July 7, 2025 • 39 mins
What does it cost to follow God's command when it breaks your heart? The story of Hosea provides a raw, unflinching look at what happens when God asks the unthinkable — to marry a woman who would repeatedly betray him as a living metaphor of Israel's unfaithfulness to God.
Hosea, the first of the minor prophets, ministered for 60 years to the northern kingdom of Israel during a time when prosperity masked spiritual decay. As the nation cycled through six kings in just 20 years and mixed pagan worship practices with devotion to God, the Lord called Hosea to embody His heartbreak through a marriage destined for pain. Hosea's three children received names that proclaimed coming judgment: Jezreel ("God scatters"), Lo-Ruhamah ("no mercy"), and Lo-Ammi ("not my people").
The most powerful aspect of this ancient story isn't the betrayal but the redemption. When Gomer eventually left Hosea, God commanded him to buy her back—redeeming her for half the price of a common slave. This extraordinary act mirrors God's persistent love for us despite our spiritual adultery.
This story confronts us with uncomfortable questions: How have we been unfaithful to God? What "mixture" have we allowed into our lives—beliefs, practices, or priorities that contradict our professed faith? We may not bow before carved idols, but we often compartmentalize our faith while serving modern gods of wealth, pleasure, and status.
Yet Hosea's ultimate message isn't condemnation but restoration. When asked what message should conclude this sermon, God's answer was beautifully simple: "Tell them I love them." Despite seeing every secret sin and public failure, God continues to choose us, redeem us, and love us with a passion that will chase us down.
Whether you're exploring faith for the first time or have walked with God for decades, this message invites you to experience the transformative power of a love that refuses to give up on you. Join us in discovering what it means to be fully known, completely forgiven, and unconditionally loved.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey, fam, what's up?
It's your boy, hosea.
Back at it again.
You know I gotta keep it realwith y'all and today's a heavy
one.
God's been speaking to me, guys,and honestly it ain't always
easy to hear.
He's comparing our relationshipwith Him to my relationship
with my wife, gomer.
Gomer, beautiful woman, full oflife, but she's got a wandering
heart.
You know she seeks validationin places that don't offer true
(00:23):
love.
It hurts, guys, it really does.
You pour your heart intosomeone, you offer them
everything and they turn away.
And God, he says that's exactlywhat we're doing to him.
He is faithful, the one whoprovides, who loves
unconditionally.
And we, his people, are runningafter other things, things like
(00:43):
wealth, power, fleetingpleasures, idols that can't love
us back.
He sees our hearts turning away, chasing after these empty
things, just like Gomer, and itbreaks his heart.
But here's the thing that'shitting me hard, fam.
Even with all the hurt, all thebetrayal, god's love.
It doesn't stop, it'srelentless.
He tells me to go to Gomer tolove her, even though she's
(01:06):
strayed, to redeem her, to showher the kind of love that never
gives up.
Can you even imagine that?
Loving someone who has hurt youso deeply?
That's the kind of love God hasfor us.
It's not about condemnation,it's about us turning back to
Him, the only one who can trulysatisfy.
(01:27):
So what am I going to do?
I'm going to follow God'sinstructions, no matter how hard
it seems, because if His loveis this persistent, this
unwavering, then maybe, justmaybe, there's hope for Gomer
and there's definitely hope forus.
Let's encourage each other.
We're all in this together.
Peace out, fam, and rememberreal love never gives up.
Speaker 2 (01:51):
Man.
I'm so grateful for the gift ofAI being able to show us in a
visual way what it must havebeen like for some of these guys
that we'll never physically seeon this side of heaven.
But I have a question for you.
How many of you have ever beenasked to do something that you
didn't want to do?
Whether it was when you were achild and somebody you know,
(02:13):
your parents said clean yourroom or, in my case, go pull
weeds, and I thought don't youknow how much time that'll take.
Or as a student, when yourteacher gave you an assignment
or an essay and you go.
Don't you know how long that'sgoing to take, what that's going
to do to my free time.
Maybe it was at your job, whenyour employer asked you to do
(02:34):
something that was tough or thatyou just didn't want to do, and
you go.
Don't you know how hard that'llbe.
That's going to take a lot.
Maybe it's been from God, wherehe asks you to do something
that you don't want to do.
I know that he's asked me to dothings and I kind of stop and I
say, lord, don't you know whatthat's going to cost me?
(02:57):
That may cost me somethingfinancially.
That may cost my socialstanding, and I don't know if
that cost is worth it.
You see, today we're going tobe talking about a prophet that
God asked him to do, somethingthat could cost his social
(03:18):
standing and cost him a lotrelationally and in his heart.
And so today we're continuingour series on prophets, the
minor prophets.
So far we've heard severalvoices.
We've heard about Micah andObadiah, joel and Nahum, and
those were some great messagesand I'm very thankful that I've
(03:40):
gotten to hear those.
And today this one's kind of achallenging one.
Well, all of the minor prophetsare challenging because
prophets in general were themessenger right, and there's a
reason we have the saying don'tshoot the messenger right,
(04:02):
Because when they bring amessage, it's not necessarily
something you're excited to hear.
See, the priests, as PastorCeleste mentioned a couple of
weeks ago, the priests were theones who would talk to God on
behalf of the people, but theprophets were the one who would
come and talk to the people onbehalf of God.
And I don't know about you, butsometimes I've been known to be
a knucklehead from time to time.
And when that happens time totime, and when that happens
(04:28):
somebody has to speak into me,and usually that's been Pastor
Rich, pastor Jay, anybody who'sat the pulpit here at
Cornerstone.
And so as we dive into Hoseatoday, I want to give you just a
little bit of background on whohe was.
So he was actually the first ofthe minor prophets and so while
there were several of them, hewas the one who's listed first
(04:49):
in the old writings.
He was a prophet for about 60years.
Could you imagine being themessenger for 60 years, bringing
bad news for 60 years?
That could cost your socialstanding.
When you come into town peoplego, oh no, there he is again,
(05:11):
and they probably turn and gothe other way.
Right, but his name?
It meant salvation.
He prophesied mainly to thenorthern kingdom of Israel, at a
time where the kingdom ofIsrael was split.
But see, the northern kingdomwas a rich kingdom.
They had a lot of stuff goingon for them, but as a result of
(05:32):
their prosperity they had falleninto this place of moral decay
and greed, and that, of course,grieved the heart of God.
So during Hosea's time, israelhad six different kings over 20
years.
That's a lot when you considerthat we had one queen in England
(05:53):
who was.
She reigned for a long time,but to have six kings in 20
years.
Four of them were assassinatedand one was forcefully removed.
Four of them were assassinatedand one was forcefully removed.
Could you imagine that intoday's world, that kind of
(06:13):
change in power that quickly?
