Cornerstone Christian Center
Cornerstone Christian Center
Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Amos | Minor Prohoets
Ever feel like you're screaming prayers into the void? You're in good company. Through the unique voices of Habakkuk, Zephaniah, and Amos, we discover an uncomfortable truth: sometimes God's answers look nothing like what we expect.
Tyler Burke introduces us to Habakkuk, the "emo prophet" whose complaints against God reveal something profound about our own perspective. When Israel faced violence and injustice, Habakkuk questioned why God wouldn't act. God's response? "I'll send the Babylonians"—a nation even more wicked than Israel. This wasn't the resolution Habakkuk wanted, but through this exchange, we witness a transformation. Habakkuk's self-righteous pride gives way to humble recognition that God's discipline isn't unfair punishment but loving correction.
Christina pulls back the curtain on Zephaniah's warnings to a people who practiced religious duplicity—worshiping God publicly while bowing to other gods privately. Sound familiar? Today's idols may look different (materialism, self-promotion, political obsession), but they're just as dangerous when prioritized above God. Yet amidst the sobering warnings, Zephaniah delivers one of Scripture's most tender promises: "The Lord your God is with you... He will rejoice over you with singing."
Eddie Perez rounds out the trio with Amos, the farmer-turned-prophet who feared God more than men. Using the powerful metaphor of hands versus face, Eddie distinguishes between knowing about God (praising Him for what He does) and truly knowing Him (worshiping Him for who He is). Our prayer life, Eddie suggests, reveals our proximity to Jesus and determines how we respond when God commands.
Whether you're questioning God's justice, struggling with divided loyalties, or longing for closer relationship with Him, these ancient voices speak directly to our modern condition. The real question is: will we have the courage to listen?
How might your perspective shift if you understood that God loves you too much to let you destroy your soul? Join the conversation and discover what these overlooked prophets have to say to your heart today.
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Okay, I'll go first. I just feel like my entire career has been one big misunderstanding. Misunderstanding. You told a whole city to repent. They did, and then you threw a hissy fit because God was merciful. That's not a misunderstanding, jonah, that's called being a baby. It's not that simple. I spent three days inside a fish. And for what? For them to just listen. It's insulting. At least you got a clear instruction.
AI Video:I keep asking God why are the wicked winning? When will justice come? I just get silence, just a lot of the just shall live by his faith. It's so vague, vague. You should try my shtick. The whole thing is the day of the Lord is near. Every day I wake up and it's just still near. It's a marketing nightmare. No sense of urgency. You think you got it bad. I was a shepherd, a fig farmer. I was minding my own business, just trying to make an honest living, and now I'm the poster boy for divine rage. At least you didn't have to deal with a big magical plant that grew and then withered just to teach you a lesson, the emotional whiplash of it all, and the sun was so hot. So are we going to talk about any of this with God or just keep complaining to each other. The prophecy is that there will be no more of this. The prophecy is that there will be no more of this, so that's something to look forward to.
Angus MacLeod:Amen, jeremy, thank you so much for doing those videos for us each week. They've been quite a blessing to us, and we're just so thankful that you've taken the time to do those for us. Well, today we are continuing our series on the Minor Prophets, and Pastor Jay is giving us another opportunity to hear from three more voices, and I'm so grateful that Pastor Jay's done this during this series because, like the prophets, they all had a different voice, they all took a different tone, they were all speaking to different types of people in different areas in their lives, and being able to hear from so many different voices has given us just an incredible opportunity to really focus in on each one, and so I'm very thankful for that. So today we're going to have three people come up and share. The first one is Tyler Burke. He is our men's director. He also serves on the Servants Council, and so, without further ado, I'm going to invite Tyler up. But first let's hear from one of the prophets.
AI Video:All right, another late night session, another existential crisis. It's still happening. The chaos, the absolute dumpster fire that is our society Violence, injustice. I've been screaming into the void people, and where is he? Huh, where's the big man? Is anyone even listening to my DMs, my prayers? Because, honestly, if he is listening and he's choosing to do nothing, what does that even mean for us? Did you guys just hear that? Okay, so he just spoke and he said Look among the nations and watch. Be utterly amazed, for I am going to do something in your days that you would not believe. I am raising up the Babylonians Wait, the Babylonians, you mean those guys, but, but, but they're worse. This is, this is not the resolution I was looking for, people.
Tyler:Thank you, jeremy, for that video. He's doing good. Can we give Jeremy a round of applause for those videos he did so good. I think I'm done. This sums it up. Just kidding, just like Pastor Angus introed me.
Tyler:My name is Tyler Burke. I serve as men's director here on the Servants Council. Real quick, is there any guy in here that this is their first week here at Cornerstone? Raise your hand. I see I got something for you. I won't call you out Anyone. Yeah, I knew I didn't see. Hey, can you catch? That's a shirt for you. Man, just wanted to invite you guys out.
Tyler:In September we start life groups again. It's a great place to get connected. If you're not connected somewhere, if you want to be discipled more, if you just want to hang out, even if you want to serve in the community, we have something for you. We have men's group that meets, we have hangouts, we go bowling, do all kinds of stuff. I can't even keep up with it anymore, but you're more than welcome to come. I invite you to come to it, starting in September. All right, so let's jump into this.
