Latest / Faith by annm2705 / 682. Bible Study: Hosea 2, 3, and 4 (Spiritual Adultery, Idolatry, God's love and restoration)

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682. Bible Study: Hosea 2, 3, and 4 (Spiritual Adultery, Idolatry, God's love and restoration) · Faith by annm2705

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  Chapter 2 of Hosea, Dear God, please be with us as we read
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  through this chapter and give us insight and wisdom in Jesus
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  name, Amen. Chapter 2 Say of your brothers,
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  my people, and of your sisters, my loved one.
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  Rebuke your mother. Rebuke her, for she is not my
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  wife and I am not her husband. Let her remove the adulterous
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  look from her face and the unfaithfulness from between her
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  breast. Otherwise I will strip her naked
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  and make her as bare as on the day she was born.
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  I will make her like a desert, turn her into a parched land,
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  and slay her with thirst. I will not show my love to her
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  children because they are the children of adultery.
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  Their mother has been unfaithful and has conceived them in
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  disgrace, She said. I will go after my lovers who
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  give me my food and my water, my wool and my linen, my olive oil
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  and my drink. Therefore I will block her path
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  with thorn bushes. I will wall her in so that she
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  cannot find her way. She will chase after her lovers
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  but not catch them. She will look for them but not
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  find them. Then she will say, I will go
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  back to my husband, as at first, for then I was better off than
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  now. She has not acknowledged that I
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  was the one who gave her the grain, the new wine and oil, who
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  lavished on her the silver and gold which they used for Bale.
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  Therefore I will take away my grain when it ripens, and my new
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  wine when it is ready. I will take back my wool and my
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  linen intended to cover her naked body.
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  So now I will expose her lewdness before the eyes of her
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  lovers. No one will take her out of my
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  hands. I will stop all her
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  celebrations, her yearly festivals, her new moons, her
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  Sabbath days, and all her appointed festivals.
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  I will ruin her vines and her fig trees, which she said were
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  her pay from her lovers. I will make them a thicket, and
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  wild animals will devour them. I will punish her for the days
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  she burned incense to the bales. She decked herself with rings
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  and jewelry and went after her lovers.
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  But she for but me she forgot, declares the Lord.
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  Therefore I am now going to allure her.
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  I will lead her into the wilderness and speak tenderly to
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  her. There I will give her back her
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  vineyards and make the valley of Acor a door of hope.
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  There she will respond as in the days of her youth, as in the day
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  she came up out of Egypt. In that day, declares the Lord,
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  you will call me my husband, You will no longer call me my
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  master. I will remove the names of the
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  bales from her lips. No longer will their names be
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  invoked. In that day, I will make a
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  covenant for them with the beasts of the field, the birds
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  in the sky, and the creatures that move along the ground.
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  Bow and sword and battle I will abolish from the land, so that
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  all may lay down in safety. I will betroth you to me
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  forever. I will betroth you in
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  righteousness and justice, in love and compassion.
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  I will betroth you in faithfulness, and you will
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  acknowledge the Lord in that day.
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  I will respond, declares the Lord.
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  I will respond to the skies, and they will respond to the earth,
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  and the earth will respond to the grain, the new wine, and the
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  olive oil. They will respond to Jezreel.
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  I will plant her for myself in the land.
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  I will show my love to the one I called, not my loved one.
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  I will say to those called not my people, You are my people and
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  they will say you are my God. So there was a few things that I
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  noticed when I read through this.
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  In verse 8, it says she has not acknowledged I was the one.
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  That's God who gave her the grain, the new wine.
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  Now this is obviously Israel that is being metaphorically
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  talked about and then it talks about burning incense to bales.
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  So that kind of stood out to me as one of the rituals that is a
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  Bale ritual. And then I also when you get to
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  verse 16, I noticed in that day, this is what I believe is when
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  Jesus reigns here on earth. And then it says I will, it says
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  bow and sword and battle I will abolish from the land so that
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  all may lay down or lie down in safety.
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  That's the Millennium time frame.
