God’s Crazy Love
Prelude
Our Great God
Greeting
Opening Song
Welcome
Invocation
Worship In Song
Yet Not I But Through Christ In Me
“You are worthy to take the scroll
and to open its seals,
because you were slain,
and with your blood you purchased for God
persons from every tribe and language and people and nation.
10 You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God,
and they will reign[a] on the earth.”11 Then I looked and heard the voice of many angels, numbering thousands upon thousands, and ten thousand times ten thousand. They encircled the throne and the living creatures and the elders. 12 In a loud voice they were saying:
“Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain,
to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength
and honor and glory and praise!”13 Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all that is in them, saying:
“To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb
be praise and honor and glory and power,
for ever and ever!” —Revelation 5:9-13
Pastoral Prayer
Offering
Choir Anthem - Your Love Defends Me
Alpha Video
Announcements
Scripture Reading
“When Israel was a child, I loved him,
and out of Egypt I called my son.
2 But the more they were called,
the more they went away from me.[a]
They sacrificed to the Baals
and they burned incense to images.
3 It was I who taught Ephraim to walk,
taking them by the arms;
but they did not realize
it was I who healed them.
4 I led them with cords of human kindness,
with ties of love.
To them I was like one who lifts
a little child to the cheek,
and I bent down to feed them.5 “Will they not return to Egypt
and will not Assyria rule over them
because they refuse to repent?
6 A sword will flash in their cities;
it will devour their false prophets
and put an end to their plans.
7 My people are determined to turn from me.
Even though they call me God Most High,
I will by no means exalt them.8 “How can I give you up, Ephraim?
How can I hand you over, Israel?
How can I treat you like Admah?
How can I make you like Zeboyim?
My heart is changed within me;
all my compassion is aroused.
9 I will not carry out my fierce anger,
nor will I devastate Ephraim again.
For I am God, and not a man—
the Holy One among you.
I will not come against their cities.
10 They will follow the Lord;
he will roar like a lion.
When he roars,
his children will come trembling from the west.
11 They will come from Egypt,
trembling like sparrows,
from Assyria, fluttering like doves.
I will settle them in their homes,”
declares the Lord. —Hosea 11:1-11
Message: Doug McHenry
Place your own notes here:
Hosea’s Broad Themes
The people of Israel are living in deliberate, long-term sin, and consequences are coming.
God deeply, irrationally loves the people of Israel.
When Israel was a child, I loved him, out of Egypt I called my son. —Hosea 11:1
But the more they were called, the more they went away from me… —Hosea 11:2-5, 7-8
Go, marry a promiscuous woman and have children with her, for like an adulterous wife this land is guilty of unfaithfulness to the Lord. —Hosea 1:2
The Lord said to me, ‘Go, show your love to your wife again, though she is loved by another and is an adulteress. Love as the Lord loves the Israelites, though they turn to other gods and love the sacred raisin cakes. —Hosea 3:1
God has loved, does love, and will love
I have loved you with an everlasting love… —Jer. 31:3
God expresses his love
It was I who taught Ephraim to walk. I led them with cords of human kindness and ties of love. I bent down to feed them. —Hosea 11:3-4
God’s love will not
How can I give you up? How can I hand you over, Israel? —Hosea 11:8a
My heart is changed within me, all my compassion is aroused. —Hosea 11:8b
It seems there is
And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. —1 John 4:16
Song of Response
I Stand Amazed In The Presence
Benediction