A New and Living Way

INTRODUCTION

It is good to see the people of Siloam Baptist again

I want to thank you for inviting me here tonight to open the Word of God with you

I do want to give an update of our church plant before we get into the message

Thank you for your partnership with New Beginnings

I really don’t know how we would have made it had it not been for God’s people stepping out in faith and partnering with us

Siloam has been very gracious to us, and we are truly grateful for that!

God is doing great things through New Beginnings

We have had some tough seasons as a church plant but we are beginning to see God move

⇒ We’ve had two professions of faith over the past 3 months

⇒ We now have two people in one-on-one discipleship and two more expressed a desire to be discipled this morning

⇒ We have one & a possibility of two baptism candidates

⇒ Our Sunday morning attendance is up

⇒ Our Wednesday night attendance has doubled

⇒ We are getting reports of gospel conversations from our members almost weekly.

⇒ We have had new visitors at the church for the past three weeks in a row now

⇒ We are seeing some fruit from our door-door evangelism

⇒ And our people are growing in their faith

⇒ And our people are excited!

⇒It is so refreshing to see God begin to do things!

I did finish my seminary degree in December

This was the end of along 4 year season

It has brought a breath of fresh air not only for my family, but also the church

It has allowed me some freedom to do some work with my hands, as well as take on more ministry

We are still currently meeting in the gym at Salem Baptist Church

This has been a very good partnership for us and I hope for them as well

They have been gracious hosts to us and we have joined together with them in outreach efforts

We were pursuing another location in the heart of our community but there were several red flags

First Baptist church Oak Grove offered us a space for rent in their old/unused church sanctuary

They have built a new building some years ago, and rent it out to church plants

After much prayer and discussion with our associational leaders, Darrell Crawford, and members of our church we decided it wasn’t good move for us (at least not at this time)

We are still looking for a more permanent location

We have a line item in our budget if something does come up

And we are confident that when the time is right, God will open that door for us

So Our future is looking bright

God is working in ways that He has not since the beginning of the church

We have a prayer meeting every Tuesday night

Bible study every Wednesday night

Sunday morning Worship

Sunday afternoon evangelism

We have a group going to the Reach conference next week

And we cannot wait until the next service to see what Gid is going to do

Just this morning, I had a brand new couple express interest in one-on-one discipleship

Asn those are the kings of people God has been sending us

Hungry people who want to know how to follow Jesus

MESSAGE

Heb 10:19-25 “Therefore, brethren, since we have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He inaugurated for us through the veil, that is, His flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful; and let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near.”

When you read this section you can tell the book of Hebrews was written by a preacher

There is beautiful structure to this passage

If you’ll look at your Bibles there are two main points follow by three points of application

The two main points are introduced by “since we have” (v 19 & 21)

The three points of application are introduced by “let us” (v 22, 23, 24).

Now if I were preaching at home, I would tell the church to underline those phrases

They will be the structure of this message

They will help us understand what the Spirit of God wants to communicate to us

Pray with me Siloam

Prayer of Illumination

#1) Since we have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus (This is the first main point)

In the Old Covenant, there was much fear and trembling in the presence of God

The “Holy Place” reminds us of the Holy of Holies in the Tabernacle that Moses built

This was the place where the manifest presence of God dwelt among His people

And it was not only fearful but dangerous to enter this most holy place

And there must be proper preparations made

⇒ Only the High Priest could enter the Holy Of Holies once a year (on the day of Atonement)

⇒ He could only wear white garments

⇒ He had to fill the room with incense and then leave the room

⇒ He then had to return and sprinkle blood on the mercy seat of the Ark 7 times to atone for his sins and the sins of Israel

BUT BECAUSE OF THE BLOOD OF JESUS WE CAN ENTER THE MOST HOLY PLACE WITH CONFIDENCE

There is no need to worry if we will be accepted!

We are not accepted By what we do, but because the blood covers all of our sins

Because we are covered by His blood, we are always wearing our white garments.

The blood of Jesus doesn’t just cover some, but ALL those who have been born again

Only the high priest had access, but not with us

And the blood of Jesus allows us to enter the presence of God any time that we wish

We may approach the presence of God any day, any time of the week

It is because of His blood, that we can have a have a real, personal, living relationship with a holy God.

Two things that done mix: A Holy God and a sinful people

So God made a way: “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” (2 Cor. 5:21).

The righteous blood of Christ made that possible

There is nothing you and I could do be more accepted by God

If we had a thousand gospel conversations a month, He wouldn’t love us anymore

If we read the Bible every day, He wouldn’t love us anymore

No amount of works can grant what the blood of Christ does

#2) Since we have a great Priest over the house of God

Now a priest was a mediator between humanity and deity

The priests would intercede for Israel by sprinkling blood on the mercy seat of the Ark.

They were representatives of God to the people

But they were also representatives of the people to God

Jesus is not just a priest, but a Great High Priest (Heb 4:14).

He is far superior to Aaron and His sons

He is far superior to any priest because NO ONE ELSE can function in this role

Jesus is both fully human and fully God

He is the perfect mediator between God and man

He has lived upon this earth as a human being

Heb 4:15 “For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin.”

