Prophet and the Prostitute (Part 1)

“Go and…..”

Hosea 1:1-3

Intro

In honor of valentine's day we are spending February going through a love story

But this isn’t your typical Christian Love story

In fact this Story has more in common with a Tay Swift song than a purity series

Through this sad, tough, confusing, brutal and sometimes plain disgusting story we begin to

see pictures of God’s heart

Scripture

Hosea‬ ‭1:2-3‬

“When the Lord first began speaking to Israel through Hosea, he said to him, “Go and marry a prostitute, so that some of her children will be conceived in prostitution. This will illustrate how Israel has acted like a prostitute by turning against the Lord and worshiping other gods.” So Hosea married Gomer, the daughter of Diblaim, and she became pregnant and gave Hosea a son.”‭‭ ‭

Pray

God help us to

Story

Have you ever had a job that was really difficult?

When I was in high school, I had two jobs. The first was flipping burgers for Wendy's. I was technically a "grill technician." The job was also technically boring. So I quit it and went to work construction. That job was more fun because half of the employees were my close friends.

But in truth, neither job was actually difficult.

What I think are hard jobs are ones that ask you to take risks. Like being a firefighter. Those men and women risk their lives every time they head into a fire. And sometimes, they even give up their lives.

On June 30th, 2016, 20 men responded to a brushfire outside of the town of Yarnell, Arizona. The fire was the worst the state had seen all year. A lightning strike started a blaze that burned over 8,000 acres and forced 1,000 people to evacuate their homes.

These men were doing their job when they descended into a canyon, covered with brush, to fight that terrible fire.

One of their crew, a 21-year-old named Brendan McDonough, was the designated lookout for the crew. He was doing his job when he warned the 19 others in his crew that the wind took a dangerous turn. The fire was headed into the canyon and right for the firefighters. After warning his crew, McDonough was able to get to safety.

His comrades didn't. Brendan McDonough was the only member of the Granite Mountain Hotshots crew to survive the blaze.

McDonough's job was to be the lookout. He warned his crew that the winds were changing and the fire was coming, and then he got out. That was exactly what he was supposed to do. That was his job. To this day, he says he has no regrets and that he is proud of his team. They were fighting a fire and putting their lives on the line.

Even though it was hard, McDonough did his job.

Application 1

Deny yourself

In the time of the Old Testament, there was another difficult job: being a prophet.

God had given his people, the Israelites, a nation. He had promised them that if they followed after Him, He would keep them safe and they would be the strongest nation of all the nations.

But the people would constantly forget God and instead worship idols. So, keeping with what He had told them, God allowed the great nation of Israel to be split into two. And after a time, both nations—one called Israel and the other Judah—were conquered by other countries.

During those difficult times, God sent prophets. The job of the prophet was to deliver God's message to His people. And those messages could be good, or they could be bad.

Most of the time, prophets were treated poorly because the people didn't want to hear what they had to say. Some prophets even met their deaths at the hands of the very people they came to warn.

And then there was a man named Hosea.

Hosea is the prophet in the title of this book. He's the guy whose life we're going to look at during the next several weeks.

While other prophets had tough messages to bring, Hosea was asked to do something no other prophet was asked to.

And you might be surprised at what it was God asked of him.

Sometimes, prophets would have one message to preach and then be done, like Jonah. Other times, the prophet would preach for most of their lives, like Isaiah. This seems to be the case for Hosea, as well. His ministry spanned around 40 years. While he preached, there were several kings in Judah and one in Israel.

How many of you have ever asked God to speak to you? Not just move your heart, but asked God to use an audible voice that you could hear? I know I’ve wanted Him to do that to me. I’ve wanted God to make Himself very clear and just speak what I was supposed to do.

Now, the truth is we have the Bible. It's the written words of God. And in it, He asks us to do a lot of things that make us uncomfortable: like share the gospel with a close friend or family member, or give up the money we earned to help someone in need, or go out of our way to be kind to the people who are mean to us.

But what if you heard the voice of God telling you to do something? What if God actually spoke in an audible voice to you and told you specifically what you were supposed to do? Do you think that you’d be more likely to do what He said or not?

I've talked with several students who talk about how they just wish God would point out who they should date or marry. Wouldn't it be nice if God just told you who that was supposed to be?

That's what happened to Hosea.

Let’s not pull any punches here. According to this passage, this is the very first time God has spoken to Hosea. Can you imagine if the very first time God spoke audibly to you was to tell you your ministry would begin by marrying a “promiscuous woman”?

Let’s define that word “promiscuous." At the very least, it means that this lady would be someone who is known for sleeping around with other guys.

What this more than likely means is that this woman is a prostitute: someone who makes their living by having sex for money. That means she not only has had two or three partners, but perhaps one every night. For maybe years on end. She’s a prostitute. A woman of promiscuity.

