Radio Broadcast Tuesday 07/16/2024

Classic Christianity – Book of Hebrews P132 (07-16-24)

It is The Holy Spirit That Equips Us for The Work of The Ministry

~ “Now may the God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, equip you with every good thing to do His will. And may He accomplish in us what is pleasing in His sight through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.” Hebrews 13:20-21 When we understand that God wants to use each of us to accomplish in us, what is pleasing in His sight through Jesus Christ it gives a person a new perspective on Life. As the body of Christ here on Earth, He has a job for each of us to do. That job is first of all to believe in Jesus, and then share Him with others. That is the work of the ministry. That is His will for us. The most important thing in Life is believing and knowing Jesus Christ, are God, Lord and Savior. We are pleasing to Him, because He has made us perfect in His sight. And it has nothing to do with what we do or don’t do. It is based on Him and what He has done for us at the cross, and what He continues to do in and through us, as His body as we abide in Him. So now, when we are in Christ, only those things that we allow Christ to do in and through us will last. That is the pleasing part to God when we live by Faith from first to last. He doesn’t want us to live in the energy of the flesh. He doesn’t want us to lean on our own understanding of anything. He doesn’t want us to focus on ourselves. Ne wants us to live HIS life through us, and allow Him to do that. How do we do that? Let Him do it. I can’t but He can.

~ Continue in brotherly love. Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have entertained angels without knowing it. Remember those in prison as if you were bound with them, and those who are mistreated as if you were suffering with them.

Marriage should be honored by all and the marriage bed kept undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterers.

Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, for God has said:

“Never will I leave you,

never will I forsake you.”

So we say with confidence:

“The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid.

What can man do to me?”

Remember your leaders who spoke the word of God to you. Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.

Do not be carried away by all kinds of strange teachings, for it is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace and not by foods of no value to those devoted to them. We have an altar from which those who serve at the tabernacle have no right to eat.

Although the high priest brings the blood of animals into the Holy Place as a sacrifice for sin, the bodies are burned outside the camp. And so Jesus also suffered outside the city gate, to sanctify the people by His own blood. Therefore let us go to Him outside the camp, bearing the disgrace He bore. For here we do not have a permanent city, but we are looking for the city that is to come.

Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise, the fruit of lips that confess His name. And do not neglect to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.

Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they watch over your souls as those who must give an account. To this end, allow them to lead with joy and not with grief, for that would be of no advantage to you.

Pray for us; we are convinced that we have a clear conscience and desire to live honorably in every way. And I especially urge you to pray that I may be restored to you soon.

Now may the God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, equip you with every good thing to do His will. And may He accomplish in us what is pleasing in His sight through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.

I urge you, brothers, to bear with my word of exhortation, for I have only written to you briefly.

Be aware that our brother Timothy has been released. If he arrives soon, I will come with him to see you.

Greet all your leaders and all the saints.

Those from Italy send you greetings.

Grace be with all of you.^{Hebrews 13:1-25}

Pray to God:

“Lord Jesus, teach me the truth of the world today and give me the wisdom to know the truth and identify the lies of the devil. Thank you God.”

~ “But so let’s pick up in verse 18, he says, Pray for us. We are sure that we have a clear conscience and desire to live honorably in every way. I particularly urge you to pray so that I may be restored to you soon. Paul was certainly hoping and longing to be able to come back and to see his brothers and sisters in Christ that he had ministered to, or rather the author of this book of Hebrews, we don’t think that is Paul, but whoever the author was with a longing to get back to the people and to be restored to them, may the God of peace. And if you have the NIV, you’re going to see a punctuation sometimes that you wonder as well, which is certainly not punctuation in the Scripture. In the original Greek in which the Bible was written was not there. So we ourselves punctuate, but literally, I would put May the God of peace who, and then you’re going to see the thought through the blood of the eternal covenant comma brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus Christ. So in essence, what you have is May the God of peace who brought back from the dead, our Lord Jesus, the Great Shepherd of the sheep, equip you with every good for doing His will, and may He work in us what is pleasing to Him through Jesus, Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen. You will notice there that he says that he will work in us what is pleasing to Him. He did not say you work in yourselves what is pleasing to Him. The prayer of Paul was Lord, work in me those things that are pleasing to you. Instead of my trying to work to try to think what is pleasing to Him, you’re going to have to work in me what is pleasing to Him. Now, folks, what does the scripture tell us that is pleasing to God? Or how to express it? What is not pleasing to God? Anything that is not of what faith is, what? Is sin. And without faith, it’s impossible to what? To please God. So what is it that is pleasing to God? Faith, faith in what what I do, or faith in what he does? In other words, if you’re going to walk on this earth, He is saying, God, work in me, a faith in you. That’s what the whole book of Hebrews is about. Lord Jesus Christ, work in me, a faith in you to allow me to know and to understand why and how I can walk on this earth in total faith in you, who alone is faithful. And so when we’re talking about God is at work in you to willing to do of His good pleasure. When God is working in you, He is building into us those things that create faith in him.” ~ Bob George

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Join Bob George in this chapter by chapter exposition of the book of Hebrews. Available for download the complete series on the Book of Hebrews. The Book of Hebrews is key to understanding the New Covenant.

