I remember Keith and them, they fly back today. They're down in Austin, Texas. Get back in. All our folks around the world that's positioned to help do things. All the stuff that's happening from here and yonder and what's going on with Ukraine and Russia and Poland and everywhere else, you know. China, yeah, you name it. I heard two ladies that I was waiting to get some stuff and making, and the two ladies, they were talking to themselves, and there were, you know, gas is high, all this stuff in Ukraine, and they were, and I said, you know, Christians, us Christians, all we're supposed to be doing right now is keep our head high and be cheerful and joyful. To whomever we, I don't care how long the line is or how many people are in front of you or whatever, just be happy and cheerful and One lady said, yeah, she says, I think that when I go into Walmart before you go in there, he says, she says, I know it's gonna be a long line, you know, and no tellers. I said, yeah, but be thankful there is something there for you to get. And as I was leaving out, this other lady that I knew kind of fairly well, she says, Thank you. I needed that. Yeah. Yeah. So just that spur. Yeah, just just the idea of our mom that we as Christians right now no matter And if we looked at our problems here, our problems here ain't nothing compared to what's in Ukraine. I mean, we drove all the way over here today and nobody dropped bombs on nothing. SHORT, Yeah, there was no shooting, no cannons, no tanks, no barricades, no patrol you had to go through and tell them where you were going. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I will. I will. Yeah, yeah, we'll read it. We'll read it. I'm on. Well, let's let if we got any more, we'll pray for these and then we'll jump right into that proverb there and look at a couple things for sure. I'm gonna pray for all our folks as the spirit of what Brother Shannon's talking about, that God would use us in the community and on the job. You know, Philippians says, do all things without complaining and murmuring, that you may shine as lights in a dark and perverse world. That's the thing, you shine. You talked about those guys brightening up, they lit up. I had one of them, one of them killed a turkey with me. He texted me yesterday. Yeah, yeah, yeah, it encourages, yeah, it edifies, yeah, that affirmation. Deeply minister, that's right. That's right, yeah, oh yeah. Well, that's the thing, is that what we long for is to be those difference makers that God uses to make those differences in other people's life, that they see Him in us. They may not be able to necessarily recognize it's Him outside of a supernatural work of God. You know, the scripture says that the world we live in, the natural man can't receive the things of the Spirit. But you see, they can see our attitude, and they will be able to understand that more clearly as they have more light on the matter that the Lord gives to them. But nonetheless, we wanna be, everybody can recognize kindness. Everybody can recognize a celebrative, joyful spirit, even though if they don't recognize it's Christ in you doing this, they can still recognize that. And that's where Proverbs 19, 22 would tell us that the most desirable thing about a person is their kindness. That's the most beautiful thing about a person is their kindness, not what they have, not how they look, what they can do, but how kind they can be. That's the most pleasant thing. To people who are looking for or need that, you know, we live in a world that you have wicked people who are not looking necessarily for kindness, they're just looking how to take advantage of people in circumstances. But on the average, the normal person can see a kind act, can see the kindness in people. And that's why he says that a poor man is better than a liar. That a man don't have anything to give you but's kind is better than a man that has a lot to give you but he doesn't bear witness to the truth. And so that right there in itself, we can't make them see Jesus, but we can be kind that they see that kindness and there'll come a point in time where if they don't know him, let's say God does make himself known to them, they'll be able to put things together. Well, that's the spirit that was in that Greg Briggs that shared these Bibles with us that was delighted about these crosses and nails and this ministry that these folks gave to these men and why they were joyful and celebrated life when they were with us. They could look back on it and see that thing. And the scripture says that We do that so that men will glorify God in the day of His visitation for your good works. It's Him in us, you know, that's what we want them to see, but you can't make them see that, but you can distort their view of those things when you lay claim to being a believer but don't act like a believer. What that does is just distort it for them. No, we can't change, nobody can change the glory of God. He is who he is. He will be who he's gonna be. None of that can change. We can just change how people see him. And we wanna be cautious of that for sure. But any others, any others? Well, let's pray. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus, for testimonies and a testimony you've established in us for your goodness and your mercy and your namesake. I pray that we can help others look to you and see you and that we would do it for your glory and that we would just love people and be kind to people and gracious to people that may not be in a position to even welcome those things as you teach us that what is it to love people that love us back. The reward is loving those that don't love us and can't recognize these things. So Lord, we just praise you. We ask you to help us as we open up this word in Proverbs, as we open up in Malachi or wherever else you lead us this morning. We know that and desire that it leads us to you, that we see you in it, and we're gonna praise you for it. In Jesus' name, amen. All right, all right. Brother Shannon, what you got? Chapter 24. Verse 17 and 18. 