Micah 3:11&12

Micah was giving the religious leaders a right good telling off, cuz they were only preaching and teaching if they got paid.

Jesus came to this earth to teach us how to love and serve one another.

Servanthood is lost the minute we "minister" for personal gain.

Preaching and teaching shouldnt be done with the idea of mega bucks in the back of your mind.

When God calls you and asks you to do something. . . . do it! even if there is nothing (obvious to you) in it for you.

Micah also warns people to avoid bribes. Even in modern times we see examples of the church (or other religions) taking bribes. Middle eastern countries governments pay their places of worship to promote their ideas.

We must remember that Judah was destroyed primarily because of the behaviour of their leaders. However, the people were far from innocent. At no point during the corruption of their country did they turn to God or call for justice.

Love you x

F.R.O.G

Micah 3: 5-8

Micah (unlike Jonah!) stayed true to his calling and continued to do and say exactly what God wanted him to. Also, in contrast, the false prophets of the time were in for some trouble!

We must still be aware of false-prophets today, not all those who claim to have messages from God really do. In verses 5-7 we get a taster of what God has in store for these false teachers.

In verse 8 Micah acknowledges that it is God who is to be praised for the works that Micah is doing. He recognises that the power within his ministry is from God.

Our strength and power comes from the same source today!

Jesus told His followers that they would recieve the power and ability to witness about Him when the Holy Spirit came to them (Acts 1:8).

You can't rely on your own strength to witness, because the devil will use fear to stop you in your tracks.

Fear of humility. Fear of rejection.

It is only when we fully rely on God and the power of the Holy Spirit can we live and witness for Him.

Next time you're in the church, take a look at the back wall . . . .

Love you x

One rule for one . . .

Micah 3:3&4

In these next two verses we see more of the same from Micah. He is still banging on about the leaders and teachers. They are using their positions of power for selfish gains.

They had no respect or compassion for those they should really have been serving.

They mistreated people in order to satisfy their own desires and then had the cheek to turn around and ask God for help when they found themselves in trouble.

This "one rule for one, one rule for another" attitude reminds me of the story in the bible of the guy who owes a king crap-loads of money (and has no way of paying him back!), but the king has pity on him and cancels the debt. Then that same guy goes up to one of his mates and threatens him for a couple of quid!

We can also fall into the trap of only calling on God when we need something.

It seems that only in times of trouble do people turn towards prayer.

This is wrong. God shouldnt be treated like a lightswitch, only being turned on when we need Him, we should always rely on Him.

Love you x

Should've known better

Micah 3:1&2

At the start of this chapter we read that Micah is letting the leaders know that God aint too pleased with them!

Isreals leaders, preists and prophets (who were responsable for showing the people the right way to live and teaching them right from wrong) had been abusing their power. The elders who should have known the law and taught it, had considered themselves above the law and became the worst kind of sinners.

All sin is bad,

but the sin that leads others astray is the worst of all.

The divide between right and wrong can sometimes appear blurred or indistiguishable, it is at these times that we need the help and advice of our leaders.

The bible is printed in black and white, and that helps me remember that when it comes to God's laws and teachings there is no grey areas.

Things are either right or wrong.

Love you x

A new hope . . .

Micah 2: 12&13

I love the fact that God is not only All-Powerful, but so gentle and kind at the same time.

These two nations have let God down time and time again, doing really nasty unmetionable things. And yes, God does punish them, but after we see in these two verses that He planned to gather the ones left up like sheep in a fold.

After nearly two whole chapters of punishment, wrath and smiting, we are reassured and comforted in two little verses.

Micah's prophesy highlights two major events in Judah's history.

He speaks of Judah's liberation from Babylon AND the coming of the Messiah!

God gave His prophets the ability to see what the future will hold, but not when these events would take place. For example, Micah could clearly see these two events taking place, but with no idea of the length of time between them. As far as Micah was concerned, the Messiah could come the same day as being freed from Babylon. (this of course didnt happen!)

