hello good afternoon everyone<\/p>\n
[Laughter]<\/p>\n
if you will open your bibles to micah<\/p>\n
chapter six foreign<\/p>\n
today we continue with micah's prophecy<\/p>\n
to god's people and there's a lot to<\/p>\n
wrestle with in this text<\/p>\n
and sometimes<\/p>\n
and this chapter opens with a court<\/p>\n
scene and yahweh is calling his wayward<\/p>\n
people to answer<\/p>\n
for their unfaithfulness to the covenant<\/p>\n
and in that this is a court scene it<\/p>\n
should truly grab<\/p>\n
our attention this is god<\/p>\n
pleading with his people and accusing<\/p>\n
them<\/p>\n
and us actually of spiritual<\/p>\n
adultery and then sternly warning them<\/p>\n
of the consequences of that adultery<\/p>\n
foreign<\/p>\n
however as we will see<\/p>\n
micah 6 and even<\/p>\n
the warnings in micah 6 are full<\/p>\n
of mercy this chapter is an invitation<\/p>\n
to return to god<\/p>\n
and also this chapter<\/p>\n
should serve as a mirror for us and for<\/p>\n
our own hearts and souls<\/p>\n
so in the midst of this accusation<\/p>\n
warning god asked this question of his<\/p>\n
people<\/p>\n
how have i wearied you<\/p>\n
and this is the main question that i<\/p>\n
want us to wrestle with today<\/p>\n
and the first one is<\/p>\n
weary or tired of god<\/p>\n
the second one is the cure for weariness<\/p>\n
so let's have<\/p>\n
someone read the text in thai if you are<\/p>\n
an english speaker please follow along<\/p>\n
they're going to be the whole chapter<\/p>\n
in thai i can follow along in your<\/p>\n
english bibles please<\/p>\n
[Music]<\/p>\n
would come all out<\/p>\n
lord we are so thankful for your<\/p>\n
fatherhood<\/p>\n
you are a tender loving father<\/p>\n
who loves us in spite of our<\/p>\n
forgetfulness who loves us in spite of<\/p>\n
the way that we run<\/p>\n
help us<\/p>\n
have mercy on us<\/p>\n
show us<\/p>\n
how to return to you well<\/p>\n
help us to look<\/p>\n
in the mirror of micah 6<\/p>\n
and see the ways that we have grown<\/p>\n
tired<\/p>\n
of you<\/p>\n
and help us to grow tired none of you<\/p>\n
but of our little idols our little gods<\/p>\n
and help us to return to you and we ask<\/p>\n
all this in your name amen<\/p>\n
so first of all tired of god<\/p>\n
so the role of a prophet in the old<\/p>\n
testament in the new zealand two is<\/p>\n
actually like that of a prosecutor so<\/p>\n
god calls the prophet to come and<\/p>\n
confront his people with their breach of<\/p>\n
contract or their breach of the covenant<\/p>\n
wrong<\/p>\n
and in this case micah is the lawyer the<\/p>\n
prosecutor who stands before judah to<\/p>\n
bring god's case against them<\/p>\n
listen<\/p>\n
to what the lord says stand up plead my<\/p>\n
case before the mountains let the hills<\/p>\n
hear what you have to say hear you<\/p>\n
mountains the lord's accusation listen<\/p>\n
you<\/p>\n
everlasting foundations of the earth for<\/p>\n
the lord has a case against his people<\/p>\n
he is lodging a charge against israel<\/p>\n
from<\/p>\n
and he calls these ancient covenant<\/p>\n
witnesses the mountains<\/p>\n
and the hills to hear<\/p>\n
yahweh's charge against<\/p>\n
and this would have definitely grabbed<\/p>\n
the attention of any jew in that day god<\/p>\n
through micah was using covenant<\/p>\n
language language that he used way back<\/p>\n
in deuteronomy through moses<\/p>\n
so three times in deuteronomy god is<\/p>\n
entering into covenant as god is<\/p>\n
entering the covenant with his people<\/p>\n
israel he warns them about idolatry<\/p>\n
waywardness and spiritual adultery<\/p>\n
times he foreign upon the mountains and<\/p>\n
the hills or the heavens and the earth<\/p>\n
to stand witness to the promise<\/p>\n
of retribution if his people break<\/p>\n
covenant<\/p>\n
