(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

And we're here in the book of Malachi, and just to give you a bit of a quick overview of the book of Malachi in general, because as I've said before, I've never really been at a church that taught Zionism, so it's not really my personal issue. It's not something that I just really hate. I mean, everyone who knows me knows Calvinism is the thing I really hate, okay? But at the same time as we go chapter by chapter, you preach on what the chapters are about, and there's no way you can read through the book of Malachi and then just say, well, you know, Israel is God's chosen people. The Jews are God's chosen people today. There's no way you could read the book of Malachi and come to that conclusion. So this sermon on Malachi, just chapter one and the entire book, is really going to be rebuking this idea of Zionism, because it's ridiculous in the Bible. It definitely does not teach that. Notice what it says in Malachi 1, verse 1, the burden of the word of the Lord to Israel by Malachi. And so this burden is specifically for Israel, okay? Malachi is the one who's giving it, but it's a burden given to Israel. Now go to Nahum chapter 1, Nahum chapter 1. Go back in your Bible. It's in the Minor Prophets, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Jonah, Micah, Nahum. And this word burden is in other parts of the Bible as well. And there's another country, another area that the Bible mentions there being a burden for. And I want you to notice here in Nahum chapter 1, verse 1, Nahum chapter 1, verse 1, it says the burden of Nineveh. The book of the vision of Nahum, the Elchoshite. Now generally when you think of Nineveh, you immediately think of the book of Jonah. But the book of Jonah is about Jonah specifically, and he's preaching to the Ninevites. The book of Nahum is a hundred percent about Nineveh. We're basically two books earlier in the book of Jonah, Jonah goes, he preaches onto the people, and we're going to talk about this here in just like, you know, a week and a half, so I'm not going to say too much. It's going to be our Sunday morning sermon in a week and a half on Jonah. So basically the people turn back to God, and God gives Nineveh another chance in the Assyrian empire. Two books later though, basically their chances run out, and God says, you're done, Nineveh. You're going to be destroyed. Here's my point though. When in Nahum chapter 1, verse 1, when the burden is to Nineveh, it's because God is really angry at Nineveh. He says, you're done. You had your chances. I'm done with you. I'm finished with you. Why? Because he's very angry. So when you go back to Malachi chapter 1, what you have to realize is when God says the burden's to Israel, God's not happy with Israel. And this is the last book of the Old Testament. So if you have this idea that the Jews are God's chosen people, you're going to have to figure out when do they become God's chosen people? Because in Malachi, God basically says, I'm done with you. And we're going to look in the book of Matthew where he literally says, you're done. Okay? So when did they become God's chosen people again? Because last I checked, the Jews reject Jesus Christ. They blaspheme Jesus Christ. And so if God is done with them, then when did they become God's chosen people again? You're going to have to ask yourself that question. Now turn to Romans chapter 10. Now one thing you notice throughout the past gospels with Paul the apostle and Peter and all these other great men of God, because these are their brethren in terms of ethnicity, they kind of have a desire to reach those people with the gospel. You know, it kind of makes sense because if I were looking at the United States of America and there was one state I would love to see lots of people get saved, it would be West Virginia. Because most of my life I lived in West Virginia, okay? Now of course I want to see people get saved all over the United States, but I would care more about West Virginia than any other area or maybe Pennsylvania where my parents lived, places or California where Verity Baptist is. I'd want places that I have some experience living in or I have family there, okay? Now it makes sense that Paul and Peter and these men, they had a desire to see the Israelites get saved. But what you see over and over again is they have a bit of too much of a desire to get them saved. And what takes place? The Jews try to kill them over and over and over again. They persecute God's people. They're rejecting Jesus Christ. That's why the gospel is going by and large to the Gentiles and God's saying don't just stay in Jerusalem, especially when they're not receptive to the gospel. Romans 10 verse 1, brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they might be saved. You're seeing Paul the apostle, he has this burden to reach them. He talks about them being zealous but not having knowledge, okay? He says they're religiously zealous but they're not receptive to the gospel. Turn back to Malachi, back to Malachi. Now in our country, you know, I kind of think of the Philippines as sort of being Israel in a way because this country's incredibly zealous when it comes to religion. But they have no knowledge. I mean, the Feast of the Black Nazarene, which is going to happen what, next Thursday? Is it January 9th? I mean, when they do that, they're incredibly zealous, the people that do that, with absolutely no knowledge. I mean, it's ridiculous. I mean, to say that you believe in the Bible and then you do the Feast of the Black Nazarene, which blasphemes Jesus Christ, idolatry, they're incredibly zealous but they don't have a knowledge of the truth. The difference between the Philippines and Israel is that you preach the gospel to people here and they don't try to kill you. When it came to the Israelites, they literally would try to kill the people preaching the gospel, okay? Now notice what it says here in Malachi 1, verses 2 and 3. I have loved you, saith the Lord, yet ye say, Wherein hast thou loved us? Was not Esau Jacob's brother, saith the Lord? Yet I loved Jacob, and I hated Esau, and laid his mountains and his heritage waste for the dragons of the wilderness. And at the beginning of the book of Malachi, God is making a difference between Esau and Jacob, between Edom and Israel, okay? Now to go on a quick rabbit trail before we kind of get into this sermon, and this really doesn't apply so much in the Philippines, but there is a cult called the Black Hebrew Israelites. Does anybody know the Black Hebrew Israelites? Now I have experience with the Black Hebrew Israelites in the United States because they're basically a group of people that are black that say basically that they're the chosen people. And just a couple stories of running into them door to door. What they basically teach is this, that Jacob and Esau, basically white people come from Esau and black people come from Jacob. And so all white people are evil and all black people are good. I'm not really sure what they think that if you're like Filipino or Hispanic or you're not white or black, I'm not really sure what they think. But basically all white people are evil, okay? And they say that we're Edomites, okay? That's what they say. And they say their reasoning, one of their big arguments is this. They say that when Esau came out, he was hairy and red all over, and they say well black people aren't normally hairy at birth. So he must be a white person. But if he's white, then you would assume that the twin brother would also be white. I mean that's kind of common sense, but that's not what they teach, okay? But these are actually kind of the most vicious people against the gospel in the US. I was knocking doors one time and I was soul winning with Brother Vincent at Verity Baptist and Brother Vincent is Hispanic. And that pertains to this story, but I was knocking this door and I talked to this lady and I said hey, we just want to invite you to church from Verity Baptist. And she's like, why would I want to talk to someone who's responsible for oppressing my people for 400 years? And I'm just like, that was her response to hey, I just wanted to invite you to church. And so I kind of assumed she was a black Hebrew Israeli when she said that or a racist, you know, whatever. But then all of a sudden I said, you know what, we just want to invite, well I said what do you think it takes to get to heaven? And she's like, you know, said something about not wanting to listen to me. I was like, well what would you tell me I needed to do to go to heaven if I were to ask you? And these were her exact words. I would tell you that heaven is not for some people. Basically she's telling me you're going to go to hell for being white. I mean, isn't that ridiculous? And you know, no matter what your ethnicity is, but honestly the Jews have this sort of attitude. Okay, so it does kind of pertain to the book of Malachi because the Jews act this way that if you're Jewish you get a free pass into heaven. If you're not, then I guess you're cursed to hell, okay? But there was also a time I was knocking doors. I was with my wife and my wife was with someone else from the church, Miss Lisa. You know, you guys probably know her from the missions trip. And we're out knocking doors and her son was with her brother Noah, who's, you know, African, who's