Deciding on Deciding on DisciplineDiscipline

Background:Background:

Hosea Hosea 88:1 – :1 – 1010:15:15

Lesson: Lesson:

88: 1-3, 7-10; : 1-3, 7-10; 99: 7-8; : 7-8;

1010:10-12:10-12

..What God was preparing to do..

Hebrews 12:11 (LEB)11 Now all discipline seems for the moment not to be joyful but painful, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness for those who are trained by it.

1” Hear the word of the Lord, people of Israel, for the Lord has a case

against the inhabitants of the land: There is no truth, no faithful love,

and no knowledge of God in the land! 2 Cursing, lying, murder, stealing and adultery are rampant; one act of bloodshed follows another. 3 For this reason the land mourns, and everyone …in it languishes, along with the wild animals and the birds of the sky; even the fish of the sea disappear. 4 But let no one dispute; let no one argue, for My case is against you priests. i 5 You will stumble by day; the prophet will also stumble with you by night. ... 6 My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I will reject you from serving as My priest. Since you

have forgotten the law of your God, I will also forget your sons. …12 My people consult …idols, and …divining rods …a spirit of promiscuity leads them astray; they act promiscuously in disobedience to their God. 13 They sacrifice on mountaintops… your daughters act promiscuously and daughters-in-law commit adultery. 14 I will not punish [them]…for the men themselves go off with prostitutes and make sacrifices with cult prostitutes. Undiscerning people are doomed.

Review Hosea 4:1-6, 12-14 (last week): (How is America faring?)

When is discipline negative?

When is discipline positive?

“Discipline is training which makes punishment unnecessary.”

Check your pulse: Is God working discipline into your life?

If you really God’s are sons, then God is working with you, just as Jesus was trained as Exemplar for our sake (Hebrews 5:8, 12:1-12)

1. Check Your Relationship (Hos. 8:1-3)

1 SET THE trumpet to your lips! [The enemy] comes as a [great] vulture against the house of the Lord, because they have broken My covenant and transgressed against My law. 2 Then they will cry to Me, My God, we [of Israel] know You! 3 Israel has rejected the good [with loathing]; the enemy shall pursue him. How did Hosea describe the inconsistency between the words and actions of the Israelites? What fate awaited them?How is inconsistency between words and actions damaging to a believer’s testimony?

You can’t feel firm in your faith.. It’s like Jello™ – you’re not filled!How does that damage impact his faith?

“Mo” (momentum) is perverted away from the right direction (Rev. 12:11 1 Tim. 1:19)… leading to more sins and entrapments

When are we guilty of rejecting “what is good” (v. 3), as Israel did? Sometimes we take the “better” – the status quo, the “we have

arrived”, the “I’m comfortable” (see Rev. 3:17) offered by Satan, and reject God’s Real Best

1. Check Your Relationship (Hos. 8:1-3)

7 For they sow the wind and they shall reap the whirlwind. The standing grain has no heads; it shall yield no meal; if it were to yield, strangers and aliens would eat it up. 8 Israel is [as if] swallowed up. Already they have become among the nations as a vessel [of cheap, coarse pottery] that is useless. 9 For they are gone up to Assyria, a wild ass taking her own way by herself; Ephraim has hired lovers. 10 Yes, though with presents they hire [allies] among the nations, now will I gather them up, and in a little while they will sorrow and begin to diminish [their gifts] because of the burden (tribute) imposed by the king of princes [the king of Assyria]. What 4 word pictures does Hosea use to describe the peoples’ disobedience?Answers: Tornado; Failed grain; Discarded pottery; Mating a horse with a wild donkey. (How do these apply?)Despite their unfaithfulness, what plans did God have for Israel?Is God ever “stubborn”?

Yes, but with faithful Superior Love, that continues to seek (Rom. 12:21)What are modern day examples of sin- consequences?

2. You Reap What You Sow (Hos. 8: 7-10)

7 The days of visitation and punishment have come; the days of recompense have come; Israel shall know it. The prophet is [considered] a crazed fool and the man who is inspired is [treated as if] mad or a fanatic, because of the abundance of your iniquity and because the enmity, hostility, and persecution are great. 8 Ephraim was [intended to be] a watchman with my God [and a prophet to the surrounding nations]; but he, that prophet, has become a fowler’s snare in all his ways. There is enmity, hostility, and persecution in the house of his God. How did Hosea describe God’s response to Israel’s rejection of God’s prophets?Some people today live as if God’s rules don’t apply to them…

SO What might Hosea say if he were speaking to our society today?

•Jesus warns us of the ultimate destination of evil: When your “light” is really manifested as a dense Dark source in you (Matt. 6:22-23)!

•Believers’ Hope: the antidote God provides is fearless Faith in the face of persecutions (Matt. 10:14-34).

As Jesus did, keep your eye on the prize! (Php. 3:14, Acts 7:56)

3. Heed His Warning (Hos. 9: 7-8)

10 When I please I will chastise them, and hostile peoples shall be gathered against them when I shall bind and yoke them for their two transgressions [revolt from the Lord their God and the worship of idols]. 11 Ephraim indeed is a heifer broken in and loving to tread out the grain, but I have [heretofore] spared the beauty of her fair neck. I will now set a rider upon Ephraim and make him to draw; Judah shall plow and Jacob shall break his clods. 12 Sow for yourselves according to righteousness (uprightness and right standing with God); reap according to mercy and loving-kindness. Break up your uncultivated ground, for it is time to seek the Lord, to inquire for and of Him, and to require His favor, till He comes and teaches you righteousness and rains His righteous gift of salvation upon you.

Though He chastises, He loves us truly. He sees our potential in Him!

Only we must allow God to work with and in us (Eph. 4:30, 1 Thess. 5:19, James 1:4) – not grieving and kicking against Him

Though He slays you (Job 13:15), agree with Him, and He will delight to help and train you (Ex. 20:6, James 4:6), to be complete (Matt. 5:48)

Matt. 11:29 – take His yoke and learn from Jesus our Brother/Mentor!

4. Realize What Time It Is (Hos. 10: 10-12)

(Backups)