SPEAKER_02: This podcast is brought to you by Grand Parkway Baptist Church, helping people to know, enjoy, and glorify God.
SPEAKER_02: For more information about Grand Parkway, visit GrandProkway.org.
SPEAKER_00: Let's pray together.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, everything that we're about today is because built and banked on who you are, what you've done and what you will do.
SPEAKER_00: And when we lack the faith and we forget about the certainty of who you are, the consistent constancy of who you are, we're going to look back and see what you've done, and it's going to remind us what you're going to do.
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes the motivation and the energy to move forward is found by looking back.
SPEAKER_00: That's why the Bible says in Romans 8 that he who spared not his own son, but freely offered him up for us all, past tense.
SPEAKER_00: How will he not, along with him, graciously give us all things, future tense?
SPEAKER_00: And so, Holy Spirit, illuminate the scripture today and give us courage for the living of this moment and the living of the days that are to come.
SPEAKER_00: You have been faithful, you are faithful, and you will be faithful.
SPEAKER_00: So arrange things in our head and heart today, especially in our heart today, God, so that when the moment comes that we are the faithful people, we just say, Well, we pick up where we left off last week.
SPEAKER_00: Be great here.
SPEAKER_00: We don't want you just to be great in the nations, we want you to be great right here, God, right in our heart.
SPEAKER_00: It's a dwelling place of God.
SPEAKER_00: Be great in our heart, God.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, now illuminate your word so that greatness comes out of our lives.
SPEAKER_00: This is our prayer.
SPEAKER_00: We pray it in Jesus' name.
SPEAKER_00: And everyone said, Amen, amen.
SPEAKER_00: You could have a seed.
SPEAKER_00: If you've got a Bible, I invite you and take it, open up to Malachi chapter two.
SPEAKER_00: If you're our guest today, we're preaching through the Old Testament book of Malachi, last book of the Old Testament.
SPEAKER_00: Uh uh, and that is our custom.
SPEAKER_00: We practice what's called expository preaching here, which is we just go verse by verse.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, it's not boring people and blaming it on God.
SPEAKER_00: You know, I'm sorry this is terrible, but it's in the Bible.
SPEAKER_00: Uh no, it is unpacking, putting your big boy, big girl pants on, and getting in the Bible and seeing what it actually says and what it means for our lives.
SPEAKER_00: And so today I'm gonna preach from Malachi chapter two, verses one to nine.
SPEAKER_00: I want to talk to you about the consistency of God in an inconsistent world.
SPEAKER_00: The consistency of God in an inconsistent world.
SPEAKER_00: We live in a world where one day the price of gas is this, then the next day it goes down, but oh, OPEC, oh, oh, they're gonna, oh yeah.
SPEAKER_00: And so there's so many things that are inconsistent.
SPEAKER_00: People are inconsistent, life can feel inconsistent.
SPEAKER_00: And so, in the midst of all of this, you and I need something that is so consistent that we consider it to be constant, unchanging, unmovable.
SPEAKER_00: And that is who God is.
SPEAKER_00: Uh Malachi chapter 2, verse 1.
SPEAKER_00: I'll just start reading.
SPEAKER_00: He says, And now, O priests, this command is for you.
SPEAKER_00: If you will not listen, if you will not take it to heart to give honor to my name, says the Lord of hosts, then I will send the curse upon you, and I will curse your blessings.
SPEAKER_00: Indeed, I've already cursed them, because you do not lay it to heart.
SPEAKER_00: Behold, I will rebuke your offspring and spread dung on your faces and dung on your offerings, and you shall be taken away with it.
SPEAKER_00: So shall you know that I have sent this command to you that my covenant with Levi may stand.
SPEAKER_00: So the Lord of says the Lord of hosts, my covenant with him was one of life and peace, and I gave them to him.
SPEAKER_00: It was a covenant of fear, and he feared me.
SPEAKER_00: He stood in awe of my name.
SPEAKER_00: True instruction was in his mouth, and no wrong was found on his lips.
SPEAKER_00: He walked with me in peace and uprightness, and he turned many from iniquity.
SPEAKER_00: For the lips of a priest should guard knowledge, and people should seek instruction from his mouth, for he is the messenger of the Lord of hosts.
SPEAKER_00: But you have turned aside from the way.
SPEAKER_00: You have caused many to stumble by your instruction.
SPEAKER_00: You have corrupted the covenant of Levi, says the Lord of hosts.
SPEAKER_00: And so I will make you despised and abased before all the people, inasmuch as you do not keep my ways, but show partiality in your instruction.
SPEAKER_00: Now, let me acknowledge a couple of things.
SPEAKER_00: Last last week, last Sunday, we were in a section in chapter one where he talks about the offerings, and this week he's talking about the teaching of the law and living as an example.
SPEAKER_00: But here's what I want to acknowledge.
SPEAKER_00: Look at verse one.
SPEAKER_00: He says, That now, O priest, this command is for you.
SPEAKER_00: And what I want to acknowledge is it's easy to read a part of the Bible like this and think that's not for me.
SPEAKER_00: I'm not a priest, so I'm gonna sit out here and make a grocery list, and my preacher's gonna think I'm taking notes, but I'm going milk, yogurt, fresh fruit, all that.
SPEAKER_00: And so what I want to say is don't check out, yeah, you're not an old testament priest.
SPEAKER_00: Um, I'm not an old testament priest, but I'm a descendant of them.
SPEAKER_00: As a pastor, I have some responsibilities that bears heavy on me in a passage like this.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, but when you read a passage like this, ask yourself, instead of thinking old testament priesthood, just ask yourself this question what does this teach me about God?
SPEAKER_00: What does this passage in the Bible communicate to me about God?
SPEAKER_00: And what you'll see when you put those glasses on are there's four things in the text that the Bible tells us uh uh about God.
SPEAKER_00: And the first one is this God is about the heart.
SPEAKER_00: God is about the heart.
SPEAKER_00: It's right there in verse 1 and 2.
SPEAKER_00: Now, if you read the Bible for 10 minutes, you'll see that this is all through the Bible, Old and New Testament.
SPEAKER_00: God has a fascination uh with our heart, not our behavior, but our heart.
SPEAKER_00: I'll just tick off some.
SPEAKER_00: Uh Proverbs 3 says, Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.
SPEAKER_00: Jeremiah 29, he says, You'll search for me and you'll find me when you search for me with all your heart.
SPEAKER_00: Uh 1 Samuel 16, 7.
SPEAKER_00: Uh they've lined up the sons of Jesse because they're going to anoint the king.
SPEAKER_00: And one of David's brothers was named, David's out tending the sheep.
SPEAKER_00: One of David's brothers was, I think his name is Eliab, E-L-I-A-B, good-looking fella, six-packed abs, has six million followers on Instagram.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, the guy has everything.
SPEAKER_00: He has a hot wife, a cool truck, a great house, a cush job, making tons of money.
SPEAKER_00: And everybody's like, oh my gosh.
SPEAKER_00: Matter of fact, the guy that had the anointing oil, he's going to anoint the next king.
SPEAKER_00: He sees Eliab and he's like, Yeah, this must be the guy.
SPEAKER_00: And then God says, This man looks upon the out on the outward appearance, but I, the Lord, look upon the heart, and I have rejected this guy and his six-pack abs.
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: Because God is about the heart.
SPEAKER_00: Like some of you walked in this morning and you saw somebody that you know deep in your heart you do not like, and you faked it.
SPEAKER_00: You were like, hey, good to see you.
