Why Jesus? Getting Ready for Work

Introduction:

Three Questions to Ask Yourself When You Are Out of Energy (Hebrews 13:18-25)

1. Do I have people Praying for me? (Heb 13:18-19)

   Three Lifehacks to Get People to Pray for You:

   1. Be worth praying for. (Heb 13:18bc)
   2. Give a Request worth praying for. (Heb 13:19)
   3. Ask with Confidence in the power of prayer. (Heb 13:19)
2. Am I trying to do everything in my Own Strength ? (Heb 13:20-21)
3. Have I Isolated myself? (Heb 13:22-25)

Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!

• Audio Transcript

  00:49-00:59

  Father, your word tells us that your word is like rain, and when it falls, it produces growth and life.

  01:00-01:01

  We believe that.

  01:04-01:08

  We believe that your word always accomplishes the purposes for which you send it forth.

  01:08-01:14

  So, Father, I pray that we would hear from you today, above all things.

  01:14-01:17

  We pray in Jesus' name, amen.

  01:18-01:20

  Microphone sound good, James?

  01:20-01:22

  All right, we got the thumbs up from the big guy.

  01:23-01:25

  All right, Hebrews chapter 13, are you there?

  01:28-01:38

  In my 18 year old son, Owen, has an endless supply of energy.

  01:41-01:50

  And we saw this when he was a baby, many, many, many sleepless nights, up all night, Aaron and I taking shifts.

  01:51-02:00

  We just saw, he had a lot of energy, but there's one incident for me, really, really got my attention.

  02:01-02:08

  And that was many, many years ago when he was just a little squirt, we went to Cedar Point and it was a one day trip.

  02:08-02:16

  So we got up early, we drove out, and all day in the park, 90 degrees, walking on the pavement, on the rides, all day.

  02:17-02:25

  And I remember we drove home that night and we got in like 11.30 or midnight.

  02:25-02:28

  Aaron and I just like dragged ourselves into the house.

  02:28-02:29

  We were exhausted.

  02:30-02:32

  Owen runs into the house.

  02:32-02:39

  And I remember he spent all night running laps through the house as he did so often.

  02:39-02:42

  But I thought surely this was going to wear him out And it didn't.

  02:43-02:49

  And I think it was sometime around there that we took him to a doctor to get some tests run.

  02:50-02:55

  And we found that Owen does not produce melatonin.

  02:56-02:58

  You know, the chemical that makes you sleep?

  03:00-03:03

  But instead he constantly produces adrenaline.

  03:05-03:09

  So we have a real life superhero in our family.

  03:10-03:11

  He never gets tired.

  03:11-03:21

  And so many times over the years, Aaron and I have said to each other, where does he get all that energy?

  03:25-03:34

  Where does all of that energy come from to create a human being that never gets tired?

  03:35-03:43

  And I was thinking about that a lot this week because you know, church, We are called to be bold witnesses for Jesus.

  03:45-03:47

  We're called to be godly spouses.

  03:48-03:50

  We're called to be child disciples.

  03:51-03:52

  We're called to be ministers.

  03:53-03:56

  We're called to be perseverers.

  03:56-03:58

  I think that's the word, under trials.

  04:00-04:12

  And we're supposed to do that living in fallen flesh, living in a corrupt world surrounded by people who hate God.

  04:16-04:19

  So where are we going to get the energy for that action?

  04:24-04:33

  Have you ever felt like, you know, "I can't… I can't take another step"?

  04:33-04:34

  Have you ever felt that?

  04:35-04:36

  I'm just so worn out.

  04:36-04:38

  I don't know how I'm gonna make it another day.

  04:40-04:49

  And as we get to the end of Hebrews, the Hebrew writer closes with a reminder of where we get our energy from.

  04:52-05:10

  So today, if you've come to church or you're streaming the church online, and you're asking yourself, "Why am I out of energy?" I wanna ask you three questions.

  05:12-05:17

  All right, so in your outline, three questions to ask yourself when you're out of energy.

  05:19-05:20

  The first one, write this one down.

  05:20-05:23

  Number one, do I have people praying for me?

  05:25-05:26

  Do I have people praying for me?

  05:27-05:28

  Look at verse 18.

  05:32-05:36

  He says, "Pray for us." Stop right there.

  05:37-05:39

  Church, we need to be praying for each other.

  05:41-05:45

  And you're going to see specifically in this context, he's talking about church leadership.

  05:46-06:00

  And he's saying, "Church leaders need prayer." Because if you're a leader in the church in any capacity, you're a prime target for the enemy.

  06:02-06:07

  Because Satan gets the biggest bang for his buck by taking you out.

  06:11-06:19

  Because Satan knows that he can get a lot of people off track if he takes the leader out.

  06:22-06:26

  How many celebrity/famous pastors have we seen?

  06:27-06:36

  I think just over the last 10 years that have gone down, and the fallout that's come from that, it's not an accident.

  06:38-06:44

  Satan knows he can get those followers to fall away if he can take the leader out.

  06:46-06:47

  In fact, I saw that in my own life.

  06:47-06:51

  The very first church that I pastored, I was just interning.

  06:51-07:01

  I was helping with the youth group, and I was teaching the senior high Sunday school, when I was preaching occasionally, and it was just a little country church of about 60 or 70 people.

  07:02-07:08

  And I'm not gonna go into all the details, but the senior pastor suddenly left under very bad circumstances.

  07:10-07:13

  And the elders of the church asked me to fill in.

  07:13-07:25

  And I'm like, "Well, I don't know anything." And they said, "Well, we want you to fill in." And I stepped up and filled in for a season.

  07:26-07:31

  But you have to know that that church of 60 or 70 people turned into a church of about 12.

  07:33-07:36

  Such a hard season of ministry.

  07:39-07:47

  But Satan knows if he can get you off track, he can get the people that are following you off track.

  07:47-08:01

  So listen, church, whether you're a small group leader or you work in Harvest Academy, or you're an elder, or you're a pastor, or whatever you do, Satan's after the people that you love.

  08:03-08:05

  And he'll get them off track by taking you down.

  08:06-08:14

  Whether it's through distraction, or temptation, or discouragement.

  08:15-08:18

  So listen, he says right here, "Pray for us.

  08:18-08:23

  Power comes from prayer, so you need to get people to be praying for you.

  08:24-08:26

  And you're like, "Well, how do I do that?

  08:26-08:34

  "How do I get people to pray for me?" Well, the Hebrew writer gives us three life hacks to get people to pray for you.

  08:35-08:39

  You're like, "Why life hacks?" "Ah, because everything's a life hack nowadays, right?

  08:40-08:52

  "If it's a good idea, it's a life hack." So I thought I would connect with the kids You know how hip I am or something.

  08:54-08:57

  So here's three life hacks to get people to pray for you.

  08:57-08:59

  Letter A, be worth praying for.

  09:01-09:01

  How about that?

  09:02-09:03

  Be worth praying for.

  09:03-09:04

  Look at what he says next.

  09:05-09:21

  He says, "Pray for us, for we are sure "that we have a clear conscience, "desiring to act honorably in all things." "Well, that sounds awfully arrogant." No, no, no, it's not arrogant at all.

  09:22-09:24

  He says, "Look, I want you to pray for us.

  09:24-09:25

  "I'm just being sincere.

  09:26-09:30

  "Our motives are in the right place." Okay?

  09:30-09:31

  We don't have any issue.

  09:31-09:36

  We have a clear conscience that we are sincerely trying to do what God wants us to do.

  09:37-09:40

  We have a clear conscience that our motives are about pleasing the Lord.

  09:41-09:42

  That's really all that matters, right?

  09:42-09:47

  Our motives and, that's why I'm asking for prayer.

  09:47-09:50

  So be worth praying for, right?

  09:52-10:01

  On the other hand, you know, many years ago, I had some people from church approach me because some Jehovah's Witnesses were coming after them.

  10:02-10:03

  So I said, all right, I'll meet with them.

  10:03-10:10

  And I sat down and had, we shall call a lively discussion, me and the Jehovah's Witnesses.

  10:11-10:15

  And as we parted ways, they said, hey, pray for us.

  10:16-10:21

  And I'm like, no, no.

  10:23-10:25

  To spread your lies, no.

  10:27-10:30

  I'll pray that God stops what you're trying to do.

  10:30-10:31

  How about that?

  10:33-10:37

  But the point is this, I'm motivated to pray for you if I really believe that you want what God wants.

  10:38-10:39

  That motivates me to pray for you.

  10:41-10:43

  So you want prayer, be worth praying for.

  10:44-10:49

  Letter B, secondly, three life hacks to get people to pray for you.

  10:49-10:51

  Give a request worth praying for.

  10:53-10:54

  Look at verse 19.

  10:55-11:12

  He says, "I urge you, the more earnestly, to do this," to pray for us, "in order that I may be restored to you the sooner." So apparently the Hebrew writer was away.

  11:12-11:14

  He was anxious to return, right?

  11:16-11:23

  So if you ask for prayer, for something that is worth praying for, you are going to get prayers praying for you.

  11:24-11:25

  Pretty simple, right?

  11:28-11:34

  Have you ever been asked to pray for something, a specific request, that you're not sure if you should pray for?

  11:36-11:38

  Has it ever happened to you?

  11:39-11:41

  Because I gotta tell you, that's happened to me a lot.

  11:42-11:45

  I think of many years of prison ministry when I'd meet with the men in prison.

  11:46-11:48

  Guess what the number one prayer request in prison ministry is?

  11:49-11:49

  Can you guess?

  11:51-11:54

  Yeah, yeah, pray that God gets me out of here.

  11:57-12:00

  And I think to myself, maybe you shouldn't be out.

  12:01-12:02

  I don't know what you did.

  12:04-12:06

  Maybe the best thing is for you to be in here right now.

  12:09-12:11

  So do you know what I always prayed every single time?

  12:12-12:13

  I'd say, okay, let's pray.

  12:14-12:15

  I would pray for justice.

  12:15-12:20

  I would pray, God, you are God of justice, you love justice, and I pray that you would do the right thing in this man's case.

  12:21-12:23

  Every single time, right?

  12:25-12:29

  Or we had a woman one time who said, I pray that I get custody of my kids.

  12:30-12:38

  And it was a sad situation, and I'm thinking, well, maybe right now this isn't a safe situation for your kids, maybe I shouldn't be praying for that.

  12:39-12:40

  So I prayed that they were safe.

  12:43-12:49

  But it's easy to get someone to pray for you when the request is worth praying for, right?

  12:50-12:53

  When it's things like, "Hey, I'm trying to witness to my neighbor.

  12:53-12:56

  Could you pray for me to have an open door?" Or, "You know what?

  12:56-13:01

  I'm going to the school board to try to encourage them in God's truth.

  13:03-13:14

  Could you pray for me?" Or, "The Choices Pregnancy Center, and has been receiving threats, could you please pray that God would protect choices?

  13:15-13:16

  I could go on and on.

  13:16-13:18

  Just give a request worth praying for, right?

  13:20-13:22

  And let her see, this is a huge one.

  13:23-13:25

  Ask with confidence in the power of prayer.

  13:28-13:30

  Ask with confidence.

  13:32-13:34

  Like, look at verse 19 again.

  13:35-13:44

  He says, "I urge you." the more earnestly to do this, in order that I may be restored to you the sooner.

  13:44-13:52

  Let me ask you, is that language of that prayer request, is that language fatalistic or is it confident?

  13:52-13:53

  Which is it?

  13:53-13:54

  Shout it out.

  13:55-13:56

  It's confident, isn't it?

  13:57-14:02

  He wasn't saying, I wanna be restored and all we can do is pray.

  14:03-14:05

  Send me good thoughts, good vibes.

  14:09-14:11

  We might as well try praying.

  14:12-14:14

  That's not how he presents it at all.

  14:14-14:19

  He's like, I am begging you to pray for me because I know that it's going to make a difference.

  14:20-14:21

  I know that God is going to move.

  14:21-14:23

  I have such confidence in that.

  14:23-14:26

  I'm begging you, please pray for me.

  14:30-14:36

  And honestly, church, we don't often ask for prayer confidently because let's just be honest.

  14:38-14:40

  A lot of times we just don't believe it's gonna work.

  14:44-14:46

  But you know, we ask for prayer requests.

  14:49-14:52

  Even when we don't believe it's gonna work, sometimes we do that.

  14:52-14:54

  Sometimes we ask not believing.

  14:54-14:57

  Sometimes it's just an opportunity to gossip, right?

  14:59-15:01

  Like, hey, I want you to pray for Pauline.

  15:02-15:10

  Her husband's leaving her because, and it's an opportunity to gossip, or it's an opportunity to complain.

  15:11-15:12

  You know, just pray for me.

  15:12-15:15

  I've been really sick and my nose won't stop running.

  15:15-15:18

  I'm just constantly wiping my nose and snotting all over myself.

  15:19-15:20

  And it's just, I'm so sick of it.

  15:20-15:22

  And now it's just an opportunity to complain.

  15:23-15:27

  Or sometimes we ask for prayer, not believing because we just want to vent.

  15:28-15:30

  I need you to pray for me at work.

  15:30-15:32

  My job's demanding mandatory overtime.

  15:34-15:35

  My supervisor's a punk.

  15:35-15:43

  And that little jerk who works in accounting." Here's the thing, we see it here in the text.

  15:43-15:51

  If you really believe that prayer works, I mean if you really believe that prayer works, it affects even the way that you ask for prayer.

  15:53-15:54

  And we see it here, don't we?

  15:55-15:56

  Very confident.

  15:58-15:58

  Very confident.

  16:00-16:04

  Next month is a month of prayer for us.

  16:05-16:15

  And church, you need to know that your leaders want nothing more than to see God at work and God glorified in this church.

  16:16-16:17

  That's all your leaders want.

  16:19-16:20

  And that's why we put this prayer guide together.

  16:20-16:21

  Did you get one of these?

  16:26-16:36

  These requests in here are all things that are vitally important for you, for your neighborhood, for your family, for your nation.

  16:36-16:39

  These are things worth praying for.

  16:43-16:50

  And we believe that God is going to move, church, as we unite together in prayer.

  16:51-16:59

  Every day, imagine every person from this church going before the throne of God asking Him for the same thing.

  17:03-17:04

  We believe He's going to move.

  17:05-17:13

  Please church, let September be a fresh start in your prayer life.

  17:14-17:18

  We want to help you with that because we believe in the power of prayer.

  17:18-17:19

  Do you?

  17:22-17:28

  Well, if you're out of energy, just have to ask you if you ask people to pray for you.

  17:29-17:31

  Three questions to ask yourself when you're out of energy.

  17:31-17:35

  Number two, am I trying to do everything in my own strength?

  17:36-17:39

  Am I trying to do everything in my own strength?

  17:40-17:40

  Look at verse 20.

  17:44-17:45

  This is a lot.

  17:46-18:07

  He says, "Now, may the God of peace, "who brought again from the dead, our Lord Jesus, "the great shepherd of the sheep, "by the blood of the eternal covenant." Read that this week and I thought, wow, that's a lot to unpack.

  18:10-18:21

  It's a doxology, really, that contains concepts that he's already covered throughout Hebrews, except maybe you saw it.

  18:21-18:28

  There's two things in there that he talks about that he didn't mention in the rest of the epistle.

  18:29-18:32

  And one of them is that Jesus is our shepherd.

  18:36-18:46

  And another one, and this absolutely floored me, is this is the only place in Hebrews where the resurrection of Christ is specifically mentioned.

  18:47-18:49

  I read that this week and I thought, is that true?

  18:50-18:55

  I couldn't think of any place else in Hebrews where he specifically mentions the resurrection of Jesus.

  18:58-19:08

  And as he closes the epistle, he's like, hey, can't leave these out because here's a couple of key truths that we need to make sure that we get down.

  19:08-19:11

  First of all, we're helpless and defenseless sheep.

  19:12-19:14

  We need the guidance and protection of a shepherd.

  19:17-19:20

  And we certainly can't leave out the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

  19:20-19:23

  The resurrection of Jesus proved that he is God.

  19:25-19:34

  And it is through faith, not only in the death of Jesus Christ, but in the resurrection of Jesus Christ, that we are promised a resurrection of our own.

  19:37-19:44

  But until that day, we cannot live the Christian life in our own power.

  19:46-19:49

  We can't do what God's called us to do in our own strength.

  19:49-19:50

  Look at verse 21.

  19:51-20:18

  He says, "May the God of peace," and then verse 21, "equip you with everything good "that you may do His will, "working in us that which is pleasing in His sight, "Through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory "forever and ever, amen." You see, he equips us to do his will.

  20:18-20:19

  How does he do that?

  20:19-20:21

  See the language, he's working in us.

  20:21-20:23

  He's working through Jesus Christ.

  20:23-20:25

  This is what the Holy Spirit does.

  20:26-20:29

  He empowers us for everything that God calls us to do.

  20:32-20:33

  And I gotta tell you, that takes the pressure off.

  20:35-20:37

  because I don't have to try to perform for God.

  20:39-20:40

  I don't have to say, you know what?

  20:40-20:48

  I'm gonna try really hard to do some things for God and maybe God will be happy with me if I do that.

  20:48-20:49

  That's not how it works.

  20:50-20:54

  You see, God supplies the power for the work that he wants to do through me.

  20:59-21:01

  There's only one thing that you need to do.

  21:04-21:06

  And that's know him.

  21:07-21:07

  That's it.

  21:09-21:09

  That's your job.

  21:10-21:11

  That's what God wants from you.

  21:12-21:17

  He wants you to know him, to enter into relationship with him through Jesus Christ.

  21:17-21:18

  That's what he wants.

  21:21-21:23

  And he's gonna take care of everything.

  21:25-21:28

  You see that verse 21, he is the one that's going to equip you.

  21:30-21:36

  So if you're out of energy, You need to ask yourself, where am I getting my power from?

  21:36-21:38

  Am I trying to do everything in my own strength?

  21:41-21:44

  Or am I just allowing God to be at work through me by the power of his spirit, right?

  21:46-21:49

  So three questions to ask yourself if you're out of energy.

  21:50-21:52

  Do I have people praying for me?

  21:53-21:55

  Am I trying to do everything in my own strength?

  21:55-21:58

  And the last one, have I isolated myself?

  22:00-22:01

  Look at verse 22.

  22:03-22:14

  He says, "I appeal to you, brothers, bear with my word of exhortation, for I have written to you briefly." Briefly.

  22:15-22:16

  LOL.

  22:20-22:22

  I guess it's a relative term, isn't it?

  22:23-22:23

  Briefly.

  22:25-22:26

  I mean, it's a relative term.

  22:27-22:31

  If you sat down and just read Hebrew straight through, you could do it in under an hour.

  22:31-22:32

  So that's brief, right?

  22:34-22:37

  But then I got the old calculator out and I started doing some math.

  22:37-22:43

  Do you know in this series, including this sermon, we've had 33 sermons from Hebrews.

  22:46-22:49

  And each sermon is about 35 minutes.

  22:49-22:50

  We're gonna do the averages.

  22:50-22:51

  Is that all right, Taylor?

  22:51-22:53

  35, is that fair?

  22:53-22:54

  Okay, Taylor says that's fair.

  22:55-22:57

  About 35 minutes is the average.

  22:57-23:03

  That means sermon time in Hebrews is 1,155 minutes.

  23:05-23:06

  I think I got them all.

  23:07-23:10

  That's 19 hours and 15 minutes.

  23:12-23:13

  He's like, I wrote to you briefly.

  23:18-23:31

  So much more could be said, but under inspiration of the Holy Spirit, This is God's perfect explanation of the New Covenant and all of the implications of the New Covenant.

  23:33-23:35

  Look at verses 23-25.

  23:36-23:46

  He says, "You should know that our brother Timothy has been released with whom I shall see you if he comes soon.

  23:49-24:49

  all your leaders and all the saints. Those who come from Italy send you greetings. Grace be with all of you. He closes, he mentions Timothy, he mentions leaders and saints, he even mentions them Italian Christians. And it's just a reminder for us, I think it was a reminder for the Hebrew audience and it's definitely a reminder for us as well, that we're part of a body by design and we need each other. That's the way God designed it. Like, none of us are in this alone and we're not supposed to be, but some Christians are happy to isolate and and streaming and all of the tech and all of that, that's been a great thing.

  24:49-24:52

  We've been able to reach more people than we've ever been able to reach.

  24:54-24:57

  But the downside of that is some Christians are happy to just isolate.

  24:58-25:22

  I just go to church at home streaming, or I've heard so many people say this, you know, some TV preacher, "That's my pastor and that's my church." And hey, it's great to watch those things, some of them, but nothing replaces in-person worship.

  25:23-25:33

  Nothing replaces in-person praying for one another and fellowshipping with one another and coming under the teaching of God's word together.

  25:33-25:37

  There's nothing that replaces in-person worship.

  25:41-25:42

  Now I don't know if you heard the rumors.

  25:43-25:47

  They're talking about lockdowns and shutdowns in September and October.

  25:47-25:48

  Have you heard that rumor?

  25:49-25:51

  I'll tell you something that's not a rumor.

  25:52-25:54

  I know a church that's not locking down.

