Month: February 2025

Nobleton Community Church
29084 Sentinel Street PO Box 224
Nobleton, Florida 34661

Rev. Paul V. Lehmann, Pastor
813-389-8683
Nobletoncommunitychurch.org
info@nobletoncommunitychurch.org

OUR VISION IS:
To experience SPIRIT-FILLED WORSHIP AND PRAYER
To be involved in EVANGELISM, DISCIPLINING AND TRAINING PEOPLE
To use our SPIRITUAL GIFTS
To SERVE AND REACH PEOPLE FOR CHRIST, BOTH
“ACROSS THE STREET AND ACROSS THE WORLD”

Nobleton Community Church
Date February 23, 2022
Texts: 2 Kings 2:1-12; Mark 9:2-9
Pastor Paul Lehmann

Listen to live audio here

Have you ever dreamt about the day you can buzz around in your very own flying machine? Like what George Orwell said we would be doing by the year 1984. Well, we did have individual flying machines at that time. In 1987, before we returned to The Congo, after our furlough year, I was looking into the possibility of purchasing an Ultralite; one or two-seat aircraft, propelled by an engine that wasn’t much bigger than a lawnmower engine. We had just planted 17 churches in the Cataract Mountains in the Lower Congo, and it was very hard to reach the villages. The road was narrow and steep and would get washed out when it rained, and I always hated to drive on that road. A little Ultralite airplane I thought, would be perfect to zip up there with an evangelist or to hold conferences and outreaches. I talked to some of the pilots with Mission Aviation Fellowship about this possibility and they all thought it was too dangerous, so I never did buy one.

Well, nevertheless there has been a continued development of this kind of aircraft. The folks at NASA have built something called “The Highway in the Sky.” It’s a computer system designed to let millions of people fly whenever they please, and take off and land from wherever they please, in their own vehicles. Many of these kinds of vehicles are not open like the kind that I was thinking about. The main one is called the Air Scooter, and self-taught inventor Woody Norris had them for sale in 2013. One of his pilots demonstrated the Air Scooter for a 60-minutes TV show. It can fly for 2 hours at 55 mph, and go up to 10,000 feet above sea level. Just the thing you need when you have a long commute in heavy traffic. With this, you can go –as the crow flies, and do away with all the frustration of rush hour traffic. (Incidentally, I never understood why they call it rush hour—I have never seen much rushing going on. Usually, you are just slowly moving along, or it’s stop and go.) Anyway, you see how nice it would be to fly. Norris said you wouldn’t need a pilot’s license if you fly it under 400 feet in non-restricted air space. The downside is; it is going to sell for $50,000. The one I was thinking about 25 years ago was about $2000-3000 for a one-seater, and no more than $8000-10000 for two seats.

Up until now, it was always considered too dangerous to have a lot of individual small aircraft flying around at low altitudes, but now all the potential air traffic can be managed because NASA has come up with a plan to make personal flying machines a reality. Each “plane” will have a computer system that will manage all the new traffic up there. You, the pilot only need to focus on one computer screen with a box on it. Keep the Air Scooter’s nose centered in the box, away from other personal flying machines, and the computer will guide you to your destination.

It’s an interesting concept, thinking that you could start every day by getting a literal bird’s eye view of things.

You may not have ever thought about who was the first human to take flight. ELIJAH WAS THE FIRST PERSON TO TAKE FLIGHT

The idea of futuristic flying cars was certainly way out of the realm of imagination in Elijah’s day, and yet our text this morning reveals that he was really the first human to take flight. It was in a chariot of fire. You have to wonder about that moment of takeoff when Elijah got scooped up and was shuttled to a heavenly destination in his own personal divine flying machine. He didn’t have to look at any computer screen, because God made sure he got to his heavenly destination without a mishap.

This event is a suitable bridge between the careers of these two prophets, Elijah and Elisha struggling to preserve their understanding of who God is –(and was)–in the northern kingdom of Israel in the middle of the ninth century B.C. The prophet Elijah ministered during the reigns of Omri, Ahab, and Ahaziah (876-849 BC). These were three of the northern kings condemned in I and II Kings for their apostasy. Most of Elijah’s time was during the reign of King Ahab. The “transition event” of being taken by God, comes at the end of his tumultuous confrontations with Israel’s rulers. It was fitting that God would do this. Elijah had had some other encounters with God, that involved some unusual atmospheric conditions.

