Tag Archives: Hebrews

Experience God, you won’t turn back! (Hebrews 6:12), July 9, 2015

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Today’s Podcast

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Today’s Scriptures

Today’s Bible reading plans include:

Ready – Hebrews 6:1-12

Set – Micah 4; Hebrews 6

Go! – Micah 1-4; Hebrews 6

Hebrews 6:1-12
1 So let’s push on toward a more perfect understanding and move beyond just the basic teachings of the Anointed One. There’s no reason to rehash the fundamentals: repenting from what you loved in your old dead lives, believing in God as our Creator and Redeemer, 2 teaching about baptism, setting aside those called to service through the ritual laying on of hands, the coming resurrection of those who have died, and God’s final judgment of all people for all time. 3 No, we will move on toward perfection, if God wills it.
4-6 It is impossible to restore the changed heart of the one who has fallen from faith—who has already been enlightened, has tasted the gift of new life from God, has shared in the power of the Holy Spirit, and has known the goodness of God’s revelation and the powers of the coming age. If such a person falls away, it’s as though that one were crucifying the Son of God all over again and holding Him up to ridicule. 7 You see, God blesses the ground that drinks of the rain and then produces a bountiful crop for those who cultivate it. 8 But land that produces nothing but thorns and brambles? That land is worthless and in danger of being cursed, burned to the bare earth.
9 But listen, my friends—we don’t mean to discourage you completely with such talk. We are convinced that you are made for better things, the things of salvation, 10 because God is not unjust or unfair. He won’t overlook the work you have done or the love you have carried to each other in His name while doing His work, as you are still doing. 11 We want you all to continue working until the end so that you’ll realize the certainty that comes with hope 12 and not grow lazy. We want you to walk in the footsteps of the faithful who came before you, from whom you can learn to be steadfast in pursuing the promises of God.

Today’s Devotional

From today’s background scripture God might say:

Paul’s words seem strange to many today. Many believe you can pop in and out of walking with Me at will. Just do want you want and it will be okay. You can come and go as you please. Salvation really doesn’t work that way. When you come to Me, I will give you the stength to stand up to the temptations you face. I want you to turn from the evil paths you followed and live for Me. I don’t want you to wallow in the sinful ways of your past.

When you turn back to your old patterns of sin, you deny My power in your life and the path I’ve laid before you. You deny the power of the cross and the sacrifice I made for you. You crucify Me again. I have so much more for you than just simply forgiving your sins. I want you to truly live. Once you taste the life I have in store for you, you won’t want to turn back.

That’s why Paul can say what he does in these verses. If you really taste the life I have for you, you won’t want to turn back. Those who really experience the full life in Me never want to return to their old life of sin. It’s like the difference between living in a sewer drain and living in a well furnished house.

The comparison is so extreme, there really is no comparison between the two.

Some, however, never really repent of their sins. You cry a few tears, feel sorry you are caught in the trap of guilt for doing wrong, assage you conscience by telling Me you’re sorry, but get up and continue to do the same thing again. That is not repentance. Repentance is turning away from sin. Repentance is doing an about face. It is turning toward Me and away from the life you were living before heading in the direction I want you to go. And that’s the problem with the watered-down religion many hear today. Just cry and few tears and everything is okay. Say you’re sorry and move on.

Not enough. I didn’t die on the cross for you to do whatever you want to do. I died for your redemption. Redemption means I bought you with My blood. I own you. But I give you a choice as to whether you will let Me own you. You can choose to walk away without experiencing My forgiveness and My abundant life. Or you can allow Me to direct your path.

If you allow Me to direct your path, if you become a slave to My word, if you follow the directions I give you, I don’t think you’ll want to leave. You’ll enjoy the abundant living I promised. You’ll experience the incredible joy that comes from My spirit living in you that the world around you will never understand. You’ll amaze those around you with the new life that springs from you each moment because of My spirit that pours through your actions and your words. You’ll live life through Me.

Really experience Me, you won’t turn back! 

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.
In accordance with the requirements for FTC full disclosure, I may have affiliate relationships with some or all of the producers of the items mentioned in this post who may provide a small commission to me when purchased through this site.

