Sacrifices Pleasing to God
13:1 Let brotherly love continue. 2 Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares. 3 Remember those who are in prison, as though in prison with them, and those who are mistreated, since you also are in the body. 4 Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous. 5 Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” 6 So we can confidently say,
“The Lord is my helper;
I will not fear;
what can man do to me?”
7 Remember your leaders, those who spoke to you the word of God. Consider the outcome of their way of life, and imitate their faith. 8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. 9 Do not be led away by diverse and strange teachings, for it is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace, not by foods, which have not benefited those devoted to them. 10 We have an altar from which those who serve the tent have no right to eat. 11 For the bodies of those animals whose blood is brought into the holy places by the high priest as a sacrifice for sin are burned outside the camp. 12 So Jesus also suffered outside the gate in order to sanctify the people through his own blood. 13 Therefore let us go to him outside the camp and bear the reproach he endured. 14 For here we have no lasting city, but we seek the city that is to come. 15 Through him then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name. 16 Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.
17 Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you.
18 Pray for us, for we are sure that we have a clear conscience, desiring to act honorably in all things. 19 I urge you the more earnestly to do this in order that I may be restored to you the sooner.
Benediction
20 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, 21 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.
Final Greetings
22 I appeal to you, brothers, bear with my word of exhortation, for I have written to you briefly. 23 You should know that our brother Timothy has been released, with whom I shall see you if he comes soon. 24 Greet all your leaders and all the saints. Those who come from Italy send you greetings. 25 Grace be with all of you. (ESV)
16And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.
We should not forget anything to do with God and his word and to not be lazy and do what he says.
5Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.”
One mark of a true Christian is a contented life. This verse makes it clear that we can be content no matter how much or how little we have materially because we have a stable relationship with God. When God says He is always with us and will never leave us we can be content because the truth is that we need nothing more than God to live a quality life. As Christians we should not get caught up in the materialism that is so prevalent in Orange County. We do not need to focus on how much “stuff” we have when we have Christ. All the stuff that people chase after on earth is going to burn, but our relationship with God will last forever. Let’s all search our hearts today and make sure there is no sign of discontent and no love of money. If there is that means our focus is on earthly things and not on God.
Heb 13:4 Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure, for God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral.
God wants us to think pure thoughts, not just act in pure ways! My prayer is that all True Northers would be like Job: “I made a covenant with my eyes not to look lustfully at a girl.” Job 31:1. This applies to us all: men, women, young and old. So here’s the way out – Phil 4:8 Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.
Praying for your Revival! Get on the Bus!
I don’t know, the whole chapter just hit me pretty hard. Like for example, we no longer need sacrifices, we should remember those in prison, don’t love money, etc. But one of the verses that really stood out to me was: Hebrews 13:7 “Remember your leaders, who spoke the word of God to you. Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith.” I really like this verse. I don’t know if it is talking about leaders solely being pastors or not, but if its not, my mom is an example of a great leader. She trusts in God for everything. Her life has been blessed in many ways because of her faith. I wish I could be more like her because I wanna be closer to God too.
16And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased. we need to always be thinking about how we can share the gospel with others. i especially need to be bold all the time. sometimes i feel scared or intimidated so i wont talk to people but i need to overcome this and make evangelizing a life stile!
6So we say with confidence, “The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?”
The LORD can do ANYTHING and EVERYTHING! He is with us 24/7 and will comfort us in our time of need. Man can’t do anything to us, for Jesus can and has defeated all. So don’t be afraid and rely on Jesus. :]
8Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.
Question for Pastor Bobby: for beach night you said that Jesus is different today, so when this verse says yesturday, does it mean the day after Jesus rises or what is its meaning of same? :]
***EXCITED FOR REVIVAL!!!***
Great question Payton!
8Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.
Jesus is the same in that he has always been and always will be God. What I was talking about was when he put on human flesh as a baby or when he died on the cross as a man. Even though he humbled himself for a time as a human, he was still God. His character did not change in that he has always been perfect and holy. He has always been loving and spoke the truth. So though he went through different stages of life as a human, his character and who he really is as God has never changed! Hope that helps!
17Obey your leaders and submit to their authority. They keep watch over you as men who must give an account. Obey them so that their work will be a joy, not a burden, for that would be of no advantage to you.
I wrote a blog about this and how we are supposed to think about pastors a few weeks ago. Check it out by clicking on my name!
5Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.”
