Sermon Notes - Entanglement

Pericope: Hosea 3: 3 The Lord said to me, “Go, show your love to your wife again, though she is loved by another man and is an adulteress. Love her as the Lord loves the Israelites, though they turn to other gods and love the sacred raisin cakes.” 2 So I bought her for fifteen shekels of silver and about a homer and a lethek of barley. 3 Then I told her, “You are to live with me many days; you must not be a prostitute or be intimate with any man, and I will behave the same way toward you.” 4 For the Israelites will live many days without king or prince, without sacrifice or sacred stones, without ephod or household gods. 5 Afterward the Israelites will return and seek the Lord their God and David their king. They will come trembling to the Lord and to his blessings in the last days.

Sermon Text: Hosea 3:1 3 The Lord said to me, “Go, show your love to your wife again, though she is loved by another man and is an adulteress. Love her as the Lord loves the Israelites, though they turn to other gods and love the sacred raisin cakes.”

Sermon Title: “Entanglement!”

Hosea 3:1 The Lord said to me, “Go, show your love to your wife again, though she is loved by another man and is an adulteress. Love her as the Lord loves the Israelites, though they turn to other gods and love the sacred raisin cakes.” 

Point 1. Rejection. 2:23 I will plant her for myself in the land;

I will show my love to the one I called ‘Not my loved one.

I will say to those called ‘Not my people, ‘You are my people’; and they will say, ‘You are my God.’

         The text tells us in poetic metaphorical language about the love God has for Israel even though Israel has rejected God.  God said he has planted her.  He has married Israel.  He has said in vs. 19 and 20 of chapter 2 TLB 19 and I will bind you to me forever with chains of righteousness and justice and love and mercy. 20 I will betroth you to me in faithfulness and love, and you will really know me then as you never have before.

The word betroth has to do with promise, engagement, commitment, marriage.  Then God said I will show my love to the one I called not my love.  Israel has rejected God’s love, but God is determined to withstand Israel’s rejection. 

Point 2: Raisin cakes. 3:1(c)…, though they turn to other gods and love the sacred raisin cakes.”

         Hosea says Israel loves other gods because Israel loves raisin cakes.  Raisin cakes during biblical times was considered an aphrodisiac.  It was a natural Cialis, Viagra, Asian ginseng, Yohimbe, Saffron or whichever your aphrodisiac of choice.  The bible also called it mandrakes.  Hosea said Israel had an insatiable appetite for other gods. 

Transition: Hosea said it best. Hosea gave the best remedy for the pain in his own marriage and the marriage between God and Israel. Return to your first love. Return to your only love. Solomon said God put eternity in Our hearts Ecclesiastes 3:11 Everything is appropriate in its own time. But though God has planted eternity in the hearts of men, even so, many cannot see the whole scope of God’s work from beginning to end.  In other words, because God created you with eternity in your heart for eternity the only way you will feel true unconditional love is from him. How? Return to him

Point 3: Return. 3:5 Afterward the Israelites will return and seek the Lord their God and David their king. They will come trembling to the Lord and to his blessings…

         Hosea said Israel will not be able to get away from God’s love! Why? Because God’s love is an entanglement.  Gods love will so entangle you you will not get away from it.  Will put it this way – Jada “I will love you through anything”. Paul put it an even better way Eph 3:18 And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is.

Romans 8:31-39 - 31 What shall we say about such wonderful things as these? If God is for us, who can ever be against us? 32 Since he did not spare even his own Son but gave him up for us all, won’t he also give us everything else? 33 Who dares accuse us whom God has chosen for his own? No one—for God himself has given us right standing with himself. 34 Who then will condemn us? No one—for Christ Jesus died for us and was raised to life for us, and he is sitting in the place of honor at God’s right hand, pleading for us.

35 Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death? 36 (As the Scriptures say, “For your sake we are killed every day; we are being slaughtered like sheep.”[a]) 37 No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us.

38 And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,[b] neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. 39 No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Gods’ love entangles you.  You cannot sin you way out of God’s love.  He proposed to you 2000 years ago on the cross. You accepted the proposal when You accepted him into your heart as your personal savior.

