The Study of Malachi | Lesson 7

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Holy Father, we thank You for bringing us together.

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We thank You for Your Word, Lord. We know that it never comes back to us empty.

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I thank You that You have showed us in Your Word where people can go astray, where people can be sucked in by false teachers and false preachers.

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Lord, I thank You for this book of Malachi who, this book trains us to beware, to understand that we have to be strong in Your Word to protect ourselves and protect our families

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from that untrue Word that spreads throughout their world then and our world now.

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We look at this and we truly thank You for this church, the leaders of this church that are so faithful to You and presents the truth, only the truth that comes from Your Word to us. What a blessing that is to know that.

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You are great and holy, God.

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We bow down before You. We ask You to show us everything we need from this book of Malachi.

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Thank You for each lady here, Lord. Open their hearts, their minds. I know we've got some that's having surgery this morning. We've got one that's about to have a baby.

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Be a grandma for the first time. We pray for these ladies, their situations.

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Lord, we thank You for all the ways that You love us, that You bring us together in the power and the holy name of our Lord.

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May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable these next few minutes to You. In Jesus' name, amen.

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I think we have to really, as we study the book of Malachi, I think one of the things it teaches us is how many people unknowingly sit under false teachers.

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They do that day after day or week after week, and they don't even recognize it. Sometimes it takes this kind of study to help us be on guard, to help us look deeper, to look harder, to become more understanding of this book so that when people teach us or tell us or speak to us, and it's not the word of God, a little light goes on or just a feeling in your gut, something happens to where you think, "That's just not right." Plus, you're also with a group of women who all love the Lord, and we can share that with each other, we can build each other up by knowing the truth of God's word and by following Jesus.

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Again, we're going to go back and think just a little bit about the folks that are receiving this message from Malachi.

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We remember that their parents and grandparents returned to that land, to Jerusalem, about 100 years before this.

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God sent this message to his chosen people through Malachi.

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Think about it, it had to be so important. This is the last thing God spoke to them for 400 years, and he chose Malachi to be that speaker.

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The temple had been rebuilt, and the priests and the people were going through the motions of worship. Even as women who love the Lord, do you ever sometimes feel like you're just going through motions?

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Even if it's like doing your homework, or even if no matter what it might be like, it's like we're just going through the motions. Well, that's what those people were doing, they were going through the motions.

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But the hearts of God's chosen children were turning hard against him.

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There were a lot of reasons for it. One of the main reasons, the priests were turning them away from the truth, right?

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It always makes me sad when we read in the Old Testament how much Israel has struggled,

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and how much grief that had to bring upon the Lord, because those were his chosen, those were his treasured possession.

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They are missing God's message. Malachi was telling them, "Look, you're missing. You're missing it."

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This time in the history of Israel is very much like the time that we live today in the United States.

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We like to think of the USA being a God-fearing, God-honoring nation, but we look an awful lot like Israel did 400 years ago before Jesus came.

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We have to be on guard. We have to beware.

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When we read Malachi 3.1, we're given some of the greatest, most amazing news ever to be announced.

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We're going to go back and look just a little bit before we get to those three or four verses that we have for today.

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We can rejoice in this news that Malachi brought to his people.

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"Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me.

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The Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple and the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight. Behold, he is coming," says the Lord of hosts. He's introducing, right, John the Baptist? He's introducing Jesus Christ?

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It's like he's saying, "Y'all got to be looking. You got to be waiting."

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In God's word, even echoes the prophet Isaiah, the voice of one crying in the wilderness. Who was John the Baptist, right?

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Make ready the way of the Lord and make his path straight. John was saying, "There's somebody coming after me who's going to be a lot more worthy than me."

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These encouragements, this encouragement that was written in the book of by Malachi had to be good news for all those people. Those people that had turned away from God. Those people who the information that the priest and the teaching that the priest was giving them, it was so off. It was so wrong. It was like you get numb to it, maybe just a smidgen at a time, one little half-truth at a time, and it's not like it bounces in your face. That's probably what was happening with the children of Israel.

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This verse, the voice of one crying in the wilderness, make ready the way of the Lord, make his path straight. That's encouragement. That's a proclamation of excitement.

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Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John quote this verse as they refer to the announcement of the birth of Jesus.

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We read it again in just a few short verses spoken again by Malachi over in chapter four. "Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes and he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to the fathers lest I come and strike the land with a decree of utter destruction."

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John the Baptist was not this Elijah, but he was like him. When John came into Jerusalem, that's what he was telling them. "Look, I know the real truth. I know who this man is. I know who the Savior is." How does he introduce Lord Jesus when he comes down that hill into the river? What does he say? "Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world."

