A Famine of Hearing

Well, good afternoon, everyone. I mean, everyone! Great to have a full house!

The reason I know the Van Osdales, Louis Van Osdales' father, Gary Van Osdales, was a member of the Cedar Whirly Church out there. We were a pastor for four or five years, so that's how we happened to know how to pronounce it. Otherwise, I wouldn't have a clue. I wanted to mention, too, you know, that Mr. Del Sandrick could move into his new house there on October 31st, no furniture. When we went out to, left in 2010, to go out to pastor in Seattle for Denny Luker for a period of time, and of course, well, we, the Lukers, let us live in their home while we were out there.

At least until Denny died that we had to change, but we were there for three years, and we got out there about, almost a week before our furniture, I think. And of course, they had all moved all their furniture out. And so we moved in, and there was nothing. I had nothing but a carpet. I mean, that was it. And we did leave some of his office furniture, so we had that, but that was about it. So we had to go out and buy an inflatable mattress as well. And then I did have it flated right. I had a leak out or something. I didn't have it flated full enough, and it was kind of flat. And of course, you get up out of the mattress, and you can't get up because you're on the floor. How do I get up and fall over and have something to lift myself up? It was fun.

So I understand a little bit. I think we had that going for about a week. But anyway, it's always a fun part about moving. Of course, a lot of things you've heard on now, it's in the news ever since the election, back six weeks ago now, about Mr. Trump, which is a shock to many people that he was elected.

And people are still fighting that, as you know. I mean, even now, after everything else they've tried, now they're trying to delay the Electoral College vote, which is on Monday. They're trying to get that delayed because they want to try to investigate the Russian thing, you know, and all that stuff. And I don't think they will. They probably will vote on Monday. He probably will be confirmed by the Electoral College. But it's amazing to see how much opposition there is from the losing side, in this case, against that.

Well, we'll have to see how it goes. But anyway, in all chances are, he will be probably confirmed. But it's unusual because here he is, he's a billionaire to be president. So we'll see how that goes. But I don't want to focus on that. I want to focus on a little bit on the theme that he had, on his motto that he had for his campaign, which resonated for many voters because they look at America the way it is today.

And they think about how it was in the past. And they see America is changing. It's not the same country. It was maybe 20, 30, 40, 50 years ago. And of course, his main theme that resonated to many voters was, make America great again. And that theme did catch on because people realize we don't have the greatness we had prior a number of years ago.

And we're losing our greatness. So many Americans realize that. And if you want to think back historically, we probably you know, had our, reached our greatest peak right after World War II with Hiroshima and Nagasaki and so on. We, right during that late 40s, early 50s, during that time, America kind of started achieving its greatness and prosperity in other ways. But two key questions that the vast majority Americans do not know the answer to in regards to America's greatness is, how did America become great in the first place?

How did we become a great nation? And that most people don't know the answer to that. And how do we lose it? Why do we lose our greatness? And what will it take to make America great again? So most of them don't know the answers to those questions. And they actually come to understand the answers to those questions. You have to really go back several thousand years, all the way back to the promises that God made to Abraham.

So in the beginning of the sermon, I want to briefly review that. But then I want to take it to a deeper, more personal level. We'll look at greatness as far as physical Israel, how did physical Israel, ancient Israel, the Old Testament, how they become great, what made them great, how they lose that greatness, why they lose it.

And also look at modern-day Israel, of course, America, Great Britain, the descendants of modern-day Israel today. We became very great after World Wars I and II, as I said after World War II especially. How have we lost our greatness? What would it take to restore that greatness? Is it going to be done under the Trump administration? No, I don't think so. But then I want to take it to either a deeper level. And you think about God's Church.

I've been in the Church for many years, going back away. I mean, we've been 50 years now. And to go back to the greatness we had at the beginning when I came into the Church back in the 60s, early 60s. You know, God's Church was pretty great in a sense. We were a small church, but yet we had 200,000 members. We had a television broadcast and radio broadcast, a world tomorrow that went around the world in many nations.

We had the Plain Truth magazine, that circulation of like, I don't know, quite a large circulation, I think, or nearly a million or something at one time, reach a speak. So why has God's Church lost its former greatness?

