Hosea

God's Passion for Prodigal People

December 11, 2024 • Scott Richards • Hosea 11:1–11, Luke 15:11–32, Matthew 2:15, Proverbs 22:6

Hosea illustrates God's treatment of Israel throughout her history like a parent lovingly teaching their child to walk or a gracious farmer treating his animals gently. In spite of only being good to them, they rebelled and went after false gods who offered them nothing. The moment they discovered that the hard way, God would be ready and waiting to receive them home again. 1. Every Parent's job is to model God's heart of love and grace. 2. God can't forgive the sinner who refuses forgiveness. 3. God's correction is temporary, but His restoration is eternal.

The Course of a Godly Life

December 4, 2024 • Scott Richards • Psalm 32:8–11, Hosea 10, James 1:21, Luke 10:25–37

Hosea’s prophecy gets down to the heart of where Israel’s problems are taking place. They’re looking at their kings and crops instead of God, and the result has been them turning a blind eye to evil in ways that would shock them if they were still capable of understanding shame. The only way God was going to get their attention wasn’t to keep telling them they need to choose His mercy. He had been doing that for centuries. All that was left was for them to see how strong their king was and see the Assyrians take away their kingdom forever. 1. If you want to know God, start and stick with His Word. 2. God will respect choices, but not prevent consequences. 3. God wants a relationship with you, but won’t force you to make the right decisions.

A Spiritual 180

November 20, 2024 • Scott Richards • Hosea 10:1–11, 1 Thessalonians 1:9, Isaiah 5:1–7, Jeremiah 2:11–13

Hosea's call to Israel echoes the same word God has spoken to us from the beginning. Repent. Turn back to Him. The alternatives aren't pleasant. 1. Idolatry is when we treat something that isn't God as if it is. 2. Repentance is more about who you turn to than whatever you're turning from. 3. God's discipline is preferable to being left to manage our own lives apart from Him

The Slippery Slope of Spirituality

November 13, 2024 • Scott Richards • 1 Timothy 6:3–5, Ezekiel 33:1–9, 2 Timothy 4:3–5

Hosea's prophecy continues with a series of historical references to the disaster that false prophets have and are continuing to bring on their nation. Israel fell into the same trap many still do today. When this life is a higher priority than the next, we begin to make decisions that may benefit this life, but cost us everything where it matters most. 1. Our Emotions are good servants, but poor masters if they become an alternative to truth. 2. We set ourselves up for spiritual disaster if we make this life a higher priority than the next. 3. Idols are man made speculation about the gods. Revelation is when God actually tells us what He's like.

The Insanity of Unbelief

October 23, 2024 • Scott Richards • Hebrews 4:12–13, Luke 12:13–21, Isaiah 55:6–7, Hosea 7

Hosea addresses Israel about the way they had been living as if God wasn't a part of their lives. This practical atheism was not only foolish, but illustrated by the same things that describe religious atheism even today. 1. Atheism is when you live as if there is no God. 2. Following your passions is a dead end road. 3. Consequences don't disappear because you can't see them.

The Father Heart of God

October 9, 2024 • Scott Richards • Hosea 6:4–11, Psalm 103:13–14, James 3:13–14, Romans 8:15–17

The idea of God loving us and wanting a relationship with us comes from the Old Testament. Despite the picture that is often portrayed of God being a megalomaniacal tyrant looking to stop people's good time, He is the definition of a loving father. A father won't let his kids get away with murder, but will always seek a means of them being restored to him again. 1. God is more interested in our hearts than our routines. 2. God isn't fooled by trying to “buy Him off” with good behavior. 3. God's goal is always our restoration to Him.

Love Means Having to Say You're Sorry

October 2, 2024 • Scott Richards • Hosea 5:13—6:3, Jeremiah 2:9–13, Hebrews 12:5–11, John 17:3

Hosea calls Israel out to turning to Assyria for the help God freely offers them. Their discipline will be God letting them see that false god fail them. And His restoration of them will be a perfect example of how repentance should take place in our hearts as well. 1. The first step in recovery is acknowledging you have a problem. 2. The destination of God's discipline is worth the heartache of the process. 3. Your attitude towards God's Word directly reflects your attitude towards God Himself.

God's Wake Up Call

September 25, 2024 • Scott Richards • Hosea 5

Ultimate Assurance Part 2

September 18, 2024 • Scott Richards • Isaiah 8:19–20, Genesis 28:10–19, Hosea 4, John 1:14

Hosea's ministry follows up on his living illustration with a practical explanation of how far Israel had fallen and how. They had forsaken truth, mercy, and the knowledge of God. As a result, God was going to hand them over to idolatry for as long as it took for them to realize all they had lost in the exchange. 1. Truth is the first casualty when we compromise our relationship with God. 2. Mercy is only shown when we first realized how much it has been shown to us. 3. God judges sin with sin."

Ultimate Assurance Part 1

September 11, 2024 • Scott Richards • Micah 6:8, 1 Timothy 1:8–10, Proverbs 3:11–12, Hosea 4:1–10

Hosea's ministry continues from his illustration to the application of what Gomer's redemption showed. Israel had forsaken God and He was going to use very strong medicine to correct them. Not because they lost their relationship with Him, but directly because of it. 1. The greatest assurance of our relationship with God is when He disciplines and corrects us. 2. Your spiritual decline is directly related to your neglect of the Word of God. 3. God will use whatever it takes to get your attention if it means saving your soul.

Everything We Need to Know About Redemption in 81 Words or Less

September 4, 2024 • Scott Richards • 1 Peter 5:10–11, Hosea 3, 1 Corinthians 13:4–8, Ephesians 5:25–29

The concept of the Grace of God in salvation comes from the Old Testament. 1. God loves us on the basis of commitment rather than emotion. 2. God paid the price for our redemption when we least deserved it. 3. God's purpose in our redemption is true healing and restoration to Him.

When God Won't Leave You Alone

August 21, 2024 • Scott Richards • Hosea 2:14–23, 1 John 1:9, Joshua 7, Psalm 32

Hosea's prophecy regarding the judgment due to Israel regarding her sins doesn't finish without God detailing how beautiful their restoration is going to be. 1. Our actions impact God emotionally. 2. God uses the consequences of our actions as reminders of how eager He is to receive us back. 3. God can always be trusted to receive us back if we come to Him on His terms.

True Confessions

August 14, 2024 • Scott Richards • 1 John 1:9, Luke 15:11–24, Hebrews 12:5–11, Hosea 2:2–23

Hosea's prophecy continues by drawing Gomer's motivations for cheating on him as Israel's for abandoning God. The bad news is their actions had consequences. The good news is that God enforcing these consequences was only because they still belonged to Him. 1. God is emotionally invested in the decisions you make in life. 2. Actions have consequences, even when the ultimate result is restoration. 3. There is no greater assurance of salvation than when God corrects you.

All In The Family

August 7, 2024 • Scott Richards • Hosea 1—2, 2 Peter 1:19–21, John 15:5–8, 2 Corinthians 3:2–3

Hosea's prophecy begins with his family as an illustration of Northern Israel's fractured relationship with God. Yet in spite of their gruesome sins, God's promises to them were still going to be kept. 1. God uses Hosea's family and ours as a living message to His people. 2. Salvation is based on what we do with Jesus. 3. God is the only one worth trusting to keep His promises.