Lindsey Blair and Bobby Gilles recap and discuss Pastor Jonah Sage's sermon from Hebrews 3:12-19.
Lindsey Blair and Bobby Gilles recap and discuss Pastor Jonah Sage's sermon from Hebrews 3:12-19.
Lindsey: Welcome to the Midweek Checkup. My name is Lindsey Blair and I’m joined by Jonah Sage. This past Sunday, Pastor Jonah Sage began our series “The Rest Of The Church.”
Bobby: Pastor Jonah Sage preached from Hebrews Three, Twelve through Nineteen. He said we are one, holy, apostolic family made in, for, and through Christ; therefore, tell the truth, endure, and listen. And for anyone who missed the sermon or needs help remembering, let’s do the weekly recap:
Lindsey: Jonah began by saying that we must practice who we are to experience the goodness of who we are. Telling the truth, enduring, and listening flow from verses twelve and thirteen, which say, “Be careful then, dear brothers and sisters. Make sure that your own hearts are not evil and unbelieving, turning you away from the living God. You must warn each other every day, while it is still “today,” so that none of you will be deceived by sin and hardened against God.”
Bobby: If we’re going to hold fast, hold on, be careful…we can’t do it alone
We must be a family that tells the truth, and our truth-telling must be born of love. The goal is not to make others feel small or foolish. When we see someone in a circumstance, in a pattern…we must warn them in love.
Lindsey: And we must endure. There will be prayers we wait to hear answers to, desires we long for, that sometimes will pile up year after year. Our hearts can grow hard because we were deceived into thinking God will do what we want when we want it. The invitation is instead to endure as Jesus did, and as an act of trust. We must be a family that endures to stay rooted in our apostolic calling.
Bobby: Finally, we must listen. Many hard situations in the life of our church would have been avoided if we each individually were committed to being a people eager to listen to each other, and lay down our defensiveness. But we must also listen to God. When was the last time you got quiet, and simply prayed, “speak, Lord, your servant is listening”? Listen for five minutes … ten minutes…whatever you can.
Lindsey: And so we have our rhythms of rest, how we experience what we already are. It’s hard to be the family of God, but that’s what we are! To taste the goodness of it, we tell the truth to maintain unity, we endure to root ourselves in our apostolic calling, and we listen well to promote holiness.
Bobby: This coming Sunday, we’ll continue The Rest Of The Church, looking into the fourth chapter of Hebrews. And in Bible Fellowship, we’ll look at Psalm 46 together, talking about the God who is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in times of trouble. Join us, and bring a friend.