Amos 7: 10-17; Amos and Amaziah

Grace and peace to you from our Lord Jesus Christ.

Amos has the almost unbearable calling of holding people accountable for their sin. In the end it nearly costs him his life. In this passage we see Amos' life in jeopardy for the message he brings. In Amos we see an example by which we can live, and by which we can preach. We need to preach, without fear, the word God gives to us. Like Amos, and like Paul many years after Amos, we need to be fearless in bringing the good news to the world and in holding people accountable for their sin. God bless you.

Pastor Josh
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Amos 7: 1-9; Locusts, Fire and a Plumb Line

Grace and peace to you from our Lord Jesus Christ.

"'This will not happen,' said the Lord." God relents in this passage. Israel is given a chance to get back on the right track, and they choose not to do so. God, in the end, does punish them for sin, but he does give them a way out. God does the same for us through Jesus. God gives us Jesus as a way out of sin. If we follow Jesus, if we accept him, then we will be saved from punishment. If not, then we better be ready for the 'plumb line (by which our holiness will be measured).' God bless you.

Pastor Josh
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Amos 6: 8-14; The LORD Abhors the Pride of Israel

Grace and peace to you from our Lord Jesus Christ.

'Pride goeth before the fall.' That is such a wonderful thing. Pride, for us Christians, because it keeps us from fully embracing the sacrifice of Jesus. Jesus died on the cross to save us from sin. If we are too proud we will begin to believe we are not in need of salvation. If we do not need salvation we do not need Jesus. And if we do not need Jesus we do not accept him. We all know where that road leads. Do not be too proud. God bless you.

Pastor Josh
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Sunday Scripture and Sermon for July 31, 2011

Grace and peace to you from our Lord Jesus Christ.

The Scripture passage for this Sunday is from Acts 6: 1-6 in which seven servants are chosen to care for widows. The sermon is titled 'Increase In...' and will focus on the need to grow, but to do so in the right way. I hope to see you all in church on Sunday. God bless you.

Pastor Josh
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Amos 6: 1-7; Woe to the Complacent

Grace and peace to you from our Lord Jesus Christ.

One of the worst things we can believe is that the church will be here tomorrow. This belief, while in some ways noble, causes us to look casually at the church. It is here today, it will be here tomorrow, so it doesn't matter if I'm there then or not; I'll go next time. The same applies to faith. Our faith is here today; the poor are here today; the naked, homeless, hungry, etc. are all here today; I can help them tomorrow, we might say to ourselves. Complacency is bad. It keeps us from doing the things we need to be doing. Do not fall into the same trap Israel did. They got complacent and they ended up losing everything. The same could happen to us, if we let our faith slip through our fingers. God bless you.

Pastor Josh
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Amos 5: 18-27; The Day of the LORD

Grace and peace to you from our Lord Jesus Christ.

Someday the Lord will come. Jesus promises us that one day he will return and take us to the kingdom he has prepared for us. Amos shares the same news many years before Jesus. Whoever it is that gives it we need to remember one very important thing: Jesus is coming back. When he gets here do we want him to be pleased with us, or displeased? Just something to think about. God bless you.

Pastor Josh
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Amos 5: 1-17; A Lament and Call to Repentance

Grace and peace to you from our Lord Jesus Christ.

Repentance is a very important word when it comes to having a relationship with God. The Israelites are called, here, to repent, which means, literally, 'to turn around.' You might add to that 'and walk in the other direction.' Amos is calling Israel to turn away from their other gods, practices, etc. The same call is extended to us by Jesus. Jesus asks us to repent, to turn and walk in a different direction, his direction. Jesus has set out a path in front of us, one that does not involve sin and selfish desires, but that does include love and salvation. It is worth mentioning that repentance needs to be done more than once. Every once in a while we fund ourselves off God's path. When that happens we need to heed that call to repentance and, once again, set out in the direction Jesus would have us walk. God bless you.

Pastor Josh
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Amos 4: 1-13; Israel Has Not Returned to God

Grace and peace to you from our Lord Jesus Christ.

Admitting a mistake is a very difficult thing to do. We are taught these days to look out for ourselves, and a natural result of that is that we often do not think about the pain we sometimes cause others. And even if we do think about it we still do not do all the necessary things to make up for that mistake. Israel struggled with the same problem. They were sinful, so God punished them. And rather than return to the Lord they kept moving away from him. They were ashamed of their sin, so they hid. We must never hide from sin. The only way to defeat is admit that we have sinned and accept God's grace, his full and unconditional pardon. God bless you.

Pastor Josh
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Amos 3: 1-15; Witnesses Summoned Against Israel

Grace and peace to you from our Lord Jesus Christ.