black. And we're knocking doors and there was a black Hebrew Israelite who answered. And he was talking to my wife and Miss Lisa and he started to kind of like argue with them. He's kind of being real rude. And so I kind of stepped closer to kind of hear the conversation because, you know, obviously if there's going to be trouble, we try to keep the men near the ladies when we go soul winning door to door in verity in case of situations like this for protection. And he kind of spotted me and he said, you know, hey, come over here or whatever like that. I was like, okay. And I went to shake his hand and he refused to shake it. I was thinking, okay. And I talked to him for a couple minutes and, you know, I was like, you know, and he was like arguing and I was like, okay, no problem. I said, and we just like walked away because I wasn't trying to have problems. And he ended up stalking us for a long time, for hundreds and hundreds of feet. He was coming after us. And so we're just going in and I didn't realize this at first because Miss Lisa stopped to talk to someone, you know, another black person as we're on our way back to the car. And then all of a sudden I see this guy just kind of charging and, you know, the other guy wasn't interested. So we just kind of kept going. And he's like chasing us, just following us, following us, following us. And of course we're not trying to have problems, just trying to get to the car and get out of there. And then all of a sudden I really reached the point where I said I'm going to have to turn around and just fight this guy. Because I got to protect, you know, I gave my wife the keys and I said, you know, go to the car, get in safe. And then I was turning around to deal with this and the other black guy that Lisa had talked to to try to, you know, preach the gospel, see if he was interested. He was busy so he didn't have time, but he came back and he just got into an argument because he was a Christian. You know, I'm not sure exactly what he believed, but he was arguing with a black Hebrew Israelite. And then they were arguing about the skin color of Jesus and we just got out of there. They're really, and this doesn't really pertain to the sermon too much. But this is one where they're getting this from, you know, of Edom. And they say, you know, that white people are Edom, okay? And that's just ridiculous when you ever lift up your ethnicity above another's. But honestly, when it comes to America, you got the Mormons that are like that and we got the church right over there that's just like that. And whenever you're lifting up your ethnicity over another one, look, in the Bible, people in the Old Testament that were Gentiles could get saved. It's ridiculous to say that your race somehow makes you a better person than somebody else, okay? Notice what it says in Malachi 1, verse 2. What God is basically doing, or Malachi is doing, is making a difference between Esau and Jacob. And what he's saying is, you know, I did love you, Jacob. Now this is not talking about the individual. It's talking about the lineage that comes from there, okay? It's not saying that God just hated Esau in the womb like the Calvinists would say. No, God loves every baby that comes into this world, okay? But the lineage that came from Jacob and Esau, Esau's lineage, the Edomites, by and large, they rejected the Lord. They didn't love the Lord. I don't know whether Esau himself was saved or not, but his lineage became very ungodly. Whereas the lineage of Jacob, although they're not really godly throughout the Bible, they're the godliest people there. They're the ones who had the book of the law. They had the word of God. And he's making a distinction and saying, hey, because of the fact you were more godly, I gave you the Scriptures. I did love you. I did reject Edom, and I loved you. And then Israel's basically saying, you know, you didn't really love us, God. They're basically saying, you know, God, you didn't really care about us. What did you do that was so special for us? And he says, you know, I love Jacob, in verse 3, and I hated Esau and laid his mountains and his heritage waste for the dragons of the wilderness. What does that teach us? God loves the people that love him, the people that are soul winners and saved, and he hates the people that are the reprobates that reject God. That's what he says. I hated Esau because the Edomites were wicked. The group of people became a bunch of reprobates and wicked people. They persecuted God's people, and he hates them, not because of their ethnicity, because last I checked, Jacob and Esau had the exact same ethnicity, the same parents, okay? They were twin brothers, the same ethnicity. He didn't hate the Edomites because of the skin color. He hated them because they rejected the Lord. And so when it comes to God, God loves every baby that comes in this world. He loves every person. He died for the sins of the whole world. But if people reject God and become a wicked person, then God will eventually reject them. Turn to Obadiah chapter 1, Obadiah chapter 1, Obadiah chapter 1, we'll look at a few more verses, and I know we just covered the book of Obadiah just really recently, but we're just going to quickly go through this and show you these verses that talk about Edom. And it says in Obadiah 1, verse 3, Obadiah 1, verse 3, The pride of thine heart hath deceived thee, thou that dwelleth in the clefts of the rock, whose habitation is high, that saith in his heart, Who shall bring me down to the ground? Though thou exalt thyself as the eagle. Now as a quick side point, this is also another argument the black Hebrew Israelites have that white people are the Edomites, because they say the bald eagle is the animal of the United States of America. And so it mentions an eagle in Obadiah 1, verse 4, so it says, well there you go, that's referencing the United States of America, and it's mainly white people in the U.S., so all white people are Edomites. So you can see their arguments are pretty ridiculous, because that's in their top couple arguments right there, okay? But it says, though thou exalt thyself as the eagle, referring to the Edomites, and though thou set thy nest among the stars, thence will I bring thee down, saith the Lord. And so the Edomites were wicked people, they exulted themselves, and God says, you know what, you can exalt yourself up to the stars. You can put your nest in the stars, you can be like an eagle gliding through the air where no gun is gonna reach you, and I'm still gonna bring you down to the ground. And that is what's gonna take place with pride in our lives. If we get lifted up full of pride, whether you're saved or unsaved, it's gonna bring you down. That's a guarantee that's gonna take place. You know, one thing the Bible says that will prevent you from being prideful is to read the Bible. And hopefully today you started the Bible reading challenge, and you started the book of Matthew, and look, if you read the Bible every day, it will prevent you from becoming an arrogant person. And when you look at people that are very arrogant, and honestly, sometimes you see a lot of Baptist pastors that are arrogant. And you know what's interesting about this, I knew a Baptist pastor, and he's not a bad guy, so I'm not gonna mention his name, okay? But he was, you know, he was once greatly used by God like 25 years ago. But everybody I know who's personally met him, including myself, we all walked away, and I've talked to other people about this and said, man, that guy is an extremely arrogant person. And I know lots of stories about this person just really arrogant, and when I visited his church, I'd see him preach at revivals and everything, everybody had the same opinion about this man. And I don't think he started arrogant though, because he was once greatly used by God. You think of King Saul in the Bible. When King Saul started, he was not arrogant. He was little in his own sight. But then he became arrogant, and then he became a bad king. Why? Because if you become lifted up full of pride, it will bring you down. That is a guarantee that's gonna take place. That's what we're seeing here mentioned with Edom. They became very arrogant, and they came down. Verse five, if thieves came to thee, if robbers by night, how art thou cut off? Would they not have stolen till they had enough? If the grapegatherers came to thee, would they not leave some grapes? As I mentioned before, it basically talks about a robber coming in the middle of the night, and robbers don't take everything. They steal till they have enough. They steal till they have what they want. They steal the gold. They steal the silver. They steal the guns. They steal the cash. They steal the jewelry. They don't steal the paper cups. They don't steal the pillows. They steal things that have a lot of value that aren't very heavy that are in a small package that they can take. They take certain things like that, stuff them in their bag, they put in the guns, the gold, the jewelry, the silvers. But what he's saying here is that you're a little bit different, Edom, because you're gonna be completely destroyed, and nobody knows the Edomites today. They're done. They're gone as a people. To say anybody is the Edomites today doesn't make sense, because they're gone. God already said that they would be done. That already took