Life Walk: Hebrews 5:9-6:12

Hebrews 5:9-6:12 is a warning against a veering away from a “life walk” that leads to what only God knows is best for our lives,& leads to our lives “storing up treasures in Heaven” that Jesus talks about (Matthew 6:19-21).Hebrews 5:9-14 begins this warning by saying,”Although HE(Jesus Christ)was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered.And being made perfect, HE became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey HIM(seek&follow him),....About this we have much to say, and it is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing.For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God(God’s Word). You need milk(what someone else says about God), not solid food(learning what God says directly to each of us via His Word&His Spirit),for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child.But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice(seeking&following Jesus via His Word &His Spirit)to distinguish good from evil.”.This warning begins with THE most SIGNIFICANT reason for a mind/heart/life veering away from the “life walk” that leads to what only God knows is best for our lives,& also leads to our lives “storing up treasures in Heaven”. This reason  being our not “weaning off of milk”/our not seeking to become skilled in the word of righteousness/not diligently seeking to know what God says in His Word AND not learning how to knead what God Teaches into our lives!When this diligence is not a part of our lives,we become dependent on what other people say,instead of dependent on what God Says!And when this happens over and over,we will eventually have minds/hearts/lives that slowly veer far from The Heart of The Living God...and unable to effectively distinguish the difference between good and evil....leaving our mind/heart/life tragically exposed to deceptions of all kinds that can lead us away from the Promises that God’s Love has for us.This is why we read in the last sentence of the warning of Hebrews 5:9-6:12,”We do not want you to become lazy,but to imitate those who through faith and patience inherit what has been promised.”.We must not be spiritual lazy,by ONLY feeding on milk and not seeking to feed on “the meat” of what God reveals as we Seek to learn more about His Word and Seek to Follow what we learn with the Help of His Spirit.And we must seek to have people in our lives that demonstrate a sincere Faith in Christ,& a sincere Perseverant “Life Walk” with Christ,so they may be the RIGHT kind of influence/RIGHT kind of encouragement for our mind/heart/life.Dear Lord Jesus,Thank You for the loving FACT that You have  PERSONALLY given me Your Word to become the richest of nutrition for my everlasting life... the nutrition that Jesus talks about when confronted by Satan(Matthew4:4,”It is written,man shall not live by bread alone,but by every word that comes from the mouth of God”!).I pray for Your help in staying true to seek Your Heart for me in Your Word,& for the Help of Your Spirit to knead Your Truths into every aspect of my mind/heart/life.And grant me a growing discernment that leads me to those around me which You have placed in my life to be Your vessels of RIGHT encouragement & RIGHT influence for me.

