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Jesus comes together, his loved one's home, together his loved one's home, together his loved one's home. There'll be no dark valley when Jesus comes together, his loved one's home. It's so bad. I know that my Redeemer liveth in on the earth, again shall stand. I know eternal life he giveth, that grace and power are in his hand. Jesus comes together, his loved one's home, together his loved one's home, together his loved one's home. His promise never failed, if the word he speaks, he cannot die. O wondrous thought for me, he careth, and he at last will come for me. I know, I know that Jesus liveth, and on the earth again shall stand. I know, I know that I giveth, that grace and power are in his hand. I know his promise never failed, if the word he speaks, he cannot die. Though cruel, O death my flesh assaileth, yet I shall see him by and by. I know, I know that Jesus liveth, and on the earth again shall stand. I know, I know that life he giveth, that grace and power are in his hand. I know that my Redeemer liveth, and on the earth again shall stand. I know eternal life he giveth, that grace and power are in his hand. I know, I know that Jesus liveth, and on the earth again shall stand. I know, I know that life he giveth, that grace and power are in his hand. Da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da selected good evening everybody welcome to Verdi Baptist Church take out your hymnal and turn to song number 34 I Know That My Redeemer Liveth, song number 34 and your hymnal this evening song number 34 song number 34 in the first I know that my Redeemer liveth in on the earth again shall stand I know eternal life we give that grace and power are in his hand I know I know that Jesus liveth and on the earth again shall stand I know I know that life we give that grace and power are in his hand I know his promise never failed it the word he speaks it cannot die death my flesh assail it yet I shall see him by and by I know I know that Jesus liveth and on the earth again shall stand I know I know that life be given that grace and power are in his hand I know my mansion he prepareth that where he is there I may be Oh wondrous thought for me he careth and he at last will come for me I know I know that Jesus liveth and on the earth again shall stand I know that life be given that grace and power are in his hand let's open a word of prayer this evening your Heavenly Father thanks for allowance be in your house and we ask you bless this entire church service from the scripture reading and the singing of praise to you and also the preaching of your word we pray this in Jesus name amen turn to song number 396 so little time 396 in your hem know 396 in your hand on the first so little time the harvest will be over our reaping done we Reapers taken home report our work to Jesus Lord of harvest and he'll smile and that he'll say well done today we read or miss our golden harvest today is given us the souls to win Oh then to save some dear ones from the burning today we'll go to bring some sinner how many times I should have strongly pleaded how often did I feel to strictly warn the spirit move Oh had I but for Jesus the crane is fallen lost ones not reborn today we read or miss our golden harvest today is given us the souls to win Oh then to save some dear ones from the burning today we'll go to bring some sinner in despite the heat the ceaseless toll the hardship the broken heart or those we cannot win misunderstood cuz we're off peculiar still no regrets we'll have but for our sin today we read or miss our golden harvest today is given us the souls to win Oh then to save some dear ones from the burning today we'll go to bring some sinner in a day of pleasure or a feast of friendship a house or car or garments fair or fake we'll all be trash when souls are brought to heaven and then how sad to face the sackers play today we read or miss our golden harvest today to save some dear ones from the burning today we'll go to bring some sinner in on the last the harvest wine with Reapers view is wasting and many souls will die and never know love of Christ the joy of sins forgiven oh let us weep and love and pray and go today we read or miss our golden harvest today is given us lost souls to win Oh then to save some dear ones from the burning today we'll go to bring some sinner in this time we'll have the scripture reading and let us open our Bibles to Isaiah chapter 12 Isaiah chapter 12 we are going to read the whole chapter Isaiah chapter 12 F time feedeth on wind and followeth after the east wind he daily increase the slice and insulation and they do make a covenant with their Syrians and oil is carried into Egypt the Lord hath also a controversy with Judah and will punch Jacob according to his ways according to doings will he decompense him he took his brother by the heel in the womb and by strength he had power of God yeah he had power over the angel and prevailed he wept and made supplication unto him he found him in Bethel and there he spake with us even the Lord God of hosts the Lord is his memorial therefore turn though to thy God keep mercy and judgment and wait on thy God continually he's a merchant the balances of deceit are in his hand he loves to press and after I am said yet I am become which I have found me out substance in all my labors they shall find none iniquity in me that was sin and I that am the Lord thy God from the land of Egypt will yet to make thee to dwell in tabernacles as in the days of the solemn feast I have also spoken by the prophets and I have multiplied visions and used similitude by the Ministry of the prophets is the iniquity in Gilead surely they are vanity they sacrifice bullocks in Gilgal here the altars are as heaps in the forests of the field and Jacob fled into the country of Syria and Israel served for a wife and for a wife he kept sheep and by profit the Lord brought Israel out of Egypt and by a prophet was he preserved after I invoked him to anger most bitterly therefore shall he leave his blood upon him and it's a toast shall his Lord return unto him that's great thank you Jesus for your words thank you for everyone who's here Lord Jesus please prepare our hearts Lord and please let us be the people who understand your word and we are really wise in this manner and please also support the creature when your name is right all right we're here in Hosea chapter 12 and this is probably one of the more complicated chapters in the book of Hosea I'll be honest with you because I I did the memorization challenge in Hosea and when I finished memorizing this chapter I was like not quite sure what I'm gonna preach on but then as I meditated on it it just kind of all clicked it's actually teaching a great truth here tonight but we'll look at a few things before we get into that starting verse number one notice this Ephraim feedeth on wind and followeth after the east wind he daily increases lies and desolation and they do make a covenant with the Assyrians and oil is carried into Egypt now he says Ephraim feedeth on wind and it says and followeth after the east wind I believe the east winds referring to Assyria because Assyria is basically directly east of Israel so I believe when you're looking at the context here followeth after the east wind and then it says they make a covenant