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Hosea
Brian Mashburn
January 9, 2011
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I Have A Message For You To Feel
Imagine for a moment that God showed up at your next prayer time, physically, and that He wanted you to deliver a message for Him.
Imagine that His message was for someone you knew of, but that you didn't really know personally, and that the message was: "I'm very hurt by you. Deeply hurt. And I want you to come back to Me."
You sense the seriousness of what you have been entrusted to deliver. You write it down word for word and set off in obedience.
Imagine God stopping you and saying, "You have the message and it is accurate. You have my target audience and you know how to find them. But before you go, I need you to invest a few years in something that will ensure that you deliver the message with the depth of intensity that I intend for it to have."
If you can imagine this, you can imagine what was required of the prophet Hosea.
Today we will look at Hosea's experience of love, betrayal, hurt, and restoration that gave Him a depth of insight into God's heart for His people that made Him the perfect messenger, not just of the facts, but of the feelings of God.
As we look at what was required of Hosea, my hope is that we too can experience the depth and reality of God's redeeming love towards us. It can change our lives.