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)
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