so this is serious it is a dire warning<\/p>\n
even iran<\/p>\n
and so then god asked the this<\/p>\n
penetrating question<\/p>\n
my people<\/p>\n
what have i done to you<\/p>\n
how have i burdened you<\/p>\n
answer me<\/p>\n
and then before bringing his warning he<\/p>\n
challenges his people to consider and to<\/p>\n
answer his charges<\/p>\n
and then in verse 4 and 5 he illustrates<\/p>\n
his own faithfulness to israel<\/p>\n
throughout history<\/p>\n
against god's people right here is this<\/p>\n
they<\/p>\n
have grown tired of god<\/p>\n
to the worldly people of judah<\/p>\n
the worship of and devotion to yahweh<\/p>\n
has become a burden it's something<\/p>\n
they've grown out of they've moved past<\/p>\n
and they're bored with<\/p>\n
and they decided that god is no longer<\/p>\n
enough for them and as niron preached<\/p>\n
last week chapter five shows that<\/p>\n
they've gone after other gods actually<\/p>\n
and then in verse 16 the lord accuses<\/p>\n
judah with this you have observed the<\/p>\n
statutes of omri and all the practices<\/p>\n
of ahab's house you have followed their<\/p>\n
traditions<\/p>\n
so in other words they become just as<\/p>\n
evil just as treacherous and idolatrous<\/p>\n
as the two most evil kings in the<\/p>\n
history of israel<\/p>\n
and it's actually this that gives us a<\/p>\n
pretty good clue about how they grew<\/p>\n
tired of god<\/p>\n
so after swearing covenant allegiance<\/p>\n
with god israel<\/p>\n
continually forgot what god had done for<\/p>\n
them and they began to covet or want the<\/p>\n
other gods of the nations around them<\/p>\n
why<\/p>\n
is<\/p>\n
well for one thing<\/p>\n
these other gods don't talk back<\/p>\n
they didn't condemn self-worship<\/p>\n
injustice and cruelty to the way that<\/p>\n
yahweh did<\/p>\n
and there's a lot of money and power to<\/p>\n
be had when your god isn't concerned<\/p>\n
with these things<\/p>\n
when he's not concerned about human<\/p>\n
dignity and generosity and true justice<\/p>\n
so you see god isn't accusing his people<\/p>\n
of being irreligious<\/p>\n
there's plenty of evidence here that<\/p>\n
they still wanted to be very religious<\/p>\n
so it's just that they wanted a religion<\/p>\n
that would cater to their true idols to<\/p>\n
the to the true gods of their hearts<\/p>\n
so what they were tired of is belonging<\/p>\n
to god alone<\/p>\n
they were tired of forsaking worldly<\/p>\n
sinful pleasures that the nations around<\/p>\n
them enjoyed<\/p>\n
upholding justly justice when it was<\/p>\n
costly they were tired of a god who<\/p>\n
demands complete<\/p>\n
so they were tired of yahweh they were<\/p>\n
tired of god and they longed for<\/p>\n
religion and the first five verses are<\/p>\n
god's speech to his people and in verses<\/p>\n
six and seven<\/p>\n
the people themselves respond<\/p>\n
so listen to this response<\/p>\n
this is the people of israel or the<\/p>\n
people of judah with what shall i come<\/p>\n
before the lord and bow down before the<\/p>\n
exalted god<\/p>\n
shall i come before him with burnt<\/p>\n
offerings with calves a year old will<\/p>\n
the lord be pleased with thousands of<\/p>\n
rams with tens of thousands and rivers<\/p>\n
of olive oil shall i offer my firstborn<\/p>\n
for my transgression for the fruit of my<\/p>\n
body for the sin of my soul<\/p>\n
so do you hear what they really wanted<\/p>\n
they wanted a transaction<\/p>\n
they wanted a vending machine god they<\/p>\n
wanted religion and nothing else they<\/p>\n
wanted to pay<\/p>\n
god off kundain<\/p>\n
what they wanted was for god to just<\/p>\n
tell them what he wants so that<\/p>\n
he they could just meet his demands and<\/p>\n
then go about their business what they<\/p>\n