Announcer 0:12
Welcome to Classic Christianity Radio with Bob George Bob’s clear, timeless teachings on the complete forgiveness and unconditional love of Jesus Christ will transform your life as you learn about God’s amazing grace. Let’s join Bob as he teaches us from God’s Word.

Bob George 0:29
Let’s turn to the book of Hebrews. I couldn’t help from thinking as I was studying for today, as Paul writes in the last chapter there, in verse 22 that brothers, I urge you to bear with my word of exhortation, for I have written you only a short letter. I thought, well, that’s, that’s, I’m glad that he did. It’s taken a year to get through it practically, but, but I’d hate to see if he wrote a long letter to us, how long it would take. But at any rate, we’re coming to the close of this marvelous book of Hebrews, in my opinion, probably one of the richest books in the Bible and also one of the most essential books in the Bible to truly understanding the complexity and the totality of the plan of God in our lives. And so it has been a very important study. I hope that you’ve enjoyed it as much as I’ve enjoyed teaching it, because it has deepened my own understanding of the Lord Jesus Christ and His eternal plan for us through being able to have the privilege of teaching through this book.

But so let’s pick up in verse 18, he says, Pray for us. We are sure that we have a clear conscience and desire to live honorably in every way. I particularly urge you to pray so that I may be restored to you soon. Paul was certainly hoping and longing to be able to come back and to see his brothers and sisters in Christ that he had ministered to, or rather the author of this book of Hebrews, we don’t think that is Paul, but whoever the author was with a longing to get back to the people and to be restored to them, may the God of peace. And if you have the NIV, you’re going to see a punctuation sometimes that you wonder as well, which is certainly not punctuation in the Scripture. In the original Greek in which the Bible was written was not there. So we ourselves punctuate, but literally, I would put May the God of peace who, and then you’re going to see the thought through the blood of the eternal covenant comma brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus Christ. So in essence, what you have is May the God of peace who brought back from the dead, our Lord Jesus, the Great Shepherd of the sheep, equip you with every good for doing His will, and may He work in us what is pleasing to Him through Jesus, Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen. You will notice there that he says that he will work in us what is pleasing to Him. He did not say you work in yourselves what is pleasing to Him. The prayer of Paul was Lord, work in me those things that are pleasing to you. Instead of my trying to work to try to think what is pleasing to Him, you’re going to have to work in me what is pleasing to Him. Now, folks, what does the scripture tell us that is pleasing to God? Or how to express it? What is not pleasing to God? Anything that is not of what faith is, what? Is sin. And without faith, it’s impossible to what? To please God. So what is it that is pleasing to God? Faith, faith in what what I do, or faith in what he does? In other words, if you’re going to walk on this earth, He is saying, God, work in me, a faith in you. That’s what the whole book of Hebrews is about. Lord Jesus Christ, work in me, a faith in you to allow me to know and to understand why and how I can walk on this earth in total faith in you, who alone is faithful. And so when we’re talking about God is at work in you to willing to do of His good pleasure. When God is working in you, He is building into us those things that create faith in him.

