Sermons by Archbishop Foley Beach

Jesus Resurrection Completes God’s New Covenant Providing His Personal Relationship with Jesus Followers; However, If Jesus Is Not in Your Life, There Is a Blot Between You and God

Jesus Resurrection Completes God’s New Covenant Providing His Personal Relationship with Jesus Followers; However, If Jesus Is Not in Your Life, There Is a Blot Between You and God

MESSAGE SUMMARY:

How Does God Say He Loves You: Part 5 The New Covenant

There is a difference in knowing about someone and really knowing someone. Our New Covenant with God, through Jesus, gives you and I the ability to Know God in a Personal Way. This New Covenant was fulfilled in Jesus the Christ, as Jesus tells us in Luke 22:19-20: “And he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, ‘This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.’ And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, ‘This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.’”.  

Throughout human history, God has reached out to humans for a personal relationship and to express His love for humankind. We have a God that loves us so much, and God’s love for us is expressed to us through His “covenants”. Also, God’s “covenants” reveal to us His grace and faithfulness. In today’s message, we will discuss God’s New Covenant with us. A “covenant” can be defined as an “oath or promise of God”. In a Biblical covenant: 1) God establishes the Covenant; 2) God always implies that “I am your God, and you are my people” – God desires a personal relationship with us; and 3) God sets the Covenant’s terms and rulers.

In the Book of the Covenant (Exodus 20 through 23 and Deuteronomy), the people made a Blood Covenant with God – the people promised God all that the God has said we will do. Therefore, the people would receive blessings or curses based upon what they did. However, the people always seemed to gravitate toward evil – doing what was wrong in the Lord’s sight. With the people’s sin, the kingdom was split into the “Northern Kingdom (Israel)” and the “Southern Kingdom (Judah)”; and still the people inclined their hearts and behaviors toward evil. Again, God responded by destroying Jerusalem and the Temple and exiling the people to Babylon because they broke their Covenant with Him.

However, in Jeremiah 31:31-34, God declared that that he would make a New Covenant: “Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the LORD. But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the LORD: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”. This New Covenant that God promised applies to us as well as the people of Jesus’ time. The New Covenant is not focused on The Law but on “Knowing God” and having a personal relationship with Him – we are all equal now before God.

With this New Covenant, the Apostle John tells us of God’s love and God’s desire for intimacy with us in 1 John 2:1-2: “My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.". We have this New Covenant because God does for us what we cannot do for ourselves.

God desires a personal relationship with each of us, and God has given us His New Covenants upon which to build our relationship with Him. Have you asked Jesus into your life so that your sin is atoned? If not, then there is a blot between you and God. Remember, the God who made Covenant with Moses is Jesus of our Trinitarian God.

 

TODAY’S AFFIRMATION: Today, I affirm that because of what God has done for me in His Son, Jesus, I AM RIGHTEOUS IN GOD’S EYES. God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God. (2 Corinthians 5:21).

SCRIPTURE REFERENCE (ESV):  John 4:26; Luke 22:19-20; Jeremiah 31:31-34; 1 Peter 2:9; 1 John 2:1-2

A WORD FROM THE LORD WEBSITE: www.AWFTL.org.

WEBSITE LINK TO DR. BEACH’S SERMON VIDEO – “We All Need “Hope” in Today’s World of Fear, Doubt in Our Faith, and Feelings of “Hopelessness”; and God Is this “Hope””:  www.AWFTL.org/watch A WORD FROM THE LORD WEBSITE: www.AWFTL.org.

DONATE TO AWFTL: https://mygiving.secure.force.com/GXDonateNow?id=a0Ui000000DglsqEAB

Rejecting God’s Covenant Will, Eventually, Lead People to a Place of Stubbornness, Hardness of Heart, and Their Destruction

Rejecting God’s Covenant Will, Eventually, Lead People to a Place of Stubbornness, Hardness of Heart, and Their Destruction

Message Summary:

How Does God Say I Love You, Part 4: Violation of the Covenant

Throughout human history, God has reached out to humans for a personal relationship and to express His love for humankind. We have a God that loves us so much, and God’s love for us is expressed to us through His “covenants”. Also, God’s “covenants” reveal to us His Grace and faithfulness. In today’s message, we will discuss God’s Covenant with Moses, which was God’s covenant with His people long after the death of Moses and into the time of King Zedekiah. A “covenant” can be defined as an “oath or promise of God”. In a Biblical Covenant: 1) God establishes the Covenant; 2) God always implies that “I am your God, and you are my people” – God desires a personal relationship with us; and 3) God sets the Covenant’s terms and rulers.

We begin by looking at Israel’s current king in 2 Chronicles 36, King Zedekiah, who was successor descendant of King David and a Godly father, King Josiah. We need to remember that King David had built the kingdom and the nation of Israel into a great nation through a foundation of a commitment to God and the Moses Covenant God had given to His people – King David made God His priority, and David made God’s priorities his priorities. God is interested in those who seek first His kingdom. Also, from King David’s life, we know that God expects one who sins to repent and return to Him. David’s son, Solomon, tells us to “fear God and keep His commandments”.

After King Solomon, God’s people experienced a series of Kings – some who kept God’s Covenant and some who did not keep God’s Covenant. Subsequently, David’s single Kingdom, that brought together the Twelve Tribes, is divided into the Northern Kingdom of Israel and the Southern Kingdom of Judah. King Zedekiah is in deep trouble and in an impossible situation with Babylon laying siege to Jerusalem. Rather than calling on God for help, King Zedekiah sends an envoy to Egypt. Zedekiah has rejected God and God’s Covenant (2 Chronicles 36:12-14): “He did what was evil in the sight of the LORD his God. He did not humble himself before Jeremiah the prophet, who spoke from the mouth of the LORD. He also rebelled against King Nebuchadnezzar, who had made him swear by God. He stiffened his neck and hardened his heart against turning to the LORD, the God of Israel. All the officers of the priests and the people likewise were exceedingly unfaithful, following all the abominations of the nations. And they polluted the house of the LORD that he had made holy in Jerusalem.". In desperation, King Zedekiah now appeals to the Prophet Jeremiah for a miracle from God, whom he had rejected, to save his kingdom from the attack by Babylon’s King Nebuchadnezzar (Jerimiah 21). God answers Zedekiah’s plea for salvation through Jerimiah in Jerimiah 21:5-7: “’I {God} myself will fight against you with outstretched hand and strong arm, in anger and in fury and in great wrath. And I{God} will strike down the inhabitants of this city, both man and beast. They shall die of a great pestilence. Afterward’, declares the LORD, ‘I will give Zedekiah king of Judah and his servants and the people in this city who survive the pestilence, sword, and famine into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and into the hand of their enemies, into the hand of those who seek their lives.’".

