Hosea 12 Devotional by Pastor Lawrence In this chapter the prophet Hosea charges God’s people with vanity, violence and violating their covenant with God among many other things, and God promises to repay Israel according to her sins. Then he reminds them of how their forefather Jacob once wrestled with a mysterious man till the break of day and begged for his blessing. In this text, which serves as a commentary on Genesis 32, the…

Hosea 11 by David Groendyk As Pastor Mark said yesterday, this chapter has some of the most tender verses in all of Scripture. At the same time, we still get a few verses in here reminding us of how far gone Israel is and how dreadful their punishment will be. If God were a man, I would be tempted to say that he has a real internal struggle going on inside of him. He loves…

Hosea 10 Devotional by Mark Hudson If you are not accustomed to reading the Old Testament, you may be shocked at the depths the nation of Israel (north) and Judah (south) sink to in the Bible.   Hosea is speaking to the northern tribe in his book.  If our church sunk to this sinful level, you might be in despair.  But as you know, sin never has the last word in God’s Kingdom.  And it never…

Hosea 9 Devotional by Pastor Lawrence Most of us are used to seeing before and after pictures of dramatic makeovers or extreme weight loss transformations, but, thankfully, we aren’t often subjected to transformative pictures of a devolving nature where an individual goes from bad to worse.  Usually only doctors have those kinds of posters displayed in their offices to warn us of the dangers of not treating our bodies well.  But every now and then,…

Hosea 8 by David Groendyk Verses 1–3 really set the tone for the whole of this chapter: Israel are a bunch of hypocrites. Although they claim to know God and love God, their lives and actions are actually miles from God. The rest of this chapter details the ways Israel thought they were living for God, when in reality they were sinning the whole time. For instance, in verse 4, Israel had set up leaders—kings…

Hosea 7 Devotional by Pastor Mark Hudson This great prophet, who is a master of the written word (and we can imagine the spoken as well), is not eloquent for the sake of eloquence.  Hosea longs to communicate the need of repentance and the overwhelming beauty of the grace of God.  While it may be difficult to ascertain the exact meaning of his phrases and comparisons, we can certainly understand the spirituality in the nation…

Hosea 6 Devotional by Pastor Lawrence The love of God is strong and true, but, in this passage, the Israelites are still pursuing lesser lovers who are both false and impotent.  Consequently, God has injured them in some way both through the “cutting” words of the prophet as well as through the physical fulfillment of those words, even bringing war and sickness to their hearths and homes.  But instead of coming to their senses and…

Hosea 5 by David Groendyk Most of chapters 4–13 in Hosea are filled with various descriptions of Israel’s sin and the judgment that God would send upon them for it. One thing that’s clear is that everyone—from small to great—has sinned against God. If there was any confusion about priests being called out in chapter 4, it’s absolutely clear here in chapter 5! Both the priests and the kings have acted like a trap for…

Hosea 4 Devotional by Pastor Mark Hudson One way to look at the structure of Hosea 4 is to follow Stuart of the Word Biblical  Commentary 4:1-3           Accusations against the land 4:4-10         Accusations against the priesthood (could also be the people) 4:11-14       Accusation against false worship 4:15-19       Fall of false worship The use of accusation in his outline comes from the English word controversy in the ESV in v 1. This word is used in…

Hosea 3 Devotional by Pastor Lawrence Bowlin I’ve always had an aversion to those Raisin Crème Little Debbie snack cakes, and now I know why!  Apparently, according to Jeremiah 7:18, raisin cakes were not only a delicacy in the ancient Near East, but they were also used as offerings to the queen of heaven, even by the Israelites who had provoked the Lord to anger.  In our very brief chapter this morning (only five verses),…

Hosea 2 by David Groendyk The dominating metaphor used throughout all of Hosea is that Israel has been an unfaithful bride to the Lord. Israel acts like a prostitute, constantly seeking out other lovers to give her nice things. And yet, God is a faithful husband who continues to pursue his bride despite all of her unfaithfulness. Chapter 1 is a unique chapter in this book because it describes Hosea’s family life. He actually had…

2 Corinthians 13 Devotional by Pastor Lawrence Bowlin In this final chapter, the apostle Paul is concluding his exhortation to the church by seeking to restore the brothers that have fallen into sin, reminding them that he is praying for them in particular, and still urging them toward repentance via this letter, but warning them that if they do no repent, he will deal with them when he returns.  As for the brothers causing division…

2 Corinthians 12 by David Groendyk Paul boasts an awful lot, doesn’t he? That was the theme at the end of yesterday’s chapter, and it continues into today’s. At the beginning of chapter 12, he boasts in this mysterious man who had a vision or revelation given to him while he was carried up into heaven. Some people believe Paul is actually referring to himself. The reason Paul mentions this vision is probably that his…

II Corinthians 11 Devotional by Pastor Mark Hudson This is one of the more (most?) unusual chapters from the pen of Paul.  You can easily notice the division of 11:1-15 and 16-33.  Let’s look at the first 15 verses where Paul gives his rationale for verses 16 and following. In Corinth, just as in other cities, Paul had plenty of followers and most recognized his apostleship, his teaching authority, and his love for both the…

2 Corinthians 10 Devotional by Pastor Lawrence The situation that the apostle Paul finds himself in at the church in Corinth is not an unusual one in the history of the Church, for he is not the first leader to have been challenged and found wanting by the masses.  If Moses were still alive at that point, I’m sure he would have his fair share of stories to tell to Paul and his co-laborers.  For,…

2 Corinthians 9 by David Groendyk Talk is cheap. The believers in Corinth had gotten quite the reputation for being ready to give financially to help other believers in need. They had even stirred up other believers in other parts of the world to do the same. But reputation is not enough. A reputation for doing something is not the same thing as actually doing that thing. Paul is building on the previous chapter where…

II Corinthians 8 Devotional by Pastor Mark Hudson I wish there existed a paradigm that listed the topic in the Bible that are the most prominent so we could evaluate our preaching/teaching topics.  For instance, justice is a massive topic but white Northern American Evangelicals rarely dig deep into it.  Another is money and all things associated with it.  We should simply give due weight to all topics. Money, giving, and the process of money…

2 Corinthians 7 Devotional by Pastor Lawrence In the previous chapter, Paul warned the church in Corinth just how dangerous it was for them to open their hearts to unbelievers and to share an intimacy of love that could lead them away from the one, true God.  On the other hand, he urged them to open wide their hearts to the apostles and their co-workers who had nothing but a deep and abiding love for…

2 Corinthians 6 David Groendyk The very last verse of chapter 5 is one of the most important verses in the Bible: “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” When Jesus died on the cross, he took our sin and gave us righteousness. This is the great doctrine of justification. Now, in chapter 6, Paul describes what happens…

II Corinthians 5 Devotional Pastor Mark Hudson I think a careful reader will see the section 1-10 and then 11 – 21.  The section 11-21 is one of my favorite sections in the New Testament.  I think these verses are thrilling. I go back to them often and want to preach or teach on these verses annually.  But this morning, I want to reflect of just two verses: 10-11. At the end of the first…

2 Corinthians 4 Devotional by Pastor Lawrence On my first Sunday here at Tyrone, Pastor Walter Lorenz preached from a portion of this chapter and reminded us numerous times that we are merely clay pots.  In fact, he said those words, “clay pots,” so many times, that I can still hear them reverberating in my head even now as I write this.  Indeed, we are merely clay pots; from dust we came and to dust…