TVCC Students,
We love getting to spend time with you all worshipping Jesus every Wednesday night. Seeing you all devoted to fellowship, the Word, worship and prayer blesses us so much. This week we finished up Hebrews 3 and were reminded by the writer of Hebrews to be on guard against a hard and unbelieving heart. Here is a recap...
Hebrews 3:7-18:
~3:7: The writer is appealing to the readers to remember what the Holy Spirit has warned in the past (in Psalm 95 and so many other places). It is important that the Hebrews reading this (and all of us today) realize that the writer was not giving them new commands against hard hearts. The Spirit has been warning His people about this since the beginning of time. The writer was talking in this section to people that were around the things of God but still had a rebellious heart and didn't believe in Jesus as their only source of salvation.
Q: Are you someone who has genuine faith in the Lord Jesus as your only hope for salvation or are you someone who is just around the things of God but are still trying to gain a right standing with the Lord by your own works?
~3:8-10: God's warning to us shows us so much about His character. The Lord could just destroy us in an instant because of our unbelieving, hard hearts but instead He appeals to us to come to Him for change. He has always wanted a relationship with His people and continues to pursue us despite our rebellion. We also see in Ezekiel 33:11 that the Lord does not take pleasure in the destruction of mankind but His heart is for us to have repent, having soft hearts and a humbly, needy spirit asking for His healing through the blood of Christ. Our God is slow to anger and abounding in lovingkindness (Nehemiah 9:31, Exodus 34:6, Number 14:18, Psalm 86:5, Psalm 86:15, Joel 2:13)! Let us not continue in our rebellion but respond TODAY to His calling! Let us repent and return to our creator appealing to Him on the basis of what Christ has done on our behalf. Let us also remember that what the Lord cares about is our hearts. He is not concerned with how moral we appear on the outside but He is wholly concerned with whether or not our hearts are fully surrendered to Him.
Q: Do you realize the patience the Lord has displayed towards you? We have all been rebellious since birth and He graciously puts up with us and even extends His salvation to us through Jesus. Through Jesus, He pursues a relationship with us... despite us. How should this truth affect your daily life and your interactions with others?
~3:11: It is so important that we continually be people who learn from the mistakes and victories of others. Here, the writer of Hebrews is appealing to the Hebrews to remember the Israelites in Deuteronomy and how their rebellion led to lives lived in the wilderness. If we jump over to Deuteronomy 1:1-3, we see something astounding.... the Israelites took 40 YEARS to make a journey that should have only taken 11 DAYS! Oh my! What can we learn from this? Because of their unbelief and rebellion, one whole generation of Israelites were Their disobedience cost them so much. They could have been resting in the promised land but instead they spent their lives wandering in the desert. Our disobedience is costly too. We can either come to the Lord in humble surrender and give our lives fully to Him, enjoying the rest of His presence, or we can continue in our rebellion and wander aimlessly in the desert of this life without any eternal hope. Let us come to Him today and be used for His glory!
Q: Are you resting in the peace of the Lord's presence through faith in Christ or are you aimlessly wandering in the desert of life trying to fulfill and sustain yourself through things of the world that will never fully satisfy you?
~3:12: Here the writer does not call the Hebrews "holy brethren" as He did in 3:1. Now He is talking to the Jewish people who were around the Lord's truth but still hadn't trusted in Him. There are 2 kinds of people in the world- those who have placed their whole trust in Jesus and those who have not. Those who haven't are destined for eternal destruction and those who have trusted in Jesus have an eternal inheritance reserved for them with Christ.
~3:13-15: The people in the church are called to encourage and exhort one another daily to be on guard against an evil and unbelieving heart. This word for "exhort" and "encourage" is the same word used for the "Holy Spirit" as our Helper and the same word used for "Eve," given to Adam as his helper. What a strong word used to describe how the church should be acting towards one another. We should continually be helping those around us to see the glory of Jesus and to live lives of faithful obedience through the power of the Spirit. We are not called to be just "seat warmers" in the church. We are called to play an active role in the lives of those around us. Our lives matter. How we live matters. We were not meant to do life alone or to try and overcome sin on our own; we need each other! Sin is deceitful and we need to continually be coming to the aid of each other so that we are not overcome by the world and satan's schemes.
Q: Are you playing your part in the body of Christ or are you just being a "seat warmer?" How are you encouraging those around you on a daily basis? What changes do you feel the Lord calling you to so that you can be someone who is encouraging the body of Christ day after day?
~3:16-18: We are not different from the people of Israel. We continually disobey the Lord and struggle to have faith in Him. We need to be warned through the lives of the Israelites to be on guard against an unbelieving and hard heart. This is something we need the Lord to do in us. Just as the man in Mark 9:24 states "I believe... help my unbelief..." so we too need to come to Jesus with honesty declaring "we believe... help our unbelief!" Jesus is the Author and Perfecter of our faith. We need Him to sustain our faith. Let us come to Him in humility daily asking for fresh faith. We need Him everyday!
Q: Are you in the habit of daily coming to Him asking for Him to give you faith and strength for the trials of the day? What changes do you feel the Lord calling you to in order to live a life that is more dependent on Him?
Dear students,
We love you all very much and are so thankful for the opportunity to worship the Lord alongside of you all. We pray that this week you will seek His Spirit to have a soft and believing heart. We pray that you will surround yourself with the things of God and that you will find encouragement from the body of Christ that surrounds you. Meditate on His Word this week and continually ask the Lord to be changing you.
With hope,
~Sonny and Casi
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