Micah: Move From Mourning to Action

Welcome to the Caribbean Grace Chapel Podcast, where we value the expository preaching and teaching of the Word of God for the purpose of life transformation.

We are in Micah, chapter 1.

Micah 1 · chapter mention

Our text will be 8 through 16.

You know, I've been in the ministry for 20 plus years.

I have conducted a lot of funerals.

Way more than I care to count.

In fact, I have a file on my computer of all the people that I've married over the last 20 plus years of ministry.

One thing I can say about funerals.

There have been some strange songs sung or played at funerals.

Here are some of the stranger songs that have been played or sung at a funeral.

How about way to hell?

A C D C.

Thank God I was not presiding over that funeral.

How about this one?

This one's actually kind of classic.

Another one bites the dust.

Huh?

Queen.

What a great song that wouldn't to be played at a funeral.

How about this one?

Ah, ah, stand alive.

Bee gees, right?

And this is by far the strangest.

This was actually played at a funeral that I did preside over.

She's a brick house.

By the commodores.

Listen, I, you know, I preached, I pre so that was the very end.

I didn't know that was going to be the deal.

And I, after the sermon, I sat down, and that's the song that was played, and I just kind of bowed my head like.

But over the years, I learned to ask for a list of songs that will be played at funerals.

And yes, if it's in this building, they will be denied.

Now, you know, if it's a if it's at a funeral at a funeral home and you have me in to preach, then, you know, I try try to work with the family.

Um anyway, strange, and I'm sure you can think of me.

I bet you've been to a lot of funerals, and you're like, well, that's an interesting choice, you know, when a song was sung or played.

And so obviously there have been some strange songs, played or sung at funerals.

But the text that we're about to read this morning is a really strange funeral song.

It loses its impact as it's translated from Hebrew into English.

But it's a funeral song.

Let's read it.

Micah, chapter 1, verses 8 through 16.

Micah 1:8–16

By the way, if you're not familiar with the Bible, it'll come on the screen.

If you're not, if you're not familiar with where the book of Micah is, find Jonah and go over one book.

Most people know where Jonah is located.

We're in Micah chapter 1, verses 8 through 16.

Micah 1:8–16

I'm reading from the English Standard Version.

For this I will lament and wail.

I will go stripped and naked.

I will make lamentation like the jackals, and mourning like the ostriches.

For her wound is incurable, and it has come to Judah.

It has reached to the gate of my people, to Jerusalem.

Tell it not in Gath.

Weep not at all in Bethlehem.

Roll yourselves in the dust.

Pass on your way, inhabitants of Shafir, in nakedness and shame, inhabitants of Zanan.

Do not come out.

The lamentation of Beth-Ezel shall take away from you its standing place.

For the inhabitants of Marah, wait anxiously for good, because disaster has come down from the Lord to the gate of Jerusalem.

Harness the streets, or harness the steeds, to the chariots, inhabitants of Lakish.

It was the beginning of sin to the daughter of Zion, for in you were found the transgressions of Israel.

Therefore, you shall give parting gifts to Morasheth God.

The houses of Agzeb shall be a deceitful thing to the kings of Israel.

I will again bring a conqueror to you, inhabitants of Maresha.

The glory of Israel shall come to Adula.

Make yourselves bald, cut off your hair, for the children of your delight, make yourselves as bald as the eagle, for they shall go up from you in exile.

Yeah, strange text, right?

So this is the joy of preaching expository sermons.

You go verse by verse and you can't skip anything.

Now here's the thing.

The reason why we preach this way is because we believe in the Almighty God who is sovereign over all things, and he knew before eternity began that this service would take place today and that you would be in attendance to hear this message.

So, how does it speak to us today?

If we were to take these verses, we could distill the meaning down to this.

Micah, the prophet, issued a call to mourn for people in exile.

Christians should mourn for people who were in exile.

This text naturally divides itself into three parts.

First is the funeral song.

Look again at the text.

It's Micah chapter 1.

Micah 1 · chapter mention

And verses.

For her wound is incurable.

And it has come to Judah.

It has reached the gate of my people, Jerusalem.

So Micah presented this passage in the form of a funeral dirge.

A funeral dirge is a slow, somber song that is meant to convey deep emotion and grief and mourning.

And so when you read this passage of scripture, you should have the image of your mind that Micah is deeply emotional.

He is deeply saddened.

He is grieving.

He is mourning over his people going into exile.

