https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/SayingThingsPeopleDontWantToHear.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n\tby Jeffrey W. Hamilton<\/p>\n\t
Text: Amos 7:1-9<\/p>\n
<\/p>\nI. God brings to Amos a vision of terrible destruction – the destruction of the northern\nkingdom, Israel – Amos 7:1-9\n A. Israel had failed to measure up to God’s standard. They were no longer straight.\nThey were no longer true. They were like a leaning wall ready to collapse.\n
B. All because of their persistent idolatry and its associated sins.<\/p>\n
C. Amaziah, a priest of the idols of Israel, protested Amos’ message – Amos 7:10-13<\/p>\n
1. He accuses Amos of being disloyal<\/p>\n
2. He states that people can’t stand listening to him<\/p>\n 3. He thinks Amos is better off going south into Judah (we don’t want your\nkind here).\n 4. Amos was forbidden to speak in Bethel because it was a seat of\ngovernment.\n
II. The life of a prophet was hard because the message was often unpleasant.<\/p>\n
A. Amos wasn’t the only one – Amos 2:11-12<\/p>\n
B. David complained that his words were distorted – Psalm 56:5-6<\/p>\n
C. Jeremiah once wanted to quit – Jeremiah 20:7-10<\/p>\n
III. People will assign their problems to the bearer of bad news<\/p>\n
A. Ahab accused Elijah of stirring up trouble – I Kings 18:17-18<\/p>\n
B. People want Jeremiah dead – Jeremiah 26:8-11<\/p>\n
C. Jeremiah was accused of ruining the moral of the troupes – Jeremiah 38:3-4<\/p>\n
D. Jesus was accused of treason – John 19:12<\/p>\n
E. Paul accused of upsetting the whole world – Acts 17:6-7; 24:5<\/p>\n
IV. The prophets had to tough it out<\/p>\n
A. Isaiah 50:7 – Set his face like flint.<\/p>\n
B. Jeremiah 1:17-19 – Jeremiah needed to fortify himself<\/p>\n
C. Ezekiel had to be tough – Ezekiel 3:8-9<\/p>\n
D. We can never be embarrassed about the message – Romans 1:16<\/p>\n
E. Instead we glorify God – I Peter 4:16<\/p>\n
V. The treasure of God doesn’t always come in bright packages <\/p>\n
A. Amos was a herdsman and a producer of animal feed – Amos 7:14-15<\/p>\n
B. Moses had difficulty speaking – Exodus 4:10<\/p>\n
C. The apostles were uneducated men – Acts 4:13<\/p>\n D. The purpose was to place focus on the message and not the messenger – II\nCorinthians 4:7\n
VI. Why bring this up?<\/p>\n
A. People don’t want to hear rebukes – II Timothy 4:1-5<\/p>\n B. When James Robinson, an avowed and openly homosexual man, was made a\nbishop in the Episcopal church, the archbishop of Nigeria in that same organization\ndenounced the appointment saying, “It would be an abomination for this man to be\nan appointed Bishop.”\n 1. Robinson’s response was, “I am not surprised or angry about what the\nBishop of Nigeria said, I don’t doubt his sincerity or faith to our Lord, in\nfact he is being true to his own journey to God – so am I. I don’t know if\nany of us can do any more than that, I have no doubt that we can believe\nexactly opposite things, each walking our faithful journey with God; for\nour walk is imperfect. My hope is that somehow we can keep coming to\nthe communion rail together until we get it figured out. I am going to\ncontinue coming to the communion rail, and I hope that the Primate of\nNigeria would come as well.”\n 2. What a response! He claimed that people can believe exactly opposite\nthings and still serve God!\n
a. He is so much like Israel in the days of the Judges – Judges 21:25<\/p>\n
b. Well did Paul warn us – Ephesians 4:17-20<\/p>\n 3. In Canada the courts ruled that speaking against homosexuality is “hate\nspeech.” It is forbidden.\n
a. We cannot be cowards.<\/p>\n
b. We must speak the truth. Sin remains sin – I Corinthians 6:9-10<\/p>\n C. When Jesus told us to be lights, consider that light contradicts darkness – Matthew\n5:14-16\n
1. It is why the world rejected Jesus – John 1:4-5<\/p>\n 2. To often we are timid to tell people that they are living sinful lives. Who\nthen is hiding the light of God? – Ephesians 5:11-17\n
3. The righteous will contend with the wicked – Proverbs 28:4<\/p>\n
D. Rejoice in standing for the truth – Matthew 5:10-12<\/p>\n
VII. Oh, and what ever did happen to Amaziah? – Amos 7:16-17<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: Amos 7:1-9 I. God brings to Amos a vision of terrible destruction – the destruction of the northern kingdom, Israel – Amos 7:1-9 A. Israel had failed to measure up to God’s standard. They were no longer straight. They were no longer true. They were like a leaning wall ready to…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[119,32],"tags":[483,1598],"class_list":["post-45267","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-audio","category-sermon","tag-prophets","tag-rebukes"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":61771,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/amos\/","url_meta":{"origin":45267,"position":0},"title":"Amos","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 8, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Amos was a herdsman from the city of Tekoa (about 12 miles south of Jerusalem) \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Tekoa was a small town on the edge of the wilderness. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0B.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0During the reigns of King Uzziah in Judah and King Jeroboam in Israel, he was given a vision. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0C.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0He when\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Sermon"","block_context":{"text":"Sermon","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/sermon\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":53911,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/and-then-there-were-none\/","url_meta":{"origin":45267,"position":1},"title":"And Then There Were None","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 26, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: Amos 6:3-11 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0One of my favorite mystery writers was Agatha Christie. She would write books where you tried to figure out who did it before the end of the book, but in the process you were distracted by so many possibilities. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0One of my\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":60229,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/when-will-the-sabbath-end\/","url_meta":{"origin":45267,"position":2},"title":"When will the Sabbath end?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 7, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Jeff, I have a quick question. Is my understanding correct in saying that in Amos 8:5 the question is asked when will the Sabbath be past (end)? A few verses later (Amos 8:9-10) God answers the question: Sundown at noon darkness in broad daylight mourning (death) of an only\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":52474,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/does-the-lord-in-amos-7-refer-to-jesus\/","url_meta":{"origin":45267,"position":3},"title":"Does “the Lord” in Amos 7 refer to Jesus?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 28, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hey Mr. Jeffery, I noticed in the vision in Amos 7 that Amos had at two different times referred to God as the Lord (no caps and not as Jehovah). It also appears that Amos is visually seeing the Lord (no one has ever seen Jehovah fully), so could\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":60538,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/two-preachers-amos-and-amaziah\/","url_meta":{"origin":45267,"position":4},"title":"Two Preachers: Amos and Amaziah","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 29, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"by Mark White The Old Testament prophet Amos was a shepherd turned preacher. The crowd to whom he preached was the upper class of Israel, including the King himself. He was not their choice of a preacher, however. They did not choose him -- God chose Amos for them. His\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":57606,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/it-can-change-so-fast\/","url_meta":{"origin":45267,"position":5},"title":"It Can Change So Fast","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 3, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"by Matthew Allen The wealth and materialistic excess of God's people eight centuries before Jesus were almost unparalleled. The level of prosperity almost certainly equaled that of the days of David and Solomon. Amos gives us a vivid detail of life during the reigns of Jeroboam II of Israel and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/storm-1-300x225.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45267","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45267"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45267\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45267"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45267"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45267"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}