You're Called To Stand Out | Chad Veach

0:05 We are in a series right now called Better and Brighter, the heart of God towards humanity. And we are going to jump in in just a moment to the book of Hosea, chapter three. Turn there in your Bible if you have one or go there in your cell phone, Hosea, chapter three. I want to, before we get into the word, thank everybody that gives to and through Zoe Church. We were able to serve our city yesterday through I Love My City, feeding people and clothing people, all thanks to your generosity. If you'd like to give, go to our website and you can give there. But let's jump into this week's message called He Bought Me Back. Amen and amen. All right, open your Bible. Go there to the book of Hosea, chapter number three. We started last Sunday a brand new series called Better and Brighter. And I like this. All of this comes to us from Matthew chapter 5, where Jesus tells us, he tells the church, he tells Jesus' followers, that you are the light of the world.

1:10 He says, you are the salt of the earth. And I just like this idea because salt makes things better and light makes things brighter. And I just believe that because of your faith, because of the way that you live your life. I think L.A. should get better and L.A. should get brighter because of the way that you live. It's not because you attend a temple or you go to a service online. It's because of the way you live and the way that you love that our city gets better and gets brighter. Amen to that? And so that's our theme. And really it's the heart of God, God's heart towards humanity. It's really what we're talking about. It's God's heart, the way the Father God sees people. We don't want to see people the way that culture sees them or the way that maybe our parents or grandparents saw them.

2:09 We want to see people the way God sees them. We want to get a lens that's the Father God's lens on humanity. And if we get that, you will even be able to love Clipper fans. like impossible all things are possible to him who believes glory be to God clap for our nine game winning streak Laker fans come on we we don't want all of the credit at Zoe but we want some of it okay praise God Hosea chapter three if you don't know the Bible you're gonna love this story one of my favorite stories in all the Bible it's a man named Hosea God shows up to him and says Hosea I want you to go and I want you to marry a girl that's going to be unfaithful to you. I want you to go find this girl and I want you to swipe until you find the one, she's a cheater.

3:06 When you find a girl that's going to cheat for sure, I want you to find her and marry her. And God uses this story as a metaphor, not of marriage, but of God's commitment to humanity. that God is so fiercely committed to you and I that even when we're unfaithful, our God remains faithful. So it is a metaphor, it is a picture of God's relentless commitment to us. That when we are wayward, when we turn our back, God remains faithful. Watch here, our opening scriptures, Hosea chapter 3, the Lord said to me, Go, show your love to your wife again. though she is loved by another man and is an adulteress love her as the Lord loves the Israelites though they turn to other gods and they love the sacred raisin cakes.

4:12 That must be a good raisin cake right there. I just gotta be honest. So I bought her for 15 shekels of silver and about a homer and a lethic of barley. I don't know how much a homer is worth these days. I don't even know what a lethic of barley is. But he bought her back. And then I told her, verse 3, then I told her, you are to live with me many days. You must not be a prostitute or be intimate with any other man. And I will behave the same way towards you. I want to preach a message today, write down the title. It's called Bought Me Back. God bought me back. I just think this is one of the most powerful, most beautiful stories in all of the Bible. God shows up to this mighty man of God, Hosea, and he says, I want you to swipe until you find a girl that's gonna be unfaithful.

5:10 And he should have known this girl was gonna cheat when he found her name was Gomer. You know that song, the type you don't take home to mother. You don't take Gomer home. and he takes Gomer home, and they are, they are wed. Think about the wedding that they have. They have a beautiful wedding. You ever been to a beautiful wedding? I love going to weddings that are expensive, because the whole time, I just calculate the cost. I'm like, well, the flowers, and the DJ, and that dress, that dress looks expensive, and well, just this venue, I mean, this is at least, at least X amount of money, this cost. Hosea and Gomer, they have the wedding. They get the house. They're happily married. And then Gomer starts stepping out on Hosea. Gomer starts cheating on her husband.

