and that should just excite you that the 665 00:33:39,840 --> 00:33:41,880 Lord wants to live life with you. 666 00:33:43,640 --> 00:33:45,680 Sorry y'all I'm I'm out of source a little bit. 667 00:33:45,680 --> 00:33:48,800 You can write down Romans 12/1 and two, at that last point I 668 00:33:48,800 --> 00:33:50,280 used the phrase living sacrifice. 669 00:33:50,280 --> 00:33:52,600 If you don't know what that means, go read those verses. 670 00:33:53,040 --> 00:33:55,240 But the basic idea of the New Testament is that your whole 671 00:33:55,240 --> 00:33:57,320 life is worship. And though that idea of being a 672 00:33:57,320 --> 00:33:59,920 living sacrifice is that as opposed to putting a lame 673 00:33:59,920 --> 00:34:03,440 offering like a a broken leg animal up on the altar, you put 674 00:34:03,440 --> 00:34:05,160 yourself on the altar while alive. 675 00:34:05,480 --> 00:34:07,680 And sometimes you got to put yourself up there kicking and 676 00:34:07,680 --> 00:34:09,400 screaming. When you got to go tell a boss 677 00:34:09,400 --> 00:34:10,960 you blew it. When you got to say sorry to a 678 00:34:10,960 --> 00:34:13,000 friend, it might feel like you're kicking and screaming, 679 00:34:13,000 --> 00:34:15,639 but you are getting on the altar because God is worth it. 680 00:34:15,840 --> 00:34:17,719 Sometimes when you give, it's going to feel like you kicking 681 00:34:17,719 --> 00:34:19,320 and screaming. Sometimes when you share the 682 00:34:19,320 --> 00:34:22,679 gospel, when you all of life is worship and it's a living 683 00:34:22,679 --> 00:34:27,199 sacrifice because you are living life with God on the go, putting 684 00:34:27,199 --> 00:34:31,600 yourself on the altar. So for the group where God is 685 00:34:31,600 --> 00:34:34,440 getting smaller, part of what the minor prophets are supposed 686 00:34:34,440 --> 00:34:36,400 to do is wake them up. Somebody say wake up. 687 00:34:37,639 --> 00:34:41,000 OK, let's read chapter 3 verses one through 4. 688 00:34:41,000 --> 00:34:43,760 Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before 689 00:34:43,760 --> 00:34:45,920 me, and the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his 690 00:34:45,920 --> 00:34:47,520 temple. And the messenger of the 691 00:34:47,520 --> 00:34:49,719 covenant whom you delight, behold, he is coming, says the 692 00:34:49,719 --> 00:34:51,800 Lord of hosts. But who can endure the day of 693 00:34:51,800 --> 00:34:53,639 his coming? Who can stand when he appears 694 00:34:53,639 --> 00:34:56,639 free is like a refiner's fire and like fuller's soap. 695 00:34:56,639 --> 00:34:59,880 We'll start right there. Some of y'all know that the 696 00:34:59,880 --> 00:35:03,040 person who comes before Jesus is somebody say it out loud. 697 00:35:03,040 --> 00:35:04,800 Who's the person that precedes Jesus? 698 00:35:04,800 --> 00:35:09,080 New Testament, John the Baptist, oh he is the Savior, Amen. 699 00:35:09,320 --> 00:35:13,680 John the Baptist precedes him. John the Baptist is predicted 700 00:35:13,680 --> 00:35:15,520 twice in this book here in chapter 3. 701 00:35:15,800 --> 00:35:18,560 That's the messenger that he is preparing the way for King 702 00:35:18,560 --> 00:35:21,160 Jesus. It happens again in chapter 4 703 00:35:21,160 --> 00:35:24,120 verses one through 3 says I'll send my servant like Elijah 704 00:35:24,120 --> 00:35:27,080 before you. And what the minor prophets do 705 00:35:27,080 --> 00:35:29,960 y'all is they envision a near future and a far future. 706 00:35:30,200 --> 00:35:32,960 The near future is when Jesus would come and John the Baptist 707 00:35:32,960 --> 00:35:35,320 would come before him. The far future is when Jesus 708 00:35:35,320 --> 00:35:37,880 comes back. So we live post John the 709 00:35:37,880 --> 00:35:40,640 Baptist, Jesus coming the first time but before he comes back 710 00:35:40,640 --> 00:35:43,120 the second time. So this book still applies to 711 00:35:43,120 --> 00:35:43,960 us. Does that make sense? 