October 14, 2025 • 47 mins
What if the life God wants from us is simpler—and harder—than our best performances? In this episode, we dive into Micah 6:8 to discover a way of living that trades polished offerings for a posture that changes people: act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with your God. From ancient Israel’s fracture and looming empires to Jesus’ challenge to religious leaders, we connect the dots between scripture and street-level compassion at the Topeka Rescue Mission.
We explore what it means to act justly when someone arrives in crisis, to show mercy that breaks the cycle of hurt, and to walk humbly with a faith that listens and learns. Through real stories—like a simple act of kindness that disarms anger and a mentor’s quiet influence that shaped generations—we see how justice, mercy, and humility transform lives. Grounded in scripture and lived experience, this conversation invites you to a faith that shows up where it matters. How will you live Micah 6:8 this week?
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Episode Transcript
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SPEAKER_02 (00:00):
Gracious Heavenly Father, we thank you, Lord, for
this day and your blessings.
And Lord, just this time toconverse about your word and uh,
Lord, just um all that you'redoing here at the mission.
God, we thank you for this time.
And as always, thank you for ourlisteners who are just getting
involved and connecting andlistening.
Lord, I pray your blessing overthem today and blessing over
this conversation.
In Jesus' name.
Amen.
(00:24):
Hello, everyone, and welcome toanother episode of Our
Community, Our Mission, apodcast of the Topeka Rescue
Mission.
Um, today is Tuesday, October5th, 14th, if you're listening
to it today, and we are onepisode 288.
I'm sure by now you've quicklyrealized I am not Barry Feeker
or Lamanda Cunningham or MiriamCrable.
I am Josh Turley, the directorof strategic development, and I
(00:49):
am joined today by none otherthan Mike Shottle.
Good day.
Hello, sir.
How are you?
I'm great.
SPEAKER_03 (00:54):
How are you?
SPEAKER_02 (00:55):
I'm doing good.
I'm doing good.
Why don't you tell our listenersuh, I'm sure they've heard it
before, but your title here atthe Rescue Mission?
SPEAKER_03 (01:01):
I am the director of spiritual wellness and
discipleship.
SPEAKER_02 (01:04):
Yeah.
So happy to have you on today.
As uh like I said, I'm sure youguys are all aware now that um
everyone else is on assignment.
And so they once again kicked itto us and we're like, hey, you
guys didn't do too terrible lasttime.
SPEAKER_03 (01:18):
Nothing bad happened, so we're gonna have
you back.
SPEAKER_02 (01:20):
So okay, we'll let you do it again.
SPEAKER_03 (01:22):
So fantastic.
SPEAKER_02 (01:23):
Um yeah, so we're super excited to be here.
So as always, in honor of thenormal times with with with
Barry and Lamanda, we have thespecial the special thing about
what today is.
Um the random holidays thatnobody really asked for.
Um, but nonetheless they exist.
So we're gonna we're gonna justgonna go over a couple of those.
So today is a fun one.
(01:44):
National dessert day.
Not dessert day, dessert dayday.
Which did you know that stressedspelled backwards is desserts?
I did not know that.
It is.
So when you're stressed, flip itaround.
Have some cake.
Have some cake.
Yep.
That's a great idea.
SPEAKER_03 (02:00):
You know, make my stressful day go better.
A rice crispy treat.
SPEAKER_02 (02:03):
Oh, I do like rice crispy treats.
Or a nice fudgy brownie.
SPEAKER_03 (02:07):
Oh, yes.
Like a warm one with just like adollop of ice cream.
Well, just a little bit of icecream.
Both of us being lactoseintolerant, we probably should
stay away from the ice cream.
I'm good with either.
But ice cream does make itbetter.
Oh, it does.
It like way better.
Absolutely.
So, yeah, I mean, dessert'sgood.
SPEAKER_02 (02:21):
Yeah.
I always we so like growing up,obviously you're learning how to
spell words.
Desert and dessert are veryclose.
Yes.
But how I learned to know thedifference between the two
spellings is you always wantmore dessert, which is why
there's two S's.
Wow.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_03 (02:35):
So when you spell dessert, that's that is a very
good teaching lesson rightthere.
Listen there too.
SPEAKER_02 (02:40):
Because you want more.
You don't want more of thedesert because the desert's kind
of terrible.
Dry.
SPEAKER_03 (02:44):
And there's nothing worse than a dry dessert.
Like this is a dry brownie.
SPEAKER_02 (02:49):
It's very true.
SPEAKER_03 (02:50):
This is a dry piece of apple pie.
SPEAKER_02 (02:52):
Very true.
SPEAKER_03 (02:53):
Send it back.
SPEAKER_02 (02:54):
That would be weird to have a dry apple pie.
SPEAKER_03 (02:56):
It really would.
But I've I have had a dry applepie before, and it's I wouldn't
recommend it.
Not very good.
It's not great.
Ice cream can't even save that.
SPEAKER_02 (03:05):
No.
Anyway.
So National Dessert Day.
We also have National Face YourFears Day.
No thanks.
So I mean, you know, I thinkthis is a good observance.
I think some of us havedifferent different fears.
Um talked about some people havepublic speaking, is a very
common one.
Uh some are spiders.
Fine with that.
Both of those.
(03:25):
Yeah.
What's your what's your fear,Mike?
SPEAKER_03 (03:27):
Porcelain dolls.
SPEAKER_02 (03:28):
Porcelain dolls.
SPEAKER_03 (03:29):
And that's when Alec, we have Alec here doing
the soundboard.
He's probably gonna just get upfrom his chair real quick and
put the porcelain doll down.
Yeah, I don't I don't likedolls, especially porcelain
dolls, like with the blinkyeyes.
I I can't.
I understand.
I can't.
They terrify me.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (03:44):
Mine would probably I don't know, probably be
clowns.
I don't like clowns.
SPEAKER_03 (03:47):
They kind of Which is wild.
Yeah.
Because like you love Batman.
SPEAKER_02 (03:51):
I do.
And I like when obviously Batmanbeats the Joker because it
creeps me out.
So there you go.
Anyway.
Wild stuff.
National Face Your Fears Day andNational I Love You Day.
Oh.
Yeah.
So this is a little differentfrom Valentine's Day in that
it's not just for couples, it isfor your family and your friends
and just anyone else that youhold dear to your heart.
Like you, Josh.
I love you, man.
I love you too.
(04:11):
I love you too.
Love you too, Alec.
We love you, Alec.
He's like, oh stop.
So so today, face your fears,eat some dessert, and tell your
family and friends that you lovethem.
Yes.
SPEAKER_03 (04:24):
In that order.
In that order.
Because after you face yourfears, you gotta treat yourself
and then be like, you know what?
I love you guys.
SPEAKER_02 (04:30):
Hey, hopefully, your fear is not telling someone I
love you.
That would that that is a fear,though.
SPEAKER_03 (04:35):
That's a cyclical.
It is a fear.
Uh, I don't know what they callit, but it definitely has phobia
at the end of it.
Um, yeah, that just be acyclical thing.
SPEAKER_02 (04:43):
Uh-huh.
Anyway.
Yeah.
So good stuff.
So there's your national daystoday.
Hope you guys can celebratewell.
And um, thanks for hanging withus through those.
We're so sorry.
So, yeah.
So uh, Mike, today you have kindof a special word for us.
So I'm gonna kick it off to youand you kind of share.
I know you've kind of had sharedthis in one of our staff
chapels, and so I'd uh love tohear of that have you share that
(05:04):
with our listeners.
SPEAKER_03 (05:05):
So I'm trying to well, I'm checking right now,
just checking my notes when Idid.
Uh this was August 6th.
Wow.
This was August 6th.
Uh, so we are now October 14th.
So it's been over two months agothat I shared this, but this has
been one that uh really what Ido when I when I share with our
(05:25):
staff in our staff chapels onWednesdays is I don't I don't
want to share anything that theLord is not working in my heart
with.
So um I've been working throughthe entire year, uh working
through different prophets, uh,books of the prophets in the old
testament, and just so happenedto be wrapping up the minor
(05:48):
prophet Micah and um came toMicah chapter six, verses six
through eight, and the entirebook, just to give an overview
of it, is Micah is telling aboutthe imminent coming of different
uh empires that are coming.
You have the Syrians, you havethe Babylonians.
(06:10):
Israel is split right down themiddle.
You have northern Israel andsouthern Israel, you have
Samaria and Judah, and Micah isreally calling them out about
the he's calling them, he'scalling them out about the sin,
about the corruption that'sgoing on in Israel, and you
(06:31):
know, people are trying to getan economic uh gain from money,
from land, whatever it is.
So he's telling them that thisimminent doom is coming,
basically.
This judgment is coming forIsrael.
SPEAKER_02 (06:45):
And what roughly what kingship was he around?
The prophet of Micah.
Um Dash Kitcher question.
SPEAKER_03 (06:52):
You did.
Uh I don't have that writtendown.
I want shoot.
I don't know.
You asked me a question that Idon't know.
That's the answer to.
That's right.
Um, yeah, I don't know.
Uh but uh Micah is saying, hey,you know what?
We need to turn our hearts backto the Lord.
(07:12):
And um he's saying that this isthe stuff that needs to happen.
And then in Micah chapter six,verses six through eight, uh
verses six verses six and seven,it says the following.
So he's saying, uh, you know, wehave to sacrifice back to the
Lord, you have to give yourhearts back to him.
And the people are asking, whatshould I bring before the Lord
(07:34):
when I come to bow before God onhigh?
Should I come before him withburnt offerings, with year old
calves?
Would the Lord be pleased withthousands of rams or with ten
thousand streams of oil?
Should I give my firstborn formy transgression, the offspring
of my body for my own sin?
(07:54):
And then Micah says, He has toldyou, O mankind, what is good and
what it is that the Lordrequires of you.
One is to act justly, two, tolove mercy, and three, to walk
humbly with your God.
