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Micah 6: Context

November 3, 2025 / / 0 Comments

 

“He has showed you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you?
To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” ~Micah 6:8

 

I’m going to spend this week posting here about Micah 6:6-8. It’s a core Scripture, a foundational passage that reveals the heart of our God and transforms us for an abundant life in Christ. We know it, we quote it, we memorize it, and we wear it on T-shirts–it’s an important couple of verses. But how deep have we really gone with these holy words?

Let’s go.

Micah is prophesying sometime around the turn of the 7th century BC, and God’s people at this time are very well off. They’re wealthy. Rich. Powerful. And their lifestyle reflected it. What they thought about, what they talked about, and how they behaved was connected to their wealth. You see the evidence throughout Micah. God’s people are eaten up with buying more land, building bigger houses, taking longer vacations, and putting more money in the bank. The next-door-neighbor doesn’t matter. The needy family down the street isn’t important. What matters to God’s people in Micah is selling as much of my product as I can and getting as much for it as I can, even if it means hiding behind some fine print or not telling the whole truth about every detail or every transaction. Doing whatever it takes to keep up with the Bar-Joneses. Or to get ahead.

This attitude, this way of life, started at the top with Israel’s leaders and worked its way down through all the people. Micah is full of the accusations. The judges are taking bribes. The priests are only teaching what the people are paying them to teach. The prophets are only preaching what they’re told to preach, mainly that everything’s great. Everything’s good. The way we’re living, the things we’re doing–everything’s fine.

“If a liar and deceiver comes and says, ‘I will prophesy for you plenty of wine and beer,’ he would be just the prophet for this people!” ~Micah 2:11

In other words, if every time you came to church the preacher said, ‘What we need is more beef fajitas and more Blue Bell ice-cream,” you would love it!

“Her leaders judge for a bribe, her priests teach for a price, and her prophets tell fortunes for money. Yet they lean upon the Lord and say, ‘Is not the Lord among us? No disaster will come upon us.'” ~Micah 3:11

We’re thinking only of ourselves, we’re getting richer and more comfortable while parts of the city are suffering more and more, there are poor people and sick people everywhere we look, but we’re great. Everything’s good.

And the Lord finally says, “Enough!”

“Stand up, plead your case before the mountains; let the hills hear what you have to say. Hear, O mountains, the Lord’s accusation; listen, you everlasting foundations of the earth. For the Lord has a case against his people; he is lodging a charge against Israel.” ~Micah 6:1-2

This is a court case being described here. It’s a jury trial. God is the plaintiff bringing the case against Israel. Micah is the bailiff formally announcing the criminal charges. The mountains and hills are the witnesses–they’ve seen everything–and they’re being called to testify. The covenant has been broken. Next comes the voice of God:

“My people, what have I done to you? How have I burdened you? Answer me. I brought you up out of Egypt and redeemed you from the land of slavery. I sent Moses to lead you, also Aaron and Miriam. My people, remember what Balak king of Moab counseled and what Balaam son of Beor answered. Remember your journey from Shittim to Gilgal, that you may know the righteous acts of the Lord.” ~Micah 6:3-5

God says, What have I done to deserve this? I rescued you from slavery. I’ve blessed you with great leaders. I protected you from evil kings. I brought you over the Jordan River and gave you all this land. Remember?

Now, I’m not sure if the next two verses are the people responding to God, or if it’s Micah quoting what the people have said in the past, or if Micah’s assuming this is what the people will say in response to God. Here it is:

“With what shall I come before the Lord and bow down before the exalted God?” ~Micah 6:6

God’s not happy with us? God says we’re breaking the covenant? He says we’re going to be punished (although I really can’t see that happening because we are his chosen people, after all). God’s reminding us again of all the things he’s done for us? So, how do we make God happy? How do we please God? What’s he looking for out of us?

“Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousand rivers of oil? Shall I offer my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sins of my soul?” ~Micah 6:6-7

If God’s upset with us, we must not be doing worship correctly. We should be more careful with the sacrifices. We should go to church more. We should maybe offer an extra calf or two. We should probably consider Wednesday nights.

