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WELCOME: eMember Reflections Group Thursdays @ 7:30 pm
Reflections Church Service
March 20th, 2022
“I've Got An Anchor”
“Fix This Ship” Series: Finale
Hebrews 6 :13-20
The church has no power because our ships are out of alignment. We have to be bold and courageous. We have to defy logic, and not be scared.
Some of us are so educated, you can’t hear God anymore. God works best with little.
WORSHIP: I don’t want to just hear a song, I want to see a song. Believe what you sing. Faith without works is dead.
STEWARDSHIP: He is the Lord. The earth is His, we are managers. Time, talent, and treasure are the Lord’s. We need to ask Him where to use them.
LEADERSHIP: Being the flagship. See yourself going places no one else has gone before. Leadership means you’re the highest servant. Lead by example. Are you a leader or a liability?
MEMBERSHIP: This is about community, All hands on deck. We are part of a team. This is not a cruise, but a battleship.
FELLOWSHIP: This is about value. What fellowship does light have with darkness? You must understand your assignment.
FRIENDSHIP: You have got to love the call of God more than you love people. Bad affiliations hinders progress.
PARTNERSHIP: You can go fast alone, but two can go far.
RELATIONSHIP: Healthy relationships are formed out of spiritual friendships
DISCIPLESHIP: A learner, pupil, one who studies the and espouses the teachings of another. Disciples are made not born
Discipleship costs you your life. There is a high level of seriousness.
SCHOLARSHIP: Women in ministry. God will use any and everyone.
Our anchor grounds us in heavenly places. Where is your soul anchored? The problem is too many of us have too many things we are anchored to. Your excuses have become anchors to not do the things of the Lord.
Some people are anchored, or grounded in:
People
Careers
Investments
Offenses
Two immutable things:
His word
His oath
Psalm 110:4
4 The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind, “You are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.”
ICEBREAKER:
Hebrews 7
Opening Question: Who were some of you heroes or heroins growing up? Who are they now?
Chapter 7 Overview: This explains why Christ is superior to the legal system practiced by the Jews of this day. The author began by showing how the order of Jesus’ priesthood was superior to the order of the Levitical priesthood.
Hebrews 7:1-3
1 For this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of God Most High, met Abraham and blessed him as he returned from defeating the kings, 2 and Abraham gave him a tenth of everything. First, his name means king of righteousness, then also, king of Salem, meaning king of peace. 3 Without father, mother, or genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but resembling the Son of God, he remains a priest forever.
(v. 2) - Tithing as a principle when in the presence of one that is greater. One that has given you the ability to gain wealth. [e.g. - Cain & Able, Abraham, Jacob, the church in Acts 2]
Deuteronomy 8:17-20
17 You may say to yourself, ‘My power and my own ability have gained this wealth for me,’ 18 but remember that the Lord your God gives you the power to gain wealth, in order to confirm his covenant he swore to your ancestors, as it is today. 19 If you ever forget the Lord your God and follow other gods to serve them and bow in worship to them, I testify against you today that you will certainly perish. 20 Like the nations the Lord is about to destroy before you, you will perish if you do not obey the Lord your God.
(vs. 1-10) - Makes the distinction between the Levitical priesthood based on law and lineage, versus the priesthood after the order of Melchizedek that is without beginning or end resembling the Son of God.
Key verses: Hebrews 7:6-7
6 But one without this lineage collected a tenth from Abraham and blessed the one who had the promises. 7 Without a doubt, the inferior is blessed by the superior.
Make no mistake we get the better end of the deal. No matter what we give because what He gives us far outweighs anything we render to Him.
(vs. 11-19) - Talks about the superiority of the priesthood after the order of Melchizedek (v.16). So the previous command is annulled because it was weak (vs. 18-19). It offers a better hope and ability to draw near to God.
(vs. 20-28) - Because of His role as priest and Him holding it permanently He is able to save us completely
When we need deliverance from a difficult situation, we are able to draw near to God through our eternal high priest Jesus Christ. Sometimes He delivers us emotionally. Sometimes He calms our spiritually. Sometimes he brings a person into our life to help.
(Hebrews 7:25)
25 Therefore, he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, since he always lives to intercede for them.
Hebrews 8
Chapter Question: Are you more likely to repair something that is old or simply buy something new?
Chapter 8 Overview: This chapter continues the argument that Jesus’ new covenant is superior to the old covenant of the law - in fact, the law itself predicted the new covenant.
Key verses: Hebrews 8:6-7
6 But Jesus has now obtained a superior ministry, and to that degree he is the mediator of a better covenant, which has been established on better promises. 7 For if that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion for a second one.
Hebrews 8:13
13 In speaking of a new covenant, he makes the first one obsolete. And what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away.
