Woe to those who are carefree in Zion, the strumming gluttons on ivory beds who will be first to go into exile
1 Woe to those who are at ease in Zion, and to those who are secure on the mountain of Samaria, the notable men of the chief of the nations, to whom the house of Israel come!
2 Go to Calneh, and see; and from there go to Hamath the great; then go down to Gath of the Philistines. are they better than these kingdoms? or is their border greater than your border?
3 Those who put far away the evil day, and cause the seat of violence to come near;
4 Who lie on beds of ivory, and stretch themselves on their couches, and eat the lambs out of the flock, and the calves out of the middle of the stall;
5 who strum on the strings of a harp; who invent for themselves instruments of music, like David;
6 who drink wine in bowls, and anoint themselves with the best oils; but they are not grieved for the affliction of Joseph.
7 Therefore they will now go captive with the first who go captive; and the feasting and lounging will end.
The Lord swears by himself that he loathes the arrogance of Jacob and will give up the city
8 “The Lord Yahweh has sworn by himself,” says Yahweh, the God of Armies: “I abhor the pride of Jacob, and detest his fortresses. Therefore I will deliver up the city with all that is in it.
If ten men are in one house they will die and survivors will say keep quiet, the name of the Lord is not to be mentioned
9 It will happen, if there remain ten men in one house, that they shall die.
10 “When a man’s relative carries him, even he who burns him, to bring bodies out of the house, and asks him who is in the innermost parts of the house, ‘Is there yet any with you?’ And he says, ‘No;’ then he will say, ‘Hush! Indeed we must not mention Yahweh’s name.’
11 “For, behold, Yahweh commands, and the great house will be smashed to pieces, and the little house into bits.
Do horses run on rocks, you have turned justice into poison, God will raise a nation against Israel
12 Do horses run on the rocky crags? Does one plow there with oxen? But you have turned justice into poison, and the fruit of righteousness into bitterness;
13 you who rejoice in a thing of nothing, who say, ‘Haven’t we taken for ourselves horns by our own strength?’
14 For, behold, I will raise up against you a nation, house of Israel,” says Yahweh, the God of Armies; “and they will afflict you from the entrance of Hamath to the brook of the Arabah.”
Vision of a locust swarm, Amos intercedes and the Lord relents
1 Thus the Lord Yahweh showed me: and behold, he formed locusts in the beginning of the shooting up of the latter growth; and behold, it was the latter growth after the king’s harvest.
2 When they finished eating the grass of the land, then I said, “Lord Yahweh, forgive, I beg you! How could Jacob stand? For he is small.”
Vision of fire consuming the land, Amos intercedes again and the Lord relents
4 Thus the Lord Yahweh showed me and behold, the Lord Yahweh called for judgment by fire; and it dried up the great deep, and would have devoured the land.
5 Then I said, “Lord Yahweh, stop, I beg you! How could Jacob stand? For he is small.”
6 Yahweh relented concerning this. “This also shall not be,” says the Lord Yahweh.
Vision of the plumb line, God will no longer spare Israel and will rise against the house of Jeroboam
7 Thus he showed me and behold, the Lord stood beside a wall made by a plumb line, with a plumb line in his hand.
8 Yahweh said to me, “Amos, what do you see?” I said, “A plumb line.” Then the Lord said, “Behold, I will set a plumb line in the middle of my people Israel. I will not again pass by them any more.
9 The high places of Isaac will be desolate, the sanctuaries of Israel will be laid waste; and I will rise against the house of Jeroboam with the sword.”
Amaziah the priest of Bethel accuses Amos of conspiring against the king and tells him to go back to Judah
10 Then Amaziah the priest of Bethel sent to Jeroboam king of Israel, saying, “Amos has conspired against you in the middle of the house of Israel. The land is not able to bear all his words.
11 For Amos says, ‘Jeroboam will die by the sword, and Israel shall surely be led away captive out of his land.’”
12 Amaziah also said to Amos, “You seer, go, flee away into the land of Judah, and there eat bread, and prophesy there:
13 but don’t prophesy again any more at Bethel; for it is the king’s sanctuary, and it is a royal house!”
Amos replies he was not a prophet nor son of a prophet but a herdsman, and delivers judgment against Amaziah
14 Then Amos answered Amaziah, “I was no prophet, neither was I a prophet’s son; but I was a herdsman, and a farmer of sycamore figs;
15 and Yahweh took me from following the flock, and Yahweh said to me, ‘Go, prophesy to my people Israel.’
16 Now therefore listen to Yahweh’s word: ‘You say, Don’t prophesy against Israel, and don’t preach against the house of Isaac.’
17 Therefore Yahweh says: ‘Your wife shall be a prostitute in the city, and your sons and your daughters shall fall by the sword, and your land shall be divided by line; and you yourself shall die in a land that is unclean, and Israel shall surely be led away captive out of his land.’”
Vision of a basket of summer fruit, the end has come for Israel
1 Thus the Lord Yahweh showed me: behold, a basket of summer fruit.
2 He said, “Amos, what do you see?” I said, “A basket of summer fruit.” Then Yahweh said to me, “The end has come on my people Israel. I will not again pass by them any more.
3 The songs of the temple will be wailings in that day,” says the Lord Yahweh. “The dead bodies will be many. In every place they will throw them out with silence.
Warning against those who trample the needy, cheat with dishonest scales and sell the refuse of wheat
4 Hear this, you who desire to swallow up the needy, and cause the poor of the land to fail,
5 Saying, ‘When will the new moon be gone, that we may sell grain? And the Sabbath, that we may market wheat, making the ephah small, and the shekel large, and dealing falsely with balances of deceit;
6 that we may buy the poor for silver, and the needy for a pair of shoes, and sell the sweepings with the wheat?’”
The land will quake, the sun will go down at noon, festivals will turn to mourning
8 Won’t the land tremble for this, and everyone mourn who dwells in it? Yes, it will rise up wholly like the River; and it will be stirred up and sink again, like the River of Egypt.
9 It will happen in that day,” says the Lord Yahweh, “that I will cause the sun to go down at noon, and I will darken the earth in the clear day.
10 I will turn your feasts into mourning, and all your songs into lamentation; and I will make you wear sackcloth on all your bodies, and baldness on every head. I will make it like the mourning for an only son, and its end like a bitter day.
A famine not of bread but of hearing the words of the Lord is coming, people will roam to find it and not find it
11 Behold, the days come,” says the Lord Yahweh, “that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing Yahweh’s words.
12 They will wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east; they will run back and forth to seek Yahweh’s word, and will not find it.
13 In that day the beautiful virgins and the young men will faint for thirst.
14 Those who swear by the sin of Samaria, and say, ‘As your god, Dan, lives;’ and, ‘As the way of Beersheba lives;’ they will fall, and never rise up again.”