And thus he wrote, I will lament and I will wail, I will go stripped and naked.

I will make lamentation like the jackals and mourning like the ostriches.

In other words, when he said, I'll go stripped and I'll go naked, what he was meaning to convey is he would take off his outer garments and he would just wear his undergarments.

And he would literally walk to the city and sing the song.

And it was deep mourning, and it was full of sadness and grief because of the people going to exile.

In fact, he would be so grieved in his spirit that sometimes instead of just a song coming out of him, it was almost like animalistic sounds.

He said, I would be like the jackals or the ostriches, just this deep groaning from within him coming out.

You know, I will never get used to the primal shriek of a parent who just learned that their child died.

In my 20 plus years of ministry, there have been times that I've had to deliver the news to a parent or to parents that their child is dead.

One time a young lady went missing for several days and they finally found her behind a dumpster in Memphis.

It was on a Wednesday.

And so I called her parents and her siblings into the office and delivered the news.

And I never will forget that sound.

It will never leave my ears.

As the mom and the sister of that woman literally crumbled onto my office floor screaming, no, no, no.

I'm the one who called my mother to tell my mom that my sister, her daughter, was found dead.

And I'll never get that sound out of my ear.

I've been in the hospital room.

When a young man in his twenties died.

And the dad, the big strong man, crawled up in the bed and hugged him, and out of him came this the primal shriek of a parent who just learned that their child is dead.

Never get that sound out of your ears.

And this is the sound that Micah was making as he walked through the city.

At the thought of his people going into exile, being taken captive by a foreign pagan enemy.

You see, Samaria, the northern kingdom.

Samaria was the capital of the northern kingdom that was ruled over by Jeroboam.

Had crossed the land, they went into idolatry and they built temples all throughout the land and they ordained priests who did not qualify.

And they introduced Baal worship into the nation and they became idolatrous.

They became prostitutes, as the prophets would use that terminology.

They would go after other gods, they would go whoring after other gods.

And a part of their judgment for breaking the covenant with holy God is that a foreign enemy would come in and take them captive and relocate them, move them out of the promised land.

That had already happened in the northern kingdom, and now Judah or Jerusalem, the southern kingdom, was also suffering because the people had gone into idolatry.

According to Micah chapter 1 and verse 5, the Lord considered Jerusalem a high place.

Micah 1 · chapter mention

A high place is literally that.

It's the highest point of the city, and they would build shrines or idols to these false gods, and all kinds of pagan worship was done on those high places in honor of those gods.

And it's interesting that God looked down at Jerusalem where the temple was located and said, That's nothing but a high place.

You're no longer worshiping me.

You have gone into paganism and to idolatry, and you're just covering with the veneer of Christianity, but it's not.

Or you're coving it with the veneer of you know worship, as they were instructed to do so in the Old Testament.

And so this is what's happening in the first part of the song mourning, grief, the primal shriek beep from within Micah as his people are going into captivity.

The second part of this text is where Micah kind of outlines how the enemy, Assyria, is marching through the nation.

And what's interesting about this passage is Micah chapter 1, verses 10 through 5, or 10 through 15.

What's really interesting about this passage is that in the Hebrew, it's it's a pod, it's a play on words.

Again, it kind of loses its impact that's being translated into the English language.

But each of the names of the cities that we're about to read sounded like other names, and he would use that to say, this is what it's going to be like when you go into judgment.

So I'll do my best to try to explain how this goes.

It's Micah chapter 1, verses 10 through 15.

Micah 1:10–15

Tell it not in Gath, weep not at all in Bethlehem, roll yourselves in the dust, pass on your way, inhabitants of Shapir, in nakedness and shame, inhabitants of Zainan.

Do not come out, the lamentation of Beth Ezel shall take away from you its standing place.

For the inhabitants of Mora, wait anxiously for good, because disaster has come down from the war to the gate of Jerusalem.

Harness the steeds to the chariots, inhabitants of Lakish.

It was the beginning of sin to the daughter of Zion, for in you were found the transgressions of Israel.

Therefore, you shall give parting gifts to Morshe Goth.

The houses of Axim shall be a deceitful thing to the kings of Israel.

I will again bring a conqueror to you, inhabitants of Marisha.

The glory of Israel shall come to Adula.

And so again, Micah outlined the march.

So what happened was Assyria came in and took the northern kingdom captive and then turned and went south and surrounded Jerusalem.

