kiwidenis

Q3. (Hebrews 4:8-11) What do you think the writer of Hebrews means by this promise of "rest" for the believer? 1. The promise of God's Rest is a theme running through the Old Testament - I believe it refers our restoration to RESTing in God's presence as pictured in Genesis Ch 1-2. Since Chapt3 mankind have been running from God - we have lost our REST in HIM. Christ restored our REST as part of our Salvation blessings. HEAVEN - can't wait! : ) Why does the writer urge us: "Make every effort to enter that rest"? 2. This is our ultimate prize - our highest ambition - to rest in God's presence is worth everything - every effort and every sacrifice - even martyrdom - to forever be with the LORD... Hallelujah! What is the difference between apostasy from Christ and the kind of falling into sin that all Christians experience from time to time? 3. We live in a fallen world and are affected by the sin around us. We need to repent daily as - despite our best efforts - we are not all we should be (yet) we don't love God perfectly.. we have divided commitments - whereas ... Apostasy - is a deliberate decision to turn our backs on God and walk away from Him (and therefore His promises). It is abandoning our faith. There is no longer a promise of entering God's rest but eternal regret and suffering. a VERY bad decision.

The writer of Hebrews tells is "Without Faith it is impossible to please God!" (Heb 11;6) It seems to me that Faith and Belief work together. We are told "Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved." Believing assumes that there is Faith present. So Faith is essential for Salvation (does that make sense?). Faith is essential for our transition from unbelief to becoming a believer and disciple of Jesus Christ - by which we receive all the benefits of sonship, the presence and power of the Holy Spirit and Heaven to come. How does sin trick us? I believe that it is not SIN that tricks us. It is our enemy SATAN who is behind this manoevre to weaken our faith and witness for Christ. We are at war - in a spiritual battle with the unseen forces of evil. He tricks us by whispering in our mind, "Go on once will not harm you." or, things like "no-one's watching, go ahead." We must always stand strong - and remember that our Heavenly Father is watching over us and it does matter. How does it harden us? Satan gets us to do it once - then He's got us hooked. The next time we agree with his logic and do it again it weakens our faith and we lose our desire to read His word (the Bible) ... not sure why - but its true in my experience. We lose the desire to pray and the net effect is to become hardened, a little at a time, towards the things of God. What is the value of Christian fellowship to keep our faith strong? Christian fellowship is everything to us to stand strong. The precious fellowship, 'Koinonia' of the saints is emphasized many times in the Bible. Take a hot coal out of the fire and leave it alone for awhile and it soon loses its glow. Its the same for us. We all need the encouragement of other believers to stand strong in the battle. God's rich Blessings on you all - Denis

Blessed are those who mourn - for they shall be comforted (Matt 5:4) I believe this is in the context of mourning for the sinful state of this fallen creation and long for God's glory to be revealed. The LORD is close to the brokenhearted this is not just unhappy people but those who's heart is broken by the lack of justice and righteousness and hunger for God in this world. God redeems/helps the RIGHTEOUS ... we are the righteous - if we are followers of Jesus Hallelujah! We are made righteous in Christ (Romans 8:3-4) Redemption means to be bought back out of slavery.. to sin and to the devil. We are redeemed by the "Blood of Christ." Col 1:19 bought out of slavery to the kingdom of darkness into the Kingdom of Light. ... no condemnation for those who take refuge in Jehovah. .. compare abiding in Christ (John 15:7) No condemnation - what sweet music to the soul (Romans 8:1) if we can only believe this deeply in the bottom of our hearts. We are NOT 'sinners saved by grace!' We are not sinners! we are sons and daughters of the most high God - No condemnation - praise the LORD.

WOW what a song of JOY this is. I believe JOY is the predominant emotion plus thankfulness and worship for who GOD is - Vs 3 and 5: We belong to God as He created us. He is GOOD (unlike all other so-called 'gods' that people worship). His goodness, His covenant faithfulness and His great love for us. God proved His love when Jesus died on the cross. How we praise the LORD our God for the gift of His great Salvation to us through Christ. His commands include; to come into His presence with thanksgiving and to Worship HIM with joy - let us obey Him in this every day. MISSION is another theme in this Psalm that may be missed. 'Shout for joy to the LORD, ALL THE EARTH. This is God's will that people in every nation will worship HIM. I believe Christ's last words - The Great Commandment - must be our first concern. As believers, we are so blessed- blessed to be a blessing to all those we meet - and I believe the greatest blessing we can give people is Salvation in Christ Jesus! We look up to HIM for all our needs His blessings on you - Denis (New Zealand)

Greetings from New Zealand in the South Pacific. I am Denis (aka kiwidenis) I have recently retired and I live in Auckland in the north - we are blessed with a lovely country and friendly people. I am delighted to join the study group to learn from the Bible and make new friends. God bless you - Denis

Since Adam & Eve we are all sinners and live in a fallen world. We cannot purify our hearts by any human act. Only God can do that - it is an act of HIS mercy and grace - and only possible when we humble ourselves, confess our sins and ask for HIS forgiveness through the shed blood of Christ on Calvary. Praise the LORD. Knowing HIS forgiveness raises us out of the ashes of condemnation and restores us into fellowship with the Almighty God as HIS sons and daughters. God gives us a pure heart in His sight we are pure - its a gift of grace. A pure heart and an undivided heart: I believe a pure heart is a heart that is focused on serving and obeying our God. This may also be described as an 'undivided' heart - a heart that is not divided between many loyalties - but focused primarily on obeying our wonderful God, the Lord Jesus Christ. God bless you.