Category Archives: Lent 2016

Day 26: Encourage One Another

Exhortation, Lent 2016

Day 26: Encourage One Another
Passage: Hebrews 3:13-19
Link to Lent 2016 Vimeo Channel

Transcription of the video above:

Yesterday, we discussed how our hearts can be hardened by persistent sin and rebellion against God. Today, Heb. 3:13-19 tells us we need to depend on our brothers and sisters in Christ to ensure that our hearts do not become hardened. Verse 13 explains that it is our duty to encourage and remind one another within the Body about the ever-present danger of sin in our lives.

When we look at the story of Moses and the reason why they were not able to enter the Promised Land, it was because of Israel’s rebellious and disobedient heart toward God. Ephesians 4:22-24 tells us that the fabric of our being is already corrupted by an unrelenting desire to sin. If this sin problem is not dealt with in our lives, we will not be able to enter our Promised Land, Heaven.

Jesus Christ is able to transform our lives by the power of the Holy Spirit. It is continually strengthened by encouragement from our brothers and sisters. We are responsible to work out our own salvation within the context of the Body.

Have you committed yourself to encouraging your brothers and sisters to beware of the deceitful nature of sin and to depend on Christ to transform our lives by the power of the Holy Spirit on a daily basis?

Day 25: Is Your Heart Soft?

Lent 2016, Meditation

Day 25: Is Your Heart Soft?
Passage: Hebrews 3:7-12
Link to Lent 2016 Vimeo Channel

Transcription of the video above:

Hebrews 3:7-12 warns us that we should not become hardened in our hearts due to sin just like it did with the Jewish nation in the wilderness. If our hearts are hardened, we can no longer experience or see God’s work within our lives, nor receive His promises for us.

How can sin harden our hearts toward God? To name a few, sin causes us to be blinded to our lost condition (2 Cor. 4:4). Sin captures and enslaves us (Prov. 5:22; John 8:34). Sin brings forth death in our lives (Rom. 6:23). Sin is like a disease that eats away our hearts (Psa. 32:1-5). Sin is impurity, causing us to feel polluted within and outside in addition to not being able to stand before God (Psa. 51:2). Persistent unbelief in God’s promises ultimately causes us to be separated from God (Eph. 4:18).

The writer of Hebrews in verse 12 admonishes us, “Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God.” Is there anything that you are blind to in your life that separates you from God? What is capturing and enslaving you right now? What in your life makes you feel “dead” with God? What is eating away within you today? Do you feel polluted within and outside of yourself before God? Do you persistently not believe in God? I beseech you, please take a moment today to consider these questions and the power of sin in your own life, and pray earnestly that God will redeem you from sin through the blood of Jesus Christ.

Day 24: Faithfulness of Jesus

Lent 2016, Meditation

Day 24: Faithfulness of Jesus
Passage: Hebrews 3:1-6
Link to Lent 2016 Vimeo Channel

Transcription of the recorded video:

The writer of Hebrews challenges us with this: “Consider Jesus.” In Hebrews 3:1-6, he wants us to consider how Jesus is faithful just as Moses was to God’s people. We learn that Moses was “faithful in all God’s house as a servant” because He obeyed God and served the Israelite nation while they were in the wilderness. Even when the Jewish people were not faithful to God, Moses remained faithful for their sake so that they could inherit the Promised Land at the expense of his own life. At the end of his life, Moses saw the Promised Land (and probably the Jewish nation prepared to cross the Jordan River).

In a similar manner, Jesus is faithful over God’s house as His son. Moses was not able to enter the Promised Land because he disobeyed God by striking a rock at Meribah. Jesus is infinitely greater than Moses because He was completely obedient to God and didn’t sin against Him once in his life time, and His obedience and faithfulness benefits those who belong in God’s house – eternal life with God in heaven.

Christians are members of God’s house because of Jesus, and God gives us a long list of promises. For example, God promises His people that He will free us from our bondage of sin when we submit to and follow Christ (Rom. 6:22-23). 1 Cor. 10:13 tells us that God is faithful and he will not allow His people to be tempted beyond their ability, but along with temptation he will also provide the way of escape, so that we might be able to endure it. God promises to give us salvation and heaven if we confess with our mouth and believe in our heart that Christ has died for us (Rom. 10:9).

