Fooling Around | Hope in Relationships
Understanding How To Find Hope In Your Relationship
Darrell Ingram
Feb 26, 2023 26m
Join us this Sunday as Pastor Darrell dives into the book of Hosea to explore how you can find hope in your relationship. Jesus' love gives us hope and healing, not just in day-to-day situations, but in our families, marriages, jobs, and all of our relationships. Video recorded at Pineville, Louisiana.
TranscriptionmessageRegarding Grammar:
This is a transcription of the sermon. People speak differently than they write, and there are common colloquialisms in this transcript that sound good when spoken, and look like bad grammar when written.
This is a transcription of the sermon. People speak differently than they write, and there are common colloquialisms in this transcript that sound good when spoken, and look like bad grammar when written.
Darrell Ingram: [00:00:08] I'm going to start talking about hope in every relationship or hope in our relationships. And it starts in Hosea chapter 1, verse 2. It says, When the Lord began to speak through Hosea, the Lord said to him, Go marry a promiscuous woman and have a child or have children with her for like an adulterous wife. This land is guilty of unfaithfulness to the Lord. Let me tell you what's taking place in Hosea chapter 1 and throughout the whole book of Hosea. It's about a young preacher boy. And it's about this lady, her name is Gomer, and she's a prostitute. So you can actually say this is about a preacher and a prostitute. I guess I have your attention, huh? Yes. Hosea was a good man. He was a young preacher. He was an upstanding leader, an outstanding preacher. And he was pure and he was clean. And he was keeping himself that in this world we would call it unspotted. He had a life of integrity, a life of purity. And he was an up-and-coming preacher boy. He was young and he had that zeal and he had that excitement. And he had the decision that just like every other young person in the world to serve the Lord in church, and he wanted to keep himself, to hold himself back for that one person. You see, Hosea wasn't having safe sex with his girlfriends. He was having no sex with his girlfriends.
Darrell Ingram: [00:01:44] And that's called abstinence. And I believe this generation needs to know a little bit about abstinence. God says, I've heard your prayer and I've found a wife. It's time to get married and enjoy the married life. And I could see him, boy, as young because when I was young, when I threw the ring at Beverly and said, I want to marry you, I was excited. I'll tell you that story later. But I was excited. And I know he's excited because God said, I found that person for you. I found that one for you. And he's going, Which one is she, God? Which one is she? Is she that cute blond in the praise team or is it that brunet, that new one that just started helping out in the youth group? I like her and I really think she was looking at me. I mean she cut her eyes and she actually smiled and she actually waved her hand. Oh, it's got to be her, God. She's a church girl, and we can do it together. We can make it go forward. And the Lord says to him, I want you to go down to a certain street on the wrong side of town. And he thinks to himself, Well, man, that's a rough area. But praise God, I'm fixing to have a wife. Praise God. I know that she has a kitchen and she's feeding the hungry. She's blessing all these people that are down and out.
Darrell Ingram: [00:03:06] She's actually fixing them tacos, chalupas. I mean, all of that. All that stuff I like. I mean, guacamole. And, I mean, she's just fixing it all up for everybody down. God, I know she's blessing them. She's even putting these vegetable trays. Vegetables. The only time I'll eat them, a vegetable tray, those raw ones, if they put that stuff in the middle, that dip, that ranch dressing and you just cover it so you don't taste the raw vegetables, you taste the ranch dressing. And then she's fixing this big spread of fruit, a fruit tray. Y'all know what a fruit tray is, right? Has all kinds of things. It has grapes and it has oranges and pineapples and all these different things. And she's on the wrong side of the track. But I know, God, I know she has this ministry and she's reaching all these people for you. And he goes over and he gets there and he sees prostitutes, call girls, harlots standing on the corner, and they're standing with their fishnet pantyhose, high heels, mini, mini, mini, mini leather skirts and biblical blouses. Lo and behold, she's smoking a cigarette and the Lord says to the preacher, There's your wife right there. There she goes. There she is. He said, I want you, I want you, I want you to marry her. If he had just married her because God told him, all that would have been was obedience and submission.
