Come Back

 "Now this is what the Lord says to the family of Israel...Come back to Me and live....Come back to the Lord and live.' " Amos 5:4,6

This Scripture is much on my heart today. I believe it is the deep need of the church and His people, of this nation and all nations, as well as the heart cry of the Father. Do we hear it? Will we come? It really is a matter of life and death.

We are disintegrating on every level of culture both here and throughout the world. Society is breaking down. The myth of the human race evolving into a man made utopia is being proven as being just that, a myth. Sin has penetrated the heart of society, and in too many ways, the heart of the church. Has it penetrated the hearts of you and me?

Through Amos the prophet, God is calling back His people Israel to Himself. He has been doing so for a very long time. The people either ignore Him or cannot hear Him. They are careening to their own destruction. I believe this same thing is happening before our eyes, and not only in our nation and His church, but in our very lives, marriages, families, and ways as well. In each and all, He is calling to the deadness that has grown everywhere around us and in us. "Come back. Come back to Me....and live!"

The burning and pillaging of Los Angeles going on as I write, is a sight we've grown used to. It's a portrait of what I'm writing about today. Satan, our enemy, is burning and pillaging everywhere through these events. We are seeing individuals destroy themselves with addictions and habits, attitudes and anger. We are witnessing marriages being destroyed by infidelity, abuse, selfishness, and hatred. We are seeing families torn apart by these addictions, these pursuits of pleasure, this neglect of the very lives He has entrusted us to care for. Worst of all, there is both the ongoing slaughter of unborn children as well as the growing trafficking of children into virtual slavery as sex workers or forced labor.  We are dying by inches.

Scripture says that we are fearfully and wonderfully made. We seem to have no knowledge or understanding of what that means, but He does. He knows what He created us to be but He sees what sin and rebellion against Him have produced. We have ignored Him, rejected Him, drifted far from Him. We are destroying ourselves.....but there is hope. His heart continues to cry, "Come back to Me and live!" May we, the people of God, hear Him. May we pray that His church hears Him. May we pray that this sin darkened world hears Him. May our hearts burn as we hear Him cry, "Come back to Me and live....Come back to the Lord.....and live." Throughout the church and in a number of places right now, many are hearing that call. So many more have yet to. May husbands and fathers take up their calling as spiritual leaders. May husbands and wives come together in prayer and fight for the soul of their marriages and their children. May the church be the church, shining His light in the midst of the darkness. He has not left us. Where have we left Him?

Blessings,
Pastor O