00:00 Introduction and Welcome

00:05 Addressing Pastoral Failures

01:02 Lessons and Accountability for Pastors

03:09 Guarding Against Disillusionment

07:49 Daily Bible Reading: Amos 6-9

14:38 Reflections on Amos and Prayer

22:38 Closing Thoughts and Prayer

Hey, happy Friday.

2

Y'all and welcome back to another

episode of the daily Bible podcast.

3

We are back and it's another

day and another pastor.

4

Locally.

5

Who.

6

Falls.

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Unfortunately, you know, it feels

like this is a common and recurring

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situation, a story that you read

over and over again, it's a new name.

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New face.

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Same story.

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Yep.

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Uh, I think a lot of people.

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And I read some of the comments

in the most recent post.

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Are jaded by that and

say, who can you trust?

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You can't trust any of

these guys put them in jail.

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There's it's, it's hard now

for the common church attendee.

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To look at her pastors and to

say, well, what are they hiding?

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What am I going to find out that

pastor PG is actually running a

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crime syndicate behind the scenes.

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Uh, that he's actually a mobster.

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Never.

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Hopefully that's my plan.

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At least.

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Well, what do we do with this man?

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I helped the people help the church

because I can understand why so

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many people would be jaded by this.

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And just say, man, Is there

any God lead person out there?

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Is there anyone who's actually

doing this for the right reasons and

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doing it for the duration ending?

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Well, what do we do with all this?

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What are some of the lessons

we think we can learn?

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Yeah, well, there's.

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There's two things to.

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Two.

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Um, establish your number one.

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Uh, pastors are held to a higher standard

and that goes for elders, pastors.

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At compass Bible church.

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Those are one of the same.

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Um, We are held to a higher standard.

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When you look at first Timothy

chapter three or Titus chapter one,

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and the qualifications for an elder.

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Uh, though they are the.

43

They're worthy of every

single godly man's.

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Pursuit.

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Uh, they are required for an elder

they're required for a pastor.

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So, uh, part of it is.

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The man of God that's filling this role

has an obligation to make sure that he is.

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Uh, he is.

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As to the best of his knowledge

abiding by those, those

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requirements by those principles.

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So there's an onus on him.

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And so you need to follow the pastors

that feel that weight, that feel the

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weight, that man, I'm going to stand

before the Lord someday and be held

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accountable to a different level

than, you know, Joe the plumber in the

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audience for how I measured up to first

Timothy three and Titus chapter one.

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And that comes with a sobriety that

doesn't guarantee his perfection.

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But if a pastor maintains that, that

awareness, then hopefully that's going to

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keep him on the straight and narrow path.

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So that's the first side of things.

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Does that guarantee that you're

not going to see a guy fall?

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No, but.

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The other thing is, is

what is the organizational

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accountability structure look like?

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What is his relationship with other

pastors look like on his team?

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What is the friendship look like?

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Is this just a, is this a peer to peer?

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Is this a supervisor to employee?

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Is this, what does that look like?

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Who knows that, man?

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And if you're following a pastor that

no one really knows who that pastor is.

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No one has that voice in his life.

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Uh, well then you're following

a man who set up for failure.

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Who's not necessarily guaranteed going

to fail, but he's not in a good position.

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So you want to follow a team.

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You want to follow a plurality of elders

that love each other and love the flock.

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Well, to be able to.

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I care about the godliness, the

holiness, the marriages, the

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parenting, everything else going on.

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Uh, with the other men around

the table, so to speak, who are

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shepherding the flock alongside them?

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How do I guard my heart from being

jaded by some of the leadership falls?

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Cause I mean, we're only talking

about some of the local guys that

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we know are at least the guys

that we've heard of in the area.

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I can think of, I don't know, several

names though, of people that I

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followed listened to their sermons

and benefit from their preaching.

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Now I bought one of their

guys, his books on preaching.

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Cause he's such a gifted communicator

and find out, oh, he committed adultery.

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Oh, and this other guy, he

also committed adultery.

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Oh, this other guy over here.

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And it's publicized over the

news all over the news media and

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people are obviously set up to

be angry and perhaps righteously.

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So toward this stuff.

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So how do I guard my heart when I

hear these things and not look at my

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pastor's side too, again, two things.

