Foretold / Prophets of the Bible | Part 7

It's the story of Amos, this prophet, had to go to Israel and he had to bring them a message. And he had to basically warn them. And what the big idea we're gonna see that God, our father, the parent, will do in our lives is he will he will send an army of destruction at any distraction.

He is not afraid to take out the distractions in our life to get our intention, to get us back to the right. Just just like the heart of my as a father to my son,

he thought I was terrible, and I was being so mean and so cruel by destroying all these things in his life. But it was in order to get him to turn back to life.

And that's really what you gotta because this gets really throat punchy today, by the way, in the passages. But when you don't hear what I'm not saying or what God's not saying, there is a warning of destruction. And in this story, an army of destruction actually does come through and wipe out Israel.

But the whole intent is, the heart of God is, I will take out any distraction to get you right back onto the right path of life. Because God is life. He is the source of life, and he needs us to see that. And any distraction is what idolatry is.

Anything we run to for life, anything we go around God, anything we hide from and run away from God, we are actually running away from life and we're harming ourself. And what God sometimes has to do is I'm distractions. But here here's the problem. If I won't separate from my distraction

or if I identify as my distraction, this is just who I am, this is what and I can't get away from it. When God destroys it, what happens to me? I'm collateral damage. That's the story.

And here's the thing. By set up, what you gotta understand is the whole prophets could be summarized if you're new here. Every story of the books of the prophets has the same outline. God loves. His people get distracted. They're unfaithful. He warns them of destruction and starts sending pain.

And then it prophesies about restoration through a Messiah. There is a hope. You can be saved. You can be rescued. That is the story of all of it. The whole story points us back to life.

And so what we're gonna look at is Amos was actually this is a weird setup because he was a farmer and a herdsman in the Southern Kingdom.

Now, the Southern Kingdom, remember we said this before. At this point, the Northern Kingdom had split off, rebelled, they had their own kings, they formed their own, they had their own temples, and they went right after idol worship. They still worship God, but they mixed it with all kinds of stuff. And so their problem was they had formed a religion that was that was basically a very, like we call it politically correct.

Meaning they put together systems of like like today, it'd be like us saying like, you know, I'm a spiritual person. I'm not gonna go all in with this, but I like this, I like that. So they mix and match. They wouldn't fully trust God's word. They would like the parts they liked and reject the parts they didn't. I'm glad we're not that stupid anymore. Right? Nobody does that. Right? And so they had this really watered down politically correct.

Basically, they decided what they liked about who God was, and then they judged God. They were the ones, and we still do that today. And so they had that going on. That was a distraction. So God says, this false worship, I'm gonna wipe it out.

And so we had a message for that. They also were at the height of their wealth and military prosperity. So here's the problem. The Northern Kingdom had never been doing so good on paper. They they they were more powerful than the Assyrians and everyone around them. They were the superpower.

They they were it says, actually, at this time in their history, most of the the the Israelites

had enough wealth that they'd own their home, and then they had, like, their cabins in the in the wilderness. They were able to have the the the cabin and the extra home, the boat, all the, you know, the the the the the suburban, you know,

chariot that holds eight or nine. All this stuff. They had great houses. Had all this stuff. The problem was they were taking advantage of the poor. And they found their pleasure at the expense of others. There was no justice. They wouldn't follow God's laws. They went. They worshipped God. But they wouldn't honor God.

In other words, they would say today like, they would go to church. But they refused to be the church. And I and I just and so that's the whole so I I think Imagine you have this message. They're super strong. They actually started bragging about their false worship.

They they they found an idol in their own because they thought, well, we're blessed. We're doing good. It's working fine. So they don't wanna listen. So in that context, imagine now you send a farmer from the South, the other kingdom, to tell you God has a warning for you. How well do you think they responded to him?

That'd be like if a Cardinals fan was sent to go to San Francisco and tell the 49ers, you're in trouble. They'd be like, we're in trouble. Look at your record. We're eight and o. We just beat you. And and and it would be true. The cardinals person would be righteous, holy, and sent from God.

But, you know, 40 aren't gonna listen. And Seahawks fans are just glad I didn't rip on you in the illustration.

And that's how they responded. Matter of fact, because his message was a warning that you're gonna get wiped out. You're gonna you're gonna not last. And they didn't wanna respond. Matter of fact, their priest of their version of serving and worshiping God was sent by the king. And the Bill Bush paraphrase is he said, hey, Amos. Go home. No one wants you around here no more. Period. They basically said, get out of here. We don't want to listen to you.