Hebrews 3:7-4:12 - Deepening a Sincere True Faith

Of the people in Exodus that fled Egypt when God provided the way for His people;&gave them miraculous favors with the Egyptians;&parted the Red Sea;&provided water;&provided mana;&protected them;&let them see & know His Presence among them,etc.,all but two of the original group that fled Egypt and experienced all of the above made it all the way to the Promised Land.This is because most of the people let challenges and influences around them steal them away from True FAITH in The Living God that through His Mercy&Grace was providing every essential care & protection for them.In order to reach The Promises of God all they had to do was Faithfully Walk with Him as they made their way through the challenges and influences,and persevere toward the Promises of God.But only two of the original group that walked through the parting of the Red Sea did not “fall short” of the Promises of God in the Promised Land->Caleb & Joshua!All the others let what God revealed as evidence of His Awesome Trustworthiness to them through His Mighty Interventions in their lives be stolen away from them by the challenges and influences orchestrated by the devil to keep them from the Promises of God.In everyone’s life there are going to be challenges and influences that always have 2 core purposes! God’s purpose in all of these challenges and influences is to fulfill His Promise of Romans8:28 in the lives of those that love The Lord and are called according to His purpose(“And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good,for those who are called according to his purpose.“)!John 10:10 tells us that the devil also has a purpose in the challenges and influences around us when this verse says “the thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy”.The Thief/The devil is as clever and sneaky as any thief that ever was in the ways that he will deceptively sneak in through challenges and influences around us.But we have warning signs that are ours if we listen to God’s Word & His Spirit,& a Savior that saves us if we turn toward The Lord and not toward the influences and their UNfaithful ways of meeting challenges->the rest of John10:10->”But I (Jesus Christ) have come that they may have LIFE and have it ABUNDANTLY!”.Every day we are going to have personal skirmishes orchestrated for the purpose of stealing us away from the Promises of The Living God.These sometimes come as sneaky temptations,sneaky thoughts,&sneaky influences purposed for stealing from us and/or our destruction.But persevering with our Faith in The Lord will keep us from the dangers of veering our mind/heart/life away from The Promises of God and away from a Deepening Sincere True Faith in The Lord.This is what Hebrews 3:7-4:12 are addressing->”...Today,if you hear His voice,do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion....Today if you hear His Voice....Today if you hear His voice....Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience.For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.”SO! We must be aware of the importance of staying on our toes not to let any challenge and/or influence become the beginning of our mind/heart/life making a turn away from The Lord & His Promises that leads us to hardening our hearts to the point of rebellion as most of the people in Exodus had.And,there indeed was a point that the people of Exodus had that one challenge and/or influence that ultimately robbed them of the seed that God Planted in their lives via His MIRACULOUS intervention in their lives through challenges and influences(Christ talks about this via His parable of the Sower n Matthew13:1-23!).Dear Lord Jesus,please make me humble enough to always be mindful of the significance of making TODAY the day that I seek to walk with you through the challenges and influences in every day.Help me through the INFLUENCE of Your Word and Your Spirit always make decisions to follow You and not succumb as most of the people in Exodus did.

Hebrews 2:1, "Therefore..."

After planting The Stake in the Ground of the Absolute Sovereign Deity of Jesus Christ in Hebrews2:1 begins with a “THEREFORE”,or in other words, because of the HUGE SIGNIFICANCE of the Absolute Sovereign Deity of Jesus Christ,we MUST pay attention to the warning/instruction/encouragement that comes after the “therefore”!The Deity of Christ is one of the “main targets” of Satan in his efforts to destroy us in this life and especially for all of Eternity...,because if Jesus is even a single speck short of being FULLY GOD,then the The Truths of the entire Bible fall far short of revealing into our lives The Full Mercy and Full Grace of GOD that HIS Awesome Love desires for us to be blessed with....and we will never know the LOVING RELATIONSHIP with GOD as our Father in Heaven that Jesus Christ only can enable.Hebrews2:1-4.”Therefore we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it.For since the message declared by angels proved to be reliable, and every transgression or disobedience received a just retribution,how shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation? It was declared at first by the Lord, and it was attested to us by those who heard,while God also bore witness by signs and wonders and various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will.”.These verses are reminding us that we must be proactive in “paying closer attention” to what we have heard and been told about The One True Triune God...the ONLY Author & Perfecter of our FAITH (Hebrews12:2,”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.”).The first Century followers of Christ knew the significance of The Holy Scriptures having God The Father,God The Son,&God The Spirit weaved throughout every fiber of God’s Word...and how the Birth,Life,Teachings,Sufferings,Death,Resurrection,&Ascension of Jesus Christ VERIFIED every Word in God’s Word...& FULFILLED every HOLY&RIGHTEOUS REQUIREMENT for every Promise in God’s Word to be FULFILLED in the lives of those who TRUST in Jesus Christ as Savior & Lord.These verses are warning us that if we do not continue to “pay closer” attention to The Truths that God reveals to us through His Word and His Spirit.....we may “drift away from it”.I recently saw a friend after not hearing from them in 10 years.10 years ago they were firm in their FAITH in Christ and what The Bible said as TRUTHS.Over the last 10 years they went back to Seminary and began being mentored by a professor that had drifted from The Truths of God’s Word...& did not believe in the Significance of Jesus’ Deity.This obviously led to a slow drift in “who” my friend was 10 years ago,to a person that is now very different and obviously lacking an Eternal Peace and Joy that is supposed to be this life as well as Eternally(what God desires for us-“Therfore, my brothers and sisters, you whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, STAND FIRM IN THE LORD.....Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!....And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”).The “moral of the story” is that unless we regularly shore up our mind/heart/life with what God has given us,shown us,and proven to us through His Word,His Spirit,& PROVEN through Christ...and TRUE UP EVERYTHING by what God has given us,shown us,and proven to us through His Word,His Spirit,& PROVEN through Christ...we may very well “drift away from it...”.Dear Lord, Thank You for Your Word and Your Spirit...& the faithful men and women that You have brought into my life that have been used by You to remind me of the Truths in these verses of Hebrews 2 that have kept me from drifting away from You.And I praise You for Giving me Your Word and Your Spirit to guide me and provide the protection against a “drift” in my life.Please,I pray...continue to HELP keep from this treacherous drift in my mind/heart/life.

