Today is that day when students gather around their flag pole and pray for their school. I remember when this all started. Our students were reluctant to begin with for this had never been done. I remember at one school, one lonely girl stood at her school's flag poled and prayed. She was laugh at but she stood firm. The next year several more joined her and then the next year more. Actually, a small revival broke out in that school. When we were in Mission Orientation in 1995 we asked people to join us around the flag pole to pray for our world. Do we need to pray for our schools, for our students, for our states, for our countries? I think you know that answer.
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Hebrews 3:18-19 (NLT2)
18 And to whom was God speaking when he took an oath that they would never enter his rest? Wasn’t it the people who disobeyed him? 19 So we see that because of their unbelief they were not able to enter his rest. Our hearts turn away from the living God when we stubbornly refuse to believe Him. If we persist in our unbelief , God will eventually leave us alone in our sin. But God can give us new hearts, new desires, and new spirits( Ezekiel 36:22-27). How do we prevent from having an unbelieving heart?(1) stay in fellowship with other believers(2) talk daily about your faith in Christ(express it); (3) be aware of the deceitfulness of sin(it attracts but also destroys); and (4) encourage each other with love and concern. Hebrews 3:11 (NLT2)
So in my anger I took an oath: ‘They will never enter my place of rest.’” God’s rest has several meanings in Scripture: (1) the seventh day of creation and the weekly Sabbath commemorating it; (2) The Promised Land of Canaan (3) peace with God and the peace of God because of our relationship with Jesus Christ; and (4) our future eternal life with Christ .By rejecting God’s provision( Jesus Christ) and not enduring in our faith, we miss the opportunity for spiritual rest. In the verses of Hebrews 3:7-15 the writer warns "Do not harden your heart."
We see God warning about a hardened heart. A hardened heart is as useless as hardened lump of clay or a hardened loaf of bread. Nothing can restore it or make it useful. The writer in Psalm 95 warns against hardening our hearts as Israel did in the wilderness bu continuing to resist God’s will. The people were so convinced that God couldn’t deliver them that they Simply lost their faith in him. People with hardened hearts as so stubbornly set in their ways that they cannot turn to God. This does not happen suddenly or all at once; it is a series of choices to disregard God’s will and to obey Him. If our hearts are hardened do you think God will toss us aside like hardened clay, useless and worthless? Hebrews 3:6 (NLT2)
6 But Christ, as the Son, is in charge of God’s entire house. And we are God’s house, if we keep our courage and remain confident in our hope in Christ. Because God lives in us believers, we can remain courageous and hopeful to the end. We are not saved by being steadfast or firm in our faith, but our courage and hope does reveal that our faith is real. Without this enduring faithfulness, we could easily be swept away by the winds of temptation, false teaching or persecution. |
What we Learned on Sunday? Insights, ideas and InspirationWritten by Pastor Chris Hudson Archives
March 2024
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