1 The word of the Lord that came to Hosea son of Beeri during the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and of Jeroboam son of Jehoash, king of Israel.
2 When the Lord first spoke to Hosea, he said this to him:
Go and marry a woman of promiscuity, and have children of promiscuity, for the land is committing blatant acts of promiscuity by abandoning the Lord.
3 So he went and married Gomer daughter of Diblaim, and she conceived and bore him a son. 4 Then the Lord said to him:
Name him Jezreel, for in a little while I will bring the bloodshed of Jezreel on the house of Jehu and put an end to the kingdom of the house of Israel. 5 On that day I will break the bow of Israel in Jezreel Valley.
6 She conceived again and gave birth to a daughter, and the Lord said to him:
Name her Lo-ruhamah, for I will no longer have compassion on the house of Israel. I will certainly take them away. 7 But I will have compassion on the house of Judah, and I will deliver them by the Lord their God. I will not deliver them by bow, sword, or war, or by horses and cavalry.
8 After Gomer had weaned Lo-ruhamah, she conceived and gave birth to a son. 9 Then the Lord said:
Name him Lo-ammi, for you are not my people, and I will not be your God. 10 Yet the number of the Israelites will be like the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured or counted. And in the place where they were told: You are not my people, they will be called: Sons of the living God. 11 And the Judeans and the Israelites will be gathered together. They will appoint for themselves a single ruler and go up from the land. For the day of Jezreel will be great. 2 Call your brothers: My People and your sisters: Compassion.
Title: On the Love and Justice of God Text: Hosea 1.1-2.1; 3.1-5 Series: Hosea: A Love Story Like No Other Church: Redeemer Baptist Church, Jonesboro, AR Date: March 9, 2025
TEXT 7 “Are these things true?” the high priest asked.
2 “Brothers and fathers,” he replied, “listen: The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he settled in Haran, 3 and said to him: Leave your country and relatives, and come to the land that I will show you.4 “Then he left the land of the Chaldeans and settled in Haran. From there, after his father died, God had him move to this land in which you are now living. 5 He didn’t give him an inheritance in it—not even a foot of ground—but he promised to give it to him as a possession, and to his descendants after him, even though he was childless. 6 God spoke in this way: His descendants would be strangers in a foreign country, and they would enslave and oppress them for four hundred years.7 I will judge the nation that they will serve as slaves, God said. After this, they will come out and worship me in this place.8 And so he gave Abraham the covenant of circumcision. After this, he fathered Isaac and circumcised him on the eighth day. Isaac became the father of Jacob, and Jacob became the father of the twelve patriarchs.
9 “The patriarchs became jealous of Joseph and sold him into Egypt, but God was with him 10 and rescued him out of all his troubles. He gave him favor and wisdom in the sight of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, who appointed him ruler over Egypt and over his whole household. 11 Now a famine and great suffering came over all of Egypt and Canaan, and our ancestors could find no food. 12 When Jacob heard there was grain in Egypt, he sent our ancestors there the first time. 13 The second time, Joseph revealed himself to his brothers, and Joseph’s family became known to Pharaoh. 14 Joseph invited his father Jacob and all his relatives, seventy-five people in all, 15 and Jacob went down to Egypt. He and our ancestors died there, 16 were carried back to Shechem, and were placed in the tomb that Abraham had bought for a sum of silver from the sons of Hamor in Shechem.
17 “As the time was approaching to fulfill the promise that God had made to Abraham, the people flourished and multiplied in Egypt 18 until a different king who did not know Joseph ruled over Egypt. 19 He dealt deceitfully with our race and oppressed our ancestors by making them abandon their infants outside so that they wouldn’t survive. 20 At this time Moses was born, and he was beautiful in God’s sight. He was cared for in his father’s home for three months. 21 When he was put outside, Pharaoh’s daughter adopted and raised him as her own son. 22 So Moses was educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians and was powerful in his speech and actions.
