Bonus: Minor Prophets Series Recap

What's going on? Port City family and friends?

My name is Isaac and I'm here with the one, the only pastor,

Tanner Hope. And today we're going to be

recapping our minor profits series together.

But before we jump into that, Tanner, how you doing?

Man, I'm doing great. Man, I'm excited to be here.

This is awesome. It's crazy.

This is almost over. It it has been a wild ride.

I feel like there's been like a lot of amazing just Nuggets and

things that I'm really pumped for us to jump into.

But I guess the first thing to kind of get the ball rolling

would be what was the what were some of the major themes of this

series and how do we see those play out in the different

messages? Yeah, yeah, yeah.

I mean, we named the series Turn back to me, my people.

And I remember processing like, what do we name the series?

Because there's so many books, there's so many threads you

could pull on, but I really do think and and landing on it with

other pastors talking about with John a lot turn back to me.

My people really gets at it. You know, the the primary

audience is the people of God, like the the word of God has

written all of humanity. It's for all of us to read, but

the primary audience is the covenant community.

And you know, we just get to see God's heart of like, dude, I

want y'all like you're my people.

I bought you. Y'all been through the exodus,

y'all been through the promised land, You know, I brought you

here, I had a purpose, y'all blown it, but I want you back.

So I think at the heart of it all, what we saw was just God's

heart for his people over and over and over.

And that thread just looked different.

I used the illustration 1 sermon of like a parent with different

strategies. And I think that hits at it a

lot. Like a parent all in the same

day, let alone hour, let alone 20 minutes.

We'll beg a kid, I mean, kind of threaten a kid, promise a kid,

bribe a kid. And now God is holy.

And it's not like petty, it's not any of that.

But I do think it's different strategies.

You know, it's it's it is warning.

It is telling you what the end will be.

It is pleading, it is promising. It is, you know, at one point

he's speaking directly to some of those nations that were were

beaten down on Israel and he like talks to them directly, but

he's sending that message to his own people.

So it's like he's letting them know what he's going to do to

the bully. So it's like it's just constant

encouragement, rebuke. It's it's strengthening, it's

promising, it's envisioning a future if they listen.

So God is he's emptying the bag. He's, he's pulling out all the

stops to, to, to say please listen to me.

Please turn back to me. That's so good.

And I guess now kind of more on a practical note, yeah.

How do we see the minor prophets speaking through our

relationship with God as. Fathers, yes, yeah, yeah, yeah,

yeah, yeah. I think the biggest thing is

that we just have to understand how we relate to Old Testament

as a whole, which is that like, so we are in Christ.

Like if you think about the the storyline is that God chose the

people to be his son and to walk in this identity and the people

of God failed at that. So Christ fulfills the Israel

role. Christ is the truer and greater

Israel. You know, we, we try to sing

songs like that because when we read the Old Testament, it's not

just go do better than they did. It's like Christ fulfilled it.

Now in him full of the spirit, we walk at our identity as salt

and light. You know, so Christ did it and

by the Spirit, he's still doing it in and through his church.

So the church now has the bride of Christ full of the Spirit.

We get to be the city on the hill.

We get to be the all the things the Sermon on the Mount

envisions all the ways that the Kingdom is going to come as we

live according to that Kingdom, not the Kingdom of the earth.

That is how we build the Kingdom.

You know, that's how we we live into our identity that Jesus

spoke over us. So it still applies in a lot of

ways because it's still God speaking to his covenant people

is just were those people in Christ, You know what I mean?

And so, but a lot of those threads, a lot of those

warnings, a lot of the ways they needed to wake up or tear their

clothes and repent. All of that is still fair game.

And that's why, I mean, from the first sermon in the book of

Acts, what's Peter quote and he's quote and Joel, you know,

the day the Lord has come and it's still coming.

And so they're quoted all over the New Testament alluded to.

A lot of them have similarities to like Isaiah and Jeremiah,

Ezekiel, they're getting quoted all over the place.

So the New Testament writers saw what they saw in the Old

Testament being re. The term is recapitulated, but

it's like because Christ fulfilled it.

