Key Truth: Our knowledge of God, which is shaped by our worship, determines our relationship with God and others.

Introduction:

Q: What is the relationship between what you know and what you do? How does this affect your relationships with others?

God’s Indictment Against Israel, Part 1: The Covenant and Law in Ruins:

Hosea 4:1-11

“Repeatedly Hosea traces Israel’s spiritual and moral problems to lack of knowledge of God….Knowledge of God is not merely knowing about God; it is being properly related to him in love and obedience. Israel did not need more information about God but a stronger desire for fellowship with God.”

William Sanford LaSor, David Allan Hubbard, & Frederic Wm. Bush, Old Testament Survey: The Message, Form, and Background of the Old Testament

Q: What impact is your knowledge of God having on how you relate to Him and treat your family, co-workers/students, neighbors, and those not like you? What role does discipleship play in cultivating your knowledge of God into action?

God’s Indictment Against Israel, Part 2: Worship in Ruins:

Hosea 4:12-19

“Idolaters do not content themselves with a lower degree of false worship. How much less should we in the way of God’s worship! we should not content ourselves with low attainments, but get up to the top of godliness, and labour to gain the very height of the worship of God….”

Jeremiah Burroughs, An Exposition of the Prophecy of Hosea

Q: What impact is your worship having on your knowledge of God? What resources are you making use of to prepare for worship?

Hosea 4:1-19 teaches us that:

-our knowledge of God determines our relationship to Him and to others

-our worship shapes our knowledge of God

Communion

Benediction:

Hosea 6:1-3