Tyler:The prophet Habakkuk All right, so with Habakkuk, he's a minor prophet in the time of Israel and during this time. Kind of what's going on is Israel is kind of not listening to God. Not kind of. They're not listening to God and they know better. They're morally in decline. They're spiritually in decline, not listening to God, and they don't have excuses. They have the Torah, they have the Ten Commandments, they have all the other prophets that have told them otherwise, and they're still practicing things. They're still doing things like sexual immorality. There's still social injustices practicing things. They're still doing things like sexual immorality. There's still social injustices among them. They're taking advantage of people financially amongst themselves and they're worshiping other gods. Right, this could be your first Sunday in church and you've at least heard the Ten Commandments and you know that's a big one. Right, you don't have another god before God, right? Habakkuk in verse 3 describes the times as this destruction and violence are before me, there is strife and conflict abounds. This is the situation the Israelites find themselves in.
Tyler:Now we have to understand kind of the literary style of Habakkuk. It's not just a set of instructions, it's like a lament. They called it, which is kind of like a poem that expresses grief and sorrow. If you kind of think about modern times, it's like emo rock. Yes, I grew up in the late 90s, early 20s. Yeah, you can laugh, it's fine. You know where we're going with this.
Tyler:So emo rock, very depressed, moping, all about yourself, a why me mentality, and you wore it right, you wore the dark hoodie, like in this next picture there's this guy who has a lot of potential, growing up wore the dark hoodie, looking out into the abyss, thinking and self-loathing about everything that's going on in his life. Right, it came out of the punk rock, pop rock where everything was spiky. Well, then you got into emo rock and then now you're Mohawk, kind of sag to the side and so depressed. But not only that. In emo rock, people even highlighted their depression, their struggle, their why me, as in this next photo you see, they would highlight the hair that would cover their face. Now, if you don't know this guy, he's a great guy. He used to be a youth pastor here. We sent him out in the mission field, served overseas for a long time and now he's our senior pastor. This was Pastor Jay. I know you're on vacation, sorry, this was on your Facebook, so that's open source. You guys can go ahead and leave that up for the rest of the sermon, just kidding.
Tyler:So this next photo is of Habakkuk. I called him kind of the emo prophet, if you will, all right. So this is important because in the book of Habakkuk it's a series of complaints that he has before God, and God gives him a series of replies and he ends with a song All right. So let's look at Habakkuk's first complaint. In verse 2, he says this how long, Lord, must I call for help? But you don't listen.
Tyler:Habakkuk victimizes himself and accuses God of being an accessory to Israel's turmoil. Now, this is Habakkuk's perspective, right? He's accusing God of not helping them, but they're the ones that are doing these practices, living these lifestyles. So do you think that they're the ones bringing a lot of the destruction in their own lives? The immoral lifestyle of Israel was their own fault. They were not the ones listening to God's commands. Something to take away from here is that how many times do we accuse God of our own suffering in our lives, when it's we're the ones that's not listening to him suffering in our lives, when it's we're the ones that's not listening to him?
Tyler:This is God's reply to Habakkuk's first complaint. In verse 5, he says this be utterly amazed, for I'm going to do something in your days that you won't believe, even if I told you. Now, god's not one for hyperbole, so he's using some pretty good words. You're like, oh man, if God came to you and you were praying, he's like, hey, be utterly amazed, I'm going to do something. You're like, okay, yeah, let's hear it. And he goes listen, come here, come here, I'm going to send the Babylonians to you to fix your problems for you. Now, if you don't know who the Babylonians are and only heard about them in high school when we went over history, that's fine. But he goes on.
Tyler:The next verse is describing exactly who they are and how bad they are. As Israel is going through all this stuff, how they're living their lifestyles. Right now, maybe at a five, if you will, the Babylonians are a 10. And then they're known for their power to overcome and take nations and inflict these things on them. So that's not the answer that Habakkuk's looking for.
Tyler:So this leads us to Habakkuk's second complaint and kind of reply. He goes what, wait, what did you say? Listen, verse 12,. He says this God, you're gonna let them come in and wipe us out. Who are they to correct us? You start to see where Habakkuk's perception is and it starts to expose. God starts to expose the root issue with what's going on with them.
Tyler:Habakkuk's perspective is this he says we are too holy and better than others to have them point out our sins and then correct us on it. Habakkuk is more worried about Israel's self-righteous pride and reputation than the imminent danger that's destroying their souls. Israel and Habakkuk is blind to their pride. So God answers him this way. He says look. In chapter 2, verse 1, he says write this down. Now I don't know about you, but if the ultimate authority in the universe, god, says, hey, write this down, you should probably grab a pen or pencil or use your phone and put it in the notes, put a lot of reminders on it, right? He says write this down. And in verse 4, he says look at the proud. They trust in themselves and their lives are crooked because of it. But the righteous, the real righteous, will live by their faithfulness to God. And then God goes on to explain to Habakkuk what exactly they're doing wrong and gives them a series of warnings. Listen, god makes it crystal clear that Habakkuk knows why they're being corrected. He leaves no room for misunderstanding. God doesn't and we need to understand something God doesn't unjustly discipline people. His justice is straight and true. It is our self-centered and prideful perspectives that distorts our reality.
Tyler:There's a few verses in the Bible, one in Hebrews. Even James talks about it. I'm going to share the famous one in Proverbs, chapter 3, verses 11 through 12, and it talks about the purpose of God's discipline. And we don't like talking about discipline. We don't like it. No one likes to be disciplined. But in Proverbs, chapter 3, it says this. It says my child, don't reject the Lord's discipline and don't be upset when he corrects you, for the Lord corrects those he loves you, for the Lord corrects those he loves, just as a father corrects a child in whom he delights. God loves you too much to let you run around and destroy your soul. He will bring his discipline, his discipline and correction upon you so that you are aware of what's destroying your soul, just as a parent.
