Our Prayer

Our Prayer

Heavenly Father, I know that I have sinned against You and that my sins separate me from You. I am truly sorry. I now want to turn away from my sinful past and turn to You for forgiveness. Please forgive me, and help me avoid sinning again. I believe that Your Son, Jesus Christ, died for my sins, that He was raised from the dead, is alive, and hears my prayer. I invite Jesus to become my Savior and the Lord of my life, to rule and reign in my heart from this day forward. Please send Your Holy Spirit to help me obey You and to convict me when I sin. I pledge to grow in grace and knowledge of You. My greatest purpose in life is to follow Your example and do Your will for the rest of my life. In Jesus' name I pray, Amen.

Tuesday, August 27, 2024

Class Lesson September 1, 2024

 Jesus is Better - Hebrews



The writer of Hebrews has come to settle this undebatable debate: Who is better, Moses or Jesus?



This week's message focuses on a life being built by Christ. It all begins with accepting that Jesus is a better builder. Do you rank Jesus as number one in your life?



Hebrews 3:1-19

Jesus Greater Than Moses

Therefore, holy brothers, you who share in a heavenly calling, consider Jesus, the apostle and high priest of our confession, 2 who was faithful to him who appointed him, just as Moses also was faithful in all God’s house. 3 For Jesus has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses—as much more glory as the builder of a house has more honor than the house itself. 4 (For every house is built by someone, but the builder of all things is God.) 5 Now Moses was faithful in all God’s house as a servant, to testify to the things that were to be spoken later, 6 but Christ is faithful over God’s house as a son. And we are his house, if indeed we hold fast our confidence and our boasting in our hope.


A Rest for the People of God

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.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Heb 3:1-19.

 

 

Study Notes

WEEK 3 NOTES: Hebrews 3:1-19

For people who have grown up reading the Bible and hearing Bible stories it can be tempting to make heroes out of our most beloved biblical figures. We all want to be like David who slayed Goliath. We want to be like Abraham who had great faith. We want to be like Joshua who led the people to the promised land. When we consider these heroes of the faith though, they all pale in comparison to one figure, Jesus Christ.

All other characters point to the main character, Jesus. In the case of Hebrews 3, the author uses Moses as an example. Moses is great, but Jesus is better. To illustrate this point he says Jesus is as much greater than Moses as a builder of the house is greater than the house itself. Jesus is the main character of the story, because He is the builder of every story.

If Jesus is a builder, then we need to determine how to build our life on Him. We do that by taking the advice of the author of Hebrews.

 

Do Not Harden Your Heart.

The dominant theme from Hebrews 3 is a warning for believers to not harden their hearts. To build our life on God we need to make a habit of listening to Him and doing what He says! It can be very easy to think it’s not a big deal to ignore what God has to say, especially about something that is seemingly small. However, every time we ignore what God has to say to us we make a practice of hardening our hearts. The deadly thing about hardening your heart is that every time you do so, it makes hardening your heart the next time even easier.

The author of Hebrews implores us, “Don’t harden your heart.” Instead, Christians are to soften up, listen up, and straighten up as they seek to hear from the Lord and do what He says.

 

Seek to Rest in Christ.

Instead of hardening our hearts, we are called to rest in Christ. The author of Hebrews says unbelief kept the children of Israel from entering into rest. If we want to enter into God’s rest we will do so by faith. However, we have an advantage the people of Israel didn’t have. The people of Israel were called to believe and have faith in the fact God would take care of them. They had to believe God was going to take care of them, even though they didn’t have any evidence He was going to provide for them or protect them. For modern Christians, we do not have to wonder if God will provide for us and protect us. He already has provided us with

all we need and secured our eternal protection from death in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. As Christians our goal is to seek to believe in who Jesus is and what Jesus has done and rest in that reality.

Want to build your life on God? Rest in the finished work of Jesus Christ, listen to what He has to say, and do exactly as He says.



QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION

How do you practically rest in the finished work of Christ instead of striving to save yourself?

How do you protect against hardening your heart?

Of all the biblical characters outside of Christ, which is your favorite? How is Christ better than that character?

How is delayed obedience a form of hardening your heart?

What are practical ways that we can seek to build our life on Christ every day?

 

Bottom Line: 

God is good, even when life is not.

END




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