Summary: Sunday Evening Evangelistic Message #83 <br><br> Scripture: Hosea 10:1-12 <br><br> Today, we have come to the end of a long series titled "Break Up Your Fallow Ground: It Is Time to Seek the Lord" which is based on Hosea 10:12. In this passage, Hosea urges the children of Israel to turn away from their sins, repent, and get right with God. And, by the grace of God, we have been called to do the same over the past 22 weeks as we have studied God's Word together. <br><br> As we begin today, let's take a close look at verse eight of Hosea chapter 10. This is the last verse that we have not covered in detail from this passage. The verse reads, "The high places also of Aven, the sin of Israel, shall be destroyed: the thorn and the thistle shall come up on their altars; and they shall say to the mountains, Cover us; and to the hills, Fall on us." <br><br> In this verse, God proclaims the destruction of the idolatrous places which the children of Israel had built up and which offended Him. "The high places" were the hills in Israel on which the children of Israel built altars to false gods. Hosea specifically mentions the high places of Aven. This is a reference to the city of Beth-Aven which is also mentioned in verse five. The name "Beth-Aven" means 'house of vanity'. 'Aven' simply means 'vanity' and it is a word which the Bible uses to refer to other places of idolatrous worship. <br><br> When the children of Israel were carried off into captivity, their high places of course fell into disuse. Thus, God says, thorns and thistles would grow up and cover the altars. The desolation of Israel will be so great that the people of Israel will desire for the mountains and hills to fall on them because the punishment and destruction that comes down on Israel would be too much for them to bear. <br><br> Just as God made the nation of His chosen people desolate, He can do the same to us today. Yes, He is long suffering, but He will not allow sin to go unpunished forever. One day, if our nation does not repent, we will fall under a similar hand of judgment from God. <br><br> Now, in this series of messages, we are addressing specific sins that folks in the church need to confess and repent of in order to get our hearts right with God, and so that we can ask God to send revival in our personal lives, our families, our churches, our communities, and our country. So far we have addressed sixty-two sins in total, and today, we are going to continue and complete this series by addressing three more sins from our list. <br><br> 1. The first sin we will address today is the sin of not giving to those in need. <br><br> 2. The second sin we will address today is the sin of not using our gifts and talents for God's glory. <br><br> 3. The third sin we will address today is the sin of knowing to do good but not doing it. <br><br> + Plus, listen to Andrae Crouch singing "Soon and Very Soon" and Newsboys singing "Blessed Be Your Name"