Tyler:You know, when I was a kid my mom had a lot of heart attacks. You know, figuratively, I was a skateboarding kid, always running around, busted. I got scars on my chin of all kinds of stuff. And listen, I skated without the helmet, went in the street, did all the things, jumped off the cliffs. You know I didn't understand the dangers of it. And then God blessed me with a son and now I'm like they're going in the street riding their bike with the training wheels. It's like put a helmet on, dude. Put a helmet on. No, hey, you can, I can't see you. Don't turn down that street. Because, why? Because now he doesn't understand the dangers that are around him and when I have to correct him, he just thinks that I'm being a big old meanie. No, I'm trying to protect him because I don't want something his life stolen from him so that he will never grow up to reach his full potential.
Tyler:God does the same from us. The problem is our perspective. In Habakkuk, in chapter three, he writes this song will you see his perspective begin to change? In this song he talks about how God's justice is true. He talks about how no one can stand up against it or even object to it. Habakkuk testifies to how they, israel, and those who believe in God, will rejoice in God and trust in him and follow him and listen to him. When they, israel, and those who believe in God, will rejoice in God and trust in him and follow him and listen to him to provide for them, even in their discipline.
Tyler:Habakkuk's perspective is realigned and clear now. God doesn't discipline because he's unfair or doesn't care or is a big old meanie. He corrects you because he loves you too much to let you destroy your soul. It is true love that God shows when he corrects us. The problem again is our perspectives are wrong. They're self-centered and not aligned with the truth, and this is what God is fixing. This is what God is correcting in us. He's not going to bend to our childlike tantrums and whining. He is a good and perfect father. He will do what he must do in order to protect us, so that way he can build us up to reach our full potential of what he's created us to do. So what? What does this all mean?
Tyler:We've got to ask ourselves a couple questions.
Tyler:First, is your perspective aligned with what God has told you, what God has given you for your life, what he keeps talking to you about?
Tyler:Are you thinking only about your desires and trying to defend your self-righteous lifestyle, then complaining about the destruction and the strife that happened in your life because of it? We have to apply the lesson of Habakkuk. We need to take inventory of our life. Then we need to ask God to show us where we are living in sin and what we're doing, what we're not supposed to and when he does. We should probably write it down so we don't forget it and keep making the same mistake over and over and over again. And then, finally, we need to give things to God, which sounds crazy. Why would you want to thank someone for when they punish you and correct you? It doesn't seem natural, but it shows that when God corrects us, he loves us. It shows us that we are his child and so stand firm in his instruction and, like the final verse of Habakkuk says, he will enable you to tread on the heights in your life. Praise God.
Angus MacLeod:Amen. You know, the older I get, the more I realize perspective is just about everything. It's so much. When you understand how important perspective is in just about every situation in your life, the more you try and find the correct ones, because it affects so much else in your life just by perceiving something in the right way. So thank you so much, tyler. Our next speaker is Christina. She directs almost everything out there at the Mercy House. She does so much. She was responsible for a lot of the planning and everything that went into the recent back-to-school events and she still has more stuff coming up. So she is also a certified minister working on her license and with that I want to invite Christina. But first let's hear from the prophet.
AI Video:What's up? Judah, fam Zephaniah here, coming at you with a major update. Listen the vibe out here. It ain't right. The Most High is seeing everything. Judgment is coming like really soon. He's gonna sweep it clean Every idol, every last one who's turned away. The great day of the Lord is near, a day of wrath, darkness and distress. Not a day for likes, but a day for truth. Hashtag no filter. Seriously. Seek the Lord, all you humble. Seek righteousness, seek humility. Maybe then you'll be hidden when his anger comes. This isn't just for us. Philistia, moab, ammon, assyria they're all on the list too. But here's the real good news After the cleansing, a remnant will remain, a humble people trusting in his name. And listen, jerusalem, the Lord has taken away your punishment. He is with you. He will rejoice over you with singing. He's gathering his people, bringing them honor. You'll be praised among all nations. Zephaniah out, stay blessed, stay humble Peace.
Christina:A call to purity, repentance and hope. The message of the book of Zephaniah. Have you ever watched a scary movie, the kind where a group of people are maybe in a cabin in the woods in the dark on a stormy night and of course you start hearing these strange noises and wonder what's happening outside. And there's that one person, ignoring every warning, who insists on going outside to see what that noise is. I mean we can probably picture the one person in our friend group. Meanwhile the rest of us are saying let's just stay inside, we don't need to go out there, let's just stay together, we don't need to break apart. But of course that one person's. I'm just going to go check what's going outside. And we all know the ending to that story. That's my picture of the book of zephaniah.
Christina:God had warned his people over and over, but they walked right into spiritual danger anyway. Zephaniah was a prophet. His name means the Lord is hidden away. We see in the first scripture that he was a descendant of King Hezekiah, who was also a distant cousin to the king at that time, josiah and both of these kings were good in God's eyes. King Josiah came to the throne at the age of eight. He led a major reform during that time. The people had turned away from God and they were practicing other religions or mixing the religions. But despite his efforts to reform worship and root out idolatry, the people's heart remained divided. We see three parts in the book of Zephaniah God's judgment on Judah, the judgment on the nation and, last chapter, hope of all nations and Jerusalem.