Our God is a Covenant God, and He keeps His Covenants. When the people of God obey their Covenant with God they are blessed; but when they disobey, they are cursed – just like the people under King Zedekiah.

The significance of the Scripture from 2 Chronicles 36 and Jerimiah 21 for us today: 1) God is a Covenant God; 2) as recipients of the New Covenant through Jesus, we are assured of God’s forgiveness; 3) rejecting the Covenant and the God of the Covenant will eventually lead us to a place of stubbornness, hardness of heart, and then to our destruction; 4) God will try again and again to draw us back to Himself, but if we are hardened, we don’t hear God; and 5) our relationship with God is based solely on our relationship with God and not God’s relationship with others – King Zedekiah’s father was a Godly man who did great things for his people, but Zedekiah’s unfaithful relationship with God and God’s Covenant brought destruction to King Zedekiah, his kingdom, and his people.

God desires a personal relationship with each of us, and God has given us His Covenants upon which to build our relationship with Him. Have you asked Jesus into your life so that your sin is atoned? If not, then there is a blot between you and God. Remember, the God who made Covenant with Moses is Jesus of our Trinitarian God.

 

Today’s Affirmation: Today, I affirm that because of what God has done for me in His Son, Jesus, I AM FILLED WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT. If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him! (Luke 11:13).

Scripture Reference (ESV): 2 Chronicles 36:11-23; Jerimiah 21:1-10; Hebrews 3:12-15; Psalms 49:1-20.

WEBSITE LINK TO DR. BEACH’S SERMON VIDEO – “Jesus the Christ Is Our Hope in Life and Death and He Is “Hope” for the Wave of Loneliness and Uncertainty Sweeping Our World Today”:  www.AWFTL.org/watch

 A WORD FROM THE LORD WEBSITE: www.AWFTL.org.

DONATE TO AWFTL: https://mygiving.secure.force.com/GXDonateNow?id=a0Ui000000DglsqEAB

God’s Covenant with Moses Is His Perfect Agape Love that Provided the “Ten Commandments” which Show Us What Sin Is

God’s Covenant with Moses Is His Perfect Agape Love that Provided the “Ten Commandments” which Show Us What Sin Is

MESSAGE SUMMARY:

How God Says He Loves Us: Part 3 -- The Covenant with Moses

Throughout human history, God has reached out to humans for a personal relationship and to express His love for humankind. We have a God that loves us so much, and God’s love for us is expressed to us through His “covenants”. Also, God’s “covenants” reveal to us His grace and faithfulness. In today’s message, we will discuss God’s Covenant with Moses. A “covenant” can be defined as an “oath or promise of God”. In a Biblical covenant: 1) God establishes the Covenant; 2) God always implies that “I am your God, and you are my people” – God desires a personal relationship with us; and 3) God sets the Covenant’s terms and rulers.

After God’s Covenant with Abraham, his son Isaac became the recipient of God’s blessings. Subsequently, Isaac had two sons. One of Isaac’s sons was Jacob, and God changed Jacobs name to Israel. Jacob had twelve sons, and they evolved into the “Twelve Tribes of Israel”. In Genesis 37, the focus begins upon Isaac’s son Joseph; and Genesis ends, in Genesis 50, with Joseph’s death in Egypt.

In Exodus 1, two hundred and fifty years have passed since the death of Joseph. During this time, God’s people and the people of Egypt forgot about Joseph. God’s people became fruitful and multiplied, but they forgot about God and God’s Covenant with Abraham; and the people began to worship idols. Exodus 2 presents the birth of Moses., and Exodus 3 includes God’s call to Moses and God’s appearance to Moses through the burning bush. Since God had a blood covenant with His people, He sent Moses to tell Pharaoh to let His people leave Egypt. Pharaoh said “no”, so God sent nine plagues on the people of Egypt – nine chances for their Repentance. Since Pharaoh continued to say “no”, God sent the tenth plague on the people of Egypt – a plague of Judgement on the people of Egypt. After the Passover for His people in the Plague of Judgement, Pharaoh relented and let God’s people leave Egypt.

In Exodus 19, God’s people wound up on Mount Sini, and God made the “Sini Covenant” with Moses in Exodus 19:4-6: “You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles' wings and brought you to myself. Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine; and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.”. In prior covenants, God did everything; but in this “Sini Covenant”, the people had obligations. God gives His Law, the Ten Commandments, to His people as God speaks directly to them in Exodus 20. The Glory of God, when He was speaking directly to His people, was too much for the people; and they feared a direct personal relationship with God, and they wanted Moses or an intermediary to speak to them for God – they rejected a personal relationship with God just has humans have been doing ever since.

In Exodus 21, Exodus 22, and Exodus 23 (“The Book of the Covenant”), God takes His Ten Commandments, and He applies the Ten Commandments to our everyday living. In Exodus 24:3,7-8, Moses takes God’s Book of the Covenant to the people: “Moses came and told the people all the words of the LORD and all the rules. And all the people answered with one voice and said, ‘All the words that the LORD has spoken we will do.’ Then he took the Book of the Covenant and read it in the hearing of the people. And they said, ‘All that the LORD has spoken we will do, and we will be obedient.’ And Moses took the blood and threw it on the people and said, ‘Behold the blood of the covenant that the LORD has made with you in accordance with all these words.’”.

