Nuggets : Lessons from Amos Don’t Pass through Beersheba

Posted on April 1, 2020 by

“But . . . pass not to Beersheba.” (Amos 5:5)

Beersheba (well of the “sevens”) became a location of some
importance in Israel’s early history. Hagar, the Egyptian bondwoman who bore Ishmael, was rescued by God at Beersheba


(Genesis 21:14-19). Abraham improved the well at Beersheba
and settled there, built a grove, and “called there on the name of
the Lord, the everlasting God” (Genesis 21:33). It was at Beersheba that Abraham was told to sacrifice Isaac (Genesis 22:1-4).


Beersheba figured prominently in the life of Israel. Isaac made
a covenant with the Philistines there, repaired the well, and lived
at Beersheba for many years (Genesis 26:17-33). Historically,
Beersheba is best known for the political oaths ceremoniously
confirmed there with the secular nations around Israel.


At Beersheba, truth later became equated with tradition. Substituting the wisdom and traditions of man (Mark 7:3-13) or the
world’s logic (Colossians 2:8) for truth can be very dangerous.
• God looks forward not backward. Historical places and
events are lessons not laws.
• God wants obedience not activity. Past victories are to be
praises not patterns.
• God demands truth not compromise. Successful negotiations are directives not doctrines.


“Seek good, and not evil, that ye may live: and so the Lord,
the God of hosts, shall be with you, as ye have spoken. Hate
the evil, and love the good, and establish judgment in the gate:
it may be that the Lord God of hosts will be gracious unto the
remnant of Joseph” (Amos 5:14-15). HMM III

From Days of Praise

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The Virus, the Beast, and the Time of the End

Posted on March 30, 2020 by

Immortality Road

We are living during the beginning of the time of the end. I believe the “beast” of Revelation just may be Big Technology, what with 5G, AI, the internet of things, facial recognition, the herding of the sheeple using fear and hysteria…”And the whole world wondered after the beast…”

What is the one thing that the masses are clamoring for and wondering after? It is the latest technology breakthrough. They are addicted. Technology is an electric drug that is leading them into accepting a tiny chip that will hook their brain up to the Internet’s cloud whereby they will be the smartest little android in the office. This chip will insure that they can “buy or sell.” [If you still don’t believe this is happening, you are living in the past. Please do your own research on these things.]

Those who refuse to take the chip will be counted as…

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I Am Thinking of You

Posted on March 30, 2020 by

I am thinking of you today.

Because I can see inside your heart and I know the turbulence that fills it.

But remember. As always, this will pass. Have I not taught you – let not your heart be troubled?

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Posted in A CLICK A BLESSING TODAY, Christian Life and the Word - Encouragement, Christian Life and the Word - Face your Feeling, SHARING STRUGGLES, SHARING STRUGGLES , Shaping Spiritual Solutions!, WONDERFUL WORDS OF LIFE | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Nuggets – Lessons from Amos: Don't Enter Gilgal

Posted on March 30, 2020 by

“But [do not] . . . enter into Gilgal . . . for Gilgal shall surely go into captivity.” (Amos 5:5)

Gilgal was the place of new beginnings. Twelve memorial stones from the Jordan were set up at Gilgal after the miraculous crossing of the Jordan River (Joshua 4:3). The nation was circumcised there in preparation for their possession of the land (Joshua 5:5). The Passover was celebrated (Joshua 5:10), and the miraculous manna ceased (Joshua 5:12). The victorious campaign in the hill country of Judea extending to Kadesh-barnea and Gaza was conducted from Gilgal (Joshua 10:15). The great battle at the waters of Merom was conducted from Gilgal (Joshua 10:43; 11:5). Saul was crowned Israel’s first king at Gilgal (1 Samuel 11:15).

Yet, the activity at Gilgal began to obscure the Word of God. Saul compromised and sacrificed at Gilgal to try to gain God’s blessing. His desire for political favor resulted in direct disobedience to God.

A zeal for “righteous action” without obedience can result in evil. Jephthah’s foolish vow and subsequent bad leadership led to a horrible slaughter (Judges 11–12). Micah’s selfish desire for a personal priest led to terrible apostasy (Judges 17–18). A Levite’s false zeal for revenge led Israel into civil war (Judges 19–21).