You remember back in I Kings 18 where he had a “contest” on Mt. Carmel with the prophets of Bael. There were 450 prophets of Bael and 400 prophets of Asherah who were supported by the wicked queen Jezebel. There was a drought with no rain for the last three years. This of course resulted in a famine. They told Elijah to go to King Ahab and tell him that I would soon send rain! Jezebel had tried to kill all of God’s prophets, but a man named Obadiah, who was a devoted follower of the Lord, hid 100 prophets in two caves and supplied them with food and water. Elijah was not alone in his confrontation with Ahab, but he felt alone. But there were others who believed in God. Elijah had enough faith and confidence in God, to confront Ahab, his wicked wife Jezebel, and all the false prophets of two heathen gods, and believed that God would send rain. Which He did, in a miraculous encounter. If you haven’t ever read this, –you can read it in I Kings 18. But after that, he slaughtered the prophets of Baal. So Jezebel was determined to take revenge and kill him. Now all of a sudden, Elijah is afraid of her—what happened to his tremendous faith that he had just demonstrated?

Do we ever see God do something special, or even miraculous for us, and then after a while, we sort of forget how gracious, and powerful He is, and we gradually drift away from him? Maybe we aren’t afraid that someone will kill us, but we no longer act like we have the faith we once had. Don’t let that happen! In chapter 19 of I Kings, God sends an angel to comfort Elijah and encourage him. He actually sends ravens to feed him as he is in hiding from Jezabel. Then God says to him: “What are you doing here, Elijah?” Now listen to Elijah’s whining response to God: “I have zealously served the Lord God Almighty. But the people of Israel have broken their covenant with you, torn down your altars, and killed every one of your prophets. I alone am left, and now they are trying to kill me too.” Then God told him; “Go out and stand before me on the mountain.” And as Elijah stood there, the Lord passed by, and a mighty windstorm hit the mountain. It was such a terrible blast that the rocks were torn loose, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind, there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. And after the earthquake, there was a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire, there was the sound of a gentle whisper.

Sometimes I think we miss God speaking to us because we want it to be loud and clear. But often it is a quiet whisper, by the Holy Spirit. Elijah heard it, wrapped his face in his cloak, and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. God then told him to go back the way he came and travel through the wilderness of Damascus and he told him who to anoint. This cloak of Elijah was important. It was not only an important article of clothing for those of this time period, as protection against the weather, but as a place to sit, as bedding, and as luggage. It could be given as a pledge for a debt or torn into pieces to show grief. When Elijah saw Elisha in his field plowing, he put his cloak on Elisha’s shoulders to show that he would become Elijah’s successor. Later when the transfer of authority was complete, Elijah left his cloak for Elisha.

Elijah’s takeoff in a “chariot of fire” pulled by horses of fire, propelled by a whirlwind that carried him to heaven, certainly indicates that he’d lived a unique kind of prophetic life and God chose for him to make that kind of exit from his life and ministry. There were only two other people who were given the opportunity to take off from the earth in an unusual way. In Genesis 5 we read about Enoch, an ancestor of Noah, who lived 365 years and fathered the long-living Methuselah. He “walked with God, and God took him.” That was it. No dying, no burial for him. The curse of death outlined in Genesis 3 didn’t apply to this righteous man, and he was apparently brought directly into the presence of God as a result of his faithfulness. But this is exactly what will happen to us someday when our bodies “die”, and our spirits are taken—we will also be present with the Lord.

Moses was the other person who left this earth in an unusual way, because we read in Deuteronomy 34:5-6 that he died in the land of Moab, and the Lord buried him somewhere in a valley near

Beth-Peor, but no one knows the exact place.

When Elijah approaches the Jordan River, with his eager protégé Elisha following along behind, he rolls up his mantle and strikes the water, parting it so that both prophets could cross on dry ground—a definitive reference to the prophetic power of Moses. When Elijah crosses the river, it’s no coincidence that he has entered into the same region where Deuteronomy tells us that Moses died. There is a hint of the mystery of Moses’ departure in 2 Kings and it sets up the idea that Elijah is in the very same class as Israel’s liberating prophet and that he will have a similarly mysterious departure. However, both prophets were flawed. They were not sinless. Moses lacked confidence in the beginning and balked in fear of the Pharaoh. He sometimes let the anxiety of his people get the best of him. The one time at the rock, kept him from going into the earthly promised land. Elijah demonstrated a similar bent when he ran for his life in the desert after being threatened by Jezebel and hid in a cave until God talked him out of it with a display of divine power.

