Gospel Rant

This is the final of 16 shows on the amazing letter to the Hebrews. The author of Hebrews is writing this very sophisticated homily to Hebrew Christians sometime in the late 50s to mid 60’s CE. It is still an infant church, maybe a decade or two old, and had just survived disruptive expulsion and injustices due to their virulent faith. But make no mistake—persecution is coming and far worse than before. Nero may have already risen to be the Emperor of the Empire and it is only a matter of time until Christians will be horribly persecuted like never before in its short history.

The Author is passionate for the well-being and clarity of their faith and the rescuing redemptive work of the Kingdom through them. But he is obviously worried, referring to their faith as drifting and dull, their understanding of their faith and their calling being just infantile Christian.

So what’s the cure? You may not like it. God’s Plan A is not what we might think, and there is no Plan B. Welcome to Hebrews: The Bible’s Warning Label.

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Welcome to Gospel Rant and God’s Love for the Unlovable Show. We are in the last stages of our journey through the book of Hebrews: Chapter 12. In the end, says the author of Hebrews, if you want to stop your ongoing spiritual drift, if you want to stop spiritual dullness and be free from shame and guilt, you need faith. If you want to feel more that Jesus adores you as much as the Father loves the Son and the Son loves the Father, you need this powerful filling of the Spirit daily. How?

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Welcome to Gospel Rant and God’s Love for the Unlovable Show. We are in the last stages of our journey through the book of Hebrews: Hebrews 11. In the end, says the author of Hebrews, if you want to stop your ongoing drift, if you want to stop spiritual dullness and be free from shame and guilt, you need faith.

Well you’ve no doubt heard that before, right? We are saved by grace through faith—right? That’s our mantra. We are supposed to trust in the Lord with all our heart—right? Without faith it is impossible to please God, right? So, here’s my question, do you have that? Do you have enough? Only need a mustard seed of the stuff—but do you have that? Have you wondered if you don’t?

So how do you ‘faith’ or believe? What muscle group do you use? What does it mean to try harder to faith? Or Believe? What is enough faith? Here at Gospel Rant, we allow such a question. You may feel queasy asking it elsewhere. But we also have answers, maybe one you haven’t considered much. Be encouraged. This is an important show.

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Hey Dr. Bill Senyard here with God’s love for the unlovable and Gospel Rant podcast. Welcome to my series on the book of Hebrews. We will knock out the important  Chapter 10 in this show. Often scholars emphasize the differences between the effectiveness of the temple in the Old Covenant and the work of Jesus in the New Covenant. Chapter 10 is about that for sure, but I am going to suggest that the larger issue is about how God-followers are affected, or not affected by each. You will see what I mean.  If you haven’t listened to the last show, I am building upon it quite a bit.

Look the idea is this. The theology of the two sacrifices is great, important and very interesting. But for the most part, most of us already know this. The thing that could just change our lives, change how we worship God, and change how we treat each other is in how we understand what the sacrifice was designed to accomplish for each of us individually. Let me put it another way. Have you drifted away from your original joy of your salvation? Do you wonder if you are a disappointment to Jesus? Are you tired of going to church because you just end up feeling more guilty and ashamed? If yes to any of these, I think that you will love this show. Welcome to God’s love for the unlovable and the Gospel Rant podcast.

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Hey Dr. Bill Senyard here with Gospel App ministries and Gospel Rant Podcast. Thanks for listening. We have a lot to cover today, two chapters, 8 &9. They represent a single argument or sermon. Very important. Very relevant today. We will dip into some weeds, but the punch line is golden.

Review. From what we have seen in previous shows, the prime targeted audience of the book of Hebrews is Messianic Jews, believers, but they are observably ‘drifting’, ‘dull’, and suffering from ‘dead works’ (nekron ergon). I am going to suggest that we are all prone to all three. It is time we start admitting it.  In 6:1, he says they should have moved past trying to repent of their dead works (nekron ergon)—hold on to that phrase. We will see it again.

In that mode, it seems that they were abandoning meeting with their gathered brothers and sisters in Christ and running back to find solace in Judaism again, or to the Jewish mystery religions. Both look pretty good on paper, but they are powerless to clean the conscience of a backslider.  To make it worse, real persecution is coming, Nero—and their guilt-stricken faith will be shattered and rendered ineffective. They will feel orphaned.

So in this show, chapters 8 & 9 we will cover three points that are ridiculously relevant today.

• The problem—what are these dead works.
• What they have been doing to fix the problem—that isn’t working no matter how hard they try
• The real remedy then and today.

Believe me when I say that #3 is the big deal for the author of Hebrews, not the argument leading up to it. You will see what I mean. Such good news. If we get stuck on the argument, we end up with mere theology that doesn’t help hurting and lonely people today.

