Thanks so much to Simply Safe for sponsoring today's video. Hello everybody, welcome back to my channel. We are going shopping today. It is going to be a shopping vlog. I am so excited about it. I'm literally diving right in because I am ready. Instead of just doing like a Christmas decor video for you guys and sharing with you how I'm gonna do my apartment, I actually wanna get a whole bunch of new Christmas decor this year because I've actually been using all the same Christmas decor since college. My decor is always look the same, same ornament, same color palette, same color scheme. I actually just wanna pick up some new Christmas decor, kind of just feeling uninspired by what I've had because I've used it for so many years. Also Marie is here. We are gonna go Christmas shopping. Tis the season. Tis the season. I've already purchased one thing this year which I'm very excited about and that is a brand new Christmas tree. I ended up ordering that from Terrain. And the reason I opted for this tree in particular was because it was a little bit more sparse. I wanted to go for a more sparse style. So I wanna play around with size and shape and color and texture this year. So we're just gonna head out, go to a couple of different stores. I'm thinking about hitting up Anthropology. There is a Christmas store in Los Angeles called Aldic. I'm not really sure if there's multiple of those around but it's a really, really large Christmas store. Also wanna go to Target of course. We love Target, maybe Home Goods. And there's a store in Torrance called R House which I also might wanna hit up maybe tomorrow. So yeah, we're just gonna have a fun shopping day you guys so come along with me and let's head out. And of course before heading out I always set my simply safe home security system. I've had this for about a year and a half of obsessed with that. I normally use the key fob just to literally click away and it is armed and ready to go.  Now I know I've talked about Simply Safe multiple times on my channel. That's because I personally love my Simply Safe so much but I have to mention to you guys that Simply Safe is having their best deal of the year. So if you've ever wanted to take advantage and make your home feel safer there is no better time than now especially with increased break-ins during the holiday season and packages being stolen which is honestly very, very rude. And my friends over at Simply Safe allowed me to give you guys early access to their Black Friday sale which is 50% off or more of their award-winning home security system. Now if you've never heard of Simply Safe before they are an innovative and very design-friendly home security system that is shipped directly to your door and setting it up is a breeze you guys. I was able to set mine up in just an hour you just simply download the app on your phone follow the instructions on screen and it literally takes you an hour to set up your entire home. They have sensors to cover every single window, room and door and a lot of great extras like water sensors, smoke detectors, HD cameras for both indoor and now even for outdoor featuring an ultra-wide 140 degree field of view so you can watch over your entire outdoor space. And not only that, but it actually has a 1080p HD resolution camera with an eight-time zoom and a built-in spotlight with colored night vision so you can make sure that you keep close attention to what's happening around the clock. And I've touched in the past on why I ended up getting my own home security system and that's just because I moved from a larger complex into a smaller duplex on a main street and I knew I just wanted to make sure that my apartment stayed nice and secure of course and SimplySafe was honestly the best and easiest option. So guys, make sure to take advantage of their incredible deal and save 50% or more on your SimplySafe security system during the biggest sale of the year. Visit simplysafe.com slash loan box to learn more. The link is at the top of the description box. The next thing about this store you guys is that everything's kind of separated into color stories. So they have different trees pertaining to different color stories and then all the ornaments and like accessories for that tree are right around it. So if you wanted to shop for like a specific color story, you could do so and there's like so many different ornaments and little containers. So far you guys, this tree right here is my favorite in terms of color palette. Definitely a little full for me. I'm not a fan of like overly done trees like this but I do like the colors here. They're very natural and earthy. So this is kind of a vibe I'm going for. However, I think I want to mix in like some rusty tones like a little bit of rust, maybe like some mauve color as well just for the color way and then I have a lot of like metallics like antique metallics. That's kind of the vibe that I'm thinking I'm going for. This was more of the palette. I was kind of mentioning to you but I think a little bit more brown and a little bit less saturated but I love this color way here. I think it's so beautiful. The ornaments are so pretty. I love these. This store you guys is massive. Look at all these trees. I feel like I'm in like a little forest or something. The colors are so stunning. Oh my gosh, look at this tree. The colors in this tree are beautiful. There's just so much stuff here. Wow, these are gorgeous. Something that I kind of noticed about the store you guys is that a lot of the ornaments really are larger. Like I feel like the store is better if you have a larger scale tree. Everything's really oversized and my tree's on the smaller side this year. I'm going to check out the store a little bit more and then probably move on to somewhere with some more ornament packs and some DIY ornaments and some other Christmas decor that isn't extra large but everything's so beautiful here. I normally wouldn't gravitate towards an ornament like this but I kind of love the color and association with everything else I've picked out here and then I could do my rusty DIY ornaments as well that I kind of have planned for. I think these are great. So I'm going to go ahead and pick these up from the store and we can head to the next. Thoughts on Aldeck. That store is everything for Christmas. Even if you just want to walk around and get inspired, I got very inspired in there. So many different color palettes, so many trees that are fully decorated and they have a ton of ornaments but everything there is on the larger scale and I'm kind of going for a little bit of a smaller scale in terms of ornaments and trees and all of my decor and stuff. So I think I'm going to go ahead and head to the Topanga Mall now. They have a Creighton Barrel, an anthropology and an H&M home there which I've never been to the H&M home or Creighton Barrel there. So I want to check all of those places out and see if we can find any more Christmas decor. I saw these on Anthro's website you guys. Look how cute they are. They're little tree candles. And then once you're done with them you can just use them as little tree decor but I love how it doubles. Like I would buy this just as the decor piece but you get a candle. I think these vessels that Anthro put these candles in are the most beautiful vessel ever. How pretty are these? How fun are these whisk lamps they have displayed in here? Those aren't crazy. They're cardboard. Oh my gosh, I wonder if they built this as an install. I always love anthropology's installs. Currently an H&M home and they don't have too much Christmas-y items but I did find this really, really beautiful kind of wool blanket that I love. I love the texture of it. So I think I'm going to grab that and then we also found these. This whole candle holder. How cute is that? Oh my gosh, look. It's like when you walk through the nighttime and you need a little candle to get to the bathroom. Yeah, I'm just going to use that instead of my phone. All right, we made our way to Target.  These are like mercury glass trees and they're $5 a piece and I honestly feel like I can grab some of these and DIY them and kind of do a similar thing that I did to both fall rustic hurricanes and kind of turn these into more of a rustic rusted tree but use this as a base and I love the mercury glass finish on it. I also already picked up some of these golden metal trees as well. They have a few different styles. There's like this one here and then they have this more kind of jaggedy one as well but I plan on spray painting these. I'm not a fan of how shiny they are but I love the metal base of them. These trees for the new Studio McGee holiday collection at Target I think are so freaking cute. How cute would these be outdoors? You guys like outside of your front door or something? I just love the pot and I love how like wispy the actual branches of the tree is. I just don't really know where I would utilize them. Marie wants that. How cute are these ornament hooks you guys? They're like twisted metal as opposed to just your traditional kind of like normal green ones, you know what I'm saying? This is twisted gold metal. It's so pretty. They also have it in the silver as well which I actually really like the silver too. God, that's torn on both. And I got the silver which is something I never normally opt for but I have an idea. I am at Creighton barrel.  Oh well. What I was saying before I almost got hit was that we got a couple of things at the mall. There wasn't too much though I think it's just because the stores there are a bit on the smaller side so I did get a couple of really cute items from H&M Home and then where else did we go Marie? Anthropology and Target. There's a target in the mall but on the smaller side again I'm outside of Creighton barrel right now but I'm gonna take a quick Instagram photo in this little grassy field and then we're gonna head in and see what they have. I've seen this slotted wood tree color on their site before and it's so pretty. I love it. Look at these little foxes. And you guys this kind of goes with the color palette. I wonder if I should get some of these. They're like little Cecil foxes. I just love this palette. Like this is kind of the palette that I'm going for this year right here. These like dark moody like antique metallic tones. Honestly the disco ball ornaments are also super cute. I love them. Last stop of the night is Home Goods you guys. Every single store we've been going into has had such a very minimal selection of stuff. So I go in thinking I'm gonna be able to vlog a whole bunch and share with you guys some decor but every store has just a very minimal amount but in here we should have some good finds. Home Goods always has a bunch so let's check it out. These little tree toppers are so cute made of fabric and then they also have them in like the basket material. Some wooden trees, a little deer. This is more like it. Lots and lots of options. I love when you have to dig through everything. It's so much more fun because you feel like you're gonna find a treasure. Like what's back here? Oh felt garlands. These ornaments you guys look exactly like the ones from Creighton Barrel and the price 9.99. And I bet you the Creighton Barrel ones were probably like 60 bucks for a pack of four. Gonna grab these, got these ones as well. These ones are only 6.99.  Maria's finding all of the good stuff you guys. Look at these ones. I got three packs of ornaments and the ornaments were the same price as one from Aldick but you know what? Sometimes it's just nice to have those specialty ornaments and I loved going there. So that's all for today but I'm gonna go ahead and go to a couple stores tomorrow and I'll catch you guys in the morning. Day two of our shopping journey. I'm with my friend Louis and Marie today. We have a little group going. We are gonna go ahead and go inside of Delamo Mall because there's an R-House in here which I've never been to R-House in person before. I don't even know if I'm saying that correct. But they have an R-House in here. There's a Creighton Barrel over here and there might be a couple of other stores. So let's check it out. Getting a little bit of a later start today. The sun's already setting but you know what? That's all right. We're gonna find some cute things. So let's head in and see what they have. R-House has exactly the kind of ornaments I'm gonna try to recreate. I'm actually gonna purchase one of these just as a reference point. I saw these Turkish stockings on R-House's website which is one of the main reasons I wanted to come here and how beautiful is this, you guys? I love it. It's $79. A little pricey for a stocking but I do love how it's gonna look. I'm just gonna grab one of them though because I actually have a couple for my store this year that I wanna include in my decor as well. So I'm gonna mix this one in and do kind of like some mismatched stockings. How great is this herringbone flooring? I'm gonna need this in my house in the future. Everything's just so aesthetic. Hey guys, I need my new chair, my dining chair for my table. Looks like a chair of Viking wants it in. A dining chair, just a simple dining chair.  