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  There's going to be no other time like Jesus said that there
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  will be wars and rumors of wars and it's just going to continue
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  on like that in the in the earth until Jesus returns and when
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  Jesus does this restoration. So way back when Hosea was
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  talking about it, he was looking forward or was being shown
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  something from God about the Millennium time frame, which I
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  think is really cool. So I'll read the questions and
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  answers for chapter 2. Why refuse to love children of
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  adultery? This continues the metaphor
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  showing the terrible consequences of unfaithfulness
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  to God. It is contrasted with God's
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  promise to call the Israelites children of the living God.
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  What is the significance of the grain, the new wine and oil?
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  This is a powerful reference to the blessings of the covenant.
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  These words are also found in Deuteronomy Chapter 7, verse 13
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  in a context demonstrating God's love and blessing in response to
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  Israel's obedience. God was the one who provided
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  these basic necessities for Israel, so he would take them.
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  So he would take them away as punishment for Israel's
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  unfaithfulness. When they idolatry, when they
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  were worshipping Bail, Why? And I guess other fake false
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  gods. Why stop God appointed
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  celebrations? This was actually a picture of
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  the destruction that would come to Israel.
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  A destruction so complete that the people would be forbidden to
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  practice their rich religious customs.
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  Their religion had become empty ritual.
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  God hates insincere religious rituals, especially when
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  accompanied by idolatry. So if we are, you know, doing
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  all these religious activities, but we're not close to God,
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  that's what he's not happy about.
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  Or if we're or if we have idols in front of us.
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  Why does God act like a jealous lover?
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  Though God is sovereign and in need of nothing, He has chosen
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  to reveal himself as a God deeply in love with His
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  creation. Hosea shows that God is not
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  merely a business like overseer of the world who methodically
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  dispenses appropriate judgement. He is a God with feelings.
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  He can be grieved, angered, frustrated, or delighted by our
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  behavior. God illustrates the side of His
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  nature by describing a spouse who has been betrayed and who
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  swings from emotion to emotion. Throughout the Bible, the threat
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  of punishment is consistently followed by tender promises of
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  intimacy. Why would Israel call God her
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  husband instead of her Master? Throughout the book of Hosea,
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  God relates to Israel as a husband to a wife.
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  It is. It is a striking, bold image of
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  God. The intimate for bear,
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  forbearing, forgiving love that God has for Israel is deeper
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  than the relationship of a master and his servant.
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  And as Israel is restored, she too will describe her
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  relationship to God in these intimate terms.
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  And that's the end. For chapter 2.
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  We'll continue. And chapter 3 is really short,
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  so we'll probably do 3:00 and 4:00.
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  So I will start with chapter or continue with chapter 3.
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  This is Hosea's reconciliation with his wife.
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  The Lord said to me, go show your love to your wife.
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  Again, though she is loved by another man and is an
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  adulteress, love her as the Lord loves the Israelites, though
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  they turn to other gods and love the sacred Raisin cakes.
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  So I bought her for 15 shekels of silver and about a Homer and
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  a lethic of barley. Then I told her you were to live
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  with me many days. You must not be a prostitute or
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  be intimate with any man, and I will behave the same way toward
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  you. For the Israelites will live
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  many days without a king or a Prince, without sacrifice or
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  sacred stones, without ephod or household gods.
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  Afterwards the Israelites will return and seek the Lord their
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  God and David their king. They will come trembling to the
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  Lord and to His blessings in the last days.
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  Now I just paid attention to this.
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  It said afterwards. So first it says that they will
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  go for many days without king or Prince.
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  And I wonder if that's that, you know, this time frame now,
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  obviously when both of the kingdoms, Israel first was
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  conquered by Assyria and then Judah was conquered by Babylon,
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  that kind of end that ended the kings.
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  And then it wasn't until 1948 when Israel became a nation
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  again. And then they didn't have a
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  king, they had a Prime Minister. So they've had different
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  leaders. So they haven't had kings or
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  priests during this time. And they also have not had a
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  temple. And since the second temple was
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  destroyed, there's not been another temple.
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  And of course, they do have plans and designs for 1/3
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  temple. But this is, you know, prophecy
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  that's been written a very long time ago.
