4 Hear this, you who trample on the needy and bring the poor of the land to an end, 5 saying, “When will the new moon be over, that we may sell grain? And the Sabbath, that we may offer wheat for sale, that we may make the ephah small and the shekel1 great and deal deceitfully with false balances, 6 that we may buy the poor for silver and the needy for a pair of sandals and sell the chaff of the wheat?” 7 The LORD has sworn by the pride of Jacob: “Surely I will never forget any of their deeds.
Footnotes
[1]8:5An ephah was about 3/5 bushel or 22 liters; a shekel was about 2/5 ounce or 11 grams
11 “In that day I will raise up the booth of David that is fallen and repair its breaches, and raise up its ruins and rebuild it as in the days of old, 12 that they may possess the remnant of Edom and all the nations who are called by my name,”1 declares the LORD who does this. 13 “Behold, the days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when the plowman shall overtake the reaper and the treader of grapes him who sows the seed; the mountains shall drip sweet wine, and all the hills shall flow with it. 14 I will restore the fortunes of my people Israel, and they shall rebuild the ruined cities and inhabit them; they shall plant vineyards and drink their wine, and they shall make gardens and eat their fruit. 15 I will plant them on their land, and they shall never again be uprooted out of the land that I have given them,” says the LORD your God.
Footnotes
[1]9:12Hebrew; Septuagint (compare Acts 15:17) that the remnant of mankind and all the nations who are called by my name may seek the Lord
4 Hear this, you who trample on the needy and bring the poor of the land to an end, 5 saying, “When will the new moon be over, that we may sell grain? And the Sabbath, that we may offer wheat for sale, that we may make the ephah small and the shekel1 great and deal deceitfully with false balances, 6 that we may buy the poor for silver and the needy for a pair of sandals and sell the chaff of the wheat?” 7 The LORD has sworn by the pride of Jacob: “Surely I will never forget any of their deeds.
Footnotes
[1]8:5An ephah was about 3/5 bushel or 22 liters; a shekel was about 2/5 ounce or 11 grams
11 “In that day I will raise up the booth of David that is fallen and repair its breaches, and raise up its ruins and rebuild it as in the days of old, 12 that they may possess the remnant of Edom and all the nations who are called by my name,”15:17) <i><span class="catch-word">that</span> the remnant of mankind and all the nations who are called by my name may seek the Lord</i></note>">1 declares the LORD who does this. 13 “Behold, the days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when the plowman shall overtake the reaper and the treader of grapes him who sows the seed; the mountains shall drip sweet wine, and all the hills shall flow with it. 14 I will restore the fortunes of my people Israel, and they shall rebuild the ruined cities and inhabit them; they shall plant vineyards and drink their wine, and they shall make gardens and eat their fruit. 15 I will plant them on their land, and they shall never again be uprooted out of the land that I have given them,” says the LORD your God.
Footnotes
[1]9:12Hebrew; Septuagint (compare Acts 15:17) that the remnant of mankind and all the nations who are called by my name may seek the Lord
Redeemer exists to celebrate and declare the gospel of God as we grow in knowing and following Jesus Christ.
Jeffrey Heine:
Invite you to open your bibles to the book of Amos, Or you can look in your worship guide, we have it printed on the back page. Amos chapter 8. I'll begin reading in verse 4. Hear this, you who trample on the needy, and bring the poor of the land to an end, saying, when will the new moon be over that we may sell grain, and the Sabbath that we may offer wheat for sale, and that we may make the ephath ephah small and the shekel great, and deal deceitfully with the false balances, that we may buy the poor for silver, and the needy for a pair of sandals, and sell the chaff of the wheat. The lord has sworn by the pride of Jacob, surely, I will never forget any of their deeds.