Darrell Ingram: [00:04:48] And it's more than that. It's an astonishing about the scripture that it says that he married her, but he loved her. You see, you can go out and like anybody, but it's all based on that love. Hosea loved Gomer. It's the power of God's love through the story of Hosea and Gomer. It's the power and story of God that He has for you. And he desires that same relationship with you and me. It's the same kind of love. It's just if it's just that Jesus Christ was willing to come to the cross and if all he had done was die on the cross and just to forgive you of your sins, that would just simply been an act of submission, an act of obedience to the will of the father. But John 3:16 says it like this, that he did not come as an act of submission because it says he so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believes in him will have everlasting life. Oh, God, It's so good. He is so good. God said, in other words, Hosea, I want you to preach and I want you to illustrate your life on how much I love this world. And listen, God doesn't love you based on your performance. God doesn't love you because you come to church on Sunday morning. God doesn't love you because you pray.
Darrell Ingram: [00:06:27] God doesn't love you because you sing in the praise team or you teach your class. He doesn't love me simply because I'm a preacher and I'm preaching. No, he loves me because he loves people. He wants a relationship with us. He's steady running after us. Steady wanting to have that relationship with you and me. Oh, we are called his workmanship. His. In the scripture. It says workmanship. And that word literally means we are his poem. We are his song when he looks at us, when we're running after him, when he looks at us, he sees us and he says, That's my workmanship. That's my poem. Darrell Guess what? I can't sing. But I'm God's song. You're God's song. We're all God's song. We are His workmanship. Workmanship. Workmanship. We are his. He has created us like no one else. No one else. Jesus was the spotless lamb of God. And you and I. You and I are the prostitutes. We're the unholy, the unclean. We brought nothing of value to the relationship. It has nothing to do with me. It has nothing to do with you. It has all to do about Jesus. And that's it. And that's it. Oh, then we, you know, we get married and we start going through the life just like Hosea and Gomer. They started going through life and things started to happen. She had some kids and, you know, she started to not take care of herself too much. And, you know, come on, it's the flannel pajamas are on instead of the negligee and lingerie.
Darrell Ingram: [00:08:20] And she's walking around and she's saying he doesn't desire me like he used to. You got to understand the background here. It was all about sex appeal. It was all about how she looked. But now her husband, he doesn't look at her because the ministry started growing. And let me tell you something real fast. On a side note. Men, women, nothing should take precedence over God and nothing should take precedence over your spouse as God. One Spouse two, You need to be careful of what you're doing in and around the church. It's not about the church. It's about Jesus. It's about Jesus. And listen, I'm going to ad lib a little here, if you don't mind. Try to get through this story. So she goes to this gym, I don't know, 24 fitness. I don't know what the names are because y'all can tell. Enough. Sad. Enough. Sad. Enough sad. But God created me the way I am. And I'm happy about it. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. But she started going. And then she meets this trainer there and he's helping her by placing his hand on the small of her back as she's doing sit-ups and as she's working out. And then before you know it, she starts saying, Hey, I want to friend you in Facebook. I want to friend you in Instagram, I want to friend you in Snapchat.
Darrell Ingram: [00:09:48] And they begin to communicate back and forth. And something starts happening. Something starts happening and it's like there's some kind of a chemistry going on in between them. And listen, let me explain this to you clearly. No marriage, no relationship is safe from that. No one. She decides what I'm missing is better than what I have. What I'm missing is better than what I have. So she keeps on going to the gym, and pretty soon she says, Hey, let's go out and eat some lunch. It's just lunch. It's health. Food. I don't eat much health food. Taco, chalupas, and all that. That's good. But the next thing you know, it's a full-fledged affair. It's over. It's over. It's just over. After a while, it's over. Multiple men and she just going back and forth and back and forth to all these men, back to where she was saved from seven multiple affairs, multiple affairs. And God comes to Hosea and he says this. I want you to go back to her. I want you to go back to her. She ends up in this sex trafficking. It's in the Bible. Y'all can read it now. Okay. She ends up in this and the Bible says, you know, that there was a, I was questioning about whether I was going to say this. I'm just going ahead and say it. She had a pimp and he was selling her, selling her body on the block there to see what kind of money he can get and who will ever pay the price for her.
