Seek The City That Is To Come

If we follow Jesus, we will make it home

We’ve come to the end of the book of Hebrews.

The Lord led me to plan this study back in 2024.

It made logical sense to go to Hebrews after Exodus.

We’ve said at least in half of the messages we’ve preached that so much of Hebrews is based in the Old Testament

And specifically the book of Exodus.

It made good sense.

Then 2025 happened.

We only thought the world was changing fast last few years.

Donald Trump was inaugurated as the 47th president of the United States on Monday, January 20, 2025.

And the world went into warp speed.

Prior to 2025, we were living in a world that was increasingly secular and increasingly anti-Christian.

We were like frogs in the kettle - you know the old adage.

Frogs swimming in a pot of cold water on the stove.

Someone turns the heat on low and the water gets warm so slowly, the frogs don’t notice

Until it finally starts to boil

And then it’s too late, the frogs are cooked.

We found ourselves in late 2024 with the heat getting surprisingly warm.

Then 2025 happens

President Trump ushered in an era of push-back.

Many of the things that looked inevitable, started looking like they might not be inevitable.

And then Charlie Kirk got assassinated.

And it wasn’t just his getting murdered so publicly.

It’s the reaction from those who hate what he stood for.

They hate what WE stand for.

And all of a sudden, we realize why the Lord led us to study the book of Hebrews.

Wherever the Hebrews lived, we live there now.

Whatever stresses the Hebrews felt to conform, to go along to get along, we feel those now.

Listen, we can renounce our Christianity and never stop being a good church goer.

To renounce our Christianity, we simply need to quit standing for the hard things.

We quit standing on the name of Christ.

We say things like:

The Father is a god of total acceptance - He loves you just the way you are and He never expects you to change.

Jesus is a way to God, but not the only way.

When God created the world, He created men and women so they could be interchangeable.

When God created the family, He simply created a unit of people who were bonded together by feelings of love.

When God created the church, He created it to be a place of total affirmation.

“Ya’ll come - you can be a part and you will never have to change.”

When God gave us the Bible, He put stories in it that were made up but they are useful as analogies or object lessons for God.

Oh, and a woman has a right to choose whether to carry her baby to term or not.

Those beliefs are incompatible with the God of the Bible.

And we are finding ourselves in a place where we have to place our stake in the ground.

We have never had to do that before.

There was a time when it was popular to be a Christian.

Now, the only socially acceptable Christians fly Rainbow flags and BLM flags and march for “No Kings.”

We’re stuck in a place where we have got to choose on which side we are going to stand.

And you know what is unfortunate?

We can’t plead ignorance.

We can’t say we didn’t know what was going on and we can’t say - not now - not after 39 weeks

We can’t say that we don’t know the consequences of turning away from Jesus.

Because we do.

We are at the point of signing the document at the hospital called “informed consent.”

If we choose to follow Jesus, we will get home.

If we choose an easier, more socially acceptable path, we will lose any hope of ever getting home.

YIKES!

Turn with me in your Bibles to Hebrews chapter 13.

We’ll start with verse 15 and finish out the chapter.

Kids,

It makes me sad to finish studying Hebrews.

When we started studying it, I had no clue just how much this 2,000 year old letter would have to say to us, you know?

I mean, the Bible is a very old book.

But let me tell you something someone said to me last week.

He told me, that when he started his business, he wrote his business plan using the Bible.

He’s been very successful

And more important that that, when he goes to bed at night, his conscience doesn’t hurt him

He knows he did the best he could for his God, his church, his family and his friends.

All because he followed the Jesus of the Bible.

Kids, I promise

If you will read your Bible

God Himself will show you things that you will know deep in your heart you need to do.

And if you’ll do them, you will have the greatest adventure of a life ever.

Please follow Jesus.

Help your mom’s and dad’s follow Jesus.

Help your brothers and sisters and aunts and uncles and cousins follow Jesus.

Jesus is the man

You need to follow the man.

With your Bibles open to Hebrews 13, hear now the words of the Lord from Hebrews 13:15-25

Hebrews 13:15–25 ESV

Through him then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name. Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God. Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you. Pray for us, for we are sure that we have a clear conscience, desiring to act honorably in all things. I urge you the more earnestly to do this in order that I may be restored to you the sooner. Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen. I appeal to you, brothers, bear with my word of exhortation, for I have written to you briefly. You should know that our brother Timothy has been released, with whom I shall see you if he comes soon. Greet all your leaders and all the saints. Those who come from Italy send you greetings. Grace be with all of you.

This is the Word of the Lord.

Thanks be to God.

Pray with me:

Dear Lord,

Last year we had no idea what this year would look like

But you did.

You’ve spoken to us words of life.

