“I AM the Way, the Truth and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through Me”
John 14: 6
12 “Look, I AM coming soon! My reward is with Me, and I will give to each person according to what they have done. 13 I AM the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.
Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.
Revelation 22: 12-13
Pastors Noreen & Henry Kevern
GOD’s Rest
Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion, during the time of testing in the desert, where your fathers tested and tried me and for forty years saw what I did. That is why I was angry with that generation, and I said, ‘Their hearts are always going astray, and they have not known my ways.’ So I declared on oath in My anger, ‘They shall never enter My rest.’
Hebrews 3:7-11
Do you feel as if you have entered into God’s rest? A simple question really. In other words, do you find yourself worrying and stressing over the things that are happening in your life and in the world around you? We find ourselves at times, so overwhelmed by the things that are happening and we begin to focus on the negatives of things instead of the positives of things. We begin to think that the glass is half empty instead of half full. It’s a matter of perspective in how we look at things.
When we rebel against what we know that God wants we sin against God. Rebellion comes in so many ways. We allow ourselves to be consumed by all the negative images that are put before us. The economy is bad, people are losing jobs, food prices have gone up along with everything else, the car is broke the list goes on and on. But there is a way that we can find the peace that we so desperately need. We can find peace in God. Sounds so easy, and yet it’s so hard for people to hand their problems over to God. Just how do we do that? We pray to God each and every time that something begins to pull you into stress. Co-worker bothering you: pray. Stuck in traffic: pray. Your children are yelling and your life is out of control: pray. You lost your job: pray. Your loved one died: pray. We need to pray through each moment. It’s only when we pray, keeping our focus on God, do we find ourselves changing from a worrying person, to a person at peace in God.
Prayer is really the primary way that we communicate with God. So often, we harden our hearts so that we can’t hear what God is saying. We want a certain answer to our prayer and God answers in a way that you didn’t expect. Or God takes time to answer a prayer and you wander away into things that are not of God. We become depressed with our situation and begin drinking or taking drugs hoping to numb the pain. But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness. We have come to share in Christ if we hold firmly till the end the confidence we had at first (Hebrews 3:13-14).We must show God’s love to one another in all that we do, encouraging one another so that no matter what is happening in life, we will not become harden from all the things that can drive us away from the Lord and cause us not to enter into His rest.
Therefore, since we have a great high priest Who has gone through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have One Who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet was without sin (Hebrews 4:14-15). It is so great to know that our Savior has gone through life as we are going through. Jesus can relate to everything that happens in our life. He experienced disappointment of family and friends. Judas, one of the 12, gave Jesus over to the Pharisees for 30 pieces of silver and handed Him over with a kiss. His hometown wanted to throw Him over a cliff for something He said. The Pharisees didn’t recognized Jesus as the Messiah. He was called a drunkard, a glutton, and questioned about everything He did. Because Jesus healed on the Sabbath, the Pharisees looked for ways to kill Him. Ever have someone who you thought was a friend, do something to you that was so hurtful that it made you cry? Ever have someone question the people you hang around with? It’s not fun to have a co-worker betray you, or someone call you a name.
When God made His promise to Abraham, since there was no one greater than Him to swear by, He swore by Himself, saying, “I will surely bless you and give you many descendants.” And so after waiting patiently, Abraham received what was promised (Hebrews 6:13-15). Abraham was 75 years old when God called him to leave his homeland and go to the land that God would show him and that God would give this land to his offspring. Think about it, Abraham was 75 years old at this time and I imagine Abraham wondered who would be inheriting this land since he and Sarah were childless! Years later Abraham asked God who would inherit the land since he had no children and God told him that He would give Abraham children. Abram believed the Lord and He credited it to him as righteousness (Genesis 15:6). Wow, because Abram (remember as of yet, Abraham was still Abram, it wasn’t until after Ishmael was born, and the covenant of circumcision was given, did God give Abram the name Abraham) believed God’s promise, even though all human evidence was against Abram being able to produce a child. God did this so that, by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled to take hold of the hope offered to us may be greatly encouraged (Hebrews 6:18). We can learn from Abraham, that when God brings something to your life, even if it takes years, God always fulfills His promises. The time between the promise and the promise actually taking place is the time that God uses to change us from our lives of sin into what we are to become when we give our lives to God.
Jesus offered His life for ours so that we would have the way in which we could be redeemed from our sins. The punishment which was upon Jesus is actually our own. It is very humbling to know that Jesus gave His life for our own. That’s how much God loves us. He was willing to sacrifice His Own Son in order to break through our harden hearts! Knowing this, it’s time that we begin to change our lives and become the people that God knows that we can be. In the beginning God made a covenant with Adam and Eve and when that covenant was broken, God sent prophets and signs to show what He wanted from us, but we were too harden to listen. Even today, our hearts are hardened and we forget the cross of Jesus. God is still sending prophets and signs to let us know that Jesus is to return soon. Let your hearts be broken and allow God to fill you with a love that never stops and a life worth living.
We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain, where Jesus, Who went before us, has entered on our behalf. He has become a high priest, forever, in the order of Melchizedek.
Hebrews 6:19-20