Life Application:

1) Receive God’s reckless love

2) Register God’s reckless love

3) Return God’s reckless love

Letter to LifeChangers 07092020

When the Brook Dried Up!

Pericope: 1 Kings 17:1-7ESV Now Elijah the Tishbite, of Tishbe[a] in Gilead, said to Ahab, “As the Lord, the God of Israel, lives, before whom I stand, there shall be neither dew nor rain these years, except by my word.” 2 And the word of the Lord came to him: 3 “Depart from here and turn eastward and hide yourself by the brook Cherith, which is east of the Jordan. 4 You shall drink from the brook, and I have commanded the ravens to feed you there.” 5 So he went and did according to the word of the Lord. He went and lived by the brook Cherith that is east of the Jordan. 6 And the ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning, and bread and meat in the evening, and he drank from the brook. 7 And after a while the brook dried up, because there was no rain in the land.

Sermon Text 1 Kings 17:7EST  And after a while the brook dried up, because there was no rain in the land.

Sermon Title:  When the Brook Dried Up!

Point 1:  Don’t go backwards ..Say what you want…have what you say. Vs. 8-9 Then the word of the Lord came to him; (9) Arise, go to Zarephath…

Point 2:  You’re in between answered prayers. Vs 1b; 9b - …there will be neither dew nor rain in three years.

…Behold I have commanded a widow there [Zarephath] to feed you.

Point 3: God brought you to the brook  vs 5. So he went and did according to the word of the Lord. He went and lived by the brook Cherith that is east of the Jordan

Life Application

1.  Don’t doubt your drought – it has a purpose and a plan.

2.    Listen for instructions to go deeper

3.    Droughts are by design to drive you into the arms of God.

Greater Twogether

Pericope: Eccl 4: 9 – 12 9 Two can accomplish more than twice as much as one, for the results can be much better. 10 If one falls, the other pulls him up; but if a man falls when he is alone, he’s in trouble.

11 Also, on a cold night, two under the same blanket gain warmth from each other, but how can one be warm alone? 12 And one standing alone can be attacked and defeated, but two can stand back-to-back and conquer; three is even better, for a triple-braided cord is not easily broken.

Sermon Text: Eccl 4: 9 (a) Two are better than one…  

Sermon Title: Greater Twogether

Point 1: Two Pays vs. 9 Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil   Study Tools

Point 2: Two Lifts vs10 For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow [friend] But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up!

Point 3: Two Warms vs 11 Likewise, two people lying close together can keep each other warm. But how can one be warm alone?

Point 4: Two Wins vs 12 A person standing alone can be attacked and defeated, but two can stand back-to-back and conquer. Three even better, for a triple-braided cord is not easily broken

Life Application:

1.  Volunteer to be on the return to worship task force

2.  Return to worship as the Lord leads you

3.  Give more as Covid/CDC request things we never budgeted for.

4.  Stay connected – lifegroups – leadership zoom – serving group gatherings (choir, helps, pastoral teams, etc)

Men Matter...Black Men Matter Too - A fathers day message. Bishop Dudley

Pericope: Gen 1: 26- 26 Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”

Sermon Text: Gen 1: 27a So God created mankind in his own image...

Sermon Title: Men Matter, Black Men Matter Too

Point 1: God made man and gave him Power. Vs 1: 28 God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over … every living creature that moves on the ground.” Quite often we see 

Point 2: God made man and put him in a Place.  Vs 2: 11, 15. 

11 The name of the first is the Pishon; it winds through the entire land of Havilah, where there is gold. 15 15 The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.  

Genesis 10:7 - 7 The sons of Cush: Seba, Havilah, Sabtah, Raamah, and Sabteca. The sons of Raamah: Sheba and Dedan.

Genesis 2:11 - 11 The name of the first is the Pishon. It is the one that flowed around the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold.

Point 3: God made man and gave him a Purpose. Vs 2: 19-20 19 … He brought them to the man to see what he would name them; … So the man gave names to all…

2:18 and 20 - 18 Then the Lord God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.” 20 The man gave names to all livestock and to the birds of the heavens and to every beast of the field. But for Adam there was not found a helper fit for him. .  

