You don't love me. I don't think you love me. Those were words I said when I was a kid, my parents had disciplined me for misbehaving, sent me to my room, told me, I can't go do the things I want to do, and I said, it's real obvious you don't love me. And they responded, of course we love you, son. And I said, I don't think so. I don't think you love me because if you love me, I wouldn't be going through this right now. I wouldn't be in trouble right now. I would have everything the way I want it, if you loved me. Maybe you've had those same kind of thoughts. Not about parents. Maybe if you're a teenager, you're still thinking those ways, but maybe about God. That life, the way it is. Maybe through your own actions, what you've done things that you shouldn't have done and life's kind of a mess, and you're thinking, God, I don't think you love me. It's obvious you don't love me. Look around. If that's you, if you've had feelings like that, thoughts like that in the past, maybe today you have those, you're not alone. The nation of Israel, had the same thoughts. They doubted God's love for them. They doubted God's faithfulness to them. But we're going to see as we open the book of Malachi and begin a new series about faithful to the faithless, God's faithful love to faithless people. We're going to see that he does love us. In the same way that my parents loved me when they disciplined me. If they hadn't disciplined me. If they hadn't taken away things from me when I was misbehaving, I would have continued to do destructive things in my life, things that weren't beneficial to me. And so their love for me looked like my life being very difficult at the time. And my response was very much like Israel's response. I don't think you love me is what I told them. Israel tells God, I don't think you love us. I don't think you love us because our situation is so bad, but what we're going to see today is that God's love is faithful. God's love for his people. It's faithful. If you have your Bibles, turn to Malachi chapter one. We're beginning a new series that'll last through November, then we'll enter into our Christmas season in a Christmas series. But now we want to unpack over the next 2 months, the book of Malachi. And see what Malachi has to say to us about God's faithfulness to a faithless people. The 1st thing we see is Malachi 11, the very beginning of the book, the last book in the Old Testament, says these words, the oracle of the word of the Lord to Israel by Malachi. A few things to point out from just this 1st verse. This idea of an oracle is a message. It could be also translated as a burden that God had given Malachi this burden, but look what it says explicitly. The oracle of the word of the Lord. So when you read Malachi, you're not reading Malachi's words, you're reading God's words that he gave to Malachi, and Malachi's job is just to convey it over to the Israelites and to us. The oracle of the word of the Lord to Israel by Malachi. What do we know about Malachi? We know that his name means my messenger. And so this prophet who's going to give this message is name kind of hearkens to who he is. We don't know anything else about them. He doesn't show up anywhere else in the Old Testament. Even in the book that he has written, We don't learn a lot about them. He's just conveying this message from God to the Israelites that God has given him. So we don't know a lot about Malachi. We know the book when it was written. It's around 45460 BC. You can see this on the following slide, kind of a timeline. It's important when you pick up your Bible and you begin to read different books to go, what was happening? What was going on at the time? Malachi is the very last book of the Old Testament. So what was happening that led up to what Malachi saying? It's always important to know where you are in the story. If you don't know that, it's confusing at times. You may not know exactly why people are doing the things they do in scripture. But if you know where you are in the story, that helps. Malachi had is prophesying around 460 BC. What's happened prior to that? is the nation of Israel, the southern kingdom, Judah and Benjamin, these 2 tribes out of the 12, have been exiled, out kicked out of the land of Israel around 586 BC by the Babylonian Empire. The Babylonians came in, destroyed the nation, and then knocked down the temple that Solomon had built some 500 years before. The place where God said, this is where I dwell. This is where you'll meet with me. They came in and knocked it down. And then exiled the people over to Babylon. That's a devastating time in 586. 