Pastor’s Bible Reading Schedule:
Hebrews 5-7
The author of Hebrews began chapter five by describing the office of the high priest in Israel. He pointed out that the task of the high priest was to act for human beings in matters related to God (vs. 1). Each high priest of Israel received a divine appointment to office. The office required that he show compassion for wandering sinners and offer sacrifices for sins.
Jesus demonstrated His qualifications to serve as High Priest for His people. Jesus did not follow the steps of the imperfect priesthood of Aaron. He became a priest after the order of Melchizedek.
Even with Jesus as their High Priest, all was not well with the readers of Hebrews. There were three elements to their spiritual immaturity. First, they were slow to learn (vs. 11). Second, they had failed to rise to the level of instructing others (vs. 12), needing again to learn the elementary truths of God’s word. Third, they needed to develop the skills to distinguish good from bad and to follow the good (vs. 14). They had dabbled so long in mediocrity that they had become content with this level. Yesterday in the morning service, we looked at the danger of simply being a spectator in the Christian life.
Applying the truths of this chapter will give us a broader picture of Jesus’ marvelous ability to show compassion to wandering, weary sinners. It will also provide a warning against spiritual apathy and careless living. Are you telling the Lord how thankful you are for His compassion and the marvelous opportunity to spread that love to others around you?
Prayer Requests:
Personal
- Lord, please help me to desire you and your word more and more each day.
- Lord, please help me to grow in grace and may that growth be measurable as I evaluate honestly my spiritual life.
- Lord, please help me to mature in my ability to discern good and evil.
Political
- Senator Curt VanderWall – District 35 – Ludington
- Representative Scott VanSingel – District 100 – Grant
- Representative Greg VanWoerkom – District 91 – Montague