"Surely the Sovereign LORD does nothing without revealing his plan to his servants the prophets." We have to accept the fact that some things are a holy mystery. We will not ever know everything about God. Nor will we ever know everything about his plans. That is where faith comes into play. We must have faith that God is real, that he loves us, and that he knows what is best for us. Will we ever figure it all out? No. If we did have all the answers then we wouldn't have faith we would have common sense. Let us aim for faith, recognizing that we might not know it all, but the one thing we do know is God is love. God bless you.

Pastor Josh
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Amos 2: 6-16; Judgment on Israel

Grace and peace to you from our Lord Jesus Christ.

One of the most difficult things to do is tell your friends, family, neighbors, etc. that they are very sinful. This will, among other things, alienate us from them. This is exactly what Amos is called to do: to hold Israel accountable for their sins. Not an easy job. We have the same job. As Christians we are called to help each other; we are also called to be a light to the world. Sometimes that means we tell people they are living the wrong way. Sometimes we have to look at someone and tell them what they are doing wrong. Not an easy job. But that is our calling. We are called to holiness, and part of that call is to call others to do the same thing. God bless you.

Pastor Josh
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Amos 1: 3- 2: 5; Judgment on Israel's Neighbors

Grace and peace to you from our Lord Jesus Christ.

Paul says something in his letter to the Ephesians that I think fits well with this part of Amos: "Pray also for me, that whenever I speak, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel..." It is not easy to share the words God gives, for those words are sometimes words of judgment that no one wants to hear. Amos, like Paul after him, needed God to come into his life and give him strength to proclaim the message God had given him. This is our prayer as well, or it should be: that God will give us the strength we need to speak the words he gives us. God will answer that prayer. When God calls us to proclaim the gospel that also comes with a promise that God will help us do it. God bless you.

Pastor Josh
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Sunday Scripture and Sermon for July 24, 2011

Grace and peace to you from our Lord Jesus Christ.

The Scripture passage for this Sunday is from Acts 3: 1-10, in which a lame beggar is healed by Peter and John. The sermon is titled 'Prayer' and will focus on our need for prayer as well as the ways God answers those prayers and what the results are when he does. I hope to see you all in worship on Sunday. God bless you.

Pastor Josh
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Amos 1: 1-2; Introduction

Grace and peace to you from our Lord Jesus Christ.

Amos was, as we are told here, a shepherd. Amos was not a Biblical Scholar with a PhD; he was not a CEO of a fortune 500 company. Amos was a shepherd, and God called him into service. In this is a message we find countless times in Scripture: that God can, and will use anyone. Whether it is Moses with his speech impediment, or David with his adultery, lying, and murder God can use anyone as a part of his plan. Do not think God cannot use you. Do not think you are not worthy. God is love, and God is power. And God calls us all to service no matter who we are, where we are from, or what we have done. God bless you.

Pastor Josh
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Jonah 4: 1-11; Jonah’s Anger at the LORD’s Compassion

Grace and peace to you from our Lord Jesus Christ.

We may not always understand, or agree with, what God is doing. Jonah certainly doesn't. He believes God should wipe Nineveh off the face of the earth for their sin. Jonah does not understand, or condone, the Lord's compassion. However, Jonah does, in the end, trust that God knows best; that God's plans do not fail. We need to have that same attitude. God is, more often than not, a mystery. As are the ways in which he works. The best, and only, hope we have is to follow God. It may not make much sense to us, which is fine. Faith does not have to make sense to work. Following God, whatever he calls us to do, is the best thing we do. God bless you.

Pastor Josh
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Jonah 3: 1-10; Jonah Goes to Ninevah

Grace and peace to you from our Lord Jesus Christ.

It is never too late to be obedient to the will of God. Jonah ran away the first time. He did not want to follow God so Jonah went in his own direction. You might think God would wash his hands of Jonah. You might think God would close the door. However, what we see God do is give Jonah another chance. God continues to be in Jonah's life. God continues to call Jonah. God does the same for us. Like Jonah we run away; we sin. When we do we need to remember that God does not simply cast us aside. God does not wash his hands of us. No, God continues to welcome us back with open arms. It is never too late to turn to God. God bless you.

Pastor Josh
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Jonah 1: 17- 2: 10; Jonah's Prayer

Grace and peace to you from our Lord Jesus Christ.

This is a very heartfelt prayer. Jonah is in a bad spot as he utters these words. He is in despair, and it shows. And in his despair he lifts up this prayer from his heart. In this prayer we are reminded that when we come to God in prayer we can lay anything down at his feet. Whatever we are feeling, thinking, going through, etc. can all be placed before God's throne of grace. We do not have to hold anything back, and God does not want us to do that anyway. When you pray empty your heart to God. Tell him what you need and want; tell him how you feel. Be honest, completely honest, with God. God bless you.

