Today, we begin a study of a book of the Bible many of you have likely never read, and many may have never heard of.  It’s not that the book is a secret; it’s just in a part of the Old Testament that a lot of Christians never read.  Therefore, before we delve into our study of Amos, let me provide a brief and general overview of the Bible as a book, so you can understand how Amos fits into it and thus approach and interpret it properly.

The Bible is made up of 66 books.  There are 39 books in the Old Testament and 27 in the New Testament.  The individual books in each “Testament” are compiled into sections or groupings.

The first four books of the New Testament are committed to telling us the story of Jesus (The Gospels).  They are followed by a book that provides the history of the church's beginnings (Acts).  The next 21 books are referred to as Epistles, letters to the church that essentially explain what Jesus taught.  The final book in the New Testament, Revelation, is known as a book of prophecy.  It helps the church understand the suffering it is enduring as it waits for the return of Christ and what will happen when He does.

The Old Testament has five sections or groupings.  The first five books are known as the Law or the Torah.  These are the books written by Moses that established Israel as a nation and placed them under a specific covenant that God used to bring Christ to the world.  That covenant was completely fulfilled and replaced by the New Covenant of Christ—the one the Old Testament is ultimately about!  The next section is the books of history.  They take us through the conquest of the Promised Land after Moses' death (Joshua) to the return and restoration of the Jewish people after they lived in exile in Babylon (Esther). The third section is referred to by a variety of names, the best of which I think is “The Writings.”  These are the books of the Bible with which most people are familiar—Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and the Song of Solomon.  The final section of the Old Testament is called the Prophets, and it’s divided into two parts—the major and minor Prophets.  The words “major” and “minor” are not there to tell us which prophets were more important, but rather to distinguish the bigger books from the smaller ones.  Beginning with the book of Isaiah, there are five major, or longer, books of prophecy, and starting with the book of Hosea, there are twelve minor, or shorter, books of prophecy.

In general, many Christians totally avoid the Old Testament Books of prophecy because, frankly, they require some effort to properly understand, but not in the way you may think.  Many people read the Old Testament prophets as if there is some secret to be found in them if they can just piece it together.  They interpret the Old Testament prophets like a person suffering from paranoid schizophrenia who has pictures and newspaper clippings all over their walls, trying to piece together some elaborate conspiracy!

God didn’t give us the Bible to confuse us; He gave us the Bible to transform us.  The Bible is not a secret to be discovered; it is a revelation.   A revelation is a REVEALING, a bringing out into the open, a transparent proclamation for all to hear and know!  A secret is something NOT revealed.  The Bible is not a secret, but the presentation of the Good News, the Gospel of Jesus Christ!

However, the fact that the Bible isn’t a secret to decipher doesn’t mean you can simply read it however you want and end up where you're intended to be.  For instance, when it comes to the books of prophecy in the Old Testament, you have to remember they were all written by specific, openly named prophets who were preaching to specific, openly named people about specific, openly named issues.  Therefore, to properly understand these books, you must know who the particular prophet was preaching to and what was happening when he was preaching, or you won’t fully understand what the prophet was talking about.  Fortunately, we have a section in the Bible that provides us with the history of the Jewish people; therefore, we don’t have to guess about the historical context.  Remember, the Bible isn’t a secret to figure out, and it’s not there to trick you!

Last, we need to constantly remember that the ultimate purpose of the Old Testament is not to get us to live under WHAT God gave the Jewish people at Mount Sinai (The Mosaic Law), but to get us to WHO God gave the World on Mount Calvary—Jesus! God’s purpose throughout history was not to make everybody Jewish, but rather to bless the Jewish people so that they would be the people God used to bring Jesus and the exclusive relationship He alone provides us with God.  The will of God for His people was never the Mosaic Law, but rather the salvation and relationship with Him that we are exclusively given by Christ.  It’s why Paul wrote,

19 Why then the law? It was added because of transgressions, until the offspring should come to whom the promise had been made, … 24 So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith. 25 But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian, 26 for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. (Galatians 3:19, 24-26)