Now we're like walking in these things in a new way, but it's

still applies. Yeah, that's really good.

And so I think something we saw too in the series is how kind of

the minor prophets say a lot about how we should live, a lot

about ethics. And so how can we apply those

truths that we've learned throughout the series, just as

we live with other Christians? Specifically, no, that's good,

man. I think one of the big things

that's jumping out at me is just that God sees what we value,

like our value system. So like, he's just not fooled by

any kind of like external law keeping, but internal, like not

loving the law, you know, not loving neighbor.

And yeah, we're not a geopolitical state the way

Israel was, but their preference for the rich, they're using of

the poor. Like we got to pay attention to

just the value system, you know, and, and in a materialistic

culture like that, there's a lot that's still pretty 1:00 to

1:00. But I think in the church too, I

think it's just keeping in mind our neighbor.

I think it's keeping in mind like you, you go read the

epistles, man. Like a book, like Romans.

It is a missionary letter. It is like focused on on the

gospel getting to Spain and all that good stuff.

But it's also like there's just Jew Gentile issues in all these

letters in Romans, in Galatians and Ephesians.

You've got Philemon with reconciliation.

So like the gospel always starts with God and leads to neighbor

really quickly. It's love, Lord your God, your

neighbor as yourself. So I think it just comes down to

really basic stuff like welcome one another as Christ has

welcomed you, you know, like the meet idol controversy in First

Corinthians. It's it's all we want to just

create a theology that's just me and God, you know, and then man,

I'll do it with other people I like.

But as Ephesians would tell us, the manifold wisdom of God is

the church like his brag party to the satanic powers, like he's

up in heaven being like, look at my church, you know.

So I think like we make the gospel most clear when we love

our neighbor and when we love like our Christian brother who

was different than us in a unique way just because they're

in Christ. It's like bragging rights for

God because that's what he died to to produce.

So I think it's big. It's it's it's theoretical, but

it's also very practical. And it's literally just love the

neighbor who's right in front of you.

And like a lot of times that does start with who's in your

church, you know, because the neighbor can become so vague,

you know what I'm saying? So like I'm supposed to be this

to all Christians. Yes.

And you should, you should love all people.

Or we watch the news and things are going on everywhere.

But like, change starts right in front of you with that person in

your life, in your church who's annoying to you.

Or maybe you just want to take a step away from like, part of how

we make the gospel look good is just at a flesh level, right

where we are, right in front of us.

Move towards the people we want to move away from.

Yeah, absolutely. So I guess now and you've

touched on that a little bit, this a little bit when you were

speaking there. But thinking more broadly, what

are some of the things the teachings in the minor prophets

we saw that might change the way we think about how we relate to

the world? Just people who aren't

Christians, the society and culture around us, because they

have a lot to say about culture and a lot to say about the

surrounding nations and everything.

Yeah, I think it's funny because I think you see, I think you see

good approaches to culture and a lot of different strategies.

There's good Tim Kelly used to talk about like there's the

people who leave culture and like, oh, we need to save

culture by getting away from it, showing you how broken it is.

Or there's the people who are like, we need to assimilate all

the way to like they they need to think we're one of them.

And then you've got the people that are like, we need to change

it through law. We need to change it.

You know, there's so many strategies to change culture.

We need to be the people out just yelling repent at people

because there's truth to that. Or we need to door to door or we

need to be friends for a long time And like when people are

and like, I think in some ways the prophets speak to all of

those things. You know what I mean?

It's not that any one of them there's truth to all of them.

You know, like our culture is so far gone.

Sometimes we just need to lead with truth, dog, you know what I

mean? And just because you can put so

much pressure on you that you need to like present the gospel

the perfect way or they're going to.

It's like it's about God and he wrote letters saying I'm a kill

y'all to people and they repented.

Then ninevites repent minor prophets.

So I think like the minor prophets squeeze out of us that

we have to do it perfectly. And somewhat the question is,

what is it? I think it is loving engagement

with sober mindedness about the end as God sees it that doesn't

dismiss like love of neighbors. So like, you never leverage the

fact that it's going to end or the fact that the culture is too

far gone or whatever bad things you see out there through

whatever lens you interpret it, it never leads to, like,

flippancy and dismissiveness. You know what I mean?