But fortunately, God does not seek the flawless when looking for those to be in service. Being flawed and having shortcomings and weaknesses does not mean God’s going to pass over and look for someone else to do His work in the world. When, like Moses, we say; “I can’t do this: find someone else,” God says, “I don’t want anyone else. When, like Elijah we run away, God finds us.

Elijah was like so many of us who swing between the poles of victory and defeat or contentment and crisis, on a regular basis.

Sometimes, however, God offers us a bird’s eye view of our lives, allowing us to take it all in and understand that everything we experience, both good and bad, can teach us and provide experiential fuel for the journey we’ve undertaken. Elijah doesn’t engage in a deathbed reflection, but a flight of grand proportions that signifies that God honors those who are faithful in spite of their fears, and those who are willing to rise above adversity instead of grumbling in the traffic of an overly ordinary life.

NASA has created a targeted flying system that enables people who are willing to take the risk of flying to get to their destinations quickly and safely. Stories like those of Elijah remind us that the Scriptures have given us an even more definitive target for the destination of our lives: to be in God’s presence. When we point our lives in God’s direction, like the nose of the AirScooter being pointed towards the box on the screen, we can see things anew and move through life with purpose, simplicity, and excitement, protected by Him.

Indeed, the account of Elijah’s inaugural flight reminds us that if we believe in God’s promises, our lives don’t ultimately end in death, but in the high-flying, above-ground reality of resurrection. Remember, Moses and Elijah both appeared with Jesus above the disciples at the Transfiguration, which signaled to the disciples that death wasn’t the end fact they’d come to believe and preach after Jesus’ own rising from the dead and flight into heaven at the Ascension.

In the meantime, however, we find ourselves like Elisha, and like those first disciples, staring and pointing into the heavens with wonder. Having witnessed the resurrection power of a heavenly flight we, like Elisha, want a double portion of it (2 Kings 2 verse 9). We want the kind of boldness and perseverance that our spiritual ancestors and mentors displayed. We want the kind of entrepreneurial spirit that fuels the vision of inventors and the passion of prophets.

To experience that, however, we have to be willing to build on the efforts of our entrepreneurial ancestors. The flying car has been conceived by inventors for over 50 years, and just now is the technology starting to be perfected. The legacy of Elijah is even longer, and we build on his prophetic work only if we’re willing to pick up the mantle and engage in our own journey. The truth still needs to be spoken to those in power. People are still in need of healing and need to be fed. And, if we’re really being prophetic, we’ll still experience times of fear and want to run and hide.

Through it all, though, God promises us that, in the end, we’re all going to fly toward a new destination called the kingdom of God.

” In the Garden”

Nobleton Community Church
29084 Sentinel Street PO Box 224
Nobleton, Florida 34661

Rev. Paul V. Lehmann, Pastor
813-389-8683
Nobletoncommunitychurch.org
info@nobletoncommunitychurch.org

OUR VISION IS:
To experience SPIRIT-FILLED WORSHIP AND PRAYER
To be involved in EVANGELISM, DISCIPLINING AND TRAINING PEOPLE
To use our SPIRITUAL GIFTS
To SERVE AND REACH PEOPLE FOR CHRIST, BOTH
“ACROSS THE STREET AND ACROSS THE WORLD”

Nobleton Community Church
Date February 9, 2025
Text Philippians 3: 1-21
Pastor Paul Lehmann

Listen to live audio here

There are some people that always seem to live in the past, sort of “resting on their laurels” so to speak. The Livingston Inland Mission, which was named after the missionary explorer David Livingston, eventually became the British Missionary Society (which was Baptist). At a church growth conference held in Kinshasa, where all of the Missions came together to present their future plans and goals, the B.M.S. presented the wonderful work that had been done in the past 100 years, and how they had planted mission stations and churches from Kinshasa all along the Congo River right through the heart of the country. But they didn’t mention one thing that they were planning to do for the next 5 years. They were “resting on their laurels” and their past glories, instead of pressing on toward the goal to win the prize of God’s high calling.