God standing beside the altar, commanding destruction, no fugitive or survivor will escape wherever they hide
1 I saw the Lord standing beside the altar, and he said, “Strike the tops of the pillars, that the thresholds may shake; and break them in pieces on the head of all of them; and I will kill the last of them with the sword: there shall not one of them flee away, and there shall not one of them escape.
2 Though they dig into Sheol, there my hand will take them; and though they climb up to heaven, there I will bring them down.
3 Though they hide themselves in the top of Carmel, I will search and take them out there; and though they be hidden from my sight in the bottom of the sea, there I will command the serpent, and it will bite them.
4 Though they go into captivity before their enemies, there I will command the sword, and it will kill them. I will set my eyes on them for evil, and not for good.
The Lord of armies who touches the land so it quakes, who builds his upper chambers in the heavens and calls the waters of the sea
5 For the Lord, Yahweh of Armies, is he who touches the land and it melts, and all who dwell in it will mourn; and it will rise up wholly like the River, and will sink again, like the River of Egypt.
6 It is he who builds his rooms in the heavens, and has founded his vault on the earth; he who calls for the waters of the sea, and pours them out on the surface of the earth; Yahweh is his name.
Are you not like the sons of Ethiopia to me, God also brought the Philistines and Arameans, the eyes of the Lord are on the sinful kingdom
7 Are you not like the children of the Ethiopians to me, children of Israel?” says Yahweh. “Haven’t I brought up Israel out of the land of Egypt, and the Philistines from Caphtor, and the Syrians from Kir?
8 Behold, the eyes of the Lord Yahweh are on the sinful kingdom, and I will destroy it from off the surface of the earth; except that I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob,” says Yahweh.
God will shake Israel among all nations like grain in a sieve, all the sinners of his people will die by the sword
9 “For, behold, I will command, and I will sift the house of Israel among all the nations, as grain is sifted in a sieve, yet not the least kernel will fall on the earth.
10 All the sinners of my people will die by the sword, who say, ‘Evil won’t overtake nor meet us.’
On that day God will raise up the fallen shelter of David so they may possess the remnant of Edom and all nations called by his name
11 In that day I will raise up the tent of David who is fallen, and close up its breaches, and I will raise up its ruins, and I will build it as in the days of old;
12 that they may possess the remnant of Edom, and all the nations who are called by my name,” says Yahweh who does this.
Days are coming when the plowman overtakes the reaper, Israel will be restored and planted on their land never to be uprooted again
13 “Behold, the days come,” says Yahweh, “that the plowman shall overtake the reaper, and the one treading grapes him who sows seed; and sweet wine will drip from the mountains, and flow from the hills.
14 I will bring my people Israel back from captivity, and they will rebuild the ruined cities, and inhabit them; and they will plant vineyards, and drink wine from them. They shall also make gardens, and eat their fruit.
15 I will plant them on their land, and they will no more be plucked up out of their land which I have given them,” says Yahweh your God.
On the night Jesus was betrayed he took bread and the cup, read during the communion liturgy
23 For I received from the Lord that which also I delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night in which he was betrayed took bread.
24 When he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “Take, eat. This is my body, which is broken for you. Do this in memory of me.”
25 In the same way he also took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink, in memory of me.”
The message in order, in a few minutes of reading.
The pastor worked through most of the book of Amos this morning, picking up where he left off last week and driving toward the final five verses. The service opened with a live set from Raising Lions, a band rooted in cowboy church ministry, whose songs about sin, shame, and God's relentless pursuit set the tone for everything that followed. The sermon landed at the communion table, where the themes of judgment and restoration came together in the cup.
What was said
Amos 5:24, the verse about justice rolling down like waters, was the starting point. The pastor noted that Martin Luther King Jr. used that line in the "I Have a Dream" speech, but it belonged to Amos first. The point Amos was making, and that King was echoing, was that righteousness is right living toward others, and justice is acting on it. Both of them were telling people in power something they did not want to hear, and both paid a price for it.
The bulk of chapters five through seven landed on Israel's religious and wealthy class, not the obviously irreligious. The pastor described two ditches: the ditch of self-righteousness on one side, and the ditch of licentiousness on the other. Amos, he said, was mainly going after the people in the first ditch, the ones who were carefree on their ivory couches, strumming songs, eating veal, and cheating buyers in the market the moment the Sabbath ended. They assumed God's favor while ignoring what God had asked of them.
The plumb line vision from chapter seven gave the sermon its sharpest image. God holds up a plumb line against Israel's wall, and the question is not whether the wall is straight. Everyone already knows it is not. Twice before this point God had relented when Amos interceded, once from locusts and once from fire, but here God says he will not spare them any longer. The standard is the standard, and nothing about Israel's military success or economic comfort changes what the plumb line shows.
When Amaziah the priest told Amos to go back to Judah and prophesy there, Amos replied that he was not a prophet by trade or family background. He was a herdsman and a fig farmer. God took him from his work and sent him. The pastor said that moment matters: Amos had to be what God called him to be before he could do what God called him to do. The message did not change because Amaziah was uncomfortable with it.
Chapter eight's basket of summer fruit sharpened the urgency. The fruit was ripe and ready. God said through Amos that he would send a famine, not of bread or water, but of hearing His words. The pastor connected that to the intertestamental silence that followed centuries later, when God went quiet and people wandered looking for a word and could not find one. The warning was aimed at those who used dishonest scales, shrank their dry measures, and could not wait for worship to be over so they could get back to cheating people.
The final verses of chapter nine are what the pastor called the brightest silver lining in the whole book. God promises to raise up the fallen shelter of David, restore what was ruined, and bring in the remnant of Edom and all the nations called by His name. Those nations, the pastor said, are the heathens, the same word as Gentiles, and that is the church. The image of the plowman overtaking the reaper is a picture of abundance after exile, of people planted in their land and not uprooted again. He read that as a picture of what God does for anyone who stops running from Him and turns back.
Doing a Bible study?
Here is a guide we have prepared for you: the passages
in order, questions for the group, and room to write.
The pastor talked about Amos delivering an unpopular message to people who were comfortable and prosperous, people who felt secure because things were going well outwardly. When has comfort or security in your own life made it harder to hear a correction from God?
The pastor described two ditches: the legalist who trusts in his own righteousness, and the licentious person who figures anything goes. Which ditch are you more naturally pulled toward, and how does the gospel address that particular drift?
Speaker 1Good morning everybody. How are you? Looks like you all are doing pretty good. Well, we've got a we've got a treat this morning. We've got a band that's gonna lead us in some songs.
Y'all may have heard before, you may not have heard before. We're gonna put the words up there and give you the option. Alright? If you wanna stand and sing, I'd say, let's stand. But let's stand and let the this raising lions is what they're calling themselves and it'll be different, but it'll be good.
