Amos 1:1-3:15, Revelation 2:1-17, Psalms 129:1-8, Proverbs 29:19-20
Today is the 10th day of December welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I’m Brian it is wonderful to be here with you today warmed by the Global Campfire here as we come in out of whatever. And it's…it’s getting busier and busier as we move toward Christmas, isn’t it? So, yeah, this oasis is a rescue some days. We can…we can be frantic. It’s not a problem if that’s what we want, but when we come in here and sit around the Global Campfire it’s time to just breathe, exhale, allow the Scriptures to speak, allow them to wash into our hearts and lives and minds and redirect our steps. So, I am grateful to be in this serene space and I’m grateful to be here with you as we continue our journey forward. We read in its entirety in the Old Testament yesterday, the book of Joel which brings us to another one of the minor prophets known as Amos.
Introduction to the book of Amos:
And many scholars believe Amos very very well could be the earliest collection of…of written prophecies that are in the Bible. And, so, we’re going back a ways, we’re going back to the time…and let’s just remember our journey with the children of Israel. It took well…well over half of the first part of our year. And remember that the kingdom of Israel eventually after Solomon’s reign split into two kingdoms, the northern kingdom of Israel and the southern kingdom of Judah. Amos sits in that time. The kingdoms have divided but at this point they are peaceful toward one another and they are both experiencing tremendous peace and…and really tremendous prosperity, a kind of prosperity that they hadn’t experienced since Solomon’s reign. And, so, here comes Amos with…with prophetic utterances from God that things are going to stay this way, that there is impending judgment on its way. So, he’s sent to speak these prophecies at the worst possible time, right? When everything is going right that’s the last thing that you want to hear and some of the last things that you’ll pay attention to. And Amos wasn’t like known as a prophet. He hadn’t been trained in this way. He just seems to be a regular guy living a regular life. He was like a shepherd and a farmer. We don’t know if he was like a land owner, that he owned flocks and groves but we know he worked that way. So he could of been like a common laborer who was called by God to be a prophet or he could’ve been a landowner who had vineyards etc. etc. and was called to be a prophet. He lived in a city known as Tekoa and that was about maybe 10 miles south of Jerusalem. So, that’s the southern kingdom of Judah. So, Amos is from the southern kingdom of Judah, but his mission is to prophesy in the northern kingdom of Israel, probably in Bethel. We don’t know that for sure, but probably in Bethel because that was…that was a border city, and it was a hub for trade and commerce and idolatry. If we remember, King Rehoboam the first King of this newly formed northern kingdom of Israel, he lead those 10 tribes into idolatry by putting golden calves at the northern and southern boundary. So, the northern boundary of the Dan and the southern boundary for…for the…for the northern kingdom was Bethel. And we have other instances of God sending a prophet to Bethel to curse altars. And we can remember some of this. So, likely…not for sure…but likely Amos was sent across the border, probably into Bethel to prophesy because all of this prosperity and peaceful times had led to corruption, all kinds of opportunity for people to take advantage of all kinds of people in all kinds of ways. Corruption was rampant and it was the marginalized or the less fortunate that were bearing a good deal of the brunt of this. And Amos forcefully denounces preying upon those who are less fortunate, which makes social justice a major theme in the book of Amos, which ironically is a conversation that is still going on in the world, which makes the book of Amos relevant to now even though it’s very old, maybe eight centuries before Christ. It’s very old, which lets us look back and go, this kind of stuff is been going on among human beings all along. And here is Amos one more mouthpiece for God trying to say this is the right way to go. And, so, let’s dive in. We’re reading from the contemporary English version this week. Amos chapters 1, 2 and 3.
Prayer:
Father, we thank You for Your word and we thank You for the counsel of the Scriptures. We thank You for the immediacy of the Proverbs. There is more hope for a fool than for someone who speaks without thinking. And we’ve been the fool so many times but we are also in a season where we don’t think before we speak often enough. And, so, we take this immediate counsel and invite You holy spirit that we might pay attention to what we are saying. We are also grateful for these little notes, these little letters from Jesus to the church that’s found in Revelation. We are also thankful for the book of Amos today. We’re covering so much ground. And Father, we need You to plant it in the soil of our lives and we believe that You will do exactly that, because we believe that Your word is a lamp to our feet and a light for our path and that Your Holy Spirit will lead us into all truth. And, so, we rest and that knowing that our part and that is…is to be aware, to be awake, to be paying attention. Help us to do this we pray. In the mighty name of Jesus, we ask. Amen.
Announcements:
dailyaudiobible.com, that’s home base, that’s it’s the website and certainly where you find out what’s going on around here. And everything that’s going on around here is…is leading us toward Christmas.
So, first off, very important, today is the last day…so…for the holiday greetings…so we’ve gotta get to work in putting our little virtual Christmas party together. So, if you’ve kind of been thinking, yeah, I gotta get to that, I want to call in my holiday greeting, you want to do that right away and not delay. Every year it happens where a few people wait a little too long. So, don’t let that be you. Right now you can call in your holiday greeting using the prayer and encouragement line, whether that be using the hotline in the app, or whether that be dialing 877-942-4253, but after today, we…we’re moving past the cut off when we need to pull…start pulling this all together. So, don’t delay. If you want to call in, call in.
