Hope Church LV Sermons
AWAKEN :: BARTHOLOMEW ORR
Amen. Y'all make Monday night sound like Sunday morning, amen. But we're blessed to be here. Thank you so very much, our dear brother Vance, for this opportunity and to each of you. I want to call your attention tonight to the Old Testament prophet of Micah, chapter 6, and verses 6 through 8. Micah, the sixth chapter, and the sixth through the eighth verse. And when you shall have found that, would you say amen? Micah, chapter 6. Alrighty. These words are recorded therein. Micah, chapter 6, and the Bible says, "With what shall I come to the Lord, and bow myself before the God on high? Shall I come to him with burnt offerings, with yearland calves? Does the Lord take delight in thousands of rams, in ten thousands rivers of oil? Shall I present my firstborn for my rebellious act, the fruit of my body, for the sin of my soul? He has told you, O man, what is good, and what does the Lord require of you? But to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God. He has told you, O man, what is good, and what does the Lord require of you? But to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God. I want to preach to your hearts tonight from this subject, minimum due. Minimum due. I couldn't find it. I couldn't find it. I was searching through all of my receipts and all of my statements, and what I could not find was a bill from God. Common sense told me that I owed God something, because God had been so good to me. Matter of fact, brothers and sisters, God had been better to me than I've been to myself, and I felt like the Psalmist said in Psalms 1 16 and verse 12, when he asked the question, "What shall I render unto the Lord for all of His goodness and His benefits toward me?" It is seem like to me that if God woke us up this morning, if God gave us the activities of our limb, if God has been with us all day long and allowed us to assemble once again, that we ought to owe God something for His goodness. And yet, brothers and sisters, I could not find a statement from God. But I wanted to share with us tonight hope, and that is this right here, although we can never repay the Lord for all that He has done for us, there is a minimum due that He is requiring from each one of us. We can never repay God for all of His kindness, for all of His mercy, for all of His blessing, but God says, "I have a requirement, a minimum due from each one of us." And that's what I like about Micah tonight. Micah is a preacher with a payment stub. Micah is a prophet with a statement from God Almighty. You see, the people of God, the children of Judah, they had forgotten about how good God had been to them. Matter of fact, to them, it was a burden to really serve the Lord. They said that we are tired of worshiping God. We are so weary of all of this service and worship of God Almighty. And so God is going to send Micah to Judah in order to remind them of where God had brought them from. Micah shows up on the scene, and God says, "I need somebody to hear the indictment that I have against my own folks." That's what He says there, Micah chapter 6, verse 2, "Listen to the mountains, listen to the indictment of the Lord." God has a case against His own people. What is that case? Well, they had forgotten where God had brought them from. And so Micah shows up with this payment stub, and Micah simply says, "We have an outstanding debt to God Almighty." How many believe tonight that we have an outstanding debt to God? We owe God, and Micah tells them what they owe God for. Micah said, "First of all, you owe God for salvation." You owe God for salvation. God says, "Don't you remember it was I," verse 4, "who brought you up from the land of Egypt?" When you were slaves in Egypt, when you were there in bondage and captivity, God said it was I who redeemed you. I brought you out, and when I brought you out of Egypt, I didn't just bring you out, empty-handed, but I brought you out with a mighty hand. I brought you out with a strong hand. I brought you out and delivered you out of bondage. You owe me for your salvation. God said, "Not only do you owe me for your salvation, I brought you out of the bondage, the land of bondage, but you owe me for your security." He says there in verse 5, "Don't you remember how Balak the king of Moab consulted with Balam?" Look, God said, "Not only did I bring you out of Egypt, but I kept you 40 years through the wilderness experience." Remember a Balak? He said, "Balak hired Balam to curse you." And every time Balam opened his mouth to curse you, instead of a person coming out, a blessing came forth. And God said it was I who was with you every step of the way. Isn't it, aren't you glad that we serve a God that gives us security like that? That protects us to the point that even the enemies who were tried to curse us, God will use them to bless us. Folks that would try to be a stumbling block in our path, God uses them to be a stepping stone for us to rise a little bit higher. God says you owe me for your security. Not only do you owe me for your salvation, but you owe me for your security, God says you owe me for your success. Because verse 5 says them, "I brought you from Shittam unto Gilgal." And that's significant, y'all, because Shittam was the last place there in Canaan, and Gilgal was the first place in the promised land. God said, "I didn't just bring you part of the way and leave you, but guess what? I brought you all the