{"id":8505,"date":"2020-03-29T20:00:57","date_gmt":"2020-03-30T03:00:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/?p=8505"},"modified":"2020-03-29T17:10:51","modified_gmt":"2020-03-30T00:10:51","slug":"amos1_1-15","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/amos1_1-15\/","title":{"rendered":"Fiercely Committed to Protecting You"},"content":{"rendered":"

Amos 1:1-15\u00a0\u00a0Click here for Bible Verses<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Hi GAMErs,<\/p>\n

Today we begin our look at the book of Amos, written in approximately 762 B.C. Today we start with Amos 1:1-15.\u00a0 Let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n

Amos 1:1 (NIV)\u00a0<\/strong>
\n1\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0The words of Amos, one of the shepherds of Tekoa–<\/em><\/p>\n

On verse 1a:\u00a0 \u00a0Who was Amos?\u00a0 In addition to being a prophet, Amos was a shepherd, but no ordinary shepherd.\u00a0 The word Amos uses for \u201cshepherd\u201d in verse 1 is not the common Hebrew word for shepherd but a rare word that suggests that Amos was more a breeder of sheep.\u00a0 In other words, Amos was a businessman who probably owned large herds of sheep and had many shepherds working for him.\u00a0 Later on we will learn that Amos also planted and harvested sycamore trees.\u00a0 A man of standing in his community of Tekoa (about 10 miles south of Jerusalem), Amos was a ranch owner, a farmer and a prophet.<\/p>\n

What can we learn from this?\u00a0\u00a0Don\u2019t type cast yourself by your profession or job.\u00a0 No matter what your profession or job is, God wants to use you in His kingdom.\u00a0 You can be a businessman and God can use you to speak prophetically in a person’s life.\u00a0 God calls people from all walks of life to serve Him and to represent Him.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Amos 1:1-2 (NIV)\u00a0<\/strong>
\n1\u00a0<\/sup>\u2026what he saw concerning Israel two years before the earthquake, when Uzziah was king of Judah and Jeroboam son of Jehoash was king of Israel.
\n2\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0He said:\u00a0“The\u00a0LORD\u00a0roars from Zion\u00a0and thunders from Jerusalem;\u00a0the pastures of the shepherds dry up,\u00a0and the top of Carmel withers.”<\/em><\/p>\n

On verse 1b-2:\u00a0 The ancient historian Josephus records that a massive earthquake hit Israel in 760 B.C., so \u201ctwo years before the earthquake\u201d would suggest that this book was written in approximately 762 B.C.\u00a0 The book of Amos mainly concerns the northern kingdom of Israel at a time when Jeroboam II reigned as king over Israel and was leading Israel through a time of great economic prosperity.\u00a0 What can we learn from this?\u00a0\u00a0You might be prospering economically, but God is even more concerned about your condition spiritually.<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0Thus God sends His servants like Amos to speak to that condition.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Amos 1:3-5 (NIV)\u00a0<\/strong>
\n3\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0This is what the\u00a0LORD\u00a0says: “For three sins of Damascus, even for four, I will not turn back [my wrath]. Because she threshed Gilead with sledges having iron teeth,
\n4\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0I will send fire upon the house of Hazael that will consume the fortresses of Ben-Hadad.
\n5\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0I will break down the gate of Damascus; I will destroy the king who is in the Valley of Aven and the one who holds the scepter in Beth Eden. The people of Aram will go into exile to Kir,” says the\u00a0LORD.
\n<\/em>
\nOn verses 3-15:\u00a0 In these verses, Amos delivers a message of judgment to various nations surrounding the Israelites: the Arameans (verses 3-5), the Philistines (verses 6-8), the people of Tyre (verses 9-10), the Edomites (verses 11-12) and the Ammonites (verses 13-15).\u00a0 \u00a0Each message follows the same pattern:
\n\u201cFor three sins of\u00a0[name of the nation or a major city in that nation]<\/em>, even for four, I will not turn back.\u00a0 Because of\u00a0[a sin the nation committed against the people of Israel]<\/em>, I will send fire upon the walls of\u00a0[that nation\u2019s major city]<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n

From this I learn the following:
\n1.God is holy and just.<\/strong>\u00a0 He hates injustice and cannot turn a blind eye to sin.<\/p>\n

2.God is incredibly loyal to and protective of His people.<\/strong>\u00a0 Even though Israel has done some things that have grieved God\u2019s heart, God still loves Israel dearly and is fiercely committed to avenging her.\u00a0 Likewise,though we have sinned and broken God\u2019s heart in so many ways, God remains loyal to us and fiercely committed to protecting us.\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong>That\u2019s what Jesus did for the woman caught in adultery in John 8.\u00a0 That\u2019s also what Jesus did for us at the cross.<\/p>\n

Heavenly Father, thank You that You are fiercely committed to protecting me and defending me against my enemies.\u00a0 Thank You for being my strong Protector and my loyal Friend.\u00a0 In Jesus\u2019 name, AMEN!<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/div>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hi GAMErs,<\/p>\n

Today we begin our look at the book of Amos, written in approximately 762 B.C. Today we start with Amos 1:1-15.\u00a0 Let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n

Amos 1:1 (NIV)\u00a0
\n1\u00a0\u00a0The words of Amos, one of the shepherds of Tekoa–<\/p>\n

On verse 1a:\u00a0 \u00a0Who was Amos?\u00a0 In addition to being a prophet, Amos was a shepherd, but no ordinary shepherd.\u00a0 The word Amos uses for \u201cshepherd\u201d in verse 1 is not the common Hebrew word for shepherd but a rare word that suggests that Amos was more a breeder of sheep.\u00a0 In other words, Amos was a businessman who probably owned large herds of sheep and had many shepherds working for him.\u00a0 Later on we will learn that Amos also planted and harvested sycamore trees.\u00a0 A man of standing in his community of Tekoa (about 10 miles south of Jerusalem), Amos was a ranch owner, a farmer and a prophet.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

What can we learn from this?\u00a0\u00a0Don\u2019t type cast yourself by your profession or job.\u00a0 No matter what your profession or job is, God wants to use you in His kingdom.\u00a0 You can be a businessman and God can use you to speak prophetically in a person’s life.\u00a0 God calls people from all walks of life to serve Him and to represent Him.\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8506,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8505","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gametime-sharing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8505","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8505"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8505\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8508,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8505\/revisions\/8508"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8506"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8505"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8505"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8505"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}