“ Great Sermon! ” We never know when the Lord will be close to us and when our time of salvation is offered. Like the blind Bartimaeus, he suffered much and wanted to see, and when Christ Jesus arrived , Bartimaeus knew his chance was today.
And for each of us, we must look to Jesus to be close to us anytime and we must not pass up the opportunity for Him to open our eyes and forgive us our sins. For some, today's sermon might be that very time.
“ Powerful Sermon! ” This brief sermon says it all. While this world tells man that his will is enough to get him salvation by doing good things, the Holy Bible shows that only God's Will can save his soul. It took me many years to understand and accept the Doctrine of Election, but today I know it was always in God's plan that I would accept Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior, and nothing that I could offer was worthy of God's acceptance -- by Grace and Faith, I became a child of God. Thank you Christ Jesus for your dying and resurrection to take my sins from me to you.
“ Comforting Sermon! ” How often do we give thanks to God for all the good blessings we receive and enjoy every day. When was the last time we thanked God for saving our soul? Thanksgiving should be a daily part of our life. I will post a note on my monitor to remind me to give thanks every day. We have a loving God and we should thank Him always.
“ Wrong fruit. ” The vine of Israel produced the wrong kind of fruit: fruits of idolatry and social injustice. Those who are hypocritical toward God are so in relationships with people also.
“ Forsaking God. ” The sin of ignoring God. Israel forsook God and exchanged Him with false gods. The forsaking of God has serious consequences. This message present 6 consequences of forsaking God.
“ Compromise. ” The tragedy of ignorance regarding your spiritual condition, of not detecting your spiritual declension. Israel conformed to the world. Hypocrisy, half-heartedness and compromise.
“ False repentance. ” Skin deep repentance of the people not acceptable before the Lord. People who fear the consequences of sin, who see the bad consequences of it, bit who do not see the nature of sin and do not hate sin.
“ Spiritual desertion. ” God withdraws His presence from His people because of sin, so that the people might turn back to Him. Christ was deserted by the Father on the cross so that we could be accepted back to Him.
“ Great bondage of sin. ” Hosea 4. Israel's rebellion, the foolishness of the sinner who wants liberty from God's Law, not seeing that sin and lawlessness bring only bondage.
“ Discipline and restoration. ” Because of Christ, for God's people the place of discipline becomes a door of hope, a door for forgiveness and restoration.
“ Blessed method of God. ” In His love and mercy, God speaks to our hearts, so bringing us back to Him when we wander. Because of what happened on Calvary, God can speak to our hearts about forgiveness and peace.
“ God and His people. ” Israel's unfaithfulness and God's broken heart illustrated by Hosea's marriage with Gomer. A prophecy about God's anger against Israel's sin and the punishment of Israel, but also about Israel restoration. Spiritual adultery done by God's children is also a serious sin.
5/19/16 11:06 AM