place. The Edomites are completely destroyed. And then it talks about the grape gatherers came to thee, would they not leave some grapes? When the grape gatherers would go out to the field and pick grapes, they would not take all the grapes. In fact, they're commanded in the word of God to leave some of those so the poor of the land could glean the grapes and take the leftovers. Now obviously if you're a grape gatherer, you take the good grapes. And so the people that are the poor of the land, they're gonna get the leftover grapes, you know? Obviously grapes are very expensive here in the Philippines, like three times expensive as in the US. But you know, I used to eat grapes a lot back in, especially in California, because you know, there's this animated thing called the California grape something, I can't remember anymore, when I was a kid, but basically grapes are very common in California. But basically you get a container of grapes, and there always ends up being a few shriveled grapes at the bottom that nobody really likes to taste, okay? And so the grape gatherers are gonna take all the good grapes, and the poor of the land are probably gonna get the leftovers that don't taste as good, but they're still able to eat what remains, okay? But here he's saying it's different because everything from Edom's gonna be taken. Everything's gonna be destroyed. Then it says, how are the things of Esau searched out, verse six, how are his hidden things sought up? So all the hidden things of Esau, all the hidden things of Edom, they're gonna be taken. Every single thing that you have is gonna be taken, it's gonna be gone. Now turn to Malachi chapter one, Malachi one. Now why did this happen to Edom? What happened? Because they rejected the Lord. They hated God. And why does God mention that to Israel? He's saying, you know, I just kinda wanna remind you, for one, I did show you love more than the Edomites, but remember how the Edomites were destroyed because they turned against me? And this whole book is about how Israel is turning against God, and he's saying, remember, I destroyed the Edomites. That's why he brings them up. And so for Israel to be so haughty and arrogant and saying, we're better than everybody else, it's like, you better watch it, or you're gonna be destroyed, okay? Now it is true, this is the Old Testament, so yeah, the Jews have the right religion, but you know, obviously at this time, they're not very godly, and probably the percentage of saved people is not very high. And there's a lot of countries in this world that are Christian, so to speak, but it doesn't really mean they really follow God much at all, even amongst the pastors. Because in verse 4, whereas Edom saith, we are impoverished, but we will return and build the desolate places. Thus saith the Lord of hosts, they shall build, but I will throw down. And so what he's saying is, you can spend all your time, your energy, your money, and all your resources to build again the desolate places that I've destroyed, but I'm gonna throw them down again. So basically, don't waste your time. Forget about it, you're done, you've already been destroyed. And they shall call them the border of wickedness, and the people against whom the Lord hath indignation forever. And when you think of the Edomites, think of what people think of Edom today. Going back to the black Hebrew Israelites, being called an Edomite is basically like a curse word, because everybody knows God hates Edom. That's why, you know, the black Hebrew Israelites say, well, white people are Edomites. It's meant as like a curse word. And see, what the Bible's saying is, they're gonna be known as the border of wickedness, the people against whom the Lord hath indignation forever. Look, Edom was destroyed a long time ago, and yet, like, people that are racist groups will always say, well, that group is Edom, that group's Edom. Why? Because the Bible says they're gonna be known as the people that the Lord hates forever. And even today, they still bring up Edom, even though they've been gone for a long time, okay? Now, notice what it says here in verse five. Verse five. And your eyes shall see, and ye shall say, The Lord will be magnified from the border of Israel. Now, once again, this has nothing to do with ethnicity. It came down to the two different areas having, basically, you know, one follow the Lord and one didn't follow the Lord for a time. But he's moving on to how Israel is not following God, and he says in verse six, A son on earth his father, and a servant his master. See, when you have a child, when you have a son, the son is expected to honor and respect their father, okay? A son on earth his father. You know, my son, if he disobeys me, he gets spanked. You say, why? Because he's meant to learn to respect and honor me. And this is something you have to teach to kids, because they will test the waters. We're hitting the terrible twos here very soon. That's what they're called, the terrible twos. And sometimes, Zeph will kind of test us. And it's like, no, you're not going to disrespect me. And it's just like, you know, if you're dis, and look, Zeph's a great kid, everyone, you know, he's awesome. Obviously, I love Zeph, but all kids, foolishness is bound in the heart of a child. But a son is expected to honor their parents. Now, in today's world, you wouldn't really be able to tell that, because people dishonor their parents all the time and disrespect them. But the Bible says a son on earth his father, a son is supposed to honor their parents and respect their parents, respect all the things they did in their life. You know, I greatly respect my parents. I'm thankful for all the sacrifices they made. They weren't perfect parents, and neither will I be. But they did a good job. And the Bible says a son on earth his father and a servant his master. Look, if you're a servant, and you have a boss, or you're in servanthood, because you owe a certain amount of money in the Bible times, you're expected to honor your master. You can't rebuke and criticize your master. Look, if your boss tells you something at work, and you talk back to him, you're going to get fired pretty soon. Even if your boss is wrong, what do you do? You do what he says. You don't always agree with him, but you do what he says anyway. Look, I've had lots of bosses in my life, and I did not always agree with what they said, but it's like, at the end of the day, he's the one who pays the bills. He's the one who's going to give me my paycheck, and you just do what he says. A son on earth his father and a servant his master, those things are given. But then God says, if then I be a father, where is mine honor? What is he saying to Israel? You are disrespecting me. You are not honoring me. Now in the Old Testament, and he's going to go through these things, there were sacrifices they were supposed to make, and they were not doing what God told them to do. I promise you that if God were to look down today, he'd look at a lot of Baptist churches. Forget about the unsaved churches, just the Baptist churches where the pastors are saved, and he'd look at a lot of them and say, they're not honoring me. They're not doing what I said to do. I told them to go soul winning, they don't go soul winning. I told them to preach hard, they don't preach hard. They preach watered down sermons. They change the music to try to bring people in, and he'd say, why are you not honoring me in this house? You put the name on the sign basically that you're doing this in the name of God. You say you love me, and you're not doing it how I told you to do it. God gives us a certain pattern of how to do things, and we need to just obey what he says. A son on earth his father and a servant his master, if then I be a father, where is mine honor? If I be a master, where is my fear? When it comes to having a master or a boss, there is going to be a little bit of fear with your boss. You say, what are you talking about? Here's what I'm saying. All of us have made mistakes at work before. We've done things, maybe we messed up something, we messed up a sale, we messed up some transaction or whatever. We made mistakes, and look, inside of you there's that little bit of a fear, man, the boss might really lay down the hammer on me. He might really be angry with me. It's just natural. That's what takes place. Why? Because you know that he's the one paying you money, and you need to do a good job, and if you mess up, then yeah, you're a little bit afraid. Now look, obviously we need to love our kids, and I want my son to love me. I want to be his friend, but at the same time, with him loving me, he also needs to have a healthy amount of respect and fear as well, that he can't just go out and do whatever he wants and think, well, it doesn't matter what daddy says. No, he needs to learn at a young age that yeah, it does matter what dad says, because we all had parents when we were young, and look, I'll be honest with you, I probably got spanked as much as anybody in this room when I was a kid. I got into trouble a lot, and I'm glad that my parents spanked me and disciplined me and were very strict, because you look at a lot of kids, and they have no discipline, and then they grow up and they don't care about any sort of authority. What it says here is that a master wears my fear. If you have a boss, you