This doesn’t mean The Mosaic Law doesn’t contain the timeless universal moral and ethical standards God made all of humanity to live in, but rather that the context, purpose, and method of the relationship with God the people of Israel were trapped in under The Law has been replaced with what Christ died to give us!  It also means that as we read the Old Testament, we must read it through the lens of the New Testament.  We don’t read the New through the lens of the Old because that would be like looking through a telescopic lens backwards.  Instead of making things bigger and easier to understand, it would make them smaller and impossible even to see!  Therefore, in each sermon, we will take time to see how the Gospel of Jesus Christ ultimately clarifies, resolves, and fulfills whatever we are examining in Amos.

Now to AMOS and one more introductory comment.

I LOVE outlining books of the Bible so that I can systematically preach through them and ensure I don’t take anything out of context or miss the point of the book.  However, after spending multiple days trying to figure out a way to outline Amos, I gave up and started looking to see how other people outline it.  In the very first book on Amos I started reading, I read,

“Some patterns of organization can be seen (e.g., chapters 3–5 all begin with “Hear this word …”), but for the most part no one has successfully uncovered some grand scheme of organization.”¹Birch, B. C. (1997). Hosea, Joel, and Amos (P. D. Miller & D. L. Bartlett, Eds.; pp. 168–169). Westminster John Knox Press.

So, instead of spending any more time trying to figure out a verse-by-verse grammatical outline of the book, I decided to create a spreadsheet that labels every verse in Amos with the subject it dealt with and then create a sermon series that ensured I taught all the things we are meant to learn in the book of Amos.  Here’s a little snapshot of what I made,

Once I tagged each verse with the subject(s) it addressed, I realized there were three main themes in the book.  We see the heart of a biblical prophet, the purpose of biblical prophecy, and the sins Amos confronted and called people to repent from.  Therefore, instead of going verse by verse through the book, we are going to divide it up into three different parts, beginning with what the book of Amos tells us about the heart of a person truly called to be a prophet of God, and the first thing we see about a TRUE prophet of God is that they are DRIVEN!

Now, the word “driven” has become a dirty word in many Christian churches, that is, when it’s used in the context of the work of the Gospel.  The reason is that people don’t know the difference between selfish ambition in the church, which manifests as a person driven to gain glory through the use of Christ and His Church, and a person truly filled with the Spirit of God, and as such, completely sold out to helping people know the Glory of God.  One is clearly sinful, and one is clearly holy!

Therefore, to no surprise, in the book of Amos, we see a prophet not driven out of arrogance for his own success (selfish ambition), but for the glory of God to be known and properly responded to!  Amos was a massively driven dude!  He had no concept of quitting, but the fire that drove him wasn’t to achieve glory; it was because God is worthy to be obeyed and praised for His glory.  In Amos, we have a clear testimony of a person totally sold out to do what God had called him to do, and as such, it points us to how we should live our lives in Christ.

There are three clear testimonies of the holiness of Amos’s drive to call people to repentance and faithful obedience to God.

 The first testimony to the holiness of Amos’s drive is found in Amos 1:1, and it also helps us understand some important historical context.

Amos left a profitable business to do something that would pay him nothing.

 1 The words of Amos, who was among the shepherds of Tekoa, which he saw concerning Israel in the days of Uzziah king of Judah and in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash, king of Israel, two years before the earthquake. (1:1)

 There are all kinds of nuggets in verse one that require us to do some work to understand fully.

“two years before the earthquake”

 “The reference to Amos’ ministry occurring “two years before the earthquake” was likely intended to more firmly orient his preaching to a memorable event. Earthquakes are not rare in Israel, so this particular earthquake must have been especially damaging or violent. … Excavations at Hazor attest to a powerful earthquake around 760 bc. The archaeological evidence, however, could be dated a decade in either direction, still placing Amos’s ministry within the same general range provided by the dates of the royal reigns. This event is undoubtedly the same as that mentioned in Zech 14:5, some 250 years later. Amos’ ministry probably dates sometime between 760–750 bc, but his ministry may have lasted only several months to two years.”²Barry, J. D., Mangum, D., Brown, D. R., Heiser, M. S., Custis, M., Ritzema, E., Whitehead, M. M., Grigoni, M. R., & Bomar, D. (2012, 2016). Faithlife Study Bible (Am 1:1). Lexham Press.