with the Assyrians so I believe it's referring to Assyria there but I also believe there's symbolism here of why he's saying wind okay when you think of wind even Jesus said in John chapter 3 that wind is something we don't really fully comprehend perfectly says thou here is the sound thereof and canst not tell whence it cometh and whither it goeth so you don't really know where it's coming from or where it's going and wind can change direction all the time it's going 30 kilometers per hour in this direction five minutes later is 20 kilometers per hour in the other direction we don't really have a great handle on wind and what I think it's indicating is that Ephraim was not very stable it was basically just going all over the place you didn't know what direction they were headed and they just kind of bounce back and forth wherever they were taken right and that's kind of how wind is it just kind of moves around and you can't tell you know you can hear it but you can't really tell where it came from and where it's going it's something that's kind of hard to really get a grasp on if you've ever driven a car and there's like you know let's say a tornado warning which is something the US we have sometimes you're driving and you see you know that that it's really windy and stuff's blowing around and you're like if it ends up getting worse I have no idea which direction to go because you don't really know where the wind is coming it's just kind of going all over the place and it might come this direction or it might come the other one you don't know if you're driving into a tornado or driving away from it it's just it's really hard to tell what's going to happen with the wind and so the Bible gives that as an example and what I think he's trying to say is that Ephraim was just not very stable they're just getting easily moved around in every direction just like the wind okay go to Psalm 92 Psalm 92 Psalm chapter 92 look stability is a very important thing in life I mean if you remember what it what the prophecy was about Reuben where it's like you know unstable as water thou shalt not excel right and when he's saying unstable as water you know water just kind of goes in every direction as well right I mean if you drop water on the ground depending on where the curves are it's just going to kind of go with the flow and Reuben was just unstable no stability in the life of Reuben and you're not going to excel you're not going to be successful because you're not stable and so look if you want to be successful in life in any area you need stability okay you can't just be always changing your mind and bouncing around and you're trying this then this then this one area where this relates is in the house of God if you want to be successful as a Christian and accomplish something for God and accomplish something with your life to give yourself heavenly rewards you need to have stability okay notice what it says in Psalm 92 verse 12 the righteous flout shall flourish like the palm tree he shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon those that be planted in the house the Lord shall flourish in the courts of our God so it talks about being planted or grounded or settled in God's house right you find a good local church and you're just a member there right they shall still bring forth fruit in old age they shall be fat and flourishing see the promise according to the Bible is if you get connected in church and you're stable and you stick with it you're going to bring forth fruit in old age now look that is something that is a soul winner is a very encouraging thing because when I really think of the purpose of my life I think man winning souls to the Lord what if you reached a point where you could no longer win souls to the Lord but see the Bible says that you're still going to bring forth fruit in old age now obviously if somebody's older they might not be able to do all-day so winning marathons they might need more breaks we understand that if you have a soul winning marathon in a park maybe they're gonna sit in the shade and rest part of it but look I hope that when I'm in my 80s I'm still going out and winning souls to the Lord I hope I'm still taking the opportunities to preach the gospel and zealous for the things of God and the Bible promises that if you are planted in the house of God you're gonna bring forth fruit in old age now obviously that depends on what house you're planted in right it's a lot of bad churches out there but the indication is you find a good church and then you get planted and grounded in that church you don't just always you're changing and look I understand here in the Philippines there are a lot of Baptist churches that are just wrong on salvation right but in the US there are a lot of churches that are at least right on salvation and they're decent churches where if that's the best in your area I mean you're not sinning by being a part of it right you can be a blessing that church people can still grow and stuff like that and there's people that every six months they're at a different Baptist Church it's like what are you doing it's like just pick the church you believe in and be a part of it and just stick with it now obviously there can be extreme circumstances where you know maybe that church is no longer valid because they're either not soul winning or the pastor fell into sin or whatever the case may be but once you find a good church stick with it and be excited about it and stay grounded don't be like well you know I like this church but there's this one minor problem look if that's your attitude you will find a problem with every single church that you become a member of because no church is perfect now I mean I think we're doing the right thing here we're trying to do what's right we have activities we have so winning we're trying to be zealous for the things of God I'm sure though that I make mistakes and I could run things better and do things differently but it's like once you find a church you believe in stick with it and that's the secret to bringing forth fruit in old age but if you're one of these people that's not very stable when it comes to church and you're always kind of bouncing around and you're like well you know I like this church but let me check out this other church you're not going to be successful in life or for example you get motivated to read the Bible because you hear that sermon and you're like hey let me give this a shot for about a month yeah let me try something else right let me let me do this just this daily bread or this you know one verse per month thing or whatever is being pushed by various Christian churches right and you're just always trying all these different methods it's just like just stick with something and you know if you find something that works just stick with it just keep doing it don't feel like oh I've been reading the Bible for a couple years maybe I should just stop and just start you know doing whatever it's like no just keep sticking with it right you find something that works that is what's going to make you successful in the long term don't be someone who lives off excitement where I got bored with this let me try this let me try you're going to fail in life right or for example you know if you're you're at work and it's just like man this job I do for six months