So here we go.
Speaker 2Different. You don't even have any dirt on the floor. I'm him every reason to leave me for dead. I thank God he didn't because I swear I believe there's I could've stood in the darkness and loaded to God. I prayed holes in the knees of these old agees for a place up in heaven for a god fearing heathen like me.
I know those streets of gold. Ain't just pain for the soul of the straight walking saints that don't swear smoke or drink. Is for the choosers and the winners and hard living sinners and God fearing heathens like me heathens like me. Well, I've cursed at Jesus with
Speaker 1Well, I told you it'd be different. Standing gig for them is sort of cowboy church and they're calling everybody that will come in to come in. And that's what we're supposed to be doing, It's calling everybody that will come in to come in. And that's what Amos is kinda doing too. You'll see that before the end of the sermon today.
But these guys, we've known Tim forever. Y'all most of you all known Tim play with the Barjay for a long time. And yeah, we love you, Tim. And he's bringing along some friends. We've been getting together mostly at funerals lately, but when we when we do get together, so why don't we why don't we get together and do this?
So they're giving the band a break and I feel like the set goes great with the sermon. And I appreciate that. God does that every week. I don't ever plan that. But I hear the announcement.
So Juana is happening. Tomorrow night, 05:45 to 07:30, pre k through fifth grade is getting scripture into the minds of the kids to reach the heart of the next generation. If you've got a young in between pre k through fifth grade, that would be a good time to bring them in. Discovery class will be today. Info about membership, it'll be in my office at 10:00, so right after the service today, right after communion today in my office.
Seeking truth in your twenties. Oh, let me see. Casey would like to say this.
Speaker 2So we had some meetings with the post and one is going in May. So if you feel led to give to their mission, this is really awesome to see these guys going out and wanting to spread the gospel all around the world.
Speaker 1Seeking truth in your twenties, there are a couple of them that have coming to this. I'm saying this for the people who can't hear you. That are going on mission trips if you'd like to help out. One of them is going soon. The other one is going in May.
And if you'd like to help out, it's just great to see people seeking truth in their twenties. We we see people seeking all kinds of stuff their twenties. It's good to be seeking truth. So that's happening again. It's starting November 2.
That's tonight, 06:00. That's at Charles Place. Right? In James tonight. Fantastic.
Super Jackson Hole Men's Alliance is happening Wednesday morning, 06:30AM down the hall, fellowship hall for men from the Valley. It's all the churches in the Valley. 06:30AM down the hall, breakfast is provided with that. There is a children's choir foreman. Lauren Feldman and Lisa Landis are teaming up to have a children's choir for December 21 09:00 service.
And that's happening starting the sixteenth is when they're going to start gathering. Norris and Laurie Williams are our missionaries. I'm gonna say, let's pray for them, but y'all pray for them. We're gonna keep on rolling right now. Just between friends is their letter that they send and they have been having a hard time.
It's like walking in deep mud. So would you please pray for them as they continue to minister? And I think that's all the announcements. Did I forget anything? There's one more.
If you if you would, if you could, slide in, squeeze in a bit, leave some open area on the sides of the right next to the aisle so other people can sit in. If you would. Hey, we're just gonna wait for you to do it this time. I've never seen y'all move one inch no matter what I announce. I've never seen y'all move at all.
But I'm very thankful that you're doing it now. If you would, stand up and we're gonna sing along with this next one too. I know you're learning the song.
Speaker 2Swear you don't fit in, so you kick and scream and you're gone again, wandering off into the devil's way.
Speaker 3Well, how's it going out
Speaker 2there acting like you ain't scared? How's that cornerstone? Ain't so hard when you're alone crying in tears. You hope nobody sees. Guess the good news is he'll never leave you be.
Jesus loves you, black sheep. You hate everything about you. You think we're better off without you. Wear your pain out on your sleep and you're paying it on in Rebelief, but the alcohol and pills ain't fixed for them.
Speaker 3So how's it going out there
Speaker 2acting like you ain't is he'll never leave you be. Jesus loves you, black sheep. Jesus loves you black sheep. Can't tell you when I ain't no prophet, but there'll come a point in time when you can't stop it. The good shepherd's love smells like smoke.
There ain't no hell so low where he won't let the hounds of heaven go. Sicum let the hounds of heaven go. So how's he going out there go. Acting like you ain't scared? How's that cornerstone?
Ain't so hard when you're alone crying tears. You hope nobody sees. Guess the good news is he'll never leave you be. And amazing grace is a pesky pesky thing. But the good news is he'll never leave you be.
Jesus loves you black sheep Jesus loves you black sheep Alright. Normally, where we're from, we just say, hey. Say hi to somebody. So if there's somebody around you, just turn around and say hello to somebody while we switch instruments up here. When I shout hallelujah this time it's not just a sound help me out here we go was awesome hearing you guys singing Chokes me up almost every time.
You girls right here, you guys are awesome. Sounds so good. Can you guys hear them in the back? Oh my goodness. Yes.
Lord, we just give you praise this morning. We give all the glory to you, and we just thank you for inviting us here to declare your majesty and your glory in this morning and in this moment. Where I've been. I won't ever try to cover all the lies that pulled me under, nearly buried in a box of my own sin. And this freedom that I found is not a platform for me to boast in anything that I have done.
It's just a messy canvas. God's mercy in my madness and a fiery love that I could not outrun. Find no glory in my story. All the times I ran away and I'm not proud of where I've been. For all the choices that I made.
But if my past is now your present, I'm praying you'll see how there's an unrelenting coming for you, Who loves chasing rebels down? When it comes to failure, you're no different. And when it comes to shame, you're not alone. From prodigals on barstools to pretenders in the church pews, Nobody's ever really too far gone. I find no glory in my story.
All the times I ran away, and I'm there's an unrelenting coming for you, Savior, who loves chasing rebels down. You. I find no glory in my story. All the times I ran away and I'm not proud of where I've been. And all the choices that I made.
But if my past is now your present, I'm praying you'd see how.
Speaker 1And y'all can have a seat. Amen. Thank you. I needed that. Thank you.
It's time for the worship through giving time of the service right now. So, I'm going invite the ushers to come forward. This is for the general fund of the church. See, this this band just said, we want to come over and do this. I said, what do we owe you?
And he said, we just want to come over and do this. So, they didn't ask for anything. We're not asking for anything. This is general fund offering but I'm I'm thankful that they're just doing their reasonable service. So, would you pray with me?
Lord, we wanna be doing your will and your way. I know that this band is doing that. I know that Jason's story is one of miraculous pursuit where you caught him. Lord, so is mine. So is every believers here.
In Jesus name, lord, we pray that you would be using us to pursue others. That you'd be carrying your gospel forward. That the that what it is the place where we found bread as the old saying goes. That it's one beggar telling another beggar where bread can be found. Lord, would you use our lives and use our words to advance the gospel.