  25:55-25:56

  (congregation cheering)

  26:01-26:02

  We will be open.

  26:06-26:08

  Look at verse 23 again.

  26:11-26:14

  'Cause there's a phrase here that really just stood out to me.

  26:18-26:23

  The first three words of verse 23, he's talking about Timothy being released.

  26:23-26:24

  We don't really know what's going on.

  26:25-26:27

  Your Bible says the same thing mine does.

  26:27-26:30

  Was he in prison or released for service from a church?

  26:30-26:31

  Who knows?

  26:31-26:33

  We don't know, not important.

  26:33-26:35

  But here's something that stood out to me.

  26:37-26:43

  The first three words, he said, "You should know." You should know, do you know what that implies?

  26:45-26:53

  That implies I know that you care about Timothy, so you need to know what's going on with him.

  26:57-27:07

  You see, church, caring about others, being together, identifying with the body.

  27:11-27:13

  None of us are called to isolation.

  27:14-27:18

  There is no such thing as a detached, isolated Christian.

  27:18-27:20

  There's just, there's just no such thing.

  27:22-27:23

  We're called to be part of a body.

  27:25-27:28

  And for the body to function, the members have to be together.

  27:29-27:29

  All right?

  27:33-27:37

  Aaron told me this story just a couple of days ago.

  27:38-27:39

  And I'm like, wow, what a great illustration.

  27:41-27:45

  But she has a friend that told this story to her.

  27:45-27:47

  So if there are any more details, you have to ask Aaron.

  27:47-27:49

  But her friend told her this story.

  27:49-27:50

  She lives down South.

  27:50-27:54

  And she said that their church was doing pictures for the church directory.

  27:56-27:56

  Okay.

  27:57-28:27

  And the way they did this was you go, you show up and a photographer takes your picture, well, takes many pictures actually of your family, you know, different poses and, you know, then after they take all the pictures, you have a Zoom meeting with somebody else and they review your pictures through Zoom and they help you pick the best one that the photographer took, all right?

  28:28-28:33

  So this friend was telling Aaron 'cause she knows this family from the church.

  28:33-28:39

  The family has a dad, a mom, a son, and a baby.

  28:40-28:40

  Are you with me?

  28:41-28:43

  A dad, a mom, a son, and a baby.

  28:44-28:55

  All right, so they showed up and they got all these pictures, you know, human pyramid, okay, how about, you know, just the couple and okay, you holding the baby and all these different combinations of these pictures.

  28:57-29:13

  And when they had the Zoom meeting, The person from the photography company said, "Hey, here's the picture that best represents your family." And they put the picture up, and it was a picture of just the mom and dad and baby.

  29:16-29:30

  And they said, "This is the picture "that best represents your family." And the mom said, "That doesn't best represent our family, "because we're not all in the picture." And the photographer says, "No, no, no, no.

  29:31-29:40

  "I looked at all of them and this is the best one." And the mom said, "It's not the best one.

  29:42-29:59

  "The best one would be the one "that has our whole family in it." Did you catch the implication that the photography company employee was making here.

  30:01-30:03

  This is the best picture.

  30:04-30:07

  This is the best representation of your family and your son really doesn't matter.

  30:11-30:12

  He doesn't matter to this.

  30:14-30:18

  And the family felt a little different about that.

  30:20-30:23

  Like, yeah, the son does matter because he's part of our family.

  30:25-30:27

  And I would say, church, it's the same thing here.

  30:28-30:29

  We all matter.

  30:31-30:32

  Every one of us.

  30:34-30:34

  So be here.

  30:37-30:37

  Get involved.

  30:39-30:43

  However, God has gifted you, get involved.

  30:45-30:46

  And somebody might be saying, you know what?

  30:47-30:49

  I really don't need the church.

  30:51-30:51

  Yeah?

  30:52-30:54

  Well, maybe the church needs you.

  30:56-31:01

  And maybe, maybe you're out of energy because you've isolated yourself.

  31:04-31:05

  Are you spiritually gassed?

  31:08-31:13

  Well God always provides energy in the same three ways.

  31:14-31:15

  Right?

  31:15-31:20

  It's prayer, it's His Spirit, and it's other believers.

  31:21-31:24

  That is how God is going to energize you.

  31:25-31:30

  For everything he's called you to and everything he wants you to do.

  31:32-31:34

  Our worship team would make their way forward.

  31:37-31:39

  You know, this is the last sermon in Hebrews.

  31:40-31:41

  Anybody else a little sad about that?

  31:45-31:49

  And you know, we started this whole series, when was that, in December?

  31:49-31:52

  We started this whole series in December with one question.

  31:54-31:56

  We asked just one question.

  31:58-32:01

  The question is, why Jesus?

  32:05-32:06

  Why Jesus?

  32:07-32:10

  Meaning, why is Jesus such a big deal?

  32:11-32:13

  Why are we worshiping Jesus?

  32:14-32:16

  Why do we talk about Jesus?

  32:16-32:21

  Why do we give so much money for the kingdom of Jesus Christ?

  32:21-32:23

  Why Jesus?

  32:25-32:26

  We found our answer.

  32:28-32:29

  Why Jesus?

  32:30-32:35

  Because even as awesome as angels are, Jesus is greater than the angels.

  32:36-32:37

  Why Jesus?

  32:37-32:42

  Because even as awesome as Moses was, then the Old Testament, Jesus is greater than Moses.

  32:43-32:44

  Why Jesus?

  32:45-32:46

  He is a rest.

  32:47-32:48

  Why Jesus?

  32:48-32:49

  He gives us access to God.

  32:51-32:52

  Why Jesus?

  32:52-32:56

  Because like Melchizedek, he is a king and a high priest.

  32:57-32:57

  He's both.

  32:59-33:00

  Why Jesus?

  33:00-33:04

  Because he's the final sacrifice for sin because he takes our sin away.

  33:04-33:05

  That's why Jesus.

  33:06-33:06

  Why Jesus?

  33:07-33:10

  Because he makes us perfect in the sight of God.

  33:11-33:12

  Why Jesus?

  33:12-33:16

  because faith in Jesus pleases God.

  33:17-33:17

  Why Jesus?

  33:17-33:21

  Because he's given us everything for here and for all of eternity.

  33:22-33:23

  Why Jesus?

  33:23-33:25

  Because he will never leave you or forsake you.

  33:26-33:27

  Why Jesus?

  33:27-33:30

  Because his very presence takes away all of our fears.

  33:32-33:33

  Why Jesus?

  33:34-33:39

  He equips me with everything good to do his will.

  33:41-33:43

  That's why Jesus.

  33:44-33:44

  Let's pray.

  33:45-34:03

  Father in heaven, we thank you so much for this incredible book that just bridges the gap between the covenant you made with Israel and the covenant you made through the blood of Jesus Christ.

  34:07-34:18

  And Father, today I just lift up my brothers and sisters here And God, I confess to you, there's a lot of times that I feel like I'm out of gas, that I don't have the energy to take another step.

  34:19-34:29

  And as your amazing book of Hebrews closes, God, we found where you provide the energy to do the things that you have called us to do.

  34:30-34:58

  So Father, it's just simply my prayer today that we'd stop looking in all these other places to get energized. And we turn to the incredible resources that you've given us. And all glory and honor and praise and power be unto your name. We pray in Jesus' name, Amen.

Small Group Discussion
Read Hebrews 13:18-25

1. What was your big take-away from this passage / message?
   

2. Feeling spiritually gassed? Which of these 3 things (prayers from others, walking in the Spirit, and fellowship in the body) do you feel most lacking in your life right now? How are you going to go after it?
   

3. Why is in-person worship and fellowship so vital to your walk? How can “only going to church online” rob you of blessing?
   

4. Have you ever been asked to pray for something you felt you shouldn’t pray for? How did you respond? Why is it important to give people good reasons to pray for you (Heb 13:18-19)?

Breakout
Pray for one another!

Why Jesus? Follow the Leaders

Introduction:

5 Habits of Highly Victorious Christians (Hebrews 13:7-17)

1. They Imitate the faith of the faithful. (Heb 13:7-8)
2. They Fact-check all bible teaching. (Heb 13:9)
3. They manage their Expectations . (Heb 13:10-14)
4. They view worship as Sacrifice . (Heb 13:15-16)
5. They Obey their leaders. (Heb 13:17a)

   John 13:20 - Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever receives the one I send receives me, and whoever receives me receives the one who sent me.

Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!

• Audio Transcript

  00:49-00:52

  Open up your Bibles with me, please, to Hebrews chapter 13.

  00:53-00:55

  And while you're turning there, let's just pause for a moment.

  00:55-01:00

  And I would ask again that you pray for me, and I will pray for you.

  01:01-01:06

  God's word is a big deal to God, and it is a big deal to us.

  01:06-01:09

  So we want to approach it as such.

  01:09-01:10

  Let's pray.

  01:13-01:22

  Father, glorify your name as we all come under the authority of your word, we all have opinions.

  01:24-01:30

  And sometimes our opinions and thoughts on things directly contradict your word.

  01:31-01:32

  And we're the ones that need to change.

  01:33-01:37

  So I pray, Father, that your word would do your work today.

  01:40-01:43

  Open our hearts to receive it, Father, we pray in Jesus' name.

  01:44-01:48

  And all of God's people said, Amen, amen.

  01:49-01:51

  Show of hands, how many people here have been to Disney World?

  01:52-01:53

  Disney World, all right.

  01:54-02:01

  I've been there a couple of times, once when I was very young, and once a few years ago when my kids were younger.

  02:01-02:06

  And you know the most amazing thing you will see at Disney World?

  02:06-02:07

  Do you know what it is?

  02:08-02:10

  The most amazing thing you will see at Disney World?

  02:10-02:14

  And this isn't a matter of opinion, this is a matter of fact, by the way.

  02:14-02:15

  Do you know what the most amazing thing is?

  02:17-02:18

  A crying child.

  02:22-02:26

  You're like, I've seen a lot of that at Disney World, Pastor Jeff.

  02:26-02:27

  How is that so amazing?

  02:27-02:28

  Think about it.

  02:30-02:42

  Did you ever go up to one of them kids, and you kneel down, and you say, "Precious lamb, you know your parents don't want to be here.

  02:45-02:56

  and your dad spent a lot of money and is walking through this horrible heat and these terrible crowds because he wanted to give you a good time.

  02:57-02:59

  So stop crying!

  03:00-03:04

  I mean, you wanna do that, but you can't actually do that, right?

  03:05-03:06

  Unless it's your own kid, I suppose.

  03:09-03:10

  But what's the point?

  03:10-03:11

  The point is this.

  03:12-03:16

  Christians, we have more reason for joy than anybody.

  03:18-03:25

  But honestly, sometimes Christians, the church, we stand around like the kid crying at Disney World.

  03:28-03:28

  Why?

  03:30-03:36

  Do you realize, we will never face God's judgment because of what Christ accomplished on our behalf.

  03:37-03:39

  We have no fear of death.

  03:39-03:45

  Someday you are going to die and I'm going to die And there is nothing to worry about because of Jesus Christ.

  03:46-03:50

  And the Bible says that God has given us eternal rewards.

  03:50-03:50

  What are they?

  03:51-03:54

  I don't know, but they're going to be awesome, and we're going to have them for eternity.

  03:55-03:57

  Shouldn't we have more joy than anybody?

  03:58-04:00

  So why are we standing around crying all the time?

  04:02-04:08

  I mean, there are some Christians that generally seem to live in joy and victory.

  04:11-04:15

  But there are many Christians that just kind of walk around feeling defeated all the time.

  04:17-04:19

  I want to ask you, how are you feeling today?

  04:21-04:23

  Are you feeling victorious or are you feeling defeated?

  04:27-04:31

  And look, I'm not going to pretend that I don't struggle.

  04:31-04:32

  A lot of you know the struggles that I have.

  04:35-04:38

  And sometimes it's hard for me.

  04:38-04:43

  And I turn to the Bible and I read things like, faith is the victory that overcomes the world.

  04:43-04:44

  What is that?

  04:44-04:46

  First John five, right?

  04:47-04:53

  And I go to my Bible and I read, Jesus said, I have overcome the world.

  04:53-04:54

  It's at John 16.

  04:55-04:57

  And I'm like, okay.

  04:57-04:59

  And then I turn, what is it?

  04:59-05:03

  Romans eight says that we are more than conquerors.

  05:03-05:04

  And I'll be honest with you.

  05:04-05:11

  There's just too many times in my life that I'm like, yeah, I believe that, but I don't feel very victorious today.

  05:12-05:15

  Anybody else resonate with that?

  05:16-05:22

  I know, I know what it says, but sometimes I'm just not feeling it.

  05:26-05:27

  Well, that can change today.

  05:29-05:46

  So today, if you're feeling defeated, as we get on this home stretch of Hebrews here, We spent all this time in all this really deep, profound theology, and now he's closing with like a shotgun blast of like practical application.

  05:47-05:52

  And today, Christian, if you're feeling defeated, he gives us five things that victorious Christians do.

  05:53-06:02

  So on your outline, "Five Habits of Highly Victorious Christians." Sorry Mr. Covey for that title.

  06:04-06:05

  Two of you got that.

  06:05-06:08

  Five habits of highly victorious Christians.

  06:08-06:10

  Number one, write this down.

  06:10-06:12

  They imitate the faith of the faithful.

  06:13-06:15

  You wanna be a victorious Christian?

  06:16-06:16

  Start here.

  06:18-06:20

  They imitate the faith of the faithful.

  06:20-06:21

  Look at verse seven.

  06:21-06:29

  It says, "Remember your leaders, "those who spoke to you the word of God.

  06:31-06:37

  "Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith.

  06:38-06:39

  Stop there.

  06:39-06:48

  He says, look at your leaders, look at people that are walking with Christ faithfully and look at what their lives have become.

  06:53-06:56

  You look at somebody, we all know people like this.

  06:57-07:04

  We all know somebody that you would be like, you know what, he really seems like he gets it.

  07:04-07:08

  He really seems like he has a strong walk with the Lord.

  07:08-07:10

  Look at this guy, his family is strong.

  07:10-07:12

  He has a strong marriage.

  07:12-07:14

  He has a great relationship with his kids.

  07:15-07:18

  He's confident in what he believes.

  07:18-07:21

  And he's not worried about what other people think.

  07:23-07:26

  You know, I've never seen him worry about the future.

  07:26-07:28

  He doesn't seem to worry about finances.

  07:30-07:34

  You know, he's endured so much in his life, yet somehow he seems so positive.

  07:37-07:39

  Do you know somebody like that?

  07:41-07:45

  We all do, but the question is, do you want a life like that?

  07:47-07:49

  Well, he tells you what to do, right?

  07:49-07:55

  Look at the last three words in verse seven, imitate their faith, right?

  07:56-08:02

  He doesn't say imitate them like, you know, I'm gonna get a shirt like his, and then I'll have a life like his.

  08:02-08:04

  He's imitate their what?

  08:04-08:04

  Say it.

  08:06-08:07

  Imitate their what?

  08:07-08:08

  Imitate their faith.

  08:08-08:12

  In other words, he says, look, believe like they believe.

  08:15-08:16

  Nothing profound here.

  08:17-08:18

  Believe like they believe.

  08:18-08:22

  And you're like, okay, I know that's nothing profound, but how do I know that's gonna work?

  08:23-08:24

  How do I know that's gonna work for me?

  08:25-08:26

  And I'm so glad you asked, because look at verse eight.

  08:27-08:37

  It says, "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday "and today and forever." How do I know it's gonna work for me?

  08:37-08:39

  Because Jesus doesn't change.

  08:39-08:40

  That's how.

  08:41-08:46

  What Jesus was to them, Jesus is to us today.

  08:47-08:57

  So that person that you know, that has that strong walk with Christ and relationship seems to be in order and seems to be at peace with God.

  08:57-09:00

  And do you know how they got there?

  09:01-09:03

  I can tell you exactly how they got there.

  09:04-09:04

  Here's how.

  09:06-09:09

  They believed that Jesus Christ died for their sin.

  09:09-09:12

  They believed that Jesus Christ rose from the dead to give them eternal life.

  09:12-09:14

  They received him by faith.

  09:14-09:21

  And in so doing, the Holy Spirit came and indwelt them, giving them the fruit of the Spirit in their lives.

  09:21-09:24

  And their passion is serving Jesus Christ.

  09:24-09:26

  That's how they got where they are.

  09:27-09:28

  Every single time.

  09:29-09:33

  Every person that you know, we could go around the room and get the names.

  09:33-09:35

  Who's the strongest Christian that you know?

  09:35-09:37

  They all have the same story.

  09:39-09:40

  Because it's not about them.

  09:42-09:45

  It's about the person that they believe in.

  09:46-09:46

  It's about Jesus.

  09:48-09:56

  And because he doesn't change, I know that I have access to that same power, that same life, that same faith, right?

  09:56-10:11

  And as a pastor, I can look at preachers that are heroes, like Charles Spurgeon or John Piper or John McArthur, and I'm like, man, those guys are incredible preachers, and how can I have a life like theirs?

  10:13-10:16

  Same Jesus, that's how, right?

  10:19-10:25

  Understand that Christian that you're looking up to They don't have some secret Jesus.

  10:26-10:29

  They don't have like bonus content in their Bibles.

  10:31-10:31

  (congregation laughing)

  10:32-10:40

  Like, you know, if you had these extra pages like I have, you'd have a life like, it's the same, same God, same Jesus, same word.

  10:42-10:43

  You know, I think of Barnabas.

  10:44-10:50

  You know, he's gonna be here, our missionary friend in Thailand, he's gonna be here speaking October 15th.

  10:50-10:51

  You do not wanna miss that.

  10:52-10:54

  I'm like, man, I want a ministry like his.

  10:54-10:56

  I talked to him one time when he was home.

  10:56-10:58

  Like, what drives you?

  10:58-11:01

  He said, one verse, 1 Corinthians 9, 23.

  11:02-11:04

  I do all things for the sake of the gospel.

  11:04-11:06

  He said, that verse drives everything.

  11:06-11:08

  That has such an impact on me.

  11:08-11:10

  Everything for the sake of the gospel.

  11:10-11:13

  Everything I do for the sake of the gospel.

  11:13-11:16

  And see, I can imitate that.

  11:18-11:19

  Same Jesus.

  11:21-11:24

  So it's nothing complicated here out the gate.

  11:24-11:27

  Look at those who are strong in the Lord and follow Jesus like they do.

  11:29-11:44

  All right, regard the word like they do, pray fervently like they do, acknowledge the Lord in everything like they do, and you're going to find that the same victory that they have in Jesus Christ is the same victory that you will have in Jesus Christ because it's the same Jesus.

  11:47-11:52

  So the first habit of a highly victorious Christian, imitate the faith of the faithful, right?

  11:52-11:58

  Number two, here's a cringy word for you to put on your outline.

  11:58-12:02

  Number two, they fact check all Bible teaching, fact checkers.

  12:02-12:07

  I encourage you to be a fact checker, a biblical fact checker.

  12:09-12:10

  What do you mean?

  12:10-12:11

  Look at verse nine.

  12:12-12:17

  He says, "Do not be led away "by diverse and strange teachings.

  12:18-12:29

  "For it is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace, "not by foods which have not benefited "those devoted to them." Strange teachings, right?

  12:29-12:30

  It's Satan's oldest gimmick.

  12:31-12:33

  He's done the same thing from the beginning.

  12:33-12:38

  He uses unbiblical teaching to entice God's people away from the truth.

  12:43-12:47

  And I gotta be honest with you, as a pastor, That's one of my biggest concerns for the church.

  12:50-12:55

  And this church is just not using discernment.

  12:57-12:58

  That's one of my biggest concerns.

  13:00-13:03

  We have a whole sermon series coming up about discernment.

  13:03-13:04

  It's June of next year.

  13:05-13:06

  Write that down on your calendar.

  13:10-13:12

  But I gotta talk about it for a couple moments here.

  13:14-13:20

  Because, listen, there are so many Bible teachers out there serving up nonsense.

  13:22-13:24

  I've unlocked the code.

  13:26-13:27

  Jesus was actually two people.

  13:27-13:32

  He was the Son of God, and He was the human Jesus of Nazareth.

  13:32-13:33

  He was two separate people.

  13:35-13:39

  And if you have enough faith, you'll be wealthy, and you have the power to heal yourself.

  13:39-13:41

  And the Bible isn't really all true.

  13:41-13:44

  There's lots of ways to heaven, but there really is no hell.

  13:44-13:45

  Love wins.

  13:45-13:48

  And here's one that drives me nuts.

  13:48-14:04

  The people that are like, well, this is what the Bible says, but let me explain to you a meaning behind this passage that isn't readily available if you just read the passage, but it's something that the Lord told me.

  14:04-14:20

  And it actually means something completely different And you're like, "Well, you know, these people, they kind of sound Christian." And that's the problem.

  14:20-14:21

  They sound Christian.

  14:21-14:24

  These people use Bible terms.

  14:24-14:26

  They use Bible words.

  14:26-14:27

  And we're like, "Oh, okay.

  14:27-14:33

  They're speaking the same language we are." But they're not representing the Word of God straightforwardly.

