I Will Be Your Shepherd-King - Micah 4:6-5:15

[00:00:00] Thank you for listening to the Calvary Monterey Podcast. Please visit calvary.com to learn

[00:00:10] more about our church and visit Nateholdrich.com for additional Bible teaching from our lead pastor,

[00:00:16] Nateholdrich. Teaching today is our lead pastor, Nateholdrich.

[00:00:24] All right, good morning church. Great to see you guys today. Let's take out our

[00:00:29] Bibles and turn to the Old Testament book of Micah. Micah is the book that we're

[00:00:34] studying verse by verse as a church right now and today we're in Micah chapter four if you

[00:00:38] guys would turn there. Micah chapter four and five will be our text this morning. And

[00:00:43] well you guys are finding the book of Micah and getting yourself situated. It's my

[00:00:49] honor to give a little bit of an update about our search for our next iteration of youth

[00:00:56] ministry leadership here at Calvary. You guys know that this last January are long time and

[00:01:04] beloved youth pastor, Josh Shively took his wife Erica and their two beautiful children to

[00:01:10] Changmai Thailand to serve as missionaries and ever since he told us that he was going to be

[00:01:17] heading on to the mission field if we would bless it. And of course, we were willing to. We

[00:01:22] began our search so all the way back into the early fall we've been looking for putting out

[00:01:28] feelers gaining collecting applications interviewing if any of you are business owners and are

[00:01:35] familiar with this process that's real similar to what we were doing. We're getting to know people

[00:01:40] from afar trying to see whether they're a potential candidate assessing resumes all that kind

[00:01:45] of stuff. And after a very long process we've come to a great conclusion and we're actually going

[00:01:53] to bring on two highly gifted young guys and so I'm excited to introduce you today to our new

[00:02:01] youth ministry leaders Austin, Kava and Taylor Johnson there they are on the screen.

[00:02:06] I'm going to talk about each one of these brothers in a moment but I want to say first and I'm

[00:02:15] very excited about this next iteration of our youth ministry leadership. At Converi Monterey,

[00:02:21] our youth ministry is incredibly important to us and we're not just saying that when we say that

[00:02:28] in 1996 as church moved into this building and the first hire that they made one of the first

[00:02:34] hires they made was to bring on a young man in his early 20s named Mani Kalazo to be the youth

[00:02:40] pastor. Mani was up here a few moments ago he's our executive pastor and he served for a number of

[00:02:47] years in that role after him I became the youth pastor of this church for a period of time. After

[00:02:53] me Pastor Matt Garcendi who went on to eventually plant a church in Salinas called Refuge Salinas

[00:03:00] pastoring that church there to this day he was the next youth pastor after him was a man named

[00:03:06] George butto eventually moved to Florida to plant a church and is still in ministry today

[00:03:12] and after him was Josh Scheifleys so in 30 or so years we've had only a handful of guys who

[00:03:20] have served in this role and all of us are still in ministry today. So this is an important ministry

[00:03:27] for us not just because of those who lead it but those who come out of this ministry many of the

[00:03:32] people who are serving the Lord in our church as volunteers or staff members or key pastors

[00:03:38] grew up in this church and went through that youth ministry. Pastor Riley our worship leader is one

[00:03:43] of many examples of young men and women who God has raised up through that ministry so it's very

[00:03:49] important to us. So as we looked and thought and went through this long process we came to the

[00:03:55] conclusion that what we think we have in both Austin and in Taylor are potentially two

[00:04:02] dynamic pastors that will be a gift to this church. They're in their early stages of their

[00:04:09] ministry career though so the word that Pastor Matt and myself have been using to describe what we

[00:04:14] think the next couple of years at least will look like is that he and I want to serve as scaffolding

[00:04:20] for these men. In fact that's the word that I used with Taylor when he at the end of his five

[00:04:26] month long interview process came up to Monterey and had his one-on-one time with me. I told him I

[00:04:32] said look I have a feeling that we're liking what we see in you and if we give you the invitation

[00:04:38] to come here the question I want you to ask is this is this church the place is this pastoral

[00:04:45] team the group that can serve as scaffolding for me as I enter into manhood and become the man of

[00:04:52] God and the pastor that God wants me to become so the next couple of years myself and especially

[00:04:58] Pastor Matt are going to be heavily involved in their lives and also heavily involved in the

[00:05:04] youth ministry. In fact I really had to pray this one through because I really love teenagers

[00:05:10] and I love ministering to teenagers. I almost hired myself to be the youth pastor.