We wanna be doing your will and your way, lord. We ask that you'd bless this offering to do whatever that will is and whatever way that is. We wanna be a part of the solution and not a continuing part of the problem. In Jesus name, we want to carry it forward as the body of Christ. Amen.
Amen. Thank you, Tim. Thank you, Mindy. It's children's church time downstairs. So, this is going to leave some holes in the cheese here, some Swiss cheese holes have just opened up.
If y'all want to come forward and sit in some of those spots, you're welcome to it. That front row of girls right here is just an amazing sight. Every Sunday, they are kind of not always girls, but they're always with us. It's really good. We're gonna continue in the book of Amos.
So we started last week. I made it about halfway through Amos, and I'm gonna see if we make it all the way through today. I've left a couple of stopping points. We're working towards communion. I'd love to get all the way to the brightest silver lining in the whole book of Amos is the last five verses.
So that's what we're working towards today. This is where I left off last week, but left justice roll out like waters and righteousness like an ever flowing stream. Righteousness is about right living especially as it has to do with relationships towards others. It really is a do unto others as you would have them do unto you situation. Let righteousness should be like an ever flowing stream out of God's people, and justice is acting on that righteousness.
It's acting in such a way that it is looking out for the other. Okay? So but let justice roll out, like waters and righteousness like an ever flowing stream. And last week, I had this slide, I did not even mention who that guy was. Most of you know who that guy is.
But this in the famous I have a dream speech, he used this. Actually, somebody texted me afterwards and said, hey, what was that Martin Luther King quote you put up there and just skipped over? I said, actually, it was an Amos quote. I didn't skip it. He used it too.
He used it in the I have a dream speech when he was talking about how the rich were oppressing the poor. Particularly, poor person's campaign had been underway for some time and he was saying, I cannot be satisfied. I cannot It was a rhetorical advice, a beautiful beautiful speech. If you haven't heard it lately, listen to it this afternoon. That I have a dream, pinnacle of it, but this is He said, I cannot be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like an ever flowing stream.
I'm maintaining, he would say, prophetic distance. He wasn't buddying up to the people in power because when you buddy up to the people in power, you have to tell them what they won't hear or they run you off. And so he was saying what they didn't really want to hear in a lot of cases. And I grew up in Georgia. I grew up where I've heard this guy called everything.
Okay? All kinds of ugliness. And if you ever brought him up as a good thing, somebody would say, oh yeah, but he was this that and other thing. I'm like, what he said was true. What Amos said was true.
You might not wanna hear it, but it's true and good. And so what Amos in the first part of the book, I'll summarize real quick, I hope. To whom much has been given, much is required. Okay? If you are a part of God's chosen people, whether it's Old Testament, God's chosen people there or you are a believer in Jesus and you're that.
Amos lived among a people who had forsaken their God given responsibilities while happily consuming his blessings. He called out all the neighboring lands for their sins first. Remember, it was six nations all around them in sort of a concentric circle pattern, And then he got closer, he's speaking to Israel, but he spoke about Judah and then while everybody's going, yeah, Amos, get them. Then he turned and said, you're worse than they are. And it was a message for Israel.
The prophet's announcement builds up to the seventh and eighth nations, Judah and Israel respectively, and the sins of Judah and Israel were the worst because they were supposed to know better. Amos highlights God's chief complaint against them immediately. They had forsaken the law. In just two verses, God scathes Judah. And chapter two closes with Israel's own sin and God's response.
Both Judah and Israel should have known better. God had given them the law and he had delivered them from Egypt and he had delivered them from their foe. We should never take our salvation blessings for granted because God is the one that delivered us. All of the songs that we sang this morning were a little different than the ones we're used to singing. Would you agree?
Yeah. We've got ditches on both sides of the road. Right? The the ditch over here is for the legalists, the churchy church folk that I am tend towards. Right?
This is my tendency. If I'm gonna go, I'm gonna trust in my own righteousness. But the truth is self righteousness is not righteousness. It's the opposite. And so we've also got this other ditch over here which is licentiousness where it's just anything goes, I can do whatever I want to.
I'm the master of my own domain. I can do however I please. Well, The gospel is the answer for both of those ditches. And so Amos is mainly after these folks. He's mainly after the religious folks.
So when we sang all of those things this morning, it sounded like, wow, you're really reaching out for the folks in this ditch. And now the sermon is gonna be against the people in this ditch. Well, God wants both of you to come together in the gospel. He wants for both of us to come there. So God delivers, he's given us responsibly of leading others to him and we should be preaching the gospel.
We should be visiting the captive, we should be caring for the sick, we should be helping widows, orphans, and the poor that all of the rest of the world will see our good deeds and glorify our father in heaven and come into the family of God because we're acting like, we're practicing what we preach. Right? So here we go into Amos. This one, the let justice roll down as waters and righteousness as a mighty stream. Don't shoot the messenger.
Don't shoot the messenger, and that literally happened to this guy. It breaks my heart. So what he's saying is God's truth right here. We need to be working for the less fortunate. We need to constantly be working for those who don't know.
This is one of the libraries. I think this is the King Center Atlanta. And it's a common theme on the fountains to have Amos five twenty four. This one's in Montgomery. It's a list of the martyrs and there are others that have been added since then.
But until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream. So justice and righteousness is what Amos is about. That's what he's shooting for. That's what he's crying out. It's social injustice is what he's against.
So this is where I left off last week, and this is where we're going now. Amos 05/25, right after 05/24. God's asking through Amos to the people, did y'all present me with sacrifices and grain offerings in the wilderness for forty years, house of Israel? Did y'all present me with sacrifices and grain offerings in the wilderness for forty years, house of Israel? Uh-huh.
Yeah. We did. And he says, you also carried along Sikheth, your king, false god, and Qion, your images, your idols. The star of your gods, which you made for yourselves. Yeah.
You presented the grain offerings and at the same time you carried other idols. Therefore, I'll make you go into exile beyond Damascus. Beyond Damascus is Assyria. It's not named in this book, but it's obvious what it is, and it comes to pass. Forty years later, it happens.
Says the Lord, whose name is God of armies. Now, Jeroboam second, who was king in Israel at this time, a military conqueror, and it was a very very wealthy economy. If you looked at him from the outside in the world's eyes, he was a good good, stable king with good economy, great military, and was whooping everybody around him. But in God's eyes, he was not a good king because he did not care what God said to do. And he led his other people exactly like that.
So he has a warning next in chapter six to the complacent and the arrogant. Oh my goodness. I'll just say if the boot fits this morning. Right? Woe to those who are carefree in Zion.
Now, why would they care? Israel Zion is Jerusalem. That's in Judah. That's not in Israel. Why would they care?
