Judgment, Obedience, & Hope | Micah 1:1-16

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Well, good morning, good morning.

There it is.

Moaning good morning to you.

Yes, all right, there it is. Yes, Hey, good morning everybody. Man,

this is Jeff Forrester.

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We are the Bible Guys, and we want to welcome

you to another episode of this exciting adventure that we're

in today.

Man, that was so good. It just it. I mean

I feel like we peaked literally into the podcast today.

We peak.

That's pretty sad.

Well. Hey, so the segment today is Who's most likely?

Okay, which I like?

You like this? I like that?

Yeah, it's fun.

Right, Well then do you want to start? Sure? Okay,

all right?

Number one? Who's most likely to be a favorite sibling?

Me or you?

Me? No doubt? No, I say me, that's no doubt. Yeah,

but I'm the oldest, Oh, so I win?

Yeah.

Yeah, the oldest son is always the favorite.

The youngest son is the one who the youngest son

is the one who's babied.

Yeah, it don't matter. Yeah, because he's the most fragile.

I say me, no, it's no, there is no what

the fight over this one? Okay, yeah, there is no doubt.

I have a T shirt that says I'm Mom's favorite.

I have a coffee mug it says that I'm the best.

So my T shirt is bigger than your coffee mug.

It's true.

It is true. So there you go.

I can't argue with that. What stunning logic.

Stunning, overwhelming bali overwhelming.

Debate here, brilliant, just amazed.

So when I call my mom, yeah, every time, my

mom will be like she always answers the phone. She

could see she has call her ID. She always goes hello, right,

and go hey, it's your favorite son, and to go

which one is it?

When I send my cards, I put a K a

number five, and then I say your favorite.

I think all boys are Mama's favorite.

I think so too, Yeah, all right, number two, go ahead.

Who's most likely to go to space? Chris?

Oh, that's to be honest, I think I might put

you there just because your your desire force.

Uh, what's who I'm.

Looking for get in the gospel everywhere.

No, I want to say, I want to say adventure,

but I want to say like dumb adventure, dumb adventure,

like like I want to say.

Like I want to say like.

Like risky, risky.

I'm looking for it's like it's it's it's senseless, it's unnecessary.

Wow.

Right now, I'm not saying you always do that. I'm

just saying you're my appetite for it. I'm saying you're

more likely to do something like that, like, hey, let's

go look at Crocodile's.

You wouldn't go to space Coasta Rica adventure.

I think I might, but I think.

You're more I would definitely go. Yeah. I think if

it didn't cost like one hundred and fifty grand to

go or whatever it is, or millions of dollars ago,

I would I would go. I would go every week.

I think I do have that adventure in me.

Right.

So I've done adventurous things, Yeah, there's no there's no

question I've done adventurous things. But I do have a

pretty paralyzing fear of both space and deep sea.

Oh okay, yeah, I would do both.

Yeah, deep sea really truly paralyzes me. I actually do

not think I would do deep sea.

Like that submarine that just collapsed imploded. Well, I mean

if I was on like as it's pretty quick way

to go.

Yeah. I think I might go on a submarine if

it was like the Navy.

Oh okay, right, like.

Like an actual, you know, military grade submarine. I wouldn't

go in a millionaire's you know too.

Being Yeah, hey me, this is my backyard, right, okay?

Yeah.

Who's most likely to get stuck up a mountain and

have to be called to be rescued? I have to

call to be rescued.

Well, here's the thing. I don't think you'd ever have

to be called to be rescued.

Yeah, you know what. I don't do well in the mountains.

I love them, but I get I run out of

gas quick.

Okay, yeah, so I don'd say you that.

I quit One time going up a mountain. She told

me this up a mountain, I just out of gas.

And I was with Chad and he ran up ahead

of me. We were going up to this Buddhist temple.

It was like fifteen hundre year old Buddhist temple we're about.

I can't remember. It was eleven or twelve thousand feet

up and we were only we'd only been there in

that area, I hadn't acclimated. If I acclimate, like the

third day, I'm really good. But those that first day

I usually have a headache because it's thin. And then

the next day my headache. I can make that go

aay because I'll always travel with some ibuprofen or something,

so the headacheuld go away. But then the I'm just

breathless for like a day. It's like, oh my gosh,

how these people live here. And then the third or

fourth day, then I start getting acclimated. I'm fine. And

so we were going up this mountain and we've only

been there about twelve hours or something.