70 years later, we see that they begin to return under Cyrus, when the Persians defeated the Babylonians and Cyrus said, hey, everyone who had been deported from their land, you can head back. And he even says, hey, we'll give you some finances to help rebuild the temple. So the temple begins to be rebuilt, but not right away. It's much smaller than the original temple was, so people who had seen the original temple that Solomon built, and saw the foundation for the new temple, says they wept, because they had seen how big the other one was and how much smaller this one was. You can go read the books of Ezra and Nehemiah and pick up on pretty clearly that as they came back from exile, the people of Israel, we're not faithful to God. They still struggled with being obedient. The reason they had been kicked out of the land was they had disobeyed God over and over and over since the time of Moses. When Moses gave his commands, it said, if you follow me, I'll bless you, God said to Israel, if you disobey me, I'll curse you and kick you out of the land. They've been kicked out, they've come back. They're now unto Persian control, so they're not running their own nation. And life's really hard. God had made promises coming back from the exile that he was going to restore the people. He was going to restore the nation, that the crops would be bountiful. The world would find peace. And then this kind of peace, not just kind of, it's a nice day. It's good, like this supernatural peace would break out all over the world. And it hadn't happened. And the people were beginning to question God, and they weren't being obedient. going to see over and over that Malachi wrestles with this in his book as the people not being obedient. If you grab your Bibles and look at the book of Malachi, it's interesting how he structures his book, you can see it on this next side. that Malachi has basically 6 issues that get brought up. And the way they get brought up, and we'll see it in this 1st one, which is verses 2 to 5, we're going to look at today, where God's love is questioned. God will say something. The prophet will say something, and then Israel responds. with a kind of a complaint or a saying, no, I don't think so. How is that true? And then God responds with, here's the answer to what you're doing. This goes 6 times. So in verses 2 to 5, we see that God's love is question, then in verses 6 to chapter 2, verse 9. God's honor is despised. Spend a few sermons on that. Then in chapter 2 verses 10 to 16, Judah, faithlessness is discussed. And then in chapter 2 verses 17 to chapter 3, verse 5, the chapter breaks in Malachi are really bad. So just so you know, the chapters and verses weren't in the original writings. They got added later, and Malachi, they got added in really bad places in the sense that it's breaking up the flow of thought. So pay attention to this break here. 217 to 35. God's justice is questioned. 36 to 312. God's tithes are withheld. And then in 33 to 46 serving God is questioned. So it's the same pattern 6 times. An issue is brought up. God makes a statement. The people kind of complain about that statement. I want to reject that statement, then God explains how that statement is true and then what's going to happen from that. We're going to see that in our message today. If you have your Bible state. Go back to Malachi chapter one, verse two, and we see Israel's complaint, which is this. You don't love us. His note opens. I have loved you, says the Lord, but you say, how have you loved us? We see at the very beginning that love is the foundation of this entire book, and we need to remember that. So every Sunday when you come and we begin to preach, just start by looking at Malachi one, 2, and go, I have loved you. And we underline that. Remember, okay, this is the foundational statement God makes to the nation of Israel. I have loved you. It's similar to you as a parent. Whenever you have to have a conversation with your kid, and you know it's going to be a tough one. It's going to be a hard conversation. You'll probably start with something like this. Hey, hey, I need you to know. We love you. Now let's talk about all the problems that are going on around here, but we love you. We put it in those terms because that's the foundational reality. God says, I love you. You can see this in Deuteronomy chapter 10, verse 15. When God calls the nation of Israel, the people of Abraham out of Egypt. He makes them into a people with Moses. Deuteronomy 1015 says this, yet the Lord set his heart in love on your fathers. Abraham, Isaac, Jacob. and chose their offspring after them. You above all peoples as you are this day. It says, the Lord set his heart in love on your fathers. Abraham lived around 2000 BC. So about 1500 years before, the writing that we're looking at. And it says, God's love for Israel goes all the way back to this covenant with Abraham. You can see this in Genesis 12. This is important to get to understand what's going on when God says, I have loved you. That's not an empty statement. When they said, I don't think you've loved this. How have you loved us? God can go back over 1000s of years of evidence. That's why when we pick up our Bible, what's being done with God's word, how God has laid this out, it's a story. He's explaining what he's done in history, in real time with real people. And so he says, how have you loved us? You have to go back to Abraham. The beginning of the biblical story, right? Genesis one and two, God creates the world. He creates humans, humans are given dominion over the earth. Our role as humans was to worship God, gather up the praise of the planet and give it to God and say, you're amazing, and then God was going to let humans be the stewards of creation. We were supposed to have this beautiful relationship with God. Adam and Eve turned on God. All of us have done the same. And said, no, I don't want you. We'll do it our own way. We would rather not have you in the picture. And God says he's not going to give up on humans, but Adam and Eve are now removed from the blessing of the Garden of Eve. And then in Genesis 12, God says, I'm going to take Abram, one man, and make you