Call to Worship
This church is a haven for those who, stressed by tensions or oppressed by dark fears, seek a place of peace and light.
This church is a temple for those who are full of gratitude for life’s joys and who seek a place where they can express thanks with kindred spirits.
This church is a house of hospitality for those whose faith is small and frail, yet who want it to grow towards the fullness of the faith of Jesus.
This church is a holy place, blest by the Holy Spirit and dedicated again and again by the common people who have come with prayer and praise to the glory of God.
Song: Tell out my soul
PRAYER OF APPROACH
Most wonderful God, we come before you
not because we are good people but because your name is Love,
not because we have all the answers to life but because you are abundant life,
not because we have a lot to offer you but because you offer us amazing grace.
Be with each person in this church,
brush our souls with your gentle but dynamic Spirit,
infiltrate our thoughts with the truth which shuns all darkness,
and uncap those deep springs from which true love overflows into worship.
Through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen!
CONFESSION AND ASSURANCE
Gracious Lord when we live half-heartedly, brooding over life’s setbacks and our own inadequacies, forgetting that every moment is alive with the energy that raised Jesus from the dead and poured out the remarkable Spirit on unremarkable believers.
Have mercy upon us.
When we live anxiously and fretfully, complaining and fussing, making mountains out of mole hills, forgetting that there is no problem, be it large or minuscule, which is outside the care and grace of God.
Have mercy upon us.
When we have live selfishly, like misers hoarding time, compassion, ability, and even our faith, forgetting that life is found when we give it away, and that through Christ we are already heirs of the kingdom of heaven.
Have mercy upon us.
When we lock ourselves into feelings of guilt and shame, fearing that if we let go
of our self disgust and accept forgiveness, we may sin in even worse ways, forgetting that where sin abounds grace much more abounds.
Have mercy upon us.
Glorious Lord, loving Friend, before we even admit our sins to ourselves, your mercy is waiting for us. Before we confess to you in words, the grace of Christ Jesus on the cross has prepared a new start for us. Please bypass our reticence and help us to boldly yet humbly accept your loving kindness, and take up the challenge of each unfolding moment with new faith and vigour. Through Christ Jesus our Redeemer.
Amen!
FORGIVENESS
Family of God, nothing can defeat the mercy of God to those who sincerely call on the name of Christ Jesus. Through him we can know our sins are forgiven and our liberty assured.
The Lord's Prayer
Notices and Offering
Musicians for Thankofffering Sunday to be involved in the service
Council Monday evening - wanted people to be come along at 9pm for a 30 mins discussion on Youth And Children's work
An Army of ordinary people
Talk 1: Let's meet a Happy Family!
Get five People: Meet the family.
Hosea - a good man
Gomer - His wife that God had given him
And they were blessed by three lovely children.
A Son Jezreel, daughter - Lo-ruhamah, and a younger son - Lo-ammi
They lived in a difficult time in history. Nation divided, lots of unrest, Kings coming and going all the time. This was not a time of peace! Political, and religious unrest were at every turn. People were watching their backs, not sure what was going to happen next.
Family Life - the place where the hardest lessons are learned!
Because I love you, that's why.
I worry about you.
Somebody's gonna end up crying.
Two wrongs do not make a right.
Enough is enough!
I hope someday you have children just like you.
If you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all.
You must get that from your father's side of the family
Am I talking to a brick wall?
Don't make me tell you again.
Money does NOT grow on trees.
How many times do I have to tell you!? GET UP!
You can't find it? Well, where did you leave it last?
A place of learning, a place of growing, a place where they say we are formed and shaped by those closest to us. Families were all Gods idea, They don't have to look like this one, family vary in size and make up, but in the relationships with those who share life with us God moulds us into his people.
Song: Give thanks
Talk 2: Who are they really?
Hosea - a Man of God
Gomer - unfaithful
Gomer was a woman who was married to a good man, but she didn't act like she was married. She went around with a lot of boyfriends all the time, and never loved her husband or took care of him, even though he loved her and took care of her. She knew that hurt Hosea, but she didn't care. She acted like she didn't want to be married to him, like she wanted someone else, and that made Hosea very sad."
Jezreel – “God Sows” battlefield
Lo-ruhamah – (Unloved) “Not Pitied” Not Pitied (1:6-7) à Pitied (2:23)
daughter
Lo-ammi – “Not my People.
Things were not all they appeared to be.