Please dear Holy Spirit, illuminate Your Words in our hearts today.

We want to see Jesus and we want to know how to follow Him.

In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Praise God because we have a better Savior

Hebrews 13:15 “Through him then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name.”

For 13 chapters, the Pastor that wrote this letter has made case after case about why Jesus is better.

By now, he expects that we get it.

And because we do get it, our hearts are full.

There are some in our number now who have experienced such trauma, you lost sight of home.

How could you looked way down the road, when right this minute you are in such a maelstrom of pain and hardship

You didn’t know how you’d get up in the morning, much less get home.

But Jesus came to you.

Maybe all you could do was say His name - maybe you said His name because you were mad at him.

But Jesus came to you.

And what happened?

He showed you the way out.

He always shows us the way home.

You can see it, right?

You feel something in your heart, don’t you, that rises above words.

It’s gratitude, but it’s more than that.

That’s why the Pastor can say to us, “Through Jesus - through everything we go through

That’s what the flavor of the word continually - literally through everything

“Through everything we go through, let us offer up a sacrifice of praise.

We used to sing a song that talked about making a sacrifice of praise and I thought - you know, someone needs to define that for us.

The Pastor did.

A sacrifice of praise is the “fruit of the lips that confess Jesus’ name.”

I’ve seen some of you with tears streaming from your eyes saying, “But I know Jesus will get us through this.”

That my dear brother and sister is a sacrifice of praise.

Jesus did all of the work.

He even kept you putting one foot in front of the other.

Until you could see the lights of home.

You do realize now, right, that that is what it looks like sometimes to follow Jesus.

Next thing he says,

No matter how difficult things get, do good and share

Hebrews 13:16 “Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.”

Neglect sounds deliberate.

If someone gets in trouble for neglect, it means they didn’t do something on purpose.

But here neglect also means to forget or overlook.

And we all do that.

Life gets so hard

And pain makes us turn more and more in on ourselves.

It does everyone, you can’t help it.

Pain is it’s own type of torture.

And it is so easy to get focused on how bad life hurts.

The Pastor tells us to don’t overlook doing good, share what little you may have.

The word share is so very familiar to us - it’s a form of the word koinonia

It’s the word for fellowship.

Fellowship isn’t a pot luck at church on a Sunday night.

Fellowship isn’t a party at someone’s house.

Fellowship is sharing your life with someone.

It may include giving them something if they need it

Or having a meal

But the idea here is giving a part of us to someone who is in need.

And now, dig this, this is important

“For such sacrifices are pleasing to God.”

It is God’s will for our lives to do good and to share what we have to those who need us.

Listen to me, for every one of you who has given to Jesus’ Hands or volunteered,

To everyone who has brought a pair of shoes for the kids at Mattie Wells

For everyone who is doing an Operation Christmas Child shoebox

Or buys a gift for a kid from the Angel Tree

Or serves at the Night to Shine

Or serves in Sunday School, or rocks a baby in the nursery

Or leads games on Wednesday nights

Or sings, or plays, or on and on and on

Especially when things aren’t going so well in your life, do you realize

Listen to me, do you realize that Jesus is PLEASED by what you are doing?

Someone in this church made sure 7 small children got a birthday cake and a present for their birthday this year

And made sure they had something to share with their class at school.

It was done on the QT.

But you couldn’t hide it from Jesus - Jesus was pleased.

Even when it’s hard - do good.

Next

Your leaders love you and you need to pay attention

Hebrews 13:17 “Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you.”

Obey means to be persuaded or convinced

It is an imperative verb meaning it is a command.

It is not up for debate.

It’s not something you do if you feel like it or if you necessarily agree.

I’m speaking to you now as your Lead Pastor.

I know other Pastors feel the same and I know this passage covers us all.

But I want to speak to you from me.

I’m not saying what I’m saying with any motive other than to give you something to think about.

Do you see the words keeping watch - “for they are keeping watch over your souls” - see that?

The two words - keeping watch - is literally a compound word made up of three words which translated literally means “not catching sleep.”

I’ve had some fitful nights - not catching sleep - because of my concern for you.

Sometimes we are butting heads - I hate that - always have - but sometimes it has to happen.

Sometimes it’s because I hurt for what you are going through.

Sometimes I’m afraid for your soul

There are a couple of people that I’m around fairly regularly that I want to see saved so badly

Good people - good people who will live eternity in hell because they are so good they think they are good enough for Jesus.

I take very seriously the phrase “as those who will have to give an account.”

That literally translates, to give back a word.

Jesus gave me this flock to be His undershepherd.

One day I’ll have to give a word back to the boss.

I’ll have to give an account of everything I did to help each of you follow Jesus.

