Empathy for the Wicked – Israel

Automated transcript, lightly edited for readability. Scripture appears as spoken; the video is the authoritative teaching.

Do you ever find yourself searching for something bigger than you? For a community to be a part of? A place founded on truth and love? A place to worship the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords, and the Son of God? Welcome to Founded in Truth, where we're more than just a fellowship. We're a family, so welcome home. Here and here we go. Shabbat Shalom, everybody! I'm nervous about this one at all. So this week may be a sad week for some. We are concluding the series that we've been in for actually the past few months. It's been a while. The Empathy for the Wicked series. We started out, I think, with Cain, didn't we?

Right at the beginning. We started out with Cain and we explored many villains of the Bible. such as Jezebel, kind of my favorite, Herod, Judas, Saul, Samson. Samson, I know. Some of the villains that we explored we never saw as villains before until we actually took time to read their stories, right? And I hope, I hope it's been well. Has it been good? I admit I've been thoroughly enjoying exploring the untouchable characters of the Bible. I didn't think it would be as edifying as it was to me and the people who have given us feedback here. But, you know, daring to line ourselves up beside them has been a humbling experience for me.

And how many of us, you know, when we start to read about Cain, like how many of us have allowed sin to overtake us and change our pursuits as human beings only to act like animals through fear or anger or frustration just like Cain? King Herod, willing to accept just a few kids from a small village of Bethlehem as an acceptable cost for the sake of security. All we need to do is look at the collateral damage of our anti-terrorism efforts out in Pakistan just a few years ago. Things that we hear about in the news. 26 kids died today when we tried to bomb a terrorist and we missed, but it's okay. It's acceptable.

It's war. It's acceptable. And we go out into the world and carry on our day How about Judas? Judas. Where we dare to drop our guards and realize that many of us tend to put up a false flag as followers of Yeshua. We pretend enough so that the people around us think that we're in, think that we're close, think that we're spiritual, think that we're intimately involved with Yeshua. We hear his voice. But in reality, when no one's looking, when it truly is just us and God, we find ourselves far from him. When we read the villains of the Bible, these awful, wicked people, we realize that they're not based on some fantastical supervillains that existed with these mighty...

No, the stories of the greatest villains of the Bible are based on people just like you and me. And if we can be honest, we are the supervillains of the Bible. We are the ones that crucified the living Christ, wounded for our transgressions. We find comfort in reading the accounts in the Gospels where the Gentiles whipped him and pierced him at the ruling from the elite corrupt Jewish authorities, but we forget that we were alongside them. But there's good news. The good news of the kingdom message is that God would demonstrate his love for us regardless. Not only that, God would demonstrate his love through our failures and brokenness.

Romans 5.8 states this, That's the message that Paul writes to the villains of the world. That's the message that Paul writes to you. Despite your hardened hearts, despite your anger, despite your lust, despite your idolatry in whatever form it carries itself with, despite your refusal to love others, despite your willingness to exploit others and live at the expense of others, despite you, Yeshua died for you so that you could experience the life everlasting that's only found in him. You were never meant to live as a villain against God. You were always meant to be called his daughter. You were always meant to be called his son.

That's the message that Yeshua brought to the world. He looked at the villains of the world and he said, come sit at the table. Eat. Drink. Be in communion with me. So today we conclude with one of the most mentioned villains in all of the Bible. Israel. Israel. Literally most of the books of the Old Testament highlighting that fact. The biggest villains against God and his kingdom. Prophets calling out for being the worst, I mean worse than the pagan nations that surround them, pursuing evil, building a kingdom of self-seeking pursuits, a nation of slaves redeemed by God only to become the oppressor of slaves while still claiming to worship the God that frees slaves.

Israel was called to be the breaker of chains and instead they've set up their own throne to rule over others. So today's message is going to orbit around one of the smaller books of the Bible, a Amos. Anybody ever read through Amos? If you have not, it's a very short book, nine short chapters. It's possibly the most applicable and yet brutal message in the Bible to this generation. So I encourage you, after services today, we're probably going to read through quite a bit of it today, but after services today, I don't encourage you, I dare you to open up to this short little book that we always skip over called Amos and read it all the way through.