Christina:I'm going to read verse. I'm going to read from Zephaniah 1-2. My thing is acting up, okay, verse 2. I will sweep away everything from the face of the earth, declares the Lord. I will sweep away both man and beast. I will sweep away the birds of the sky and the fish of the sea and the idols that cause the wicked to stumble, when I destroy all mankind on the face of the earth, declares the Lord. We can see some similarities here with Noah and his time, when God brought judgment because of the violence and the corruption and the corruption. We can see a parallel here with God as creator in Genesis and now he stands as judgment over creation In Zephaniah 4, or verse 4 through 6,.
Christina:I will stretch out my hand against Judah and against all who live in Jerusalem. I will destroy the remnant of Baal worship in this place the very name of the idolatrous priest, those who bow down on the roofs to worship the starry host and those who bow down and swear to the Lord and also swear to Malik, those who these scriptures are showing us that the people during that time, which were supposed to be God's people, had turned away from God or they were mixing the religion and the laws of Moses with the religions around them, and the laws of Moses with the religions around them. Jerusalem was supposed to be the representation of holy worship, a place for God only, but the people had broken the first commandment you shall not have any other God before me. Even with King Josiah's reformation, corruption remained While he tore down pagan altars and restored the temples we see in 2 Kings, chapter 23,. Many people continued to worship and ignore God, even the priests. God's wrath was not impulsive, it was just. This wasn't because of ignorance, because they knew the word. It was because of rebellion. Their secret sins worshiping God in church and at night going to the rooftops to worship celestial gods would not stay hidden.
Christina:Eventually, sin pours out into everything around us. Sin pours out into everything around us. We see further on in verse 8 through 14, the corruption touched every corner of Judah. What are today's idols? They may not be carved statues, but they're just as dangerous. We have materialism, self-promotion, political obsession, obsession all day, every day being a couch potato surfing through Netflix or in front of the Xbox for hours or scrolling on social media, even though these things are okay. But when we prioritize them above God, they become like an idol. So ask yourself are there places in my life where I follow God outwardly but compromise inwardly? Maybe we go to church, we volunteer, we say the right things, we post Bible verses on social media, but inside our hearts we aren't fully in it. We're just going through the motions. We try to justify our sin in private. Those sins do we harbor unforgiveness, pride, lust, greed or envy? Or maybe we talk about trusting in God but live in constant fear and make choices based on control and not our faith in God.
Christina:The judgment on the nations In Zephaniah 2, 1 through 3, he's speaking to the people of Israel, those that are faithful, gather yourself, calling his people to humble and reflect Together. You gather, o nation not desired. They were not desired due to sin Before the decree. Bring forth God's judgment Before the day of the past, as the chaff before the fierce anger of the Lord come upon you. Before the day of the Lord's anger come upon you, seek ye, the Lord, turn to God with sincerity. All you meek of heart on earth which have wrought his judgment, those who live according to his laws. Seek righteousness. Seek meekness means actively pursuing right living and humility. It may be ye shall be hid. In the day of the Lord's anger there's a hope of mercy. God always offers us warnings before judgment. His just isn't limited to his own people.
Christina:During this time he wasn't just mad at Jerusalem, the people of Jerusalem. He was also upset with the countries around them. They would also face the consequences. Why? Because they were violent, they would mock and they would oppress. Face the consequences. Why? Because they were violent, they would mock and they would oppress God's people. You can't mess with God's people and think nothing will happen.
Christina:In Zephaniah 2.7, it says that the land will belong to the remnant of the people of Judah. Who's the remnant? The faithful, the few who preserved through judgment. There they will find pasture. It's an image of peace, restoration. In the evening they will lie down in the house of Ashkelon. The Lord, their God, will care for them and he will restore their fortunes Once a stronghold, ashklon of the enemy now becomes a refuge for God's people.
Christina:In Zephaniah 2.8, I have heard the taunting of Moab and the reveling of the sons of Ammon with which they have taunted my people and become arrogant against their territory. Maybe we don't have physical enemies, but we have Satan who comes and taunts us and speaks to us and causes us to fall and stumble. Or maybe we're innocent and we're just in this world and things happen to us because of the sin of the world. God has heard the taunt and has seen the encroachment. In Zephaniah 2.11,. The Lord will be terrifying and awesome to them, for he will starve. All the gods of the earth and all the coastal lands of the nation will bow down and worship him, every, everyone from his own place. So right now we see in this book where they're talking about worshiping every other God, even those believers. But we will all take account, we'll all see. Even the enemies will be bowing down and worshiping God. Even the enemies will be bowing down and worshiping God.
Christina:Ask yourself are you listening to God's warning, whether through scripture or conviction? Do we tolerate what God condemns pride, exploitation, violence? Do we mock or ignore his ways? I'm going to do it my way or ignore his ways. I'm going to do it my way, assuming judgment won't ever come. When correction does come, do we respond with humility or do we push it away?
Christina:The third part the hope of the nation. This was the opportunity for us to recognize our sin, to recognize our shortcomings. It wasn't just for judgment. God was called for restoration, and Zephaniah 3, 9 through 13 reveals the redemptive plan of God. God will purify the nations. He will unite the people under his name. No-transcript Zephaniah 3.17.
