WEBVTT 00:00:04.799 --> 00:00:12.480 This podcast is brought to you by Grand Parkway Baptist Church, helping people to know, enjoy, and glorify God. 00:00:12.960 --> 00:00:18.000 For more information about Grand Parkway, visit GrandProkway.org. 00:00:18.960 --> 00:00:19.839 Let's pray together. 00:00:20.079 --> 00:00:26.559 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. 00:00:26.719 --> 00:00:37.439 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. 00:00:37.679 --> 00:00:41.439 Sometimes the motivation and the energy to move forward is found by looking back. 00:00:41.600 --> 00:00:49.359 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. 00:00:49.520 --> 00:00:53.679 How will he not, along with him, graciously give us all things, future tense? 00:00:54.079 --> 00:01:01.520 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. 00:01:01.840 --> 00:01:06.319 You have been faithful, you are faithful, and you will be faithful. 00:01:06.640 --> 00:01:16.719 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. 00:01:16.879 --> 00:01:17.840 Be great here. 00:01:18.480 --> 00:01:23.519 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. 00:01:23.760 --> 00:01:26.079 It's a dwelling place of God. 00:01:26.560 --> 00:01:28.640 Be great in our heart, God. 00:01:30.079 --> 00:01:34.239 Lord, now illuminate your word so that greatness comes out of our lives. 00:01:34.400 --> 00:01:35.120 This is our prayer. 00:01:35.200 --> 00:01:36.319 We pray it in Jesus' name. 00:01:36.400 --> 00:01:38.640 And everyone said, Amen, amen. 00:01:38.719 --> 00:01:39.359 You could have a seed. 00:01:39.439 --> 00:01:42.319 If you've got a Bible, I invite you and take it, open up to Malachi chapter two. 00:01:42.560 --> 00:01:47.040 If you're our guest today, we're preaching through the Old Testament book of Malachi, last book of the Old Testament. 00:01:47.120 --> 00:01:49.120 Uh uh, and that is our custom. 00:01:49.200 --> 00:01:53.200 We practice what's called expository preaching here, which is we just go verse by verse. 00:01:53.280 --> 00:01:55.599 Uh, it's not boring people and blaming it on God. 00:01:55.680 --> 00:01:57.920 You know, I'm sorry this is terrible, but it's in the Bible. 00:01:58.079 --> 00:02:06.480 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. 00:02:06.640 --> 00:02:10.159 And so today I'm gonna preach from Malachi chapter two, verses one to nine. 00:02:10.319 --> 00:02:14.400 I want to talk to you about the consistency of God in an inconsistent world. 00:02:14.639 --> 00:02:17.280 The consistency of God in an inconsistent world. 00:02:17.439 --> 00:02:24.080 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. 00:02:24.159 --> 00:02:26.560 And so there's so many things that are inconsistent. 00:02:26.719 --> 00:02:29.520 People are inconsistent, life can feel inconsistent. 00:02:29.599 --> 00:02:38.719 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. 00:02:38.800 --> 00:02:40.240 And that is who God is. 00:02:40.400 --> 00:02:42.800 Uh Malachi chapter 2, verse 1. 00:02:42.879 --> 00:02:43.680 I'll just start reading. 00:02:43.840 --> 00:02:46.639 He says, And now, O priests, this command is for you. 00:02:46.800 --> 00:02:55.919 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. 00:02:56.000 --> 00:02:59.120 Indeed, I've already cursed them, because you do not lay it to heart. 00:02:59.280 --> 00:03:05.919 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. 00:03:06.240 --> 00:03:11.039 So shall you know that I have sent this command to you that my covenant with Levi may stand. 00:03:11.120 --> 00:03:17.280 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. 00:03:17.439 --> 00:03:19.759 It was a covenant of fear, and he feared me. 00:03:20.000 --> 00:03:21.599 He stood in awe of my name. 00:03:21.840 --> 00:03:25.840 True instruction was in his mouth, and no wrong was found on his lips. 00:03:26.080 --> 00:03:29.680 He walked with me in peace and uprightness, and he turned many from iniquity. 00:03:29.919 --> 00:03:37.199 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. 