As God’s people, God calls us to hold fast to our confidence and hope in God alone through Jesus. Because of our faith in Jesus Christ, we are able to receive God’s promises and enter into Heaven. Can you say that you have faith in and trust Jesus today?

Day 23: The Exodus Wilderness

Lent 2016

Day 23: The Exodus Wilderness
Passage: Hebrews 3:1 – 4:13
Link to Lent 2016 Vimeo Channel

Transcription of the recorded video:

There is an old saying, “Those who fail to learn from the past are doomed to repeat it.” This is probably why the Hebrew writer takes the time in chapter 3 to give his readers a history lesson which at the time was more than 1,000 years old and that is also why today, over 2,000 years later this lesson still needs to be told.

Moses was the most important hero to the Israelites. Moses led the Israelite nation out of bondage in Egypt. God led Jewish people to the edge of Canaan, the Promised Land. Before entering the Promised Land, God told Moses to send twelve men to spy out the land (Num. 13:2). As the spies reported back they were all in agreement on what they saw, “A land flowing with milk and honey.” But the inhabitants of Canaan were strong and the cities were well fortified. All except two were afraid to go and possess the land. They actually suggested that Israel return to Egypt and back into slavery!

We know the rest of the story, the people followed the majority. They would not listen to Joshua and Caleb. They refused the promise of God. They had hard hearts. As a result, God forced them to wander in the wilderness for 40 years. No one from that generation, save Joshua, Caleb and their families, entered the Promised Land.

So why this story from ages long past? What could it possibly say to us today? The application is in the striking similarities. Christians are promised something better. We too, just like Israel, plan to enter a Promised Land, which is Heaven. We can become complacent in our lives, we can get caught up in sin, and have hard hearts. If we allow this to happen then we will be left to die in the wilderness, eternally separated from God. This is the last thing that God wants to happen to us. I invite you to join me this week as we meditate on Hebrews 3:1 – 4:13 about Jesus, the power and deceit of sin, the importance of the Body, and how we can experience God’s rest and peace in our lives.

Day 22: “Send Someone Else!”

Christian, Exhortation, God, Lent 2016, Meditation

Day 22: “Send Someone Else!”
Passage: Exodus 4:13-17

Moses concluded his prayer before God in the wilderness by saying, “O My Lord, please send someone else” (Ex. 4:13). In other words, he said, leave me alone. Go away. Please send someone else.

Then the Scripture goes on, “then the anger of the Lord was kindled against Moses” – but not so angry that God leaves him. God said “No!” to Moses’ request to leave him alone, but, nevertheless keeps pursuing Moses, even through Moses’ doubts, fears, and rudeness! And says, “What of your brother Aaron the Levite? You shall speak to him and put words in his mouth and I will be with your mouth and with his mouth and will teach you what you shall do. Now take in your hand this rod with which you shall perform the signs.”

And Moses does it.

And staggeringly, he becomes this liberator, this general, this builder of a new nation from scratch. That is how a cowering figure becomes a towering figure of history.

I personally take enormous comfort in this prayer that this is the prayer of one of the most important person in Israel’s history whom God used to change the course of human history. Without this prayer, I would not be able to be honest with God on a daily basis and share my fears and doubts. This played a huge part in my sense of God’s call to the gospel ministry.

There are many believers – beyond the ones reading this today – who think exactly the same way as I did; who are cowardly and fearful, and need to hear that God has the power and passion to give you gifts, and has already done so, to help you take whatever that step is to fulfill the call of God for you. This is not unusual for great men and women of God. This is where we often start. And God will take whatever we offer in our prayers and use it as part of an ongoing conversation so that through us, His will is fulfilled on this earth, as Jesus would say, “as it is in Heaven.” Whatever God is calling you to do, God can provide.

Sometimes the call of God is a complete change in your life. You are “here” and you must go “there.” Sometimes that’s how it is, as it was with Moses: go back into the fray, from out in the middle of nowhere, go back in!

But for most people, the call of God is to be exactly where you are and to stick with it when there are obstacles in the way or relationships which are difficult or other problems that come – to be faithful-in-place. Not just because you have to, but because God calls us to be Christ’s followers right where we are, supplying whatever we need for the call of God to be fulfilled.

Take some time now to thank God that, in moments when we are fearful, cowardly, and doubtful in our prayers, God says, “No, I won’t give up on you. You are the one I want!”