[00:05:16] So I had to double check and make sure that I didn't have ulterior motives in wanting to be

[00:05:21] still involved once these guys got here but I really think that we have a chance here to pour

[00:05:26] into a couple of real genuine called young guys and develop them into real gifts to the church

[00:05:33] for years to come. And so that's going to be our game plan. I want to introduce each of

[00:05:38] these guys by reading to you their biography that we put together. Austin many of you know him is

[00:05:43] married to Vanessa he's been attending Calvary Monterrey since 2016 and currently volunteers in

[00:05:50] the regeneration recovery and Calvary kids ministries. Austin comes to us from a position as a

[00:05:57] counselor at the Chomp emergency room which I think speaks volumes of his love for people. Austin

[00:06:05] is currently finishing a bachelor's in business from the University of Toledo and has already

[00:06:09] started seminary training. He has demonstrated a deep desire to devote even more of himself to our

[00:06:14] church and make a career shift into full-time ministry. Another reason we rejoice in adding Austin

[00:06:20] to our church staff is that he came to our church through the bridge restoration ministry.

[00:06:27] As a graduate every spiritual leader in Austin's life has continued to affirm God's redemption and

[00:06:39] restoration in him. So we're blessed to partner with him as God continues to write his amazing

[00:06:44] grace story in this man. Austin acknowledges the significant privilege it will be to walk alongside

[00:06:50] our youth in their pursuit of Jesus. His adaptability, empathy and life experiences is a 36-year-old

[00:06:56] married man and former Marine have prepared him to connect with youth from various backgrounds.

[00:07:02] It basically is a way of saying he's crazy enough to handle middle school kids.

[00:07:08] We look forward to the blessing he'll be to our church as we embark on this journey together.

[00:07:12] Now for Taylor, Taylor came to us from Calvary Chapel Bible College, CCBC and give it up for CCBC.

[00:07:20] He blew away our pastors and leadership team during his five-month long interview.

[00:07:28] We found a genuine and godly young man with a strong pastoral call on his life,

[00:07:32] a real diamond in the rough. Part of the interview process for these guys was to

[00:07:37] have a meal at the home of a couple of families in the church who have kids in the youth ministry

[00:07:43] and these families just fell in love with Taylor. He is passionate about seeing students

[00:07:48] connecting community and experience what it means to belong in Christ, when enrolled at CCBC,

[00:07:53] Taylor took on ministry roles on campus and in a local church off campus. They actually had him

[00:07:58] teaching at their midweek services and everyone there at the school has affirmed to us that he's

[00:08:04] a true leader. He was born and raised in a wonderful and tight knit family it really shows

[00:08:10] down in Santa Barbara, California and is a true central coast guy. He's going to come to our church

[00:08:15] after the conclusion of the spring semester in May and will finish his bachelor's in biblical

[00:08:20] studies online by the end of the year. So he wants to be here so he's going to finish his education

[00:08:26] by the end of the year online. His enthusiasm for serving this generation is inspiring

[00:08:32] and here's what I'm most excited about with Taylor. We're excited to add a younger voice

[00:08:38] to reach this younger generation, you know, for a while now and this has been great but we've had

[00:08:43] youth pastors that are more like a dad voice and I'm definitely filling that role in the youth

[00:08:49] ministry right now. I actually have two kids in the youth group so I'm for sure filling that

[00:08:53] dad voice but to have someone younger who can speak to them, I was 20 years old when I got

[00:08:59] started in youth ministry actually 18 years old when the church let me be the interim youth pastor

[00:09:03] for a summer it was pretty crazy but you know Taylor having a younger man speak to these kids

[00:09:10] I think is going to be powerful. God will use his compassion dedication to discipleship

[00:09:15] and spiritual maturity to shepherd our youth in powerful ways so that's the plan you guys can

[00:09:21] read more about it and see some welcome videos from them at calvery.com slash youth and it gets

[00:09:28] to know them a little bit keep them in your prayers. Austin has already started this last week and

[00:09:33] like I said Taylor will come to us in mid May once he finishes out his spring semester and like I said

[00:09:39] I'm really excited about this next iteration of our leadership team and my hope and dream is that

[00:09:46] in due course we'll have both of these guys up on the platform at some time laying our hands

[00:09:51] on them and commissioning them or dating them into pastoral ministry because we certainly see those

[00:09:57] giftings and callings in their lives so if you guys would join me I want to pray for our youth

[00:10:03] ministry and then also transition and pray for our time in the word together today. Lord thank you

[00:10:09] so much for your goodness and grace and Lord bringing us to this point and Lord we pray for these two

[00:10:17] men and ask Lord that you bless the work of their hands that you preserve and protect them and

[00:10:22] defend them continue to build them up and equip them and thank you Lord for bringing them to us

[00:10:28] and we pray Lord that you help us as we build them up and train them and teach them help them

[00:10:33] Lord to become everything that you've envisioned for their lives so we thank you Lord

[00:10:40] we now ask Lord and pray that you bless our time here in the book of Micah. Thank you Lord

[00:10:46] for your holy word in Jesus name amen.

