Wednesday Night Services

Have you ever entertained an angel? Well, Hebrews says that some have, but why would an angel need to be “entertained?” Can they not very quickly be back in heaven? Going back to Hebrews 12:1 running the race with endurance and laying aside every weight was the call, and now some of those weights are made specific. Areas such as brotherly love, entertaining of angels, remembering prisoners, marriage, and covetousness are taken on in the first 6 verses and of Hebrews 13.

Why would anyone refuse the words of God? Well, we can see that many do, but what causes believers in Jesus to refuse to hear His voice? This word refuse is interesting and we look at what it means and how it is used to help us understand, so that we are not among those who refuse.

Hebrews compares Mount Sinai with Mount Zion for a purpose, and we will look at what that purpose is tonight. The comparison is that we as believers can either have a mount Sinai experience, or a Mount Zion one. Which would describe your Christian walk?

Esau is brought up as a comparison of a person who gave up what was eternal for what was now. He is called a "profane person" and we are encouraged not to become like him. So, we look at the birthright and the blessing, how they differ. and what each has to do with the other. Been spending a lot of time reading on this topic from the Jewish perspective and we go over it's significance.

When Hebrews tells us to "strengthen the hands that hang down and the feeble knees" what are we being told to do? We know this verse well, but do we really know it's call to action?

Is it the will of God for Christians to suffer? We divide suffering we receive as coming from four different sources covering the first two areas last Wednesday (the enemy or satan's kingdom, and from the curse of sin in sickness and disease.) Tonight we cover the last two - our flesh (including our own stupidity,) and suffering from other people, such as persecution. So, does God send suffering any of these to us? Does God merely allow it or does He send it to us directly? How does the Word of God teach us to respond to suffering that comes from these sources?

Is it the will of God for Christians to suffer? We divide suffering we receive as coming from four different sources; the enemy (satan's kingdom), from people, from the curse of sin, and finally our flesh (including our own stupidity.) So, does God send suffering to us from any of these sources? Does God send us suffering directly? How does the Word of God teach us to respond to suffering that comes from these sources?

How can I know if something bad is a judgement from God or destruction from the enemy? Do you recall the conversation between God and Satan concerning Job in the book of Job Ch. 1 and 2? Did God make Job a target for Satan? If He did that, you might think He could make us a target too. What went on in this famous conversation and how is it consistent with the rest of what we know in scripture?

Can God deal with you as mature? That’s a question we look at in tonight’s midweek service. There are responses we have toward God that can put us in the “deal with as immature” category, and though this may seem easier, we also don’t walk in the things of God more than our childlike ability allows. How do we get out of this limitation and be dealt with as those who are mature? The word translated "chasten" does not just mean discipline and punishment, like our word chasten does, in fact it means so much more! If we limit what these verses are saying to just chastening, we will miss much of what our attention is being pointed to.

Have you become weary and discouraged? Has the walk of faith, the call of God, persecution from others, or even the resistance against temptation worn you down? Well, Hebrews has some help for us. How can we prevent becoming weary and discouraged? Let's take a look at Hebrews 12:1-3...

Has your faith made you unworthy yet? Yes, you read that correctly. The faith of those faith heroes in Hebrews 11 are said to be unworthy of this world. So, are we unworthy yet? The chapter finishes up with telling us that they did not receive the promise, but this word for receive is not a common word used for it. What does this word mean and what light these two things shed on our understanding of faith will be our topic in this one as we finish Hebrews 11.

Just another ordinary day that turned into an historical one according to 1 Samuel 14. Of course the ordinary day was on a battle field facing 30,000 chariots, 6,000 horseman, and foot solders as numerous as the sand of the shore. And all you have is 600 men, down from 3000, and just TWO swords. One though was in the hand of Saul's son Jonathan and this is what he did with it. How can we turn our ordinary day, facing big battles, into something historic?

The faith that overcomes in battles and in deaths is our focus in tonight's midweek service. Whom did the writer of Hebrews have in mind? In one of these faith examples, the person of faith did not succeed in getting the answer through their own praying, but responded in faith and received the victory. Have you had a prayer failure? Something you needed didn't come through? How did you respond and how can we respond in faith in the midst of failure?

Did God stop the mouths of the lions for Daniel or was it Daniel's faith? It seems Daniel says the Lord did it and Hebrews tells us Daniel did. The same for the fiery furnace, so what's up with this and what does this teach us about our faith?

See if you can relate to this... Israel was doing wrong stuff and the enemy was able to get to them. Then they repented, and after they put away what God was telling them to, things got a lot worse! Wouldn't you expect that after we truly repent (and Israel did) that God would have the opportunity to make things better? Why did they get worse? Here is an example: You start tithing and instead of getting out of your financial difficulties, extra things seem to come up that need money. What should we do or think in these situations? The faith of Samuel shows us what could be going on.

The faith of David and Samson are the focus tonight. Samson is a good contrast to David so I'm glad we didn't get to him earlier. What specifically did the writer of Hebrews have in mind when he wrote down David's name? There are three aspects to David's faith life that I see and we will look at each as we continue in the series on Hebrews.

Why is Jephthah in the Hall of Faith? This is one that doesn't jump out at you as much as the others, but we will find the clues and see why Jephthah gets mentioned. We will also see why we are so tempted to make deals with God. "God if you will answer my prayer I will do _______" What was thelast deal you tried to make with God?

We come to the mention of Barak in Hebrews 11. This man had two women on the team who seemed to get more credit for what happened then he did, so why does he get the mention in Hebrews instead of them? Many questions to answer tonight including "God can use someone else to do what He called you to do?" and one of my favorites "What if I'm the back up plan?"

These two verses in Judges 6:12-13 show us an attitude that is often present with Christians today. If God is with me (or us) why are things so bad? It is hard to hear what God says through the filter of our circumstances, but that is what Gideon is being asked to do, and once he does a great victory comes to Israel that changes the course of history. How do we get to a place where we just hear what God says, and not the add on stuff? What is involved with getting rid of the circumstances filter that's in the way?

How did Rahab go from being numbered with condemned people (Jericho) to being included in the genealogy of Jesus? What are we to learn from the faith of Israel in crossing the Red Sea and defeating Jericho? How did the spies find the one believer in the City of Jericho? What were the odds? Three examples of faith and much to learn from these!