  14:34-14:36

  That's a concern for me.

  14:37-14:50

  That's a concern for me when I go to conferences and see hundreds and thousands of people at times I've seen, you know, hearing this false teaching and just sitting there nodding their heads or writing it down.

  14:50-14:58

  "Oh, this is really profound." I'm like, "This is heresy." Or people hijacking a small group because they have their own agenda.

  14:59-14:59

  You know, come with me.

  14:59-15:02

  I know the real secret teachings of the Bible.

  15:04-15:11

  trying to lead you away by teaching something goofy.

  15:14-15:15

  Church, we gotta have discernment.

  15:16-15:18

  We gotta have discernment.

  15:19-15:20

  Otherwise we end up like toddlers.

  15:20-15:21

  You know what toddlers do?

  15:21-15:24

  They stick everything in their mouth, don't they?

  15:25-15:28

  Toddlers and puppies, everything goes straight to the mouth.

  15:29-15:37

  There's no discernment, whether it's food or dirt or a bug or whatever, just all goes straight to the mouth.

  15:37-15:40

  And church, we end up just like that, right?

  15:40-15:43

  Everything that we can get in our mouth, eat it up.

  15:47-15:54

  You can't let a three-year-old pick their diet, can you?

  15:55-15:58

  If you do, they'll never live to see four, right?

  16:00-16:02

  And it's the same problem in the church.

  16:02-16:24

  if we don't learn how to filter everything through the Word of God. And you're like, "Diabolical. What about you?" Yes, me too. Everything that I say, you should be able to go back to the text and say, "Yes, that appears to be exactly what God is saying in in this text, fact check me on everything.

  16:30-16:33

  You're like, okay, so what does this have to do with victory again?

  16:35-16:37

  Oh yeah, look at verse nine again.

  16:40-16:50

  It says, "For it is good for the heart to be strengthened "by grace, not by foods which have not benefited "those devoted to them." Here we go.

  16:51-16:55

  For these Jews, understand, they had so many laws about food.

  16:58-17:03

  And they held this belief that external things give spiritual value.

  17:04-17:07

  You know what you call that when you think external things give spiritual value?

  17:07-17:08

  You know what you call that?

  17:09-17:11

  That's called superstition, honestly.

  17:13-17:16

  And you're like, "Well, I'm so glad we're enlightened and we're not superstitious like that.

  17:18-17:20

  I think we're worse in a lot of ways, right?

  17:21-17:23

  We do worse things.

  17:24-17:36

  In our day, it's lent, or praying, counting beads, or lighting candles, or baptizing babies.

  17:37-17:38

  Why do we do all of those things?

  17:39-17:40

  Some of you are squirming right now.

  17:41-17:41

  Why do we do all those things?

  17:42-17:46

  Because we believe that those things impart spirituality, but they don't.

  17:48-17:49

  They just don't.

  17:49-17:53

  Food doesn't strengthen the heart, neither do any of these externals.

  17:53-17:59

  And here's the point, you're never gonna feel victorious if you think you're going to grow spiritually from the outside in.

  18:00-18:05

  If you think doing these things is going to somehow help you level up in your Christian walk, they don't.

  18:06-18:07

  They don't do it.

  18:09-18:12

  There's only one thing that strengthens your heart.

  18:13-18:14

  You're like, what is it?

  18:14-18:16

  So it's right here in the text, did you see it?

  18:16-18:19

  He said, "It's good for the heart "to be strengthened by grace." There it is.

  18:21-18:27

  That strengthens the heart knowing that God has done everything for me in Jesus Christ.

  18:27-18:30

  God has provided everything for me in Jesus Christ.

  18:32-18:38

  So if you wanna feel victorious in your Christian walk, I just wanna encourage you, use discernment.

  18:40-18:41

  Don't get suckered.

  18:43-18:44

  Be a biblical fact checker.

  18:46-18:49

  All right, five habits of highly victorious Christians.

  18:49-18:52

  Number three, they manage their expectations.

  18:54-18:55

  They manage their expectations.

  19:01-19:06

  Verses 10 through 14 are very difficult verses, but you slow down for a second and take your time.

  19:07-19:08

  Really not, okay?

  19:09-19:10

  Look at verses 10 and 11.

  19:10-19:11

  Let's understand what he's saying here.

  19:12-19:20

  He says, "We have an altar from which those who serve the tent," that's the tabernacle, we've already been talking about that through this whole book, right?

  19:22-19:25

  "From which those who serve the tent, bless you, have no right to eat.

  19:27-19:38

  For the bodies of those animals whose blood is brought into the holy places by the high priest as a sacrifice for sin are burned outside the camp." Stop there.

  19:38-19:40

  Well, hang on, what is he talking about?

  19:42-19:45

  He's talking about the day of atonement.

  19:46-19:48

  Just jot this down, you can fact check me.

  19:49-19:51

  Leviticus 16, 27.

  19:53-19:54

  What's he talking about?

  19:54-19:54

  Here's what he's talking about.

  19:55-20:01

  You see, under the Old Testament system, the priests were allowed to eat the sacrifices.

  20:01-20:03

  That was kind of part of their pay, right?

  20:03-20:11

  They could eat the sacrifice, but they could not, They absolutely could not eat the sin offering from the day of atonement.

  20:11-20:12

  They could not eat that.

  20:15-20:26

  What they did, again, look at Leviticus 16, they sprinkled blood on the mercy seat, and then they took the carcasses of the animal outside the camp to burn them.

  20:27-20:28

  That's what he's talking about.

  20:28-20:31

  He's just reminding them like, hey, remember how it works on the day of atonement?

  20:32-20:34

  Like, okay, where are you going with this?

  20:34-20:35

  Well, look at verse 12.

  20:35-20:39

  He says, this is so amazing.

  20:39-20:49

  He goes, so Jesus also suffered outside the gate in order to sanctify the people through his own blood.

  20:53-21:04

  In other words, he's saying, you know, there's so many pictures of Jesus in the day of atonement, so many pictures in that whole tabernacle and the priests and the sacrifice.

  21:04-21:06

  He goes, "Here's another picture.

  21:07-21:15

  "Just as on the day of atonement, "the sin offering was taken outside the camp." He's saying our sin offering was taken outside the camp too.

  21:19-21:22

  It's a picture of being rejected.

  21:23-21:25

  It's a picture of being despised.

  21:26-21:32

  Like not even in our company, not allowed in our camp, and Jesus Christ was crucified outside the city.

  21:33-21:33

  That's what he's saying.

  21:34-21:37

  Rejected, despised, thrown out.

  21:39-22:01

  You're like, "Okay, so what's the point?" Here it is, verse 13. He says, "Therefore, let us go to Him outside the camp and bear the reproach He endured." He's saying the point is we need to join Jesus and bear his reproach.

  22:04-22:06

  What does that mean?

  22:09-22:26

  We think, we think that if we do the right thing, and if we genuinely try to love people and be kind to people, that they're going to love us and be kind back to us, right?

  22:29-22:30

  How did that work for Jesus?

  22:33-22:42

  There was nobody who did the right thing more perfectly than Jesus, and there was nobody that loved people more than Jesus loved people.

  22:43-22:44

  So how did that work for him?

  22:45-22:45

  Again?

  22:48-22:52

  He was taken outside the camp and executed.

  22:54-22:58

  Just like one of those Old Testament sacrifices, discarded.

  23:00-23:21

  And the Hebrew right here is saying, "We need to go to Him. We need to go with Him, because we too are going to be rejected by the world. And that's okay." Following Jesus is going to get you the same kind of reproach, the same kind of rejection.

  23:22-23:25

  because a servant's not greater than his master.

  23:27-23:29

  So church, we need to manage our expectations.

  23:31-23:35

  If you wanna follow Jesus, you gotta follow him all the way outside the camp.

  23:38-23:41

  Because following Jesus doesn't mean that everybody's going to accept you.

  23:41-23:43

  In fact, it means the world's going to reject you.

  23:44-23:45

  That's what it means.

  23:46-23:48

  You're like, dude, why would anybody sign up for that?

  23:48-23:51

  Why would anybody wanna willingly be rejected?

  23:52-24:05

  In verse 14, it says, "For here we have no lasting city, but we seek the city that is to come." What he's saying is we don't have anything to lose here.

  24:07-24:13

  See, if the world doesn't accept me, if the world rejects me, he's saying that's okay, because this isn't my home.

  24:14-24:15

  I'm not staying here forever.

  24:16-24:23

  I have nothing here that I'm going to be holding onto for much longer than a couple of years, if that.

  24:27-24:32

  So victorious Christians don't expect to be accepted here because we're playing the long game.

  24:33-24:34

  You wanna be a follower of Jesus?

  24:36-24:38

  That means you're gonna follow him to the cross.

  24:41-24:47

  But when you follow Jesus, that also means you get to follow him out of the empty tomb two are gonna have a resurrection.

  24:48-24:53

  Oh, oh, and following Jesus also means you're gonna follow him to glory.

  24:57-25:06

  I live in victory today because by faith, I'm seeking the city that is to come, and I find my joy in what's coming.

  25:09-25:13

  Number four, five habits of highly victorious Christians.

  25:14-25:17

  Number four, they view worship as sacrifice.

  25:21-25:31

  Now, if you've been with us through this Hebrew series, we've seen a lot of teaching from God's word that would have been very shocking to these Jews.

  25:31-25:34

  A lot of these Jews would have been shocked by this.

  25:34-25:40

  And it's hard for us to really relate to that because of the time and place where we live.

  25:44-25:49

  But the biggest thing that would have been a shock for the Jews would have been this one.

  25:49-25:57

  "There's no more sacrifice for sin." Can you imagine?

  25:59-26:14

  Your whole life, like, we are God's chosen people as Israel, and God has provided this means to sacrifice, to have our sin atoned for, and that's how we, you know, get right with God.

  26:15-26:23

  And now all of a sudden, because of Jesus, it's like, okay, the thing that you've known nationally, we're done with that.

  26:24-26:25

  No more sacrifice for sin.

  26:25-26:26

  Like what?

  26:28-26:31

  It would have been a hard thing to wrap your brain around.

  26:31-26:35

  Like, so there's, are you saying there's no more sacrifices at all?

  26:37-26:40

  Actually, there are some sacrifices left.

  26:42-26:44

  That's what he talks about in verses 15 and 16.

  26:46-26:47

  There are sacrifices left.

  26:47-26:59

  Verse 15 says, "Through him then, "let us continually offer up "a sacrifice of praise to God." Like, well, what's that?

  27:00-27:04

  He explains, he goes, "That is the fruit of lips "that acknowledge his name.

  27:05-27:11

  "Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have." Look at this last line.

  27:12-27:27

  "For such sacrifices are pleasing to God." So yes, church, there are sacrifices that we still perform.

  27:29-27:35

  And these sacrifices revolve around our words and our works.

  27:35-27:36

  Did you see that?

  27:36-27:38

  Our words, that's a sacrifice of praise.

  27:38-27:41

  It's the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name.

  27:42-27:50

  Understand that every time we gather together to worship, we are offering a sacrifice to God.

  27:51-27:58

  When somebody stands up here and preaches, acknowledging his name, we are sacrificing to God.

  27:59-28:10

  When you are discipling your kids, whether you're helping volunteer and harvest kids, you're discipling your kids in your home, you are sacrificing to God because your mouth is acknowledging his name.

  28:10-28:12

  And he says, that's a sacrifice.

  28:16-28:23

  If you teach a Bible study, precepts, lead a small group, whatever, that is a sacrifice.

  28:24-28:25

  It's your words.

  28:26-28:27

  He also says it's your works.

  28:27-28:29

  He says to do good, to share what you have.

  28:30-28:40

  Every act of serving, every ministry you can be involved in, every dollar given for God's kingdom is a sacrifice according to this passage.

  28:41-28:44

  So yes, we still offer sacrifices, but not for sin.

  28:44-28:45

  That one's done.

  28:46-28:49

  Our sacrifices are acts of praise.

  28:53-29:20

  By the way, when you lived in the old covenant times, you can read about this, go read the book of Leviticus, not now, later, but when you lived in old covenant times, when you sacrificed, you always offered God your very best, right?

  29:20-29:21

  Isn't that true?

  29:21-29:57

  it worked? You know, God didn't want you going to your flock and saying, "Well, this sheep looks about two days away from dying, blind, has some kind of disease that's making the wool fall out, only has three legs. I'll offer this one to God as a sacrifice." Was that acceptable? No. You were not allowed to do that. You had to give God your very best.

  29:58-30:16

  So church, let me ask you, do you think that's still true? Do you think that's still true? Like with these sacrifices, the Hebrew writers talking about this sacrifice of our mouth acknowledging His name and our works, do you think, do you Do you think we should still offer God our best?

  30:19-30:20

  Do you think that principle is still true?

  30:28-30:31

  You're either not sure of the answer or you're afraid of what the answer is.

  30:32-30:37

  But here it is, maybe you haven't felt victorious in your Christian walk because you're not giving God your best.

  30:40-30:40

  Is that possible?

  30:44-30:44

  Is that possible?

  30:47-30:54

  None of us feel great about finishing any kind of a job where we didn't give our best effort, right?

  30:56-31:10

  Think like if you're in school, I don't recommend this young people, but sometimes you have that all nighter where you get that term paper done, and you hand it in, and you know that wasn't your best work.

  31:12-31:13

  That's not a great feeling, is it?

  31:14-31:19

  This represents me, and that's not my best.

  31:20-31:21

  That's a frustrating feeling, isn't it?

  31:21-31:23

  Or how about athletes?

  31:23-31:30

  Have you ever played a game where you lose, and then afterwards you realize, hey, the problem's here, I didn't give my best effort.

  31:31-31:34

  I didn't hustle hard enough.

  31:34-31:36

  I didn't try hard enough.

  31:36-31:37

  I wasn't aggressive enough.

  31:37-31:38

  That's my fault.

  31:38-31:39

  You ever been there?

  31:40-31:41

  That's a sick feeling.

  31:41-31:44

  I lost because I didn't put the effort in.

  31:44-31:47

  Or men, men I'm talking to husbands specifically.

  31:50-31:54

  Did you ever get a reminder on your phone too late that it's your anniversary?

  31:55-31:58

  And you stopped by Sheetz to get a gift card for your wife?

  32:00-32:01

  Not a great feeling.

  32:03-32:06

  Like here sweetheart, $25 for Applebee's.

  32:08-32:09

  Was that your best?

  32:11-32:12

  Was that your best?

  32:14-32:16

  She will remind you that it was not your best.

  32:20-32:21

  I mean, I've never done that.

  32:22-32:25

  We're not highfalutin enough to eat at Applebee's.

  32:30-32:31

  But you get the point.

  32:32-32:34

  Deep down, you always feel defeated when you know you're not giving your best.

  32:38-32:39

  So how are we doing there?

  32:44-32:48

  Like worship time, just had an amazing worship set.

  32:50-32:53

  Incredible music by incredible musicians who love the Lord.

  32:54-33:01

  So during that time, you don't have to answer out loud, but I just want you to sort of reckon with yourself through this.

  33:01-33:08

  Were you pouring yourself out in worship or were you just kind of standing there mouthing the words on the screen sort of half-heartedly?

  33:13-33:20

  And I have to ask if you were, if you're just kind of standing there, you know, mouth in the words, is that your best?

  33:21-33:22

  Is that your best?

  33:26-33:38

  If you're signed up to serve in kids in Harvest Academy on Sunday, and you come in late, and and you're like, my heart's just not in it today.

  33:38-33:46

  And it's just like, let me babysit, let's make sure the same number of kids leave that came in and that's gonna be good enough today.

  33:46-33:47

  Is that your best?

  33:52-33:59

  Or maybe you're signed up to serve in hospitality and you're like, you're phoning it in and you just can't wait to blast out of here.

  34:01-34:01

  Is that your best?

  34:03-34:09

  If you're a small group leader or a Bible study leader and you just didn't prepare, I'll wing it, it's okay.

  34:12-34:13

  Is that your best?

  34:15-34:26

  Or when it comes to giving, we don't give like proportionately to what God has given to us.

  34:27-34:30

  We just give God a tip.

  34:32-34:33

  You know what, God had a pretty decent week.

  34:33-34:37

  Here's $5, don't spend it all in one place.

  34:40-34:41

  Really, is that your best?

  34:43-34:56

  You need to see your words and your works, your ministry, your giving, the way you talk about God, the way you sing to God, you need to see all of these things as sacrifices.

  35:00-35:04

  And when you see them as sacrifices, Are you giving God your best?

  35:06-35:12

  Because victorious Christians know that my words and works are sacrifices pleasing to God.

  35:14-35:25

  And then finally, number five, five habits of highly victorious Christians, they obey their leaders.

  35:26-35:28

  They obey their leaders.

  35:31-35:56

  It says in verse 17, "Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls as those who have to give an account." Submission to authority in the church is a responsibility before God.

  35:57-35:59

  God mediates His rule through man.

  36:00-36:01

  That's just how he has chosen to work.

  36:02-36:02

  Read your Old Testament.

  36:03-36:06

  He mediated his rule through judges, through kings.

  36:06-36:15

  You get to the New Testament, God mediates his rule through spirit-filled under shepherds, elders and pastors.

  36:18-36:19

  That's God's design.

  36:22-36:26

  You know, the idea of a church being congregational-led, it's just not biblical.

  36:27-36:28

  It's not.

  36:31-36:42

  God has given us as pastors and elders authority to minister His Word, to preach, to teach, to exhort, to rebuke, to give direction to the church.

  36:44-36:49

  Not as dictators, but as shepherds who love and care for the flock.

  36:53-36:59

  And you, biblically, have a responsibility, it says, to obey and submit.

  37:00-37:07

  Because ultimately, your submission to leaders is really submission to God.

  37:10-37:13

  Look at what Jesus said in John 13, 20.

  37:14-37:35

  Jesus said, "Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever receives the one I send, receives me, and whoever receives me receives the one who sent me." That's a big responsibility, to know that submission to authority in the church ultimately is submission to our heavenly Father.

  37:40-37:46

  And you're like, "Man, Jefe, that's heavy." You know what else is heavy?

  37:48-37:49

  the responsibility on the other side.

  37:54-37:55

  Look at it again.

  37:55-37:56

  Look at verse 17 again.

  37:57-38:05

  It says, "For they are keeping watch over your souls." Stop there for a second.

  38:09-38:10

  Do you take your job seriously?

  38:12-38:12

  I sure hope so.

  38:13-38:15

  Well, I want you to know that I do too.

  38:17-38:20

  And this is what my job is.

  38:22-38:24

  My job is to oversee your soul.

  38:25-38:26

  That's my job.

  38:27-38:30

  I am not a pep talker, okay?

  38:31-38:32

  I'm not a speech giver.

  38:33-38:35

  I'm not a manager or an organizer.

  38:39-38:41

  My job is to oversee your soul.

  38:44-39:01

  And everything that I do here with our elders, with our ministry team, with our staff, everything that I do, every decision that we pray over and discuss, everything is about your soul.

  39:02-39:03

  You have to know that.

  39:05-39:06

  There's no agenda.

  39:06-39:10

  There's no secret plan that I have.

  39:11-39:12

  It's about your soul.

  39:15-39:18

  It's about discipling you to Jesus Christ.

  39:19-39:20

  That's my job.

  39:21-39:22

  And I take it really seriously.

  39:26-39:29

  And look, you might not ever understand the weight of that.

  39:32-39:38

  Even if you've got a pastor in your family, you might never understand the weight of that responsibility.

  39:40-39:45

  You might not ever understand the stress or how many nights laying awake.

  39:50-39:51

  It's a heavy burden.

  39:53-39:55

  It is a, it's a heavy burden.

  40:01-40:06

  That's why I think it's hilarious when people come and they say, well, you only work for an hour a week.

  40:08-40:10

  And you know what, I get tired of hearing that.

  40:10-40:12

  And I correct people when they say that.

  40:12-40:14

  I say, "No, that's not true.

  40:15-40:16

  "I do not work the entire hour.

  40:18-40:26

  "I only work like 30 to 40 minutes of it." But I charge them for the whole hour.

  40:31-40:32

  You're like, "Man, that's heavy.

  40:32-40:40

  "It is heavy." You're like, "I can't imagine "it gets any heavier than that." Hold on.

  40:41-40:42

  Look at the next line.

  40:43-40:50

  He says, "As those who will have to give an accounts." It just gets heavier.

  40:50-40:52

  Do you realize I have to stand before God someday?

  40:55-40:58

  And I have to give an account for the way that I did my job here.

  41:01-41:06

  So I take this really seriously, right?

  41:08-41:10

  And I hope that you do too.

  41:11-41:15

  We'll give the rest of the verse here and then we'll stop.

  41:15-41:26

  It says, "Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you." Underline that in your Bible.

  41:27-41:29

  That's like one of the most important verses in the Bible.

  41:32-41:34

  Like it's all God's Word, I know.

  41:34-41:37

  This one just feels like it hits a little closer to home.

  41:37-41:44

  Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you.

  41:48-42:00

  He says, "Church, if you make us as leaders groan, "that's no good for you." Like, well, what makes you groan, Pastor Jeff?

