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NewCity Orlando Sermons
M'Cheyne Reading Plan | Hebrews 3:7-19
Pastoral Resident Kenny Dyches preaches from Hebrews 3:7-19 from our M'Cheyne Bible Reading Plan. He highlights the significance of finding a place for transparent trust where the grace of Christ and community can help us to flee sin and find rest.
Hello everyone. This is Pastor Damien. You're listening to Sermon Audio from New City, orlando. At New City we believe all of us need all of Jesus for all of life. For more resources, visit our website at newcityorlandocom. Thanks for listening. Guide us, o God, by your word and spirit that in your light we may see your light, in your truth, find freedom and in your will, discover your peace. Through Jesus Christ, our Lord, amen.
Speaker 1:Today's scripture reading comes from Hebrews 3, verses 7-19. Chapter 3, verses 7 through 19. Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts, as in the rebellion on the day of testing in the wilderness where your fathers put me to the test and saw my works for forty years. Therefore, I was provoked with that generation and said they always go astray in their heart. They have not known my ways. As I swore in my wrath, they shall not enter my rest. Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart leading you to fall away from the living God, but exhort one another every day, as long as it is called today, that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin, for we have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end.
Speaker 1:As it is said today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion. For who were those who heard and yet rebelled? Was it not all those who left Egypt led by Moses? And with whom was he provoked for 40 years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness? And to whom did he swear that they would not enter his rest? But to those who were disobedient. So we see that they were unable to enter because of unbelief. This is God's word.
Speaker 2:Thanks be to God. I want to start with an article from the Gospel Coalition on Charles Templeton. Charles Templeton first professed faith in 1936, and he became an evangelist that same year. In 1945, he met Billy Graham, whom many of you know or have heard of, probably don't know personally and the two became friends, rooming and ministering together during a 1946 YFC evangelistic tour in Europe. But by 1948, templeton's life and worldview were beginning to go a different direction than Graham's. Doubts about the Christian faith were solidifying as he planned to enter Princeton Theological Seminary and less than a decade later he would publicly declare that he had become an agnostic.
Speaker 2:In his 1996 memoir Farewell to God, my Reasons for Rejecting the Christian Faith, templeton recounted a conversation with him and Graham in Monterey prior to entering seminary. He said in the course of the conversation but, billy, it's simply not possible any longer to believe, for instance, the biblical account of creation. The world was not created over a period of days a few thousand years ago. It has evolved over millions of years. It's not a matter of speculation, it's a demonstrable fact. I don't accept that. Billy said and there are reputable scholars who don't. Who are those scholars? He said and there are reputable scholars who don't. Who are those scholars? He said men in conservative Christian colleges. Most of them. Yes, billy said. But that is not the point. I believe the Genesis account of creation because it's in the Bible. I've discovered something in my ministry when I take the Bible literally, when I proclaim it as the word of God, my preaching has power. When I stand on the platform and say God says or the Bible says, the Holy Spirit uses me, there are results. Wiser men than you or I have been arguing questions like this for centuries. I don't have the time or the intellect to examine all the sides of the theological dispute, so I've decided once and for all to stop questioning and accept the Bible as God's word. But, billy, I protested, you cannot do that. You don't dare stop thinking about the most important question in life. Do it and you begin to die. It's intellectual suicide. Billy responded. I don't know about anybody else, but I've decided that that's the path for me. See Billy Graham.
Speaker 2:He listened to the voice of God in the scriptures. He received them as the very words of God for him and others, and he experienced their power for himself and others. Charles Templeton also heard the voice of God in the scriptures. He came to faith, he became an evangelist, but unbelief stepped in, and I'm speculating a little, but it seems he didn't believe God's word could be sufficient and satisfying for him. Instead, he sinned by turning to an idol, secular scientific study or scientism, the belief that science should be able to explain not only natural phenomena but everything, including God's existence. He was a Christian by all accounts, even working with Billy Graham, but over time that unbelief paired with sin and led to a hardened heart, one that led him to fall away from the living God.
Speaker 2:50 years later, lee Strobel actually had an opportunity to interview Templeton closer to the end of his life. Lee Strobel actually had an opportunity to interview Templeton closer to the end of his life. Templeton says, speaking of Jesus in that interview, he was the greatest human being who has ever lived. He was a moral genius. His ethical sense was unique. He was intrinsically the wisest person that I've ever encountered in my life or in my readings. His commitment was total and led to his own death, much to the detriment of the world.
