Hosea chapters 8 & 9 Bible Study

[Music] [Applause] [Music] welcome to united body of christ church an online ministry where it is our mission to minister and feed the word of god to the body of christ visit our website at ubcchurch.org where we offer free full-length video and audio bible study lessons taught verse by verse select a speaker topic or series and click filter to view the bible lesson of your choice if you don't have a bible you can follow along with each verse by scrolling to the bottom of each bible study video if you are in need of prayer you can visit our website and fill out the prayer request form please be sure to indicate if you would like your name added to our online prayer list page and most importantly please indicate if you have accepted jesus christ as your lord and savior we also ask that you visit the prayer list and pray for our brothers and sisters in the body of christ last but not least the united body of christ app is available in the google play store and your iphone app store let us now join pastor clarence for today's bible study lesson god bless you our brothers and sisters in christ jesus and welcome to another bible study before pastor hardin comes forth and takes us through hosea chapters 8 and 9 let us all bow our heads and go before the lord in prayer lord of heaven and earth blessed god of abraham isaac and jacob god and father hallelujah god and father of our lord and savior jesus christ king of the universe ruler in the kingdom of men the one who is in control of the affairs of men whether they want to acknowledge that fact or not hallowed be your name bless you lord bless you lord of heaven and earth bless you king of kings and lord of lords you are alpha and omega you are the first and the last we bless your holy name you have no beginning and no end you are king eternal we bless you and we acknowledge you in the name of your only begotten son our blessed lord and savior our king jesus the glory of israel light to us gentiles the shepherd and the bishop of our souls our high priest who intercedes for us thank you lord bless your name o god bless your name o god i bless you holy father i bless you and i we bless your only begotten son our lord and savior jesus christ father we pray for your kingdom to come and for your will to be done in this earth as it is in heaven we pray that it be done in all the earth father we pray that righteousness would take over the nations we pray god we don't pray lord for calamity and destruction but lord we desire your righteous kingdom we desire the government of our lord jesus christ because we know that he is righteous we know that he does what you said do we know that he keeps your statutes he is the express image of your person if we want to see you eternal invisible immortal god we look at him and we long for him oh god we long for your kingdom to take over we long for your righteousness and your holiness we long for your statues to be enacted in all of these nations father we pray for your kingdom to come and for your will to be done father we thank you for blessing us to come together and to have another bible study today father we thank you for blessing us to read and hosea and to understand what we're reading lord we pray your blessings on my husband who teaches your word we pray your blessings your wisdom your instruction and your anointing for him and for all who go forth to minister your word today and for all who are listening who are studying who are reading your word father we ask if you would bless that there be understanding bless that we keep your word we ask that you bless lord that we keep your word and that we patiently as your son said patiently bring forth fruit for the glory of you for the glory of your son and then your majesty for our well-being because your word is good for us your statutes teach us and lead us in the right way and we thank you o god father we thank you for your mercy and your loving kindness towards us your majesty we ask that you forgive us lord we ask all who are listening we as a body ask if you would forgive us of our sins we thank you for long suffering and being patient with us your majesty we pray that your will be done with us and we pray and ask if you would bless us and help us with the courage to stand for righteousness and to stand for truth even if that means we're going to lose loved ones or lose jobs or lose homes or if it even means your majesty that our lives will be lost we know that we have eternal life with you through jesus christ our lord we pray that your will be done with this bible study today we pray that your will be done in each and every one of our lives your majesty help us oh god that we glorify you and your son and we thank you thank you for an opportunity to study your word those that are your people our brothers and sisters in christ that are in places where they are persecuted because they believe and confess and call on the lord jesus father we ask you if you would protect them we ask you if you would order their footsteps and show them where to go and what to do we ask you god if you would bless them with courage and we ask you if you would bless them that their faith does not fail lord you have blessed us in some places lord and in some countries you've blessed us to where we can click on a link and listen to your word listen to a bible study we can have bibles in our possessions in our homes and read but then there are those your majesty that don't have it and they don't complain oh god they bless you they praise you they believe on our lord jesus christ no matter what's going on they believe they may not have a bible they can pick up and they only got one person that out of bible and they all trying to share that bible but they read it they believe it and they praise you and god i pray for those of us that live in places where we can easily access your word on a tablet or telephone we can easily access a bible study we can easily just walk over to our dining room table or the back seat of our car and pick up a bible but yet oh bless your name o god bless your name but yet we complain we complain oh god we always got a problem we always distracted when you have made your word you have made freedoms so readily available for us we have no excuse and we have no reason to complain if anything we need to be praising you all the more so so that when the time of destruction does come because we fall up under your judgment when that time does come o god we will have your word on the inside of us we don't have to look back and be like well i remember when i could read the word because we'll have it on the inside of us because we will have praised you because we will have thanked you because we will have kept our faith help us oh god help us o lord to be grateful now to be thankful now to absorb your word now to praise you now to have faith now so that when that time comes that evil time which we are seeing is hurtling upon us that we can stand father we thank you for your mercy and your loving kindness we pray that your will is done with this bible study and with us in the name of your son jesus christ we pray have your way o god jesus name amen my brothers and sisters in christ again thank you for joining us for another bible study and pastor harden will come forth as we get into hosea 8 and 9. god bless you well god bless you saints citizens and soldiers of the most high god my name is clarence and i'm pastor of united body of christ church which is our online ministry and be and on behalf of my family and myself we'd like to take this opportunity to welcome your families to welcome yourselves back to another broadcast back to another bible study today we are coming at you with hosea chapter eight and we should have enough time to get into hosea chapter nine uh i bless god for for my wife who was also my best friend and my partner uh that she was able to come forth strong woman of god that she was able to come forth and and open our bible study up with prayer so that that being said we'll get right into our lesson today very powerful lesson i'm i'm actually looking forward to uh getting involved in it today there's never a time that i'm not you know once you set yourself up to do those things that god has called you to do you're just grateful that he uses you amen uh god is the chef the bread that god has prepared for all of us to break and to receive that's that bread of life the word of god who is the lord jesus christ the holy spirit has invited your family and yourselves my family and and myself that we could come together during this broadcast during this recording that we can fellowship sup and commune uh feasting off the word of god here my wife and myself our job is to serve what god himself has prepared for all of us to receive so to god be the glory all credit be unto the lord for any understanding that you and i received during this broadcast concerning the interpretation of his word so that's our way of honoring the father the son and the holy spirit without any further ado let's eat for the scripture saith man cannot live by bread alone but by every word which proceedeth out of the mouth of the lord so again uh hosea chapter 8 beginning at verse 1 set the trumpet to thy mouth he shall come as an eagle against the house of the lord because they have transgressed my covenant and trespassed my laws so god is saying god is saying sound the alarm because the enemy is coming and he is going to swoop down swiftly and he is going to attack if you think about an eagle when his eyes are set on a prey he drops he bombs out of the sky of when he's fixated on his target he's like a missile falling from the sky swooping down to assault its target that's the way eagles operate and god is saying that his wrath or his judgment is coming swift as an eagle dropping from the sky and the reason why this is happening or the reason why israel is being attacked because israel attacked god's covenants they forsook his covenants amen and you know god takes it personal because israel made a vow to the lord just as god committed to israel israel committed to god amen and and during that time israel went forth and and when a whoring after other gods or or was called in idolatry and israel must have expected god to set idly by and let israel go and do those things that they wanted to do in the face of the law almighty god and so god is like nah that that's it you know i got to pull you back in i got to do what i got to do to get you where you need to be amen so very powerful very interesting here israel verse 2 israel shall cry unto me my god we know thee have you have you ever walked contrary to the lord and no matter how many dreams god has given you no matter how many warnings people strangers would come up and try to say something to you and and whatever they said to you it convicted you you know eventually something happens where the bottom of your life just drop out because you were heading down the wrong path and god did what he could to get your attention to warn you that nothing good can come out of that path that you're traversing and before you know it the bottom of life just falls out from you and when that happens you find yourself crying out to the lord lord please you know god please help me and the thing about it is god was warning you all that time in a dream a tv show something you read something you heard to try to turn you back because god saw what was headed your way but you ignored and you refused and it's commonplace that when judgment falls on us even when it's in the form of chastisement when it falls on us that the very person that we have been ignoring all that time all of a sudden he got our attention and we're crying out to him and that's what you see happening with israel israel shall cry unto me my god we know thee israel has cast off that thing that is good and the enemy shall pursue him and that's what happens with us that the one that has blessed us the one that has always been there for us when we're in a state of rebellion against god we're casting off his good thing we're casting off his laws his presence um are the the the thing that we're supposed to give him which is our reasonable service is it's our oh it's our holiness unto the lord we begin to cast off all those things that please him even god himself even his word we begin to cast all those things off and away and nothing good comes of that when you look at the state of our country back in the day our children uh used to pray in school and they cast that away they put that away and now what you see is those youth in which they've gone through life without that prayer because you never know here's the thing about it you never know if their parents never visited the place of the lord so having your children to be able to pray in school may have been the only prayer that they would have gotten in life how you know may have been that seed that was being planted in them to to know that there is a a a good god who reigns in the heavens and and on the earth but because we've turned our children away from serving the lord and they're still an assault on the righteousness of jesus today to where we're the the society is teaching our kids to be disobedient to walk contrary in the ways of the lord nothing good comes from that and they're trying to put an impression on our children and at a young age to to forsake the ways of god at a young age nothing good comes from that because society has put off that good thing they're trying to teach our children how to never turn towards the goodness of the lord nothing good comes from that amen and so as we as we see in the word god doesn't sit idly by and allow it to happen when you've begin to forsake the covenant of the lord you're establishing an appointed time for you to be a recipient of god's wrath and that's just the bottom line amen so it says israel has cast off that good thing and the enemy shall pursue him you're no longer protected you're we're we're always targeted by the enemy but we're always protected meaning that the enemy there is the all the mischief that the enemy wants to do against us he got to go through the lord amen and once god takes his hand off of you and allow the enemy to have you that's not good and you're going to fall towards your enemies they set up and this is a real interesting verse here this was eye-opening they've set up kings but not by me they've made princess and i knew it not for their silver and their gold have they made them idols that they may be cut off god rules and rings in the kingdom of men now there is this thing about free will and we're going to cover some scripture on this and god would that when it's time for us