And what would it take to restore that greatness? So Dan, I want to address the answers to those questions from the perspective of both physical and spiritual Israel, from the perspective of the physical descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and also from the perspective of the spiritual descendants of Jesus Christ, members of God's Church. I want to title from my sermon here this afternoon my title is, A Famine of Hearing. Before looking at physical Israel and how to make America great again, from the point of view of physical Israel, I want to begin looking at a prophecy in the book of Amos. Amos is one of the minor prophets, as you know, and you can be turning there. I'll get there in just a little bit, but I want to give a little bit of an introduction here to it. Amos was one of the earliest of the prophets. He came from a little village called Tekoa, which is a small village in Judah, about 10 miles south of Jerusalem. He was a sheep breeder, as it says in the very first verse, and also in Amos 7 as well. So like David, he took care of the flocks, and you can kind of read that in the very beginning of Amos, also in Amos 7 verses 14 and 15, where in verse 15 of Amos 7 it also says he tended sycamore trees, and the sycamore fig trees, actually. And if you go look that up in a commentary, they'll say that would tend to indicate that Amos was not a wealthy man. They kind of had to work hard to make a living, like many of us do. But then God called him to be a prophet, to give a warning message to surrounding nations at that time, where he lived back there in that time, and also then to give a warning message also to Judah and to Israel, to the northern dead tribes of Israel, to the north of Judea. And this prophecy, interestingly in Amos, is given a specific date and time. Although your scholars will look at it, they'll vary in a few years as to what the date is, but it basically gives us a specific date. Let's go to Amos chapter 1 verse 1. Again, it says he's among the sheepbreeder, so it gives his profession there. The words of Amos, who was among the sheepbreeders, of Ticohah, this is in the small village south of Jerusalem, which he saw concerning Israel, that's Old Testament Israel, in the days of Uzziah, king of Judah, in the days of Jeroboam, the son of Joash, king of Israel, and it says two years before the earthquake. So this prophecy of the book of Amos is dated, took place during the reign of Uzziah, who was the king of Judah, and during the reign of Jeroboam, the king of Israel. And then, in Ephesus, two years before the earthquake, that's all it says. Okay, what earthquake was that? How does that give it a date?

Well, this particular earthquake is also mentioned by Zechariah in Zechariah 14 verse 5, where it is talking about a future earthquake in Zechariah 14. It's talking about a future earthquake that's going to take place just before Christ returns. Zechariah 14, 5 says, then you shall flee through my mountain valley, for the mountain valleys shall reach to us all. He's talking there about the amount of olives. That's going to encourage us to put the amount of olives in, too.

And then it says, for the mountain valley shall reach to us all, yes, you shall flee as you fled from the earthquake in the days of Uzziah, king of Judah. So, it's talking about a future earthquake that's going to take place when the amount of olives splits into just prior to Christ's return. It says you're going to flee that earthquake like you fled from the earthquake that we just read of here in Amos 1, verse 1. Now, our United Bible Reading Program, and you can look for dates on this in different commentaries, and it will give you about the same date. But in our Bible Reading Program, it dates to the earthquake that's occurring in 751 BC, or about 30 years before the fall of Old Testament Israel, ancient Israel. Israel fell to the Syria in about 721 BC, right around in there. So, 751 will be 30 years before that, before Israel fell to Assyria. And two years before that, this earthquake says here two years before 751, approximately. This may rain, and this earthquake took place. It says that two years before that would be 753 BC. So, this earthquake took place probably about 753 BC or thereabouts. Commentaries will vary a little bit from year to year, but sometimes it's 750 BC. Or the main thing is, about 30 years or so before Israel fell to Assyria, which took place around 727-21 BC.

And you think about Old Testament Israel, and you think about America today, what would make America great again. And this time, Old Testament Israel probably still had some pretty good prosperity. They were going downhill, but they probably still had some prosperity. And I'm just thinking back at this time, there are probably people in Israel thinking back to the time when King Solomon reigned, and King David and King Solomon, when they reached their peak, when Israel really became a great nation right after the reign of Solomon, during the reign of Solomon, I should say, and David. And they're probably somewhere saying at this time, they saw things slipping in Israel, some of those who are aware, and are reading God's Word and understanding it. Probably say, what will it take? We shouldn't be great to have a king who could make Israel great again, like it was under the days of Solomon and David. They may have been thinking that.

But the prophecy I want to focus on is actually in chapter 8 of Amos. But prior to that, I want to note some significant passages here. There's a lot of significant passages here in the book of Amos, leading up to Amos chapter 8. So I'll just look at a few of those, because they apply to us today as well. Let's go to Amos 3 verse 1. Amos 3 verse 1, Here this word the Lord has spoken against you, O children of Israel, against the whole family which are brought up from the land of Egypt, saying, You only have I known of all the families of the earth. Therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities. Now in the context here, you only have I known really means you only have I chosen.

God knows all nations, but he had a special calling he gave to Israel. Like I said, I brought you up by the land of Egypt. I looked at you and I made you a nation. I brought you out of Egypt. I established you. I gave you great blessings and I established you as a model nation. So God chose Israel. He chose those ascends of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob to make them into a great nation. So it's really saying you only have I chosen of all these people. I've chosen you to make you a great nation. So God had a very exclusive relationship with the Old Testament Israel when he called them out of the land of Egypt because they were called, as we know, to be his own special people and to have a special marriage covenant relationship with them. As we know that relationship with him he established was a covenant relationship and it was a marriage covenant relationship.