Christina:The Lord, your God, is with you. That means he's present all the time. The mighty warrior who saves. He's victorious in everything. He will take great delight in you, in his love. He will no longer rebuke you. That's after a spanking. He hugs us right but will rejoice over you with singing. God is singing a joyful song about you, the faithful.
Christina:As I was reading this last chapter, we see two threads the continuation of rebellion, the sobering reality that many will persist in pride and corruption, the fact that we try to reach out to the ones we love and they refuse to hear God's word. Or we might be those innocent ones. But along with that there's a clear thread of hope. Hope for the meek, for humble and the righteous, for those that were caught in the crestfire of this broken world, for those who live to see rightly. Even when the surrounding, when our we are surrounded by injustice, god sees you and he promises restoration.
Christina:The faithful remnant will not be forgotten. The Lord will gather his people, remove their shame and give them a new song. This is the promise that God will make with his people. If it's not in this lifetime, it will be when the Lord comes. That's the tension that Zephaniah leaves us. Judgment is real, but so is redemption, and the door to mercy remains open for anyone willing to humble themselves and seek the Lord. So now let's not be like the one who walks blindly into danger, but let's be that remnant, those who hear, who repent and return to the Lord. Thank you.
Angus MacLeod:Amen. Such a challenging word. You know, it's very easy to distance ourselves from those in the Old Testament because it was such a long time ago and we think what do we really have in common with those people? I mean, they didn't even have iPads. But the reality is is there are so many similarities. Just because we don't have a stone carved in our home or some sort of other graven image doesn't mean that we don't have an idol in our life that separates us from God. And so it's incredible when we really sit down and think and take a look at some of these prophets, some of these books in the Old Testament, and realize that maybe they aren't so far off from where we are and that we need to do just like they did and repent and turn back to God. So thank you so much, christina, for that wonderful word.
Angus MacLeod:Our next yeah, go ahead. Our next speaker is Eddie Perez. He is one of our very faithful kids' church teachers. He's been ministering to my children and yours for years. Thank you, eddie. He is also one of our certified ministers here at Cornerstone, and so in just a few minutes we'll have him come and share with you. But first a word from the prophet.
AI Video:What's up? Faithful followers Amos live from Tekoa Got to drop some serious truth on you today. You're all about that good life, flaunting your lavish homes, but the poor, they're getting absolutely crushed out there. And your worship? You're out here singing, sacrificing, but your hearts are nowhere near God. He sees right past the filters, people. He's not interested in fake devotion. Listen up. The Lord is roaring from Zion. You don't want to be on the wrong side of that judgment. You don't want to be on the wrong side of that judgment. You can't just swipe past this. They came at me, tried to cancel me, but you can't silence the truth. So here's your call to action Seek good, not evil. Let justice flow like a massive viral river. Judgment is coming. Stay just and blessed and always seek the Lord. Peace out.
Eddie:Well, good morning Cornerstone. They let the youngest of us three go last. I first want to start by thanking Pastor Jay and Celeste for this opportunity to come and break bread with you, and also I want to thank them for giving us the full counsel of God. What do I mean by that is that, you know, if we look at our Bibles, we have the Old Testament and the New Testament. Some of us might think like well, the old, why do we need that? That must be archaic. We don't need that anymore. Give us the new. But I don't want us to look at our Bibles that way. I want us to see it as the Old Testament is the New Testament concealed and the New Testament is the Old Testament revealed, and so we need that whole counsel for us to grow in this day and age. Okay, and they bring that too. So we thank him for that.
Eddie:So again, we've been looking at this series of the prophets right, and it started way back with Pastor Celeste some weeks ago and in a way we've kind of come full circle. And here's what I mean by that that if we were to take all the prophets there's 16 of them, including the majors If we were to put them in chronological order, we would start with Jonah and then Amos, and then it goes on from there and it's all centered around this event that's taking place the Babylonian exile. God was going to kick them out because of their disobedience. We heard from Tyler and Christina, and so when we look at all the prophets, there's eight of them that were prophesying prior to that event happening, a couple during and a couple after. And when we see that, we kind of get a perspective from God, as Tyler and them already shared that God is gracious and merciful and has love towards any kind of correction. He gives us, and that's the way we should be with one another, especially as parents towards our kids, right? So reminding again what a prophet is they're a mouthpiece from God to the people, and so the message they bring is what A prophecy In Amos 3.7, he shares with this that God reveals the.
Eddie:He does nothing without revealing the secret things to his servants, the prophets. Okay, so that's why they're there and telling all these things. So I'm going to spare us all the different judgments and things. It's the same one. It's taking tears through the same time period. They're just doing it over and over. It's like God was trying to get them turn back, turn back, but they wouldn't listen. So eventually he had to do what he had to do. And so that's pretty much the rest of the whole book of Amos.
Eddie:But I want to bring to heart a specific part of that. If we look at Amos himself which his name means burden bearer Amos in verse chapter one and also chapter seven, it talks about who he was, that he was a farmer and that he tended to trees, meaning that he didn't come from a line of prophets, he was just a regular old guy person out there that God had his heart to tell him hey, my burden bearer, I have a burden, I need you to go share this right. And so from that I learned something about Amos he knew God and he feared God. Okay, imagine any one of us all of a sudden having a burden from God saying hey, I need you to go to the mayor of your city or to the governor of your state or something like that. I have a message to send to them about what they're doing. It's not right. How would you feel? It's like who me? It's like how, if I go there, things might happen. They might, you know, put me in jail or otherwise, right, but if we know God and we know it's coming from God, we have to fear him and not man, and do what he wants us. We're here for him, not the other way around. Amen, all right. So that's the heart of my message, of what I want to share.
