Hebrews 12:1-2

Dear TVCC Students,

We are continually thankful to get to worship with you all on Wednesday evenings. We pray that the Word that was shared with you last night will be producing fruit in your lives (as well as ours) this week.

Highlights from last night...

Hebrews 12:1

~"witnesses" are people that testify (with their lives) to the greatness of God. The cloud of witness that surround us are people from the past who were faithful to the Lord with their lives; we can look to them as an example of faithfulness

~let us look at others of faith and imitate their faith. This cloud of witnesses that Hebrews is speaking of were all from the Old Testament. They had not even had Christ come yet and they still lived such powerful lives. How much more revelation of God do we have with Christ coming and the New Testament being written (and even more faithful witnesses to look to).

~Q: How are you living? Does your life imitate the faith of those faithful witnesses that have gone before us or does your life look like those who are living for the pleasures of this life only?

~"lay aside every encumbrance"- no relationship is worth it if pulls you away from Christ. Remember that "bad company corrupts good character (1 Corinthians 15:33)." You WILL be like the people that you hang around with. They WILL rub off on you. You will talk like the people you hang out with. You will act like the people you hang out with. You will think like the people you hang out with!

~Q: Who are you hanging out with? Are they people that are encouraging your intimacy with Christ or are they an "encumbrance" that you need to remove so that you can run the race of faith?

~Trust God with your friendships. Get rid of any friendships that are damaging your run with Jesus!

~"run with endurance"- this is not easy and it takes practice. Just like those who are marathon runners practice A LOT, so should we be "practicing" or working on our faith. When we are growing in our faith and gradually getting better at obeying Jesus and saying no to the world, we are developing the endurance that He wants us to have.

~Remember that we are not running against each other in this race but with each other. We should be encouraging each other in the race as we run against satan, sin, our flesh and the corruption in the world.

~Q: How are you doing in the race of faith? Have you been encouraging to others who are also running with you? How can you being doing better?

Hebrews 12:2

~"fixing our eyes on Jesus" is what will help us in this race. 2 Corinthians 3:18 says that we will grow as we behold His glory; we will be transformed into His image as we behold Him.

~know that we ARE being transformed- either to the image of Christ or to the image of the world. We constantly have things trying to shape and mold us into the image of this world. If we are not fighting against those things by beholding Christ through His Word, prayer, worship, etc, we will end up looking just like this world.

~Q: How are you spending your time? Are you "beholding the Lord" daily so that you will continually become more like Him? If not, what changes need to take place in how you spend your time?

~John 17 says that Christ was to be glorified after He had suffered. Our joy is to bring Jesus glory as we are connected to Him as His brothers and sisters. When He gets glory- we get to share in that eternally.

Philippains 4:8

Finally,brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whateveris pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things.

~Remember that this life is our teaching time to learn about our God! Eternally speaking, it is very short. Let us make the most of the time that we are given here to learn about the glory of our Savior!

We love you all very much and pray that you will run with Jesus this week. Throw off everything that hinders you and run with Him. Spend time meditating on His glory and you will be continually transformed into His image. We hope you can all make it to the joint small group on Sunday night that is meeting at our house. Again, we love you!!

~Sonny and Casi

Hebrews 11:28-12:2: Faith

TVCC Students,

It was so good to see you all last night as we wrapped up Hebrews 11 and moved into chapter 12. Here are some highlights from last nights teaching...

~Hebrews 11: 24-38: Recap on the life of Moses. Remember that Moses did not just claim to have faith... his faith led to action. We look at his life and see his faith. Faith changes the way that you live.

Q: What does your LIFE say about your faith? If people saw just your life, would they say that you are someone who is living a life of faith in Jesus or is your life wrapped up in the passing pleasures of sin offered by the world?

If you want to this week, read through the book of James to see how faith and works should be going together to speak of God's great glory.

~Hebrews 12:1: the great cloud of witness that have gone before us are those listed in Hebrews 11. Their faith left a legacy for us to see and imitate. Their faith led to great lives of obedient surrender.

Q: What legacy are you leaving? Is it one of faith like those in Hebrews 11? When people look at your life, what does it say about your faith and dedication to Jesus?

Believers in Christ are "engaged" to Him and awaiting the wedding day. Just like an engaged couple will make preparations for their wedding day and marriage, so too should we be making preparations for our wedding with Christ. Our focus should be on Him and on us being prepared for Him coming to take us home to Him.

Q: What do you spend your time doing? Are you spending time getting ready to meet Jesus? Are you spending time doing things that will matter eternally or just things that make you happy now?

~12:1: We are called to throw off things that hinder our walks with God. Read Mark 10:46-52. The blind man through off his cloak because it was a hinderance from him getting to Jesus. The cloak was not necessarily bad, it just made it more difficult for him to be with Jesus.

Q: What are some things in your life that might hinder you from being nearest to Jesus (these might not be necessarily BAD but you could just be closer to Jesus without them)?

Q: We are also called to throw of the sin that so easily entangles us. What are some sins that you need to throw off? What are some steps that you can take this week (by the power of the Spirit) to throw off those entangling sins?

~12:2: Fix our eyes on Jesus!! If we are not spending time with Jesus daily, we DO NOT value our relationship with Him. Any relationship that we value, we will make time for. Do not make excuses this week for why you cannot spend time with Jesus. Ask Him to give you the love and devotion to Him that will give you desire to spend time with Him.

John 13 shows us our perfect example of how to live lives that please the Father. Jesus knew where He came from and where He was going and thus was able to serve the disciples through washing their feet. When we know realize who we are in Christ and where we are going to spend eternity, we are able to love Jesus with our time and serve those He calls us to serve (with humility)

Romans 5 tells us that our faith gets stronger with practice. As we go through trials with faith in the Lord, we grow. Faith is like working out- the more we "practice," the stronger we get.

We love you all very much and LOVE seeing the work that Christ is doing in you. Please let us know how we can be praying for you this week. We pray that you will pour yourselves into God's Word this week and let Him speak to you during that time. Again, we love you and pray that your lives would be lives of growing faith in the greatness of our Lord.

~Sonny and Casi

Worship Songs from last night:

1. Sweetly Broken by Jeremy Riddle

2. Earnestly I Seek Thee by Aaron Gillespie

3. One Thing Remains by Antioch Norman

4. I Knew What I Was Getting Into by Misty Edwards

5. There Will Be A Day by Jeremy Camp

6. More Than Conquerers by Ross King

7. This Blood by Rita Springer

8. Vision of You by Shane Bernard and Shane Everett