All right. Well, amen. And I have already been blessed by everything so far. And that song was a great blessing. Thank you. It's always good to see young people just praising God, giving glory to God. The young people, you know, I don't think the young people realize just how much of a blessing they are to us and how much of an encouragement they are when we see them just serving the Lord. That is a great encouragement. Let's go to Malachi chapter number one. Malachi chapter one. Malachi chapter 1, and we're going to look just at verse number 13. And we'll look at a few other verses throughout the message, but verse number 13 will be our text. Malachi chapter 1. The Bible says, Ye said also, Behold, what a weariness is it? And ye have snuffed at it, sayeth the Lord of hosts. And notice this, and he brought that which was torn and the lame and the sick. Thus he brought an offering. Should I accept this of your hand? Sayeth the Lord. Father in heaven, Lord, as we worship you this morning, Lord, we thank you for who you are and for what you have given to us. Lord, we thank you for your holy word. We pray that you would open our hearts and our minds And Father, I pray that you would use me as only you can this morning. We pray that your Holy Spirit would meet with us, we pray in Jesus' name, amen. This morning I want us to look at from this text here, making a sacrifice for missions. Because missions requires sacrifices to be made. It can't be done unless there are sacrifices that are made. for missions to work, we all have to work together to make those things work. And here in Malachi chapter one, the offerings that God commanded to be brought, well, they weren't being brought in accordance to God's word. God had commanded the people to bring the best of what they had. Just like God does today, God wants us to bring the best of what we have, but they weren't doing that. They were bringing the worst of what they had. As the verse says, they were bringing that which was torn and the lame and the sick. And that's not what God commanded them to bring. God wants us to bring everything that we have to him. And too often we, even those of us who have been in the ministry a long time, sometimes we bring that which is torn and lame and sick to God. First, I wanted to notice the subject of our sacrifice. Because the subject of our sacrifice is God himself. When we sacrifice, when we bring an offering to God, that is to God and to God alone. Verse number six of this chapter of the Bible says, A son honoreth his father, and a servant his master. If then I be a father, where is mine honor? And if I be a master, where is my fear? Sayeth the Lord of hosts unto you, O priest, that despise my name. And you say, where and have we despised thy name? You offer polluted bread upon mine altar. And you say, wherein have we polluted thee? In that you say, the table of the Lord is contemptible. Look at 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? And God gives them an example, an earthly example. He says, offer it now until I governor. Will he be pleased with thee or accept by person? Say it, the Lord of hosts. We have to remember that when we are making a sacrifice and bringing a sacrifice to God, that is about honoring him and serving him. We need to remember that the Bible says in Proverbs 3, 9, honor the Lord with thy substance. That doesn't mean bring it, that just doesn't mean bring it, it means bring it with the right heart. Honor the Lord with thy substance and with the firstfruits of all thine increase. Now, the context of Malachi, of course, is talking about offering to sacrifices and, of course, finances as well, because in Malachi chapter 3, God talks about tithes and offerings. But really, it's so much more than that. It's not just about money. It's so much more than that. God wants so much more from you than just your money. Than just your money. And God is the subject of our sacrifice. But secondly, I want us to notice the state or the condition of our sacrifice. Christian, what is the condition of your sacrifices to God? Again, verse number 13 and verse number 14. Again, he says to the people, ye have brought that which was torn and lame and sick. You know, God commanded the people, commanded the priests, commanded them to bring the best of what they had, a lamb without blemish. Perfect. You know, that's a sacrifice. I'm so reminded of what David did in 2 Samuel chapter 24. He goes, um, and he's going to make, build an altar, he's going to make a sacrifice for the Lord. And Ornan says, just take it. It's yours. You can have it. And David said, I cannot offer it to the Lord. That would just cost me nothing. It costs me, well, I have to buy it from you. Because it's a sacrifice. It has to cost me something. And that's what a sacrifice is. It's something that costs you something. It means something to you. That's not what was happening in Malachi chapter 1. They were not bringing something that cost them. These offerings didn't cost them anything. Why? Because they were torn, lame, and sick. They weren't going to use them anyway. And sometimes that's the attitude we have. Well, I'm not going to use it. I'll give it to the Lord. Right? I'm not going to give the best of what I have. I'm done with it. Now I'll give it to God. Sometimes we have that mindset. Um, and that sometimes is the condition of our sacrifice. It isn't the best of what we have. We're holding back as we heard last night. A wonderful message about with what are you withholding from God? We hold back from God and we keep the best for ourselves. And we think that God is pleased when we come to him with with our leftovers. God does not want the leftovers of your life. And even missionaries can bring the leftovers, and preachers sometimes can bring the leftovers. In Isaiah 1, verse 11, the Bible says, to what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me? God asked the people directly, what is the purpose of