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He announces him.

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If you look again at the reference to John the Baptist as a type of Elijah when Dr. Luke wrote of the angels' announcements given to Zechariah, referring to that little miracle child, John the Baptist, also the first coming of Jesus. Again in Luke we read, "And he," John, "will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God and he," John, "will go before him," Jesus, "in the spirit and power of Elijah to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just to make ready for the Lord a people prepared."

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That is why we gather, y'all. That is why we study so that we can prepare ourselves so we can be prepared when Jesus comes.

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Remember, the first time he came to be the Savior of the world, the next time he comes he's coming as a judge. We got to be ready. Our people have to be ready.

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We have that same promise today that he made right here to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just to make ready for the Lord a people prepared.

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Jesus will come back and he will receive us to himself and we will be called children of God.

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Look closely right here at this verse from John 1.13, "But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of the will of God." That's why.

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There's lots of wonderful words in this little verse from John, but I've chosen my favorite. The most important ones have to be receive him. Each of us in this room, each student of God's word at some point in her life has to receive him, has to receive Jesus. We have to then believe. We receive, we believe in his name, and then we're called children of God, daughters of the king.

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This morning, I think it's important for us to look at this.

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Are you in the will of God?

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Not in the will of flesh, but in the will of God.

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Have you received him?

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Do you believe in the name of Jesus? Are you a child of God? When you look at these verses, "But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become the children of God." There are steps. We have to confess that we need a savior. We have to show that we understand that we are a sinner, that we are separated from God by the sins that we commit.

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Are you a child of God?

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Because those folks in the time of Malachi thought they were and they weren't. They were so confused.

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So I wanted to look at some very important verses about a very important book, and it's called The Book of Remembrance.

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Then those who fear the Lord, that would be believers. Then the believers who fear the Lord spoke with one another.

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The Lord paid attention and heard them.

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Look closely at what our heavenly Father wants us to see.

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Then those believers, those who fear the Lord.

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So that's your small group. That's your sister that you pray with. That's your Bible study group.

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Those who fear the Lord.

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Maybe it's even your friends sitting next to you right now. You have that companionship.

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Spoke with one another.

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What can be better than a group of women, sisters who love the Lord, sitting down and talking about Him, sharing situations, getting wisdom from each other? That's what He's saying right here.

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Those who fear the Lord spoke with one another. That is what we do.

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We walk with each other. We talk with each other. We talk about Jesus. We share how He has shown us a new truth. We share how He has provided for us.

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Then, do you ever think about this, that when you're in your small group or when you're with your best friend or you're sitting there drinking a Coke and you're studying the Word of God, that the Lord paid attention?

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He paid attention to you and He heard you?

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Believers, believers in Jesus Christ. He hears us.

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He opens His ear. He inclines His ear to us.

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Not just in our prayer time, but in our lifetime, in our conversation time.

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Even this morning, our God heard our small group. That's what we were. Those who fear the Lord, we spoke with one another and He paid attention to us.

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Sometimes that's kind of scary, isn't it, that He pays attention to us?

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Kind of humbling, but even today, God is listening for our words.

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Let that all sink in.

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The Father in heaven hears us.

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Almighty God hears us. Jesus Christ hears us.

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I think it's so important for us to gather this, to get this in our brain.

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Your time with the Lord, He pays attention to you. It's important, not just to us, but it's also important to Him. Have you ever thought about that?

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Have you ever really wrapped your brain around the fact?

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This is the Word of God. This isn't barbiology. This is the Word of God. It says, "The Lord paid attention and heard them."

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He hears us.

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He pays attention to you.

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Then the Lord must have known that we would want to know about a very special book of remembrance.

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Here's how it goes. "And a book of remembrance was written before Him of those who feared the Lord and esteemed His name."

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Y'all, these are words for us.

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These are words for you this morning. If you fear the Lord and you esteem His name, there's a book that was written.

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God was calling out that faithful Jewish remnant. He was calling to those who were faithful because there were some faithful. It says right here, "Those who feared the Lord." So there were some. There was that remnant of Israel that had not been brainwashed or deceived by the false priest.

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Those who feared the Lord. God was calling out to them.

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Those folks who held onto the truth and remembered all the stories and lessons that they learned from their forefathers. Think about the Jewish people.

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Think about Abraham and the promise God made, the covenant God made with Abraham.

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Those generations of Jewish people knew that covenant, knew that God was their God.

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They knew about the patience God had with His treasured possession as they traveled through the desert in the time of Moses.

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Even after they sinned right in front of God's eyes, they built the golden whatever it was, they worshiped it.

