Motivational Atrocity-1

MOTIVATIONAL ATROCITY-I—Amos 1:3--2:5

OR--Indefensible National Atrocities/Pride

Attention:

The Pastor’s Cat…

A pastor had a kitten that climbed up a tree in his yard & then was afraid to come down. The pastor coaxed, offered warm milk, etc.

The kitty would not come down. The tree was not sturdy enough to climb, so the pastor decided that if he tied a rope to his truck & drove away so that the tree bent down, he could then reach up & get the kitten.

That’s what he did, all the while checking his progress in the truck. He then figured if he went just a little bit further, the tree would be bent sufficiently for him to reach the kitten. But as he moved the truck a little further forward, the rope broke.

The tree went "boing!" & the kitten instantly sailed through the air & out of sight. The pastor felt terrible. He walked all over the neighborhood asking people if they’d seen a little kitten. Nobody had seen it. So he prayed, "Lord, I just commit this kitten to your keeping," & went on about his business.

A few days later he was at the grocery store, & met one of his church members. He happened to look into her shopping cart & was amazed to see cat food. This woman was a cat hater & everyone knew it, so he asked her, "Why are you buying cat food when you hate cats so much?" She replied, "You won’t believe this," & then told him how her little girl had been begging her for a cat, but she kept refusing. Then a few days before, the child had begged again, so the Mom finally told her, "Well, if God gives you a cat, I’ll let you keep it."

She said to the pastor, "I watched my child go out in the yard, get on her knees, & ask God for a cat. And really, Pastor, you won’t believe this, but I saw it with my own eyes. A kitten suddenly came flying out of the blue sky, with its paws outspread, & landed right in front of her."

The ‘Atrocity’ of the cat’s ‘arrival’ ‘Motivated’Mom to keep the cat!

ATROCITY—‘an extremely wicked or cruel act, typically one involving physical violence or injury.’

Need:

In a very real sense, any nationally motivated actions, levied thru a democratically governed people, are a result of the personal choices of those people of that republic. Those choices are spiritually telling/significant!

Rom. 2:4-5—“Or do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance, & longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance? But in accordance with your hardness & your impenitent heart you are treasuring up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath & revelation of the righteous judgment of God,”

2Chron. 12:1-12—“Now it came to pass, when Rehoboam had established the kingdom & had strengthened himself, that he forsook the law of the LORD, & all Israel along with him. And it happened in the fifth year of King Rehoboam, that Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem, because they had transgressed against the LORD, with twelve hundred chariots, sixty thousand horsemen, & people without number who came with him out of Egypt--the Lubim & the Sukkiim & the Ethiopians. And he took the fortified cities of Judah & came to Jerusalem. Then Shemaiah the prophet came to Rehoboam & the leaders of Judah, who were gathered together in Jerusalem because of Shishak, & said to them, “Thus says the LORD: ‘You have forsaken Me, & therefore I also have left you in the hand of Shishak.’” So the leaders of Israel & the king humbled themselves; & they said, “The LORD is righteous.” Now when the LORD saw that they humbled themselves, the word of the LORD came to Shemaiah, saying, “They have humbled themselves; therefore I will not destroy them, but I will grant them some deliverance. My wrath shall not be poured out on Jerusalem by the hand of Shishak. Nevertheless they will be his servants, that they may distinguish My service from the service of the kingdoms of the nations.” So Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem, & took away the treasures of the house of the LORD & the treasures of the king’s house; he took everything. He also carried away the gold shields which Solomon had made. Then King Rehoboam made bronze shields in their place, & committed them to the hands of the captains of the guard, who guarded the doorway of the king’s house. And whenever the king entered the house of the LORD, the guard would go & bring them out; then they would take them back into the guardroom. When he humbled himself, the wrath of the LORD turned from him, so as not to destroy him completely; & things also went well in Judah.”