What Should I Do?

We welcome you again to Watermark. We're so glad you're here this morning.

Let's turn around and greet some of our neighbors sitting around us.

All right, please be seated.

My name is Jeremy, and I just want to take a time to lead us through our next part of worship, which is communion.

It's a special time for us to remember the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

In the sermon later on, Pastor Tobin's going to talk a little bit about how God sent prophets.

Prophets like Micah, like Zechariah.

How they were sent out to speak to the people of Israel in the Old Testament.

To talk about how things are.

The state of things in our hearts.

The brokenness.

The sinfulness.

In people like you and in me.

But they didn't just point out to brokenness.

They also pointed out to how things should be.

An image of justice, of restoration, of reconciliation, and forgiveness from God.

So as we observe communion, we want to recognize that Jesus Christ was actually the final, perfect prophet.

He was actually God himself, come to us.

And he not only spoke about how things should be.

He actually did for us what none of us could do ourselves.

He lived a perfect, sinless life.

And not only that, he sacrificed that.

He sacrificed his life on our behalf.

So God reminds us that communion is a time for members of God's family.

Those of us who have made that decision to accept that forgiveness and invite Christ into our lives.

If you're here today and you're not yet a Christian, please take this time to think about that.

Think about questions that you might ask the people who brought you here today.

Or take a look at your bulletin.

It has a great little blurb on what it means to be a Christian.

For those of us with young children in our care, God also reminds us that we've received a very unique and special responsibility to guide them spiritually.

So if we know that a child is not yet ready to take the bread and take the cup, we can still use this time to teach them.

Teach them about what we're doing.

Teach them about why we're observing this.

And most importantly, just keep pointing them to the love of Jesus Christ.

As the communion stewards set up, I know that God is also reminding all of us that this isn't just a time for us to go through motions of a ritual of eating and drinking.

God tells us, tells me to examine our hearts.

Examine the relationships in our lives right now.

I know he's told me that in the last few weeks to just examine my own heart.

See the places where I've struggled, where I've stumbled, where I've fallen short.

To confess that to him.

And most importantly, to receive his amazing grace once again.

So as the communion stewards set up here, please take some time to think.

When you're ready, come up and take the bread and cup.

Bring it back to your seats.

And we'll eat and drink together as a family afterwards.

Jesus took bread, gave thanks, and broke it, saying, this is my body given to you.

Do this in remembrance of me.

And in the same way, he took the cup, saying, this is the cup of my new covenant.

Do this in remembrance of me.

Let's pray.

God, who am I, Lord?

Who are we?

That you should come down to save us.

That you should, as God Almighty, come and become a baby, as a human being.

Not only to live with us, to experience all the highs and lows of life, but also to die in our place.

God, we stand in awe.

I stand in awe of you of what that means.

Lord, help us to remember.

Help us not to just go through motions.

But God, give us a deep, deep assurance, Lord, in our hearts of what your death and resurrection means.

What it means to be in a relationship with our creator.

Thank you so much.

And God, as we send the kids and youth out, I pray that you would continue to guide them, continue to show them, through everybody, through each other, through the teachers, just how much you love them.

God, give them grace.

Give them peace.

And help them to just enjoy the next hour with you.

Thank you again, Lord, and in your name we pray.

Amen.

Kids, youth, please be dismissed and enjoy and obey your teachers.

This morning, Tobin resumes his sermons on the Gorilla Series.

These are questions that we as a community, as a church, have had that opportunity to send in to him.

Questions that might be kind of taboo that we consider in church, things we're afraid to ask because we don't know what's going to happen if we ask those questions.

Before the end of the year last year, we looked at two of those topics, thematic themes.

One of those was on finances and our stewardship.

Another one was on sex and what the scriptures say about that.

And today we look at what does the Bible say about what we should do?

What's the right thing to do?

And so we've gotten several letters that have been sent in to us, SMSs, to an anonymous number.

And so I want to read one of those and we'll take a look at those.

The first one is,

Dear Tobin, as a Christian, how are we supposed to react when we see a video of a baby girl being run over in the streets of China

and then watch many people walk by her without running to her rescue?

Now I hear about people being pushed onto train tracks with no one helping them

and about the shooting at a school in the States.

How am I supposed to react to this?

What am I supposed to do?

Let's take a listen to some other letters.

Pastor, what is wrong with people?

Maybe I should ask, what is wrong with me?

