Amos： Gives a Promise of Revival？ - Part 2

And I'd like you to specifically look this afternoon at Amos chapter 9 verse 11. Sometimes the prophets, because of the extent of judgment warned, can be wearisome reading. But, the question is not whether we like to hear about judgment. The question is, are the things being warned and threatened, are they a real threat? Are they a real concern? Is that which is being warned something that we ought to be taking seriously? Because that warning applies to us, and if we don't heed the warning, then what is being promised in judgment will indeed come upon us. That's the thing about judgment. Listen, folks. If we were to simply ask, hmm, out of all of mankind, whatever your theories are about eschatology, just let me ask you this. As you look across the great multitudes of this world, are Christians in the majority or the minority? I think it's pretty obvious. I mean, we can think that Jesus said, few there be that find it. Okay? We can think about little flock. Isn't that how Jesus addressed his people? Little flock. Not the majority of the masses of humanity. And so let me ask you this. In light of that reality, when people die, where do the masses go? Where do they go? They go to hell. That's right. The vast majority of humanity goes to hell when they die. And, by the way, does Jesus teach us, do the apostles teach us, does the New Testament teach us that a lot of times a lot of the people that are going to hell are actually people that are right in the midst of the church? Does it teach that? Well, you have people within our ranks who go out from us. Why? Because they weren't of us. And if they weren't of us, that means they weren't Christian. That means they perish in the end. And even among those that are with us, we know that we have people that make shipwreck of the faith. We know that we have people that are falling out of the race. We know that we have people that receive it gladly in the beginning, but because they have no root in them, what happens? They wither. There are people that get wrapped up in the thorns. They bear no fruit. Doesn't go well for them. And then you've got people that make it all the way to the end and they fool everybody. And they say, Lord, Lord, and here we are. And isn't this great? And he said, I never knew you. Now folks, the truth is that when we look at the vast numbers in hell, to think, oh, well, you know, bite your tongue, preacher. You should not talk too much about judgment. Wait a second. Judgment is something that is going to be reality. And listen, the thing about judgment is that every one of the sons and daughters of Adam come into this world in the natural state and that means they're children of wrath. So judgment is being threatened for all of us in Scripture. By very nature, we are children of judgment. So, you can't say too much about this. We like to hear the positive things. But you know what? For the vast majority, the positive things are not going to apply. That means the negative things are going to. That means they need a good dose of the negative so that something, I mean, Jesus doesn't threaten. The Bible does not threaten sinners simply to threaten them and beat them up. It threatens them so that they'll turn and run to the place of safety. That's the issue. But I'll tell you, there is something that is just a wonderful breath of fresh air when you're reading through something like Amos and you come to verse 11 of chapter 9. And yeah, you have to recognize, we're almost at the end of the book here. I mean, when you pick up in verse 11, the book only goes to verse 15 and we're done. And we've already had over, we've had eight and two-thirds chapters before us. We're well into our way of chapter 9 here. And it says this, In that day, I will raise up the booth of David that is fallen and repair its breaches and raise up its ruins and rebuild it as in the days of old. And you just want to make note. We're not being told what we'll do. We're not being told what anybody is going to do other than what God is going to do. He repairs its breaches, raises up its ruins, rebuild it as in the days of old. That they, now that's an interesting they. That they may possess. Well, who's he been talking about thus far? Well, he's been talking about the booth or the tent or the tabernacle of David. That they may possess the remnant of Edom. Now, Edom is Esau. Edom has to do with those who are not Israel. And what it's saying is that the house of David is going to possess people from Edom. And all the nations who are called by my name. This is very interesting. You see what the promise is here. The promise is that Israel or that the house of David the one who sits on the throne of Israel is going to take into possession at some future time all these people from the nations. That's us folks, that's Gentiles who are called by God's name. Declares the Lord. Who does this? You see who's doing all this. And notice what he promises next. Behold the days are coming declares the Lord. When the plowmen shall overtake the reaper the treader of grapes, him who sows the seed the mountains shall drip sweet wine and all the hills shall flow with that sweet wine. I will restore the fortunes of my people Israel and they shall rebuild the ruined cities and inhabit them. They shall plant vineyards and drink their wine. They shall make gardens and eat their fruit. I will plant them on their land and they shall never again be uprooted out of the land that I have given them says the Lord your God. So, before we get this look, just feel the tone. We looked at this two weeks ago but two weeks is an eternity when it comes to preaching. You probably hardly remember what George preached last week let alone what was said two weeks ago. So, just think Amos 1 we're going to do just a fast survey and just look at some words here Amos 1 verse 2 The Lord roars from Zion that sets the tone and then what do you have? 1.4 I will send a fire 1.7 I will send a fire 1.10 I will send a fire 1.12 I will send a fire 1.14 I will kindle a fire 2.2 I will send a fire You see what's happening 8 times over there is a threat here that this God that roars from Zion He is going to send a fire among His enemies He's going to burn what happens with fire? Hell is fire the lake of fire where fire is a picture of judgment fire is a picture of something you don't want to fall into or have dumped on you Go to chapter 4 verse 12 4.12 This is why He says these very famous words Prepare to meet your God O Israel 4.12 the last line there Prepare to meet your God Why? Because of all this judgment That's the issue on the table Look at 5.8 5.8 He who made the Pleiades and Orion This is the maker of the heavens the stars This is the one who has created the He's What's He doing? He turns deep darkness into the morning He darkens the day into night He calls for the waters of the sea and pours them out on the surface of the earth The Lord is His name You see what He's doing is He's saying I'm the creator That's who He is He makes destruction flash forth against the strong You see the judgment It's like in His power to create the stars to create What you see and behold out there, the heavens that declare His glory The power, the might of this Almighty God And what's He doing? He turns His destruction against the strong So that destruction comes upon the fortress It's like the fortress No fortress can hold Him back He can break these things down Go to 520 It's not the day of the Lord Darkness, not light Bloom and no brightness in it The day of the Lord is the day of His judgment That's what all this is about Amos 8:3 You go over a few more 8.3 Just listen to the tone of this The songs of the temple shall become wailings in that day declares the Lord God So many dead bodies They're thrown everywhere And the way the ESV says it It's just silence Young's literal just says hush It's like just, you know where the scripture says Be still and know It's like silence before this God The people that say, oh I'm going to tell God Oh no, silence When He meets out His destruction So we go to 8.7 The Lord is sworn by the pride of Jacob, surely I will never forget any of their deeds I mean think of it, surely I will never forget any of their deeds That's why this judgment is taking place 8.9 On that day declares the Lord God I will make the sun go down at noon and darken the earth in broad daylight I will turn your feasts into mourning and all your songs into lamentation I will bring sackcloth on every waist and boldness on every head I will make it like the morning for an only son and the end of it like a