Posts

Posted on

Amos Bible Study!

Me and my pal Abby Perry loved putting Amos study together with our friends, Carolyn Jones and Buck Anderson!

Many of us at Grace Bible Church have loved going deep into our Amos bible study! Many of us have studied much of the Bible but had never stepped into Amos. Why study this book? Amos is sandwiched into a section of Scripture called the “Minor Prophets”. Maybe it’s just me, but I think I avoided this book because it seemed so very “minor”. Can there be anything new to learn here?
YES! The 9 chapters of Amos portray a typical society in human history that had become consumed with its own importance and eventual abandonment of God’s preeminence. Throughout this book, God used Amos to call our attention to the PRIDE of Israel, the IDOLATRY of Israel, the SOCIETAL EVILS of Israel, and the impending JUDGEMENT on Israel. Amos is sent from Judah to Israel to point out the people’s sin and to point up to God’s constant mercy. God shows Himself in this book in fascinating ways. How?

  • He is a LION who roars in response to His people’s disobedience.
  • He is the divine JUDGE who will call to account His people’s idolatry and subsequent oppression of their fellow men.
  • He is the CREATOR who sits above the vaulted sky and orchestrates the symphony of time.
  • Finally, He is who He always is–the patient spurned FATHER who asks His people to return to Him because He loves them completely!

This book is so very timely for us.
Whether ancient Israel or Rome or America, the SOCIETAL CYCLE OF IDOLATRY AND OPPRESSION always follows a typical pattern: a society blessed with physical prosperity is often disregards God which leads to neglecting other people. We are forever ignoring what Jesus called the greatest commandments, “to LOVE GOD AND LOVE ONE ANOTHER.” His judgment is consistently executed on disobedient civilizations. If we are to learn from the book of Amos, we must ask ourselves some questions: How much of the world’s values do we weave into our Christian faith, not realizing we’ve compromised the exclusivity of God and become idolatrous? How much of our society’s love of luxury has wounded fellow human beings made in His image? Finally, how do we get out of this cycle?
SEEK THE LORD. The most glorious and hopeful section of this book centers in Amos chapter 5 where three different times, God offers Israel a divine escape hatch and opportunity for cultural restoration. He offers FULL PARDON, FULL HEALING, and FULL BLESSING if they will seek Him and Him only. He is the Ever Patient One.
The book of Amos will challenge, convict, and renew our hearts. He will enable us to see our culture more clearly & guide us to responding appropriately to His loving leadership. We will see age-old patterns of human (and God’s) history dropped into these 9 chapters and boldly shared by the prophet Amos. Not bad for a “minor” prophet. 🙂

You ready for the challenge?

Download this FREE study at www.grace-bible.org!
Tristie Fisher, Abby Perry, Carolyn Jones, Buck Anderson

 

Posted on

Watering Whole-the woman FROM the well!

“So the woman left her waterpot and went into the city.” John 4:28

This verse is in there very middle of this chapter. We nearly always overlook the power of this moment as Jesus and the “woman at the well” meet and talk. We all know she had 5 (6?) husbands, we know she was a despised Samaritan and we know that she was… well, a woman. She is the complete OPPOSITE of the other characters in this text.

The disciples were men, from strict religious communities and (seemingly) tried to follow a morality derived from the law. She is a doomed and hopeless woman reduced to shame. True to form, Jesus initiates conversation with her and takes time to teach her truth. He shows her value. Fast forward through her “come to Jesus” (pun intended!) moment in verse 28. She believes she has found Messiah ! Jesus’ claim to be “Living Water” (v. 10) has changed everything and the water that springs from Him cannot compare to the stagnant liquid from her old waterpot. The dull waterpot fulfilled her physical need yet it couldn’t change the reality of her anguished soul. Her first drink of faith in Christ takes her from thirsty to satiated and from defeated to drenched!

Naturally, she had to put that waterpot down to rush back to the city and tell others about this Man! These are the Bible passages we tend to overlook because we just can’t relate to the primary character. Or can we? Where do we remain thirsty and defeated in our lives?  Are we willing to humble ourselves and receive true refreshment from His presence? Do we have a symbolic “waterpot” that just need to be left? This woman was completely changed and became the primary source of the gospel to her city! Maybe we should change her name from the “woman at the well” to the woman from the well.”  Jesus wants to be the same for us!      

Posted on

Thankful Tension

     \  Many of us, through prayer groups or messaging each other, have discussed the challenges of PAIN AND SUFFERING in life. Whether  emotional or physical, the issue is not whether or not we will experience pain, but the ACUTENESS of it. Pain is a strange surprise to us….we readily receive the power of God to worship and witness but do not know how to depend upon Him in private trial.

How do you trust God when you cannot see Him? How do you cry out for His help when your heart is in anguish?

How do you lean upon Him as YOUR  intercessor? In His goodness, He gives His Word, His church and  the lives of those who have gone on before us.    

 Personally, it is the lives of those who have ENDURED, not ENTERTAINED who draw me the most. Those who have         been through the jungle of physical trial (and therefore emotional) trial with a soft-hearted determination to grow in Him. They have struggles (in the flesh) with self-pity, anger and pride yet, gained VICTORY (in the Spirit) through humility, brokenness and deep private worship of God.

The lives of Adonirum and Ann Judson of Burma and Robert and Mary Moffit of Africa give me encouragement in their constant commitment to “usefulness”, not necessarily personal fulfillment. How glorious to have our mind expanded to worship God not just for what I ask Him for but because HE is! Can He move? Yes. Can He heal? Yes. Can He change us? Most definitely. May we live in lives of “THANKFUL TENSION” . Tension because we want freedom from pain but thankful because He is and we are allowed to see.

Perhaps this will be the week He will cultivate in us a mind of thankfulness and a yielded heart of patience.

Our worship will be a fragrance to the Creator God who grandly hung the stars in the sky and STILL bends His ear to hear my eager, yet smaller, requests.

Love to you in the One who knows you best,

Tristie