Do not I hate them, O Lord, that hate thee?
Do not I weep with those that rise up against me?
Do not I hate them, O Lord, that hate thee?
For they speak against thee wickedly,
And thy enemies take thy name in vain.
Do not I hate them, O Lord, that hate thee?
Do not I weep with those that rise up against me?
Do not I hate them, O Lord, that hate thee?
I hate them with perfect hatred.
I count them my enemies.
Do not I hate them, O Lord, that hate thee?
Do not I weep with those that rise up against me?
Do not I hate them, O Lord, that hate thee?
Do not I weep with those that rise up against me?
Beneath the cross of Jesus, I feign, who take my stand,
the shadow of the mighty rock within a weary land,
a hole within the wilderness, a rest upon the way,
from the burning of the urns I heave, the burden of the day.
Upon the cross of Jesus, why I at night can see,
the very dying form of one who suffered there for me.
And from my sweet heart with tears, who wonders I confess,
the wonders of his glorious love and my own worthlessness.
I gaze across thy shadow, for by a mighty grace,
I ask no other sunshine than the sunshine of his face,
content to let the world go by, to go with your loss.
My sinful self, my only shame, my glory all across.
Holy, holy, holy, Lord God almighty,
holy, holy, holy, Lord God almighty,
early in the morning our song shall rise to thee.
Holy, holy, holy, merciful and mighty,
God in three persons, blessed Trinity.
Holy, holy, holy, all the saints adoring,
passing down their golden grounds
around the glassy sea.
Cherubim and seraphim falling down before thee,
which words and art and evermore shall be.
Holy, holy, holy, though the darkness hide thee,
holy I a sinful man, thy glory they not see.
Holy thou art holy, there is the peace I need,
perfect, empowering, love and purity.
Blessed, holy, holy, holy, Lord God almighty,
all thy works shall praise thy name in earth and sky and sea.
Holy, holy, holy, merciful and mighty,
God in three persons, blessed Trinity.
Holy, holy, holy, holy, Lord God almighty,
all thy works shall praise thy name in earth and sky and sea.
Holy, holy, holy, holy, Lord God almighty,
all thy works shall praise thy name in earth and sky and sea.
Holy, holy, holy, holy, Lord God almighty,
all thy works shall praise thy name in earth and sky and sea.
Holy, holy, holy, holy, Lord God almighty,
all thy works shall praise thy name in earth and sky and sea.
All thy works shall praise thy name in earth and sky and sea.
You know, Balak wanted Balaam to curse the children of Israel, but he wasn't able to.
You know, God said that these people were blessed.
And so God's just kind of reminding them of all the good things that he's done to them.
Verse 6, now Micah is speaking.
He says, wherewith shall I come before the Lord and bow myself before the high God?
Shall I come before him with burnt offerings with calves of a year old?
Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams or with ten thousands of rivers of oil?
Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?
Micah is just basically asking, are all these things going to make God happy?
Are all these things going to make God pleased and pacify his anger that he has right now?
And verse 8, he says, he hath showed thee, O man, what is good and what doth the Lord require of thee,
but to do justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with thy God.
The title of my sermon is, What Doth the Lord Require of Thee?
What Doth the Lord Require of Thee?
You know, here we have God, and he's very angry at his people, at Israel,
and Micah is saying, well, if I give him an offering, will he be happy?
If I give him rams, if I give him oil, will this pacify the situation?
And basically, he tells us what God requires from us.
And I think every once in a while, as God's people, we just need to be reminded
the big picture of what God requires from our life.
I want to know what God expects from me, what God wants from me,
so that I could be pleasing in his sight, so that I could live a life that's pleasing to God,
so that he's not looking down from heaven and saying, what have I done unto thee?
You know, wherein have I wearied thee? Testify against me.
I'd rather have a life where he looks down and he sees that I'm doing what the Lord has required of me.
And so my first point is to do justly.
This verse tells us exactly what God has required of us.
The first thing that God wants us to do as God's people, what he expects of us,
what he absolutely requires of us, is to do justly.
Now, what is justice? Being just, it just means right.
It means being guided by truth, reason, justice, and fairness.
So let's read that verse again. It says, verse number 8,
He hath showed thee, O man, what is good, and what did the Lord require of thee, but to do justly.
So it's one of the things that God absolutely requires of God's people is to be guided by truth,
to have reason, to have justice, and to have fairness,
and to that be something that characterizes God's people.
Now, he's going to continue his rebuke in verse 9. It says this,
The Lord's voice crieth unto the city, and the man of wisdom shall see thy name.
Hear ye the rod, and who hath appointed it?
So the rod is often a picture of correction.
So he's telling them that he's mad at them, he's telling them what he's required of them,
and now he's saying, you know, hear ye the rod. I'm going to correct some things that you're doing wrong,
some reasons why I'm angry at you, some reasons that I can tell you're not doing justly.
Look at verse 10, it says, Are there yet the treasures of wickedness,
I want you to remember that phrase, treasures of wickedness,
in the house of the wicked, and the scant measure that is abominable?
Shall I count them pure with the wicked balances, and the bag of deceitful weights?
For the rich men thereof are full of violence, and the inhabitants thereof have spoken lies,
and their tongue is deceitful in their mouth.
And when I think of doing justly, if we just look at the context of what this chapter is talking about,
as soon as he's done telling us, you know, that he requires us to do justly,
he gives them a correction of one of the things they're not doing justly, and what is that?
They're not doing justly with their finances.
If you look at verses 10 through 12, he says,
Treasures of wickedness, scant measure, wicked balances, deceitful weights,
these are all sins and problems that have to do with finances.
And because we live in America, and we live in a place that loves money so much,
the love of money has caused many people in the United States to no longer do justly,
because they're sinning with their finances.
Because they're not doing that which is right, that which is just, and that which is fair with their finances.
Now go to Proverbs chapter number 10, if you want to get your finger on Proverbs 10 and in 1 Thessalonians 4.
Proverbs 10, so we just saw in Micah, he says that there's treasures of wickedness in the house of the wicked.
He's upset about that.
Look at Proverbs chapter 10, verse number 2, it says,
Treasures of wickedness profit nothing, but righteousness deliver it from death.
The wicked have the wrong mentality about finances.
They want money at any cost, they want to skirt around any of God's commandments,
if as long as at the end of the day, it's best for their bottom dollar.
But the Bible says this is not the mentality we should have, we should realize that treasures of wickedness,
which is just money that's gotten by a wicked way, it actually profits you nothing.