How can we pass by so many needy people on the street or in the subways and not be moved?

I was always told not to trust those people, as they might be fake,

and then they would use me or make me look foolish as I stopped to help them.

I don't know if that is true or just said that way to make us feel better about our lack of compassion and action.

What does the Bible say is our proper response?

I am talking to a friend in my office who is considering an abortion, and she asks me what I think.

I have heard that the average woman in Asia has three abortions in her lifetime.

As a Christian, how am I supposed to view life?

How am I to answer my friend?

Pastor, I have a few friends that I'm trying to share with who are really big into this idea of social justice.

They protest for many different things.

As I've started to share with them about my faith,

one of the big problems they have with Christians and Christianity

is that in their eyes, Christians have really dropped the ball throughout history

in the whole area of human rights.

They talk about the Crusades and all the bad things that were done in the name of religion.

They talk about the civil war in the States

and how the Southern pastors were promoting slavery.

They talk about World War II and how the churches dropped the ball in Europe.

How do I respond to them?

Dear Pastor Tobin,

I am a wife who has had an abortion.

My shame is that I never told my husband

or asked him about this process.

I realize now selfishly

I did not want to sacrifice my career at the time of the pregnancy

because I knew that I would be the one who had to stop my job

and take care of our baby.

But now,

I find myself dealing with a large amount of guilt and shame.

And because of a series of other events,

I wonder

if God has cursed me.

What should I do?

Should I tell my husband?

Should I tell my husband?

The scripture reading today

comes from the book of Micah.

Please follow along in your bulletin.

Hear now what the Lord is saying.

Arise,

plead your case before the mountains

and let the hills hear your voice.

Listen, you mountains,

to the indictment of the Lord

and you enduring foundations of the earth

because the Lord has a case against his people.

Even with Israel, he will dispute.

My people,

what have I done to you?

And how have I wearied you?

Answer me.

Indeed,

I brought you up from the land of Egypt

and ransomed you from the house of slavery.

And I sent before you Moses,

Aaron,

and Miriam.

My people,

remember now what Balak,

king of Moab,

counseled

and what Balaam,

son of Beor,

answered him

and from Shittim to Gilgal

so that you might know

the righteous acts of the Lord.

With what shall I come to the Lord

and bow myself before the God on high?

Shall I come before him with burnt offerings,

with yearling calves?

Does the Lord take delight

in thousands of rams,

in ten thousand rivers of oil?

Shall I present my firstborn

for my rebellious acts,

the fruit of my body

for the sin of my soul?

He has told you,

O man,

what is good

and what does the Lord require of you

but

to do justice,

to love kindness,

and

to walk humbly

with your God?

This

is the word of the Lord

to God's people.

How you guys doing today?

Yeah,

can I try it again?

How you doing?

You there?

Intense, isn't it?

Yeah.

Hey,

we are,

if you join us for the first time,

you're probably going,

okay,

what are we doing here

after those questions

that were read?

We are

doing a series

called Gorilla Sermons.

There are questions

that we felt like

you want to ask,

they're in the room,

you know that they need

to be addressed,

but if you ask them,

you might get in trouble.

You might offend somebody.

Someone might have experienced

one of those letters

that was read today.

That person

probably is in this room

and they're waiting to hear

what the message will be on.

And I think that it's hard

when we talk about

questions like that

because I think

as church leaders

and as people

in the family of God,

we need to continually

be looking at questions

like were read today

and throughout

the next couple ones

coming up

and we need to continually

ask ourselves the question,

what should we do?

What is our proper response

as a church?

What is our proper response

as a church family?

What is our proper response

as the people of God?

I mean, you just have to read

the news today

and it's just craziness, right?

I mean, you look at the news

and newspapers

and the TV

and it's all about

things are out of control.

There's despair.

There's corruption.

There's disaster.

There's hopelessness.

There's anger.

It seems like one of the

common themes

that keep coming out

is people start talking about

and keep asking

the question of justice.

Where is justice in this?

Why isn't justice

being done in these things?

Why isn't that person

brought to justice?

What does it mean

to have justice

or do justice

in these situations?

And so I want to start

a discussion today

as a church

and my prayer is

my prayer is

it doesn't just end here

after this sermon

my prayer is

it doesn't just end

and you forget about it

and you walk out

and our life is the same.

My prayer is

that this discussion

continues for years

and years

but it doesn't just

be discussion

but it turns

into actions.

