Matthew Henry once commented that “thanksgiving is good, but thanks-living is better.”  How do we express our thankfulness by the way we live our lives.   The prophet Micah brings this out as he encourages the men of his day and of ours to live “doxologically,”   Listen as Pastor Wheeler examines what it means to Live Thanks.

Get the 11-25-2012 Bulletin and listen to “Thanksliving”, Micah 4:1-5. 

As Christians we are thankful for God’s provision for our daily bread, but in this passage, the prophet Micah reminds us let our thanksgiving be governed by God’s promises not merely his providences.  Despite the difficulty of our situation, God has promised to be gracious to us.  Join Pastor Wheeler as he examines how God’s Word instructs us in thanksgiving even in the midst of a “frowning providence.”

Get the 11-18-2012, Bulletin and listen to Harvest Thanks, Micah 4:1-5. 

Whoever wrote that “sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me” was self-deluded.   Nothing sinks into our souls and makes and impression like the words spoken to us by those we love.   And no words have the impact that God’s Words have.   In Micah 3:1-12, the prophet preaches a bold and difficult sermon.  Yet, from Jeremiah 26 we know that this sermon brought repentance to the people of the Old Testament Church that stayed the hand of God’s judgment for 100 years.  The church in Micah’s time was playing games with God, not unlike the church in our day. Listen as Pastor Wheeler examines the game that needed changing and the change the game needed.

Get the 11-11-2012, Bulletin and listen to Micah 3:1-12 “Game Changer” 

What brings about reformation and revival?   Romans 1:16-17 reminds us that it is the power of the gospel that brings reformation and revival.  According to Romans 10:17, the word of Christ preached is the ordinary means used by the Holy Spirit to work faith in men.   Yet in our day, as the day in which Micah preached, there are those that preach against preaching.   In “One Little Word,” Pastor Wheeler examines how the contemporary church has impeded reformation and revival by despising preaching.  Listen as Pastor Wheeler challenges us to delight in the preaching of the gospel.

Get the 10-28-2012 Bulletin and listen to “One Little Word”, Micah 2:6-11 

Historian, Henry Van Til once commented that “culture is religion externalized.”  Man’s worship and man’s lifestyle are inseparably connected.   Consequently when God confronts us, He confronts us about both our worship and our lifestyle.   Both the Ten Commandments and the Great Commandment remind us that our love for man is a consequence of our love for God.   Even Nietzsche, the recognized that morality was impossible without religion.   The God of Scripture is a God who confronts.  He confronts us about our worship and about our lifestyle.   Listen as Pastor Wheeler concludes the exposition of Micah 1 and 2 as Micah preaches to us of a God who calls us out.

Get the 10-07-2012 Bulletin and listen to Called Out, Micah 2:1-13. 

C. S. Lewis writes with great insight in the Chronicles of Narnia when he quips that “Aslan is no tame lion.”   A tame animal has had danger trained out.  A tame animal becomes a servant, a domestic, to man.   But God is not our servant, we are His.   Our God is a controversialist.   He is a God who confronts.  He confronts us as a loving Father or else He will confront us as an offended judge.   If you want a tame God or a God that will not confront you, then you are not looking for the God of the Bible.  The prophet Micah’s name means, “who is like the Lord.”  And this is the theme of his prophecy.   Micah reveals a God who confronts, who convicts and who comforts with the gospel.  Join Pastor Wheeler as he examines Micah’s prophecy of a Controversial God.

Get the 09-30-2012 Bulletin and listen to A Controversial God, Micah 2:1-13. 

Last year’s drought was so severe that many gardeners swore they would not plant again this year.  Yet, in the spring the ground was cleared, the soil prepared and the seeds sown.  Every gardener knows that to farm is to plant in hope — to do what is our part and to leave the increase to God.  Despite decades of spiritual drought, Micah continued to clear the ground, prepare the soil and sow the seed of God’s Word.  Micah planted in hope and the Lord granted a revival.   How can we keep planting when the spiritual landscape seems utterly drought-stricken?   Join Pastor Wheeler as he continues to examine how the prophet Micah answered the call of God to plant in hope.

Get the 09-23-2012, Bulletin and listen to Planting in Hope, Micah 1:1-16. 

When God repeats Himself, we should give more attention to His Word, not less.  Unfortunately, the more we hear something in Scripture, the more we are tempted to tune it out.   This is especially a danger for us as we study the Minor Prophets.   If we are not careful and prayerful, the last few minor prophecies given before the exile may begin to sound like Charlie Brown’s teacher to us.   There is something remarkably different about the preaching of Micah, however.   While his message and his method was like that of all the other prophets, the Lord was pleased to use his ministry to bring revival.   The ministry of Micah encourages us to plow in hope, not to cast about for a new message or a new method.  Yet the book of Micah is not about the prophet but about the one who sent Him.  Listen as Pastor Wheeler begins the exposition of Micah, whose name means “who is like our God.”

Get the 09-16-2012 Bulletin and listen to Plowing in Hope: Micah 1:1-16. 

Few words are more poignant than those of Jesus as he tells the Jews of His day, that He is leaving their house desolate.  An uninhabited house falls into ruin, but what about a church in which the glory of God has departed and is replaced by the opinions of men?   Nahum was not written to Nineveh, but as a graphic warning to the Old Testament Church and us that when the church patterns itself after the world, it will come to utter ruin.   Listen as Pastor Wheeler concludes the exposition of Nahum.

Get the 09-09-2012, Bulletin and listen to Ichabod, Nahum 3:1-19.

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Augustine once spoke of the world as composed of “two cities[that] have been formed by two loves: the earthly by the love of self, even to the contempt of God; the heavenly by the love of God, even to the contempt of self.”  Nineveh typified the City of Man and it was utterly destroyed in God’s judgement.  John Bunyan picked up this same idea in Pilgrims’ Progress as he warns men to flee the City of Destruction for the Celestial City.  Listen as Pastor Wheeler examines the God’s Word from the minor prophet Nahum warning us to flee from the City of Man to the City of God.

Get the 09-02-2012 Bulletin and listen to City of Man, or City of God? Nahum 3.