Malachi 3:7-12

Transcript

GR 52
3/15/1975
Malachi 3:7-12
Gil Rugh


Into the book of Malachi and the 3rd chapter. Malachi, the last book in the Old Testament and the 3rd chapter. I'd like to begin our scripture reading with the 7th verse as you follow along in your bibles. Malachi 3:7, ''From the days of your fathers you have turned aside from My statutes and have not kept them. Return to Me, and I will return to you, says the Lord of hosts. 'But you say, 'How shall we return?' Will a man rob God? Yet you are robbing Me! But you say, 'How have we robbed You?' In tithes and offerings. You are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing Me, the whole nation of you! Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be food in My house, and test Me now in this,' says the Lord of hosts, 'if I will not open for you the windows of heaven, and pour out for you a blessing until there is no more need (it overflows). Then I will rebuke the devourer for you so that it may not destroy the fruits of the ground; nor will your vine in the field cast its grapes,' says the Lord of hosts. And all the nations will call you blessed, for you shall be a delightful land,' says the Lord of hosts. Your words have been arrogant against Me,' says the Lord. 'Yet you say, 'What have we spoken against thee?' You have said, 'It is vain to serve God; and what profit is it that we have kept His charge, and that we have walked in mourning before the Lord of hosts? So now we call the arrogan blessed; not only are the doers of wickedness built up, but they also test God and escape.' '' Then those who feared
the Lord spoke to one another, and the Lord gave attention and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before Him for those who fear the Lord and who esteem His name. And they will be Mine, says the Lord of hosts, on the day that I prepare My own possession, and I will spare them as a man spares his own son who se rve s him.’ so you will a gain dis ting uish between the righteous and the wicked, between one who serves God and one who does not serve Him.' ''
Listening and talking I don’t know. Sound this way
for a couple of months. I walked into the house the other day and Gregory says, 'hi froggie baby.’ (Gil has a hoarse voice)
We’re in Malachi in the 3rd chapter. Malachi chapter 3. Come to perhaps the most familiar portion in the book of Malachi. I’m not so sure it’s the most important, but it is probably the most familiar. Probably more sermons preached on the section that we read for our scripture reading than any other portion of Malachi. And the last verses in Malachi were God says, 'I’m going to send you a lie to the prophets before the great and terrible day of the Lord. Probably the only other portion as familiar as verse 8 has in Malachi chapter 3 is God talks about being robbed of His tithes and offerings.
The section does deal with the responsibilty of Israel in their giving in the tithes and offerings that God had required of them. In the opening part of the chapter He’s talked about the judgment that is coming. The refining process that is going to occur for the nation Israel. They kept crying out for justice, but failed to see something of the mercy and love of God manifested by the delaying of the outpouring of justice.
Becuase those who were crying out for justice would be consumed by the justice of God if He would pour it out, according their cry. So He was giving them opportunity to submit to Him. To be prepared by Him for the cleansing that is going to come and the judgment connected with it. And this has to do with the second coming of Jesus Christ to earth. We’re going to talk about this some, next week. And then in the following weeks as well when Jesus Christ comes to set up His kingdom there’s going to be a purging and a refining. And every unbeliever will be removed from the face of the earth so that believers are left to go into the kingdom. And Israel occupies a special place here and the judgment of Israel at this time, is mentioned a numberr of times through the prophets as well as by Christ, Himself.
So after talking about judgment and the purifying and the cleansing that will occur then He goes to draw their attention something of their problems. He’s mentioned in verse 6, ''....I
the Lord do not change; therefore you, 0 sons of Jacob, are not consumed.’’ It’s the very faithfulness of God that has enable Israel to endure. And it’s because of His faithfulness to the covenant that He has entered into that Israel has not been destroyed. And they lost sight of something of God’s fiathfulness in maintaining His relationship with them.