bitter day Now you think about this Think about you have an only son Think you have an only child and you lose that child Think They're seven, they're ten, they're twelve they're eighteen and they're taken The kind of mourning, the kind of tears the kind of sorrow He likens that to the kind of sorrow that people that face the consequences of their sin because when you lose a son, a first born son you think about what you've lost but when you lose your soul think of what you've lost and it's forever and so go to verse 9 chapter 9 verse 5 chapter 9 verse 5 The Lord God of hosts He who touches the earth and it melts and all who dwell in it mourn and all of its rises like the Nile and sinks again like the Nile of Egypt who builds his upper chambers in the heavens found his vault upon the earth who calls for the waters of the sea pours them out upon the surface of the earth The Lord is his name He touches the earth and it melts this is the maker of the Pleiades the Orion, the constellations that gleam in the glory and he is going to melt the earth and we know that, Peter tells us that, he's going to melt it all in the end now in this picture of judgment, suddenly verse 11, and he's done I mean he's gone on and on and on with this, and now just as you think ok there's no hope but there is hope suddenly a gleam of hope Brethren, you know the thing about this judgment Jesus said it He said I'll tell you who to fear don't fear men, you better fear the God who is able to throw both your body and soul into hell we read Hebrews, it says our God is a consuming fire it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God don't think this is just an Old Testament minor prophet message, the major prophets said it, Moses said it, Jesus said it the apostles said it if you meet this God in judgment, you are in trouble bottom line, and this God only judges according to the exact justice and fairness and righteousness that sin deserves His measurements and the way He judges are perfectly in accord with what is good and what is right what we don't want don't ever say I just want God to deal with me what, fairly I just want God to give me justice but there's a hope there's a sudden shift here in verse 11 and that's what I want us to see you know what Amos gets here, he gets a prophetic view into the future some future day of wonderful things is going to happen, now do you see it in that day, now look if you're like me, see I'm asking questions all the time, I'm just wired that way, because God has made me, for one thing God made me hungry for the word of God in the beginning, and I want to know what God has to say to me, but then making me a preacher as well, I need to be faithful and so I need to be asking questions of what is actually being said in Scripture, because I want to be able to teach it right, it says in that day, well I hope all of you you read that, in that day, God's going to raise up the booth of David that has fallen, repair its breaches, raise up its ruins, you know the thing about Edom and all the nations that are called by his name, and then he talks about the plowman overtaking the reaper and restoring the fortunes of his people Israel and planting them in the land, and you know what I ask, when? You say in that day, well what day is that? Does that really help? In that day, you know it's like he's just going along here verse 10, he says all sinners of my people shall buy the sword disaster shall not overtake, against all those who say disaster shall not overtake or meet us, and you know you're on this thing and these people are saying no, judgment's not going to reach us and he's saying yes it is, and then suddenly it's just like in that day what? It's like it doesn't even flow with the context it's like it's just this thought out of nowhere what? In what day? I mean don't you ask that? I ask that and so that's where my antenna go up, is like what day Lord? I mean what is that talking about? I'll tell you, when is this plowman going to overtake the guy sowing? When does the treader overtake the sower? When does this happen? When is this house of David, this booth of David being restored and the ruins of it coming back? When is this? I mean I want to know when this is and you know what? You get all sorts of people of all sorts of different eschatological notions and they come, some people say well this is when you remember Nehemiah, Ezra, Zerubbabel, you remember those guys? Joshua the high priest, you remember all those guys and they came back and they rebuilt the temple and they rebuilt Jerusalem? Remember when that happened? When they got out of Babylon? See some people say well that's when this is. Now look, I'm not going to say that at times God doesn't talk about those in captivity coming out and there is an immediate application to that but do you recognize that the people coming out of Egypt and the people coming out of Babylon are, you've got to see beyond it, they're pictures of spiritual realities. When is this? Some people say well it's in the days of Zerubbabel the Babylonian captivity and they're being let go and they come back to the land and, well really? Was it that fruitful? I mean, do you read that either their land was physically that fruitful or spiritually they were that fruitful? What I find is that as soon as they came back into the land they were suddenly marrying the women of the land! Don't you find that? Do you recognize it's very rare to find any place, any place where Israel was faithful for any stretch of time? Even when they had good kings, the people weren't so good. And so other people say, you know, you have these post-mill guys today. Well there's a coming golden age. That's when this is. Is that when it is? And then you have the dispensational guys, the pre-mill guys, and they're saying well it's the thousand years after Christ's return. Is that when it is? When is this? I mean, you know what we see here? We see in that day. But how are we going to define that? Are we going to go listen to this preacher or that preacher because he has certain view of the end times? I mean, when is God going to raise up the booth of David? When is God going to give the nations who are called by His name into the hands of the house of David? When in this abundant harvest? When is God going to restore the fortunes? There's a new day of God's blessing. Amos sees it. Look, one thing you can't get away from is it's going to happen. The issue is not whether it's going to happen. The issue is when's it going to happen. So what is this? What do you think? When do you think this is? Can I tell you something? First thing you want to do, what's hermeneutics 101? Hermeneutics is the study of Bible interpretation. How you interpret something. So what's like the number one rule in Bible interpretation? Context would be a good one. But I would say this. Compare Scripture with Scripture. Now, context falls somewhat in that because you're comparing what you read with what's in the immediate context and the broader context to try to get the meaning. But the reality is, in this context you can't get it. You can't search it out. It's not there. You're not going to find it there. But you can find it comparing Scripture with Scripture. You know, one of the things you want to do, especially when you've got questions with Old Testament passages, one of the questions that always ought to pop up in your mind is, hmm, I wonder if the New Testament ever quotes this. It does. Guess where? Acts chapter 15. Let's go there. Because you need to see this. Because this is no small thing. Because what's happening is this is coming close to home. See, if you just write this off to a golden age or to some thousand years, or you put it in the past, back in the days of Zerubbabel and Nehemiah and Ezra and those guys, Haggai and Zechariah, you put it back in those days, then it doesn't apply to you. If you put it in the future in a golden age or a thousand year king, then it doesn't apply to you. Oh, but if it has to do with now, that is a promise that you and I can lay it whole on. See, that's what I'm always looking for. Is this for me? That's key. And so, okay, you come to Acts 15. You know the situation in Acts 15. You remember what happened? Paul and Barnabas were at Antioch. You remember that? They were at Antioch. And what happened? Some guys from Jerusalem came up. And you know what the Judaizers were teaching? You remember what they were teaching? You need to tell the Gentiles that are being saved, they need to be circumcised and keep the law of Moses. You know they were saying that. That's the same thing they ran