Book of Amos 27: The 5 VISIONS of Amos

turn to your Bible if you would to the Book of Amos chapter 7 now let me say this if you've been coming faithfully you know that we finished the third section of the book and now we're moving on to the next section which is the five visions we're finally getting to the good part but before we do that I want to take I want you to take a look at the outline of the book on the screen as you can see the intro to the book is quite short in fact it's just two verses verses 1 & 2 verse 1 is a bio it tells us who Amos was where he was from what he did for a living and when he ministered etc verse 2 is the theme of the book but most people don't pick up on that because they're not familiar with lions and why they roar now Amos used a lion roaring as an analogy to explain the overall message of the book you see just as the lion roars to call members of the din or the pride back to the den God was roaring to call his people back to Jerusalem back to the Covenant back to obedience to his word and back to him and just as a lion roars to warn those who aren't members of the pride that he considers them to be prey God was warning Israel that if they continued with their apostate religion than they were operating outside of his covenant and he would consider them to be prey and his judgment would come upon them so that's the theme of the Book of Amos come back to God or judgment is coming and you will become my prey the next section is the eight judgments in this section Amos pronounced judgment on eight different nations six of those nations were heathen nations or what we would call Gentile nations and they were guilty of committing crimes against humanity now the crimes they committed fall into three different categories excessive cruelty and war human trafficking or in other words slave trading and desecrating the dead now not all of the crimes that they were guilty of were committed against to Israel in fact most of them were committed against each other you see God is not just the God of Israel sometimes we think that as we read through the Old Testament well he's the God of Israel but he is not just the God of Israel he's the God of the universe and God cares for everyone so even though the these nations were not in a covenant relationship with God he still held them accountable for the cut for the crimes that they committed against each other now the crimes that Judah in Israel were guilty of were violations of the Mosaic law they were they were guilty of rejecting God's law idolatry and taking advantage of the weak and the poor these crimes were since against God and it's obvious that God held them to a higher standard than he did the Gentile nations but the reason he held them to a higher standard was because they were recipients of God's special revelation in other words God's law had been entrusted to them and to whom much is given much is required so even though they hadn't committed crimes against humanity they had committed crimes against God and for that they were to be judged and let me say this is Christians the Bible says that judgment begins in the house of the Lord God holds us to a higher standard than he does unbelievers why because we have his word and we should know better my dad used to say this when I was young now when you go out you keep in mind that your annulling you know better than to do and he lists off some certain things as so if you get outside and you start doing those things I will take care of you well what my dad was saying is you know matter and God feels the very same way now after amos pronounced judgment on the eight nations he then delivered three sermons the purpose of the three sermons was to convince the Israelites that what he had prophesied against them was really going to happen because they just didn't believe it but the reason they didn't believe it was because they were God's chosen people so in their minds they were saying God would never bring judgment against his chosen people right he would bring it against the Gentile nations but not against his own or at least that's what they thought so to convince them that God was going to bring judgment upon them Amos preached three sermons so now that we finished studying the three sermons we're ready to move in the next section of the book which is the five visions so turn with me if you would to Amos chapter seven and let's read verses one through six now we're at that part of the book where things will begin to move rather quickly tonight we're going to actually cover two visions because they're a group they go together but anyways even when we move on we're going to try and cover one vision each night now there's an interlude between some of the visions so we'll have to take timeout but even then we'll try to cover that interlude in one night so we're actually going to be moving quite quickly but they're very interesting visions and there's some great application for us and especially to the nation that we live in America so this is verses one through six in Amos chapter seven this is what the sovereign Lord showed me he was preparing swarms of locusts after the King cher had been harvested and just as the leg crops were coming up when they had stripped the land clean I cried out Sovereign Lord forgive how can Jacob survive he is so small so the Lord relented this will not happen the Lord said this is what the sovereign Lord showed me the sovereign Lord was calling for judgment by fire it dried up the great deep and devoured the land then I cried out Sovereign Lord I beg you stop how can Jacob survive he is so small so the Lord relented this will not happen either the sovereign Lord said now the reason we read the first six verses is because these two visions go together and I say that for three reasons first of all Amos prayer in the Lord's response is almost identical in both of the visions notice