Prophets with a Mission | Judgment, Justice & Repentance | Amos 1:1 - 2:3

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Hey, everybody, good morning and welcome to the Bible Gay.

We've got a good day for you. Chris. This is

one of my favorite new segments. It is Remember I

demanded we do this segment two or three times a week.

It's your favorite because it was your idea.

Oh, I love it. I love it. So we had

this idea a couple weeks ago about we need a

good theme song because we were looking at our roll

in write those big guys on the screens are Yeah,

it's just been and we don't have a theme song.

So we're just trying to think up theme songs. So

then we decided what we should do is have AI

help us write theme songs. Right, and so here I

did chat GPT one, which is maybe one of the

most logical versions of chat GPT, and I said, help

me write a theme song with lyrics for a pod

cast called The Bible Guys where two friends talk about

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song lighthearted and fun and set into the tune of

Dukes of Hazard. That's hilarious, okay, and it worked through

it and it says that it helped us out with

the copyright stuff and all that. And then it says,

I'm shaping the theme song for the Bible Guys with

a fun, comedic vibe, keeping it brief to fit the

original structure, assuring it's interesting and lively. So I send

it to you and then you should be Yeah.

But by the way, anybody under thirty five doesn't know

this tune.

Oh come on, man, I think anybody under thirty five

should spend half a day listening to Waylan Jennings anyways.

No kidding, yes, just a good old boy.

You shading it, never meaning no harm there it is tall.

You never saw a whole been in trouble with the

law since the day you was born.

Yeah, that's good.

They was born since the day they was since the

day they were born.

Yeah all right. So you you want me to.

This, yeah? Yeah, So this is for me. This is

the Yeah that is a raspy voice today.

Yeah I got I lost my voice.

Yeah yeah, okay, So here's the Bible Guy's theme song

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So meach night and from Jena's sister revelation, that's a

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That's great.

It goes back to the course through the Bible, guys,

keeping in lying, shot in some grace and head night.

There you go, man, Chris, yep.

And then and then at the end he goes, yea,

y'all come back. Now you're here.

It says, we'll be flipping those pages bringing laughter and

hope for all ages.

That's the that's the.

That's the man up up in heaven or wherever. Uh.

Johnny Cash and Whaling Jennings are just sitting there clapping.

Man.

They are thrilled. Oh yeah, I think so. I think so.

I think so. You may wailing proud right there? You

should you should say it no way, Yeah, I agree.

I'm not going to do it. Nope, that's for you. No, yes,

good job.

I think listen, you're going with the new ideas.

So they're for you. My idea was it didn't have

me in my mind at all. It was only for you.

So good job.

I see.

Well hey, uh, speaking of good ideas. Oh, you know

how God had the idea that Jonah should go to.

Yeah, this is getting also getting more, it's getting worse.

He also had this good idea that Amos should go

to Israel. Wow. So they were contemporaries. Amos and Jonah

were contemporaries, and Jonah was sent to Syria what is

modern day Syria Assyria back then, and Amos was sent

to Israel.

Yeah, you know what, it was God's good idea.

It's a good idea, good idea.

You know, you could literally trans transition every segment that way.

And that was a good idea, speaking a good ideas,

just pig any story in the Bible.

It was God's idea for this.

So so the Book of Jonah is only four chapters long. Yeah,

and the Book of Amos is what six.

Oh, guys, keep in light, you know how when it

goes to the Bible, guys, you know, like there's a

harmony there.

Yes, it's the Bible.

Guys, guys, you should you should do that with me.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, I'm going to pass. I'm going to

pass on that. Yeah. So here we go. It's, uh,

the Book of Amos is only what nine chapters long

or something like that, and most of it is it's

kind of a thus saith the Lord kind of a yeah,

it's Amos doesn't write much of a story. Amos is

just saying, so God said this about this kingdom. God

says this about this kingdom. God says this about this kingdom,

and he names all these kingdoms and what God's going

to do as a result of the rebellion against him.

Right, are we reading all of Amos?

I don't know, but we're reading Amos one one through

two three.