So the problem is that's why we're gonna be in chapter nine because it kind of sums up he has this vision at the altar of God is after they're rejecting him and not. And this is the final say of what's gonna happen. And it did happen forty

years after. So God's patient. This is a hundred and sixty years into them just not listening to God. And forty years later, the Assyrian army comes through and annihilates them. So this this this country that was the powerhouse economically and militarily within forty years doesn't exist anymore. They are destroyed.

And the warning to us today is this. Just Please, can you just not check out and be willing to just be humble enough to put yourself in the story and ask, could this be me? Because even though he's this is God dealing with Israel and we're not Israel,

the heart of God hasn't changed. The principles of what's said in this chapter hasn't changed. And I'll show you how it connects to the New Testament when we're done and connects to us. But just don't check out because this is important and it's throat punchy, but there's always hope in the end.

Just stay with me on this. Alright? So so here we go. We're gonna be in in, chapter nine.

And what's going to happen is he has his vision at the altar and God makes four declarations. Three of them are scary. One of them is the hope. But you can really narrow these four things down into three things. Every warning of destruction. When God says I'm going send an army of destruction, it's at our distractions.

The warning is always a call to something. It's always a call to come back to life. God doesn't want us to be destroyed. He wants us to return to life. But we can only have life if we trust him.

And so that's how it's gonna start. So there's three three things that I need to be called back to. That's what this warning is. And it still relates to us. So let's read the first one we find. The first verse it says this, then I saw a vision of the Lord standing beside the altar. He said, strike the tops of the temple columns so that the foundation will shake.

Bring down the roof on the heads of the people below. I will kill with the sword those who survive, no one will escape. That's scary. But look what he goes after. He he shares something that's both figurative

and literal. He's talking about their false worship. And that's the first thing he's gonna go after. You think you're worshiping me, but you're not. And idolatry

is an abomination to him. I am gonna wipe out your false worship. And in forty years from then, the Assyrians came in and actually knocked down and destroyed their temples. And what he's saying is, here's the problem. If you refuse to separate,

here's where it's very literal. If you're inside a building when it gets knocked down, what's gonna happen to you? If you stay in the this idol worship, you're gonna be destroyed too.

If if you stay there. In other words, what what what he's saying here is is he's going after their false worship, how they they thought they were good. They worship God, but they weren't all in. They picked and choose. They they they wouldn't really honor God. He's saying you have to stop being complacent.

The warning is saying if you stay complacent, you're going to get destroyed. Now, what it means is we get complacent. Like, were complaining. They they they kind of embraced not everything they embraced was against the word of God. But they think they were okay.

That's what complacency is. Complacency is like I come to church and I listen and I do some things, but if I hear something I don't like, I'm good where I'm at. I'm just good. You get complacent. And the more you get used to being complacent, the more complacent you get.

Basically, they were being complacent about their sin. And I know it's not a popular word to walk. We wanna just talk about the grace of God and but the grace of God doesn't mean much if we don't understand what it's grace for.

And and and and and and what we're saved from. We we we love to be saved, but do we really understand how we're saved? And and and sin is is running from God's plan. But really, sin is running from life.

It's running from life. It's running to something else that we think is gonna produce life. And God's saying that's not gonna produce life. That's only gonna produce death. And if we get complacent, God's gonna act.

You know, we live in a culture now that even even some of us sitting in here probably do this. It is really popular in our culture, even in church, to to say, we'll throw out whole sections of the Bible or discredit parts of it in order to harmonize the Bible with our beliefs.

We'll say, well, I don't care if the Bible says that. If God if God's gonna act that way, I wouldn't worship that God. You realize the the lack of logic in that? It doesn't matter what you think. If he's God, he's God. And you have a choice

to say, I'm not gonna worship God. When you get that way, you're complacent. It's because we're arrogant. It's pride. And some of us, it's fear. But fear, I think, comes from pride. I'm afraid to let go of this. I'm afraid to trust God. I'm afraid to admit that I'm broken.

That's part of the complacency and and the problem I have. The other problem with complacency when it comes to our brokenness, one of the ways we can be idol worshipers, I'm actually gonna do a series on this next year, is about our identities.

Because here's the thing. What what it's talking about is is we have to understand that God is holy and righteous and he will judge sin. He will judge sin. Like if if if you look here in the next few verses, it says this.

Even if they dig down to the place of the dead, I will reach down and pull them up. Even if they climb up into the heavens, I will bring them down. Even if they hide at the top of Mount Carmel, I will search them out and capture them. Even if they hide at the bottom of the ocean, I will send a sea serpent after them to bite them. Even if their enemies drive them into exile, I will command the sword to kill them there. I am determined to bring disaster upon them and not help them. Who's he talking about them? Those who stay complacent and refuse

to turn to God for life. And he's saying, your sin is gonna find you out. There will be judgment. But he's saying, okay, you can stay complacent. And the reason the Northern Kingdom didn't wanna listen is what they were doing seemed to be working. They had wealth. They had protection. They seemed fine.

