WYC 2010:  In His Image

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GYC West

WYC 2010: Morning Devotions

Alan Parker

The Sand Reveals Its Secrets

The Four Laws of Marriage

George Jackson

Revelation’s 411 Foundation

Nicole Parker

The Valley of Achor

Lord Jesus, we ask you to come and be here with us this morning.

I cannot speak by myself, but I know that you have a message for every heart here.

I pray, Lord, that you will speak it through me, that each 1 will hear.

Drive away the forces of the darkness, that they may not be able to distract us.

Put a wall of angels around this place to keep away the devil and all of the enemy, that we may be blessed, that we may be encouraged in whatever we're facing in life.

And as Arden was asking me, wasn't that the place that Aiken was killed?

But I hope as you hear this message, you'll see what applies to your heart, and you will come away blessed.

Not long ago, I got a tearful phone call.

Some people are crying because of their own sins.

Some people are crying because of other people's mistakes.

This girl was a young lady that I admired deeply.

I had seen the Lord working so mightily in her life.

She was a homeschooled, beautiful, virtuous young woman.

And just a couple of months before that, I had listened to her share her testimony at Southern for the student week of prayer.

She had stood up before all of these students and testified that she was saving her first kiss for her husband.

That she believed in purity, that God had a plan for her to wait for the right man.

And now she called and she said, Nicole, I was raped 2 weeks ago.

There are things you just, You don't know how to respond.

But then she said, I've taken 2 pregnancy tests this morning, and they're both positive.

Sometimes there's nothing you can do but cry with somebody and say the Lord is with you.

I don't know the future, but God isn't asking you to figure out the future.

He's asking you to surrender in the moment.

And whatever you surrender to him, he will turn into something beautiful.

I don't know what's ahead, but that's not something you have to worry about right now.

What you need to worry about is, Lord, am I giving this situation to you?

Because as you give it to him, He will turn it into something beautiful.

There was a time in Israel when things looked very dark and hopeless because of the sins of the people, because they were turning away from God.

And God spoke to Hosea, and he said, Hosea, I want you to marry a prostitute.

Because Israel is causing me so much pain, I want you to join me in this pain.

Feel what it feels like to be betrayed over and over.

It wasn't fair for Hosea to go through that.

It wasn't fair for my friend to go through this.

But sometimes God calls us to go through things that weren't fair.

Hosea went out and married a prostitute, Gomer.

And over and over, she disappointed him, she betrayed him, she broke his heart.

But over and over, Hosea showed her and showed all of Israel what God's heart is like.

That love, that depth of forgiveness that the human heart cannot come up with on its own.

In chapter 2 of the book of Hosea, God describes what he and Hosea are going through.

And he says about Israel, I'm going to hedge up your way with thorns.

In Hosea 2 verse 7, the unfaithful woman says, I will go and return to my first husband, for then was it better with me than now.

Sometimes he allows us to go through pain, Especially because of our own sins, because He wants to hedge up the way.

Make it painful to go anywhere else but back to Him.

And that kind of pain is a tremendous blessing, isn't it?

In Hosea chapter 2, Things take a surprising turn after this.

Instead of God saying, here I am, come back to me, he says, after this unfaithful woman has said, I'm gonna go back to my husband.

He says, now, I'm gonna give you what you deserve.

I will take back my grain in its time and my wine in its season, and I will take away my wool and my flax, which were given to cover her nakedness.

Now I will uncover her lewdness in the sight of her lovers, and no 1 shall rescue her out of my hand.

I will lay waste her vines and her fig trees, of which she said, these are my wages which my lovers have given me.

I will punish her for the feast days of the bales, when she burned offerings to them and adorned herself with her ring and jewelry, and went after her lovers and forgot me, declares the Lord.

You surrender something to God, and instead of Him suddenly blessing you with peace, you still feel turmoil.

Sometimes our trouble is a result of our own sin, but sometimes it's a result of someone else's sin.

Or sometimes it's just a result of living in a sinful world.

But pain and suffering are just a result of sin.

It's always sin that causes pain and suffering.

But in the midst of all of that, God is able to bring beautiful things.

In Hosea 2, at the end of all that passage of pain and promise of revenge.

It sounds like God's being so vengeful, just like a human heart feels when they've been betrayed.

But it's not, because right after that, he says, in verses 14 and 15, therefore, behold, I will allure her and bring her into the wilderness and speak tenderly to her.

And there I will give her her vineyards and make the valley of Achor a door of hope.

The word achor is a word for trouble in Hebrew.

And if you turn to Joshua 7, you'll find the verse mention of the Valley of Achor.

I don't have time to read the whole thing this morning, but if you look in Joshua 7, verses 24 through 26, the idea is at the beginning, God has, in this whole passage, God has been dealing with Israel.

They went out without asking God if they should, and rather than everybody going out to the battle, they said, oh man, look at what we did to Jericho.

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WYC 2010: Morning Devotions

The Valley of Achor

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Attachments

Sanctuary, Salvation & Our Savior

Sanctuary, Salvation & Our Savior: Back to the Father’s House

28m

Is God Enough

57m

The Struggle to Surrender

23m

Soul Thirst: Going Deeper with God

The Secret to Vibrant Spirituality

42m

Surprised By Love

1h 5m

Plenary

Giving Up All

44m

GYC 2011 Seminar: Reaching the Heart of a Broken World

Living on E

1h 57m

How to Grow Spiritually

Giving Up, Giving All

40m

The 7 Phases of Surrender

45m

Fresh Manna by Jermaine Gayle

Revelation and Relief

40m

Stress Relief & the 3rd Angel

34m

Sound Doctrine