Exegesis

[Searching soul23]

This morning at church, my pastor made a boo-boo. The sermon series is about marriage. But absolutely the only scripture he used to support his sermon was in Genesis 1 and 2. But then he erred when he tried to incorporate the entire book of Hosea into his message. It is not easy to encorporate specific verses of the minor prophets into sermons preached on a personal level. The meaning of the book of Hosea is clear. It is a warning to Israel's northern kingdom to return to the Lord. God used the imagery of loving an unfaithful wife dispite her short-comings. And to better illustrate his point, God commanded Hosea to take a prostitute as a wife. Would she be faithful to him? Of course not. That was the point. But Hosea probably didn't want to take an unfaithful wife. To me, marriage was not the point of Hosea's prophecy. Adultery was! The adultery that Israel had committed against God. They had sold themselves to idol's. Thus the warning to return to serving the one true God or face His judgment.

The rest of the minor prophets also use imagery to make points about the state of the nation Israel. One important rule of exegesis is that scripture is always intended to be interpreted the way its original audience would have interpreted it. Otherwise you could look at any verse and it could mean any number of things to you based on what's going through your mind at the time you read it. Be careful not to read things into scripture that aren't there. Make sure to read entire passages when you're not sure, and don't read the Bible for yourself when you're deeply distressed. At those times, you'll be more likely to misinterpret.

[patricia1]

I see other reasons as well for hosea to be put into a marraige sermon? Don't you? try Looking with a different perspective and ask the Holy Spirit....

[OneLight]

Hi Searching soul23,

As I read this post, ...

This morning at church, my pastor made a boo-boo. The sermon series is about marriage. But absolutely the only scripture he used to support his sermon was in Genesis 1 and 2. But then he erred when he tried to incorporate the entire book of Hosea into his message. It is not easy to encorporate specific verses of the minor prophets into sermons preached on a personal level. The meaning of the book of Hosea is clear. It is a warning to Israel's northern kingdom to return to the Lord. God used the imagery of loving an unfaithful wife dispite her short-comings. And to better illustrate his point, God commanded Hosea to take a prostitute as a wife. Would she be faithful to him? Of course not. That was the point. But Hosea probably didn't want to take an unfaithful wife. To me, marriage was not the point of Hosea's prophecy. Adultery was! The adultery that Israel had committed against God. They had sold themselves to idol's. Thus the warning to return to serving the one true God or face His judgment.

The rest of the minor prophets also use imagery to make points about the state of the nation Israel. One important rule of exegesis is that scripture is always intended to be interpreted the way its original audience would have interpreted it. Otherwise you could look at any verse and it could mean any number of things to you based on what's going through your mind at the time you read it. Be careful not to read things into scripture that aren't there. Make sure to read entire passages when you're not sure, and don't read the Bible for yourself when you're deeply distressed. At those times, you'll be more likely to misinterpret.

... I became confused??? In another thread you posted today A difficult sermon series, you spoke of a whole different sermon ...

Went to church this morning. Saw a friend from the 20's group. Good praise and worship. But then, a difficult sermon for me to hear. The topic: big God-shaped hole, little human-shaped hole. Our pastor used this humanistic theme from the 1980's to segue into another humanistic theme and then used scripture to back it all up. He even threw in some Greek Myth about Tantalis. He tried to maximize the human-shaped hole and minimize the God-shaped hole. This was not right. Our study group tonight will be going over the sermon in detail. Pray that God will be glorified, and pray that the topics discussed will have good scriptural segues, rather than only the weak humanistic segue of a deep-seated craving, which is what our pastor presented to us. Our pastor mentioned the book of Hosea, so I am going to read that in order to be prepared. I will also read the other minor prophets in case they have more light to shed on the topic. Pray also that I can be diplomatic if I have to question any of this during study tonight.

Is this one and the same church and sermon?

[Guest]

In another thread you posted today A difficult sermon series, you spoke of a whole different sermon ...Is this one and the same church and sermon?

Amen!

http://www.worthyboards.com/index.php?showtopic=82386

Praying For God's Heart In This Matter

May Esteem And Love Trump!

Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves.

Philippians 2:3

[Searching soul23]

To answer some questions...I guess I was just confused by the sermon and worried about what the study group might focus on. This is the back cover of the book from which the sermon was drawn. It is called Soul Cravings by Erwin Mcmanus.

We can spend our whole lives trying to satisfy the one insatiable part of our being, our soul craving.

Our capacity for spiritual experience both proves our need for something greater than ourselves and leaves us wanting when we fill it with anything but God.