You see, at this time theIsraelites had identified the
Lord with Baal, the Canaanitegod of nature, and they had
given in into visiting shrineprostitutes and they were mixing
(06:34):
a lot of the Canaanite beliefswith their worship of the Lord,
and so they were worshiping himin a way that he had explicitly
told them not to do.
But they were doing it anyway,and they didn't really see
anything wrong with it, becausethey were trying to play both
sides of the fence, like if weworship God this way, just a it
anyway, and they didn't reallysee anything wrong with it,
because they were trying to playboth sides of the fence, like
if we worship God this way, justa little bit, and we worship
this, then we're covered on allof our sides, right, but we're
just going to claim that we areonly following the one.
(06:55):
So God was pretty angry ateverything that was going on,
and so he decided to use Hosea'slife as a picture of his
feelings towards Israel.
So the question I have for youtoday is are you faithful?
Now you may think, yeah,absolutely, because I haven't
(07:21):
cheated on my wife or my husband, I haven't done this or that.
But are you faithful?
We're going to go into that alittle bit today, what it means
to be faithful to the Lord, andby using an example of somebody
who wasn't faithful.
See in Hosea 1, verse 2,.
It said when the Lord began tospeak through Hosea, the Lord
(07:44):
said to him go, marry apromiscuous woman and have
(08:19):
children with her.
It said the chapters of Hoseaare what's called a similitude.
It's kind of like a simile or ametaphor of how God felt.
I read through this becauseHosea is one of the doom
prophets.
He talks about the doom comingto Israel, that they were going
to be led away by the Assyrians,and so to read this and to know
that God put this guy, hosea,in this position of heartbreak
(08:43):
was really hard for me.
You see, as people watchedHosea's life, they were able to
make the comparisons and drawthe similarities between how
Israel was treating God and howGomer was treating Hosea, and I
want to say that to us.
(09:03):
We are a representation of, ofour relationship with God and
how God feels about the world,and so it's very important that
we live out a life willing forpeople to watch us and see us go
through our struggles and ourtrials, but also our victories.
So Gomer, gomer was the wife ofHosea.
(09:29):
Now there's some debate as towhether or not Gomer was already
promiscuous or as to whether ornot it really depends on the
versions that you read, thetranslations whether or not she
was already promiscuous or ifshe was going to become
promiscuous, if God waspreparing his heart for what his
(09:52):
wife was going to be like.
See, she represented Israel'swavering faithfulness to the
Lord because she was married toHosea, but she also stepped out
on him quite a bit.
See, they had three children,gomer and Hosea.
(10:13):
In Hosea 1, 3, and 4, it says sohe went and took Gomer, the
daughter of Diblaim, and sheconceived and bore a son, and
the Lord said to him Call hisname Jezreel, for in just a
little while I will punish thehouse of Jehu for the blood of
Jezreel and I will put an end tothe kingdom of the house of
(10:34):
Israel.
In Hosea 1.6, it says sheconceived and bore a daughter,
and the Lord said to call him adaughter and said to call her,
call her name no mercy, for Iwill no more have mercy on the
house of Israel to forgive themat all.
(10:55):
When she had weaned no mercy.
She conceived and bore a sonand the Lord said call his name,
not my people, for you are notmy people and I am not your God.
Could you imagine if that'swhat your name means?
(11:18):
Now, I don't know if you've putmuch stock into the meaning of
names, but we do as a family.
My name, for instance, angus,means unique strength, and so we
named each of our children veryspecifically, because every
time you say their name, you'respeaking that over them, right?
(11:39):
Just what happens to a child.
If you call them stupid all thetime or worthless, they begin
to act that way, and so ournames are incredibly important.
Could you imagine being namednot my people, knowing that it
meant that God was no longerowning your people?
(12:03):
It's pretty harsh, it's prettyreal.
I mean that God would have himname his son and daughter, these
things because he wanted tospeak to the nation of Israel
and he wanted them to understandwhat his heart was towards
(12:25):
these people.
And his heart was this waybecause he was brokenhearted,
because if you look back athistory, you see everything that
God's brought them through.
He delivered them out of Egypt,he provided for them in the
desert, he kept performingmiracle after miracle and doing
these amazing things for them,and they treated him like this.
(12:48):
For those of you who aremarried, think of how you would
feel being with that one personall of the time and then knowing
that they're stepping out onyou.
But imagine that millions oftimes, over and over again, with
each of the people man, themore I've just thought about
(13:11):
this, this dynamic between Hoseaand Gomer and Israel and the
Lord, it just it breaks my heart.
See, because Hosea, he didn'treally have a choice.
He couldn't lock her up.
You know, like Peter thepumpkin eater, where he locked
her in a pumpkin and there hekept her very well, right.
(13:36):
I mean, it would be so mucheasier if you just lock them
away and you go.
You're mine and nobody else's.
But see, god doesn't want thatsort of a relationship with us.
He doesn't want a robotic slaverelationship.
He wants us to freely love him,and he wanted that for Hosea
(13:56):
too.
But he knew what Gomer wasgoing to be like, and so Hosea's
message to Israel was not acomfortable one.
It wasn't one that everybodywent oh awesome, come here,
hosea, talk to us more aboutwhat God has to say to us.
Right, he was talking about acoming judgment where the
(14:18):
Israelites were going to beconquered by the Assyrians and
led out into exile.
Their home was not going to beconquered by the Assyrians and
led out into exile.
Their home was not going to betheir home.
But despite their spiritualadultery, god still loved them,
just as Hosea loved Gomer.
God's heart broke for Israel.
(14:40):
God's heart broke for Israel.
Now, I don't know exactly whatchanged his heart, or if it was
just that he was in a fit ofrage and he was just angry at
what was going on, butultimately the Lord loved Israel
.
Maybe it's that he justremembered all of the things
(15:00):
that he had done and the reasonshe had done it, and all the
good times, not the bad, butultimately he loved Israel.
You see, hosea, like God couldhave brought about all kinds of
destruction on Hosea, or I meanon Gomer.
(15:21):
You see, with her stepping out,with her being promiscuous and
becoming a woman of prostitution, that was grounds for divorce,
and back in those days there wasa lot of things that could come
from an unfaithful spouse.
They could be publicly accusedand that would bring shame on
(15:46):
them and the family.
That shame would be the same asbeing unclean, and we know a
lot of the stories about how theunclean people were traded in
the Old Testament.
They had to walk around andannounce that they were unclean.
Well, these people may not havehad to walk around saying shame
(16:09):
, shame.
Everybody would know.
And when you walk through town,people would probably part ways
because they didn't want any ofyour shame to get on them.
It'd be hard to do business,it'd be hard to do life, because
nobody wanted to touch theunclean, nobody wanted to have
(16:33):
any dealings with the unclean.
It would also requireseparation from the community.
Imagine if you had to live onthe outskirts of Buckeye and you
weren't allowed to come intotown.
That's a hot mess.
(16:53):
She could also be stoned.