that right after God shows Amos what will happen Amos immediately intercedes on behalf of Israel and he does so in the very same way both times and the Lord responds in the very same way after the first vision Amos pray sovereign Lord forgive how can Jacob survive he is so small after the second vision that he has Amos prays almost the same thing he prays sovereign Lord I beg you stop how can Jacob survive he is so small notice how similar his prayers are now I want you to notice how similar the Lord's response is in these two visions in the first vision after Amos pray the Lord replied this will not happen the Lord said in the second vision after Amos prayed the Lord replied this will not happen either the sovereign Lord said notice how similar the two responses are the second reason I believe these two visions go together is because both visions in both visions the Lord's mercy triumphs over judgment you see even though Israel didn't repent and they deserve to suffer God's wrath God relented in other words he extended mercy to them instead of pouring out his wrath upon them however extending mercy to them didn't completely cancel the judgment that they deserved all it did was postpone it until Amos had time to deliver all of his message in the hope that Israel would repent which of course they didn't and so a generation later everything that he prophesied came about so these first two visions were meant to go together and that's why we're studying them together does that make sense good so now that you know that let's look at the first vision turn back to Amos chapter 7 let's read verse 1 this is what the sovereign Lord showed me he was preparing swarms of locusts after the king share had been harvested and just as the late crops were coming up now the reason these are referred to as visions is because God showed them to Amos in fact in each vision it says that the Lord showed Amos certain things with the exception of the fifth vision in that vision Amos says that he saw the Lord which implies the very same thing that God showed him certain things and he saw the Lord in his vision so in essence God showed Amos what was going to happen through these five visions now let me explain something about Old Testament prophets that most Christians don't understand in the Old Testament a true prophet of God was infallible but the reason he was invaluable was because when he prophesied he literally went into what is known as an open-eyed trance turned in numbers chapter 24 verses 2 & 4 and I'll show you what I'm talking about this is verse 2 and Balaam lifted up his eyes and he saw Israel abiding in his tents according to their tribes and the Spirit of God came upon him now in the Old Testament no one was born again because Jesus Christ had not yet died for us and hadn't been resurrected as a result of that the Holy Spirit did not live inside of anyone so the best they could have was the Holy Spirit coming upon them so it says that Balaam lifted up his eyes and he saw Israel abiding in their tents and the Spirit of God came upon him now look at verse 4 he hath said which heard the words of God which saw the vision of the Almighty falling into a trance but having his eyes open so in the Old Testament a true prophet of God went into an open-eyed trance whenever the Holy Spirit came upon him now while he was in this open-eyed trance two things would happen first of all he would see into the spiritual realm which the Bible refers to as a vision Isaiah had visions Ezekiel had visions Jeremiah had visions Daniel had visions the twelve minor prophets had visions why because when the Holy Spirit came upon them they went into an open-eyed trance and they literally saw things in the spiritual realm to which the Bible refers to as visions the second thing would happen is God would put his words into the prophets mouth so he literally spoke word for word God's message now it's extremely important that you understand this because it means that a true Oh testament prophet was infallible in other words he could not make a mistake in fact if a prophet was proven to be fallible in any way then he was a false prophet turn with me if you would at the book of Deuteronomy chapter 18 verses 20 through 22 and I'll show you what I'm talking about notice what it says but a prophet who presumes to speak in my name anything I've not commanded or profit who speaks in the name of other gods is to be put to death so any profit that presumed to speak for God or said something that this is thus saith the Lord but he's really not from God you're supposed to do what put him to death let's keep reading you may say to yourselves how can we know when a message has not been spoken by the Lord because anyone can claim that this is the message from the Lord thus saith the Lord well here's how you can tell if what a prophet proclaims in the name of the Lord does not take place or come true that is a message the Lord has not spoken that prophet has spoken presumptuously he is a false prophet so don't be afraid of him now what do you do to him you stone them so if a prophet had one goof-up he was stoned it didn't matter how many times he was right all it took was one goof up and he was labeled a false prophet and he was to be stoned in fact this got Elijah into trouble Elijah was a man of God he understood how it worked but he got cocky and one day the king sent fifty men to him and they wanted to bring him to the king and he said if I be a man of God that fire come down from heaven and consume these men now he put God in a precarious position because he's a prophet of God but God has put in his word that if any man prophesized something no matter how many times he's right if he's wrong just one time then he's a false prophet why because the way God operate in the Old Testament is when they prophesied the Holy Spirit would come upon them they would go into an overnight truck