Matt Hagee - Watch Your Step
If you brought your Bibles, turn them to the book of Amos 3, as this morning we begin a brand-new sermon series entitled "The great divide". I don't think anyone would debate or argue the fact that our nation is probably more divided now than we have ever been. And the lines are getting farther and farther apart. Today we're going to consider the great divide in this context, "Watch Your Step".
We look at the word of the Lord that he gave to the prophet Amos to a nation that was divided. And while they were talking about all of the things that divided them individually, God was saying all of the separate divisions that are down there in your nation are nothing more than symptoms of the reality that you are divided from me. And when we see this much chaos and confusion taking place in the world around us, what we have to realize is that God is not the author of confusion. And everything he does, he does with order. And that what we see happening in the world around us is nothing more than just the symptoms of the reality that for a long time now, we have been separated from God. So we pick up this conversation in Amos 3:3. Read it with me. "Can two walk together, unless they are agreed"?
Heavenly Father, by the power of your Holy Spirit and his anointing, whose presence we feel in this place, we ask that you would open our ears and our hearts to receive these truths today: that we would hear and heed your word, and walk with you in faith believing. In Jesus' name, we pray. Amen.
You may be seated. "Can two walk together, unless they be agreed"? It's a rhetorical question, because the answer is, obviously, no. But the Lord sent Amos to Israel with this message, because he was wanting to warn the nation by letting them know that the direction they were headed was a path that was going to lead to destruction. In the world that we live in today, everywhere you look, you see a nation that is on a path to destruction. Right now, like never before, we are a culture that is being swarmed with a spirit of rebellion. This rebellion is not some small matter of defiance that people are quietly holding within them. This rebellion is being lived out in the lawlessness that's taking place in our streets. This rebellion has invaded our schools. This rebellion has overwhelmed our cities. This rebellion is crippling the lives of our American citizens and people all over the world.
When it's being discussed, people offer all kinds of ideas about what could change the situation that we face. Some say, "You know all we need to do is adjust the laws, because the reason people are breaking so many laws is because we're too tough on crime". Then a few experts will tell you that what we need to do is start a new program. Let me translate something for you. Any time that an elected official is talking about a program, what he's saying is he's going to take money from people who earned it, and give it to people who didn't earn it, so that they will stop taking what's already not theirs.
There's a problem in our world right now. Regardless of how you define the problem, regardless of how you try to solve the problem, regardless of who you try and blame for the problem, the fact remains we've got a problem. We've got a problem when our prisons have more law and order than our streets. We've got a problem when an elementary school won't say the pledge because it has the phrase "One nation under God," but it'll hold a seminar on transgenderism and have men dressed in drag dancing in front of children. That's a problem. Let me make it very clear: that's not education. That's not reading, writing, and arithmetic: that's indoctrination and it should be considered child abuse. There's a problem when churches stop declaring the Word of God.
If you're not declaring the Word of God, you're not a church: you're a Sunday Social Club. If you would rather entertain than evangelize, you need to do something else. The purpose of the church is to train the army of the living God to go out into a lost, and dark, and dying world, and shine his light, and shine his love, and believe that they can do all things through Christ who gives them strength. There's a problem when suicide is the second leading cause of death in children the ages 10 to 15.
There's a problem when our national leaders think that your gas-guzzling car is the biggest problem that they have to solve more than the Fentanyl that's coming across our border. And even greater still is the fact that with all of the problems that we could list and discuss today, all of them just lead to more talk and discussion, and debate, and argument, and make this great divide between where we are and where we should be farther apart. They don't solve the problem. And the reason they don't solve the problem is because it's whacking at the branches and not striking at the root. All of these problems are just symptoms. The real problem is sin. Proverbs tells us, "Righteousness exalts a nation: but sin is a reproach to any people".
Why are we struggling in this world today? Not because we don't have enough resources, not because we don't have enough knowledge, not because we haven't done enough studies. It's because we won't stop sinning. What we've got to do if we're going to exalt this nation is, we've got to return to righteousness. We've got to stop talking about the symptom and got to get down to the source. And the only hope that we have is to return to the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The only hope for your family is to build your house upon the principles of his word. The only hope for our economy is to turn to Jehovah Jireh, because he's described as our provider.
The only way to clear the clouds of chaos and confusion, and overcome the anarchy that's in our street, and rebuild the faith and the freedom and the liberty that made us one nation under God, is to return to living by his Ten Commandments. Return to the word that does not return void. Return to his promises that endure forever, because the grass may wither and the flower may fade, but his promise to protect, his promise to provide, his promise to heal, his promise to deliver, his promise to redeem, his promise to restore, his promise, it will never fail, because that's the kind of God we serve! And so right now, with all of the problems that we face, we have to realize that our nation is at a crossroads. And like never before in our lifetime, we've got a decision to make. Are we going to walk with God? Are we going to keep walking away from God?
