MINOR PROPHETS AGAIN

Last night we had a great bus banquet!  The food was great, the fellowship was wonderful, the message by our guest speaker, Keith Cowling (from Hammond, IN) was powerful, and the testimonies were heartfelt and brought tears of joy.  In all, last Sunday our bus workers brought 1006 people to church!  Wow!!  We had 1,831 in Sunday School and hundreds of others came after Sunday School, but we only were counting those who were in Sunday School.  We had over 540 saved for the day and that is a real blessing that made an eternal difference in lives.  Over 144 teens were in teen church and they were  packed wall to wall.  Speaking of wall to wall, the Spanish Church had 703!  Blows away their high day of last year of 314.  Hard to imagine that only eight months ago we were averaging about 40 in Spanish Church.  God has been good to use our new staff and our wonderful men and women who labor for the LORD.  Here is a thought from the Minor Prophets.... I'm running late, so I only have this one thought: **GOD'S WORDS WORK WITH YOU APPLY THE WALK TO THE WORDS! In Micah 2:7, "O thou that art named the house of Jacob, is the spirit of the LORD straitened?  are these his doings?  do not my words do good to him that walketh uprightly?" We see here that apparently Israel is complaining about their treatment and griping to God about all that is happening with the judgment that is falling all around them and upon them.  Like when something bad happens in our lives and we start griping at God.  Now, God speaks to them and explains a few things.  He says first of all My Spirit is not "straitened", which means the Holy Spirit is "more than able", "not tied up", "not shortened", but "more than capable to meet any need".  And then God says: "Do you think what is happening is what I wanted?"  "are these his doings?" .  No, God says... what is happening is the doings of your hands.... your walk produced these results.  Now God tells us how He operates in our lives:  "do not my words do good to him that walketh uprightly?"  God is simply saying: "If you walk uprightly according to My words, then your outcome will be good!!"  Now, that is the truth for us today... walk uprightly.  Why is it that those who are complaining about God's treatment of them is a one way street?  Why is it that they never consider their treatment of their Savior, (who died for them!)?  I'm not God, but usually I could point to a few areas of their lives to explain why things are going wrong.... but... the LORD is far more patient than we are isn't HE??  I'm so glad that He has been patient with me..... I have not always "walked uprightly" in every instance but that is the desire of my heart, and may it be in all of our lives today... and everyday!! Pastor Mike Mutchler, Grand View Baptist Church