Latest / Dwelling Place: The Bible for Moms / #145. Hosea 1-7: Loved Beyond Failure | God's Relentless Pursuit of His People

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#145. Hosea 1-7: Loved Beyond Failure | God's Relentless Pursuit of His People · Dwelling Place: The Bible for Moms

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  Speaker 23: This is The Dwelling Place from Entrusted Ministries.
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  Speaker 23: I'm Stephanie Haycox, and today we'll look at the first half of the book of Hosea The Bible began with a marriage in the garden, And it ends with the marriage feast of the Lamb The picture of Christ and
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  Speaker 23: his bride is one of the primary metaphors in scripture of God's relentless devoted love for us Before I begin, I'm gonna say that this episode needs to be for mom ears alone.
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  Speaker 23: It's difficult to talk about the Book of Hosea without bringing up some sensitive topics Hosea is the first of the minor prophets.
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  Speaker 23: The term minor doesn't relate to the importance of the prophet, but just the length of the book.
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  Speaker 23: Like the names Joshua and Jesus, Hosea also means salvation.
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  Speaker 23: We don't know much about this man except that he was most likely from the Northern Kingdom because he seemed to know so much geographically and historically about it And that means that he and Jonah alone were the only
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  Speaker 23: two prophets from the Northern Kingdom.
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  Speaker 23: But Hosea's message was for Judah and Israel.
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  Speaker 23: He prophesied during 755 to 710 during the reign of various kings, beginning with Jeroboam II in the Northern Kingdom.
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  Speaker 23: As we've discussed, the nation of Israel was seemingly thriving financially and diplomatically at that time, but their hearts were far from the Lord It seems to me that this is one of those books of the Bible that really
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  Speaker 23: speaks to the heart of a woman.
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  Speaker 23: If you've ever wanted to be fought for Or to know how much you're loved.
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  Speaker 23: Reading this book speaks volumes about the unfathomable depths of God's love for us.
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  Speaker 23: Although we have the perfect display of Christ's love on the cross, the way that God uses the allegory of marriage powerfully reveals His love for us john K.
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  Speaker 23: Goodrich explains that there are six cycles of judgment and restoration in the Book of Hosea.
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  Speaker 23: The first emphasizes the children as signs and takes place in chapter one.
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  Speaker 23: The second cycle in chapter two emphasizes the unfaithful wife.
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  Speaker 23: The third elevates the faithful husband in chapter three.
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  Speaker 23: The fourth occurs in chapters four through six and emphasizes Israel's unfaithfulness And the fifth cycle chronicles God's resulting discipline upon the nation in chapter 6 through 11.
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  Speaker 23: And the final cycle is in chapters 11 through 14 which emphasizes God's faithfulness I hesitated over whether or not to bring this up, as I know that the movie was rather controversial But I would love to talk about
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  Speaker 23: the book, Redeeming Love, for a moment.
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  Speaker 23: It's authored by Francine Rivers.
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  Speaker 23: Before she became a follower of Christ, she wrote pretty spicy romance novels.
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  Speaker 23: but when she became a believer, she developed severe writer's block, and for a long period of time, she just couldn't write until she felt the Lord give her this idea of writing the story of Hosea, but setting it
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  Speaker 23: during the Gold Rush in California.
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  Speaker 23: In the book, there's an honorable young man named Michael Hosea.
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  Speaker 23: He's pure, and he loves the Lord.
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  Speaker 23: One day, he sees a beautiful young woman and feels the Lord tell him that this is his bride-to-be But he discovers she's a prostitute.
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  Speaker 23: He's shocked, as he's certainly waited for marriage and expected a godly young woman to share his life with.
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  Speaker 23: The book follows his pursuit of her And it speaks powerfully for those who have tried to love someone that's been hurt before for those longing to love like Christ loves.
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  Speaker 23: And I think it also speaks to the level of forgiveness that God is asking us to walk in toward others.
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  Speaker 23: And that's a really important message for our own marriages and our parenting Often as women, when we read things like this, we're so enthralled with this idea of being loved so faithfully that a man would patiently, wholeheartedly, sometimes
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  Speaker 23: literally fight for you But the greater message of redeeming love, and certainly the Book of Hosea, is that regardless of your circumstances, there is a Lord that loves you patiently, wholeheartedly, faithfully and he has jealously fought for his
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  Speaker 23: bride So let this book be to you a confirmation that you are thoroughly known and loved.
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  Speaker 23: The book begins, The word of the Lord that came to Hosea, the son of Beeri, in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam, the son of Joash, king of
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  Speaker 23: Israel.
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  Speaker 23: When the Lord first spoke through Hosea, the Lord said to Hosea, Go, take to yourself a wife of whoredom and have children of whoredom.
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  Speaker 23: For the land commits great whoredom by forsaking the Lord.
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  Speaker 23: So he went and took Gomer, the daughter of Diblaim, and she conceived and bore him a son.
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  Speaker 23: And the Lord said to him, Call his name Jezreel, for in just a little while I will punish the house of Jehu for the blood of Jezreel, and I will put an end to the kingdom of the house
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  Speaker 23: of Israel, and on that day I will break the bow of Israel in the valley of Jezreel."
