Blue Ridge Christian Church - Mills River

Another message in our "I Am" series - exploring the claims that Christ made in the gospel of according to John

Jesus challenges us with the notion that he is unlike any shepherd we could give ourselves to.  He is the good shepherd and can trust his leading because of his love.

Jesus claims to be the light which gives us life, truth, and the ability to know who we are.

God does not just give his people a plan to escape their mess; he gives them a Person.  God provides for us a Good Shepherd who will guide, protect us, and carry us.

God's people were going to be restored - that was a promise, but in the meantime they will experience a season of suffering.  In this message we examine how God delivers us from suffering, sustains us through suffering and how we gain a perspective through suffering.

Micah's tone now turns hopeful - that even though his people were about to experience exile; they could endure it knowing that God will keep His promises.  We too can endure the struggles of life if we continue to place our hope in the promises of God.

We might not  identify with being "powerful", but God has given us all influence with other people.  How we chose to engage and use that influence is up to us.  Micah 3 shows us the danger of using that power for self-serving purposes and how our hope is for a Savior to show us how godly power is used.

Our study now turns to Micah 2, where God is right upset at his own people oppressing one another.   Often times it's easy to see how a situation might benefit us; but we lose site of who we might be affecting.  Lord, open our eyes and our hearts to our own responsibility to the poor and our naive participation in oppression.

We begin our study of Micah by seeing God furious at his people's idolatrous hearts.  Even though we don't set up altars on mountain tops today; we do have an altar in our hearts where we worship the things or people who give our life ultimate meaning.  True peace is found when God rests on the throne of our hearts.

Psalm 32 shows us the power of confessing our sins to God, and even to one another.  Why don't we do it more often?  Listen and find out.

Matthew 6 - Jesus clearly expected his followers to fast.  Does that mean us today?  Why don't we talk about this more often?  What would it look like if we engaged in fasting today?