Final Words

When wrong seems right and spiritual progress feels minimal, does serving God still matter?

In this final message covering the book of Malachi (Malachi 3:13–4:6), we explore the last conversation between God and His people before 400 years of biblical silence. Moving past transactional religion and cynicism, the sermon examines why our motives matter to God, how divine judgment manifests when people are given over to their own desires, and why God views His people as His personal, treasured possession. Discover how keeping our eyes on the Day of the Lord, the Word of God, and the mercy of God guards us against spiritual apathy.

In this episode, we cover:

• Why Motives Matter: Understanding why doing religious things for personal profit or manipulation misses the heart of God.
• The Forms of Judgment: How persistent rebellion leads to being given over to a debased mind and devalued desires.
• God’s Treasured Possession: What it means that God holds His people close as a private, protected keepsake.
• Three Enduring Realities: How holding fast to the Day of the Lord, Scripture, and God's mercy keeps us grounded in truth.

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This podcast is brought to you by Grand Parkway Baptist Church, helping people to know, enjoy, and glorify God. For more information about Grand Parkway, visit GrandProquay.org.

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The last book in the Old Testament. Malachi is a book in the Old Testament that records authentic, gut-wrenching dialogue between God and his people. Throughout the book, we hear different questions rising from the people, which serve to remind us that we aren't the first ones to work. Asking a question is the easy part. It's living with the answer that shapes us from one. Some of the questions that rise from the text include: how has God loved us? What did we do wrong that got us in this place? Has God given up on us? If God really loves us, then why are we suffering? And what do we do now when we don't know what we did in the first place? From these questions, we will think about topics like love, divorce, money, worship, disobedience, and forgiveness. Malachi teaches us to appreciate and understand the love of God and the wonder contained therein. He also points out the uniqueness of God's name and the respect it deserves, the sanctity of the marriage coming, and the culture of God with all our hearts. Religious rituals void of any meaning, and simply a check-up of box won't meet the relational requirements of divine love. In the end, when Jesus returns, the righteous and the wicked will be clearly distinguished from one another. But in the meantime, God is working to turn our hearts back towards one another, both horizontally and vertically.

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Amen. Let's give ourselves to that process. Let's pray together. Father, we just uh uh get our hearts ready. Uh speak to our head uh and our heart, what we think and what we feel, uh, so that the gospel gets lived out in our hands. Uh Lord, it's easy to look around and feel kind of like, hey, what what's going on? Just like people on Malachi's day did. And so we we look to you, we look to your word. Uh let it equip us uh and let it inspire us today. Holy Spirit, aid us in that process. We give ourselves to it now in Jesus' name. And everyone's uh Amen. Amen. If you've got a Bible, I invite you to take it and open up to Malachi chapter 3. Malachi's last book of the Old Testament. I'll start reading verse 13. And this is our last uh sermon from the book of Malachi. We finished Malachi today. We'll observe communion next Sunday, and then we'll start uh Advent the Sunday after that. Amen? Amen. It's 40 degrees outside this morning. Enjoy, uh, you've made it through the five months of summer living in Houston, and now you get to enjoy, you know, the next six and a half months of spring. Uh anyway, uh I want to talk to you this morning about final words. Final words, because in the last section of Malachi, uh, what you get is a man who's looking around in a culture. Stop me if this sounds familiar, these people live in a culture where wrong seems right, right seems wrong, worship feels powerless, and progress feels minimal at best. And they kind of look around and they think, hey, is this is this worth doing? Because we're not getting the return on the investment that we thought we would be getting. And so why don't we just pitch in with the evildoers? And because it just doesn't matter if you do the right thing. This is the peach people that Malachi is writing to, and these are his final words to them. Now, there's four things he tells them here in this last section. These four things he tells them, hey, you've got to remember these things and understand these things. Otherwise, you are going to lose your mind, and you're just gonna give in, you're gonna say, what does it matter? And that's the first step towards spiritual apathy. When you begin to question, does