And they said, so they were hiding in that. They're like, we're good. But he's saying, if you stay there, you realize you run, but you can't hide. He's saying, you can run from me, but you can't hide from me. And what he's describing is God's judgment, God's holiness and righteousness will eventually catch up to you.

Now that's not a popular message to hear today. You know what we love? That's a tenacious thing that God says. God says, you can hide wherever you want to hide, run wherever you want to run, but eventually

you're going to stand. He says in chapter seven, he talks about this vision of a plumb line. And he says, you've been set up next to the plumb. You know what a plumb line is? When you're you're something, it says, is it straight? Is it correct? And he says, I am the plumb line. God's word is the plumb line. I am the plumb line for your life, and you will be I have set you up against the plumb line, and you're not plumb. None of us are plumb. And he goes, so therefore, you stand under judgment and wrath because you're not holy and righteous.

And if you stay complacent and think you're fine, you're gonna get wiped out. We don't like hearing that part of God's love. You know what we love about God's love when he's tenacious? We love singing the song reckless love.

That he'll go anywhere we any highest mountain, the depths of the sea, he will pursue us with his love. But you know what comes with his love? His holiness, his righteousness, his justice.

And you know what? He will come after us. And you know what his reckless love often looks like? He wrecks our life with his reckless love for us to see that we need to not be distracted and need to trust only him for life. And if we stay stubborn, it all comes down on your head. It's not gonna work. That's an unfun topic.

We don't like to hear it. But here's the problem. I was just reading in my devotion this morning. Have a devotion from a great theologian and pastor. He died in the sixties, AW Tozer. And and and he talked about how in the sixties, before he died, he had a fear of where the church in our Western culture was going.

And he said, it is grace of God. We are saved by grace. It's through grace. God's grace is what we celebrate. But we have gotten in our culture that all we look at is Jesus of grace. We've defined Jesus by love and grace only. And the problem with love and grace only Jesus

is we then can actually make an idol out of our brokenness. Our brokenness becomes our idol. And what he was describing, this is exactly what I see today.

I see we go, oh, we need to be open and real about who we are, which we do. We need vulnerability. We need to admit we're broken. But I see now a wave of believers that we celebrate our brokenness to the point of it's become our idol. And we also almost identify with it. Well, you know, we say stuff like, I'm just the person that does this. I'm just this way. I'm just You know, and it gives you an excuse like, this is why I rip people's faces off. This is why I act judgmental. This is why I do this. This is why I I I live this way. That's just the way I am. It's the way I'm wired. But I am so thankful that Jesus loves me anyways. You know what? Jesus does love you anyway. He does rescue me. That part's right.

But you've left out part of it. You've embraced the brokenness. Like, I stay like this and Jesus loves me anyways. And if you try to challenge me, then you're intolerant, you're a jerk, and and you should and you don't judge me. The Bible says not to judge me.

No. The Bible says don't be judgmental. God judges us all the time.

And we almost you know, you get it. We almost brag about our brokenness. The problem with the Jesus that's just grace is that doesn't take you anywhere. It gives you an excuse to stay right where you are. You you turn them in the Jesus of grace only is you turn them into the Jesus of the get out of jail free card.

Well, I don't care if I landed on that. I got Jesus card right here. Oh, I did it again. Oh, I got g okay. Did it again. Sorry, Jesus. But that's who I am. Thank you. Jesus never he meets us where we're at. He loves us. He rescues us by his grace. But he never wants to leave us there.

That's called cheap grace, by the way, is the theologically said. It's cheap grace. You just I did it again. I did it again. I did it. I have no intention of growing. I just I just want to get out of jail free card. You know what you're doing yet? You've made an idol out of your sin, and it allows you to stay complacent.

Does that make sense? That's exactly what he's talking about to them. We're we haven't changed. People are people. Three thousand years ago, two thousand years, a thousand years ago, ten minutes ago, right now, when we leave here.

People will still be people, And we we need to stop being complacent because we can't we can run, but we can't hide. So the question is, what are you running to in your life?

And what is your excuse for hiding behind it? Because that's the thing with complacency. The problem with complacency, we get good at at coming up with this complicated plan that descends like, oh, I get what he's saying. He's describing me exactly. But that's not really doesn't really apply to me.

You know, get that way. You just like, that doesn't apply to me. Trusting God in this, that doesn't apply to me. We always have these hoops we jump through. You know why? I've learned this. And I coach church planters. I coach leadership.

