Jesus, Founder and Perfecter of Our Faith
12:1 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, 2 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.
Do Not Grow Weary
3 Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted. 4 In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. 5 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.
6 For the Lord disciplines the one he loves,
and chastises every son whom he receives.”
7 It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? 8 If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. 9 Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live? 10 For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness. 11 For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.
12 Therefore lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees, 13 and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint but rather be healed. 14 Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord. 15 See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; that no “root of bitterness” springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled; 16 that no one is sexually immoral or unholy like Esau, who sold his birthright for a single meal. 17 For you know that afterward, when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no chance to repent, though he sought it with tears.
A Kingdom That Cannot Be Shaken
18 For you have not come to what may be touched, a blazing fire and darkness and gloom and a tempest 19 and the sound of a trumpet and a voice whose words made the hearers beg that no further messages be spoken to them. 20 For they could not endure the order that was given, “If even a beast touches the mountain, it shall be stoned.” 21 Indeed, so terrifying was the sight that Moses said, “I tremble with fear.” 22 But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, 23 and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, 24 and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.
25 See that you do not refuse him who is speaking. For if they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, much less will we escape if we reject him who warns from heaven. 26 At that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, “Yet once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens.” 27 This phrase, “Yet once more,” indicates the removal of things that are shaken—that is, things that have been made—in order that the things that cannot be shaken may remain. 28 Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, 29 for our God is a consuming fire. (ESV)
1Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.
here the writer of Hebrews is telling us to obey the great saints that lived before us. we have the great examples in the Scriptures like Paul, Peter, James, Abraham, etc. but the best witness of all is our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. we need to imitate His perfect life, through faith. though we cannot be perfect, we will be one day by Christ through our glorification at His second coming. so as Christians, let us be doers of the Word, and declare war on our sin that entangles us. we need to be running the race for Jesus Christ, and never give up, because we know the hope that we have. Maranatha!
5And you have forgotten that word of encouragement that addresses you as sons: “My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you,
6because the Lord disciplines those he loves, and he punishes everyone he accepts as a son.”
Yes the Lord does dicipline everyone that he loves. Even when you are a Christian you will still sin and the Lord will punish you for it. There are several ways that the Lord can punish you. I guarantee it. When you are getting disciplined by the Lord don’t let that make you lose your faith with him. You should know as a Christian that when the Lord rebukes you it means He loves you.
ELLO… I read
I like verse 6,”because the Lord disciplines those he loves, and he punishes everyone he accepts as a son.”
I like this verse because it tells how GOD disciplines those HE loves. Everyone has a father here who disciplines us who grounds us or some other form of punishment and they do this because they love you and they want you to learn from your mistakes. And everyone knows that GOD is love and since HE is love he disciplines us so we do not sin we won’t be perfect but we will get better after discipline. We may not like it at the time but we know it is good for us and that GOD only does it because HE loves us.
CYA
14Make every effort to live in peace with all men and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord.
We should live without having any bad relationships with people. We should not argue or get in any fights with people, unless they are talking trash about Christianity or anything of the Bible we need to defend that. The Bible says we need to make EVERY effort and with ALL men. We need to be a light and an ambassador of the name of our Lord, Jesus Christ!
11No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.
A great reminder to receive discipline with gladness!! If one acts upon discipline, turning in the right direction, they have shown repentance!!!! Repentance shows the mark of a true follower of Christ, later receiving treasures in heaven. I’m going to pray that I will focus on God more throughout the day so that I may please him and stay away from sin. :D
I LOVE THIS CHAPTER!!! :)
2Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. —This verse encourages me to really focus on living my life for God, escpecially right now. Lately I’ve been distracted because of summer and my family, but I am not going to let that lead me away! I plan on being more focused on spending my mornings and nights in God’s Word and just talking to Him. I also plan on being a doer like what Pastor Bobby preached this weekend. :) Please pray for me that I will perservere.