Welcome to God’s Love for the unlovable and Gosepl Rant.

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Welcome to God’s love for the unlovable and Gospel Rant Podcast. We are going through the Book of Hebrews. Here’s the question for this show. Can you lose your salvation? And if you answer yes, what do you do or not do to cause that? Can you get back to faith? If you answer no, how do you control bad behavior? Heb 6 is one of the most controversial sections in the Bible. Curious? Check it out.

Welcome to Gospel Rant and God’s Love for the Unlovable.

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So who is Melchizedek?

Context? In Gen 14, Abraham had just won a surprising, miraculous military victory and is headed home. Two Kings came out to meet him in the King’s Valley (west of Jerusalem?). The King of Sodom, a picture of unrighteousness, self-focus, arrogance, hey, what about me? Attitude—who had already been defeated by the army that Abraham just defeated with 318 men—oh the shame and embarrassment. He will demand “Give me the people and keep the goods for yourself.” Very arrogant and ungrateful. No joy.

Then there is the mysterious Melchizedek, the king of Salem (unknown, perhaps early Jerusalem?) who is also the King of righteousness (other-oriented, sacrificial, not a hey-what-about-me? Attitude) and the King of Peace. He blessed Abraham. The anti-Sodom. 

Fun?

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I am very concerned about the well-being of teens and tweens today. Frustrated parents, we need big time help. I mean Captain Obvious right? Per the CDC, suicide and homicide rates (10-24) are the highest they have been in decades (since 1968). A shocking 42% of adolescents are experiencing sadness and hopelessness (up 50% from 2011)--57% of females. 22% of all students have considered attempting suicide (up 36% from 2011). It is a mental health crisis for one of our most vulnerable demographics, adolescents. Anxiety is up. Loneliness is up [i]. Gender dysphoria, confusion up. Religion and church attendance is down.[ii]

Today, I want to give you a simplified class on attachment theory related to teens. I think that you will find things that just might help. How can already good enough parents of teens and tweens become just a little bit more good enough parents? Everything I say will have a firm biblical foundation while informed by attachment theory and neuroscience.

We will look at the important notion of attunement in relationships, particularly with your teen and tween. We will go deeper into the two main attachment theory categories of children’s insecure behavior—don’t worry about getting lost in the weeds. I’ve got you.  I will give you some helpful tips to help them become a little more secure. I will also say a little about social media and its dangers.

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Today we dig into the entire concept of entering into God’s rest. Don’t think that it refers to relaxing here. This ain’t My Pillow. Nope, that’s for heaven. Heaven’s going to be great, this ain’t it.

Is this important? Yeah, the author of Hebrews starts off this section with a stark warning to the Jewish Christians in Rome (likely). Phobeomai! Beware lest---be afraid if you miss this… Defcon 1. Don’t screw this one up. Pretty important. Make sure that no one has missed it or fallen short. So what do you think? Have we? Has anyone around you? Your church? Or do you claim ignorance? Fun right?

In this show, we will explore what he is talking about. Believe me, it is not about sleeping more. It is not even about keeping the one-day-a-week sabbath free from work—not like what we typically think. In fact, he will ramp it up even more—This thing, this place of rest—we should be entering into it every day 24/7. Why is it that no one has ever told you about this?

Curious?

Welcome to Gospel Rant and God’s Love for the Unlovable.

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Welcome to the Gospel Rant.

Hebrews assumes that we Christians are, in spite of what we say, here still on planet earth for a reason only secondarily for our own success and well-being. Face it, heaven would be so much better. No we have a grand celestial eternal purpose, modeled by Jesus and Moses. We are here to be part of the salvation story of others. We don’t redeem anyone. But somehow, what we do, and how we do it proclaims salvation to them. That’s the good news. The bad news is that like Jesus and Moses, and Israel in the wilderness, that goal may only be achieved through our persecution, suffering and even harm. I don’t like it much either. It is the big theme of Hebrews.

Humanly speaking, you will shudder in fear and rather stay in your tents in the wilderness. No judgement. But you, sons and daughters of God can ask for power, through the Spirit in your inner being to access heaven-born faith (willingness to be led into temptation, confidence in God, boldness) and heaven-born righteousness (caring for others over self) so that like Jesus and Moses and at least two Jews in the wilderness, you will do it—in order to rescue and save others.

We Americans hate this plan. But the template is Jesus, who willingly suffered and died and many children were saved. At one point you said, “Father, wherever you lead I will follow.” OK, he’s taking you seriously—because he loves you as much as the father loves the son and the son loves the father. But don’t expect life to be a rose garden. And he has something to prepare you for the struggle. You don’t naturally have it. Curious?

Welcome to Gospel Rant and God’s Love for the Unlovable.

Support The Show: https://www.gospelrant.com/

Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.