SPEAKER_00: And inside your heart, God was going, You're so phony.
SPEAKER_00: Now, by the way, that's not a statement about them, that's a statement about your heart.
SPEAKER_00: Yes.
SPEAKER_00: So when I say that God is about the heart, that is comfort, but it also should cut you some ways.
SPEAKER_00: It should be like, oh, God puts a big emphasis on the heart.
SPEAKER_00: That's why he says in verse one and two.
SPEAKER_00: Look at it.
SPEAKER_00: He says, Hey, if you will not listen, if you will not take it to heart to give honor to my name, says the Lord of hosts, then I will send the curse upon you and I will curse your blessings.
SPEAKER_00: Indeed, I've already cursed them.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: Because you do not lay it to heart.
SPEAKER_00: God is about the heart.
SPEAKER_00: What we do is we take the Bible and we set it over there on the dresser across from us, and then we kind of look into our hearts for some excitement about this distant thing.
SPEAKER_00: And if we don't feel something in here, then we go, well, yeah, I just wasn't feeling it.
SPEAKER_00: It must not be for me.
SPEAKER_00: And nothing could be further from the biblical understanding of what that's about because you got to have this understanding of the difference between the Hebrew and the English mindset when it says take it to heart or lay it to heart, both have the same picture of kind of putting something upon your heart.
SPEAKER_00: Now, by the way, the Hebrew way they thought they thought about the heart was radically different from the way we think about the heart.
SPEAKER_00: Like I was at a high school graduation a while back, and the commencement speaker that they flew in and paid to give the speech said to these graduating seniors, when you my life, life is hard, boys and girls.
SPEAKER_00: And when you get out there and it's cold and it's dark, and I'm just like, please, come on, man.
SPEAKER_00: And then this person said, and you don't know what to do, just follow your heart.
SPEAKER_00: And I couldn't help myself.
SPEAKER_00: I was sitting way back in the back, and I just it just came out like a conversational burp.
SPEAKER_00: I just went, unamen.
SPEAKER_00: And I was like, Well, that just came out.
SPEAKER_00: Uh and and so I'm sitting there, and after someone's grammar, I came up to me and said, Uh, I heard your voice, your disapproval.
SPEAKER_00: And I see that she goes, Well, why don't you speak next year?
SPEAKER_00: And I said, I don't like public speaking.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, you don't want me to speak at this thing.
SPEAKER_00: It just follow your heart.
SPEAKER_00: Are you kidding me?
SPEAKER_00: Follow your heart.
SPEAKER_00: Now, when I say God's about the heart, when you say to someone, follow your heart, that is not a helpful statement because the Bible says in Jeremiah that the heart is deceitfully wicked above all else and beyond cure.
SPEAKER_00: Yes.
SPEAKER_00: Yes, people say to me all the time in castles, well, you know, I know in my heart I'm a good person.
SPEAKER_00: I I wouldn't consult my heart to figure that.
SPEAKER_00: But God is about the heart.
SPEAKER_00: That's why he says, take it to heart, lay it to heart.
SPEAKER_00: Now, the Hebrews, this is where they think about the heart.
SPEAKER_00: For us, the heart is about, it's just about what I feel.
SPEAKER_00: Well, I just in my heart of hearts, I just kind of know.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, this is the way the Hebrews, that's the English understanding of the heart.
SPEAKER_00: The Hebrew understanding of the heart is this that the heart is the command center where knowledge is collected and considered, and where decisions and plans are made that determine the direction of a person's life.
SPEAKER_00: Hear that again.
SPEAKER_00: The command center where knowledge is collected and considered, and where decisions and plans are made that determine the direction of a person's life.
SPEAKER_00: And so when we think about our heart as this place of feeling, either I'm feeling it or I'm not feeling it, nothing could be further from the biblical way of thinking about the heart.
SPEAKER_00: Now, by the way, when I say God is about the heart, that's why the first thing God does is change your heart.
SPEAKER_00: When you come become to faith, you become a Christian, when a person is converted, God is not obsessing about your behavior.
SPEAKER_00: God is obsessing about your heart.
SPEAKER_00: The reason some of you behave and do the things you do, did some of the things you did just last night or this past week, it's not out about your behavior, it is about your motivation, it is about your heart.
SPEAKER_00: This is why God starts with your heart.
SPEAKER_00: In Ezekiel 36, God kind of unpacks for his people.
SPEAKER_00: And it's an incredible passage.
SPEAKER_00: I won't take time to read the whole thing, but basically, God says to Israel, his people, hey, everywhere you've gone, you profaned my great name among the nations.
SPEAKER_00: You people have profaned my name.
SPEAKER_00: You've made me look less than awesome and incredible.
SPEAKER_00: You have drugged my name through the dirt.
SPEAKER_00: And this is what I'm gonna do.
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna vindicate myself by the way I change you, and then I cause you to represent me to all these people.
SPEAKER_00: So the vindication and the representation of God come through our changed hearts.
SPEAKER_00: And priests and preachers should be the first people to demonstrate this reality.
SPEAKER_00: Because this is what God says.
SPEAKER_00: You profane my name everywhere you've gone, and now I'm gonna vindicate myself by so drastically changing who you are.
SPEAKER_00: And then everybody that knew what you were like back then is gonna see what you are now, and they're gonna have to say, There is a God.
SPEAKER_00: Only God could do this.
SPEAKER_00: He said, What do you mean?
SPEAKER_00: Ezekiel 36, verse 25.
SPEAKER_00: God says, I'll sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleanness and from all your idols, and I will cleanse you, and I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you, and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh, and I'll put my spirit within you, and I will cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.
SPEAKER_00: You shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers, and you shall be my people, and I will be your God, and I will deliver you from all your uncleanness, and I will summon the grain and make it abundant and lay no famine upon you.
SPEAKER_00: I will make the fruit of the tree and the incense of the field abundant, that you may never again suffer the disgrace of famine among the nations, and then you will remember your evil ways and your deeds that were not good, and you will loathe yourselves for your iniquities and your abominations.
SPEAKER_00: Now, he's not saying you're gonna feel bad the rest of your life.
SPEAKER_00: No, you'll look back on your past and go, What was I thinking?
SPEAKER_00: Oh my gosh, I'm just I'm kind of embarrassed, if not humiliated, and I'm so glad that God gave me a new heart.
SPEAKER_00: Because here's what happens when a person is converted, they don't get a ticket to heaven, they get a new heart and a new spirit and a new motivation.
SPEAKER_00: They don't get a ticket to heaven they put in their pocket for them.
SPEAKER_00: They get a new heart.
SPEAKER_00: God takes out your heart of stone and gives you a heart of flesh.
SPEAKER_00: Now, by the way, I see this in counseling a lot.
SPEAKER_00: Like I see a young lady who's 16, doesn't go to church anywhere.
SPEAKER_00: And the last time I saw her, we're talking, and she's like, you know, I don't care about this.
SPEAKER_00: So how long this takes, just let me know.
SPEAKER_00: And I, because I'm not gonna care.
SPEAKER_00: And I said, okay, well, this is what you need to know about me, Mrs.
SPEAKER_00: I don't care.
SPEAKER_00: The list of things I don't care about is 50 times longer than the list of things you don't care about.
SPEAKER_00: And at the top of my list is I don't care that you don't care.
SPEAKER_00: And she, well, my friend said you're kind of different.
SPEAKER_00: I said, Well, whatever.
SPEAKER_00: I'm not trying to be different, I'm just trying to be faithful.