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  I'll have to go back again to the beginning to remember what
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  period of BC it was like. So it was 753 to 715.
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  BC was Hosea's ministry in Israel.
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  And so this is, you know, quite a long time ago that this was
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  talked about. And again, it's prophecy that,
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  you know, has come true, that portion where it's many days
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  without a king right now. And it says afterward the
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  Israelites will return. Could that be May of 19, May
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  14th of 1948, when the Israelites, you know, they were
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  dispersed everywhere and then they returned.
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  But I don't know if that I mean some are, but not all.
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  And it says return and seek the Lord their God and David their
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  King. So I, I don't know if that's
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  happening right now. And I just think it's
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  interesting that David their king is mentioned seeking David
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  their king. Because if you are, when we read
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  Ezekiel, you will notice that it talks about David their king.
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  And, and I seriously wonder if when the resurrection occurs,
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  like when Jesus returns and people are gathered to him, it
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  says the dead in Christ will rise first.
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  In fact, maybe David already did rise up because there was that
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  one of the gospels that talked about graves opened and people
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  roamed around the city the day that Jesus died and resurrected.
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  I guess it was on his resurrection day.
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  But one of the Gospels talks about that, which I find very
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  interesting, and it doesn't say what happened after that, which
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  I also find surprising. So I don't know if it was
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  temporary or if they actually ascended with Jesus and was that
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  the first fruits? I I really don't know.
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  These are questions that I have and the Bible I haven't found an
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  answer in the Bible that clarifies that.
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  But anyway so we know that when Jesus returns, those who are
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  alive will be changed instantly and receive immortal bodies, non
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  perishable bodies. So the bodies will be changed of
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  people living, but first the dead in Christ will rise and be
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  given bodies. And those those who were against
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  Christ will not rise for this 1000 period of 1000 years of
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  time. They, those who rejected Christ
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  will not rise. They will rise at the end of
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  that 1000 years for final judgement.
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  But I guess I don't remember where I was going with this, but
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  oh, about David. And so either way, if he, he's
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  already with God, you know, perhaps that could be, or if he
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  rises up when Jesus returns, I think when you read Ezekiel that
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  David is actually going to be the king and then Jesus will be,
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  he will be the Prince. David will be the Prince and
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  then the king. I, I'm just reading it that way.
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  So I could be wrong on that. That's an interpretation.
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  But I think it's Ezekiel. I don't know if it's 30.
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  No, it's not 38, but it's, it's the last chapters of Ezekiel
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  where it talks about the third temple.
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  And anyway, it'll be interesting, but this talks
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  about they will return and seek the Lord the God and David their
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  king. And so I'm wondering if, you
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  know, they if this, I wonder if this return is actually during
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  the Millennium when David is already risen.
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  And then they hear about this and they're like, oh, let's go
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  see the Lord. They will come trembling to the
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  Lord and to his blessings in the last days.
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  That would make sense that that would be the circumstances.
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  Now I'm now I'm going to read what the study Bible says about
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  this. Okay, chapter 3.
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  Why was Hosea ordered to take back an unfaithful spouse?
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  Hosea forgave Gomer's sin against him, symbolizing God's
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  forgiveness of sinful Israel and demonstrating that severed
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  relationships can be restored. We are to reflect the same
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  steadfast love and forgiveness in our relationships.
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  What were sacred Raisin cakes? These were food items used in
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  the worship of Baal. The Israelites had turned to
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  idolatry and were enjoying the sensuality of Pagan rituals.
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  Why did Hosea have to buy back his wife?
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  Gomer had apparently sold herself into prostitution,
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  possibly with one of the Pagan sex that engaged prostitutes as
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  a part of worship practices. Hosea brought her back, paying 6
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  ounces of silver, about the about half the cost of a slave,
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  plus nearly 10 bushels of barley.
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  What does this prediction refer to?
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  This prediction there are This predicts the eventual
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  destruction of Israel, which occurred in 722 BC.
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  The Assyrians under Shalmaneser invaded the land and laid siege
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  to Samaria, finally capturing the city and carrying its
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  residents off to exile in in Assyria.
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  You can find that in Second Kings chapter 17 verses 3
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  through 6. OK, so we covered chapter 3.