6:06 Gomer starts being unfaithful to Hosea and leaves and becomes a prostitute. And one day the Lord shows up to Hosea and says, Hosea, I want you to go and find her. There's three things in this story that we learn about the character and the nature of God that you need to understand for your life. Write down point number one today. God's love, he chooses to love. His love doesn't wait for a response. Verse number one, again, go on the screen. The Lord said to me, go, show your love to your wife again. I love this about God. We serve a going God. When you turn your back on God, God doesn't turn his back on you. When you stop showing up for God, God doesn't stop showing up for you. we talked about it last week the lost coin and the lost sheep it's a it's a picture again of the relentless character and commitment of God that when you are lost God's not going to wait for you to find your way back he's going to go and find you he says to Hosea get out of your comfort zone and go find Gomer. Can you imagine the embarrassment? Can you picture the frustration?

7:24 He's got to leave his house. His heart is in his socks already. He's already rejected and dejected and feels terrible, and now he's got to go find his wife. He's like, hey, you guys seen her? And they're like, your wife? Nah, man, we ain't seen her. But I can tell from her Instagram stories, things aren't good. She wilding out, isn't she?

7:54 We praying for you, Hosea. Love you, dog. All right, thanks, man. Bet. you guys seen her? Have you seen her? And he's looking for Gomer. He does this because this is the character and the nature of heaven, that when you were lost, he didn't say, we'll wait for you to come back. He didn't even wait for permission, but he pursued you with a relentless love because his love is a decision. I'm thankful today that love is not an emotion for God. Love is a commitment from God. Look here in Romans chapter five, verse eight, but God demonstrates his own love for us in this. While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. While we were unfaithful, while we were rebellious, while we were away and against God, he didn't fold his arms and say, well, you better come back to me.

8:54 No, he left his throne, sent his one and only son to come and pursue the lost sheep of Israel. Anybody thankful today that God's love is a choice and it's a decision and he won't stop now? Come on, South Bay, clap with us today. His love is a choice. And he doesn't wait to see if you're going to respond. He doesn't wait to see if you're going to be faithful. No, he just, with all of heaven, pursues you because this is his commitment to your life. I love this. Put it on the screen. Hosea loved Homer the way God loves us. initiating love before it's ever returned. We're always loving those that love us. My favorite people love me. but God shows a higher love by loving the ones that turn against him, by loving the unfaithful, by loving what you and I would call unlovable or lost causes.

9:57 God says, I go after the ones that are even sleeping around with idols. even those that are living unfaithful to my house, even those that have turned their back from my ways and the will of God for their life. I've made a decision. It's not based upon your merit or your morals or your do-goodism. It's based upon my love and loyalty to your life. I heard a story years ago about this guy at work. He came into work and this guy asked him, hey, what do you think about so-and-so? What do you think about so-and-so? And the guy said, oh, man, I just think that guy, he is the best. I love him, and he just sings his praises. He just goes off. He goes, that's a good guy. And he said, oh, yeah? Well, he just said that you are X, Y, and Z, and he called you a this, that, and the other. What do you got to say now?

10:49 And the man said, I already told you what I thought. See, you think that every time you turn your back, God changes his mind. You think that every time you leave the house, the wrath of God is going to come upon you. No, we serve the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God that's been faithful to generations. He's gonna remain faithful to generations. Come on, everybody, clap and thank God that his love and his loyalty is not based upon where I'm at, what I'm doing, who I'm with, but it's based upon the commitment of God to pursue me. Give him a praise if you're grateful that his love is a choice. He doesn't love you because of your behavior. He loves you because you belong to him. He tells Hosea, go. And in the same way that God called Hosea to go, he called his son Jesus to go.

11:43 See, we're gonna celebrate Easter weekend on Good Friday, egg hunt on Saturday, Easter services. The fact that God loved the world so much that he sent a greater Hosea. His name is Jesus to go look for us in our rebellion and our waywardness. Come on, everybody. Don't wait for Easter to give Jesus Thanksgiving. And so Hosea is going around knocking on doors. Yo, bro. You see my wife? No, fam, we ain't seen her. All right, can I leave my number?