Deuteronomy 28 presents the “blessings” for the people if they adhere to their promises to God in the “Book of the Covenant”. On the other hand, Deuteronomy 28 lays out the “curses” for non-adherence to the Covenant. Within six weeks, God’s people, who had said “All the words that the LORD has spoken we will do”, had disobeyed and broken their Covenant with God. The disobedience of God’s people is significant to us today because “it shows us what sin is”. “God is unconditional love” (1 John 4:16); and in this Covenant, God made plain to all of us “what sin is”. “We are made by God to be perfect mirrors of God’s Agape love.” Our sin is our failure to act as the God of Agape love acts. Sin is our self-centeredness.  “The opposite of love is not hate; sin is me.” The Ten Commandments are not negative; they are God’s Agape love because they show us what a life of love and without sin and death does not include. Jesus tells us the most important Commandment in Mark 12:28-30: “’. . . Which commandment is the most important of all?’ Jesus answered, ‘The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.’”.

The people of Israel continued to mess up and sin, but they continued to sacrifice a lamb for their sin thinking that their sacrifice brought their lives of sin back into adherence with their Covenant. However, in both God’s impatience with our sin and in His Agape love and His adherence to this Covenant, God sent the perfect Lamb as His and our sacrifice for our sin – Jesus the Christ. This old Covenant with Moses points to God’s New Covenant – Jesus’ death on the cross and His Resurrection.

Have you asked Jesus into your life so that your sin is atoned? If not, then there is a blot between you and God. Remember, the God who made Covenant with Moses is Jesus of our Trinitarian God.

 

TODAY’S AFFIRMATION: Today, I affirm that because of what God has done for me in His Son, Jesus, I AM FORGIVEN. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9).

SCRIPTURE REFERENCE (ESV): Genesis 3:15; Genesis 37:1-36; Genesis 39:1-23; Genesis 41:1-57; Genesis 42:1-38; Genesis 43:1-34; Genesis 44:1-34; Genesis 45:1-28; Genesis 46:1-34; Genesis 47:1-31; Genesis 50:1-26; Exodus 1:1-22; Exodus 2:1-25; Exodus 3:1-22; Exodus 19:3-11; Exodus 24:1-18; Deuteronomy 28:1-68; 1 John 4:16; Mark 12:29-30.

WEBSITE LINK TO DR. BEACH’S SERMON VIDEO – “Jesus the Christ Is Our Hope in Life and Death and He Is “Hope” for the Wave of Loneliness and Uncertainty Sweeping Our World Today”:  www.AWFTL.org/watch

A WORD FROM THE LORD WEBSITE: www.AWFTL.org.

DONATE TO AWFTL: https://mygiving.secure.force.com/GXDonateNow?id=a0Ui000000DglsqEAB

God’s Covenant with Abraham Expressed God’s Love Then and Now “so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles {us}”

God’s Covenant with Abraham Expressed God’s Love Then and Now “so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles {us}”

MESSAGE SUMMARY:

How God Says He Loves Us: Part 2 -- The Covenant with Abraham

Throughout human history, God has reached out to humans for a personal relationship and to express His love for humankind. We have a God that loves us so much, and God’s love for us is expressed to us through His “covenants”. Also, God’s “covenants” reveal to us His grace and faithfulness. In today’s message, we will discuss God’s Covenant with Abram and Abraham. A “covenant” can be defined as an “oath or promise of God”. In a Biblical covenant: 1) God establishes the Covenant; 2) God always implies that “I am your God, and you are my people” – God desires a personal relationship with us; and 3) God sets the covenant’s terms and rulers.

In Genesis 12:1-5, God presents His promise to Abram: “Now the LORD said to Abram, ‘Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.’ So Abram went, as the LORD had told him, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran.".

In Genesis 15:18, God makes a covenant with Abram: “On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, ‘To your offspring I give his land . . .’”. In Genesis 17:4-5, God makes another covenant with Abram changing Abram’s name to Abraham: “Behold, my covenant is with you, and you shall be the father of a multitude of nations. No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham, for I have made you the father of a multitude of nations.". in Genesis 21-1-4, Abraham’s son through Sarah, that God had promised Abraham, is born: “The LORD visited Sarah as he had said, and the LORD did to Sarah as he had promised. And Sarah conceived and bore Abraham a son in his old age at the time of which God had spoken to him. Abraham called the name of his son who was born to him, whom Sarah bore him, Isaac. And Abraham circumcised his son Isaac when he was eight days old, as God had commanded him.”.

In Genesis 22:1-18, the final part of God’s covenant with Abraham is found when God provided the blood sacrifice of the lamb that sealed His covenant with Abraham: “And the angel of the LORD called to Abraham a second time from heaven and said, ‘By myself I have sworn, declares the LORD, because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, I will surely bless you, and I will surely multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore. And your offspring shall possess the gate of his enemies, and in your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because you have obeyed my voice.’”.

The significance of God’s covenant with Abraham includes: 1) Abraham believed God and had faith, and because of Abraham’s faith God made Abraham righteous – foretells the significance of the Gospel because God’s covenant through Jesus for us is a covenant of faith; 2) God’s covenant with Abraham foreshadows His covenant through Jesus as the Messiah, the Christ – Isaac is the first legitimate son of Abraham, and Jesus is considered the last son through Abraham, Isaac voluntarily went to the alter and Jesus voluntarily went to the cross, Abraham offered his son as a sacrifice and God gave His Son as a sacrifice; 3) God’s covenant is still being fulfilled today – in a physical sense, the covenant is fulfilled through the Arabs and the Jews since both consider Abraham as their father and fulfilled in a spiritual sense through Jesus as Paul tells us in Galatians 3:14: “so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith.".

Remember, the “God” who made covenant with Abraham is Jesus.

 

TODAY’S AFFIRMATION: Today, I affirm that because of what God has done for me in His Son, Jesus, I AM A CHILD OF GOD. Yet to all who received Him, to those who believed in His Name, He gave the right to become children of God-- children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God. (John 1:12f).

SCRIPTURE REFERENCE (ESV):  Romans 10:9; Genesis 9:20-29; Genesis 3:15; Genesis 12:1-9; Genesis 15:1-27; 1 Peter 3:18-21; John 3:16-17; Hebrews 11:6; Galatians 3:7-9,14-16,29.

