You know it is an interesting day that God has put us in to minister and it's not the day that has been in the past either bad or good. It's just a different day and it's always going to be that. I mean if you look at the past and we see times of awakening. I shared before that Last time we were back in the States on furlough, we were with a good preacher that's down in Florida, Pastor Bill Itell, and they took us out to eat after the morning service and invited the Crichtons, he was a minister in Rhode Island, to come along. These guys are both in their upper 60s, early 70s. And sitting and eating with them, just talking to them about the day they started their church. And the day they started their church, within a year, you could have a property, you could have people, and a membership, and it was organized, and it was going. And I think back to the 1980s, that's about as far back as I can go. I was born in 76. But I remember our ministry, Rock Lake Baptist Church in Lake Mills, Wisconsin, and just a wee country church, it was in the city, but just in your mind you can picture this, a wood building with a little bell tower in the front, and that building would be packed out on Sundays, and we'd be setting up chairs down the aisle. You know, I mean that was a great day. I look back and I didn't realize I was living in a day like that, you know, where people really had an appetite for the things of God. And so, our day today, and in Scotland, I can share Scotland's history as far as spiritual awakenings and things, and I am aware somewhat of what God's done in the past. But the day in which we live is not that day. It's a much tougher day. So say you go back then to whatever time that was when God was really working in the 1950s on the west coast of Scotland, 1920s on the east coast of Scotland, 1880s all over Scotland. Go back to that day and start a church as a people. It would be much easier. I mean it would be, it would just be easier because people had that heart for God and that love for God and that desire to do God's work and even the world was softer. I saw in touring the Britannia that as you go through, it spoke about the police would deal with profanity on the streets. I mean the police did. And so you start thinking about our day is so rough. It's just tougher. It's tougher to start a church. It's tougher to be a Christian. So Micah, and these days have come and gone, and Micah is living in a day like that. It's a very tough day where Micah has to take a stand for the Lord. And so in our text, and we just read it, and maybe you noticed it as we read it, the first six verses that we read are discouraging verses. Because Micah is looking at what is woeful in his day. With the last three verses he comes to what is hopeful in his day and what he's going to focus on. And so what I want to preach this morning is the day in which we live. You know, we don't get to choose the day in which we live. We can't change our society. We can't change our environment. We don't get to choose that. God put us here, you know, in this day. But the day in which we live, we can't choose that, but we can choose what we focus on in the day in which we live. We get to decide what our mindset is going to be. What is going to be our mindset? I think Micah's got it. Micah had a right focus, even though he looked at what was willful, then he focused on what was hopeful. And I'm just praying today that Spirit of God would help us to, as we look at this text, to understand where we're at, what's going on, but then also like Micah, to look up and find the hope that Micah found as he shares it with us here this morning. So let's pray and ask the Spirit of God to lead you, God, in this time. Father, I thank you for our church. Lord, I am very thankful for Free Baptist Church. Father, I praise you for the many awesome things that we've seen the hand of God do in our day. Even though it's a tough day. Father, I'm not here to complain today about the day in which we live, but we've got to be honest about it. And Father, I pray that the Spirit of God would use this to encourage our church and to strengthen our hands. Father, both as a group and as an individual and as families. And Father, I can't preach without the Spirit of God enabling me, helping me, guiding me, directing me. And Father, I pray for His leadership in this time. And Father, I pray, would you pour out a blessing upon us today. We need it, Lord, I mean there's times when we just desire to get something special from God. And Father, we need that today. And so Father, would you draw us close to yourself? Would you encourage us in your faithfulness, in your power, and in your truth? And Father, I pray that this message would meet a need in our lives and in our church. It's in Christ's name we pray. Amen. Alright, so we can't help but see the things that are woeful in our day. It's the same as Michael. If he looked around, it's because those things are just obvious. And it's good for us at times to evaluate the situation. to stop and take stock and kind of examine. We need to do this in our families, we need to do this in our lives. We need to stop, examine what's going on in our lives. We need to stop, examine what's going on in our families. Stop, examine what's going on in our church. Stop, and examine what's going on in our society, in our environment. And God shouldn't have done that. I mean, Micah, we find him doing that in our text. Nehemiah did that. I mentioned, I think, last week, Nehemiah and the burden he