So that kind of really resonatedwith me because sometimes we
(08:18):
just get so caught up in, well,I'm doing this, I'm doing that,
I have this to offer for theLord, I have that to offer for
the Lord, and then what ends uphappening?
You know, the shoe drops, andthen it's like, well, God, do
you hate me?
Um, or you're just looking outfor you know, me to to mess up
next or whatever, you know.
Whether you have that thought ornot, sometimes we think, well,
(08:38):
I've been giving this, and whatdo I have to show for it?
So one of the things that Iwanted to really give back to
the staff is look, it doesn'tmatter what we have to offer.
It doesn't matter what um, andthat's what that's what Micah
(08:59):
was sharing too.
Like, no, it's not the burntofferings of year old calves,
it's not the fragrant thingsthat you can offer to the Lord.
What the Lord wants of you is toact justly, to love mercy, and
to walk humbly with him.
Um so why should we act justly?
Uh in Isaiah chapter 56, verse1, it says this is what the Lord
(09:23):
says preserve justice and dowhat is right for my salvation
is coming soon, and myrighteousness will be revealed.
So the author here is writingthat the Lord is saying that his
salvation is coming, and becauseof that, his people should be
obedient to his calling.
(09:43):
So obviously, Isaiah 56, whichthis is hundreds of years before
Christ's coming, this is aforeshadowing of Christ's
deliverance.
There is nothing we can do byobligation to receive his
salvation, which then is a callforward to Ephesians chapter 2,
verses 8 through 9.
For it's by grace through faiththat we have been saved, not by
(10:08):
our own doing.
So his salvation is come.
What do we do?
If his salvation is come and itis by grace through faith that
we've been saved, what do we, asfollowers of Christ, need to do?
We need to act justly.
So the passage from Micahchapter 6, verse 8, to act
(10:29):
justly, to love mercy and walkhumbly with God.
The first part of acting justlyis a callback to Jeremiah 22, 3.
So a lot of these arecross-references.
So I'm sorry if anybody'swanting to follow me.
Uh, you're doing a little you'regonna be doing a lot of
switching back and forth todifferent books.
So um I'm sorry if you're gonnado that.
Uh, if you're driving, pleasefocus on driving.
(10:51):
Do not do not check the crossreferences.
My word, please.
Don't unpack it for him.
I will unpack it, yes.
So Micah chapter 6, verse 8 is acallback to Jeremiah chapter 22,
verse 3.
This is what the Lord saysadminister justice and
righteousness.
Rescue the victim from robberyfrom his oppressor.
Don't exploit or brutalize theresident alien, the orphaned, or
(11:13):
the widow.
Do not shed innocent blood inthis place.
In other words, which if youlisten uh from a couple weeks
ago when I was on the podcastlast, Barry had me unpack the
seven biblical pillars of TRM.
Uh it was you, me, uh, you,Josh, Barry, and me.
Um, and one of the pillars thatwe had, the fifth pillar was
(11:35):
advocate for the lost andbroken.
Right, which is a call forProverbs chapter 31, verses 8
through 9.
Open your mouth for those whocannot speak for themselves.
Judge righteously.
Um, and I'm totally blanking onthe rest of it right now.
Um, but it's to open your mouthand judge righteously for those
who can't defend for themselves.
(11:58):
Yeah.
So the important thing is is toact justly.
Basically, that's saying isbring a voice to the voiceless,
give them hope.
So a lot of the things that aresaid at the beginning of Micah
uh the entire book of Micah isthat there is judgment.
It's doom.
It's doom and gloom.
(12:19):
We can't end at the doom andgloom because God's judgment,
it's not our judgment.
God's judgment has to be broughtforth in order for the hope to
be to be given.
Right.
SPEAKER_02 (12:31):
So well, and I think it unpacks like a picture of
what that hope is, right?
If we don't understand what youknow our sins have done and as
kind of unpacked in the oldtestament, like we've talked
about, then you don't understandthe redemption within the new
testament.
And and I love, I'm I don't knowif I'm jumping ahead of your
notes, but I do love how kind ofthis ultimately is kind of laid
(12:54):
out with Jesus when he says, youknow, one of the two greatest
commandments, love God, and loveour love your neighbor yourself.
Right.
Um that's unpacked right here.
And so I think it's cool thatthose echo each other too.
So anyway, yeah.
SPEAKER_03 (13:06):
Um yeah, so like the whole the whole doom and gloom,
you see the you see the stormthat's coming.
It's almost like when you don'tknow what the outcome's gonna
be, yeah, us knowing what youwere just saying, Josh, is we
know the outcome of what thehope is.
But during this time, theydidn't know that there was gonna
(13:27):
be a Messiah coming, they didn'tknow when he would be coming, if
they did know he was gonna becoming.
But you know, you have Malachi,which is the last book of the
Old Testament, and then you haveMatthew, which is the first book
of the New Testament, and that'sa 400-year gap that's between
them.
That's like known as the 400years of silence.
Yeah, nothing, no word heardfrom God.
When is the Messiah gonna come?
(13:50):
We're in captivity, there's warsthat are being fought, people
are oppressing us.
When are we going to bedelivered?
It's doom.
There's a big giant tornadothat's coming straight for them,
and it's gonna wipe them clean.
But what we also know from whenthere is horrible weather that
(14:10):
comes through, nine times out often, after the weather leaves,
what comes out?
The sky clears, the sun comesout, animals come back out.
I mean, it's like the beginningof it's like the beginning of
Bambi.
Yeah, there's a mess, butthere's hope that comes
(14:33):
afterwards.
SPEAKER_02 (14:34):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_03 (14:35):
So, excuse me.
By bringing a voice to thevoiceless, you know, yeah, it
was a foreshadowing that Christcame.
And in Matthew chapter 23, verse23, um, Jesus calls out, calls
out the Pharisees.
You know, these are teachers ofthe law, these are people, these
(14:56):
are these are men who know theword of God inside and out, up
and down, left and right,blindfolded, with their hands
tied behind their back.
These are guys that know it.
And yet what are they doing?
They are not acting justly, theyare not loving mercy, and they
are definitely not walkinghumbly with the Lord.
(15:19):
Jesus calls them out becausethey're giving, they're giving
the lowest of low, the bareminimum of their tithe for the
sacrifice of their sins.
So they're offering, they'reoffering the best stuff, though.
They're giving the dill, themint, the cumin.
Um, while these weren'texpensive herbs, like cinnamon
(15:40):
or myrrh, um, man, mint, dill,and cumin.
They sure smell nice, right?
I mean, you got mint.
This is where we beg to differwith our opinions, but I love
mint chocolate chip.
SPEAKER_02 (15:53):
I like mint, just don't put it with chocolate.
SPEAKER_03 (15:55):
Don't put it with chocolate.
SPEAKER_02 (15:56):
It's fine.
SPEAKER_03 (15:57):
Or like dill, like you could do anything with dill.
Shoot, you could put dill in asalad, you could put dill in
like a ranch dressing, you couldput dill dill bread.
I'm not done.
Oh man, dill pickles.
You could do a whole bunch ofstuff with dill.
It smells nice, nice.
Cumin or cumin, whatever peoplecall it is.
(16:17):
I mean, that's one spice youneed.
I mean, I don't think they weredoing this in in Israel, but
tacos.
You don't think they were makingtacos.
I don't think they made tacosthere.
No, yeah, that I don't thinkthey did.
But they smell nice.
You can use the stuff forcooking, but also there is some
medicinal things that you coulduse mint, dill, or cumin for.
Mint being one of them, I meanpeppermint.
(16:39):
If you have a headache, put alittle bit of peppermint oil on
your forehead, and then yourforehead burns and you don't
have a headache anymore.
SPEAKER_02 (16:45):
So, what you're saying is they were offering
these as like the bare minimum.
SPEAKER_03 (16:50):
As a bare minimum, but also like as a hey, look at
me.
This is what I have to offer.
It's very pleasing to the nose.
This is what I have to offer.
And Jesus is saying, you knowwhat?
I am fed up with seeing peoplewho are poor who are suffering.
I am sick and tired of youreligious rulers who are going
out because, you know, the Lordtold me to sacrifice these
(17:11):
things, and yet I am not seeingthe people who are orphaned.
I'm not seeing the people whoare widowed or poor.
So acting justly is somethingthat we as believers need to be.
We need to give a voice to thevoiceless.
This isn't, you know, a directget out of jail free card to,
you know, dress up in hockeypads and start acting like
Batman and say, Why are youdoing this?
(17:33):
And you go, justice.
That's not, that's not what I'mgetting at.
What I'm saying is that speak upfor those who can't speak for
themselves.
Yeah.
Acting justly is by showing thelove.
Sometimes love hurts.
But showing the love of God thatyou are cared for, you have
dignity, you have a purpose.
You're not, you're not ascrew-up, you're not a burden,
(17:56):
you're not the world's not abetter place without you.
Yeah.
It's not.
By acting justly, you are seeingpeople for who they are, created
in God's image.
Yeah, that's good.
So by acting justly, this is alla callback, another callback.
Go figure, because that's whatthe Bible does.
(18:18):
There's cross-references leftand right.
In Genesis chapter 18, verse 19,God tells Abraham to keep the
way of the Lord by doing what isright and just.
All the nations will be blessedthrough whose bloodline?
Abraham's.
So keep the way of the Lord bydoing what is right and just.
(18:42):
Therefore, justice and keepingit is not an option.
It is a covenant.
It isn't a, well, if you do thisfor me, I do that for you.
No, it's a covenant.
No matter what, I am going tokeep my end of the bargain up.
Yeah.
So, what does this look like inthe place that we work?
(19:03):
One of the things is sometimeswhen we have to love people,
there's plenty of opportunitiesthat we have that we are able to
love people, but it hurts.
And I shared this one, and I forconfidentiality purposes too,
I'm not going to name his name,but I remember it was probably a
couple months into working hereat the mission, and it was when
(19:24):
I was I was just doing uh truckdriving, uh, when I was working
at the distribution center.
And we used to have the SITprogram, which was servants and
training.
Yep.