The storyline takes place after Jeroboam, the son of King Solomon, had essentially split the kingdom of the 12 tribes of Israel into two, two nations. The southern kingdom was called Judah, came to be known as Judea, and the northern kingdom was called Israel or Ephraim.

And this is a time where both kingdoms, formerly united as one under a single monarchy, began to stray from God. Israel specifically, but Judah as well, mixing their faith, very quickly in the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob with other foreign gods and pagan practices around them. Amos is a stout little book filled with conviction and a message that transcends time itself. So please join me as we explore the story and the narrative put forth by the Bible and I'm going to ask you to do the same thing I've asked over the last few weeks is to imagine. Imagine the details surrounding the story that we don't always read in the text.

Imagine Amos sweating from his journey from a small town in Judea or Judah, walking upward. He walks through the borderline, crosses into northern Israel. He finally makes it to the polished gate of a small city. The crowds were busy. Everyone had a smile on their face. Everyone's shuffling around inward. He's consumed by the small sea of people. Someone comes up beside him. Well, shalom, friend. A man with jolly tendency spoke, "You're visiting, yeah? Well, welcome, welcome to the holy city of Bethel, the city of our great God, Yahweh. Praise be his name forever. Would you like some fresh olives upon your entry?"

Amos, put off by the man's hospitable attempt, "Be gone from me." "Go away," speaks harshly towards him. He knows why he's there. He's been called not to accept some farce generosity from a people, but to deliver a message. He makes his way through the market. The atmosphere is marked with joy, wealth, what feels like peace. The stands open, selling fresh bread, meat, incense, spices, as if the people were unaware. He notices a group of women with fine dresses, purple, golden necklaces, jewels, jewels he was unfamiliar with dangling from their fingers and their hands as if they were trying to make it difficult for them to even lift a finger up without struggling.

He moves closer to the center of the city. Small children flood the space around him, playing. Sir, sir, do you have sweets? Do you have some sweets? Sweets, sir? Please, sir. Knowing he was a traveler, he couldn't help but smile, but not too much. His spirit conflicted within him. Are these not innocent in God's coming wrath? These little ones. Having a few figs left in his pocket from his farm back home, he makes a face of defeat. opens his hands to him. "Thank you, thank you, sir! May Yahweh bless you in this holy city of Bethel! Thank you, thank you!" And they all scamper off. As the children run away, he wonders what their parents are like.

Well-mannered children, respectful, learning to show gratitude with God's own name and blessing in the holy city, Bethel. The noise of the crowd begins to clamor, getting louder and louder. He looks up. There is their holy place. the one instituted by Jeroboam the first, the place precisely built to keep people from coming to the true temple in Jerusalem, in Judah. He notices something bright reflecting the sun itself. He focuses, knowing what the clarity is about to reveal, the golden calf at the center of the square. Incense being offered by the so-called priests of Yahweh, praised performers pouring out their dedication through Hebraic dance and celebration.

He enters the crowd excited. where men and women lay prostrate praying, "Oh Yahweh, praise be your glorious name. Your blessings are overwhelming. Oh Yahweh, the one who brought us out of Egypt from slavery, from oppression. Yahweh, the breaker of chains." Suddenly he notices among the clamor, he notices that he doesn't quite fit in. It isn't because of his lack of joy of seeing a molten statue being called by the name of the God of Israel. Or that this place is called the most set apart place and he knows the truth where Jerusalem lay. No, his clothes. He was just a shepherd and a fig farmer. And he wasn't in rags by any means, but it didn't take long for him to realize all of those who worship here seem to be dressed as another class in society.

Purple, scarlet, dyed fabrics, nothing plain in the entire crowd. Gold necklaces, silver necklaces. rings, no bare wrists or ankles in the entire flood of people. He makes his way toward the exit. Something isn't right. He's noticing apart from everything else, there's still something else. Where? Where are they? Then he sees them in the street being blocked by the temple security, forced to worship in the dirt. There they are, the poor of the city. Please allow us to petition God like everyone else. Allow us to worship like everyone else. No, you're not even dressed appropriately. If you want to worship, you can worship here in the street dressed like that.