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  Speaker 23: She conceived again and bore a daughter.
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  Speaker 23: And the Lord said to him, Call her name No Mercy, for I will no more have mercy on the house of Israel to forgive them at all.
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  Speaker 23: But I will have mercy on the house of Judah, and I will save them by the Lord their God.
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  Speaker 23: I will not save them by bow or by sword or by war or by horses or by horsemen."
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  Speaker 23: When she had weaned No Mercy, she conceived and bore a son.
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  Speaker 23: And the Lord said, Call his name Not My People, for you are not my people and I am not your God.
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  Speaker 23: Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be like the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured or numbered.
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  Speaker 23: And in the place where it was said to them, 'You are not my people,' it shall be said to them, Children of the living God.'
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  Speaker 23: And the children of Judah and the children of Israel shall be gathered together, and they shall appoint for themselves one head And they shall go up from the land for great shall be the day of Jezreel Let's go
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  Speaker 23: back to the beginning of the chapter when God says, "Take for yourself a wife of whoredom and have children of whoredom.
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  Speaker 23: For the land commits great whoredom by forsaking the Lord."
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  Speaker 23: Right away, what we need to understand about this book of the Bible is how much our sin and our chasing after idols or worldly pleasures is adultery against the Lord.
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  Speaker 23: He is rightly jealous for us, and instead of being put off by that word, we should feel so cherished by it.
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  Speaker 23: rather than looking at Gomer's sin and condemning her, let's evaluate our own hearts, saying, "Lord, where am I seeking fulfillment apart from you?"
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  Speaker 23: We were all created to worship, and as we aim to point our kids to be wholeheartedly devoted to Christ, we need to make them aware of this tendency within us to worship what we can see before us It
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  Speaker 23: surprises me a little bit, but some commentators, including the MacArthur commentary, don't believe that God was calling Hosea to marry a current prostitute, but that God was revealing to him that Gomer would become a prostitute.
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  Speaker 23: See, that term whoredom in the Hebrew refers to both an occupation and a sin.
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  Speaker 23: So we know this was not a one-time occurrence, but she had devoted herself to unfaithfulness.
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  Speaker 23: But how would Hosea know to take a wife who was going to be unfaithful to him?
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  Speaker 23: I agree with the Moody commentary, as it seems more likely to me that she would have already been involved in this occupation when Hosea married her and that she went back to it After he married her.
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  Speaker 23: But when I meditate upon it, aren't both options incredibly painful?
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  Speaker 23: Think about marrying someone that you knew would be unfaithful to you.
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  Speaker 23: It's heartbreaking.
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  Speaker 23: It's a painful call that God puts on Hosea, but it's the best picture the Lord could give us of the loyalty of His love despite Israel's sinfulness Did you notice that God said, "And have children of whoredom"?
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  Speaker 23: It's entirely possible that these children were not Hosea's.
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  Speaker 23: Maybe he never knew which ones were or not.
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  Speaker 23: Nevertheless, he's called to father them.
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  Speaker 23: The first child is called which means God will scatter, and it foreshadows Israel's exile in 722 by Assyria.
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  Speaker 23: I know we keep covering that point in history through so many books of the Bible, but it was a monumental event, and the Lord led multiple accounts to be given of it.
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  Speaker 23: Next, Gomer has a daughter, God says to call her No Mercy, which means not pitied.
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  Speaker 23: this is an announcement that God is not going to give mercy to Israel anymore His patient endurance is reaching an end.
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  Speaker 23: But Judah will continue to have mercy.
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  Speaker 23: next Gomer has a son.
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  Speaker 23: God says, "Call his name Not My People, for you are not my people, and I am not your God."
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  Speaker 23: In the original Hebrew, your God is not there but It more literally translates to, I will not be I Am to you."
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  Speaker 23: I Am That I Am was God's covenant name that He gave in Exodus 3, and this symbolizes His rejection of Israel If you're thinking, haven't we learned that this covenant is dependent upon God's faithfulness and not ours?
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  Speaker 23: That's entirely true, but God is not forsaking the promises He has made to Abraham and to Moses and to David, because that line continues through Judah, and God has separated off a remnant for Himself.
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  Speaker 23: And if we keep reading, we see That God will restore Israel back to him And in that exact location where God said, "You are not my people," they will be called His people, and Israel and Judah will be
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  Speaker 23: unified during that millennial reign of Christ, worshiping under one head, the Messiah now let's look to chapter two, beginning that second cycle emphasizing the unfaithful wife.
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  Speaker 23: Hosea and Gomer present an allegory of God punishing Israel's faithfulness.
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  Speaker 23: Say to your brothers, 'You are not my people,' and to your sisters, You have received mercy.'
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  Speaker 23: Plead with your mother, plead, for she is not my wife, and I am not her husband."
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  Speaker 23: After a lengthy, rebuke, the restoration is described beginning in two fourteen.
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  Speaker 23: Therefore behold, I will allure her and bring her into the wilderness and speak tenderly to her.
