Shabbat Shalom, everyone. Okay, I was told many years ago by a brother, he said, "Brother Gideon, if the Lord ever gives you an opportunity to preach the Word, make sure that you make much of Yeshua the Messiah." And I felt that that was a good, healthy word of encouragement. And I do believe that in every study of the Word of God, we always can make sure to point to the person of Yeshua, of Yeshua, Jesus, the Messiah of Israel, and the Savior of the world. And even, beloved brothers and sisters, in the study of the Book of Amos, we can find so much that will direct us into the person of Yeshua, the Messiah.

So today, in this ministry meeting, we are starting with the study of the prophet Amos. So please, or you say it in English, Amos, but please turn to the prophet Amos in your Bible. And I would like to read today only the first two verses by way of introduction. So I'm reading Amos chapter 1 and verses 1 and 2. And so we read: "The words of Amos, who was among the herdmen of Tekoa, which he saw concerning Israel, in the days of Uzziah, king of Yehuda, and in the days of Yeruvam, the son of Yoash, king of Israel, two years before the earthquake. And he said: "The Lord will roar from Zion, and utter his voice from Yerushalayim, and the habitations of the shepherds shall mourn, and the top of Carmel shall wither." And I'm stopping here with the first two verses of Amos chapter 1.

Now, just by way of introduction, we must remember that the prophets of Israel have spoken to our nation, of all the people of Israel, in various periods of time in Israel's history. Some have spoken to the whole nation, namely the whole kingdom of Israel, others have spoken to the nations after their divided condition, and others have spoken to the people of Judah after they have returned from captivity, after being in the land of Babel for 70 years and returned to the land of Judah, to the land of Israel. And so when we study the prophet of Amos, we must understand to whom did Amos speak? What was the message that he had to convey to the people of Israel?

What is the background upon which we find this man by the name of Amos speaking to the people of Israel? Notice what we read in Amos chapter 1 and verse 1, "The words of Amos, who was among the herdmen of Tekoa, which he saw," notice that, "which he saw concerning Israel." So, immediately, you open such a passage in the Tanakh, that is in the Old Testament, and you want to know the background. The background and the time in which Amos have spoken to our own people, the nation of Israel. One thing we do learn from this passage, that Amos is spoken, he saw concerning Israel in the days of," notice verse 1, "Uziah, the king of Yehudah, and Yeruvam, the son of Yoash, the king of Israel." Now, for the background, just for us all to grasp what we are, where we find ourselves in the study of the book of Amos, I would like you for a moment to turn with me back to 1 Kings chapter 11 in your Bibles, just so we will have the background before us.

Turn to 1 Kings chapter 11, and I would like to read a few verses there. In fact, I'm going to read verses 9 to verse 13. 1 Kings chapter 11, verses 9 to 13. You remember what we read in 1 Kings chapter 11? We are in the time in which King Solomon reigned over the whole nation of Israel. King Solomon was the son of King David. King David was the second king of our people Israel. He was the second king. He was the one that reigned after Shaul, was the first king who was the choice of men rather than the choice of God. But David, Melech Israel, David the king of Israel, was the king that was a man after God's own heart.

God have allowed him to be the first really, you might say, the choice of God for the people of Israel. David died. His son, Shlomo, Solomon became the king of Israel. In the time of the reign of Solomon, in the beginning it was a wonderful kingdom of Israel during the reign of Solomon, the reign of Shlomo. But from there on things went bad, went sour. We read in 1 Kings chapter 11, verse 1 first of all, "But King Solomon loved many strange women. "Together with the daughter of Pharaoh, women of the Moabites, the Ammonites, the Edomites, the Sidonites, and the Hittites, and from there on we find out that King Shlomo had 700 wives, 300 concubines, and he departed from the ways of the Lord." And it was not like in the times of all, in the beginning of his kingdom.

In fact, what we read, the next verses a little bit later on in verse 9, "That the Lord was angry with Solomon, because his heart was turned from the Lord God of Israel, which had appeared unto him twice." In verse 10 we read, "And had commanded him concerning these things, that he should not go after other gods. "But he kept not that which the Lord commanded." Verse 11 says, "Wherefore the Lord said unto Solomon, "For as much as this is done of thee, "and thou hast not kept my covenant and my statues which I have commanded thee," Notice what it says at the end of verse 11, "I will surely rend the kingdom from thee, and will give it to thy servant." Now imagine, King Shlomo received from his father the kingdom of Israel.

Israel was a united one nation called Yisrael, "Descended of Abraham, Yitzchak and Yaakov, one nation under God." Shlomo became a king over the nation of Israel, "But surely, slowly but surely, he departed from the ways of the Lord, and the Lord was angry with King Solomon." And the Lord said to him, "Because of this, I will surely rend the kingdom from thee, and I will give it to thy servant." And you see, beloved brothers and sisters, here is this favored nation of Israel, favored people of God who had such a privilege to be under the living God, a kingdom that would be such a wonderful testimony to the world, but time passes by." And Shlomo departed from the Lord.

