Amos : The Sweet Justice of God

Download the Amos Bible Journal Outline

Open your Bibles, if you would, to the Book of Amos. If you're a guest with us today, I've been preaching through the Old Testament, one book at a time. So, today is the Book of Amos. And hopefully you have your little Bible outline journal, as we call them, that'll help you follow along.

The bald eagle is a fascinating bird. You know, they hunt prey from the air, and they hunt prey that is on the ground, and they will track them and catch them with their talons. And they're known to even get small sheep or a goat from time to time, and they will even hunt fish, which is interesting, something that hunts prey on land and sea. You know, they'll swoop down and grab a fish with their claws. And I don't know if you've ever seen that before. It's quite fascinating to me anyway. And in the Midwest, we used to get a show of this all the time. There would be, I don't know, maybe 30 or 40 Bald Eagles along the Mississippi River, near the dam, fishing. And you could sit on the banks and just watch them dive and catch their prey.

The only problem is that eagles aren't made to get that wet. If they get a fish that's too big, it could actually cause them great problems. If they get one really big, then they won't be able to fly away. And when they are trying to fly away, they start to get saturated with the water. And if the water saturates their feathers enough, they can't even fly out of the water. They're stuck in the water. In fact, they could just be floating there until I guess something eats them, or a good Samaritan comes along. But it's difficult for eagles to soar when they're drenched with water.

As you'll see today, it's impossible for believers in God to soar in their life when they're drenched with sin. It's not supposed to be like this; we weren't designed to carry these heavy burdens that we try to carry and bear alone. They weigh us down; they put us in an element where we weren't supposed to be in and in a situation that we're not supposed to thrive in. The Israelites in the book of Amos, were drenched, and they were about to drown.

And I want to kind of summarize the first few chapters for you like this. There's nine chapters here. But imagine you're in a small town called Bethel. Bethel is a few miles south of Jerusalem. A new preacher comes on the scene, and he starts preaching fire and brimstone about the other nations. And people really like this guy because, right, it's great to preach about how bad the other nations are. And in fact, in Amos in the first few chapters, this preacher, he comes on, and he mentions six different nations, one after the other, and he calls out their sin. And he says, “and the fire of God is going to come down on those nations.”

Well, one person after another, it says, “We have waited a long time for a guy like this. We love this guy. We like his message. We like this fire and brimstone about these other nations”, and the crowds get bigger, and they lavish praise on him. They don't really know who he is. He's not a Levite. He's not in the priestly line. He's not even the son of a prophet. One person says, “He's just a shepherd from another small town further south, but we like him.”
Then all of a sudden, his message changes. He no longer calls out other nations but their nation. He begins to call out their town and their people and their county, their country. And things began to get a little tense, “Maybe this guy's not so good after all. I mean, who does he think he is? It was fine when he was saying, quote, ‘the other nations have rejected Yahweh.’ But now he's saying we have rejected Yahweh. Who is he to judge us like that? I mean, he doesn't know me, doesn't know my heart. Worse yet, he says fire is coming upon our nation. He says that we have, in chapter two verse seven, trampled the head of the poor, into the dust of the earth. Why would he say that out loud and in public? In chapter two, verse 12, he's even saying that we have made the Nazarites, who have taken a solemn vow not to drink their whole lives, he is saying, we've even made them to drink wine, to reject their vow before the Lord. And then he tells us in verse 16, that it's going to get so bad that we're going to be running away for our very lives, fleeing from our town.”

Well, the prophet’s message was no longer appreciated. He was no longer liked. And in fact, the people decided to do something about it. “I mean, someone should go and tell king Jeroboam about this guy and all the trouble he's making. I mean, it's obvious God has blessed us and our country. I mean, look how much money we have. I mean, Solomon, well, he had some sin, but Solomon got us so much wealth. And now we're in this time of great political stability. Even the Assyrians have left us alone, because of that guy named Jonah. Thankfully, God sent him to them, even went to their capital, Nineveh, and they turned and now they don't oppress us as they used to. I mean, we should tell this guy that our vats are full of wine, that we have the finest oils. Our sheep and our cattle are many; our walls are strong. And we know, because of these things, that God must be pleased with us, contrary to his message.”