And this is the question that God sent Amos to ask Israel in verse 3 of chapter 3, "Can two walk together, unless they be agreed"? Understand that there's only two ways to walk in this world. You can either walk with him or you can walk away from him. But there's no middle ground. In order to know what kind of direction your life is headed in, what you need to ask yourself is, "Who are you walking with"? One of the problems that we have in the church today is that we oftentimes say that we're walking with God, but we're more walking with a political party than we are his promises. Because that's the only way you can get two Christians in the same room, who both profess that Jesus Christ is their Savior. And yet, they're on opposite ends of everything. Why? Because they identify more with an elephant and a donkey than they do Jesus Christ, who died to set them free.
You need to understand, the King of kings and the Lord of lords does not like red any more than he likes blue. He's not up for election and he doesn't need your vote. He sits upon the throne where he rules in grace and truth. And of his kingdom, there shall be no end. So who are you walking with? When I was growing up, I used to often hear from my parents, "You are known by the company", y'all were in that house too: huh? And the problem in Amos 3 is that Israel is keeping company with the nations that are around them instead of with the God in whom they have covenant.
Israel was created by a sovereign and divine act of God. And rather than keep his word, they decided that they would rather behave like the pagan nations surrounding them than they would be the children of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The nation that God delivered out of Egypt's bondage and brought into the prosperity of the Promised Land, now refuses to live by the covenants. They used to be one nation under Jehovah God. And now, in Amos, they're two separate nations, Israel in the north and Judah in the south. And this divided nation of north and south that was once economically prosperous is now targeted by the nations that surround it, because when they're together and God is blessing the unity of their togetherness, their agreement, no one can take them. But when they're divided, they're a target for everybody. Sound familiar?
Here's the greater challenge: when Amos starts to prophesy, both nations economically are prosperous. And because they have money in the bank, they believe that the money in the bank equates to God's blessing. And so they've deceived themselves. They believe that because they can pay the bills, God's happy with them. And so they go to the altar of the Lord on the Lord's day, and they sacrifice to the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And then they go out into their own homes and they have altars to pagan Gods. And God's word says, "Thou shall have no other Gods before me". But because there's money in the bank, they say, "Well God doesn't mind". You know anybody that looks at their bank balance to determine whether or not God's happy? You need to understand God does not work in the currency of the United States government.
God's people, in the day of Amos, were divided just like we're divided now. They were divided politically. They had separate agendas. They were divided spiritually. They were mixing righteousness with wickedness. They were divided socially, because immorality was rampant, and perversion was everywhere, and no one was doing anything about it. And God sent a prophet named Amos with this message: "Can two walk together, unless they be agreed"? Simply said, God was saying, "Watch your step". The direction you're going is headed for an abyss of judgment. Watch your step, because the wealth that you rejoice in could be gone in a day. Watch your step, because the freedom and the liberty that you think you're entitled to could vanish before your eyes. I believe that the words of Amos can echo through centuries, and they're very appropriate for the world that we live in today, because there's a great divide in our nation between right and wrong.
There's a great divide between where we're going and where we should go. And the truth is we need to answer this question: "Can two walk together, unless they be agreed"? Understand that this question is not being asked by a candidate who is running for office. This question is being asked by the God who created heaven and earth. Consider those who walked with God. The Bible tells us in Genesis that "Enoch walked with God: and he was not, for God took him". Now some of you say, "Well I don't know if I want to get that close". The point is this: when you walk with God, you're welcome in his presence. And eventually, every one of us is going to walk to the end of our life. And when you get there, trust me: you want to be welcome in God's presence. Which means you better start walking with him now. Because you can't show up in that moment and hear him say, "Depart from me. I never knew you".
Listen to what king David said. He said, "Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly". Ungodly people are just people who don't do what God wants. And David says when you start walking with people who do not do what God wants, you're headed in the wrong direction, because the next thing that you're going to do after you start taking counsel, advice, from ungodly people, is you're going to start standing up for sinners. And everywhere you look in our world today, what are we doing? We're standing up for sinners. We're defending things that God calls an abomination. God said he hates hands that shed innocent blood. And we're defending people's right to murder a child before it has the chance to breathe. After you start defending sinners, then you get comfortable. Because David said, "You sit in the seat of the scornful".
And there's a difference between ungodly people, sinners, and scornful people. Ungodly people just don't do what God likes. Sinners deliberately disobey God's word. Scornful people mock God. And we live in a world that mocks God freely. And when you're willing to sit in the seat of the scornful, it means that you are more comfortable with people who make a mock of God than you are a move of the spirit. We've become so numb to it that we watch it for hours on television or on our streaming devices, and we roll our eyes, and says, "Well, it's just entertainment". And then we get in God's house and the spirit of the Lord moves in, and we go, "I don't, I don't know what I want to do. Okay. I'll raise a hand". Why? You're more comfortable in the wicked environment than you are the righteous one. David said, "Blessed is the man who doesn't walk, and who doesn't stand, and who doesn't sit with the ungodly". He said, "Because he'll be like a tree planted", say that word with me. "Planted".