Jeffrey Heine:
Go to chapter 9 beginning in verse 11. In that day, I will raise up the booth of David that has fallen and repair its breaches, and raise up its ruins, and rebuild it as the days of old, that they may possess the remnant of Edom, and all the nations who were called by my name, declares the lord who does this. Behold, the days are coming, declares the lord. When the plowman will shall overtake the reaper and the treader of grapes, him who sows the seed, and the mountains shall drip with sweet wine, and all the hills shall flow with it. And I will restore, the fortunes of my people, Israel, and they shall rebuild the ruined cities and inhabit them.
Jeffrey Heine:
They shall plant vineyards and drink their wine, and they shall make gardens and eat their fruit. I will plant them on their land, and they shall never again be uprooted out of the land that I have given them, says the lord, your god. Pray with me. Lord, I ask that you would come and that you would speak. Spirit of God, do your work by opening up hardened hearts and dull minds to receive the words you have for us.
Jeffrey Heine:
I pray then this moment the words of Christ would dwell in us richly, that we would be filled with your spirit. Spirit that you would be our teacher. Lord, I pray that my words would fall to the ground and blow away and not be remembered anymore. But lord, may your words remain. May they change us.
Jeffrey Heine:
We pray this in the strong name of Jesus. Amen. Amos is not an easy book to read. Not not because of its structure or its form or because there's a lot of really big words in it. It's it's hard to read because there is a lot of anger there.
Jeffrey Heine:
God has really ticked off in this book. Verse 2 that that and of chapter 1 just starts off by saying, the Lord roars from Zion. And that's exactly what the entire book is about. It's the lord roaring judgment upon the people of Israel. He relentlessly pronounces judgment after judgment after judgment.
Jeffrey Heine:
He says, it's gonna be like meeting a lion, and you're gonna try to run away, then you're gonna meet a bear, and then you're gonna try to go away, and you're gonna get bit by a serpent. Judgment is coming. It will get you. Three times, He reminds the people who is going to bring this judgment. Chapter 4, he reminds them that he's the one who makes the mountains, creates the wind.
Jeffrey Heine:
He's the one who knows their every thought even before they do. Chapter 5, he reminds them that they are about to meet their god who made the stars, who commands the sun, and it comes up every morning. Chapter 9, he reminds the people that they're about to meet their god, who at a mere touch of his finger, makes the mountains melt. And so his point being, as he's telling people who he is, it's like, you you don't want me as an enemy. You don't want to tick me off, but god is very angry throughout this book.
Jeffrey Heine:
And poor Amos is the one who has to communicate this anger. The book is so angry, and I was sharing this with staff earlier, that as I reread it just a few days ago, I laughed. And and I realized it was inappropriate at the time that I started laughing, and it was just kind of this this nervous laughter. I don't know if you've ever been around somebody who just says something, and they say it so blatant. You're like, Oh, my gosh.
Jeffrey Heine:
I can't believe they said that out loud. And and Amos does that over and over. At one point, I think it's in chapter 7, he's confronted with the high priest who comes up to him and says, Amos, why all the gloom and doom? Will you please stop? And Hamus goes, I hear you.
Jeffrey Heine:
Say, I don't wanna do this. I'm not a prophet. I'm not a son of a prophet. I'm just a shepherd. I don't wanna be here.
Jeffrey Heine:
But the Lord has made me communicate this message, and he has something to say to you. Your wife is going to be a whore in the city streets. Your children are gonna die violent deaths, both your sons and your daughters in front of you. Everything you hold dear in this life is gonna be ripped away from you, and given to your neighbors. And you're gonna be held captive and taken away and die in prison in a foreign country.
Jeffrey Heine:
And I read that and I laughed. I was like, I mean, who who says that? Who even thinks that? And yet, that is what god called Amos to say. So over the top, it's full of wrath.
Jeffrey Heine:
So you're thinking, so why exactly are we studying this book of Amos? Well, a couple of reasons. For starters, when you find out what makes somebody really angry, you also find out what they're really passionate about, what they hold dear. For instance, if you are really angry over war, you hate war, it's probably because you're passionate about peace. If you really hate adultery or divorce and it just it makes you angriest, probably because you love the faithfulness of marriage.
