This is what I am talking about...

Hosea 8:14 "For Israel has forgotten his Maker and built palaces..."

Hosea 10:13 "You have plowed iniquity; you have reaped injustice; you have eaten the fruit of lies. Because you have trusted in your own way and in the multitude of your warriors."

Hosea 13:4 "But I am the LORD your God from the land of Egypt; you know no God by me, and besides me there is no savior."

Hosea 14:9 "...for the ways of the LORD are right, and the upright walk in them, but transgressors stumble in them."

Something to be thankful for

Hosea 6:1,2
"Come, let us return to the LORD;
for he has torn us, that he may heal us;
he has struck us down, and he will bind us up.
After two days he will revive us;
on the third day he will raise us up,
that we may live before him.Let us know;
let us press on to know the LORD;
his going out is sure as the dawn;
he will come to us as the showers,
as the spring rains that water the earth.


Thanks that we can be restored to the LORD.
Thanks that he will heal us.
Thanks that he will raise US up. More on this in a bit.
Thanks that we may live before him.
Thanks that we may know him.
Thanks for the rains and showers.


I love that it says that on the third day he will raise US up. My mind immediately goes to the cross, and how on the third day he rose Christ from the dead. But in doing so, His purpose was to raise us up as well. I don't need to get a big head about that, and think that I am more important that I am, but I should be extremely humbled and thankful for that.


Praise God.

And Happy Thanksgiving!

For crying out loud

I wasn't able to attend church service yesterday (probably a good thing), but I did have the opportunity to listen to the speaker's message. (I say speaker because preachers preach about Jesus, don't they?


He spoke of "Disciplining Your Child." He talked about 4 types of disciplining styles. He gave four benefits of discipline. He listed 4 ways to discipline. He gave an invitation at the end.


That's how people know they are in church.


Had I been there and had been wearing a robe, I am sure I would have torn it. Does tearing a polo shirt have the same impact?


Hosea 5:4 "Their deeds do not permit them to return to God. For the spirit of whoredom is within them, and they do not know the LORD."


What was their sin? It was making things other than God ultimate. Now I am sure that some do not like the use of the word whore. Talk to God, it was His illustration, not mine.


I am not really sure what needs to be said here, but I hope that God will guide me to say it when the time is right. Pray for me!

Tough words.

Hosea 4:6 "My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge; because you have rejected knowledge, I reject you from being a priest to me. And since you have forgotten the law of your God, I will also forget your children."

In some regards, I don't think you can say this about the American church culture. We have more knowledge floating around out there than is comprehensible. I don't think that is what God is concerned about, the quantity of the knowledge. I think he is more concerned about the quality, is it really knowledge, or is it the latest psycho-babble wrapped in a Scripture text?

Because many have rejected the truth, the knowledge that comes from God, and have followed whatever tickles ears, you will stumble (see 4:5).

But that is not us, because our church is growing. Read on...

(Vs. 7) "The more they increased, the more they sinned against me; I will change their glory into shame."

So maybe it is not talking about church growth, but rather their own supposed intelletual growth. Yet I see a parallel.

The writers of the New Testament warn us to guard our doctrine. Not the doctrine of a particular denomination, but the teachings of Christ. Yet so much of what is taught in not centered in Christ, but rather wrapped in a layer or two of Christianity.

To quote Mark Driscoll, "...if we ever study anything and don't connect it to Jesus, we are bound to get into a lot of trouble."

Amen!

I am geting married!

Hosea 2:19-20 "And I will betroth you to me forever. I will betroth you to me in righteousness and in justice, in steadfast love and in mercy. I will betroth you to me in faithfulness. And you shall know the LORD."

God is speaking those words, and He is speaking them to a whore. He is speaking them to Isreal. He is speaking them to me! Gomer was the wife Hosea took after God told him to "take a wife of whoredom." And she was a living parable of Israel. And I figured out a long time ago that Israel is just a living parable of me.

So those words are amazing. They are life-giving. They put the free in freedom.

I'll bet they would preach pretty good on a Sunday morning too.

You want me to what???

The book of Hosea fascinates me. If you don't know, God tells the prophet Hosea to "take yourself a wife of whoredom and have children of whoredom". (1:2) Wow, that cannot be the message of the Lord, can it?

It can be, and it was.

So Hosea did it. I have to wonder what he was thinking? Was he glad in any way? Did he think this was a good thing? That he was in for a good time? That he was going to convert this woman? Was she a looker? Was he just like most men, thinking more with his manhood than his brain?

And a son was conceived. And then a daughter. His name was Jezreel, and her name was No Mercy. Then the next son was named Not My People. That kind of name can't do a lot for your self-esteem.

But in Chapter 1, it is verse 7 that strikes me the most.

"But I will have mercy on the house of Judah, and I will save them by the Lord their God. I will not save them by bow or by sword or by war or by horses or horsemen."

Sounds like God had a plan. A plan that would demonstrate who He is. A plan that could not be attributed to anything other than the greatness and the grace of God. A plan that is out of man's power, a plan that only God could do. Maybe like the plan that He also had in mind when He sent His Son.

Sounds like a good plan.