When you see a puddle of oil on the driveway under your car, it shouldn’t cause you to change the air freshener hanging on the rear view mirror. If your son is failing all his classes at college, you shouldn’t yell at him for not knowing the words to the school fight song. There’s an old saying about the futility of re-arranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. The silliness of that. The absurdity of completely misreading the whole situation. Jesus calls it straining a gnat while swallowing a camel. And God shuts it down. The Lord, through his prophet Micah says, No, you don’t get it! It’s simple! Look, we’ve been over this for centuries!

“He has showed you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” 

Yeah, but where’s the list of things we’re not supposed to do? 

No. Three things. Right here. Act justly, love mercy, walk humbly with God.

But where’s the stuff on how we’re supposed to worship?

No. Three things. Here they are. Act justly, love mercy, walk humbly with God.

Our God has always communicated very clearly since Day One what he wants from us. This has been the deal since the very beginning. These are the things that matter to God. This is the top priority. Three basic foundational things. Act justly, love mercy, walk humbly with God.

Peace,

Allan

Trick or Treat

November 1, 2025 / / 0 Comments

Obviously, I’m going to post a couple of pictures of our almost-four-month-old twin grandsons on their first Halloween. The picture above is Elliott and Samuel in their outfits for the day. Super happy. Excited to be alive in a place where there’s a day devoted to giving little kids lots of candy. The pictures below were taken right before the Halloween party–not quite as thrilled; the hats, probably–and then after all the friends went home.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Also, as the timing would have it, my brother Keith is here in Midland to present a seminar on baptism for Center for Christian Studies. It’s a three-hour thing at Downtown Church of Christ on the who, how, and why of the gracious gift of baptism. So, he and Amanda and Keith’s colleague Todd Hall and his wife Cara are hanging out with us at Stanglin Manor.

Keith and I have both aged a bit. It’s been a tough year.

Happy Halloween!
Allan

Act Justly, Love Mercy

October 30, 2025 / / 0 Comments

The federal government shutdown is creating immediate and significant financial strains for more than 40-million people in this country, many of them right here in Midland. There are potentially hundreds of families here in West Texas who, beginning this weekend, will not receive their SNAP benefits for groceries or their federally-funded childcare subsidies. These families are stressed. To say the least.

Our church’s local missions partners are already seeing greater needs and are working hard to respond to the crisis. And as a body of Christians here at GCR, we want to ensure they have the resources necessary to continue serving their families in practical and meaningful ways. Thanks to our forward-thinking Connections Minister, Ryan Rampton, and our shepherds, we have approved up to $50,000 in Breakthrough funds to support our local partners, engage our congregation in personal and relational ministry, and address the pressing needs of our community.

This is how we are distributing the funds:

Mission Agape – $26,000 to provide an additional 1,000 food boxes for families in need. We are gathering as a church to help pack some of those boxes on Wednesday November 12. One hundred of these boxes are being reserved for Opportunity Tribe families, to be distributed by GCR members.

Family Promise – $11,000 to cover increased grocery and childcare costs for families transitioning out of homelessness. GCR members are also serving meals at Family Promise November 10-13.

Emerson Elementary – we are providing $250 HEB gift cards for every teacher and staff member at our adopted school who is receiving SNAP benefits. And we are referring students and their families needing food assistance to Mission Agape.

Praise God that, by his grace and the generosity of our church three years ago, we are able to use Breakthrough money to respond quickly and meaningfully to the needs of our city. Please be in prayer for the families who are worried right now, and consider how you might be able to give of your time in the coming weeks to serve our neighbors, to love like Jesus.

Our sermon this Sunday is from one of GCR’s Core Scriptures, Micah 6:6-8, in which God tells us through his prophet that he is most concerned that we act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with him. God’s people in Micah are living well while others in the community are suffering; God’s people are getting rich while their neighbors are hungry and poor; and God’s people are only concerned that their worship practices are in accordance with God’s commands. The Lord tells them they’ve broken the covenant, and they respond by asking how they should fix their corporate worship. That’s when God tells them they are missing the point–the most important thing is to act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with him.