But this is all we have. The only shirt, the only pants. He turns his head among the clamored, looking around. The reality now faces him. He sees a stall outside the perimeter, filled with people, strong-looking men and women, dressed as if they'd been working in the field all day. But instead of going inside to rest, they were corralled into a stall as if mules. He turns to the woman beside him. Excuse me. A young pretty girl, hair and braids and charms, jewels, smiling. Yes, sir. Who are those people there in the corral? Smiling without hesitation, "Oh, those are the foreign slaves. One of the many perks of having some of the best soldiers in the area, no?

They're not allowed to come into the sacred set apart space here. Only Israelites, the sons and daughters of Yahweh, the holy God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. We're the only ones allowed to pass by the boundary. We place them in there to hold them until we're finished worshiping. It's quite an idea, no? I remember the days when the town didn't have such accommodations. We'd bring our slaves into town to carry our groceries, but we'd have no place to keep them or secure them while we worshipped our God. Amos, just in shock, are these people delusional? Are they? He turns, catching the eye of the priest of Bethel, Amaziah, staring straight at him.

Spirit that sent him there overtakes him, bubbling up inside of him. He begins to yell, Amaziah. with such clarity that it pierces the very souls of everyone around him. He yells with an authority that no one could have been prepared for. Hear this word, people of Israel. The word of the Lord has spoken against you, against the whole family I brought up out of Egypt. You only have I chosen of all the families of the earth. Therefore, you will be punished for all of your sins. Surely the sovereign Lord does nothing without revealing his plan to his servants and prophets." Proclaim the fortress of Ashdod and the fortresses of Egypt.

Assemble yourselves in the mountains of Samaria. See the great unrest within her and the oppression among her people. They don't know how to do right, declares the Lord, who store up in their fortresses what they have plundered and looted from weaker nations. Therefore, this is what the sovereign Lord God says. An enemy will overrun your land. Pull down all of your strongholds and plunder all of your fortresses where you keep your wealth. the crowd stops the music dies down everybody turns to stare in the midst of the silence women begin to giggle men join in who is this man to stand in the city of god and tell us that we will be overrun and our spoils will be plundered we have the greatest army in all of the lands we have more horses than egypt themselves and our spoils are far too great for any kingdom to even lift and carry off.

The crowd begins to break out in mockery. Amaziah the priest begins to move even closer, darting to the scene. Amos begins to speak even more. This is what the Lord says for three sins of Israel, even for four I will not relent. They sell the innocent for silver, the needy for a pair of sandals. They trample on the heads of the poor as on the dust of the ground. They deny justice for the oppressed. Father and son use the same girl and so profane my holy name. They lie down beside every altar and garments taken and pledged. In the house of their God they drink wine, taking as fines as they exploit the poor.

In the house of their God they do these things. I also raised up prophets from among your children and Nazarites set apart ones from among your youths. Is this not true, O you people of Israel? But you made the Nazarites drink wine. You made the prophets wine. Not to prophesy. The crowd had stopped laughing at this point. The man's accusations were starting to ring in their ears. The joy in the atmosphere quickly shifted to one of discomfort. But we love God. We love Yahweh. Look, we have an altar. We give our best to it. We keep the Sabbath. Nothing unclean ever touches our lips. We hold the appointed festivals.

The Torah says if we do these things, we'll be blessed.And blessed we are by God himself. So shut up, you foreigner. Go back south over the border where you and your people belong, one woman shouts out. You know nothing of our dedication and commitment. Amos turns, fire within him. I hate, I despise your religious festivals. Your assemblies are a stench to me. Even though you bring me burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them. Though you bring choice fellowship offerings, I have no regard for them. Away with the noise of your songs. I will not listen to the music of your hearts. It'd be better if you could just take up your vocation.

