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 You are listening to a message from Southwood Presbyterian Church in Huntsville, Alabama.

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 Our passion is to experience and express grace.

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 Join us.

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 I want to tell you how excited I am about this new sermon series, except I don't want

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 to lie to you.

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 I'm actually still quite a bit hesitant myself about the minor prophets.

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 Maybe you feel that way when you hear me say it.

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 But several weeks ago, as I'd been feeling God leading me in this direction, I sat down

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 and read through all 12 of the minor prophets at one time.

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 It doesn't take all that long.

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 They're pretty short.

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 And I was pretty emotionally drained at the end of that.

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 It's hard to read.

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 It's convicting.

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 I really wanted to go back to Luke.

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 And maybe even after three years in Luke, some of you might ask for that soon.

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 Luke again.

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 Maybe not.

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 But most of us don't know much about the minor prophets, if we're honest.

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 My dad tells the story of an old seminary professor who always on his final exam asked for the

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 list of the kings of Israel.

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 And that got to be well known among the students of this seminary and was passed down class after

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 class.

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 Be ready.

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 Be ready.

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 List the kings of Israel.

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 Until one year, a young seminary student got to the final exam and he turned to the list

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 section and it said, list the minor prophets.

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 And that surprised and stumped student wrote cleverly, far be it from me to refer to any of God's

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 prophets as minor.

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 As for the kings of Israel, they were...

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 Maybe you'd answered the question kind of like that.

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 But as you can see from this slide, the minor prophets, although they're minor because they're

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 shorter, have a really significant, a major message for us.

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 It's repent.

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 It's an important message.

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 It's sometimes a hard message.

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 That day as I read through these, just the weight of conviction in my own heart and life, about our

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 hearts and lives together as I get just a window into that one after another painful conviction,

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 difficult struggle.

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 But what an important message God gives his prophets.

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 To call his people back to him from wherever else they're chasing life and meaning and fulfillment

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 to come back to him again.

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 Remember, God's people were to have this special relationship with him, right?

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 He was their God who delivered them, who loved them, who provided for them.

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 And they, in response, were to trust and rest in him.

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 To delight in him and in following his ways.

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 As a result, they were going to be a light to the nations, right?

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 That the ends of the earth would know the glory of the one true God, Yahweh.

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 That everyone would know the beauty of living in this relationship with him, exactly what they were

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 created for a glorious relationship.

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 What a glorious purpose God's people have.

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 So often it wasn't enough for God's people, was it?

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 They wandered from him over and over.

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 And with the prophets, he's turning their hearts back to him again.

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 Some of us benefit from visuals for where we are in the story when we get to the prophets.

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 About 1050 BC, God grants his people's request for a king like the nations.

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 And Saul and David and Solomon rule over a united Israel for 120 years.

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 God dwells among his people in the temple in Jerusalem.

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 They worship him and bring sacrifices to him there.

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 And he promises that a king in the line of David will lead them after him.

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 When Solomon dies, however, the kingdom splits with 10 of the 12 tribes going north.

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 Jeroboam leads these tribes up north where Samaria becomes the capital.

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 And he builds another place of worship.

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 A new temple, so to speak.

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 As a result of their pursuit of their own plans.

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 Their neglect of that special relationship with God.

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 Ignoring repeated warnings from the prophets.

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 Following a king that's not even an heir of David.

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 He's a rival to the throne.

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 Israel's taken into exile by Assyria in 722 BC.

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 That's the northern kingdom.

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 In the south, Judah keeps the Davidic heir on the throne.

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 They stay put with Jerusalem and the temple.

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 And they're the ones we're going to follow this fall as some prophets come to them.

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 They look a little better.

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 They do some things right.

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 And it's easy to feel that God is blessing them because of all these right things they're doing.

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 Because when the prophet Micah shows up in about 740 BC.

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 Judah is enjoying a great time of prosperity.

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 Things are going great.

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 God seems to be blessing them.

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 But it's actually a season of prosperity and promiscuity.

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 Sound familiar?

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 Within God's own special people even, there's moral debauchery all over the place.

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 Living against God's commands.

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 And there's the constant temptation to look for human solutions to their problems.

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 To look to political power and mighty Assyria or Egypt to help them.

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 To look for economic power for themselves to provide for themselves.