God was righteously angry. And he says, "I will judge you, and I will take your kingdom away from you, and will give it to your servant." But you notice what God said in verse 12 of 1 Kings chapter 11, "Notwithstanding, or nevertheless, even though you have done what you have done, in thy days I will not do it for David thy father's sake, but I will rend it out of thine hand, the hand of thy son. For David my servant's sake, and for Jerusalem's sake, which I have chosen." In other words, God is saying to Shlomo, "Even though you have done what you have done, I will rend the kingdom out of you, I'm going to give it unto another servant of yours, but you know what, for David's sake, I'm not going to take all the kingdom and all the tribes away from you.

I will retain one tribe for David my servant's sake, and that will be the tribe of Judah, the tribe of Yehudah." And so time passes by, beloved brothers and sisters. Notice, we are in 1 Kings in chapter 12 now. In the first few verses, we find out that now Solomon died. At the end of chapter 11, verse 43, Solomon slept with his father, and he was buried in the city of David, his father. And Rechovam, his son, reigned in his stead. At the end of chapter 11, 1 Kings 11, verse 43, you have now another king to reign over the whole nation of Israel, but his name was no longer Solomon because Shlomo died, his son Rechovam reigned in his stead.

Now look how what happened. Because God have already said, "I will surely rend the kingdom from thee, and I will give it to thy servant." God is going to fulfill what he promised to Shlomo and to rend the kingdom away from Solomon's son by the name of Rechovam. We are now in chapter 12 of 1 Kings. Rechovam, according to here, we read in verse 1, "And Rechovam went to Shechem, for all Israel will come to Shechem to make him king." And then verse 2 begins the story of how the whole nation of Israel was divided into two kingdoms. It says in verse 2, "It came to pass when Jerobam," "notice a different name, Rechovam and Yerobam." "Rechovam was the son of Solomon." "Yerobam was that servant of whom we read earlier that God said that he will give the kingdom to his servant." "Yerobam was one of the servants of King Solomon." And now we find out that this Yerobam, who was actually a descendant of the tribe of Ephraim, now he became a leader over the northern, you might say, the tribes of Israel, all the remaining tribes beside Judah itself.

And so we read in 1 Kings chapter 12 and verse 3, "They sent and they called him, and Yerobam and all the congregation of Israel came to speak to Rechovam, and they said to them." I don't want to read all the verses there. So now Yerobam became the leader of the northern kingdom of Israel, while Rechovam was the king of Israel now, but he was from the tribe of Judah. Now Yerobam is the leader coming to Rechovam, and notice what he said, on behalf of all the rest of the nation of Israel, he speak to Erechovam, and they said to him, "Thy father," look at verse 4, "Thy father made our yoke grievous.

Now therefore make thou the grievous service of thy father, and his heavy yoke which he put upon us lighter, and we will serve thee." So Yerobam, the leader of the northern tribe of Israel coming to Rechovam, the king of Israel, and they said to him, "You know, listen, your father gave many, put on us much, you might say, yoke, many taxes, much payment to pay, all sort of things that he put upon us, but you know, if you will make it a little bit easier for us, take less taxes, put less heavy load upon us, we will serve you." So Erechovam said to them, "You know what?

Go for three days, and I will come with an answer. Or come back to me after three days, and I will give you an answer." So you know what he does? Like many times you and I do, he first of all goes to the elder men, verses 6 and on, and he asks them, "Hey, elders, what should I do? The northern tribes came to me and they asked me to light their load and they promised to serve me. What should I do?" So the elders of Israel said to him, they said, "You know what? Do this." Just like, notice verse 7, "If you will be a servant unto these people this day and will serve them and answer them and speak good words to them, then they will be thy servants forever." Erechovam, "Listen, make things light for them, they will serve you." So Erechovam left the council of the older men and they went to his buddies, to his friends, to the younger generation.

And the younger one, notice that he says in verse 8, 1 Kings 12:8, "He forsook the council of the old men which they had given him, and he consulted with the young men that were grown up with him and which stood before him." He said to them the very same thing, "Hey, friends, what shall I do? Here is the whole northern kingdom, tribes of Israel came to me and they said to me that I will make life easier for them a little bit and they're going to serve me. What should I do? What is your opinion?" So you notice what the young men told him? It says here very sadly, verse 10 of 1 Kings chapter 12, "The young men that were grown up with him spake unto him, saying, thy father made our yoke heavy, but make thou it lighter unto us.

