[MUSIC PLAYING] This is the Commission Church online. Welcome to our podcast. We want to be a church who brings heaven on earth with the Word of God and the love of Christ. I pray this week's message blesses you. I am going to jump right into the Word of God today, amen? I want to just remind the church. A few weeks ago, I did let you know that Sonya and I are taking our first sabbatical of our ministry, or our pastoral ministry. We have been pastors for five years, and thank you. And thank you, thank you. And some of y'all have been with us in our journey from the first year that we launched the church. And we started with seven people in our living room. And God has grown the church so much. It's His church. And this year, we are trying to teach ourselves that it's not us. And sometimes we, as human beings, we need breaks. And we need rest. And we need to retreat and receive. Sunday after Sunday, we pour out. And we give so much that we feel like over the next month, we took the advice and the blessing of our elders, as well as our overseers, as they have advised us over the last few months to just pause for a month and just to be able to receive. So beginning this next week, so beginning tomorrow, the whole month of July, we are going to be off. And we're going to rest from ministry, just to be able to receive from others, our overseers, other people in ministry that are influential over us. We are going to be under their leadership. I'm not preaching anywhere. I'm not guest-speaking anywhere. I'm just taking a break. Amen. I'm going to do some things that I really love, like fishing and golfing and barbecuing and things like that. So keep me in prayers as I rest. And I think it's going to be a good season, but I'm also going to be preparing, praying, and just asking God for wisdom for the next five years to take my next sabbatical. I know that God is going to equip me for this new season, but we're under the able leadership of some amazing people, leaders, pastors, as well as elders in this house that will shepherd the church during this time. And I can't wait for you to hear the speakers that we have lined up over the next few weeks, all from the house that will be bringing a good word for us. And that being said, right before we take off this month, God put on my heart a pastoral message that I kind of wanted to share with you. No matter what season in life you're in, whether you are married, whether you are single, whether you are once married and not married anymore, whether you are in a season of life where you're trying to figure things out, whether you're engaged, whether you're seriously dating, considering marriage. I don't know what season you're in or walking through right now. But there is a message for Christians, for believers that is so important in integral and vital that we have to hold by and we have to stick by. And today I kind of wanted to kind of delve into that and dive into that and just talk about that for just a little bit. Everybody loves a good love story. If I have to just throw that at you and ask you to haul it back at me and tell me what is your favorite love story, what would that be? Taziri looked at her husband and said it's us, our story, right? I mean, yeah, some of y'all are like looking at each other and it's probably yours. But how many of you could tell me of nobody? Any known love stories? Nothing you can think of. Gone with the wind, maybe. Jack and Rose in the Titanic, maybe. No, I'm gonna go give you all those stories. Cleopatra, maybe, what else? What else is there? A good hallmark flick like the notebook. I don't know, is that a, no, yes, that's a great one. Not that I've watched it, men, but I'm just saying, I've heard about it. No, Romeo and Juliet, right? There are some famous love stories out there and people that fell in love that we offer them historically referred to. There you go, Boaz Ruth in the Bible. And I must say that the greatest love story that has ever been told has really been told over history. And it's the story of God's love for his chosen people called Israel. If you look through the Bible, especially in the Old Testament, you see the relentless pursuing love of God for a people that he loves so deeply and so dearly. And yet you don't see a reciprocation of this love in many ways where you see that this love is not returned, is not given, is not shared, is not reciprocated by the people of Israel. The history of this nation that is scattered across the ages and the pages of the Bible, to me sometimes is really mind boggling in many ways. Many reasons that I've already given you, but one of the many verses available in the scriptures that kind of reflect this relationship is found in the book of Hosea, chapter number 11. And this book is where I'm going to take this teaching from today or teach from today, where Hosea in chapter number 11, verses one to four, relate some sentiments to us that puts into a nutshell about God's feelings to the people of Israel. You will see in this both love, affinity, as well as you will see disappointment and rejection. It is a passage of scripture that beautifully encapsulates what the love of God truly means. And I want us to pause today to just reflect on this. The Bible says, "When Israel was a child, I loved him. "And out of Egypt, I called my son as they called them, "so they went from them. "They sacrificed to the bales, to the idols. "They burned incense to carved