Post by foxjj on Jul 27, 2020 16:17:13 GMT
Paying Careful Attention
History has recorded many periods of national and personal dangers, be they invading army’s that sweep across borders pillaging and taking slaves, to life threatening pestilence. The Bible gives numerous accounts of the Jewish people experiencing many of these fearful events. During such times the people learned to turn to The Almighty as their source of salvation, as n example Psalm 57:2-3: “I cry out to God Most High, to God, who vindicates me. He sends from heaven and saves me, rebuking those who hotly pursue me—God sends forth his love and his faithfulness.”
That we also live in dangerous times is made more obvious each day as we hear of international strifes and millions of people world wide contracting the covid virus. So what must a person do in order to have hope and feel safe in this life? The Bible teaches fundamental truth’s upon which we can build our life, and faith, in times of need. Within the records of the Old Testament we can read not only of the numerous times The Almighty answered the prayers of His people, but also the promise’s of a coming Messiah, who would be The Savior for all. This Good News of God’s love and faithfulness has been spread world wide, bringing many to faith in the promised Savior.
In Hebrews 2:1 The Scripture encourages us to pay attention to God’s Word and its teachings when it states: “We must pay more careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away.” The original recipients of the letter to the Hebrews would have been Jewish men and women who had accepted Jesus as their Messiah. These believers would have been familiar with the passage’s in the Psalms where Yahweh speaks of Messiah most highly, as in Psalm 2:7 “I will be his Father and he will be my son.” In Psalm 45:6 Yahweh calls Messiah God when He says, “Your throne O God will last forever.”
When Jesus was born in Bethlehem, angels announced the birth of Messiah: “Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord.”(Luke 2:11) Jesus is the only person in all of history who had His birth heralded by the Heavenly Host. In Colossians 1:21-23, Paul explained that through His death and resurrection, Jesus accomplished the only way of reconciliation onto God: "And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him, if indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, became a minister."
Did you notice how Paul encouraged his readers to continue in their faith? Do you have that faith, that hope in Jesus? The hope that we refer to is not the hope of the world when people say, “Oh I do hope that we can do this, or do that” which is a hope that they are not sure of. No, the hope Christians have is the blessed assurance of God’s forgiveness bringing peace. The hope of the Gospel will become a reality to you when you put your faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ. It is then that we can say: “My help comes from the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth.” (Psalm 121:2) That is when we know that God is ever present, and, in Jesus you and I find peace in every situation because we have payed careful attention to the Gospel message.
Today, let us thank Our Hevenley Father for the Hope promised in Scripture.
John Joseph Fox.
History has recorded many periods of national and personal dangers, be they invading army’s that sweep across borders pillaging and taking slaves, to life threatening pestilence. The Bible gives numerous accounts of the Jewish people experiencing many of these fearful events. During such times the people learned to turn to The Almighty as their source of salvation, as n example Psalm 57:2-3: “I cry out to God Most High, to God, who vindicates me. He sends from heaven and saves me, rebuking those who hotly pursue me—God sends forth his love and his faithfulness.”
That we also live in dangerous times is made more obvious each day as we hear of international strifes and millions of people world wide contracting the covid virus. So what must a person do in order to have hope and feel safe in this life? The Bible teaches fundamental truth’s upon which we can build our life, and faith, in times of need. Within the records of the Old Testament we can read not only of the numerous times The Almighty answered the prayers of His people, but also the promise’s of a coming Messiah, who would be The Savior for all. This Good News of God’s love and faithfulness has been spread world wide, bringing many to faith in the promised Savior.
In Hebrews 2:1 The Scripture encourages us to pay attention to God’s Word and its teachings when it states: “We must pay more careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away.” The original recipients of the letter to the Hebrews would have been Jewish men and women who had accepted Jesus as their Messiah. These believers would have been familiar with the passage’s in the Psalms where Yahweh speaks of Messiah most highly, as in Psalm 2:7 “I will be his Father and he will be my son.” In Psalm 45:6 Yahweh calls Messiah God when He says, “Your throne O God will last forever.”
When Jesus was born in Bethlehem, angels announced the birth of Messiah: “Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord.”(Luke 2:11) Jesus is the only person in all of history who had His birth heralded by the Heavenly Host. In Colossians 1:21-23, Paul explained that through His death and resurrection, Jesus accomplished the only way of reconciliation onto God: "And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him, if indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, became a minister."
Did you notice how Paul encouraged his readers to continue in their faith? Do you have that faith, that hope in Jesus? The hope that we refer to is not the hope of the world when people say, “Oh I do hope that we can do this, or do that” which is a hope that they are not sure of. No, the hope Christians have is the blessed assurance of God’s forgiveness bringing peace. The hope of the Gospel will become a reality to you when you put your faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ. It is then that we can say: “My help comes from the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth.” (Psalm 121:2) That is when we know that God is ever present, and, in Jesus you and I find peace in every situation because we have payed careful attention to the Gospel message.
Today, let us thank Our Hevenley Father for the Hope promised in Scripture.
John Joseph Fox.