Worship Service

Malachi 3:6-12

6"I, the Lord, do not change. So you, O descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed. 7 Ever since the time of your forefathers, you have turned away from my decrees and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you," says the Lord Almighty. "But you ask, 'How are we to return?' 8 'Will a man rob God? Yet you rob me. "But you ask, 'How do we rob you?' "In tithes and offerings. 9 You are under a curse-the whole nation of you-because you are robbing me. 10 Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this," says the Lord Almighty, "and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it. 11 I will prevent pests from devouring your crops, and the vines in your fields will not cast their fruit," says the Lord Almighty. 12 "Then all the nations will call you blessed, for yours will be a delightful land," says the Lord Almighty. 

Introduction

- Church Trivia …

- A story … “How shall we then live?”

I. Stewardship

II. Three principles

A. God Made … (Genesis 1:1)

1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

B. God continues to own all. (Psalm 50:9-11, 12)

9 I have no need of a bull from your stall or of goats from your pens, 10 for every animal of the forest is mine, and the cattle on a thousand hills. 11I know every bird in the mountains, and the creatures of the field are mine.

12 If I were hungry, I would not tell you, for the world is mine, and all that is in it.

C. God holds us accountable (Luke 16:10-13)

10 "Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much. 11 So if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches? 12And if you have not been trustworthy with someone else's property, who will give you property of your own? 13 "No servant can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money."

III. Malachi 3:1-6 – Context

3 "See, I will send my messenger, who will prepare the way before me. Then suddenly the Lord you are seeking will come to his temple; the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, will come," says the Lord Almighty. 2 But who can endure the day of his coming? Who can stand when he appears? For he will be like a refiner's fire or a launderer's soap. 3 He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; he will purify the Levites and refine them like gold and silver. Then the Lord will have men who will bring offerings in righteousness, 4 and the offerings of Judah and Jerusalem will be acceptable to the Lord, as in days gone by, as in former years. 5"So I will come near to you for judgment. I will be quick to testify against sorcerers, adulterers, and perjurers, against those who defraud laborers of their wages, who oppress the widows and the fatherless, and deprive aliens of justice, but do not fear me," says the Lord Almighty. 6"I, the Lord, do not change. So you, O descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed.

A. Day of judgement 

B. V. 6a: “I, the Lord, do not change.”

· Immutability (love and justice)

· V. 7: “Return”

C. Who me? One glaring example. (vv. 8-10)

8 'Will a man rob God? Yet you rob me. "But you ask, 'How do we rob you?' "In tithes and offerings. 9You are under a curse-the whole nation of you-because you are robbing me. 10Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this," says the Lord Almighty, "and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it.

D. A test

Application – Grow one

"For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them." Matthew 18:20 [NIV] 

As children gather together, Jesus is present with them, making one plus one equal three. Through a fun quiz, students learn to rely on God's Word, not their own understanding. Matthew 18:20 reminds us that when two or three gather in Jesus' name, He is with them, emphasizing the importance of community and worship.

It is back-to-school time! All around the world, children have either already started back to school or they will very soon. As a teacher, I can tell you that one thing that is very important for a teacher is to find out what their students already know. That way, they will know where they should start in teaching them what they should know.

I was wondering if it would be a good idea for our Sunday School teachers to give a little quiz to find out how much their students know about the Bible? As an experiment, I made up a sample quiz to try out on you this morning. Are you ready? If you know the answer, raise your hand.

How many of each animal did Moses take on the ark with him? (allow time for answers) Let's turn the card over and check our answer. "None!" I thought the answer was two. Oh, that's right; it was Noah who built the ark, not Moses. 

Here is question number two. Are automobiles mentioned in the Bible? Let's check our answer. "Yes, in Acts 2:1." Let's see what it says in Acts 2:1... "When the day of Pentecost was come, they were all in one accord." Hey! I don't think it is talking about a Honda Accord automobile there!

Those first two questions were trick questions, weren't they? Well, I promise you that the next question is not a trick question. Here it is: According to the Bible, can one plus one ever equal three? Let's check our answer. "Yes!" How can that be? The answer is in the Bible. Jesus said, "For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them." Oh, I see, if two are gathered in Jesus' name, Jesus is there with them — so one plus one equals three.

Look around this room. I'm not sure exactly how many people are here this morning, but whatever the number is, you can add one to it, because Jesus is here too.

Dear Jesus, we thank you for being here with us this morning as we gather together to worship in your name. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.