Sermons on Hebrews
Hebrews
The True Tabernacle
Various passages On Good Friday, we celebrate that because of Jesus, we can confidently enter into and enjoy the goodness and glory of God’s presence.
To our weakness is no stranger
Hebrews 4:14-5:3 At so many levels, we live in a weary world. We are all looking for a way out of this situation but our only real hope is in the One who transcends our reality because he lives eternally in heaven. In Christ, God has entered our weary world to redeem it and will one day renew the whole creation. What a glorious hope to rejoice in as we celebrate Christmas!
Giving God your Full Attention
Hebrews 1:1-2:4 In these last days God has spoken to us by his Son – the one who is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being. This is utterly remarkable that God would reveal himself to us to this extent. If we are to hold on to our salvation, and not drift, we must give God our full attention, never losing sight of the grandeur of Jesus and the wonder and goodness of the gospel.
Persevering in Christ
Hebrews 12:1-13 Trials and troubles are a normal part of the Christian life. We should expect them. In fact, they are good for us! Really? In today’s message we explore how we are to persevere through our pain as we press on in Christ. But we also wrestle with the question of why God allows us to go through difficulties in our lives. Ultimately His goal is “that we may share in His holiness”. Be encouraged as Pastor Murray also…
Jesus – the perfect sacrifice
Hebrews 10:1-18 Like many religions still today, the ancient Israelites showed remorse for their sins by approaching God through a complex system of animal sacrifices. Year after year they sacrificed an animal at the temple to symbolise their repentance. But this was a never-ending ritual that could never truly expunge their sin. What was needed was a perfect sacrifice. Finally God provided that sacrifice Himself by sending His sinless Son, Jesus, who willingly gave Himself for us on the cross.…
Avoiding a “Peter Pan” faith
A well-documented clinical diagnosis these days is what is known as the “Peter Pan Syndrome”. Peter Pan is the fictional character who never grew up. He lived in a fantasy world where he was the centre of attention and could do whatever he liked. Sadly, there is a Christian equivalent. Christians who never seem to move beyond spiritual infancy. In this message, Pastor Murray challenges us to see how God wants us to be growing in our faith, always going on towards full maturity in Christ.
The Christian life – it’s all about Jesus!
The book of Hebrews links the Old and New Testaments, and shows how Jesus is the ultimate fulfilment of all that God has been doing in biblical history. In a world that has relegated Jesus to just another figure of history, we need to recognise who Jesus really is… the divine Son of God… fully equal with God. In a world that wants to believe there are many different ways to God, Hebrews emphasizes that Jesus alone can save people from their sin through the sacrifice of Himself on the cross. And when we come to know Jesus personally as our Saviour, then we begin to “live by faith”, as we learn to trust Him through the daily ups and downs of life. That’s the message of Hebrews, and what the Christian life is all about!
Sound advice for serious believers
There is a real place for meaty doctrinal teaching (and there’s plenty of that in the book of Hebrews). But sometimes we need to hear what God says about things like: how to relate to church leaders, and being willing to suffer disgrace and humiliation for the sake of Christ, and what “worship” 24/7 looks like. When it comes to the crunch, you have to live the faith you profess. Join us as Pastor Murray unpicks these verses and challenges us to put them into practice personally.
Four indicators of genuine faith
God never intended faith to be a set of mental beliefs, isolated from real life. To be genuine, faith has to work in real life. As the writer of this letter starts to wind things up, he challenges his readers to put his teaching about faith into practice. Join us as Pastor Murray extends the challenge to us today in four particular areas of life – 1. how we relate to strangers, 2. how we care for prisoners, 3. how we preserve our sexual purity, and 4. how we stay content in a materialistic world. Whoever said the Bible isn’t relevant to the 21st century!
Hebrews 12:14-29
Listen as Pastor Dave continues our study into the book of Hebrews focusing on what God has done for us and how we might live in response.
Divine discipline
How do you respond to hardships in your life? Listen as we consider the exhortations of the writer to the Hebrews, as he urges his readers to remember the encouraging word of God and the good purposes of God, even when we face hard times. And then, let us resolve to press on.
Faith that never gives up
In the Bible the Christian life is often compared to a long distance race. But as we all know, many runners in these races don’t make it to the finish line. Sadly, that is also true of some who claim to be Christians today. For a variety of reasons they lose heart and give up. It seems that the book of Hebrews had these sorts of people in mind, and today’s passage is a word of strong encouragement to these people. Whatever difficulties you may be facing, and they are an unavoidable part of life for every Christian, it’s *always* worth it to run the race of life with perseverance and to keep fixing your eyes on Jesus. This is the faith that gets every genuine believer triumphantly to the finish line.