especially in our country when it comes to elections i do believe that the lord does have a say in our elections i i believe that at the end of the day god chooses whom he will to to allow but god still honors this free will and look at what this says here god looked towards israel but israel never looked towards god to see what god was god would see what israel would do about their selections to see okay we want this person to be king that person to be a prince you know which a person that's an authority or a king but israel never sought the lord to say lord who is it that you would want to run our nation we only looked towards the person that and nowadays when we select a person when we cast our ballot for a person uh to be elected and and we want them to represent us a lot of times we don't look to see if they have a record of walking with god we only look to see how close they lined up with our desires right but we never see how they line up with the lord and god says here towards israel you didn't consult me when you wanted a king and the reason why you didn't consult me because you knew that that person i wouldn't favor them that's why you went and did it behind my back you didn't want my consideration or my approval because your mind was already made up you were going to put somebody in there even if they didn't walk with me but that they were favorable to your own desires and not my desire you call them to to the office to represent you and not represent me and that's the problem let's go a little deeper in here because it talks about what the scriptures that we're about to read talks about the free will that god gives us even when it becomes even when it's time for us to select our leaders hold your place here and and before we turn i want to read this again they have set up kings but not by me they didn't go through me they have made princes and i knew it not because they didn't consult me for consideration of their silver and of their gold have they made them idols that they may be cut off that they may be killed or that's going to cause them to be killed because they find they worship these things that they that they made idols out of hold your place there and we want to talk about this free will go with me to first samuel chapter eight first samuel chapter eight this is pretty interesting i'm going to read this kind of in its entirety here but it talks about this free will even when it comes to us selecting our leaders first samuel chapter 8 and we're going to read that chapter in holy look at what this says here it came to pass this is beginning at verse one first samuel chapter eight beginning at verse one it came to pass when samuel was old that he made his sons judges over israel now the name of his firstborn was joe joelle the name of the second was abaya they were judges in beersheba beersheba his sons walked not in his ways but turned aside after lucar after after riches and they took bribes and they perverted judgments so we can see why the children of israel wouldn't want the the sons of samuel uh to be their religious leaders we can see that you know then all of israel gathered together gathered themselves together and they came to samuel unto rhema and they said unto him behold thou art old and thy sons walked not in thy ways now make us a king to judge us like all the nations but the thing displeased samuel when they said give us a king to judge us and samuel prayed unto the lord and the lord said unto samuel hearken unto the voice of the people in all that they say unto thee for they have not rejected thee but they have rejected me that i should not reign over them so this is again god honors the free will of men now when god has a will that he is still trying to accomplish he'll take into consideration your desires but he still allow his word and his will to go forth and do those things that it's meant to that's meant to be done that's how that goes but god still allows us to have us say so about the way our lives should be about the way government should run he still gives us the children of israel want to establish a a government that's exclusive of the lord and not inclusive of god they want to establish a whole new government that has nothing to do with the lord and god is is is telling and samuel has an issue with it samuel was like you know y'all shouldn't be that way and god says no don't be angry at them this is not about you this is about me okay so god is honoring this look at this let's continue to read here so the lord said unto samuel harkin we read that verse eight according to all the works which they have done since the day that i've brought them out of egypt even unto this day where with they have forsaken me and they served other gods so so do they also unto thee now therefore hearken unto their voice it's about their will hearken unto their voice how be it yet protest solemnly unto them and show them the manner of the king thou shall reign over them here is what's so powerful god says okay i'm going to allow them to set up their government and choose who they want to to have authority within this government but before you do that before make sure that you let them know what the expectation is of the man that they choose before me because they're replacing god with man they said we don't want you to lead and guide us we want a king like all the other nations so god says tell them about the character of a king and let them know let them see because i don't i would have them that they be not ignorant of putting their trust in man and not in god i would why would that you be not ignorant okay even though you got this card that you use in this free will card i would that you be not ignorant about the character of this king so look at what the lord says now therefore hearken unto their voices in verse 10 samuel told all the people of the words of the lord uh or samuel told all the words of the lord unto the people that asked him for king and he said this will be the manner this is the character of the king that shall reign over you this is what you can expect of him he will take your sons and appoint them for himself god didn't do that in that manner and appoint them for some and for his chariots to be his horsemen and some shall run before his chariots he will appoint him captains over thousands captains over 50s and will set them to ear his ground to reap his harvest to make his instruments of war and instruments of his chariots he will take your daughters to be his comfort his confectionaries and to be his cooks to be his bakers he will take your fields and your vineyards your olives your olive yards even the best of them and give them to his servants he will take the tenth of your seed and of your vineyards and give them to his officers and to his servants and he will take your men servants and your maidservants and your goodliest young men and your donkeys or your asses and put them to his work he will take the tenth of your sheep and and ye shall be his servants and you shall cry out in that day because of your king which you shall have chosen which ye have chosen you and the lord will not hear you in that day so we wanted to read what happens here and let me finish this up here we're going to read this in its entirety nevertheless the people refused to obey the voice of samuel and they said nay but we will have a king over us that we also that we also may be like all the nations that our king may judge us and will go out before us and go out before us and fight our battles samuel heard all the words of the people and rehearsed them in the ears of the lord and the lord said to samuel hearken unto their voice and make them a king and samuel said unto the men of israel go ye out every man into his city so god respects the will of the people and if the will if the people want to have a king god is going to allow them to cast their ballot to cast their vote or to or to bring forth their opinion on the matter and god will do what he can to facilitate the desires that even if you're replacing him he'll allow you to do so it's about free will now when it comes to those things that god wants to render according to his kingdom according to his will it doesn't matter who we select if god is trying to do something or establish something or bring forth bring forth something or tear something down god will use our choices and our decisions to bring forth his word his promises and his will so that's how that worked that's the understanding of how that works it's best that our desires line up with the will of god but oftentimes we don't consult god we'll compromise and and and we'll look at lord we'll look we'll say to one another um i remember years ago my wife and i when we were trying to find a home we were in the market to buy a home so this is about 13 14 years ago we were in the market to buy a home and the realtor that we were working with told us to make a list of things that we can live with and things that we don't want to live without so that we can those most important things that we want to have and those things that we can do without and i i'm i'll bring that forth to say that when it comes to selecting in our own nation in modern times um we look at our presidents and our our other elected officials if you were to make or compose a list of how that person needs to be and what you can live with as far as electing them and what you can't live with as far as making sure that they don't represent you at the top of that list will god have anything to do with it because a lot of times nowadays when people decide okay i want that person to be my president they're not looking at if that person is about you know abortion what their views are about abortion we're just a lot of times we're voting for someone in an effort to vote against somebody else we if we don't like the person that's that that that currently had that office it don't matter what the other person's views are just as long as the one that we can't stand don't get on up in there even if the person that we're voting for in the effort to vote against somebody else even if we believe that they're not totally walking with god and and and to be honest with you the other person that may have been in office may not walk with god but we don't look at we look at a person's actions because we know that there are people that are in the bible that we read about that didn't walk with god but they always had someone under them who did walk with god you know that's that they were favorable to the children of god to the to the children of israel because they they even though they didn't serve the children of israel god they were still mindful of them so they allow you know certain people to be in position your voice when it comes to our elected officials we have to choose people that lines up with with with the word of the lord otherwise these leaders these leaders will show you more than they can tell you you know about how they feel about the lord and before you know it your nation is headed in the wrong direction and a lot of that had to do with the with what you were willing to compromise on and god was nowhere on your list you know how do they feel about about life or how do they feel about religious matters about how do they feel about these things and their track record shows you you know maybe they're the kind of people the elected official maybe they'll give you a hand up but when it comes to those christian values you don't see that in their walk but they were willing to you know uh will will make it so that you can get this for free or you can get that for free or will give you this level of protection or but then once they get in office you don't see that if they don't commit to the lord what makes you think they're going to actually follow through and commit to you that's why we can't that's why when we read these things in scripture it's written for our understanding god takes issue when we profess to be his children but then the leaders that we that we seek to re to you know to represent us we don't even consider if they actually really walk with god and we don't look at what somebody say we look at what their walk is like what their history is like so even if you don't like a person if you're going to compose a list of of all the people that are running for office and you're going to put down what you can live with and what you can't live with the first thing on that list is you got to see is what are their views on this info on this particular issue is it is it a christian view or is it not a christian view because you're going to be judged accordingly for that too look at what this says here going to this look at what this says they've set up kings but not by me they have made princes and i knew it not they didn't they didn't seek me for consideration concerning those who they were looking to represent them god takes issue with that and that's all you have to know god takes issue when we don't consult him about who it is we want to represent us who is the the king or who is the prince or who is the judge who was the school board member or who is the who is the the the state's attorney general when we don't consult him or we don't add him in to to our decision meaning that we should be looking at who it is and and how they walk with god how have they voted even if they don't walk with god let me see what they've what kind of legislation that they put forth let me see what their voting record was like have they voted on those things concerning the kingdom of god going forward or have their vote really been against the kingdom of god that's how we have to look those are the things that we have to look for and if you're putting someone in office who has legislation they may have helped the common man but when it came to the values of the kingdom of god they totally turned their back and also put legislation against the kingdom that's an issue so i look at these things being written for a reason so i'll i'll continue to move on here verse 5 thy calf and i look at this ascend thy golden cathode samaria has cast the off my anger is kindled against them and how long will it how long will it be air they attend to in innocency so god is saying look at this golden calf and then the capital of israel is samaria look at this golden calf that's set up in samaria okay and it and it says has cast thee off my anger is kindled against him you've put me away for this golden calf that you're looking at as some kind of god and you got this set up in the capital this is what you this is what you're worshiping incidentally when we look at our stock market you'll have two fixtures that represent uh the progress of the market you'll hear the term a bull market