[00:10:50] Okay it's been a few weeks since we've studied the book of Micah together last week of course was

[00:11:02] Easter Sunday and the week before that was Palm Sunday and Pastor Riley gave a great message

[00:11:07] on the triumphant entry of Jesus so it's been three Sundays really since we've been in the book

[00:11:13] of Micah together and as a reminder to you when Micah the prophet came along to the people of Israel

[00:11:20] he was a real jolt to God's people. In Micah's day Israel was supposed to be God's covenant

[00:11:29] partner we've thought a lot about that as we've gone through the book of Exodus that God invited

[00:11:35] these people to partner with him so that they could be a light to the world so that they could be

[00:11:41] a kingdom of priests introducing Yahweh to the nations that was their role that was their

[00:11:49] objective but by the time Micah came onto the scene they had lost that mission for centuries

[00:11:56] they had wandered from their allegiance to God and that's why Micah came onto the scene that long

[00:12:03] slow down necessitated the prophetic word and he was God's instrument to confront them really what

[00:12:10] you're seeing with Micah it's like this man is confronting the church of that old testament era

[00:12:18] there were God's people this is not him just confronting any old nation this is him confronting

[00:12:22] the church of that era he spoke the truth to the leaders of God's people and as Micah's prophecies

[00:12:32] or his oracles went from the valley below Jerusalem up the mountains to Jerusalem the people would

[00:12:40] have been shocked shocked by his message Micah's message if I could summarize it was that God's chosen

[00:12:51] people had neglected allegiance to God for so long that judgment was now their destiny their disobedience

[00:13:00] manifested in idolatry and in covetousness which we've been thinking a lot about is we've been

[00:13:05] going through the book it was so long-standing it was so concrete that God said it's like it's so

[00:13:11] solid in you so concrete in you I've got to use the jackhammer of the Assyrians and then the Babylonians

[00:13:18] to just come and defeat you and carry you into exile in order to break up the hardness

[00:13:24] that's inside of you that that's what Micah declared his his message was basically the the Assyrians

[00:13:30] and then the Babylonians are coming and you're going to lose to them that was his message

[00:13:38] but as we've been seeing as we've been going through the book of Micah that wasn't the only thing

[00:13:43] that he had to say it wasn't just a message of doom it was also a vision of incredible radical hope

[00:13:49] all throughout the book Micah has this vision of this figure he calls him a shepherd

[00:13:54] he's also a king he's divine and origin as we're going to see in our passage today

[00:14:01] he would one day Micah said regather scattered Israel he would establish a kingdom that never ended

[00:14:10] he would spark a worldwide revival so intense will be his leadership that we will take weapons

[00:14:18] and repurpose them as farming equipment I mean it's just like a radical vision that Micah sees and

[00:14:26] Micah called this he said when when will this happen he said in chapter 4 verse 1 and we studied

[00:14:31] this few weeks ago he called this the latter days this will happen in the latter days

[00:14:38] and these days these latter days once the Assyrians did come because they did come and once the

[00:14:44] Babylonians came because they did come the people of Israel they started longing for the latter days

[00:14:51] that prophets like Micah talked about this glorious hope that he they said would happen they were

[00:14:56] waiting for them so the book of Micah is both apocalyptic doom and eschatological hope that's a fancy

[00:15:05] way of saying it's describing judgment that happened three thousand years ago and some really

[00:15:10] amazing good stuff that's going to happen in the future when I was growing up the way that we

[00:15:16] listened to music was on I mean you could listen to the radio but cassette tape was the thing that

[00:15:21] we had eventually CDs came onto the scene but cassette tape when I was coming up and each tape

[00:15:29] of course had side A and side B you'd play it all the way through it get to the end and maybe

[00:15:34] you had the kind of like fancy tape deck that would like automatically switch it and play the other side

[00:15:39] but if you had a hoopty one like I did you had to go over to it hit the eject button pull it out flip

[00:15:44] it over put it back in and then you could listen to the other side side B if Micah's side A is judgment

[00:15:52] his side B is glory and what I want to say to you to try to help you understand the passage we're

[00:15:58] about to read together this morning is that the text we're in today it's side A and side B

[00:16:05] he bounces back and forth between prophecies of doom and prophecies of incredible hope

[00:16:11] I want you to notice as we're reading through this there are going to be times that Micah uses the phrase

[00:16:17] in that day when he says that he's usually alluding to the latter days he said there's this

[00:16:24] credible thing that's going to happen in the latter days in that day here's what will happen

[00:16:30] and then there will be other times interspersed throughout this text that Micah will use the word