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Number one, let me flip it on its head

and encourage you to be encouraged

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when you see godly, faithful churches.

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Doing hard things and removing people

from office that needed to be removed

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from office that, that shows you

that they're taking this seriously.

99

And they are looking to protect

the flock and they're going to do

100

something when it needs to be done.

101

So that's an encouragement on the one

hand, the second thing, like I mentioned

102

earlier, if you're looking at, at your

pastors and saying, you know, I'm, I'm.

103

They're there sinless.

104

They're perfect.

105

They're there there's

no scene within them.

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And then all of a sudden, when

a pastor falls in the public

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eye, you think, oh my goodness.

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You know, what about my pastors?

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You need to know about pastor on

my boat, that we are both sinners.

110

And we are both centers

leading sinful people.

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And we may send an in, hopefully not as

spectacular fashion as some of these, like

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I just said a moment ago, we're held to

a different standard as far as that goes,

113

but neither of us are perfect and there

is no perfect pastor that's out there.

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And if your faith is anchored

to the pastor, if your.

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Faith is anchored to the

man behind the pulpit.

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Then your faith is misplaced.

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Your faith needs to be in

the God that that man serves.

118

And along those lines, For these men

who have disqualified themselves, uh,

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not across the board, but there have

been like you were referencing one.

120

And I think I know who

you're talking about, but.

121

He the messages, the sermons

that, that man preached were

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biblically faithful sermons.

123

And so it's not like you take that

and you throw it out and you go,

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oh, well, none of that had was true.

125

None of that was.

126

Uh, was transformative in my life.

127

None of that was impactful for me.

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And so I'm going to throw the baby

out with the bath water, right.

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You grieve the fall and you grieve

the fall, the man, but you recognize

130

that God's plan is bigger than

any one person in God's using us.

131

And just like, look at ancient Israel.

132

How many of their leaders fell?

133

How many of their leaders were imperfect?

134

We're going through the Kings right now.

135

And you have this.

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This one did right in the eyes

of the Lord, but he didn't do

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this and he didn't do this.

138

And he went through this season and

yet God was working the whole time

139

and they were imperfect leaders and

they, none of them were the Messiah,

140

just like none of our pastors

in our pulpits are the Messiah.

141

And so what your job.

142

Church is to do is to trust the Lord

as you follow them in that the Lord

143

has put in place over the church.

144

And does that guarantee that you're not

going to ever encounter a hard season

145

in your church or, or have one of your

spiritual heroes, so to speak fall?

146

Uh, no, there's no guarantee for that.

147

I wish there was, but there

is no guarantee for that.

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But you're going to trust

the Lord through it all.

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And just like we talk

about with wives, right?

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Because we'll do premarital counseling.

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We'll we'll turn to

the fiance, the female.

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And say, look, your job is to submit to

your husband, but it's that next phrase

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that's so important there as to the Lord.

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That frees the wife up to say,

well, okay, am I responsible

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for the way my husband leads me?

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No, you're not.

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You're responsible to submit to his

leadership because ultimately you're

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submitting in trust to the Lord.

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Uh, as you submit to the one,

the Lord has put over your life.

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Likewise.

161

Church, you are submitting to the

church leadership as trusting that

162

God has put these men over your life.

163

And yeah, you want to be, um, you want

to be careful about whose authority

164

you're gonna put yourself under, but

at the end of the day, you're going to

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have to trust the Lord more than you're

going to trust the guy behind the pulpit.

166

Probably speaks to the fact that most

people maybe underestimate the kind

167

of diligence they should put into

discerning who they're following.

168

Discerning, what kind of church

they're attending and granted.

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I don't think that there's any

church that I know of anybody

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that puts it on their website.

171

Here's, here's the kind of

relationship our senior pastor

172

has with the other pastors.

173

No one says that, uh, but it's not

too hard to, to discern given the

174

interactions that you see on staff.

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So that's a really

helpful piece of advice.

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One of the things that I would take

away often when I see things like

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this is rod, this could be you.

178

There bud.

179

But there, but by the grace of

God go, I, and they ought to think

180

about first Timothy chapter four,

keep a close watch on yourself.

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And on the teaching

man, there are so many.