If Hosea wanted to, he couldhave claimed her life because of
it, and the Lord was going toclaim the lives of Israel.
But instead Hosea was commandedby God to redeem her and bring
(17:21):
her back.
Hosea was commanded by God toredeem her and bring her back,
and this illustrated God'sforgiveness and his love for
Israel.
In Hosea 3.1,.
It says and the Lord said to meGo again, love a woman who is
loved by another man and is anadulteress, even as the Lord
loves the children of Israel,though, they turn to other gods
(17:45):
and love cakes and raisins.
So I bought her for 15 shekelsof silver and a homer of lethic
of barley and I said to her youmust dwell as mine for many days
.
You shall not play the whore orbelong to another man, so I
will also be to you.
He redeemed her for half theprice of a slave.
(18:06):
A slave was worth 30 shekels.
What this shows is thedepreciation that happens as a
result of that unfaithfulness,that he didn't even have to pay
full price for her because shewas now considered worthless,
(18:30):
but still he went and heredeemed her 3.5,.
It says Afterward, the childrenof Israel shall return and seek
the Lord, their God, and David,their king.
(18:55):
Being in such a pit, knowingwhat you fully deserve, and then
having somebody come and loveyou just the same that's Hosea's
message to us is that it soundsa lot like today, right?
We've as a nation, sometimes asindividuals, we've wandered
(19:18):
pretty far away from the Lord.
We live in a very prosperouscountry that now openly denies
the Lord.
We were once thought to be aChristian nation, and I believe
we still are, but Christians arejust a little too quiet about
it.
You see, we live in a world ofdistractions and unfaithfulness,
(19:45):
like then.
Today we've got a lot ofmixture in our relationship with
God.
We bring a lot of things intoour relationship with God that
have absolutely no businessbeing there, and if you're
confused as to what that is,come talk to us, we'll tell you.
(20:06):
But there's a lot of mixturethat we see in today's world
where we think, ah, it's okay,god doesn't really mind if I
listen to this or if I do thator if I include this into my
life.
Pastor Jay talked about itshortly after we got back from
(20:26):
Nepal that the things that webring into our homes, that we
see as mere decoration, arereally idols to other gods and
we think, just because it's adecoration, that's okay, that we
can have it in our home.
That's mixture.
Those are things that have nobusiness being in our homes and
in our lives, because it sendsmixed messages, not only to us
(20:50):
and our spirit and to the Lord,but to the people who see us,
who are watching us, and if theysee that mixture in us, they
think that it's okay.
And then that mixture goessecond generation, third
generation that mixture in us,they think that it's okay.
And then that mixture goessecond generation, third
generation, and then the linesget so blurred that we end up
(21:11):
exactly where Israel was Noteven knowing that there was
mixture Sacrificing to the Godof the harvest.
See, god loves us even whereunlovablevable.
(21:33):
Anybody here been unlovablebefore?
I know I have a lot and as Iwas preparing for this message,
I really started to think Iwonder if Annie would have
married me If the Lord had givenher a message ahead of time,
given her a warning of thethings that I would be, the
(21:55):
things that I would do.
Now.
I've never physically steppedout on her, but I definitely
have lied a lot because of stuffthat was in me and I've shared
a lot of my testimony.
So I won't go into all of that,but there have been times that
I've been unfaithful for mycommitment to her, in which she
(22:17):
still have been with me, whichshe still have said yes when I
asked her to marry if she knewthe stuff that was coming ahead.
Now we've had a great marriage.
We've had a lot of really goodtimes, but I know that I brought
a lot of pain into her life too.
Her not so much, but would shehave said yes.
(22:40):
And so it's kind of hard thatin our relationship I would have
been the Gomer and her theHosea.
But I'll also tell you that, asa result of her, loving me
despite my brokenness has beenone of the reasons that I've
(23:05):
been able to come and that I canspeak to you now.
See, it's just like thispicture that we use all the time
here, walking with Jesus.
When I first started coming toa cornerstone, I would have been
in the picture way, way back inthe background, way back.
Now I'm a little bit closer.
But, see, the reason we usethis picture is because it
(23:31):
illustrates that none of us havearrived.
We're all still in process, andI'm so thankful that my wife
has loved me during this process, that my church wife has loved
me during this process, that mychurch family has loved me
during this process and, mostly,that God has been faithful to
me, that he's continued to bringme forward, that he didn't
(23:55):
leave me where I started.
See, because the goal for ushere is to just be more like
Jesus and as we do, thatunfaithfulness, all of those
other things that have been inour lives, those begin to slowly
pass away, sometimes somethings faster than others.
(24:16):
But it's so important that, aswe try to be more like Jesus,
that we allow those old thingsto die and go away.
And, for me, one of the thingsthat has helped so much in my
growth is our connect groups,where we connect, grow and serve
(24:38):
, because coming to service onSunday is great, but for me I
needed a lot more.
I needed to be with people, tobe able to ask questions and to
be able to show me, just throughtheir examples, how to live,
(25:03):
because that is really where somuch of my growth happened,
because I didn't grow up in this, so I didn't see a lot of the
examples that I now try to set.
And the only reason I know howto set those examples is because
of the men and women sittingright next to you, the people
(25:23):
who are also willing to be inthese groups and help to shave
off some of the rough parts.
So my question to you is haveyou been unfaithful?
Have you been unfaithful?
How have you been unfaithful?
(25:44):
Because the reality is, at somepoint in our life we've been
unfaithful to the Lord tovarying degrees.
For some of us hopefully thatyou have grown up in this and
it's just been some minoroffenses that you can take care
of easily.
But I know that for a lot of usthere have been some major
(26:07):
offenses that the Lord couldabsolutely claim his rights and
bring spiritual death upon us.
Hosea 6.1 says this Come and letus return to the Lord, for he
has torn us, that he may heal us.
(26:27):
He struck us down and he willbind us up.
And 6.6 says For I desiresteadfast love and not sacrifice
the knowledge of God ratherthan burnt offerings.
Sacrifice the knowledge of Godrather than burnt offerings.
(26:50):
What God really wants is a lifelived out in meaningful change.
He's not mad at you if all thebad stuff doesn't go away like
this, because if you spent 30,40 years, 20 years, whatever it
(27:13):
is building up these lives,building up these offenses
between you and the Lord, itdoesn't necessarily mean it's
going to go away overnight,because we have to learn new
patterns, we have to form newruts, new positive ruts in our
life.
But we need to experience afoundational shift in our
attitudes and behaviors, andwhat I love is that here we've
(27:38):
got a really easy way, or a realsimple way, of understanding
that it's love God, makedisciples and reach the world.
That was not my default settingwhen I first arrived here.
It was all about me.
But see, now I see the need forloving other people, and that
(28:01):
love for other people comesbecause of my love for God and
that love that he has for me.