into in the Galatian churches. Right? These guys show up in the book of Acts. And they came up to Antioch. And it was such a big deal, what did they do? Antioch sent Paul and Barnabas with these guys back down to Jerusalem to get into council with the leaders down there as to what the answer is to this. And that's where we pick up in Acts chapter 15. Acts 15 is all about this early church council that met in Jerusalem. So jump in in verse 4. When Paul and Barnabas, that's who's being talked about there, when Paul and Barnabas came to Jerusalem, they were welcomed by the church and the apostles and the elders and they declared all that God had done with them. And by the way this is after Acts 13 and 14 when Paul and Barnabas made their first missionary tour. So that's what they're reporting on all that. They're letting it be known. What God did with them out there among the nations. Verse 5. But some believers who belonged to the party of the Pharisees rose up and said, it is necessary to circumcise them and to order them to keep the law of Moses. You see that's the issue. Verse 6. The apostles and the elders were gathered together to consider this matter. So you see the matter on the table. It's got to do with the Gentiles. This is specifically the issue. What do we teach the Gentiles? That's the real issue here. Verse 7. After there had been much debate, Peter stood up. Wouldn't you love to have been in a meeting with Paul and Barnabas and Peter and James? So Peter stood up and said to them, brothers now what he is going to do is now recount how he has had a part in bringing the truth to the Gentiles. Listen to him. Brothers, you know that in the early days God made a choice among you. That by my mouth the Gentiles should hear the word of the gospel and believe. And you know what that refers to? Right back to chapter 10 where, remember the sheep came down from heaven and eat? And he's saying, Lord I've never eaten anything unclean. And he recognized it didn't have so much to do with food as it did to going into the house of a Gentile, namely by the name of Cornelius and bringing the gospel. Remember that? That's what he's talking about here. And he said, God chose me to do that. Verse 9. He made no distinction between us and them. And the them is the Gentiles having cleansed their hearts by faith. Go to verse 12. A little later, all the assembly fell silent. And they listened to Barnabas and Paul as they related what signs and wonders God had done through them among the Gentiles. So you see what's happening in the course of this meeting. They went there to talk about what we should be teaching the Gentiles. Now Peter is saying, hey, God used me. Paul and Barnabas are now saying God used us all to reach the Gentiles. Verse 13. After they finished speaking, James now is the speaker. James replied, brothers, listen to me. Simeon, that's Peter, has related how God first visited the Gentiles to take from them a people for his name. Ah, now that is key. A people from the nations for his name. That sounds very similar to what we heard in Amos. And in fact, look at verse 15. With this, the words of the prophets agree, just as it is written. Aha, now he's going to quote Amos. Exactly the words that we read. I say exactly, it comes from there, even though he puts a few little twists in the words. Now listen. After this, I will return and I will rebuild the tent of David that has fallen. And I will rebuild its ruins and I will restore it. Well, that's exactly what we had in Amos 9:11. Verse 17. The remnant of mankind may seek the Lord and all the Gentiles who are called by my name. Now you see what he does? He takes Edom out and he puts the remnant of mankind in. That is one change that he makes to it. But you know what? Often times when I'm reading the Old Testament and I read Edom, it makes me think this is representative of all the Gentile nations. I see that. In fact, when we get to Obadiah, which is next, you're going to see that Edom becomes very prominent. And I think one of the things I want to do is show you how Edom is very representative of all the Gentiles. Notice back to what it says here in Acts 15. Verse 17. The remnant of mankind may seek the Lord and all the Gentiles who are called by my name says the Lord who makes these things known from of old. Verse 19. Therefore my judgment is that we should not trouble those of the Gentiles who turn to God. Now my point is this. James says this. You see what he says? With this the words of the prophets agree just as it is written. In other words, what James is saying is that what we are beholding right here, right now, is the fulfillment of what the prophet Amos wrote. That's what he's saying. And folks, basically, if it's true in their day, we're still in the same age. We're still in the Pentecostal age. We're still in the age of the Spirit. We're still in the age when the nations are flowing in to Mount Zion. We're still in the age when the New Jerusalem, you have come to Mount Zion. We've come to this city. This is the time we're in. This is the time of the Gentiles, folks. This is the time when the masses of the people that are called by His name, all scattered around the world, are being brought in. James says, hey brothers, what Amos said, this is happening right before our eyes. The fallen tent of David is being rebuilt and restored. The long expected Son of David has arrived and the Gentiles are falling down before Him. That's the idea. Now listen, notice what's being said. The fallen, it's, Amos says this, in that day I will raise up the booth and James uses the term tent of David has fallen. But the word can be tent or it can be tabernacle or we might even say the house of David. But listen, do you recognize something? Do you recognize when that angel showed up there and told Mary, Mary, I want you to know something. You're going to have a child. You're going to conceive and you call His name Jesus and you need to know this, He's going to be great. He's going to be called the Son of the Most High and the Lord God is going to give to Him the throne of His Father David and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever and of His kingdom there will be no end. Do you recognize that leading up to that pronouncement there had been no Messianic king had showed up, that's for sure. But there had been no king on the throne in Israel for 600 years. What happened to the Davidic line? It fell into disrepair. It fell into the dust. The lineage is recorded for us in the genealogies. But you know what? For 600 years the house of David fallen into ruin and decay. The royal family was dethroned. Do you remember the last, who was the last king to sit on that throne? Do you remember his name? His name was Zedekiah. And he was evil. And you know what he did? He turned traitor on Nebuchadnezzar when Nebuchadnezzar finally took that city. Do you remember what he did? He killed his sons before his eyes. He put his eyes out and he threw chains on him. That was the last king. And it was like four kings before that that we even had the last good king in Josiah. Do you recognize what had happened to the Davidic line? Its honor was lost. Its power was gone. The whole royal family was dethroned. The whole thing was laid down in the dirt. When that angel told Mary those words that she was going to bear a son to sit on the throne of David, you need to understand, the scepter of David had been taken out of his hands. Basically we have names like I just looked at the genealogy in Matthew's Gospel. Names like Abiod, Azor, Mathan. You don't even know those names! Yeah, you know the name Hezekiah. You know the name Solomon. You know back when there were good kings that sat on the throne. But you don't know those names. You never heard of them before. You know what happened? You know what happened? Basically, Zedekiah's line was cut off. It was his nephew that had already been taken away in chains. And two generations later, Zerubbabel would come out. The son of Shealtiel. And you know what? He'd go back. And God used him to raise the temple. But he never sat on the throne. They were under Nebuchadnezzar. They were under the power of other countries and have been ever since. Right up till Rome. And when the true son of David came upon the scene. But you have to recognize, after Zedekiah or after Zerubbabel, there's ten generations. And you don't even know these guys. No idea who they are. Ten generations. Six hundred years. Where is it gone? It's like the thing is just the whole royal line. And then you, until what? Until this lowly carpenter comes out of this Davidic line. Who