COMMITTED to train men and women
to have minds for the Lord Jesus,
hearts for the truth, and
hands that are skilled to the task.

Sermons on Hebrews

THE STAKES ARE HIGH

Corrie Ten Boom (1892-1983) “Marching Orders for the End Battle”
“In order to realize the worth of the anchor we need to feel the stress of the storm.”
“Never be afraid to trust an unknown future to a known God.” Corrie Ten Boom
Dr. Michael Heiser in “The Unseen Realm” writes:
“The New Testament marks the rebirth of a struggle thousands of years in the making. The people of God have been isolated and under foreign rule. The divine presence of the days of Moses, David, Solomon, and the prophets is nothing but memory. When angels visit Mary and Zechariah to announce the impending births of Jesus and John, centuries of divine silence are broken. Thirty years later, JUDEA WILL EXPLODE. The unseen spiritual conflict is even more volatile.
Every chapter of the New Testament provides a glimpse into this conflict. The cosmic geography of the Old Testament is evident in the New. Where Jesus goes and what he says and does when he gets there is FRAMED BY CONFRONTATION WITH UNSEEN POWERS. The conflict pursues him unto death – as God had planned, and as Jesus provoked.
The Kingdom of God establishes a permanent beachhead at the foot of the cross and the door of the empty tomb.”
Dr. Michael Heiser: “The Unseen Realm”
“The seed of Abraham, scattered to the winds in exile, turn out to function like spiritual cell groups secretly planted in every nation under the dominion of the hostile gods. The kingdom spreads slowly but relentlessly, one new believer at a time. Every church is a new pocked of resistance, every baptism another pledge of allegiance to the Most High, and every celebration of the Lord’s Supper a denial of fellowship with lesser masters and a proclamation of the success of Yahweh’s mysterious plan. The lines are drawn. The stakes are high. The enemy desperate. The fullness of the Gentiles will come, all Israel will be saved, and the Deliverer will come from the heavenly Zion. IT’S JUST A MATTER OF TIME.”
“Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well-armed Lamb contesting the vote.” Benjamin Franklin
THE PRINCIPLE OF AGREEMENT IS FUNDAMENTAL HOW THE SPIRITUAL WARFARE OPERATES
“In reality, what Christians call “spiritual warfare” is more than just spiritual; it’s a collusion of spirits and human organizations that have the power to either heal and reconcile or divide and conquer the nation by stirring hatred between genders, races, and social economic classes. I believe that riots and civil unrest in cities are connected by a threefold cord joining the vulnerabilities of people, the agenda of political/social organization operating in cities, and the territorial spirits that dominate a geography. As activities come into a territory, they activate the people and stir up the territorial spirits to mobilize manifestation.” Lance Wallnau “God’s Chaos Code”
On June 15, 2020, a program hosted by the Fowler Museum at UCLA, Cullors and Melinda Abdullah, co-founders of Black Lives Matter-Los Angeles, discussed the role that spirituality has played in the Black Lives Matter movement. “In the interview, Abdullah said it took her almost a year before she realized BLM was much more than a racial and social justice movement. “At its core, it’s a spiritual movement,” she said.
Cullors, in startling detail, revealed the extent to which they are tapping into the spirit realm when calling out the names of the victims.
“It is literally almost resurrecting a spirit so they can work through us to get the work that we need to get done.” Abdullah added that, “We become very intimate with the spirits that we call on regularly. Right, like, each of them seems to have a different presence and personality. You know, I laugh a lot with Wakiesha, you know, and I didn’t meet her in her body. Right, I met her through this work. Wakiesha Wilson was an African American women found dead in a Los Angeles jail in 2016.
These are more than slogans; they are an appeal to the spirits of the deceased to rise up and work through her and others.” Lance Wallnau “God’s Chaos Code”
Bob Woodson is a faith-filled man who works with people that are struggling:
“Spiritual work is practical work, and the real systemic problem isn’t racism, it’s greed.
In 1960, when the government started spending 22 trillion, 70 cents of every dollar did not go to the poor, it went to those who served the poor. They asked not which problems are solvable, but which once are fundable. And so what happened is we’ve created a commodity out of poor people.
And so, as a consequence, there was no incentives to solve problems of the poor because the careers of those serving them were dependent upon having people to serve.
Up until 1960, eighty-five percent of all black families had a man and a women raising children. That figure is now reversed; 75 percent of all African American families today are single-parent house holds.
So social policies of the 60s did what racism couldn’t have accomplished before. And that’s why in the black community, you’ve seen the families disintegrate over the last 50 years, when prior – but a hundred years prior to that, black families were intact.” Bob Woodson “Countering NY Times 1916 Project”
“The American storm is larger than racial, gender, and political division. When the disciples feared that the storm would sink the boat, they cried out and waakened Jesus who arose to rebuke the storms. The challenge for us is that there is no physical Jesus to awaken – IT IS THE SLEEPING BODY OF CHIRST THAT MUST AWAKEN AND SPEAK TO THE STORM.
Angry waves have overtaken the ship, and demonic winds may lash the vessel violently, but God is on board this boat. To quell the ferocity of the storm, it’s going to take all of us finding our place in the midst of the crisis, the chaos, and the call of God.” Lance Wallnau

Keep On Believing

The birth of Jesus Christ was the beginning, not the end of God’s good news to all men. The Christian life begins with a new birth, which is great news and brings much joy. However, that is just the beginning.
Growing in grace and in faith is necessary to see the promises of God being fulfilled in our lives.
Today, we claim to believe in the saving Grace of God Almighty, but that’s about how far it goes. When confronted with biblical truth, we simply say: Well, I just have a hard time believing that God would do that for me. That’s what the Hebrew writer means when he says that God has no pleasure in those who draw back.
Spiritual strength has never come to us by OBEYING COMMANDMENTS. Those people who drop out of the race, AND who have no perseverance to the end have simply stopped trusting the promises of the living God. They are children of the living God, they have been protected by the blood of the lamb, but they are being robbed of all the promises God has given them for their future.
The Apostle Peter simply explains that it is these promises that draw the heart to God in faith. In fact, the great command of the New Covenant is TO BELIEVE. The Israelites did not have many words of God they could hang unto, but what they were given was enough to lead them out of bondage.
You and I have the written word of God, but without feeding on the promises of the Word, not faith life will be strong. Without the word we are not able to continue on and persevere.

Starting All Over Again

Hebrews 11:8-19 Genesis 12:1-9 1. God initiated the CALL Genesis 12:1 Joshua 24:2 Ephesians 2:8-9 1 Corinthians 1:26-31 Romans 1:18-32 Acts 7:2 2. God enters into a COVENANT RELATIONSHIP Genesis 12:1-3 Genesis 11:1-9 Galatians 3:14-16 3. God allows Abraham to make COMPROMISES Genesis 11:27-32 Genesis 12:4 Luke 14:25-27 4. God was fully COMMITED TO ABRAHAM AND ABRAHAM WAS FULLY COMMITED TO GOD…