way. I brought you into a land flowing with milk and honey. I brought you into a land where you hid houses that you did not have to build. You were drinking from wells that you didn't have. God says you owe me for your success." And oh, brothers and sisters, even tonight, I need to remind us that each one of us have an outstanding debt to God Almighty. We owe God for our salvation. Isn't it safe, folks, in the house? We didn't save ourselves, brothers and sisters. Look, it was on a hill call calvary that Jesus paid it all. And all to him, I owe sin, left a quimp sustained, but Jesus wiped it, wiped it, didn't snow. We owe him for our salvation. Praise God, He saved us with the blood of Christ. But not only do we owe him, not only do we owe him for our salvation, but we owe him for our security. We owe him for our security. It was nobody but God that washed over us all last night. It was nobody but God that woke us up this morning and started us on our way. We owe him for our security. It wasn't the alarm company. It wasn't the bars on our windows. It wasn't ADT and brinks that kept the thieves and the robbers away. But all night long, He gave His angels charge over us to watch over us. We owe him for our security. And I don't know about y'all, but I thank God for my security. To get up and to get on a plane in Memphis and to fly all the way out over all of that desert and to land here in Vegas, brothers and sisters, it wasn't the palette, but it was God Almighty. And I thank God for my security. We owe him for our salvation. We owe him for our security. But do you not know we even owe him for our success? We owe him for our success. Anybody have gotten success, brothers and sisters? Look, it wasn't our degrees on the wall, but it was His degree of kindness to us. It wasn't what we learned in some classroom, but it was His anointing that have brought us where we are because every good and perfect gift comes from the Father. And so we owe him for our success where we are. It is the low up that have brought us to this very point. And so because we owe God, because of this outstanding debt, Micah reminds us then that God is expecting something from us. And so the question is asked then, how then can I come before the Lord? Verse 6, "What in the world can I bring to God to be acceptable of God?" Well, I'm glad you asked that question. Look what they said. They said, "Can I come before Him with burnt offering?" Micah said, "Look, will God be impressed with my rituals?" If I go through the motions and I bring my sacrifices to God, will God be impressed with my rituals? And yet God is saying, I'm looking for something more than just rituals. And the reason why y'all is because we have become a very ritualistic when it comes to serving God. We know how to come to church and go through the motion and give to a man one hallelujah, pat our feet a half and go out and feel as if we have given God worship. God says, I'm looking for something more than just rituals. Well, Micah said, they said, "Well, what about our riches? What if we bring to God thousands of rivers of oil? Can we impress God with our riches? Can I tell you something hope? God is not even impressed with our riches. The reason why is because the earth is the Lord and the fullness thereof. The world and they that dwell therein. Look, it all belongs to him. He's not even impressed with our riches." And then somebody raise their hand back in the back and say, "What if I get ridiculous? What if I bring God the firstborn of my own body? What if I bring my own child to God? Will God be impressed if I give up my child for my sins?" Well, God knows something and that is, look, the child was probably so bad we couldn't do anything with him so that we just wanted to put him off on God. God says, look, you cannot even impress me with the ridiculous. He's not looking for just riches. He's looking for more than just ritual. He is looking for more than just a ridiculous. Can I tell you what God is requiring of each one of us tonight? God says, I'm looking for a relationship. I'm looking for a relationship. That is what we owe God. That is the reason why we were created in his image and after his likeness. He created us in order for us to have fellowship with him. He created us to have relationship even in the cootiness of the day. God would come walking in the garden of Eden in order to commune with Adam. He wants relationship from each one of us. What kind of relationship is he looking for? Well, God is looking for a true relationship that is going to be built through time, talking, and trust. Look, if we're going to have a relationship with God, first of all, we've got to put some time in with God. I mean, how in the world can we get to know God if we never put any time in with the Lord? I believe that's the reason why David said often, God, I will raise up, get up early in the morning and you will hear my voice at a noon day hour. I will cry out to you even in the evening. Well, I talk to you why? Because it is built on time, but then it is built on talking. Look, not only must we spend time with God, but we ought to talk with God. We ought to talk to God. I remember when Valerie and I, we met in my freshman year of college. She was a sophomore and she was a student ambassador. They had to be nice to the incoming freshman. Oftentimes, I think Valerie was checking me out when I came in as a freshman, but I remember those days of us talking. She