Hosea's task was to show the people of Israel that God required that to be fully committed to him. To be faithful to him, to be people whose whole life displayed Gods love and peace. Where faith impacted the whole of their life - not just the face that people saw on special days - but to be people who were completely sincere in their belief living as God wanted them to live.
Song: All of my heart
Bible Readings
Hosea 5: 15 - 6:6 ;
Then I'll go back to where I came from
until they come to their senses.
When they finally hit rock bottom,
maybe they'll come looking for me."
1"Come on, let's go back to GOD.
He hurt us, but he'll heal us.
He hit us hard,
but he'll put us right again.
2In a couple of days we'll feel better.
By the third day he'll have made us brand-new,
Alive and on our feet,
fit to face him.
3We're ready to study GOD,
eager for God-knowledge.
As sure as dawn breaks,
so sure is his daily arrival.
He comes as rain comes,
as spring rain refreshing the ground." 4"What am I to do with you, Ephraim?
What do I make of you, Judah?
Your declarations of love last no longer
than morning mist and predawn dew.
5That's why I use prophets to shake you to attention, why my words cut you to the quick:
To wake you up to my judgment blazing like light.
6I'm after love that lasts, not more religion.
I want you to know GOD, not go to more prayer meetings.
Song: Jesus Christ is waiting
Talk 3: Living the faith
Jesus told parables of man in fields, and women cleaning houses. He wanted to bring his teaching to life and he painted word pictures from everyday things that people knew well. In this old Testament story the whole of Hosea's life became a living parable of God's message to his people.
God said to his people - See my servant Hosea - see how unfaithful his wife is - see how she leaves her beloved husband and wanders off and goes with many man, yet he still loves her and seeks after her - that is how God is with his people. Despite the fact that they go after other gods and follow other teachings, despite the fact that they turn their backs on God's promise and covenant - God still loves his people and longs for them back.
When Gomer leaves Hosea he makes it his business to find his lost wife. He searches, and searches until he find her in the slave market , there he enters a more pressing bidding war than any e-bay auction as he bids to buy his own wife back. A wife who had rejected him, A wife who had dishonoured him, a wife who had turned her back on security, love, their home and her commitment. Would you take her back? She didn't deserve it! What would you do here? Hosea buys her back.
This is paralleled with the message Hosea has for the nation of Israel - even though you have turned your back on your God, even thought they have worshipped false Gods, and turned to false teachings away from the promise of God to them , - God has never turned his back on them! When the people of Israel were (like Gomer) in slavery in Egypt, God bought their freedom. He never gave up on them.
Stop for a moment - for we are not Hosea in this story - we the people of God are like Gomer! Often we stand before God aware thay we have failed, we have turned our back on God, we have been unfaithful. Gomer stand on a plinth in front of the crowd and they are bidding her. Suddenly you see the face of her beloved husband in the crowd. The one she has abandoned, hurt, cheated on, and humiliated the one whose heart she broke. And suddenly she sees that he is bidding to bring her home.
Sit with this imagery for a moment - because you are Gomer, I am Gomer. And God comes searching for us when we are disobedient, when we forget him, reject him, and break his heart. Then he searches for us and is willing to give up everything for us, (in the price of Jesus_ he buys us back!
Consider here the great Forgiveness
The wonderful Grace
The beauty of reconciliation
Gomer became an inspiration to Hosea’s life — every time he looked at her, he was reminded of God’s love; and the more he loved her, the more he loved God and understood Him. He understood why it was so important to God that Israel do right and that they love Him, because more than anything, Hosea wanted Gomer to do right
and to love him.
The people of Israel not only heard the message of God read from an old manuscript - they saw the message of love, forgiveness, grace and reconciliation demonstrated before their eyes. If this man of God can forgive like this - how much more can God forgive us?
It this man of God can demonstrate Gods grace to this women who deserves nothing - how much more will God shower us with grace?
If this man of God can be reconciled when this women deserves only punishment - how much more will we be reconciled to a God who loves us?
This allegory spoke volumes to them. What does it say to you this morning?
What does it say about your relationships?
What does it say to you about your marriage?
What does it day to you about forgiveness?
What does it say to you about Gods love?
The standard set by Hosea is so high - the love demonstrated by God is high, and wide and long and deep - and available to you.
Let's have a moment of reflection together.
Intercession: Sides used the other week at the GB celebration, requested to see again - a microcosm of the world.
Hymn The King of Love
Benediction