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  Speaker 23: And there I will give her vineyards, and I will make the Valley of Acre a door of hope.
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  Speaker 23: And there she shall answer as in the days of her youth, as at the time when she came out of the land of Egypt.
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  Speaker 23: And in that day, declares the Lord, you will call Me my Husband, and no longer will you call Me my Baal; for I will remove the names of the Baals from her mouth, and they shall be remembered by
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  Speaker 23: name no more And I will make for them a covenant on that day with the beasts of the field, the birds of the heavens, and the creeping things of the ground.
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  Speaker 23: and I will abolish the bow, the sword, and war from the land, and I will make you lie down in safety, and I will betroth you to me forever.
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  Speaker 23: I will betroth you to me in righteousness and in justice, in steadfast love and in mercy.
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  Speaker 23: I will betroth you to me in faithfulness, and you shall know the Lord.
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  Speaker 23: And in that day, I will answer, declares the Lord, I will answer the heavens, and they shall answer the earth.
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  Speaker 23: And the earth shall answer the grain, the wine, and the oil, and they shall answer Jezreel, and I will show her for myself in the land, and I will have mercy and no mercy.
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  Speaker 23: And I will say to not my people, You are my people."
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  Speaker 23: And he shall say, You are my God."
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  Speaker 23: Three times God says, "I will betroth you."
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  Speaker 23: He is bringing the bride price while Israel brings nothing to the table.
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  Speaker 23: And the price he'll pay for his bride is his very character, his righteousness, justice, loving kindness, compassion, and faithfulness And that moves us to the third cycle, which elevates the faithful husband The Lord said to me, "Go again,
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  Speaker 23: love a woman who is loved by another man and is an adulteress, even as the Lord loves the children of Israel, though they turn to other gods and love cakes of raisins."
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  Speaker 23: Hosea pays a steep price to release Gomer from the debt she incurred.
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  Speaker 23: We don't know exactly how this happened, but since she's departed him She owes a payment and she needs to settle it for him to bring her home And in verse three, And I said to her, You must dwell
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  Speaker 23: as mine for many days.
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  Speaker 23: You shall not play the whore or belong to another man.
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  Speaker 23: So I will also be to you.'
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  Speaker 23: For the children of Israel shall dwell many days without king or prince, without sacrifice or pillar, without ephod or household gods.
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  Speaker 23: Afterward the children of Israel shall return and seek the Lord their God and David their king, and they shall come in fear to the Lord and to his goodness in the latter days."
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  Speaker 23: Isn't it beautiful how in each cycle there is a picture of restoration and hope?
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  Speaker 23: with the next God strongly rebukes his adulterous wife In verse six we find, "My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.
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  Speaker 23: Because you have rejected knowledge, I reject you from being a priest to me.
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  Speaker 23: And since you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children."
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  Speaker 23: Remember in the Torah that parents and the priests were commanded to pass on the knowledge of the Lord to the next generation, but they have forgotten all of this And the people no longer know their God At the
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  Speaker 23: end of the chapter, God says, "Like a stubborn heifer, Israel is stubborn.
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  Speaker 23: Can the Lord now feed them like a lamb in a broad pasture?"
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  Speaker 23: The level of their rebellion and their lack of character is requiring their captivity to refine them In chapter five, there's a rebuke against the nations seeking their strength in the king of Assyria But the Lord tells them that
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  Speaker 23: the king of Assyria will not be able to protect them from the Lord's judgment upon them And we'll conclude with this portion in chapter six.
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  Speaker 23: Which begins, Come, let us return to the Lord, for He has torn us that He may heal us.
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  Speaker 23: He has struck us down, and He will bind us up.
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  Speaker 23: After two days, He will revive us.
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  Speaker 23: On the third day, He will raise us up that we may live before Him.
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  Speaker 23: Let us know, let us press on to know the Lord.
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  Speaker 23: His going out is as sure as the dawn.
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  Speaker 23: He will come to us as the showers, as the spring rains that water the earth."
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  Speaker 23: This is one of my mom's very favorite verses, and I painted it on a banner for her once But I love thinking about this reality That when we press in to know the Lord, we are sure to follow
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  Speaker 23: Him.
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  Speaker 23: We will not be disappointed And in Him, we rightly find all we desire and were created for Heavenly Father, we are humbled by the depth of your love for us We're filled with gratitude for your faithfulness to purify
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  Speaker 23: us from our sin and to remove any obstacle that stands in the way of us worshiping you and you alone Though we do not worship Baals on high places anymore, we pray that you would open our eyes to
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  Speaker 23: any places that we seek to be satisfied apart from you.
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  Speaker 23: We agree, as Piper says, that you are most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in you, and we long for that to be true in our hearts and in our children's hearts.
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  Speaker 23: As we spend so much time devoted to discipline and character training and instruction, I pray that the joy of knowing you would be evident to every one of our children.
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  Speaker 23: We thank you that your coming is as sure as the dawn.
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  Speaker 23: May the hope of your return, Jesus, be on the forefront of our minds.
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  Speaker 23: It's in your name we pray.
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  Speaker 23: Amen.