Actions for us

as individuals

as we ask the question

what should I do?

asking actions

for us

as a church

and community groups

as we ask the question

what should I do?

So my prayer

is that we would see

a lot of actions

so in some ways

this is an exciting

sermon to give

because you don't know

what God's going to do

in people's hearts.

You don't know

what God's going to do

when he moves people

and what's going to happen

when the church

starts moving

in a certain direction.

I want to talk

about today's topic

and preach off

an Old Testament prophet.

I realize that every time

you teach off

an Old Testament prophet

there's probably

a very good probability

that people will

leave your church.

People don't preach

the Old Testament prophets

in this day and age.

They're not popular.

They're weird.

They do strange things.

They make us feel uncomfortable.

They show us things

in our world

that aren't what we thought

they should be like

or what we think

they're like

and they disturb us.

Not to mention

that the prophets

were just weird.

I mean,

you read the scripture

and some of them

just do strange,

crazy things.

Like one guy

was told to take

the scroll of God's word

and to chop it up

in front of the people

and to eat it

in front of them

as an indictment

against them.

One prophet was told

to lay on one side

for six months

and no,

he wasn't watching TV

like some of us

but then after six months

he was told to lay

on his other side

for six months

as an indictment

against God's people.

One prophet was told

to cook all of his food

over crap,

dried cow dung

so that every time

he ate the food

and every time

that people ate the food

they would know

that that is how

their worship

in their lives

tastes to God.

One prophet was told

to walk around naked

for three years.

How do you like that

to be your pastor, right?

Who's that naked guy?

That's our pastor, yeah.

You got a word from the Lord

he's supposed to walk around

naked for three years,

you know.

It's easy to do in Malaysia,

it's really hard to do

in Siberia

or someplace like that, right?

So I guess it depends

on what the guy was like.

One prophet was told

to marry a prostitute.