5And you have forgotten that word of encouragement that addresses you as sons: “My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you, 6because the Lord disciplines those he loves, and he punishes everyone he accepts as a son.” —The part that stood out to me in these verses is when it says, “…he punishes everyone he accepts as a son.” A lot of people say they accept Jesus and this is not true. Jesus died for us even though we are unworthy sinners and that means He accepted us. He is much more powerful than us and we sin everyday and that is not what He wants which means we must strive to be like Him. And if we are really Christians, God disciplines us because he loves us like our parents. They punish us because they love us. Since God loves us, He punishes everyone who is truly living for Him so that they can know the truth.
7 DAYS UNTIL REVIVAL 09!! really cannot wait! i hope this week goes super fast or i will go crazy! hahaha :D
1 “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.
2 Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”
We are surrounded by people much of the time. Probably whenever we leave our house. And some of these people, whether it seems like it or not, are going to watch us: what we do, what we say, generally, how we live our lives. If they know we’re Christians (and if they aren’t), they’ll watch even more carefully. As the writer of Hebrews tells us, we need to be prepared to show them what it is to be a Christian! It will be much easier to do this, to be a representative of Jesus, if we fix our eyes and thoughts on Him and if we throw off all the hidering and distracting things of this world that tie us down. So let’s endeavor to do this more and more each day!
Let’s be doers of the Word, not just hearers!
1Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.
God wants us to run the race without stopping, which means throwing off all our sin!!! it is keeping us back!! I need to throw off my sin and concentrate on running the race without being distracted. I need to persevere!!!
11 No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.
God uses many methods of discipline, whether it be the accountability from others, physical pain or illness, or even death in some cases. But just as a parent cannot force their child to be joyfully obedient, we have a choice to blow off God’s discipline and keep going in our own path. To borrow an illustration from Pastor Mike, we are fish living within the fishbowl of God’s will, and we have a choice to try to jump out. After numerous instances of discipline, God might give in and give us what we want – which would leave us floundering on the carpet gasping for breath. When we stop to consider that God loves us and wants the best for us, and that He knows better than us, it seems foolish to try to run away from that! Discipline is not fun, but we need to see that it really is for our good and that it leads to a holier, more blessed life.
2Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.3Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.
In times of trial and suffering we need only to look to Christ’s perfect example to give us the strength to get through. When we fix our eyes on Jesus and not on our difficult circumstances we have victory. Our circumstances are always changing and if we fix our attention on them we will be afraid, depressed and disappointed. Christ never changes, so if we are focused completely on Him we will have the sound mind we need to endure tough times. If Christ could endure such painful persecution and even death, we can endure difficulty too because we have the Holy Spirit living in us. Let’s be committed to be God-focussed and not circumstance-focussed and to live victoriously through life’s difficulties.
14Make every effort to live in peace with all men and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord.
This verse really spoke to me since Teen Ministers are going through the book “Pursuit of Holiness” and I just feel God is trying to let me know that it is something that I need to work on. We need to learn to live in peace with eachother so not to be a bad exampl for non-christians. Also, what I learned from the book, was that we need to make sure we are trying to conquer our sins for God’s glory, not for our own satisfaction and gain.
2Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God6because the Lord disciplines those he loves,
and he punishes everyone he accepts as a son
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That I need to fix my eyes on God and not anything else, he’s the perfect and for that he was set on a cross and was tortured to die just for my sins, he was put to shame and was betrayed by his Holy Father for a seconded just so that I may live with God in eternity.
That I am disciplined because he loves me and I get punished because God cares for me and wants me to learn
2Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
Jesus is in fact the perfect role model for us. He showed us that he went through the worst. It also shows us that Jesus loves us! He did it for us because he wants to see us again!!
3Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.
Again, Jesus went through every type of temptation possible. God will not let us be tempted beyond what we can bare. Jesus is a perfect example of this. Everything possible to be tempted by was thrown his way and he wasn’t even phased.
9Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of our spirits and live!
This hits me pretty close to home because my mom was good friends with discipline all my life. And I’m happy about that! I love the relationship I have with her and that was only accomplished because of her disciplining me. It’s the same thing with God. He loves us, so he’s got to discpline us so that the next time we can chose the right path instead of the wrong.
5 And you have forgotten that word of encouragement that addresses you as sons:
“My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you,
6 because the Lord disciplines those he loves, and he punishes everyone he accepts as a son.”