Darrell Ingram: [00:11:32] Then that's who it went to. And God says to him, and I want you to notice what he says in Hosea 2:14 through 15 it says, Therefore, I am now going to allure her. I will lead her into the wilderness and I will speak tenderly to her there. I will give her back her vineyards and I will make the valley of Achor a door of hope. She will respond, as in the days of her youth, as in the days that she came out of Egypt. I want you to listen to me very, very carefully. Every family, every marriage, when you're in the valley of Achor and Achor simply means trouble. When your marriage is in trouble, when your family is in trouble, when your relationships are in trouble, God is the door of hope and he brings it to you. I don't know of any kind of marriage or relationship was in more trouble than this marriage in Hosea. And God said, I'm making a promise to you, Hosea, to the children of Israel and to all the families on Earth. The Valley of Achor is where Aiken and his family were stoned to death because they brought sin into the camp. It's in that same valley. The Bible said, I'm going to give you a door of hope. A door of hope. God's promise to every family, to every relationship.
Darrell Ingram: [00:13:07] I don't care what the enemy is trying to say to you. I don't care what the enemy is trying to tear you down with. I don't care what he's trying to whisper in your ears. God says when you're in the valley of trouble, I will give you a door of hope. Oh, that's why Job 14:7 seven says there's a hope for a tree that has been cut down. It will sprout again. And then in 14:9, it says this, that at the scent of water, it will bud. In other words, for those of y'all that maybe have been through a divorce or a broken relationship or you've been cut down and you've been through sickness, through bad days and you've been cut down through unemployment, you have trouble in the family. You have trouble with the family tree. And it's been cut down at the scent of water. As bad as it is, as bad as the cut is, as bad as your family tree is, God says, I will put in that valley of trouble a door of hope. You and I, no matter what we're going through, we have a door of hope. No matter what situation you face. God says, I'll promise to never leave you nor forsake you. You have a door of hope. Listen, not just the door of hope, but it says at the scent of water, you will live again. Oh, and the water is the spirit.
Darrell Ingram: [00:14:49] And when I have Jesus Christ in my life, that spirit comes and lives within me. And so at the scent of that water, the scent of that spirit, I will live again. No matter where you have been, no matter how you have messed up, no matter how broken you are, God says you'll live again. He says you'll live again. What I'm saying to you is that love. Love never fails. I'm saying there are two ways that you can make a successful relationship, a successful family, or a successful marriage. Do everything right. Good luck with that. Or walk through the valley of trouble together until you find that door of hope. You walk together. Until you find that door of hope. Listen to me. We all mess up. We all sin. We all have problems in our marriages. Our marriages go up and down. Our families we have problems in. But when you get in the valley of trouble, in your marriage, in your family, in your relationship, you don't abandon one another. You walk through the valley of trouble until you find the door of hope. You apologize, you repent, you make up and make up is fun, guys, if you're married. Oh, yeah. You cry. And you forgive. And you forgive. And you forgive and you forgive. And you look for that door of hope until you find it. You get an argument. You get in disagreements, you mess up, You find the door of hope.
Darrell Ingram: [00:16:38] As long as you stay together, as God says, I don't care what kind of valley of trouble your marriage, your family or your relationship is. If you stay together, I will never, never leave you or forsake you. I will restore you fully. I will forgive you completely. Oh, don't listen. He goes on to say. He goes on to say, you know, he bought her. He went and bought her and he loved her. And the Bible in the Bible, you know, names determine who the person is, the character. And Hosea, it means deliverer. That's kind of interesting. He's the deliverer. But home Gomer's name means complete. She is a streetwalker, a prostitute, a hooker, but her name means complete. She is supposed to be so much more in God. See? You see, God says you see a prostitute. But I see a preacher's wife. You see? Used unworthy, unclean. Never be anything. I see someone that My Grace can get a hold of and make her when she's incomplete. Make her complete Gomer in my eyes. It's complete. God says I see her as complete. Here's the point that I want you if you get anything and everything else. Here's the point that I want you to get ahold of this morning. If you're pointed in the right direction, your direction is more important than your present location. If you're pointed in the right direction, then your direction is more important than your present location. You may be at rock bottom, but if you, if you, you may have all kinds of issues.