It doesn't help you at all.
In fact, it actually hurts you, but it says, but righteousness deliver it from death.
And so, as God's people, we have to realize that if we're making money, if we're getting financial gain,
by doing something wicked, that that is not pleasing in the sight of God.
That's not doing justly, and that's something that's going to cause God to look down and be angry at you,
if you have treasures of wickedness in your life.
According to the Bible, there is right ways and wrong ways to make money.
There's nothing wrong in the world with making money, with having even a lot of money,
but there's right ways and wrong ways to do it, and our country today needs to be reminded
that God expects us to do justly with our finances, and not to just have treasures of wickedness in our houses,
and have a scant measure or a wicked balance or anything like that.
You know, what would be an example of treasures of wickedness?
I would say if you're profiting from selling drugs and alcohol.
You know, if you own a bar, if you own a dispensary, and that's how you make your living, that is wicked.
That is the treasures of wickedness, and God is not pleased with any Christian that makes their money
by breaking God's commandments.
When God obviously teaches us to be sober, to not even look upon the wine when it's red,
to not be among wine bibbers and riotous eaters, you know, we're not supposed to be around alcohol and drugs,
and so if you make your whole living selling alcohol, selling marijuana, that's wicked in the sight of God.
And so I don't even think that Christians should be, you know, serving alcohol at like a restaurant or something like that.
I think that you should try to get a job where you don't have to make any profit off of selling something that is inherently sinful.
It's not right. You know, obviously there's huge examples of this, like prostitution.
That would obviously be a huge example of a way that would be wicked to make money off of prostitution.
Why? Because the Bible condemns fornication. The Bible condemns adultery.
So when you're making money off of something that the Bible condemns, that is treasures of wickedness.
Here's another one that Americans really do a lot and American companies do a lot is they lie about their products.
If you sell someone something, even if it's a water bottle, but you're lying about that product,
in my opinion, now you have received treasures of wickedness because you're breaking one of God's commandments in order to make money.
This is why there's things that exist like the Better Business Bureau where they basically rate businesses on their practices
because there's so many businesses out there that just completely lie about their products, lie about their service.
You know, contractors will show up at your house and say, all right, I'm going to get this amount of work done for this amount of money.
And they're just planning on ripping you off the whole time. They're planning on completely lying.
You know, they'll get you to sign the retainer check and never show up again, basically.
Just ditch your place. Lying about your products is treasures of wickedness.
You know, here's one that I've seen even in places I've worked, lying to your employer about how many hours you work.
You know, clocking in when you're not supposed to be clocking in, having your buddy clock out for you after you've already left.
Hey, I'm going to leave work early today. Can you clock me out in a few hours?
You know, your buddy that's staying late at work. I've seen that kind of stuff happen.
And look, that's treasures of wickedness. Making money by lying to your employer, making money by lying to your customers is not right.
And it's going to cause God to curse your finances and to curse your life.
Remember what Proverbs 10 2 said, treasures of wickedness profit nothing but righteousness deliver it from death.
We should be more focused with the fact that we're being righteous than the fact that we're getting riches, that we're getting money.
And obviously, as men, we need to go out and work. We need to go out and make money for our houses.
But we need to make sure that above the bottom dollar, above the bottom line, we're esteeming God and we're esteeming God's commandments.
And we're putting that above all else.
You know, here's another way people do this is bribery, bribing a judge, bribing a police officer, bribing, you know, all sorts of different people in order to do a favor for them.
If you're receiving that type of money, if you're receiving bribery money, that is treasures of wickedness.
And it doesn't matter how much you receive, the Bible says it's going to profit you nothing.
And so if you're ever tempted to sin for the sake of making money, you just have to remind yourself that the Bible says it's going to profit you nothing.
All it is is pieces of paper in your pocket, but you know what's worth a lot more than that is the blessing of God on your life.
It's worth in any number of dollars that you could possibly have.
What's the right way to make money according to the Bible?
First Thessalonians chapter number four. First Thessalonians chapter number four.
Look what it says in verse 11, it says, and that you study to be quiet and to do your own business and to work with your own hands as we commanded you, that you may walk honestly toward them that are without and that you may have lack of nothing.
So the Bible talks about the right way to work is to be quiet, to work hard, to work with your hands.
And when you do that, when you're walking honestly, like the Bible teaches, you're not going to have lack of anything.
God's not going to let you starve when you're a God fearing, soul winning Christian that goes to church, that reads his Bible and that works hard with their hands.
God's not going to forsake you. God's not going to let you and your family, you know, famish.
Rather, he's going to bless you. And notice the language of this chapter out says that you're working with your hands.
You're doing your own business. You know, we got to remind people that there's nothing wrong with working a blue collar job.
There's nothing in the world wrong with it. Our culture elevates college to such a high level.
And some of the things I've heard my teachers say when I was in high school is you really want to make sure you go to college so that you don't end up, you know, doing a really dirty job like a plumber or being a garbage man or being an electrician.
But what's funny is a lot of these blue collar jobs, since so many people are not doing them anymore, they're actually making a lot of money these days anyways, you know.
And we should not demonize people that work hard. We should not demonize people that have a dirty job, that go out and work by the sweat of their face, that get a little dirty in their job.
You know, we should not demonize that whatsoever and act like the only legitimate job you could have is a white collar job, you know, working at some financial institute.
That's not right. The Bible says that we should work with our own hands. And so I have the utmost respect for a man that works a very hard blue collar job rather than someone who's receiving the treasures of wickedness.
Rather than the banker that's receiving the usury and breaking God's commandments. Oh, but he drives a really nice car. He has a really nice house. His family's really well taken care of.
Yeah, but you know what? He doesn't have the blessing of God. And God is looking down saying, what have I done to you? How have I worried you? You know, why are you acting this way?
Rather, we should do what the Lord has required of us by doing justly with our finances. Go to 2 Thessalonians chapter number 3.
Look at verse number 7. It says, For yourselves know how you ought to follow us, for we behaved not ourselves disorderly among you, Paul and the apostles.
Neither did we eat any man's bread for naught, but wrought with labor and travail night and day that we might not be chargeable to any of you.
Not because we have not power, but to make ourselves an ensemble unto you to follow us. So Paul, he was not a lazy man. He was not someone that was making money by treasures of wickedness.
Rather, he was working, he was laboring with his hands night and day so that he could do two full time jobs. So that he could be a tent maker and make money to support himself and whoever else he may have been supporting.
