What is this road I take?
A road of ease?
Blind to my sin yet
Seeking God & calling it church
Spending time with folks & calling it community.
Woe to those at ease in Zion
at ease in Fort Worth
at ease in Austin...
Amos 6:1
The Lord showed to this farmer of figs, a plumb line in His Hand.
There's still a plumb line today.
God will not spare us if we will not spare our idols.
Worship demolishes all those things that stand in our way.
True Worship.
Amos 7:8-9
God roars against everything in my life and in yours that violates His Being and opposes His Plans. 66LL
PRAYER FROM PSALMS
LORD, do not rebuke me in your anger.
You do roar from Zion.
I do live way too much at ease from Austin.
Be merciful to me, O Lord, for I am faint.
O Lord, heal me for my soul is in anguish.
How long, O LORD, how long?
Psalm 6:1-3
Luke 8:14 "Now the ones that fell among thorns are those who, when they have heard, go out and are choked with cares, riches, and pleasures of life, and bring no fruit to maturity."
ReplyDeleteIn some ways, Amos' day wasn't so different as this day. Luxuries and pride became more important than seeking the Lord.
There's a strange famine of the Word today. Not a God-imposed famine, but self-imposed.
Though we have access to Bibles and God's Word, we take for granted that it is there available to us, but then ignore it. It's a different kind of famine than in Amos' day. Yet we suffer the same results.
We choke out the Word by cluttering our lives with things, the pursuit of luxuries and the maintenance and upkeep of all the extra stuff in our lives. We busy our lives with things instead of the pursuit of relationship with the Lord.
Our most valuable commodity then becomes time. But not necessarily time to spend with God. We need more time to attend the clutter in our lives. We fail to distinguish between the tyranny of the urgent and the value of the important. And we forget our God.
What idols keep us from the Lord this day?
Free us, Lord, from all the clutter. Focus our hearts to faithfully seek you. We bless you and thank you for Your Word in our lives. May it have its transforming effect on our lives. Amen.
wow, Annette...a beautiful sermon. You told it just like it is. Thank you for your beautiful insight...you and Bev have opened my eyes to things that I have been blind to, what a blessing you are in my life. Thank you for sharing. David is on a Pioneer Evangelism trip right now, has been gone since the 14th. Will not be home till Friday....I am sure he has learned great things that have shaken him to the core. He is in Africa....in Benin and this week the Ivory Coast. Our worship in North America is NOT really worship. We think it is, but I have a feeling we are only scratching the surface if that. Blessings....
ReplyDeleteI can just imagine the eye-opening experience David is having. I will pray for him tonight for fruitfulness from his journey, for safe travels, for transformation.
DeleteI can't wait to worship the way God intended one day in heaven. You are right I think, Mary Lou. Our worship only scratches the surface.
By the way, Mary Lou. My thoughts are my own struggles. I should just say "I" not "we" but I suspect it's such as is common to man. (1 Cor. 10:13)
ReplyDelete:)