My People

Amos 9:13-15 - “The days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when the reaper will be overtaken by the plowman and the planter by the one treading grapes. New wine will drip from the mountains and flow from all the hills, and I will bring my people Israel back from exile. “They will rebuild the ruined cities and live in them. They will plant vineyards and drink their wine; they will make gardens and eat their fruit. I will plant Israel in their own land, never again to be uprooted from the land I have given them,” says the LORD your God.

Isaiah 49:8-9 - This is what the LORD says: “In the time of my favor I will answer you, and in the day of salvation I will help you; I will keep you and will make you to be a covenant for the people, to restore the land and to reassign its desolate inheritances, to say to the captives, ‘Come out,’ and to those in darkness, ‘Be free!’ “They will feed beside the roads and find pasture on every barren hill.

Hosea 2:23 - I will plant her for myself in the land; I will show my love to the one I called ‘Not my loved one.’ I will say to those called ‘Not my people,’ ‘You are my people’; and they will say, ‘You are my God.’”

Isaiah 60:21 - Then all your people will be righteous and they will possess the land forever. They are the shoot I have planted, the work of my hands, for the display of my splendor.

Joel 3:20 - Judah will be inhabited forever and Jerusalem through all generations.

Obadiah 17 - But on Mount Zion will be deliverance; it will be holy, and Jacob will possess his inheritance.

Ezekiel 34:25-26 - “‘I will make a covenant of peace with them and rid the land of savage beasts so that they may live in the wilderness and sleep in the forests in safety. I will make them and the places surrounding my hill a blessing. I will send down showers in season; there will be showers of blessing.

Application:

· Does the Lord answer me? Does He help me? Does He keep me?
· Do I respond to God's graciousness?
· Am I part of the redeemed?
· When God's judgment and redemption are complete, His kingdon will endure and flourish eternally.

All Scripture verses taken from NIV

Things

Amos 9:11-14 - “In that day “I will restore David’s fallen shelter—I will repair its broken walls and restore its ruins—and will rebuild it as it used to be, so that they may possess the remnant of Edom and all the nations that bear my name,” declares the LORD, who will do these things. “The days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when the reaper will be overtaken by the plowman and the planter by the one treading grapes. New wine will drip from the mountains and flow from all the hills, and I will bring my people Israel back from exile. “They will rebuild the ruined cities and live in them. They will plant vineyards and drink their wine; they will make gardens and eat their fruit.

Acts 15:16-18 - “‘After this I will return and rebuild David’s fallen tent. Its ruins I will rebuild, and I will restore it, that the rest of mankind may seek the Lord, even all the Gentiles who bear my name, says the Lord, who does these things’—things known from long ago.

Ruth 2:3 - So she went out, entered a field and began to glean behind the harvesters. As it turned out, she was working in a field belonging to Boaz, who was from the clan of Elimelek.

Joel 3:18 - “In that day the mountains will drip new wine, and the hills will flow with milk; all the ravines of Judah will run with water. A fountain will flow out of the LORD’s house and will water the valley of acacias.

Application:

· God does what He says
· God's intention was and is to save me
· Divine providence is at work
· When I am fully redeemed, streams of blessing from God's presence will refresh me

All Scripture verses taken from NIV

Sinful Kingdom

Amos 9:8-12 - “Surely the eyes of the Sovereign LORD are on the sinful kingdom. I will destroy it from the face of the earth. Yet I will not totally destroy the descendants of Jacob,” declares the LORD. “For I will give the command, and I will shake the people of Israel among all the nations as grain is shaken in a sieve, and not a pebble will reach the ground. All the sinners among my people will die by the sword, all those who say, ‘Disaster will not overtake or meet us.’ “In that day “I will restore David’s fallen shelter—I will repair its broken walls and restore its ruins—and will rebuild it as it used to be, so that they may possess the remnant of Edom and all the nations that bear my name,” declares the LORD, who will do these things.

Amos 3:2 - “You only have I chosen of all the families of the earth; therefore I will punish you for all your sins.”

Luke 22:31 - “Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift all of you as wheat.

Isaiah 49:8-9 - This is what the LORD says: “In the time of my favor I will answer you, and in the day of salvation I will help you; I will keep you and will make you to be a covenant for the people, to restore the land and to reassign its desolate inheritances, to say to the captives, ‘Come out,’ and to those in darkness, ‘Be free!’ “They will feed beside the roads and find pasture on every barren hill.

Genesis 3:15 - And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.”

Application:

· Has my strength and prosperity given rise to complacency?
· Does Satan want to test me? Is Satan hoping to bring me to spiritual ruin?
· Will God bless me after He judges me?
· Does God answer me? Does God help me? Does God keep me?
· Will I someday share in the victory of crushing Satan's head?

All Scripture verses taken from NIV

Mourning

Amos 8:4-10 - Hear this, you who trample the needy and do away with the poor of the land, saying, “When will the New Moon be over that we may sell grain, and the Sabbath be ended that we may market wheat?”—skimping on the measure, boosting the price and cheating with dishonest scales, buying the poor with silver and the needy for a pair of sandals, selling even the sweepings with the wheat. The LORD has sworn by himself, the Pride of Jacob: “I will never forget anything they have done. “Will not the land tremble for this, and all who live in it mourn? The whole land will rise like the Nile; it will be stirred up and then sink like the river of Egypt. “In that day,” declares the Sovereign LORD, “I will make the sun go down at noon and darken the earth in broad daylight. I will turn your religious festivals into mourning and all your singing into weeping. I will make all of you wear sackcloth and shave your heads. I will make that time like mourning for an only son and the end of it like a bitter day.