SPEAKER_00: And by the way, you not caring is not a statement about you, it's a statement about God because your heart is indifferent, because your heart is hard as a rock.
SPEAKER_00: You have a heart of stone.
SPEAKER_00: And she goes from this to what are you talking about?
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you by nature have a heart of stone.
SPEAKER_00: The Bible talks about it in Ezekiel 36.
SPEAKER_00: And until God exchanges your heart, well, you know, I I I go to a Christian school and and and and I prayed the prayer when I was 11.
SPEAKER_00: And I said, you can pray the prayer and go to hell.
SPEAKER_00: Well, apparently that was not on the quiz at the Christian school.
SPEAKER_00: She goes, That's not what they tell us.
SPEAKER_00: Well, they're lying to you because see, until unless and until your heart gets exchanged, your heart of stone gets taken out, and God gives you a heart of flesh, you can't even feel like there's a good chance you engage in behaviors that you know are wrong, but it does not bother you.
SPEAKER_00: And she's like, Oh my God.
SPEAKER_00: I said, Yeah, OMG.
SPEAKER_00: Now, boys and girls, I'm not mocking that girl.
SPEAKER_00: I'm not mocking that 16-year-old girl.
SPEAKER_00: I'm just like, what do you want?
SPEAKER_00: A cookie?
SPEAKER_00: Of course you can't feel anything.
SPEAKER_00: Some of you can't feel anything, not because you're a great sinner, but because you have a heart of stone.
SPEAKER_00: You've said a lot of religious incantations, but the God of the universe has never removed your natural heart, your heart of stone, and given you a heart of flesh and put his his spirit in you, and then motivated you to follow his commands.
SPEAKER_00: Unless and until that happens, this will just be like pushing a boulder uphill.
SPEAKER_00: It's just like, oh, but God's about the heart, he's always been about the heart.
SPEAKER_00: Like Deuteronomy.
SPEAKER_00: I was I I got fascinated with this, you know, this whole lay it on your heart, set it, set, set it upon your heart.
SPEAKER_00: So I started looking in other places.
SPEAKER_00: Deuteronomy chapter 11, verse 18 says, You shall therefore lay up these words of mine in your heart and in your soul, and you shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes.
SPEAKER_00: Now, the thing that struck my, my, my, my, my gray matter when I read that was he said, You shall therefore lay up these words of mine.
SPEAKER_00: Anytime you see the word therefore in the Bible, it means what I'm saying right here.
SPEAKER_00: It's predicated on what I said up here.
SPEAKER_00: So I turned to Deuteronomy 11 and I started reading backwards.
SPEAKER_00: I went up to verse 13, and look, this is what he says.
SPEAKER_00: He says, And if you will indeed, listen to how central the heart is to everything God is about, what God cares about and what God comes for.
SPEAKER_00: Mom and dad, stop trying to change your kids' behavior.
SPEAKER_00: Your kids behave like they do because their heart is what it is.
SPEAKER_00: We teach a parenting class right now on Wednesday nights.
SPEAKER_00: Wade Burgess, Janet McKee, two great people teaching that class.
SPEAKER_00: You've got to get to the heart.
SPEAKER_00: Look at Deuteronomy 11:13.
SPEAKER_00: He says, and if you will indeed obey my commandments that I command you today, to love the Lord your God, to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul.
SPEAKER_00: He will give the rain for your land in its season, the early rain and the latter rain, that you may gather in your grain and your wine and your oil, and he will give grass in your fields for your livestock, and you shall eat and be full.
SPEAKER_00: Take care lest your heart be deceived, and you turn aside and serve other gods and worship them.
SPEAKER_00: Then the anger of the Lord will be kindled against you, and he will shut up the heaven so that there will be no rain, and the land will yield no fruit, and you will perish quickly off the good land that the Lord has given you.
SPEAKER_00: And then we hear verse 18 in its context: you shall therefore lay up these words of mine in your heart and in your soul, and you will bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: Because God is about the heart.
SPEAKER_00: It's what he cares about.
SPEAKER_00: And I'm not saying God doesn't care about behavior, but we focus on, oh, my kid's smoking weed, oh, my kids dated an unbeliever, oh, my kids lying, oh my kid's doing this, oh my kids got inappropriate things on their phone.
SPEAKER_00: All of that is an expression of their heart.
SPEAKER_00: And God is about the heart.
SPEAKER_00: If you want to parent well, you gotta be about the heart.
SPEAKER_00: Remember my oldest, she's about 16, and she did something.
SPEAKER_00: We didn't have a lot of drama with our kids, but she did something that was wrong.
SPEAKER_00: I took her cell phone away.
SPEAKER_00: And she was just like, oh.
SPEAKER_00: And so I took it to the closet, put in one of my shoes in my closet, and she said, Hey, you're gonna do without this for a while.
SPEAKER_00: And later that night, about 11:30, I'm in my office on my computer and move the little thing, and it comes up on the screen, and my wife had said, By the way, you might want to look at this.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, my oldest had gone in my office and she was uh on Facebook or something messaging back with a friend of hers, and she said, and I quote, I'm just gonna play the good daughter routine until I get my phone back.
SPEAKER_00: What a wicked little sinner, right?
SPEAKER_00: No, that's her heart.
SPEAKER_00: That's in y'all's heart, boys and girls.
SPEAKER_00: That's deep in you.
SPEAKER_00: You look at your parents and you just think, hey, what do I have to do to get what I want?
SPEAKER_00: Because obedience is just a means to an end.
SPEAKER_00: And so I'm gonna obey as long as I have to obey.
SPEAKER_00: But but but when I no longer need to obey to get what I want because what I want is changed, then obedience is just that's non-negotiable.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, that's negotiable.
SPEAKER_00: I don't have to obey.
SPEAKER_00: I get what I want without obeying.
SPEAKER_00: Here's why you do that.
SPEAKER_00: You gladly make that exchange because it never got out of your head.
SPEAKER_00: Everything you heard at church never got out of your head and dropped into your heart.
SPEAKER_00: And so you're like, What was I thinking?
SPEAKER_00: I mean, how could I be a Christian and do that?
SPEAKER_00: It's because it's intellectual, it's not intimate.
SPEAKER_00: Now, again, my kids are good kids.
SPEAKER_00: I'm not ragging on my daughter.
SPEAKER_00: When I saw that, I was just like, oh, she doesn't understand what I'm trying to get at here.
SPEAKER_00: So I went and got her phone, walked in the bedroom, and said, Here you go.
SPEAKER_00: She's like, Whoa, whoa, whoa.
SPEAKER_00: I said, You can have your phone back.
SPEAKER_00: I don't want I don't want you to be a Pharisee.
SPEAKER_00: I don't want you to focus on the outside stuff and neglect what's on the inside.
SPEAKER_00: I'm not trying to punish you, I'm trying to shape your heart.
SPEAKER_00: And God doesn't want to punish you, but He just wants to shape your heart.
SPEAKER_00: Because God, the first thing we see in Malachi chapter two is that God is about the heart.
SPEAKER_00: And so you may be sitting here just kind of thinking, man, if you do what I've done, I did last night this past weekend, there is no way.
SPEAKER_00: I'm surprised this building didn't fall down when I walked in.
SPEAKER_00: The building didn't fall down.
SPEAKER_00: You know why?
SPEAKER_00: Because God knows your behavior, but he values your heart.
SPEAKER_00: Second thing we see about God is that God is consistently constant, he is consistently constant.