Matthew 27:46 “About the ninth hour Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?”—which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”
So in this chapter in verse 5, it says that God said “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.” In Matthew 27:46, Christ is asking His Father, “why have you forsaken me” can I just get an explanation about these two verses? like why does God say I will never forsake you and Christ is saying why have you forsaken me, that would be appreciated!
14For here we do not have an enduring city, but we are looking for the city that is to come.
I think this verse is talking about the New Jerusalem…because it says “we are looking for the city that is to come.”
8Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.
I love this Truth; that Jesus is eternal, He is God and He will always be and never change! Again the whole immutable character that He possesses leaves me in awe and with such confidence and hope!
6So we say with confidence, “The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?”
When we begin to grasp God’s omnipresence, that he always with us, we will have a similar attitude. If you are a Christian you will face opposition in this world. “In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.” (2 Timothy 3:12) Thus we need to remember that God is with us. And when we live like you have the most powerful being in the universe on our side, like Paul, we can say, “If God is for us, who can be against us?” (Romans 8:31)
15 Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise—the fruit of lips that confess his name.
Are we offering continual praise to God? We have so much to be thankful for, and so much to praise God for, yet often we do not give Him the praise that He deserves. If we are serious about following Him and bringing Him glory, then it should become very easy for us to be able to praise Him; even in this chapter, attributes such as God’s immutable character are presented which we can praise Him for! We as Christians need to be devoted to praising God with our lives, and we all, including myself, need to work on stepping up our faith in this area, making our praise a lifestyle instead of words we say during prayers.
5Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.”
This world loves money. So many people have money as their main focus. Even with some high schoolers, they want to do well in school so they can go to a good college so they can get a good job so they can make lots of money. Their whole drive is to end with lots of money. This is wrong! People shouldn’t be striving after the things of this world. Matthew 5:19-21 says, “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
While many people are only focused in the here an now, living for possessions that will not satisfy, these worldly possessions will not last! Instead of investing in the things of this world that don’t last, people need to be investing into the things that will last and actually have eternal value! I need to not get caught up with all the latest things of this world. Instead, I need to be focused on eternal things, such as growing in wisdom through reading the Bible, growing in my relationship with God through prayer, growing in fellowship with other Christians, as well as witnessing to non-Christians. I need to be all about what matters in life, not lost living in vain! I need to never let anything pull my focus away from Christ!
5 Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.”
6 So we say with confidence, “The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?”
7 Remember your leaders, who spoke the word of God to you. Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith.
Whenever we struggle with hardship, or feel like we don’t have enough, remember that we have God on our side and he is all we need. God is always with us.
And I love verse 7 because going to Compass with amazing teachers and leaders, we can see how we ought to live and the faith we ought to have. (i love the word ought)
1Keep on loving each other as brothers.
I think this is a great exhortation for all of us in True North! Bobby recently finished a series on practicing the one anothers to our brothers and sisters in Christ, but I think that we need to be encouraged to keep on loving. Ephesians 4:1-3 tells us that we should be making every effort to be unified with the other Christians in our lives. In his sermon, Bobby challenged us to make this effort to reach out the other people in True North. Have we really made every effort to be unified? Have we gone out of our comfort zone to reach out and love others? Have we given up on certain people? I’m convicted and encouraged by this verse to keep on loving! Let’s not fall into sin and forget to keep making every effort to be unified with our brothers.
“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
17Obey your leaders and submit to their authority. They keep watch over you as men who must give an account. Obey them so that their work will be a joy, not a burden, for that would be of no advantage to you. When i hear this the first thing i think of is :teachers. it’s really hard to always obey them because it seems like all they do is put you through even more pain on earth. But the bible says we need to serve with a right heart because we are ambassadors for Christ. This is always hard for me, but i will try.
Goodmorning . . . ( I can’t wait for “Revival ’09″ in 5 days. Yaaaaaa! )
I read . . .
Hebrews 13 . . .
“1. Keep on loving each other as brothers.”
“2. Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some people have entertained angels without knowing it.”
“3. Remember those in prison as if you were their fellow prisoners, and those who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering.”
“4. Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure, for God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral.”
“5. Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.”
All these verses are AMAZING. Especially verse 5, that one is very convicting. It’s saying do not covet money and want more. Instead, be content and happy with the many things that God has blessed you with. Do not go asking for more, or longing for more, or just wanting the next thing up from what you already have. Because in the end all those things are worthless and will just perish. They are meaningless compared to God.