meaning that the market is is it's a good it's a good opportunity to buy is being prosperous you'll also hear the bear market meaning that man it's rough out there we it's hard to make a profit right now incidentally that term the bull market comes from this golden calf it's it's it's real powerful because this golden calf is what they look at towards prosperity and and we've adopted that even to this day when it comes to our stock market this is again this is when you hear the term abul the market a bull market or a bear market right now it it goes far beyond what was happening in samaria let's reread verse five thy calf or in its in in its proper context if it's translated correctly it says the golden calf old samaria has cast the off mine anger is kindled i'm angry at them because they've placed us there and then it says why can't you just walk uh uh in in righteousness why is it hard for you to walk in innocency why are you always victimizing why can't you walk upright and and and i have to lower the bar of expectation that you are ever uh obtained unto innocency that's what the lord is saying here i'm looking down the road and i can't see that you're gonna ever be up right before me but hold your place there let's talk a little bit about this golden calf uh go with me let's go back into the archives go with me into exodus chapter 32 exodus chapter 32 and let's read verses one through six exodus chapter 32 verses one through six and look at what this is this is about the golden calf this is why we call it the golden calf and when the people saw beginning at verse one when the people saw moses delayed to come down out of the mountain moses was in the mountain with the most high god and he left aaron in charge okay he left aaron in charge while moses was on the mountaintop and he didn't come down anytime soon he was up there for like some 40 days when the people saw that moses delayed to come down out of the mountain the people gathered gathered themselves together unto aaron aaron was the one left in charge he said unto him go up make us they said they said unto him up make us gods which shall go before us for as for this moses the man that brought us up out of the land of egypt we woke not what has become of him we don't know what's happened to moses so aaron we need you to make us god to make us an idol that we can worship because we don't know what's happened to moses we don't even know if he's coming back okay aaron said unto them break off the golden earring this is how you get this golden calf break off the golden earrings which are in the ears of your wives and of your sons and of your daughters and bring them unto me and all the people break off the golden earrings which were in their ears and they brought them unto aaron he received them at their hand and he fashioned it with graving tools and after he made it a molten calf and after i'm sorry after he had made an immoltan calf and they said these be thy gods o israel which brought thee up out of the land of egypt and when aaron saw it he built an altar before it and aaron made a proclamation and said tomorrow is the feast to the lord and they rose up early tomorrow and they offered burnt offerings and brought peace offerings and the people sat down to eat to drink and they rose up to play so they when the scripture says they rose up to play they they got involved in in a religious freak fest if you will they they begin to uh um that rolls up the play they were involved in uh uh ritual orgies sex sex acts is what was happening there but look at what look at the tone that was set the the the man of god that was that was there to oversee them during moses absence the people sought him out and was like look you know moses ain't coming back we don't know if he's gonna ever come back he's not here we don't know if he's coming back we need something that that we can look upon for worship and they end up taking all the earrings out of the people's ears all those people there's the wives the sons the daughters they took these golden earrings and they melted them down and once they melted it down they formed what was this golden calf because these were golden earrings so where did israel learn to do this well they learned they picked this up back in egypt and over the course of time it carried this this this tradition this ritual this idol carried forth uh throughout the throughout the days throughout the decades throughout the the centuries and god calls them out on it yet back in hosea god calls them out on it in verse 5 thy golden calf old samaria has the cast off mind anger is against them you know and he says how long will you air how long will it be that you air that they that they attend unto innocency when will you ever walk in righteousness when will that time ever be you're too busy worshiping this golden calf in this in your nation's capital in our nation's capital we have uh um i believe they call it the washington monument um that's what the modern name of it is but that's not exactly what it is you have to look it up to say what it is but it's that was created in idolatry that whole tower that rises up in our nation's capital we fo for uh for families sakes for for value sake family value say we'll call it the washington monument but that is not what it was erected to be it was it was more of you know it was more diabolical than that and when we watched if there's if people are watching tv shows uh like fbi or something like that every time they show washington they'll show that monument that stands up there uh and again that's not we know it as the washington monument but that's the pg version of that there is a rated r version of that in which it was actually created and known as today in in the occult it's known as something else because that is in regards to what it was created for in the first place it represents something that's no good amen and that it has this meaning and this detail in the occult okay and that's what god is calling out in the in the capital of israel they got a golden calf that they're worshiping in our nation's capital we have this monument there and and it has meaning in in in a cult mysticism and and and in in pagan worship it's no good when we see these things that are written and we have to look at this and see how it applies to us and we're supposed to be better than that we're supposed to attend unto innocency we're supposed to attend unto righteousness but our deeds and our acts the the legislations that come out of our state capital is far from our walk with the lord as a matter of fact when when our legislatures put forth bills the bills are contrary to our walk with the most high god and they're not the only ones responsible it's because we put them there you know and it's no good it is no good and as a nation we have to return back and to to me as god is looking at the children of israel and saying when will you ever return back to innocent when will you ever get to a place of innocency i kind of see that in in itself concerning our nation and i don't see our nation ever going to the lord our god i can't say going back i don't know if our nation was ever there but i don't see it reversing course it's moving full speed ahead in the opposite direction of god so therefore individually we have to see where our nation is going based on what the scripture says we have the example to see how israel drifted away and so we look at our own nation and we say do the values of our nation equates to us moving into the arms of god or moving closer to his wrath is is is our ways moving closer to the arms and the heart of god or moving closer to his wrath and that's what we have to look at for our parts individually it helps if we can consult god concerning who it is we want to represent us in our state capital you know that's always a help amen so this is pretty interesting here so we we read verse five verse six four israel was it also the workmen made it so fr fourth i'm sorry verse six for from israel was it also the workmen made it therefore it is not god but the calf of samaria shall be broken into pieces israel's sought to it that it it that this calf would be erected there in samaria and because that is not of the lord that is not representative of god we don't we don't represent god with images we don't represent god with crucifixes with church staples anything that has to do with image to represent who our faith or our walk with god god is not representative of any images in the heaven above on on the land of the earth or in the or in the seas there is nothing that we are to take to represent who god is and and the children of israel say and here's the problem with that you could you can try to say well this rock i'm going to shape this rock into what i believe god is like and then i'm going to use this to worship well that rock ain't going to save you that rock is not the what's bringing you salvation do you understand that god does not and it's easy for someone else to come and contradict what that meaning is and and redirect another meaning to it that's why god don't want to be represented represented by representative of of any images in the heavens above and the earth but below or in the heavens beneath he you know or or in the oceans rather beneath amen so we have to our walk has to be pure with the lord our god amen so it says israel was the one that saw to it in verse 7 that they would have this idol and that they would worship it and god is saying that i see it and i'm telling you my plans is to destroy it and to destroy you with it because of what you've done because you're the one that saw to it he says for they've sown to the wind and they shall reap the whirlwind it has no stalk the blood she'll yield no meal it's if so it be yield the stranger shall swallow it up god's talk god is talking about his judgment here look at what he says here you plant a wind and you're going to get a hurricane it talks about his judgment there it that it's very profound here you plant the wind or you sow the wind because you're sowing towards it you're going to get exactly what you put into it if if you didn't put in on peace but you put into on calamity you're going to get war that's the harvest of of the seeds that you sown if you've turned your back on god nothing good comes from that the very god is the one that gives you peace and prosperity righteousness uprightness holiness he gives you wealth and longevity you know god is the one that allowed those things to come to pass if you turn your back on him and you put in on destruction you're going to get calamity and that's what god is saying whatever you sown that's what you're going to reap if you were sowing towards the wind then you're going to get a hurricane if you were sowing towards calamity you're going to receive destruction and if so that you would get a harvest god is saying i'm going to see to it that you don't even get a chance to take of the fruit of your harvest i'm going to see to it that that that the stranger get a chance to partake of the harvest that you work hard to plant so if you had if you have wine grape vines and you were trying to get the grapes so that you can get wine if you was trying to uh raise up stalks of of of corn or grain so that you can get your meals i'm going to see to it that whatever you planted even if that would come to pass and you would get a harvest you wouldn't enjoy the harvest but that a stranger would be able to take over your harvest and you won't get that but concerning you turning your back you reap what you sow if you turn away from god then you're turning away from his protections you're turning away from his prosperity and from his peace and you're going to get calamity amen and that's what that verse is saying there real heavy this is written for a reason israel is swallowed up now shall they be among the gentiles as a vessel wherein there is no pleasure they're not about time god you get his wrath fall on them and and put them away they'll be living in the midst of the gentiles they'll be displaced worn out and damaged goods from the wrath of the lord amen for they are going up to assyria a wild ass alone by himself ephraim should be hired lovers they're trying to israel is going to seek to go up and make peace deals with with various allies including the assyrians who are going to be the ones to be the executor of god's wrath the assyrians don't know that god is the one sending them in there they think that they're coming against israel on their own expedition you know on their own ambitions but that feeling that they have to conquer israel to conquer israel is actually coming from god amen and so israel tries to preempt this this wrath of god against him through the assyrians by going and trying to come up with some form of a peace treaty well with the assyrians to try to become an ally and you know with with uh with the uh with the assyrians but it's not going to help for they've gone up to assyria wild ass alone by itself no card attached to it you know ephraim has hired lovers so it becomes uh israel is going to try to engage with allies okay yeah though they've hired among the nations now will i gather them and they shall sorrow a little for the burdens of the kings of the princes yeah people always think that the more you hear this term the more the merrier so if everybody is is for something then people even if it's against god but because the whole earth is for it that god won't destroy the earth because everybody is in agreement so but it don't work like that god is saying that even if israel go an ally with all of these nations i'm still going to single israel out and and and you know chastise israel for what they've done it don't matter how many nations they've allied with when god's wrath come you can ally yourself or join yourself with the greatest super power that man has ever known you know weapons of mass destructions a huge navy a huge army uh air force that that that pales in comparison uh air force who's no one else will ever be able to match but when god singles you out no one and nothing can prevent what's coming when when god has targeted you there is no one and nothing that can deliver you from the hands of god when when he's ready to get a hold of you it don't matter who you outline yourself with and that's the problem unless the best thing you can do for yourself is to repent to turn from your wicked ways to humble yourself and call on the lord that's that's the bottom line you can and israel don't do that and instead they decide to ally with the enemy you know as though that they're going to find protection from the lord and this is written for a reason when we've been walking in rebellion of the lord what brings