It Is Time

INTRODUCTION

• SLIDE #1

• Over the past few weeks, we have been examining the subject of love, and particularly God’s love and how it operates in one’s life.

• Love is about commitment and priorities. If we love Jesus, He will be the priority of our life.

• Love is a verb, and God for his love on display by extending his mercy to mankind.

• God actually did something to show us he loves us, He sent His son to die on the cross for our sins so that we can experience and possess eternal life!

• God had shown the nation of Israel as special love throughout the nation’s history.

• However, the nation of Israel continually rejected God’s love by putting other things ahead of their relationship with God.

• In the passage today, which comes from the book of Hosea, the prophet is seeking to get the people to turn back to God.

• Hosea was a prophet for God for over 40 years from about 760-720 BC.

• Hosea was unique because God had him marry a promiscuous woman named Gomer.

• I am not sure which is worse? Promiscuous or being named Gomer? ☺

• Hosea’s marriage was to symbolize the unfaithfulness of Israel as well as the fact that God still loved Israel in spite of their unfaithfulness.

• Hosea message mainly focused on the Northern Kingdom of Israel who would eventually fall in 722 BC to the

• Overall, after all God had done for the nation of Israel, Hosea is saying IT IS TIME!

• To bring this thought to us today, let us consider all that God has done, let us consider all the love and patience God has shown to us, let us consider all the blessing God has given, maybe IT IS TIME for us to make some serious changes in our lives today.

• Let’s turn to Hosea 10:12 together as we see that IT IS TIME!

• SLIDE #2

• Hosea 10:12 (HCSB) Sow righteousness for yourselves and reap faithful love; break up your unplowed ground. It is time to seek the LORD until He comes and sends righteousness on you like the rain.

• SLIDE #3

SERMON

It is time to:

I. Sow righteousness.

• In the 10th chapter of Hosea, Hosea has talked of the past struggles the people had staying faithful, in the passage we are examining, we see the challenge he lays out before the people.

• In verse 13 we go right back to the theme of disobedience again. Then 14 warns of the coming punishment.

• Verse 12 gives the nation a glimmer of hope, and it gives us hope as well. In between all the disobedience and punishment, we see God is calling the people to get back on track; He has not given up on them, even though He knows they will fail again.

• God still offers His disobedient people a change to get back on the correct path.

• God is patient.

• SLIDE #4

• 2 Peter 3:9 (HCSB) The Lord does not delay His promise, as some understand delay, but is patient with you, not wanting any to perish but all to come to repentance.

• When a farmer wants a harvest, one of the things he must do is to sow or plant the seeds. Without sowing, there is no potential harvest.

• We need to understand that if we sow corn, we will not harvest wheat.

• The nation was sowing seeds of disobedience; however, Hosea pleaded with them to sow some new seeds.

• In Galatians 5:19-21, Paul says if we practice the deeds of the flesh that we will not inherit the kingdom of God.

• In chapter 6, Paul uses the illustration of reaping and sowing.

• SLIDE #5

• Galatians 6:7–9 (HCSB) Don’t be deceived: God is not mocked. For whatever a man sows he will also reap, because the one who sows to his flesh will reap corruption from the flesh, but the one who sows to the Spirit will reap eternal life from the Spirit. So we must not get tired of doing good, for we will reap at the proper time if we don’t give up.

• We will reap what we sow, if we sow the seeds of disobedience, we will reap accordingly; however, the message of Hosea is for the people to sow a new seed, the seed of righteousness!

• In the Old Testament, righteousness is one of the complex terms, which describes the nature of God. Righteousness conveys the goodness and fairness of God and implies an important characteristic He seeks in His people.

• So instead of sowing seeds of selfishness and such, we sow seeds of righteousness. This phrase concerns our relationship with other people.