3. blessings
GOD, ANSWER MY PRAYERS, TOO!
“Christianity clearly ‘works’ for some people. So please show me what I need to do to
make God happy so that God will go to work for me too.”
4. There have always been preachers who promise to unlock the secret to getting God to
protect you, make you rich, keep you healthy, and destroy all your enemies.
5. BUT FAITH IN GOD ISN’T LIKE THIS
There have always been preachers who promise to unlock the secret to getting God to
protect you, make you rich, keep you healthy, and destroy all your enemies.
6. Subject to frequent
droughts, the
people of Israel
were drawn to Baal
fertility rites.
7. Subject to frequent
droughts, the
people of Israel
were drawn to Baal
fertility rites.
They pressured
their priests to say
that if they also
made the right
sacrifices, then
Yahweh God would
bless them, too.
12. NO REAL UNDERSTANDING OF GOD
HOSEA 4 6My people are ruined because they don't know what's
right or true.
Because you've turned your back on knowledge, I've turned my back
on you priests.
Because you refuse to recognize the revelation of God, I'm no longer
recognizing your children.
13. DON’T BELIEVE EVERYTHING
HOSEA 4 7 The more priests, the more sin. They traded in their
glory for shame.
8They pig out on my people's sins. They can't wait for the latest in
evil.
14. THERE WILL BE CONSEQUENCES
HOSEA 4 9The result: You can't tell the people from the priests, the
priests from the people. I'm on my way to make them both pay and
take the consequences of the bad lives they've lived.
15. THE GREATEST
CONSEQUENCE
When we see God as a MEANS to
getting what we want, we are in danger of
missing out on experiencing the
indescribable gift of his presence, of God
just being with us.
17. LEADER: Lord, we admit to making
you into just a means to our being
happy.
ALL: Forgive us, Lord, for in doing
this, we are saying that you alone are
not enough.
18. LEADER: Or we pre-occupy
ourselves in perfectly good spiritual
practices and activities, Lord, but
more than we care to admit, we do
those things without expecting to
meet you in them.
ALL: Forgive us, Lord, for often doing
the right things but failing to see
these as ways to know you more and
to spend time with you.
19. LEADER: Lord God, you don’t owe us
anything. For what you have already
done for us in Christ Jesus far
exceeds anything we have done, can
do, or will do for you.
ALL: Thank you, Jesus, for your love
that never tires of going after us
when we stray, for washing the stains
from our souls, and for always giving
us the chance to be born again, again.
20. ALL: Lord God Almighty, you are not
a Means; you are the Beginning and
the End, our Alpha and Omega. May
everything we do, every moment we
invest in spiritual activities, every
injustice we fight, all become ways for
us to know you better and to marvel
at how much we all are worth to you.
In Jesus’ name we pray. AMEN