images. "I taught ephraim Israel to walk, "taking them by their arms, "but they did not know that I healed them. "I drew them with gentle cords, "with bands of love, "and I was to them as those who take the yoke "from their neck. "I stooped and I fed them." You see, do you hear the pain? Do you hear the agony? Do you hear the love that God the Father is trying to communicate through His prophet to the people of Israel? In many respects, God is trying to emote in the same way to His church today. I'm just not talking about commission church, but as your pastor, I have the task and the responsibility of edifying this body to follow in what God wants us to lean into this morning. And today what I wish to do is I wanna illustrate what I consider to be the second most powerful piece of God's love in the Bible. I don't wanna take away Christ's death and what we talked about earlier when we were doing communion, the love story that is greater than any other story where Jesus came into this earth as in human form and He took on the sins of the world when He died in the cross for your sin and for my sin. The greatest love story ever told. But the second one narrated in the Bible is a picture of God's love for His people. Other than Christ's death, there is no greater picture of love. This love story is based on an actual historical fact. And I might not know all the intimate details, but over the course of the next few minutes as I try to kind of paint a picture for you. Not everything I say might be exactly picked from the Bible, but I'm trying to paint imagery. So I want you to listen carefully as I build up on kind of a scene where we're going to go with our study for today. I can assure you that many of the things that I'm going to say and the story that I'm about to weave is absolutely accurate in its development and in its outcome. Before I'm done, you may think that I'm exaggerating, that I'm stretching the truth a little bit and beyond the constraints of believability, but I want to assure you that every word that I am trying to convey in its true essence and meaning is from the depths of the heart of God. The story is set up outside this lodge of village somewhere in the land of Israel. There are much in shops that are open that are doing brisk business, businessmen are haggling with prices here and there. People are trying to make deals, cut business deals. People are trying to trade, they're trying to sell slaves, buy slaves as was common in that time. There's a crowd of people consisting mostly of men who are actually gathered in the village square in a loose semi-circle of sorts. There's a platform in which you can see a woman as it seems in tattered clothing, almost with no clothing. And you can hear a voice that's distinguished about the rest. It's the voice of the auctioneer. He's auctioning off a slave, a woman that appears to be literally almost naked. Or the woman that I would be describing to you from a biblical perspective would at least seem that way. The auctioneer's horse voice is ringing out. I have a bid for five shekels here. Somebody is willing to buy this woman for five shekels. Can I hear a seven? A seven is what I wanna hear. Anybody with a seven, I'll give you seven says another person. I got a seven, I got a seven. Is there anybody that can give me a nine? It asks people are delaying and wondering if they should go to a nine. People are wondering what's going on. The crowd is stalking. You hear voices, who is this woman? Where does she come from? Why is she going for so low? Why is she not worth more? Why is she the way she is? Why is she in the condition she is? You hear other voices probably saying, oh, she's no stranger in this land. I can't tell you for sure, but I can tell you this. She is the harlot of the town. Everybody knows her. She is renowned for all the wrong reasons some people answer in a tone of disgust. Look at this woman says the auctioneer. I've got seven for her. Anybody got a nine and somebody shouts and says, fine, I'll give you a nine. So her price is at nine right now. Nine meager shekels. Another person in the crowd said she used to be married, you know. Another person said married. She was married. How did she end up here? Someone must have fallen in love with her. Someone would have said, hey, there's something good in her. But right now, looking at her, there's nothing. Someone pledged their love to her. She pledged her love to them. They were wanting the best for each other. They probably pictured a happy wedding day and wedding bliss and they pictured a married life together. Yeah, she was married once and somebody else says, you know what's worse? She was married to a preacher. She was married to a prophet. The place probably goes silent. This poor creature was married to a preacher. What happened? Another man said, I hear that she has three kids too. She has three kids. The oldest was a boy. Then there was a girl and then there was another boy. The picture is kind of getting clearer. She was once a woman of stature. She had identity. She was in society. She was loved. She was cared for. She was provided for. Her needs were met. She had a warm bed to sleep at night, a roof over a head. Then how in the world has she ended up where she is? Do I have a nine? Says, do I have an 11? Says the auctioneer, 11, I need an 11. I can't wait here all day. People say, I don't know if she's worth that much. Gentlemen, gentlemen, the auctioneer