I don't know why they ask me. I think I just say, see this? Don't do this. You'll be great. But when I coach, the number one problem I see that destroys it's not their skill set. It's not their will set. It's their mindset.

It's it's the idea that the number one things that'll destroy a leader and it also destroy us. I see it in relationships is this, a lack of self awareness, which causes blind spots. And here's the problem why that's so dangerous for a leader. Why is it called a blind spot? Because you can't see it.

And that's what makes it so dangerous.

You need to know what you don't know. But if you're arrogant and won't listen to God and won't look, you're not going to know it. And when you don't know it, you won't accept it. You get complacent with it. And that is what I see destroy more leaders than anything else. I've seen that destroy more marriages,

more relationships, more jobs situations. If you're a manager, you know what I'm talking about. You manage people, it's self awareness that usually gets you the most frustrated with someone that works for you. Because they don't have a clue how messed up they are. So many of us that's why we say get in the community.

Over and over, the Bible says iron sharpens iron. We have such a power of self deception. We need to truly be with people where we are open about our brokenness and not in an idle type of way of, hey, am so glad Jesus rescued me, but I don't know what to do about this. And then as we get more open, they can look at us and watch as they get to know us, and you get another person's perspective, they could point out your blind spot. But out of pride or fear, we get afraid of that. So a lot of us, I tried a small group, it didn't work. Because you didn't really be open or you were people that weren't open. We have to choose to really go after this. And the problem with iron sharpening iron, if you ever rubbed iron together, sparks and heat happen.

It's not pleasant, but it's better than the alternative. That's where complacency comes from. What is your blind spot? And some of us were afraid. I don't even wanna look. Because I know the monster at the end of the book is me. That's what he's talking about. We get complacent. We sit. We hide. And then we make excuses.

Now, unfortunately, the story in the Bible and what God wanted to doesn't end right there. That would be terrible. Let's just pray you're all going to hell. Good luck. So what do we do about it? Look what he says in the next few verses. He says, the Lord of heaven's armies. This is interesting. All through Amos,

the numb the top title for God is lord of heaven's armies. That's a title of God that declares his power, his might, his holiness, his glory. And it's basically a title that says, when you hear that, it says the lord of heaven's armies declares, it's saying, you don't mess with me. It's like a the parent version of saying, hey, son. I brought you into this world and I can take you out. That's the title of God. It's it's that title of like, wait till your dad gets home. Wait till you know, it's it's that title of God. And so he uses that to say, guys,

don't play games with me. I love you. But I am not to be trifled with. It's not a game.

Because then he explains. He goes, the Lord of heaven's armies touches the land and it melts and all its people mourn. The ground rises like the Nile River at flood time then it sinks again. You know what he's describing? You ever seen Thor? You know, he takes the hammer and goes and it makes him go.

What he's saying is God can do that and the whole world does it. That's why the people mourn. Freaks them out. It's like the dead go, hey. The entire world. Even Thor is like, woah. That's scary. He's saying that's who I am. Because he even finishes what he says. He says, the Lord is his name.

Everything you're running after, there is no other God but me. There's no one before me. There's no one but me. There's nothing else like me. It's what Pat talked about last week. The Shema, the prayer. And he's saying, you've forgotten. I am God. And who do you think you are?

When you doubt me, when you say, not gonna listen to that. I'm not you're thinking like, think of the arrogance. Who do we think we are that we know better than God? Go read the story of Job. See how that turned out for him.

Job didn't do anything wrong. So in the end, he's totally blessed. But he did have one lesson he needed to learn. The whole time his life was seemed to be falling apart, God had a plan, but he thought he knew better. And he goes, God owes me an explanation. Like, I can't there's no way why

God has some explaining to do is what he was saying. And he was so ticked. And so then when God finally shows up, go read. I love I love in the I think it's the the, either the New King James or the King James version. It's one of those ones I like, the old timey version. When God finally shows up and speaks to him, he says, who is this that darkens counsel with words without knowledge?

I've said that to my kid before just to mess with them. When they come in asking you the dumbest things. Because you know when you say, who is this that darkens counsel with words without knowledge? You know what that was a flowery of saying? Who's the idiot with the dumb questions? That's

what it says. Who's the idiot that has the stupid questions? And he goes, oh, so you're gonna question me? I got some questions for you. And then it goes on chapter after chapter that he he actually does this miraculous thing where he shows Job all of creation

and how he made the world. He goes, hey, were you there when I spoke this into existence?

Were you there when you were Were you there? I think he even has a little sense of humor. He shows him the hippopotamus. Were you there when I made that? Pretty weird. And then he keeps going. You know? And he just goes on and on and on. And basically, at the end, Job says, I have spoken before I thought. I am I'm an idiot, and I don't know what I'm talking about.

