11.04.2002

Theme: "faithfulness to God"

It is a great joy for me that we can gather around the gospel tonight. I myself would prefer to stay in Africa rather than travelling, but the joy of bringing the gospel is much greater. Millions of people have not yet heard about Jesus and the gospel. And those who have heard about it often do not care to pass it on. May God grant it that we may hear him tonight.

A minister of the Salvation Army once said," we lost our times of blessing; by now we are given flowers formerly we received stones".

The bible teaches us that all those who want to live a Godly life must suffer persecution.

Text: Hosea 3,1-5

Hosea is called a minor prophet, not because of his ministry but because of the number of chapters in his book. He had a strange calling, if it were not written in the bible you would think he was mislead, because he had to marry a prostitute. Jesus often spoke in parables to the disciples to clarify the understanding of the kingdom of God. Here, God wants to show his people how unfaithful they were and how he feels about adoultary.

The prostitute left the prophet after she married him and lived with other men. She fell back into her old lifestyle; tragic if a christan is backsliding. The prodigal son was not a heathen, but the son of the house who left his father. This is an example of a child of God who lost the first love for christ. In Jacob we read that love to the world is enmity to God, those people are also called adulterer. I am aware that this gospel does not fit into our godless time, in the same way Jesus did not fit in his time, until the eventually shouted, "crucify him".

If Jesus is reality in our lives, for sure there would be more fear of God , no flirting with worldly things , no divorce and remarriage. Hosea gave that prostitute Gobe a new chance, he had to pay the price of a female slave for her and had to buy her back again. It symbolizes how jesus paid the price for us, not with silver or gold, but with his precious blood. SBecause she was a slave of sin, he paid a slaves price for her.

How does the holy God feel about our unfaithfulness towards him, we burdeoned him with our iniquities. Therefore, look to Calvary at the Cross where Jesus paid the price.

return to April 2002 tour