Introduction
• All Christians know that they are supposed to
serve God.
• Fear God and keep His commandments, for
this is the whole duty of man. (Eccl. 12:13)
• Man’s duty is to obey God.
• God provides salvation to those who obey
Him.
• What are some ways in which we can serve
God?
Introduction
• Let us realize that there are right ways and
wrong ways to serve God.
• Obviously, the right ways will please God, and
the wrong ways will upset Him.
• To illustrate, let us look at Malachi 3, and
notice some facts pertaining to serving God.
Malachi 3:1
• The promise of the Messiah and His
announcer.
• Notice that a clearing away will take place.
• What must be removed?
• Everything that will bring about a pure heart
receptive to God and His word.
• Jesus is coming to God’s temple.
Malachi 3:2-3
• The day of the appearing of the LORD will be
awesome and terrifying.
• God/Jesus will remove all filth (sin) from the
temple of God (the heart where He dwells).
• God will start with Levi’s family/tribe.
• They were responsible for the worship of the
Lord, and worship to God must come first in
our lives.
Malachi 3:4
• The offering is equated with service.
• It will be pure and offered with pure hearts
and motives.
• This is the way God commanded it way back
when He instituted this form of worship.
• Jeremiah 6:16 seek the old paths, stand in the
old ways, and it will be good for us.
Malachi 3:5
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God will come near once again.
God will judge everyone.
The sinners for wrath,
And the righteous for eternal life.
Whether one believes in God or not does not
matter, because God is still going to judge
them in righteousness through Jesus.
Malachi 3:6
• God does not change. PERIOD.
• Men try to change the image of God into
something that He is not.
• God is true to Himself, and God is faithful to
His words.
• God cannot lie.
• His words from the Bible must be respected
without compromise.
Malachi 3:7
• God’s people have turned away from Him for
generations.
• A renewal and revival is needed all the time.
• We must encourage others to be faithful to
God all the time.
• If we will repent and turn to God, God will
restore blessings far above what we desire or
can possibly imagine.
Malachi 3:8-9
• We rob God when we fail to serve Him
properly.
• We rob God when we follow the precepts of
men and their doctrines.
• We rob God when we do not support His
followers.
• We rob God when we go through the motions
of worship without putting our hearts into it.
Malachi 3:10-11
• God issues them a challenge. A test.
• If you will bring your tithes I will bless you
right away, and you will know it.
• Upon seeing the response of God, the children
of Israel should have pursued a greater
righteousness, because greater blessings
would come.
• God would protect His children once again.
Malachi 3:12
• Once, the nations hissed and despised the
ruins of Jerusalem and Judah.
• The other nations knew that such a calamity
could only fall upon a people who turned their
back on their God.
• Once the people started serving God properly
again, the other nations would know it,
• and as a result would glorify God.
Malachi 3:14
• The people have complained that they appear
to be wasting their time by serving God.
• Their attitude of arrogance says: “why doesn’t
God bless us?”
• Yet they should have known by listening to the
prophets that to receive blessings they would
have to depart from their sins.
• This, they were not willing to do.
Malachi 3:15
• The ones who were supposed to receive blessings
had not done what they were supposed to do.
• They are accursed, while the wicked nations
around them have the appearance of blessings,
because they are in better shape than the
Israelites.
• Seems like the wicked ones are getting away with
their wickedness, while God is punishing the
Israelites by making them do things they do not
want to do.
Malachi 3:16
• Though the majority failed to serve God
properly, there were a few who decided to
serve God from the heart.
• God wrote their names into a book of
remembrance. This will be one of the books
opened on the great judgment day as we read
in Revelation 20.
• Don’t forget there is also a book of those who
reject God.
Malachi 3:17-18
• God’s people will be His and they will serve
Him from their hearts and in truth.
• If this happens, people will know the
difference between right and wrong.
• These days, we wonder if anybody knows the
difference.
• The righteous will have a reputation of serving
the Lord, and the wicked will not.
Conclusion
• There might be several ways in which we can
serve God.
• Some ways are negative and certainly God
would not be pleased by our attitude.
• Yet if we serve God, and keep His
commandments and do our best to serve Him
in humility and (His) righteousness, we can be
saved.
• How have you served God?