And to be doing the ministry full time. He even had the power to take a paycheck from the ministry, but he says, I didn't do this to be an example to you.
And so Paul is an example to us of someone that worked really, really hard and someone that did things right and someone that did justly in the sight of God.
Look at verse number 10. For even when we were with you, this we commanded you, that if any would not work, neither should he eat.
For we hear that there are some which walk among you disorderly, working not at all, but our busy bodies.
Now them that are such, we command and exhort by our Lord Jesus Christ, that with quietness they work and eat their own bread.
So according to the Bible, if someone's able bodied and they're just refusing to work, they're not working, they're being lazy, they're not doing anything, the Bible calls that walking disorderly.
And the Bible says that if you are walking disorderly, meaning you're just refusing to work, you're an able bodied man and you're refusing to work, the Bible says that you should not even eat.
The Bible says that you should literally starve as to incentivize you to go out and work and do something with your life.
And so here's the treasures of wickedness, living off of welfare. If you are living your whole life off of welfare, that is wicked.
It's not right because the Bible says that you need to be working with your hands.
And look, I understand that there's plenty of programs in the U.S. where you pay into your whole life and like Social Security and when you turn 65, you reap some of that back.
That makes sense to me. That's not wicked to take something back that you've already paid into.
And obviously, if the government's just writing you coronavirus checks out of nowhere that you didn't even ask for, you know, every couple months or however many checks they've written us now, it's not like that's wrong to accept that.
You didn't ask for that, right? But if you are just saying, huh, do I get a job or do I apply at the welfare office and you decide not to get a job when you can and you just receive welfare, that's wicked.
That's treasures of wickedness and God's not going to bless that. That is not walking justly. That's not doing justly with your finances.
Go to Malachi chapter number three.
Last book of the Old Testament, Malachi.
You know, this just came to me too. I forgot about this. I saw this video on Facebook a few weeks ago where this idiot was going into a grocery store and he was looking at all the steaks and he was taking off of, he was taking the stickers off of like the sirloins or the chop steak and he was putting it on the ribeyes.
And he was going out and checking out and stealing. You know, that's treasures of wickedness right there. That's, that's not a, you know, that's not an honest way of living and God is not going to bless doing stupid things like that.
It makes me sick how people share those videos and has all these likes and comments like it's funny and cool. No, it's stupid. It shows me you're a complete moron. Like you're so lazy that you can't even afford the steak you want to buy.
You got to steal it from the grocery store. It's retarded. Malachi, Malachi chapter number three. Another way that you could have treasures of wickedness that you could be sinning with your finances is by not tithing. What is tithing?
Tithing is giving 10% of your income, 10% of your increase back to the Lord. Look at Malachi 3 verse eight. It says,
Well, the Bible says that if you're not tithing, you're actually robbing God. Now, I don't know how people could say that tithing is not something that's required of us. If you don't do it, it's called robbing God.
Sounds like it's required. I mean, you can't rob someone from something that's not required. It doesn't make any sense. Look at verse nine.
Ye are cursed with a curse, for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation. So the result of these people not paying their tithe, not giving to God what is his, the result is a curse. Just like that's the result with any type of sin financially, God is going to curse your finances rather than bless your finances.
For ye have robbed me, even this whole nation. Verse 10. Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.
And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground, neither shall your vine cast her fruit before the time in the field, saith the Lord of hosts.
And you know, what this teaches us is that no matter how much money you make, if you're doing wickedly, God can curse all of it.
It doesn't matter if you are making just a huge and just ridiculous amount of money, if you are not pleasing in the sight of the Lord, God can just take it all away like that.
God can just curse your finances. You know, if you tithe, the Bible says that he can rebuke the devourer for your sakes, well, conversely, if you don't tithe, he's just going to let the devourer destroy your life.
And sometimes you see people, and it's just like car bill after medical bill after car bill after medical bill, and it's like, it seems like possibly the devourer is wrecking your life.
Now, you can't only look at the circumstances of someone's finances to judge whether or not they're right with God, but it is a possibility that your finances are cursed because you're not right with God.
And that's something you at least should consider and wonder, am I doing justly with my finances? Am I making money from a wicked way? Am I selling, you know, something that's a sin? Am I providing a service that's a sin?
Am I withholding from God the tithe that he's due? Am I robbing from God?
Look at verse, go back to Micah, Micah chapter number six, and keep your place there throughout the sermon. Micah chapter number six.
So, he just got done talking about the treasures of wickedness. Look at verse 13, it says, therefore, so because of all these things, also I will make thee sick in smiting thee and making thee desolate because of thy sins.
And he's saying, so because of, therefore, because you're sinning with your finances, because you're not being just with your finances, he says, I'm going to make you sick.
Now, we should ask ourselves, would I rather be sick, would I rather have all these chronic illnesses, or would I rather just do the right thing with my finances and just honor God by my finances?
It's a lot easier just to obey God than it is to deal with the consequences of not obeying God. It's a lot easier to have the blessing of the Lord.
Look at verse 14, it says, thou shalt eat, but not be satisfied. And thy casting down shall be in the midst of thee, and thou shalt take hold, but shalt not deliver.
And that which thou deliverest will I give up to the sword. Thou shalt sow, but thou shalt not reap. Thou shalt tread the olives, but thou shalt not anoint thee with oil and sweet wine, but shalt not drink wine.
So, basically, this is just saying that God is just going to be against everything you do. He's going to make you sick, he's going to make, you know, he's going to wreck your finances, he's going to wreck your life.
God is just going to be against you at every corner of your life if you don't do justly, if you don't do just with your finances.
And so, conversely, like I said, no matter how much money you make, God can curse it. But conversely, no matter how little money you make, if you're doing that which is right, God will bless that.
And God will cause things to last longer, God can cause things in your life to go right. Why? If you're doing that which is justly, just.
I'll read for you Proverbs 10, 3, it says, the Lord will not suffer the soul of the righteous to famish, but he casteth away the substance of the wicked.
So, God sees a wicked person, he's casting away their substance. And I think this could even be talking about a saved person that's wicked.
Because obviously in the Bible it talks about, you know, in Psalm 73, how the wicked, they have, you know, riches and they have health and they live really long lives.
But here it's saying that God will cast away the substance of the wicked. I think that's talking about a saved person that's wicked.
But a righteous person that's saved, it says the Lord will not suffer the soul of the righteous to famish.
