Hosea 12:1-5 (7/10/24)

Benham Brothers

Studies Download App

Hosea 12:1-5 (7/10/24)

How To Stop Striving

July 10, 2024 • Benham Brothers • Hosea 12:1–5

- Ambition is a great follower but a terrible leader.

- It’s meant to stay in the passenger’s seat, not the driver’s seat.

- But it will always vie for position!

- Israel was in constant pursuit of its own thing - ruled by ambition.

- God delivered a message through Hosea.

- Read Hosea 12:1-5.

- vs 1a - “Ephraim feeds on the wind; he pursues the east wind all day…”

- The phrase “chasing the wind” is about unbridled ambition that gets you nowhere.

- Mark 14:50 - “What does it profit a man…”

- vs 1b - “…and multiplies lies and violence…”

- Blind ambition blunts empathy and logic.

- You end up hurting people to get what you want.

- vs 1c - “…He makes a treaty with Assyria and sends olive oil to Egypt.”

- Blind ambition leads to bad partnerships.

- You’ll look to others for help that should not be in your life.

- vs 2 - “The Lord has a charge to bring against Judah; He will punish Jacob according to his ways and repay him according to his deeds.”

- Ambition makes God your opponent, not your partner.

- Like a good parent, God wants to bless, not punish.

- vs 3a - “In the womb he grasped his brother’s heel…”

- Jacob was born with an ambitious temperament.

- But we aren’t to operate according to personality or temperament.

- We are to operate by the leading of the Spirit.

- Faith is “living without scheming.”

- vs 3b - “…as a man he struggled with God.”

- Jacob’s struggles with others revealed his struggle with God.

- He had a God problem.

- He needed an encounter with the Lord.

- vs 4a - “He struggled with the angel and overcame him; he wept and begged for his favor…”

- Many people want the blessings of God more than God Himself.

- vs 4b-5 - “…He found (God) at Bethel and talked with Him there - the Lord God Almighty, the Lord is His name.”

- Bethel = sacred place, sanctuary, holy place, hallowed spot.

- Once he met God, truly met Him and experienced His presence, he ceased striving!

- He stopped fighting.

- He fully surrendered.

- God did two things:

- He convicted him - “What is your name?”

- He touched him - Jacob was never the same, he led with a limp.

- Where was your Bethel?

- A place where you met God?

- Do you have a current Bethel?

- A sacred place to meet with God?

- https://www.dropbox.com/home/Podcasts%20-%202024?di=left_nav_browse&preview=7.10.24+Hosea+12+-+Striving.mp3

Hosea 13:6 - Remember to Reconnect

- God wants us to stay connected to Him and others.

- The way to do that is through gratitude.

- If we don’t show gratitude it causes a relational break.

- Israel shows us what this looks like.

- Hosea delivered the message from God:

- vs 6 - “When I fed them, they were satisfied; when they were satisfied, they became proud; then they forgot me.”

- They had a need and God met it.

- But they did not thank God for meeting these needs.

- They got what they wanted and no longer needed Him.

- They became proud, which led to them forgetting God.

- So how did God respond?

- He turned from partner to opponent.

- vs 7-8 - “So I will be like a lion to them, like a leopard I will lurk by the path. Like a bear robbed of her cubs, I will attack them and rip them open; like a lion I will devour them— a wild animal will tear them apart.”

- What God becomes to us is up to us.

- He can be a God of grace and mercy or a God of wrath.

- Hosea prophesied just after Solomon reigned.

- He watched how Israel was at its height of power during Solomon's time as king, but the devastation that resulted when he forgot God.

- So God tore the kingdom into two and they ended up losing everything.

- The same is true with us.

- Ingratitude pulls us away from those we were meant to be close to.

- It robs us of our memory - we forget those who were instrumental in getting us to where we are.

- Romans 1:21 - “For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened.”

- The path to destruction begins with ingratitude that leads to pride.

- When we forget God we disconnect from Him.

- To remember is to reconnect.

- If my finger gets dismembered from my hand, I have to “re-member” it.

- So remembering what God has done is the secret to staying connected to Him (and others).

Psalms 139:14 (7/24/24)

July 24, 2024 • Benham Brothers • Psalm 139:14

* f you want to see change in your life, you have to change your thinking. * Romans 12:2 - “…be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” * One way to renew your mind is by writing Declarations and Commitments. * You declare who you are and commit to what you will do. * This becomes a statement of truth - WRITE it, READ it, REPEAT it! * Writing, Reading, and Repeating trains your subconscious mind what to think. * In time, you’ll begin to act in alignment with your subconscious mind. * David shows us what it looks like: * vs 14 - “I will praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made…” * He makes a commitment (I will) on the foundation of a declaration (I am). * He commits to what he will do on the foundation of declaring who he is. * If you want complete transformation, you need to DECLARE who you are and COMMIT to what you will do. * Declaration is about IDENTITY. * Commitment is about ACTION. * Declaration gets you thinking right. * Commitment converts your thinking into action. * Declaration says “I AM” * Commitment says “I WILL DO” * I AM - name of God - whatever follows it has POWER! * EX: Marriage: * DECLARATION - I am thankful that God gave Tori to me. Her strengths and weaknesses compliment who I am. * COMMITMENT - I will pursue Tori and respond to her like I did before we were married. I will be fueled by gratitude.