I mean, it's not really with a color palette but super cute. If you have made it this far, it is time for a haul. I am very, very excited to share with you guys all of the Christmas decor I ended up picking up. I'm wearing my sweatpants feeling very cozy at the moment. As you guys know at the beginning of the video, I mentioned that I really haven't purchased any new Christmas decor. I've had the same stuff for like six or seven years since I've been in college, which is 100% fine. But I figured this year I might as well go ahead and splurge a little bit, get some new Christmas decor to inspire you guys with. And I also just wanted to kind of change up my decor as well. After a couple of years of doing the same thing, you're kind of like, I need a refresh. So I'm gonna be going through everything around me.  I got so much stuff. And a lot of stuff I actually didn't even share in the vlog portion of the video. So it's gonna be a little bit surprising. Also everything I do features is gonna be linked in the description box below but let's dive on in. I can't even sit, there's too much stuff you guys. Oh my gosh. Okay. I'm gonna start off with Target because I really did get the most stuff there and it's probably the most affordable stuff in today's video as well. So let's just dive right in. One of the first items I actually found were these little berry stems. And I thought these were so pretty because I love how wispy they were and almost sparse at the same time. I've really been into very sparse plants lately or stems or floral picks and these I just loved. I love the red color as well. So I picked up four of those. I then went ahead and picked up two throw pillows. The first one here is this green one. I just loved this. I love how it has little Christmas tree on the side. It has this kind of chunky woven texture in the middle. It's this really pretty kind of foresty green color. I also picked up another throw pillow here. This one's really cute. I've seen this one so many times and I finally decided to just pick it up because every time I walk past it I'm like, do I really need that? And I did need it. So I got it. It has these knitted Christmas tree designs on it but I love it because it's ivory, super simple. It's a great layering piece. It has a bunch of texture in it and it also has just a slight Christmas element about screaming Christmas. I got this really pretty green chunky knit blanket. This is from the Studio McGee line. I believe both of those pillows are as well but I loved the tassels on the end. Love the color of the blanket, how chunky it was. And honestly, the blankets and throws they've been putting out lately from their line have been top notch. Moving into a little bit of decor from Target. I actually picked up these metal trees here which these are so, so cool. They're like brass metal but a little bit of a toned down brass and they're just metal cut out trees and then there's a larger one as well. A larger one was $20, smaller one was 15. I got this pack of Belle vase filler which I'm not too sure if I'm gonna actually use this as a vase filler like in a vase or something or I might even turn them into ornaments just because there were so many really pretty brass bells in here so I figured I could also utilize those as ornaments so I picked up this pack which was I believe, oh yeah, just only $10. A couple weeks back while I was at Target I came across these spruce garlands and spruce reeds and I just loved them so I picked them up. These are from the Studio McGee line as well. I thought I'd go ahead and share them with you guys. This is what the wreath looks like. It is so pretty. It has a white ceramic bell hanging from the top here. I believe this was around $30 to $40 but I also picked up four packs of the Cedar Garland that matched and I am so excited. I actually plan to utilize this in my archway in kind of the dining room area. I wanna put this over the top of the arch so I got four strands of that. Kind of a little random item that I picked up were these twisted taper candles. I thought they were cute, six bucks for two and I could just utilize these in some taper holders. These are those little glass trees I found in the dollar spot so I got these two, a little bit of a smaller one and then these two trees as well. So I think I'm gonna go ahead and DIY those. There's Target items everywhere. I forgot I had these two.  It's 21 feet in length. I thought this would be cute maybe to decorate gifts with. I actually didn't get this in the mindset of Christmas. I got this a couple weeks back but I thought it would be perfect to utilize because I haven't been able to use it yet.   I just had to pick this up. I know it's not very Christmasy. It was $35 and they call it an antique wood bowl. This is also an option that you can go ahead and add your vase filler into. Just kind of make a little potpourri section in there and just add it on a coffee table or something. Now to the left of me, you guys probably see these little trees here. Now I actually did a little TikTok with JC Penney and they sent along these little cute trees. I just wanted to share them because I just adore them. Look how cute the little basket is at the bottom. They're so pretty. I just love how small they are. And there's two different sizes. There's this kind of more mini-er size and then a larger one. Oh my gosh, do we have more target, you guys? Target is just coming out. Oh yes, we do have a little bit more target. And that's because I got those little hooks, if you remember, those ornament hooks in the silver, which I think is gonna be so pretty. And I also, you guys, picked up five of these bells, these little silver bell ornaments. And that's because I've been seeing so many people with antique brass bells this year, but if you search them online, they literally cost like $100 a piece. So I'm gonna antique these myself and these were only three bucks a piece. So I thought those were a good deal. Let me share with you guys some of the ornaments that I ended up getting from HomeGoods.  There's a little bit of glitter on there, but it has that antique metal look that I've really been loving lately. Now these are open and these are so beautiful. They are also extremely heavy. The tops are also so nice as well. I love these ornaments. And this was a four pack for, how much were these ones? They were free. I don't even know. And then this last pack here I also love. I love the more wider ones in here. I think they kind of look like actual ceramic. And this was $12.99 for a pack of 12. Now you guys also saw me go to Aldecombe, which is a Los Angeles kind of Christmas oasis. A lot of people in LA go there to buy their Christmas decor. And I've never been before, so I decided to go this year. Definitely a little bit on the pricier side and their ornaments are so pretty. So I got this one here, which is like a blown glass ornament. I love how the top, I don't know if you guys can see that, how the top actually is kind of wrapped with glass as well. I got this one as well, which is just a circular shape and it kind of is more of a smoky glass with an iridescent finish to it. I also got this one, which is super pretty. It's like a rose gold with some glitter. Oh my gosh, I forgot I got these. Look at these ones, it's so pretty. I just have been loving brown lately. Lots of really rich tones have been kind of my preference. So I love this ornament as well. I basically got duplicates of a lot of the ones you saw there. So I'm not going to go through absolutely all of them. My anthropology finds are just right here. So let me share those with you guys too. I got this really pretty, kind of like boucle pillow. I'm not sure if they call this boucle, but it honestly is, it has like this butter scotchy tone to it. It has like brown and yellow and cream and a brass zipper on the side. Now this is definitely not screaming Christmas to me, but I want to incorporate it in my decor because I'm doing a very warm tree. So I figured that adding some warm toned pillows mixed in with, you know, maybe like that cream knitted one and even that green one would be so pretty. And then also for my anthropology, I got this stunning brass bell. I don't know what I'm going to do with it. I'm probably just going to style it, you know, on top of a coffee table or a bookshelf or something. And then I also got a couple more candles, you guys. I actually ended up getting the one up there, which is spiced cider. It's amazing. And then I got two very blatantly Christmas scented ones. This one is just fresh balsam and cedarwood, which just smells exactly like a lovely Christmas tree. And this one I think is eucalyptus and balsam. I just thought this actual vessel that it was in was beautiful. I love this so much. One of my favorite candle vessels that anthropology has done. We have a couple items here, you guys, from H&M Home. The first piece I got was this candle stick holder. We have some fluff flying around, but this I thought was just, again, so cute. Not screaming Christmas, but definitely I can add like a red taper candle or even the twisted taper. Like you guys, look, look at this. A little twisted taper candle in there. How cute. I also picked up this throw blanket, which is so pretty. The reason I got this was because it was so chunky, so natural, it had flecks of just brown and warmth in it. Again, kind of going through that vibe for Christmas this year. So this is not, again, screaming Christmas, but it just adds the element of cozy to your space. And then lastly, from H&M Home, I just picked up this little marble bowl. I just thought I'd put it on top of the coffee table or a set of books or something. You can use it just to kind of add some little trinkets or jewelry too. And last but not least, you guys, we have our house. And I'm crunched. I'm crunched in my location at the moment. From our house, you guys saw me pick up this ornament, which again, going with the theme of antique metals, this is kind of what I wanna recreate for my DIY ornaments this year. So I picked this up as a reference point, but I also, of course, will utilize it on the tree. I got one stocking just because I love the stocking this year over on Lone Fox's site, which by the way, guys, I have a whole line of home decor. I never share my own stuff. I don't know why. I feel so bad like pushing it on you guys. So if you wanna check it out, it's overonlonefox.com, an entire line of Christmas decor. But I got this stocking from our house, which is almost like a rug style stocking, like a Turkish woven stocking. And this was $79. It has a linen backing to it. It is just so pretty. And I wanna style this with the Sherpa one from my site because I think the textures will go really nicely together. The last piece I got from our house is a very large vase. This was $69, which I feel like is honestly a pretty decent price for a piece this large. But I wanna style this on top of the coffee table with some Christmas branches kind of coming out of the top of it. Maybe not those red target ones, but something a little bit more like a cedar branch or just something just kind of overflowing out of the top of this vintage style pottery. I know I didn't get too many things. Well, actually, honestly, I kind of did get a lot, but I do have stuff from last year. I'm gonna be going ahead and utilizing, but I just wanted to pick up some new items to feel like I had a fresh, like fresh decor to work with for this season, which I'm so excited about. And I'm also extremely excited for the new Christmas tree to arrive. Really wanna put it in like a pot or a basket or something. I don't know, if you guys have any ideas, let me know in the comment section below. And also don't forget to check out Simply Save Today's video sponsor if you guys have not already. I've had my Simply Save Forever. It is such an amazing home security system. If you saw any decor pieces that you liked or you wanna pick up for the holiday season, definitely make sure to order quickly so you can get it shipped to you before Christmas time. But I will catch you guys all in my next video. Have an amazing rest of your day and I'll catch you in the next one. Bye, everybody.