00:03:37.360 --> 00:03:39.199 But you have turned aside from the way. 00:03:39.360 --> 00:03:41.759 You have caused many to stumble by your instruction. 00:03:41.919 --> 00:03:44.960 You have corrupted the covenant of Levi, says the Lord of hosts. 00:03:45.120 --> 00:03:54.560 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. 00:03:54.800 --> 00:03:56.560 Now, let me acknowledge a couple of things. 00:03:56.719 --> 00:04:04.960 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. 00:04:05.039 --> 00:04:06.319 But here's what I want to acknowledge. 00:04:06.479 --> 00:04:07.039 Look at verse one. 00:04:07.360 --> 00:04:10.960 He says, That now, O priest, this command is for you. 00:04:11.120 --> 00:04:16.160 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. 00:04:16.639 --> 00:04:24.800 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. 00:04:24.879 --> 00:04:28.879 And so what I want to say is don't check out, yeah, you're not an old testament priest. 00:04:28.959 --> 00:04:31.759 Um, I'm not an old testament priest, but I'm a descendant of them. 00:04:32.000 --> 00:04:36.879 As a pastor, I have some responsibilities that bears heavy on me in a passage like this. 00:04:36.959 --> 00:04:45.279 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? 00:04:45.920 --> 00:04:49.360 What does this passage in the Bible communicate to me about God? 00:04:49.519 --> 00:04:56.160 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. 00:04:56.240 --> 00:04:59.120 And the first one is this God is about the heart. 00:04:59.439 --> 00:05:01.120 God is about the heart. 00:05:01.199 --> 00:05:02.720 It's right there in verse 1 and 2. 00:05:02.800 --> 00:05:07.279 Now, if you read the Bible for 10 minutes, you'll see that this is all through the Bible, Old and New Testament. 00:05:07.519 --> 00:05:12.879 God has a fascination uh with our heart, not our behavior, but our heart. 00:05:12.959 --> 00:05:14.079 I'll just tick off some. 00:05:14.160 --> 00:05:19.279 Uh Proverbs 3 says, Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. 00:05:19.439 --> 00:05:24.800 Jeremiah 29, he says, You'll search for me and you'll find me when you search for me with all your heart. 00:05:24.959 --> 00:05:26.959 Uh 1 Samuel 16, 7. 00:05:27.040 --> 00:05:30.160 Uh they've lined up the sons of Jesse because they're going to anoint the king. 00:05:30.240 --> 00:05:33.360 And one of David's brothers was named, David's out tending the sheep. 00:05:33.519 --> 00:05:41.439 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. 00:05:41.600 --> 00:05:42.720 I mean, the guy has everything. 00:05:42.879 --> 00:05:48.879 He has a hot wife, a cool truck, a great house, a cush job, making tons of money. 00:05:48.959 --> 00:05:50.399 And everybody's like, oh my gosh. 00:05:50.800 --> 00:05:54.800 Matter of fact, the guy that had the anointing oil, he's going to anoint the next king. 00:05:54.879 --> 00:05:57.519 He sees Eliab and he's like, Yeah, this must be the guy. 00:05:57.680 --> 00:06:08.720 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. 00:06:10.079 --> 00:06:10.639 Yeah. 00:06:10.879 --> 00:06:11.360 Why? 00:06:11.680 --> 00:06:13.839 Because God is about the heart. 00:06:13.920 --> 00:06:20.720 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. 00:06:20.800 --> 00:06:22.959 You were like, hey, good to see you. 00:06:23.199 --> 00:06:26.240 And inside your heart, God was going, You're so phony. 00:06:26.800 --> 00:06:30.720 Now, by the way, that's not a statement about them, that's a statement about your heart. 00:06:31.600 --> 00:06:32.240 Yes. 00:06:32.399 --> 00:06:32.720 Yes. 00:06:32.800 --> 00:06:38.240 So when I say that God is about the heart, that is comfort, but it also should cut you some ways. 00:06:38.319 --> 00:06:41.680 It should be like, oh, God puts a big emphasis on the heart. 00:06:41.759 --> 00:06:43.120 That's why he says in verse one and two. 00:06:43.279 --> 00:06:43.680 Look at it. 00:06:43.759 --> 00:06:52.399 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. 