This Week\’s Sunday School Lesson, \”Your Fruit Is The Result Of Your Planting\”, 6/28/2015

YOUR FRUIT IS THE RESULT OF YOUR PLANTING

 

Amos 8:1-10

SEASONS COME AND SEASONS GO

V:1. \” This is what the Sovereign Lord showed me: a basket of ripe fruit. \”

1. Our calendar year is divided into four seasons; Winter, Spring, Summer and Fall.
2. On my grandparents farm, Spring was the time of planting and

Summer was the time of the harvest of that which was planted.

1. The Fall was the time when the land was cleared for the next planting season.
2. In the Winter, the land rested.
3. My grandparents plan the next season and prepared the seed for the Spring

planting.

1. No time in the year was wasted.
2. I think God has prepared seasons for our lives.
3. There is a season of growth and development.
4. There is a season of works.
5. There is a season where wisdom learned through past seasons is put into

practice.

1. There is a season of rest.
2. The Israelites had gone through many seasons with the Lord according to His

grace and their disobedience to His commands.

1. The basket of fruit represents the harvest of past planting seasons.
2. You reap what you sow.
3. The fruit in the basket represents what they planted and the efforts they put

into cultivating the soil and nourishing the seed planted.

1. What\’s in your basket is the product of your past efforts.
2. In my grandparents house, ripe fruit had to be eaten, canned to be eaten

at a later date, or given away.

1. That which was not eaten, processed or given away was food for the animals.
2. Not much was ever wasted.
3. This is really the way God has designed our lives when we live according

to His commands.

1. Do not waste God\’s time.

 

OBSERVATION, INVESTIGATION AND APPLICATION

V:2. \”What do you see, Amos?\” he asked. \”A basket of ripe fruit,\” I answered. Then the Lord said to me, \”The time is ripe for my people Israel; I will spare them no longer.\”

1. I was taught that when you began to study God\’s Word, the first step is observation.
2. Read the text and just observe what is there.
3. There is a who, a what, a where and a why.
4. God asked Amos, \”what do you see\”. That is observation.
5. We must anticipate that what we see, will reveal something about the message.
6. Amos saw a basket and in the basket was ripe fruit.
7. The basket represents the efforts of the harvest.
8. The ripe fruit was the condition of the harvest.
9. Ripe fruit could be good and ready for use.
10. Ripe fruit could be bad and good for nothing.
11. What looks good is not always good.
12. Observation should lead to investigation to get a deeper understanding.
13. The word \”ripe\” represents the fact that Israel has sown some seeds and God had

set the time for the harvest, good or bad.

1. Actions always have consequences.
2. In everything that happens in our lives, God set\’s the time.
3. Once we understand the Word, we must apply it to our lives.
4. In the case of Israel, God was ready to punish them for their disobedience.
5. God gave them His law 700 years earlier.
6. He had warned them that their disobedience would lead to their destruction.
7. God is long suffering, but He will eventually punish those He love for their

disobedience.

1. A few bad apples will not change God\’s plan for our lives.

 

OUR ACTIONS DETERMINE THE PAIN OR THE JOY IN OUR LIVES

V:3 \”In that day,\” declares the Sovereign Lord, \”the songs in the temple will turn to wailing. Many, many bodies — flung everywhere! Silence!\”

1. This was the prophecy of things to come for Israel.
2. The temple was destroyed and the city burned down in 586 BC.
3. The Israelites that survived the war, were taken into Babylonian captivity

for 70 years.

1. Even after the date of this prophecy, God waited another 200 years to execute His

judgment.

1. The application, is don\’t take God\’s commands for granted.
2. Just because He has not executed His judgment don\’t mean He will not judge.
3. God is not mocked by our ignorance of His Word.
4. The study of God\’s Word ought to convict our hearts and cause change in our lives.
5. Take note, God sometimes take violent actions to get our attention.
6. Sometimes, the troubles in our lives are because we are disobedient to His

commands.

