QT 6 Aug 2020, Hos 9:7, We are supposed to be ambassadors for Jesus, not a political movement

Hosea 9:7 (ESV) —

7 The days of punishment have come;

the days of recompense have come;

Israel shall know it.

The prophet is a fool;

the man of the spirit is mad,

because of your great iniquity

and great hatred.

 

NOTE: This is how the prophet is viewed by a nation that does not want to repent of its sin. All prophets are fools and mad men. They hate God and his commands so much, they can't see truth. They seethe when they hear His commands repeated. They want nothing to do with God. This is not Israel I describe but my country. Love is lost, evil runs wildly. Everything is hatred and the problem is defined to be some systemic bias. But the real problem is our sin nature. The real problem is a heart hardened by sin. And the real answer is the transforming power of the Holy Spirit to change a person's heart. Oh church, why does the world not see it in us? Are we such poor witnesses? Do we engage in the same degree of hate? Is politics more important than our relationship to Jesus Christ? I think we watch the news more than we read our bibles, and that pretty much communicates our priority and our first love.

 

PRAYER: Father, wake your church to our role in the world. We are not a political machine, we are ambassadors for Jesus Christ -- God making his appeal through us to the world. Give us love and gentleness and a message of true hope to the world around us.