wanted was religion<\/p>\n
without heart change<\/p>\n
they wanted a god who would become like<\/p>\n
who would accommodate their own sins so<\/p>\n
listen to verse 10 and 11<\/p>\n
am i<\/p>\n
this is god speaking am i still to<\/p>\n
forget<\/p>\n
your ill-gotten treasures<\/p>\n
your wicked house and the short efa<\/p>\n
which is accursed<\/p>\n
shall i acquit someone with dishonest<\/p>\n
scales with a bag of false weights<\/p>\n
up<\/p>\n
so god was asking them a question that<\/p>\n
needed no answer<\/p>\n
of course he would not and could not<\/p>\n
become like the other gods of the other<\/p>\n
nations<\/p>\n
the question that he asked was meant to<\/p>\n
point out the idolatry<\/p>\n
in the hearts of his people<\/p>\n
so these are the same kind of people<\/p>\n
that jesus spoke of when he said these<\/p>\n
people honor me with their lips but<\/p>\n
their hearts are far from me<\/p>\n
like<\/p>\n
and isn't this the real problem for all<\/p>\n
of us<\/p>\n
hasn't this been the issue for all of<\/p>\n
history<\/p>\n
we want a god who will let us remain<\/p>\n
devoted to our idols<\/p>\n
who will never cross us and who will<\/p>\n
ultimately let us be our own little gods<\/p>\n
make up<\/p>\n
like judah and israel before them we are<\/p>\n
prone to this transactional religious<\/p>\n
approach to god and what we want to do<\/p>\n
is just do enough to keep god happy so<\/p>\n
that we can just live our lives without<\/p>\n
him<\/p>\n
like judah in these verses we want to<\/p>\n
know what the rules are that so that we<\/p>\n
can keep them the steps that we have to<\/p>\n
take and the tasks that we have to do to<\/p>\n
make god<\/p>\n
leave us alone so that we can just chase<\/p>\n
our own<\/p>\n
this really should be a mirror for us we<\/p>\n
should read and hear these words and<\/p>\n
then chew on them and meditate them<\/p>\n
meditate on them and then<\/p>\n
see how we have grown tired of god nikoi<\/p>\n
someone asked the question how did<\/p>\n
israel get here what are the steps of<\/p>\n
becoming tired of god what are the<\/p>\n
symptoms<\/p>\n
so the steps thought of a couple<\/p>\n
much like judah and israel we are easily<\/p>\n
seduced by the world<\/p>\n
we want the momentary in the moment<\/p>\n
pleasure that sin gives us<\/p>\n
like judah and israel we forget<\/p>\n
as long as we have the things that make<\/p>\n
us happy as long as our idols are cared<\/p>\n
for<\/p>\n
we forget god and with enough forgetting<\/p>\n
we end up forsaking god<\/p>\n
and then much like<\/p>\n
judah<\/p>\n
and israel we only cry out to god when<\/p>\n
we have nothing else when our when our<\/p>\n
idols have failed us<\/p>\n
our little gods have failed and then<\/p>\n
we're desperate in fact tell me<\/p>\n
that you've never said this<\/p>\n
god if you do<\/p>\n
and then fill in the blank<\/p>\n
then i'll never<\/p>\n
fill in the blank again<\/p>\n
so god if you do this i'll never do this<\/p>\n
again or<\/p>\n
god if you give me this then i'll<\/p>\n
promise to<\/p>\n
this<\/p>\n
so what are some of the symptoms of<\/p>\n
being tired of god<\/p>\n
tell me if you've don't tell me but just<\/p>\n
see if you have experienced some of<\/p>\n
these<\/p>\n
is reading scripture ever a chore a duty<\/p>\n
not a joy anymore<\/p>\n
prayer<\/p>\n
it's infrequent or it never happens do<\/p>\n
you try to bargain you try to bargain<\/p>\n
with god to pay him off while protecting<\/p>\n
your own favorite idols<\/p>\n
or<\/p>\n
this being with god's people<\/p>\n
is that a low priority<\/p>\n
is that is that lower than your hobbies<\/p>\n
your sleep your job<\/p>\n
etc etc<\/p>\n
does this sound like your life or parts<\/p>\n
of your life even have you exchanged the<\/p>\n
true god to worship little gods like<\/p>\n