Let justice roll like the river it should. Righteousness like a never failing stream that should overtake the world. Looking back at the woman standing there now fuming with anger in his mind, images of fatted cows on the hillside south of Damascus. The fatted cows that have an abundance of the lush green grass never have to ask for anything, not even water, food, water. These cows that he's seen up north don't even fear predators. They simply bask in the luxurious life being tended to every day. He opens his mouth. "'Hear this word, you cows of Bashan on Mount Samaria, you women who oppress the poor and crush the needy, and then you say to your husbands, "'Bring us another drink.'" The sovereign Lord is shown by his holiness.

The time will surely come when you will be taken away with hooks, the last of you with fish hooks. You will each go straight out through the breaches in the wall and you will be cast out towards Harman, declares the Lord. Go to Bethel and sin. Go to Gilgal and sin even more. Go on. Bring your sacrifices every morning. Bring your tithes for the poor every three years. Burn the leavened bread as a thank you offering and brag about your free will offerings. Boast about them, you Israelites, for this is what you love to do, declares the sovereign Lord. You celebrate your pride? You celebrate your pride like it's an idol to be shown off.

You're proud of who you have become and what you've given into? Thus says the Lord. The sovereign Lord has sworn by himself. The Lord God Almighty declares, I abhor the pride of Jacob and detest his fortresses. I will deliver up the city and everything in it. Amaziah the priest steps forward. Cease this display at once, interrupting Amos. This is holy ground. You seer, you prophet, go back to your land. Tell your own people what you want. Don't speak here. This is the temple of our kingdom and the king's sanctuary. You act like a pagan in our set-apart place. Amos looks up. I was neither a prophet nor the son of a prophet.

I am but a shepherd, and I took care of fig trees. But the Lord took me from tending my flock to come up here and tell you, you people Israel." this word, this conviction, to show you and tell you the sins that he is so disgusted by. So now then, hear me, hear what I say. You come to me and tell me not to prophesy, to stop preaching to the descendants of Isaac? No, I'll tell you what. Therefore, this is what the Lord says. Your land will be measured and divided up. You view everyone around you as pagan and you as the set-apart people of God? And for yourself, Priest, guess what? You're going to die in a pagan country.

And Israel will surely go into exile away from their native land. Are you not Israelites the same as me, as the Cushites, declares the Lord? Did I not bring Israel out from Egypt? The Philistines from Kaphtar and the Arameans from Kerr? I am the God of all peoples. You think yourself more special than they are. You claim to be God's people, but God does not even recognize you. He called you to be a nation that frees slaves. For you were slaves in Egypt. Now you conquer, oppress, and enslave. You've become the very thing God hates. You have become Egypt, Israel. You keep the feats. You fellowship together in your congregations.

You sing worship songs. God called you to be his light, to show the world his examples of justice, of mercy, to show the world what his love looks like. You won't even allow the poor to come worship your God. You persecute them. You raise yourself up as God. You don't worship the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. You don't even worship that golden calf. You worship nothing less than yourselves." Your fate will be thesame as the Egyptians before you. The voice of the prophet rang through the air. Did you bring me sacrifices and offerings 40 years in the wilderness, people of Israel? At that moment, the clear skies began to cloud with thick, thick clouds.

No longer was he at the foot of Mount Samaria. He was by Mount Moriah. No longer were the people he was speaking to, these ancient Israelites, no, they had transformed into the religious elite, the Pharisees and the Sanhedrin and the scribes, standing on the stones of Jerusalem. The words being spoken were from Amos, but the voice was no longer his. It was the voice of a young follower of the rabbi from Nazareth, standing in Jerusalem, declaring God's wrath upon the religious elite. They had come around him, no escape. They'd cornered him, claiming that he had said the temple would be destroyed. Surrounded but fearless, speaking to a corrupt people who thought they were God's protector instead of God's protected.

