Today's passage: Amos 9:1-15

Helpful thoughts:

• If verses 1-4 make someone ask the question, “How could he do this?”, verses 5-6 answer that question.
  • Those who know God's grace and desire to follow Christ delight in and rest in the omnipresence of God.  Those who reject Him will only desire to escape it, and they will fail.
• The altar Amos sees the Lord standing by is in Bethel.  Therefore, the Lord is calling on the structures of Israel's false worship to be torn down.
• God has committed to saving a remnant from all Israel and they will one day live in victory and peace in the land God has given to them.
  • This victory will include peoples from the nations.  These final promises are not so much Israel conquering the nations through war, but the inclusion of the nations within the people of God. (Acts 15:12-19)

Questions to consider:

1. Contrast verses 2-4 with Psalm 139:1-12.  Why are these similar passages so different?  What fundamental truths change the perspective and outcome?
2. Some view the “God of the Old Testament” as being different than the “God of the New Testament.”  How does today's reading show that idea to be false?  In what ways to we see judgment and grace on display?  Does God change? (Psalm 33:11)
3. Is the remnant of Israel any better or more righteous in their own power than those who have and will receive judgment?  Why do we have reason for humility, gratitude, and loyalty as those who are benefactors of God's grace?

Today's passage: Amos 8:1-14

Helpful thoughts:

• The vision of summer fruit served as a picture of Israel being ripe for judgment.
  • The greed of the people was evidenced by their mistreatment of others for personal gain and waiting impatiently for Sabbath rest to end so they can return to their greedy practices.
• Some believe the term, “Pride of Jacob” refers to the literal sinful pride of the people of Israel (Meaning, as surely as Israel remained sinfully proud, God would bring about judgment).  It does seem strange that the Lord would swear by anything other than Himself.  I think the Pride of Jacob should be a capital P “Pride”…meaning God Himself.
  • Either way, judgment was coming.
• While the powerful in Israel enjoyed their earthly prosperity, they were disinterested in any word from the Lord.  Later, when they were desperate to hear from Him, there would be no word.

Questions to consider:

1. What were the methods described in verses 4-6?  How might those same greedy practices be accomplished today?  Not just with money or goods, but also with information and social status?
2. What kind of a word from the Lord do you think those who are under judgment would want?  What do they want to hear?  How did their desires for “good” words (According to their tastes and expectations) make them deaf to the truth?
3. What aspects of the gospel message are hard to hear?  What bad news are we prone to ignore or reject that would prevent people from hearing and believing the good news?

Today's passage: Amos 7:1-17

Helpful thoughts:

• This chapter introduces a series of visions.  God will not utterly wipe out all Israel, but there will be judgment for their unrighteousness.
• There were major differences between Amos (God's prophet) and Amaziah (The priest of the royal temple in Bethel).
  • Amos was called by God to declare His word and obeyed.
  • Amaziah desired to make a living by religious practices that please powerful and affluent people, and assumed Amos had done the same.  This is why he accused Amos of conspiracy.
    • No false prophet would say what Amos was saying unless they thought it would be to their financial or personal benefit.
• Amos' prophecy given directly to Amaziah the false prophet would be fulfilled when Assyria invades Israel.

Questions to consider:

1. What are the various reasons people like religion, church, social gatherings, etc.?  What IS church?  Why do we worship together?  What happens to church when we make it about ourselves?
2. How should the apparent success of a false prophet like Amaziah give us caution in how we evaluate what “success” in ministry or as a church really is?
3. Because God is holy, because He is our sovereign Lord, and because He is just, sin must be punished.  How do our lives measure up to God's standard of righteousness and what Has God done about it to reconciled us to Himself? (Romans 3:10-26)

Today's passage: Amos 6:1-14

Helpful thoughts:

• One of the greatest desires we have to fight against is the chief desire for a life of ease.  We feel like we must be blessed by God if/when life is simple and easy, carefree.
  • There's nothing wrong with a nice house or nice cars or nice clothes, etc.  But, when we want them more than to be pleasing to God, or if we are willing to sin in order to get them…
  • Jesus died to save us from our sin.  Sometimes we might wish he would rather guarantee us an easy life.
• These leaders is Israel and Judah were living the easy life at the expense of others who were suffering.  Judgment was coming.
• The judgment would be so severe, people would be scared to even mention the name of the Lord (Verse 10) for fear they might be next, as if they would catch God's attention and He would remember to judge them too.

