Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_00 (00:01):
Hey everyone and
welcome to the Bible Breakdown
Podcast.
In this podcast, we will bebreaking down the Bible one
chapter a day.
Whether you are a new believeror have been following Christ
for a while, we believe that youwill learn something new and
fresh every single day.
So thank you for joining us andlet's get into breaking down the
(00:22):
Bible together.
SPEAKER_01 (00:23):
Well, hello
everybody.
Welcome back to the BibleBreakdown Podcast with your
host, Pastor Brandon.
Today, Micah chapter three, andwe're going to call today's
title Come to Jesus Meeting.
Come to Jesus Meeting.
Now, if you don't know what thatis, you're about to because
Micah chapter three is aSouthern man's version of, I
done had enough, y'all.
(00:43):
And he's going to tell us aboutwhat it is.
And I think that these momentsthat they can be very helpful
for us in a lot of ways if youcan survive them, because
they're usually not somethingyou want to hear, but they're
something you need to hear.
And so we're going to read thisand just be real thankful that
God's talking to them and notus.
And it's going to be a lot offun.
So if you have your Bibles, wantto open up with me to Micah
(01:04):
chapter three.
I'm going to give you just amoment because I know it can be
kind of hard to find.
But while you're doing that,make sure you take just a
moment, like, share, subscribeto the YouTube channel and the
podcast.
Make sure you leave us afive-star review on the podcast.
It really does help.
And make sure you're going tothe Bible breakdown discussion
on Facebook.
There's an amazing group ofpeople doing a wonderful job.
And you can go to theBiblebreakdown.com to get all
(01:25):
that information.
Well, if you've been with us thepast couple days, we are calling
Micah direction duringdifficulty.
And during the life of Micah, heis a southern prophet.
Actually, call him the countryprophet.
He is like he is from the south.
But during his lifetime, thenorthern kingdom is actually
overthrown by Assyria.
(01:47):
And so he sees all these thingsthat's going on and he is giving
direction, just trying to cryout to the nation of Israel, the
northern kingdom, but he's alsowarning the southern kingdom and
Judah.
And he's saying, hey, listen,we're right behind them if we
don't stop.
And we're going to see thistoday.
And to kind of give you a littlebit of a background, real quick,
just real, real quick, um, thefirst time I heard a come to
(02:09):
Jesus meeting, I was in juniorhigh.
And I've not heard somethingfrom my parents before, but this
is the one I remember, right?
I was in junior high.
I played basketball on thisjunior high team, and we were
really not that good.
And the reason we were not thatgood is because in junior high,
okay, that seventh grade, we hada 6'5 basketball player.
(02:29):
This man hit a gross spurt earlyon.
And so he was way taller thanthe rest of us.
His name was Chad.
And our job, all four of us onthe court with Chad made five,
we had one job.
Pass Chad the ball.
That is all we had to do.
And our coach did not like that,but what are we going to do?
Because all the other kids wereas small as we were, right?
(02:51):
And I still remember the daythat Chad had a bad game.
And he had a bad game because hejust wasn't in the mood.
He just didn't care.
And the coach had one play, passChad the ball.
And the coach also knew thatChad was playing badly just
because he didn't, he wasn'ttrying.
And I have never heard what weused to also call a butt
(03:15):
chewing, a uh a come to Jesusmeeting, a um, a helpful
conversation, a difficultconversation.
You get all the metaphors whenhe basically told Chad, Chad,
you need to stop it.
Pull pull pull your pants up,you know what I'm saying?
Like, like, like do all whateveryou got to do and get out there
and do it.
(03:35):
You got to stop this, right?
And that was my first in youknow, inner uh introduction to a
come to Jesus meeting where youare gonna stop everything you're
doing right now, everythingyou've been doing before now is
wrong.
Quit it.
And that's what we're going tosee today in Micah chapter
three, because Israel's leadersare leading them right off a
(03:56):
cliff.
They are leading them right intothis destruction that we now
know is on its way.
And Micah is telling them, hehas come all the way from the
south to wave a flag and say,please turn around.