I think what GCR is doing in our local context during this national crisis, feeding our neighbors and providing for their needs, fits the spirit of acting justly and loving mercy. What this nation, what our city, needs from God’s people right now is not for us to be liberal or conservative, they don’t need us to be red or blue; they need us to be followers of Christ Jesus, they need us to operate in a certain way in our community because of our baptisms into the name of Jesus.

Peace,
Allan

Personal Relational Ministry

October 29, 2025 / / 0 Comments

Our vision statement at GCR Church is “Being Changed by God to Love Like Jesus.” It’s about both transformation and mission. It’s viewing everything through the lens of what God is doing both in us and through us. The vision emphasizes, without apology, the transformation of our people for the sake of loving others like our Lord. It’s our people doing ministry in personal and relational settings–being powerfully present with one another in our congregation and with others in our community.

We get that from our King. Thankfully, for us, it’s been part of our GCR DNA for several decades now.

 

 

 

 

 

Eugene Goudeau, in 1981, is one guy from GCR who said I must go to Brazil to help plant churches. That’s how SerCris Training School in Campo Grande got started.

John DeFore, 30 years ago, is one guy from GCR doing World Bible School correspondence courses with people in Kenya. He says I need to go meet these people, I need to do some personal follow-up with these new Christians. That’s how Kenya Widows and Orphans got started–KWO.

Jarrod Brown, 20 years ago, goes to Honduras with not much more than his Bible and a Toyota pickup. He said I want to live with these people, I want to do life with these people in their community. That’s how Mission Lazarus got started.

 

 

 

 

 

 

When we partner with our missionaries in foreign lands, it changes us. It transforms us. It informs and shapes the way we do missions here in Midland. Personal. Relational.

We don’t drop dinner off at Family Promise and leave. We sit down and we share a meal with the people at Family Promise.

We don’t do Harvest Party in our parking lot anymore. We take Harvest Party to the people at Family Promise and Midland FairHavens and Safe Place. I love the way we do Harvest Party now. All the pictures in this post are from the Harvest Party we threw for Family Promise this past Sunday evening.

 

 

 

 

 

We go inside Emerson Elementary and read books to the kids during lunch. We stand at their door on Mondays and fist bump all those little kids as they begin their week.

We don’t just pass out Thanksgiving food boxes in a drive-thru in our church parking lot anymore. We take time to visit with those we’re feeding. We pray with people. We hold their kids. We share desserts. We try to connect.

That’s our vision at GCR Church.

Personal. Relational.

Peace,
Allan

Missions Sunday Miracle

October 27, 2025 / / 0 Comments

“My God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.
To our God and Father be glory for ever and ever. Amen.” ~Philippians 4:19-20

Going into yesterday’s first-ever GCR Missions Sunday, there were at least a half dozen reasons why we might not make our giving goal of $416,000. There were questions. Maybe a couple of doubts.

But by the grace of God and the power of his Holy Spirit, this community of faith answered the call by giving $538,286!

I’m still trying to wrap my brain and my heart around what it all means. What happened yesterday makes no earthly sense. None. There’s nothing to do but give glory to God. There’s no one else to thank, nothing else to credit, no other explanation. That’s the way our God works. He is truly the only one.

Following Eric West’s announcement of the grand total, as the church burst into celebratory applause, I almost took off my shoes. Holy ground. Sacred space. A powerfully miraculous thing had occurred. Our God was moving in and with and through his people. God had far exceeded our grandest plans.

Thank you to every member of our GCR Church family who sacrificed in October and gave to fund our global missions efforts in 2026. Thank you for being so open to what our Lord is doing through our missions partners and for trusting him with your resources. Thank you for your commitment to the cause and your great generosity.