Uh huh.

And I was like, I don't care, you just you

just go and tell me bring me a picture, right right? Yeah?

So yeah, and I and I honestly I don't have

a desire to climb mountains.

Yeah. Yeah, Well I told you about that one time

that we were going up the mountain in Nepal in

the Himalayas and on a one track road and we

got passed by a bus. So they were like scraping

on the one side of the mountain and we were

hanging off the other side of the mountain. Its crazy,

It's crazy.

That is crazy, all right.

Number four, who's most likely to have a collection of

unusual items?

I don't know.

I think I maybe leaned toward me.

Is that you What unusual items do you collect?

I don't have any, but but it says more likely

I have.

I have a collection of unusual items in my office.

So I have that little table, yeah that has I

have fossils and and and I have uh an alligator

head and I have.

Yeah yeah, yeah, okay, right, yeah, you ran. You know

what I was thinking of. I was thinking of when

I was a kid. When I was a kid, I

used to collect all sorts of crazy.

Things, did you yeah's cool. Yeah. I had collection upon collection.

Bottle caps and comic books and baseball cards as those

normal things. Yeah. Okay, so so that was called, by

the way, in the old days, those odd collections were

called cabinet, a cabinet of curiosities. And it was before

museums began. Though very wealthy would travel around the world.

They'd find all these amazing things. They bring them home

and then charge people to come in and see them,

and so they would have uh, and then it turned

into from there, as the scientific method began and being developed,

people began to collect those cabinets of curiosities, uh, in

order to be able to do research on rocks and fossils.

That was when dinosaurs and fossils began to be discovered again,

and gems and all those things, and insect collections and

moth collections and all that kind of stuff. It was

called the Cabinet of curiosities, and it was a huge

collection of cabinet of curiosities that became the British Museum

of Natural History, and then that's where all those natural

history museums came from. So there you go. I didn't

know that every like yawn, but yeah, cabinet Curiosities. I

have a book in my office called Cabinet Curiosity.

So that's what I figured as much.

It was most likely to become a professional video game streamer. Definitely,

that's me. Yeah, yeah, hey it most of them all

but one.

No, no, no favorite sibling. You claim that space, you

claim that one mountain to be rescued, that's you. Unusual

items collection, you professional game streamer.

You.

Yeah, well, we didn't need to name this who's most

likely we did see set could have called it Jeff's Amazing.

This is the Jeff's Amazing segment we're going to game.

It's called Jeff's Amazing.

That's so funny.

Okay, yeah, I tried to squeeze myself in there, but

you talked me out of it.

Get out, get out. Yeah, stop stepping on only that

kind of negativity in here.

Yeah.

Well okay, speaking of amazing, yes, we are transitioning into

the Book of Micah, which is an amazing book.

Of the Bible, just like the other books of the Bible.

Or an amazing fact is that Isaiah and Micah were

probably friends. Oh, they were contemporaries. They both served in

Israel at the same time. Oh yeah, okay, does that help?

Is that amazing? It's I'm not sure that true authors

to authors in the Bible were right and at the

same time.

Well, that is actually amazing when you consider that what

we had over authors that lived over fifteen hundred years,

and most of them didn't even know each other.

Well, the authors didn't live over fifteen hundred years. Those

forty authors were spread over that way, I made fifteen years. Yeah,

because that would be amazing no.

I meant forty people the span of fifteen lived over.

Yeah, yeah, lived across a time span of forty of

fifteen hundred years. Yes, okay, So we are reading now.

Micah is a contemporary of Isaiah, and a lot of

his writings and interaction were with Judah, but he did

have some things to say to Israel as well. So

we're going to just jump in and look at this

Micah Chapter one. We're reading the whole chapter, aren't we. Yeah, yep,

says the Lord gave this message to Micah of Morrischeth

during the years when Jotham, a Has and Hezekiah were

kings of Judah. The visions he saw concerned both Samaria

and Jerusalem. Here's the vision. Attention, Let all the people

the world listen. The earth and everything in it here

the sovereign Lord is making accusations against you. The Lord

speaks from his holy temple. Look, the Lord is coming.

He leaves his throne in heaven and tramples the heights

of the earth. The mountains melt beneath his feet and

flow into the valleys like wax and a fire, like

water pouring down a hill. And why is this happening?