  42:04-42:13

  Well, starting next week, we're having a 17-part sermon series entitled "Things That Make Me Grown." An introduction.

  42:19-42:20

  There are a lot.

  42:21-42:22

  Oh, I wish I had more time.

  42:24-42:25

  I'm just going to give you three, okay?

  42:25-42:26

  Here's three things that make me grown.

  42:27-42:33

  I'm sure if we had our elders ministry team staff up here, I'm sure they'd be amending this.

  42:34-42:36

  Here's what makes me grown, complaining.

  42:37-42:39

  Especially about unimportant things.

  42:41-42:46

  Church, that's, please check yourself on that.

  42:46-42:47

  That makes the leadership grown.

  42:48-42:56

  Complaining especially about unimportant things or things that really have no impact on eternity or souls or any of this other stuff.

  42:56-43:01

  Do you know how many times I hear things like, "Wait, wait, the church picnic is at noon?

  43:02-43:07

  "This is an outrage!" I'm like, "Whoa." Step away from the ledge.

  43:08-43:08

  It's okay.

  43:11-43:14

  Why wasn't I told that the chairs were gonna be gray?

  43:17-43:17

  It's okay.

  43:19-43:20

  Breathe in, breathe out.

  43:21-43:23

  That kind of stuff just makes us groan, though.

  43:23-43:24

  Come on, man.

  43:24-43:26

  Is it really something worth bringing up?

  43:26-43:28

  Is it really something to be upset about?

  43:29-43:29

  Complaining.

  43:30-43:32

  The second thing that makes me grow in criticism.

  43:33-43:35

  That I mean constructive criticism.

  43:35-43:37

  Some people try to help and I love that, right?

  43:37-43:38

  I have blind spots.

  43:38-43:39

  I need help.

  43:39-43:41

  I love, you know, constructive criticism.

  43:45-43:46

  But what's the opposite of that?

  43:47-43:47

  I should have studied it.

  43:48-43:50

  Unconstructive, destructive criticism.

  43:50-43:51

  Is that it?

  43:51-43:52

  That's it.

  43:52-43:52

  That's what we're going with.

  43:53-44:03

  of criticism, things like, "Well, you know, Jeff, "I thought adding another service was a really dumb idea." So yeah, like that wasn't helpful at all.

  44:05-44:05

  It makes you groan.

  44:08-44:14

  And number one, this is the biggest here, it makes me groan the worst is disregarding God's word.

  44:15-44:24

  When you disregard God's word, you know, like this afternoon, for those of you who are going to be complaining and criticizing.

  44:25-44:30

  And I'm like, "Oh, I just talked about that." Disregarding God's word.

  44:30-44:40

  For the people that come to me for counseling, "Pastor Jeff, I'm having this problem, what should I do?" I'm like, "Well, here's what the Bible says." And they're like, "Yeah, I'm not doing that." Oh, groan!

  44:41-44:42

  Then why did you come?

  44:45-44:47

  That makes you groan, right?

  44:50-44:52

  I could go on, but I think you get the point.

  44:52-44:55

  Victorious Christians let leaders lead with joy.

  44:56-44:59

  I'd encourage you to embrace this attitude because this is true.

  44:59-45:00

  To maybe say, you know what?

  45:02-45:09

  Maybe I don't personally like that decision that was made, but maybe, maybe I don't have all the information.

  45:10-45:16

  And maybe I just have to trust the leaders that they're seeking God and they're doing their best.

  45:18-45:23

  And if you can't trust the leaders with that, I say this with all due respect, you shouldn't be at this church.

  45:23-45:24

  You can't trust leaders.

  45:24-45:27

  Go find a church where you will respect and follow the leaders.

  45:28-45:31

  If you don't believe that we're doing that here, I'm telling you we are.

  45:32-45:36

  I'm telling you that we are doing our best to honor the Lord.

  45:38-45:38

  We are.

  45:41-45:46

  So encourage your leaders, invest yourself, pray for your leaders, but let this be a place where we all serve with joy.

  45:47-45:57

  because you're going to find, according to the Hebrew writer and backed up by my experience, you're going to find that leaders lead better when they're joyful than when they're groaning.

  45:58-45:58

  All right?

  46:00-46:01

  Our worship team would come back up.

  46:03-46:04

  We're going to close.

  46:06-46:17

  You know, your walk with Christ, it can be defeating, it can be deflating, or it can feel victorious and exciting.

  46:18-46:20

  And really, that's up to you.

  46:24-46:27

  But I want to encourage you to look at victorious Christians.

  46:27-46:28

  Here's five things they do.

  46:29-46:39

  Imitate the faithful, they discern, they have the right expectations, they view their words and their works as sacrifice, and they obey their leaders.

  46:40-46:40

  Alright?

  46:41-46:42

  Bow your heads and pray with me please.

  46:43-46:46

  Father in heaven, we thank You for Your Word.

  46:50-46:53

  Sometimes it's hard to preach and it's hard to hear.

  46:56-47:08

  But Father, I pray that this conviction, this uncomfortable stuff that we have to wrestle through, I pray that it's just something that You're using to grow us.

  47:10-47:15

  The truth is, Father, more than anybody on the planet, we should feel victorious.

  47:16-47:30

  So Father, I pray that we would truly embrace everything that You've taught us in Your Gospel, and that we would live it, and show the world what it's like to truly know Jesus Christ.

  47:31-47:34

  We pray in His glorious name. Amen.

Small Group Discussion
Read Hebrews 13:7-17

1. What was your big take-away from this passage / message?
   

2. Name someone that you see as living a victorious Christian life. What about their faith should you imitate (Heb 13:7-8)?
   

3. Why do you think discernment is such a weakness in the church today? How can you grow in discernment (Heb 13:9)?
   

4. If you disagree with a decision made by church leadership, what’s the best way to address that (Heb 13:17)?

Breakout
Pray for one another!

Why Jesus? Love Right.

Introduction:

Three Things Jesus-Followers Should Be Known For (Hebrews 13:1-6)

1. Compassion : We look for people to Love . (Heb 13:1-3)

   Five Reasons to Not Show Compassion:

   1. Maybe it's their own fault.
   2. Maybe they should suffer to teach them a lesson.
   3. Maybe they won't appreciate my help. (I've helped before and got burned!)
   4. Maybe they'll waste what I give them.
   5. Maybe I got my own problems to deal with.

   One Reason to Show Compassion:

   1. Jesus
2. Covenant : We believe Marriage is a great thing. (Heb 13:4)
3. Contentment : We have all we Need . (Heb 13:5-6)

   Ecclesiastes 5:19 - Everyone also to whom God has given wealth and possessions and power to enjoy them, and to accept his lot and rejoice in his toil—this is the gift of God.

Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!

• Audio Transcript

  00:49-00:53

  Open up your Bibles with me, please, to Hebrews chapter 13.

  00:55-00:57

  And while you're turning, let's just pause for a moment.

  00:57-01:03

  And I would ask you pray for me to be faithful to communicate God's word.

  01:03-01:18

  And I will pray for you to have a heart open to receive it and to not just hear Bible things, but to actually hear the voice of Jesus through his word.

  01:18-01:19

  Let's pray.

  01:22-01:32

  Father, I pray that we would just have hearts that are just soil rich to receive the Word.

  01:36-01:39

  And that something supernatural would happen here.

  01:42-01:53

  Through the proclamation of your Word, through your Holy Spirit taking that Word and applying it, All glory and praise and honor and power be unto your name.

  01:53-01:56

  We pray in Jesus' name, amen.

  01:58-02:00

  Hebrews chapter 13, are you there?

  02:01-02:08

  A couple of years ago, my family, we bought a product from a company called Unmask.

  02:09-02:15

  And Unmask, especially during this peak pandemic time, they make masks for people like us.

  02:15-02:16

  And this is mine.

  02:16-02:22

  I'm not gonna put it on now because I get this microphone on, but anybody else have an unmask?

  02:23-02:23

  Anybody else?

  02:24-02:24

  Okay, a few of you do.

  02:25-02:34

  Okay, well, you know, much of the pandemic paranoia has waned.

  02:38-02:40

  So I actually had to go looking for this.

  02:40-02:47

  It was in a winter coat pocket, but I still get emails from the Unmask company.

  02:48-02:50

  And this is the email that I got this past week.

  02:52-02:55

  We get the, okay, Unmask.

  02:57-03:02

  Now you see their little mission statement, purpose statement beside Unmask?

  03:02-03:10

  If you can't see it, it says, Unmask, elevating your drink and barware to the next level.

  03:15-03:17

  Let that sink in for a minute.

  03:18-03:23

  Unmask, elevating your drink and barware to the next level.

  03:23-03:28

  And then you see headline, we're selling yogis.

  03:30-03:36

  And I get these emails and every time I get them, I just think, man, that's weird.

  03:38-03:39

  I mean, think about it.

  03:40-03:51

  Imagine that you're an employee for the Unmask company and you meet somebody and they say to you, where do you work?

  03:52-03:54

  And you say, I work for Unmask.

  03:55-03:57

  And they say, what do you do there?

  03:59-04:01

  And you say, we make coffee cups.

  04:06-04:06

  What?

  04:08-04:10

  Somewhere they got off mission.

  04:11-04:13

  And listen, this is very important.

  04:13-04:15

  They started doing one thing.

  04:17-04:23

  And now what they do has nothing to do with why they started.

  04:24-04:25

  Are you tracking with me?

  04:27-04:34

  At some point, the people at Unmask realized that the thing that they do is no longer relevant.

  04:39-04:41

  Does that sound like churches today?

  04:43-04:50

  But there are a lot of churches that are saying, you know, the thing that we started out doing doesn't really seem relevant anymore.

  04:51-04:59

  And by the way, yeah, eventually Unmask was, they were, it was from day one, they had to have known they were gonna be irrelevant someday.

  05:00-05:04

  But you realize the church of Jesus Christ is never going to be irrelevant.

  05:05-05:12

  We're never gonna say, "Hey, you know what guys, "we're closing down, people stop sinning." Never gonna happen.

  05:16-05:20

  But the unmasked people figured their original thing was no longer relevant.

  05:20-05:25

  And like I said, every time I get those emails, I just think, man, that sounds like churches.

  05:29-05:35

  That we have this gospel that saves people from their sin.

  05:35-05:40

  We have this gospel that transforms people and churches are just like, I got an idea.

  05:41-05:43

  Let's do rock concerts and pep talks.

  05:44-05:46

  Like, why?

  05:49-05:58

  It's just so easy for churches to get off mission and become known for something that was never originally intended.

  06:04-06:07

  And I have to ask you, church, what are we known for?

  06:09-06:11

  And I don't just mean like the church in general.

  06:11-06:12

  I mean this church.

  06:13-06:14

  What are we known for?

  06:20-06:22

  I can tell you what we should be known for.

  06:23-06:25

  We should be known for being different from the world.

  06:27-06:27

  We should be.

  06:28-06:30

  Because we belong to a different kingdom.

  06:33-06:35

  We have different values.

  06:36-06:39

  We don't look at life the way the world looks at life.

  06:40-06:43

  We are called, church, we are called to be different.

  06:47-06:59

  I had a guy tell me one time, he said, "You know this guy that I've been working with "for the last five years, "he just found out I was a Christian." And he said, "Wow, I'm really surprised.

  06:59-07:03

  "I didn't know you were a Christian." And I'm like, "That's really not good."

  07:05-07:05

  (congregation laughing)

  07:05-07:14

  You worked with a guy for five years and you had not the whiff of Jesus Christ on you at all, that he was shocked when he found out.

  07:15-07:19

  Maybe you shouldn't tell that story, right?

  07:19-07:30

  People that have been transformed by Jesus should be obvious and churches, we get to this last stretch in Hebrews, that's where he starts us off.

  07:30-07:33

  Here's three things that you should be known for, church.

  07:33-07:35

  And when I say you, I mean church collectively.

  07:36-07:38

  These are things we should be known for.

  07:38-07:43

  And I mean, as a household, this is what your household should be known for.

  07:43-07:46

  And as an individual, this is what you should be known for.

  07:47-07:52

  So this message is like a check your rep kind of message, right?

  07:52-07:57

  Here's three things Jesus followers should be known for from this passage.

  07:57-07:58

  Number one, write this down.

  07:59-08:00

  We should be known for this.

  08:01-08:05

  And if we're not, we better do a serious self-check.

  08:06-08:07

  Number one is compassion.

  08:08-08:09

  We look for people to love.

  08:10-08:11

  Look at verse one.

  08:11-08:22

  It says, "Let brotherly love continue." Okay, brotherly love, that's Philadelphia, that's affection.

  08:23-08:27

  And it's important I remind you that love is not a feeling.

  08:29-08:30

  Love is a principle.

  08:32-08:33

  Love is self-sacrifice.

  08:34-08:36

  Love isn't a feeling, right?

  08:36-08:38

  'Cause feelings, they come and go, right?

  08:39-08:43

  Some days I really like something, some days I really dislike something.

  08:43-08:46

  Feelings come and go, but love is a principle.

  08:47-08:47

  It's a choice.

  08:48-08:51

  I am choosing to put you ahead of myself.

  08:51-08:52

  That's what love is.

  08:54-08:58

  And it's obvious here, he's talking to believers because he uses the word continue.

  08:58-09:00

  Let brotherly love continue.

  09:01-09:02

  He's saying it's already there.

  09:02-09:04

  You already have brotherly love.

  09:04-09:09

  He's like, "Hey, keep it up, keep it up." You're like, "Okay, great, on who?" Well, I'm glad you asked.

  09:09-09:10

  Look at verse two.

  09:11-09:13

  Here's the first call to compassion.

  09:14-09:29

  He says, "Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares." The first call to compassion is hospitality to strangers.

  09:30-09:37

  And yes, yes, yes, we show hospitality to fellow believers, absolutely, for sure, but that's not what's in view here.

  09:37-09:42

  Specifically, he's talking about showing hospitality to strangers.

  09:42-09:43

  He's saying don't neglect that.

  09:44-09:49

  In other words, be intentional about showing love, showing hospitality to strangers.

  09:55-09:56

  What does that look like?

  09:56-10:08

  Well, you know, in the first century, you know, there were a lot of people traveling, missionaries, a lot of persecution, Jews being driven out when they come to faith in Christ and people needed places to stay.

  10:08-10:13

  You're like, well, how does that, how does the whole hospitality thing translate in our day?

  10:13-10:14

  Well, a lot of ways, actually.

  10:16-10:18

  You know, this church has a hospitality ministry.

  10:20-10:24

  We wanna make sure that everybody who comes through these doors feels welcomed and loved.

  10:25-10:26

  You should be part of that.

  10:27-10:32

  Everybody in this church is part of the hospitality ministry, right?

  10:34-10:41

  Some of you get this, even outside of the church, through things like foster care and adoption.

  10:41-10:46

  Those are ways that you can show extreme hospitality.

  10:47-10:55

  Whatever, whatever opportunity the Lord brings your way to show hospitality to strangers, the Hebrew writer says, don't neglect that.

  10:56-10:57

  Okay, don't neglect that.

  11:00-11:04

  But honestly, church, you know what our biggest obstacle with the whole hospitality thing is?

  11:04-11:05

  You know what the biggest obstacle is?

  11:09-11:10

  It's not that we don't want to.

  11:11-11:13

  It's not that we hate strangers or anything like that.

  11:14-11:16

  I think our biggest problem is busyness.

  11:19-11:26

  In our culture, we have packed our schedules so tight that there's no room for hospitality.

  11:29-11:34

  You couldn't welcome anyone into your home because when would you do it?

  11:36-11:46

  Everything from work to nine weeks of vacation, to camping, hobbies, sports.

  11:47-11:47

  Oh, that's the big one.

  11:49-11:55

  Some of y'all have elementary school kids that have a tighter sports schedule than Pittsburgh Pirates do.

  11:57-11:59

  They're like, "Man, Pastor Jeff, that's harsh." Listen to me.

  12:00-12:02

  I'm involved in all these things except camping.

  12:02-12:02

  I think camping's dumb.

  12:03-12:04

  But all these other things I do.

  12:06-12:07

  Do these other things.

  12:07-12:09

  I coach my son's hockey team.

  12:10-12:14

  So I'm not saying these things are bad and I'm not saying you shouldn't do them.

  12:14-12:15

  You absolutely should.

  12:15-12:17

  Here's what I am saying.

  12:18-12:26

  These things are great until they dictate your schedule to the point that you become a slave to your calendar.

  12:26-12:27

  That's the problem.

  12:29-12:36

  So yes, do these things, but church, and this isn't a new problem, but we suffocate ourselves.

  12:41-12:47

  It's not wise, and it doesn't give us opportunity to show any kind of hospitality.

  12:50-12:57

  We should be known, church, for compassion that results in real hospitality, even to strangers.

  12:57-12:59

  I love his reasoning here.

  12:59-13:02

  This is one of the most curious verses in the Bible, isn't it?

  13:03-13:05

  His reason, why should we show hospitality?

  13:05-13:07

  Why, why should I do that?

  13:07-13:14

  He says, "For thereby some have entertained angels unawares." Like, what?

  13:15-13:16

  I'm entertaining angels?

  13:18-13:23

  Well, to his Jewish audience, they would have known exactly right off the bat what he was talking about, right?

  13:24-13:30

  Abraham, Genesis 18, the Lord and two angels showed up and Abraham showed them hospitality.

  13:30-13:32

  You can check that story out later.

  13:34-13:39

  They just, they looked like men, but it was actually the Lord and two angels.

  13:44-13:59

  You know, back in high school, my wife and I went to the same high school and we had this gym teacher that was legendary.

  14:00-14:06

  Now that some of you know the legend that is Mr. Melsimenko, right Jay?

  14:09-14:15

  That's right, this guy was the most terrifying person I've ever met.

  14:16-14:18

  He was, he was just, he was scary.

  14:18-14:24

  He was like in the Canadian football league, once upon a time, he was like Canada's meanest man.

  14:24-14:26

  Look him up, he was terrifying.

  14:27-14:31

  Well, I'm hearing this story secondhand.

  14:31-14:33

  I wasn't there, but my wife was, okay?

  14:33-14:36

  She was a mackerel baby back at the time, right?

  14:36-14:36

  That's her maiden name.

  14:37-14:47

  So, but she told me one time in study hall, there was this new kid that came to the school and Samanka was the study hall, what do you call it?

  14:48-14:50

  Teachers, coaches, monitor, thank you.

  14:52-14:57

  But this kid comes in and plops down and just puts his head down on the desk and starts going to sleep.

  14:58-15:15

  And Mr. Simanko is reading his paper and he looks down over his paper and he says, "Hey, wake up, we're not sleeping here, "find something to do." And again, the kid, it was his first day, didn't know anybody, just got his stuff, right?

  15:15-15:24

  And the kid said, "I don't have anything to do, "it's my first day." So Simanko gets back to reading the paper, the kid puts his head back down and Simanko's like, "What did I tell you?

  15:24-15:38

  "We're not sleeping here." And the kid's like, "It's my first day, I don't have anything to do." Well, I'm not sure what happened next, but I know how the story ends.

  15:39-15:49

  As Samanka walked up to the kid, and Aaron can give you the details, she was there, I wasn't, but Samanka walked up to this kid and there was some kind of exchange between the kid and the gym teacher.

  15:50-15:58

  And the next thing you know, Mr. Samanka was holding the kid by his ankle upside down, a high school kid.

  15:59-16:05

  And he said, "Macaravy, go get the principal." So Aaron had to go get the principal.

  16:05-16:08

  And they never saw that kid after that, did they?

  16:09-16:16

  She says, "No." You're like, "Why are you telling us this horrible story?" Here's why.

  16:17-16:19

  You just never know who you're dealing with.

  16:22-16:23

  And that's what the Hebrew writer here is saying.

  16:26-16:29

  Obviously, he's not saying the angel is going to grab you and hold you upside down.

  16:30-16:32

  But I think you see the principles the same, right?

  16:33-16:35

  Sometimes you just don't know who you're dealing with.

  16:36-16:41

  And we show hospitality to strangers because we don't know the people that God is going to put in our lives.

  16:41-16:49

  We don't know the effect that that's going to have on them and the effect that that's going to have on other people and the effect that that's going to have in the kingdom of God.

  16:49-16:53

  We have no idea who we're dealing with sometimes.

  16:55-16:57

  So we show hospitality.

  16:59-17:03

  So get to know people, invite them into your home, invite them to your church, invite them to your small group.

  17:07-17:10

  Small groups are great opportunities to show hospitality, by the way.

  17:10-17:11

  Great opportunity.

  17:12-17:20

  Bringing people into your homes, sharing food together, laughing, swapping gym coach stories, and it's a great opportunity.

  17:20-17:23

  Getting into God's word, praying, great opportunity.

  17:25-17:27

  Church, your love for strangers reflects your love for God.

  17:28-17:31

  So more than anybody, we should be known for hospitality, right?

  17:32-17:35

  The second call for compassion is to remember the oppressed.

  17:35-17:36

  Look at verse three.

  17:37-17:51

  He says, "Remember those who are in prison, as though in prison with them, "And those who are mistreated, "since you also are in the body." Prison, what's he talking about?

