you you We started out with a lesson, the Lord knows when it was, I think three weeks ago now, a message entitled A Condition of the Heart. And so we continue with part two of this message entitled A Condition of the Heart as we examine the message that God is delivering through the prophet Malachi unto the children of Israel, towards Judah specifically. And this is the last written prophecy that we have before the Lord Jesus came to earth to be the ransom for all mankind. It was not the last word from a prophet, though it was the last written word from a prophet. We know that the last of the Old Testament dispensation prophets was John the Baptist. But here we find a word from the prophet Malachi unto the people of God. And it's interesting as we consider this prophecy that eight times through Malachi, the Lord poses questions unto his people and all eight times they answer the Lord with insolence and deceitfulness in their hearts. Like what? I don't have anything going on. You know, sometimes people, when they're confronted with an issue in their life that is obvious to everyone that's looking on, they think, hey, I don't have a problem. Everybody else has a problem, right? I don't have a problem. Do I? No. Yes. No. You're thinking. You've got one, don't you? And sometimes we're the last ones to to admit it if we do see it. You know, and the fact of the matter is, until you're willing to admit you have a problem, it'll never be fixed. You know, people that have chemical dependencies and are alcoholics, they never get sober, they never get free from the scourge of drugs until first they admit I have a problem because until they're willing to admit I've got a problem and I need some help fixing this problem, guess what? It's never going to get fixed. And so sometimes we're so lifted up within ourselves spiritually that we think everybody else has a problem. We think that we're God's gift to the church so we can go around fixing every problem that everybody else has got because we've got it all put together, we've got it all taken care of, and we don't have anything that needs to be fixed. Can I tell you something honestly? If we say we have no sin, the Bible says in 1 John 1, We deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. Folks, I believe tonight that positionally I'm entirely without sin. Right. But I do not think I'm any better than the Apostle Paul. Do you? Let's vote on this. How many people in here tonight think that they are a better Christian than Paul the Apostle was? Let me see your hand. Raise it up big and high. Go ahead. Just go ahead. Raise it up big and high. No, go ahead. You think you're a better Christian than the Apostle Paul was. Go ahead. No takers. No, none of us here tonight say, well, I'm better than Paul, but you know what Paul said, the things that I don't want to do, those are the things I find myself doing. The things that I want to do, I find myself not really doing them. And he said, I'm in this straight and I'm in a struggle and oh, wretched man that I am, who should deliver me from the body of this death? He said, I know that in me, that is in my flesh dwelleth what? No good thing. So. When we start getting to the place where self-sufficient and self-important and thinking that we have all of these great gifts and virtues to offer the world, we need to be reminded of the fact that sometimes God can arrange for a reminder. That I know that in me, that is in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing, he said, For the will is present with me, but how to perform that which is good I find not. And when I would do good, what did he say there in Romans 7? Evil is present with me. And so he learned something and that was the law of the flesh. And there was a war and that is this. Here's essentially the law of the flesh. You know what it is? That anything that is a prohibition, that the law says don't do, Your flesh wants to do it. That's the law of the flesh. Now, if you don't believe me, take a little baby, OK, maybe a toddler that's just walking a little bit and you've got a beautiful plant in your home and you say, don't touch the plant. You know what? You could take him to Toys R Us and buy him all the toys in the store. They don't want to play with any of those things. They don't want to play with the G.I. Joe, with the Kung Fu Grip. All they want to talk about and all they want to look at and play with is what? The pretty plant. Why? You said no! That's the law of the flesh. And sometimes, folks, we don't get it. But the reality is this, that whatever the spirit calls us to do or not do, the flesh militates against. Because the Bible says in the book of Galatians, chapter 5, that the flesh lesseth against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh. And these two are contrary one to the other so that you cannot do the things that you would. So, until we see Jesus Christ, there's going to be that conflict, right? Now, I was telling the men in men's Bible study last night that we're in 2 Corinthians chapter 5 right now, and man, we're having a great time. The Bible says there in verse 17, that if any man be in Christ, he's a new creature. Old things are passed away. Behold, all things are become new. God has, it says that all things are of God who have committed unto us the ministry of reconciliation and now then you're ambassadors for Christ as though God did beseech you and Christ did. Be reconciled to God and so forth. But what we're seeing is this, that there are people that say, OK, Pastor, I know