Hosea 13:3 (KJV) Fleeting vs. Flourishing

Hosea 13:3 (KJV)

Therefore they shall be as the morning cloud, and as the early dew that passeth away, as the chaff that is driven with the whirlwind out of the floor, and as the smoke out of the chimney.

 

What a description of a life lived in sin:

·       As the morning cloud

·       As the early dew

·       As the chaff in the wind

·       As the smoke from the chimney

 

Psalms one speaks in similar terms of the ungodly.

Psalms 1:4 (KJV)

The ungodly are not so: but are like the chaff which the wind driveth away.

 

That is in contrast with the believer as it says, 

Psalms 1:3 (KJV)

And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.

 

The rains of blessing fall on the just and the unjust but so do the winds of judgment and trouble. The difference is that those who know the Lord, meditate upon His Word, and observe to do His commandments reap the most from the rains and suffer the least from the winds.

 

#SinfulLife #UngodlyVsRighteous #BiblicalImagery #SpiritualContrast #BlessingsAndJudgment

Fleeting vs. Flourishing: The Evanescent[1] Nature of Sin

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[1] The word means, “passing, temporary, transitory.”

 

To my readers:

Thank you! It is a great joy to me to know you read the thoughts and lessons God has given me in His word. I would love to hear from you. Please feel free to leave comments.

For this and, more than 6300 earlier Daily Visits with God, visit https://mckenzie-visit-with-god.blogspot.com. There you will find daily visits going back to 2005.

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Hosea 13:3 (KJV)  Fleeting vs. Flourishing

Hosea 10:13 (KJV) A Recipe for Downfall

Hosea 10:13 (KJV)

Ye have plowed wickedness, ye have reaped iniquity; ye have eaten the fruit of lies: because thou didst trust in thy way, in the multitude of thy mighty men.

 

“Because”

 

Notice the progression of events in this passage.

·       Ye have plowed wickedness (because)

·       Ye have reaped iniquity (because)

·       Ye have eaten the fruit of lies (because)

·       Thou didst trust in thy way, in the multitude of thy mighty men.

 

The text describes in a nutshell the whole curse of mankind. When Eve and then Adam ate of the "fruit of lies," a terrible evil came upon them; they became as gods, knowing good and evil. The corrupt nature has at its roots a false sense of trust. Corrupt man believes he can trust himself, his wisdom, his intellect, the combined education of his kind.

 

It is to our own downfall that we trust in our way. It is to our great harm that we believe we can rely on the culmination of human experience. We plow wickedness, reap iniquity, and eat the fruit of lies because we believe ourselves over God.

 

We live today in one of the lowest points in human history.[1] Sin is rampant. Evil is more pronounced than it has been perhaps in 400 years. We have learned more, achieved more, and traveled farther than at any other time in recorded history. But we have lost our way morally, socially, and spiritually. The ruling class fails to see the problem because they lean too heavily on their mighty men.

 

But the fruit of lies leaves a man empty.

 

The righteousness of Christ fills, satisfies, and, in the end, leads to eternal life.

 

#FruitOfLies #TrustInGod #PlowWickedness #ReapIniquity #RighteousnessOfChrist

A Recipe for Downfall: The Fruit of Lies

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[1] Spiritually and morally speaking. The fruit of lies has been influential, leading many, especially in the unbelieving world, to believe that we have reached an all-time high. They often cite advances in science, medicine, and technology as evidence, and some claim progress in ethics and social issues. However, this perspective is skewed by the "fruit of lies," leading them to see acceptance of alternate lifestyles, etc. as advancement. In contrast, believers uphold the Word of God as their standard and disagree with these assertions of progress.

To my readers:

Thank you! It is a great joy to me to know you read the thoughts and lessons God has given me in His word. I would love to hear from you. Please feel free to leave comments.

For this and, more than 6300 earlier Daily Visits with God, visit https://mckenzie-visit-with-god.blogspot.com. There you will find daily visits going back to 2005.

If you have been blessed by this blog, please subscribe to my feed and share it with others.

For more resources from Pastor Marvin McKenzie visit http://puyallupbaptistchurch.com.