When you walk with God, God plants you. You don't just grow up somewhere. God puts you somewhere. Wild weeds just grow. But things that are planted are valuable. And some of you need to hear that today. You are where God planted you. You're not going to produce until you get comfortable where you're planted. A lot of God's kids look at what somebody else is doing, and they try to pull themselves out of where they're planted and go over and be somebody else. When you're planted, produce where you're planted. "The steps of the righteous are ordered of the Lord". It's not an accident that you're there. God planted you there. Now keep reading. It says, you'll be planted like a tree by rivers of living water. In the Bible, living water is flowing water. It's not stagnant water, meaning it has a source. Stagnant water is something that doesn't have a stream flowing into it, so eventually it'll dry up. But living water has a source, which will never run dry.
So God's promise, when you walk with him, is one, he's going to plant you somewhere: and two, he's going to be your resource that never runs dry. Then it gets even better. "Your fruit will come in its season". How many of you look forward to eating pumpkin in july and watermelon in October? No. You flip it around. You want your fall fruit in the fall season. You want your summer fruit in the summer season. Back in the time of the Bible, it was an agricultural society. They understood seasons. And fruit means that there's work to do and you have to produce. But if you produce the wrong fruit in the wrong season, nobody wants it. When you're walking with God, not only does he put you where he wants you, and he provides what you need, but he makes sure that you're providing what's needed when it's needed. It gets better. "Whose leaf will not wither".
If there's four seasons, there's four leaves, because a summer leaf won't grow in the winter, and a winter leaf won't grow in the summer. And sometimes what people get frustrated with whenever they're planted some place is, they say, "Nothing changes". Well, when you're walking with God, and he plants you somewhere, and he's your source, and he's producing the fruit, what God is saying, is that when the seasons change, your leaves will change. Because your leaf's not going to wither. Now here's the deal. The seasons change. Every day, something changes. But every day, the faithfulness of God makes the adjustments that need to be made so that it doesn't affect the leaf. And then the best part is, "Whatever he does, it shall prosper".
How many of you want to be able to say, "Wherever I go, whatever I do, I'm going to prosper"? Then you have no choice. You have to walk with God. You can't prosper walking away from him. You can't prosper without him. But when you walk with him, he plants you, and he waters you, and he keeps you, and he takes you, and he grows you. And everything you do, it will prosper. There's three types of people in this room today. The first person has heard this message and the word of warning, "Watch your step". It's told you somewhere inside of you, I'm not walking with God. I'm walking in the wrong direction. My life is headed in the opposite path that he wants me to take. And today, you need to turn it around.
Then there's a second group, and you've heard this message today, "Watch Your Step". And you understand that the Holy Spirit is telling you it's time for you to pick it up. You're going in the right direction. You just need to pick up the pace. And then there's a third group. You've heard this message about walking with the Lord. And what God sent me to tell you today is he wants to encourage you: just keep walking. You're doing great. You're right where he wants you to be. I know you've been doing it for decades. I know you've been doing it for years, but just don't stop walking. Some of you have walked with God through hell and back.
Don't stop walking. You've walked through the valley of the shadow of death. Don't stop walking. You've walked through storms and tragedies and trials and triumphs. Just don't stop walking. Don't give up on God. He's still got a plan for you. He's still got a purpose for you. Just put your hand in the hand of God and keep walking, because his path is divinely orchestrated and ordered for you. He's got a table prepared for you in the presence of your enemies. He's going to anoint your head with oil until your cup runs over. His goodness and mercy, it's still following you. His favor is still upon you. His promises are still for you. And he who began a good work in you is going to be faithful to complete it, even unto the day of Christ Jesus. Whatever you do, don't stop walking!
I'm going to ask you to stand right where you are and with every head bowed and every eye closed. You're in this place and you know you're not walking with God. You know you need to turn it around. You know that the direction that you're headed is going to lead to destruction. It's going to destroy your marriage. It's going to destroy your family. It's going to destroy everything that's good in your life. If today, you want to turn your life around and walk with Jesus, then right where you are, I want you to raise your hand and hold it high. So with every head bowed, I want you to pray this prayer:
Lord Jesus Christ, thank you for making it possible to walk with me. By your shed blood, you paid the price that I might be redeemed. And so today, I'm asking you, turn my life around. Point me in the direction that you want me to go. And give me the strength to walk each and every day. Father God, forgive me for ever walking on my own. And from this day forward, I'm going to walk with you, in Jesus' name. Amen.