Thus shalt thou say unto them, my little finger shall be thicker than my father's loins." In other words, what he's really, they told him, "No, no, don't be fooled." In other words, make things even heavier than what your father has done and don't listen to them. They should submit to you because after all, you are the king of Israel. So you know what happened. In the next verses, as you read, "He said to them, I will add to your yoke." Verse 11b, "My father has chastised you with whips and I will chastise you with scorpions." And we read in verse 12, "So Yerobam, and all the people came to Echobam the third day, and the king had appointed, saying, come to me again on the third day." And the king told them, instead of what the counsel that he received from the wise elderly people of Israel, he listened to the immature young one who gave him wrong counsel and wrong advice.

And beloved brothers and sisters, we find out that from there on the nation of Israel were divided. If you will look at these verses from verse 16 of 1 Kings chapter 12, there was no longer one nation called Israel. There were two nations called Yisrael in the north and Yehuda in the south. It says in verse 16, "So when all Israel saw that the king hark cannot unto them, the people answered the king saying, what portion have we in David? Neither have we inheritance in the son of Jesse. To your tents, O Israel, now see to thine own house David. So Israel departed unto their tents." And from there on, beloved brothers and sisters, there were no longer one nation.

There were two nations in the history of our people, the people of Israel. Rechov'am reigned for about 17 years, from about 920 BC to 911. Sometime during that time, Israel was already a divided nation, which God was not pleased with. God wanted his people to be united. He wanted to have one nation called Israel under God. He will give them instruction. They in turn will be a good testimony to the world concerning the true and living God. But look what happened now. A divided nation, a proud man, which caused all this division because of his self-will and pride and arrogance. And yet the rest of the tribes who didn't want to be under King Rechov'am and the nation of Israel was a divided nation.

What sad conditions have existed in the division? That's how we get to Amos in a moment. By the time that we read the history of Rechov'am and Yeruv'am and the division of Israel, sometime around 928, 930 BC or in the middle of his years, sometime the division of the nation of Israel. And now we don't have any longer one nation. We have a divided nation. While God wanted Israel to be one nation. By application to the body of Messiah, to the believers in the church age, in the assembly age, it's very much the same. You read Acts chapter 2 and then we read all were there with one accord in one place, gathered together unto the name of Yeshua the Messiah.

The community of the believers were together, but it didn't take too long. And the assembly, the church, the ecclesia was practically divided. Divisions crept in, all sorts of things that are crept in. And we find again and again the apostle Paul and Peter and James and Jude and others are appealing to the believers to have one mind, to have one purpose, to have one object, to walk carefully with each other, to be gentle with each other, to forgive each other, to bear with one another, endeavor to keep the unity of the Spirit in bond of peace, as the apostle Paul said in Ephesians chapter 4. But in practice we fail.

Like Israel of old, our own people had failed and the nations have been divided. But I would like to suggest, so for about 750 years passed by since the time about. Since the time that Amos was called to preach his message to the northern kingdom of Israel. It didn't take too long, beloved brothers and sisters, where the condition, the spiritual condition of the northern kingdom, also the southern kingdom, deteriorated from bad to worse. In fact, if you are still in 1 Kings, notice that in the very same chapter, chapter 12, 1 Kings chapter 12. Notice what happened there in the next verses. Look at what it says here in verse 25.

1 Kings chapter 12, verse 25. Then Jeroboam built in the Mount of Ephraim, and he dwelled therein, and he went out from thence, and he built Penoel. And Jeroboam said in his heart, listen to this, brothers and sisters. Jeroboam said in his heart, Now shall the kingdom return to the house of David? If these people go up to do a sacrifice in the house of the Lord at Jerusalem, then shall the heart of these people turn again to their Lord, namely to Rehoboam the king, even unto Rehoboam, king of Judah, and they shall kill me and go again to Rehoboam, king of Judah. Whereupon the king to counsel, and listen to this, what a sad condition.

And he made two kelvs of gold, and said unto them, It is too much for you to go up to Yerushalayim. Behold thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. And he set one in Bethel, and the other he put in Dan. And this thing became a sin, for the people went to worship before the one even unto done. The condition of the people of Israel was so sad, beloved brothers and sisters, the condition of the people of Israel was so sad and they ended up to build golden calves. Just the same like our forefathers built the golden calf when they came out of the land of Egypt and Moses went to Mount Sinai, so they built the golden calf and Israel said, where is this Moses?

Where is he? He said to Aaron, make us gods that we will worship. And they ended up worshiping the golden calf. Now Yeruvam, who departed from the king of Israel, Rechovam, ended up building a golden calf, but not only one, he built the two. And he said to them, behold thy gods, verse 28, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. what a condition. You can just imagine how sad it was no longer going to the meeting place in the city of Yerushalayim, no longer going to worship the Lord in the temple where he set his name, no longer enjoying to keep the celebration which God had given to our people Israel, the feasts of Jehovah, and instead introducing false religion, false worship, false approach to God.

