The connect devotional is a great way to stay connected spiritually to what our community is learning about God right now. It is in step with the current sermon series, studying the scripture through the lens of life application.
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Click here to listen to this post! "I did not speak on my own...whatever I say is just whatthe Father has told me to say." (John 12:49,50) I don't mean to sound like a psychiatrist, but do you hear voices in your head no one else hears, voices that adversely affect who you are? Are you sure you should do that? You'll never measure up to your brother. Voice...
Keep ReadingClick here to listen to this post! Jesus replied, "My light will shine for you just a little longer. Walk in the light while you can,so the darkness will not overtake you. Those who walk in the darkness cannot seewhere they are going. Put your trust in the light while there is still time;then you will become children of the light" (John 12:35, 36). We moved to North Ca...
Keep ReadingClick here to listen to this post! Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me; weep for yourselves and for your children (Luke 23:28). This week's Connect Devotionals will be a little different: we won't all be writing on the same theme or passage. Instead, we're looking at Holy Week, each writer choosing his or her Scripture and focus. We're trying to slow down this...
Keep ReadingClick here to listen to this post! Jesus, for the joy set before him, endured the cross, despising its shame (Hebrews 12:2). This is the week that changes the world. Arriving today at Palm Sunday, we are about to enter the week on which our four Gospel writers focus the vast majority of their attention. It is as if they say to us, "Yes, Jesus did all kinds of wonderfu...
Keep ReadingClick here to listen to this post! "Let us run the race marked out for us." (Hebrews 12:1) Every sermon I've heard on Hebrews 12:1-3 has focused on the race analogy, pastors drawing vibrant pictures of Christians circling the same oblong race track, discarding bad habits weighing them down, Old Testament saints wildly cheering them on from the seats in the stadium. The...
Keep ReadingClick here to listen to this post! Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles (Hebrews 12:1a, NIV) Prior to reading this scripture, I had watched one of those this is my term "Aw-w-w" YouTube clips sent by a CCC friend (Thank you, Susan!)that featured a gosling ent...
Keep ReadingClick here to listen to this post! Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses,let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles.And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us,fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith (Hebrews 12:1-2a). When we moved to New York, we had to learn how t...
Keep ReadingClick here to listen to this post! Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith (Hebrews 12:2). Faith can sometimes be a little hard to get a handle on. There is the terrible error of a "name it and claim it" understanding of faith that says that the only reason a person is sick, poor and unsuccessful is the lack of real "faith." My obvious lack...
Keep ReadingClick here to listen to this post! Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our fa...
Keep ReadingClick here to listen to this post! Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and the perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, despising its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. (Hebrews 12:2-3) A new week and a...
Keep ReadingClick here to listen to this post! "let us draw near to Godwith a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings,having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience" (Hebrews 10:22). From an early age as an earnest, eager to please firstborn kid, I felt the blow any time I failed to live up to expectations or broke a rule. Those easily-trigg...
Keep ReadingClick here to listen to this post! And since we now have a magnificent High Priest to welcome us into God's house, we come closer to God and approach him with an open heart, fully convinced that nothing will keep us at a distance from him...Now we are clean, unstained, and presentable to God inside and out! Hebrews 10:21,22 (The Passion Translation) As I write this I'...
Keep ReadingClick here to listen to this post! The law is only a shadow of the good things that are comingnot the realities themselves (Hebrews 10:1). Let us draw near to God with a sincere heart (Hebrews 10:22a). Self-confidence is not something I've traditionally had a lot of. I could come up with reasons for that, but those reasons aren't why I'm bringing this up. The reason I...
Keep ReadingClick here to listen to this post! But instead, those sacrifices actually reminded them of their sinsyear after year...And when sins have been forgiven, there isno need to offer any more sacrifices (Hebrews 10:3,18 NLT). I love a good list: daily, weekly, and monthly to-do lists, grocery lists, wish lists, prayer lists, chore lists for the kids...and the list goes on! ...
Keep ReadingClick here to listen to this post! "Jesus is the new and living way opened for us" (Hebrews 10:20). Recall a tradition your family has adhered to over the years, generations even: the age-worn star now atop your Christmas tree, the tooth fairy pillow, front porch pictures in new school clothes. Our lives are steeped in traditions, and just try tampering with them! I sh...
Keep ReadingClick here to listen to this post! Then He said, "Here I am, I have come to do your will." He sets aside the firstto establish the second. And by that will, we have been made holythrough the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all (Hebrews 10:9-10). Efficacy. Probably not a word you expected to encounter in your Connect Devotional, right? In fact, it's proba...
