Equipping University

Hebrews 12:3-11: God's Discipline of His Children 07.04.2010 51:00 ↓

The slow devolution of fatherhood in our popular media has surely had some effect on the viewers' understanding of the family in general and fatherhood in particular. Another fearful effect can be seen in the area of biblical interpretation. The Bible uses the image of the father consistently to reveal various aspects of the relationship between God and his people. As the popular image of fatherho...

Hebrews 12:1-2: Running the Race with Endurance 31.03.2010 59:46 ↓

In the first two verses of the twelfth chapter, the author of Hebrews begins to apply all the truths presented in the first ten chapters. What will a life lived in confident trust in the Superior High Priest look like? How does an enduring and obedient faith work in everyday life? There is only one exhortation in the entire passage: "Let us run." This one verb is surrounded by a series of particip...

Hebrews 11:32-40: The Exemplary Faith of Normal Believers 24.03.2010 54:34 ↓

It is often good to hear the bad news along with the good but it is rare that we are given the gift of hearing the rest of the story. The author of Hebrews did not want his readers to get a distorted view of life by hearing only a portion of the truth. Therefore, in the eleventh chapter of Hebrews, the author purposes to tell all who read this great letter that living a life of faith does not alwa...

Hebrews 11:23-31: The Exemplary Faith of the Exodus Generation 17.03.2010 59:58 ↓

Everyone loves an underdog! The idea of a smaller and outnumbered person or group defeating a more powerful opponent fits well with our study of the next section of the eleventh chapter of Hebrews. In the previous section (vv. 8-22), the author described the faithful lives of the patriarchs of the Jewish faith as they faced persistent disappointment at not possessing the promised earthly inheritan...

Hebrews 11:8-22: The Exemplary Faith of the Patriarchs 10.03.2010 59:53 ↓

As the author of Hebrews moves on in chapter eleven by giving examples of faithful men and women in the history of the Israelites, he comes to the patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. To be sure, these men exhibited remarkable faith - particularly Abraham - without the benefit of ever seeing the promises of God fulfilled in their lives. In the middle of the passage we will study in this chapter,...

Hebrews 11:4-7: The Exemplary Faith of Pre-Flood Heroes 03.03.2010 55:12 ↓

The men and women described in Hebrews 11 are used as illustrations for the type of saving faith that actually perseveres. Christians often study this chapter and come to the conclusion that the faith of these men and women has nothing to do with them and their ordinary, everyday lives. This is a seriously misguided and misinformed understanding of what the author of Hebrews is attempting to do at...