OPENING TEXT
Hosea 6:1-3,
1 Come, let us return to the Lord. He has torn us to pieces but he will heal us; he has injured us but he will bind up our wounds.
2 After two days he will revive us; on the third day he will restore us, that we may live in his presence.
3 Let us acknowledge the Lord; let us press on to acknowledge him. As surely as the sun rises, he will appear; he will come to us like the winter rains, like the spring rains that water the earth.
INTRODUCTION
+Israel Sinned Against God | Hosea lived in a time when Israel, God's chosen people, were living in sin and idolatry.
+God Rejected His People | Thus, God declared through Hosea's prophecies that He was no longer Israel's God nor was He going to forgive them- but rather punish them if they didn't repent. Hosea 1:6,9 states,
6 Gomer conceived again and gave birth to a daughter. Then the Lord said to Hosea, "Call her Lo-Ruhamah, for I will no longer show love to the house of Israel, that I should at all forgive them."
9 Then the Lord said, "Call him Lo-Ammi, for you are not my people, and I am not your God."The reason why Israel saw violence and tragedy was because God stopped protecting them. The same is true in America today, there has always been violent people with guns for the last hundred years, but God protected us from their harmful ways. Now in these last days he has allowed the evil of men's hearts to prosper by removing His hand of protection from our land. Like a child refusing to stay close to the Mother who holds the umbrella and thus gets wet from the rain, so it is when a nation will not stay close to God- it will suffer harm.
+God Sent Assyria to Punish Israel | However, the people of Israel would not repent, thus, God rejected them as a nation for a season of destruction under the Assyrians in 722 BC. Hosea 2:13,
13 I will punish her for the days she burned incense to the Baals; she decked herself with rings and jewelry, and went after her lovers, but me she forgot, declares the Lord.+God Promised Israel Revival When They Repented | Therefore, in Chapter 6 God promised Hosea that when the people did finally repent He will forgive and revive them.
REVIVAL > FOUR REASONS WHY AMERICA NEEDS JESUS
Definition of Revival | The biblical definition from the Old Testament is when the people of God come alive to God and live out daily the commands of God.
Thus, revival is not a city wide prayer meeting, an outreach, a special set of services, all night worship, an on-fire sermon, a gimmick of any kind, or even souls getting saved- all these things come after the Church has experienced revival.
John Adam's Quote | "We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion... Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other." Second US President, 1798.
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1-SIN. America is more wicked than Noah's generation (over 50 million abortions) and more perverted than Sodom and Gomorrah (tens of millions of people hooked on pornography, having sex outside of marriage, and proudly living in sex relationships).
Genesis 6:1-3, Noah's Time
5 Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. 6 The Lord was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. 7 The Lord said, I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, from man to animals to creeping things and to birds of the sky; for I am sorry that I have made them.
Jude 1:7, Sodom and Gomorrah,
7 In a similar way, Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding towns gave themselves up to sexual immorality and perversion. They serve as an example of those who suffer the punishment of eternal fire.
2-LIES. Many Americans have exchanged the truth of God for a lie, i.e., "false religions," "evolutionary morality," and "secular humanism."
Romans 1:18-32,
18 The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, 19 since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. 20 For since the creation of the world Gods invisible qualities–his eternal power and divine nature–have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.
21 For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles.
24 Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. 25 They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator–who is forever praised. Amen.
26 Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones. 27 In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion.
28 Furthermore, since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done. 29 They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, 30 slanderers, God- haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; 31 they are senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless. 32 Although they know Gods righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.
3-NO RESTRAINT. Many of America's top scientists, politicians, professors, entertainers, and business owners have thrown off the restraints of God's law. Meaning, they have knowing and purposefully rejected the laws of God to do what seems right in their own eyes.
Psalm 2:1-3,
1 Why do the nations conspire and the peoples plot in vain? 2 The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers gather together against the Lord and against his Anointed One. 3 Let us break their chains, they say, and throw off their fetters.
4-JUDGEMENT. Jesus is coming back to judge the world in righteousness. However, many people, like in the times of Noah and Sodom, people will be distracted by their day-to-day activities.
Luke 17:26-30,
26 Just as it was in the days of Noah, so also will it be in the days of the Son of Man. 27 People were eating, drinking, marrying and being given in marriage up to the day Noah entered the ark. Then the flood came and destroyed them all.
28 It was the same in the days of Lot. People were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building. 29 But the day Lot left Sodom, fire and sulfur rained down from heaven and destroyed them all.
30 It will be just like this on the day the Son of Man is revealed.
CONCLUSION
(1) Get saved, and (2) Stay revived to warn others- When Peter and the early church was revived they could awaken the world around them!
Acts 2:36-41,
36 Therefore let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ. 37 When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, Brothers, what shall we do?
38 Peter replied, Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off –for all whom the Lord our God will call.
40 With many other words he warned them; and he pleaded with them, Save yourselves from this corrupt generation. 41 Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day.
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SUNDAY SERMON
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