Let Justice Roll: Generosity, Prayer, and Action for the Poor

``Pay attention to my heart for justice, and see how I'm inviting you to join me in establishing justice wherever you have influence. [00:58:23] (19 seconds)  #HeartForJustice

I see you. I'm grateful for you. I have nothing to teach you about generosity and everything to learn. I know that you've tapped in. You understand that our God owns the cattle on a thousand hills. And I know that you've tapped into the fact that the windows of heaven are open, and he's releasing abundance to you, resources to you because he trusts you to give it away to someone else. I know that you know that you have sufficient and because you have sufficient someone else can have sufficient too. I see you. I'm grateful for you. More to the point, God is thankful for you. You are an open hearted and an open handed people. Thank you. [00:48:36] (56 seconds)  #OpenHandedGenerosity

Now, you know me. You've heard me. You can anticipate what's coming. I'm gonna tell you prayer matters. Prayer makes a difference. We don't do anything unless we are empowered by prayer. We get into the prayer closet. We stand with the Lord and we ask him what he wants us to do. Prayer aligns us with the will of the Lord. We hear him really clearly when we get in the place of prayer, and then we can go and act. That's what happens with Amos. [01:11:38] (38 seconds)  #PrayerEmpowers

So while it is absolutely true that individuals can make choices that mean that they are more likely to experience poverty. All of the research tells us that very few people experience poverty because they make bad decisions. The majority of people who experience poverty in The UK do it because there are systemic problems, legal, health, political, environmental problems that mean that there is systemic injustice. There's injustice in the system, and that makes it really difficult for people to break out of poverty. [00:55:54] (54 seconds)  #PovertyIsSystemic

Ian and I, live on the top of a hill. And because we're in Essex, it's not a particularly big hill. It's more of a bump on the landscape, but it's a hill nonetheless. And as you as you stand at the top of our hill, you can look across to another hill, and in the middle, there's a valley. And the valley is where the A 120 runs. Because of the topography, we experience a really interesting weather phenomenon in the summer usually. So what happens is we can be standing in the back garden, and it is bright sunshine, and the birds are singing, and it's a beautiful, beautiful day, but we hear the crash and the bang and the roar of thunder. But we can't see it. Can't can't see it with there's no rain. There's nothing. [01:03:20] (56 seconds)  #HearTheDistantRoar

Now that's the picture that Amos paints of the view that God has. God has a view down on all the nations. Chapter one, the Lord speaks to every nation surrounding Israel. Every single one. And that tells us it doesn't matter who the nations are, which nation we're looking at. God is gonna hold every nation accountable for what they do in terms of justice. [01:04:56] (29 seconds)  #AccountabilityForNations

The second thing Amos does is simply speak up. Now Amos wasn't a priest. He didn't come from an educated family. He didn't have a lineage that gave him any power or any authority. He simply went with the message that God had given him, and he spoke it. [01:07:44] (25 seconds)  #SpeakUpBoldly

The other thing that Amos does, and again, I love this. I think you're getting to know what matters to me. I love this. Amos prays. Before he says a word, before he speaks truth to power, Amos prays for his nation. He does it twice. And in both instances, he asks God to show mercy on his nation. [01:11:04] (33 seconds)  #PrayBeforeYouSpeak