And God upheld his part of the covenant, but of course Israel did not uphold their part of the covenant. They committed what is called spiritual adultery. They went foreign after other nations and the ways of the other nations and so on. It's still holding on to God's ways. God was faithful to Israel, but Israel was not faithful to God. Amos 3 again, verse 2, you only have I chosen, as it could be, of all the families of the earth. Therefore I'm going to punish you for all your iniquities because I gave you my loss. I gave you a special relationship you could have with me, but you wouldn't listen to me. And then he goes on here in verse 3, another very significant scripture. Can two walk together unless they agree? Because of course when you have a marriage covenant, you're supposed to be walking together, but Israel went the other way.

If you can two walk together unless they agree, of course the next two verses, verses 4 and 5, he asks four questions and those questions give us the answer to verse 3.

Will a lion roar in the forest when he has no prey? Will a young lion cry out at his den that he's caught nothing? Will a bird fall into a snare on the earth where there is no trap?

Will a snare spring up from the earth if it has caught nothing at all? And obviously the answer to those questions are all no, which means no, two cannot walk together unless they agree to some point. If they disagree so much, they're going to have to park company.

And then on here is another coin, verse 6, if a trumpet is born in a city, will not the people be afraid? If there's calamity in the city, will not the Lord have done it? Of course, the answer to that would insinuate his excess, the obvious answer. Another symbolic of Scripture, verse 7, shows the Lord God does nothing unless he reveals his secret to his servants, the prophets.

Boy, I'll pilot us today. We are God's servants today. And God has revealed his secret, quote-unquote. That is, he's revealed his plan of salvation through Jesus Christ, the knowledge of his truth, the knowledge of his word, the true knowledge of it, who we are as far as people of God, all those things that the world does not understand. He's going to talk about the sermon, the paganism, Christmas and that sort of thing. He's revealed all of those things to us.

And we understand God's word and God's plan of salvation today. And we know why America became a great nation in the first place. And we know why America is now losing its greatness.

And we know what it's going to take for America to become great again.

We are doing everything within our means. Right now, you know, we're trying to do God's work, as much as we can, as far as preaching the gospel to the world, being a witness, to the world, what's happening. Do we get that truth out there? We have been doing that with everything we can, especially to the people of the United States here with all court-bearing means. We have our Beyond Today television program, which many thousands of people watch every week. We have our BT Daily. We have Beyond Today magazine, with a very large circulation that many people receive in their homes. And like everyone mentioned to me as well, we have the Internet. And the Internet goes out all around the world to tens of thousands of people. And they have contact to our United Church of God website on the Internet. And they just put in certain key words, and our website will pop up there, oftentimes right up towards the top, on the very first page. So a lot of people come in to contact us through the Internet, thousands.

Why then, I have this question, why then are not more minds being opened today?

Why don't we see halls like this full of people?

Why aren't they flooding? You look at the world that's going on, what's happening in our nation, all the problems there are. And people are getting access to the knowledge of the truth, many, many thousands of them. And yet, we're not really growing that much as far as people coming to meet with us. Why is that? Why are not more minds being opened? And why then are not more people coming into our churches and our congregations? Another significant passage, I should say, is in Amos 4 verse 12, which I'll return to, where it says this, because Israel did not return to God, even after numerous warnings, they didn't return to God. And it says this in the latter part of Amos 4 verse 12, which says, prepare to meet your God, O Israel. You've been going this way, there's going to become a time of reckoning. There's going to be a time when God says, okay, it's time to intervene and to be fair to mankind. And when that happens, I say, prepare to meet your God. God will put up with something so long, and it becomes the time when he's going to intervene. Let's go one more scripture before we go to Amos 8. Amos 7 verse 7 and 8. Verse 7 and 8 first. Amos 7 verse 7, Amos says, Thus he showed me, the old the Lord stood on a wall made with a plumb line, and it with a plumb line in his hand. And the Lord said to me, Amos, what do you see?

And I say, well, I see a plumb line. Then the Lord said, Behold, I am setting a plumb line in the midst of my people Israel, and I will not pass by them any more. That is, I will not pass by or pass over their iniquities any more. Verse 9, the high places of Isaac should come desolate.

The sanctuaries of Israel should be laid waste. I will rise with the sword against the house of Jeroboam. Jeroboam being the king of Israel at that particular time, as previously noted.

We know what a plumb line is. A plumb line is a tool of a builder. It's a line with a weight attached to the end. And when held against a wall, it will measure the wall's vertical accuracy and trueness. So basically, the message is here, God measured the morality of his people, and they were so far off of being plumb, it was so far off that all you could do was tear it down and start over again. There's no way to repair the wall. It was that far off vertical trueness.

