Category: Hebrews

Hebrews 12:1-2

4/27/2012

Hebrews 12:1-2 “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith. Because of the joy awaiting Him, He endured the cross, disregarding its shame. Now He is seated in the place of honor beside God’s throne.”

I was drawn to read this again and just love the part that says, “…let us strip off every weight that slows us down…” We need to take part in our walk with the Lord by learning what way of living is right and what way of living is wrong according to God’s word and then change how we live. God has given us all the tools we need and is faithful to guide us by the Spirit but we still need to step up and choose to make the change.

Do we believe that Jesus came to take our sins and bridge the gap to God? When we focus on Jesus and see His faith and how perfect it was we can surrender and follow Him. In Hebrews chapter 13 verses 13-14 it says, “So let us go out to Him, outside the camp, and bear the disgrace He bore. For this world is not our permanent home; we are looking forward to a home yet to come.”

We can’t sit back and expect our lives to just be great, we are to live with our focus on Jesus knowing our home is yet to come. Our focus is so important because this world will tell us we are not good enough and we are not accepted but we are children of God and He accepts us for who we are. Live like Christ seeing the benefits of right living then be the example not the exception. Amen

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Hebrews 12

4/24/2012

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Hebrews 12:14 “Work at living in peace with everyone, and work at living a holy life, for those who are not holy will not see the Lord.”

It is so important for us to grow and learn all we can. We can’t just sit back and say I know Jesus, now He will take me home. We must learn and work on our faith knowing that there will be hard times and times when we are tired but that is when we can grow the best. When we work on our relationship with the Lord it cultivates and we develop character and our passion for what Jesus did and we desire to be like Him.

In verse 11 it says, “No discipline is enjoyable while it is happening – it’s painful! But afterward there will be a peaceful harvest of right living for those who are trained in this way.” We need to know that what we go through can be used as something that sharpens our sword and keeps us aware of the world around us as we press forward toward Jesus joyfully seeking our new life.

Verse 12 says, “So take a new grip with your tired hands and strengthen your weak knees. Mark out a straight path for your feet so that those who are weak and lame will not fall but become strong.” To me these are verses that inspire me to be better and not be satisfied with coasting because I said a prayer. We must be working and filling the Spirit in us so that our sinful desires become less and our desire becomes living like Christ doing nothing without the Father telling us.

As I look at God’s word I am amazed at the challenges He gives and the desire He has for us to follow Him not just use Him. He has chosen us to be bold warriors showing our love not people that just sit back and expect a ride on the narrow road. I like what it says in Hebrews chapter 12 verse 25, “Be careful that you do not refuse to listen to the One who is speaking. For if the people of Israel did not escape when they refused to listen to Moses, the earthly messenger, we will certainly not escape if we reject the One who speaks to us from heaven!”

We must work on being unshakeable and confident in what we know and believe about our Lord. And then stand up and share our life with others so they can see our transformed lives and know that Jesus is the way.

Look at verse 27, “This means that all of creation will be shaken and removable, so that only unshakeable things will remain.” I believe the unshakeable will be on the narrow road and the easily shaken, even believers, will fail to stand strong. It’s not about being perfect it’s about being focused on Him. Amen

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Hebrews 10

4/22/2012

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Hebrews 10:32 “Think back on those early days when you first learned about Christ. Remember how you remained faithful even though it meant terrible suffering.”

I really liked this reminder of a time when it was fresh in our minds, like a new relationship. Our faith should be growing everyday so we are more excited about what Christ did and our confidence is stronger than ever. When we first learn something we are excited to learn all we can about it, we need to realize we will never learn all we need to about our walk so we should seek His wisdom daily and develop our faith so we are bold and confident.

In verse 35 it says, “So do not throw away this confident trust in the Lord. Remember the great reward it brings you!” Just knowing that should keep us excited, joyful and focused. When our minds are spinning and we get confused about this world we need to stop and remember His great sacrifice and know it will be alright. This growth should be done with people and not alone.

In chapter 10 verses 24-25 it says, “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.”

This teamwork is a tool for us to grow and learn, when we see the importance of this our faith will get stronger and we will be the example that Christ is calling us to be. Then people will see our faith and notice that it is not just talk it is how we live, and it will open the door to share who Jesus is, and a seed will be planted. Always be ready to give a testimony but remember if your life doesn’t change people won’t see a reason to seek the Lord. Amen

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Hebrews 9

4/20/2012

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Hebrews 9:14 “Just think how much more the blood of Christ will purify our consciences from sinful deeds so that we can worship the living God. For by the power of the eternal Spirit, Christ offered Himself to God as a perfect sacrifice for our sins.”