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 Rather than God's solution which is turn back to me.

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 That's why Micah and others come to say repent.

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 You have a special relationship with Yahweh.

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 A glorious purpose as his people.

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 And the prophets speak over and over God's words to God's people.

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 It's not merely predicting the future when you think of the prophets.

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 Oftentimes, what they're primarily doing is speaking God's worth.

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 Calling his people to repentance and revival.

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 Renewed relationship with him.

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 As Micah does that for many years, he's ignored.

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 But in his particular case, revival does eventually come in Judah.

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 God delivers them from the Assyrian invasion.

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 They're not taken into exile then.

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 For about a hundred years, multiple generations of God's people are transformed in relationship with God.

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 And as a result, bless the nations.

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 Millions of people return to God through this revival.

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 And exile is forestalled for generations.

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 The hope of revival like that is another reason I'm excited to be in the prophets together.

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 We've begun over the last couple years talking about and praying for revival.

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 For God to work in great ways in this city and beyond.

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 And we've seen more recently how that must begin in our hearts.

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 In God's church where one anothering means to lock arms, to live for his glory and be passionately on his mission.

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 Repentance begins with the people of God, doesn't it?

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 We are the heirs of this story of God's special relationship.

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 And the wandering from it.

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 That's our story too.

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 We then are the ones who need to hear, repent.

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 We'll talk a lot about repentance as a heart grieving broken relationship with God.

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 Turning to God and rejoicing in restored relationship.

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 And we may wander from God in some different ways from his people centuries ago.

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 But the idolatry in our hearts is very much the same.

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 And thankfully, it's the same God that we wander away from.

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 That calls us back to himself and reminds us of the joy we find only in him.

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 The beauty of how he designed us to live in relationship with him.

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 As we get started, I'll tell you, seeing our sin is going to hurt.

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 The prophets are a bit pointed.

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 Okay?

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 It's going to hurt.

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 But we need it to.

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 I'd ask you to pray with me as we start this journey.

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 That God will show us our sin more deeply and clearly.

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 That we might run back to him and experience the joy of revival that comes when we repent to a gracious God.

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 Who's full of steadfast love and mercy.

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 Let's pray for that together now.

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 And then we'll dive in to God's word through Micah.

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 Father, we bow before you to pray what I've learned is a dangerous prayer.

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 That you would search us and know our hearts.

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 That you would show us our idols.

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 Some of them we know, Father.

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 Others we refuse to see.

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 Would you show them to us and would you help us to hate them?

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 Father, by your spirit, come and as you do that, revive us again.

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 That we may rejoice in you.

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 And in your steadfast love.

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 That it may be our life.

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 Holy Spirit, come and speak to us personally.

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 Speak to us corporately as your people to direct us after our God.

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 We ask in his name.

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 Amen.

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 Micah chapter 1 today.

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 I'll read only the first four verses for now.

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 But keep your Bible open there.

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 We'll make it through the whole chapter.

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 This chapter sets up well for one helpful way to study God's word on your own.

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 So I'll just mention it to you this morning as you read a passage and you're wondering,

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 how do I think about this or understand it?

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 One way is you can ask three questions.

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 What do I learn about God?

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 Then what do I learn about myself?

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 And then, so what?

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 What does that change in what I believe or how I live?

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 That's just one way to do it that we'll use this morning.

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 In these first few verses, Micah, whose name, by the way, means,

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 Who is like Yahweh?

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 Micah begins by giving us a tremendous but troubling vision of the one true God.

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 The word of the Lord that came to Micah of Moresheth in the days of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah,

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 which he saw concerning Samaria and Jerusalem.

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 Hear, you peoples, all of you.

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 Pay attention, O earth and all that is in it.

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 And let the Lord God be a witness against you, the Lord from His holy temple.

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 For behold, the Lord is coming out of His place and will come down and tread upon the high places of the earth.

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 And the mountains will melt under Him and the valleys will split open like wax before the fire,

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 like waters poured down a steep place.

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 Wow.

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 Yahweh, in great glory, our God is an awesome God.

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 He reigns with earth-spanning authority here.

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 All you peoples, the whole earth, pay attention because He's coming.

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 And all peoples and all of His creation will be impacted by the arrival and the glory of this God.