[00:16:35] now and when he says that he's talking to them about this is what's going to happen to you guys

[00:16:41] pretty soon it's coming now all right so the judgment is now the beautiful stuff is

[00:16:49] in the coming time in the latter days or in that day all right now now I know we need to actually

[00:16:57] read the Bible here in a second and we're going to do that but I just want to say that there's

[00:17:01] some amazing prophecies that are in this little section like predictive not everything that the

[00:17:06] prophets do is predictive but there are some amazing predictive prophecies in the section we're

[00:17:11] about to read one is found in our first reading in chapter four verse 10 Micah will predict that

[00:17:17] the Babylonians are going to come and carry them into exile the reason why that's such an amazing

[00:17:24] prediction or prophecy is because at the time that Micah spoke it the Babylonians were not really

[00:17:31] a thing they were around but they were not the superpower they were not the the nation that people

[00:17:35] feared people feared the Assyrians at the time that Micah was around so when you hear Micah saying

[00:17:42] you're going to be carried away into Babylon you shouldn't be hearing a prediction that's like

[00:17:47] similar to someone maybe a few years ago saying you know it really seems like someday Russia is going

[00:17:54] to invade Ukraine like that you can kind of see that one coming Micah's prediction is more like

[00:18:01] a one-day Canada is going to defeat the United States of America and war or something like that

[00:18:06] you know like no disrespect to the Canadian military but I think we got that one

[00:18:11] I know they got the Mounties and everything so don't laugh at them but

[00:18:15] the second significant prophecy though moving on from my comments about Canada

[00:18:25] the second big prophecy and this is one that you guys probably knew even when we turn to the book

[00:18:29] of Micah it will come in chapter five verse two it'll tell us if the shepherd king figure will be

[00:18:35] born in Bethlehem it's the prophecy that when the wise men came from the east to Jerusalem and

[00:18:42] asked King Herod where is he who's the king of the Jews where will he be born he inquired of the

[00:18:48] scribes and they said Micah five two Bethlehem so that prophecy is here in this passage so what are

[00:18:56] we going to do with this text well I've been trying to frame our study in the book of Micah as

[00:19:04] the call of this shepherd king figure okay Jesus is all in this passage what is this shepherd

[00:19:11] king what is Jesus trying to say to us through the prophet Micah and today the big message I think

[00:19:19] that he's saying is I will be your shepherd king that's who I want to be for you

[00:19:25] and the first element of that that I want to think about is him saying I want to or I will restore

[00:19:33] you I will restore you so let's read it together Micah four verse six

[00:19:43] in that day right I told you that was going to come up now or in that day in that day so this

[00:19:49] is future declares the Lord I will assemble the lame and gather those who have been driven away

[00:19:54] in those whom I have afflicted and the lame I will make the remnant and those who were cast off a

[00:20:00] strong nation and the Lord will reign over them in Mount Zion from this time forth and forever more

[00:20:06] and you O Tower of the Flock Hill of the Daughter of Zion this is flowery language for Jerusalem to

[00:20:11] you it shall come the former Dominion shall come kingship for the daughter of Jerusalem now

[00:20:19] verse nine so he's snapped back into his current time why do you cry out is there no king

[00:20:26] in you has your counselor parish that pain sees you like a woman in labor rye then grown O

[00:20:31] daughter of Zion like a woman in labor for now you shall go out from the city out from Jerusalem

[00:20:37] and dwell in the open country you're going to be camping on your way because you shall go to Babylon

[00:20:43] there you shall be rescued there the Lord will redeem you from the hand of your enemies

[00:20:48] now verse 11 many nations are assembled against you saying let her be defiled and let our

[00:20:53] eyes gaze upon Zion but they do not know the thoughts of the Lord they do not understand his plan

[00:21:01] that he has gathered them as sheaths to the threshing floor a rise in Thrasho daughter of Zion for I

[00:21:07] will make your horn iron I will make your hooves bronze you shall beat him pieces many people's

[00:21:13] and she'll devote their gain to the Lord their wealth to the Lord of the whole earth okay like

[00:21:19] like I said I think in this first movement the shepherd king announces I will restore you where am

[00:21:29] I getting that idea from well look in chapter four verse six the very first line of our reading he

[00:21:35] says in that day I will assemble the lame and gather those who have been driven away what do you

[00:21:44] say in here is that in in the latter days the days when all nations are flowing to God's house or

[00:21:51] God's mountain to hear his voice from that mountain God is going to rule over the world it'll be an

[00:21:59] age of prosperity and glory the earth will be under God's leadership but who will he restore who

[00:22:05] will he bring back well through Micah Yahweh said he would assemble the lame the exiled