Questions to consider:

1. God called for righteousness and justice, what had Israel done to those terms (Verse 12, Isaiah 5:20)?  What kinds of things were they doing and calling it “right” and “just” if it was being called “poison” and “wormwood” (Bitterness)?
2. Can you think of any instances in our culture where evil things are called “Good” and good things, “Evil”?  Or where some people have been forced to suffer for the increase of others?  What is the Christian position on these kinds of issues?  From where are we to be informed as we would seek to be salt and light in the world?
3. As we see evils occurring around us in the world, do these passages seem to indicate that we should just sit back and watch it unfold?  What is our role?  What can we do?  Even if it doesn't seem like we are succeeding, what can we be confident of knowing that God is Lord and Judge?

Today's passage: Amos 5:18-27

Helpful thoughts:

• The people of Israel longed for the Day of the Lord (The day of judgment), assuming it would be their day of glory.  God warns them otherwise.
• Doing religious things in order to earn God's favor without repentance is just more sin.  God has strong words against these evil practices.
• Israel was also guilty of pairing symbolic false worship of God with the worship of false gods. (Verse 26)

Questions to consider:

1. If these unbelieving Israelites were able to “worship” God along with all the other gods, and if they expected the judgment of the Lord to be a good day for them, what must have been their worldview?  What was the purpose of all the gods?  If God didn't “perform” to their expectations, what did they feel free to do?
2. How big of a god did Israel treat the one true God like?  How far off was their view of God from the truth of who He is?  Is He just a national god who makes sure we get all our stuff on time and keep us safe from our neighboring nations?
3. What is God right to require of His people? (Verse 24, Micah 6:8, Romans 12:1-2, Joshua 1:8-9, Matthew 18:18-20, etc.)

Today's passage: Amos 5:1-17

Helpful thoughts:

• Bethel, Gilgal and Beer-sheba were locations of idolatrous worship.  God commanded Israel to seek Him instead of their false idols.
• The Israelites were worshipping the stars (Or the gods man “found” in the stars) instead of the Creator of the stars (Verse 8).  Anything that is not worship of the Creator is worship of the created.
• “Those who are skilled in lamentation” (Verse 16) were paid professional mourners.  Israel knew when to mourn and knew how to mourn, but their hearts were far from repentance.
  • God was able to call on them to turn/repent and tell them judgment was coming.  He knows all things.

Questions to consider:

1. What does God promise to those who seek Him?  What comes to those who turn elsewhere?
2. What becomes of the lives of those who turn to God?  What are the actions of those who have turned elsewhere?  What is the source of injustice, evil, bribery, etc.?
3. When we refer to a “time” as evil, what does that mean (Verse 13)?  Where is the evil coming from?  Are the problems and sins coming from outside of man or inside?  Are the problems of our day the result of the economy, the government, or a pandemic, or something else?  What is the cure?

Today's passage: Amos 4:1-13

Helpful thoughts:

• Bashan was a lush, fertile valley region.  The women mentioned here are being compared to cattle who are only interested in what they can put into their own mouths next.
  • The women are not nurturing and caring for those in need.  Instead they are demanding service from their husbands and taking from others for themselves.
  • They did all of this while continuing to observe religious practices.
• The God of hosts, or the Lord of Hosts is a name that points to God's strength and guaranteed victory over His enemies.  The Lord has hosts of angels in His army (e. g. 2 Kings 6:17) and He will never know defeat.
  • It is right to fear the Lord and submit to Him.  It is right to acknowledge Him as our Lord, provider and sustainer.
  • Man's natural disposition is to blame God when things go poorly and to praise ourselves or someone else when things go well.
  • When God worked on Israel's behalf to give them opportunity to repent, they turned elsewhere.

