WEBVTT

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I'm going to brag on my worship committee one

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more time. We thank you for that song. I don't

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know if it kicked anyone else in the face, but

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it kicked me. And that, what a powerful way to

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look at a song that we know, come all ye faithful,

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but what happens when that's not the case? The

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beautiful thing is faithfulness, though that

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is what we're striving to be. We're doing our

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best as we can. We all will fall in that. And

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I think that's a great bridge to where we're

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going to talk about today. We heard it with the

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Surley family as they talked about, I think it

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was Jack that talked about, it's not always a

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fun thing to go through purification. That there

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are a lot of things in life, when we think of

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purification, when we think about that process,

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you might be like me, I go straight to the fire.

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Right? That we're talking about. Things are refined

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by the fire. A couple years ago, I think it was

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two years ago, we went to the Cuyahoga National

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Forest, right? Who was in the state of Ohio,

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right? That just lost the Big Ten Championship

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last night. Was that it? Good. Yep. First time

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ever. Oh, we even got claps. Wow. First time

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ever being a Hoosiers fan. Don't like it. But

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understand that we went to go see a glass blower.

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It's something that my middle son, Teddy, really

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is intrigued by. And maybe he'll want to do that

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for his life. That we watched them go through

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this process of glass blowing. And just the heat.

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It was unreal. It was very cold outside. And

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the heat in the building was insane. But watching

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what they were able to do with just a piece of,

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I think it's glass, right? Glass blowing. That

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makes sense in my head. Sorry. Is they created

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something beautiful through all of this heat.

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The purification process was unbelievable, right?

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Teddy loved it and then asked us to buy it when

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we were done with it. And the thing about glassblowing

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stuff, it's not cheap. But it's because it's

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worthy of something. It's worth a lot, especially

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the time and effort to go through with it. And

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that's exactly where Malachi is. Now Malachi,

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a minor prophet, the last book of the Old Testament,

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which I think is important. We'll get to that

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in a minute. really builds on where Jeremiah

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was last week, rooting our hope in God who keeps

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his promises. We're going to kind of look at

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the past, look at the present, look at the future

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for this cross -shaped advent, as we called it

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last week. We looked at Jeremiah's vision last

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week of this righteous branch of David, this

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Davidic prophet, priest, and king. Hope that

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strengthens us in the past, in the present, and

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guides our future. But this week, Malachi, right,

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we went from major prophet to minor prophet.

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Anyone know the differences between a major prophet

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and a minor prophet? Anyone know? Length of book

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is nothing super deep, right? Big book, long

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book, major prophet. Minor prophet is just as

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important as we see in that. Malachi brings us

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to another dimension of hope. This El Peace.

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A hope that is not only comforting, because we

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need to be comforted by hope, but hope also...

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And here's the rub. If we're okay with where

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we are in this life right now, when it comes

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to our discipleship growing to be more Christ

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-like in our life, then that purification is

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going to be really, really hard. Because one

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thing we've all acknowledged, because you all

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came to the table, is that you're sinners in

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need of a Savior. And what does that mean? That

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means there are issues, there are things in our

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life that need to be purified out. That need

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to be cleansed and cleaned. Jeremiah told us

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what the Messiah will do. Malachi tells us what

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the Messiah will make us become. There's future

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tense in there. And this is an important shift

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because Advent, as we learned last week, not

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passive but active. We don't just look at the

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manger and say, oh, that's cute. I don't know

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anybody that has ever said that of a feeding

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trough in a barn. But we look at the manger to

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realize something different this morning. That

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this baby king came to change us, to refine us,

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and came to make us holy. And that is a lot.

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And it's something, I guarantee you, when you

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looked at your child, if you've been blessed

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to have children, in that delivery room, in the

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hospital, when you looked, I guarantee you that

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Lori and Jim Holland, owner, did not look at

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seven pound, eight ounce, I think that's... I

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didn't know that was the joke. How many people

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were seven pounds, eight ounces? I'm sure there

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were some of you. Please, someone, don't let

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me. Thank you, Randy. We were. That was a weird

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place to laugh. Okay, but understand, I don't

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think they looked at them or looked at me and

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had those thoughts. No, they're looking and go,

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okay, this is number two. We had Lynn. Now we

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have Jim. Now we're done, right? Okay, we got

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to go through the waking up. Hopefully he's not

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colicky like Lynn was. You know, we think of

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all those things. But think of what Jesus being

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born, we think these things. It's not a passive

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thing. It's what we're hoping for. So insert

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that thought this morning. We are hoping to be

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purified. And sometimes that is through the fire.