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 He's making clear He's no tribal deity, just over one nation or one aspect of your life.

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 No, no, this is God over all.

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 Micah echoes the heart of Psalm 97.

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 The Lord reigns.

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 Let the earth rejoice.

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 Let the many coastlands be glad.

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 Clouds and thick darkness are all around Him.

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 Righteousness and justice are the foundation of His throne.

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 Fire goes up before Him.

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 Burns up His adversaries all around.

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 His lightnings light up the world.

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 The earth sees and trembles.

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 The mountains melt like wax before the Lord, before the Lord of all the earth.

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 The heavens proclaim His righteousness and all the people see His glory.

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 All worshipers of images are put to shame who make their boast in worthless idols.

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 Worship Him, all you gods.

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 There is no rival to this great God.

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 All others bow to worship Him.

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 When He shows up, in fact, the earth trembles.

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 Which if you've been in an earthquake, makes you feel small and helpless pretty quick, doesn't it?

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 We sang of the holy, holy, holy God.

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 His holiness is literally earth-shaking.

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 He comes out of His holy temple and it's more terrifying than any powerful thunderstorm you've ever been stuck in.

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 Or any volcanic eruption you've watched.

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 Valleys crack in pieces.

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 His mighty mountains melt like wax and just run away like water.

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 Micah doesn't want you to go home today just knowing that God is strong and powerful.

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 You've heard that.

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 He wants you to feel it.

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 Right?

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 Last year, my family and I went to visit my sister who now lives in Denver, Colorado.

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 We'd never seen the Rocky Mountains before.

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 And we got over there looking forward to that.

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 And the night that we rolled into Denver, fog had descended.

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 And storms that severely limited visibility for the next few days.

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 And my sister kept saying, these amazing mountains are all around you.

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 But we couldn't see them.

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 And finally, the morning we were driving away, the clouds lifted.

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 The sun broke through.

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 And all of a sudden, whoa.

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 The majesty and grandeur of the mountains was breathtaking.

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 They were around us all the time, right?

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 And now we see them.

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 I think I need an experience like that with God.

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 I think we all do.

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 Where we've been told that he's there all around us all along.

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 We've heard that.

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 We've believed that he's powerful and impressive and sure.

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 But then the fog lifts from our eyes.

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 And we actually get a glimpse of his majesty and grandeur way beyond mountains, y'all.

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 Because when he comes, the mountains themselves just melt into wax and disappear into nothing.

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 Kids, can you even imagine how big, how powerful God is?

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 You're going to learn about that in your classes this morning.

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 About how he's so great that he created everything you see out of nothing.

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 He's greater than anything you've ever seen or imagined.

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 May we repent of our small thoughts of God.

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 I have way too many small thoughts of God.

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 He's great.

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 And then finally we see his earth-shattering judgment.

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 That this real and awesomely majestic God is coming from his temple.

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 And he's coming to witness against you people.

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 Yikes.

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 You may have heard someone use the phrase, as God is my witness.

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 But have you really thought if you want God as your witness?

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 You want to think about that for just a second?

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 You're in the courtroom.

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 On trial.

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 And God is called as the witness who steps to the stand to testify.

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 The one who knows everything about you.

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 He's seen everything you've done.

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 He's heard every careless word from your tongue.

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 He's even known every single thought in your mind and longing in your heart.

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 And Micah says, this is a warning.

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 He's coming to witness against you.

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 Think honestly about that for a minute.

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 What are you afraid he might say?

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 What might he expose that no one else knows?

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 What might he testify about that you haven't been willing to admit?

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 Even to yourself.

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 But he knows you better than you know yourself.

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 Psalm 50.

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 The mighty one.

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 God the Lord speaks and summons the earth from the rising of the sun to its setting.

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 Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty.

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 God shines forth.

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 Our God comes.

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 He does not keep silence.

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 Before him is a devouring fire.

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 Around him a mighty tempest.

00:19:26.620 --> 00:19:30.580
 He calls to the heavens above and to the earth that he may judge his people.

00:19:31.279 --> 00:19:35.220
 Gather to me my faithful ones who made a covenant with me by sacrifice.

00:19:35.220 --> 00:19:39.240
 But heavens declare his righteousness for God himself is judge.

00:19:39.940 --> 00:19:42.640
 Hear, O my people, and I will speak.

