April 6, 2003

“Check Yourself, Before You Wreck Yourself”
Mr. Roger’s Hood Part 5
Speaker: Brian Kim

Amos 4:1-13 (New Living Translation)
¹Listen to me, you "fat cows" of Samaria, you women who oppress the poor and crush the needy and who are always asking your husbands for another drink! ²The Sovereign LORD has sworn this by his holiness: "The time will come when you will be led away with hooks in your noses. Every last one of you will be dragged away like a fish on a hook! ³You will leave by going straight through the breaks in the wall; you will be thrown from your fortresses.[1] I, the LORD, have spoken!
⁴"Go ahead and offer your sacrifices to the idols at Bethel and Gilgal. Keep on disobeying--your sins are mounting up! Offer sacrifices each morning and bring your tithes every three days! ⁵Present your bread made with yeast as an offering of thanksgiving. Then give your extra voluntary offerings so you can brag about it everywhere! This is the kind of thing you Israelites love to do," says the Sovereign LORD.
⁶"I brought hunger to every city and famine to every town. But still you wouldn't return to me," says the LORD.
7"I kept the rain from falling when you needed it the most, ruining all your crops. I sent rain on one town but withheld it from another. Rain fell on one field, while another field withered away. ⁸People staggered from one town to another for a drink of water, but there was never enough. But still you wouldn't return to me," says the LORD.
⁹"I struck your farms and vineyards with blight and mildew. Locusts devoured all your fig and olive trees. But still you wouldn't return to me," says the LORD.
¹⁰"I sent plagues against you like the plagues I sent against Egypt long ago. I killed your young men in war and slaughtered all your horses. The stench of death filled the air! But still you wouldn't return to me," says the LORD.
¹¹"I destroyed some of your cities, as I destroyed[2] Sodom and Gomorrah. Those of you who survived were like half-burned sticks snatched from a fire. But still you wouldn't return to me," says the LORD.
¹²"Therefore, I will bring upon you all these further disasters I have announced. Prepare to meet your God as he comes in judgment, you people of Israel!"
¹³For the LORD is the one who shaped the mountains, stirs up the winds, and reveals his every thought. He turns the light of dawn into darkness and treads the mountains under his feet. The LORD God Almighty is his name!

Questions to Check Yourself

1. Is my Hospitality HEARTLESS (vs. 1-3)

¹Listen to me, you "fat cows" of Samaria, you women who oppress the poor and crush the needy and who are always asking your husbands for another drink! ²The Sovereign LORD has sworn this by his holiness: "The time will come when you will be led away with hooks in your noses. Every last one of you will be dragged away like a fish on a hook! ³You will leave by going straight through the breaks in the wall; you will be thrown from your fortresses.[1] I, the LORD, have spoken! (Up on powerpoint)

"The desperate conditions that face the poor call for a revolution in our attempts at a solution. Through years of experience among the poor, I have come to see these desperate problems cannot be solved without strong commitment and risky actions on the part of ordinary Christians with heroic faith." - John Perkins

2. Is my worship ANEMIC (vs. 4-5)

⁴"Go ahead and offer your sacrifices to the idols at Bethel and Gilgal. Keep on disobeying--your sins are mounting up! Offer sacrifices each morning and bring your tithes every three days! ⁵Present your bread made with yeast as an offering of thanksgiving. Then give your extra voluntary offerings so you can brag about it everywhere! This is the kind of thing you Israelites love to do," says the Sovereign LORD.

Why does all this matter?

Every moment is a step moving FORWARD or sliding BACKWARD (vs 12-13)

¹²"Therefore, I will bring upon you all these further disasters I have announced. Prepare to meet your God as he comes in judgment, you people of Israel!"
¹³For the LORD is the one who shaped the mountains, stirs up the winds, and reveals his every thought. He turns the light of dawn into darkness and treads the mountains under his feet. The LORD God Almighty is his name!

Prepare to meet your God!

Your Daily Question (from MissionYear)

In this moment, how can I best love both GOD and PEOPLE?

"The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting; it has been found difficult and left untried,"
GK. Chesterton

You will always give effortlessly to that which is your salvation, to those things that give your life meaning. If Jesus is the one who saved you, your money flows easily into his work, his people, and his causes. If, however, your real religion is your appearance, your social status, or personal comfort, or pleasure, your money flows most easily into those items and symbols.
Giving Power, by Tim Keller

“It is ingrained in us that we have to do exceptional things for God, but we do not. We have to be exceptional in the ordinary things of life, and Holy on the ordinary streets, among ordinary people…”
Oswald Chambers

What Christ Said
George MacDonald

I said, "Let me walk in the fields."
He said, "No; walk in the town."
I said, "There are no flowers there."
He said, "No flowers, but a crown."

I said, "But the skies are black,
There is nothing but noise and din;"
And he wept as he sent me back;
"There is more," he said, "there is sin."

I said, "But the air is thick,
And fogs are veiling the sun."
He answered, "Yet souls are sick,
And souls in the dark undone."

I said, "I shall miss the light,
And friends will miss me, they say."
He answered, "Choose tonight
If I am to miss you, or they."

I pleaded for time to be given.
He said, "Is it hard to decide?
It will not seem hard in Heaven
To have followed the steps of your Guide."

I cast one look at the fields,
Then set my face to the town;
He said, "My child, do you yield?
Will you leave the flowers for the crown?"

Then into his hand went mine;
And into my heart came he;
And I walk in a light divine,
The path I had feared to see.

2003 Message Archives