Eddie:But before I get that, I want to pose this question to us Could judgments like what we've been hearing already happen today, 2025? And the reason why I'm posing this question is because I feel there's too many of us that don't really see God as real. Yeah, we see the stories and the Bible's there and stuff and we hear them, but is he really real today? And I feel a lot of why some of us feel that way is because we haven't had a true encounter with him by his spirit. So I encourage you to contend to that end, because that's what happened in my life and that's part of the reason why I'm here right now sharing with you. Okay, but again that question could things like that we've been talking about happen today? Well, in Amos 9.1, amos sees a perspective of God that he's standing next to the altar ready to dispense his judgments. Well, where do we find the altar today, right here in the house of God. And then in 1 Peter 4, it says that judgment begins in the house of God. And then also, as Tyler already mentioned, but from the Hebrews verse, it says that God disciplines those he loves. Okay, and then God has, can and will use the sun and moon as signs to us, can and will use the sun and moon as signs to us.
Eddie:Hmm, oh, april of last year, what did we have in our country? A solar, a total solar eclipse. Ah, and where did it begin? It started in the state of Texas, at Eagle's Pass, and went across the nation, kind of like this Okay, you know that the circumference of that eclipse was about approximately 100 miles in diameter. Hmm, well, from that time not before but after, not just anywhere in Texas, but within that where the eclipse took place 13 pastors have been removed in central north Texas from their pulpits, many different denominations of Christianity, and many of them were in their pulpits for many years and some of them were well known. Hmm, that was just last year, 2024, today.
Eddie:Maybe that helps to convince that, yeah, god's real and alive and active with us. It's not some far-off thing, but we've got to contend to know his spirit to know these things All right. So when we look at Amos 5.4, well, first of all, in chapter 5, Amos begins to sing a song which is called a dirge, which is a very sad song based on an event that's taken place typically or after somebody well-known within the community has passed, very sad and heavy song. But he's singing this song based on what he's seen to come and God moves on his heart to say some things about the church in that song that are very heavy. No church would ever want to hear the words in that song. I challenge you to read it.
Eddie:But in chapter 5, verses 4 through 6, we see the statement made twice God says first, seek me and live, and at the end of 6, he says seek the Lord and live. And so that to me gives that impression about we need to have a proper fear of the Lord once again. Okay, but what is the fear of the Lord? Something that we don't hear typically in our vernacular of things today, right? So in Proverbs 9, 10, and also in chapter 1, verse 7, it says that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and the knowledge of the Holy One, understanding or insight. And then again. It repeats in 1.7,. It says the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge.
Eddie:So the fear of the Lord is something that we begin in the knowing either about, or, in this case, who. Who do we know? There's a difference between knowing and knowing about. God wants us to know him and I want to relate it in a fashion like this there's a difference between the hands and the face.
Eddie:Now, as parents, when our kids are little, we kind of know some of that. Right, kids come to us with their hands. What are they doing? What can you do for me or what can you give me? But if we just continue operating just at that level, what if I stop? What's going to happen? Well, I'll go find another source that'll give me what I want or do what I ask. Right, it's kind of very superficial, not really knowing, ah. But if I was to pick up that child, to bring them up here, now they're at my face. What happens there? Identity, see each other? No, differentiating one to another by our faces? Right, then we see expression. Are we happy, sad, mad, all those kind of things. Then, if I bring them close, or close to my heart, I can share with them, right my ideas and stuff and hear from them.
Eddie:We converse, we get to know one another, okay, so, in relation to God, we praise him for what he does and we worship him for who he is. We praise him for what he does and we worship him for who he is. We praise him for what he does the hands but we worship him for who he is. One of my heroes of faith, dr David Jeremiah, once made this comment. He said we will only worship someone we love and we will only love someone we know we love and we will only love someone we know. I'll say it again we will only worship someone we love and we will only love someone we know.
Eddie:In addition to that, I know, at the end of each service, pastor Jay and others will say the blessing that comes from the rabbinical blessing in number six. I know some of us kind of struggle with that. Why is that a blessing? Because it's stated in such a way. Well, what does it say? It says may the Lord bless you and keep you the hands. May he cause his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you. What's that? Well, in his presence, the shining is his glory and it's only in his presence that we see his glory, is his glory, and it's only in his presence that we see his glory, and in that place is where we gain his grace, favor that we don't deserve.
Eddie:The next part says may he lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace. Well, what's that? Well, when somebody's countenance is lifted, what do they do? They smile. Imagine God smiling at us and in that place, knowing, hey, we're okay, we're good. Wouldn't that put you at ease? God's pleased with me, we're good. But again, it only comes from knowing okay.
Eddie:So how do we walk out this fear of the Lord? Well, in Amos 8, 11, it says that there was going to be a famine in the land, and it wasn't due to bread, but not being able to hear the words of God. But wait a minute. In the New Testament, what does it tell us? Our faith comes how? By hearing the words of God. So we don't want that to happen. So what should we do? We need to spend time in his word, the love-lovingness from heaven that lets us know about him and who he is.
