Amos 1:1-3:15, Revelation 2:1-17, Psalms 129:1-8, Proverbs 29:19-20
Today is the 10th day of the December. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I am Brian. It’s great to be here with you today. As odd as it is, three weeks from today is the end of the year. So, well done! You’ve made it this far. We can do this. We will finish strong together. We have been moving quickly through a lot of territory and talking about the different…the different books and letters that we’re reading and today is no different. In the Old Testament, we will begin the book of Amos, which is another of the minor prophets but…but thankfully we’ll camp out in Amos for a few days. And we’re in the book of Revelation in the New Testament. So, that will carry us all the way until the end of the year. So, let’s talk about Amos.
Introduction to the book of Amos:
Amos, this book is likely the earliest collection of…of prophetic utterances that were written down, that are found in the Bible. Amos prophesied in the mid eighth century BC at a time when the northern and the southern kingdoms were actually experiencing peace and prosperity. The thing about Amos was he wasn’t trained. Like he wasn’t a trained priest, or he hadn’t been raised up for religious work. He…he seems to have been an ordinary person living, basically, the ordinary life of a shepherd and farmer. And we don’t know whether he was like just a common laborer who worked on someone’s farm or was a shepherd for someone or whether he owned flocks and groves, but he was certainly educated, and he was certainly aware of what was going on around him. He lived in the city of Toccoa, which was about 10 miles south of Jerusalem. So, that means he lived in the southern kingdom of Judah, but his mission was to prophesy in the northern kingdom of Israel and he probably did that just by crossing the border over into Bethel. And we’ll have to go back to the books of Samuel and Kings to remember the northern and the southern kingdoms split. So, the northern kingdom of Israel, its northernmost city would’ve been Dan and its southernmost city would’ve been Bethel. So, Amos would’ve crossed over the border into the northern kingdom and probably given his prophecies in Bethel because this was a major trade city and hub for idol worship in the northern kingdom. But like we just said, the northern and the southern kingdoms were experiencing peace and prosperity that they hadn’t seen really since the reign of King Solomon. So, it could seem weird that God would send an ordinary person from the southern kingdom to deliver a severe message of judgment in the northern kingdom. And no doubt for Amos this would’ve been a tough mission to…to get involved in but this is what Amos was told to do. The peace and the prosperity that the kingdoms were experiencing had opened the doors for corruption, which had begun to run rampant in the society. The poor were being oppressed while greed to continue to rule the hearts of those in leadership and Amos forcefully denounces the praying upon the less fortunate, which makes social justice a major theme in the book of Amos. Amos is thousands of years old. So, it would seem like after thousands of years we would see the cycle but we’re still grappling with the same kinds of issues today and the message that we’ll find in Amos is that we are nowhere near as powerful as we think we are and God is much more powerful than we can possibly even comprehend. In fact, what Amos is making clear is that the world is God’s, right? The world belongs to God. He made it. It’s his not ours and He is absolutely sovereign over all people and all things. So, as we spend a few days here reading from Amos, let’s consider our own path and…and wisely choose, as the apostle Peter told us, to humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God. And, so, we’re reading from the Common English Bible this week. Amos, chapters 1 through 2.
Prayer:
Father, we thank You for Your word and as we move into the book of Amos, we ask that You speak to us and as we continue this first part of Revelation here You, Jesus, are speaking to the churches may we as was spoken in Revelation have eyes to see and ears to hear. Come Holy Spirit we pray in the mighty name of our Savior, Jesus. Amen.
Announcements:
dailyaudiobible.com is home base, it is…it is the website, and that’s where you find out what’s going on around here. And it’s all things Christmas. It’s like the world itself has awakened to the fact that a Savior was born. And we should pay attention to that. I’ve been watching some of the, you know, like the programs, the Christmas sort of variety programs that come on. And I don’t know…I noticed this in the past but maybe never more than this year. Like, wow, I’m watching network television. I’m watching people worship God openly and broadcast it through the networks and it’s just a beautiful thing to see. So, it’s Christmas time around here and it’s Christmas time here at the Daily Audio Bible in the community here.