In verse 7, He picks up then with the accusation against them and He picks up in a very practical area really of their pocket books as we would say--their giving. ''From the days of your fathers you have turned aside from My statues and have not kept them. Return to Me, and I will return to you.’’ says the
Lord o£ Hosts , But you say, 'How shall we re t;urn. 1 A very contrast is striking between God's attitude and Israel's attitude. Israel comes on strong crying our for justice and judgment and God responds, ''From the days of your fathers you have turned aside from My statues and have not kept them.
Return to Me and I will return to You, says the Lord of Hosts.
So Israel cries out for justice and God keeps pouring out mercy. He says, 'don’t you come back to me. Don't you return to Me. This has been the pattern of your life to run away from Me. Now won't you turn and come back."' You see something of the love and compassion of God as the nation cries out for judgment, but the lovers and compassionate God, because of His grace and mercy we're told justice in judgment. Why? Becuase He wants the nation to come back. It's not God's desire to destroy the nation Israel. And this is picked up in the New testament.
''God is telling, not willing that any should perish. But that all should come to the knowledge of the truust betweem Man and God. nd God. Man is so impatient, so self-righteous so that the demanding of Justice. And yet God His standard is perfection realizes that there's no hope for man to reach His standards by his own doing. So He calls for man to turn to Him. Cast himself upon Him. ''Return to Me and I will return to you. What an offer! If you, Israel, will trust in Me, then our relationship will be as it should be. It's not that they have to beg God to come back. It's not that they have to plead with God, there's a right God, a holy God, a just God and I beg Him for so He hears. But that holy righteous God is begging me to come to Him. Just the opposite of what we would expect. That's
the answer o£ Israel, 'But we say How shall we shall we return and again Israel failing to see their situation. Failing to see their sins. What is wrong with me? I mean how can I be changed; there's nothing wrong with me. The implacation here and it will come out later on in our study this morning there must be something wrong with God. He says,
Return to me, but how can I re turn--there's nothing wrong. That would imply that I have strayed, that I have gone away, but there's nothing wrong with me. So How can I return to God? And the very attitude in such a response to a compassionate loving God indicates something of the degenerate condition of this people at this time.
Not such an unsual question now as to day. You address people of their need of coming to Jesus Christ and they say,
'Why, what's my need?' And the failure to recognize their need and their condition is the basic problem and you can go no further. And so you recognize what you are, who you are before God. See yourself as God sees you then you can respond to God as He indicates.
Alright a very practical area, very true. Will a man rob God? Now here is a question. And the word 'rob' here is a rather strong; rare in the old testament. But it's common in literature outside th bible. And it's usually used in a situation were something is taken by force or violence. And the picture here is a strong one of a robbery. Something taken by force or violence. Even stronger than we have in the margin of the defraud, because we think of someone who defrauds another as

doing it in an under-handed way, but there's no violence involved. There's no force used. But the word pictures here an actual robbery where violence is involved. A God says when a man robs God, acts violently to steal from God. Well, of course not. No one would do that. And God says yes they would, you are! You are robbing me, 'yet you are robbing me.' And again Israel doesn't get the point. Israel doesn't seem themselves as sinners as God says they are. Because what do they say? 'But you say, 'How have we robbed You.' Again the self-righteous attitude has toward themselves. They do not see themselves as having a great need that God says they have. How would we rob you? I mean, you know, give me an example. Alright: an
example! In tithes and offerings. You are curse3 with a curse for you are robbing, the whole nation. So this is not an isolated view that there's been a mass apostacy from God and it's indicated in their actions toward God and robbers. Now again you're not saved or lost on the basis of what you give.
Not in old testament and not now. But the situation is the same in that a man indicates his attitude toward God and how he respond to Him. And God had demanded from Israel tithes. The word means 'a tenth.' And Israel was required by Law to give a tenth. Come back to Deuteronomy 14. We'll only pick up one reference. Deuteronomy 14. Deuteronomy the 5th book in the old testament from the back to the front. We went back five books to Deuteronomy chpater 14. Verse 22, '‘You shall surely tithe all the produce from what you sow, which comes out of the field every year. And you shall eat in the presence of the Lord your God, at the place where He chooses to establish His name, the tithte of your grain, your new wine, your oil, and the firrst- born of your herd and your flock, in order that you may learn to fear the Lord your God always.’’ And you note, here, that the tithes is connect to the fear of the Lord. It’s not the external act of tithing but it’s the basic relationship of a fear of God that denotes that reverence, that trust that is foil o w e d } :> y o b e d i e n e e .