had to go and rebuild the walls around Jerusalem. But his burden began as somebody came and said, hey, Jerusalem's in an awful state. The walls are busted down. The gates are burned with fire. And then in chapter 2, you see Nehemiah getting up in the night, in verse 12, he says, I rose in the night, I and some few men with me, neither told I any man what my God had put in my heart to do at Jerusalem. Neither was there any beast with me, save the beast that I rode upon. And I went out by night, by the gate of the valley, even before the dragon well, into the dun port, and viewed the walls of Jerusalem. He looked down. which were broken down, and the gates there were consumed with fire. Then I went on to the gate of the fountain and to the king's pool, but there was no place for the beast that was underneath to pass, and so he's evaluating what's taking place. He sees it. It's right around him. He can't even get through because of the rubble that's there. Then went I up in the night by the brook and viewed the wall, and turned back and entered by the gate of the valley, and so returned. And the rulers knew not whither I went or what I did, neither had I as yet betold it to the Jews, nor to the priests, nor to the nobles, nor to the rulers, nor to the rest that did the work. Then said I unto them, Ye see the distress that we are in, how Jerusalem lie at waste, and the gates thereof are burned with fire. Come, and let us build up the wall of Jerusalem, that we be no more reproached. Then I told him of the hand of my God which was good upon me, as also the king's words that he had spoken unto me. And they said, let us rise up and build. So they strengthened their hands for the good work." And so Nehemiah was burdened. It didn't discourage him, but he was motivated by what he saw. He went out and looked at it and examined it and thought, you know, it's really bad. The walls are busted down, there's so much rubble you can't even pass through. The gates are burned with fire. Just like I heard, I've seen it, I've examined it myself, and it was a burden to do something about that. You know, as he spoke about it, he wasn't being negative. It was just stating what was obvious. And so today, as we look at Micah, Micah being negative, no, he's just stating the obvious. And today, as we consider this beginning part of what Micah is saying, and as we look at it with Micah, it's not to be negative this morning, it's to speak about the obvious. But it's the burden of hearts to say, you know what, that's really the way it is, but we want to see God do something about it. And so Micah begins with, As he speaks about the woeful things, that's why he begins verse 1, woe is me. First of all, the harvest is hopeless. You know, the sound of beer bottles being bashed as we begin this is not too inappropriate to what we're talking about, is it? And so, the harvest is hopeless. Verse 1 says, Woe is me! For I am as when they have gathered the summer fruits, as the great queens of the vintage. There is no cluster to eat. My soul desire the first ripe fruit. And so Micah is using an illustration about somebody that is going and they're just desiring to taste the fresh grapes from the vine, but they get to the vine and that desire can't be satisfied because it's not there. And it's maybe a little bit of taste of home for Micah. Maybe it's something that he grew up doing. And they would do this. They would take their grapes from their vineyard. They would take them to a press. And they would stomp out the grape and make wine. And so that is a precious memory that Micah had. And so he's thinking about it. He says, my spiritual desire is like that. And we can relate to that. We can think of things that remind us of home taste and things. And this past Tuesday, I enjoyed meeting with some men up in Blair Apple and praying with them. They're American missionaries that are here in Scotland that are part of, we have a loose fellowship, guys that we encourage and just meet together. And so these guys came and we gathered together to pray. And Brother Carl, he's from up in Inverurie, these guys lunch out at lunchtime. We just pray and stack lunch, you know, so we just stay there and go to prayer again after we get done. And Carl said, hey, anybody want some of my Fritos? Well, Fritos are an American corn crisp, all right? And so it's a little bit of taste of home. You've got to import it to get it, I guess. I don't know if you've found an American section in some grocery store or something. But you shouldn't eat Fritos. And we started talking, and Rick Damascus, he's up in Aberdeen. And Rick says, you know, what I really miss is Velveeta cheese. And it's this smooth, milky kind of cheese that really melts really well on a sandwich or something. And so he's talking about that, how that just reminds him of home. And that's kind of what Mike is doing. Mike is reminiscing and using a spiritual illustration to say, you know, I just kind of crave that. I long for that. It's kind of like us saying, you know what, I long for the good old days. And Mike is maybe thinking about the smell of incense. He's thinking about the voice of praise that he heard echoing as people observed the Sabbath and worshiped God. And those people that are excited about God, and he's thinking about that, saying, I'm just like somebody that's longing for a grape, but the harvest that I want is not there. The day of harvest is past, and it's hopeless. Jeremiah 820 is a very sad verse. It says the harvest is past, the summer has