Darrell Ingram: [00:18:39] But if you go towards the cross of Jesus, love will not abandon you there. You may not be there yet. You say how? I still got a lot of things I need to get free from. But if you're moving in the right direction. The love of God will not let you go. Will not let you go. There are so many people that celebrate it. Celebrate recovery that they've been in that situation. May have hiccups and hang-ups and mess-ups and screw-ups just like me and you and all of us. But they admitted it. And now God says, here's what I'm going to do for each and every one of you. My love never fails. But Jeremiah, my life's verse, Jeremiah 29:11, says, I know the plans that I have for you. Oh, plans of good and not of evil to give you an expected future. He says there's a future for you. God is saying, I don't look at where you are because I know where my grace is going to take you. I'm not going to abandon you and just listen. I'm just like that prostitute. I failed the Lord over and over and over. I can say it forever, over again. But God says I won't leave you, Daryl. I won't leave you. I'll never leave you. I'll never forsake you. I'll never let you go. That's God's love.
Darrell Ingram: [00:20:25] Oh, you may think that you're disqualified, but God wants you to know His love. He will never stop loving you. If you move in the direction, his love will get you transformed. His love will change you. I need a change. We all need a change in our life. I need a change. Maybe you're in that valley of trouble. And you need that door of hope. You see, Jesus is that door of hope. Some of y'all may feel like you're hopeless in a helpless situation right now. You say, I don't know what I need to do or how to do it. Go towards Jesus. He'll show you. He'll lift you up. He'll encourage you. He'll help you. He'll make your way good. And when God does something, it is good. Better than tacos. Better than chalupas. Even guacamole. Listen, if you'll stand right now and just bow your heads. Everybody's eyes closed and. Nobody's looking. You might be in the valley of trouble in your marriage, your family or relationships. But Jesus is the door of hope. He's your door of hope. Maybe you don't know Jesus Christ or you've never known Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior and you feel hopeless. But Jesus is that door of hope and He is the friend that will never, ever leave you. He will always be there no matter where you are, no matter where you go. He says, I will be there for you. Maybe. Maybe it's time. And.
Darrell Ingram: [00:22:36] And if you're here today, it's. It's for a time like this. God brought you into this church for a specific reason. Maybe you need to ask Jesus to be your Lord and Savior. You've got to ask him. You've got to receive him. Listen. And right now, everybody's eyes are closed. Nobody's looking. Heads are bowed, and I'm going to count to three. And if you want to accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and savior, raise your hands. And one of our prayer team will bring you a packet. You fill it out, you give them that card, We want to pray for you and encourage you and be there for you. One, two. Three. Raise your hand. Raise your hands. Amen. Anybody else. It's never too late. Raise your hand. See? God wants you. No one's looking. No one's looking. It's just between you and God. Oh, raise your hand. Yes. Amen. Thank you. Upstairs. Thank you. God's calling you right now. He's calling you. I'm going to ask you to give those packets back. And listen. I want y'all to go ahead and raise your head and open your eyes for those of y'all that accepted. Jesus Christ. I'm going to make it easy for you. I'm going to ask everybody, everybody to pray with me this prayer. So just repeat after me. Say, Dear Jesus, come into my life. Forgive me of my sins. Be my Lord and savior. Thank you for saving me. Romans 10:13 says this.
