Micah Amos Obadiah Jonah Micah Nahum Habbakuk Zephaniah

Today, or 700BC? Since 3600 B.C only 292 years of peace. 14,000 wars, - nearly 4 billion people killed. Refugees forced from their home areas Finding new homes and new lives abroad. Massacre in city areas – Paris on Friday!

Micah God’s power, holiness and us. Micah ch 1

“The word of the Lord that came to Micah of Moresheth during the reigns of Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah, kings of Judah – the vision he saw concerning Samaria and Jerusalem. Hear, O peoples all of you, listen, O earth and all who are in it, that the sovereign Lord may witness against you, the Lord from his holy temple.” (Micah 1: 1,2) word of the Lord vision peoples sovereign

The Background (1) 2 Kings 17

The Background (2) After Solomon: ISRAEL: shrines at Dan and Bethel, with fertility cults, temple prostitutes and child sacrifice. JUDAH stayed more loyal.

The Background (3) THE DIVIDED KINGDOM, ” They built pagan shrines; They set up sacred pillars and idols at the top of every hill and under every green tree. They offered sacrifices on all the hilltops, just like the nations the L ORD had driven from the land ahead of them. 2 Kings 17:10-11

The Background (4) ASSYRIA Micah: in Judah During reigns of: Jotham (compromiser) Ahaz (idolater) Hezekiah (loyal to God) ISRAEL taken over by Assyria

Micah’s Message  God’s character: righteous and gracious  Required response – justice  Sin condemned – corruption (ch. 2) and social injustice (ch.3)  God will punish Judah (ch.1) and Jerusalem (3.12)  God will be gracious and restore his people (chs 4,5)

3 Look! The L ORD is coming from his dwelling place; he comes down and treads on the heights of the earth. 4 The mountains melt beneath him and the valleys split apart, like wax before the fire, like water rushing down a slope. God’s Sovereign Power

5 All this is because of Jacob’s transgression, because of the sins of the people of Israel. What is Jacob’s transgression? Is it not Samaria? What is Judah’s high place? Is it not Jerusalem? Sin has consequences

“Don’t let the world squeeze you into its mould.” Romans 12:2 Pressure and Conformity

6 “Therefore I will make Samaria a heap of rubble, a place for planting vineyards. I will pour her stones into the valley and lay bare her foundations. 7 All her idols will be broken to pieces; all her temple gifts will be burned with fire; I will destroy all her images. Since she gathered her gifts from the wages of prostitutes, as the wages of prostitutes they will again be used.” The Futility of Godlessness

Jesus said: “I have come that you might have life, life in all its fullness.” John 10:10