would have thought Joseph betrothed to a virgin who's pregnant with one who would exalt the spiritual glory of the family. I mean, you think the spiritual glory, far above anything that any of the descendants of David had ever done. Even when it was at its height. I mean, even in the glory years. When were the glory years? Well, there were glory years when David was there. There were glory years in Hezekiah. Glory years in Josiah. But folks, nothing compares. You can find sin in the best. But the promise, brethren, the promise is more than just that the son of David is going to take the throne again. You see what the promise is? It says they. Amos says they. And there's no they here except those of the house of David. It's like the house of David is going to take into its own possession the nations of the Gentiles. The picture is this. We are going to come into a day when the Gentiles. And oh folks, that's never happened before. When the Gentiles are going to bow down before the throne of David. Before the house of David. That's the big, that's what's so key here. That's what James is picking up on. You want to know what this is all about? These Gentiles being saved. Peter, you going over to Cornelius' house and you Barnabas and Paul, you're coming back off the mission field and you're telling us what happened throughout all these areas that you went. And all these churches have been planted and the Gentiles are now flocking. You've got the church up there in Antioch you guys have been part of that's made of all these Gentiles. You want to know what's happening? It's the Gentiles are falling down before the house of David. This is precisely what's happening. The promise, the specific promise that Amos is making here is that there's a connection between the house of David with us Gentiles. I mean, you are Gentiles. You've got to love the reality of this. This applies to us. Listen to the New Testament. See, you've got to make the connection here. When Jesus says something like this. John 12. When I am lifted up, me the one who has come to sit on David's throne and I will rule forever. When I am lifted up, he says, I will draw all men unto me. Who are the all men? He means outside of Israel. I'll draw all the nations to me. When I get lifted up, you see what's happening? The eyes are turning towards this one who is the representative of the booth of David. Who is the great fulfillment. The great son of David himself and all the nations. That's the connection. You see it in the New Testament again. Paul quotes Isaiah and says this. The root of Jesse will come. Even he who arises to rule the Gentiles. Wow. You see, this is amazing. What these predictions are about is that one is going to come forth. The root of Jesse. One from this house of David who is going to rule the Gentiles. The Gentiles. In him will the Gentiles hope. Oh, listen to this. Zechariah 8:23. Thus says the Lord of hosts, in those days, those days. See, it's talking about those days again. That day, ten men from the nations of every tongue will take hold of the robe of a Jew saying, let us go with you for we've heard that God is with you. You know, that's what we do. It's their God. Salvation is of the Jews. That's what Jesus said. We're Gentiles. How do we get there? Well, folks, our hope is in the Jewish Messiah. Is it not? And the one that comes from the house of David. That's a Jewish line, folks. And we grab hold of the Jew. The real Jew. The true Jew. We say, God is with you. We want that God. Luke said this. Simeon, remember? He beheld the child. He says, Lord, now you're letting your servant depart in peace according to your word. For my eyes have seen your salvation that you have prepared in the presence of the peoples a light for revelation to the Gentiles. This theme is there. And James is saying, wow. Because you know what Scripture says. You know what the New Testament says. What's the mystery? The mystery is that the Jews, or the Gentiles rather, our fellow heirs. That's the mystery. That we're partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus. This is a mystery, folks. And what's happening is their eyes are being opened. Because even when it was first beginning to happen, you know, they're faulting each other. You remember how it was? Peter couldn't even stand up to the Judaizers. Remember, Paul had to rebuke him. Why? Because when the Judaizers came, he used to eat with the Gentiles, but the Judaizers came and he stopped eating with them. There was so much pressure. This was such a cultural... The idea of the Gentiles getting saved was so foreign to them. Gentiles! Gentiles! It was the very name that characterized those who hated God. And now they're coming. And they're like... James is like having his eyes opened by the Spirit. He said, guys, you know this is what the prophets said. It's like they couldn't see it. And yet, here it is. Coming to its culmination. This is precisely what Amos sees off in the future. Precisely what James says in Acts 15. That is now coming to pass right before their eyes. This isn't some thousand year kingdom in the future after Christ comes. This isn't some golden age. This isn't in the past. Folks, this is when the Spirit of God came upon the church and the missionary effort began to go out and the Gentiles began to be harvested. And I just ask you this, have we come to the fullness of the Gentiles yet? Are we done with this age? Are we done with this time? Are the Gentiles still not being harvested? Are they still not pouring in? Folks, we're still in that time. It's for this time. It was ushered in then, but it continues to now. Folks, go to the nations. Isn't that the commission Jesus told us to go? Go to all the nations. Why? Make disciples. Well, that was for back then. It's for now. And Jesus said, I'm with you to the end of the age. When do you get the idea this is for? Back then, all the way up to the end of the age. That's when the in-harvesting of the nations takes place. That's why we go. Why do we go? We go because the promise of Amos is being fulfilled now. This is the reality. And then look what's next. I mean, look at Amos. Verse 13. Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when the plowman shall overtake the reaper. Now that, the promise just doesn't stop. I mean, folks, this is one of the great stimuluses for Christian exertion on our part. What? These days. Plowman is going to overtake the reaper. What's that? According to this metaphor, the harvest is going to be so great that what? The guys harvesting the crop are still in the fields because there's so much. When it's time to start planting the fields again, plowing them up, getting them ready for the next season. It's like typically you harvest in the fall. And what's happening? Spring rolls around and you're ready to go out and begin tilling the fields again and getting it ready to throw seeds again. But guess what? These guys are running in to the guys that are harvesting. Why? Because it was such an abundance of harvest that one season is hitting the other one. None of the workers had time to rest. The farmlands were not vacant during the winter months. It didn't lie there in rest. Because they took in the harvest in fall and then winter, you know, everybody was able to rest and relax. There was no resting and relaxing. Why? Because the harvest was so abundant. That's the picture here folks. It's taken so long that it's already time for the plowman to begin plowing for the next season. And then you have this. You have the treader of grapes runs in to him who sows the seed. Now that's interesting because the treader of grapes is the guy that's stomping out the grapes. Grapes come from vines. Typically the vines are still there. This is the picture of, like, if you're actually seeding the vines, I mean, you see the picture. He runs in to the guy sowing seed for the new grape vines. It's just, this is an abundance. What reason, I just ask you this, what reason do you have? Can you have? What reason can you give that we shouldn't see the good promised here as applying to us? I mean, if James does that with this verse and says that this has to do with the Gentiles, and I'll tell you, you just go through, especially you go through Isaiah, you just look at the promises about the nations flowing in to Mount Zion, flowing in to this mountain. You look at the metaphors, at the pictures, and I think we have to ask this. What reason could we possibly give any one of us as to why we shouldn't see the good that is promised here by Amos as applying to us? Why shouldn't we take it at that? Why shouldn't we see it that