Chaos is what happens when people do what is right in their own eyes, but evil in God’s eyes. The book of Judges calls us to look to a king who can lead His people to do God’s will.
The Resurrection of Jesus transformed the disciples from scared, scattered followers to committed apostles. Jesus found Peter and restored his faith--commissioning him to the work of the Gospel. Jesus comes to us with the same imperative.
Jesus prophesied that he would be lifted up like the serpent of Moses. Jesus died according to a very specific plan, accomplished a very specific purpose, and afforded a very glorious salvation.
In John 17, Jesus prays to the Father that His followers would be unified. During this prayer, Jesus shares two desires: that His followers would see His glory and feel the Father's love. However, seeing Jesus' glory and feeling the Father's love might not look exactly like we would expect.
God is the one who equips us to do His will. It is His passion. It is His responsibility. He takes ownership. We just need to be faithful in our obedience.
Jesus bore the reproach of the world. He took sin upon himself and carried it outside the camp. He invites us to join him outside the camp and joyfully receive the reproach of the world in order to gain the glory of heaven.
As we reach the conclusion of Hebrews, we are exhorted to offer acceptable worship to God in response to his great salvation. So what does acceptable worship look like? It’s all about the heart of the worshiper. It’s about the attitude we have towards God and his world.
We have not come to the fiery Mt. Sinai of the Old Covenant. We have come to the new Jerusalem. We have come to Jesus. We can boldly enter God’s presence and enjoy the grace that Jesus’ blood provides.
God disciplines his children. Many of the things we endure in life are for our discipline. God loves us and wants to strengthen our faith, but this usually comes through suffering.
Jesus has called us to follow him. Following Christ is often compared to running a race. The recipients of Hebrews were having a hard time maintaining the race. The author of Hebrews encouraged them and us to stay on the race by fixing our eyes on Jesus. Featured Text: Hebrews 12:1-2
Faith has an object. That means when we have faith, we are trusting in something. This something is important—it’s most important. We trust Jesus. We trust him to bring his kingdom, establish our rest, and bring everything to completion.
The culmination of the argument of Hebrews spills out as the Hall of Faith. We respond to the work of God with faith. But what is this faith? Where does obedience come into play?
Jesus is better than everything. The author of Hebrews makes that clear. Since he is better, we should be better. Today we will look at the results and expectations we have based on the accomplished work of Christ. Will we shrink back? Or will we press forward in faith?