Hosea – Page 2 – Jim Gallagher

Sow What?

December 7, 2014January 5, 2016pjimgallagherLeave a comment

Hosea 10:12
“Sow for yourselves righteousness; reap in mercy;
Break up your fallow ground, for it is time to seek the Lord,
Till He comes and rains righteousness on you.”

Hosea wrote of the spiritual condition of Israel, which at the time, was quite dark. Sin had led them away from the Lord and from the blessed life He had determined for them. Instead of experiencing the bounty God intended, they were on the brink of total ruin. Hosea writes to make clear their present state, as well as, to provide the antidote. No matter how bad things may have become, Hosea provides the way back to the Lord.

“Sow for yourself righteousness and reap in mercy”

Sowing is a farming term which refers to the planting of seeds. There are a few basic and unchanging principles that determine the law of sowing and reaping.

First, we will always reap what we sow. If you continue to sow sin or compromise in search of self-fulfilling pleasures, you will only reap heartache, and distance from the Lord. If however, you begin to sow righteousness, by applying the ways of God to your life, you will reap mercy. One translation reads “you will reap in love.”

Second, we reap after we sow. Farming is not a job for the impatient. A farmer knows great effort must be applied to the task, if they are ever going to receive a return on their labors. Too often, people will respond to exhortations like those Hosea gives, by claiming they already tried that. “I tried loving my wife, I tried reading my bible, I tried going to church, I tried… And it did not work”. I wonder, how long have you tried? Did you give as much time to sowing seeds of righteousness as you did to sowing to the desires of your flesh? If you will sow in righteousness, you will reap in mercy, but it will take time.

Finally, we reap much more than we sow. A small bag of seeds will produce bushels of produce. While sowing in righteousness may seem like a lot of work, the benefits far out way the cost. Taking the time to invest in your relationship with Christ will return both earthly and eternal rewards. When Peter spoke of all he had given up to follow Christ, Jesus replied,

Mark 10:29-30
“Assuredly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands, for My sake and the gospel’s, who shall not receive a hundredfold now in this time — houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions — and in the age to come, eternal life.”

Pastor Jim

Watch Your Step

December 6, 2014January 5, 2016pjimgallagherLeave a comment

Hosea 8:11
“Because Ephraim has made many altars for sin,
They have become for him altars for sinning.”

Growing up, one of my favorite TV shows was Sherlock Holmes. As most of us know, he was a detective from London who used his keen skill of observation to solve crimes. Often, when he would uncover a clue, he would declare, “It’s elementary my dear Watson.” Which was an underhanded way of stating that what he discovered was obvious to anyone who would take the time to look. Hosea makes a statement that Holmes would find elementary, he declares that if a person builds an altar for sin, he will find it leads him into sin.

As obvious as this principle seems, we sometimes lose sight of its simplicity. Often, when we fall spiritually, we look around puzzled as to how that could have happened. If however, we took the time to look back, we would find our fall was inevitable, because of the steps we were taking. We must always remember that if we make a way to sin, we will end up sinning.

The secret to success is to remove the things that make sinning easy. We need to do those things that make sinning more difficult and doing what is right easier. That is what the building blocks of Christian living provide. The Word, prayer, fellowship, worship, and service are designed to help us grow in Christ and make sinning more difficult. We only have so much time, if that time is spent building ourselves up in Christ, we will in turn have less time to be drawn after the things that lead to sin.

Perhaps it would help to ask yourself, what things you can take out of your daily life that will make it more difficult to sin?

Pastor Jim

Willing To Change

December 5, 2014January 5, 2016pjimgallagherLeave a comment

Hosea 5:4
“They do not direct their deeds
Toward turning to their God,
For the spirit of harlotry is in their midst,
And they do not know the Lord.”

I have often sat at my desk across from people who, while living without any regard for what the Bible says, still claim to know God. They might declare how important God is to them or even that they love Him. However, when their lifestyle is confronted by what the Bible teaches, they become angry and unwilling to change. The real evidence that a person is a child of God is not that they live a perfect life. Instead, it is how willing they are to change when confronted by the Scriptures.

When I first became a Christian I had no idea what God required of me. I found myself daily challenged by what the Bible taught. I had to make changes in my private and my public life. My goals, and the way I would choose to achieve them, were impacted by the teachings of Scripture. Even now, as I daily read the Word, I am confronted and challenged. The Bible is constantly tweaking and changing my thinking and behaviors.

If you are unwilling to allow the Scriptures to confront, challenge, and change your lifestyle, you need to examine whether or not you have ever truly surrendered your life to Christ. Jesus warned, on the final day of judgment, many will find that while they thought they knew the Lord, they had in fact, deceived themselves. On the other hand, if you allow the Word of God to guide, challenge and change your behaviors, you will experience the blessed life. Instead of being afraid of correction, we should look forward to whatever transformation the Lord may bring, through the power of His Word.

Pastor Jim