  17:51-18:01

  Again, in these days of intense persecution, a lot of Jewish Christians were in jail because of their faith.

  18:03-18:12

  And I think that that's specifically what he's talking about, clarifying by calling the mistreated people that were abused and oppressed.

  18:14-18:22

  His reasoning here to remember these oppressed people, he says, "You also are in the body." What's he saying?

  18:22-18:25

  He goes, "Hey, you're a physical body too, right?

  18:27-18:29

  Like you're flesh and blood like them, right?

  18:30-18:39

  You know, the pain that they're going through, you could go through that same pain, right?" Like what he's saying is like, how would you feel or what would you want people to do?

  18:39-18:44

  Like if you were the one in prison, Like, how would you want people to care for you?

  18:45-18:46

  You're a human body too, right?

  18:51-18:52

  Do you even care?

  18:53-18:54

  Really?

  18:55-18:57

  Some of you are like, no, I don't really care.

  18:59-19:01

  I'll just be honest with you, Jeff, I don't really care.

  19:02-19:04

  Well, then I got a sermon for you.

  19:05-19:06

  Here we go.

  19:06-19:08

  Five reasons to not show compassion.

  19:09-19:11

  This is for the people that don't care and don't wanna care.

  19:12-19:14

  All right, for the rest of you, just tune out for a second.

  19:15-19:17

  I'm gonna give you five reasons to not show compassion.

  19:17-19:18

  I'm gonna go through these quickly.

  19:21-19:24

  Here's why you shouldn't show compassion, okay?

  19:25-19:27

  Letter A, maybe it's their own fault.

  19:28-19:30

  Whatever they're going through, maybe it's their own fault.

  19:31-19:32

  So why should I give a rip?

  19:33-19:34

  They brought it on themselves.

  19:36-19:36

  Not my problem.

  19:38-19:39

  Why should I care, right?

  19:40-19:41

  Can I get an amen on that?

  19:42-19:42

  No?

  19:43-19:44

  All right, how about this one?

  19:44-19:45

  It goes right with it.

  19:45-19:48

  Letter B, maybe they should suffer to teach them a lesson.

  19:49-19:51

  Come on, somebody's gotta give me an amen on that one.

  19:52-19:53

  You know what?

  19:53-19:54

  Let them suffer, who cares?

  19:55-19:56

  Why show compassion?

  19:57-20:00

  Okay, if they got themselves into the mess, let them hurt a while.

  20:01-20:02

  Maybe they'll learn better next time.

  20:05-20:07

  Letter C, maybe they won't appreciate my help.

  20:10-20:12

  going with that is I've helped before and got burned, right?

  20:13-20:18

  I've helped people before and they're like, oh, I need your help so bad.

  20:19-20:31

  And then I help them and I spend time and money and they're just like, they're like Nancy going down in the baptistry, like, you know, deuces, stay fresh cheese bags.

  20:31-20:33

  I'm out of here, you'll never see me again.

  20:33-20:37

  And like, why should I help people if they're not gonna appreciate it?

  20:38-20:39

  Is anybody gonna amen this?

  20:43-20:45

  Letter D, five reasons to not show compassion.

  20:45-20:47

  Letter D, maybe they'll waste what I give them.

  20:48-20:50

  Oh, come on, somebody, somebody amen that.

  20:52-20:52

  Okay.

  20:55-20:58

  That was underwhelming, but I appreciate the effort.

  20:59-21:00

  Maybe they'll waste what I give them.

  21:01-21:12

  Right, what if I gave them money, and they just go, and they go spend it on, They go spend it on booze and scratchy lotteries.

  21:12-21:15

  And what if they just waste it?

  21:19-21:22

  Letter E, maybe I got my own problems to deal with.

  21:26-21:29

  Come on, I got a full plate.

  21:31-21:33

  I don't have time for other people's problems.

  21:34-21:36

  Those are five reasons to not show compassion.

  21:37-21:43

  And I suppose you could justify yourself that way.

  21:45-21:46

  But here's the real sermon.

  21:46-21:48

  Here's the real sermon, one reason to show compassion.

  21:48-21:49

  You ready for this?

  21:49-21:50

  One reason to show compassion.

  21:51-21:53

  Here it is, letter A, Jesus.

  21:55-21:57

  This is why we show compassion, church.

  21:58-21:59

  There you go.

  22:00-22:02

  Come on, this is why we show compassion, church.

  22:02-22:03

  Come on.

  22:03-22:04

  Amen.

  22:05-22:06

  It's because of Jesus.

  22:08-22:21

  Now, you know, when Jesus saved you, when he showed compassion for you, when he died for you, when he suffered on the cross for you, all those reasons to not show compassion, I guarantee you, he could have said those about you.

  22:22-22:23

  And he could have said them about me.

  22:25-22:28

  Jesus could have looked at me and said, "Jeff's problems are his own fault.

  22:29-22:36

  "Maybe Jeff should suffer for what he's done." Jesus could have said, Jeff's not always going to appreciate my help the way that I think he should.

  22:36-22:37

  He would have been right about that.

  22:38-22:42

  Jesus could have said, maybe I'll waste what he does for me or gives me.

  22:44-22:47

  Jesus certainly has a bigger fish to fry than me.

  22:47-22:53

  But Jesus didn't use any of those lame excuses to not show compassion and church.

  22:53-22:56

  Neither should we.

  22:58-23:02

  How can you understand everything that Jesus has done for us?

  23:03-23:06

  and not have compassion on others who are hurting.

  23:08-23:15

  You just can't turn your heads in the needy, in your church, in your neighborhood, in your workplace.

  23:15-23:21

  Look, this year in small groups, we are getting back into community outreach.

  23:22-23:32

  And I know COVID and all that pandemic nonsense that kept us going, doing the things that we used to do.

  23:36-23:41

  I really shut down our outreach for a while, but we're getting back into it harder than ever.

  23:42-23:50

  So get out there, find people and show them that we're known for having the compassion of Jesus.

  23:50-23:50

  All right?

  23:52-23:54

  Three things we should be known for.

  23:55-23:56

  Number two is covenant.

  23:58-23:59

  Number two is covenant.

  23:59-24:01

  We believe marriage is a great thing.

  24:04-24:05

  Look at verse four.

  24:07-24:14

  He says, "Let marriage be held in honor among all." Marriage should be held in honor among all.

  24:14-24:17

  Marriage is sacred to God, okay?

  24:18-24:18

  He created it.

  24:20-24:20

  It's his idea.

  24:21-24:23

  And where did Jesus do his first miracle?

  24:24-24:24

  Anybody know?

  24:25-24:26

  At a wedding, right?

  24:27-24:34

  And the Holy Spirit uses marriage as the picture of the relationship between Jesus and the church.

  24:35-24:36

  Ephesians 5.

  24:39-24:40

  Marriage should be held in honor.

  24:40-24:49

  And I love this, it says, "Among all." That means even if your marriage isn't in a great place right now, you should still honor marriage.

  24:49-24:56

  Even if you had a bad marriage in the past, you should honor marriage.

  24:57-25:02

  Even if you're an unmarried person, you're like, well, how does an unmarried person honor marriage?

  25:02-25:04

  Well, Paul did it, he wasn't married.

  25:04-25:05

  Look at the stuff he wrote about marriage.

  25:06-25:09

  This should be a place where we honor marriage.

  25:10-25:12

  Marriage is not honored when it's redefined.

  25:14-25:19

  Marriage is not honored when a couple lives together like a married couple without getting married.

  25:20-25:24

  Marriage isn't honored when a husband and wife are neglecting each other.

  25:27-25:33

  On the way to work this week, I was listening to the sports radio and it was kind of like an in-between segment thing.

  25:33-25:41

  They were talking about calling, using the phone, getting dates and stuff when you were young, what that was like as a kid.

  25:41-25:50

  I know some of you don't understand the phone used to be attached with a cord to the wall and if the phone rang, you had no idea who it was.

  25:50-25:52

  and we lived like absolute barbarians.

  25:54-25:59

  But they were talking about that kind of stuff and the conversation sort of evolved into marriage.

  25:59-26:23

  And the one guy said, "Well, so-and-so has some advice about marriage." And the other guy who he was speaking about said, "Yeah, here's my marriage advice, don't do it." I'm like, well, that's the way the world views marriage.

  26:24-26:27

  It's this huge mistake.

  26:28-26:39

  It's this thing that you get into and then you regret it and then you lose half your stuff and it just results in so much bitterness and just don't do it.

  26:39-26:40

  It's not worth it.

  26:44-26:46

  And I would say, hey, not at this church.

  26:47-26:49

  This church should be known as a place that honors marriage.

  26:51-27:00

  Look, going on in verse four, he says, "And let the marriage bed be undefiled." The marriage bed undefiled.

  27:04-27:05

  What's he saying?

  27:06-27:10

  Husbands and wives, go for it.

  27:12-27:13

  Go for what?

  27:13-27:14

  You know what?

  27:15-27:19

  God gave you this incredible gift, husbands and wives.

  27:19-27:21

  God gave you this gift.

  27:21-27:22

  Use it.

  27:23-27:25

  Use it as much as you want.

  27:26-27:27

  Use it as much as you can.

  27:28-27:31

  Enjoy the heck out of each other.

  27:33-27:36

  Just keep the gift in the marriage bed, right?

  27:37-27:38

  That's what honors God.

  27:42-27:43

  He goes on.

  27:43-27:55

  He says, "For God will judge the sexually immoral "and the adulterous." God will judge.

  27:56-28:00

  Unbelievers, for sure, facing the judgment of God.

  28:01-28:11

  Society, facing God's judgment regarding perversion and sexuality.

  28:11-28:13

  We're living in God's judgment right now.

  28:18-28:21

  Consequences, God has built them right in.

  28:24-28:26

  Yeah, maybe it won't be lightning and plagues, right?

  28:27-28:39

  Maybe you won't commit adultery and get struck by locust lightning or whatever, but I would suggest to you that there's worse things that come through sexual immorality.

  28:40-28:41

  Things like marriage collapse.

  28:43-28:49

  Things like kids who are devastated and never get over that.

  28:50-28:51

  Some of you know what I'm talking about.

  28:51-29:01

  I talk to people as adults, as grown adults, people older than me that are still devastated by their parents' divorce when they were teenagers.

  29:06-29:10

  venereal disease, financial issues, suicide.

  29:13-29:14

  Keep the marriage bed undefiled.

  29:16-29:20

  God gave this awesome gift and he said, "Here's the place you use it, right?

  29:22-29:27

  Use it there and only there." And I know, I know, I know it's 2023.

  29:28-29:31

  And right now there are people who are like, I hear what you're saying, Jeff.

  29:31-29:34

  You're saying only sex and marriage, that's so square.

  29:35-29:37

  And I'm like, first of all, nobody says square anymore.

  29:39-29:41

  I think Huey Lewis and the news were the last people to say that.

  29:45-29:47

  Like why only sex and marriage?

  29:47-29:48

  I mean, isn't that old fashioned?

  29:48-29:49

  Why is that?

  29:49-29:50

  Why, why?

  29:50-29:51

  I'm gonna tell you why.

  29:53-29:54

  It's because marriage is a covenant.

  29:58-30:04

  And intimacy belongs to those in the covenant.

  30:06-30:08

  Forget about sexuality for a second.

  30:09-30:11

  Let's talk about our covenant with God.

  30:12-30:20

  God established this covenant through Jesus Christ that we enter through faith in Christ.

  30:21-30:26

  And when we enter covenant with God, how intimate is the relationship between God and man?

  30:27-30:31

  God comes and lives inside, right?

  30:32-30:34

  That's the ultimate form of intimacy.

  30:34-30:41

  God says, "I'm not some distant God that's far away." He's gonna live inside of us.

  30:42-30:44

  There's no closer relationship.

  30:44-30:54

  And in the same way, when a man and woman are in the covenant of marriage, the Bible says the two shall become one flesh.

  30:54-31:00

  The physical form of intimacy takes place on the marriage bed.

  31:03-31:09

  There is no closer physical intimacy than this.

  31:10-31:16

  And that's why it's only for people that are in the covenant of marriage.

  31:18-31:20

  You understand what I'm saying?

  31:21-31:23

  Any further questions, ask your mom, okay?

  31:25-31:26

  But this is the point.

  31:29-31:31

  It's not square, it's not old-fashioned.

  31:32-31:35

  It's using God's gift the way he intended it to be used.

  31:36-31:39

  And when that's done, it's awesome.

  31:39-31:42

  And when it's not done, it's destructive.

  31:44-31:46

  So Jesus is always faithful to his bride.

  31:47-31:51

  The church, his bride must respond by being faithful to only him.

  31:52-31:55

  And that's the dynamic to be emulated in a marriage.

  31:58-32:14

  So, despite all of the goofiness that the world is pitching about marriage and sexuality, we, we must be known as people who honor biblical marriage.

  32:15-32:16

  Right?

  32:17-32:20

  So three things we must be known for, Jesus followers.

  32:20-32:23

  One is compassion, two is covenant.

  32:23-32:25

  The third thing is contentment.

  32:27-32:29

  Contentment, we have all we need.

  32:33-32:41

  Look at verse five, it says, "Keep your life free from love of money." Free from love of money.

  32:45-32:50

  One of the most misquoted verses in the Bible, people say, "Money's the root of all evil." Is that true?

  32:55-32:58

  The love of money is the root of all kinds of evil.

  32:59-33:02

  Money, listen, money in and of itself is not evil, but people think that.

  33:03-33:05

  Money in and of itself is not evil.

  33:06-33:10

  I have proof of that because I have some money.

  33:12-33:18

  My wallet has never tried to kill me when I'm sleeping because it's not evil.

  33:19-33:23

  My debit card has never slandered me because it's not evil.

  33:25-33:26

  Money itself is not evil.

  33:26-33:28

  Money's just a tool.

  33:31-33:31

  It's the love of money.

  33:32-33:35

  Money, and listen, it's money in any amount, by the way.

  33:35-33:43

  We live in a day that if you have a lot of money, you're a horrible person, which isn't true.

  33:43-33:45

  Money in and of itself is not evil.

  33:48-33:49

  It's loving money.

  33:49-33:55

  That is what God says to avoid, because when you love money, you never have enough.

  33:55-34:01

  Look, he goes on in verse five, he says, and be content with what you have.

  34:03-34:05

  We, church, should be known for being content people.

  34:06-34:10

  We should be a people that say, I have all I need.

  34:11-34:11

  Can you say that?

  34:12-34:13

  I'm gonna give you a run at it.

  34:14-34:15

  I'll give you a second, I'm gonna prepare you.

  34:19-34:23

  But I want you to say that, I have all that I need.

  34:23-34:24

  Say that.

  34:25-34:26

  I have all that I need.

  34:27-34:28

  Do you believe that?

  34:30-34:31

  I have all that I need.

  34:35-34:40

  I'm so happy, I'm so thankful with what I have.

  34:42-34:45

  Like, you're like, man, that's so hard to do.

  34:45-34:46

  How do I do that?

  34:48-34:58

  If you can understand this one thing, you're not going to struggle with contentment and covetousness and greed.

  34:59-35:06

  If you can understand this one principle, the principle is this, God is the one who gives you what you have.

  35:08-35:11

  We studied this in Ecclesiastes last year, remember that?

  35:11-35:14

  Ecclesiastes 5.19, I'm sure you all remember this.

  35:14-35:16

  I'm just gonna give us a refresher.

  35:16-35:29

  It says, "Everyone also to whom God has given wealth "and possessions and power to enjoy them "and to accept his lot and rejoice in his toil, "this is the gift of God." So where does our stuff come from?

  35:30-35:31

  It comes from God.

  35:31-35:33

  The principles throughout, right?

  35:33-35:37

  Deuteronomy 8, 18, 1 Chronicles 29, 12, Hosea 2, 8.

  35:37-35:41

  Everything you have has been given to you by God.

  35:42-35:48

  And if you can understand and accept that, You will be a content person just walking through life.

  35:48-35:52

  Everything I have, everything I need, God's just gonna give me.

  35:53-35:54

  I'm not worried about it.

  35:54-35:55

  I'm not looking for more.

  35:55-35:58

  I'm not crying because I don't have what somebody else has.

  35:58-36:01

  God's just gonna give me everything that I need.

  36:01-36:03

  So I'm not, I'm content.

  36:03-36:04

  I'm happy.

  36:06-36:07

  Are you there?

  36:11-36:22

  You know, the Old Testament under Moses, when he led the Israelites out of Egypt, you know, to the promised land, we talked about that a lot through Hebrews.

  36:23-36:28

  But on that trip, God provided Israel the most perfect food ever.

  36:28-36:29

  It was called manna.

  36:31-36:33

  If you know the story, where was the manna?

  36:34-36:36

  They didn't go to sheets for it.

  36:37-36:38

  Where was it?

  36:39-36:40

  It was just on the ground.

  36:41-36:43

  God provided the perfect food to every morning.

  36:43-36:50

  All you had to do was roll out of your tent and your food was on the ground.

  36:51-36:53

  And it was perfect in every way.

  36:53-36:57

  And we have biblical evidence that speaks to how perfect it was.

  36:57-36:58

  We'll talk about that another time.

  36:58-37:03

  But just know that it was a perfect food that God's just like, here you go.

  37:04-37:05

  I'll feed you.

  37:06-37:07

  It's right there.

  37:07-37:08

  You can't get any closer.

  37:09-37:10

  You're standing on some.

  37:10-37:14

  "Get up." Was Israel content?

  37:17-37:18

  Was Israel content?

  37:19-37:27

  No, in fact, they wanted to go back to Egypt, and one of their reasons was the food there.

  37:29-37:30

  You remember that?

  37:30-37:35

  They're like, "Do you remember back in Egypt, "there were like the pots of flesh?" Like, that's really gross.

  37:35-37:36

  They just mean there's meat.

  37:36-37:37

  It's a gross way to put it.

  37:38-37:41

  And they were like, "We had the cucumbers and the leeks." And I'm like, "I call baloney.

  37:41-37:52

  Nobody's ever gotten excited about a leek." But they were like, "Oh, we just wish we were back in Egypt." And Numbers chapter 11, they actually said this.

  37:53-38:00

  They said, "All we have is this manna to look at." Wrap your brain around that statement for a second.

  38:01-38:05

  God's like, "Here you go, perfect food every day.

  38:06-38:11

  Just bend over and pick it up." life to all we have is this stupid man it'll look at.

  38:14-38:15

  Excuse me?

  38:15-38:16

  What, what?

  38:19-38:19

  Winers.

  38:22-38:24

  It's like a bunch of toddlers, right?

  38:27-38:31

  But church, listen, when you're not content, you sound exactly like them.

  38:34-38:40

  When you're not content with what God has given you, you are just like Israel.

  38:41-38:45

  What you're saying, you might not be using these words, but this is what you're saying.

  38:45-38:46

  Like, this is it, God?

  38:47-38:48

  This is all you're gonna give me?

  38:49-38:50

  I want more.

  38:51-38:52

  I want different.

  38:55-38:59

  Oh, this is a sermon for another time, but some of you know how that story ends.

  39:01-39:03

  God gave them meat, by the way.

  39:03-39:17

  God's like, "Oh, you want meat." God says, "I'll give you meat until it comes out of your noses." And the Bible says that while they were eating the quail that God provided while the meat was between their teeth before it was consumed, God struck them dead.

  39:22-39:32

  And I don't think the Bible explicitly says, but I imagine after that event, everybody else in Israel that wasn't struck dead was like, "You know what I'm hungry for?

  39:34-39:34

  "Mana.

  39:36-39:38

  "Mana is my favorite thing ever.

  39:39-39:40

  "I love mana.

  39:41-39:48

  "Send me a mana sandwich with a side of mana soup "and a tall, cold glass of mana." Right?

  39:50-39:51

  We should be known for being content.

  39:52-39:53

  We have all that we need.

  39:54-39:57

  Here's a couple of markers of content people.

  40:02-40:05

  Content people, first of all, don't judge what other people have.

  40:07-40:08

  That's a mark of content people.

  40:09-40:12

  Content people don't judge what other people have.

  40:15-40:17

  Did you see that car he was driving?

  40:18-40:19

  How much does he make?

  40:21-40:24

  Did you see that purse that she was carrying?

  40:25-40:26

  What's a bougie purse company?

  40:27-40:29

  Shout one out, I don't know.

  40:30-40:32

  Gucci, Louis Vuitton, okay.

  40:34-40:37

  Did you see that Louis Vuitton purse that she was carrying?

  40:42-40:44

  Here's what content people say.

  40:44-40:45

  Okay, God gave that to them.

  40:47-40:50

  I drive the car that I have and I carry my Walmart purse.

  40:51-40:52

  Well, I mean, I don't.

  40:53-40:53

  (audience laughing)

  40:55-40:56

  I don't carry the Walmart purse.

  40:59-41:01

  But that's what content people say.

  41:02-41:06

  Like, okay, so he drives that kind of car, good for him.

  41:07-41:08

  I hope it's awesome.

  41:10-41:14

  So she has a Louis Gucci purse or whatever, so she's good for her.

  41:15-41:17

  I hope she has a closet full of them.

  41:18-41:20

  I hope she loves that purse so much.