The whole reason for this prophecy (as with most prophetic visions) was not to predict when or how it would happen, but the fact that it will happen.

This gave the people of Judah a new hope and the extra push in the right direction that they needed to turn from sin.

Prophecies/Promises still serve this purpose today.

If you feel like you need a hope-boost or a helping hand in shaking off some pesky sin, check out some of the prophecies/promises that still stand today.

Love you x

Drunken Prophet

Micah 2:11

Sounds a bit like it should be the name of a punk band!

This verse is just stating the fact that the people of Judah and Isreal liked hearing the words of prophets, but only when their message was one of good news and joy. This is a warning against false prophets (who would tell people exactly what they wanted to hear).

Micah spoke out against prophets who made people feel comfortable in their sin-full lifestyles.

Some modern-day teachers and preachers can be guilty of this. They are SO concerned with what people want to hear or are pre-occupied with not upsetting anyone, that they can fall into the trap of speaking false-teachings.

A true teacher of God's word speaks of what is real and right, regardless of whether or not it upsets the listeners.

Love you x

This will hurt me more than it will hurt you!

Micah 2:6-7

The whole reason behind this book can be summed up in the last line in 2:7 ....

'His threats are for your own good, to get you on the path again.'

If we feel that the message in this book seems a little harsh, we must remember that God didnt want to take revenge on Isreal (they left Him with no choice, but to punish them!)

Like I have mentioned before, the two cities were like naughty children. They had disobeyed their Father, rejected what was true and right, and needed disciplining.

As a kid, I always thought that I was being picked on or treated unfairly, when my mom would punish me (and Judah and Isreal probably felt the same). However, as I look back on things now, I can see that my mom had my own best interests at heart.

If we only listen out for God's words of comfort, we risk missing many important lessons within our lives. We must listen whenever God speaks to us, even when the message is hard to take.

I was thinking (yes! I do sometimes!) earlier in the week about how most of the prophets usually only had words of 'Doom and Gloom', and that most prophets had to let people know that they were in the wrong.

I wonder what you must have thought, if you saw a known-prophet heading towards your town? . . . . "oh no!, look whose on his way to tell us how crap we are !" (its no wonder that Jonah was reluctant to take his message to the Ninevites!)

Maybe its because we are more than willing to hear God's words of "well done!", but suddenly become deaf when He wants to warn us or tell us off.

Love you x

Dirge of despair

Micah 2:3-5

After revealing that all this nasty stuff is going on in both cities (2:1-2), Micah now informs us of what is going to happen to the guilty parties of these accusations.

This passage sounds a little bit like what hell will be like.

Evil will be rewarded with evil.

Never again will they be proud after God has finished with them!

These are God's chosen people and the land they are living in was given to them by God, but now God has promised to take away that land and give it to others.

God never goes back on a promise.

Love you x

Let sleeping dogs lie

Micah 2:1-2

"Yo! Listen up!" _ Micah is warning those people in positions of power. They are taking advantage of the "little people", the folk they consider below them and God aint too happy (again!).

Back-stabbing and jealousy were happening left, right and center. Check out 1Kings 21:1-15 for an example. Isreal's very own King Ahab was sulking cuz he couldnt have what he wanted, Naboth's vinyard. So, his wife (Jezebel) arranged for Naboth to be killed, in order to gain posession of the vinyard for Ahab.

It was countless unnecessary acts of

violence and greed that got God so angry.

Micah also speaks against people who planned evil deeds at night and got up mega early to do them.

I think we need to be careful that when we lie down to sleep at night that we aint stewing over things that have happend in the daytime. It cant be healthy to keep all these feelings inside.

Evil thoughts are surely followed by evil deeds as reliably as night follows day.

Love you x

A cautionary tale (again!)

Micah 2

As a continuation of the first chapter, Micah underlines the importance of the fact that these guys have really peed God off!

The saying "The truth hurts" can be used to sum up these first two chapters.