Amos 7:10-17 (7/24/24)

July 24, 2024 • Benham Brothers • Amos 7:10–17

* For centuries, Christianity has been seen as a threat. * Why? Because we claim Christ as king. * If you threaten Satan’s kingdom, he’ll come after you with everything he’s got. * Case in point - Amos, the prophet, spoke truth to Israel and reprimanded them for their sin. * And the priest rose up against him! * The priests and prophets were now in an epic battle. * Warren Wiersbe compares these two offices: * The Priest was institutional / The Prophet was radical. * The priest seeks to conserve the past, while the prophet wants to preserve the future. * This is why the prophet was seen as a threat to the “present.” * Look at the heated exchange between these two: * vs 10 - “Then Amaziah the priest of Bethel sent a message to Jeroboam king of Israel: “Amos is raising a conspiracy against you in the very heart of Israel. The land cannot bear all his words.” * The priest had influence with the king. * He was “in good” with the leader of the nation. * So he didn’t want anything threatening this. * EX: preachers with Hitler. * vs 11 - “For this is what Amos is saying: “ ‘Jeroboam will die by the sword, and Israel will surely go into exile, away from their native land.’ “ * Amos preached this warning, like all good preachers should. * vs 12-13 - “Then Amaziah said to Amos, “Get out, you seer! Go back to the land of Judah. Earn your bread there and do your prophesying there. 13 Don’t prophesy anymore at Bethel, because this is the king’s sanctuary and the temple of the kingdom.” * Amaziah didn’t want Amos messing things up! * He wanted him to preach a message of peace and love! * vs 14-15 - “Amos answered Amaziah, “I was neither a prophet nor the son of a prophet, but I was a shepherd, and I also took care of sycamore-fig trees. 15 But the Lord took me from tending the flock and said to me, ‘Go, prophesy to my people Israel.’” * Amos - “Yo, I’m just a workplace guy that God gave a message to. So I’m gonna keep preaching it, sucker!” * Amos wasn’t a butt-kissing “professional minister.” * He was a workplace dude who loved the Lord and wanted to see Israel serve God. * vs 16-17 - “Now then, hear the word of the Lord. You say, “ ‘Do not prophesy against Israel, and stop preaching against the descendants of Isaac.’ “Therefore, this is what the Lord says: “ ‘Your wife will become a prostitute in the city, and your sons and daughters will fall by the sword. Your land will be measured and divided up, and you yourself will die in a pagan country. And Israel will surely go into exile, away from their native land.’” * Amos went gangster on Amaziah! * Today, we need to let the prophets speak! * And we’re seeing God raising up workplace prophets to do just that!

Amos 4:6-11 (7/17/24)

July 17, 2024 • Benham Brothers • Amos 4:6–11

* A popular mantra in today's Christian world is that God is always pursuing us. * While there's an element of truth to that, the reality is that God has already pursued us by sending Jesus. * He's done His part; now, we respond to that pursuit by surrendering to Him. * He's not running after us begging us to follow Him. * EX: Christ’s example of the prodigal son. * Lost sheep - foolishness * Lost coin - carelessness * Lost son - rebellion * God wants us to come to Him. * So what does that look like? * What does He do to get us to come back to Him if we’ve left Him? * He brings pain into our lives (we bring it on ourselves). * vs 6 - “I gave you empty stomachs, a lack of bread in every town, yet you have not returned to me, declares the Lord.” * God brought His people pain so they would turn to Him. * His pursuit looks a lot like pain. * If you have wandered from the path God has for you, expect pain to meet you. * It's God's way of saying, "Come back to Me!" * vs 7 -11- drought, gardens and vineyards destroyed from blight and mildew, locusts devoured fig trees, plagues of Egypt, endless war and battles, people killing each other, etc. * God also uses pain in our lives when we are on the right path. * Acts 9:16 - “…I will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name.” * Strength comes through strain. * Peace comes through pain. * EX: endorphines release after pain (childbirth). * When we experience pain it should increase our pursuit. * This is why Proverbs says, "A man's spirit sustains him in sickness." * When you love Jesus and you get sick then you pursue Him even more for your healing.