Sermons About Justice
Love, Mercy, and Justice Part 2
The 5th amendment to the US Constitution affirms the right of every American citizen to own land, and it also affirms that no one can take that land from you without compensation…including the government. Owning land is one of the rights that is held dear in America. For the most part, America has been built on a premise that agrees with Delmarr O’Donnell from the movie “Oh Brother Where are Thou†when he says, “"You ain't no kind of man if you ain't got land†There is a general sense in America that you’ve made it once you finally can buy your own plot of dirt – even it is only .17 of an acre in a neighborhood where every house looks the same. Theoretically, if you own land in America, no one can take it away from you. Well in the OT, we see that God had given His people land and it was divided up among the 12 tribes of Israel. The land was theirs and their families and no one could take it away from them. You could sell that land if you wanted to, but every 50 years during the Year of Jubilee, all land returned to its rightful owner, so as you can imagine, not a lot of buying and trading of land occurred. You would imagine that the people of Israel viewed their owning of land a lot like most Americans do. They thought, “This is my land and no one can take it from me. It is my right to own it, and this is especially true because God gave it to me.†This was part of what made up their opinion and view of God. Now last week at Sovereign King, we talked about how the folks of Micah’s time didn’t always think correctly about God. They thought certain things about God that just weren’t true. For example, the people of God trusted their own devices and fortifications for security and they couldn’t imagine God thinking any thing of it. Well, last week, we saw God’s declaration of judgment against the people of God. We saw God saying that He would tear down the stone walls that His people had trusted in because they trusted those walls and not God. The people also engaged in immoral worship and they didn’t think God was going to do anything about that either. Last week, we saw God say that He would burn up all the profit that His people had earned from their illicit and immoral temple prostitution that had been rationalized as worship. Well, imagine what’s going to happen to the people of God when they think that no one can take their land from them. This week as we approach the next sermon in our Love Mercy Justice series, we are going to continue to see people with false presuppositions or ideas about God and we will see scripture expose them. These folks are very slow to change their presuppositions and despite God’s declarations against many of them, they continue to hold them tightly. So, I would like to ask a slightly different question in this sermon this week. The question I want to ask is this, “What hope do we have of changing our false presuppositions about God if we are so blind that we don’t see them?â€
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Make Sure You Do These Things And Don't Neglect Those Things
Jesus teaches that in HIM there is Hope. HE brings together as interrelated the issues of justice, love of God, and tithing.
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Who's Counting?
Today we rarely seem to talk about sin. It's the new four letter word both in and outside the church. Yet the Bible is clear that sin is or was our biggest problem as human beings created in God's image. God cannot tolerate it. Yet His love is so immense for us, that he stepped into the middle of time as a human being Himself, and paid the price for our rebellion. Now, He no longer counts our sins against us. Do we understand how huge that is and what that means for us?
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Love, Mercy, and Justice Introduction
An introduction to the sermon series, "Love, Mercy, and Justice", a teaching from the book of Micah.
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The Evolution of a Wholistic Social Justice Ministry
Park welcomed Alvin Bibbs, Director of Extension Ministries for Willow Creek Community Church, as our guest speaker. Alvin shared his story of growing up in Cabrini Green and challenged us with a call to bring justice to the city. In this challenging message we were reminded that righteousness is the way we we live and justice is what the Lord requires of us.
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Justice and Mercy
Why are ministries of mercy so central to who we are and who we hope to become? Are acts of mercy that important to God? Listen to what Isaiah has to say about these important questions.
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The God of heaven who loves the world
The God that created the universe loves each and everyone one of us. Chapter four of the book of Revelation takes us to the throneroom of God. We are no longer talking about the churches, but about god himself. This is what we need to do in our lives. We need to make the focus all about God and not about ourselves.
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Psalm 7: Justice For All
Justice is a major theme in the Psalms. In the Psalms alone the word justice occurs 18 times and the word judge occurs 23 times and judgment 12 times. In fact, justice describes in part who God is - he is a "just and righteous" God - he is the Supreme Judge - and justice is something God loves - Psalm 97 says "righteousness and justice are the foundation of [God's] throne." Psalm 9 says The LORD is known by his justice." and Psalm 35 says "The LORD loves righteousness and justice." Righteousness and justice both flow out of his holiness. Because he is holy, holy, holy, he is incompatible with evil and therefore cannot overlook it - he must decree justice. Since God loves justice then clearly we should as well. But we have even more reason to love it - we have been saved by justice. The cross of Christ is a symbol of God's justice in action for God satisfied his divine justice and wrath in Christ. because our sins have been judged and atoned for, now God's justice guarantees our forgiveness as john says: "He is faithful and just to forgive us... "
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A God Who Cares: For the Orphan and the Widow
We are a people who hope we can have success by signing up and doing nothing. Christians walk the aisle and want to do nothing. And those in need of help often slip through the cracks. Often that includes children given up by parents and widows. Proposition: We have a God who cares for the orphans and the widows – and He calls us to show our love for Him by caring for them too. James 1:27 is a single verse but it carries some big messages about what it means to be a Christ follower.
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