March 29, 2017
Today’s reading from Encounter with God

Guidance For Godly Living

Please see the links to our EXTRA Bible Study notes at the bottom of the page.

Opening Prayer

Lord of Light, give me Your light and truth from Your Word. May they lead me in the pathway of Your will.

Read Hebrews 13

[1] Keep on loving one another as brothers and sisters. [2] Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it. [3] Continue to remember those in prison as if you were together with them in prison, and those who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering. [4] Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure, for God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral. [5] Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.” [6] So we say with confidence, “The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can mere mortals do to me?” [7] Remember your leaders, who spoke the word of God to you. Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith. [8] Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. [9] Do not be carried away by all kinds of strange teachings. It is good for our hearts to be strengthened by grace, not by eating ceremonial foods, which is of no benefit to those who do so. [10] We have an altar from which those who minister at the tabernacle have no right to eat. [11] The high priest carries the blood of animals into the Most Holy Place as a sin offering, but the bodies are burned outside the camp. [12] And so Jesus also suffered outside the city gate to make the people holy through his own blood. [13] Let us, then, go to him outside the camp, bearing the disgrace he bore. [14] For here we do not have an enduring city, but we are looking for the city that is to come. [15] Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise-the fruit of lips that openly profess his name. [16] And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased. [17] Have confidence in your leaders and submit to their authority, because they keep watch over you as those who must give an account. Do this so that their work will be a joy, not a burden, for that would be of no benefit to you. [18] Pray for us. We are sure that we have a clear conscience and desire to live honorably in every way. [19] I particularly urge you to pray so that I may be restored to you soon. [20] Now may the God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, [21] equip you with everything good for doing his will, and may he work in us what is pleasing to him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen. [22] Brothers and sisters, I urge you to bear with my word of exhortation, for in fact I have written to you quite briefly. [23] I want you to know that our brother Timothy has been released. If he arrives soon, I will come with him to see you. [24] Greet all your leaders and all the Lord’s people. Those from Italy send you their greetings. [25] Grace be with you all.

Scripture taken from the THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION, NIV Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Reflect

“Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever” (8).

Hebrews 13 is packed with practical wisdom. Love, hospitality, prison ministry, marriage, sexual purity, leadership, coping with persecution, submission to leaders, prayer and being equipped for doing God’s will are all addressed here. The central themes of Hebrews are underlined again—a better altar (10) and an enduring city (14). I love the down-to-earth wisdom of sayings like “the marriage bed [should be] kept pure” (4) and “keep your lives free from the love of money” (5), which are as applicable in the twenty-first century as they were in the first.

The power of verse 8 rings out over two millennia: “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.” If Jesus is the same today as he always has been, risen from the dead, then he can equip us with everything good for doing God’s will. He is also setting leaders in his church as he sees fit, gracing the body of Christ with gifts of service and ministry (Eph. 4:12). He can still intervene in circumstances that threaten to overwhelm us. I battle with a chronic disease that has put me in hospital over 100 times in the last 20 years and causes me immense pain every day, but I draw daily hope and strength from the truth of verse 8 and I hope that you will also.

Better sacrifices are revealed here too. The offerings of the old covenant resulted in ceremonial foods which were of no value (9), but in Jesus we find sacrifices with which God is well-pleased, the blood of Christ and the sacrifice of praise being the fruit of lips that confess his name (15). Let’s offer those sacrifices today!

Apply

What can you praise God for? List both praise (who God is) and thanksgiving items (what God has done).

Closing prayer

Lord Jesus, my lips confess Your name, and my lips offer the sacrifice of praise to You.

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