This sermon from the book of Malachi emphasizes the importance of turning our hearts back to God, focusing on the need for genuine sacrifice, discernment, and a deep reverence for the Lord. It highlights the call to present our lives as living sacrifices, to seek God's will above all else, and to trust in His power to transform us. The message urges believers to have a heavenly perspective, to live in faith and obedience, and to be vessels of God's love and truth in a world in need of His light.

Praise God. If you'd be kind enough to go to the book of Malachi, please, in the Old Testament. Last book in the Old Testament. For those that are new to the Lord, just go to the Gospel of Matthew, which is the first in the new, and go back one book. You'll find Malachi. And when you do, just sit somewhere close by and we'll be referring to it. Let's pray together. Almighty God, Lord, I thank you for the anointing of the Holy Spirit. Lord, you have to speak to your church. You have to speak clearly. All I can do is stand as a vessel. I can only offer my life as a living sacrifice to you. But Holy Spirit, it's up to you to organize the thoughts of my mind and to create in me the passion of the heart to be able to speak the words that you give me. God Almighty, speak to your church. Help us to hear what you are saying. Help us, God, to understand the hour that we're living in. Oh, Lord, if ever I'd needed you, I would be afraid to speak this word without the anointing. God Almighty, help me to speak it today. Help those that are gathered and those that will hear it in the future. Give us ears to hear. I thank you for it with all my heart. In Jesus' mighty name. Amen. Book of Malachi is an incredible book. Most scholars agree that the writings of Malachi encompass both the first and the second coming of Jesus Christ. Quite often in the Old Testament, when the prophets wrote, they wrote in a manner that pertained to their day as well as to our day. And some of the scriptures, for example, Malachi chapter 3 verses 1 to 5 and chapter 4 verses 1 to 3, most who study this book would agree that these are scriptures that apply equally to the social condition of the day and the first coming of Jesus Christ, following the ministry of the forerunner to him, who is John the Baptist. And they would agree that in our day, there is reference to a day in here that they didn't experience in their time, but we will experience in our time. A day of burning. It's a day of judgment, a day of the ultimate justice of God coming into the world. We are soon going to experience that. It's an amazing thing to understand that if we know the Old Testament, we can understand the pattern of how God interacts with nations, because he never acts outside of who he is. Men try to change the image of God, and it's done all the time. It's being done today, various places even throughout our own society that we're living in today. But in Malachi chapter 3 in verse 6, he says, I am the Lord, in the King James, let me read it to you first in the King James, I am the Lord, I change not, therefore you sons of Jacob are not consumed. The living letters paraphrased translation says it this way, for I am the Lord, I do not change, and that is why you are not already utterly destroyed. For my mercy endures forever. In other words, because I don't change, God says you have a reason to be thankful, because I've given you a season to turn from where you are to where you need to be. Thank God for mercy. That's all I can say this morning. Thank God for his mercy. Thank God that God didn't judge you and I the way we deserve to be judged, but instead sent that judgment on his own son 2,000 years ago, and because of the sacrifice that Christ paid, you and I have a freedom today. We have a freedom to understand the scriptures. We have a freedom to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. We have a freedom to be changed, as the Bible says in the New Testament, from image to image and glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord. And that means we have the right to have God within us, bring his own name to glory. That's really what it means. It means God in us through the Holy Spirit, bringing his own name through a body to reputation. We have that right. If we sincerely approach God, if you are here today and you have an honest heart and an open heart, you should expect the miraculous to occur in your life. You should expect to be changed before you leave today. And before you wake up tomorrow morning, you should expect that you further change. And before Tuesday comes, you should expect there's been deeper change. There's a change going on in the lives of those who are approaching God in a manner of truth and trusting in the Holy Spirit to change them. Malachi is the pattern in the sense of how God deals with a society. And after the book of Malachi was written, there was silence for 400 years. It's an amazing thing. There was a prophetic, obviously there were still voices here and there occasionally, but the major prophets, the major prophetic voices were gone. And in a sense, it's like the Lord is saying, this is all I have to say. I've said it all. Now we're living in a generation where many, many are professing a pursuit of God. It's in my generation, I've seen this. I've seen whole packs of people traveling all over the world in what appears to be a holy pursuit. But in reality, it isn't holy. It's built on another foundation. It's built largely on the foundation of having rejected what's already written. Just like in Jeremiah's day, the people kept coming to the prophet and saying, is there any word from the Lord? Jeremiah would say, well, I've already told you what God is speaking. Well, tell us, did he change his mind? Is there something new? And the only reason people are running the world looking for something new is because they've rejected the old. They've rejected what already is. That's why one of the Old Testament prophets said, seek out the old paths and walk in those ways and you will find there rest for your souls. God has spoken it. It's definitive. 