00:06:52.560 --> 00:06:54.240 Indeed, I've already cursed them. 00:06:54.399 --> 00:06:54.720 Why? 00:06:54.879 --> 00:06:57.839 Because you do not lay it to heart. 00:06:58.160 --> 00:06:59.759 God is about the heart. 00:06:59.920 --> 00:07:08.800 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. 00:07:08.879 --> 00:07:12.480 And if we don't feel something in here, then we go, well, yeah, I just wasn't feeling it. 00:07:12.560 --> 00:07:14.000 It must not be for me. 00:07:14.240 --> 00:07:31.199 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. 00:07:31.360 --> 00:07:37.759 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. 00:07:37.920 --> 00:07:49.680 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. 00:07:49.759 --> 00:07:54.879 And when you get out there and it's cold and it's dark, and I'm just like, please, come on, man. 00:07:55.040 --> 00:07:59.279 And then this person said, and you don't know what to do, just follow your heart. 00:07:59.360 --> 00:08:00.399 And I couldn't help myself. 00:08:00.480 --> 00:08:04.160 I was sitting way back in the back, and I just it just came out like a conversational burp. 00:08:04.399 --> 00:08:05.439 I just went, unamen. 00:08:08.160 --> 00:08:10.079 And I was like, Well, that just came out. 00:08:10.160 --> 00:08:16.000 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. 00:08:16.079 --> 00:08:18.000 And I see that she goes, Well, why don't you speak next year? 00:08:18.079 --> 00:08:19.439 And I said, I don't like public speaking. 00:08:19.519 --> 00:08:21.759 Uh, you don't want me to speak at this thing. 00:08:22.160 --> 00:08:23.519 It just follow your heart. 00:08:23.600 --> 00:08:24.560 Are you kidding me? 00:08:24.800 --> 00:08:25.600 Follow your heart. 00:08:25.680 --> 00:08:37.600 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. 00:08:38.720 --> 00:08:39.360 Yes. 00:08:39.759 --> 00:08:43.519 Yes, people say to me all the time in castles, well, you know, I know in my heart I'm a good person. 00:08:43.679 --> 00:08:46.240 I I wouldn't consult my heart to figure that. 00:08:47.759 --> 00:08:48.960 But God is about the heart. 00:08:49.039 --> 00:08:51.200 That's why he says, take it to heart, lay it to heart. 00:08:51.279 --> 00:08:53.279 Now, the Hebrews, this is where they think about the heart. 00:08:53.360 --> 00:08:55.919 For us, the heart is about, it's just about what I feel. 00:08:56.080 --> 00:08:58.639 Well, I just in my heart of hearts, I just kind of know. 00:08:58.720 --> 00:09:01.759 Uh, this is the way the Hebrews, that's the English understanding of the heart. 00:09:01.919 --> 00:09:12.639 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. 00:09:12.960 --> 00:09:14.320 Hear that again. 00:09:14.639 --> 00:09:23.519 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. 00:09:23.759 --> 00:09:33.360 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. 00:09:33.440 --> 00:09:38.159 Now, by the way, when I say God is about the heart, that's why the first thing God does is change your heart. 00:09:38.320 --> 00:09:44.799 When you come become to faith, you become a Christian, when a person is converted, God is not obsessing about your behavior. 00:09:44.960 --> 00:09:46.720 God is obsessing about your heart. 00:09:46.960 --> 00:09:57.039 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. 00:09:57.200 --> 00:09:59.840 This is why God starts with your heart. 00:09:59.919 --> 00:10:03.679 In Ezekiel 36, God kind of unpacks for his people. 00:10:03.759 --> 00:10:05.360 And it's an incredible passage. 00:10:05.440 --> 00:10:13.120 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. 00:10:13.360 --> 00:10:15.200 You people have profaned my name. 00:10:15.360 --> 00:10:18.720 You've made me look less than awesome and incredible. 00:10:18.879 --> 00:10:20.879 You have drugged my name through the dirt. 00:10:20.960 --> 00:10:22.159 And this is what I'm gonna do. 00:10:22.320 --> 00:10:30.080 I'm gonna vindicate myself by the way I change you, and then I cause you to represent me to all these people. 00:10:30.399 --> 00:10:35.279 So the vindication and the representation of God come through our changed hearts. 