pleads, can I have 11 shekels for her? Someone says, that's all you're going to get for her. That's all she is worth. She says, somebody says, take it and run with it. So the auctioneer knows that's probably all he's going to get. And she says, all right, auctioneer shouts, I have a bid for 11 shekels. Going once, going twice, anybody for 12, going three and someone from the back of the crowd with a voice real loud screams and says, I'll give you 15 shekels. And I'll give you 10 bushels of barley, 15. You go from 11 to 15, you usually go from 11 to 13 and build from there, what makes you go? And he came prepared. He was like, I don't want anybody to come back and the auctioneer knew he was not going to get any more. So he says, sold to the man of the back, 15 shekels and 10 bushels of barley. Everybody is shell-shocked. The stranger makes his way to this woman, the woman is sold to this man and here comes a cloth. This woman is expecting to be dragged through the street, taken away to be a slave to this person that has just brought him, but less does she know that there's a cloth that's going to come cover her and cover her nakedness. And the next thing he hears is a voice that is very familiar that says, go-mer, go-mer. It's me. She couldn't remember how long it had been since she heard that name spoken with tenderness, yet her eyes grow wide in astonishment and he says, go-mer, tears fill her dark eyes, trickle down her cheeks and she looks up and she says, Hosea, Hosea, you came back for me. This might seem like a narrative out of a Hollywood story, but I assure you it isn't. It's straight from the word of God. It's a prophet that God looked at. It's a pastor that God looked at. It's a preacher that God looked at. It's a believer that God looked at and said, I want you to go a woman that is not worthy of love. The story I narrated to you though, is the second instance that Hosea went back for her. What are you talking about, Pastor? I titled my message today, do it again. Do it again. This was the moment what I narrated to you was God looking at Hosea and saying, go back for your wife that she was once. This was in the first time. The first time was in Hosea chapter one in verse two. And this is what the Bible says. When the Lord first spoke through Hosea, the Lord said to Hosea, go take yourself a wife of boredom. Now, I really wanna stop here and I really want us to ask the question, what in the world is going on? God has a history of asking people to do weird things. He asked people to do some crazy things, whether that was, he looked at Abraham and said, man, go and sacrifice your son. Crazy thing. God has a history of looking at people and saying, man, I want you to do out, he asked Noah to go build an ark the length of three football fields when there was never rain that was ever seen in the land. He asked a prophet to lie on his site for 390 days on the right site for 40 more days to represent the number of years Israel and Judah will be punished. Like there's some weird stuff that God has some prophets to do. Like God has Isaiah to walk around naked and barefoot for three years as a sign, a symbol of the terrible troubles God will bring up on Egypt and Ethiopia. Like think about that, if God asked me to do that as a pastor here, nobody wants to see that. I'd be like, Lord, thank you, but I am going and finding another profession. But the Bible says he looked at Hosea, his prophet, this man that has saved himself a ministry that has dedicated himself a ministry. And he said, go find yourself a wife who is a harlot going into it, this man. Like I want to pause and explore this background. Like Hosea was a young man in ministry excited for what God wanted to do in his life. Like I remember when I was young in ministry, I was excited, I wanted to do great things for God. And one of those things was Lord, I don't want to get into relationships with anybody, be it not just platonic relationships as well as a relationship with a woman that if I don't think that that is serious and it's going to end up in marriage, I made sure that that's something that I did not want to do personally. I did not date around. I did not go around finding women to talk to and talking with every other person until I found, no, no, I looked at the Lord and this was personally for me. I said, God, bring the right person at the right time. And I don't care how long I have to wait. And at the age of 27 was when I married my now wife and I loved that I waited for as long as I did. Why? Because God brought up the perfect, awesome, most amazing person that I've prayed for into my life. But I knew for sure that waiting would, but imagine this, if I would have waited till 27 and God would have been like, thank you for waiting. But guess who I'm going to give you as a wife? I want you to go to downtown Dallas, no, around the Harry Hines area. And I want you to find anybody that knows Dallas, knows Harry Hines, it's a whack area. You go there and I'm going to show you, there's a woman there that's going to be standing in front of a gas station. I want you to go and ask of her hand in marriage. What do you think my reaction would have been? That's exactly what God is asking Hosea to do. He asked him to go to Harry Hines and find himself a wife. Come on, somebody. But God, I have been saving myself for this moment, but God, I am your child, but God, I am your son, but God, I am a prophet. What would people even