Okay, here we go. We're in Malachi. We just began last week. Powerful, powerful book, and we looked at verses one through five last time we're together. We're going to be looking at verse six to the end of the chapter today, verse 14 in Malachi chapter one. I'll give you a couple of reminders for those who perhaps weren't with us, and to also remind those who were with us of a couple of the things that we've already looked at in chapter one, when we looked at verses one through five, and we'll pick up and we'll look at verses six through 14, and we're going to be looking at the question that is asked by the Lord when he simply says, where is my honor? And so beginning here in Malachi in chapter one, verse six. A son honors his father and a servant his master. If then I am the father, where is my honor? And if I am a master, where is my reverence? Says the Lord of hosts to you priests to despise my name. Yet you say, in what way have we despised your name? You offer defiled food on my altar, but you say, in what way have we defiled you? By saying the table of the Lord is contemptible. And when you offer the blind as a sacrifice, is it not evil? And when you offer the lame and sick, is it not evil? Offer it then to your governor. Would he be pleased with you? Would he accept you favorably, says the Lord of hosts. But now entreat God's favor that he may be gracious to us while this is being done by your hands. Will he accept you favorably, says the Lord of hosts.  I have no pleasure in you, says the Lord of hosts. Nor will I accept an offering from your hands. For from the rising of the sun, even to its going down, my name shall be great among the Gentiles. In every place incense shall be offered to my name, and a pure offering for my name shall be great among the nations, says the Lord of hosts. But you profane it in that you say, the table of the Lord is defiled and its fruit, its food is contemptible.  And you sneer at it, says the Lord of hosts.  Thus you bring an offering. Should I accept this from your hands, says the Lord? But cursed be the deceiver who has in his flock a mail and makes a vow, but sacrifices to the Lord what is blemished. For I am a great king, says the Lord of hosts. My name is to be feared among the nations. God's in a bad mood. Son honors his father, servant his master. When we were looking at the introduction to Malachi, I was mentioning to you that at this time, at the time of the writing of this book, the spiritual life of Israel was in shambles. God in fulfillment of his promised Israel through Jeremiah the prophet had brought Israel back from Babylonian captivity. I had mentioned to you that under the leadership of a man by the name of Zerubbabel, as well as Ezra and Nehemiah, that the temple had been rebuilt, the city had been restored, temple sacrifice once again was practiced. And Israel was now dwelling safely in the land. Yet they had become calloused. They had forgotten the judgment that God had brought and they had forgotten the sorrow of their ancestors' captivity. And that sorrow that they experienced while in captivity is poignantly revealed to us in one of the Psalms. If you want to hear what their heart was like when they were in Babylonian captivity, all you need to do is read Psalm 137. Because in Psalm 137, verses one through six, you get a snapshot, you get a glimpse of the agony of the Jews at that time who were in captivity in Babylon, those who had been taken and were now living in a foreign land. And in that particular Psalm, Psalm 137, verses one through six, the Psalmist writes, by the rivers of Babylon, we sat and wept when we remembered Zion. There on the poplars we hung our harps, for there our captors asked us for songs. Our tormentors demanded songs of joy. They said, sing us one of the songs of Zion. How can we sing the songs of the Lord while in a foreign land? If I forget you, O Jerusalem, may my right hand forget its skill. May my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth if I do not remember you, if I do not consider Jerusalem my highest joy. My tormentors said, you Jews are known for singing songs of rejoicing and praise and excitement and enthusiasm. Sing us some of your songs now. And so they remembered while they were there. They remembered what they had left behind, but at this point in the history of Israel, they're forgetting the lesson that they had been taught. While they were in captivity, they had been given permission to return to the land that had been granted to them by a king by the name of Cyrus. King Cyrus of Persia. God had made a statement. When you read your Old Testament, you see this in various Old Testament books. God had made a statement that he would judge Israel. And he judged Israel for 70 years, but he had also promised that after the 70 years are up, I'm gonna allow you to return to the land. When Isaiah was writing, the book of Isaiah was written about 750 years before Christ. When Isaiah was writing in chapter 44, verse 28, and he was prophetically speaking to Cyrus, speaking of Cyrus, it says, he is my shepherd and will accomplish all that I please. He will say of Jerusalem, let it be rebuilt and of the temple, let its foundations be laid. And so there were already prophecies being made concerning what God planned to do in the still distant future. In Jeremiah 29, verse 10, Jeremiah being written around 605 before Christ. Jeremiah writes, this is what the Lord says, when 70 years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill my gracious promise to bring you back to this place. And then when you read in the book of Ezra, in chapter one, verses one through three, Ezra being written around 538 years before Christ, it says, in the first year of Cyrus, King of Persia, in order to fulfill the word of the Lord spoken by Jeremiah, the Lord moved the heart of Cyrus, King of Persia, to make a proclamation throughout his realm and to put it in writing. This is what Cyrus, King of Persia says, the Lord, the God of heaven has given me all the kingdoms of the earth and he has appointed me to build a temple for him at Jerusalem in Judah. Anyone of his people among you, may his God be with him. Let him go up to Jerusalem in Judah and build the temple of the Lord, the God of Israel, the God who is in Jerusalem. And so Cyrus gave that command, but the command was given for those who desired to go. And he had said, go back to Jerusalem, go back and rebuild the house of God. You see the Babylonian King, King by the name of Nebuchadnezzar had destroyed the city and destroyed the temple. That's recorded in second Chronicles 36 and it lay in ruins for 70 years. But permission was granted for all who would return and after 70 years, the sad fact is after 70 years, many of the Jews who had gone into captivity had had children. They had had homes for themselves and they had settled in Babylon. What originally for them was a pain. What originally for them was a sorrow. What originally had caused them to write songs of sorrow concerning their captivity had been forgotten. They were now at home in the world, if you will. Now, at the time of the writing of Malachi, they'd been home for some time, but the religion has become formal. It was ritual without reality. It was empty and it had become lifeless. And even as we saw in the introduction, Malachi pointed out that they were dull to God's great love for them. They had forgotten how he had demonstrated his love by bringing them back. They were apathetic about their lack of zeal for the Lord. They didn't fear him any longer. They became insensitive to conviction and their sins, even when pointed out to them in no uncertain terms, didn't provoke them to turn from them. And that's what we're seeing in Malachi when we pick up at verse six and the Lord continues speaking to them. And so he says in a very powerful way at verse six, a son honors his father, a servant his master, if then I am the father, where's my honor? And if I am a master, where's my reverence? Says the Lord of Hosts, to the priests who despise my name, and yet you say, in what way have we despised your name? A son honors his father and a servant his master, but as a dad, where's my honor? Matthew, rather, Malachi is now pointing out in gratitude. They're in gratitude towards God, God who is a father. And notice how he points us out. He does it by pointing out their lack of honor as well as their lack of reverence for him. God had treated the people as a loving father, he treats his babies as he treats his dear children. And in spite of this, they have failed to honor him, even as a son ought to honor a father. He's saying there's a proper respect that has been withheld from me. Sons are supposed to honor their fathers. My mother tried to teach me to do that. My dad made sure I did that. If I then am your father, where's my honor? That's a powerful question. He's simply saying there is a proper respect that should be offered to me that you have been withholding from me. Now what's interesting is this, and we'll look at this. How did that happen? What was instigating that kind of withdrawal of respect from the Lord? Well, he says it's the pollution of the priesthood. You see, the duties of the Jewish priest included the responsibility of teaching the right way of the Lord. In the Old Testament book of Leviticus, in chapter 10, for example, at verse eight, it begins by saying, the Lord spoke to Aaron. Aaron was Israel's first high priest, and so it begins by saying, the Lord spoke to Aaron. And then he goes on in verse 11 of chapter 10, and he says this, he says, teach the children of Israel all the statutes which the Lord has spoken to them by the hand of Moses. So it was a responsibility of the priesthood to teach the word of God to the children of Israel. They were responsible to communicate the things that pleased God. And the way to communicate that which pleases God was to teach them the word of God and to encourage them to obedience to God. In other words, it's not enough for them to be taught things about God, but they were also to be encouraged to be obedient to him. There are a lot of people even today to speed it up to 21st century, and all of us know this as a fact. There are a lot of us who proclaim ourselves as Christians, who on the one hand can repeat things that we have learned in church or in a devotion or perhaps on the radio or whatever, some form of communication concerning God. There are many people who are very capable of talking concerning the things of God, speaking concerning the things they've heard of God, but they're not obedient to those things. And Malachi's beginning, God through Malachi's beginning, first laid the blame at the feet of the priests, because your responsibility is saying to the priests is to teach the right way to these people. You're responsible to communicate the things that are pleasing to the Lord. And you're to do this by teaching the nation of Israel and encouraging the nation of Israel to obedience. In the book of Nehemiah in chapter eight, verse two, it reads, Ezra the priest brought the law before the assembly of men and women and all who could hear with understanding on the first day of the seventh month. And it goes on into verse eight, Nehemiah eight, verse eight, and it says they read distinctly from the book in the law of God and they gave the sense and helped them to understand the reading. See that was their ministry. Many of them didn't understand the words in Hebrew and so they read the word and then they explained to them what it was that was being said. And that's the responsibility of the teaching priest and that's the responsibility in New Testament terms of a pastor. A pastor's responsibility is to teach the word of God and to provoke or encourage people to not only hear, but to hear and to obey. Even as I was mentioning just recently in one of the studies, how that when the Lord God was speaking through the prophet Ezekiel and he was speaking to the nation of Israel and I'm paraphrasing a portion of scripture, he said, son of man, he said they come and they sit before you and they sit before you as if they are my people. And he says they're even speaking about you throughout the city.   