Experts in following God (Hosea 14; Hebrews 5), July 8, 2015

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Today’s Podcast

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Today’s Scriptures

Today’s Bible reading plans include:

Ready – Hosea 14; Hebrews 5

Set – Hosea 14; Psalms 102; Hebrews 5

Go! – Hosea 13–14; Psalms 100,102; Hebrews 5

Hosea 14; Hebrews 5
1 Return, Israel, to the Eternal, your True God.
You’ve stumbled because of your wickedness.
2 Think about what to say, and come back to the Eternal One.
Say to Him, “Forgive all our sins, and take us back again.
Bring us into Your good grace so we can offer You praise and sacrifice,
the fruit of our lips.
3 We admit that Assyria can’t save us, nor can riding horses and chariots into battle.
We’ll never again say to idols made with our own hands, ‘You’re our gods!’
We know You’re merciful because You take care of orphans.”
4 Eternal One: I’ll heal their apostate hearts so they won’t turn away from Me again;
I’ll love them freely because I won’t be angry with them anymore.
5 I’ll be like dew that waters Israel. She’ll blossom like the lily.
She’ll put down roots like the stable cedars of Lebanon;
6 She’ll send out shoots until her beauty is like the olive tree
and her fragrance like the cedars of Lebanon.
7 The people will return from exile and sit in My shade once again;
they’ll flourish like grain; they’ll send out shoots like the vine.
And their fame will be like the wine of Lebanon.
8 Ephraim, what do I have in common with deaf and blind idols?
I’m the One who responds to your pleas and cares for you.
I’m like a flourishing juniper tree; I provide life year-round.
9 The wise will understand these things;
the perceptive will know them.
For everything the Eternal One does is right,
and the righteous follow His ways.
But those who turn against Him will stumble along His path.

1Remember what I said earlier about the role of the high priest, even the ones chosen by human beings? The job of every high priest is reconciliation: approaching God on behalf of others and offering Him gifts and sacrifices to repair the damage caused by our sins against God and each other. 2 The high priest should have compassion for those who are ignorant of the faith and those who fall out of the faith because he also has wrestled with human weakness, 3 and so the priest must offer sacrifices both for his sins and for those of the people. 4 The office of high priest and the honor that goes along with it isn’t one that someone just takes. One must be set aside, called by God, just as God called Aaron, the brother of Moses.
5 In the same way, the Anointed One, our Liberating King, didn’t call Himself but was appointed to His priestly office by God, who said to Him,
You are My Son.
Today I have become Your Father,[a]
6 and who also says elsewhere,
You are a priest forever—
in the honored order of Melchizedek.

7 When Jesus was on the earth, a man of flesh and blood, He offered up prayers and pleas, groans and tears to the One who could save Him from death. He was heard because He approached God with reverence. 8 Although He was a Son, Jesus learned obedience through the things He suffered. 9 And once He was perfected through that suffering He became the way of eternal salvation for all those who hear and follow Him, 10 for God appointed Him to be a High Priest in the order of Melchizedek.
11 I have a lot more to say about this, but it may be hard for you to follow since you’ve become dull in your understanding. 12 By this time, you ought to be teachers yourselves, yet I feel like you want me to reteach you the most basic things that God wants you to know. It’s almost like you’re a baby again, coddled at your mother’s breast, nursing, not ready for solid food. 13 No one who lives on milk alone can know the ins and outs of what it means to be righteous and pursue justice; that’s because he is only a baby. 14 But solid food is for those who have come of age, for those who have learned through practice to distinguish good from evil.

Today’s Devotional

From today’s background scripture God might say:

Too many people learn their life lessons through intense suffering. Unfortunately, More never learn life lessons at all because they just never take the time to figure out what got them into the mess they find themselves. The passages you heard from Hosea and Hebrews points out the importance of stopping and reflecting on where you are in life and what your goals are for the coming years.

The Israelites finally woke up and discovered the enemy at their door was a result of their abandonment of Me. They forgot how they came to this land in the first place. Finally, they listen to My prophets, came to their senses and began to pray. When they did, I listened.

The writer of Hebrews brings his readers to the same conclusion in the verses you heard today. Too many of My followers content themselves with dabbling in My word. Just getting enough of Me to satisfy their guilty conscience but never delving into the riches I have for you. I want you to grow up. I want you to tackle the meat in My word. I want you to study what I tell you.

Learning about Me is different than knowing Me. Think back to your school days. Until you dug into your school work and began to put all of those elementary skills to work building on each other, you couldn’t compose sentences or paragraphs or ideas into meaningful essays. You couldn’t get beyond adding simple numbers or understand how higher math could ever be useful in life. But ask a mechanical engineer about calculus and how he uses it to test the tensil strength of materials. He’ll tell you the importance of the math he learned years ago.