us what what brings us back to the lord is when we begin to humble ourselves and repent and turn from our wicked ways amen now it's not to say that god god is not going to chastise us but maybe it won't be so long and maybe it won't be so hard if we humble ourselves if we turn from our wicked ways but israel didn't turn to god it turned to other nations you know and that's the problem and and because of what what its leaders have done how the leaders become a stumbling block and israel followed after that they're going to fall look at what it says here yeah though they've hired or they've allied among the nations now will i gather them and they shall sorrow a little for the burden of the kings of the princes because of what their leaders have done and provoked israel to do you know i'm going to come after them you know and and they're going to have to pay the price so we have to be mindful about who we have to represent us and then following them and like i said we can't be petty and say i'm going to put you in office because i don't like even though you don't walk according to the ways of the lord i got a problem with the person that is in there now much rather see you you know even on your own awkward i much rather see you than see that person and if if there is no one that walks with the lord for me to choose to to maintain that i just won't cast my vote and people people are trying to guilt-trip you and say hey that that that you know we have we've had people that died for you to have the opportunity to cast your vote but if no one is walking with the lord why would i want to cast my vote why would i want to vote for somebody so god could be like why would you vote against me by voting for that person they put forth legislation against me why would you do that you know they they they saw to it that that israel would would you know that nations would come against israel they they saw to it that as i blessed man to bring to be fruitful and to multiply they did what they could to to stop men from multiplying through abortion you know why would you do that why would you vote for somebody that's in favor of those things you know instead of people you know why why would you do that so we have to be mindful of that amen yeah though they've hired among the nations now will i gather them and they they show sorrow a little for the burdens of the kings of the princes because ephraim has made oh my goodness look at this verse folks because ephraim has made many altars to sin altar shall be unto him to sin let me help you to understand this verse here let me give you a verse just hit me and this will help you understand it go with me to the gospel of john chapter 4 the gospel of john chapter 4. the gospel of john chapter four the samaritan woman at the well little start at verse one holy ghost give me this gave me this understanding here look at this when therefore the lord knew how the pharisees had heard that jesus had made and baptized more disciples than john then jesus himself baptized not but his disciples he left judea and he departed again into galilee he must needs to go through samaria then cometh he to a city of samaria which is called psycho near to the parcel of ground that jacob gave his son joseph now jacob's well was there uh jesus therefore being wearied with his journey he sat thus on the well and it was about the sixth hour there cometh the woman of samaria to draw water jesus saith unto her give me the drink for his disciples were going away unto the city to buy food or to buy meat then said the woman of samaria unto him how is it that thou being a jew asses drink of me which is a woman of samaria for the jews have no dealings with the samaritans jesus answered and said unto her if thou knewest the gift of god who it is that said to thee give me the drink thou would have hath asked of him and he would have given thee living waters the woman saith unto him sir thou has nothing to draw with and the well is deep from whence thou has that living water you're saying that if i knew who it was that i was really talking to i would be asking you for living waters the problem is i don't see to it that you have any label or anything in your hand that can reach down there and pour water out of this well how is it that you're going to offer me water when you have nothing to use to draw the water from art thou greater than our father jacob which gave us the well and drink thereof himself and the children and his gattle jesus answered it said unto her whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again but whosoever drinketh of the water that i shall give him shall never thirst but the water that i will give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life the woman saith unto him sir give me this water i give me this water that i thirst not neither come hither to draw jesus says unto her and this is what we want to see this is why we're over here go call thy husband and come hither the woman answered and said i have no husband jesus says unto her thou has well said i have no husband for thou has had five husbands and he whom thou has now is not thy husband and that thou true thou has truly said now go go back up here to verse 12 and look at what what the woman says art thou greater than our father jacob which gave us this will and drink thereof um himself and the children and his cattle we look at sacred things and try to go to those things that are sacred and and look at them for help and holiness okay we'll look at those sacred things and and look at them as hope and holiness but those very things that we look at for help help allows us to get turned out to be defiled you can go to places of worship that may not um have the holiness that you're looking for but it may have camaraderie but there may be people in that whole place that that may be allowed to do what they want to do and will turn you out if you're not careful do you understand that so when we go back into the scripture here in hosea it says but ephraim had in verse 11 ephraim has many altars to sin altar shall be unto him to sin a lot of times we'll go we'll take part in something because we look at it as being religious or holy and we think it's going to help us keep this this kind of uh circumspect of walk to try to be holy in our walk and our engagement in that makes turns us out and make us worse than the person that we were do you see what i'm saying in this case israel set up all these altars and these altars was used to atone for their sin now all of these now all of these alters set up at all of these places now israel go there for for for idolatry now what was once used to help them to walk upright is now used to help them to to be unrighteous and idolatry we have to be careful the woman at the well was going to this well and she talked about how sacred it was that jacob had given him had given her ancestors that well but when you look at her life nothing was changed for the better in her life if anything her life was worse and not better she had five husbands and was working on number six do you understand what i'm saying we look sometime at these at these sacred things and we deem them to be holy and that they're going to help us to be this kind of person but our engagement of that continually we begin to to be exploited by certain things and before you know it we're turned out we're worse than what we were before we found that that's why we have to be careful about what we avail ourselves to now this is why you hear me say time and time again well now we streamline our recordings but in our in our past broadcast we would always say don't have the pastor's relationship with god amen god had already set up you got to think about it the problem that god had with the pharisees the problem that jesus had with the pharisees they were religious leaders supposedly religious leaders but they turned the people out and made the people worse than what they were and jesus called them out on it their brand of religions defiled the people and turned them out the people looked at the pharisees as being holy and sacred they did this you know just but these guys were far from it and the people were turned out by the acts and the deeds of the pharisees man has tried religion through other men and it's never worked through people places and things and it never worked jesus didn't come to establish religion he came to establish relationship your holiness the holiness that you seek is never at that place that you that you deem to be so sacred and holy it's through the holy ghost that abides in you that god gives you the strength to be upright through jesus christ not that temple that you go to not that not that altar not that song not that preacher not that pastor not that bishop but it's your obedience through god it's your obedience to god through his holy ghost and by the righteousness of jesus christ so then when you listen to our messages and and other messengers of god you're not looking at them you're hearing what they have to say and applying that to your walk a lot of times we're looking at these things and we're looking for the wrong thing and we get turned out and that's what scripture is saying here because ephraim and it's talking about israel has made many altars to atone for the sin altar shall be unto him sin meaning that all of these altars that were set up to help you in your walk to be holy to to not sin you got so defiled that now all of these sacred places that you set up you're going in you're going to all of these places for idolatry to practice uh uh uh idolatry and that's no good and that's what the lord is saying so that's real powerful there so hopefully you have an understanding of that very powerful i've written to him the great things of my law but they were counted to him a strange thing that's where our nation is when it comes to the the the laws of god or when it comes to the word of god that we read especially our new testament our nation when it our nation don't want to have anything to do with it when it comes to congress or senate con convening or you know join coming together for meetings they don't want to open up with a pledge of lead the pledge of allegiance or any they don't want to open up in prayer to represent our christian faith our nations were supposedly founded on christian values christian principles but nowadays it's a strange thing to our nation our youth of today they don't care to know they don't want to know anything that contradicts what their beliefs are concerning the way they are to live their life they don't want to know that and and and our elected leaders our elected leaders rather are are in the balance of that making sure that they give the people what they want the people don't want a relationship with god so legislation is going to come forth that put that puts people more and more out of sight of god we're going to we're keep electing leaders that that going to see to it that nobody prays in public there's anything that that to confuse you about who you pray you you pray to muhammad or or you know pray to buddha or i don't know who they want you to pray to now but none of them don't want to mention the name of the lord jesus christ and it's no good it's just no good our leaders are our representative representative of our beliefs today as we put them in office to continue on in our in our likes and and and why we put them there in the first place and so that's look that's what that is saying there i've written to him the great things of my laws my word my laws were there to bless you it was to warn you to tell you don't head in that direction do this and you'll prosper but they would do they would have nothing to do with it that's what verses verse 12 is saying they won't have anything to do with my with my ways or my word and we see that as a nation they sacrifice flesh for the sacrifices of mine offering and they eat it but the lord accepted them not now will he remember their iniquity and visit their sins and they shall return to egypt now god it's amazing because god gives you an opportunity to repent to turn your life around to humble yourself to seek his face to to to let his counsel be established in your life he gives you every opportunity to do so he is a gracious and a merciful god but whoa man is something else when god remembers your sin and then come after you for it that's something that's just that's a hard cold-blooded thing right there amen and so that's what god is saying here and then look at what he's saying they shall return to egypt meaning that remember when when the children of israel lived when they were in bondage or in captivity in egypt they were slaves in egypt god is saying that they're going to return when the assyrians take them they're going to be as though they were in egypt they're going to return to being in captivity so that's being metaphoric there amen for israel has forgotten his maker and builded temples or palaces judah has multiplied fen cities but i will send a fire upon his cities and it shall devour the palaces thereof we're trying to build cities and towns and have municipalities and for you know building tires the tallest buildings um to you know to show what we can do you know have the greatest military with the biggest armies and think that nothing can touch us but boy when god set his sights on you because you turned your back against him nothing that you've done cannot be touched nothing you can't it won't be protected if anything it will be targeted to let you know that it can't stand remember when they built the titanic and they said that it not even god can sink this ship and what happened it's it's saint it's it's unfortunate what happened it saint unfortunately many many lies were lost on that and that's an unfortunate thing it sank and that's what happens building these fenced cities and fortified cities it's your pride that you don't need god who gave you the ability to build it in the first place you're saying you don't need him amen so that's going to take care of chapter eight and let's go right into chapter nine and we'll try to get through it pretty quick here uh and we actually have a theme for chapter nine the days of visitation has come the days of visitation uh actually the days of visitation are come the days of visitation are come so hosea chapter nine verse one rejoice not o israel for joy as other people for thou has gone a whoring from from thy god thou has loved a reward upon every uh corn floor so he says rejoice o israel he said rejoice not o israel for joy as other people and when you i when i did the research on that they used to have these um uh festivals these harvest fest festivals that multiple nations would would would