That's what he's saying. You see, he's saying, hey, you gotta stop being complacent because I am God and you're not.

But then it gets a little softer. Look what he says. Well, not super soft yet. He says this, verse seven. Are you Israelites more important to me than the Ethiopians? Asked the Lord. This is an important question because the Israelites, they were called God's chosen

people. The problem is they got arrogant with it. They thought chosen meant we're better than everyone else. And so where the everyone else is tainted, and we're better than them. And he goes, do you really think you're better than everyone else?

We do that today as the church, especially if you grew up in church and now your kids have grown up in church. We get generational churchgoers. We start to think of his church as the place where I circle the wagons. I keep my kids away from those heathens out there, and and and we're better than everyone else.

You know what happens when we do that? We just go to church to protect ourselves instead of being the church.

I think if God called me and said, Bill, I'm calling you to be a a prophet, which in a way that's what I do. But I'm sending you to the South Vallians. Southeast Vallians. You know, I think God would have to say to us in this area. Stop just going to church and start being the church. Quit playing games.

Be what God called us to be as the church.

Some of you that you know Jesus probably don't even know what that means.

We're missing it. Because we think, well, I know Jesus. I'm just better than everyone else. No. We're just saved. Because look what he goes on to say. You think you're more important?

I brought Israel out of Egypt, but I also brought the Philistines from Crete and let the Arameans out of Kur. The Philistines and Arameans were two of their biggest rivals and enemies. And they fought. He says, you thought you were special and they were just somebody to get wiped out. You realize I'm the one that saved them and brought them here. I brought them there. I had a plan for everybody. I'm still working. And they're gonna fall under my judgment too. And I still have a plan for them. We're gonna see when we get to the book of Jonah. Jonah goes to the Assyrians. The whole book of Jonah is even to the Israelites. He sends them to the Assyrians.

Basically, I love everybody. I have a plan. I know what I'm doing. You don't know what you're talking about. Why are you so arrogant? Because then he says, look, I, the sovereign Lord, am watching this sinful nation of Israel. I will destroy it from the face of the earth. This is harsh.

God keeps saying tilt your chin a little higher. I need an exposed spot here to punch the throat harder. But right in the middle of this, it's almost like God couldn't even get through this whole thing without revealing the other part of his heart.

He says, but I will never completely destroy the family of Israel. I think it's interesting that it's I will destroy, this nation of Israel, but I'll never destroy the family of Israel.

I think God will wipe out organizations that call himself a church. But God won't destroy his family. And the difference is relationship. Because look what he says.

For I will give the command and I will shake Israel along with the other nations. This is how he's gonna save them. Rock their world. And he goes, as a grain is shaken in a sieve, yet not one true kernel will be lost. Notice he said not one true kernel out of rock, not just Israel, all nations. God always had a plan for the whole world.

And he says, will do that, and I will save the real ones. But and he was talking about, he's talking about those who actually will turn to life. They'll turn to him. They'll come back. Because then he says, but all the sinners will die by the sword. Now he defines a sinner because we're all sinners. But what does he mean here by this definition?

All of those who say nothing bad will happen to us.

So he's saying everyone that says, I'm gonna stay complacent. Yeah, you can say what you want. I'm not really gonna trust God on that. I'm not gonna do it. I'm gonna do it my way. I'm not gonna listen. But the ones he will save is the ones that are truly the family. The ones that are true. What he's trying to say is, you need to stop being complacent. And how do we stop being complacent? Is you need to start repenting.

He's saying nobody that turns to me will ever be destroyed.

If you turn to me, you will live. If you'll turn to me, you will live. He says that all the way. He said, Amos five. It says, in the middle of that, he says, the Lord God says, turn to me and live. Now when you hear God giving a warning of destruction, he says, turn to me. It's more like turn to me because I don't like what you're doing. I like this. But and it just sounds like turn to me or else. But why does he want us to turn to him? Turn to me and live. It's not turn to me or else. It's turn to me because turning to me is the only place that life is found.

There's no other place you can turn. If you don't turn to me, you're going to die. Period. Out of his heart of love, he will send an army of destruction at you. He will wreck your life to get you to separate from the distraction and turn to him to live. But if you won't turn,

eventually that's gonna destroy you. You'll never have life. You'll never have life. So he says you gotta start repenting. Do you know what repenting means? A big bible word. It means turn around. It's all means.

It means I'm going this way and God says, don't go this way. Go that way. Turn to me. I had that happen. Last night, I was out there talking to I was walking out this way, and I forgot, you know, I had to be in here after the second. Well, I remembered subconsciously.