SPEAKER_00: Look at verse 2.
SPEAKER_00: He says, if you will not listen, if you will not take it to heart to give honor to my name, says the Lord of hosts, then I will send the curse upon you and I will curse your blessings.
SPEAKER_00: Indeed, I've already cursed them because you do not lay it to heart.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 3, behold, I will rebuke your offspring.
SPEAKER_00: Now, what does that mean?
SPEAKER_00: That means that some of what's in your heart, if you don't get it sorted, is God's going to take it out on your children.
SPEAKER_00: This is what we don't do in America.
SPEAKER_00: We just preach application.
SPEAKER_00: And so you come to church and you get, hey, here's a problem.
SPEAKER_00: Here's four power principles for addressing that problem.
SPEAKER_00: And we don't teach what the Bible actually says.
SPEAKER_00: It's called generational sin.
SPEAKER_00: And because your dad and your grandfather before you, or your mom and your grandmother before you, did not deal with what was in their heart, it gets passed on to subsequent generations.
SPEAKER_00: And so God says to these preachers of the day, hey, listen, I will rebuke your offspring.
SPEAKER_00: And not because God is harsh or cruel, it's because you never got honest about what was in your heart.
SPEAKER_00: What do you say?
SPEAKER_00: Where do you get God that's consistently constant from that?
SPEAKER_00: Well, let me just say this.
SPEAKER_00: I'm not sure it's great advertising that a lot of Christians wear bracelets that says WWJ D.
SPEAKER_00: What would Jesus do?
SPEAKER_00: As if we don't know.
SPEAKER_00: And I think I understand it's kind of a prompt to them being reminded, but there's such a consistency to God's nature that we should know what he's going to do and we should count on it happening.
SPEAKER_00: Like, for example, look in verse 2 when it says, God says, Hey, you don't take it to heart to give honor to my name, says the Lord of hosts.
SPEAKER_00: And then he says, I will send the curse.
SPEAKER_00: Just underline that Lord, thee.
SPEAKER_00: He doesn't say a curse.
SPEAKER_00: He says, I will send the curse.
SPEAKER_00: He's referring to something specific.
SPEAKER_00: Like when our kids were little, uh, we spanked our kids.
SPEAKER_00: I'm available to come to the parenting class this Wednesday and teach, by the way.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, we now now we weren't like overly into that, but but they got a little hot leg with a rubber spatula, whatever.
SPEAKER_00: And every once in a while, we would just say, Do you want a hot leg?
SPEAKER_00: And they would be like, No.
SPEAKER_00: Because they had a right frame reference for that.
SPEAKER_00: Now, when I say that God is consistently constant, here's what I'm saying.
SPEAKER_00: When he says the decurse, he's not just a curse, he's not like some drunken stepfather who's just mad and lost his temper.
SPEAKER_00: He just says, I will send the curse.
SPEAKER_00: What's he talking about?
SPEAKER_00: You don't have to turn there, but just if you're taking notes, write this down.
SPEAKER_00: Deuteronomy 27 and 28.
SPEAKER_00: The book of Deuteronomy was written, and best we can tell, recorded in about 1408 BC.
SPEAKER_00: The book of Malachi was written about 400 BC.
SPEAKER_00: So basically a thousand years later, okay, so back in Deuteronomy, God's people, after wandering for 40 years in the wilderness, they're getting ready to go into the promised land.
SPEAKER_00: And God says, Listen, I don't want you to forget this.
SPEAKER_00: And so there's two mountains there's Mount Ebal and there's Mount Gerizim.
SPEAKER_00: And he puts half of the people over here on this top of this mountain, the priest, and half of them over here.
SPEAKER_00: And these people over here say, if you obey, there will be blessings.
SPEAKER_00: God will honor you.
SPEAKER_00: It matters when you obey.
SPEAKER_00: And over here, these people say, if you disobey, there will be a curse.
SPEAKER_00: God takes himself and what he says very seriously.
SPEAKER_00: So between the two mountains is a valley, and this is what the people of Israel, the children of Israel, Walk into the promised land and they hear blessings for obedience, curse for disobedience.
SPEAKER_00: And a thousand years later, because God is consistently constant, God says, I will bring the curse to bear on you because I am unchanging.
SPEAKER_00: I've not forgotten.
SPEAKER_00: I remember.
SPEAKER_00: I he I don't count to three.
SPEAKER_00: I'm not going to put you in time out.
SPEAKER_00: Go to your room and think about what you did.
SPEAKER_00: No, my wife grew up in a home like that.
SPEAKER_00: My wife could look at our girls and go, I'm just, I'm really disappointed in you.
SPEAKER_00: And it would just crush them.
SPEAKER_00: I wish my dad would have looked at me sometime and said, son, I'm really disappointed.
SPEAKER_00: Well, that's a tough day, isn't it, there, Leon?
SPEAKER_00: No.
SPEAKER_00: God is consistently constant.
SPEAKER_00: So a thousand years later, the Bible says of God, that He's the same yesterday, today, and forever.
SPEAKER_00: And he's never changed his mind and he's never going to.
SPEAKER_00: The third thing you see about God, the text, is that God is a God of reciprocity.
SPEAKER_00: He's a God of reciprocity.
SPEAKER_00: Big word, okay?
SPEAKER_00: Reciprocity means reciprocal, means that I give and I take.
SPEAKER_00: I give and I receive.
SPEAKER_00: It's a two-way thing.
SPEAKER_00: We we think of God like a vending machine.
SPEAKER_00: I just put stuff in, pull the handle, and goodies come out.
SPEAKER_00: But the Bible says he's a God of reciprocity.
SPEAKER_00: You say, look at verse 4.
SPEAKER_00: So shall you know that I've sent this command to you that my covenant with Levi may stand, says the Lord of hosts.
SPEAKER_00: My covenant with him was one of life and peace, and I gave them to him.
SPEAKER_00: It was a covenant of fear, and he feared me.
SPEAKER_00: He stood in awe of my name.
SPEAKER_00: Now, when I say God's a God of reciprocity, one of the saddest things I know of is how most people relate to God as if it all depends on them.
SPEAKER_00: We relate to God as if, you know, I'm talking and I'm reading and I'm praying, I'm trying to do the right thing.
SPEAKER_00: And we never just take time just to be still and just say, you know, God, what exactly are you doing?
SPEAKER_00: Because I want to make sure what I'm doing is response, not initiation.
SPEAKER_00: The most common place you'll see this lack of reciprocity is in our prayer life.
SPEAKER_00: So ask yourself this question: how much time do you spend talking versus listening?
SPEAKER_00: Like this past week, Travis and I were in Vermont and Maine and Connecticut and some other godforsaken place with beautiful foliage, riding around, a man who's driving 75 miles an hour, talking in the backseat, like, watch the road.
SPEAKER_00: And it's great, by the way.
SPEAKER_00: It was a whole lot of fun.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, and got to meet pastors that are just slogging it out, pastoring churches of 40 people in buildings that were built in 1868.
SPEAKER_00: And I'm like, one guy's like, yeah, our church began the year the Civil War started.
SPEAKER_00: And so, what a great, what a great environment to plant a church in.
SPEAKER_00: And I was like, wow.
SPEAKER_00: And one guy, I mean, he's got this little tiny auditorium and a dank basement, and they got an attic that smells like grandma's Buick.
SPEAKER_00: And he's like, What is your church like?
SPEAKER_00: Well, it's not like this.