Back in October 2010, I was at Nyack College in Nyack, NY at my Alma Mater for Alumni weekend, and to receive an award presented to me as I was inducted into my college’s basketball hall of fame. I was thankful for the 2 ½ years that I played for Nyack, (I transferred and therefore wasn’t eligible to play the first semester) This was an honor that I never thought would happen. Through the years I have never gloried over my past playing days, but now someone else is. Don’t get me wrong, I sometimes think of those days, and the lessons learned. For instance not doing a tomahawk dunk on a breakaway in a close game in the post season tournament. Just to “rub it in” to the opposing team. A simple easy dunk would have sufficed. The dunk hit the back of the rim and bounced off. We lost by one point.

But there are lessons of perseverance, and confidence that we could win against schools that were 6 or 7 times our size. The knowledge that one should always give a 110% and not give up, and just because good things happened one year, that we shouldn’t dwell on those accomplishments, because we should constantly be moving forward.

THE ONLY WAY TO CONTINUE TO ACHIEVE GREAT THINGS IN THE PRESENT AND THE FUTURE IS TO LEAVE THE PAST BEHIND US.

We need to understand though what the apostle Paul means when he says to forget the past. Don’t we read in the Old Testament how God wants the Israelites to remember things; like what He does for them. They built memorials and celebrated feast days so they wouldn’t forget. Then Jesus tells us to celebrate the Passover Feast in a new way. The Lord’s table, our Holy Communion, is to remember Him. So what is this about—“forgetting the past?”

What Paul is talking about is the past as it relates to us and our accomplishments. The past as it relates to us and our talents and any good thing that the world might see in us. The past as it relates to our sin, and what we did before we gave our lives to the Lord.

WE ARE TO FORGET OUR PAST GLORIES.

In our Christian lives, we need to leave the past behind us. Perhaps we have gloried in what we have accomplished, or who we are, or where we come from. Paul calls this, “having confidence in the flesh”—in the last part of verse 3.

In verse 4 he says that he has more reason than anyone else to have such confidence. After all he says, “ I was circumcised the eight day (this was a big deal because it indicated that he was born into a Jewish family, not an adult proselyte like some who became Jews later in life, and were considered “lower” than those who were circumcised as infants.) He says, “I was from the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews. In regard to the law, a Pharisee and as for the law, I was so zealous that I persecuted the church, and was faultless when it came to legalistic righteousness.

Paul is not “blowing his own horn” as we say, in an inappropriate way. Don’t we do the same thing when we send out our resume to get a specific job. We site all of our accomplishments and so forth.

Lists of virtues or vices were common at the time. Praise and blame speeches in narrative form were given, and they characterized biographies. Lists of virtues typically included items such as noble birth or beauty as well as character traits like prudence or steadfastness. Self-commendation was considered appropriate if one were defending oneself or using oneself as a legitimate model for others. By claiming to have greater merit than his opponents even on their own terms, he turns this self-commendation into an occasion to undermine them. Professional speakers and writers often used the standard “rhetorical technique of “comparison” to accomplish this end.

All this sounds a lot like politicians of our day doesn’t it? What Paul is warning us about is to put all of these things that we and others consider good about ourselves and put them behind us. Don’t count on those things. Forget about it! (As they say in Brooklyn)

We of course understand that we need to do this with our sins. We are new creatures in Christ. (II Cor. 5:17—The old has gone the new has come.) Our sins are forgiven, and we are now Children of God. But the problem is what about the things that we have seen in the past where God has blessed us.

PERHAPS WE HAVE GLORIED IN OUR MATERIAL GOODS.

(Verse 7) Of course, we shouldn’t forget about what He has done for us. How He has provided for us. Even abundantly, particularly as I have said before, when we compare what we have, and what many others in the world (and even in this country), do not have.

So material things are a blessing from the Lord. This was true in the Old Testament, and there is no where in scripture that shows that for the Christian this isn’t so, even today. Except what we see in the Gospels, is Jesus addressing wrong attitudes towards our possessions.

He says; “ Don’t lay up for yourselves treasures that rust or can be corrupted or destroyed, but lay up treasures in heaven.” “Don’t think about gaining more and more wealth (building bigger barns to store it in is the parable), –if your heart is in your wealth, He may demand you to sell it all and give it to the poor, and follow Him.