Like Jesus walked those streets hundreds of years later and you

didn't sense in Jesus alike like he is the true, true and greater

prophet. So like, he was a truth teller,

but he was not a jerk, you know what I mean?

So true. He walked away from some people.

He impressed some people. He purposely didn't want to

impress other people. Yeah.

So the cop out was like, just study Jesus a lot, you know what

I mean? And like he is the balance of

all of those things. You know, there's no question he

was afraid to answer, but he wasn't doing a magic show.

He was a great friend. He was the friend of sinners.

And then he was also the one to like, tell people like, Nah,

like I'm not, I'm not doing that for y'all or Nah, I'm not coming

to that. Or he just show up at a party

and just sit there. He didn't have to be the life of

the party, you know. So I just think all the

strategies have good impulses. But if you're not being like

Jesus or sounding like Jesus, you're probably off, you know

what I mean? And if you only ever lean into

one thing you see Jesus do, just stay balanced.

That's good, you know what I'm saying?

Absolutely, yeah. And so, well, here's something

to yeah, What do you think if somebody can only listen to two

of the messages? OK.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Which two would you?

Yeah, there's so many good ones. I think that from a justice

standpoint, John's was really good.

Yep, John's on Amos was really good.

Amos is a really good. It's just a good catch all of so

many of the things. It's one of the more.

It just catches a lot. He did an amazing job.

Yeah, I think I'm a I'm a cheat and go with three.

OK, do it. #2 would be Habakkuk lamenting.

I think that part of what the minor prophets do is that they

do just show us the brokenness, the need for redemption.

And like part of our response to that is just more we learning to

grieve. And Habakkuk is a book where

he's told by God himself directly.

Man, I'm listening your prayers. I hear you.

And nothing will get better. In fact, I'm going to use the

bad guys you fear to teach y'all a lesson.

And it's still gracious and it ends with a ton of grace.

So I'd say those two and then I think any of the ones that are

like intense, you do have to listen to 1 intense 1, you know

what I'm saying? I think Nahome was intense.

Ron did a great job talking about Wrath in that.

I think if we leave this series still like on Wrath, I'm a

little like we missed something. So I'd say pick Nahome or

Zephaniah and then and then Amos and Habakkuk.

That's probably, that probably be my thought.

What would you say I think? The message on Lament was very

timely. Sure.

I think there were so many things that happened within in

our city and then even in our. Church Community.

Where that was probably the message that I've had the most

people at Port City go like I needed that which is such the

Lord that would probably be the one I push people towards and I

agree with you hitting one that's very.

Intense. Clear.

Yeah, clear. It is sober.

The prophets sober us up to reality in a lot of ways.

Those would probably be my. Yeah, they do, man.

And then, yeah, people don't realize like Hosea is a prophet,

but it's the story, like the the Gomer, the marriage that was

really dope redeeming love type story.

And then Jonah is a minor prophet, but it's all narrative

as well. And so those are just dope.

And so I guess kind of in closing, was there anything when

you and the other elders were kind of preparing all these

messages that you weren't able to touch on, but that just

captivated you, that interested you one.

Hundred 100% and we dripped it throughout the series.

It's just the history side. And like we did this in in I

think, I think it was a Zephaniah sermon.

I broke down like some of the stuff with Josiah, just how bad

it was that they didn't know the law to such an extent that when

they found the Torah of the Bible, the Scriptures, it was

covered in dust. And they were like, we found a

book. They can refer to it as a book.

We found a book when. You think?

About it so that I hit on but even more so part of what's

going on like I'll read this in I was I was thinking about this

on the way over Hosea 14 here's what it says OK, it just drips

this in and there's so much assumed here OK so much.

Thank you for grace as I find it.

Here it is Hosea 14 Three, Assyria shall not save us.

We will not ride on horses, and we will say no more our God to

the work of our hands. In you the orphan finds mercy.

Part of the evidence that God will have redeemed them is that

they stopped going to Assyria for help.