The other Christmas stuff that’s going on can be found in the Daily Audio Bible Shop at dailyaudiobible.com or using the app. You can get to the Shop there as well. In the shop there’s a Christmas section and in the Christmas section you’ll find things like the Daily Audio Bible Christmas box for 2021. That includes the 2021 Daily Audio Bible ornament in it which is the only place to get that and all the resources we can shove into a box and send them your way. There will be things you want to keep and there may be things you want to give away as gifts in the box. So, check that out.
And the Promised Land, photographs from the land of the Bible coffee table edition, a beautiful, beautiful book, just beautifully constructed book using the best resources and materials we could find. It is a beautiful thing to have especially…especially as we go to the Bible, just to be able to kind of thumb through and see some of these really important places and what they look like, but it also makes for a fantastic gift idea, very unique. So, check that out.
I talked about the cut off yesterday, shipping wise. We are probably past, we will ship…we will ship internationally, but we are probably past it being able to arrive before Christmas if it is outside the United States at this point, but we will ship it and it will arrive. Here inside of the United States. We still have a little. But more…just kind of a heads up, we’re running out of time. So, don’t delay there either if there are some things, there are some resources that you want to use as gifts, or that you just would like to have.
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And that’s it for today. I’m Brian I love you and I’ll be waiting for you here tomorrow.
Community Prayer and Praise:
DABs this is Eyes of a Dove in a state that you’re probably not used to me, but I am completely devastated, broken, fearful, worrying beyond measure for my son Braden. Today marks the first day of 15 days I plan too fast for my son. And if you feel on your heart to fast for Brayden please join me in the fast. Yesterday I got called to counseling office event because I only have two minutes I have to make this brief but he had written three anonymous letters to 11 classmates. It was finally determined it was him and he admitted to it to me. They have suicide ideologies, homosexual tendencies, and an extreme just torment of his heart for the division between Christianity and homosexuality. The enemy is after him. He admitted apparently that this summer he had gone to the river and tried to throw himself in it and drown and he wants to die because he can’t see living a life divided between struggling to not sin against the Lord. It…this divide is just too great for a 15-year-old. With so many other things going on in our family that he has to deal with this. And he wishes he could feel normal, normal like his brother, and why can’t God just heal him. I don’t want this for my precious boy. I don’t want him to die. He said that he’s got it all figured out and he’ll have someone else kill him and that way he can still go to heaven and be with his Father God. And it’s so hard because he’s so quiet. So, I’m switching counselors. I’m praying and asking God to intervene. Pray for Braden’s life. I’ll be calling for the next 15 days asking for prayer for this. I’m in a desperate situation. Thank you.
Hey guys this is Joe the Protector here from Georgia it is December 7th at approximately 7:07 in the morning. Just got finished listening to the DAB and heard Blind Tony’s poem at the end of the…at the end of the podcast. And man what a poem Blind Tony. Such great words you had in there. It really made me think, you know, that we as people in society do judge others who we consider less than us. And who are we to judge and say that they are less than us? Christ did all He did for us. Christ continues to do all He does for us. He laid down His only son for us, shed His blood for us, and paid the ultimate price for us. Help us to remember that. Help us to remember that we are one of the least, that we are undeserving of what God gave us. Well, fellow DABbers, I love y'all, pray for y'all. Continue to lift me and my family up we’re going through rough times right now. Possible separation and divorce. So, I covet y'all’s prayers right now. And I have disrespectful adult children living in my home. So, please pray. Thank y'all DABbers. Love y'all.
Hi, it’s rich from Exeter UK here. Let’s pray for Angie and Gareth as they go through the process of adoption. Father God we pray for Angie and Gareth as they go through the rollercoaster of adoption. We thank You for their decision to open their home and their lives to welcome a child into their family. Father we pray that they would be filled with Your love and Your peace at this time of unknowing. And we pray for this 7-year-old as they come into their home for a visit. We pray that this 7-year-old would be placed with the right family so that they can grow and thrive and know a family that loves them. Father we pray that in all the ups and downs that Angie and Garth will cling onto You and we thank You that Your love is steadfast.
Good morning, DAB family this is John Opara. It’s been quite a while. I’m calling in from South Sudan. I just wanted to touch base with everyone to let you know that God continues to be in control, God answers prayer, God is with you, God is moving even when we do not see…see it, even when we do not experience or hear or feel anything God is at work all the time. So, know that when you give us your prayer request that God has already started the work and that when we pray and call on Him in agreement He will always answer. May the Lord, may the Lord the king of glory touch, every one of you at the level at which you need His touch. And those who need healing, I declare healing upon you that has been procured for us through the stripes of Jesus Christ. May that healing become a reality in your life. May…may you begin to experience the joy of the Lord which is your strength in the matchless name of our Lord and our savior Jesus Christ. Amen. Amen.
Dear Daily Audio Bible family God bless you all. It’s Gustohl it’s been a while since I called here last time and I just wanted to let you know that I am __ of this community even though I’m not calling often, but here I am. Anyway, I would like to ask for prayer from my friend, my brother in Christ Alex Alamos. Alex is being intubated today in Paso Texas with COVID. So, may the Lord grant him full recovery and be glorified in this process…