Amos

J has been encouraging me to read Roy Clements' book of sermons on Amos, When God's Patience Runs Out it being very relevant to today. I had doubts about reading a book  by someone who has left the faith but I am happy to follow J's lead on this one and he  believes that we can still benefit from his books. And just from having studied Amos 1 this morning it is quite amazing how much this prophecy of about 2800 years ago speaks to us today.

Amos speaks judgement against the surrounding nations. Here are some lessons to take away:

Syria- God expects heathens to temper their military conquests with compassion and mercy.

Philistia- People matter to God. He will not indefinitely bless nations that deny common human                         dignity. (They were guilty of slave trading.)

Phoenicia- Fidelity to a pledged word matters to God.

Edom- God cannot abide perpetual war-mongering. He expects Edom to swallow their pride, stifle                  revenge and make peace. (This make me think of Syria.)

Ammon- Her last-straw transgression was expansionist territorial ambition pursued through                               terrorism. (Not too hard to think  of countries this applies to.)

Moab- God detests arbitary acts of spite (burning the king's bones).

Judah- representing the church. If we want to proclaim a message of judgement to other people, we                must first be willing to apply that same message without qualification or extenuation to                        ourselves.

God judges others...When we see brutal acts in the world, violence...,mass murder, racist oppression and tyranny, it is very easy to be demoralised by a feeling of hopelessness. 'What is God doing?' we ask. Amos has the answer. God is being patient. It is in his nature to give people an awful lot of rope, but...he will not be patient forever...Dryden said, 'Beware the fury of a patient man.' He might also have said, 'Beware the fury of a patient God!' ...It was not the idolatry of these nations that provoked God beyond his endurance (Acts 17.30), but their crimes against humanity. It was their disregard for people that goaded his patience to the limit.