Sermon Tone Analysis

*Famine [Amos 8:11-13]*

יהוה is describing the terrible times of judgement that will come.

Not only will there be "natural" disasters, great misery, distress and bitterness; but there will be a spiritual dearth.

Israel scorned and rejected יהוה and His word, now that will be taken from them and then they would appreciate the value of that which they have scorned and rejected and seek after it.

Is not this spiritual dearth, a lack of spiritual dimension, a scarcity of the word of יהוה what we see in Western (once called "Christian") nations today?

A famine would come upon the land but not a famine for food and water but a lack of hearing the words of יהוה - a spiritual famine.

A natural famine is distressing but far more devastating is a spiritual famine.

If there is a lack of food then trust in יהוה can sustain us - but if He is not there - there is then no hope!

Anything can be endured as long as we still have communication with God.

But how terrible when He becomes silent.

But is not the beginnings of this what we are experiencing today?

There are the young, the pure, those spiritually uncontaminated by the false religion, genuinely seeking God and His word but they faint from hunger – there is no one to supply it

*The need to read - *? famine for the word of God – never before has God’s Word, the Scriptures, been so available more Bibles, translations, commentaries, concordances, tapes, videos, internet!

many formats, freely available at low cost We have the word available like never before – but do we read it, study it, meditate on it, absorb it?

How rare a man like Don Hay is.

But the verse does not say that there will be a famine for word of  יהוה – it says a famine for /hearing /the words of יהוה.

*The need to hear* – *preaching: *The Scripture is there, but is it preached?

Today what difficulty there is finding a church where there is Bible teaching, where God’s word is preached in truth and not some human philosophy~/psychology dished up in religious terminology.

[Apostolic and church hunt – only one requirement: uphold the inerrancy of the Bible and teach it – Peter Lucas] here are many who preach nice comfortable, encouraging, inoffensive messages that say what people want to hear - but where is the genuine word of יהוה?

(cf.

*2 Timothy 4:1-5** */I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by His appearing and His kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction.

For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths.

But you, be sober in all things, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry./)

*Revelation: *What is it to hear the word of the Lord?

(*Romans 10:17* /So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ./)

does faith come if you read out loud but not silently?

Logos~/rhema difference – general and specific revelation.

Specific revelation is always in accord with general revelation, it is a subset of it – but it is made specific and relevant to you in your situation now!

It is God Himself speaking to you! [verses at baptism – "since youth" – Timothy; "all Scripture is inspired" – general truth; but was God speaking to me!- give a delight in His Word] We need to hear God!

You can know Scriptures have all the correct doctrine and orthodox belief but until Jesus reveals Himself to you, you have no life.

We need revelation – that is what hearing the word of the Lord is.

We desperately need it, and there is a famine for it.

It is a tragedy when then word of  יהוה is rare.

We must not despise prophesy – our need for it is dire.

Who sends the famine?

יהוהּ – like the rest of the judgements (earthquake, sun darkened) it is God's doing.

This is not just man's neglect of God's word, no, God deliberately withholds revelation (cf.

*1 Samuel 3:1** */Now// the boy Samuel was ministering to the Lord before Eli.

And word from the Lord was rare in those days, visions were infrequent./).

Worse than physical hunger, is spiritual hunger – we can do without food but not without God's word (*Deuteronomy 8:3** */He humbled you and let you be hungry, and fed you with manna which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that He might make you understand that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of the Lord.

/*John 6:26, 27,* /“Truly, truly, I say to you, you seek Me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled.

Do not work for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you, for on Him the Father, God, has set His seal.”/ *John 6:68 */Simon Peter answered Him, “Lord, to whom shall we go?

You have words of eternal life./)

*Prophecy: *Prophecy is revelation from God, but I'd like to focus in on it.

The prophet is the one who speaks the "words of  יהוהּ".

There is a famine for hearing the words of   יהוהּ, the voice of prophecy.

People want to hear from God, eager to find out what He says but they find nothing.

People today chase from this seminar to that, this preacher to that, this spiritual guru to the next – but they find nothing.

There was a time when revelation was frequent but now that seems to have dried up.

What has been the response?

To say there is revelation when there isn't, to say that revelation is from God when it is not.

We have filled the void with flesh and the demonic.

False prophesy abounds – source is the flesh, and if that goes on long enough it ends up in the demonic.

I have seen it happen!

We have a desperate need to hear the words of  - they are our life.

But what do we find a spiritual famine.

This tragic situation occurred at times in the history of God's people: (*1 Kings 22:6-8**/ /*/Then the king of Israel gathered the prophets together, about four hundred men, and said to them, “Shall I go against Ramoth-gilead to battle or shall I refrain?”