The only thing we’ll ever need to survive with is ourselves, AND THE WORD OF GOD. The second part of the verse is saying, remember that God claims He will never leave, abandon, or give up on us. God is our Savior and Creator. Once we are saved by Him and repent and put our faith in Him, He’ll never leave us. He will never change either. GOD IS THE SAME YESTURDAY, TODAY, AND THE DAYS TO COME. =)
Remember this . . . “F.R.O.G” Fully, Rely, On, God!
~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~M.A.R.A.N.A.T.H.A~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~
=) -Ariana Mishreki- =)
P.S. God bless everyone. Great sermon yesturday Pastor Bobby. It was super convicting and got me thinking. THANK YOU! ;)
Sorry for not posting in a while. I’ve been . . . STUPID. (as Pastor Bobby said yesturday.)
=) -Ariana Mishreki- =)
12And so Jesus also suffered outside the city gate to make the people holy through his own blood.
13Let us, then, go to him outside the camp, bearing the disgrace he bore.
14For here we do not have an enduring city, but we are looking for the city that is to come.
I love love love love this passage! It has a lot of practical advice as well as general advice for how to live. Here we see that we always need to have a Maranatha attitude!! We need to, like Christ, be willing (and prepared) to suffer disgrace. Most Christians would agree that we should be boldy representing Christ, no matter what opposition we face from others. However, especially in High School, Christians can get discouraged and feel embarrassed for following Christ. This should not happen!! The reason being that we are not in a world that will last. This sinful world that encourages us to reject Christ is very temporary. We need to, as verse 12 says, be looking for Christ’s return. “But as for me, I watch in hope for the Lord, I wait for God my savior, my Lord will hear me.”-Micah 7:7. God can always hear us because his reign and his dwelling place is permanent. We need to be always watching for Him! Maranatha!
5Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.”
God is really all that we need. We shouldnt be so concerned about money and possessions because God will provide. He will never leave us. That is such a comforting thought that whatever we are going through, He is with us.
ELLO… I read
I like verse 1,”Keep on loving each other as brothers.”
I like this verse because it shows how CHRISTians should act. We are not to be enemies with others in the church but we are to act as if everyone in the church is family and to treat them as if they are family. It may be hard at times but GOD loved us so much that HE sent HIS SON who died for us. And HE did this while we were still HIS enemies.
CYA
6So we say with confidence, “The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?”
this is a struggle for me, so many times i forget to ask chrost for his guidance and help ad i end up trying to take on the world all by myself….but when i put Christ at the center of my life everything comes so much easier and i can feel God’s presence and helping hand in my life.
8Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.
this verse is soo amazing. how cool is it to think that through all these years through all the changes and things being modernized and destroyed and all that God is still the same as he was in the very very beginning! and he will always be that way…it conforts me to know that even though so many things come and go and change in my life, Christ will always be the same.
5Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.”
Terrific comments Beth, Kyle, and Nacho, I am going to agree with you on this verse!! I just loved the ending of this verse because it reminded me that coveting material objects in this world is absolutely ridiculous!! We have a God that is WAY beyond all material possessions!! He provides for us and takes care of us, what more do we need?? Instead of desiring worldly things, I’m going to boast in the Lord who provides me with all that I need!! :D
4Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure, for God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral.
This versus is not just for married couples, or older people, no. I think that this versus is directed to everyone but mostly young unmarried adults such as ourselves. This is something that we shoule keep in mind when we date.
2Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some people have entertained angels without knowing it.
This versus about entertaning strangers I believe is very important. It does not mean just if a weird couple comes to your door asking for a piece of bread late at night, this means invite new kids or unwelcomed people to thinks, and make them feel welcome.
17Obey your leaders and submit to their authority. They keep watch over you as men who must give an account. Obey them so that their work will be a joy, not a burden, for that would be of no advantage to you.
This versus is how we are suppose to rep God at work. This is very important because a lot of non- christians base alot of there judgement on us from how we work.
elloo everyone!
5Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.”—So many people are always so caught up in how much money they have and what they spend it on, but instead they should be focusing on God! Money may not always be there but God and no matter what I will always put my faith in Him to make my life right.
15Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise—the fruit of lips that confess his name. 16And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.—This is what I need to be focusing on right now on praising God and bringing glory to Him. It is hard to do it sometimes when I am surrouned by non-believers. But it also helps me to test my faith and please God by witnessing to others for Him. Please pray for me that I may perservere even though there may be hard times.
Lets all be praying for REVIVAL!!! :)
I like Hebrews 13:16, “And do not forget to do good and share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.”