Because of the rebellion of Israel. Yes, the sins of

the whole nation. Who is to blame for Israel's rebellion?

Samaria it's capital city. Where is the center of idolatry?

In Judah? In Jerusalem It's capital. So I the Lord

will make the city of Samaria a heap of ruins.

Her streets will be plowed up for planting vineyards. I

will roll the stones of her walls into the valley below,

exposing her foundations. All her carved images will be smashed,

All her sacred treasures will be burned. These things were

bought with the money earned by her prostitution, and they

will now be carried away to pay prostitutes elsewhere. Therefore,

I will mourn and lament. I will walk around barefoot

and naked. I will howl like a jackal and moan

like an owl. For my people's wound is too deep

to heal. It has reached to Judah, even to the

gates of Jerusalem. Don't let our enemies in Gath. Don't

tell our enemies in Gath. Don't weep at all, you

people in beth Leaphra. Is that how you say that?

That's sure sounds good?

To me.

Roll in the dust to show your despair. You people

in Shaffir go as captives into exile, naked and shame.

The people of Zanan dare not come outside their walls.

The people of Bethezo mourn for their house has no support.

The people of marath anxiously wait for relief, but only

bitterness awaits them. As the Lord's judgment reaches even the

gates of Jerusalem. Harness your chariot horses and flee. You

people of lakeish You were the city, the first city

in Judah to follow Israel in her rebellion, and you

let Jerusalem into sin. Sin farewell gives to Morrischeth Gath.

There is no hope of saving it. The town of

Acazeb has deceived the kings of Israel. Oh, people of Marishah,

I will bring a conquer to capture your town, and

the leaders of Israel will go to a dullum. Oh,

people of Judah, shave your heads in sorrow, for the

children you love will be snatched away. Make yourselves as

bald as a vulture, for your little ones will be

exiled to distant lands. Well, good morning, good.

Morning, Wow, there you go, just just a minute ago

you said, you said, there's a there's plenty of bad

news with the prophets.

Yeah, yeah, and oh yeah that was in between in

between between.

Yeah, yeah, you said that and uh and uh that

that is uh definitely understood, isn't it. So wow, he

he really speaks, God speaks against rebellion and idolatry and

the city capitals. So it's in Judah and in Samaria,

and he says he will, uh, he will make Samaria

a heap of ruins for streets we plowed up for

planting vineyards. So I wonder when that would take place,

because you know, oftentimes when there's a prediction that comes

upon a region, or a temple or a city or

you know, something like that, oftentimes it takes decades, right.

Yeah, for it to be fulfilled.

Yes, And.

So I wonder, I wonder when this did take place.

This would have been in that same seven forty What

was that that we we had said about Isaiah. Yeah, yeah,

it's about the same time. Yeah, So Isaiah is warning

the people, but Micah comes in with a really blunt

message and he's giving it to both sides. So what

you have is it says that he wrote this during

the that he gave messages to the kings Jotham, a

Has and Hazekiah. Both Jotham is Jotham or Joatham, I

don't know, and Hezekiah tried to be good kings. As

a matter of fact, Hezekiah began this kind of slow

road back to God as a part of Micah's speeches,

Micah coming in and preaching and saying you're heading in

the wrong direction, and judgment is coming. As Akiah was

a king in Judah. And even though northern Israel did

not come back to God, Hasekiah tried. He tried to

come back to God. He succeeded and failed, and succeeded

and failed. But he was trying to lead the people back.

But in between, a Has was so wicked he was

I remember how horrible a Hab was in northern Israel.

A Has was on a multiple of five or ten

compared to a Haveb. He got to the point where

he nailed the doors of the temple shut. Right, So

not only not only did he set up fake God's

for everybody else, he forbade the people of Israel to

have any access to God's temple at all, right, so

you could not worship God, whereas Ahab never banned the

people of northern Israel East Samaria from worship God. He

just set up all the other gods too, and a

has banned the people. He nailed the door shut of

the temple right, and so it was such an evil time.

And so Micah is coming in and he's warning the

people that when you choose to live a life apart

from God, really there's going to be consequences. As you say, so,

he names all these cities. I had a hard time

reading a lot of those. The names of those cities,

the people reading it would have known. But basically, just

choose fifteen of your own cities that you know about.

It'd be like him saying, hey, La, you've been wandering

from me, and earthquakes are coming. Hey, New York here right,

That's what he's doing, Hey, Houston, Hey, Nashville, right, Hey, Chicago.