He says and they're acting as if they're my people. He says but they're not my people. He says because in reality, you have become to them like a man who plays skillfully on an instrument and sings with a beautiful voice. In other words, you become an entertainment to them.  You've got a novelty, you've got a certain kind of draw.  He says so they sit before you as if they're my people. He said and this is what's important that I wanna point out about that whole thing. He says they sit before you as if they're my people but they are not my people, God says. They are not my people because, so he gives the because, because they hear and they do not do. How do you know you're one of God's kids? You hear and you do. And one of the ways that I can test my walk with God as to whether or not I have one is if I hear and don't do or if I hear and do. And he says and the Lord says in that particular case, he says no they sit before you as if they're mine, they're not mine because they hear and they don't do. They appreciate but only the novelty of it, not the spiritual reality of it. That's why when we're looking in Matthew and you see in chapter seven, the Lord speaking concerning people. He says some people will build their house on sand and others build their house on the rock and Jesus distinguishes in this way. He says trials come and things happen. The difference is the one who built on the rock is the one who hears my word and does it. And the one who's really building on sand is the one who hears my word but does not do it. So one of the ways that you and I can know whether we know the Lord or not is if we hear and if we do and so God begins which is really interesting to me with his chastising of the nation. He begins with the priests and he's saying to them you're not teaching them and encouraging them to do the right thing. You are not pleasing to me. So God's displeasure here in verse six is first vented towards a priest and it says here they had defiled food on his altar. Notice how he says there, you priests who despise my name. Interesting way to say it, you priests who despise my name. The word despise means to hold something in contempt or to disdain it. You hold my name in contempt. And he's speaking to them and he says to you priests who despise my name but notice their response. Yet you say in what way have we despised your name? So there's an argument going on between the priests and God himself. In what way? Notice that kind of response is callous and it's blind. And so he gives the answer by your indifference. Your indifference disregard for my word. You see, when you read the Bible, especially as you look at the Old Testament and the sacrifices and things that were related to worship, in the Old Testament, you see that God had given proper regulations concerning acceptable worship and sacrifice. You see, you don't worship God either in the old or the New Testament according to your imagination, invention or good intention. You worship him in spirit and in truth. And in the Old Testament, God had given regulations and part of the regulations related to their offerings. So when you look in Deuteronomy, for example, the fifth book of the Old Testament and he's given the law, he says in Deuteronomy 17 verse one, you shall not sacrifice the Lord your God a bull or a sheep which has any blemish or defect. That he says for that is an abomination to the Lord your God. Or in the book of Leviticus in chapter 22 verse 20 where it says whatever has a defect you shall not offer for it shall not be acceptable on your behalf. In Leviticus 22 verse 24, it says you shall not offer to the Lord whether it is bruised or crushed or torn or cut nor shall you make any offering of them in your land. So God said, I have specific regulations pertaining to what I'll accept as an offering. So it was the priest's duty, it was his responsibility, it was his service to God to show this proper way to the people. God demanded worship of him to be done in a particular way. He did not then nor does he now accept just any approach to what may be thought of as worship. Keep this in mind, sincerity doesn't count. He had given them minute instructions as to how to approach him. You see sincerity is just added sincerity but that doesn't make it, it doesn't make it something God says, oh yeah, I accept your sincerity because you can be sincerely wrong. I remember the story of a young mama many years ago now whose child was ill and the doctor had prescribed a particular medication and she put it in the bathroom in medicine chest, we used to call it. And baby began to cry and pain, needed its medicine. Mama got up, she was real tired and she opened up the cabinet and she pulled out the medicine and took it and gave the dosage to the baby and the baby reacted to the medicine and died. She didn't know what had happened and she went and looked back at the label of the medicine and she had actually not given the baby the medicine, she gave the baby mercuricrome which is a poison and poisoned her own child. Nobody would ever argue that that mama intentionally did that. She sincerely gave the baby the medicine. Sincerely gave the baby the medicine. She loved the baby and sincerely gave the baby the medicine. She sincerely was wrong. Sincerity isn't what God says counts. Faith and trust and following what he says does. And the nation of Israel was not following properly because the priests were not instructing them properly. It's the priest's duty and it's calling and his responsibility. It's his service to God to show the proper way of worship to God, to the people. And so the priests were to have inspected the sacrifices and they were to give the ones that were acceptable. They were to make sacrifices according to God's standards. The standards revealed in scripture. Again, there's an acceptable sacrifice. There is a proper offering to God. Now, today for some, the thought that there's a proper sacrifice to God, that there's a way to God, I'll take that even further as a Christian, the thought that he accepts us only through Jesus Christ is a foreign thought even in churches today. In some churches there are those who are standing up saying, you know, you can get to heaven through other sources or other ways. But the Bible doesn't teach that. And see, that's the thing that makes the world so upset with us believers in Christ. Because Jesus said, I'm the way, the truth and the life. No man comes to the Father, but by me. Jesus said, we didn't invent that. Listen, if I invented a religion, it would be entirely different than Christianity. At least in that way, I'd say, you know what? Do your best. And just see what happens, you know. That's kind of how I'd be. I don't want to cause you to have a bad day.  And if you enjoy what you're doing, who am I to judge? And at the same time though, when you actually give the word of God, there is no name given among men under heaven whereby we must be saved. That's a pretty strong statement.  I'm speaking to people who understand this. That doesn't make us popular. It doesn't. But there was a writer by the name of C.S. Lewis. And C.S. Lewis said this. He said, if you do not listen to theology, that will mean that you have no idea, that will not mean that you have no ideas about God, but that you have a lot of wrong ideas. And that's absolutely correct. It's not that you don't have ideas about God, is that you have a lot of wrong ideas. And that's why we need God's word. You see, in disregarding God's word, the priests misrepresent God and they defiled him. Verse seven says, you offered defiled food on my altar, but you say, in what way have we defiled you? By saying the table of the Lord is contemptible. Again, God desires us to worship in spirit and truth, not according to our own methodologies or means. He continues and he says in verse eight, when you offer the blind as sacrifice, is it not evil? And when you offer the lame and sick, is it not evil? Offer it then to your governor. Would he be pleased with you? Would he accept you favorably, says the Lord of hosts? Yeah, try and pay your taxes with two chickens. And then see if they, see if they take it. Of course they won't. You see, he says in verse eight, when you offer the blind as a sacrifice, is it not evil? These offerings, according to the law we just read, were actually profaning that which was holy. And though their attempt to worship in and of itself was not the evil by itself, the fact of the matter is, is they were saying one thing, yeah, we're worshiping God, but in our offering, the offering itself was not acceptable. And the priest had ceased fearing the Lord. And because the priest had ceased fearing the Lord, they were leading the people to do the same. I've shared this with you many times. It's an absolute fact. We all have influence. You may think that you don't, you do. All of us do. You know, some have greater influence than others, but we all have influence. And the influence that you have can be either good or it can be evil. It just depends on you and how you wield it. So you, as a believer, have a tremendous impact and you don't even realize it. Now, you may be thinking, who me, what am I doing? I'm just, you know, I just work at this job and I just have kids and, but you know, the bottom line is that your influence is amazing. It truly is. You need to value it. I don't know how to say this properly. You need to value the influence that you really do wield because you may not be somebody that is well-known or famous. But you may be right now influencing somebody who one day will be. It may be your own kid who enters into ministry and serves God. And you're thinking of yourself, you know, I'm just, I feel like I'm accomplishing nothing. But in reality, you're raising one of the next key leaders in the body of Christ that will move in a powerful, you just don't know that. You don't know what you're doing at this moment. You really don't. Your influence is amazing. You need to understand it and you need to live with this knowledge that who I am really does impact people. And the way I live really does impact people. And you may not even realize the degree that you actually do influence. And you can use your influence for good or you can use your influence for evil. And what had happened is the priests were influencing the people, but not in the proper way. Their influence wasn't for good. It had become evil. And the people were now being led to believe that if the priest accepted this sacrifice then God must also be accepting the sacrifice. And so that's part of the danger of being in spiritual leadership because you can misrepresent God. That's why James in chapter three verse one tells people, don't be seeking to become a teacher because you are gonna undergo stricter condemnation, stronger judgment because your influence that you're bringing when you're speaking about the Lord is something that God holds you much more accountable for. And so as he's speaking concerning this, I'll read verse nine and continue. Now entreat God's favor that he may be gracious to us. While this is being done by your hands, will he accept you favorably says the Lord of hosts?  