Well, the Israelites at this time, though foolish, had a very common understanding of the world, that material prosperity and blessings signaled the actual blessing of God not only on the people, but on who they were as a people. Amos found out quickly what every speaker realizes: that it's please the crowd or be pushed aside. Was it good that the people liked his judgment against other nations? Was that in and of itself a good thing, that they would like his judgment on others? You have to think about that. Was it bad that they didn't like his judgment against them? You see, the problem was is that the Israelites just wanted somebody to come along and tell them how good they were doing. They didn't want someone to point out the proverbial knife sticking out of their back.

Their problem was the same that many struggle with today is, is they didn't truly want to hear from God. They wanted to give God the message that should be proclaimed. That's what the Israelites were doing, generation after generation. And in our setting, Amos, here, is some time in the seven hundreds BC. We’re not exactly sure when, but it was before the Assyrians came and took over. It was before the Babylonian captivity in 586. This is after David and after Solomon, but before God brought full judgment on them. And Amos lived in this southern town, and he was sent to Bethel. Now, we have lots of ministries named after Bethel. But Bethel was the place, as well, in this day and age, of a cultic temple to other gods. And so, as he's going to this town, he is actually preaching in a town with a temple built to a foreign god by God's people. That's the setting here that we have with Amos.

They didn't have to wonder very long who was speaking; he told them exactly who he was. Look with me, if you would, in chapter three, verses one and two. “Hear this word that the LORD has spoken against you, O people of Israel, against the whole family that I brought up out of the land of Egypt: ‘You only have I known of all the families of the earth; therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities.’” You see, they were about to sink because of sin. They were drenched by it. And God was about to bring the punishment in the near future.

Notice here, there's this phrase here, in verse two, “You only have I known of all the families of the earth.” Now, this phrase is very interesting. It shows up in the Old Testament a lot; it shows up in the New Testament, and you need to know what it means. It doesn't mean that God didn't know everyone, right? He's omniscient. It didn't mean that he didn't understand what the other nations were doing. Amos just called out specific sins of six other nations. So, he did know those other nations. But when it says, “you only have I known,” what it means is “You are my chosen people.” That's what the phrase means in the Old Testament.

In the New Testament, when you see this phrase, “you only have I known,” or “I have known you,” what it means most of the time is, this is God's chosen, elect people, believers. In the Old Testament, it references this people group, this whole people group, and he's saying, “Look, out of all the people groups of all the earth, you are my special chosen people.” It does not mean that they were all saved. But it does mean that God knew them in a particular way.

The people could do nothing at this point. But continue to listen, as this self-proclaiming prophet began to speak about God. You see, the people didn't know God. And so, Amos, his objective was not just to bring down fire in judgment on them, although it would come. He wanted them to know God and to turn from their sin, to know the abundant mercy of God. And so, in this next section, Amos describes God for them. Look in chapter three, verse eight, “’The lion has roared, who will not fear? The Lord GOD has spoken; who can but prophesy?’” Now notice, he tells them who God is, and this is his own motivation. They weren't prophets; he was. He's saying, “Look, the lion has roared. I can't do anything but speak what God has told me. I can do nothing but prophesy.” In other words, are we going to come up against the lion, no. God has spoken.

So, what is the message? In verse 10, he gets right down to it. “’They do not know how to do right, declares Yahweh.’” Now for a prideful people, that's a sentence that stings. “Of course, we know what we're doing. Again, look at how well we're doing as a society. We are unique among the people of the world.” Verse nine, they oppress others, though; their own people, they oppress. And you are going to hear this theme woven into Amos, about just how oppressive they were. Well, God had watched them as a nation. And there are two outcomes because of their actions. And we find those in chapter three verses 11 and 12.

First, “Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: ‘An adversary shall surround the land and bring down your defenses from you, and your strongholds shall be plundered.’” So, in other words, a nation is coming, and there's nothing you can do about it. And the second thing is in verse 12, “Thus says the LORD: ‘As the shepherd rescues from the mouth of the lion two legs, or a piece of an ear, so shall the people of Israel who dwell in Samaria be rescued, with the corner of a couch and a part of a bed.’” Now, if you're going to encourage somebody, like Amos is doing here in verse 12, you really don't want to say, “You're going to be like that leg hanging out of the lion's mouth.” Or, like, “You're just gonna be not the comfort of a whole couch, you're just gonna be like a torn off, ripped part.” That was the encouraging part of the prophecy, in case we missed it. In other words, “Some of you will survive, but barely.” I don't think they liked him very much. But that's only the first of three sermons he's going to preach to them.