have a master, you should be afraid, and yet you see people that say they believe in the Bible, and yet they have no fear of God. No fear of God. Now the Bible says the beginning of wisdom is what? Fearing God, right? The beginning of wisdom, the beginning of knowledge and instruction starts with fearing God, okay? Let me tell you something, the problem is people aren't reading the word of God. They have no fear. Now, look, everybody knows in this world that it's wrong to commit adultery, but it's a little bit different when you see a verse in the Bible and you're like, oh, man, I'm not even going to get close to doing something like that. Why? Because you're afraid of what God would do to you, but when people commit all these sins and they live this wicked lifestyle, it's because they don't really have a fear of God, and they don't know what the Bible says. We live in a day where people literally are walking around naked out there. They have no idea about it. They have no idea whatsoever. They have no idea what the Bible says. They have no idea what the Bible says about anything, okay, and that's why whether you're saved or not saved, I mean, as a saved person, we need to read the Bible so we know what the Bible says, and it's going to cause us to have a healthy fear and respect for God, and if we don't do that, what we're going to find in our lives is we start living more worldly lives, start living more sinful lives, and drift away from the things of God. We don't feel bad about it. Why? Because we're not reading the Bible. When you read the Bible, it causes you to have a fear of God, okay, and this challenge that we have here is a one-month challenge in the month of January. I would encourage everyone, though, to come up with a Bible reading plan when this month is done of what you want to do. I have a Bible reading plan that I'm going to strive to do, and here's the thing about a Bible reading plan. Even if you don't follow it 100% perfectly and you miss a few days, you still read a lot of Bible, okay, and I'd encourage everyone, and we're at different places in our lives. Some people have more time. Some have less. Some are faster readers, slower readers, so it's up to you because there's plenty of charts you can find online to read the Bible. January is great because as a church, we encourage one another and we get the job done, but I would encourage all of you to come up with a plan because when it's 930 at night and your flesh is tempted to find out, you know, what's the new Drawmerica and the new IFB, what's the new big event, you're going to say, wait a minute. I got four chapters left in the Bible to read. I don't have time to find out, you know, who said what and try to play detective. I've got to just read the Word of God, and it forces you to just get into your Bible and forget about things that really don't matter, okay, especially when it's another country. You know, we're here in the Philippines. That's not even close to us. It has nothing to do with Verity. We need to pay attention to what the Bible says, but here's the thing. People don't really read the Bible, and they don't have much fear of God, okay, and I preach sermons, and sometimes it can hopefully put the fear of God in people when they see what the Bible says, but in reality, if you read the Bible and pay attention to what you're reading, it's going to hit you pretty hard, even harder than what the sermons are going to do, okay? Now notice what it says in verse 6. Sayeth the Lord of hosts unto you, O priests that despise my name. And you say, Wherein have we despised thy name? Now the priests are your religious leaders, and so the main person he's calling out in verse 6 is the religious leaders. You say, Why? Because look, if all the religious leaders are phonies and are garbage, it's going to cause everybody to basically be the same way. Why? There are plenty of people that want to do what's right, but if they have the wrong religious leader, it's going to destroy them, okay? Now look, when it comes to the Philippines, before we came here in the last couple years, there were other saved pastors in the Philippines. Let's not pretend like there was not a single saved pastor in all the Philippines, okay? There was Baptist pastors that were saved. Now, by and large, I would say, just like in America, I would say most Baptist pastors probably aren't saved. I would say the same thing in the Philippines. Probably most aren't saved. Most are preaching false gospels, but even amongst the ones that are saved that have the right gospel. Most of them aren't really doing what God tells them to do. Most of them aren't really preaching that heart against sin. They're not really that zealous for soul winning. They're trying to be a man pleaser, so it's not even real clear what they think about repentance. Now, it's very clear what I think about repentance. We don't hide that. With a lot of pastors, you're like, I don't know, he might be saved. He might not. I mean, it's like he's friends with me, and he's also friends with this other person. It's just like, I don't know what he thinks. But you know, pastors, leaders, they're supposed to make things clear. Now in the book of Malachi, what he's saying is the priests are despising his name, so he's mad at the religious leaders, and look, if God were to come here today, if Jesus were to come here today, and he was walking the earth now, who he'd be preaching against would be the religious leaders. Now would he be preaching against the false cults out here? Well yes he would, but I think he'd be preaching more against Baptist pastors than anyone. Because the Pharisees and the Sadducees, and the Pharisees and the scribes, the Sadducees, keep in mind, this was before the time Jesus died, so they were technically under the right religion, the Pharisees. Now obviously the ones that killed him were a bunch of reprobates and evil people, but they were technically the right religion, because Jesus had not died yet. Technically the right religion are the Baptists, and yet a lot of them aren't even saved, and a lot of the ones that are saved are just kind of phonies, and if God was around the day, whether it's this country or another country, he'd be preaching against the religious leaders more than anyone, okay? Now turn your Bible to Matthew 23, Matthew 23. So God was mad at the religious leaders of Israel in the book of Malachi when they had the right religion, but now with the wrong religion, and they rejected God, they killed our Lord and Savior, God loves them. Does that make any sense? He's mad at the religious leaders in the book of Malachi when they have the right religion, and yet now when they rejected Jesus Christ, all of a sudden God loves Israel, and they get a free pass into heaven? Does that make any sense? And it doesn't make sense at all, because it's not just in the book of Malachi, but look at the book of Matthew, Matthew 23, verse 37. O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not. What's he saying in verse 37? Hey, I've sent you prophets, and you persecuted them throughout the entire Bible. Look at all the prophets of the Old Testament, and Israel's persecuting all of them. They're killing them, they're stoning them, they're hating them, they're throwing them in jail. They're persecuting the ones God sent to rescue that country. When it comes to men of God standing behind the pulpit and preaching the truth, when it comes to men of God like Pastor Roger Hermanus, he's trying to rescue California. What does California do? They persecute him, they surround the building, they protest, and they want to stone him when he's trying to rescue the state. They get mad at men of God that are preaching, trying to save those areas. Look, when you're preaching against a country, and you live in that country, you don't hate the country, you love the country. You're trying to save the country. When I correct my son, it's not because I hate my son. When I spank my son, it's not because I hate my son. When he does something wrong, I correct him because I love him, and I want him to do what's right. Yet what you see is that God sent a lot of prophets to Israel, and they rejected them over and over and over again. They killed all the prophets, it says. In Matthew 23, let me go back there myself, he said at the end there that your house is left unto you desolate. Behold, your house is left unto you desolate, verse 38. In verse 37, he's like, I would have gathered you together. You still had a chance. I would have gathered you as a hen gathered through chickens, even though you turned against me so many times, I would have gathered you again, and ye would not. They chose to reject God. This is Jesus speaking here. Behold, your house is left unto you desolate. I would have to ask the question, since the Jews are obviously not God's chosen people here in Matthew 23, when did they become God's chosen people again? For all the people that are Zionists out there, he says your house is left unto you desolate. You had your chances. What he's saying is you no longer have a chance. They were rejecting Jesus Christ, and Jesus knew, you're about to crucify me. You're about to kill me. You've rejected all the prophets. Remember that parable, how basically he kept sending people, sending people over and over again, and then they kept, you know, basically