I should be a new creation. I know that old things should be passed away and all things become new. But you know what? Here's a problem, Pastor Eckelberry. I still want to do some of those old things, they say. I can remember one time, I told the men last night, I led a man to Christ who was on a basketball team that I was playing on. And he prayed with tears to receive Jesus as his Savior. And as it so happened, I was preaching for my dad the next Sunday in church, at First Baptist Church, and this man was there. He was a phenomenal athlete. He actually went on to play for a little while with the Cleveland Cavaliers. And but long before LeBron James, anybody ever knew his name, probably before he was born. But anyway, I gave the invitation for folks to come forward and get saved. And guess what? This guy's name was Andre Sparks. He came forward and I thought, I just let him in the Lord. You know? And so I took him in the counseling room after I closed the service and I sat him down and I talked to him and I said, now, his name was Andre, I said, Andre, I talked to you about a week ago and we went through the plan of salvation and you prayed with tears to receive Jesus as your Savior and the only way that you're not saved is if God lied or you didn't mean it and God told the truth and the Bible says that God be found true in every man a liar. And so I took him back to the plan of salvation again. And I said, why is it that you came forward today? And he said, well, listen, I'm living with my girlfriend and we've been together. We have a daughter together, but I've been stepping out on her and I stepped out on her last night and I had a little bit too much to drink last night. And so I don't think that I can really be a Christian if I'm doing this. And, you know, I got to say that there are people in this room that can identify with that whole scenario. You know what I told him? The fact that you came forward today. And it's bothering you is probably an indication that you made a sincere decision a week ago. Let me tell you why, because had he not made that decision, he would have gone on with the lifestyle pathway that he had chosen without a conscience, because he would have just lived after the natural, you know, done whatever he felt like. Covered it up would have been a big deal. But now as the Holy Spirit of God was living in him, he was a new creature. He was acting against his nature. God gave him divine nature. Now he couldn't do those same old things and have the same enjoyment and pleasure in them. And the fact that he was in a spiritual struggle in a battle, whereas at any other point in time in his life, there would have been no conscience about it. No struggle about it whatsoever was an indicator to me that things were changing. Now positionally had changed forever just like that, but. He was being formed in the image of Christ, and that was a process that God had begun. And the Bible says in Philippians 1, verse 6, that he which hath begun a good work in you will be faithful and perform it unto the day of Jesus Christ. And so we come here to this point, and we see that the children of Israel, particularly Judah, are being called out by the Lord. And whenever the Lord calls them out, eight times He questions them. All eight times they come back at God like, What? What's wrong? I'm in church. What are you talking about? I'm still offering the sacrifices. And no longer do they have a conscience about the fact that they're bringing blind animals and diseased animals and offering those because they thought, because I'm still going through the ritual. That I'm OK because I'm still showing up at the temple, even though I hate it. I don't like what's going on there. And I'm not offering pure sacrifice with a pure heart of worship. The fact that I'm going through the motions is still an indicator of the fact that I'm I got it all taken care of. Can I tell you something? that long before a person ever drops out of serving the Lord, long before a person ever quits coming to church, they have quit their prayer life, their Bible reading, they've quit an intimate relationship with Jesus Christ, and sometimes they're just going through the motions until they find sufficient enough reason to justify them jumping ship. And normally, they're hunting for something. to find, to use as a reason so that they can feel justified in stepping outside of the will of God for their life. You know that? I've seen that. Look, 31 years this May, I'll have been vocationally in ministry. I was born into a preacher's home. I've seen it all my life. And you know what? There are a lot of folks that they'll have a hardness in their heart towards the things of God. God is putting his finger on something in their life, trying to deal with them. And they think, I've already got it all put together, God. And they harden their heart against the Lord. And so what happens is they They tune out the voice of God and no longer are they cultivating a close, personal, intimate relationship with Jesus Christ. And you know what? They no longer have the heart to continue serving, but they feel obligated because it's something that they committed themselves to do. And they have more concern about how others perceive them than they do about how others perceive Jesus. and particularly Jesus in them. So because they're more concerned about how others are going to perceive me, they keep going through the motions. And all the while they're looking at the preacher, they're looking at the deacons, they're