Pastor Josh
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Jonah 1: 1-16; Jonah Flees from the Lord

Grace and peace to you from our Lord Jesus Christ.

Following God's will is never an easy thing. Jonah ran away because he did not want to have anything to do with following God's will. Over the next few days we will see that this does not work out very well for Jonah. His life gets very difficult because he flees from God. In this is a lesson for us. No matter how hard God's will is we must never run away from him, or his will. We must move forward, but back, not in another direction. When it comes to doing the will of the Lord, running away is never the answer. God bless you.

Pastor Josh
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2 Timothy 4: 19-21; Final Greetings

Grace and peace to you from our Lord Jesus Christ.

'Do your best to get here before winter.' Paul shares these words because he knows one very important thing: time does not last forever. We only have so much time before our lives are over. For one thing this should motivate us to get the most out of life, the relationships we have with our loved ones, etc. But it also means we need to make sure we make the most of our faith. We only have so much time to do what God wants us to do. We need to make the most of our time before it's too late. God bless you.

Pastor Josh
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Pastor Josh at General Assembly

Grace and peace to you from our Lord Jesus Christ.

I will be attending the 2011 General Assembly of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) from July 8-15, 2011. There will be no posts during that time. Posting will resume on July 16, 2011. If you need anything while I am away please contact one of the church Elders.

The pulpit will be filled by John M. on July 10, 2011. I hope you are all able to make it to church to hear the words John is going to share. God bless you.

Pastor Josh
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2 Timothy 4: 9-18; Personal Remarks

Grace and peace to you from our Lord Jesus Christ.

Paul briefly mentions here the fact that when he was first in trouble everyone, all of his friends and associates, deserted him. Paul also mentions, though, that God was with him and helped him through that time in his life. There are going to be times in all of our lives when we are, or feel, abandoned. During those times it may be hard to believe that God is there; that God cares. I encourage you to remember these words from Paul: "But the Lord stood at my side and gave me strength." Keep those words close to your heart. When everyone else has left you, God will be with you. God bless you.

Pastor Josh
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2 Timothy 3: 10- 4: 8; A Final Charge to Timothy

Grace and peace to you from our Lord Jesus Christ.

"In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted..." Paul shares these words with Timothy to prepare Timothy for the rough road that lies ahead. Paul knows, firsthand, what can happen from being a Christian. He has the unique position of having been on both sides of the persecution. Paul wants Timothy to know there will be those who do not like him because of his faith. These words apply to us as well. There is not an all out, world-wide persecution of Christians right now. However, the world's view towards the church are a little less than favorable. We need to be aware of this, to prepare us for what lies ahead. We will face opposition. We will face persecution. We need to be ready for those things so we will have the ability to endure when they happen. God bless you.

Pastor Josh
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2 Timothy 2: 14- 3: 9; Dealing With False Teachers

Grace and peace to you from our Lord Jesus Christ.

Once more Paul give Timothy a warning here to beware of false prophets, or, in this case, teachers. The only thing I can really add to these words is to say what I have said in the past: keep yourself centered on Christ. The best way to do that is to read the Scritputres; specifically, the gospels. The Word of God can, and will, guide us in our faith, if we read it with faith. God bless you.

Pastor Josh
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2 Timothy 2: 1-13; The Appeal Renewed

Grace and peace to you from our Lord Jesus Christ.

Life brings suffering, and sometime faith brings more of it. Our faith does not grant us a free pass through life. We still have to endure everything that other people endure. It makes it hard, sometimes, to hold on to our faith, when bad things happen, but we must continue to believe in God's love. God's love for us is so great he was willing for his one and only son to die on the cross to forgive us of our sins. Remember that love, especially when you are going through a difficult time. God bless you.

Pastor Josh
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2 Timothy 1: 15-18; Examples of Disloyalty and Loyalty

Grace and peace to you from our Lord Jesus Christ.

Being abandoned is a difficult thing. Jesus felt that when he was on the cross, which is why he cried out in such a loud voice. We feel it, too. Some of us have felt, directly, the pain of being forsaken by someone we love. If that ever happens one of the only things we can do is pray for mercy for the person who sinned against us. The other thing we can do is lean on God. He is always with us, and will never forsake us. God bless you.

Pastor Josh
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2 Timothy 1: 6-14; Appeal for Loyalty to Paul and the Gospel

Grace and peace to you from our Lord Jesus Christ.

This is one of those passages that translates very well into modern culture. We are surrounded at times by false doctrines, by people, and things, who would lead us astray from the path of faith. When those things, or people, come into our lives, we need to be strong in our faiths. We need to continue to center our lives on Christ. We need to continue to study his word. With all that is going on around us we all need to be careful to not be led astray from the path God has laid out before us. God bless you.

Pastor Josh
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