Questions to consider:

1. In our society, when things go poorly, who do people turn to for help..to “fix” things?  How has the church differed (Or not) in seeking help in our times of need?  What has the Lord called His people to do in times of plenty and in times of need?  What is our priority and hope?
2. If the church were following the world's ways of looking everywhere but to God, what would repentance look like?  What would that look like for an individual?  For a church as a whole?
3. If you have put your faith in Christ and have become a child of God, what confidence and assurance does belonging to the Lord of Hosts give you?

Today's passage: Amos 3:1-15

Helpful thoughts:

• The message of chapter 3 was to Israel, the northern kingdom, specifically.  However, Judah was not excluded.
• God specially revealed Himself to Israel and graciously set them apart from the rest of the world.
  • He even sent prophets to warn them of coming judgment for their sin. (Verse 7)
  • They willingly rejected him and chose to walk in agreement with the world.  Now the world would look on and witness the judgment of God against Israel.
• It was of God's grace that a remnant was left after the Assyrian invasion and conquest (Verse 12).

Questions to consider:

1. How does the truth of verse 3 pair together with 2 Corinthians 6:14?  Knowing this is not just a verse about marriage, what are the implications in our relationships and partnerships in life?
2. To whom are we to draw near as Christians? (James 4:8)  What changes will continue to occur in us as we seek to walk in agreement with the Lord?
3. What does verse 3 teach us about repentance?  By God's grace, what must a person understand, agree with and do in order to truly repent and change?

Today's passage: Amos 2:4-16

Helpful thoughts:

• After listing several judgments on the foreign nations.  The Lord now turns to Judah and Israel.
• Judah and Israel had something all the other nations did not, the Lord.  Yet, they did all the same things as the other nations, even refusing to hear from the Lord.
• Amos' primary prophetic ministry was to Israel, they get the most detailed list of reasons for God's judgment.
  • There is much prosperity recorded in Israel during this time. However, that wealth remained with those in power while the poor and righteous were used and abused for personal “gain.”
  • Everything from the middle of verse 7 through 8 was probably part of their idolatrous practices.  The god in verse 8 should be a little “g”.  The Israelites built houses to “their” gods (Initially the sin of Jeroboam, making the altars to the golden calves – 1 Kings 12:25-29).

Questions to consider:

1. What were the rich and powerful in Israel doing to the righteous and poor?  What does their prosperity and strength (Verses 14-16) indicate the leaders of Israel valued over righteousness and their rightful Lord?  Should we always assume that everything is great when the economy is good and there is “peace?”
2. In what way was Israel's and Judah's sin even more acute than that of the other nations?  What does verse 12 say they did with God's gracious provision of truth for them?  What must the posture of our hearts and minds be as we approach the Word of God?
3. What was Israel trusting in for its safety and protection?  And…safety and protection from what/whom?  What is the salvation that man truly needs?  Who is our rock, shelter, rescuer, and our salvation?

Today's passage: Amos 1:1-2:3

Helpful thoughts:

• Amos, the shepherd from Tekoa (About 10 miles south of Jerusalem) became a prophet to the northern kingdom of Israel around 760 B.C.
  • The earthquake mentioned is said to have occurred in 760.
• Judgments are prophesied against six of Israel's neighbors; The Arameans, Philistines, the city of Tyre (The home of Jezebel), the Edomites (Descendants of Esau and therefore brothers of Israel), Ammonites, and the Moabites (Both the Ammonites and Moabites are the descendants of Lot).
  • There will be more to read about tomorrow.  Today's judgments are on those outside of Israel, tomorrow turns to Judah and Israel.
• The use of “three…and for four…” is a rhetorical device which carries the meaning of a large (An innumerable) amount of transgressions.

Questions to consider:

1. If you are Israel hearing these prophecies, what might you be thinking thus far?  If God is promising judgment on all these surrounding enemies, what would you be thinking/feeling?
2. What was the cause of judgement?  What had these people groups done?  What does God judge against?
3. Back in verse 2, where is the northern kingdom reminded as to where judgment comes from?  What location and what God?  From whom does rescue and salvation from our sin come?