182

Hazards that are around and

abound for every single Christian.

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And granted, it's more obvious

for pastors because they're the

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ones that are in the limelight.

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But it's just as true for the parishioner.

186

All of us are constantly at war

with the flesh, the world and

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the devil and it behooves us.

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Uh, to make certain that we're

taking careful steps to guard

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against these things, which can

spell catastrophe for ourselves.

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And a black guy for the church

may God guard is from that.

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Amen.

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Amen.

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A hundred percent.

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I agree with that.

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Uh, and with that, let's turn to

our daily Bible reading for the day.

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Amos.

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Chapter six through nine.

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So we left off.

199

We, we did Amos one through five.

200

And now we're jumping in and

finishing out the book today.

201

We're going to start ticking

off books here and there.

202

Although I did notice we are nine

months in the old Testament in

203

this reading plan and only three

months in the new Testament.

204

I was looking at that the other day.

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And I I'm sad by that.

206

Yeah.

207

I think if we do this plan again, Maybe

we ought to give like a supplemental

208

new Testament reading that carries

us through the whole year we could.

209

Cause I do miss.

210

I miss that about the old plan.

211

Yep.

212

I said that I only had one critique

about the old plan or this plan.

213

Uh, and it's that.

214

There's not enough bookmarks.

215

You'd bounce around.

216

A lot.

217

I want more new Testament.

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Yeah.

219

I want more of that.

220

And I don't know, you

should feed yourself.

221

If you feel hungry for the

new Testament, feed yourself.

222

Don't wait for us to get there.

223

But I agree.

224

That's kind of a bummer.

225

Yeah.

226

Well, Amos chapter six in this chapter

here, the prophet calls out both Judah

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and Samaria, why'd you to ensnare

the, just the, the capital's Jerusalem

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and then, or Zion rather, he says in

six one, and Samario, those are the

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two capitals of the two kingdoms.

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And so he calls up both of them for their.

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Passive opulent and immorality during

this season, he invites them to consider

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the nations already judged by God and to

ask whether they're any better, really

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in the end that they are, uh, God has

reached the point where he hates their

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pride and self-confidence, and their

lack of brokenness over their sins.

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So he's ready to judge.

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And specifically in view, uh, is the

judgment of Israel by the Samaritan or

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by the Assyrians, rather in Amos six, 14.

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Yeah, I think one of the cool things

that stood out to me here at verse

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13, you who rejoice in lo Debar.

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I remember anytime you see lo Debar.

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Nothing, literally no thing.

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No.

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Lo no.

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Uh, in case you don't know Hebrew,

which I'm guessing you don't

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low usually means no or not.

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So lo Debar bar, it means place thing.

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It could be a lot of things actually, but

thing is the more traditional translation.

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So you are Joyce and nothing.

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And say, have we not by our own strength,

captured car Naim for ourselves.

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And so he's saying, look,

what your accomplishments are.

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Basically.

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Non-existent.

253

You're relying upon your accomplishments.

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You're relying upon your

achievements and really have a false

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security and you're complacent.

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So be aware because you can find

yourself in a very similar spiritual

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state, just because you're not

Israel doesn't mean you can't.

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Yeah.

259

Float into something like that.

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If you're not careful.

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Yeah.

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Amos chapter seven, then

verses one through three here.

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Initially the Lord threatens

locusts that are going to wipe out.

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It's an interesting chapter.

265

Uh, because the Lord says

I'm going to do this and, and

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the prophecies don't do that.

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And he goes, okay, I'm going to do this.

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Don't do that.

269

And then eventually he does get to the

point where he says, this is what to do.

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Well, initially it's locus.

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I'm going to send locus.

272

They're going to wipe out the last round

of harvest that proceeds the dry season.

273

So that's the, the, the ladder

growth is it talks about there

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before that the King's mowings so

this would have been devastating.

275

Uh, for the people and after Amos has

plea there, the Lord relents from that,

276

but then of that four through six.

277

The next threat of judgment

comes in the form of a fire.

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So great that it would even devour

the C's that it comes from the very

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deep, this is, this is graphic.

280

And perhaps this is why the Bible talks

about there's no more sea in the end.

281

Maybe that the fire of

judgment in the end.