23 “When he was forty years old, he decided to visit his own people, the Israelites. 24 When he saw one of them being mistreated, he came to his rescue and avenged the oppressed man by striking down the Egyptian. 25 He assumed his people would understand that God would give them deliverance through him, but they did not understand. 26 The next day he showed up while they were fighting and tried to reconcile them peacefully, saying, ‘Men, you are brothers. Why are you mistreating each other?’ 27 “But the one who was mistreating his neighbor pushed Moses aside, saying: Who appointed you a ruler and a judge over us?28 Do you want to kill me, the same way you killed the Egyptian yesterday?
29 “When he heard this, Moses fled and became an exile in the land of Midian, where he became the father of two sons. 30 After forty years had passed, an angel appeared to him in the wilderness of Mount Sinai, in the flame of a burning bush. 31 When Moses saw it, he was amazed at the sight. As he was approaching to look at it, the voice of the Lord came: 32 I am the God of your ancestors—the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob. Moses began to tremble and did not dare to look. 33 “The Lord said to him: Take off the sandals from your feet, because the place where you are standing is holy ground.34 I have certainly seen the oppression of my people in Egypt; I have heard their groaning and have come down to set them free. And now, come, I will send you to Egypt.35 “This Moses, whom they rejected when they said, Who appointed you a ruler and a judge?—this one God sent as a ruler and a deliverer through the angel who appeared to him in the bush. 36 This man led them out and performed wonders and signs in the land of Egypt, at the Red Sea, and in the wilderness for forty years.
37 “This is the Moses who said to the Israelites: Godwill raise up for you a prophet like me from among your brothers.38 He is the one who was in the assembly in the wilderness, with the angel who spoke to him on Mount Sinai, and with our ancestors. He received living oracles to give to us. 39 Our ancestors were unwilling to obey him. Instead, they pushed him aside, and in their hearts turned back to Egypt. 40 They told Aaron: Make us gods who will go before us. As for this Moses who brought us out of the land of Egypt, we don’t know what’s happened to him.41 They even made a calf in those days, offered sacrifice to the idol, and were celebrating what their hands had made. 42 God turned away and gave them up to worship the stars of heaven, as it is written in the book of the prophets: House of Israel, did you bring me offerings and sacrificesfor forty years in the wilderness?43 You took up the tent of Molochand the star of your god Rephan,the images that you made to worship.So I will send you into exile beyond Babylon.
44 “Our ancestors had the tabernacle of the testimony in the wilderness, just as he who spoke to Moses commanded him to make it according to the pattern he had seen. 45 Our ancestors in turn received it and with Joshua brought it in when they dispossessed the nations that God drove out before them, until the days of David. 46 He found favor in God’s sight and asked that he might provide a dwelling place for the God of Jacob. 47 It was Solomon, rather, who built him a house, 48 but the Most High does not dwell in sanctuaries made with hands, as the prophet says: 49 Heaven is my throne,and the earth my footstool.What sort of house will you build for me?says the Lord,or what will be my resting place?50 Did not my hand make all these things?
51 “You stiff-necked people with uncircumcised hearts and ears! You are always resisting the Holy Spirit. As your ancestors did, you do also. 52 Which of the prophets did your ancestors not persecute? They even killed those who foretold the coming of the Righteous One, whose betrayers and murderers you have now become. 53 You received the law under the direction of angels and yet have not kept it.”
~Acts 7.1-53
Title: On the Value and Relevance of the Old Testament Text: Acts 7.1-53 Series: The Book of Acts Church: Redeemer Baptist Church, Jonesboro, AR Date: April 7, 2024
57The Lord is my portion; I have promised to keep your words. 58 I have sought your favor with all my heart; be gracious to me according to your promise. 59 I thought about my ways and turned my steps back to your decrees. 60 I hurried, not hesitating to keep your commands. 61 Though the ropes of the wicked were wrapped around me, I did not forget your instruction. 62 I rise at midnight to thank you for your righteous judgments. 63 I am a friend to all who fear you, to those who keep your precepts. 64 Lord, the earth is filled with your faithful love; teach me your statutes.