think? Hosea, I'm just going to use you right now for me to get a message across to the people of Israel. Do you know that what you are walking through in your life, that your relationship, that your job, that every season that you walk through in your life is nothing but for the glory of God. God will not ask you to do and endure something that he has not allowed his son to go through in the first place. You got to understand, like God, yes, God used Hosea, but it was a way of telling Hosea, Hosea, I'm asking you to do this to teach the people of Israel a lesson, but guess what, I'm going to do it to my own son. I'm going to send him to the gallows. I'm going to send him to the cross. He's going to die a death that is so crazy, that is so, and I want you to understand, I'm just using your life and Hosea, does not argue. He does not. God told him to do it. And verse three, the Bible says, there was no argument, there was no back and forth so the Bible says he went and took Gomer. The first time he takes Gomer, he takes her. He does it exactly what God has asked him to do. I'm deeply convinced that the two of them fell in love. I am deeply convinced that they were married in the presence of their family and friends. They settled down into ministry and they had a family, they had two sons and a daughter and God gave them daughters and they gave them sons in verse number four, five, six, seven, eight. You will read their names and as the story unfolds, we begin to suspect and the Bible tells us that Hosea soon finds out that only one of these children belong to him. That this woman has violated the boundaries of their marriage, has gone against everything, the covenant that they're built with each other. She has violated it, gone back into sleeping with other men. Now in chapter number two, verses four and five, tells us, Hosea came to a deeply painful conclusion of this. I will not show my love to her children because they are the children of adultery. Their mother has been unfaithful and has conceived them in disgrace. She said, "I will go after my lovers "who give me food and water and wool and linen and oil "and my drink." And here you go, a family that God has put together literally ripped apart and torn apart because of selfish desires. But you know what the significant thing in the story is? How God asks Hosea to respond to this situation. The story of the gospel. In chapter number three, verses one, this is where I kind of wanna just dwell on in just a little bit. And the Lord said to me, "Go again." Just like you did the first time I asked you to do, to go and get a wife. This was not a wife that was once a wife that was once not a heart. This was already a heart, Lord, I already married this promiscuous woman. And I thought that she might come out of it God, but yet she's gone back to her ways and you want me to go back again. And God's like, "Guess what I do day after day to you." Guess what I do to you, Israel? No matter how much you love me or you don't love me, I still keep coming back to you over and over again. And he's like, "Lord, do I really?" Oh my God, go again. Love a woman who is loved by another man in adulterous even as the Lord loves the children of Israel. Though they turn to other gods and love cakes of raisins. We're not talking about fruit cakes here, okay? Forget about it, some of you all went, mm, mm, mm, mm. No, these were just like foods offered to idols and it's nothing to do with what we're talking about right now, just a cultish practice. But Gomer's taken off again. We don't know why. But she had it all. Can we pause for a second? She had it all. One would argue she probably married way up. For a woman that was in her situation, for somebody to come out, it was her way out. It was, man, I can finally get out of Harry Hines. I can finally get out of this hood. My ticket to a new life. Like a woman like me getting married to a man like him. Who's ever heard of that? And when somebody understands that you got what you did not deserve, you value it even more. But guess what? The sin inside of us keeps distracting us away from that and keeps telling us that, hey, you know what? No, it's fine, you could give up that. You deserve more. Why does she leave? The Bible says she left in that verse that we read. She left for food, for water, for wool, for linen, for oil and drink. Are you kidding me? Like you didn't, I know I'm a pastor. I know I'm in a pastor's income and pastor's. I'm not serving you steak and shrimp and surf and turf every single day. Come on, I'm not talking to somebody, but man, I'm giving you enough. But no, I want to see more. She wanted sweeter waters. She wanted wool for her. It was important, like what she wore. It wasn't enough to be modest. She wanted more. She wanted the fine linens. She wasn't satisfied with a 300 thread crown. Bedsheet, she was on. She wanted the Egyptian cotton. She said she wanted oil. I'm not talking about coconut oil here. The Bible is talking about perfumes here. She wanted that Dolce Angabana. She wanted that Armani. She was like, man, it smells so good. And you know what, that's how it comes. It comes in the smells. It comes in the taste. It comes in the vices of the enemy and in what we see and what we do. And these temptations that come from here and from there that tell you, man, you deserve more than what you have. And for so many of us, we get tired of the usual, the regular, the mundane. And