Well, I just glanced.

It looks like it we're going through. We're going We're

gonna get it. Hey, this might be the first time.

Well it's certainly for us. For us, we have gone

through it for sure.

Yeah, So here we go. And Amos chapter one it

says this message was given to Amos a shepherd from

the town of Tacoa and Judah. Remember that lady from

Tacoah that helped negotiate peace between Absolom and David. That's

the second time to CoA is mentioned in the bibalry there. Oh,

they received this message envisions two years before the earthquake. Oh, okay,

when Uziah was king of Judah and Jereboem the second,

the son of Jehoash, was king of Israel. This is

what he saw and heard. The Lord's voice will roar

from Zion and thunder from Jerusalem. The lush pastures of

the shepherds will dry up. The grass on Mount Carmel

will wither and die. This is what the Lord says.

The people of Damascus have sinned again and again, and

I will not let them go unpunished. They beat down

my people in Gilead. His grain is threshed with iron sledges.

So I was sent down. Fire on King Hazel's palace,

and the fortresses of King ben Hadad will be destroyed.

I will break down the gates of Damascus and slaughter

the people in the valley of Avon. I will destroy

the ruler and beth Eden, and the people of aramill

go as captives to Kur, says the Lord. This is

what the Lord says. The people of Godz that have

sinned again and again. I will not let them go unpunished.

They sent whole villages into exile, selling them as slaves

to eat them. So I will send down fire on

the walls of Gaza, and all its fortresses will be destroyed.

I will slaughter the people of Ashdod and destroy the

king of Ashkalan. Then I will turn to attack Ekron,

and the few Philistines still left will be killed, says

the sovereign Lord. This is what the Lord says. The

people of Tire have sinned again and again. I will

not let them go unpunished. They broke their treaty of

brotherhood with Israel, selling whole villages as slaves to eat them.

So I will send down fire on the walls of Tire.

All its fortresses will be destroyed. This is what the

Lord says. The people of Edom have sinned again and again,

and I will not let them go unpunished. They chase

down their relatives the Israelites with swords, showing them no

mercy in their rage. They slashed them continuously and were

unrelenting in their anger. So I will send down fire

on Teamen and the fortresses of baser be destroyed. This

is what the Lord says. This is very encouraging, by

the way. Yeah, I'm just.

Trying to take it all in and thinking, what are

we going to talk about.

The people of Amon have sinned again and again, and

I will not let them go unpunished. And when they

attacked Gilead to extend their borders, they ripped open pregnant

women with their swords. So I will send down fire

on the walls of Raba and all its fortresses to

be destroyed. The battle will come upon them with shouts

like a whirlwind in a mighty storm, and their king

and their princes will go into exile together, says the Lord.

This is what the Lord says. The people of Moab

have sinned again and again. I will not let them

go unpunished. They desecrated the bones of Edom's king, burning

them to ashes, and so I will send down fire

on the land of Moab, and all the fortresses and

carry out will be destroyed. People fall into the noise

of battle as the warriors shout and the ramshorns sounds,

and I will destroy their king and slaughter all their princes,

says the Lord. There you go, Oh, we're done. That's it.

We got to two three and that's where I was

supposed to endow. That's a rough one, buddy.

Well, let's start off with this really cool note from

the Life Application Study Bible. Yes, it says Amos served

as a prophet to Israel, which is the Northern Kingdom,

from seven sixty to seven point fifty BC, and it

says his main message is that Amos spoke against those

who exploited or ignored the needy. That's interesting and the

importance of his message believing in God is more than

a matter of individual faith. God calls all believers to

work against injustices in society to aid those less fortunate.

Wow, that was his the heart of his message.

Yeh, yeah's interesting. I mean we just read the first chapter.

Yeah yeah, yeah, but still that's pretty cool. That's good context,

right right. Yeah. So so Tyre was one of the

two major cities in Phoenicia. Several treaties had been made

with this city, which supplied the cedar used to build

David's Palace in God's Temple. Yeah, it's interesting.