it matter what I'm doing? Uh and so the Bible speaks very clearly to that. Now, before I read, let me just ask you this: have this conversation before you go to bed uh tonight with your significant other. If today was the last conversation you could have with your spouse, what would you say to them? Because the nature of last conversations, final conversations, is that you say what you want people to remember. And this is what Malachi does, starting in chapter 3, verse 13. He says, it starts off, God says, Your words have been hard against me, says the Lord. But you say, How have we spoken against you? You have said, It is vain to serve God. What is the prophet of our keeping his charge, our walking as in mourning before the Lord of hosts? And now we call the arrogant blessed. Evildoers not only prosper, but they put God to the test and they escape. Then those who feared the Lord spoke with one another. The Lord paid attention and heard them, and a book of remembrance was written before him of those who feared the Lord and esteemed his name. They shall be mine, says the Lord of hosts. In the day when I make up my treasured possession, I will spare them as a man spares his son who serves him. Then once more shall you you shall see the distinction between the righteous and the wicked, between the one who serves God and the one who does not serve him. For behold, the day is coming, burning like an oven, when all the arrogant and all evildoers will be stubble. The day that is coming shall set them ablaze, says the Lord of hosts, so that will leave them neither root nor branch. But for you who fear my name, the Son of righteousness shall rise with healing in its wings. You shall go out leaping like calves from the stall, and you shall tread down the wicked, for they will be ashes under the soles of your feet on the day when I act, says the Lord of hosts. Remember the law of my servant Moses, the statutes and rules that I commanded him at Oreb for all of Israel. 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 their fathers, lest I come and strike the Lamb with a decree of utter destruction. Now, uh you say, What do you mean? Uh there's four things that he says in these final words. Let me just point them out here in the text. First of all, the first thing Malachi says as part of his final words to these people is that our motives matter. Our motives matter. Look at verse 13. He says, after he says, Your words have been harsh against me, and the people say, How we spoke it against you. Here, listen to verse 14. You have said, It is vain to serve God. What is the profit? In other words, what are we getting out of this of keeping his charge or of walking? Hear these two words, as in mourning before the Lord of hosts. Now, are you in mourning? Are you just pretending to get what you want? Like, uh, let me give you a visual again. Are you mourning? We're walking as in mourning, like, oh God, we're really sad, we're really sad. Oh, this isn't working? Never mind. Uh, when we our first daughter was born, we found a babysitter that we liked and trusted, and she was our only babysitter. And so she would be about three years old, and we would leave, and literally we'd have to pry Madison off of us. She'd be and the babysitter's like, I promise she's fine, I promise she's fine. I'm like, she doesn't look fine. And my wife would be like, we'd pry her off, go get in the truck and leave. And then as soon as the door would close, Madison, I was just kidding. You want to play? And I'm like, she would tell us we get back, she says, by the way, as soon as y'all walked out, the door closed, she went from that to the okay. What game do you want to play? And I'm just like, what? And she goes, she does it every time. She's not manipulating, she just thinks this is what I'm supposed to do. My parents are leaving. I'm really sad. This is what the people of God did. They were like, God, we're just so sad. Oh, we're just in mourning. Wait, this isn't working? Never mind. You know, our motives matter. You could do the right thing with the wrong motive and miss the point every time. And this is what happens here. You should ask yourself, because this is what the people of God did. And so you should ask yourself, how do I view Christianity? How do I really view Christianity? Is it a socially acceptable form of prospering? Is it is it a way I make a profit, or is it the truth? And if it's the truth, is that enough for me that it's the truth when the things that are not the truth seem to be prospering and getting ahead in this culture? I would say this: you should consider the claims of Christianity not because it'll make you feel better, not for your mental health or your emotional well-being, not because it'll manage your kids' behavior or fix your marriage. I believe the gospel speaks to all those different areas. But you and I should consider the truth claims of Christianity for one simple reason: it is the truth. With a capital T. That's the reason if you're here in this room and you're