Amy was mentioning the other day, about a number of years ago, of receiving a notice from a company that had was making this China that was almost indestructible and and the advertising on it was how this China had been through a different heating processes went through first 500 degrees and then went through again, another cycle of 1000 degrees, and then went through another cycle of 1500 degrees. And it said, because of the heat that it had been exposed to and the pressure that it had been exposed to, it was chip proof. And also said, was now able to be used over and over and over and over again. In other words, it had been prepared for usage, and the way it got prepared for usage was through heat and through pressure, and when we look at our lives and what Christ is doing in our lives and why we are born again, not just so that we can sit around being born again, but that God drew us unto himself, so that we can be a usable vessel, because humanity from day one, the reason Christ had to come to this earth is because people need help, because we are helpless apart from him, and as long as we’re on this Earth, we are going to be in need of help, and you are going to be in need of help. Is that right or wrong? Now, when Christ came, he was the only source of help as the body of Christ, 2000 years ago on this earth. But when he said, I am going away, and when I do, it’s good for you that I go away, because when I do, I’m going to send my Spirit to live in you, and you then now are going to be my body here on this earth. I am the head. You are the body. Well, what is the body to do? Well, the same thing that Christ’s body did 2000 years ago, serve mankind. I didn’t come to be served. I came to serve. I didn’t come to be placated. I came to help people. And so if we, who are indwelt by the living Christ, Jesus on this earth, are the body of Christ, then God’s assignment for you and me is no different than his assignment for his self. 2000 years ago, I didn’t come to be served. I came to serve one another in love. You have been called to freedom, my brothers, but don’t use your freedom to indulge the flesh over here, that ain’t going to do you an ounce of good. In fact, all it’s going to do is get you in trouble. But use your freedom to what serve one another in love. That’s what this whole thing is about, to serve one another in love, not legalistic serving out of a heart of a person who has been served. And so when he’s saying, Lord Jesus, work in me. Work in us. What is pleasing to Him, He’s going to be working in us the understanding that our Lord Jesus is faithful and worthy of our faith. When we understand that, we’re not going to understand that without trials and tribulation. You and I sit around and we keep thinking that we’re going to understand the faithfulness of God through a life without complication and without trials and without tribulation. That doesn’t happen. Time after time after time again, are people who have drawn near to God through the worst tribulations of their life.

I remember a number of years ago when Amy and I went to Atlanta to speak at a youth conference. And when we got there, wondered what we were doing speaking at a youth conference, but we were there anyway, and it was a marvelous week that God opened up for us in dealing with those young people, probably one of the most, I would say, unusual weeks of our lives. And I’ll remember at the time a young man. Standing about that tall, with one of his legs cut off and dying of cancer, an athlete, a star basketball player, a star quarterback, a guy that was the All American boy who was dying of cancer. And I remember talking to him through that experience and the unbelievable ministry that he had in other people’s life, not because he is out trying to have a ministry. He is a ministry. You and I are a ministry. We don’t have one. You are one, if you allow yourself to be open to the minister that lives in you, and that’s Christ, Jesus, and the young man saying to me as sincere, not this pious talk that you sometimes hear, but with a broken heart, because it isn’t any fun to have cancer. It’s not a fun to know you’re going to suffer and die, but to be able to say with a sincere heart that you could ever see in anyone’s life that Bob. If I had to go through this again to learn what I’ve learned about Jesus, I would go through it again.

Time after time after time, it’s through the crunches of life that we learn about his faithfulness. It’s through the crunches of life that we come down and realize that nothing else matters except him. We talked about a couple of weeks ago when we were at another conference, and I thought when we saw an x ray that Amy had cancer or had a lump in our lungs, that we didn’t know what it was. The only thing in the world that mattered was her. All this other stuff goes away. It doesn’t matter. And when we get right down to it in life, we get all hung up and all of these non essential incidentals of life, and we try to become usable and a fine piece of china, but that china breaks like that unless it’s treated by the heat and by the pressures of life.

And so this life down here, in its trials and in its tribulation, is what equips us for the work that God has called us to, and the work that he called us to was, believe in me. That’s our work. Believe in me. I am faithful. That’s what the book of Hebrews was talking about when we went through the 11th chapter, when he was talking about some people walk by faith and were made kings, and we say Whoopee. I like that kind of faith. But he said other people walk by faith, and they were sawed in two, lived destitute. The world wasn’t worthy of them. And he said in all of these cases, each and every one of them were walking by faith. So when you run into these trials and tribulations of life, don’t look at them as God is punishing me. People this. Why me? Why me? Why me? Like God is punishment. God is not punishing you. The punishment that you and I deserved was placed upon him at the cross. He’s not punishing you and me. It’s all a part of the disciplines of life, and it’s not that God’s discipline comes on you, and people look at discipline in that way, that instead of punishing, well, it just discipline, just another word. It’s kind of like we talked about, you’re not lost, you’re just unsaved, you know. You’re not really logic. You’re just kind of uncooled, you know. And it doesn’t sound quite as bad as lost, and it’s kind of same thing. Well, okay, I won’t use punishment. I understand grace now, so I’m not going to use punishment, but I am going to use discipline. And so that’s what God does when he’s hacked at you instead of punishing you, and he just comes and disciplines the daylights out at you.