712 00:35:44,240 --> 00:35:47,440 The way it applies most to us is not to to think about John the 713 00:35:47,440 --> 00:35:49,600 Baptist coming the Jesus coming the first time, but it's to 714 00:35:49,600 --> 00:35:53,240 think about him coming back, which leads me to if God is 715 00:35:53,240 --> 00:35:56,880 increasingly small, that should fill you with fear that he's 716 00:35:56,880 --> 00:35:58,000 coming back. Are you with me? 717 00:35:58,080 --> 00:36:00,440 As we've talked about all throughout the series, the day 718 00:36:00,640 --> 00:36:03,880 of the Lord is coming. The day when whether we live 719 00:36:03,880 --> 00:36:06,560 with all of life is worship or we just broke it down into 720 00:36:06,560 --> 00:36:10,080 smaller little pieces on a technicality will be exposed. 721 00:36:10,960 --> 00:36:13,960 So part of what? This book is trying to do is 722 00:36:13,960 --> 00:36:16,560 wake you up if you are living like God is small. 723 00:36:16,560 --> 00:36:18,720 It's not true. And when he comes back, you'll 724 00:36:18,720 --> 00:36:20,360 see that he applied to everything. 725 00:36:20,480 --> 00:36:23,040 You'll see that it applied with what you did with all of your 726 00:36:23,040 --> 00:36:24,880 time. You'll see that applied with 727 00:36:24,880 --> 00:36:27,600 everything you did, all the time, with everybody, every 728 00:36:27,600 --> 00:36:31,560 relationship, every argument, every favoritism, everything. 729 00:36:32,360 --> 00:36:33,880 All of it. It all matters. 730 00:36:34,880 --> 00:36:37,200 But to the. Second group is to encourage us 731 00:36:37,200 --> 00:36:38,840 to keep remembering that he sees it all. 732 00:36:38,840 --> 00:36:40,680 Let's talk about this book of remembrance that we talked 733 00:36:40,680 --> 00:36:43,520 about. The Bible says y'all, that the 734 00:36:43,520 --> 00:36:47,560 Lord writes a book to remember those who fear his name. 735 00:36:47,880 --> 00:36:49,240 Y'all, let me tell you who that is. 736 00:36:49,320 --> 00:36:52,360 That's what we call the church. The church are those who fear 737 00:36:52,360 --> 00:36:57,800 his name and God sees you. He literally writes a book about 738 00:36:57,800 --> 00:36:59,760 your faith. First, Peter would say your 739 00:36:59,760 --> 00:37:01,880 faith is more precious than gold. 740 00:37:02,120 --> 00:37:05,440 The idea is that God is watching your life, and when you fight 741 00:37:05,440 --> 00:37:09,120 for faith, whether it's in a technically spiritual worship 742 00:37:09,120 --> 00:37:11,440 moment, He sees you when you're raising your hands in worship, 743 00:37:11,440 --> 00:37:13,920 but he sees you when you say sorry. 744 00:37:14,080 --> 00:37:17,920 He sees you when you live in alignment with his ways all day, 745 00:37:17,920 --> 00:37:21,080 every day, and he remembers it and writes it down in a book 746 00:37:21,080 --> 00:37:23,280 church. Do you look at your life like 747 00:37:23,280 --> 00:37:26,560 God finds it beautiful and he's writing down what you do? 748 00:37:28,600 --> 00:37:31,560 Yo, the church are the people who stir one another up and say 749 00:37:31,560 --> 00:37:34,480 it ain't vain, y'all. It is worth following this God. 750 00:37:34,480 --> 00:37:36,600 We could trust him and it all matters. 