looking at the Sunday school teachers, looking at the leadership in the church to find some problem so that they could use that as their reason for getting outside of the will of God for their life. And my friends, God sees right through your measly little excuses. He sees right down to the heart of the matter. Tonight we're talking about a condition of the heart. He knows that because of pride in our hearts and our lives, we are trying to put forward this idea that we've got it all together. We don't have any problems. And so God, when you put your finger on my life, I'm going to deflect that off onto somebody else and say, well, the pastor this, or the deacon that, or the teacher this, or the long-standing member of that, and say, because they're doing that, I'm not going to do this. And we feel personally justified in rejecting the impulses of the Holy Spirit and stepping outside of the will of God for our lives because of how someone else is behaving. And what we have effectively done is remove God from the seat of control in our life We've taken him off of the rulership of the government of our lives. And we have put hypocrites in the control of our life because we're allowing hypocritical people to have the controls now. They're going to dictate that we're going to have to leave a church that God put us in. You want to give a hypocrite control of your life? Then stop looking around for somebody to justify why you want to jump ship. Amen. If God moved you here, then you keep your eyes on Jesus and don't go anywhere until God says to go. Amen. Look, I'm just saying all the while. All right. The Lord said, return unto me and I will return unto you. But what did they say? Where is shall we return? What we're going to the temple, what we're making sacrifices, what God, we're still given tithes. You know, God was calling them out and they weren't going for it. You know, I think that that's sadly the case in many of the churches from coast to coast and around the world where people have been sitting there and they've heard it and, you know, they've been there and done that and they've heard that and studied that and they've learned that and taught that and they've got the T-shirt and they've, you know, they've been to the conference and they've seen it on TV and they read the book and saw the movie and, you know, they're just so full of it that they think, you know, what is there anything, what is there left for anybody to tell me that I don't already know? What is there left for anybody to convict me about because I've got it all put together? You know, just when you think that you're humble, you're not just when you think you've arrived, you haven't. You understand, you've tripped and fallen and you've been ensnared by the will of the devil, and we are just so self-deceived, we cannot see it just like the children of Judah. And that's why God raised up Malachi to talk to them. And the whole basis for the message of Malachi, the whole basis for the minor prophets, and all of the Bible for that matter, is found in Malachi chapter 1 and verse number 2, where the Lord said to them, I have loved you, saith the Lord. You want to get a picture of God's heart? Then God says this, I love you. And in verse number 6 of chapter 3, he said, for I am the Lord, I change not. You know what he's telling him? Look, I've loved you and I'm never going to stop loving you. That's the basis for everything that God calls him to do. And even though they might have been under the law, my friend, listen to me. The Lord was telling them, I love you. And He wasn't saying, get back to the law. He said, return unto Me. He didn't say, get back to the temple. He didn't say, get back to tithing. He didn't say, get back to living right. He said, return, get back to me. And even as the Lord said to Jacob, as he sent him back to Bethel, Bethel means the house of God. The truth is this, that the Lord called Jacob to go back to El Bethel, the God of the house. of God. And my friend, we don't need for folks just to get back to church. We need people to come back to Jesus. Come back to the God of the house of God. And what the heart of God is crying out is this. Look, I love you and I'm asking you to come back into my arms. And I'm never going to stop loving you. You've run away from me from the days of your fathers. You've turned away from my ordinances. And because of my love for you, you're not consumed. I love you. Come back to me. And the love that God has for us is the motivator or should be the motivator for everything that we do in the Christian life. That's why Paul said in 2 Corinthians chapter number four, he said the love of Christ or chapter five, the love of Christ constraineth me. It wasn't his great love for God that made him serve God. That wasn't it. You know what it was? It was God's great love for him that made him do it. God's great love for him. Now, let me say something to you. I had the opportunity to go preach in a prison in the Philippines, and it was one of the greatest experiences that I've had. I just was so grateful to the Lord for it. Although I battled in my flesh, I was tired that morning. It was really hot and it was really rainy and it was sticky. I mean, I stepped outside of the hotel and my glasses fogged up instantly. It was so humid. I got in the car, got out in the prison, my glasses fogged up instantly. It was pouring down rain and I'm thinking, oh brother, how's this thing going to go? Then we get there and they're having a song service and the power went out. 500 