400 years of silence, and then the Lord comes the first time. I'm speaking this morning about the final word before the Lord returns. Malachi shows us that what society looked like and thought like before Christ's first coming is essentially what it will look like in our day before His final return. And it's true. If you look and study this book, and I've been in this book for almost three weeks now, and if you study it very carefully and closely, you'll see that it mirrors what Paul had to say to Timothy about the last days, the lethargic spiritual condition of much, not all, thank God, but much of what professes to be the church of Jesus Christ. Peter, the apostle, said there's an attitude going to come into the heart of people and they're going to say, where is the Lord's, where is the promise of His return? Since the days of the, our fathers have fell asleep, all things remain exactly as they have been. Jesus Himself said there's going to be just a preoccupation with the preservation of oneself, buying, selling, marrying, all of these things that are not evil in themselves, but there'll be a preoccupation with it and many will be caught off guard. They'll not even be aware of the hour that we're living in when Christ returns. Malachi is a blueprint, in essence, of how God sees and how God responds to both the wrong and the right attitudes of the heart. You can take this, if you want to know how God works, because He doesn't change, He says, just look at this book and study this book and you'll see exactly how I respond and what my word is to any people or society who are found in this condition. I thank God that He's giving us in this church an understanding that we don't need something new, we just need to understand what already is, what God has already spoken. Thank God for so many here today who are not running the roads as it is, looking for something new. You are here because I believe, in essence, that you want to know what God is speaking and I'm here to tell you this morning that what God is speaking is directly the same as what He has already and always spoken. Nothing is new, nothing has changed. He's already made it very, very clear in His word. Now, I want to take you through quickly the book of Malachi and as we look at some of the scriptures in Malachi, I want you to see what God had to say to this generation and as we're going through it, then take it by the Spirit and superimpose it as it is on our generation and ultimately on your own heart. Malachi chapter 1, verses 1 to 5, the Lord says, I'm going to throw down the borders of Esau, the burden of the word of the Lord to Israel by Malachi. I've loved you, said the Lord, yet you say, wherein hast thou loved us? Was not Esau Jacob's brother, said the Lord? Yet I loved Jacob and I hated Esau and laid his mountains and his heritage waste for the dragons of the wilderness, whereas Edom says we are impoverished but we will return and build the desolate places. Thus says the Lord of hosts, they shall build but I will throw down and they will call them the border of wickedness and the people against whom the Lord has indignation forever and your eyes shall see and you shall say the Lord will be magnified from the border of Israel. Here's what God says through Malachi, there is a people who claim to be of my lineage but just as there was a division between Jacob and Esau who were in the direct lineage of the promise of God to be a blessing of the earth, who were in essence the direct relations of Abraham and in the lineage of Jesus Christ. Esau was a man governed by his belly. Esau was a man who took very very lightly the word of God. He took very very lightly what it meant to live in the lineage of God. He didn't seek God. He was a carnal man and all he was concerned even in whatever measure he had of coming into the presence of God, even that was governed by his belly. Ultimately it cost him because he came back from hunting one day and was famished and his brother Jacob was making a soup really and a stew and he looked at the stew and he made a choice. It was either the heritage of God, the birthright that was his, that this life that God promises would be passed on through him or he would turn to the bowl of stew and satisfy the lust of his own flesh. That's why Paul says I tell you now and even weeping that many are the enemies of the cross of Christ whose God is their belly, whose glory is in their shame and whose mind is focused on earthly things. We have a whole segment of the Christian church in this world today who fit this gospel of Esau, whose minds are focused on earthly things. They have, they gather by the thousands to focus on earthly things. They have preachers who lead them into the focus of earthly things and they don't realize that God says there's a day coming when I've had enough of this. There's a day coming when those who have dealt casually and lightly with the word of God, I think of this country in particular, look back at the history and the heritage. No we're not perfect. America has never been perfect but I want to tell you something just as Jacob was not perfect he was filled with frailty but Jacob wanted the life that God was offering and there have been seasons and there have been times and there have been churches, there and say there was a time when even in our frailty that Christ was longed for in our borders but what happened in this country? What happened that we allowed not only greed to permeate Wall Street, greed to permeate all types and facets of our society but greed now permeates much