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What's up, fellas? How's everybody today? Man, great crowd today. Good to see y'all. Man, glad you guys are here. Let's pray. Lord, we thank you for today. We thank you for a little break in the heat. It's kind of a nice day for us here in the River Valley, and we're excited about that. Thank you for the guys that are here. We thank you for the meal we've had and those who prepared it for us. And we pray your blessings on them for just how they serve us each week and make it fun to be here. Adds to our fellowship to come and be able to eat together and share together. I pray now as we have a few minutes where we are fed from your word that you will be our teacher and guide us in your word. In Jesus' name we pray, and everybody said. All right. Hey, we're reading through chronological, the Bible chronologically, right? And so now we're at all these guys that we refer to as the minor prophets. And I just really am offended by that name. I don't know why it got that way. I'm sure it was simply because the books were shorter, maybe. I don't know. We know less about them or whatever, but man, there's nothing minor about most of these books. And there are incredible uh truths uh tacked into all these books. And there's also a theme in all these books. I mean, there are all the things if you think about that we would teach about how to grow in the Lord and how to walk with the Lord out of things like Philippians and Colossians and all of that, we don't call those minor letters, right? Um so uh all of those things are wrapped right here in Obadiah and Micah and Nahum and Abakkuk and Hosea. I mean, there's just incredible spiritual truths that are um consistent throughout Scripture that are taught here just as clearly as they are taught in the New Testament. And the other thing that you get in these in these quote minor prophets, you get um some incredible prophecies and pictures of salvation, of Jesus, of eternity, and all of that. And so one of the best of those, one of my favorites of those is the book of Micah. And so we're gonna look at Micah here. It's just a few chapters, but man, you got everything in the world. You have the history of this period of time in the children of Israel and the two kingdoms and all of that. You get these incredible messages about what, about how a nation should be and function and what we should do and what sin is for a nation and a people. You get the prophecy of Jesus' birth being identified in Bethlehem. And in fact, when the uh wise men come to Israel seeking out the Messiah who's been born, it is a prophecy of Micah that guides them to Bethlehem. And you see that quoted in Scripture. You have incredible power verses, just like you would have in Ephesians or in Philippians or in 2 Timothy, you have those in Micah. And so Micah 6.8 is one of those power verses that I'm sure everybody's heard sermons on. If you go to a men's conference, somebody's gonna either quote Micah 6.8 or they're gonna preach from it or something. What does the Lord require of a man? That he do justly love mercy and walk humbly with our God, depending on what version you memorized it from. Uh and so that you it's just an incredible book. You have the one of the greatest validations of the inerrancy of Scripture and the inspiration of Scripture in the book of Micah, right? So in the book of Micah, when you're reading it, you have prophecies and prophecies and prophecies. So he prophesies, for example, uh 200 years ahead of time, that Babylon will be the nation that will conquer Judah and will take the people off into exile, and it happens. He gives a prophecy of the destruction of the temple and Jerusalem as we know it at that time that happens by the Roman Empire in 70 AD. And when you look at prophecies like that that are proven factually to be true, and then you put in the prophecy of the Messiah being born in Bethlehem, it just validates the inspiration of God speaking through the prophet of God, identifying those things. It's not happenstance or a one-off or a reading something into the text to identify Bethlehem as the birth of the Messiah from the prophecy of Micah when you see these other prophecies that he made that God gave him that are identified hundreds of years down the road. It's just an incredible book when you start to study it and break it down. But one of the things I want to do is I I love that chapter of Micah chapter six. And I'll try not to get bogged down in walking through all of the different things in there, but here in Micah chapter six, I just want to give you a thought that maybe you can study on your own and think through and use that comparison of Micah in a chapter like this to say a Philippians or an Ephesians or a 2 Timothy or one of those. And just watch how the principles of how we are transformed through the gospel, the principles of how we walk with the Lord, we surrender ourselves to Him, to His work in us, and then He works in us, how those things are evidenced as fundamental existential spiritual principles throughout all of Scripture. So let's take that verse, what does the Lord require of us, and let's dig a little deeper into the spiritual formation of that and how that works. So when we read through those first six verses and you have in there your handout, now listen to the what, listen to what the Lord is saying. So this is the man of God speaking to the nation of Israel, and here's what he says. Listen to what he's saying. Rise, plead your case before the mountains, and let the hills hear your voice. Listen to the Lord's lawsuit. That's a very inspired, specific, particular word. So the next time you tell a lawyer joke, remember God is a lawyer, okay? Just a thought there, right? You mountains and enduring foundations of the earth, because the Lord has a case against his people, and he will argue it against Israel. That's very specific legal language right there. We're going into court, and in our modern day language, this is you have a bill of particulars or a specific indictment that you are factually made, that you are factually proving under the laws of evidence to prove what is true. And that's what he says he's doing here. My people, what have I done to you, or how