way? The only reason would be if this promise is not for us. But God has placed it right here, right after it says that the house of David is going to possess the Gentiles. Something James says is being fulfilled. To put a statement like this, right here where the Gentiles, who are called by God's name, are seeking the Lord, wow! I mean this, brethren, they go together. This is for us. The question I ask is why shouldn't we experience it? Brethren, let me ask you this. Is there not sufficient power in the seed of the Lord to produce a crop greater than any of us have yet seen? Is there? We believe that. We say we believe that. God's Holy Spirit, who causes men to be born again, He's not in any way in this time inactive. There's nothing in the Bible that says that somewhere partway through this time of the Gentiles, the Spirit of God was going to become impotent. Do you read that verse? I don't read that verse. It's foreign to my Bible. What do we do with promises like this? You know what? We could just ignore them. We could say, here's what happens a lot of times. We look around at the UK and we say, well, based on what my eyes see, since when do we believe God? Trust God based on what our eyes see? Doesn't the Bible say something about how we walk and it's not by sight? You know where faith rests? It rests on promises. We walk by faith. Not faith in the abstract. Not faith in the nebulous. Not faith in that which is theory. Our faith rests on tangible realities. On promises. Our faith rests on what the Word of God says. That's where our faith rests. Brethren, we don't want to ignore these. I mean, I would say this. God, your name stands behind a promise like this. So make it so. Make it that while we take in the harvest, it's already time to sow again. Make it so that in our prayer meetings we get down to pray that souls would come and then we rise up and we take the Gospel out on the streets, come back here on the Lord's Day, preach the Gospel. We go back into our prayer meetings and while we're still in those prayer meetings, Lord, make it so that it's time all over to preach again and people are coming in. And before that's over, there's an influx of souls on top of that. While we're filling the baptismal waters and we're just letting them out, but we have people in the meeting that day that are inquiring all over again. And by the time we fill it up, it's time to fill it up again. That's the kind of thing. It's clashing. It's running into each other. We're trying to deal with people whose souls are on fire for these things. They're under conviction. The Spirit of God is moving. And while we're trying to deal with them, while we've got other people coming in over here and while we're trying to disciple people, but new people are still coming in off the streets. This is the thing. One harvest season running into the next. It's time all over to do this. God causes these things to just stack up. And you know what? You already have more that are seeking this One who is representative of this tabernacle of David. Brethren, don't be content with how it is and how it has been. I would say, look, you can try to persuade yourself. I don't think this promise belongs to me. I would say based on what James says, this does belong to us. And listen, I recognize that there are different places upon this earth. You can go some places in the world today and there is a big harvest coming in. I mean, look, the fields are white for harvest. That's what we're told. And some days it's like it is in Samaria. You know what? There was a day when all the people in Samaria were not coming to the Lord. Coming to this One who is representative of the booth of David. You know? The week before Jesus showed up in Samaria, they weren't all believing. Right? But the day came when He came there and they did all show up. And by the way, what happened then? He said to His disciples, you know what? You guys are reaping what you didn't sow. And He looked up and who's coming? Who are all these people being saved? Well, it's the Samaritans. And He's saying somebody else is sown here. You guys are reaping what you didn't sow. But what's the point? The point is this. Jesus had come. The disciples had come. Now the Word of God was there. You know one of the things that doesn't happen? The sower and the reaper and the treader are not running into each other where nobody is sowing, reaping and treading. You know one of the great indications that the reality of this is going to come to pass is when suddenly the land is full of people that are reaping and sowing. Because when you get people reaping and when you get people sowing, that's where the reality of this comes through. You recognize God isn't just saying that it's just going to happen without reaping and without sowing. He doesn't say that. And so we as a church if we're really wanting to see this, we can cry out, Oh God, your name is at stake. Please, you've given us a promise like this. We ask you, make it happen. We don't want to be content with how it has been in this country. Or what our eyes see going on right now. We don't want to. And obviously these promises are only good where we actually have people that are out there doing these things. Who would ever think that the promise of the plowman overtaking the reaper is going to apply anywhere or to anyone but those who reap and plow. I mean, that's the reality. Beloved, you all know what this means in the church. It's a prediction of what the church of Jesus Christ can expect concerning an abundant ingathering of souls. There is sufficient life and power in this seed to produce far more plentiful crop than anything you or I have yet witnessed. We need to recognize God, help us to never, never, never be content with what's going on as many of the churches in this country seem to be very content with. You know, you can get content. One of the guys had asked me to go over to Wales and speak to a handful of churches over there. He says, these people have just fallen asleep. These people have no expectation. Why? Because it's not 1904 or 1905 any longer when the revival happened in Wales. And they all feel like, well, because that's not happening anymore. It's just nothing happens. Look, there is nothing at all with the present condition of this united kingdom that can resist a promise like this once God arises and fulfills it. What are you going to say? That this depends on man? That, oh, we need men that are willing? I mean, does God say here, well, you know, the sower is going to overtake the guy reaping and harvesting when I can find a group of men that are willing? I mean, there's nothing at all about this promise that is laid down and dependent on men. God didn't give this promise to us folks to be ignored, to be disbelieved. You know what? We need to be about saving men because of a promise like this. I mean, you think how many in this country were damned just last night while we slept? How many people passed off into eternity? Brethren, it seems that one sign that the realities of this promise are upon us is whenever we see the increased activity of sowers and reapers and treaders, when the church militant, that's us, when we have to have souls or die. Brethren, you think what a promise like this means? Amos 9:13, The mountains shall drip sweet wine, and all the hills shall flow with it. In Gospel times such as we're now in, what the promise here is the mountains and hills of the Gentile world are going to be enriched with such sweetness as the Gospel of Christ is preached, as it's proclaimed, as it's received. In the power of the Spirit of God, people are transformed. This is sweet wine flowing. Folks, this isn't the barely discernible. When people come into the church and, well, they're half-baked, half-saved, they're not well-saved. That's not the picture that we get here. But a flowing of real God-given blessing. Listen to Joel. The threshing floor shall be full of grain. The vats shall overflow with wine and oil. And Joel says, In that day the mountains shall drip sweet wine, and the hills shall flow with milk, and the stream beds of Judah shall flow with water, and a fountain shall come forth from the house of the Lord and water the valley of Shittim. I'll tell you this. The mountains are dripping with sweet wine. Grapes don't grow in the mountains, folks. I come from grape country. I grew up there. They don't grow in the mountains. You look at the pictures of the best grape growing places in France. They're not up in the Alps. They don't grow there. You know what that tells me? It's like a picture of God God is causing the