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 blessings 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 lives.
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 cold be the bear.
b. Suppose it is
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 inhabitances.
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 cast 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
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
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 it 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 blessings
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 cast 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
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