Show Notes: Reflections on Advent and the Book of Hebrews

Episode Highlights:

Christmas Greetings from Pastor Ben: Warm wishes for a blessed Christmas and 2025.

Advent Sermons from Hebrews: Pastor Ben shares his thoughts on the Advent season, focusing on Jesus in the book of Hebrews:

The Glorious Son: Hebrews Chapter 1.

The Faithful Son: Hebrews Chapter 3.

The Perfect Son: Hebrews Chapter 7.

The Will of God: Hebrews Chapter 10.

Podcast Schedule Update: Upcoming episodes of “Ben Smith, All for the Kingdom” will be released on Mondays due to the holiday schedule.

Call to Action: Listeners are encouraged to support the podcast by subscribing, rating, reviewing, and sharing it to help spread the message.

Gratitude and Acknowledgments: Special thanks to Central Baptist Church in Waycross, Georgia, for their support and to listeners for their continued attention.

Closing Note: Pastor Ben wishes everyone a joyful Christmas.

It is possible to be near the gospel and miss salvation. It is possible to have some knowledge of the gospel and not believe it. It is possible to be close to salivation and not be saved. Proximity does not equal possession.

Beyond making a comparison between Moses and Jesus, Hebrews 3 warns that it is not enough to simply know who Jesus is. Like the people that Moses led, there will be many who miss out on receiving the salvation of Jesus. Those whom Moses led out of Egypt were witnesses to God's great and glorious power but did not have faith and thus did not receive the blessing of the promised land. Likewise, many today have heard the gospel but have not believed in faith and thus have not received the promise of salvation.

God has used many things to reveal himself to man and testify to his glory, but these things must not distract you from the glory of Jesus Christ. We are people who are easily distracted. The first chapter of Hebrews identifies some of the good things God has used to reveal himself to man, testify to his glory, and accomplish his will. God used these good things to point to his glory, but they are not and never have been equal to his glory. The danger and warning of this chapter is becoming distracted by these things and missing what they testify to. 

With such a propensity to be distracted, how can you keep your heart and mind focused on the glory of Jesus Christ? To keep you from disastrous distractions, this passage calls you to recognize the glorious supremacy of Christ in three areas.

Psalm 95 is about how and why you must worship. The psalm calls believers to worship and warns against disobedience. Christians must worship God wholeheartedly in response to who He is and in obedience to His word. Psalm 95 teaches three ways you are to worship.

In a day when words are used to confuse, distort, manipulate, and misdirect, hope is found in the eternal, never-changing word of God and His faithfulness to keep His word to every generation.

The foundation of the Christian faith is that God is truth, and the Bible is His inspired inerrant word. Every believer is called to believe in faith and stand firm in God's truth. Psalm 12 teaches three requirements for standing firm in God's truth.

In this closing greeting from Paul to Titus, we get a glimpse into the efforts of first-century saints to carry out the gospel mission in their churches and around the globe. Some were traveling to preach the gospel and teach sound doctrine. To support these efforts, the churches generously offered what they had. Paul, his fellow laborers, and the churches were doing all they could to advance the kingdom of God.

United in faith, every member of the church must use every resource God has provided to advance the kingdom of God. Every saint must ask, How can I be a useful servant of God in advancing His kingdom? These closing words teach three ways the church is effective for kingdom advancement.

From the archives. Originally preached in September 2020.

In this passage, James identifies the cause of conflict in the church and the resulting broken relationship with God and gives a clear solution – draw near to God through repentance.

What is required for a church to be healthy?

As the collapse of cultural Christianity has taken its toll on weekly attendance, churches have had to reevaluate what it means to be a healthy church. The blessing of this reevaluation is renewed attention to biblical models and metrics of church health. The disappointment of this reevaluation is an awareness that many have abandoned the biblical fundamentals of what it means to be a church in our zeal for greater numbers.

Titus 3:8-11 gives three instructions that are required for a church to be healthy.

The whole testimony of scripture is how God provided salvation for sinful man. From the first sin and the first pronouncement of the curse of sin in Genesis 3, God has been working to bring salvation for man’s sin (Genesis 3:15). God revealed His holiness and man’s need for the atonement of sin through the shedding of blood through the Law. Speaking through the prophets and writings, God declared the promise of a coming Messiah who would bring salvation. Through the Old Testament histories, God revealed how He was providentially working to prepare the way for the Messiah. Then, with the advent of Jesus, the fullness of God’s redemptive plan was made known.

The testimony of scripture is a testimony to the work of God to bring salvation to man. Titus 3:4-7 teaches three fundamentals of the true and gospel.

The transformation of the gospel transforms more than your relationship with other Christians; it also transforms your relationship with the secular world. The instructions in Titus 3:1-3 focus on the outward signs of a grace-filled life and how God's grace affects your relationship with the world.