killing them. Then he says, I'll send my son, and he sends his son. What do you think that was speaking about? Well, it was speaking about Jesus Christ, prophet after prophet and prophet, and then here's the last chance. I'm going to send my son. Did the Jews accept or reject Jesus? They rejected him. Now, are there people that were Israelites that got saved that believed in Jesus? Absolutely. There were some people that already were saved. They would still be saved, okay? But then there were others that chose to get saved, but by and large, the Jews rejected Jesus Christ. Look, you know, when it comes to the last 2,000 years, because there's a lot of arguments about those group of people, is it even the same group of people, but it doesn't really matter because it's the same religion. The same Pharisaical religion is still around today, and these Jews, they hate the Lord Jesus Christ. I really don't understand these Christians that are just putting a blanket over their head and pretending like the Jews love Jesus. It's like, have you ever watched any interviews on YouTube? They blaspheme Jesus Christ. If you ever have any experience with Jews soul winning, are they not the most arrogant people you're ever going to meet out soul winning? Now, they're pretty rare to run into here, and so you might have to take my word for it, but every soul winner in America that runs into them is going to tell you the same thing. Yeah, the most arrogant people you'll ever meet are the Jews. They're rude, they're arrogant, and they reject Jesus Christ. Are there still some that get saved? Yeah, but it's a pretty low percentage. I don't hate the people. I do hate the ones that are reprobates, but I hate that religion, and that religion rejected Jesus Christ. They killed Jesus Christ, and how are they God's chosen people today? Because in Matthew 23, behold, your house is left on you desolate. Turn back to Malachi 1, Malachi chapter 1. Quite honestly, the Old Testament really shows you that the Jews are rejected. The New Testament does as well when you read the book of Galatians or Romans, and they'll pull out one verse here or there to try to say the Jews are God's chosen people. It's like, have you ever read any of the Minor Prophets? Because the Minor Prophets are preaching against the Jews quite a bit, and basically they had their chance and you're done. It doesn't make any sense. Notice what it says in verse 7, He offer polluted bread upon mine altar, and He say, And that ye say, The table of the Lord is contemptible. And He's saying, basically, you didn't offer the bread I told you to offer. I gave you specific instructions, and you're offering polluted bread. It'd be like, for example, if we took the Lord's Supper here on Easter, and instead of just doing things how God said, unleavened bread, we just said, you know what, we're just going to bring like, I don't know, saltine crackers. We're just going to bring crackers to eat. Instead of just doing things, sky flakes. I couldn't think of them. Sky flakes. You know, instead of just, sky flakes are less expensive, easier to do. We'll just get a pack of sky flakes and that will be, you know, our bread. That's not what God said. You can't just do things how you want to do them. You can't just change what God said and say, I'm just going to use sky flakes instead of bread. No, you do what God said. Use unleavened bread. And He's saying, they're offering polluted bread, and these are the religious leaders. The priests don't even care about what God said. It's not the members. He says the priests, they don't even care. This is your job. Specific instructions. Do this. This is your paycheck. You follow exactly this and they're just like, eh, you know, I don't really care that much. They don't even care. They have no fear of God whatsoever. Verse eight. And if you offer the blind for sacrifice, is it not evil? And if you offer the lame and sick, is it not evil? Offer it now onto thy governor. Will he be pleased with thee or accept thy persons, saith the Lord of hosts? And he says to you what? You're offering the blind for sacrifice. They intentionally would find the animal that is blind or maimed or scratched and said, we're going to give you the worst God. Now, look, God didn't even say you had to give him the best. But you certainly weren't supposed to just pick the worst out. You're supposed to pick one and then they picked the worst out intentionally, and God said not to do that. They're intentionally taking the ones, basically says, well, you know, this cost me money. I'll just do the one that doesn't really have much value. Okay? Now, look, He's mad at them for that. He says if you offer the lame and sick, is it not evil? And He says, will your governor be pleased with thee? If it was someone else that gave you instructions, would he be happy with thee? Would he accept your person? He's saying I'm not going to accept your person either. Okay? Now, this is the reason why we sung the song Our Best, you know, Give God Our Best. But kind of a symbolic understanding of how we could not give God our best is, for example, when it comes to, you know, our Bible reading. Even if you do the Bible reading challenge, there are certain times of the day where you're more focused than other times. You say, I'm just going to do my Bible reading time, you know, with the TV on and just kind of skim through the chapters, or I'm just going to, you know, basically be half paying attention and just like multitask, and it's like, no, give God your best. Don't give God your leftovers. Don't give God the worst. Give God your best. Okay? And if we intentionally just say, I'm just going to give God the leftovers, is He going to be pleased with thee or accept thy person? Now, look, you'll still get the reward, the gift at the end of the month, but, you know, is God going to be pleased with thee? God expects us to give Him our best. Or when it comes to soul winning. You're soul winning and you're the silent partner, because when we go door to door, we don't really split up. You know, you're with a partner and you're the silent partner, and while you're the silent partner, you're just kind of on your phone, just, oh, you know, what's going on? And you're not praying for the person, you're not paying attention. Is that what God wants you to do? Does God want the leftovers that you're giving Him? It's like, wow, you know, God's really happy that you were able to, yeah, I'll go out soul winning for an hour and just not pay attention, just catch up on everything else. It's like, no, give God your best. Or how about when it comes to your church time? People sit in church sometimes, and I've seen people that are just on their phones the whole time during church, and it's like, why are you even in church? It's like, aren't you here to pay attention? Aren't you here to learn? If this is the pillar and ground of the truth, and if you can't learn here, then go somewhere you can learn, where you're not bored. But if you're bored, then why are you even here? Look, when you come to church, you come to church to pay attention. And yet people come to church, it's during the singing time, and it's just kind of like, uh, here we, the masters call, give Him your best for, no, it's like, sing that you actually care about it. Sing that you actually want to be here. Give God your best, don't give God your leftovers, okay? Give God your best, and yet, you know what, this is what it comes to with people that are Christians today, because every Christian will say they're serving God. But by and large, most Christians are just kind of giving God the leftovers. Over their free time. Oh, I'll go to church as long as nothing comes up, I'll read my Bible as long as nothing comes up. And it's just like, well, you know, I'll do some Bible reading, and then they open it once or twice a week, and they read very little. It's like they're giving God the leftovers, as if they're giving God some sort of gift or something. It's like, no, you're expected to read your Bible every day. And yet in today's world, people are giving God their leftovers. And it's such a burden to come to church every Sunday, it's such a far drive. Give God your best. That's what you're expected to do, give God your best. Verse nine, and now I pray you, beseech God that he will be gracious unto us. This has been by your means. Will he regard your person, saith the Lord of hosts? And what is he saying? He's mainly speaking to the priests here. He's speaking to Israel, but he's saying it's your job since you have basically rebelled against God. Beseech God. Basically, get on your knees and pray to God that'll give you another chance. And that's what I would say to the pastors, whether it's here in the Philippines or the U.S. Hey, you Baptist pastors that are saved that aren't doing what you're supposed to do, beseech God now that he will forgive you. Start preaching hard. Start going soul winning and do what the Bible says. And we're talking about the very basics of Christianity in a church. Look, churches have different styles, they have different programs, and that's fine. But not preaching hard and not soul winning are not acceptable. And there's churches all over this world that have no soul winning whatsoever. And they don't preach hard. It's all just fun and entertainment. And look, our church, I want us to have