open-eyed trance they would literally see into the spiritual realm and God would put his words into their mouths and so they literally spoke word for word God's message so Elijah said if I be a man of God let fire come down from heaven and consume them and sure enough boom that comes down but was that God's will well we find out in the New Testament it was not God's will but the reason it'll I just said if I be a man of God let this happen is because he knew God could let not happen or by what he said he would be labeled a false prophet and he would die and then everything else he said people couldn't count on so what did God have to do God had to remove him that's why Elijah was taken to heaven not because that he thought because he was such a righteous person but because he was getting out of line but most people don't understand that because they don't understand how God operated through the prophets in the Old Testament but here's what I want you to understand when it comes to the Old Testament prophets God made sure that everything they prophesied came directly from him everything but the only way that he could do that was by putting them into an open-eyed trance and as they were in that trance he would put words into their mouths that's also how he ensured the inerrancy of the Bible you see the Old Testament prophets are the ones who wrote the Old Testament part of the Bible and since they were infallible the Old Testament is infallible now when I say the Old Testament is infallible I mean in its original language I'm not saying that the way we translated them is infallible it's been translated in almost every language of the known world so as a result of that I'm not saying that every translation is infallible I'm saying it's infallible in the original language in the manuscripts that were copied correctly that's a whole other sermon but anyways I want you to understand since they were infallible the Old Testament is infallible in fact God made sure that no false prophet had any input when it came to the Bible look at Ezekiel chapter 13 verse 9 and you'll see what I'm talking about notice what God says and my hand shall be upon the prophets this see vanity in other words anyone who claims that what they're seeing is what the Holy Spirit is showing them as he comes upon them they go into this open night trance if they see something that's really not of God maybe they are going into a trance but it's not by the power of the Holy Spirit it's not because the Spirit of God is coming upon them so he says and my hand shall be upon the prophets to see vanity that divine lies they shall not be in the assembly of my people what does that mean they should be stoned they shall be put to death but then it goes further neither shall they be written in the writings of the house of Israel what are the writings of the house of Israel anyone know this is the writings of the house of Israel so he says neither shall they be written in other words everything they prophesied had to come true in order for them to be a prophet if it didn't all of their writings were to be burned now most of you don't know this because we're not taught this in Sunday school but here's what happened if you considered yourself to be a prophet when you went into this open-eyed trance and you prophesied if you were one of the writing prophets even elijah would have this if you notice they all had servants most of you don't realize that but if you read there you'll notice that almost all of them had servants you want to know why they recorded what they prophesied why did they record it because it was required by God when you prophesied something it was written down word for word you took those prophecies to the temple it was delivered to the priests and they were kept and the hewn of rock stones which for the Sanhedrin met and here's what's interesting if anything that you prophesied did not come to pass not only were you stoned but they would take all of your writings and they would burn them now if you remember the story of Jeremiah Jeremiah gets this prophecy and the prophecy is basically we're to submit to the Babylonians because God is going to use them to bring judgment upon us we've been rebellious we haven't followed God's law he's using them to punish us we need to submit and boy the king didn't want to hear that he had false prophets telling him oh no God cannot do this he would never turn his back on the temple he would never turn his back upon his own people now this is not going to happen he's going to throw off this joke and so Jeremiah says man they're false prophets and he brings his prophecy to the King and of course when it brings it to the king and it's read to the king the king says that's not of God and to show that he says it's not of God and he doesn't think it's of God he immediately burns it everyone remember the story why did he burn it because that was symbolic that I don't even have to wait to see if it doesn't come to pass I know it won't come to pass and he burned it well here's what's interesting Jeremiah no big deal he goes back as he knows when the Holy Spirit comes upon him he'll prophesy the very same thing why because it's not his own words it's God's words and let me tell you God can remember it word for word what he said the first time so the secretary the amanuensis amanuensis he's writing this down and so he says it again he takes it to them and sure enough to course this time they put it in there it all comes to pass but the reason the King burned it is because this is the way it happened but this is the way God ensured that no writings of the prophets of false prophets were placed in the writings of the house of Israel the Bible that's good so God made sure by doing this that the writings of the false prophets were kept out of the Bible most of us don't understand why we have faith in the Bible but trust me we have really