In other words, it was a man-made religion, no longer the truth of the word of God. Doesn't it remind us what we just recently read in 2 Timothy chapter 3, having a form of godliness but denying the power thereof. Religion, we have now two golden calves, one of them in Dan, no longer going to Yerushalayim to worship in the temple, and we're going to go to Dan, we're going to worship the golden calf, and we will say that these are the gods that brought you out of the land of Egypt. It says in 1 Kings chapter 12, 12, this thing became a sin. For the people went to worship before the one even unto Dan.

And if you know the map of Israel, Dan is completely in the north of Israel. While Jerusalem is in the center of the land of Israel, Dan is the place that is far north where the golden calf was built built there by Jeroboam, and he led the nation of Israel, the northern kingdom, further and further from the things of God. It all began sometime at about 930 or so B.C., and by the time that Amos was preaching, all things have gotten from bad to worse, from evil to evil, further and further and further from the Lord. And I would like to say this, beloved brothers and sisters, as we mentioned earlier, if you and I are not going to take the time to spend with the Lord Jesus, the Messiah, and reading his word and praying and spending time with the believers in the local assembly under the spiritual guidance of the things of God, we are not different than anybody else.

In no time you will watch your life. You will see that how you will drift. It doesn't take too long and we are going to be carrying ourselves further and further we are not going to pray anymore, we are not going to read the Bible anymore, we are not going to spend time with the people of God, we don't have the things of God anymore in our life. We will find another solution to satisfy our flesh and we find out that in no time it will become, it says here, this thing became a sin for the nation of Israel. And now, before we are going to speak about Amos Amos, on those few first verses, I would like you to turn to 2 Kings for a moment.

If you turn with me to 2 Kings, now look at it. In 1 Kings, we find out the first man by the name of Yeruvam. But when we read in Amos chapter 1, we remember what we read in verse 1, the words of Amos who was among the herdmen of Tekoa, which he saw concerning Israel in the days of Uzziah, the king of Judah, and Jerobam, the son of Yoash, the king of Israel. Now, Israel had more than one king. In fact, by the name of Yeruvam, Israel had two kings by the name of Yeruvam. If you notice there, at the top, the kings of Israel on this chart, Jerobam the first, number one, and then if you will notice here, there is Jerobam the second, Jerobam chapter, the second one, and by the time that Jerobam the second one was reigning is between 782 to 745 B.C.

Time has passed by and the new, you must say, many kings have been reigning over the northern kingdom, you have Nadav, you have Baasha, you have Elah, you have Ziman, you have Omri, you have Achav, you have Azariah, you have Yehoram, you have Yehu, you have Yehoiachaz, you have your Ash, and here we have the second Yeruvam who reigned at about 782 to 745, and he is the one that reigned when Amos was speaking and preaching the message to the northern kingdom of Israel. Now, beloved brothers and sisters, every king without exception all the way to the bottom did evil in the sight of the Lord in the northern kingdom.

Only a few kings in the southern kingdom, Judah, have pleased the Lord and lived for him and led our people of all the people of Israel in the right way. but everyone, notice this, without exception, evil, all of them without exception have done evil in the sight of the Lord, which made it necessary for God to bring a judgment upon his very own people whom he loved so much. God loved his people and he will eventually discipline his people because his people whom he loved cannot continue on in their way and eventually the judgment will come upon them. upon them. I ask you to turn to 2nd Kings and I would like to read a few verses there.

If you may, please allow me in 2nd Kings chapter 17. By the time we are in 2nd Kings chapter 17, we read the story that led to the preaching of Amos which led to 722 B.C. when Israel were taken captive by the Assyrian at about 722 B.C. Amos preached a bit earlier somewhere between 750 - 760 B.C. 40 years before Israel were taken captive to the land of the Assyrian. Look at what we read. Sad commentary. Sad commentary. in 2nd Kings chapter 17 and verse 7. Please listen up. You can follow me in your Bible. It says, "For it was that the children of Israel had sinned against the Lord their God which had brought them up out of the land of Egypt from under the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt and had feared other gods." Verse 8, "And walked in the statues the heathen whom the Lord cast out from before the children of Israel and of the kings of Israel which they had made." Verse 9, "And the children of Israel did secretly those things that were not right against the Lord their God and they built them high places in all their cities from the tower of the watchmen to the fan city." In other words, they have already built everywhere high places where they could go and worship this idol and that idol and the other idol.

They have turned further and further and further from the Lord. Verse 10, we read 2 Kings 17, verse 10, "And they set them up images and groves in every high hill and under every green tree. and there they burnt incense to all the high places as did the heathen whom the Lord carried away before them and wrought wicked thing to provoke the Lord to anger. And they served idols whereof the Lord had said unto them ye shall not do this thing. Yet the Lord testified against Israel and against Yehudah by all the prophets and by all the seers that is including Amos where we are going to look into his prophecy against the people of Israel.