  41:21-41:30

  Not like in an idolatry way, But I hope that she loves it in the Lord or whatever.

  41:32-41:36

  Several months ago, I was at a funeral home for a visitation.

  41:37-41:42

  And when I was walking out, there was a lady in the lobby just by herself.

  41:45-42:00

  And we got chatting and she's like, "How do you know the deceased?" And I said, "Well, I'm a pastor and I've known the family and da, da, da." She goes, "Oh, you're a pastor." She said, right out of the gate, she goes, "What do you think about how much money Joel Osteen makes?"

  42:01-42:02

  (congregation laughing)

  42:06-42:15

  And I gotta be honest with you, church, I am genuinely surprised at how many times over the course of my ministry, I've been asked my opinion on Joel Osteen's salary.

  42:19-42:23

  And I told her, I said, What Joel Osteen makes isn't my business.

  42:23-42:27

  Like, why should I care what Joel Osteen makes?

  42:28-42:30

  Do I look like Mrs. Osteen?

  42:31-42:32

  What's her name?

  42:33-42:33

  Veronica or whatever?

  42:34-42:35

  Victoria.

  42:35-42:37

  Do I look like Victoria Osteen?

  42:37-42:38

  And be careful how you answer that.

  42:39-42:41

  But why should I care what he makes?

  42:43-42:47

  I don't give to support his organization.

  42:50-42:58

  And listen, I say this with all the love I can muster, you gotta grab hold of this.

  42:58-43:00

  Look, what God gives somebody else is not your business.

  43:01-43:03

  It is not your business.

  43:05-43:12

  Your business, according to the Bible, is to be content with what you have.

  43:13-43:14

  Do you see that?

  43:17-43:19

  Here's another marker of contentment.

  43:20-43:21

  We're wrapping up, I promise.

  43:21-43:26

  I didn't preach for like five weeks, so I've had all this building up.

  43:28-43:28

  Here's another one.

  43:29-43:33

  Content people aren't afraid of not having what they need.

  43:35-43:37

  That's another marker of contentment.

  43:37-43:40

  You don't have the anxiety of lacking.

  43:41-43:42

  That's another marker of contentment.

  43:45-43:46

  How does that work?

  43:46-43:52

  It's because content people have learned that contentment It doesn't come from having stuff.

  43:54-43:56

  Contentment comes from having Jesus.

  43:59-44:00

  Look at verse 5.

  44:03-44:05

  Again, he says, "Be content with what you have.

  44:05-44:07

  Why should I do that?" Here's the reason, look.

  44:07-44:17

  "For He has said, 'I will never leave you nor forsake you.'" God said that.

  44:18-44:19

  Oh, he's not finished.

  44:19-44:24

  He says, "So we, we can confidently say, "the Lord is my helper.

  44:25-44:26

  "I will not fear.

  44:26-44:33

  "What can man do to me?" He's quoting Joshua 1.5.

  44:35-44:37

  Actually, Jesus said something very similar.

  44:39-44:40

  Right, Great Commission, I'm with you always.

  44:41-44:43

  Right, he's quoting Psalm 118, verse six.

  44:45-44:49

  But this, he will never leave you in the original language, that was the strongest negative.

  44:51-44:55

  Okay, so he will never leave you is sort of an understatement in translation.

  44:55-45:04

  What it's saying is, God is saying, I will never, ever, under any circumstances abandon you.

  45:05-45:06

  I would never do that.

  45:11-45:14

  He says, so we're not going to fear, right?

  45:14-45:15

  You see that?

  45:15-45:17

  He says, "I will not fear," verse six.

  45:18-45:19

  Like, what, fear what?

  45:21-45:23

  Fear lacking, fear being without.

  45:24-45:30

  In chapter 10, verse 34, these people were being plundered for their faith, right?

  45:31-45:37

  They were being robbed because they belonged to Jesus.

  45:39-45:47

  And he says, "And our response should just simply be this, "that's okay, that's okay." because the Lord is my helper.

  45:49-45:56

  My God has $6 trillion just in the cup holder of his Lamborghini.

  45:59-46:01

  So if I have Jesus, I have everything.

  46:03-46:08

  And I don't have anything to worry about because he promised that he'd never forsake me.

  46:09-46:11

  You see, church, that's where contentment comes from.

  46:13-46:21

  Contentment comes from real faith that says, "I believe that God is always with me.

  46:22-46:38

  And I believe that he's going to give me everything that I need." Our worship team would make their way back to the platform here.

  46:39-46:45

  You know, I think it was several months ago, maybe up to a year now, in a meeting.

  46:48-46:54

  Regarding hospitality, we were meeting with Mackenzie Blasco, and she has a question that, I was like, wow, I wasn't expecting that.

  46:54-47:00

  But she said, she asked me this, she says, "How close is this church to your original vision?" You remember asking that, Mackenzie?

  47:01-47:14

  She's, "How close is this church to your original vision?" And I said, "This is exactly what I wanted to see." This church isn't perfect.

  47:16-47:17

  That's certainly not what I meant.

  47:20-47:21

  But this church is real.

  47:22-47:24

  And this church is sincere.

  47:25-47:36

  And this church is actively seeking to grow in our individual family and collective walks with Jesus Christ by his grace.

  47:39-47:41

  You know, I've thought about Mackenzie's question often.

  47:45-47:49

  What if I asked you, what kind of church do you want?

  47:51-47:55

  We could get one of the handheld mics and walk around and get everyone's opinion.

  47:55-47:58

  I imagine we'd probably get dozens of different types of answers.

  47:59-48:00

  What kind of church do you want?

  48:00-48:02

  But I guess we're asking the wrong question.

  48:04-48:07

  I think the right question is, what kind of church does Jesus want?

  48:09-48:10

  Isn't that a better question?

  48:11-48:12

  Can I get an amen on that?

  48:13-48:13

  Okay, that was better.

  48:14-48:16

  What kind of church does Jesus want?

  48:18-48:19

  Well, he tells us right here.

  48:21-48:26

  "We should be a church known for compassion." We're looking for people to love.

  48:27-48:29

  We're a church that's about covenant.

  48:29-48:37

  Our covenant with God through Jesus Christ, the covenant, the new covenant, through the blood of Jesus, but also the covenant of marriage.

  48:37-48:41

  We believe, and this, when you come in here, we think marriage is a great thing here.

  48:43-48:45

  The last thing we should be known for is contentment.

  48:46-48:49

  We're just people, we walk around satisfied.

  48:50-48:53

  Like, I have everything that I need.

  48:55-48:56

  God's going to make sure of that.

  48:58-48:59

  You bow with me in prayer.

  49:00-49:13

  Father in heaven, in a day of consumerism and competition and marketing and all that stuff.

  49:13-49:17

  It's easy for the church to think, what do I need to do to compete?

  49:17-49:19

  What do I need to do to be flashy?

  49:23-49:25

  What do I, what kind of gimmick do I need?

  49:28-49:32

  But the reality is, Father, you haven't called us to gimmicks you've called us to faithfulness.

  49:33-49:36

  And your word tells us right here kind of reputation we should have.

  49:37-49:38

  So Father, I wanna pray for this church.

  49:43-49:50

  Because it's only the decisions we make in our walks and for our homes, that's gonna determine the kind of people we are when we come together here.

  49:54-49:58

  Father, warm our hearts towards compassion.

  50:02-50:06

  Father, let us repent of any negative attitudes or words that we've had towards marriage.

  50:08-50:15

  Father, let us be people who are truly satisfied, not because of the stuff we have, but because of the God that we have.

  50:16-50:32

  I just pray, Father, that we are so focused on being the kind of people that you have called us to be, and that you give us the opportunity to just get out into our community and let them see the difference that Jesus Christ makes.

  50:37-50:43

  Father, we do pray for the members of this church, the people of this church to grow.

  50:43-51:04

  We pray for this church itself to grow, but Father, only in a way that honors you, only in a way that's empowered by you, only in a way that people can look at us and say, God must be in their midst.

  51:05-51:07

  Show up powerfully, Father.

  51:10-51:13

  Not for our reputation, ultimately it's for yours.

  51:14-51:17

  We pray in Jesus' name, amen.

Small Group Discussion
Read Hebrews 13:1-6

1. What was your big take-away from this passage / message?
   

2. What do you think HBC is known for?
   

3. What are some practical ways that you can show hospitality to strangers?
   

4. How would you answer this question: why is sex only for married people (Heb 13:4)?
   

5. In what areas do you struggle with contentment (Heb 13:5)?

Breakout
Pray for one another, and pray for HBC to be a church known for compassion, covenant, and contentment.

Why Jesus? You Have Reason to Worship.

Introduction:

I Have Reason to Worship (Hebrews 12:18-29):

1. I live in Grace , not Law. (Heb 12:18-24)
2. I will never be Destroyed . (Heb 12:25-27)
3. I have been given Everything . (Heb 12:28-29)

Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!

• Audio Transcript

  00:49-00:53

  "Stop, I'm not going to let you ruin another one." Let's break that down for a second.

  00:55-00:59

  First of all, I'm not going to let you.

  00:59-01:09

  As in, I'm going to exercise any pastoral authority that I have in this moment to forbid this atrocity that's happening.

  01:11-01:13

  And then the fact that he used the word ruin.

  01:15-01:16

  It kind of cracks me up.

  01:16-01:25

  didn't say, "Stop, I'm not going to let you sing a hymn badly or stop, I don't think your heart's into it.

  01:25-01:37

  You're actually ruining a hymn." And then to me, the icing on the cake of this, this sentence is another one.

  01:37-01:40

  I'm not going to let you ruin another one.

  01:40-01:44

  As in, this isn't the first time.

  01:45-01:47

  This isn't the first hymn that you've butchered.

  01:48-01:50

  And I just can't tolerate that.

  01:52-01:55

  But he wasn't wrong, by the way.

  01:56-01:59

  And I just have to ask, why do we do that?

  02:03-02:18

  You know, the same people that go to the, you know, they go to the Steeler game, and they're up and they're dancing, and they're like, "Here we go, Steelers!" And they're like, "Go mean Joe Green!" or whoever plays for the Steelers now.

  02:19-02:35

  And those same people that are just so, so passionate about this game, then they show up at church and they're like, "God, there's no one like you, God.

  02:36-02:41

  "And there'll never be." Why do we do that?

  02:44-02:51

  You know, the Bible says to love the Lord your God with your heart, soul, mind, and strength.

  02:52-02:54

  And you know why we worship in music?

  02:54-02:56

  This is one way that we worship.

  02:56-02:58

  But do you know why we worship in music?

  02:58-03:03

  Is this is the mechanism by which we are able to worship God with our emotions.

  03:04-03:06

  Because music is emotional.

  03:08-03:12

  We love God with our emotions in worshiping in song.

  03:13-03:20

  And if we're honest, many of us don't go after it the way that we should.

  03:22-03:23

  True or false?

  03:26-03:26

  You're like, well, why not?

  03:28-03:30

  Maybe we don't see the reason.

  03:32-03:38

  Well, that's about to change because we're going to worship soon.

  03:41-03:48

  But first, we're gonna dive into God's word and you're going to see very plainly, you have reason to worship.

  03:50-03:56

  And the Hebrew writer closes this section on faith with a powerful crescendo.

  03:59-04:01

  We've seen that faith, faith is not easy.

  04:04-04:06

  Faith calls us to make very hard decisions.

  04:07-04:11

  Faith calls us to say no to our fleshly desires.

  04:14-04:18

  We've seen that when you have faith, when you're a child of God, you're under his discipline.

  04:18-04:19

  That is not easy.

  04:21-04:33

  And we saw last week that your race of faith affects more than just you because you're called to be a part of a community and other eyes are watching.

  04:39-04:51

  And you see the life of faith can become so difficult that we start to lose sight of all the reasons that we have to worship.

  04:54-04:56

  So let's be reminded from our text today.

  04:58-04:59

  That's where the Hebrew writer's taking us.

  05:01-05:02

  You have reason to worship.

  05:04-05:07

  And then we are going to blow the roof off this place.

  05:08-05:09

  All right?

  05:09-05:11

  So I have reason to worship.

  05:14-05:15

  You're like, convince me, Hefei.

  05:15-05:16

  Number one, write this down.

  05:17-05:20

  I live in grace, not law.

  05:20-05:21

  Why do I worship?

  05:22-05:26

  Because I live in grace, not law.

  05:27-05:35

  Now this passage is very difficult, but we're gonna break it down and threw it together, and you're going to see, this is glorious.

  05:37-05:44

  Because what the Hebrew writer here is doing, very plainly you'll see, he's contrasting two mountains.

  05:45-05:49

  Mount Sinai and Mount Zion.

  05:50-05:58

  He's contrasting the two to show us that we worship because we live in grace, not law.

  05:58-06:00

  All right, look at verses 18 through 21.

  06:00-06:21

  It says, "For you have not come to what may be touched, a blazing fire and darkness and gloom and a tempest, and the sound of a trumpet and a voice whose words made the hearers beg that no further messages be spoken to them.

  06:23-06:26

  For they could not endure the order that was given.

  06:30-06:35

  "If even a beast touches the mountain, "it shall be stoned.

  06:37-06:48

  "Indeed, so terrifying was the sight "that Moses said, 'I tremble with fear.'" Like, what's he talking about?

  06:49-06:51

  He's talking about Exodus chapter 19.

  06:52-06:58

  And I want to encourage you to go back and read that, not right now, but I'm gonna paraphrase it for you.

  06:58-07:03

  but I do encourage you sometime today, just go back and take a few moments and read it.

  07:03-07:04

  Here's the paraphrase.

  07:04-07:16

  You know, Israel under the leadership of Moses left slavery, left Egypt, and on their travels, they camped at Mount Sinai where Moses went up to meet with God.

  07:17-07:27

  And God said, "Tell Israel they must obey me." Then a thick cloud covered the mountain.

  07:28-07:49

  And God said, "Do not touch the mountain, "and anything that touches the mountain shall be stoned." On the third day, the Bible tells us there was a cloud, and lightning, and thunder, and smoke, and trumpet blast.

  07:49-07:52

  And the Bible says Israel trembled.

  07:52-07:54

  Could you imagine seeing this?

  07:54-07:55

  Israel trembled.

  07:55-08:03

  And then the Bible says, "The whole mountain trembled." And God once again speaks.

  08:04-08:21

  He says, "Don't allow anyone to come through "and try to see what is going on, or they will die." Israel was scared out of their minds.

  08:22-08:25

  And they cried out, "Please, don't let God speak to us.

  08:26-08:35

  "You speak to us on his behalf, "but do not let God speak to us, please, "or we will die." The scene was completely, it's terrifying.

  08:37-08:39

  It is a terrifying scene.

  08:39-08:40

  Like, why?

  08:42-08:42

  What's going on here?

  08:43-08:56

  Well, God was saying that he is holy, perfect majesty, and sinful man cannot come and be in the presence of such majesty.

  08:59-09:00

  That's Exodus 19.

  09:02-09:05

  And then you turn the page, do you know what's in Exodus 20?

  09:07-09:08

  The 10 Commandments.

  09:10-09:11

  See, God was laying it down.

  09:15-09:27

  The law showed us that God has this perfect standard that we are unable to keep.

  09:28-09:31

  That was what the law did, right?

  09:33-09:38

  And if you're sitting here thinking to yourself, you know what, I think I do pretty good.

  09:38-09:39

  I'm gonna give you a quick test.

  09:39-09:44

  We're gonna go through this very quickly, but I just want you somewhere on the side of your outline, give yourself a check.

  09:44-09:46

  I'm gonna go through the commandments very quickly.

  09:46-09:49

  Give yourself a check for every commandment you've broken, okay?

  09:53-09:54

  I think some of you know where this is going.

  09:55-09:57

  But in Exodus 20, God gave the 10 commandments.

  09:57-09:58

  Give yourself a check.

  09:58-10:00

  The first commandment is there's only one God.

  10:01-10:02

  There's no other gods.

  10:02-10:08

  So let me ask you, have you always loved God with your heart, soul, mind, and strength and made him the priority every moment of every day of your life?

  10:08-10:08

  Have you?

  10:09-10:10

  If not, give yourself a check.

  10:10-10:13

  The second commandment is you should not make for yourself any idols.

  10:13-10:16

  You shouldn't have anything that you worship besides God.

  10:17-10:18

  Have you ever done that?

  10:18-10:20

  Has there ever been anything in your life more important than God?

  10:21-10:22

  Well, that's an idol, give yourself a check.

  10:22-10:26

  The third commandment is do not use the Lord's name in vain.

  10:26-10:34

  Have you ever spoken the name of God irreverently or spoken about God in a way that doesn't represent God?

  10:35-10:36

  You're speaking his name in vain.

  10:37-10:38

  Give yourself a check.

  10:38-10:41

  The fourth commandment, remember the Sabbath and keep it holy.

  10:41-10:46

  Now we saw in Hebrews chapter four, that Jesus Christ fulfilled the Sabbath.

  10:47-10:54

  But there's a principle there, because we have this tendency to wanna work and go about our business all the time and make no room for God.

  10:54-10:59

  He said, "You must take a day where you rest "and where you worship." How are you doing there?

  11:02-11:03

  You're like, "Not great." Well, then give yourself a check.

  11:03-11:06

  The fifth commandment is honor your parents, honor your father and mother.

  11:06-11:07

  Have you always done that?

  11:08-11:09

  Have you always honored your parents?

  11:10-11:11

  No, give yourself a check.

  11:12-11:13

  Sixth commandment is do not murder.

  11:13-11:13

  You're like, yes!

  11:15-11:15

  (congregation laughing)

  11:17-11:18

  I got one.

  11:19-11:19

  Hang on.

  11:20-11:24

  Because Jesus said, if you've ever hated someone, you've committed murder in your heart.

  11:25-11:31

  So according to the definition of murder by the son of God, if you ever hated someone, then you're guilty of murder.

  11:32-11:33

  Give yourself a check.

  11:34-11:35

  Where are we at, seven?

  11:36-11:38

  Seventh commandment is do not commit adultery.

  11:40-11:46

  Again, Jesus showed us in the Sermon on the Mount If you look at a woman with lustful intent, you've committed adultery in your heart.

  11:48-11:50

  So if you're a man, give yourself a check for sure.

  11:54-11:55

  The eighth commandment is do not steal.

  11:57-11:58

  You ever taken something that didn't belong to you?

  11:59-11:59

  Give yourself a check.

  12:00-12:02

  The ninth commandment is do not bear false witness.

  12:02-12:03

  Have you ever told a lie?

  12:04-12:07

  Even a little white lie, which is still a lie, have you ever told a lie?

  12:07-12:08

  Give yourself a check.

  12:08-12:09

  And the 10th commandment is do not covet.

  12:11-12:13

  Have you ever wanted something that belonged to somebody else?

  12:16-12:17

  Give yourself a check.

  12:18-12:20

  All right, anybody check free?

  12:22-12:23

  Do you see the problem?

  12:24-12:33

  You wanna go to Mount Sinai, where the Holy Majesty of God is sitting, and you got all these checks, because you're, admittedly, you're a sinner.

  12:34-12:35

  Do you see the problem?

  12:37-12:43

  God says, "This is my standard." and you just wanna walk up to Sinai?

  12:44-12:52

  Ah, no, you don't wanna go to Sinai with all the sin on your record because you know what's not at Sinai?

  12:53-12:53

  Mercy.

  12:55-12:55

  There's no forgiveness.

  12:56-12:57

  There's no grace.

  12:57-12:58

  You know what's at Sinai?

  12:58-12:59

  Law, that's at Sinai.

  12:59-13:02

  Law, justice, that's what you find at Sinai.

  13:04-13:13

  And since you can't keep the law, you're doomed going there because all the law does is expose your sin and it brings judgment.

  13:16-13:26

  Yet, most people and even a lot of people in church have this mindset that I hope I'm good enough to go to heaven.

  13:27-13:28

  I don't understand that.

  13:28-13:30

  I hear people in the church say that.

  13:31-13:34

  I just hope someday that I'm good enough to go to heaven.

  13:35-13:35

  You're not.

  13:36-13:37

  You're not even close.

  13:39-13:40

  Neither am I.

  13:43-13:45

  None of us are good enough.

  13:46-13:54

  If you come to God as this guilty sinner, you should be terrified.

  13:57-13:58

  Look at verse 22.

  14:00-14:28

  He says, "But you have come to Mount Zion." and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, and to the assembly of the firstborn, who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect.

  14:29-14:30

  Do you see this?

  14:30-14:31

  Do you see the contrast?

  14:34-14:36

  You didn't go to Sinai, Christians.

  14:36-14:39

  He said, "You have come to a different mountain.

  14:39-14:44

  "You have come to Zion." Like, well, what's Zion?

  14:46-14:49

  Zion is the hill that Jerusalem was built on.

  14:50-14:51

  That's what Zion is.

  14:53-14:56

  Zion is where Jesus Christ was crucified.

  14:58-15:03

  And what the Hebrew writer is saying is this, don't miss this, because this is the whole point in this chunk.

  15:03-15:08

  He says, "You believers have not come to God through keeping His law at Sinai.