good resources and if you want to know how good they are when they found the Dead Sea Scrolls in fact it contained almost all of the books of the bio it did contain all the books of the Bible ice I think except but the for the book of Esther I might have been the only book that it didn't but anyways they had this one of Isaiah that was a complete one well if they found out it was word-for-word for what we had from the Masoretic text which goes back to 9th century AD not BC ad so it was like well we're not really sure that it stayed consistent that it was the way it should be but this goes back the Dead Sea Scrolls goes back all the way to 3 BC so over a thousand years there wasn't any changes God made sure that's how we know that the Bible is so true but anyways I'm getting off so this is what the Lord showed Amos while he was in an open-eyed trance look back at verse 1 this is what the sovereign Lord showed me he was preparing swarms of locusts after the Kings share had been harvested he got his share first and just as the lake crops were coming up now the timing of this plague is critical and that's why there are two chronological markers in this verse notice that the Lord was preparing swarms of locusts after the king sure had been harvested and just as the lake crops were coming up do you see that look back at verse 1 and I want you to notice these two chronological markers we don't really notice things like that because most of us are not farmers we don't understand what it means after the Kings harvest but before the lake crops start coming or get very far up we're not farmers but notice these chronological markers this is what the sovereign Lord showed me he was preparing swarms of locusts after do you see that after the king share had been harvested and just as the lake crops were coming up now this tells us that this swarm of locusts would have been catastrophic you see in this vision the locusts were supposed to come right before the grains were harvested and as the non grain crops were just starting to really grow which means that everything would have been lost for the entire year in other words if the locusts would have arrived earlier than this the grains would have been lost but the late spring crops would have been spared if the locusts came later the grains would have already been harvested but they would have lost the late spring crops but if they came when Amos saw them coming in this vision they would have lost everything they would have lost everything for an entire year because it would have devastated all of the grain and all of the vegetables everything that was grown because it would have came at the worst possible time so an Amos vision the worst agricultural enemy was coming locusts at the worst possible time creating the worst possible hardship which was the loss of everything for an entire year now the rich would have simply bought supplies from travelling caravans coming from other countries if you remember Israel was in a very strategic spot most of you don't know this but if you study Marco Polo's journey how many have you ever read about Marco Polo how many of you know when he sailed where he touched off in Asia where did he land before he started his travels to China anyone now Caesarea maritima maritima which is where Israel why because that's where the spice route went if you've ever been to Turkey you don't want to have to go through land so you would sell to the Mediterranean come to Israel and you would cut through the Jezreel Valley up to the Hula Valley and then you would cut in go up to through the Golan Heights and go all the way to China yeah so the Silk Route from China went through Israel the spice route came up through Saudi Arabia through Israel and so they had all of these traveling caravans coming so what if they lost all their crops if you were rich not nothing not not a big problem all you did was you bought your supplies from these traveling caravans coming from other countries but the poor the poor could have been in serious trouble to survive they would have to sell themselves and their families as indentured servants remember if you lost everything you don't have anything the only thing you have left is your family land you can't really sell it all you can really do is lease it until the next year Julie but when you sell it you have nothing to work because you have nothing to work what do you have to do to survive you have to sell yourself as an indentured servant and so all of the poor would have had to have sewed themselves and their families isn't injured servants so when Amos sees this and he realizes the ones it's going to hurt are the poor the alized the ones that don't have anything so he cried out to the Lord look at verse two when they the locusts had stripped the land clean I cried out Sovereign Lord forgive how can Jacob survive he is so small now it's interesting that amos refers to the northern kingdom is jacob rather than israel but there's a reason for that you see when Jacob wrestled with God and overcame God changed his name to Israel which means triumphant with God or governed by God how many of you remember the story let's be honest the word Jacob means supplanter he'll capture dirty sneaky thief I mean what did he do he he tricked his brother actually didn't tricking he just knew how what a terrible character his nature was so he bought his birthright from him but then he comes in and he steals the blessing and we remember the story and then he has to run off because he said well Esau wants to kill him and when it gets there you know he's really a good person kind of misunderstood but he's trying to do everything on his own and yet God still blesses him even though he's doing things on his own but God realized this for him to really use him he's got to change him so when he comes home he's still scared of Esau because he knows what he's done to Esau