12:24 Text me if you see her. 100%, bro. Like, I would have closed the door and looked at Julia and been like, This poor guy. We've got to tell the prayer team. But he should have known. Her name is Gomer. He's searching. And he's searching. And he's looking. You seen her? No, man, we ain't seen her. All right. You hit me up if you find her. Can you tell me? And then think about it. He finds her. What do you think Gomer's doing? She's not playing Xbox. she is participating with her idols. She is in the midst of her folly and rebellion against Hosea.

13:22 God didn't find you when you were good and ready. God found you in your worst place. And when you were in your worst place, he called out your name and loved you with an unconditional love. And so when he gets there and he finds her, look at verse number two, put it on the screen. So I bought her, so I paid for her for 15 shekels of silver and about a hummer. We got a gummer and we got a hummer and a lethic of barley. Write down number two, God paid the price for redemption. God paid the bill. so I bought her. See, you need to know that God paid for you. You don't belong to you. You've been purchased by the blood of Jesus Christ. Your body is not yours. Your life is not yours. Your future is not yours. Come on, clap if you believe that God already paid the price for me. I've been purchased and ransomed by the blood of Jesus Christ. If you don't believe it, look at Ephesians chapter 1 verse 7, in him, in Jesus, we have redemption. Through his blood, the forgiveness of sins in accordance with the riches of God's grace. Look at 1 Peter chapter 1. For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold or Venmo that you were redeemed with from the empty way of life handed down to you from all of your ancestors, but it was with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. What did God pay for you with? In this story, Hosea, he finds his wife. She is a prostitute, and he says, so I paid for her to come home.

15:11 Did you know that God paid for you to be returned back into the right standing in front of the Father? And he paid the high price of the gift of his son. And Jesus paid the price of shedding his innocent blood on the cross at Calvary so that you would not have to pay the penalty or the debt of your sin, but you would not have to owe anything because of the greatness and the love of Jesus Christ. Redemption. Redemption means deliverance from sin, bondage, or debt through the payment of a price. It means to be delivered from bondage, to be delivered from the penalty or the debt. I had a friend years ago, this is like back in the day, you know, now if you travel international and you go, you know, outside of the country and you use your phone for data, they'll just charge you like five, six bucks a day. It doesn't matter whether you're with AT&T or T-Mobile or whatever you're with. It doesn't matter. We're with AT&T, so we're blessed. But, you know, whatever you want. I'm Verizon. Shut up. That's fine. And so when you leave the country, now they just charge you a flat rate. Back in the day, back in the day, before all this was set up, you could go out of the country, and if you're not careful using your data, you could rack up a bill.

16:33 I had a friend went to Cabo years ago, and he wasn't aware that you get charged separately outside of the country. And it was just him and his wife, no kids. So they're sitting by the pool all day. He's just scrolling all day. He's just scrolling. He's just seven days in Mexico, just seven chips, guac, scroll, just scrolling. When he got back, he wasn't aware he's being charged for all the data. When he got back, he had racked up a $3,000 cell phone bill. He didn't have $3,000 to spend on Instagram. So he came to our boss and he said to our boss, he said, boss, I'm so sorry. I can't believe this. I don't know how this happened, but I charged $3,000 worth of data onto my cell phone bill. And he shared it to the boss. He's like, we don't have $3,000. And the boss was so kind that the boss said, I know you made an innocent mistake, paid the $3,000 bill for the friend.

17:29 I just say that to let all of our staff know if you go to Mexico you on your own I ain't rescuing none of y'all. the debt that you had accrued through all of your sin was so massive only the blood of Jesus could wipe away all the debt that you owed heaven and make you as white as snow somebody clap and praise him today if you're grateful that Jesus delivered you from bondage wiped away all that you owed. It's the redemption that can only be found in heaven. How much does that cost? How much was it worth all of your sin and your bondage? How much did it cost to get you out of there? How much did it cost to get Gomer out of prostitution? He said, I went, I'm a going God, I went and I paid and bought her back. You've been bought by the blood of Jesus to bring you back to your rightful place.

18:34 He's a God of redemption. He's a God that delivers you out of bondage, delivers you out of your broken place so that your penalty, your debt that's been accrued could be wiped away and you can get out of that broken place, get out of that bondage place. Some of you, you've been tethered to an old relationship. Some of you, you've been tied to an addiction to a substance. Some of you've been living in unforgiveness and bitterness. Some of you have been living in duplistic tendencies. God wants to deliver you from the bondage and wipe away the debt through the redemption that's found in Jesus Christ.