Tekoa was a town south of Jerusalem.

Note: “Tekoa was one of the fortified cities of Judah (2 Chr 11:6; see note on Jer 4:5) and the hometown of the prophet Amos (see Amos 1:1). The location had strategic importance as a military outpost protecting Jerusalem. The city was at an elevation of about 2,800 feet, with a view of Bethlehem, the Mount of Olives, the Jordan Valley, and the Transjordan. The area to the south and east of Tekoa was a harsh wilderness descending toward the Dead Sea (2 Chr 20:20).”³Barry, J. D., Mangum, D., Brown, D. R., Heiser, M. S., Custis, M., Ritzema, E., Whitehead, M. M., Grigoni, M. R., & Bomar, D. (2012, 2016). Faithlife Study Bible (Je 6:1). Lexham Press.

When you read that he was a shepherd, you might envision him as a poor laborer. However, the word used for “shepherd” here doesn’t refer to a man who is hired to be a “cowboy,” but to a rancher who hires a sizable number of shepherds to care for his huge flock of sheep and goats.

“Amos is no ordinary shepherd. The Hebrew term used here occurs only one other time in the OT, where it refers to Mesha, king of Moab, as a someone who bred sheep (2 Kgs 3:4).”⁴Barry, J. D., Mangum, D., Brown, D. R., Heiser, M. S., Custis, M., Ritzema, E., Whitehead, M. M., Grigoni, M. R., & Bomar, D. (2012, 2016). Faithlife Study Bible (Am 1:1). Lexham Press.

“The only other Old Testament occurrence of nōqēḏ is in 2 Kings 3:4 where Mesha, king of Moab, is said to have engaged in sheep-breeding on such a scale that he was able to supply the king of Israel with 100,000 lambs and the wool of 100,000 rams. Amos evidently managed or owned large herds of sheep and goats, and was in charge of other shepherds.”⁵Sunukjian, D. R. (1985). Amos. In J. F. Walvoord & R. B. Zuck (Eds.), The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures (Vol. 1, p. 1425). Victor Books.

Later, in Amos 7:14, we learn that he was not only a successful rancher but also a successful farmer.Apparently, he leased some land covered in sycamore trees that he used to harvest a fruit similar to a fig.

Note: “Besides overseeing his livestock operations, Amos was also occupied in growing sycamore fruit, presumably as a sideline. The sycamore-fig tree was a broad heavy tree, 25 to 50 feet high, which produced a fig-like fruit three or four times a year. The sycamore did not grow in the heights of Tekoa, but only in the warmer lowlands, as the Jordan Valley and the fertile oases by the Dead Sea. Both of these places were near enough to Tekoa for Amos to supervise the taking care of the trees (7:14)—a technical term that describes the process of slitting or scratching the forming fruit so that some juice runs out, allowing the rest of the fig to ripen into a sweeter, more edible fruit. The three terms together indicate that Amos, as a breeder, rancher, and farmer, was a substantial and respected man in his community.”⁶Sunukjian, D. R. (1985). Amos. In J. F. Walvoord & R. B. Zuck (Eds.), The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures (Vol. 1, p. 1425). Victor Books.

“which he saw concerning Israel”

Note: “Amos, being a rather prosperous farmer from Judea, very likely would have had cause to travel northwards into Israel on occasions to sell his produce. While there, he would certainly have observed the ungodly behaviour of the people who claimed to be God’s chosen ones. Although he would have known about the sins of Judah (see 2:4), what he saw in Israel appalled him so much that he was compelled by the Lord to speak forcibly about ‘what he saw concerning Israel’ (1:1).”