of what professes to be the house of God and God says I'm going to tear down the borders of Esau. Everything that Esau has built and all of Esau's false comforts and all of his theological perspective on the reason why he's left in the earth, I'm going to tear it all down. Esau will attempt to rebuild it but God says I will not allow it to be rebuilt. The day of justice has come and everyone who's served any God apart from the Lord Jesus Christ is going to know and he says your eyes shall see verse 5 and you shall see the Lord will be magnified from the border of Israel. God says I'm going to bring such a judgment on this that outside of the borders if I will not be magnified in your borders I will be magnified outside of your borders as others look in and say only God could do this. God is fighting now for the honor of his own name. Look at the condition now of many of the people in verse 13 and 14. He said you said also behold what a weariness it is you've snuffed at it says the Lord of hosts and you brought that which was torn and lame and sick and you brought an offering should I accept this of your hand says the Lord but cursed be the deceiver which has in his flock of mail and vows and sacrifices to the Lord a corrupt thing for I am a great king says the Lord of hosts and my name is dreadful among the heathen. The Lord said to the people in Malachi's day now they're coming into the temple by the thousands there's sacrifices are happening there's a river of blood flowing out of this this rebuilt temple really the people had come back from Babylon Malachi wrote I believe about a hundred years after the coming back out of captivity and 500 years or so 400 years before Christ's first coming and the people are coming in they're doing their religious observance but in their hearts they're saying what a weariness it is to approach God with reverence and dedication and obedience what a weariness and in other words there's I find this pathway that some are speaking about of sacrifice and of obedience and of giving one's life as a living sacrifice for the purposes of God I find this wearying I'm tired of this kind of walk and I'm tired of this kind of demand as it is of my life and so the people are coming in and hoping for something else hoping for some other kind of a word and that's of course what always makes people open to the word of the false prophet in every generation in chapter 2 verses 1 to 9 he said now oh you priests this commandment is for you this is for the ministry in their day and in our day if you will not hear if you'll not lay at the heart to give glory to my name says the lord of hosts I'll even send a curse upon you I'll curse your blessings you have cursed them already because you do not lay at the heart behold I'll corrupt your seed and spread dung upon your faces now you have to understand this is the holy spirit speaking I know this is not an easy message to hear but folks you've got to stay with me through this because there are promises at the end of this the lord would have you to hear today I'll take the dung of your solemn feasts and one shall take you away with it and you shall know that I have sent this commandment to you that my commandment might be with Levi saith the lord of hosts my covenant was with him of life and peace and I gave them to him for the fear wherewith he feared me and was afraid before my name the law of truth was in his mouth and iniquity was not found in his lips he walked with me in peace and equity and did turn many away from iniquity for the priest's lips should keep knowledge and they should seek the law at his mouth for he is the messenger of the lord of hosts he says but you are departed out of the way and you've caused many to stumble at the law you've corrupted the covenant of Levi said the lord of hosts therefore I've also made you contemptible and base before all the people according as you've not kept my ways but you've been partial in my law and the lord said to the priesthood you should have turned the people from this weak and polluted commitment in my house the people were coming into my house and they were offering the sick and they were offering the lame and the lord said I'm a great king and they were offering a week basically the leftovers basically he called it the dung of the feast that which you would have thrown away it was the off scouring of your life and you were bringing this in and offering it to me as a great king and he says this lethargic this lukewarm this this nondescript second-hand worship he said I'm going to take it off the altar and I'm going to spread it on your face he said you're going to begin to look like the level of your commitment folks and folks there's a half-hearted sacrifice will always produce a spiritual dullness as we behold the christ of the bible we with a longing heart that wants to walk in spirit and truth we are changed from image to image in glory to glory by the spirit of the lord so we we bear the image of the heavenly as paul says in the book to the corinthians we begin to bear the image of christ our hearts begin to be one with god our steps begin to be in line with the purpose of god for our lives and for his church in the earth the tenderness of god moves into our voices and into our hands we begin to see as god sees we love what god loves and we hate what god hates we begin to explode as it is inside to the fullness of christ as he begins to live his life out from within us but malachi says this is not the reason you're approaching the altar therefore he says god says i'll take this sacrifice and i'll i'll smear it on your faces in other words you bear this this half-hearted dull image of worship will be on your countenance it be on your children be on your seed he says oh folks it terrifies me when i think of that my commitment my commitment my