Hosea 5-8; Matthew 18:21-25

Today we take a look at some verses from Hosea and we can see the condition of God's people. They were not aware of how sin had done a number on them so great that they did not understand how deep they were in their sin.
5:4 "Their deeds do not permit them to return to their God. A spirit of prostitution is in their heart; they do not acknowledge the LORD. 5 Israel's arrogance testifies against them; the Israelites, even Ephraim, stumble in their sin; Judah also stumbles with them. 6:6 For I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and acknowledgment of God rather than burnt offerings. 7:13b I long to redeem them but they speak lies against me. 14 They do not cry out to me from their hearts but wail upon their beds. They gather together for grain and new wine but turn away from me. 8:5 Throw out your calf-idol, O Samaria! My anger burns against them. How long will they be incapable of purity?"
God's desire is always to deliver us and restore us because He knows the consequences of our rebellious mind. God really does desire mercy and truth in our lives. When we get sin out of the way He can change our hearts and minds to desire purity and holiness. We then stop chasing the wrong things and start pursuing Him. We are not capable of those things on our own. When we cry out from a pure heart He hears and restores everything the locusts have eaten during the years away from Him.

In Matthew we experience God's forgiveness. 21 "Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, "Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven times?" 22Jesus answered, "I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times." The king decided it was time to settle accounts. He had the ability to sell them or throw them into prison, but was merciful to the servant's cries and forgave the debt. The servant then turned around and had the man that owed him thrown into prison. 34In anger his master turned him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed. 35"This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother from your heart."
Sometimes we forgive in words but not from our heart. True forgiveness does not worry about the cost of the debt or the pain of the hurt we experienced. True love overcomes all pain. True forgiveness reunites us with those who truly love us. That is the Father's plan for loving relationships. God loves it when we do this at His prompting before the Master decides it's time to settle accounts.

2 Kings 1-3; Matthew 12:1-23

In Second Kings Ahaziah the king of Israel seeking advice from a false God. The real God sends Elijah to speak truth. Elijah had a way of commanding fire to consume men and even dividing water and walking across on dry land. When God is on our side nothing is impossible. Even when called to explain the message to the king, God protected Elijah. He was sent with a message: you will not survive-one a king does not want to hear. God removed the king because his reign had deeply affected the true worship of God's people. Who do we consult when we need help? When we need help what we do next will be a testimony to all around us.

In Matthew we see Jesus being Lord of the Sabbath. 8For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath." They did not understand how God has placed Him here to be Lord of all. He is Lord of all. do we ask Him to be Lord of everything in our lives? We have to give Him permission to do that or we are just saying and not really doing. When He has permission to do that, He reigns and is able to make progress in every area of our lives.

1 Kings 19-20; Matthew 10:21-42

In 1st kings we see the faithfulness of Elijah. He ran for his life and the Lord came to him and brought him back with a new assignment. Many times we will run and the Lord always finds us to bring us back to complete the rest of our assignment. We see the Lord say there were a few faithful in Israel. 19:18 Yet I reserve seven thousand in Israel—all whose knees have not bowed down to Baal and all whose mouths have not kissed him."(NIV) He will always send someone to rescue the faithful. Wherever we go He pursues us to bring us home for the next assignment. That is His faithfulness to His sheep. No matter what the odds are against us, they are outnumbered with the lord on our side.

Matthew 10 tells us to be faithful to the end. The Lord can tell when our hearts are fully devoted to Him and the evidence will be losing our life and finding it in Him. When we receive a righteous man and a prophet we receive the Lord. Receiving the assignment (picking up our cross) the Lord has for us and is sending into our lives is the key to being able to take up our cross and follow His Lordship in our life.

1 Kings 16-18; Matthew 10:1-20

In 1st Kings we see Israel going through many leaders because they would not listen to the Lord. There were factions that rose up and many kings overthrown. The people were electing leaders by popularity or power rather than by guidance from the Lord. In spite of warnings from the Lord there was turmoil and strife and their evil practices became worse with each king. Any time we turn from the Lord and go our own way our house eventually becomes one of chaos and strife. Then we see Elijah the prophet stand up to King Ahab and tell Him the "As the LORD, the God of Israel, lives, whom I serve, there will be neither dew nor rain in the next few years except at my word." That came to pass and Ahab was facing a real dilemma. Follow my wife Jezebel and worship Baal and have famine or believe and be obedient to God? The Lord had to do some bind boggling things to get Israel's attention. We all have those choices to make. The Lord will lead us if we will take His instruction. We see God providing during that time to the obedient and faithful. We see throughout scripture where God always takes care of those committed to Him through times of strife and judgment on the land.