1. in the days of Uzziah king of Judah and in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash, king of Israel,

The people of Israel were divided into two Kingdoms.After Solomon died, his son Rehoboam ruled with such foolish arrogance that it ultimately led to a split.  Ten tribes in the north came together and formed their own Kingdom, while Benjamin remained with the tribe of Judah in the south.  Amos lived approximately 150 years after all that happened, but even though Israel was split into two nations, it was “in the days” of great prosperity for both the northern and southern kingdoms.

"Amos lived in times of material prosperity. The long reigns of Uzziah (790–739 b.c.) in Judah and of Jeroboam II (793–753 b.c.) in Israel (1:1) had brought stability, prosperity, and expansion to the two kingdoms. The Southern Kingdom had subdued the Philistines to the west (see comments on 1:6; 6:2), the Ammonites to the east, and the Arab states to the south. Uzziah’s political influence was felt as far as Egypt (cf. 2 Chron. 26:1–15). The Northern Kingdom, to whom Amos’ message was directed, was at the zenith of its power. Aram had not recovered from her defeat in 802 b.c. by Assyria under Adad-Nirāri III (811–783 b.c.). Assyria, however, had been unable to press her advantage further. A succession of inept rulers and the troublesome Urarteans to her north kept Assyria preoccupied until the accession of Tiglath-Pileser III in 745 b.c. Given a free hand, Jeroboam II was able to extend his borders northward into Aramean territory and to reclaim Israel’s lands in Transjordan (cf. 2 Kings 14:23–29; Amos 6:13). Because of the control this gave Israel over the trade routes, wealth began to accumulate in her cities. Commerce thrived (8:5), an upper class emerged (4:1–3), and expensive homes were built (3:15; 5:11; 6:4, 11). The rich enjoyed an indolent, indulgent lifestyle (6:1–6), while the poor became targets for legal and economic exploitation (2:6–7; 5:7, 10–13; 6:12; 8:4–6). Slavery for debt was easily accepted (2:6; 8:6). Standards of morality had sunk to a low ebb (2:7). Meanwhile religion flourished. The people thronged to the shrines for the yearly festivals (4:4; 5:5; 8:3, 10), enthusiastically offering their sacrifices (4:5; 5:21–23). They steadfastly maintained that their God was with them, and considered themselves immune to disaster (5:14, 18–20; 6:1–3; 9:10).”⁷Sunukjian, D. R. (1985). Amos. In J. F. Walvoord & R. B. Zuck (Eds.), The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures (Vol. 1, p. 1425). Victor Books.

“Jeroboam, son of Joash, was Israel’s most successful king since Solomon, expanding Israelite control into the Transjordan and north into Aramean territory (2 Kgs 14:23–29). His 41-year reign was characterized by unprecedented peace and economic prosperity. Jeroboam’s success was largely the result of a temporary power vacuum in the ancient Near East that allowed both Israel and Judah to assert more control over the region. Aram, also called Syria, was Israel’s main enemy through the late ninth century bc. By the time of Jeroboam, Aram had been weakened by conflicts with Assyria. As a result, Jeroboam was able to conquer territory formerly under the control of Aram, such as Damascus, Hamath, and the Transjordan. The Assyrian Empire didn’t oppose this expansion until the end of Jeroboam’s reign. In the early eighth century bc, Assyrian power waned because of internal conflicts over succession and external threats from north of Mesopotamia; as a result, they paid little attention to the affairs of Syria-Palestine. Egypt was also weak during this time, consumed by civil war.”⁸Barry, J. D., Mangum, D., Brown, D. R., Heiser, M. S., Custis, M., Ritzema, E., Whitehead, M. M., Grigoni, M. R., & Bomar, D. (2012, 2016). Faithlife Study Bible (Ho 1:1). Lexham Press.

So my point in all that is for you to see that it was a GREAT time for Amos to build a business that could leave tremendous wealth and influence to his descendants; however, there was no financial future in preaching.Amos was neither a priest nor a Levite, so he had no rights to the provisions provided for them in the law, nor was he educated or privileged in any sense to think that he could be part of the religious ruling class.  There was literally nothing for him to gain from this world, Israel, or Judah to preach God’s word, meaning there was no logical way he, as a successful businessman, could have ever rationalized a purpose in doing what he did for selfish gain!  The religious leaders would never accept him; therefore, he would never earn any honor nor gain any influence or power, and he certainly wouldn’t achieve any financial success; in fact, the opposite was true.