level of my commitment to you is going to begin to be written on your faces there's no way around it if you sit under my preaching you're you're either going to start looking like jesus christ or you're going to bear an image of dullness is going to come over you and god forbid that that kind of an image ever comes on your face because i've neglected him i've brought a lame sacrifice to the altar of god god forbid you pray for the preachers in this church like you've never prayed for us before you pray that god draw us into the communion with him like we've never known so that what we're bringing to you is coming right from the throne and from the heart of god he said you priests should have turned the people from this iniquity you should have turned the people from this half-hearted approach to me god said you should have turned them that was the iniquity that's where it all began it will end in various sins it will end in various manifestations of evil but it all began in the temple it all began with the approach to god malachi saying you should have challenged the people when you saw this you should have challenged it when you saw somebody bringing a blind lamb to put on the altar there was no good for anything else in the marketplace so they brought it to me the lord said you should have challenged them you should have told them the measure of sacrifice that you bring to the altar is exactly what you're going to look like if you bring this blind sacrifice you will be blind in the days ahead if you bring this lame sacrifice you will be lame in the days ahead unless you come to me with a full heart and say god i want everything you've got for my life if live or die i want your life to be lived out in me i want to be moved by what moves your heart i want to see what you see i want to speak what you speak oh god help me not to live my life for myself help me to live my life for the purposes of god and the earth and because of this lame sacrifice the people became treacherous in verse 13 in chapter 2 he says this have you done again he says covering the altar of the lord with tears and weeping and crying out in so much that he does not regard the offering anymore nor receive it with goodwill at your hand but you say why because the lord has been witness against you and the wife of your youth against whom you've dealt treacherously yet she is your companion and the wife of your covenant and did not he make one yet hath he the residue of the spirit and wherefore one that he might seek a godly seed therefore take heed to your spirit and let none deal treacherously against the wife of his youth now here's the point the people became treacherous in their dealings with one another beginning with those that were the closest to them and the marriage between a man and a woman in this earth is the closest shadow type in this world of the relationship between jesus christ and his bride the church and he says you have become treacherous with one another because our commitment to others will never exceed our commitment to god folks who are struggling in your marriage i want to tell you something your commitment to your marriage partner will not ever exceed your commitment to god you want to get your marriage back in order you get down to an altar and you get your life in order you get your priorities right you get a heart that's willing to do what this book says husbands love your wives as christ loved the church wives obey your husbands not afraid not afraid to follow him not afraid to pray that god get a hold of his heart not afraid that to let god be god get in the book don't look for some new word don't look for some new way don't look for some new partner you get right with god and let god touch your home if you're not willing to do this if you're not willing to walk in this way your half-heartedness will spread to your children and the pathway you take they will take it and they will double your dullness will double in them they'll become twice what you have allowed this half-hearted sacrifice to produce in you will come to them too as well and in chapter 2 in verse 17 he says you've worried the lord with your words yet you say wherein have we worried him when you say everyone that does evil is good in the sight of the lord and he delights in them or where is the god of judgment he said you fall into such a low condition that there's no ability to discern good from evil anymore we're living in a society when a few celebrities for example might take it upon themselves to feed a couple of kids and we look and say oh what wonderful people they are in spite of the fact they might be practicing homosexuals living in fornication or adultery and because they do a good deed now good deeds are good things but it does not mean the people are good to do them the bible says in proverbs though hand join in hand you can have a lineup of people singing sweet songs from here to kentucky and he says though hand join in hand they shall not be unpunished there's only one way to eternal life there's only one way that sin is forgiven there's only one life that glorifies god in chapter 3 now i thank you for holding with me because now we're coming into the part that applies to today behold he says in verse 1 i'll send my messenger and he'll prepare the way before me and the lord whom you seek shall suddenly come to his temple even the messenger of the covenant whom you delight in behold he shall come saith the lord of hosts god says listen before i come i'm going to send a word to you before he comes because he's good and his mercy endures forever he's going to one more time speak to this church age one more time a word is going to come it will be a clear trumpet call there'll be no confusion in it it will be a voice and voices will be raised up to the church of jesus christ throughout the