NEEDED MESSAGE

“Hate evil, love good; establish justice in the gate. It may be that the LORD God of hosts will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph” (Amos 5:15 NKJV).

In order to correct the problem of wickedness in the land, the prophet Amos gave Israel a much-needed message. Thus, we want to note the compassion of character, the courts of character, and the consequences of character.

Compassion of character – “Hate evil, love good.” The compassion of Israel was all mixed up. So, Amos tells them what their compassion should be: they are to hate evil, and to love good. We cannot play games with that which is evil and come up with a gem for God. Evil is so strong we must hate it to defeat it. On the other hand, good is so valuable we must love it to possess it. We must love good in order to hate evil, and we must hate evil, or we will never love good as we ought. We are to take sides. There is no place for neutrality in the Divine precept.

Courts of character – “Establish judgment in the gate.” The “gate” refers to the courts of the land, and “judgment” means justice. God demands justice in our courts. This does not mean leniency on crime. Rather, it means to punish crime properly and to vindicate and help the innocent. In order to do that, we must hate the evil and love the good. No court will do justice if it does not hate the evil and love the good. If evil is tolerated and good is not esteemed, it will corrupt the court.

Consequences of character – “It may be that the LORD God of hosts will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph.” Divine blessing comes to character. People may scorn the command to hate evil and love the good, but God honors it. We need the blessings of God. It is commonplace to hear folks talk about God blessing our country. However, if we want God to bless our country, we need to have character in our country. Our compassion and our courts need to demonstrate character.

(Adapted from Butler's Daily Bible Reading 3)

Soli Deo Gloria (To God Alone Be The Glory)

Quotation of the Week

“To return good for good is human; to return evil for evil is brutal; to return evil for good is diabolical; but to return good for evil is Divine!”

Anonymous

Word Study

Enough

In Luke 22:38 we read, “So they said, Lord, look, here are two swords. And He said to them, it is enough!” (NKJV).

Enough is the Greek word hikanós (ἱκανός = hik-an-os'). The word means sufficient, adequate, much, many, fit, competent, able, worthy. In classic Greek hikanós carries a range of meanings including adequate, sufficient, large enough, much. In the Septuagint, hikanós means sufficiency or a large enough quantity. In the New Testament, hikanós is used to indicate number and quantity relating to people, money, light, or time. Hikanós was also used of one’s position in relation to another. Here, in v. 38, the disciples had misinterpreted what the Lord Jesus had said earlier about sword in v. 36. By saying, “it is enough,” the Lord did not mean that two swords were enough, but the subject had been discussed enough, or enough of this talk about swords. The Lord Jesus responded with what amounts to a rebuke.

“Fear Nots” Found in the Bible

“And David said to Solomon his son, be strong and of good courage, and do it: fear not, nor be dismayed: for the LORD God, even my God, will be with thee; he will not fail thee, nor forsake thee, until thou hast finished all the work for the service of the house of the LORD” (1 Chron. 28:20 NKJV).

Did You Know…

According to Solomon, having a good name or finding loving favor is better than having great riches and silver and gold (Prov. 22:1).

Bible Quiz

According to the Book of James, what does the trying (testing) of one’s faith produces?

**Answer to last week’s Bible Quiz: According to 2 Thessalonians, how will the Lord Jesus be revealed from heaven? With angels and fire (2 Thess. 1:7-8).

Names For the Lord Jesus in the Bible

“BREAD OF GOD”

"For the bread of God is He who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world!” (John 6:33 NKJV).

1. Meaning – BREAD OF GOD speaks of the Lord Jesus as the true nourishment of the soul.

2. Insights – The “Bread of God” is a Person. The Lord Jesus is the true Living Bread that came down from heaven. He is the manna from God’s treasury. He has been sent by God just as manna descended in the desert. And just as physical bread is the staff that supports the natural life of man, so the salvation procured by the Lord Jesus’ death leads to eternal life. Therefore, this Bread is far superior because it gives eternal life to the world, not just temporal life to the Jews. The Lord Jesus came, not only for Israel but for the whole world. And He came, not just to sustain life, but to give life.

Did You Know – Christian History

Damasus was born in Rome around 305. He came from a clerical family. He was an archdeacon of the Church of Rome in 355, when the emperor Constantius II exiled Bishop Liberius and appointed Bishop Felix in his stead. On Liberius’ return to Rome in 357, Damasus supported Liberius rather than Felix. When Liberius died in 366, Rome was in an uproar because there was no system in place to elect a new pope. By a large majority, Damasus was chosen to be the next bishop.

Some followers of Liberius were unhappy with the choice and so they chose Ursinus to be the bishop. Further, followers of Ursinus resorted to violence in their effort to oust Damasus. Damasus appealed to Juventius, Prefect of Rome (a high-ranking magistrate). The Prefect ordered Ursinus out of town. Ursinus left, but his followers did not lay down their arms. Damasus gathered men, armed them and attacked his rival’s forces, who took refuge in the Liberian Basilica (a Roman church). A three-day battle followed. The supporters of Damasus assaulted the building and also climbed onto the roof, which they tore open, flinging heavy tiles onto the men trapped below. On October 26, 366, Damasus followers captured the church, leaving 137 followers of Ursinus dead on its floor.

In spite of his victory, Damasus still faced opposition. To protect himself, he hired gladiators as bodyguards. His opponents not only attempted to overthrow him by violence, but also by accusations of serious sin. This resulted in the intervention of the emperor who cleared Damasus of all charges. This brought the secular government into church affairs. A council at Rome in 378 and another in Aquileia in 381 both declared that Damasus was the true bishop.

After the trouble finally simmered down, Damasus became a great promoter of martyrs. He restored tombs, rebuilt churches and wrote poems about saints who had died because of their testimony for Christ. He was an enemy of the Arian heresy (a belief that subordinated God the Son to God the Father) and put some Arian bishops out of the church. He issued twenty-four anathemas (curses) against false teachings about the Trinity and Christ. However, Damasus is best remembered because he issued an official list of the books which belong in the Bible. He persuaded his friend and secretary, Jerome, to make a new Latin translation of the Bible, which Jerome did. This was the Vulgate, the Bible of the Middle Ages. Despite the rough circumstances surrounding his election, Damasus was highly regarded by other Christian leaders of his day, many of whom spoke of him with high praises.

A Little Humor

After driving around for about an hour looking for parking, John decided to take a chance and park in the nearby church parking lot. As he pulled into the lot, he noticed a sign that reads, “Trespassers will be baptized.”

Thought Provoking Church Sign

“Christ became a curse for us to remove sin’s curse from us!”