somehow the Christian heart gravitates so it's things you don't know and things you want to know more about. I want you to listen today. This is not a message that's going to make you jump out of your seats, clap your hands, praise God and say this message is for me more than ever. You probably sit there and you're like, I shouldn't say anything right now. And I'm okay with that because this is a pastoral message. It's not meant to make anybody feel good today. Maybe what she wanted was a sense of the old life back. Maybe she wanted an escape, what it feels like to be without the pressures of being a prophet's wife or a Christian or a believer or having the fear of God inside of me always bogging me down or not showing up on Sunday mornings and being filled with a word and having my conviction stirred up. Maybe if I just keep away from all of that, maybe I can live the life that I want to. I can dress the way I want to. I can pursue the passions that I want to. I don't need to be accountable. Someone needs to hear this. Someone needs to hear this. Your past was supposed to be a lesson. Do not make it a life sentence. Gomer, your past was a lesson, a lesson that you refer back to that says I don't ever want to do that again. Fool me once, I am not going to buy into the vice, but Gomer, you're going back to that. You're going back to a life sentence. Some of us need to understand as Christians when your past calls, you hit reject. Some of us, you just need to get rid of stuff from your past, things that are tying you down, soul ties from the past, soul ties that remind you of hurt and pain of the past. But for her, the sights and the smells are too strong. The oils and the linen and the cotton and all of that stuff is just pulling her away from covenant that she's in far away from God. Can I remind somebody here today? Don't give up the 80% that you have for the 20 that you don't. Women and men, your spouse cannot meet 100% of your needs. Young men and women sitting over here, when you're looking for a spouse, remember you will not find Mr. Perfection and Miss Perfection. Come on, hit the husband harder than that. I see some of you are like... Some of us need to understand that, "Y'all, maybe an 80, never 100, no one's perfect." She's about to trade 80% for the 20%. Her 20% was that she needed to talk to someone. She needed someone who would buy her these little gifts, who would buy her these trinkets, who would give her this perfume and that perfume and buy her some linen and make her feel good about herself, the compliments and the nice things that was said, because let's be real, bro, after three kids, you've got a little weary. You don't talk to me as much. You're in your own sweet world, dude. And for the guys over here, maybe your 20% that she's not giving you is you want her to go work out with you and box with you and play video games with you. Grow up, dude. Or someone to laugh at your jokes. Someone once said that if a wife laughs at a husband's joke, it means that they have visitors at home. Otherwise our jokes are not humorous to our wives. But what happens is because she trades the 80% for the 20%. She gets the short end of the stick and she ends up with so much more lesser than she had. If you're taking notes, write this down. Never let the things you want, make you forget the things you got. I'm gonna say that again. Never let the things you want. Someone say, never let the things you want. Make you forget the things you gots. Important. Everybody sees grass on the other side and they're like, "Oh man, I wish I had that grass." Stop wanting that other grass, stop watering your own grass. You gotta fertilize that grass. They poked holes in that grass and you wondered why that machine was going in there and making holes in the gods called aeration. They spent $200 for that. That's why that grass looks that good. They spent bags, money on bags of fertilizer that makes, they actually pour water in their grass and you're saving that up. Come on, you don't wanna spend money on watering but their yard looks better. Why? They get yard of the month, week after week and they're posting pictures on social media. Week after week, look at their house but look at their wife. Look at their kids. And look at ours, Roger kids. Look at the flowers he got her. Where's my flowers at? And God looks at him and says, "Go again." But God, I didn't do it. I'm not at fault here, God. Go and do it. Go again and love a woman who is loved by another man. Is God reminding some to go again today? I don't know who God is talking to. I don't know who God is first. I don't know what God is talking to you about it. Trust me, this is not just this spouse. It's just not a relationship. There are different things that God is actually bringing to this whole mix and saying, "Go again." God is the one who has turned these tables around. God's like, "Man, I can give you the ability "to forgive, to move on." But God has, looking at someone saying, "Hey, you gotta take some steps." What was Jose's reaction? This is where it gets messy, yo. Go get her, Jose. Nah. You told me to marry an adulterous woman? I gave it a chance. I gave her a chance, but this time I'm out. Why? Because I was just waiting for her to mess up to dip. This is my cue. Yup. That's how somebody in the world would handle it. But Jose, you're cut up a different cloth, bro. You are not of the world. What you have inside of you is resilience, Jose. You