Latest / A Chapter a Day Bible Reading / February 23 - Hosea 5

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February 23 - Hosea 5 · A Chapter a Day Bible Reading

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  Hello friends, it's Sean here. It's the 23rd of February, it's
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  Monday and so good to have your company.
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  You are listening to Tasmania's very newest, along with a couple
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  of others priests in the Anglican Church.
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  Yep, it was a pretty fantastic weekend.
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  We got ourselves ordained as priests and yeah, it has been
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  absolutely amazing. You know how when you've been on
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  a journey and it's been quite a personal journey, and then all
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  of a sudden it becomes very public and everyone comes out in
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  support of you and affirmation and blessing and sending forth?
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  Yeah, it was one of those moments and pretty darn special.
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  So I am feeling all loved up and so excited that you and I get to
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  keep going on our little journey here.
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  And this week we will do what we do and we will be continuing to
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  read through the book of Hosea. And last week was interesting as
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  a kind of set up the scene with Hosea marrying this prostitute
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  and having these children. And they are kind of named about
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  these these parallels that are happening with God's people.
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  Well, unfortunately, the four chapters that we're going to
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  tackle this week are part of the book that theological scholars
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  call judgement destruction and exile.
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  Yeah, it's pretty dire. And if you know anything about
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  the history of Israel, you know that the northern Kingdom of
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  Israel does not listen to what Hosea asks and does not repent
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  and turn away from their their Baal worship.
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  And so God does exact this judgement through the Assyrian
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  Empire and they are decimated as a people.
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  So we get front row seats watching that all unfold.
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  So I think it's time we are going to continue on this
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  journey as we read together Hosea chapter 5.
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  Hear this, you priests, pay attention.
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  You leaders of Israel, listen, you members of the royal family.
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  Judgement has been handed down against you, for you have led
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  the people into a snare by worshipping the idols at Mizpah
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  and Table. You have dug a deep pit to trap
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  them at Acacia Grove. But I will settle with you for
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  what you have done. I know what you are like, O
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  Ephraim. You cannot hide yourself from
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  me. O Israel, You have left me as a
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  prostitute leaves her husband. You are utterly defiled.
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  Your deeds won't let you return to your God.
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  You're a prostitute through and through, and you do not know the
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  Lord. The arrogance of Israel
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  testifies against her. Israel and Ephraim will stumble
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  under their load of guilt. Judah 2 will fall with them when
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  they come with their flocks and herds to offer sacrifices to the
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  Lord. They will not find him because
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  He has withdrawn from them. They have betrayed the honour of
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  the Lord, bearing children that are not His.
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  Now their false religion will devour them along with their
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  wealth. Sound the alarms in Gibeah, blow
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  the trumpets and Rama, Raise the battle cry in Beth Avon.
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  Lead on into battle. O warriors of Benjamin, one
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  thing is certain. Israel, on your day of
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  punishment you will become a heap of rubble.
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  The leaders of Judah have become like thieves, so I will pour my
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  anger on them like a waterfall. The people of Israel will be
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  crushed and broken by my judgement because they are
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  determined to worship idols. I will destroy Israel as a moth
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  consumes wool. I will make Judah as weak as
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  rotten wood. When Israel and Judah saw how
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  sick they were, Israel turned to Assyria, to the great king
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  there, but he could neither help nor cure them.
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  I will be like a lion to Israel, like a strong young lion to
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  Judah. I will tear them to pieces.
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  I will carry them off, and no one will be left to rescue them.
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  Then I will return to my place until they admit their guilt and
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  turn to me, for as soon as trouble comes, they will
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  earnestly search for me. Our Lord, as we read this, it
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  does sound dire and it does sound hopeless.
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  And Lord, we know that much of our human condition is dire and
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  hopeless. And Lord, at the end you say
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  that as soon as trouble comes, you know that your people will
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  search for you. Lord, I pray that our hearts
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  would not wait for trouble to come, but that each day in the
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  good, in the dull, and in the bad, that we would search for
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  You. That it would be you that we
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  lean on when our days begin. That would be you that we lean
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  on when our days are going just fine.
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  And that would indeed be you that we lean on when we find
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  ourselves in strife. Because You are our loving God
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  and You stand poised, ready to help, ready to rescue, ready to
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  support, and ready to journey beside us.
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  Our Lord, thank you for your faithfulness to us.
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  Thank you for your unending love, Your gracious mercy, your
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  patience, and most of all for your Son.
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  Thank you that you give us Jesus and that through him you give us
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  a way to come before you, holy and perfect in your eyes, able
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  to be in your perfect company. Ah, so we praised you and we
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  thank you for all that you've done for us and all that you
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  are. We pray this in Jesus loving
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  name, Amen.