Chuck Foreman – Teaching Pastor
“Who is a god like you, who forgives sin and pardons the transgression of the remnant of his inheritance?
You do not stay angry forever, but delight to show mercy.
You will again have compassion on us;
you will tread our sins under foot,
and hurl our iniquities into the depths of the sea.
You will be true to Jacob and will show mercy to Abraham,
just as you pledged on oath to our fathers in days long ago.”
(Micah 7:18-20) (more…)
Chuck Foreman – Teaching Pastor
God had a beef with his people, Israel, 8 centuries before Christ. They had forgotten all he had done for them throughout their history as a nation. They were ungrateful and now their worship of God had regressed into rituals intended to appease him into serving their interests and making them prosperous and content. The rub in Israel’s relationship with God was in the dual lives they were living. They continued to perform acts of worship (offerings, prayers, scripture reading, etc.) but were then dishonest liars and cheaters in their business practices and violent and deceitful in their relationships with each other. They failed to connect the dots between their acts of worship and the way they lived every day. As it turned out, God was not impressed with all their religious motions. What he really wanted was people who lived in a way that represented his character. What he was really looking for was for his people to “…act justly, love mercy and walk humbly…” with him. (Micah 6:8)
Chuck Foreman – Teaching Pastor
These themes about the Kingdom God will establish on earth, jump out at us in Micah’s message to Israel & Judah in chapters 4 and 5:
Compare this with the vision John received from Jesus about God’s Kingdom as recorded in Revelation 21:1-8. (more…)
Chuck Foreman – Teaching Pastor
The very thought of Israel, one of the only monotheistic cultures in the ancient world besides China, actually turning to idolatry, is unthinkable! But it happened. Calling God’s People out of idolatry is a major theme of every Old Testament prophet. How could a people who were to be the message bearers of Yahweh, the Creator, regress into crafting and worshipping images made to resemble mortal man, birds, reptiles and other animals? How could those who knew of the Creator begin to worship and serve created things rather than the Creator himself? Amazing! What were they thinking? Well, that’s the problem, they weren’t. (more…)