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I want to see, I know you do.

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I do.

284

I know.

285

Uh, but th this fire is

going to devour the seas.

286

And once again, Amos praise that God

would stay his hand from this judgment.

287

And once again, the

Lord hears and relents.

288

Just like a backup in your wrath.

289

Remember mercy, and here you

have the, that taking place.

290

Powerful prayers of an intercessor.

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Yup.

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Verses seven through nine,

then like Moses, right, right.

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With the Israelites.

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Versus 79.

295

Finally, the Lord declares that he's

going to measure Israel by a plumb line.

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Now a plumb line.

297

You may not be familiar with that.

298

A plant plumb line was used to measure

a walls, vertical, uh, plumpness.

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Which isn't you can't use the

word in the definition, how

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straight it was up and down.

301

How.

302

Perpendicular.

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It was to the ground.

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And so they would hang the line from the

top of the wall and the line would hang

305

straight down just because of gravity.

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It would have a weight at the bottom.

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And you could tell by looking at

how much of the wall veered off

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the line, how out of place it was.

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And so the Lord declares here, he's

going to measure Israel by that, by

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this plumb line to show just how far

Israel had ventured from God's standard.

311

And this would show the profit

that judgment had to come.

312

And this time Amos doesn't

plead with God to relent.

313

Verses 10 through 17, then

Amazonia a false priest in Bethel.

314

Remember Bethel was the heart of

idol worship there in the north.

315

Uh, he accuses Amos of conspiring

against Jeroboam and then confronts

316

the prophet, ordering him to flee

Judah and to cease his prophecy

317

considering concerning Israel.

318

There.

319

Uh, Amos responds by appealing to his

divine commission and then decrease

320

a judgment against Amazigh that

would involve the downfall of his

321

family, his land, and ultimately the

forfeiture there of his own life.

322

So pay attention here to the

fact that Amos, his prayers are.

323

Are used by God to stay

some kind of judgment.

324

Now, granted, the judgment that they

do have is still going to be bad.

325

It's not good.

326

It's going to be painful and hard

for them, but Amos is successful.

327

The prayers of a righteous

person do avail much.

328

That's what we're told,

even in the new Testament.

329

So you should believe that and

you should pray for your people.

330

You should pray for your church.

331

Please pray for your pastors.

332

You should pray for your nation.

333

You should pray for all the people

that you can think of that have

334

any, uh, any interest in your life.

335

In fact, if you think about the way that

you pray, you should pray in concentric

336

circles, starting with yourself, and then

those closest to you like your family.

337

Your wife, your husband, your kids,

and then praying for your larger

338

community, maybe your H community group.

339

Yep.

340

Got it to your community group,

your church at large, your pastor.

341

I mean, just as you think about concentric

circles, like throwing a rock into a

342

river, and you say a little circles and

emanate from that, that center point,

343

pray for people you pray larger and pray

bigger, pray for it because God God's

344

listening and God responds and notice

that as, as he prays in Amazonia, the,

345

uh, the, the Bethel Bethel priest is

false, false prophet priest person.

346

Uh, is angry at Amos.

347

Falsely accuses him.

348

Uh, expect that expect that

people are not gonna understand

349

Christians and that's okay.

350

It hasn't.

351

They haven't been understood in the past.

352

We won't be understood in the future.

353

We're not guaranteed that we'll ever

be understood ever again, perhaps.

354

But just know this is the right way.

355

Pray for your people.

356

That's a good thing.

357

Yeah.

358

And there may be things every

single day that you pray for.

359

You may pray, obviously, if, if you're

you've got a family, I would hope that

360

you're praying for your family every day.

361

Um, but there's other things

that maybe you're going to pray.

362

I'm going to have a day a week

that I'm going to focus on these

363

things and that's okay too.

364

T to make those concentric circles

to have a concentric circle.

365

That's my Tuesday prayers,

my Wednesday person Thursday.

366

And then you can work through

it throughout the entire week.

367

And that's a way, especially if you're

not, if you're pro-life right now is, is,

368

is pretty anemic and you're looking to

grow and you're thinking yourself, okay.

369

That sounds like zero to

a hundred miles an hour.

370

It's a lot.

371

Maybe that's a good way to do it.

372

Break your break out your week.