7 Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father?
Many people “become” Christians thinking that it is going to be really hard or really easy. Many people fall from the faith because it’s too hard for them and many people paralogizomai themselves but aren’t actually Christians. I was listening to a sermon today about how easy the christian life is but how hard it is too. The pastor said that we can do nothing to look “special” in God’s eyes and we can do nothing to have God love us because God already does. He said that the greatest act of faith is believing that God can love a sinner like himself. You see, God’s yoke is easy and His burden is light because we must realize that we cannot work our way into heaven or even look super special in God’s eyes. We get caught for every little thing, we get punished by God, our lives seem like failures because compared to God, we are so stupid. We just have to realize that we must do everything for God; not for ourselves. This way God can show that He is the boss and that He is our true Father.
The verse that spoke out to me was verse 24to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.
God shed his blood for our sins. That means he gave all of our sins and put it at the bottom of the cross and shed blood of cleansing of our sins.
1Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.
This is so encouraging. I love how this verse shows me throw off sin. Sin is a battle that we must fight each day or it will over take us. So lets get everything that hinders us and throw it off. Lets run the race marked out for us.
3Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.
4In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood.
These verses stuck out to me. We’re all guilty of complaining about how the Christian life is hard. But we need to remember Jesus, who went through so much more than we did! And yet He made it through. That should be encouraging! He can help us through our own trials, which are much much smaller that what He had to go through. And then the next verse hit me too. We complain, but we’ve never even gotten to the point of physical harm because of our faith. We live in Orange County. Look around. The worst we get is the occasional non Christian making fun of us. Look around the world and see how other Christians have endured waaaay more than we have. We shouldn’t be complaining at all!
3Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.
Hey, what was up with scripture of the day this morning? This verse tells us that we should not loose heart when we are living our lives because CHRIST who came before us struggled with everything we do, but overcame. CHRIST is our example. CHRIST is our savior. I know that this is encouraging to me because I know that I do have a perfect role model.
I like Hebrews 12:29, “for our ‘God is a consuming fire.”‘
(T) People feared God, they call Him a, “consuming fire” out of fear. They respected God and kept the right view of Him.
(A) God is someone to be feared. He isn’t all love, the truth is, He hates many people. God will have revenge and does not let one sin pass…respect Yahweh.
(N) I need to maintain a correct view of God. Always, I ignore God’s commands when, really, I should be fearing for my life if I commit sin. God is the person I should be respecting more, I need to work on putting Him as my first priority.
let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles
This chapter is SOOO good! i love it! Sin is something we fight and stuggle with EVERYDAY! its is out job as Christians (Christ-followers) to stay out of the path of sin, and worldlyness. We must rely on the strength that we get from Him to guild us, because his plan for our lives is so much better than our own!
Evanglizing was AMAZING! wow i was so impacted! God uses us everyday to be lights for him and witnessing with my fellow compassians was a great example of how God is useing us RIGHT NOW! IM PUTING ON THE MASK, because knowing is just half the battle! :)
What happened!!! 67 comments yesturday to only 20 today. Send a friendly reminder to all your friends so they get on here too :]
2Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
I love this verse! We do need to keep our eyes focused on Jesus and on Jesus only. We need to remember that He needs to be our first love. He loved us first that He was willing ot die for us. How much greater can love get?
***LOVE GOD FIRST, ABOVE EVERYTHING ELSE***
1Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.
I like this verse because it goes against what the world tells us to do today. It tells us to throw off all sin hindering us from becoming more like God and run. The world today says that teenagers today should have fun and party and get into trouble because that’s what we are “supposed” to do. But this verse says no! RUN from those sins and with the persevearance given by God. I need to disregard the views of this world and flee from sin and temptation.
11No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.
This verse also stood out to me because I have experienced it and im sure many of you have too. My Bible study time was when I had to discipline myself the most because the only time I could fit it in was early in the morning. Now i dont know about you but I LOVE sleep. So waking up at 530 every morning was hard! After a while I got in the habit, but it took a long time. This verse says just that. It made me closer to God because I gt prayer time one on one and it made me stronger.
