{"id":28294,"date":"2025-08-03T13:03:01","date_gmt":"2025-08-03T12:03:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ducklingtonchurch.org.uk\/?post_type=ctc_sermon&#038;p=28294"},"modified":"2025-08-03T13:05:41","modified_gmt":"2025-08-03T12:05:41","slug":"he-does-not-abandon-us","status":"publish","type":"ctc_sermon","link":"https:\/\/www.ducklingtonchurch.org.uk\/?ctc_sermon=he-does-not-abandon-us","title":{"rendered":"He does not abandon us"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong><u>First Reading<\/u><\/strong><strong>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Hosea 11.1\u201311<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son. The more I called them, the more they went from me;&nbsp; they kept sacrificing to the Baals,<br \/>\n&nbsp;and offering incense to idols.&nbsp; &nbsp;Yet it was I who taught Ephraim to walk,&nbsp; I took them up in my arms;&nbsp; but they did not know that I healed them.<br \/>\n&nbsp;I led them with cords of human kindness,&nbsp; with bands of love. I was to them like those who lift infants to their cheeks.&nbsp; I bent down to them and fed them.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>They shall return to the land of Egypt, and Assyria shall be their king, because they have refused to return to me.&nbsp; The sword rages in their cities, it consumes their oracle-priests, and devours because of their schemes. My people are bent on turning away from me. To the Most High they call, but he does not raise them up at all.&nbsp;&nbsp;<br \/>\nHow can I give you up, Ephraim?<br \/>\nHow can I hand you over, O Israel?<br \/>\nHow can I make you like Admah?<br \/>\nHow can I treat you like Zeboiim?<br \/>\nMy heart recoils within me; my compassion grows warm and tender.&nbsp; I will not execute my fierce anger; I will not again destroy Ephraim; for I am God and no mortal, the Holy One in your midst, and I will not come in wrath.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>They shall go after the Lord, who roars like a lion; when he roars, his children shall come trembling from the west.&nbsp; They shall come trembling like birds from Egypt, and like doves from the land of Assyria; and I will return them to their homes, says the&nbsp;Lord.<\/p>\n<p><em>&nbsp;This is the word of the Lord<\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong><em>All&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <\/em><\/strong><strong>Thanks be to God<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>First Reading&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Hosea 11.1\u201311 &nbsp;When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son. The more I called them, the more they went from me;&nbsp; they kept sacrificing to the Baals, &nbsp;and offering incense to idols.&nbsp; &nbsp;Yet it was I who taught Ephraim to walk,&nbsp; I took them up&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":27702,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"ctc_sermon_topic":[],"ctc_sermon_book":[435],"ctc_sermon_series":[397,361],"ctc_sermon_speaker":[339],"ctc_sermon_tag":[],"class_list":["post-28294","ctc_sermon","type-ctc_sermon","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","ctc_sermon_book-hosea","ctc_sermon_series-ordinary-time","ctc_sermon_series-sunday-morning","ctc_sermon_speaker-dave-adams-llm","ctfw-has-image"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ducklingtonchurch.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/ctc_sermon\/28294","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ducklingtonchurch.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/ctc_sermon"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ducklingtonchurch.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/ctc_sermon"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ducklingtonchurch.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ducklingtonchurch.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=28294"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.ducklingtonchurch.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/ctc_sermon\/28294\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28298,"href":"https:\/\/www.ducklingtonchurch.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/ctc_sermon\/28294\/revisions\/28298"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ducklingtonchurch.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/27702"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ducklingtonchurch.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=28294"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"ctc_sermon_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ducklingtonchurch.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fctc_sermon_topic&post=28294"},{"taxonomy":"ctc_sermon_book","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ducklingtonchurch.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fctc_sermon_book&post=28294"},{"taxonomy":"ctc_sermon_series","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ducklingtonchurch.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fctc_sermon_series&post=28294"},{"taxonomy":"ctc_sermon_speaker","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ducklingtonchurch.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fctc_sermon_speaker&post=28294"},{"taxonomy":"ctc_sermon_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ducklingtonchurch.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fctc_sermon_tag&post=28294"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}