373

Say Monday through Friday and

go, I'm gonna pray for this on

374

this date, this, on this date.

375

This on this date, this, on

this date, this on this day.

376

And you can do that in prayer mate.

377

Yep.

378

I've been using prayer, prayer,

prayer, mate, the application,

379

uh, for my iPhone for years.

380

And it does that for me automatically.

381

That's going to tell it, oh, I want to

pray for five things a day and it'll

382

give you those five things and it'll,

you can even schedule it for you and

383

say, oh, pray for this on Tuesday.

384

Prayer for that on Thursday.

385

Yeah.

386

Really helpful tool for that.

387

Yep.

388

Well, then chapter eight of the book

of Amos, this chapter depicts the

389

impending destruction of Israel.

390

It would be so great that even

creation would respond in darkness.

391

Which reminds us of a future

judgment that God would pour out,

392

not on Israel, but on the prince of

Israel, on Jesus and the darkness

393

that accompanied that even as well.

394

But besides the typical elements

of judgment that we find in other

395

passages, there's a new component here.

396

That's introduced.

397

God's going to send a famine of

the word we've alluded to this.

398

It is a famine of the word so that

the people wouldn't be able to

399

discern his voice, even though they

should search for it everywhere.

400

Uh, what a, what a troubling thing

that is that that God is going to

401

say, okay, you had enough time.

402

I sent plenty of profits.

403

And you spurn them all.

404

And so now you're going to want the

profits and I'm not going to speak.

405

I'm going to be silent and you're

not gonna be able to find, uh, my

406

word or my instruction anywhere you

look, that's a terrifying concept.

407

It seems like there's

a subtle pointing to.

408

To the future of the crucifixion

here in verses seven through

409

let's call it through 10.

410

We're at, you have a look at verse eight,

the land will tremble on this account.

411

So the day.

412

Pointing toward the bay, the Lord,

there's a trembling, an earthquake.

413

And then in verse nine,

The sun goes down at noon.

414

There's a darkening in the,

in the middle of the day.

415

And so there's darkness,

there's an earthquake.

416

And then of course, in verse, the

second half of verse 10, I will make

417

it like the morning for an only son,

the end of it, like a bitter day.

418

So I think you have something

pointing to the crucifixion here

419

and this, of course in verse 11.

420

Um, is a reference to the day of the

Lord, or at least the days are coming

421

and says he's four for forecasting,

gloom and doom, but this is a consistent

422

with the idea of the day of the Lord.

423

And there was a day of the

Lord that crucified Christ and

424

ultimately this was for our sake.

425

I think that's pretty cool.

426

Yeah.

427

Yeah.

428

Even in verse nine to verse 10 to build

on what you were just talking about there,

429

I will turn your feast into morning.

430

Oh yeah.

431

That's.

432

That Passover right?

433

That was right there at the cross.

434

That was not a time of celebration

as it once would have been.

435

Right for the people of Israel, because

they had just crucified Jesus and.

436

Yeah.

437

Amen.

438

Um, And Ms nine, uh, Amos

nine one through nine.

439

This passage here describes the

inevitability of God's judgment.

440

It's coming.

441

There would be nowhere for

the people to flee for.

442

He's going to fix their eyes

on them for evil and not good.

443

What.

444

At a horrific idea that is that God

would have his eyes set on you for

445

evil and not good Amos nine four.

446

No, thank you.

447

Yeah, yet, even though he would

destroy all the sinners Amos

448

nine, 10, he would not make a

total end of the people of Israel.

449

Verse eight.

450

Uh, implies that there is going to

be this remnant, which is a common

451

idea, a common theme that the prophets

talk about that he says in verse

452

eight, except I will not utterly

destroy the house of Jacob declares.

453

The Lord.

454

There's going to be a people leftover.

455

And we're going to talk a lot

about that in the prophets.

456

It's a big part of the

focus of the profits.

457

And there's going to be a literal remnant

after exile for both, both the Northern

458

kingdom and the Southern kingdom.

459

So there's going to be a partial

fulfillment of all these remnant

460

prophecies, but most of these run

that prophecies anticipate the future.

461

The future in gathering, that's going

to take place at the millennial kingdom.

