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Hebrews 11

7/27/2011

Hebrews 11:6 “And it is impossible to please God without faith. Anyone who wants to come to Him must believe that God exists and that He rewards those who sincerely seek Him.”

This really shows us that we don’t need to worry about anything in or of this world. We have joined the family of believers that have faith in Christ period. We must truly believe He exists, even when our wants and comforts are not being met to our standards. It says He will “…reward those who sincerely seek Him.” Sincerely means; genuine, real pure or free of deceit. Are we sincerely seeking God in this way, believing everything that He has shown us by working on living a way that is modeled after Christ? We know in our hearts what is true, why is it so hard to live out what is true? Look at verse 13; it is talking about all the great people that stepped out in faith to do whatever God told them.

“All these people died still believing what God had promised them. They did not receive what was promised, but they saw it all from a distance and welcomed it. They agreed that they were foreigners and nomads here on earth.”

Is our faith real enough to forget what we desire and what we think is right for us here and change to live a life that is totally “not my will but God’s? Pray that our heart is changed and we can sincerely seek the truth and not hold on to anything of this world. Amen

6 Comments

Hebrews 10

7/26/2011

3 Comments

Hebrews 10:23-25 “Let us hold tightly without wavering to the hope we affirm, for God can be trusted to keep His promise. Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works. And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of His return is drawing near.”

Do we truly believe what we are shown in God’s word? That question should be thought about deeply because if we answer “yes” then there is a transformation of self that has to take place. We cannot waver and seek only when we are comfortable, we must want to be challenged to grow. When we accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior we must be willing to learn to be better and always turn to Him. One of the things we learned this past weekend in the sermon was that we need to be reading God’s word seeking transformation not just information. Realizing that we are new creations and life change must take place helps us trust in Him for everything in our lives.

Chapter 10 verse 35 says, “So do not throw away this confident trust in the Lord. Remember the great reward it brings you!”

What keeps us from not wavering? I believe it is constant meditation and praying for God to open our hearts and grow. I also believe it takes fellowship with others that are working on doing the same.

In verse 36 it says, “Patient endurance is what you need now, so that you will continue to do God’s will. Then you will receive all that He has promised.”

Why settle for a walk full of pain and fear? I desire all that He promises and that is peace on earth as it is in Heaven. And that does not come from the world at all; it comes from Christ and understanding who we are as true believers. I say ask yourself this question this week: What is keeping me from living a life that is fully trusting the Lord? I think in most instances the answer would be “myself”. Ask God to open your heart and fill it with the Spirit knowing that it will take passion and desire to be a fully devoted follower of Christ. Amen

3 Comments

Hebrews 3

7/21/2011

1 Comment

Hebrews 3:6 “But Christ, as the Son, is in charge of God’s entire house. And we are God’s house, if we keep our courage and remain confident in our hope in Christ.”

We cannot get comfortable and feel we can do it on our own. We must understand the hope we have in Christ and live according to His example. This world is not our rest; that will come when we die and have lived a life whole heartedly looking at Christ. We must realize how strong belief is, our tendency is to see that word nonchalantly when in fact it is a power word. In many places in chapter 3 it says, “Today when you hear His voice, don’t harden your hearts.”

Chapter 3 verse 12 says, “Be careful then, dear brothers and sisters. Make sure that your own hearts are not evil and unbelieving, turning you away from the living God.”

When we take our belief as a comfortable thing we get complacent and we are not challenged to continually grow and seek.

Verse 13says, “You must warn each other every day, while it is still today, so that none of you will be deceived by sin and hardened against God.”

Chapter 4 challenges us to always work and remember how incredible Jesus is. “God’s promise of entering His rest still stands, so we ought to tremble with fear that some of you might fail to experience it.”

This is written to people sitting in the church comfortable thinking believing without heart change is good enough. Belief is key, without that there us no desire or hope, but if that belief doesn’t make you want to become a new creation in Christ it is dead. We are shown the hope we have in Christ in chapter 4 verse 16 were it says, “So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive His mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most.”

I pray for the belief that moves me to change and truly trust the Lord and I pray that the Spirit fills my heart so I choose Him and not the world. Amen

1 Comment

Hebrews 2

7/19/2011

5 Comments

Hebrews 2:3-4 “So what makes us think we can escape if we ignore this great salvation that was first announced by the Lord Jesus Himself and then delivered to us by those who heard Him Speak? And God confirmed the message by giving signs and wonders and various miracles and gifts of the Holy Spirit whenever He chose.”

It is so important for us to understand our responsibility for our faith. We must put into action what we believe by opening our hearts and filling ourselves with the Spirit. It is so much more than the basic ritual of calling ourselves a “Christian.” It says, “…what makes us think we can escape if we ignore this great salvation…” Free gifts are nice but they are nothing if we don’t trust in them and focus on the benefits of them. We need to focus on Christ and all He did in life, death and resurrection. It is real and so is our heart transformation when we fully surrendering to Him and work hard to imitate Christ like action. I love that Paul tells us to follow him as he follows Christ. To follow something you need to actually believe it and to believe it is to change to live like it. There is always action with our transformation. I pray that God would open our hearts and we could feel the cutting and growing our hearts need to be fully devoted followers of Jesus. Amen

5 Comments

Titus 2

7/14/2011

5 Comments

Titus 2:11-15 “For the grace of God has been revealed, bringing salvation to all people. And we are instructed to turn from godless living and sinful pleasures. We should live in this evil world with wisdom, righteousness, and devotion to God, while we look forward with hope to that wonderful day when the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, will be revealed. He gave His life to free us from every kind of sin, to cleanse us, and to make us His very own people, totally committed to doing good deeds. You must teach these things and encourage the believers to do them. You have the authority to correct them when necessary, so don’t let anyone disregard what you say.”

We must be believers willing to change and understand that we need to look at Christ and live as He did. We just can’t believe who He is and say thanks; we need to show our belief by living it out. We get too caught up in the comfort of the story of Jesus; we think just by acknowledging that we are good to go. But Jesus asks us to be new creations and different. He says, “…go and sin no more.” We must be in awe of what He did and see how worthy it is for us to live our lives working on obedience and showing our love for Him by changing our heart.

Romans 2:28-29 says it best; “For you are not a true Jew just because you were born of Jewish parents or because you have gone through the ceremony of circumcision. No, a true Jew is one whose heart is right with God. And true circumcision is not merely obeying the letter of the law; rather, it is a change of heart produced by God’s Spirit. And a person with a changed heart seeks praise from God not from people.”

When this happens we live to please Him not ourselves and we can go out and be a light teaching people to be like Christ. Amen

5 Comments

Ephesians 4

7/8/2011

3 Comments

I want to try something to get more discussion going. If you would try and answer these questions from the heart.

Does personal effort make a difference?

Ephesians 4:1-3 “Therefore I, a prisoner for serving the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of your calling, for you have been called by God. Always be humble and gentle. Be patient with each other’s faults because of your love. Make every effort to keep yourselves united in the Spirit, binding yourselves together with peace.”

What effort have you made in the past month or so that has kept you united with the Spirit?
Are you missing out on the inner peace we are promised, what can you do differently to have this peace?

3 Comments

Hebrews 11

Hebrews 10

Hebrews 3

Hebrews 2

Titus 2

Ephesians 4

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