ended, and we are not saved. It's kind of like the date of God's blessing is past and yet we go out here into our community and there's houses and houses and houses full of people that they die and they'll spend eternity in hell but there's no spiritual appetite, there's no spiritual thirst, there's no hunger for God. It's like the day of harvest again is past. Another Old Testament prophet, Ezekiel, is given a vision by God about how bad it was, and this is about a hundred years later, after Micah. But God takes him out to that valley, if you know the story of the Valley of Dry Bones, and it's a vision that God gives to Ezekiel about the spiritual condition of Israel, and the text says, the hand of the Lord was upon me. and carried me out in the Spirit of the Lord, and set me down in the midst of the valley, which is full of bones. It caused me to pass by them round about, and behold, there were very many in the open valley, and lo, they were very dry. And he said unto me, Son of man, can these bones live? And I answered, O Lord, God, thou knowest. I mean, Ezekiel has to look at this huge valley of just dry bones representing Israel. And lo and behold, they were very dry. They had no sinews. They had no flesh. They had nothing, just dry bones. And God asked him, can he eat some of that? And he said, he's kind of burdened by it. Lord, do you know? Doesn't seem like it. Again, we've searched for a harvest in Lomheg, Bilstein, Roslyn, Midlothian. And we could say with Micah, where's the harvest? I'm longing for, I'm longing to see the day that those grapes of God's blessing are present again and the harvest begins to come in. And so the harvest is hopeful, that makes Micah say, woe is me. And the second way, the faithful have failed. Verse two, the faithful have failed. He says, the good man is perished out of the earth, and there's none upright among men. I mentioned before we started that Bernard passed away, and surely Micah knew some godly men in the past, and they had passed on, and not just that, but God's servants were failing. They're turning their back on God. They're starting to go back to other things. And so Micah, as a prophet of God, he's given the message from God to stand up and preach and preach with authority. He's looking around saying, but where are those that are going to strengthen my hands? Where are those that are going to stand with me as I stand for God? And there was a sense of isolation in the heart of the prophet as he stood for God. He looked around and said, God, where are they? Where are they? You know, if you stand for God as a godly individual and as a servant of the Lord, there's going to be times where we're going to feel isolated. There's going to be a sense of discouragement looking around saying, but Lord, nobody else takes a stand. Nobody else obeys the Word of God on that. Nobody else takes that truth of God and stands for it. King David said in Psalm 12 verse 1 said, Help the Lord, for the godly man seeks it, for the faithful fail from among the children of men. You know, we can get up every day of our life right now in this current spiritual climate, and we can pray that same prayer. Help Lord, for the godly man ceases, for the faithful fail from among the children of men. God, where are your servants that will stand for the Lord Jesus Christ and not capitulate with everything else in this world? Elijah fell alone. 1 Kings 19 verse 14. And then, by the way, Elijah had just been up on Mount Carmel. God had sent fire from heaven. The prophets had bailed up and killed. But there's a wicked woman seeking his life. And it goes from a spiritual high, look at what God has done, to a spiritual low, where he's fleeing from his life, feeling like he's the only one standing still for God. 1 Kings 19 verse 14. He said, I have been very jealous for the Lord God of hosts, because the children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thy altars, and slain thy prophets with the sword. And I, even I only, am left, and they seek my life to take it away. I mean, God is already Encouraged Elijah. God has fed him. God has helped him get some sleep. God has provided miraculously nourishment for him. And the still small voice of the Spirit of God comes alongside to encourage him. But he felt as if there's nothing left of God's people. Yet God had a remnant. Verse 18, the Lord said, Yet have I left me seven thousand in Israel, all the knees which have not bowed unto Baal, and every mouth which hath not kissed them. And you know, praise God, I can say this morning, God has a remnant. And, I mean, we might feel sometimes like, you know, I'm the only one taking this stand. I'll tell you this. Last night, I had a man call me. His name is Ed Butler. And he was looking for my dad. And this man sounded young, but he wasn't. He was 72. And he was a cowboy from a place near where my dad pastored when my dad was 20, out in Colorado. And he got saved. He told me a little bit of his story. He got saved as a guy that he was riding with his horse. They were getting some cattle. And he said to him, he said, are you saved? He said, well, I'm a junior deacon, and I'm all these things. Are you saved? And he got saved. But he heard my dad preach back then, and he became a missionary to the Philippines for 37 years. Served God. You know, last night he called. I mean, I didn't even know this guy. But just in talking to him, sensing the Spirit of God and things that he's saying, and just that conversation, it encouraged me. Why? Because there's other