Galileo Church

We seek and shelter spiritual refugees, rally health for all who come, and fortify every tender soul with the strength to follow Jesus into a life of world-changing service.

5860 I-20 service road Fort Worth, TX 76119 USA

(682) 760-1274

OUR MISSIONAL PRIORITIES:

1. We do justice for LGBTQ+ humans, and support the people who love them.

2. We do kindness for people with mental illness and in emotional distress, and celebrate neurodiversity.

3. We do beauty for our God-Who-Is-Beautiful.

4. We do real relationship, no bullshit, ever.

5. We do whatever it takes to share this good news with the world God still loves.

Trying to find us IRL?
Mail here: P.O. Box 668, Kennedale, TX 76060
Worship here: 5 pm CT Sundays; 5860 I-20 service road, Fort Worth 76119

Trying to find our Sunday worship livestream?
click here!

What God really really wants

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We’re taking a look at seven of the “minor” prophets from the Hebrew Bible over seven Sundays. The prophets write from a critical perspective, always: what has gone wrong, and what will it take to fix it? They always have a hard word to say, but in almost every case the mercy of God goes hand in hand with God’s judgment. But what do they diagnose as the problem with God’s people? And why is that (whatever it is) such a problem for God?

God Wants Good Religion. The takeaway here is “I desire mercy, and not sacrifice” (6:6), especially because Jesus quotes it later (Matthew 9:13, 12:7). But the religious leaders (priests) are especially under fire, for distorting religious practice and tricking the people into thinking everything is fine. There is a warning here for our practice of religion – it’s not a guarantee, this churchgoing thing. Is your religion making you a better person, or not? Hosea 1:1, 4:1-11, 6:1-6; Hosea 11:1-4, 14:1-7.

God Wants to Slake Our Thirst. Joel describes a literal drought and famine in his world – the skies will not open to let go the rain, and the land is baking under the sun. But this is also a metaphor for the absence of God’s tender mercies in the lives of God’s people. So they lament, and repent, and God answers with (a) rain! and (b) an outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Joel 2:28-29 is quoted in Acts 2 as the followers of Jesus recognize the Spirit-drenching God intends for God’s people. Joel 1:1-20, 2:12-13; 2:23-29.

God Wants Economic Justice. God can’t stand it when things get economically out of whack; when the poor get poorer and the rich trample the poor to get richer. Punishment is inevitable. The imagined scene in 9:13-15 is an economic reordering, a redistribution of the land. Go, you Marxist God, you. Amos 1:1, 8:1-12, 9:11-15.

God Wants to Save Everybody. Jonah learns the hard way that “limited atonement” is a bad premise. Grace is abundant, not rationed. But we have an impulse to draw dividing lines and keep “those people” out. Does God have to swallow us, hold us in the belly of a big fish, to make God’s point? Jonah (all of it!).

God Wants Better Lists. We imagine we know what God wants – we feel terribly guilty when we aren’t matching a standard we’ve imagined for piety and religiosity – but what does God really want? Micah 6:1-8 is the heart of the whole thing. What if this were our polar star? Our guiding principle? What would that look like? (We can talk here about our missional priorities.) Micah 1:1, 3:1-12, 6:1-8.

God Wants Monotheists, for real. Idolatry is a constant temptation and threat. We find so many “gods” to trust, to worship, to idolize. And material greed is a symptom of idolatry; our stuff gives us comfort and stability. It’s not easy; God is not in the business of giving us everything we want, or even everything we need. God wants us to trust God’s provision even when it looks like everything has gone to hell (3:17-19). Habakkuk 1:1, 2:1-20, 3:17-19.

God Wants Us to Want What God Wants. The prophets often speak of “the day of the Lord.” Sometimes it’s described as a day of terror and fiery judgment. Sometimes it’s described as a day of rejoicing and glad singing. Which is it? Well, it depends on who you are and what you’ve been up to. The future is the same for everybody; for some of us, that’s heavenly; for some of us, that’s gonna’ hurt like hell. Zephaniah 1:1-13, 3:14-20.