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Hope is not passive, but it's transformational,

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and that is active. So let's look first to the

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hope from the past. So we're going to be in Malachi

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chapter 3. We're going to start with verse 1.

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Again, we use the ESV, the English Standard Version

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here. Feel free, if you brought one of another

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translation, that is totally fine. Malachi chapter

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3. So if you went to Matthew, you went too far.

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Malachi, the last book of the Old Testament.

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Hope from the past that God sends a messenger

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in verse 1. Behold, I send my messenger, and

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he will prepare the way before me. And the Lord

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whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple

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and the messenger of the covenant in whom you

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delight. Behold, he is coming, says the Lord

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of hosts. So right off the bat, I am sending

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a messenger. This is active. Now, what did I

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say? This is the last book of the Old Testament.

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And then you go into kind of this season of darkness.

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And what they mean by that is there wasn't any

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more prophets really that stepped on the scene.

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That Israel, they were just kind of in this space,

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in this place. You see the Roman Empire start

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to take over halfway through this dark season.

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Malachi being the last prophetic voice, 400 years

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of silence. For some of us with kids a certain

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age, you hear two minutes of silence and your

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mind's already going to something bad is going

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on. Who is hurt? What did they break? How much

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is it going to cost? 400 years of silence. There's

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discouragement. There's spiritual compromise

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going on. The temple becomes perverted. The temple

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becomes about money and power and authority kind

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of being in line with Rome. They're waiting for

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restoration. They're waiting for this Messiah.

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And friends, they didn't live 400 years anymore.

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So what happened? You had generational disappointment.

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Things not showing up. Things not happening the

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way you told they were going to. Into this moment,

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God speaks something fierce. I will send my messenger.

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I will come to my temple. I will fulfill my word.

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So this messenger, who is it? John the Baptist,

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right? Yeah, John the Baptist. The New Testament

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answers this clearly. Because Mark 1 .2 quotes

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Malachi 3 .1 directly. Luke 1 .17 says he comes

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in the spirit and power of Elijah. John the Baptist

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is now the forerunner. He steps on the scene.

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He clears the path. The voice in the wilderness

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saying something very profound. Prepare the way

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of the Lord. 400 years of silence and now a light

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comes. You're going to hear more about that tonight.

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In our theology, what we understand is this is

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another piece of the covenant of grace. It's

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unfolding. God is initiating. God is revealing.

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God is acting. God is on the move. Hope from

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the past reminds us that God prepares his people

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for his coming. He always has and he always will,

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even today. And maybe you need to hear that today,

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that God is still on the move. Maybe you've been

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sitting in your own 400 years of silence. Maybe

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you've been discouraged. Maybe everything's gone

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spiritually cold. Everything seems to be distracting.

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And maybe God needs to speak into that with a

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message. Prepare the way of the Lord. Notice,

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it doesn't say, when Eli's ready. When Jim is

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ready. When Don is ready. It's not, ready or

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not, here I come. It's, I'm coming. Prepare the

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way of the Lord, which is where we find ourselves

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in the present. We find hope for the present,

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the Lord who purifies. Active language, verses

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2 and 3 of chapter 3. But who can endure the

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day of his coming? And who can stand when he

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appears? For he is like a refiner's fire, like

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a fuller's soap. He will sit as a refiner and

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a purifier of silver. And he will purify the

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sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver.

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And they will bring offerings in righteousness

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to the Lord. So I think we're right to go to

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a fire. Whether it's a glass blower or somebody

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else. For he's like a refiner's fire, like a

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fuller's soap. These are not gentle images. Right?

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I don't think. How many of you did the precious

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moments thing? Right? Those little statues. You

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can raise them while I'm proud. That's all good.

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We didn't have this one. Right? Because it wouldn't

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be cute. It's hard to put a nice face on something

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going on like this. A refiner's fire or a fuller's

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soap. The refiner's fire heats metal so intensely

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that impurities rise to the top. So what? They

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can be scraped off and discarded. A fuller soap

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is a strong lye agent used to scrub and bleach

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fabric clean. So there's a cleansing going on,

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a scrubbing going on. Now, I don't know about

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you, but I remember growing up. You guys, I'm

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going to reintroduce you to my grandma Bonnie.

