Author: missionspaul

Hosea 14

Let us go to the end of the book and see that when it comes to the ways of the Lord we will either walk in them or stumble in them.
The ways of The Lord are right.
But what are those ways?
It has to be more than a list of rules because otherwise no one will walk in them.
God’s ways are not just thoughts or perceived attitudes towards something, it is the how life is lived.
It is the customs, institutions and achievements of a particular nation, people or group, it is called culture. The culture of God.
Within this culture lay the tests and the provocations of God. He does this to teach His way to us.
Remember Genesis 32 and the struggle of Jacob? At what point did Jacob realise that the one who began the fight was not an enemy but a friend? Do you know that within the ways of God lay struggles that are not your enemy but God Himself? You will either walk through this or stumble.
At what point did Jacob realise that the request from the angel of the Lord to “Let me go” was a provocation, a tease? He really did not want Jacob to let go of Him. What if Jacob had let go? It would have been the worst thing he could have done though that was what God was asking him to do. Do you know that within the ways of God lay provocations to let go of your destiny and they come from God Himself asking you to state the level you want to live with Him at? What kind of relationship with God do you want?
Again you will either walk through this or stumble.
All of this is found in the culture of God.
The ways of God are right.
We need to adjust continually, to learn daily what it is to walk in His ways, to know His culture.

Hosea 13

I’m sorry but I just can’t get past the first 5 words this morning.
“When Ephraim spoke men trembled”
I’m a preacher.
So I can say this…
No I won’t say it, I’ll just give you some quotes.
You will know what I am saying …

“It is a poor sermon that gives no offense; that neither makes the hearer displeased with himself nor with the preacher” ~George whitefield

“The preaching that this world needs most is the sermons in shoes that are walking with Jesus Christ.” ~ D.L. Moody

“We are too busy to pray, and so we are too busy to have power. We have a great deal of activity, but we accomplish little; many services but few conversions; much machinery but few results.” ~R.A. Torrey

“The scriptures are given not to increase our knowledge, but to change our
lives.” ~Dwight Moody

Men trembled when Ephraim spoke.
Think about it.
We are all preachers in some way or the other.

Hosea 12

Maintain love and justice, v6.

Love we understand but justice is another thing.
We get confused with justice so easily.
We want justice.
We want things fair.
But what is this justice?
It is the identification of Christ who came and brought justice to the world.
Justice is to do. It is not a belief, but it is action.
It’s Hebrew word is mishpat which describes the emphasis being that of action.
It’s most basic meaning is to treat people fairly, with respect and honour, to treat them right.
The Bible especially says do justice to these 4 sets of people:-
The widow, the fatherless, the immigrant and the poor. (Zechariah 7)
Some leaders decide through their own hurts and insecurities to toughen up with people. They think they are being strong, but they are very weak. They violate justice. They rob the rights of people and soon God will rob them.
Why maintain justice? Why should we be concerned about these vulnerable people?
It is because God is concerned about them.
How we treat people is how we will be treat.

Hosea 11

How can I give you up?
Even if I could, I wouldn’t.
I called you and you came to me
But then others called you and you left me.
Yet I stuck with you then and I don’t intend to change my pattern now.
I taught you to walk, I led you, I bent down and lifted you up.
It is within your DNA to walk away from me.
Every time.
But I am committed to you. And that is final.
So I ask, How can I give you up?
How can I let you be ruined?
I cannot.
For I am not like you.
I am the Holy One, the different One.
And I am here with you.
I will win you back.
I cannot let go.
I will not let go.
I know you will return.
I am waiting.

Hosea 10

Not all growth is good.
Israel was a spreading vine. It grew. But it wasn’t good.
In its growth it became wild with many branches (Jer 2:21). It developed branches that became thick and it began to look like a tree (Ez 15:2).
The vine was never planted to be a tree.
Some today want to become something they were never created to be.
They long to be somebody other than they are. They seek applause from man, they hunger for the stage, they promote themselves, tirelessly striving to be noticed.
Be still. Be who you are planted to be. A vine.
Let God produce through you fruit that is quality.
Quality not quantity.

Hosea 9

They became as vile as the thing they loved, v10.

You become what you worship.

The Israelites began to worship idols and God says they began to look like them.

Much is rightly taught today of the Christian in the market-place and rightly so. We have to get out from behind our church walls and our Christian masks and sacred/secular places and be Christ wherever we are, be a friend of sinners. At the same time we must be careful not to let the world demand and take our worship. We are Christians and we belong to God. That never changes.