world there'll be no misunderstanding about who god is and what he is speaking in this generation but who may abide verse 2 in the day of his coming who shall stand when he appears for he's like the refiner's fire and like fuller soap you remember john the baptist after 400 years of silence comes on the scene and john was not a casual nor a social man john stood in the midst of it all the whole system of religion and he said the lord is coming prepare a way in your heart let every haughty thing be brought down let every valley be lifted up for the lord is about to put the axe to the root of every tree and every tree that is not born good fruit shall be cut down and cast into the fire john said repent turn from this way that you are approaching the throne of god malachi wrote about it and john was the fulfillment of it and when we get to the end of this book you're going to see the lord promises again to raise up a voice a collective voice it will be the voice that you'll find in the ministry it can be an inner voice in your own heart but god says i'll raise up that voice again and who shall stand who will abide because when he comes he's going to clean things up that's what it means when he comes there's going to be a fire that's all around him and there's going to be a like a fuller soap in other words this there's going to be a scrubbing take place of all the filth that those who profess to know god have allowed to be attached to their minds and to their spirit remember ezekiel said it this way i'm going to send you clean water you're going to be cleansed in washington ezekiel 36 from all your filthiness all of these things that have attached themselves to you the lord says i'm going to cleanse you with pure and clean water i'm going to take all of this away from you and he will sit verse 3 chapter 3 is a refiner and purifier of silver and he will purify the sons of levi these are this is the priesthood now and purge them as gold and silver that they may offer unto the lord an offering in righteousness then shall the offering of judah and jerusalem be pleasant unto the lord as in the days of old and as in former years he says i will come near to you to judgment and i'll be a swift witness against the sorcerers the adulterers false swearers against those that oppress the hireling in his wages the widow the fatherless and the turn aside the stranger from his right and do not fear me says the lord of hosts he says i'll come near to you but i'll come near to you as a witness against what doesn't represent me in your life i'll come near to you and i will speak clearly to your heart he said for i'm the lord verse 6 and i don't change therefore you sons of jacob are not consumed remember we said it at the beginning therefore we have reason to be thankful because his mercy endures forever and in chapter 3 and verse 7 the people were asking how do we come back to god he says even from the days of your fathers you're gone away from my ordinances or my commandments and have not kept them return to me and i'll return to you saith the lord of hosts but you said wherein shall we return and the answer in verse 8 says will a man rob god yet you have robbed me but you say how in tithes and offerings now folks this is not about giving money it's much deeper than that he's what he's essentially saying is you've not brought to me an honest offering of you of you've not brought the totality of your life to me that's what it's about it started about bringing the blind and the lame and the off scouring he says you've not it's not about money because you can tie 10 and go to hell it's not about that it's about the totality of who you are it's about as the writer says in romans that we bring our bodies as a living sacrifice to god which is our reasonable service it's about me coming to god it's about you coming to god saying lord you have my life god turned me from evil what you say is evil let me see it as evil let me turn from it by the power of the holy ghost turn me to good turn me to your will turn me to your ways turn me to the reasons why i'm left here on this earth as the church of jesus christ supposedly the body that you have on this earth continuing your work until you come god almighty turn me turn me it's the coming to the altar coming not in perfection but coming in our struggles coming in our failures coming in our weaknesses but saying lord here i am everything i have belongs to you it's all yours god take this offering and set fire to it the fire of god let the fire of god come down on this altar and touch this weak and frail offering and make me into another man change my life change my heart oh god change me lord i don't want to live out my life as esau did building a false foundation building the wrong city in a generation that's about to perish and ultimately standing in a place that you are going to set your hand and word against god almighty let me not be found there in this last hour of time he says bring it all into the storehouse that there may be meat in my house and prove me now says the lord if i'm not open to you the windows of heaven and pour you out a blessing and there should not be room enough to receive it and i'll rebuke the devourer for your sakes and he will not destroy the fruit of your ground and neither shall your vine cast your fruit before the time in the field set the lord of hosts in other words god says bring the totality of your heart to me approach me as the god that i am i am a great king says the lord i deserve to have the love and obedience and affection of the people who know they've been redeemed from their sin by the mercy of almighty god prove me bring this full offering to me and prove me says the lord i'll open the windows of heaven to you in other words this book won't be a closed book anymore i'll open that's the treasure of god