people standing up for God. But the reality is, if we stand for God, we can say what Mike has said, and that's, Lord, there are very few today that are standing for God. So the faithful have failed. The next thing that we come to in the text is that the wicked are winning. And I purposely overstate it, but that's the sense that might have. The wicked are getting ahead, the wicked are prospering, but it's like what Asa said in Psalm 73, 3. For I was envious at the foolish when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. And we can look at these contemporary churches that have their rock music, and have their big social gatherings, and they have compromised, and they've thrown the Bible under the bus, but they've got people. It's kind of a false prosperity. The day of their judgment is coming. Verse 17-18, in that passage to Asaph, "...until I went to the sanctuary of God, then understood I their end. Surely thou didst set them in slippery places, thou castest them down into destruction." And not just the compromised churches that seem like they're succeeding, but the world itself, and all the wickedness that's there, and it seems like they're getting away with it. It's gonna work, but it won't. So, as Michael looks at it, it seems like they're getting ahead. He says they've got blood on their hands. It says they all lie in wait for blood. They hunt every man, his brother with a net. Okay, let me stop and say this. Israel was a nation that was under God. Scotland is a nation that is not, in the same sense, under God. But as Mike is looking at it, he's looking at the spiritual state of God's people, but he's also looking at the nation as a whole. And so we can do this in our minds with Scotland and the situation that we have here in Scotland. And so he says about them, they've got blood on their hands. They lie in wait for blood. They count every man his brother with a neck. Scotland, you might have seen this this past week. has the highest per capita drug deaths in Europe. And it's equal to the greatest nation, highest drug deaths per capita, and that's the United States. And so Scotland has blood on its hands. 1,200 recorded deaths. The article said there's 60,000 problem drug users in Scotland. And these 1,200 are not just numbers. They are people, like the man that died since that came out the beginning of the week on Wednesday. Brandon Rice, 17, took ecstasy and died. He's from Hamilton by Motherwell, so about 20 miles from here. A young man died because of the blood in the hands of the drug dealers and those that are letting this drug problem take place in Scotland. Last year, 13,286 babies were murdered in their mother's womb in Scotland. I mean, that's the recorded amounts. I think that number would be much higher, significantly higher. But 13,286. There were 784 suicides last year. Last Sunday night I've seen a young man died on Arthur's Seat. The newspaper was kind of silent about what took place and assumed it was suicide as he took his life, 20 years old. 1,136 alcohol-specific deaths. You know, we could list those things, and we stop and think about, you know, the publicans that are selling the alcohol and abusing families. And by the way, that's alcohol-specific deaths. Again, the number would be much higher as far as just alcohol deaths or other things. But Republicans have blood on their hands. The teachers in the schools that are saying there is no God, evolution is true, and this young man has no hope in his life, or other young people have no hope in their life because they've been told that there is no God, those people have blood on their hands. government that have legislated abortion and these things. They have blood on their hands. So you can look at the text of what Micah is saying and say, you know what, there is blood on the hands of our society and there is a sense in which every man is speaking his brother with a neck. Secondly, they have sin on their minds. Verse 3 says that they may do evil with both hands earnestly. They're not just sinners, they're greedy sinners. It says they have a deep desire for this. I saw, you might have seen that there was a symbolic vote in Northern Ireland Parliament regarding abortion. But the MPs down in England, I guess just this past week, Friday I think it was, voted through 28 to 65 to repeal the protection in the Northern Ireland Constitution for the unborn. The MPs are going to impose abortion on Northern Ireland is what basically the article I read said. And so it's not just that man is sinning, it's man is earnestly sinning. Proverbs 6.18 says, A heart that devises wicked imaginations and feet that be swift in running to mischief are two things that God hates and that's certainly something that we see in our society. Ireland voted this past year about abortion. And in New York City, there was a big abortion vote as well. And in both cases, what we saw was a celebration that took place. And the Washington Examiner, on the 23rd of January, 2019, said about New York City, On Tuesday, coincidentally, the 46th anniversary of Roe vs. Wade, the New York State Senate passed the Reproductive Health Act, and it was signed into law by Democratic Governor Andrew Cuomo. The law, which is likely the most expansive abortion bill in the country, allows late-term abortion until the baby's due date if it meets certain requirements. Not only is this kind of legal protection of late-term abortion an affront to the humanity of the unborn and the dignity of society, but New York celebrated it publicly as