observe and during that time these harvest festivals were you know because they they think they're idols for uh the harvest that would come you know the grain harvest the greats what have you that that would come forth and they would attribute the the prosperity of that to their false gods and and and those in those festivals because girls were gentiles or pagans that were involved in that of course there were come these sexual rituals and various things of the sort god is calling israel out don't be like them and do that you know uh you know don't don't don't be don't be like them rejoice not oh israel for joy as other people for thou has gone a horn from thy god they're dedicated to their god don't don't come at me and act like i'm the one that gave you these even though i did you don't acknowledge that concerning me you know so don't be rejoicing and that's the thing about these other nations these these pagan nations they were loyal about the idols that they served and they looked at those idols as this you it was because of your blessing that we've got these that we've got this harvest so god is saying don't come at me and think that you know try to be like them to say that you know you're going to thank me for what i gave you because you don't attribute it to me your your harvest that you've got now you don't attribute to that you don't attribute that to me you attribute that to other gods so don't be like them i'm not taking that right verse two and then this this word here in verse one corn floor is talking about the threshing floor you've gone a whoring from thy god thou has loved the reward upon every you're always in these uh threshing floors uh places where they're processing the grain you're always in there and even in those places you're you're prostituting yourself into idolatry it says the threshing floor in verse two and the wine press shall not feed them and the new wine she'll fail in her so though you got this threshing floor again where they process the grains and stuff and then you have your your your your grape vines where you have the wine press from the grapes to make the wine that's going to fail you because you failed me these things are going to fail you okay they shall not dwell in the lord's land but ephraim shall return to egypt remember they're going to go in back into captivity through the assyrians and they shall eat unclean things in assyria israel especially when we look at the laws of moses and and the things that israel was supposed to eat and what they were not supposed to eat they're not going to have a choice in the matter once they're held in in captivity in assyria look at what that says here they shall not dwell in the lord's land but ephraim shall return to egypt and they shall eat unclean things in assyria they shall not offer wine offerings to the lord neither shall they be pleasing unto him their sacrifices shall be unto them as bread of mourners all that eat that eat thereof shall be polluted or shall be defiled for their bread for their souls shall not come into the house of the lord it reminds me of the good old days i i can reminisce i remember when i was young living with my grandparents my grandad at that time he was a smoker he would smoke cigarettes but he would often give me a dollar and 25 uh one dollar and a quarter and he would have me to go to the corner store and my granddad would have me every day that i would come home from school he or mostly every day he would send me to go get a pack of marlboros and in a newspaper and a dollar 25 covered that bill in my childhood during that time as i had gotten older and i began to drive i remember 75 a gallon was the cost to put fuel in my car and i'm 49. so that's that's how old i am i'm 49 but i remember growing up in south bend indiana uh gas prices been 75 cents a gallon 75 cent a gallon i'm bringing all of this up to say that these are the things that you reminisce about these are the things that you remember and you think how life was at that time you know and of course you try not to think of anything negative when you reminisce you always look at what was good and how good you had it i lived at my grandparents house and i didn't realize how good i had it when i didn't have to pay bills you know and uh i ate every day my clothes was always washed i didn't have to worry just didn't have a worry my grandparents took care of me those were the good old days well that relates to what we're reading about when you're in captivity you're going to reminisce about how good you had it when you were in the land of israel when you were in the land of canaan you're going to reminisce about how well you had it how bumped how bountiful the supplies were how you were able to not take in any unclean things and you were able to keep that you know and to observe that now you're finding yourself in a situation to where you have no choice in a matter and you're going to always feel unclean because what you've kept yourself away from you now can get rid of and it has defiled you you're left to just reminisce about how good you once had it that's the thing about it that's what you see and our nation is experiencing the same thing we're going to look back at how good we once had it and man is still trying to preserve [Music] the legacy of some things i was watching college football yesterday and i watched all the people in the stadium in this in the stadiums and and and and how close the people were and i was like wow look at that you know and man men is trying to hold on to the former years where i think that things are going to be a memory to where you're going to continue to live with this this this this virus and it's going to always be different forms of it and it's going to seemingly always come against your lifestyle and it don't matter what kind of vaccinations you get is going to keep transforming to where these things are going to be distant memories down the road to to the way things used to be you know um how good you had it to where you can go into a movie theater and you can go into a restaurant it's weird to go into a movie to i haven't been to the theater my family or myself have not been to a theater in quite some time now but to go into restaurants and not see people with masks on their faces to see people walking down this treatment with mask on or see people driving in their vehicles with mask on or to constantly uh have uh uh covet things you're to some some states have it to where you have to show that you've been vaccinated in order to partake in society that's going to be a way of life to where we look at these things and reminisce and think about how we once had life how life once had us and how good it was and and even though there were some negative things about life i would prefer those days than the days that we have now israel is going to get that as we're reading this we're reading this and god is saying imagine being at this in in bondage and in captivity in assyria and those things that you just at liberty you had the liberty to to turn to on i'm not eating that that's i'm that that stuff would defile me that didn't follow me that's i i can't eat that when when i'm going through this those ceremonial things that you observed uh in israel in canaan is going to be a fleeting memory now you have to practice and participate in your enemies ritual those things that defiled you you you you have to live according to that constant those days are long gone and that's what we look at that's that's what really stands out here look at verse five what will you do in the in the appointed days or in the solemn days in the days of the feast days remember how you were remember how you are currently in your feast days but when you go into captivity what will you do when your feast days come all you can do is look back at how you used to assemble and how you used to observe your your your holy days and your solemn assemblies those were going to be fleeting memories of yours for lo they are gone because of destruction see that's that how you look back those days are now gone because of destruction egypt shall gather them up memphis shall bury them the pleasant places for their silver their weeds weeds shall possess them and thorns that were nestles weeds shall possess them and thorns shall be in their tabernacles if they say if they should somehow escape the assyrians they're going to have to deal with the egyptians they're going to have to deal with memphis you know so no matter what no matter which direction they turn they won't be able to escape the wrath and the judgment of the lord all those things that they held sacred those things that are that are of value the pleasant places for their silver nestles shall be weeds should possess them and thorns uh shall be in their tabernacles if you're not there uh to to uh uh we have a house currently on our street to where there's vines that are starting to cover this house and when if it's not being if there's not a caretaker that can um that can add maintenance to that property then what happens is thorns and vines begin to cover it amen and god is saying that because you're not going to be there in in in canaan but you're going to be taken away into assyria those areas of yours that you would have had those precious places are going to be uh covered up in in in weeds and various things because there won't be anybody there for caretaking amen the days of the visitation are come the days of recompense are coming israel shall know it the prophet is a fool the spiritual man is mad for the magnitude of their iniquity and the great hatred the days of the visitation are coming how long as a nation do we think that if judgment begins out the house of the lord and other nations recognized us at at least some point in our walk they believed that we were a christian nation with christian values so they attributed us to being a worshipers of jesus christ at what point in time or how long do you think you can walk to the word of god if judgment starts at the house of god how long do you think it's going to be before the day of visitation shall come upon us if judgment starts at the house of the lord meaning that god is going before he dispenses his judgment against the unbelievers he is going to just chastise the believers for their rebellion it's going to happen to us first how long do you think you'll be able to to to keep going in rebellion against god before he take action against you it's going to come and that's the thing about it judgment is coming it's not as man say it's not a question of if but when and it says here judgment comes because israel didn't take seriously the prophet israel looked at the prophet as a fool it's spiritual man those people that were really spiritual people that were were were upright israel looked at them as being insane like they they consider them to be mad a madman you trying to tell me about what's right i look at you something being wrong you were a threat to my livelihood israel looked at the prophet as being a threat being a fool you sitting over here preaching you know doomsday ain't nothing happened ain't nothing happened why you keep preaching doom doom and gloom and ain't nothing happen well scripture says the day of visitation has come the very people that didn't take seriously the prophet that didn't take seriously the spiritual man you've got examples in society of how you should be and how you should conduct yourself and even if you choose not to hear the prophet you should still see the person that is trying to be upright and yet you turn your back against them and not only do you turn your back against them but you mock those that are spiritual those that are trying to be holy you try to dox them make it hard for them people that are are prophets you do what you can to legislate them out of society and the day of visitation has come look what this it says and for the multitude of thine iniquity and the great hatred they were speaking and trying to warn you against your ways and and to warn you about what was to come and you hated them and all the iniquity of you which abound the watchman of ephraim was with my god but the prophet the prophet is the snare of the fowler and all of his ways and hatred is in the house of his kind the the prophet was the actual watchman but you did what you could to discredit anything that they had to say and now look at you the day of the visitation has come they have deeply corrupted themselves as in the days of gabia therefore will he remember their iniquity and he will visit their sins now i'm going to tell you a little bit about what happened in gabia that god is referencing through his prophet hosea i'll tell you a little bit about it and then we'll go read some more about it there was a levite who had a concubine and the concubine ran off the levite saw that she was missing and went to go bring her back to himself the levite ended up ended up coming into her town and and knew where to look for found her at her dad's house and the levite went to claim his concubine back and the dad implored the levite to stay there so every time the levite wanted to leave the dad hurt the the woman's dad his concubines uh dad or in this case the levites father-in-law implored him to stay so each day for five days the levite would leave would want to leave but the dad would implore him to stay finally the levite was like no i gotta go so he he ended up taking his concubine and they were headed back home they come up against the town and within that town they knew that it was foreign to israel and they were like nah we better not go in that direction because that's a foreign land and they may not be customary to us they may treat us wrong let's go in this direction because this is the land of israel and our brothers and sisters are there so we'll find lodging there on our way back home remember they went the whole purpose of this trip was to retrieve the concubine that left in the first place okay so now having that backdrop of the story let's go and see what god is talking about let's reread verse nine and then let's let's go and and read for ourselves in verse nine of ch in verse of chapter 9 in hosea the lord says they have deeply corrupted themselves as in the days of gabia so let's see what god is referencing here go with me to judges chapter 19 verses 10 through 30 judges chapter 19 verses 10 through 30 verses 10 through 30. look at what this says here now you have that backdrop remember they were going to go into um as they were trying to make their way back home from retrieving the concubine that that took off on their way back home after having retrieved her they were going to go into a foreign territory or foreign land but they