fun and play games and fellowship. We're not sacrificing the soul winning, though. And I'm not just shorting my sermons to 10 minutes so we can just hang out all the time and just goof off. No, it's going to be long preaching, hard preaching that's going to help me change my life and my son change his life and my wife change her life and all of us to change our lives. And you know what, if I don't do that, if I don't preach like that, what we're going to find is everyone will slowly start to backslide and drift away from God. And look, I would love to have a church that runs 100 people. That would be great if we could run 100 people that love the Lord at some point. But I'll tell you what, I'm much more concerned with basically feeding the people that are actually here and are the dedicated members that love the Lord rather than just trying to get lots of new people. It's great to get new people. We try to get them here, but we're not going to sacrifice anything in order to do that. Notice what it says in verse 10, who is there even among you that would shut the doors for naught? Neither do you kindle fire on mine altar for naught. I have no pleasure in you, saith the Lord of hosts, neither will I accept an offering at your hand. And in verse number 10, basically no one is willing to volunteer to do anything to help out. It says, you know, no one's even willing to shut the doors for naught. Naught basically means, you know, no one's willing to shut the doors unless they get something out of it, unless they get some money or get some sort of reward or something like that. It'd be basically, for example, like, let's say, you know, my wife and I leave on a Sunday, like, you know, my wife's in the hospital, I have to rush out after I preach, and then no one's willing to shut the doors. Well, I'm not going to close up, it's just going to be open. You know, when you, it's like, no one's willing to even just like lock the doors and be like the last person here. No one's willing to shut the doors. Well, it's like, how much will you pay me? It's like, that's ridiculous, right? And look, the truth is, with churches, if there's no volunteering being done, churches just aren't going to get that much done. Because when a lot of volunteering gets done, it frees you up to do other things. Do you really think that we could have a church playing in Pampanga if nobody ever volunteered for anything? It wouldn't be possible. For one, we need people to preach down there, because I'm not going to preach four sermons every single Sunday, okay? I don't mind doing it sometimes, but I'm not going to do it every single Sunday, because man, on Sunday nights, I'm like, man, I'm tired. It's like, I'm exhausted, right? But not only that, just other basic things that need to get done, like the offering and counting it and sending me the amounts and things such as that, I just can't do everything. We wouldn't be able to have a church plant down there unless people down there were volunteering, getting things set up and things such as that. Look, the reality is that a church just is not going to get too much done unless people are willing to volunteer. I haven't made this video yet. I was planning to make a video sometime on YouTube. Actually, turn to 1 Corinthians 12. And another thing you mentioned is, neither do you kindle fire on mine altar for naught. So basically, nobody's willing to light the match to basically put something on fire. It's like, nope, I'm not going to light the match. It's like, really? It's like, nobody's willing to start the flame, get things started? You know, I was planning to make a video here, and I probably will hear soon, about the importance of basically embracing the style of your local church. And what I mean by that is basically that every church is a little bit different, okay? Now, every church teaches things that are a little bit different as well, and you individually, you know what you believe, and you should decide what you believe based on what the Bible says. You might not agree with me on everything. I would assume that probably most, if not everybody in here, there's probably some things that you have a different opinion on than me. That's fine. I'd expect that because I've never had a pastor I agree with everything about. I agree with Pastor Menes on 99% of things, but I don't agree with him on 100% of things. I have reasons why I believe things. Like for example, I'd have weekly meetings with Pastor Menes, and sometimes I'd talk to him about Bible topics and say this is kind of what I think this is talking about. And then he would give me his reason, you know, why he believed whatever. I always had a Bible reason, he always had a Bible reason. Sometimes I'd hear what he'd say and I'd think, man, maybe he's right about that. Maybe I'm wrong. Or sometimes I'd think maybe there's a dual meaning there. Or sometimes I'd say, you know, I still kind of think, you know what, I believe is right, okay? No one knows everything. We're all gonna be wrong on things. It's not the end of the world cuz we're not talking about salvation issues, okay? So you individually, you might have different beliefs than me on some things. But here's the thing, no matter what your style of church is, you can embrace that style. What I mean by that is this, I've been at churches that had bus routes and brought in lots of kids on the bus routes. Now, do I believe in children's ministries around here? No, I do not. We will never have a children's ministry around here like that. It will never happen around here. But when I was at a church that had one, I volunteered in help of that ministry. Now, I didn't agree that the pastor had that ministry, but I never rebuked him for it. And I just tried to help out. You say, why? Well, cuz here's the thing. They're gonna keep that ministry no matter what I say or do. By me volunteering, it helps benefit the church. It helps be a blessing to the church. If I just choose to basically fight against it and tell people this is not biblical, that doesn't help the church out at all. It's gonna harm the church. And so, look, churches have different styles. They have different fellowship activities and things like that. Whatever the style of your local church is, you should embrace that style, okay? I'm not saying doing things that are sinful. Cuz I don't think it's like sinful to have a children's ministry. I don't think it's wise. I don't think it's biblical. But I don't think it was wrong for me to help out in that ministry. And so whatever the ministries or style of your local church is, you should try to volunteer and help in that. Why? It will benefit the church. Even if you don't think that that's the perfect style for that church, it will benefit the church. And in 1 Corinthians 12, he talks about being members of a local church. 1 Corinthians 12, verse 27. 1 Corinthians 12, verse 27. Now you're the body of Christ and members in particular. When he says the body of Christ, and there's a lot of misunderstanding about this, when it says the body of Christ, it's not talking about this universal body, okay? This is the Church of Corinth. He's saying you're part of this body of Christ. Look, we're members of Verity Baptist Church Manila. We're not members of other churches, whether we respect the pastors, we know people at those churches, we're not members of those churches. You're a part of this body of Christ and members in particular. Members in particular mean that you are specifically put here for a reason. You have certain abilities, things that can benefit this local church, okay? That's why you're here, members in particular. And God hath said some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healing, helps, governments, diversities of tongues, are all apostles, are all prophets, are all teachers, are all workers of miracles, have all the gifts of healing, do all speak with tongues, do all interpret. There's a lot of different things mentioned here, and you could have a sermon series just going through all these different things. This isn't even comprehensive. There's other abilities people have obviously as well, many different abilities. It's just giving you a list of some of the things you'd really think about. I mean, obviously there's song leaders and all kinds of different things that you can mention. People reading the Bible, people fixing things at church, there's a million things you can think of. And you have to realize that if you consider Verity Baptist Church Manila your home church, that means you're members in particular. You're here for a reason. You say, Brother Stuckey, I don't agree with everything you do at church. I think things should be done a different way. I don't expect you to necessarily agree with everything. I've never been at a church where I 100% said I would do things the exact same way, okay? But I still embrace the style of those churches and helped out in those churches in the ways that I could, okay? Look, of course, everybody looks at things differently. Nobody's gonna run things the exact same way. But you can still embrace the style and realize that if you don't embrace that style, then you're basically not doing your duty as a member in particular, that God placed you here for a specific reason. Turn to Malachi one, turn back to Malachi one. So when it comes to nobody willing to shut the