HOW TO KEEP GOD ON YOUR SIDE

Amos 5:14-15,18-27

V:14. \” Seek good, not evil, that you may live. Then the Lord God Almighty will be with you, just as you say he is.\”

A. Make it your business to start each day seeking to do good.

• 1. I think that it is a good idea to try to see the good in every situation.
• 2. There is enough bad news in the media each day to cause you to over look the good that is all around you.

 

B. I think that we should first see the good that God has done for us.

• 1. Start each day with an attitude of thankfulness.
• 2. Be the role model of thankfulness to those around you.

 

C. Then try to see the good in everyone you meet.

1. There is some good in the worst of us.

2. There is some bad in the best of us.

B. Try to find ways to be helpful to others.

• 1. God has given us the ministry of reconciliation. 2 Cor 5:18
• 2. It is really our job to draw others to Christ through words of encouragements and acts of kindness.

 

D. God promises that if we pattern our lives after Jesus we will live.

• 1. Jesus said, I came that you might have life and have it more abundantly.
• 2. In Jesus we have eternal life.

 

E. A lifestyle of doing good keeps God on your side.

• 1. It is the evil that we do that causes us to loose some of the blessing of God.
• 2. Because God has covered our sins with the blood of His Son, we ought to have an attitude of gratefulness.

 

V:15. \” Hate evil, love good; maintain justice in the courts. Perhaps the Lord God Almighty will have mercy on the remnant of Joseph.\”

 

A. The opposite of loving good is to hate evil.

• 1. We have to hate evil in every area of our life.
• 2. We may not steal, but do we envy what someone else has?
• 3. We may not say anything bad about someone, but do we have bad thoughts?

B. What is right is right.

1. Don\’t rationalize that just because______, it is ok to do something that is not right.

2. I know of a case where a man spent two weeks building a fence for a customer.

• a. The customer was satisfied with fence, but he didn\’t like the gate.
• b. The customer rationalized that since he didn\’t like the gate, he didn\’t have to pay for the fence. The gate only took 1 hour to build.
• c. Wrong is wrong, and our rationalization want make it right.

3. Don\’t seek ways to get out of doing what you know is right.

• a. The justice you deny another person will soon be denied to you.
• b. What goes around comes around.

4. If you want God to have mercy on you, you must have mercy on others.

• a. If you want God to see to it that you get justice, you must see to it that you are fair to others.
• b. If you want the compassion of God, you must show compassion to others.

 

V:18. \” Woe to you who long for the day of the Lord! Why do you long for the day of the Lord? That day will be darkness, not light.\”

A. Those who claim that there is no heaven or hell, are sadly mistaken.

• 1. There are those who give no thought to an existence after death.
• 2. They have the attitude that when you are dead, you are done.
• 3. Then there are those who deny the living God, but believe in an eternal spirit existence.

B. Those who deny Jesus as the Son of God and who deny Jesus as the Savior of the  world will face judgment into an eternal hell.

• 1. Jesus is the light.
• 2. The way to heaven is through faith in Jesus Christ. John 14:6
• 3. Belief in anything else is eternal darkness.

V:19. \” It will be as though a man fled from a lion only to meet a bear, as though he entered his house and rested his hand on the wall only to have a snake bite him.\”

A. Those who look to an end of this life without Jesus will find eternal life much worst than this present world.

1. There are those who commit suicide to get away from the pain of this world only to find a worst terrible pain in the eternal hell.

2. If you get away from a lion and run into a bear, you still die.

• a. Without Jesus, life in this world could be the lion and death the bear,
• b. Suppose it not a lion or a bear that you run into but a poisonous snake; death is  the same.

3. Religion is something you believe in and practice on regular basis.

4. Everybody is religious about something.

5. It is not your religion that will provide eternal life, but your faith in Jesus.

 

V: 20. \” Will not the day of the Lord be darkness, not light — pitch-dark, without a ray of brightness?\”

A. The book of Revelation gives us the events that will take place after the second coming of Jesus Christ.

• 1. Those who believe in Jesus will be caught up in a cloud to be with Jesus forever. 1 Thes 4:16-18
• 2. Those nonbelievers will be left to endure wars, earthquakes and massive destruction of the earth and its inhabitance.

B. The end times will be dark days with no end insight.

• 1. It will be dark because all who rejected Jesus as Lord and Savior will be eternally separated from God.
• 2. It will be dark because after the final judgment, all nonbelievers will be caste into the Lake of Fire. Rev 20:14

 

V:21. \”I hate, I despise your religious feasts; I cannot stand your assemblies.\”

A. The Jews were careful to observe all the religious ordinance as required by the Law.

• 1. The religion of the Israelites was not their faith.
• 2. They were religious, but not faithful to God.
• 3. The law was their guide only when it was convenient or agreed with their opinions.
• 4. They were constantly developing traditions that over ruled the commands of  God. Mark 7:4-13

B. Faith believes the Word of God and obeys all the commands.

• 1. Religion without faith in the Word is worthless.
• 2. The Jews worshipped the Lord with their lips and not their hearts. Matt 15:18
• 3. Worship is not in the celebrations but in the obedience to God\’s commands.
• 4. Worship is not in coming to Church but being the Church of Jesus Christ that others  see.
• 5. True worship is being a servant of God following His will in obedience to His commands.