into a great nation. And then I'm going to reclaim all the other peoples. through this nation. His plan all along was to send his son, God the son, to die on the cross. He says, I'm starting with Abraham. I'm choosing you. And then you begin to read this testament, the story in the Old Testament about God's love. Genesis 12 speaks to this promise that God made to Abraham. I'll make you into a great nation, and then I'll bless all the other nations through that people, through the Jewish people through whom the Messiah comes. In Jeremiah chapter 31, Jeremiah is writing around 580, I think during the time of the Babylonian exile, when the people are being kicked out, Jeremiah writes this. Thus says the Lord. The people who survived the sword found grace in the wilderness. When Israel sought for rest, the Lord appeared to him from far away. I have loved you with an everlasting love. Therefore I have continued my faithfulness to you. That faithfulness was he says, I am not going to destroy you completely. I will punish you, but not destroy the nation of Israel completely. God's people because his plan was to bring the Messiah through them. He says, I have loved you. You can go back and read the Old Testament story. story after story after story of God's love for his people. But the response that the people give to Malachi and God's statement through Malachi was this, how have you loved us? If you loved us, we wouldn't be suffering right now. If you loved us, everything would be perfect. If you loved us, everything would be amazing. Now we're going to learn as we read the rest of Malachi that the people were doing all sorts of things that were displeasing to God. they were under punishment. And what they wanted God to do is just say, just bless us and let us kind of enjoy the good life without you so that we don't have to be around you. That's what they were wanting this. what they're saying by their actions as we continue for the next 2 months in this book. They're saying, we don't want to be around you. We'll give you the kind of worship you want sadly and lackadaisically, disrespectfully, but we just want all the good things. And let us live that way and bless us. And God says, no, I've loved you, and love isn't easy. It's not cheap, it's difficult, it's hard. And God says, because I love you, though, I'm going to continue to work with you. Israel's response is like a petulant child. How have you loved us, God? I found myself saying the same things before. Maybe you. have found yourself saying the same things. God's response in verses 2 to 4 is interesting, though. He says, remember Jacob and Esau. It's a weird response if you don't know the biblical story. Here's what he says. Hey, I've loved you. How have you loved us? And he goes, is not Esau Jacob's brother? Boom, there it is. How do you not know that he loves you? Esau is Jacob's brother. That answers the question. If you don't know the biblical story, that makes no sense at all. Like, what's it matter that Esau's Jacob's brother? He goes on and says this? He says, yet I have loved Jacob, but Esau I have hated. I have laid waste his hill country and left his heritage to jackals of the desert. If Edom says, we are shattered, but we will rebuild the ruins, the Lord of Host says, they may build, but I will tear down, and they will be called the wicked country. And the people with whom the Lord is angry forever. You go, what is God doing? When he says, I've loved you. How have you loved us? Isn't Esau Jacob's brother? If you have your Bibles, hopefully you do. Turn back to Genesis 25. You can go read the whole chapter later today. Genesis 25 tells a story of Esau. And Jacob. So as the Bible story is unfolding, God calls Abram, changes his name to Abraham. Abraham has Isaac as a son through his wife, Sarah. And God says, I'm going to continue my promise to you, Abraham, through your son, Isaac. Isaac, then marries Rebecca, and they have twins. And while she's pregnant with these twins, God gives a message that says the younger is the older is going to serve the younger. There's 2 nations inside of you, Rebecca. And she was having a hard pregnancy. Apparently, the kids were moving around a lot wrestling a lot. And she was like, this is really difficult. And God said, hey, there's 2 nations inside of you. And the older is going to serve the younger. As you read the story, Esau is born first. Esau comes out and he's covered in red hair. And Esau just means red. And so they said, let's call that kid red. And then when he's older, he grows up. If you read the chapter, he comes in from the field. He was a hunter, and Jacob was making some red stew, and Esau was really hungry, and he says, I'm so hungry, give me some of that red stuff. And Jacob says, give me your birthright, and I'll give you some of this red stuff. And he says, fine. You can have my birthright, which meant he gets most of the inheritance now. And he sold his birthright for some red stew, and then the Bible says, and that's why he's called Edom, which means red. So if you trace the biblical story, Jacob becomes the nation of Israel. gets his name changed to Israel, and that's where we get Israel. And Esau's descendants become the nation of Edom. And these 2 nations end up living side by side for quite a while. We'll come back to that in a second. But God says this. It's not Esau Jacob's brother. So he calls a story, and he