It was so bad there was no way to correct it, but to tear it down and start over. That's kind of the message here. And I have to ask, is that where we are now in our society here in America, in Great Britain? Have we gone so far away from God that it's almost to the point of where you can't correct it? It's going to have to be destroyed to start over.

Let's now get to the main passage I want to focus on, Amos 8, verse 11.

Behold, the days are coming to the Lord God. I'm going to send a famine on the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord. That's my title, a famine of hearing.

The first ghost word does not say, because you can read this and think it says something, and then you read it closely. No, that's not really what it says.

It does not say there will be a famine of the word of the Lord.

You can read this and kind of think that, but that's not what it says. It says there will be a famine of hearing the word of the Lord, which could indicate what? Well, it could indicate that the word of the Lord will be available, and there will be accessible to thousands of people, but the people won't hear those words. I don't mean they won't hear them with their ears or read them with their eyes, but they will not penetrate into their hearts and minds to where they feel compelled to act on them. They won't hear them with careful focus or attention in a way that could convict them and cause them to change their life. They will start going in a different direction by living by God's laws and God's ways. And, you know, it's interesting, because that's what we kind of see today, don't we? When you think about all the work we do in getting God's truth out to the world, there's not much response. People are reading the words, they're hearing them with their ears as far as hearing the words, but there's not much response.

And, of course, thousands are accessible to thousands over the internet, thousands watch the Beyond Today telecast. They read the magazine. Thousands have access to our website over the internet, to all and everything we have, all our publications, everything is on that website. Any booklet we've ever printed, you can write there, read it right off our website or download it for free. And, after all that, very few respond with any commitment. Thus, today, you can say we have a famine of hearing. A famine of hearing in a way that convicts people to change the course of their life. Many hear the words, but they don't act on them. Why not? But as a result of that, there's a certain result that's coming from that that we see happening in our nation. The result of that is that our nation is going to continue going the direction it's going. It's not going to change, of course, because enough people are just not responding. And, the result of that, our nation is going to continue going in decline. And people, as they see that happening, as many people are today, they're asking why? Why is our nation, what's happening to our nation? We think back in the years, a lot of people are, they think back 30, 40 years, and when we had our former gradients, think, what's happening? What will it take to restore that? What will it take to make America great again? As Donald Trump's model has been. See, many Americans realize something is wrong. We've lost a form of greatness, and they're going the wrong direction, but they're searching for answers, but they don't know the answers, and they're looking in the wrong place for the answers.

As the next verse indicates, a very interesting verse, verse 12. It says, they're looking in the wrong direction. What direction should they be looking?

Amos 8, verse 12, they shall wander from sea to sea, and from north to east, they shall run to and fro, seeking the word of God, but they shall not find it. Wow, what a nursing prophecy! Why won't they find it? Not because it's not available. It is available.

It's available all around the world for thousands and thousands of people.

The reason they want to find it, they're searching in the wrong direction.

Notice this. Notice the one direction that's missing from this particular verse, verse 12. They shall wander from sea to sea. Now, if you look, think about Jerusalem, where in Judea, where Amos was prophesied from. From sea to sea could be from the Dead Sea to the Mediterranean Sea, which would be from east to west. And the next line says what? It says, then, from north to east. Does that seem strange? We would naturally expect it to say from north to south, from east to west, and north to south. That's what you think. But instead, it says from sea to sea or east to west, and then from north to east.

Why? What's the one direction that's missing? The only direction they're not going is south. Why not? And how does not going south tie into a famine of hearing? Is there a connection there?

Does verse 11 connect with verse 12? What was to the south? The south was the city of Jerusalem, from the perspective of ancient Israel. Ancient Israel, the tenta of Israel, to the north. It's prophesied about them and about how they're having a famine of hearing.

Jerusalem and Judea were south of Israel.

They shall run to and fro and seek in the word of the Lord, but they shall not find it because they were looking in the wrong direction. They were not looking south. From all the south, the city of Jerusalem, and what was in the city of Jerusalem? The temple of God.

Now, you apply that spiritually.

They had a famine of hearing because they weren't looking in the right direction. They weren't looking for the word of God in the wrong place. They weren't looking to the temple of God. Who today is the temple of God? We are. God's church is. And we have the true words of God, don't we? We have the answers and the solutions to the problems facing the world today.

And many are looking for answers, but they're looking in the wrong direction. And they're unwilling to go where they actually need to, to where the temple was, in this case.

And we are now that temple, but they won't come to God's true people.