Looking over at the temple, the heart of Jerusalem, Stephen, continues speaking to the Sanhedrin, speaking the same words of Amos himself. You have taken up the tabernacle of Moloch and the star of your god Repha, the idols that you've made to worship. Therefore, I will send you into exile even beyond Babylon, says the Lord. The young man continues to speak with a passion that can only be fueled with the same spirit that filled Amos near Samaria. However, the Most High does not live in houses made by human hands. As the prophet says, Heaven is my throne and the earth is my footstool. What kind of house will you build for me, says the Lord?

Will my resting place be? Has not my hand made all these things? You stiff-necked people, your hearts and ears are still uncircumcised. You are just like your ancestors. You always resist the Holy Spirit. Was there ever a prophet that you or your ancestors did not persecute? They even killed those who predicted the coming of the righteous one. And now you have betrayed and murder even him. You who have received the Torah that was given through angels, but have not even tried to obey it. Looking up, Stephen, viewing the clouds parting, looks back down. Even now, the Son of Man has taken his place in the throne room of God, reigning over all creation.

Look, even now I see heaven open. Even now the Son of Man stands at the right hand of God. He was engulfed by the glory of what his eyes saw that he didn't even notice they rushed him away. His heart filled with peace. His heart filled with contentment. Overwhelmed with the love of God. He didn't even feel the first stone strike his skull. Israel is one of the most frequented villains of all the Bible. The people closest to God. The people called into the covenant with God. The people charged to be a light to all nations. And instead, they became like all nations. That's the story of the Bible. all while claiming to worship God.

Amos was sent from Judah to the northern kingdom of Israel to come face to face with the blatant hypocrisy. Amos isn't a long book, nine short chapters. Dare you to read it after services. And when you begin to read it, take note because it starts out in the first and the beginning of the second chapter. Amos brings accusation not against Israel, but against seven of the surrounding kingdoms. He spends a few verses condemning all of the surrounding kingdoms. It starts out with, Woe to you, Damascus! You were without mercy to Gilead. Woe to you, Gaza, because you took entire communities into slavery and sold them to Edom.

Woe to you, Tyre. Woe to you, Edom. Woe to you, Ammon, because you ripped children from their mother's wombs to destroy them. Just to make yourself more successful, to extend your borders, you would rip children out of their mother's womb for wealth. Woe to you, Moab. Woe to you, Judah, for three sins of Judah, even for four in Amos chapter 2. I will not relent because they have rejected the Torah of the Lord and they have not kept his decrees because they have been led astray by false gods, the gods their ancestors followed. I will send fire on Judah that will consume the fortresses of Jerusalem. And Amos spends about two verses just throwing these divine condemnation...

These divine accusations and condemnations towards all of these surrounding nations. And then he looks up. He looks up and says, "'Woe to you, Israel! For three sins of Israel, even four, I will not relent. They sell innocent for silver, the needy for a pair of sandals. They trample the heads of the poor and on the dust of the ground and deny justice to all who are oppressed. Father and Son, use the same girl and so profane my holy name. They lie down beside every altar.'" on garments taken and pledged, that in the house of their God they drink fine wine taken as fines. Verse 12 of chapter 2. Now then...

I will crush you as a cart crushes the load with grain. The swift will not escape. The strong will not muster their strength and the warrior will not save his life. The archer will not stand his ground. The fleet-footed soldier will not even get away. The horseman will not save his own life. Even the bravest warriors will flee naked on the day, declares the Lord. So, 16 verses dedicated to Israel, 13 specifically to their actions, to their sins. It's as if It's as if Amos is like setting Israel up. He's proclaiming that all these pagan nations around them are bad. You can, if you're Israel, what's the first thing you do?

Yeah, woe to Tyre. Yeah. Woe to Damascus. Yeah. Woe to Judah. Yes, burn them with fire. That's right. Bunch of pagans. And then looks at them, dumps it on them. It'd be like, it'd be like, it'd be like, woe to Canada. Yeah, with your stupid social health care. I got friends who had to wait a long time. Some died because of waiting in line for important surgeries and medical attention. "Woe to you, Canada!" Yeah! "Woe to you, Canada!" "Woe to you, Mexico!" Yeah! "Crossing illegals and causing a big pain in our country!" "Woe to you!" "Taking our resources!" Can't they build a wall? "Woe to you, Mex-" Yes!