462

And that's when the remnants, so to speak

is going to be brought back together in

463

Israel will be it's it's national glory.

464

Uh, glorified reality that it

once wasn't even better than that,

465

because the ultimate David is going

to be running from the throne.

466

Jesus is going to be running

from the throne at that point

467

during the millennial kingdom.

468

So.

469

Remnant.

470

He's not going to make a total

destruction, but he is going to judge.

471

And then the chapter in the book

ends in verses 10 through 15 with

472

the focus on that millennial kingdom.

473

And that's, what's in view here.

474

There's a.

475

Again, a partial fulfillment

with the return from exile, but

476

this ultimate fulfillment, we're

still waiting for this church.

477

This has not happened yet.

478

Uh, this is not been fulfilled in any way.

479

This is not a metaphorical

present day fulfillment of this.

480

This is something that is yet coming.

481

Uh, when he is going to raise

up the booth of David, when he's

482

going to repair the breaches, when

he's going to raise up the ruins.

483

Uh, restore the fortunes verse 14 of

the people rebuild the ruined cities

484

and habit them plant vineyards.

485

This is all literal language that we

should expect a literal fulfillment

486

of in the yet future millennial

kingdom that'll happen on the

487

backend of the tribulation period.

488

So you would also take, do you do

well to take note of the fact that

489

even though there is a remnant, that

seems like there's still, I mean,

490

these people still go through it.

491

These people still go through

the judgment, even though they're

492

preserved through the judgment.

493

Right.

494

Which is terrifying.

495

Uh, I mean, I don't, I don't want

to be here when the tribulation

496

takes place, but there's going to

be people that are going to live

497

through that judgment who get saved.

498

They're going to experience salvation

in the midst of the tribulation.

499

Uh, and then find themselves, thankfully

at, at the mercy of Christ, when he

500

comes back, he's going to re he's

going to redeem them completely.

501

But just know here.

502

A lot of times, God, God does not

protect his people from going through it.

503

He'll protect them through it and

it's in its totality, but they're

504

still going to go through it.

505

And I think there's a

parallel for us today.

506

Christians are not promised.

507

Uh, great life and that promise for

protection from all the evils and

508

the ills that will be followed us.

509

But the, our promise that God

will ultimately protect them.

510

That even if you do die at the

hands of some nefarious, evil ruler,

511

you'll be ultimately protected.

512

No one can steal you from

his hand, but just know this.

513

If you go through hard times, if you

go through cancer or you go through

514

death or some other tragedy, that

doesn't mean God's not with you.

515

It doesn't mean that God forgot

you, or that he was looking the

516

other way, when something bad

happened, God is with his people.

517

Even if that means he's with

him through the judgment and.

518

That's so hard.

519

Uh, even just talking with people

recently, just, um, We can know

520

the doctrine that God is in

control and that got us sovereign.

521

And yet.

522

When we lose a loved one, somebody

that we really care about, and we

523

don't have the answers as to why,

because it wasn't like they lived a

524

long life and they died of old age

and it was natural death or they were.

525

Yeah.

526

I mean, they, they just, when

tragedy hits us when tragedy befalls.

527

The doctrine of God's sovereignty

is the, the security blanket for us.

528

But sometimes I think we wish it

was a little thicker than it is.

529

It's, it's hard for us to

still wrestle with that.

530

And if you're out there going,

yeah, but, but it still hurts.

531

And I still have unanswered questions.

532

Join the club.

533

I mean, that that's, that is life that

we're not going to have all the answers.

534

And that's one of the hardest realities

for us to grasp is we're going

535

to die with unanswered questions.

536

We're going to, we're going to go to

the grave without fully understanding

537

why God did certain things in our life.

538

Um, and yet.

539

There, there has to be that abiding.

540

I walked by faith and not by sight that

says I'm going to trust in the Lord who

541

does know what he's doing right here.

542

And so that, yeah, you're right.

543

Christians do go through it and

the doctrine of God's sovereignty

544

is, is good and it's right.

545

And it's true.

546

And it's biblical and we hold fast to that

when we can't hold on to anything else.

547

But it doesn't always give us the warm,

fuzzy that we wish it would, which

548

is why it's so important to prepare

before, you know, disasters coming.