His name was Hosea

and he married

this prostitute

named Gomer

and the whole book

of Hosea

is about him going back

and buying back Gomer

because she continues

to go with other men

and sell her soul

and sell her life

with these other men

and God says

this is what the people

of God are like

that he buys us

but then we quickly

sell ourselves

to other idols

and he doesn't give up

on us

but he continually

comes back

and he repurchases us

and so when we read

these prophets

it just seems like

they are out of control

and their world

is so strange

and I've been trying

to get a grasp on this

for years

and years

and years

and the best I can do

is this story

or an imagination

or just imagine

for you

this is how I think

about it

just imagine with me

that you love music

the music is your life

that you know

every album

everything

you just love music

and you've been sitting

next to somebody

who's been singing

one of your favorite songs

really really poorly

now maybe you don't

have to imagine that

because you were just

sitting right beside me

as we were singing

these worship songs

right

or the person next to you

is really off tune

but you are listening

to your favorite song

and you're hearing it sung

and it is really

really

really bad

now if you're somebody

like me

who's kind of tone deaf

it doesn't really bother me

that the person next to me

is singing really poorly

I mean if they're

if it bothers me

it means they're singing

really really bad

okay

but if you love music

if you're an artist

if you create music

I was in college

two of my roommates

were musicians

and they played music

and they always talked

they drove me crazy

they talked about

people who had pitch

and they could hear things

they talked about

people who had perfect pitch

it means every time

they blew a note

it was perfect

they could hear every note

and there's some people

who are called absolute pitch

they have absolute pitch

anytime you make a noise

you throw down

you pass gas

anything you do

they could tell you

oh B minor

C major

and so

those are people

that they can hear

everything like that

what if you're

one of those people

and what if you hear

that song

sung poorly

day

after day

week

after week

month

after month

year

after year

what would you do

see I think that's

what the prophets

were like

I think the prophets

understood God's

creation

perfectly

they knew how

things should function

they knew how

things should work

they knew what God

meant for perfect

community to look like

they knew

this is what it

should look like

in this unfallen world

this is how we should

act with each other

and so

when they saw

these things

not working out

that way

the prophets

just went crazy

and they did

weird

and strange

things

because they

couldn't

ignore

the music

they couldn't

ignore that

what they saw

wasn't what it

should be

they couldn't

ignore

what they

heard

wasn't what

they should

have heard

they couldn't

ignore that

the actions

they saw

us in the

church

and people

living out

aren't the

actions

that God

intended us

to live out

so they went

crazy

me on the

other hand

I can walk

through the world

pretty easily

and see

injustice

I can walk

through the world

with my mind

and my eyes

numb

and see

things the way

they shouldn't

be

and not do

anything about

it

I can think

thoughts in my

mind like

well maybe

they just

deserve that

maybe they're

just getting

what they

deserve

maybe it's

bad karma

and I don't

need to mess

with it

because that's

just the way

it is

sometimes I

say things

like

that's

really

no big

deal

it's

really

not

that

bad

I mean

it's

really

not

that

bad

it's

actually

not as

bad

as it

used

to be

it used

to be

really

bad

but now

it's

really

not

that

bad

sometimes

I might

say

things

like

it's

not

my

world

it's

a

different

country

it's

not

happening

in my

neighborhood

it's

not

happening

in my

family

it's

far

far

away

what

do

I

have

to

do

with

that

why

should

I

be

concerned

I

don't

want

to

know

that

just

a

few

kilometers

away

from

what

we're

meeting

right

now

that

people

are

living

in

poverty

and

that

every

night

kids

go to

bed

hungry

do

I

want

to

know

that

and

those

same

kids

they'll

never

have

a

good

chance

at

education

they'll

never

have

a

good

chance

at

the

future

do

I

really

want

to

know

that

I

mean

they're

not

my

kids

it's

not

my

fault

it's

the

parents

fault

I

don't

want

to

know

that

just a

few

kilometers

from where

we're

standing

there's

elderly

people

in a

nursing

home

who are

spending

out the

remainder

of their

life

in a

cubicle

two

meters

by two

meters

with a

wall

this tall

and the

windows are

broken and

there's air

coming in

and it's

freezing

and they're

there by

themselves

they're

alone

no one

comes to

visit

them

it's

not my

parents

not my

grandparents

I don't

want to

know

things like

one third

of all

the

pregnancies

in

Hong

Kong

and in

abortions

and we're

complaining

about

Chinese

women

coming in

and having

babies

but in

the same

way Hong

Kong

women are

going to

Shenzhen

and aborting

their babies

too many

kids anyway

I thought it was

interesting 9-11

September 11th

Christina and I

were in

Shanghai

we're listening

to it all

on the BBC

shortwave radio

because we

woke up in

the middle

of the night

to listen

to it

and they

kept saying

things like

today

3,500

people lost

their lives

and it was

terrible

it was

terrible

it was a

tragedy

and they

said these

are husbands

these are

wives

these are

kids

these are

doctors

these are

lawyers

these are

bankers

these are

people who

could maybe

have found

a cure

for certain

things and

they're no

longer there

they're

dead

I felt

terrible

but on

September 12th

4,000

people got

killed like

that

September 13th

4,000

people got

killed like

that

September 14th

4,000

babies got

killed like

that

and no one

said maybe

they're the

future doctors

maybe they're

the future

lawyers

maybe they're

the future

leaders

maybe they're

the ones

who are

going to

cure for

cancer

I don't

want to

know those

things

come on

you look at

the world

cheating

goes on

everywhere

right

I mean

it happens

in business

it happens