In Matthew we see Jesus sending out the twelve for ministry. They were just made apostles and they were sent right out to serve. Where the Lord calls us to serve is where He has sheep that need to see Him involved in their lives. He said "Freely you have received, freely give"(vs. 8). We are to go and tell the good news to others as God sent His servants to us. 19 "...do not worry about what to say or how to say it. At that time you will be given what to say, 20for it will not be you speaking, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you." Let's leave the house today looking for those the Lord sends and let's be on mission with the Lord telling them the good news that was brought to us. "How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!" Romans 10:9 (NIV)

1 Kings 14-15; Matthew 9:18-38

In 1st Kings we see how the Lord put two kings reigning over the tribes of Israel. The kingdom was divided because of their father's sins. Judah and Benjamin were called the House of Judah, and the other ten tribes called the House of Israel. Severe pain and judgment were experienced by both. This was caused by them putting the Lord behind them and walking in the ways of their fathers and allowing things that were opposed from what God wanted in their lives. The Lord tried to tell them but they would not listen to Him. They listened to and relied on each other rather than Him and "the people engaged in all the detestable practices of the nations the LORD had driven out before the Israelites." Then they had to make things that happened appear normal as they were not under the Lord's protection. King Rehoboam even made brass symbols to mimic the gold ones that were taken when Shishak King of Egypt attacked Jerusalem and carried off all the temple treasures.
The different houses of Israel fought each other. God was wanting them to rely on Him to give them strength and victory, but instead they relied on treaties with other nations (in 2nd Chronicles 16:1-10 King Asa partnered with them instead of their God). This always displeases our Lord and consequences always follow unconfessed sin. This is the Lord's way of bringing us back to Him. Let's always partner with God and lead others in His path.

In Matthew we see Jesus doing tremendous miracles raising the dead and healing many people. It seemed everywhere He went there were more coming for healing. He was always on mission, always about the father's business, preaching, teaching and bringing them to faith in God. 35"Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness. 36When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. 37Then he said to his disciples, "The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. 38Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field."

Has the Lord brought sheep under you care or in your life? If you are a teacher, a ministry leader or serving in any capacity you have sheep. If you're married to someone serving then you have sheep as the "two become one" in God's sovereign plan. Let's pray about the sheep God is placing in our life and join Him in the harvest.

1 Kings 12-13; Matthew 9:1-17

In 1st Kings we see fulfilling of prophecies that God had set into motion because of the acts of Solomon. His son Rehoboam was now reigning and did not take the advice of the elders he took the advice of young men he consulted. Ten tribes in Israel tore away and formed their own kingdom with Jeroboam. Ahijah had prophesied these earlier and Jeroboam fled to Egypt until Solomon's death. Jeroboam formed an army of one hundred eighty thousand fighting men and God spoke through Shemaiah the prophet and said: 24 'This is what the LORD says: Do not go up to fight against your brothers, the Israelites. Go home, every one of you, for this is my doing.' "So they obeyed the word of the LORD and went home again, as the LORD had ordered.'
Many difficult things happen at times and we must consult the Lord before we move forward. When we listen to the wrong people instead of those sent from the Lord the consequences can be devastating for everyone entrusted to us. As we accept what seems to be a difficult message from the Lord we see His plan unfold and our faith is made stronger. Sometimes it's easier to have the brothers fight and defend our ground. We also see here where there will be false prophets who claim to be from God and really confuse us. How do we know which way to take? The true message will always agree with scripture. Knowing God's word will give us needed discernment. Then God will confirm that through prayer. Using this process will always keep us on the right path and in the center of God's plan.

In Matthew 9 we see them bringing people to Jesus for healing. He also forgave their sins. This offended the teachers of the law. They then questioned Jesus practice of going to the home of sinners and eating with them. They knew the letter of the law but not the spirit of the law. They wanted to use scripture to condemn. In John 8 they tried to do that with the woman caught in prostitution. The law called for her to be stoned. When they asked Jesus he said "Let the one without sin cast the first stone." And they all left. God's revelation of sin in our life is always to redeem and restore us to Him. Scripture is the standard for our behavior and relationship. He always pursues us to bring us back not to condemn. The Holy s Spirit’s job is to convict us of our sin and prompt repentance. Jesus then restores us and reconciles us to the father. This is why we must season our spirit with prayer to be able see where the Lord is really working and how we should react to Him. He will give the answer as we take time to ask.

1 Kings 10-11; Matthew 8:18-34

In 1st Kings word of Solomon's wisdom has spread and the queen of Sheba sets out to test his wisdom. She asks many questions and He answers them with ease. When she witnessed all Solomon was able to accomplish in a few years of reign (construction of the Lord's temple and his palace) she responded by giving Solomon gifts. He also received yearly shipments of gold and revenues from merchants. 23 King Solomon was greater in riches and wisdom than all the other kings of the earth. 24 The whole world sought audience with Solomon to hear the wisdom God had put in his heart. 25 Year after year, everyone who came brought a gift—articles of silver and gold, robes, weapons and spices, and horses and mules.

Then we see Solomon stray from the Lord. He married foreign wives and built altars and worshiped their gods. Israel had been forbidden from marrying foreign wives for this reason. Moses had a foreign wife approved by God, but He had lived in her country and had not worshiped her gods. Solomon’s attitude and actions prompted God to set things into motion. He rose up adversaries and would radically change what his descendants would reign over. If we see adversaries rising up we should examine our life and see if we are walking in our own understanding. We can always repent and turn to the Lord and He will turn our adversaries away. He is looking for those who will be good stewards of the things He treasures.

In Matthew 8 Jesus starts weeding out those who would count the cost of following Him. Jesus always gives the command "follow me" as He did to the disciples and they left their boats, family and equipment and followed Him. It's not that they didn't love these other things - they loved Jesus more. They then saw Him calm the storm and cast demons out of possessed men. Let's faithfully follow Jesus so we can experience Him at work in a real and encouraging walk of life. Then we can be a living testimony to others.