Point 4: God made man and gave him a Position. Gen 2:22 …God made a woman…he brought her to the man.

From slavery to now Satan with the help of society has tried to move man out of position and black men in particular.

·      Slavery 

o  Not allowed to have a family

o  Bred to have chattel

o  Denied the place of protector provider progenitor

o  Manifest destiny

·      Post Slavery

o  Vagrancy laws passed 

o  Jim Crow codified 1896 Supreme Court until 1956 Brown versus Topeka KS

o  101 out of 120 Southern Congressman manifesto 

o  GI Bill – Red Lining FHA

§  no home ownership no equity 

o  War on drugs

§  Incarceration ($17B cost for housing - $19B prisons)

·      25 years $350K - $2.3M

·      Move than apartheid in South Africa

·      1 out of 14 Black men – 1 out of 106

·      DA prosecutors 2^nd offense drug

·      Offense 1% whites 16% blacks

·      Philando Castille stopped 49 times in 13 years 

1.   Take a seat in heavenly places Ephesians 2:6 - and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,

2.   Strive not only to be the exception but change the laws policies and rules that authorized this system

3.   Embrace your power, place, purpose and position 

LoveTrumpsHate

Pericope: 1 Corinthians 13: 1-13 13 If I speak in the tongues[a] of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3 If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast,[b] but do not have love, I gain nothing.

4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

8 Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. 11 When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. 12 For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

13 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

Sermon Text: 1 Corinthians 13: 13 13 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

Sermon Title: Love Trips Hates

BP: Move the hearers to live

Introduction:  

Point 1: The Brand of love.  Vs 4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. Shift (generation) your sons and daughters

-       Not Rude… Vs 4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. Shift (generation) your sons and daughters

-       Not Self Seeking… Vs 5 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.

-       Not easily angered… Vs 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.

-       Keeps no record… Vs 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

-       Does not boast… Vs 8 Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away.

Point 2: The Battle of Love. Eph 4:15  15 Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ.

Point 3: The fruit of love. Gal 5: 22! 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,

Point 4: The life of love. John 13: 35 35 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

Controlling the Narrative

Pericope: Acts 2: 14-16 14 Then Peter stood up with the Eleven, raised his voice and addressed the crowd: “Fellow Jews and all of you who live in Jerusalem, let me explain this to you; listen carefully to what I say. 15 These people are not drunk, as you suppose. It’s only nine in the morning! 16 No, this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel…

Sermon Text: Acts 2: 14 (c) let me explain this to you; listen carefully to what I say. 

Sermon Title: Controlling the Narrative

         Images help tell the narrative.  Luke did the same when he used the word “like” Act 2:2 2 Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. Luke used imaginary to control the narrative. Luke knew if you can’t control your narrative you cant get your message to change the lives of people.  The other narrative of that day was Acts 2: 13 13… “They have had too much wine.”

Acts 2: 8 8 Then how is it that each of us hears them in our native language? 

Point 1: It’s a Millennial moment Vs 17.  17 “‘In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young menwill see visions, your old men will dream dreams.

-       Shift (generation) your sons and daughters

-       Sharing Vs 18 Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy.    

-       Shaping Vs 18 Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy.     

-       Shaking Vs 20 The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to bloodbefore the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord.

Point 2: Jesus reinterpreted Vs 22-24 22 “Fellow Israelites, listen to this: Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs, which God did among you through him, as you yourselves know. 23 This man was handed over to you by God’s deliberate plan and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross. 24 But God raised him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death, because it was impossiblefor death to keep its hold on him.

Point 3: Jesus reigns! Vs 32-33 32 God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of it. 33 Exalted to the right hand of God…

-       Reigns Vs 34 For David did not ascend to heaven, and yet he said, “‘The Lord said to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand

-       Reoders Vs 37 37 When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles… 

-       Restores Vs 40 40… “Save yourselves from this corrupt generation.”

Life Application:

2. Call out quiet people in your circle

3. Stand with the right of Jesus