So there's a I think an interesting thing. God sends

these prophets Jonah Amos Nahem is another one that was

in the same They were all contemporaries Micah. And they

go and they confront the different rulers and leaders, and

you know, the rulers aren't happy when God's giving. What

in the world you guys doing. You're all living like

horrible people. And so God saying, I'm recognizing as a

matter of fact. In verse two, it says, the Lord's

voice will roar from Zion and thunder from Jerusalem. Right,

God is just telling them off at this point, and

so the people would have been thrilled. Yeah, you go

get those people in Damascus, God, they make us mad, right,

or those people in Gaza. Those Philistines are horrible people.

And then finally, you know, he gets down there. He's

got Moab here, all these things. So the Bible says

he goes through how many kingdoms, I don't know, it's

about eight eight kingdoms something like that, and the people

love it until he gets to Judah in Israel, which

is tomorrow, tomorrow we're going to talk about it. So

they're like, yes, you get those Philistines, you get the

right and so they're kind of cheering God on I

thinks as they hear about God's judgment against Amen and

against Edom and against Tire and against Moab and against

you know, all these wicked, wicked people. And then God says, hey,

I haven't forgotten about what you're doing either, Judah, I

haven't forgot about what you're doing either, Israel. That's that's

what we're talking about tomorrow. But I would say, God,

some of these things seem really bad. Like when he

talks about Moab. You know who was it Moab hurting

Amen Amen, right, which is part of modern day Jordan. Now,

you know, doing horrible things of pregnant women. But the

other one, Moab, for instance, it's it's it seems like

a little thing. They desecrated the bones of Edam's king. Right.

So God sees the big things and the little things.

God's not just going, oh hey, it's a light thing,

or you know, I'm gonna I'm gonna wink wink wink

at that little thing, but boy, I'm gonna be mad

at this big thing. God's saying, hey, I'm paying attention

to all injustices, everything that is wicked, everything that is

is wrong. I'm going to bring you to judgment. And

in the same way that he sent Jonah up to

ninev noticed they did. He doesn't mention the Assyrians at

all in this. In the same way I'm sending Jonah

to Nineveh, I'm sending Amos to Ammen and Damascus and

Gaza and Edom and Moab. And there's no indication that

any of them ever turned yeah, right, they didn't repair.

So the difference between the Jonah story and this is

why it follows immediately after, I think, is the difference

between the Jonah story and which gets four whole chapters

just about how Ninevah turns. It's not about Jonah, right,

it's amazing to us when we read about this fish

that swallows this sky, but it was really all about

the repentance of the city of Ninevah, right, and then

these people. Amos comes with a very similar prophecy, right

and goes, hey, judgment's coming on you people, and it doesn't. Ever,

there's no indication that they any of these groups ever repented.

And so God gives equal opportunity, but only some respond

I think is a big part of that. So responding

brought peace and prosperity to Nineveh. Not responding to God's

judgment calls brings judgment.

You know what that verse reminded me of. I mean,

I just don't want to ignore it. It says when they

attacked Gilead to extend their borders, they ripped open pregnant

women with their swords.

It's it's it's one of the worst.

Verses in the Bible, right, I mean, that's that's got

a rank up there, doesn't.

It pretty horrible?

It's pretty horrible. And so I just left to myself, like,

you know what it reminds me of. It reminds me

that you and I just, no matter how hard we try,

we cannot wrap our minds around the mentality and the

mindset and the experiences the evil that existed back then. Like,

for instance, it speaks into like even remember when I

mentioned yesterday and I said.

Well, let's get going of the benefit of doubt.

He's probably remembering the atrocities of the Assyrians, what they

did as people. That's the kind of stuff that they

live with. And you know what I also thought of.

I thought of, like, have you ever seen those things

where you and I are in our early fifties. Have

you ever seen those things where it's like, man, they

held nothing back in the eighties, you know, remember, so

you'll see like a clip or an Instagram reel or

something where it's like, wow, you guys really were harsh

in the eighties.

You know, like you guys called each.

Other dumb and this and that, you know, and you

sort of bullied each other and you did this kind

of mentality and all that.

