Author: missionspaul

The purpose of our lives is to please God
Hebrews 11
v6 and so with faith we know we please Him.
We can please Him.
This is not a goal, not an achievement. It is possible for us all now.
How?
By faith. What kind of faith? Big faith?
No. Just faith that He exists even when it looks like He doesn’t.
In this chapter we have great stories in faith for Noah, Abraham, Jacob, Joseph, Moses parting the Red Sea, the Jericho walls falling down AND v33, v34 who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, and gained what was promised; who shut the mouths of lions, quenched the fury of the flames, and escaped the edge of the sword; whose weakness was turned to strength; and who became powerful in battle and routed foreign armies.

This is great faith. A faith that makes the present different.
BUT
v35-39!
It’s the same faith.
Some would escape and some would be enabled, like the 21 Egyptian Christians beheaded yesterday in Libya. So often we pursue a faith to change the present circumstances of our life.
Great faith is the faith that endures.
To please God we need to believe He exists even when it looks like He doesn’t. To believe He isn’t a million miles away even when it fells like He is. To believe He is with you even when there is little to show for it.
The pressures of your life can be the evidence of God’s work in your life.
The presence of God is more important than the answers of God.

Sometimes we just have to hold on!
Hebrews 10
The writer is writing to people going through persecution, pressure, trauma.
What does he say?
He doesn’t give sympathy, He says …
Let us not give up … v25
Do not throw away … v35
You need to persevere … v36
We do not shrink back … v39

It’s not sympathy we need at times, not even a listening ear … We need someone to say don’t give up!
What are you facing?
Hold on!

Be careful what you enter
Hebrews 9
Christ did not enter:
v11 … A man-made tabernacle but a perfect one.
He avoided the politics of religion and small-minded kingdom mentality.

v12 … Through the way where others bear the sacrifice.
He avoided that which cost Him nothing less than His all.

v24 … a copy of the real Heavenly Place but He entered heaven itself.
He avoided replicas of the real thing.

v25 … Into repeated actions but a once and for all thinking.
He avoided repetition duties but based on a duty of religion.

What are you avoiding today?

Stick to the point
Hebrews 8
I love how the writer says “Now the main point of what we are trying to say is this …”v1.
I am running the risk of someone accusing me of talking about the subject of ‘sticking to the main point’ from a chapter when this is not the main point! However …
We hear a lot of flannel and sugar coating today!
Flannel – what someone does to avoid the main point
Sugar Coating – what someone does to make the bad sound not so bad.
Have you ever sat and listened to someone talk for what seems a decade and you find yourself wondering what are they trying to say?
Some people have this experience every week and they sit in rows to do so.
What is the main point? Stick to it.
When communicating the gospel.
When planning your next move.
When counselling another.
When in a disagreement.

Recently I was met at a church by a man who informed me his job was to time the speaker. The longest was 58 minutes he said with raised eyebrows and the shortest was 4 minutes, he seemed happier about the latter. He said he would time me and I would go into the log book at the end. I won’t say how long I was but it was in between those times!
Some are too afraid to say what they need to say.
Some like the sound of their own voice too much.
Some are confused about what they want to say.
Some are not interested in the truth as much as the plaudits.
Some are focused on damage limitation at all costs.
We need people to stay on track. To stick to the main point.
SO WHAT?! This needs to be ever before us as we open our mouths.
Listen more, think more, say less, be precise.
Elaborate by invitation.

The tenth
All over the world the tenth is abused.
Hebrews 7
The tenth doesn’t amount to a tenth.
The tenth is accepted as Old Testament practice only, usually by those who give less than a tenth.
The tenth is withheld along with the other nine-tenths.
The tenth is taken by Pastors but not given by them.
The tenth is given to the penny, no rounding up, wouldn’t want to give too much.
The tenth is preached with emotional stories and exceptional promises, if you do this, you get this.
I see all of this.
I believe in giving more than the tenth.
I believe in giving the tenth.
I won’t say Jesus wants us to do it. That could inflame some tenthless givers.
I will say Melchizedek wants us to do it and he seems a nice guy.