17 and 18. Let me backtrack to Proverbs 24. 17 and 18. Let's see. On my way, on my way. He says, 17, do not rejoice when your enemy falls and do not let your heart be glad when he stumbles. For fear, the Lord see it, that is, your misapplied appreciation, and it displeases him, and he turn away his wrath from him. Yeah, so he turns it around. Yeah. There's so many times when we have, whoever we perceive the enemy is, whatever our perception is, is hard, when you see him, Mm-hmm. Oh, yeah The market. Yeah. Yeah to mock them Yeah, yeah, that's not the attitude that the Christian needs to be taken is I'm still praying for those people Even when they do fail or fall. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. No, if they're the enemy Probably and not say. Yeah, yeah. And I would not have anybody no matter who they are. Not witness to, to be safe. Right now. I know that there are some that God is already turned over. But I think we're still we don't know what he's got is done in that in that those cases have no idea. So That's right, that's right. No doubt, if you look in the previous verse, what does it say? Yeah, well, I got actually 15, 16, and 17 bracketed here, but those are the two that I wanted to step on this morning. Mm-hmm, mm-hmm. Rejoice for a just man that falleth seven times and rises up again, but the wicked shall fall in the mischief. We know I have failed many times, many, many times. And there's no intention in even going at all, those are too many. But I know that through, like David, failed many times, but he repented. and I have repented on the failures that I've had. And God raised me back up again. But I've seen other people that just, they have failed and then never get back up. They can't, something has happened in their life or their family or whatever, and they blame God and They live the rest of their life, maybe 30, 40, 50 years, more of their life still in that hole that they don't ever get out of. What these are telling us right here is that, you know, even the righteous fall. So none of us are subject from not falling. And what he says in verse 16, for a righteous man may fall or stumble seven times and rise again, but the wicked shall fall by calamity. Which is distinguishing the difference because that's why in the next passage, this calamity is referred to as wrath. Look at the second part of that verse 17. And do not let your heart, or excuse me, verse 18, when he says in 17, don't let your heart be glad when he stumbles. For fear the Lord see it, and it displease him, and he turn away his wrath from him. So this calamity that fell is described as wrath. They fell as a result of wrath. And we know when that wrath comes and that calamity comes, that is saying that God uses calamity, God uses his wrath for a reason. And it's oftentimes a twofold, not necessarily just for the person that's in the judgment or the wrath, but that is also applied over to us. and how God uses that. And he tells us again and again, don't rejoice over your enemy when he falls. Because it doesn't do you any good, doesn't do them any good either. We are redemptive, reconciling people. And having that wrong spirit. Because remember, God is kind to the unrighteous and the wicked. He reigns, he gives seasons, he does good things to those that are his and not his. So we want to take upon His character and His nature. Look, if you would, in verses number 10 of this same proverb. Verse number 10. Well, let's just read verse number 7. Wisdom is too lofty. For a fool, remember a fool thinks his way is correct. He thinks his way is the right way. So he don't have wisdom. He don't know what to do with the situation that's put in front of him. So when we respond in a celebrative rejoicing over the enemy fallen, that is we didn't act in wisdom. We didn't know what to do with this. We acted like a fool thinking that our way, that we had a part in this somehow or another. or necessarily they had a part in this. This is something God's doing here. So we're laughing at what God's doing. Are you understanding what I'm saying? And he goes on to say, he does not open his mouth and negate. He who plots to do evil, and God has already described, he's telling us in 17 that's an evil thing to do, will be called a schemer. Because see, you get caught up in what? The process of scheming against an enemy or people, and vengeance belongs to who? God, that's right, verse nine. The devising of foolishness is sin, it's missing the mark, and the scoffer And a scoffer is one who boasts about people or about a circumstance, about a thing, they scoffing, mocking that the person has fallen, that it was their own fault when they failed to realize that God's been behind this and they put more credit on the person's hands than who really deserves the glory through this. See, if you're laughing at the enemy, you're not giving God glory. Because your eyes are on who? The enemy and not on the Lord. So he says this, he says, and the scoffer is an abomination to men. That goes back to what? That complaining and murmuring so that your lights may shine. When you scoff and laugh at people because of the trouble they get in and people see you doing that or see us doing that, that is an abomination to men because it's not an act of kindness. It's not that if I was in that situation, I wouldn't want people mocking and laughing at me. I would hope they would try to help me get back up. You see, that's the point, because that's not kind. And kindness is a beautiful