Darrell Ingram: [00:24:30] It says, Whoever calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. If you prayed that prayer, I believe what the scripture says. God says you called on his name, and now you're saved. You're born again. You're bought with a price. As your eyes are open and your heads are up, maybe some of y'all feel that you're hopeless. Maybe some of y'all don't know where your marriage or your relationship is going. Maybe you have problems in your family. Maybe the kids are going through a situation. Maybe people are sick and you need God to intervene. God to step in and God to make it right and God to be there for you. He is your door of hope. I would encourage you not to leave before Pastor Ritchie comes up and closes us in prayer, but I'm going to say come. Our prayer team is down or just lay it at the altar and let God take control. So close your eyes with me and then the altar is open. Father, right now, whatever's on our hearts, whatever hurt, whatever. Hang up. Whatever situation we're going through, Lord, we know that you're the door of hope. That you are the one that can set us free. That you are the one that can make our life whole again. That we can be new creatures and that we can follow you. Father, we see the story of Hosea and Gomer, how she went back to a situation that she should have never been in.
Darrell Ingram: [00:26:18] He loved her. He went and got her. He brought her back to his home and he said, You will no longer call me master, but you will call me husband because I'm not ashamed of you. That's what God is with us. He's not ashamed of you or me. We are his child. We are his children. We are complete in Jesus Christ. I pray in Jesus' name. Amen.
Recorded in Pineville, Louisiana.
Darrell Ingram: [00:01:44] And that's called abstinence. And I believe this generation needs to know a little bit about abstinence. God says, I've heard your prayer and I've found a wife. It's time to get married and enjoy the married life. And I could see him, boy, as young because when I was young, when I threw the ring at Beverly and said, I want to marry you, I was excited. I'll tell you that story later. But I was excited. And I know he's excited because God said, I found that person for you. I found that one for you. And he's going, Which one is she, God? Which one is she? Is she that cute blond in the praise team or is it that brunet, that new one that just started helping out in the youth group? I like her and I really think she was looking at me. I mean she cut her eyes and she actually smiled and she actually waved her hand. Oh, it's got to be her, God. She's a church girl, and we can do it together. We can make it go forward. And the Lord says to him, I want you to go down to a certain street on the wrong side of town. And he thinks to himself, Well, man, that's a rough area. But praise God, I'm fixing to have a wife. Praise God. I know that she has a kitchen and she's feeding the hungry. She's blessing all these people that are down and out.
Darrell Ingram: [00:03:06] She's actually fixing them tacos, chalupas. I mean, all of that. All that stuff I like. I mean, guacamole. And, I mean, she's just fixing it all up for everybody down. God, I know she's blessing them. She's even putting these vegetable trays. Vegetables. The only time I'll eat them, a vegetable tray, those raw ones, if they put that stuff in the middle, that dip, that ranch dressing and you just cover it so you don't taste the raw vegetables, you taste the ranch dressing. And then she's fixing this big spread of fruit, a fruit tray. Y'all know what a fruit tray is, right? Has all kinds of things. It has grapes and it has oranges and pineapples and all these different things. And she's on the wrong side of the track. But I know, God, I know she has this ministry and she's reaching all these people for you. And he goes over and he gets there and he sees prostitutes, call girls, harlots standing on the corner, and they're standing with their fishnet pantyhose, high heels, mini, mini, mini, mini leather skirts and biblical blouses. Lo and behold, she's smoking a cigarette and the Lord says to the preacher, There's your wife right there. There she goes. There she is. He said, I want you, I want you, I want you to marry her. If he had just married her because God told him, all that would have been was obedience and submission.
Darrell Ingram: [00:04:48] And it's more than that. It's an astonishing about the scripture that it says that he married her, but he loved her. You see, you can go out and like anybody, but it's all based on that love. Hosea loved Gomer. It's the power of God's love through the story of Hosea and Gomer. It's the power and story of God that He has for you. And he desires that same relationship with you and me. It's the same kind of love. It's just if it's just that Jesus Christ was willing to come to the cross and if all he had done was die on the cross and just to forgive you of your sins, that would just simply been an act of submission, an act of obedience to the will of the father. But John 3:16 says it like this, that he did not come as an act of submission because it says he so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believes in him will have everlasting life. Oh, God, It's so good. He is so good. God said, in other words, Hosea, I want you to preach and I want you to illustrate your life on how much I love this world. And listen, God doesn't love you based on your performance. God doesn't love you because you come to church on Sunday morning. God doesn't love you because you pray.