Jeffrey Heine:
And so when we see what god is angry about here, we're gonna come to see what he is passionate about. And I want us as a church to be passionate about the things that god is passionate about. Probably about 10 of you remember this because about 10 of you were there. But our second or third week as a church, I preached from Amos because I I wanted us as a church to find out the things early on that god was passionate about. And I wanted us to be passionate about those things.
Jeffrey Heine:
If he was passionate about, you know, having just some rocking music, man, we're gonna do that. If he's passionate about theater seats or just really nice building, we're gonna we're gonna go after that. If he's passionate about really good coffee, really good donuts, or something like, we're gonna go out. We were go we were trying to find out what is it that the lord is passionate about so we can run hard after it. 2nd reason I wanna study this book.
Jeffrey Heine:
Although it's packed full of judgment, it is also full of hope. Tremendous hope. Chapter 9 is one of the most glorious, hopeful chapters in all of the bible. And so this this book is both very dark in its judgments, but man, it is glorious in its hope. And so you have both sin and you have both grace shining so brilliantly.
Jeffrey Heine:
Let me tell you a little bit about Amos. He was a prophet in the 8th century. During a really rare time in Israel's history, there was actually peace in this time. Egypt and Syria, the powers that were, were above them, actually were somewhat weakened at this point, and Israel had reclaimed a lot of land. Actually, they reclaimed a lot of the trade routes.
Jeffrey Heine:
And so all the money from these trade routes began being pumped into Israel, and they knew money, and prosperity, and comfort, unlike any time since the days of Solomon. And so, all of this money is being flooded in to Israel at this time, but it's not being evenly distributed. The wealthy were getting wealthier and the poor were getting poorer. The poor were being trampled on here, which is what made the lord so angry. Look at chapter 8 verse 6.
Jeffrey Heine:
Says that we may buy the poor for silver and the needy for a pair of sandals, and sell the chaff of the wheat. Thomas McCompskey, he's got a famous commentary on this. This says, what Amos is describing here is actually slavery. He says that they were sold for silver. He's describing a situation in which the rich had such control, such control of over the material goods, the consumer goods out there, that they could set prices that the poor simply could not afford.
Jeffrey Heine:
The poor couldn't even afford the, the staples of life. They couldn't afford a pair of shoes. They couldn't afford good things to eat, so they had to just buy the chaff. They're they they couldn't go to the grocery stores and buy the healthy, good produce, not at the rates they were selling them. And so they would go into debt trying to buy the very staples of life.
Jeffrey Heine:
And instead of going off to debtors prison, you could sell yourself into slavery. So they would sell themselves for silver, simply to buy the staples of life. That's what's being described here, and this makes god angry. Verse 5, it says they're saying this, when will the new moon be over that we may sell grain, And the Sabbath that we we may offer wheat for sale? And we may make the ethe small and the shekel great, and deceive deceitfully with false balances.
Jeffrey Heine:
And and what Amos is describing here is what these people are thinking of during a worship service. It said during the new moons, that's a a religious festival, and during the Sabbath. So they're sitting in church and they're having these thoughts. Every minute I sit here in church is a minute I am not out making money. Why do I have to be here?
Jeffrey Heine:
These are the people who they they also, they tithe. We find out in Amos, they were giving, but not joyfully. Every time they gave, they're like, that's one less dollar now that I have because I tithe. And so they're religious. They're in church.
Jeffrey Heine:
They are giving, but they're daydreaming about all of the the money they're missing out on. How they can no longer buy the dream homes. They can they can no longer purchase all those things they wanted. And this infuriates the Lord. Now, hear this.
Jeffrey Heine:
Please hear this. Most of you, I hope, most of you will look at this situation and think, that's wrong. I would hope, and most of you would would even look at it and say, That's sin. Let's just call it what it's it's sin. But you will probably mislabel it.
Jeffrey Heine:
You're gonna say, these people lacked charity. These people were were greedy, or they were stingy. That's their problem. That's not how the Lord sees it. He does not call this greed or stinginess alone.