But like just the mentality of like.

Working and you know, like shoveling snow, I mean, just

whatever it is that they sort of point out. The

younger generation looks back and goes, man, you guys were

harsh in the eighties, right, and think about the jump

right from from my children to when we were kids,

the jump from us all the way back to the

Old Testament in the times of Amos. Right, the mentality

was so harsh that it's just unbelievable, which, by the way,

really truly.

Does help us, you know when we do.

You know, read about for instance, God's punishments, sure, right,

you know, like like God's you know, like how he's

just how he'll you know, swiftly execute you know, his

mercies and his judgment and all things like that. It's

like the mentality of what these kids must have grown

up with. They must have seen things and been a

part of things by the time they were just toddlers

that you and I probably could not even fathom. Yeah right, yeah, yeah,

it's interesting.

So there's a note here for this whole section that

we read in Amos chapter one through two says the

people have sinned again, and again is the accusation, and

God says, I will not let them go unpunished. And

this echoes through these verses as God evaluates nation after nation,

each nation had persistently refused to follow God's commands, a

sinful practice that can become a way of life. Well

that's really powerful, yep. Ignoring or denying the problem will

not help us. We must begin the process of correction

by confessing our sins to God and asking him to

forgive us. Otherwise we have no hope but to continue

our pattern or sin, which ultimately brings judgment. And that's

what I was trying to differentiate between what happened with

Nineveh and these other eight you know, groups or things.

So here's the thing, and I taught on this one time,

which is kind of neat, But there's a note here

that talks about Amos. Right, So the very first verse,

this message was given to Amos, a shepherd from the

town of Tacoa and Judah, and he received this message

from God and then he took it to the kings.

Says Amos. Raised sheep not a particularly spiritual job, yet

he became a channel of God's message to others. Your

job may not cause you to feel spiritual or successful,

but it's vital work. If you're in the place God

wants you to be, God can work through you to

do extraordinary things, no matter how ordinary your occupation. Yeah right,

I love that. So this is just a shepherd guy.

It's like King David, It's like some of the others,

you know. They just start off very, very simple, normal,

every day This is just a standard blue collar kind

of a job. And God says, Amos, you're the one

I want to use. You're available, and you've got the

skill set I need. I'm going to send you. And

Amos would have had the same kind of excuses that

Moses had. Moses like, oh God, I don't speak very well,

not me, I shouldn't go right. Different people throughout the

Bible have used excuses as to why God shouldn't use them.

But the reality is, if you're doing what God designed

you to do. If you're serving and you're willing to

let God use your talents and your abilities, God will

do greater things than what you think your station in

life is.

Right.

Yeah, and by the way, he also grew figs.

Yeah.

Yeah, so he's a fig grower. So I mean think

about that. It's just how much more or playing can

you possibly get?

Yet? Yeah?

I like fi have you ever?

I'm not saying I don't like figs. I'm just saying, like,

what does it take to be a fig grower?

I bought some fake jam the other day.

It's not like I mean, you know, I guess, I

guess you're a farmer if you're a fig grower.

But yeah, so I think he's kind of a rancher.

He's a shepherd and a fig grower.

Yeah, yeah for sure.

Hey, when you were in Israel, Jordan or any of

that area, did you come across a lot of shepherds?

Yes?

Yes, and what they were just sort of wandering by

the side of the road.

We're just walking with their sheep. Keep an eye. Usually

it's young boys. Yeah, they got sticks, yeah right, they're

kind of keeping the sheep going in the right direction. Yeah.

In Jordan, it seemed like they always had a dog

with them, so it be a boy or two with

a bunch of sheep. Dog.

Hey, just for fun, I'm going to tell you this

quick story. I was in India one time and you know,

the traffic been an idiot, It's crazy. The traffic is crazy.

It's unlike anything I ever seen. Right, So my buddy

at the time said, hey, let's ride motorcycles to this

church plant. And so I literally was on a motorcycle

in India and so we were. We all took them, and

there must have been twenty of us. We were in

this caravan, and it's just crazy. So as you're going

through India, which has like a billion people within a

one square mile, it seems like it's like there's no

room in between the cars, and there's no rules and

there's no there's no guidelines on the streets.