00:10:35.360 --> 00:10:39.679 And priests and preachers should be the first people to demonstrate this reality. 00:10:39.840 --> 00:10:40.879 Because this is what God says. 00:10:41.039 --> 00:10:48.720 You profane my name everywhere you've gone, and now I'm gonna vindicate myself by so drastically changing who you are. 00:10:48.879 --> 00:10:55.120 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. 00:10:55.600 --> 00:10:57.039 Only God could do this. 00:10:57.200 --> 00:10:58.240 He said, What do you mean? 00:10:58.399 --> 00:11:00.159 Ezekiel 36, verse 25. 00:11:00.240 --> 00:11:20.399 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. 00:11:20.639 --> 00:11:32.320 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. 00:11:32.559 --> 00:11:46.720 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. 00:11:46.879 --> 00:11:49.840 Now, he's not saying you're gonna feel bad the rest of your life. 00:11:50.000 --> 00:11:52.960 No, you'll look back on your past and go, What was I thinking? 00:11:53.279 --> 00:12:00.240 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. 00:12:00.320 --> 00:12:08.240 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. 00:12:08.399 --> 00:12:11.360 They don't get a ticket to heaven they put in their pocket for them. 00:12:11.519 --> 00:12:12.399 They get a new heart. 00:12:12.480 --> 00:12:16.000 God takes out your heart of stone and gives you a heart of flesh. 00:12:16.240 --> 00:12:18.799 Now, by the way, I see this in counseling a lot. 00:12:18.879 --> 00:12:22.879 Like I see a young lady who's 16, doesn't go to church anywhere. 00:12:22.960 --> 00:12:27.039 And the last time I saw her, we're talking, and she's like, you know, I don't care about this. 00:12:27.120 --> 00:12:28.879 So how long this takes, just let me know. 00:12:28.960 --> 00:12:30.240 And I, because I'm not gonna care. 00:12:30.320 --> 00:12:32.879 And I said, okay, well, this is what you need to know about me, Mrs. 00:12:33.120 --> 00:12:33.519 I don't care. 00:12:33.840 --> 00:12:38.080 The list of things I don't care about is 50 times longer than the list of things you don't care about. 00:12:38.240 --> 00:12:41.440 And at the top of my list is I don't care that you don't care. 00:12:43.200 --> 00:12:45.759 And she, well, my friend said you're kind of different. 00:12:45.840 --> 00:12:46.639 I said, Well, whatever. 00:12:46.720 --> 00:12:48.720 I'm not trying to be different, I'm just trying to be faithful. 00:12:48.879 --> 00:12:56.559 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. 00:12:56.639 --> 00:12:58.720 You have a heart of stone. 00:12:59.279 --> 00:13:03.440 And she goes from this to what are you talking about? 00:13:03.840 --> 00:13:05.840 Yeah, you by nature have a heart of stone. 00:13:06.080 --> 00:13:08.000 The Bible talks about it in Ezekiel 36. 00:13:08.159 --> 00:13:16.000 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. 00:13:16.320 --> 00:13:18.720 And I said, you can pray the prayer and go to hell. 00:13:20.240 --> 00:13:23.200 Well, apparently that was not on the quiz at the Christian school. 00:13:23.600 --> 00:13:24.799 She goes, That's not what they tell us. 00:13:25.039 --> 00:13:37.919 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. 00:13:38.000 --> 00:13:40.559 And she's like, Oh my God. 00:13:41.440 --> 00:13:43.360 I said, Yeah, OMG. 00:13:44.960 --> 00:13:47.279 Now, boys and girls, I'm not mocking that girl. 00:13:47.360 --> 00:13:48.799 I'm not mocking that 16-year-old girl. 00:13:49.039 --> 00:13:50.159 I'm just like, what do you want? 00:13:50.240 --> 00:13:50.720 A cookie? 00:13:50.879 --> 00:13:52.240 Of course you can't feel anything. 00:13:52.399 --> 00:13:56.639 Some of you can't feel anything, not because you're a great sinner, but because you have a heart of stone. 00:13:56.720 --> 00:14:10.480 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. 00:14:11.279 --> 00:14:15.840 Unless and until that happens, this will just be like pushing a boulder uphill. 