He's blessed in both Israel and Judah at the same time, but he's doing Israel. Woe to those who are carefree in Zion. Woe to those who feel secure on the Mountains Of Samaria, the dignitaries of the foremost nations to whom the house of Israel comes. Go on over to Kaomah and look. Go go up there to Hamath the Great.
Go and go to Gath Of the Philistines. Are they better than these kingdoms? Or is their territory greater than yours? God is reasoning through Amos with the people. He's saying, I chose you.
It's not anything that you did. I chose you. All the other folks around you, you look at them and think we're better than them. Are you really any better than them? Are you postponing the day of disaster?
Would you bring near the seat of violence? Those who lie on your beds of ivory and lounge around on your couches, and you just eat lambs, you don't even have to let them grow up, you're eating little bitty lambs. And calves veal from the midst of the fattened cattle that you're improvising on the sound of the harp. And like David, you've composed songs just for yourselves, who drink wine from sacred bowls while they anoint themselves with the finest of oils. Yet, they've not grieved over the collapse of Joseph of what has become of God's people.
Therefore, they're going to go into exile at the head of the exiles. He's saying, you're strumming gluttons, y'all will be first to go into exile. You think you're number one. We're number one. We're number one.
Yeah. You're number one going into exile. And the revelry of those who lounge around will come to an end. The Lord is sworn by himself, the Lord God of armies has declared, I loathe the arrogance of Jacob. I detest his citadels, therefore, I'll give up the city and all it contains.
And it will be, if 10 men are in one house, they'll die. Then one's uncle or his undertaker will lift him up, carry out his bones from the house and he'll say to the one who is in the innermost part of the house, is anyone else with you? And that one said, no one. Then he'll answer, well, keep quiet for the name of the Lord is not to be mentioned. For behold, the Lord is gonna command that this great house be smashed to pieces and the small house to rebel.
He's saying that calamity is coming upon you to the point where you won't even want to call out to me because you'll know my power, and you don't realize it at this point. Okay? Do horses run on rocks? No. Or does one plow them with oxen?
Yet, you've turned justice into poison. When you see something happening that is looking out for the underprivileged, you look at that and you think, I don't want have anything to do with that. Poison. And the fruit of righteousness you've turned into wormwood. It's an upside down blasphemous place.
You who rejoice in Lodebar. Lodebar Lodebar is it actually means nothing. That's what it means, so it's sort of play on words. Woe to it's a place too though. Woe to you who rejoice in nothing in this place and say, have we not by our own strengths taken car name for ourselves?
We are the mighty conquerors. For behold, I'm going to raise up a nation against you house of Israel, declares the Lord God of armies, and they will torment you from entrance of Hamath to the book book of Araba. It's gonna happen. So look at these other cities, you sprawling strumming gluttons. At the beginning of the book, he said of these other cities that they're gonna they're gonna get theirs.
And at that point, when he said in the very beginning of those six other nations, they're gonna get what's coming to them. I'm sure all the Israel was saying, yeah. Get them, God. They deserve that. And then when it turns on them, they go, oh, and literally, forty years later, they were the first to go into exile.
Total devastation is coming to the arrogant. Seven, we get a few visions here. The first is a vision, and it's more like a video vision. Okay? There's a locust vision, and here it is.
This is what the Lord God showed me, Amos says. And behold, he was forming a swarm of locusts. And when the spring crop began to sprout, and behold, the spring crop was after the king's mowing, it's the second crop of the year, it's a pretty good year. And it came about that when it had finished heating the vegetation of the land that I said, Lord God, please pardon. Please.
Amos, seeing this vision intercedes for the people. Lord God, please pardon. How can they stand? He's small. He doesn't know what he's doing.
Please, please forgive them for they know not what they do. Please, God, forgive them. And the Lord relented of this. Hey. Thank you, Amos.
It shall not be, said the Lord. Locust? Nope. Not gonna be locust. So then he has a fire vision.
This one also is like sort of a video vision. So the Lord God showed me, and behold the Lord God was calling to contend with them by fire, and it consumed the great deep, and it began to consume all the farmland. And then I said, Lord God, please stop. How can Jacob stand for he is small? And the Lord relented of this too.
So it could have been locusts, and it could have been fire, but the Lord relented of both of those. Now, we've already heard him say, and this is a collection of the sayings of Amos, you'll go into exile, you're gonna have trouble. He is sending famine and plague and difficulty among you for redemptive purposes. He said that in the first part of this book, I've covered that last week. They're redemptive purposes when you go through hard times.
How many people come to Jesus at their birthday party when everything's going great? Not many. It's usually people hit a desperate strait, a difficult spot, and then they come to Jesus. Praise God that they do. The Lord relented of this.
This too shall not be, said the Lord God. And then he had a plumb line vision. Now when I first got here, I had I was recently off of being a carpenter. One of the first sermons that I did was about objective standards, having objective standards. There's a reason why a good carpenter keeps a level with him all the time or at least a plumb line, right, keep things plumb and level.
So now, this plumb line vision is more like a snapshot than it is a video, I think. So he showed me, God showed me, Amos, and behold the Lord was standing by a vertical wall with a plumb line. I was threatening to do this. I'm not sure this wall is straight. And it cracks like that all the time.
It's not just you. I promise. If you came in today, go, if I go in that place, it's going fall down. If you hear it cracking, it cracks year round all the time. He showed me, behold, the Lord was standing by a vertical wall with a plumb line in his hand and the Lord said to me, what do you see, Amos?
Now, plumb line without wind, right, is going to be from top to bottom. Gravity is going do what gravity does, and it's going to be straight. And you can measure whether or not a wall is straight by a plumb line. And I said, plumb line. And then the Lord said, behold, I'm about to put a plumb line in the midst of my people Israel.
I will not spare them any longer. I've said, okay, when you ask me not to destroy them with locusts, and I've said, okay, when you've asked me not to destroy them with fire. But I'm gonna hold it up for you to see, Amos. Here's the plumb line. Now you tell me whether this is straight or not.
We've already heard all about Israel. We've already heard all about Judah. We know they're not straight. Behold, I'm about to put a plumb plumb line in the midst of my people, Israel, and I'll not spare them any longer. The high places of Isaac will become deserted.
The sanctuaries of Israel will be in ruins. There were a couple of different sanctuaries in Israel, Bethel and Gilgal, both of them had their own golden calf, know. It was a horrible mix of pagan religion and the worship of God. Then I'll rise up against the house of Jeroboam with the sword. So military might as he thinks he has, he's not gonna stand.
That came to pass too, by the way. Study history, that came to pass. Yeah, they were taken over by the Assyrians. The whole house of Jehu, the whole house of Jeroboam was taken down. So then there's a little historical interlude, and I was talking with Mindy this morning before during sound check and this is the passage that always comes to my mind.