He's going to continue on. And the second sermon that he's going to preach to them is found in chapter four. And it recounts all the ways God tried to turn the people back to himself. Because sometimes when God brings judgment on us, we start to think of all the good things we do, and how we love God, and how, “Well, you know, I'm still doing my Bible study, and I'm still, you know, going to the ministries at church and I'm still serving.” Well, Amos kind of points them to Yahweh and the things that they rejected. Chapter four, verse one, “Hear this word, you cows of Bashan, who are on the mountain of Samaria, who oppress the poor, who crush the needy, who say to your husbands, ‘Bring, that we may drink!’”. Now, I'm sorry that that’s in there, ladies, but the wives were telling their husbands what to do. It's just in the text, I had to read it to you. So that is part of what they're doing. They're changing the natural order of things, in other words, all right? Though, husbands, you should serve your wives, and they shouldn't have to ask for something. If they're thirsty, here, what we see is that the wives are taking over.

But, nonetheless, as a society, they were indeed oppressing the poor. I mean, for a God who gives them everything: he gave them their land; he gave them houses that they didn't build and vineyards that they did not plant, and wealth that someone else accumulated for generations, through David over 40 years, and Solomon over many decades, and now they're just, you know, enjoying all the spoils of all these things. And yet, they're oppressing the ones who need help among them. And this phrase, it's repeated in verse six, in eight, in nine, in 10 and 11 of chapter four, it says this, “’yet you did not return to me,’ declares the LORD.” You see, God sent some mini-trials to them. You know the kind? On your way to work for an important meeting, and the car breaks down, that kind of thing. Something that's going to cause some tumult, but something you could get over.

Well, here, the very interesting things that God sent among them: took bread from them and different things that would cause them a little bit more consternation than just a flat tire or something. But in all these things, notice the goal is that they would return to Yahweh. He says, “yet you did not return to me.” Instead of returning to God, they love their sin more and more. So, Amos tells us more about God. Quite a few things, actually, in the first four chapters. Let me just tell you some of them.

One, that God raises up people to declare His word no matter what we want to hear. That's in chapter one, verse one and chapter three, verse one. Chapter three, verse two, that God has a particular love for His chosen people. That's all throughout Scriptures. He has chosen them, not because they were great and mighty, but because of his own love placed upon people. Friends, you cannot earn something that God gives, because of himself. Chapter three, verse six, a truth that we don't like to hear: that when disaster strikes a city, God has done it. Should we say that only the good things in life are from the Lord? It's very clear in chapter three, verse six, that God causes both, but for a purpose.

Chapter four, verse one, he wants us over every hour of our day, every day. Chapter four, verse seven, he controls the rain. Chapter four, verse nine, he controls the animals. Chapter four, verse 10, he controls the nations. Are we getting the picture that God is in control? Amos is trying to tell the people that though you love your sin, God is still in control. That should frighten those who are engrossed in sin. Well, that was just the second sermon.

The third sermon in chapters five and six revolves around this phrase, “seek Yahweh and live.” Now if you if you've looked through those verses, if you've read this book ahead of time before today, you know that it's not good for them to ignore God. And he calls them, over and over again in these chapters, to bring about justice, real, true justice. And we see in these verses, that God wants them to take care of the poor, not of the world, but let's just start with our own people.

In our current day and age, we have soured the term justice, calling it of course, social justice, which is no justice at all. If it were justice that could be satisfied, it would have been done already. Do not be fooled. Current social justice has no end. It has no end. It is a program to hoard money. It is a program to hoard power. It is a program to say, “We must oppress these others, because well, we've had injustice against us.” But there is no true transactional forgiveness to be found. That's why it continues, on and on and on. And if you don't understand all those things, then you're just not woke enough.

But when scripture, like Amos, talks about real justice, taking care of real needs, are we to lift up the poor and spit on the rich? Does Scripture teach this? Are we to lift up the rich and spit on the poor? Are we to show great preference? Because someone is poor? Are we? No, we are not. Jesus himself was no respecter of persons, rich or poor. He valued something greater, that man is made in the image of God, something that cannot be changed. No value can be added to that, except from God Himself. And so, when we look at taking care of people, it says in verse 5:24, and the picture that's on the front of your bulletin here, “Let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.”

