Tonight we began looking at the book of Amos, written just before Isaiah’s ministry began. Some prophets (e.g. Ezekiel) were priests; others were of noble lineage (e.g. Daniel), but Amos was a shepherd, an ‘ordinary’ person called by God to speak out His word. God can use us, no matter what our background or profession!

The opening verses about the lion roaring and thundering (Amos 1:2) are reminiscent of the end of Joel (Joel 3:16), and it’s possible that Joel’s words, spoken about 60 years previous to this, were still echoing throughout Israel’s history. The book of Amos begins with God’s judgment on the nations surrounding Israel (see the map here). We might ask why these nations were judged by God when they did not have God’s law, but as Rom 1:18-23 makes plain, God has revealed Himself in various ways and man’s conscience is from Him, giving us an indication of right from wrong (even if, as these verses explain, we choose to ignore this to the point of no longer hearing His voice.) The surrounding nations were acting with great violence and aggression, selling people in slavery, savaging even pregnant women and showing no compassion or mercy at all. It must have seemed a relief to Israel to hear that God would not overlook such sin, but would judge the nations for their actions.

The God of justice will not let sin have the last word, and this is encouraging to know. But as the rest of Amos makes clear, judgment is not reserved simply for those who do not know God. Judgment begins with God’s household, Peter tells us (1 Pet 4:17), and Amos makes it plain that with a knowledge of God comes greater responsibility.

The prefix ‘re‘ means ‘back’ or ‘again’ and is found in many English words (e.g. ‘return‘, meaning to turn back, or ‘rearrange‘, meaning to arrange again.) It’s a reminder that things don’t have to stay the same; circumstances – and people – can be changed.

When we repent, we turn back to God (we are ‘sorry again’ for our sins, as the etymology of the word indicates) and are re-born (John 3). God restores us to the relationship mankind once had of being His children. He refuels and refreshes us each day, recharging us by the power of HIs Spirit, re-filling us when we run dry. He has redeemed us (bought us back) and revived us (given us new life, brought us back from death to life.) He remembers that we are from dust and so we are not consumed. (Ps 103:14)

Eccl 1:9 reminds us that there is nothing new under the sun. We often crave new experiences, but perhaps we need to reacquaint ourselves with this lovely prefix and realise afresh that there is power in the ‘again’ of God.

Young children love to play repetitive games; I remember my son throwing his baseball cap off on the swing and loving it when we put it back on his head, just so that he could throw it off again! Now I have the joy of reading stories to my grandchildren, reaching the end of the book only to hear their ‘again!’ Maybe we need to recapture this spirit, coming to God with our own plea ‘again!’

Revive us, Lord.

Restore us.

Refresh us.

Refuel us.

Reinvigorate us.

Do it again, we pray.

In school, we are taught when writing to consider the audience and to think about the purpose of the written work. Are you writing to persuade or to describe? Are you writing to explain or to argue a point? Are you writing for children or adults? These things influence how you write: a technical article will look very different to a fairy story, for example.

Peter says that he wrote both his letters ‘as reminders to stimulate you to wholesome thinking.’ (2 Pet 3:1) The Message version says the letters are ‘reminders to hold your minds in a state of undistracted attention.’ The Voice version says, ‘I have tried to inspire you to a sincere and pure way of thinking by reminding you of what you already know.’

‘Wholesome’ means something which is good for you and likely to improve your life. How we think, what we ponder, where we let our thoughts rest has the power to either build us up or tear us down. Paul gives us a list of wholesome thinking in Phil 4:8: whatever is true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent or praiseworthy, these are the things we should think about!

Peter’s letters go over the basics of the faith and remind us of truths that will always help us. 1 Peter’s purpose has been described as giving us ‘confidence in a complex world;‘. We can be sure that when we spend time in the Bible, this will stimulate us to wholesome thinking, and the subsequent result from this will be to improve our lives physically, emotionally and spiritually. Life lived from God’s perspective and according to His will will always be good for us.

Dave spoke tonight about Sarah, wife of Abraham, looking in particular at Heb 11:11-12. Abraham is often referred to as the father of faith and little is really said about his wife, Sarah, but in Heb 11:11 we see that Sarah’s faith is mentioned and we should remember that God remembers all who follow Him, however insignificant we may find them. In Is 51:2, we are urged to look to Abraham and to Sarah, and certainly in this woman, we see faith revealed in different ways.