And God said to him through all the prophets he said to Israel saying, "Turn ye from your evil ways. Keep my commandments and my statutes according to all the law which I have commanded your fathers and which I sent to you by my servants the prophets." But look at this how sad. Notwithstanding verse 14 they would not heal but hardened their necks like to the neck of their fathers that did not believe in the Lord their God and they rejected listen beloved brothers and sisters they rejected his statutes and his covenant that he made with their fathers and his testimony which he had testified against them.

and they followed vanity and became vain and went after the heathen that were round about them concerning whom the Lord had charged them that they should not do like them. And they left all the commandments of the Lord their God and made them molten images even and notice that we just read in 1 Kings 12 about the two calves here in 2 Kings chapter 17 and verse 16 even two calves and made a grove and worshipped all the hosts of heaven and served Baal. Now imagine that as it says here before us look at the the commentary about the history of our own people Israel the northern kingdom that departed from the will of the Lord and notice what it says in verse 18 beloved brothers and sisters therefore the Lord was very angry with Israel and removed them out of his sight and there was none left but the tribe of Judah only.

in other words the division of the nation have occurred when God had to remove the people of Israel at about 722 BC out of the land of Israel and he brought the Assyrians and the Assyrians came and took them captive all the way to Assyria and those people of Israel the ten we would call them the ten tribes of Israel were dispersed all over the world the then known world by the Assyrians but at the time of Yeruvam II between 782 to 745 God raised a man by the name of Amos to give a message to the people of Israel concerning the coming judgment of God upon the northern the northern kingdom of Israel sad

when you really think about it and to recognize in reality we have it in scripture that God eventually will deal even with his own people when they rebel and turn away against him remember what we read in the New Testament in the where an apostle reminded the people the judgment began at the house of God and if it began at the house of God what will be the end of those that obey not the gospel people if God is dealing with his own people in the time of old with the people of Israel in our days with believers in Yeshua the Messiah imagine how he going to deal with the world around us it says

here in 1st Peter chapter 4 and verse 17 he says for the time is come the judgment must begin at the house of God and if it first begin at us what shall be the end of them that obey not the gospel of God God will deal with mankind and that's why he raised in Israel's history prophet after prophet after prophet to speak to the nation of Israel wishing them to return but when they don't return the time would come and 40 years after Yeruvam II heard the message from Amos at 7:22 the Assyrian captivity had began and the northern kingdom of Israel had been taken captive few years later also the southern kingdom Judah

will be taken captive to Babylon but in this message we are dealing today with Amos who was a man that was called to speak for God to the people of Israel in the northern part of the kingdom now if you would look for a moment at a couple of these charts here that we have and you will notice that some of these charts pointing us to the man by the name of Amos I want to speak a little bit about this man by the name of Amos if you look at here we have just a picture for a moment of a prophet by the name of Amos and then in this picture we find out

that Amos lived in an area called Tekoa in fact if you will notice it says in verse 1 Amos 1 verse 1 the words of Amos who was among the herdmen of Tekoa which he saw concerning Israel in the days of Uzziah king of Judah and in the days of Yeruvam the son of Yoash the king of Israel two years before the earthquakes now notice that apparently he lived in a town called Tekoa Tekoa was south of Bethlehem so obviously Amos was not part of the northern kingdom he was not part of Israel in the north he was part of Judah Yehudah in the south and yet beloved brothers and sisters Amos mentioned only here

in this book was a man that was raised by God from the tribe of Judah to go all the way north of Jerusalem further to the north and to speak to the northern kingdom kingdom who was ready to be taken captive by the Assyrian and as we will learn as we're going to go through the prophet Amos we will notice how Amos was raised by God for that special ministry to speak there to the northern kingdom of Israel in fact if you go back to Amos 1 and verse 1 you will notice the words of Amos who was among the herdmen in Tekoa that word for herdmen it comes from the Hebrew word nokdim basically

Amos was simply a sheep raiser he was basically you might say a shepherd he never gone to any school he haven't gone to any he didn't have necessarily any so-called worldly education he may have we don't read about him he only was a shepherd similar to David who was a shepherd he was just simply a shepherd who cared for the flock and we find here in this verse 1 that he was among the herdmen of Tekoa he was one of the rest of many others who took care of the flock and it is amazing when you really think about it a person who taking care of sheep have to be responsible over the flock must

have a heart of care for the flock because he loved them and he wanted to bring them into green pasture into a standing water where they can drink and be fed and this is the kind of man that Amos was he was simply a herd man he was a sheep raiser in Hebrew the word is noked you don't find many times that word noked or nokdim it's a very unusual word in the Hebrew language but he was simply a raiser or a sheep raiser he took care of flock isn't it amazing that today when we talk about the person who is a pastor or a spiritual leader we call him he's a shepherd well why