 

V:22. \” Even though you bring me burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them. Though you bring choice fellowship offerings, I will have no regard for them.

A. God does not want what we offer to Him unless we first offer ourselves to Him.

1. God does not want our substance, He wants our hearts.

• a. We give God our substance out of obedience to His commands.
• b. We Give our substance because we are grateful for what He has done for us.
• 2. At the same time Israel was participating in the religious festivals as described in the Law, they were worshipping idol gods.

B. God does not like false worship.

• 1. You are either for God or you are against God.
• 2. There is no middle ground.
• 3. God does not want part of you, He wants all of you.

C. You can preach from the pulpit, sing in the choir, serve on the Deacon board and still not be in fellowship with the Lord.

• 1. Your title or position does not indicate your devotion to the Lord.
• 2. You can dress the part, but not be in tuned with the Lord.

 

V:23. \” Away with the noise of your songs! I will not listen to the music of your harps. \”

A. I love the praise and worship of our choirs in song.

• 1. I think our music ministry is an important part of the worship experience at GMBC.
• 2. Only God knows the heart of those who are involved in this ministry.

B. God is not satisfied with our performance, if our hearts are not devoted to Him.

• 1. Singing God\’s praises on Sunday and jamming to FM 102 all throughout the week might indicate a problem with your devotion to God.
• 2. Singing God\’s praise ought to replace any secular music.
• 3. All week long, we ought to be in preparation for Sunday Morning.

V:24. \” But let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream!\”

A. The first step in the conversion of our heart is to be convicted of our sins.

• 1. Sin is a result of a lack of love for God\’s commands.
• 2. Jesus said if you love me keep my commands.
• 3. Sin is a lack of love for Jesus.
• 4. Since the Father and the Son are one, then sin is a lack of love for the Father.
• 5. Love is not how we feel, but what we do to edify the body of Christ.

B. There has to be love for the Father before justice is ingrained into our lifestyle.

• 1. In all things we should be just toward others.
• 2. Justice has to begin with us, the Church, because we are not likely to receive it from the world.

C. Justice is based on the righteousness of the Father.

• 1. We cannot be righteous before the Father without love for the Father and our brothers.
• 2. Righteousness flows when we submit ourselves to one another in love.

 

V:25 \”Did you bring me sacrifices and offerings forty years in the desert, O house of Israel?\”

A. The nation of Israel was taught from the beginning of their freedom from Egypt, to honor the Lord with sacrifices from their flocks and from their produce.

• 1. They spent forty years wondering in the desert because they refused to honor the Lord and to trust Him with their lives.
• 2. Failure to honor the Lord as He has commanded us, will result in unnecessary  hardships.

B. Life is a journey through the desert of failures, disappoints and false hopes.

• 1. Those who reject the Lord take this journey alone and face the  consequences of their unbelief.
• 2. To those who believe in Jesus Christ , this journey is one of victories and  successes.
• 3. God is the present help for those who trust Him.
• a. Though we will face trials and tribulations, they are allowed to strengthen our faith and to perfect us in Jesus.

V: 26. \” You have lifted up the shrine of your king, the pedestal of your idols, the star of  your god— which you made for yourselves.\”

A. Throughout their desert experience, the Nation of Israel never learned to trust God and to be obedient to His commands.

• 1. They came out of Egypt with a slave mentality that they refused to give up.
• 2. In the desert, in the mist of the almighty God, they continued to worship false gods.

B. Their desert experience ended in tragedy in that the whole nation that came  out of Egypt died and a new generation was born in the desert to enter the promise land.

• 1. We face the same situation as the Israelites.
• 2. A new heaven and a new earth has been promise to us.
• 3. The only way to make this journey is to accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior and trust Him to guide and direct us.

V: 27. \” Therefore I will send you into exile beyond Damascus,\” says the Lord, whose  name is God Almighty. \”

A. The Lord God we serve, promises blessings and curses.

• 1. The blessing are dependant on our obedience.
• 2. Curses are based on our disobedience.

B. This verse is a prophecy that was fulfilled in 586 BC.

• 1. Israel, having received the Word from the Lord of their destruction refused to change.
• 2. They refused to worship God totally and were destroyed.
• 3. The city of Jerusalem was destroyed and the temple burned down because of their hatred for God\’s commands.

C. There is another exile that has been promised for all nonbelievers.

• 1. This is the final exile.
• 2. This exile is the everlasting separation from the Almighty God.
• 3. Those who believe in Jesus, will have eternity in the glory of God.
• 4. Those who reject Jesus will be judged and caste into the Lake of Fire for eternity.

 

Success in life is assured in our obedience to God\’s commands

Rev. M. Mitchell, Asst Pastor of Greater Macedonia Baptist Church