food or sex or online gaming or comfort<\/p>\n
or romance or whatever<\/p>\n
thank you manchester<\/p>\n
well<\/p>\n
being tired of god first of all<\/p>\n
it's not rare<\/p>\n
it's not something that can't happen to<\/p>\n
true christians<\/p>\n
but it is a dangerous place to live<\/p>\n
and it's dangerous because at the end of<\/p>\n
chapter 6 after pleading after warning<\/p>\n
god tells his unrepentant people<\/p>\n
therefore i will give you over to ruin<\/p>\n
and your people to derision and you will<\/p>\n
bear the scorn of the nations<\/p>\n
and one of the realities one of the<\/p>\n
scary realities that god gives micah<\/p>\n
or that god gives<\/p>\n
us through micah is that god<\/p>\n
will not be mocked<\/p>\n
as we see in this passage he is patient<\/p>\n
and he is tender and he is even pleading<\/p>\n
in his warnings to his people but there<\/p>\n
comes a time when he allows us to reap<\/p>\n
what we have sown together<\/p>\n
and this message runs with urgency<\/p>\n
throughout the scriptures calling us<\/p>\n
calling us to come back to return to god<\/p>\n
to not allow our hearts to be hardened<\/p>\n
by sin<\/p>\n
and doubt<\/p>\n
and calling us to cling to christ<\/p>\n
and change the lord<\/p>\n
brothers and sisters it is normal to be<\/p>\n
tired of god from time to time it's<\/p>\n
normal to struggle it's normal to doubt<\/p>\n
but let's be careful<\/p>\n
because being tired of god weary of god<\/p>\n
this was the accusation with which god<\/p>\n
charged his people<\/p>\n
and it was this weariness<\/p>\n
with god that ultimately brought ruin to<\/p>\n
the kingdom of judah and it will bring<\/p>\n
ruin to our souls<\/p>\n
so that's dark<\/p>\n
let's move on to the cure for weariness<\/p>\n
so hopefully you've just looked into<\/p>\n
some of the darkest<\/p>\n
parts of your soul and hopefully you'll<\/p>\n
continue to do that<\/p>\n
video<\/p>\n
but i want us to know that with this<\/p>\n
darkness with this warning in this<\/p>\n
passage<\/p>\n
comes a wide open invitation to mercy we<\/p>\n
know that the big picture of our faith<\/p>\n
is that the lord redeems and restores<\/p>\n
and draws his people home<\/p>\n
tonight<\/p>\n
so the question we want to<\/p>\n
think through right now is in light of<\/p>\n
the knowledge that our hearts are prone<\/p>\n
to grow weary<\/p>\n
with god is this<\/p>\n
how<\/p>\n
do i cure this weariness<\/p>\n
okay<\/p>\n
and when we find ourselves weary of god<\/p>\n
or tired of god weary of the fight and<\/p>\n
just wanting to break free and follow<\/p>\n
our hearts<\/p>\n
what do we do<\/p>\n
we look to the cure<\/p>\n
and i want to propose three solid cures<\/p>\n
given in this passage one<\/p>\n
to<\/p>\n
remember<\/p>\n
and three<\/p>\n
returns<\/p>\n
songs<\/p>\n
so first of all listen the prophet<\/p>\n
starts these the two major sections of<\/p>\n
this chapter with the command to<\/p>\n
he's calling us to listen to what the<\/p>\n
lord is saying<\/p>\n
is bringing the word of the lord to his<\/p>\n
people and the god who created all<\/p>\n
things and all people and the sensible<\/p>\n
thing to do is just listen<\/p>\n
and this message that he brings is this<\/p>\n
this is the god who will not change this<\/p>\n
is the god who will not stop pursuing<\/p>\n
you and this is the god who will not<\/p>\n
allow evil to triumph god will not<\/p>\n
simply stand aside and let and be used<\/p>\n
as a prop for our sin and our idolatry<\/p>\n
the message is also this<\/p>\n
my people you ignore me<\/p>\n
you forget me<\/p>\n
and you continue in unfaithfulness at<\/p>\n
your own peril<\/p>\n
so we listen to the hard messages of<\/p>\n
scripture we meditate on them and we<\/p>\n
hold this mirror up to our own faces and<\/p>\n
