Addeddate

2026-09-26 22:31:25

Church

Trinity United Methodist Church of Loveland, CO - Sermon Podcast

Duration

17.8

Identifier

Trinity_United_Methodist_Churc-2026_09_13_Overwhemled_Trust_the_Lord6vpbh

Keywords

Jesus Christ

License

https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/

Original_url

https://mcdn.podbean.com/mf/web/cn6bdmwfcxuw3i4f/2026_09-13_Overwhemled_Trust_the_Lord6vpbh.mp3

Scanner

Internet Archive Python library 3.0.2

Text

Greetings, and welcome to the weekly sermon podcast from Trinity United Methodist Church of Loveland, Colorado. We are so glad you're here with us today. Trinity Church is a legacy congregation, a congregation with a story, a history, and an impact that we are seeking to share with our present community through the Jesus Christ we know, love, and serve. If you'd like to join us for one of our Sunday gatherings, we are located at 801 North Cleveland For the reading of today's scripture, now we pray, gracious God, let the words of our mouths and the meditation of our hearts be acceptable in your sight. O Lord, our rock and redeemer. Amen. Today's scripture reading is from the Old Testament book of Malachi chapter 3. Look, I'm sending my messenger and he will prepare the way before me. Then the Lord you are seeking will suddenly come to temple. The messenger of the Covenant whom you look for so eagerly is surely coming, said the Lord of Heaven's armies, but who will be able to endure it when he comes? Who will be able to stand and face him when he appears, for he will be like a blazing fire that refines metal, or like a strong soap that bleaches clothes. He will set like a refiner a silver burning away the dross. He will purify the Levites, refining them like gold and silver, so they may once again offer acceptable sacrifices to the Lord. Then once more the Lord will accept the offerings brought to him by the people of Judah and Jerusalem as he did in the past. At that time I will put you on trial. I'm eager to witness against all sorcerers and adulterers and liars. I will speak against those who cheat employees of their wages, who oppress widows and orphans, or who deprive the foreigners living among you of justice. For these people did not fear me," says the Lord of the heavens armies. I am the Lord, and I do not change. It has why you descend into Jacob, or not already destroyed. Ever since the day of your ancestors used scorn my decrees and failed to obey them, now return to me, and I will return to you," says the Lord of heavens armies. But you ask, how can we return when we've never gone away? Should people cheat God? Yet you have cheated me. But you ask, what do you mean? When did we ever cheat you? You've cheated me the tithes and offerings due to me. You're under a curse for your whole nation has been cheating me. Bring all the tithes into the storehouse so there will be enough food in my temple. If you do, says the Lord of Heaven's armies, I will open the windows or heaven for you. I will pour out a blessing so great that you have enough room to take it in. Put me to the test. Your crops will be abundant before I will guard them from insects and disease. Your grace will not fall from the vine before they are right, said the Lord of Heaven's armies. Then all nations will call you blessed, for your land will be such a delight, said the Lord of Heaven's armies. This is the word of God for the people of God. Thanks be to God. Malachi, Malachi is the last prophetic book of the Old Testament written around 430 BC when the Jewish people had returned from exile in Babylonia and were struggling to rebuild their lives in Jerusalem. We are standing today looking at a Jerusalem with its temple restored but its protective walls still lying in ruin. Into this fragile moment steps Nehemiah, a high-ranking Jewish official serving as cupbearer to King Artaxerxes. While serving the King, Nehemiah learned from his brother of the desperate need of the Jewish remnant of people that had returned to Jerusalem. In Nehemiah 1-4 we read, when I heard of these things, I set down and wept. For some days I'm mourned and fasted and prayed. And what Nehemiah does next tells us everything about his faith. He doesn't rush. He doesn't strategize. He doesn't try to figure out what to do himself just right then and right there. He sets down, he kneels, and he prays, honestly, deeply. And as he prayed, he prayed, and he thanked God for his love, his covenant. He begged for God's ear. He confessed his and his people's failures. He acknowledged that God had simply done what Moses said would happen if the people did not keep their covenant. Then he explained to God that he knew what had happened and why his people had been scattered. And finally, he simply asked God to grant him a favor. Notice something. He didn't specifically ask God to help his people. He didn't specifically ask God to send him to Jerusalem. He didn't ask for any specific thing. He simply asked God for his mercy. controversy. Nehemiah's faith is what got him to Jerusalem. And there's a similarity between Esther and Nehemiah. Both of these people prayed and fasted day and night to God. Then Nehemiah simply let his face look sad in front of the king. The king questioned him because he never looked sad in front