Speaker 2:What could one say except that that was his form of greatness? I was taken aback. You sound like you really care about him. I said Well, yes. Templeton answered he was the most important thing in my life. I, I, he stuttered, searching for the right word. I know it may sound strange, but I have to say I adore him.
Speaker 2:That's when Templeton uttered the words that Strobel never expected him to hear, never expected to hear from him. Templeton said, and, if I may put it this way, and his voice began to crack, I miss him. And, if I may put it this way, and his voice began to crack, I miss him. With that, tears flooded his eyes. He turned his head and looked downward, raising his left hand to shield his face. His shoulders bobbed as he wept. Templeton fought to compose himself. It wasn't like him to lose control in front of a stranger. He sighed deeply and wiped away its ear. After a few more awkward moments, he waved his hand dismissively. Finally, quietly but adamantly, he insisted enough of that.
Speaker 2:Templeton longed for the rest of God offered to him in friendship with Jesus Christ. You can see it in that interview. Yet his heart had become hardened to God. What could make someone who not only professed faith but become an evangelist along, someone like Billy Graham, one of the greatest evangelists of the modern era, to fall away from the living God? The answer is the same thing that could make any of us fall away unbelief and sin.
Speaker 2:See, since the garden, our hearts are naturally bent to respond to God's voice with unbelief and then to turn towards sin. To find whatever it is we don't trust God to provide. Eventually, this pattern hardens our hearts to God, so that we do the opposite of repenting and turn to God. We turn away and turn towards sin. Just like Templeton. Sin deceives our hearts into disobedience and away from God's rest. Day by day, though, and moment by moment, god is speaking to us, like right now, in the scriptures and by the witness of the Holy Spirit. Day by day and moment by moment, we are either responding in faith and obedience or disbelief and sin. And union with God and one another is the only way to persevere in faith and experience God's promised rest. Now, put more succinctly, we need our great high priest, jesus Christ, and the priesthood of believers to make gospel deposits into our hearts every day and moment by moment. I'll say that again we need our great high priest, jesus Christ, and the priesthood of believers to make gospel deposits in our heart every day and moment by moment.
Speaker 2:My first point this morning is take care of your heart. My first point this morning is take care of your heart. If you look at verse 12, you can turn there in your Bibles or your Bible apps. It's in the center of our passage. So this is the main point that he's making. It's sandwiched between Psalm 95 and then a little exposition on Psalm 95. But this is what he's trying to say to his congregation. He says take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart leading you to fall away from the living God. That's verse 12. So many of you are going to hear that and you are professing Christians and you're going to think well, this isn't for me, right, I was baptized, I made a profession of faith, I take the Lord's Supper, I come to church on Sundays, I read scripture. I'm even in a community, right, I serve, and others of you maybe you don't believe in Jesus yet, but you think I'm not evil. Right, I'm here, I'm seeking the truth. I'm here with friends or family, right, I seek to do good.
Speaker 2:And yet our author, our preacher, for all intents and purposes, he's speaking to a Christian church, right, a Jewish Christian church. He knows the pressures that they are under from the Roman society, from the Jews in their region to abandon their faith, to live in a way that is not aligned with the gospel, and he's worried for them. He's worried that over time, sin and unbelief will enter their hearts and cause them to fall away from the living God, and so we likewise need to take heed of his sermon for us. So let's start with verse 7. It's helpful that our author actually gives us a case study. He refers back to Psalm 95, which looks at the Exodus generation and gives really his audience a case study for what it looks like for a people to harden their hearts to sin. But first he says in verse 7, it's really significant that he says as the Holy Spirit says Elsewhere in the New Testament epistles.
Speaker 2:Oftentimes writers will say as the scriptures say, but he uses the present tense as the Holy Spirit says. What he's doing is emphasizing that God, through these words of scripture, is speaking to his audience today. Right, god's word is authoritative in all times and all places for all his people. But he's saying, in addition to that, the Holy Spirit, who is at work in the world and in the hearts of believers, is actually preaching this text to you, for you to personally hear and apply it to your lives. Today. That's the emphasis, right. Billy Graham received God's word that way way Templeton did not. But that's an important way to come for us this morning. John frame, well-known theologian who used to teach at reformed theological seminary, puts it this way wherever the word is God is, god accompanies his word to bring it to pass. So the word is never an impersonal object or force, it is God Himself drawing. God is doing as we author is coming this morning. That is what God is doing as we hear his word this morning.