Jeffrey Heine:
That that's that's that's a little bit there, but this is what he calls it. He says it's unjust. He says their problem here is that they are practicing injustice. They're being unjust. And unless you see what's going on here as a matter of justice, you simply don't understand the grace of the Lord in your life.
Jeffrey Heine:
You see, we're in a call giving to the poor an act of charity, because we think that all of our possessions and all of our money is ours. And since it's ours, if we give it away, it's an act of charity. And if we keep it, we're just being stingy. And so we think we've worked hard to get where we are in life. We've we've gone to school.
Jeffrey Heine:
We've made good grades. We've got a job. We've made really good decisions. And so we see all of the things we have, all of the things we've bought as being ours. We've earned them.
Jeffrey Heine:
And therefore, if we choose to give them away, that's an act of charity. If we hold on to them, we're just being stingy. But that's not how the lord sees it. The lord says, by my grace, you are who you are. Who gave you your abilities?
Jeffrey Heine:
Who gave you your intellect? Who allowed you to be born in this land of opportunity, in this land of peace, instead of some hut in Sudan where there's only violence and poverty? Who allowed you to get noticed for your job interview? If you're married, who who allowed you to meet your spouse? Who has protected you from a 1000000 unseen dangers?
Jeffrey Heine:
Who has kept that that blood vessel from popping in your brain when it popped in somebody else's? Who who has preserved your life the time you crossed the line when you were driving, and you were texting somebody, and you swerved back? You're alive by the grace of god. Everything you have is a gift that he has given you. So he has given you everything.
Jeffrey Heine:
Everything comes from his hand. And to neglect the poor when God has given you everything is unjust. I think most of us are spiritually middle class and not spiritually poor. We think we are where we are because we're smarter. We've worked harder than those who have less.
Jeffrey Heine:
That infuriates the lord. I came across an article about 10 years ago by famous Hebrew scholar, Bruce Walkie. Gosh, he's probably 90 years old now, but he he's got the standard for Hebrew grammar textbooks using seminaries all over the world. And I came across this article in which he defined two terms from the Old Testament, and it stunned me. He defined the words the righteous and the words the wicked as used in the Old Testament.
Jeffrey Heine:
This is what he says. He says, in the Old Testament, a righteous person is seen as one who understands everything he or she has is from God, and so freely gives to others who are in need, even though they now will have less. His exact words are this, a person who disadvantages himself or herself for the community. That's the righteous. And he says a wicked person is this, quote, a person who believes that his or her resources are for their own benefit.
Jeffrey Heine:
The wicked is the one who thinks they've earned what they have, and so they can use it however they please. And they say, nobody else has a right to take what I have earned. That's the wicked in the Old Testament. Some of you don't really like those terms when you kinda the righteous and the wicked when they're defined that way. Let me try to put some flesh on this.
Jeffrey Heine:
We meet, as you can see, in the middle of Woodlawn. Statistically, this is one of the worst crime areas, poverty areas, one of the worst in education and all of Birmingham. For those of you visiting and you're just now realizing this, we, we do have security watching your car. The education system around here is a wreck. I don't know if any of you have even been following the news or or reading the paper, but the state has actually had to take over for just a little while.
Jeffrey Heine:
Take over the city school system because it's such a wreck. And I mean, I encourage if you haven't gone to a city school board meeting, which don't, I mean, you should, You can YouTube the last one. If you're really feeling adventurous, go home and YouTube it, and you have never seen a more inept group of people gathered in a room. Where I promise you for about 10 minutes at one time, they're all sitting in a circle looking at one another, and they are wondering if anybody is allowed to second the motion that had been placed 10 minutes earlier. And they're arguing about it for 10 minutes.
Jeffrey Heine:
You're thinking, these are the people in charge of the education for the for the kids in Birmingham. Seriously, kids, a d d, little children, put them in a room. They could come up with a better plan than what was happening. It's a broken system. Now picture this, a 7 year old boy.