I'm I'm I'm doing a come toJesus meeting because you're
going the wrong way.
So we're going to read this.
(04:17):
We're going to see if any ofthis resonates with us today.
So if you're ready, Micahchapter 3, verse 1 says this.
I said, Listen, you leaders ofIsrael, you are supposed to know
right from wrong, but you arethe very ones who hate good and
love evil.
You skin my people alive andtear the flesh from their bones.
(04:39):
Yes, you eat my people's flesh,strip off their skin, and break
their bones.
You chop them up and like meatin a cooking pot.
Pause.
This is metaphorical.
Okay, there's as far as I knowin my reading, there is no
evidence that there wascannibalism going on in the
northern kingdom.
Basically, what he's saying isyou are taking complete
advantage of the people.
(04:59):
Okay, just need to say thatbefore any of us get sick.
Okay, verse 4.
Then you beg the Lord for helpin times of trouble.
Now, I I just broke that up.
So what he's saying is, is youare doing all this terrible
stuff to my people, and then youcome to me and ask me for help.
Like, that's crazy.
All right.
Do you really expect him toanswer?
After all the evil you havedone, he won't even look at you.
(05:22):
This is what the Lord says.
You false prophets are leadingmy people astray.
You promise peace for those whogive you food, but you declare
war on those who refuse to feedyou.
Now the night will close aroundyou, cutting off all your
visions.
Darkness will cover you, puttingan end to your predictions.
The sun will set for youprophets, and your day will come
(05:44):
to an end.
Then you seers will be put toshame, and you fortune tellers
will be disgraced, and you willcover your faces, because there
is no answer from God.
But as for me, I am filled withpower with the Spirit of the
Lord.
I am filled with justice andstrength to boldly declare
Israel's sin and rebellion.
(06:07):
Listen to me, you leaders ofIsrael.
You hate justice and twist allthat is right.
You are building Jerusalem on afoundation of murder and
corruption.
You rulers make decisions basedon bribes, you priests teach
God's law only for a price.
You prophets won't prophesyunless you are paid.
Yet all of you claim to dependon the Lord.
(06:28):
No harm can come to us, you say,for the Lord is here among us.
Because of you, Mount Zion willbe ploughed like an open field.
Jerusalem will be reduced toruins.
A thicket will grow on theheights where the temple now
stands.
That's a come to Jesus meeting.
Now, let's make sure we havecontext to what's going on.
(06:49):
There was nothing wrong withcompensating the priests and the
different ones who were workingin the temple and the prophets.
That was their job.
That's what they do.
The problem was they were notwilling to work unless they were
being compensated the way theywanted to be compensated.
So in other words, they weren'tdoing it for the Lord, and then
(07:11):
they were compensated so thatthey could do the work.
It was the other way around.
What it reminds me of is Iremember when I was talking to a
guy one time, and I was in thisconversation, and this one guy I
noticed like you was getting itso right.
And the other guy, I was like,uh, I don't think that's the way
it's supposed to work, right?
So in the ministry world, I'mI'm a pastor, and so in the
(07:33):
ministry world, there was thisone guy who was trying to
explain what it was like to be apastor, you know, and and and
make get a salary and this kindof stuff.
And the one guy said, What I dois I serve the church.
I, you know, book of Ephesians,I equip the saints for ministry
and I create systems to helpfacilitate ministry.
(07:55):
And I can't do that and workthis secular job because of the
amount of time.
So what my church does is theythey pay me a salary so that I'm
free to build up the church.
Another guy says, Oh, no, no,you got that completely wrong.
This is my expertise.
This is what I do.
And I will not build up thechurch unless you pay me.
(08:19):
And I'm sitting there going, oneof those sounds awesome, and one
of those sounds gross.
You know what I'm saying?
And so it was like, okay, Irealize which one, which one I
need to be going toward.
But can I tell you, that's notjust pastors, that's anybody.
I've seen that in so manydifferent facets when it comes
to honoring and serving God.
I've seen people who have said,you know what, I'm going to
(08:40):
serve God's church.
I'm going to build up thekingdom of God.
