Please open your Bibles to Hebrews, Chapter 10.  I’d like to offer a special welcome to those of you joining us this morning for the first time. Easter is a very significant day for Christians, and I’m glad you were able to be here this morning. We are studying through the book of Hebrews together this spring. It’s providential that we are arriving at chapter 10 just in time for Easter, as today’s passage is the climax of the author’s […]

Today is Palm Sunday, a celebration of an important day in biblical history.  This day marks the story in the Gospels when Jesus was entering into Jerusalem on Sunday, five days before his crucifixion. About 1/3 of the Gospels are devoted to this last week of Jesus’ earthly ministry.  Surely this is the most important week in human history, for if Christ is who he says he is—and the Book of Hebrews completely concurs with that—Jesus is the only and […]

Please find a Bible and turn with me to Hebrews chapter 8.  When we are trying to understand what the Bible says to us, our primary task is to try to figure out what the original author was trying to communicate to the original audience. What point was he trying to get across to them? Once we know that, our next task is to try to figure out what relevance that message has for us today.  Sometimes it is a […]

Welcome & Prayer A. The Important Characters We’re going to look at Hebrews 7 today, but before we dive in, I want to let you know that this is not the easiest passage to immediately understand for two reasons. First, it is written to a 1st-century audience that the author expects will have a significant understanding of the history and spiritual culture and customs found in the Old Testament. And second, it’s a continuation right in the middle of a […]

From our passage today, three themes will come out: Hebrews 5:11-6:12 Let’s read the first portion of our passage for today.  The first two themes will come out:  Warning and Assurance. Hebrews 5:11–6:12 (CSB) 5:11 We have a great deal to say about this, and it is difficult to explain, since you have become too lazy to understand. 12 Although by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the basic principles of God’s revelation […]

Please turn with me to Hebrews chapter 4.  Two weeks ago during the Superbowl, a Christian organization aired two commercials with the tagline “He Gets Us”—attempting to convey a message that Jesus understands everyone, and has a message for everyone. This is the second year in a row this organization aired commercials during the Superbowl, and they have racked up close to a million views on YouTube in the past two weeks.  The commercials have generated no end of controversy—liberals […]

Last Wednesday there was a senseless, evil shooting in Kansas City.  Last month there was murder at a high school in Perry, Iowa, just 45 miles from here.  There is war in the Middle East and Ukraine.  In all these things, we wonder, Where is peace?  Where is the rest?  Why is everyone so angry? But even closer to home, we find ourselves longing for rest in our own little world.   Family disputes. Marriage collapses. Tension in the workplace.  And […]

Please turn with me to Hebrews chapter 3.  In today’s passage, we come across the first of several warning passages in the book of Hebrews. The passage warns us to “watch out, in case any of us has an evil and unbelieving heart”, and to not “harden our hearts” when God commands us. It seems to warn us that if we don’t hang on to the end we will not be considered part of God’s house, and that there may […]

Today is National Big Word Sermon Day.  We’re going to talk about some big words, so you may need access to Dictionary.com. We are going through a sermon series on a book in the NT called “Hebrews.”   The name “Hebrews” likely comes from the recipients of the book, who were probably Christians from Jewish ancestry.  So they were “Hebrew” Christians. And we typically call Hebrews a “letter” or “epistle,” but it actually reads more like a sermon.  A sermon of […]

Please turn with me to Hebrews chapter 1. We get very curious about angels, don’t we? They make their appearances throughout the Bible at very important times, bringing messages (in fact “angel” just means “messenger”), we see them interacting with humans, sometimes fighting battles, which means they are capable of interacting with the physical world, including fighting (and protecting!).  There are even hints in the prophets Ezekiel and Isaiah that some of the angels followed satan in a rebellion against […]