Jeffrey Heine:
A 7 year old boy who's grows up here and goes to the school system, or 7 year old boy who grows up and goes through the school systems of Mountain Brook or Vestavia or Hoover. That child over the mountain has a 1,000 times better chance of being productive and successful in life than the child who grows up in the public school system here, 1000 times. There's plenty of blame to go around. Liberals, they're they're gonna blame and say, hey. It's it's because of racism.
Jeffrey Heine:
It's because of lack of funding. It's because we need to redraw the, the school districts. The conservatives are going to say, no. That's not the problem. It's family values.
Jeffrey Heine:
The the family values have gone to pot. I mean, there's no parents coming to the, to the PTA meetings. There there's no volunteers anymore. There's they're not seeing a a healthy environment at home. But here is the one person that neither side is going to blame.
Jeffrey Heine:
There's not one side as they're saying, this is what's wrong, this is what's wrong, this is what's wrong. Not one of them is going to point to the 7 year old boy and say, you are what is wrong. You got yourself into this mess, you fix it. Not one person will say that. It's not the boy's fault that he's gonna have a 1,000 times less of the opportunity as somebody over the mountain.
Jeffrey Heine:
When God looks at such unequal distribution of of educational resources over of wealth, when he looks at that, he says, this is not because of greed. This is unjust. This is unjust. That you got 2 people like that. And he gets angry.
Jeffrey Heine:
And we need to be angry at the things that the lord is angry about. I invite you I don't know if they'll be open on a Sunday night probably, but I invite you to sometime go to the rental stores around here in Woodlawn. Just just drive up to one of the appliance rental stores here and, and say you're interested in looking at a refrigerator, because I did that. And that they wanted me to rent to own a refrigerator, very basic, that was between $25,03,000 that I could rent to own, or I could go to the Galleria, and I could go to Sears, and I could buy the exact same refrigerator for $700. The exact one.
Jeffrey Heine:
$28,100, or 700 if you could get to the Galleria. Or go to one of the grocery stores here in Woodlawn. Wait, there's not a grocery store here in Woodlawn. So you would have to go and perhaps take a bus to maybe take you someplace far to where you could try to get a grocery or you could go to the Family Dollar there and see if they actually have fresh produce, things we take for granted. It's broken.
Jeffrey Heine:
Such unequal distribution of wealth is unjust. We typically think of God getting really angry over the big sins like homosexuality, adultery, murder. And don't get me wrong, God gets angry at those things. But Jesus talked about money almost 30 times more often than he talked about sex, and how we use it. And when we think of god judging places like Sodom and Gomorrah, we typically think it's, oh, they judge him because of that sexual immorality, because of homosexuality.
Jeffrey Heine:
That's why God judged them. But listen to Ezekiel on how he, why he says God judged Sodom and Gomorrah. Ezekiel 16, god says this, as I live, declares the lord god, your sister Sodom and her daughters have not done as you and your daughters have done. Behold, this was the guilt of your sister Sodom. She and her daughters had pride, excess of food, prosperous ease, but did not help the poor and the needy.
Jeffrey Heine:
God judged Sodom and Gomorrah for the same reasons that he's judging Israel here in Amos. They were living in comfort because they thought they deserved it while everybody else was being neglected. They were not seeking justice. Now where is the gospel in this? I I I realize this can sound heavy handed, this message.
Jeffrey Heine:
But this text really is all about grace. Because if you understand the gospel, seeking justice is the inevitable sign of one who understands they've been saved by grace. Seeking justice is the inevitable sign that wonders understands you've been saved by grace. It's the inevitable sign that the spirit of Jesus is living inside of you. Because the gospel tells us this, that the son of God did live in absolute luxury, lived in heaven where he had everything, yet he stepped out of that to become a man, a poor man, much poorer than you or me, born in a barn, laid in straw, grew up with poor parents, had to do hard manual labor working as a carpenter.