00:14:16.000 --> 00:14:20.399 It's just like, oh, but God's about the heart, he's always been about the heart. 00:14:20.639 --> 00:14:21.600 Like Deuteronomy. 00:14:21.679 --> 00:14:27.440 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. 00:14:27.600 --> 00:14:29.039 So I started looking in other places. 00:14:29.200 --> 00:14:40.960 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. 00:14:41.120 --> 00:14:48.000 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. 00:14:48.159 --> 00:14:51.840 Anytime you see the word therefore in the Bible, it means what I'm saying right here. 00:14:51.919 --> 00:14:54.000 It's predicated on what I said up here. 00:14:54.080 --> 00:14:56.960 So I turned to Deuteronomy 11 and I started reading backwards. 00:14:57.039 --> 00:14:59.440 I went up to verse 13, and look, this is what he says. 00:14:59.600 --> 00:15:08.000 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. 00:15:08.240 --> 00:15:12.080 Mom and dad, stop trying to change your kids' behavior. 00:15:12.399 --> 00:15:16.000 Your kids behave like they do because their heart is what it is. 00:15:16.879 --> 00:15:19.120 We teach a parenting class right now on Wednesday nights. 00:15:19.279 --> 00:15:23.679 Wade Burgess, Janet McKee, two great people teaching that class. 00:15:24.159 --> 00:15:25.440 You've got to get to the heart. 00:15:25.519 --> 00:15:26.879 Look at Deuteronomy 11:13. 00:15:26.960 --> 00:15:34.240 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. 00:15:34.399 --> 00:15:46.559 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. 00:15:46.720 --> 00:15:52.320 Take care lest your heart be deceived, and you turn aside and serve other gods and worship them. 00:15:52.480 --> 00:16:03.120 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. 00:16:03.279 --> 00:16:15.840 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. 00:16:16.000 --> 00:16:16.480 Why? 00:16:16.720 --> 00:16:19.600 Because God is about the heart. 00:16:20.639 --> 00:16:21.600 It's what he cares about. 00:16:21.679 --> 00:16:32.320 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. 00:16:32.559 --> 00:16:35.120 All of that is an expression of their heart. 00:16:35.440 --> 00:16:36.879 And God is about the heart. 00:16:37.120 --> 00:16:39.440 If you want to parent well, you gotta be about the heart. 00:16:39.759 --> 00:16:42.960 Remember my oldest, she's about 16, and she did something. 00:16:43.679 --> 00:16:45.840 We didn't have a lot of drama with our kids, but she did something that was wrong. 00:16:46.000 --> 00:16:47.360 I took her cell phone away. 00:16:47.600 --> 00:16:49.039 And she was just like, oh. 00:16:49.519 --> 00:16:54.559 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. 00:16:54.799 --> 00:17:03.600 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. 00:17:03.679 --> 00:17:14.079 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. 00:17:16.480 --> 00:17:18.559 What a wicked little sinner, right? 00:17:18.880 --> 00:17:20.480 No, that's her heart. 00:17:20.640 --> 00:17:22.720 That's in y'all's heart, boys and girls. 00:17:22.880 --> 00:17:23.680 That's deep in you. 00:17:23.839 --> 00:17:27.839 You look at your parents and you just think, hey, what do I have to do to get what I want? 00:17:28.079 --> 00:17:30.079 Because obedience is just a means to an end. 00:17:30.160 --> 00:17:32.799 And so I'm gonna obey as long as I have to obey. 00:17:32.960 --> 00:17:39.519 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. 00:17:39.599 --> 00:17:40.400 I mean, that's negotiable. 00:17:40.480 --> 00:17:41.359 I don't have to obey. 00:17:41.920 --> 00:17:43.599 I get what I want without obeying. 00:17:43.920 --> 00:17:44.880 Here's why you do that. 00:17:45.039 --> 00:17:48.720 You gladly make that exchange because it never got out of your head. 00:17:48.799 --> 00:17:53.519 Everything you heard at church never got out of your head and dropped into your heart. 00:17:54.079 --> 00:17:56.400 And so you're like, What was I thinking? 00:17:56.559 --> 00:17:59.119 I mean, how could I be a Christian and do that? 00:17:59.440 --> 00:18:02.480 It's because it's intellectual, it's not intimate. 