Because of that, we have a famine of hearing. Now, you think about a normal famine, and there are a little bit of famine today. There's been a kind of a not a famine, but a drought at least in around Los Angeles area in California and also around Atlanta, Georgia. There's drought conditions there, but I don't think it's too worse a famine, but it's a drought anyway. But a normal famine, a famine of bread and a famine of water is readily accurate. When it gets really bad, when you have that famine, it goes on for a while, everybody can recognize that and can recognize it as being a tragedy. But it's not that way when it comes to a famine of hearing. That's not really recognized as being a tragedy. But it is a great tragedy when people will not hear in a way that they will act on the truth of God. Because that is the one thing that could maybe change our nation around for a while. But they don't see that as a tragedy. And without divine instruction, without heeding God's Word, our nation will only continue to stagger towards its demise. Going the way it's going. Behold, these are coming, says the Lord God. I will send a famine on the land, not a famine of bread nor thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord, or of eternal. Famine of hearing, not a famine of hearing, he says, is going to have. Not that the words of God will not be heard or made available, but that it will not be heeded or acted upon. And that's what we see today. Because the vast majority who do hear God's words today, do not allow those words to penetrate into their hearts and minds to where they're going to form a change in their life, to change their life and go in the right direction. So we do not have a famine of the Word of God, we have a famine of hearing, a famine of hearing and heeding the Word of God. Why not? Well, people there are focused on other things. They've got busy lives, they're too focused on materialism, too focused on who's going to win a football game, maybe, or whatever.

They're focused on choosing for themselves what's right and wrong. They want somebody to tell them what's right and wrong. They want to choose for themselves what's right and wrong. They're focused on situation ethics and on not having to be held accountable. People don't want to be held accountable. They want to just live their lives and let me alone, let me live my life. Thank you.

Most people, that's the way they are. They're very focused on everything but what they need to be focused on. And that is part of the reason why there is now a famine of hearing. So that's been as a prophecy in Amos that directly relates to all of us today and to the world today.

But I want to go on to another aspect of it now. How did this prophecy apply to ancient Israel? Because it was written for ancient Israel. Amos, as I say, he wrote this about 30 years before the fall of ancient Israel. How did it apply to ancient Israel? And how does it apply to Israel up today?

Modern day Israel. Modern day descendants of Israel. First, let's look at ancient Israel. How did ancient Israel become great? Let's go back to Genesis 12. It tells us. That's the word that tells the answers to these questions. Genesis 12 verse 1 tells us how ancient Israel became great in the first place. What it took. The Lord God had said to the Lord said to Abram, get out of your country. Genesis 12.1. Get away from your family, from your father's house. And this is going to be hard for Abraham because he came for a wealthy family who was very successful. And he had a lot to give up to leave behind. But he did. He goes to land and I'm going to show you. And then he didn't even tell me exactly where he was going or why. I'm just going to show you as you go. You just leave and go and I'll kind of tell you where to go when you get there. But he said, if you do this, I'll make you a great nation. I'm going to bless you. I'm going to make your name great. So your name is going to be known around the world for many generations. And you should be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you and I will curse those who curse you. And in you, all the families of the earth are going to be blessed. So Abram departed. His Lord has spoken to him a lot when with him. Abram was 75 years old when he departed from here. I imagine I'm 75 years old. I can't imagine leaving everything behind and taking off. Well, okay, God, just lead the way. Here I go.

But in Jesus' voice, of course, as we know, were the descendants of Abraham, and they became a great nation because of God's promise to be made to Abraham here.

But to prove that this was a promise that would not be performed by Abraham or by their own doings, God purposely closed Sarah's womb so she couldn't have any children. I'm going to show you that this isn't going to be your doing, Abraham, because I'm going to make it impossible for this promise to be fulfilled.

He closed Sarah's womb.

Genesis 15, verse 1, after these things, the word of the Lord came to Abram and a vision, saying, Do not be afraid, Abram. I'm your shield, you're exceedingly great reward. I think about 13 years or so after God had made this promise to Abraham.

Still, Sarah had no children, and not only that, but now Sarah is about 100 years old, and she's past childbearing age, so she can't have children.

They keep waiting. He made this promise. I'm sure she's going to have a child this year. No?

No? So, Brahm said, Lord God, what will you give me? He said, I go tireless. In the air of my house, the L.A.s are of Damascus. Then Abram said, Look, you have given me no offspring. Indeed, one of my houses is my heir. And besides that, you have a series of getting too old to have children by now. And behold, the word of the Lord came to him, saying, This one shall not be your heir, but one who will come from your own body shall be your heir. And then he brought him out and said, Here, I want you to step outside and see something. It's a nice, clear night. Look up at all those stars. Can you count those stars? Of course not. He's a social you're just having to speak. They'd be so numerous, you're not even moving the crown at all.

Now, notice verse 6. Think of yourself in that situation and think of verse 6. How would you believe God if you said that at this point?

And he believed in the Lord and God counted it to him for righteousness. Wow! What a fantastic verse.