if it had just won the Super Bowl. And then it goes on to say, per the CDC, about one in three unborn babies are aborted in New York City. And among the black population of New York City, it's half or more. I mean, our world is not just sinning. Our world is greedy to sin. Our world is not just perverse, but they are greatly perverse and running towards perversion against God. You know, the pride and all that junk that took place the last several weeks, and it's all over everything. It should be called shame, but it's called pride. The Bible says Isaiah 5 verse 21 to them, that call evil good and good evil, that put darkness for light and light for darkness, that put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter. And our society is unashamed. And if you ask people, are you embarrassed about the fact that it's illegal to kill babies in the womb, does that bother you? They're not bothered. And Jeremiah 4 says, for my people was foolish. They have not known me. They are sodic children, and they have none understanding. They are wise to do evil, but to do good they have no knowledge. Chapter 6, verse 15, were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? Nay, they were not at all ashamed, neither could they blush. Therefore, they shall fall among them that fall. At the time that I visit them, they shall be cast down, saith the Lord. Again, we don't live in just a simple society. We live in a society that is unashamed of the incredible wickedness that's taking place. Third thing is that they are corrupt. And so verse 3, in the middle of the verse, It says, the prince asketh, and the judge asketh for a reward, and the great man, he uneartheth his mischievous desire, so they wrap it up. The best of them is as a briar, the most upright is sharpened in the thorn hedge. The day of the watchman and thy visitation coming, now shall be their perplexity. And so people would, in a day like that, you'd look to the governor, you'd look to the judges, and you'd go to them and say, you've got to help, it's so corrupt. But the thing about Micah's day, it was so bad, but there was no justice. perverse in the judicial system. They're taking bribes, and the great man says what would happen. The best of them was getting their thorns stuck in their hand. And so again, a very tough day that Micah was in. I wonder how many murdered babies are going to stand at God's judgment throne and point at the doctor who killed them. I mean, that's something that should help you, right? You go to the doctor for your health, and this baby was taken to the doctor, and that doctor, rather than helping that unborn child, reached into the womb and murdered that baby. The judge that should have been there to protect that unborn child is going to stand there, too, and that child's going to point a finger at that judge that passed legislation that said it's fine. It's going to point at those governors and the people in society that voted as a populist and said, we're going to make abortion legal. That child is rightly going to point his finger at them and say, they should have protected me, they should have defended me, but they didn't. I mentioned the drug culture as well in Scotland. And by the way, Prohibition was a good thing. We've got a two-volume set on Lone Head that is excellent. If you ever want to see it, you can see it. That was recently put out for the 350th anniversary. What's the man's name that did it? Alan, yeah. Alan put it together. Beautiful books. You know what's interesting? You studied what churches have done in the past here in Lone Head. Do you know they stood for prohibition? I don't know if, Alec, if you remember this at all back in your day. The church is standing against alcohol in this community, but now here in this community we've got 13 licensed premises, I think. See, that's what governors used to do. They used to stand for the people, but today, again, it's corrupt. Scotland has a massive drug culture. We've got politicians pushing methadone. Methadone has killed more people than heroin. We've got, over in Glasgow, we've got a place where it's legal now for heroin addicts to come in and to supervise, just continue with their addiction. We've got our legislators coming up with hate crime legislation, anti-snacking legislation, victimizing Christians for believing and obeying the Bible. See, those that ought to stand up for what's right and what's true, they're corrupt. It's a sad day. And then, as Michael's looking at it, it gets a little bit worse before it gets better. It does get better as Michael changes his focus, and it will change our focus as well. But he looks at it and he goes, you know what, they're wicked, the government and justice system is corrupt. But even family, you just can't even trust family. Verse 5, the trustworthy are not to be trusted. Trust ye not in a friend? Put ye not confidence in a guide? Keep the doors of thy mouth from her that lieth in thy bosom? For the son dishonored the father, and the daughter riseth up against her mother. The daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law, a man's enemies are the men of his own house. And it's no wonder that Micah begins with, woe is me. It's awful. It's a wicked day. And the judges are corrupt. And the government's corrupt. And there's bribery. And even family have turned their back on me. There was a young man saved in Inveruray. I mentioned Brother Carl. And he's the pastor there. And this young man got saved last year out of a wicked lifestyle and drug addiction. And