That's what he's doing. Is he's going around and he's

just reminding them all these major places. You're not safe

anywhere in Israel or anywhere in Judah because you are

consciously choosing to walk away from God.

Notice you didn't say Detroit in there.

No, We're well you and I administering Detroit. Things are

going pretty good, right now.

There you go, that's so funny.

No, that's not true. Well, I mean there's somethings going

there are some good things things, but not because we're

ministering in the suburbs and the suburbs of Detroit.

Right exactly.

So Micah served as a prophet to Judah from seven

forty two BC to six eighty seven BC.

Right, so that.

Would have been what like sixty years, almost fifty something years.

That a long time.

Yeah, that's pretty good, and it says the climate of

the times was king a hash set up pagan idols

in the temple and finally held the temples of the

door shut for different nations harassed Judah when he When

Hezekia became king, the nation began a slow road to

recovery and economic strength. Hezekiah probably heeded much of Micah's advice.

That's awesome that that, you know, you already pointed that out.

But that's pretty cool, you know. And so you know,

God sends the prophets and you know, warns the people

and then you know, the people have a choice and

the leaders and the rulers. You know, I think that

I think that a lot of times we can hear

God's promises and his word, and somehow we don't think

that they're for us. We think that maybe their blanket

statements that are either ancient and irrelevant, or their blanket

statements that maybe you know, or for the general populations

populace or population, but we don't think they're necessarily for us,

that we don't have to adjust our ways. Have you

ever have you ever met somebody who says we just

kind of covered this a couple of weeks ago and

on this on the sermons in the series, rather that

we just did. But it's like, why should I have

to change? You know, like why why should I have

to sacrifice and change? Why should I have be the

one that you know, that that you know, God says this,

and all of a sudden, I'm doing it. When everybody

around me cheats on their taxes, everybody around me doesn't

do these things, everybody around me gets away with these things.

Why should I be the one to have to do that?

Right?

And it's because, you.

Know, hey, when God asks us to do things, it's

because he wants blessing for our lives. He wants our

lives to go in the right direction, not the wrong one,

you know. And so even back then, imagine how tempting

it would have been for kings. He says, Oh, you're

heading in the wrong direction. He's like, yeah, but I

have riches and fame and glory for myself, and I

have all sorts of things. So in order to turn

from what they were turning from to go God's way,

you know, you know, I think that maybe we are

a little harsh on the kings sometimes.

Well, they were doing what's politically expedient. Probably very likely

the people wanted these gods, right, because the people usually

would put pressure on the kings. This is why Solomon

allowed his wives to build little temples throughout the country, right,

this is why they it was the people wanted. Jezebel

gave the people in Samaria all these groves in these

places to worship a lot of times what the people want,

and the kings just want power and wealth, that's what

they want, and so they give the people what they

think they want or to be able to get. And

so a lot of times, I think, and then they

become wicked themselves because they're not following God. So then

it's just go through the motions, do the thing, whatever

the people want. As long as I can keep my kingdom,

I'm fine. And so this is why the judgment of

God comes on all of the people, not just on

the king right. This is why he names all the cities.

There's nowhere to run, there's nowhere to hide. And so

early in Micah's ministry, judgment does come on Samaria, northern Israel.

And then later in Micah's ministry, Senakreb invades Jerusalem, and

that was probably what he was talking about. For Jerusalem

as well. Hezekiah held it off for quite some time,

but it's still that judgment still came. And the reason,

you know, you're talking about that, why should I change?

It's because God's not measuring me by anybody else. He's

only measuring me by his holiness. And either I am

moving towards Him or away from him. And people whose

hearts are leaning towards God, you always find him blessing them.

You never see him smacking them down. Even has Akyah,

who kind of flip flops a little bit in his

you know, in serving God, even as his heart was

moving towards God. God extends his life. God does all

some pretty amazing things for him while he's heading to God.

So the direction, the trajectory of your life, not the

actual moments, but the trajectory of your life. Either you're

running towards Him, and if so, you always find grace.

Right God, God rejects the proud, He opposes the proud,

He opposes those who are going to go their own way.

But the Bible says he gives grace to the humble.

And so as we're humbling ourselves and moving towards God,

he'll bless us. And this is the this is their option.