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  Now we'll go into it was very short chapter.
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  Now we'll go into chapter 4. The charge against Israel.
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  Hear the word of the Lord, you Israelites, because the Lord has
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  a charge to bring against you who live in the land.
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  There is no faithfulness, no love, no acknowledgement of God
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  in the land. There is only cursing, lying and
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  murder, stealing and adultery. They break all bounds.
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  With bloodshed follows bloodshed.
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  Because of this, the land dries up, and all who live in it waste
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  away. The beasts of the field, the
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  birds in the sky, and the fish in the sea are swept away.
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  But let no one bring a charge, let no one accuse another.
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  For your people are like those who bring charges against a
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  priest. You stumble day and night, and
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  the prophets stumble with you. So I will destroy your mother.
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  My people are destroyed from a lack of knowledge.
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  Because you have rejected knowledge, I also reject you as
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  my priest. Because you have ignored the law
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  of your God, I will ignore your children.
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  The more priests there were, the more they sinned against Me.
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  They exchange their glorious God for something disgraceful.
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  They feed on the sins of My people and relish their
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  wickedness. And it will be like people like
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  priest. I will punish both of them for
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  their ways and repay them for their deeds.
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  They will eat but not have enough.
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  They will engage in prostitution but not flourish because they
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  have deserted the Lord to give themselves to prostitution.
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  Old wine and new wine take away their understanding.
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  My people consult a wooden idol and a diviner's rod speaks to
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  them. A spirit of prostitution leads
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  them astray. They are unfaithful to their
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  God. They sacrifice on mountain tops
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  and burn offerings on the hills under oak, Poplar and terebinth
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  where the shade is pleasant. Therefore, your daughters turn
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  to prostitution and your daughter in laws to adultery.
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  I will not punish your daughters when they turn to prostitution.
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  That's interesting. So see how God turns people over
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  to their desires. Nor your daughters in law when
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  they commit adultery. Because the men themselves
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  consort with harlots and sacrifice with shrine
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  prostitutes. A people without understanding
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  will come to ruin. Though you, Israel, commit
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  adultery. Do not let Judah become guilty.
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  Do not go to Gilgal, do not go up to Beth Haven, and do not
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  swear. As surely as the Lord lives.
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  The Israelites are stubborn, like a stubborn heifer.
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  How then can the Lord pasture them like lambs in a Meadow?
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  Ephraim is joined to idols. Leave him alone.
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  Even when their drinks are gone, they continue their
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  prostitution. Their rulers dearly love
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  shameful ways. A whirlwind will sweep them
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  away, and their sacrifices will bring them shame.
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  That's the end of chapter 4. I'll read the questions and
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  answers for that one too. I guess the things that stood
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  out to me in these scriptures were, you know, God gives the
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  reasons for all the things that they've done and they have
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  effects on crops, on the land drying up.
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  It's because of all the sin that these things happen.
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  And then I thought it was interesting because verse 12
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  talks about a spirit of prostitution leads them astray.
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  And we've talked about how spirits are things that we do
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  not see, but they do influence us.
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  And I do think that, you know, a lot of this talks about also new
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  wine and drinking wine and everything.
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  And then there's the verse in Scripture that says be alert and
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  of sober mind because the devil prowls looking for his next
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  victim. So there's evil that is seeking
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  a weak mind, a weakened mind that's not alert so that they
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  can they can cause havoc, ultimately destroy a person.
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  And, and again, this is where that spiritual side of things
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  isn't always talked about, but it's something I think very
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  important that we should know it exists.
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  So OK, I will read the questions and answers now.
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  What was wrong with bringing a charge against the priest?
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  Hosea was accusing the people of blaming the priest without
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  accepting responsibility for their own sins.
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  Their lack of respect for the priesthood was also an
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  expression of their rebellion against God's authority.
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  God, however, levelled charges against the priest because they
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  were also guilty of ignoring His law.
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  How are people destroyed from a lack of knowledge?
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  This is referring not to a lack of knowledge in general, but to
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  the Israelites. Failure to to know that is to
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  take to heart and follow the law of their God.