19:14 How much? How much did that cost? You ever go to a store and you're kind of frustrated because they don't put the price on the tag? You're like, how much? You gotta find somebody. You're looking around for somebody for like 10 minutes. Man, I'm just trying to find out how much this thing costs, man. How much does this cost? Julia, Pastor Julia is wearing these sunglasses this last week. They're the coolest sunglasses I've ever seen. She wore the sunglasses. I said, my God. I said, hello church. I looked at her and I said, what are those? Because my first thought was they look so good. We spent all the college tuition on those glasses.

19:54 How am I supposed to pay for one of our staff members cell phone bill in Mexico when you wearing these glasses. So where do you get these glasses? You compliment a girl, they go like this. Oh, these old things? She said, these are $15 Amazon sunglasses. She said, but they look designer, don't they? I said, girl, making me proud like it's her night. how much to get Gomer out?

20:54 How much to get you out of your sin mess? How much to get you out of the world of addiction you were living in? Misery and brokenness. How much? Only by the blood of Jesus. There's only one price that could have been paid. It was the gift of his one and only son. So you need to know something. Number one, God chooses to love you, even if you don't respond. God loves and gives great redemption. Write down the third one. God specializes in restoration.

21:33 Hosea 14, verse four, I will heal their waywardness and I will love them freely. I love this. He didn't bring her home and go, you're gonna be in timeout. You're gonna do the dishes every day. you are in so much trouble. No, he brought her home and said, the first thing we're going to do is we are going to heal your brokenness. What I love about God is he's a God of restoration. And when God restores you, he doesn't restore you to how you used to be. He restores you better than you've ever been in your whole life. Come on, clap if you believe that God will give you a greater joy and a greater freedom and a greater purpose and a greater passion than you've ever had in the history of your life. When God restores you, he's not trying to bring you back to who you used to be. He's trying to set you forth in who you're called to be. Give him a shout of praise today.

22:34 He specializes in restoration. Oh, I'm telling you, God, when he restores things, he takes broken things and he puts them back together better than they've ever been before. We were, you know, I love all the sunshine. I'm so into the sunshine. I'm from Seattle and I suffered for decades. And so now that we live here in LA in this last couple of weeks, it's been so sunny and so nice and I'm so loving it. and we were driving this last week down this one road. We were stuck in traffic through lights, and in front of us, I see this Jeep, like this old, like, Land Rover Jeep, no windows, no top, just like, this guy's killing it, and I say to Julia, look, oh, whoa,

23:23 and now, because I'm old, and I'm like a progressive commercial becoming my parents. I want to get up to him so I can talk to him. So I'm just like jamming. And I get next to him and I roll down my window and I go, congrats.

23:47 Wow. You win. Did you do it yourself? he's like no we're talking back and forth like why am i yelling he's just right there starts telling me the details it's from the 90s and it's forest green and we're just breaking back and forth and i'm like this is the dream man you're living the dream you win see we think that when god restores us he's gonna just let us back in and we're just happy to get back in the house. When God restores you, you've never been more joyful. You've never had more purpose. You've never had more passion. He doesn't just put you back together. Come on, clap if you're thankful for the restoration power of heaven that touches your life. God will restore your marriage. God will restore your children. God will restore your business. God will restore your dreams. God will restore your calling. Why don't you, come on South Bay, why don't you clap and give God of praise. Let the redeemed of the Lord say so. He restores. Let me give you three things God will restore. Number one, God will restore your time. All the time that you lost while you were a gomer.