wine to flow in the most unlikely of places. It's kind of a picture of God causing His saving power to break forth in places that maybe you wouldn't expect that they would. It's in this country. Folks, if you look around, this does not look like grape country. And I mean this spiritually. When you look around this country, I didn't come over here from Texas because this place looks so prime and ready for an outbreak of revival. It doesn't look like that. You know what this country looks like? It looks like death. It looks like people who are slaughtering their babies. They love to question whether they're men or women. They love the transgender agenda. They're pressing this on their little children. They're preaching children in this country. Garbage. People, the churches are in decay. They're discouraged. The church buildings are being turned into apartments and into you know what? The Muslims are taken over. The mosques are cropping up. They're turning church buildings into apartments or they just basically lay there empty. The situation in this country is but the promise of Amos. It declares that God is the absolute monarch over the hearts and souls of men. God doesn't say that all of this is going to happen just as long as men are willing to make it happen. He gives an absolute promise of blessing in Amos. Do you hear what God's saying? I have the key of men's hearts. I know how to turn those keys. I know how to turn those hearts. And when I determine to make it happen, it doesn't matter how stony the ground is. I'm master of the harvest. I'm master of the soul. Of the soil. And I'm going to make this happen. Folks, what the promise of Amos is is that he can make things fruitful. And what we want to do is we want to take this and embrace this. You say, what do we do with this? Is this for always? Is this forever? Is this all the time? I just ask you this, if this is a promise and it's from God and it's for now, why aren't we seeing it now? Well, we know how it is. We know that the gospel harvest comes in. It comes in in waves. This country has had its revivals. It's had its seasons. It's had its days of first great awakening. Second great awakening. We recognize that. We recognize that you can see times when the gospel is swept through different parts of the world. We see what's happening in China. Places like that right now. Places in Africa right now. Brethren, the expectation is that this is being carried out in reality. The Gentiles are being swept in and even in the normal operations of the church. Folks, I can tell you this, when God brings one and two and three and five and ten, I mean, such is the work of God. This is a recreation. It's a miracle of God when He begins to bring souls in and He begins to bring a harvest. I mean, you think about these Samaritans. They just sat there in the dark. And He says, one sows, another reaps. We have sowers and reapers. But somebody sowed there. And back when they were sowing, the harvest wasn't coming in. But then the harvest did come in. And when it came, it came fast. Brethren, we don't know what a day may bring. I'll tell you, those days of gin and wickedness in this country before Wesley and Whitfield hit to the streets and the fields preaching, we know what the country was like. The thing that we find here is God doesn't stop to ask people whether or not a revival should come. God's free grace proves triumphant through all this. He's got the ability, even where the hills and mountains and it's bleak and it's rainy and it's miserable like this country sometimes is a good representative during the winter time of just the gray that can fall upon a land and fall upon the souls of men. And it's like God is just saying that in a moment He can cause things to happen. What I'm asking you to do, you can just read. I don't know if you're reading your Bible from cover to cover. I hope you are. Christians ought to. I hate to think that there's parts of God's Word that you're not reading on a regular basis. I don't know how a Christian could be content with that. But you know, you can read something like Amos and it's like, what do you get out of it? Yeah, but if you look in here and you see that a promise like that, James is saying these kind of promises apply to today and they apply to Christ and His house being brought up out of the ruins and rebuilt and the picture is all these Gentiles bowing down and then there's this picture of the guys that are sowing running into the other guys and the guys that are treading running into the other guys and the mountains dripping with sweet wine. Well, you know what? That sounds really good to me. That sounds glorious to me and I can tell you that in my own soul and in my own sight, I have not seen this happen in this place yet. I've seen seasons in San Antonio where I would say, yeah it very much resembled that and I can read and I can hear I can see pictures of where Angus is at, that this happened in the 1970's. I hear up in Coonmock Scotland but brethren the thing is this, time is always progressing past. The truth is that if we sow now we may you know what? We may end up reaping what others have sown in past decades. We just don't know. You know, we launch forward to some place like Nigeria somebody may have been sowing there. There may have been faithful people. You don't even know. You know what? One of the things about the English is well, the English tended to have printing presses and if they had somebody famous like Carrie or Hudson Taylor, you know their stuff ended up being recorded. You know what? If there was some great apostle of the Nigerians a lot of times that's lost to the English speaking world. We don't even know. Somebody may have walked those streets and those paths. Beautiful feet not all beautiful by our estimation but they may have taken the gospel all over there. You don't know. You come along beside and now all of a sudden God says it's time. It's time for the harvest to come in. And you know, God can cause that rushing mighty wind to blow wherever He wants to, when He wants to and when you get that divine influence and it just sweeps in upon the land it sweeps in upon where those sowers are doing their work. Folks, you recognize you begin to sow the word we need to sow it everywhere. In light of promises like this you want to sow the seed sow it everywhere sow it on the hard path, sow it on the thorny ground throw it on the rocky ground you throw it here, you throw it on the fallow ground you throw it on the good soil, throw it everywhere throw it by all means. We need to get the and what's the message? The message that we that we're putting out has to do with this house of David and the one who sits on that throne. It's got everything to do with Him. The fact that He came into this world and did what He did. And you know what? God at any moment can cause hearts to suddenly yield and if we have a promise like that why should we give God any rest? Why should we give Him any rest when there's a promise like this? Lord, we want to see it. Why shouldn't we see it? What reason can you give that we shouldn't see it? I mean, look, you always have naysayers and you always have people but the first thing they want to do is run to doubt. I take, you know what? I think this. I think that what we need to do is take the promises of God and by the way, all the promises of God are yes and amen in Christ. You ever read that? And so I take a promise like this which James is telling us on very good authority is for today and then I can take that which Paul says about all the promises being yes and amen and I can look at this and I don't have to think, well this is for some golden age or this is from some future millennial period. I don't have to think like that. Not after what James says. I can look at this and say this has everything to do with the booth of David and the Gentiles that are coming to the Lord who sits on that throne of David. That's what this has to do with and the fullness of the Gentiles has not come in yet, folks. We're still in that time and we're proof of it. And you know what? Just because it may seem like things are drying up here. Don't believe that that means that the end is at hand and the time of the Gentiles is fulfilled and promises like this are drying up because I could take you other places in the world where that's not the case. And you know what? Every generation they've always thought they were in the last day. But it's not the case. We don't know! We could be here another hundred thousand years, folks. This thing could cycle through where revival and God's movements and this