worked overnight. I still don't know how I made it through my senior year of college because we would just talk all night on the phone. Relationship is built through talking. No one to Jesus said, "Man should always pray and faint not." Why? Because it is in prayer that we talk to God. It is through the word that God talks back to us. Look, this relationship is built through time. It is built through talking. It is built through trusting in the Lord. And oh, when you have spent some time with the Lord, when you have gone through some experiences and so have God have worked in your life, it will lead you to trust Him even more. This relationship that is built through time and talking and trusting, but not only that, but the relationship must be based on the redemptive work of Jesus Christ on the cross. You see, the only way that we can come before God, the only way that sinful man can approach a holy God is through the blood of Jesus Christ. What can wash away my sins? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. What can make me whole again? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. Thank God for His blood. All this relationship it is built through time, talking and trusting. This kind of relationship is going to be based upon the redemptive work of Christ who died on the cross and was buried and rose from the dead. But then how do we know we have this true relationship? Micah said it's going to be revealed through fairness, through faithfulness, and through favor. It is built. It is revealed. This is how we know that we have. And look what he says there. In verse 8, he has shown you, oh man, what is good? And what does the Lord require of you? He says, first of all, to do what? What is God looking for? To do justice. To do justice. I call that fairness. I call that fairness. Look, when we have a true relationship with God, it is revealed through fairness. He says, I'm looking for you to do justice. That simply means to treat folks the way you want to be treated. Treat folks the way you want to be treated. That's on a fair. If you don't want to be lied on, guess what? Don't lie on other folks. If you don't want folks taken from you, guess what? Don't take from someone else. If you want folks to speak to you, guess what we ought to do? We ought to speak to them. Look, to do just as simply says, to be fair and to treat folks the way that we want to be treated. He says, when we have a true relationship with the Lord, it's going to be revealed through fairness, treating folks with equity, with justice. But here's the second thing he says, it's going to be revealed through favor. Because he says there, not only do justice, but to do what? Love, kindness. King James says to love mercy. Now, mercy is a little bit better, favor is a little bit better than fairness. Fair says I'm going to treat you the way that I want to be treated. But guess what mercy and kindness says? I'm going to treat you even if you don't deserve it. I'm going to treat you right even if you don't deserve it. That's loving mercy. That's loving kindness. That says I'm going to go the extra step. That says that even if somebody has wronged me, if they have spoken against me, yet instead of giving back to them what they gave to me, I'm going to love them. I'm going to treat them right. That's why Jesus said it like this. Jesus says love your enemies. Bless them that curse you. Do good to them that despitefully use you. Now, now, now that seems crazy. That seems strange. I mean, what about this loving kinder? Even Jesus, when he was teaching his disciples, he taught them to pray, Father forgive us our deaths as we do what? Forgive those who sin and trespass against us. You see, the reason why loving kindness is so important, Jesus in that addendum to that prayer says, if you don't forgive other folks, then your heavenly Father, guess what? Won't forgive you. When I thought about that, brothers and sisters, look, if we want the favor of God, we have to have favor to want another. If we want God to show favor to us, we must in return show favor to one another. And so when we have a true relationship with God, it's going to be revealed through us loving kindness, showing loving kindness to one another. It's revealed through fairness, it's revealed through favor, but then it's revealed through faithfulness. Do you see that last part of verse eight says the word to do what? Walk how? Humbly with our God. Humbly before our God. In other words, faithfulness says, Lord, not my will, but let thy will be done. Faithfulness says that, Lord, I'm humbling my self so that I can live according to your word so that I can put it in to practice, I want to walk humbly with my God. If God says it, I want to do it. And so I'm going to study to show myself, approve them to God, a weapon that needed not to be ashamed, but rightly divide in his word. I'm going to walk humbly with my God. Now, I got to thinking about that, and that was kind of strange. I said to myself, now, Micah gives us three points there to do justice, to love kindness, but then to walk humbly with God. But I like that the first two deals with our relationship with one another. The third one deals with our relationship with God. And to me, Micah kind of got it out of order. Why would he deal with our relationship with one another? And he talks it about it twice. And then the last one deals with our relationship with God. Well, Micah knew how we were going