 The second testimony to the holiness of Amos’s drive is found in Amos 5,

 Amos knew that what he was doing was a guaranteed way to ruin his reputation, prosperity, and ease of life! 

 We will delve deeper into the passage where this verse appears later in our study of Amos, but for now, I just want you to notice the reality of what was happening in Israel when Amos preached.He writes,

13 Therefore he who is prudent will keep silent in such a time, for it is an evil time. (5:13)

 We will explore the details of what was so evil about that time in part three of our series, but in brief, both Israel and Judah were thriving financially. They were consistently carrying out the religious festivals and sacrifices the Law required; meanwhile, they were ignoring the parts of the Law on how they were to treat the poor, justifying sexual immorality, worshiping idols, and the list goes on!The Jewish people were living it up, so to speak.  They were basking in peace and prosperity, convinced that God was on their side as they passionately participated in all the religious activities of the Law, all while openly living in blatant sin!

Meanwhile, as you will see in our study, God instructed Amos to announce the harshest judgment He had ever pronounced on His people.As a matter of fact, Amos is the first prophet ever to announce such a judgment on God’s people.

Therefore, given the level of the love of money, power, and influence by the Jewish people, all while considering themselves to be faithful to God despite their blatant open rebellion against Him, to hear that their future was an unavoidable reckoning of epic and terrible proportions would likely cause a massive revolt!

Amos knew their hearts were incapable of hearing and responding to the truth, and he knew there would be no success in his preaching!Amos knew the Jewish people were too arrogant to be willing to hear anything that didn’t affirm what they already falsely believed to be true; thus he said, “13 Therefore he who is prudent will keep silent in such a time, for it is an evil time.” (5:13)

 “Most would suggest a ministry for Amos of no more than a year, and many would make it of only a few weeks.”⁹Birch, B. C. (1997). Hosea, Joel, and Amos (P. D. Miller & D. L. Bartlett, Eds.; p. 167). Westminster John Knox Press.) Some historical tradition teaches that the son of the High Priest eventually killed Amos.

 So, why did he do it?Why would Amos preach something that he knew had no chance of being successfully received?  Well, that takes us to the third testimony of the holiness of Amos’s drive.

 The third testimony to the holiness of Amos’s drive is found in Amos 3

 Amos was driven to preach the words God told him to speak!

 Amos wasn’t running around giving his opinion on politics.Amos was preaching what GOD HIMSELF had roared and in so doing had specifically told Amos to repeat!  Look at Amos 3,

1 Hear this word that the LORD has spoken against you, O people of Israel, against the whole family that I brought up out of the land of Egypt: 2 "You only have I known of all the families of the earth; therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities. … 7 "For the Lord GOD does nothing without revealing his secret to his servants the prophets. 8 The lion has roared; who will not fear? The Lord GOD has spoken; who can but prophesy?" … 13 "Hear, and testify against the house of Jacob," declares the Lord GOD, the God of hosts, (3:1-2, 7-8, 13)

The word picture created here is significant.Imagine if you and I were standing around chit-chatting, and then all of a sudden the fire alarm went off, but we just kept chit-chatting like nothing was happening.  Imagine complete chaos all around you as people rushed out the door and firefighters rushed into the building, spraying water everywhere, while we just sat there talking about the upcoming football game.  People would rightly conclude that we were either the most immature people on the planet with zero situational awareness, or that we were so arrogant and self-absorbed that we were too stupid to realize we should leave the building.

Similarly, when a lion roars in the jungle, you're not talking about some bird making a lot of racket, but an animal that sits at the top of the food chain, an apex predator known as the King of the Jungle!When a lion roars, everything within earshot takes note and responds accordingly.

Now, in Amos’s case, the Lion is God!His roar is the ultimate motivation, and in this case, God has not only roared but has also specifically instructed Amos to deliver what He has roared to all the people of Israel.