[00:22:14] the afflicted the castoffs of their time when I read that

[00:22:26] so quickly it reminds me of the ministry of Jesus

[00:22:29] you know when Jesus came he he seems to have targeted those who were on the fringes of society

[00:22:41] those who were hurting those who were broken those who were unclean for example when you read

[00:22:49] the book of mark mark gets right to it and like his style you know the other gospel writers will

[00:22:53] give you like you know here's his birth story and you know all this kind of stuff but mark just

[00:22:58] gets right into like Jesus got baptized then he went into the wilderness for a time of testing

[00:23:02] and then he came out of the wilderness and marks like he went straight to a synagogue and he

[00:23:07] battled a demon possessed a demon who had possessed a man in that synagogue he went then straight

[00:23:13] to Peter's mother-in-law's house and he began healing sicknesses and then he went straight to a

[00:23:18] leper who said if you can make me clean if you're willing you can make me clean and he made him

[00:23:23] clean it's like mark is communicating right off the bat that Jesus did not come to mess around he

[00:23:29] came to to enter into this cosmic war against demonic powers against brokenness and human frailty

[00:23:40] and disability and sickness and against spiritual uncleanness that has separated humanity from God

[00:23:48] he wants to he certainly wants to reach up to the upper echelons of society but mark portrays Jesus

[00:23:55] as starting at the bottom and working his way up starting with the poor in this in spirit the

[00:24:02] sorrowful and the meek Jesus is not presented in the gospels is heading straight to the powerful

[00:24:08] and the wealthy but to the weak and poor and this is what Micah seems to be depicting you know

[00:24:15] God is saying when I bring back my exiles I'm bringing back the lame and those who have been

[00:24:21] exiled those who have been driven away the hurting people there's a story in the book of acts that

[00:24:26] I think portrays this in a beautiful way it's an Acts chapter 8 the man named Philip he's

[00:24:35] part of the leadership of the Jerusalem church not not an impossible one of the first deacons

[00:24:40] in the church and he's doing his thing but then persecution hits Jerusalem and so Philip has to

[00:24:46] run for his life and he runs over to Samaria but he's still telling people about Jesus and

[00:24:53] the spirit of God is on him and a revival breaks out in Samaria I mean it's just like one of those

[00:24:58] stories in the book of Acts it's like no that's just most have been amazing to have been there

[00:25:02] you know everybody's getting saved people are getting healed and Philip is right there at the

[00:25:07] center of it you know it's kind of like dude I could get used to this you know I'll just stay

[00:25:12] here the rest of my life and then he hears the word of the Lord and the Lord tells him leave this

[00:25:17] and go down to Gaza Luke gives a little editorial note this is desert nobody's there

[00:25:25] but he obeys he goes down to this desert area and he sees this caravan this caravan leaving Israel

[00:25:32] and going back down to Africa and he approaches this caravan and he finds this Ethiopian

[00:25:39] treasureer for Queen Candace and the guy is in there reading the book of Isaiah and Philip

[00:25:47] goes up to the chariot and says do you understand what you're reading and the guy says to him

[00:25:55] how can I understand unless I have an interpreter or a teacher to explain it to me like I've been

[00:26:03] waiting my whole life for somebody to say this to me it never happens you know like it was just

[00:26:09] like perfectly set up for Philip so he gets up in the chariot and beginning with the prophecy he was

[00:26:15] in and Isaiah and through the rest of the Old Testament Philip gives him an Old Testament survey explaining

[00:26:20] Jesus to this guy this guy ends up seeing water and he's like I believe what prohibits me from being

[00:26:25] baptized right now and so they get out Philip baptizes him and then the guy goes on his way and

[00:26:29] God carries Philip to a different place but that whole story is so Jesus see to me because I think

[00:26:36] what you have there in that Ethiopian unit because a man who's he's looking for something up in Jerusalem

[00:26:43] he doesn't find it he's wealthy enough to be able to purchase a scroll of Isaiah that was a big deal

[00:26:49] and he's reading it and he reads about this hero figure in Isaiah's prophecies who he's specifically

[00:26:56] reading the passage that says this guy has no generation it's cut off from him and he's probably

[00:27:02] thinking about his own life he's like I'm not going to have descendants either I'm a I'm a unique

[00:27:08] for queen Candace my family line is cut off who is this guy he's curious he's feeling like an

[00:27:14] outsider he's feeling alone and the reason I say so Jesus sees because that's what Jesus always

[00:27:20] did you know he would he would leave revival and cross the sea of Galilee and he'd find the one

[00:27:26] demon possessed guy to deliver and then leave he would go up to Tyre and Sidon and find the one

[00:27:33] Gentile woman that was hungry for the Lord and he would minister to her he would go out of his way

[00:27:40] to go to Samaria to minister to a sexually promiscuous woman that he felt he had an appointment with

