{"id":28780,"date":"2023-11-16T22:00:32","date_gmt":"2023-11-17T05:00:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/hebrews-3_1-6-copy\/"},"modified":"2023-11-07T19:15:53","modified_gmt":"2023-11-08T02:15:53","slug":"hebrews-3_7-19","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/hebrews-3_7-19\/","title":{"rendered":"Your Heart\u2019s Condition Is Your Choice"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hebrews 3:7-19<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0(CLICK HERE FOR\u00a0BIBLE VERSES)<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Hi GAMErs!<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is\u00a0Hebrews\u00a03:7-19.\u00a0\u00a0Let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n

Hebrews 3:7-12 (NIV)<\/em><\/strong>
\n7\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0So, as the Holy Spirit says: “Today, if you hear his voice,
\n8\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion, during the time of testing in the desert,
\n9\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0where your fathers tested and tried me and for forty years saw what I did.
\n10\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0That is why I was angry with that generation, and I said, ‘Their hearts are always going astray, and they have not known my ways.’
\n11\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0So I declared on oath in my anger, ‘They shall never enter my rest.'”
\n12\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0See to it, brothers, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses\u00a07-12:\u00a0\u00a0There are two crucial lessons I learn as I read these verses today.<\/p>\n

First, notice that in verses\u00a07-11 the writer of\u00a0Hebrews\u00a0quotes Psalm 95:7-11 and prefaces it was saying, \u201cas the\u00a0Holy Spirit<\/em>\u00a0says\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0In other words, the writer of\u00a0Hebrews\u00a0believed\u00a0the Old Testament is not just people\u2019s words, but the inspired words of the Holy Spirit<\/strong>.\u00a0 (In chapter 2, the writer of Hebrews credits other parts of the Old Testament to Jesus (see 2:12).\u00a0 So according to the writer of Hebrews, both Jesus and the Holy Spirit were involved in the writing of Scripture in the Old Testament.)<\/p>\n

Second, notice that in this passage we are told not to harden our hearts and not to have an unbelieving heart that turns away from the Lord (v12).\u00a0\u00a0In other words,\u00a0your heart\u2019s condition is your choice<\/strong>.\u00a0\u00a0The condition of your heart is not something that is beyond your control.\u00a0\u00a0Rather, you choose whether you will have a soft heart or a hardened heart toward God.\u00a0\u00a0You choose whether you will have a heart that humbly responds to God or a heart that pridefully and stubbornly rejects Him.\u00a0 It\u2019s your choice.\u00a0\u00a0Choose a soft and humble heart toward God today.<\/p>\n

Hebrews\u00a03:13 (NIV)<\/em><\/strong>
\n13\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verse 13:\u00a0\u00a0While your heart\u2019s condition is ultimately your choice, it\u2019s also true that our heart\u2019s condition can be affected by the things people do and say.\u00a0\u00a0That\u2019s why verse 13 tells us to encourage one another daily – that is, inspire, comfort and challenge one another every day.\u00a0\u00a0Encouragement can soften and lift up a person\u2019s heart, while a lack of encouragement can harden a person\u2019s heart.\u00a0\u00a0Are you someone who encourages others daily?\u00a0\u00a0Can people expect to hear an encouraging word from you every time they see you, or are you known for speaking negative, critical words that destroy rather than build up?\u00a0\u00a0If you want your home, your workplace, your church, and your friendships to be a place where God\u2019s loving presence is felt, encourage one another every day.<\/p>\n

Hebrews\u00a03:14-19\u00a0(NIV)<\/em><\/strong>
\n14\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0We have come to share in Christ if we hold firmly till the end the confidence we had at first.
\n15\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0As has just been said: “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion.”
\n16\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Who were they who heard and rebelled? Were they not all those Moses led out of Egypt?
\n17\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0And with whom was he angry for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the desert?
\n18\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0And to whom did God swear that they would never enter his rest if not to those who disobeyed?
\n19\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0So we see that they were not able to enter, because of their unbelief.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 14-19:\u00a0\u00a0One of the big themes of the book of\u00a0Hebrews\u00a0is perseverance (for example, see\u00a0Hebrews\u00a012:1).\u00a0\u00a0As verse 14 says, \u201cWe have come to share in Christ if we hold firmly till the end the confidence we had at first.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0In other words,\u00a0part of becoming more like Christ is persevering in your faith and not giving up<\/strong>.\u00a0\u00a0As an example of\u00a0not\u00a0<\/em>persevering, the writer of\u00a0Hebrews\u00a0reminds his Jewish readership of those Israelites whom God led out of Egypt with a mighty arm and miraculous deeds, and who later did not reach the Promised Land and who disobeyed God because of their unbelief.\u00a0\u00a0Due to their refusal to persevere and hold fast in the faith, these Israelites fell in the desert and missed God\u2019s original plan for their lives.<\/p>\n

What can we learn from this?\u00a0\u00a0There will times when you feel like you are walking in the desert and your faith is being tested.\u00a0\u00a0In those times, don\u2019t give up.\u00a0\u00a0Persevere.<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0As James 1:2-4 says,\u00a0\u201cConsider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.\u201d<\/p>\n

Maybe God is allowing you to go through the desert today.\u00a0 If so, remember: it’s not to punish you, but to refine you into a stronger, wiser, more mature and complete person.\u00a0\u00a0So don\u2019t give up.\u00a0 God has not finished writing your story and the best is yet to come.<\/p>\n

Father, thank You for showing me today that having a soft and humble heart, being an encouraging person, and being one who perseveres \u2013 all of these are my choices to make.\u00a0\u00a0No one can make those choices for me. I pray that I would have a soft and humble heart toward You, that I would be known as an encouraging person, and that in times of trial I would persevere knowing that You are writing a greater story.\u00a0\u00a0Thank You that because Jesus is with me, the best is yet to come.\u00a0\u00a0In Jesus\u2019 name, AMEN!<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

Copyright \u00a9 2021 Justin Lim. All rights reserved.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hi GAMErs!<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is\u00a0Hebrews\u00a03:7-19.\u00a0\u00a0Let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n

Hebrews 3:7-12 (NIV)
\n7\u00a0\u00a0So, as the Holy Spirit says: “Today, if you hear his voice,
\n8\u00a0\u00a0do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion, during the time of testing in the desert,
\n9\u00a0\u00a0where your fathers tested and tried me and for forty years saw what I did.
\n10\u00a0\u00a0That is why I was angry with that generation, and I said, ‘Their hearts are always going astray, and they have not known my ways.’
\n11\u00a0\u00a0So I declared on oath in my anger, ‘They shall never enter my rest.'”
\n12\u00a0\u00a0See to it, brothers, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God.<\/p>\n

On verses\u00a07-12:\u00a0\u00a0There are two crucial lessons I learn as I read these verses today.<\/p>\n

First, notice that in verses\u00a07-11 the writer of\u00a0Hebrews\u00a0quotes Psalm 95:7-11 and prefaces it was saying, \u201cas the\u00a0Holy Spirit\u00a0says\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0In other words, the writer of\u00a0Hebrews\u00a0believed\u00a0the Old Testament is not just people\u2019s words, but the inspired words of the Holy Spirit.\u00a0 (In chapter 2, the writer of Hebrews credits other parts of the Old Testament to Jesus (see 2:12).\u00a0 So according to the writer of Hebrews, both Jesus and the Holy Spirit were involved in the writing of Scripture in the Old Testament.)\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":28782,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-28780","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gametime-sharing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28780","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28780"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28780\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28783,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28780\/revisions\/28783"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28782"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28780"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28780"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28780"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}