(T) Whoever is writing this (It is possibly Barnabas or Apollos) is encouraging other churches and spurring them on towards righteousness.
(A) The majority of the people who believe in Heaven say that they can get accepted by being a “good person.” We did nothing to become a Christian, and God did this so that no one can boast.
(N) I need to remember that I was chosen by God to be part of His family, simply because He chose me. He did not choose me because of anything I have done, but because He chose me for no reason. No act of mine is great enough to win the favor of God, and God did this so I cannot boast about anything and give all the praise to Him, and that’s exactly what I will do.
hmmmmmmmm there’s so much you can take from this chapter! :D I like, I like!
17Obey your leaders and submit to their authority. They keep watch over you as men who must give an account. Obey them so that their work will be a joy, not a burden, for that would be of no advantage to you.
mmmmmmmmmmm this verse hit hard. Obeying authority is something that I know I struggle with everyday…but I thought about it some more and obeying them does not die in the end, but rewards because the Lord knows that your obeying Him and it’s not that easy. He knows that we are tempted to do wrong, because even Jesus was tempted. And is it really worth disobeying? Like it says, it gives no advantage to you. I know I’ll face judgement for every sin I’ve committed before God and I KNOW that that will not be fun. SOooooooo I am going to listen to the Lord and obey Him. :)
6 So we say with confidence, “The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?”
We can easily say, “God is my helper, I am not afraid of man.” Do we really mean it? If we mean it, then why do we continue to stay quiet when we could be sharing the word? Or why do we act like the rest of the world just to fit in? Acting like this clearly shows that we are afraid of man more than the Almighty God. I am guilty of this at times also. This verse is encouraging to me, and I hope it is too you also.
6So we say with confidence, “The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?”
This is great verse!! It reminds me of Matthew 10:28 where Jesus tells his disciples “Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell.” Jesus says that we should not be afraid of men because all they can do is kill us. As said in Hebrews 13:6, we should not be afraid of man because we as Christians have the Lord as our helper. This verse also goes great with getting rid of that intimidating feeling when evangelizing. We (especially myself) should realize that the worse thing man can do to us is kill us. God can do a lot worse if we DON’T do what He commands us to. So we should not be fearing men over God because we have the Lord as our helper against men. We should be fearing God over everything!
21 equip you with everything good for doing his will, and may he work in us what is pleasing to him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.
This verse is such a great example! It’s also convicting too. I love how the writer says “equip you with EVERYTHING for doing HIS will…” This is such a great example for our lives, and how we need to everything for God’s glory, not ours! Even though it can be hard, just think about why we need to do God’s commands, and why you are doing what you are doing for God. We should do it to please Christ, and glorify God as much as we possibly can!
1Keep on loving each other as brothers.
This verse is a great reminder about how we as Christians should act to other Christians, we need to treat them like they are your brothers because they are your brothers in Christ. We may have our differences but we need to work past them. Also the way we act twords other Christians is noticed by non Christians so if we are treating our brothers in Christ bad then whAt does that tell non Christians we need to live our lives knowing that god is wathing us
C u all soon
17Obey your leaders and submit to their authority. They keep watch over you as men who must give an account. Obey them so that their work will be a joy, not a burden, for that would be of no advantage to you.
Obeying authority can be difficult for me sometimes, especially when it comes to teachers at school. This verse reminds me though that my leaders are responsible for me and must give an account for their leadership. They have a duty before God and every time I don’t listen to them I am making their job more difficult. When I have this mindset, disobedience no longer becomes escaping from their iron rule but rather it is putting a stumbling block in their path of trying to do what is right. This is how I need to be thinking of disobedience and in the future I need to make sure that I am staying far away from it and rather obey my leaders right away so that I would help rather than hinder them in obeying the LORD.
14For here we do not have a lasting city, but we are seeking the city which is to come.
I remembered an old sermon when I read this verse. It was about how this world doesn’t matter and we should not get caught up in worldly desires and focusing on how we are to succeed in the world, but how we are going to succeed ETERNALLY. And that is with Jesus Christ, and focusing on HIM and obeying GOD!!
15Through Him then, let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that give thanks to His name.
This reminded me how we should always give thanks to God no matter what is going on. He always comes first and whatever we’re going through is not permanent and He will help us through all the way to the finish line for He is our Lord. Praise to Jesus Christ!!!