thing. But when scoffers scoff, that's an abomination to even a natural man. Nobody likes a scoffer, do they? That picks and points and laughs and mocks at people. So he goes on to this, he says, verse 10, if you faint, That is, be idle, stand still, let go. In the day of adversity, your strength is narrowed, small. And remember, the wise are strong. That's how a man increases strength. Look in verse five. A wise man is what? A wise man is strong. Yes, a man who has knowledge is steadily increasing his strength. Strength because wisdom is knowledge applied So the more knowledge and wisdom we act on the stronger we become Therefore if we faint we in a time of adversity, not just for us, but when we see other people in adverse conditions and we feign in that and then make fun of it, what is that a revelation of? Our strength is a lot smaller than we thought we were. The world sees us as a weak person because we mocked and laughed at that, not in humility thinking, okay, how can I help this person out? How can I reveal the glory of God to this person? You know, verse 11, and this is where we see how this is going. Watch the pattern. He says, deliver those who are drawn toward death. These people in this calamity and under this wrath that has fallen, have fallen because they what? Been drawn toward death. And then he says, hold back, get in the way of those who are stumbling toward the slaughter. Now, if you say, surely we did not know they were drawn toward death, or we didn't know they were stumbling to the slaughter. Does not God who weighs the hearts, does he not consider it? Doesn't he know? We know where they were headed, but we didn't try to stop them. We just laughed at them when they found themselves there. He says, does not God know it? And will he not then what? Render to each man according to his deeds. What he puts into action. Can you see what I'm talking about, Brother Shannon? So we see a trail that God has a way that when a person does mock the enemy when he falls and he finds himself in calamity, rather than seeing that we have a solution for this fall and this calamity by helping them turn unto the Lord rather than giving them the credit for the circumstances that they found themselves in. And we can't see God in it. All we see is man doing what man does, but we miss God in it. It is saying that we have not been in the position to what? Stand in the path to keep people from stumbling toward this slaughter. And these things have manifested our foolishness, that we thought our way of doing things was a lot better in God's way, and we hadn't been paying attention to Him, because if we were, we would be paying attention to the paths that people are taking in life. And so, when we look at that, these things begin to give us light. Verse 13 says, my son, eat honey, because it is good and the honeycomb, which is sweet to your taste. Now, when you think about that, you eat it because it's good and it's sweet to the taste. The Bible refers to the Word of God as honey. Bible refers to the drippings of the honeycomb as being sweet, that the Word of God is something pleasurable and sweet to us to increase this strength. So shall the knowledge of wisdom be to your soul. If you have found it, there is a, prospect there is gold there and your hope will not be cut off. That's going to change how you stand in the gap. With people being drawn to the slaughter, it's gonna change how you look at the circumstances people find themselves in, and you're not gonna laugh at them saying, look, man, they just got what they deserve. You know what? Praise God for His grace that we can get what we deserve, amen? So it shifts your way of thinking, and that's what the wisdom of understanding of God's ways does for us. It really does help us. So we have to be cautious on that. Especially when we're around people, like when you go to a hunting camp like that or on the job and how we communicate things and talk things, you're standing in the gas line with people and they're talking about these sanctions and all this stuff that's affecting everybody and they're looking over at Russia and they're looking at Putin and laughing about the ruble and the economy collapsing. I mean, there's a lot of innocent people over there that are gonna suffer and hurt because of this misled leadership. So when we begin to see all these things, and then we see that how our government then will capitalize and put the blame, point everything that away, but won't take accountability on our side, that these things was already going in the direction they were going before all this took place. You see, but complaining about all that, murmuring about all that, and mocking some of the decisions the administrations make that has got us into some of these situations that we're facing, and just waiting for it to fall so that we can point the finger at everybody who put people in the office these things, none of that does any value, does it? reading now in Malachi. The first thing it says in Malachi, the burden of the word. Yes, the burden of the word of the Lord, the oracle of God. We need to realize that that is our, it's more than just, it is a burden, should be a burden to us to go to those that are lost. and tell them the truth. It is a burden. It's a blessing. And a burden. It's a blessing to get the word. Yeah. But to give it out. It takes courage, courage and bravery to do so. Yeah. But it is a it's a, it should be a burden on our heart to see one person Man, it's a scathing rebuke. Yeah, yeah. It's tough. You just, when you read through Malachi, you just need to prepare yourself to feel bad. Because it's one of those burdens. It's a burden. And the book ends with a curse. It starts with a burden, ends with a curse. Starts with a burden, ends with