November 23rd, 2025
The Offering: Holy. Pleasing. Acceptable to God!
Part 3: Pure Offering
Book of Malachi
Pastor Ray-Ann Dela Fuente
November 23, 2025
Memory Verse:
“The sacrifice you desire is a broken spirit. You will not reject a broken and repentant heart, O God.”
Psalms 51:17 NLT
Introduction:
Welcome to the River of Faith! Happy Thanksgiving Church! Today we are in week three of our new series I entitled "The Offering: Holy. Pleasing. Acceptable to God!" In this series we are going to study the importance of making the right offering to the Lord. Holy, pleasing, and acceptable to Him.
Malachi marks the end of the Old Testament book of prophets. A four hundred year of silence to follow until God raised another prophet by the name of John the baptist who carried the same message of repentance and coming back to the Lord.
Main Pointers:
“The Lord of Heaven’s Armies says to the priests: “A son honors his father, and a servant respects his master. If I am your father and master, where are the honor and respect I deserve? You have shown contempt for my name! “But you ask, ‘How have we ever shown contempt for your name?’ “You have shown contempt by offering defiled sacrifices on my altar. “Then you ask, ‘How have we defiled the sacrifices?’ “You defile them by saying the altar of the Lord deserves no respect. When you give blind animals as sacrifices, isn’t that wrong? And isn’t it wrong to offer animals that are crippled and diseased? Try giving gifts like that to your governor, and see how pleased he is!” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. “Go ahead, beg God to be merciful to you! But when you bring that kind of offering, why should he show you any favor at all?” asks the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. “How I wish one of you would shut the Temple doors so that these worthless sacrifices could not be offered! I am not pleased with you,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, “and I will not accept your offerings. But my name is honored by people of other nations from morning till night. All around the world they offer sweet incense and pure offerings in honor of my name. For my name is great among the nations,”says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. "But you dishonor my name with your actions. By bringing contemptible food, you are saying it’s all right to defile the Lord’s table. You say, ‘It’s too hard to serve the Lord,’ and you turn up your noses at my commands,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. “Think of it! Animals that are stolen and crippled and sick are being presented as offerings! Should I accept from you such offerings as these?” asks the Lord. “Cursed is the cheat who promises to give a fine ram from his flock but then sacrifices a defective one to the Lord. For I am a great king,”says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, “and my name is feared among the nations!”
Malachi 1:6-14 NLT
1. If sacrifices is neglected it begs the question, what else are we neglecting with the Lord?
A. A 70 year captivity in Babylon before they were allowed to go back to Jerusalem and rebuild it's walls and build the temple again to resume the sacrifices and offerings to the Lord.
B. Malachi calls out the people who came back for neglecting the sacrifices and offerings. Especially to the levites who should know better and have forgotten the covenant that God made with them as priests and caretakers of the temple.
C. “But you are not like that, for you are a chosen people. You are royal priests, a holy nation, God’s very own possession. As a result, you can show others the goodness of God, for he called you out of the darkness into his wonderful light.”
1 Peter 2:9 NLT
2. The right offering is rooted in obedience by faith always.
“Here is another thing you do. You cover the Lord’s altar with tears, weeping and groaning because he pays no attention to your offerings and doesn’t accept them with pleasure. You cry out, “Why doesn’t the Lord accept my worship?” I’ll tell you why! Because the Lord witnessed the vows you and your wife made when you were young. But you have been unfaithful to her, though she remained your faithful partner, the wife of your marriage vows. Didn’t the Lord make you one with your wife? In body and spirit you are his. And what does he want? Godly children from your union. So guard your heart; remain loyal to the wife of your youth. “For I hate divorce!” says the Lord, the God of Israel. “To divorce your wife is to overwhelm her with cruelty,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. “So guard your heart; do not be unfaithful to your wife.” You have wearied the Lord with your words. “How have we wearied him?” you ask. You have wearied him by saying that all who do evil are good in the Lord’s sight, and he is pleased with them. You have wearied him by asking, “Where is the God of justice?”
Malachi 2:13-17 NLT
A. Why did God call out the Israelites on their disobedience especially with their marriage? Because it matters a lot to God! God commanded them not to intermarry. God commanded them to honor their marriages. They deliberately disobeyed the Lord.
B. The perfect question was asked "why doesn't the Lord accept my worship?" Because our worship must always be rooted in obedience to Christ and faith in God. You can't raise a hand without a heart that is obedient to the Lord.
3. Have I ever cheat God?
“I am the Lord, and I do not change. That is why you descendants of Jacob are not already destroyed. Ever since the days of your ancestors, you have scorned my decrees and failed to obey them. Now return to me, and I will return to you,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. “But you ask, ‘How can we return when we have 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 have cheated me of the tithes and offerings due to me. You are 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 of heaven for you. I will pour out a blessing so great you won’t have enough room to take it in! Try it! Put me to the test! Your crops will be abundant, for I will guard them from insects and disease. Your grapes will not fall from the vine before they are ripe,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. “Then all nations will call you blessed, for your land will be such a delight,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.”
Malachi 3:6-12 NLT
A. The faithfulness of God is tied with His promises to us. The Lord do not change like we do. What are we really celebrating in our lives? How do we really define success? Can it be counted by our money? By our material things? Or is it really serving the Lord above everything else in our lives that we can honestly say that we are "blessed" by the Lord our God!
Conclusion:
We live in a world today where it's so easy to use the term "blessed", but blessings are not just experienced through the "good" things that we have in life, but by how deep our relationship with God really is. True blessing and success is having a rich relationship with God. Giving Him our best offering. Holy. Pleasing. And acceptable to Him.
