Amos - Free sermon outlines, Bible study and

D. Oppression of the poor.1) Dishonest scales, business practices. 8:5a) Needy sold for a pair of sandals. 2:6; 8:62) Trample poor, force to give grain. 5:11 (2:7)a) Rich have made poor into sharecroppers.1> Land laws strict in Moses' day.A> Each family guaranteed land.B> Could not be sold.2> Rich overturned it.A> Story of Naboth and Ahab\Jezebel. 1 Kings 21b) Rich end up richer, poor driven from land. 8:4Kapteyn: Reasons for judgment - because of how they treated God and fellow man.a. Their worship was empty - did not seek God, only pay lip service to God.i. Believed if they went thru the rituals of religion they would live. Focus on form ofreligion rather than substance.ii. God tells them to seek Him and they will live.iii. Danger occurs when church becomes a convenience, a man-made structure whichserves only worldly needs and does not gather to praise the majesty of God and to seekHis will as found in Word, it no longer is a source of life.iv. We can go through motions, perhaps even convincing ourselves that we have a strongrelationship with God on Sunday mornings and then forgetting about that relationship therest of the week.v. We can even follow the law of God and fail to have a strong relationship with Him - asper Pharisees. In Luke 13, they became indignant when Jesus healed a crippled womanon the Sabbath.b. What made God hate their worship even more was that they did not have properrelationships with one another.i. vs.7 - they turned justice into bitterness; vs.12 - they turned the fruit of righteousnessinto bitternessii. Compare these passages we see that justice is the fruit of righteousness. If we arerighteous we will seek justice for others.iii. Justice can be defined as righteousness in action. Means having proper relationshipswith one another.iv. People were unjust and so there worship was rejected. Amos urges them to maintainjustice in the courts.v. vs. 10 - they hated honest judges and despised people who told the truth. Theytrampled on the poor to obtain their riches and build their mansions and plant lush