Lessons Learned F/ Encouragement & Deceitfulness

Hebrews 2:14-18 NIV

SCRIPTURE

“encourage one another daily, as long as it is called “Today,” so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness.” -Hebrews 3:13 NIV

OBSERVATION

en·cour·age/enˈkərij/Verb

1. Give support, confidence, or hope to (someone): "encouraging results"; "I feel encouraged".

Words can heal or words can kill. Words can deliver life or death. It is our choice – we pour our own spirit into our words. God gave us the gift of words, hoping that we would steward them well. Words can focus on us or on others. There are words that build up and words that tear down. Negative words can be dangerous: if we hear them enough, we start believing they are true. The worst part is, after the negative words have been spoken, we tend to repeat those same words to ourselves. Words can also deliver healing or deliver wounds. We have to choose which it will be. Death and life are all in the power of the tongue. 

APPLICATION

1. Express Appreciation

Romans 12:21 says, “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” The only way to neutralize evil is to replace it by actively doing something good. We have to replace the mistakes by actually complimenting and building others up. We have to practice expressing appreciation.

2. Dedicate Our Thoughts to God Today

Our actions and words need to be pleasing to the Lord. Yet, if our thoughts please Him, everything else will follow suit. What is on our minds and hearts is more important to God. God looks at our hearts; we have to make sure that our hearts are right. God tells us to be careful how we process things on the inside because, sooner or later, they are going to come out of our mouths.

“The good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth what is good; and the evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth what is evil; for his mouth speaks from that which fills his heart” (Luke 6:45).

3. Commit to Making Wrong Things Right

We might think that, if we make mistakes with our tongue, the best thing to do is just “zip our lip.” We decide not to say anything anymore and just be quiet. That will not work – if that is our goal to not make any mistakes then we will not make any contributions either.  We will make mistakes but we are not to leave them as mistakes. We are to correct them! Otherwise, our words will go out with barbs wounding people and we will not even know it. If we make a mistake, God says, “Make it right.”

“If you have been snared with the words of your mouth, or have been caught with the words of your mouth, do this then, my son, and deliver yourself … go, humble yourself, and importune your neighbor … Deliver yourself like a gazelle from the hunter’s hand and like a bird from the hand of the fowler” (Prov. 6:2-5).

God wants us to understand the power of words and to steward them well. They can deliver life or death. God wants to bring His Words of life to us. If we have prepared our hearts and our ears by stewarding words well, not only can we hear Him but we can also deliver that life to others.

PRAYER

Lord, help me put this into action today, so that, I will not be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness - aka: God I need Your help to put this into action within my life.  I need You to transform another aspect. Why? So that, I my heart doesn’t become hard and I don’t start to buy into the false notation that all this bible stuff is just trickery. - Trevor

What Do I Get Out Of This? (Initial Questions)

Today’s reading: Isaiah 8,9,19 & Hebrews 8 NASB

SCRIPTURE

“For every high priest is appointed to offer both gifts and sacrifices; so it is necessary that this high priest also have something to offer.” -Hebrews 8:3 NASB

OBSERVATION

1) Who is the high priest? 2) What does this priest have to offer me?

Let’s dig and go back a few days. Hebrew 5:1-10  “Every high priest is selected from among the people and is appointed to represent the people in matters related to God, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins. He is able to deal gently with those who are ignorant and are going astray, since he himself is subject to weakness. This is why he has to offer sacrifices for his own sins, as well as for the sins of the people.  And no one takes this honor on himself, but he receives it when called by God, just as Aaron was. In the same way, Christ did not take on himself the glory of becoming a high priest. But God said to him, “You are my Son; today I have become your Father.” And he says in another place, “You are a priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek. In the days of His flesh, He offered up both prayers and supplications with loud crying and tears to the One able to save Him from death, and He was heard because of His piety. Although He was a Son, He learned obedience from the things which He suffered. And having been made perfect, He became to all those who obey Him the source of eternal salvation, being designated by God as a high priest according to the order of Melchizedek.”

1. Jesus Christ became the high priest according to the order of Melchizedek.

Who is Melchizedek and how can Jesus legitimately become our high priest through this order? Old Testament priests descend from only one linage - the tribe of Levi. Jesus’ ancestral tree places Him in the tribe of Judah; which, disqualifies him for priesthood.  Why would God role things out this way?  

I could only locate (1) one passage that refers to Melchizedek in the Old Testament: Genesis 14:18 references to him as “King of Salem”.  Okay, let go New Testament: Hebrews 7:3 describes him “without genealogy.”  It leaves me to conclude: A) This guy came out of nowhere, or B) he was conceived by the will of the Force like Anakin Skywalker, or (C) His genealogy records were misplaced and he had no memory of his parents.   Apparently, God doesn’t like to be boxed in and is not always looking for smooth waters to navigate as the book of Hebrews makes tremendous waves in logical processing.  I mean, how can the New Testament and Hebrews reasonably claim Jesus as our priest if the Old Testament allow doesn’t allow it? 