And as long as I can do itwithout compensation, I will.
But if it gets to a place whereI literally can't do it anymore
because I got to take care of myfamily, okay, then I can't do it
anymore or compensation.
On the other side, I've heardpeople say, um, how much does it
pay?
I remember one time at ourchurch, we we love to serve each
other at our church, and I lovethis so much that we have just a
(09:01):
heart to serve one another.
But every once in a while we'llhave somebody who don't
understand that, right?
And so one time we were talkingabout opportunities to serve one
another as part of a spiritualfamily.
And and there's this oneposition that I love so much in
our church, and it's wherepeople who hand out worship
guides because what they'redoing is they're giving people
access to information going tothe church and also it's it's
(09:22):
the worship guide, but it's alsothe smile that they give.
I just I love that opportunityto connect with people in that
way.
And I remember one time we weretalking about this, and this guy
was like, Yeah, I'd love to getinvolved around here and serve.
I said, Okay, great.
Would you like to do that?
And he's like, Well, how muchdoes it pay?
I was like, What do you meanpay?
You know, when we're servingeach other around here.
And this guy's oh, oh no, Idon't work for free.
I said, Well, first of all,you're not working, it's it's
(09:44):
serving one another.
And on another thing, I waslike, dude, the best things in
life are free, and that's partbeing part of something bigger
than yourself.
And he was like, I never thoughtabout it like that.
And I was like, Well, yeah, andthat doesn't mean that we don't
compensate people when it'snecessary.
However, the goal is to serveone another.
And that's what Micah is saying.
He's like, man, absolutely, butit's the heart that matters,
(10:07):
it's the heart behind it.
And he was challenging them tosay, Man, listen, man, you got
all the skills, but your heart'swrong.
You need a heart change, orjudgment's coming.
Once again, spoiler alert,judgment comes.
And so I say all that stuff tosay, like, we can we can do the
right things for the wrongreasons, and it all falls apart.
(10:30):
We can do the wrong things forthe wrong reasons, and of course
it falls apart.
The difference is the heart, andhere's the thing only God knows
the heart.
So I want to ask you thisquestion where is your heart
today?
And and this is a deep onebecause on the outside, you may
be serving at a high capacity.
(10:50):
Maybe you go to a local church,and I know there's people who
literally listen from all overthe world right now, so I know
culture is a little bitdifferent, but you may serve in
your church and you get thedream teamer of the year.
I don't know, you you serve sowell, but you're doing it for
the wrong reasons.
Can I tell you, if you do it forthe wrong reasons, Jesus said
(11:10):
you've already got your reward.
The praise you get from men,that was your reward.
Are you serving for the rightreason?
On the other side, you may beserving with all your heart and
you're serving for the rightreason, but you're not being
noticed.
And it's discouraging.
There's nothing wrong withwanting to feel like you matter
to somebody.
That's not that's not a sin,it's nothing wrong with that.
(11:31):
The point is, is leave it in thehands of God.
The come to Jesus meeting foryou is that if you're doing all
the serving but for the wrongreasons, you need to check your
heart.
And on the other side, if you'reserving for all the right
reasons and you're not gettingnoticed, here's your come to
Jesus meeting, and that is don'tgive up.
God sees you, and truly he's theonly one that matters.
And in the right moment, theBible says that the Lord who
(11:54):
sees in secret will reward youopenly.
Let's pray together right now.
God, thank you so much fortoday.
Thank you, God, that you talk tous about the the deep things,
sometimes the difficult things,sometimes the the fuzzy things,
and sometimes the idea ofserving one another can get
fuzzy because there's nuance toit.
But you see the heart.
(12:15):
I'm so thankful that you see theheart and you see us in so many
different ways.
My prayer is today, God, that wewill see you in these things.
We will give you all of ourheart, and we will trust you in
all things.
In Jesus' name we pray.
Amen.
What God's Word says in Micah 6,verse 8, he says, What does the
Lord require of you?
To act justly, to love mercy,and to walk humbly with your
(12:39):
God.
I love you.
I'll see you tomorrow from Micahchapter 4.