Closer To Heaven
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You can view an in-depth discussion of The Letter to the Hebrews and to US in the Hope Sabbath School class led by Pastor Derek Morris. Click on the image to view:
With thanks to Hope Channel – Television that will change your life.
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Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/1-the-letter-to-the-hebrews-and-to-us-hopess-video-discussion/
This video is produced by the South Pacific Division Discipleship team.
(0)The post 1: The Letter to the Hebrews and to Us – SPD Discipleship Video appeared first on Sabbath School Net.
Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/1-the-letter-to-the-hebrews-and-to-us-spd-discipleship-video/
The readers of Hebrews were successful in keeping their faith and commitment to Christ, despite rejection and persecution. The conflict, however, took a toll in the long run. They fought a good fight and came out victorious but also weary.
Image © Howard Roberts at Goodsalt.com
Hebrews tells us that the readers continued to experience difficulties. Verbal and probably other kinds of attacks against their honor continued (Hebrews 13:13). Some believers were still in prison (Hebrews 13:3) — something that may have drained the church financially and psychologically. They were tired (Hebrews 12:12-13) and could easily “lose heart” (Hebrews 12:3, NIV).
It is usual among persons and communities that after the thrill of victory passes, psychological and other kinds of defenses are relaxed, and they become more vulnerable to the counterattack of their enemies. The strength that a person or community mobilized to face an impending threat is more difficult to summon a second time.
“But a reaction such as frequently follows high faith and glorious success was pressing upon Elijah. He feared that the reformation begun on Carmel might not be lasting; and depression seized him. He had been exalted to Pisgah’s top; now he was in the valley. While under the inspiration of the Almighty, he had stood the severest trial of faith; but in this time of discouragement, with Jezebel’s threat sounding in his ears, and Satan still apparently prevailing through the plotting of this wicked woman, he lost his hold on God. He had been exalted above measure, and the reaction was tremendous. Forgetting God, Elijah fled on and on, until he found himself in a dreary waste, alone.” — Ellen G. White, Prophets and Kings, pages 161, 162.
| Think about those times in which you failed in your Christian life and try to understand the circumstances and factors that contributed to the collapse. What could you have done differently? |
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Faith in Texas, a non-profit multi-faith organization, paid bail of nine people and released them from jail on Christmas Eve. Jaime Kowlessar, senior pastor of Dallas City Temple SDA Church, is the executive director of Faith in Texas. Advocates for bail reform in the United States say the bail system is an unfair tool used […] Source: https://atoday.org/setting-the-captives-free-adventist-church-in-texas-helps-in-effort-to-post-bail-for-9-in-jail/
When believers confessed their faith in Christ and joined the church, they set a boundary marker that distinguished them from the rest of society. Unfortunately, this became a source for conflict because it implicitly passed a negative judgment on their community and its values.
Image © Providence Collection at Goodsalt.com
It is very likely that the readers of Hebrews suffered verbally and physically at the hands of mobs stirred up by opponents (e.g., Acts 16:19-22, Acts 17:1-9). They were also imprisoned, and it is possible that they were beaten as well, because officials had the power of authorizing punishment and incarceration, often without following appropriate judicial norms, while they gathered evidence (e.g., Acts 16:22-23).
To “bear the reproach of Christ” simply meant to identify oneself with Christ and endure the shame and abuse that this association implied. Public animosity against Christians was the result of their distinctive religious commitments. People can get offended by religious practices that they don’t understand or by people whose lifestyle and morals could make others feel guilty or shamed. By the middle of the first century A.D., Tacitus considered Christians to be guilty of “hatred against mankind.” — Alfred J. Church and William J. Brodribb, trans., The Complete Works of Tacitus, (New York: The Modern Library, 1942) Annals 15.44.1. Whatever the exact reason for that charge, certainly false, many early Christians, such as the ones that Paul had written this letter to, were suffering for their faith.
| Everyone, a Christian or not, suffers. What does it mean, however, to suffer for Christ’s sake? How much suffering that we face is for Christ’s sake, and how much is brought about by our own choices? |
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