We have been looking at Biblical references where God calls Himself LORD. In the 8^th century BC, Israel was surrounded by hostile nations. Amos documented the LORD’s promised judgement.

LORD= Yhwh, Jehovah, I AM, the Covenant keeper, the Judge

The LORD and judgment on Damascus

Amos 1: ³Thus saith the LORD; For three transgressions of Damascus, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because they have threshed Gilead with threshing instruments of iron: ⁴But I will send a fire into the house of Hazael, which shall devour the palaces of Benhadad.

What do these verses tell you about the LORD?

The LORD and judgment on Gaza

⁶Thus saith the LORD; For three transgressions of Gaza, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because they carried away captive the whole captivity, to deliver them up to Edom: ⁷But I will send a fire on the wall of Gaza, which shall devour the palaces thereof: ⁸And I will cut off the inhabitant from Ashdod, and him that holdeth the sceptre from Ashkelon, and I will turn mine hand against Ekron: and the remnant of the Philistines shall perish, saith the Lord GOD.

What do these verses tell you about the LORD?

The LORD and judgment on Tyrus

⁹Thus saith the LORD; For three transgressions of Tyrus, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because they delivered up the whole captivity to Edom, and remembered not the brotherly covenant: ¹⁰But I will send a fire on the wall of Tyrus, which shall devour the palaces thereof.

What do these verses tell you about the LORD?

The LORD and judgment on Edom

¹¹Thus saith the LORD; For three transgressions of Edom, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because he did pursue his brother with the sword, and did cast off all pity, and his anger did tear perpetually, and he kept his wrath for ever: ¹²But I will send a fire upon Teman, which shall devour the palaces of Bozrah.

Edom are the descendants of Esau. What do these verses tell you about the LORD?

The LORD and judgment on children of Ammon

¹³Thus saith the LORD; For three transgressions of the children of Ammon, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because they have ripped up the women with child of Gilead, that they might enlarge their border: ¹⁴But I will kindle a fire in the wall of Rabbah, and it shall devour the palaces thereof, with shouting in the day of battle, with a tempest in the day of the whirlwind: ¹⁵And their king shall go into captivity, he and his princes together, saith the LORD.

Ammon are the descendants of Lot and his younger daughter. What do these verses tell you about the LORD?

The LORD and judgment on Moab

Amos 2:¹ Thus saith the LORD; For three transgressions of Moab, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because he burned the bones of the king of Edom into lime: ²But I will send a fire upon Moab, and it shall devour the palaces of Kerioth: and Moab shall die with tumult, with shouting, and with the sound of the trumpet: ³And I will cut off the judge from the midst thereof, and tumult, with shouting, and with the sound of the trumpet:will slay all the princes thereof with him, saith the LORD.

Moab are the descendants of Lot and his older daughter. What do these verses tell you about the LORD?

The LORD and judgment on children of Judah (2 tribes)

⁴Thus saith the LORD; For three transgressions of Judah, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because they have despised the law of the LORD, and have not kept his commandments, and their lies caused them to err, after the which their fathers have walked: ⁵But I will send a fire upon Judah, and it shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem.

What do these verses tell you about the LORD?

The LORD and judgment on children of Israel (10 tribes)

⁶Thus saith the LORD; For three transgressions of Israel, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because they sold the righteous for silver, and the poor for a pair of shoes; ⁷That pant after the dust of the earth on the head of the poor, and turn aside the way of the meek: and a man and his father will go in unto the same maid, to profane my holy name: ⁸And they lay themselves down upon clothes laid to pledge by every altar, and they drink the wine of the condemned in the house of their god. ⁹Yet destroyed I the Amorite before them, whose height was like the height of the cedars, and he was strong as the oaks; yet I destroyed his fruit from above, and his roots from beneath. ¹⁰Also I brought you up from the land of Egypt, and led you forty years through the wilderness, to possess the land of the Amorite. ¹¹And I raised up of your sons for prophets, and of your young men for Nazarites. Is it not even thus, O ye children of Israel? saith the LORD. ¹²But ye gave the Nazarites wine to drink; and commanded the prophets, saying, Prophesy not. ¹³Behold, I am pressed under you, as a cart is pressed that is full of sheaves. ¹⁴Therefore the flight shall perish from the swift, and the strong shall not strengthen his force, neither shall the mighty deliver himself: ¹⁵Neither shall he stand that handleth the bow; and he that is swift of foot shall not deliver himself: neither shall he that rideth the horse deliver himself. ¹⁶And he that is courageous among the mighty shall flee away naked in that day, saith the LORD.

What do these verses tell you about the LORD?

Remember God’s promise in Genesis 9:⁸ And God spake unto Noah, and to his sons with him, saying, ⁹And I, behold, I establish my covenant with you, and with your seed after you; ¹⁰And with every living creature that is with you, of the fowl, of the cattle, and of every beast of the earth with you; from all that go out of the ark, to every beast of the earth. ¹¹And I will establish my covenant with you; neither shall all flesh be cut off any more by the waters of a flood; neither shall there any more be a flood to destroy the earth. ¹²And God said, This is the token of the covenant which I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations: ¹³I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth. ¹⁴And it shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow shall be seen in the cloud: ¹⁵And I will remember my covenant, which is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh. ¹⁶And the bow shall be in the cloud; and I will look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth. ¹⁷And God said unto Noah, This is the token of the covenant, which I have established between me and all flesh that is upon the earth.

In the 8^th century B.C., the LORD told us specifically what He requires.

Micah 6:8 He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?

What do these requirements tell you about the LORD?

Our focus – Hebrews 12:¹ Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, ²Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. ³For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds.

Our challenge – Dearly Beloved,

Run with your eyes on Jesus alone!

Run in faith that Jesus loves you with an everlasting, unconditional love; has uniquely designed and created only one you; has a good plan for your life; runs with you; and will accomplish His purposes for you and through you!

Run in His strength alone!

Run with your eyes on the prize!

Run with your focus on His mission: to conform you to the image of Jesus Christ!

Run with the desire to finish strong!

Run with the desire to finish with your lamp burning!

Run with the expectation of being in His physical presence when you cross your finish line!

Run to His glory alone!

Run and keep on running!

Coach Patti