It's not just a handout. If you haven't noticed, we can take billions of dollars and send it anywhere we want. Right? We do that all the time as a nation. Yet that doesn't fix any problems. Because when the food is gone, where are you going to get more food? Well, go back to the handout. Right? So, when we talk about real justice, it's a continual thing, an ever-flowing stream. Where can you get something that is always good, all the time, and in the right way? No where else but God. While we certainly should feed the poor, and we certainly should help the needy and the widows, and those who are having troubles and issues in life. The main thing is in verse 24: what flows like an ever flowing stream? It's righteousness.

You see, we can't let the world define righteousness for us, because God himself has done that. We must get right with God. In all of these things, God is not going to tell the people to make the poor wealthy. That's not a solution he ever gives. Though he does feed the poor, though he does feed 1000s. And yet, remember after he fed the 1000s, they came back. And he says in John six, “I don't entrust myself to them because I know the hearts of man.” (John 2:24-25) They came here just looking for food when they had the spring of living water in front of them, when they had the Son of God in front of them. And I think sometimes what we do is we trade God for a piece of bread. And we think that's righteousness.

Well, that's what the people in Amos's day were doing. They were confusing what it truly meant to serve God. Chapter five, verse 21, and following, look there if you would with me. On the outside, these people looked very religious. You say, “Oh, I'm not religious.” Well, you should be religious. Religion is following God and his ways and his laws. I know we've taken that term and made it something else, but they were religious. They looked like those who truly loved God, yet God rejected them. Chapter five, verse 21, “’I hate, I despise your feasts. And I take no delight in your solemn assemblies. Even though you offer me your burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them; and the peace offerings of your fattened animals, I will not look upon them. Take away from me the noise of your songs; to the melody of your harps I will not listen.’”

Did you catch that? They were worshiping, singing songs. They were using instruments. They were offering burnt offerings which cost them money. They were offering grain offerings which cost them money. So, they were giving money. They were having not just assemblies, but specific assemblies to worship God. “I hate your solemn assemblies.” These people on the outside were as religious as you could get. They were going through the religious motions, but were spiritually dead.

So, in verse 15, he calls them to action, to deep heart change, “Hate evil, and love good, and establish justice in the gates. It may be that the LORD, the God of hosts, will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph.” He reminds them who they are. They are the remnant of Joseph. They are the people of God's blessing. He also reminds them who God is. He's the God of hosts. That doesn't mean that he has people over for dinner. “Hosts” means army. He's the God with an army. “Hate evil and love good and it may just be that he will turn from what he has declared, that he will shower you with grace.”

He calls them to a heart change: that's hate evil and love good. That's what to do with your heart. He calls them to action, to establish justice in the gate. As you know, the gate was where they conducted business for the town, to be honest with one another, to be forgiving with one another, establish justice. Let's start there, so that everyone who comes in and out knows this is a city that has biblical justice done. God was trying. He was trying to help them. And that justice, like a refreshing stream, that was always full, is what he was offering.

But here's the problem. They would have to give up a lot. They would have to give up a lot. Chapter six tells just how much they would have to give up. You see, they had very lavish lifestyles. And you say, “Well, I don't have any lavish lifestyles.” Yeah, you do. The poorest among us are the wealthiest in the world. While Solomon had a throne made of ivory and overlaid with gold, that's over the top. Their beds were made of ivory. Look in chapter six verse four, their beds were made of ivory. I don't remember seeing lots of elephants running around Israel. This is imported stuff, much more expensive. It took a long time to get, and then you're carving it up just to lay your your mattress on it.

They had so much wine, in chapter six verse six, that they had to drink from bowls. They love to drink from bowls, right, you can get a whole lot more drinking from a bowl than you can a little cup. They had the finest oils in chapter six, verse six. I'm biting my tongue right now. In short, they hoarded their money for themselves. Notice was God upset that they were wealthy. No, this is in the context of oppressing the poor. God gave the wealth to Solomon, to David. They literally had piles of it. God was not upset that they had lavish lifestyles, God was upset that they had lavish lifestyles where other people were going around without bread, their people, the chosen people of God. They were great at ignoring the great need around them.

If they were tithing today, I'm going there, they would be giving very little, maybe 1-2% of their money. Maybe just a little bit here and there. Remember, they spent money on assemblies and grain offerings and burnt offerings. They, even in chapter five verse 22, gave their fattened animals. They sang songs, made new instruments, but it was a giant, “Look at how godly we are session.” It's like a Crystal Cathedral kind of thing. I mean, what's the big deal if you tithe the 100 bucks if you make 10,000? What's the big deal if you tithe the 1,000 If you make 10,000? In the Old Testament, that was the bare minimum. In the New Testament, God says in 2 Corinthians 9, you can turn there; we're going to spend a few minutes there, that God loves a cheerful giver.