I have no pleasure in you says the Lord of hosts, nor will I accept an offering from your hands.  And so bring in one more insight before we move on. Notice how in verse 13 it says you say, oh what a wariness and you sneer at it. They brought the sick, they brought the stolen even. They took the lame and all and they offered it to God. And the priest had found serving the Lord to be nothing but a burden. It was tiresome. I just had a great three days with little over 100 pastors and staff members and we had seven Bible studies we had in one on Monday, several on Tuesday, two this morning. We stayed up last night until about 10 in ministry after glow and then stayed up with somebody until midnight, talked about the Lord and speaking in ministry, got up this morning and you wanna know something? What a joy it is to do that. What a joy. You get physically tired, yeah you do of course. I mean serving the Lord is sometimes labor, yes. And it's even called the work of ministry because it entails physical exertion sometimes. That's a fact but it's never a weariness. It's never a weariness. There's times when people have walked up to me as a pastor of this fellowship and they will say to me, I don't wanna take your time pastor. And I always laugh and I'll say, you're not taking my time, I'm giving it. It's a gift. It's a gift. I mean that's what I exist for. I have people walk up to me in restaurants and I hope this doesn't sound like the David show. I'm just trying to make this real. You know they walk up to me in restaurants and let's say pastor, I go to your church. I'm sorry if I'm bothering you. And I always say the same thing. No, pay my bill. No, I always say the same thing. It's my pleasure. It's my joy. This is what I live for. That's a fact. Please if you ever run across me anywhere outside of here because sometimes it's trippy. I'll give you an example. Marie, my wife and I and Randy and Jeanette Walls are very close friends. Been friends with them for 35 years. And on occasion we'll steal away and go some place together. And usually it's to slow. It's to San Luis Obispo. Usually it is. So a few days, several days ago now we took a Thursday Friday and Saturday and we took off together. And we were in just south of San Luis Obispo in a small beach community. And it was Friday night. And okay, we're in a little teeny place. I don't even know how to pronounce it. It's a Spanish name. I ought to know how to pronounce it, Avila. But people call it Avila. So I don't know how to call it. Avila, whatever. We were, so we're in this place. And we're walking and they're having some outdoor festival that's in that. And so there's a crowd of people but it's a very small area. Some of you perhaps are familiar with this. And so as we're walking in this area, this small area, that's, you know, I mean, when you go up to the central coast, there's not a lot of population there anyway. That's why I go. And I like to relax. And we're walking through by this barbecue place. They have much barbecue out in the open festival kind of thing. We come walking around it. We're walking up the sidewalk. And here comes somebody straight at me and stops and says, Pastor David. And I look at him. Yeah. And we start talking, his brother and our fellowship and his wife and his name is Tony and we're having a conversation.  I love it. You know, I enjoy that so much. And Randy turns to me and he said, I was wondering when that's going to happen. And because he's been with us so many times in so many places that you wouldn't think somebody would know your ministry or you. I've been on planes where I've had stewardesses walk up and say, excuse me, are you David Rosales? And I'll say, who wants to know? I'll say, no, I'll say, yes, I am. I listened to you on K-Wave. I've gone to different places in New Mexico, New York, where you run across people in Dallas, Texas, you know, just walking from point A to point B and a soldier walks up, a major in the Army on his way to Middle East. He says, Pastor, I go to your church. Can you pray for me? I mean, we have had so many encounters. And so many times people will say, I don't want to bother you. It isn't wearisome to me. It isn't wearisome to me. Do you know what a thrill that is to me? I love it. I enjoy it. But start paying my bill. Come on. No, I love it. And I'll say, so listen, please, it is never wearisome to serve Jesus. It isn't. It is never, yes, you get tired. And yes, you can get drained. And yeah, there's a lot of things that go on that are behind the scenes that people may not understand as it pertains to it. But when these priests are going around saying it's wearisome, oh, what a weariness. And you sneer at this. He said, you don't understand the grace and compassion and goodness of God. You don't understand what a joy it is to serve Him. So a minister who does not enjoy serving the Lord ought to do something else. How to do something else. And somebody one time told me, I love the ministry. It's people I don't like. Well, you've got to have it a little bit backwards here, because people are the ministry. They are the ministry. And so they're sneering at their service together. And God takes great offense at that. They're bringing these things. And the priests are finding that serving the Lord is nothing but just a terrible burden. Now, going back to what we were looking at prior to that, when you're speaking concerning these sacrifices that are unacceptable, again, in the law, you were to give the best that you had to God, but they were giving what had no value to them. And second Samuel, chapter 24 verse 24, David said, I will not sacrifice to the Lord my God-burned offerings that cost me nothing. Proverbs 11, 24 says, there is one who scatters, yet increases more. There is one who withholds more than is right, but it leads to poverty. In the New Testament, 2 Corinthians chapter 9 verse 6, Paul said it like this. He said, remember this, whoever so sparingly will also reap sparingly. Whoever sows generously will also reap generously. You don't give your leftovers to God. You give the first to God. That's how it works, because that's demonstrating that you understand sacrifice and that you love and worship Him. So he says, listen, if you think giving what is no good to God is OK, then he said in verse 8 again, he said, offer it then to your governor. To offer this kind of gift to even a government official would be an incredible insult. It's something kind of practical as a husband. Try giving your wife an anniversary present that's defective. Honey, I was walking in the field and I saw these dandelions. And I thought that you'd really like them. Try that. And remember, I do good funerals and I will do yours. Look at this, honey. I got you this great perfume. I got it's a whole gallon for $2. You got so much. Try doing that and see what happens. It doesn't work.  And they will not see that as acceptable at all. And yet he's saying, try giving that to the governor. Try and give to the governor something that has no value. See if he accepts it. And the question to Israel was, why do you think that God accepts things that are defective when a man won't? That's a good thing to think about. We would not willfully give defective gifts to those we love, but we do this kind of service to God. Remember 2 Corinthians again in chapter 9 verse 7 where it says, each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. So we always give God our best, not our leftovers, because giving him the leftovers is just revealing insincerity and a thankless heart. He says in verse 10, who was there even among you who would shut the doors so that you would not kindle fire on my altar in vain? I have no pleasure in you, says the Lord of hosts, nor will I accept an offering from your hands.  It's interesting how he speaks of shutting the doors.  The shut the doors is speaking of shutting the doors of the temple, shut the doors of the temple so that people cannot enter in to defile it. Today it would be saying, please close down the church because I don't see it as being acceptable. Remember that Jesus exemplified that mentality when he cleansed the temple. Remember in Matthew 21 how it says in verses 12 and 13 that Jesus went into the temple of God and drove out all those who bought and sold in the temple, overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves. And he said to them, it is written, my house shall be called a house of prayer, but you have made it a den of thieves. God has never accepted that. He has never accepted the worship of God to be tainted with human flesh or to be given to him that which mattered not to the giver. And Jesus made it clear. He said that, and it's interesting, it's interesting, one of the things that is said concerning the temple that I find fascinating when it's being described is how it says my temple, my house shall be called a house of prayer. And it's supposed to be a house of prayer for all nations. It's to be a place where people gather together from everywhere to worship God. But in the way that you're handling things there, remember we looked at this recently, the way that you're doing things there, you're actually turning people away instead of bringing them in and teaching them the right way. And so God was very upset and he said, I have no pleasure in you and I will not accept an offering from your hands. In verse 11, for from the rising of the sun, even to it's going down, my name shall be great among the Gentiles and every place in sent shall be offered to my name and a pure offering for my name shall be great among the nations. But you profane it in that you say the table of the Lord is defiled and it's fruit, it's food is contemptible.  