Um, so it was a lot of likeinternship.
We'd have some our guests inprogramming where they would
come and they would um haveplaces that they would work with
(19:44):
throughout the mission.
So they'd be at the front desk,they would be at the hope
center, they'd be in thekitchen, they could be on the
maintenance team, they'd be atthe distribution center, uh,
whatever that looked like.
Basically, it was it was aninternship.
And we had one guy who his umwhat's the word I'm looking for?
It was like a work um, it was anassignment.
(20:07):
Work assignment?
SPEAKER_02 (20:08):
Yeah, it was it was a like a year-long kind of
discipleship program that alsokind of had like a work study
with it.
SPEAKER_03 (20:14):
Work study, thank you.
There's the word we're kind ofgo with it.
So thank you.
Um so and everything we used tohave sit, sit got we did away
with that because of COVID.
It just got, yeah.
So um, but this sit member inparticular, he was a hard worker
at the distribution center.
And one day he didn't show up,and we were calling out, didn't
(20:40):
know where he was at, and heshowed up later on in the week
uh ringing the doorbell, and Ianswered the doorbell, and it
was him, and I was like, Hey,what's going on?
You haven't answered anything,and he said that um he had a
late pass with his one of hiskids, and his child said that
(21:01):
you know, I liked you betterwhen you were drunk, and he was
like five years sober.
And he said, I just drank anentire half gallon of vodka
about 15 minutes ago.
And I'm like, Whoa! So you'retalking fine now, and then while
we were conversing back andforth, his speech was very
(21:24):
quickly going south, yeah.
Uh swaying back and forth, and Iwas like, okay, we gotta get him
down.
And I said, he said, Um, I knowI'm gonna blackout soon, but I
knew that I'd be safe if I camehere.
SPEAKER_02 (21:35):
Wow.
SPEAKER_03 (21:36):
So I said, Man, I gotta call 911.
There's nothing that I can dothat's gonna be able to help
you.
This is not safe, this is notgood.
Um, so I called 911 and theyshowed up to take him to the
hospital.
And one of the last things thatI said to the EMTs was, please
(21:59):
take care of him.
Please help him.
He's a really special guy.
SPEAKER_02 (22:03):
Um then one of the And you wouldn't have had that I
was just gonna say, you wouldn'thave had that opportunity had
you not got to know him.
No, not at all.
And I think that's something islike partly just getting to know
people.
Yes.
And I think that's huge becauseyou know, if you hadn't had that
chance to get to know him andlearn his who he was and learn
what his struggles had been andlearn what he had walked
through, then you know, youwouldn't have a good opportunity
(22:25):
to advocate for him.
So you were presented with thatbecause of your history with
him.
SPEAKER_03 (22:29):
So building the relationship.
So I mean, was there apunishment?
He wasn't in the sit programanymore, obviously, because he
broke he broke that contract.
Yeah.
But the punishment wasn't mineto hang to to hand out.
I had to rely on God to lead meto do the right thing, and right
(22:49):
at that moment it was to savehis life.
Um we have to recall whatJeremiah charges in chapter 22,
verse 3.
Rescue the victim.
Do not take advantage or oppressthe alien, the orphan, or the
widowed.
(23:10):
But by doing this, we honor Godand draw closer to him.
So that's acting justly.
To love mercy the next step ofMicah chapter six, verse eight.
To love justly, it's a call backto Hosea chapter six, verse six,
(23:33):
where it says, For I desirefaithful love, I desire mercy
and not sacrifice, the knowledgeof God rather than burnt
offerings.
So loving faithfulness, lovingmercy can be better worded to
mean merciful, kindness,favored, and loving kindness.
(23:57):
If God desires faithful love andknowing him over sacrifice and
burnt offerings, then how shouldwe treat everyone?
Let me ask that question again.
If God desires faithful love, ifhe desires that over knowing
excuse me.
(24:18):
I'm sorry, let's back that up.
I'm trying to read my chickenscratch.
You're good.
If God desires faithful love andknowing him over the sacrifices
and burnt offerings, how shouldwe treat everyone?
We should treat everyone withmercy.
Treat every single person withmercy.
SPEAKER_02 (24:41):
How some translations sounds like say
mercy and some say faithfulness.
So how does that kind of worktogether there?
SPEAKER_03 (24:48):
Well, and then in other translations it'll also
say loyalty.
So whatever that looks like, ifit is by being faithful to
someone, I'm faithful to mywife.
Um whether that means throughthat I will never take another
woman, that's what it is.
But also the faithfulness isthat I will pursue her as Christ
(25:12):
pursues the church.
Am I perfect?
Absolutely not.
Do we sometimes have arguments?
Absolutely.
But the whole thing of lovingher and having mercy, by me
being faithful, she will give memercy.
Because it's like, look, I knowyou're not perfect, but I love
you for it.
So I don't know if that makesany sense.
(25:34):
Yeah.
Um the whole thing with loyaltytoo.
I mean, if you don't haveloyalty and friendship, what's
what's the point in having afriend?
SPEAKER_01 (25:41):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_03 (25:42):
So one of the one of the cool things that I kind of
uh that I kind of uh picked thisapart, uh the illustration that
I used for this, and I actuallyhad the the fortunate um
opportunity to have my parentshere when I shared this week.
Um because this is actually weektwo.
(26:05):
I'm just blowing through threeweeks worth of sermon notes.
So congratulations, everybody.
Uh condensed.
Where you're getting thereader's digest version.
There you go.
Um, so loving mercy, living outand loving mercy.
Um I talked about my dad, andone of the things that I always
(26:26):
prefer to do is when I talkabout people when I'm when I'm
in a share in a sermon or adevotion, for instance, I want
to get their permission.
I did not get his permission forthis for the sole reason that I
knew that he was going to besitting, and I just kind of
wanted it to bless him.
So I gave an illustration of mydad.
Um, he has always been active inchurch.
(26:47):
Uh, he would give you the shirtfrom his back.
The guy loves Jesus, but he'salso a bear.
Um, you poke the bear, you'regonna get mauled.
Um, cross him or my mom, rutrow.
So there was a there was a time,and I remember I was in, oh, I
(27:11):
think I was in eighth grade.
Um my brother was no, I wasn'tin eighth grade, I was in sixth
grade, excuse me.
Um, because my brother was afreshman in high school.
Um, my brother was on a baseballteam, and he was active playing
baseball all growing up, butthis was the final year that he
played because when he got tothe plate this one game, um he
(27:36):
didn't duck quick enough.
And the pitcher, um is itdebatable that he did it on did
it on purpose?
I think so.
He did not show any sign ofremorse, uh, threw the ball and
it hit my brother right in hisleft eye, uh his left eye
socket.
And just immediately it swelled.
(27:58):
Um and my dad rushed on thefield, you know.
The the the pitcher was like,oh, well, all right, well,
should have ducked.
And I just remember my brothergetting taken to the emergency
room.
Ended up not having anythingwrong, uh, just some bruising,
(28:19):
even though it swelled up like auh boy, it was bad.
Um But what was really cool wasseeing how my dad took care of
my brother, but then a coupleweeks passed, and we were back
at the uh baseball diamonds, andwe were waiting in line for
(28:44):
concessions.
You know, it's right afterschool, and this kid was about
two or three people behind us,and the pitcher.
The pitcher, yeah, sorry.
The pitcher was about two orthree people behind us, and my
dad looked, and I saw my dadlook, and I was like, oh yeah,
dad's gonna give it to him.
Dad's really gonna get it.
Put him in a headlock, dad.
(29:05):
And the kid was visiblydisoriented.
Um, looked like he was he'd beencrying, um looked like he
thought he was in trouble, andmy dad turned around and he
looked at him and he said, Hey,come here.
And I'm like, Yes.
He's gonna get him.
(29:26):
And my dad goes, What do youneed?
And the kid goes, What?
And my dad said, What do youneed?
You're late to your game, aren'tyou?
And he goes, Yeah.
And my dad said, What do youneed?
And he goes, No, no, no.
And he said, I'm asking youright now, what do you need?
And he said, uh, a Gatorade anduh a snack.
And my dad said, Okay, allright.
And he said to the person at thethe concession, he said,
(29:47):
Whatever this kid wants, I'mpaying for it.
And the kid just looked at mydad and said, Thank you.
And my dad said, Okay, go.
And he went, and I said to Isaid to my dad, I'm like, What
are you doing?
Doing.
This was the kid that threw theball at Matt's head.
And you just treated him tosomething.
My dad goes, Michael, we don'tknow what that kid's home's life
(30:10):
like.
The best thing that I can do isI can love him in a way that he
might not see that love at home.
SPEAKER_02 (30:19):
Yeah.
You never know somebody's story.
Right.
You never know what somebody'sbeen walking through, what
difficulties they've been goingthrough.
And, you know, your dad was ableto kind of be that light for
him.
And who knows what how thatimpacted him.
You may never know the the seedsof kind of what you plant, but
um just knowing that that wasthere, and I'm sure that blessed
him.
SPEAKER_03 (30:38):
So Right.
Um last time we saw the kid, butyou know, maybe maybe it did.
Maybe that changed histrajectory.
I don't know.
I'd like to think that it would,that a yellow Gatorade and a
package of pretzels or whatevercombos.
I think that's what it was thathe took, but it's like, you
know, whatever, you do yourthing.
Yeah.
Faithful love is more evidentwhen you love the people who are
(31:01):
different or really hard tolove.
Somebody who's wronged you.
It is so evident.
And that's why in Micah 6, verse8, the Lord makes it clear that
his people need to focus more ontheir heart rather than what
they are offering God, theircharacter and their behavior
(31:22):
rather than what they arebringing to burn as a sacrifice.
So this really just coincideswith everything that we've been
discussing with our sevenbiblical pillars, um, with what
um advocating for the lost andbroken looks like when we see
(31:44):
someone, and when someone seeswhat we are doing and how we
live and serve and lead, do theysee the evidence that we are
abiding in Christ?
And this is what you just whatyou just said a couple minutes
ago.