Hosea 14.4 says I will healtheir apostasy.
I will love them freely, for myanger has turned from them.
(28:22):
See, when we turn from our sinand we turn back to God, he
stands ready to forgive us.
Not only that, but he wants toforgive us.
He wants to forgive us so muchhe was willing to potentially
ruin this other guy's life foryou.
He told this other guy to gohave a really hard life so that
(28:49):
you could read about it and seethat, no matter what you do, he
still loves you.
So as I was preparing thismessage, man, like I said, I had
a really tough time gettingstarted and ultimately just
saying Lord, what would you haveme say to your people?
(29:10):
Because I could bring a messageof condemnation like Hosea did,
calling you out on all yourstuff.
Hopefully you'd still be myfriends afterwards?
Maybe not, but I asked the Lordand it was so funny because the
(29:34):
answer came so quick.
I said, lord, at the end ofthis message, by the end of this
time, that I have to speak.
What would you have them tounderstand?
And he said, very simply tellthem, I love them.
It was that simple, it wasn'tthis drawn out theological thing
(29:59):
.
He said tell them, I love them.
And so today I want to tell youthe Lord loves you, no matter
(30:23):
what you've done, where you'vebeen, how you've acted, the Lord
loves you.
Take a second and let that sinkin, because here in a moment
we're going to go into the altartime and the altar will be open
for you to really reflect onhow much the Lord loves you
despite your actions, how muchthe Lord loves you despite your
(30:49):
actions.
You know, it's kind of like inthe movies how you know we don't
start a movie at the very endwhen Frodo throws the ring into
the fire, right, the reason thatmovie is so you get just so
excited with the characters isbecause you've seen the struggle
, you've seen all the hardshipthat these characters have gone
(31:13):
through.
You see, the Lord has seen allof your struggles.
He's seen all the things thatyou've done, in secret or in
public, in the things that youthought you got away with.
But he's seen it all and hestill chooses to love you.
(31:41):
Man, when I think about myactions, when I think about all
the things that I've done, and Ithink about the fact, when I
think about all the things thatI have done and I think about
the fact that he still loves me,when I have felt utterly
unlovable at times and it's veryeasy for us to get down on
ourselves and go.
Nobody could love me.
You have no clue the thingsthat I've done, and I don't
(32:05):
unless you share them.
But the Lord does, and despiteall of that, he chooses to love
you unconditionally and with apassion that will chase you down
.
And if the Lord could, he wouldjust grab you by the shoulders
(32:29):
and go I don't care what you'vedone, listen to me, I love you.
It's just such a powerfulthought to me.
Hosea 2.23 says and I will sowfor her myself in the land, and
(32:52):
I will have mercy on no mercy,and I will say to not my people,
you are my people, and he shallsay you are my God.
See, but all of this doesn'tcome about just by accident.
(33:12):
It comes about withintentionality.
What we have to do is we haveto recognize where we're at.
Don't get down on yourself forit, because you're not the only
one, but you have to recognize,you have to take stock and you
have to see.
Well, this is where I'm at andyou could sit there and pout
(33:36):
about it or you could dosomething about it.
And for those of us who arebelievers, it looks like this
have you embraced Jesus?
For those of you who arebelievers, it looks like this
have you embraced Jesus?
For those of you who have notembraced Jesus, this is what it
looks like.
The first step is justembracing Jesus.
So I'm going to ask the worshipteam if they would come and I'm
(34:00):
going to ask that you would allstand.
I'm going to ask this questionto you have you embraced Jesus?
Are you still on the outs?
Are you still stuck in somesort of a situation?
And you recognize you've neverbeen forgiven of it?
(34:27):
See Romans 10, verses 9 and 10says it like this because if you
confess with your mouth thatJesus is Lord and believe in
your heart that God raised himfrom the dead, you will be saved
, for with the heart onebelieves and is justified.
And with the mouth one confessesand is saved justified.
(34:48):
And with the mouth one confessesand is saved.
For all of us who are believers, we've all prayed this prayer
before.
That basically justacknowledges you know what?
I've been in a place, lord,I've been away from you.
I don't know that I could callyou friend, I don't know that
you really do love me.
And this prayer that we'regoing to pray, I'm going to ask
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all the believers if you wouldpray with us.
But if that's you and you'rehere and you recognize you know
what I have never come intorelationship with Jesus.
I'm going to ask that you justraise your hand so I can see it,
so that I know who we'repraying for, and then you can
put it back down.
We're'm going to ask that youjust raise your hand so I can
see it, so that I know who we'repraying for, and then you can
put it back down.
We're not going to embarrassyou, but if you recognize you're
(35:34):
not in right standing with theLord, that you need that
relationship, you need thatforgiveness, just raise your
hand.
Speaker 3 (35:48):
Thank you, Lord.
Speaker 2 (35:53):
Thank you, lord.
I'm just going to ask that youall would repeat after me Lord,
thank you for loving me, thankyou for sending Jesus.
I believe Jesus died on thecross for my sins.
I believe he rose again.
(36:16):
Forgive me of my sin.
I surrender my life to you.
In Christ's name, we pray Amen.
Friends, if that's you, werejoice and we celebrate with
you today and back here.
(36:39):
If you receive Christ for thefirst time, we have some
resources for you that will helpyou get started on this journey
.
Come and walk with us, tryingto be more like Jesus and for
the rest of us, as we get readyto open this altar.
Like I said before, take sometime, go back through your
(37:05):
history and, whether you'verepented of it or not, bring
that to the Lord.
If you haven't repented, thisis a good time to come and say
Lord, I've been doing somethingthat I shouldn't be and it
separates me from you and am sosorry.
Thank you for loving me.
And if it's something that youhave brought to the lord before
(37:29):
and you've been forgiven of it,now's the time to come and bring
that offering of thanksgiving.
Say lord, thank you forcontinuing to love me, even
though I didn't deserve it tolove me, even though I didn't
deserve it.
And, lord, let this remembrancekeep me on the righteous path.
Let this remembrance of thethings that I had done in the
(37:54):
past and the way that you lovedme through it keep me, because I
love you.
Have it to keep me from goingback to old ways or starting new
destructive patterns in my life.
Back to old ways or startingnew destructive patterns in my
life.
So, lord, I just thank you forthis opportunity to speak this
message today.
Lord, I thank you that you arewilling to challenge this man so
(38:18):
that we could be challenged butknow the freedom that you offer
and the love that you bring.
God, I just pray that, as weopen this altar, that you would
help us to bring those thingsthat need to be cut out of our
lives.
Help us to deal with them, letit not be a shameful thing, lord
(38:38):
, and help us, god, to celebratethose things that you've loved
us through.
We praise you and we thank youin the mighty name of Jesus
Christ, amen.
Speaker 3 (38:51):
In two weeks we are having the Baptist School Mercy
House event.
It is going to be huge thisyear.