You may agree or not agree with how I lead, but I promise, this meeting with Jesus drives where I lead.

Now for your part, the Pastor says, “Let them - that’s your leaders, your Pastor and Elders, let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you.”

He is not telling you as church members to blindly play follow the leader

He is telling you to realize that the Lord Himself installed the leaders here and

The Lord Himself is guiding the leaders to do their best to help you follow Jesus.

Remember when you speak about a Pastor or leader in the church, you are speaking about the One who raised up that leader.

Now, he says all of that and I want to add this - because I’ve lived it.

The body of this church has to have an attitude adjustment when it comes to their Pastors.

When we were having the town halls before we voted on the new by-laws a few years ago

One of our members stood up and said, “This is a small church.”

That’s the problem.

It was a small church and it was a small church not that terribly long ago.

But it’s not now.

As hard as it might be for us to believe, the First Baptist Church of Gray is in the top - the top - 6% of churches in size in the Southern Baptist Convention.

That means 94% of the churches are smaller than us.

And here is something I believe with all of my heart - it’s where I’ve been working to get us to.

I believe that the First Baptist Church of Gray is destined by God to be larger than it is now.

That it is going to reach more and more people

And more and more lives are going to be changed

And this community is going to be changed because Jesus is going to use FBC Gray to change it.

But to do that, one major attitude has to change.

There is a thing in the church world called the 200 barrier.

It’s kind of strange, there are 3 major barriers to cross in church size.

Passing 200 members, passing 400 members and passing 800 members.

There’s been a lot of study on this - it’s not someone just making junk up.

For a season I misdiagnosed us.

It seemed like the 400 barrier was our problem.

We’d get to over 400 attending and then we’d pull back.

That’s happened for about 20 years.

But I was wrong - it wasn’t the 400 barrier.

We’ve not tamed the 200 barrier.

And what is holding us back from moving beyond the 200 barrier and becoming the powerhouse for Jesus He wants us to be is one simple word.

Trust.

FBC-G has a problem trusting it’s pastors.

Because - now hear me out.

Because when you are a small church, pastors preach, visit, marry and bury.

And the people of the church make all of the decisions because they know everybody better.

But at 200, the Pastor knows more about the folks in the church.

He sees more needs and understands more of where the church needs to go.

The Pastor and the Elders have a finger on the pulse of the church no one else can have.

So the decision making has to shift their way.

Instead of everything coming from the church to the Pastor

Now it’s a partnership between the Pastor, Elders and the body.

That’s the Rubicon we have to cross.

The next guy that the Lord calls in here - the LORD will call in here.

The Lord will call him here to lead the church and to care for your souls.

You will owe him respect and trust.

The LORD put him here.

It won’t be the search team or the Elders.

It will be the work of the Lord to bring him to this place.

Let’s not delude ourselves into believing we did all of this.

The Lord will bring him here, by the Lord’s choice, and by the Lord’s design.

In the last few verses of this book, the author tells them to pray for him several times.

You have a prayer guide right now to lead you to pray for the search team and the new guy.

I’m praying for them and I’m praying for him and I’m praying for you.

Pray with all of your might that when the LORD brings the new man here, that you will be able to submit yourself to his authority.

He is ordained by God to care for your souls.

Trust his leadership to do just that.

That’s enough of that.

Here is where I want to end our study of the book of Hebrews.

Seek the city that is to come

Last week Austin’s passage ended with this phrase.

I think the entire message of this book revolves around this phrase.

“Seek the city that is to come” should be on every picture on every wall of our homes and offices.

We don’t need motivational posters telling us to be trustworthy or truthful or accepting.

These seven words – SEEK THE CITY THAT IS TO COME.

This is our guiding light.

This is the lighthouse to keep us off the rocks.

This is the light to take us to safe harbor.

This is the instruction that keeps our dealings with other people – saved and unsaved – pure and Godly.

This is what keeps our marriages holy.

This is what makes us good fathers and mothers.

This is what makes us parent-honoring children.

This is what makes our careers successful, our churches Godly and strong, this is what brings unity and peace.

This is what will change the culture of Gray, Jones County and the world. 

Seek the right thing.

Have your eyes on the right thing.

Run in the right direction.

Always run your race to the right finish line.

When we do this, then and only then can we say, 2 Timothy 4:7-8

2 Timothy 4:7–8 ESV

I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing.

Anything less than keeping faith in Jesus Christ is failure.

Because there is nothing more that life is designed to accomplish than to follow Jesus. 

Our very lives were created to reflect the image of God.

Our lives must reflect Jesus.

When we die, our head stones should all read: “My life was a success. I followed Jesus to my very last breath.”

Amen

Let us pray.