Set the trumpet to your lips. As you read those words you need to understand that they are not spoken lightly. They are spoken breathlessly. If we use our imagination we can see ourselves in our mind's eye standing on the lookout of a great wall or castle, and there in the distance we see one running determinedly toward us. As he gets closer we see that his clothes are torn, his face dirty, his knuckles are bloodied. He has obviously escaped a great battle, and finally he reaches the safety of the castle walls, he falls down breathlessly, panting deeply, but he does not wait to speak, his message is too urgent, and he gasps, “Set the trumpet to your lips, sound the alarm the enemy is coming.”

Now if you knew about the day in which Hosea lived you would think this was a strange thing to say. For the days of Hosea were days of prosperity; it was a day of economic health for the nation of Israel. The political climate was stable; everything on the outside was good. But on the inside the nation was morally corrupt. No one followed God; everyone turned their back on Him and His commands.

To be sure the people of Hosea’s time were speaking a good line (verse 2) saying they know God but their actions show an independent spirit – doing what they want, worshipping what they want, setting up people they want to govern. In verse 7 we read that they “sow the wind”, that means that their profession of faith is all hot air, all words and no action – and they will “reap the whirlwind”. That means that they will receive God’s judgment.

It was a time of great danger and the prophet cries out, “The vulture ('eagle' in the NIV) is circling about to devour its prey.” The neighbour Assyria was enlarging its army and was about to swoop down on Israel.

So the prophet calls out – "Set the trumpet to your lips, give warning and this is real and important and urgent!"

Let the warning signal be sounded. And Hosea is not alone among the prophets in using the image of the trumpet this way. Jeremiah sees the enemy coming like a great lion, ready to devour whatever is in his way so that he cries, “Blow the trumpet through the land; shout aloud” (Jeremiah 4:5) and tell people to get inside the fortified cities.

The prophet Joel also uses the image this way (Joel 2:1). "Sound the alarm! Warn the people!" he says.

And so we too live in an age of prosperity, yet it is an age of immorality (Christmas entertainment for the U.S. troops in Iraq consisted of female wrestlers stripping down to practically nothing and wrestling), an age of materialism, (think of the Boxing Day crowds). It is an age of prosperity and prosperity isn’t wrong, it’s just that it when it is coupled with people’s rejection of God it is a dangerous combination. And so we too must set the trumpet to our lips and sound the alarm of warning.

There was a day when if you went to a Baptist church you would surely hear about the judgment of God in graphic terms. You were made to think that the fires of hell were at your heels and the torments waiting for you were just outside the church doors. In many ways such fire and brimstone preaching turned many people off of God, or scared them into heaven.

Neither reaction is healthy. And in response to this the church today sometimes speaks of a super-tolerant God in whom there is no judgment for immorality, no condemnation for sin – only love. Do what you like, turn your back on God, if you like, He will greet you at heaven’s gates with an “Aw, shucks” kind of attitude saying, “I can’t judge you.” And He’ll tussle your hair and welcome you into heaven.

But this isn’t the message of the gospel. This isn’t the message of the prophets. It isn’t the message of Jesus Christ. He sounded the note of warning clearly in his preaching. He spoke of judgment; He spoke of an eternity without God, a real hell and a real heaven. He spoke of an eternal darkness, an eternal fire, an eternal punishment a real place of weeping and gnashing of teeth (Matthew 22:13; 25:26) and He sought to warn people to get right with God through faith in Him.

Set the trumpet to your lips. Sound the not of warning. O that God would give us a clear vision of what an eternity without God is like. O that He would give us a clear vision of hell is and its horror. Oh, that God would give us a passion for souls, not that we would scare people into the kingdom with doom and gloom - let’s not return to that! But that we would have a sense of urgency that the time is short. That we would understand that time is running out that the end is coming. So that we would lovingly, persistently, compassionately, present the good news to those around us. That we would set the trumpet to our lips and continue to pray for those who do not know Christ. That we would have this sense of urgency and pray them into the kingdom.

Oh, that we would set the trumpet to our lips and begin looking around us and asking God, what children are on our street that we can invite to our Sunday School so they can hear the gospel message. What adults are on our street who would benefit from our Alpha program. What teenagers are near us who we can invite to investigate the faith in the Quest series that Pastor Ron will be running in the new year. Set the trumpet to your lips! We are speaking of life and death! The call is urgent.

It was the prophet Ezekiel who learned from God (Ezekiel 33) that if a watchman blows the trumpet call of warning and the people do not respond, well, the people were given fair warning and their fate rests in their hands. But - if the watchman does not blow the trumpet of warning when the enemy approaches the watchmen will be responsible for the people's death. My friends, we have the good news of Jesus Christ in our hands and hearts. Let us not be hesitant to set the trumpet to our lips and sound the note of warning.

That’s one note struck in Scripture with the trumpet, a note of warning.

But there is more. As we study the image of the trumpet in Scripture we discover that it was used not only to warn but also to rally the troops. It was used to encourage the army of God’s people to greater acts of courage, to stir the weak and the tired to one more valiant effort against the enemy. In Numbers 31 we read that when the people of God went out in battle against the Midianites the priest of God went too and he was in charge of the trumpet to uplift the troops and to motivate them to keep on in the battle.

And as we look to the new year as a church we need to set the trumpet to our lips and sound the note of encouragement. The world is full of discouragers, always ready to pour cold water of negativity over any enthusiasm, love and vision. The world is full of discouragers, but to encourage, to lift, to offer praise and hope and to stand at the side of another person in need of help. This is setting the trumpet to our lips.