guys, most of them sitting on a concrete floor. Here's a tin roof, no walls. And all of the cells in that prison are exposed to the open air. There's nothing that's enclosed. So there's like a recreational yard in the middle. And the sails are built all the way around that recreational yard. And so all of the bars are open to the recreational yard. There's not a pane of glass in the whole prison. Everything is open to the elements continually. So everybody can see everybody all the time. And so now there are a few guys that were washing some clothes over off to the side, beating them on a rock by a pump. pumping water, but they didn't have to pump water that day because it was raining so hard. It was torrential downpour. And anyway, I'll tell that whole story another time, because it's really a dramatic story, really, to hear what God did in that situation. But there were hundreds of men. I talked to different people. Some people said we had 500 saved. Some people said we had 100 saved. Some people said we had 300 saved. But irrespective, All 500 men stood up saying that they prayed to receive Jesus as their Savior. I couldn't believe it. I really didn't believe it. After I'd preached through the elements, through difficulty, no power, almost hurricane force winds and rain. And so I had them all sit back down again, then I asked the pastor to come and Tell them in brief what I shared with them, but now in their local dialect. And then I said, and then I want you to if they prayed to receive the Lord as their savior, understanding the gospel for the first time, have them stand back up. Well, he he talked for about five minutes and then you know what? Everybody stood back up again. So anyway, I had him sit back down and and I wanted to talk to him about assurance of salvation. And I've never done this before. I don't know why I did it. Well, I know why I did it. The Holy Spirit of God was prompting me to do it. But I saw all these men sitting there in these yellow shirts that said inmate. And I said, men, let me ask you, how many of you here have a mother somewhere on the outside who loves you? Almost every hand went up. I said, how many of you have a girlfriend or a wife on the outside of this prison that loves you very much? Hands went up, almost everyone. I said, how many of you have children that love you very much? Almost every single hand went up. I said. In a couple of days, it's going to be Valentine's Day. And I said. Let's suppose that on Valentine's Day, your wife or your girlfriend or your mother or your child comes to visit you. They put their arms around your neck and they say, I don't care what you've done, I don't care what's transpired in the past, I love you and all is forgiven. I can't wait till you can come home and we can have the kind of life together that we've only ever dreamed about. All is forgiven. All is forgotten. I love you. Now imagine that happening and then you get out. Does their love for you and their forgiveness of you cause you to want to go out partying with your buddies? Cause you to want to go out drugging with your friends or gangbanging in the streets? You know what? I looked out and there were hundreds of guys that were brushing away some tears thinking about a woman that loved them or a child or a mother. And I said, does that does their love and forgiveness of you make you want to go out and commit crimes again to break their heart? No, sir, they said, no, sir. I said, you know what? Every sin that you've ever committed, every terrible thing that you've ever done was against Jesus. And because He loves you, He's forgiven you. And now, as His child, let His love and forgiveness of you be the very thing that motivates your heart to live a changed life. You know, that's that's how we're to live the Christian life on the basis of the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. That's the motive for it. That was something that those men could understand very well. Let me say to you that the Lord was appealing to the people of God on the basis of the fact that he loved them and forgiven them. And it was because of his mercies that they were not consumed. And then he says, will you return to me? You see the heart of God calling them back to himself. But in this, we also see the heart of the people that were self-deceived. They thought they were OK. They said in verse seven, wherein shall we return? And the Lord said, will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me, but ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? They're saying, we haven't robbed you. We've been bringing offerings down to the temple. We've been making sure that the Levites have something to eat. But the truth is that they were not following the ordinances of God. They turned their hearts away from it. But because they were going through the motion on one level, they thought, we don't have a problem. Now, when God says something to you, it's authoritative because God is never mistaken. Do you understand that? So if you sense that God is dealing with you about a matter, God is dealing with you about a matter. Did you hear me? If you sense that God is dealing with you about a matter, God is dealing with you about a matter because he's never mistaken. Sometimes we are self-deceived. We are mistaken in our own thinking somehow to vainly believe that we really don't need this because we have it all put together. You know, after all, I've been through, you know, less than 10 of journey discipleship and I wrote out the whole New Testament