Christ Presbyterian Church

Hope in a Hopeless World

Bible Text: Micah 7 | Preacher: Kyle Wells | Series: Micah

Because God is faithful and the only means of salvation, we must cultivate confidence in God.

Micah 7:1–3, 7–9, 18–20
Woe is me! For I have become
      as when the summer fruit has been gathered,
      as when the grapes have been gleaned:
      there is no cluster to eat,
      no first-ripe fig that my soul desires.
      2 The godly has perished from the earth,
      and there is no one upright among mankind;
      they all lie in wait for blood,
      and each hunts the other with a net.
      3 Their hands are on what is evil, to do it well;
      the prince and the judge ask for a bribe,
      and the great man utters the evil desire of his soul;
      thus they weave it together.

…

7 But as for me, I will look to the LORD;
I will wait for the God of my salvation;
my God will hear me.

      8 Rejoice not over me, O my enemy;
      when I fall, I shall rise;
      when I sit in darkness,
      the LORD will be a light to me.
      9 I will bear the indignation of the LORD
      because I have sinned against him,
      until he pleads my cause
      and executes judgment for me.
      He will bring me out to the light;
      I shall look upon his vindication.

…

      18 Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity
      and passing over transgression
      for the remnant of his inheritance?
      He does not retain his anger forever,
      because he delights in steadfast love.
      19 He will again have compassion on us;
      he will tread our iniquities underfoot.
      You will cast all our sins
      into the depths of the sea.
      20 You will show faithfulness to Jacob
      and steadfast love to Abraham,
      as you have sworn to our fathers
      from the days of old.

The Good Life according to Micah

Bible Text: Micah 6:1-8 | Preacher: Kyle Wells | Series: Micah

Because our liturgy and life are connected, for our worship to be authentic it must be reflected in neighbor-love.
Micah 6:1-8

Hear what the LORD says:
      Arise, plead your case before the mountains,
      and let the hills hear your voice.
      2 Hear, you mountains, the indictment of the LORD,
      and you enduring foundations of the earth,
      for the LORD has an indictment against his people,
      and he will contend with Israel.

      3 “O my people, what have I done to you?
      How have I wearied you? Answer me!
      4 For I brought you up from the land of Egypt
      and redeemed you from the house of slavery,
      and I sent before you Moses,
      Aaron, and Miriam.
      5 O my people, remember what Balak king of Moab devised,
      and what Balaam the son of Beor answered him,
      and what happened from Shittim to Gilgal,
      that you may know the righteous acts of the LORD.”
      6 “With what shall I come before the LORD,
      and bow myself before God on high?
      Shall I come before him with burnt offerings,
      with calves a year old?
      7 Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams,
      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?”
      8 He has told you, O man, what is good;
      and what does the LORD require of you
      but to do justice, and to love kindness,
      and to walk humbly with your God?

Christ the Key to Scripture and Life

Bible Text: Micah 5 | Preacher: Kyle Wells | Series: Micah

Because God promised to raise up a savior, we must confidently hope in him.
Micah 5

Now muster your troops, O daughter of troops;
      siege is laid against us;
      with a rod they strike the judge of Israel
      on the cheek.
      2 But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah,
      who are too little to be among the clans of Judah,
      from you shall come forth for me
      one who is to be ruler in Israel,
      whose coming forth is from of old,
      from ancient days.
      3 Therefore he shall give them up until the time
      when she who is in labor has given birth;
      then the rest of his brothers shall return
      to the people of Israel.
      4 And he shall stand and shepherd his flock in the strength of the LORD,
      in the majesty of the name of the LORD his God.
      And they shall dwell secure, for now he shall be great
      to the ends of the earth.
      5 And he shall be their peace.

      When the Assyrian comes into our land
      and treads in our palaces,
      then we will raise against him seven shepherds
      and eight princes of men;
      6 they shall shepherd the land of Assyria with the sword,
      and the land of Nimrod at its entrances;
      and he shall deliver us from the Assyrian
      when he comes into our land
      and treads within our border.
      7 Then the remnant of Jacob shall be
      in the midst of many peoples
      like dew from the LORD,
      like showers on the grass,
      which delay not for a man
      nor wait for the children of man.
      8 And the remnant of Jacob shall be among the nations,
      in the midst of many peoples,
      like a lion among the beasts of the forest,
      like a young lion among the flocks of sheep,
      which, when it goes through, treads down
      and tears in pieces, and there is none to deliver.
      9 Your hand shall be lifted up over your adversaries,
      and all your enemies shall be cut off.

