Amos 8:7 (KJV) God's Excellency

Amos 8:7 (KJV)

The LORD hath sworn by the excellency of Jacob, Surely I will never forget any of their works.

 

As I understand it, there have been a few ideas proposed as to exactly what the excellency of Jacob is:

·       The ark of the covenant

·       The temple of Solomon

 

But the one idea that must be the truth is that the excellency of Jacob is God Himself. Upon Him, Jacob; Israel, and Judah have reason to boast.

 

And it is upon God alone that any of us have cause to boast.

·       Not of our fine churches,

·       Not of our systems of doctrine,

·       Not of our sweet fellowships,

·       Not of our long history.

If these are wonders, as were the ark of the covenant and Solomon’s Temple, still they are but mean and plain in view of the Almighty God. 

 

No, sir! We have cause to boast. We have reason to lift our heads and shout for glory. But it is not in the glory of our good preachers, our missions outreaches, our friendly services, our welcome congregations. 

 

Let us glory in the excellency of God Himself and of God alone.

 

#ExcellencyOfJacob #GloryInGodAlone #BoastInGod #PraiseGodsExcellence #JacobExaltedInGod

God's Excellency: The True Boast of Jacob

To my readers:

Thank you! It is a great joy to me to know you read the thoughts and lessons God has given me in His word. I would love to hear from you. Please feel free to leave comments.

For this and, more than 6300 earlier Daily Visits with God, visit https://mckenzie-visit-with-god.blogspot.com. There you will find daily visits going back to 2005.

If you have been blessed by this blog, please subscribe to my feed and share it with others.

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Amos 8:7 (KJV) God's Excellency

 

Amos 7:2b-6 (KJV) The Heart of Prayer

Amos 7:2b-6 (KJV)

... then I said, O Lord GOD, forgive, I beseech thee: by whom shall Jacob arise? for he is small.

The LORD repented for this: It shall not be, saith the LORD.

Thus hath the Lord GOD shewed unto me: and, behold, the Lord GOD called to contend by fire, and it devoured the great deep, and did eat up a part.

Then said I, O Lord GOD, cease, I beseech thee: by whom shall Jacob arise? for he is small.

The LORD repented for this: This also shall not be, saith the Lord GOD.

 

Oh, for a man who will pray for sinners!

 

Judgment is an inevitable event and well-deserved. But no man deserves judgment more than another. The Christian is not better than anyone; he is no less worthy of judgment than anyone else. The reality is that the Christian has been separated by God for the purpose of praying for everyone.

 

What must be God’s burden for those He has set apart for the work of intercession but instead think of themselves as better than those they have been elected to pray for?

 

#PrayForSinners #IntercessionMatters #GodsBurden #HumilityInPrayer #SeparatedToIntercede

The Heart of Prayer: God's Burden for Souls

To my readers:

Thank you! It is a great joy to me to know you read the thoughts and lessons God has given me in His word. I would love to hear from you. Please feel free to leave comments.

For this and, more than 6300 earlier Daily Visits with God, visit https://mckenzie-visit-with-god.blogspot.com. There you will find daily visits going back to 2005.

If you have been blessed by this blog, please subscribe to my feed and share it with others.

For more resources from Pastor Marvin McKenzie visit http://puyallupbaptistchurch.com.

My books, and other resources, are available at:
https://marvinmckenzie.org

Join me at Daily Visits with God Podcast
https://marvinmckenzie.substack.com/

Merch at my Teespring store https://macz.creator-spring.com/
Be a witness with hats, mugs, t-shirts, sweat shirts, and more

Let’s have coffee?
The link to Ko-fi  is an opportunity to support this effort to reach a world of souls with the Word of God. I would appreciate any gift you can give. 

Amos 7:2b-6 (KJV) The Heart of Prayer

Amos 6:3 (KJV) Facing the Reality

Amos 6:3 (KJV)

Ye that put far away the evil day, and cause the seat of violence to come near;

 

The sense of this passage is a judgment against those who dismiss the warnings of the Word of God and of the man of God concerning "the evil day." I think its first application has to do with the coming captivity. Amos was from Judah but preached to Israel. It would be appropriate, therefore, to see his warning as relating to the captivity and destruction of Israel by the Assyrians and of the later captivity of Judah by the Babylonians. We know this to have been the case.

