Each time the prophet Amos returned to the City of Jerusalem, he was repulsed to see how God’s people had turned from their true worship of God, and how such apostasy had affected their love for one another. Amos said, in effect, they had violated God’s commandment, and therefore they should prepare for God’s judgment.

Again, Amos might well have been standing in the streets of America, for we are on the precipice of God’s judgment, and in many ways, we are already there.  The title of this sermon is “Return to Me! The Lord God Has Spoken.”

The Old Testament Book of Amos has a severe warning for God’s people today. In Amos’ day, as in ours, the rule of law was despised; the nation’s leaders were not only contributing to the breakdown of law and order, they were causing it, and the standards of morality were so low the people openly practiced all kinds of sexual sins.

The prophet, Amos stood in the street of Israel and proclaimed, “Repent, and return unto God, or prepare to receive the just judgment of God.” Amos might well have been standing in the streets of America, for we are on the precipice of God’s judgment, and in many ways, we are already there.

What is missing in Christianity today is what was missing in the gospel presentations of the last century.

How did we get from “ye must be born again” to “just pray and ask Jesus into your heart”?
How did we get from “repent, for the Kingdom of God is at hand”, to “God has a wonderful plan for your life”?
How did we get from “If any man come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, daily, and follow me” to “You don’t have to change your habits; just trust Jesus Christ as your Savior and become one of His followers?”

While it appears to us that everything about our way of life is falling apart, as far as God’s unfolding drama of redemption, everything is falling into place, just as God ordained it to be at the end of this age. Therefore, our hope is not for the return of our American way of life, but rather in the soon return of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ!

This sermon will conclude our series on God’s Unfolding Drama of Redemption. This week, our focus will be upon our final state: “A New Heaven and a New Earth”

Faith, Resistance, & Going the Distance, Hebrews 12:1-2

“Time is so short, and the work which we have to do in it is so great that we have none of it to spare. The work which we have to do to prepare for eternity must be done in time, or it never can be done.”

Jonathan Edwards made that profound statement in the early 1700s, and if it was true then, it must certainly be true today. As Christians, we dare not say, because the times are evil, we might as well surrender to the culture. Our assignment is to preach the gospel with our lips and our lives and allow the Holy Spirit to do His work in us and through us.

In our next sermon in this series, “God’s Unfolding Drama of Redemption,” we will look at “Life in the Millennial Kingdom.”

The Bible says as this age comes to a close, there will be three attempts to destroy the nation of Israel.

The Psalm 83 war – Israel’s neighboring nations will attempt to “destroy them as a nation, so that Israel’s name is remembered no more.” (Psalm 83:4)
The Isaiah 17 war – Syria will provoke Israel to completely destroy the city of Damascus “from being a city; it shall be a ruinous heap.” (Isaiah 17:1)
The Gog-Magog war – the largest military force to ever come against the nation of Israel will ascend upon them “like a cloud to cover the land,” but God will show His “greatness and His holiness” in such a way the whole world will know that He is Lord. (From Ezekiel 38-39)

In our next sermon in this series, “God’s Unfolding Drama of Redemption,” we will look at “The Repudiation of Gog and Magog.”   

In Revelation 3:10, Jesus promised the Church at Philadelphia, “Because you have kept My command to persevere, I will keep you from the hour of trial which shall come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth.” Jesus was speaking of that seven-year period of time called the Tribulation, or as theologians call it, Daniel’s 70th week.

However, while the wrath of God is poured out on those who rejected Christ, and the world is being ruled by the Antichrist, true believers will be standing before the Judgment Seat of Christ. In 2 Corinthians 5:10, Paul said, “We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each of us may receive what is due us for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.” The judgment seat of Christ does not determine our salvation; that was settled by our faith alone in Christ alone. The judgement seat of Christ will determine the value of our lives in relationship to the Kingdom of God, and therefore our rewards.

With catastrophic events happening worldwide each day, even many unbelievers are asking if we are living in the last days. According to the Scriptures, the “last days” began with the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the grave, and they will end with His return to the earth as the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. That will be the “Day of the Lord.

In our next sermon in this series, “God’s Unfolding Drama of Redemption,” we will look at “The Two Events That Precede the Day of the Lord.”

The Feast of Rosh Hashanah is a picture of the Rapture of the Church. This year, Rosh Hashanah will begin at sundown on September 8 and continue until sundown on September 9. Will this be the “last trump?”

“For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God.”1 Thessalonians 4:16-17
“In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall all be changed.”1 Corinthians 15:52