like, I don't believe any of this, you should consider the claims of Christianity because it is the truth. I love what C.S. Lewis said. He said, I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen. Not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else. Hear that last part again. I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen, not only because I see it, there's ontological, verifiable proof of its existence, but by it I see everything else. It be Christianity becomes the lens through which I see everything. And this is the way God intended it to be. And so I just say first and foremost, our motives matter because for these people, God was a means to an end. He wasn't the end in itself. And when God is a means to the end, that never works. And so our motives matter. Secondly, Malachi reminds us that judgment takes many forms. Judgment takes many forms. Listen very carefully. When you think of judgment, most people think of some people from some narrow-minded, mean fundamentalist church in the Midwest with a bullhorn and signs out in front of somewhere screaming at people. That is the most comical form of judgment. What we see here is the most strictest form of judgment. It's verse 15. And now we call the arrogant blessed. Evildoers not only prosper, but they put God to the test and they escape. Now I would just ask this question: how do you escape? How do you get away with anything when you have a God who remembers everything? What you will see in the text and what you hopefully you see in the Bible is you don't get away with anything. However, listen carefully, you are given over to the thing you think you're getting away with as a form of judgment. Let me say that again. You are given over. Some of you in this room may be living in persistent and consistent sin and just think, ain't no big deal. Ain't no big deal. Nothing bad happened to me yet. No, no, that is the most severe form of judgment. Why? Because you're given over to the thing you think you're getting away with as an expression of God's judgment. You see this most vividly in Romans chapter 1. You don't have to turn there, but the Bible says this in Romans chapter 1 that the people uh exchanged the truth of God for a lie and worshiped and served creation instead of the creator who is forever praised, which by the way, it's very popular nowadays. We've done the exact same thing. But there's this progressive uh expression of judgment that you see in Romans chapter 1. Let me just tick them off here for you. First of all, the first expression of judgment is sexual impurity. Sexual impurity, verse 24 of Romans 1, he says, Therefore God gave them up in the lust of their hearts to impurity. God gave them over in the lust of their hearts to impurity. A couple Wednesday nights ago, I spoke to your students from James chapter 1 about the desires in their heart. And I told your 15, 16, 17, 18-year-olds, your 14-year-olds, I said, Hey, listen, every one of you inside of you have desires that are so big and so powerful, they will drag you away and make you do things you didn't plan on doing. And they looked at me like, oh, that sounds intense. Let me ask you this question. Have you ever in your life woken up one morning and your first thought was, What was I thinking? Say amen. I couldn't hear you. See, you understand what I'm talking about. See, the Bible says in Romans chapter 1, that therefore, God, as a form of judgment, therefore, in other words, what I'm fixing to do is predicate on what I just said. Therefore, because they exchanged the truth of God for a lie and worshiped and served creation, climate change, instead of the creator who is forever praised, God says, I'll tell you what, I'll just give you up to the lust of your hearts to impurity. That didn't turn the hearts back to God so it goes from sexual impurity to unnatural affections. Verse 26 of Romans 1 says, God gave them up to dishonorable passions. Just think the LGBTQ community. It's unnatural. Unnatural affections. Doesn't stop there. That didn't turn their heart back. And so then finally, and this is the this is the ultimate form, and this is uh just the Bible calls it a debased mind. Verse 28, it says, and God gave them up to a debased mind. Now, debased is not a word that you hear a lot these days. So let me just give you uh some background for that. It's a mind that cannot even recognize right and wrong, much less respond to it. The literal word picture is to fail the standard and therefore to reduce the intrinsic value. To fail the standard and therefore reduce the intrinsic, the built-in value. The picture is of a coin that doesn't have it's supposed to be like have so much uh of a precious metal in it. It's supposed to be 99.9% pure silver. And no, that they've added zinc and copper and some other things. And when they test it, they realize, oh, it's only about 60% silver. The rest is these other metals, and so it decreases the value. The Bible says that a debased mind is a mind that has been decreased in value. It's