Welcome Back (2024-2025 School Year)
We all know the importance of spending time in the Word. We need to act on what we know.
We all know:
2 Timothy 3:16-17 NLT
16 All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right. 17 God uses it to prepare and equip his people to do every good work.
Hebrews 4:12 NLT
12 For the word of God is alive and powerful. It is sharper than the sharpest two-edged sword, cutting between soul and spirit, between joint and marrow. It exposes our innermost thoughts and desires.
- The Word of God is alive and powerful. It is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives.
- God uses scripture to prepare and equip his people to do every good work.
This morning, I want us to focus on a phrase found in Hosea chapter 4.
Hosea 4:6 NLT
6 My people are being destroyed
because they don’t know me. …
This verse communicates a powerful message to all of us who are living in the 21st century.
My people are being destroyed because they don’t know me.
These are God’s words directed to his chosen people, the Israelites.
These words certainly apply to the 21st century church.
- God’s people are being destroyed because they do not know God.
- The next generation will be destroyed if they do not know God.
Hosea 4:6 NLT
6 My people are being destroyed
because they don’t know me. …
As parents and teachers we have an incredibly important and challenging, and at times seemingly overwhelming, God given assignment.
Proverbs 22:6 (KJV) starts out by saying:
Train up a child in the way he should go:
Proverbs 22:6 NLT
6 Direct your children onto the right path,
and when they are older, they will not leave it.
- Train up a child in the way he should go.
Where do we start?
Scripture tells us:
Proverbs 1:7 NLT
7 Fear of the Lord is the foundation of true knowledge,
but fools despise wisdom and discipline.
ESV The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction.
Scripture also says:
Mark 12:30-31 NLT
30 And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength.’ 31 The second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ No other commandment is greater than these.”
We need to:
- Create an atmosphere where children have the opportunity to “fear the Lord”.
- All of us here have a part in this ministry.
We are One body with many parts.
1 Corinthians 12:18 NLT
18 But our bodies have many parts, and God has put each part just where he wants it.
- God has put each one of you just where He wants you.
Look at:
1 Corinthians 3:6-9 NLT
6 I planted the seed in your hearts, and Apollos watered it, but it was God who made it grow. 7 It’s not important who does the planting, or who does the watering. What’s important is that God makes the seed grow. 8 The one who plants and the one who waters work together with the same purpose. And both will be rewarded for their own hard work. 9 For we are both God’s workers. And you are God’s field. You are God’s building.
- Some of us plant the seed, some of us waters the seed, but what’s important is that God makes the seed grow.
Hosea 4:6 NLT
6 My people are being destroyed
because they don’t know me. …
God’s people are being destroyed because they do not know God.
The next generation will be destroyed if they do not know God.
You can be used by God in this ministry.
Acts 4:13 NLT
13 The members of the council were amazed when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, for they could see that they were ordinary men with no special training in the Scriptures.
They also recognized them as men who had been with Jesus. (More on this later.)
- God uses ordinary people with no special training in the scriptures.
- God is equipping each one of us for this ministry.
- Resources available to each of us here today include the Holy Spirit and the Scriptures.
The Holy Spirit
Acts 1:8 NLT (A promise to the apostles)
8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere—in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
John 14:26 NLT
26 But when the Father sends the Advocate as my representative—that is, the Holy Spirit—he will teach you everything and will remind you of everything I have told you.
Acts 2:38 NLT
38 Peter replied, “Each of you must repent of your sins and turn to God, and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. Then you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
39 This promise is to you, to your children, and to those far away—all who have been called by the Lord our God.”
(Baptism is an act of obedience, not a requirement for salvation.)
John 3:16 NLT
16 “For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.
Romans 10:9 NLT
9 If you openly declare that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
Romans 8:9-11 NLT
9 But you are not controlled by your sinful nature. You are controlled by the Spirit if you have the Spirit of God living in you. (And remember that those who do not have the Spirit of Christ living in them do not belong to him at all.) 10 And Christ lives within you, so even though your body will die because of sin, the Spirit gives you life because you have been made right with God. 11 The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you. And just as God raised Christ Jesus from the dead, he will give life to your mortal bodies by this same Spirit living within you.
- The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you.
God has given us the gift of the Holy Spirit. He also gave us:
The scriptures.
2 Timothy 3:16-17 NLT
16 All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right. 17 God uses it to prepare and equip his people to do every good work.
Hebrews 4:12 NLT
12 For the word of God is alive and powerful. It is sharper than the sharpest two-edged sword, cutting between soul and spirit, between joint and marrow. It exposes our innermost thoughts and desires.
The Word of God is alive and powerful. It is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives.
God uses scripture to prepare and equip his people to do every good work.
What happens when we spend time in the Word?
2 Peter 1:2-4 (NLT)
2 May God give you more and more grace and peace as you grow in your knowledge of God and Jesus our Lord.
3 By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know him, the one who called us to himself by means of his marvelous glory and excellence. 4 And because of his glory and excellence, he has given us great and precious promises. These are the promises that enable you to share his divine nature and escape the world’s corruption caused by human desires.
- Knowing God better should be a number one priority in our lives.
- As we come to know God better, God is giving us everything we need for living a Godly life.
- As we learn to know God’s promises, we are able to share his divine nature and escape the world’s corruption caused by human desires.
Acts 4:20 NLT
20 We cannot stop telling about everything we have seen and heard.”
We are all
Changed lives changing lives.
Hosea 4:6 NLT
6 My people are being destroyed
because they don’t know me. …
God’s people are being destroyed because they do not know God.
The next generation will be destroyed if they do not know God.