WEBSITE LINK TO DR. BEACH’S SERMON VIDEO – “Jesus the Christ Is Our Hope in Life and Death and He Is “Hope” for the Wave of Loneliness and Uncertainty Sweeping Our World Today”:  www.AWFTL.org/watch

 A WORD FROM THE LORD WEBSITE: www.AWFTL.org.

DONATE TO AWFTL: https://mygiving.secure.force.com/GXDonateNow?id=a0Ui000000DglsqEAB

God Does Not See Followers of Jesus in Our Sin; Rather, God Sees Us Through the Eternal (Like the “Rainbow”) “Justifying” Covenant Blood of Jesus

God Does Not See Followers of Jesus in Our Sin; Rather, God Sees Us Through the Eternal (Like the “Rainbow”) “Justifying” Covenant Blood of Jesus

MESSAGE SUMMARY:

How God Says He Loves Us: Part 1 -- The Covenant with Noah

We have a God that loves us so much, and God’s love for us is expressed to us through His “covenants”. Also, God’s “covenants” reveal to us His grace and faithfulness. In today’s message, we will discuss God’s Covenant with Noah. A “covenant” can be defined as an “oath or promise of God”. In a Biblical covenant: 1) God establishes the Covenant; 2) God always implies that “I am your God, and you are my people” – God desires a personal relationship with us; and 3) God sets the covenant’s terms and rulers.

In Genesis 6:5-22, the corruption of humanity, through mankind’s sin after the Fall, became too much for God, and He became sorry that He made mankind. From Genesis, we know that God “grieved in His heart” because of human evil, corruption, and violence. However, Noah found favor in the eyes of God. Noah was righteous and blameless, and Noah “walked with God”.

After destroying all humans and all other inhabitants of the earth, except for Noah, his family, those animals that Noah collected for His arch, God “blessed Noah in Genesis 9:1-29; and God established His covenant with Noah in Genesis 9:9-1:10,11-13: “’Behold, I establish my covenant with you and your offspring after you, and with every living creature that is with you . . . that never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of the flood, and never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth.’ And God said, ‘This is the sign of the covenant that I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all future generations: I have set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth.’". Therefore, this covenant is not only with Noah and all other living things on the earth; but God’s covenant with Noah is with us too! The “rain’bow’” is a sign of this covenant between Noah and all humanity; and this “rainbow” is, also, a sign of God’s love, grace, and mercy.

In 1 Peter 3:18-21, the Apostle Peter relates Jesus’ sacrificial death on the cross, which is redemptive covenant for our salvation, to God’s earlier covenant with Noah: “For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit, in which he went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison, because they formerly did not obey, when God's patience waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through water. Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ . . .". In this text from 1 Peter, we learn that our “baptism” represents our Salvation through Jesus. Like Noah and his family, we have been saved “through the water” not “by the water”. Therefore, “baptism” is another covenant between God and all humanity, through God’s Grace, to save mankind from itself if we accept God’s Grace. God does not see us, now, in our sin like humanity’s evil of Noah’s time; rather, God sees us through the eternal (like the “rainbow”) “Justifying” covenant blood of Jesus.

 

TODAY’S AFFIRMATION: Today, I affirm that because of what God has done for me in His Son, Jesus, I AM RIGHTEOUS IN GOD’S EYES. God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God. (2 Corinthians 5:21).

SCRIPTURE REFERENCE (ESV): Genesis 6:5-22; Genesis 9:1-29; 1 Peter 3:18-21; Psalms 28:1-9.

WEBSITE LINK TO DR. BEACH’S SERMON VIDEO – “Jesus the Christ Is Our Hope in Life and Death and He Is “Hope” for the Wave of Loneliness and Uncertainty Sweeping Our World Today”:  www.AWFTL.org/watch

A WORD FROM THE LORD WEBSITE: www.AWFTL.org.

DONATE TO AWFTL: https://mygiving.secure.force.com/GXDonateNow?id=a0Ui000000DglsqEAB

As Followers of Jesus, We Will Face Difficult Circumstances; but We Are Comforted to Know that God Will “equip you with everything good that you may do his will”

As Followers of Jesus, We Will Face Difficult Circumstances; but We Are Comforted to Know that God Will “equip you with everything good that you may do his will”

MESSAGE SUMMARY:      

Introduction to the Bible’s Letter to the Hebrews and “Hope”: Today, all of us live in “times” requiring us to face circumstances that include the Pandemic, civil disobedience, cultural dissonance, and “discussions” among people in which there is no respect for the words and ideas of others. Therefore, we need a context to learn about “Facing Difficult Circumstances”. We can both learn a great deal and gain “Hope”, in our current situation, from the situation faced by Christians in Rome who were “Facing in Difficult Circumstances”. Our context for learning is described in the Bible’s book of Hebrews. The book of Hebrew’s Writer wanted to give “Hope” to the persecuted Christians in Rome by pointing out the superiority of Jesus the Christ over all the problems that they were facing from their persecution by the Emperor Nero. The Writer of Hebrews begins by pointing out, in Hebrews 1:1-2, both the superiority of Jesus and that Jesus is the end of the line of supporters (i.e. prophets) that God has provided and will provide humanity: “Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world.". The Writer did not want Christians to deviate and leave their Faith in Jesus because their times were bleak and filled with difficult circumstances which appeared hopeless. Rather, in Hebrew’s, the Writer wanted Roman Christians to understand that if they turned away from Jesus there was no one else with whom they could face their difficult circumstances. The message to us, in our “difficult circumstances”, is that without Jesus in our lives and in the life of our country there is no one or no institution, to whom we can turn, for help in “facing our difficult circumstances”. To this end, in Hebrews 1:10-11, we find the culmination of Jesus Divinity and His humanity that positions His superiority for us: “You, Lord, laid the foundation of the earth in the beginning, and the heavens are the work of your hands; they will perish, but you remain; they will all wear out like a garment, like a robe you will roll them up, like a garment they will be changed. But you are the same, and your years will have no end.”.