have I wearied you? Testify against me. Indeed, I brought you up from the land of Egypt and redeemed you from that place of slavery. I sent Moses, Aaron, and Miriam ahead of you. My people, remember what Baloch, king of Moab, proposed, what Balaam, son of Baor, answered him, and what happened from the Akasha Grove to Gilgal, so that you may acknowledge the Lord's righteous acts. He's calling them back to historical record of who God is and what he's done with his people. What should I bring before the Lord when I come to bow before God on high? What should I come before him with burnt offerings with year old calves? Would the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams or with 10,000 streams of oil? Should I give my firstborn for my transgression the child of my body for my own sin? Mankind, he has told you what is good and what it is that the Lord requires of you to act justly, to love faithfulness, and to walk humbly with your God. And so let me give you some thoughts here that I want you to just maybe, if you take these notes home with you, spend a little time in your quiet time. So here's the first thing: God expects true character change. True character change. In church, this is not just some life philosophy that we espouse to. It is literally changing our nature. We don't come to church to check a box to do obeisance to the Lord, and then we go about our daily business doing what we would normally do. That's not what it looks like. That's not what the Christian life is. It is literally life change that changes our character to such a degree that it alters our behavior, not because we're doing behavior modification, but because we can't help but act differently because we are different. And so what he is pointing out in this deal, what does the Lord require of you? So it begins with the lawsuit against our actions and behaviors, and it ends with, this is the standard to which we are measured, and what he requires of us. And so it is actually, it is actually pointing out, this is what's wrong with our actions when we are not being godly in our behavior, when we are not acting in the way that is the standard that he has set for us. But it is impossible to do that without the heart change of Jesus Christ changing our relationship with him and walking with him. And so this is an incredible picture of a character heart change that must, by definition, be reflected in behavior. It's the same thing James said. Faith without works is I will show you my faith by my works. Jesus said, He it is who loves me who keeps my commandments. That keeping of his commandments is the result of the loving relationship that we have with him. And so that's that is the standard that he is establishing here. Now let's dig that a little deeper. Worship that does not change the heart deep enough to change our actions is not authentic or true worship. When he says, okay, God has a case against you and he's pursuing it in his court, in his heavenly court, and he proves what it is, Micah, on behalf of the people recognizes, okay, we've sinned. Like, we're we we can't defend this. We have done this, right? And so then here's what happens. The response of that, if you will go back to verse 6, he says, What should I bring before the Lord when I come to bow before God on high? So he's saying, Here I am, I know I've sinned, I know that this has been proven. So I come to worship the Lord, I come to bow before him, I'm trying to approach this repentance. What happened? And so, in human terms, we put it in this sort of repentance deal. How do I pay the price for my guilt? How do I do whatever to be absolved of this? And he says, What should I bring before the Lord when I come to bow before God on high? Should I come before him with burnt offerings with year-old calves? So he's setting this standard of, okay, I come and I worship in such a way I prove that I'm sorry or whatever. And then he says, This, will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams or with 10,000 streams of oil? And then he goes to this hyperbolic deal. Should I even give my firstborn for my transgression? I mean, he is like, how hyperbolic can I just describe this worship to get out of this position that I've sinned? And it is completely rejected. It's completely rejected. Mankind, he has told you what is good and what the Lord requires of you. And it doesn't involve any of these worship actions, and it involves completely the character change of a heart that has been altered and changed to where its natural actions are reflecting godliness that has been changed in our heart. You can't worship your way out of trouble and then go on about your business, which is what modern American church life looks so often. We show up, we check the box, we do our thing, we affirm that this is our sort of philosophy of life or whatever, and then we go about and our lives look like everybody else's. Right? In fact, if you were to read the whole book, you'll find out that's what he has put them on trial for, is looking like everybody else. Right? In fact, chapter one, he starts pointing out all the sins of all the nations around them. And if you do the geographic description, and she mentioned this on the pod or on the on the video that describes the the book, it intros a book every time we have it. It's linked in the podcast. It's this geographic description of all the nations around them, and then you get to Israel in the center. And when their behavior looks like everybody else's, God's judgment on his people is worse because our behavior should be different, not the same as all the people that don't worship around us. And so he is really getting to this point. It doesn't have anything to do with the exercise of the worship ceremonies and all that. If it's not a heart change, it did not have effect. It did not have effect. It's the same thing we talked about on Sunday when we looked at Jonah and the principle of his prayer of repentance. And we mentioned it a little bit last week. That prayer of repentance was, you know, I'm sorry I got caught, and I'm sorry I'm in this miserable belly of the whale and seaweed wrapped around my head and all that. But it wasn't a deep enough repentance to have penetrated all the way to his heart