"Woe to you, El Salvador!" Of course, all the Americans were all like, I don't know what El Salvador does or doesn't do. I'm sure they do something bad. Woe to El Salvador. Honduras, no. Woe to you, Russia. Yeah, they off Alaska. Yeah, woe to Russia. That's right. I don't know what they've been up to. Probably something bad. Woe to you, England. Teach them to ban guns. And then the prophet turns to us and he says, woe to you, America. You don't show God's love. and justice to immigrants seeking a better life, intentionally making laws too complex for families to be welcomed or stay together. You disregard a child's life as being not from God, as something that is simply an inconvenience of the womb.

You set up tax laws that intentionally target the middle and poorer classes while corporations reap the benefits. You seek wealth to such an extent that when your risks rise to the top and the banks fail, all of the poor lose their homes and the poor are charged with bailing you out. Oh, America, You celebrate military conquests that cost the lives of children and innocents on the other side of the world just so you can feel secure and celebrate your brute military strength, deeming it a worthy cost to display your power. You place money as an idol among you, deeming it applicable and acceptable that life-saving medicine should be out of reach until a maximum out-of-pocket deductible is reached. You, America, where children are sold into slavery, not to foreign nations, no, as sex slaves in your very own town, cities, and communities.

But that's not your problem. Oh, and you do it while you go to church every week, praising God, celebrating how much God loves you, while leaving kids literally struggling to find safe homes out on the street, saying to yourself, someone else, someone else is more equipped to handle that. Someone else that God's equipped, they'll take care of that. That's not my calling in life. So that's an example of what Amos would have done to Israel, right? That's what Amos would have done to Israel. And it would have blindsided him. Like, yeah, all these other people, but then he turns it inward. Nah, you don't have the right to say that.

You don't have the right to say that. We're a people of God. We're a Christian nation. You don't have the... Totally just dumped it on them. And the northern kingdom had made their pseudo-religion that celebrates their God as an idol. They built a golden calf. But they still celebrated Yahweh with it. They still went to church every week. Amos points out, That God even hates their worship songs that they play with their harps. He hated hearing them sing, Great are you, Lord, playing the drums and guitars on stage. He hated it. They gave him offerings, but he hated them too. They celebrated the festivals, Passover, Shavuot, even Sukkot, and it made him sick.

Why? Because the entire mission from the beginning was to cultivate a people that showed his love, mercy, and grace to the rest of the world. A people that would be known for being his, his image bearers. That when people, the world sees them, they saw his reign, his kingdom, they felt his love, they saw him. But Israel of the north, they made their walk with God a checklist that covered their shame of the sin that they had in their lives. If I can check enough stuff off that I did for God today, I won't have to acknowledge that I am so far from him, I don't even know what his voice sounds like anymore.

And if I check off enough stuff that I did for God today, I won't have to acknowledge the idols that I set up in the center of my life that have replaced him altogether. If I just check off enough stuff, Israel thought they were doing great. That's the irony in the book of Amos. And all through the scriptures, they thought they were doing great. Cows of Bashan. I feel like that's supposed to be humorous because that was a big insult. Like, you big fat cow. You big fat, not just that, you're the fattest, laziest cow in the world. You're just sitting around. Yeah, I'm a righteous daughter of the king.

Husband, give me another drink. Have you taken out that village that's down there? They're right beside our land. I think we should have that land. We can take whatever they have too. We can refresh the workers for the area. Just go take them. Go take them out. Bring me another mimosa or whatever the fat cows of Bashan drink. I don't know. You fat cows of Bashan. And the irony of that is this was all of Israel. See, he's talking to the women, but this is all of Israel. All of Israel was taking part of the blessings of their God. God, keep blessing us. Husband, keep blessing us. Keep bringing us the things that we like to have in our lives.