we see where we are in danger<\/p>\n
but another way that listening to god's<\/p>\n
words is a cure for the our weariness<\/p>\n
with god is that when we listen to this<\/p>\n
message we see hope and we see promise<\/p>\n
and mercy<\/p>\n
yeah<\/p>\n
so first of all listen to the way that<\/p>\n
god addresses his people in this passage<\/p>\n
in the beginning of this lawsuit god<\/p>\n
says<\/p>\n
my<\/p>\n
what have i done to you and then in<\/p>\n
verse 5<\/p>\n
people remember<\/p>\n
he doesn't say listen you worthless<\/p>\n
sinners he says<\/p>\n
so this is a tender pleading voice of a<\/p>\n
father crying out to his children this<\/p>\n
call is<\/p>\n
dripping with god's mercy to his people<\/p>\n
the lord calls out to the city this evil<\/p>\n
city and he warns them of the danger<\/p>\n
that is coming we shouldn't miss just<\/p>\n
how loving this<\/p>\n
if god didn't love his people if he<\/p>\n
weren't longing to pour out his mercy<\/p>\n
his grace on them<\/p>\n
he would never warn them he would just<\/p>\n
pour out his wrath on them and be done<\/p>\n
with<\/p>\n
so if we listen<\/p>\n
we're going to hear<\/p>\n
of a god who pursues us<\/p>\n
will encounter a god who will not stand<\/p>\n
aside and let you and i kill ourselves<\/p>\n
with our own idolatry<\/p>\n
if we listen we're going to learn of a<\/p>\n
holy god who has made a way<\/p>\n
to come to<\/p>\n
so as the lord himself says he who has<\/p>\n
ears to hear<\/p>\n
let him hear man<\/p>\n
secondly if we want to be cured of our<\/p>\n
weariness with god<\/p>\n
we've got to remember<\/p>\n
so in his charge of judah he asked this<\/p>\n
question<\/p>\n
what have i done to you how have i<\/p>\n
wearied you and then he lays out his<\/p>\n
past saving work<\/p>\n
his people of his own covenant<\/p>\n
faithfulness with these words i brought<\/p>\n
you up out of egypt and redeemed you<\/p>\n
from the land of slavery i sent moses to<\/p>\n
lead you and also aaron and miriam my<\/p>\n
remember what balak the king of moab<\/p>\n
plotted and what balaam the son of beor<\/p>\n
answered remember<\/p>\n
your journey from shittim to gilgal that<\/p>\n
you may know the righteous acts of the<\/p>\n
lord<\/p>\n
jesus<\/p>\n
so after charging his people with<\/p>\n
growing tired of him he then calls them<\/p>\n
in doing this he he lays a foundation<\/p>\n
for repentance and he says that this<\/p>\n
foundation is remembering what god has<\/p>\n
already accomplished for them<\/p>\n
why does he do this what is so important<\/p>\n
about this remembering<\/p>\n
mainly we are forgetful people like<\/p>\n
miranda preached last week we are sheep<\/p>\n
we're easily distracted we're constantly<\/p>\n
listening to other voices to our own<\/p>\n
some sinful hearts and to the messages<\/p>\n
of the world<\/p>\n
and god's tender and patient response<\/p>\n
to this is to point us back<\/p>\n
to point us back to what he's done<\/p>\n
he reminds us<\/p>\n
that he is the redeemer the rescuer who<\/p>\n
saved their entire nation he reminds<\/p>\n
them that he is the one who sends help<\/p>\n
and guidance he reminds us that he is<\/p>\n
the one who has intervened throughout<\/p>\n
and so what about us<\/p>\n
all of those things still hold true for<\/p>\n
us<\/p>\n
but then there's much much more<\/p>\n
now<\/p>\n
what an amazing thing for us to live on<\/p>\n
this side of the cross where we know<\/p>\n
that god himself has come down in the<\/p>\n
flesh he's redeemed us he's intervened<\/p>\n
on our behalf and now he has sent his<\/p>\n
holy spirit to dwell in us<\/p>\n
this is what jesus meant when on the<\/p>\n
night that he was betrayed he took the<\/p>\n
bread and the wine and he said do this<\/p>\n
often and when you do<\/p>\n
what<\/p>\n