Today’s Message – Running Your Race: The Writer of Hebrews encourages the persecuted Followers of Jesus, living in Rome, to look to Jesus in so many ways. The Writer of Hebrews begins, Hebrews 12:1-2, with a reference to “running” and a race of “endurance” as a metaphor for the pain and perseverance need by the Roman Christians to live through their “difficult circumstances”: “Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.”. In these verses, the Writer is telling us things about “facing difficult circumstances”: 1) remember those who are watching, for example the men and women of God from the Old Covenant he listed in Hebrews 11 – we are not alone in our “race”; 2) in this “race”, we are to lighten our load – get rid of anything that keeps us from following Jesus (e.g., sin); 3) let us run our “race” well; 4) run your “race” with perseverance even when you face impediments which mitigate your efforts and make you want to quit – winning when “facing difficult circumstances” comes when we keep your eyes on Jesus and follow Him, through perseverance, to victory, and Jesus endured pain and suffering for us so that we would not be weary of the long race “facing difficult circumstances” and to not lose heart before our finish line; 5) remember, the Father is working for your good -- God sees us as His “Sons” and “Daughters” and supports and disciplines us when needed, as we are told in Hebrews 12:5-6: “And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons? ‘My son do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him. For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives.’”; and 6) do not forget the Lord’s counsel – in Hebrews 13:1-19, the Writer outlines those “Sacrifices that Would Be Pleasing to God”, and in Hebrews 13:5b-6, we are told: “for he has said, ‘I will never leave you nor forsake you.’ So we can confidently say, ‘The Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what can man do to me?’”.

In our difficult circumstances, if we shift our focus to all the uncertainties, troubling events, and people around us and take our eyes of Jesus and the finish line, we will, certainly, not win the race; and we will, probably, not finish our race. In Hebrews 13:20-21, The Writer summarizes how and why we should and can “face our difficult circumstances”: “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, 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."

In your difficult circumstances, God will not leave you. Through the Holy Spirit, God will walk with you. He may not fix your situation, but God will give you a way to see you through. Stay out of personal pity parties driven by our circumstances. Instead, look to God. In many cases, the “lead” of difficult circumstances may turn to, ultimately, “gold” in your life.

As we live, today, “in these last days” of difficult circumstances, we should look only to Jesus rather than to any person, institution, force, government entity, or nation. Jesus is our only source of protection and the way out of our difficult circumstances which are manifested by the Pandemic, civil disobedience, and cultural dissonance. Once again, Jesus is the only “way, and the truth and the life” (John 14:6).

 

TODAY’S AFFIRMATION: Today, I affirm that because of what God has done for me in His Son, Jesus, I AM FILLED WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT. If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him! (Luke 11:13).

SCRIPTURE REFERENCE (ESV): Hebrews 1:10-18; Hebrews 12:1-11; Hebrews 11:1-40; Hebrews 13:1-21.

WEBSITE LINK TO DR. BEACH’S SERMON VIDEO – “Jesus the Christ Is Our Hope in Life and Death and He Is “Hope” for the Wave of Loneliness and Uncertainty Sweeping Our World Today”:  www.AWFTL.org/watch

A WORD FROM THE LORD WEBSITE: www.AWFTL.org.

DONATE TO AWFTL: https://mygiving.secure.force.com/GXDonateNow?id=a0Ui000000DglsqEAB

Followers of Jesus Should Let Difficult Circumstances Draw You Toward God Rather than Pulling You Away from God and Your “Faith” – God Walks with You

Followers of Jesus Should Let Difficult Circumstances Draw You Toward God Rather than Pulling You Away from God and Your “Faith” – God Walks with You

MESSAGE SUMMARY:      

Introduction to the Bible’s Letter to the Hebrews and “Hope”: Today, the Pandemic, civil disobedience, and cultural dissonance a context for our need to learn about “Living in Difficult Circumstances”. We can both learn a great deal and gain “Hope”, in our current situation, from the situation faced by Christians in Rome who were “Living in Difficult Circumstances”. Our context for learning is described in the Bible’s book of Hebrews. The book of Hebrew’s writer wanted to give “Hope” to the persecuted Christians in Rome by pointing out the superiority of Jesus the Christ over all the problems that they were facing from their persecution by the Emperor Nero. The writer did not want Christians to deviate and leave their Faith in Jesus because the times were bleak and the difficult circumstances, they were facing appeared hopeless. In Hebrew’s, the writer wanted Roman Christians to understand that if they turned away from Jesus there was no one else with whom they could face their difficult circumstances. The message to us, in these times, is that without Jesus in our lives and in the life of our country there is no one or no institution, to whom we can turn, for help in “facing our difficult circumstances”. To this end, in Hebrews 1:10-11, we find the culmination of Jesus Divinity along with His humanity that positions His superiority for us: “You, Lord, laid the foundation of the earth in the beginning, and the heavens are the work of your hands; they will perish, but you remain; they will all wear out like a garment, like a robe you will roll them up, like a garment they will be changed. But you are the same, and your years will have no end.”.

Today’s Message – Exercising Your Faith: The Writer of Hebrews encourages the persecuted Followers of Jesus, living in Rome, to look to Jesus in so many ways. Today, in Hebrews 11:1-3,5-6, the Writer of Hebrews defines “Faith”: “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. For by it the people of old received their commendation. By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible . . . By faith Enoch was taken up so that he should not see death, and he was not found, because God had taken him. Now before he was taken he was commended as having pleased God. And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.". From this text, we can see that “Faith” involves: 1) confidence and conviction; 2) looking ahead – “faith is the ‘Hope’ that we mix into cement to harden it” {Charles Swindoll}; 3) what is not seen; {faith speaks to two of our human uncertainties: knowing the future and seeing the unseen}; 4) pleasing God; and 5) focusing totally on God.

“Faith” is like a muscle in that it needs to be used or it will grow weak through atrophy, and “Faith”, like a muscle, needs resistance to grow stronger, as we see from the Writer of Hebrews, in Hebrews 10:32,36: “But recall the former days when, after you were enlightened, you endured a hard struggle with sufferings . . . For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised.". As directed by the Writer of Hebrews to the Christians of Rome, in their difficult circumstances, we should let our difficult circumstances draw us toward God rather than pulling us away from God and our “Faith”. In the remainder of Hebrews 11, the Writer of Hebrews is telling the Followers of Jesus, in Rome and us, about all the great men and women that did great things derivative of their “Faith” in their lives that drew them close to God in their difficult circumstances. Also, their lives pointed toward the promised coming of the Christ, whom they never saw; but their “Faith” saw them through. However, as today’s Followers of Jesus, we have the Gospel and the Holy Spirit. Additionally, we know that God, through the written Gospel, is faithful; and our “faith” can be strong in our difficult circumstances as we draw our lives and actions, in our difficult circumstances, toward God.