decided not to go that route because they know that it was strangers or a foreign land and it wouldn't be customary so therefore they decided to go in a direction that that wasn't foreign to israel that you know their kindred would be there or their nationality was there okay so let's pick this up at verse 10 judges 19 beginning at verse 10. the but the man would not tarry that knight but he rose up and he departed and he came against jabus which is in jerusalem and there were with him two asses saddled his concubine also was with him and when they were by the when they were by j j bus the day was far spent and the servant said to his master come i pray let's go into this city of the jebusites and lodge in it his master said unto him we will not turn aside hither into the city of strangers or into the foreign city that is not of the children of israel we will pass over to gabia which is which is of the children of israel so verse 13. he said until his servant come let us draw near to one of these places to lodge all night in gabia or in rhema and they passed on and they went their way and the sun went down upon upon them when they were by gabia which belonged to benjamin so you know it was a province of the children of israel and they turned asylum to go in and to lodge in gabia and when he went in he sat down in the street of the city for there was no man that looked them into his house that i'm sorry there was no man that took them into his house to lodging so even though they were in the in in the town of their own people they had no place to stay because no one had invited the men okay they remember they forsook the the towns of the gentiles because they were like nah they you know they're they don't share our custom and our values so we're not going to go that direction would take our chances with our own people okay and when they went to their own people into gabia nobody took them in okay verse 16 behold there came an old man from his work out of the field that evening which was also of mount ephraim and he surrendered in gabia but the men of the place were benjamites and when he had lifted up his eyes he saw a wayfaring man in the street of the city and the old man said whether goes thou and when's coming style and he said unto him we are passing from bethlehem judah toward the side of the mount ephraim from thence am i and i went to bethlehem judah but am now going to the house of the of the lord and there is no man that receiveth me to the house yet there is both straw and preventer for our asses and there is bread and wine also for me and for my end for thine handmaid and for the young man which is thine servant and there was one there is no want of anything the old man said peace be with thee however let all thy want lie upon me only lodge not in the streets so the there was a man that didn't even belong to the city but yet he had a place and he was like where are you coming from i seen you here in the street and the guy was like oh i have me and my handmaid and and my servants and we're on our way from point a to point b but you know no one is taking us in we have plenty of stuff for ourselves plenty of resources we just don't have a place to sleep so the old man was like look why don't you come with me and don't worry about anything i can i'll give you those things that you need i know you have enough but i'll still cover you with it with with all that i have i just don't want to see you sleeping out here so uh verse 21 so he brought him into his house and he gave him preventer unto the asses and they washed their feet and they did eat and drink now as they were making their hearts merry behold the men of the city this is of the city of gabia certain sons of bilal so you know they were up to no good beset the house round about they surrounded the house and they beat at the door and they speak to the master of the house which was the old man and they were saying bring forth the man that came into thine house that we may know him so in the city of gabia in the plate in the town of gabia men surrounded the house and they wanted they wanted the old man to bring out the stranger the stranger that had entered the town so that they can rape him okay that's what was going on they wanted the man to come out so that they can rape him now the now the man the master of the house he went out unto them and said unto them name my brother and nay i pray you do not so do not so wickedly seeing that this man is coming to my house do not this folly behold here is my daughter a maiden and his concubine them i will bring out now and humble ye them and do with them what seemeth good unto you but unto this man do do not so vile things so the old man said i'll give you this man's concubine and i'll give you my daughter have your way with them but don't do such a vile thing to this man okay but the men would not hearken unto him uh so the men took his concubine and they brought her forth unto them and they knew her and abused her all that night until the morning and when the day began to spring they let her go then came the woman in the dawning of the day and fell down at the door of the man's house where her lord was till it was light and her lord rose up in the morning and he opened the doors of the house and went out to go to to go on his way and behold the woman his concubine was falling down at the door of the house and her hands were upon the threshold so she was so she she was dying and he said unto her up let us be going but none answered the man took her up upon the ass and the man rose up and got him got him onto his plate so she actually was dead when so what happened again the men came of the of that town of gabia they came to rape the man that they saw go into the old man's house um when they shouted out when they beat him they surrounded the house and beat at the door and they said bring out that man and so the old man of the house was like you can have my daughter and you can have his concubine but your intentions against this man you cannot do so they end up taking the concubine and they abused her so much that once they let her go she only had enough life and strength to make it to the doorstep she fell and died okay because they they did her so wrong verse 29 and when he was gone when he was coming to the house he took a knife and he load he laid hold on his concubine and he divided her meaning that he cut her into pieces together with her bones into 12 pieces and he sent it into all the coast of israel 12 12 tribes 12 coast okay and it was so that all that that saw it said there was no such deed done nor seen from that day that the children of israel came up out of the land of egypt even unto this day consider of it take advice and speak your minds and so what it's saying is the man was so distraught by what society had become that he took his concubine and cut her up into pieces and sell and sent 12 different body parts to the 12 tribes of israel so that he can gain the attention of them and to let them know look what we have become as a people for this is what has become of her after what they've done to her because of what they were trying to do to me you see that and so god is saying when we go back to hosea god is saying in verse 9 chapter 9 and verse 9 they have deeply corrupted themselves as in the day of gabia that's what god is referencing and when you get a picture to see how bad they corrupted themselves then god is saying that what was then was happening there at that time and why they were worthy of his judgment why they were worthy of his visitation the visitation make no mistake about it the visitation that we're speaking about is god's wrath and his judgment descending upon them because of their lewdness our society has become the very thing that scriptures are warning us against when we read that that what we just read in judges and and we're seeing what society should not evolve into but in our modern day society that's where things are evolving into child trafficking and and people kidnapping and murdering and and raping and these are the things that are prevalent we're ripe for the visitation of the lord and when we're talking about the visitation we meaning his wrath his his anger you know descending from heaven falling upon us like an eagle soaring to its prey because we're supposed to be better than that the day of visitation and and when people begin to try to convey this truth to society society mocks the prophet they mock the spiritual leaders they discount them and defame them so that the rest of society don't listen to what's being said amen verse 10 i found israel like grapes in the wilderness i saw your fathers as the first ripe in the fig trees at her first time but when they went to bail bail pior and separated themselves into that shame and their abominations were according as they look god said i remember when i first laid eyes on you israel you were like like grapes when they first blossomed when the first ripe you were like grapes in the wilderness that first the first ripe figs of a tree how precious you were in my sight ah how your forefathers were when i first saw them but now look at the descendants quick to run over and worship blpr their abominations were according to they love and just as blp or the abominations that's laid up on that idol so are the abominations laid up on you as for ephraim their glory shall fly away like bird like a bird from birth from the womb and from the conception and in society now we're dealing with with abortion you know especially that in you know texas has come up with this law and people are determined to see how to get around this law so that we can continue to abort children but look at what this says a lot of that may be the wrath of god that was that we're seeing look at what this says as ephraim and it's talking about israel their glory shall fly away like birds from the birth from the womb and from and from the conception that as they don't see any value of life god is saying i'm going to see to it that their that that their their lineage lives not on but to put an end to their multiplying to to see to it that no child grows in the womb to see to it that no child you know is born to see to it that there is not even a child that's conceived in the womb for they keep bringing forth and coming to coming forth in destruction these kids are keep raising up to to to to go forth and more and more into destruction so god is saying that i i can't deal with that your nations just keep turning more and more into pagans your children now every generation is further and further away from godliness amen and i'm not here well trust me as i say this i'm not here to to um to to be a a a a uh an ally of abortion um i i do what i can to see the greater good of people but to also warn about the difficult road ahead if we choose to take a road and not walk with god i believe that god does allow for people to make decisions and choices but the wrath of god goddess his wrath is something else and god is saying here that their ways are going to lead them childless and that's his rap that makes them childless our ways are leaving us childless we're setting up abortion clinics rather than foot fertility clinics i heard one of the um one of the uh what's those ride sharing um i know that there's people that are giving uh people that are giving donations to to the planned parenthoods for but instead of people looking why you got one you got some people that are for abortion and some people that are against it people say my body my choice but it's not like that with vaccinations but that's a whole nother thing you know you know we're okay with the mandate on one thing but we're we're not okay with this nevertheless you have organizations that are giving uh to the planned parenthood to help them continue to carry these things out and nobody is questioning why are we trying to slow down um the the heritage of men why are we so quick to kill babies or to to keep her from being aborted and we're okay with that why are we so quick to put it into life and it could be because people may be under a delusion and that delusion may represent the wrath of god you just don't know you know but it's no good we see here in the bible that uh because of the way israel was god was putting an end to some things or through his anger israel was putting it into where they would lose you know they they would miscarry you know because because of the way they were that they couldn't be fruitful and multiply it was putting an end to their lineage we're fine we're trying to come up with cunning ways how to keep our lineage going while others are looking for a way to put it away you know and nobody is looking at what's the the actions that are causing you to to you know to become pregnant whether you know again nobody is creating fertility clinics it's all about abortion clinics you know doing away with children and that's no good because we see here in the scriptures that a lot of that was associated with the wrath of god you know look at that verse again as ephraim in verse 11 as as for ephraim their glory shall fly away like a bird from the birth from the womb from the conception they're not even going to be able to conceive to bring forth kids you know because their their sins were put in that way it's a blessing to be able to produce a a child to be able to to to con for there to be conception of a child that's a blessing and you could put yourself in harm's way that you you'll never be able to bring forth a child and that's no good though they bring up their children yet i will believe them that they shall not be a man left yea woe also to them will not depart from them god is saying that that the time will come to where your sins are so that you'll find yourself an example you'll find yourself at war and your men have to be drafted and before you know it all of your sons are dead in a war and there's no there's not a man left of you because they're all they're all dead because of sin and the ambitions of men you know how greed and how how greed befalls men and you find yourself in wars and and things that you have no business into because you're following after leaders that want to take over the world and and they they draft your sons so that they can be on the front line now i just read recently that they that now women can be drafted just as men you just want to kill off humanity altogether you know this is no good verse 13 ephraim as i saw tired that word tyrus is actually tired tyre was a pleasant beautiful prosperous place so god is saying ephraim as i saw tyre as tyre was blessed to be prosperous is planted in a pleasant place but ephraim shall bring forth his children to the murderer so that's