Eddie:I've got a picture at my house. It looks like this Okay, it's a depiction of Psalms 1, and I'm going to say it, but it's not the full way. You'll find it in the Bible. I'm missing some parts, right, but when I look at it it kind of reminds me. Blessed be the man that delights in God's law and he meditates on it day and night. He's like a tree planted by the streams of living water, and his fruit will be ripe in season. This leaf will not wither and whatever he does will prosper. It was a kind of promise from God when we dwell with him in his word and walk with him in knowing who he is. So it's very important that we spend time in God's word. But in and when we spend time in his word, we're going to have questions, right.
Eddie:That brings me to my second point, and that is in Amos 7, 1 through 9, amos has seen some things that's going to take place and he's like, oh Lord, please don't do so, because they're weak, they won't be able to handle it. And guess what? God hears his prayer and he stops Twice. That happens. Wow, that can happen when we pray, apparently. So it's right there.
Eddie:But many of us say, like I heard a guy once mentioned to me, why should we pray? Because God knows everything that's going to happen already. So why should we be a part of it? Well, that's just it. God knows everything that's taking place, but we don't. But if we want to be a part of it, we need to spend time with him and we're going to let him speak to us and guide us through that process. Who knows? Part of what he knows already could be our prayers for somebody who's sick they may get better, somebody's in jail, we prayers for somebody who's sick they may get better, somebody's in jail will be released, somebody's heart will be turned to him and be saved. But we won't know any of these things unless we're spending time with them to be guided and directed by who he is. Okay, find my space, sorry.
Eddie:I see God sometimes like a silversmith in this process. A silversmith will quietly sit by the silver patiently watching over it for a particular matter and what he's doing, and oftentimes he has to heat it up, which would be kind of like judgment and correcting us. He's wanting that in the liquidity of the silver he's looking for impurities to raise up so he can pull them off. He wants things to be pure and the part that he's willing to know that it's been through that process is that he'll see us reflection in it and our hearts are no different. God's wanting to walk with him and do that stuff that he wants us to have the value that he wants in that same way. Um, in the uh.
Eddie:I heard this gentleman sitting to my left some time ago when he was in the pulpit. He said people often look at Jesus as going from miracle to miracle and and in between he prayed. But pastor said I don't see it that way. I believe God or Jesus went from prayer to prayer and in between miracles, and I believe he wants us to walk that same way as well. And lastly, I have a picture and it's a leaflet inside my Bible and when something speaks to me that makes a point and stuff, I want to put it there. So it always reminds me.
Eddie:That middle quote is from somebody we might know I think his name is Pastor Jay. Anybody heard of him and he said this of June of last year and this is what he wrote, or this is what he said and I wrote it down that our prayer life is a reflection of our proximity to Jesus. I'm going to say that again Our prayer life is a reflection of our proximity, closeness to Jesus, how's your prayer life? When I heard that, I took it to heart and right after that, roughly in August of last year, at my work, I started with another gentleman where we literally are praying every day. We get there a half hour early. We got permission from the director of the office to use a room and I'm telling you, we pray Beyond that. A couple of weeks ago I started even a prayer box that I put in the lunchroom and people have you know, humbly they responded to. We've had several people. Now we're praying specifically because of that process.
Eddie:God may want to use you that same way at your work, but some of you might say, well, I can't do that because they don't allow those kind of things. Really Well, I worked 30 years for the city of Phoenix, right Government office. Guess what Active then until this day there's a group called the City of Phoenix Employees for Christ. Guess what we did? Daily Bible studies. We had monthly lunches. We invited people to speak the word of God and brought in we did a couple of times early in the life of that organization where we did the National Day of Prayer right there inside of City Hall. So see, god, there's no limitation when it comes to God, he can open doors that no man can shut and shut doors no man can open. But you've got to be close to him, to know him, to know those processes, and do as he says. I'm going to finish. I'm going to tell the story we're going to finish.
Eddie:Um, imagine I work for the city of excuse me, I currently work for Grand Canyon University as a public safety officer. I wear a uniform and I'm standing at a post as a guard, you know, for people coming in or out of the campus. So just imagine with me for a moment that a gentleman walks up. He's well-dressed, he's not in a panic, he looks nice, okay, but he stands across from me and tells me I need you to come here Now as a guard and stuff and stuff. And again, my responsibilities.
Eddie:Some questions kind of raise up. First of all, who are you? Are you with gcu? Or why are you making this comment? You know other questions might come up. Why is he wanting me to move? You know, and all these kind of other things, but I'm telling you what's not happening. I'm not moving why? Well, I don't know the guy I got to figure all these things out. What he's asked me to do could possibly be to my detriment if it's something hazardous and I'm just not. But I have responsibility in my post and I don't know this guy why he's telling me that. So I got to clear some things first. I'm sure it's happening quickly and stuff, but I'm sure slowing down that process for our, you know, for what we're doing here. I'm gonna to change that same scenario up a bit.
Eddie:So this time who's coming to me is the director of my office. I didn't get a chance to ask him if I could use his name for what I'm doing today, but I know him, I know his name, I know what he looks like, I know his voice and what he sounds like and you know he's a director. He's a great guy, you know, loves the guy and stuff and he's done a lot for us. I I know he cares for us. Now let's say he came up and he said Ed, I need you to come here. I may still have some questions like why does this director want me? Did I do something wrong? Or what's going on, or what's happening Right, but I'll tell you what's happening first. Is I'm moving in his direction? Is I'm moving in his direction why? Because I know him and he has authority. I'm there for him. He's not there for me and because of that and I know who he is and what he's got I'm moving this direction Again, having questions.