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Remember her? She was like 4 '8", right, but

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a ninja, okay? She's the one that when you would

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talk back, she'd like out of nowhere hit you

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right here. And I remember in junior high I asked

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her why that was. And she looked at me and said,

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because it doesn't leave a mark. And then just

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walked away. I've never been more terrified in

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my life. Right? She stood this high. I just remember

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also growing up when she would give us a bath,

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she would scrub us like she was trying to get

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answers out of us. Right? I just remember like

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after I was done going, am I bleeding? Because

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it feels like it. Because she just wanted to

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make sure that all of that stuff was off of our

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bodies. Now, just so we're clear, like I was

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really little. This wasn't like junior high because

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that's weird, right? So this is like when you're

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really little. These are things that are coming

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out of therapy. But understand that when she

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did that, she was being very active, right? She

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was active in some of that, making sure we were

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clean. I think we can use that same mentality

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of what John the Baptist is telling us. He's

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not going to come with hugs and kisses, right?

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He's going to come with purification. He's going

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to come with cleansing, much like the refiner

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and the fuller. Malachi tells us the Messiah

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doesn't simply arrive. He doesn't just show up

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and say, I'm here. He purifies. That is the role

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of the priest, the priesthood. We talked about

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that last week. Malachi specifically says the

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Messiah will refine the sons of Levi. Interesting.

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What does that mean? In Israel, the priests were

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the ones to be spiritual leaders. But in Malachi's

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day, they had become corrupt, lazy, and half

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-hearted in their worship. They made it about

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them, not about Yahweh or the Lord. God's answer

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is not, try harder, you'll get it. It's the Messiah

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will come to cleanse. Now we have a catechism,

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right? Reformed church, we have a heartable catechism

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that helps us understand Christ our priest. Question

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31. Question 31 teaches that Christ is our eternal

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high priest who has offered himself as the perfect

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sacrifice, continually intercedes for us, and

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cleanses us from sin. So hear this today. The

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messenger Malachi is telling you and me, 2025,

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214 Ridge Road, you cannot purify yourself. The

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Messiah himself will purify you. He is coming

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to do a job. To purify his people because they

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have become dirty. They have become tarnished.

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They have become stain filled. And guess what?

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I just described every one of our weeks. This

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past seven days. We're dirty. We're stained.

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We're in need of that purification. We're in

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need of that cleansing. I don't know about you,

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but that's hope for the present, the here and

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now. For us today, refinement means four things.

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God exposes us to what is impure. He removes

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what is destructive. He strengthens what is holy.

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He shapes us into a people that reflect him.

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And I don't know about you, but there's the gut

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punch. That when people see my life, not just

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what I want them to see, but when they see my

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life, do they see him? Refinement is not a punishment.

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I think Jack said that up here. Refinement is

00:14:17.149 --> 00:14:20.009
a preparation. For anyone who has walked through

00:14:20.009 --> 00:14:23.450
a season of suffering, a season of self -inflicted

00:14:23.450 --> 00:14:30.549
wounding, a season of sin, again, for those that

00:14:30.549 --> 00:14:34.450
have walked through that, sometimes hope is hard

00:14:34.450 --> 00:14:37.659
to grasp. Sometimes hope seems like this thing

00:14:37.659 --> 00:14:39.320
that I'm trying to grab, but I can't. It's like

00:14:39.320 --> 00:14:43.600
a moving target. But we need to understand something

00:14:43.600 --> 00:14:47.379
about these seasons. Hope grows not in comfort.

00:14:48.919 --> 00:14:51.100
It can't grow in comfort because then what is

00:14:51.100 --> 00:14:57.379
our hope? Years. And then they will bring. Once

00:14:57.379 --> 00:15:00.179
the priests are purified, worship is restored.

00:15:00.279 --> 00:15:03.460
Once the people are refined, offerings become

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acceptable again. I don't know about you, but

00:15:07.340 --> 00:15:09.799
that tells us one of our goals in life. One of

00:15:09.799 --> 00:15:12.919
our goals in the hope of Jesus is that we have

00:15:12.919 --> 00:15:16.750
restored worship. Worship that is barrier -free,

00:15:16.970 --> 00:15:20.289
distraction -free, free of ourselves that we

00:15:20.289 --> 00:15:23.669
can give to God in worship. This was true for

00:15:23.669 --> 00:15:26.269
Israel. This is true for the early church that

00:15:26.269 --> 00:15:28.549
we just looked at in the book of Acts this fall.