to be, y'all. Micah knew that, look, many times we'll come to church and talk about how much we love God, whom we've never seen. But then we can't stand the person that we work with. We can't get along with family members that are living in the same house with us. And Micah says something is wrong. If we say we have a relationship with God, whom we've never seen, and yet don't have a relationship with our fellow man whom we see every day. Matter of fact, John says in his epistle that how in the world can we love God and then hate our fellow man? John said we are a lie and the truth is not in us. Oh, brothers and sisters, if our vertical relationship is going to be right with God, the horizontal relationship must be right with one another. And when we have a true relationship with God, when we have a real relationship with God, it'll show up in how we treat one another. And so Micah says we owe God. God is requiring him. He is looking for a relationship from each one of us. And so can I ask you tonight, I hope what about you? Do you have a relationship with the Lord? Do you have a genuine relationship with the Lord? Now, I'm not talking about Sunday morning attendance. I'm not talking about whether or not you've been baptized. But I'm talking about are you really saved? Do you have a genuine relationship with the Lord? Have there been a time in your life where in repentance you turned away from your sin? And in faith you turned to Jesus Christ to make him the Lord and the master of your life. Do you have a genuine relationship with the Lord? Because can I tell you something church attendance does not save us. Can I tell you something? I just knowing the Bible is not going to save us. Just going down in the water is not going to save us. Just having certain feeling is not going to save us. That might have been gas that you were feeling that Sunday. Look, you need to make sure that I have a genuine relationship with the Lord that I'm saved and I'm saved according to his word. And so do you have a genuine relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ? I just say, but not only do you have a genuine relationship with the Lord, you need to ask yourself, do I have a growing relationship with the Lord? Do I have a growing relationship with the Lord? In other words, am I getting better? Am I getting better? Paul said in 2 Corinthians chapter 5 and verse 17, if any man be in Christ Jesus, guess what? He's a new creature. All things are passed away and behold, all things have become brand new. Brothers and sisters, we ought to be getting better. Look, the things that ticked us off last year ought not be upset in us this year because we ought to be getting better. We ought to be getting better. The habits that we had, we ought to be changing some of those habits to conform to Jesus Christ. We ought to be asking the Lord smooth out the rough edges. God clean me up, change my tongue, change even the words that I say, change what I look at and watch on TV. Look, we ought to have a growing relationship with the Lord that says I'm getting better. Do I have a growing relationship with the Lord? Do I have a genuine relationship with the Lord? But let me ask you one last one, y'all. Do I have a glowing relationship with the Lord? You see, when you got the Lord on the inside, it ought to show up on the outside. The Bible said, let your light so shine that men will see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven. Are you telling other folks about Jesus Christ? Are you letting your light so shine? Are you being a witness on your job, a witness in the classroom? Do I have a glowing relationship with the Lord? That's all I'll stop by to tell you. Tonight, brothers and sisters, we all God are minimum due. We all God are minimum due. Well, the question becomes, if I owe God a relationship, if I owe him a minimum due, how in the world can I pay God? I mean, what is God going to do? Is he going to send me something in the mail? How can I pay God? I'm glad you asked how can we pay God? We pay God the same way we pay our regular bills. How do you pay your regular bills? Well, one way we pay our regular bill is through check. You pull out the check and you just write the check, you dropping in the mail, send it on. I know what somebody is saying, "Bridger, you're telling me I need to write a check to God?" Look, you ought to check yourself. You ought to check yourself. The way that we pay God is this right here. We need to make sure that what we are doing, we're doing it out of a pure and clean heart. Because don't you know, you can do the right thing with the wrong motive in a prophet does nothing. First Corinthians chapter 13, I can give my body to be burned. But if I don't have love on the inside, it profits me nothing. And so we ought to check ourselves to say, "Lord, I want to serve you out of a pure and clean heart." Oh, but there's another way that we can pay the Lord. And that is we can pay the Lord by credit. We can pay the Lord by credit. Some stuff, y'all, these days, you don't even have to write a check. Guess what you do? You just pull out your credit. And you can just sign it on the slipper paper, put your credit there and send it on in. Don't you know we can pay God by credit? How do I pay God by credit? Boy, y'all asked good questions in Vegas. Look, we pay God by credit, by giving credit to whom credit is due. You want to pay God? Give credit to God. Let folks know that