Some have said it takes 10,000 hours of active practice to become an expert in any skill. Have you given 10,000 hours to the active practice of seeking and following Me? That doesn’t mean just saying you’re a Christian or going to church. That means active practice – studying, praying, seeking Me with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength.

You don’t have to say anything, we both know the answer. Is it time to work toward becoming an expert in following Me? There’s no time like the present to start.

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.
In accordance with the requirements for FTC full disclosure, I may have affiliate relationships with some or all of the producers of the items mentioned in this post who may provide a small commission to me when purchased through this site.

Encourage each other (Hebrews 3), July 6, 2015

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Today’s Podcast

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Today’s Scriptures

Today’s Bible reading plans include:

Ready – Hebrews 3

Set – Hosea 6; Hebrews 3

Go! – Hosea 6–9; Hebrews 3

Hebrews 3
1 So all of you who are holy partners in a heavenly calling, let’s turn our attention to Jesus, the Emissary of God and High Priest, who brought us the faith we profess; 2 and compare Him to Moses, who also brought words from God. Both of them were faithful to their missions, to the One who called them. 3 But we value Jesus more than Moses, in the same way that we value a builder more than the house he builds. 4 Every house is built by someone, but the builder of all things is God. 5 Moses brought healing and redemption to his people as a faithful servant in God’s house, and he was a witness to the things that would be spoken later. 6 But Jesus the Anointed was faithful as a Son of that house. (We become that house, if we’re able to hold on to the confident hope we have in God until the end.)

7 Listen now, to the voice of the Holy Spirit through what the psalmist wrote:
Today, if you listen to His voice,
8 Don’t harden your hearts the way they did
in the bitter uprising at Meribah
9 Where your ancestors tested Me
though they had seen My marvelous power.
10 For the 40 years they traveled on
to the land that I had promised them,
That generation broke My heart.
Grieving and angry, I said, “Their hearts are unfaithful;
they don’t know what I want from them.”
11 That is why I swore in anger
they would never enter salvation’s rest.
12 Brothers and sisters, pay close attention so you won’t develop an evil and unbelieving heart that causes you to abandon the living God. 13 Encourage each other every day—for as long as we can still say “today”—so none of you let the deceitfulness of sin harden your hearts. 14 For we have become partners with the Anointed One—if we can just hold on to our confidence until the end.
15 Look at the lines from the psalm again:
Today, if you listen to His voice,
Don’t harden your hearts the way they did
in the bitter uprising at Meribah.
16 Now who, exactly, was God talking to then? Who heard and rebelled? Wasn’t it all of those whom Moses led out of Egypt? 17 And who made God angry for an entire generation? Wasn’t it those who sinned against Him, those whose bodies are still buried in the wilderness, the site of that uprising? 18 It was those disobedient ones who God swore would never enter into salvation’s rest. 19 And we can see that they couldn’t enter because they did not believe.

Today’s Devotional

From today’s background scripture God might say:

Some say they can serve Me apart from a community of believers. That’s not how I intend you to serve Me. You’ll find life much easier to contend with when you bind together in fellowship and travel through it together than if you try to face it alone. That’s why the writer of Hebrews says to encourage each other every day.

Meeting together and encouraging each other in the face of adversity and persecution helps you know you are not alone in the troubles you face from the world. The world will always tell you that following Me is not worth the effort. Those who oppose Me will always try to block your path and lure you away from Me in a variety of ways. But being a part of a fellowship of believers will strengthen you and encourage you along your journey.

Solomon’s proverb reminds you that two are stronger than one and a rope of three strands is not easily broken. The same is true when applied to groups of believers. When you meet together, you have the strength to stand up to whatever the world might throw your way. You can lean on each other and help carry each others burdens.

I made you to want to have meaningful relationships with other people, not just with Me. That’s why I told you it is impossible to love Me and hate your brothers and sisters. How can you hate your brother who you see and love Me who you cannot see? It just isn’t possible. You need each other and meeting together to worship Me is a great place to start that bonding in fellowship.

It’s also especially helpful and important to encourage each other in these times. You can see the pressure increasing on those who really stand for Me. As long as you move along with the ideas of those who just call themselves Christians but bow to the whims and ways of the world, you don’t have problems. But stand for Me and My word and you will face ridicule, slander, insult, and persecution. Expect it. Embrace it. Encourage each other in the face of it.