represent God in his mercy and his love and his enduring spirit. Who want theologian calls God? Is the hound of heaven who will hound you and hound you and pursue you and pursue you and fight for you and fight. And today, God is like looking at you and saying, "If I can fight for you, "why can't you fight for the people around you?" Trust me, Jose has grounds. He has arguments that he can make to God and say, "God, I don't deserve this. "I can legally go a different route." He had biblical justification that he could choose to end things, but God presents them with a challenge. Go again. This is Jose's way out, y'all. I don't have to love her anymore. I can go back to my prophesying. This is my cue, God. She has been keeping me away from ministry. Jose, this is your ministry. Jose, this is exactly why God called you. No, you don't have the calling of Jose. You are not meant to do what Jeremiah did or the other prophets, Micah and Hagar. None of them are doing what your ministry is. This, your life is this. This is why you are a prophet. I'm gonna use your story and your testimony as a prophetic voice to the nation of Israel. This is your job. This is your calling. So many of us are wondering, why am I going through the season? I'm going through, why am I going through this, my job? I'm a Christian, I'm a devout Christian, I'm a follower of Jesus Christ, I tithe, I give, I volunteer, I serve, I do, I check all the boxes, but why me, why my family? This is your ministry. This is where God puts you. So what does he say? So I bought her for 15 shekels of silver. John, you can come up. And a Homer and a lathic of barley. You know what that really means? Pastor's income and you know, he doesn't get paid much. He went to his bank to cut all the money he had. You know why I know that? Because in addition to the 15 shekels that he had, he also brought barley. And people would only do that when they have to pay above and beyond. Where they couldn't afford so they would do it in kind, where they would say, this is all I have to offer. I have exhausted all my resources. And now here I go, I'm just emptying my shelves. I'm getting you all my groceries, all the things I have. Here you go all of it on the table. I'm putting all my chips because I believe in what I'm about to buy. He's going all in. If you understand the term all in, he's taking a gamble. He's gambling on this go again part. Try it again part. Let your heart go part. No, but God, I want to protect myself. I don't want to get hurt again, but go tight. Do it again. Try again. But God, this is all I have. Here you go. I'm pushing. I'm all in. Do you want to do this, Hojae? Yeah, I just, I have to. I got to. (gentle music) He drags himself out in public. Take a second to think about it. The embarrassment this man has to endure. This wasn't hush money. This wasn't quiet. Let's do a backdoor deal. Hey y'all, you don't know who I am. I'm pretty well known in these areas. Like people look up to me. I'm a pastor. I am a prophet. I am a man of God. Let's go. There's, you know, there's a room over there. Let's go talk over there. Let's settle this behind closed doors. He dragged himself out there in the middle of everyone. Set himself out for embarrassment. And said, "I know who I am. "But in this season, this is what I'm called to do. "I'm called to put everything on the line." Verse three. "And I said to her, 'You must dwell as mine for many days. "You shall not play the whore, "belong to another man, so I will also be with you.'" You know what Jose is doing over there? See, this is what religion says. Religion says, "If we change, God will love us." "If you do this and this and this and this and this, "I will love you." But the radical love of God is a love that says, "I love you so fiercely that you can't help but change." Does that make sense? The agape, unconditional love, is a love that comes running to you and says, "Let me show you that the love that I have inside of me "is a love that can fiercely pursue you "to the point where you can't help." But say, "What's wrong with this man? "What's wrong with this woman? "Who are you? "Why are you doing when you love your husband, "when you love your wife, when you love your fiancee? "As you look for a husband, as you look for a wife, "remember church, we love like Christ did. "We don't love like the world did. "We don't qualify love. "We don't quantify love. "We love despite of quantity. "We just love despite of quality. "It's a love that gives and gives and gives." And says, "You know what? "It's a relentless love." So what does he do? Isaiah 2, 14. But then I'll win our back once again. I will lead her into the desert and I will speak tenderly to her there. I will give her back up vineyards and how make the value of ache or a door of hope. Not only am I gonna bring you back home, but I'm gonna restore to you everything that you had in the first place. See, some of us, this message is a relational message. Some of y'all need to make some decisions relationally, as a Christian as a believer. The Holy Spirit told me this is my time of prayer. Some of y'all need to reconcile with parent figures in your life. It doesn't matter if it's a biological mom, a biological dad, I don't know who it is, but somebody that has deeply hurt you, that was absent, that was not there around, that specifically got told me that. Yes, I'm talking to marriages, I'm talking to single people, all that is