and this one I do for a year and this one I do for eight months and you're just moving bouncing back and forth you're just not going to excel right but here's the thing if you would stick with something and go for it and give it your all you will be successful but if you're unstable as water you're not going to excel that's what the Bible teaches right go back to Hosea 12 Hosea chapter 12 this isn't all areas of life all areas of life I mean honestly I should probably preach a sermon sometime on stability it's a concept that's taught a lot in the Bible many people are very unstable with their emotions they just let their emotions just kind of they're like the wind just all over the place right it's just like this week it's this this week it's that just always upset and problem and problem and problem it's like you're going to fail at life unless you just get stability right you know just living your life based on a set pattern and look it might not sound exciting but that's how you're successful right your pattern is okay 5 30 in the morning to 6 30 is when I do my Bible reading it's like yeah you know if that works just stick with it if that's the time of day you're able to pay attention and get your reading it don't just be like well let me just try something else I tried I tried the morning thing now let me try the lunch thing now let me just try on some days to read extra I mean just stick with something that works and don't always feel like you need to change have stability in your life otherwise you're not going to excel you're going to fail and look this was a problem with Ephraim just as a nation Israel just was bouncing back and forth and it's like man I kind of like that God of the Assyrians no actually that God of the Egyptians is pretty cool right that frog God is pretty nice oh wait a minute there's a God from Babylon that one looks really cool it's like oh wait and we got the Hindu guys like that's pretty cool right it's like a horror movie right it's like you're just bouncing back and forth and just you know that's not how you're gonna be successful in life okay verse number two the Lord hath also a controversy with Judah and will punish Jacob according to his ways according to his doings will he recompense him now I want you to notice it says he also has a controversy he also has a problem with Judah because we understand that Israel or Ephraim and Judah were basically separate right the southern kingdom of Judah and the northern kingdom of Israel he also has a controversy with Judah but then it says it will punish Jacob now Jacob is basically synonymous with Israel except Jacob as a person had 12 sons and Judah was one of those sons and I actually think what's trying to be said here in verse two and I could be wrong about this is he's saying I've got a controversy with Judah but I still consider Judah my people whereas Israel I've basically rejected I think that's why he mentions Judah and then Jacob I also have a controversy with Judah and will punish Jacob according to his ways I think he's actually using Judah and Jacob interchangeably because he's saying I still consider the southern kingdom of Judah as one of the sons of Jacob he's basically going back in time to the book of Genesis right with the original 12 tribes I believe that's what's being said in verse 2 obviously when we're dealing with prophecy you know what things can be very complicated and everything but I believe that's what's being said being said there according to his doings we recompense him notice this in verse 3 he took his brother by the heel in the womb now what's that referring to well I mean if you remember Rebecca was pregnant with twins and there was a fight inside that womb now I don't know if that's common when you have twins but you know you know Israel and or Jacob I should say and Esau were like fighting from the beginning right and Jacob just took the heel of Esau and I don't know they're having a boxing match or whatever but they're duking it out but that's what it's referring to when it says that he took his brother by the heel in the womb it's referring to in Rebecca's womb there was actually the battle between Jacob and Esau which I believe he literally took him by the heel but I also believe that was meant to be something that was symbolic to teach us something okay and by his strength he had power with God now what does it mean by by his strength he had power with God well that links to the next statement yea he had power over the angel now the word yea basically means indeed right like God has asked this question in the Old Testament is there a God beside me he says yea or indeed there is no God I know not any he's not saying yes there is a God no he's saying indeed there is no God he's putting extra emphasis right he's saying there's no God and he's like I'm putting extra emphasis so I get yea and yes are spelled similar in different words right yea is adding emphasis there is no God I know not any but it says he had power with God indeed he had power over the angel so uses God an angel basically interchangeably here you say why is that right is God an angel well God is not an angel except I want you to realize our modern definition of angel is actually different than what the Bible's definition is when we think of angel we think of you know just the two wings and they're flying around and everything like that right and you know in the Bible you have cherubim and you have seraphim what an angel is in the Bible is a messenger that's what it means that messenger could be a cherubim that messenger could be a seraphim that messenger could be the sort of angelic being that you think of with the movies and the TV shows but that messenger could be just a human being right so the word angels just a little bit different than it was in the Bible times what has become now is just like the angelic being the cherubim and seraphim but angel just simply means messenger and so that messenger could be a human being it could be an angel or in this case when it says he had power with God that's referring to an Old Testament appearance of the Lord Jesus Christ now you got these cults like Jehovah's Witnesses who say well you know in the Old Testament Jesus was not the Son of God he was Michael the Archangel and he turned into the Son of God at the birth right say well they don't understand what the word angel is they get confused on verses like this an angel just simply means a messenger okay what this actually shows us though because we're gonna see this is referring to the Lord Jesus Christ is that Jesus is God he had power with God yeah and power over the angel and we're gonna see this is linking to the Lord Jesus Christ in the the wrestling match that we're gonna look at but basically Jesus Christ is God that's what it's teaching and he was a messenger in this situation okay it doesn't mean that he was like Michael the Archangel okay or Gabriel he had power over the angel and prevailed he wept and made supplication on to him he found him in Bethel and there he spake with us okay so mentions Bethel here and the the book of Hosea is really going back to the book of Genesis right now okay so let's go back to the book of Genesis let's go to Genesis 28 Genesis 28 Genesis 28 and the wrestling match is in Genesis 32 but we're in Genesis 28 there's a lot to look at I'm not