because the flock the people of God are like sheep and a shepherd need to care for the flock he has to sometimes be harsh at times because he has to give them to be strong with them when there is rebellion and disobedience but the purpose in his heart is to lead them and to care for the flock of God's people because he wants their benefit and he's really supposed to do it as unto the Lord and how wonderful to see that God had raised him from among the herd men that were there in a town south of Israel in a place called Tekoa Tekoa is interesting because in Tekoa we find out elsewhere in scripture

there was that Joab asked one of the women from Tekoa to speak to King David about his son Avshalom we read it in Times of the Kings where David was a king over the people of Israel but there is another thing that I want to mention about Amos if you just turn with me to chapter 7 of the prophet Amos Amos was not only a herdman a sheep raiser but he also was a gatherer of sycamore fruit we find out in Amos chapter 7 in verse 14 notice what Amos is answering to a man to a man by the name of Amaziah then answer Amos and said to Amaziah I was no prophet neither was

I a prophet son but I was an herdman and a gatherer of sycamore fruit you know they ask him about him he says listen I'm not a prophet neither I'm a son of a prophet I'm simply taking care of the flock and in addition to taking care of the flock I was a gatherer of sycamore fruit in other words sycamore comes from the tree called the shikma this is a sycamore tree and you remember Zacchaeus was hiding in a sycamore tree and you remember this is a tree he was just simply gathering the fruit of the sycamore tree and providing them maybe for whoever had a need he was simply a herdman and a person

that was gathering sycamore fruit very interesting this to me you know why because it tells us a lot that God is intending to raise leaders among his people and it's not necessarily one that has some education in some of the school of the prophets like they had it in Elijah and Elisha's days God is able to raise anyone who simply have a heart for God and a heart for God's people and a heart for the things of the Lord and he will take him out of his ordinary job and he will teach him and train him and allow him to serve among the people of God David was a shepherd Moses was a shepherd Abraham

was a shepherd Isaac and Jacob were shepherds they were people who simply just simply live for God and God used them think about Peter Shimon Peter was a fisherman Yohanan John he was a fisherman these men of God who used them in the assembly age and God used them the disciples the apostles there was simply men that were called by God to serve the body of Messiah and so notice that in Amos chapter 7 and verse 15 the Lord took me as I followed the flock and the Lord said unto me go prophesy unto my people Israel God had taken him out of his labor caring for the flock and he said to him Amos

I want you to go to speak to my people Israel but beloved brothers and sisters when Amos had to speak to our people of all the people of Israel coming all the way from the south as it says here in our prophet Amos coming all the way from Tekoa and going all the way north to speak to the nation of Israel at this point of time Amos was not called to give a message that was easy to give to the people of Israel it was a message of judgment judgment is coming judgment is coming judgment is coming Amos said to the northern kingdom of the people of Israel now just a few more thoughts about

Amos what is the meaning of his name his name is Amos or Amos the word Amos comes from the Hebrew word Amos and the word is simply mean loaded God was loaded with a heavy load of the sin of the nation of Israel and judgment was coming the load of Israel's sin became grew further up and high and high until you know what the cup of God's righteous indignation against sin came to its fullness and Amos name convey the message that he was going to speak to the nation of Israel his name mean burden bearer Amos load bearer he was carrying a large load you might say of the message of God against Israel whose

sin have gone to such a height that he demanded the coming judgment of God and therefore he was a man from the town called Tekoa he was called to prophesy to the northern kingdom of Israel his name simply mean burden bearer Amos Amos and he was going to speak a message of judgment to the people of Israel now it is very interesting that the early church saints the early believers Hebrew messianic believers when they were speaking about Israel and Israel's future and God dealing with the nation of Israel they quoted as well from the prophet Amos two men quoted from the prophet Amos in the book of Acts the first one was a man by

the name of Stephen who was stoned to death and the second one was a man by the name of James namely Yaakov who was one of the leaders of the assembly in the city of Jerusalem in Acts chapter 15 if you don't mind please turn with me to Acts chapter 7 for a moment I want to read that verse two verses or two passages that were quoted by the believers in the local assembly in Israel that have also quoted from the prophet Amos they mentioned what Amos have said in their words to the nation and to the people notice in Acts chapter 7 Amos was quoted by Stephen Amos 5 25 to 27 was quoted

by Stephen in Acts 7 verse 42 and 43 look at that and I'm reading then Stephen is speaking God turned and gave them up to worship the host of heaven as it is written in the book of the prophets and he's looking into the prophet Amos and there he quoted Amos chapter 5 and verse 25 O ye house of Israel have ye offered to me slain beasts and sacrifices by the space of 40 years in the wilderness yea ye took up the tabernacles of Moloch and the altar of your god Remfan figures which ye made to worship them and I will carry you away beyond Babylon he's quoting Amos he's quoting what Amos was speaking