In verse 24, ''And if the distance is so great for you that you are not able to bring the tithe, since the place where the Lord your God chooses to set His name is too far away from you when the Lord your God blesses you, then you shall exchange it for money, and bind the money in your hand and go to the place which th e Lord your God chooses. And you may spend the money for whatever your heart desires, for oxen, or sheep, or wine, or strong drink, or whatever your heart desires; and there you shall eat in th epresence of the Lord your God and rejoice, you and your household. Also you shall not neglect the Levite and so on down regarding the tithes. So the tithes was to be given to God. And it was of the grain, the produce, the livestock, whatever. You note the tithes was to be paid in what was tithed. If it was grain, it was paid in grain. If it was an animal it was paid in an animal. And there was an exception. If you were too far from the temple to make your tithes paid there, you couldn’t take your herd with you, then you could cash it in for money. Then when you got to the temple you could use your money to buy the offering again. Money was not given as the offering. And this is where the abuse is found in the new testament where J6sus drives the animals out o£ temple. Because it would become a money making proposition for the priests.
These people that came from great distances that had to sell their produce or livestock before they came, then buy them when they got to the temple were being fleeced by the priests. You had to buy some new at the temple and you'd have to pay five- times what you pay anywhere else to get it. But the tithe is demanded by God. It was an indication that they revered, that they feared, that they trusted Him. And God says very simply, that when you withold the tithes you have robbed me. This morning I have claimed it.
Then each four kind of tithes, I'll just mention these to you and you see something of how the system was developed in the old testament. There was the first tithe which was the tithe of all that was left after the first fruits. The tithe of the remainder after the first fruit. The first fruits were brought and offered to God indication of a coming harvest and blessing. Then after that a tenth of all that was left was given and this amount went to the Levites for their livelihood. They were supported by the tithes. The Levities had the care of spiritual things--the temple and so on. Leviticus 27:30-33 talk about t h i s .
Second kind of tithes is the tenth that the Levites payed to the priests. There were all priests, Levites; but not all Levites were priests. So the Levites recieved the tithes from the people for their support, the whole tribe. Then this tribe gave a tenth of all they had particularly for the care of the priests who functioned in the temple. Number 18:26-28 talks about this tithe.
Third tithe is a second 10th that was paid by the congregation particularly for the Levites and their families at the tabernacle. Again a limited area. Those who were at the tabernacle, the Levites and their families, they got a second tenth for their care.
The fourth tithes I take it was every third year. Every third year there was a tithe taken for poor, back in Deuteronomy 14:28-29 and you can see something of the problem then in verse 5 of chapter 3 of Malachi. When God says the orphan and the widow have been neglected. Becuase Israel has been robbing God and tithes have not been taken for the poor. And so they’re not provided for. They're not cared for. And this problem is simply an indication of another problem. This is an indication of another problem--the widow and the orphan who is not being taken care of, that indicates a problem. But you back up to the problem that the tithe is not being taken. It back up to a problem that people simply quit trusting and fearing the Lord of 'Sabbio’, the Lord of hosts. So the tithes was laid out quite in detail and was involved. And it was for Israel and I take it was the responibi1ity that they had before God. My understand is that the tithe is not addresses us today. The new testament epistle say nothing about a tithe from Christians. The tithe is mentioned a couple of times in the gospels and the gospels if you remember are under law--Jesus Christ lived under the law in the old testament. And the tithe was mentioned in the book of Hebrews in an historical reference going back to the old
t e s t a me n t T N O Wh ere d o e s P a u 1 , o r a n y 0 £ t h 0 01 h 01 n 0 w 10 s t a 1110 n t writers, exhort believers today to give a tithe o£ their income.
