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February 19 - Hosea 4 · A Chapter a Day Bible Reading

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  Hello friends, it's Sean here. It's Thursday.
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  It's the 19th of February. Great to have your company.
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  And today, today the world's kind of collide.
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  There is an awesome symmetry with what we're reading.
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  And today's date. Did you realise that 1670 years
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  ago exactly on this day, the Roman Emperor Constantius the
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  second, That's the sun of the great Christian Roman Emperor
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  Constantine, he closed all the Pagan temples.
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  Yep, it was on this day that he declared that all Pagan temples
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  were to be torn down or decommissioned and no longer be
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  used for Pagan worship. Isn't that incredible?
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  So today, as we're reading this book of Hosea, some of the very
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  temples in which this worship is happening, in which Hosea is
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  speaking out against, they were the very temples that were
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  closed down 1670 years ago by our mate Constantius the Second.
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  Amazing, amazing. So let us read this chapter as
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  God creates and pleads His case against this northern Kingdom of
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  Israel. As we read together Hosea
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  chapter 4, hear the word of the Lord.
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  O people of Israel, the Lord has brought charges against you,
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  saying there is no faithfulness, no kindness, no knowledge of God
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  in your land. You make vows and break them.
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  You kill and steal and commit adultery.
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  There is violence everywhere, 1 murder after another.
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  That is why your land is in mourning and everyone is wasting
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  away. Even the wild animals, the birds
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  of the sky and the fish of the sea are disappearing.
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  Don't point your finger at someone else and try to pass the
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  blame. My complaint, you priests, is
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  with you, so you will stumble in broad daylight and your false
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  prophets will fall with you in the night, and I will destroy
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  Israel, your mother. My people are being destroyed
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  because they don't know me. Since you priests refuse to know
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  me, I refuse to recognise you as my priests.
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  Since you have forgotten the laws of your God, I will forget
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  to bless your children. The more priests there are, the
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  more they sin against me. They have exchanged the glory of
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  God for the shame of idols. When the people bring their sin
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  offerings, the priests get fed. So the priests are glad when the
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  people sin. And what the priests do, the
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  people also do so. Now I will punish both priests
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  and people for their wicked deeds.
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  They will eat and still be hungry.
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  They will play the prostitute and gain nothing from it, for
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  they have deserted the Lord to worship other gods.
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  Wine has robbed my people of their understanding.
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  They ask a piece of wood for advice.
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  They think a stick can tell them the future.
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  Longing after idols has made them foolish.
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  They have played the prostitute, serving other gods and deserting
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  their God. They offer sacrifices to idols
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  on the mountain tops. They go up into the hills to
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  burn incense in the pleasant shade of oaks, poplars and
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  terebinth trees. That is why your daughters turn
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  to prostitution and your daughters in law commit
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  adultery. But why should I punish them for
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  their prostitution and adultery? For your men are doing the same
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  thing, sinning with whores and shrine prostitutes.
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  Oh foolish people, you refuse to understand, so you will be
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  destroyed, though you, Israel, are a prostitute.
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  May Judah not be guilty of such things.
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  Do not join the false worship at Gilgal or Beth Avon, and do not
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  take the oaths there in the Lord's name.
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  Israel is stubborn like a stubborn heifer, so should the
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  Lord feed her like a lamb in a lush pasture.
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  Leave Israel alone because she is married to idolatry.
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  When the rulers of Israel finish their drinking, off they go to
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  find some prostitutes They love Shame more than honour, so a
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  mighty wind will sweep them away.
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  Their sacrifices to idols will bring them shame.
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  Our Lord, in the midst of all of this, your people turning their
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  backs on you, you look to Judah, you look to that other land in
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  the South where you see people being faithful to you and you
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  wish them nothing but more faithfulness so that you can
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  continue to bless them. Our Lord, your heart always
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  looking for a way to bless, a way to include, a way to draw
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  near and be close. Lord, thank you that your heart
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  is for us, your chosen possession, your special ones.
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  And Lord, I pray that you would shape us, Holy Spirit, that you
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  would transform us from the inside out, that our hearts
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  would want nothing more than to draw close to You, Lord.
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  And that as we do that, that you continue to soften us and to, to
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  give us hearts for you and your way and your desires and your
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  plans and your Kingdom so that we can be your agents of change
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  and of grace and compassion and faithfulness here.
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  Our Lord, make us faithful people as you are our faithful
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  God. And thank you for your
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  faithfulness to us. That never changes morning, noon
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  and night. Ah, we love you.
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  And we pray all of this in your faithful name, Jesus, Amen.