How many of you are still hoping God audibly tells you whom YOU should marry?

But why is Hosea being called to marry someone who has sex for money?

God goes into brief but pointed detail: the relationship between Hosea and his soon-to-be-wife will be a picture of how the nation of Israel acts in the context of its relationship with God.

Hosea will play the part of God: a faithful husband who loves his bride, even though she has a past and even though she’s prone to sin. The woman will represent the nation of Israel: a woman who’s been hurt too many times to even care and now is being pursued by a genuine lover. Not just a lover: a husband. A companion, and not just for a night—someone who is committed for life.

This will be the picture. The relationship between these two will serve as a picture of how the nation of Israel has treated God, but more importantly, it will also show us how God loves us and how we often reject God’s love and turn back to our former love interests.

Can we set up this love story? Can we walk through how this plays out?

First off, imagine that this is you. You’ve been commanded to go and marry a prostitute. You’re someone who probably doesn’t have it all together, but we can at least assume you don’t frequent the types of places prostitutes hang around.

How do you even begin to fulfill this command? Do you wander up to the first lady who seems to be selling herself and strike up a conversation? Has one caught your eye before when you got lost down a side street? How does the dating relationship look? What is their reaction when you explain that you’re saving yourself for marriage, when they’ve been selling themselves for profit?

When you pursue them, do they actually care? Or have they been wounded so many times by lovers who’ve used the words “I love you” like they were salt and pepper—just something to sprinkle on the conversation but makes no real difference to meal? Do they laugh in your face when you suggest marriage? Do they accept willingly?

Or is the way you’ve pursued them different? Can they tell that you care for them—genuinely care for them? Can they tell that you listen to them when they talk, instead of just rush ahead to what you’ve paid them for?

Whatever the case, and however the circumstances played out, Hosea obeyed the first command he heard from God.

Notice how we don’t get the story. We don’t hear of how Hosea went out and found Gomer. We don’t know the details of their love story. But what we do see is powerful all the same. We don’t see Hosea protesting or fighting God. Instead, we’re left with this wildly hard to believe fact: Hosea obeyed God even though the command was a difficult, life-altering commandment.

How many of us would obey the audible voice of God? Even more: When faced with the fact that God has spoken through His Word to us, how many of us have obeyed the written Word of God?

Hosea’s obedience to God’s tough commandment reminds us about the tough commandments God has given us.

I'm sure Hosea had other things in mind when he thought about who he was going to marry. I'm definitely sure Hosea didn't think he'd be marrying someone who had already been with several other men. But that didn't stop Hosea from obeying God and denying himself.

When God calls us to do something that's uncomfortable, difficult, or seemingly impossible, what is our response? Do we say that it's not for us and ignore the command?

Or do we act like Hosea? Do we obey right away, without a second thought or glance back?

I hope we'd all respond like the prophet did and do what seemed crazy, but what comes right from God's mouth. It's our job as His followers to obey Him.

Whether we hear it or read it.

Story 2

Story of me thinking i was too good to be partners in MMA with someone

Supporting Scripture

Luke 10:25-37

25 And behold, a lawyer stood up to put him to the test, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” 26 He said to him, “What is written in the Law? How do you read it?” 27 And he answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.” 28 And he said to him, “You have answered correctly; do this, and you will live.”

29 But he, desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”30 Jesus replied, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers, who stripped him and beat him and departed, leaving him half dead. 31 Now by chance a priest was going down that road, and when he saw him he passed by on the other side. 32 So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 33 But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was, and when he saw him, he had compassion. 34 He went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he set him on his own animal and brought him to an inn and took care of him. 35 And the next day he took out two denarii[c] and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, ‘Take care of him, and whatever more you spend, I will repay you when I come back.’ 36 Which of these three, do you think, proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?” 37 He said, “The one who showed him mercy.” And Jesus said to him, “You go, and do likewise.”

Application 2

Remember when the Pharisees were questioning Jesus and asking just who their neighbors were? Jesus went straight for the heart of the matter and told those who were listening that their neighbor was everyone, even those who you considered your enemy or who you thought wasn’t deserving of your love. Just like a prostitute who receives the love of a prophet.

Even though we often wish we heard the audible voice of God, would we treat it the same as the written word of God that we so often ignore just because it’s not convenient?

Jesus challenged us to love our neighbors: everyone. When we take a step back, we realize that this is modeled in the entire life of Jesus.

Love your neighbor was the command God gave us, and the one Jesus fulfilled.

But then we remember another commandment Jesus gave us. A commandment that He followed everyday of His life: Deny yourself.

Conclusion

In what area of life is God asking you to deny yourself?

Pray

Jesus reveal to us the places in our life we need to surrender to You