Soul Cravings is a powerful, down-to-earth exposition that interprets our need for intimacy, meaning, and destiny as common sense apologetics pointing to the existence of and our need for God. The book will deeply stir the reader to consider and chase after the spiritual implications of their soul

[Searching soul23]

Soul Cravings is a powerful, down-to-earth exposition that interprets our need for intimacy, meaning, and destiny as common sense apologetics pointing to the existence of and our need for God.

And actually, the pastor did say that the soul's craving for intimacy was like a mirror to point us toward a relationship with God. It's a good apologetic, but only halfway complete. Consider the following paraphrase of a similar, but complete apologetic from The Pilgrim's Progress.

Then the Interpreter led him into a very dusty room, where he called a maiden to sweep the room clean of all the dust. But as soon as she began to sweep, the dust flew into the air and nearly choked poor Christian. And it seemed that as soon as she swept one corner, the dust settled even more heavily in another corner. Then the Interpreter called another maiden with a pitcher of water, instructing her to sprinkle the water throughot the room. Once this was done, the room was swept clean with pleasure.

The dust is our sin. The person sweeping is the law. The person sprinkling water is the Gospel. And the water itself is Christ.

While the law may reveal to you quite clearly your need of cleansing, yet it hath not the power to cleanse you of of even one small spot, nor even to show you how to clean your sins. This is the work of the Gospel. And Christ alone has the power to cleanse you.

But my question is this: what are the elements of our souls' cravings for intimacy that have the power to get us into relationships with God or with other people for that matter? A craving is really nothing more than an over-inflated desire. It's like hunger. My hunger may tell me I need a sandwich. But it cannot provide me with bread, meat, mayo, or the knowledge of how to put them together. So if I crave intimacy, that's fine. But first I have to define intimacy. Then I have to gather up the ingredients I need for it. Then I have to know how to put them all together.

Let's do intimacy with God, first. I need God, which means Jesus. And in order to have that, I have to admit I'm a sinner in need of a savior. And in order to do that, I may need to go through a really tough time. OK. Jesus, acquired. Now, I need to know His character, which means I have to familiarize myself with the Bible. That done, I will have to become comfortable with prayer. Then trust and obedience. And just how I put these all together is anyone's guess, so I''ll have to go to church to learn that. But, oh dear, they don't teach that at church. All they cover there is my craving, which I already know about.

And if you think that was hard, just try explaining to me how to develop human intimacy from scratch. My craving, I know. So you don't need to go over that again.

[Guest]

But my question is this: what are the elements of our souls' cravings for intimacy that have the power to get us into relationships with God

There Is Only One Element

And His Name Is Jesus

Our God Is One LORD

The Captain Of Our Soul

Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD: And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.

Deuteronomy 6:4-5

We Crave Him

The LORD hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee.

Jeremiah 31:3

Because He Craves Us

Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord;

Ephesians 5:19

We Love Him

We love him, because he first loved us.

1 John 4:19

Because He First Loved Us

With Man Love Is Impossible

But he that sinneth against me wrongeth his own soul: all they that hate me love death.

Proverbs 8:36

With God All Things Are Possible

And they were astonished out of measure, saying among themselves, Who then can be saved? And Jesus looking upon them saith, With men it is impossible, but not with God: for with God all things are possible.

Mark 10:26-27

Faith Is God's Gift

For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.

Ephesians 2:8

And Opens The Treasure Of His Heart

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

John 3:16

Be Blessed Beloved

The LORD bless thee, and keep thee:

The LORD make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee:

The LORD lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace.

And they shall put my name upon the children of Israel; and I will bless them. Numbers 6:24-27

Love, Your Brother Joe

[EricH]

Moved from the Outer Court to Doctrinal Questions

[EricH]

The most common mistake people make when reading the Old Testament prophets is the assumption that God is speaking directly to us in our time through the ancients. He was not. He was speaking directly to His people, Israel.The only proper control for understanding the prophets correctly is to learn to hear them as the original intended audience heard them; otherwise, we wind up with some really goofy conclusions (i.e., the Bible predicted 9/11, etc.). That takes practice. Unfortunately, too many people don't take the time to learn how to do that and, in their efforts to appear more wise than they are, as a consequence we wind up with a lot of very vocal, very immature Chicken Littles who, quite frankly, have no idea what they're talking about.

I can't agree with your statement completely. It is true that wen need to understand prophecies in their historical context. But some prophecies are yet to be fulfilled and may be directly applicable to us. To say that they were only applicable to those who lived as the prophets contemporaries is not completely accurate in my opinion