The Lord Is With Us Series

MESSAGES FROM THE PROPHETS:

THE LORD IS WITH US

AMOS 5:14

#6weeksintheprophets

READ AMOS 5:14 (NIV)

Seek good, not evil, that you may live. Then the Lord God Almighty will be with you, just as you say He is.

READ AMOS 5:14 (MSG)

Seek good and not evil— and live! You talk about God, the God-of-the-Angel-Armies, being your best friend. Well, live like it, and maybe it will happen.

READ AMOS 5:14 (ESV)

Seek good, and not evil, that you may live; and so the Lord, the God of hosts, will be with you, as you have said.

THREAD: Amos 5:14 has me thinking about: “The Lord Almighty will be with you.”

INTRODUCTION… Auburn Football in 2013 (p)

[watched https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vR7s2m5Z5GA]

[watched https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g_8tl0Q2pQg]

Auburn was playing Alabama on November 30, 2013 in college football in what is called the Iron Bowl. It is a great rivalry game every year for college football fans. At the end of the game, the score was tied 28-28. At the end of the game, the official Matt Austin gave a ruling that the runner touched out of bounds at the 39-yard line and there was 1 second left on the clock. Alabama decided to kick a 57-yard field goal to win the game. Adrian Griffith, number 99, was in and was 1 for 2 for his career and it was the 3rd ever field goal. He was in because the regular kicker was 0 for 3 that night.

He kicked it and did not make it between the goal posts. Auburn player Chris Davis, number 11, catches the kick in the end zone and runs. Davis went left. Davis gets a block. Davis has another block. No flags. Chris Davis ran from one end of the field to the other and Auburn won the game. The final score was 34-28.

The announcer said: “An answered prayer.” There were at least 2 memes that day created from images of fans with astonished looks on their faces with their hands on their heads. You can google the term “kick six” and this game comes up.

Now, that was not the only amazing game finish that year. You see, the week before, Auburn was playing the University of Georgia. It was 4th and 18 for Auburn Tigers at the end of the game with 36 seconds left. They were down 38-37. Nick Marshall throws a hail-Mary pass down the field. The pass bounced off the head of a Georgia player and fell into the hands of #5 Ricardo Louis who scored a touchdown in front of 87,451 fans. 73 yards. That game is known as the “Miracle at Jordan-Hare” or the “Prayer at Jordan-Hare.” The final score was Auburn over Georgia 43-38.

So this was 2 games in a row for Auburn Football that year that now have nicknames. You know a game was good if it has a nickname. One game was the “Miracle at Jordan-Hare” and the next game was “Kick Six.”

These were 2 amazing games with 2 amazing final plays that were fun to watch. After those two games, some people said God was an Auburn fan. I might’ve said that. Some said God was on their side. It was because the games seemed to end in miracle plays two weeks in a row that it seemed fairly obvious to people who were half joking and half serious that divine intervention was at work. I don’t know if God is an Auburn fan or not. How can we possibly know if God cares about football? I mean it is obvious that if He were a college football fan that He would root for the SEC, but past that, can we know if God is on someone’s side or a team or a people?

THREAD: Amos 5:14 has me thinking about: “The Lord Almighty will be with you.”

SCRIPTURE SEARCH: “God is with you.”

Thinking about this question, as all questions should, lead me to dig into the Scriptures. The Bible has every answer we ever need to the questions we have. I went looking for passages where God said He was on a side or “God is with you” was said in the verse. There are such passages not to mention Matthew 1:23 which talks about Jesus Christ saying: "The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call Him Immanuel"--which means, "God with us." Jesus Christ is the embodiment of “God with us.”

In Genesis 21:22-23, Abimelech and Phicol the commander of his forces said to Abraham, "God is with you in everything you do.” This king knew God was on Abraham’s side and asked Abraham for a peace treaty and a good relationship. Can we agree God was on Abraham’s side? I think we can.