The church is facing massive disruption. This sermon analyzes the modern church and how it has been devastated by the current global crisis. We look at how far the modern church has strayed from its original roots in the first century and examine the lessons we can apply to strengthen the global body of believers to successfully navigate the current catastrophe.

A door closes on almost one thousand years of prophecy, as the children of Israel conclude one chapter in their great history while looking forward to an even greater future that will be inaugurated by God's only begotten son and the savior of all humanity: "The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of deep darkness, a light has dawned..."

The Old Testament closes with the Israelites at a crossroads: they continue to fall into apathy and sin while looking forward to a new age when God's new covenant will transform the entire world.

Christians in the first century asked the same question we ask today: "If a loving god exists, why is there suffering in the world?" In a magnificent final passage that closes-out the book of Hebrews, the authors remind the young Christian community that we live in a fallen world of our own choosing, a corrupted universe that is the direct result of our rebellion against God. But the suffering we endure is also the helpful work of God perfecting our faith like the sharpest swords forged in the hottest fires, and God's discipline strengthens us to develop a deep maturity that is the hallmark of a true disciple of Christ.

Christianity is often cast as a system of blind faith where followers must entirely suspend logic and reason in order to believe in the existence of God without any proof or empirical evidence. On the contrary, those who are familiar with the Word of God...including the authors of Hebrews...demonstrate time and again that Christian faith is backed-up by overwhelming proof (in the form of physical evidence and personal experience) that demands we reject the "null hypothesis" (life is due to random chance) and accept the truth that God is real and desires to intimately know his creation.

The authors of Hebrews challenge their readers to look beyond the "letter" of the law, which is only useful for imperfectly describing sin and atonement, and focus on the "spirit" of the law to understand how Jesus gave his life as a perfect sacrifice to wipe the slate clean and destroy death once for all.

God established several covenants (contracts, testaments) with the human race over thousands of years that functioned as promises between God and his creation. The final covenant -- established by Jesus' earthly ministry and continuing to present age --guarantees a deeply personal relationship between God and humanity based on grace and mercy rather than ritual and sacrifice.

In the Old Testament, Jewish priests functioned as intermediaries between humanity and God in a flawed system that required mortal priests to make atonement for their own sins. The authors of Hebrews contend that God appointed Jesus as a final, sinless, eternal priest who enables humanity to be lovingly reconciled to our perfect, holy creator.

Olympic athletes train every day to strengthen their bodies and prepare for athletic competition. In the absence of daily activity, the body becomes weak and lethargic, eventually succumbing to sickness and death. In the same way, the author of Hebrews encourages Christians to constantly train their faith to grow stronger in the Word of God to resist falling-away into apathy and spiritual death.

The author of Hebrews emphasizes faith as a continually active exercise, prompting Christians to encourage each other daily - and thereby achieve eternal rest - to avoid slipping into the habit of sin and rebellion which leads to hardened hearts and eventual rejection of the Gospel message.