We need no longer to jump through hoops of the old system and regulations because at the heart of the new covenant is this promise: “I will never again remember their sins (8:12). Through Christ, tomorrow’s sins are wiped away too. Everything you have done - past, present, and future - is covered by the cross. And if we really understand the greatness of this grace, we will be motivated to live to please the one who saved us. We will transfer from a “have to” life to a “thank you” life, leaving you free to experience and enjoy the power and privilege of our relationship with God.
Hebrews 9
Chapter Question: Growing up, what was off limits in your house?
Chapter 9 Overview: Here the author of Hebrews showed that the ministry of the new covenant is superior to the ministry (and ministers) of the old covenant.
Key verses: Hebrews 9:11-14
11 But Christ has appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come. In the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands (that is, not of this creation), 12 he entered the most holy place once for all time, not by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood, having obtained eternal redemption. 13 For if the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a young cow, sprinkling those who are defiled, sanctify for the purification of the flesh, 14 how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, cleanse our consciences from dead works so that we can serve the living God?
Hebrews 9:23-28
23 Therefore, it was necessary for the copies of the things in the heavens to be purified with these sacrifices, but the heavenly things themselves to be purified with better sacrifices than these. 24 For Christ did not enter a sanctuary made with hands (only a model of the true one) but into heaven itself, so that he might now appear in the presence of God for us. 25 He did not do this to offer himself many times, as the high priest enters the sanctuary yearly with the blood of another. 26 Otherwise, he would have had to suffer many times since the foundation of the world. But now he has appeared one time, at the end of the ages, for the removal of sin by the sacrifice of himself. 27 And just as it is appointed for people to die once—and after this, judgment—28 so also Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.
These verses drive home the point that Christ’s sacrifice of Himself to remove sin internal and external - once and for all, so that He might appear in God’s presence for us in heaven (9:24, 26). His sacrifice does not have a limited application; it endures forever.
Hebrews 10
Chapter Question: What’s something you dislike doing day after day, week after week?
Chapter 10 Overview: Previous chapters built the argument that Jesus is superior to the law, and that His sacrifice is superior to the Levitical system. This chapter concludes this argument and offer a warning against the power of sin.
Key verses: Hebrews 10:1-4
1 Since the law has only a shadow of the good things to come, and not the reality itself of those things, it can never perfect the worshipers by the same sacrifices they continually offer year after year. 2 Otherwise, wouldn’t they have stopped being offered, since the worshipers, purified once and for all, would no longer have any consciousness of sins? 3 But in the sacrifices there is a reminder of sins year after year. 4 For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.
The law could not make us good, and the sacrifices could not take our sin away permanently. God did not provide the law and the Old Testament sacrificial system to fully and finally address the problem of sin but to prepare and point the way to something better.
Hebrews 10:22-25
22 let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed in pure water. 23 Let us hold on to the confession of our hope without wavering, since he who promised is faithful. 24 And let us consider one another in order to provoke love and good works, 25 not neglecting to gather together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging each other, and all the more as you see the day approaching.
With this kind of access to God, we come into His presence boldly. Our prayer becomes vibrant when we become real. Everything changes when you realize that Jesus has already dealt with the things we’re ashamed to discuss.
Have you ever heard someone beat around the bush because they were afraid to get to the point and address a problem? We never have to do that with the Lord.
Hebrews 10:26-27
26 For if we deliberately go on sinning after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, 27 but a terrifying expectation of judgment and the fury of a fire about to consume the adversaries.
The idea here is willful sin against God, a sin committed because a believer develops a defiant spirit. Think of a petulant child, or rebellious teenager, who when corrected, becomes stubborn and says to their parents, “I don’t care what you say.”
What we see in this passage is not a description of a struggling believer who sins, but willful rebellion. That’s why the author uses “deliberately.” This is a determined mindset to have one’s own way.
Hebrews 10:32-36
32 Remember the earlier days when, after you had been enlightened, you endured a hard struggle with sufferings. 33 Sometimes you were publicly exposed to taunts and afflictions, and at other times you were companions of those who were treated that way. 34 For you sympathized with the prisoners and accepted with joy the confiscation of your possessions, because you know that you yourselves have a better and enduring possession. 35 So don’t throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. 36 For you need endurance, so that after you have done God’s will, you may receive what was promised.
In these verses the author is urging the believers to remember the early days; to recall what is was like after they were first saved. Their passion for Christ and the gospel was so strong that they endured suffering, and mistreatment. He’s telling them to persevere as you did before, “Don’t get up now!”
Hebrews 10:37-39
37 For yet in a very little while, the Coming One will come and not delay. 38 But my righteous one will live by faith; and if he draws back, I have no pleasure in him. 39 But we are not those who draw back and are destroyed, but those who have faith and are saved.
The author is confident that the readers of this letter are not those who draw back, but those who have faith that endures to the end.