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Bob George 14:13
We live under God’s discipline. The discipline of God is discipleship. That’s where the word discipline comes from discipline discipleship. It’s a continual, ongoing discipling. He came go to the world and make disciples people who are being continually discipled by the Lord Jesus Christ, continually disciplined by what? The truth of His Word, the discipline that it takes when you’re going through the trials and tribulations of life to be able to say, Lord, this is part of the heat that’s going to equip me to be used not once, but over and over and over and over and over again, in the midst of the trials and the tribulations of life. It’s a discipline of life that from the Lord Jesus Christ, when He tells us to love one another. And we walk around on this earth, and many times we walk around as Christians, and we talk about the fact as to how we just understand this and how we understand that, and our heads are so smart and we’re so full of knowledge. And he’s saying, I don’t care how much knowledge you have, what I’m asking you, are you loving one another?

And there is a discipline of God to keep us loving one another. I want to ask you, how much love is it when we do not think the best of one another? What kind of a discipline are you allowing the Lord Jesus Christ in your life, when you are constantly in the process of thinking Ill of another person, when they don’t respond to you the way that you want them to respond. And therefore get touchy, because you got in mind how somebody ought to respond to you, and so because you got in mind how they ought to respond to and they don’t respond to you the way you want them to, whether you get mad, and you have people who do that, and we and that can happen right here, and it could happen my own life, and it can happen in your own life. I want to ask you, what kind of discipline is that that God is putting on us? Because the discipline of God is saying, check yourself out. How is your and my attitude matching up to First Corinthians 13? Is it patient with people, or are you impatient with people? Are you kind to people, or are you unkind to people? You see all of these type of things we have to match up. I can do and so can you right? We’re all in that situation. I can have some lousy responses. Can’t you have you ever noticed that, not about me, I mean about you, we can have some lousy responses. Is that, does that mean that you necessarily be sitting there wanting to be mean to somebody? You see, we read, you know what judging is. Judging isn’t judging the way somebody acted. Judging is their motive for the way they acted. That’s where it says, Don’t judge, lest you be judged. If somebody comes up and looks like that at you, just kind of I’m not judging them when I said you look like that at me, but I am judging you if I’m trying to figure out why you look like that at me, and that’s exactly how we function, isn’t it? We function judging another person’s motives. And that’s hard not to do, because you do see little patterns. I see people a lot of times, and you can almost spot it when you see people at one time are real friendly to you, and then all of a sudden they’re not very much very much much. They kind of look like a little funny. It’s probably because they’ve been talking about you. Ever notice when you’ve been gossiping about another person behind their back and then you see that person how you’re not quite as friendly as you used to be? Have you ever noticed that? That’s an absolute trend that you can see in people now, the problem is, is to forget about the trend. Because even though that may be true, if I say that’s a policy, I’m going to judge you when it may not be the case at all. And so we have to to allow the disciplines of God upon us constantly, and the discipline is continually in a process of teaching us truth about our own lousy attitudes and our own lousy responses to people, and to match it up against one plumb line. And that was the one thing that God called you and me to do, and that was what? Love one another.

That’s what Paul’s plea is at the end of this letter from day one, guys, I’ve laid out the plan of God before you. You’ve seen the unbelievable inheritance that you have in Christ, Jesus. I’ve laid out before you the Master Plan of God as it relates to you. And that same master plan of God and the same love that reached out to you individually is the same love that reached out to that enemy of yours over there, or that person over there that didn’t treat you quite the way that you thought they should, or that person over there that you’re mad at, or whatever it might be, the same love and grace of God that was given to you was given to them. That’s a disgusting thought sometimes. Especially if you don’t like somebody in name, until somebody tells you God loves them the same he does you. That’s very disgusting, but it’s true, and that’s what he is trying to say, is, may the God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant, not a temporary covenant, an eternal covenant, the one who brought back from the dead, the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the shepherd of the sheep, who’s the sheep? Us. What are sheep? Dumbest animals on the face of the earth, and that ought to tell us a little something about us, and that’s why I need a shepherd, and that’s why you need a shepherd, because we’re dumb as a cluck. And without him, when he says, We can do nothing, that’s exactly what it means. And yet man wants to sit around and think he’s smart. Can’t get along with your wife, can’t get along with anyone else, but we’re smart. Well, if you’re so smart, how come you can’t get along with anybody? It’s like people sitting around, just smart, can’t make can’t make a living, but I’m really smart. Well, if you’re so smart, why can’t you make a living? It’s now the point where we get down to say, for goodness sakes, quit looking at ourselves, is whether we’re smart or whether we’re not smart, and to realize that the wisdom of God, an ounce of wisdom, is better than all of the knowledge that the world can conjure up. And if you have Christ, Jesus living in you, you got his wisdom living in you. And if I got him living in me, I got his wisdom living in me. And let’s draw upon that wisdom. Let’s draw upon that instead of what we think is so smart up here in this brain of ours, and his prayer then.

