Greetings! Below you will find questions which reference the sermon preached on Sunday, November 16th, 2014 at The Park. This week we studied Chapter 7 of Amos. Have someone in your group read this section of scripture.
Each week new questions are posted to track along with the sermons. Work hard to facilitate discussion. Listen to the hearts around the room and close with prayer.
Intro to Amos:
Amos was from Tekoa, a small town in Judah about 6 miles south of Bethlehem and 11 miles from Jerusalem. He was not a man of the court like Isaiah, or a member of a priestly family like Jeremiah and Ezekiel. He earned his living from the flock and the sycamore-fig grove. Whether he owned the flocks and groves or only worked as a hired hand is not known. His skill with words and the strikingly broad range of his general knowledge of history and the world preclude his being an ignorant peasant. Though his home was in Judah, he was sent to announce God’s judgment on the northern kingdom (Israel). He probably ministered for the most part at Bethel, Israel’s main religious sanctuary, where the upper echelons of the northern kingdom worshiped.
The book brings his prophecies together in a carefully organized form intended to be read as a unit. It offers few, if any, clues as to the chronological order of his spoken messages—he may have repeated them on many occasions to reach everyone who came to worship. The book is ultimately addressed to all Israel (hence the references to Judah and Jerusalem).
- When Amos says that God relented from His plan, does that mean God changes His mind?
- How does the possibility of God changing His mind affect His omniscience?
- What was the plumb line God used to judge His people according to Deuteronomy 10:12-20?
- In verses 12-16 Amaziah tells Amos to leave and do his prophesying elsewhere, to which Amos responds that he is not a prophet, but was called by God to deliver a prophesy- why do you think he states that he is not a prophet? What is he really trying to say?
- Why does Amos plea with God by asking, ‘how can Jacob stand, for he is small’? What might this say about how Amos views the nation of Israel?
- Beginning in verse 7, God’s tone changes and he no longer changes his mind regarding his judgment of Israel- what is different about the following judgments compared to the previous ones?