his life has changed. And it's a blessing to hear about. He's got a thirst for God. And he's even standing up and he's speaking at the church. And his parents wanted him to get saved, in a sense. They wanted him to get God. But they didn't want him to get that much of God. And so now they're causing problems. And now they're trying to pull him back, and they're ostracizing him because he's getting too into seeking after God. So you think, you know, somebody that should care about you, somebody that should encourage you, somebody that should stand with you and say, hey, that's great, glad you got that in your life. They're opposed. You know, Jesus learned about it. Matthew 10, verse 17. It says, But beware of men, for they will deliver you up to the councils, they will scourge you in their synagogues. You shall be brought before governors and kings for my sake, for testimony against them and the Gentiles. But when they deliver you up, take no thought how or what you shall speak, for it shall be given you in that same hour what you shall speak. For it is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father which speaketh in you. And the brother shall deliver up the brother to death, and the father the child. And the children shall rise up against their parents, and cause them to be put to death. And he shall be hated of all men for my namesake, but he that endureth to the end shall be saved. And again we stop and look at Micah's day, and what Micah said, and what the Lord said in his day, and we understand, you know what? It's a tough day. And we ought to rightly look at it and say, that's horrible. Pastor Ben, that's terrible that it's that way, but we need what Micah got in this text. And then as he looked around at it, he got burdened about it, stated it, but then he said this. Therefore, because of all this, I will look unto the Lord. And so Micah goes from looking at this, he goes, OK, I've just got to look at God. Because this is woeful, this is horrible, but I'm just going to focus on God. I just finished the Old Testament and my Bible reading, so I turned to the New, and I got into Matthew. What's interesting is you read Matthew, what you begin to realize is that Jesus Christ, every time He walks out, He's going to preach, He's going to teach, there's people that oppose Him. Every time. They're always against Him, they're always asking those questions, they're always resisting Him, and you can't go anywhere without that resistance against Him. Hebrews 12 verse 3 says, For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds. You might be a little bit exhausted, a little tired, taking a stand for God and desiring to obey God and to be the Christian that you desire to be. And even those that you expect support from aren't encouraging you, aren't helping you. But then you look at Jesus. and think about how he stood, and how faithful he was, so he was constantly, such contradiction of sinners against himself, he was faithful. And so the Bible says, in Hebrews 12 verse 2, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. And so Micah stops looking at this. He just looks up at God. And that's really the point of our message today is that, yes, we need to examine this and understand this, but we need to let it kind of push us to God and say, you know what, I'm just going to, I'm going to look up to God. And so verse 7 says, therefore, I will look unto the Lord. I'm just going to, again, look to God. Ezekiel, remember that passage, Ezekiel, that we talked about where the valley of dry bones is there? And God comes to him and says, can these bones live? He takes his eyes off the bones and he looks up and he says, what? Oh Lord God, down on us. Again, He said unto me, Prophesy upon these bones, and say unto them, O ye dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. Let's see if the Lord got into these bones. Behold, I cause breath to enter into you, and ye shall live. And I will lay cinders upon you, and will bring up flesh upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and ye shall live, and ye shall know that I am the Lord. So I prophesied as I was commanded, and as I prophesied, there was noise, and behold, a shaking, and the bones came together, bone to its bone. And when I beheld, lo, the sinews and the flesh came up upon them, and the skin covered them above, but there was no breath in them. Then saying to me, prophesy unto the wind, prophesy, son of man, say to the wind, Thus saith the Lord God, Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live. So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood upon their feet, an exceeding great army. It's a hopeless harvest. God, it's impossible. God, we look to you. Why? Because God can do anything. I was reminded of it this past week. I think we had the prayer time on Tuesday, and it was great prayer time, but I felt like the rest of the week there was a spiritual opposition. But there were some times where God brought me up from error in some very special ways that God encouraged my heart and reminded me, hey, weeping man, do it for a night and joy comes in the morning. We can face this in your spiritual walk with God, in my spiritual walk with God, in our walk as a family, in our walk as a church, where it's gonna be tough and it's hard. But we just gotta look up to God and say, but God, it's nothing for you. It's not too hard today, in our day, for God to work. God's able. And so what? Let's take our eyes off of this. We need to see it and understand it, but then look