Speaker 2:Now go ahead and look at verses 8 through 11. He says today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion On the day of testing in the wilderness, where your fathers put me to the test and saw my works for 40 years. Therefore, I was provoked with that generation and said they always go astray in their heart. They have not known my ways. As I swore in my wrath, they shall not enter my rest. Now we actually heard Psalm 95 earlier, and what our biblical author is doing is referring back to Psalm 95. Psalm 95, in turn, the psalmist David is referring back to the Exodus generation. Right, and so each biblical writer is saying, hey, what happened in the Exodus generation? That is true now and that is true for us, right, the pattern of sin and unbelief in their lives is still something we deal with today.
Speaker 2:But the context for Psalm 95 is great, because Psalm 95 actually starts with an exhortation to rejoice in God, because he is the sovereign king and creator. He is the one who is also our shepherd, right. And so you could say that the sovereign God, he holds all things in his hands. He is the creator and king, and with those same hands he feeds and cares. In his hands, he is the creator and king, and with those same hands he feeds and cares for his sheep. And so, in that context, though the psalmist reminds us hey, that is who God is, that is true. Rest to be in the hands of that loving and sovereign God who promises to care for us. But beware lest you lose what you have, lest you lose the promises of God and turn towards something else. See the Exodus generation.
Speaker 2:They witnessed incredible things, right, they witnessed the plagues on Egypt. They saw God plunder the Egyptians so that they had all that they needed. They saw God lead them through the Red Sea right Parting the waters. They saw God bring those waters back on the Egyptian army and destroy them. They saw God speak to them on the mountain. They heard the voice of God, saw the smoke and the fire. God provided them manna miraculously in the wilderness. And again and again they witnessed the incredible power of God for their salvation.
Speaker 2:But in Numbers 11, that's referenced here, they begin to grumble. Right, they see, you know, we were slaves in Egypt, but, heck, when we wanted to, we could get like a salad and a Salisbury steak. You know, now we're just out here eating. You know, whatever this stuff is on the ground, this bread that you know frankly needs some seasoning. And you see this pattern again and again. God continually provides for them and they continually grumble. And you see the mercy of God over and over again, as he continues to have friendship with them and to pursue them.
Speaker 2:Nonetheless, there's a pattern of unbelief in God's goodness and provision and sin and grumbling against him. And then, finally, they get to the promised land and their hearts have begun to become hard. And they get to the promised land and they send spies into the promised land and their hearts have begun to become hard. And they get to the promised land and they send spies into the promised land. They got a promise to give them a place overflowing with milk and honey where he will provide all that they need. Right, and the spies come back and 10 out of the 12 say hey, it's exactly what God described. It's a miraculous land. However, there are some guys there and dude, they're as tall as basketball players and they are as thick as linebackers in the NFL. I don't think we can take them. We should just go back to Egypt. This is literally what they say.
Speaker 2:Then all the congregation raised a loud cry and the people wept in the night and all the people of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron. The whole congregation said to them would that we had died in the land of Egypt, or would that we had died in the land of Egypt, or would that we had died in this wilderness? Why is the Lord bringing us into this land to fall by the sword? Our wives and our little ones will become a prey. Would it not be better for us to go back to Egypt? And they said to one another let us choose a leader and go back to Egypt. They are all but ready to say deuces, moses, I'm out right. They're ready even to stone, the other two spies that came back and said no, we need to believe God's promises and go in. These are the people, right, who had seen God work miracles, right, incredible miracles, and yet they won't believe that he will protect them when they go in the promised land, won't believe that he will protect them when they go in the promised land.
Speaker 2:So how did God respond? Of the 600,000 men, or million plus Israelites who began so well this journey with God, only two over the age of 20 would enter the promised land. They did not enter God's rest. So what happened? Well, in verses 16 through 19,. We won't get into all of it, but he gives an explanation, asking question after question to prove his point.