just like tyre was a beautiful place and god saw that ephraim was planted in the same way that it was planted to be prosperous but because they turned their back on god he's going to turn his back on on their descendants and their longevity to where they won't be able to conceive or their children not that they wouldn't conceive that's not what it says but that their kids will be murdered and i gave you an example of that through war and and and and through plagues and everything else it's no good right give them o lord what will what give them o lord what will thou give give them a miscarrying wound and dry breast look at that all of their will and you have to look to see when abortions are prevalent in the land when people are miscarrying constantly um sometimes you have to see uh if if the lord is behind some things and i'm just i'm reading scripture here and i'm looking at this because i live according to scripture my beliefs align with scripture now i'm not saying that every woman that miscarries that that have miscarried lived in sin i'm not saying that i'm saying that there are those times that the miscarriage had to do with the wrath of god according to scripture not all the time but some of the time that's what i'm saying but we're starting to see that that abortions has nothing to do with righteousness it's an unrighteous thing that we would you know give art that we would give our kids to be slaughtered everything that we're reading about about ending a kid's life had to do with sin so as we relate that to abortion all of that has to do with sin the the the sanctity of life and the preservation of life we don't it that's not part of god's wrath the sanctity of life and the prevent and the preserving of life is about the blessing of god but the ending of life and and and the abortion of life is all about the judgment of god it's all wrapped up in sin nothing nothing prosperous comes from that everything that we're reading about is no good give them o lord what what give them a lord what will thou give them give them a miscarrying womb and dry breast meaning that they can't bring forth milk ought to feed the child right all of their wickedness is in gilgal that's where that's where it all starts with them you know um in gilgal that's where was concentrated at this sin it says for there i hated them for the wickedness of their doing i would drive them out of my house i will love them no more all of their princes are revolters ephraim is smitten their root is dried up they shall bear no fruit yea they shall bring no fruit they should bring forth though they i'm sorry ephraim is smitten their root is dried up they shall bear no fruit yea though they bring forth yea out yet i will slay them even the beloved fruit of their womb my god will cast them away because they did not hearken unto him and they shall be wanderers among the nations so when you can't even be fruitful and multiply there are women that desire such to be moms to to have children and and the only thing that they can do was adopt because some ailment of another and and some women when we read um when we read with uh elkanah and his wife hannah and i believe that was samuels samuel's parents but at the time hannah couldn't have kids and she was embarrassed because elkanah's other wife was able to have children and they kind of put that in the face of of the of the wife that was childless uh that that couldn't bear and so and that's another testament to where it's not always sin that causes you to to not be able to bring forth children but nevertheless uh she went to to uh eli she went to the temple and she was praying to god constantly that god would give her a child and eli heard her prayer and he and he commented on it a man he thought she was drunk at first but my whole point in bringing that up is there's times that women feel some kind of way especially when so many other people are able to have children and they themselves are not and how they feel towards that and we will just give up a child and just you know that's just no good and like i said a lot of that is associated with sin as a nation we had that's not the only sin abortion is not the only sin as a nation we have to turn we have to reverse course and start moving back to the lord but the further with the further away we move from god the more we're under delusion the further away we move away from god the more he turns us over to ourselves and when when he turns us over to ourselves we're our own worst enemy because there is no more reasoning with us there is no more um appealing to us once we become reprobate all of those things that that we were warned against uh we we specialize in the practice of those things the practice of sin as a matter of fact those things lead to our death because there is no longer any barriers of morality set up to keep us or to slow us down from heading into destruction amen so the worst thing we can be the worst thing that can happen is that god turns us over to ourself which puts us in the mind frame of being reprobate meaning doing things uh being engaged in unrighteousness without without barriers uh you know beings without a conscience amen so and and under that you're full speed ahead towards destruction amen so eternal god i thank you for this word i thank you for the opportunity to preach to teach to declare father i pray that you are glorified and i pray as a nation that there is enough that i have heard this word that have heard it or will hear it and that their hearts would become softened and that they would look upon their ways even as i look upon my own ways to see what's out of the line with you and to look to repent and to come back to you father thank you that you would convict us in our heart that we would turn from our evil ways and return unto you even to have the desire to be upright before you father we pray for those who have not yet that desire to turn towards you for we hold out hope that just as far away as we were from you and you were able to bring us close to you that you're no respecter of persons and that you can do that to those that are just as far away i thank you father for that lively hope i thank you for restoration and repentance that bring us into grace and mercy and salvation god thank you thank you for longsuffering thank you for your grace and your mercy and your words of truth seeing what was to become of sin what happened to society then and what can happen to our society today father your words and your truth is enduring and everlasting to god be the glory forever and ever it's in jesus name that we give you things amen i know i'm a little long in this broadcast if you would quickly go with me to matthew chapter 11 verses 28 through 30. so the son of god the lord jesus christ is inviting us to be sons and daughters of god in order to do this we have to go through him god placed authority within the lord jesus christ that the only way we can access the father is to embrace the son and don't take my word for it hold your place there and let's read that go with me to the gospel of john and i believe it's sin is it here and yeah here in chapter 14 the gospel of john chapter 14. uh and here's what it says beginning at verse one let not your heart be troubled you believe in god believe also in me this is jesus talking he says in my father's house are many rooms or many mansions if it were not so i would have told you jesus says i go to prepare a place for you and if i go and prepare a place for you i will come again and receive you into myself unto myself that where i am there you may be also and whether i go you know and the way you know thomas said unto him lord we know not whether thou goest how can we know the way jesus says here in verse six i am the way the truth and the life no man cometh unto the father but by me that's why jesus is able to offer us an opportunity to become sons and daughters we can't have the father unless we have the son no man can come unto the father except they come by way of the lord jesus christ god has placed that authority into jesus our salvation is through god offers our offers us the gift of salvation but is received through jesus christ amen now matthew 11 verse 28 jesus says come unto me all ye that labor and our heavy laden and i will give you rest all of you that have been working and you're weary and you're worn out i'm here to offer you rest he says take my yoke upon you and learn of me i am meek and lowly in heart and you you will find rest into your souls my yoke is easy he says well my yoke is easy and my burden is light jesus is offering us an opportunity to become sons and daughters of the most high god but we have to learn of him who he is why he's offering and what it is that he's offering we know what he's offering we'll see that here in the gospel of john chapter 1 verse 12. the gospel of john chapter 1 verse 12 we get an opportunity to to he details what it is that we're all not only is he offering us rest but an opportunity to to become sons and daughters of the most high god we see that here in the gospel of john chapter 12 of the gospel of john chapter 1 i should say chapter 1 verse 12 chapter 1 verse 12 but as many as he received to them gave he power or authority to become the sons of god even to them that believe on his name so the sons or the children the better way the children of god those of us that receive jesus as lord he makes us to become the children of god amen so not only is he offering you rest but he's offering you a place in the family and now that means you have to turn away from your sins what we were reading about is how israel didn't until it was too late remember israel was like god we know you but that was only after his wrath fell on them the time to to call upon the lord is now before his wrath falls on us because once that happens it'll be too late now is the time to call upon the lord before his wrath we cannot keep going in the direction we're going and think that the day of his visitation won't come we're hoping that we don't see it in our lifetime that somebody else sees it in their lifetime but not uh let us continue to do what we want to do when we want to do it in a capacity in which we want to get it done and we're hoping that we're not visited by him in the process of our rebellion now is the time to separate yourselves from those that are rebellious against the lord you don't want to be counted amongst them we have to turn away from our sins once and for all i mean we have to stop doing it quit coming up with the excuse just stop doing it once and for all and turn to the lord our god and call upon jesus to save you from your sins so first and foremost as we come to jesus we stop sinning and you can't say it's too hard you say it's easier to sin whatever is worth having is worth fighting for and you got to put in the time and work to obtain it and if you hang in there you're going to turn away from your sins once and for all but you gotta put the work in stop going around those people that are promoting that sin that you're addicted to stop accessing it through the very means and channels in which you access it got to do what you can to turn away from that stuff you can't make provisions for that stuff to prevail in your life and then try to turn away from it you have to do what you can to make provisions to turn away from it that means whatever avenues the enemy use they tempt you you have to cut it off whether it's tv whether it's the phone whether it's the internet whether it's people places or things whatever it is cut those avenues out so that you can turn away from the sins once and for all amen now you repented of your sins you turned away from it once and for all so now you have to believe that jesus is the christ and make him lord of your life go with me to romans chapter 10 verses 9 through 13. romans chapter 10 verses 9 through 13 because our salvation comes through jesus christ we have to commit to obey him we have to make him lord of our lives meaning that we obey him he is now the governor of our lives he is now our head he is our head amen and we have to commit to obey him we believe that he is the only begotten son of god who was raised from the dead meaning that he laid down his life for us so that our sins would die with him and as god brought him back to life and resurrected him so is our salvation in him through our faith amen so we believe that amen so we not only believe but we confess him to be lord of our lives after we have repented of our sins so romans chapter 10 beginning at verse 9 with uh with uh with it that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the lord jesus meaning that we make him the head of our lives he is governor of our lives he is the lord of our lives and shall believe in thine heart that god has raised him from the dead thou shall be saved what are you being saved from remember we talked about the day of the visitation has come go with me to the gospel of john chapter 3 verse 36 the gospel of john chapter 3 verse 36. look at what this says he that believeth on the son has everlasting life he that hath he that believeth not the son shall not see life but the wrath of god abideth on him the day of god's visitation shall come upon those who have not received jesus as lord amen so if you believe in the son then you make him lord of your life that means you believe he's the only begotten son of god and that he laid down his life for you so shall you lay down your life for him because he lay down his life for you you make him lord of your life amen and then you believe that god has raised him from the dead meaning that he died for our behalf god brought him back to life and he is alive forevermore if you believe it and you commit to him he saves you what are you being saved from the visitation of god which is in the form of his wrath amen for us for with the heart man believeth unto righteousness and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation for the scripture says whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed scripture says that if you take a chance on god in by faith through jesus christ he won't let you down there is a process there because you got to get used to to abiding in faith and and your your flesh is full of fear is going to try to talk you out of putting your trust in god but you got to hang in there and if you continue to hang in there you're starting what you're doing is you're sowing seed of faith and you're going to see a harvest come forth but you have to work it you have to keep working it and you're going to see it pay dividends for you amen for there is no differences this is not only to the jews but it's also to the gentiles there is no difference