of the king, and he told the king that he had prayed to the God of heaven, and then he asked the king if he could go help rebuild the city in Judah. The king sent him as the appointed governor in 444 B.C. And Nehemiah led the rebuilding of the walls, And he also got the people back on the track, following the laws of Moses once again. Benihamaya couldn't stay forever, and once this leadership was gone, the people slipped again. Their hope faded, their obedience wavered, and many blatantly distorted, not following the law of the Moses. produces. This is the world Malachi steps us into a discouraged people asking hard questions. As we begin exegeting this section in Malachi 2 17, we see a people who have given up on God. They don't understand why people who are not following the law and who do you evil are not receiving justice. You can almost hear the exhaustion in their voices. Where's the God of justice. Have you ever been there? We look around sometimes and see people who were cheating others, breaking the laws, even hurting others. And nothing seems to happen to them. Do we wonder, God, where are you? Why are you letting this happen? Well, that's where many of the Jewish people had found themselves. And God answers, not with silence, not with anger, but with a promise, a promise that stretches far beyond this moment. Malachi 3 1 says, I will send my messenger, who will prepare the way before me. Then suddenly the Lord you are seeking will come to his temple. The messenger of the covenant whom you desire will come, says the Lord almighty. God says, I will send my messenger. That messenger was John the Baptist, and then the Lord you are seeking will come to his temple, the messenger of the covenant, which is Jesus. Malachi is pointing 430 years into the future, but he's speaking hope into the present. God's hope, God's love. But Malachi doesn't stop at the promise. He asks a question that echoes across time. Who can endure the day of his coming? Who can stand when he appears? For he will be like a refiner's fire or a launderer's soap. When the Messiah comes, are you going to be clean? Are you going to be living by the law of Moses? where you have given up and fallen into the traps of evil. And this is where the story touches us, because we know what it feels like to rebuild. We know what it feels like to face hardship, loss, uncertainty, just like that remnant. We have moments when life feels like it's in ruins. We do not have God's time clock. We do not know God's big plane, but we know this. We know what is written in the Bible and we know the coming of John and Jesus. We also know a lot about the disciples and the hundreds of people who follow Jesus and the disciples and we know Jesus will come again. So I ask you, who can stand when he appears? For he will be like a a refiner's fire or a launderer's soap? Will we be ready? Or will we have fallen into despair as the newly-free Jewish remnant had? Nihamaya said in chapter 1 verse 3, Those who survived the exile are back in the Providence and are in great trouble and disgrace. They came back to a destroyed land, a remnant of of what was, think on this for a moment. They survived the exile, holding their faith together and singing joyful songs of how wonderful it would be when they returned to Jerusalem, and then they faced the destruction that was left. And they had to start all over again and rebuild their city. I think of the hard times that we have in our lives and we have hard times. We have illnesses, we have family members who are off track, We have laws of jobs, we have laws of homes, people come that has led evil into their lives, and they hurt us and our family. The Jewish remnant had all of that too. And on top of that, they had a destroyed city that they had to rebuild from scratch. When Jesus comes again, will we be ready? Even amongst all of life's hardships, ships. Will we have given up and taken a lawless route? Malachi is telling them he will be like a refiner's fire or a launderer's soap. He will sit as a refiner or purifier of silver and he will purify the Levites and refine them like gold and silver. How much sin did they have? How much sin do we have? Are we needing to be washed by God's launderer or is God going to need to refine us by fire like gold and silver. I know I have sin. I have sin every day. I try and I do my best, but I'm human as we all are. But I tell you this, I'd much rather be clean with soap than thrown into a fire for God to dig down deep and pull out the little bit of good parts. We have the knowledge that Jesus has already come to this earth once. And with that, he forgave us of our sins. He washed our sins away with God's grace, with God's love, and forgiveness. We take communion, we print, and we have grace wrapped around us to start again. Verse 7, ever since the time of your ancestors, you've turned away from my decrees and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you, says the Lord Almighty. And right in the middle of Without their discouragement, God speaks a hard truth. One that challenged me as I prepared this message. But you ask, how are we to return? What a mere mortal will a mere mortal rob God, yet you rob me, but you ask, how are we robbing helping you in tights and offerings.

comment