In your difficult circumstances, God will not leave you. Through the Holy Spirit, God will walk with you. He may not fix your situation, but God will give you a way to see you through. Stay out of personal pity parties driven by your circumstances. Instead, look to God. In many cases, the “lead” of difficult circumstances may result, ultimately, to “gold” in your life.

As we live, today, “in these last days” of difficult circumstances, we should look only to Jesus rather than to any person, institution, force, government entity, or nation. Jesus is our only source of protection and the way out of our difficult circumstances which are manifested by the Pandemic, civil disobedience, and cultural dissonance. Once again, Jesus is the only “way, and the truth and the life” (John 14:6).

 

TODAY’S AFFIRMATION: Today, I affirm that because of what God has done for me in His Son, Jesus, I AM FORGIVEN. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9).

SCRIPTURE REFERENCE (ESV): Hebrews 1:10-18; Hebrews 11:1-6; Hebrews 10:32-39; James 1:2-3; Habakkuk2:3-4; Hebrews 11:7-40.

WEBSITE LINK TO DR. BEACH’S SERMON VIDEO – “Jesus the Christ Is Our Hope In Life and Death and He Is “Hope” for the Wave of Loneliness and Uncertainty Sweeping Our World Today”:  www.AWFTL.org/watch

 A WORD FROM THE LORD WEBSITE: www.AWFTL.org.

DONATE TO AWFTL: https://mygiving.secure.force.com/GXDonateNow?id=a0Ui000000DglsqEAB

The Blessing of Our Faith, as Followers of Jesus, Is the Presence of Jesus In Our Lives, Irrespective of Our Life’s Circumstances

The Blessing of Our Faith, as Followers of Jesus, Is the Presence of Jesus In Our Lives, Irrespective of Our Life’s Circumstances

MESSAGE SUMMARY:      

Introduction to the Bible’s Letter to the Hebrews and “Hope”: Today, the Pandemic, civil disobedience, and cultural dissonance a context for our need to learn about “Living in Difficult Circumstances”. We can both learn a great deal and gain “Hope”, in our current situation, from the situation faced by Christians in Rome who were “Living in Difficult Circumstances”. Our context for learning is described in the Bible’s book of Hebrews. The book of Hebrew’s writer wanted to give “Hope” to the persecuted Christians in Rome by pointing out the superiority of Jesus the Christ over all the problems that they were facing from their persecution by the Emperor Nero. The writer did not want Christians to deviate and leave their Faith in Jesus because the times were bleak and the difficult circumstances, they were facing appeared hopeless. In Hebrew’s, the writer wanted Roman Christians to understand that if they turned away from Jesus there was no one else with whom they could face their difficult circumstances. The message to us, in these times, is that without Jesus in our lives and in the life of our country there is no one or no institution, to whom we can turn, for help in “facing our difficult circumstances”. To this end, in Hebrews 1:10-11, we find the culmination of Jesus Divinity along with His humanity that positions His superiority for us: “You, Lord, laid the foundation of the earth in the beginning, and the heavens are the work of your hands; they will perish, but you remain; they will all wear out like a garment, like a robe you will roll them up, like a garment they will be changed. But you are the same, and your years will have no end.”.

Today’s Message – Jesus Who Is Seated at the Right Hand of the Father: The writer of Hebrews encourages the persecuted Christians, living in Rome, to look to Jesus in so many ways. Today, in Hebrews 10:11-14, the Writer focuses, again on Jesus “superiority” and the Christian faith by pointing out that, after Jesus Ascension, Jesus is now sitting at the right hand of God, the Father: “And every priest stands daily at his service, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, waiting from that time until his enemies should be made a footstool for his feet. For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.". The Writer refers to the “right hand” because it is a position of power and authority for Jesus in the Universe. As Stephen, the first Deacon, is being stoned to death, he cries out in Acts 7:55-56: “But he {Stephen}, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. And he said, “Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.”.

In Jeremiah 31:31, God speaks of His “new covenant” that is coming: “But this is the {new} covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the LORD: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people.". This “new covenant” is intellectual, effectual, and perpetual. Therefore, through this “new covenant”, we can, from Hebrews 10:22-24: “Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works,". Because of whom Jesus is, the Writer of Hebrews is continuing to encourage the Christians of Rome, in their difficult circumstances, to “hold fast to their faith” just as we are, in our difficult circumstances” encouraged to hold fast to our faith”. For Followers of Jesus, loosing their faith invites spiritual disaster in their lives.

The Writer of Hebrews encourages us, because who Jesus is, to look to Jesus in our life’s difficult circumstances and to not give up in the face of fears and uncertainties. The blessing of our faith, as Followers of Jesus, is the presence of Jesus in our lives, irrespective of our life’s circumstances. Jesus wants our focus to be on Him and not our circumstances. Remember Jesus is faithful, and He will never leave you.

Today, Followers of Jesus live in a time of turmoil and uncertainty with issues like Covid-19, cultural dissonance, and civil discourse providing an overarching context that can lead us to fear, doubt in our faith, and feelings of “hopelessness”. These issues of today, which drive our uncertainties and fears, have impacted Followers of Jesus and America profoundly. However, as Followers of Jesus, we know that none of these circumstances are taking God by surprise. Yet so many of us are discouraged, downcast, depressed, and fearful. Too many of us have lost “Hope”. Proverbs 13:12 tells us: “Hope deferred makes the heart sick,".  Without “Hope”, we are like ships sailing without a harbor. God wants us to have “Hope” in our everchanging world! “Hope” is the anticipation of a good future; “Hope” is having faith and believing that God is working out His purposes in the World and in my life.