to change his nature to see the Assyrians the way God saw them. And that's why when he repents and God takes that, he's continuing to work in Jonah's life, but he still hadn't gotten to the depth of his heart yet. And so when Jonah goes, he sort of half-heartedly preaches and doesn't even preach the forgiveness part of the message. And then when revival breaks out, he gets mad and goes and pouts because his repentance hadn't reached all the way down into his heart enough to change his nature, to become that person who is becoming godly in who they are, so that that's what comes out. Jesus said, out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. It is the change of heart that results in we actually go out and behave Jesus things because Jesus has been changing our heart. So what he says, what does the Lord require of you? It's not to worship things, it's not more hyperbolic lyrics in your songs or whatever else. It is when you leave your time with the Lord, your behavior is different because of what he's done in our heart. Then, what does he say? He's also taught in this lesson what the motivations of that are. Often when I'm teaching about how to study your Bible and all that, we'll talk about observation, what does a passage say, interpretation, what does it mean, application, how does it apply to our lives? And when we teach application from God's word, we teach God's word always tells us what to do. And most of the time it tells us how to do it and why we should do it, right? So when you get this whole description, God says, here's the deal. You're my people. I have this lawsuit against you, this indictment. You are not behaving in a godly fashion, and I'm identifying it and I'm holding you accountable to it. And then he tells them, This is who I am for you, and you are supposed to be as my people. That's why you get that history lesson in the middle of this. My people, what have I done to you, or how have I wearied you? Testify against me. Indeed, I brought you up from the land of Egypt and redeemed you from that place of slavery. I sent Moses, Aaron, and Miriam ahead of you. My people remembering the Baloch and all that other stuff. So here's what he's doing. Who God is should be a major motivator in our lives. I should behave things because of who God is. I should be responding to his character and who he is and what he's done in our lives and what he does in our lives as his people. And he's building that structure. So he's taking them out of this mode. I don't need worship that doesn't result in your character change, which is my goal as your God. What I need is your understanding of your heart and my calling to you, and I need you stepping out of faith into that change. That's what he's trying to do in us. And so he gives us some of those motivations. He is our God. He repeatedly says, My people, I'm your God. When he reminds them that he brought them out of slavery in Egypt, it was because he was their God. He had made the promise to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob that he was going to make a nation out of them, and he pulls them out and he brings them to Canaan. He's giving all of that to them, and he is saying, I am your God. You're my people. We are in covenant relationship together, and that should motivate you to behave as my people. Also, he has worked in marvelous ways in our lives. He's giving shorthand illustrations that would pull that out of them. You know, he called Moses and Aaron and all of that. I mean, he's worked in all these times. He picks a spot here where he pulls them out of Egypt, and then he goes down the calendar and he pulls out this time with uh, you know, Balaam and all that deal, showing that there is a thread all the way through their nation as an Israel, as a nation, where God has constantly been working in their lives. And so by giving them one here and then forwarding down time and throwing another one in here, they're thinking about all the things that have happened in that trajectory on that arc of time, and God is at work in all those things. God is always doing marvelous things in our lives. Not only has he saved us and we've walked into relationship with him, but you think about all the ways he blesses, all the prayers that he answers, all the things that we've allowed, been allowed to be a part of. Camp last week. Our kids were at camp last week, and they've been talking yesterday in staff meeting and this morning about how God moved in their lives and how the fellowship deep it was, and how kids were connecting, and how leaders got opportunities to speak with the kids in very spiritual ways, and we had a number of spiritual decisions at camp last week. And then you think about uh how we have our prayer force, and they were praying all week over all of that, and God is answering those prayers, and he's connecting the work of our church between the prayers and the parents and sending their kids and the workers and the speakers and the spiritual setting that they were put in, and God's doing these marvelous things and all of that. And so we should be motivated to serve him, we should be motivated to respond with steps of obedience and steps of faith because God is doing these incredible things around us all the time. I began the morning this morning with a guy who's sending me a testimony about what God is doing through on Tuesdays and Sunday and whatever, and this is how God's been speaking to him and what's changing in his life. And there's testimonies like that all the time. God is doing these marvelous things around us, and that should motivate us to step into these moments. And then we've got to understand that God inspires. What we do. He holds us accountable for our choices and our actions. Every time you go to Sunday school, every time you go to small group, every time you come into this meeting, every time seniors are on 60 plus on Thursday, every time we're in church, every time God speaks to us in one of those settings, there is an expectation that we have behaviors that come out of that work that He has planned and done in our lives. He expects that, and he inspects whether we are responding or not. I mean, what's the whole setting of this passage right here? He is speaking to Micah to