like a car that's been in a wreck, it's not as worth as much as a vehicle that's never been in an accident. That's why you get the Carfax report, amen. Uh, and so the Bible says a debased mind. Now, listen very carefully. I want you to hear what I'm saying. I don't want you to hear what I'm not saying. Public education in America today is hardwired to produce a debased mind. Now I say that as a man whose kids went to public school. Yeah, my kids went to elementary school right there, the middle school right there, the high school right there. Our oldest came home from middle school and we're like, hey, sitting down at the dinner table. How was it that? Well, so-and-so mooned the whole class in algebra today. What did what what? So we made a little phone call to the assistant principal and said, Hey, is this too much to ask? He said, You know what, it's not. I didn't believe it when you said it, but uh now I understand. Yeah, that's exactly what happened. I'm like, who is in charge down there? If you need somebody to be in charge, I can come down there and be in charge. I will be a substitute teacher. Take about two periods to get this sorted. Oh, Mr. Clinton, I'm rest assured, we're on top of it. If you're on top of it, why does this keep happening? Now, by the way, I don't think all teachers in public school are bad. So don't send me emails. Oh, you hate on all teachers. No. I just this became obvious during COVID. It's not about education, it's about indoctrination. They had these cameras in the classroom and said, Well, we don't want cameras in there because we don't want parents to see what we're doing. We got to do our LGBTQ work. No, you don't. Teach education, not indoctrination. Because again, and I say it unapologetically, okay? The public education system, not teachers, I'm not picking on teachers. If you're a teacher, you're a missionary. Act like it. The public education system is hardwired and it's programmed with all different theories that they teach to produce a debased mind. What do you mean? To kid to graduate and have this way, this mind that's been devalued. It cannot even acknowledge that truth exists, and therefore it's just kind of like, oh, you go out there into the world with a sense of uncertainty. Then you go to college, whoo! It gets even better there. Now, why don't I tell y'all that? If you look around our country today and you wonder what's happened, it's right here in the Bible. We're being judged by a holy God, and we're so foolishly arrogant to think that we're breaking new ground in sexual ethics. No. What if this? What if you're just being given over as a form of judgment? Because that's what the Bible bears out. Thirdly, Malachi says you need positive spiritual friendships. You need positive spiritual friendships. The news is not all bad, kids. Here's some good news. Look at verse 16. He says, And those who feared the Lord spoke with one another. See, the direction of your life will be more affected by the people you speak with when things are hard than anything you do. Then those who feared the Lord spoke with one another. The Lord paid attention and heard them, and a book of remembrance was written before him of those who feared the Lord and esteemed his name. Now, know those two things that when it gets really bad, those who fear the Lord spoke with one another. You need people that you can call to have coffee or lunch with just to say, hey, okay, just kind of remind me that we're not crazy. Remind me that I'm not crazy because I'm having conversations with my kids and my neighbors, and it's just like, oh my gosh, what in the world's going on? Like I have a friend that contacted me on Wednesday and said, Well, what did you think about last night? And I said, Oh, I don't really, because there was an election, I don't know if you know, there was an election, midterm elections took place on Tuesday. And I said, Oh, I don't put my stock in that at all. I said, I go to a church and we sing songs like, My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest frame, but wholly lean on Jesus' name. And he said, Well, what it doesn't look like there's gonna be a red wave, but I said, and mark this, when where the Republicans are ahead, they're gonna keep finding uh votes that they gotta count. They're gonna count until they get the right person in there. I said, I think the whole thing, he said, are you an election denier? No, I think the whole thing's corrupt because it's run by people. It's worse than that. I'm not an election denier, I don't trust any of them. And he's like, So what are you saying? I don't trust any of them. What else can that mean? I don't care what side of the aisle you're on, don't send me emails. I do not trust people. Washington's run by billionaires who want to run the country. Those people hadn't worked for a living in their whole life, most of them. Are you kidding me? And so you can walk, don't walk away from TV. Don't look up Wednesday and go, oh my gosh, what's happening? No, wake up and say, hey, who