October 27, 2024
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Hebrews 9:1-14
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exposition
Do you feel like a VIP with God? Or do you struggle with self-doubt and feelings of inadequacy? Maybe feelings of shame and guilt linger from your past and you’ve never been able to experience complete cleansing and forgiveness? Maybe you’re feeling a disconnect with God today? You’re going through a season of spiritual dryness? In fact, instead of feeling like a VIP, you feel that God is distant from you and not hearing your prayers?
That’s what this message is about today. Because through the ministry of Jesus in God’s heavenly tabernacle we are offered VIP access to God! In Hebrews 9:1-14, the author told the Hebrew believers that the heavenly tabernacle where Jesus serves as High Priest is greater than the old. We can understand that the heavenly tabernacle where Jesus serves as High Priest is greater than the old.
October 20, 2024
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Hebrews 8:1-13
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exposition
Everything in life seems to eventually become obsolete. Everything eventually gets old, runs down, stops working… everything loses its new car smell. Don’t wish some things would last? We all long for something better, something more permanent, something we can always depend on and trust. That’s what the New Covenant in Christ offers. It will never become obsolete. It is permanent, empowering, and perfect. It is greater than the old covenant in every way!
In Hebrews 8, the author explained to Jewish background believers that the new covenant in Christ Jesus is greater than the old. We can understand that the new covenant in Christ Jesus is greater than the old.
October 13, 2024
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Hebrews 7:18-28
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exposition
We live in world filled with guarantees, lifetime warrantees, insurances, promises and so on. Our culture knows full well that we the consumer are looking for things that last, things that have been guaranteed to succeed for us. We have lots of guarantees in this life, but lots of broken ones too. Many of us are painfully living through many unfulfilled guarantees and desperate for someone to follow through.
Wouldn’t you be pleased to discover that in your area of greatest need, you have a guarantee that is totally certain? Our salvation, our spiritual access to the living God, our communion with Him is made certain, guaranteed by our savior Jesus Christ.
In Hebrews 7:18-28, the author explained to the Jewish background believers that Jesus is a greater guarantee of salvation. We can understand that Jesus is a greater guarantee of salvation.
October 6, 2024
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Hebrews 7:1-17
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exposition
Why does this passage about a mysterious figure named, Melchizedek, and an ancient priesthood matter to us today? While we may not be struggling to reconcile temple worship with our faith in Christ, we face a similar challenge: Where do we turn to find true connection with God? In our world, people are looking everywhere for meaning, security, and spiritual fulfillment. Some turn to religious traditions, others to personal spirituality, and still others to worldly solutions like success, status, or wealth. Even as Christians, we may sometimes feel distant from God and question how we can approach Him and hear from Him.
This is why we need to hear about the greatness of Christ’s priesthood. It reminds us that our relationship with God doesn’t depend on our efforts, rituals, or qualifications. We have direct access to God through Jesus, our perfect High Priest. His priesthood is superior to anything the world or religion can offer. In Him, we find security, peace, and reconciliation with God.
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.
March 10, 2024
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1 Corinthians 1:17-25
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cross, exposition, jesus
Do you see the need for Christ’s sacrificial death on the cross for your sins? Do you understand its significance? Do you believe that people are separated from God in this world, struggling with sin, addiction, and death without God’s intervention? Do you believe that people who die separated from God will spend eternity without Him in a place called Hell?
In the apostle Paul’s first letter to the church at Corinth, he explained why the message of the cross of Christ was crucial to their salvation.
March 3, 2024
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Habakkuk 3:16-19
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exposition
What are you facing today? It seems easy to keep the faith when life is good, when all your prayers are being answered, and everything is coming up roses. But how do we keep trusting God when life gets hard? When our prayers seem to go unanswered? When our worst fears seem to be coming true? How can we keep trusting the Lord anyway?
In Habakkuk 3:16-19, after hearing the Lord’s plan to use Babylon to discipline Judah, the prophet concluded his little book of lament with a strong resolve to trust the Lord anyway. We can resolve to trust the Lord anyway.
February 25, 2024
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Habakkuk 3:1-15
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exposition
Even when life doesn’t make sense and God seems far away, we can lament, crying out our questions and complaints to God, believing that He is good and that He will cause all things to come together for good in the end.
Are you hurting today? Are you dealing with grief from a broken relationship? From a lost loved one? Are struggling with a situation that makes you question whether God cares? And if He does, why doesn’t He act? Or maybe the life you always dreamed of and the life you’re actually living are a hundred miles apart and you wonder why God doesn’t intervene? Like, “God, I see all those miracles and great and mighty works You did in the Bible. Would You do it again, Lord in my life? In the book of Habakkuk, when the prophet lifted his cry to the Lord by faith, it turned his lament into praise. We can cry out to the Lord by faith to see our lament turned into praise.
February 18, 2024
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Habakkuk 2:6-20
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exposition
This week, in part three of our God Questions series, we see Habakkuk asking, “Where are you, Lord? What are you doing? I’m confused. I don’t see You at work in this. Where are you, Lord?”
How are we to stay faithful when it seems like God is absent? Even when life doesn’t make sense and God seems far away, we can lament, crying out our questions and complaints to God, believing that He is good and that He will cause all things to come together for good in the end. In the book of Habakkuk, when the prophet struggled with understanding how a holy God could use an evil nation like Babylon, God answered him, declaring five woes of judgement on Babylon. Within these five woes, God encouraged Habakkuk’s faith by helping him understand where God was at work. We can be encouraged in our faith by understanding where God is at work.
February 11, 2024
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Habakkuk 1:12-2:5
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exposition
What do you do when you’ve prayed to God and you don’t like the answer you’ve received? What do we do when God’s answer doesn’t seem to be “yes,” but “wait,” or even more difficult, “no?” That’s Habakkuk. He doesn’t like God’s answer. It doesn’t fit his understanding of God and the world. So now, he has more questions for God.
He even lifts up his “why” questions. “Why Lord? Why would you let this happen?” And “why” questions are the hardest of all. In the book of Habakkuk, when the prophet struggled with why a holy God would allow an evil nation like Babylon to prevail over Judah, the Lord called Habakkuk to trust that His plans would be better in the end. We can trust that God’s plans for us will be better in the end.