 

The prophets, priests, and kings of these countries rejected the warning of preachers of coming judgments. They chose instead to try to comfort and ease the people, reassuring them that God loved them and would not allow such judgment to come upon them. They reasoned that the wickedness of those Gentile nations was argument enough that God would never allow them to defeat the children of God, no matter what sins they might be guilty of. They could point to being the majority opinion, the more influential voices, and the appointed leaders of their people as evidence they were on God's side and those preachers like Jeremiah and Amos were on the "lunatic fringe."

 

In hindsight, we discover that those who ignored the warnings only "[caused] the seat of violence to come near."

 

Could it be we have the same scenario playing out today?

• We have a world of unsaved people scoffing at the warning of coming judgment.

• We have whole denominations excusing away biblical warnings of coming judgment.

• We even hear legitimate Bible preachers, choosing to focus their messages on biblical subjects other than the warnings of coming judgment.

 

And by doing so, they may "cause the seat of violence to come near."

 

#WarningIgnored #HeedTheProphets #JudgmentDayWarning #RejectingTruth #FacingConsequences

Facing the Reality: Consequences of Dismissing the Evil Day

 

To my readers:

Thank you! It is a great joy to me to know you read the thoughts and lessons God has given me in His word. I would love to hear from you. Please feel free to leave comments.

For this and, more than 6300 earlier Daily Visits with God, visit https://mckenzie-visit-with-god.blogspot.com. There you will find daily visits going back to 2005.

If you have been blessed by this blog, please subscribe to my feed and share it with others.

For more resources from Pastor Marvin McKenzie visit http://puyallupbaptistchurch.com.

My books, and other resources, are available at:
https://marvinmckenzie.org

Join me at Daily Visits with God Podcast
https://marvinmckenzie.substack.com/

Merch at my Teespring store https://macz.creator-spring.com/
Be a witness with hats, mugs, t-shirts, sweat shirts, and more

Let’s have coffee?
The link to Ko-fi  is an opportunity to support this effort to reach a world of souls with the Word of God. I would appreciate any gift you can give. 

Amos 6:3 (KJV) Facing the Reality

Amos 5:8 (KJV) From Religion to Redemption

Amos 5:8 (KJV)

Seek him that maketh the seven stars and Orion, and turneth the shadow of death into the morning, and maketh the day dark with night: that calleth for the waters of the sea, and poureth them out upon the face of the earth: The LORD is his name:

 

This chapter later speaks of their god Moloch, the image Chiun, and "the star of your god." Israel needn't any more religion. They had plenty of that, and that of their own making. (vs 26) God's Word became very specific; if they would be restored, redeemed, forgiven, they must seek the Lord by name.

Here is one of the greatest troubles in our world today. People are given to religion of every sort, but they are loathe to seek the Lord as He is found in the Word of God, the Bible. 

·       People worship great leaders, lofty ideals, and athletes and celebrities. 

·       People bow to the gods of success, peace, freedom of choice, or pleasure. 

·       People revere even the right not to worship. 

But what is plainly obvious is that this course of worship has led our world into greater and deeper decline. It's as if people have begun to give up on morality, kindness, generosity - in short - humanity. Some go so far as to wish there were fewer humans on the planet, believing that the animals would take better care of it than people do.

 

There is an answer to this moral decline. It is to seek God. Mind you, not any god, but God Himself. Not the God of Catholic or Protestant making. Not even the God the Jews have designed. Not a religion developed around what people think of God.

 

There is an answer. The answer is to seek God - the God of the Bible - the LORD is His name.

 

#SeekGod #TrueWorship #SeekTheLord #BiblicalFaith #GodOfTheBible

From Religion to Redemption: Hope in God Alone

 

To my readers:

Thank you! It is a great joy to me to know you read the thoughts and lessons God has given me in His word. I would love to hear from you. Please feel free to leave comments.

For this and, more than 6300 earlier Daily Visits with God, visit https://mckenzie-visit-with-god.blogspot.com. There you will find daily visits going back to 2005.

If you have been blessed by this blog, please subscribe to my feed and share it with others.

For more resources from Pastor Marvin McKenzie visit http://puyallupbaptistchurch.com.

My books, and other resources, are available at:
https://marvinmckenzie.org

Join me at Daily Visits with God Podcast
https://marvinmckenzie.substack.com/

Merch at my Teespring store https://macz.creator-spring.com/
Be a witness with hats, mugs, t-shirts, sweat shirts, and more

Let’s have coffee?
The link to Ko-fi  is an opportunity to support this effort to reach a world of souls with the Word of God. I would appreciate any gift you can give. 

Amos 5:8 (KJV) From Religion to Redemption

Amos 4:12 (KJV) A Warning or Promise?

