Hebrews was written to encourage Jewish Christians in their faith in Jesus instead of in Jewish institutions. In our text we are encouraged to work together as a church - to stick together and to keep at it. The author was really telling them how to have a good and effective church. If we will heed this, we will have a good, or better, church.
I. Vs. 23 - Stick to your faith and hope. A. So much tries to call us away from it: recreation, work, sometimes family, and sometimes even church. B. So much in life shakes our faith. We have intellectual struggles. We have hostility of the world. etc. C. We can stick to our faith because God is always faithful. He will not let us go and He will not let us down. II. Vs. 24 - Provoke one another to love and good works. A. "Consider one another...." The Christian life is not lived in a vacuum. We live and serve in a fellowship of Christian people and we are to be consierate of each other. B. Provoke each other to better living. Our provocation should not be negative. We should provoke each other to love. C. Provoke one another to good works. Each of us should set the example, especially for young people. III. Vs. 25 - Be faithful to assemble. A. The facts are not good. 80 to 85 % in any church are "hanger's on..." 15 to 20% do the work. In a lot of churches a good Sunday will find 50% of the membership present. B. Vs. 25a - The purpose of assembling is to exhort (encourage) each other. Growing churches are those churches that are joyful, loving and encouraging. This is not done by watering down the gospel and becoming "user friendly." C. Vs. 25b - Our assembling together is evermore important in the light of the return of the Lord. Your church will be the kind of church that you make it. We would do well to follow the example of our text.
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Believers had been on a three day roller coaster ride. They all got together except for Thomas. Our text tells us what happened, and he became "doubting Thomas" for all time. (We shouldn't forget that he was only disciple willing to die for Jesus in Jerusalem. John 11:16) We can learn from Thomases experience with doubt.
I. Vss. 24-25 - His Problem: "I will not believe." A." I've got to see!" (1 Peter 1:8-9) B. "I've got to touch." C. 'I've got to understand with my natural mind." II. Vss. 26-28 - His Solution: "Be not faithless but believing." A. His challenge - vs. 27a Jesus challenged Thomas to trust His reality. He challenges us to do the same. B. His call - Vs. 27b Believing (faith) opens up all of the possibilities. C. His confession - Vs. 28 Thomas did not have to touch. III. Vs. 29 - Our challenge - Vs. 29 A. Believe in Jesus despite society's agnosticism. B. Believe in Jesus to touch your life and work in every area of your life. Deuteronomy 33:27 is still true. C. Believe in Jesus enough to share Him with others. This text should help us come to understand the power of faith - of believing in Jesus. I have never set dates or made any predictions concerning what is in God's hands. I have never claimed to know anything that Jesus didn't claim to know. I do know that we should live as if "the end of all things is near." Every generation of Christians has done this. Peter tells us how to live as if "the end of all things is near.
I. Vs. 7b - He tells us to be sober. A. This means to be sensible. B. This means to be serious. We should be serious about our commitments: To Jesus. To the Bible. To witness. To His church. Etc. C. This means to watch out sin in our lives. Sins of commission. Sins of omission. Sins of attitude. Sins of speech. II. Vs. 7c - He tells us to be prayerful. A. "Watch unto prayer......" While we watch we are to pray. B. Jesus taught us to pray and not to faint. C. If we expect the at any time, we will not fail to pray. III. Vss. 8-9 - He tells us to be loving. A. "Above all things" means that love is serious business. B. "Have fervent love among yourselves. Fervent love feels deeply for others. Fervent love serves God and people. Fervent love loves even when love is not returned. C. "For love shall cover a multitude of sins." In short, love will keep us from judging others. This kind of love will be hospitable. In verses 8-10, Peter tells us to be useable in the last days. So we need to be sober. We need to be prayerful. We need to be loving. This is how Jesus should find us when He returns Vss, 6-7 - Gnostics and Judaizers were trying to get into the Colossian Church. Paul tells the Colossians to continue to walk (live) in Christ. He was saying: "Your life, your salvation is anchored in Christ. He establishes you - be grateful for it."
I. Vs. 8 - As you live in Christ, keep in mind that He is the cetner, the core, of your life. You owe your life, your soul to HIm. A. Beware of anything that keeps Christ from the center...... B. We can remove Christ as the center of our lives with programs and buildings, etc. These are not bad, they are just not Christ! C. Who or what is at the center of your life. II. Vss. 9-15 - As you live in Christ, keep in mind that He alone is sufficient for your salvation, for your life. A. Vs. 9 - He is God. B. Vs. 10 - He alone has the power and authority to make our lives complete, to fulfill the desires and joys of our lives. C. Vs. 11 - He alone can overcome sin in our lives. D. Vs. 12 - He alone can raise us from spiritual death. E. Vs. 13 - He alone can forgive our sins. (1 John 1:9) F. Vss. 14-15 - He alone can free us from legalism and from the power of Satan. III. Vss. 16-19 - As you live in Chrisst, keep in mind that it is Christ, not religion that holds individual Christians and churches together. The main thing is for us to keep Christ at the center our lives, individually and together as His church. Remember: IF JESUS IS NOT AT THE CENTER SOMONE OR SOMEONE ELSE IS. That is At the temple in Jerusalem there were 13 trumpet-shaped tubes, labeled for different purposes, like for the poor, sacrifices, etc. Jesus and His disciples observed the giving of the people and the one that really caught Jesus' attention was the offering of a poor widow. Note my observations on this:
I. The Contrast Vss. 41-44 A. Vs. 41 - Impressive gifts by the rich. Their gifts did not impress Jesus. B. Vs. 42 - The "unimpressive" gift of the widow. 1/4 of a cent in our currency. We might even be ashamed for Jesus to see such a small gift. C. Vss. 43-44 - Surprise! Jesuss revealed the real contrast in vs. 44. II. The Cost A. Jesus wants us to give sacrificially. This includes money, time and talents. B. Jesus wants us to give the most that we have to offer - not the least. The important thing to see here is that the widow was not commended for giving the least, but for giving the most. C. Jesus observes our giving and knows the real cost. III. The Challenge A, The widow challenges us to examine our own giving of money, time, talents and self. (2 Samuel 24:24) B. The widow shows us that even poverty is never a justification for not giving to God. We need to remember that we cannot outgive God. C. The widow challenges us love God and people enough to give. The size of our gifts of money is measured by the sacrifice to ourselves. Jesus expects us to be people of faith in all areas of our lives, and our finances are not counted out of this - nor is our time, our talents and ourselves. In the text Paul did not claim to be a "know-it-all." But he knew Jesus and he knew about Jesus. There are some things that I know about Jesus that I want to share with you.
I. I know that we can know Him. A. As Savior B. As Lord (Master - controller) C. As Friend ("Sticks closer than a brother") II. I know that we can break His heart. A. By unholy living B. By indifferent living (Just not caring) C. By powerless living (We need to remember Acts 1:8.) III. I know that we can serve Him. A. Serve Him in the home B. Serve Him in the highways and byways of life C. Serve Him in the church Do you know these things about Him? Do you know Jesus? |
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