So if you can picture on a map in your head, right now, world map, where Jerusalem is located.

There were a bunch of cities located around Jerusalem.

And as Assyria, the enemy of God's people, came south, they took all of those surrounding cities and they literally surrounded Jerusalem.

And so this is how it goes.

In Beth, in Beth Haphat, roll yourselves in dust.

The name of that city sounds like dust.

And so Micah's saying, just like the name of your city sounds like dust, well, you need to go roll yourself in dust because you're about to be taken captive.

The word Shapir.

That city sounds like beautiful.

But Micah was saying, you're not going to be beautiful for long.

You're about to go into captivity.

Zaman sounds like the Hebrew word for exit or go out.

But he was saying, you're not going to go out.

You're going to be hemmed in.

You're going to be surrounded by the enemy.

Bethizel sounds like the nearby city.

That's the nearby city is what it would mean.

But when the army comes, if they come to bring judgment, you're not going to be a nearby city for others, and nobody's going to be a nearby city for you.

In other words, there's not going to be any help.

You're going to be surrounded and you're going to be conquered by the enemy.

Mara, the name of that town means bitterness.

And obviously, Michael was saying, you're about to experience, you just think the name of your town is bitterness.

You're about to experience bitterness as you go into exile, as an enemy comes and conquers you.

Lakish sounds like the name or the word for horses.

And what's interesting about that city was that is where they kept horses, and they would typically be used for battle, but instead, these are going to be used to lead.

They're going to flee.

They're scared.

Instead of fighting, they turn and run because of the enemy that was coming.

Morse.

That's the, that is the uh, that was where Micah lived, Morseth Goth.

Um, it's where he was from.

So he was an outsider.

He wasn't located in Jerusalem.

He was in a little small town called Morsef, and the name of that town meant um betrothed.

And so the idea was whenever you leave, you're going to give parting gifts, Morseth Goth.

In other words, you're about to go from one husband to another.

You were a part of Judah, but now you're about to be a part of Assyria.

Aksib sounds for, sounds like deceitful or disappointing.

And that's exactly what would happen.

You're going to fall so quickly, it's going to be disappointing.

You don't even put up a fight.

And Marisha, uh, the name of that town sounds like the Hebrew word for possessor or heir.

And that's exactly right.

The enemy was coming to possess them.

And of course, Adulum, if you have any biblical knowledge, you've heard of Adulum, the cave of Adulum.

It's where David went when he was hiding.

And he was saying Adulum is going to be prominent again because people and Judah are going to run.

They're going to flee to Adulum.

It's also interesting that that whole passage started out by Micah saying, Don't publish this in Gath.

Don't take my song and sing it in Gath.

Gath was a Philistine city.

In other words, he was saying, Hey, don't let the enemy know what's about to happen over here, the Philistines, because this enemy, Assyria, is coming and conquering us.

We don't want them gloating over us.

We don't want them rejoicing because we're going into captivity.

So don't sing my song over here.

This is for our people.

And he lists all the names of the cities and the destruction that was taking place.

And so we see this text again divides into three clear parts.

The first was a funeral song.

The second is how it has taken place.

He sees the enemy coming in, and he's surrounding the enemy and surrounding Jerusalem.

And then the last part is found in Micah chapter 1 and verse 16.

Micah 1 · chapter mention

And this is where we get the call to mourn.

This is where we should mourn.

Listen to this.

Micah 1 of verse 16.

Make yourselves bald.

Cut off your hair.

For the children of your delight, make yourselves as bald as the eagle, for they shall go from you into exile.

And so Micah issued the call to mourn.

Now remember, the prophets of the Old Testament.

The prophets were really what we would call covenant prosecutors or prosecuting attorneys.

And so what would happen is they would have a vision.

The Lord would give them a vision.

And they would see the heavenly courtroom.

And they would see God, the righteous judge of the universe, sitting on his throne.

And they would see the sin of their people.

They would see the judgment that was about to come upon them.

And they would also see the future restoration when repentance took place.

So all that was shown to the prophets.

And then they would come back and they would, you know, from the vision, you know, they would come and they would give that message to God's people.

And so that's exactly what happened.

Michael saw the judgment that was coming upon Jerusalem.

Micah was located in the southern kingdom.

And so he was prophesying, he was preaching to the people of Jerusalem, and he was telling them what he saw.

And he was telling them about the judgment that was coming.

And the reason why they were in judgment.