Amos also emphasized the necessity of his preaching the Word that God had roared by emphasizing who told him to preach it.“The Lord GOD, the God of hosts” can also be translated as “The Eternally Sovereign Divine Ruler named Yahweh who is also the All-Powerful, Incomparable Deity over all heavenly beings and warriors!”  That’s who told me to tell you this stuff, so I don’t care if I possibly lose everything to do it.

 “This is the longest form of the name of God in the Bible, and it occurs only here in the OT. It emphasizes in a special way the omnipotence of God for the purpose of magnifying the effect of the predicted judgment.”¹⁰Pfeiffer, C. F. (1962). The Wycliffe Bible Commentary: Old Testament (Am 3:13). Moody Press. 

“God Almighty (lit., “God of hosts,” i.e., “Head of armies”) designates the most awesome Warrior. Throughout these chapters which describe Israel’s violations (chaps. 3–6) the Lord is repeatedly presented (3:13; 4:13; 5:14–16, 27; 6:8, 14) as a mighty Suzerain who commands vast forces, whose power to punish rebels is both massive and irresistible.”¹¹Sunukjian, D. R. (1985). Amos. In J. F. Walvoord & R. B. Zuck (Eds.), The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures (Vol. 1, pp. 1434–1435). Victor Books.

It was as if Amos just said, “In case you're wondering why I told you I have to preach this, it's not just because it was a roar, but it's who roared it, and that the one who roared it specifically told me to preach it!”

Amos knows that God has spoken!The Lion has roared!  The people should not only fear, but it also means he can’t help but repeat what has been said, because who said it and who told him to say it—God!

Amos was saying, “I can’t NOT preach this!” and this is where we make our jump to the New Testament.

In Acts 5, there is a story about the Apostles getting arrested for preaching the Gospel in the Temple.  During the night, the Angel of the Lord appeared in the prison and set them free.  The next day, they were right back in the Temple preaching the Gospel again!  The people in the city were so interested in what the Apostles were preaching that the officers worried the people would turn against them if they were seen arresting them; therefore, they indiscriminately rounded them up and brought them before the council, and here’s what happened.

 27 And when they had brought them, they set them before the council. And the high priest questioned them, 28 saying, “We strictly charged you not to teach in this name, yet here you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching, and you intend to bring this man’s blood upon us. ” 29 But Peter and the apostles answered, “We must obey God rather than men. 30 The God of our fathers raised Jesus, whom you killed by hanging him on a tree. 31 God exalted him at his right hand as Leader and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. 32 And we are witnesses to these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him. ” 33 When they heard this, they were enraged and wanted to kill them. (Act 5:27-33)

The apostles were saying we HEARD THE LION ROAR, and He told us to tell the world what He roared, so there is no way we are going to stop preaching it, no matter how you respond!  And oh by the way, we already know it’s going to cost us everything to preach this, but we can’t help but preach it!

The council then dismissed the Apostles to ponder what they should do, and then brought them back in, and here’s how it ended,

40 and when they had called in the apostles, they beat them and charged them not to speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go. 41 Then they left the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the name. 42 And every day, in the temple and from house to house, they did not cease teaching and preaching that the Christ is Jesus. (Act 5:40-42)

The disciples took a physical beating for preaching the Gospel and then got told to stop preaching it.  However, they considered it an honor to take a beating for the cause of Christ, to the extent that it fueled their drive to keep preaching it.  That’s not selfish ambition, that’s a holy Spirit-filled drive for people to know God’s Glory!

The fact that it wasn’t driven by selfish ambition was further evident in that they didn’t let the religious leaders distract them from their mission.  They didn’t turn their anger towards the religious leaders, nor did they try to overthrow them through some sort of coup.  In fact, they had no intention of overthrowing or fighting anyone.  Their focus was entirely on preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ, which rescues people from eternal damnation and into the life Jesus Christ purchased with His own blood for them to have. If that resulted in the religious leaders losing all their influence, then so be it; it would be their own fault for not repenting and believing in Jesus themselves.  However, the Apostles couldn’t care less about the efforts of the religious leaders to silence them, nor did they care about the later efforts of Rome to do the same.  They were not going to get sidetracked from the mission to lead people to the life that is found only in Christ, the life that He alone paid for and provides.  The LION, who is Jesus, had roared from the cross and an empty tomb, and they couldn’t help but preach it!