says, yet I have loved Jacob, but Esau. I have hated. And if you're like me, you read that and go, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, what do you mean, God? This seems very unlike you. You love Jacob, but you hate Esau. And if we take hate in the way kind of our English language works, Hate carries this idea of animosity. Like, I want bad things to happen to you. So if I were to say, you know, I hate Wally. I don't hate you, Wally, but if I did, if I said, I hate Wally, I'd be like, I want bad things to happen to Wally. I don't want anything good to happen to him. I have animosity towards him. That's what our word hate means. But in scripture, it can carry that meaning for sure. But it also has a different meaning of choice, of who am I choosing? Jesus uses this word in Luke chapter 14. Here's how he uses it in verses 25 and 26. Now, great crowds accompanied him, and he turned and said to them, if anyone comes to me. and does not hate his own father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brothers, and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. Now, if we take the word hate here to mean. If anyone wants to follow me, he needs to have animosity, ill feelings, like bad things should happen to his wife, his kids, his mom, his dad, his brothers, his sisters, even himself. If you don't hate others, With that idea, then you can't be my disciple and you read that and go, that doesn't seem right. That's when I read all of scripture. I hear things like honor your father and mother. When Jesus is dying on the cross. He tells John, his disciple, take my mom and take care of her. This idea of loving our parents, loving our kids. Loving our wives. Paul writes in Ephesians fives. Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church. How can you say, love your wife when Jesus says, hate your wife. The issue of hate here has to do with choice. with loyalty. If you go back and read Genesis. It says that a, this is how marriage works. A man will leave, and that word can mean abandon his father and mother and cleave to his wife. It doesn't mean that he hates them, but it does mean that he's changed his loyalty. His supreme loyalty now is to his wife and his family there, not to his mom and dad. Doesn't mean he doesn't love them. Jesus is saying here, if you don't choose him above everything else in your life, you can't be his disciple. Jesus is not comfortable going, hey, I know other things are more important, but I'll be okay if you just give me some time here and there. He just says, if you're not willing to put me first, you can't be my follower. So that word hate there is an issue of choice. Paul says it this way in Romans 9 talking about this same verse. He says, and not only so, but also when Rebecca had conceived children by one man, our forefather Isaac, though they were not yet born and had done nothing either good or bad, in order that God's purpose of election might continue, not because of works, but because of him who calls, she was told, the older will serve the younger, as it is written, Jacob, I loved, but Esau, I hated. This isn't an issue of God going, I have animosity. I just want horrible things for Edom and for Esau. He's saying, in God's plan to bring his son, Jesus, into the world, he says, I've chosen Abraham. Through Abraham, I'm gonna bless all the other nations. That's the plan from the beginning. It's not Abraham, I choose you. Let me reject everyone else. Let me not care for everyone else. It's Jacob, I love you. Esau, I have not chosen you. Not for salvation or anything like that, it's for, I've not chosen you to carry on my plan in this way. And so when you get to Malachi, it's no longer just 2 brothers, it's 2 nations. Israel and Edom. And he says, I chose... Jacob, I chose Israel, but Esau, I didn't chose for this. And he says, I've laid waste his hill country and left his heritage to jackals of the desert. I'll put a map on the screen that shows you where Edom exists in relationship to Israel, so the yellow at the bottom is where Edom was. And as soon as Israel was coming out of Egypt, heading into the promised land, they encountered Edom, the Edomites, who live there. And throughout their history, they were brothers, in a sense, nations that were fighting, and Edom always did bad things to Israel. When Israel was being exiled by Babylon. The Edomites said, it's a good time to go in and harass the Israelites, that weakened because the Babylonians have destroyed them. We can come in and keep and wipe up the job. The Edomites did sinful things, just like the Israelites did. God punished both nations. Read the story. The nation of Israel was punished for their sinful behavior. The Edomites were punished for their sinful behavior. The Bible's clear. God puts up with a people, a nation, a group of people for a certain length of time, and then he goes, no more. Your sin has become so prevalent. So, um, foul to him that he says, I'm done with you as a people, and we're going to move on. With Israel, though. He says, I'm going to punish you, but I'm not wiping you out. But to the Edomites, he says this, I have laid waste his hill country and left his heritage to jackals of the desert. By this point in history on Malachi's writing, the Edomites had also been beaten down by the Persians and the Babylonians also. He says, I've knocked down their cities and all of this stuff. It says, if