Believers today are exhorted today by God to give as God has prospered them but on the basis and on the understanding that Jesus Christ who was rich became poor for us in order that we might be rich in Him. So that’s the foundation of my giving. It might mean that I give a tenth, It might mean that I give a less, it might mean that I give more. But that's a personal matter before God. The offering here or the contributions as we have it in the text in the New American Standard version refers to the heave offering that you have in the margin in the New American Standard. And the heave offering was a special offering where heaves means to lift up. And it was lifted up from the rest in a special offering to God. It was primarily the right thigh of the animal. The right thigh picturing the inner parts of the right thigh was used as the choices portion of meat. Look back to Exodus chapter 29. Exodus 29, the second book in the old testament, the 29th chapter and you can pick up the reading in verse 22. We'll go down further and pick up with verse 27, vvAnd you shall consecrate the breast of the wave offering,called the wave offering because it was waved before God, and the thigh of the heave offering which was waved and which was offered from the ram of ordination, from the one which was for Aaron and from the one which was for his sons. And it shall be for Aaron and his sons as their portion forever from the sons of Israel, for it is a heave offering; and it shall be a heave offering from the sons of Israel from the sacrifice of their peace offerings, even their heave offering to the Lord.''

So from the peace offering this right thigh was taken, lifted off, lifted up as a special offering to the priests. Look over in Leviticus chapter 7. Leviticus the next book after Exodus. Leviticus chapter 7:28. The verse picks up, ''The Lord spoke to Moses,*’ and then go down to verse 32. We won't read all the. verses. ''And you shall give the right thigh to the priest as a co n t ributio n (heave offering) f ro m t he sa c rifices o f yo ur pe ac e offerings. The one among the sons of Aaron who offers the blood of the peace offerings and the fat, the right thigh shall be his as his portion.** You note our personal it is with God. God didn't need any meat to eat and sustain Himself. He didn't need their money to run heaven. And He was hungry and He wasn't broke. Their giving of their money, their tithes, their possessions, and we call that money, their flock, their grain, and their giving of the heave offering to the priests was given to God. Because God directed whether it would be used for the temple, the tabernacle, it's services and the priests. So in giving it to the priests, they were giving it to God. If it was withholding it from the priests they we're withholding it from God. And maybe the priest were fatted this time. You know when you look at a fat priest and you say, 'he doesn't need it as bad as I do.' That's irrelvant. I'm not giving it to the priest, I'm giving it to God. It's because God says that in giving it to Him, I should carry it over to the priests and that's what I do. I don't find excuses for not giving it. I give it because I'm giving it to God. Now He never did need if for His own self-image. But it indicates my attitude in submission to Him.

By reverence and tear for Him. Because any one who reverences and fears God can makes himself as He is to whom I don't submit then I revere, I don’t fear Him I set myself opposition to Him.
So that's the heave offering in Malachi chapter 3. I take it it's that particular offering for the priests. It's interesting to me that it is the choicest part of the animal.
You can write down I Samuel 9:24, we won't turn there. I Samuel 9:24, because there Saul is being set apart to be king of Israel by Samuel and at the feast (tape over)
He never did need it for His own self-image. But it
indicates my attitude in submission to Him. My reverence and fear for Him. Because anyone who reverences and fears God can makes Himself purer. To Him, who I don't submit, then I don't revere and I don't fear Him. I set myself in opposition to Him.