was renew what he did that you saw was wrong so he was very very scared of it so he sent all of his family across the river and he went back to pray to God and when he was going back supposedly this man comes out he finds out later who it was it's a christophany it's actually Jesus Christ a revelation of Jesus in the Old Testament because it says that he wrestled with the Lord saw him face to face and didn't die the people no one sees God's face and lives so who was it he saw Jesus Christ so he wrestles with God and at the very end is the sons beginning to come up and of course we know that Jesus could have anytime pinned him thrown him down but he allowed him to wrestle with him because it's an analogy how we so with God inside many times God's telling us to do something and we just wrestle with it and wrestle with it and God wants us to give in and surrender but Jacob will not surrender until finally he's getting ready to just knock him off and he says what do you want and he says bless him and so what at this point he changes his name to Israel because at this point he becomes dependent upon God he realizes he can't do it in his own strength it must be done with God and so here's what's interesting he changes his name from Jacob to Israel which means triumphant with God or governed by God because all this time he's been governed by his flesh trying to get what he wanted his own way and not depending upon God but depending upon his own smarts as street smarts but what's great about this is that in referring to the Northern Kingdom is Jacob rather than Israel amos is implying that they're in the same boat that jacob was there alienated from God just as Jacob was there in rebellion to God and they're doing their own thing and just like Jacob was until the night trying to do things on his own until that night he wrestled with God that's what they were doing they were trying to do everything in their own mind so he's calling them Jacob to let them know that they're not Israel they're not submissive to God they're not triumphant with God they're not governed by God they're doing their own thing and yet here's what's interesting Amos cried out to God on their behalf and he said Sovereign Lord forgive how can Jacob survive admitting that they're not Israel God their Jacob and then he says this he is so small now he didn't mean they're small in size because at that time the nation of Israel was not little or at least not in comparison to other nations you know now we look at Israel in such a little nation because America is such a big nation Soviet Union is such a big nation China is such a big nation right but you need to understand something back then in the Middle East these were little nations Greece it was a little nation Egypt wasn't out in the desert it's not like Egypt today Egypt was actually anyone know what it means Egypt means a black dirt Egypt was only where the Nile River was everyone with me Eden was a small country moab and ammon were small countries the Midianites where they were Midian was a small country Syria was a small country Syria was a small country so you need to understand something they were not a small nation at least not in comparison to other nations and neither was jeroboams army army small so he didn't mean small in the sense of size he meant small and respect to their position or status you see in Hebrew the word small was used to describe a person who had no legal rights to claim something in other words he was completely dependent upon the compassion of others because he had no legal claim to whatever he was in need of so the Jews would refer to that person as small but what they really meant was insignificant there are no body they're marginalized they don't have anything I don't have to worry about them they don't have any power to do anything and that's what he's saying he's calling them Jacob in front of God because God I know they're not submissive to you I know they're doing their own thing I know they're not obeying you but they're so small they're so insignificant they don't realize that so when Amos cried out to God to intercede for Israel he was admitting two things first they were Jacob not Israel in other words they were rebellious they were wicked and they were doing their own thing so they were not deserving of the Covenant blessings of God and secondly they had no legal right to ask anything of God or demand anything of God so I miss cried out sovereign Lord forgive and for the sake of Amos God relented look at verse 3 so the Lord relented not because of Jacob in other words the Israel because of Amos so the Lord relented this will not happen the Lord said God relented all because aim interceded on their behalf now I'm going to talk about the power of intercession in just a little bit but now let's look at the second vision starting in verse number four remember these two visions go together this is what the sovereign Lord showed me the sovereign Lord was calling for judgment by fire it dried up the great deep and devoured the land around this second vision a fire consumed both the water sources in the entire land you see the great deep refers to the underground water sources so what Amos saw in this vision was a drought that dried up all of their wells all of their springs and all of their rivers and creeks and when everything was bone-dry it's kind of like August in Oklahoma when we haven't had rain for two months except much much worse maybe a drought for two or three years everything's bone-dry and what happens we have fire bands you cannot have a fire sometimes you can't even use your grill why because a fire will sweep through the land destroying everything so when everything was bone-dry in this vision Amos saw this fire sweep through the land destroying everything so again what did he do because he realized in this condition of being a water put anything out and it would