751 00:37:36,800 --> 00:37:39,000 We're the ones who look at the single people and say, don't you 752 00:37:39,000 --> 00:37:42,000 settle, don't you settle, it's worth it, you can wait. 753 00:37:42,000 --> 00:37:43,920 We're the ones who look at each other and say, y'all, we could 754 00:37:43,920 --> 00:37:45,800 trust the Lord with our money and our time. 755 00:37:45,800 --> 00:37:47,680 We're the ones who look at each other one we're suffering and 756 00:37:47,680 --> 00:37:49,320 say, don't you pull away, we need you. 757 00:37:49,680 --> 00:37:51,840 I know it's hard and I don't know why it's happening, but I 758 00:37:51,840 --> 00:37:53,440 love you. We're the ones who look at each 759 00:37:53,440 --> 00:37:56,840 other, who start to slip and we say hey man, bring it back. 760 00:37:56,840 --> 00:37:58,880 The ones who say God's word that don't apply to me anymore. 761 00:37:58,880 --> 00:38:01,000 We say yes it does. We're the ones who encourage 762 00:38:01,000 --> 00:38:02,440 each other. We're the ones who challenge 763 00:38:02,440 --> 00:38:03,840 each other. We're the ones who say it's 764 00:38:03,840 --> 00:38:07,960 worth it and when you get in your feelings, it's worth it to 765 00:38:07,960 --> 00:38:09,680 keep trusting the Lord's way. Y'all? 766 00:38:10,720 --> 00:38:14,200 One of my favorite lines. This guy says I promise heaven's 767 00:38:14,200 --> 00:38:16,200 got a playlist. He says I promise. 768 00:38:16,200 --> 00:38:19,280 That's my favorite placement. Faithful over famous. 769 00:38:19,280 --> 00:38:22,680 This is what he's trying to say. He's an artist and he wants to 770 00:38:22,680 --> 00:38:25,400 be on God's playlist. He wants to be in the Book of 771 00:38:25,400 --> 00:38:28,080 Remembrance. When you live that way, you live 772 00:38:28,080 --> 00:38:30,160 different. You live different. 773 00:38:30,400 --> 00:38:33,120 But if you live to be on the world's playlist, you live 774 00:38:33,120 --> 00:38:34,200 different. Are you with me? 775 00:38:34,560 --> 00:38:37,440 So the question is, which playlist are you trying to be on 776 00:38:37,440 --> 00:38:40,200 in your life? Because if you just want bosses, 777 00:38:40,200 --> 00:38:42,280 Pats on the backs, and you want people to like you, you're going 778 00:38:42,280 --> 00:38:44,360 to get it. That's kind of what life tells 779 00:38:44,360 --> 00:38:45,480 us. Is that what you seek? 780 00:38:45,480 --> 00:38:48,720 You kind of find and what the Scriptures are saying is you can 781 00:38:48,720 --> 00:38:51,840 live in such a way where God sees you and God is pleased with 782 00:38:51,840 --> 00:38:55,360 you and what comes of that in your outputs of life? 783 00:38:55,360 --> 00:38:58,920 Let him handle that. But what if you hit every goal 784 00:38:58,920 --> 00:39:01,280 you ever wanted and you wasted your life? 785 00:39:02,600 --> 00:39:04,200 So y'all, I'm. Trying to say heaven got a 786 00:39:04,200 --> 00:39:05,120 playlist. I want to. 787 00:39:05,120 --> 00:39:07,680 That's my favorite placement. Sometimes after I preach that, 788 00:39:07,680 --> 00:39:11,080 I'm like, Lord, I hope you're listening to that sermon in 789 00:39:11,080 --> 00:39:14,720 heaven because I didn't feel like, you know, I'm like Laura. 790 00:39:14,720 --> 00:39:17,520 And when I see a viral preaching clip and I'm like, well, am I? 791 00:39:18,120 --> 00:39:20,440 I want to be on heaven's playlist. 792 00:39:20,440 --> 00:39:21,800 And I hope the same for you. Y'all. 793 00:39:21,800 --> 00:39:25,280 We live in a world that's trying to get us to be famous. 794 00:39:25,280 --> 00:39:27,240 And I'm saying faithful over famous. 795 00:39:27,240 --> 00:39:30,280 Amen, Church, don't give up. Let's go to the last point. 796 00:39:30,480 --> 00:39:32,560 Let's go to the last point. What if you are ready for a 797 00:39:32,560 --> 00:39:35,200 drastic change? What if you're ready? 798 00:39:35,200 --> 00:39:36,720 For a drastic change, there's some of y'all that have been 799 00:39:36,720 --> 00:39:40,480 coming, this entire series of minor prophets and don't yet 800 00:39:40,480 --> 00:39:42,800 know Jesus. Something has hit you at some 801 00:39:42,800 --> 00:39:45,080 point, has challenged you, has encouraged you. 802 00:39:45,080 --> 00:39:48,960 You see Jesus in a new way. You see morality and ethics and 803 00:39:48,960 --> 00:39:50,440 how beautiful it all is supposed to be. 804 00:39:50,440 --> 00:39:52,120 You see the coming day of the Lord. 805 00:39:52,120 --> 00:39:54,840 You're sobered now and all this stuff has connected. 