“Surely the Sovereign LORD does nothing without revealing his plan to his servants the prophets”.
~ Amos 3:7
Hi James and Ellen,
What does taking something for granted mean to you? Are you taking for granted having good health? Are you taking for granted having a house in which to live? Are you taking for granted having food to eat? Are you taking for granted having God’s presence in your lives? Do you think that God wants you to take Him for granted? What role do you think that God plays in your health, where you live and what you eat? What do you think will happen to you if you do not give God the credit for your blessings and difficulties? Do you think that God really cares what is happening in your lives? God cares – big time! God cared so much that He sent His Son – Jesus, to planet Earth to suffer and die as a sacrifice for your sins. God impresses on you – as His specially elected kids, thankful thoughts for what He has done for you. God – as the Holy Spirit, resides in you to continually remind you that your lives are to reflect His glory. Before Jesus was born, do you know what God did to warn His specially chosen guys and gals to not to forget what He did and what He was doing for them? God commissioned guys – who were called prophets, to pass on His instructions to His specially chosen guys and gals. Amos was one of these guys who God mandated to pass on His directives to His specially chosen guys and gals. Amos was selected by God to warn the Israelite people group – who are God’s specially chosen guys, gals and kids, to stop thinking about themselves and all that they had and that they needed to return to only worship Him or . . . Amos spent ten years being a prophet. Amos prophesied during the reign of King Jeroboam II. King Jeroboam II was an evil king. Amos tells you in Amos 3 that the Israelite guys and gals had summer homes and winter homes – that these houses were filled with ivory. God – through Amos, spoke like a roaring lion or like a trumpet in the sky to warn His specially chosen guys and gals to change their ways or . . . God told His specially chosen guys and gals that He was going to almost completely annihilate them because they were no longer thinking about Him. God – through Amos, told His special chosen guys and gals that He would leave a couple of leg bones or a piece of an ear to demonstrate to them that He will never completely eradicate them from planet Earth. God did not want His specially chosen guys and gals to say that they had never been given the opportunity to ask forgiveness from God for having rejected Him through pursuing living polluted, sinful lives.
God is continually giving you opportunities to listen to Him. God is giving you repeated opportunities to be obedient to Him. What do you think will happen to you if you do not listen to and if you are not obedient to God’s voice? Do you think that the same thing will happen to you that happened to God’s specially chosen guys and gals? Why do you think that there is an Old Testament in the Bible? Why do you think that missives that were scribed by major and minor prophets are included in the Old Testament? What would you say makes for a really good teacher? A mistake makes for a great teacher – if you let the mistake teach you that you do not want to make the mistake again. God wants you to learn from the mistakes that His specially chosen guys and gals made – especially from the times when His specially chosen guys and gals chose not to obey His expectation for complete obedience. God wants you to learn what happened to the Israelite guys and gals when they did not listen to Him and disobeyed Him. Your grandmaa and grandpaa know how important it is to listen to God’s voice and to obey God’s will for their lives. Do you think that God is speaking to you right at this moment? Your grandmaa and grandpaa know that it is not easy sometimes to hear God’s voice but . . . God is speaking to you right at this moment. When you read the Bible, God is speaking to you. When you are with Christ-follower guys, gals and kids, God will speak to you. God will answer you as you are talking with Him. God is always talking with and to you. You will hear God’s voice speaking to you when you take the time to stop to listen for God’s voice. God may be speaking to you right now through His creation, through a book, through . . . God’s specially chosen guys and gals did stop doing what they were doing to listen to God’s voice. The Israelite guys and gals put their desires before what God wanted them to do. What happens in your house when you decide to put what you would like to do before what your dad and/or ma would like you to do? You are punished. To get His specially chosen guys and gals to listen to Him through being obedient to Him after they have been disobedient to Him, God would punish His specially chosen guys and gals.
God will never do anything without first telling you that He is going to do something. God has promised the guys, gals and kids who He chose from before time’s beginning that He will be there for these guys, gals and kids through whatever. God sent His only Son to make the way possible for you to know Him. Before God’s only Son began His planet Earth tenure, God sent prophets to show His specially chosen guys and gals the way. Verse 7 says “Surely the Sovereign LORD does nothing without revealing his plan to his servants the prophets”. Your grandmaa and grandpaa know that God called them to be His servants to His specially elected guys, gals and kids who are in Latin America. Latin American guys, gals and kids want to know what God’s will is for them. Latin American guys, gals and kids want to know what God is saying to them through the Bible. Latin American guys and gals want to be enabled to tell other guys and gals about the same hope that they have and are experiencing in their lives. It has been a very special privilege and a very real blessing for your grandmaa and grandpaa to live in countries like Bolivia and Guatemala and to be with guys, gals and kids who genuinely want to know Jesus and how to live their lives for Him.
Amos 3 (87)