And you say, “Dave, I thought we were talking about righteousness and the poor.” And I'm glad that you brought that up, because that is the exact context of 2 Corinthians chapter nine, verse six, where God says he loves a cheerful giver. And that's really the only phrase that we remember out of this portion. Look in 2 Corinthians 9:6, “if you sow sparingly you [what?] you reap sparingly.” Chapter nine, verse seven, he wants you to give from the heart. In other words, not reluctantly, not like, you know, your hand is shaking like, “Oh, there goes… not getting that iPad,” as you stick it in the offering box. You want to be cheerful about it. Right? “Lord Jesus, I'm so thankful for you that you are so gracious to me that I have the ability to give you something back.”

And you can't even calculate the amount of wealth and money that God has. Right? He spoke the whole universe into existence, what are you going to give him? Right? But he gives us the opportunities to show that our hearts are truly pure. How do we do that with the things we love the most? Chapter nine, verse eight, but God is going to graciously provide for you. But in verse nine, look what he talks about next, “As it is written, he has distributed freely, he has given to the poor; his righteousness endures forever.” Notice the poor and the righteousness that is continual is in the context of something you and I can do. That is so simple.

Chapter nine, verse 11, we are to be generous in every way. And in case we think that we're not to be generous, again in verse 13, the word specifically speaks of the generosity of your contribution, which in this context is financial. Do you know how the poor in that day and age were taken care of? They were taken care of by the church, and the poor were those who came to the church, to the temple. Well, I'll leave it up to you to decide where your heart is at. Guys, we should take another offering here after the sermon. No, just kidding.

But like you, probably, in Amos's day, that was about all they could take. You see, they can take everything else. But then he started getting into the meddlin’, as we used to call it. Right? He stopped preaching, and he started meddling. And in Amos's day, they had all their needs met; they had everything they needed. They had their bills paid; they went out to eat; they took vacations; they bought plenty of clothes, but they gave little, even ignoring the poor among them. And they had plenty of religious deeds to point to. But God exposed their heart. And no one likes to hear about this, the money, because it exposes us so quickly. And they had had just about enough of this young Amos guy, “Don't go preaching about how we're spending our money.”

And he riled them up so much, that in chapter seven, even the priest Amaziah gets into it. And the priest start spreading lies about them. And if the priest will do that, you know the society is bad. He started spreading lies about Amos to the king, as you see there in chapter seven. And they told Amos, “Look, go home, go take you and your message and go home. We don't want you here.” So, they tried to reject him personally, because they couldn't reject his message because he said it was from God, and everything he was saying was true. So, they tried to reject him personally. And you know, when the personal attacks come out, that you've got them. So, in chapter seven, verse 15, he says, “But Yahweh said to me, ‘Go and prophesy to my people Israel.’”

“I was just taking care of sheep. I didn't ask for this. It's not my message. I'm just giving you what God Almighty has told me. Right? Obey God rather than men.” Well, Amos was doing it long before we ever thought about it. They didn't listen. And so, at the end of verse 17, after rebuking harshly Amaziah’s family, he says, “’Israel shall surely go into exile away from its land.’” “Away from its land,” chapter seven, verse 17, the very end of it. Did they really think God would ignore their sin forever? You see, God took away everything they selfishly loved, and without their land, they had no way to store or make or hoard all the things that they loved. Where do you put sheep if you have no land? Where do you put your bed of ivory, if you're in chains in Babylon, or Assyria or somebody else takes over? How do you store that? They didn't have, you know, self-storage places all over the place? Where are you going to put that? Well, you can't put it anywhere. Though he would punish them for a time, the goal was still that they would know God.

Turn to chapter nine, if you would. Amos does have a good ending, if you were wondering. Amos chapter nine, verse five says, “The Lord GOD of hosts, he who touches the earth and it melts, and all who dwell in it mourn, and all of it rises like the Nile and sinks again, like the Nile of Egypt; who builds his upper chambers in the heavens and founds his vaults upon the earth; who calls for the waters of the sea and pours them out on the surface of the earth--the LORD is his name. Friends, do you know this God? He cannot be argued with; he cannot be convinced of our position. He cannot be overpowered; he can't be out-thought. We cannot gather other nations to rise against them because he's punished them. We cannot choose our own nation and say, “We are blessed of God,” when we are the ones who are in constant sin. This God, Yahweh is his name. And the whole point is that they would truly know God, and God, out of his love, went to great lengths to draw them home.