Jesus can personally relate to us and all our struggles

Yet He is absolutley sinless and made the perfect sacrifice

But other priests had to offer sacrifice after sacrifice

But Jesus who was the one perfect sacrifice is sitting always the perfect sacrifice in the Father’s presence

His concern is over the house of God

That is a metaphor for all the people of God

Heb 3:6 “but Christ was faithful as a Son over His house—whose house we are, if we hold fast our confidence and the boast of our hope firm until the end.”

Now because of these two great truths, we have three points of application

LET US DRAW NEAR TO GOD

Mistakenly, often today people relate think that coming to church is how we draw near to God

Now that certainly is included, but most church services only last around an hour

AND IF WE ONKY GIVE ONE HOUR TO DRAWING NEAR TO GOD AND THE OTHER 167 TO THE WORLD WHO WILL WE BE CLOSEST TO?

Drawing near to God happens everyday of our lives

It should begin first thing in the morning with a personal quiet time with the Lord

This should include reading Scripture and prayer, personal worship, and praise to God

We need daily fellowship with God

This should include seeking to do God’s will

God has a plan for every believer, and it should be our quest to carry that out!

And I can guarantee you it, PART OF GOD’S PLAN FOR YOUR LIFE WILL BE MAKING DISCIPLES

This should include corporate worship and prayer

The church is a body, and needs to worship Jesus Christ corporately

The church is also a house of prayer, and should pray togther regularly

Our church started a Tues night prayer meeting

We do not sing songs

We do not preach sermons

We pray, and that is all we do

After about a month of praying, we began to fast and pray as a group

I have never seen God answer so many prayers and move so much in any church I have ever been in

We have four things we specifically pray for every week, and then anyhtign else that is on people’s hearts

And just over the past month, God is bring visitors every single week

And I am not talking about just visitors, I am talking about people who are hungry for God!

‘We are seeing fruit from our door-to-door evangelism

Our members are growing in their faith!

God is moving!

And those who are fasting and praying together are drawing near to God

James 4:8 “Draw near to God and He will draw near to you”

Draw near with a sincere heart

In Scripture, the heart represents the inner most part of a man

Our desires

Our will

Our emotions

Who we are

So God wants us to draw near to Him with sincerity

He wants us to be real

He wants out motives to be pure

He doesn’t want a facade

God would rather us pray in five words from the heart, than a thousand words that are empty

God would Rather us come to him with tears and doubts, than pretend that we have it all figured out

He wants us to be genuine people, with genuine hearts, who open them up wide to Him

Draw near in full assurance of faith

Faith always involves risks.

But it is not the risk itself, but being willing to beleive and trust in what God tells us to do.

Faith is the willingness to trust God regardless of the consequences because He has proven himself faithful and good when dealing with His people

And I would say it is impossible to draw near to God without faith.

It is impossible for God to pleased with a church without faith

And this author would say it is impossible to please God without faith (Heb 4:16)

LET US HOLD FAST TO OUR CONFESSION WITHOUT WAVERING

In other words, we are to keep a tight grip on our ChristIan walk

To Hold fast is a way of expressing an ongoing call to never never give up!

There should be no greater priority in our lives than our faith, and our faithfulness to Jesus Christ and His church!

We are to do this without wavering

The word means, “that which does not bend”

This is a call to have a stable and consistent walk with Jesus

One which is not swayed by this world

Not being double minded

Not having one foot in and one foot out

Not being lukewarm!

But loving God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength

It is not surprising that Scripture teaches over and over that perseverance is a mark of a true believer

Those who truly walk with Christ, will always walk with Christ

Those who fall away never had the real thing to begin with

1 John 2:19 “They went out from us, but they were not really of us; for if they had been of us, they would have remained with us; but they went out, so that it would be shown that they all are not of us.”

LET US CONSIDER HOW TO STIMULATE ONE ANOTHER TO LOVE AND GOOD DEEDS

The word “consider” means to “think carefully about” or “to notice”

We are to be a body of people who focus our attention not on ourselves but the needs of others

And that take a level of humility

The needs of other people must be greater than our own needs

How do we stimulate one another? By encouraging and by gathering together

I used to think only those with the gift of encouragement were supposed to encourage others

But what we read here is that it is all of our calling to be an encouragement To the church!

This ChristIan walk is not easy!

We are people who are walking gainst the grain of this world, and we need one another!

And when new believers come into the church, we need to show them grace and encourage them as well

Personal testimony of church encouragement

When I came to Christ, I was at a really low place in my life

And I was hurting, and did not have much hope

But I found a church, and those people loved me

And they cared for me

And I do not know how I would have made it through those difficult years without them

What are we to encourage them to do?

To love and to do good deeds

And one of the best ways to do that is by showing them these things in our own personal lives

That little church showed me love in a time when I really needed it

And I am forever grateful for the gift of the church

What would a stranger say about Siloam?

Would they leave encouraged?

Would they leave loved?

Would they learn the value of practicing good deeds and showing love to others by spending time with you?

I think we must all ask ourselves this question

It certainly reminds me of one of the callings of our congregation

None of this can happen if we do not gather together consistently

It is not an option to come to church for a believer, it is a responsibility

We have a responsibility to one another to be here, and to be encouraging to each other

CONCLUSION

What a gift the church is.

What a beautiful thing Jesus has brought into existence through His sacrificial love by shedding his perfect blood.

We are a redeemed people who have been saved from death, born into a body of life, and given each other to spur us on the way.

And you and I get to be a part of that.

~PRAYER~