Micah 4-5

What's to come? This is prophecy of what is to take place, a judgement, and a restoration. When things seem to be stacked against God's plan and the enemy seems to have the upper hand God will make a way. God has an ultimate plan for all and for the individual. When it seems the enemy has surrounded you, do not lose heart.

Micah 2-3

God really has a heart for the poor. How often does He tell us to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, and house the homeless? God's people were oppressed by the land owners who cheated people, jacked up prices, and took land. Then God addresses the prophets who were just letting them get away with it without saying or doing any thing. The people that really care stand against injustice and get involved. The people who really care say what needs to be said even when it's tough. Your real friends tell you the truth. The false ones just feed you what they think you want to hear. If you were blind which one would you want leading you around?
Listen to Godly counsel. Listen to Godly counsel. Listen to Godly counsel. Oh by the way take Godly counsel.

Micah 1

If someone told you are smart, you might think maybe not, but what if 5 or 6 or more people begin to tell you the same thing. You are probably going to think they might be right. You might think OK here is another prophet of God with the same message. Maybe there's something to this message. However, it seems God's people keep making the same mistakes.
It's funny when people come to me after a message and this has happened throughout my ministry, they will say man that really spoke to me and I need to make some changes. Then next week same thing. I'm no different I fall into the same traps over and over again. I guess that's why Jesus is the "Good Shepard" and a shepard moves sheep and sheep are stupid. I know I'm stupid, but I'm learning and growing. We must be capable or God wouldn't keep calling us back to Him.

Jonah 3-4

So Jonah finally goes to Nineveh and tells the people that in forty days Nineveh is going to be overturned, and you've got to think Jonah enjoyed this cause he didn't like Nineveh and it's people. It's kind of like telling your sibling, ooooh your in trouble. Nineveh had a very humble response to this message. Even the king fasted, put on sackcloth, and sat in the dust. This was a customary sign of humility.
God responded to their act with compassion and did not bring destruction to Nineveh. So good job prophet case closed right. Wrong, Jonah got ticked off because God had mercy on the Ninevites. He even prayed that this is why he didn't want the assignment in the first place and was so angry he wanted to die. God showed him and told him, what difference does it make to you if I show compassion.
A little humility goes a long way. This has been something the religious have struggled with throughout history.

Jonah 1-2

Ok I think Jonah is like a lot of people. God tells us to do something and we run for our lives. Most of us have never been swallowed by a gigantic fish for three days, but we've probably gone through things that were just as nasty. Not only that our running probably put others at risk. Jonah happened to meet the nicest sailors of all, because even after admitting the storm was his fault the sailors tried to help instead of throwing him overboard.
Just like Jonah our running is futile. Jonah went in the exact opposite direction from Nineveh toward Joppa only to swallowed up. So Jonah did what any of us would do, the last resort, he prayed. He even thanked God for the fish and committed to do what God wanted him to do in the first place. So God did what was appropriate and had the fish puke him up. I said appropriate not pleasant.

Obadiah

Did you ever laugh at or mock your sibling when they got in trouble only to find yourself in worse trouble. Edom did this to Israel only to find their fate worse. Sometimes it's easy to sit back and judge others, but somehow that never brings anything good. It shouldn't please us to see others fail.

Amos 8-9

The last two chapters of Amos are a destroying and a rebuilding. I remember we took a group to West Virginia to do some mission work. My groups first assignment was to work on this old house that a family was currently living in. When we arrived we found the house in pretty bad condition. The tin roof was badly torn up. The ceiling was made of cardboard and plastic. There was no kitchen and the bathroom consisted of a tub with a water hose running in through a sizable hole in the wall. The entire front outside wall had about a foot of play (meaning I could push or pull the entire wall 1 foot in either direction). So, our question was, "how do we fix this?" Our host for the week (a godly man) said, "let's burn it down". My thought was I can't wait to burn someones house down for the Glory of God. How were we really helping? The family agreed and they moved in to a single wide trailer with some family, with the promise of rebuilding. We pulled all the tin off and lit it up. In the process we blew up the pump and destroyed their well. Way to do the Lord's work. I must admit I was pretty discouraged, but later that week our host received a call from another group out of Pennsylvania. The wanted to come and build a house in the area. They were coming in about 2 months and bringing a crew of 70 people and several contractors. Within 3 months this family had a brand new home. It was simple, but it was a mansion to them. Sometimes thing have to be torn down in our lives so that they can be rebuilt better than ever.