by Pastor Mark Downey
Continued from Hosea Chapter 1 by Pastor Don Elmore
Several months ago Pastor Elmore asked me if I’d like to do tag team sermons on the first and second chapters of Hosea for a visit we were making to Pastor Harness’ church in Indiana and a second time for a Bible study farm family and I thought it was a great idea. This is our third presentation and Don said we could probably expand our talks because we don’t have the time constraints we had before. So, I have added some new material to elaborate on what Hosea was and is telling us.
Don and I learned something about each other’s approach to sermons over lunch one Sunday after church, because breaking bread with fellow believers is a great way to fellowship. Well, Don usually doesn’t come up with a title until he’s finished with the text. On the other hand, I just can’t get started until I come up with a title. I was guessing that Don was going to title his sermon ‘Hosea 1’. I thought long and hard about what I what title my sermon and after much contemplation and deliberation, I finally decided upon ‘Hosea 2’.
Neither of us had foreknowledge of what the other’s sermon was going to say, and in that manner of presentation, I think it may be more of what the Holy Spirit has to say than us. I’ve been to many Identity conferences over the years and the good ones are when the speaker’s messages (and I’ll use a biblical phrase) are “fitly framed together”, they’re touching the same theme and convey the influence and beauty of the mind of Christ in His servants. So let’s now look at how Hosea 1 and 2 match up.