do I need to spend time with that kind of reminds me? Because you need positive spiritual principles in your life. Second thing I want you to notice is that God takes notice. Look right there in the Bible. The Lord paid attention and heard them. You think God pays attention to you? You think he hears you? And then he says this a book of remembrance was written before him of those who feared the Lord. Now, why would a book of remembrance be written for a God who never forgets? Look at me. It's not for God, it's for you and me. Because we get short-sighted and we forget, and we if you're not careful pretty soon, you act like it all depends on you. He said, God takes notice. He said, What do you mean? Look down there in verse 17. He says, not only does he take notice, he has a book of remembrance, it says this in verse 17, there 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 him. If you've got a pen, underlying those two words in your Bible, treasured possession. Treasured possession. I'm sure this is exists, but I've never experienced it personally. I have a friend who has. There's three things you can do at a bank. I mean, there's a lot of things you can do at a bank, uh, but there's three things, um, services they provide. You have a checking account, you have a savings account, uh, uh, and then you can get a safety deposit box, okay? Uh, if you know what a safety deposit box is, say amen. Safety deposit box, because you don't know there's a room at the bank, and you could go in there and you get a special key, and the banker has a key, lets you in, and you pull out this metal box, and in that safety deposit box, people keep their most prized, precious possessions. Like, I have a friend that has $350,000 of various commodities of wealth in there, along with his passport and some other stuff. Like he has some little gold bars, and I'm like, what? He's got $50,000 in cash, he's got some gold, some silver, and some pewter. I'm like, what is pewter? Are you making silverware? What are you doing here? And he's like, Well, in a cashless society, I'm like, oh, great. Thank you, Mr. Conspiracy. But he goes down there, pulls it out, sets it on the table, checks it all, puts it back on a consistent basis. Now, by the way, have you ever seen $50,000 stacked up in cash? It's pretty. And that gold is real shiny. And if you're not careful, you should be like, he's got gold coins in a plastic tube. And I'm just like, what? Well, my my my my gold dealer gives it. And I was just like, we live in a different neighborhood, man, okay? I bless that. But I just think that's like James Bond stuff. I got this key and I pull out this metal box and it's full of precious metals. Incredible. Now, if you're wondering why I'm telling you this, say amen. Because when the Bible says right here, hey, that you are mine, then they shall be mine, says the Lord of hosts, in the day when I make up my treasured possession. The word picture behind treasured possession is personal treasure. God doesn't have you in his checking account or his savings account. He's got you in the safety deposit box over here under lock and key. You're his treasured possession. He is going to protect and provide for you and yours. You realize that, right? And so the thing I want you to understand is that the God of the universe looks at you as his private keepsake, as the item he values highly and protects next to his heart. It's not in some account where drafts are being made on it on a daily basis. The last thing the Bible tells us, Malachi says, hey, listen, you got to remember these realities. It's chapter four. There's three realities he tells us to remember. The first one is the day of the Lord, the second one is the word of God, the third one is the mercy of God. The day of the Lord, what do you mean? It's verse one. For behold, the day is coming, burning like an oven, when all the arrogant evildoers will be stubble. The day that is coming shall set them ablaze, says the Lord of hosts, so that it will leave them neither root nor branch. Now, unless you believe in the day of the Lord, you're gonna be so harsh and judgmental, you're gonna want to put people in the oven and judge them prematurely. Like my friend that's all into politics, he's like, What do you think about? I mean, if the if the Republicans get the house and they can prosecute Hunter Biden and blah, blah, blah. What do you think about that? I don't keep up with the go-ings of Hunter Biden. What do you think about Hunter Biden? I think he's the man that Jesus loves and died for, and I hope he comes to faith. That was about as popular with him as it is with some of you. Somebody out in the crowd went, really? Yeah. If God doesn't love Hunter Biden. Rap scallion that he is, on what basis does he love you? You think he loves you because you don't smoke crack and hook up with anything that walks? Some of y'all thinking right now? I can't believe he said that. I can't believe that you do you think you deserve mercy more than Hunter Biden does.