there, but specifically I felt like God was telling me there was somebody with a father figure that has hurt you deeply and you need to reconcile that. You need to forgive. (gentle music) Marriages can either be one without problems, without issues, or the normal marriages, is where you go through the value of acor. What does that mean? What does acor mean? A value of acor is the value that sometimes you walk alone. The value of acor is the value of rejection. The value of acor is the value that you were despised, that you were put down, you were verbally abused, that you were physically abused. I know that it's hard for you to probably forgive that rapacious act that was done against you. I know that it was probably so hard to forgive that infidelity or forgive that person that cheated on you or that person that hurt you deeply. But you walk through the value of acor when there's so much of pain and suffering that you walk through and adultery and betrayal and pornography and deceit and depression. And God looks at you and says, "But I still give you the ability to forgive." Why? Because you are not cut up the same cloth as the world. You are different. You are set apart. You are a child of God. And a child of God is required to be a product of God and God's love. You know what this message shows me? This message shows me John 3, 16, and specifically one word in John 3, 16. And it's the word so. God, so. It's not goes, don't rush through that word. Like, as a Christian, you can never rush through that word. The emphasis is not on any other word, it's the word so. God, so loved the world that he gave his only begotten soul. This story encapsulates that word so. Oh, the word so encapsulates the story in one word. The radical pursuing love of Jesus. I hear this all the time. We just don't feel connected anymore. Feel disconnected. I feel like God is speaking to some people and saying, "Man, I can revive that which is dead." Some of us have lost hope. Some of us have let go of hope. Some of us have just completely been redirected. We don't know if God's ever going to bring us out of this situation that we're in. God is saying there is hope. There's one message I can give you today is do it again. Go again, Hosea, go back, Hosea. Go back. I know that that person dragged you to the streets. I know that person embarrassed you. I know that person cut you up. I know that person just rejected you, dejected you, tore your heart to a million pieces. I know that there might seem like this can never be recovered, but go again, Hosea. For the beauty of this passage is not God telling him to go again. He says, "And I will go." I will go. Would you stand up to your feet, Church? (gentle piano music) Hosea continues to love Gomer. Oof. (gentle piano music) For some of us, it's personal decisions with Jesus today. I feel in my heart that there are some Gomer's that have just walked far away from God. Like I said, this is not about marriage, y'all. Yeah, probably if you're married here, this applies to you. If you've hurt before you, this applies to you. You've been hurting your relationship. Probably applies to something in your life. But there's also a Gomer here that has just walked so far away from God that you don't even recognize yourself. Like a faithful spouse. God is just on stand by waiting for that phone to ring. Waiting for that text to come. Waiting for that key to go into that door knob in turn. Waiting for the rustling of the feet on the door mat. Waiting for the door of knock. He hasn't slept as yet. The dinner plate's still on the table, waiting for you to arrive. A Gomer, you're gone. My question and my, as your pastor, my question is how many of us have abandoned our post? How many of you have abandoned your post as a son? As a daughter? You're probably a rebellious Gomer and you're just, you're a young person sitting in the standing in this room. You're a teenager standing in this room and your issue, your Gomer experiences rebellion. It's the inability to listen, follow direction. I don't know what season you are in, but I just need you to come to that point where you're like, God, I don't want to run anymore. I don't want to be a Gomer anymore. I hate this back and forth, getting in the house and back from the house and God is just waiting. You remember that day God shows up in the garden of Eden? Every day he showed up, every single day. And this, I love this story, it's so simple, but you're so profound. You've heard me say this a million times and I can't stop saying it. God shows up after they sinned. Knowing that they did what he asked, he asked them explicitly not to do. Do not do that, and they did exactly that. And guess what? God still showed up the day after that. He's still it, because the covenant was, every day we'll meet here. Every day we will have communion together. God kept his end of the bargain. Guess what Adam and Eve did, they hid. God doesn't say, once you repent, once you come back, I'll find my way back. God looks at them and says, I'm here, where are you? (gentle music) And so many of us Gomrs feel like we can, all we just need to do is run away, we just need to show up, no accountability, don't show up to life group, don't show up to Sunday service, as long as pastor, I don't need to light the pastor when he says how's everything going. But we really need to come to that conclusion because here's, I'll end with this, I'll end with this. If you as a