Prepare to Meet your God.
The Prophet Amos, as his very name signifies, was much
burdened over the sin of the Northern Kingdom of Israel during the eight
century B.C. The Lord had called him and sent him to preach to the people, and
to warn them of impending judgment.
The prophet’s message among others was, very clear, very
simple, “Therefore, thus will I do unto you O Israel, and because I will do
this, prepare to meet your God.”
But the people did not want to hear, they were too busy
enjoying the fruits of sin and basking in wine and revelry; so they told him, “go
away, prophesy not again any more at Bethel; for it is the king’s sanctuary.” But Amos continued to plead with them, to
warn them and to tell them “Thus sayeth the Lord, until the final hour when
they were dispersed to the wind and were heard from not again. I have
often been told, I have often heard, that the people of today want to hear
happy messages. You have to tell jokes and make people laugh; you are too
serious; lighten up and make people feel happy.
However as I see it, the questions of life and death, and
the hereafter, are too serious to laugh and joke about. Many times I hear
people say when someone has passed, no doubt to make themselves or someone else
feel better, “Oh he/she is gone to a better place; and often I would ask myself,
really? Friends it is not that easy;
the road to heaven is a narrow one. You must walk carefully within the Masters
will in order to get there. Your life and words and deeds and actions, must
reflect the risen Christ living in you. So to adopt the words of the prophet,
we must prepare to meet our God. Our
lives must be a shining example of Christ for all to see. We cannot live life like
the devil and expect that somehow, by default, we are going to miraculously find
ourselves spending eternity in that better place often so callously talked
about. So let me say this again, my
message is with a view to saying what the lord expects of me, not what men
would like to hear.
The Apostle Paul writing to the Galatians in defense of his
Apostolic Ministry says this, “Do I now seek the favor of men or of God? Or do
I seek to please men?” For if I set out to please men, I should not be the
servant of God.” (Gal. 1:10)
The Apostle Paul also sent a stern warning to his fellow
servant Timothy, when he said, “I charge thee, therefore, before God, and the Lord
Jesus Christ, who shall judge the living and the dead at His appearing and His
kingdom, Preach the word, be diligent in and out of season ; reprove, rebuke,
exhort with all long-suffering and doctrine; For the time will come when men
will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to
themselves teachers having itching ears. And they shall turn away their ears
from the truth and shall be turned unto fables” (2Tim 4: 1-4.)
I do believe that, that time spoken of in Holy writ is here.
The pulpit is used to entertain itching ears. Ears not itching for the word of
God but the foolishness of the world. We
spend time in idleness and the things of the world, time which would be better
spent in preparing to meet our God.
As I see it, the sun is sinking fast. The dispensation of
the church age is speeding fast to a close. A dispensation is not a time for
Christians to relax. It is a time for stewardship. It is a period of time during
which man is tested in regard to His obedience to the specific revelation of
the will of God. That time began when Christ left us with His promise to come
again; but with the responsibility to occupy until he returns.