between the jews and the greek which are the gentiles for the same lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him so that means you have to be the one to call upon god has salvation waiting for you right now but you have to come get it and how do you come get it you have to come through jesus christ to obtain that gift of salvation so for whosoever verse 13 shall call upon the name of the lord shall be saved that's that gift of salvation go with me quickly we're moving quickly through through this go with me quickly to first john chapter 1 verse eight through ten first john not the gospel of john but first john chapter one verses eight through ten look at what this says here if we say that we have no sin we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us if we confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins and to cleanse us of all unrighteousness if we say that we have not sinned we make him a liar and his word is not in us we have to be honest with what's going on with us what wherever you're broke at you have to be willing to confess how broke about yourself that you are i'm not just talking about financially i'm talking about characteristics morality whatever your shortcomings are you have to repent from that and then you let god know what it is that you repented of the reason why is because we're we're going to have to meet him in the day of judgment and we don't want god to bring up anything that that that we haven't put away so we have to let god know what it is that we turned away from and then god removes it from our record he wipes our record clear of it once and for all amen but if you don't confess it it remains on your record and is subject to be brought up when you visit god in the day of judgment amen so if you if you repent and you confess god is faithful to forgive and to cleanse you from all unrighteousness but if you say that you haven't sinned then you're making then you're a liar because everybody's sin and there's nothing that god can do to help you if you won't acknowledge what's broken about you so amen you have to take responsibility lastly and quickly go with me to acts chapter 2 verses 36 through 47 god is going to give you his holy spirit when you be commit to walking with god the spirit of god is going to fall upon you and come inside of you and once his spirit comes inside of you it's going to help transform you from on the inside out so that you can obtain all the gifts of god that the kingdom has to offer okay and it's a process but that's what god does to you when you begin to commit to him and you begin to walk with him through his only begotten son the lord jesus christ now when god sent the spirit it started with the disciples after jesus ascended into heaven not too long after his ascension the the the holy ghost filled upon the disciples so that was the start of us receiving the presence and the power of god abiding in us after the disciples received it peter began to preach to his audience because this happened this the first movement of the holy ghost happened on this uh solemn day of pentacles one particular day and and it fell upon the disciples after that happened peter began to preach to his audience and here's what peter said beginning at verse 36 acts chapter 2 beginning at verse 36 therefore let all the house of israel know assurely that god had made that same jesus whom you've crucified both lord and christ now peter is not saying that you actually drove the nails through christ jesus what he's saying is your lifestyle make you just as guilty as those that did crucify jesus on the cross that applies to us too if we're living in open rebellion if we're committing blatant sin if we're committing sin period and living in an open shame against god we're no different than those that crucified jesus to the cross we want to turn away from our sins so that we're not chargeable as those that had that had crucified jesus on the cross amen because we know by faith jesus is lord and he is the messiah the anointed one from god now when his audience in verse 37 when when when they heard this they said unto peter and to the rest of the apostles we're talking about peter's audience when they heard peter's sermon they said men and brethren what must we do in essence what can we do to write our wrongs when god begins to convict you in your heart he's trying to move you to repentance not to just to get you to say amen lord that boy preached and then go back to doing those things that that keeps your house out of order with god he wants to get your house in order when god convicts you it's his love towards you to let you know that you're on the wrong path and i need your heart to line up with the righteousness of jesus christ so that judgment don't visit you amen and so when when when their heart was convicted peter's audience they wanted to know what could they do peter tells him in verse 38 he says repent we've talked about repentance turning away from your sins once and for all then peter says be baptized every one of you in the name of jesus christ for the remission of sins now let's talk about the ceremony of baptism jesus died on the cross and he was taken down off the cross and then he was carried to a tomb and he was laid to rest in a tomb in that tomb he was laid to rest for three days and three nights and then after three days and three nights he was brought back to life so he was in that he was dead on the cross taken down off the cross laid to rest in the tomb was dead for three days and three nights and god brought him back to life when we go through the ceremony of baptism when you go down into the water you are being buried in christ jesus that's why we are fully submerged in baptism when we come up out of the water we are resurrected in christ jesus so your your old man goes down into the water fully submerged your new man comes up out of the water and all things are made new you're cleansed of all of your sins amen that's why it's important to get but to get go through the ceremony of baptism again your old man goes down in the water your new man comes up out of the water all of your sins are washed away and eventually you'll receive the gift of the holy spirit in this day of uh of uh in our day and time of of of covet 19 uh the the coronavirus people don't people are leery about close contact uh with others so much so that we're forsaking our obligations with god to honor the ceremony of baptism it's no good it's no good we can't allow that to be taken away from us so if i were you i would ask god to show me or to to send someone to me that that's willing to perform the ceremony or or to send me to someone that's willing to perform the ceremony there are people that are out there that are willing to do it amen so i ask god to do that for you but don't do not forsake your obligation to to have the ceremony performed god has not taken excuses you know well lord i i you know the corona the only thing that will fly is if you are already on your deathbed and the reason why i say that is because there are people on the cross remember the two mild factors that were on the cross there was no way that they could be baptized but one of them confessed jesus is lord he believed he was he was i actually would would would read the story with you real quick uh look at this look at this go with me real quick to luke chapter 23 drop down to verse 39 drop down to verse 39 and look at what this says and one of the mouth factors which was hanged railed on him saying if thou be christ save thyself and us but the other answering rebuked him saying does not thou fear god saying that thou art in the same condemnation and we indeed justly for we receive the due reward of our deeds but this man has done nothing amiss and he said unto jesus lord he acknowledged jesus as being the only be he he acknowledged him as being lord he committed to him look he allows him as being lord he said unto he said unto jesus lord remember me when thou comest into thine kingdom he acknowledged jesus as being that lord in christ and jesus said unto him verily i say unto thee today thou shalt be with me in paradise so that's the only thing that i have read in scripture that will allow you to forsake this this sub uh uh this the ceremony of baptism is when you're on your deathbed and you cannot have it performed or you know other than when there is something that actually incapacitates you that's the only thing that i've read that you know that it that ceremony could be forsaken but when it's incumbent upon you to do it you can't tell god lord because of the coronavirus i just you know you understand lord you you know you can't be like that is you know ask god to send you to someone or to send someone to you so that the ceremony can be performed amen so now peter tells them repent be baptized every one of you in the name of jesus for the remission of sins and you shall receive the gift of the holy ghost we've talked about that you're going to receive the gift from god for the promise is unto you and to your children and to all that are far off even as many as the lord god shall call so god is not only in the business of saving you but saving your children your children's children all of those that that that are born he wants to offer them the gift of salvation with many other words that he testified and exhort he encouraged them saying save yourselves from this lawless or godless generation then they that gladly received his word were baptized in the same day they were added unto them about 3 000 souls so god was adding to the size of our family now those of you that are starting out in this walk in this race don't take your foot off the gas continue to move forward always move forward don't slow down and stop because once that happened you become in danger of being idle and then and when you're in danger of being idle you're in danger of backsliding and falling away look at what this verse says in you know in respect to that verse 42 they continued steadfastly they were faithful about their continuation of things in the apostles doctrine so they never stopped taking in that word they never stopped fellowshipping they always came together breaking bread and they stayed in prayers they continue to move forth in those things god has got you to a good place in life always continue to move forward fear came upon every soul many wonders and signs were done by the apostles that's one thing that begins to happen immediately you begin to be concerned about how god feels concerning how god feel about you or about what you're doing you're mindful of him and that's that reverence you have for him and you know that he don't play that's that healthy fear and all that believed were together and had all things common they sold their possessions and goods and parted them to all men as every man had need god fills you with contentment to where you don't find yourself it's hard to let go of things anymore god begins to have you content and you become he start to make you into a generous person that you're mindful of other people's needs right they sold their possessions in good they parted them verse 46 and they continuing daily with one accord in the temple they were breaking bread from house to house and they did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart they were praising god and having favor with all people the lord added to the church daily such as should be saved god i thank you for the opportunity to bring forth your word even more i thank you for the opportunity to be saved from the gift that you brought forth which is salvation and you will minister it unto us even through jesus christ who is our lord the only begotten son father you have long suffered and you have chosen us to be the children of the most high god now those of those that have accepted your gift those whom you've called out of darkness i thank you for saving them now i ask you to equip them to strengthen them to raise them up as children who fear god who will endure until the end children of courage children of great gifts and blessings great talents oh god used to glorify god and to draw others out of the world into the light of jesus christ father thank you for the faith that the size of our family thank you for allowing those to be saved where they can edify our brothers and our sisters and when we can all come together in fellowship and worship god to be in praise of you father help us to glorify you with the gifts that you've called us with father continue to call on others to be saved use us according to your will and according to your pleasures that we may join you in paradise with your only begotten son the lord jesus christ thank you again for adding to the signs of our family and continuing to call all of us out of darkness thank you for loving us in jesus name we pray amen oh father we also ask that you would send them to places of worship to where they can be baptized and send people to them those who whom you've called out of darkness where they can be baptized whether they go or someone has been sent to facilitate the ceremony father for your will and for your blessing and for our obligations to you i ask of you this in jesus name amen folks i thank you for allowing my family and i to be a part of your bible study thank you for hanging in there with us as always our benediction comes from numbers uh chapter 6 verses 24 through 26 please always make sure you have uh repented of all of your sins so that you are able to be a recipient of the blessings that's being bestowed upon you again numbers chapter 6 verses 24 through the lord bless thee and keep thee for this is being loosed upon you and i want you to receive it again the lord bless thee and keep thee the lord make his face to shine upon thee and be gracious unto thee the lord lift up his countenance and punt thee and give thee peace i loose this unto you that you would prosper that you would be well and in good health that god will lead continue to lead and guide you and that you would acknowledge him in all parts of your life and in all of your ways that you would acknowledge him the sovereign king of the universe even the lord jesus christ the prince of all the kings upon the earth that you would acknowledge him and that god continues to acknowledge you i loose it on you that you would prosper in your walk with him receive it in jesus name amen god bless you my brothers and sisters again thank you for allowing my family and i to be a part of your bible study amen you

Channel: Clarence Hardin

Views: 139

Rating: 3.6666667 out of 5

Keywords: GOD, CREATOR, LORD JESUS CHRIST, bible study

Id: -7USB76mC9w

Length: 149min 25sec (8965 seconds)

Published: Sun Sep 05 2021