MALACHI #1- HOW HAVE YOU LOVED US - PTR ALVIN GUTIERREZ - 4PM AFTERNOON SERVICE
-
Upload
faithworks-christian-church -
Category
Spiritual
-
view
306 -
download
0
Transcript of MALACHI #1- HOW HAVE YOU LOVED US - PTR ALVIN GUTIERREZ - 4PM AFTERNOON SERVICE
Malachi 1:1-5
1 A prophecy: The word of theLord to Israel through Malachi.
2 “I have loved you,” says the Lord.“But you ask, ‘How have you lovedus?’
HOW HAVE YOU LOVED US?
Malachi 1:1-5
“Was not Esau Jacob’s brother?”declares the Lord. “Yet I have lovedJacob, 3 but Esau I have hated, andI have turned his hill country into awasteland and left his inheritance tothe desert jackals.”
HOW HAVE YOU LOVED US?
Malachi 1:1-5
4 Edom may say, “Though we havebeen crushed, we will rebuild theruins.”
But this is what the Lord Almightysays:
HOW HAVE YOU LOVED US?
Malachi 1:1-5
“They may build, but I willdemolish. They will be called theWicked Land, a people alwaysunder the wrath of the Lord. 5 Youwill see it with your own eyes andsay, ‘Great is the Lord—evenbeyond the borders of Israel!’
HOW HAVE YOU LOVED US?
Think in terms of lineage and legacy.
Think in terms of generational
impact for good or for evil.
HOW HAVE YOU LOVED US?
You’re not a believer. You don’t
know and love and serve the Lord
Jesus. Maybe you’re kind of
religious, kind of moral, kind of
spiritual, but you don’t really have a
strong connection to the Jesus of the
Bible and to the people of God.
HOW HAVE YOU LOVED US?
You do love and serve the Lord.
You know you’re not perfect, but
you are strong, you are growing, you
are giving, you are caring, you are
learning, you are serving.
HOW HAVE YOU LOVED US?
We need you to stay strong, we need
you to stand firm, we need you to
persevere, we need you to overcome
by the grace of God.
HOW HAVE YOU LOVED US?
If you’re the first link in the chain of
faith, we need you to know that you,
particularly, need to be a strong link
because there are many who are
going to then learn from your faith
and follow in your example of faith.
HOW HAVE YOU LOVED US?
You know that you are the
halfhearted one, you are the weak-
willed one, you are the uncommitted
one.
HOW HAVE YOU LOVED US?
In the book of Malachi, God is
speaking to, largely, a group of
people who are weak links in a chain
of weak links. Things are not strong;
they are weak. They are not going
well; they are going poorly. The
future does not look bright; the
future looks bleak.
HOW HAVE YOU LOVED US?
In this regard, think of Malachi every
time you open or close a door. A
door separates what was from what is
next. Malachi is a door like that.
HOW HAVE YOU LOVED US?
It’s the last book of the Old
Testament. It closes the Old
Testament canon of Scripture, and it
opens us to the coming of John the
Baptizer and the Lord Jesus Christ—
what is to be next in the history of
the world.
HOW HAVE YOU LOVED US?
God the Father has gathered his
children who are weak links in the
chain, and some of them not yet
links in the chain of faith at all, and
he is going to passionately plead with
them.
HOW HAVE YOU LOVED US?
Here’s the big idea: rather than just
asking God to speak to you, believe
that he already has and read what
he’s already written.
HOW HAVE YOU LOVED US?
“I love you, and because I love you,
you’re going to obey me. Your
obedience, rather, does not compel
me to love you. My love will compel
you to obey me.”
HOW HAVE YOU LOVED US?
God did not pick you because you’re
great. God picked you because he’s
great. “I have loved you.”
HOW HAVE YOU LOVED US?
Some people are going to hell. Hell
is not the absence of God; it’s the
absence of God’s grace. It’s just the
wrath of God, the justice of God,
and the anger of God forever.
HOW HAVE YOU LOVED US?
HOW HAVE YOU LOVED US?
• Some of you have been wronglytaught that you chose God. Youdidn’t, because the Bible saysthat no one seeks God and noone chooses God. Instead, Godchose you. Before you everchose God, God chose you.
Sin is not just breaking God’s laws;
sin is breaking God’s heart. It says in
Genesis 6 that “God was grieved in
his heart that he made man because
his sin was only evil all the time.”
HOW HAVE YOU LOVED US?
And here’s a parenting tip: when
your child hurts you emotionally,
continue to be their parent, not their
sibling. What God doesn’t do is
absorb a lot of hurt and then
respond like an insulted sibling.
HOW HAVE YOU LOVED US?
It’s not right, but parents should never
respond like that. When you are hurt,
you have an opportunity to rise above
it, to absorb it, to lead through it, to
set an example in the midst of it, or to
descend, to come alongside, and act
like the oldest child in the family, to
act like a sibling instead of a parent.