reality comes through every nation a hundred times over before the end actually comes. Every generation has thought why does every generation think that? Because every generation has wars and rumors of wars and it has disease and plague and death and misery and there's always places that seem like desert places but God has promised, remember, to build the waste places. That's the promise here. You see that? Here we are in Amos 9. And you look at 14. I will restore the fortunes of my people Israel. They shall rebuild the ruined cities and inhabit them. Well what in the world does that have to do with? They restore the fortunes. I hope it's abundantly clear that where all the promises leading up to this are spiritual, there's no reason to take this part of the promise as alone being earthly and physical. Don't do that! Israel shall rebuild cities. It's ruined cities. What is this? It's a picture of a landscape of ruin. Wrecked habitations. What wrecks? What ruins? Certainly sin does. Sin is the ruin. Listen to this. Listen to Ezekiel. Thus says the Lord God on the day that I cleanse you from all your iniquities, I will cause the cities to be inhabited and the waste places rebuilt. When are the waste places rebuilt? On the day I cleanse you from all your iniquities. Huh! When is that? You see when the waste places are being rebuilt? And you think how this started to the Jew first and also to the Greek. What happened? Jesus said, I've been sent to the lost house of the tribe of Israel. He basically came to those people to... And what happens? The Jews they're the ones that are entrusted with the gospel first. They break out of there. They take the gospel out to the Gentiles. that's... Folks, when you hear in the scriptures about ruined cities being restored, see it with the spiritual eye. The cities are churches. It's not Manchester and it's not Jerusalem. It's the church. This is... It's the true church. That's where the city is being rebuilt. Zion's city of our God. This is the reality. And then you come to the land. Look at Amos 9:15. I will plant them on their land, and they shall never be again uprooted out of that land that I've given to them, says the Lord your God. You see the kingdom of the Messiah. It comes, it takes such deep root as to never be uprooted again. I will plant them in their land. What you need to recognize is this. God's spiritual Israel shall truly deeply, permanently be planted by the very right hand of God Himself in the soil of that place that God has assigned for them. And they shall no more be pulled up. You see that reality. No more will they... Never again to be uprooted. Never. Like what? Like physical Israel. Physical Israel was... They've been taken out. The northern kingdom taken out. The southern kingdom taken out. Then the Romans came in. They took them out. It's constantly physical Israel has been uprooted. God's going to preserve these people, His true Israel from apostasy, from falling away. No more to be forsaken. Listen. Listen. Think with me about a Jew. Do you think this is really saying that God's going to plant the Jews back in Palestine forever? Hardly. Scripture won't even let us believe that. Why? For one thing, Peter's words. The day of the Lord is going to come like a thief. And then the heavens will pass away with a roar. The heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved. And the earth and the works that are done in it will be exposed. Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, all these things are going to be dissolved. And what do we look for? What sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn. But according to this promise, we're waiting for what? What are we waiting for? A new heaven and a new earth. Is that not what we're waiting for? Listen. What Amos promises is a planting in their land that shall never again be uprooted. Let me ask you this. What is the true Jew looking for? Who would you say is probably like the true Jew? Like the father of the faithful? The father of the true Jews? Who? Abraham. Was Abraham looking to be planted in Palestine on a little piece of land at the end of the Mediterranean? What does Hebrews 11 say Abraham was looking for? A city that has foundations. A city of God. That's what we're told. Is that not right? By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance. Now that was a physical land and he went out not knowing where he was going. By faith he went to live in the land of promise. That's the physical place as in a foreign land living in tents with Isaac and Jacob. You see, as in a foreign land. What a thing to say about the land of promise. As in a foreign land. You see that's all that Palestine is to the Jews. To the true Jew. It's just a foreign land. Ah, but what's he looking for? He was looking forward to the city that has foundations whose designer and builder is God. And you see a few verses later it says, they the patriarchs. This is this is Abraham Isaac and Jacob. They desire a better country. That is a heavenly one. You have to recognize how scripture speaks. Folks, where is it that we're going to be permanently planted? Just I want to say this. Brethren, there's a wondrous harvest coming. There's a wondrous harvest happening. I want us to be involved with. When I read verses like this, all I say is this. Lord, show us where you're working. Because where the harvest is coming in, harvesters are needed. Lord, show us where that is. Show us where the fields are white. We want to partake of this. We want to be involved in this. Brethren, I believe for the last 20 years I have, and it makes me really it makes it really difficult for me to be content to not see it so over here as well. I want this. And I have promises for it. We need to put the plow to the fields. To all the places. We need to get the seed out. Wherever. We have no idea what might prosper. I would just say this. Enlarge your effort that the heavenly Jerusalem may have new citizens to come bow down at the feet of this one who's restored the ruins of the booth of David. Because the Gentiles are coming. And what Isaiah says is the riches of the nations. They flow in there. The house of David has arisen from the dust. We know that. It now stands magnificent. Christ is seated at the right hand of His Father in glory. We know that He has made this throne glorious. We know He's the fulfillment. And He's now taking possession of the nations. Is that not what we hear in Scripture? I mean, it says of the nations kiss the sun. And we're going to watch the nations are kissing the sun. And we want to be involved in that. I want to see it here. I want to see it in the United Kingdom. I want to see it. I mean, look, if it's not Nigeria, if it's not Poland, God open the doors to us, for us, where it is. Whether it's some obscure corner of the world. Whether it's where the temperature doesn't get below 120 Fahrenheit. Folks, we want to go where God is working. We want to be about what is happening. We want to plead with sinners. Make it anew. I know this, that the promises here, there's a good sign that these things are at hand when all of a sudden God begins to stir His people to begin to sow like crazy. Right? Because you would say there's no sign of the fulfillment of this promise if the reapers, sowers, and treaders are all at home in bed. Right? So what a good sign is when the churches begin to wake up. When God begins to wake the churches up, ah, that often is the sign that the abundant harvest is somewhere close at hand. That. Brethren, we've got people running around. They so cheaply deal with their souls. They need somebody. We need to be out there telling them, you need to run as your life depends on it. Go to the city of refuge because your time is short and hell is real and damnation is hard and it is forever and don't throw your soul away lightly. People have their sins. People, we've got people, I'm going to have my sin and that's just it and I don't care what follows and even if hell, and you've got Christ all the time bidding men, come, come, come. You need to fear for your life. Gouge out eyes if you need to to escape this hell. There are many a soul destroying themselves and we see them all around. But do they know? I mean, do they know the remedy? Do they know what needs to happen? Many are destroying themselves, but have they heard? Have they heard of this Christ? Christ invites them to come. Do they even know? Do they even know who He is? I mean, we need to be the ones out there in their faces. You need to give up your sins and you need to flee to this Lord. He's good. He says He'll give you rest. You