JESUS IS GOD: Hebrews 1

The Deity of Christ is paramount to fully knowing the Power of Christ that is fully capable to completely cleanse His followers of all sin,& to have the Power of His Grace be real in our lives so that the REAL SECURE Peace that surpasses all understanding may be what keeps us stable in a tumultuous filled world..Without the  Deity of Christ being the essence of What&Who He is,He would be incapable of having the absolute authority and the “endless currency” that is overwhelmingly sufficient to not only cleanse us from all UNrighteousness,but to make us Holy and Righteous in HIS PRESENCE!Only The One True God that has these “capacity’s” could make all the Promises of the Bible...and KEEP them!And ONLY a One True God that is Infinitely Omnipotent;Infinitely Omniscient;and Infinitely Omnipresent...only The God of all these attributes could have the fullness of SOVEREIGNTY necessary to follow through with these things!This is why Hebrews 1 puts an immovable stake in the ground about the Deity of Christ! Even though many that the book of Hebrews is addressed to were eyewitness to the crucifixion and the resurrection of Christ...& some even watched Him ascend into Heaven...& even though there was undeniable evidence for the veracity of Jesus identifying himself as God several times...there were those that were succumbing to the mumblings of doubt seeded by enemies of The Living God.The enemies of The True Living God were conniving lies to cover up the Truths of Christ and smearing the same Truths with deceptive tactics.These tactics were an effort to make Jesus out to be a very good man that had wise lessons to teach...,and no different from any other prophet.Problem with this is that if Jesus were anything less than Fully God,He would not BE what He had to BE...to COMPLETE what He did on the Cross and have the AUTHORITY to say what he did when He said,”It is finished!”(John19:30).This is why the author of Hebrews establishes WHAT&WHO Jesus IS at the very beginning of his message!Without this firm foundation of JESUS being FULLY GOD,there would be no firm hope for us to TRUST in for LIFE...no SOLID ASSURANCE that we can truly have a living relationship with The One True Living God as our FATHER in Heaven!Jesus HAD TO BE fully God in order to take care of the FULL penalty of death for our sin...without us having to do a single thing but TRUST in Christ only!If HE were not FULLY God,then seeking and following Him would be like following nothing but a prophet or a wise teacher...and if this were the case then we are back to the problem of adequately taking care of our sin debt, which is death!Jesus BEING FULLY GOD on our behalf is the only answer for a FULLY transformed life FULLY  cleansed from the judgement of sin and it’s penalties....and free from the entanglements of sin that keep us from knowing the TRANSFORMING Peace and Joy and Wisdom and Discernment...only found in and through a RIGHT RELATIONSHIP with The Living God as our Father in Heaven....made possible ONLY through God The Son-Jesus Christ.Dear Lord Jesus,I am awed by WHO&WHAT YOU ARE,and I praise YOU for becoming THE SACRIFICE that ONLY YOUR DEITY could become so that I could be made Holy & Righteous in YOUR Presence...and have a relationship with YOU as my Father in Heaven...so I can climb into your lap of SOVEREIGN DEITY and know a LOVE so AMAZING and TOTALLY TRUSTWORTHY...the ONLY LOVE that has the AUTHORITY & POWER to be trusted forever for my best!