806 00:39:55,360 --> 00:39:58,160 And for you, I'll just say if you're ready for a drastic 807 00:39:58,160 --> 00:40:01,320 change, if you want God to be big, if you want all of life to 808 00:40:01,320 --> 00:40:03,800 be worshipped. Your next step is just to 809 00:40:03,800 --> 00:40:07,360 repent. It's to repent. 810 00:40:07,360 --> 00:40:10,040 It's to turn from your sin and turn to God. 811 00:40:12,000 --> 00:40:13,600 The other group of. People in this room are 812 00:40:13,600 --> 00:40:16,640 believers where your God just needs to get bigger. 813 00:40:16,640 --> 00:40:18,240 And you're thinking, how do I do that? 814 00:40:18,240 --> 00:40:23,040 How does God increase in size? The good news for us is that for 815 00:40:23,040 --> 00:40:25,440 those of us who need to repent, believe, and for those of us who 816 00:40:25,440 --> 00:40:28,080 want God to increase in size, what we need to do is the same 817 00:40:28,080 --> 00:40:30,240 thing. The primary way that this 818 00:40:30,240 --> 00:40:33,280 happens, that you repent, believe, or that God increases 819 00:40:33,280 --> 00:40:37,680 in size is your meditation upon the person of Jesus Christ, the 820 00:40:37,680 --> 00:40:40,520 person. Y'all throw that chart back up 821 00:40:40,520 --> 00:40:44,040 there, Isaac. Y'all Here's what's so crazy 822 00:40:44,040 --> 00:40:51,160 about the scriptures. OK, what if I told you that what 823 00:40:51,200 --> 00:40:56,320 Jesus did, y'all wasn't just give us a set of steps of how to 824 00:40:56,320 --> 00:40:59,800 get better or whatever? Like what if Jesus lived the 825 00:40:59,800 --> 00:41:03,560 side of this chart we should be but didn't, and then gives the 826 00:41:03,560 --> 00:41:04,880 other side of the chart the victory? 827 00:41:05,000 --> 00:41:07,320 What if Jesus is the person who lived with the big God? 828 00:41:07,600 --> 00:41:10,800 What if Jesus is the only human being whoever lived where all of 829 00:41:10,800 --> 00:41:13,680 life is worshipped? What if as we hear this sermon, 830 00:41:13,680 --> 00:41:17,440 we naturally think of ourselves? Which makes sense, I do too, and 831 00:41:17,440 --> 00:41:20,120 where we need to grow and what area and all that is good. 832 00:41:21,160 --> 00:41:24,200 But what if the point of the scriptures isn't to give you a 833 00:41:24,200 --> 00:41:27,600 path as much as it is to shine on the one hero? 834 00:41:27,600 --> 00:41:31,560 Y'all, Jesus is the one who feared the Lord, esteemed his 835 00:41:31,560 --> 00:41:35,360 name, honored him all of life, was worshipped every second his 836 00:41:35,360 --> 00:41:37,720 whole life. He gets to the end of his life. 837 00:41:37,960 --> 00:41:40,680 He's excited. John 17 Father, I want to be in 838 00:41:40,680 --> 00:41:42,720 your presence again. If you could take this cup of 839 00:41:42,720 --> 00:41:45,120 wrath, that would be great, but not my will yours be done. 840 00:41:45,440 --> 00:41:48,120 Jesus is the one person who lived with the big God. 841 00:41:48,360 --> 00:41:51,800 He is the one human being who lived perfectly with God at the 842 00:41:51,800 --> 00:41:55,000 center at all times, perfectly in obedience. 843 00:41:55,040 --> 00:42:00,600 And what he does Y'all is He gifts that victory to us who 844 00:42:00,600 --> 00:42:02,960 were the ones who live with a small God at best. 845 00:42:03,000 --> 00:42:05,760 God is not relevant to us. God is not real to us. 846 00:42:05,760 --> 00:42:08,760 We are the ones who should have been on that cross for the way 847 00:42:08,760 --> 00:42:12,200 we've lived. There shouldn't be a. 848 00:42:12,200 --> 00:42:14,240 Book of remembrance, of my faith in my life. 849 00:42:14,240 --> 00:42:16,560 There should be a book of all of my sins, right? 