word for word and I have the binder to prove it. And I go soul winning and I'm faithful. And so surely this isn't because I need anything, Holy Spirit of God, that you're giving me. It just maybe is you're putting someone else on my heart that has a sin in their life that you want me to help. That's got to be what it is, because surely it can't be me. Right. But the Lord was saying, look, you're saying what? I'm going to the temple, God. What? I'm given money. What? Levites aren't starving to death. Right. But still, they had turned their hearts away from the Lord, and I think that it is important for us to understand that more than the tithe, God is focusing on the heart. Now, we're going to talk about this at a later time. And I'm going to say to you that I believe that tithing is a principle that was before the law and it was something that was condoned after the law. But I think that it's a great suggestion for a place to start, because I believe that we're no longer under the bondage of the law. We're now free to do more than the least demands of the law because of grace. And I think that what is more consequential than Cutting God down to the tenth penny. Is for us to have a heart that pours out with love for God, that is that is motivated because of the love of God for us, and I think that we need to understand this and the Bible says in Matthew, chapter six, and we know this very well, but it says in verse twenty one. For where your treasure is, there will your what? heart, the also. So are our finances based upon this verse of Scripture an indicator of our heart? Yes or no? Yes, they are. You could just about look at a person's financial spending habits and determine whether or not they have an eternal value system. Couldn't you? Now, I'm not saying that you can do that emphatically in every situation, but Generally, we probably could. But what we see the Lord saying in the letters that are written in red is that where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. Can I say this to you, that I realize that money is not the root of all evil. Some people say, well, you know what the good book says, you know, the cleanliness is next to godliness. And, you know, God helps those that help themselves, brother. And you know what the good book says? You know, money is the root of all evil. No, the good book doesn't say that. You know what the good book says? It says that the love of money is a root of all evil, which while some have coveted after, they have erred from the faith And they have pierced themselves through with many sorrows. So when I start loving money, I cease from loving God as I should love him. Why? Because the Bible says I'm to love the Lord my God with how much of my heart? Oh, so if I am saying, OK, I love money and I love God, too, what I'm doing is dividing my heart. God said, I want all of your heart, not a part of it. And so the Bible goes on to tell us this. Look at it. And Matthew, it says in verse 22, if the light of the body is the eye, the light of the body is the eye, if therefore that I be single, thy whole body should be full of light. In other words, if you love God and he's what causes your heart to pitter patter and sing, then guess what? He's going to be your focus and your life will be filled with him. Look at what it says, if I and I be evil in verse 23, my whole body should be full of darkness. In other words, if you have evil passions, your whole life will be characterized by that darkness. And how great will be that darkness? It says, how great is that darkness? Verse 24, no man can serve two masters. For either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will hold to the one and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon. So my directing of material financial resources is an indicator of my heart's condition. True or false? How many of you would agree based on what we've just read that that's an indicator of my heart's condition? So you know what? On that basis, we know that there are some things that are not moral or immoral. They're all moral. But how you use them determines whether it's good or bad. For example, a computer can be used to propagate the gospel. It can be used to look at pornography. That computer sitting there on your desk is not immoral. Right. It's all moral. How you use it determines what it is. Money. All by itself, sitting in the bank is not immoral, but you can reveal the condition of your heart by how you use it, right? And so how a church directs its money is it correlates to the heartbeat of that ministry? How we spend money at home correlates. To the heartbeat of our home, true or false? So if all my spinning is about me, me, me, me, me, what does that reveal about me? Well, that I'm narcissistic and that I don't care about anybody else. I think that sometimes we've got to understand that when God transformed us and he came to take up residency in us, that he took out that old heart of stone and even as Jeremiah prayed, give me a heart of flesh and not meaning a carnal heart, but a heart that beats tender, that has sensitivity, that is not calloused, that has compassion. That's what he was talking about. And God wanted to implant within you his heart. which is a changed heart. And we see that the people here were revealing the condition of their heart because God said, though you've gone to the temple and though you've offered some sacrifice and though you've given some offerings, you have stopped short of what I have asked you to do. And here's what the Bible says