Christian struggle to forgive, it's probably because you have not fully understood the full gospel message of Jesus Christ. I'm sorry, but that's the truth. You have not fully understood what the gospel is. And the gospel is a radical one, where he died despite of what you did. He doesn't forgive you based on what you say, what you do, that's faked by works. That's not what we believe in. The Bible says, God doesn't change your circumstances because of what you do, it's in spite. And today some of us need to just walk back because Jesus is walking in with this towel that he wants to just cover over your marriage. He wants to take away that shame over your marriage, he wants to take away the shame over that broken relationship, that broken, that strained relationship, parental relationship. That past that has been plaguing you, he's just that blanket that Hosea brings and just puts over Gomer, possibly, he's just covering you up and saying, I love you, Gomer, come back. I've come to take you back. Every eye closed in this building and you know, here's what I'm not gonna do, I'm not gonna do an altar call, I'm not gonna do a lift up your hand, I'm not embarrassing anybody, but today, you would be doing a big disservice if you do not respond to this pastoral message in your heart. I was praying and I said, God, I'm gonna be gone for four weeks. Could you give me like a message that people are gonna be like, pastor, preach, pastor, go pastor, this is awesome, pastor. And I want them to remember for the rest of the four weeks, that's what I prayed for and God gave me this. Sorry, I just had to be obedient. I was willing to trade the preach pastors and on point pastors and say it again to just give you a pastoral message from my heart to tell you that God is calling. He's saying, do it again. Would you be bold enough to say, yes, Lord, I will. God, I'm humble enough to say, I will, I'll do it again. I'll give it another shot. Gonna give it another try. I'm gonna push. I'm gonna push. I'm gonna push. I'm gonna push till something breaks. I'm gonna pray I'm gonna say the benediction, but like we do every Sunday, we're gonna be here in the presence of God in prayer. If you're new here, I just wanna let you know our second service runs a little bit longer than I first. But what we do is we just allow the time for the Holy Spirit to move and for us to spend in time of prayer. But I'm gonna pray I'm gonna close and I'm gonna release you if you need to leave to work or lunch plans or be with family. We totally understand you can leave, you can go. But if you feel lead in your heart that you just wanna linger for a bit. If you feel like you need to pray with somebody, stand with somebody shoulder to shoulder, this time for that as well. But let me pray for you and let me release you, but I want you to think about this message that God has spoken to you. Father, I thank you for this moment. I thank you for your word that came in power and in might. I thank you, Lord, for every heart that is asking questions. I thank you for every heart that is in turmoil is troubled. Thank you for every decision that's about to be made in this place. I thank you for every marriage that's about to be restored in this place. I thank you for every relationship, father, son relationship, father, daughter relationship, mother, son relationship, mother, daughter relationship that's going to be restored in the name of Jesus. (gentle music) I thank you, Lord, because there are some victims that are standing in this room of the past and pain that are going to forgive and let go of things that they've been holding on for a very long time. Father, I pray for release. I pray for freedom. I thank you for your word that is strong. I thank you for your word that's mighty. Here's what I want you to do if you're gonna be staying back for a little bit. If your spouse is standing next to you, can you go ahead and just grab their hand right now? I don't want to single anybody out, but just grab their hand right now. And I just want you to pray. Just pray amongst yourselves. And I'm gonna pray for you. I'm gonna bless your father. I thank you for single people in this room. I thank you for teenagers in this room. I thank you for our students, our young adults. I thank you for our engaged people. I thank you for our young couples. I thank you for families. I thank you for our older couples. I pray that Lord, we will never grow weary in our love for each other. That Lord, we will pursue you with all our might, with all power, with all grace, with all understanding, forgiving one another, showing grace and love to one another. Father, we want to try to do it again. We want to try with every ounce of our spirit to do it again. Thank you Lord for that word. I bless in each and every person in this room. We thank you for what you're doing in this season. Our glory and honor be unto you. Church, may the Lord bless you, may He keep you. May He cause His face to shine upon you. May He be gracious to you. And He lift His countenance to our direction. And may He give you peace that passes all understanding. And Jesus, thank you for praying. Amen, amen, amen. - Thank you for listening. We love bringing you the word on so many different platforms. We are so thankful for what God is doing in and through us. We'd love for you to subscribe so you don't miss out. And don't forget to share this message if it has blessed you. (upbeat music) [BLANK_AUDIO]