Should I accept this from your hands says the Lord but cursed be the deceiver who has in his flock a male and makes a vow but sacrifices to the Lord who is blemished for I am a great king says the Lord of hosts, my name is to be feared among the nations. I am a great king and my name is to be feared amongst the nations. Practical application, God does not need hypocritical worship. He does not require their defective ungodly offering. He says my name will be great among those who do not at that time acknowledge him. My name shall be great amongst the Gentiles. Now, prophetically, this takes place obviously through Jesus' death on the cross and his creation of from the Jew and the Gentile, the one new man that would be referred to also as the church. And as I've been saying over and over again to you recently, especially as we've been going through certain portions of Matthew, how that God created in the Old Testament a definition Jew and Gentile in the New Testament, there's the Jew, there's the Gentile and then there's the church made up of believing Jews as well as believing Gentiles. At this time, the church is still in the future but God intends to reach the Gentiles. Now, Israel was to be a light in a very dark place. You see the nation of Israel, the nation of Israel was taken out from amongst pagans. Abraham is spoken of as being one from a land by idolatry and a family of idolaters.  And God made him what is called the father of the Jews. And so Abraham was brought into relationship with God and through Abraham, ultimately the Jewish nation sprang to existence. And then in the history of the Jews, God ultimately is given to them commands and he does so through Moses and Moses is the law giver and Moses brings to the nation of Israel the commands of God. And in the commands of God, he makes it very clear you're not to have any graven images. You are the people who are not to have idols. You are the people who are not to make anything in heaven or that appears to be from heaven because you worship the invisible God. In an area of geography where all the small nations around that area all have their own tribal gods and they all make their own little God images and they follow after their gods. God was saying you will be unique.  And I'm gonna show you my grace and I'm gonna show you my love and I'm gonna make you unique. And as a unique people you're gonna worship me the invisible God and you will not worship me with anything that is graven anything that is an image of heaven. You will worship me the invisible God and that makes you unique.  You will not have idols. You will be unique amongst the world of idolatry in that you worship the invisible God. But how does this invisible God become visible to man? God takes upon himself human flesh and he dwells amongst us. John says, and we beheld him the only true son of God full of grace and truth. The word became flesh and dwelt amongst us.  Now Israel at one time was to be the light of the world but Jesus goes on to say, I am the light of the world but then Israel says, you shall be lights. Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works glorify my father who is in heaven. So how does the invisible God incarnate? One, Jesus took upon himself human flesh dwelt amongst man, man beheld him saw the glory of God in human flesh. Two, he created something called the church, the temple of the living God and the spirit of God dwells in every genuine believer in Christ. And in a very practical way, the invisible God is still being made manifest not through idols but through his children. And so God has created you to be, well, Christian. You know what Christian means? It means Christ like but it also has been translated little Christ's and the word Christian was not a word that was used originally as a compliment. The word Christian originally was used as a put down. There comes those little Christ's those people who think they're like Jesus was a put down. So it wasn't something that you said, I'm gonna name my son Christian. It was, I'm going to as the temple of the living God I'm gonna live in such a way that people will know that God is alive because he has transformed this terrible wretched sinner and has made me and is making me in his image and I'm becoming Christ like. So when people see you, they will say there's something different about you and it's not just your haircut or the way you dress. See that's where the church has always messed up over the years has messed up. As I say to you on occasion when I first got saved and I had the longer hair and I had the, you know the, we called them granny glasses and I didn't wear shoes and all of that and all of my friends were that way. It wasn't, you know, just me. I wasn't, you know, that was the trend at that time at all. But if you put me next to some cult member, if you put me next to a Mormon and you said which one of those do you think is the true Christian? The average American would have pointed to the Mormon because in the average American's mentality, clean cut, you know, white shirt, you know, and pressed lax, that's the Christian because they look in a certain way and that little hippie guy over there, he needs a bath and a haircut. And that's the way it was. It's pretty much that way again, isn't it? It is pretty much that way again. But do you know what I've discovered in some of you? I have discovered that when God, when God dwells within you, he transforms you from the inside out and it's not the outer appearance at all. It's not the outer appearance, it's the heart because man looks at the outer appearance but God looks at the heart. And when you come to faith in Christ, you stop having these attitudes of, I'm gonna give him less. You have this attitude, I'm gonna give him all. And that's what happens. That's what happens. And God is saying to the nation of Israel through the influence of the priests, you have offered me defective sacrifices because they're not teaching the word of God rightly to you. And what has happened is the children of Israel have despised me, they're rejecting me through your influence. And that's one of the reasons why again, ministers, pastors, teachers are to live in such a way as to give God honor and bring glory to him. You see, we are to fear God and worship him. And we worship him with our best, not our least. Nonbelievers should see Christians as those who have holiness and purity in their lives. Not an outward appearance of holiness because there was a time when people thought if somebody's holy, they're also bored.  Oh, that's such a holy person there. No, no, no, that person just doesn't have a life.  But there's also this desire to live in a way that pleases him. When it says my name is to be feared among the nations, one of the things that I believe very strongly is happening today and that we have to awaken out of is the church has gotten so caught up in thinking they can live in any way they want and go to heaven when God's word says, no, listen, I took you out of the sewer, not so that you could remain there, but so that you can show people there's a way out of there. That's what God did, you know? That was a drunk and a doper. Now I'm saved, what am I, a saved, drunk and doper? No, no, I'm a man who's been transformed by the power of the Holy Spirit and I used to drink the old wine and now I have the new and I have never awakened with a Holy Ghost hangover, never have because the wine of the Spirit is purity and holiness, it's power from God, it's a transformed life, it's revealed in the fruit of the Spirit which is love, joy, peace and so many other things that express that one thing that makes us what we are and the church is supposed to be, is being created by God to be holy and so the Bible makes it clear Proverbs 3-7 do not be wise in your own eyes, fear the Lord and depart from evil. He doesn't say fear the Lord and stay in it, he says fear the Lord and depart from evil and so when the Lord was speaking here again in verse 14, he said, cursed be the deceiver who makes his flock a male, who has in his flock a male and makes a vow but sacrifices the Lord to it is blemished. I'm a great king, says the Lord opposed, my name is to be feared among the nations. And he's saying, Israel, don't rip me off with the sacrifices, I'm not accepting them, I'm not accepting them because you're not offering that which I require of you and I'm placing blame at the feet of the priests but you're following their lead and what we need to do is we need to make sure that we never give to the Lord that which cost us nothing. Did he give to us that which cost nothing? Jesus Christ, no. He gave us the most priceless gift that we could have, his own son. How can I give him any less?


Seem 4 and GRISP is all about adding value so we know that rice of course has a third value but it can be increased not just by growing more rice for a farmer therefore more value but also improving the quality and using post harvest losses or through better post harvest technologies improve the quality of the rice through the marketability and the market price that the farmer can fetch for that but we also look at more breakthrough solutions how can we introduce new quality trades into the grain or how can we use byproducts from rice we have a lot of straw and rice husks that also could be utilized for other purposes if we have the technologies for this to add through that not only additional income to farmers or for farmers but also in some cases also help with solving another set of important environmental or development goals such as renewable energy production for example from biomass produce and rice fields. So one of the examples that I wish to side where I think we've made a big breakthrough in 2011 is the understanding of the genetic controls of how starch granules or starch crystals in the rice grain are being formed what are key quantitative trade loci that are responsible for that so we've discovered five of those and we found that if those are present in rice variety or if we move them together into a rice variety and most of the time essentially this variety has extremely low levels of chalk. Chalk is what looks like white stuff when you look at the rice grain we want rice grains or most consumers want rice grains to be translucent and if you have too much chalk then it essentially does two things it reduces the price of that rice so the net income for the farmer it often also leads to more broken rice so it's also bad for the miller so chalk-free rice and genetic discoveries that we have made in 2011 for this have a lot of prospect now to be moved into breeding of rice varieties and that is also very important with regard to climate change because we know that under increasing temperatures the amount of chalk and rice grain is also increasing so we're trying to address two problems one is more value for the farmer and better quality rice for the consumer and at the same time also making rice more resistant resilient to increased temperatures


Me and Steve had actually gone to do an estimate for a meth house that was raided by the DEA. Somebody bought it and then, you know, wanted it meth tested. So we went and did the meth test and went inside and it was absolutely a meth house. Indicative of the giant drawings of like Gollum and different motivational quotes by different rappers on the walls. It's interesting in meth houses like obviously all the copper wiring and everything's ripped out, but there's also like they just draw like everywhere. People who are just smoking meth in one meth house, they just draw everywhere. Every surface is like painted or these weird demon drawings and like the eye of Sauron looking things. It's definitely an interesting time being in there.