Thus the heave offering in Malachi chapter 3. I take it that particular offering for the priests. It's interesting to me that it's the choices part of the animal. You can write down I Samuel 9:24, we won't turn there. I Samuel 9:24. Because there Saul is being set apart to be king of Israel by Samuel and at the feast the best choice portion is saved for Saul to indicate that he is the guest of honor at this feast. And so Samauel brings him the right thigh indication to all that saul is the guest of honor here. And it's significant that God picks out the choicest portion for Himself. He. doesn't say,
‘Give me the foot, vbecause no one really needs that. That that will be sufficient. He takes that which would be most desirable for Himself. I think that indicates something of the God we
have, and something of the attitude we ought to have toward Him. The attitude we igive Him what does not cost, you give Him of what is left over, you give Him of what is not need any where else, is not satisfactory for Him. He chooses the best for Himself. But in giving Him the best the people get the greatest blessings possible. You can jot down Deuteronomy 12 as well. Verse 6 &. 11. Because it was required in Deuteronomy 12 it &. 11, that the heave offering be eaten at the sanctuary. The heave offering was eaten only at the temple, at the sanctuary. I mention that because sometimes the tithes and offerings here form the basis for great and wonderful sermons preached in our churches today. And it (?) meets the sight of the historical content of the tithes and the heave offering. It was given at the sanctuary, the tithes, that what was taken and given, the sanctuary being the place were God manifest His precense. And the heave offering was given and eaten at the sanctuary as well. We could not function on that basis today. The Jews cannot function of that basis today because they don't have the temple and they don't have the sanctuary. They could not fulfill this. And to say that this is the sanctuary is to misunderstand biblical teaching. There is a sanctuary here and it’s every believer. Because Paul writes to the Corinthians, 'Don't you know you are the temple of the Holy Ghost. God dwells in you now.' So sometimes we call this auditorium the sanctuary, because that probably a mis-nomer. You come out of the auditorium where believers meet together to study the word. And if we move out and the elks club moves in that doesn’t do a thing to r It or any other club, I don't want to offend a few if you're an elks member just so you've been santified by this place doesn't mean it's a temple. If the temple were a sanctified place that’s where God manifested His presence. My body is a santified place now. That’s where God manifest His presence. Then I'm required to keep it holy for Him as the Jews were required to keep the sanctuary holy for Him as an indication that He dwelt there.
Alright they were robbing God. Now this verse does not directly speak to us. I take it the principle does. That what GOd requires of me is His and as long I hold it back from Him, whatever it is, I am robbing Him. I'm defrauding Him of what is rightfully His. Whatever that might be.
So verse 9, ''You are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing Me, the whole nation of you! Brin the whole tithe into the storehouse,’’ Now often when this is preached, you preach usually verses 7-12 and then you preach on bringing the tithe into the storehouse. And what is the 'storehouse'? Indian Hills Community Church! Now bring your tithes here and we’ll collect It and store it up. Oh, we will not. We'll take into Gateway Bank tonight and put it there. It won't be stored here at all. The treasurer will count it make up a deposit and we’ll carry it over to the bank. So really the storehouse is Gateway bank. Now that’s sanctifying Indian Hill Community Church.
Again the reference here has to do with the old testament situation. At the temple there were chambers built right in the temple for the storing of the grain that was brought. What were they going to do with the grain that was brought as a tithe?
They had storehouses built right at the temple.
Turn over to Nehemiah, if you would. Ezra, Nehemiah after Job. Nehemiah chapter 10, page 669 in the old testament of the New American standard bible. 699, Nehemiah chapter 10 verse 38. ''And the priest, the son of Aaron,1' they're talking about the descendant of Aaron now, just like we were a 1000 years after Aaron here, but the son of Aaron, the descendant of Aaron, ''shall be with the Levities, when the Levites receive tithes, and the Levites shall bring up the tenth of the tithes to the house of our God, to the chambers of the storehouse.’’ So the sons of Israel and the sons of Levi shall bring the contribution of the grain, the new wine, the oil to the chambers. They are utensils of the sanctuary, ''the priest who are ministering, the gatekeepers, and the singers. Thus we will not neglect the house of our God.’’