My books, and other resources, are available at:
https://marvinmckenzie.org

Join me at Daily Visits with God Podcast
https://marvinmckenzie.substack.com/

Merch at my Teespring store https://macz.creator-spring.com/
Be a witness with hats, mugs, t-shirts, sweat shirts, and more

Let’s have coffee?
The link to Ko-fi  is an opportunity to support this effort to reach a world of souls with the Word of God. I would appreciate any gift you can give. 

Hosea 10:13 (KJV) A Recipe for Downfall

Hosea 4:13 (KJV) Lost in the Shadows

Hosea 4:13 (KJV)

They sacrifice upon the tops of the mountains, and burn incense upon the hills, under oaks and poplars and elms, because the shadow thereof is good: therefore your daughters shall commit whoredom, and your spouses shall commit adultery.

 

This chapter is scathing to say the least, 

Hosea 4:11-12 (KJV)

Whoredom and wine and new wine take away the heart.

My people ask counsel at their stocks, and their staff declareth unto them: for the spirit of whoredoms hath caused them to err, and they have gone a whoring from under their God.

 

God doesn't accuse; He knows it to be fact that they are drunken, involved in whoredom, erring, and seeking counsel from others beside Him. There is nothing in this passage to suggest any good of the people. So, when the text says, “They sacrifice upon the tops of the mountains, and burn incense upon the hills, under oaks and poplars and elms, because the shadow thereof is good,” I take this to be negative as well. Various commentaries suggest they like the shadows because it hides their evil deeds. Sin likes darkness. Sinners cover their sins. They have no intention of quitting the sin, but neither are they comfortable being exposed.

 

I see another application among those who follow a path of worship different from the Bible. There are those who claim to worship God but want to do it in the most comfortable way possible. Not like the Anabaptists, who refused the shelter of Rome under the shadow of the Catholic Church. Not like those faithful believers who were brutally slaughtered because they would not yoke with the Protestants. Not like those who lost their lives because they owned a Bible, rejected infant baptism, and worshiped in secret conventicles.[1]

 

These today look for places of worship where the music pleases their ears rather than God’s, where the atmosphere seems more like a Saturday night sock-hop than a worship service, where the message, if there is one, is more about themselves than about the Lord, and where sin is minimized, and man’s potential is the focus. The shadow of today’s spiritual whoremongers may look more like a church building than a tree, but it is no less true that they are attracted to it because “the shadow thereof is good.”

 

#SpiritualWhoredom #FalseWorship #SinfulShadows #TrueWorshipVsFalse #GodlyWorship

Lost in the Shadows: The Deceptive Allure of Comfortable Worship

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[1] Early Baptist Churches in England (pre-1600's) were called “conventicles” which means “an illegal place of worship.

To my readers:

Thank you! It is a great joy to me to know you read the thoughts and lessons God has given me in His word. I would love to hear from you. Please feel free to leave comments.

For this and, more than 6300 earlier Daily Visits with God, visit https://mckenzie-visit-with-god.blogspot.com. There you will find daily visits going back to 2005.

If you have been blessed by this blog, please subscribe to my feed and share it with others.

For more resources from Pastor Marvin McKenzie visit http://puyallupbaptistchurch.com.

My books, and other resources, are available at:
https://marvinmckenzie.org

Join me at Daily Visits with God Podcast
https://marvinmckenzie.substack.com/

Merch at my Teespring store https://macz.creator-spring.com/
Be a witness with hats, mugs, t-shirts, sweat shirts, and more

Let’s have coffee?
The link to Ko-fi  is an opportunity to support this effort to reach a world of souls with the Word of God. I would appreciate any gift you can give. 

Hosea 4:13 (KJV) Lost in the Shadows

Hosea 1:11 (KJV) From Rejection to Reconciliation

Hosea 1:11 (KJV)

Then shall the children of Judah and the children of Israel be gathered together, and appoint themselves one head, and they shall come up out of the land: for great shall be the day of Jezreel.

 

The Bible is not a harsh and mean book. It is honest and real. It is earnest and caring. It has the work of the policeman "to protect and to serve." It reflects, of course, the heart of it's author, Almighty God. It does not whitewash and cover the problem, it exposes sin so sin may be corrected.

 

The book of Hosea, and in fact, the first chapter of Hosea is a reflection of the heart of God. The sinner and the hypersensitive might see it as mean spirited.

