Author: PGC Administrator

Read chapter in full: biblegateway.com/passage/?version=ESV&search=Hebrews+005

 
Hebrews Chapter 5 (ESV)

⁷ In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to him who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence. ⁸ Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered. ⁹ And being made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him, ¹⁰ being designated by God a high priest after the order of Melchizedek.

¹¹ About this we have much to say, and it is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing. ¹² For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food, ¹³ for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child. ¹⁴ But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.

 

REFLECTION:

1. Chapter at a Glance: With Jesus as our High Priest, we can approach God’s throne with confidence. The author once again warned against apostasy and encouraged them to grow into maturity.
2. The author was upset that his readers had not realized what a wonderful High Priest they had in Jesus and gone on to maturity. He explained that the way to become mature in faith is by constantly using the truth God has revealed to distinguish good from evil.
3. The difference between “milk” and “solid food” is not between a little knowledge and a lot. The difference is found in the way we process Scripture.  For those who hear but do not apply Scripture, the truths they know are milk. But to those who hear and apply the Word of God, the same truths become solid and sustaining food.
4. How would you describe your spiritual appetite now? Why?  How would you improve your spiritual appetite?  Pray for a sustained hunger for God’s word to satisfy your spiritual development.

 

PRAYER:

Stay with God for a little longer.  Continue to converse with God and listen to what He wants to tell you.  Then write down any thought and/or prayer in your spiritual journal.

 

HYMN:

As The Deer – youtu.be/5rrXC5uKVb4

 

Read chapter in full: biblegateway.com/passage/?version=ESV&search=Hebrews+004

 
Hebrews Chapter 4 (ESV)

⁸ For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken of another day later on. ⁹ So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God,¹⁰ for whoever has entered God’s rest has also rested from his works as God did from his.

¹¹ Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience. ¹² For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. ¹³ And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.

¹⁴ Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. ¹⁵ For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. ¹⁶ Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

 

REFLECTION:

1. Chapter at a Glance: The promise of entering God’s rest still stands for us as it did in the time of Moses, Joshua and David. We enter that rest through a faith expressed in obedience to God’s living and active Word.
2. “But you don’t understand” are perhaps the most common words we are likely to say or to hear. Each of us has a tendency to think that our troubles, our temptations, are unique. They’re not. We are tempted through the same avenue – through relationships with others, through vulnerability to pain, through pressures beyond our control, etc.
3. Jesus also went through our experiences. In His humanity Christ experienced every kind of temptation – every vulnerability of mankind. He felt the pain of rejection, the pangs of hunger, the hostility of the crowds, the fear of His coming death. And because He knows exactly how painful it is to be a human being, He is able to “sympathize with our weaknesses”.
4. Next time when you are hurting, think about Jesus, remember how completely He understands. Then, without hesitation, come confidently to the throne, where God dispenses grace, and receive the mercy and help He is so eager to pour out on you.

 

PRAYER:

Stay with God for a little longer.  Continue to converse with God and listen to what He wants to tell you.  Then write down any thought and/or prayer in your spiritual journal.

 

HYMN:

Jesus – youtu.be/cEbQswNB6Wc

 

Read chapter in full: biblegateway.com/passage/?version=ESV&search=Hebrews+003

 
Hebrews Chapter 3 (ESV)

⁷ Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says, “Today, if you hear his voice, ⁸ do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, on the day of testing in the wilderness, ⁹ where your fathers put me to the test and saw my works for forty years.  ¹⁰ Therefore I was provoked with that generation, and said, ‘They always go astray in their heart; they have not known my ways.’  ¹¹ As I swore in my wrath, ‘They shall not enter my rest.’”

¹² Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. ¹³ But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. ¹⁴ For we have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end. ¹⁵ As it is said, “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.”

¹⁶ For who were those who heard and yet rebelled? Was it not all those who left Egypt led by Moses? ¹⁷ And with whom was he provoked for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness? ¹⁸ And to whom did he swear that they would not enter his rest, but to those who were disobedient? ¹⁹ So we see that they were unable to enter because of unbelief.

 

REFLECTION:

1. Chapter at a Glance: The author continues his argument that Jesus is supremely great. He is greater than the angels, the author of a great salvation, and great enough to become man to accomplish it. Now, the author turns his attention to Moses, regarded by the Jews as the greatest of men.  The author accepts Moses’ greatness but shows that as great as he was, Jesus was greater by far.  Next, the author pointed out that the generation Moses led failed to respond to God’s voice, and as a result was unable to enter God’s rest.
2. These verses warn against two enemies of the spiritual life: a hardened heart (v8) and unbelief (v12).  The Exodus generation heard God’s word through Moses.  However, they would not trust God and refused to obey Him.  As a result, they found neither rest nor peace.
3. This is the same with us today.  When we heard and responded to the message of Jesus, we are invited to experience a rest and complete inner peace.  However, if we are not willing to trust God completely and refuse to respond to God’s voice, then we will not experience this peace of God.
4. Stay quiet before the Lord and reflect: Are you saved yet miserable?  Do you believe God but still anxious?  Have you repented yet unresolved?  Could it be that you have hardened your heart, and are unwilling to obey God?  Ask for guidance and a willing spirit to trust and obey God.

 

PRAYER:

Stay with God for a little longer.  Continue to converse with God and listen to what He wants to tell you.  Then write down any thought and/or prayer in your spiritual journal.

 

HYMN:

Trust and Obey – youtu.be/mVMwnWoqYnc

 

Read chapter in full: biblegateway.com/passage/?version=ESV&search=Hebrews+002

 

Hebrews Chapter 2 (ESV)

¹ Therefore we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it. ² For since the message declared by angels proved to be reliable, and every transgression or disobedience received a just retribution, ³ how shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation? It was declared at first by the Lord, and it was attested to us by those who heard, ⁴ while God also bore witness by signs and wonders and various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will.

⁵ For it was not to angels that God subjected the world to come, of which we are speaking. ⁶ It has been testified somewhere,

“What is man, that you are mindful of him, or the son of man, that you care for him? ⁷ You made him for a little while lower than the angels; you have crowned him with glory and honor, ⁸ putting everything in subjection under his feet.”

Now in putting everything in subjection to him, he left nothing outside his control. At present, we do not yet see everything in subjection to him. ⁹ But we see him who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.

 

REFLECTION:

1. Chapter at a Glance: This chapter begins with the first of several warnings found in Hebrews. Christians must heed Jesus’ message.  It reveals the destiny God gives us through Jesus who took on humanity to break the enslaving grip of death and Satan on human.
2. The image of “drift away” pictures an ancient sailing ship, anchored near shore. As the sailors sleep, the wind picks up, and the anchor begins to drag slowly across the sandy bottom.  By the time the sailors awake, the ship is pitching dangerously in heavy seas.
3. God’s word is a sure message, confirmed by witnesses who heard Jesus teach and saw His miracles, and confirmed by the continuing work of the Holy Spirit in our lives. Yet it is so easy for us to neglect.  Unless we give constant heed to Christ’s word, we can drift unaware from our moorings and lost our way in life.
4. Have you neglected God’s word? Have you ever found yourself drifting away from God?  How did you get back to God?  Ask the Holy Spirit to strengthen your commitment to give Scripture your constant attention and make sure to put God’s Word into practice.

 

PRAYER:

Stay with God for a little longer.  Continue to converse with God and listen to what He wants to tell you.  Then write down any thought and/or prayer in your spiritual journal.

 

HYMN:

Ancient Words – youtu.be/NcSAdzLXKVE