P.S. Everybody, we should be praying for Revival, it’s only 6 days away!!!!! :):):):):):):):)
This chapter is jam-packed with good stuff! I know I need to apply everything to my life, but this, in my opinion is especially important
7 Remember your leaders, who spoke the word of God to you. Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith.
At True North there is a massive group of leaders who lead us and live godly lives that I would like to imitate. Just to name a few: Pastor Bobby and Christa, Pastor Ben, SC small group leaders: John and Alicia Karlson, and there are several more that are great examples also.
I think I could also look at my parents lives and try to live as they do.
Excited and praying for Revival!
5Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said,
“Never will I leave you;
never will I forsake you
8Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.
5. It’s saying that I should not lust over money and that I should be happy what I have and not take anything for granted, For God will always be with me and he will never leave or betray me so I must not leave or betray Him.
8 That Jesus will never change he was holy and Perfect and will always and forever be Perfect & Holy
1 Keep on loving each other as brothers.
2 Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some people have entertained angels without knowing it.
These verses have one point and say it two ways; the point being love each other. Verse one says this straight up but God obviously wasn’t just content to leave it at that so He added verse two: we could be entertaining angels. Now that is pretty cool. So by loving your brother we could be loving an angel.
I read…
I liked verse 5… ‘Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.”‘ In this verse, the writer is telling us to not be concerned with the material things that we have (money) but be content because God is with us. Sometimes in our lives we become focused on getting the new best material things (clothes, ipods, etc.) that we start to sometimes take the focus off God. I am praying that we would not be concerned about the luxuries of the earth, but that we would be content because we have Christ, who will save us from hell if we trust in Him.
Thanks Pastor Bobby, that makes more sense
3Remember those in prison as if you were their fellow prisoners, and those who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering.
I love this verse!!! God is COMMANDING us to think of people who are mistreated, in prison, or basically have bad lives. This is a verse I should use when explaining to incredulous people why I want to adopt so many kids. (: Anyway, we need to be sympathetic to people like that. I need to be praying for prisoners and mistreated people and helping them in any way I can.
17Obey your leaders and submit to their authority. They keep watch over you as men who must give an account. Obey them so that their work will be a joy, not a burden, for that would be of no advantage to you.
This verse goes right along with Bobby’s sermon yesterday. We need to OBEY…that means DO. Not just listen. If we obey our pastors it makes there job so much better! I would so much rather be a joy to my pastor than a burden. When you don’t do what Bobby tells you to do you are sinning and grieving God’s heart but you are also becoming a burden to Bobby. You can become a joy once you start obeying! My prayer for this summer is that everyone in True North would be a JOY.
6So we say with confidence, “The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?”
I love this verse. I makes me want to go evangelize because God is on my side and What can man do to me.
17Obey your leaders and submit to their authority. They keep watch over you as men who must give an account. Obey them so that their work will be a joy, not a burden, for that would be of no advantage to you.
Daniel I was thinking the same thing… teachers. It is so common for everyone to just flat-out think they are the worst, but we need to obey them and everyone that is an authority to us!!! By doing so, we are obey the authority that GOD set forth for us!
As I was reading this chapter, I seriously couldn’t pick out just one thing that jumped out at me. Loving one another is a pretty big deal though. I mean Angels secretly being people that we have over as company? That’s pretty dang cool. And the fact that God will NEVER ever leave us is always comforting. We are the ones who decide to leave God, but everytime we come back, he is there, waiting.
Hey everyone!
“So we say with confidence, “The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?”
This should be our state of mind at all times. It is always difficult to stand up for what you believe in and we will be made fun of. But God is so much more powerful than any person on this earth. We should be so much more afraid of what God will do to us if we ignore an opportunity he gives us to share the gospel than of what people will think of us. I need to work on getting over my fear of man and share the good news with EVERYONE! God will always protect us and keep us safe so we have nothing to fear.
My dad tore his Achilles tendon and he has to go have surgery to fix it on Wednesday. Please pray that the surgery would go well.
2Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some people have entertained angels without knowing it.
Wow! I won’t forget!! And, I think this is such a cool thought plus a motivation to always be loving others and strangers as myself…
20May the God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep,
21equip you with everything good for doing his will, and may he work in us what is pleasing to him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.
Wow again! I want to memorize this and pray it every morning! This is exactly what I want to have…
Hebrews 13:3 “Remember those in prison as if you were their fellow prisoners, and those who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering.”