Jesus says in John chapter 13,verses 34 and 35, a new command
(32:05):
I give you.
Love one another just as I haveloved you.
You are also to love oneanother.
By this, everyone will know thatyou are my disciples if you love
one another.
It should be a distinguishingfactor to be a disciple of
Christ, to be a follower ofChrist.
(32:27):
I can tell that that they thatis a follower of Christ by the
way they love the person infront of them.
Um really great, really, reallygreat um line that I know I've
shared multiple times being onthis podcast, but I love the
play.
I've never read the book, Idon't have the time to read the
(32:48):
book because it's literally asthick as a Webster's dictionary.
But Les Miserables.
You have the main character JeanValjean, who is in prison for
stealing a loaf of bread becausehis sister's son is dying.
So then there's a prison guardnamed Javert who doesn't care.
(33:12):
Um doesn't care who Jean Valjeanis.
He doesn't even call him by JeanValjean.
Um he calls him by his number,which is 24601.
Um the entire play, the entirebook, the entire musical,
everything.
Javert's sole purpose is to findJean Valjean and get him back
(33:38):
into justice so that he can paythe debt of what he did wrong.
Stealing a loaf of bread, but hesees him as a criminal.
Yeah.
The entire time Javert's solepurpose is to make Jean
Valjean's life miserable, tocondemn him.
And then there's a turning pointin the entire play in the book,
(34:01):
where Jean Valjean could haveeasily taken Javert's life, but
he spares it.
He says, you know what?
My focus is that there's thisboy who is dying here.
I'm going to help him.
I'm not fighting you, but if youwant me to be in captivity, if
(34:24):
you want me to be arrested, letme take care of this boy, and
then I'm done fighting you.
I will come back and you cansend me to prison.
And that just puts Javert on adownward spiral of he could have
killed me, but he didn't.
What kind of world is this thatI live in that I have tried to
do an eye for an eye?
(34:45):
Anybody does anything wrong, youhave every right to give back
plus some force.
Right.
So Javert ends up jumping off ofa bridge, but the most important
thing that Jean Valjean learnsthrough the entire story is to
(35:06):
love another person, whether itis somebody who looks like you,
acts like you, or somebody whois your sworn enemy, to love
another person is to see theface of God.
That is the line from LeMiserab.
To love another person is to seethe face of God.
SPEAKER_02 (35:25):
That's so good.
SPEAKER_03 (35:27):
So to love mercy, it looks like an action.
It's an incredible action, andvengeance is not ours to repay.
But we need to stand for thosewho are defeated.
And while we are doing that, weneed to love everyone.
So I don't think it's ironicthat Christ is depicted as two
(35:52):
animals from two completelyopposite sides of the animal
spectrum.
And what are those two animals?
Lion.
A lion and the lamb and a lamb.
You have a lion, the lion ofJudah.
Jesus is the lion of Judah.
He is just, he's terrifying.
(36:13):
It's not something that youwould want to be stuck in a cage
with.
But he's also the lamb.
He is loving.
He is innocent.
He's the lamb of God.
He's both.
To love him and to be known bypeople to be his disciple.
(36:36):
Is to be known by his love andto love one another.
So act justly, love mercy, andthen finally, walk humbly with
God.
So what has God told us to do?
What has God told his people todo?
(36:56):
To act justly, to love mercy,and to walk humbly with your
God.
So God's people weredisobedient.
We are sinful.
We're disobedient.
Micah's calling them out inchapter six because they thought
the Lord, they thought what theLord was requiring them was kind
(37:16):
of unreasonable, because it'slike, what do you want me to
give?
Should I give this?
Hundreds of calves?
Hundreds of jars of streamingoil?
Should I give my firstbornchild?
I only have one kid.
I ain't giving my kid up.
But that's far from what theLord required of them.
(37:38):
What the Lord wanted from themwas a foreshadowing for what was
to come with Christ's life,death, and resurrection.
So when we walk humbly with him,it points us to two different
passages in Isaiah.
Isaiah chapter 57, verse 15, andIsaiah chapter 66, verse 2.
(38:00):
Isaiah 57, 15 says, For the highand exalted one who lives
forever, whose name is holy,says this.
I live in a high and holy place,and I live with the oppressed
and the lowly in spirit, torevive the spirit of the lowly
and revive the heart of theoppressed.
(38:23):
So abide or lives is from theHebrew word shekan, which
literally means to be with, tointimately know, and to walk
with.
So he's saying he lives in ahigh and holy place, but also he
lives with the oppressed andlowly in spirit.
(38:44):
Lowly in spirit, humble inspirit.
And then in Isaiah chapter 66,verse 2, it says, My hand made
all these things, and so theyall came into being.
This is the Lord's declaration.
I will look favorably on thiskind of person, one who is
(39:04):
humble, broken in spirit, andtrembles at my word.
Someone who is not proud, butteachable, and is in awe of the
Lord.
To be in awe of him is to knowhow great he really is.
You have Isaiah chapter 6, verse5, where Isaiah, when the year
(39:26):
of King Uzziah died, I saw theLord on his throne, high and
exalted, smokes filling thetemple.
And what is it that Isaiah sayswhen he realizes that he is in
the glory of God?
Woe is me, for I am ruined.
My eyes have seen the king, theLord of armies.
(39:50):
And then when he's in thepresence of the Lord, he's not
terrified to the point wherehe's like, Oh, I'm dead.
Yeah, he's saying he's dead, butwhat does he say after that?
Who is going to take thesewords?
And what does Isaiah said?
Here I am, Lord, send me.
To walk humbly with our God isto remember his greatness and to
(40:11):
lean into him all the more.
Yeah.
And what I think that looks liketo walk humbly with the Lord.
I think of a man that I grew upknowing, and I had the privilege
to talk to on the phone a coupleweeks ago.
His name is Vic Albert.
Vic is 95 years old, and I hadthe opportunity to talk to him
(40:34):
and talk to his uh second wife.
His first wife, Dottie, passedaway a couple uh a couple years
ago, uh, several years ago,actually.
But Vic and his wife Pat marriedin 2018, and I grew up knowing
Vic and his wonderful wifeDottie.
(40:54):
Um Vic was known as the suckerman by every single person at
the church, not just kids, theadults too.
Kids would line up each Sundayto fish a dum-dum sucker from
his leather bag.
He had this, well, I mean, I wasa child, so I thought it was a
large leather bag, but honestly,it's literally like something
(41:16):
that you'd put a laptop in.
SPEAKER_02 (41:18):
So it sounds like Santa with suckers.
SPEAKER_03 (41:19):
Santa with suckers, yes.
Every single Sunday.
And kids would line up.
And kids would, I would even saykids were more excited to see
Vic than seeing Santa.
Um for some of us, like mygrandfather, my mom's dad passed
away before I was born.
My dad's dad uh lived north ofPort Huron, so I didn't really
(41:41):
get to see him a lot, but everysingle Sunday, for me, Vic was a
pseudo-grandfather.
Yeah.
Um, Dottie and my grandmotherwere friends, and gosh dang it,
they were so wonderful.
They were wonderful to kids.
They had a heart for people.
Um, they had a heart just tokeep knowing and asking
(42:03):
questions.
A lot, I mean, I was on thephone with him for an hour and a
half, and I had to keep guidingit back because he just kept
asking questions about me andasking questions about my family
and about my wife and about mydaughter.
And what I asked him was isthat, did you have any idea of
the impact that you had on mylife?
(42:27):
Like, why did why did you chooseto do what you did?
And he said, I really just lovekids.
And it thrills me to be able topour into kids that needed the
love that they might not have athome.
He said, I never thought of itthat way that I was really
blessing kids.
But Dottie and I prayed all thetime at home for everyone.
(42:56):
The way that Vic, 95 years old,his wife Pat now would say that
they go grocery shopping, hestill has rentals, rental
properties around town.
Well, and people will stop himand say, Hey, thank you for what
you did for me 30 years ago.
(43:18):
Because he loves to listen, heis so slow to speak about
himself, about anything that'sgoing on in his family, and he
is so slow to anger.
What's really cool about Vic isat 95 years old, does he miss
(43:39):
his first wife?
Absolutely.
But another day is just anotheropportunity for him to give all
glory to God, to walk with theLord, and be so in tune with him
that he leads you to do thingsthat don't make any sense.
Leads you to do things to lovepeople who are hard to love, to
(44:03):
see people who are not seen, tobe a light for those who are in
need.
And he uses us as vessels.
Sometimes there's people who areput on our hearts or our minds,
just in a conversation whenwe're having with a friend or a
(44:23):
relative, and we think, you knowwhat?
I think I need to call thatperson just to see how they're
doing.
And then when you call thatperson, they're literally beside
themselves.
How did you know that I wasstruggling?
SPEAKER_02 (44:40):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_03 (44:41):
Well, I didn't.
Just felt led that I needed tocall you.
Ephesians chapter 2, verses 8through 10 said, For you are
saved by grace through faith.
And this is not from yourselves.
It is God's gift, not fromworks, so that no one can boast.
(45:05):
For we are his workmanship,created in Christ Jesus, for
good works, which God preparedahead of time for us to do.
So we as believers, as followersof Christ, we're here.
We have work to do by God andfor God.
(45:30):
So what does that work looklike?
Beautiful sacrifices, thingsthat are pleasing to the eye?
No.
We are required to act justly,to love mercy, and to walk
humbly with God.
SPEAKER_02 (45:52):
Man, thank you.
What a what a great andencouraging word.
Um I hope uh I want to wellfirst want to thank all of you
for listening to this.
Thank you, Mike, for for sharingthis.
I think it's such an impactfulword to to hear kind of these
tie over and to what does itlook like, you know, to love
God, to love people, to actjustly.
Um, so thank you for listeningum to another episode of our
(46:15):
community, our mission.
Um, we pray that this has umjust blessed you and encouraged
you today um to you know reallyexperience that love for
yourself from God and to sharethat love with those um that you
encounter in each day of yourown life.