SPEAKER_00: And I was just overwhelmed with how generous God's been to us.
SPEAKER_00: But my favorite part is one night about 10:15, we got to the hotel, we're just exhausted.
SPEAKER_00: Travis gets out of the truck and he's just like, I can't feel my legs.
SPEAKER_00: We get in there, we walk in, and the lady's like, oh, it maybe be a minute because uh we had a pipe burst and it's producing steam, and about that time, whack, the fire alarm goes off.
SPEAKER_00: And here's the problem with living in a socialist state, okay?
SPEAKER_00: No one's responsible for anything.
SPEAKER_00: They could not turn the fire alarm off.
SPEAKER_00: We had to wait for the fire department to come turn it off.
SPEAKER_00: That would be like your security system going off this afternoon, and you have to call me to come over and turn it off.
SPEAKER_00: And I'm like, I'll be over Tuesday.
SPEAKER_00: Enjoy the noise.
SPEAKER_00: That's going off, and I'm just like, oh no.
SPEAKER_00: And the poor girl, I'm like, hey, you didn't do anything wrong.
SPEAKER_00: Our guy Wes that was leading up, he was called the pastor in the city and says, Hey, I'm gonna be 10 minutes away.
SPEAKER_00: Can we crash in your basement?
SPEAKER_00: Absolutely, come over.
SPEAKER_00: And so we get there, and she's like, Well, you're gonna have to wait 20 minutes.
SPEAKER_00: Your sheets are in the dryer.
SPEAKER_00: And I'm like, uh-huh.
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna be dead.
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna pray Jesus comes back in 20 minutes.
SPEAKER_00: And so they said, You want to go see our church tonight?
SPEAKER_00: Set up in the morning?
SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
SPEAKER_00: We go, we come back.
SPEAKER_00: We're in the basement.
SPEAKER_00: There's three of us in one room.
SPEAKER_00: There's a couch with a pull-out bed, one bed over here, and then put a mattress on the floor.
SPEAKER_00: Travis says, I'll take the mattress on the floor.
SPEAKER_00: And so I'm laying there.
SPEAKER_00: Now, now again, you're like, What's this got to do with reciprocity?
SPEAKER_00: God is a God of reciprocity.
SPEAKER_00: We give, and you see this lack of it most often in your prayer life.
SPEAKER_00: And when you read the word, it's just kind of an exercise, and it's almost like calf robe.
SPEAKER_00: Oh, I'm done.
SPEAKER_00: So we've had this crazy busy couple days, and and and we get there, and and I take a shower and I lay down on the bed, and it's dark, and I'm like, you know, Lord, I don't think I've cracked a Bible in two days.
SPEAKER_00: And just very clearly, I just said to the Holy Spirit, say, let's just enjoy each other.
SPEAKER_00: Let's just sit, I just want you just to think thoughts, pray, praise whatever.
SPEAKER_00: Let's just let's just relate to each other right now.
SPEAKER_00: And I'm like, yeah, reciprocity, this is good.
SPEAKER_00: I'm talking about this on Sunday.
SPEAKER_00: I know I gave you the idea.
SPEAKER_00: And so I'm laying there, and about 10 minutes later, I hear, I'm like, oh no.
SPEAKER_00: And Travis Dunham is ripping the roof off.
SPEAKER_00: And clear as the bell, the Holy Spirit says, pray for Robin.
SPEAKER_00: This happens every night.
SPEAKER_00: And so I prayed for Robin Dunham, and I'm giggling in bed, and it was the middle of the night.
SPEAKER_00: Travis gets up, it's dark.
SPEAKER_00: They don't have in Vermont, they don't have street lights because they believe it's light pollution, they don't have billboards.
SPEAKER_00: And so you're in a basement and you can't see your hand in front of us.
SPEAKER_00: Travis gets up and goes to the bathroom and he comes back, and he underestimates how far it is to this bed.
SPEAKER_00: And so he trips over the bed and face plants into the wall.
SPEAKER_00: This is what happens when you're up just enjoying Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: You get to hear all this.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, it's like, oh, and I'm like, did he break his neck?
SPEAKER_00: And I'm like, I shouldn't enjoy that, but I did.
SPEAKER_00: And I'm just like, hmm, oh, this is good.
SPEAKER_00: This is good.
SPEAKER_00: Now, see, here's the thing.
SPEAKER_00: I'm just laying there and it was off and on.
SPEAKER_00: I would go to sleep and wake back up because the thud, you know, like a bear breaking into the house, and I'm like, okay, I think I know what just happened there.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, but here's the thing: in your relationship with God, we see when you like your prayer life, is where you see if it's reciprocal or not.
SPEAKER_00: But see, when you focus more on what you do instead of what he's done, it ramps up your determination and not your joy.
SPEAKER_00: Let me say that again.
SPEAKER_00: When you focus more on what you do or have to do or haven't done instead of what God has done, it ramps up your determination instead of your joy.
SPEAKER_00: Here's two things you'll see anytime God, again, God is the God of reciprocity.
SPEAKER_00: This is what the covenants are all about.
SPEAKER_00: But anytime you see God make a covenant with someone, two things happen.
SPEAKER_00: He always goes first, and he always keeps his word.
SPEAKER_00: This is what you see in verse 5.
SPEAKER_00: Look at, let me just read to you.
SPEAKER_00: He says, The covenant, talk about the covenant he made with Levi.
SPEAKER_00: The covenant was one of life and peace.
SPEAKER_00: And look at this.
SPEAKER_00: And I gave them to him.
SPEAKER_00: It was a covenant of life and peace, and I gave him life and peace.
SPEAKER_00: And then he says, it was a covenant of fear, and he feared me.
SPEAKER_00: He stood in awe of my name.
SPEAKER_00: This is reciprocity.
SPEAKER_00: It's not just uh receiving, it is giving and receiving.
SPEAKER_00: Because to be in a relationship with God is to be responsible to God.
SPEAKER_00: To be in a relationship with God does not flip the script and obligate God to you.
SPEAKER_00: To be in a relationship with God means you are living in this submitted responsibility to God.
SPEAKER_00: And it's reciprocal by nature.
SPEAKER_00: It's not all just about you.
SPEAKER_00: Because if you think it's about you and what you've done, haven't done, you're gonna be a lot about determination and a little about joy.
SPEAKER_00: And so you can lay in someone's basement in Vermont and just giggle in the middle of the night.
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, I'm so sorry, I haven't cracked the Bible.
SPEAKER_00: And he's like, I'm about your heart.
SPEAKER_00: How's your heart, Neil?
SPEAKER_00: My heart's good.
SPEAKER_00: I'm I'm I'm I'm glad I'm getting to see the things I'm getting to see.
SPEAKER_00: Here's the last thing the Bible teaches us about God in this text is that God holds those in ministry to a standard.
SPEAKER_00: God holds those in ministry to a standard.
SPEAKER_00: This is verses six to nine.
SPEAKER_00: So students or adults in this room, they're thinking, I think God may be calling me to some form of ministry.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, and you should be thinking about that.
SPEAKER_00: You shouldn't just think, doctor, lawyer, physical therapist, fireman, whatever.
SPEAKER_00: You should think, hey, has God put a call on my life that has ruined me to do all the things I think I might want to do so that I do what God created me to do.
SPEAKER_00: Not to be a doctor or a lawyer or fireman or teacher.
SPEAKER_00: None of that is bad.
SPEAKER_00: Nursing is great.
SPEAKER_00: We need godly nurses, okay?