00:19:42.740 --> 00:19:46.660
 O Israel, I will testify against you.

00:19:46.660 --> 00:19:51.840
 Do you feel why the earth is trembling?

00:19:53.920 --> 00:19:57.920
 Do you feel a bit of the awesome greatness of God?

00:19:58.140 --> 00:20:05.640
 The judge of all who sees and knows everything about you and now steps out of the judge's seat

00:20:05.640 --> 00:20:15.220
 to the witness stand to testify against you for not being as holy, holy, holy as he is?

00:20:15.220 --> 00:20:22.079
 If you're feeling a bit of that, that's right.

00:20:22.920 --> 00:20:23.660
 God says.

00:20:24.700 --> 00:20:33.799
 The reason why all of this is happening, why the judge of all is leaving his holy temple to come shake the earth,

00:20:33.799 --> 00:20:37.259
 is the sin of his people.

00:20:37.980 --> 00:20:38.919
 Verse 5.

00:20:38.919 --> 00:20:45.519
 All this is for the transgression of Jacob and for the sins of the house of Israel.

00:20:46.220 --> 00:20:47.659
 What is the transgression of Jacob?

00:20:47.779 --> 00:20:48.779
 Is it not Samaria?

00:20:49.119 --> 00:20:50.539
 And what's the high place of Judah?

00:20:50.639 --> 00:20:51.619
 Is it not Jerusalem?

00:20:51.619 --> 00:20:58.059
 Therefore, I will make Samaria a heap in the open country, a place for planting vineyards,

00:20:58.259 --> 00:21:02.199
 and I'll pour down her stones into the valley and uncover her foundations.

00:21:02.799 --> 00:21:05.239
 All her carved images shall be beaten to pieces.

00:21:05.599 --> 00:21:10.179
 All her wages shall be burned with fire, and all her idols I will lay waste.

00:21:10.879 --> 00:21:16.359
 For from the fee of a prostitute she gathered them, and to the fee of a prostitute they shall return.

00:21:16.359 --> 00:21:27.119
 The capitals, Samaria and Jerusalem, highlighted as representative of the idolatrous worship of all God's people.

00:21:27.679 --> 00:21:31.799
 But Micah begins with the northern kingdom, Israel, Samaria.

00:21:33.799 --> 00:21:35.659
 Devastating words.

00:21:35.660 --> 00:21:43.620
 That actually come true within a decade or two of Micah speaking them at the hands of Assyria.

00:21:45.140 --> 00:21:46.340
 Laid waste.

00:21:48.400 --> 00:21:49.080
 Why?

00:21:49.800 --> 00:21:52.820
 Why would God do this to his people?

00:21:53.640 --> 00:21:56.960
 Well, they keep chasing idols, don't they?

00:21:57.640 --> 00:22:02.660
 Running from him, looking for life in places other than him.

00:22:02.660 --> 00:22:11.360
 Yes, the God of sexual license is one we bow down before often today, as they did.

00:22:12.860 --> 00:22:18.700
 But the prostituting unfaithfulness referenced here is spiritual as well.

00:22:19.180 --> 00:22:25.480
 In bowing before any of those other gods, not merely the ones practicing fertility cults.

00:22:25.480 --> 00:22:35.920
 The high places, the church sanctuaries of Samaria are full of images of wood and stone.

00:22:36.120 --> 00:22:41.360
 Not to mention the idols they're bringing in their own hearts when they walk into those places to worship.

00:22:42.000 --> 00:22:43.360
 You got that image in your head?

00:22:43.720 --> 00:22:48.120
 Walking into the sanctuary for worship, and it's one idol after another,

00:22:48.259 --> 00:22:51.220
 and then people full of them filing in.

00:22:51.220 --> 00:22:59.759
 That's where we have to be willing to see our propensity to idolatry.

00:23:01.019 --> 00:23:05.380
 Y'all, this is not just a couple of times where this pops up here and there in the Old Testament, right?

00:23:05.460 --> 00:23:08.200
 You know, an idol here, and then several books later.

00:23:08.380 --> 00:23:09.319
 No, no.

00:23:09.680 --> 00:23:12.940
 It's a constant battle, isn't it?

