A Surprise Calling From God

Introduction

I. Yehweh, have not I worshiped you with a full heart?

A. Have not I been faithful?

B. Have not I lived my life to please you as best as I possibly could.

II. But Lord, You know that I have people that depend on me.

A. I have a family.

B. I have laborers.

C. Lord, what about my sheep and cattle?

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III. O, Hi.

A. My name is Amos.

B. In your language my name means “burden” as in “Burden bearer.”

C. And what a burden the Lord has given to me.

IV. Yehweh has given me the task of taking a message of destruction throughout my land.

A. I must go to Damascus, Philistia, Phoenicia, Edom, Ammon, Moab, Judah, and even to God’s chosen people of the nation Israel.

B. They will not be happy with me at all.

V. I tried to reason with the Lord.

VI. I asked of him, “why me?”

A. There must be someone better than me.

B. There must be a priest or a prophet or someone that would be better suited to carry these messages.

VII. What was that again Lord?

A. For one transgression, the Lord remained silent.

B. For two transgressions, the Lord was patient.

C. Even for three transgressions, the Lord was long suffering.

D. But for four transgressions, the Lord must speak.

VIII. God’s answer was simple; just tell them,

A. Thus says the Lord, “For three transgressions ...and for four, I will not turn away it’s punishment...”

B. If they will not listen to the words of God, what will they listen to?

IX. My only answer could be; “Not my will but thine of Lord.”

X. Maybe I can rest for a while, and tell you a bit of my story. The Rich Grow Richer

I. I have already told you that my name means “burden bearer.”

A. This is my nation.

B. My home is Tekoa, which lies about 12 miles south of Jerusalem.

1. Before my calling by God, I was no prophet

2. And I am not sure that label fits me today.

C. I am a keeper of flocks.

1. My flocks included both sheep and cattle.

2. I also cultivated a crop of figs.

II. God had additional plans for my life though; to God, I was to become a prophet.

A. The message God gave me was one of judgement

B. My first stop was to be Damascus, which as you can see is a far journey, especially on foot.

III. It was in 762 B.C. that God called me to my mission.

A. Many people believe that Israel was always under the domination of foreign countries, BUT,

B. You may recall from your Walk Thru The Bible days that there was a period of about 100 years when Israel was free and self ruling.

IV. Many of my countrymen considered those days to carry a special blessing from God, and that may well be true.

A. We were a free people, and as is often the case where there is true freedom, there is often prosperity.

B. As man that enjoyed the privileges of owning my own business, I had traveled quite extensively through our nation, and I saw much.

V. Our nation had grown rich.

A. As least many in our nation had grown rich.

B. Many had also grown quite poor.

VI. Perhaps 762 B.C. was not so vastly different from what is taking place in your own nation.

A. The rich grew richer,

B. But there really was no middle class.

C. While the rich grew richer, the poor grew poorer.

D. While the rich grew richer, they took greater and greater advantage of those that we not rich.

VII. I believe in your bible; I believe it is Luke 12:48, that it has been said, “ ...And from everyone who has been given much shall much be required; and to whom they entrusted much, of him they will ask all the more.” (Luke 12:48, NASB)

A. God has consistently blessed His people.

1. He has given us much.

2. I have never considered it a great sacrifice to worship the one that has blessed us so, but not everyone agree’s.

B. You see, there seem’s to be one major problem that grew greater as more wealth is acquired.

VIII. When people become wealthy, they have a tendency to become self reliant.

A. We will often forget that even our financial blessings come from the hand of the Almighty.

B. We believe that we have acquired great homes, and land, and businesses through our own abilities and wisdom.

C. My fellow countrymen had developed a habit of dissatisfaction with what they possessed.

D. They had become willing to whatever it took to get more, regardless of the cost to those around them.