SPEAKER_00: But God holds those in ministry to a standard.
SPEAKER_00: And because God holds us to a standard, you should hold us to a standard as well.
SPEAKER_00: And so what you see in verse six and seven, let me just read them to you.
SPEAKER_00: Listen to this.
SPEAKER_00: Because he says to these priests, he says, Hey, you this is what Levi was like.
SPEAKER_00: And then he says in verse six, true instruction was found in his mouth, and no wrong was found on his lips.
SPEAKER_00: He walked with me in peace and uprightness, and he turned many from iniquity.
SPEAKER_00: For the lips of a priest should guard knowledge, and the people should seek instruction from his mouth, for he is the messenger of the Lord of hosts.
SPEAKER_00: But you have turned aside from the way, and you have caused many to stumble by your instruction.
SPEAKER_00: And he goes on to say, You've corrupted all this stuff.
SPEAKER_00: Now listen, look at me.
SPEAKER_00: Some of you said in this room, you're here because you had church hurt at another church.
SPEAKER_00: And it's real.
SPEAKER_00: People disappoint, people disillusion, and I wish that weren't true, but it is.
SPEAKER_00: And it's like, come on, man, what?
SPEAKER_00: I mean, not you of all people, but because I said earlier that God holds us to a standard, here's some here's a list of some of the things you should expect from your pastors.
SPEAKER_00: And that means anybody that works at this church, anybody that stands up here before you, or anybody stands before you in a class, you should have a certain expectation.
SPEAKER_00: Here's a list.
SPEAKER_00: I just took it from verses six and seven and modernized it.
SPEAKER_00: Number one, you should expect right doctrine.
SPEAKER_00: Right doctrine.
SPEAKER_00: Someone asked me this week, they said, Hey, uh, what do you do when you're not with your church?
SPEAKER_00: And I said, I pray for my church.
SPEAKER_00: And he goes, What are you praying for your church right now?
SPEAKER_00: I said, uh last week we talked about uh we're in Malachi, and he's like, Ooh, Malachi, that's pretty steep.
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I know what Darren said.
SPEAKER_00: It's meat and it's sweet bits.
SPEAKER_00: Yes, it's both.
SPEAKER_00: It's salty, it's savory, and it's sweet.
SPEAKER_00: I said, Yeah, that's what we talked about, you know, where God says, Jacob I loved, and Esau I hated in response to the question, How have you loved us?
SPEAKER_00: What about Jacob and Esau?
SPEAKER_00: And I said, the doctrine of election, I said, somehow, people are trying to get their head around that and and and process that.
SPEAKER_00: They said, What do you do?
SPEAKER_00: And I said, I just pray for them.
SPEAKER_00: But it's my responsibility as their pastor to teach right doctrine, not right preferences.
SPEAKER_00: And it because when we hear something like that, Jacob, I loved, Esau, I hated.
SPEAKER_00: If you're a parent, you just think, oh, so does God hate my unbelieving kid?
SPEAKER_00: And I said, I could tell my people, don't go there, but you just go there as a parent.
SPEAKER_00: And I said, I told them, hey, by the way, God's nature is so vast that it cannot be accurately represented by one person's experience of him, but they didn't hear that.
SPEAKER_00: What they hear is Jacob, I loved Esau, I hated.
SPEAKER_00: How does a God of love hate somebody?
SPEAKER_00: Because here's why.
SPEAKER_00: Because we want to have a free will, but we don't like God having a free will.
SPEAKER_00: We don't like that.
SPEAKER_00: We don't like God having free will.
SPEAKER_00: And this guy's looking at me like, you you talk to your people like this?
SPEAKER_00: Yes, I love my people.
SPEAKER_00: But my responsibility is to teach them right doctrine.
SPEAKER_00: And if I don't, I'm gonna stand before God and give an account.
SPEAKER_00: He said, Well, what do you think they do?
SPEAKER_00: Oh, I'm sure some of them get together in groups and talk about it.
SPEAKER_00: Can you believe that guy?
SPEAKER_00: Oh my gosh.
SPEAKER_00: I I I didn't come up with it.
SPEAKER_00: And I looked at him, I said, the first time I I really read, I kept reading the Bible and asked somebody about the doctrine of election, I was offended.
SPEAKER_00: It was why I said, because I've got two older brothers, one's a believer and one isn't.
SPEAKER_00: But but as I've matured in my faith, I'm not offended.
SPEAKER_00: I'm just I'm I'm I I just get urgent with my prayers.
SPEAKER_00: And I don't talk to my brother like he has the capacity to accept Jesus into his heart.
SPEAKER_00: I pray to God like he's the one that owns salvation, like they say in Revelation, and he has to reveal himself to my brother, or my brother doesn't stand a chance.
SPEAKER_00: So, right doctrine, speaks the truth, an intimate, peaceful integrity.
SPEAKER_00: You say, What where do you get that?
SPEAKER_00: Well, he says right there, he walked with me in peace and uprightness.
SPEAKER_00: You should expect from us this intimate, peaceful integrity.
SPEAKER_00: It's not hard to do the right thing.
SPEAKER_00: Oh, this is so convicting.
SPEAKER_00: We were in Boston last week, and they're talking about some famous preacher up there that got disqualified, had to leave his church because of financial improprieties.
SPEAKER_00: And I just thought, come on, man.
SPEAKER_00: I'm not mad at that guy.
SPEAKER_00: I don't even know him.
SPEAKER_00: Oh, he was on the Gospel Coalition Executive Committee.
SPEAKER_00: It doesn't matter.
SPEAKER_00: If your heart loves money inordinately, you'll steal the first chance you get.
SPEAKER_00: You should expect us to be consequential.
SPEAKER_00: What does that mean?
SPEAKER_00: Look at me.
SPEAKER_00: You should sin less.
SPEAKER_00: You should look at some of these men and women here and say, you know what?
SPEAKER_00: I've been around you a while and I don't sin like I used to because of you.
SPEAKER_00: And I want to say thank you.
SPEAKER_00: Knowledgeable.
SPEAKER_00: Look at me.
SPEAKER_00: Not know it all, but we should know something.
SPEAKER_00: We're not helping you if you come to us and we're like, yeah, well, you know, I don't know.
SPEAKER_00: We just can't be sure.
SPEAKER_00: You know, life's a journey, and there are many ways to get there.
SPEAKER_00: Man up, ladybug.
SPEAKER_00: Square yourself up and tell the truth.
SPEAKER_00: Stop looking into we shouldn't look in your eyes and go, hey, what do you think?
SPEAKER_00: Uh because if you'll kind of tell me what you think, then I'll reflect to you.
SPEAKER_00: But what I think is what you think, and because you like me, right?
SPEAKER_00: Hey, listen, somebody told me one time they said, Hey, uh, I they said, Hey, by the way, we had roasted preacher for lunch today.
SPEAKER_00: And I said, Was it tough?
SPEAKER_00: And he said, No, it went down good.
SPEAKER_00: Yes.
SPEAKER_00: Now look at me.
SPEAKER_00: I don't want you to leave mad at me, but I realize that sometimes I'm gonna say things that are in the Bible, and because we preach application, not content, you may have never heard it before, and your first response is to be like mad at me.
SPEAKER_00: Go back and be mad at the guy you sat under for eight years, and he never told you anything of depth and consequence.
SPEAKER_00: How about that?
SPEAKER_00: But that's just this poor young preacher's looking at me like, that really happened.
SPEAKER_00: Oh, yes.