So um thank you for listening.
If you would like to learn moreabout the Topeka Rescue Mission,
you can go to TRMonline.org.
(46:37):
Again, that's TRM Online.org.
Um thank you for listening.
Share uh share this with yourfriends so they can they can
listen to it too and um keeptuning in each week as we're
gonna have uh more updates as weget more into the holidays and
and uh just some exciting uhthings coming up.
So thank you for listening andhave a blessed day.
Gracious Heavenly Father, we thank you, Lord, for
this day and your blessings.
And Lord, just this time toconverse about your word and uh,
Lord, just um all that you'redoing here at the mission.
God, we thank you for this time.
And as always, thank you for ourlisteners who are just getting
involved and connecting andlistening.
Lord, I pray your blessing overthem today and blessing over
this conversation.
In Jesus' name.
Amen.
(00:24):
Hello, everyone, and welcome toanother episode of Our
Community, Our Mission, apodcast of the Topeka Rescue
Mission.
Um, today is Tuesday, October5th, 14th, if you're listening
to it today, and we are onepisode 288.
I'm sure by now you've quicklyrealized I am not Barry Feeker
or Lamanda Cunningham or MiriamCrable.
I am Josh Turley, the directorof strategic development, and I
(00:49):
am joined today by none otherthan Mike Shottle.
Good day.
Hello, sir.
How are you?
I'm great.
SPEAKER_03 (00:54):
How are you?
SPEAKER_02 (00:55):
I'm doing good.
I'm doing good.
Why don't you tell our listenersuh, I'm sure they've heard it
before, but your title here atthe Rescue Mission?
SPEAKER_03 (01:01):
I am the director of spiritual wellness and
discipleship.
SPEAKER_02 (01:04):
Yeah.
So happy to have you on today.
As uh like I said, I'm sure youguys are all aware now that um
everyone else is on assignment.
And so they once again kicked itto us and we're like, hey, you
guys didn't do too terrible lasttime.
SPEAKER_03 (01:18):
Nothing bad happened, so we're gonna have
you back.
SPEAKER_02 (01:20):
So okay, we'll let you do it again.
SPEAKER_03 (01:22):
So fantastic.
SPEAKER_02 (01:23):
Um yeah, so we're super excited to be here.
So as always, in honor of thenormal times with with with
Barry and Lamanda, we have thespecial the special thing about
what today is.
Um the random holidays thatnobody really asked for.
Um, but nonetheless they exist.
So we're gonna we're gonna justgonna go over a couple of those.
So today is a fun one.
(01:44):
National dessert day.
Not dessert day, dessert dayday.
Which did you know that stressedspelled backwards is desserts?
I did not know that.
It is.
So when you're stressed, flip itaround.
Have some cake.
Have some cake.
Yep.
That's a great idea.
SPEAKER_03 (02:00):
You know, make my stressful day go better.
A rice crispy treat.
SPEAKER_02 (02:03):
Oh, I do like rice crispy treats.
Or a nice fudgy brownie.
SPEAKER_03 (02:07):
Oh, yes.
Like a warm one with just like adollop of ice cream.
Well, just a little bit of icecream.
Both of us being lactoseintolerant, we probably should
stay away from the ice cream.
I'm good with either.
But ice cream does make itbetter.
Oh, it does.
It like way better.
Absolutely.
So, yeah, I mean, dessert'sgood.
SPEAKER_02 (02:21):
Yeah.
I always we so like growing up,obviously you're learning how to
spell words.
Desert and dessert are veryclose.
Yes.
But how I learned to know thedifference between the two
spellings is you always wantmore dessert, which is why
there's two S's.
Wow.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_03 (02:35):
So when you spell dessert, that's that is a very
good teaching lesson rightthere.
Listen there too.
SPEAKER_02 (02:40):
Because you want more.
You don't want more of thedesert because the desert's kind
of terrible.
Dry.
SPEAKER_03 (02:44):
And there's nothing worse than a dry dessert.
Like this is a dry brownie.
SPEAKER_02 (02:49):
It's very true.
SPEAKER_03 (02:50):
This is a dry piece of apple pie.
SPEAKER_02 (02:52):
Very true.
SPEAKER_03 (02:53):
Send it back.
SPEAKER_02 (02:54):
That would be weird to have a dry apple pie.
SPEAKER_03 (02:56):
It really would.
But I've I have had a dry applepie before, and it's I wouldn't
recommend it.
Not very good.
It's not great.
Ice cream can't even save that.
SPEAKER_02 (03:05):
No.
Anyway.
So National Dessert Day.
We also have National Face YourFears Day.
No thanks.
So I mean, you know, I thinkthis is a good observance.
I think some of us havedifferent different fears.
Um talked about some people havepublic speaking, is a very
common one.
Uh some are spiders.
Fine with that.
Both of those.
(03:25):
Yeah.
What's your what's your fear,Mike?
SPEAKER_03 (03:27):
Porcelain dolls.
SPEAKER_02 (03:28):
Porcelain dolls.
SPEAKER_03 (03:29):
And that's when Alec, we have Alec here doing
the soundboard.
He's probably gonna just get upfrom his chair real quick and
put the porcelain doll down.
Yeah, I don't I don't likedolls, especially porcelain
dolls, like with the blinkyeyes.
I I can't.
I understand.
I can't.
They terrify me.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (03:44):
Mine would probably I don't know, probably be
clowns.
I don't like clowns.
SPEAKER_03 (03:47):
They kind of Which is wild.
Yeah.
Because like you love Batman.
SPEAKER_02 (03:51):
I do.
And I like when obviously Batmanbeats the Joker because it
creeps me out.
So there you go.
Anyway.
Wild stuff.
National Face Your Fears Day andNational I Love You Day.
Oh.
Yeah.
So this is a little differentfrom Valentine's Day in that
it's not just for couples, it isfor your family and your friends
and just anyone else that youhold dear to your heart.
Like you, Josh.
I love you, man.
I love you too.
(04:11):
I love you too.
Love you too, Alec.
We love you, Alec.
He's like, oh stop.
So so today, face your fears,eat some dessert, and tell your
family and friends that you lovethem.
Yes.
SPEAKER_03 (04:24):
In that order.
In that order.
Because after you face yourfears, you gotta treat yourself
and then be like, you know what?
I love you guys.
SPEAKER_02 (04:30):
Hey, hopefully, your fear is not telling someone I
love you.
That would that that is a fear,though.
SPEAKER_03 (04:35):
That's a cyclical.
It is a fear.
Uh, I don't know what they callit, but it definitely has phobia
at the end of it.
Um, yeah, that just be acyclical thing.
SPEAKER_02 (04:43):
Uh-huh.
Anyway.
Yeah.
So good stuff.
So there's your national daystoday.
Hope you guys can celebratewell.
And um, thanks for hanging withus through those.
We're so sorry.
So, yeah.
So uh, Mike, today you have kindof a special word for us.
So I'm gonna kick it off to youand you kind of share.
I know you've kind of had sharedthis in one of our staff
chapels, and so I'd uh love tohear of that have you share that
(05:04):
with our listeners.
SPEAKER_03 (05:05):
So I'm trying to well, I'm checking right now,
just checking my notes when Idid.
Uh this was August 6th.
Wow.
This was August 6th.
Uh, so we are now October 14th.
So it's been over two months agothat I shared this, but this has
been one that uh really what Ido when I when I share with our
(05:25):
staff in our staff chapels onWednesdays is I don't I don't
want to share anything that theLord is not working in my heart
with.
So um I've been working throughthe entire year, uh working
through different prophets, uh,books of the prophets in the old
testament, and just so happenedto be wrapping up the minor
(05:48):
prophet Micah and um came toMicah chapter six, verses six
through eight, and the entirebook, just to give an overview
of it, is Micah is telling aboutthe imminent coming of different
uh empires that are coming.
You have the Syrians, you havethe Babylonians.
(06:10):
Israel is split right down themiddle.
You have northern Israel andsouthern Israel, you have
Samaria and Judah, and Micah isreally calling them out about
the he's calling them, he'scalling them out about the sin,
about the corruption that'sgoing on in Israel, and you
(06:31):
know, people are trying to getan economic uh gain from money,
from land, whatever it is.
So he's telling them that thisimminent doom is coming,
basically.
This judgment is coming forIsrael.
SPEAKER_02 (06:45):
And what roughly what kingship was he around?
The prophet of Micah.
Um Dash Kitcher question.
SPEAKER_03 (06:52):
You did.
Uh I don't have that writtendown.
I want shoot.
I don't know.
You asked me a question that Idon't know.
That's the answer to.
That's right.
Um, yeah, I don't know.
Uh but uh Micah is saying, hey,you know what?
We need to turn our hearts backto the Lord.
(07:12):
And um he's saying that this isthe stuff that needs to happen.
And then in Micah chapter six,verses six through eight, uh
verses six verses six and seven,it says the following.
So he's saying, uh, you know, wehave to sacrifice back to the
Lord, you have to give yourhearts back to him.
And the people are asking, whatshould I bring before the Lord
(07:34):
when I come to bow before God onhigh?
Should I come before him withburnt offerings, with year old
calves?
Would the Lord be pleased withthousands of rams or with ten
thousand streams of oil?
Should I give my firstborn formy transgression, the offspring
of my body for my own sin?
(07:54):
And then Micah says, He has toldyou, O mankind, what is good and
what it is that the Lordrequires of you.
One is to act justly, two, tolove mercy, and three, to walk
humbly with your God.
So that kind of really resonatedwith me because sometimes we
(08:18):
just get so caught up in, well,I'm doing this, I'm doing that,
I have this to offer for theLord, I have that to offer for
the Lord, and then what ends uphappening?
You know, the shoe drops, andthen it's like, well, God, do
you hate me?
Um, or you're just looking outfor you know, me to to mess up
next or whatever, you know.
Whether you have that thought ornot, sometimes we think, well,
(08:38):
I've been giving this, and whatdo I have to show for it?