If you want me to continue with my work, it is crucial to support the channel via Patreon. Moreover, make sure to subscribe to Bobby's perspective on Rumble. All the links are in the description box below. May Allah bless you all. Alright guys, welcome back to the channel. If you're new month Bobby guys, today we're going to watch how an ex-Muslim girl completely exposes Islam. Yes, I'm absolutely sure she will just buy her little youtube video today. She will dismantle 1400 years of Islam and end it today. Of course. Guys, before we jump into the video, do me the favor. If you enjoy my work over here, leave me a thumbs up. Subscribe to the channel if you haven't already. And please check out the links in the description box. Alright, now with no further ado, let's have a look. Yes, yes, you're looking pretty. That's what attracted us to you. Let me give you some more compliments. You're trying to know what you believe in, what makes you believe in what you do, but why are you doing what you do? Actually, for me, I don't have any religions or I'm ignored because I was before Muslim. Yeah, I've been for a long time. That dangerous religion, no. The thing that made me leave my religion is that there is a lot of humiliating principles in Islam. As a woman, I can't believe in these things. Honestly, what's humiliating?  Actually, I'm just saying no one in his fully mental health would believe in that because this is insulting for humanity, honestly. In Koran, in Sunnah, they're saying that it's okay to beat women. It's okay to take her freedom and all these things. It's always the same arguments. It's okay to beat a woman. Yeah, show me a passage in the Koran where it clearly states, it's absolutely okay to just beat women.  It is absolutely fine. This is what the Koran states. This is, of course, an absolute lie, but moreover, the really important aspect here is that she says it's okay to beat women. Take away their freedom. And this, of course, a liberal standpoint. This is filmed in the UK, a liberal country, and therefore those ideas get infused into your head and you conflate them with freedom. What is freedom truly? Nowadays, freedom is, according to liberals, to get a b***h, for example, or to have multiple s*** partners to wear what you want, no matter how many s*** aspects of your body are exposed. That is all your freedom. They do not understand that all of those freedoms, quote unquote, are short-term gratifications. They feel good in the moment and later on you're gonna regret them.  You do that throughout your 30s. In your 30s, now you're childless and you're frustrated. You didn't build a family. You're left with nothing.  You come back home alone eating pizza and swiping on your Tinder app, trying to find a meaning in life. This is what your freedom brought you to. Short-term gratification will never bring you anywhere. You come home from work. Now you can sit down on the couch, watch some movies and eat hamburgers. That feels good in the moment. In the long run, you might get a heart attack. In the long run, you're not accomplishing anything.  Oh, that doesn't feel good. Oh, how oppressive. I just want to sit on the couch. You would never say that to this example, because you would see the value within that example.  All of those things through feminism have been displayed as something negative. Fight the patriarchy and you fell for it. And because you believe that those liberal standards are true now, this is why you automatically, of course, believe that Islam is evil, bad and oppressive. You do not see the value anymore, but guess what? In a few years' time, you will. And it's going to be you that is depressed. She's still young. This is what I believe. That's why I don't believe. But you know the Muslim, you know, because actually we try to Muslim, because we love people. They deny this. They say all women get a lot of rights and many Western women even become Muslims. Explain many wrong things. Of course, you cannot explain it. I wouldn't expect anything here from a 20-year-old woman. However, re-think about she said she's agnostic. She's an atheist. What have you? She doesn't adhere to a religion, but she's going to tell you what is right and wrong. Based upon what? That is the true question here. And no atheist, agnostic can reflect upon that, because she's just a girl. I know that. I'm not really talking to her. I'm talking to my audience over here. If we take her point and she really would firmly stand in her agnostic view, she would have to admit that she's standing up on nothing. An agnostic says, I do not know.  An atheist will tell you, I believe this is wrong. Based upon what? You don't believe in God. You do not believe in universal truths, in moral guidelines, in rights and wrongs. You believe in relativism. So if everything is relative, your opinion is relative. But the agnostic is even worse, because the agnostic says, I'm not taking a position. I'm a fan sitter over here. And I do not know, could be. So if you tell me it could be, then I tell you how it will be. There is right and there is wrong. Your opinion is wrong. The real Sunnah, and if you open the Quran, the real Quran, you're going to see all of this written there. It's like it's Islam. I'm sorry, but I'm going to say what I believe in. The people who apply Islam, like the real Islam, it's ISIS. These people are applying it. She totally debunked Islam now.  This is real Islam. Listen to me. I'm going to tell you what I believe now.  And also it says in the Quran that, you know, I think it's a Quran that, you know, you can possess sex slaves in your right hand.  And some Muslim scholars, they don't even deny this. The sheikhs have spoken. Yes, this is what everybody agrees with.  Of course, concubinage, slaves quote unquote, are not even allowed in Islam any longer. This is what most scholars will agree with. The majority of Islam agrees that there is no concubinage at all anymore. Things in the religion, that's what I think. The people want to admit that their religion is completely crazy, honestly.  I am Muslim and I lived Islam. Once I got like an adult, I lived that. What do you live now? You don't even know what you're living on. We're interested in letting us know that Jesus Christ came to give us freedom. Because the enemy came to deceive us. Why Jesus came to give us freedom? And they want to do everything possible to stop the truth from people knowing the truth. Yeah, so what she's misconflating over there, she really believes that Jesus came to give you freedom. That's not what Jesus said whatsoever. Jesus said he came to fulfill the law. He said that nothing within the mosaic law will be changed. However, later on, then you have the doctrine of Paul, Paulianity, if you will, in which she tells you that the law has been abandoned now. During the time of Paul, most of the original Christians disagreed with that, of course. However, him working for the Roman government had of course a different intention here. Christianity, Paulianity became the state religion of the Roman Empire later on. It was catering to the pagans of Europe and hence the Europeans could continue with drinking alcohol, eating pork and whatnot. Yes, they really kept their freedoms. But this is definitely not what Jesus came to do. Okay, so what is the truth of God then? Did Jesus come and tell you, listen guys, I am God. Listen guys, actually I am the Son of God as well. And on top of that, somehow I'm the Holy Spirit. We are three in one. God is a trinity. Did Jesus come for that? No, of course, not, but this is what Christians claim. It's punk. There were no men to be in the bondage. We are not meant to come and serve any other God, anything other than Christ. No, that's why Christ is God in the flesh. Jesus is God in the flesh. So he actually came to... Yeah, I call shirk. That's been transferred, you know, to us. Not knowing about God and all that. But it is not good to show off. The girl is just nodding, she doesn't even understand anything. In the nature, in the things that he has made, he has proven it to us. And even if we say we are made from his image, you see, and after his likeness to live like him, we get what I mean. So both the enemy has come.  That is why we see all of this. What do you think about this, what she just said? She's speaking from her point of view. What I know, it's not only Islam that has humiliated and installed the principles to women and to different people, like LGBTQ community, for example. All the religions, if you are Jewish, if you are Christian, if you are Muslim, all the religions, they admit that. This is the first correct thing that she said. Yes, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, all of them in their core have a stance against quote-on-quote extremism. The Bible has the clearest stance of it. If you read in Leviticus, you will see, if you see a man laying with another man, as he lay with a woman, you should surely put them to death. This is what the Bible says. And therefore, yes, hostility is condemned in all of the three major Abrahamic faiths. That's just what it is. And if Christians tell you this is not the case, if Jews tell you that's not the case, or even if Muslims tell you that is not the case, then they're of course lying. Yes, religiously speaking, from the Abrahamic faith standpoint, hostility is considered wrong, is considered sinful. That is the stance. Why is that so? Because hostility does not lead to productive outcomes such as the nuclear family. Two males or two females cannot reproduce and hence cannot create a society. A society couldn't stand upon hostility. It is impossible. It goes against nature. It goes against God's design. And therefore, yes, Abrahamic faith-wise, this absolutely prohibited. The real question here is, of course, why you are taking the side of the ABCDEFG people. The answer to this is very simple. This is not a genuine thought. This is not something that you came up with. This is something that has been indoctrinated into you. You just have to look around. The push is there from all sides, starting in kindergarten. You see it on social media. You see it everywhere being pushed upon this generation. There's, of course, a deeper agenda at hand here. There is a movement to destabilize the family and like that ruin nation. And that's all I can say over here on this platform. Let's proceed with the video. Good, to clarify, I know about religion. You see, the religions are going to limit people from getting the truth. Exactly. Let's get back to that. Let's talk about the truth yet again. Let's not talk about hostility within Christianity. Let's not talk about what the Bible says about actuals. The Quran does not word it like the Bible. The Quran does not say, surely put them to death.  That's what the Quran says. Those are the words of the Bible. The Christians want to pretend they're all so nice, so warm and loving. Let's talk about the truth of Jesus. Preach, sister. You see, so that is more reason why we need to So if we want to use our standard and say, oh, this is his dream. The girl doesn't get anything. You see, yeah, you know, so we just encourage people. You as a person, you as a person, you have to be in truth with yourself and say, go, if you are good, please review to me. Yeah, we would. That's what Christians say all the time, man. When I was still an Orthodox Christian, guess what? I wanted to stay in Orthodox Christian and back then I spoke about this multiple times. I actually hated Islam. May Allah forgive me. So therefore I didn't want to become a Muslim even after reading the Quran. I was struggling every day. I saw the truth in the Quran. But I told myself, man, Christianity must be right. How can I stay within this religion? So I tried, even though I tried already three years prior to this, I still tried every day to pray to Jesus and ask God who he truly is.  