July 10, 2021 — A Study on the Book of Hebrews

“Now who were they who heard and yet were rebellious? Was it not all those who left Egypt under the leadership of Moses? But with whom was he angry forty years? Was it not those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness? And to whom did he swear that they would not enter his rest, if not to those who were disobedient? So we see that they were unable to enter because of unbelief.” Hebrews 3:16-19

“C.S. Lewis speaks to the difficulty of persistence (from a tempting demon’s fictional perspective): “The long, dull monotonous years of middle-aged prosperity or middle-aged adversity are excellent campaigning weather. You see, it is so hard for these creatures (humans) to persevere. The routine of adversity, the gradual decay of youthful loves and youthful hopes, the quiet despair (hardly felt as pain) of ever overcoming the chronic temptations with which we have again and again defeated them, the drabness which we create in their lives and inarticulate resentment with which we teach them to respond to it — all this provides admirable opportunities of wearing out a soul by attrition. If, on the other hand, the middle years from prosperous, our position is even stronger. Prosperity knits a man to the World. He fells that he is ‘finding his place in it’ while really it is finding its place in him… That is why we must often wish long life to our patients; seventy years is not a day too much for the difficult task of unraveling their souls from Heaven and building up a firm attachment to the earth.” (The Screwtape Letters) 

Why would the author ask this rhetorical question: “Now who were they who heard and yet were rebellious?” What point is he trying to hammer home? Perhaps it is to highlight the reality that it was not just a few who were rebellious — but an entire generation of followers. These were the people who escaped slavery in Egypt — to then go on to have contempt for G-d in the next phase of their journey when the going got to be too tough for their comfort levels. 

We need to be careful at the thought of rebelling against G-d — either overtly or covertly, just because life hands us some lemons. But this is one of the ways in which the “Evil One” gets the opportunity to place doubt into our thoughts. Just recently a friend of mine passed away after a short battle with cancer. There are people who will look at his death as an excuse to blame G-d and abandon G-d’s graciousness and goodness because they believe G-d turned away from my friend and his family. It is not at this time, at the loss of a family member or friend that we blame G-d and lose our faith. It is just at the times of loss that we need to see in G-d the ultimate hope of eternity. Paul will say that the losses we experience now can in no way compare to the eternal weight of glory that is to come, to be revealed to those who believe.

My friends, as I said just a few days ago, G-d never promised us a rose garden. But G-d did promise us eternal life with G-d — at the party that is to come.

Pastor Dave

July 9, 2021 — A Study on the Book of Hebrews

“Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says, “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, as on the day of testing in the wilderness, where your ancestors put me to the test, though they had seen my works for forty years. Therefore I was angry with that generation, and I said, ‘They always go astray in their hearts, and they have not known my ways.’ As in my anger I swore, ‘They will not enter my rest.’ ”

Take care, brothers and sisters, that none of you may have an evil, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” so that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. For we have become partners of Christ, if only we hold our first confidence firm to the end. As it is said, “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.” Hebrews 3:7-15

“Today is the day that we are to live our life as unto the Lord and to produce spiritual fruit which will verify that we are truly members of His holy household and citizens of heaven. We are to grow in grace, mature in the faith and live a life that identifies us as His hallowed household.  We are to do it today and not postpone it for some future occasion. We are to take to heart the self-same warning that went unheeded by the Israelites – that today is the day of salvation. Today is the day we need to live as unto the Lord. Today is the day we should grow in grace. Having been justified by His blood we are reminded that today is the day that we should continue to be maturing in the faith and be progressively sanctified. Today is the day that we should become more and more like Jesus Christ in thought, word and deed.” (knowingJesus.com; Source: https://dailyverse.knowing-jesus.com/hebrews-3-7)

When all heck is breaking around you, how do you respond? Some people freeze — the shock of a situation paralyzes them. In some tragedies, when people are confronted suddenly with the option to fight or flee — there will be those who do neither — they will freeze.

Now, one way that we can “freeze” is to turn away from our training. In some of the school shootings that our country has witnessed over the last few years, there have been instances of police officers who are serving as “resource officers” at the high school in which, when they were suddenly confronted with a “threat” — they completely forgot their training, and they froze. Their mind froze — their feet froze — their bodies froze — because the shock was too great. This is what their training is supposed to prevent — but none of us will know how we might react to a situation, until the evil is upon us.

We need to train ourselves to fight evil — and one of those ways is to study our field guide — which is the Bible, the “Word of G-d”. “Today is the day that we are to live our life as unto the Lord and to produce spiritual fruit”…the author of Hebrews writes. The author continues to exhort his followers to refer back to the word of G-d — because it is in arming ourselves with G-d’s Word that we will know our path – and today is the day to act as people of G-d. 

Don’t wait for all heck to break in on you to begin to study the word of G-d — it might be too late. Your training should take you from hearing the word, to consuming the word, to living the word of G-d every day.

Pastor Dave