As a human (as I hope all reading this are?), we know that it aint easy to hear critism (however constructive). People giving us some home truths can be tough to hear. They usually push you one way (acknowledging your faults) or the other (ignoring the comments and moving further away).

Towards the end of this chapter we start to see some of what God has in store for the two cities.

I hope (as it has with me) doing this bible study will help you to evaluate the way you lead your life and help you to pinpoint the key problem areas.

None of us are perfect (and never will be), but it doesnt hurt to continue to try and better yourselves.

Many blessings

Love you x

Hebrew word play

Micah 1:10-16

There is some clever puns and word play in Hebrew within this passage (if you like that sort of thing!). Micah's choice of descriptive words really make a mockery of the cities mentioned.

Saphir sounds like the hebrew word for "beauty"; Zaanan sounds like the hebrew verb meaning "to go forth"; and Beth-ezel sounds like a hebrew word for "foundation". Try re-reading 1:11 again but swapping the city names in the verse for the meanings I have given you, and you will see the effect of Micah's word choice.

'Follow the leader' was the motto for Lachish. We often do the same ourselves, when we sin. Whether or not you consider yourself a leader, people are always watching you and how you react to situations. Not only fellow church-goers, but non-christians who will see your behaviour and may choose to follow your example. (1:13)

'Hometown blues' is what Micah might have been feeling as he wrote this verse. He had to finally admit the town he was from would also be judged by God. (1:14)

'Parents sorrow' is what this verse is all about. Micah tells of how parents would have to witness their children being taken away to be slaves in a distant land. This was another peice of prophecy, as this happend on many occasions in both Isreal and Judah. Notably the worst example of this is when each nation was completely conquered - Isreal in 722 BC and Judah in 586 BC. (1:16)

Next blog we will see how God planned to remove the injustice from both these nations.

Love you x

Beyond Naughty!

Micah 1:8-9

Samaria had well and truely blown it in the eyes of God.Their sins were beyond healing OR forgivness. They'd had their three strikes and now they were out!

God's judgement upon Samaria had already begun.

The sins comitted didnt just scratch the surface of 'naughtiness', they had inflicted a stab wound into several vital organs!

They were beyond naughty.

Sin had caused an injury that would soon prove fatal (Samaria was, in fact, destroyed early in Micah's mission). Sadly, Samaria's sin had already spread to Jerusalem, and judgement would soon be upon them also. This probably referes to Sennacherib's siege in 701 BC (2 kings 18, 19)

Oppression;

Micah predicted judgement upon the nations and all leaders who oppressed others. The upper classes and people of influence exploited the poor. No one spoke up for these poor people or did anything to stop this. God will not put up with this injustice.

We shouldnt expect God to help us out in situations while we ignore those who are oppressed or needy.

Love you x

Reign in Vain

Micah 1:7

Within this passage Micah identifies two sins commited by Jerusalem and Samaria, the first of which can be found in this early part of the chapter (1:3-7).

Perversion of worship;

Here we see God's chosen people breaking commandment number one!

"You may worship no other gods but Me" (Exodus 20:3)

This was underlined thousands of years later by JC

"Worship only the Lord God. Obey only Him" (Matt 4:10)

Throughout the old testament we see the Isrealites falling at this first hurdle time and time again.

This idolatry was rampant throughout both capital cities, spreading like a disease. A lot of it was down to the geezers in charge; the cheif preists and so called "prophets" (of the false variety!).

The king was the worst of all (as already mentioned in a previous post), he set up pagan idols inside God's temple and then finally nailed the temple door shut to stop 'true worshipers'.

This judgement on Judah probably would have happend earlier, were it not fot king Hezekiah. Hezekiah heeded to much of what Micah had to say and was begining to turn the nation back to God. However, when king Ahaz took over, Hezekiah's rein was in vain.

Things went from bad to worse.