Then also:

Perhaps we have gloried in our own self-righteousness (verse 9)

Paul was the classic example before his conversion. All those things he mentioned in verses 4-6, he says in verse 7 that he considers anything that was once a profit for him, a loss, for the sake of Christ; compared to the greatness of knowing Christ Jesus his Lord.

Can you say that this morning? Do you KNOW Jesus in this way, so that He means more to you than anything you own, anything you are able to do, your earning capacity –now or in the past—your pension etc. –your education or training, or experience in a given field? Do you consider all of that rubbish, so that you may gain more of Christ? These are hard questions that we must ask ourselves.

Or do you subconsciously count on your own goodness, and see no need to be fanatical about Christ. You sometimes wonder about these ridiculous statements that Paul makes like in verse 10—“I want to know Christ and the POWER OF His resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in His sufferings, becoming like Him in death…” You may be super cautious about going to extremes.

Do you glory in the memory of a good deed you did.

(Matthew 6:3) –Jesus said, “when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.

All of these things are the things that we are to put behind us. FORGET PAST GLORIES!

Then we are also to FORGET PAST OFFENCES.

Our hesitation to forgive others even though God has forgiven them, can eat away at us like a cancer.

In the book; “Restoring Your Spiritual Passion, Gordon MacDonald writes: …”on a plane flight which I was headed toward a meeting that would determine a major decision in my ministry, there is a memory that burns deep within. I knew I was in desperate need of a spiritual passion that would provide wisdom and submission to God’s purposes. But the passion was missing because I was steeped in resentment toward a colleague. For days I had tried everything to rid myself of vindictive thoughts toward that person. But, try as I might, I would even wake in the night, thinking of ways to subtly get back at him. I wanted to embarrass him for what he had done, to damage his credibility before his peers. My resentment was beginning to dominate me, and on that plane trip, I came to the realization of how bad things really were…As the plane entered the landing pattern, I found myself crying silently to God for power both to forgive and to experience liberation from my poisoned spirit. Suddenly it was as if an invisible knife cut a hole in my chest, and I literally felt a thick substance oozing from within. Moments later I felt as if I’d been flushed out. I’d lost negative spiritual weight, the kind I needed to lose: I was free. I nearly bounced off that plane and soon entered a meeting that did in fact change the entire direction of my life.

Spiritual passion cannot coexist with resentments. The Scriptures are clear. The unforgiving spirit saps the energy that causes Christian growth and effectiveness.

Bitterness and resentments sometimes causes physical ailments.

When my dad was diagnosed with multiple-mya-loma, he was given only a short time to live. At that time he was holding bitterness in his heart against his adopted sister, who he believed had cheated him out of his inheritance. As he lay in the hospital, he called her in California and asked her to forgive him for the bitter feelings that he had held against her. She wasn’t even aware of this, because my dad never said much. She forgave him, and he got better and was released from the hospital, and he was healed of the cancer, or at least it went into remission for 4 more years. He ultimately died as it came back, but he experienced peace when he forgave and his life was extended.

A Jewish woman from Terre Haute, Indiana was in charge of the Holocaust Museum there. One night it was burned to the ground. (Probably by someone who believed that the Holocaust never happened). When she was asked by a reporter how she felt about this, she replied; “ I forgave the Nazis and I forgive the person who did this.”

Failure to forgive others hinders God’s forgiveness of us. Failure to forgive stifles our witness for Christ.

Failure to forgive causes turmoil in our lives. It causes arguments, and marriage relationships are strained and sometimes destroyed.

One Saturday morning a lady named Jane Schmidt awoke to the delightful smell of waffles and the sound of her two small boys in the kitchen with her husband. Padding down to breakfast, she sat on her husband’s lap and gave him a big hug for his thoughtfulness. Later that day she and her husband were having a heated discussion in their bedroom when their four year old Jacob, stopped them in midsentence. Standing in the doorway, he said, “Mommy, try to remember how you felt when you were on Daddy’s lap.”

We are to: FORGET THOSE THINGS WHICH ARE BEHIND AND PRESS ON TOWARD THE GOAL TO WIN THE PRIZE (VERSE 14)

LET US LIVE UP TO WHAT WE HAVE ALREADY ATTAINED (VERSE 16)

Many live as enemies of the cross of Christ

They need to be broken!