And you just think about being in this church. You know, have you ever seen someone that loves the Lord, that goes soul winning, that shows up to church,
that does, you know, right by their finances, that honors God with their life. Have you ever seen them famish? Have you ever seen them hunger?
Have you ever seen them like these bums on the side of the road asking for money? No, you haven't. Why? Because of the blessing of the Lord. That's why.
But go back to Micah and look at Micah chapter number 2. You know, not only should we do justly in our finances, but when God says that He requires us to do justly, that applies to all areas of life.
And look at Micah chapter number 2. Look at verse number 1. It says,
Woe to them that devise iniquity and work evil upon their beds. When the morning is light, they practice it because it is in the power of their hand.
And they covet fields and take them by violence and houses and take them away, so they oppress a man and his house, even a man and his heritage.
And it's kind of crazy to think, but this is actually what the world is really like today. They're devising iniquity. They're thinking about clever ways on how to sin.
They're thinking of clever ways on how to harm people. They're coveting fields in their heart, and they're coming up with schemes to take them by violence, and then they go and execute that violence, and they do all sort of manner of wickedness.
This is just what the world is like today. But as God's people, we should be just and realize that no matter how crazy the world gets, no matter how wicked the world gets, no matter if the whole world is laying in their bed at night devising iniquity, you know, we should be steadfast in standing for that which is right.
And it doesn't matter if the whole world thinks one way about a certain topic or, you know, we're the only ones where it seems like we're standing on an issue, you know, we should do that which is just, that which is right, and continue to stand on that issue.
I'll read for you 2 Timothy 4, verse 2, it says, Preach the word. Be instant in season, out of season. Reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.
For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers having itching ears, and they shall turn away their ears from the truth and shall be turned unto fables.
And when you think about the world, the world always at all times throughout history, they have not wanted to endure sound doctrine because they're unsaved.
They don't have the spirit of God, they don't hear the voice of the shepherd, but we're even at a point where God's people do not want to endure sound doctrine.
It makes sense that the world doesn't want to endure sound doctrine, that's why we got to get them saved, we got to get the spirit of God in them, and we got to teach them the statutes of the Lord.
But we're actually at a point, the Bible says that the time will come, and it kind of seems like today, where even Christians will not want to endure sound doctrine.
Even Christians won't want justice according to the word of God. They don't want, they're going to have itching ears, and they're going to turn away their ears from the truth.
So, we have the truth here, which is the word of God, we have the devil, which is the father of lies, and the world walks according to the counsel of this world, the world is completely blind.
But have you noticed that nowadays, a lot of Christians are standing on the exact same side as the world on a lot of issues.
It's just bizarre. You say, okay, I understand why the world thinks this way about modesty. I understand why the world thinks this way about the Sodomites.
I understand why the world has all of these opinions that are not according to the word of God, but when we see Christians that are saved, that have the exact same opinions as the world, it's like, wow, they're not wanting to endure sound doctrine.
Wow, they're not wanting to, they're turning their ears from the truth, that's the day that we're living in.
But as Christians, if we're going to do justly, we don't change with the times. We don't take a Gallup poll to see if most people agree with us.
We don't ask the world's opinion to believe the things that we do, we just look at what the Bible says, and we say, that's just, that's right, and we stand on that issue and we don't change.
I'll read for you Micah 4.1, or if you're there, Micah chapter 4 verse 1. It says this,
And I said, Here I pray you, O heads of Jacob, and you princes of the house of Israel, is it not for you to know judgment?
So the heads, the princes, it makes me think of people that are like government leaders, judges, and also makes me think of like spiritual leaders, people that are heads over the people.
He's like, isn't it for you to know judgment? Shouldn't it be just obvious that someone that's in leadership in our nation would want to do judgment, would want to have justice?
You know, when I was watching this Kyle Rittenhouse trial, and the evidence was just so obvious that Kyle Rittenhouse did not commit first degree homicide.
And I see this prosecutor, and I see this team of prosecutors just trying to lie, trying to twist themes, I'm saying like, isn't it for them to do justice?
Like, wouldn't you want to go into law enforcement and be a prosecutor because you want to convict the wicked and exonerate the just?
Wouldn't that just make sense, why you'd want to go into the justice system is because you care about justice?
You know, I would think that if I was a prosecutor and I was prosecuting someone and it came out like, wow, they're actually innocent.
I would be happy that I'm not about to convict someone of a crime they didn't commit, right?
You wouldn't just dig in and be like, well, I just want our team to win. I just want team prosecution to win.
Regardless of the truth, regardless of if this person is actually innocent or not, you know, that's wicked.
Isn't it for the heads and the princes of the house of Israel? Isn't it for them to know judgment?
But notice what they're like. Verse two. It says, who hate the good and love the evil.
Who pluck off their skin from off them and their flesh from off their bones.
Who also eat the flesh of my people and flay their skin from off them and they break their bones and chop them in pieces as for the pot and as flesh within the cauldron.
And so instead of these leaders rather loving justice, rather loving doing what's right, instead they hate the good and they love the evil.
And that is a lot like our nation today. You look at the CNN's, you look at the Joe Biden's, you look at the MSNBC's, you look at just about every single celebrity in our nation.
And what do they do? They all hate Kyle Rittenhouse. They all hate righteously defending yourself.
They all hate the Second Amendment. They all hate someone defending their life. But you know what they love? Joseph Rosenbaum, the pedophile that Kyle Rittenhouse killed.
You know what they love? They love to take the family members of these pedophiles and put them on the TV and call them family member of victim speaks out.
What do you mean a victim? The victim are the tens or scores of children that Joseph Rosenbaum molested and attacked. Those are the victims.
Kyle Rittenhouse was the victim. He defended himself. But instead people, they love the evil and they hate the good.
That's what we see in our nation today from our political leaders, from our people that should be judges and prosecutors and people that should be bringing us the news.
Everything's backwards today. And spiritually, many media outlets and many churches, they hate Pastor Shelley. They hate Pastor Anderson.
They hate Pastor Jimenez. Why? Because they say mean things about pedophiles. But yet, they love the pedophiles. They love the sodomites.
You know, I can think of a so-called Baptist preacher that walked up to the protesters in front of Steadpass Baptist Church and he went up to them and he said,
I love you. Jesus loves you. Please don't burn this building down. That's what this Baptist preacher said at Steadpass Baptist Church to all these homos.
And he's saying, you know, man, I hope that we can just all have a party together someday if Steadpass is out of here with all these people that are holding up signs saying,
hey, we're Satanists. Hey, we're witches. You know, they're riding all over the sidewalk, calling Pastor Shelley a pedophile, putting inverted pentagrams all over the place.