he says i'll open the to you the windows of heaven and he says i'll rebuke the devourer i'll pour into you such life that you won't have room to receive it i'll have to create in your heart the room to receive the life that i'm about to give you praise god praise god praise god praise god he says i'll rebuke the devourer and he will not destroy any longer the things that you set your hand to i'll rebuke him says god if you'll walk before me with honesty i'll rebuke everything the devourer has tried to do in your life in your mind in your heart in your home and your family and your children i'll rebuke the devourer praise be to god god says that's my part your part has come to me with an honest heart and my part is i'll all of these things that want to tear your mind apart and tear your heart and tear your home and tear the testimony of my life inside of you apart he says i will rebuke all of these things and all nations shall call you blessed you shall be a delightsome land saith the lord of hosts praise be to god lord says i'll put in you an excellency of spirit i'll put in such a work that you will be a land longed for that people will look at your life and say i want to be like that man i want to be like that woman your children will look at you and it will not be a dull and half-baked countenance on you they'll look and they'll see the dedication of your heart in your life to god and even though they may struggle for a season ultimately they will turn back because that's what the bible promises if you train up a child in the way that he should go as he is growing he will not turn from it that's what the word of god says they will turn back and look at you and say wherever it is that my mom and dad are going or my aunt or my uncle or my friend or whatever relationship you have with those that are coming after you they will turn and look and say i want to go where they're going especially in this generation folks especially as we see everything that this world is trusted in crumbling under our feet now if ever there was a time to come to the altar of god with an honest heart it's now in the chapter 3 verse 16 says they that feared the lord spoke often one to another and the lord hearkened and heard it and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the lord and thought upon his name i was praying and i said god there's got to be something revelatory in this and the lord said no suffice to say that a book is being written and those that are concerned about my name and those that truly have an awesome reverence a fear of god in their heart and those who want to come before me with an honest heart there's a book in heaven and there's your name is being written down and sometimes that's good enough just to know that this is not the book of life this is a book in of of our generation of when everything is in declension both physically and spiritually there are people who turn to god and they say jesus christ for the honor of your name for the honor of your name in the earth god almighty be god in me for the honor of your name if all i influence is my own home if all i influence is my own apartment floor if all i influence is a few people i work with god almighty for the honor of your name for the honor of the name of jesus the christ the messiah the son of god the one and only way to eternal life for the honor of your name oh god touch my heart and touch my life again take me oh god and do something so supernatural in me that people will have to look and honor you verse 17 says and they shall be mine saith the lord of hosts in the day when i make up my jewels and i'll spare them as a man spares his own son that serves him you see folks the last jewels to be placed in the crown of christ are coming from this generation before he is crowned king before that crown is put on his head the final touch on the crown is the final jewels that have been prepared to adorn it oh folks that's the only way i i can express it god says they're going to be mine and i'm i'm going to make them up as it is i'm going to polish them and they're going to shine as lights in the darkened world peter says in first peter 2 5 we are living stones being fitted together offering up a sacrifice that is acceptable to god verse 18 he says then you shall return and discern between the righteous and the wicked between him that serves god and him that serves him not they will see god says i will not only gather you i'll not only polish you but from the vantage point i guess of being on the crown of christ you'll see you'll see what no one else can see and you'll understand firstly in your own heart then secondly the kingdom of god what is and what is not of god discernment will come back you will know what is of god and you will know what is not of god chapter 4 verses 2 and 3 he says to you that fear my name shall the son of righteousness arise with healing in his wings and you'll go forth and grow up as calves of the stall now keep in mind this is a day when edom is being destroyed this is a day of calamity it's a time a season of fear it's a time when self-seeking is coming down it's a time where men's hearts are failing them for fear of the things that are coming in their day and likewise will be in our day but to you that fear my name he says the son of righteousness will arise with healing in his wings and you will not be hidden you will go forth you will walk through this world and you will have a joy in you that is not of the world and because the world didn't give it we sing about it the world can't take it away you'll have an inner joy because you have heaven's value system now alive within you your joy comes not from hearing that your stock went up another 10 cents a share your joy comes from an understanding that i am about to win this person to god that i've been witnessing to at