00:23:12.940 --> 00:23:22.420
 Will we bow down to God or seek life and fulfillment through other means, mixing in our own ideas with some of his?

00:23:22.900 --> 00:23:27.100
 There's always some Yahweh worship worked in there, right?

00:23:27.440 --> 00:23:28.440
 I mean, at least on Sundays.

00:23:31.039 --> 00:23:36.480
 But where is idolatry creeping in amongst God's people?

00:23:37.700 --> 00:23:41.559
 Micah's going to get more specific as his prophecy continues.

00:23:41.559 --> 00:23:50.039
 But for now, I just want us to start praying and asking God to show us what our idolatry looks like.

00:23:50.139 --> 00:23:51.700
 It may be a little different.

00:23:52.539 --> 00:23:53.559
 How does it show up?

00:23:53.639 --> 00:23:59.919
 How do we seek life and value and meaning anywhere but God?

00:24:03.179 --> 00:24:04.740
 I want you to start praying that.

00:24:04.740 --> 00:24:09.440
 Honestly, I've had a little head start on those prayers in the last few weeks.

00:24:11.559 --> 00:24:17.500
 I'm even more convinced than ever that John Calvin is right about our hearts being idol factories.

00:24:18.139 --> 00:24:19.859
 We just, we churn them out, y'all.

00:24:21.480 --> 00:24:27.879
 I've actually just started a list on my desk because I can't remember the ones that God brings to mind in my heart.

00:24:28.299 --> 00:24:29.319
 I've been writing them down.

00:24:29.399 --> 00:24:30.200
 There's a list.

00:24:30.259 --> 00:24:30.960
 You can't go in there.

00:24:31.460 --> 00:24:32.559
 On my desk.

00:24:32.559 --> 00:24:38.799
 I'd encourage you to do that as you pray and as God brings things to your heart.

00:24:39.039 --> 00:24:42.819
 Something about writing them down helps me see the reality.

00:24:43.859 --> 00:24:51.779
 It helps me know how to pray, where I need to repent, how desperate I am for God to come in my life.

00:24:52.779 --> 00:24:55.579
 Pray that and ask him to work.

00:24:55.579 --> 00:25:02.359
 Because here's the danger that I think we face as we walk through prophets like this over the coming weeks.

00:25:02.779 --> 00:25:08.859
 The danger is thinking Micah, for example, is talking to anyone else but me and us.

00:25:09.419 --> 00:25:09.599
 Right?

00:25:10.699 --> 00:25:13.199
 Will, this was a long time ago.

00:25:13.659 --> 00:25:15.819
 He's just talking to people several hundred years ago.

00:25:16.559 --> 00:25:19.720
 There's some other religions facing judgment like this.

00:25:19.720 --> 00:25:23.620
 Maybe some other churches even who aren't quite as holy as we are.

00:25:25.259 --> 00:25:26.880
 That's what Judah would have thought.

00:25:28.140 --> 00:25:32.200
 Yeah, Micah, you tell Israel and Samaria what's coming.

00:25:32.660 --> 00:25:33.519
 Wrong king.

00:25:34.299 --> 00:25:35.279
 Wrong temple.

00:25:35.600 --> 00:25:37.660
 They don't even know how to worship Yahweh.

00:25:39.880 --> 00:25:41.200
 And Micah says what?

00:25:42.799 --> 00:25:43.559
 Verse 8.

00:25:44.500 --> 00:25:46.799
 For this I will lament and wail.

00:25:46.960 --> 00:25:48.420
 I will go stripped and naked.

00:25:48.420 --> 00:25:52.840
 I will make lamentation like the jackals and mourning like the ostriches.

00:25:53.180 --> 00:25:59.960
 For her wound is incurable and it has come to Judah.

00:26:00.640 --> 00:26:06.039
 It has reached to the gate of my people to Jerusalem.

00:26:06.960 --> 00:26:13.340
 This idolatry that causes me to mourn and wail like a screaming ostrich.

00:26:13.380 --> 00:26:14.900
 I don't even know what that sounds like.

00:26:14.900 --> 00:26:23.920
 It has reached all the way to Judah and crept right into Jerusalem where God lives.

00:26:25.740 --> 00:26:28.120
 In other words, we learn about ourselves.

00:26:29.320 --> 00:26:34.320
 That even our proper religion can't protect us.