I remember as a boy, I liked to put together model airplane gliders. You know the kind that was made of cheap, balsa wood. The thin, light wood is pre-stamped so that you punch out the airplane and attach the wings to the fuselage. The balsa wood is supposed to break off at the grooves. Sometimes it does not. Occasionally you splinter or break off part of the airplane by accident. When this happens, the planes don’t fly as well as they are designed to. Life is delicate, like the balsa plane. When we break in the right areas we will fly higher and smoother than when we break in the wrong places…When we are broken in the wrong places, we become self-centered. Our broken emotions keep us from loving effectively. We shun future settings where further hurt could take place, like significant relationships, or fellowship in churches, and it keeps us from setting goals. Or we react defensively to the hurt by overachieving and living a life of abandon. When we are broken in the wrong places, we do not see the fruit of the Spirit.

The older we get, the more you see people who have lost the sparkle in their eyes that they once had. They have endured tough circumstances, but not successfully.

How should we be broken in the right way?

Being broken in the heart, in the soul, where God can do something with your will and character, is a matter of converting, sanctifying the actual pain, and making it a part of the healing salve. You cannot do it on your own. God must do it. BUT YOU MUST BE WILLING.

The Lord wants to prepare us for heaven. He will cleanse you, forgive you and fill you with His Holy Spirit, so that you can live as He intended you to live on earth. Our citizen ship is in heaven and we eagerly await the day that we will be totally transformed, but until that day comes, LET US LIVE A LIFE THAT DOESN’T DWELL ON THE PAST, EITHER THE MISTAKES OR THE GOOD THINGS THAT WE HAVE DONE, BUT RATHER REMEMBER WHAT HE HAS DONE IN OUR PAST AND WHAT HE WANTS TO DO IN OUR FUTURE. HE WANTS TO BLESS US IF WE SUBMIT TO HIM.

Nobleton Community Church
29084 Sentinel Street PO Box 224
Nobleton, Florida 34661

Rev. Paul V. Lehmann, Pastor
813-389-8683
Nobletoncommunitychurch.org
info@nobletoncommunitychurch.org

OUR VISION IS:
To experience SPIRIT-FILLED WORSHIP AND PRAYER
To be involved in EVANGELISM, DISCIPLINING AND TRAINING PEOPLE
To use our SPIRITUAL GIFTS
To SERVE AND REACH PEOPLE FOR CHRIST, BOTH
“ACROSS THE STREET AND ACROSS THE WORLD”

Nobleton Community Church
Date February 2, 2025
Text Micah 6:1-8
Pastor Paul Lehmann

Listen to live audio here

If you ever pick up a package of software at a big box electronics store, there’s one thing you want to be sure to do —check the system requirements. If you don’t have the right hardware the software won’t work. Do you want Excel? Microsoft Excel that is? If so, your computer will need to meet certain system requirements. I rarely use Excel—but I am told for the latest Excel version you will need a processor that is at least one gigahertz, and for business purposes two is better. With windows 11 and Office 365 it automatically adjusts to your software, but the amount of computer memory might be affected. Anyway, my point is that there are always minimum system requirements. I don’t do system downloads, but if you do, you better consult the requirements.

Of course, if you live in some parts of the country, more rustic parts perhaps, you have to do a translation because geek speak has a different meaning. For example; LOG ON means “Make the wood stove or fireplace hotter. LOG OFF means Don’t add no more wood. MONITOR —“Keep an eye on the wood stove. DOWNLOAD—Get the firewood off the truck. MEGA HERTZ; “ WELL —That’s what happens when you’re not careful as you get the firewood. And finally, LAPTOP is where the cat sleeps.

But getting back to system requirements. Beyond the minimum system requirements are recommended requirements. Recommendation for Excel might include a graphics processor since it helps increase the performance of certain features, such as drawing tables. System requirements and recommended requirements are the language in the world of computers.

It is also the language of; FAITHFUL LIVING.

In this relatively well-known Old Testament text we see that God lets us know in decidedly simple language just what is required to make His HOLINESS AND RIGHTEOUSNESS work. If you want to “excel “ as a Christian you need to know the minimum and recommended requirements.