850 00:42:16,560 --> 00:42:17,720 There should be a different book. 851 00:42:17,920 --> 00:42:21,040 You could take that down, Isaac. There should be a book of all 852 00:42:21,040 --> 00:42:23,240 the ways I blew it, the things I've said to my spouse, the 853 00:42:23,240 --> 00:42:26,680 things I do at work, the corners I cut, the ways I just want to 854 00:42:26,680 --> 00:42:30,040 be famous. The point is, is that we are 855 00:42:30,040 --> 00:42:33,720 living with a small guy. But there is. 856 00:42:33,720 --> 00:42:37,400 One who live with the big God, who offers you his victory, who 857 00:42:37,400 --> 00:42:39,680 offers you what you did not live. 858 00:42:39,680 --> 00:42:42,560 That's a gift. That's the gospel. 859 00:42:42,800 --> 00:42:45,880 The gospel is a gift of what Christ has done for you that you 860 00:42:45,880 --> 00:42:49,080 can't do for yourself. The gospel is about Jesus the 861 00:42:49,080 --> 00:42:52,720 King who lived perfectly with the big God and at the end of 862 00:42:52,720 --> 00:42:56,560 his life he got killed like he blew everything, like he was 863 00:42:57,120 --> 00:43:01,760 living like God was irrelevant so that those who blew it could 864 00:43:01,760 --> 00:43:03,640 have an opportunity to be brought into the family. 865 00:43:03,640 --> 00:43:05,840 If you hear me saying that God will love you if God gets 866 00:43:05,840 --> 00:43:09,560 bigger, you missed the sermon. OK, you got things to work on, 867 00:43:09,920 --> 00:43:12,560 but more than you need a path, you need a victory given to you. 868 00:43:12,560 --> 00:43:15,920 You need a gift, y'all. The gospel is a gift. 869 00:43:17,280 --> 00:43:19,960 And there's much in your life. God will get bigger, He will 870 00:43:19,960 --> 00:43:23,680 increase, but it's not going to primarily be through your 871 00:43:23,680 --> 00:43:25,680 willpower. It's going to be through you 872 00:43:25,680 --> 00:43:29,000 understanding this Jesus and what He's done and who He is and 873 00:43:29,000 --> 00:43:31,520 how He wants to breathe this into your life. 874 00:43:31,760 --> 00:43:34,520 And even as you go meditate on the scriptures and attempt to 875 00:43:34,520 --> 00:43:37,000 tremble at them. You won't tremble enough, right? 876 00:43:37,480 --> 00:43:39,840 Even on your trembling day, you ain't trembling enough. 877 00:43:40,120 --> 00:43:42,720 So do we put our faith in our trembling? 878 00:43:42,720 --> 00:43:46,800 No, we tremble at the one who gives us His trembling, and then 879 00:43:46,800 --> 00:43:48,880 we tremble with him trembling in our trembling. 880 00:43:48,880 --> 00:43:51,120 Does that make sense? We need grace. 881 00:43:51,120 --> 00:43:54,040 Even on your best day, God ain't going to be big enough. 882 00:43:54,040 --> 00:43:56,920 He's bigger than your best day. Bigness, Starbucks coffee 883 00:43:56,920 --> 00:43:58,680 hitting, He's still bigger than that. 884 00:43:59,240 --> 00:44:02,160 So we can't leave here confident that God's going to get bigger. 885 00:44:02,160 --> 00:44:05,920 We get confident that the God who is infinitely big is 886 00:44:05,920 --> 00:44:08,960 infinitely committed to you. Even when you treat him like 887 00:44:08,960 --> 00:44:11,440 he's small, that will make him bigger. 