[00:27:47] over and over again Jesus would pull away from the crowd and minister to the singular person

[00:27:54] and these hurting people Jesus would minister to them and that's exactly what Philip did and

[00:28:00] what the Lord is saying I want to do this for you now the thing I love about the Lord saying

[00:28:05] this I want to restore you I want to I want to pull you back is that what is he pulling them back from

[00:28:12] he's pulling them back from exile that they deserved like centuries of disobedience to God

[00:28:20] God had said if you do this here's gonna this is the result they'd done it for over 400 years

[00:28:27] they'd wandered away from the Lord and then the result came and the Lord says but when you're in

[00:28:32] that exile and you're weeping you're in sorrow I'm coming for you I'm going to rescue you I'm

[00:28:41] going to redeem you out of that you guys have heard the phrase before you made your bed

[00:28:48] and now you got to sleep in it right what does that mean to us it means it means hey I make my

[00:28:55] life choices and I got a live with those choices there's a grain of truth there but with the gospel

[00:29:02] and with the Lord there is this additional added measure you made your bed you will sleep in it

[00:29:10] but I will then come in and rescue you I am planning to restore you and redeem you and pull

[00:29:17] you out of that I don't know your story I don't know where you're at today but the reality is

[00:29:23] there's no distance that you can go where the Lord isn't looking at you and saying you know you

[00:29:29] you might be swallowing a hard till right now but I have hope for you I have things I want to do

[00:29:37] in you you might be going through your own exile even as a result of your own decisions however

[00:29:46] I have a plan for you I have a purpose for you walk with me so that's just a beautiful little

[00:29:53] excitation from Micah there's a little line in there in verse 9 of chapter 4 look at this one

[00:29:58] with me he asks these future exiles is there no king in you has your counselor perished it's like

[00:30:06] his way of saying you know God is still there for you to ask what should I do you're telling me

[00:30:15] that this doom is coming what should I do they could have pursued the Lord and I think that

[00:30:21] invitation still stands okay I want to talk too much about that one let's move on to the second

[00:30:26] big movement chapter 5 verse 1 through 9 and I oh the way I want to say it here is our shepherd

[00:30:31] king says to us I will be your peace I will be your peace let's read verse 1 through verse 9 now

[00:30:41] muster your troops oh daughter of troops siege is laid against us with a rod they strike the judge

[00:30:46] of Israel on the cheek but you oh Bethlehem if half Thura who are too little to be among the

[00:30:52] clans of Judah from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel who's coming

[00:30:59] forth is from old from ancient of days therefore he shall give them up until the time when she who

[00:31:04] is in labor has given birth then the rest of his brothers shall return to the people of Israel and

[00:31:09] he shall stand and shepherd his flock in the strength of the Lord in the majesty of the name of the

[00:31:15] Lord his God and they shall dwell secure for now he shall be great to the ends of the earth

[00:31:22] and he shall be their peace when the Assyrian verse 5 comes into our land and treads in our

[00:31:27] palaces then we will raise against him seven shepherds and eight princes of men they shall shepherd

[00:31:33] the land of Assyria with the sword and the land of Nimrod at its entrances and he shall deliver us

[00:31:39] from the Assyrian when he comes into our land and treads within our border then verse 7 the remnant

[00:31:44] of Jacob shall be in the midst of many people's like dew from the Lord like showers on the grass which

[00:31:49] delay not for a man or wait for the children of man and the remnant of Jacob shall be among the

[00:31:54] nations and the midst of many peoples like a lion among the beasts of the forest like a young lion

[00:31:59] among the flocks of sheep which when it goes through treads down in tears and pieces and there is

[00:32:04] none to deliver your hand shall be lifted up over your adversaries and all your enemies shall be

[00:32:10] cut off. Okay in this second movement what I want to say is that I think the voice of the shepherd

[00:32:16] king is this I will be your peace I will be your peace where do I get that from well look at verse 5

[00:32:22] talking about this figure born in Bethlehem he says and he shall be their peace it's a word shall

[00:32:31] loam if you're familiar with that Hebrew word and what he meant is that even though Yahweh would

[00:32:38] remove his longstanding protection from them because of their longstanding rebellion he would one day

[00:32:45] rescue them with a ruler from Judah who would stand and shepherd them now we've already talked about

[00:32:51] how this figure is Jesus but Micah's prophecy here it helps us reinforce that view

[00:32:59] he he tells us in the first movement who God is coming for but here he tells us where he the shepherd

[00:33:06] king comes from his human origins he says it's Bethlehem Bethlehem is a perfect place for Jesus to

[00:33:13] have been born because it's a place that King David was from David city as the shepherd king's birth