SPEAKER_00: And sometimes my people go to lunch, they get together in a women's Bible study, and like, oh, can you believe him?
SPEAKER_00: He looks like the love child of Pit Bull and Uncle Fester.
SPEAKER_00: Can you believe he said that?
SPEAKER_00: Yes, yes.
SPEAKER_00: Helpful.
SPEAKER_00: How about that?
SPEAKER_00: Helpful.
SPEAKER_00: We should be helpful, and we should be a messenger.
SPEAKER_00: What does that mean?
SPEAKER_00: You should you should look and go, man, that person's been with God, and he's got something to say to me that comes from God.
SPEAKER_00: Now, last thing I want to show you in the Bible, we'll be done is look at verse nine.
SPEAKER_00: God says, You've corrupted the covenant of Levi, says Lord of hosts, and so I made you despised and abased.
SPEAKER_00: Look at the next phrase, before all the people, inasmuch as you did not keep my ways, but you showed partiality in your instruction before all the people.
SPEAKER_00: Underline that.
SPEAKER_00: If you're thinking about going into ministry, students, any form of ministry, missions, student ministry, chaplaincy in the Air Force, pastor in a church one day, look at me.
SPEAKER_00: Let me love you enough to tell you this.
SPEAKER_00: What you do in private will one day be put on display before all the people.
SPEAKER_00: That's why when famous preachers have a little kerfuffle and do something stupid, it just runs like wildfire.
SPEAKER_00: Like they were talking about this guy that's very popular up in the Northeast.
SPEAKER_00: And I was like, Yeah, I got nothing.
SPEAKER_00: And one of the guys said, So you know what happened to him?
SPEAKER_00: And I was just like, I'm gonna see what they do.
SPEAKER_00: And one's like, well, you know, there were some financial improprieties, and he had to step down.
SPEAKER_00: Financial improprieties, you stole money, my man.
SPEAKER_00: Church people got so much language, we don't even know what sin is anymore.
SPEAKER_00: No, his heart was greedy for sordid gain, and when no one was looking, he took some money that wasn't his.
SPEAKER_00: I told you last week there comes a day where all your lies get in the same room.
SPEAKER_00: And it's hard.
SPEAKER_00: So we say to all the pastors on staff here, if you're doing anything in private, you shouldn't be doing it.
SPEAKER_00: One day it's gonna be before all the people.
SPEAKER_00: And so, because God holds us to a standard, look at me.
SPEAKER_00: You should hold us to a standard.
SPEAKER_00: You should have expectations of us.
SPEAKER_00: Now, what you shouldn't do is make us prove to you that we're not like the last person that hurt you, because that ain't fair to us.
SPEAKER_00: But you should hold us to a standard.
SPEAKER_00: So we read something like this, and what do we learn about God?
SPEAKER_00: That God holds people in ministry to a standard, that God is a God of reciprocity, that God is consistently constant, and finally, that God is about the heart.
SPEAKER_00: That's why last week we finished by saying, God, we don't want you to just be great in the nations.
SPEAKER_00: We want you to be great in me.
SPEAKER_00: Be great right here, God.
SPEAKER_00: I forfeit the right to plattle on about the nations if God's not great right here.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: Because God is about your heart, and when he gets your heart, when that exchange happens, look at me.
SPEAKER_00: Your behavior changes.
SPEAKER_00: Let's pray together.
SPEAKER_00: If you're a guest, just relax.
SPEAKER_00: We like to teach the Bible, then give you some soul space to think about it.
SPEAKER_00: So I'll voice a prayer, some questions come up on the screen, and they're intended to help you kind of steward your heart this morning.
SPEAKER_00: Let me pray.
SPEAKER_00: God thinks that you're about our heart.
SPEAKER_00: It's not that you don't see our behavior and go, that's just wretchedly sinful and selfish.
SPEAKER_00: What do you not believe that makes you do that?
SPEAKER_00: Or what do you believe that motivates that behavior?
SPEAKER_00: But it all comes back to our heart.
SPEAKER_00: And so, Holy Spirit, brood over our hearts for just a few moments before we get out of here.
SPEAKER_00: God, that's the desire of our hearts to you to be great.
SPEAKER_00: Let your greatness begin with us and radiate out, be manifested in our church, in our city, in our state, in our nation, and in the nations.
SPEAKER_00: But we can't live with the hypocrisy of saying, God be great among the nations, and don't be great right here.
SPEAKER_00: We're not gonna trip over Jerusalem on our way to Judea and Samaria in the uttermost parts of the earth.
SPEAKER_00: And so, Lord, just right here in this heart, and that boy, if I don't watch it, it can get away from me, God, because it is prone to wander.
SPEAKER_00: Whoo! It's an idol factory.
SPEAKER_00: So, Holy Spirit, brood over us.
SPEAKER_00: Continue to sanctify our hearts.
SPEAKER_00: This is our prayer we offer it in Jesus' name, and everyone said, Amen.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: Thanks for your presence today.
SPEAKER_00: If you're new to our church today, just know this.
SPEAKER_00: You're always welcome.
SPEAKER_00: Met someone this morning and said, Hey, it's my first time, first time I've been in church in three years.
SPEAKER_00: I said, Man, you're welcome.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, the rest of you are welcome as well.
SPEAKER_00: If you have any questions, anything you heard or saw today, some of our pastors will be available down front.
SPEAKER_00: We'd love to answer your questions.
SPEAKER_00: Pray with you if you got anything going on.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, if you're our guest, uh, there's a number you can just text.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, you text that number on the screen.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, just give us a record that you're here.
SPEAKER_00: We'll shoot you back a text.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, we're not going to show up uninvited at your house or anything.
SPEAKER_00: We just want you to know that we believe you matter to God, and because of that, you matter to us, and we want you to kind of take the next step in your spiritual journey.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, one of the things that helps us take the next steps in our spiritual journey is different events we have going on.
SPEAKER_00: And so give your attention to the screens and see what's coming up in the life of our church.
SPEAKER_02: Thank you for joining us today.
SPEAKER_02: Here's a few things we want you to know.
SPEAKER_02: If you're new, text welcome to 281-626-5707.
SPEAKER_02: This way we can know you're here and get you connected with the church.
SPEAKER_02: Today is the deadline to sign up for the men's weekend, happening October 14th and 15th.
SPEAKER_02: Register at grandparkway.org or the lobby.
SPEAKER_02: If you have a prom dress or accessories you would like to donate for the Night to Shine dress shop, bring them to the warehouse on October 16th.
SPEAKER_02: The Kids Ministry is starting a special needs buddy initiative to pair children who need extra support with a buddy who provides one-on-one attention.
SPEAKER_02: If you're interested in helping, come to our interest meeting in training on October 23rd after the second service in the Kids Building Gathering Room.
SPEAKER_02: For questions, email kids at grandparkway.org.
SPEAKER_02: Our yearly tradition of preschool day in the country is returning on November 4th.
SPEAKER_02: We'll gather at the Bemins Farm in Folster for a morning of fishing, hayrides, and lots of fun.
SPEAKER_02: Register at grandparkway.org.
SPEAKER_02: If you have any questions about what you heard today or would like someone to pray for you, find one of our pastors at the front of the stage at the conclusion of our service.
SPEAKER_00: Also, today's the day you worship God through obedience or generosity when it comes to giving.
SPEAKER_00: These wooden boxes at the door are where we receive our offering.
SPEAKER_00: I say that because we don't talk about it much, and new people are kind of like, hey, you didn't take an offering.
