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The prophet Amos is the "country boy" of the prophets. He did not have a great education nor was he trained in eloquent court speech, but he did hear from God. He prophesied during the time that the Jewish people were split into the divided kingdom. The northern ten tribes, called "Israel," were governed by the mighty warrior Jeroboam II. The southern two tribes, called "Judah" were governed by King Uzziah who also was a mighty military leader. As a result of their conquest of enemies, the nation of Israel was in a state of prosperity and comfort. They felt that they did not have to worry about enemies invading from the outside and they felt like they had plenty of provision in their storehouses to make it on their own. To them life was good, and they didn't really want anybody "upsetting the applecart." The last thing that they wanted was to hear the prophecies of coming judgment of God if they did not repent of their idolatry and sinfulness by some "hick" uneducated prophet! As you can probably figure out on your own, Amos was not the most popular person in town and his prophecies were not well received, but time bore out that what this materially poor boy said was indeed the Word of God!

Let me say that the terms "rich" and "poor" have really nothing to do with your financial condition. At least not how they are used in scripture. There will always be someone who was more wealthy than you and someone more worst off than you. A popular theme throughout scripture is that of how hard it is for the "rich" to enter into eternal life. Conversely, Jesus said "the poor you have with you always." It is then a principle that living for God and doing right will not always lead to financial wealth. Oh God will provide and you will always "have enough" if you live according to His Word, but God has no obligation to make a millionaire out of you. He promised that you would never see your kids having to beg for bread. He reminded you that He knows about your need for shelter, clothing, and food. He will not forsake you and will help through the toughest financial storms. But God is by no means obligated to cause everyone of us to become millionaires! There is a religious movement today that are preaching what is called "the prosperity Gospel." They state that if you are faithful to God, that He will give you the luxurious desires of your heart. That new "Beemer" or that brand new "Porsche" can be yours just by "blabbing it and grabbing it." That sort of preaching appeals to our flesh, perhaps, but is not entirely accurate. The scriptures are full of people that were faithful to God and died poor. In fact, not one of the original twelve Apostles died with any worldly possessions to their account that we can find in history. Malachi screamed out "bring your tithes into the storehouse... and see if I will not open windows of heaven and pour you out a blessing that you cannot contain." That's a promise from God. But sometimes the "blessing from heaven" doesn't come in the form of a larger salary or a new car. Sometimes it comes in souls won to the kingdom of God, and the salvation of our families! To God, money means very little and so sometimes the greatest blessings of God have nothing to do with finances per se.

So understand that you can have money and "be poor." You can have little money and "be rich" because those terms are attitudes that people adopt. There are some people who never think beyond their level of living. They can get a good job and yet never better their quality of life because of their way of thinking. They simply think that all that there is to their life is where they are. They have never experienced living on a "nicer" level. And Jesus said "the poor you have always." There will be some people who no matter how much you try to teach them to invest and save and budget, they will never do it because of the way that they think.

But understand that you can have little money compared to most people, and yet have the attitude of being "rich." A person is "rich" when they have the attitude that they have it made. That all contingencies are covered. That they have within themselves all the resources for what they need to live comfortably. It doesn't necessarily mean that you have millions of dollars piled up somewhere in the bank. It does mean that you have reached a place where you are living within your means. Where you do not struggle from day to day or "hand to mouth." A person is "rich" in the negative sense when they feel they have reached a place where they are "safe" and can "relax."

I'm not here to preach on our finances in the physical. The point of my sermon is not to give you financial advice on your standard of living. But I do want to point out to you that God sent the prophet Amos to Israel because their physical condition mirrored their spiritual condition. God has no problem with you having money in the bank or you being able to pay your bills. In fact, the scripture encourages us to live like that. But God does have a problem when people view their spiritual walk with God with a "rich" mentality. There is danger in viewing your current position with God as comfortable or perfect. When the blessings of God are flowing, it is easy to trust in your current blessings and stop pushing hard for spiritual growth. When you come through a storm and a struggle, it is easy to give into the temptation to just "ride on easy street" a while. And before you know it, your prayer life has slipped, your faithfulness has slipped, and your faith is not what it should be and then all of a sudden it seems that your world comes crashing in around you. It is hard to live for God with a "spiritually rich" mentality.

What I am preaching to you is the primary message of Amos. And nowhere does he state it clearer than in our first text.

"Zion" referred to the mountain that the city of Jerusalem was built upon. Jerusalem is not an easily conquered city by foot. Mount Zion rises up sharply to it's ancient walls and made defense very comfortable. Not only that, but it has aqueducts and an irrigation system that brings in a fresh supply of drinking water to within the city. The Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar was only able to conquer it by building huge dirt ramps up the slopes so that his troops could climb the walls, and they could only build those ramps after they had sieged the city and cut off the food supplies so that the troops of Israel were too weakened by hunger to really fight.

The city of Samaria mentioned here was the same way. It was built upon a mountain that was very well defended. It took three weeks for the Assyrians to take it and again the only way that they conquered the city was through beseiging the city until starvation came in from a lack of food supply.

To add to these natural defenses, Jerusalem had the temple of God within it and Samaria was the center of worship to the North. Jerusalem also had the added benefits of being the object of the promises and name of God. It was this city, Jerusalem, that God had said "I will put my name here." It would be to this city that the prophets screamed the Messiah would come. It will be to this city again to which Jesus Christ returns with the heavenly host one day. So the inhabitants of the "city of Zion" had the self-satisfaction of knowing that they were in a well-guarded and well-stocked walled city which housed the temple of Jehovah-God and which had promises already made about it and therefore they did not want to look at their lives and the things that they were doing that might need work. They did not want to talk about their idolatry or their sensual pleasures or their lack of faithfulness to worship God. They were "at ease in Zion." In other words, they had convinced themselves that they were so blessed of God that they didn't have to give 120% anymore. They could coast through life and offer their sacrifices half-heartedly and half-committedly and yet somehow be alright. They were living with an "I am rich" mentality.

But Amos thundered through their comfort zone with a message of warning "Woe unto them that are at ease in Zion!" Woe unto them that think that the small things don't matter! Woe unto them that think that they have arrived in God and do not need to earnestly seek His face or be real with Him! To such a people, the prophet Amos promised, God would certainly send destruction.

Hear this preacher: it is easier to backslide from a time of blessing than it is from a time of trial. It is easier to backslide from a time where everything is going smoothly than it is from a time where everything is going wrong. When everything is going wrong, then everything small is big and no matter how frustrated you are, ultimately you are continually reminded that without Jesus Christ, you are sunk. There are the few that backslide from turmoil, but usually people learn to trust God more stronger in the darkest of nights.

But it's when you've come through a major crisis. It's when there are no major problems with you and someone else. It's when you have just reached a new place in commitment or faithfulness or experience that you have never reached before, that it's the easiest to fall away from God. Why? Because you get the attitude of the people in Amos' day. You become "at ease in Zion." And you begin to trust in the past blessings and the blessings of yesteryear that you forget that you need your "daily" bread and then like the strongholds of Jerusalem and Samaria, your spiritual man dies from starvation! Your faith dies from lack of prayer and fasting. Your character dies from a lack of self discipline and your power dies from a lack of the flowing of the Holy Ghost.

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I do not want you to backslide and walk away from God. Therefore I would like to point out to you the things that lead to such an event. There is no one that backslid over night. We may hear someone say "just one week and they were gone." But really it was a gradual process of lack of faith, and doubt, and lack of prayer, and bitterness, and unforgiveness, and critical eyes, and carnality that slowly began to slip into their life and get a stronghold. By definition, to backslide, you must have at one time been "on fire" for God.