your sacrifices? You're bringing all these sacrifices. Why are you doing that? Really, that caused us to examine our heart when we give something to God. When we give an offering, when we give something financially, when we give of ourselves, we have to ask ourselves, to what purpose is this? In the same verse, the Bible says, He says, I am full of the burnt offerings of rams, and the fat of fed beasts, and I delight not in the blood of bullocks, or of lambs, or of he goats. And why would God ask that question? I mean, after all, He did command them to bring these offerings. So why does He say, I am full? Why does He say that? He says, I delight not in the blood of bullocks, or of lambs, or of he goats. Why does He say that? Because they weren't bringing themselves. to God. They were bringing all this stuff, and they were holding back from God. Their hearts were not in it. It was just kind of formulaic. It was routine. Christian, don't ever let worship become routine, where it's just, because sometimes you can be here in person, but your mind and your heart are far from here. So Christian, what is the state of your sacrifice, or it's the condition? And lastly, the substance of our sacrifice. What is God really looking for when we give to Him? He's looking for us to give ourselves completely. The Bible says, now let's turn there in Romans chapter number 12. This is what God is really looking for. Because you can give the biggest offering that's ever been given Or you can surrender to the strangest, most dangerous part of the world. And you might get the glory of men. You might get the praise of men, and everyone will applaud you and think, oh, what a great Christian they are. But look at Romans chapter 12, verse 1. I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice. holy, acceptable unto God. And notice this next phrase, which is your reasonable service. It's just reasonable to present your bodies a living sacrifice. That means that you are giving everything you have to God. Now, why? Does God need you? Does He need me? Certainly not. I know He doesn't need me. Who benefits? When we present our bodies a living sacrifice, we do. It's good for us to give ourselves to God in every area, everything that we have. When God wants us to sacrifice, and missions requires sacrifices to be made, and yeah, they're financial, but there's so much more than that. When God wants us to make a sacrifice for him, he wants us really to give of ourselves just to give of ourselves. I want us to notice the example of the believers. Let's go to second Corinthians chapter number eight. And Paul is talking about those Macedonian believers. and the sacrifices that they made for the work of missions. 2 Corinthians 8, verse 1, the Bible says, we do to wit of the grace of God bestowed on the churches of Macedonia, how that in a great trial of affliction, the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded unto the riches of their liberality. For to their power, I bear record, yea, and beyond their power, and you can only give beyond your power through the power of God, they were willing of themselves praying us with much entreaty that we would receive the gift and take upon us the fellowship of the ministering of the saints. And this they did, not as we had hoped, but first gave their own selves to the Lord and unto us by the will of God. These believers had given themselves to the Lord. And that makes it much easier to give anything else that God asks. If you just give yourself to the Lord, And just say, here am I, as Isaiah did. Here am I, Lord. Do with me what you will. Use me however you want to use me. You're hard to be used when you're constantly fighting God. You're like that tool in the toolbox that constantly will fight back, that hammer that hits back. Hard to use that hammer that's going to hit back at you. Or that hammer that's going to walk away. You can't use it. Because it's not there. You go to your toolbox, you grab that hammer, where is it? It's gone. You can't use it. How many Christians God is ready to use, and they're not there? Because they haven't presented their bodies a living sacrifice. No matter how long you might be in the ministry, or how experienced you might be or not, no matter how young or how old, there's always more that we can give of ourselves. There's always things that sometimes we do hold back. God wants us to just give it all to him, every area of our lives. And really what God's looking for is our heart. Is our hearts geared toward him? Is it turned toward him? Are we like David? Are we a man or a woman after God's own heart? That's what God said about David. a great man of God who he did some. There was some sin in his life. We know, but he was a man after God's own heart, and that's what God is looking for in all of us. Every believer after God's own hearts. So when we bring to God our sacrifices, they're not torn and lame or sick. You're the best of what we have. We're making sure that God comes first. He's not just an afterthought. He's the first thought. Come to him with everything that we have. Why? So that he can get all the honor and all of the glory. In the end, it's all about him and giving him the glory. Father, Lord, we thank you so much for your word. Father, help us to give the best of what we have, the best of what you have blessed us with, Lord. Help us, Father, to give it back to you. Most importantly, Father, help us to give of our own selves first and help our hearts to be geared toward you and to you alone. so that the work of missions can be accomplished. We thank you, Lord, for all that you've done so far and all that you will do throughout the day. We pray in Jesus' name, amen. All right, we appreciate that. Thank you, Brother Ward. Brother Saunders is gonna preach for us next, but before, I believe you told me your family sings. How about them coming and singing when they get through, Brother Saunders, you come on and preach to us.