888 00:44:12,440 --> 00:44:15,680 I don't make you want to trust him when that Co worker gossips 889 00:44:15,680 --> 00:44:18,360 behind your back again. Y'all what? 890 00:44:18,360 --> 00:44:22,240 Norfolk needs is a big God. What Norfolk needs is a 891 00:44:22,240 --> 00:44:27,040 stumbling church who's broken, but pointing them to a God who 892 00:44:27,040 --> 00:44:29,080 can displace and dislodge. And they're going to tell you 893 00:44:29,080 --> 00:44:30,360 that it doesn't apply to their life. 894 00:44:30,360 --> 00:44:33,040 You can say I know because I used to think that too, but it 895 00:44:33,040 --> 00:44:34,720 does. And you can trust Him and you 896 00:44:34,720 --> 00:44:37,360 can wait on this and you can think like that and you can say 897 00:44:37,360 --> 00:44:39,720 you're sorry and you can do this and be like, no, I can't. 898 00:44:40,200 --> 00:44:42,120 And you're going to find yourself telling somebody else 899 00:44:42,120 --> 00:44:44,800 how God is real and relevant, even though you feel like you're 900 00:44:44,800 --> 00:44:46,680 struggling for God to be real and relevant. 901 00:44:46,680 --> 00:44:49,200 You see how that works? You're never going to arrive, 902 00:44:49,200 --> 00:44:51,920 but you are on a journey full of the Spirit church. 903 00:44:52,840 --> 00:44:55,720 And again, if you are not in Christ y'all, you are not being 904 00:44:55,720 --> 00:45:00,280 invited to be perfect. You don't have to commit to God 905 00:45:00,280 --> 00:45:02,280 living X big the rest of your life. 906 00:45:02,280 --> 00:45:05,600 You have to say this God is good, he is right, He has saved 907 00:45:05,600 --> 00:45:06,960 me. I want to follow him. 908 00:45:06,960 --> 00:45:09,320 I want to trust him and I want to join some people doing that 909 00:45:09,320 --> 00:45:11,280 and I will do what he says I will. 910 00:45:11,280 --> 00:45:13,640 I will trust him. So some of y'all, it's time. 911 00:45:14,440 --> 00:45:17,680 The day of the Lord is coming at the end of our days. 912 00:45:18,080 --> 00:45:20,680 It's all going to be shown like did we live like all of life was 913 00:45:20,680 --> 00:45:24,440 worship or just I hope the the people I pity most in this room 914 00:45:24,440 --> 00:45:27,920 is the ones that are still just that's my hour a week, you know, 915 00:45:27,920 --> 00:45:30,000 check box. It's not that that makes you a 916 00:45:30,000 --> 00:45:31,680 bad person. It's that you're missing what 917 00:45:31,680 --> 00:45:33,720 God wants for your life. Does that make sense? 918 00:45:34,160 --> 00:45:38,160 Like he wants it all to connect. He wants to be big so that your 919 00:45:38,160 --> 00:45:41,000 life can be full. That's my prayer for you. 920 00:45:43,520 --> 00:45:47,160 Let's pray together. Our Father, we love you. 921 00:45:47,440 --> 00:45:49,360 You are big, you are good, you are glorious. 922 00:45:49,360 --> 00:45:54,040 God, sin can just create a fog where we can't see you. 923 00:45:54,040 --> 00:45:56,320 I pray for the church in this room. 924 00:45:56,320 --> 00:45:59,240 I pray for those who you have a book of remembrance on right 925 00:45:59,240 --> 00:46:00,360 now. God, I pray that you would 926 00:46:00,360 --> 00:46:03,360 encourage them, exhort them. I pray you would increase in 927 00:46:03,360 --> 00:46:05,800 size. But God, I pray as we think 928 00:46:05,800 --> 00:46:08,400 about all the ways we want you to get bigger in our game plan 929 00:46:08,400 --> 00:46:10,960 and reading your word and repentance and all the things. 930 00:46:10,960 --> 00:46:13,640 God, I just pray that we would see Christ crucified. 931 00:46:13,640 --> 00:46:16,400 I pray you would see the gift of a big God to us. 932 00:46:16,400 --> 00:46:19,320 God, I pray for my friends who don't yet know you would. 933 00:46:19,320 --> 00:46:21,640 Today be the day, by the power of the Holy Spirit, you 934 00:46:21,640 --> 00:46:23,920 breakthrough God, please breakthrough. 935 00:46:23,920 --> 00:46:27,520 You are big enough to show them yourself with clarity that they 936 00:46:27,520 --> 00:46:29,000 might repent and believe. Would you do it? 937 00:46:29,200 --> 00:46:30,960 For your beautiful name we pray. Amen.