Malachi 1: 6-8.

Key verse- Malachi 1: 7.

Title: Honor God.

Praise the Lord everyone. I welcome you all to today's service. I believe you all would be well and happy as there are only a few days left for our summer retreat. We are all preparing ourselves mentally and physically for this but I want from the heart that you should prepare yourself spiritually. You will have a lot to do while coming back from there. You will be coming back with many good memories. But I want you to have some experience that is only between God and you. It can also be a promise or a new lesson that will help you to become more spiritual in your life to come. You are going to achieve something spiritually over there.

But in the midst of all this, there is one more thing that is how are you preparing yourself before going there or what are you preparing to meet God? Or are you just leaving? This is a personal question that you have to ask yourself, answer it within yourself. If you don't have anything yet, prepare something for God. May God bless you through this.

Let's go into today's words. This book of Malachi was written five hundred years before the birth of Jesus Christ. And the reason this book was written was that people were not fully devoted to God at that time. Though they were fulfilling the system but they were not fulfilling it completely. There were some shortcomings, due to which God was angry with them. Psalm 119:4 says that you have given your teachings so that they may be followed diligently. But here the Israelites were not following God's law properly. Which means they were breaking the laws of God. And the root cause of this was the priests there. Because they used to sacrifice animals that were unclean or had some defect in them. The priests of that time used to allow people to offer unclean animals for sacrifice.

However, you cannot do this on the basis of God's law. God commanded the priests in Leviticus 22:20-23 not to sacrifice any animal if it had any defect. But in the time of Malachi, the priests did not sacrifice good animals. they used to keep good animals for sale and for their food. they used to explain to the people that you can sell innocent animals at a good price. You can earn a good price through it and if it is a matter of sacrifice to the Lord, then you can offer any animal which has any defect because it is to be burnt on the altar anyway. In this way the priests and people of that time were acting against God and God was angry with them. Because God does not want from you what is useless to you. Many times we keep good things or valuable things for ourselves but God wants only your valuable things from you.

Do you remember the Mary who put the precious perfume at Jesus' feet? (Mark 14) That perfume was worth 6 months' earnings. Judas, a disciple of Jesus standing there, said that this precious perfume could have been used for other purposes as well. But Jesus liked that Mary had given her precious to Jesus. What if Mary had brought some cheap perfume?? Would Jesus had praised her in front of people?? Mary was able to receive the blessings of Jesus through this act of hers.

Do you remember when people were giving gifts to the house of God and Jesus was watching the people to see who was giving how much? And there a poor widow came and donated only two small copper coins to God. Do you know what Jesus said about her? Luke 21:4 she laid down all she had live on.

God is seeing everything from what is hidden in your heart to the work of your hands. He knows your mind, that's why he accepts you and many times rejects you too. You have to understand that God is the Father and he deserves respect. You can't honor him with just your words, it won't bring that much fruit. You also have to honor God through your actions.

What happens in your heart when you come to church? Do you prepare yourself before appearing before God? Are you really thirsty for God when you come to church? Are you putting God first or is there some other reason why you come to church? Test yourself, what is the reason you are coming to church.

You should come to church on time instead of coming late. It shows a respect that you give to God, although you are sometimes late it is not that bad as there may be some reason behind it. But in whatever situation you come to church, it is most important for you to be devoted to God. Otherwise your coming to church whether before time or after time both is pointless.

You should pay attention to your nature as well as your clothes because you should remember that God is here, he is our king and master. 

Many times we take God in a very friendly way. We forget that when God does not accept unclean sacrifices, then how will He accept us with our awkward clothes or with our unclean words. But we do not pay attention to these things. We pay attention to these things when we meet a good person. Who is respected in the society. How do we go in front of him? We put ourselves in front of him better. Because we care about his status. But we do not keep these things in mind while coming to God or coming to his house. We should give importance and respect to God more than worldly people. Because God wants us all to respect Him.

Now you need to focus on how you can honor God.

You also honor God through worship. Whether it is a member of the worship circle or a worshiper standing in the crowd. All worshipers should worship God in spirit and in truth. You should forget your merits and worship God. Because this is the time to glorify God. If something else is going on in your heart during worship, it will spoil your time of worship. Your worship will not reach God. And you will be deprived of the blessings of God. You need to give your whole heart to God during your worship. Do not glorify God with just your lips, but give your whole heart to God.

You honor God even through your time. May you draw closer to God even in your ordinary days. It would be great if you set aside time for God. Instead you sometimes get closer to God and sometimes you don't. But God is disrespected when you give only your spare time to God. When you have nothing to do, you draw closer to God. You give the rest of your time to God and by this you disrespect God. You are giving out of your leftovers to God. It is not right for you to do this. Take time out of your costly time for God. Doing so teaches respect to God. And this is what God wants from you.

In the time you are living in, you cannot sacrifice animals to honor or please God. But you can honor God only through your body, soul, heart, nature, time. And you have to give it all in full. You cannot give anything incomplete in this. Everything has to be given completely, if you do this then you are giving honor to God.

I believe that in the times to come, you will fully revere God and put him first in your life. Because that's what God deserves. He is the best, respect him in your life. God bless you all.

      Amen.