Darrell Ingram: [00:06:27] God doesn't love you because you sing in the praise team or you teach your class. He doesn't love me simply because I'm a preacher and I'm preaching. No, he loves me because he loves people. He wants a relationship with us. He's steady running after us. Steady wanting to have that relationship with you and me. Oh, we are called his workmanship. His. In the scripture. It says workmanship. And that word literally means we are his poem. We are his song when he looks at us, when we're running after him, when he looks at us, he sees us and he says, That's my workmanship. That's my poem. Darrell Guess what? I can't sing. But I'm God's song. You're God's song. We're all God's song. We are His workmanship. Workmanship. Workmanship. We are his. He has created us like no one else. No one else. Jesus was the spotless lamb of God. And you and I. You and I are the prostitutes. We're the unholy, the unclean. We brought nothing of value to the relationship. It has nothing to do with me. It has nothing to do with you. It has all to do about Jesus. And that's it. And that's it. Oh, then we, you know, we get married and we start going through the life just like Hosea and Gomer. They started going through life and things started to happen. She had some kids and, you know, she started to not take care of herself too much. And, you know, come on, it's the flannel pajamas are on instead of the negligee and lingerie.
Darrell Ingram: [00:08:20] And she's walking around and she's saying he doesn't desire me like he used to. You got to understand the background here. It was all about sex appeal. It was all about how she looked. But now her husband, he doesn't look at her because the ministry started growing. And let me tell you something real fast. On a side note. Men, women, nothing should take precedence over God and nothing should take precedence over your spouse as God. One Spouse two, You need to be careful of what you're doing in and around the church. It's not about the church. It's about Jesus. It's about Jesus. And listen, I'm going to ad lib a little here, if you don't mind. Try to get through this story. So she goes to this gym, I don't know, 24 fitness. I don't know what the names are because y'all can tell. Enough. Sad. Enough. Sad. Enough sad. But God created me the way I am. And I'm happy about it. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. But she started going. And then she meets this trainer there and he's helping her by placing his hand on the small of her back as she's doing sit-ups and as she's working out. And then before you know it, she starts saying, Hey, I want to friend you in Facebook. I want to friend you in Instagram, I want to friend you in Snapchat.
Darrell Ingram: [00:09:48] And they begin to communicate back and forth. And something starts happening. Something starts happening and it's like there's some kind of a chemistry going on in between them. And listen, let me explain this to you clearly. No marriage, no relationship is safe from that. No one. She decides what I'm missing is better than what I have. What I'm missing is better than what I have. So she keeps on going to the gym, and pretty soon she says, Hey, let's go out and eat some lunch. It's just lunch. It's health. Food. I don't eat much health food. Taco, chalupas, and all that. That's good. But the next thing you know, it's a full-fledged affair. It's over. It's over. It's just over. After a while, it's over. Multiple men and she just going back and forth and back and forth to all these men, back to where she was saved from seven multiple affairs, multiple affairs. And God comes to Hosea and he says this. I want you to go back to her. I want you to go back to her. She ends up in this sex trafficking. It's in the Bible. Y'all can read it now. Okay. She ends up in this and the Bible says, you know, that there was a, I was questioning about whether I was going to say this. I'm just going ahead and say it. She had a pimp and he was selling her, selling her body on the block there to see what kind of money he can get and who will ever pay the price for her.
Darrell Ingram: [00:11:32] Then that's who it went to. And God says to him, and I want you to notice what he says in Hosea 2:14 through 15 it says, Therefore, I am now going to allure her. I will lead her into the wilderness and I will speak tenderly to her there. I will give her back her vineyards and I will make the valley of Achor a door of hope. She will respond, as in the days of her youth, as in the days that she came out of Egypt. I want you to listen to me very, very carefully. Every family, every marriage, when you're in the valley of Achor and Achor simply means trouble. When your marriage is in trouble, when your family is in trouble, when your relationships are in trouble, God is the door of hope and he brings it to you. I don't know of any kind of marriage or relationship was in more trouble than this marriage in Hosea. And God said, I'm making a promise to you, Hosea, to the children of Israel and to all the families on Earth. The Valley of Achor is where Aiken and his family were stoned to death because they brought sin into the camp. It's in that same valley. The Bible said, I'm going to give you a door of hope. A door of hope. God's promise to every family, to every relationship.