And that second song, subconsciously, my my brain heard it end. But then it took that second. You know how that subconscious takes a second to, you know, punch your consciousness

and remind you? And it finally went, oh, wait. The song's not playing anymore. I'm supposed to be in there. So I was walking this way, and I went, and I turned around, I ran in here. I was like out of breath and everything. And I was like, you know what that was? I repented.

That's repentance. I realized I am going the wrong way. I need to be going that way. That's that's what God said when he says return to me and live. He wants us to return to him and live. It says that name. Says it over in Ezekiel, all the prophets. You know how many times it says return to me, I'll return to you. Turn to me and live. Go this way and live. Come to me for life. God wants us to have life.

In Ezekiel 18, he says it this way in verse 23, do you think, asked the sovereign Lord, did I like to see wicked people die? Of course not. I only want them to turn from their wicked ways and live.

And then down in verse 31, put all your rebellion behind you. This is how you do that. It's you repent. Put all of your rebellion behind you and get for yourselves a new heart and a new spirit. For why should you die, oh people of Israel? I don't want you to die, says the sovereign Lord. Turn back and live.

What do you need to turn back from? What is your idol that you just will not trust God in your life? Is it your money? Is it your lifestyle? Is it is it this is is it your job? Is it relationships? Is it your sexuality? I mean, are all these things that we we we so identify with them, they become our identity.

And God says that's not who Turn from these things as idols and turn to me for life. And if you don't, he starts wrecking them. And then when he wrecks them, you think, why is he destroying me? He's not trying to destroy you. He's trying to save you. But if I won't let go, I'll go down with the ship.

That's what he's saying. But he doesn't want us to. You know what he wants us to do? Verse 11.

In that day, I will restore the fallen house of David. I will repair its damaged walls. From the ruins, I will rebuild it and restore its former glory. And Israel will possess what is left of Edom and all the nations I've called to be mine. The Lord has spoken, guess this, and he will do these things. God's gonna do this restoration he's talking about. He goes on to talk about the restoration of their land, the restoration of all this stuff. And then in verse 15, I says, I will firmly plant them there in their own land. They will never again be uprooted in the land from the land I have given them, says the Lord your God. Now what he's describing is something that's beyond perfect.

And we know from scripture that he's describing ultimately what's happening in the end of the book of Revelation when God brings a new heaven and a new earth and a new Jerusalem. And he says, at that point, I'm gonna make it all right. He's describing when Jesus comes back.

But sometimes we think, okay. So it's it's sucky now. Do what I want now. Just believe in Jesus, and eventually, it'll be all made perfect. You realize that God never intended that way. We can start living in that restoration, that hope even now. If we will repent, if we'll turn to him.

But how do what does that mean? How do I need to turn? If it's just stop being placed by returning to him, that could be very legalistic. That sounds like I just turn and I start doing the right things. Pat said last week, very good. Says, hey, you know a lot of us love Jesus as a Messiah, as a savior,

but we don't follow him as king. Some of us are the other way around. You'll follow him as king, but not as savior. Meaning, alright, the king has his edicts. Here's the rule book. I know the rules. I'm gonna do the rules, then he's gonna bless me. You think it's all about your works. No.

You gotta follow him as savior first, then king. And it's both together that brings restoration. In other words, the last point what he's trying to say here is, I need to stop being complacent. How do I do that? Start repenting. And to start repenting, we're gonna have to repent lot. We always get distracted.

And then finally, the last step is how do I do that? Is by surrendering my life to Jesus completely.

Completely. He needs to be my savior and my king.

He needs to be one that saves me, but he also needs to be the model for my life that I go after and live. Cause when I do that, I put myself in a position that he can now restore me. I now have the power. When it says in in in in Ezekiel, to get a new heart and new spirit, that's a reference to the New Testament. When we become a Christian, when we put our faith in Jesus completely, it says we now have the Holy Spirit in us. And we have the dunamis power. Dunamis is a Greek word where we get dynamite. We have the explosive power. It's that power that raised Jesus from the dead. If you are a Christian, then put your trust in Jesus. He has handed you the very power that raised Jesus from the dead to help you repent and to help you walk in following him as the king. And when I do that,

he then restores me. He then brings life back to me. He then makes life work. Matter of fact, I'll show you how it works. Like, and this is what these prophets were talking about real quick. Two passages in the New Testament. First one,

in Acts chapter three, Peter just heals a crippled beggar and the Jews are all blown away and they can't understand what's going on. And he's and he gives a sermon in the temple and he says, I can't believe you're surprised by this. In verse 12, he says he said, people of Israel, what is so surprising about this? And why stare at us as though we made this man walk by our own power of godliness? For it is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of all our ancestors

who has brought glory to his servant Jesus by doing this. The same Jesus whom you handed over and rejected before Pilate, despite Pilate's decision to release him, you rejected this holy righteous one and instead demanded the release of a murderer. You killed the author of life, but God raised him from the dead, and we are all witnesses of that.