The reason, one of the reasons they were in judgment again is because they were a high place.

They had, they had, you know, they had the temple, they had the sacrificial system, but their heart wasn't really serving God.

They were just going through the motions.

It's kind of like people in our American church today.

They may come to church and they sing a few songs and they listen to preaching and they may give a little offering and the offering plates and they may say a prayer or stuff.

They're going through the motions when their heart is far from God.

And the consequence of that is, according to the prophets, you are going to lose your children.

You're going to lose a generation.

Not necessarily that they will die, but they will be lorded over by a fallen enemy who doesn't serve God.

In Deuteronomy chapter 28 and verse 32, we read this text.

Deuteronomy 28 · chapter mention

Now, if you're not familiar with Deuteronomy chapter 28, Deuteronomy 28 in the Bible outlines the blessings of being obedient to the covenant and the curses of being disobedient to the covenant.

Deuteronomy 28 · chapter mention

And so as children of God, we are called upon, we are required to be obedient to God.

And when we're not obedient to God, there are consequences to our actions.

And listen to this one in Deuteronomy chapter 28 and verse 32.

Deuteronomy 28 · chapter mention

It reads, Your sons and your daughters shall be given to another people, while your eyes looked on and fell with longing for them all day long, but you shall be helpless.

That's one, just one of many, but the consequences of being disobedient to our covenant, to our heavenly Father.

And so, as we see, Israel was already taken into captivity.

The surrounding towns of Jerusalem have been conquered by Assyria, and they have literally hemmed in Jerusalem.

They have surrounded Jerusalem.

And Micah calls upon the people to mourn.

Shave your head.

Cut your hair.

Like of literally national repentance.

Mourn.

Call upon God.

That was the point of his soul.

Micah called on the people to mourn.

Let me ask you a question.

How in the world does that apply to us in our modern context?

Well the ways are too numerous for me to deal with this morning.

I'm only going to give you two application points.

Number one, mourn for those in exile.

Notice that when Micah gave this message, he was grieved.

He was deeply saddened and emotional that his people, both in the north and in the south, were going into exile.

That a foreign enemy was coming in and conquering them and taking them out of the promised land.

He was not joyful at this message.

He wasn't like I told y'all, Pumps.

He wasn't, I never liked him anyway.

No, it grieved him that people were going into exile.

They were being conquered.

So let me ask you a question.

When is the last time that you have grieved at the thought of the lost?

You see, the thought of the lost should grieve us.

In the New Testament, the idea of being in exile means away from God and His blessings.

And as we look around the world, there are the many people who were in exile today.

There are the many people who grew up in the church and they are in exile.

They are away from God.

And when's the last time that you grieved about it?

When were you saddened about it?

Do you realize we have lost a generation?

We have lost a generation due to abortion, drug epidemic, alcoholism, sexual promiscuity, gender confusion, violence, murder, hatred, lust on another coast.

Our next generation is slowly being conquered by an enemy and they're being ruled by these things rather than the Most High God.

And when are we going to grieve about it?

When we look at how the next generation thinks, and we see so many of them held captive to the ideologies of the world that are in direct contradiction to the word of God.

We should be grieved about it.

So many people are in exile away from God and its blessings.

And the first thing we should do is mourn.

He should bother us.

But here's the second point.

The second application point.

We have to move from mourning to action.

Move from mourning to action.

How?

How do we do that?

Here are a few things.

Number one, proclaim the gospel.

Proclaim the gospel.

In Romans chapter 1 and verse 16.

Romans 1 · chapter mention

Paul writes, I'm not ashamed of the gospel.

For it is the power of God into salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.

1 Corinthians 1, Paul writes, man, we we it is the cross, it's the power of God.

It is foolishness to the world, but to those who us are being saved, it is the power of God.

We must not be ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

That is the only thing that will rescue the exiles.

Hear me.

That is the only thing that will rescue people who are away from God.

We have a generation that is seeking peace and hope.

And they're turning to all the wrong places.

They even go to medical doctors and they go to counseling.

And there's nothing wrong with those things if you need it.

But that's not where you find your hope.

Your hope is in Jesus Christ.

You can take all the pills you want to mask how you're feeling, but the only one who can heal you is Jesus Christ.

You can drink all you want.

You can shoot up all you want.

You can have all the ice you want.

You can have all the heroin you want.

You can have all the whores you want.

And it will never satisfy you.

You go deeper and deeper and deeper into exile.