It's the passage that came to her mind too. Then Amaziah, the priest of Bethel sent word to Jeroboam second, king of Israel saying, Amos has conspired against you. Was Amos conspiring against the king? No. Was Amos delivering an unpopular message?
Oh, yeah. Yes. But he wasn't conspiring against him. Thus saith the Lord, God says, this is the standard. Here is the plumb line.
Jeroboam, that wall is not straight. A good foreman when he wanders on to the site will go, hey, everybody. How are you all doing? Was wondering, did you check to see if that's level? Because that's not straight.
That's not up and down. That's not straight across the top, you got to do something. I I did actually, I did that in Mexico. Tanya would do this in Mexico too. Pulled up one time and I said, Francisco, is that is that thing level?
We're about to pour concrete in a form. Is that thing level? He goes, yeah, it's level. I said, it doesn't look level. I said, throw your level up on there and see.
He goes, Juan, run to the trailer and get me a level. You can't tell, you gotta check that thing, know, you gotta check it. Amos has conspired against you in the midst of the house of Israel. The land is unable to endure all his words. For this is what Amos says, Jeroboam will die by the sword.
Actually, what he said was Jeroboam's whole line, like his whole family. It wasn't just Jeroboam, it was everybody of the line of Jehu. For this is what Amos says, Jeroboam will die by the sword. He he's a conspiring against you. He says he says, you're gonna die by the sword.
And Israel will certainly go from its land into exile. Now, if you're sitting around on your ivory couch and you're strumming a happy tune, and your militarily might is unquestioned, and you're having a pretty good economy, and then somebody comes along and you just think, who is this dude? Amaziah, priest at Bethel, has tied himself to Jeroboam. Then Amaziah said to Amos, go you seer. That's kind of a put down.
It's acting like he's not an actual prophet of God. He's acting like he's a voodoo shaman or something. Go you seer. Flee to the land of Judah. Get on back home.
Get on away from here. From Israel up north, he's saying, you go on back home. You sell that stuff somewhere else. Flee to the land of Judah. Eat bread there and do your prophesying there.
Go back to your home folks and get on to them. But do not prophesy, but they'll but by the way, he he was prophesying against Judah also. He just happened to be doing it in Israel. He had the same plumb line. The plumb line is the plumb line.
It's it's straight. Do not prophesy at Bethel any longer for it is a sanctuary of the king and a royal residence. Amaziah, a priest of Bethel, tells Amos to go home and prophesied. Then Amos replied to Amaziah, listen, I'm not a prophet nor the son of a prophet. Actually, can you can in in Hebrew, you can say this as a present tense like it is in the New American Standard or it can be a past tense as it is in NIV, it's fine.
Both of those are grammatically okay. I like the I was not a prophet nor the son of a prophet, like this is not my family business. I don't do this for p r o f I t. I'm not a for profit profit. I had my own business.
Right? I'm not a profit nor the son of a profit. I'm a herdsman and a grower of sycamore figs. I didn't ask for this. I I like Amos.
I identify with Amos. But the Lord took me from following the flock, and the Lord said to me, you go Amos, prophesy to my people Israel. I think that's gracious. You know, he's from Judah and there's a little bit of superiority thing of Judah and Israel, and he's saying, go prophesy to Israel, my people. Hey, that's a little glimmer.
That's a little shimmer. That's a little silver lining there. You go prophesy Amos to my people. I want to have them come back. I wanna see them repent.
So now, hear the word of the Lord. This is, I was not a prophet nor the son of a prophet, but the word of the Lord came to me. Now, hear this. This is what he said. You shall not And you are saying, Amaziah, you're saying, you shall not prophesy against Jerusalem, and you shall nor shall you prophesy against the house of Isaac.
Well, this is what the Lord says, your wife will become a prostitute in the city. That's a hard prophecy for Amaziah to Your sons and your daughters will fall by the sword. I cannot imagine anything worse. He's resisting God's correction. Your land will be parceled up by a measuring line and you yourself will die upon unclean soil.
He was a priest. His whole life was about saying what was clean and what was unclean. Even if he's lying about it, that's still his whole life. Clean and unclean and he's saying, you're gonna die on unclean soil. Furthermore, as if that weren't enough, Israel will certainly go from its land into exile.
This reminds me of Jeremiah. How Jeremiah delivers the word of the Lord and when he delivers the word of the Lord and they tear it up and they throw it in the river and they burn it to pieces and everything else. And then when he goes back to God and says, God, they threw it in the river and they turn it, turn it up and they burned it. He goes, write this down again and he gives them the same word. This is the same word.
He hadn't changed. Certainly, gonna go into exile. So Amaziah tells him to go home and prophesy, and Amos replies that he must be what God called him to be. There's a little application point. What has God called you to be?
And then after that, what has God called you to do? Righteousness for Amos was recognizing the wayward condition of God's people and going and delivering that message was the justice part of it. The justice is the action that follows the right thinking and right belief. So I'd say, do this in this order, you know, what has God called you to be? You're a human being, not a human doing.
Okay. But what you do does stem from what you are. Alright. That was one place I could cut off, should I? No.
Good. Thank you. That's what that's what I was hoping for. God and Amos have a dialogue. Here it is.
This is what the Lord God showed me and behold, there was this basket of summer fruit and he said, what do you see, Amos? And I said, I see a basket of summer fruit And the Lord said to me, the end has come for my people Israel. This is not fruit that's growing on the back. This is fruit that is already ripe, has already mellowed, and is already there. He says, I'm eating that fruit.
It's a basket of summer fruit. I'm not gonna let it rot. This is time. It's there. I'm not gonna spare them any longer.
The end has come. I've given them In the beginning of this book, it said for three transgressions of Damascus and for four. For three transgressions of Gaza and for four. For three transgressions of Israel and of Judah and for four. He's saying they are long past their expiration date.
The songs of palace will turn into wailing on that day, declares the Lord. The corpses will be many in every place, they will throw them out hush. Hear this, you who trample the needy to put an end to the humble in the land. Saying, when will the new moon be over so that we could sell grain? Just ready for the markets to open again.
And the Sabbath so that when we may open the wheat market to make the Ephes a little smaller and the shekel a little bigger and to cheat with dishonest scales. Is this a message we need to hear? It is. He's saying, y'all can't even wait for Sabbath to be over before you're ready to be back at business cheating people. So as to buy the helpless for money and the needy for a pair of sandals that and that we may sell the refuse of the wheat that was adding stuff into the good wheat, adding chaff and filler and junk into the mix, sawdust into the mix.
Shrinking the Ephesians, which is a measuring of dry measure and growing the shekel. The Lord is sworn by the pride of Jacob. Oh my goodness. This is a great put down. So up to this point, when the Lord swears by himself at something that's absolutely certain and there's no doubt about it, and now the Lord is swearing by the pride of Jacob, which he is saying is just as certain as his goodness.