And when encouraging verse. And we know what living by faith means. It doesn't mean just throwing God's laws away, just living by faith. It means, of course, doing what God says, applying God's laws in our life, and then living by faith. Because we don't know what the future holds. We don't know, okay, what's going to happen? And what if I do obey God? What if I keep the Sabbath? Or lose my job? What if, you know, things like that? You know, it applies in that way.

But here, God tells Abraham, if you just follow what I'm telling you, you believe me, I know you look at things from your perspective. It seems impossible. It can't happen. But I'm God.

Anything can happen. Because I'm sovereign over all things. And if you just believe me, Abraham, it's all going to happen. And amazingly, Abraham says, I believe you. I believe a God. I can't see it. I can't figure it out. It doesn't seem possible to me. But you're God. I believe you.

And God then accounted that time for righteousness, even though we, of and by ourselves, have no righteousness. But if we have that kind of faith, that believing faith to follow God and obey God, put our lives in God's hands, no matter what we go through, he's going to count that to you for righteousness, even though you, of and by yourselves, have no righteousness. Very encouraging Scripture.

Of course, as we know, God eventually did keep his promise to Abraham, even after Sarah was well past childbearing age. And to show Abraham and Sarah and all of us, this is totally God's doing. That's why he did it. He made it impossible, and then he did it to show us that when God's going to do something that doesn't matter, what's impossible for us. Nothing is impossible for God. Because Sarah was about 100 years old. She gave birth to Isaac, who gave birth to Jacob and Joseph, who's as innocent became the nation of ancient Israel. But after the death of the King Solomon and the northern ten tribes of Israel rebelled, as we know, and the King of Israel were divided into two kingdoms, Judah to the south, Israel to the north. And again, Amos was among the very earliest of God's prophets, warning the nation of the northern nation of Israel, northern ten tribes of Israel, as to where they were headed 30 years before they got there, before they fell. He said, if you keep going this direction, you don't change course. You're going to become, you're going to be destroyed by the nation of Assyria. And you're going to be taken captive by the Assyrians. And sure enough, that's what happened. But as Amos himself revealed to Israel from God, they refused to heed those warnings. And again, they fell to the Assyrians 30 years later. And because of that, because they refused to listen, they brought themselves a famine of shearings. Does the book of Genesis, and let's go forward now from ancient Israel. What about modern day Israel? What about the modern day descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob? Does the book of Genesis foretell anything about modern day Israel? Does it tell us, or did it foretell, I should say here in Genesis, how the United States of America became a great nation? See, how did modern day Israel become great? Let's go to Genesis 49. Genesis 49, verse 1. Jacob, of course, at this time is up there right towards the end of his life. His eyes have become dim. But he calls his sons together to put a blessing on them, those twelve sons. And Jacob called his sons and said, Gather together that I may tell you what you would follow you in the last days. He's not even giving them a blessing, but he's going to say, I'm going to tell you what your descendants are going to be like in the last days, at the time leading up to Jesus Christ's return. Gather together and hear, you sons of Jacob, and listen to Israel, your father, because Jacob's name was changed to Israel.

This now, then, be prophetic, then, of how the various descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob would fare in the last days leading up to Christ's return. Of course, the primary descendants today became the nations of Great Britain and the United Sea of America, with the sentence of Ephraim and Manasseh. Talks about Ephraim and Manasseh in verse 48. But here's how they became great nations. Genesis 49, verse 22. Joseph is a fruitful bile, a fruitful bile by a well.

His branches run over the wall. The archers have bitterly grieved him and shot at him and hated him. Verse 23, excuse me. But his bow remained in strength. This is talking about descendants of Ephraim and Manasseh, verse 48. And his allies in World War I and World War II, Great Britain and the United States, his allies, the bow remained in strength, and they defeated an Indian who wanted to destroy them as allies in World War I and World War II. But why do we prevail in World War I and World War II?

By whose hands were we made strong? Verse 24. His bow remained in strength, and the arms of his hands were made strong, how? By the hands of the mighty God of Jacob. God made our nation great. We're made great by the hands of the mighty God of Jacob. Verse 25. By the God of your Father, who will help you, if you go to him and ask for help. By the Almighty who will bless you with blessings of heaven above and blessings of the deep that lie beneath, blessings of the breast and the womb, the blessings of your Father have excelled the blessings of my ancestors up to the utmost bound of the everlasting hills. They shall be on the head of Joseph and on the crown of the head of him who was separate from his brothers. But now our nation is going the other direction. They're turning away from God and away from our former values that we had at the beginning of our nation.

As is great, you know, great written now, amazing, to some of the news the other day, a while back a week or two ago, that there are more worshippers in Britain worshipping in mosques than worshipping in Christian churches.