They always know this. And then there's a note in

here that references this in for the one and verse five,

But it just highlights the idea that there's two big sins.

That is that they were Micah was identifying for both

Samaria Northern Israel and Judah, and that was they'd begun

perverting worship, especially during a has his time in Judah.

They perverted worship, and then they also oppressed the poor. Right,

and those two things, So love God, love people, Jesus said,

those are the two great commandments. You want to you

want to summar some summarization of all of the law

and all of the prophets. Remember, Micah is one of

the prophets. Jesus said, the sum of what God expects

is love God and love people. And throughout the book

of Micah, it's you've perverted worship and you're abusing others. Right,

it's injustice, and those are the two things God says. Finally,

that's enough. Right.

You know, I just started watching the series David. Have

you heard about this?

So?

Uh, you know, they.

They're creating these series, and this one's covering obviously King

David of the Old Testament. And and it's some of

the same people who did the Chosen and which which

I love the Chosen. I think it's great as long

as you don't get confused about what's really in the

Bible and not right. So the Chosen, by the way,

is called the Chosen because uh, it's the people that

God chose, right and and uh and it's those who

were chosen by God. And and when it's when it's

silent about something, uh, the Chosen will say, well, I wonder.

What it was like for the woman who got healed,

you know.

And so then they sort of create a backstory and

they and they add details and things and they and

and and so it's like, oh, okay, So what they're doing

is they're creating like real life and emotion and significance.

They're taking the facts we know about historically in their

culture and saying, hey, it might have been like this

for that person.

Yeah, and and and and so and so.

You know, when you watch The Chosen, you just have

to you just have to understand that, you know, don't

take every thing is absolute gospel.

It's it's what it could have been like. And it's

based on all the facts of.

Kind of a historical fiction.

Yeah, historical fiction.

David.

So, David did something that I just I just I

couldn't get over.

Now.

The reason why I thought about this and the reason

why I'm even bringing it up is because it starts

with Saul and and it starts with Saul rebellion, rebelling,

and he wants to take the own glory for himself.

So it's exactly this topic, right, and it's and it's

with and Samuel comes along and says, you know, I

told you when when you defeated the Amalachites, I told

you not to take anything.

And uh.

And then and then Saul was like, yeah, but you know,

and then and he starts to justify all these different things, right,

and he gets caught up in his own glory as

opposed to God's glory. So it's literally exactly that this

this exact topic. But you know what I didn't like

is the Chosen never stepped on the toes of the facts.

Like if it was a factual, then it stayed factual, okay, right,

and then they sort of added the silent parts whereas uh,

whereas like they depicted uh Daniel defeating the lion.

Remember when he's, oh, you know, I'm gonna I'm gonna

defeat Goliath.

And yeah, Daniel, but he says, remember when he says, Hey,

when a lion came, I defeated it.

When a bear came, I defeated it. Remember that.

And and and in that story he says, the lion

came to eat the sheep, and I defeated it.

Well in in in the David.

Version, he hunts the lion down and chases him down

to his lair, and and and you know, and then

the lion has this history with the village and and

David goes out of his way. And then during his

battle with Goliath, Goliath throws a spear and nails David

in the side, and David's on the ground bleeding, and

then he gets the stone at the last second, and.

I'm like, bro, this did not happen this way. I'm like,

I'm like, I.

Appreciate movies very much so, but but the chosen didn't

add anything.

Right If it was fact, it was fact in the shows.

But I was but I was angry.

But anyway, what I was really appreciating, though, is I

was appreciating them depicting Saul as a king and how

difficult it must have been to hear this the ramblings

of an old man named Samuel, who says, don't take

the spoils, leave everything, and all of a sudden, you know,

he's confronted with, you know, taking the wealth of the

Amalekites and giving it to the nation.

And it's like, what a temptation that probably must have been. Yeah,

you know what I mean. Yeah, I don't think.

I don't think God doesn't say it's going to be easy, right.

God just says obey because he knows better.

Right, And I think I think that we sometimes, you know,

can can look at the children of Israel, or the

nation of Israel, or the rulers of Israel and just say, man,

they were just idiots, like you know, they were just

so dumb, you know, why not just follow God? So

I don't think we could appreciate how difficult it probably

must have been.

Be very difficult.

Yeah, So anyway, anyway, sorry for that rambling.

That is our time and we will see you hopefully

next time on the Bible guys.

H