Listen to what John recorded in the book of Revelation,

1 Then I saw in the right hand of him who was seated on the throne a scroll written within and on the back, sealed with seven seals. 2 And I saw a mighty angel proclaiming with a loud voice, “Who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals? ” 3 And no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll or to look into it, 4 and I began to weep loudly because no one was found worthy to open the scroll or to look into it. 5 And one of the elders said to me, “Weep no more; behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered, so that he can open the scroll and its seven seals. ” 6 And between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders I saw a Lamb standing, as though it had been slain, with seven horns and with seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth. 7 And he went and took the scroll from the right hand of him who was seated on the throne. 8 And when he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each holding a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. 9 And they sang a new song, saying, “Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation, 10 and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on the earth. ” (Revelation 5:1-10)

Challenge

Are you ignoring the roar of the Lion? Are you sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ with others?

 In a moment, our campus pastors will come on stage to help you know what to do next.  But before they do, let’s just get real.

Are you one who has heard the voice of the Lion and responded, but has now somehow justified running out of the building that’s on fire without trying to help the people who are literally right beside you to run out with you?   Are you watching people walk towards hell while standing in silence?

If you repented and believed in Jesus, it’s because you heard the LION roar in your heart!  Your ears were opened, and your heart was softened so that you didn’t sit there like a fool who disregarded the most important news you could ever hear, but instead, you repented and believed in Jesus! As such, you have been made a priest of God with a very specific mission—go make disciples!

Have you been silenced or are you so blown away by the roar of the Lion that called you into salvation; so blown away by the roar of God’s love for you from the cross; so blown away by the roar of the empty tomb that shouts to us that death has been defeated and life is eternal that you can’t help but share the Gospel of Jesus with others?

Most importantly, are you one who is hearing the voice of the Lion calling you to repent and believe in Him, yet you're sitting there ignoring it?  Is today the day the Lion is calling you to Him!  Will you repent and believe, or sit there as if the greatest opportunity in the world hasn’t come to you!

., Custis, M., Ritzema, E., Whitehead, M. M., Grigoni, M. R., & Bomar, D. (2012, 2016). Faithlife Study Bible (Am 1:1). Lexham Press.

^[6] Sunukjian, D. R. (1985). Amos. In J. F. Walvoord & R. B. Zuck (Eds.), The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures(Vol. 1, p. 1425). Victor Books.

^[7] Sunukjian, D. R. (1985). Amos. In J. F. Walvoord & R. B. Zuck (Eds.), The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures(Vol. 1, p. 1425). Victor Books.

^[8] Bentley, M. (2006). Opening up Amos (p. 16). Day One Publications.

^[9] Sunukjian, D. R. (1985). Amos. In J. F. Walvoord & R. B. Zuck (Eds.), The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures(Vol. 1, p. 1425). Victor Books.

^[10] Barry, J. D., Mangum, D., Brown, D. R., Heiser, M. S., Custis, M., Ritzema, E., Whitehead, M. M., Grigoni, M. R., & Bomar, D. (2012, 2016). Faithlife Study Bible (Ho 1:1). Lexham Press.

[11] Birch, B. C. (1997). Hosea, Joel, and Amos (P. D. Miller & D. L. Bartlett, Eds.; p. 167). Westminster John Knox Press.)[11]

^[12] Pfeiffer, C. F. (1962). The Wycliffe Bible Commentary: Old Testament (Am 3:13). Moody Press.

^[13] Sunukjian, D. R. (1985). Amos. In J. F. Walvoord & R. B. Zuck (Eds.), The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures(Vol. 1, pp. 1434–1435). Victor Books.