to Israel the northern kingdom Stephen is speaking to the son Hadrin and telling them look once again you don't accept the word of God Yeshua is the Messiah I believe in him that he is the Messiah but you reject him once again like your forefathers have done in days of old when they rebelled against the God of our fathers turn to Acts chapter 15 for a moment in Acts chapter 15 we find out James Yaakov quoting the book of Amos in Amos 7 verses 12 to 15 somewhere there and in Acts chapter 15 in Acts chapter 15 verses 16 to 18 James is quoting Amos chapter 9 and verses 11 to 15 listen to this

for a moment please brothers and sisters and I'm reading verse 16 Acts 15 and verse 16 after this James he said saying I will return and I will build again the tabernacles of David which is falling down and I will build again the ruins thereof and I will set it up that the residue of men might seek after the Lord and all the Gentiles upon whom my name is called sayeth the Lord who does all these things you see even though there is a judgment that is going to come and Israel once again in 7 22 will be taken out captive Amos was prophesying that about the people of Israel yet there is a hope

and a restoration for the people of Israel in which we just read in Acts chapter 15 which is a quotation of Amos chapter 9 verses 11 to verse 15 Israel will be taken out captive by the Assyrian in 722 BC but eventually after the end of the days Israel eventually will be restored to the Lord when they will turn back to the Messiah and Amos including this in his message of judgment towards the nation of Israel so please go one more time with me to Amos chapter 1 look at this brothers and sisters the first two verses that we begin in our reading today the words of Amos who was among the herdmen of Tekoa

which he saw concerning Israel in the days of Uzziah the king of Judah and in the days of Yerobam the son of Yoash king of Israel two years before the earthquake and he said the Lord will roar from Zion and utter his voice from Jerusalem and the habitation of the shepherds shall mourn and the top of Carmel shall wither notice this in the first two verses by way of introduction Amos is being introduced before us and we find out that this man who is loaded with the message that God gave to him he was a burden bearer he was going to speak to the nation of Israel he was simply a herd man he was

simply a gatherer of the fruit from the sycamore tree and God called him to speak to the nation of Israel and you notice that his message that we you and I will go through throughout these nine chapters was not merely his own but it was a message it was given to him by the Lord in this very first chapter it says the words of Amos who was among the herd men of the Koran notice which he saw the Hebrew word for saw the Hebrew word is chaza the word chaza means he envisioned in other word he received a vision from God and the vision that God had given Amos was you go you speak to

the people of Israel and I am going to tell them a message of judgment that will fall upon a nation that disobeyed their own God and so the word he saw in verse 1b it was a vision who chaza in Hebrew we say chaza chazon means simply a vision God have given to Amos you might say a message with a vision concerning the people of Israel it was not his own words it was not his own opinion it was the word of the Lord thus saith the Lord and he saw this and notice it is concerning Israel Israel it is the northern kingdom at about the time of 750 760 BC Amos was sent to

speak to the people of Israel another thing that is very interesting is that it was in the days of Uzziah the king of Judah and in the days of Jeroboam the son of Yoash the king of Israel and then it says two years before the earthquakes apparently there was an earthquake that came a few years after and the earthquake in the Middle East is often happened historically we know many prophet Zechariah mentioned that 250 years later in his prophecy he was mentioning the fact that there was an earthquake in the time that Amos was speaking him we read it in Zechariah chapter 14 and verse 5 that Zechariah mentioned that earthquake that would come to

the people in those days in a time where the kings Uzziah and Jehovaam reigned in Israel and in Judah now just quickly allow me to have couple more words and I'm going to stop here by way of introduction you notice that we read here in verse 2 in verse 2 Amos 1 verse 2 Amos proclaiming something and notice what he used the words here in verse 2 he says and he said the Lord will roar from Zion and utter his voice from Jerusalem you know he present God here as a roaring lion he doesn't present God you might say or you might say God in his gentleness God in his you might say his kindness

he present now God as a roaring lion he used that word the Lord will roar roar the Hebrew word roar is Sha'ag Sha'ag Adonai Mitzion Sha'ag the Lord from Zion have roared when you really think about the lion the lion represented in scripture as the king of the forest the lion represent in scripture as the one that is coming to destroy to devour to judge to eat and here we see now the Lord Amos is saying the Lord said the Lord will roar from Zion and will utter his voice from Jerusalem in other words God is going to roar in a loud way but he's going to do it from where from Zion from Zion

from where from Jerusalem from the city of Jerusalem it is the city of Jerusalem where God set his name there it is the city of Jerusalem where the people of Israel were to gather together around the God of Israel it is in the city of Jerusalem where the sacrifices were offered to heaven where the priests serve among our people of all the people of Israel but now look what happened the people of Israel in the north have gone so far that they are now have in Bethel and in Dan two golden calves and they are worshipping idols so now the Lord is going to speak to them in judgment and he's roaring from Zion and

