Grow In Faith

The book of Hebrews is a profound book. It’s challenging both in the sense that it’s hard to grasp everything that it is being conveyed.  And challenging in the sense that it’s full of challenges. All of which is especially true in chapter four – which is where we’ve been parked.

In Hebrews 4:12 we are told that the Bible is living an active and sharper than any two-edged sword not just so that we can be encouraged by it. The description of how piercing God’s Word is follows immediately on the heels of Hebrews 4:11. And, you might remember that that passage was urging us to be diligent to enter God’s rest – to get into heaven. The operative word was rest.

We are starting week 8 of our journey through the book of Hebrews.  And we are in Hebrews 4, looking at verses 12-13.

I want us to think about just what it is that we hold when we hold this book, the Bible in our hands. We hold God’s word, and we hold God’s message. Remember, the only things that we know to be true about God are the things that He reveals to us. And there are two primary ways that He reveals things to us: General or Natural Revelation and Special or Supernatural Revelation...

Hebrews chapter 4, verses 1-1 tell us in no uncertain terms that His rest is open and available to us who know and trust Him; That Heaven is our great reward now and forevermore. That He has prepared a place for you and me! But we must believe and trust in Him; if not, we have no place in God's Kingdom now or in eternity.

We are looking at Hebrews and part of what is happening in Hebrews 3 & 4 – when we are warned not to follow the pattern of the Jews of Moses’s day--those whose lack of faith and trust kept them out of the Promised Land and robbed them of the rest that was to be theirs.--part of this warning is a clear statement that we are not to suffer from a lack of faith or we will be kept out of heaven.

We’ve just finished looking at Chapter three, which ended with the warning that it was unbelief that kept the people of Israel from entering the Promised Land and from enjoying God’s rest.  The first readers – first century Jewish Christians who are under attack – were reminded of God’s amazing provision for their forefathers. And were also reminded that they blew it. When the 10 spies talked the...

In the previous devotional, I left you with a warning in Hebrews 3: See to it that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness. We have come to share in Christ if we hold firmly till the end the confidence we had at first.

In the last devotional I left you with the thought from Hebrews 3 that we too can be like the Israelites—wandering around in a very chaotic, desert-like world. With the rising polarization and escalating anger index, we must guard against our own hearts becoming hardened. There is a lot of “deconstruction” of faith going on right now. And while some of it can be very redemptive and restorative, so...

We’re looking at Hebrews 3, verses 7-16 and I want to highlight an important promise of Scripture I touched on yesterday—that God’s word is living and active. Notice the present tense of the verb.  It reads “So, as the Holy Spirit says” not “So, as the Holy Spirit said”. By writing this in the present tense we are reminded that God is still speaking today through His Word. That this book is living...

We are walking through the book of Hebrews verse by verse to harvest nuggets of wisdom that we can apply to our lives. One of the most incredible and mysterious promises of God is that his written word—the Bible—is “living and active, sharper than a two-edged sword” and that it has the power to penetrate the deepest parts of our heart and soul and bring about real change and transformation. So, we...

The text in Hebrews 3 tells us that Jesus is better than everything and everyone and we need to hitch our wagon to him.  We need to tie up with him. And the text says we are to make sure our hearts do not go astray, do not become hardened. We need to be careful who we are tied up with, as who we spend time with can encourage us, or ruin us.

Yesterday we were told in no uncertain terms in the letter to the Hebrews, that Jesus is better than Moses.  And this is all explained using the analogy of a building and a builder. More specifically a house – which has overtone of the church, not the building. Think today about the grace of God that was given to us when He sent his son to die on our behalf.  For us.  That is amazing grace.

I want God to not be an afterthought, but the key thought. That is what we are being told in Hebrews 3. Think about Jesus. Fix your thoughts on Jesus – our apostle and high priest.

We are continuing our series on Hebrews and with this, the fifth week of the devotionals, we are beginning the third major section of the book. In the first section – which was short, just the first few verses of chapter one – we were told that Christ is greater than the prophets. In the second section – from chapter 1 verse 4 through the end of chapter two – we learn that Christ is greater than t...

Today we finish up our looking at the second chapter of Hebrews.  By now I’m sure you’ve sensed that this book is chock full of wisdom and we are slowly moving our way through each chapter to understand more about Jesus and grow in our faith so that we can live it out in ways that change our life and the lives of those around us.

Today we are unpacking the verses in Hebrews 2. Now this is an interesting passage, in part because the author uses the word “family”. And that is such a strong word. Because, well, families are families.  They are not perfect.  They are not always even pretty.  But families are not only the foundation of society, but they are also bonds that cannot be broken. Jesus says that we become a family. T...

Yesterday we spent some time unpacking our coming promotion--The idea that in the future we will be restored to the position we were created for. And in that capacity, we will rule and reign with Christ.  We pick up on that same theme today as we push on in chapter two of Hebrews.

We are in Hebrews and we’re talking about the passage in Hebrews 2 where the writer is making it very clear that in the world to come—we, meaning you and me—are declared partners with Christ to rule and reign over the world.

Today we are looking at Hebrews 2:5 – 9. And there is some complexity to this passage because it’s got a lot of points. As I’ve said already, Hebrews is a rich, complex, profound, and brilliant piece of literature but one that demands our full attention. This part of chapter 2 we return to the flow of the argument that was started in chapter one. What the writer is doing is making a couple of pre-...

We’re in the second chapter of Hebrews and we are talking about God’s laws-and how even though Christ came to fulfill the law, he did not come to abolish it. To get rid of it.  To make the OT irrelevant.

Over the last few weeks, we’ve been looking at the book of Hebrews. This majestic letter, written to a Jewish audience in the 1st century, somewhere before 70 AD. And today we being to look at chapter 2.

Today we are moving from the first 4 verses of Hebrews, which very clearly outlined seven attributes of Christ to the next verses in chapter 1.

Today we continue our devotionals on Hebrews, and we are unpacking the 7 attributes of Christ found in the first 4 verses of the book.  We are talking about his sixth attribute: that he provided for purification of our sins. Subscribe to Christ Church Devotionals: https://christchurchil.org/devotionals/ Find out more about Christ Church: https://christchurchil.org

Today we continue to look at the seven attributes of Christ found in the first few verses of Hebrews. So far, we’ve seen that God’s Son is heir of all things, creator of the universe, the radiance of God’s glory, and the exact representation of his being, his essence. Number five is found in verse 3:  Christ is also the sustainer all things by His powerful Word. Subscribe to Christ Church Devotion...