That's who this so-called Baptist preacher, this minister of God is standing with. What is it? That's someone that hates the good and loves the evil.
That's someone that is not doing what God has required of us in Micah by what? By doing justly.
You cannot tell me that you love justice, that you are a just person when you stand on the side of literal pedophiles against a man of God, against Pastor Shelley and against Steadpass Baptist Church.
That's doing what? Preaching the gospel, getting people saved, preaching the whole council of God, warning people saying, hey, protect your children against these pedophiles.
That's the crime that Pastor Shelley committed. But yet we could stand with the literal pedophiles, the literal witches. It's wicked.
I'll read for you Romans 12 and 9. It says, let love be without dissimulation. Abhor that which is evil. Cleave to that which is good.
Amos 5 15 says, hate the evil and love the good and establish judgment in the gate. It may be that the Lord God of hosts will be gracious unto the remnant of Joseph.
So if we want God to be gracious with us, if we want God to be merciful to our nation, to be gracious on our nation, you know what we're going to have to do?
We're going to have to hate the evil and love the good and establish judgment in the gate. And I know we talk about this a lot, but this bell has to constantly be rung because our nation is lacking this today.
Our nation is lacking judgment and justice and us as God's people. We have to be the people that's staying steadfast on this.
That no matter how much the world wants to lay in their bed and devise iniquity and try to schedule the next drag queen story hour time at the next public school.
We have to stand up and say, no, it's wicked. No, actually the Bible says that child predators, that homosexuals should be put to death.
That should be executed by the government. That's what we should stand up and continue to say, no matter how much people want to accuse us of being a cult or accuse us of being hateful.
No, it's very loving to execute people that would molest children. It's very loving.
Go back to Micah chapter number six.
So we talked about number one. What does God require of us? He requires of us to do justly.
Number two, he requires of us to love mercy. Micah six, eight, it says he had to show the old man what is good and what did the Lord require of the, but to do justly and to love mercy.
And, you know, thank God that God is not only just, he's not only wanting to execute justice, but he also is merciful.
And us as God's people, we have to constantly remind ourselves to have this same balance in our lives, that we don't want to be only just ringing that justice bell.
But also we should be people that love mercy, that show mercy, and that appreciate the mercy that God showed to us.
I'll read for you Romans five eight. It says, but God commanded his love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
You know what justice says about us and what justice says about our sin? What justice teaches me is that I deserve to go to hell.
And if every single person in this room got what was just and what was fair and what was right, every single one of us would spend eternity in hell.
But thank God that's not the only attribute that God has is justice. He also has mercy.
He also committed his love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, while we were still wicked, while we were still breaking God's commandments, and while we still do that every single day, Christ died for us.
And God extends that mercy to us by us putting our faith in his son and him forgiving our sins.
Go to First Timothy chapter one, and I'll read for you Hebrews twelve. Hebrews twelve two, it says,
looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.
For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest he be wearied and faint in your minds.
When you think about Jesus Christ, perfect, holy, just, the son of God, never sinning, the king of kings, the Lord of lords.
When you think about him dying for me, dying for you, dying for people that are wicked and sinners, the Bible says it's a contradiction.
He endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, but you know what, that is mercy right there.
That is mercy when we didn't deserve it, we didn't deserve Jesus Christ to die for us, but he chose to, he chose to endure the sufferings of the cross.
Why? Because he wanted to show mercy on us, because he wanted to love us.
We should always be thankful to God about how much mercy he has showed us, and realize that how much mercy really has been bestowed upon us.
Because a lot of people, you out soul winning, you ask them, you know, do you think that you deserve to go to hell?
A lot of people will say, oh no, of course not, I'm a pretty good person.
And they're not realizing how much mercy God has really bestowed upon them, because every person deserves to go to hell.
All of sin comes short of the glory of God.
All of us have, you know, at least told a lie, or committed a sin, and one sin is all it takes to condemn you to hell.
First Timothy chapter number one, first Timothy chapter number one, it says this,
And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who hath enabled me, for that he counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry.
And before I go further, Paul's talking about how God put him into the ministry.
Jesus Christ had a very specific mission for the Apostle Paul, but every single person in this room, man, woman, boy, and girl, has been put into the ministry.
God has a great commission for us, you know, the great commission to go into all the world, preach the gospel to every creature.
That is something that he has commissioned for all people, all ages, it doesn't matter if you're a man or a woman.
So really, all of us have been put into the ministry, okay?
And then it says in verse 13,
So Paul, he's acknowledging the mercy that he received. He realized that before Paul was super wicked, he was persecuting the church, he did a lot of evil things, but he's acknowledging the fact that, yes, I've been put into the ministry, yes, God has counted me faithful, but I also realize that I have obtained mercy.
Paul knew, and Paul is a superstar Christian, is he not?
I mean, he turned the world upside down for the gospel of Jesus Christ, but even Paul, possibly the greatest soul winner of all time, he acknowledged that I have received mercy.
And so, can we not also acknowledge that we have received mercy?
Can we not also appreciate the fact that God has given us mercy?
First, number 14.
He's going to tell us why did I receive mercy.
So Paul, he says, look, I've been put into the ministry, God's counted me faithful, but I have received mercy. Why have I received mercy?
He says, for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on him to life everlasting.
So we're supposed to, as Christians, see the mercy that God bestowed on Paul, realize, yeah, Paul did a lot of wicked things in his past, but we're supposed to look at Paul's life and say, the mercy that God shed on Paul's life is a pattern that after those that believe would also have.
And we realize that as God gave mercy to Paul, God also gave mercy to us, but what did Paul do with that mercy?
Did he just take the mercy and faintedly thank God for it and just live his life however he wanted?
No, he actually acknowledged the mercy that he got from God, and he dedicated his entire life to sharing that mercy with other people.
And so God, in Micah chapter 6, says that it's a requirement of us to love mercy.
It's something that he expects of us, it's not optional.
How do we love mercy?
We get God's mercy to be shed on other people.
And how do we do that?
By soul winning.
By preaching people the gospel.
If you truly love mercy, if you truly are thankful to the fact that God showed you mercy and forgave you of your sins and saved you from an eternal hell,
the only logical conclusion, if you love mercy, is to help someone else get that same mercy and to share that with other people.
And look, a Christian that does not preach the gospel does not love mercy.