Jeffrey Heine:
He also, just like the poor in Amos, was sold for silver. He also was a victim of injustice. You look at his trial. There's nothing just about his trial. It's a mockery of a trial when he was crucified.
Jeffrey Heine:
He knows injustice. He knows what it meant to be poor. He became those things so that we might someday be rich in him. It's the gospel. And if the gospel is in us, this comes out in how we live.
Jeffrey Heine:
Now, there's a question probably a number of you are thinking about, so let me just go ahead and address it. Does this mean that we have to give away everything we have and become poor? Is that kind of what you're telling us to do? Let me answer that no. Although I think you need to be willing to.
Jeffrey Heine:
You're called to do a number of things. You're called in the bible not to be a burden on others. You're called to provide, for yourself and for your family. As a husband, I am called to protect my wife and my children and to provide for them. These these are callings.
Jeffrey Heine:
What this does mean, however, is that when looking at my peers, when I compare myself to my peers, I need to live my life in such a way where I am so generous. I have such a heart for the poor that they think I'm borderline insane. Okay? That when my peers are looking at me, and they're like, we know you can afford this. We know you can do this.
Jeffrey Heine:
Why aren't you doing this? Why are you giving your money here? They need to notice and think that I'm borderline insane insane. Because the way that we use money is gonna reflect the things we most care about. And let me tell you, I I would just in studying Amos' man, you're you can't read Amos and not be convicted.
Jeffrey Heine:
I got a gift card for my birthday. Somebody gave me $50 to go to academy. And I just remembered, like, instant, like, $50. I'm gonna go buy me a pair of shoes, and I've done that before. I don't think a thing about going and and dropping $50 on a pair of shoes.
Jeffrey Heine:
And I have a job that allows me to not have to really think much about it. I can go and I could buy a $50 pair of shoes. But let me tell you, if I see somebody in need and I feel a prompting to possibly give them $50, I will pray. I will contemplate. I will churn this over my head, and I will give, but I will reluctantly give.
Jeffrey Heine:
How is it that I put so much thought, so much effort, it's so much harder to give it away than it is to spend it on me? You know, it makes me think of CS Lewis and a friend were out one time and, a bum off the street came up and asked him for money, and he gave him £5. And the guy said, he's just gonna blow that on booze. C. S.
Jeffrey Heine:
Lewis said, well, so was I. And just somehow, we we think, oh, it's it's perfectly okay. We don't have to think about it when it's about us. But when it's others, it's something we just really gotta pray about, really concentrate on, really discern if this is the Lord's will. That's just, that's because we're sinful.
Jeffrey Heine:
It's hard to let go of these things. We need the gospel to change us. And I'll mention that the start of this message that I taught on Amos and, god's heart for justice, really one of our first few weeks. And I just wanna say this, I wasn't gonna do this, but I'm going to. I wanna say how encouraged I am in our church that I'm beginning to see and I have seen over the last few years, more and more people becoming passionate over the things that the lord is passionate about.
Jeffrey Heine:
It excites me to see so many people who give their time and their money and they're serving at the, the hospitality house, just a few blocks away. Birmingham's only family homeless shelter doing that or going to Monday night basketballs and doing devotions. For for those who who would not be able to afford going to a league, setting that up and doing that with them. It encourages me to see so many of you who are taking jobs or doing things so you can serve the needy when you could so easily take another job in which you can make a killing. And I'm encouraged too, those of you who are actually out working and you're making a lot of money, that you're being very generous.
Jeffrey Heine:
You are seeking justice in the way that you give. Let me pick out a few people here and embarrass them. I'm encouraged. Where's the clings? I'm encouraged with you all.
Jeffrey Heine:
That you see education. As a family, we benefit from this. We're living in the city. Our kids, where would they go? They'd fall in the cracks.
Jeffrey Heine:
There's no place for them. But that you see, hey, we're gonna work and we're gonna we're gonna provide education in the city of Birmingham, even though it's a pain to do and to set that and to grow that. No, that's that's that's the gospel. That's seeking justice. I'm encouraged.