even sure if we'll get to the wrestling match but I'm assuming people are probably pretty familiar with the fact that Jacob wrestles this messenger this angel which is actually an Old Testament appearance of the Lord Jesus Christ okay but it mentioned Bethel in the book of Hosea what what's significant about Bethel what's the Bible trying to tell us Genesis 28 verse 16 and Jacob awaked out of his sleep and he said surely the Lord is in this place and I knew it not and he was afraid and said how dreadful is this place this is none other but the house of God and this is the gate of heaven and Jacob rose up early in the morning and took the stone that he had put for his pillows and set it up for a pillow and pillar and poured oil upon the top of it and he called the name of that place Bethel but the name of that city was called Luz at the first so in verse 17 it mentions the house of God and in verse 19 it mentions Bethel and Bethel is actually referring to the house of God okay verse number 20 and Jacob vowed a vow saying if God will be with me and will keep me in this way that I go and will give me bread to eat and raiment to put on so that I come again to my father's house in peace then shall the Lord be my God and this stone which I have set for a pillow shall be pillar shall be God's house and of all that thou shalt give me I will surely give the tenth on to thee so we see here in verse 22 that the tenth the tide is given to the house of God okay in our modern day that's the local New Testament Church now I'm not really preaching on money but I will say this you're supposed to give to the house of God which means I don't believe that giving alms is accurate to what the Bible is teaching of giving your tenth right if you give somebody who's poor money on the side of there's nothing wrong with doing that you're welcome to do that but that's that's not your tenth because the tenth goes actually the house of God or there's these parachurch ministries or these various things that print Bibles look you can give money to those organizations if you want but that's not actually the house of God okay you ought to give to the church that you're actually a member of because obviously that money is used for the operation of the local church now go to Genesis 31 Genesis 31 Genesis 31 so Bethel is the house of God verse 19 it said Bethel verse 17 the house of God verse 22 God's house so Bethel is right in the middle of that there and if you remember Jeroboam we talked about this in the book of book of Hosea he actually put a golden calf in Bethel in God's house because he didn't want people to leave to worship in the southern kingdom of Judah he was afraid to lose people right so he put up a couple golden calves and it's like well here's your gods right it's always it's always the calf it's always that cow that everybody loves right Genesis 31 verse 11 Genesis 31 verse 11 and the angel of God spake unto him in dreams saying Jacob and I said here am I and he said lift up now thine eyes and see all the rams which leap upon the cattle are ring-streaked speckled and grizzled for I've seen all that Laban doeth on to thee I am the God of Bethel where thou anointest the pillar and where thou vowest to vow onto me now arise get thee from get thee out from this land and return unto the land of thy kindred and you know God reminds Jacob I'm the God of Bethel that's God's house right now we know that the Bible says Jesus died for the local New Testament Church right he gave himself for the church the Bible says I do believe he died individually for every local bona fide church okay and so Jesus Christ died for the church and it says I am the God of Bethel you say why God has always operated through his house now in the Old Testament what that meant was something a little bit different than today but this is how God always operated I mean we saw that the tithe was given to God's house in the Old Testament same thing today now in our New Testament you say what is God's house well I mean God's house is a local church and that could literally be inside a building or you could honestly just meet on the street and that's fine it would still be considered you know a church right I mean when when First Works Baptist in the US had their building bombed I think they met outside for a couple weeks it's like just set up a tent to block the rain and block the heat and just go right bring your umbrella we got service right it's just like you know God's house I mean it's nice to have a building it's nice to have air conditioning but quite honestly you could just meet on the side of the street and that would be considered you know God's house right and so you don't need a building because what is a church well I mean a church is the people okay and so we're saying the house of God you're literally saying the people that make up that church because the people are the body okay and he reminds him in Genesis 31 I am the God of Bethel now go to John 1 for a second John 1 John 1 John chapter 1 we're not really going to look at the wrestling match but the wrestling match happens in Genesis 32 and I find this interesting because Genesis 28 it's about Bethel God's house Genesis 31 I am the God of Bethel and then Jacob individually wrestles with an Old Testament appearance of the Lord Jesus Christ now you say how do you know that who he wrestled with was Jesus Christ because we saw that that was God because he had power over the angel and that's linked to it being God but how do you know it was Jesus you say how do you know that it wasn't God the Father how do you know it wasn't God the Holy Ghost okay well what does it say in John 1 verse 18 no man hath seen God at any time the only begotten Son which is in the bosom of the Father he hath declared him now I want you to realize that when you see the word God in the Bible that could be referring to God the Father it could be referring to God the Son it could be referring to God the Holy Ghost or it could be referring to God just you know in general okay usually when you see the word God in the Bible what it's referring to is God the Father okay here's an example where it's referring to God the Father because we know God was manifest in the flesh that's Jesus Christ and obviously many people saw Jesus Christ right it's like he was manifest in the flesh lots of people saw him right our hands have handled of the Word of Life it says in 1st John when it says no man hath seen God at any time well that's referring to God the Father but it says the only begotten Son which is in the bosom of the Father God the Father linking back to no man hath seen God at any time he hath declared him so Jesus Christ declared you know God the Father now this does not mean that God the Father became God the Son it doesn't mean that Jesus Christ that they're just the same and it's like well this is God the Father and he decided to become the son they kind of know we're not talking about oneness right because in the beginning was the word Jesus was here at the beginning we understand that but what I'm trying to show you is this no one ever saw no man hath seen God the Father at any time is what the Bible is teaching here so if we go to the Old Testament and you see somebody wrestling you see God wrestling with Jacob well that's not God the Father because no man hath seen God at any