Seek Me So That You May Live

In one paragraph

Pastor Ray opened the book of Amos with a candid admission that preaching the Old Testament is uncomfortable territory for him, and he spent time explaining why he thinks that discomfort matters. The message traced Amos's oracles against eight nations, ending with a long and pointed indictment of Israel itself, and kept returning to the phrase "seek me so that you may live" as the hinge the whole...

Read together

1. 1 Corinthians 10:1-10 Paul recalling the wilderness generation as an example written for our instruction
2. Romans 15:4-7 whatever was written in former days was for our instruction, leading into the benediction about harmony and glorifying God together
3. 2 Peter 1 no prophecy of scripture is a matter of someone's own interpretation; men spoke from God moved by the Holy Spirit
4. Amos 1:2 the Lord roars from Zion and utters his voice from Jerusalem
5. Amos 1:3-2:16 oracles of judgment against Damascus, Gaza, Tyre, Edom, Ammon, Moab, Judah, and Israel with reasons and punishments stated
6. Isaiah 6 mentioned to establish the overlapping reigns of Uzziah and Jeroboam as the time frame for Amos
7. Proverbs 22 do not rob the poor because he is poor; the Lord will plead their case
8. Amos 3:1-8 rhetorical questions building to the point that God does nothing without revealing it to his servants the prophets
9. Amos 4 judgment against the pampered women called cows of Bashan; famine drought and plague as God's redemptive efforts
10. Amos 5:1-24 song of mourning for Israel; seek the Lord so that you may live; let justice roll like waters and righteousness like an ever flowing stream
11. Micah 6:8 cited to define justice as concrete actions to correct injustice and create righteousness

Talk about it

1. Pastor Ray was candid about approaching the Old Testament with 'fear and trembling' because he worries about being a bottleneck between what God has to say and what people hear. When have you felt that kind of weight in trying to pass along something important to someone else, and what did you do with it?
2. Pastor Ray pointed out that Paul wrote the wilderness generation's failures were 'written down for our instruction,' and that the ways Israel stumbled are the same ways we can stumble today. Which of the failures Amos names, selling the righteous for money, trampling the poor, immorality, breaking pledges, do you think is hardest for people to see in themselves, and why?
3. Amos directed his first seven oracles against the nations surrounding Israel, and the crowd was probably enjoying every word until he turned toward home. Have you ever found yourself nodding along at a rebuke aimed at someone else, only to realize it applied to you too? What was that like?
4. The line Pastor Ray said he nearly leapt at was 'Seek me so that you may live,' and he said it is the point of the whole book of Amos. What does seeking God actually look like in a normal week, as opposed to just attending the right places the way Israel kept going to Bethel and Gilgal?
5. Pastor Ray read that Amos told Israel to 'establish justice in the gate' and said the application is to start at home rather than lobbing insults at the other side of the political aisle. What is one specific thing your household or this congregation could do to establish more justice or righteousness close to home before pointing outward?