*DAILY MANNA*
*THURSDAY, APRIL 4, 2019*
*NO COMPROMISE*
*TEXT* AMOS 7:7-17.
_*🔑KEY VERSE* "Also Amaziah said to Amos, O thou seer, go, flee thee away into the land Judah, and there eat bread, and prophesy not again any more at Bethel: for it is the king's chapel, and it is the king's court" (AMOS 7:12,13)._
After they had been straightly commanded not to speak at all nor teach in the name of Jesus, Peter and John's response was emphatic and definite: "Whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge ye. For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard" (Acts 4:19). In the face of fierce threat and opposition, these servants of God refused to compromise their stand on God's word.
Amos had earlier stood in the gap for the land of Israel in the preceding verses of the text. Afterwards, he was shown a plumb line and given a prophetic message of an irreversible punishment upon the land and King Jeroboam's house. The plumb line he saw in this context represented the word of God which must be delivered uncompromisingly in order to make the people aware of their sins, and help straighten their crooked lifestyles. It was surprising that Amaziah, the chief priest in charge of the temple of Bethel, was not concerned about hearing God's message nor helping the people to repent. In fact, he did not count the message as prophecy but saw God's message as a conspiracy.
The word of God is the solid foundation upon which the Christian faith is built. It must not be compromised in any form. We must be courageous both in obeying and preaching the Word. No matter how tough the opposition and persecution, we are to remain undaunted like Amos and the Apostles. Those who are in the habit of picking and dropping what to obey and what not to obey from God's word because of position, prestige or fear of men are in the same boat as Amaziah. Such need to repent now. Do not allow anything to come between you and the word of God (Luke 12:5).
*✍THOUGHT FOR THE DAY* Compromise is a snare to the soul.
*COVER TO COVER* JOHN 10-12.
*PONDER:* Stand up for Jesus, speak out for Jesus
1. Can a people reap the blessings of intercession when there is no repentance? Will God suspend His judgement indefinitely when there is no fruit of repentance? Will evil prophecies be reversed by prayers when the cause of the evil prophecies is not dealt with?
2. God, having put the sins of Israel on a measuring scale (plumb line) ruled that He, contrary to the plea of Amos (vv2,3,5,6), will not overlook the sins of Israel any more v8.
*Lesson* Intercession for sinners should not be centred on their prosperity but on their repentance from sins because intercession is not a substitute for repentance from sin and without repentance, the gains of intercession will be lost.
3. The judgment must start from the house of worship, "the high places of Isaac" v9. Most evils, if not all, in the society can be traced to negligence, permissiveness, lukewarmness, distraction, worldliness, disobedience to the word or sinfulness among "worshippers of God".
4. The second place judgement must attack is the ruling class -"the house of Jeroboam" v9.
*Q* Why did God direct His wrath at the ruling class after the religious class?
5. Amaziah was not a Levite and therefore not qualified to be a priest of God. No wander, he did not have the stamina to endure the truth vv10-12. Those who profess to be religious leaders without transformation of lives have a natural tendency to oppose the truth and persecute the righteous.
6. Persecution should not hinder the truth: continue to stand for Jesus and speak out for Jesus. Don't "chicken out" in the battle for truth vv14-17.
*HYMN:* Stand up for Jesus
1
Stand up! stand up for Jesus!
Ye soldiers of the cross;
Lift high His royal banner,
It must not suffer loss:
From vict’ry unto vict’ry
His army shall He lead,
Till every foe is vanquished
And Christ is Lord indeed.
Stand up for Jesus
Ye soldiers of the cross;
Lift high His royal banner,
It must not, it must not suffer loss.
2
Stand up! stand up for Jesus!
The trumpet call obey;
Forth to the mighty conflict
In this His glorious day.
Ye that are men, now serve Him
Against unnumbered foes;
Let courage rise with danger.
And strength to strength oppose.
3
Stand up! stand up for Jesus!
Stand in His strength alone;
The arm of flesh will fail you;
Ye dare not trust your own.
Put on the Gospel armor,
And, watching unto prayer,
Where duty calls, or danger,
Be never wanting there.
4
Stand up! stand up for Jesus!
The strife will not be long:
This day the noise of battle,
The next the victor’s song;
To him that overcometh
A crown of life shall be;
He, with the King of glory,
Shall reign eternally.
*PRAYER POINTS:*
1. Lord, give me the power and the courage to be a contender for the Truth in these dark days.
2. Lord, give me the grace to always live unspotted life that will not contradict my message.
3. Lord, visit your Church with your judgement and purge it.
4. Lord, visit our ruling class with your judgement and eliminate the enemies of progress and common man from rulership.