up and say, well God, you can't. Then secondly, wait for Jesus. It says, I'll wait for the God of my salvation. See, I'm gonna wait on God? I mean, He's burdened about looking around at everything. He said, but I'm just gonna stay anchored here. My sophomore year at Bob Jones, I think it was my sophomore year, I was in choir. And I mentioned before, I was kind of a shy young man. And so that was a big thing for me, getting up in front of people and singing. I just kind of felt bad for the girl that stood beside me in a choir because my hand was shaking. I'm going to be turned there because we're in an amphitheater, the FMA Founders Memorial amphitheater that seats about 5,000 people. And our preacher boy choir would sing in this place, and I was part of that as well. There'd be about 500 of us actually in the choir. They had a large choir loft, very large. And we'd stand and sing. And about halfway through, all the men in the audience that had been in the preacher boy class at Bob Jones, they would stand up, and they would sing the preacher boy song, which would be woven into the song that we were singing. But the song that I remember singing, and one that I can't remember other ones, is a song, Hold the Fort, for I Am Coming. I remember seeing that. I can still picture it in my mind. Seeing the men standing up there. Seeing the men standing up here. And I pray God, by His grace, has these guys in ministry today. Because we're standing at their scene. And the word is, hold the cord for I am coming. Jesus signals still. Wait in the answer back in heaven. By that grace we go. See, there has to be, in our hearts, in a day like this, that acknowledgement, like, hey, that's bad, it's bad, but by the grace of God, I'm going to stand. And I'm going to wait. Because I want to see what God's going to do. You know, Jesus came back today when he finds you faithful. in this day. It's a very ungodly day. It's a tough day to stand. But are you going to stand? Does it matter to you today what other people are doing? Because Micah is just standing, seemingly isolated, but he's standing for God. He cries to Jesus. That's the third day. He said, my God will cure me. My God will cure me. You know, talk to the world. The world was wicked. They laughed. He went to the judges. The judges were bribed, and they were dishonest. Then he went to family, and family spurned him. But he said, hey, when I speak to God, God hears. David cried to God. Psalm 19, verse 126. He said, it's time for thee, Lord, to work, for they have made void thy law. See, we live in that day. Hey, that could be a prayer that we pray regularly. God, it's time for you to work. They've made void thy law. They've turned their backs on God. God, it's time. Crying out to God. The early church crying in their wicked day. Acts 4.29, they say, we're told not to preach anymore in Jesus' name. They said, Lord, behold their threatenings. And grant unto thy servants that with all boldness they may speak thy word, by stretching forth thine hand to heal, and that signs and wonders may be done by the name of the holy child Jesus. And when they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled together, and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spake the word of God with boldness. See, an early church came, they got on their knees before God and said, God, we've got to have a blindness that only you can give. Sorry, Melissa. All right? They got burdened about it. See, where's our generation? I just met with five guys, total, I guess. We prayed this week from 10 to 12 and from about 1 to 3, four hours. You know, in our day, that's very significant. But see, in the past, it wasn't. See, there are people that spend all night in prayer. And see, what this church doesn't need is a better preacher. This church needs more of the power of God. Where does it come from? It comes from people that cry out to God and say, God, we've got to see you do something about this, because it's not going to happen unless you do it. We've got to get some people that are burning to see the face of God. They get help from Jesus. Verse 8. I like this. It's probably what attracted me to this text. Rejoice not against me, O my enemy. When I fall, I shall rise. When I sit in darkness, the Lord shall be a light unto me. It's kind of like this, he feels, you know, the world looks at him and they're like, your shit's going down. And the vultures are circling. And they're going round and round and he looks up and says, hey, don't get your hopes up. It's not going to happen. When I fall, I shall rise. I'm going to be helped because God is going to help me. Psalm 37, 23, and 24, the steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord. And he delighteth in his way. Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down, for the Lord hath pulled him into the sand. God's going to get in there. God's going to strengthen their hands. God's going to help them. Elijah, I already mentioned, he cried out to God and said, God, I'm the only one left that I already mentioned. God fed him. God told him to get some sleep. God gave him the still, small voice to say, hey, it's OK. I still got 7,000. Then he said, go anoint Elisha. And Elisha's going to be the prophet after you. God's going to use Elisha in a very significant way. And so God came in. You know, are you getting that in your Christian experience? We get those times where we're going, I'm discouraged, it's hard, I'm trying, but it's not going great, and it seems like everybody's against me. Are you getting those times where God comes alongside and says, hey, it's okay. And God strengthens you. And then confess to Jesus, verse 9. Says, I will bear the indignation of the Lord. I'll bear the shame of the Lord. Because I have sinned in the wrath of God as well. I have sinned against Him until He cleaved my cause and executed judgment for me. Micah, as Micah prays, Micah doesn't just acknowledge that. Israel has sinned. They deserve your wrath. But he prays and he says, God, I deserve your wrath as well. And I'm content to bear the shame of this day. And the fact is, I mean, it's not the Day of Harvest. It's not great. It's not going great. But God, I take my part in that. I accept my blame for that. I don't deserve your mercy because I'm a sinner. I've sinned against Him. Daniel, I mentioned this text last week as well, when he's pleading for God's mercy. He says in Daniel chapter 9 verse 4, I prayed unto the Lord my God and made my confession. And said, O Lord, the great and dreadful God, keeping the covenant of mercy to them that love him and to them that keep his commandments, we have sinned and have committed iniquity, and have done wickedly, and have rebelled, even by departing from thy precepts and from thy judgments. Neither have we hearkened unto thy servants the prophets, which spake in thy name to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, and to all the people of the land. These godly men, as they got in the face before God, it was a tough day. They acknowledged like... God, we don't deserve your blessing. Because God, we have sinned. And as they went to God, they searched their heart before God and say, God, maybe we don't deserve your blessing soon because we have sinned. And again, as we looked at, I think two weeks ago, Sunday nights, we had the Lord's table. We justify ourselves so easily. I met a woman yesterday as we knocked on doors and I spoke to her and she's trusting in her goodness, but as we spoke, I just said to her, have you ever taken God's name in vain? And we can do this this morning, we can take the law and examine it, but the fact is, not any of us today has nothing that we can't deal with, with regard to sin. And it would be a good day for the church to stand up before God and say, God, we deserve your wrath. We're not fully to blame for the condition of our society. But we're partially to blame. If the church was what it should be, would our society be what it is? And to examine our life and say, God, are there things in my life that need to change? Is there entertainment? God, is there activities? God, is there a lack of time in the Word of God, time in prayer, time evangelizing, time in the house of God? God, am I not doing what I should do? Am I doing what I shouldn't do? What kind of a church service would we have today if as we got to this part of the text, we didn't stop and go, Lord, is there any reason in my heart why I'm hindering the day of what you desire to bring? There ought to be in each of our hearts, we come to God and say, God, please, I'll bury the indignation of the Lord because I have sinned against him, but I'm waiting on you until you come and plead my cause. And so confess to Jesus. And then lastly, see Jesus, verse 9. It says, you will bring me forth to the light, and I shall behold his righteousness. He's going to see God. And that's what is so precious about Revival, as we pray for God's spirit to really work in our lives and to work in our family. and to work in our church, there is an anticipation of being brought into the presence of God and seeing God for who He is and walking with Him. Psalm 36 verse 9 says, for with thee is the fountain of life. and in thy light shall we see light. Coming to God and letting God examine us and seeing what is in our hearts and that transparency between us and God where everything is right, where everything is pure and is purified by the grace of God. So may God do that in our day as well as we look to Him to do it. Let's pray. Father, I praise you for the grace that you give. And Father, I praise you that you're a faithful God in our day. But Father, we could cry out with Mike and say, woe is me. Lord, we live in a day that has turned its back on God. Father, where even the church is not what it should be, let alone the world. And Father, we sometimes feel isolated in our Christianity. I feel like, Lord, we're just a small group trying to serve God and trying to please God. And maybe there aren't that many churches even that are standing for God. But Father, I pray that, as Micah did, may it just make us say, therefore, I'm going to look to the Lord. Father, there's a great desire in our hearts to see the hand of God come down and change this thing around. Father, just stir us up in our walk with you to bring us into that place of the very presence of God, that righteousness, that transparency of heart between us and God, where as best we know, we can see Him knocking between my soul and the Savior. And Father, I pray that that would be our desire today as a people. Father, we would desire the healing of God, that we desire the grace of God, that we desire the presence of God, the glory of God to be seen again. And Lord, that we would keep that yearning for the harvest that God you can give. And so Lord, would you bless this text to our hearts as we've looked at it this morning. And Father, may you have your ways. In Christ's name we pray. Amen. And then let's stand. We'll sing a hymn of invitation. Take time to do it fully. 422. 422.