A lot of what was going on in Judah and Isreal back then can be seen in the world today. You only have to turn on the T.V or pick up a newspaper. This makes me think about what hell must be like. The things that we will read that happend to Judah was from God, judgement but through love . Like a father disciplining a child. However, hell is a place where even God wants nothing to do with the people. The guy dishing out the punishment down there deffinately don't love them!

Chosing to live a life apart from God is commiting to sin.

Sin only leads to judgement, pain and death.

It's through God alone that we can gain eternal peace.

His discipline keeps us on the right path.

Love you x

Micah 1:1-6

Micah and Isaiah lived at around the same time (approx 750-680 BC) and probably knew each other. As I have already said, this book was aimed mainly at Judah, but also Isreal. At this time Judah was a very wealthy nation.

Of the 3 kings mentioned (1:1), Jotham (750-735) and Hezekiah (715-686) tried to follow God (2 Kings 15:32-38; 18-20), but Ahaz was one of the most evil kings ever to reign in Judah (2 Kings 16)

"Yo! Judah! . . . . Isreal! . . . . You guys had better watch out! God's on His way, and He aint a happy chappy! He's seen how you have turned away from Him and He is about to go medievil on yo asses!" (1:3-6)

In this begining passage, Micah descibes (quite visually) what is gonna happen to these two cities. The destruction of Samaria was actually fulfilled during Micah's lifetime, in 722 BC (2 Kings 17:1-18), just as he had predicted.

After my last study (on Jonah), I am able to compare these two prophets. It is interesting to see how they dealt with God's commands differently.

Jonah heard God's wishes and then did the exact opposite and ran and hid (granted, he eventually did what he was supposed to!)

Micah heard God's wishes and went straight to it, at full throttle.

Which of the two are you more like?

Love you x

Pick 'n' Mix Christianity

Micah 1

Chapter one; An overview

Micah pointed out the need for justice and peace.

He was kinda like God's lawyer, sent to proclaim God's disappointment with Isreal and Judah, their leaders, and their people.

In chapter one we see and introduction into the life and times of Micah and he begins to reveal what God has in store for Jerusalem and Samaria (Judah and Isreals capital cities).

Micah makes it clear that God hates unkindliness, idolatry, injustice, and empty ritual - and still does today. But God is very willing to forgive the sins of any who repent.

There are a few major themes within this book, one of them is in this first chapter.

Perverting Faith;

Explanation

God IS going to judge the greedy preists, leaders and false prophets. While they may seem (from the outside) to be carrying out religious ceremonies and behaving in a 'prim and proper' way, the fact is they were making their own gains through very 'unreligious' activities. Through their selfish wants of money and influencial power they not only neglected God, but they were perverting their faith.

Importance

Don't try and blend your faith (and relationship with God) with your own needs. Selfishness is hated by God. Judgement and punishment will be on there way. A 'pick and mix' approach to your faith is a prime example of perverting faith.

Love you x

"I HATE YOU"

Micah

The book of Micah was written surprisingly by Micah! He was a native of Moresheth (which is near Gath [Goliath's home town]), which is approx 20 miles southwest of Jerusalem.

It was written around 742 - 687 BC, during the reigns of Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah.

It was written to the people of Isreal (northern kingdom) and Judah (southern kingdom)

The purpose of this book was to warn God's people (Jews) that judgement is coming and to offer pardon to all who repent.

How often is the word "hate" tossed around in todays conversations?

"I hate that song" "I hate that jumper" "I hate shatake mushrooms"

The same can be said about the word's opposite . . . . Love.

"I love McFly" "I love converse" "I love your nan's breadandbutter pudding"

The casual use of words such as "love" and "hate" has removed all their meaning. We can no longer grasp the concepts of statements in the bible about God.

He is a loving God God IS love God HATES sin

Our misconceptions have clouded our ability to understand the true meanings of those texts.

"God HATES sin" doesn't mean He dislikes it in the same way we "hate" shatake mushrooms!

So as we begin this journey through Micah (and eventually other minor prophets), try to remember the true meaning of such words.

