Why faith and family go together.

The bible an humor

Where does discipleship go?

Defining discipleship part 1

Missionary Dave Butler of Transworld Radio.

What value does the Trinity have to me?

Encouragement of the Holy Spirit.

We are now ready to notice how the Holy Spirit affects the life of the individual Christian. Last week we discovered that one of the best and most capable illustrations of the Spirit's relationship to the individual Christian.

Our study on the Holy Spirit now moves out of the Old Testament and into the New. We have learned that even though the Holy Spirit was not very well-known during the days of the Old Testament, the people of Israel had effectively resisted the work of the Spirit throughout their history.

One possible way for a pastor to preach on the Holy Spirit is to gather all the available information in the Bible and summarize for his audience what he has found. While this model may be helpful-particularly in the amount of time and energy that can be saved by the pew-sitter-the potential for abuse is rather clear.

The horrors of Good Friday were very reaL Jesus' crucifixion,followed by his three lifeless days in the tomb, left the disciples numb and confused, even questioning the truthfulness of Jesus' identity as Israel's Messiah. There may be no other way to interpret Peter's somber statement in John 21:3, "/am going fishing. "He had nothing more to do, no more to give. His friend of three years was dead, and there was no sign that God was going to change the story line from one of despair into one of victory. The victory of Easter Sunday was even more real. Though Peter had seen Jesus' empty tomb, he had yet to meet his resurrected Lord. It is interesting that Jesus' initial appearance on that Sunday morning began with a close friend who was not even one of the twelve disciples ...

The author of Hebrews will be asking you to relive the past and experience the future ...

More than any other chapter in the Bible, Hebrews 11 unwraps individual stories of faith within the lives of very normal people. We all know that faith is a good thing, in other words, but our writer knows that until we see faith in action we may never identify it with ordinary living.

Imagine trying to get through a Minnesota winter without an ice scraper for your car. You could do it, but you will have to get rather inventive along the way. We have all tried to use a credit card! It is much better to clear our windows the right way so we can see the road. Studying Hebrews is much like clearing our windshield before setting out to live the Christian life. Let?s review, one chapter at a time, some of the main points of the book ...

Hebrews 9 continues the subject of the new covenant, but not before taking us back through the specifics of the old covenant.

Our question today: What are we supposed to do with Melchizedek?

The writer of Hebrews believed he was speaking to those who had come to believe in Jesus Christ, or at least the reality of his incarnation. For these Jews, Jesus was indeed the messiah, meaning that he came to fulfill the meaning of both the Old Testament Scriptures as well as the larger purposes of God in Israel and throughout the world.

You may have noticed in our sermon series from Hebrews that the writer of the book has used the story of the Old Testament as a cause for concern, both positively and negatively. This is because, as a general rule, those who live ahead of us have something to teach us. Jews were particularly aware of this truth since their forefathers had been chosen by God so that the world could learn about God (that is, Israel would be a mouthpiece for God, Rom. 3: l-2). It followed, then, that God's character could be muddled or misinterpreted if Israel failed in its task to choose God in return. And this is precisely what happened. Israel had failed, many times over, and the world had every reason to wonder who Yahweh was and how he was to be approached.

In working through the text of Hebrews so far, we have to admit that the author has been a straight shooter. We are told to not drift away from the message that God has spoken concerning Jesus Christ (2: 1 ), and are strictly warned to not replay the scene of Israel's rebellion just after they crossed over the Red Sea (3:15). While we may interpret this as being rather negative, the author's point is quite positive-bringing us to today's text: "There remains a promise of entering his rest" (4:1)!

Preachers are told that any good sermon needs to run the fine line between making the audience feel very good while also giving them a strong sense of dis-ease. It appears the writer of Hebrews 1 and 2 accomplished this goal! For in these opening chapters Jesus was not only said to exist "above" all divine beings-making him what we could call Yahweh-class in existence, no little shocking for the good Jew-he was also said to be a human being with real flesh and blood. For a world in which the gods were expected to remain distant and remote, this is shocking news. It was as though the Creator himself showed up and walked among us, proving that he wanted a sincere and meaningful relationship with those he created.

Last week we noticed that the "reliable word" of Hebrews 2:1 was the story of God's dealings with the Jewish nation. Through Abraham a family was chosen, given a promise, saved from trouble, offered spiritual and material guidance, challenged to obedience, and ultimately punished for disloyalty. Yet word of salvation still hung in the air, and it is into this world of anxious waiting for God to act that Jesus eventually comes.

The book of Hebrews began by telling us what is now true about Jesus Christ: He is the Father's chosen one, the agent and heir of creation, the "brightness" of God's essence, and the ruler seated with the Father (1: 1-3). This is the real Jesus, in other words, quite different from the one predicted to come as "a tender shoot, like a root out of parched ground" (Isaiah 53:2). Christ's resurrection and ascension proved beyond doubt his true identity, leading the Apostle Paul to admit, "Even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know him thus no longer!" (2 Cor. 5:16).

The challenge of directly studying a book of the Bible in a series such as this is often realized right up front: How does this apply to me? Does what I am reading really have any bearing on my life, right now? These are honest concerns, and today's sermon will get right at these questions.

According to the Hartford Institute for Religion Research, 94 percent of all existing churches have less than five hundred attendees, and two-thirds of these have less than one hundred. What if God's plan for most churches is to be small? What if the best model for the church is to stay under five hundred people, and even closer to the tipping point of one hundred fifty?

A few Sundays back we noticed how the Bible expresses the seriousness of sin using some surprising, even unsettling, illustrations. The same could be said of forgiveness, but in the opposite light.

With the Lord's Prayer, the phrase "Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven" completes the thought before it - Thy kingdom come. When God's kingdom invades our world, so goes the idea, God's larger will becomes evident for all to see.

What did Jesus mean by "Thy kingdom come" within the Lord's Prayer? And what should we do about it?

The "Our Father", the "Paternoster", the "Lord's Prayer" is the central prayer of the Christian faith. It is unique in both its historical popularity and its original appearance as a prayer recommended to us directly by Christ himself.