in politics

it happens

in our

courts

it happens

in the

government

it happens

in our

marriage

that's just

the way

things are

that's just

the way

it is

deal with

it

somebody

takes the

truth

and they

twist it

just a

little

so they

can get

into office

or for

profit

or they

forget about

people who

are poor

and can't

take care

of themselves

it's no

big deal

I don't

know what

the prophets

were so

upset

about

why are

they so

upset

Jesus

who was

the perfect

prophet

the last

prophet

he said

in Matthew

25

it's in

your bulletin

he says

it's a

massive

deal

he says

it's

terrible

because

every time

somebody's

hungry

they don't

get fed

every time

somebody is

thirsty

and they

don't get

a drink

every time

somebody is

naked

and they

don't get

clothed

every time

somebody is

lonely

and they

don't get

visited

every time

all these

things happen

every time

there's

suffering

in the

world

that God

shares

in that

suffering

did you

know that

that God

shares

in the

hunger

that God

shares

in the

pain

that God

shares

and he

feels

the anguish

of

hopelessness

Jesus

says in that

passage

one day

some of us

are going to

get in

front of

him

and we

say

okay

let's

go

let's

party

let's

get in

there

and he's

going to

say

you know

I never

knew

you

you

know

what

I went

to

watermark

all my

life

I was

baptized

I did

all these

things

what do

you mean

you don't

know me

he says

I was

hungry

you didn't

feed me

I was

thirsty

you didn't

drink me

you gave

me a

drink

I was

naked

you didn't

give me

any

clothes

and then

that you

didn't do

that

I

suffered

you

see

why

the

Old

Testament

prophets

were so

unenjoyable

to read

I mean

no one

wants to

read them

no one

wants to

know about

them

no one

wants to

know

how much

sin

has affected

my heart

I don't

want to

know

how numb

I am

I don't

want to

know

how much

sin

has made

me not

see the

things

the way

God

meant

for them

to be

I don't

want to

know how

sin

has affected

my

compassion

and my

love

and my

gentleness

I don't

want to

know those

things

because it

hurts

I'd rather

just be

happy

I want

to be

happy

I want

to talk

about happy

things

you know

it was the

same way

in Micah's

day

I put

it in

your

bulletin

it's

an

amazing

verse

Micah

2

11

Micah

is

talking

to

the

people

he is

a

prophet

and he's

a very

interesting

guy

go back

and read

it

I think

there's

six

chapters

it'll

take

you

15

minutes

in

Micah

2

11

Micah

says

this

he says

if a

preacher

or a

pastor

came

to you

with

wine

and beer

and drink

and he

told you

that he

could teach

you a

sermon

that

and I'm

paraphrasing

but this

is what

it says

in Hebrew

that he

could teach

you a

sermon

that would

allow you

to get

anything

you wanted

from God

you would

hire that

person

in a

second

because

we want

happy

things

Micah

is a

prophet

he came

into the

world

about

730

BC

he's

being sent

from God

to the

people

of God

in

Judah

there's

a lot

of things

going on

in

Judah

but the

interesting

thing

about

Micah

is

when

Micah

comes

there

there's

prosperity

there's

wealth

there's

influence

there's

peace

in the

world

it's

an

amazing

time

to be

in

the

people

of

God

and

God

sends

Micah

to the

people

of

God

in

Judah

to

preach

to

them

immense

this

amazing

time

and the

message

that

Micah

brings

to

the

people

of

God

who

on

the

outside

everything

looked

perfect

inwardly

their

hearts

were

hard

their

hearts

were

numb

so

the

message

that

Micah

brings

to

the

people

of

God

is

not

hey

you're

not

worshiping

good

enough

hey

you're

not

tithing

enough

hey

you're

not

in

enough

Bible

studies

you're

not

in

the

community

group

that's

not

the

message

Micah

brings

to

the

people

of

God

the

message

that

Micah

brings

to

the

people

of

God

is

this

you've

forgotten

your

neighbor

you've

forgotten

the

people

in

society

around

you

you've

become

so

inwardly

focused

that

you've

forgotten

why

I

as

your

God

has

you

here

as

my

people

they

had

especially

forgotten

the

poor

and

the

widows

and

the

homeless

and

the

people

who

are

defenseless

they

had

just

forgotten

all

those

people

they

had

set up

all

these

schemes

if you

read

back

over

you'll

see

that

there's

these

schemes

for

these

housing

schemes

they're

trying to

work

people

out

of

houses

they're

trying

to

take

property

from

people

they were

scheming

on

how they

could

cheat

people

in

business

deals

it

was

amazing

one

passage

actually

says

that

the

people

go

to

bed

at

night

dreaming

of

how

they

can

cheat

their

other

partners

in

business

deals

they're

dreaming

about

these

things

at

night

and

they

can't

wait

to

wake

up

the

next

morning

so

they

can

go

do

it

that's

the

people

of

God

all

these

things

are

happening

in

the

world

and

all

of

these

people

are

being

out

and

he

hears

the

music

and

the

music

isn't

what

it

should

be

or

what

it

was

meant

to

be

and

he

just

kind

of

goes

crazy

he

says

you've

forgotten

the

very

people

that

God

has

a

special

heart

for

you've

forgotten

civil

rights

you've

forgotten

personal

rights

you've

taken

wages

away

from

poor

people

and

they

can

barely

survive

and

the

people

listen

to

this

and

the

message

is

intense

and

they

wonder

what

they

should

do

and

the

interesting

thing

in

Micah's

day

and

I

think

in

our

day

also

is

that

the

people

in

Micah's

day

they

couldn't

make

a

connection

they

couldn't

understand

that

how

they

treated

the

people

around

them

was

how

they

treated

God

they

couldn't

make

the

connection

how

they

treated

the

people

who

weren't

in

the

same

social

economic

realm

but

the

people

who

were

begging

for

food

the

poor

people

couldn't

make

that

connection

that

how

they

treated

those

people

were

how

they

treated

God

they

couldn't

make

the

connection

that

how

they

treated

the

widows

probably

the

most

helpless

part

of

society

how

they

treated

the

orphans

how

they

treated

the

people

who

couldn't

take

was how we treated God.