Darrell Ingram: [00:13:07] I don't care what the enemy is trying to say to you. I don't care what the enemy is trying to tear you down with. I don't care what he's trying to whisper in your ears. God says when you're in the valley of trouble, I will give you a door of hope. Oh, that's why Job 14:7 seven says there's a hope for a tree that has been cut down. It will sprout again. And then in 14:9, it says this, that at the scent of water, it will bud. In other words, for those of y'all that maybe have been through a divorce or a broken relationship or you've been cut down and you've been through sickness, through bad days and you've been cut down through unemployment, you have trouble in the family. You have trouble with the family tree. And it's been cut down at the scent of water. As bad as it is, as bad as the cut is, as bad as your family tree is, God says, I will put in that valley of trouble a door of hope. You and I, no matter what we're going through, we have a door of hope. No matter what situation you face. God says, I'll promise to never leave you nor forsake you. You have a door of hope. Listen, not just the door of hope, but it says at the scent of water, you will live again. Oh, and the water is the spirit.
Darrell Ingram: [00:14:49] And when I have Jesus Christ in my life, that spirit comes and lives within me. And so at the scent of that water, the scent of that spirit, I will live again. No matter where you have been, no matter how you have messed up, no matter how broken you are, God says you'll live again. He says you'll live again. What I'm saying to you is that love. Love never fails. I'm saying there are two ways that you can make a successful relationship, a successful family, or a successful marriage. Do everything right. Good luck with that. Or walk through the valley of trouble together until you find that door of hope. You walk together. Until you find that door of hope. Listen to me. We all mess up. We all sin. We all have problems in our marriages. Our marriages go up and down. Our families we have problems in. But when you get in the valley of trouble, in your marriage, in your family, in your relationship, you don't abandon one another. You walk through the valley of trouble until you find the door of hope. You apologize, you repent, you make up and make up is fun, guys, if you're married. Oh, yeah. You cry. And you forgive. And you forgive. And you forgive and you forgive. And you look for that door of hope until you find it. You get an argument. You get in disagreements, you mess up, You find the door of hope.
Darrell Ingram: [00:16:38] As long as you stay together, as God says, I don't care what kind of valley of trouble your marriage, your family or your relationship is. If you stay together, I will never, never leave you or forsake you. I will restore you fully. I will forgive you completely. Oh, don't listen. He goes on to say. He goes on to say, you know, he bought her. He went and bought her and he loved her. And the Bible in the Bible, you know, names determine who the person is, the character. And Hosea, it means deliverer. That's kind of interesting. He's the deliverer. But home Gomer's name means complete. She is a streetwalker, a prostitute, a hooker, but her name means complete. She is supposed to be so much more in God. See? You see, God says you see a prostitute. But I see a preacher's wife. You see? Used unworthy, unclean. Never be anything. I see someone that My Grace can get a hold of and make her when she's incomplete. Make her complete Gomer in my eyes. It's complete. God says I see her as complete. Here's the point that I want you if you get anything and everything else. Here's the point that I want you to get ahold of this morning. If you're pointed in the right direction, your direction is more important than your present location. If you're pointed in the right direction, then your direction is more important than your present location. You may be at rock bottom, but if you, if you, you may have all kinds of issues.
Darrell Ingram: [00:18:39] But if you go towards the cross of Jesus, love will not abandon you there. You may not be there yet. You say how? I still got a lot of things I need to get free from. But if you're moving in the right direction. The love of God will not let you go. Will not let you go. There are so many people that celebrate it. Celebrate recovery that they've been in that situation. May have hiccups and hang-ups and mess-ups and screw-ups just like me and you and all of us. But they admitted it. And now God says, here's what I'm going to do for each and every one of you. My love never fails. But Jeremiah, my life's verse, Jeremiah 29:11, says, I know the plans that I have for you. Oh, plans of good and not of evil to give you an expected future. He says there's a future for you. God is saying, I don't look at where you are because I know where my grace is going to take you. I'm not going to abandon you and just listen. I'm just like that prostitute. I failed the Lord over and over and over. I can say it forever, over again. But God says I won't leave you, Daryl. I won't leave you. I'll never leave you. I'll never forsake you. I'll never let you go. That's God's love.