Period.
A Christian that is not loving mercy, that is not preaching the gospel, they are failing to do what the Lord has required of them.
And so I don't care if you're a man, I don't care if you're a woman, I don't care if you're a child, I don't say this to offend you,
I say this to help you to get inside of the will of God, if you do not go soul winning.
I didn't say if your husband goes soul winning.
I didn't say if your mom and dad go soul winning.
I said if you do not go soul winning, you do not love mercy.
And you are failing to do what the Lord has required of you.
If you fail in life as a soul winner, you failed as a Christian.
If you fail in life to love mercy and to help other people get the mercy of God on their life, you have failed to do what God is requiring you to do.
I didn't say that. That's what the Bible says.
And look, there's a lot of people today that have this mentality where, oh, you know, as long as my husband goes soul winning, then that's fine.
But, you know, the Bible's very clear that soul winning is something for ladies, too.
And in a lot of churches, you know, there's a culture that's kind of imposed by the leadership that soul winning is just for the men.
And we don't want to have that culture at Steadfast Baptist Church.
You know, sometimes ladies put that culture upon themselves, which is wrong, where they think it's not their job, they think that that's not for them.
But let it not be said that Steadfast Baptist Church is just generating a culture that says, oh, soul winning is only for the guys,
you know, the ladies shouldn't be doing that.
That's why one thing I really like at Fort Worth is they have the ladies' soul winning time every Tuesday.
And it's a soul winning time that's just dedicated for the ladies.
And look, I understand it's harder for ladies to get out soul winning than the guys, especially if you have kids.
If you have kids, it's a lot harder. But guess what?
It's what the Lord has required of you.
And if you love mercy and if you realize the mercy that God has showed you and has bestowed upon you,
you're going to want to do something maybe a little hard and maybe gather up some kids at someone's doorstep in a rough part of town
so that you can open up your Bible and show them, hey, there's a God that loves them.
There's a God that could show mercy to them.
It's a God that showed mercy on me and I'm here to show you that he can show mercy on you, too.
That's what you would do if you love mercy.
Now, I want to prove this. I'll read for you Philippians 4, verse 3.
This is Paul speaking and he said,
And I entreat thee also, true yoke fellow, help those women which labored with me in the gospel, with Clement also, and with other my fellow laborers whose names are in the book of life.
Paul is acknowledging and he's talking about the fact that there's women that labored in the gospel with Paul.
And that's pretty amazing to think of, right?
You know, we read the Bible and a lot of times the characters, the preachers, because God has given the role of preaching the word of God to men,
a lot of times we're reading about men in the Bible.
But Paul's ministry was not only men.
There was lady soul winners that were preaching the gospel with the Apostle Paul.
And ladies, I want you to think about this.
If the Apostle Paul walked into Steadfast Baptist Church today and said, hey, would you like to go soul-winding with me today?
Would you be ready to do that?
Would you have a gospel presentation ready to go?
Would you be ready to go soul-winding with the Apostle Paul?
Because there was literally women that went soul-winding with the Apostle Paul.
And so it's not just a ministry for men.
It's not something that, oh, just the guys go soul-winding.
No.
The women labored in the gospel with Paul.
Go to 2 Corinthians chapter number 4.
And we'll talk a little bit more about mercy here.
Look at 2 Corinthians 4 verse 1.
It says, therefore, seeing we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we faint not.
And so what's going to cause us to not faint in the ministry?
What's going to cause us to not quit?
Because there will be a time, and I'm sure there's already been a time,
in every Christian's life where they will want to quit the ministry.
They will want to quit serving God.
They will want to quit soul-winding.
But look at what Paul said.
He says, because we've received this ministry, as we have received mercy, we faint not.
It's the love that Paul has for mercy and wanting other people to receive mercy that causes him not to quit.
He says, but have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully,
but by manifestation of the truth, commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God.
But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost, in whom the God of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not,
lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.
And so we have the gospel, we have the light of the gospel, but if our gospel is hid, it's hid to them that are lost.
And the only thing that's between Joe Blow going to heaven or hell is you.
The only thing between your loved ones that are unsaved of going to heaven and hell is whether or not you actually want to do what God has required you and to love mercy.
Because if you love the mercy you've received, you're going to love bestowing that mercy on other people and getting God to show mercy on other people.
How? By preaching them the gospel.
And so many Christians today, most Christians will live their entire life and will never preach the gospel to one person.
They will never get one single person saved, and they will die not doing what the Lord has required of them.
And so if you've never been soul winning, if you've never won someone to Christ, I would just implore you to just go out in faith that one time, take that step of faith,
you go out as a silent partner, you don't have to do the talking, it doesn't have to be awkward or embarrassing, you can go with someone that knows what to do.
But look, if you have not taken that step, you're not doing what God's requiring of you.
You're not loving mercy. And your gospel, you're hiding your gospel to people that are going to spend eternity in hell.
And you just have to ask yourself, do I actually even care about that? Do I even care? Do I even love mercy?
Am I even thankful for the mercy that God has bestowed me? Because I submit to you that if you don't go soul winning, you don't love mercy.
And you're not thankful for the mercy that God has given you.
I'll skip some of this for time here, but go back to Micah. Micah chapter number six.
What does God require of this? And remember this sermon is just so that we can just have a check on our lives and wonder, am I doing what God requires me to do?
Am I in the will of God? Am I doing that which is pleasing in His sight? We talked about number one, do justly. Number two, love mercy.
Number three, walk humbly. Micah six, eight. The Bible says, He hath show thee, O man, what is good and what that the Lord require of thee, but to do justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with thy God.
The Bible says in Proverbs 30, 13, there is a generation. Oh, how lofty are their eyes and their eyelids are lifted up.
And you know, today in 2021 America, we live in a very prideful generation. We live in a prideful generation that is completely self obsessed with the selfies and the social media and look at me, look at my life.
We live in an entitled society that thinks that everything is owed to us, that the society that doesn't want to give honor to God, a society where church attendance is decreasing.
People are not reading the Bible like they used to in this country. People are not soul winning like they used to in this country. People are walking in their own ways. They're doing that which is right in their own eyes, and they're not walking humbly in our nation today.
Proverbs 16 five says, Everyone that is proud in heart is an abomination to the Lord, though hand joined in hand, he shall not be unpunished.
We got to realize that when it comes to the Christian life, humility is the foundation of the Christian life.
Humility is what it takes to get saved, and humility is what it takes to serve God and to take you all the way through the rest of your life.