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  Without the guidance of God's law, people lose their way, they
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  stumble, and they go astray. Israel would end up a sinful
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  nation, estranged from God. How did priests feed on the sins
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  of the people? Tragically, the false priest and
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  prophets of Hosea's day catered to the people's idolatrous
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  distress, given giving in to their wishes rather than
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  deferring to God's wishes. By doing so, the priest feed on
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  or fed on the sins of the people rather than on the way and the
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  Word of the Lord. They forsook their duty to
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  mediate between the people and the living God.
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  What was the you know, that's when I read that I think about
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  pastors pre, you know, that should be taking the knowledge
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  they have. They should be in the Bible and
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  know the Bible very well and should be advising people.
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  But so often you see these where they've turned leaders of
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  churches have turned to idolatry because they are basically
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  worshipping money. They're in it for the money and
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  they are not. The way Jesus talks about it,
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  God talks about it, feeding my people, his people, God's people
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  and with the word of God. And they're not telling the
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  truth. They are appeasing them, making
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  them comfortable in their own sin.
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  They're abusing the word of grace and letting people think
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  that you're fine, you know, just come to church, just tithe, just
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  pay, you know, you're all good. God's love, God has grace.
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  That's the message that a lot of churches give.
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  And and then it's all about like, you know, all of these
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  blessings and abundance and wealth and those kinds of
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  messages that seem to be very popular with people because
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  people are sinful. People desire those things.
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  And so they look for that kind of stuff, the stuff that makes
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  me feel good. I don't want to hear the stuff.
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  Just like, I think it was Ahab who is very sinful.
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  And it doesn't sound like he actually got saved.
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  Sounds like he got destroyed. I don't know if he ever turned
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  to God. We won't know until the very
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  end, though, because God always, you know, he has mercy.
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  He could do whatever he wants to do about someone's salvation.
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  But he was Ahab was a king of Israel and his wife was Jezebel.
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  And I forgot the point I was going to make on that, except
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  that, Oh yeah, they, it was about the prophets.
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  And they were like killing off the Lord's prophets.
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  And and they also when they were going to go to war against
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  something against someone and the king of Judah came to talk
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  to, I think it was Ahab. And he said, don't you have any
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  real, Don't you have any other prophets?
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  Because all of these prophets were ones that probably worship
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  Baal and all that, you know, the false gods.
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  And they were all saying, yeah, you're going to be successful in
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  this war. And the king of Judah, for some
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  reason, he must have had discernment.
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  He was saying, isn't there anyone else?
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  And then Ahab said, oh, yeah, there's this one guy, but I
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  don't like him because he never has anything good to say.
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  And that's exactly what happens today too, is that the messages
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  in some churches, not all, but a lot of churches seem to be
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  geared towards making people feel good and happy and
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  cheerful. But are they doing a disservice
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  to the people? Are they preparing people for
• 27:16
  God's Kingdom? Are they preparing people for
• 27:19
  the return of Jesus? If Jesus returned today, would
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  those people be prepared? Could they have said something
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  else in their messages that would have made people more
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  serious about the way lives are being lived and about
• 27:34
  surrendering and receiving the Holy Spirit?
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  Is that the kind of message that churches are given?
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  If you don't have a church that's talking to you about
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  repentance and about the power of the Holy Spirit, which I
• 27:47
  believe is what grace is, grace is the power of the Holy Spirit
• 27:52
  that is given to us as a gift. And that's what I believe grace
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  is. And that's why we are saved by
• 27:59
  grace, not of our own, because it's the Holy Spirit who changes
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  us. So if people, churches, whatever
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  are not talking to you about repentance or about the Holy
• 28:11
  Spirit, you're really missing out because those are really
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  important things that Jesus talked about.
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  Now obviously God doesn't just want us to, I don't know, he he
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  wants us to have our hearts torn, to turned, turned to him
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  in repentance, to reject sin, to like the things that he likes
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  and dislike the things like to be in alignment with him.
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  I mean, who wants to be close to someone that disagrees with
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  everything that you believe or hold in high regard?
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  So God through the Bible tells us what things are really
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  important to him. And then we have to make the
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  decision. Do we agree with God?