As we live, today, “in these last days” of difficult circumstances, we should look only to Jesus rather than to any person, institution, force, government entity, or nation. Jesus is our only source of protection and the way out of our difficult circumstances which are manifested by the Pandemic, civil disobedience, and cultural dissonance. Once again, Jesus is the only “way, and the truth and the life” (John 14:6).

 

TODAY’S AFFIRMATION: Today, I affirm that because of what God has done for me in His Son, Jesus, I AM RIGHTEOUS IN GOD’S EYES. God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God. (2 Corinthians 5:21).

SCRIPTURE REFERENCE (ESV): Hebrews 1:10-18; Hebrews 10:11-25; Acts 2:1-4; Acts 7:1-4; Psalms 110:1; Jeremiah 31:31-35; John 15:3.

WEBSITE LINK TO DR. BEACH’S SERMON VIDEO – “Jesus the Christ Is Our Hope In Life and Death and He Is “Hope” for the Wave of Loneliness and Uncertainty Sweeping Our World Today”:  www.AWFTL.org/watch

 A WORD FROM THE LORD WEBSITE: www.AWFTL.org.

DONATE TO AWFTL: https://mygiving.secure.force.com/GXDonateNow?id=a0Ui000000DglsqEAB

The Blessing of Our Faith, as Followers of Jesus, Is the Presence of Jesus In Our Lives, Irrespective of Our Life’s Circumstances

The Blessing of Our Faith, as Followers of Jesus, Is the Presence of Jesus In Our Lives, Irrespective of Our Life’s Circumstances

MESSAGE SUMMARY:      

Introduction to the Bible’s Letter to the Hebrews and “Hope”: Today, the Pandemic, civil disobedience, and cultural dissonance a context for our need to learn about “Living in Difficult Circumstances”. We can both learn a great deal and gain “Hope”, in our current situation, from the situation faced by Christians in Rome who were “Living in Difficult Circumstances”. Our context for learning is described in the Bible’s book of Hebrews. The book of Hebrew’s writer wanted to give “Hope” to the persecuted Christians in Rome by pointing out the superiority of Jesus the Christ over all the problems that they were facing from their persecution by the Emperor Nero. The writer did not want Christians to deviate and leave their Faith in Jesus because the times were bleak and the difficult circumstances, they were facing appeared hopeless. In Hebrew’s, the writer wanted Roman Christians to understand that if they turned away from Jesus there was no one else with whom they could face their difficult circumstances. The message to us, in these times, is that without Jesus in our lives and in the life of our country there is no one or no institution, to whom we can turn, for help in “facing our difficult circumstances”. To this end, in Hebrews 1:10-11, we find the culmination of Jesus Divinity along with His humanity that positions His superiority for us: “You, Lord, laid the foundation of the earth in the beginning, and the heavens are the work of your hands; they will perish, but you remain; they will all wear out like a garment, like a robe you will roll them up, like a garment they will be changed. But you are the same, and your years will have no end.”.

Today’s Message – Jesus Who Is Seated at the Right Hand of the Father: The writer of Hebrews encourages the persecuted Christians, living in Rome, to look to Jesus in so many ways. Today, in Hebrews 10:11-14, the Writer focuses, again on Jesus “superiority” and the Christian faith by pointing out that, after Jesus Ascension, Jesus is now sitting at the right hand of God, the Father: “And every priest stands daily at his service, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, waiting from that time until his enemies should be made a footstool for his feet. For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.". The Writer refers to the “right hand” because it is a position of power and authority for Jesus in the Universe. As Stephen, the first Deacon, is being stoned to death, he cries out in Acts 7:55-56: “But he {Stephen}, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. And he said, “Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.”.

In Jeremiah 31:31, God speaks of His “new covenant” that is coming: “But this is the {new} covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the LORD: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people.". This “new covenant” is intellectual, effectual, and perpetual. Therefore, through this “new covenant”, we can, from Hebrews 10:22-24: “Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works,". Because of whom Jesus is, the Writer of Hebrews is continuing to encourage the Christians of Rome, in their difficult circumstances, to “hold fast to their faith” just as we are, in our difficult circumstances” encouraged to hold fast to our faith”. For Followers of Jesus, loosing their faith invites spiritual disaster in their lives.

The Writer of Hebrews encourages us, because who Jesus is, to look to Jesus in our life’s difficult circumstances and to not give up in the face of fears and uncertainties. The blessing of our faith, as Followers of Jesus, is the presence of Jesus in our lives, irrespective of our life’s circumstances. Jesus wants our focus to be on Him and not our circumstances. Remember Jesus is faithful, and He will never leave you.

Today, Followers of Jesus live in a time of turmoil and uncertainty with issues like Covid-19, cultural dissonance, and civil discourse providing an overarching context that can lead us to fear, doubt in our faith, and feelings of “hopelessness”. These issues of today, which drive our uncertainties and fears, have impacted Followers of Jesus and America profoundly. However, as Followers of Jesus, we know that none of these circumstances are taking God by surprise. Yet so many of us are discouraged, downcast, depressed, and fearful. Too many of us have lost “Hope”. Proverbs 13:12 tells us: “Hope deferred makes the heart sick,".  Without “Hope”, we are like ships sailing without a harbor. God wants us to have “Hope” in our everchanging world! “Hope” is the anticipation of a good future; “Hope” is having faith and believing that God is working out His purposes in the World and in my life.

As we live, today, “in these last days” of difficult circumstances, we should look only to Jesus rather than to any person, institution, force, government entity, or nation. Jesus is our only source of protection and the way out of our difficult circumstances which are manifested by the Pandemic, civil disobedience, and cultural dissonance. Once again, Jesus is the only “way, and the truth and the life” (John 14:6).

 

TODAY’S AFFIRMATION: Today, I affirm that because of what God has done for me in His Son, Jesus, I AM RIGHTEOUS IN GOD’S EYES. God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God. (2 Corinthians 5:21).

SCRIPTURE REFERENCE (ESV): Hebrews 1:10-18; Hebrews 10:11-25; Acts 2:1-4; Acts 7:1-4; Psalms 110:1; Jeremiah 31:31-35; John 15:3.