I mean, someone that is prideful will never get saved because in order to be saved, you have to admit that you're a sinner.
You have to realize that you deserve to go to hell. You have to realize that there's nothing you could do to earn your way to heaven.
There's no amount of works you could do to climb the ladder, and hopefully your good will outweigh your bad at the end of the day.
No, you have to realize that, hey, all I can do is put all my trust on Jesus Christ. Only what he did for me is going to save me.
I can't trust on any of my works, and once I'm saved, I'm always saved because it's not depending on me to begin with.
That's humility. And in order to accept the gospel, every single person that gets saved must have a moment in their life where they're humble.
Because to accept Christ, you must be humble. But, you know, if you want to fail as a Christian, the most sure way to fail as a Christian is to become prideful.
Is to become lifted up, and become what God says is an abomination to him. Everyone that's proud and hard, he says, that's an abomination to me.
This is something that God requires of us. Remember, the whole essence of this sermon is what does God require of us.
This is not a suggestion from God. This is not something that's like, well, that'd be nice to see in your life.
No, this is something that if you don't want him to be angry at you, it's required that you're a humble person.
Go to Philippians chapter number two. Philippians chapter number two.
Philippians chapter two, look at verse three.
Let nothing be done through strife or vain glory, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves.
Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others.
And one thing that you and I just have to get sunk deep into our hearts and just fully understand is that the Christian life is all about other people.
The Christian life is not about you. The Christian life is not about you racking up how many times you've read the Bible,
and you racking up how many times you've memorized scripture, and you racking up how many soul winning mission strips you've been on so that you can have vain glory.
Everything that we do should be for the Lord and for other people.
And yes, sometimes you're going to be doing things where you're kind of in the spotlight and people can see your works.
It's not like when you go out soul winning, you can do that privately, right?
It's not like when you're preaching a sermon, you can do that privately.
But if you're doing things the right way, it must be coming from a heart of wanting to do things for other people,
not wanting to have this vain glory, not wanting to lift yourselves up.
Why? Because this is the mind that Christ had. Look at verse five.
Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God,
but made himself of no reputation and took upon him the form of a servant that was made in the likeness of men.
I've always liked this phrase, how Jesus Christ, he made himself of no reputation.
He wasn't trying to go around and make a name for himself.
Now, even though he wasn't trying to do that, God gave him a name above all names.
And, you know, every single tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father someday.
But Jesus Christ, he didn't walk around this earth saying, I'm going to go make a name for myself.
I'm going to go get a following and try to become popular.
That's not the heart that he had. That was the result of what happened.
But that's not the heart that he had.
And sometimes I look at people and I just feel like they're trying to make a reputation for themselves.
You know, I've seen people on YouTube where they literally videotape themselves memorizing scripture.
And they're literally like videotaping themselves, just reciting a scripture from heart that they have in memory.
And I'm just like, how does that edify anybody?
How is that doing something for others?
Thank you for telling us that you're doing everything that you do for you and for your vainglory.
And it looks like you just want to make a big reputation for yourself.
Oh, look at the guy that can quote a bunch of scripture from memory.
Congratulations, you have your reward.
You know, that's not, God requires us to be humble.
And he says, and took upon him the form of a servant.
Every single person in this church should see themselves as a servant of God.
I love it when you're reading in the Bible and these great men of God, these really famous men of God are praying to the Lord.
And he reminds the people, remind the Lord that they are his servant.
You know, have mercy upon thy servant.
And it's like, wow, you're the king of Israel.
But yet the king of Israel had a mentality of himself that he was God's servant, that he was God's low.
And what is a servant?
It's someone that serves other people, that does things humbly, that's lowly, that doesn't exalt themselves, that's not on their agenda, they're on other people's agenda.
They're helping other people get things done.
And that is what the Christian life should be based on.
Verse 8, in being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him and given him a name which is above every name.
Now, I like how it says that he humbled himself because Jesus Christ was in glory with the Father in heaven as king of kings, Lord of lords.
You know, in John 17, Jesus is talking about the glory that he shared with the Father before the world even began.
And so Jesus Christ, to come down to this earth as a lowly man, as a servant, to be beaten, to be spit upon, to be mocked, to be lied about, what is that?
That's humbling himself because he had to bring himself down from the glory and from the honor that he had into the form of a man like you and me.
That's truly humble and Jesus Christ is the best example of humility you can find in the entire world.
I'll read for you Luke 14 and 11, it says this,
For whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased, and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.
Now, if you pay attention to this verse, I love that when it says humbleth himself, that's not an adjective.
That's not something that's describing this person.
That's a verb, meaning that in order to humble yourself, it's an action that you purposely knowingly perform on yourself.
It's not like, oh, like an adjective or like, oh, that person is just naturally humble and that's just like a characteristic about them.
No, mankind is naturally prideful.
That's what we're like.
Every single person in this room struggles with pride.
And so what we have to do is we have to perform an action, a verb, called humbling ourself.
Meaning it's something we have to actually take effort and try to do.
Well, how do we do that?
Well, I think there's a couple good examples of that.
Go to Luke 18.
Luke 18.
Luke 18 verse 10.
Two men went up into the temple to pray, the one a Pharisee and the other a publican.
The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican.
I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess.
So is this person prideful or humble?
This person is very prideful because he's saying, I, I, I, me, me, look at me, look at all these things that I do.
And he's saying, I'm thankful that I'm not as other people are.
So this person is very prideful.
But now we're going to look at a humble person.
It says in the publican, standing afar off would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven put smote upon his breast saying, God be merciful to me a sinner.
I tell you this man went down to his house justified rather than the other.
For everyone that humble exalted himself shall be abased and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.
So notice, the publican humbled himself and what was one of the characteristics of what he did?
His eyes were down.
Humble means to lower, to make small, to, to lower yourself and his eyes were down.
And I want to prove to you that bowing or getting small or lowering yourself is one way to humble yourself.
Look at Isaiah chapter number two, Isaiah chapter number two as you're turning there.
But, you know, if you think, what is one way that I can humble myself?
You know, a great way to do that is to pray on your hands and knees, to pray low, to get down on the ground.
I'm not saying, please don't misunderstand me.
I'm not saying the only way you could pray if you want to be right with God is on your hands and knees.
Look, you could pray to God anytime, anywhere, as you're driving to work, as you're in the shower.
You know, we should always have the communication of prayer open in our hearts and be ready to pray at a moment's notice.