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It's true for us right here, right now. God refines

00:15:32.669 --> 00:15:37.110
us so that our lives become worship, holy, pleasing,

00:15:37.350 --> 00:15:40.250
and acceptable. The book of Romans reminds us,

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12 .1, because it's giving us a hope. We worship

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because we have hope. Not of just look what God

00:15:48.519 --> 00:15:52.080
did or what God is doing, but God will do his

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return. The refining work of Jesus continues

00:15:55.440 --> 00:16:00.600
until the day he comes again. The Messiah's first

00:16:00.600 --> 00:16:04.940
coming purifies our heart from guilt. The Messiah's

00:16:04.940 --> 00:16:08.779
second coming will purify creation of all sin,

00:16:08.820 --> 00:16:13.200
of all evil, of all decay. All the impurities

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will be out. There will be no need for the refinement.

00:16:17.379 --> 00:16:21.679
And Malachi points us forward to a day when every

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impurity is gone, every injustice is judged,

00:16:25.639 --> 00:16:29.639
every right is made wrong, and every heart fully

00:16:29.639 --> 00:16:33.279
belongs to him. This is the future hope of Advent,

00:16:33.399 --> 00:16:36.100
isn't it? This is what we're longing for, yet

00:16:36.100 --> 00:16:41.019
we're slugging every day, some of us, harder,

00:16:41.360 --> 00:16:46.820
sometimes deeper. in this struggle, knowing that

00:16:46.820 --> 00:16:49.419
the hope is we will be made like him when we

00:16:49.419 --> 00:16:54.419
see him again, 1 John 3 .2. So what do we do

00:16:54.419 --> 00:16:57.259
for Advent now? Where do we take this from here?

00:16:58.039 --> 00:17:00.220
How do we take this beyond the informational

00:17:00.220 --> 00:17:02.740
meeting that we're about to have? Well, this

00:17:02.740 --> 00:17:04.619
is the cross -shaped Advent I brought up last

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week and I'll bring up next week. Remember that

00:17:07.569 --> 00:17:10.490
lyric of you were born to die so one day I could

00:17:10.490 --> 00:17:13.250
pray for you to save my life? I'm changing it

00:17:13.250 --> 00:17:15.430
a bit this morning. That you were born to die

00:17:15.430 --> 00:17:23.009
so we may be made new. Malachi shows us why.

00:17:23.630 --> 00:17:26.230
The Messiah does not refine from a distance.

00:17:26.529 --> 00:17:31.269
He doesn't lob a grenade. He refines by stepping

00:17:31.269 --> 00:17:35.390
into your world. into my world, taking on flesh,

00:17:35.569 --> 00:17:38.470
bearing our sin, carrying our impurities, and

00:17:38.470 --> 00:17:42.890
rising up to make us clean. Hope is not just

00:17:42.890 --> 00:17:45.710
that God forgives us, but hope that God will

00:17:45.710 --> 00:17:51.450
transform us from the inside out. Advent points

00:17:51.450 --> 00:17:55.509
to a Savior who comes with fire, not to destroy

00:17:55.509 --> 00:17:59.230
you and me, but to refine us into what we were

00:17:59.230 --> 00:18:03.910
meant and made to be. So my friends, let's be

00:18:03.910 --> 00:18:08.390
refined by hope. How do we respond as a people

00:18:08.390 --> 00:18:11.349
waiting for the Messiah who purifies? Three things.

00:18:11.569 --> 00:18:17.450
First, we welcome his refining. Ouch. Lord, remove

00:18:17.450 --> 00:18:21.869
what is not from you. We embrace his mercy. Thank

00:18:21.869 --> 00:18:25.609
God. Right? Lord, cleanse me from your grace.

00:18:26.230 --> 00:18:29.930
And we live in readiness. Lord, make me fit.

00:18:30.640 --> 00:18:37.299
For your presence. Friends, this Advent, may

00:18:37.299 --> 00:18:40.700
the refining fire of Christ give you hope, not

00:18:40.700 --> 00:18:47.980
fear, not shame, not resistance, but hope. Hope

00:18:47.980 --> 00:18:51.759
that he is shaping us into his likeness. Because

00:18:51.759 --> 00:18:56.039
remember, the God who came the God who cleanses,

00:18:56.039 --> 00:18:58.920
the God who is coming again, the God who is our

00:18:58.920 --> 00:19:01.759
El Peace, who is our hope, who is our Messiah,

00:19:02.079 --> 00:19:08.460
is with you even now. So lay it down, pick him

00:19:08.460 --> 00:19:12.460
up, and get to work. Let's pray.