Edom says, we are shattered, but we will rebuild the ruins. So the Edom's going, hey, we're gonna, we've been knocked down, but we're gonna rebuild. God says, they may build, but I'll tear it down. And they'll be called the wicked country and the people with whom the Lord is angry forever. What he's telling the Israelites is, I told you I loved you. And you're saying I don't love you. Both you and Edom have been destroyed because of your sinfulness, but I'm going to continue to work with you, Israel, because I've chosen you for a plan that I have, which is to bring Jesus into the world. And I haven't chosen Edom as a people, not the individuals, the nation. And so Edom doesn't exist anymore. There is no Edom. When God brings Jesus into the world, he continues his plan and now all those who are in Christ are children of Abraham, you can go read Galatians 3 for that. And so the people say, you don't love us. Our lives aren't the way we want them to be. Things were devastated around us. And God says, I do love you. That's why I'm still working with you. That's why I am going to rebuild your ruins, but I'm not rebuilding the ruins of Edom. And if they try to rebuild, they're not going to be able to. And so the resolution of this we find in verse five. So we have the complaint. God says something, the Israelites complain, God explains like why their complaint is wrong, and then he gives this resolution. He says, your own eyes shall see this. So it says, you're going to see what I'm going to do. And you shall say, great is the Lord be on the border of Israel. What does it matter that he's great beyond the border of Israel? In the time of Malachi, in the time of the Old Testament. Here's how the people thought, like how they understood the world and the idea of God, that each nation had their own gods. And so they had what we called tribal deities. So our nation had a God and this nation had a God and the Edomites. And they would basically say, I wonder who's God is most powerful. I say little kids, especially boys who would go, you know, my dad could beat up your dad. And then they would wait for their dads to fight, but they never did. But in the ancient Near East, the nations would say, our God is greater than your God. And how would you know whose God is greater? You would go to war and the one that won, that God was greater? The Babylonians had destroyed Israel. knocked down the temple. So the Babylonians were saying, hey, just so you know, our God is much greater than your little puny God in this temple he built. Behind the scenes, God was telling his people, hey, listen to me. I'm the one that called Babylon here. I'm the one that's leading this punishment on you guys. And so Israel says, you're going to proclaim my greatness beyond the borders. I am a god, not of just this piece of land you're living in at the times about 25 square mile, so a tiny little piece of land for Israel. He says, I am great beyond your borders. I'm worldwide in my greatness, and you're going to see it, and behold it. Now, as we continue to read scripture. We get to the New Testament, we see that that actually takes place. Jesus dies on the cross. He's the seed of Abraham that was promised back in Genesis 12. Paul tells us, he then resurrects, and the gospel has gone out worldwide. And his fame is being proclaimed worldwide, not just in a little parcel of land in the Middle East, but all around the world. 2000 years ago the Israelites said, you don't love us, God. They question God's faithful love. But God's love is faithful is what he tells us. So how do we live with that truth today? First thing I want you to see and know is this. God loves you. God loves you. We know this in Christ. Now, in the Old Testament, it was this idea of, God say, hey, I'm choosing. God has chosen Christ. He says, Christ is on all those who find themselves as followers of Christ. says, God loves you. God sent his son to a world of rebellious sinners. John tells us, for God so loved the world that if he gave his only begotten son, Paul tells us that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us, that when we were children of wrath, Jesus came to call back humanity to fulfill Abraham's promise to bless all the nations. God loves you. If you're here and you've never accepted God's loving Christ. I challenge you to do that. In a little bit, our worship team's going to come back and lead us in a song, we have one of our deacon couples in the back corner that would love to pray with you. If you're thinking, man, I want to know God's love for real. I want to put my trust in Christ and experience this love that God has for me. You can do that. You can write on your connect card and I'll reach out to you this week, but I would encourage you to head back soon as the song starts and say, I want to talk about what it means to be a follower of Christ. Just know this. God loves you. You may not think that right now, but he does. that he may be disciplining you. And you may think, I don't like this. Like I did when I was a kid. I don't like this. I don't think you love me. I don't like the way life is right now, but God loves you. Second, trust in God's faithful love. That's what he was asking Israel to do. That's what he's asking us to do. Trust in God's faithful of. How can we do this? One thing is you can remember God's past faithfulness to you. Just in your own life. If you've been