It's going to actually be atthe elementary school there in
the area.
So we need you.
We, as a church, we need toshow up and we need to help and
do everything we can for thecommunity.
So go on the app, sign up.
We need different positions foryou to fill.
Also, we need donations so youcan go on there and see a list
(39:14):
of things.
But we really want to supplyfor the community and their back
to school for these kids.
So be a part.
Speaker 4 (39:20):
Before we go, we want to pray this blessing over us.
The Lord bless you and keep you.
Lord, make his face to shineupon you and be gracious to you.
Lord, lift up his countenanceupon you and give you peace.
(39:41):
Lord, I pray a blessing uponyour church, your people, lord,
that you empower us by yourspirit to live your love out to
those around us.
I pray all this in the powerfulname that is Jesus Christ.
Amen, amen, know this, we loveyou very much here at
Cornerstone.
God bless you and have a greatweek.
Hey, fam, what's up?
It's your boy, hosea.
Back at it again.
You know I gotta keep it realwith y'all and today's a heavy
one.
God's been speaking to me, guys,and honestly it ain't always
easy to hear.
He's comparing our relationshipwith Him to my relationship
with my wife, gomer.
Gomer, beautiful woman, full oflife, but she's got a wandering
heart.
You know she seeks validationin places that don't offer true
(00:23):
love.
It hurts, guys, it really does.
You pour your heart intosomeone, you offer them
everything and they turn away.
And God, he says that's exactlywhat we're doing to him.
He is faithful, the one whoprovides, who loves
unconditionally.
And we, his people, are runningafter other things, things like
(00:43):
wealth, power, fleetingpleasures, idols that can't love
us back.
He sees our hearts turning away, chasing after these empty
things, just like Gomer, and itbreaks his heart.
But here's the thing that'shitting me hard, fam.
Even with all the hurt, all thebetrayal, god's love.
It doesn't stop, it'srelentless.
He tells me to go to Gomer tolove her, even though she's
(01:06):
strayed, to redeem her, to showher the kind of love that never
gives up.
Can you even imagine that?
Loving someone who has hurt youso deeply?
That's the kind of love God hasfor us.
It's not about condemnation,it's about us turning back to
Him, the only one who can trulysatisfy.
(01:27):
So what am I going to do?
I'm going to follow God'sinstructions, no matter how hard
it seems, because if His loveis this persistent, this
unwavering, then maybe, justmaybe, there's hope for Gomer
and there's definitely hope forus.
Let's encourage each other.
We're all in this together.
Peace out, fam, and rememberreal love never gives up.
Speaker 2 (01:51):
Man.
I'm so grateful for the gift ofAI being able to show us in a
visual way what it must havebeen like for some of these guys
that we'll never physically seeon this side of heaven.
But I have a question for you.
How many of you have ever beenasked to do something that you
didn't want to do?
Whether it was when you were achild and somebody you know,
(02:13):
your parents said clean yourroom or, in my case, go pull
weeds, and I thought don't youknow how much time that'll take.
Or as a student, when yourteacher gave you an assignment
or an essay and you go.
Don't you know how long that'sgoing to take, what that's going
to do to my free time.
Maybe it was at your job, whenyour employer asked you to do
(02:34):
something that was tough or thatyou just didn't want to do, and
you go.
Don't you know how hard that'llbe.
That's going to take a lot.
Maybe it's been from God, wherehe asks you to do something
that you don't want to do.
I know that he's asked me to dothings and I kind of stop and I
say, lord, don't you know whatthat's going to cost me?
(02:57):
That may cost me somethingfinancially.
That may cost my socialstanding, and I don't know if
that cost is worth it.
You see, today we're going tobe talking about a prophet that
God asked him to do, somethingthat could cost his social
(03:18):
standing and cost him a lotrelationally and in his heart.
And so today we're continuingour series on prophets, the
minor prophets.
So far we've heard severalvoices.
We've heard about Micah andObadiah, joel and Nahum, and
those were some great messagesand I'm very thankful that I've
(03:40):
gotten to hear those.
And today this one's kind of achallenging one.
Well, all of the minor prophetsare challenging because
prophets in general were themessenger right, and there's a
reason we have the saying don'tshoot the messenger right,
(04:02):
Because when they bring amessage, it's not necessarily
something you're excited to hear.
See, the priests, as PastorCeleste mentioned a couple of
weeks ago, the priests were theones who would talk to God on
behalf of the people, but theprophets were the one who would
come and talk to the people onbehalf of God.
And I don't know about you, butsometimes I've been known to be
a knucklehead from time to time.
And when that happens time totime, and when that happens
(04:28):
somebody has to speak into me,and usually that's been Pastor
Rich, pastor Jay, anybody who'sat the pulpit here at
Cornerstone.
And so as we dive into Hoseatoday, I want to give you just a
little bit of background on whohe was.
So he was actually the first ofthe minor prophets and so while
there were several of them, hewas the one who's listed first
(04:49):
in the old writings.
He was a prophet for about 60years.
Could you imagine being themessenger for 60 years, bringing
bad news for 60 years?
That could cost your socialstanding.
When you come into town peoplego, oh no, there he is again,
(05:11):
and they probably turn and gothe other way.
Right, but his name?
It meant salvation.
He prophesied mainly to thenorthern kingdom of Israel, at a
time where the kingdom ofIsrael was split.
But see, the northern kingdomwas a rich kingdom.
They had a lot of stuff goingon for them, but as a result of
(05:32):
their prosperity they had falleninto this place of moral decay
and greed, and that, of course,grieved the heart of God.
So during Hosea's time, israelhad six different kings over 20
years.
That's a lot when you considerthat we had one queen in England
(05:53):
who was.
She reigned for a long time,but to have six kings in 20
years.
Four of them were assassinatedand one was forcefully removed.
Four of them were assassinatedand one was forcefully removed.
Could you imagine that intoday's world, that kind of
(06:13):
change in power that quickly?
You see, at this time theIsraelites had identified the
Lord with Baal, the Canaanitegod of nature, and they had
given in into visiting shrineprostitutes and they were mixing
(06:34):
a lot of the Canaanite beliefswith their worship of the Lord,
and so they were worshiping himin a way that he had explicitly
told them not to do.
But they were doing it anyway,and they didn't really see
anything wrong with it, becausethey were trying to play both
sides of the fence, like if weworship God this way, just a it
anyway, and they didn't reallysee anything wrong with it,
because they were trying to playboth sides of the fence, like
if we worship God this way, justa little bit, and we worship
this, then we're covered on allof our sides, right, but we're
just going to claim that we areonly following the one.
(06:55):
So God was pretty angry ateverything that was going on,
and so he decided to use Hosea'slife as a picture of his
feelings towards Israel.
So the question I have for youtoday is are you faithful?
Now you may think, yeah,absolutely, because I haven't
(07:21):
cheated on my wife or my husband, I haven't done this or that.