549

I mean, it's not surprising if

death takes hold of your family.

550

It's not surprising when

you get the diagnosis.

551

What's surprising is that you don't get

it right when you make it from, from in

552

to the grocery store without an accident.

553

That's surprising because I deserve that.

554

We deserve that.

555

It's surprising that evil doesn't befall

us every moment of the day, which means

556

before it happens, we have to be prepared.

557

And not that you're going to feel

like, oh man, I'm wearing the suit of

558

armor and I can't feel the tragedy.

559

You're still going to feel it.

560

But the comfort that you'll have the

depth, the depth of theological ballast,

561

that will stay you through the storm.

562

We'll be, we'll be better

and more resilient.

563

I think of Habakkuk who didn't

have his questions answered God.

564

I mean, God kind of gave him

an answer, but the answer is

565

basically trust what I'm doing.

566

Right.

567

And then he says, I hear my body

trembles my lips quivered at the

568

sound rottenness enters into my

bones, my legs trembled beneath me.

569

So he's not doing well.

570

He's, I'm terrified about, uh,

for what's about to happen.

571

He says yet I will quietly

wait for the day of trouble.

572

To come upon the people who invade

us and know the fig tree should not

573

blossom nor fruit beyond the vines.

574

Uh, the produce of the olive fail

and the fields yield, no food.

575

The rock or the flock be cut off from the

fold and there'd be no hurt in this stuff.

576

So he's painting a very gloomy

picture here, very dark.

577

He says yet I will rejoice in the Lord and

we'll take joy in the God of my salvation.

578

And I think that's

really the point for us.

579

We can read stuff like this and say,

oh man, that's, that's bad for those

580

guys, but Hey, be prepared, Christians.

581

Be prepared.

582

And make sure that your hope is

not in the pastor of the church,

583

uh, unless by pastor you mean the

ultimate pastor, the chief shepherd.

584

And make sure your hope is not in a

good economy or the right president

585

or the right governor, make sure your

hope is secure and firm in Christ, who

586

alone is worthy of our ultimate trust.

587

Yeah.

588

Yeah, we were talking yesterday as

we were laying in the plane on, on

589

the last podcast and we thought,

man, it'd be good for us to pray at

590

the end of these, just along some of

these lines and some of these ideas

591

that we talk about in the podcast.

592

So we're going to do that.

593

So.

594

Uh, wherever you're at.

595

You want to, with this as we, uh, wrap

up by praying for some of these, if

596

you're driving, keep your eyes up.

597

Yeah, just keep your eyes open.

598

God, we thank you for these truths

that we have looked at today from

599

your word, we ask for your grace, your

mercy, to help us to apply them and to

600

think rightly about these things, the

hard things that we've been talking

601

about all the way from the fall of, of

pastors, of men who, uh, we look to and

602

we trust a great deal and not without

cause, but at the same time, A little

603

help, our ultimate trust to be in you.

604

And, and to realize that you are our

great chief shepherd, the one who

605

is the lover of our souls, the one

who gave his life for us and that

606

our confidence and our trust is in.

607

You got to do pray for pastor Ron

night, that you would keep us.

608

Uh, walking along the street and narrow

that you would keep us as godly men,

609

that you would not allow us to grow

prideful or, or overconfident in that,

610

that we would not create for ourselves a

situation where we would be ensnared by.

611

The enemy in any way, shape

or form, I pray that you would

612

protect our church in that regard.

613

And what even is we were just talking

about as we walk through trials

614

here, as there are times we're going

to go through this suffering and we

615

don't have the answers, God increase

our confidence in a sovereign God.

616

And though that doesn't

always make us feel.

617

As good as we wish it would.

618

Lord deepen our faith in that help us to

be, uh, like the father who said, Lord,

619

I believe help my unbelief and allow

us to, to increase in our trust in you

620

until you call us to be with you where.

621

What are willing and who knows, you may

give us eyes to see and understand more of

622

what happened in our lives at that point.

623

But until then we want to walk by faith

and not by sight until you call us home.

624

Help us to be faithful.

625

In Christ's name.

626

Amen.

627

Amen.

628

Hey, keep, bring your Bibles

and tune it again tomorrow.

629

For another episode of the

daily Bible podcast, do that.