Are you Allah or are you Jesus? Please, please reveal yourself to me. Guess what happened? Did Jesus appear magically in my bedroom? No, of course not. I revered it to Islam, Alhamdulillah. All of those people had visions. So can I clarify one minute about LGBT? Don't mental your man. Oh, I would like to. Do you have a gospel for her? So I would like to get to him. Basically, you look very pretty for your date. I hope he goes well. In terms of LGBT, I want to clarify. Wow, man. Look at those Christians, man. Amazing job here. It does not matter that she is out and about, going to meet men outside of marriage. Something that is not allowed within Christianity whatsoever. Just go on dates now. Yay! As long as you're against Islam, you are our friend. Absolutely fine. You look pretty. Dress up. Put on that mini skirt. Put on the red panties. Let's get out there. Meet some men. This is the hypocrisy of Christianity, but they're telling her about the truth of God. Yeah, sure. Very pretty for your date. I hope he goes well. In terms of LGBT, I want to clarify. It's not like the Bible would burn these people, but the Bible says four new cases of sex before marriage, liars, other church would not make it. Oh, finally. Thank you. I'll take everything back, guys. Yeah, it's not like we love people, but it's against the natural law of God. And that's all it is, but it's also sex before marriage. So it's not, and we don't hate these people. It's just a Bible. Finally, I appreciate it. Respect. But we wouldn't throw it off a building like Muslims say, we don't do that. Yeah, so fantastic. We actually do agree with Islam on the stance on equality and adultery. We have the same perspective on this. However, we don't throw them off the building.  You, on the other hand, see that it's evil, but you're just going to look at it and say, we love all people. It makes perfect sense. We have to say the truth. We have to say the truth. Finally, good. I'm going to get a gospel quickly. Can I give you a while to wait? Sorry, I'll be, okay. All right. This is it for this video long enough as it is. Finally, in the end, as I said, hey, respect where respect is due. At least they spoke the truth. At least they told her that fornication adultery is wrong within Christianity as well. However, then I don't understand why you tell her, oh, you're so pretty. I hope your date goes well. Yeah, have fun to cut the story as short as possible. If you go into the scripture, be it the Torah, be it the Bible, be it the Quran, they basically agree with 90% or things maybe even more. The main difference, however, between Judaism, Christianity and Islam would be, of course, the law in Islam Sharia. In Judaism, you still have a law. In Islam, you still have the law. However, the Christians, due to Paul, as I said, abandoned the law. And therefore, they're facing hypocrisy over and over again. Their book says one thing, but they do another. The book says, do not eat swine. It shall be filthy for you. They simply go into the New Testament and Paul said, well, only those words that are coming out of your mouth. This is what defiles you. So eat what you will.  You go into the Old Testament, you find all the laws laid out. This whole God sees it. However, then you say, oh, well, but I have to love my neighbor and I have to point to the other cheeks. Ultimately, I'm not going to do anything.   All right, guys, this is it. Absolutely amazing. This girl really debunked Islam. We are done now. We are finished. We can pack our bags.  If you haven't subscribed already, guys, please do so. And if you want to further support this channel via Patreon, for example, all the links are in the description box below. Thank you so much for your ongoing support, guys. And as always, may God bless you all. Much love and peace.


We have a little time left, unfortunately, but let's turn to the audience for questions. We'll gather up questions and let's start over here. Mike, please. Please stay to who you are and your question and please make it a question and brief. Hi, thank you very much. My name is Randy. I come from Paris and I study at Le Carte des Minnes, which is a public policy program, basically. Thank you very much for your talk. And most of you have mentioned the challenge of trust and indeed since the last financial crisis, we've seen a crisis of trust in the monetary system and the rise of ICOs, cryptocurrencies. And my question is, do you believe that such technologies are more as a threat or an opportunity for the existing system and especially should we regulate them more or should we leave them as they are? Thank you very much. Thank you. Over here. I thank you very much. That's almost I'm an MBA professor from Japan. Fascinating debate, but I'm completely amateur. But the one issue I like to ask Mr. Horizan, you talked about something very interesting, independence of central bank from domestic or international pressures. But I think most of central banks have become hostage to the government needs to reinvent economy, all sorts of things. But if you may, if you pick up top three, most independent central bank in the world, and why? Thank you. Final question over here. Thank you. Falka Parrot is from Germany. Totally naive question by someone who doesn't understand anything about monetary policy. Would I be totally wrong in assuming that there has never been a hegemonic or reserve currency that wasn't backed up by a very strong military force? I've learned a lot about what the reasons are for the hegemonic position of the dollar, but the military was never mentioned. So I'm just asking that. And if it is not totally wrong, what would that mean for the future of the monetary system, particularly if the euro wants to get in? Thank you. Thank you. Okay. Anybody want to comment on the crypto issue? John Clark. Very simple. I would say that it is not the absence of trust in the existing currency, which has created the trial on the cryptocurrencies. I think it's technology. Technology is galloping so rapidly that with a number of fantastic innovation, it appeared that you could run payments and transactions at a very low cost with blockchain and so forth. So it seems to me that it is something which is quite natural. I don't interpret that as an absence of trust for traditional currencies. And as far as trust is concerned, the Bitcoin you could see goes up and down, up and down. That was more of a speculative instrument. The try to launch a basket digital then proves that you have to be backed by those traditional currencies that are behind. Elaine, you wanted this? Yes. I think one has to be careful to distinguish between cryptocurrencies and in particular, the blockchain technologies like Bitcoin or Ethereum, which have to do with proof of work, which in my view are totally harmful and have zero essentially public good aspect to them. Why are they zero public good? They're very bad medium of exchange because the transaction costs are extraordinarily high from an energy point of view. For environmental impact is absolutely disastrous. They don't solve any problem. I mean, we have pretty good medium of exchange with one exception, I will talk about that in a second, but these things are used to mostly for the dark net. So I would say it's negative from the social welfare point of view and these things should be for sure not connected to the official system and essentially regulated out. That's very different from digital currencies. Central banks could issue digital currencies and this is absolutely fine and some central banks are very far along with that. Now, why is there some kind of need maybe to have some digital currencies or to make some improvement for cross-border transactions? We are still not doing very well. We are doing extremely well for transaction within the URL, we have extremely good technology, et cetera, but for cross-border payment, there are still too much of fees which are taken there by the financial system and as a result there are some private actor which may come in. Last thing I want to say about that, one has to distinguish between the technology to do this cross-border transaction and the willingness to create a new currency such as the Libra. Technology can be good. Willingness to create a private currency in my view that again should be looked at extremely carefully because what does the currency provide? I mean a public currency issued by central banks. We use it for macro-policy stabilization and we are careful about financial stability. What is the goal of a private company? Profitability. The public good dimension there is absolutely not there. So we have to be extremely careful with that and distinguish between technology and creating a new currency. Is somebody, an economic historian among us have a comment on the military? Of course military influences play a big role. No question about this but I think what really happened after the Second World War II is the fact that the dollar was the only currency which can be converted into goods. And the convertibility nowadays plays a big role in international transactions. But if there's no convertibility into goods, meaning that you cannot buy what you want on your, when you possess the currency, it would not help you with any military forces. Thank you, Jeff. There actually is a connection between the two questions because what makes a currency valuable or valid international payments is the ability of those using it to turn it into real goods and services. And that's why Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are purely speculative. Their value is only based on what people think their value will be in the future. No one stands behind it. Frequent-flier miles have more trust than Bitcoin because at least American Airlines and United stand behind frequent-flier miles. The military angle is related in the sense that military power is connected to the ability of a government to mobilize resources. And so there's a direct connection between military and broader geopolitical power and the expectation that the government will be willing and able to stand behind the currency. After all, there's trust in the Swiss franc and its stability, but the country is way too small to exercise the kind of power necessary to provide an international currency, that is, the resources to act as a lender of last resort and provide this public good function that people have been talking about. I can already, did you have a final comment? Yeah, well, before commenting on the central bank's independence, let me see a few words on each alternative to the dollar. First, to Jean Claude. Eurus market is thinner, as I said. I was a reserve manager of Japan. When I tried to buy $500 million Trezor or Bunzma, Bunz by one shot, that action would move quotations. You know, that's counterproductive. But JJB, U.S. Trezors. So if you have joint markets, no such effects. Okay. Reminbi, even Chinese want to get a Chinese currency to place their wealth outside the country. How can you, you know, can foreigners believe in the integrity of Reminbi? Simple. SDR has no client base at all because international investors, they can create their own baskets of currency.  But no one is interested in the currency basket, SDR. Until now. Until now, until now, okay. Now, central bank independence. Yeah, it's a long story. It will take hours. Yes, exactly. I could perhaps answer him biologically. Okay, final word. I would put the ECB in the three, most independent central bank. Because the question was, what are the three most independent? Very good. Okay, well, thanks very much to the panel. They think we can, let me draw a brief conclusion. Very simple. One, you heard the old adage, you can't fight something with nothing. And right now, there's a something, it's the US dollar, and there's nothing else ready now. So a sense that for now, the state, the system will remain dollar-centric. A sense that there are lots of reasons to wonder if it could be remained this way in the future. But unclear exactly where that leads. It's not obvious what will happen. Mark Carney in his speech quoted Rudy Dornbush, like your new Rudy Dornbush of MIT, is saying, changes usually take longer than you ever imagined until they actually occur when they happen faster than you thought possible. Could happen here, but Rudy, wonderful as he was, was not a very good policy predictor. Thank you all, and thanks to our panelists. Thank you.