Good evening!
This chapter was great! God loves all Christians and he treats us as if we are his own flesh and blood. People ask “how come you are being punished and persecuted if you have such a loving God?” and the reaseon is because he disciplines us like his children. We should be happy to recieve God’s punishment because in the end it will help us grow. We submit to our fathers because they have the power to discipline us so we should be in so much fear of what our heavenly father is capable of doing.
Pastor Bobby, that was a GREAT sermon this morning!
7Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father?
This is a great reminder for me that when things are not going well, I need to examine my life and see if there is any sin that I need to repent of. Sometimes things just go bad in our lives for no reason, however, according to the Bible we need to consider the fact that we may be receiving discipline. Receiving discipline when you sin or when your priorities get mixed up is a good sign that you are a Christian. We should learn from the discipline, repent from the sin, and get back to obediently following Christ.
Hey, everyone! Who wouldn’t love this chapter!?! IT’S AWESOME!!!
Hebrews 12:5-7 And you have forgotten that word of encouragement that addresses you as sons: “My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you, 6because the Lord disciplines those he loves, and he punishes everyone he accepts as a son.” 7Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father?
Okay, these verses kind of speak for themselves, but they are basically saying that when the Lord disciplines us, we NEED to take it seriously, because if we don’t heed his word, then it could be eternal damnation for us. Just like Pastor Bobby’s sermons, “not listening” is a DEADLY SIN. DO NOT stray from the path of righteousness; ask for forgiveness, repent of that sin, and stay on the good path, “the path less taken.”
And when he DOES discipline us, think of it as encouragement; we need discipline to be put back on the right path. I believe that we should be grateful that God cares enough about us to treat us like his children and rebuke us when we need it. It makes me feel so happy to be known as “God’s Child!” :)
Good Night & God Bless!
P.S. Um, HELLO!!! Donde estan los posts?!? We should at LEAST post on Sunday of all days!!!
God help me to be a better Christain by talking to non-christians.
Verse two is absolutely beautiful. Jesus Christ is the author and perfector of our faith which paints an amazing picture of his undenyable soveirenty. The Lord is perfect in every way shape and form a perfection we cannot even imagine in our wildest dreams.
7Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father?
8If you are not disciplined (and everyone undergoes discipline), then you are illegitimate children and not true sons.
If we are truly Christians and living our lives for Jesus Christ, he will test to make sure we are legitimate Christians. He will discipline us to make us truly legit. If we are not disciplined, Christ is not testing us and we are not true sons. We are illegitimate children, not even Christians. I pray that this summer I don’t become lazy but I stay faithful to Jesus Christ and also, a major theme in this chapter, that I will pursue to be Holy.
4In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood.
The author of Hebrews writes to his audience that they have yet to shed blood for their faith. He is telling them that in their struggle against sin and opposition and persecution, they haven’t even been made to shed blood. Christianity was never stated as the easy life here on earth. In reality, it is the opposite. The Christians life will be tough; persecution will come to those who have repented of their sins and put their faith in Christ as they are pursuing Him. But this is what Matthew 5:11-12 says, “Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”
Even though persecution will come and it won’t be easy, Matthew records of how Jesus said that blessed are those who do endure persecution because of their faith. I neeed to not be scared of the opposition that I will face as a Christian. Instead, I need to be excited to stand boldly for Christ when faced, and be a light to those around me. In my struggle, I, too, am yet to shed blood for Christ. I need to not be scared, but look to those before me and those right now who are suffering and be encouraged to live without fear. The pain here on this life is nothing compared to how amazing eternity in heaven will be!
2Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
I like the line “let us fix our eyes on Jesus.” We should live our lives with our minds constantly thinking about Jesus Christ. With him on our minds we will be more willing to obey.
Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
Throughout life, even as christians, we take our eyes of Jesus Christ at one time or another. It is vital to keep your eyes fixed on the Lord and to seek the Lord and if you do so you will be stronger in facing the enemy. We should seek refuge in the Lord. Life is easier and you will find your purpose here on the earth more and more as you seek Him.
3 Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.
