RTW 2023

And the LORD said to me, “Amos, what do you see?” I answered, “A plumb line.” And the LORD replied, “I will test my people with this plumb line. I will no longer ignore all their sins.

Amos 7:8

A plumb line

• doesn’t change or move with the whims of the carpenter.
• remains true,
• all work must line up with it or risk being crooked.

God’s Word is the plumb line against which we determine right and wrong. We aren’t plumb when we:

• align ourselves with the angles and agendas of the world.
• determine what is right and wrong by the standards of the world.
• satisfy ourselves by building our lives upon our way of thinking.

Verses that help ensure our “plumbness”

• I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you.
  Psalm 119:11 (ESV)
• Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.
  Psalm 119:105 (ESV)
• The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever.
  Isaiah 40:8 (ESV)
• All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,
  2 Timothy 3:16 (ESV)

• Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.
  John 17:17 (ESV)

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Amos was a tree arborist, specializing in sycamore trees.
But Amos replied, “I’m not a professional prophet, and I was never trained to be one. I’m just a shepherd, and I take care of sycamore-fig trees.”
Amos 7:14

and

So, he [Zacchaeus] ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree to see him, since Jesus was coming that way.
Luke 19:4

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God help me maintain my “plumbness.” I need You. I can’t do it on my own.https://youtu.be/dkeSCIKu5dw