When activity substitutes for holiness, the cause starts to justify the activity. Activity then becomes necessary to preserve the cause, and dedication to the activity is equated with loyalty and holiness. In many cases, preservation of a memorable event overrides biblical truth. We don’t need “activity” at Gilgal as much as we need “abiding” in Christ. The “branches” need the “vine” (John 15). HMM III

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Knowing Him That Is from the Beginning–The First and the Last

Posted on March 30, 2020 by

Immortality Road

[I could tell you that the following is food taken from the peak of God’s mountain, high above the clamoring of earthlings. I could plead with you to partake of this secret bread, that it will propel God’s growth in you to lustrous lakes of living water. But only the hungry and thirsty will eat and drink. This we know, and in this we will rest.]

As Christians we believe that we know God. We have been touched by the love of Christ, and we have experienced the love, joy, and peace that His Spirit has given us. But do we “know Him that is from the beginning”?

The apostle John is writing a letter addressed to followers of Christ. They fall into three levels of maturity. He writes unto “little children, young men, and fathers” (I John 2: 12-14).

He ministers differently to each spiritual growth group. “I write…

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Nuggets – Lessons from Amos: Seek the Lord

Posted on March 29, 2020 by

“But seek not Bethel. . . . Seek the LORD, and ye shall live.” (Amos 5:5-6)

Bethel had a long history with Israel. Abraham camped near Bethel when he first entered the land of Canaan (Genesis 12:8) and “called on the name of the LORD” at Bethel when he returned from Egypt (Genesis 13:3-4). Jacob’s dream of the ladder took place at Bethel (Genesis 28:10-12, 19), and later it was there his name was changed to Israel (Genesis 35:9-15).

Later, however, Bethel became Bethaven, the “House of Idols” (Hosea 4:15), after Jeroboam I established a temple to the golden calf (1 Kings 12:28-33). And much later, Assyria, after the destruction of Israel, left false priests at Bethel to corrupt the land (2 Kings 17:27-34). The place became a substitute for the person of God.

The danger comes when God becomes fixed to a place or an event where there is more concern for property than people. The kind of place (one’s denomination) substitutes theology for truth, or the experience gives more credence to intuition than inspiration. Worship of place or event supersedes the worship of God. Both substitutes will produce error.

The admonition of Amos is to “seek the LORD” (Amos 5:6). The promise is that if we seek the Lord, we “shall live.” We will not find God in a place but in a person (Acts 4:12). We cannot find God in a campaign but in a commitment (Matthew 6:33). We surely will not find God in promises from men but in power from God (2 Peter 1:4). HMM

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Nuggets – Lessons from Amos: Walking with God

Posted on March 28, 2020 by

“Can two walk together, except they be agreed?” (Amos 3:3)

Amos was a prophet during the reign of Jeroboam II (son of Joash), who ruled the northern 10 tribes of Israel from 825 to 784 BC (2 Kings 14:23). Some 100 years earlier, Jeroboam I (son of Nebat) had led a rebellion against the son of Solomon and started the northern nation of Israel (1 Kings 12). In order to keep his people from returning to Jerusalem, Jeroboam I “made Israel to sin” (1 Kings 12:30; 16:26; etc.) by developing a “new” religion centered on an image of a golden calf, with idol temples in Bethel and Dan (1 Kings 12:28-29).

Those northern tribes never returned to the worship of Jehovah but “sinned against the LORD,” and Israel “feared other gods” (2 Kings 17:7). The list of their sins is long and grievous in God’s sight.

  • They “did secretly those things that were not right against the LORD” (2 Kings 17:9).
  • Israel set up “images and groves in every high hill” (2 Kings 17:10).
  • They “wrought wicked things to provoke the LORD to anger” (2 Kings 17:11).
  • They “worshipped all the host of heaven” (2 Kings 17:16).
  • They “used divination and enchantments, and sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the LORD, to provoke him to anger” (2 Kings 17:17).
  • They “feared the LORD, and served their own gods” (2 Kings 17:33).

