Tag: Hebrews

3 Ways To Follow Spiritual Leadership Within Biblical Limits – Hebrews 13

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From my reading in Hebrews 13 in the One Year Bible New Testament.

Rebellion is an American pastime.

Following leadership is scary, because we don’t trust our leaders. High profile spiritual leaders who have taken advantage of their flocks have not helped matters. The writer of Hebrews gives us 4 great ways to be good followers.

1. Imitate the faith of godly leaders.

“Remember your leaders who taught you the word of God. Think of all the good that has come from their lives, and follow the example of their faith.” Hebrews 13:7

Modeling is the most powerful form of leadership. Tweet This

The lives of these leaders were observable. It was clear that these men taught the word and walked it out. Followers were told to not just imitate what the leaders did, but imitate their faith.

2. Follow your spiritual leaders about church matters.

“Obey your spiritual leaders, and do what they say. Their work is to watch over your souls, and they are accountable to God.”  Heb 13:7a

We are to follow leaders in ways that involve church matters. Church leaders don’t have the authority to tell you what to wear, what to eat and what to do in your free time.

They do have the responsibility to lead the church, and if you get in the way of that, you are working against God. These men have the hard work of watch over our souls. It is a hard job worthy of respect.

“We are accountable to our spiritual leaders and our leaders are accountable to God.” Tweet This

3. Make it a joy for them to lead.

“Give them reason to do this with joy and not with sorrow. That would certainly not be for your benefit.” 

I know from experience, good followers makes leaders happy. On the other hand, people who are constantly fighting my leadership are annoying and detrimental to the team. When someone is unwilling to follow the whole team suffers.

“Making it a joy for your leaders helps the team run smoothly and the mission move forward. It benefits everyone!” Tweet This

Don’t be the person to slow God’s mission down. Follow leadership in the church as long as they are being faithful to Jesus.

Why is it so hard for many of us to follow leadership in the church? Click here to comment.

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With maturity comes the ability to distinguish good and evil. – Hebrews 5

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From my reading in Hebrews 5 in the One Year Bible New Testament.

“Follow your heart.””You only live once.” “Follow your dream.” “I’ve got to be me.”

We are bombarded with these messages through the movies, TV, and internet. I am attending a conference this week that is talking about how to “filter” pop culture messages like this.

All of these statements have some truth to them, but they also have dangerous implications. Part of the difficulty of life is that everything is not black and white.

Fo example, sometimes it is wise to follow your heart but the heart is deceitful so don’t always trust it! You only live once, but that doesn’t mean you should be dumb. Following you dream is a good thing to do, if your dream is God’s dream for you. Being yourself is good, but not if being “authentic” is unloving to others.

Maturity comes with the ability to “eat the meat” and spit out the bones.

The writer of Hebrews explains those who are mature have an ability to see the difference between truth and error.

“Solid food is for those who are mature, who through training have the skill to recognize the difference between right and wrong.” Hebrews 5:14 

It is through training that you can acquire the skill of recognizing right and wrong.

God’s word and wisdom are the filters you must let these messages pass through. The more you saturate yourself in God’s Word the better you will be able to recognize the difference in truth and error.

Have you been training yourself to recognize right and wrong?

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How To Open God’s Gift of Rest. Hebrews 4

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From my reading in Hebrews 4 in the One Year Bible New Testament.

Rest is hard for some of us.

We love to see things accomplished. We love to be busy. The writer of Hebrews gives us a strong warning to be sure that we are experiencing the rest that God wants to gives us.

“God’s promise of entering his rest still stands, so we ought to tremble with fear that some of you might fail to experience it.” Hebrews 4:1

Don’t miss out on the gift of rest.

The problem is that many of us don’t unwrap the gift.  God established the a weekly day of rest for our benefit.

“We know it is ready because of the place in the Scriptures where it mentions the seventh day: “On the seventh day God rested from all his work.” Hebrews 4:4

God set an example for us by resting on the seventh day after the work of creating the world. We should enter the rest God has offered us.

God’s rest is available for all to enter.

“So God’s rest is there for people to enter, but those who first heard this good news failed to enter because they disobeyed God.” Hebrews 4:6

Have you entered God’s rest? 

Most of us celebrate people who work so hard that they never rest, but not resting is equated to disobedience.

“For all who have entered into God’s rest have rested from their labors, just as God did after creating the world. So let us do our best to enter that rest. But if we disobey God, as the people of Israel did, we will fall.” Hebrews 4:10–11

A failure to rest is a failure to obey.

I encourage you to work hard but remember to rest. God has offered us this rest as a gift and if you want to make it for the long haul then you have to learn to rest.

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Want to Know God? Look at Jesus! Hebrews 1

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From my reading in Hebrews 1 in the One Year Bible New Testament.

The writer of Hebrews explains that knowing Jesus is the greatest way to know God!

Jesus is clearest revelation of God.

“Long ago God spoke many times and in many ways to our ancestors through the prophets. And now in these final days, he has spoken to us through his Son.” Hebrews 1:1–2a

God spoke through the prophets, but most clearly and finally spoke through Jesus. In his book “Taking God at His Word” Kevin DeYoung writes,“God has spoken by his Son, and this Son is superior to all persons, heavenly beings, institutions, rituals, and previous means of revelation and redemption… Scripture is enough because the work of Christ is enough. They stand or fall together.”

Jesus shows us exactly what God is like.

“The Son reflects the glory of God and shows exactly what God is like.” Hebrews 1:3a

When you look at Jesus you see God. He shows us God’s glory. The awesome thing about Jesus is that he shows us who God is in a way that we can understand.

He became a person yet still retained his Godhood. Jesus perfectly embodied the very essence and character of God.

In a very real sense if you want to know what God is like just look at Jesus.

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