So, a couple of things about that. One, I talked about this yesterday. Every year we have a Christmas party around the Global Campfire because we’re virtual and we can’t all get together in the same place at the same time we just roll with it. We’re a virtual community so we celebrate virtually. And, so, all during this week the lines are open for you to call in your Christmas wishes and Christmas prayers, things that you would say to the community that you’ve traveled with this year as we approach the holidays. And we compile all of that and then Jill and I, we share for a while and then we just kind of sit back and hear each other. It is…well…I am not a big weeping crying kind of person normally, I think I cry a lot more by myself than maybe publicly, but these Christmas parties, I…I just never get to the end of them without finding myself just in tears of gratitude. And, so, it’s just a wonderful time. So, we’re taking those calls this week. The way that you do it is the same way and the same method that you would call in a prayer request like we do every day, same method. So, if you have the Daily Audio Bible app and you use that little Hotline button up the top, that’s fantastic. That’s a great way to the call in a Christmas greeting or any of the phone numbers you can use as well. The only rule, because it’s the prayer line, the only rule is don’t call in a holiday greeting and a prayer request combined into the same calling. This is the one time you can break that rule. And if you have something going on and need prayer for, call that in and share it, but if you also want to participate in and call in a holiday greeting, do that separately. And we’ll filter it all and figure it all out and make our Christmas party like we do every year. So, we’re doing that all this week, which means we’re doing that today.
And I’ll also remind you we have the Daily Audio Bible Christmas Box, Daily Audio Bible family Christmas for 2019 and it is full of resources that we think will be incredibly helpful, things to keep, things to give away, this is your choice. So, this new book, the God of Your Story, which is kind of the Daily Audio Bible commentary in written form in a 365-day devotional format. We have assigned hardback edition in the Christmas Box this year. Daily Audio Bible Journal 2.0, the Global Campfire candle, your choice of our DAB blend fresh roasted coffee or the boutique tea, the Daily Audio Bible Christmas ornament with our word for the year, “Maintain”, that is only available in the…the Christmas Box is in the Christmas box, a pack of 20 Christmas cards for 2019, Global Campfire pop socket, Global Campfire stickers, Global Campfire postcards. Like, it’s full of resources that are just fun to unpack and choose who you’re gonna give them to or where you’re gonna put them or how you can use them. So, check that out while supplies last.
And also reminding you, the God of Your Story is…is actually honestly a good Christmas gift because it’s offering the journey the path that we…that we voyage through toward transformation in our lives each year as we go through the Bible. So, it’s a wonderful, wonderful way to invite those that you love into that rhythm of life. So, you know, you can get the God of Your Story separate from the Christmas Box for sure. And when you get the God of Sour Story you also have the opportunity get Sneezing Jesus or Reframe, two of my previous books. Those are five dollars ach, I mean you can buy as many of them as you want for five dollars. We’ve…we did that when we released the God of Your story but it’s still going on as long as we…as long as we have supplies. And, so, as many as you want. That's…that’s our cost. So, these aren’t marked up. That’s what it costs. So, I mean even if they were marked up, all of these resources, these are sewn into the architecture and platform that exists to bring God’s spoken word to us each and every day. So, but anyway, Sneezing Jesus and Reframe are available as well.
If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible as we approach the end of this year then I thank you, I thank you. I mean, I’ve said so many times that I don’t know what words to use. The words gratitude, the word humility, these are all real, but they’re just smaller than I feel it's…it brings awe to me that we can do this. And, so, I thank you. And I’m in awe of this community that we’re still here and I thank you for your partnership. So, there’s a link on the homepage at dailyaudiobible.com. If you’re using the app, you can press the Give button in the upper right-hand corner or the mailing address, if that’s your preference, is PO Box 1996 Spring Hill Tennessee 37174.
And, as always, if you have a prayer request or comment or, right now a holiday greeting, you can press the Hotline button in the…at the top of the app or you can dial 877-942-4253.
And that is it for today. I’m Brian I love you and I’ll be waiting for you here tomorrow.