That's that's a that's a put down. That's an insult. That's a horrible thing. But the Lord is swearing by the pride of Jacob. Some of y'all have that translated in your Bible, and it's capital p and they're pointing towards Jesus and I don't think that that's true.
I don't think that's a good way to look at it, but we'll talk about it later if you must. Indeed, I will never forget any of their deeds because God resists the proud and he gives grace to the humble. Every one of those songs we sang at the beginning was not proud of the cursing that Jesus would smoke on his breast. He's saying that's what I used to do. It's a humble position to recognize your own sin and he said, they're not.
They're not doing it. Because of this land will not the land quake and everyone who lives in it mourn indeed all of it will rise up like the Nile or be tossed about and subside like the Nile of Egypt and it will come about on that day, declares the Lord, that I'll make the sun go down at noon. I'll make the earth dark in broad daylight. Then I'll turn your festivals into morning and all your songs into songs of morning and I'll put sackcloth around everybody's waist, baldness on every head And I'll make it like a time of mourning for an only son. Now, it does foreshadow Jesus here.
And in the end of it will be like a bitter day. Behold, days are coming, declares the Lord. When I'll send a famine on the Lord, on the land, sorry. Not a famine of bread or a thirst for water but rather for the hearing the words of the Lord. Behold, the days are coming when people would thirst to hear the words of the Lord.
You know, this is happening 767 to 753 somewhere in there, and then we had three hundred years later, we had this intertestamental silence where they weren't hearing from God. He's saying, they're going to be so hungry to hear a word from me and they're not going hear it. People will stagger from sea to sea and from north and even to east. They'll roam about to seek the word of the Lord but they're not going to find it. On that day, beautiful virgins and the young men will faint from thirst and as for those who swear by the guilt of Samaria, looking on our enemies and say, oh, they're guilty.
They're guilty. They're guilty and everything we say is good and true. As your God lives, Dan, and as the way of Beersheba lives, they will fall and they'll not rise again. So he's got these oppressors that he's warning, dishonest merchants, Sabbath abusers, others, the proud. And so then this temple vision happens beginning chapter nine and I'm gonna close at the end because that's the end of Amos at the end of chapter nine.
But God will get those. Thank you, Connor. I appreciate that. God will get those who run away from him. That's just the truth.
I saw the Lord standing beside the altar and he said, strike the pillar capitals to the threshold will shake. Break them on the heads of them all, then I'll put to death the rest of them with the sword. They will not have a fugitive who will flee nor a survivor who will escape. These are this is to the religious people, remember that. The ones who think that they're religious.
Though they dig into shield from there, my hand will take them. And though they ascend all the way up to heaven, from there, I'll bring them down. There's not anywhere that they can go to get away from this. God will get those who run. And though they hide on the summit of Carmel, I'll track them down.
I'll take them from there. And though they hide themselves from my side on the bottom of the sea, I'll command the serpent from there and it'll bite them. And though they go into captivity before their enemies, from there I'll command the sword and it'll kill them and I'll set my eyes against them for harm and not for good. The Lord of our God of armies, the one who touches the land so that it quakes and the one who live in it Mormon, all of it rises up like the Nile. It subsides like the Nile Of Egypt.
This one who builds his upper chambers in the heavens and has founded his vault, vaulted dome over the whole earth. He who calls the waters of the sea and pours them out on the face of the earth. The Lord is his name and he is the one that's in charge. And he is prophesying this to let people know that the Lord God of armies is in charge. And if you try to raise yourself up in your military might, in your extreme wealth, in your carefree attitude, whatever it is that you do to try to get away from him, you cannot.
He is pursuing you and he's pursuing you for redemption. He's pursuing you for righteousness. Are you not the sons of Ethiopia to make you sons of Israel? Declares the Lord. Have I not brought up Israel from the land of Egypt?
I did. And the Philistines from Capthor and the Arameans from Kir. I'm the one who is in charge. God says through Amos. And yeah, I brought y'all out of Egypt and you should recognize it was my hand.
I also deal with the other nations too. You're my way to reach them. Behold, the eyes of the Lord God are on the sinful kingdom, and I will eliminate it from the face of the earth. Nevertheless, I will totally eliminate the house of Jacob, declares the Lord. When he says sinful kingdom, do you immediately think, this that's the people in this ditch.
That's the nation in this ditch. No. No. No. No.
No. No. He's saying, I'm gonna eliminate the sinful kingdom, the proud ones. Totally eliminate the house of Jacob, declares the Lord. For behold, I'm commanding and I will shake the house of Israel among all the nations just as grain is shaken in a sieve, but not a pebble will fall to the ground.
The shaking of the sieve is allowing the good flour to come through, the good wheat to come through. But it won't allow the pebbles that are put in there as diverse weights and measures, right? It's a I'm not letting the chaff out. I'm not letting the pebbles out. I'm just letting the good stuff through the sieve.
I'm shaking it up, but with good reason. Not a pebble is gonna fall to the ground. All the sinners of my people will die by the sword. That's another encouraging thing, whether you see it or not. I highlighted it.
He's still calling them his people. All the sinners of my people are gonna die by the sword. I am going to purify my people. That's what God is saying. He's saying it through Amos, and he has a purpose in everything that he does.
And I would say church, that he is purifying his people, and he's doing that as we read Amos and we see ourselves by the plumb line that Amos is holding up. Where are we off? All the sinners of my people die by the sword that those who say the catastrophe will not over overtake or confront us, we belong to God. Yeah. He's chastening you.
And you can either be proud and say I'm right, or you can be humble and say, you're right, God. Align me with your purposes. Use me as you will. God will get those who run away from him. Therefore, run towards him.
Flee to him. He's the only way out of this situation. Go towards him, not away from him. Don't run from him. Run towards him in repentance.
And then we go into the bright, bright, bright silver lining verses nine, chapter nine eleven through 12 11 through 15. On that day, I'll raise up the fallen shelter of David. All of the rest has been about tearing stuff down, hasn't it? But he's been tearing it down with a purpose. Israel, you're supposed to be a light to the Gentiles.
Actually, the way, heathen, that first song if somebody else said, I can't believe I'm singing that I'm a heathen. Heathen and Gentile, that's the same word. Anybody that wasn't Jewish, and honestly, it shouldn't have even been a distinction. They made the distinction, you're either Jewish or you're heathen. But that in itself was saying, it's us and them.
On that day, I'll raise up the fallen shelter of David. I'll wall up its gaps. I'll also raise up its ruins and I'll rebuild it as in the days of old, the glory days of David's kingdom where David was seeking after God's heart. Right? Yeah.
He made some mistakes, but he repented. He always was humble and came back around. So that they may possess the remnant of Edom. I mentioned last week that Edom is always the bad guys. Right?