Look over in chapter 13 of Nehemiah verse 12. ''All Judah then brought the tithe of the grain, wine, and oil into the storehouses’ So in Malachi chgapter 3 when God says bring the whole tithes into the storehouse that there maybe food in my house, he’s talking about Israel, again, bringing their tithes. You know if they're start to tithe they would bring it to the temple and it would fill up the rooms. But it gotten so bad when you read about this in the historical account in Ezra and Nehemiah, some of you who were in one of our Sunday school classes styuding Nehemiah; that they’d even set aside the empty chambers in the temple, one of the storehouse chambers, to be an office for an unbeliever. One of the enemies of God had his office in the empty storehouse and that indicates the degenerate condition. It was empty because the people weren’t tithing and were letting an unbeliever occupying it. It just shows how degenerate they really were. So when you read about Sam B(?) and his cohorts we read in Nehemiah.
Alright back to Halachi 3. Now God said to bring it and then He gives His promise. ''Test Me now in this.’’ Now there’s a wrong way to test God and there’s a right way to test God. And here is an area where God says, 'test Me!’ Try it and see if it works. ''Test Me now in this, ’ says the Lord of Hosts 'if I will not open for you the window of heaven and pour out for you a blessing until there is no more need. Then I will rebuke the devourer for you, so that it may not destroy the fruits of the ground; nor will your vine in the field cast its grapes,’ says the Lord of Hosts. And all the nations will call you blessed, for you shall be a delightful land,’ says the I.ord of Hosts . ’ ’
You know why we hold back from God? We hold back because we are afraid the costs is to great. You know why Israel didn’t pay its tithes? They thought they could put that money to better use. I give it to God and that means that there’s at least 10 percent gone and I need that. And I can use it. And when Israel stopped paying their tithes, the real reason it is so serious is, it indicates that they ceased to trust God and started to trust themselves again. Started to trust their material things again. They thought that they’re security depended upon the!r having and so they cou1dn’t let it go, They were afraud it would be too costly to give it to God. And God
says: 'Try Me! See!’ Who do you think controls this world?
Why do you think, in verse 11, that the devoured is destroying your fruit? That the grapes are falling off the vine before you picked them? Where do you think all this trouble is coming from? Me! So you're withhold from Me so that you would have more and you know what you have? You have nothing!!! So try Me, Do it My way, Cast yourself upon Me and manifest yourself that you've cast yourself upon Me by the giving of your tithes and heave offerings again. And see. if I don't open heaven. Now you see the source that He talks about. Me! The God of heaven. I'll open My heaven and shower down upon you all the blessings, there couldn't be anymore need.' We have it in the margin, and the King James has it more picturesquely until you shall not be able to contain. Now I mean now, there'll just be an abundance. And what happens. Israel tries to do it their way and the very thing they desire so much eludes them. They think, hold back to the tithes from God and they'll get richer, they'll have more. And as they hold back from God they have less and less and less.
It's true in every area of their life. It's just pictured here perhaps more clearly. Because that's usually one of the first places our spiritual problems show up.
It mentions the family in chapter 2 and our pocket book in Matthew chapter 3. When I begin to have problems in my spiritual life, my spiritual life in my relationship with God is not what God says it should be I have problems with my wife.
And if my relationship with God is not what it should be I'll be developing more and more and more of materialistic emphasis and
ou11 ook, Becaus e i £ my r e 1 at i onsh i p wi th God i s not what i t should be. If my attention is not focused upon Him, if my life is not based upon Him, the only other thing there is is this world and what it offers. And so I build my life on that. And that will manifest itself in my trying to get for myself. Hold for myself and it works it way even into the life of a believer where we begin to get afraid that it’s too costly to serve God.
It’s often mentioned by a person when he’s confronted, his reality of new life in Christ, 'Will it be too costly if I trust Him? will it be too costly if He takes control of this life?