speak to his people, and he gives this illustration of, I am going to indict your behavior. He's using the illustration of crimes to point out, I am holding you accountable and I expect this of you as my people. In so many ways, we have lowered the expectations when God does not lower the expectations. He does not lower the expectations. I mean, sometimes I'll say things like, you know, I'll ask somebody to teach Sunday school, I don't think I can do that. Well, yeah, you can. Why can't you do that? Like, give me a legit reason why you can't teach Sunday school. Oh, I'm not, I'm not, I'm not. Well, I don't care. That didn't prove anything. It just proves that you're making excuses not to invest in people, right? Okay, if you are not an upfront in the room person, well then go get five young believers or five men younger than you, and you buy their breakfast once a week and you teach them how to walk with Jesus. You can still teach somebody. Like, where's the standard? Right? We don't ever have to be in church. You know? I mean, I spent a whole thing and we did a whole thing taking summer off, and you know what? Man, we look just like we did. I mean, you know, at some point the standard's got to be elevated, right? And you can't, that is an individual thing in all of our lives. Me, you, everybody, your teachers, all that, of us understanding that God inspects our walk. He inspects our walk. And when it does not meet his standards, there are consequences to that. And so we've got to, in our lives, go, Jesus expects more of me than this. And if I'm constantly not wanting to do this, or I'm constantly doing this and I'm failing in that struggle, then somewhere in that, I think there is just a real, I'm not going to do that because I'm going to get in trouble with the father. Like, I don't think you want to live that way as your only motivation, and it's certainly not the only one he gives, but it certainly is a reality, and it should be one of our motivations, right? Like, I don't want my kids to be afraid of me, but I did want them to obey me because of what I was trying to teach them. Isn't that right? And he's a heavenly father teaching his sons. And so, and then the final deal, I want you to see the nature of these. I'm not going to try to preach this verse, and you've heard great sermons from guys that can preach better than I can about, you know, act justly and all that business. But here's what I want you to just see as we close. I want you to think about this. The way that is constructed is a heart change mechanism, right? So he gives three requirements. Mankind, he has told you, he has explained to you what the standard is. This is what he expects of us. And then he gives these three requirements. Okay? But those three requirements are structured in a way that they have two components. One is an action and one is a changed godly heart function or standard. And so it is, um, if you look at the three of them, he gives us, act justly. So there's a behavior component, a step of faith, a doing component, but what we're doing is something that requires a change of heart, to act justly, to act with justice, to see justice, to have a desire of the right things to be done. You see, there's a heart change that's required for that. And the next one, to love faithfulness. Now you may have heard it and I've memorized it, mercy. What that general term of mercy, which originally and other things were translated, mercy, was this act of faithfully working out the way God would work in these moments, which a part of that is mercy. He's been accusing them and indicting them all throughout this book of things like stealing from poor people and taking bribes and all of that kind of stuff. So he's talking about our faithfulness means we would relate and act with people the way God was, with mercy or faithfully showing his mercy in how we relate people. That's a heart change. So he says, you are to act, you must behave differently in a way, faithful or mercy, that we are reflecting the heart of God because our heart has been changed. And then he says again, to walk humbly with your God. That is a heart change. The nature of sin is to tell God, I'm gonna do it my way, right? And so I am walking with him. I am engaging in behaviors, I am spending time in the word. I am encouraging brothers and sisters in Christ. I'm investing in them. I am serving the body with my spiritual gifts in the church. I am witnessing to people and sharing with them. I am praying over my love list or the lost people around me. I am walking with God. My behaviors are engaged hand in hand with Him and the direction that He would have me go. Why? Because my heart has been changed from the pride that leads to sin to a humbleness before the Lord. A humbleness that is not reflected in, well, I'll just bring a whole bunch more Rams. No, you just make enough money, you can bring more Rams. That have anything to do with your heart being humble before God. Right? And so when you look at that structure, I want you to think about that. The actions and the heart change work hand in hand. If there are no actions, there's no heart change. Just doing stuff without a heart change is not effective. You gotta have both. You gotta have both. So I hope that gives you a new perspective kind of on, and maybe even a new love for Micah if you spend a little time with that. Let me pray for us. Lord, thank you for the time we spend every Tuesday, and I thank you for how it is an encouragement to spend this time studying together with these men, for them talking about these things and sharing and encouraging each other by being here. And I pray, Father, that we are encouraging each other in our walk with you, in our transformation process, where we're encouraging each other in that change of heart that relates to step of faith changes in behavior, in actions, so that we act like Jesus. We walk like Jesus, we serve like Jesus as we see that reflected. I just thank you again for just the awesome beauty of your word and the depth of how it changes us, how it reveals to us the marvelous God that you are as our Savior. Lord, we pray these things in the name of Jesus. And everybody sit. Hey, thank you all for being here today. Great group, great crowd.