Good morning: I came up with a rule last week I want to implement. The rule is, “you must greet the pastor either before service starts or when the service is over. I want to make sure I shake your hand or give you a hug and thank you for worshipping with us. I’m going to have minister Morris give the benediction allowing me to be in the foyer as you leave.

Last week I preached on forgiveness verses unforgiveness. We had a good discussion on the zoom call on Wednesday evening. Many of the storms we face in our lives, not the rain, thunder, and lightening kind of storms, but storms of disagreement and unrepented sin are the result of a root of bitterness that is growing in us because of unforgiveness. If we are not forgiving others, God is not forgiving us. The result of our disobedience are the storms we face.

Hillview Family and Friends!

 Ushers and greeters. We can create an alternate schedule. If anyone is interested, please see LaTanya Dunn.

Sis. Debbie will be having Children’s ministry 1st through 4th Sundays.  On the 1st Sunday the children will  do special projects. Please text Sis. Debbie if your child will not be in attendance. 5th Sunday no children’s ministry.

Jan 14th Bible Study on Zoom 6pm.

Jan 17 Board Management meeting 9am.

Jan 19th Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

Jan 31st Women’s Prayer Breakfast at 10am.

We are needing 2 candidates for the Management Board position. If anyone is interested. Please contact Pastor Dexter White

Offering Envelopes are located on the wall outside of the sound booth.

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Micah was a prophet of God. He prophesied primarily to Israel, the 10 northern tribes and Judah, the 2 southern tribes.

“Micah emphasized the need for justice and peace. Like a lawyer, he set forth God’s case against Israel and Judah, their leaders, and their people. Micah made it clear that God hated unkindness, idolatry, injustice, and empty ritual. God still hates these today, but He is willing to pardon the sins of anyone who repents.”

What the children of Israel were guilty of and what we are susceptible to doing is hiding our sins behind a veneer of religious activity. We think that God is pleased with us just showing up to church once a week for an hour but not changing our sinful ways.

According to scripture, the church (the body of Christ) is supposed to conform to the image of God’s Son.

Romans 8:29

29 For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.

“Being conformed to the image of Christ” means becoming Christ-like in character, actions, and ultimate destiny, involving an inner transformation by the Holy Spirit to reflect Jesus’ love, nature, and purpose, moving from a worldly mindset to a divine one, culminating in a glorified body like His.” That should be our goal.

From today’s text we observe God addressing Israel’s religiosity. It’s like Israel is on trial and God is the prosecuting attorney. In His opening remarks He says, “My people, what have I done to you? How have I burdened you? Answer me. I brought you up out of Egypt and redeemed you from the land of slavery. I sent Moses to lead you, also Aaron and Miriam. My people, remember what Balak king of Moab counseled and what Balaam son of Beor answered.

What did Balak do to Israel? On three different occasions, Balak asked Balaam to curse Israel, but each time God turned the curse into a blessing for Israel. The Israelites weren’t aware of the spiritual battle that was going on. God was protecting them, but what did the Israelites end up doing?

Numbers 25:1-3

1 While Israel was staying in Shittim, the men began to indulge in sexual immorality with Moabite women,

2 who invited them to the sacrifices to their gods. The people ate and bowed down before these gods.

3 So Israel joined in worshiping the Baal of Peor. And the LORD’s anger burned against them.

What Balaam couldn’t do with curses the Jews did to themselves with their sinful lusts.

God says, “Remember your journey from Shittim to Gilgal.” This is a reference to God doing something for Israel that they couldn’t do for themselves.

The Children of Israel were camped in Shittim, east of the Jordan River in Moab opposite Jericho. To cross the Jordan God had Joshua instruct the priests to take the Ark of the Covenant and go stand in the river. When they did the river divided like the Red Sea did and the people crossed over on dry land. Gilgal was where the people camped after they crossed the Jordan.

 

During the crossing one leader from each of the tribes of Israel were instructed to gather a stone from the river and carry it into the Promised Land. The stones were set up as a reminder to the people.

Joshua 4:19-24

19 On the tenth day of the first month the people went up from the Jordan and camped at Gilgal on the eastern border of Jericho.

20 And Joshua set up at Gilgal the twelve stones they had taken out of the Jordan.

21 He said to the Israelites, “In the future when your descendants ask their fathers, ‘What do these stones mean?’

22 tell them, ‘Israel crossed the Jordan on dry ground.’

23 For the LORD your God dried up the Jordan before you until you had crossed over. The LORD your God did to the Jordan just what he had done to the Red Sea when he dried it up before us until we had crossed over.

24 He did this so that all the peoples of the earth might know that the hand of the LORD is powerful and so that you might always fear the LORD your God.”

God is not a respecter of persons. What He did for the children of Israel He will do for us. As you look back over your life have you seen glimpses of the hand of God on your life? Who did you give credit for those blessings?

In verses 6 and 7 the people replied to God. Remember God’s question, “My people, what have I done to you? How have I burdened you?” The people’s response was an attempt to find a way to get rid of their sins.

With what shall I come before the LORD and bow down before the exalted God?

• Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old?
• Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousand rivers of oil?
• Shall I offer my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?

“Doing penance without truly repenting and trusting God’s mercy only multiplies the sin and deadens the conscience. Thinking they were good enough to please God, the people asked Jesus, “What shall we do, that we may work the works of God?” He replied, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent. True saving faith comes from a heart that’s been broken in repentance and realizes that no amount of good works can atone for sin.”¹

Micah responded to the people and told them what they needed to do. He gave them three things that they needed to do. “To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.”

Just like the Israelites were guilty of sin, we are also guilty. How we are forgiven of our sins, by obeying the commands set forth by God.

Jesus shared a parable in Luke 18:9-14.

9 To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everybody else, Jesus told this parable:

10 “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.

11 The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men– robbers, evildoers, adulterers– or even like this tax collector.

12 I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’

13 “But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’

14 “I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

“To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God” all three are found in this parable. The tax collector was justified by faith, not by doing the kind of good things the Pharisee boasted about. Since the tax collector depended on God’s mercy to save himself, he humbled himself before the Lord. The Pharisee, on-the-other-hand, informed God and anyone else that was listening in the temple, how good he was and therefore how much he deserved eternal life.

How have we determined to please God in our daily lives? Have we understood like the tax collector in the parable we must approach God by faith, repenting of our sin and believing in His Son, Jesus Christ for salvation. Or do we carry on like the Pharisee in the parable, thinking we so good, God owes us a place in Heaven.

Here’s the reality of our sin condition, “None of us can do what God requires until first we come to God as broken sinners who need to be saved. Unsaved people who think they are doing justly, loving mercy, and walking humbly with God are fooling themselves, no matter how moral their lives may be.”²

Unfortunately, the people Micah was addressing failed to understand the point of his messages. If they had understood the fact of their guilt before God, and the impending judgment that was coming, they would have been motivated to turn from their shallow religion, humble themselves, and seek God’s mercy.

“The only people God can save are lost people; the only people God can forgive are guilty people. If we see ourselves as God sees us, then we can by faith become what He wants us to become.”³

If we fail to see ourselves the way God sees us, we are no better than the Israelites Micah was preaching to and will be judged, found guilty, and punished.

Listen to how God judged Israel.

Micah 6:9-16

9 Listen! The LORD is calling to the city– and to fear your name is wisdom– “Heed the rod and the One who appointed it.

10 Am I still to forget, O wicked house, your ill-gotten treasures and the short ephah, which is accursed?

11 Shall I acquit a man with dishonest scales, with a bag of false weights?

12 Her rich men are violent; her people are liars and their tongues speak deceitfully.

13 Therefore, I have begun to destroy you, to ruin you because of your sins.

14 You will eat but not be satisfied; your stomach will still be empty. You will store up but save nothing, because what you save I will give to the sword.

15 You will plant but not harvest; you will press olives but not use the oil on yourselves, you will crush grapes but not drink the wine.

16 You have observed the statutes of Omri and all the practices of Ahab’s house, and you have followed their traditions. Therefore, I will give you over to ruin and your people to derision; you will bear the scorn of the nations.”

In this passage we find two judgments against the people. The first judgment is found in verses 13-15. This judgment had already started. It was the collapse of their economic system, including their crops (stolen farms), their investments (stolen money), and the enjoyment of all they had accumulated. Everything these merchant thieves had amassed for their enjoyment would disappear.

The second judgment resulted from the people observing the statutes of Omri and all the practices of Ahab’s house. Father and son kings of Israel. It is said that Omri, he did evil in the eyes of the LORD and sinned more than all those before him. Ahab succeeded his father as king. It is said about him, “Ahab son of Omri did more evil in the eyes of the LORD than any of those before him.” There is a saying, “as the king goes, so go the people.

While the first judgment was slow and secret, but very thorough, the second judgment would be sudden and open. Israel in 722 and Judah in 701 were ravaged by Assyria.

There are consequences for our sinful actions. We must learn from the sinful actions of the past, so we won’t be doomed to repeat them in the present or future.

Invitation: “To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God” is only possible when Jesus is Lord of your life. Don’t allow the religious things you do to be confused with receiving Jesus as your Lord and Savior.

Benediction:

Study Questions

“What Does God Require of You

1. What was Israel guilty of doing that caused God to present His case against them by the prophet Micah?
2. As children of God how are we supposed to be living?
3. If God were to ask you, what have I done to you, and how have I burdened you, what would you say?
4. God defended His case against Israel by telling them what He had done for them. What had He done?
5. What did the 12 stones taken from the Jordan represent?
6. How did the Israelites defend themselves against God’s charges?
7. What did God require of the Israelites and us?
8. Who do you best align with in the parable the tax collector or the Pharisee?
9. The people Micah was addressing failed to repent of their sins, they didn’t understand the accusations against them. What about you, do you understand our sinfulness and what you must do to be saved?
10. How does God see you?

 

 

Continue to pray for the sick and shut-ins and their caregivers. Prayer is needed for our entire congregation as we are all dealing with spoken and unspoken needs and requests.

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