just go from the the land said burn up the trees it would burn up the vineyards it would burn up even the houses there would be nothing left so he cried out to God on their behalf look at verse five then I cried out Sovereign Lord go I say that solver no one tells you what to do God your sovereign I beg you you've done it once with two locusts but I beg you stop how can Jacob survive I know they're not Israel they're Jacob he is so small and doesn't even realize it same prayer and for the sake of Amos God relented look at verse six so the Lord relented this will not happen either the sovereign Lord said God relented all because Amos interceded on their half so let's talk about if you don't mind the power of intercession and let me start by sharing a few things about God that you need to know first of all God takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked you know I don't know why but sometimes we think that God is just up in heaven waiting for us to step out of line when really good Lord God lets a lot of things slide lots of things slide but it's only because he's merciful and he's compassionate in he's loving and I want you to understand that God takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked turn to Ezekiel chapter 18 verse 23 and I'll show you what I'm talking about says do you think that I like to see wicked people die says the sovereign Lord of course not I want them the wicked people to turn from their wicked ways which is repent and then what and live so as you can see God takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked instead he wants them to live in fact that's why God is so long-suffering and it's why Jesus Christ has not returned yet you know for 2,000 years people have been looking for Jesus the reason we are the generation that will see the Lord's return if we live long enough the reason we're the generation is we are the only generation that literally has the capabilities to fulfill all the vision or all the requirements for the Lord to return to return when you look at all of the different prophecies there has never been a generation before our generation that all of these things could have been fulfilled that says will be fulfilled when Jesus returns there is no ability to have a nuclear war that Ezekiel talks about Israel had no way to fly back on the wings of eagles and all of these people to come from all of these nations like it has and when we begin to see all of these prophecies we realize we are the generation but here's what I want you to understand even when we begin to preach that and many of you think that well they've been saying for two thousand years Jesus is going to return he still hasn't returned yet but I want you to understand something the reason Jesus hasn't returned yet is because God is so long-suffering he doesn't want anyone to perish instead he wants to give everyone enough time to repent look at 2nd Peter chapter 3 verse 9 you'll see what I'm talking about it says the Lord is not slack concerning his promise not promises promise singular everyone see that as some men count slackness but he is long-suffering to us-ward not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance now the word slack is translated from the Greek word bread who know that's not a W at the end of the sentence that's an Omega Omega is a loan Oh Omicron is not alone Oh unless there's two Omicron Ceti in a bit usually it's not so as bright you know and it literally means to tarry or to purposely delay so what this is saying is the reason that God has delayed Jesus return is not because it doesn't get in a hurry and you know it's no big deal to him no the reason he's delayed Jesus return is because God doesn't want anyone to perish instead he wants everyone to repent so he's giving them time to do that time to do that you know we have kids and they grow up and many of them aren't saved and God says I want to give them a little more time they have kids and they grow up and they haven't received Christ want to give them time you see Lord wants to give everyone time to repent however God is a just God turn to Deuteronomy chapter 32 verse 4 there's many verses that say this but I'm just gonna use one because it states it twice and the way it states it's wonderful notice what it says he talking about God is the rock his deeds are perfect everything God does is just and fair he is a faithful God who does no wrong Calvinist how just and upright he is now because God is just unfair he must punish sin but intercession and this is the power of intercession intercession allows God to postpone judgment you see as stewards of the earth God has given us dominion over this earth and when we pray for things that are that are in alignment to his will it allows God to step in allows God to step in in fact if you really read the story of Noah God says I will never flood the world like this again another in essence what he's saying is I'm stepping out I'm allowing the world to continue on until I'm ready for the day of judgment at that point I'll step in and when Jesus returns let me tell you he steps in and judgment happens so up until that time he's allowing this world to go on and the only way that God intervenes is when we pray that's why prayer is so important so if we're praying for God's mercy as Amos was it allows God to postpone judgment now it won't stop judgment it will only postpone it and hopefully give that person or persons we're interceding for more time to repent now I'm going to be honest with you I have family members that shouldn't be alive but because of my mother interceding for them they're still alive but that's only because God's not willing that any should perish and my mom's intercession allow God to postpone judgment and it's given them further opportunities to repent though I have to say up to this point they still haven't repented but one day there won't be any