[00:33:19] place was appropriate because God had told David that a descendant of his would sit on the throne

[00:33:26] forever and as Micah pointed out Bethlehem was so little that it was barely counted as a clan

[00:33:33] in Judah which maybe reminds us you might remember the time when David first burst onto the biblical

[00:33:40] scene what happened the prophet went to his house and said to his father Jesse bring all your sons

[00:33:46] together that we can have a feast to the Lord and Jesse forgot about David or he neglected

[00:33:55] to get David the prophet went through Samuel went through all the sons of Jesse and said do you have

[00:33:59] any more and he's like oh yeah I do have one more he's out in the field taking care of the sheep

[00:34:04] like just as Bethlehem was barely counted so David was barely counted it kind of speaks to the

[00:34:11] the way that Jesus would come not in pomp or in splendor but in anonymity and humility

[00:34:18] but if his human origins were from Bethlehem and of David Micah also I think alluded to his divine

[00:34:28] origins when he said that this figure the shepherd king he said in verse two his coming forth is

[00:34:34] from old from ancient days or if you have an niv in your lap right now it says he comes from days

[00:34:42] of a measurable time it just sounds like stepping out of eternity this shepherd king steps out

[00:34:49] of eternity to be born in Bethlehem to appear on earth and even though this figure would be

[00:34:56] born during a time of adversity he will eventually usher in this radical age of peace

[00:35:03] I he'd bring the peace in by standing and shepherding by having undershepherds who would subdue

[00:35:08] the enemies strengthening the remnant flock but what I want to say today is that

[00:35:15] I believe that the the the peace of this shepherd king that is coming in the glorious future

[00:35:21] age it's a peace that is available to us to tap into today Paul said at this way in Colossians

[00:35:28] 315 he said let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts to which indeed you were called in one body

[00:35:37] that that word rule there in Colossians 315 it's a word that means umpire or referee

[00:35:45] let it be like the final verdict like all these things are going on God it's so crazy it's so wild

[00:35:50] but the rule the the word that has authority over all my feelings and emotions and impulses is

[00:36:00] the peace of Christ now the context of that excertation Paul said it right there he said to which

[00:36:06] indeed you were called in one body what he's telling the church is he saying hey have peace amongst

[00:36:10] yourselves let the peace of Christ be the rule among yourselves seems like Paul's view was

[00:36:17] that what we do in the church is like training wheels for everyday life and experience

[00:36:24] and if you can have peace with your church family then you have a chance of having peace with

[00:36:30] people who aren't your church family but if you have a difficult time having peace with believers

[00:36:36] you're gonna have a terrible time having peace with a world that is antagonistic to the message

[00:36:42] of the gospel now there was a moment in the life of Jesus I think that pictures the peace

[00:36:48] that he can provide you guys remember the story where Jesus and his disciples were on the

[00:36:54] sea of Galilee and Jesus was asleep and a huge storm came upon the sea of Galilee it was so intense

[00:37:02] that even the season fishermen that were in Jesus' disciple team were afraid for their lives

[00:37:08] and I always love that story because there's three questions that get asked in that story and if

[00:37:13] you're a preacher you love little three-part things and the first question was this the disciples

[00:37:19] asked it they said don't you care that we're parishing they wake Jesus up don't you care that we're

[00:37:23] parishing have you ever prayed that to the Lord don't even answer it I know you have

[00:37:30] we all have we've all had moments where we're going through whatever we're going through and

[00:37:35] that's the question like do you even see do you even care are you just asleep how can you

[00:37:41] be at peace when I'm going through whatever it is that you're going through that's the first

[00:37:47] question do you not care that we're parishing Jesus gets up his question was the second question he

[00:37:53] said why are you so afraid is it because you still have no faith after everything that they'd

[00:38:01] seen him do up to that point they're still fearing for their lives he's asking why are you afraid

[00:38:11] you still have no faith then Jesus calms the sea with his command and they as seeing the sea calm

[00:38:19] down the storm calm down they ask the third question and it's kind of the punch line of the whole

[00:38:24] passage they say who then is this that even the wind and the sea obey him up to up to that point

[00:38:32] they'd seen Jesus do some really cool stuff healings defeating demons healing leprosy they'd

[00:38:38] seen Jesus do some really cool stuff but they were Hebrew boys who'd grown up here in the stories

[00:38:46] of the Old Testament and who was the one that miraculously produced water miraculously split water

[00:38:55] miraculously calmed water it was Yahweh water miracles were Yahweh miracles

[00:39:03] and so they asked the question who is this they were finally starting to get in touch with the reality

[00:39:10] of who Jesus is not just a minor miracle worker but God in the flesh with them and my question

[00:39:18] to you is do you know who's in the boat with you if you're a believer the shepherd king the one