Hosea 1:9 (KJV)

Then said God, Call his name Loammi: for ye are not my people, and I will not be your God.

 

But while this was the present reality, it is not the final word of God. Hosea functions like a roadmap.[1] It takes the reader from the place they were, "...ye are not my people." to where God will one day have them, "Then shall the children of Judah and the children of Israel be gathered together..."

 

And that is exactly the plan of God,

·       For the Bible

·       For the future and

·       For you and me

 

The Bible serves to take us from where we are "dead in trespasses and sins"[2] to where God would have us "for by grace are ye saved."[3] And from the place of salvation to be seated, "together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus."[4]

 

The Bible is no harsh book. God is not mean spirited and monstrous. But sin is monstrous, and this world is harsh. God is our Rescuer, Deliverer and Saviour. He is our Hero. It is true blindness to reject Christ for the world.

 

#GodsHeart #RedemptionRoad #SinExposed #DivineRescue #GraceAndMercy

From Rejection to Reconciliation: Finding Hope in the Heart of God

 

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[1] Chapter one appears in my opinion to be a summary of the book as a whole.

[2] Ephesians 2:1 (KJV)

And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins;

[3] Ephesians 2:8 (KJV)

For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:

[4] Ephesians 2:6 (KJV)

And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:

To my readers:

Thank you! It is a great joy to me to know you read the thoughts and lessons God has given me in His word. I would love to hear from you. Please feel free to leave comments.

For this and, more than 6300 earlier Daily Visits with God, visit https://mckenzie-visit-with-god.blogspot.com. There you will find daily visits going back to 2005.

If you have been blessed by this blog, please subscribe to my feed and share it with others.

For more resources from Pastor Marvin McKenzie visit http://puyallupbaptistchurch.com.

My books, and other resources, are available at:
https://marvinmckenzie.org

Join me at Daily Visits with God Podcast
https://marvinmckenzie.substack.com/

Merch at my Teespring store https://macz.creator-spring.com/
Be a witness with hats, mugs, t-shirts, sweat shirts, and more

Let’s have coffee?
The link to Ko-fi  is an opportunity to support this effort to reach a world of souls with the Word of God. I would appreciate any gift you can give. 

Hosea 1:11 (KJV) From Rejection to Reconciliation

Hosea 10:2 (KJV) Their Heart Is Divided

Hosea 10:2 (KJV)

Their heart is divided; now shall they be found faulty: he shall break down their altars, he shall spoil their images.

Israel is an example of the trouble of the divided heart.

• On the one hand, they were the children of God. They claimed the same history, heritage, and culture as those in Judah.
• On the other hand, they wanted something different than Judah. They had their own king, altar, and worship.

• On the one hand, they lived in the Promised Land. It was given to them by God just as Judah’s land was given to them.
• On the other hand, they had taken it for themselves. They no longer claimed submission to the throne in Jerusalem.

• On the one hand, they worshiped the Lord. They had God-called prophets. They had citizens who remained faithful to the Lord.
• On the other hand, they had their own system of worship. They no longer traveled to the Temple in Jerusalem, nor were they ministered to through the Levitical priesthood.

Israel wanted the best of both worlds. They wanted to be free of the authority God had placed over them, but they wanted at the same time to benefit from the God who had separated them from the world.

This double mindedness, the divided heart, eventually destroyed them.

As it does to all, who wish to have all of God they can get and all of the world too.

To my readers:
Thank you! It is a great joy to me to know you read the thoughts and lessons God has given me in His word. I would love to hear from you. Please feel free to leave comments.

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For this and, more than 5600 earlier Daily Visits with God, visit https://mckenzie-visit-with-god.blogspot.com. There you will find daily visits going back to 2005.

If you have been blessed by this blog, please subscribe to my feed and share it with others.

For more resources from Pastor Marvin McKenzie visit http://puyallupbaptistchurch.com.

My books, and other resources, are available at:
https://marvinmckenzie.org

Merch at my Teespring store https://macz.creator-spring.com/
Be a witness with hats, mugs, t-shirts, sweat shirts, and more

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Hosea 10:2 (KJV) Their Heart Is Divided