What the author of Hebrews is doing is enforcing the second greatest commandment in Matthew 22:39 “And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighor as yourself.’ Jesus calls us to love and treat everyone else as you would want to be treated. We all know about Jesus’ miracles about the water to wine and the feeding of the 4,000 . . . but I think a great miracle is that Jesus never stereotyped or discriminated; He treated everyone equal, which is something that is very difficult for us to do. So this verse tells us to remember and pray for those who are imprisoned or mistreated. We also need to love our enemies, because I would be so happy if my enemy would forgive me and love me enough to pray for me. We need to be like Jesus and “Love our neighbors as ourselves!”
Good Night and God Bless!
(I’m going to bed early 2nite. yeeahh!)
THIS IS SUCH A GREAT CHAPTER!!!!! :DDDD
5Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.”
This is a really serious verse, you guys. My dad and i were talking about this yesterday, actually. How many times do we use the word “I” in our sentences. A lot, if you ask me. Really, a lot of people dont realize how hypocritical we can be. I was thinking to myself how, when we pray, we thank God for what we are blessed with, etc. Then, like half an hour later, we start complaining of what we want and what we dont have. Really, when you focus on Gods commands, and what you can do to make someone elses a better day, you yourself will be more content. This verse convicted me majorly!
8Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.
mmmm:) dudes, this is a great verse to prove that God is the only God. Some of us were talkin to some students in my photo class about what they believe…and i learned a lot about budda
They said that he is dead now and that they try to be good so that they wont be a penguin or a bug in their “next life”
yeah…thats what they (like 6 people) told me
and other people said that all of their gods are dead too, but were once living
alright. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever. Hes not dead!! He is eternal, he was here before the beginning of time and he will always be alive.
He defeated sin and he rose from the dead. He is the only God who is alive, who is eternal and who is alive, holy, all knowing, everywhere, powerful, and more:)
Heres some more verses that say what i said^^^
Pslam 90:2 God created the earth, therefore, he was living before time even began
Psalm 93:2 He is eternal
John 8:57-58 MORE scripture to prove He is eternal:)
Revelation 1:8 This says a lot…its a parallel to verse 8 in Hebrews 13.
So, as we see more and more how truly incredible God is, let us become more humble and others focused, and let us remember who God is and how He is eternal
Maranatha!!!!
i forgot to comment on verse 6 too:)
6So we say with confidence, “The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?”
I thought that this would be a good verse for us to memorize, especially as we evangelize. I know that when i feel intimidated about talking to certain people about Christ, i remember this verse, and it kinda kicks me towards that person and i no longer am worried or nervous. Just remember…Jesus is always with us…not to mention we have the holy spirit inside of us to help us. God will give us the right words to speak, just pray for the right words, and for open opportunities to share the gospel, and oh boy, God will provide:)
maranatha!
2Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some people have entertained angels without knowing it.
So many posts! So cool. This whole set of verses stands out to me, and they are all cool, but this part especially. We could be seeing angels without knowing it! Imagine that. You get to heaven and see some homeless person you met on the street or some person that you helped, and they are truly a helper of GOD! An angel!
verse 2 is a really cool verse because we could have talked with angels, helped them or met angels. this makes me want to be kind to everyone as if they were angels! its cool to think that god sent them and we met them! thats really amazing!
i also like verse 5 because its really encouraging. it says never will i leave you or forsake you. the Lord will always be there for us and will always love us!
i also like verse 8 because it says that the Lord will never change he is always the same.
verse 17 is really convicting because i need to obey my parents and make being a parent a joy not a burden. this verse convicts me because i feel like im not making my parents job of being a parent a joy, im not obeying them like the lord calls me to obey. i need to obey my parents and not make it a burden to parent.
21equip you with everything good for doing his will, and may he work in us what is pleasing to him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.
God equips us to fight the spiritual warfare that is so prevalent in our lives with His own revelation, through the Bible. it is the sword of the Lord, that is sharper than any sword, and can cut through our hearts. this is why it is so important to be constantly in the Word. it is the way by which God equips us
5Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.”
Money rules alot of people’s lives but we should feel secure and be content with what we have because God always provides and looks after us. It’s harder said than done though especially in this materialistic society it’s kind of hard to be content but God should always be enough. He will never leave us unlike money.
6So we say with confidence, “The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?”
If God is on our side then who can be against us. We shouldn’t care about what other people think of us but what God thinks of us.
1Keep on loving each other as brothers.
2Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some people have entertained angels without knowing it.
3Remember those in prison as if you were their fellow prisoners, and those who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering.