Sarah was a dutiful wife who served her husband well (when she died, Abraham wept bitterly and grieved for her.) She looked after Abraham and his family, was a good mother to Isaac and acted as a hostess for her husband on many occasions. She clearly shared her husband’s faith and coped well with his nomadic lifestyle, which cannot have been easy. Her character, even when war was involved (as in the case when Abraham fought for his nephew, Lot), reflects her trust in God. She accepted that God had called them to a pilgrim lifestyle and showed composure and serenity on many occasions. Even when her faith wavered (as it appeared to do when told she would bear a son in her old age), she came through stronger, because she learned to trust God. When Abraham and Isaac disappeared on God’s command (Gen 22), she remained steadfast in her trust.

Sarah did not, therefore, give in to fear, and in this, she becomes a role model for her. She realised the truth Paul later expressed in Rom 8:31, that if God is for us, who can be against us? She remained confident of God’s love (see Rom 8:37-39) and knew that He was faithful to all His promises. The grace of God was not found wanting in Sarah, and these aspects of God’s character are what we can rely on today.

Garry continued his series on Joseph this mornig, looking at Gen 39:19-23. It had taken Joseph years to get to the position of responsibility he had with Potiphar and yet this was destroyed in a moment by Potiphar’s spurned and vengeful wife. Life can be like this, with our world tumbling around us like a pack of cards, even when we have no idea why or have done nothing wrong. As Eccl 3:1-2 reminds us, there is a time for everything, and sometimes things come to an end when we least expect it. When this happens, there is often much grief and mourning (see Ex 34:5-8, Josh:1-2), but Joseph shows us how to live in the morning, not live in the mourning.

It’s hard when relationships and ministries end, especially if the end feels premature to us. Joseph suffered because he had done the right thing, not the wrong thing, but he did not react as many of us do and blame God. He lived by the principle ‘what’s true in the light is true in the dark’ (‘Weep With Me’, Rend Collective) and trusted God even when he could not trace His hand. Phil Wickham reminds us that God has a different perspective to us on life: ‘When all I see are the ashes, You see the beauty/ When all I see is a cross, God, You see the empty tomb.’ (‘Battle Belongs’, Phil Wickham.)

The cross seemed like total failure, humiliation, a crushing defeat, but the cross was not the end of the story. There was resurrection to come: an empty tomb and victory. For Joseph, victory was around the corner, but he could not see that at this point in his life. His reputation was smashed; his life seemed in broken pieces. God was still working for good even while he was in prison, still training him and using him. Joseph stayed true to God and worked with God and His plan, not giving up. The question for us is will we stay faithful? Will we stop at the cross or will we see the stone rolled away?

Moses had been carrying his shepherd’s staff, that ordinary piece of wood, for many years and nothing dramatic had ever happened with it. But when Moses listened to God and allowed Him to work through him, the staff became ‘the staff of God’ (Ex 4:20) and became capable of the miraculous. It was this staff which would later enable Moses to part the Red Sea (Ex 14:16), bring water out of a rock (Ex 17:5-6) and defeat enemy armies. (Ex 17:9) There was absolutely nothing special about the staff. What was special was God working through it.

This is so true of us too. When God asks us, ‘What is that in your hand?’, He is essentially asking us to name our ordinariness, whatever we have which seems so very mundane and inadequate to us. But we need to understand that if we surrender what is in our hand to God, miracles can happen.

Samson slayed hundreds of Philistines with the jawbone of a donkey. (Judges 15:15) It wasn’t the jawbone itself that was special. What was special was ‘the Spirit of the Lord came powerfully upon him.’ (Judges 15:14)

David killed Goliath with a slingshot and five stones. It wasn’t just that he was a good shot; he defeated Goliath because of his trust in God: ‘You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the Lord Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied.’ (1 Sam 17:45) David used the ordinary things he had and was familiar with, rather than the armour of Saul, but it was God who gave him the victory.

The young boy gave his picnic lunch to Jesus and that lunch fed over 5000 people. It wasn’t that he brought a massive lunch; the miracle happened because Jesus, the Bread of Life, was present. (John 6:1-13)

We don’t need anything ‘extra’ to do God’s will. We don’t need any new, special gifting. We don’t need to pass an exam or earn more money or do something special. We just need to give ourselves wholly to God and realise that He is the One who is going to do the miracles. God called Moses to lead His people out of Egypt, and that was something way, way beyond Moses’s capabilities. But it was not beyond God’s. And this ordinary staff of Moses would become something extraordinary when he used it as God commanded. God is just as capable of using our ordinariness, whatever is in our hands, to achieve extraordinary things. All He needs is our surrender and submission.