Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduce Series

This morning we are launching into a new series in partnership with Yarmouth Wesleyan called follow the Leader - Part 2.

Let me make a distinction here this morning.

You might be wondering why it’s called Part 2.

Let’s just say that the process and point of us coming to faith in Jesus and making a decision to be baptized is part 1.

This season of our lives is usually very exciting and we sense all the new things God is doing in our lives.

Part 2 is where we learn to walk in obedience to Jesus.

In this series we are going to look at a number of different stories found in Scripture of people who walked in obedience to Jesus despite some of the circumstances they faced.

In this series we are going to look at a number of different stories found in Scripture of people who walked in obedience to Jesus despite some of the circumstances they faced.

SERIES FCF - We have been working through the book of Acts and prior to this we have been chatting through how Generous our God is.

I think for many of us, based on our experience we default into worshipping Jesus as Saviour but have a harder time worshipping Jesus as Lord.

The reality is Jesus is BOTH Saviour AND Lord.

And if we are going to worship Jesus for who he truly is that means we recognize that he both loves us, forgives us and wants relationship and through that relationship he calls us to obedience and as it says in

Because Jesus is both Saviour and Lord he is both full of grace and truth; the grace that forgives and heals and the truth that corrects and transforms.

I think we tend to default to Jesus as Saviour vs. Jesus as Lord because Jesus as Saviour because we fear the challenge that the truth brings us.

It’s like when I was kid and I would be in trouble I would always go to whatever parent would be more merciful despite the fact that I needed the strong truth to change me or challenge my character; the truth hurts but it changes us.

Let me get real practical to show you how this looks in our lives.

It is like this past week I had a brother in Christ rebuke me with some solid truth I needed to hear.

It stung and it hurt but it was exactly what my character needed to help me become the leader and Christ follower God is calling me to be.

If I just worship Jesus as Saviour and not as Lord I don’t embrace this truth and I probably get miffed and offended.

Do you see it?

I think many people are guilty of worshipping a false Jesus.

They worship Jesus as Saviour but they don’t worship a Jesus who is Lord.

I think many of people are guilty of worshipping a false God.

They worship Jesus as Saviour but they don’t worship a Jesus who is Lord.

By doing so we worship a false God or a God we create in our own image.

If we don’t come to know Jesus as Lord we can never be transformed into people who live radical lifestyles of following Jesus.

By doing so we worship a false God or a God we create in our own image kind of like the golden calf.

If we don’t come to know Jesus as Lord we can never be transformed into people who live radical lifestyles of following Jesus.

We become what we worship.

If we truly want to become like Christ we have to worship him in Spirit and in Truth.

Worshipping God in Spirit and in truth means worshipping God for who he truly is not just who we like him to be.

See it.

One more thing I want to mention before we jump into our first story of obedience.

Experiencing Jesus as Saviour is foundational to us experiencing Jesus as Lord.

Max Lacado’s quote summarizes this for us well.

“God loves you just the way you are, but too much to keep you that way.”

The love of God actually gives us the power and ability to walk in obedience.

I’ve talked about how in some of Paul’s letters he spends the first section of his books, like in Ephesians and Romans, unpacking what Christ has done for us, Jesus as Saviour and the rest of the book unpacking for us what we then ought to do.

Why?

Because it is the love of God the gives us the power to walk in obedience to Jesus.

Hook

Has God ever asked you to do something and you are like really God?

If there was ever a story in Scripture that might make someone question whether God was speaking or not it is the story of Scripture we are going to look at.

This story in Scripture is one those stories you don’t want to like pray over your Bible, say Lord speak to me and open to this verse.

Peter stepping out of the boat

Or starting a new ministry

Hosea

You be like, I beg your pardon Lord.

Needless to say this is a very obscure passage of Scripture inside an obscure book in the Old Testament.

But I want to try and make some sense of this because I truly believe this book has a message for us today that can challenge us in the area of obedience.

Introduce Subject

Introduce Subject

Today I want to talk about obedience.

Fallen Condition

Before we get into the text this morning I want to talk about the problem this book speaks to.

This book is all about addressing unfaithfulness to the Lord.

Can you remember the last time the Lord prompted you or asked you to do something and you missed it?

Pause.

Yeah, those memories aren’t usually pleasant because we realized we missed the mark and we blew it.

It’s one thing to do that in an instance but sometimes we get to the point in our lives where our whole lifestyle we are not being faithful to Jesus.

We might say we are a follower of Jesus but when we do an inventory and look at our lives we quickly realize that I’m not just missing the mark in some areas my whole lifestyle is bent towards not listening to Jesus.

Reason to Hear

I’m excited this morning because if you are in that position where your whole lifestyle is bent towards being unfaithful God wants to give you hope this morning through the prophet Hosea.

God still loves you and longs to be in relationship with you despite the times when we are unfaithful.

It doesn’t make sense but it’s God’s love for his people.

Despite what you have done there is hope; God longs for relationship with you.

Transition to Text

We are going to take a dive into this story now.

Last week we covered one chapter in 30-40m minutes and now we are going to try and cover 13 chapters in 20.

Are you ready?

lol

One of the things I love about preaching whole books of the bible in a setting like this is you can encapsulate what the overall message of the book is and apply it to our lives.

Hosea, the message is clear...

The bottom line of Hosea’s message, however, is one of redemptive love.

While God will forsake those who forsake him, he is willing to forgive repentant sinners even if their sin was abandonment of him.

Contextual Foundation

Let’s get into the nuts and bolts of the story now.

The book of Hosea is found in the back half of the Old Testament in between the books of Daniel and Joel.

Baker Encyclopedia of the Bible Hosea, Book Of

First of the 12 minor prophets in the traditional arrangement of the OT books.

First of the 12 minor prophets in the traditional arrangement of the OT books.

First of the 12 minor prophets in the traditional arrangement of the OT books.

Hosea was a prophet who lived in the Northern Kingdom.

After Solomon’s reign the kingdom was split in two with Judah living in the South and Israel living in the north.

Hosea’s prophecies were proclaimed to the northern kingdom of Israel in the final years of its existence

Baker Encyclopedia of the Bible Hosea, Book Of

He ministered for close to 40 years.

First of the 12 minor prophets in the traditional arrangement of the OT books.

First of the 12 minor prophets in the traditional arrangement of the OT books.

Hosea was a prophet who lived in the Northern Kingdom.

After Solomon’s reign the kingdom was split in two with Judah living in the South and Israel living in the north.

If you read through the books of 1-2 Samuel and 1-2 Kings you will discover that every king that ever reigned in Israel were wicked and did not follow the ways of the Lord.

In contrast to that Judah did have some kings who did what was pleasing to the Lord.

God commands Hosea to marry a harlot...

…And this marriage is the over-arching story that speaks to the situation.

The analogy that God wants to communicate is that God’s people have committed spiritual adultery with him despite him being faithful to them and continuing to love and pursue them.

Now, our first reaction and the question that all of us are asking is, how could God command poor Hosea to do such a thing.

You’ve heard the statement, desperate times call for desperate measures well this is definitely one of those situations.

God was about to allow the Assyrians to take them into Exile to wake them up and shake them out of their adultery.