Empty Worship

Malachi 1-4

About the Sermon

Have you ever asked the question, “How did I get here?” You find yourself in a place that’s darker and uglier than you ever thought possible. How did you get there? Through His messenger (the prophet Malachi) God exposes the ugliness of where His people are, and He explains how they got there. The words are hard to hear, but they flow from the heart of a God who exposes because He loves.

About the Series

Unfulfilled promises. Unrealized hopes. Silence and inaction. When we don’t see God at work, when we don’t experience the outcomes He promises, it is our human tendency to think that God has stopped loving us. We begin to believe the lie that He doesn’t care about us, doesn’t notice our lives, and isn’t even around anymore. Lies like these lead to devastating life choices and thought patterns. Our worship becomes empty and rote. We neglect God’s words and fail to obey them. The prophet Malachi encountered and confronted just such a situation. His words ring down the centuries for our good. He communicated God’s assurances that He has never stopped loving His chosen people, and He is going to act in sudden and startling ways to awaken them.
Unfulfilled promises. Unrealized hopes. Silence and inaction. When we don’t see God at work, when we don’t experience the outcomes He promises, it is our human tendency to think that God has stopped loving us. We begin to believe the lie that He doesn’t care about us, doesn’t notice our lives, and isn’t even around anymore. Lies like these lead to devastating life choices and thought patterns. Our worship becomes empty and rote. We neglect God’s words and fail to obey them. The prophet Malachi encountered and confronted just such a situation. His words ring down the centuries for our good. He communicated God’s assurances that He has never stopped loving His chosen people, and He is going to act in sudden and startling ways to awaken them.

Sermons in the Series