Part 3: Pure Offering
Book of Malachi
Pastor Ray-Ann Dela Fuente
November 23, 2025
Memory Verse:
“The sacrifice you desire is a broken spirit. You will not reject a broken and repentant heart, O God.”
Psalms 51:17 NLT
Introduction:
Welcome to the River of Faith! Happy Thanksgiving Church! Today we are in week three of our new series I entitled "The Offering: Holy. Pleasing. Acceptable to God!" In this series we are going to study the importance of making the right offering to the Lord. Holy, pleasing, and acceptable to Him.
Malachi marks the end of the Old Testament book of prophets. A four hundred year of silence to follow until God raised another prophet by the name of John the baptist who carried the same message of repentance and coming back to the Lord.
Main Pointers:
“The Lord of Heaven’s Armies says to the priests: “A son honors his father, and a servant respects his master. If I am your father and master, where are the honor and respect I deserve? You have shown contempt for my name! “But you ask, ‘How have we ever shown contempt for your name?’ “You have shown contempt by offering defiled sacrifices on my altar. “Then you ask, ‘How have we defiled the sacrifices?’ “You defile them by saying the altar of the Lord deserves no respect. When you give blind animals as sacrifices, isn’t that wrong? And isn’t it wrong to offer animals that are crippled and diseased? Try giving gifts like that to your governor, and see how pleased he is!” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. “Go ahead, beg God to be merciful to you! But when you bring that kind of offering, why should he show you any favor at all?” asks the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. “How I wish one of you would shut the Temple doors so that these worthless sacrifices could not be offered! I am not pleased with you,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, “and I will not accept your offerings. But my name is honored by people of other nations from morning till night. All around the world they offer sweet incense and pure offerings in honor of my name. For my name is great among the nations,”says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. "But you dishonor my name with your actions. By bringing contemptible food, you are saying it’s all right to defile the Lord’s table. You say, ‘It’s too hard to serve the Lord,’ and you turn up your noses at my commands,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. “Think of it! Animals that are stolen and crippled and sick are being presented as offerings! Should I accept from you such offerings as these?” asks the Lord. “Cursed is the cheat who promises to give a fine ram from his flock but then sacrifices a defective one to the Lord. For I am a great king,”says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, “and my name is feared among the nations!”
Malachi 1:6-14 NLT
1. If sacrifices is neglected it begs the question, what else are we neglecting with the Lord?
A. A 70 year captivity in Babylon before they were allowed to go back to Jerusalem and rebuild it's walls and build the temple again to resume the sacrifices and offerings to the Lord.
B. Malachi calls out the people who came back for neglecting the sacrifices and offerings. Especially to the levites who should know better and have forgotten the covenant that God made with them as priests and caretakers of the temple.
C. “But you are not like that, for you are a chosen people. You are royal priests, a holy nation, God’s very own possession. As a result, you can show others the goodness of God, for he called you out of the darkness into his wonderful light.”
1 Peter 2:9 NLT
2. The right offering is rooted in obedience by faith always.
“Here is another thing you do. You cover the Lord’s altar with tears, weeping and groaning because he pays no attention to your offerings and doesn’t accept them with pleasure. You cry out, “Why doesn’t the Lord accept my worship?” I’ll tell you why! Because the Lord witnessed the vows you and your wife made when you were young. But you have been unfaithful to her, though she remained your faithful partner, the wife of your marriage vows. Didn’t the Lord make you one with your wife? In body and spirit you are his. And what does he want? Godly children from your union. So guard your heart; remain loyal to the wife of your youth. “For I hate divorce!” says the Lord, the God of Israel. “To divorce your wife is to overwhelm her with cruelty,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. “So guard your heart; do not be unfaithful to your wife.” You have wearied the Lord with your words. “How have we wearied him?” you ask. You have wearied him by saying that all who do evil are good in the Lord’s sight, and he is pleased with them. You have wearied him by asking, “Where is the God of justice?”
Malachi 2:13-17 NLT
A. Why did God call out the Israelites on their disobedience especially with their marriage? Because it matters a lot to God! God commanded them not to intermarry. God commanded them to honor their marriages. They deliberately disobeyed the Lord.
B. The perfect question was asked "why doesn't the Lord accept my worship?" Because our worship must always be rooted in obedience to Christ and faith in God. You can't raise a hand without a heart that is obedient to the Lord.
3. Have I ever cheat God?
“I am the Lord, and I do not change. That is why you descendants of Jacob are not already destroyed. Ever since the days of your ancestors, you have scorned my decrees and failed to obey them. Now return to me, and I will return to you,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. “But you ask, ‘How can we return when we have 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 have cheated me of the tithes and offerings due to me. You are 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 of heaven for you. I will pour out a blessing so great you won’t have enough room to take it in! Try it! Put me to the test! Your crops will be abundant, for I will guard them from insects and disease. Your grapes will not fall from the vine before they are ripe,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. “Then all nations will call you blessed, for your land will be such a delight,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.”
Malachi 3:6-12 NLT
A. The faithfulness of God is tied with His promises to us. The Lord do not change like we do. What are we really celebrating in our lives? How do we really define success? Can it be counted by our money? By our material things? Or is it really serving the Lord above everything else in our lives that we can honestly say that we are "blessed" by the Lord our God!
Conclusion:
We live in a world today where it's so easy to use the term "blessed", but blessings are not just experienced through the "good" things that we have in life, but by how deep our relationship with God really is. True blessing and success is having a rich relationship with God. Giving Him our best offering. Holy. Pleasing. And acceptable to Him.
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