he will utter his voice from the city of Jerusalem and when he speak it's a message of judgment to the nation of Israel now if you just turn the page one page back just go back one page in your Bible to the prophet Joel just one page and you notice that the same expression is mentioned in Joel chapter 3 and verse 16 it says they're the same thing the Lord also shall roar out of Zion and utter his voice from Jerusalem notice the same thing but you see what the difference between the Lord's roaring out of Zion and uttering his voice out of Jerusalem in the prophecy of Joel is different than from the prophecy

of Amos in Joel Joel was speaking about the Lord is roaring out of Zion in order to restore Israel back to himself out of the world that abused his nation but when it's come to Amos chapter 1 and verse 2 the roaring of the Lord is against his people Israel it is against the people whom he called to be his people because they sinned and violated his word and have gone astray so the roaring is a roaring of judgment and so we read here in verse 2 and he said the Lord will roar from Zion and he will utter his voice from Jerusalem and notice what is the roaring will be about famine in the

land judgment that is going to come we are going to see it as we study the prophet Amos it says in verse 2 at the end it says the inhabitants of the shepherd shall mourn why because they don't have any more food for the sheep no more it will be a famine in the land that God is saying there will be a drought that the Lord will bring upon the nation of Israel and then notice what it said at the end of verse 2 and they shall mourn and the top of carmel shall wither the word carmel in Hebrew kerem el it's the vineyard of God it is the highest mountain there in the north

of Israel which is green and lush and there is a lot of greenery there and plenty of food for the flock and for the people of Israel and waters many streams there in the mount of carmel even mount carmel the highest mountain in the north of Israel shall wither away it shall wither away as it says here in verse 2 even the top of mountain of the mountain in the north of Israel shall wither away because God is coming in judgment God is going to punish his very own people whom he loves so much it's interesting the word carmel come from two Hebrew words carmel and carmel simply means the vineyard of God or the

garden of God and while Israel had the pleasure and they carried on in their own way and they denied the God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob in the north of Israel there is a time coming God said to them and it sure came in about 722 BC when the Assyrian came and removed them all out of their own homes and their own land and what a massacre happened when the Assyrian came sadly to even mention against our people Israel Do you know brothers and sisters that today as we speak now is the ninth day of the month of Av the ninth day of the month of Av we call it Tisha B'Av in Israel they

fasting if you would go to the wailing wall today they will see the mourning of the people of Israel over the broken temple that is no longer there in 586 BC the temple in the second temple at the same time on the ninth day of the month of Av and the reason that the two temples were destroyed by the Babylonian was because of the violation of the word of God the reason that the northern kings were taken captive the Assyrian captivity in 722 is because the very same thing departure from the Lord the reason that the believers today in such a condition very same thing is departure from the Lord and God going to have

to come in judgment upon his people now I'm going to conclude with this the outline of the whole book of Amos from chapter 1 to chapter 9 is simply this in chapter 1 and chapter 2 we have prophecies against the nations by Amos you will notice it's not only Israel Damascus Gaza Tyre Edom Amon Moab Yehuda and Israel in these two first chapters you will find up these prophecies against the nations not only Israel but other nations as well in chapter 3 to chapter 6 we have three sermons of judgment against Israel that Amos received from God to speak to his people Israel this is chapter 3 4 5 and 6 in chapter 7 verse

1 all the way to chapter 9 and verse 10 we have five symbolic visions of punishment that are most received from the Lord concerning the judgment that going to come upon the people of Israel and finally in chapter 9 verses 11 to 15 and I love that God promised to restore Israel back to himself in spite of the fact that they sinned against him and he had to punish them eventually in the providence of God and in the sovereignty of God he will restore the people of Israel to himself as we read in that day I will raise up the tabernacles of David that is fallen and close up the breaches thereof and I will

raise up his ruins and I will build it as in the days of old God had promised to restore Israel and he will surely bring it to pass and thank God that in Amos days even though he gave a message of judgment after judgment after judgment he concluded the whole prophecy of Amos with a promise of the millennial age of the kingdom age when Israel as a nation will be restored and I will bring again the captivity of my people Israel and they shall build the waste cities inhabit them and they shall plant vineyard and so on in Amos chapter 9 and verse 14 what a sad message we're going to look at that together

but what a wonderful promise is a promise of restoration to the people of Israel back to the Lord well brothers and sisters I had to give an introduction to the message of Amos and Lord willing God willing next ministry meeting we're going to go over chapter by chapter verse by verse and we're going to see what the Lord has to say about the coming judgment upon his own nation the nation of Israel may the Lord bless his word can we say amen to that