Kierkegaard, the Danish philosopher, told a story about a goose who was wounded and who landed in a barnyard with some chickens. He played with the chickens and ate with the chickens. After a while that goose thought he was a chicken. One day a flight of geese came over, migrating to their home. They gave a honk up there in the sky, and he heard it.
Kierkegaard said, “Something stirred within the breast of this goose. Something called him to the skies. He began to flap the wings he hadn’t used, and he rose a few feet into the air. Then he stopped, and he settled back again into the mud of the barnyard. He heard the cry, but he settled for less.”

Be who you are. God is not asking you to be anyone else.

Hosea 8

Put the trumpet to your lips ..

Wynton Marsalis, one of the most easily recognizable jazz musicians in our day and one of the premier jazz trumpeters of all time was playing with a small, little-known band in a New York basement club. A few songs into their set, he walked to the front of the bandstand and began an unaccompanied solo of the 1930s ballad, “I Don’t Stand a Ghost of a Chance with You.” One journalist records that the audience became rapt as Marsalis’s trumpet virtually wept in despair, almost gasping at times with the pain in the music.
Marsalis came to the final phrase, with each note coming slower and slower, with longer and longer pauses between each one: “I…don’t…stand…a…ghost…of…a…chance—”

Then someone’s mobile phone went off.

It began to chirp an absurd little tune. The audience broke up into titters, the man with the phone jumped up and fled outside to take his call, and the spell was broken. “MAGIC— RUINED,” the journalist scratched into his notepad.

But then Marsalis played the cellphone melody note for note. He played it again, with different accents. He began to play with it, spinning out a rhapsody on the silly little tune, changing keys several times. The audience settled down, slowly realizing that they were hearing something altogether extraordinary. Around and around Marsalis played for several minutes, weaving glory out of goofiness.

Finally, in a masterstroke, he closed the set seamlessly to the last two notes of his previous song: “…with…you.” The audience exploded with applause.

(John G. Stackhouse, Jr., Faith Today)

Let’s copy our God today who brilliantly brings beauty out of ashes, applause out of annoyance, heroes from holocausts and love out of loss.
Learn to play the trumpet not with a sound that everyone has to listen to or else, but learn to play weaving in the sounds around you. Be adaptable, blend and embrace the true sound into the hurts and sounds of loss that are definitely there.

Hosea 7

I long to redeem, v13

Posted on a lamp post was a lost dog sign. There was a big cash reward for whoever found the lost dog, and a description of the dog. It said:
“He’s only got three legs, he’s blind in the left eye, he’s missing a right ear, his tail has been broken off, he was neutered accidentally by a fence—ouch!—he’s almost deaf, and he answers by the name ‘Lucky.'”

That dog isn’t lucky, he’s a walking disaster dog, one thing after another, bumps and scrapes, accidents and attacks.
The dog isn’t lucky but it is loved for there is an owner who wants him back.

You’ve been through some scrapes, battered, bruised, messed up a bit. You are are duct of your past. Sinner and sinned against. But Jesus loves me this I know for the Bible tells me so ….
He wants you back. He loves you and He loves to redeem.

Hosea 6

I desire mercy … I desire acknowledgment of me …
More than performance. v6

In an interview with a long-time friend, U2’s Bono, responded to the sometimes-stained reputation of the church throughout history:
“Religion can be the enemy of God. It’s often what happens when God, like Elvis, has left the building. A list of instructions where there was once conviction; dogma where once people just did it; a congregation led by a man where once they were led by the Holy Spirit. Discipline replacing discipleship”.
(Michka Assayas, Bono: In Conversation with Michka Assayas)

Performance will never lead to true discipleship.
The church has rules. Christians have rules. Things we have learnt over the years that if we do them prove we are good.
We step into performance the moment we behave as if Christianity brings man to God.
Even that sentence may cause some of us to have to read it again as it appears correct!
But central to Christianity is the truth that it is the story of God coming to man, every other religion has it the other way round. Sadly the church sometimes follows suit. For we all like a good performance.

Hosea 5

God is a lion, v14.

A lion can tear people to pieces.
A lion can pick people up and carry them off into the lair.
Surely God wouldn’t do that would He?
John says no one will be able to stand on the great day of His wrath (Rev 6)
Who can stand?
Who will cope with the terror? (2 Corinthians 5:11)
Thank God for Jesus, thank Him for the cross!!