time okay now people that believe in oneness they don't like to hear that because they don't believe that God the Son exists until the New Testament but yet we saw in Hosea which is not exactly the book I'm going to use to prove my doctrine but we saw how angel and God are used interchangeably well angels the messenger and who is God referring there to it's referring to God the Son so whenever you see in the Old Testament you see God appear in bodily form that's an Old Testament appearance of the Lord Jesus Christ God the Son okay for example you know in the fiery furnace you're seeing God the Son that's what you're seeing in those those stories whenever you see that in the Old Testament it's the Lord Jesus Christ okay now go to Genesis 35 Genesis 35 Genesis 35 so Genesis 28 talks about Bethel being God's house and we're talking about Bethel because it mentions that in Hosea 12 okay Genesis 31 he said I am the God of Bethel Genesis 32 Jacob wrestles with God now this is probably the the biggest experience he's ever had in his life right it's like you know I can say I've done a lot of exciting things in my life right we take part in soul winning marathons very exciting it's really cool to be a church that's doing something when so few are we do a lot of exciting things a lot of things we rejoice about but you never come back from so any and say hey you guess what I wrestled with God you know 30 minutes ago now if you do come back from soul-winning sometime and you tell me that you wrestled with God there are some Pentecostal churches I would love to recommend for you to go to right or whatever church just probably not this one okay and so Jacob though literally wrestled with God and that was referring to God the Son and you can see that in that story I'm just not going into it because that's really outside the scope of what I believe Hosea is about but you talk about Bethel and Bethel in chapters 28 and 31 then he wrestles God remember he said I am the god of Bethel go to Genesis 35 verse 1 Genesis 35 verse 1 and God said unto Jacob arise go up to Bethel and dwell there and make there an altar unto God that appeared unto thee when thou fled us from the face of Esau thy brother then Jacob said unto his household unto all that were with him put away the strange gods that are among you be clean and change your garments and let us arise and go up to Bethel and I will make there an altar unto God who answered me in the day of my distress it was with me in the way which I went go to verse 9 verse 9 verse 9 and God appeared unto Jacob again when he came out of Padanerim and blessed him and God said unto him thy name is Jacob thy name shall not be called any more Jacob but Israel shall be thy name and he called his name Israel now here's the thing you don't have to turn there actually turn to Genesis 32 verse 28 let me just show you one verse from Genesis 32 I'll turn there myself to credit cross-reference here Genesis 32 verse 28 Genesis 32 verse 28 and notice what he says in Genesis 32 verse 28 this is after the wrestling match and he said thy name shall be called no more Jacob but Israel for as a prince thou hast thou a power with God and with men and hast prevail right has power with God referring to wrestling with God but it says you know your name's no more Jacob but it's Israel according to Genesis 32 verse 28 we'll go back to Genesis 35 Genesis 35 that's very similar to what he just said here in this verse Genesis 35 verse 10 and God said unto him thy name is Jacob thy name shall not be called any more Jacob but Israel shall be thy name and he called his name Israel and God said unto him I am God Almighty be fruitful and multiply a nation and the company of nations shall be of thee and kings shall come out of thy loins and the land which I gave Abraham and Isaac to thee I will give it into thy seed after thee while I give the land verse 13 and God went up from in the God went up from him in the place where he talked with him and Jacob set up a pillar in the place where he talked with him even a pillar of stone and he poured a drink offering thereon and he poured oil thereon and Jacob called the name of the place where God spake with him Bethel okay now Bethel is the house of God we saw that in Genesis 28 we saw that in Genesis 31 we go forward to Genesis 35 God speaks to him it's like this is Bethel now Genesis 32 he has a wrestling match and from an outsider standpoint you would look at it and say man Genesis 32 is the most exciting thing in his life but God's reminding him I'm the God of Bethel and he speaks with him and he says Bethel and what is Bethel it's the house of God so what we're seeing is this big event but it's sandwiched between I'm the God of Bethel I'm the God of Bethel God's trying to drive home the point the importance of being part of God's house that's what he's teaching it mentioned in Hosea 12 about Bethel and he talks about I am the God of Bethel and I want you to realize you might do some really exciting individual solo acts in your life but the reality is if you really want to serve God and get close to God God is the God of Bethel right God is the God of the local New Testament Church and look if you are not part of a church you might get motivated during the mega marathon to do six hours of soul-winning do some big event really exciting you're not going to accomplish that much outside of the local New Testament Church right that is what God is trying to teach us and look this is reality it doesn't matter how zealous you are look if I was not part of a good church I'm sure I'd get people saved from time to time because you know I read the Bible and I know I should go soul-winning so I take opportunities but do you really think that by yourself you're gonna knock doors without any church supporting you without anybody behind you without any soul-winning times without any motivation without any push no you're not and if you want to be successful in life in all areas you must humble yourself that's the secret to success and look God is the God of Bethel okay if you want to really serve God you need to be part of a good church that's what the Bible is trying to teach is go to Hosea 12 Hosea 12 Hosea chapter 12 and look I know I've bounced around looked at a lot I mean we look we really had to to get into what I was trying to say but I believe that what Hosea 12 is primarily about is the importance of the local New Testament Church now in the Old Testament what the house of God was was a little bit different but it's the same concept that's being taught that God works through his house okay and in our modern day that is the local New Testament Church what it said in Hosea 12 verse 3 is this he took his brother by the heel in the womb and by his strength he had power with God he had power over the angel and prevailed so there's the wrestling match that's being referred to okay which makes sense because it talks about Bethel which is right around that wrestling match okay but he had power over the angel and prevailed and it says he wept and made supplication on to him now look you don't make supplication on to an angelic being right you're making supplications on to God and you can tell that if you get into the story so this shows that this is actually referring to God he found him in Bethel and there he spake with us and so here's the thing