But are you faithful?
We're going to go into that alittle bit today, what it means
to be faithful to the Lord, andby using an example of somebody
who wasn't faithful.
See in Hosea 1, verse 2,.
It said when the Lord began tospeak through Hosea, the Lord
(07:44):
said to him go, marry apromiscuous woman and have
(08:19):
children with her.
It said the chapters of Hoseaare what's called a similitude.
It's kind of like a simile or ametaphor of how God felt.
I read through this becauseHosea is one of the doom
prophets.
He talks about the doom comingto Israel, that they were going
to be led away by the Assyrians,and so to read this and to know
that God put this guy, hosea,in this position of heartbreak
(08:43):
was really hard for me.
You see, as people watchedHosea's life, they were able to
make the comparisons and drawthe similarities between how
Israel was treating God and howGomer was treating Hosea, and I
want to say that to us.
(09:03):
We are a representation of, ofour relationship with God and
how God feels about the world,and so it's very important that
we live out a life willing forpeople to watch us and see us go
through our struggles and ourtrials, but also our victories.
So Gomer, gomer was the wife ofHosea.
(09:29):
Now there's some debate as towhether or not Gomer was already
promiscuous or as to whether ornot it really depends on the
versions that you read, thetranslations whether or not she
was already promiscuous or ifshe was going to become
promiscuous, if God waspreparing his heart for what his
(09:52):
wife was going to be like.
See, she represented Israel'swavering faithfulness to the
Lord because she was married toHosea, but she also stepped out
on him quite a bit.
See, they had three children,gomer and Hosea.
(10:13):
In Hosea 1, 3, and 4, it says sohe went and took Gomer, the
daughter of Diblaim, and sheconceived and bore a son, and
the Lord said to him Call hisname Jezreel, for in just a
little while I will punish thehouse of Jehu for the blood of
Jezreel and I will put an end tothe kingdom of the house of
(10:34):
Israel.
In Hosea 1.6, it says sheconceived and bore a daughter,
and the Lord said to call him adaughter and said to call her,
call her name no mercy, for Iwill no more have mercy on the
house of Israel to forgive themat all.
(10:55):
When she had weaned no mercy.
She conceived and bore a sonand the Lord said call his name,
not my people, for you are notmy people and I am not your God.
Could you imagine if that'swhat your name means?
(11:18):
Now, I don't know if you've putmuch stock into the meaning of
names, but we do as a family.
My name, for instance, angus,means unique strength, and so we
named each of our children veryspecifically, because every
time you say their name, you'respeaking that over them, right?
(11:39):
Just what happens to a child.
If you call them stupid all thetime or worthless, they begin
to act that way, and so ournames are incredibly important.
Could you imagine being namednot my people, knowing that it
meant that God was no longerowning your people?
(12:03):
It's pretty harsh, it's prettyreal.
I mean that God would have himname his son and daughter, these
things because he wanted tospeak to the nation of Israel
and he wanted them to understandwhat his heart was towards
(12:25):
these people.
And his heart was this waybecause he was brokenhearted,
because if you look back athistory, you see everything that
God's brought them through.
He delivered them out of Egypt,he provided for them in the
desert, he kept performingmiracle after miracle and doing
these amazing things for them,and they treated him like this.
(12:48):
For those of you who aremarried, think of how you would
feel being with that one personall of the time and then knowing
that they're stepping out onyou.
But imagine that millions oftimes, over and over again, with
each of the people man, themore I've just thought about
(13:11):
this, this dynamic between Hoseaand Gomer and Israel and the
Lord, it just it breaks my heart.
See, because Hosea, he didn'treally have a choice.
He couldn't lock her up.
You know, like Peter thepumpkin eater, where he locked
her in a pumpkin and there hekept her very well, right.
(13:36):
I mean, it would be so mucheasier if you just lock them
away and you go.
You're mine and nobody else's.
But see, god doesn't want thatsort of a relationship with us.
He doesn't want a robotic slaverelationship.
He wants us to freely love him,and he wanted that for Hosea
(13:56):
too.
But he knew what Gomer wasgoing to be like, and so Hosea's
message to Israel was not acomfortable one.
It wasn't one that everybodywent oh awesome, come here,
hosea, talk to us more aboutwhat God has to say to us.
Right, he was talking about acoming judgment where the
(14:18):
Israelites were going to beconquered by the Assyrians and
led out into exile.
Their home was not going to beconquered by the Assyrians and
led out into exile.
Their home was not going to betheir home.
But despite their spiritualadultery, god still loved them,
just as Hosea loved Gomer.
God's heart broke for Israel.
(14:40):
God's heart broke for Israel.
Now, I don't know exactly whatchanged his heart, or if it was
just that he was in a fit ofrage and he was just angry at
what was going on, butultimately the Lord loved Israel
.
Maybe it's that he justremembered all of the things
(15:00):
that he had done and the reasonshe had done it, and all the
good times, not the bad, butultimately he loved Israel.
You see, hosea, like God couldhave brought about all kinds of
destruction on Hosea, or I meanon Gomer.
(15:21):
You see, with her stepping out,with her being promiscuous and
becoming a woman of prostitution, that was grounds for divorce,
and back in those days there wasa lot of things that could come
from an unfaithful spouse.
They could be publicly accusedand that would bring shame on
(15:46):
them and the family.
That shame would be the same asbeing unclean, and we know a
lot of the stories about how theunclean people were traded in
the Old Testament.
They had to walk around andannounce that they were unclean.
Well, these people may not havehad to walk around saying shame
(16:09):
, shame.
Everybody would know.
And when you walk through town,people would probably part ways
because they didn't want any ofyour shame to get on them.
It'd be hard to do business,it'd be hard to do life, because
nobody wanted to touch theunclean, nobody wanted to have
(16:33):
any dealings with the unclean.
It would also requireseparation from the community.
Imagine if you had to live onthe outskirts of Buckeye and you
weren't allowed to come intotown.
That's a hot mess.
(16:53):
She could also be stoned.
If Hosea wanted to, he couldhave claimed her life because of
it, and the Lord was going toclaim the lives of Israel.
But instead Hosea was commandedby God to redeem her and bring
(17:21):
her back.
Hosea was commanded by God toredeem her and bring her back,
and this illustrated God'sforgiveness and his love for
Israel.
In Hosea 3.1,.
It says and the Lord said to meGo again, love a woman who is
loved by another man and is anadulteress, even as the Lord
loves the children of Israel,though, they turn to other gods
(17:45):
and love cakes and raisins.
So I bought her for 15 shekelsof silver and a homer of lethic
of barley and I said to her youmust dwell as mine for many days
.
You shall not play the whore orbelong to another man, so I
will also be to you.
He redeemed her for half theprice of a slave.
(18:06):
A slave was worth 30 shekels.