So, in Amos, chapter nine, verse 11 and following, Amos talks of a future day, a day of great blessing that is on the way. Amos 9:11, “’In that day I will rise up raise up the booth of David that is fallen and repair its breaches, and raise up its ruins and rebuild it as in the days of old, that they may possess the remnant of Edom and all the nations who are called by my name’, declares the LORD who does this.” Notice, God has told them that he will, in the future, restore their national heritage, and it will be a national blessing on Israel, that “I will raise up the booth of David that is fallen.” So, he promises them a national blessing in verses 11 and 12.

And then in verses 13 and 14, there is a material blessing that is on the way, “’Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when the plowman shall overtake the reaper and the treader of grapes him who sows the seed; the mountains shall drip sweet wine, and all the hills shall flow with it. I will restore the fortunes of my people Israel, and they shall rebuild the ruined cities and inhabit them; they shall plant vineyards and drink their wine, and they shall make gardens and eat their fruit.’” See, material prosperity can be a blessing from God. But if he blesses us with that, and we reject him, he is able and willing to take it all away. But here he is saying you're going to have so much in abundance that the mountains are going to drip with wine. So, he promised them national blessing. He promised them material prosperity.

And he promises them that the blessings will be permanent. In verse 15, “’I will plant them on their land, and they shall never again be uprooted out of the land that I have given them,’ says the LORD your God.” Now listen. The Jewish people have struggled for centuries. They became a nation again in 1948. They are in their land, but they are not in all of their land. Even as vast as Solomon's territory was, it did not inhabit all of the land that was promised to Abraham in Genesis 15. The territory is much bigger, and they have come in and out of their land. And right now, other nations dwell in land that God gave to the Jewish people. I believe, especially because of verse 15, that this refers to the 1,000 year reign of Christ, when Christ is ruling and reigning, and no one is going to take land from the Jewish people again. That time has not happened yet. It shall be as verse 15 confirms, a land they shall possess forever, a land they will never be uprooted from.

Friends, God has a plan to restore his people to himself. His plan for them, and for you and me, runs right through the Messiah, Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God, who would give his life as a ransom, who would pay for all of their sin, who would take that burden off of us that we were not meant to carry. And I want to ask you, do you know this Jesus with this future promise, yet ahead of us, that God will one day restore all things to his people, Israel, and to those who are called by his name? Do you know that Jesus? See, sin weighs a person down. And it's hard to soar when we're soaked with sin. The point is that right now God has given us a time to repent. Just like in the book of Amos, he gave them a time to repent.

And for you and I, as we watch the story unfold, and as we see how they're judged, and there's a future restoration, the question for us is, what have we set our hope on? Have we set our hope on our material blessings, in the wealthiest county in the wealthiest country in the world? Have we set our hope on the things that we're going to get here in a few days, at the end of December? Have we taught our families that Jesus is greater than any gift we could ever receive, that forgiveness is sweeter and tastes better than any meal we could ever have, that the fellowship of the saints is where we need to focus our time and energy and effort, so that we can truly know God? Is that what we're talking about? Just like we sing, “Christ is our hope in life and death.” “Though my sins are many, His mercy is more” and we can find healing in his sacrifice. Friends, I pray today that you incline your hearts to Jesus Christ during this time of opportunity and enjoy his mercy for all of eternity.

Let's pray. Father, God, you have told us about yourself, revealed yourself fully in Jesus Christ. You've written down the things that Amos spoke up for our instruction that we might learn from them. You have showed that for generations you're merciful and patient. Lord, I pray that You would help us not to cling to our religiosity, but that you would help us to cling to Jesus Christ and Christ alone. Lord, I thank you for the gift of this opportunity to turn to you fully to put off the sin that entangles and to run the race that wins, so that we might win the race. Father God, I thank you for this day. And friends, let's just take a moment and ask God to search our hearts that we might truly know Him. Father, thank You for sending Jesus Christ that we might have the grace that we need and full forgiveness, every sin, every thought, every deed, every evil word spoken, forgiven in Christ. Thank you for that most precious gift, in your precious name, Amen.