Jeremiah 13:16 - Give glory to the LORD your God before he brings the darkness, before your feet stumble on the darkening hills. You hope for light, but he will turn it to utter darkness and change it to deep gloom.

Luke 23:44-45 - It was now about noon, and darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon, for the sun stopped shining. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two.

2 Samuel 18:33 - The king was shaken. He went up to the room over the gateway and wept. As he went, he said: “O my son Absalom! My son, my son Absalom! If only I had died instead of you—O Absalom, my son, my son!”

Application:

· I can give glory to God by confessing my sins
· Christ's death gave me direct access to God
· In spite of all that my children do, may my love for them be as much or more than David's love for His children

All Scripture verses taken from NIV

Skimping The Measure, Boosting The Price and Dishonesty

Amos 8:1-6 - This is what the Sovereign LORD showed me: a basket of ripe fruit. “What do you see, Amos?” he asked. “A basket of ripe fruit,” I answered. Then the LORD said to me, “The time is ripe for my people Israel; I will spare them no longer. “In that day,” declares the Sovereign LORD, “the songs in the temple will turn to wailing. Many, many bodies—flung everywhere! Silence!” Hear this, you who trample the needy and do away with the poor of the land, saying, “When will the New Moon be over that we may sell grain, and the Sabbath be ended that we may market wheat?”—skimping on the measure, boosting the price and cheating with dishonest scales, buying the poor with silver and the needy for a pair of sandals, selling even the sweepings with the wheat.

Psalm 14:4 - Do all these evildoers know nothing? They devour my people as though eating bread; they never call on the LORD.

Amos 2:7 - They trample on the heads of the poor as on the dust of the ground and deny justice to the oppressed. Father and son use the same girl and so profane my holy name.

Ezekiel 45:10 - You are to use accurate scales, an accurate ephah and an accurate bath.

Leviticus 19:35 - “‘Do not use dishonest standards when measuring length, weight or quantity.

Application:

· Do I rely on the Lord?
· Do I care for the poor and oppressed? Do I protect them from injustice? Do I defend them?
· Do I handle my finances unjustly?
· Am I dishonest?

All Scripture verses taken from NIV

Do Not Prophesy

Amos 7:16-17 - Now then, hear the word of the LORD. You say, “‘Do not prophesy against Israel, and stop preaching against the descendants of Isaac.’ “Therefore this is what the LORD says: “‘Your wife will become a prostitute in the city, and your sons and daughters will fall by the sword. Your land will be measured and divided up, and you yourself will die in a pagan country. And Israel will surely go into exile, away from their native land.’”

Jeremiah 22:2 - ‘Hear the word of the LORD to you, king of Judah, you who sit on David’s throne—you, your officials and your people who come through these gates.

Amos 2:12 - “But you made the Nazirites drink wine and commanded the prophets not to prophesy.

Hosea 4:13 - They sacrifice on the mountaintops and burn offerings on the hills, under oak, poplar and terebinth, where the shade is pleasant. Therefore your daughters turn to prostitution and your daughters-in-law to adultery.

Application:

· The victorious Messiah will someday appear as the culmination of David's royal line.
· Do I exhibit insensitivity to God's working among His servants?
· Do my idols lead to erosion of my morals?

All Scripture verses taken from NIV

Kingdom

Amos 7:10-15 - Then Amaziah the priest of Bethel sent a message to Jeroboam king of Israel: “Amos is raising a conspiracy against you in the very heart of Israel. The land cannot bear all his words. For this is what Amos is saying: “‘Jeroboam will die by the sword, and Israel will surely go into exile, away from their native land.’” Then Amaziah said to Amos, “Get out, you seer! Go back to the land of Judah. Earn your bread there and do your prophesying there. Don’t prophesy anymore at Bethel, because this is the king’s sanctuary and the temple of the kingdom.” Amos answered Amaziah, “I was neither a prophet nor the son of a prophet, but I was a shepherd, and I also took care of sycamore-fig trees. But the LORD took me from tending the flock and said to me, ‘Go, prophesy to my people Israel.’

Amos 2:12 - “But you made the Nazirites drink wine and commanded the prophets not to prophesy.

Genesis 37:2 - This is the account of Jacob’s family line. Joseph, a young man of seventeen, was tending the flocks with his brothers, the sons of Bilhah and the sons of Zilpah, his father’s wives, and he brought their father a bad report about them.

Ezekiel 2:3 - He said: “Son of man, I am sending you to the Israelites, to a rebellious nation that has rebelled against me; they and their ancestors have been in revolt against me to this very day.

Application:

· Do I show disdain for God's servants? Am I insensitive to God working through His servants?
· Do I struggle with God? Have I overcome?
· Am I rebellious against God?

All Scripture verses taken from NIV