Fbc Eugene

What motivates you to live the Christian life? To avoid guilt or shame? A creature of habit? To honor tradition? To keep your wife or mother happy? (I know; that’s sexist, but I’m going with the odds, here.) God understands that living as spiritual exiles in this world is a tough assignment. So, he makes a point of emphasizing what should motivate us to stay the course and follow Jesus. In fact, in the Bible, God never commands us with the “what” of obedience without, first, giving us the “why” of obedience, and in a single phrase, the why is his grace in the Gospel—both his past grace and future grace. In this sermon, we will see the power of God’s past grace in wooing and winning our hearts to love him above all else. We will begin with one of the great love stories of all time—the troubled marriage of the prophet Hosea. Hosea’s story illustrates and serves as a touching backdrop to the words of gospel grace in 1 Peter 1:17-21. In addition to these verses, read Hosea 1:1-3:3 to prepare.