work for the last three months that's the source of your joy your joy comes from seeing your sons and daughters finally come to the realization that there is no other name given under heaven whereby men might be saved and it's a reasonable thing to give our all in service to the lord jesus christ you'll grow up as calves of the stall in other words you will leap and dance and be praising god isaiah saw it he said in the midst of the fires in the last day there will be a song of praise a glorious song of praise in the earth god says i'll put it there you don't worry about learning it i'll put it there you'll start singing it you won't have to you can't buy this down at the colony record store i'll put it in your heart and you'll start singing a song of trust and praise you will have heaven's vision you'll have heaven's eyes heaven's strength heaven's focus will be in and every time you have an opportunity to just let god be god in you that song will burst out of you praise me to god i thank god that we have a song today in the generation we're living in in chapter four verses five and six he says before behold i'll send you elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the lord and he will turn the heart of the fathers to the children and the heart of the children to their fathers lest i come and smite the earth with the curse and here's really what it means i'm going to send a word to you and it's going to turn the people and many will offer themselves fully to god for the sake of the ones coming after them that's what that means i will turn my people from self focus to a god focus that's what the lord is saying through malachi this is the last word before the first coming and it's the last word before the second coming the lord says i will have a church and i'm going to turn the focus of my people to what is my work in the earth the lord jesus christ was sent to the father that none should perish but that all should come to the saving knowledge of god through christ that's why he came that's the reason christ came to the earth that's the reason why you and i left here as a church and the lord says i'm going to turn the focus of my people outward they're going to have heaven's agenda and heaven's vision and for the sake of those who are coming after and here's the point of everything that god is speaking to me today this is an altar it's a physical expression of what's in your heart now you can approach the altar and you can be the fulfillment of the beginning of malachi it can be a half-hearted what's in it for me i guess i better do this response or it can be a response like the end of the book of malachi the man or woman that says god almighty god almighty for the sake of an ignorant generation for the sake of children coming up by the thousands behind me who've never ever even heard your name for the sake of those who never read a bible for the for their sakes oh god i give you the fullness of my life i give you the rights and the reins to my life and i invite you to do in me and through me whatever you will i ask only this one thing that whatever you do in me that those who come behind me will see it and they will turn to you that's what it means that the hearts of the fathers are turned to the children the fathers begin to live for god it's not just about men it's about men and women it's about a church age that just begins to live for god for the purposes of god not willing that any should perish praise be to god i want to close with this one scripture from romans chapter 4 please because i know there are people here today saying how can this be because i'm i'm such a weak vessel i so struggle now i remember jacob was a weak vessel jacob struggled but the blessing of god proceeded through his life in romans chapter 4 and verse 16 paul says therefore it is a faith that it might be by grace to the end that the promise might be sure to all the seed and not to that only which is of the law but that also which is of the faith of abraham who's the father of us all as it is written i've made you a father of many nations before him whom he believed even god who quickens the dead and calls those things which be not as though they were who against hope believed in hope that he might become the father of many nations according to that which is spoken so shall thy seed be now abraham said god i don't have the strength to do this and the lord says i know you don't have the strength but if you'll come to me and if you'll believe that i will do in you the miraculous you'll be the father of many there'll be those behind you that look to you as a way into the presence of god and being not weak in faith verse 19 he considered not his own body now dead when he was 100 years old neither yet the deadness in sarah's womb and so god says i i want to do the miraculous i need a couple of dead people to perform it this is really what this is about it's not about you and i bringing what we can do for god we can't do anything for god even our greatest strengths our weaknesses even our deepest knowledge the bible declares to be foolish in the sight of god no we don't come to him with what we have we come to him in our weakness we come to him in our brokenness we come to him in our frailty we come to him in our nothingness in verse 20 says he staggered not at the promise of god through unbelief but was strong in faith giving glory to god now god's promise to abraham was you're going to have children abraham you're going to be the father of many many are going to turn to god and there's going to be a blessing released as it is in the earth through you and abraham looked and knew there was no power in him to perform this there was no power in his marriage to perform this but he didn't stagger at the promise of god through unbelief but was strong in faith giving glory to god