People destroyed because WE refuse to know and obey God (Hosea 4:1-7)

Hosea 4-5

Key verse: 

My people are being destroyed because they don’t know me. Since you priests refuse to know me, I refuse to recognize you as my priests. Since you have forgotten the laws of your God, I will forget to bless your children. - Hosea 4:6

I love how God uses our circumstances, quiet times, and a daily reading plan to come together into an actionable plan for our lives. I'm running Alpha series 24 at Teen Challenge and today we are reviewing how and why should I pray and read the Bible. I've reconnected with my friend Prasad and promoting firststeps of faith and This is the Life. This morning the Lord brought me to Every child of God defeats this evil world through faith - 1 John 5:4-5, 2 Cor 10:3-5. What a perfect transition from Tuesday's "how can I have faith?" and today's how and why should I pray and read the Bible. My conviction for the men at TC is simply they were being destroyed because they didn't know God (Hosea 4:6). My prayer today is they would learn through prayer and the Bible they would come to know him, love him and dedicate the rest of their lives to him. 

“Take . . . the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, praying at all times” (Ephesians 6:17–18)

Duke, David, Nate, Isaac, Joel, Nate, Daniel, Joe, Nick, Gavin, Steve, Jeremiah, Maricus, Pierre, Joshua/Nico, Gabe, Reagan, Patrick, Shawn, Dennis

4:1-3) Lord charges Israel, "NO faithfulness, kindness, knowledge of God, broken promises, kill, steal, adultery, violence, land mourns, wasting away, wild animals disappearing"

 - Devil comes to kill, steal and destroy John 10:10

4-5) "Don't blame leaders, you'll stumble day and night with false prophets, Isreal destroyed

 - One who acts presumptuously, refusing to listen to priest or judge, purge this evil (Deut 17:12)

 - With mockers, wisdom is slow to speak in evil times (Psalm 1:1-12, Ezekiel 3:26, Amos 5:10,13, 6:10

6-7) People destroyed when we refuse to know and obey God, more sin-exchanged glory of God for shame idols

 - Rom 1:23 claimed to be wise, became fools exchanged the glory of God for idols, God gave them over to desires of hearts to impurity, dishonoring bodies

 - Glory of God is his goodness (Hosea 3:5, Exodus 33:18-19)

 - Leaders don't refuse to know and obey God, Hear God's promise, don't neglect salvation in Jesus (Heb 2), Today Jesus gives eternal hope, while sin deceives hardening hearts (Heb 3)

 - Notice how God is both kind and severe. He is severe toward those who disobeyed, but kind to you if you continue to trust in his kindness. But if you stop trusting, you also will be cut off. Romans 11:22