“In the one case, the tenth is collected by people who die; but in the other case, by him who is declared to be living”, v8.
Well Melchizedek collected the tithe from Abraham, v1-2, and he died.
But who is the other who collected the tithe and is declared to be living?
Who could that possibly be?!
And anyway, who actually was Melchizedek? … v2-3.

Confident of better things
Hebrews 6
I am writing this having been to a service at one of the churches of Elim Honduras.
They have gone through some difficulty recently.
There has been some falling away.
However, I am confident of better things, v9.
Why?
Elim Honduras are passionately serving God, they are caught up with the cause.
Elim Honduras are loving and helping people and this reveals the love they have for God, v10.
Work and love breeds for confidence of better things.
Let’s embrace the two today.

He does not let you down
Hebrews 5
All the way through this book and here in this chapter we have Jesus being referred as our High Priest.
There are many who know the experience of being let down by their heroes, their spiritual mentors and leaders who just couldn’t manage to run the race till the end without becoming a casualty.
We all need a leader. One who made it.
His name is Jesus. This is our Pastor, our Spiritual leader/mentor, our hero, our High Priest.

The High Priest of old would sin, bringing sin upon the community and he would need to make atonement through the sacrifice of a bull.
BUT Jesus is perfect, blameless and pure (7:26-28)
Jesus doesn’t bring guilt, He only removes guilt (10:22)
Blood was still needed, but not of a substitute, but His own, Jesus our substitute (9:13-14)

In some sense I like my High Priest, my hero to know the battles of life, the same struggles, trials and temptations. I like my High Priest to be human, to appreciate what it means to be this species. I want Him to know me.
I don’t want my hero to be so full of himself that He is hero-status driven, (5:5).
I want Him to be earthy, to be one who prays because he needs to and to know the times when prayer is painful. I don’t want someone who has never cried. I do want Him to show me the way, to lead me into my own submitted life (5:7-10).

Be thankful for Jesus today. He will not let you down.

Rest
Hebrews 4

It still remains.
He set it up at creation, after He said He had finished the work.
The Joshua generation failed to experience it.
They battled, struggled and worked for it but never knew it.
He revealed it again at the cross, after He said He had finished the work.
His rest.
A Sabbath-rest.
Not a day off.
But a life of His presence, where all our battles, struggles and tiredness of life’s work are laid on Him.
It still remains.
Enter in today.

TODAY
Hebrews 3
Don’t put off till tomorrow what you can do TODAY.

TODAY … Say Yes to the Spirit speaking to you, v7
We are often advised to say NO, but we must never say NO to God.

TODAY … Encourage someone to stay strong in God, v13
If we all do it then we all receive it for we all need it.

TODAY … Repeat what needs to be repeated, v15
Hearing it once, that’s one thing, but hearing till it happens is another!

Can I have an upgrade please?
Hebrews 2
It is the first thing on my mind when I approach the check-in. I try and reveal what I want in my smile and in my banter. I wish I could say my charm works. It doesn’t. I am still waiting for someone out there who knows the keys to the Kingdom of upgrades to give me the ABC to a better seat.

But we do see Jesus, who was made lower than the angels for a little while… v9.
If only for a short time, a moment, if only people for a little while could willingly make themselves lower. Everyone wants an upgrade, where are the people downgrading?
Someone recently said to me that there ‘used-to-be friend’ would stand on their head to get to where they want to be. How sad. But it’s true. Many in wanting to get to glory aim high, network for high, flex muscle for high. And like a drug their high doesn’t last long.

But we do see Jesus, who was made lower than the angels for a little while, now crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone, v9

Glory is in the downgrade. It is in the suffering. It is in the serving. The giving of yourself so that others may live. It is in the grace. It is taking the hits for others. The high comes through the low.
Upgrades are for those who willingly downgrade.

I am not sure what the downgrade for economy is?!
I shall ask when I check-in next week.