1. Sometimes, God allows evil men to carry out His judgment against us.

 

GOD WILL REMIND YOU OF YOUR SINS

V:4-5.  \” Hear this, you who trample the needy and do away with the poor of the land,

5 saying, \”When will the New Moon be over that we may sell grain, and the Sabbath be ended that we may market wheat?\”— skimping the measure, boosting the price and cheating with dishonest scales.\”

1. Some folk come to Church, hear a message from God and want apply it to their lives.
2. They came to worship, but they were in a hurry to get out of the service.
3. They were religious, but not faithful.
4. They came to the worship service messed up and they left messed up.
5. They came with evil hearts and they left with evil hearts.
6. They came to a place where the Word was taught, but their minds were set on

mistreating the needy and denying justice to the poor.

1. They came to worship, but they couldn\’t hear the Word of God because their minds

were focused on making money by dishonest means and  cheating others out of

what was do to them.

1. God takes note of how you treat others.
2. God is not satisfied when love is not our attitude and is not shown in our actions.
3. When we intentionally mistreat others, it shows our lack of love and disobedience.

 

TREAT OTHERS THE WAY YOU WANT TO BE TREATED

V:6 Buying the poor with silver and the needy for a pair of sandals, selling even the sweepings with the wheat.\”

1. Israel was a nation born in slavery and freed by the mighty hand of God.
2. They grew up being mistreated by an ungodly nation and they carried that

mentality into the promise land.

1. A generation could be 40 years as described by their desert experience.
2. The Israelites passed down their slave mentality through 18 generations.
3. They were free physically, but enslaved in their minds by their Egyptian  history.
4. They learned how to mistreat their own people by their Egyptian slave masters.
5. If we stay around evil people long enough, we will pick up their habits.
6. They sold that which was worthless to the poor for their own gain.
7. They professed to be followers of the Law, but in all their business activities, they

showed themselves to be robbers and thieves.

1. The love of money is the root of all evil.
2. They loved money more than they love the Lord or their neighbors.
3. True love treats others with respect.

 

THE BLOOD OF JESUS IS THE PAYMENT FOR OUR SINS

V:9.  \”In that day,\” declares the Sovereign Lord, \”I will make the sun go down at noon and darken the earth in broad daylight.\”

1. When Jesus died on the cross, there was an earthquake and a solar eclipse of the sun

that occurred  about 3 PM.

1. The death of Jesus marked the fulfillment of the Law and the beginning of Grace.
2. The Babylonian captivity lasted 70 years, their season of punishment.
3. Grace is God\’s favor forever.
4. God chastises us for a period of time, to get us ready for eternal redemption.
5. The destruction of Jerusalem and the temple was a reminder that God keeps His

promises.

1. The Israelites sowed seeds of destruction and reaped their own destruction.
2. All have sinned and deserve to die. The wages of sin is death.
3. Faith in the death and resurrection of Jesus bring God\’s grace and eternal life.

 

DO NOT PLAY CHURCH, BE THE CHURCH

V:10. \” I will turn your religious feasts into mourning and all your singing into weeping. I will make all of you wear sackcloth and shave your heads. I will make that time like mourning for an only son and the end of it like a bitter day. \”

1. The Israelites adhered to the religious festivals of the Law for outward appearances.
2. They refuse to follow the spirit of the Law, which is love.
3. Jesus said if you love me, keep my commandments.
4. The Israelites refused to obey the Law.
5. They chose for themselves idol gods.
6. The love of money and dishonest gain became their gods.
7. In captivity, they did not have their temple to dishonor.
8. All they had were the memories of it\’s glory.
9. In captivity, they did not have their religious festivals for prompt,

all they had were the pains of not being able to attend their beloved festivals.

1. You don\’t miss the good times with the Lord in His temple,

until it not available to you.

1. When you fail to honor God in His sanctuary, God can put you in a position

where you can\’t get to the sanctuary.

 

DO ALL THE GOOD YOU CAN WHILE YOU CAN, BECAUSE YOU NEVER

KNOW WHEN YOU CAN\’T DO GOOD AGAIN.

 

WORSHIP GOD IN SPIRIT AND TRUTH, SO GOD CAN BLESS YOU

GOING FORWARD.

 

Rev. M . Mitchell

Asst Pastor of Greater Macedonia Baptist Church.