September 22, 2024
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Hebrews 5:11-6:8
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Christian maturity, exposition, jesus, maturity
From the time of our birth, parents and doctors begin to measure our physical growth. Educators measure our intellectual growth. Banks and credit agencies measure our financial growth. They all have goals for where we should be in order to be considered healthy or to graduate or to qualify for a loan. But what about spiritual growth? Does God have a goal for our spiritual growth? Many in the church today seem to be unaware of this greater goal.
So the greater goal is not to just make converts, but to make Christ-followers, to make disciples of Jesus who grow up to maturity becoming like Him in every way. Because as Dallas Willard warned, “The way to get more people into heaven is to get heaven into more people. And if you don’t do that, then you wind up with a group of people that are testimonies against heaven.”
What’s your goal in life? Is your life a testimony for heaven or against heaven? Are you growing spiritually? Since becoming a Christian, are you growing more like Jesus? In the epistle of Hebrews, the Jewish background believers were warned not to fall away from the goal of growing to maturity in Jesus. We can heed the warning not to fall away from the goal of growing to maturity in Jesus.
June 23, 2024
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Hebrews 6:13-20
In a world where everything is in flux and constantly changing, don’t you wish you had something or someone that you could depend on? Someone who didn’t change?
God is unchanging. That’s what we want to “know” more about God today. In Hebrews chapter 6, believers were reminded that they could hold fast to an unchanging God in an ever-changing world.
November 4, 2023
“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” (Hebrews 6:12 NLT). There are some of us who after hearing and believing the gospel become sluggish and slothful in loving others and living for
November 4, 2022
HOPE LIKE A ROPE Christian hope is not like the world’s hope. It isn’t like saying “I hope it doesn’t rain this weekend.” For that hope is a mere wish built on nothing but a desire. Christian hope is like a rope, anchored in the historical resurrection of Jesus Christ in the past, taken hold
November 4, 2021
HAVE YOU BECOME SPIRITUALLY LAZY? There are some of us who after hearing and believing the gospel become sluggish and slothful in loving others and living for Christ. How can this be since we are assured of inheriting God’s promises? Perhaps it is because we misunderstand our faith, thinking we can hold it passively, when
November 4, 2020
HAVE YOU BECOME SPIRITUALLY SLUGGISH? There are some of us who after hearing and believing the gospel become sluggish and slothful in loving others and living for Christ. How can this be since we are assured of inheriting God’s promises? Perhaps it is because we misunderstand our faith, thinking we can hold it passively, when
November 4, 2019
CHRISTIAN HOPE IS LIKE A ROPE Christian hope is not like the world’s hope. It isn’t like saying “I hope it doesn’t rain this weekend.” For that hope is a mere wish built on nothing. Christian hope is like a rope, anchored in the historical resurrection of Jesus Christ in the past, taken hold
November 4, 2018
ARE YOU BECOMING SPIRITUALLY DULL AND INDIFFERENT?
There are some of us who after hearing and believing the gospel become sluggish and slothful in loving others and living for Christ. How can this be since we are assured of inheriting God’s promises? Perhaps it is because we misunderstand our faith, thinking we can hold it passively, when instead, it must be acted upon. Since we have the promises of God in Christ, let us walk by faith, not becoming “weary in well-doing” (Gal. 6:9).
Are you becoming spiritually dull and indifferent? Your love for God and love for others has waned? Faith and endurance are the antidote. Fan into flame your spirit by faith. Endure hardship in your love for others. You have the promises of God. Live like it!
November 4, 2015
Our hope is like a rope, anchored in the historical resurrection of Christ in the past, taken hold of by our hands of faith in the present, and proceeding into the future beyond the veil of heaven where the risen Lord has entered on our behalf. This hope is not ethereal, but both “sure and steadfast.” It is not hanging unhindered, but anchored at both ends. It is drawn taut between Christ’s resurrection and return. We cling to this cord of hope with hearts of faith, trusting His promises and assured by His Spirit’s presence within. Our hope is made of sturdy stuff.