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We're going to Second Baptist next week. Ed Young would never say that.

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Look at me. All I'm saying, and I'm at the top of the list. If I lose sight of the day of the Lord, that there's going to come a day, that's why he says in Romans 12, leave room for the wrath of God. I will repay, says the Lord. If I forget that, that a day is coming when God is going to meet out justice on everybody that looks like they've gotten away with it. I'm going to be throwing people in the oven on a daily basis. I know that's just me, and you would never do that. But remember these realities, the day of the Lord. Now, for the wicked, this will be terrible. For the righteous, it'll be incredible. What do you mean? Look at verse 2. He says, the Son of Righteousness shall rise with healing in its wings. Now, now, the Bible is it's not a bunch of one-off disconnected stories. Let me just kind of remind you how interconnected it is with healing. The Son of Righteousness, this is a reference, this is a figurative reference to Jesus. That when he comes, his coming, he's gonna have healing in his wings. That's why for God's people, they believe that the hem of the garment of a righteous person had power to heal. Which is why in Mark chapter 5, there's a woman who's been hemorrhaging with had a blood hemorrhage for 12 years, and she sees Jesus in the crowd, and she thought, if I just touch the hem of his garment, I'll be healed. Now, what she was saying, Jesus had a robe, probably had tassels on it, and she probably grabbed one of those tassels. And what she was saying was not, I want to be healed. What she was saying by grabbing his tassel was, hey, I believe that you're the son of righteousness that Malachi 4 talked about. Translation, I believe that you're God. And so she grabs a hold of the hem of God's garment and she is healed. Now, why do you tell us that? I tell you that because when he comes, he's gonna heal everything that is wrong. Now, our overrealized eschatology has us wanting it to all be fixed right now, but it's never gonna be fixed in this life. I told my friend on Wednesday, oh, listen, this thing is broken and it's gonna always be broken until Jesus comes back and fixes it. Now, when you lose sight of this reality, we're tempted to take matters into our own hands, or get as far as we can away from the uh the undesired outcome. Let me say that again. When you lose sight of the day of the Lord, then you're tempted to take matters into your own hands, or get as far away as we can from the undesired outcome. As if we can't live in a world where we don't get our way. And beloved, I just say to you, as a man that loves you, a lot of living in this world is gonna be not getting our way. The righteous have always been and will always be as a stump in the land. They will. Man in the first service brought his son up here and just said, Man, public education, my son's being told to apologize for this and write papers about this. And I said, Yeah, yeah, they want to make you feel bad for being who you are. And if you flip the script on them and said that you do the same thing, they would go crazy. This is injustice. You gotta you gotta remember these realities that reorient you around the truth, the day of the Lord. Secondly, the word of God. What do you mean, the word of God? He says right there in verse 4, remember the law, the law of my servant Moses. Now, here's the thing I want you to understand. Look at me, because we don't think this way, unfortunately. For Israel, they were prohibited from separating the idea of following God from the idea of following God's law. Let me say it again. They were not allowed to separate following God from the idea of following God's law. Why? Because God and God's law were one in their mind. When you follow God's law, you're following God. And when you follow God, you follow God's law. Look at me. We have separated those in America. And you got a lot of people say, I'm following God. They're following their interpretation of God's law. They're not following God. No. You say, Well, I don't think I'm comfortable with, you know, them saying God and God's law. Well, then what do you do with John 1 where it says, in the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God, and the word became flesh and dwelled among us? That's where that's how intrinsically bound they were. So if you're here today and you've got your own interpretation of the Bible, you're in danger of idolatry. You need to remember these realities, the day of the Lord, the word of God. And ask yourself, does the Bible hold that kind of authority in your life? I follow God, but I also follow God's word because when I follow God's word, I'm following God. That's to give the Bible a place of prominence and authority in your life. Lastly, the mercy of God. The mercy of God. He said, What do you get, verse 5 