Speaker 2:The author asks a series of questions that reveal the descent from hope to disbelief, to disobedience, which, over time, led to a hardened heart, ending in verse 19 with him being unable to enter God's rest, god's land, because of unbelief. If it were a formula thinking back to algebra, right, you'd have, like a parenthesis unbelief plus sin over time leads to a hard heart, right? Unbelief plus sin over time leads to a hard heart. It's a cycle that continues until your heart becomes hardened to God's voice and no longer can enter God's rest. It's not unlike Eve and the serpent in the garden. Right, eve was in the garden and knew that she should not eat of the tree of knowledge and good and evil, but the serpent slips in deviously and starts to kind of put in lies into her heart, getting her to doubt God's promises, getting her to doubt God's promises, getting her to doubt God's goodness, and so she turns from God and his promises towards the fruit to get what she needs.
Speaker 2:And so what is the rest? Right? What is the rest that they failed to enter? Well, it was the land for Israel, but for all God's people it is also Psalm 95. It is resting in relationship with the God who is sovereign and in control, but for all God's people it is also Psalm 95. It is resting in relationship with a God who is sovereign and in control, but also good and gives abundant things to his children. Right, it's the future Sabbath rest which Hebrews 4 will get into. It's what we will have in heaven enjoying God forever and resting in his presence. All right, it's also a present experience In Matthew 11, 28,.
Speaker 2:Jesus says come to me all who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. This is the rest that God offers us, both present and future. And yet Israel failed to enter that rest, and the author of Hebrews also gives us warning not to be among those who fail to enter his rest. Go ahead and look at verse 12 again with me. Verse 12 says take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an unbelieving heart leading you to fall away from the living God. Take care actually is more literally see, right. So he's saying see and be aware of unbelief in your heart, and that forms sort of an inclusio. It's called with verse 19, which says see that they were unable to enter because of unbelief. And so there's an exhortation to us to see the unbelief in our hearts and to be wary of it, and then also to see what happened to Israel and be wary of the unbelief there, and both the source of falling away from God being unbelief. And so we need to take care not to replace God's promises with what the world offers. And this can be hard to detect in our own lives, but you know, you might see it in maybe being a little miserly about money, maybe you hold money a little too tightly, maybe you watch TV more than you read and pray scripture, maybe you constantly have Amazon packages at your door full of things that you've been coveting, which I am guilty of. Sometimes Do you turn to alcohol, tv work or even body image and nutrition for what you should turn to God for. Now, of course, any of these things individually, they're not evil things. Material goods aren't bad. However, when we turn to them instead of to God for what God offers, we need to take care lest that be evidence of unbelief and sin in our hearts.
Speaker 2:Let me give you an example of me after a long day, there's one day I came home and it'd been a long day and finally get the kids down to bed, and so I'm just sitting there and if you're a parent, you understand. You're just exhausted on more than one level. And I'm just sitting there and I think to myself okay, what do I want to do? I need something to pick me up. So I go through my pantry in my mind I'm like, okay, we don't have sweets because we've been trying not to eat sweets. And then I was like, all right, netflix, amazon Prime, there's nothing I want to work out. That's too much effort. Don't want to read the Bible because it's too much mental strain, I don't even know what to pray for. And I get through my list and I'm like what? And so I go through it again and I'm like what is wrong with me? I just can't. I'm so tired, I don't even want anything, and so, but I sit there and I'm like, okay, you know what?
Speaker 2:I memorized the Sermon on the Mount, in a circle with Ben, of course, and so I'm just going to start reciting the Beatitudes. And so I did, I got through it, and then I got to. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. And then I had a little conviction from the Holy Spirit of hey, you've been, your heart is becoming hard, your heart is going after all of these things when what it really needs is just to talk with me. And so then I just spent the next few minutes just kind of just telling God about my day and unburdening myself, and before I knew it I was like getting teary-eyed. And by the time I got to the end of that time I had I felt more rested than I would with any of those other things. And so I think oftentimes our hearts just naturally go towards other things to fulfill them with what only God can truly give us.
Speaker 2:Many of us take care of our hearts through the common rhythm, right? Maybe you do scripture before screens in the morning, and that's fantastic. That's a great practice. Maybe you do scripture before screens in the morning, and that's fantastic. That's a great practice. Maybe you practice asking God who you can bless during the day. Maybe you practice taking one hour to just be with God in scripture or in prayer. You fast, you feast. The common rhythm is an excellent way to practice taking care of your heart.