Through faith in the name of Jesus, this man was healed. And you know how crippled he was before. Faith in Jesus name is healed him before your very eyes. Friends, I realize that what you and your leaders did to Jesus was done in ignorance. But God was fulfilling what all his prophets had foretold about the Messiah.

This is Amos chapter nine, what God has foretold, that he must suffer these things. Now repent of your sins and turn to God. So that your sins may be wiped away, then times of refreshment will come from the presence of the Lord. Then times of refreshment will come from what? The presence of the Lord.

Jesus says it in Matthew 11 when he says these words, come to me all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens. I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you because I'm humble and gentle at heart. And you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy to bear and the burden I give you is light.

You realize what both of those are saying? That's what the prophet's talking about. You need to turn to Jesus and completely. Because what did he say? Take on my yoke for my yoke is easy. We hear the rest and the easy part, but we ignore the yoke part. It is easy. It does provide rest because it's what real life is.

But it still involves making him your king. It still involves the yoke. Putting on pulling the direction he wants you to pull. Doing the mission he wants you to do. Living your life the way you want. That's when you get the life. That's when you experience the life. But you know why we think that's so hard? Is we won't let go of our idols.

I wanna be a Christian and go to church, but I don't wanna be the church. I don't wanna let go of my money. I don't wanna let go of my time. I don't wanna let go of my my pet sin. I don't wanna let go of that. I wanna do that, but then I'll try to add this stuff on to be a good boy. And when you try to do both, you're trying to pull both yokes at the same time. So then it seems impossible and the thing you wanna keep is the idol. So the part about Jesus is the part that makes it feel so hard to you. And you're like, his yoke is hard. I'm not gonna do it. And you reject it.

That's why life isn't easy. You have to surrender completely to Jesus as savior and as lord. That's where restoration happens. You know why? Because when you do that, you have a relationship with him. And here's a little what I'm trying to build to this whole big thing is simply this. Restoration results through relationship.

Showing up at church, hearing a sermon, thinking about it, when I like that thought, maybe I'll do that, maybe I won't. You know, making your faith just an intellectual thing. It's not gonna get you the the biblical seminary word is diddly squat. It's just gonna frustrate you. Because you're gonna be juggling all your gods.

You want rest? You want restoration? Surrender to a real relationship with Jesus. Which means, Jesus, you are my savior. It's only by your grace, but you're also my king. Help me walk in the life you wanted and let go. Stop being complacent and repent from those idols. And the only way you can start

walk away from one thing is to walk towards something else. Turn to him and live. I hope you listen to that. What would happen in this room if everyone who says they know Jesus really did surrender to Jesus as savior and king. What if he stopped playing games? I mean, think about this from just just the wealth in this room.

That's part of the Northern Kingdom. They had lot of wealth. You know how wealthy we are, especially out here? I read a stat that said if you're on welfare, you're still wealthier than, like, 60 to 80% of the rest of the world.

Welfare recipients receive more money per month and resources per month than 60 or 70% of the world lives on. So I'm telling you, the poorest person in this room is still one of the wealthiest persons on the planet. Why don't you honor God with your money? You know what God would do if we did that?

I wouldn't be saying let's get 7,000,000. We wouldn't have to have a fundraiser. The building would already be paid for. That's your idol for many of you.

And you know what? Ever you kinda like what I was saying when I kept it theoretical. Once I said that, some of you just got mad at me. And if you got mad at me at telling you should honor God with your money, and if this is your church, you should give here, then guess what? That's your idol.

There's no way to change it. That's your idol. It's an idol in your life because you won't trust God. That's what it means to repent. That's what it means to make Jesus king. It means to step out from your fear, your stubbornness, your pride, your arrogance, and trust God.

And you know what happens when you do that? You'll find out that his burden is actually lighter. Because you know why it's lighter? Is he takes care of you. You're not responsible for taking care of yourself at that point. You can trust him.

Maybe it's another thing, another habit, another thing you run after. I just wanted to give you one example that I knew would ruffle some feathers. Because that's now you know what Amos' job was. He had to walk into a world and say things like that. But here here's why I say it.

The problem with being complacent is we get good at being complacent. We can actually get dull to the pain because God will send warning signals. He doesn't start I mean, this was two hundred years.