[00:39:25] who is God from ancient of days he's with you he's not an a panic he's not unafraid he's not pulling

[00:39:36] his hair out in stress over the times that we're in he's calm let his peace rule your heart okay the

[00:39:45] last thing will wrap this up real quickly number three I think the shepherd king also says I

[00:39:50] will transform you okay let's read verse 10 to 15 of chapter 5 it says and in that day declares

[00:39:57] the Lord I will cut off your horses from them among you and we'll destroy your chariots and I will

[00:40:01] cut off the cities of your land and throw down all your strongholds and I will cut off sorceries

[00:40:06] from your hand and you shall have no more tellers of fortunes and I will cut off your carved images

[00:40:12] and your pillars from among you and you shall bound down no more to the work of your hands and I

[00:40:16] will root out your ashera images from among you and destroy your cities and in anger and wrath I

[00:40:23] will execute judgment on the nations that did not obey okay I'm saying that what the shepherd

[00:40:30] king is announcing here is I will transform you now where where do I get that idea because some of

[00:40:35] you as I'm reading through that you're like this sounds bad it sounds really bad but what

[00:40:40] what remember at the beginning look at verse 10 and he says he doesn't say and now he says and

[00:40:46] in that day he's talking about this glorious future age where he's like I'm going to purify you

[00:40:55] and cleanse you completely you guys this is just glorification that's all you're talking about here

[00:41:00] you're saved by me you're trying to you want to be sanctified as you're walking through life but

[00:41:05] there's going to come a day where I return and I'm going to transform you you'll be like me you'll

[00:41:09] be completely clean there will be no you won't even be tempted to sin that's what he's saying I'm

[00:41:14] going to pull all of that out of your life in that day it's not a message of doom related to

[00:41:19] banishment and exile but one of beauty related to transformation and holiness let me ask you that

[00:41:25] question do you want to be transformed you know sometimes people like come to church over and

[00:41:31] over again and it's like actually I don't really want that I want to be affirmed but I don't want

[00:41:37] to be transformed you got to want transformation how can we look at the cross of Christ see the

[00:41:44] beauty of his holiness and perfection not want to be like him you know that takes transformation

[00:41:54] and what what what would God transform them into what would he cleanse them from well first

[00:42:00] he says in verse 10 and 11 I'm going to take away all your horses chariot cities and strongholds

[00:42:06] this was God's way of saying I'm going to take away your trust in your military prowess

[00:42:13] partly because they wouldn't need it at that time when Jesus is ruling with a rod of iron that's

[00:42:17] not like man what kind of nuclear weapons you got Lord like he's gonna he's gonna be he's good

[00:42:23] you know he's fine so partly because they don't need it but partly because they had not trusted in

[00:42:28] the right thing for so long you know it's fine for us to have savings accounts and work hard and

[00:42:33] have militaries and all that kind of stuff but who in there's someone that we should be trusting

[00:42:37] behind those things it's the Lord but he also says I'm going to pull away from you verse 12 and

[00:42:44] 13 your sorceries your fortune tellers and your carved images this is bad stuff that was in their

[00:42:50] midst what what God was saying there is I'm going to take away every false idol and false worship

[00:42:57] that you've turned to for security because on that day I will be your security but what are

[00:43:04] those things they're just things that say I don't trust the Lord I got to take matters into my own

[00:43:09] I got to go to a fortune teller to try to figure out what's coming because God is in showing me he's

[00:43:14] not telling me I can't trust him I've got to trust myself no God is our security once it be our

[00:43:20] security on that day he will but we can let him be that today and then lastly in verse 13 and 14

[00:43:27] God said he would cleanse them of their pillars and ashera images those don't make sense to us at

[00:43:32] first reading what they are though are elements that they used to worship canonite gods

[00:43:41] male gods female gods and since the worship of these canonite gods involved sexual acts what part

[00:43:49] a part of what God is saying is you don't need to and you won't need to turn anywhere else for

[00:43:54] satisfaction you'll be able to turn to me I can give you the joy and the satisfaction that you need

[00:44:04] so that's who the Lord is he's our strength he's our security he's our satisfaction he will be

[00:44:08] that in the future and he wants to be that in our lives today so do you see the shepherd king

[00:44:15] like this you know saying I'm a redeemer I'm pulling you out of even self-imposed exile

[00:44:23] on your peace I want to bring peace into your life and rule over your life and heart if you just

[00:44:29] submit to me and I am doing this I am cleansing your life if you will walk with me thank you for listening

[00:44:43] if you would like more teachings and information about calvary monore please visit calvary.com you can

[00:44:49] also find books teachings through the Bible and articles from our lead pastor at Nateholdrich.com

[00:44:56] thanks again for tuning in see you next week