door or kindle fire and do these things, it's just like these are just basic tasks at church that somebody should be willing to volunteer. And when it comes to a church, you're just not gonna be that successful unless people are willing to volunteer. And basically when he's talking about the priests here and he's talking about Israel, he's basically saying that this attitude to develop where nobody's willing to volunteer and help for any reason unless they get something out of it, okay? Verse 11, Malachi one, verse 11. For from the rising of the sun even onto the going down of the same, my name shall be great among the Gentiles. And in every place incense shall be offered onto my name in a pure offering. For my name shall be great among the heathen, saith the Lord of hosts. And so he basically talks about the Gentiles here. And I don't have time to prove this, but Gentiles is basically talking about, there's the Jews, the Gentiles, the Jews and the Greeks, it gives a different terminology. The Greeks and Gentiles are basically interchangeable, although the Greeks are referencing the people from that area. But basically it's just another term for the Jews versus the non-Jews, okay? And so these are the unbelievers, the Gentiles. And when it comes to the unbelievers out there, they oughta look at this place and realize that in a very Baptist church manila, they hold up the name of God differently than other people. His name shall be great among the Gentiles. And yet when you look at the world today, the believers and unbelievers act the exact same way. They watch the same movies, they listen to the same music, they do the same activities, they live their lives basically the exact same way. And it's like how is God's name great among the Gentiles when you're doing the exact same thing as them? You're going to the bar with them, how is his name great then? You're watching the same movies as your unbelieving friend does, how is his name great among the Gentiles then? It oughta be different in God's house. It oughta have been different with Israel, but it became basically the exact same thing that the world had. His name shall be great among the Gentiles, and at the end there it says, my name shall be great among the heathen. So here in verse 11, we see that Gentiles and heathen are used interchangeably, okay, in verse number 11. So Gentiles and unsafe people, they're used interchangeably here. Notice what it says in verse number 12. Malachi 1 verse 12, but you have profaned it in that you say the table the Lord has polluted and the fruit thereof, even his meat, is contemptible. So once again, they've not done things the way God said. His name should have been great, and basically we're supposed to do things the way he said, but because they weren't doing things the right way, his name was basically not great among the Gentiles. Verse 13, he said also, behold, what a weariness is it? It's so hard, it's so tiring to serve God. It's so difficult, that's what they're saying. Israel was complaining, it's such a weariness, it's so difficult, it's so hard to serve God. Look, coming to church, to the services, is not tiring. Reading the Bible, praying, it's so tiring, it's so difficult. Do you realize in the Bible that in the Old Testament times, people worked six days a week from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. 12 hour days times six days is 72 hours. 72 hour weeks of work, and guess what? The rest of the time they're pretty much serving God and then raising their families. And back then, they didn't have the modern conveniences we have. They didn't have microwaves. They didn't have these things, okay? It was a lot more difficult. It was basically a necessity for the mom to stay home and raise the kids. I mean, there's no other way around it. And we have all these modern conveniences today, and then people live. I mean, people grow up in this world and they're like, oh, man, 40 hours of work a week, that's so much. It's like, man, we need to learn to work hard at a young age. And that's one thing I want to do to teach my son when he's growing up. I want him to have responsibilities when he's young. I don't want him to just have an easy lifestyle. You say, why? Because life's not easy. And if you make their life easy for the first 18 years, just so easy, then he's just going to have that attitude when he gets out to the workforce. And it's going to set him back in life. Now, there's also another extreme. I heard of someone who used to be, I guess, new IFB, turned out to be a weirdo. And basically, they said, the Bible says if you don't work, you should not eat. And so they would make their babies crawl to get milk. It's like, well, that's ridiculous. It's like your baby's crying, you feed them. They're a child, they're a baby, okay? But as my son gets older, because my son right now, his favorite thing, he just likes to grab the broom and just kind of swing it everywhere. He thinks he's helping. But there's going to come a day where he's going to be expected to hold that broom. And actually be helping once he's old enough to do it. You say, why? Well, for one, it's going to make things easier for mom and dad. But for two, because honestly, they need to learn to work hard at a young age. And here in this verse, when it says, behold, what a weariness is it, this was the attitude of saved people. It's such a weariness to serve God. It's so hard to come to church, I'm always tired. Look, the sleep of a laboring man is sweet. Amen. It's good to be tired. You go to bed at night, you're going to wake up and feel good. Or you can have an easy life and be lazy. You're going to wake up and you're like, oh, I'm so tired. I'm so exhausted. Look, when you work hard, you go to bed, you fall asleep, and you wake up feeling pretty good, okay? The Bible says here, behold what a weariness is it. And some of you say, man, I come a long ways to come to church. And look, it's true, I don't have to come that far to come to church. It only took me about 35 minutes to walk down here today. But here's the thing, I used to go to church an hour and a half, an hour and 45 minutes, and I went to church Sunday morning, Sunday night, Wednesday night. And so I used to come a long ways to church as well. And so I'm not really any different than you. And look, I personally thought it was worth it to come a long distance to come to a good church. And obviously, you guys do as well. You come a long distance to come to our church, but a lot of you at least. And it's like, yeah, you know what? It's worth it to come to a good church. But in today's world, people are just like, you invite them to church. We're just so many 15 minute walk from here, oh, it's so far away. It's like, man, there's a church right over there I can walk to. And it's like they think that coming, it's like such a weariness to come. It's like, oh, man, I've got to walk 15 minutes to get to church so I can hear the sermon. But that's the world we live in today. That's the world that they lived in back then, where basically, people just had no respect for the things of God. And the Bible says we're supposed to be a living sacrifice. It's not a weariness that you have to read the Bible every day. It's not a weariness. And here's the thing. If you choose not to read the Bible and pray every day, try to memorize the Bible, try to serve God, I guess that's your choice, but you will destroy your life. You can take the time to read the Bible every day and pray, and you're going to find out your life works out better for you than if you're just kind of lazy and say, man, I don't want to read the Bible. I just want to get on Facebook or TV or whatever, just play games all day. It's your choice, but you'll ruin your life if you don't decide to serve God. And you have snuffed at it, saith the Lord of hosts, and he brought that which was torn and the lame and the sick. Thus he brought an offering. So I guess he brought an offering. It was torn, it was lame, it was sick, but I mean, you brought an offering. Should I accept this of your hand, saith the Lord? Basically, they were giving God the worst, and God says, I'm not going to accept that. Why? Because God gave you specific instructions in the Bible. He gave specific instructions in the book of Leviticus. This is what you need to do. It wasn't up for debate. It's not like, well, can I just give the one, the cow over there that's missing their eye? It's like, no. God gave you specific instructions of what you're supposed to do, and you just do what God says. Verse 14, but cursed be the deceiver, which hath in his flock a male, and voweth in sacrifice unto the Lord a corrupt thing. And it says cursed be the deceiver because of the fact people were intentionally basically being dishonest about what they were sacrificing. They were pretending, this is all I have, so this is what I need to sacrifice. And they were lying about. And people were being dishonest. Why? Because they wanted to keep the better ones for financial reasons. They were being dishonest. Now, when it comes to our church, and look, I don't preach on tithing really at all at this church. Because, quite honestly, we don't really have a problem, and eventually I'll have to preach a sermon, because you've got to preach the whole word of God. And this is totally up to you, because we're not like one of these churches