Seek Me and You Will Live

In one paragraph

The pastor opened a series in the book of Amos, a nine-chapter Old Testament prophecy he had been building toward for weeks. He preached through the whole book in one sitting, tracing God's judgment against injustice from the surrounding nations all the way to Israel itself. The silver lining he kept looking for finally arrived at the very end, in a promise of restoration through the house of...

Read together

1. Revelation 22 God's open invitation: 'let anyone who is thirsty come and drink freely from the water of life'
2. 1 Corinthians 10:11 things that happened to Israel were written down for our instruction
3. Romans 15 whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and encouragement we might have hope
4. 1 Corinthians 10:31 Annika quoted it during the missions report: 'whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God'
5. Amos 1:2 the Lord roars from Zion and utters his voice from Jerusalem
6. Amos 1:3-5 oracle against Damascus for threshing Gilead with iron sledges
7. Amos 1:6-8 oracle against Gaza for leading an entire population into exile and selling them to Edom
8. Amos 1:9-10 oracle against Tyre for turning a whole people over to Edom and not remembering the covenant of brotherhood
9. Amos 1:11-12 oracle against Edom for pursuing his brother with the sword and maintaining fury forever
10. Amos 1:13-15 oracle against Ammon for ripping open pregnant women of Gilead to enlarge their borders
11. Amos 2:1-3 oracle against Moab for burning the bones of the king of Edom
12. Amos 2:4-5 oracle against Judah for rejecting the law of the Lord and believing lies
13. Amos 2:6-16 oracle against Israel for selling the righteous for money and oppressing the poor
14. Amos 3 God's indictment: 'you alone have I known from among the nations' yet Israel acts like those around them
15. Amos 4 condemnation of the pampered women called 'cows of Bashan' for oppressing the poor; God's sarcasm about empty offerings and his sending famine, drought and plague to call them back
16. Amos 5 funeral dirge over Israel; repeated call to 'seek me and you may live'; condemnation of corrupt justice and empty worship
17. Amos 5:24 quoted as the verse Martin Luther King used in his I Have a Dream speech: 'let justice roll down as waters and righteousness as a mighty stream'
18. Amos 7 God gives Amos visions of locusts, fire and a plumb line; Amaziah the priest confronts Amos and tells him to go home
19. Amos 8 vision of overripe summer fruit as judgment; warning to dishonest merchants and Sabbath abusers
20. Amos 9:11-15 silver lining: God promises to restore the fallen shelter of David so all nations called by his name may come in, and to plant his people so they will never be uprooted again
21. Proverbs 22 described as a messianic proverb: 'do not rob the poor because he is poor, for the Lord will plead their case and take the life of those who rob them'
22. James 1:5 closing encouragement: if any of you lacks wisdom, ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault
23. Hosea 14:9 closing verse: 'whoever is wise, let him understand these things... for the ways of the Lord are right and the upright walk in them but transgressors stumble in them'

Talk about it

1. The pastor mentioned that Israel was prosperous and militarily strong under Jeroboam II, and that this wealth led them to turn away from God. Where do you see that same pattern at work in your own life or in the culture around you?
2. Amos starts his oracles with the surrounding nations, and the crowd was probably saying amen through most of them, before the message turned on Israel itself. When is it easier to recognize sin in others than in ourselves, and what makes it hard to hear correction aimed at us personally?
3. In chapter five, God says He does not want to hear Israel's songs or accept their offerings because their worship was disconnected from how they treated the poor and vulnerable. What does that say about the relationship between Sunday worship and how we live the rest of the week?
4. Amos was a sheep herder and a sycamore fig farmer with no prophetic background, yet God called him and equipped him for the task. Has God ever called you to do something you felt completely unqualified for, and how did you respond?
5. The closing verses of Amos promise restoration, and the pastor pointed out that the invitation 'seek me and you will live' runs through the darkest parts of the book. What does it look like practically, in your everyday decisions, to seek God rather than rely on your own comfort or resources?