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. "
A. Our calendar year
is divided into four seasons; Winter, Spring, Summer and Fall.
1. On my
grandparents farm, Spring was the time of planting and
Summer was
the time of the harvest of that which was planted.
2. The Fall was
the time when the land was cleared for the next planting season.
3. In the Winter,
the land rested.
a. My
grandparents plan the next season and prepared the seed for the Spring
planting.
b. No time in
the year was wasted.
B. I think God has
prepared seasons for our lives.
1. There is a
season of growth and development.
2. There is a
season of works.
3. There is a
season where wisdom learned through past seasons is put into
practice.
4. There is a
season of rest.
C. 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.
4. What's in your
basket is the product of your past efforts.
D. 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.
4. 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."
A. I was taught that when you began to study God's Word, the
first step is observation.
1. Read the text
and just observe what is there.
2. There is a who,
a what, a where and a why.
B. God asked Amos, "what do you see". That is
observation.
1. We must
anticipate that what we see, will reveal something about the message.
2. Amos saw a
basket and in the basket was ripe fruit.
3. The basket
represents the efforts of the harvest.
4. The ripe fruit
was the condition of the harvest.
a. Ripe fruit
could be good and ready for use.
b. Ripe fruit could
be bad and good for nothing.
c. What looks
good is not always good.
C. Observation should
lead to investigation to get a deeper understanding.
1. The word
"ripe" represents the fact that Israel
has sown some seeds and God had
set the time
for the harvest, good or bad.
2. Actions always
have consequences.
3. In everything
that happens in our lives, God set's the time.
D. Once we understand
the Word, we must apply it to our lives.
1. In the case of Israel ,
God was ready to punish them for their disobedience.
2. God gave them
His law 700 years earlier.
3. He had warned
them that their disobedience would lead to their destruction.
4. God is long
suffering, but He will eventually punish those He love for their
disobedience.
5. 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!"
A. This was the
prophecy of things to come for Israel .
1. The temple was
destroyed and the city burned down in 586 BC.
2. The Israelites
that survived the war, were taken into Babylonian captivity
for 70 years.
3. Even after the
date of this prophecy, God waited another 200 years to execute His
judgment.
B. The application,
is don't take God's commands for granted.
1. Just because
He has not executed His judgment don't mean He will not judge.
2. God is not
mocked by our ignorance of His Word.
3. The study of
God's Word ought to convict our hearts and cause change in our lives.
C. Take note, God sometimes take violent actions to get our
attention.
1. Sometimes, the
troubles in our lives are because we are disobedient to His
commands.
2. 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."
A. Some folk come to Church, hear a message from God and
want apply it to their lives.
1. They came to
worship, but they were in a hurry to get out of the service.
2. They were
religious, but not faithful.
3. They came to the
worship service messed up and they left messed up.
4. They came with
evil hearts and they left with evil
hearts.
B. 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.
2. God takes note
of how you treat others.
3. God is not
satisfied when love is not our attitude and is not shown in our actions.
4. 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."
A. Israel was a nation
born in slavery and freed by the mighty hand of God.
1. They grew up
being mistreated by an ungodly nation and they carried that
mentality into
the promise land.
a. A generation could be 40 years as described by
their desert experience.
b. The
Israelites passed down their slave mentality through 18 generations.
2. They were free
physically, but enslaved in their minds
by their Egyptian history.
3. They learned
how to mistreat their own people by their Egyptian slave masters.
4. If we stay
around evil people long enough, we will pick up their habits.
B. They sold that
which was worthless to the poor for their own gain.
1. They professed
to be followers of the Law, but in all their business activities, they
showed
themselves to be robbers and thieves.
2. The love of
money is the root of all evil.
a. They loved
money more than they love the Lord or
their neighbors.
b. 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."
A. 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.
a. Grace is
God's favor forever.
b. God
chastises us for a period of time, to get us ready for eternal redemption.
B. 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
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. "
A. The Israelites adhered to the religious festivals of the Law for outward appearances.
1. They refuse to
follow the spirit of the Law, which is love.
2. Jesus said if
you love me, keep my commandments.
B. The Israelites refused to obey the Law.
1. They chose for
themselves idol gods.
2. The love of
money and dishonest gain became their gods.
C. In captivity, they did not have their temple to dishonor.
1. All they had
were the memories of it's glory.
2. 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.
3. You don't miss
the good times with the Lord in His
temple,
until it not
available to you.
4. 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
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