Feasting on God's Word (One Year Bible)

Amos 1:1-2:16 ‘The Lord roars’. ‘The Lord thunders’(1:2). God’s Word comes to us from above - ‘The Lord will roar from on high’. He speaks to us from heaven - ‘He will thunder from His holy dwelling’. We dare not ignore the Word of the Lord. His Word comes to us as a Word of warning - ‘He will shout against all who live on the earth’- and a Word of judgment - ‘He will bring judgment on all mankind’. God is calling for our attention: ‘Look! Disaster is spreading from nation to nation; a mighty storm is rising from the ends of the earth’. God speaks to us about His ‘fierce anger’. He calls us to turn from our sin. Let us return to the Lord and hear His Word of salvation: ‘I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more (Jeremiah 25:30-32,37; 31:34). Amos 3:1-5:5 ‘You only have I chosen... therefore I will punish you for all your sins’(3:2). Along with the privilege of being ‘chosen’ to belong to the Lord comes the responsibility of living as the ...

Exodus 25:1-40 Lord, we thank You for Your Son, Jesus. What a wonderful Saviour He is. There is no-one like Him. None can compare with Jesus. He is greater than all the prophets. He is greater than all the apostles. The prophets cannot save us. The apostles cannot save us. They can only point away from themselves. They point us to Jesus. They are only servants. Jesus is the Saviour. We thank You that He was able to do what the prophets and apostles could never do for us - He "came into the world to save sinners" (1 Timothy 1:15).

What kind of people are we to be? What kind of life are we to live? Lord, You're calling us to live a life of "love" (Proverbs 17:9). How, Lord, do we learn what love is? - We learn from You. You show us what love is - "God so loved the world that He gave His only Son ... " (John 3:16). In Jesus, we see perfect love - "The Son of God loved me and gave Himself for me" (Galatians 2:20). The Holy Spirit fills our lives with Your love - "The fruit of the Spirit is love" (Galatians 5:22). Help us, Lord, to live a Godly, Christlike, Spirit-filled life - a life of love.

Psalm 24:1-10 “The one who has clean hands and a pure heart” (Psalm 24:3) - That’s Jesus. “He will receive a blessing from the Lord” (Psalm 24:5). How do we receive this blessing? We must receive it through Jesus. We must open our hearts to “the King of glory” (Psalm 24:7,9). He will lead us on to “the mountain of the Lord”, to “His holy place” (Psalm 24:3).

Psalm 40:1-3 The sinner becomes the singer, the servant and the soul winner.  * “a desolate pit”, “the muddy clay” - This is our sin. We bring our sin to the Saviour.  * “a new song” - This is our song of salvation. This is the song that our Saviour has given to us.  * “Many will see...” We do not sing for ourselves. We do not live for ourselves. We live for the Lord. We are to win people for Him. Before a song can be a song of praise, it must be a song of salvation. We praise God because He has saved us.

The mercy of God, revealed in the Exodus, is connected with the ongoing purpose of God – “God remembered His covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob” (Exodus 2:24). From Exodus 1:13 to Exodus 2:23-25, there were 80 years (Acts 7:23,30). These 80 years are referred to as “the course of those many days” (Exodus 2:23). Egypt is “the house of bondage” (Exodus 20:2; Deuteronomy 5:6). The people of God were in bondage for many years. Year after year passed, and the people remained in bondage. Where in the world was God in all this? Was He absent? Has He left His people? Had God forgotten His promises? No! Not at all! God was there all the time. In mercy, He was waiting patiently for His people to call upon Him, to cry to Him for mercy. Is there not here a lesson for our Church and our community? Don’t give up. God hasn’t given up on us. He is still waiting for us to call upon Him. In mercy, He is waiting for us to cry to Him for mercy. In Exodus 2:23-25, we read abou...