The eight stanza of Psalm 119 (ח/heth – sounds like the ch in Bach, you have to get a little phlegm in the back of your throat when you say it), but this stanza begins with the line “The Lord is my portion.” This is an image that occurs frequently throughout the Old Testament, and especially in the Book of Psalms. The word typically refers to a share or a portion of land received by inheritance. In an agrarian society like ancient Israel, owning land was a source of economic, political, and societal security. Those who owned land had standing and influence. But here, our psalmist affirms that the Lord is his portion. “The Lord” here (printed in all caps on most versions) represents the personal covenant name of God, i.e. יהוה, Yahweh; this is the name that He revealed to Moses from the burning bush, “I am who I am” (Exodus 3.14). In other words, our psalmist understands that Yahweh, the one true and living God, the personal covenant keeping God, is the only one in whom we may find safety, security, stability, satisfaction, and contentment in this life. As the old hymn goes, “All other ground is sinking sand.”
This principle is not unlike that famous slogan of pastor and author John Piper, “God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him.” Or as question 1 of the Westminster Shorter Catechism states, “Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy Him forever.” This is the point, namely that glad and joyful obedience to the Word of God springs forth from a heart that is perfectly satisfied and wholly content in Him. This is why our psalmist says in verse 57, “I have promised to keep your words.” And again in verse 60, “I hurried, not hesitating to keep your commands.” And again in verse 62, “I rise at midnight to thank you for your righteous judgments.” Of course, the counter point is equally true, that when we begin to look for sources of satisfaction and contentment outside of Him, we quickly fall into sin. The world we live in is constantly offering us a plethora of competing products and services intended to satisfy and fulfill; this is the essence of an advertisement rich consumeristic society. But, these options overpromise and under deliver, because nothing can satisfy and fill the deepest longings of the human heart like the God who made it. This is why our psalmist writes in verse 59, “I thought about my ways and turned my steps back to your decrees.” Or again in verse 61, “Though the ropes of the wicked were wrapped around me, I did not forget your instruction.“
But not only does this inner contentment in God free us from the allure of sinful temptations, but its also changes our entire outlook on life, as our psalmist writes in verse 64, “Lord, the earth is filled with your faithful love; teach me your statutes.” Of course, this world is polluted, even overrun, by sin everywhere we turn, such that even the stoutest of hearts might be shaken with fear, but when our hearts are completely secure in God, then we may have that rest which Jesus promised His disciples. Then, we may have confidence that sin is not the end of the story, that evil will not win the day, because we know that where sin abounds grace abounds even more, that where the darkness seems to consume, there the light of God’s grace and love can still shine through. And this hopeful confidence energizes the desire to live in faithful obedience. But more than that, it also empowers us to live in authentic community with others. As our psalmist puts it in verse 63, “I am a friend to all who fear you, to those who keep your precepts.” In other words, when we our hearts are completely whole in God, then we are set free to love others without the need to receive anything in return. We can love others for their sake and nor for our own, because we are complete in the love of Christ. This is the essential foundation for Christian community, that we love each other even as Christ loves us, and we can only do this when are completely satisfied and wholly loved in Christ by God.
Only that life which is lived in willing and fervent obedience to God’s Word can experience genuine human flourishing to the fullest degree, and this kind of obedience can only come from a heart that is perfectly content and satisfied in God and Him alone. As our psalmist writes in verse 58, “I have sought your favor with all my heart; be gracious to me according to your promise.” This is no works based attempt to merit God’s grace. Rather, it is the reflection of a heart that understands and trusts in the promise of God. It is the perspective of a soul that is perfectly at rest in the good news of the Gospel, that pursues faithful obedience to God and His Word from the wholeness that is only available by His grace. It is by grace because Christ has already completely fulfilled God’s law; He lived a life of perfect obedience to the Father. The good news of the gospel is that He has taken our disobedience upon himself, and in a glorious exchange, He has given us His obedient righteousness. And this is why He says, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take up my yoke and learn from me, because I am lowly and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11.28-30)
Faith seeking Understanding 