00:26:35.600 --> 00:26:37.280
 But our church teaches the Bible.

00:26:37.279 --> 00:26:40.339
 But we're in a small group.

00:26:41.460 --> 00:26:43.879
 But we have family worship regularly.

00:26:44.700 --> 00:26:45.379
 Good.

00:26:45.940 --> 00:26:47.420
 And very good.

00:26:47.420 --> 00:26:52.420
 But don't presume that keeps idolatry out.

00:26:53.240 --> 00:26:58.420
 Don't assume that outward religious practices create pure hearts.

00:26:58.920 --> 00:27:04.700
 Don't believe that God is satisfied with a relationship with you where you've checked some of those nice boxes.

00:27:04.700 --> 00:27:16.620
 Is it just possible that hearts have mixed worship of self with worship of God right here in these views?

00:27:17.500 --> 00:27:18.299
 Is that possible?

00:27:18.960 --> 00:27:30.180
 Can people build their lives around success or comfort or pleasure even while singing holy, holy, holy and be thou my vision?

00:27:30.180 --> 00:27:33.320
 You bet we can.

00:27:35.759 --> 00:27:37.900
 Y'all, it's much more than possible.

00:27:38.160 --> 00:27:40.019
 We live it, don't we?

00:27:40.240 --> 00:27:44.720
 We must see it in our lives and heed God's warning.

00:27:45.600 --> 00:27:47.980
 Micah wants God's people to see it.

00:27:48.240 --> 00:27:52.820
 So what he does is take a trip through the towns of Judah.

00:27:52.819 --> 00:27:57.139
 And he uses word plays to convict and warn the people.

00:27:57.819 --> 00:28:01.240
 You and I don't recognize these because we don't speak Hebrew.

00:28:01.700 --> 00:28:04.460
 But he makes puns on the names of the towns.

00:28:04.579 --> 00:28:09.919
 We're very important to say what they'll really experience for their idolatry.

00:28:10.039 --> 00:28:11.740
 For example, verse 10.

00:28:12.740 --> 00:28:15.159
 Bethlehem is house of dust.

00:28:15.240 --> 00:28:17.859
 He says you'll be rolling in the dust in mourning.

00:28:17.859 --> 00:28:26.559
 Verse 13, Lachish, a horse town that harnessed horses to chariots to lead them for Judah's army.

00:28:27.359 --> 00:28:29.719
 You've led the nation into sin.

00:28:31.159 --> 00:28:35.699
 Verse 15, Marashah, the heir, the possessor.

00:28:35.819 --> 00:28:41.419
 It's a good thing, but you'll actually have a possessor come conquer you.

00:28:42.539 --> 00:28:43.319
 You get the idea?

00:28:43.319 --> 00:28:48.039
 All these warnings like saying Huntsville, you will be the hunted ones.

00:28:49.099 --> 00:28:53.939
 Or Southwood, your fortunes will go south and your wood will burn in the flames of God's judgment.

00:28:54.419 --> 00:28:55.720
 It's that kind of thing.

00:28:55.779 --> 00:28:56.559
 You get the idea.

00:28:56.679 --> 00:29:02.379
 All the towns around Jerusalem, you're not protected by your nearness to the things of God.

00:29:02.659 --> 00:29:07.039
 You must turn back to the heart of God himself.

00:29:07.039 --> 00:29:14.619
 The awesome, holy, just God is coming against you.

00:29:14.839 --> 00:29:17.839
 And he sees and knows all your sin.

00:29:19.720 --> 00:29:21.240
 So what?

00:29:22.480 --> 00:29:23.899
 Give up?

00:29:26.240 --> 00:29:33.339
 How do we respond to realizing these truths in our own lives?

00:29:33.339 --> 00:29:40.639
 Well, one step at a time, Micah's going to fill out his call to repentance through the book.

00:29:40.759 --> 00:29:44.019
 And he'll offer specific words of hope as soon as next week.

00:29:44.339 --> 00:29:44.919
 Hang in there.

00:29:45.000 --> 00:29:47.500
 It's not all just like this.

00:29:48.299 --> 00:29:52.839
 But in this chapter, we get only the beginnings of an appropriate response.

00:29:53.179 --> 00:29:54.099
 Verse 16,

00:29:54.099 --> 00:30:06.579
 It's mourning.