a curse. The oracle, the burden of the word of the Lord. That's what he says in chapter three, I read in the day. Those that sit around and talk about the Lord that fear God, there's a book of remembrance that is being jotted down of what we've done. And talking about him in the sense of wanting to know him more intimately and personally. We talked about this with Jeremiah and what God did with him and we see it with Malachi. When God puts a burden and puts a burden, that burden is twofold. I mentioned a blessing, because it is a blessing. Because God lets you see from an advantage point that other people can't see. That's the blessing, but it also carries a weighty burden with it. Because you see the uglies that other people aren't seeing. And you're pointing out the uglies that other people can't see about themselves. And the messenger, because that's what Malachi, his name means the messenger of the Lord. And he brings that out, the message of the Lord. This is the message of the Lord. And no other book in percentage-wise of the direct dialogue of God is mentioned more in Malachi percentage-wise than any other book. A lot of times when you look at Jeremiah, you look at the Isaiahs, they thus saith the Lord and give a decree and they tell what God tells and they're telling what God, everything they've written is coming from the Lord. But these are like direct thus saith the Lord of hosts, thus saith the Lord. The book is just nothing but filled with it. And look in Jeremiah 6.27. I sent out a word to some pastors this morning, this word, 6.27. 6.27, we talked about this while we were in Jeremiah. just a while back, but 627, God helps us. He tells us up front in the very front part of the book as well, but he says, I have set you Jeremiah. This is Jeremiah 627. I have set you Jeremiah as an assayer and a fortress. among my people. That word a sayer, I've told y'all, I mentioned to you that it's the idea of a metalsmith, one who can test metals, like Davin is in the metal business, who welds and tests welds and produces a product. And an assayer would be one who is to put metal to the test of its value and its reliability of like building a tower. In those days, like in our day, even in our time, a lot of people had that in modern day kids don't know what fire towers are and things like that. But a fire tower years ago was a valuable asset for communities. because they would position people in those fire towers on these large blocks of land, and they could recognize smoke rising up. And even out West, they do it even more than they do it here, just because of the wilderness and the vastness of it. And in these times, we have satellites and things like that can see from an advantage point. But what all this is saying is that, Jeremiah, I have elevated you to see things that other people can't see. That you're gonna see the heart of these people as I see them. Not how they see themselves, but I'm gonna burden you with a burden to see people in their condition the way that I see them. And you are gonna be able to prove them, test them as a skilled welder wood, his weld, you're gonna be able to put it to the test because I'm gonna give you the tools to do that with. I'm gonna give you the solutions for them. And that's what he says, I have set you as a tower high, and that tower is like a fortress that's been built. You're protected within it among my people that you may know, you may be able to recognize and test their way. You're gonna be able to unveil their ways to them. These people are stubborn rebels walking as slanderers, but they don't see themselves that way. All right, go to chapter one. Look in chapter one, you'll see it again. Look in 110, he says the same thing. Now this is Malachi, this is all of God's prophets. Remember, God doesn't tell us everything in every book, but when he gives you insight about when God elevates a person to be able to see things from his viewpoint, that is saying that when God sends a messenger, when God sends the message like Malachi, Malachi had this burden placed on him because God is showing Malachi the heart of the people, the heart of the priests, the heart of what they've been doing and not doing and how they do it and the spirit they're doing it. God is speaking in Malachi like there's a dialogue going on, like he's talking to the people and he says, I've loved you. And the people say, well, how have you loved this? There's no evidence of your love in our life. There was not a dialogue, but see, their lifestyle spoke back to God as if there was a dialogue going on. And that's what Malachi is able to see. Outside of God giving him that, Malachi's not gonna see it. Outside of God giving us the vision that people are what, drawn toward death and stumble into the slaughter? We're not gonna see it either. So we just gonna see man messing up rather than our ministry in that mess up to be able to help people. 1 Tim says it like this. He says, Jeremiah, see, I have this very day set you what? Over. You can say that God has elevated him. He has exalted him. He has placed him in a position to be able to see the nations and over the kingdoms to root out, pull down, to destroy, and throw down, to build, and to plant. So Jeremiah had not only the burden, but he had a blessing. That in that burden, being able to see what he could see, he also had the blessing of seeing what needed to be seen, but also he had solutions to turn these people from this burden that they were under and build and plant in the midst of it. And you see, that's what God does for us. When God shows you something from heaven's viewpoint, it's gonna burden you. Because you're gonna see it how he sees it. And that's a burden. And if you notice this, this burden was the burden of the Lord that he shared