Iowa Falls Evangelical Free Church Sermon Podcast

This year we will prepare for Christmas by looking back at a book from centuries before Jesus' birth. It covers a time at which there was no king in Israel and everyone did what was right in their own eyes. We'll spend 4 weeks in Judges 6-8 seeing, among other things, how we get from Gideon to Jesus. Today, we will see that the Lord brings peace to suffering sinners by sending a mighty man from a weak clan to save them.

We know that God is good and sovereign but we also know and feel the reality of a hard life. We are hurting in many ways. People we love are hurting in many ways. How do we move from hurt to hope?

One often neglected Biblical means to get us from hurt to hope is called lament. Today, we look at Psalm 13 and learn to lament so that we may move from hurt to hope by turning to and trusting in the Lord.

In the weeks leading up to Thanksgiving and Christmas we will shift away from Hebrews before finishing it up in January. But today we close out our time in Hebrews for 2022 by looking at the second half of Hebrews 11. As we look at those in the Old Testament commended by God for their faith we will see what it looks like for us to live by faith in the God who has promised and provided something better.

Scott Klusendorf of author and president of Life Training Institute, joined us this Sunday. He travels throughout the U.S. and Canada training pro-life advocates to persuasively defend their views in the public square. He contends that the pro-life message can compete in the marketplace of ideas if properly understood and articulated.

Hebrews is written like a sermon. The main point seems to be that Jesus is better than anything. The application seems to be: Stick with Jesus and endure by faith. In chapter 11, the preacher is going to remind his audience that God's people have been receiving His promises by faith since the beginning of the world! This week, we'll read about many weak people who--by faith in a mighty God--gained a glorious reward.

Hebrews is written like a sermon.

The main point seems to be that Jesus is better than anything.

The application seems to be: Stick with Jesus and endure by faith.

Although there have been points of application mixed in with the arguments, the final section of the book hits the application hard. Though our context is different, I think we will find this application section of the book very...applicable.

We stand guilty before God. We are sinners by nature and by choice. If we are to live forever in God's presence., we need to be saved, forgiven of sin, made perfect. There is nothing we can do to make ourselves perfect but Christ, in His once-for-all sacrifice has done all that is necessary to save sinners like us. Today, we wrap up the argument about Jesus being the better priest of the better covenant by looking at Hebrews 10:1-18.

Does blood fascinate or nauseate you? Regardless of our answer to that question, the fact is that we cannot have life without blood. Today we continue our series in Hebrews by looking at a chapter that talks a lot about blood. Just as we cannot have life without blood, we cannot have eternal life without the shed blood of Jesus. Today we will see how, through the blood of Christ, we have eternal hope.

Relationships require commitment. Thankfully, though we as God's people fail to keep our commitments and sin repeatedly, God is faithful and merciful. Today we look at Hebrews 8 where we'll see Jesus as the better priest of a better covenant.

How do we draw near to God? In Judaism this is done through a priest. In the previous couple of chapters in Hebrews, Jesus has been introduced as a priest in the order of Melchizedek. What does that mean? Today, we will see the answer to that in Hebrews 7. We will be encouraged to draw near to God through King Jesus who is the permanent, perfect priest.