  15:09-15:22

  You have come to God by going through His gracious sacrifice at Zion." You're like, "Come where?" I think it's obvious in verse 22, right?

  15:22-15:25

  He's talking about all the way to heaven.

  15:28-15:30

  The city of the living God, heavenly Jerusalem.

  15:31-15:31

  Do you see that?

  15:33-15:43

  You know the phrase I love here, you can underline this in your Bible, and if you won't, the person next to you, underline it in their Bible if they won't do it.

  15:44-15:45

  But I love this.

  15:46-15:49

  Heaven is described as a festal gathering.

  15:52-15:55

  Just gonna take a minute and unpack that for you.

  15:55-15:56

  What's a festal gathering?

  15:56-15:58

  And what's another word for that?

  15:59-16:00

  It's a party.

  16:01-16:02

  It's a party.

  16:03-16:11

  And I gotta throw that out because so many times over my ministry, I've heard people say, "Heaven sounds boring." I'm like, "You're boring.

  16:12-16:13

  "Heaven sounds boring?

  16:14-16:15

  "Are you kidding me?

  16:16-16:19

  "The Bible says that God is going to throw a party.

  16:21-16:27

  "What kind of a party do you think God throws?" It is going to be awesome.

  16:28-16:30

  I just had to...

  16:31-16:33

  If you hear anybody say that, please bite them.

  16:34-16:35

  Just right in the arm.

  16:38-16:40

  Not hard enough to draw blood, but hard enough to get their attention.

  16:41-16:43

  And then tell them they're boring.

  16:43-16:44

  But he says, I love this.

  16:45-16:51

  He says, "Who are enrolled in heaven." Underline that too, since you're in the underlining business.

  16:52-16:53

  Enrolled in heaven.

  16:53-17:00

  I shared with you before, one time I performed a wedding and Aaron and I showed up at the wedding reception and we were not on the guest list.

  17:01-17:03

  How humiliating was that?

  17:03-17:07

  To walk in, got my best girl, she looks like a trillion dollars.

  17:08-17:14

  Have a nice dinner together, little wedding celebration, and we are not on the guest list.

  17:14-17:15

  (imitates horn honking)

  17:16-17:18

  That was so humiliating.

  17:19-17:21

  But here he says, "No, no, no, you are on God's guest list.

  17:22-17:23

  "You are enrolled in heaven.

  17:24-17:39

  "He has a place for you at this party." Because, because, you're like, "Well, what about all these check marks, Pastor Jeff, huh?

  17:39-17:42

  "What about all these check marks?" Look at the end of verse 23.

  17:43-17:47

  "The spirit of the righteous made perfect." Underline that too.

  17:47-17:48

  Just underline the whole section.

  17:49-17:49

  Made perfect.

  17:51-17:56

  So important, look, you have to be perfect to enter God's presence.

  17:56-17:58

  You have to be perfect.

  17:59-18:02

  And by all the little check marks on your paper, you've just admitted that you're not.

  18:04-18:05

  So you have a problem.

  18:06-18:07

  Like I'm not perfect.

  18:07-18:11

  But there's another way to obtain perfection.

  18:12-18:16

  Besides your works, which is great because none of us are perfect.

  18:17-18:18

  There's another way to obtain perfection.

  18:20-18:21

  You're like, well, what's that?

  18:21-18:23

  Well, look at verse 24.

  18:24-18:39

  It says, "And to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel." This is how you're made perfect.

  18:39-18:42

  It's through Jesus' new covenants.

  18:45-18:51

  And it says, "The sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel." You're like, what's that all about?

  18:52-18:54

  Well, Cain and Abel, right?

  18:54-18:57

  Genesis chapter four, Cain killed his brother Abel.

  18:57-19:05

  And you remember God shows up to Cain and he says, Abel's blood is crying out to me from the ground.

  19:06-19:08

  What was Abel's blood crying out?

  19:10-19:10

  Vengeance.

  19:13-19:15

  And see, that's what the Hebrew writer here is saying.

  19:15-19:18

  Jesus' blood doesn't cry out vengeance.

  19:18-19:21

  Jesus' blood cries out a better word.

  19:21-19:22

  Do you know what that word is?

  19:24-19:24

  Acceptance.

  19:26-19:26

  Acceptance.

  19:32-19:38

  So church, we have reason to worship because we have come to Zion.

  19:39-19:54

  Only at Zion do we find the grace and the mercy and the acceptance from God because of what Jesus did on our behalf.

  19:56-19:56

  You see that?

  19:57-20:06

  Dying on the cross, on the cross, bearing the wrath of God for all of my check marks and all of your check marks.

  20:09-20:12

  Bearing the wrath of God for the sins of anyone who will believe.

  20:12-20:15

  God saved us from His own wrath.

  20:15-20:18

  That's what happened at this mountain.

  20:19-20:19

  Zion.

  20:21-20:24

  He did for us what we could never do for ourselves.

  20:25-20:28

  So we don't live under the terror of the law.

  20:29-20:31

  We live under the freedom of His grace.

  20:31-20:40

  And to know this and to truly understand and embrace that only brings one real reaction.

  20:42-20:43

  And that's worship.

  20:45-20:46

  I have reason to worship.

  20:46-20:48

  I live in grace, not law.

  20:48-20:51

  Number two, here's a reason to worship.

  20:51-20:52

  Write this down.

  20:52-20:53

  I will never be destroyed.

  20:55-20:56

  Look at verse 25.

  20:59-21:02

  It says, "See that you do not refuse him who is speaking.

  21:05-21:22

  "For if they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth," that's Moses, that's Sinai, "much less will we escape if we reject him who warns from heaven." That's Jesus, that's Zion.

  21:24-21:29

  He's saying, "Jews, you know the story of Israel in the Old Testament?

  21:29-21:51

  Did they escape the consequences of their disobedience?" You're like, "They sure did not." He goes, "Okay, so what makes you think "you're gonna escape if you disobey "the command to believe in the gospel of Jesus Christ?" This is a last call to Jesus.

  21:53-21:55

  All right, we've seen it many times in Hebrews.

  21:57-21:59

  He's taking one last hard run at it.

  22:02-22:07

  in the most powerful way possible.

  22:10-22:12

  He gives one last warning.

  22:12-22:13

  Look at verses 26 and 27.

  22:16-22:19

  He says, "At that time," at what time?

  22:19-22:21

  "At the time of Sinai," Exodus 19.

  22:21-22:26

  At that time, his voice shook the earth, shaking Sinai.

  22:26-22:45

  He goes, "But now he has promised." "Yet once more I will shake not only the earth, but also the heavens." Okay, he's quoting Haggai 2.6 there.

  22:46-22:47

  Like, well, what's he talking about?

  22:48-22:52

  I'm so glad you asked because he, the very next verse he explains why he's quoting that.

  22:53-22:59

  He goes, "This phrase, yet once more, indicates the removal of things that are shaken.

  23:00-23:04

  That is things that have been made, creation, right?

  23:06-23:10

  In order that the things that cannot be shaken may remain.

  23:13-23:15

  Okay, so what he's saying is this.

  23:17-23:22

  Back in Exodus 19, in Moses' day, Israelite's day, God shook Sinai.

  23:22-23:37

  He says, "But listen, I wanna remind you "from the word of God." Haggai 2.6 is one of many verses in the Old Testament about this, but the day is coming that God is going to give the earth one final shake.

  23:42-23:44

  A few years ago, we studied this in the book of Revelation.

  23:45-23:46

  We get a lot of detail on this.

  23:47-23:50

  In Revelation, we studied the seven-year tribulation.

  23:50-23:52

  The world was ravaged.

  23:52-23:58

  God sent the seal judgments and the trumpet judgments and the bowl judgments.

  23:58-23:59

  And then do you remember what happened after that?

  24:00-24:07

  Jesus Christ returns in glory, and He establishes His thousand year kingdom on the earth.

  24:07-24:09

  And then what happens after that?

  24:10-24:14

  Revelation 20, Revelation 21, that's the last shake.

  24:15-24:22

  He destroys everything in order to establish the new heavens and the new earth.

  24:26-24:27

  That's what He's talking about here.

  24:28-24:31

  The day's coming, look, sin has run its course.

  24:31-24:36

  And he says, the day's coming, God's gonna shake everything in the universe.

  24:36-24:42

  And the only thing that's gonna remain is that which cannot be shaken.

  24:45-24:46

  Like, what's that?

  24:47-24:50

  Those are the eternal souls that have believed in Jesus Christ.

  24:51-24:54

  If you're a follower of Christ, you cannot be shaken.

  24:55-24:59

  You see that phrase all throughout the Old Testament, I will not be shaken, I will not be shaken.

  24:59-25:00

  Have you ever wondered what that meant?

  25:02-25:04

  You know, some people think it means like just tremble with fear.

  25:04-25:11

  No, no, no, it means I will not be destroyed under the judgment of God.

  25:13-25:18

  That's what it means when the Bible talks about God shaking the earth.

  25:20-25:24

  I will endure, I will last, I will not be shaken.

  25:29-25:30

  Everything will be destroyed.

  25:33-25:36

  If you are a follower of Christ, you will never be destroyed.

  25:36-25:37

  The heavens and earth are going to burn.

  25:38-25:41

  Those who have not come to Jesus will be destroyed forever in hell.

  25:43-25:48

  But if you belong to Christ, you have nothing to fear.

  25:52-25:53

  That's reason to worship.

  25:56-25:56

  That's reason to worship.

  25:58-26:01

  In about 15 minutes, God's gonna shut this whole thing down.

  26:04-26:07

  But you will remain to enter into his joy forever.

  26:13-26:15

  Why aren't we more fired up about this?

  26:22-26:28

  I mean, I would say the vast majority of you believe this, and I believe it.

  26:29-26:31

  So why aren't we more fired up about this?

  26:32-26:34

  I thought about that a lot this week.

  26:40-26:42

  Maybe it's because we don't see it.

  26:43-26:44

  You think that might be it?

  26:51-26:55

  Maybe because what we do see are babies being murdered.

  26:58-27:03

  Maybe because what we do see are drag queens doing shows for children.

  27:07-27:09

  Maybe because what we do see is flagrant corruption.

  27:15-27:16

  That's what we see.

  27:21-27:26

  But you know, maybe that's where faith comes in.

  27:30-27:47

  As we saw in chapter 11, if you were with us through that series, faith moved Abraham and Moses and that whole cast of characters to look ahead.

  27:50-28:05

  Not to what was happening in the here and now, but we saw very clearly the faith of these incredible people from Old Testament times.

  28:08-28:15

  They were commended because their faith was based not on what God was doing in the time alone, but based on what God would do.

  28:16-28:30

  So I just have to ask us, church, you know, if you don't feel like worshiping right now, because things are hard right now, and I know for a lot of you, things are very difficult right now.

  28:31-28:41

  And if you don't feel like worshiping right now because of your circumstances right now, Can you find reason to worship for what's coming soon?

  28:44-28:54

  If you're not that excited about what God's doing now, can you worship God for what he's going to do?

  28:58-29:07

  And finally, I have reason to worship because I've been given everything.

  29:09-29:10

  Look at verse 28.

  29:12-29:19

  He says, "Therefore, let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken.

  29:20-29:30

  And thus let us offer to God acceptable worship with reverence and awe." There it is, there it is.

  29:30-29:38

  He says, "Let us be grateful." You know, the bigger the gift, the bigger the thanks, right?

  29:39-29:41

  The bigger the gift, the bigger the thanks.

  29:41-29:41

  So what do I mean?

  29:42-29:46

  Like if I gave you a piece of gum, you would say, thanks.

  29:48-29:52

  If you needed a ride to the airport and I gave you a ride to the airport, you'd be like, hey, thanks.

  29:54-30:06

  If I said, I'll watch your kids for the weekend so you can have a romantic getaway with your spouse, You'd be like, "Oh, thank you!" You see, the bigger the gift, the bigger the thanks, right?

  30:07-30:08

  I mean, we get that.

  30:10-30:12

  The bigger gifts naturally receive bigger gratitude.

  30:14-30:16

  So the question is this, how big is God's gift?

  30:19-30:20

  He tells us right here.

  30:20-30:22

  See the gift that God's given you?

  30:24-30:26

  Let us be grateful for receiving what?

  30:27-30:29

  A kingdom that cannot.

  30:30-31:15

  be shaken." God has given you the eternal glory of heaven. Everything that God has and everything that God is, He's just handed it to you because of what His Son has done on your behalf. So if you're a believer in Jesus Christ, I want to remind you, you've been given everything. Literally everything. So are you grateful?

  31:19-31:29

  Are you grateful for that? Well, you're gonna have a chance in a moment to to express your love and your gratitude for God.

  31:31-31:37

  I'd like to ask if our worship team would come forward and our elders would come up.

  31:39-31:54

  There is no better way to celebrate what it means to come to Zion than to gather around the Lord's table for communion.

  31:56-31:57

  Look at verse 29.

  31:59-32:00

  I didn't forget it.

  32:02-32:05

  This was very difficult because I could spend so much time just in this one verse.

  32:06-32:10

  It says, "For our God is a consuming fire." Do you know what that means?

  32:12-32:13

  You see a fire?

  32:15-32:19

  A fire will destroy what it cannot purify.

  32:23-32:29

  but a fire will purify what it cannot destroy.

  32:31-32:50

  And that's why he closes this glorious majestic section by reminding us that God is a fire and you will know him as your destroyer or in Christ, you will know him as your purifier.

Small Group Discussion
Read Hebrews 12:18-29

1. What was your big take-away from this passage / message?
   

2. What are the two mountains being contrasted in Heb 12:18-24? What is the point of this contrast?
   

3. How would you rate your passion for worship, on a scale of 1-5?
   (1 is mostly dead, 5 is worshiping like you’re in heaven)
   Why did you give yourself that rating?
   

4. What “reason to worship” from this passage motivates you the most? Why?

Breakout
Pray for one another.

Why Jesus? Be Healed.

Introduction:

Why I Can't Quit Running (Hebrews 12:12-17):

1. Someone needs me to be an Example . (Heb 12:12-14)

   1 Kings 18:21 - And Elijah came near to all the people and said, “How long will you go limping between two different opinions?”

   Philippians 2:14-15 - Do all things without grumbling or disputing, that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world...

2. Someone needs me to Challenge their walk with Christ. (Heb 12:15-17)

   Deuteronomy 29:18 - Beware lest there be among you a man or woman or clan or tribe whose heart is turning away today from the LORD our God to go and serve the gods of those nations. Beware lest there be among you a root bearing poisonous and bitter fruit...

Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!

• Audio Transcript

  00:48-00:53

  Father in heaven, we believe that you have revealed yourself through your Word.

  00:58-01:09

  And I guess it's like that song that we sang when we were little kids, "I stand alone on the Word of God." Father, may that be true for us today.

  01:13-01:14

  That we stand on it.

  01:15-01:27

  We don't just hear it, we don't just agree with it, but Father, let Your Word direct our lives, the way we live, the way we think, the way we speak.

  01:28-01:34

  Father, let Your Spirit and Your Word do something supernatural in us today.

  01:35-01:38

  We pray in Jesus' name, Amen.

  01:40-01:41

  Hebrews chapter 12.

  01:43-01:48

  As some of you know, my son Cade plays deck hockey and Sean and I coach the team.

  01:49-01:55

  And a couple of seasons ago, the game wasn't going our way, all right?

  01:55-01:56

  We were losing.

  01:57-02:04

  And two of our best forwards, we noticed, were on the deck walking.

  02:06-02:11

  They were just walking, putting forth absolute minimal effort.

  02:12-02:14

  I'm like, what's going on?

  02:15-02:15

  Did they get hurt?

  02:16-02:17

  Is there something I'm missing?

  02:17-02:23

  A couple of times I thought maybe I missed a whistle and that's why they weren't running, but everybody else was running.

  02:23-02:27

  And we got them off the deck and we were like, what's going on?

  02:29-02:35

  And the one kid said, well, I have a big game coming up and I don't wanna be tired for it over a game that doesn't matter.

  02:37-02:44

  So, I talked to Sean and good news, that young man got a lot of rest the rest of the game.

  02:46-02:49

  Because he sat on the bench the rest of the game.

  02:49-02:50

  Rest up, champ.

  02:53-02:57

  But I got to tell you, in the moment I was extremely frustrated.

  02:57-03:03

  These were two of the higher skilled, more experienced players and the younger players were looking up to them.

  03:04-03:05

  They're the players that they look up to.

  03:08-03:15

  And in that moment, and they're good kids, but in that moment, they were only concerned about themselves.

  03:18-03:19

  They weren't concerned about the team.

  03:22-03:23

  So they stopped running.

  03:26-03:31

  And that's a real danger in the church that our passage is addressing today.

  03:34-03:43

  Because church, you can get to the place where you care more about yourself than the team.

  03:46-03:47

  And you stop running.

  03:49-03:54

  And when you stop running, you have a negative effect on the rest of the team.

  03:56-04:05

  We've been talking about faith as we've been going through Hebrews 11 and 12, In chapter 12, he tells us to run.

  04:06-04:08

  And running is agonizing.

  04:08-04:10

  We've spent a lot of time talking about that.

  04:11-04:13

  Why is running so agonizing?

  04:14-04:15

  Why is the Christian life so hard?

  04:15-04:16

  Well, we saw that.

  04:17-04:21

  The Christian life is hard because God is disciplining you.

  04:21-04:24

  If you're his child, he disciplines you.

  04:24-04:28

  He's constantly training you to be more like Christ.

  04:30-04:31

  That's why it's hard.

  04:35-04:38

  All of your hardships are God's discipline.

  04:38-04:39

  We talked about that last week.

  04:40-04:41

  But you see, here's the danger.

  04:42-04:52

  We can get in this mindset of this is my walk, and this is my race, and this is my faith, and these are my hardships.

  04:53-04:57

  But the truth is, none of these things are just about you.

  05:03-05:05

  You're part of a community.

  05:07-05:15

  And in this passage, what we're going to see here today are the serious responsibilities that come with being part of a community.

  05:18-05:20

  Don't misunderstand me.

  05:20-05:23

  Yes, salvation is an individual transaction.

  05:23-05:24

  Yes, absolutely.

  05:25-05:34

  Your walk with Christ has to be about your personal faith in Christ, you believing that he died for you, you believing that he raised from the dead.

  05:34-05:35

  That has to be you.

  05:35-05:39

  But none of us are called into isolation.

  05:40-05:47

  And there's a real factor that your faith is being part of a larger community.

  05:50-05:56

  And right now, maybe some of you are overwhelmed And maybe some of you wanna quit running.

  05:57-06:03

  That life circumstances have you beat down, you're out of gas and you're like, you know what, I just wanna quit.

  06:04-06:05

  I just wanna quit running.

  06:08-06:10

  Well, I wanna tell you today that that's a terrible decision.

  06:13-06:17

  Because your run affects more than just you.

  06:18-06:19

  That's what this passage is about.

  06:20-06:24

  So on your outline, just two points today.

  06:27-06:31

  And you're going to discover them in the text with me, but why I can't quit running.

  06:33-06:34

  Why I can't quit running.

  06:35-06:37

  Number one, write this one down.

  06:37-06:39

  Someone needs me to be an example.

  06:39-06:41

  That's why I can't quit running.

  06:42-06:51

  Though it's tempting, though it's hard, though it's agonizing, I can't just quit running because someone needs me to be an example.

  06:53-06:54

  Look at verses 12 through 14.

  06:56-07:09

  He says, "Therefore, lift your drooping hands "and strengthen your weak knees "and make straight paths for your feet "so that what is lame may not be put out of joint, "but rather be healed.

  07:10-07:23

  "Strive for peace with everyone "and for the holiness without which no one "will see the Lord." Okay, so he's obviously continuing the race metaphor, right?

  07:23-07:31

  So this drooping hands, weak knees, getting out of path, these are all signs of wearing out in a race.

  07:32-07:37

  And like I made abundantly clear, I don't run, but I used to.

  07:40-07:46

  And when you're running, the sign that you're wearing out is when you start to drop your hands.

  07:47-07:50

  You can't get your hands up to get the elbows pumped.

  07:50-07:54

  When you start to drop the hands, when your knees start to feel weak, you're wearing out.

  07:55-07:56

  That's what he's talking about here.

  07:56-07:59

  And you see, he's like a coach.

  08:01-08:03

  He's telling the church, "Come on, you're getting tired, come on.

  08:03-08:05

  Pick the arms up, get the legs moving, come on.

  08:05-08:10

  Don't stop, don't stop." He's the coach on the sideline, cheering them on.

  08:10-08:11

  Why?

  08:11-08:12

  Why keep running?

  08:12-08:13

  It's hard, I'm worn out.

  08:14-08:14

  Why?

  08:14-08:16

  He tells you why exactly here.

  08:16-08:29

  He says, "Because it's not just about you." It's so that the people around you who don't know Jesus are going to be encouraged to believe.

  08:29-08:32

  Like, where does it say that?

  08:32-08:33

  I want you to look again, look very closely here.

  08:35-08:39

  He says, "Lift your drooping hands, straighten your weak knees, and make straight paths for your feet." Right?

  08:41-08:42

  The physical signs of wearing out.

