Executive Producer John Podcast Introduction Today is prophesy Friday,. We’ll read Amos 5-9. I’ll have a brief introduction before reading each chapter, and after the reading I’ll have some comments. And of course I’ll have an “On This Date In Church History” segment for you, too. I’m calling today’s episode  “God Is Not Hiding.” Design: Steve Webb | Photo: Maarten van den Heuvel on Unsplash Comments on Amos Thoughts on Amos 5 In chapter five, verse four, God tells Israel, “Seek me so you can live!” When we sincerely pursue a relationship with God, we will find Him and have eternal life. In the book of Jeremiah, God said, “If you look for me wholeheartedly, you will find me.” Jesus said, “Ask and it will be given to you, seek and you will find, knock and the door will be opened for you.”  God is not hiding. He wants us to know Him, to trust Him, to love Him. But we must seek him wholeheartedly as He said in Jeremiah. If we hold on to our old ways, He is not pleased. Further on in chapter five, He chastises the Israelites for their phony attempts to serve him while they remain in their sin. In verse 21 He tells them, “I absolutely despise your festivals! I get no pleasure from your religious assemblies!” And dropping down to verse 27 He says, “…I will drive you into exile beyond Damascus.” Church attendance doesn’t fool God. We can fool those around us. We might even fool ourselves. But if we try to hold on to anything that is not pleasing to Him, He sees through the charade. We should continually take a spiritual inventory. We should ask Him to show us if there is anything in our life that is more important to us than He is, and help us to eliminate whatever it is. He wants to shower blessings on us, but we must be willing to have Him be on the throne in our lives. Him and only Him.  Thoughts on Amos 9 7“Are you not as the sons of Ethiopia to Me, O sons of Israel?” declares the Lord. “Have I not brought up Israel from the land of Egypt, And the Philistines from Caphtor and the Arameans from Kir? Amos 9:7 NASB People of Ethiopia were thought by Israel to be distant and unimportant. In verse 7 God is saying, “Yes, I brought you out of Egypt, but I also brought he Philistines from Caphtor and the Arameans from Kir. Don’t be proud just because you are Jews.” In verse 9, a shift begins to take place in the narrative: