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10 We have an altar—the cross where Christ was sacrificed—where those who continue to seek salvation by obeying Jewish laws can never be helped. 11 Under the system of Jewish laws, the high priest brought the blood of the slain animals into the sanctuary as a sacrifice for sin, and then the bodies of the animals were burned outside the city. 12 That is why Jesus suffered and died outside the city, where his blood washed our sins away.
13 So let us go out to him beyond the city walls (that is, outside the interests of this world, being willing to be despised[a]) to suffer with him there, bearing his shame. 14 For this world is not our home; we are looking forward to our everlasting home in heaven.
15 With Jesus’ help we will continually offer our sacrifice of praise to God by telling others of the glory of his name. 16 Don’t forget to do good and to share what you have with those in need, for such sacrifices are very pleasing to him.
10 We have an altar—the cross where Christ was sacrificed—where those who continue to seek salvation by obeying Jewish laws can never be helped. 11 Under the system of Jewish laws, the high priest brought the blood of the slain animals into the sanctuary as a sacrifice for sin, and then the bodies of the animals were burned outside the city. 12 That is why Jesus suffered and died outside the city, where his blood washed our sins away.
13 So let us go out to him beyond the city walls (that is, outside the interests of this world, being willing to be despised[a]) to suffer with him there, bearing his shame. 14 For this world is not our home; we are looking forward to our everlasting home in heaven.
This was a recent service I was privileged to lead at the Parkrose
Village.
Order of Service 28/8/16 Parkrose Village
Village.
Order of Service 28/8/16 Parkrose Village
Welcome and
Call to Worship : Psalm 81
Hymn: “The
steadfast love of the Lord” 209 “Be exalted Oh God.” 191
Announcements:
Barrie
Bible Reading: Hebrews 13:8-16
Hymn:
“There is a green hill far away” 146
Communion:
Offering
Church
Prayer
Hymn:
“Beneath the Cross of Jesus” 492
Sermon: “Yesterday,today and forever”
Hymn: “God
make my life a little light” 540
Vesper:
“Thou wilt
keep him in perfect peace”
Parkrose 28/8/16
Heb 13: 8-16
8 Jesus Christ is
the same yesterday, today, and forever. 9 So do not be attracted by strange,
new ideas. Your spiritual strength comes as a gift from God, not from
ceremonial rules about eating certain foods—a method which, by the way, hasn’t
helped those who have tried it!10 We have an altar—the cross where Christ was sacrificed—where those who continue to seek salvation by obeying Jewish laws can never be helped. 11 Under the system of Jewish laws, the high priest brought the blood of the slain animals into the sanctuary as a sacrifice for sin, and then the bodies of the animals were burned outside the city. 12 That is why Jesus suffered and died outside the city, where his blood washed our sins away.
13 So let us go out to him beyond the city walls (that is, outside the interests of this world, being willing to be despised[a]) to suffer with him there, bearing his shame. 14 For this world is not our home; we are looking forward to our everlasting home in heaven.
15 With Jesus’ help we will continually offer our sacrifice of praise to God by telling others of the glory of his name. 16 Don’t forget to do good and to share what you have with those in need, for such sacrifices are very pleasing to him.
Sermon : Jesus Christ, the same
yesterday,today and tomorrow.
Or an “Affirmation of Faith”
Hebrews 13
8 Jesus Christ is
the same yesterday, today, and forever. 9 So do not be attracted by strange,
new ideas. Your spiritual strength comes as a gift from God, not from
ceremonial rules about eating certain foods—a method which, by the way, hasn’t
helped those who have tried it!10 We have an altar—the cross where Christ was sacrificed—where those who continue to seek salvation by obeying Jewish laws can never be helped. 11 Under the system of Jewish laws, the high priest brought the blood of the slain animals into the sanctuary as a sacrifice for sin, and then the bodies of the animals were burned outside the city. 12 That is why Jesus suffered and died outside the city, where his blood washed our sins away.
13 So let us go out to him beyond the city walls (that is, outside the interests of this world, being willing to be despised[a]) to suffer with him there, bearing his shame. 14 For this world is not our home; we are looking forward to our everlasting home in heaven.
15 With Jesus’ help we will continually offer our sacrifice of praise to
God by telling others of the glory of his name. 16 Don’t forget
to do good and to share what you have with those in need, for such sacrifices
are very pleasing to him. 17
Yesterday,Today and Forever.
This is an amazing truth about Jesus.
I have tried to tackle this subject today by
showing how far short we fall form being like Jesus. How inconsistent we are.
And yet if we are in Him,His children,how we
can become more and more like Him.
This is our goal.
Jesus has never been and never will be any
different in His love for us as individuals and for the world in general.
He existed before He created the world.
John 1Living Bible (TLB)
1 1-2 Before anything else existed,[a] there was Christ,* with God. He has always been alive
and is himself God. 3 He created everything there is—nothing
exists that he didn’t make. 4 Eternal life is in him, and this
life gives light to all mankind. 5 His life is the light that
shines through the darkness—and the darkness can never extinguish it.
10 He was in the world,
and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not.
11 He came unto his own,
and his own received him not.
12 But as many as
received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them
that believe on his name:
If we are Christians
we have received Him.We are His Children.
The same yesterday,today and tomorrow.
There are others in history who might have
claimed to be a cut above us all,even divine, but none in the same league as
Jesus.
Just one example.
When I studied Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar in
High School, Caesar is quoted thus. (It does sound a bit like the language of
the KJV.)
“But I am constant as the northern star,
Of whose true-fixed and resting quality
There is no fellow in the firmament.
The skies are painted with unnumbered sparks.
They are all fire and every one doth shine,
But there’s but one in all doth hold his place.
So in the world. 'Tis furnished well with men,
And men are flesh and blood, and apprehensive,
Yet in the number I do know but one
That unassailable holds on his rank,
Unshaked of motion. And that I am he”
Well poor old Julius was full of his own importance, according to
Shakespeare anyway, but obviously Brutus didn’t think so and Caesar died at his
hands.
Caesar compared himself to the Northern Star.
The North Star or
Pole Star – aka Polaris – is famous for holding nearly still in our sky while
the entire northern sky moves around it.
Polaris marks the way
due north.
People used to rely
on this star to know which way was North.
Because it is
reliably always in the same place. This can be illustrated by our picture of
it.
It is amazing that
the Universe is created to enable precise calculations to be made so as to
predict when things like eclipses will happen and Halley’s comet and others will
pass us by.
However the created
world is winding down but not so Jesus.
In Him there is no
shadow of turning.
A strange phrase.
What does it mean?
We read this in James
!
James 1
17 Every
good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father
of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.
This is another way of saying Jesus is the
same, yesterday and forever.
Sometimes we come across people who impress
us because they never seem to change.
They seem consistent in their behavior
towards us and others.
We might praise them up and say “you are
always the same”
Or at least think that.
Always gracious,
friendly,
patient,
kind,
softly spoken,
calm and wise.
But in contrast,
We are often angry,
impatient,
harsh,
loud,
excited
and
quick to speak without much thought.
Quick to criticize.
To
condemn, To Gossip ,
We are not always good listeners.
We often don’t hear what people are saying to
us as we are so full of our own ideas that we want to get across.
Now some of the things I mentioned earlier,
of people we sometimes meet, were virtually some of the fruit of the Holy
Spirit.
“Always
gracious,
friendly,
patient,
kind,
softly spoken,
calm and wise.”
They are also attributes we see in Jesus who
is never changing in His love for us and for all mankind.
Lets pick on one of our common problems.
We might sometimes think we have a right to
be righteously angry.
We feel justified to let people have have a
piece of our mind.
Do we have a right to judge our fellow
Christians?
Or people who aren’t Christians?
We are told in the Bible “Judge not less you
yourself also be judged.”
Have you ever yelled at anyone?
I have.
Christians and none Christians.
I am not proud of that.
So even though we might be pretty good in our
behavior most times,
as
Christians,
we are not able to say,
in this lifetime we have been the
same, like Jesus,
yesterday, today and forever.
Never wavering in our love and good will
toward others no matter how much we think we have been wronged.
Jesus was wronged.
But on the cross He said “Father forgive
them, they know not what they do!”
He was God in the flesh but also perfect man;
without sin!
Jesus loved us that much that He went to the
cross for us.
Our reading reminded us
10” We have an altar—the cross where Christ was
sacrificed—“
Our Christian life is one of failure and fresh starts that God gives us
all the time no matter how often we stumble and fall and make a mess of things.
So how do we get fresh starts when we have made a mess of things?
We do that by taken ourselves, our real selves to the foot of Jesus
cross.
We confess our sin, our failures.
In our imagination we can picture us
kneeling before Him hanging on the cross and seeing the love He has for
us.
We can be ssking Him to make us more and more like Him.
Sometimes we might hear a voice
in our head telling us “God won’t forgive you for what you have done!
You have been much too wicked!”
Not so!
That voice does not come from God.
God’s voice say this in His Word.
If any man sin he has an advocate in Jesus Christ the righteous
1 John 2 King James Version (KJV)
2 My little children, these things write I unto
you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father,
Jesus Christ the righteous:
Jesus is there before our
Heavenly Father saying in effect Father forgive him or her.
Sometimes we really make a mess
of our relationships and friendships.
We read this.
I John 1 6 If we say that we
have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth:
7 But if we walk in the
light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the
blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.
So when we are in a relationship that has broken down
we can be restored in fellowship with each other if we walk in the light of
Jesus.
That is abide in Him.
Let Him be our Lord, not just our Saviour.
Walk His walk with Him.
Notice another result of our walk,
“the blood of Jesus
Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.”
8 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is
not in us.
9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins,
and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
So Jesus is the same, yesterday,today and tomorrow and
forever.
There is no turning by Him, no relinquishing His plan
and purpose for us.
Not even a quiver or shadow of turning away from us.
Turning away from His plan that means He died for us .
for our sins on the cross.
He is and was our substitute our redeemer.
If we walk in the light as He is in the light (and is
the light) then we can have fellowship with each other and with Him.
His love for us is steadfast against all the powers
that try to separate us from Him.
We are going to sing God make my life a little light.
This Hymn is in effect saying we are declaring and
wanting to be like Him.
More and more like Him.
That we want to be His light in a very dark world in
this small patch of earth where we live.
That we can become people who others can count on.
And from
today’s Bible reading: we finish with this.
15 With Jesus’ help we will continually offer our sacrifice of praise to
God by telling others of the glory of his name. 16 Don’t forget
to do good and to share what you have with those in need, for such sacrifices
are very pleasing to him. 17