Eddie:So why do I share all that story for you now? God's no different In his word. He doesn't ask us stuff. He commands us, like what I said come here, do this to love one another, to forgive. But what's our response to him? Is it like the first one? He's somewhat stranger to us and we question things before we move or do anything. Or do we move towards him out of our love and respect, because we know him, and maybe we have questions in the process of how it's going to play out? But he's good, he's alive, he loves us, he's God. How is your response there?
Eddie:Now? I've done my part, as best I can, with the time that I have, to express the need and importance of truly spending the quality time of yourselves in his word and in prayer to know him. He wants us to know him. He wants us to know him. But if what I've shared hasn't been enough, then maybe seeing or reading some words from Jesus will do it. Okay, in a moment there's going to be a scripture on the wall. All I ask is for the next 10 seconds we respectfully and reverently take time to take in what Jesus himself is saying to us Matthew 7, 21, 23. Thank you.
Angus MacLeod:It's a great scripture to consider, especially when we think about that for ourselves, because we know that one day we will all enter that throne room. We will all enter in before the judge and he's going to have a response. Whether that response is depart, because I never knew you, or well done, good and faithful servant, has everything to do with you. Good and faithful servant has everything to do with you. So I'm gonna ask what is it that God is saying about you? What do you think, knowing where you're at right now, what do you think the response is going to be from the Lord when you stand before him? The question is do you know Jesus? Have you embraced Jesus? Because if you haven't, you're not in the family and we know that the Lord will have the one response depart, I never knew you. But see, it's a very simple process for us to come into relationship so that we can hear one day well done, good and faithful servant. Now, it's not magic magic, but it is simple and it doesn't have anything necessarily to do with the exact words that you use, but it's more the position of your heart in recognizing where you are in relationship to the lord. So I'm going to ask if everybody would stand and with all heads bowed and all eyes closed. I'm going to simply ask you, if you recognize that that's you, that you don't have a relationship with Jesus, that you're on the path that's going to hear depart, for I never knew you we're going to invite you into relationship. So if that's you and you recognize that you have a need for Jesus in your life, I'm going to ask that, if you've never received Christ before, that you just put your hand up and let me know, so we know how to pray with and for you, and then, once I see your hand, you can put it on back down again and then we'll all pray. Put it on back down again and then we'll all pray. Thank you jesus, thank you lord.
Angus MacLeod:So now I'm going to just ask if everybody would pray this prayer with me here in just a second, because it says in roman 9,. It says Because if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. And that's all this prayer is. It's just an expression of your heart position that you want to come into relationship with Jesus. So if you would pray this prayer with me, lord, thank you for loving me. Thank you for sending Jesus. I believe Jesus died on the cross for my sins. I believe he rose again. Forgive me of my sins. I surrender my life to you. In Christ's name. We pray Amen. Amen, friends, if that was you and you accepted Jesus for the first time, we celebrate with you Amen.
Angus MacLeod:And we want to encourage you to go back to the prayer banner. Back there We've got some people who are ready to pray with you and also give you some materials for the next steps on your journey. But for the rest of us, let's consider what the prophets would say to us today knowing exactly where you are, knowing that God knows exactly where you are. He's not calling anybody out, but he is calling on you to come back. You see, we have to have the proper perspective that God isn't wanting to punish us. He's wanting us to be able to come into relationship with him, and that relationship is obstructed by the things that we have placed there, and that relationship is obstructed by the things that we have placed there, but he stands willing and ready to remove those obstacles, to be able to straighten those things out in our life.
Angus MacLeod:And so, as we open this altar, if you find that there's something in you, in your relationship, in your walk, that you realize maybe I need to make this adjustment, now's the time to come and bring that to the Lord and say Lord, I've been wrong, I've been having an issue in this area, but I don't want to have that anymore. I want to come to you. Maybe you just want to get a little bit closer to the Lord, in which case you're invited to come as well. Lord, we thank you for this opportunity. We thank you that all the words that you spoke to the prophets and to your people then still apply today and that you're faithful to say them to us so that we don't wander off into destruction. Lord, I just pray that you would help us to recognize exactly where we are at, be honest with ourselves and be honest with you, so that we can turn from our ways and be able to one day hear well done, good and faithful servant. Lord, we pray all these things in the mighty name that is Jesus Christ, amen.
Annie:What an amazing morning. We had three different voices where the Holy Spirit was speaking the same thing through it. They didn't just so you know, they didn't come together and decide what they're going to preach together. God did that. We have, I think, if you saw all of the announcements. There's so much going on at our church right now, but next week, august 10th, say August 10th. August 10th Is a water baptism. If you were wondering what that next step is, that next step it's the change, your government in your heart, all the way to the Lord, and so that's our next step of water baptism. If you need to see all of those announcements again, those are on the church center app. We also have on August 31st I believe it was is a children dedication. We believe that we come together as a community to help support those parents, to lead those kids on the right path for the rest of their life, and so child dedication is August 31st.
Angus MacLeod:We also have life groups that'll be starting up soon, so I want to encourage you to take a look at the various groups and activities and things that are going on and find a place to get connected, because that's where the real growth happens. Before we go, I want to read this and pray this blessing upon us the Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you. The Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace. Lord, we pray this blessing over your people, your church, and we just ask that you would help us to go out and be the light in a dark world. We pray this in the mighty name that is Jesus Christ, amen. Well, we love you very much at Cornerstone. Thank you for being here today. Have a great week.