Darrell Ingram: [00:20:25] Oh, you may think that you're disqualified, but God wants you to know His love. He will never stop loving you. If you move in the direction, his love will get you transformed. His love will change you. I need a change. We all need a change in our life. I need a change. Maybe you're in that valley of trouble. And you need that door of hope. You see, Jesus is that door of hope. Some of y'all may feel like you're hopeless in a helpless situation right now. You say, I don't know what I need to do or how to do it. Go towards Jesus. He'll show you. He'll lift you up. He'll encourage you. He'll help you. He'll make your way good. And when God does something, it is good. Better than tacos. Better than chalupas. Even guacamole. Listen, if you'll stand right now and just bow your heads. Everybody's eyes closed and. Nobody's looking. You might be in the valley of trouble in your marriage, your family or relationships. But Jesus is the door of hope. He's your door of hope. Maybe you don't know Jesus Christ or you've never known Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior and you feel hopeless. But Jesus is that door of hope and He is the friend that will never, ever leave you. He will always be there no matter where you are, no matter where you go. He says, I will be there for you. Maybe. Maybe it's time. And.
Darrell Ingram: [00:22:36] And if you're here today, it's. It's for a time like this. God brought you into this church for a specific reason. Maybe you need to ask Jesus to be your Lord and Savior. You've got to ask him. You've got to receive him. Listen. And right now, everybody's eyes are closed. Nobody's looking. Heads are bowed, and I'm going to count to three. And if you want to accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and savior, raise your hands. And one of our prayer team will bring you a packet. You fill it out, you give them that card, We want to pray for you and encourage you and be there for you. One, two. Three. Raise your hand. Raise your hands. Amen. Anybody else. It's never too late. Raise your hand. See? God wants you. No one's looking. No one's looking. It's just between you and God. Oh, raise your hand. Yes. Amen. Thank you. Upstairs. Thank you. God's calling you right now. He's calling you. I'm going to ask you to give those packets back. And listen. I want y'all to go ahead and raise your head and open your eyes for those of y'all that accepted. Jesus Christ. I'm going to make it easy for you. I'm going to ask everybody, everybody to pray with me this prayer. So just repeat after me. Say, Dear Jesus, come into my life. Forgive me of my sins. Be my Lord and savior. Thank you for saving me. Romans 10:13 says this.
Darrell Ingram: [00:24:30] It says, Whoever calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. If you prayed that prayer, I believe what the scripture says. God says you called on his name, and now you're saved. You're born again. You're bought with a price. As your eyes are open and your heads are up, maybe some of y'all feel that you're hopeless. Maybe some of y'all don't know where your marriage or your relationship is going. Maybe you have problems in your family. Maybe the kids are going through a situation. Maybe people are sick and you need God to intervene. God to step in and God to make it right and God to be there for you. He is your door of hope. I would encourage you not to leave before Pastor Ritchie comes up and closes us in prayer, but I'm going to say come. Our prayer team is down or just lay it at the altar and let God take control. So close your eyes with me and then the altar is open. Father, right now, whatever's on our hearts, whatever hurt, whatever. Hang up. Whatever situation we're going through, Lord, we know that you're the door of hope. That you are the one that can set us free. That you are the one that can make our life whole again. That we can be new creatures and that we can follow you. Father, we see the story of Hosea and Gomer, how she went back to a situation that she should have never been in.
Darrell Ingram: [00:26:18] He loved her. He went and got her. He brought her back to his home and he said, You will no longer call me master, but you will call me husband because I'm not ashamed of you. That's what God is with us. He's not ashamed of you or me. We are his child. We are his children. We are complete in Jesus Christ. I pray in Jesus' name. Amen.
Recorded in Pineville, Louisiana.
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