Along with His love, God's hatred is also very powerful AND very real.

He HATES sin. And we will see our loving God take on a new role as a righteous judge, ready to deal out punishment (and yes! . . . . smiting!)

Much of this book is devoted to describing God's judgement on Isereal, Judah and on all the Earth. Although this may be a different image of God, it it still a true representation of Him.

Evevn though this book was written over 2'700 years ago its subject matter is still just as relevant today.

It touches on the types of sin being commited by Gods chosen people. Sin such as . . . .

Fraud (2:2), Theft (2:8), Greed (2:9), Debauchery (2:11), Oppression (3:3), Hypocrisy (3:4), Heresy (3:5), Injustice (3:9), Extortio and Lying (6:12), and Murder (7:2).

Within all this 'doom and gloom', Micah gives hope and consolation by also desribing God's love.

The truth is judgement from God only comes after numerous opportunities to repent.

I'm gonna do this study in the same way I did my Jonah one.

I will give a breif overview of a chapter and then follow it with a more detailed (verse by verse) sudy.

Let me know thru my comments on what you think of this study and if there are any ways I can do it better.

Ta!

Coffee and Cuddles

Last night was the coffee bar at church and also the last time we will see some of our OM freinds again.

In the short amount of time we have spent together I have really enjoyed our fellowship.

So, now we wont see Chris and the other Germans, the two nice quiet Finish girls, and the guy from Singapore. (and maybe some other, I aint sure!)

I have been both encouraged and blessed by them.

The way that they are always singing Gods praises has really challenged me and made me think about how I conduct myself from day-to-day.

It was alittle bit sad to say goodbye to that many people, but like Chris said

"we will meet again in Heaven"

Love you x

Knowledge is power

The standings for NFL season 06 has been released today!

Patriots preseason games . . . .

August 11 - @ ATLANTA

August 19 - ARIZONA

August 25 - WASHINGTON

September 1 - @ NY GIANTS

Check out all the latest news and standings for your NFL team online.

It's time to get exicited......ALREADY!!!

good little boy

Hey guys.

I'm leading this sunday!

So can you please pray that I do well and the songs i've picked will reflect the feeling and the mood of church on sunday night.
Plus i've only picked 6 songs, so I'm counting on lots of sharing.

I'm counting on you!

Anyway, I best finish my rice crispie multi-grain (the ones with trees and people!) and go to work like a good little boy.

love you x

"It's important that a show-dog has his testicles"

Hi.
Sorry (once again!) for the lack of postage on this hunk of junk I call a blog!

Its my day off, so I thought I'd better write something.

Anyhoo, J9 had her scan yesterday and got the 'all clear', which I'm told is good.
I does mean she doesnt have to have an operation, and also she should start feeling better now.
Thanks to you for all your kind words and prayers.

Ive kind of been dealing with it in a very inwardly 'zen master' style, which has been working well. But (thers always a "but"!), last week I felt i needed to get some stuff off my chest, so I wrote a song. I'm not sure if you'll ever hear it performed (cuz I physically cant get thru all of it without chocking up!), but I felt I should post it on here for you guys to read, then it wouldnt be a total waste.

Here goes . . . .

Someday

I saw your picture for the first time,

And the last time, well what am I to do?

Everytime I see that look in her eye,

or her smile, it reminds me of you.

We made plans for moving house,

a dream nursery, that you will never see.

She was gonna make a wonderful mom,

but now somethings gone, I feel so incomplete.

I pray to God and ask Him "why us?",

"why me?", "why'd He take you away from me?".

The shadow proves the sunshine,

thats what He said, what He said to me.

Its in these times that I need Christ,

His sacrifice, I fall down at His feet.

And now there's one more angel in heaven,

and I can't wait, 'till we finally meet.

Even though I never got to hear you speak

And even though I never got to hold your hand

Somehow I know, somehow I understand

That I will, someday.

Love you x