where I am, He broke me. What I have, He gave me. What I know, He taught me. Give credit to God that it was God who woke me up this morning. It was God who gave me the life and the activity of my life. We pay God by giving credit to God. Don't ever steal the glory for yourself. But always give credit to God almighty. But here's another way we pay y'all. And that is some time I don't write a check. Some time I don't pull out the credit. But some of my payments are guess what? They're automatic. They just come out automatic. On the 15th, on the 30th, I don't have to send anything. It just automatically come on out. Oh, when it comes to serving God in our relationship with God, some things ought to be automatic. Praying ought to be automatic. You ought not just wait till you get in trouble to start praying. You ought not wait until problems come to start praying. You ought not wait until sickness come until you start praying. But you ought to be praying always. You ought to be praying when the sun is shining. You ought to pray when you got money in your pocket. You ought to pray when you got friends or even when you have enemies. Praying ought to be automatic. But can I tell you something else? It ought to be automatic. Praising God ought to be automatic. Praising God ought to be automatic. Look, we ought not have to come up in church and wait for the band to rouse us up. We ought not wait for the singers to get us fired up. But we ought to come here with some fire. Psalms 100 says that we ought to make a joyful noise unto the Lord. And we ought to come before His presence with singers. In other words, when you're riding up on the parking lot and you're thinking about where God have brought you from, it ought to be a praise that's automatic that says, God, I'm giving you the glory. We ought to pray. Praise God. That ought to be automatic. And so we can pay God through credit. We can pay God through check. We can pay God through automatic. But not only how can I pay the Lord, but with what should I pay the Lord? For what can I pay the Lord? Is He's looking for some greenback? Is He looking for gold? No, He's looking for us. Because Paul said in Romans chapter 12, present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable unto God. We ought to say, God, here am I. Use my hands to lift up some bow down head. Use my feet to walk for you. Use my tongue to talk for me. God, here am I. Use all of me. But on only how can I pay the Lord? And with what should I pay the Lord? But when should I pay the Lord? Because you do realize something. If you are late, they say you're delinquent. And back home, they'll send you a cut off notice when you go too long without pay. And I believe that's the reason why some folks act the way they act in church. Because they've been delinquent with a bill to God. That's the reason why some folks can come up in church and they never feel the Spirit, they never move, they never have joy, they look like they've been sucking on lemons all the way. Because they are delinquent in their payment with God. But all brothers and sisters, we ought to pay God on time. Well, when is on time? Well, Jeremiah said every morning. His faithfulness is new every morning and great is his compassion. So if his mercy and faithfulness is new every morning, then every day is a day of thanksgiving. Every day is a payday. Every day is a day to say, God, I want to walk with you. God, I want to live for you. God, I want to shine for you. God, I want to let you live through my life. Every day is a day of payment. Oh, brothers and sisters, and when you pay God on time, when you pay God how he wants to be paid, then you are in good standing with God. And it's a good thing to be in good standing with God. Because when you're in good standing with God, he'll build a fence all around you. And he'll make your enemies your footstool. When you're in good standing with God, you can say, like Paul, my God shall supply all of your need according to his riches and glory. When you're in good standing with God, you can say that I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me. When you're in good standing, you don't have to worry about even the enemies because you realize that no weapon formed against me shall prosper. Oh, stay in good standing by giving God the minimum that he's looking for. Well, I'm getting ready to go, y'all. But one last thing that I like about these statements, you know, on these statements, they got a line there that I have on my mortgage. It has minimum due. But then there's another line that says I can add an extra additional payment. In other words, I don't have to just give minimum due. But I can give more than what's due. Good God, Almighty. I'm glad that every now and then when you think about where God has brought you from, when you think about how good God has been to you, when you think about all that the Lord did through his son Jesus Christ, every now and then you ought to tell God I want to send a little bit more. In other words, God, I want to shine a little brighter. I want to run a little bit harder. I want to study just a little bit greater. God, I want to shout a little bit louder. God, I want to wet a little bit more faithful. I want to give more because every day you keep on blessing me. You've done it over and over again. And so I want to do even more to the glory of God. Brothers and sisters, we have a minimum due. We owe God a relationship. (applause)