00:18:02.799 --> 00:18:04.559 Now, again, my kids are good kids. 00:18:04.720 --> 00:18:06.400 I'm not ragging on my daughter. 00:18:06.799 --> 00:18:10.319 When I saw that, I was just like, oh, she doesn't understand what I'm trying to get at here. 00:18:10.400 --> 00:18:13.039 So I went and got her phone, walked in the bedroom, and said, Here you go. 00:18:13.200 --> 00:18:14.079 She's like, Whoa, whoa, whoa. 00:18:14.160 --> 00:18:15.279 I said, You can have your phone back. 00:18:15.440 --> 00:18:16.880 I don't want I don't want you to be a Pharisee. 00:18:17.039 --> 00:18:21.359 I don't want you to focus on the outside stuff and neglect what's on the inside. 00:18:21.680 --> 00:18:24.400 I'm not trying to punish you, I'm trying to shape your heart. 00:18:25.519 --> 00:18:28.960 And God doesn't want to punish you, but He just wants to shape your heart. 00:18:29.200 --> 00:18:34.480 Because God, the first thing we see in Malachi chapter two is that God is about the heart. 00:18:34.799 --> 00:18:40.319 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. 00:18:40.400 --> 00:18:43.200 I'm surprised this building didn't fall down when I walked in. 00:18:43.839 --> 00:18:44.960 The building didn't fall down. 00:18:45.039 --> 00:18:45.680 You know why? 00:18:45.839 --> 00:18:49.359 Because God knows your behavior, but he values your heart. 00:18:50.720 --> 00:18:56.319 Second thing we see about God is that God is consistently constant, he is consistently constant. 00:18:56.480 --> 00:18:57.839 Look at verse 2. 00:18:58.319 --> 00:19:06.319 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. 00:19:06.400 --> 00:19:09.440 Indeed, I've already cursed them because you do not lay it to heart. 00:19:09.599 --> 00:19:11.920 Verse 3, behold, I will rebuke your offspring. 00:19:12.079 --> 00:19:13.119 Now, what does that mean? 00:19:13.359 --> 00:19:18.880 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. 00:19:19.839 --> 00:19:21.519 This is what we don't do in America. 00:19:21.599 --> 00:19:22.880 We just preach application. 00:19:22.960 --> 00:19:25.519 And so you come to church and you get, hey, here's a problem. 00:19:25.680 --> 00:19:28.079 Here's four power principles for addressing that problem. 00:19:28.160 --> 00:19:30.160 And we don't teach what the Bible actually says. 00:19:30.319 --> 00:19:31.920 It's called generational sin. 00:19:32.000 --> 00:19:40.400 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. 00:19:40.480 --> 00:19:45.839 And so God says to these preachers of the day, hey, listen, I will rebuke your offspring. 00:19:47.279 --> 00:19:53.599 And not because God is harsh or cruel, it's because you never got honest about what was in your heart. 00:19:53.920 --> 00:19:54.559 What do you say? 00:19:54.799 --> 00:19:57.839 Where do you get God that's consistently constant from that? 00:19:58.079 --> 00:19:59.119 Well, let me just say this. 00:19:59.200 --> 00:20:04.079 I'm not sure it's great advertising that a lot of Christians wear bracelets that says WWJ D. 00:20:04.160 --> 00:20:05.200 What would Jesus do? 00:20:05.759 --> 00:20:06.640 As if we don't know. 00:20:06.720 --> 00:20:15.759 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. 00:20:15.920 --> 00:20:22.960 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. 00:20:23.039 --> 00:20:24.880 And then he says, I will send the curse. 00:20:25.039 --> 00:20:26.799 Just underline that Lord, thee. 00:20:26.960 --> 00:20:28.880 He doesn't say a curse. 00:20:29.359 --> 00:20:31.599 He says, I will send the curse. 00:20:31.920 --> 00:20:33.920 He's referring to something specific. 00:20:34.079 --> 00:20:36.880 Like when our kids were little, uh, we spanked our kids. 00:20:36.960 --> 00:20:39.839 I'm available to come to the parenting class this Wednesday and teach, by the way. 00:20:40.000 --> 00:20:45.440 Uh, we now now we weren't like overly into that, but but they got a little hot leg with a rubber spatula, whatever. 