See when we surrender our will and realize how amazing and helpful the blood of Christ is we can be free of our sinful nature. We can’t help our thoughts and desires but the Spirit that lives in us can help us deny our feelings and choose the truth. We need to remember that we will want to sin and seek self-gratification but that will never bring satisfaction to us. Only when we fill the Spirit and follow His promptings will we feel the full joy and peace we were made to have through Christ.

I love that it says, “…the blood of Christ will purify our consciences from sinful deeds so that we can worship the living God.” If we want to stay focused on Christ we need to remember what He has done and then think of that before we react to the world.

We need to read these verses and remember them: Hebrews chapter 9 verses 27-28, “And just as each person is destined to die once and after that comes judgment, so also Christ died once for all time as a sacrifice to take away the sins of many people. He will come again not to deal with our sin, but to bring salvation to all who are eagerly waiting for Him.”

Let’s eagerly wait for Him by learning to be different than the world and by letting the Spirit lead us in everything we do. Amen

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Hebrews 6

4/16/2012

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Hebrews 6:11-12 “Our great desire is that you will keep on loving others as long as life lasts, in order to make certain that what you hope for will come true. Then you will not become spiritually dull and indifferent. Instead, you will follow the example of those who are going to inherit God’s promises because of their faith and endurance.”

It is so important that we continually grow and learn so we are full of love. Love is what shows our faith and makes us different. People that don’t know Jesus don’t want our talk they want to see that “Christians” are different. When we love God and love people we do things because we can’t help it, the Spirit is leading us. We are called to continue to learn until we mature and then continue to learn until we die and join God in His place of rest.

Look at what it says in Hebrews chapter 5 verse 7, “While Jesus was here on earth, He offered prayers and pleadings, with a loud cry and tears, to the one who could rescue Him from death. And God heard His prayers because of His deep reverence for God.” He did everything that God wanted and He was obedient even through His suffering and His prayers were answered with joy.

Do we have a reverence for God or do we have a desire to please ourselves? We always feel God should do-do-do when we need to take the responsibility and show our faith by our actions no matter what our suffering might be. What I like about loving Jesus is that it is a relationship that continues to grow so we can better shine His light.

I love what Hebrews chapter 5 verses 13-14 say, “For someone who lives on milk is still an infant and doesn’t know how to do what is right. Solid food is for those who are mature, who through training have the skill to recognize the difference between right and wrong.”

It is our responsibility to train and learn to know Jesus and live like Him, we can’t do that if we do nothing with our faith and we always drink milk. I pray that we all including me desire more than anything the maturity that God has called us to. Amen

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Hebrews 2

4/15/2012

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Hebrews 2:18 “Since He Himself has gone through suffering and testing, He is able to help us when we are being tested.”

We must realize this as we are dealing with the day to day crud that happens in our lives. Jesus knows the pain and knows trials so He has asked us to come to Him and release it to Him. This is so helpful when our days seem black and there is no light in the tunnel.

Look what it says in chapter 2 verse 10, “God, for whom and through whom everything was made, chose to bring many children into glory. And it was only right that He should make Jesus, through His suffering, a perfect leader, fit to bring them into their salvation.”

We must remember this and continue to grow as we seek to know more and live our lives to resemble Christ’s. We shouldn’t be worrying about the answers for everything we just need to realize that God’s will is perfect and we need to know who is in charge. Hebrews chapter 3 verse 6 says, “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.”

This is clear that we have a responsibility to “keep our courage and remain confident.” The devil will constantly try and keep our heads spinning and our doubt alive, but when we grow in wisdom and righteousness our faith grows stronger. 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.” We must feed the Spirit in us and desire to understand more each day so we are confident and bold in what we do.

Verse 13 says, “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.” We need to always see our relationship with Christ as active and alive and our belief will drive us to belong and we will do all we can to know when the devil is working on our hearts and filling us will selfish and impure motives. Our walk starts with belief but it must continue to grow until we love Him so much that we say not my will but yours.

Look at verse 14 which says, “For if we are faithful to the end, trusting God just as firmly as when we first believed, we will share in all that belongs to Christ.” It is not over just because we step on the narrow road we must stay on the narrow road and that takes us loving God truly. Amen

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Hebrews 11

7/27/2011

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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

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Hebrews 10

7/26/2011

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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

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Hebrews 3

7/21/2011

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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

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Hebrews 2

7/19/2011

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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

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