For Amos says, 'Jeroboam will die by the sword, and Israel shall surely be led away captive out of his land.'"
The line, the plumbline that God has set. Those that are straight will be spared; those that are crooked will be destroyed. Those that are out of line will be destroyed. "So Amaziah, you're a part of line that is out of line; you're gonna be destroyed. Your family, your wife will become a prostitute in the streets."Amos in answering this priest, who was really challenging his authority, "Who ordained you? Where did you go to seminary? Who gave you the authority?" These are challenges that are often made today concerning those who are doing the work of the Lord. "Who ordained you? Who gave you the authority? What seminary did you attend?" It is because somehow we have a false concept that somehow a seminary education ordains a man for the ministry. Nothing could be further from the truth. Only God ordains a man for the ministry. Seminary education may be beneficial, but only God really ordains.Many of the young ministers that have gone out from Calvary in order to start works in other areas are lacking Bible college or seminary experience, so they are really challenged. Especially when their churches grow and they have the largest church in town. "But who ordained you? Who gave you the authority?" You know. All they can say is, "Well, I was just a drug pusher, and while I was pushing drugs the Lord got hold of my life and changed me, and now I'm pushing the gospel!""Amos, where'd you come from? Who gave you the authority? What seminary?" Amos said, "Look, I was only a shepherd; I was just a herdsman. I picked sycamore fruit. And while I was following the herd, the Lord said to me, 'Go and prophesy.'" No formal background, no training, just the call of God.It is interesting to me that John the Baptist had the same kind of challenge. When John was preaching in the wilderness, the Pharisees came to him and said, "Who gave you the authority to baptize?" They even challenged Jesus. They said to Jesus, "Who gave You the authority to do these things?" So I sort of laugh when they come around today and say, "Who gave the authority? Who's ordained?" When it's obvious that God had ordained John the Baptist, and it's obvious that the Lord had called.Now, what people seem to have a hard time accepting is that God so often calls and uses just plain ordinary people. But that is usually the case. God calls ordinary people to do His work. Somehow we put a special little aura around those men who have been used of God, and we put them on a pedestal, and we begin to think of them in sort of a super-saint classification. In our minds we somehow feel they are something special, they are out of the ordinary. They are... they're not really, they're somewhere between human and angelic. But they're not just plain people. They don't think as I think. They don't respond as I respond. Surely they must always respond just perfectly. They never, surely never, get angry, nor get upset! They must be just so perfect and that's why God has used them. Not so. God uses just plain ordinary people. Elijah was a man of like passions just like you. No different from what you are. Amos was just a herdsman. He was following after the herds when the Lord spoke to him, and called him for this ministry.God has a plan and a purpose for each one of your lives. God has a work for you to do. But you disqualify yourself so often from the work of God. "But, Lord, I don't have the education. But Lord, I'm just a plain ordinary person. I'm just me, Lord, how can You use me?" And you disqualify yourself because you are ordinary and somehow you think God doesn't use ordinary people. Because you are flawed, and you think God doesn't use flawed people. Because you are weak, and you think God doesn't use weak people. God uses just plain people. God wants to use you. Those men that God called were always surprised at the call of God and many times sought to excuse themselves because of the fact that they were just plain.When God came to Gideon as he was threshing wheat of the threshing floor of his father and said to Gideon, "Go in this thy might and deliver Israel out of the hand of the Midianites." Gideon said, "Oh Lord, You can't mean me. Hey, don't You know my family, my father is nothing, and I'm the least in my father's household? Lord, I'm just an ordinary guy. I'm just out here threshing wheat. Lord, I'm nothing, what do You mean me? Lord, You've got to... You've made a mistake. I'm ordinary. You know, You use super saints." But yet the Lord called Gideon and the Lord used Gideon. Now you notice how the people sought to elevate him once God had used him. Gideon said, "No way. You're not gonna make me your king, nor any of my sons. I'm..." He went right back to threshing wheat.God called Moses. Moses said, "Lord, I can't do that. No one's gonna believe me. Lord, I'm just an ordinary person. I'm just out here watching these sheep for forty years. What do you mean go down to tell Pharaoh let Your people go? Can't do that, Lord! I'm just an ordinary person." Yes, that's exactly who God uses, just ordinary persons. And God wants to use you."While I was following the flock..." A mistake that many people make in seeking to offer their lives to God is to quit their job and just go out and wait for God to lead them then into whatever ministry He has. But as a rule, God will take you right out of your job if He wants you. I think that it's wrong to quit your work, and say, "Well, I'm just gonna serve the Lord. I quit my job last week, and now I'm just gonna serve the Lord." Many people have suffered disastrous consequences from a movement like that. You can get real hungry."While I was following the flock, the Lord spake to me." While Peter and John were mending their nets, Jesus came by and said, "Leave your nets and follow Me." But you're not to leave your nets until the Lord comes by and says, "Leave the nets." As Matthew was sitting at the receipt of customs, Jesus passed by and said, "Come follow Me." But he was right on the job, doing the job when the Lord called him. And the Lord can call you right from your job. You don't have to quit and go into some wilderness area and just wait upon God for the vision or the call. God will call you right where you are if you're only listening."Go prophesy to My people Israel." Now Israel had forsaken God. Israel was worshiping the false gods. Still God calls them "My people." When does God let a man go? When does God disclaim you? When does God say Loammi, no more My people? God was claiming them as His people long after they had disclaimed God as their God. God still claims you. He has claims upon your life. He won't let them go. God won't let you go. He has claims on your life. It's sort of thrilling that God speaks of us as His people, "My son, My child." That thrills me that God claims me as His own. "