And they said, “Go up, for the Lord will give it into the hand of the king.”

But Jehoshaphat said, “Is there not yet a prophet of the Lord here that we may inquire of him?”

The king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, “There is yet one man by whom we may inquire of the Lord, but I hate him, because he does not prophesy good concerning me, but evil.

He is Micaiah son of Imlah.”

But Jehoshaphat said, “Let not the king say so.”/)

Everyone is "prophesying" but it is not the words of יהוה,  (*Psalm 74:9** */We do not see our signs;  there is no longer any prophet,  nor is there any among us who knows how long.

/*Ezekiel 7:26** */Disaster will come upon disaster and rumor will be added to rumor; then they will seek a vision from a prophet, but the law will be lost from the priest and counsel from the elders./

*Micah 3:6,7 */Therefore it will be night for you —without vision, and darkness for you —without divination.

The sun will go down on the prophets, and the day will become dark over them.

The seers will be ashamed and the diviners will be embarrassed.

Indeed, they will all cover their mouths because there is no answer from God. /*2 Chronicles 15:3** * /For// many days Israel was without the true God and without a teaching priest and without law.

/*Lamentations 2:14** */Your prophets have seen for you false and foolish visions; and they have not exposed your iniquity so as to restore you from captivity, but they have seen for you false and misleading oracles./)

People say thus says the LORD when the LORD has not spoken.

Same thing happened in Jeremiah's day (*Jeremiah 23:9-40** */As for the prophets: my heart is broken within me, all my bones tremble; I have become like a drunken man, even like a man overcome with wine, because of the Lord and because of His holy words.

For the land is full of adulterers; for the land mourns because of the curse.

The pastures of the wilderness have dried up.

Their course also is evil And their might is not right.“For

both prophet and priest are polluted; even in My house I have found their wickedness,” declares the Lord.“Therefore

their way will be like slippery paths to them, they will be driven away into the gloom and fall down in it; for I will bring calamity upon them, the year of their punishment,” declares the Lord.

“Moreover, among the prophets of Samaria I saw an offensive thing: they prophesied by Baal and led My people Israel astray.“Also

among the prophets of Jerusalem I have seen a horrible thing: the committing of adultery and walking in falsehood; and they strengthen the hands of evildoers, so that no one has turned back from his wickedness.

All of them have become to Me like Sodom, and her inhabitants like Gomorrah.

“Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts concerning the prophets, ‘Behold, I am going to feed them wormwood and make them drink poisonous water, for from the prophets of Jerusalem pollution has gone forth into all the land.’

”  [/judgement because of false prophecy] /Thus says the Lord of hosts, “Do not listen to the words of the prophets who are prophesying to you.

They are leading you into futility; they speak a vision of their own imagination, not from the mouth of the Lord.

“They keep saying to those who despise Me, ‘The Lord has said, “You will have peace” ’; /[what people want to hear, nothing offensive] /and as for everyone who walks in the stubbornness of his own heart, they say, ‘Calamity will not come upon you.’

/*“But who has stood in the council of the Lord, that he should see and hear His word? */Who has given heed to His word and listened?

“Behold, the storm of the Lord has gone forth in wrath, even a whirling tempest; it will swirl down on the head of the wicked.

“The anger of the Lord will not turn back  until He has performed and carried out the purposes of His heart; in the last days you will clearly understand it.“I

did not send these prophets, but they ran.

I did not speak to them, but they prophesied.

“/*But if they had stood in My council, then they would have announced My words to My people, and would have turned them back from their evil way and from the evil of their deeds.

*/“Am I a God who is near,” declares the Lord, “and not a God far off?

“Can a man hide himself in hiding places so I do not see him?” declares the Lord.

“Do I not fill the heavens and the earth?” declares the Lord.

I have heard what the prophets have said who prophesy falsely in My name, saying, ‘I had a dream, I had a dream!’

How long?

Is there anything in the hearts of the prophets who prophesy falsehood, even these prophets of the deception of their own heart, who intend to make My people forget My name by their dreams which they relate to one another, just as their fathers forgot My name because of Baal?

The prophet who has a dream may relate his dream, but let him who has My word speak My word in truth.

What does straw have in common with grain?” declares the Lord.

/*Is not My word like fire?” declares the Lord, “and like a hammer which shatters a rock?

*/ Therefore behold, I am against the prophets,” declares the Lord, “who steal My words from each other.

Behold, I am against the prophets,” declares the Lord, “who use their tongues and declare, ‘The Lord declares.’