THE MINIMUM REQUIRMENT IS FAITH

Paul tells us, in his letter to the Galatians, tells us: how a person is made right with God “not by the works (or righteousness) of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ (Gal. 2:16) This means that we enter into a saving relationship with God Through our willingness to trust Jesus, to rely on him to be our Savior but also our LORD. We are save through faith, and Paul assures us that there is “no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” Roman 8:1

FAITH IS GOD’S MINIMUM REQUIREMENT

But more is recommended for those who want to excel. In the book of Micah, (our text this morning), God says through the prophet: “Listen to what the Lord says; Stand up, plead your case before the mountains, and let the hills hear what you have to say. Hear, you mountains, the accusation; listen, you everlasting foundations of the earth. For the Lord has a case against his people he is lodging a charge against Israel: (verses 1-2) They are like witnesses in a court room. It is on the mountain tops that the Israelites sacrificed to pagon idol gods even in their celebrations.

In this passage, God has a controversy with the people of Israel, one that will be settled in an unusual kind of courtroom. God will make his charges and the people will answer. Serving as judge and jury will be not a group of people (their peers), but the mountains and the hills.

“My people what have I done to you?” Asks God. “How have I burdened you? (or worried you)? Answer me! I brought you up out of Egypt and redeemed you from the land of slavery, and I sent Moses, to lead you, also Aaron, and Miriam. My people, remember what king Balak of Moab counseled, and what Balaam son of Beor answered. Remember , Your journey from Shittim to Gilgal, that you may know the saving and righteous acts of the Lord.( Micah verses 3-5)

God reminds the people of all the great things that have been done for them. Liberation from Egypt, rescue from slavery and the gift of leadership by Moses, Aaron and Miriam. As if these mighty acts are not enough, God asks them to remember the time that king Balak hired Balaam to speak a curse against Israel, which backfired and tuned into a blessing (Numbers 22-24). God concludes by reminding them of what happened along the journey from Shittim to Gilgal, as the people crossed the Jordan River into the Promised Land.

“Isn’t this enough? Asks the Lord, with a note of hurt in his voice. “Aren’t these enough mighty and amazing acts of salvation?

Then the people respond. Feeling convicted of their faithlessness, they say, “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? 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? ” (Micah vss. 6-7).

The people are willing to give anything—absolutely anything—to be restored to a right relationship with God.

Thousands of rams. Ten thousands of rivers of oil. Even their Firstborn children. No price is too high. Like they were used to doing for the pagan gods. But thee are not God’s requirements. Instead, says the prophet Micah, the Lord requires something else. “He has told you, O mortal, what is good, and what does the Lord require of you but:

TO ACT JUSTLY, AND TO LOVE MERCY (KINDNESS, AND TO WALK HUMBLY WITH YOUR GOD? (verse 8)

In Isaiah 57:15 We read: “God lives in a high and holy place…to revive the spirit of the lowly and to revive the heart of the contrite.

Jeremiah 22:3 “…Do what is just and right. Rescue from the land of the oppressor, the one who has been robbed. Do no wrong or violence to the alien, the fatherly or the widow and do not shed innocent blood in this place.

Isaiah 1:17 “ Learn to do right, seek justice, encourage the oppressed,

defend the case of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow.

Hosea 6:6 “For I desire mercy, not sacrifice and acknowledgement of God, not burn offerings.

In the New Testament when the Pharisees questioned him for eating with tax collectors and sinners— we read in Matthew 9:3 “It is not the healthy that need a doctor , but the sick. Go and learn what this means “I desire mercy, not sacrifice” for I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.” And in Matthew 23:23: “You have neglected the more important matter of the heart—justice, mercy and FAITHFULNESS.

And finally in Luke 11:42: ” …you neglect justice and the love of God”

These are God’s recommended system requirements. What was true for the Israelites is true for us. Yes, God’s minimum requirement is FAITH. But the recommended requirements go much farther: justice, kindness and a humble walk with God. Only then will we excel.

Notice that Micah’s answer reveals that God is much more interested in our daily activities that in our religious observances. Burnt offerings, gifts of oil—these are actions tied to spiritual ceremonies. What God requires, however, is a life lived with acts of justice, kindness and humility.

THE FIRST RECOMMENDED REQUIREMENT: Is to do justice (Act justly). Although the passage from Micah asks us to imagine a courtroom, this particular legal requirement does not require attorneys, judges and juries. Instead, the command to do justice applies to every aspect of our life—-It means treating others with fairness, equality and showing concern for people who are weak, powerless and exploited. This means living in a righteous way within society. Biblically speaking: a righteous person as a New Testament Christian, should live like Christ. He or she should live up to God’s standards of morality and ethical behavior and treats others fairly. It is hard for me to understand the person, who says they are a Christian, but their life style is anything but how Christ lived. When someone does not live up to God’s standard, their declaration is hollow. they say they belivee the Bible, but they don’t want to do what it says. They don’t want Jesus Christ interfering with their life.