in John 14, 15. Jesus said it in the letters written in red. If you love me, what? Keep my commandments. You see that. So the reason why we obey the Lord is not because He's going to kill us and send us to hell. We don't. He said, if you love me, keep my commandments. We love Him. Why? Because He first loved us. 1 John 4, 19. So look, we love God because He first loved us. And He said, if you love me, keep my commandments. And God has said, look, I want you to offer unto me of the firstfruits of all mine increase. That's what the Bible says. In Proverbs chapter three, honor the Lord with thy substance and with the firstfruits of all mine increase, so shall thy bars be filled with plenty and thy presses shall burst forth with new wine. So what God is asking us to do is this, honor him with our giving, right? And if you love him, what are you going to do? I'm going to honor him with my giving. Now, under the law, the 10th was the least that they could do. And in fact, really, time doesn't permit us tonight to go through and to examine it. But they gave exponentially more than a tenth. Do you know that? There were many tithes that were given. There were firstfruits offerings. Honestly, if you study what they had to give under the law, it was astronomical by our standards. So it's amazing how many people that want to say, well, tithing is Old Testament, tithing is law, tithing is legalism. When we begin to open up what the Bible teaches about grace, it's amazing how grace loving people all of a sudden become legalistic in their finances. They want to revert back to the least common denominator. You see that? It's an amazing thing. We'll have a waitress at Denny's give us good service and keep our coffee hot and we'll give her a 20, 20, you know, 2% tip or something like that. And we still see, you know, tie checks that are $102.38. You know, we let the waitress keep the change. We don't even round up with God. You know, and it's a reflection of what's in our hearts. You see that? We're talking about a condition of the heart. I'm not trying to browbeat. I'm talking about the love of God. I'm calling God's people to love God as he has called us to love him with all of our heart, with all of our soul, with all of our mind, and to love our neighbors as ourselves. And what we need to see is that this questioning of the people of God was pointing to the direction of their heart, the condition of their hearts and their insolence and thinking, I don't need this, was a clear indicator that God was absolutely right and they were totally deceived and they could not see it. And that's why there was need for a prophet to be raised up in Israel, to call them out for the things that they thought were already covered. You know, The book of Revelation chapter 2 and 3, we read there the seven letters of the seven churches in Asia Minor. How many of you know that? And I believe that those seven churches represent seven periods of church history, seven church ages of which we're now living in the Laodicean church age. And I think without controversy, most everybody that believes in a dispensational theology would say we're living in the Laodicean church age. And it's interesting that in five of the seven church ages, you know what God asked the churches to do? Repent. Repent, repent, repent, repent. You know, we hear so much talking about repentance for people to be saved. But do you know, it would surprise you if you counted the number of times in the Bible that the word repent or return, which in this context means repent, was used not for the heathen, not for the unsaved, but for the people of God. It's a disproportional number of times I counted them up. I can't remember what it was, but it was a big disparity. And what I want you to understand is this, that God is talking to saved people and he's saying, I want you to come back to me here. He's talking about people that he already called the apple of his eye. They didn't have to work to become that. It was their birth right. He said, I want you to come back to me. It will reveal the condition of your heart. And one of the things that they would do to reveal that they had fallen back in love with Jesus or Jehovah God was with their finances, because where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. You think about what the Bible tells us in second Corinthians, and I'll finish with this because I know the hour is late. I just sometimes I get so passionate about the truth and giving the truth and giving it in its fullness and giving it in its purity that it's hard for me. I get started. I don't know how to stop, you know, but the fact we're in a series helps me a little bit because I know I can come back next week and pick it up. But but here's just listen for a second and we'll we'll finish off on this thought. Second Corinthians eight, it says in verse one, Moreover, brethren, we do you to wit. In other words, I want you to think about what it says. We do you to wit your wits or your mind or your thinking capacities. He's saying, I want you to think about something. We do you to wit. Think on this a minute. OK. 