remember me<\/p>\n
you see unless we remember these things<\/p>\n
unless we remind ourselves of these<\/p>\n
things unless we abide in them<\/p>\n
we will grow tired of god<\/p>\n
and then instead of listening to god<\/p>\n
we'll listen to our own deceitful hearts<\/p>\n
and to the world around us and then<\/p>\n
we'll be seduced by little gods that<\/p>\n
don't satisfy us<\/p>\n
and that's ultimately what happens to<\/p>\n
all who don't listen to those who forget<\/p>\n
and god leaves them to pursue those<\/p>\n
little gods<\/p>\n
money sex power status etcetera and<\/p>\n
verse 13 and 15 tell us they will eat<\/p>\n
and they won't be satisfied they'll<\/p>\n
store up but they'll have nothing and<\/p>\n
they will plant but not harvested<\/p>\n
in other words<\/p>\n
unless we listen<\/p>\n
unless we remember<\/p>\n
our lives will be marked<\/p>\n
by futility and fruitfulness<\/p>\n
and finally god calls us to return and<\/p>\n
here we're going to focus mostly<\/p>\n
on verse 8.<\/p>\n
and after judah's ridiculous response to<\/p>\n
the charges in verse in verses 6 and 7<\/p>\n
god gives them a simple yet powerful<\/p>\n
solution to the problem<\/p>\n
says he has shown you o mortal what is<\/p>\n
good<\/p>\n
and what does the lord require of you<\/p>\n
to act justly and to love mercy and to<\/p>\n
walk humbly with your god<\/p>\n
supermarket<\/p>\n
he has shown you so this isn't new<\/p>\n
information god hasn't changed the rules<\/p>\n
all of a sudden<\/p>\n
all of my six and really all of<\/p>\n
scripture deals with the heart see god<\/p>\n
wants the hearts<\/p>\n
of his people not just rule<\/p>\n
so followers of curing this weirdness<\/p>\n
with god is just to return to what god<\/p>\n
commands it of us and there's a<\/p>\n
simplicity here<\/p>\n
that is life-giving and reviving to the<\/p>\n
weary sometimes<\/p>\n
one of paul's concerns with the<\/p>\n
corinthian church is that they had let<\/p>\n
the world<\/p>\n
false gospels and even their own<\/p>\n
hard-heartedness draw them away from<\/p>\n
their sincere and pure devotion to<\/p>\n
christ<\/p>\n
and there's a simplicity throughout the<\/p>\n
scripture that god calls us to he<\/p>\n
invites he pleads he stands ready to<\/p>\n
welcome all who will simply<\/p>\n
come<\/p>\n
to me<\/p>\n
all you who are weary and heavy-laden<\/p>\n
and this is the same kind of simplicity<\/p>\n
that yahweh calls his people to<\/p>\n
in this passage<\/p>\n
and what he's saying is this isn't a<\/p>\n
religious problem this isn't about how<\/p>\n
many sacrifices you make this is an<\/p>\n
invitation about coming<\/p>\n
back to me<\/p>\n
embracing me following me and seeking<\/p>\n
for your heart<\/p>\n
um and notice what the commands are the<\/p>\n
commands are act justly<\/p>\n
love mercy and walk humbly with your god<\/p>\n
but notice where they fall they fall<\/p>\n
after a recounting of god's<\/p>\n
this is kind of like in the book of<\/p>\n
romans or pretty much any book of paul<\/p>\n
where he he lays out this amazing<\/p>\n
beautiful theology<\/p>\n
of how god saved<\/p>\n
not how we saved ourselves but how god<\/p>\n
saved us and from there he says<\/p>\n
in chapter 12<\/p>\n
in view of the mercies of god and then<\/p>\n
he starts to tell us how to live.<\/p>\n
and when god is calling his people to<\/p>\n
return he's saying<\/p>\n
first<\/p>\n
listen to me second remember<\/p>\n
what i've done and then returned<\/p>\n
my pronoun<\/p>\n
and once we've listened to these<\/p>\n
warnings and to these invitations to<\/p>\n
mercy once we've remembered<\/p>\n
what he's done and then we're ready to<\/p>\n
return because our hearts have been<\/p>\n
softened by his grace<\/p>\n
so he says to his people act justly be<\/p>\n