As blessings pile on top of blessings, we are increasingly convinced that our Father is keeping his covenant promises to GCR and to all his creation. May he be glorified and may his Son be exalted and may his Spirit be praised for ever and ever. Amen!

Peace,
Allan

Powerfully Present

October 22, 2025 / / 0 Comments

If we’re not careful, we can de-personalize our God. We can’t think about God in terms of an idea or a force or a doctrine. You can’t love an idea or a force, you can’t be in relationship with a doctrine. So, we effectively remove the command to love God and replace it with acknowledge God. Or respect God. Consider God. Defend God. Study God.

Those verbs require very little, if any, personal relationship.

But our God is a personal and relational God. We know this because he revealed himself to us in his very personal and relational Son. Jesus Christ gave up everything to live with us, to live among us, and to live like us.

The Gospels all record our Lord Jesus going out of his way to be relational and personal with the people he met along the way. Just in the Travel Narrative, that ten-chapter section in the middle of Luke that gives us the details of Jesus’ last journey from Galilee to Jerusalem, Jesus interacts with people very personally. Intimately. Our Lord is powerfully present.

Luke 10 – Jesus is at Mary and Martha’s house getting ready for a meal. Picture our Lord inside their house, sitting down at their table eating their food, with them. Teaching them. Blessing them.

Luke 11 – Jesus teaches personally teaches his followers how to pray. And then he teaches them about hospitality by telling them a story about a meal. At the end of the chapter, Jesus is inside a Pharisee’s house, reclining at his table, eating his food, with him. And he teaches with a parable about dirty dishes.

Luke 13 – Jesus is in the synagogue on the Sabbath. Jesus is not a monk. He is at church every time the doors are opened, with God’s people, as was his custom. There’s a woman at church who’s been crippled for 18 years. When Jesus saw her, the text says, he called her near. He spoke to her. The Bible says he touched her. And he healed her. In the parable at the end of the chapter, Jesus paints a picture of the fulfillment of the Kingdom of God by saying it’s like a huge meal: “People will come from east and west and north and south and will take their places at the feast in the Kingdom of God!”

Luke 14 – Jesus is at another Pharisee’s house eating supper. If you pay attention, you’ll notice that our Lord is always eating a meal, just finishing a meal, or on his way to a meal. Jesus teaches and heals and blesses around the table. Around the bread and the fish, the fruit and the wine, the conversation and the hospitality. There are more stories about food in this chapter. The great banquet and all the invited guests. The open invitation. All things are ready! Everybody is invited to eat with the King!

Luke 15 – Jesus is accused of eating meals with sinners, of getting too close and personal with people who are unclean. So he tells these stories about seeking and saving the lost. Friends and neighbors rejoicing together over lost coins and sheep that have been found. The celebratory feast with the fattened calf and the loud music and dancing when the prodigal son comes home. Jesus says, “You are always with me, and everything I have is yours.”

Luke 16 – Jesus tells a story about a poor man who longed to eat what fell from the rich man’s table.

Luke 17 – Another story about sitting down and eating.

Luke 18 – Jesus pulls little children up into his lap. Sticky-fingered, snotty-nosed little kids. “Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them!” At the end of the chapter our Lord encounters a blind man at the Jericho city gates. Jesus brings the man near to him, the Gospel says. “What do you want me to do for you?” And he heals him.

Luke 19 – Jesus plucks a wee little man out of a Sycamore tree and says, “I must stay at your house today!”

The point is that Jesus went inside people’s houses. He went to people where they were. Around a table. In the kitchen. In the living room. Eating and sharing meals together.

Jesus never does anything halfway. When it comes to people, when it comes to the lost, our Savior goes all the way. He goes into people’s houses where it’s personal and close. He looks at their family pictures on the walls in the hallway. He reads the cartoons and the baby shower announcements held in place by flower magnets on the refrigerator. He sits down and shares meals. He passes the mashed potatoes. He compliments the cook. He laughs. He listens. And he shares.

Personal. Relational. Powerfully present.

Peace,
Allan

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