Mercy Triumphs Over Judgment

Hosea 1 provides an amazing picture of the Gospel of Jesus.  How can this be?  It was written over 700 years before Christ was born.  Indeed it was, but remember Jesus said that the entire Old Testament is about Him (see Luke 24:44). 

Here is how the Gospel of Jesus is seen in Hosea 1.  We are all sinful (Romans 3:23) in that we commit spiritual whoredom “by forsaking the Lord” (Hosea 1:2).  The wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23), and this judgment for sin came upon the children born to Gomer.  They were called “no mercy” and “not my people” (Hosea 1:6, 9).  We deserve no mercy and to NOT be God’s children because of our sin.

However, God is quick to come with grace by declaring that “no mercy” will “receive mercy” and “not my people” will become “children of the living God” (Hosea 2:1, 23).  This mercy is possible because there is “one head” (Hosea 1:11), and His name is Jesus, the Head of the Church (Eph. 1:22).  It is because we have a living God that all of this mercy is possible.  It is because Jesus is alive that we can be forgiven (1 Cor. 15).

Finally, once someone comes to faith in Christ and receives His mercy, they are declared a new creation in Christ (2 Cor. 5:17).  Our new identity in Christ is spoken of in Romans 9:25 and 1 Peter 2:10, where both Peter and Paul quote from Hosea 1.  How cool is that!!!  Of all the places in the Old Testament to support salvation by grace through faith, and to speak of how we receive a new nature when we receive His mercy, they both go to Hosea.

For more on how mercy triumphs over judgment, you can listen to my sermon at:  http://www.livinghopeathens.org/grace-triumphs-over-judgment/

Bother God in Prayer

“because this widow keeps bothering me, I will give her justice” – Luke 18:5

Do you ever feel like your prayers bother God?  Have you ever heard someone say, “You don’t need to keep asking God.  If you have prayed once, then from that point on just thank Him that the answer is coming; otherwise you aren’t praying in faith.”?  I understand this rational, but Luke 11:5-13 and Luke 18:1-8 teach us that certain things are only attained as we persistently pray and bother God!!!

Recently the Lord spoke to me from these two passages, and I have now made a “bother God” card.  This card is where I list those things I am going to keeping asking, keep knocking, and keeping seeking the Lord about.  These are prayer requests that I believe honor God and His kingdom, and I am going to repeatedly ask until they are answered, or until God shows me to quit asking for some reason.  Do you have a “bother God” list?  If not, I encourage you to start one.

Luke 11:8 uses the word “impudence” to speak of persistent prayer.  This is the only time this Greek word is used in the New Testament.  It is made up of two words:  “not” and “sense of shame or honor, modesty, bashfulness”.  Put together this word means to not have bashfulness or shame in coming to God.  Come boldly. Come persistently.  Come naked and unashamed.  Keep knocking on the door of heaven until you get an answer…for His glory!  Wrestle with God.  Bother God with your requests!

Then in Luke 18 we have the more familiar passage about the “persistent widow” who kept coming to the unjust judge until she got what she needed.  And Jesus tells us that God will “give justice to His elect, who cry to Him day and night” (v. 7). 

I believe there are mighty answers to pray that await those who will “always pray and not lose heart” (Luke 18:1).  Make your “bother God” list and keep pounding on the doors of heaven!

Marry a Prostitute???

“Marry a prostitute?  Are you kidding me?”  Hosea must have thought this as God gave him the charge to do just that.  And God wasn’t kidding when He told Hosea to do this.  Furthermore, Hosea was charged with loving her despite her repeated unfaithfulness.  And if this were not enough, he was not only to remain faithful to her, but also allure her back when she was wayward. 

Why would God have him do this?  For one simple reason:  to show the kind of love He has for us, even when we are unfaithful to Him.  “Nothing shall separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom. 8).

All of us are spiritual harlots at one time or another, and yet God continues to love us, remain steadfastly committed to us, and allures us by His Spirit to come back.  How crazy is this?!  What a radical book Hosea is.  What a radical love story in the book of Hosea.  What a radical God, who has radical love for us.

To understand the book of Hosea it is crucial to know that God likens our relationship with Him to a marriage.  “For your Maker is your husband” (Isa. 54:5).  “Come and I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb” (Rev. 21:5).  This reveals how close God desires to be with us.  It shows how intimate He wants our relationship to be with Him.  It also shows why He would call it whoredom if we give our love and devotion to someone or something more than to Him.  “For the land commits great whoredom by forsaking the Lord” (Hosea 1:2).

Throughout this great story in the Bible, we will discover how God loves us despite our unfaithfulness to Him, and also how this amazing love demands a response, and that response is that we would forsake our other “lovers” and be steadfastly devoted to Him. 

May the revelation of God’s love motivate you to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength.

For more on the book of Hosea and to hear my opening sermon on this book, go to:  http://www.livinghopeathens.org/marry-a-prostitute-really/

Jesus from Genesis to Revelation

 John 5:39-40 You diligently study the Scriptures because you think that by them you possess eternal life. These are the Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life.

Luke 24:44-46 Jesus said to them, This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms.  Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures. He told them, This is what is written: The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day

Jesus tells us in these two passages that the entire Old Testament is about Him.  And we also know the entire New Testament is about Him. Therefore, both the entire Bible is about Jesus!  Really?  Yes.  But how can this be when the Old Testament was written between 400 and 1400 BC.?  This is only possible if the Bible has a divine author.  I believe it does.

For me personally, it was when I saw how the entire Bible pointed to Jesus that I was convinced it is the Word of God and Jesus is the Son of God.  What about you?  Do you believe the Bible is God’s Word?  Do you believe Jesus is God’s Son?  Have you ever been shown how Jesus is revealed in every book of the Bible? 

Recently I preach on how Jesus is revealed in every book of the Bible. I encourage you to listen to this message at http://www.livinghopeathens.org/category/sermons/ and let me know what you think. Email me at davidholt08@gmail.com. 

If you have questions, I would love to hear them. I am convinced that wisdom begins with a well-asked question, and truth is never afraid of a question.

Biblical Community and Small Groups

God wants His people to be deeply connected in community. Community is “common unity.”  Our common unity is in Jesus.  We desperately need each other in our journey with God. 

God modeled community for us in the Trinity.  God had a nation (Israel) and the 12 Tribes.  Jesus ministered to the masses and had His 12, and within the 12 He had 3 that He spent even extra time with.  Do you have 3 in your life that you could share almost anything with?  I do, and I sure need those men.

I do not know where I would be today without the small group interaction I have had over the years.  I had a group of 5 men that I met with for 18 years while pastoring in Wisconsin.  Those are to this day my closest friends.

Prov. 27:17 says “as iron sharpens iron so one man sharpens another.”  Do you have others in your life that truly sharpen you? 

Find a small group to join!  Start a small group!  Be as Hebr. 10:24 says “stir one another to love and good deeds.”

Most active Christ-followers today will miss Sunday church at least once every month, any twice a month.  This makes being in a small group even more important, because when they miss Sunday worship, they miss out on fellowship.  But a midweek small group can be the “spiritual staple” they don’t miss.  I believe a biblically functioning small group is even more important than Sunday worship.

Larry Crabb says, “Life-change most often occurs when truth is shared in the context of a relationship.”  Sundays give us truth, but often the close relational piece is missing.

For more about the biblical basis for small groups, the benefits of a small group, how the early church met “from house to house”, common barriers to getting into a small group, and the ingredients in true biblical community, go to my 2 sermons on small groups at http://www.livinghopeathens.org/category/sermons/