Do Not Harden Your Hearts...

Welcome brothers and sisters!

A beautiful day to be alive, to worship Christ Jesus, and surrender to His will amen!  By His grace, we so stand, that we can walk today in this land, to share the good news, of His Salvation by His Hand. 

We are so thankful to have been able to share with everyone on Saturday the time of worship, fellowship and a meal.  Thank you to everyone who came and shared your testimonies and let us continue to pray for one another, cultivating that softened heart that we may surrender it to Jesus Christ our Lord.  We continued in Hebrews 3, focusing intently on 3:7-19 for the night...a great and mighty call and warning brethren!  We pray you enjoy the sermon video, and share it with others.  Only the Lord knows who will hear and obey, but our call is the same, preach the Gospel to everyone and you might be used in that moment by the Lord to bring someone to Himself!  We also have another posting that will be updated each week, we will be zipping the sermons up in ZIP format, that simply contains the MP3 for that sermon.  This way you can grab it and listen to it on the Go!  Below is the synopsis from Saturday's sermon, sources include The Bible, www.biblegateway.com, and Microsoft Bing.

The Importance of Faithfulness and Obedience

Hebrews 3:7-19 is a passage that warns us against the danger of unbelief and disobedience. The author of Hebrews quotes Psalm 95:7-11, which recalls the history of Israel in the wilderness. Despite witnessing God’s mighty works and miracles, the Israelites hardened their hearts and rebelled against Him. They tested and tried Him, and they did not know His ways. As a result, God was angry with them and swore that they would not enter His rest, which was the promised land of Canaan.

The author of Hebrews applies this lesson to the Christian readers, who are also called to enter God’s rest through faith in Christ. He urges them to beware of having an evil heart of unbelief that turns away from the living God. He exhorts them to encourage one another daily, so that none of them may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness. He reminds them that they have become partakers of Christ, if they hold their original conviction firmly to the end. He repeats the warning: “Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion.”

The author then asks a series of rhetorical questions to drive home his point. Who were they who heard and rebelled? Who were they who sinned and perished in the wilderness? Who were they who did not obey and were denied entry into God’s rest? The answer is clear: they were all those who came out of Egypt, led by Moses. They were all those who had seen God’s wonders, but did not trust Him or follow Him. They were all those who failed to enter God’s rest because of their unbelief.

The message for us today is clear as well. We are also called to enter God’s rest through faith in Christ, who is greater than Moses and the angels. We are also exposed to God’s voice through His Word and His Spirit. We are also prone to harden our hearts and fall away from Him. We are also in need of daily encouragement and perseverance. We are also warned not to miss out on God’s rest because of our unbelief.

Therefore, let us heed the call of Hebrews 3:7-19 and be faithful and obedient to God. Let us not harden our hearts, but soften them with His grace. Let us not rebel, but submit to His will. Let us not test or try Him, but trust and follow Him. Let us not depart from Him, but draw near to Him. Let us not be unbelieving, but believing. Let us enter His rest today and forever.

Brethren, every day is a gift that we surely ought not to waste.  None of us know when the Lord will return, but we need to be ready.  He is worthy of our love, worship, adoration, honor and all glory.  Even though we have sinned and broken His law so many times, throughout history, we shows us so much love and grace that He would send is only Son to take our punishment on our behalf and reward us with what is His reward.  There is no love like that of God's, and if we say that we love God we must surely listen to His Son, listen to His Voice in His Word and surrender our lives in loving obedience.  If we harden our hearts to His Spirit, who is Holy forever, we have thrown His grace right in the mud.  You can see how serious He takes sin, and how seriously He loves us when we look at Jesus Christ on that Cross.  Surrender brethren, let's surrender and live daily in repentance amen?

FRF Team