with Jeremiah. And as a co-laborer with God, that's what he does. He shares his burden with us, but then blesses us as he did with Malachi and Jeremiah to do what? To expose the bad welds. He had a skill to be able to do that, that was divine given. And then he had a skill, a wisdom to turn them from that back unto the Lord. And that's what God uses you and me to do every day. When we go out with the Great Commission, In the command of God, like we read in Esther, you know, at the close of Esther, what happened? God sent all these messengers out. By command of the king, royal messengers with a royal message. You have the right to defend yourself on this particular day. That decree that went out first can't be overturned. You're condemned to death. But I'm sending out the good news is you can fight for yourself now. You have a solution. And that's what the good news is in light of the bad news is that we've all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. We're all on a crash course with death. They knew their appointed day. We, this world, has no clue of their appointed day. But God has appointed a day. and he's also appointed the day of judgment. That is, we'll have to give an account. So if we don't have a solution for that day before that day comes, man, we in trouble. We in trouble. We're a lot worse shape than they were in. We in trouble. So you see, God gives a burden. And that's what that is saying in 1 Tim and 627 that God had put Jeremiah in an elevated place, put a burden upon him, but a blessing at the same time. And this work we get to do, it's twofold, burden and blessing, burden and blessing. And it's a burden we wanna bear and a blessing we wanna celebrate in what he's given us. So look back in Malachi, you can put that in front of all these prophets. You can put it in front of Malachi's name. And that also goes to along with us that Malachi, we don't know much about him. He doesn't give us no introduction. He doesn't tell us where he's from. He doesn't tell us who his daddy was. He doesn't tell us any of that. He goes straight into this urgency of the burden that was laid upon him. He didn't waste no time with it, of this message. And notice that wording in the beginning. The burden of the word of the Lord to Israel by Malachi. Malachi was the messenger. The message was for Israel. And this burden was the burden of the Lord that this messenger took upon himself. These people could not see. They were out of touch. They were out of tune. They was out of step. with God, and this is what this messenger's coming to reveal to them. You have been so out of touch, you can't see this. I'll talk a little bit probably more in the service about some of this, but you notice there was seven times where God gave this word, and the response was, they said, wherein have we done this? Wherein have we? done this, wherein have we done it? God exposed it, and then they turn around and say, well, wherein have we not done this? That is a word saying they were so out of tune and out of touch with God, that was their natural response to, they couldn't even see where they were at in life. But this particular messenger had to bring that to them. So he's revealing ugly stuff. The ugly stuff that they couldn't see about themselves. And when man can't see the uglies about themselves that you can see and that you're revealing, who they gonna take it out on? The messenger, no doubt. So, but we what? Bear all things, believe all things, endure all things. for love's sake, and we have hope that God is gonna extend that everlasting eternal life to them, and we keep pressing on to do what God's given us to do, amen? So man, these are some good, good, they help us because they so, they really, even though we're dealing with 400 years before Jesus came, the spirit of the people is so common to the spirit of the people today. of where we are today. So out of touch and apathetic. That God was not a priority for them. And that was evident in every step they took. What it could be. Yeah, and what God tell them there, I have cursed your blessings. I've blessed you, I've commanded blessings to come upon you, the rains and fruitful seasons and the blessings, but because of how you treated me, how you've treated my people, how you've treated my house, how you treated the offerings, how you treated all these things, which you couldn't even see, I've already cursed that which I've blessed you with. I've turned it back. I've cursed it. And they couldn't even reckon, they couldn't see it. That's part of the burden. We could see things in our land just how those once were manifested blessings are now, you could see a curse upon them. You could see that. These words of Malachi are following two other men that God sent to them, Ezra and Nehemiah. When Nehemiah left for that little bit of time, for those four or five years that he was gone, when he come back, the people, everything you see mentioned here, that's what they were doing. And that short period of time, they just went right back to this way of living that mocked the glory of God. And this is where Malachi, the prophet, comes in. Come on in, come on in, Tom. This is where that prophet comes in and is to shed light on that condition, no doubt, no doubt about it. Well, amen, amen. Greg, why don't you pray for us, brother? Father, we just thank you for allowing us to lift all these up that are hurting or sick or whatever their problem might be on our prayer list and for those we don't know about. We just ask that you would bless them today. If you would, our folks that are traveling today, Father, that you take your time with them. Be with us in our morning service. Father, just that we might be touched through brother Nick's words. Amen. Amen. Y'all come on in. Hello, hello.