where it's like, all right, you've got to tell us how much money do you make. We've got to make sure we get at least 10%. You're not leaving unless we get that amount. But you know how much you make. And you can choose to cut corners to make that 10% look a little bit different if you want. Well, God told you 10%. And if you cut the corners and you're dishonest in whatever way, God's going to be aware of that. And you're going to be aware of that. And you can bring in your torn and your lame. And what you're going to find out is you're basically gathering all this money, and I think it's in the book of Haggai, basically, and there's basically holes in your pockets. It's like, man, why do I always get flat tires? Man, why do things like this always happen? You know, why? Because you're not doing what God said, OK? Verse 14, he says, and sacrifice unto the Lord a corrupt thing. Why do we do this? For I am a great king, saith the Lord of hosts, and my name is dreadful among the heathen. It's funny because you think of the kings that are considered great in the history of the world. Alexander the Great, Cyrus the Great. But according to the Bible, the only king that's great is God Almighty, the Lord Almighty. When it comes to the great king, that's not Alexander the Great. And look, Alexander the Great was a bad person. Cyrus the Great wasn't a bad person. I actually think he was saved. He's in the Bible, and he seems like a pretty good character. But look, he shouldn't be going by, and I'm not saying he did, but being called Cyrus the Great, no man should be called like, I'm Cyrus the Great, or Prince the Great, or whatever. It's like, no, we shouldn't be the title. You say, why? Because God is great. Us, not so much. Then he says, dreadful among the heathen. And so look, when it comes to our Lord, he should be someone that's feared. And look, when you look in the Bible, you think of just characters in the Bible like Rahab. And how did she get converted? She knew the fear of the Lord. She knew that was the God that basically had destroyed other things and taken over, and she knew, man, that's the real God. You think of the book of Jonah. And Jonah's basically going overboard, and he says who his Lord is that he's following, and all of a sudden they're afraid. Oh, not the Hebrew God. It's like, that's who we're fighting against, why? Because he had a reputation. Yet in today's world, Baptist preachers, they don't preach against any sin whatsoever. People literally think that Jesus just loved the homosexuals. Isn't that what they think? He just preached love, love, love. I mean, is his name dreadful among the heathen? It's not dreadful among the heathen. You say, but Brother Stuckey, if you preach like that, it turns people away from the truth. Well, there's a few problems with saying that. For one, our church gets a lot of people saved. And I preach pretty hard against sin. That keeps you motivated and me motivated to knock the doors because we know what the Bible says. The truth does not turn people away. Here's the reality. It turns some people away that just don't like the words of God. It does not turn people away that actually like the words of God. Look, I know with people, and I'm not gonna say who, but just a close relative of mine who ended up getting saved. And honestly what got him saved was really hard preaching because he knew, he just had known a lot of things that had happened in this world, and just things just didn't sit well with him. The hard preaching, it just, boom, it clicked with them. Look, hard preaching is actually very, and look, we have lots of people that visit this church, and look, very rarely do people get super offended by the things I preach. I preach pretty hard, and yet we have people that come to this church and visit, and I'm not saying they necessarily agree with everything. And sometimes they probably walk away and say, man, I think he's too harsh, but I learned a lot, and I'm gonna keep coming. And we don't expect them to fully embrace it from day one. Look, I'll be honest with you. When I first started in 2008 to listen to Pastor Anderson, it was in 2008, and I remember really liking his preaching because I was learning a lot, and I was just like, why does he hate the homos so much? I was like, man, he's so harsh. I mean, I don't like the homos, but it's just like, man, he just really hates them. Because I was ignorant of what the Bible said. I just heard a lot of false preaching, and just hadn't read the Bible enough for myself, or just kind of, I guess. I mean, I'd read Genesis 19 plenty of times, but I guess when you're brainwashed you just don't really think exactly what the Bible says. And so look, some people are brainwashed, and at first I was just like, I think he's overboard, but eventually I kept coming, and then I learned. Look, when new people come to our church, and we've had a lot of visitors here recently the last several months, a lot of this is brand new to them. A lot of this preaching is brand new to them, and yet they're hearing really hard preaching, and is it driving them away? No. They actually like it. You say, why? They're thinking, man, I've never heard a church in the Philippines that preached like this. This is very different than anything else I've heard. And you realize that there's people out there, some people are not even saved. People that live right by Coggin, Huan, and Magsaysay, that quite honestly, they just want to know what the truth is. Because they've been lied to their whole life. They know the Catholic Church is false. Anybody with a brain knows the Catholic Church is false. When you see all the pedophilia that's happening, everybody knows it's wrong, they just don't have any alternative. And they say, well, I believe in God, I believe in Jesus, so I guess this is just where I'm gonna be, even though they know it's false. And people, that's why they try all these bizarre cults, because they're not getting the truth, okay? The reality is these Baptist churches that are trying to water down the message and act like victory and CCF, look, they're not gonna grow their churches. For one, victory is gonna do things better than they do by being basically worldly and compromisers. They're basically halfway compromised. They're halfway like victory, they're halfway like us. You're gonna lose both sides. Look, people that like this kind of preaching are not gonna go to churches like that. They say, man, I don't wanna go to a church where the sermons are watered down and I'm not learning anything. I wanna go and actually learn the Bible. And look, people that like the rock concert and don't care what the Bible says, they're just gonna go to victory. They're gonna go to CCF. And these Baptist churches are dying across the world. Here in the Philippines, in America, you're seeing these churches, they keep getting older and older and older, they're just dying off, and they're like, man, they gotta keep compromising more and more and more and compromise more and more and more. Look, they're not gonna reach people that way. They're basically just gonna kill off their church, and that's what's taking place. Why? Well, I mean, here's the thing, is God's name dreadful in their churches? Do people think of that church and think, man, that pastor, he really rips hard. Or do they think, oh yeah, he's just a fuzzy, nice little teddy bear. That's what they think. Right, because they don't preach on anything. Okay, it's not gonna be like this here. But Malachi 1, just a quick summary. We're gonna cover this in the book of Malachi, but look, Israel's just plainly rejected. God is angry at them in this entire book. And if you think that the Jews are God's chosen people, you're gonna have to ask yourself, when in human history did they become the chosen people again? Because God rejects them in Malachi and the book of Matthew and you look throughout human history and they've started all kinds of wars. They've started prostitution rings. They've started all these gambling rings. And look, I'm not a big conspiracy theorist person, but you don't have to get too far to figure out the Jews are behind a lot of Hollywood and all that smut and prostitution and child trafficking. So often the big people that get caught are these high level Jews. That comes out of their religion where they say it's okay to lie to people and they don't care about what's right and wrong. They just care about their people. This racist religion that thinks they're somehow God's chosen people. Let's close in a word of prayer. Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for allowing us to be here today and just getting to see your word here in Malachi chapter one. This is a great book in the Bible, God, and help us to really learn a lot as we go through this series, myself included, God. Help us to apply this to our lives and help us as a church. I don't believe any of us believe that the Jews are God's chosen people today, God. Help us to understand why we believe that and see what the book of Malachi says. But help us also, God, to basically keep your name very holy and be different from the world and be separated from the world, God. Help us to always be a church that's preaching heart against sin and basically treating you reverently, God, and not just basically giving you our leftovers. We pray this in Jesus' name, amen.