It's amazing. But as God warned in Leviticus 26 of Jude, Army 28, if we turn against God, all our blessings and greatness are going to be removed, and we see that beginning to happen. But to make America great again, we as a nation would have to return to God and to our Christian roots, even if you look at just the Christian roots. Regardless of maybe the Christians not understanding things the way we do, they did have some Christian roots and values at one time. Those are being eroded. And in fact, Christianity, just generally speaking, is getting a bad rap and a bad name today, as we see on the news all the time. But in the future, God is going to make His nation great again, even though we are losing it now. Well, let's take a look now spiritually at a part of the sermon here. What about the spiritual descendants of Israel? What about God's church? You know, I look back to when I first called the church back in 1962-63. Wow!

You couldn't turn on the radio without getting the broadcast.

I mean, the Plain Tooth magazine, a circulation of, I don't know, one or two million, something like that. But it seems like that form of greatness is greatly disappeared to a large extent.

How might Amos 8-11 apply to spiritual Israel?

Could there be a famine of hearing involving the people of God? I have no doubt we're living the time of the end. How long that time of the end is going to continue going on? I don't know. That's God's doing. I don't know. I think God wants to give God's mercyful. I think He wants to give His people every opportunity to come to see things and to respond and to change. He doesn't take any pleasure in seeing people be destroyed and destroying themselves by going against His laws and His ways. But there is going to come a time when God is going to have to intervene and He's going to have to allow His people to become like gold refined in the fire. Refined in the fire of great tribulation is going to come upon the world. Because before America can truly be made great again, God Himself is going to have to refine some of His people. And that applies to people in general and to people in God's Church, maybe some of us as well. But the Book of Revelation deals with the coming day of the Lord, with the time leading up to God's intervention and affairs of mankind, which will then lead up to Christ's Return. It's going to go to the Book of Revelation for our final section of Scripture here. Revelation 1, verse 1, the revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave to Him to show His servants things which must shortly take place. Show His Word to His servants.

And He signified it to His angel or His messenger, to His servant John, who bore witness to the Word of God and His testimony of Jesus Christ and to all things that He saw. He says, Blessed is He who reads and those who hear the words of this prophecy. The interesting thing here is that this revelation involves hearing, doesn't it? Blessed are those who hear the words of this prophecy. But what kind of hearing is this referring to? Blessed is He who reads and those who hear the words of this prophecy and keep those things which are written in it for the time is near. Blessed are those who keep those things which are written in it. So this hearing has to involve action. It has to involve an active response. It involves acting on and keeping what is heard. And why is that so important in the context of the time this revelation of Jesus Christ is referring to? Because it says in the latter part of verse 3, because the time is now near. It's not going to go on forever. People are not going to have forever to respond, to act on what they hear. Verse 10, I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day, and this is something that's amazing. You look up in commentaries, really good commentaries. I mean like William Barclay, he's got a great commentary, but they all in unison say, well, this is referring to Sunday.

There's nothing in here. That can't be. It's impossible. You look at it historically, it just it doesn't make any sense. Sunday was not even associated with the Lord's day when this was written, Revelation in the 90s AD. It was a couple centuries after that before it could be associated with the Lord's day being Sunday. That concept hadn't even evolved yet. Of course, obviously, we know this is talked about. He was in the Spirit. He was bet to projectable prophetically into the future, into the day of the Lord. That's echoed in the book of Joel, into the time when God's gain and ravine in affairs of mankind. So there should be. I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day. I was projectable spiritually into the time when God's gain and ravine in kinds of affairs, which the book of Revelation is all about.

So John here receives a vision which prophetically projects him into the coming day of the Lord, in the time when God's going to directly intervene into the affairs of mankind.

I was a Spirit on the day of the Lord. I was projected spiritually into the time of the day of the Lord. And I heard behind me a loud voice as of a trumpet saying, I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and last. What you see right in the book and send it to the seven churches which are in Asia, to Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamos, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Thalia, Dacia.

Revelation 2 and 3 record God's messages to these seven churches or to these seven church errors, as it could be ephedically applied. Let's go to Revelation 3 verse 7.

Just read the...

And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia, right. Of course, we know Philadelphia means brotherly love. And that is one of the main things we have, as God's people, have struggled to exemplify fully. And to have brotherly love for all people, not just for God's people, but for all people. I think we've all grown in that area over the last number of years, but we probably could go further in that area as well. But as indicated in verse 8 here, in Revelation 3, we have gained a little strength in that area, I think, and having brotherly love.

And we have persevered through many trials, uncertainties, and setbacks, and losses, as it talks about in the next verse here. We have persevered. We've been around God's church a long time. We had to go through a lot of trials, a lot of setbacks, a lot of tests. We persevered. We're still here. We persevere through many things, as all of us here realize.

