Superbowl XLI

Damn it!
Patriots lost to the Colts 38 - 34.

That means we got a Bears v Colts superbowl in a couple of weeks!

Im definitely supporting the Chicargo Bears. Woop! Woop!

How 'bout dem Bears?!

Worship

I'm leading the worship again on sunday, and I never really thought about how much of an important job that is.
Before all it meant to me was that I had the task of picking the songs and have to ramble on in between them.
But after listening to a sermon about worship by Rob Bell, I discovered that leading the worship IS quite a big deal!
It should be guided by God. I should pray and meditate on His word, before asking Him to help me pick the songs, I should be open to let the worship time move freely in the direction that God wants.

I should be sensitive to the Holy Spirit.

The words should be meant and not just sang.

I should put great words on His peoples lips.

I want to be SO much more for Jesus than I am now.

I want to stop letting God down over and over again.

I want to be an inspiration to the people I love, like the way I'm inspired by them.

I want to thank you, my christian brothers and sisters, for challenging me to do better.
To live my life the way I should.
Help me to put great words on your lips this sunday.

Love you x

Wii

Can I get a "woop woop!"?
My nintendo Wii came this morning and its my day off, so guess whose been playing Wii sports and Wario all day?!

Its all white and minimal and pretty looking.

Love You X

Micah 6:16

After this post we will go back to verse 9 of chapter 6 and work through into chapter 7. This is because the next topic crosses over the chapter divide. The next topic is Judgement (but that'll be the next post!). Cofused? 'cause I am!

In this verse it mentions a guy called Omri.

Omri was a king who reigned over Isreal and led the people to idol worship (1Kings 16:21-26). His son was Ahab, was Isreal's most wicked and evil ruler (1Kings 16:29-33). If the people were being influenced by these types of people alone, they were in for some big trouble.

This was the mother of all insults to God. And remember this is still the old testament God.

The God who smites!

You do not want to mess with Him! And they were basically spitting in His face!

"Remember all those times our God has gotten us out of trouble?...Screw that! Im gonna bow down to some statue of the god of cheese!"

Idiots!

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Micah 6:5-8

At this point Micah has already delivered 2 of his 3 messages: a message of warning (verses1&2) and a message of promise (verses 3-5). His third message is a challenge to the people to trust in the Lord and obey Him. For its only through this trust and obidience that they can be forgiven and saved from the punishment that they are owed.

Throughout the history of the old testament it is important to remember just how essential it was to the Jewish nation to trust in the Lord. (Gen 12: 1-3, John 4:22)

The story of Balak and Balaam is found in Numbers:22-24 (if people are interested) basically, this story is mentioned by Micah to remind the people of a covenant that was made between them and God.

It was this forgetfullness of the people that would condem them. When people refuse to see how fortunate they are then they begin to take God (and His blessings) for granted and become self-centred. This is what was going on here.

People have tried many ways over the years to please God, but God makes it very clear what He wishes us to do. He wants us to be fair, just, and merciful, and to walk humbly with Him.

As Ive mentioned before, this message from Micah was very much like a courtroom set-up. Micah uses 3 key points to underline the importance of repentance. . . . guilt, punishment and mercy. The first of these are found in these verses we are looking at today.

Because of great guilt, trust the Lord;

Along with Micah reminding the people of Balak and Balaam, he also mentions Isreal's crossing of the Jordan river and entering the promised land (Josh 3-4). The very same God who opened and closed the Red sea did the same with the Jordan so His people may claim their inheritance. He did for them what they couldn't do themselves. But all that is forgotten.

It is important for God's people to remember what He has done for them. The word "remember" is found 14 times in the book of Deuteronomy. As it is important not to live in or dwell on the past, it is essential that we learn from it. Otherwise we will continue to make the same mistakes.

Interestingly enough, in this passage we see the people answering Micah back and attempting to bargin with God or even buy Him off with a few calves. Nothing we have to offer the Lord will ever come close to repaying Him for all He has done for us.

The people simply didnt get what Micah was saying to them. The very fact of how guilty they were should have motivated them to turn away from their sin.

The only people who God can save are lost .

The only people who God can forgive are guilty.

X

Its the weirdest thing . . . .

This morning in my prayer time with God I got onto the subject of sin. Now I know this is one of those things we dont like talking about but . . . I was kinda beating myself up over the fact that even though I know Im forgiven of my sins (past, present and future) I didnt want to continually keep letting God down.

Each morning I make a habbit of saying sorry to God for the stuff ive done wrong the day before, but today I realised I was gonna do just as much wrong tomorrow aswell. This was kind of bugging me, and I know the idea is to strive to improve each day and to try to be more Christ-like, but I want to see better results! Everytime I seem to be improving and growing spiritually I fall back down.

I suppose its the getting back up again that counts.

Then I put on Nooma 0010 Lump (its the one with the little white ball) and it really spoke to me about this wrestling match that I'd been having with myself. Rob Bell says to his son who has done wrong "there is nothing you can do to make me love you any less". He goes on to say that this is how God feels about us. About me!
He knows Im a loser and rejoices in that fact.

There is nothing I can do to make Him love me any less!

Then in my bible time I turned to the book of Romans (which is written by Paul to the non-jews) and chapter 8 towards the end of the chapter (v38/39) it speaks of Gods love for us.

Nothing will ever be able to seperate us from the love of God

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