00:20:45.519 --> 00:20:47.440 And every once in a while, we would just say, Do you want a hot leg? 00:20:47.519 --> 00:20:48.799 And they would be like, No. 00:20:49.119 --> 00:20:50.799 Because they had a right frame reference for that. 00:20:50.960 --> 00:20:54.319 Now, when I say that God is consistently constant, here's what I'm saying. 00:20:54.480 --> 00:21:00.880 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. 00:21:01.920 --> 00:21:03.839 He just says, I will send the curse. 00:21:04.240 --> 00:21:05.359 What's he talking about? 00:21:05.759 --> 00:21:08.079 You don't have to turn there, but just if you're taking notes, write this down. 00:21:08.319 --> 00:21:10.079 Deuteronomy 27 and 28. 00:21:10.240 --> 00:21:16.240 The book of Deuteronomy was written, and best we can tell, recorded in about 1408 BC. 00:21:16.720 --> 00:21:20.000 The book of Malachi was written about 400 BC. 00:21:20.319 --> 00:21:29.200 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. 00:21:29.359 --> 00:21:32.160 And God says, Listen, I don't want you to forget this. 00:21:32.240 --> 00:21:36.000 And so there's two mountains there's Mount Ebal and there's Mount Gerizim. 00:21:36.079 --> 00:21:40.880 And he puts half of the people over here on this top of this mountain, the priest, and half of them over here. 00:21:41.359 --> 00:21:44.880 And these people over here say, if you obey, there will be blessings. 00:21:45.039 --> 00:21:46.240 God will honor you. 00:21:46.400 --> 00:21:47.839 It matters when you obey. 00:21:48.000 --> 00:21:52.000 And over here, these people say, if you disobey, there will be a curse. 00:21:52.319 --> 00:21:55.440 God takes himself and what he says very seriously. 00:21:55.599 --> 00:22:05.839 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. 00:22:05.920 --> 00:22:15.359 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. 00:22:15.519 --> 00:22:16.799 I've not forgotten. 00:22:16.960 --> 00:22:17.759 I remember. 00:22:17.920 --> 00:22:20.160 I he I don't count to three. 00:22:22.480 --> 00:22:24.400 I'm not going to put you in time out. 00:22:26.160 --> 00:22:28.240 Go to your room and think about what you did. 00:22:28.559 --> 00:22:30.559 No, my wife grew up in a home like that. 00:22:30.720 --> 00:22:34.240 My wife could look at our girls and go, I'm just, I'm really disappointed in you. 00:22:34.319 --> 00:22:36.000 And it would just crush them. 00:22:36.400 --> 00:22:39.759 I wish my dad would have looked at me sometime and said, son, I'm really disappointed. 00:22:39.839 --> 00:22:41.920 Well, that's a tough day, isn't it, there, Leon? 00:22:42.880 --> 00:22:43.200 No. 00:22:44.160 --> 00:22:44.480 No. 00:22:44.960 --> 00:22:47.440 God is consistently constant. 00:22:47.920 --> 00:22:53.759 So a thousand years later, the Bible says of God, that He's the same yesterday, today, and forever. 00:22:54.000 --> 00:22:57.279 And he's never changed his mind and he's never going to. 00:22:57.519 --> 00:23:01.200 The third thing you see about God, the text, is that God is a God of reciprocity. 00:23:01.359 --> 00:23:02.960 He's a God of reciprocity. 00:23:03.200 --> 00:23:04.240 Big word, okay? 00:23:04.480 --> 00:23:09.200 Reciprocity means reciprocal, means that I give and I take. 00:23:09.359 --> 00:23:11.039 I give and I receive. 00:23:11.200 --> 00:23:12.799 It's a two-way thing. 00:23:13.119 --> 00:23:15.440 We we think of God like a vending machine. 00:23:15.599 --> 00:23:19.200 I just put stuff in, pull the handle, and goodies come out. 00:23:19.359 --> 00:23:21.519 But the Bible says he's a God of reciprocity. 00:23:21.599 --> 00:23:22.880 You say, look at verse 4. 00:23:23.039 --> 00:23:27.920 So shall you know that I've sent this command to you that my covenant with Levi may stand, says the Lord of hosts. 00:23:28.079 --> 00:23:31.839 My covenant with him was one of life and peace, and I gave them to him. 00:23:32.000 --> 00:23:34.559 It was a covenant of fear, and he feared me. 00:23:34.799 --> 00:23:37.039 He stood in awe of my name. 00:23:37.200 --> 00:23:45.119 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. 