about this it he found him in Bethel is referring to later on Genesis 35 and yet he has the big wrestling match in Genesis 32 why well because the focus is that is where God dwells I am the God of Bethel we found him in Bethel and there he spake with us and look obviously individually you should be zealous to read the Bible and memorize the Bible and you you need to serve God on your own as much as possible but you should never just say well I'm gonna now separate from the local church and still I'm going to serve God you have to have that local New Testament Church to support you it's important and look I understand I'm preaching to the choir here tonight because this is Wednesday night and look for some of you you put in great effort to come here but you know Church is important okay this is what the Bible is teaching Hosea 12 verse 5 even the Lord God of hosts the Lord is his memorial therefore turn thou to thy God keep mercy and judgment and wait on thy God continually verse number seven he is a merchant the balances of deceit are in his hand he loveth to oppress and Ephraim said yet I am become rich I have found me out substance in all my labors they shall find none iniquity in me that were sinned and so look just because you become rich just because you get money that doesn't mean that you're doing everything right right there's this attitude well God must be blessing me because I got a nice house I mean he might be blessing you that doesn't mean that you didn't do any sin it's like man I've got a nice car God is really blessing me I must be right with God well I mean Job was right with God after he lost everything right the Bible does not teach a health wealth and prosperity gospel verse 9 and I that am the Lord thy God from the land of Egypt will yet make thee to dwell in tabernacles as in the days of the solemn feast this also goes back to the idea of the importance of the house of God because at times they were dwelling in tabernacles right I mean so the what the house of God is has changed depending on what time period but you're still seeing that concept of the house of God you know dwelling in tabernacles it says here I have also spoken by the prophets and I have multiplied visions and use similitude by the ministry of the prophets so verse 9 is kind of hinting at the fact of the local church or the house of God but then in verse 10 I have also spoken by the prophets and I have multiplied visions and use similitudes by the ministry of the prophets so look we understand that during the Old Testament not all of the book was written down not everybody had the Word of God and God primarily used prophets right go to Hebrews 1 let me turn there myself Hebrews chapter 1 Hebrews chapter 1 and you got some religions who believe in the local New Testament Church he does have people preaching the Word of God for you to learn the difference is I'm not prophesying about something that's going to take place the only prophesying I'm going to do about something in the future is something the Bible directly tells me it's like I'm predicting that Jesus is coming back after the tribulation but you know why I'm able to make that prophecy because the Bible says it right I'm not making any predictions on things that are going to end up taking place other than what the Bible clearly states so modern day all you're doing is expounding on what the Word of God actually says Hebrews 1 verse 1 God who had sundry times and in diverse manners spake in time past onto the fathers by the prophets so it says sundry times in in diverse manners so sundry times in diverse manners are basically synonyms basically in different ways you know he spoke in different manners diverse or different ways he spoke by the prophets hath in these last days spoken unto us by his son Jesus Christ who we have to point an heir of all things by whom also he made the world's and so he's spoken by Jesus Christ in the last days so here's the thing Jesus obviously rose again and then people actually wrote about what they actually saw and people that were actually there for these events I mean first John talks about actually turn to first John first John first John chapter 1 first John chapter 1 because nowadays you have people that say they're modern-day prophets or you got these organizations that say that they're the prophets of God they're speaking on God's behalf there's modern day revelation but yet in the Bible the people that are actually writing the Word of God either experienced it for themselves or they spoke to people that were eyewitnesses of those exact events it's not somebody 2,000 years later that says oh man I got a headache no wait it's it's a prophecy right and then they just tell you something like Ellen White right the leader of the seventh-day Adventists where it's like literally when you read your story and seventh-day Adventists try to make it sound good it just sounds like she's possessed by devils to me it's just like oh I've got this headache and then all of a sudden she just starts you know seeing things and having visions and she makes these prophecies like God doesn't want us to eat meat it's like what kind of a what kind of a prophecy is this and the problem is they they say these things but then it contradicts what's already been said and it's like their modern-day revelations will contradict the things the Bible specifically states so what do we go with some random person who says that God talked to me or do you just go with what God clearly said you go with what God clearly said there cannot not be any contradictions okay first on one verse one that which was from the beginning referring to Jesus Christ here from the beginning which we have heard which we have seen with our eyes which we have looked upon and our hands have handled of the word of life so when it comes to people that that wrote the books of the Bible it wasn't just like oh I I heard this story about something from a thousand years ago let me just write about it no they actually were able to partake in those things our hands have handled of the word of life for the life was manifested and we have seen it and bear witness and show unto you that eternal life which was with a father and was manifested on to us now of course God could have given us his word by any method he wanted but he used a very logical way it wasn't just some random person that said man I found these stone tablets you know in in in the the the parks or the forest in New York it's like you know I don't know what Kagu Bata you found but it's not it's not like the in actual I mean it's crazy right but that's Mormonism for you and it's like Joseph Smith just found these tablets and there's different versions of these stories and in one story people are following him trying to kill him and everything and he's it's like you're carrying two stone tablets that are supposedly really heavy and you're running away from someone who's trying to it doesn't make any sense it's like are you a bodybuilder it's like what now go back to go back to Hosea go back to Hosea chapter 12 Hosea 12 Hosea 12 my point is this though that God did speak in times past by the prophets but now we have the Word of God because Jesus Christ was here and then people wrote about what took place and the whole Bible was finished I mean nearly 2,000 years ago I believe over 1,900 