00:30:07.099 --> 00:30:09.259
 Micah himself has modeled this, hasn't he?

00:30:09.299 --> 00:30:10.159
 Remember verse 8?

00:30:10.959 --> 00:30:12.740
 Wailing and running naked.

00:30:13.959 --> 00:30:19.919
 This is another picture here of the sorrow we are to have over sin.

00:30:19.920 --> 00:30:23.519
 Because it breaks our relationship with God.

00:30:24.100 --> 00:30:26.120
 And what could possibly be worse?

00:30:26.519 --> 00:30:30.000
 What could be more worthy of our tears than that?

00:30:31.800 --> 00:30:34.820
 Have you cried over sin lately?

00:30:36.500 --> 00:30:39.120
 Not just over its effects, although that's good too.

00:30:39.600 --> 00:30:48.300
 But have you wept over how your idolatry distances you from the God who made you to huddle up close to him and live there?

00:30:48.299 --> 00:30:50.159
 And you keep walking away.

00:30:51.579 --> 00:30:54.899
 That's where true repentance begins, isn't it?

00:30:56.019 --> 00:31:00.960
 Grieving that broken relationship and despairing of self.

00:31:01.440 --> 00:31:05.480
 The pictures here, naked, bald, empty handed, right?

00:31:05.579 --> 00:31:06.379
 That's the idea.

00:31:06.879 --> 00:31:09.000
 The solution is not in me.

00:31:09.279 --> 00:31:10.960
 I can't fix what I've broken.

00:31:11.279 --> 00:31:14.639
 I can't love God and neighbor consistently as I should.

00:31:15.019 --> 00:31:16.099
 God, I give up.

00:31:16.099 --> 00:31:16.119
 God, I give up.

00:31:18.299 --> 00:31:19.559
 You are holy.

00:31:20.440 --> 00:31:22.039
 And worthy of my worship.

00:31:22.559 --> 00:31:25.559
 My heart is so prone to wander.

00:31:25.899 --> 00:31:30.680
 And I grieve that I have yet again wandered away from you and can't get back.

00:31:30.680 --> 00:31:38.580
 That's where Micah leaves God's people here.

00:31:39.660 --> 00:31:41.100
 Crying out, mourning.

00:31:42.940 --> 00:31:45.480
 But they are God's people.

00:31:46.320 --> 00:31:48.340
 My people, he says.

00:31:48.339 --> 00:31:57.919
 And even the exile away from my land is part of turning their hearts back to me again.

00:31:58.919 --> 00:32:06.919
 It is absolutely right that we should come to this table mourning in light of our sin.

00:32:06.920 --> 00:32:13.660
 It is absolutely right we should come to the end of ourselves and our ability to fix this.

00:32:13.660 --> 00:32:18.640
 And it's important for us to know that's where God is.

00:32:18.640 --> 00:32:24.780
 We turn to the only place left to a God who does what we can't.

00:32:25.100 --> 00:32:29.980
 To a Savior who covers us with his perfection.

00:32:31.140 --> 00:32:32.759
 To a spirit who says,

00:32:33.280 --> 00:32:40.680
 Blessed are those who mourn over their sin for they will be comforted.

00:32:40.680 --> 00:32:46.100
 That's why Jesus took the bread.

00:32:47.720 --> 00:32:48.640
 He broke it.

00:32:50.779 --> 00:32:54.660
 And gave it to his broken and failing followers.

00:32:55.039 --> 00:32:55.380
 And said,

00:32:55.380 --> 00:32:57.019
 Take, eat.

00:32:57.620 --> 00:32:59.080
 This is my body.

00:32:59.920 --> 00:33:01.880
 Broken for you.

00:33:02.700 --> 00:33:05.380
 Who should have been the ones broken?

00:33:05.860 --> 00:33:08.279
 Do this in remembrance of me.

00:33:08.660 --> 00:33:09.740
 And then he took the cup.

00:33:09.740 --> 00:33:10.440
 And said,

00:33:10.620 --> 00:33:13.359
 This cup is the new covenant in my blood.

00:33:13.900 --> 00:33:16.200
 Shed for many for the forgiveness of sins.

00:33:16.380 --> 00:33:18.660
 Because your blood was on the line.

