Access more. During today's conversation on Back Porch Theology, the first in a series of three,

we're going to delve into some pretty spicy subject matter in the colorful Old Testament

book of Zeffinia regarding the overt rebellion of God's people.

We're going to examine how our spiritual ancestors effectively thumb their noses at God's

holiness, turned their backs on his kindness, and went out and did some pretty nasty, selfish stuff.

Plus, they did so despite his gracious warning that there would be serious consequences

for their wicked behavior. And frankly, once we review their abominable choices, it becomes

glaringly apparent that the discipline God imposed was truly woven with mercy. But we're also going

to examine how God warned the people who sat idly by

while their neighbors went cray-cray, how not standing up for righteousness in the face of

explicit evil makes us as culpable as those who commit the offense. Ely Wiesel, a beloved

professor, renowned writer and Holocaust survivor who won a Nobel Prize in 1986,

said it well. The opposite of love is not hate, it's indifference. And he may as well have been

writing a commentary on Zephaniah when he wrote, the only thing necessary for the triumph of evil

is for good men to do nothing.

Apathy is so not a spiritual gift, y'all, which reminds me of that verse in Revelation that

says, God would rather us be hot or cold, but if we're lukewarm, he's going to spit us out of his

mouth like he bit down on a worm in his ice cream Sunday. Of course, I took

just a tisi bit of liberty with a Greek there because John didn't really use worm metaphor, but that's

the gist of God's response to spiritual apathy. My guess is things are about to get a little hot up in here,

so you might want to bring an iced latte to the porch today.

We are so glad you're hanging out with us.

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