Hosea 4

Scripture   Hosea 4:1-2   

Hear the word of the Lord, you Israelites, because the Lord has a charge to bring against you who live in the land: “There is no faithfulness, no love, no acknowledgment of God in the land.  There is only cursing, lying and murder, stealing and adultery; they break all bounds, and bloodshed follows bloodshed. Observation-What does it say?   The book of hosea paints a detailed and graphic picture of Israel’s and our relationship with God.  The first three chapters outline the life of Hosea’s family and his calling to love a woman who acts outside of God’s law.  This is the perspective from which we are to understand chapters 4-14, which present God’s case against Israel and how they have walked away from His law.  In addition to walking away from God’s word, Israel became involved with the Canaanite religion and their worship of idols.  The words Hosea uses to describe Israel’s behavior goes from bad to worse.  The faith of God’s people often waxes and wanes over time.  But, to act so blatantly outside of God’s law, through lying, stealing and killing, shows how far from His will they have gone.  Understanding-What does it mean?   Baseball is a lazy man's sport, according to my father-in-law and I have a tendency to agree.  There is a lot of standing around, a few short bursts of energy, and then some more standing around.  While it definitely takes skill and some practice, what a player does in the offseason is not as critical as other sports, like swimming, cycling and running (though some people call these activities, they are in fact sports, unlike golf, which is a game (but, I digress)).  I spent a long time involved in long distance running, both as an athlete and as an assistant coach.   In distance running, you can always tell the difference between athletes who used their time in the offseason to prepare for the upcoming season of racing and those who saw the lack of structure as a time to venture into other things.   I remember one year when a new kid transferred into our school from a high school in Taft, we’ll call him Matt.  He had a lot of talent and was a great asset to our cross-country team, which was having trouble recruiting.  During the school year and with the structure provided by the races and training schedule, Matt showed a lot of promise for the track season.  But, when the cross-country racing ended, so did the structure.  Matt became interested in the other extracurricular activities that many high school kids enjoyed, which were not involved with long distance running.  He began smoking and drinking a lot of alcohol, both of which seemed counter productive to a long distance running lifestyle.  Needless to say, he struggled during the track season, got injured, and ultimately stopped running altogether. Our relationship with God can be like this.  We have seasons where we can easily engage in what the Holy Spirit is doing in our lives and seasons where the Holy Spirit is a little more quiet.  If we take the seasons of quiet as an opportunity to “explore” other religions or ways of life, like the Israelites did, then we risk becoming out of shape for the seasons when God is speaking to us.  We also risk, as Israel did, becoming subject to God’s anger.  To the Ephesians, Paul wrote, “And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption” (4:30).  We grieve the Holy Spirit when we walk away from the commandments of God, much like an athlete grieves his coach by smoking in the offseason.  Part of the process of steering clear from following the religions of the world involves us holding each other accountable and encouraging one another.  The author of Hebrews encouraged us by writing, “Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.  And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching” (10:23-25).
Life Application  

 

Today, it has become increasingly easy to dive into the “religions” and belief systems of this present world.  These beliefs even creep their way into the doors of the church, dividing the unity based on the death and resurrection of Jesus.  Holy Spirit, help my message to be of Christ and Him crucified.  Help me to neither add nor take away from your perfect message of hope.  Help me to trust not in the markets and seasons of this world, but in your perfect timing and perfect grace.  May my words be seasoned with the grace only you can provide.    

 

-Tyler Galloway   

Hosea_3

Scripture - What stood out?Hosea 3:1 

The Lord said to me, “Go, show your love to your wife again, though she is loved by another man and is an adulteress. Love her as the Lord loves the Israelites, though they turn to other gods and love the sacred raisin cakes. Observation - What does it say?God continues to prophecy and teach through Hosea and the story of Hosea and Gomer. Understanding - What does it mean?It didn’t take long for a verse to stand out in this group. I had already been moving in a season where i was beginning to chew on Ephesians 5 again and so when I read Hosea 3:1 immediately I was struck by this detail: ...though she is loved by another man… She wasn’t just an adulteress, the other man loved her. I'm not sure I can explain why, but I feel that that is somehow worse than Gomer just being an adulterer. Very briefly, I am in this phase where I am trying to understand why the apostle Paul urges women to submit to their husbands and in turn tells the husbands to love their wives. He could have chosen 20 other words on par with submit. Instead he tells us to love our wives…(There is a connection here which I haven’t quite seen yet, but i have clearly digressed.) Here is the clincher “Love her as the Lord loves the Israelites,”...Your thoughts are definitely not my thoughts Lord, but one day soon I hope to get closer to your divine way of thinking. Life Application - How can I apply this to my life today?

Lord for my life application, I would like you to help me move past a mistake I have been holding against a loved one. Nothing too crazy but clearly I can't move past it bc clearly I have been wronged. Help me to move away from the pain, memory and trauma. Help me to love them anyway. And perhaps by taking this small step I can move towards loving as You Love.In the name of Jesus do I pray. Amen.-kenneth lee

Matthew____16

Scripture

Matthew 16:24-25

24Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. 25 For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it.

Observation-What does it say?

Jesus was speaking with His disciples and predicted His death. He rebuked (aka corrected with sharp disapproval and criticism-Oxford dictionary), Peter’s response to his death because Peter was concerned about what Jesus said at the human level, not on the God level.

Understanding-What does it mean?

Jesus had to die to save ALL of mankind, including His disciples. That was the cross that Jesus had to bear. His life was His offering to God.

Peter didn’t understand the big picture and that’s why Jesus was frustrated with what he said. If Jesus didn’t die, Peter and the rest of the world would not live and would still be under the wrath of a just God. I also believe that Jesus’ words to Peter was a foretelling of how Peter would betray Jesus. Peter’s denial of Jesus was because he was more concerned about what others would think of him (human concerns) instead of what Jesus thought of him.

Life Application

What does taking up your cross look like?

In Biblical times, with taking up one’s cross, people literally had to die for their faith in Jesus. All the disciples were martyred, except for John.

Some of us may still be called to physical martyrdom, but more commonly in today’s times, taking up one’s cross daily means doing everything different than the world does it. It’s a struggle because although we are called to not live OF the world, we still live IN it and can easily be influenced by it. That’s the importance of staying close to Jesus daily. Here are personal examples of how I’ve had to take up my cross and lose myself completely to Jesus.

-Forgiving people who have hurt me deeply and responding in love and kindness instead of chewing their head off and hurting them back the way they’ve hurt me.

-Choosing to live a lifestyle different from everyone else in order to be more generous with time and money for Kingdom purposes.

-Setting up safeguards to protect my integrity and marriage. I had to do the same thing before marriage too.

-Choosing not to be part of the rat race and setting aside one day a week for Sabbath rest.

-Letting go of a higher paying job in order to live out God’s calling for my life.

-Looking at suffering as a blessing, instead of a curse.

-Being comfortable with having a reputation of being “weird.”

What are other examples you can think of of taking up your cross in your own life?

In John 17, before Jesus was betrayed and arrested, He prayed for His disciples and for ALL believers. If you’ve never read it, I recommend that you read it. It’s very encouraging to me because if God was to hear anyone’s prayer, it would be Jesus’ prayer. Jesus prayed in advance for us!

“I pray for them. I am not praying for the world, but for those you have given me, for they are yours. All I have is yours, and all you have is mine. And glory has come to me through them. I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name, the name you gave me, so that they may be one as we are one.” John 17:9-11 NIV

Thank you Lord! Amen.

-Michelle Gaddi