FORWARD-LOOKING FAITH: Abel, Enoch, and Noah

FORWARD-LOOKING FAITH: Abraham and Sarah

SCRIPTURE: Hebrews 11: 9-16. This week, our Forward-Looking Faith series focuses on the faiths of Abraham and Sarah. In Hebrews 11, the author uses Abraham and Sarah to make an important point: We are but pilgrims called to believe and receive God’s promises. Along this journey of faith, we are to look at God’s upcoming promises of eternal security and salvation like a warm greeting to a friend approaching your home. This is a challenge to all of us who rest in the security of our stuff, who place stability in temporal comforts, and who doubt God’s assurance for us.

FORWARD-LOOKING FAITH: Abel, Enoch, and Noah

SCRIPTURE: HEBREWS 11 This week, we begin a new summer sermon series through Hebrews 11. Hebrews 11 records several Old Testament men and women of faith who had assurance in things hoped for. That’s why we’re calling this summer sermon series “Forward-Looking Faith.” Each of those listed in Hebrews 11 lived many years before Jesus was born. However, their faith still points us to the greater realities of faith that we experience in our post-Resurrection lives. This week, we focus on the faith of three very early men of faith: Abel, Enoch, and Noah. These men lived so long ago that they exercised faith even before God chose Abraham and his descendants, the people of Israel. And yet, these very ancient examples of faith point us to wonderful realities today. I’m looking forward to journeying through this sermon series and considering what God is doing in our hearts now, and how that work anticipates a future filled with eternal hope in Jesus.

FSTS: The Many versus the One

SCRIPTURE: Hebrews 10:1-18. This week, as we continue in the Book of Hebrews, it feels a little like a broken record. Over and over again, the author reminds us that in the old covenant, sacrifices were offered over and over again. In contrast, he compares them to Jesus’ once-for-all and forever sacrifice on the cross. What’s behind this repetitious tension between the many and the one? We'll unpack that question on this podcast.

FROM SHADOW TO SUBSTANCE: The Purified Conscience

SCRIPTURE: Hebrews 9: 1 - 15. This week, we explore one of the most important themes in the book of Hebrews: worshiping with a free and purified conscience. The effects of Jesus’ priestly ministry are all-encompassing, reaching even our inner faculties of thought, reason, and judgment. In Hebrews 9, the author shows how the old covenant required external rituals that could never truly reach the heart of the matter. Yet God has always been pursuing our hearts. The mediator of the new covenant, however, provides what the old could never accomplish: the cleansing of our consciences. The joy of being a Christian is so deep and overwhelming because our darkest and deepest guilt has been forgiven and removed. Jesus has conquered our conscience!

FROM SHADOW TO SUBSTANCE: Jesus, Our Priestly King

SCRIPTURE: Hebrews 8 This week, we dive into one of the more theologically rich developments in the Book of Hebrews. The consequences of Jesus being our kingly priest change everything. One of the biggest consequences is how we now understand God’s covenant with us. Through Jesus’ ministry and his current royal position beside the Father’s throne, he mediates a better covenant. That covenant means God’s law is written on our hearts through the power of the Holy Spirit. For God’s chosen people, transformed by his grace, how we are to live for Jesus is not something written on stone. It is written on our souls. God’s will for us becomes personal, intimate, and real.