So one of the things that Iwanted to really give back to
the staff is look, it doesn'tmatter what we have to offer.
It doesn't matter what um, andthat's what that's what Micah
(08:59):
was sharing too.
Like, no, it's not the burntofferings of year old calves,
it's not the fragrant thingsthat you can offer to the Lord.
What the Lord wants of you is toact justly, to love mercy, and
to walk humbly with him.
Um so why should we act justly?
Uh in Isaiah chapter 56, verse1, it says this is what the Lord
(09:23):
says preserve justice and dowhat is right for my salvation
is coming soon, and myrighteousness will be revealed.
So the author here is writingthat the Lord is saying that his
salvation is coming, and becauseof that, his people should be
obedient to his calling.
(09:43):
So obviously, Isaiah 56, whichthis is hundreds of years before
Christ's coming, this is aforeshadowing of Christ's
deliverance.
There is nothing we can do byobligation to receive his
salvation, which then is a callforward to Ephesians chapter 2,
verses 8 through 9.
For it's by grace through faiththat we have been saved, not by
(10:08):
our own doing.
So his salvation is come.
What do we do?
If his salvation is come and itis by grace through faith that
we've been saved, what do we, asfollowers of Christ, need to do?
We need to act justly.
So the passage from Micahchapter 6, verse 8, to act
(10:29):
justly, to love mercy and walkhumbly with God.
The first part of acting justlyis a callback to Jeremiah 22, 3.
So a lot of these arecross-references.
So I'm sorry if anybody'swanting to follow me.
Uh, you're doing a little you'regonna be doing a lot of
switching back and forth todifferent books.
So um I'm sorry if you're gonnado that.
Uh, if you're driving, pleasefocus on driving.
(10:51):
Do not do not check the crossreferences.
My word, please.
Don't unpack it for him.
I will unpack it, yes.
So Micah chapter 6, verse 8 is acallback to Jeremiah chapter 22,
verse 3.
This is what the Lord saysadminister justice and
righteousness.
Rescue the victim from robberyfrom his oppressor.
Don't exploit or brutalize theresident alien, the orphaned, or
(11:13):
the widow.
Do not shed innocent blood inthis place.
In other words, which if youlisten uh from a couple weeks
ago when I was on the podcastlast, Barry had me unpack the
seven biblical pillars of TRM.
Uh it was you, me, uh, you,Josh, Barry, and me.
Um, and one of the pillars thatwe had, the fifth pillar was
(11:35):
advocate for the lost andbroken.
Right, which is a call forProverbs chapter 31, verses 8
through 9.
Open your mouth for those whocannot speak for themselves.
Judge righteously.
Um, and I'm totally blanking onthe rest of it right now.
Um, but it's to open your mouthand judge righteously for those
who can't defend for themselves.
(11:58):
Yeah.
So the important thing is is toact justly.
Basically, that's saying isbring a voice to the voiceless,
give them hope.
So a lot of the things that aresaid at the beginning of Micah
uh the entire book of Micah isthat there is judgment.
It's doom.
It's doom and gloom.
(12:19):
We can't end at the doom andgloom because God's judgment,
it's not our judgment.
God's judgment has to be broughtforth in order for the hope to
be to be given.
Right.
SPEAKER_02 (12:31):
So well, and I think it unpacks like a picture of
what that hope is, right?
If we don't understand what youknow our sins have done and as
kind of unpacked in the oldtestament, like we've talked
about, then you don't understandthe redemption within the new
testament.
And and I love, I'm I don't knowif I'm jumping ahead of your
notes, but I do love how kind ofthis ultimately is kind of laid
(12:54):
out with Jesus when he says, youknow, one of the two greatest
commandments, love God, and loveour love your neighbor yourself.
Right.
Um that's unpacked right here.
And so I think it's cool thatthose echo each other too.
So anyway, yeah.
SPEAKER_03 (13:06):
Um yeah, so like the whole the whole doom and gloom,
you see the you see the stormthat's coming.
It's almost like when you don'tknow what the outcome's gonna
be, yeah, us knowing what youwere just saying, Josh, is we
know the outcome of what thehope is.
But during this time, theydidn't know that there was gonna
(13:27):
be a Messiah coming, they didn'tknow when he would be coming, if
they did know he was gonna becoming.
But you know, you have Malachi,which is the last book of the
Old Testament, and then you haveMatthew, which is the first book
of the New Testament, and that'sa 400-year gap that's between
them.
That's like known as the 400years of silence.
Yeah, nothing, no word heardfrom God.
When is the Messiah gonna come?
(13:50):
We're in captivity, there's warsthat are being fought, people
are oppressing us.
When are we going to bedelivered?
It's doom.
There's a big giant tornadothat's coming straight for them,
and it's gonna wipe them clean.
But what we also know from whenthere is horrible weather that
(14:10):
comes through, nine times out often, after the weather leaves,
what comes out?
The sky clears, the sun comesout, animals come back out.
I mean, it's like the beginningof it's like the beginning of
Bambi.
Yeah, there's a mess, butthere's hope that comes
(14:33):
afterwards.
SPEAKER_02 (14:34):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_03 (14:35):
So, excuse me.
By bringing a voice to thevoiceless, you know, yeah, it
was a foreshadowing that Christcame.
And in Matthew chapter 23, verse23, um, Jesus calls out, calls
out the Pharisees.
You know, these are teachers ofthe law, these are people, these
(14:56):
are these are men who know theword of God inside and out, up
and down, left and right,blindfolded, with their hands
tied behind their back.
These are guys that know it.
And yet what are they doing?
They are not acting justly, theyare not loving mercy, and they
are definitely not walkinghumbly with the Lord.
(15:19):
Jesus calls them out becausethey're giving, they're giving
the lowest of low, the bareminimum of their tithe for the
sacrifice of their sins.
So they're offering, they'reoffering the best stuff, though.
They're giving the dill, themint, the cumin.
Um, while these weren'texpensive herbs, like cinnamon
(15:40):
or myrrh, um, man, mint, dill,and cumin.
They sure smell nice, right?
I mean, you got mint.
This is where we beg to differwith our opinions, but I love
mint chocolate chip.
SPEAKER_02 (15:53):
I like mint, just don't put it with chocolate.
SPEAKER_03 (15:55):
Don't put it with chocolate.
SPEAKER_02 (15:56):
It's fine.
SPEAKER_03 (15:57):
Or like dill, like you could do anything with dill.
Shoot, you could put dill in asalad, you could put dill in
like a ranch dressing, you couldput dill dill bread.
I'm not done.
Oh man, dill pickles.
You could do a whole bunch ofstuff with dill.
It smells nice, nice.
Cumin or cumin, whatever peoplecall it is.
(16:17):
I mean, that's one spice youneed.
I mean, I don't think they weredoing this in in Israel, but
tacos.
You don't think they were makingtacos.
I don't think they made tacosthere.
No, yeah, that I don't thinkthey did.
But they smell nice.
You can use the stuff forcooking, but also there is some
medicinal things that you coulduse mint, dill, or cumin for.
Mint being one of them, I meanpeppermint.
(16:39):
If you have a headache, put alittle bit of peppermint oil on
your forehead, and then yourforehead burns and you don't
have a headache anymore.
SPEAKER_02 (16:45):
So, what you're saying is they were offering
these as like the bare minimum.
SPEAKER_03 (16:50):
As a bare minimum, but also like as a hey, look at
me.
This is what I have to offer.
It's very pleasing to the nose.
This is what I have to offer.
And Jesus is saying, you knowwhat?
I am fed up with seeing peoplewho are poor who are suffering.
I am sick and tired of youreligious rulers who are going
out because, you know, the Lordtold me to sacrifice these
(17:11):
things, and yet I am not seeingthe people who are orphaned.
I'm not seeing the people whoare widowed or poor.
So acting justly is somethingthat we as believers need to be.
We need to give a voice to thevoiceless.
This isn't, you know, a directget out of jail free card to,
you know, dress up in hockeypads and start acting like
Batman and say, Why are youdoing this?
(17:33):
And you go, justice.
That's not, that's not what I'mgetting at.
What I'm saying is that speak upfor those who can't speak for
themselves.
Yeah.
Acting justly is by showing thelove.
Sometimes love hurts.
But showing the love of God thatyou are cared for, you have
dignity, you have a purpose.
You're not, you're not ascrew-up, you're not a burden,
(17:56):
you're not the world's not abetter place without you.
Yeah.
It's not.
By acting justly, you are seeingpeople for who they are, created
in God's image.
Yeah, that's good.
So by acting justly, this is alla callback, another callback.
Go figure, because that's whatthe Bible does.
(18:18):
There's cross-references leftand right.
In Genesis chapter 18, verse 19,God tells Abraham to keep the
way of the Lord by doing what isright and just.
All the nations will be blessedthrough whose bloodline?
Abraham's.
So keep the way of the Lord bydoing what is right and just.
(18:42):
Therefore, justice and keepingit is not an option.
It is a covenant.
It isn't a, well, if you do thisfor me, I do that for you.
No, it's a covenant.
No matter what, I am going tokeep my end of the bargain up.
Yeah.
So, what does this look like inthe place that we work?
(19:03):
One of the things is sometimeswhen we have to love people,
there's plenty of opportunitiesthat we have that we are able to
love people, but it hurts.
And I shared this one, and I forconfidentiality purposes too,
I'm not going to name his name,but I remember it was probably a
couple months into working hereat the mission, and it was when
(19:24):
I was I was just doing uh truckdriving, uh, when I was working
at the distribution center.
And we used to have the SITprogram, which was servants and
training.
Yep.
Um, so it was a lot of likeinternship.
We'd have some our guests inprogramming where they would
come and they would um haveplaces that they would work with
(19:44):
throughout the mission.
So they'd be at the front desk,they would be at the hope
center, they'd be in thekitchen, they could be on the
maintenance team, they'd be atthe distribution center, uh,
whatever that looked like.
Basically, it was it was aninternship.
And we had one guy who his umwhat's the word I'm looking for?