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, 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 to the saints. And this they did, not as we hoped, but first gave their own selves to the Lord and unto us by the will of God. What did these impoverished, unemployed, hungry people do to their power, yea, and beyond their power? They were willing of themselves. You see, they gave more than anybody thought they could give. They gave beyond their ability. Why? Because they first gave themselves to God. It was a reflection of what was in their heart. It was a reflection of what was in their heart. Many of you have heard me tell the story of a little boy who came to church and he would come to church and every week he would be playing with his little cars and he heard the preacher talking about giving and he'd reach in his pocket and he'd find his little treasures and trinkets and one week he put in his marble. His best marble. And the usher came back to him and said, we can't put marbles in the bank, son. You know, thanks, but no thanks. And gave it back to him. And one day he the offering plate came by and he put his best little matchbox car in the offering plate and he watched it go all the way down. He was so proud. He gave his. Most prized possession to the Lord. And the usher came and said, son, we can't put matchbox cars in the bank. We can't spend those things and appreciate it. But thanks. But no, thanks. And the usher went to the pastor and and and said, I don't know what to do now. The boy keeps telling me to put the offering plate on the floor. The pastor said, well, you know, it's kind of a harmless request. And he sits in the back just one Sunday, just oblige him. So the little boy, when the offering plate came by, told the usher, would you put it on the floor? He told the man, if you won't take my matchbox cars and my marbles, he stepped into the offering plate and he said, I give myself. I give myself. You know, that's exactly what they did. They gave themselves to the Lord. But you know what happens when you give yourself with your heart and soul to God? Everything that you have comes with it. And so when there's a need within the body of Christ, guess what? Your heart goes right along with trying to care for that need, where your treasure is, where your heart be also. We're talking about a condition of the heart, not about a keeping of the law. Something we're talking about. The Lord said, from the days of your father, you've turned away from my ordinances. But what I'm asking you to do is not come back to tithing. First, come back to me, fall in love with me, have the right heart's condition. And when that's taken care of, then guess what? You'll return to tithing. You'll stop robbing from me. You know what? Listen, when I love my children, I want to feed them. How many of you have known somebody that's been under the domination of drugs or alcohol and it has ruined their life? Let me see your hand. I know men who when they're sober, the finest men, but when they're drunk or when they're high on some drug or want to get a fix, they have no conscience. You know what I'm talking about? You know what they'll do? They'll take their paycheck. and blow through it in a day on drugs or alcohol and never give a second thought to the fact that they got babies at home that are hungry. They'll take mama's food stamps and sell them for 50 cents on the dollar to buy a $30 bag of heroin. Do you know what I'm talking about? And it reveals a condition of the heart. When I love my kids, you know what I want to do? I don't want to rob from the cereal in their bowl so that I can obsess on me. I want to make sure that their needs are cared for. When I love God, I don't want to shortchange His work. I want to see to it that every need within the work of God is handled and cared for. And I want to do my every part. Why? Because my heart is towards Him. And where my treasure is there will my heart be also. We're talking about a condition of the heart, not about a keeping of the law. Because God is more interested in what's going on in your heart than by you just dotting your I's and crossing your T's. I've never been the $138.28 type of giver. I hope I never will be. I hope that my heart is always benevolent towards the Lord, always wanting to give Him the benefit of the doubt, the roundup. You understand? The little extra and the leftovers, the freewill offerings and the drink offering and the meat offering and the bread offering and the heave offering and the first fruit offering and the tithe. You see that? Why? Because of love. A condition of the heart. We're going to talk about this more next week. And you don't listen, folks. You say, well, I don't I don't need this. I already got it down. I already tithed. We're not talking about the tithe specifically. We're talking about condition of the heart. We're going verse by verse in the book of Malachi. There's six verses here that deal specifically with this issue of giving. But that's such a sensitive area to most people. They get real ticklish, you know. Oh, he's trying to get something out of me now. I'm not trying to help you get the windows of heaven open over your house. I'm trying to help you see your pathway clear to God's blessing. And I'm not here to hurt you. I'm not your enemy. I'm not trying to get my hand in your pocket. You understand, I'm here to try to help. I'm here to say, thus saith the Lord. You know, like it or not, but this is what it says. And live it or don't, be blessed or cursed, whatever you want. But I'm just saying this is what God's word says. Amen. So my job, John Harris, as a pastor, is to preach the word of God as it is to people as they are and let God be God in their life. Because, you know, I make a lousy God. I don't even play a good one on TV. You know what I'm saying? So, so look, I'm just going to let God be God. He doesn't need my help. Oh, by the way, he doesn't need yours either.