years ago and look the Bible doesn't say exactly the year everything was written but even by consensus on on you know scholars or whatever it was finished like 1,900 years ago and so it's like we have a finished book that has proven itself to be correct there's no errors at all and then you've got these religions that popped up in the 19th century and you know the restoration movement you got the Seventh-day Adventists you got the Jehovah's Witnesses you got the Mormons and then other countries get envious and say well we got to have our restoration movements right and it's just like they're all these modern-day prophets as modern-day revelation and everything and it's just like the problem is everything contradicts what the Bible says and it's just like they elevate those books like the Book of Mormon and the pearl of great price and the doctrines of covenants above the Word of God and it's like they contradict look as Bible believe in Christians there is no modern-day revelation this is the Word of God and it doesn't matter when people come to you with stories because oftentimes they want you to believe something and they'll just give you a story well it's like well I know you can lose your salvation because I know someone who was saved who lost it well first off how do you know they were saved did you see that salvation and secondly how would you know they lost it right well obviously you just don't understand salvation is the problem or they'll say well you know I know like I knew somebody who was Catholic and they told me this I was probably 20 years old and we were disagreeing about this topic and I was at this Christian group and we're talking about speaking in tongues whenever you have these Christian groups they don't want you to talk about anything controversial and of course I said I don't believe in it right and this this Catholic girl said why no it's real because I saw it took place it's like I bet you did see it take place right it's probably you probably did see somebody possessed just you know doing whatever look God has spoken to us through his word and church is the pillar and ground of the truth so the purpose of church is just to expound on the truth found in God's Word okay he said in verse 9 and I that am the Lord thy God from the land of Egypt will yet make thee to dwell in tabernacles as in the days of the solemn feast I've also spoken by the prophets and I've multiplied visions and use similitude by the ministry of the prophets is there an equity in Gilead surely they are vanity they sacrificed bullets in Gilgal yea their altars are as heaps in the furrows of the field and Jacob fled into the country of Syria and Israel served for wife and for wife he kept sheep and so Jacob or Israel served for wife referring to you know obviously Rachel and then you know Leah and that whole complicated story and by a prophet the Lord brought Israel out of Egypt and by a prophet was he preserved and so by a prophet the Lord brought Israel out of Egypt that's referring to Moses because he's explaining how I used to operate through prophets and he's giving some examples and of course he's saying I've rejected Israel so the system is going to be different but it's still the house of God it's just the house of God's a little bit different now and now we have the finished Word of God okay and he says and by a prophet was he preserved okay so he says by a prophet was he preserved and I want you to realize that really what preserves God's people or preserves even a nation is just people preaching and speaking the Word of God that's what preserves it look I mean if this country had no good churches then you know what God's wrath would be on this country because if there's no good preaching then people are going to sin that's the way it works and so it's really people and local churches and people preaching the truth is what preserves a nation or preserves a location it preserves God's wrath from being poured out Ephraim provoked him to anger most bitterly therefore shall he leave his blood upon him in his reproach shall his Lord return on to him okay now go to Hebrews 10 we're going to close up in Hebrews chapter 10 Hebrews 10 Hebrew chapter 10 so the main the main point that I believe God's driving home in Hosea 12 because usually in the Bible when you have chapters there's really kind of one thing God is trying to drive home or at least one thing and I really believe the main focus in the reference on Bethel and in tabernacles and how he used to use prophets and things such as that I believe the focus is on the importance of the house of God and that was something that was very important in the days of Hosea and it's something that's very important now now are there some things that are different well absolutely we don't sacrifice animals in today's world right I mean the the Passover became the Lord's Supper or there's that transition things such as that but you know it's important to be at God's house because you know what God is the God of Bethel and I would submit to you that nobody is really going to be successful in their Christian life if they do it outside of church now I understand that there are people in various parts of the world who they don't have a great church I mean probably many of you several years ago you didn't have a great church and the reality is you might have been just as zealous back then but you're accomplishing more for God now than you did years ago and I think we need to remind ourselves about some of these things because you know whenever you have something new it's always really exciting at first right I mean let's say you know you you let's say you just get a million let's say somebody buys you a brand new car or whatever right it's like man I got a car this is so nice it's so shiny and everything and let's say it's an expensive car let's say it's I don't know five million peso car or whatever and part of the rules are I'll give you this free car but you can't sell it you got it you got to keep it you're like hey I don't care man I got an awesome car this is great and everything but yeah eventually it's just like oh you know your car just becomes your cards it's no different than anybody else's car just gets you from point A to point B right or you get a brand new house and you first get that house and it's like man this is awesome it's so but then it just eventually becomes your house but you don't want to allow that attitude to come in a church where it's like man it's like I'm at church now this church is awesome I'm hearing the preaching I'm going so any but then as a year goes by or two years go by it just kind of becomes your church and you forget about what it was like beforehand without a church you forget about how I prayed for a church I wanted a church and then once you get it you just kind of forget about it and this is the way we are in life right you know we just kind of forget about stuff and I think we need to remember the importance of having a great church and look I've lived at various locations without a great church and you just don't accomplish that much for God you need to be part of a great church to accomplish something and that's something you should remember especially when I believe that's the main focus of Hosea chapter 12 is to remind you of the importance of church okay Hebrews 10 verse 24 