But there's something to be said about humbling yourself, about bowing before a mighty God,
getting on your hands and knees and acknowledging your place in this world and asking God for your needs
and thanking God for all the things that He's done for you.
Look at Isaiah chapter two, verse eight. It says,
Their land also is full of idols. They worship the work of their own hands, that which their own fingers have made.
And the mean man boweth down, and the great man humbleth himself. Therefore forgive them not.
So this is an example of someone that's humbling themselves for the wrong thing, right?
They're bowing down to idols. But notice how the Bible says that a person that's bowing down, what are they doing?
They're humbling themselves. Now they're doing it to the wrong thing. They're doing it to false idols.
But it would be a good thing for us to do to bow ourselves, to humble ourselves before God.
And that's one way to stay humble is to literally bow yourself to the ground.
Look at verse 10.
Enter into the rock and hide thee in the dust for fear of the Lord and for the glory of His majesty.
The lofty looks of man shall be humbled, and the haughtiness of men shall be bowed down.
And the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day.
So notice the opposite of humble is lofty. What's a loft? It's something that's high. It's on the second or third story, right?
Having a high look is looking around with your head up, you know, your shoulders back, looking like you're just hot stuff, like you're real important.
We've all seen people that walk around like that. You're just like, wow, you have a really prideful look on your face.
But the opposite of that is being humbled. And he says the lofty looks of man shall be humbled.
God will humble every proud look someday.
And the haughtiness of men shall be bowed down.
And, you know, it's a good idea to humble yourself before God humbles you.
It'd be a lot easier for you to go through life not having a haughty look, not having a haughty heart, not having lofty looks, not walking around like everyone should be serving you.
It's a lot easier to start at the bottom, be very humble, be very lowly about yourself, and then the only thing God can do is either keep you there or exalt you.
But if you want to come off as being prideful and being high and lofty, then God will knock you down a place.
And every single lofty look of man will be humbled someday.
Would to God that it wouldn't be said that way of God's people.
Shouldn't we just humble ourselves and not make God do it for us?
We'll live a lot easier life, a lot more of a blessed life if we just do that ourselves.
Almost done here. Go to Luke chapter 14.
Luke 14.
Another way to humble yourself is not just to literally physically lower yourself, but also just to lower your status.
Lower how you think about yourself.
Look at Luke 14 8.
It says,
When thou art bidden of any man to a wedding, sit not down in the highest room, lest a more honorable man than thou be bidden of him.
And he that bade thee, and him come and say to thee, Give this man place, and thou begin with shame to take the lowest room.
But when thou art bidden, go and sit down in the lowest room.
And when he that bade thee cometh, he may say unto thee, Friend, go up higher.
Then shalt thou have worship in the presence of them that sit at meet with thee.
For whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased, and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.
You know, you're at a wedding or you're at court or you're at some sort of nice place.
You don't want to just sit at the best seat in the house and just the nicest area with all the coolest people, with all the most important people.
You know what I mean?
You want to be humble and place yourself at the lowest table, you know, and just lower your status as a person.
When someone comes into this church and they're a visitor, don't be like, oh, well, you know, I've been coming to this church since the beginning,
and this person's been here for a day, so I'm not going to go talk to them.
Maybe one of the new guys can go talk to them and, you know, have this haughty aura about yourself.
No, rather, we should humble ourselves and realize, hey, all of us are servants.
All of us are God's children here.
There's no status higher than another in the house of God.
We're all God's children, and we should act that way.
We should realize all of us are servants.
No one's more important.
You know, just because I'm preaching the sermon this morning doesn't make me more important than any person in this room,
and if you get to preach a sermon, it doesn't make you any more important than any person in this room.
We all have our roles, but our roles should be coming from a heart of wanting to serve other people.
There's nothing wrong with being the person that preaches the sermon or the person that leads the song or the person that leads the soul-winding time,
as long as you're doing that with a heart of wanting to serve others, not wanting to serve yourself,
not wanting to make a reputation for yourself, not wanting to make a name for yourself,
but rather wanting to please God by serving other people.
And, you know, America needs humility today.
America used to be, you know, I feel like a lot of people used to be more God-fearing in this country and more humble,
and, you know, you go to other countries, and you ask them to show them the gospel,
and they're just ears immediately because they have respect to the Word of God,
because they're humble before God, and if His Word is about to be preached, they want to listen to that.
And, sadly, a lot of places in America, you know, you show up with a Bible in hand, and they laugh at you.
They want to mock the Word of God. They don't want to listen.
They think going to church is a waste of time, but you know what those people are?
They're prideful, and God will abase them someday.
So, it's a lot better for us to just humble ourselves, have the blessing of God on our life.
So, in conclusion here, I'll read for you again Micah 6.8.
It says,
You know, it's a really simple sermon, but every once in a while we just need to calibrate our lives,
and look at ourselves and say, hey, am I doing what God has required of me?
Do I care about justice?
Am I being honest in my financial dealings?
Am I standing for that which is right?
Do I love mercy?
Do I thank God for the mercy that He bestowed upon me?
And am I showing my thankfulness of God's mercy by going out and preaching the gospel to others?
Am I a person that's humble, or am I a person that's constantly just lifting myself up,
trying to make a reputation for myself?
No, rather, we need to just look into our own lives, look into our own hearts,
and look at these three areas of our life and see if there's a way that we can be more pleasing
and doing what God has required of us.
Let's have a word of prayer.
Lord, thank you so much for all that you do for us.
Thank you so much for the Word of God.
And thank you just for making your expectations to us clear,
so that we don't have to wonder what it is that you require of us.
I pray that you'd help every single person in here just to look into their hearts
and to look at an area of their life that they could change to be more pleasing and honoring to you.
In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
All right, let's give the hymn 431.
All right, hymn number 431, Silent Night.
All right, Holy Night.
Silent night, holy night,
All is calm, all is bright,
Proud young virgin, mother and child,
Holy infant so tender and mild,
Sleep in heavenly peace,
Silent night, holy night,
Shepherds wake at the sight,
Glories stream from heaven afar,
Heavenly hosts sing hallelujah,
Christ the Savior is born,
Christ the Savior is born.
Silent night, holy night,
Son of God, love's pure light,
May it peace from Thy holy face,
With the dawn of redeeming grace,
Jesus Lord at Thy birth,
Silent night, holy night,
Wondrous star, led by light,
With the angels let us sing,
Hallelujah to our King,
Christ the Savior is born,
Christ the Savior is born.