It was like a work um, it was anassignment.
(20:07):
Work assignment?
SPEAKER_02 (20:08):
Yeah, it was it was a like a year-long kind of
discipleship program that alsokind of had like a work study
with it.
SPEAKER_03 (20:14):
Work study, thank you.
There's the word we're kind ofgo with it.
So thank you.
Um so and everything we used tohave sit, sit got we did away
with that because of COVID.
It just got, yeah.
So um, but this sit member inparticular, he was a hard worker
at the distribution center.
And one day he didn't show up,and we were calling out, didn't
(20:40):
know where he was at, and heshowed up later on in the week
uh ringing the doorbell, and Ianswered the doorbell, and it
was him, and I was like, Hey,what's going on?
You haven't answered anything,and he said that um he had a
late pass with his one of hiskids, and his child said that
(21:01):
you know, I liked you betterwhen you were drunk, and he was
like five years sober.
And he said, I just drank anentire half gallon of vodka
about 15 minutes ago.
And I'm like, Whoa! So you'retalking fine now, and then while
we were conversing back andforth, his speech was very
(21:24):
quickly going south, yeah.
Uh swaying back and forth, and Iwas like, okay, we gotta get him
down.
And I said, he said, Um, I knowI'm gonna blackout soon, but I
knew that I'd be safe if I camehere.
SPEAKER_02 (21:35):
Wow.
SPEAKER_03 (21:36):
So I said, Man, I gotta call 911.
There's nothing that I can dothat's gonna be able to help
you.
This is not safe, this is notgood.
Um, so I called 911 and theyshowed up to take him to the
hospital.
And one of the last things thatI said to the EMTs was, please
(21:59):
take care of him.
Please help him.
He's a really special guy.
SPEAKER_02 (22:03):
Um then one of the And you wouldn't have had that I
was just gonna say, you wouldn'thave had that opportunity had
you not got to know him.
No, not at all.
And I think that's something islike partly just getting to know
people.
Yes.
And I think that's huge becauseyou know, if you hadn't had that
chance to get to know him andlearn his who he was and learn
what his struggles had been andlearn what he had walked
through, then you know, youwouldn't have a good opportunity
(22:25):
to advocate for him.
So you were presented with thatbecause of your history with
him.
SPEAKER_03 (22:29):
So building the relationship.
So I mean, was there apunishment?
He wasn't in the sit programanymore, obviously, because he
broke he broke that contract.
Yeah.
But the punishment wasn't mineto hang to to hand out.
I had to rely on God to lead meto do the right thing, and right
(22:49):
at that moment it was to savehis life.
Um we have to recall whatJeremiah charges in chapter 22,
verse 3.
Rescue the victim.
Do not take advantage or oppressthe alien, the orphan, or the
widowed.
(23:10):
But by doing this, we honor Godand draw closer to him.
So that's acting justly.
To love mercy the next step ofMicah chapter six, verse eight.
To love justly, it's a call backto Hosea chapter six, verse six,
(23:33):
where it says, For I desirefaithful love, I desire mercy
and not sacrifice, the knowledgeof God rather than burnt
offerings.
So loving faithfulness, lovingmercy can be better worded to
mean merciful, kindness,favored, and loving kindness.
(23:57):
If God desires faithful love andknowing him over sacrifice and
burnt offerings, then how shouldwe treat everyone?
Let me ask that question again.
If God desires faithful love, ifhe desires that over knowing
excuse me.
(24:18):
I'm sorry, let's back that up.
I'm trying to read my chickenscratch.
You're good.
If God desires faithful love andknowing him over the sacrifices
and burnt offerings, how shouldwe treat everyone?
We should treat everyone withmercy.
Treat every single person withmercy.
SPEAKER_02 (24:41):
How some translations sounds like say
mercy and some say faithfulness.
So how does that kind of worktogether there?
SPEAKER_03 (24:48):
Well, and then in other translations it'll also
say loyalty.
So whatever that looks like, ifit is by being faithful to
someone, I'm faithful to mywife.
Um whether that means throughthat I will never take another
woman, that's what it is.
But also the faithfulness isthat I will pursue her as Christ
(25:12):
pursues the church.
Am I perfect?
Absolutely not.
Do we sometimes have arguments?
Absolutely.
But the whole thing of lovingher and having mercy, by me
being faithful, she will give memercy.
Because it's like, look, I knowyou're not perfect, but I love
you for it.
So I don't know if that makesany sense.
(25:34):
Yeah.
Um the whole thing with loyaltytoo.
I mean, if you don't haveloyalty and friendship, what's
what's the point in having afriend?
SPEAKER_01 (25:41):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_03 (25:42):
So one of the one of the cool things that I kind of
uh that I kind of uh picked thisapart, uh the illustration that
I used for this, and I actuallyhad the the fortunate um
opportunity to have my parentshere when I shared this week.
Um because this is actually weektwo.
(26:05):
I'm just blowing through threeweeks worth of sermon notes.
So congratulations, everybody.
Uh condensed.
Where you're getting thereader's digest version.
There you go.
Um, so loving mercy, living outand loving mercy.
Um I talked about my dad, andone of the things that I always
(26:26):
prefer to do is when I talkabout people when I'm when I'm
in a share in a sermon or adevotion, for instance, I want
to get their permission.
I did not get his permission forthis for the sole reason that I
knew that he was going to besitting, and I just kind of
wanted it to bless him.
So I gave an illustration of mydad.
Um, he has always been active inchurch.
(26:47):
Uh, he would give you the shirtfrom his back.
The guy loves Jesus, but he'salso a bear.
Um, you poke the bear, you'regonna get mauled.
Um, cross him or my mom, rutrow.
So there was a there was a time,and I remember I was in, oh, I
(27:11):
think I was in eighth grade.
Um my brother was no, I wasn'tin eighth grade, I was in sixth
grade, excuse me.
Um, because my brother was afreshman in high school.
Um, my brother was on a baseballteam, and he was active playing
baseball all growing up, butthis was the final year that he
played because when he got tothe plate this one game, um he
(27:36):
didn't duck quick enough.
And the pitcher, um is itdebatable that he did it on did
it on purpose?
I think so.
He did not show any sign ofremorse, uh, threw the ball and
it hit my brother right in hisleft eye, uh his left eye
socket.
And just immediately it swelled.
(27:58):
Um and my dad rushed on thefield, you know.
The the the pitcher was like,oh, well, all right, well,
should have ducked.
And I just remember my brothergetting taken to the emergency
room.
Ended up not having anythingwrong, uh, just some bruising,
(28:19):
even though it swelled up like auh boy, it was bad.
Um But what was really cool wasseeing how my dad took care of
my brother, but then a coupleweeks passed, and we were back
at the uh baseball diamonds, andwe were waiting in line for
(28:44):
concessions.
You know, it's right afterschool, and this kid was about
two or three people behind us,and the pitcher.
The pitcher, yeah, sorry.
The pitcher was about two orthree people behind us, and my
dad looked, and I saw my dadlook, and I was like, oh yeah,
dad's gonna give it to him.
Dad's really gonna get it.
Put him in a headlock, dad.
(29:05):
And the kid was visiblydisoriented.
Um, looked like he was he'd beencrying, um looked like he
thought he was in trouble, andmy dad turned around and he
looked at him and he said, Hey,come here.
And I'm like, Yes.
He's gonna get him.
(29:26):
And my dad goes, What do youneed?
And the kid goes, What?
And my dad said, What do youneed?
You're late to your game, aren'tyou?
And he goes, Yeah.
And my dad said, What do youneed?
And he goes, No, no, no.
And he said, I'm asking youright now, what do you need?
And he said, uh, a Gatorade anduh a snack.
And my dad said, Okay, allright.
And he said to the person at thethe concession, he said,
(29:47):
Whatever this kid wants, I'mpaying for it.
And the kid just looked at mydad and said, Thank you.
And my dad said, Okay, go.
And he went, and I said to Isaid to my dad, I'm like, What
are you doing?
Doing.
This was the kid that threw theball at Matt's head.
And you just treated him tosomething.
My dad goes, Michael, we don'tknow what that kid's home's life
(30:10):
like.
The best thing that I can do isI can love him in a way that he
might not see that love at home.
SPEAKER_02 (30:19):
Yeah.
You never know somebody's story.
Right.
You never know what somebody'sbeen walking through, what
difficulties they've been goingthrough.
And, you know, your dad was ableto kind of be that light for
him.
And who knows what how thatimpacted him.
You may never know the the seedsof kind of what you plant, but
um just knowing that that wasthere, and I'm sure that blessed
him.
SPEAKER_03 (30:38):
So Right.
Um last time we saw the kid, butyou know, maybe maybe it did.
Maybe that changed histrajectory.
I don't know.
I'd like to think that it would,that a yellow Gatorade and a
package of pretzels or whatevercombos.
I think that's what it was thathe took, but it's like, you
know, whatever, you do yourthing.
Yeah.
Faithful love is more evidentwhen you love the people who are
(31:01):
different or really hard tolove.
Somebody who's wronged you.
It is so evident.
And that's why in Micah 6, verse8, the Lord makes it clear that
his people need to focus more ontheir heart rather than what
they are offering God, theircharacter and their behavior
(31:22):
rather than what they arebringing to burn as a sacrifice.
So this really just coincideswith everything that we've been
discussing with our sevenbiblical pillars, um, with what
um advocating for the lost andbroken looks like when we see
(31:44):
someone, and when someone seeswhat we are doing and how we
live and serve and lead, do theysee the evidence that we are
abiding in Christ?
And this is what you just whatyou just said a couple minutes
ago.
Jesus says in John chapter 13,verses 34 and 35, a new command
(32:05):
I give you.
Love one another just as I haveloved you.
You are also to love oneanother.
By this, everyone will know thatyou are my disciples if you love
one another.
It should be a distinguishingfactor to be a disciple of
Christ, to be a follower ofChrist.
(32:27):
I can tell that that they thatis a follower of Christ by the
way they love the person infront of them.