But they didn't ever get up and do anything. But they were blessed. They were wealthy. It's obvious that God is blessing them. Praise God that they're wealthy. They knew God. They praised God. They worshiped God. They obeyed some minute commandments of God. But when God looked at them, he didn't even recognize them. How? How can we ever find empathy for a villain like that? Yeshua talks about this concept in the most damning verse in the Bible, in Matthew chapter 7, in verse 21. Yeah, you guys know it. Yeshua speaks, he says, Yeshua was speaking to a people that knew his love, that knew his forgiveness.

And from this verse, we learn that, guys, the most important thing in the Bible is not that you know about Yeshua. The most important thing in the Bible is not that you know about his love. The most important thing in the Bible is not that you know about his forgiveness. The most important thing in the Bible is that Yeshua knows you, is that Yeshua knows you. And when we make idols... out of our lives and somehow justify them by mixing them with some religious commitment. It's the farthest thing from anything a true follower of Yeshua would actually do. Amos spends nine chapters repeating this concept and it's brutal.

You'll see me tearing up in the middle of Starbucks trying to put this message together. Just brutal. Starts out calling the women from Samaria a bunch of cows. Because they're reaping blessings ultimately from God, but not actually doing the mission of God. Yep, the good life. It's the good life. They just sit here and they lay in the sun and they eat some grass and life is good. No, you're called to pull the cart. You're called to pull the cart. You're called to feed the kingdom. You're called to pursue the mission. You're called to show God's character through your actions. You're called to work and to give.

If you're not... Call yourself a follower of Jesus all you want. Israel did. None of the disciples retired after their encounter with Yeshua. They didn't just go back and chill back and relax and ooh, enjoying the good life. Like I did the ministry for a couple years with him and now I'm just going to retire. No, they understood that for Yeshua to know them, they needed to be close to them. For Yeshua to know them, they needed to go to the places in this world that he was already at waiting for them. And sometimes that's a geographic place. Usually it's to certain people. Usually it's to certain situations.

Usually it's daring to step out beyond the veil of the good life that we surround ourselves in. They knew that they were being called to be an ambassador on earth, willing to be his hands and feet. In Matthew 7, Yeshua is not calling them, or King James 7, King James in Matthew 7, he says, he doesn't say lawlessness, I mean, he says evildoers, he says lawlessness. Everyone familiar with, that's the, as messianics, that's the one we prefer, because of lawlessness, right? You workers of lawlessness. Yeshua is not calling them lawless because they worked in Shabbat or because they didn't keep Passover one year.

Israel did all that stuff great, and God addresses their hypocrisy in the book of Amos. No, they're called lawless because they refuse to actually do what they're called to do. They stand by while opportunities for ministry go unattended. They see a need in someone else's life and they hold tight to their checkbook. They want to blend into a fellowship. But when it comes to actually being a moving part of it, they don't want that because they're living the good life. And they check off things that they did for God this week. Go to fellowship. Raise my hands during at least one of the praise and worship songs.

Give an offering. That'll make me feel, yeah. God's going to owe me some blessings after this one because I stepped out in faith. What golden calf have you set up in your life? What golden calf have you set up in your life that you call Yahweh? What is keeping you from actually doing what Yeshua called you to do? Maybe it's fear. Maybe it's laziness. Maybe it's sin. The book of Amos, nine chapters of brutal condemnation exposing the sin. And then, it's fascinating, when you go home this afternoon and read the book of Amos, amen? When you go back home and read the nine chapters of Amos, you'll notice something.

It's nine whole chapters except for the very last paragraph of chapter nine. Then all of a sudden, Amos has like a mood swing, and he starts talking about God's faithfulness after he wipes them out. God's faithfulness. You know, I'm going to destroy you. I'm going to break you. My brutal wrath will overtake you. And then it's... Yeah, it's Amos chapter 9 starting in verse 11. But in that day I will restore David's fallen shelter. I will repair its broken walls and restore its ruins and will rebuild it as it used to be so that they may possess this kingdom that he's going to rebuild. They may possess the remnant of Edom and all nations that bear my name declares the Lord who will do all these things.