of chapter 4? Behold, I will send you Elijah to the prophet before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes. And he will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, the hearts of children to the fathers. What do you mean the mercy of God? God always sends a prophet or a messenger to get us ready. In the Old Testament, it was Elijah. In the New Testament, it's John the Baptist. Remember him? Repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand. He's trying to get people ready. He said, You think you're ready, but you're not ready. I mean, you guys think I'm a big deal. He was like, hey, listen, I baptize you with water, but there's one coming after me. He baptizes you with fire and the Holy Spirit. His fan is in his hand. I mean, and he's got, and the axe is already laid into the root of the trees because God is merciful. Don't picture God's just gonna come and just throw people in the oven and go, take that all you bad people. No, God is like, return to me, come back to me. It's one of the things you see all through the book of Malachi is God is like, you people are just kind of slowly oozing into spiritual apathy. You're the salt and the light. What are you doing? The righteous and the unrighteous are totally different in my mind. And the righteous were looking around, kind of go, Oh, it doesn't feel like it. And God says, I'm not ruled by your feelings. You shouldn't be either. But I will say this: God is going to save his people, he's gonna judge all people, and he's gonna restore all things. Let me say that again. God is going to save his people, God is going to judge all people. Okay? I hate injustice with a white hot passion. And sometimes it gets me in trouble. Sometimes my wife has to look at me and go, I think you're out of line on this. Like this past week, a lady in our church who just recently got diagnosed with bone cancer struggles to kind of make ends meet. She called the church crying. Kim, my ministry recording came to me and said, Hey, so-and-so's on the phone. And I got on the phone, I said, Oh, oh, hey, hey, what's going on? She goes, Oh, they're gonna turn off my electricity and blah, blah, blah. I said, wait a minute, she goes, I got a termination notice in the mail. And I go over there, she's on her front porch. She lives in a trailer, drove over to her house, she's on her front porch with a pink slip. Uh, I thought all bills were pink because that's all I saw as a kid growing up. That pink means it's past due, okay? If you've never had a past due bill, they show up, they're pink. And so I got there and she's sitting on her front porch rocking her moo-moo. I said, Listen, you sexy beast, give me that bill. You go back in the house, get something. I'm fixing to call hood TXU energy. Now, by the way, she lives about a mile from here. It took me about two minutes to drive over there. And the two-minute drive back, I was so enraged that I wanted to go downtown and burn down TXU energy to the ground. Now look at me. That's sin. That's wrong. But I was just like, listen, these people, don't they know she's got bone cancer? She's got nothing to worry about. $416.57. I'll tell you what. And I pulled in the parking lot, and God just kind of rang my phone and said, Hey, hey, Neil, this is God. I'm gonna run the world today, so you don't have to. Can you believe this? And then all of a sudden, clears the bell, the Holy Spirit said, Why do you think you're here? You're here to do something about this. So I went in my office and whipped up my church credit card and took TX called TXU and took $417 of your money and paid that bill. Thank you very much. So wouldn't you leave here in just a minute? You put money in the offering box. We paid somebody's electric bill this week. And by the way, if yours is passed through today, bring it to me, we'll pay it as well. Now, what you don't need to do is be some lazy person that thinks the church is welfare. We're not. We'll get up in your business. And so I had to go to my office and kind of walk around in a circle a little bit and go, why? Because sometimes I forget. I know you never do. Sometimes I forget God is going to save his people. Secondly, he's going to judge all people. What does that mean? You don't have to go on Facebook and write mean, nasty things about people you disagree with. I will receive your praise now. Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. And then lastly, he's going to restore all things. You don't understand, people. You're just looking at me like, okay, that's it. He's going to restore everything. He's going to right every wrong. So you don't have to. You can speak to it. I'm not saying just be like, oh, it's none of my business. I'm going to go on my next vacation. No. No. My friend's like, what do you think? Oh, I think this is crooked as a dog's hind leg. The whole thing. Oh, we're going to keep counting votes until we win. Count away. I don't care. I can care less. Why? Because I believe that God's going to save his people. He's going to judge all people. Okay? And he's going to restore all things. Malachi says, remember these realities. Because if you don't, look at me and we're done. If you don't, you're going to think God's job is your job. Let's pray together. Take a moment. Some questions come up on the screen for you to think about, to ponder, to consider, to apply what you've heard this morning. We do not need more angry Christians picketing the culture. We need more smiling Christians having dialogue in public spaces. That is logical, factual, and merciful. That believes that God died for Hunter Biden just like he died for you. And your addictions and your shortcomings. And so, because one day the day of the Lord is going to come, and God's going to judge everybody, the righteous and the unrighteous. So I don't have to. I can speak up for the truth and just get myself in trouble when I need to, but I don't have to be judgmental. Let's just spend some time just kind of brooding over these things and asking the Holy Spirit what He's saying to us this morning. Father, it's not enough for us to sing that you're the joy of every longing heart, unless when our heart is longing, we find our joy in you. When our heart looks around and says, This world's messed up, Jesus, we're not jealous of evildoers because they're getting what we want, and you're not coming through as the means to it. Life in a fallen world is going to involve many experiences with injustice. But because you're a God who's going to save your people, judge everybody, and redeem everything, we can rest in the realities of the word of God, the day of the Lord, and the mercy of God. Make us mindful of the people you're sending into our lives to get us ready for what's coming and what's next. We don't want to miss that. We want to be a part of what you're doing. We don't want to just be mad at what's happening. We want to be a part of what you're doing, God. So, Holy Spirit, give us eyes to see and ears to hear what you're doing so we can be a part of it. This is our prayer. We pray in Christ's name. And everyone said, Amen. Amen. Amen. Thanks for your presence here today. If you're our guests, know that you're always welcome. So, folks will be available down front here in just a minute. We're dismissed. If you have any questions about anything you heard or saw, or if we can pray with you about anything, we'd love to do that, okay? Uh, and so there's some couple things coming up in the life of our church we want you to be aware of. So give your attention to the screens right now.

SPEAKER_01 34:48

Here's a look at what's happening at Grand Parkway Baptist Church. If you're new, text welcome to 281-626-5707. This way we can know you're here and get you connected with the church. The family Christmas party is December 3rd. We'll have train rides, a live nativity, and fun for the whole family. Register at grandparkway.org. Our kids Advent Choir is coming on December 11th. If your children are five or older, we would love to have them join us. Sign up today at grandparkway.org. Come join us for Carol's Coffee and Hot Cocoa on December 20th at our Carol State. We'll sing some of your favorite songs from Advent and Christmas. Everyone is welcome, including kids. Childcare is available for five and under by registration. The table is happening tonight in the sanctuary at 6 30 p.m. Ladies, we look forward to seeing you then. If you have any questions or would like someone to pray for you, some of our pastors will be available at the front of the stage at the conclusion of our service.

SPEAKER_03 35:54

The table is a gathering for women. Tonight happens right here in this room. You may be visiting, kind of going, hey, this is my second or third time at this church. You're more than welcome to attend that. It'll be worship. Lindsay Frelick will be leading worship. And uh Marcy, our women's pastor, will be uh have a she'll be teaching, she'll have a word, and then they're just gonna feast on a bunch of desserts in the lobby. Yes, yes. And so I said, hey, if there's any leftovers, you know, there's not gonna be, we're gonna eat them all. I'm just trying to help you women care for your bodies with the holidays coming up, you know? Ever seeking to be helpful. Uh by the way, there's things that never happen in a men's event. Women are calling my wife, going, oh, by the way, I'm gonna make banana pudding, I'm gonna bring this, I'm gonna bring that. Men are like, I'm gonna bring a spoon. That's about it. Uh so, ladies, that is tonight. It's right here. You're more than welcome. If you're like, hey, I'll just start coming to this church. Great opportunity, entry level, very casual environment. Meet some other women, okay? And get just jump in and get exposed to the life of our church. 630, right here in this room, okay? Stand your feet, let me speak a blessing over you. Hold your hands out. I mean, bless you.