Everybody just goes where there's room.

So literally, we're going in between the cars and we're

barely fitting and we're going through. And then anyway, so

we turned this corner and as we were riding, we

came across these goats on the side of the road

and I'm telling you they were there were six hundred

goats and.

They took up almost the whole road and we almost

hit them, and so it's like and it's like we're

just it was going around, and I was just thinking.

To myself, like this is some of the craziest uh

you know, uh thing. But anyway, I just but I

saw them, and these the shepherds are just you know,

the most unassuming people.

In the world.

And you think about what you just said that God

uses Amos, but.

God used David. Yes, right.

And David, by the way, had so much talent that

when he was out there tending his sheep. It said

that a bear came and a lion came on two

different occasions, and he had learned because he had a

lot of time to learn, he had learned how to

do a sling shot, and he was so good that

he actually killed the bear and killed the lion with

a slingshot.

Right. So I would imagine if you're out there, you

get a lot of time to practice.

Yeah, yeah, exactly. It's about developing the skills. Yeah, right,

that's that. I mentioned it several times. There's lyrics to

an old song from back in the eighties that talked

about is talking about David's life and it says hidden

valleys turned shepherds into kings, right, And it's all the

development that he did then he was writing music back then,

he developed skill as a harp player, yeah, musician. She

developed skill with his sling. He developed physical prowess, being

able to fight lions and bears. He developed leadership skills

you going down aline, and he wasn't just wasting time.

And then suddenly God chose this guy and did a

miraculous thing to make him amazing. He was becoming amazing,

and God went, that's the guy I want to use. Right.

So it doesn't matter what job you have, it doesn't

matter what role you have in life. You keep developing,

you keep growing, you develop your skills, and for a

while it may not even make any sense that all

these different, loosely connected skills make any sense, But you

just keep getting better and better at what you do,

whether it's communicating or you know, for you, it was

what leading, it was public speaking, it was being handsome right, well, yeah,

the list and you were constantly working on right, right,

and you just keep developing those skills, developing those skills,

and it's amazing how God then takes what you have.

You know, he gave you five talents and you turn

him into five more and he moves you ahead. This

is what I think you see with Amos, as Amos

is one of the prophets. But it highlights the fact

that he's not like you know, seminary president prophet. He's

not Alisha, right, which Elishah seems to have presided over

a group of profits, right, the School of Profits. So

it's not Alisha a seminary president Alisha. He's just a

farmer right shepherd guy. But God goes, hey, you're the

one I can trust you. He I think probably, and

it might have been the earthiness of him. These are

some pretty bold proclamations, right, These are some really aggressive

they're harsh words. And so if you think of if

you about bad news, yeah, if you think of amous

as kind of a cowboy a little bit right, this

kind of just walk in. Let me just tell you,

let me be blunt. I've got bad news for you.

If you heard about what happened in Nineveh. If you repent,

things will be okay for you. If you don't repent, well,

fire is going to fall from heaven on your cities, right,

And so there's that, So I love that part of it.

And if you no matter what role you have, no

matter what job you're doing today, keep developing into the man,

keep developing into the woman that God to have for you,

Keep developing those skills, look for opportunities to push yourself

to keep growing because you never know what doors God's

going to open up for you or how He's going

to use you to make a difference.

Yeah, and not only with Amos, but with so many

different people in the Bible. What we discover is that

God uses ordinary people for extraordinary things.

And by the way, He's still in the business of

doing that.

So if you feel overlooked, if you feel average or vanilla,

and you feel like you're just not you know, a

person poised or positioned to accomplish much, just know that

God always has and always will use ordinary people and

broken people for great things.

Right.

If we just simply repent, and we simply acknowledge Him

and lean on him and depend on him, we will

discover that God can use us for great, great things.

So all right, we hey, that is our time, so

we will see you next time on the Bible. Guys,