The Way Home

Hosea 6:4–6 ESV

What shall I do with you, O Ephraim? What shall I do with you, O Judah? Your love is like a morning cloud, like the dew that goes early away. Therefore I have hewn them by the prophets; I have slain them by the words of my mouth, and my judgment goes forth as the light. For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.

Pray for hearts to be softened to His voice; disposition of repentance; promptings to know Him more.

Essence of the King (Study)

Focus on Ephraim

Born to one of the most objective ways to illustrate the two natures

The nature of the flesh who he takes from his mother who had been given to pagan gods

imagine how your ancestors or those before you were given. 14 generations

The nature of the King

A lineage chosen by God

Made not just an heir but the one who carries the inheritance forward

This is the lineage he was to live into;

Bear fruit even in hardship; trials and tribulations

What is it that you now carry? What are you called to?

If the essence of the King is in you you have an assignment… I assure you was not made for this world.

The call to return home is louder today than ever; comes with both judgement and blessings (are dependent on your response to His voice)

Judgement is reserved for those who the Lord is calling but refuse to yield to His way

Blessings are reserved for those who hear His voice and are making the intentional move towards Him MORE SPECIFICALLY;

On your way home there are a few things you will have to do to see your path restored;

Your love for the Lord must be enduring

Listen when the Lord speaks through His ministers

Allow the word of God to have an impact on your life

Walk in covenental love

Know the Lord

Our way home brings us to rejecting the essence of the flesh as we grow into the essence of the King

Symptoms of the Essence of the Flesh

Hosea 6:10 ESV

In the house of Israel I have seen a horrible thing; Ephraim’s whoredom is there; Israel is defiled.

To be sure; The question is not whether you will yield a fruit rather which fruit you will yield…

Did you know that if you did not have the essence of the King in you then there is no expectation of you…? even in your wrongdoing you are only acting according to your true nature.

If Ephraim did not have the nature which belonged to the King in him then he could scarcely be called a whore.

Yet this text clearly states his whoredom is found in Israel…

That is: Look at the Church today… Look at its ministers… Look at the congregations… Then Look internal… ( we cannot say this is not the situation playing out before our very eyes.)

Cannot unpack this today however, It may be time to re-evaluate the whore that is drunk with the blood of the saints in Revelation 17 ..

More than trading sex for money the implication of whoredom is the trading services for something of value

Ephraim’s whoredom led him to sell himself into slavery in exchange for value not realizing he was the thing of value.

Hosea 4:1–2 ESV

Hear the word of the Lord, O children of Israel, for the Lord has a controversy with the inhabitants of the land. There is no faithfulness or steadfast love, and no knowledge of God in the land; there is swearing, lying, murder, stealing, and committing adultery; they break all bounds, and bloodshed follows bloodshed.

Swearing = placing under curse (not so much foul language or creating an oath)

Lying = not truthful also feign obedience

Murder = cause death; to take another’s life

Stealing = using stealth to take something

Adultery = intercourse with someone other than your betrothed or spouse

more than sex it tells of idolatry

Break all bounds = violence everywhere

Bloodshed follows bloodshed = one injustice is met with another (they killed me so I will kill everyone around me)

Whoredom will lead to yielding a fruit but all of its offspring will die.

Pride the ultimate symptom

(Remember what the time in the dessert was for)

Hosea 7:10 ESV

The pride of Israel testifies to his face; yet they do not return to the Lord their God, nor seek him, for all this.

I’ve got it mentality… I can do it … I can fix it … I can make enough money to make it work…

When the entire time you should have turned to the Lord Hos 4 tells us they turned to pieces of wood… man made gods for help

Hos 4:12 tells us that instead of carrying the Spirit of God they carry a spirit of whoredom that leads them astray

However; it is not without hope 7:13 declares I would redeem them but they speak lies against me…

there is a plan to bring the lost home but to take part of that we have to stop living in a deluded state and receive the truth

Engaging the Way Home

Hosea 14:1–2 ESV

Return, O Israel, to the Lord your God, for you have stumbled because of your iniquity. Take with you words and return to the Lord; say to him, “Take away all iniquity; accept what is good, and we will pay with bulls the vows of our lips.

Once we stop living in the lies that somehow the world will save us or that we can do it for ourselves

Return to Lord your God and repent

v.3 acknowledge there is no other God but the living God

Its not your money

Its not your time

Its not your strength

Its not your intellect … that is your god

The living God placed in you something that is so valuable that the enemy has been bleeding you dry from trying to keep in you in a posture of whoredom

The Blessings in the Essence of the King

Jeremiah 31:20 ESV

Is Ephraim my dear son? Is he my darling child? For as often as I speak against him, I do remember him still. Therefore my heart yearns for him; I will surely have mercy on him, declares the Lord.

No matter how far you stray… no matter what you have gotten involved with… no matter how long… today the Lord is calling you home he has never forgotten..

In the posture of repentance the Lord moves quickly to restore and then brings you into a blessing

Hosea 14:4–7 ESV

I will heal their apostasy; I will love them freely, for my anger has turned from them. I will be like the dew to Israel; he shall blossom like the lily; he shall take root like the trees of Lebanon; his shoots shall spread out; his beauty shall be like the olive, and his fragrance like Lebanon. They shall return and dwell beneath my shadow; they shall flourish like the grain; they shall blossom like the vine; their fame shall be like the wine of Lebanon.

Heal their apostasy

Love them Freely

Anger has turned from you

He will be your surety

He will cause you to blossom

He will cause you to be established

He will be your dwelling place and shelter

He will make you known