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  Do we, I mean, God's right, but do we want to accept what God
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  has to say about that? What is good, what is bad, what
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  is right, what is wrong? And are we willing to, you know,
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  to say, OK, maybe I don't feel that way, but you, your way is
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  right. And I'm going to submit to that
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  because you are the Creator, you are the king.
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  And the other thing that God does is he gives us the Holy
• 29:25
  Spirit as a gift to help us to change so that our desires
• 29:30
  become more in alignment with his.
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  Like he can have a relationship with us that we like the same
• 29:37
  things that he likes. And that happens over time with
• 29:40
  people. And it's through the power of
• 29:42
  the Holy Spirit. But God gives us free will will,
• 29:45
  so he's not going to force that on us.
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  So we have to make that known to God that we want him to do that
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  with us, that our free will is saying, yes, God, do that with
• 29:54
  me. And that's really important
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  information from the Bible that needs to be expressed to people.
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  OK, so let's see, what was the difference between old wine and
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  new wine? Some believe that new wine was
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  wine not yet fermented. Others think it's simply
• 30:20
  referred to wine not fully aged but still intoxicating since it
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  would take away their understanding.
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  Hosea's point may have been that those addicted to wine were
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  impatient and drank the wine before its time, or he may have
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  meant that they did not bother to discriminate between fine and
• 30:44
  poor wine. How did men sacrifice with
• 30:49
  shrine prostitutes? Many Pagan religions were
• 30:52
  heavily subsidized by proceeds from prostitution.
• 30:57
  Shrine prostitutes were purchased as religious right in
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  various temples and ceremonies of the culture surrounding
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  Israel. A sacrifice was normally offered
• 31:09
  for the right to have sexual intercourse with a prostitute.
• 31:13
  These sexual acts were committed under the thin veneer of
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  imitating the gods through dramas.
• 31:21
  Shrine prostitutes were also used in fertility rites to
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  symbolically express gratitude for the changing of the seasons
• 31:30
  or to request bountiful crops. What was the spirit of
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  prostitution? This will be interesting 'cause
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  I didn't read this first. This is a figurative way to
• 31:41
  describe Israeli unfaithfulness to God.
• 31:44
  The Hebrew language uses words like spirit to describe a
• 31:48
  persons inner characteristics or disposition.
• 31:52
  Israel's tendency was to commit spiritual prostitution.
• 31:56
  That is, she was unfaithful to God and chased after other gods
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  just as a prostitute solicits customers.
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  Such a description was a doubly appropriate appropriate since
• 32:10
  the worship of foreign gods frequently involved literal
• 32:13
  prostitution. That's another example of how we
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  see throughout the Scripture that God uses literal events as
• 32:24
  symbolic, you know, symbolically as well, I guess, like a
• 32:26
  metaphor. So the ancient Israelites were
• 32:30
  not not the only people to become involved in a spirit of
• 32:35
  prostitution. Today, people are also tempted
• 32:39
  to be unfaithful toward God by abandoning their commitment to
• 32:43
  Him. Whenever people adopt the ways
• 32:46
  of the culture around them, engaging in its pleasures and
• 32:50
  forms of instant gratification, we see a spirit of prostitution.
• 32:56
  Those who are disobedient to God are guilty of spiritual
• 33:01
  adultery. What did Hosea mean by Judah not
• 33:08
  becoming guilty? He was using the example of the
• 33:11
  northern Kingdom Israel to warn the southern Kingdom Judah.
• 33:16
  Hosea, probably worried, probably wrote down the warnings
• 33:21
  he had given Israel shortly after it fell to Assyria.
• 33:26
  His hope was that Judah, in seeing Israel's judgement, would
• 33:31
  avoid the guilt and consequences of turning away from God.
• 33:35
  Judah, however, encountered its own problems with idolatry and
• 33:40
  only survived Israel by 136 years.
• 33:45
  So both fell and disappointed God.
• 33:50
  There's another. There's more in Bible prophecy
• 33:53
  about that as well, but we have now done chapters 2-3 and four,
• 33:59
  so we'll pick it up next time at chapter 5.