25:05 All the time that you were out partying. All the time that you were out in that addiction. All that time you were cheating and you were going against the ways of God. Put on the screen, Joel chapter 2 verse 25. I will repay you for the years the locusts have eaten. the years you spent in that addiction, God will restore it. I was in that relationship and it didn't turn out and that friendship went south and God will restore it. God restores time. And you won't even remember the time of pain because the joy of the Lord will hit your life. some of you thought I lost years I lost years to that I lost years God will restore it and he'll restore time he'll restore your past look at second Corinthians chapter 5 verse 17 therefore if anyone is in Christ the new creation has come the old is gone the new is here and if you've got a checkered past we serve the God that specializes in making right your wrong past if you've been a gomer your whole life God doesn't hold you hostage shame the law guilt says you did all that for so long and you deserve not grace grace says I will restore the past of brokenness in your life by the way I'm so excited next Sunday on Palm Sunday we have baptisms happening here at Zoe and for the first time at South Bay come on clap for everybody getting baptized You know what baptism is saying?

26:51 When you go into that water, you're saying all my past and my shame and my guilt is going down, and I'm coming up a new creation in Christ. And God is restoring my time. He is restoring my past. He is restoring my pain. My pain. My pain. Oh, God. What it must have been like to be Hosea. Hey, she hasn't been home the last couple of days. You, I know I came by a couple of days ago. I was just saying, if you heard anything, you seen anything.

27:39 No, okay, yeah, no, it's all right. Yeah, you got my number, text me. And what he's looking for. Could you imagine Gomer? Gomer comes home. Gomer, Gomer goes to get coffee the next morning. She's got her head down. She's like, oh God. looks at Hosea like, I'm so sorry. I'm sorry. I can't believe I did that. I'm sorry.

28:21 Jose is like, you're good. You're good. You're good. I forgive you. I know, but like, I don't know why. And I'm just embarrassed. Jose's like, come here, come here. I got you. We're gonna get through this. You're gonna be all right.

28:47 I love you. We think that we come back to God. We're like, Thank you. Hey, you love me still? I don't just love you. I've got a plan for you. I'm the God of third and fourth and fifth chances.

29:15 And if you decide to leave tomorrow, I'll chase you down like I did before. and I will restore the pain of your regret, the pain of your decisions, the pain of your brokenness. Years ago, there's a guy who serves down in South Bay. Shout out to Coach Sean.

29:37 Coming out of COVID, when we could take off our masks, we were playing basketball. Three on three. Nothing like church guys getting together to play basketball. Because church guys, when they play basketball, they all want to prove like they're the man. Coach Shawn runs a great basketball academy called Be Great Basketball. And I was guarding Coach Shawn.

30:00 He went to go make a first step. And he dribbled and fell. And when he fell, I was like. I'm not saying it was me, but it was just me and him. and he's like ah he's yelling ah and in his achilles gone and we see that happen you know in the nba all the time a guy comes back from an injury a guy comes back and they're in physical therapy and they're trying to rehab and they're trying to get back and we can watch them under a microscope they're not as fast as they used to be they can't jump as high as they used to their fraction of what they once were. They don't have that first quick step like they once had.

30:58 The enemy's tried to rob you your whole life. The enemy's tried to convince you your whole life that you'll never get back to who you once were. And I'm here to tell you, God's not trying to get you back to who you once were. God's trying to restore you to a place you've never been before.

31:20 To a place you've never imagined in your life. To a place your parents never got to. To a place you never thought, dreamt, or imagined of. Come on, clap if you believe it, that God loves me just the way that I am. He just loves me way too much to leave me this way. clap if you believe today that God will redeem me by the blood of Jesus Christ come on everybody stand and God will restore me he will restore me to a greater place and I say all that to say that our mission is not just that we could be restored but I'm preaching this message because I wonder if there would be some Hoseas at Zoe church there would be some people that would say, because I was a gomer and found, I want to go out on the rescue mission. I want to be a part of the rescue team. And I want to help people that are lost get found.

32:17 I want to help people that are dead get alive. I want to help people that are blind get their eyesight. I want God to use me. Come on to go again. I want God to use me to help people. Come on, come back to the house of God. Come on, Zoe, let's pray today. Again, thank you so much for listening. We pray that today's message brought you great strength and great encouragement. Don't forget to hit the subscribe button so you don't miss out on any of the messages that we put out from our church. We love you. We thank God for you, and we'll see you back next Sunday for Palm Sunday in the end of our series, Better and Brighter.