This is definitely an encouragement in the battle against sin. He who was tempted and conspired against by all the earth still was sinless, and He i also able to help us conquer sin.
Can’t wait till Revival! Soon!
1Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.
It is so important that we throw off all distractions and everything that pulls us away from God. We need to be focus on Him alone, rather than the things of the world. Its so easy to get caught up with the worldly things like school, sports, or friends. But we need to make sure we are keeping theses things in perspective.
12Therefore, strengthen your feeble arms and weak knees.
We need to train ourselves to not become weak and out of shape by being in God’s Word, posting on SOTD, and praying atleast 10 minutes a day, evangalize to non-Christians, fellowshiping with other believers and living our lives out for Jesus Christ! Let’s prepare ourselves everday to live out Godly lives and strengthen our knowledge of God. No one will ever know enough about God, but most importantly we need to be doing what He’s telling us because remember knowings only half the battle.
10Our fathers disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, that we may share in his holiness.
11No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.
Being disciplined is not always easy but sometimes it is needed. For the most part if people were not disciplined we would probably be living in a world thats out of control! Krazyness, huh?? XD So for our best interest having a loving father discipline us is needed and as christians we need to abide by the laws of Christ. Alot of people dont like to be disciplined, but if you love them enough like God loves us with all his heart, you need to discipline them, but out of love. Either way, discipline is not a fun thing, but we need to see that it is a good thing and that it’ll lead a more blessful life filled with peace. :)
5And you have forgotten that word of encouragement that addresses you as sons: “My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you,
6 because the Lord disciplines those he loves, and he punishes everyone he accepts as a son.”
I have lost heart, i have become discouraged during my time of trial. I need to remember that the Lord disciplines those he loves to make them stronger. I need to look up and go strong, not becoming discouraged, but becoming on fire.
11No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.
I need to look ahead to the good that this is going to bring. The Lord promises here to bring righteousness and peace. I am going to grow in my sanctification and remember the promises the Lord has for me.
15 See to it that no one misses the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many.
I interpret this verse as seeing to it that no body is left without knowing God. This means that we need to evangelize to people in order to spread God’s grace to others, so that they to may be saved. I know for me at least, that evangelism is definitely something I need to work on doing more in my life. I pray that God will give me as well as other Christians around the world to have the courage to talk to random people we don’t know about God’s love and save them from their sins.
3Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.
What an encouragement to us as followers of Christ when we are tempted by sin because Christ is our example he endured opposition and persecution from men. We must look to Christ as our model because it is only though him that we can and will endure when opposition arrises. And we can look back to his example so that we will not grow weary. For he is our hope, and we must hope in him.
11No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.
The Christian life isn’t easy or perfect. We’re promised many trials and tribulations. But its through these hard times that God draws us to him. He wants us to learn right from wrong, and learn to trust him above everything else. The result of turning to God in the hard times is righteousness and peace afterward. God promises that it will be worth it!
2Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
3Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.
We should all know that endurance in the Christian life is hard. We easily get distracted or tired. But our weakness makes the endurance of Christ more incredible.
I also love that “joy set before him” was the fuel for Jesus’ endurance. I not only need to fix my eyes on Jesus; I also need to remember the joy set before me!
28Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe,
As Christians who have received the grace of God, our worship to Him should be filled with reverence and awe. This verse demands that we maintain this high view of God, meaning that we remember that our Creator is to be exalted and held in high honor. Oftentimes we have the tendency to reduce God to a friend, rather than our Supreme Lord and sovereign sustainer. I pray that our worship of God would be acceptable as we understand truly who God is!
2Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
This is saying that Jesus is perfect and we should only worship him. Because he died on the cross for us and is the Song of God.
I am going to apply this to my life by being as close to Jesus as possible because he is my savior and I will live for him 100%
REVIVAL 09 IS AROUND THE CORNER!!!!!!!
3 Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.
this verse is saying that we cant lose focus on our walk with god and let sin take us away from that. i think that is very easy to lose focus on ur walk and fall into sin and we should be staying as far as we can from sin or we will probly fall into it
I read…
I liked verse 2… “Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” In our daily lives, sometimes we do not have God at the focus which would effect every decision that we would make. I pray that we would not be selfish and trying only to please ourselves, but that we would choose Christ’s way. I encourage you to preach to yourself tomorrow to fix yourselves on Jesus and nothing else.
