Walking in Truth

As Pastor Johnny continues his teaching series through the book of Hebrews, he'll be encouraging you to be a student of the Word of God. Spending time renewing your mind in the Bible as well as memorizing scripture, will help you battle the enemy when the time comes. The Bible says to be ready in and out of season. When Jesus Himself was tempted by the devil, He declared scripture and battled the enemy with the Word of God. If you don't know the Word of God, you can't properly battle.

The best commentary of the Bible is the Bible itself. Today, Pastor Johnny will be explaining how the Old Testament scriptures will always bring clarity to the New Testament scriptures, and vice versa. All scripture is God-breathed, and all scripture points to Jesus as the Messiah who takes away the sins of the world. Whenever you come across a text that confuses you, purpose to use other scripture that's related, and it will always bring clarity.

As Pastor Johnny continues his teaching series through the book of Hebrews, he'll be explaining how powerful the sacrifice of Jesus was. The Old Testament sacrifices and the old covenant system were simply a shadow that was meant to point us to the reality of Jesus. Jesus is found all throughout the pages of the Old Testament! The sacrifice of animals served only as a covering for the people's sins, but there is true power in the blood of Jesus. Jesus' sacrifice didn't cover sins, but He atoned and forgave sins.

From the very beginning of mankind, blood had to be shed. The shedding of blood is necessary for the remission of sins. When Adam and Eve sinned, they had to wear the skins of an animal to hide their nakedness. Today, Pastor Johnny will be explaining how in the Old Testament a blood offering was necessary at the temple very often, but the perfect sacrifice of Jesus was once and for all. As a Christian, your past, present, and future sins are all forgiven! The perfect sacrifice of the Lamb of God is sufficient.

For the ancient Israelites, the Tabernacle and all its components revealed how God wanted to live among His people and rescue them. He was everything they needed. And, now, thousands of years later, you can see how Jesus is everything that you need. Today, Pastor Johnny invites you to explore how Jesus fulfills all the different pieces of the Tabernacle described in the Old Testament. Because of His incredible sacrifice, not only does He surround you with His presence but He will dwell in you too.

Think about a time when you were really thirsty. You could drink coffee or soda or something else, but what you really want is a cold glass of water. The other drinks just don’t quench your thirst in the same way. Well, today, Pastor Johnny shares that the same is true in your spiritual life. You can try lots of different things to satisfy your spiritual thirst, but only God and the truth of His Word can do it. If you’re thirsty, if your life is dry and brittle, Jesus is inviting you to turn to Him and drink deeply of His Living Water.

What’s on your list of daily essentials? What aspects of your life act as pivot points that make your world work as it should? Well, in today’s message, Pastor Johnny shares that the Israelites centered themselves around the Tabernacle, the place where they met with God. Not only was their connection with the Lord a spiritual necessity, but it provided the underlying rhythm for everything else in their life as well. As you journey through this passage, you’ll see how Jesus is that essential meeting place for you.

Well, what about you? How you do relate to God? Do you think God will only be happy with you when you’re doing the quote “right” things? As long as you’re checking all the boxes, you’re ok. But as soon as you get off track, guilt, shame, and fear threaten to overwhelm you. Well, today, Pastor Johnny explained that this is a symptom of living tied to the old covenant, the law. As you’ll see, Jesus is inviting you into a different way of relating to Him, one that’s rooted in His grace and adequacy.

Looks can be deceiving. Haven’t we all learned that the hard way at some point? Well, today, Pastor Johnny encouraged you to look past all of the brokenness and mess you see around you in the world and cling to the truth that Jesus is still on the throne. From the outside, it may seem like Satan is in control of things. But that’s not the full picture. When you zoom out, you can see that Satan’s authority is temporary. Jesus is in charge. And when the time is right, He’ll come back and kick Satan out.

God doesn’t want a bunch of mindless sycophants who follow Him out of obligation. He would never have given us free will if that’s what He was after. No, God created us with the ability to decide for ourselves if we want to walk with Him. As you travel through Hebrews today, you’ll see that God is after your heart. Pastor Johnny shares that part of the purpose of the law is to show you that you can’t do what’s required of you on your own. You need Jesus to cover your failures with His righteousness and grace.