00:33:19.000 --> 00:33:22.640
 Your life should have been forfeit for your sins.

00:33:22.980 --> 00:33:23.920
 And I came.

00:33:24.279 --> 00:33:27.519
 So do this in remembrance of me.

00:33:29.420 --> 00:33:32.539
 If you don't know and trust Jesus.

00:33:33.160 --> 00:33:34.500
 Heed Micah's warning.

00:33:34.500 --> 00:33:36.759
 That you're not coming.

00:33:36.759 --> 00:33:39.779
 And pretend something is true between you and God.

00:33:39.960 --> 00:33:41.920
 That's not because he knows.

00:33:42.599 --> 00:33:44.720
 But rather come and let us pray with you.

00:33:45.099 --> 00:33:50.220
 Let us tell you about the only safe place there is for sinners like us.

00:33:50.279 --> 00:33:51.240
 And that's in Jesus.

00:33:51.420 --> 00:33:53.339
 And we'd love to share that with you.

00:33:53.339 --> 00:33:57.959
 If you do know and trust Jesus.

00:33:59.959 --> 00:34:01.279
 Mourn your sin.

00:34:01.919 --> 00:34:02.720
 Even now.

00:34:03.399 --> 00:34:05.819
 As we prepare to come here.

00:34:06.240 --> 00:34:08.259
 It's right that we should.

00:34:08.900 --> 00:34:11.759
 And then run up here to taste hope.

00:34:12.219 --> 00:34:12.759
 Finally.

00:34:14.059 --> 00:34:15.579
 Micah didn't get there today.

00:34:15.719 --> 00:34:16.719
 But Jesus did.

00:34:16.719 --> 00:34:20.919
 He's come to give you a taste of his grace.

00:34:21.859 --> 00:34:22.939
 And so mourn.

00:34:24.359 --> 00:34:25.519
 And then eat.

00:34:26.159 --> 00:34:28.039
 And rejoice together.

00:34:28.179 --> 00:34:28.639
 Let's pray.

00:34:32.779 --> 00:34:36.099
 Father we have no right to be here.

00:34:37.500 --> 00:34:38.559
 On our own.

00:34:38.559 --> 00:34:47.739
 We haven't even had the chance to let you show us the depth of the idolatry in our hearts.

00:34:47.920 --> 00:34:50.739
 But we know that it is there.

00:34:50.960 --> 00:34:52.940
 Even beyond what we're willing to see.

00:34:53.619 --> 00:34:56.719
 And so we come and cry out to you.

00:34:57.139 --> 00:34:58.400
 And ask for your help.

00:34:58.400 --> 00:35:03.099
 And we are so grateful to find that you've already come after us.

00:35:03.579 --> 00:35:06.699
 And sent your son to take what we deserved.

00:35:06.699 --> 00:35:08.500
 And so as we taste this.

00:35:08.679 --> 00:35:11.579
 Would your grace be sweet to our hearts.

00:35:12.460 --> 00:35:14.759
 Would it make us mourn our sin even more.

00:35:15.019 --> 00:35:16.799
 But would it give us joy in you.

00:35:17.099 --> 00:35:19.059
 Greater than we've known previously.

00:35:20.559 --> 00:35:22.279
 We ask in Jesus name.

00:35:23.019 --> 00:35:23.279
 Amen.

00:35:25.980 --> 00:35:27.219
 For more information.

00:35:27.599 --> 00:35:29.819
 Visit us online at southwood.org.

00:35:36.699 --> 00:35:40.799
 Mỹ perhaps.

00:35:40.799 --> 00:35:42.399
 To be continued...

00:35:43.079 --> 00:35:43.119
 Just to point out...

00:35:49.799 --> 00:35:50.779
22 I'm back to...

00:35:53.739 --> 00:35:54.299
 ...

00:35:57.000 --> 00:35:57.139
 Do no questions.

00:35:57.460 --> 00:35:57.859
 Not to довольно good.

00:35:58.379 --> 00:35:58.980
 That comes with us.

00:35:59.199 --> 00:35:59.539
 Absolutely.

00:35:59.559 --> 00:36:00.139
 That helps you to love.

00:36:00.139 --> 00:36:00.279
 Let's go towards us.

00:36:00.639 --> 00:36:01.599
ando