Remember to preach to yourselves! Thank you Pastor Bobby for telling us this great way to remind ourselves!
As our father god will punish us but we must understand that this is to help us in our walk and correct us when we fall. We must “fix our eyes on Jesus” and stay strong in our difficult walk.
4In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood.
This verse confirms how easy we have it hear in Orange County in the year 2009. The worst persecution we probably get is humiliation from our friends. Back in the Bible times, just look at most of the disciples….they all pretty much were murdered for their beliefs in Jesus Christ. The worst thing that could have happened to them back then was death, and the smallest thing would seem so harsh to us!! It goes to show how much we take for granted of what the disciples went through back then!!! All we care about now is what people think of us and our feelings… This is very encouraging to me to get out there more and profess my faith and care at all of what people would think of me!!!
5And you have forgotten that word of encouragement that addresses you as sons: “My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you,
6because the Lord disciplines those he loves, and he punishes everyone he accepts as a son.”
This is a great passage because it really speaks right into life! There are many trials I have had when I am tempted to loose heart. Sometimes the Lord is training me and sometimes I am getting disciplined for my own sin. I need to be thankful and joyful in both because not only does it evidence my standing in him as his child but also his great love for me in not letting me wander off doing my own thing. Instead of praying for things to be easier I’m going to be praying for the strength to endure.
2Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
What an awesome verse!!! “Let us fix our eyes on Jesus”.. We need to focus on Jesus and the sacrifice He made for us and the example He laid before us through His perfect life!! I need to have my gaze set on Jesus and His example!!
Sorry today’s Scripture of the Day wasn’t up at the right time!
29for our “God is a consuming fire.”
Let us make sure that we fear God.
1Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.
The Lord says that if we truley want to follow Him with all of our heart, we have to make scrifices. It’s hard a lot of times, but if you think about it, it’s worth it when you compare now to eternity.
Hebrews 12
1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.
2 Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
Today at True North Bobby talked about being doers of the Word not just hearers. Hearers of the Word that do nothing to eradicate their sin are dead in sin. If we do not act upon what we hear than the Holy Spirit is not in us. If we are truly called by the Holy Spirit than we will throw off everything that hinders and entangles us and run the race that God has marked out for us.
Let us not be forgetful hearers instead let us be effectual doers of the Word which is a critical sign of true repentance and faith.
Rev 2:5 Remember the height from which you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place.
7Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father?
this is a different way to look at the reason hardships happen in our lives. when i go through hard things, honestly, the first thing that goes through my mind is not always “how is God going to use this for good” but it should be. it is so true how God dispilines us as sons and daughters. no one wants to be the lillte kid in walmart that is throwing a huge temper fit cuz they have not been disiplined enough as a young child, and i am glad that God does not just turn His back and let us do whatever we want without His close watching over me and the disipline that He gives me
2Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
The author and perfect part reminds me of Philippians 1:6, this should give us confidence because while on this side of eternity it seems like we are doing work to be stay a Christian we ultimately know that it is God who is sanctifying us and saving us.
28Therefore since we receive a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us show gratitude, by which we may offer God an acceptable service with reverence and awe;
To me, this verse explains how and why we should serve God. He gives us eternal life with Him if we obey with reverence and awe. Sometimes we serve grudgingly and not willingly(I know I have) but we need to always serve with reverence and awe as it says here. God spells it out for us and all we need to do is listen AND obey :)
2Let us fix our eyes on Jesus
let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles
These verses really show the focus necessary for a close walk with the Lord. We need to prioritize on the things that really matter in life.
Matthew 6:20 (New International Version)
20But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal.
5And you have forgotten that word of encouragement that addresses you as sons: “My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you,
6because the Lord disciplines those he loves, and he punishes everyone he accepts as a son.”
The Lord does disciplines those He love. As Christians we need to be disciplined if we do something wrong than we won’t do it again.