What is the gospel?

The gospel is the good news of Jesus' birth, his life, death, his resurrection, and his conquering his enemies in the process.

Jesus came to this earth born of a virgin.

He lived a sinless life, never committed one sin in thought, action, or speech.

And he willingly gave his body to be beaten and to be whipped and to be nailed to the cross, not for anything that he did, but for everything that you do.

The Bible tells us in 1 John, he became the propitiation.

He satisfied the wrath of God.

You see, the wrath of God should have been poured out on me.

The wrath of God should have been poured out on you.

Instead, if you're a child of God, if you have repented of your sin and place your faith in Jesus Christ Christ, it's a propitiation for you.

He satisfied the wrath of God.

And they died, Romans 6.23, for the wages of sin is death.

But the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.

So Jesus died, they buried him in a tomb.

But then on the third day, he rose from the dead, he's alive forevermore.

He ascended into heaven, he's seated at the right hand of the Father, and one day he's coming back for those who believe in him.

And you repent of your sin and you place your faith in Christ.

Then your sin is forgiven.

And you're granted new life, eternal life in Jesus Christ.

But not only eternal life, you have life now and have it to the fullest.

God is in the process of changing you, and you're being conformed to the image of the Son of God.

The Bible tells us in 2 Corinthians 5, you become a new creation in Jesus Christ.

That's the gospel, that's the good news.

And it's the only thing, it's the only thing that can bring you out of exile and bring you home.

If you do not repent of your sin and come to faith in Christ, you are being ruled over by an enemy of God.

Doesn't matter what the enemy is.

Your flesh, your lust, your perversions, your addictions, nothing.

It doesn't matter, but it's an overlord, an enemy of God who is ruling over you, and the only way to be set free is to repent of your sin and come to faith in Jesus Christ.

And so proclaim the gospel, those of you that are saved.

It is the power of God into salvation.

You never back down and you never apologize for telling somebody about Jesus.

Well, preacher, they may get mad at me, they may hate me.

Join the club.

That's probably how you know you're preaching the right message.

And Jesus said this way, man, they hate you.

Bro, come on, they hated me first.

That's Jason Murphy paraphrase.

But you get the point.

Here's something else we could do that has direct relevance to this text that I read this morning.

Pray.

Pray.

All right, look at this.

2 Kings chapter 19.

2 Kings 19 · chapter mention

Verses 14 through 19.

Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers and read it.

And Hezekiah went up to the house of the Lord and spread it before the Lord.

So he took his letter, laid it out before the Lord.

And Hezekiah prayed before the Lord and said, O Lord, the God of Israel, enthroned above the cherubim.

You are the God, you alone of all the kingdoms of the earth.

You have made the heavens and the earth.

Incline your ear, O Lord, and hear.

Open your eyes, O Lord, and see.

And hear the words of Zenakarib, which he has sent to mock the living God.

Truly, O Lord, the kings of Assyria have laid waste the nations and their lands, and have cast their gods into the fire, for they were not gods, but the work of men's hands, wood and stone.

Therefore they were destroyed.

So now, O Lord, our God, save us, please, from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you are, that you, O Lord, are God alone.

Zenakerib was ruling over Assyria.

And so beginning about 722 BC, they they you know, the Assyrians come in and they begin to take captivity.

And then eventually they go down into the southern kingdom.

And at that point, Zenakerib is ruling Assyria.

And again, they took all the cities around Jerusalem.

They conquered them, and then they surrounded Jerusalem.

And they wrote a letter to Hezekiah, the king of Judah, whose headquarters was in Jerusalem.

They wrote him a letter, and basically like, hey, we're coming to get you, nothing you can do about it.

You know, that kind of stuff.

And what did Hezekiah do?

The scripture's very clear.

He takes it before the Lord and he just begins to pray.

And he calls upon God to intervene.

And you know what happened?

One night, Assyrian soldiers went to bed, and the next day, 185,000 woke up dead.

The Lord sent an angel through the camp and killed 185,000 soldiers.

And when that happened, they were like, uh, we better leave Jerusalem alone.

And they turned, they left Jerusalem alone.

Now, unfortunately, so they were spared uh for a while.

Unfortunately, they continued in their idolatry, and then the Babylon came in and finished the job.

But our point is this: pray.

Pray.

When we look around the state of our nation, when we think about how many people are rejecting Christianity, when we think about how many people are enslaved by various rulers in exile, man, not only do we proclaim the gospel, we need to pray.