But even in Edom, who's a close brother, close close relationship, but it's still there, the bad guys, always. And it says, they're going to be folded into your kingdom. The remnant of Edom is going to be saved. There's a remnant from these other lands all around you, all these other people, and I'm calling you out of what you came from and into something else. That's the church.
So they possess the remnant of Edom and all the nations. Amen. This last week when I jumped up and down, this is where I'd be jumping up and down this week. I don't want for these boots to go through this stage. So that they may possess the remnant of Edom, they may get the unthinkable sinner, the black sheep of the family.
They may call them in. And all the nations who are called by my name. What? Yeah. God's saying, I'm already dealing with everybody.
If a nation that you look at, you think, oh, they're irredeemable. No, they're pre Christian. They're just pre Christian. That's the way to think about that. God is going before you.
If he calls you to go on a mission trip or if he calls you to go on mission, he's calling you to people he already already is working on. You may be like Amos, he's calling you away from your job into what he's calling you into. All the nations who are called by my name declares the Lord who does this. So the nations equals the heathens. I wrote that even before I heard that song.
Behold, days. It's not about just the great mighty day of the Lord which they were all looking forward to and he said it was gonna be darkness for them and not light. It's about days are coming. It's an opening of an age, the church age, I think. Behold, days are coming declares the Lord when the plowman will overtake the reaper.
When the one who treads grapes will overtake him who sows the seed. That's a pretty prosperous time, farming analogy. When the mountains will drip grape juice and all the hills will come apart, just easy. I will also restore the fortunes of my people Israel, and they will rebuild the desolated cities and they'll live in them, and they'll also plant vineyards and they'll drink their wine. Now, earlier in Amos, he said, you're building you're planting vineyards, you're not ever gonna drink the wine.
You're building houses and gardens and you're never gonna eat that fruit, you're never gonna live in those houses. And now he says, there is a time coming where after the exile, after you have been purified, I'm gonna call you back and I'm gonna rebuild you. I'll also plant them on their land and they will not be uprooted again from their land, which I've given them, says the Lord your God. There are lot of different ways to take this, study up on it. I see this as being the church that when you're in the hands of God and he has rescued you, you're never gonna get out of it.
I realize some of y'all are looking at this and going, oh, it's about the war in Israel right now. Could be. It's about Israel, nation state, or the people of God. That's a big debate I'm not gonna get into. I think that personal application of this for me is right here.
I wrote this while I was in seminary, that's what I was reading from earlier. Hey, those classes came in handy. Applications from Amos, here here they are just kinda, God calls and he equips for service. Amos was just a herdsman, sycamore, fig farmer, and he equipped him by giving him his word. True faith should always lead to righteous action.
If you believe that we should be helping the poor, then be helping the poor. True faith should always lead to just actions. It's not religiosity, but actions that reveal a heart's condition, and our covenant privilege brings great responsibility. God has saved us, and we should be reaching out for others. So I'm gonna we're going into a time of communion.
I know I've run long, but this is worth it. I'll ask the band if they'll come back up forward. Oh, Micah said that we'll get to Micah in a few weeks, but act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with your God. That's the message of Amos and most of the minor prophets. But I'm gonna ask you come on up, Brad.
And we're going to distribute the the bread first and then the the cup. Alright, buddy. Would you you just y'all can be seated for this one. It's just much easier logistically to do that. But y'all do know this song, Flesh and Bone, Blood and Timber.
We've sung it several times for communion before. So feel free to join in the song. Connor and I are gonna pray for us. In Jesus name, Lord, I ask that you bless us. A little representation of your body.
You walked it out Lord in complete submission of the spirit, you walked out on earth, you emptied yourself of all your divine rights and you walked it out as a man. You had a perfect record which you voluntarily give for any black sheep, any one who is humble before you and calls out. Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord be saved, will be saved. So Lord, whether it was eighty years ago or whether it was fifteen minutes ago that someone bowed the knee turned and said, want what you are offering, In Jesus, I want to know that I've forgiven. I want to know that I'm redeemed.
Lord God almighty, I pray that those, all of those at this open table would partake. Would you bless this as we distribute it, lord? May we sense your presence. Amen. Let's have a seat.
Speaker 2Well, this old building does creek, don't it? There we go.
Speaker 1Sorry.
Speaker 2There's an wine. Remember hearts of stone slaved in prison, found their freedom in surrender. The veil was gone, the gates swing open. The battle's won, the worries over. Bless your bone.
Blood and temper, bread and wine, we remember. We never asked for anything, just wanted our hearts. Say the price you paid for us was worth every scar. Still you meet us with mercy and our shame and our sin. Your father's love poured out for us again and again.
Flesh and bone, blood and timber, bread and wine.
Speaker 1So on the same night that Jesus was betrayed, it's alright. So on the same night that Jesus was betrayed, he took bread after supper and after he had given thanks, he said to his disciples there and his voice still rings out for us today in the gospels. He says, this is my body which is given for you. Take this, take it in, eat of it, and do it as often as you will in remembrance of me. Thank you Jesus that you walked it out in perfect submission to the spirit.
You walked it out in the flesh and you gained that. We could not gain. We have no other way. We were hopeless and helpless without you and your sacrifice and your giving of your innocent blood. The shadow was all of those sacrifices in the Old Testament.
They were pointing towards something that the blood of bulls and goats could never fulfill, but your blood, perfect, innocent, voluntarily given, sacrificially slain. In Jesus name, in Jesus blood, we ask for your blessing on this cup. It's a little plastic cup of grape juice but representative of the blood that was shed on Calvary for the forgiveness of sins. In Jesus name, we ask you blessing. Amen.
Same way that he had taken the bread after supper, after he had given thanks, he also took the cup. Was a common cup for them of wine I'm sure. Here we are with a little plastic cup of grape juice in our hands each. Paul says, we should wait till everybody gets one before we partake together but Jesus says, this is covenant in my blood. Now, all these folks who were hearing from Amos knew about that old covenant and really, it's a hard one.
It was on them but God took it upon himself and Jesus and Jesus said, this is the new covenant in my blood. Take this, take it in, drink it, and do it as often as you will in remembrance of me.
Speaker 2Amen.
Speaker 1How about how about Would you stand and we'll sing one more chorus to that? When it comes around.
Speaker 2Remember. Nothing can separate what the good lord brings together. If you know his love and raise your cup. Hallelujah. We remember.
And nothing can separate what the good lord brings to get if you know his love then raise your cup hallelujah we wine, we remember.
Speaker 1Amen. Now, whoever's wise, let him understand these things. Whoever's discerning, let him know them. For the ways of the Lord are right and the upright will walk in them but transgressors are going to stumble. Would you be looking out for those who are stumbling and trying your best to bring them in?