You know I may no longer be my own because I've been bought with a price. Maybe that’s too costly. Maybe I want to have fun. I want to have satisfaction. I want to get all out of life that I possibly can. You know what the tragedy of that is? The very thing that a person wants so bad, that he doesn’t think that he can turn to God is the very thing that he cannot have apart from God. Because where could a man go to find satisfaction, security, happiness, peace in this day, except to God. Yet men are afraid that it will be too costly to turn to Him. The same problem that Israel had. It's too costly. And yet here we see the patience, the compassion, and the love of
God who stands there and says 'try me, try it. Just test Me and see. Cast yourself upon Me for a change and see. But Israel wasn't willing to do it. Israel is in a mess at this time and it's going to get worse that Israel has not yet come to the place we're they're willing to cast themselves upon Jesus Christ as their Messiah. And as Malachi writes Israel was not yet ready to cast themselves upon God.
In verse 16 He’ll talk about those who fear the Lord, and esteem His name. That is what God is concerned about. Those who fear Him. Revere Him, trust Him, hold Him in honor. And what they did with the material things is simply an indication of where they held Hirn.
I wonder what your concern is this morning as you hear, belie ve r o r u. n be 1 i e v e r ? We're n o t a f t e r yo u r mo n e y. G od ha s n' t
commissioned me to be a vendor for Him. If He is a God that
needed me to vend for Him He wouldn't be much of a God. He's got all the wealth of heaven at His disposal. Everything He ask of Me is for my greater blessing in order that I might be and have all that He intends for me to have.
Have you ever come to the place in your life where you've cast yourself upon Him? Where you've placed your trust in Him
alone--not in your job, not in your finances, not in your
ability, but in Him. That’s the only way because you need forgiveness in the sins that you've guilty of and forgiveness is found in the person of His Son, Jesus Christ. And the amazing thing is that if we keep saying 'no' in compassion He says, ‘whosoever will may come; I'm not willing that any should perish', quit crying out for justice and consider a moment my compassion and love for you.
Now I wonder you're here as a believer are we really manifesting in our every day life and conduct that Jesus Christ is first and formost in our life. We live in a materialistic world. All that the world has is what it can fast hold in it's hand. What it can see eye what it can latch on to. The tragedy

ls so fleeting and so passing--it’s here for a moment and then it’s gone. We’re here and we’re gone.
We read about the Arisotle Onasis and all his portion is still here. The tragedy of working all your life for something that is too short-sighted. You work all your life to acquire then you work the rest of your time so that you can save it for your child. Then you die and what do you have? Well in Jesus Christ you have everything. You have the satisfaction, the security, the peace that finances can't bring, that power can’t bring, that prestige can’t bring and the peace, security, satisfaction we have in Jesus Christ can never be touched. As this world of turmoil goes up and down, up and down, I have one who will be eternally the same. I do not change. Jesus Christ the same yesterday, today and forever. So I trust in Him and each day He faithfully keeps me. And I need not be afraid that it’s too costly to serve Him. That it’s too costly to trust Him. It’s so costly not too that I cannot afford it. He’s got everything I need, everything I desire in Him and Him alone. Let’s pray together.
Father we thank you for your grace and love. Lord make ne in compassion that goes beyond understanding as we as mere mortal men lose patience and cry out for justice. Lord we forget that we are frail sinners unable to stand in the presence of a Holy God except for your grace and provision in the person of Jesus Christ. Father pray for those who are here this morning who have not yet cast themselves upon You. Have not yet placed their faith and trust in the Savior that you've provided, Jesus Christ. Pray that this morning they might see Him as the one who is sufficient to meet their every need who's blood is sufficent to cleanse him from every sin and who will bring them into a personal relationship with a God who loves them. Father pray for those of us who are your children. Lord helps us to live in a midst of Godless generation as life pointing to Jesus Christ. Keep us from being caught up in the materialism and the earth-centered things. Lord pray that we may focus our mind upon Jesus Christ. Put our attention upon heavenly things.

Lord that our lives and our conduct and all we do and say, I be a testimony to the God who loves us, keeps us and provides for our every need. Father we’re thankful that we have a source who will never be empty, never be dry. Lord that your faithfulness will keep us day by day in every situation. That you'll supply all our needs according to the riches in glory in Christ Jesus. We pray this morning in His name. Amen.