Jeffrey Heine:
That's right. Amen. You know, another one, I can do this because he's not here. He's actually running a triathlon. Another one of our elders, Ryan Deville and Yuheena's wife, Jin, have put their home up for sale, so they could downsize, so they could give more.
Jeffrey Heine:
Who does that? Who? And it's not like they have a really large, large house. They just they feel God caught you know what? We can we can reduce our lifestyle so we can give more and they they give already.
Jeffrey Heine:
That's that's the gospel. That's believing the gospel and acting upon it. And it's just so neat to see person after person that the Lord is just raising to do extraordinary things, having a heart for justice, Tyler Fuquay and Peru for the next month. Now, Ashley Brigham about to go to Uganda to work in the nonprofit that she's she's started there. You know, Lauren starting the nursing for Haiti and just how God is pushing on many of you to see the world through his eyes.
Jeffrey Heine:
And, and a natural outpouring of love in the gospel that's coming up from you. I'm encouraged. Don't get big heads. We're not anywhere close yet. I'm encouraged with us as a church that alright.
Jeffrey Heine:
We have a 100 members in our church. A A 100 members, we have 3 full time staff. Alright. So when we look at our other peers, when it comes to churches or other church peers who have a 100 members, they would look at us and say, you are insane to have 3 full time members when you all I mean, full time staff when you only have a 100 members. Churches don't do that.
Jeffrey Heine:
And that one of our members, we brought him on simply to reach out. That's that's his job. It's not to try to build up our church, it's to simply reach out on the community, to make sure we're going to the hospitality house, to make sure we're doing these basketball programs, to make sure we're doing all these outreaches. I'm encouraged by that. And I hope you as a church are too.
Jeffrey Heine:
When you think about these things and you see what God is doing, but once again, don't get a big head. All right? Not there yet. I'm encouraged about this because so many of you are doing in a very small part, what Jesus will someday do in full. And that is what Amos 9 is about.
Jeffrey Heine:
It is hard not to jump up and shout and weep for joy when you read Amos 9. When you when you read our hope. Look at verse 11. In that day, I will raise up the booth of David that has fallen. The booth of David, that's that's the king.
Jeffrey Heine:
A king is gonna come back. A A king will return. This is Jesus. And repair its breaches and raise up its ruins and rebuild it as in the days of old, that they may possess the remnant of Edom. Edom Israelites have never been friends with Edom.
Jeffrey Heine:
They've always been at war with Edom. It's like, but there will be this unprecedented time of peace. And all the nations who were called by my name, declares the Lord who does this. Do you remember when we went through acts? This was quoted in acts 15 when they started saying, wait.
Jeffrey Heine:
All these people are coming to know the lord. You know what's happening? Amos. Amos 9 is breaking through, and the church is getting it to break through. And they quote this.
Jeffrey Heine:
Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when the plowman shall overtake the reaper. That means that there will never be a time when there's not a harvest. You're like, we haven't even finished the harvest, and you're already starting to plow again such abundance. The mountains shall drip with sweet wine. Well, the mountains in this day, nothing would grow up on top.
Jeffrey Heine:
But now it says even those unfertile places will be the most fertile places, and they will drip with wine. And what you see over and over here is one day, Christ will come, and he will break the bonds of injustice, and he will heal our world. And as the church, we get to be a part of that now, all for the glory of Jesus. Pray with me. Lord Jesus, right now off the bat, we want to confess everything we have, everything we are, even our ability to repent and to trust in you is a gift from you.
Jeffrey Heine:
We can claim nothing on our own. By your grace, we are what we are. Lord, and may this radically change us to see the world as you see the world. May we see money as only money and not try to find our identity or our security in it. Jesus, you are our hope.
Jeffrey Heine:
You're our rock. And spirit, I pray that right now, you would give us a tremendous faith in our Lord. We pray this in the strong name of Jesus.