This week our series in the Psalms hits the keynote: worship itself. We look to God's Word to know how to relate to Him, and specifically how to respond to his love and beauty. So we are turning to one of the most famous Psalms on the topic of worship. When you read Psalm 95, it sounds much more like what we are hearing from World Cup stadiums than what we may expect from church services - the joy, the singing, the loud laments, fully engaged fanatics who are utterly enraptured by every moment... So what is worship, properly understood? How should we do it? Why would we do it? And how do we get more of that joy into all of life? Let's talk about the greatest joy there is in existence and why we often misunderstand it: "Worship" (Psalm 95).

This week we begin a new series in Psalms: the Book of Worship. Humanity was created to participate in the greatest joy there is - worship. How do we get more of that joy in our lives? How can it be something practical that is a part of our daily routines? We're going to take the summer to soak on the history of how God's people look to His Word to draw near to him in worship - what worship means and even how we got the component 'parts' of our worship services. Why do we do what we do weekly? How is that meant to show us who God is and more deeply connect us to Him? So we begin our series in the same way we begin our weekly services: with the "Call to Worship" (Psalm 147)

At long last! We come to the end of our series in Amos, and finally we get really good news. If you want to be encouraged today, take a moment and read our passage. After all of the harsh challenges Amos has given God's people, he ends with the incredible hope of how God can restore even wayward people. Despite being prone to wander, how is God answering the true longings of our hearts? What does that show us about the heart of heaven? Let's talk about what heaven is not, what it is, and how who He is answers our true longings: "Restore Eden"

Amos 9:11-15

We have come to the last chapter of Amos, and the prophet is pressing home his final challenge to God's people. The Lord stands at the altar and says something incredibly jarring, "I will fix my eyes upon them for evil and not for good." The Lion is on the hunt. And he is not pursuing merely as a parent playing hide-and-seek, but as a predator to eviscerate his prey. What is his prey? The self-righteousness of his people who assure themselves "Disaster will not overtake us." What is so dangerous about their false security that Amos culminates in this one last warning? Let's talk about "The King at the Altar" (Amos 9:1-10).

This Sunday we come to Amos 8. We near the end of the book. (Did I hear a hallelujah?) Yes, Amos has been pressing us hard. Good news is finally coming in the next chapter, but this week we have... a basket of fruit. Ripe fruit. It is an image that judgment is near. I imagine many of you are thinking, "Again with this? When will Amos let up?" It's exactly what Israel was thinking. So I want to take this week and talk about why there is good news inherent in the judgment Amos is bringing, especially in what it reveals about who God is and how he pursues us. Let's talk about the loving God who warns us with "A Basket of Fruit" (Amos 8:1-14).

This week in our study in the book of Amos, there is a change of tone. If you’re like me, Amos has been wearing me out by pressing so hard. Yet in Amos 7 you can tell he also feels it, because even the messenger begins to say “please God, relent!” Like seeing a toddler on the playground being barreled over by bigger children, Amos literally says: “How will Jacob survive? He’s so small!” There’s something beautiful about the messenger of judgment beginning to plead for mercy on behalf of the people. However, immediately a false priest begins to undermine Amos’ message, saying everything is fine and Amos should just leave. Notice how often in our lives the very moment mercy arrives is also the moment ‘religious speak’ would mute it and send it away. Let’s talk about God’s goal for our thriving in “Bruising the Fruit” (Amos 7:1-17)

Thomas Merton said, "Only the man who has had to face despair is really convinced that he needs mercy." But who wants to face despair? Part of aging is moving away from roller coasters and bungee jumping to seek out serene vacations and the quiet confidence of financial independence. We mitigate against all such risks. But that is precisely Merton's point. The illusion of self-attained security deceives us on something profoundly human. We did not make ourselves. We are contingent. And losing sight of our ongoing neediness distorts how we understand all we have and do. In our passage this week, Amos is pressing that very point with God's people. They have lost sight of God, even as they 'worship' him. And nowhere is it clearer than in their apathy toward any who need mercy. What is so destructive about spiritual complacency? And how can we have a healthy despair that leads to real joy? Let's talk about "Woe to the Complacent!" (Amos 5:18-6:14).

There's an old saying, "out of the frying pan and into the fire." It may be how some of you are feeling about the Book of Amos at this point. So imagine how his original hearers felt. As we come to Amos 5, he presses his same themes with new vehemence. Faithful Israelites looked forward to the Day of the Lord as a day when God would right the wrongs, heal injustices, etc. But Amos warns them that the judgment they yearn to see fall on their enemies will instead fall on them - like a man running from a lion only to meet a bear, resting his hand on the wall only to be bitten by a snake. But this is not Murphy's law or fatalism, Amos actually wants Israel to find genuine healing. He wants them to have a heart like the God they claim. What is that hope? Let's talk about the call to "Seek the Lord and live!" (Amos 5:1-27).

As we continue our series in Amos, we come to the famous 'cows of Bashan' passage... (on Mother's Day, no less! I promise I did not plan that.) It was an unflattering image then just as it is today. Amos is fully pressing his assault on Israel's hollow religiosity, one that longs for being comfortable more than being close to God. So why does he take aim at that image of wealthy women ordering their husbands to bring them another drink? Because it typified the dream. "That's the life!" It's what God's people were wanting more than they were wanting him. And he knows it is killing them. He even begins to send them calamities to shake them out of that delusion. But they keep clinging to the dream more than they cling to God. So what will God do, when his people want to be comfortable more than they actually want him? Let's talk about "Prepare to Meet Your God!" (Amos 4:1-13).  

This week in our series in Amos, we come to a court summons. Amos is prosecuting his case against the people of God. And I mean that quite literally. There's a summons, a judgment, and a sentence. And it's clear that Amos expects that only scraps will be left. Two leg bones or a piece of an ear, he says. What has God so ferociously angry with his own people? And how could that anger actually be healing? Let's talk about the severe mercy of God: "An Ear and a Leg" (Amos 3:1-15)