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The prophet had warned the people about their complacency but they took no notice. Is there any hope when things have all gone wrong?

This sermon looks at the hope that Amos could see, but also looks at the ways that Jesus filled out the picture of hope for everyone – including us.

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We don’t know very much about Amos, but what we do know is inspiring. He was bold enough to wrestle with God in prayer, brave enough to stand up to those in positions of power and had enough backbone to keep telling his message.

This is what it means to be a prophetic people, ready to speak up for those who have no voice of their own.

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Amos knew that people loved worshipping, loved singing new songs, loved the sense of God being near to us. But he also knew that they could easily be fooling themselves. He wanted people to know that there was no point having all these experiences if they weren’t living in line with God’s concerns.

Put briefly: God seems to be more interested in justice than he is in exciting worship. All a bit challenging really!

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On Sunday in our two services, we looked at Amos 3-4. It was difficult to get the full sense of Amos’ portrayal of the passion of God, who was trying to get the attention of his own people in ways that we might feel were extreme. The disasters that they had coped with, Amos says, were God’s way of trying to get their attention. They are not the actions of a vengeful God, though it would be easy to think that at first. They are the actions of someone who desperately loves a people. It’s extreme love.

The writer to the Hebrews will say the same in chapter 12 when he urges us to ‘endure hardship as discipline’. In other words, see the situations you are facing as opportunities to grow – to be trained in a certain way. It was interesting to hear the children reflect on what they thought their parents were doing when they discipline them. Once we had got the off the cuff remark, ‘They are ruining our lives’ out of the way, there were some very profound thoughts coming through.

And that is what the writer is saying in Hebrews – the hard times that you are experiencing are exactly because God loves you.

The art, in this as in so many things, is to be alert to the voice and actions of God. Sometimes in dealing with our situations, it’s all we can do to stop yelling, ‘Make it end’. But if we still ourselves enough we might hear another voice: ‘It’s ok. You’ll be ok. It’s happening because I love you, come back and listen to me again. I want to train you to deal with times like these.’

We used a number of different film clips and songs in the different services. Here is a reminder of what we used:
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We used a couple of clips to think about what it means to hear something and then what distracts us – we had recognised that always being glued to the screen can be a problem (yes I realise the irony!)…

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Let’s have ears to hear more, eyes to recognise more and hearts to trust more – that no matter what we are going through, God is waving his arms at us desperately trying to get our attention.

 

Amos is a book of burning anger.

God’s anger.

It’s anger directed at powerful people who provoke war and hatred among nations. It’s anger at those who think of themselves as on God’s side but then act in ways that fly in the face of all of his ways.

It’s an uncomfortable read.

But we who follow Jesus need to be discomforted from time to time. Religion can be dangerous when it leads you to think that you’re always right.

It’s particularly dangerous when it insulates you against recognising that you’ve been shaped more by your culture than you have by Jesus.

After all, it’s Jesus’ warning that not everyone who says ‘Lord, Lord’ will be received, it’s only those who shape their lives in the way of Jesus.

You can’t use religion as a lucky ticket and still act in ways that refuse to care for the poor, hold to promises, do right with our financial dealings.

Amos is not comfortable reading. But he, along with the prophets, are the voices we need to hear regularly to keep us on track.

Our prayer is that as we read and reflect on Amos’ message over the coming weeks, our lives are shaped in the ways of Jesus more and more.

Following the sermon, I also shared this video.
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What are your thoughts after watching this? Leave a comment below.

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Last week, Playboy announced that they were no longer going to have nude photos of women, with their chief exec claiming;

That battle has been fought and won. You’re only one click away from every sex act imaginable for free. And so it’s just passé to have nude pictures at this juncture.

But how does the Bible help us make sense of the world that Playboy has created, and how do we respond to that world?

Do you want to discuss this sermon further with other people? Join our Facebook group, Beyond Sunday.

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Often men dominate women in society, but that’s not how God created us.

In Genesis, men & women were created to be interdependent, working together to look after creation.

We can’t do it alone; we need each other.

Do you want to discuss this sermon further with other people? Join our Facebook group, Beyond Sunday.

[notice]Following the sermon, Neil also shared some thoughts on women in leadership in the church. You can listen to this below.[/notice]

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For First Century Jews, the temple was where Heaven met Earth; where God met with His people.

It was a place where sins were forgiven, and impurity was cleansed.

It was also a source of political power.

But then Jesus said he’d come to be the king on earth as in heaven, and to replace the temple. That was revolutionary!

So what does this mean for us, the church, now?

As Christians, we're now the carriers of God's presence; we're where people can encounter God on earth! #salford #elim

— Salford Elim Church (@SalfordElim) July 12, 2015

Do you want to discuss this sermon further with other people? Join our Facebook group, Beyond Sunday.

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In Luke 10:17, the 72 disciples returned from the mission that Jesus had sent them on, and they came back full of joy, sharing stories of how what Jesus had told them to do – going in prayer & vulnerability – had actually worked!

"Rejoice that your names are written in heaven." http://t.co/Fjs96nuiHO We are all known to God, and are part of God's story. #salford #elim

— Salford Elim Church (@SalfordElim) June 28, 2015

Do you want to discuss this sermon further with other people? Join our Facebook group, Beyond Sunday.

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Here we have the 72 being sent out into places with no bag, money etc. For some, that would have been a huge ask, especially if they had family, and were used to having everything they need around them.

I would suggest that they would have been known to the places they travelled to. Being told to ‘Go’ by Jesus would have filled the 72 disciples with a range of emotions. They would go with a sense of vulnerability.

Wherever we find ourselves during the week, Jesus has said ‘Go’, into the familiar and into the unknown places, knowing that He is with us.

We need to pray that we'll hear God prompting us. The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. #salford #elim

— Salford Elim Church (@SalfordElim) June 21, 2015

After the sermon, Mary interviewed Jackie, via a live audio link to Malawi.

Here’s what she had to say about herself, and being vulnerable in mission…
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Do you want to discuss this sermon further with other people? Join our Facebook group, Beyond Sunday.

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