      10 And in that day, declares the LORD,
      I will cut off your horses from among you
      and will destroy your chariots;
      11 and I will cut off the cities of your land
      and throw down all your strongholds;
      12 and I will cut off sorceries from your hand,
      and you shall have no more tellers of fortunes;
      13 and I will cut off your carved images
      and your pillars from among you,
      and you shall bow down no more
      to the work of your hands;
      14 and I will root out your Asherah images from among you
      and destroy your cities.
      15 And in anger and wrath I will execute vengeance
      on the nations that did not obey.

United Nations

Bible Text: Micah 4:1–5 | Preacher: Kyle Wells | Series: Micah

Because Israel’s God is the one true God, God will redeem the nations through Israel.

Micah 4:1–5
It shall come to pass in the latter days
      that the mountain of the house of the LORD
      shall be established as the highest of the mountains,
      and it shall be lifted up above the hills;
      and peoples shall flow to it,
      2 and many nations shall come, and say:
      “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD,
      to the house of the God of Jacob,
      that he may teach us his ways
      and that we may walk in his paths.”
      For out of Zion shall go forth the law,
      and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.
      3 He shall judge between many peoples,
      and shall decide disputes for strong nations far away;
      and they shall beat their swords into plowshares,
      and their spears into pruning hooks;
      nation shall not lift up sword against nation,
      neither shall they learn war anymore;
      4 but they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree,
      and no one shall make them afraid,
      for the mouth of the LORD of hosts has spoken.
      5 For all the peoples walk
      each in the name of its god,
      but we will walk in the name of the LORD our God
      forever and ever.

The Leaders we Deserve and the Leaders we Need

Bible Text: Micah 3 | Preacher: Kyle Wells | Series: Micah

Because we need just leaders, we must be willing to hear the truth
Micah 3:1-2a; 4-7; 9-12

1 And I said: Hear, you heads of Jacob

and rulers of the house of Israel!

Is it not for you to know justice?—

2 you who hate the good and love the evil,

4 … they will cry to the Lord, but he will not answer them;

he will hide his face from them at that time,

because they have made their deeds evil.

5 Thus says the Lord concerning the prophets

who lead my people astray,

who cry “Peace” when they have something to eat,

but declare war against him

who puts nothing into their mouths.

6 Therefore it shall be night to you, without vision,

and darkness to you, without divination.

The sun shall go down on the prophets,

and the day shall be black over them;

7 the seers shall be disgraced,

and the diviners put to shame;

they shall all cover their lips,

for there is no answer from God.

9 Hear this, you heads of the house of Jacob

and rulers of the house of Israel,

who detest justice

and make crooked all that is straight,

10 who build Zion with blood

and Jerusalem with iniquity.

11 Its heads give judgment for a bribe;

its priests teach for a price;

its prophets practice divination for money;

yet they lean on the Lord and say,

“Is not the Lord in the midst of us?

No disaster shall come upon us.”

12 Therefore because of you

Zion shall be plowed as a field;

Jerusalem shall become a heap of ruins,

and the mountain of the house a wooded height.

God’s Two Words

Bible Text: Micah 1–2 | Preacher: Kyle Wells | Series: Micah

Because God’s word kills to make alive, we must vulnerably accept the truth of our condition before we can experience God’s healing embrace.
Micah 1:1–7, 16; 2:12–13

The word of the Lord that came to Micah of Moresheth in the days of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, which he saw concerning Samaria and Jerusalem.

Hear, you peoples, all of you;
pay attention, O earth, and all that is in it,
and let the Lord God be a witness against you,
the Lord from his holy temple.

For behold, the Lord is coming out of his place,
and will come down and tread upon the high places of the earth.

And the mountains will melt under him,
and the valleys will split open,
like wax before the fire,
like waters poured down a steep place.

All this is for the transgression of Jacob
and for the sins of the house of Israel.
What is the transgression of Jacob?
Is it not Samaria?
And what is the high place of Judah?
Is it not Jerusalem?

Therefore I will make Samaria a heap in the open country,
a place for planting vineyards,
and I will pour down her stones into the valley
and uncover her foundations.

All her carved images shall be beaten to pieces,
all her wages shall be burned with fire,
and all her idols I will lay waste,
for from the fee of a prostitute she gathered them,
and to the fee of a prostitute they shall return.

16 Make yourselves bald and cut off your hair,
for the children of your delight;
make yourselves as bald as the eagle,
for they shall go from you into exile.

Chapter 2:12–13

I will surely assemble all of you, O Jacob;
I will gather the remnant of Israel;
I will set them together
like sheep in a fold,
like a flock in its pasture,
a noisy multitude of men.

He who opens the breach goes up before them;
they break through and pass the gate,
going out by it.
Their king passes on before them,
the Lord at their head.