The days are coming, declares the Lord, when the reaper will overtake the plowman and the planter by one of the treading grapes. New wine will drip from the mountains and flow from the hills. And I will bring my people, Israel, back from exile. They will rebuild the ruined cities and live in them. They will plant vineyards and drink their wine. They will make gardens and eat their fruit. After God breaks them, he's going to restore the kingdom of David from them. So the kingdom of David, who rules in a kingdom? A king. Okay, so there's going to be a refreshed, a new kingdom, divinely mandated kingdom that God's going to raise up, and there's going to be a new king carrying on from David.

And this new king will constitute a restored Israel, not like the one that we read about in Amos. No, a restored Israel that will reach into all nations that bear his name. This new king will end the exile from God. The hearts will be transformed and all of humanity as a result will be transformed and renewed. Guys, I want to tell you some good news. I know who this king is that has come. I know the king that has ended the exile from God. I know the king that has rebuilt the fallen tabernacle of David and his name is Yeshua. And maybe you find yourself broken in your life today. He can restore you.

He's calling a people not labeled by blood or DNA. No, he's calling a people that do the will of my Father. You can be restored. That's the hope of the entire Bible. You can be equipped with a vocational calling to not only accept God's love into your own life, but to show God's love to everyone who finds themselves far from it. Paul says that we are ministers of reconciliation. ministers of reconciliation, showing the world what it looks like when God has reconciled them to himself. I don't know where you're at today. I don't know where you find yourself. But you may find yourself empathizing with Israel just a little bit, understanding why they did what they did, understanding that sometimes life is hard.

Sometimes work is hard. Sometimes family is hard. Sometimes even marriage is hard. Sometimes it just seems too easy to act out the part of being a Christian, but never actually put your hands to the plow. Sometimes it's just too convenient when you're laying in the fields of Bashan. It's far too easy to just smile and fit in to God's people. Maybe no one will ever know. Maybe no one will ever find out that I have sin in my life that I enjoy more than following God. Maybe no one will ever find out that I've set up an idol of myself that and just call it Yahweh. Maybe no one will ever find out. Israel, it's just far too easy to empathize with them, more so than any other villain in the Bible, because Israel's story is all of our story.

It's far too easy to say we know Yeshua without him knowing us. If that's you today, the good news of the Bible is... There's this word called hope, and it's filled with a lot of it. There is hope. There is forgiveness. There is mercy. There is reconciliation. That's kind of what our God is all about. It's kind of what the whole story of the Bible is about. So please stand. We'll go ahead and conclude services. Worship team. And as we conclude with worship, guys, During this time, I ask you to reflect on the words of Amos that God spoke to the people that were supposed to and claimed to be closest to him.

We have a prayer team on the sides of the fellowship. I know it's a little awkward because we're in the sanctuary today. Guys, don't let that stop you. If you want prayer, if you need prayer, don't find an excuse today. Just get prayer. We have prayer warriors, people that spend time on their knees daily praying for you. Take advantage of that. and allow them to stand with you in the throne of grace. Don't hesitate to fix the areas of your life that need to be fixed. And maybe it isn't any of these issues today that we've read about. Maybe you're just in need of prayer because we need prayer sometimes.

Guys, don't hesitate. Take advantage of the people that God has sent to us. Alvino Malkinu, our Father, our King, Father, we thank you. We thank you for this time together. We thank you for this Shabbat. We thank you for the power of your word that you reveal to us. And we thank you for the hope that is in the name of Yeshua. In Yeshua's name we pray. Amen. Shalom, I'm Matthew Vanderels and I hope you enjoyed this message. Founded in Truth exists to build a community that bears the image of God and lives the redeemed life only Yeshua gives. If this message impacted you or if this ministry has been a blessing to you, we would love to hear from you.

Send us a message through our contact form on our website and let us know how God has used this ministry to edify your faith and relationship with Him. Don't forget to subscribe by clicking here. And if you'd like to donate to this ministry and be a part of what God is doing through it, you can donate through our website at www.foundingatruth.com or by clicking here. We thank you for your continued support and we look forward to next time. Shalom.