As the end of times approach, persecution against the church and My people will increase. The rise in violence against you will become increasingly severe as My return approaches. Be ready. Lean on each other. Encourage each other every day – while “today” is still around. I’m coming back to take you with Me. Persevere until the end. It’s worth it.

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.
In accordance with the requirements for FTC full disclosure, I may have affiliate relationships with some or all of the producers of the items mentioned in this post who may provide a small commission to me when purchased through this site.

The Son, the Anointed One, God! (Hebrews 1), July 4, 2015

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Today’s Podcast

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Today’s Scriptures

Today’s Bible reading plans include:

Ready – Hebrews 1
Set – Hosea 1; Hebrews 1
Go! – 2 Kings 15–16; Hosea 1; Hebrews 1

Hebrews 1
1 Long ago, at different times and in various ways, God’s voice came to our ancestors through the Hebrew prophets. 2 But in these last days, it has come to us through His Son, the One who has been given dominion over all things and through whom all worlds were made.
3 This is the One who—imprinted with God’s image, shimmering with His glory—sustains all that exists through the power of His word. He was seated at the right hand of God once He Himself had made the offering that purified us from all our sins. 4 This Son of God is elevated as far above the heavenly messengers as His holy name is elevated above theirs.

5 For no heavenly messengers have ever heard God address them with these words of the psalms:
You are My Son.
Today I have become Your Father.
Or heard Him promise,
I will be to You a Father,
and You will be My Son.
6 Now, when the Son, the firstborn of God, was brought into the world, God said,
Let all My heavenly messengers worship Him.
7 Concerning them, God said,
I make My heavenly messengers like the winds,
and My servants like a flame.
8 But to the Son He said,
God, Your throne is eternal;
You will rule Your kingdom with the scepter of justice.
9 You have loved what is right
and hated what is evil;
That is why God, Your God, has anointed You
with the oil of gladness and lifted You above Your companions.
10 And God continues,
In the beginning, You, Lord, laid the foundation of the earth
and set the skies above us with Your own hands.
11 But while they will someday pass away,
You remain forever;
when they wear out like old clothes,
12 You will roll them up
and change them into something new.
But You will never change;
Your years will never come to an end.
13 Did God ever say to any of the heavenly messengers,
Sit here, at My right hand, in the seat of honor;
and I’ll put all Your enemies under Your feet?
14 No, of course not. The heavenly messengers are only spirits and servants, sent out to minister to those who will certainly inherit salvation.

Today’s Devotional

From today’s background scripture God might say:

My Son, fully human, fully God. It’s something you cannot understand if I tried to explain it. There at the beginning of time, yet alive in human skin for a mere 33 years. Lived among, died a cruel death, rose from the grave, lives eternally. The human mind cannot comprehend how it happens except that My Son is God and is Man. I came to you to show you how to live. I came to show you how to love. I came to show you who I am.

Hebrews gives a discourse on the supremacy of My Son as worthy of worship because He is God incarnate. The Hebrews couldn’t understand it. Jesus in the flesh ran counter to much their religion evolved into over the course of time. Their religion became a list of rules and traditions. Rituals that adherants must perform at certain times in certain ways. Religion without heart or real devotion or worship.

I came to them as I come to you to remind them I am a God of love. I am alive. I care about you because I created you. I want a relationship with you. But I am still a holy God and abhor sin. It cannot dwell in My presence. So I had to make a way to bridge the gap between us. My Son, God incarnate, Me in the flesh as the perfect sacrifice for the redemption of sin was My plan from the very first act of disobedience in the garden.

There was never anything you could do to bridge the gap. Only I could do it. So I came to you and became one of you. I gave My life for you so you could have life. This book, these few chapters written centuries ago still hold the same solid arguments as they did when penned. As you read them, let them move you like they never have before. Let the author of Hebrews help you understand why I came and what I offer you as My followers.

The opening verses tell you Jesus, My Son, is worthy of worship. He is part of Me. He stands above all others. He participated in creation and will stand at the final judgment. He is eternal as I am eternal. He is God as I am God, part of the triune Godhead. All will bow at His feet and call Him Lord one day. It’s best to start now.

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.
In accordance with the requirements for FTC full disclosure, I may have affiliate relationships with some or all of the producers of the items mentioned in this post who may provide a small commission to me when purchased through this site.