Keep ReadingClick here to listen to this post! The law is only a shadow of the good things that are coming not the realities themselves (Hebrews 10:1). It's Monday, and we begin this third week of our journeying together towards Easter. A sermon series entitled Jesus the Radiance of God's Glory is going to dive into some very deep waters. And you may be finding the Letter to the H...
Keep ReadingClick here to listen to this post! That's why he had to enter into every detail of human life. Then, when he came before God as high priest to get rid of the people's sins, he would have already experienced it all himselfall the pain, all the testingand would be able to help where help was needed.Hebrews 2: 17,18 (The Message) In 2010 a new reality show came on the scene...
Keep ReadingClick here to listen to this post! Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death that is, the devil and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death. For surely it is not angels he helps, but Abraham's descendants. (Hebrews 2:14-16) BREAKING N...
Keep ReadingClick here to listen to this post! Both the one who makes men holy and those who are made holy are of the same family.So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers (Hebrews 2:11). Jesus isn't ashamed of you. Jesus isn't ashamed of you. Jesus, the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his being, is not ashamed of you. Jesus does not approach you dress...
Keep ReadingClick here to listen to this post! So we must listen very carefully to the truth we have heard, or we may drift away from it (Hebrews 2:1). Only in this way (by becoming a human being and dying as a human being) could he (Jesus) deliver those who have lived all their lives as slaves to the fear of death (Hebrews 2:15). We're in the anniversary monthif we can bear to use ...
Keep ReadingClick here to listen to this post! "Jesus shared in their humanity." Hebrews 2:14 Anyone who studies Greek and Roman mythology learns "deities" frequently deigned to come down to earth from Mt. Olympus. Those trips were almost always self-serving though. Key motivations included romancing a human or seeking revenge upon a perceived rival. Never would they have considered...
Keep ReadingClick here to listen to this post! We must pay more careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away how shall we escape if we ignore such a great salvation" (Hebrews 2:1-3). We got a new car about a year ago, and it comes with all kinds of cool safety features. Among them is a "drift alert" warning: if we start to drift across the cente...
Keep ReadingClick here to listen to this post! In bringing many sons and daughters to glory, it was fitting that God, for whom and through whom everything exists, should make the pioneer of their salvation perfect through what he suffered (Hebrews 2:10). A new week, and into a new section of Hebrews (chapter 2), as we continue to explore Jesus the Radiance of God's Glory. I became ...
Keep ReadingClick here to listen to this post! In the past God spoketo our ancestors through the prophetsat many times and in various ways,but in these last dayshe has spoken to us by his Son,whom he appointed heirof all things,and through whomalso he made the universe (Hebrews 1:1-2). Several months ago I was dying to do something normal. So when a favorite movie director of mine h...
Keep ReadingClick here to listen to this post! But to the Son He Says,"Your throne, O God, is forever and ever;a scepter of righteousness is the scepter of Your Kingdom. You have loved righteousnessand hated lawlessness; therefore God, Your God has anointed You with the oil of gladness more than Your companions (Hebrews 1: 8-9 NKJV). One of my fondest memories from my early childhoo...
Keep ReadingClick here to listen to this post! Throughout our history God has spoken to our ancestors by his prophets in many different ways. The revelation he gave them was only a fragment at a time, building one truth upon another. But to us living in these last days, God now speaks to us openly in the language of a Son, the appointed Heir of everything, for through him God created...
Keep ReadingClick here to listen to this post! That God would want to talk to us, reveal Himself to us, sinful as we are, unheedful of Him as we are, is beyond amazing. And when we ignore Him, retreat from Him, or outright disobey Him, He still keeps trying, still pursues us, still desires fellowship. What extravagant love. The intimate, Edenic fellowship between God and man was sha...
Keep ReadingClick here to listen to this post! The Son is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of His being,sustaining all things by his powerful word (Hebrews 1:3a). You may have noticed that it's relatively easy to describe someone you don't know well, someone you've just glanced at. For example, a person who has held the door for you, you may describe as "kind...
Keep ReadingClick here to listen to this post! In the past God spoke to our forefathers through prophets at many times and in various ways,but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son (Hebrews 1:1-2). I like walking in the woods or along a beach. And I especially enjoy it when accompanied by someone who knows things that I don't about the ground we're covering. I don't kno...
Keep ReadingClick here to listen to this post! As we are walking and praying our way towards Easter, we launch into a new series this week: Jesus, the Radiance of God's Glory. Our Scripture passages each week will come from the Book of Hebrews. There is hardly time enough to drill deeply into the rich mine that is this somewhat strange and possibly unfamiliar book, so we will be conc...
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