What this shows is thedepreciation that happens as a
result of that unfaithfulness,that he didn't even have to pay
full price for her because shewas now considered worthless,
(18:30):
but still he went and heredeemed her 3.5,.
It says Afterward, the childrenof Israel shall return and seek
the Lord, their God, and David,their king.
(18:55):
Being in such a pit, knowingwhat you fully deserve, and then
having somebody come and loveyou just the same that's Hosea's
message to us is that it soundsa lot like today, right?
We've as a nation, sometimes asindividuals, we've wandered
(19:18):
pretty far away from the Lord.
We live in a very prosperouscountry that now openly denies
the Lord.
We were once thought to be aChristian nation, and I believe
we still are, but Christians arejust a little too quiet about
it.
You see, we live in a world ofdistractions and unfaithfulness,
(19:45):
like then.
Today we've got a lot ofmixture in our relationship with
God.
We bring a lot of things intoour relationship with God that
have absolutely no businessbeing there, and if you're
confused as to what that is,come talk to us, we'll tell you.
(20:06):
But there's a lot of mixturethat we see in today's world
where we think, ah, it's okay,god doesn't really mind if I
listen to this or if I do thator if I include this into my
life.
Pastor Jay talked about itshortly after we got back from
(20:26):
Nepal that the things that webring into our homes, that we
see as mere decoration, arereally idols to other gods and
we think, just because it's adecoration, that's okay, that we
can have it in our home.
That's mixture.
Those are things that have nobusiness being in our homes and
in our lives, because it sendsmixed messages, not only to us
(20:50):
and our spirit and to the Lord,but to the people who see us,
who are watching us, and if theysee that mixture in us, they
think that it's okay.
And then that mixture goessecond generation, third
generation that mixture in us,they think that it's okay.
And then that mixture goessecond generation, third
generation, and then the linesget so blurred that we end up
(21:11):
exactly where Israel was Noteven knowing that there was
mixture Sacrificing to the Godof the harvest.
See, god loves us even whereunlovablevable.
(21:33):
Anybody here been unlovablebefore?
I know I have a lot and as Iwas preparing for this message,
I really started to think Iwonder if Annie would have
married me If the Lord had givenher a message ahead of time,
given her a warning of thethings that I would be, the
(21:55):
things that I would do.
Now.
I've never physically steppedout on her, but I definitely
have lied a lot because of stuffthat was in me and I've shared
a lot of my testimony.
So I won't go into all of that,but there have been times that
I've been unfaithful for mycommitment to her, in which she
(22:17):
still have been with me, whichshe still have said yes when I
asked her to marry if she knewthe stuff that was coming ahead.
Now we've had a great marriage.
We've had a lot of really goodtimes, but I know that I brought
a lot of pain into her life too.
Her not so much, but would shehave said yes.
(22:40):
And so it's kind of hard thatin our relationship I would have
been the Gomer and her theHosea.
But I'll also tell you that, asa result of her, loving me
despite my brokenness has beenone of the reasons that I've
(23:05):
been able to come and that I canspeak to you now.
See, it's just like thispicture that we use all the time
here, walking with Jesus.
When I first started coming toa cornerstone, I would have been
in the picture way, way back inthe background, way back.
Now I'm a little bit closer.
But, see, the reason we usethis picture is because it
(23:31):
illustrates that none of us havearrived.
We're all still in process, andI'm so thankful that my wife
has loved me during this process, that my church wife has loved
me during this process, that mychurch family has loved me
during this process and, mostly,that God has been faithful to
me, that he's continued to bringme forward, that he didn't
(23:55):
leave me where I started.
See, because the goal for ushere is to just be more like
Jesus and as we do, thatunfaithfulness, all of those
other things that have been inour lives, those begin to slowly
pass away, sometimes somethings faster than others.
(24:16):
But it's so important that, aswe try to be more like Jesus,
that we allow those old thingsto die and go away.
And, for me, one of the thingsthat has helped so much in my
growth is our connect groups,where we connect, grow and serve
(24:38):
, because coming to service onSunday is great, but for me I
needed a lot more.
I needed to be with people, tobe able to ask questions and to
be able to show me, just throughtheir examples, how to live,
(25:03):
because that is really where somuch of my growth happened,
because I didn't grow up in this, so I didn't see a lot of the
examples that I now try to set.
And the only reason I know howto set those examples is because
of the men and women sittingright next to you, the people
(25:23):
who are also willing to be inthese groups and help to shave
off some of the rough parts.
So my question to you is haveyou been unfaithful?
Have you been unfaithful?
How have you been unfaithful?
(25:44):
Because the reality is, at somepoint in our life we've been
unfaithful to the Lord tovarying degrees.
For some of us hopefully thatyou have grown up in this and
it's just been some minoroffenses that you can take care
of easily.
But I know that for a lot of usthere have been some major
(26:07):
offenses that the Lord couldabsolutely claim his rights and
bring spiritual death upon us.
Hosea 6.1 says this Come and letus return to the Lord, for he
has torn us, that he may heal us.
(26:27):
He struck us down and he willbind us up.
And 6.6 says For I desiresteadfast love and not sacrifice
the knowledge of God ratherthan burnt offerings.
Sacrifice the knowledge of Godrather than burnt offerings.
(26:50):
What God really wants is a lifelived out in meaningful change.
He's not mad at you if all thebad stuff doesn't go away like
this, because if you spent 30,40 years, 20 years, whatever it
(27:13):
is building up these lives,building up these offenses
between you and the Lord, itdoesn't necessarily mean it's
going to go away overnight,because we have to learn new
patterns, we have to form newruts, new positive ruts in our
life.
But we need to experience afoundational shift in our
attitudes and behaviors, andwhat I love is that here we've
(27:38):
got a really easy way, or a realsimple way, of understanding
that it's love God, makedisciples and reach the world.
That was not my default settingwhen I first arrived here.
It was all about me.
But see, now I see the need forloving other people, and that
(28:01):
love for other people comesbecause of my love for God and
that love that he has for me.
Hosea 14.4 says I will healtheir apostasy.
I will love them freely, for myanger has turned from them.
(28:22):
See, when we turn from our sinand we turn back to God, he
stands ready to forgive us.
Not only that, but he wants toforgive us.
He wants to forgive us so muchhe was willing to potentially
ruin this other guy's life foryou.
He told this other guy to gohave a really hard life so that
(28:49):
you could read about it and seethat, no matter what you do, he
still loves you.
So as I was preparing thismessage, man, like I said, I had
a really tough time gettingstarted and ultimately just
saying Lord, what would you haveme say to your people?
(29:10):
Because I could bring a messageof condemnation like Hosea did,
calling you out on all yourstuff.
Hopefully you'd still be myfriends afterwards?
Maybe not, but I asked the Lordand it was so funny because the
(29:34):
answer came so quick.
I said, lord, at the end ofthis message, by the end of this
time, that I have to speak.
