Archive for the 'Hebrews' Category

Don’t Get Stuck In The Entrance – Hebrews 5:11-6:12

Posted by aftershock.org.uk on September 28th, 2008

 
 Don't Get Stuck In The Entrance - Hebrews 5:11-6:12: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Our development as Christians has very little to do with our actual age. It doesn’t even seem to have much to do with how long we’ve been Christians. A teenager who’s only been at church a few years can be a more mature Christian than a grown man who’s been a Christian his whole life. Because your faith doesn’t grow with time, it grows with practice. If we enthusiastically choose to get ourselves baptised, or confirmed, or anything like that, but don’t move on to the deeper aspects of our faith, we may get on to the path but we’ll just stand still. And when people stand still for too long, they get distracted by things around them, and might forget what brought them to this point in the first place! Nobody wants to be fifty years old and still relying on their mum to do all their washing and cooking. In the same way, our spiritual maturity should be something we want to develop all the time. This means two things; listening to God, and doing the stuff, both in your church, and wherever else you happen to be!

MP3: 00397_Hebrews_5_11-6_12.mp3

PDF: 00397_Hebrews_5_11-6_12.pdf

The priest all priests were waiting for – Hebrews 4:14-5:10

Posted by aftershock.org.uk on September 19th, 2008

 
 The priest all priests were waiting for - Hebrews 4:14-5:10 [4:15m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

All through history there have been priests in every kind of culture and society. They’re not always called ‘priests’; they are given lots of different names. But their function is always the same: to build a bridge between the people and God. God Himself called men to be priests in Israel, but because humans being humans, they invariably messed up. And when they did, the bridge fell down. With Jesus, things are different. Because he is our new high priest, and he is God’s Son, the bridge has now been built from God’s side, which means there’s nothing we can do to break it down. Sure, some churches still have leaders who are called “priests”, but for those Christians it now has a slightly different meaning; these Christian priests are people who minister to God’s flock and helps them to find the bridge that the real high priest has built for us.

MP3: 00396_Hebrews_4_14-5_10.mp3

PDF: 00396_Hebrews_4_14-5_10.pdf

Every day is a new today! – Hebrews 4:7b-13

Posted by aftershock.org.uk on September 14th, 2008

 
 Every day is a new today! - Hebrews 4:7b-13 [3:54m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Have you ever been to a shop or restaurant because you heard that they had a special offer on, only to find that the special offer only applies on certain special days? Not so special after all. Any ’special’ offer the world makes you invariably has some sort of a time constraint. Maybe it’s only good on Tuesdays, or maybe only between 11 and 1 ‘o’ clock. I can’t count the number of times I’ve found a voucher in my shopping entitling me to some discount, and then noticed in the small print that the offer expired three months ago. God is also making us an offer; the offer of finding rest in Him. But God’s offer is different, because instead of setting a specific day for it, He has said that this offer applied “today”. And “today” means now, whatever day of the week, month or year it happens to be. We don’t know when Christ will come again, but until then, as long as you have ears to hear the offer, and a mouth to tell people about it, it’s staying open.

MP3: 00395_Hebrews_4_7b-13.mp3

PDF: 00395_Hebrews_4_7b-13.pdf

Don’t Forget To Pick Up Your Prize… – Hebrews 3:13 – 4:7a

Posted by aftershock.org.uk on August 29th, 2008

 
 Don't Forget To Pick Up Your Prize... - Hebrews 3:13 - 4:7a: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

If God’s promises are so great and God is so loving, why doesn’t everybody receive the benefits? That’s what some people ask, and for some people it’s an obstacle to even believing in God. But as todays verse states, nothing has ever been missing from God’s promises. His part of the bargain is complete. A famous monk called Anselm explained it this way: if you don’t receive an apple from me it can mean one of two things. Either I did not offer you an apple, or I did offer you an apple and you just didn’t take it. The Israelites didn’t enter God’s rest, and it’s not because God wasn’t holding the door open. It’s because they didn’t have faith to enter. Lots of Christians will tell you they spent years wondering why God wasn’t giving them the comfort, or peace, or salvation they expected from Him, only to eventually find that He’d been there with His arms outstretched all along. They simply needed to reach back in faith.

MP3: 00394_Hebrews_3_13-4_7a.mp3

PDF: 00394_Hebrews_3_13-4_7a.pdf

The Architect And Foreman – Hebrews 3:1-12

Posted by aftershock.org.uk on August 24th, 2008

 
 The Architect And Foreman - Hebrews 3:1-12: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Have you ever drawn or painted a picture, or built a model, or created anything that involved some sort of assembly? Or how about watching a new structure being built in your town? Have you ever noticed that whilst it’s still being made, it looks a total mess until the last piece is fitted or the last brush-stroke is applied? Only then does it look the way it’s meant to. The building God is raising up on earth is His Kingdom, and we are the building blocks. But if you look at the Church today, it can really look like a total mess, just like the unfinished model. So many people bickering, being unkind, not living godly lives. The Israelites in the Old Testament were at least as bad, so much that God said outright that they would never see the building finished. But now that Christ has come to be in charge of the house, we have the promise that if we hold on to our faith, we will see the completion of the building. The Israelites had Moses as their foreman, and he was good at his job. But for our foreman, we have the architect himself – Jesus Christ. Of course, the work’s nowhere near finished yet, so Moses still sets us an example to follow by being a “faithful servant in all God’s house”. Maybe God is calling you to be Moses in your department of the building project!

MP3: 00393_Hebrews_3_1-12.mp3

PDF: 00393_Hebrews_3_1-12.pdf