Messages from Heaven Part 1, Monday

0:00Hey kids, welcome to Junior's for Jesus. Go grab your Bibles, we're gonna be digging in and learning some really exciting stories. Let's get started. This week we're in a section entitled Messages from Heaven. Yesterday we learned about the day of the Lord. The day of the Lord is a big concept that prophets like Joel talked about in the Bible. It's a special day when God will show his power and bring judgment to the world. It's a day when God takes charge and sets everything right. The prophets warn the people that if they didn't follow God's rules and live in a way that pleased him, then the day of the Lord would be a very scary time. It's a time when probation or the day of salvation is over and God will pour out his wrath on sin and upon those who have chosen to reject him. The prophets wanted the people to understand that this day was a day of punishment and that they needed to repent and turn back to God.

1:03Our memory verse for this week is Amos chapter three, verse seven, it reads, surely the Lord God does nothing unless he reveals his secret to his servants, the prophets. Monday, pretend that you're old enough to have a driver's license and as you are driving one day, you have a very serious accident. Now you're in a courtroom standing before the judge. According to this charge, the judge says sternly, this accident happened on Saturday at 11 o'clock AM. You were in a borrowed car speeding recklessly through a children's play zone. Your car hit one child who is still in a hospital suffering from serious injuries and witnesses say they saw you speed away without stopping. Do you plead guilty? What would you say? Would any excuse work? How would you feel if the judge knew

2:04that you claimed to be a Sabbath keeping Christian? Where should you have been that morning at 11 o'clock? Amos, the next minor prophet wasn't a judge but his messages were given to him by the judge of the whole universe and like a judge, he fearlessly gave them to the people. He even mentioned some of their sins of which they should plead guilty before the judge. There was no excuse for these sins. Amos chapter two verses four and five. Thus says the Lord for three transgressions of Judah and for four, I will not turn away its punishment because they have despised the law of the Lord and have not kept his commandments. Their lies lead to mistray. Lies which their fathers followed but I will send a fire upon Judah and it shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem. Amos lived in the kingdom of Judah but his messages were for both the kingdoms

3:06of Israel and Judah. His home was in the small town named Tekewa which was about 10 miles south of Jerusalem in the wilderness of Tekewa. How did he earn his living? Amos chapter seven verses 14 and 15. Then Amos answered and said to Amaziah, I was no prophet nor was I a son of a prophet but I was a sheep herder and a tender of sycamore fruit. Then the Lord took me as I followed the flock and the Lord said to me, go prophesied to my people Israel. About 150 years before the first Jeroboam had made two golden calves for his people to worship in Israel and he didn't want them to keep going to Judah to worship God at the temple in Jerusalem. From that time on, they had gone deeper and deeper into idol worship and by the time of Amos, they were as wicked as the hidden. Jeroboam the second was king of Israel at that time

4:10and his kingdom was so rich, its people didn't feel their need of God. Amos chapter six verses three through six woe to you who put far off the day of doom who caused the seat of violence to come near who lie on beds of ivory, stretch out on your couches, eat lambs from the flock and calves from the midst of the stall who sing idly to the sound of stringed instruments and invent for yourselves musical instruments like David who drink wine from bowls and anoint yourselves with the best ointments but are not grieved for the affliction of Joseph. Now let's apply it. Does that mean it's always dangerous to be rich? This podcast is sponsored by MyBibleFirst.org.