And let’s be sure that we sound the note clearly and persistently in all areas of our church, but let’s be sure that we sound that note of encouragement in our boards and committees. I give thanks for all those who serve on our boards and committees they are doing a wonderful job, let’s be sure that we are being encouragers there. I heard a pastor say the other day, the purpose of major boards of a church is to pour gasoline on ideas. The picture of course is that we be people who fan into flame the ideas and dreams of God’s people for service and the extension of the kingdom. And I think how often I have poured water on people’s ideas or dreams instead of gasoline.

But let’s stay with our image set the trumpet to your lips and sound the note of encouragement. Let’s be sure that we sound that note clearly and persistently to our teenagers. Sure they may not dress like us, they may not think like us or act like us, but as Tony Campolo reminded us at the prayer breakfast they are not supposed to - that’s their job! Our job is to build them up and encourage them. Oh, that we would see teenagers as made in the image of God and therefore of great value in His sight and in our sight.

And let’s be sure to encourage those new in the faith. There have been some who have made a commitment to Jesus Christ these last few months, and there will be many more as we sound the trumpet of the gospel. They need your encouragement. They need you who are more mature in the faith walk along side them. They need you to invite them out for coffee and for you mature Christians to talk plainly and openly about your faith. They need your support. They need your encouragement. They need you to set the trumpet to your lips and sound the note of encouragement.

And as in all things Jesus Christ is our model. He had and still has an amazing power to give hope to despairing people. When He walked this earth He was always lifting people’s eyes from the dust of hopelessness to the bright air of courage and hope. I think of the woman caught in adultery, with her eyes fixed on the ground as Jesus asked her where were those who condemned her. She dare not look in his eyes as she told them that they had all gone, but she continued, I believe, to look at the ground for she knew there was one sinless person who could still condemn her, but he said – “neither do I condemn you.” And she looked into His eyes and saw no condemnation but forgiveness, compassion, understanding and she went on her way with new hope in the love of God and new courage to live for Him.

Set the trumpet to your lips and sound a long clear note of encouragement, a long clear note of warning.

But there is a third note hit by the trumpet in Scripture and that is the note of celebration, of victory.

As we read the Scriptures we discover that the trumpet was used to celebrate, it was used for rejoicing. We see this especially in the Psalms.

“Shout to the Lord all the earth, burst into jubilant song with music; make music to the Lord with the harp, with the harp and the sound of singing, with trumpets and the blast of the ram’s horn – shout for joy before the Lord, the King.” (Psalm 98:4-6)

And again in Psalm 150: “Praise him for his acts of power praise him for his surpassing greatness. Praise him with the sounding of the trumpet” (Psalm 150:2-3a)

And surely this must be the spirit that we New Testament people live. While we ask God for a vision of the reality of hell, let us be a people who are thankful that He has given us a grand vision of heaven through His Son Jesus Christ. Let us rejoice that He has plainly given us the way to heaven. The way isn’t difficult, the way isn’t hidden, it is easy and plain for all – believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved!

Let us set the trumpet to our lips and peal out the note of rejoicing in the new life we have Christ.

To be sure we have much to rejoice over as Christians. Do I need to recount them? Let us rejoice in the fact that we have a loving heavenly Father. Let us rejoice that we have a victorious Saviour, let us rejoice that we have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. New life in Christ. All of this is ours in Him and through Him.

We Christians ought to be the gladdest and the most exultant people in the world; for we have found the key to our difficulties and it turns. We have come upon the solution to life’s difficulties and it works!

"He is able," was the cry of the people of the New Testament. And because He is able and is at work in us, we are able!

G.K. Chesterton once commented in the Salvation Army and at the time it was being ridiculed for its spirit of praise and its service to the lost and the least – and he defended the Salvation Army saying that its methods were unchallengeable

For he said, "Every real Christian who believes in his faith must do two things - he will dance and he will fight; dance, for sheer happiness; make war because he has discovered something that is irresistible, and opens the sure path of triumph.”

Oh my friends, that we would sound that note of celebration of victory! For we serve one who is victorious in all ways and He gives victory to His church as we depend on Him. Oh God, save us from not believing that much will come from our faith. That the promises Jesus Christ made to the church are really for other churches and other denominations – those promises about the gates of hell not being able to stand against the church, well, that really is for other denominations, and other churches, not for us. We can’t make a difference, after all we are only a small church.

Don’t you believe it! We may be a small church compared to some, but we worship a great God. For whom all things are possible. All things, not just some things, but all things!

This is the spirit of the people of the New Testament. Look what grand dreams they dreamed, what lofty hopes they held, what audacious visions their eyes saw, what incredible victories they gained. And think of who they were, they were a little group of about 150 all told to start, meeting as small groups in the back allies and dark rooms, nobody noticing them yet the were sure that all the kingdoms of the world would belong to Jesus Christ. They saw a great heaven, vast and wide and immeasurable with people flooding into it day and night from all corners of the earth. What they experienced in Christ made them feel that anything was possible.

My friends that is the attitude that is given to us in Christ. Not a spirit of hesitation, not a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of boldness and victory in the person of Jesus Christ.

Let us hold firm to the truth that God is able, He is able to save our loved ones who are lost in selfishness and sin. He is able to transform lives. He is able to use even me and you in extending His Kingdom. He is able to fill us with His Holy Spirit so that we can live the holy lives He has called us to live. He is able to mend broken marriages. He is able to bring our prodigal children back to Himself. He is able to open blind eyes. He is able to answer prayer. He is able to do all things.

Set the trumpet to your lips, says Hosea.

Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth, writes the Psalmist, “with the trumpets and the blast of the ram’s horn – shout for joy before the Lord … for he comes to judge the earth."

He is coming, really coming and every enemy of His shall be destroyed.

Set the trumpet to your lips and sound the note of warning. Sound the note of encouragement. Set the trumpet to your lips and sound the note of victory. Now and forevermore.