We need to pray that God would intervene.

Because it's going to take a supernatural move of God.

Listen, the days of programs and plays and flying people through the sanctuary, and oh, that's all that's over.

It's a bunch of garbage, should have never been to begin with.

What we need is a powerful move of the Holy Spirit and the church again.

They literally calls people out of exile, brings them out of bondage, breathes life into them, sets them free by the power of Jesus Christ.

So we should proclaim the gospel, we should pray.

And lastly, promote a biblical worldview.

Oh, listen to me, adults.

The reason why so many young people go off to, you know, they graduate high school and they leave and they go into, you know, school, they go to further their education, they go to the workforce or whatever.

And a lot of them, you know, at least for a season, will walk away from the church is because they're not rooted in a biblical worldview.

All they've ever been taught is John 3.16.

They don't know anything else.

We have to remedy that.

Now thank God that's not happening here in our church.

We take seriously the biblical worldview.

Like if you're if you if you're a child of God, if you're a Christian, then you see the lens, you see the world through those lens.

Everything, every area of life is submitted to King Jesus.

See, Jesus is not just your savior, he's your Lord.

He is king.

By the way, he doesn't ask your opinion on Jack Squat.

He gives orders.

He tells you how to jump and you ask how high.

There's no, there's no, hey, let's uh, what do you think about this?

Is this too hard?

Right?

We have a hard time with that in America because for whatever reason we think we're a democracy.

We're not even a democracy.

We're so confused, we don't even know what type of government we're supposed to have.

Matthew chapter 28, verses 18 through 20.

Matthew 28:18–20

Listen to this.

This is the marching orders of the church.

And Jesus came and said to them, All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.

Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

Teaching them John 3.16.

That's not what that says, is it?

Teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.

And no one with you always, even.

You see, we are promoting a biblical worldview in every area of life.

And we make no apologies for it.

Every area of life should be submitted to King Jesus.

No exceptions and no apologies.

In fact, this text was referenced during our worship service, and it happens to be part of my sermon.

Here it is, it's 2 Corinthians chapter 10, verses 4 through 6.

2 Corinthians 10:4–6

For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but they have divine power to destroy strongholds.

We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God and take every thought captive to obey Christ, being ready to punish every disobedience when your obedience is complete.

You can pray, and we should pray.

But you can pray all you want against the powers of darkness in the enemy.

But if you live like you're in darkness, what do you expect?

We punish disobedience when our obedience is complete.

Meaning we walk and lock step with the Holy Spirit.

Ephesians chapter 5, right?

Ephesians 5 · chapter mention

If you are filled with the Spirit, you produce a fruit of the Spirit and you keep in step with the Spirit.

And not only do you pray against the darkness, you actually let the light shine.

And light always overcomes darkness.

Darkness never overcomes light.

Light always overcomes darkness.

Always.

If a room is dark and you open a door or you let a little light shine in, the light takes territory from darkness.

It's not the other way around.

Darkness doesn't come and take the light.

So it is with the gospel.

Jesus is the light of the world.

And when we preach the gospel, we proclaim the gospel.

Christ conquers darkness.

What are some real simple steps?

Oh man, where do we start?

Proclaim the gospel.

Pray.

Promote a biblical worldview.

What does that mean?

How about get plugged into a Christ-centered Bible-believing Bible preaching church?

Right?

That'd be a good place to start.

Advocate for biblical values in the workplace.

Everywhere.

Run for political office.

And promote Christianity.

Do you not realize we're in a battle?

A cultural war is a spiritual war.

It comes down to this.

Whose God is gonna rule America?

Jesus?

Or fail.

Jesus?

Or Allah.

We can hide out in our church if you want.

Sing a few songs, call it a day.

Or we can actually take our marching order serious from our king and go make disciples of the nations.

And if he told us to do it, then it could be done.

And he empowered us with the Holy Spirit to do it.

Hey, here's a good one.

Get married, have kids.

Who love Jesus teach them the things of God?

Here's another one.

Maybe we ought to consider.

Maybe we ought to consider promoting, providing, operating an educational model that helps parents and the church produce Christian educators, entertainers, economists, artists, doctors, lawyers, theologians who aren't liberal wackos who actually believe the Bible.

You know what I mean?

As one great preacher said, this is not my my statement.

One great, and I forget who it is, but one great preacher said this.

You can either curse the darkness or you can light a candle.

