When the challenges of life meet the big story of God, encouragement and hope can actually come from those moments where we're reminded of "What Your Life is Missing."
A Fear That Transforms Your Life
When we live with the fear that God gives us, it gives significance, power, boldness and so much more to our lives. Spend some time in Hebrews 12:28-29 and take hold of "The Value of Fear."
The Holiest Place on Earth. Because of Jesus, we are clean, pure and holy. So when Christians come together, it is a gathering of the presence of Holy God. The momentum of our world today is moving toward isolation. But God created us for community and connection. He wants us to know "The Value of Fellowship."
Our study of Hebrews1:1-3 is structured into 3 "sermonettes" with a hymn sing between each. This video is of the entire sermon as we looks at the 3 offices of God's only begotten Son, Jesus, as the:
1. Prophet (not just relaying the word of God as the Old Testament prophets did) but He is the Word of God).
2. Priest (not giving sacrifices on behalf of others over and over) but as the perfect man and divine priest giving His life as the perfect sacrifice once for all.
3. King (not an earthly king ruling with laws and threats) but son of David, King of the Jews, ruling human hearts with love and mercy.
What Ever Christian Parent Wants…
Above all, every Christian parent wants their child to be with God for eternity. Your Heavenly Father wants the same!
1) When life gets rough, we might sometimes wonder if God is angry with us but that couldn't be further from the truth! Jesus already paid for all our sins!
2) Living in this broken world, our default temptation tends to be to question if God really loves us and if He's really trustworthy.
3) God not only knows what is necessary to build up who we are now in Him, but also what is necessary to beat down the sinful nature that fights against us.
4) A parent who lets their child do whatever they want is NOT a loving parent. God IS a loving parent, offering the right correction.
5) Faith is like a muscle. When stretched and worked, it grows!
Is God Against Me?
Sometimes it can feel like everything in life is going against you, even God. But when we face life gets tough, we have every reason to embrace the love our Father is showing us.
The motivation behind what we do makes a major impact on what we do. That's why it's so important to consider "Sanctification: Not What but Why."
1) Having faith means that we've been given the gift of seeing things differently, seeing things God's way!
2) Our living God's way comes as a direct result of what God does for us.
3) When we were created, it was easy for us to serve God. Sin messed that all up. But God chose to restore that to us.
4) The Holy Spirit gives us the gift of faith in Jesus which means we have new life with God!
5) Sanctification, because it means living life the way we were intended to live, is a blessing to us!
No Longer Depending On What Our Eyes Can See
Pastor Abrahamson shares a message from Hebrews 11:6. We get to live by faith and experience "What the Spirit Makes Possible...".
Unlimited Access!
In a season when we're longing for the people, places and activities that we love, Jesus gives us exactly what we need by being "A Better Priest."
1) How could sinful people be assured that they were on good terms with God, that His presence was there among them and that He was working for them and through them? A vital piece was the work of the priests!
2) The priests would bring sacrifices into the holy place on behalf of the people. These sacrifices would point to how God would bring justice for sin and create a way for us to be at one with Him.
3) Jesus is a greater priest because:
a. He is not limited by death. He is speaking to the Father on our behalf always and forever.
b. He gives us unlimited access to God. We can come into His presence again and again, knowing He is here with us and we will live forever with Him.
c. He not only brought a sacrifice before God, He was the sacrifice before God. He laid down His life so we could be set right with God once and for all.
4) In challenging seasons like we're in, we may long for what once was. But perhaps this is an opportunity to recognize that as good as those things were, they were limited.
5) Focus on something greater! No matter where you are or who you're with, you can come into God's presence right now. He is there with you and you will live forever with Him!
Presence for You!
No, that's not a typo. This weekend is not about presents but about presence. Which actually might be what we want most during this crazy year after all. This weekend we study Hebrews 7:23-28 where we prepare to welcome the greatest presence of all through the "Greater Priest."
RISKY - Faith can feel risky. Living your life according to something that you can't see, finding your purpose, significance and hope in something that you can't set your eyes on, can feel dangerous. So this weekend we wrestled with faith as we studied Hebrews 11:6.
When your whole life is built on something that you can't see, it can sure feel risky. But when we explore how faith works we can begin to see why it's worth the risk.
1) Faith is not some power we work in ourselves, it's about who we've been persuaded to believe in.
2) Faith supports what we are expecting to happen. It's the proof that God doesn't need anything I see in order to create something good.
3) God delights in faith because it's through faith that we approach Him and experience the real Him.
4) If what we know about God was based on what we see, then what we believe about God would be limited by what we see.
5) Through faith we experience the God who is greater than what we see, who can make a way when we cannot see a way, who is giving us something better than anything we see in this world.
So, how are you spending your days during the quarantine? We miss normal life, but don't worry because something better is on its way. And I'm not just talking about normal life. I'm talking about the next lesson of our Easter sermon season "Something Better". We will study Hebrews 11:35 as the author tells us about a "Better Resurrection".
SEX - It is a subject rarely discussed openly and honestly. In the sermon, Pastor Krause talks about it as we arrive at our third topic of love in the marriage relationship as a reflection of God's love for us. Our lesson is Hebrews 13:4-5 and our topic is "The Naked Truth". (P.S. the sermon is rated PG).