Hebrews 10 verse 24 and you say why do I need to why do I need to be reminded of this well for one because many of you put in pretty big effort to come to church I mean many people don't really live that close to this church and it takes up a lot of time and effort and deciding to come to church on a Wednesday night that makes life a little bit more difficult right you say man I've got a couple hours I need to get some errands done and then all of a sudden you're spending it at church and then you could easily develop this attitude is it worth it am I wasting my time is it worth it and look I believe the God God reminds us it is worth it and it's not just to hear the preaching you say brother Stuckey I won't come to church I'll just listen to the sermon online well I mean the live stream might be good it might not we'll see right but you're not gonna get the fellowship just listening at home you're not gonna get that and look honestly a sermon is 20 times better in person than online if the sermon is so great online how come you know you listen to a lot of sermons I'm so excited and then you just stop listening 20 minutes in or start doing something else it's just not the same as in person it's just a lot better when you're actually there to experience it okay Hebrews 10 verse 24 and let us consider one another to provoke on to love and to good works not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as a manner of some is but exhorting one another and so much the more as you see the day approaching and the Bible's saying you know what as we get closer to the day as we see the day approaching you need God even more you need church even more you need to assemble with God's people even more than you did before as you see the day approaching and look as we live in this day this world is changing very quickly I mean in the last 50 years this country has changed a lot and it's changed in a lot of different ways but just think of a couple examples right think of something like abortion and in pretty much worldwide abortion would have been considered such an abomination that nobody would have done 50 years ago and then countries now it's just like half the country supports abortion it's like half the country supports murder and look everybody realizes it's murder it's it's it's not a debatable topic everybody understands that it's but people want to justify their actions it's like how is that even disputed whether or not abortion well it's you know my body my choice it's like yeah you're wicked person that is willing to kill your baby because you're selfish and because you're promiscuous because you're a whore right that's the reason why and yet abortion now it's becoming more and more common now let me say something that when it comes to committing abortion you know obviously you're killing the baby but you know what you're also harming the rest of your life as a woman because you're not gonna forget that I mean unless you're a complete reprobate that's something you're gonna regret and be like man that's terrible because you know it is terrible you look at abortion though and now it's just kind of common or how about the LGBT talk about something has changed in the last 50 years I mean if you had told people 50 years ago that hey you know in 50 years there's gonna be a bunch of dudes you know wearing dresses everywhere you go acting like women right it's all over the place here and I would say this that because we get desensitized to things if you were to take people that live 50 years ago they would have never saw this day ever coming but now it probably seems normal to most of them like it's not actually that big of a deal say why because you just get desensitized because when it's really common right it feels normal as we've talked about many times and it's just around all the time and now it's no big deal well it's just gonna become more and more common because as everyone has smartphones in the television even people in countries that aren't insane like brother Mateus tells us people in Poland aren't insane but they'll become insane because they're watching TV right it's just like you see it on TV you see it on your smartphones and you see it all the time popping up and it's just like it starts to just feel normal even though it's not normal there's a guy here in the Philippines I don't know what his name is I always forget that really skinny guy that's like 22 or 23 that dresses as a woman and he's becoming really popular now he's all over the social media he's his billboard is there when you go to Pampanga they got rid of vice pong eat now they got this dude this dude this lady whatever you wanna you know this whatever right and it's like you know what in the day we're living in as as we see the day approaching because we certainly see that we're getting closer to the end times now I personally don't think it's coming in the next 10 20 years or whatever but we certainly see the day approaching of things lining up and everything you need Church now more than ever because as the world is fighting against us it would be very easy to just quit on God you need this kind of preaching you need this fellowship you need the soul winning you need the motivation you need Church as much as you can possibly get you say why because God is the God of Beth let's close in a word of prayer your heavenly father thanks for allowing us to be here today and just getting to see this topic of abiding in your house and help all of us stay dedicated to church and to do everything we can to be a part of church as much as we possibly can God and ask you to continue to bless this church and help us to serve you zealously and I ask you to bless all the members that are here today and part of our church we pray this in Jesus name amen and take out your hymnal take out your song number 37 on the first there'll be no dark valley when Jesus comes there'll be no dark valley when Jesus comes there'll be no dark valley when Jesus comes to gather his loved ones home together his loved ones home together his loved ones home there'll be no dark valley when Jesus comes together his loved ones home there'll be no more sorrow when Jesus comes there'll be no more sorrow when Jesus comes but a glorious sorrow when Jesus comes to gather his loved ones home together his loved ones home together his loved ones home there'll be no dark valley when Jesus comes to gather his loved ones home there'll be no more weeping when Jesus comes there'll be no more weeping when Jesus comes but a blessed reaping when Jesus comes together his loved ones home together his loved ones home together his loved ones home there'll be no dark valley when Jesus comes together his loved ones home on the last there'll be songs of reading when Jesus comes there'll be songs of reading when Jesus comes and a joyful meeting when Jesus comes to gather his loved ones home together his loved ones home together his loved ones home there'll be no dark valley when Jesus comes together his loved ones home alright let's close in word of prayer dear Heavenly Father thank you for allowing us be here in your house this evening we ask you to just help us apply this sermon to our lives and always be reminded this and thank you for the great church that you bless us with and the great people that love you God we just pray this in Jesus name Amen