It’s hard to trust God is up to eternal good when all we see is temporal bad. Just like us, the people in Malachi’s day could not see the future. Assumptions about the future are made based on the past and present. All of us will ride an emotional roller coaster if we’re looking to past and present circumstances to orchestrate a desirable future. We live best by seeing who God was, learning who He is, and resting in who He will be. God’s people see a horizon of hope even as they stand on a shore of despair.

God hears the conversations of the people of Israel as they talk amongst themselves. The Israelites see serving God as empty, pointless….vain. They see the Persians around them prospering despite testing God and questioning God’s character. God challenges them by laying out His plan for those who fear Him.

God expects His people to live gratefully and generously with all He has given us...our money, our time, and our talents and abilities. How we relate to these things is an indicator of whether our hearts are at home in this world, or at home in His presence.

The natural inclination of our heart is to believe the lie that all I have belongs all to me. Few things reveal the heart like money. How we handle our money reveals what we value. Jesus said, “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matthew 6:21). God wants the hearts of His children to be turned back to him. So he asks for a portion of our money. God doesn’t need your money back … but He does ask for it back.

The American thanksgiving holiday was established on the last Thursday in November during the administration of President Abraham Lincoln as a day of “thanksgiving and praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the heavens”. Today most of our citizens see this holiday as a time to enjoy family, food and football.

Thanksgiving is to be a daily feature of true Christianity. But as the account in our passage demonstrates those expressing a true heart of gratitude for the gifts and goodness of God are in a minority. Today we explore the challenges of expressing a thankful heart and conclude our service with a display of God’s unwavering grace expressed in the Lord’s Supper.

We see in the book of Malachi God pleading with his people for more…to return to Him after testing His patience for so long. He stands as the gracious and merciful God, longing for His people, and yet He will not relent on His holiness and desire for purity for His people. In our text today, we see a clear picture of the Gospel with the promise of a coming forerunner to Jesus, and then ultimately Jesus Himself, and an explanation of what will happen when He comes. We also see a clear picture of the process of sanctification as our loving God purifies us with the Refiner’s Fire.

Eric sits down with Pastor David McNeely to talk about David's vision for creativity at Wildwood, and why it's such an important value for any church family.

One of the defining characteristics of God is faithfulness. God is, always has been, and will always be faithful. We were created to reflect His faithfulness, but sin corrupted our hearts so all of us are, at some point, unfaithful. God’s people misrepresent Him when they are unfaithful. They represent Him best when they are faithful.