The Vine Podcasts

If your house were on fire, what would you grab first on the way out the door? What you treasure most, of course. Do you know that you are treasured by God? Yet when we feel like we’re about to be overtaken by disaster and see no help in sight, we can find ourselves saying “God, there’s a fire coming, and I can’t trust You!” Teaching from Malachi 3:13-18, Pastor Jon Adams shows us that we can trust Him. Our Creator’s response is “I treasure you! If there is a fire, first thing I’m going to grab is you!” He sets up a Fire Line between us and destruction. And Jesus Christ’s sacrifice on the Cross is our Fire Line between us and the judgment for our sin.

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Doubting the promises of a Changeless God only shortchanges us.  When we’re not trusting in His steadfast goodness and love for us, we’re missing out on the intimacy and blessing He wants to share with His children.  We don’t believe in God’s promises to us because we don’t fully trust His character.  In Malachi, God challenges His people to test His character through their offering.  Pastor Jon Adams teaches through this Scripture how we, too, are invited to give this “I’m all in” giving thing a test, a trial run.  Malachi 3:6-12

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The way of refinement is the way of worship. And singing praises to God on Sunday morning is just one way we can know His presence. When you encounter the Living God in worship you will be changed, refined, transformed into the image of Christ. This refining is a process that happens throughout the life journey of a Christian. Worship and Arts Director Brian Miller shares his passion for how God uses His refining fire in worship to purify His children. Malachi 2:17-3:6

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You can worship God with great feeling and expression: lift your hands, cry, weep, shout, jump up and down or bow in reverence before Him. You can tell God a thousand times: “God, I love you, I love you, I love you”, but if you don’t keep your promises, your worship is bogus and means nothing. Your life reveals your love. And your passion for God is demonstrated by your promise keeping. If you want to know God, to sense His presence, and to see His power in your life: Keep your promises. In the ancient world, the more serious of promises were called “covenants”. And today, we need to be motivated to faithfully keep and fulfill the promises that we make. Malachi 2:10-16

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To summarize chapter 1 of Malachi:   The southern nation of Israel, Judah, was hauling God into court and  charging Him with 2 offenses: a lack of love and justice.  But, last week, we saw the priests (the pastor/leaders of that day) were the ones who lacked love:  They were shaming God’s name by offering blemished lambs, “the road kill” of the day to Him.  That’s where we pick up in chapter 2. The big issue was this: making GOD’S NAME GREAT!  Nothing was more important than THE WORSHIP OF THE LORD ALMIGHTY.  Verse 2:  If you priests … the leaders of my people don’t have  A HEART TO HONOR MY NAME, who will? WORSHIP had become impersonal and meaningless to the priests.  So how do you think that affected the rest of God’s people and their HEART TO HONOR GOD’S NAME? Malachi 2:1-9

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