260125 Spiritual Adultery

``I have always believed and I believe with all my heart. As God blesses, we are not to pool that, those blessings because water that stops running does what? Starts going bad, doesn't it? Gets stagnant. You see as God has blessed, it is so it can flow through us to somebody else. Can I just make you a promise? You cannot. I'm not saying you won't, I'm saying you can't. Outgive God. Try me. You can't do it. [00:44:11] (53 seconds)  #BlessingsFlow

You see many times when we come before the Lord to ask forgiveness, it's because we're hoping to escape a consequence. You know it's true. Have you ever had that prayer, Lord you get me out of this one? And I promise I'll bake cookies every church fellowship. I promise. We try to bargain with God to get out of the consequences. We go sow our wild seeds and then we pray for crop failure because we don't want them to come back around. [00:25:27] (41 seconds)  #DontBargainWithGod

God continues to bless as it flows through us to somebody else. And as blessings are given not so we can use them for our selfish reasons, not so we can better ourselves at at the expense of ignoring God, but he gives and blesses so that we can give and bless others. And we need to recognize they all come from the Lord. Bible says, all good things come from above and so we're a channel for God's blessings. [00:45:03] (45 seconds)  #ChannelGodsBlessings

You see every time Gomer came home, Hosea had open arms to receive her. Took her back. In fact, next week, we're gonna talk more about comparing these two to the to the church being the bride of Christ. And Hosea once upon a time had to go buy her off the open market as a slave. Her life had drifted so far from God and so far from Hosea that he had to go save her again. [00:26:35] (50 seconds)  #RelentlessRedemption

And the the picture of God's pain was registered in Hosea's face every time Gomer left the house. Every time he wasn't sure where she was. Every time he pictured her being with someone else. Now, I know you're thinking, man, I can't believe this stuff's in the bible. Oh, it is in the bible. And it's a picture that is meant to show us the pain God experiences. [00:23:57] (44 seconds)  #GodsHeartache

and who lavished on her silver and gold which they used for Baal. Can you hear the heartache? In God's voice, she doesn't even realize I'm the one providing. I'm the one that have given. I'm the one who, I love this word, lavished upon her gold and silver. I'm the one making her rich and she's using it for another God, for Baal. [00:42:34] (56 seconds)  #LavishedYetIgnored

And so when when we're ignored, we should know the pain that ignoring someone else would bring. We should be able to relate to that. And we hurt God, we betray him by ignoring who he is and what he does. Look at Hosea two verse eight. This is God speaking. She, that is Israel and Gomer, did not know that it was I who gave her the grain, the wine and the oil [00:41:52] (43 seconds)  #RememberWhoProvides

See Matthew tells us to seek first the kingdom of God. Who are you pursuing first? What has taken over all the attention of your life? What have you put aside reading the bible for in order to do something else? What are you doing with the time that you should take that time for prayer at the start of the day? [00:38:29] (38 seconds)  #SeekGodFirst

We can have hobbies, we have times that we do spend our time on, but the question is, are are those beginning to take all the attention and now we're ignoring God because of these pursuits? It's okay to have other interests but not other than God. He's first. He's who we serve first. When we have an opportunity to do something for the Lord, that's what we pick to do. [00:39:45] (40 seconds)  #InterestsNotIdols

And you know, I think that we need to recognize that when we put our trust somewhere else, there is going to be pain on our father's face. It's gonna hurt because he wants us to trust him. He wants us to love him and no other. He wants us to count upon him. He wants us to remember our last name. That we are God's children. [00:37:34] (41 seconds)  #RememberYourLastName

And that that reminder was stronger than any curfew could have been or any threat of being grounded, losing the car keys. Because I cared about my family and I would sometimes catch myself as teenagers will in a bad situation. I'm not supposed to be here. And I would think about the pain on my dad's face if he found out about this. I thought about how it would hurt him. [00:36:42] (52 seconds)  #ThinkOfHisFace

We don't acknowledge any other source in our life. We recognize God is our provider and our protector. Is that where you are this morning? You see, we we can't continue to commit spiritual adultery. We can't continue to pursue other gods or continue to trust in earthly things. We can't continue to use his blessings for other gods, little g, in our life. [00:45:59] (48 seconds)  #GodIsProvider

You see, Israel was telling God, we don't need you. We have other resources. We have other relationships that we value more than yours. We have other provisions we can count on. Israel was literally thumbing their nose at God. And God used this marriage as a reminder. Gomer actually leaving her household and chasing other, in her words, lovers. [00:32:57] (51 seconds)  #DontTurnFromGod

And we, as we allow sin to creep into our life, as we practice things that God has told us not to practice, as we break his heart day after day because of sin, do we ever think about how painful that is for the Lord? Do we think about how God feels cheated on when we choose something or someone else? [00:24:47] (36 seconds)  #SinHurtsGod

See, it says that even Hosea's children are named for Israel's sin. Can you imagine? The kids are out playing and you go to the door and you yell for Jezreel. You yell for no mercy or not my people. Every time those names are announced, you're reminded of the pain you're bringing the Lord. [00:28:17] (53 seconds)  #LivingRemindersOfSin

I can't tell you how many birthdays, anniversaries, special events I missed during that these fifty plus years of ministry because the what the Lord had me doing took precedent. And so my family just understood. I'd be where I could when I could, but they wanted me to put God first. They wanted me to not pursue anything but him. [00:40:25] (45 seconds)  #GodFirstAlways

If you are in the midst of some adulterous relationship that you're cheating on God, you're trusting in other things, this world lures you away from the Lord. You're you have wandered out from God's protective umbrella. Let me call you home. We always say to you, welcome home to hope. And I want to welcome you home, call you back to God's unconditional love. [00:48:09] (39 seconds)  #WelcomeHomeToHope

Father, thank you for this picture of Hosea and Gomer and how their entire family and life is used to teach us of your love and forgiveness. We pray that today we might come in from the outside world. We might begin to unload our life of the little gods we have built and we bring ourselves solely to be yours. Thank you, Lord, for your goodness and your grace. [00:48:51] (59 seconds)  #ShedLittleGods

We betray God's love when we trust in anyone or thing other than him. We betray his love when we begin to trust in anyone or thing other than him. Remember, Exodus the 10 commandments chapter 20 verse three, you shall have no other gods before me. There isn't anybody more important in our life than our relationship with our father. [00:34:01] (42 seconds)  #NoOtherGods