How to Become A Resilient Church
Acknowledge Pastor Maurice Winn and family
Acknowledge Pastor Jenkins and Memorial Day
Acknowledge wife who sends her greetings and friends
Thank the Emmanuel City church and the congregations for letting me serve in their Pastor’ absence
It also, say that I am a super amateur, which means that I am really bad. If you want to feel better about your golf game, I promise you that you will feel better after playing a round with me.
To be a resilient church it must have resilient people
Hebrews 10:35-36
The believers of that time were starting to feel the heat of persecution.
But as was his custom after the most severe admonitions, the writer chose to conclude his warning with a distinct note of encouragement.
10:32–34. An effective way to fortify people against future trials is to remind them of the courage they displayed in past ones. This is precisely what the writer did. His readers knew what it was to stand their ground in a great contest in the face of suffering. (The words “stood your ground” [hypemeinate] render the verb usually translated “persevered,” as in, e.g., v. 36). They knew what it was to be publicly shamed and persecuted, and also to support others who had such experiences (v. 33). They had shown sympathy for brethren who had been imprisoned, and they had suffered property loss with joy because they had an assurance of possessing heavenly wealth (v. 34). They would do well to recall now their steadfastness in the past. Whatever they might now be facing—and the writer suggested it might be something similar—they would be helped if they would remember those earlier days after they had received the light (cf. “received the knowledge” in v. 26 and “enlightened” in 6:4).
10:35–36. This was no time for them, then, to throw away their confidence (parrēsia, cf. 3:6; 4:16; 10:19). As the author’s exposition of the eternal inheritance—the glory of the many sons—had sought to show, that confidence, if retained, will be richly rewarded. What the readers needed, therefore, was just what the writer had often said and implied: to persevere (lit., “you had need of perseverance,” hypomonēs echete chreian) so that by thus doing God’s will (cf. v. 9) they would receive what God had promised. As much as anything, these words express the central exhortation of the Book of Hebrews.