What would you have them tounderstand?
And he said, very simply tellthem, I love them.
It was that simple, it wasn'tthis drawn out theological thing
(29:59):
.
He said tell them, I love them.
And so today I want to tell youthe Lord loves you, no matter
(30:23):
what you've done, where you'vebeen, how you've acted, the Lord
loves you.
Take a second and let that sinkin, because here in a moment
we're going to go into the altartime and the altar will be open
for you to really reflect onhow much the Lord loves you
despite your actions, how muchthe Lord loves you despite your
(30:49):
actions.
You know, it's kind of like inthe movies how you know we don't
start a movie at the very endwhen Frodo throws the ring into
the fire, right, the reason thatmovie is so you get just so
excited with the characters isbecause you've seen the struggle
, you've seen all the hardshipthat these characters have gone
(31:13):
through.
You see, the Lord has seen allof your struggles.
He's seen all the things thatyou've done, in secret or in
public, in the things that youthought you got away with.
But he's seen it all and hestill chooses to love you.
(31:41):
Man, when I think about myactions, when I think about all
the things that I've done, and Ithink about the fact, when I
think about all the things thatI have done and I think about
the fact that he still loves me,when I have felt utterly
unlovable at times and it's veryeasy for us to get down on
ourselves and go.
Nobody could love me.
You have no clue the thingsthat I've done, and I don't
(32:05):
unless you share them.
But the Lord does, and despiteall of that, he chooses to love
you unconditionally and with apassion that will chase you down
.
And if the Lord could, he wouldjust grab you by the shoulders
(32:29):
and go I don't care what you'vedone, listen to me, I love you.
It's just such a powerfulthought to me.
Hosea 2.23 says and I will sowfor her myself in the land, and
(32:52):
I will have mercy on no mercy,and I will say to not my people,
you are my people, and he shallsay you are my God.
See, but all of this doesn'tcome about just by accident.
(33:12):
It comes about withintentionality.
What we have to do is we haveto recognize where we're at.
Don't get down on yourself forit, because you're not the only
one, but you have to recognize,you have to take stock and you
have to see.
Well, this is where I'm at andyou could sit there and pout
(33:36):
about it or you could dosomething about it.
And for those of us who arebelievers, it looks like this
have you embraced Jesus?
For those of you who arebelievers, it looks like this
have you embraced Jesus?
For those of you who have notembraced Jesus, this is what it
looks like.
The first step is justembracing Jesus.
So I'm going to ask the worshipteam if they would come and I'm
(34:00):
going to ask that you would allstand.
I'm going to ask this questionto you have you embraced Jesus?
Are you still on the outs?
Are you still stuck in somesort of a situation?
And you recognize you've neverbeen forgiven of it?
(34:27):
See Romans 10, verses 9 and 10says it like this because if you
confess with your mouth thatJesus is Lord and believe in
your heart that God raised himfrom the dead, you will be saved
, for with the heart onebelieves and is justified.
And with the mouth one confessesand is saved justified.
(34:48):
And with the mouth one confessesand is saved.
For all of us who are believers, we've all prayed this prayer
before.
That basically justacknowledges you know what?
I've been in a place, lord,I've been away from you.
I don't know that I could callyou friend, I don't know that
you really do love me.
And this prayer that we'regoing to pray, I'm going to ask
(35:10):
all the believers if you wouldpray with us.
But if that's you and you'rehere and you recognize you know
what I have never come intorelationship with Jesus.
I'm going to ask that you justraise your hand so I can see it,
so that I know who we'repraying for, and then you can
put it back down.
We're'm going to ask that youjust raise your hand so I can
see it, so that I know who we'repraying for, and then you can
put it back down.
We're not going to embarrassyou, but if you recognize you're
(35:34):
not in right standing with theLord, that you need that
relationship, you need thatforgiveness, just raise your
hand.
Speaker 3 (35:48):
Thank you, Lord.
Speaker 2 (35:53):
Thank you, lord.
I'm just going to ask that youall would repeat after me Lord,
thank you for loving me, thankyou for sending Jesus.
I believe Jesus died on thecross for my sins.
I believe he rose again.
(36:16):
Forgive me of my sin.
I surrender my life to you.
In Christ's name, we pray Amen.
Friends, if that's you, werejoice and we celebrate with
you today and back here.
(36:39):
If you receive Christ for thefirst time, we have some
resources for you that will helpyou get started on this journey
.
Come and walk with us, tryingto be more like Jesus and for
the rest of us, as we get readyto open this altar.
Like I said before, take sometime, go back through your
(37:05):
history and, whether you'verepented of it or not, bring
that to the Lord.
If you haven't repented, thisis a good time to come and say
Lord, I've been doing somethingthat I shouldn't be and it
separates me from you and am sosorry.
Thank you for loving me.
And if it's something that youhave brought to the lord before
(37:29):
and you've been forgiven of it,now's the time to come and bring
that offering of thanksgiving.
Say lord, thank you forcontinuing to love me, even
though I didn't deserve it tolove me, even though I didn't
deserve it.
And, lord, let this remembrancekeep me on the righteous path.
Let this remembrance of thethings that I had done in the
(37:54):
past and the way that you lovedme through it keep me, because I
love you.
Have it to keep me from goingback to old ways or starting new
destructive patterns in my life.
Back to old ways or startingnew destructive patterns in my
life.
So, lord, I just thank you forthis opportunity to speak this
message today.
Lord, I thank you that you arewilling to challenge this man so
(38:18):
that we could be challenged butknow the freedom that you offer
and the love that you bring.
God, I just pray that, as weopen this altar, that you would
help us to bring those thingsthat need to be cut out of our
lives.
Help us to deal with them, letit not be a shameful thing, lord
(38:38):
, and help us, god, to celebratethose things that you've loved
us through.
We praise you and we thank youin the mighty name of Jesus
Christ, amen.
Speaker 3 (38:51):
In two weeks we are having the Baptist School Mercy
House event.
It is going to be huge thisyear.
It's going to actually be atthe elementary school there in
the area.
So we need you.
We, as a church, we need toshow up and we need to help and
do everything we can for thecommunity.
So go on the app, sign up.
We need different positions foryou to fill.
Also, we need donations so youcan go on there and see a list
(39:14):
of things.
But we really want to supplyfor the community and their back
to school for these kids.
So be a part.
Speaker 4 (39:20):
Before we go, we want to pray this blessing over us.
The Lord bless you and keep you.
Lord, make his face to shineupon you and be gracious to you.
Lord, lift up his countenanceupon you and give you peace.
(39:41):
Lord, I pray a blessing uponyour church, your people, lord,
that you empower us by yourspirit to live your love out to
those around us.
I pray all this in the powerfulname that is Jesus Christ.
Amen, amen, know this, we loveyou very much here at
Cornerstone.
God bless you and have a greatweek.
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