Verse 10, Because you have kept my commandment to persevere, then I also will keep you from the hour of trial, which will come upon the whole world to test those who dwell on the earth. Behold, I am coming quickly. Hold fast what you have. Don't let any man take your crown. Hold fast. Continue to persevere as you have been. Don't let anybody get you to go off in another direction, or give up, or get discouraged. Because if you overcome, I'll make him a killer in the temple of my God, and he shall go out no more. I will write on his name the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, and the New Jerusalem, which comes down from heaven from my God. And I will write on him my new name. So a great reward awaits all those who learn brotherly love for all people, and who persevere to the end. Then we come to what many see as being the final era of God's end-time church, Revelation 3, verse 14. And to the angel of the church of the Laodicea, the word Laodicea is derived from two Greek words, one meaning people, Laos, and the other meaning justice. So justice, it means justice in the sense, if you look at most commentaries, it means justice in the sense of executing justice, or executing a just decision, or a just judgment. So in a sense, Laodicea means justice people, or people who will receive a just judgment, or a just decision. What is God's just decision regarding these end-time people of God? Verse 15, I know your works, but you're neither really cold nor hot. I wish you could be either cold and not know anything at all, or you were hot and you really acted on what you heard.

Because you are lukewarm and neither cold nor hot, as it says in the Old King James, I'm going to spew you out of my mind. I will make a just decision on how to make you hot, because I want you to be hot. I want you to make it. I want you to be there, be my people that are going to be in that first resurrection. What way were they lukewarm? Well, the indication here is that they were lukewarm spiritually, that they really weren't on fire spiritually, as to the extent that God wanted them to be, that their conversion lacked something. Maybe in some of God's people, lacked the type of conversion that God wanted.

Why were they lukewarm? Verse 20. It gives us a key clue, I should say. He says, I stand at the door and I knock. I'm right there. I'm not far off. I'm right here. You're my people. I love you. I want to be a part of your life. I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens that door, I'm going to come in and dine with you. And you, he will dine with me.

The insinuation here being that Christ is right there close by, knocking at the door. He wants to have our minds open to him, our hearts open to him, maybe even more fully than they are. We all struggle with that. But he wants to know what our innermost feelings and struggles are. He wants us to share our lives with him in a personal relationship, make that personal relationship deep and meaningful. He wants into our hearts and minds and he wants to come in and dine with us.

So this heart can become our heart. But the insinuation here is that some of these end-time people of God don't have ears to hear. That they have a famine of hearing because the insinuation here is that they don't really respond the way God would want them to respond. Some of them. I think a lot of us have. A lot of us do. Most people I think I know do. But I know some are little lukewarmers, if you want to put it that way. But what just judgment or decision then is rendered because of that? Verse 17 of Revelation 3. Because you say, I'm rich, spiritually speaking, and I become wealthy and have need of nothing. Because you say, I'm spiritually rich and don't need any help in that area. My spiritual life. Some might think that way. I don't know. God is the judge of that. Because you say, I'm rich and become wealthy and have need of nothing. And you should know that spiritually speaking, if you're lacking something, I'll just summarize it that way. So then, what does God say? How is He wanting to make them hot? I call to you to buy from Me gold refining the fire that you may be rich spiritually, and white garments, and the white garments, the righteous of Jesus Christ.

You may be clothed with the righteous of God and the righteous of Christ. So that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed. And I want you to note your eyes with the eyes, so that you can really see. You can really see yourself and see the situation and how maybe you're in.

And then Christ gives these very encouraging words.

Say, in essence, it's never too late to change.

If you're still breathing, it's not too late to change. If you see, maybe you're lacking something. Verse 19, it means I love our view. Can you chase Him? Therefore, be zealous and repent.

Verse 21, But to Him who overcomes, who sees I am lacking a little something, but to Him who overcomes, it's never too late to start doing that to whoever we are, wherever we are, whatever age we are. I will grant to sit with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sit down with My Father on His throne. He who has an ear to hear, let Him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.

So, in conclusion, that then is why ancient Israel became great and why it lost its greatness.

It's why modern day Israel became great and why it's now losing its greatness.

And what it's going to take to have that greatness restored will take God's doing.

And also, maybe to some extent, some people in God's church, why our church is not as great as it used to be. Maybe we're just not responding and listening as deeply as we once did when we first called. We had that great love for God's truth. And we were really excited about being involved in things. Time goes by. It's easy to let down.

Maybe that's why. God's church has lost much of His former greatness. I don't know.

But I think it all has a connection to having a famine of hearing, of hearing in a way that would result in true repentance and change.

But as prophesied, name is 811, Behold, the days are coming that I will send a famine on the land, not a famine of bread, nor thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord. I think we're now living in that time, in the time when there is a famine of hearing.