Philemon 1:4-6

Philemon1:4-6 is a brief statement from Paul that is HUGE in it’s significance for our relationship with Christ.When we sincerely ask Jesus to come into our life to save us from our sin,HE places HIS Holy Spirit in us to help us transform our mind/heart/life from what we were because of sin,into what our Father in Heaven created us to be without sin’s influence->the process of sanctification enabled by the in dwelling of The Holy Spirit.Like a seed planted in soil,the significance of The Holy Spirit’s presence in our mind/heart/life(our acceptance & the benefits of The Holy Spirit’s HELP in the process of sanctification)is dependent on how we personally nurture this Gift of The Lord in our mind/heart/life.Just as an athlete must incorporate a full nurturing program as he/she seeks to achieve a goal,we should apply the same to our lives as we appreciate the significance of the process of sanctification for our lives.This includes feeding our mind/heart/live with GOOD things as defined by GOD,and then exercising those things in our mind/heart/live in order to strengthen new “muscle fibers”in our life!When Paul writes to Philemon,he knows that Philemon has been growing in his knowledge of God’s Word and his appreciation for The Gospel of Christ.So in Philemon1:4-6 he says,”I thank my God always when I remember you in my prayers,because I hear of your love and of the faith that you have toward the Lord Jesus and for all the saints,and I pray that the sharing of your faith may become effective for the full knowledge of every good thing that is in us for the sake of Christ.”.Knowing that Philemon has been growing in his love for The Lord and that he has a faith that has been founded in the sound teachings of Jesus Christ....the one thing that Paul is now praying for in Philemon’s life is that he exercise this faith/strengthen this faith, by “sharing” how his mind/heart/life has been changed by The Gospel of Christ->by just living according to the changes occurring in his life as he grows in his walk with The Lord.When the way we think;respond;talk;love;empathize;prioritize;value;play;discipline;work;socialize,etc., are changed to be more Christ like because of our seeking & following Christ,our FAITH grows & it is strengthened....and the way we live among others/our “life walk” becomes the most effective way of sharing our FAITH!Truth is,the way we think;respond;talk;love;empathize;prioritize;value;play;discipline;work;socialize,etc., are determined by what we believe/have FAITH in!When we think;respond;talk;love;empathize;prioritize;value;play;discipline;work;socialize,etc.,like the world around us,we are living with the same belief system/FAITH as the world around us!When we think;respond;talk;love;empathize;prioritize;value;play;discipline;work;socialize,etc.,more and more like The Lord teaches and The Holy Spirit guides us,then we are living “as if” we truly TRUST The Lord/have FAITH in The Lord as we “life walk” with The Lord through our day.As we walk with The Lord like this,our LIFE shares our FAITH with the world around us->a FAITH that is very different from the world around us! This is when our lives become effective “for the sake of Christ”,as stated at the end of Philemon1:6!If we are not exercising what we are learning about Christ in our life like this,then our lives are not becoming more and more effective “for the sake of Christ”,but we are remaining a part of the “support system” for the way the world around us thinks;responds;talks;loves;empathizes;prioritizes;values;plays;disciplines;works;socializes,etc.,& there is little that happens in us & around us “for the sake of Christ”!Dear Lord,this lesson in Philemon embarrasses me by revealing how much of me is living with a faith that is so much like that of the world,& so unlike a True FAITH in YOU!Help me to be more aware of this in me,& help me to change this about me...so my life will become a living demonstration of truly believing everything about YOU and everything that YOU teach in Your Word for my sake,& for the sake of those around me...