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Right before God's eyes, they did that.

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They were ripping a golden calf, but he still had his eye on them because they were still his treasured possession.

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Our sinfulness before God doesn't change who God is to us. What changes is who we are to God.

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He looks at us and he knows we're going to be a sinner. He knows we're a sinner. Because he knows that he's covered us.

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There's a way, there's a truth, and there's a light, and it's Jesus. There is a way.

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They remember the promise, the covenant, and the truth that God gave them.

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If they believed in Him and professed He was their God, then they were His people. They were always His people.

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There is no doubt about how God feels about Israel.

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Israel was God's from the very foundation of the world. Israel was God's chosen. He could have chosen any group of people he wanted to. He chose Israel. That's what the Old Testament teaches us. We look at the Old Testament people and we shake our heads at them and think, "How can you be so off?"

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He feels that way about Israel then and now. They are and always will be His treasured possession.

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I think we have to remember that these words are ours too.

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You are His treasured possession.

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He chose you before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless before Him, to walk with Him, to share His love with other people. They are for us too, those who trust Him.

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The woman in this room who believes in Him with all her heart and soul and mind and strength and try to live for Him in a fallen world just like the time of Malahiah, just like that time.

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God responds to Israel and He responds to you this morning.

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They shall be mine, says the Lord of Hosts in Malachi 3.17. They shall be mine, says the Lord of Hosts, in the day when I make up my treasured possession and I will spare them as a man spares his son who serves them.

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The King James Version right there says, "In the day when I make up my jewels," you are His jewel. You are His treasure and He spares us.

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Everybody who is a woman of faith, everybody who is a child of God is a treasured possession of Him. Have you ever thought about yourself being that to the Lord? You think, "How can that be? There are so many of us." I don't know, but He looks at you and you are precious in His sight.

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Sometimes I think we get so caught up in the world and the going and the coming that we don't sit still long enough.

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Not only do we not sit still long enough to love on Him, but we don't sit still long enough to be loved on us, for Him to love on us.

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Do you see yourself as a treasured possession of God today? Do you see yourself as His jewel?

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Do you see yourself as that?

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That godly remnant of Israel belonged to God today. They are His special treasure. They are. They are His piss.

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But as a daughter of the King of Kings, you too are His special child.

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His eyes have been on you forever from your mother's womb and then every day that He allows us to live.

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God's eyes are on you. He loves you. He trusts you.

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And we have to go to Psalm 139. There's no, I've never seen another part of scripture that is as intimate as this is.

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Remember you are His jewel. You are His treasured possession.

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And the psalmist writes, "I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.

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Those are your works, O Lord, and my soul knows it very well." Do you understand that about yourself, sister?

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This is not something that we're making up. This is the Word of God to the women of God, the women of faith.

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"I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made." And who makes us? God, whose works are marvelous. The Lord's works are marvelous.

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And we have to, our gut has to know that. Our soul has to know that.

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My frame was not hidden from you when I was being made in secret or skillfully wrought within the depths of the earth.

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Your eyes have seen my unformed substance.

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And then we have another reference to a book.

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When your book were written all the days of your life, when as yet there was not one of them, before you even had the first breath, God had you a book.

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Probably even before your mom and dad thought about who you were going to be or what you were going to be or what they were going to name you, the Lord already knew that.

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Have you ever thought about the Lord thinking about you? Ever think about that? I mean, sometimes maybe when you go out at night, like when we lived in Mississippi, the Mississippi's guys were so pretty at night time. Go out there and I just think, I just think about the Lord.

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And I would think about him.

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But think about this. He thinks about you. How precious are your thoughts to me, O God? See, if Israel could have grasped that, if they would have listened to Malachi and grasped that, maybe all that false teaching wouldn't have gotten through to him.

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Maybe those less than perfect sacrifices wouldn't have happened.

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Maybe that sin wouldn't have, because it crept in. It doesn't come all in one day. But if you sit around and think about that your God is thinking about you, how precious are your thoughts to me, O God? How fast is the sum of them?

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If I could count them, they would outnumber the sand upon the seashore.

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When I wake, I'm still with you.

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Sometimes in that your sweetest time with God, when you first wake up, no TV's on, nobody's calling you, nobody else is even talking to you, and you first wake up and you think, "Oh, it's just me and the Lord."

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And he's let me sleep and he's let me rest.

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How precious are your thoughts to me, O God? How fast is the sum of them?

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Malachi continues to give the truth of God to the people of God. The truth of God to the people of God.

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I want you to remember this.