WEBSITE LINK TO DR. BEACH’S SERMON VIDEO – “Jesus the Christ Is Our Hope In Life and Death and He Is “Hope” for the Wave of Loneliness and Uncertainty Sweeping Our World Today”:  www.AWFTL.org/watch

 A WORD FROM THE LORD WEBSITE: www.AWFTL.org.

DONATE TO AWFTL: https://mygiving.secure.force.com/GXDonateNow?id=a0Ui000000DglsqEAB

Why Do We Not Go to the Lord when We, as Individual Followers of Jesus and We as a Nation, Face Difficult Circumstances, Especially with Jesus as Our Great High Priest?

Why Do We Not Go to the Lord when We, as Individual Followers of Jesus and We as a Nation, Face Difficult Circumstances, Especially with Jesus as Our Great High Priest?

MESSAGE SUMMARY:      

Introduction to Hebrews and “Hope”: Today, followers of Jesus live in a time of both turmoil and uncertainty with issues like Covid-19, cultural dissonance, and civil discourse providing an overarching context that can lead us to fear, doubt in our faith, and feelings of “hopelessness”. These issues of today, that drive our uncertainties and fears, have impacted America profoundly, including Followers of Jesus. However, as Followers of Jesus, we know that none of these issues are taking God by surprise. Yet so many of us are discouraged, downcast, depressed, and fearful. Too many of us have lost “Hope”. Proverbs 13:12 tells us: “Hope deferred makes the heart sick,".  Without “Hope”, we are like ships sailing without a harbor. God wants us to have “Hope” in our everchanging world! “Hope” is the anticipation of a good future; “Hope” is having faith and believing that God is working out His purposes in the World and in my life.

Today, the Pandemic, civil disobedience, and cultural dissonance a context for our need to learn about “Living in Difficult Circumstances”. We can both learn a great deal and gain “Hope”, in our current situation, from the situation faced by Christians in Rome who were  “Living in Difficult Circumstances”. Our context for learning is described in the Bible’s book of Hebrews. The book of Hebrew’s writer wanted to give “Hope” to the persecuted Christians in Rome by pointing out the superiority of Jesus the Christ over all the problems they were facing from their persecution by the Emperor Nero. The writer did not want Christians to deviate and leave their Faith in Jesus because the times were bleak and the difficult circumstances they were facing appeared hopeless. In Hebrew’s, the writer wanted Roman Christians to understand that if they turned away from Jesus there was no one else with whom they could face their difficult circumstances. The message to us, in these times, is that without Jesus in our lives and in the life of our country there is no one or no institution, to whom we can turn, for help in “facing our difficult circumstances”. To this end, in Hebrews 1:10-11, we find the culmination of Jesus Divinity along with His humanity that positions His superiority for us: “You, Lord, laid the foundation of the earth in the beginning, and the heavens are the work of your hands; they will perish, but you remain; they will all wear out like a garment, like a robe you will roll them up, like a garment they will be changed. But you are the same, and your years will have no end.”.

Today’s Message – Jesus as Our Great High Priest: The writer of Hebrews introduces a comparison of Jesus to the Jewish High Priest in terms of their roles, deity,  and humanity beginning with Hebrews 5:1: “For every high priest chosen from among men is appointed to act on behalf of men in relation to God, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins.". In Hebrews 5:5-6, the Writer begins a comparison of Jesus to the High Priest: “So also Christ did not exalt himself to be made a high priest, but was appointed by him who said to him, ‘You are my Son, today I have begotten you’; 6as he says also in another place, ‘You are a priest forever, after the order of Melchizedek.’”. In Hebrews 5, the Writer points out that Jesus, even though He is in the linage of David rather than Aron, which in the past was a requirement for priesthood, was a superior priest through Melchizedek and being called and begotten by God, Additionally, Jesus was superior to any human High Priest as we see in Hebrews 5:20-22.25: “And it was not without an oath. For those who formerly became priests were made such without an oath, but this one was made a priest with an oath by the one who said to him: ‘The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind, You are a priest forever.’ This makes Jesus the guarantor of a better covenant . . . Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost [2] those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them.". A key role and responsibility for the Jewish Great High Priest was to offer sacrifices for the people that were calendar and/or event driven; however, Jesus sacrifice was “once offered” and was a “perfect” sacrifice for all sins and for all accepting, believing, and repentant sinners over all time and space.

Therefore, the Writer tells us in Hebrews 4:14-16 tells us: “Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.". Today, we can see the Writer’s admonition to the Christians of Rome and us that God is still with them and us in difficult circumstances and that they should hold fast to their faith , in spite of suffering, fear, uncertainties, and perceived silence from their prayers because Jesus is our personal High Priest.

This passage from Hebrews 4:14-16 brings to the forefront the question: “Why do we not go to the Lord when we, as individual Followers of Jesus and we as a Nation, face difficult circumstances, especially with Jesus as our Great High Priest?”. Therefore, why don’t you bring your difficult circumstances to the Lord and watch Him respond with His Grace?

As we live, today, “in these last days”, we should not look to any other person, institution, force, government entity, or nation, other than Jesus. Jesus is our only source of protection and the way out of our “difficult circumstances” which are manifested by the Pandemic, civil disobedience, and cultural dissonance. Once again, Jesus is the only “way, and the truth and the life” (John 14:6).

 

TODAY’S AFFIRMATION: Today, I affirm that because of what God has done for me in His Son, Jesus, I AM RIGHTEOUS IN GOD’S EYES. God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God. (2 Corinthians 5:21).

SCRIPTURE REFERENCE (ESV): Hebrews 1:10-18; Hebrews 2:1-3; John 14:6; Hebrews 2:5-10; Hebrews 5:1-10; Psalms 2:7; Psalms 110:4; Hebrews 7:1-10; Romans 8:35; Hebrews 4:14-16.

WEBSITE LINK TO DR. BEACH’S SERMON VIDEO – “Jesus the Christ Is Our Hope In Life and Death and He Is “Hope” for the Wave of Loneliness and Uncertainty Sweeping Our World Today”:  www.AWFTL.org/watch

 A WORD FROM THE LORD WEBSITE: www.AWFTL.org.

DONATE TO AWFTL: https://mygiving.secure.force.com/GXDonateNow?id=a0Ui000000DglsqEAB