HOW HAVE YOU LOVED US?
God absorbs all of this hurt and he
maintains his fatherly disposition. He
doesn’t argue. He doesn’t slap back.
He’s still leading.
HOW HAVE YOU LOVED US?
What hurt have you caused God the
Father with your words, with your
deeds? In what ways have you hurt
God the Father?
HOW HAVE YOU LOVED US?
If you see yourself as bad, it’s easier
to see God as good. There’s good
and bad. If you’re good, God’s bad.
If you’re bad, God’s good.
HOW HAVE YOU LOVED US?
Discipline is one way that God loves
us. Many of you are struggling, and
you’re suffering, and you’re
wondering if God is punishing. The
answer is no.
HOW HAVE YOU LOVED US?
If you are a Christian, God does not
punish you. Jesus was already
punished in your place. It would be
injustice for God to punish him and
you. But God will discipline you.
HOW HAVE YOU LOVED US?
He’ll sometimes let you reap what
you sow because he loves you, he’s
trying to help you, and he’s trying to
change you. And him doing that is
an indication that he loves you.
HOW HAVE YOU LOVED US?
We do not think that we are good
people who just need to become
who we are. We believe that we are
bad people who need to become
someone else.
HOW HAVE YOU LOVED US?
Parental discipline in this life is one
of the ways that God saves us from
ourselves, and the Father disciplines
us as well to save us from ourselves.
The Bible says, “No discipline seems
pleasant at the moment.”
HOW HAVE YOU LOVED US?
No discipline seems pleasant at the
moment, but it reaps a harvest of
righteousness later. That’s what the
Bible says.
HOW HAVE YOU LOVED US?
He’s going to talk about their rebellion.
He’s going to talk about the guys who
say they’re believers marrying girls who
are unbelievers. Some of you are dating
someone you should not be marrying.
HOW HAVE YOU LOVED US?
They don’t give generously; they’re
greedy. They don’t serve
wholeheartedly; they’re lazy. They’re not
thinking about others; they’re only
thinking about themselves, but they do
so with very religious platitudes.
HOW HAVE YOU LOVED US?
These are people who are trying to
figure out what the minimum standard is
and are very unmotivated to even aspire
to that. They’re more concerned about
what they can get away with than what
they can give away. What is supposed to
be ritual, becomes, for you, routine.
HOW HAVE YOU LOVED US?
God has not failed you. God has not
failed you, and God does not owe
you. Everything else is a gift. That’s a
lot of gifts. God has not failed you.
God does not owe you.
HOW HAVE YOU LOVED US?
If you don’t appreciate all that God
has done for you, you won’t be
motivated to do what he’s asking you
to do.
HOW HAVE YOU LOVED US?
The key is not to focus on what you
need to do. The key is to figure out
what he’s already done, and that is
his love for you that should compel
you to be like your Father to do the
things that he wants you to do.
HOW HAVE YOU LOVED US?
God expects us to change our
attitude even if he does not change
our circumstances. These were not
atheists, but they were angry.
HOW HAVE YOU LOVED US?
God may or may not ever change
your circumstance, but he wants you
to change your attitude.
HOW HAVE YOU LOVED US?
If he changes your circumstances
before you change your attitude, he’s
giving you the impression that you
are in charge of him, that it’s a
hostage negotiation, and he lost.
HOW HAVE YOU LOVED US?
Maybe if you would change your
attitude, he would change your
circumstances, but it would not be a
good idea for him to change your
circumstances if you have the same
attitude.
HOW HAVE YOU LOVED US?
Apart from Jesus, who would you
be? Where would you be? What
would you be? What legacy would
you leave? And would it be better?
The answer is no. This is what God
does.
HOW HAVE YOU LOVED US?
They come to him and they say,
“How have you loved us?” He says,
“Well, let’s look back. Let’s reflect
on the change that has already been
brought and wrought because of my
love for you.”
HOW HAVE YOU LOVED US?
There’s a lot of people to love and to
save, and nations to reach, and
churches to plant, and disciples—
yeah, this is quite a road trip.
HOW HAVE YOU LOVED US?
Heaven’s going to be awesome. This
is as close to hell as you’ll ever be.
For the non-Christian, this is as close
to heaven as you’ll ever be.
HOW HAVE YOU LOVED US?
Just the fact that we have a Father
who lets us yell at him means we’re
loved.
HOW HAVE YOU LOVED US?
That changes everything. If you
begin with faith in the love of the
Father, it changes your mind, your
heart, your life, your direction, your
destiny, and it alters your legacy, and
that’s what he wants for you because
he loves you.
HOW HAVE YOU LOVED US?
So here are the two big ideas: God
loves you and he wants you to be
living for a legacy so that others
would come to know of his love and
love him too.
HOW HAVE YOU LOVED US?