Sermon Tone Analysis

Secular:

*   Uncertainty does not equal humility…

* Not knowing… does not equal humility

* Neither does knowing equal pride…

* Claiming or pretending no to… lacks integrity

* Throughout history…

* From Abraham who knew…

* To the point of sacrificing his son

* Through prophets who knew…

* Despite its unpopularity

* Through the Apostle’s

* The early church fathers…

* Who gave their life….

* The true church has been led by

* Apostolic teaching…

* Preserved in God’s Word

* Perspicuity of God’s Word… readability

* If you can read… well over 95% is very straightforward… God is good that way

* Remember God has made himself clear in Nature… Romans 1:18-20

* Remember God’s expectation is that His Word is Readable and applicable… 2 Tim 3:16

*  Culture says its is hard…

* It is an excuse…

* If there is no God… I am God…

* If God speaks in a muffled voice I can make up what I heard….

* It leaves room for the Synergies the Israelites pursued… and Amos calls them on…

*  We need to heart this too!

* Is God’s Word clear?

* Are we challenged otherwise?

* Uncertainity is does not equal humility…

* Humility is not living for self first… God first and submitting to what He does say!

Biblical:

NAU Amos 8:1 Thus the Lord GOD showed me, and behold, there was a basket of summer fruit. 2 He said, "What do you see, Amos?"

And I said, "A basket of summer fruit."

Then the LORD said to me, "The end has come for My people Israel.

I will spare them no longer.

3 "The songs of the palace will turn to wailing in that day," declares the Lord GOD.

"Many will be the corpses; in every place they will cast them forth in silence." 4 Hear this, you who trample the needy, to do away with the humble of the land, 5 saying, "When will the new moon be over, So that we may sell grain, And the sabbath, that we may open the wheat market, To make the bushel smaller and the shekel bigger, And to cheat with dishonest scales, 6 So as to buy the helpless for money And the needy for a pair of sandals, And that we may sell the refuse of the wheat?" 7 The LORD has sworn by the pride of Jacob, "Indeed, I will never forget any of their deeds.

8 "Because of this will not the land quake And everyone who dwells in it mourn?

Indeed, all of it will rise up like the Nile, And it will be tossed about And subside like the Nile of Egypt.

9 "It will come about in that day," declares the Lord GOD, "That I will make the sun go down at noon And make the earth dark in broad daylight.

10 "Then I will turn your festivals into mourning And all your songs into lamentation; And I will bring sackcloth on everyone's loins And baldness on every head.

And I will make it like a time of mourning for an only son, And the end of it will be like a bitter day.

11 "Behold, days are coming," declares the Lord GOD, "When I will send a famine on the land, Not a famine for bread or a thirst for water, But rather for hearing the words of the LORD.

12 "People will stagger from sea to sea And from the north even to the east; They will go to and fro to seek the word of the LORD, But they will not find it.

13 "In that day the beautiful virgins And the young men will faint from thirst.

14 "As for those who swear by the guilt of Samaria, Who say, 'As your god lives, O Dan,' And, 'As the way of Beersheba lives,' They will fall and not rise again."

Personal:

* Synergy pollutes truth…   

* Amos is saying token religion doesn’t count

* Can’t just have ceremonies

* Can’t just have festivals

* Can’t just claim it

* Then fail to live the relationship

*  Integrity…

* Heart and action in concert

*  I want to be your friend… then they gossip

* I Love you… then you he gives that love to someone else

* I with you all the way… and then

* Synergy of faith pollutes

* Faith isn’t religion…

* It isn’t practice

* It isn’t about being seen doing “right”

* It is about a relationship…

* With Love, Obedience, Integrity…

* It is living transformed

Bridge:

* Living transformed…

* That’s Amos message…

* Above the call for Justice

* Above the call for right worship

* It is to know God, grow in relationship…

* The Sign, The Sin, The Suffering

* Has really meaning for us…

* Take to heart the warning to the children of God…

* Take hope in the promised relationship…

* Seize hold… and live sold out

Body:

The Sign:

NAU Amos 8:1 Thus the Lord GOD showed me, and behold, there was a basket of summer fruit. 2 He said, "What do you see, Amos?"

And I said, "A basket of summer fruit."

Then the LORD said to me, "The end has come for My people Israel.

I will spare them no longer.

*  The time is ripe… summer fruit… ready…

* Israel’s sin has matured…

* Time for the grapes or olives to be pressed

* Turned from God – Rejected…/the true God/

*  Synergy

*   Effort

* Token religion

* Lived for self first

* Reassigned God - Idol

*  Neutered God

*  Remade him… in their image

*  Tamed God

*  Claiming God would never…

* Disobeyed God – Injustice

* Cast aside His Righteousness

*  Stopped living for Him

*  Stopped hearing his commands

*  Stopped loving