Keion Henderson - When God Reverses the Curse

I want to talk about reversing the curse. I want you to high-five everybody on your way down to your seat and tell them God is about to reverse the curse in your life. Man, you may be seated in the presence of the Lord. How many want to shout that God is about to reverse the curse in your life? This part of the text is an absolute about-face from what God just said to us in our last reading. Israel is now under a curse for idolatry. Yes, God, as He stands, is poised to forgive Israel for a mess that Israel got themselves into. Is there anybody in the lighthouse or watching online that knows we serve a God who will get you out of stuff that you got yourself into? That ain’t hardly convincing! I said, is there anybody in here that knows we serve a God who will get you out of a mess that you got yourself into? You knew it was a mess when you were headed there. You knew it was a mess when you went. You knew it was a mess when you said yes. Does anybody want to thank God that He’ll bless you in your mess? It’s exactly what He does for Israel. Israel has turned their back on God; they have turned their back on God, and they are worshiping a god named Baal. Everybody say Baal. Baal is not a monolithic God, nor is he of the kind of god he’s a polytheistic expression, and that is to say that you don’t just serve Him: you serve all of his sub-deities. That is, Baal also represents the god of fertility, but there’s also the god of rain, and there’s also the god of the sun, and there’s also the god of the moon, and then there’s the god of the earth. Many polytheistic theistic gods- theology, the study of God; polytheistic, the worship of many gods. And so now they are worshiping many gods. Still, the plants- watch this-worshiping many gods still rely on the only God. Isn 't that amazing that they will step out on God and receive benefits from a god, and yet rely on God as if He is to be there whenever they decide they want Him? Have you ever had people in your life who only use you for what they can get, leave you for something else, and when that dries up, they come back like they never walked away? This is exactly what Israel has done to God. God has gotten them through many dangers, toils, and snares, and now, after God has gotten them out enough and has upgraded them, now Baal wants them to worship him. You see, there are some people that only want you-and I don’t want to burst your bubble-they only want you because somebody else upgraded you. Oh, y’all don’t want to say amen! If you were in the same state before that person that God blessed you to raise your level of thinking; that that person God blessed you to change you out of those baggy clothes and put you in something that fit. Come on, talk to me! That got you off alcohol, off drugs, sharpened your speech, helped you fill out your FAFSA form, and sent you back to school. Now all of a sudden, you forgot who took you when you were rusty! Oh, somebody in here, you ought to never leave the Lord because the fact is that when God got you, He didn’t get a good deal. When God got you, you had an attitude problem. When God got you, you weren 't tired. When God got you, you had issues. And God has fixed you up, dusted you off, and started you out on your way. And if God is for you, He is more than the world against you. I believe we owe God a praise-not because of how He deals with us as we are, but because of the fact that He dealt with us in the condition that we came. Is there anybody? Oh God, I wish I had 36 people just to thank God right there that He took you when you didn’t deserve to be taken. That He blessed you where you didn’t deserve to be blessed. That He kept you when you didn’t deserve to be kept? Somebody slap your neighbor and say we serve a faithful God! The Bible says that Hosea says in the text, someday-everybody say someday-when God restores the people. He says someday they will banish the name Baal from their lips. They are currently worshiping Baal, but Hosea is talking about a day when they will no longer worship Baal. They are still worshiping the idols, but he is talking about a day when they will no longer worship the idols. They are still in the ebb and flow of idol worship. Hosea is talking futuristically about a day when they will return back-as the young man said-to their first love. Because what Hosea does for us is he gives us our first point for living for today’s sermon, and that is that no matter what your circumstance is, you have to develop a speech that speaks to the future. Somebody say a futuristic speech! Yeah, Hosea is talking about a day that has not yet come. Hosea is talking about an opportunity that is in the future. Hosea is talking about the day when they will no longer worship Baal. They are currently worshiping Baal, but he speaks futuristically. Here 's point number one, and I’m speaking to everybody in here: if you’re going to reverse the curse in your life, the first thing you’re going to have to do is reverse your speech. Touch three people and say reverse your speech.