Empathy for the Wicked: ISRAEL
This is the conclusion to our "Empathy for the Wicked" series. The series that looks at the "villains" of the Bible to find that they are not so far from where we sometimes find ourselves. In this message, we look at Israel during the time of Jeroboam II. A time when Israel offered sacrifices to God, sang worship songs to God, and went through the checklist of what they thought it meant to be a follower of God. In reality, the prophet Amos deems them worse than all the pagan nations around them due to their intentional failure to actually carry out their vocation of being God's image to the world around them. This message will cause us all to reflect on our current politics, lives, and priorities in contrast to what God's intention for His people always was.