And the reason that we needed a shepherd is because we’re sheep. And he says, I want to equip you for every good, for doing His will, and that he may work in us what is pleasing to Him work in us, the fact that Jesus Christ is faithful, and that’s what this book is about, the faithfulness of God. And folks we’ve talked about when Jesus left us, he said one thing to one another. He said, Learn to love one another. And that doesn’t mean that we don’t make mistakes, does it? And it doesn’t mean that sometimes we do what’s right and sometimes we do what’s wrong. But in fact, a love is what’s able to go back and say, I’m sorry. Love is what’s able to go back and say, instead of thinking, What’s wrong with you is say, first of all, Lord, search my heart to see if there’s something wrong with me.

I remember a friend of mine, Howard ball, who was on Crusade staff with me. And I remember Howard telling the story after he came to Christ, he was, like a lot of us, very excited about the things of the Lord. And you kind of go out to attack those that you love the most and try to get them saved. And that’s not unusual. I mean, after all, this is a loved one that you happen to know is lost, and so you don’t want them lost, and so out should go. And he did that with his father. And his father was a farmer in Iowa and a very independent type of a person. And he talked about the fact that, as he shared constantly with his dad, that his dad finally came and said, Howard, that’s it. I hate to say this, because you’re my son, but if you bring this subject up to me one more time, I’m never going to see you again. I’m sick and tired of hearing about it. You see many times when we go back to our loved ones what they are hearing, you say, because communication is not what you say, but it’s what you hear, what they are hearing, you say is, you didn’t raise me properly. It was the same type of thing. When I went back to my parents and and told them, said, What do you mean you’re saved? Why we had you in church, why we took you to church every Sunday and we had you baptized and we had that? What do you mean? What do you mean, you’re you’re saved.

Because they weren’t hearing that I was saved. What they were hearing was that they didn’t raise me properly. They did the best that they knew how to do. They didn’t know what salvation was. They’d never been taught it. So they did the best they could do, and that was just get me in church, and that they thought that was about as good as they could do, too. Sit in church, and if you could get yourself dunked, why then maybe that was good too. And so as I said, I was dunked more than a flower and water, but it didn’t do anything with regard to salvation. But that’s what they hear. And so what Howard’s dad was hearing was, we didn’t raise you properly. Howard went back, and as he said, Lord, what’s wrong with dad? What’s wrong with dad? Why can’t he hear what’s wrong with dad? And God said, What’s wrong with you? In other words, before you start dealing with Dad. Let’s deal with you. And as he said, he asked the question, Howard, when was the last time that you ever told your dad that you loved him? Really loved him? And Howard said he thought back and it hadn’t been since he was probably a little kid of 12 or 13 years of age, God said, why don’t you go tell him you love him. And Howard went back to his dad one day and sat down and said, Dad, I want to tell you something. If I could have picked all the fathers of the world and would have had my choice, you would have been the one I picked. And dad, I hadn’t told you when I was a little kid, but didn’t mean I don’t, but I just haven’t told you, but I want you to know that I love you more than any person on the face of this earth, and it’s because of that love for you, that it just breaks my heart, that you will not listen to the most important thing that has ever happened in my life. And his dad stepped back and said, Howard, tell me about it, and accepted the Lord Jesus Christ that day into his heart as his Lord and Savior. And spent the rest of his life. He was 80 years old, and that occurred, and spent the rest of his life out, going up and down the farm roads of Iowa, sharing the good news of Christ with people. We’re so quick to say, what’s wrong with them, aren’t we, instead of looking at our own hearts and saying, Hold on a minute, is there something here in this heart that you want to do to me, not to them, but to me? Love, how we doing, in our patience, in our kindness to one another? We’re a part of the body. We’re told that he’s the head, we’re the body.

Announcer 27:11
Thank you so much for tuning in to Classic Christianity with Bob George. We hope you’ve enjoyed today’s program. We truly hope that today’s message has inspired you to walk a life of faith in the Lord find more information online at BobGeorge.net. There you will also find available CDs, DVDs and Bible studies available for purchase. It’s through your help that we are able to spread the good word of Jesus Christ. Until next time, walk in faith be good to one another and praise the Lord. Amen.