a follower of Christ saying, okay, God, where have you shown yourself faithful to me in the past? Maybe you're in a spot right now where you're not seeing it. Remember what he's done to go, okay, God, I know who you are. And then pick up your Bible and start reading it. And say, God, show me how you've been faithful throughout this whole story of scripture. From Adam and Eve to Abraham, to Moses, to King David, to Jesus who died and rose again, how you have been faithful to your people, how your love has been faithful. Help me to know that, and then ask him to say, God, help me to trust in you, that you know what's best for me. My parents knew what was best for me. When they disciplined me and I said, I don't think you love me, that was me not thinking straight, they loved me, and they knew what I needed. They were doing the right thing. At the time, I didn't like it. It didn't make sense, but looking back, I'm like, that's a much better choice than you just giving me what I wanted, and sending me down a path of greater destruction. that their discipline, that hard time was proof of their love for me. Trust in God's faithful love. But know this, trust means obedience. Trust is not simply a word we say and go, oh, God, I trust you. Trust has to be played out in obedience. So when God says, this is what I want you to do. This is what scripture tells you to do. You go, okay, God, I'm going to trust you. and you do that thing. Maybe at some point in your life when you were younger, hopefully not as you get older, I'm at an age now where I don't do trust falls anymore. But if you haven't done a trust file, where you stand on a ledge and you fall over and let some people catch you, you can stand up there and say, hey, do I trust you guys? Yeah, I trust you guys. That's good. I'm not going to fall backwards though. Then we go, I don't know if I trust you, and probably I don't because I won't fall. But as soon as you tilt backwards and fall and you let them catch you. You go, okay, I trusted you. The falling backwards is the evidence of the trust. Our evidence of trust is obedience. Say, God, show me what you want me to do in this situation. And I'll do that. I'll trust you and I'll trust your faithful love. that you love me, even if the world around me doesn't look like you love me. I know you know what's best for me. And then finally, as you trust in him and know that he loves you, proclaim his greatness. That's what he said Israel would do, that's what we should be doing. Say, how can I proclaim God's greatness? What can you brag on God about this week? At home, at your at your work, in your neighborhood with your friends, in your social media. What's something you can go say, I'm going to brag on God this week? Each of us will have our own things. If you have nothing, I got nothing I can brag on God about, go, do am I as follower? Am I paying any attention to him at all? What can I brag on? It doesn't have to be this, you know, over the top, most amazing thing that's ever happened in your life. It's just, what did he do today? Yesterday. What's he going to do tomorrow that you could tell someone that he's good. When you're leaving today in the lobby. Stop someone, go, let me tell you something. God did good in my life. Give me 20 seconds and just brag on them. We do it all the time, right? I'm a big sports fan. You'll just brag on your team, and you don't have to spend a lot of time saying, man, did you see that past so-and-so made yesterday? Did you see that past Mahomes made this evening? You'll see it if you haven't already, because it's going to happen. It's amazing how the Chiefs won that game tonight. You'll be bragging on it tomorrow. You'll be bragging before the game's over. And you'll be and it'd be quick. It'll just be, you know, you put a little post on your thing. You know, it's amazing. Here's a score. And off you go. Find time this week, regularly, to proclaim God's greatness in your life, to tell others how he's good. And I would challenge you before you step out of the building today. Find one person. Maybe it's your wife. Maybe it's your husband. Maybe it's a friend, just say, God's done this for me. so cool. I want to brag on God for this thing. His love is faithful. Our worship team's going to head up and lead us in a final song. If there's anything we can pray for you about, Our deacon couples in the back corner. They're going to pray for you. They would love to meet with you. They would love to talk with you about that. But as you go through your week, Maybe you're having a tough time. Maybe life is really difficult, and you just need to hear that God's love is faithful, and he calls us to be his faithful followers. Will you join me in prayer? Father, we thank you for your grace and mercy and your faithful love that you love us when we don't deserve it. Father, you love us, even though we are faithless at times to you. Father, we thank you for your word that you have given us in Malachi to show us this, to reveal this to us. And I would ask that for each of us here that you would just be very clear and blunt and speak to us in ways that we need to hear, help us to be faithful to you, to trust you, to know that you know what's best for us. In each situation we find ourselves in life. And Father, this week, remind us to brag on you, to proclaim your greatness to those around us. So in the name of Jesus, we pray. Amen.