Knowing God

February 23, 2025

Hosea 4; 5:1-4; 6:5-6; 7:10; 8:4, 11-14; 9:7-9; 12:7-8 — We are to know God more than we know anything else, love Him more than we love anything else, and delight in Him more than we delight in anything else. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge and wisdom. That is, to know God intimately, living in a personal relationship with Him, and not merely to know about God. Not knowing God has serious consequences, as we see in the life of Israel. Knowing God enables us to weather the storms of life, but we need to know God daily.

Series on the Old Testament Prophets — Walk in God’s Ways.

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Prophets, HoseaPieter TheronTag 01, Tag 02
God’s Unfailing Love

February 16, 2025

Hosea 1:2-20; 3:1-4:3; 6:1-6; 11: 1-11; 14:1-9 — Hosea’s marriage illustrates God’s relationship with his people. It’s a love story about God’s constant and persistent love for his sinful people. A covenant has been made, and God has been faithful. His love was steadfast, and his commitment unbroken. But Israel was adulterous and unfaithful, spurning God’s love and turning instead to false gods. They broke the covenant. Idolatry is like adultery. The fundamental sin of Israel was that “there is no faithfulness or kindness or knowledge of God in the land” (4:1). God wants people to turn from their sin and return to worshipping him alone, but Israel persisted in their wickedness. They are described as ignorant of God, with no desire to please him. They did not understand God at all. Like a loving husband and father, God wants people to know him and to turn to him daily. God has not changed. He is still merciful and forgiving if we repent and return to him. His love is steadfast and never fails. We have seen and experienced his love in Jesus Christ, who sacrificed himself to give us new life.

Series on the Old Testament Prophets — Walk in God’s Ways.

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Seek the Lord and Live!

February 9, 2025

Amos 4:6-13; 5:4-6, 8-9, 18-24 — In a self-obsessed broken world, we all tend to be hyper-focused on self. A self-made and self-seeking religion prevents true religion, faith, and repentance because we cannot put both God and self first at the same time. Only in Christ can we experience God’s life-giving presence and the new life He gives. Only in Christ can we experience God’s companionship as Christ lives in us and we in Christ. Only in Jesus Christ has God’s kingdom come, and only through Him can we enter the kingdom and experience eternal life in the new creation. Therefore, we seek the Lord so that we can live, and it’s only in Christ that we find the Lord and live. We seek the Lord by abiding in Christ every day, and abiding in Christ, justice and righteousness roll on and flow through us into the world like rivers and never failing streams.

Series on the Old Testament Prophets — Walk in God’s Ways.

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A Tale of Three Shrines

February 2, 2025

Amos 4:4-5:2, 4-9, 21-27 — Although God’s people were very religious and took their religious duties seriously, the Lord rejected their religious practices very strongly because their religion was hollow, superficial, and false. Their pilgrimages and participation in the religious practices at the three shrines of Bethel, Gilgal, and Beersheba were driven by self-pleasing, self-promoting, and self-indulgent motives. They boasted about their religion. They were going through the motions. Their religion and worship remained behind at the sanctuaries, and they went home unchanged. Their religion didn’t translate into a personal spirituality and holiness that transformed their daily lives. Now, the Lord calls them to repent and to seek the Lord instead of seeking religious ceremonies and practices. Seek the Lord and live. The evidence of true religion is that it touches all life with the holiness of obedience to His Word and command.

Series on the Old Testament Prophets — Walk in God’s Ways.

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Prophets, AmosPieter TheronTag 01, Tag 02
Let Justice Roll On Like A River

January 26, 2025

Amos 3:1-2, 9-10; 4:1; 5:7, 10-12, 24; 6:1-7; 8:4-6 — Amos continues to pronounce God’s judgment against Israel’s sins, which includes various social, political, economic, and legal injustices committed against others. Israel is guilty of the sin of self-indulgence and self-pleasing. They loved gain more than they love honesty and God. Wealth and success brought about a false sense of security. Although they seemed to be very religious, their religion was fake, hypocritical, wrong, and untrue. Their special intimate covenant relationship with God does not ensure privilege without responsibility nor indemnify them from God’s judgment and punishment. Therefore, God will punish them for all their sins. Again, there will be no escape. God’s punishment serves to remove the unfaithful non-members and to discipline and purify his people. As God’s people today, the blood of the Lamb redeemed us for obedience, holiness, and righteous living. Therefore, in all we say and do, we must let justice roll on like a river in all we do.

Series on the Old Testament Prophets — Walk in God’s Ways.

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No Escape!

January 19, 2025

Amos 2:4-16 dealt within the context of chapters 1-3:2 — God’s people rejected God’s Word. They despised his truth and his ways. Therefore, they fell into lies and sin and no longer walked in God’s ways. They committed acts of unrighteousness against other human beings driven by the lust for power and possessions. They oppressed others. This self-centeredness expresses itself in political oppression, slave trade, barbarous cruelty, denial of others’ legal or economic rights, lack of compassion, use and misuse of women, and forced conformity to the standards of the privileged. Violence turns people into objects and denies their inherent worth. It negates the creation of human community. Sin is not only sin against the first great commandment to love God, but also sin against and disobedience of the second great commandment to love others as ourselves. The nations ought to have known better, but God’s people did know better because God’s truth and ways had been revealed to them. However, blessings, prosperity, and peace have led to spiritual and moral complacency. Sins against God—whether in forgetfulness, neglect, or rebellion—invariably turn against one’s fellow human beings. Crimes against humanity are expressions of defiance against the Almighty. Being God’s chosen people is no excuse for not walking in his ways. His people rejected God’s grace and salvation. God’s people have forfeited His favor. Therefore, there will be no escaping God’s judgment and punishment for breaking His covenant with his people. Walking in God’s ways means that we must live every day in the awareness of the One, the Lord God Almighty, who stood on Mount Sinai, declaring his will, and the One who hung on Mt. Calvary on the cross, demonstrating his love for us.

Series on the Old Testament Prophets — Walk in God’s Ways.

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Walk in God’s Ways

January 12, 2025

Deuteronomy 5:31–33; 30:15-20; Jeremiah 6:16-17; 7:21-26; 18:15; Isaiah 2:1-5 — The prophets proclaim God’s ways and call His people to walk in His ways. They are imaginers and visionaries of God’s alternative kingdom reality drastically different from the present order. God himself acts in human history to bring this about. The prophets call God’s people to repent and turn back to God’s way. Holy living includes not only correct worship but also social, economic, and political justice. God’s ways are for the whole of life. Worship without justice is worthless. Those who refuse to repent and deny God’s ways will experience God’s judgment. But God also saves his people when they repent and return to his ways. God’s people are to be a blessing for the nations. They walk in God’s ways to show God and his ways to the world.

This begins our new series on the Old Testament Prophets — Walk in God’s Ways.

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