Speaker 2:John Owen said there is need of great care, heedfulness, watchfulness and circumspection, because he continues, our course is a warfare and those who take not heed, who are not circumspect in war, will assuredly be a prey to their enemies. Be their strength never so great. One time or other they will not avoid a fatal surprisal. That's what's at stake, right? There are always lies entering our hearts from the culture, from Satan, from the world around us. Are we countering those lies with words from our Savior and from one another? But I also want to make it clear, just as the God who holds all things in his hands and feeds us with his hands, god says, jesus says in John 6, that those who are in his hands. He does not lose right. And so we cannot lose our salvation, the Bible says. But we also have agency and responsibility. Paul talks about working out our salvation with fear and with trembling right. And so if we want to not only know that we shall be saved in eternity, but experience that promised rest, now we have responsibility for ourselves and others to exhort one another. And so that brings me to my second point exhort one another. Look at verse 13. But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called today that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.
Speaker 2:So, speaking of Netflix and TV, I don't know if you've noticed, but the Matrix is back on Netflix. You can watch the original three, you can watch the new one. I actually haven't seen the new one, but I'm getting there. So I've watched Matrix this past week and there's so many good themes in that movie that are great gospel illustrations.
Speaker 2:But in that movie Neo is the main character. And Neo, he's a computer hacker and he begins to feel unsettled because he realizes that something is not right in his life and the world, and so he comes across this term called the Matrix and he's trying to understand what it means, and that's when he meets Morpheus, right? Morpheus will tell him yes, there is something going on that you can't see. Right, there's some. I want to invite you into something more. I want to invite you into that other world, but you have to take a step of faith. Morpheus says to him the matrix is everywhere, it's all around us, even now, in this very room. You can see it when you look out your window or when you turn on your television. You can feel it when you go to work, when you go to church, when you pay your taxes. It is the world that has been pulled over your eyes to blind you from the truth.
Speaker 2:What truth, neo asks? He says that you are a slave, neo, like everyone else, you are born into bondage, into a prison that you cannot see or taste or touch, a prison for your mind. I would say that we are born into a prison for our hearts, right? Just as in that movie, the Matrix is this place that everyone is in. It's kind of like a computer program and really machines are ruling the world. It's a whole thing. You got to watch it.
Speaker 2:We, though, we have a prison around our hearts of sin and unbelief, right, there's a whole thing. You got to watch it. We, though, we have a prison around our hearts of sin and unbelief, right, there's a matrix of sin and unbelief around our hearts, and unless someone else pulls us out of that, we can't even see that. It's there, we live it, we eat it, we breathe it. It's the world around us that we're in, and, of course, jesus is our Morpheus and so much more, inviting us and pulling us out of sin.
Speaker 2:If we look at even chapter 4, verse 12, it says For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And then in 4, verse 15, for we do not have a high priest, priest unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who, in every respect, has been tempted, as we are, yet without sin. Let us, then, with confidence, draw near to the throne of grace to receive mercy and grace in time of need. And so Jesus, through the word of God, he discerns our hearts, he helps us to know the sin and unbelief in our lives. Likewise, he invites us in prayer to come to the throne of God. Right, he discerns our hearts. He helps us to know the sin and unbelief in our lives. Likewise, he invites us in prayer to come to the throne of grace and receive help when we are in need. Right, jesus is our great high priest, by which we can recognize sin and unbelief and come into rest with him.
Speaker 2:But also, as we recognize unbelief, it's easy to kind of want to push it down, right? We don't really want our friends and family to know about it. We don't really want people to know about it because, you know, we're Christians. We don't want people to think that we're questioning our salvation. We don't want people to think that we're not doing well. But that is exactly what our author is inviting us into to bring that into community.
Speaker 2:Look at verse 14 with me. He says For we have come to share in Christ if we indeed hold our original confidence firm to the end. So together we are sharing in Christ. Together we are Christ to one another. That sharing, that word for share in verse 14 through 15, is also the word in chapter 2, verse 14, which says Since, therefore, the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things that through death, he might destroy, the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil.