Let’s go Hebrew 7:12, “For when the priesthood is changed, of necessity there takes place a change of law also. 13 For the one concerning whom these things are spoken belongs to another tribe....”  Okay, I guess God has the right to modify or change things up; however, this Melchizedek tosses a huge question into my skeptics mindset. It would’ve been a lot to both logically connect and sell if Jesus had been from the tribe of Levi as this is a pivotal point. I mean, this is why the Jews did not and do not recognize Jesus Levitical or “priestly” authority.  

Bottom line: According to the law, Jesus is from the wrong tribe to be a priest.  He has the wrong lineage.  On top of that, his priest hood is in the order of Melchizedek, a fantom or mystery man who lives before the law.  

Conclusion: The Law and the Old Testament do not jive / mix with Jesus and the New Testament.  Since I can’t make Jesus fit with the old way of the law - what do I get out of this now?

APPLICATION

What’s my take (aka. what I get out of this). 1) My performance is no longer a primary point. 2) My name is not on the contract.  According to Hebrews 8:8 under the old way, “God found fault with the people” and under the new way, God makes a promise to Himself (see Hebrews 6:1-19).  Bottom line application: My salvation and my faithfulness are all about Him and is not something I can loose because Jesus has paid (past, present, & future) the price - unreal concept.

PRAYER 

God for years I’ve been told that I am at the central point of this equation: “Must live a certain way,” “Must do...” And I find myself never done striving, always attempting to level up, and continually falling short - ending with complete frustration.  This morning I am reminded that Your ways are higher than mine.  Via Jesus, this is all about You!  And Your way allow me to embark on a lifelong journey of developing a genuine relationship with Jesus without religions “to do...,” “must hold to...,” etc... list.  Help me.  Help individuals.  Help the church at large.  This is huge! And even some what hard for me to completely fathom all I now get out of this Jesus thing!!!! What freedom!!!!  - Trevor

What Do I Get Out Of This?

Today’s reading: Isaiah 11,12,13,14; Hebrews 9 NASB

SCRIPTURE

“when Christ came as high priest of the good things that are now already here, he went through the greater and more perfect tabernacle that is not made with human hands, that is to say, is not a part of this creation. He did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves; but he entered the Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood, thus obtaining eternal redemption.” -Hebrews 9:11-12 NASB

OBSERVATION

As I read Hebrews 9 three words stood out above the rest, “...when Christ came...” What pivotal words!  It’s here I began to ponder, “How often is this critical transition in my mind and heart not made?”

What transition? A transition from the Old to the New.  A transition from the way things were pre Cross to the way things are post Cross! A transition that effects my entire being and that starts within my mind (logic) and heart (emotion).

Let’s go Hebrews 9:16-17, “For where a covenant is, there must of necessity be the death of the one who made it. For a covenant is valid only when men are dead, for it is never in force while the one who made it lives.” 

The terms covenant, will, and testament are translations of the same Greek word. The writer is drawing an analogy between a WILL or covenant taking effect - this a basic play on words serves to make an critical point! A will isn’t in effect without a death - a covenant doesn’t go into effect without a death. What does this mean?

Meaning the New Covenant did not begin at Jesus’ birth but as he died / at his death. This point carries some radical implications - as it messes with our thinking. First the New Testament does not actually begin in Matthew 1. It begins at the point in history when Jesus’ died on the cross & when he came back to life. It’s was not Jesus birth that changed everything. It was his death that inspired the apostles to declare the message of “out with the old, and in with the new.” - Hebrews 8 & 9

Let’s go Hebrews 10:9-10

“He takes away the first in order to establish the second. By this will we have been sanctified (made in right 

standing) through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.” - Hebrews 10:9-10

The first or OLD covenant was set aside because it made no one right before God. It was a performance based system that everyone failed or fell short of the standard. I mean if you ever tried to please everyone? How incredible overwhelming.  For that reason, Jesus took away the old and made it obsolete. Why? Because of the burden, weight, or headache it causes. The Old has been set aside.

APPLICATION

So where do I go from here?  What do I get out of this process?  What can I walk away with?

Yesterday’s reading in Hebrews 8:13 stated:

“When He said, “A new covenant," He has made the first obsolete But whatever is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to disappear.

And then I read two days ago - Hebrews 7:18-19

“For, on the one hand, there is a setting aside of a former covenant because of its weakness and uselessness (for the Law made nothing perfect), and on the other hand there is a bringing in of a better hope, through which we draw near to God.”

What does the writer of Hebrews say? The Old is “weak and useless” in it’s attempt to make us right before God.

Wow!  Then when I’m feeling distant from God, it’s because I’ve measured myself and have come up short.  Aka: God no longer measures me or my performance, but He simply desires to do life with me!!! He desires to cultivate a genuine, growing, organic, relationship with me. No expectations / strings attached! Pure... Unreal!!!

PRAYER 

God, as a new triathlete and thirty-five year old male I see the importance of transitions. Yet, I still hear echos that “I must live a certain way,” “I must do certain things.” Today find myself dumbfounded or amazed that You desire a relationship with me above everything! Something continues internally screams their has to be more! What and why?  I’m not sure. Is the bottom line: A genuine relationship with Jesus plus nothing? This is huge! Help me make this transition mentally because I’m hung up within various aspect of the old testament - of the previous things I have been taught - and now I find myself in need of unlearning things learned.  Wow! What freedom!!!! Thank God!!!!  - Trevor