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There will be a distinction between the children of God and the children of the world. Malachi tried to tell them that. There's a difference between the children of God and the children of the world.

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Then once more, you shall see the distinction between the righteous and the wicked. Straight from Malachi. We are distinctively different, y'all.

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The righteous and the wicked between the one who serves God and one who does not serve him.

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That distinction will identify you as a daughter of the king.

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It's our difference that makes us more like God.

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It's our difference that allows us to be more like Jesus.

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Do you ever just sit and think, "Hey, I'm a daughter of the king of kings."

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Do you ever let that go from your brain all the way into your heart where it's real and it's true and it's encouraging and it's right?

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Can God give you that to make you stronger?

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As we have walked through Malachi, it is plain to see that life in 2025 is not very different from the life and the days of Malachi.

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The world was not the perfect world of the Garden of Eden before the fall.

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God saw all that was going on just as he sees and knows what is going on in my heart and your heart today. We can't hide anything from him just like Adam and Eve couldn't hide anything from him.

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They wasted those fig leaves trying to hide from him.

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Do you ever waste fig leaves trying to hide from him? It doesn't do us any good.

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One of my teachers of all time is Dr. J. Vernon McGee. Y'all know I like me some Dr. McGee. He was born in 1904 and passed away at the age of 84, so he lived until 1988. There's some of us in this room that remembers 1988, right?

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Things weren't always perfect, but there has been more than a great decline since then. Dr. McGee wrote these words long before he passed.

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We are living in a day like the days in which Malachi lived and like it will be at the end of the age.

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You really won't be able to tell the righteous from the unrighteous.

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However, in the day which God has appointed, the day of his judgment when Jesus comes again, it will be evident who were the true believers and who were the make believers. Y'all, we're not going to be the make believer.

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When you have your little granddaughter over in your playing game and you make believe you're a princess, we're not make believers.

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You are a true daughter of the king, a woman of faith.

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Somehow or another, and I don't know how this happens, I truly believe ... This is really barbiology. I should probably close that door. I truly believe that somehow when Jesus was on that cross, he saw us. He saw each of us as individuals.

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He looked upon us somehow and knew that he was dying for us, that his blood would make us clean, that we wouldn't have to hide behind any great words of wisdom or knowledge.

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All we hide behind is his blood and the fact that he chose us and he loved us enough to die for us.

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Another great man of God spoke these words about the time of Malachi.

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This was Matthew Henry. He wrote about Malachi too. In this world, it is often hard to discern between the righteous and the wicked.

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At the bar of Christ, in the last judgment, it will be easy to discern between the righteous and the wicked, for then every man's character will be both perfected and perfectly discovered.

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Every man will then appear in his true colors and his disguises will be taken off.

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Girlfriends, the only hope we've got is Jesus Christ.

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That's it. He is our only hope.

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The reason that we gather together, the reason that we come together as Christians.

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So our goal as we study God's word together and as we look back over Malachi is that we will be distinctly different from the world around us.

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The world around us is fallen and that we will look like sisters, that we will band together as women of faith who love each other and encourage each other and teach one another and stand by one another and hold each other close when they're sad or broken or distressed.

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That we will look like sisters, that we will be daughters of the King of Kings.

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Matthew Henry says we will be perfected when Jesus comes for us.

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So this is just kind of a trial run, I guess. We're just playing the game that really doesn't count maybe.

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Because Jesus is going to do the perfection. He's going to make us more perfect than we could ever imagine.

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We just hide behind him.

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Just like when you were little and you hid behind your mother.

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You hid.

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That's what we do. We hide behind Jesus Christ and his love for us.

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And your heart has to kind of feel sorry for those folks in the days of Malachi because you have to kind of think, you know, they didn't realize the priests were not teaching them the truth.

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They didn't realize that it was a sin against God to bring sacrifices that weren't pure.

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So we have to know the book. We're responsible enough women. We need the book. We need to stand on the book of God, the Word of God. That is who will teach us. That is how we learn the truth from not the truth. That is how we walk in light and not in darkness.

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Holy God, thank you so much.

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I thank you for your word. I thank you that even the parts that are hard to understand, sometimes if we just stick in there long enough, we find us a truth.

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We can depend on a truth that you teach us. It can make us more like you.

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So I thank you for loving us. I thank you for molding us into the women that you want us to be.

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I thank you that you have promised us that your word will not come back to us empty. It is for our own teaching. It is for our own growing up as a woman of faith.

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Thank you for loving us, Lord Jesus. I thank you for each of these precious women in this room.

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I pray that they will seek you and obey you and walk in a manner worthy of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

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We love you, Lord, and we praise you. Amen.