And so Micah goes out and he starts preaching this message

of revival, of social rights, that judgment is coming.

And he basically goes to the people and he says,

just because you're a minority doesn't mean anything.

Because God works through minorities.

Don't say it's just me or just my family who want to do this.

Because God works through the individual.

God works through small groups of people.

He tells them this message, which is so powerful.

We talk about it every Christmas,

that you are going to make a difference,

but that ultimately, the ultimate difference in Micah 5

is that there's going to be a ruler born.

And his name is Jesus.

And he's going to gather his people.

And he's going to change the music.

He's going to change everything.

He's going to make it like it should be.

And you're going to hear things like they were meant to be.

You know what happens?

It's the first time in the history of God's people,

they listen to him.

Usually these 17 prophets come in and they just,

pfft, get out of here.

You have no idea what you're talking about.

What are you talking about?

I got it all made.

Everything's perfect.

Everything's happy.

Things are getting better and better.

But Micah 6, after three messages to God's people,

they listen to him.

And it's amazing because Micah is preaching

and he's sharing and he's talking and he's doing.

And the things you see about Micah is this.

One thing is that he's leading it.

He's not just telling the people to do it,

but he's doing it.

The second thing you see about Micah is

it takes a long time.

I mean, when you read these things,

we go, okay, they heard, they did it.

But from what I understand,

the research I did for you,

so you don't have to do it,

it took them 25 or 30 years

of talking against injustice,

of doing kindness.

25 or 30 years of faithfully living

and being different in front of the people around him.

And the people listen.

And so we have the passage that you have here

in your bulletins, verses one through eight,

is basically a courtroom.

The people have brought God onto trial.

So you're going to love this as your lawyers.

What a great person to try, God, right?

And they have God's on trial.

The jury who's going to listen to this indictment

is creation.

The mountains, the earth,

everything that God's created

because they've seen God from the very beginning.

And the people are going to bring up a charge against God.

Well, you haven't done this for me.

I wish things were better.

I don't know what the charge is in your life.

I have a lot of charges.

And before they begin their charge,

God says something.

He says, wait, wait, wait, wait.

I just want to make sure.

Is it you're putting me on charge

because I freed you from Egypt?

Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, wait.

You're putting me on charge

because I saved your life

from an eternity separated from me.

Whoa, whoa, whoa, wait, wait.

You're putting me on charge

because I did all these massively good things

to you as my people.

And after that, the people shut up.

And they just ask one question.

What should we do?

What do you want us to do?

You're right.

You're right.

What do you want us to do?

Should we tithe more?

Should we worship more?

Should we give our children

as pastors or whatever?

What do you want us to do?

And God speaks to Hosea

and he basically says,

I want you to do the same thing

that I've always wanted you to do.

The message has never changed.

The message is found in verse eight.

He has told you,

Tobin,

what is good

and what the Lord requires of you.

Do justice.

Love kindness.

Walk humbly

with God.

That's all he wants us to do.

I wonder what it would be like

if we all left here today

with that mandate in our world.

You know,

I love when we gather together

as churches in Hong Kong

in the stadium

and we pray.

But sometimes I wonder

how effective that really is

because we pray

and I'm not saying it's a bad thing

so please don't hear me.

I think it's a great thing.

But it means nothing

if we go back into our workplace

and we don't act like Christians.

I mean,

in some ways,

I think we'd probably be better

not to gather.

We should just act like Christians

and do it

and pray individually

than to gather

and pray

and ask God

for great things

but then go back

into the workplace

or into our home

and act mean

and not like followers of God.

Do justice.

The word is a very special Hebrew word.

It's mispath.

It means to care

for vulnerable people.

When we think of justice,

we usually think of

punishing out punishment to people.

They need to be justice.

They need to get justice.

But in the Hebrew culture,

it's so much richer

and deeper than that.

It means being nice