The first part of this chapter is all about outreach and displaying the fruits of a relationship with the Lord. Later, the writer talks about many different topics, all of which are important, especially about praying.
18Pray for us
19I particularly urge you to pray
5Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.”
6So we say with confidence, “The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?”
The economy is going down. Madoff just scammed a bunch of people. If everyone had faith in God none of this would be a problem, because of His promises to help us through these things.
6So we say with confidence, “The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?”
Can we please just take this verse and print it out and carry it with us everywhere we go?!
Awesome verse. So encouraging and so true. When we wake up every morning, no matter what trial we have to face, we can be confident that God will never leave us. He is on our side. Nothing can happen that is out of his hands. What a comforting thing to know.
17Obey your leaders and submit to their authority. They keep watch over you as men who must give an account. Obey them so that their work will be a joy, not a burden, for that would be of no advantage to you.
It is imperative that we submit to the leaders that God has sovereignly placed over us. When we don’t and think we can be out on our own, we quickly become self deceived and proud, giving in to all kinds of sins and wayward thoughts because we aren’t willing to make ourselves accountable to someone and to follow their leadership. Bobby wrote such a great blog about this called “Who Is Your Pastor?” at http://www.compasschurch.org/blogs/pastorbobby/who-is-your-pastor
I really thought about the part that says obey them…that makes their work a joy! When Tyler obeys me it is joy to my heart because it shows his love for me and that he is being trained by all I am trying to teach him. That is a small scale of what it is like for our pastors to have us obeying. I need to not delay or be skeptical or hesitant but accept their word as it is, God’s Word to me and respond accordingly!
17Obey your leaders and submit to their authority. They keep watch over you as men who must give an account. Obey them so that their work will be a joy, not a burden, for that would be of no advantage to you.
Obeying our elders and leaders can be tough, especially for teenagers who may not like what their parents have to say about some subjects. This verse is just a great reminder that we need to submit to what theysay even if it is something we hate. God wants us to do it so therefore we do it. I know that i even have struggles when it comes to obeying our leaders.
I love this chapter! So good!
5Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.”
So many people look for what can please them in the world like money and popularity but those will not last. As Christians we have everything we can ever hope for, eternal life with Jesus Christ! And we have the relationship with God who will always be there for us. Money runs out but God and His love for us never will.
8Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.
Christ is the same to everyone. He does not judge us by what we look like, what we wear or how wealthy we are but by our faith.
Hey KJ! Great to see how pumped you are for Revival!
And good job noticing the contradiction that God promises to never forsake us but then this is what Jesus calls out on the cross-that God has forsaken him.
God has promised he will never forsake us… but this promise is only for those of us who are his people…who are really Christians.
And how are we able to become Christians…by Christ dying on the cross for our sin. God did forsake him in that he poured out all of his wrath for our sin on Christ. In a sense, it is because God forsook Christ on the cross that he can say he will not forsake us!
Hope that helps!
(v8) Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.
Wow… this is an amazing statement!!!! God is never changing! So the God that reigned down fire on Sodom and Gomorra, is the same God that humbled himself to become man and die for our sins! This is so powerful how mighty and awesome and wonderful and powerful our God is! This is one of the best and most humbling verses one can study in the Bible. It tells us who our God is and confirms that He doesn’t change His mind or evolve in any way, and this assures our promise of eternal life if we obey His commands and respond correctly to the Gospel.
Mmm that’s an awesome explaination to KJ’s question Pastor B, thanx.
6.) So we say with confidence, “The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?”
This verse is so important to us as Christians, and me specifically; we need to be living our lives for Christ and not worry at all about what man thinks or says or “what man can do to me.” My prayer today and every day is that God uses my life and gives me boldness to whatever He has planned for me!
1Keep on loving each other as brothers.
It is so important for us to put others above ourselves. If we can do this, it makes serving others easy. when we show our selflessness, people will realize it and it can be a very good way to share your faith.
5Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.”
This is hard to do in these sketchy economic times…but hey are we just going to listen to the Word or are we going to obey it? That is the ultimate question, and ultimately shows if we truly have saving faith. Let’s obey God and trust in him.
8Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.
One of the most amazing characteristics of God is that he never changes. What an amazing truth to know that he is always the same. He does not change his mind or make a mistake. He is completely faithful and unchanging.
That reminds me of the song by Chris Tomlin.
Great is your faithfulness
Great is your faithfulness
You never change
You never fail Oh God
True are your promises
True are you promises
You never change
You never fail Oh God.
5Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.”
One of the worst sins we can succumb to in this world is $$money$$…. Money can everything in this world except eternal salvation with Jesus Christ!!! It is O.K. to have money, but God does not want it to take over our lives and control us!! If someone has a lot of money, it is easy for that person in most cases, to use the money in ways that are not necessary and glorifying to God!! If a Christian is blessed with a great salary, God expects that person to give a portion back of what he has received, cause really it is all God’s to begin with and we should giving it all back!!
Another way to fall to money is people who may not have a lot of money and want to put their money to something that they can benefit from rather than giving it away!!
No matter what the circumstance, we never ever should let money control our lives because God is the one blessing us with whatever we have and we should always be looking for ways to give a part back to the One who ultimately rules over us, whether we think it or not.
5Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.”
I still remember when Pastor Mike preached on this verse in the main service. He especially emphasized the part that says, “be content with what you have.” He urged us to be intentional about being thankful for what God has given us.
And that is true because we are not naturally content or thankful. Therefore, we must take care to remind ourselves of the great gifts our God has given us and the promises he has made to us.
5Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.”
As the economy continually gets worse, people will become (and are becoming) more and more obsessed with money. It seems like the love of money is greatest when there’s not as much to go around. Its important for Christians to stand out as different for Christ- instead of being on a constant hunt for the next way to make a dollar, we have to be confident that God will take care of us, not the money we earn.
Verse 17 really stuck out to me. It talks about how obeying our parents is very important. Just like bobby said, a great way to see how u are obeying god is to see how you obey your parents. Obeying your parents is very important to god and is taken very seriously by him.
heyy guys i read…
i thought that this was a great chapter…it covered sooo many aspects non-believers may have questions about…marriage, obedience, loving others…but the verse that really tied all the major points in this letter together for me was…
“(v8) Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.”
an excuse that the Bible is “outdated” or that something written so long ago could not have any legitiment value to our modern world or “that was then this is now…things have changed” although this may be how the world veiws the Bible we know, as Christians that this is the Word of God and that He alone is unchanging… He invented time… He is limitless…
Hebrews 13
1 Keep on loving each other as brothers.
2 Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some people have entertained angels without knowing it.
3 Remember those in prison as if you were their fellow prisoners, and those who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering.
Wow this chapter is full of instruction. These first three chapters are all about Christ like Love that we receive from God. Our fellowship with our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ should be filled with a 1st Corinthians 13:4-8 Love.
1st Cor 13:4-8 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. 8 Love never fails…
Always treat others with a Christ like love because you never know who the Holy Spirit might minister to with the love you shine. I love how it mentions here in vs. 2 that some people have entertained angels without knowing it. You never know if you are entertaining someone who might bring you God’s blessings into your life.
We are also commanded here to remember those who are in lowly places even prison. We should have Christ like compassion even for those who we might think would never become believers. Never say never because with God nothing is impossible.
Matt 25:36-40 I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’ 37 “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38 When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39 When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’
40 “The King will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.’
2Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some people have entertained angels without knowing it.
this chapter had so many awesome things in it to comment on and think about! i chose this verse cuz it is something that i sometimes totally dont think about the way that i should. instead of looking at someone who is homeless and thinking that they will use money i give them on alcohol, or seeing a stranger walking down the street and making an assumption about them cuz of how they dress, i need to look at them as a creation of God. just imagine how amazing it would be if we showed love to everyone we see like God wnats us to. i am going to focus on showing love to the people that i may not normally want to show love to at first thought.
Nice! 70 comments! This chapter was awesome, as it adressed so many different things in each verse. “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.” This is such an encouragement, to know that Christ is eternally the same, and he will always be with us to guide us with his love! That’s something we should praise God for, that Christ will always love us & that he will always be the intercessor for us!
Pumped for Revival ’09!!!!!
8Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.
This verse is absolutely incredible. If you think about it, we change every day, growing and becoming different people. Some more mature, others more respectful, whatever the case we change. But Jesus is always the same. He has always been the being He is and will always be that same being.
16And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.
Do not forget to stay in the Word and do what god says we need to not be lazy this summer stay in the Word everyday.
Good Morning!!!!!!
I read today!! :D
verse 6
‘So we can confidently say,
“The Lord is my helper;
I will not fear;
what can man do to me?”’
I can say that I really don’t have to fear anything because I believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and I am saved through Him. He LOVES me and I LOVE Him. He is my Savior and HE will save me from the hand of evil.