Sunday Notes: Malachi 3:6-18

• (Mal 3:6 ESV) “For I the LORD do not __________; therefore you, O children of Jacob, are not __________.
  • God is
    • Immutable – He is __________
    • __________ – past, __________, future
    • Omniscient – all __________
    • __________ – He is all __________
    • __________ – Everywhere at all times 
    • Entirely simultaneously – Everything about God is simultaneously
  • We are not
  • __________ does not change, __________ do.
    • Numbers 23:19-20, James 1:16-18
• (Mal 3:7 ESV) From the days of your __________ you have turned aside from my __________ and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you, says the LORD of hosts. But you say, ‘How shall we __________?’
  • This is the __________ condition
    • This is not physical proximity
    • This is __________
    • The return is repentance
      • 2 Chronicles 7:13-15, Romans 10:1-5
      • We must turn from our sinful desires
      • And focus our minds on the things of God
        • That begins in the Word
        • That begins in prayer
        • That begins in a __________ of ourselves
• (Mal 3:8 ESV) Will man __________ God? Yet you are robbing me. But you say, ‘How have we robbed you?’ In your __________ and contributions.
• (Mal 3:9 ESV) You are __________ with a curse, for you are robbing __________, the whole nation of you.
• (Mal 3:10 ESV) Bring the full __________ into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. And thereby put me to the __________, says the LORD of hosts, if I will not open the __________ of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there is no more __________.
  • To rob God would be to take what rightfully __________ to Him and all of creation rightfully belongs to the __________
    • We are merely __________ of God’s resources and He does have expectations of His stewards.
  • In your tithes and your __________.
    • Tithes and contributions
      • Tithe – this literally means a __________
      • 10% of what you made, produced, acquired – given to the __________
    • Contributions or __________ – even more on top of the __________ was given
    • And God was not shy about promising __________ for those who were __________ in giving
      • Proverbs 3:9-10
  • OT to NT
    • Israel was supposed to be a __________ government.
      • The government and and the religion were __________
      • And the tithe was a payment into the system to support the work of the priests
      • That to fail to give your 10% would put you in __________ of the law of God so the Jews became very diligent in this
    • In the New __________ Jesus reinstated and in fact added to much of what the __________ __________ required of the people of God
      • For example: 
        • __________ – Matthew 5:21-22
        • Adultery – Matthew 5:27-28
      • The tithe – this temple __________
        • Is one that is not reiterated in the NT
        • Their __________ has changed
          • Matthew 22:16-22, Romans 13:1-8
        • As Christians we are __________ to pay taxes to the governments we live under.
        • In addition to that we are to make gifts, offerings, __________, to the work of God
          • To the local church
          • And to other Kingdom causes
          • 2 Corinthians 9 – whole
      • We have to sink into our heads that God honors the right heart in His people
        • Matthew 6:1-4
      • When we seek first His __________ and His __________
        • __________ takes care of what we need and more.
• (Mal 3:11 ESV) I will rebuke the __________ for you, so that it will not destroy the fruits of your soil, and your vine in the field shall not fail to __________, says the LORD of hosts.
• (Mal 3:12 ESV) Then all nations will call you __________, for you will be a land of __________, says the LORD of hosts.
  • He will protect us and __________ for us
    • We only need to __________ in Him
  • Which is painfully difficult when we look at the world
    • And see evil __________
• (Mal 3:13 ESV) “Your words have been hard against me, says the LORD. But you say, ‘How have we spoken against you?’
• (Mal 3:14 ESV) You have said, ‘It is vain to serve God. What is the profit of our keeping his charge or of walking as in mourning before the __________ of hosts?
• (Mal 3:15 ESV) And now we call the arrogant blessed. __________ not only prosper but they put God to the test and they escape.'”
  • We live in a fallen world
    • And a culture that honors everything but __________.
  • We have to remember that this world is not our home
    • This place it not our __________
  • We are the __________ of God
• (Mal 3:16 ESV) Then those who __________ the LORD spoke with one another. The LORD paid attention and heard them, and a book of __________ was written before him of those who feared the LORD and esteemed his name.
  • This is the Lamb’s book of __________
    • And it is all over the Bible
    • Exodus 32:31-35, Psalm 69:28, Daniel 12:1, Revelation 10:12
    • God has His people
      • __________ to Him name
      • Recorded in His __________
      • None of them will be __________ out
• (Mal 3:17 ESV) “They shall be __________, says the LORD of hosts, in the day when I make up my __________ possession, and I will spare them as a man spares his son who serves him.
• (Mal 3:18 ESV) Then once more you shall see the distinction between the righteous and the __________, between one who serves __________ and one who does not serve him.
  • Matthew 6:25-34
    • What are you seeking?
      ______________________________________

Are you a living sacrifice?
______________________________________