Let's light some candles.

And what ends up motivating us to act is that we're first grieved about it.

You typically, you typically in life find out what you're passionate about.

Man, as we look around, we see what's happening in our world.

We realize we have the answer.

We have the hope.

We have the way out.

It's the word of the living God.

And a church that is submitted to King Jesus.

Amen.

Will you stand to your feet with me this morning?

We are called to mourn.

Not so that we remain in mourning, but so that we move to action.

Let me state that again.

We are called to mourn.

Not so that we remain in mourning, but so that we are moved to action.

That the Lord would want us to know out of Micah chapter 1, verses 8 through 16.

Micah 1:8–16

If you were here this morning and you have never heard the gospel and you have never repented of your sin and placed your faith in Christ, I want to give you tonight.

Opportunity to do so today.

The gospel was briefly presented in this message.

Namely, that Jesus Christ came to this earth born of a virgin, that he lived a sinless life.

He never committed one sin in thought, action, or speech, and he willingly gave his body to be beaten, whipped, and knelt to the cross, not for anything that he did, but for everything that you do.

Where he satisfied the wrath of God.

In his death, he was buried in a tomb and he rose again on the third day for our justification.

And if the Holy Spirit is dealing with you, you say, what does that mean, preacher?

Well, I don't know that I can describe it to you, but I can tell you this you know it when he's doing it.

You know when he's dealing with you and he's calling you to repentance.

And you want to know what to do, the Bible's crystal clear.

Romans 10, 9 and 10 says, if you believe this message in your heart, you believe that God raised Christ from the dead, and you confess that Jesus is Lord, you will be saved.

Now, when we say confess Jesus is Lord, it goes something like this.

I confess that He's Lord and I live like it too.

Like you order your life around a confession.

And so if the Holy Spirit is dealing upon you, then I challenge you, I call you, the authority of Jesus Christ, to repent of your sin and to place your faith in Jesus Christ.

And if you've made that commitment, please, please let someone know.

You can raise your hand right now, you can talk to me, you can talk to another leader in our church after service.

We'd more than happy to pray with you and let you know your next steps.

But it begins with placing your faith in Jesus Christ and what he accomplished on the cross of Calvary.

The second point to make as we bring this message to a close is simply this: if you're a child of God, if you're already saved, when is the last time you have grieved at the thought of the lost?

Right now, I want you to ask the Holy Spirit to move upon your heart and break your heart for those who are in exile.

There are many people who are away from God right now, this very moment.

And what they need is a clear proclamation of the gospel and a clear demonstration of the gospel.

Like people who proclaim it and people who live it.

So ask the Holy Spirit right now to move upon your heart and empower you to do so.

Ask the Holy Spirit to put names in your mind right now of people you need to pray for specifically.

Names you need to pray for.

And then ask the Lord to open the door for you to talk to them and to proclaim the gospel to them.

Hallelujah.

Thank you, Lord.

Hallelujah.

The very last act.

An application point.

We will observe the Lord's Supper.

We observe the Lord's Supper every Sunday here at Grace Chapel.

We believe that's the biblical model.

You do not have to be a member of this church to observe the Lord's Supper with us, but we do ask that you are saved and have been water baptized.

If you're saved and water baptized, you're more than welcome to take communion with us.

You can go to the sides and sanctuary, get your elements, and bring them back to where you're standing.

And we observe the Lord's Supper together.

So there are many reasons why we take communion together as a church every Sunday.

And one of the reasons is this is a very visible sign to us.

When we contemplate the bread and the wine, when we contemplate communion, we're reminded that Jesus Christ was obedient.

Even to the point of death on the cross, the scripture tells us.

Why?

To redeem us.

To bring us out of exile.

And it's a reminder to us that we should be willing to do whatever it takes, to walk in obedience, point others to Christ.

In Matthew chapter 26, verses 26 and following, the scripture tells us that after Jesus took bread, he gave thanks, passed it out among the disciples, and he said, Take, eat all of you, for this is my body.

Matthew 26:26

In the same manner, he took the cup.

And after he gave it thanks, he passed it out among the disciples, and he said, Take, drink from it, all of you.

For this is my blood of the covenant, which was shed for many for the remission of sins.

Amen.

Thank you for listening to the Carival Grace Chapel podcast.

Make sure that you like, share, follow us on socials.

I'm Dr.

Jason Murphy, proclaiming grace, transforming culture.