My nephew in Michigan goes to an Evangelical Covenant Church. In his church, “doing justice” means not just helping people who are hurting, but addressing the causes of suffering. From a biblically-rooted perspective, they work to bring the love of Christ and the justice of God’s kingdom to the marginalized, the powerless and the oppressed. They act as advocates for victims of abuse, support micro-enterprise programs, battle human trafficking and work on racial reconciliation.

“Do justice, (or act justly)” says Micah. Not simply “support justice.” It ‘s a high-commitment, hands-on, everyday actvity.”

The second Recommended requirement is: LOVE KINDNESS.

The English word “kindness” is actually a weak translation of the Hebrew word hesed. which means love or love mercy, loyalty (actually covenant loyalty, and steadfast love, and faithfulness.” It lies at the heart of healthy relationships,, whether the bonds are marriages, close friendships or the relationship between God and his people. To “love kindness” (or show mercy) is to keep this loyalty and faithfulness at the heart of all your relationships. It means that you do not say hurtful things to people.

It means you think before you speak in an unkindly way, and ask yourself; “will what I think is so important to say to them, hurt them unnecessarily.” Would I want someone talking to me like that? Remember the words of Jesus, that we are to treat others, like we would like to be treated. Now, I don’t meant that we shouldn’t point out immoral behavior, or even when we see someone doing something to hurt others. but the Biblical way is to go to them and tell them in a kind and loving way, not an accusatory way in public. too often we think we have to make a spectacle of the wrong we allegedly see. Sometimes there are facts that we don’t know. If a person refuses to accept what we say, and it is truly a sin, biblically we should take an (elder of the church) with us to talk with them, then if they refuse to listen it is to be brought to the church. Rarely do we follow this procedure. If we don’t immediately confront them in public to humiliate them, we would just rather gossip about them behind their back. We rarely show HESED. (That is, mercy and loving kindness)

Another aspect of this kind of mercy and loving kindness or hesed, is a mom who spends day after thankless day spoon-feeding and wiping up after a disabled child. Hesed is a loving wife whose long-suffering, tearful prayers help her exhausted or discouraged husband from falling apart at the seams. Hesed is love that can be counted, decade after decade.”

THE THIRD RECOMMENDED REQUIREMENT IS:

” WALK HUMBLY WITH YOUR GOD.”

If we are going to excel as Christians, we must travel with God over the course of life. Faith may begin with a momentary decision, but it matures through a ling journey of following God over many ups and downs, through mountaintop experiences and valleys of deep darkness. Along this path, we are challenged to walk humbly knowing that God is—and must remain–ahead of us, in charge, leading the way. As a N.T Christian who has the advantage of the power of the Holy Spirit, these ups and downs should be like bumps in the road. They should not drag you down to the depths of despair. We don’t have to wallow in discouragement, because no matter what the enemy of our souls throws at us, the “joy of the Lord is our strength.” Christ in us means Holy Spirit power. It means walking in victory, and not living , and wallowing in sin, not because we are so great, but because he is! When we live in that kind of submission to the control of the Holy Spirit, we can walk humbly with God. Because we realize how weak we are and how strong he is.

When Jesus describes himself as “the way, the truth and the life” (John 14″6) he is echoing this image of a journey. Jesus is our way, showing us exactly how we are to walk with God. When he first called his disciples, he didn’t say, “Agree to these fine points of theology”. Instead, he said “Follow me” (Matthew 4:19).

“Walk humbly with your God,” says Micah. Walk with the Lord Jesus, his Son, the one who is the way, in the life of faith, unlike the world of computers, we should never be satisfied with the bare minimum. “To have the strongest possible relationship with God and with each other, it is important to reach for the recommended system requirements. Doing justice, loving hesed (mercy and kindness) and journeying humbly with the Lord. As Christians this is the way to excel. Examine your efforts to please God. Examine the areas of your life that not only affect your relationship with the Lord but with others. Are you fair in your dealings with people? Do you show mercy to those who wrong you? Are you learning and walking in humility;