SPEAKER_00: We receive an offering every Sunday.
SPEAKER_00: Most people give online, a lot of people give online, some would give in person.
SPEAKER_00: I got something beautiful.
SPEAKER_00: I see it every once in a while.
SPEAKER_00: In our first service, we have some adults that come from a group home here in our city.
SPEAKER_00: And they always sit back here in the theater seats back on this side.
SPEAKER_00: And one of them comes, he doesn't have a job, but he comes, and when he comes, he drops coins in the wooden box over here, the offering box.
SPEAKER_00: And I was just walking by and I heard him.
SPEAKER_00: And I got a little trick.
SPEAKER_00: He doesn't have a job.
SPEAKER_00: His parents give him an allowance.
SPEAKER_00: And he faithfully comes, buttons his shirts all the way up to here, like Leo.
SPEAKER_00: And he drops coins in the box.
SPEAKER_00: And I just, I honestly, I was walking by the cup of coffee and I just thought I should be burning in hell right now.
SPEAKER_00: But I got to see that.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you, Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: And so we don't make a big deal out of it because our people understand.
SPEAKER_00: And by the way, I told you a couple weeks ago we're going to build a covered walkway that's going to go from the end of behind the old sanctuary straight to this door here on the left side of the little room.
SPEAKER_00: They're coming on Tuesday to start on that.
SPEAKER_00: And so I just want you to, it's kind of novel.
SPEAKER_00: We say what we're going to do and then we do it.
SPEAKER_00: It's kind of crazy that way.
SPEAKER_00: So you may want to give towards that.
SPEAKER_00: You're more than welcome to.
SPEAKER_00: You just have to indicate that, okay?
SPEAKER_00: Let me do one thing that I wouldn't plan, I didn't do the last service, but I kind of feel it welling up in me.
SPEAKER_00: If you're on staff here at this church, would you stand up right now?
SPEAKER_00: Yes, if you're on staff.
SPEAKER_00: Here's what I want you to do.
SPEAKER_00: I want you to get with your spouse and come forward.
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, your hearts are bad.
SPEAKER_00: You need help.
SPEAKER_00: I want you to spread out.
SPEAKER_00: So don't touch me, woman.
SPEAKER_00: You're just an employee.
SPEAKER_00: I want you to I want you to spread out.
SPEAKER_00: Some of you go that way.
SPEAKER_00: Go that way.
SPEAKER_00: Leo.
SPEAKER_00: There you are.
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
SPEAKER_00: And here's why.
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
SPEAKER_00: What?
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, button your top button, Leo.
SPEAKER_00: I don't recognize you.
SPEAKER_00: Leo wears skinny jeans and skinny shirts.
SPEAKER_00: Now here's what I want you to do.
SPEAKER_00: In just a minute, I'm gonna speak a blessing over you.
SPEAKER_00: I want you to come to these people.
SPEAKER_00: And the reason I had their wives stand there.
SPEAKER_00: The reason I had their wives stand beside them is because they do without.
SPEAKER_00: So you can be you can be with.
SPEAKER_00: And I want their wives to hear how God's using these people.
SPEAKER_00: And I want their husbands to hear how God's using some of these women.
SPEAKER_00: And so uh I want you to come.
SPEAKER_00: If you're visiting today, you're like, this is not, I'm not talking to you.
SPEAKER_00: As soon as I speak of blood, you can get out of here.
SPEAKER_00: But the rest of you, I want you to come and just look and just kind of see.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, this is Blake, uh hardcastle, our spiritual formation pastor over here.
SPEAKER_00: Uh this uh is Marcia and her daughter.
SPEAKER_00: They work in the children, they come and they're the people that prep everything in the children's building.
SPEAKER_00: So if you have kids, these women right here, they get it ready when no one's watching.
SPEAKER_00: The Knutsins.
SPEAKER_00: Uh Kent, I don't know what Kent does, but he's there anyway.
SPEAKER_00: Now, Kent is there to be reminded that hey, God uses your wife and daughter.
SPEAKER_00: Uh next to them is Brent and April Wildison.
SPEAKER_00: Brent's one of our teaching pastors, he overmissions, ESL, and he teaches in different environments.
SPEAKER_00: This is Travis Dunham, who snores like a bear.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, and his sweet wife, Robin.
SPEAKER_00: This is my wife, Marcy.
SPEAKER_00: She's uh our women's pastor.
SPEAKER_00: She's over our our women's ministry.
SPEAKER_00: This is Ian, our new youth pastor, and his wife Kindle.
SPEAKER_00: Uh Kindle also works here.
SPEAKER_00: She's the admin or the ministry assistant for the South Hallway.
SPEAKER_00: So she coordinates people like Travis and Brent and Marcy and those centers on the other hallway from me.
SPEAKER_00: Uh this is Clyde.
SPEAKER_00: He wouldn't tell you this, but that song that Clyde sang at the end, the B grade in me, he wrote that this week.
SPEAKER_00: And next to him is Leo.
SPEAKER_00: And now some of y'all are gonna come to Leo and kind of go, Leo, I can't believe he picks on you.
SPEAKER_00: Just shut up, okay?
SPEAKER_00: Boys and girls, that's a bad word.
SPEAKER_00: You shouldn't use that word.
SPEAKER_00: But every once in a while, Pastor Neil, I mean, God tells Pastor Neil it's okay.
SPEAKER_00: Prophetic license.
SPEAKER_00: Next to them is Wade and Amy Burgess.
SPEAKER_01: None of you know this.
SPEAKER_00: Anytime we get a hard rain, that building over leaks like a sieve.
SPEAKER_00: And we have some problems in this building too.
SPEAKER_00: We're still working on it.
SPEAKER_00: What you don't know is if it starts raining, if it's 2.48 in the morning, Wade Burgess gets out of bed in Greatwood and comes down here.
SPEAKER_01: And I'm like, Wade, I live 30 seconds away.
SPEAKER_01: I didn't want to disturb you.
SPEAKER_01: And so I just want you to know that man serves you well.
SPEAKER_00: Uh next to him is Cheyenne, who is our associate student pastor and newly pregnant.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, yes.
SPEAKER_00: So I'm gonna ask y'all to take uh about five steps.
SPEAKER_00: Y'all all stretch out a little bit.
SPEAKER_00: Y'all go that way a little bit.
SPEAKER_00: It's my buddy Gabe.
SPEAKER_00: Gabe's no longer got a walker, Gabe got some some new tools.
SPEAKER_00: Uh hey Gabe, Gabe, Gabe over here.
SPEAKER_00: These people are all clapping because they love you.
SPEAKER_00: Uh so pick your one or two out and get some words for them.
SPEAKER_00: Now, hey, you students, stop being just soul-sucking little parasites.
SPEAKER_00: Come show some gratitude to people who invest in you.
SPEAKER_00: Your parents told me to call you that.
SPEAKER_00: And don't email me and go, Rachel, you think we're soul sucking parasites?
SPEAKER_00: No, your parents do.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, I don't.
SPEAKER_00: So, stand to your feet.
SPEAKER_00: Hold your hands out.
SPEAKER_00: Your God is about your heart.
SPEAKER_00: It's about your heart.
SPEAKER_00: It always has been and it always will be.
SPEAKER_00: And so don't lie to yourself and pass on to your children what was passed on to you.
SPEAKER_00: Dig deep and dwell deep because your God is not afraid of anything that's in your heart because he's more powerful than all of it.
SPEAKER_00: In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: Come and appreciate your staff.