So this is this is what I didn't know how to get across over and

over and over. Part of what makes them so

frustrating to God is that when they're afraid, they're running

to the nations that hate God and whatnot.

Does that make sense? So like we covered like the the

bail worship, the idolatry. They're becoming like other

nations, but it's even deeper than that when they felt afraid.

So like, let's say like like this happens after the exile,

the Babylonian exile is that the people get scared.

They're like, oh, well, Babylon Babylon's going to come back

here and finish this off. So in this we, we see this

historically in Jeremiah. Basically they're like, oh, we

should go to Egypt. Let's go down to Egypt for

protection. Jeremiah, they say Jeremiah go

ask the Lord what he thinks about us going to Egypt for

protection. And literally it's like, no, if

you do that, it will go bad for you.

No, no, no, no, no, no, no no no.

Like it'll be just as bad as Babylon coming if you do that.

Like trust me, stay. Guess what they do, they pack

Jeremiah up and they take him to Egypt.

You get what I'm saying? Even after two exiles, they

still, they just won't listen man.

And and part of it is so idolatry is 2 things.

It's seeking safety and satisfaction.

The satisfaction is I think this relationship will make me happy.

I think this other thing other than just trusting God and

waiting on him will make me happy.

We all do that all the time. Think the safety one is the

unique one that I didn't know how to or I I could have

articulated more like that I'm running to Egypt.

Aren't we're in a moment of trouble like where are we going

to go. This is why in the Psalm Psalm

20, it says some trust in Chariots and some in horses, but

we trust the name of the Lord our God.

That's not just like a cool phrase.

It literally means, guys, when we're afraid, we don't run to

other nations. You know what I'm saying?

We don't need to hire ourselves out.

Literally they're they're a nation for hire to the army that

will protect them. That's how they thought about

it. We need political allies to keep

us safe because we can't trust God.

And so that applies like crazy. Like how often are we afraid?

And our impulse is food, it's drinks, it's Netflix, it's

friends, it's it's goals, it's accomplishment.

You know, it's like once I once I am nailing it, then I'm safe.

So I think that the idolatry of safety through another nation

was hard to articulate how painful that is for God to

watch. He's just saying bro.

And there's story after story, right?

Like I'll give you one more and then we'll get.

More, more. So in Isaiah 38 through 40

people need to go read that man might even be 37 but Hezekiah is

afraid. You know the Babylonians or I'm

sorry the Assyrians are coming they've already taken over

Israel and God is like bro they will not set foot in the city

like you're fine trust me. Then that dude comes and walks

along the wall and talks trash them of like y'all trusting in

the Lord. Don't listen to Hezekiah.

He's lying to y'all, and he speaks to him in Hebrew like

this man is talking trash. And then in the night the Lord

does something. They don't even have to lift a

spear to protect themselves. And that's kind of the point.

It's like, if you trust me, it's kind of like mana in the

wilderness, right? I will find a way.

Just because you can't see the way doesn't mean you don't trust

me. It means when you're afraid,

trust me. Like I'm going to make a way

even when you can't see it. And so I think, I think that's

the thread that I think we'll continue to drive home.

It's like when we're afraid, what we do next is so important,

you know? That's so good.

So what's coming next? What are we jumping into next

we'll be looking forward to? Yes, I'm so pumped to dive into

Saints and Scoundrels Season 3. We're going into the life of

Jacob. Yeah.

So Saints and Scoundrels refers to our journey through the

patriarchs. The patriarchs refers to God

originally called Abraham. He had a son named Isaac, had a

son named Jacob, who had twelve sons, one of which is Joseph.

So Season 4 will be next year. So here in Season 3, we're

diving into Jacob, and Jacob is the most scoundrel of all of

them. Is that the?

Truth. Yeah.

So in a lot of ways, man, I'm just pumped to continue to help

people understand the Old Testament story, to show our

need for grace, and then to learn, learn some other lessons

along the way. Good deal, sweet.

We look forward to closing out the series.

I know with Jonah will be our last.

One more after that one. More after Jonah OK, we got two

more in this series and then we'll be getting started with

Saints and scoundrels. It's.

Going to be awesome.