Amos was commissioned in those dark years to openly confront the nation to “walk” in “agreement” with the God they professed to worship. Hypocrisy is at the core of the judgment and warnings that God recorded for us in the little book of Amos. We must learn the lessons or suffer the same judgment. HMM III

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Nuggets – We Will Serve the Lord

Posted on March 27, 2020 by

“And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.” (Joshua 24:15)

As Joshua’s death approached, he gathered the people around him for a final address and challenge. “Fear the LORD, and serve him in sincerity and in truth: and put away the gods which your fathers served” (v. 14), he exhorted as he reviewed the history of God’s provision for Israel. Indeed, God was worthy of their service in light of all He had done for them. Speaking on behalf of the Lord, Joshua used the divine pronoun “I” no less than 17 times in the previous 11 verses, in a majestic listing of His work on their behalf.

There seems to be a twist of irony in Joshua’s words. Even though the people adamantly maintained, “Therefore will we also serve the LORD; for he is our God” (v. 18), Joshua evidently knew they had already decided not to follow God. He did not offer them a choice between the true God and false gods, he offered them a choice between sets of false gods—those “on the other side of the flood” (i.e., the Euphrates River), or those “in Egypt” (v. 14), or “the gods of the Amorites.” None can compare, obviously, to the Lord.

Joshua’s point is still applicable today. Man must worship; he must have a god. One may recognize his god as an actual “god”—an idol to be openly worshipped. Many times today, however, the god is that of human reason, science, evolution, or humanism, and worship is performed unwittingly. Our duty in witnessing includes helping the unsaved to make a knowledgeable choice, pointing out the consequences of their choice of gods. Such a comparison should drive one to the same decision as Joshua’s: “As for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.” JDM

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Nuggets – World Without End

Posted on March 26, 2020 by

“For since the beginning of the world men have not heard, nor perceived by the ear, neither hath the eye seen, O God, beside thee, what he hath prepared for him that waiteth for him.” (Isaiah 64:4)

This beautiful Old Testament promise has been appropriated by Paul (1 Corinthians 2:9) and applied to the New Testament believer guided by the indwelling Spirit of God. It looks forward to the ages to come when all those “things which God hath prepared for them that love him” will be given in their fullness.

It is noteworthy that both “the beginning of the world” in our text (Isaiah 64:4) and “world without end” (45:17) are translations of the same Hebrew word, olam, which means essentially “indefinitely long ago” or even “eternity.” Thus, the wonderful plan God has prepared for His people, to be implemented and enjoyed in eternity future, was formulated by Him in eternity past.

We were then chosen “in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love” (Ephesians 1:4). He had even planned our redemption from sin through His Son, “with the precious blood of Christ, . . . Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you” (1 Peter 1:19-20).

We may not, in this life, really comprehend with our minds such marvelous things, but we who “wait for him” can believe them with rejoicing in our hearts, for “God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God” (1 Corinthians 2:10). Thus, we can unite with thankful and understanding hearts in Paul’s great doxology: “Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen” (Ephesians 3:21). HMM

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Nuggets – The Ways and Works of God

Posted on March 25, 2020 by

“He made known his ways unto Moses, his acts unto the children of Israel.” (Psalm 103:7)

We have a distinct privilege, as believers, to know something of the “acts” of God. Scripture records many instances where He performed even miraculous deeds on behalf of His children.

There is perhaps a greater privilege—that of reflecting on His “ways,” as well. “Ways,” in this context, may be understood as God’s actions and behaviors that reflect His underlying character, resulting in His “acts.” Understanding His “ways” may not always be possible, “for as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts” (Isaiah 55:9), but nevertheless we are admonished to try and even pattern our own ways after His.

The people of Israel who had special knowledge of the “acts” of God were told to “walk in all the ways which the LORD your God hath commanded you, that ye may live, and that it may be well with you” (Deuteronomy 5:33). But, “oh that my people had hearkened unto me, and Israel had walked in my ways!” (Psalm 81:13). “There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death” (Proverbs 14:12).

The New Testament echoes this same teaching: “Your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my works forty years. Wherefore I was grieved with that generation, and said, They do alway err in their heart; and they have not known my ways. So I sware in my wrath, They shall not enter into my rest” (Hebrews 3:9-11).

Moses, an eyewitness to the many magnificent works of God on behalf of Israel, went beyond and discerned the “ways” of God, as our text teaches. Surely, he chose the better way. JDM

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