Let Justice Roll Down Like Waters
First B Jackson
2025-11-02

Automatically transcribed. Where this and the recording disagree, the recording is the record.

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I know. Hello. Yeah. Exactly.

Good 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.

Different. 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

Well, 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.

So 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.

Seeking 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.

Swear you don't fit in, so you kick and scream and you're gone again, wandering off into the devil's way.

Well, how's it going out

there 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.

So how's it going out there

acting 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.

And 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.

Well, this old building does creek, don't it? There we go.

Sorry.

There'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.

So 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.

Amen.

How about how about Would you stand and we'll sing one more chorus to that? When it comes around.

Remember. 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.

Amen. 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?

In Jesus name, amen. Amen.