Um really great, really, reallygreat um line that I know I've
shared multiple times being onthis podcast, but I love the
play.
I've never read the book, Idon't have the time to read the
(32:48):
book because it's literally asthick as a Webster's dictionary.
But Les Miserables.
You have the main character JeanValjean, who is in prison for
stealing a loaf of bread becausehis sister's son is dying.
So then there's a prison guardnamed Javert who doesn't care.
(33:12):
Um doesn't care who Jean Valjeanis.
He doesn't even call him by JeanValjean.
Um he calls him by his number,which is 24601.
Um the entire play, the entirebook, the entire musical,
everything.
Javert's sole purpose is to findJean Valjean and get him back
(33:38):
into justice so that he can paythe debt of what he did wrong.
Stealing a loaf of bread, but hesees him as a criminal.
Yeah.
The entire time Javert's solepurpose is to make Jean
Valjean's life miserable, tocondemn him.
And then there's a turning pointin the entire play in the book,
(34:01):
where Jean Valjean could haveeasily taken Javert's life, but
he spares it.
He says, you know what?
My focus is that there's thisboy who is dying here.
I'm going to help him.
I'm not fighting you, but if youwant me to be in captivity, if
(34:24):
you want me to be arrested, letme take care of this boy, and
then I'm done fighting you.
I will come back and you cansend me to prison.
And that just puts Javert on adownward spiral of he could have
killed me, but he didn't.
What kind of world is this thatI live in that I have tried to
do an eye for an eye?
(34:45):
Anybody does anything wrong, youhave every right to give back
plus some force.
Right.
So Javert ends up jumping off ofa bridge, but the most important
thing that Jean Valjean learnsthrough the entire story is to
(35:06):
love another person, whether itis somebody who looks like you,
acts like you, or somebody whois your sworn enemy, to love
another person is to see theface of God.
That is the line from LeMiserab.
To love another person is to seethe face of God.
SPEAKER_02 (35:25):
That's so good.
SPEAKER_03 (35:27):
So to love mercy, it looks like an action.
It's an incredible action, andvengeance is not ours to repay.
But we need to stand for thosewho are defeated.
And while we are doing that, weneed to love everyone.
So I don't think it's ironicthat Christ is depicted as two
(35:52):
animals from two completelyopposite sides of the animal
spectrum.
And what are those two animals?
Lion.
A lion and the lamb and a lamb.
You have a lion, the lion ofJudah.
Jesus is the lion of Judah.
He is just, he's terrifying.
(36:13):
It's not something that youwould want to be stuck in a cage
with.
But he's also the lamb.
He is loving.
He is innocent.
He's the lamb of God.
He's both.
To love him and to be known bypeople to be his disciple.
(36:36):
Is to be known by his love andto love one another.
So act justly, love mercy, andthen finally, walk humbly with
God.
So what has God told us to do?
What has God told his people todo?
(36:56):
To act justly, to love mercy,and to walk humbly with your
God.
So God's people weredisobedient.
We are sinful.
We're disobedient.
Micah's calling them out inchapter six because they thought
the Lord, they thought what theLord was requiring them was kind
(37:16):
of unreasonable, because it'slike, what do you want me to
give?
Should I give this?
Hundreds of calves?
Hundreds of jars of streamingoil?
Should I give my firstbornchild?
I only have one kid.
I ain't giving my kid up.
But that's far from what theLord required of them.
(37:38):
What the Lord wanted from themwas a foreshadowing for what was
to come with Christ's life,death, and resurrection.
So when we walk humbly with him,it points us to two different
passages in Isaiah.
Isaiah chapter 57, verse 15, andIsaiah chapter 66, verse 2.
(38:00):
Isaiah 57, 15 says, For the highand exalted one who lives
forever, whose name is holy,says this.
I live in a high and holy place,and I live with the oppressed
and the lowly in spirit, torevive the spirit of the lowly
and revive the heart of theoppressed.
(38:23):
So abide or lives is from theHebrew word shekan, which
literally means to be with, tointimately know, and to walk
with.
So he's saying he lives in ahigh and holy place, but also he
lives with the oppressed andlowly in spirit.
(38:44):
Lowly in spirit, humble inspirit.
And then in Isaiah chapter 66,verse 2, it says, My hand made
all these things, and so theyall came into being.
This is the Lord's declaration.
I will look favorably on thiskind of person, one who is
(39:04):
humble, broken in spirit, andtrembles at my word.
Someone who is not proud, butteachable, and is in awe of the
Lord.
To be in awe of him is to knowhow great he really is.
You have Isaiah chapter 6, verse5, where Isaiah, when the year
(39:26):
of King Uzziah died, I saw theLord on his throne, high and
exalted, smokes filling thetemple.
And what is it that Isaiah sayswhen he realizes that he is in
the glory of God?
Woe is me, for I am ruined.
My eyes have seen the king, theLord of armies.
(39:50):
And then when he's in thepresence of the Lord, he's not
terrified to the point wherehe's like, Oh, I'm dead.
Yeah, he's saying he's dead, butwhat does he say after that?
Who is going to take thesewords?
And what does Isaiah said?
Here I am, Lord, send me.
To walk humbly with our God isto remember his greatness and to
(40:11):
lean into him all the more.
Yeah.
And what I think that looks liketo walk humbly with the Lord.
I think of a man that I grew upknowing, and I had the privilege
to talk to on the phone a coupleweeks ago.
His name is Vic Albert.
Vic is 95 years old, and I hadthe opportunity to talk to him
(40:34):
and talk to his uh second wife.
His first wife, Dottie, passedaway a couple uh a couple years
ago, uh, several years ago,actually.
But Vic and his wife Pat marriedin 2018, and I grew up knowing
Vic and his wonderful wifeDottie.
(40:54):
Um Vic was known as the suckerman by every single person at
the church, not just kids, theadults too.
Kids would line up each Sundayto fish a dum-dum sucker from
his leather bag.
He had this, well, I mean, I wasa child, so I thought it was a
large leather bag, but honestly,it's literally like something
(41:16):
that you'd put a laptop in.
SPEAKER_02 (41:18):
So it sounds like Santa with suckers.
SPEAKER_03 (41:19):
Santa with suckers, yes.
Every single Sunday.
And kids would line up.
And kids would, I would even saykids were more excited to see
Vic than seeing Santa.
Um for some of us, like mygrandfather, my mom's dad passed
away before I was born.
My dad's dad uh lived north ofPort Huron, so I didn't really
(41:41):
get to see him a lot, but everysingle Sunday, for me, Vic was a
pseudo-grandfather.
Yeah.
Um, Dottie and my grandmotherwere friends, and gosh dang it,
they were so wonderful.
They were wonderful to kids.
They had a heart for people.
Um, they had a heart just tokeep knowing and asking
(42:03):
questions.
A lot, I mean, I was on thephone with him for an hour and a
half, and I had to keep guidingit back because he just kept
asking questions about me andasking questions about my family
and about my wife and about mydaughter.
And what I asked him was isthat, did you have any idea of
the impact that you had on mylife?
(42:27):
Like, why did why did you chooseto do what you did?
And he said, I really just lovekids.
And it thrills me to be able topour into kids that needed the
love that they might not have athome.
He said, I never thought of itthat way that I was really
blessing kids.
But Dottie and I prayed all thetime at home for everyone.
(42:56):
The way that Vic, 95 years old,his wife Pat now would say that
they go grocery shopping, hestill has rentals, rental
properties around town.
Well, and people will stop himand say, Hey, thank you for what
you did for me 30 years ago.
(43:18):
Because he loves to listen, heis so slow to speak about
himself, about anything that'sgoing on in his family, and he
is so slow to anger.
What's really cool about Vic isat 95 years old, does he miss
(43:39):
his first wife?
Absolutely.
But another day is just anotheropportunity for him to give all
glory to God, to walk with theLord, and be so in tune with him
that he leads you to do thingsthat don't make any sense.
Leads you to do things to lovepeople who are hard to love, to
(44:03):
see people who are not seen, tobe a light for those who are in
need.
And he uses us as vessels.
Sometimes there's people who areput on our hearts or our minds,
just in a conversation whenwe're having with a friend or a
(44:23):
relative, and we think, you knowwhat?
I think I need to call thatperson just to see how they're
doing.
And then when you call thatperson, they're literally beside
themselves.
How did you know that I wasstruggling?
SPEAKER_02 (44:40):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_03 (44:41):
Well, I didn't.
Just felt led that I needed tocall you.
Ephesians chapter 2, verses 8through 10 said, For you are
saved by grace through faith.
And this is not from yourselves.
It is God's gift, not fromworks, so that no one can boast.
(45:05):
For we are his workmanship,created in Christ Jesus, for
good works, which God preparedahead of time for us to do.
So we as believers, as followersof Christ, we're here.
We have work to do by God andfor God.
(45:30):
So what does that work looklike?
Beautiful sacrifices, thingsthat are pleasing to the eye?
No.
We are required to act justly,to love mercy, and to walk
humbly with God.
SPEAKER_02 (45:52):
Man, thank you.
What a what a great andencouraging word.
Um I hope uh I want to wellfirst want to thank all of you
for listening to this.
Thank you, Mike, for for sharingthis.
I think it's such an impactfulword to to hear kind of these
tie over and to what does itlook like, you know, to love
God, to love people, to actjustly.
Um, so thank you for listeningum to another episode of our
(46:15):
community, our mission.
Um, we pray that this has umjust blessed you and encouraged
you today um to you know reallyexperience that love for
yourself from God and to sharethat love with those um that you
encounter in each day of yourown life.
So um thank you for listening.
If you would like to learn moreabout the Topeka Rescue Mission,
you can go to TRMonline.org.
(46:37):
Again, that's TRM Online.org.
Um thank you for listening.
Share uh share this with yourfriends so they can they can
listen to it too and um keeptuning in each week as we're
gonna have uh more updates as weget more into the holidays and
and uh just some exciting uhthings coming up.
So thank you for listening andhave a blessed day.
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