Speaker 2:See, just as we share in the resurrection, the ascension, the glorification of Jesus, so also Jesus partook of what we share in. Jesus became man. He took on flesh and blood. Jesus suffered as we have suffered. Jesus went to the cross and though he did not sin, he took our sins upon himself. Jesus died and suffered the wrath of God. Jesus was buried right and in as much as we are in him, in all of those things, we are in Christ and his resurrection, his ascension, his glorification and even his priesthood. As we are in him in all of those things we are in Christ, in his resurrection, his ascension, his glorification and even his priesthood. As we are unified with Christ, our great high priest, he invites us to know him and to have rest in him. And so, jesus, as he is our priest, our great high priest, so we are his priests. What Jesus does, we do.
Speaker 2:And Jesus exhorts us. That word, for exhort, right, it's a weird word, but the Bible, it can mean all sorts of things. It's a calling, a comforting, an encouragement, a preaching truth to one another. The gospel writers, this is what? And the New Testament writers? This is what they're doing for all of the churches. They're constantly exhorting them, calling them to account, inviting them to know Jesus and to be comforted and encouraged by him.
Speaker 2:And so he says we need to be doing this with one another, day by day. Now, I don't know about you. Day by day sounds daunting. Day by day is difficult, right. We live in a society where we drive to and from work, we're working nine to five at least. We have kids, we have a family, we have technology and we're just not coming together moment by moment and day by day to exhort one another. And yet I would say all the more then we need to take care of our hearts. We need to take care because that means all the day, all the week, all the month, all the year. There are other things slipping into your mind and into your heart, right, that are causing you to turn from God and towards sin. We need to be making gospel deposits in one another and deposit. It sounds transactional, but really it's love for one another. Jesus says we need to love one another as Christ has loved us. As priests, we mediate God to one another. In 1 Peter 2, the apostle says you yourselves, like living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. As priests, they mediate God to the body of believers and likewise, as priests, we mediate God to one another.
Speaker 2:Lisa Feldman, in 7 1⁄2 Lessons About the Brain, says something really fascinating. She says every day you take part in an intricate dance between your brain and those of others, and it's not just a solo act. Your brain influences and is shaped by the interactions of other brains around you Throughout life. You unknowingly make deposits and withdrawals in the metaphorical body budgets of those around you. These exchanges can be beneficial or detrimental, impacting how you live or interact. Your brain's language network responsible for processing words also regulates your body's core functions. In this way, words genuinely hold power in your neural wiring. They don't merely convey messages, they influence your biology and that of others. Therefore, embracing your interconnectedness means understanding your impact and striving to be more nurturing, making more deposits into the body budgets of those around you.
Speaker 2:Now Lisa Feldman I don't know if she's a Christian. This is not a Christian book. This is not written for the church and nonetheless, there is something here so integral to being priests to one another. Just through our daily words that we say to one another, as we encourage one another, as we comfort one another, as we preach truth to one another, we're literally making deposits in the other person's life, affecting their brain, affecting how they turn to God and turn away from sin or don't right. And so we have responsibility as priests, but also we are empowered as priests unto one another. So, as we experience our great high priest, jesus Christ, in his love and in his person, and then we go and we love others, we are priests unto them, mediating the person of God. But that can only happen as we are known over time. Right, true change, true deep change happens the more that we are known over time. So, day by day, right as often as you are around others who deeply know you, who know what's going on in your life, who know what's going on in your family, who know how you feel about it, who know what you think about it, and they can preach truth and comfort and exhort you, then you will see yourself begin to actually change as a person. So I want to share how that's impacted me.
Speaker 2:So one thing that I've been working on for the past several years is that I'm not great at being known, right, truly known for who I am. There's a risk in being known for who you are, as you truly share yourself and how you feel and what you think. People can reject you, people can abandon you, people can say, ah, you're a little weirder than I thought. I'm not sure I want to hang out with you so much. However, I've been in two circles over the past few years, um, and they have been an incredible experience.
Speaker 2:Now in those circles, no one was like, hey, this is your sin pattern, stop it right. No one, people didn't do that. That's not how they preached truth and mediated christ to me, but rather as I was known for who I was, as I was known for my story, as I was known by what I was going through day in and day out, as they walked with me through hard things and difficult things in my family. Right, I was known, I was loved, I was encouraged, I was comforted, I was exhorted. They preached truth to my heart from Jesus Christ and over the last year, I've started to recognize that I feel freedom to be myself. This actually came out in end of the year. Review my bosses, ben and Damien, which you know great bosses.