fair don't treat people differently<\/p>\n
because their status or race treat all<\/p>\n
people with dignity and respect<\/p>\n
and then he says love mercy so this<\/p>\n
hebrew word is a big one it can be<\/p>\n
translated loving kindness covenant<\/p>\n
faithfulness mercy love<\/p>\n
and what it means is to<\/p>\n
to give and give and give<\/p>\n
when nothing is deserved<\/p>\n
it means that we seek to outdo each<\/p>\n
other in showing kindness and generosity<\/p>\n
and honor<\/p>\n
today<\/p>\n
and it means if we love<\/p>\n
mercy the world will watch you and i<\/p>\n
and they will think they are absolutely<\/p>\n
crazy<\/p>\n
and both of his commands to act justly<\/p>\n
and to love mercy<\/p>\n
clearly reflect the character of god in<\/p>\n
the midst of a world that craves<\/p>\n
he's the lord of his people he's the<\/p>\n
creator of us<\/p>\n
and of all things<\/p>\n
walking humbly with god is just a deep<\/p>\n
recognition of these truths<\/p>\n
it is a lifelong pursuit of keeping god<\/p>\n
as the center of our devotion and love<\/p>\n
and seeking how we can bring him glory<\/p>\n
and so when we find ourselves tired of<\/p>\n
god we need to listen to his word to the<\/p>\n
warnings<\/p>\n
and to the tender invitations to come to<\/p>\n
we need to remember that he is the<\/p>\n
redeemer and that though our own hearts<\/p>\n
continually seek to betray us he will<\/p>\n
not let us go laugh<\/p>\n
and then we need to return we need to<\/p>\n
come back again and again because you<\/p>\n
and i will fall<\/p>\n
again and again we need to come back to<\/p>\n
so just like we sang earlier<\/p>\n
come ye sinners<\/p>\n
poor and wretched weak and wounded sick<\/p>\n
and sore<\/p>\n
jesus ready stands to save you<\/p>\n
full of pity joined with power when<\/p>\n
you're playing<\/p>\n
wrong people<\/p>\n
thank you father that you are a god<\/p>\n
who pursues his people even through<\/p>\n
their sin we are so grateful for this<\/p>\n
we ask that you would drive this deep<\/p>\n
into our hearts<\/p>\n
we ask this in your name amen<\/p>","english_search_text":"","":"","original_publish_date":"20211102","video_url":"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=sO_k4HgKPJU","video_id":"sO_k4HgKPJU","video_duration":"53:36","channel_name":"Grace City Bangkok"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gracecity.machakosconsulting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/928","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gracecity.machakosconsulting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gracecity.machakosconsulting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gracecity.machakosconsulting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gracecity.machakosconsulting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=928"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/gracecity.machakosconsulting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/928\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":929,"href":"https:\/\/gracecity.machakosconsulting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/928\/revisions\/929"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gracecity.machakosconsulting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/927"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gracecity.machakosconsulting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=928"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gracecity.machakosconsulting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=928"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gracecity.machakosconsulting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=928"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}