Title [Children's Sunday] Seek Me (Amos 5:4-8)
Contents
The era of Amos was politically stable and economically prosperous in the days of Jeroboam II and King Uzziah of the northern kingdom of Israel.
However, they put their view of life on their luxury and pleasure rather than grace through God, and they placed their value on human greed rather than faith.
The powerful ignored and despised the weak and the poor, and even took their possessions away.
The whole society was full of injustice, corruption, and corruption, and idolatry and pride were engulfed in its body.
Amos, who had to preach the word of God in such an environment, was not easy to carry out, but he did his best by witnessing the word of God without any addition or subtraction.
Amos first pointed out Israel's sin.
He also spoke clearly about the punishment that God inflicted.
(Amos 5:1) Hear these words of lamentation that I have written about you, O house of Israel.
(Amos 5:3) Thus saith the Sovereign LORD, Out of Israel there shall be only a hundred left in a city that went out, and in a city that went out a hundred, only ten.
It may be difficult to always live a spiritual life while we live, but we must have enough faith to pray even when we are busy, to serve even when we are tired, and to praise even in difficult circumstances.
This is the path to a full, mature, and full life.
Difficult environment is not a problem.
We must overcome it and have the wisdom and faith to open the way for a better future and blessings
How can we live a blessed life?
1. We must find a way to live.
Finding someone in a hurry is humanism.
Seeing the world when you are frustrated is secularism.
It is nihilism to become discouraged and give up when things are difficult.
Finding money when things get difficult is materialism.
Jesus Christ must be at the center of the Christian life
We must always and everywhere live God-centered and theocratic.
There is the answer to all problems in God, the forgiveness of sins and transgressions, the fullness of what is lacking, and the strength of the weak.
Because God is always pleased to be with us, we can be filled with everything in our lives as long as we seek Him.
(Amos 5:4) The LORD said to the house of Israel, Seek me, and you will live.
(Amos 5:6) Seek the LORD, and you will live...
The way we live is to live by God's grace and blessings, not by the strength of our knowledge, experience, years, and position.
In it there is life, salvation, and the fulfillment of hope.
You should know that worldly means and methods and self-greed seem wise at first, but later they become a snare and a burden.
(Amos 5:5) Seek not Bethel, do not enter Gilgal, and do not go to Beersheba, for Gilgal will surely be taken into captivity, and Bethel will come to nothing.
You don't have to give yourself up for what will be futile.
There's no reason to risk your life on falling apart.
There is no one to sacrifice for what is destroyed.
We must live for a life that is always generating and alive.
It is our search for God and our return to God.
When we seek God, we find life and restore joy, satisfaction, and blessings.
2. You must find the answer to the problem.
Life is constantly entangled and faced with problems
I can't sleep in the midst of worry, anxiety, worry, fear, anxiety, agitation, and tension.
We cannot get out of the swamp of discouragement, discouragement and frustration, failure, inferiority, collapse, and emptiness.
There are many things to have, many things to enjoy, and many things to enjoy in life.
However, even if we have everything, enjoy it, and enjoy it, we cannot lead a satisfactory life.
It is because God is the source of the solution to all problems and the source of satisfaction.
God makes the shadow of death into the morning.
On the other hand, he turns the bright and bright day into a dark night.
Even in the dark night of our lives, God makes the morning sun rise, and even if we sit on the top of the sky and spread our wings of pride, God makes them fall with a comb.
(Amos 5:8) Seek him who makes the shadow of death and morning, who turns the white wine into dark night, who calls the seas and pours them on the face of the earth, whose name is Jehovah.
Therefore, we must go into the maze of problems and find solutions to problems without going back and forth, chasing, gibberish, and gibberish.
God is the Creator of time, space, and matter.
God is the one who plans and guides the past, present, and future of life.
God is the Sovereign who moves the birth, life, and death of life.
Therefore, the answer to our life problems lies with God.
Coming to God, believing in God and obeying God's Word are the shortcuts to a prosperous future.
We are celebrating Children's Day today.
This is what we need to teach our little ones.
It is to lead the way of life and to live a life in search of answers to problems.
It is believing in God.
3. You must find a happy life.
Israel made happiness through wealth and glory.
He took pleasure in oppressing and plundering the weak with power and power.
I thought that directing, commanding, and ruling someone was the taste of life.
But God never tolerated them.
God took what they had, destroyed what was built, and broke the things that were said to be strong.
He drove them from light to darkness, avoiding lions and encountering bears, putting their hands on walls and making them bitten by snakes.
It seems to live and then dies; it seems to exist but is lost; it seems to be happy but it is unhappy.
(Amos 5:18) Woe to you who long for the day of the LORD, why do you long for the day of the LORD? that day is darkness and not light.
(Amos 5:19) It is like a man avoiding a lion and encountering a bear, or entering a house and putting his hand against the wall and being bitten by a snake.
This is not what we are looking for.
Happiness is living by the grace of God who is with you forever, even though it seems lacking, but it has room, it seems weak, but it is bold and alienated.
The subject of happiness is God.
To seek God is to find happiness.
Israel lost happiness while seeking its own lust.
Do we ever lose our happiness in our search for self-satisfaction?
Our happiness is not in complacency.
There is happiness in God's Word, answers to prayers, and God's grace.
So, we must come to God and open a happy life and a happy future.
The world we live in may become increasingly difficult, difficult, rough, and difficult.
But God's grace and peace are equally at work in us.
The way we live is God.
God is the answer to our life's problems, and the happiness and satisfaction of our lives are in God.
Find God.
Come before God.
Worship God in spirit and in truth.
Obey God's Word.
God fills us with what is most satisfying.
I pray that God's grace and peace abound.
Hallelujah.
(Rev. Lee Eok-hee)