Speaker 2:They asked what God is doing in my life and I said well, you know, I feel a lot more free, and I really had to reflect on why. I think there's various reasons. I talked to them about some of the culture at New City which is so good, but it's also because of those circles. It's because I was known over time and day by day I could come to those men, be known and be loved, and now, genuinely, I feel a freedom I had never felt before because of how they mediated Christ to me. The gospel deposits that they made day by day brought me to a place of freedom, to be known for who I am and to walk out of that, and so I encourage you all as well, if you're not in a circle, new City offers circles. These are places where you can be known in transparent relationships and friendships over time.
Speaker 2:If you are in a circle, I encourage you to think about what your end date will be for meeting, because you have something amazing to offer other people here at New City who also need to be in a circle, who need to be known and loved in relationship over time, and so that is our priestly role, exhortation in relationship, and so, in summary, we need to take care of our hearts. We need to recognize the cycle of sin in our hearts over time and turn to our high priests and the priests around us. We need to exhort one another and make gospel deposits, and I really want you to be empowered in that, as we have opportunities to make gospel deposits in one another. Ultimately, god is responsible for the fruit of that. But it could look like with your children, with your spouse, with your spouse, with your family, with your friends, with the barista at Starbucks, something as simple as asking how you can pray right, that itself is making a deposit in their life. It's beginning to affect who they see God as and how they experience God's love and joy and an invitation for rest.
Speaker 2:Finally, I just want to say Jesus, he's our model. He takes care of his heart right in his earthly ministry. He constantly goes to the father. He never does what he does, doesn't see the father doing. He's always going to the father in prayer, guarding his heart. But we also see that in John 13 he actually gives a very specific example to his disciples and at the Last Supper he's about to go to his death right.
Speaker 2:But it says that he got down from the table, he took off his outer garment, he put on a towel, he filled a basin with water and he bent down to wash their feet right. And he said I want you to go and do likewise, to love one another Now, to truly have a day-by-day, exhorting, comforting, encouraging relationship with one another. It might require us to get down from our table. We might need to let go of some things, take some things away from our lives. It might require us to put on a towel, to consider others' needs more important than our own. It might require us to get dirty right, to wash each other's feet, to be with one another in the hard and difficult places when we don't feel like we have time to be there for one another. But ultimately, it's as we are filling our own basins with the love of God, with the living waters, that we are able to do that for one another. And so that's the model that Jesus gives us, and he is also our savior.
Speaker 2:Hebrews, chapter two, verse 14 through 18, says go ahead and turn there with me if you're able. Since, therefore, the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has power over death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who, through fear of death, were subject to lifelong slavery. For surely it is not angels that he helps, but he helps the offspring of Abraham. Therefore, he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. For because he himself has suffered when tempted, let me pray Yahweh.
Speaker 2:We thank you that you are with us. We thank you that you have shared in what is ours so we can share in what is yours. We thank you that you hold us in your hands, that you hold the whole world in your hands and that you feed us with those same hands, that you take care of us, that you persevere our faith and that you invite us to ongoingly come to come when we are in need, to know that you hear our prayers, to know that you search our hearts in the scriptures and you can give us true freedom. We thank you for bringing us into a body of believers where we can do that and participate in that, in one another, where we can encourage and exhort and love and cherish one another. We pray that you would give us clarity in what that looks like to live out in our lives. Give us freedom, even as we go forth from here, to experience you richly and to make gospel deposits in the lives of those around us. For your good, for your glory and in the name of Jesus Christ, we pray these things, amen.
Speaker 2:Now I'm gonna invite you to reflect on a couple questions in just a moment, and these questions are how can you invite others to make gospel deposits in your life? We need others in our lives who can do that with us and for us to make those gospel deposits. How can you invite others into your life? Right, we need others in our lives who can do that with us and for us to make those gospel deposits. How can you invite others into your life to do that? Or you can ask another question how can you make gospel deposits into the lives of others? We just wanna ask God and trust that the Holy Spirit can bring to mind what our next step can be in those areas. Go ahead and take a moment.