need to yield to Him. Do it. We just... Lord, we need Him. We need You. You who are the Crucified One for Your Mercy's sake. I mean, we want it to be so. Mountains shall drip with sweet wine and all the hills shall flow with it. Brethren, if you ever read the Bible and you feel like that's a mockery. Like when I view this world it doesn't feel to me like that description. If you ever feel that, don't be content. And don't feel like you're being some awful person if you take that to God and you say that to Him. Lord, You promised this. But if I'm honest, when I look around in Manchester, the idea that what I'm seeing, even in the life of this church, I mean, I'm encouraged about the momentum. I'm encouraged how I've seen changes here over the last year. But if I'm honest, mountains dripping sweet wine, is that what I feel is a good comparison to where we're at? I don't feel that. You see, what I do, I want to take these kind of promises to God and say, Lord, I mean, if this isn't for now, You can show me, You can teach me. But when I read what James says, when I read that this has everything to do with the booth of David and the Gentiles that are called by Your name, but it feels very much to me like this applies to our age, right now, in this time. You've called us to go to the nations. Now I'll tell you this, He told us to go to the nations. You know one of the things I found in San Antonio, is that as we sought to go to the nations and actually find the souls of those in other places, the Gentiles in other places that are called by His name, to see the abundance brought in there, I found that He did just that in San Antonio to our church. He does say go. He says go to the nations. And maybe that's the thing. Maybe the reality here is that other people who are going are actually seeing what we don't see. I mean to lead us to go. I mean to lead us. Brethren, I want us to trust these promises. I have great hopes of what we'll see before our eyes close in death on this world. And we're taken to see the true glory. But I want to hold God to His promises. I hope you do too. And I want to give Him no rest. When I come across I don't forget these. And so I keep going to Him. I keep going to Him. Lord, You said. Lord, You said. Lord, You said. That has great leverage with the Lord, by the way. You quote to Him what He says. Our God is not a liar. And if He gave us these promises, He means to fulfill these promises. So that's what gives me expectation. Not just what I've seen in the past, but the promises for now and for the future. So as we begin to plan and strategize about different things, even just maintaining our getting the Gospel out on the streets of this city in every way you possibly can. Your family members, your neighbors, this community, this city, every way you possibly can. Because you have to remember this, sowers, reapers, people sow. What do they sow? They sow seed. What does that mean spiritually? What does the parable say? The seed is the Word of God. You know what it says. That's what the seed is. So let's sow. Let's sow even more. What a thing to get out of Amos. Anyway, I know I've gone long. Thank you for bearing with me. Obadiah is a very short book. Hopefully we'll see what is there next week. Father, Father, you've given us such promises. Lord, we know that this doesn't rest upon men. You don't say when men are willing. Lord, you have the ability to simply give the commandment that men be saved and their hard hearts will yield in a moment. We've heard about it. I've heard about the Hebrides and these islands where the lights just began to come on in people's houses because they couldn't sleep and they were convicted. Lord, you can change the face of this nation in a day. Lord, you could stir the hearts of the people of Manchester so suddenly instead of bellowing out their curses and their profanity, doing their homosexual perverseness before our eyes, suddenly you have people like it's been. What must we do to be saved like it was on the day of Pentecost? Like it was in those mercies. Is there mercy for me? Is there mercy for me? We know what happens. I've heard during the Hebrides revival how on the dance floor all the young people, suddenly the presence of God in a dance hall where they're all drinking, they're all interested in those of the opposite sex and suddenly the presence of God became so mighty upon that dance floor, they had to clear out of the place and they ran and they all went to the police station, not because they felt they were guilty of some crime but because they knew that the chief of police was a godly man and knew the way of life. There they were. And so it went. Lord, we see around us. Lord, the thing is that when we live in days where we see people indifferent, we see people hard, we see the grey landscape, spiritually of a place. Lord, it seems to say something. It leads many people to believe that God is impotent. Lord, it's when you rise and when you flex your arm, it's when you do something. It's when you stand up. It's when you put new life into your church. It's when you revitalize us. It's when you make the word that proceeds from our mouth. Lord, when you allow the church to by all means to save some, when suddenly there is this supernatural aspect to the church, when there's something mysterious about the church. Lord, when the people around us can explain us, because nothing supernatural happens among your people, when God doesn't arise in the midst and the behalf of the church of God. Lord, then the world just says, it can explain us. We're just simply another religious group. We're not really any different than the Mormons and the Catholics and the Muslims. We're just like them. We're another religious group, kind of a fraternity here and we come together and we have our book, they have their book and we do our thing. Lord, the thing that makes us stand apart is when something mysterious and supernatural and miraculous begins to happen among your people. When we begin to proclaim the word of God and souls are transformed and whole families are changed and we suddenly see an abundance of harvest and the world, they stand back. It's much like the days of Ananias and Sapphira. They durst not join themselves to the church. They see something awful, something supernatural about them. There's something that can't be explained. You don't go there, you might end up dead because of your sin and lack of holiness. Lord, we want something like that to come upon the land today. We're not asking you to kill people, we're asking you to save people. We're asking you Lord to do the things that are necessary to wake up a sleeping church, to cause the word that we speak, the gospel of this message of this one from the booth of David. You talk about the ruined places being restored. Lord, we pray that you would make us the rebuilders of the breach. That we would be the people that would be able to rebuild that which is ruined and wrecked and devastated. Lord, help us. Help us to not sleep while there's day. Help us to be people that are working while it is yet day and not to fall asleep. Not to become consumed by our toys, our money, our backyards and any other thing that can tend to occupy us. Lord, we know our time is short. Our days are few. Hand breath at the most. Lord, we pray that while we have life, help us to live. Help us to live well. Help us to take the words of Amos and not discredit them, not forget them. But remember such pictures of glorious sweet wine dripping from the mountains. Pictures of sowers running into reapers and treaders running into those planting seed. Lord, we want it to be so. We want it to be happening so that our heads literally are spinning. We're running into each other because one season runs into another. Lord, that's not the case now. We read about it. We're going to study Ichabod Spencer. He had five seasons when there was a great gathering and revival. There in the days that he pastored in Brooklyn in the early 1800's. Lord, we long for those days here. He had five seasons where he saw an abundance, where he saw the seasons running into each other. Lord, I dare say that in this country, where have they had even one season like that in what a long time. Lord, we can read stories of how the Metropolitan Tabernacle was full or Westminster Chapel was full, but we're not there and we don't live in those days. We live in these days. We meet in this building. We meet in this city. We're here now. Lord, we ask you to arise in behalf of your people now. We ask this in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. You're dismissed.