  08:42-08:43

  But look at this next phrase.

  08:44-09:01

  He says, "So," this is why, "He says, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint, but rather be healed." You're like, what does that mean, what is lame?

  09:01-09:06

  Well, understand the book of Hebrews was written to who?

  09:08-09:10

  Not a trick question, yes, Hebrews.

  09:10-09:12

  It was written to Jews, all right?

  09:13-09:25

  And you know, in cultures, there's figures of speech that are used and references that are made that people are gonna understand that maybe people outside of that culture don't understand.

  09:25-09:27

  And that's kind of what's happening here.

  09:28-09:32

  Because this figure of speech that he's using, what is lame?

  09:33-09:36

  The Jews would have known exactly what he was talking about.

  09:36-09:38

  So we sort of have to catch up.

  09:39-09:42

  This figure of speech takes us back to Elijah's day.

  09:43-09:44

  Remember Elijah?

  09:45-09:48

  And in Elijah's day, people were waffling.

  09:49-09:51

  Should I worship the Lord God, the living God?

  09:51-09:54

  Should I worship him or should I worship Baal?

  09:55-09:56

  And they were sort of on the fence.

  09:56-10:00

  Look at what Elijah said in 1 Kings 18.21.

  10:01-10:13

  And it says, "And Elijah came near to all the people "and said, 'How long will you go limping between two different opinions.

  10:15-10:16

  You see that literally.

  10:19-10:24

  It's translated this way, Elijah was saying, how long are you going to be lame on both of your hands?

  10:25-10:27

  You're like, hams.

  10:29-10:31

  He's talking about the back of your thighs.

  10:33-10:35

  To paraphrase, he said, how long are you going to be lame?

  10:36-10:37

  How long are you just going to sit around?

  10:40-10:41

  And not make a decision.

  10:41-10:42

  That's what he's saying.

  10:43-10:46

  "Oh, some days we worship God, some days we worship Baal, I'm not really sure.

  10:46-10:52

  What religion that I'm..." Elijah's like, "How much longer are you gonna do that and sit around and not make a decision?

  10:55-11:12

  How long will you go lame on both your hams?" And what the Hebrew writer here is saying to these Jews, he's saying, "You have such lame people in your church." And he's saying, don't let them get out of joint.

  11:14-11:19

  He says, instead, let them be healed, be healed, what do you think that means?

  11:20-11:21

  Pretty obvious, isn't it?

  11:22-11:23

  It's coming to Christ.

  11:25-11:27

  Right, in other words, don't let them go to bail.

  11:28-11:35

  You need to make sure they come to Christ, you need to make sure they come for healing, spiritual healing.

  11:39-11:41

  So in other words, these verses, here's what he's saying.

  11:41-11:44

  He goes, you get more not in your race, get moving.

  11:44-11:49

  There are people on the fence about coming to faith in Jesus and they're watching you.

  11:49-11:50

  That's what he's saying.

  11:54-11:56

  And church, this is convicting.

  11:56-11:58

  This is something the Lord's still teaching me.

  12:01-12:03

  And I hope he's teaching you too.

  12:05-12:14

  But listen, people who don't know Jesus, are never going to see him as victorious if you always act defeated.

  12:19-12:23

  You're sending a mixed message with your words and with your actions.

  12:27-12:30

  Church, we are terrible at this in general.

  12:32-12:34

  Sending the mixed message.

  12:36-12:41

  You know, we're the kind of people that we come in here We're like, "God is sovereign, right?

  12:42-12:52

  God rules over all." And then we turn around and we say, "My life stinks." Well, isn't God sovereign?

  12:54-13:00

  If God's so sovereign, how can you turn around and say your life is so horrible?

  13:00-13:01

  Do you see the problem?

  13:02-13:12

  You know, we come in here and we sing, "Jesus is victorious." And then as soon as church is over, we're like, I hate everything.

  13:16-13:17

  Really?

  13:20-13:24

  You know, one of your best witnesses for Christ is, do you know what it is?

  13:26-13:28

  This is straight from the word of God.

  13:29-13:31

  It's not even something you do, it's something you stop doing.

  13:32-13:37

  One of your best witnesses for Christ is not complaining.

  13:37-13:38

  Did you know that?

  13:39-13:40

  I have to throw this in here.

  13:40-13:41

  Philippians 2.

  13:42-13:43

  Look at Philippians 2.

  13:43-13:51

  It says, "Do all things without grumbling or disputing." AKA complaining.

  13:52-13:56

  He goes, "Do all things without complaining." Why?

  13:57-14:01

  Well, first of all, nobody likes a whiner, but here's what God says.

  14:01-14:06

  He says that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish.

  14:06-14:07

  Here it is, do you see this?

  14:07-14:15

  In the midst of a crooked and twisted generation among whom you shine as lights in the world, you are supposed to shine.

  14:16-14:18

  And you're not shining when you're complaining.

  14:22-14:23

  They need you.

  14:24-14:31

  These people that are on the fence, and again, he's speaking specifically in the church, there are people sitting in this room right now that don't know Christ.

  14:32-14:36

  And there are people that are watching this stream right now that don't know Christ.

  14:36-14:38

  And they're watching.

  14:39-14:39

  They're watching.

  14:39-14:44

  They need you to show them the joy of the transformed life.

  14:45-14:48

  They're asking, is God worth following?

  14:50-14:53

  Is Jesus Christ really worthy of everything?

  14:56-15:01

  People are evaluating the gospel message on the way that you run.

  15:03-15:04

  Does that matter to you?

  15:06-15:07

  (congregation laughing)

  15:09-15:12

  Because evangelism, yes, it's sharing the word of God.

  15:12-15:15

  Evangelism is communicating the gospel.

  15:18-15:20

  But that's more than just passing a note.

  15:24-15:25

  Say, "Oh, you don't know Jesus?

  15:25-15:30

  "Well, here, just read this." People need to see it.

  15:30-15:31

  And that's what he's saying here.

  15:31-15:42

  People are considering, these lame people on their hams are considering following Jesus because of you, or they are considering staying away from Jesus because of you.

  15:45-15:46

  That's convicted.

  15:49-15:56

  Ask yourself this, what if you were the only Christian that somebody met?

  15:57-15:58

  Just think about that.

  15:58-16:00

  You were the only Christians.

  16:00-16:05

  What would their takeaway be regarding Christianity?

  16:09-16:17

  So he says, "Look, church, there's people on the fence, "and God says your example is going to determine "on what side they'll fall.

  16:18-16:20

  "So keep running, keep running.

  16:21-16:24

  "People need you to be an example, all right?

  16:24-16:30

  "Well, I can't quit running, number two, Because someone needs me to challenge their walk with Christ.

  16:32-16:36

  Someone needs me to be an example, and someone needs me to challenge their walk with Christ.

  16:41-16:49

  Pick up in verse 15, he says, "See to it." Underline that.

  16:51-16:53

  Like, I don't really underline in my Bible.

  16:54-16:55

  Underline that.

  16:57-17:00

  If your neighbor's not underlining it now, reach over and underline it in their Bible.

  17:02-17:02

  They'll thank you.

  17:03-17:07

  Now, this is important, because it's a command.

  17:09-17:11

  And the text hangs on this.

  17:12-17:25

  Look at this, "See to it "that no one fails to obtain the grace of God." Let that sink in for a second.

  17:26-17:29

  See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God.

  17:33-17:38

  That no root of bitterness springs up and causes trouble.

  17:39-17:41

  And by it, many become defiled.

  17:44-17:53

  That no one is sexually immoral or unholy like Esau, who sold his birthright for a single meal.

  17:55-18:19

  "For you know that afterward, when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected for he found no chance to repent, though he sought it with tears." Okay, verse 15, "See to it." You know that's the same Greek word for elder, like in the church, pastor, shepherd, overseer, it's the same word.

  18:20-18:23

  He goes, "You need to be an overseer in the church.

  18:23-18:28

  You need to be on the lookout, watching over people in the church.

  18:28-18:29

  This is a command.

  18:30-18:32

  You need to be seeing to something in the church.

  18:33-18:33

  It's a command.

  18:34-18:35

  You're like, okay, see to what?

  18:36-18:41

  He tells you, see that no one fails to obtain the grace of God.

  18:41-18:44

  In other words, he's saying you need to be concerned about the soul of others.

  18:45-18:46

  Go after them.

  18:49-18:50

  Go after them.

  18:54-18:59

  You know, especially in our culture, so much of church growth is about filling seats.

  19:01-19:04

  And look, it's awesome to have goals, yay, party on.

  19:04-19:07

  But I've talked to pastors that are like, here's my plan for the church.

  19:07-19:09

  We wanna have 200 people in two months.

  19:10-19:12

  And then by November, we wanna have 400 people.

  19:12-19:15

  And it's all this numbers driven thing.

  19:18-19:21

  but the great commission is not about filling seats.

  19:22-19:23

  What's the great commission about?

  19:24-19:25

  Making disciples.

  19:26-19:27

  And that's what he's talking about here.

  19:28-19:34

  He's saying you need to go after the people in your church who obviously are not following Jesus.

  19:34-19:35

  Go after them.

  19:37-19:39

  Like, well, how do I know?

  19:41-19:43

  You know, a tree buys fruit, right?

  19:44-19:47

  And I'm not saying let's be the judgy church, but come on.

  19:47-20:03

  When you talk to people and see, you know, how they're spending their time, the things they talk about, the type of language that they use, you know, their lack of understanding or interest in the word of God, that should be really obvious.

  20:06-20:07

  Where's your discernment?

  20:10-20:14

  And look, we can't be afraid to lovingly confront.

  20:16-20:17

  See, there's the rub.

  20:18-20:23

  Because as soon as you say, I know some people right now are thinking, oh, that's so judgy.

  20:23-20:26

  It doesn't have to be judgy, all right?

  20:26-20:32

  It doesn't have to be judgy to go to lunch with someone and say, hey, talk to me about your walk with Christ.

  20:34-20:35

  Is that judgy?

  20:37-20:45

  Because we're commanded to see to it in the church that no one here is failing to obtain the grace of God.

  20:45-20:46

  He explains further.

  20:47-20:51

  He says, "No root of bitterness." No root of bitterness.

  20:51-20:57

  Again, this is another phrase for fence sitters, just like the previous passage, the limp.

  20:58-21:00

  The root of bitterness means the same thing.

  21:01-21:04

  Again, this was written to Jews who would have known their Old Testament.

  21:04-21:08

  And when they heard root of bitterness, they would have known exactly what that meant.

  21:08-21:10

  Comes from Deuteronomy 29, 18.

  21:11-21:25

  It says, "Beware lest there be," look at this, "Among you, a man or woman or clan or tribe "whose heart is turning away today from the Lord our God "to go and serve the gods of those nations." Do you see that?

  21:25-21:28

  Fence-sitters, God versus Baal, do you see that?

  21:30-21:39

  He says, "Beware lest there be among you "a root bearing poisonous and bitter fruits." So this root of bitterness, again, it's the fence-sitters.

  21:39-21:49

  In the Old Testament, he's saying, in Israel, you're gonna have people that are among you that don't really know the Lord and are gonna be tempted to go back to paganism.

  21:50-21:51

  And it's the same principle in the church.

  21:51-22:00

  There's people sitting here among us who don't really know the Lord and are gonna be tempted to go back to living a worldly lifestyle.

  22:04-22:06

  And you have to address them.

  22:08-22:14

  You can't let the worldly church goers go ignored because, do you see this?

  22:14-22:28

  He says, if I get on the right page here, he says, "No root of bitterness springs up "and causes trouble and by it many become defiled." You see the problem.

  22:31-22:32

  It infects others.

  22:34-22:50

  You see, you have someone in the church that doesn't know the Lord, worldly living, and we don't lovingly challenge them on their walk with Christ, that starts to infect other people, other people that are on the fence.

  22:50-22:52

  Oh, holiness doesn't really matter.

  22:52-22:54

  Seeking Jesus doesn't really matter.

  22:54-22:55

  Bible study doesn't really matter.

  22:56-23:02

  And we start infecting other people, pulling more people to the wrong side of the fence.

  23:03-23:09

  And soon, soon the church is full of worldly people.

  23:12-23:18

  And all the church's energy and time and money and efforts and attention goes to worldly activities.

  23:19-23:30

  I just, it's, I gotta tell you, it's heartbreaking as a pastor when I see churches doing things that have nothing to do with the Great Commission.

  23:32-23:35

  because I know that the church didn't start out that way.

  23:37-23:53

  The church didn't start out with, hey guys, let's get a group together and go after these worldly activities and we'll put up our rainbow flags and we'll go after social justice and we'll be woke.

  23:55-23:56

  Churches don't start that way.

  23:59-24:11

  They start with this love for the Lord and love for the gospel and advancing the kingdom and great commission and a root of bitterness, unchecked, spreading, turning the church worldly.

  24:12-24:14

  We're seeing the fruit of that, people.

  24:16-24:17

  We're seeing the fruit of that.

  24:23-24:26

  Not concerned about evangelism and discipleship.

  24:26-24:27

  Gotta be woke.

  24:30-24:32

  catering to rainbow flags and social justice.

  24:32-24:34

  And before you know it, guess what?

  24:34-24:35

  You don't have a church.

  24:36-24:41

  You have a group of people that meet in a building that used to be called a church, but that's not a church.

  24:44-24:47

  He's talking about going after people like Esau.

  24:49-24:51

  Quick review, Esau, Genesis 25.

  24:51-24:58

  Remember, Father Abraham had Isaac and Isaac had twin boys, Jacob and Esau.

  24:59-25:06

  And Esau was the first born, technically, but he was profane.

  25:08-25:12

  That means Esau, we see in his life, had no interest in God.

  25:13-25:14

  He just wasn't interested in God.

  25:15-25:17

  Now, we've talked about Jacob before.

  25:17-25:18

  I mean, Jacob was a deceiver.

  25:21-25:27

  And there's not much you can read about Jacob that looked like great qualities to emulate.

  25:27-25:30

  But Jacob had this going for him.

  25:31-25:33

  He saw the value in God's promises.

  25:34-25:35

  He at least had that.

  25:38-25:46

  Well, the story he's referencing here in Hebrews, some of you maybe are familiar with the story, but go back to what is it, Genesis 25.

  25:47-25:49

  Jacob was cooking, Esau came in from hunting.

  25:49-25:52

  I'm paraphrasing, you can look it up, get the full story.

  25:52-26:02

  But Esau came in from hunting, And he's like, "I'm exhausted." And Jacob was cooking this red stew.

  26:04-26:05

  Doesn't that sound good?

  26:06-26:09

  You're gonna go out after church, boys and girls, and get some red stew?

  26:12-26:19

  Well, Esau comes in, he's like, "I'm starving." And Jacob's like, "All right, I'll trade you.

  26:20-26:42

  "I'll give you a bowl of red stew for your birthright." And Esau was like, "Whatever, take it." What Esau did, you see, he sacrificed his future on the altar of the immediate.

  26:45-26:49

  Esau lived his life only being concerned about the here and now.

  26:51-26:54

  That's why Hebrews here talks about Him being sexually immoral.

  26:54-26:56

  That's how a sexually immoral person lives.

  26:56-26:58

  I only care about what feels good in the moment.

  26:59-27:04

  Just here and now, not thinking about the future, what's going to make me happy right this minute.

  27:07-27:20

  That's why Genesis 25, 34 says, "Thus Esau despised his birthright." The point, there's people in the church like Esau.

  27:21-27:25

  They're like, you know what, when it all boils down to it, the things of God don't really mean anything to me.

  27:27-27:28

  Not really that interested.

  27:31-27:36

  Now, verse 17 here, I've heard a lot of sermons and teachings on this.

  27:37-28:01

  It says, "Afterward, when he desired "to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, "For he found no chance to repent, though he sought it with tears." And a lot of people teach this passage as if Esau wanted to repent in his heart, but he was forbidden in his heart to repent.

  28:02-28:05

  His heart was just completely unable to repent.

  28:06-28:08

  And that's not really what this is saying.

  28:09-28:17

  If you go back and read the actual account, Genesis 27 now, long story short, Esau was seeking his father's repentance.

  28:18-28:28

  Esau went back to Isaac and was like, "Please, please change your mind." And Isaac said, "It's too late." That's what this is talking about.

  28:28-28:31

  He was seeking repentance, but he couldn't get it.

  28:31-28:32

  It was too late.

  28:36-28:37

  That's why Esau wept.

  28:40-28:45

  His dad wouldn't change his mind, it was too late.

  28:47-29:06

  And church, we get Esau's in here, just concerned about the here and now, no real interest in God, no real interest in his promises, and the day will come for them, like Esau, that they will forfeit God's promise, and it's going to be too late for them.

  29:08-29:11

  And like Esau, it's not going to end well for them.

  29:17-29:20

  And that's on us because we never went after them.

  29:22-29:26

  We never challenged them to truly come to Christ.

  29:27-29:31

  We never truly sat down with them and let's have a heart to heart.

  29:32-29:33

  Where are you at with the Lord?

  29:33-29:34

  Do you understand what God's word says?

  29:35-29:39

  We don't care.

  29:42-29:43

  And that's what he's saying here.

  29:44-29:45

  Go after them.

  29:46-29:49

  Because the Esau's in your church, it's not gonna go well for them either.

  29:53-29:57

  And you're like, man, pastor, I'm sorry, man, that just doesn't sound loving.

  29:58-30:01

  That just doesn't sound loving to challenge somebody like that.

  30:05-30:06

  Imagine this scenario.

  30:08-30:14

  Imagine you're at home and you go out on your porch, your deck, your patio, whatever you got in front of your house.

  30:15-30:19

  And you look across your neighbor's house and his house is on fire.

  30:21-30:25

  And you can see in his picture window that he's on his recliner sleeping.

  30:28-30:31

  So let me ask you, What's the most loving thing you can do in that scenario?

  30:34-30:36

  Would you just shrug your shoulders and say, "You know what?

  30:37-30:39

  "I don't wanna seem judgy.

  30:41-30:55

  "I don't wanna force my beliefs on him "about fire and structural damage "and what could happen to him "if the house falls on top of him ablaze.

  30:55-31:00

  "I don't want him to think that I'm some kind of like fire marshal, holy roller Alex.

  31:00-31:01

  I don't want him to think that about me.

  31:03-31:05

  So I'm just live and let live.

  31:05-31:06

  That's what, you know what?

  31:07-31:10

  That's just always in my heart of hearts of hearts.

  31:10-31:11

  That's what I've always believed.

  31:11-31:12

  Just live it.

  31:12-31:14

  Is that the most loving thing you can do?

  31:15-31:27

  I'll tell you what the most loving thing you could do in that scenario is, is to stomp their door in and go in there and grab them by the scruff of the neck and the seat of the pants and throw them out of that house.

  31:27-31:29

  That's the most loving thing that you can do.

  31:32-31:38

  And church, that's why he's telling us here, we have a responsibility to each other.

  31:39-31:45

  See to it, he says, that no one fails to obtain the grace of God.

  31:46-31:54

  You have that responsibility to say, look, if someone here is going to hell, they're going to have to walk over me, all right?

  31:56-31:57

  We have that responsibility, church.

  31:58-32:00

  So are you getting tired?

  32:00-32:02

  Are you feeling overwhelmed?

  32:02-32:05

  Are your arms starting to drop on your run?

  32:05-32:07

  Well, he's saying, look, quitting's not an option.

  32:10-32:26

  And I just wanna challenge you, church, if right now you can't feel motivated to keep running for yourself, Can you be motivated to run for the sake of someone else?

  32:29-32:39

  Because you're an example and the people that are on the fence are never gonna get shaken from their stupor if you don't challenge them.

  32:40-32:41

  Let's pray.

  32:42-32:56

  Father in heaven, We live in such a isolated and insulated mindset right now in our culture.

  33:06-33:08

  But you don't change.

  33:11-33:28

  You have called us to be a part of a community, a community that challenges one another, a community that cheers one another on, it's a community that encourages one another to pursue Christ, to love you with our heart, soul, mind, and strength.

  33:30-33:36

  And Father, so often in the church, we have people among us that are like Esau and we just don't care.

  33:37-33:44

  But I pray, Father, you would give us the love and the grace to go after such people.

  33:47-34:00

  to be obedient to your word, that even though we're tired, even though we don't feel like running, that's not just about us.

  34:02-34:07

  You've made it clear in your word here that our run affects other people.

  34:09-34:31

  So Father, I pray by the wisdom of your word, by the power of your spirit, that you would strengthen us, that we would pick up our arms, that our legs would get strong, that we get back on our path, and we would run in a way that glorifies the name of Jesus Christ, in whose name we pray, amen.

Small Group Discussion
Read Hebrews 12:12-17

1. What was your big take-away from this passage / message?
   

2. What kind of example are you displaying on what it looks like to follow Jesus? Specifically, how much are you a complainer? What does complaining have to do with our witness? Read Philippians 2:14-15.
   

3. You know someone in the church that is a “church-goer”, but there seems to be no fruit in their lives that they are born again. How exactly do you lovingly challenge them on this, fulfilling Hebrews 12:15?

Breakout
Pray for one another to be going after those in the church who haven’t come to Christ.