more chances my mother's intercession and I could tell you in the Occulus story after miraculous story on how certain people of my family would be dead and the only reason they're not is because I had a praying mother I'm not talking about me I'm talking about other people in my family so people that's what Amos was doing he was interceding for Israel but as we're going to find out intercession doesn't stop judgment from coming it only postponed it and eventually after Israel refused to repent shortly after about 40 years after in 722 BC everything that Amos prophesied came to pass exactly the way that he said it would now let's make some personal application and apply it to us you know I got to thinking about us as the church over and over in the Bible it tells us that we as the church are supposed to be praying for the world I mean when you think about these great godly characters of course the first one we think about is Jesus Jesus is getting now to the cross he says God forgive them for they don't know what they do I'd be saying smite him Lord but not Jesus Moses comes down bringing the ten commandments God has done so much for his people and they're down there fornicating parting reveling worshiping two golden calves but Moses intercedes and God spares them we see this all through the Bible where there it's Daniel whether it's Jeremiah does it matter who it is we see this all through the Bible we get into the New Testament we are commanded to intercede but I look at the church today and let me tell you that we're supposed to do what I'm getting ready to say we focus on ourselves and only those we love if you think about the prayers and we do this and we will continue to do this because it's our job and it's because God wants - and it's because we love you but when you submit a prayer request we have staff meeting on Mondays we have staff meeting on Thursdays we take those and we say all right who needs prayer in our body and so we discuss these prayer requests and then we divide it up and before we start our staff meeting we pray for everyone who needs prayer and then everyone knows and in their personal prayer time they're supposed to be praying for everyone in our body we also send it out and have other people pray and we're supposed to do that and the reason we are because the Bible tells us that we're responsible for those in our family especially those in our immediate family first Timothy chapter 5 tells us that any man that doesn't take care of his family is worse than an infidel even the unbelievers no that's what he's saying so we're supposed to do that but we're also to follow these examples in these commands and we're supposed to pray for the lost for those who don't know the right hand from their left from those who are as wicked as wicked can be and when you ask them where they're going they say to hell if I don't change my ways and laugh to those who are so stupid to those who were on drugs to those who are alcoholics to those who are just wicked we're supposed to be interceding for them and I look at the churches today and I think the church does a good job praying for its own I think the church does a very sorry job praying for the Lost let me tell you something the reason God said if my people who are called by my name shall humble themselves and pray then I will hear their prayers I'm going to kind of just give it my own version then I will hear their prayers and I will heal their land I want you to understand something God's not doing it because everyone else is getting their act right he's doing it because his people are interceding and all he's actually doing is postponing judgment I believe that judgment for a little while has been postponed for America but eventually we're going to get to this point where it's going to fall because our culture is moving that way but we have a responsibility to pray for our country and intercede on behalf and because of the intercession God postpones judgment but more importantly we're supposed to be praying for individuals God there Jacob and they're doing their own thing they're wicked they're rebellious they're going after their own way they don't want you but Lord forgive them God move upon them give them opportunity to repent bring people across their path let the gospel be shared to them father I pray that their eyes would be opened and the light of the glorious gospel of Jesus would shine unto them Lord I pray for their salvation that's what we ought to be doing but I don't see the church doing that much anymore I think Christianity has devolved not evolved devolved to the point where really all we really pray about is us our family and a few close loved ones and it was never supposed to be that way and that's why Christianity isn't advancing it's retreating the church has got to intercede if we want to be effective we have to be praying for the lost and one of the reasons we bought this property and gave up the 80 acre south of town and so we could be right across from that high school right across from that middle school and we could see the ones that desperately need our prayers because the majority of them do not have a praying there or grandmother and the only ones that were ever going to pray for them is the church

Channel: Cornerstone Fellowship

Views: 4,173

Rating: 4.8400002 out of 5

Keywords: the five visions of amos amos part 27, the 5 visions of amos bible study, book of amos bible story, 5 visions of amos explained, the 5 visions of amos sermon, Intercession, judgment, the 5 visions of amos, prophetic literature, minor prophets, book of amos, minor prophet amos, what does the bible say about the end of the world?, What happens when we pray, book of amos 5 visions of amos, cornerstone fellowship, cornerstone church, allen nolan, life changing, weekly sermon podcast

Id: X-7AcpoW2G0

Length: 46min 20sec (2780 seconds)

Published: Thu Dec 06 2018