Have you been on trips through areas where every few miles there is a place marked “scenic view” or “historical landmark”? You want to stop but you don’t and always say, “The next time I make this drive I am going to allow some margin for pulling off and seeing what is there.” But we don’t. That is how I feel about these passages. I would love to stop along the way but there is too much to cover. Maybe the next time we do Amos we can take another route. This morning we are driving from Amos 3 all the way to Amos 5 so we need to get…

This morning we begin a four week study in the book of Amos – one of the twelve minor prophets. Why do we call them the minor prophets? Is it because they are less important or seen as the second team supporting Jeremiah, Isaiah, Daniel and Ezekiel? No, they were first called the minor prophets in the 5th century by St. Augustine and the designation has remained. Why did he call them the minor prophets? Because they were shorter in length and had more specific themes than the major prophets. There is nothing minor about them and many of the most famous quotes and illustrations we know today are from…

The last several years of the Northern Kingdom were a chain of disasters. (Remember, it is only after the fall of the Northern Kingdom that we refer to the whole nation as Israel. Up until now, only the Northern Kingdom is called Israel while the Southern Kingdom is called Judah.) Here is the list of kings of Israel in those final days: Zechariah reigned six months and was assassinated. Shallum reigned for six months and was assassinated. Menachem reigned ten years but what is recorded as a summary of his time is that he attacked a city and ripped open all the pregnant women. He is also the first to…

It is 413 years from the death of Solomon to the fall of Jerusalem and our text for today is just around 120 years after Solomon’s death. While many of the kings are direct descendants of previous kings, the history of Judah is filled with assassinations, coups, attempted coups, insurrections and illegitimate rulers. It’s a mess. From Solomon to the fall of Jerusalem there are only a handful of kings about which Scripture says they followed the ways of David instead of the ways of Jeroboam. The story we are in this morning is no exception. It is complicated and tragic. There are two accounts. One is in 2 Kings…

Following the story in 2 King’s 5 of Elisha’s curing Naaman, the commander of the king of Aram’s army, of leprosy is the story of Gehazi, the servant of Elisha. I’ve known people who had such discernment and sensitivity they could instantly know when things were not going well or someone was shading the truth or telling a lie. My mother was that way. I don’t know how she knew but she could look at me and instantly know something was not right. Of course, the odds were in her favor.I had another friend who after I told them I was fine would always say, “Yes, but tell me how…

Every prophet lives in a context. Some, like Nathan, are only called on one time to correct a king who is a man after God’s own heart. Others, like Jeremiah, are called to serve when a whole nation is on the brink of disaster and his whole life is given over to conflict, persecution, hatred, obstruction and then an unknown death. Like the book of Hebrews says, “Some faced jeers and flogging, while still others were chained and put in prison. They were stoned; they were sawed in two; they were put to death by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated – the…

Partly as a response to the division of the country and the crisis of loyalty caused by the Civil War, Francis Bellamy, the son of a Baptist minister, was given the assignment in 1892 to write a Pledge of Allegiance to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus’ arrival in the New World. It was very simple: “I pledge allegiance to my flag and the Republic for which it stands—one Nation indivisible—with liberty and justice for all.” Years later, it was amended to include “the United States of America” in 1923 and then as a result of lobbying by the Knights of Columbus, a Catholic fraternal organization, President Eisenhower approved…