00:23:45.920 --> 00:23:51.359 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. 00:23:51.440 --> 00:23:56.720 And we never just take time just to be still and just say, you know, God, what exactly are you doing? 00:23:56.799 --> 00:24:00.559 Because I want to make sure what I'm doing is response, not initiation. 00:24:00.880 --> 00:24:05.279 The most common place you'll see this lack of reciprocity is in our prayer life. 00:24:05.519 --> 00:24:09.920 So ask yourself this question: how much time do you spend talking versus listening? 00:24:11.039 --> 00:24:26.960 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. 00:24:27.599 --> 00:24:29.119 And it's great, by the way. 00:24:29.680 --> 00:24:31.200 It was a whole lot of fun. 00:24:31.359 --> 00:24:38.319 Uh, and got to meet pastors that are just slogging it out, pastoring churches of 40 people in buildings that were built in 1868. 00:24:38.559 --> 00:24:43.359 And I'm like, one guy's like, yeah, our church began the year the Civil War started. 00:24:43.519 --> 00:24:47.279 And so, what a great, what a great environment to plant a church in. 00:24:47.519 --> 00:24:48.559 And I was like, wow. 00:24:48.640 --> 00:24:55.599 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. 00:24:55.680 --> 00:24:57.599 And he's like, What is your church like? 00:24:58.160 --> 00:24:59.759 Well, it's not like this. 00:24:59.839 --> 00:25:02.480 And I was just overwhelmed with how generous God's been to us. 00:25:02.559 --> 00:25:06.319 But my favorite part is one night about 10:15, we got to the hotel, we're just exhausted. 00:25:06.480 --> 00:25:09.839 Travis gets out of the truck and he's just like, I can't feel my legs. 00:25:10.079 --> 00:25:20.400 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. 00:25:20.640 --> 00:25:23.680 And here's the problem with living in a socialist state, okay? 00:25:23.839 --> 00:25:25.519 No one's responsible for anything. 00:25:25.759 --> 00:25:28.000 They could not turn the fire alarm off. 00:25:28.160 --> 00:25:31.119 We had to wait for the fire department to come turn it off. 00:25:31.680 --> 00:25:36.960 That would be like your security system going off this afternoon, and you have to call me to come over and turn it off. 00:25:37.119 --> 00:25:38.799 And I'm like, I'll be over Tuesday. 00:25:38.960 --> 00:25:40.079 Enjoy the noise. 00:25:40.559 --> 00:25:43.200 That's going off, and I'm just like, oh no. 00:25:43.359 --> 00:25:45.440 And the poor girl, I'm like, hey, you didn't do anything wrong. 00:25:45.599 --> 00:25:50.640 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. 00:25:50.720 --> 00:25:51.680 Can we crash in your basement? 00:25:52.160 --> 00:25:52.880 Absolutely, come over. 00:25:53.039 --> 00:25:55.200 And so we get there, and she's like, Well, you're gonna have to wait 20 minutes. 00:25:55.279 --> 00:25:56.400 Your sheets are in the dryer. 00:25:56.480 --> 00:25:57.519 And I'm like, uh-huh. 00:25:58.079 --> 00:25:58.880 I'm gonna be dead. 00:25:58.960 --> 00:26:00.880 I'm gonna pray Jesus comes back in 20 minutes. 00:26:01.039 --> 00:26:02.720 And so they said, You want to go see our church tonight? 00:26:02.880 --> 00:26:03.519 Set up in the morning? 00:26:03.680 --> 00:26:04.079 Absolutely. 00:26:04.160 --> 00:26:05.039 We go, we come back. 00:26:05.200 --> 00:26:06.079 We're in the basement. 00:26:06.160 --> 00:26:07.200 There's three of us in one room. 00:26:07.279 --> 00:26:11.440 There's a couch with a pull-out bed, one bed over here, and then put a mattress on the floor. 00:26:11.519 --> 00:26:13.440 Travis says, I'll take the mattress on the floor. 00:26:13.599 --> 00:26:14.559 And so I'm laying there. 00:26:14.640 --> 00:26:18.079 Now, now again, you're like, What's this got to do with reciprocity? 00:26:18.319 --> 00:26:20.160 God is a God of reciprocity. 00:26:20.400 --> 00:26:24.319 We give, and you see this lack of it most often in your prayer life. 00:26:24.400 --> 00:26:28.240 And when you read the word, it's just kind of an exercise, and it's almost like calf robe. 00:26:28.799 --> 00:26:29.680 Oh, I'm done. 00:26:30.000 --> 00:26:40.559