Amos 4:12 (KJV)

Therefore thus will I do unto thee, O Israel: and because I will do this unto thee, prepare to meet thy God, O Israel.

 

Though I think the common understanding of this text is as a warning, John Gill is of the opinion that it could be a promise. "But I rather think the words are a promise or intimation of doing something to Israel in a way of special grace and kindness,"

 

It is, I think, important to understand the context of Israel. They are the people chosen by God to be an example of His love and work in humanity. Israel, in particular, is an example of those who, though loved and chosen, turned their backs on God. But they are just an example. What God does in Israel is not exclusive to them.

 

That said, Gill goes on, "the Messiah that was then to come was God, and so, equal to the work of redemption and salvation He was to do."

 

Despite and regardless of the sins of men and the ultimate failures of their professions, Jesus is equal to the task. We, who are honest about our sin, know we could never measure up and deserve the grace of God, salvation, and reconciliation with Him. But what God has in store for the redeemed is so much better than being forgiven. Like the prodigal, His plan for us is elevation – to be joint heirs with Jesus.

 

·       "Prepare to meet thy God" could be in the sense of getting ready for judgment.

·       "Prepare to meet thy God" might be in the sense of expecting celebration. 

Once again, John Gill writes, "to be met with the utmost joy and pleasure."

 

What a meeting that will be!

 

#DivinePromise #ChosenPeople #GraceAndKindness #PrepareToMeetThyGod #RedemptionAndReconciliation

A Warning or Promise?: Prepare to Meet Thy God

 

To my readers:

Thank you! It is a great joy to me to know you read the thoughts and lessons God has given me in His word. I would love to hear from you. Please feel free to leave comments.

For this and, more than 6300 earlier Daily Visits with God, visit https://mckenzie-visit-with-god.blogspot.com. There you will find daily visits going back to 2005.

If you have been blessed by this blog, please subscribe to my feed and share it with others.

For more resources from Pastor Marvin McKenzie visit http://puyallupbaptistchurch.com.

My books, and other resources, are available at:
https://marvinmckenzie.org

Join me at Daily Visits with God Podcast
https://marvinmckenzie.substack.com/

Merch at my Teespring store https://macz.creator-spring.com/
Be a witness with hats, mugs, t-shirts, sweat shirts, and more

Let’s have coffee?
The link to Ko-fi  is an opportunity to support this effort to reach a world of souls with the Word of God. I would appreciate any gift you can give. 

Amos 4:12 (KJV) A Warning or Promise?

Amos 2:4 (KJV) Rooted in Rebellion

Amos 2:4 (KJV)

Thus saith the LORD; For three transgressions of Judah, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because they have despised the law of the LORD, and have not kept his commandments, and their lies caused them to err, after the which their fathers have walked:

 

Judgment from God is dependent upon circumstances, but I believe this to be the root. All of those judged in this chapter have at their base, committed the same sin Judah is guilty of. “They have despised the law of the Lord and have not kept His commandments.”

 

One might commit sins different from another based on what they have been taught, the environment they have grown up in, and the culture in which they have lived, but this is the truth about all of them; “they have despised the law of the Lord and have not kept his commandments.”

 

What this means is that no matter where you find yourself in life, no matter what sins might be common for you, the path to repentance and reconciliation with God is exactly the same, 

Psalms 1:2 (KJV)

But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night.

 

#LawoftheLord #DespisingCommandments #RepentancePath #DivineJudgment #MeditateonGodsLaw

Rooted in Rebellion: Repentance Roadmap

To my readers:

Thank you! It is a great joy to me to know you read the thoughts and lessons God has given me in His word. I would love to hear from you. Please feel free to leave comments.

For this and, more than 6300 earlier Daily Visits with God, visit https://mckenzie-visit-with-god.blogspot.com. There you will find daily visits going back to 2005.

If you have been blessed by this blog, please subscribe to my feed and share it with others.

For more resources from Pastor Marvin McKenzie visit http://puyallupbaptistchurch.com.

My books, and other resources, are available at:
https://marvinmckenzie.org

Join me at Daily Visits with God Podcast
https://marvinmckenzie.substack.com/

Merch at my Teespring store https://macz.creator-spring.com/
Be a witness with hats, mugs, t-shirts, sweat shirts, and more

Let’s have coffee?
The link to Ko-fi  is an opportunity to support this effort to reach a world of souls with the Word of God. I would appreciate any gift you can give. 

Amos 2:4 (KJV) Rooted in Rebellion