It was two hundred years of warning before the Assyrians wiped them out. They had lots of moments. He actually started off by blessing them. He actually texted me. He go, you think your blessing is because of all those idols? You realize I blessed you even when you weren't listening to me. That didn't work.

The blessing didn't bring you back to me. So I'm gonna start taking them away. He was very patient, but they didn't get any of the signals until they got wiped out because they became numb to them. And I think we do that too. We can get numb to and get so complacent that we just don't take our faith serious.

And that's why the world says, why should I go to church and be a Christian? You're no different than me. There's no power in our lives. And we can be walking towards a major crisis and being wiped out without even realizing it. Let me close with this. I I remember back right after I got married,

my dad had retired because he had to have heart surgery when I was a freshman in high school. So this is like seven, eight years later. And and, I get a call from my sister, and she says, you better get over here. Dad's in the hospital. He had a massive heart attack, and they think he's gonna die.

So we couldn't get there right away. So he didn't get there till the next afternoon.

So we get there and I went right to the we didn't have the cell phones back then and stuff like that. So we're like, I just went straight to the hospital. I had no idea of what's going on. I expected maybe he'd already be dead. Did I get there in time? I get there. My mom and them aren't even there. They went home to take a shower or something because apparently he was doing so good. I walk into his room and he's like sitting up just kind of drinking some iced tea or something. And I'm like, wait, what?

I thought you're supposed to be dead. And that's my dad and I's relationship. And he goes, well, I did too. I almost did die. But now I'm alright. And he goes, hey. Turn the Suns game on. I'm like,

oh, why don't you just turn it on? You have a remote. He goes, no. They took it from me. Like, why? Well, because I was yelling at the Suns game, and they said you just had such a massive heart attack that could kill you. So they don't want me to watch the game, so turn it on. I'm like, okay. But

if you die, it's your fault. You know? And so I'm sitting there, like, what just happened? And and they said, they came in, and my mom got back, and they go, yeah. We called you because he came in, and when he first started, he was bowling the the the morning before, started to have a little bit of a shoulder pain because I'm old. I've you know, it's just it's not that big of a pain. Went home. It wouldn't go away. My mom says, you know, you know, know it's a little pain. We should probably go get you checked out. He's like, Then a little while later, was sitting there, he finally says, okay. So he grabbed his keys, left. Even tell my mom. And he just drove himself to the hospital.

And then they go in, they put him on EKG. They come running in. The guy that took the test read the report, said, okay. Did you do this and this and this? Because this guy's probably already dead. How long has he been unconscious? They go, he just walked in here fifteen minutes ago on his own. And there they walked in and they go, mister Bush, you are having a massive heart attack. On the Richter scale, we never see I don't know how you're even talking to us is what they said. It makes no sense. You should be dead. Now as it progressed, he started having these aftershock things, and he did go unconscious, and he slipped in, and they said this might be the end of him. Because they were surprised he hadn't already died.

But then he got better. Now better was still a marginal term. But when they found out, they came back, they did some tests, they go 35 of his heart died. They were we can't understand how more of it didn't die,

but but it is. The only thing that did is 35% is he had to be really couldn't get too active or he get which actually ended up being a blessing for my mom's stuff because if he started to get mad and argue with you, if he got really upset, he'd start going, you got a girl and he had to sit down and shut up. My mom's like, I could get used to this.

My sister and I would just start pushing his buttons just to see him do it, which probably wasn't safe. But but they said that, and then and then they they said, well, how did this even happen? Why would you not know? And they said it's because he'd been a diabetic for so long.

You hear about diabetic diabetes causing bad nerve pain? It also deadens nerves.

So it can cause you to not feel pain. That's why you can end up with a cut on your foot and end up infected and on. You don't even notice it because you don't feel it like you should. You need to inspect. And so it's like what should have been an excruciating

pain, they said it should have made you not even be able to move your arm, just felt like a little, I can deal with that.

Please, have you become so complacent that God's warning signals of a spiritual heart attack Don't feel like that big of a deal to you right now.

Don't wait until it's too late. Stop being complacent. Start repenting by surrendering to Jesus completely.

Amen. Father God, thank you, Lord. Thank you that you do love us enough that you will send an army of destruction against any distraction. So Lord, I pray for myself and everyone in this room that we would have the courage and the clarity to step away from the distractions. Turn towards you. Turn to life.

And Lord, whenever we are struggling, Lord, may we may we just cry out the words of your servant David when he said, search my heart and show any way in me that is contrary to you. God, that is my prayer for myself and everyone in this room. And I thank you that you love us enough to pursue us even to the point of pain

in order to get our attention. I just thank you and I pray this in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.