and being fully persuaded that what he that's god had promised he was able also to perform he was fully promised that god you have spoken that in this last day that you're going to have a church that many are going to look to and they're going to be turned to god because the hearts of the fathers are going to turn back to the children the hearts of god's people are going to say lord for the sake of this generation for the sake of those it's not all about me just having the the time of my life and then enjoying eternity in heaven it's about them and for this even if i feel comfortable even if i feel complete it's not about me it's for the sake of those who don't know god who are going to spend an eternity in hell for the sake of a generation that don't know god i am coming to an altar and giving god my all and i'm not going to stagger because of my inability to perform what i know god calls me to be but i'm going to stand before him and just present to him the best sacrifice i've got god says i will receive it and the fire of my glory will come upon it and i will raise up the foundation of many generations praise be to god thank god he doesn't choose the strong i'd never be here thank god he doesn't choose the accomplished thank god that his choices are not limited to those who have natural ability but god delights in taking those things that are nothing and nobody and bringing to nothing the things that exist in their own strength god delights in it folks god delights in it why don't you let god be god in you why don't you let the miracles of god begin in your life why don't you let him take you from image to image and glory to glory you say pastor how do i do that give your whole heart to the work of god give your whole mind give your whole body to the work of god god will begin to change you line by line little by little precept by precept you'll begin to change he's not just going to open the door of the back of the sanctuary and say now that you've come to the altar head for timbuktu it doesn't work that way it begins line upon line little it's how you see your family it's how you see your neighbor it's how you see your co-worker it's how you face the crisis we're living through in this generation faith and confidence in god then god begins to move you and one day yes very well you may find yourself in another place praise be to god let's stand you've heard the word there's nothing more to say i'm not going to coach you to an altar it'll be a waste of time today if you've heard the word you want to present your body as a living sacrifice to god and that's all inclusive that means that sin that is known has to be dealt with attitudes of heart that are wrong have to be put away all bitternesses have to be reconciled wrongs have to be made right that's where it all begins you say god here's my life take me make me a living testimony of the fact that you have risen from the dead make me a living bible in my generation if that's in your heart in the annex you can stand go forward stand between the screens in the main sanctuary just slip out of wherever you are in the balcony main sanctuary just make your way this is this is this is not a casual altar here today folks this is serious you've heard the word come you know i know some are accustomed to coming to an altar like this and you you expect that kind of a divine moment to come into your life but and that may happen to you but that's not what today is about it's about god beginning to take you from this day forward into the life that he offers and it's not a divine moment it's a divine life from that point onward it's every day every day new mercies every day something jesus said that you are the salt of the earth salt preserves the testimony of christ salt adds flavor to every situation by your words by this the sweetness of god in you and salt creates thirst melt snow but creates thirst and god says i'm going to use you and through you create a thirst in people in this city for things that are eternal father i pray lord for those that have responded physically and those that have responded in heart lord i ask you father in jesus name god take us as a church and create a thirst lord in the city in our homes in the workplace create a thirst lord put in us a song oh god that isn't found anywhere in this world put in us wisdom that doesn't come from study put in us a heart that can only be given by god and change us change us into the image of christ as we behold him the things that you are jesus we invite you to become in us and lord you say that you will make it a miraculous life every day lord god give us the power to endure hard situations knowing that there is a divine purpose in all things lord thank you for these people for this good church lord and i pray god almighty god almighty god almighty give your body around the world the ears to hear now we are on the threshold of your return now give us the ears to hear and the hearts to obey help us to be kind father we thank you for it now i pray that you bless those who have responded in heart today with discernment as your word says with healing the ability to see what is god and what is not with a thirsty heart to want more of everything that is god and less of everything that is not i thank you lord turn our hearts now to this generation of people who are so far from heaven god help us help us lord to be living bibles to them that the reality of god may truly radiate from every life father i thank you for this god with all my heart i praise you i ask you to release your church worldwide from the esau gospel from his self-serving polluted blind and lame altar release your people from this and let your bride be brought to the very heart of god in jesus christ thank you for it with all my heart today in jesus mighty name now give him praise give him a sacrifice