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Jesus is described in verse 26 as heavenly royalty, unlike the human race. Who of us is blameless, sinless and exhalted above the heavens? In this verse, He is far beyond what the eyes can see and what the mind can know. Jesus differs from human priests because of 1) His permanency with the Father and 2) no human priest is sinless and 3) royalty sits on the right hand of the Father, issuing redemptive grace and mercy on my poor whining soul! Having a permanent High Priest as Jesus allows me to put my faith into something bigger then what I can see with my natural eye. And from a natural realm of things, there are some manipulating, uncaring, sinful priests with ugly mannerisms walking around this city! ;-)

Jesus is able to save completely because He is the complete sacrifice and satisfying Intercessor to the Father. Because His priesthood is alive for all generations (unlike the old, superficial ancestory way of names or heritage or kingship)...there is no other complete way to the Father, except through His Son, Jesus. The essential function of a priest is to guide us closer to the Father; for we know not what we do, therefore, we seek the advice, guidance and closeness of the Father, through the priest. Being a priest means that you honor the Word of the Lord and you live according to the commands of the Lord. As a priest, your life in Christ should reflect scripture and all that God has ordained you to be--from His Word. This brings you closer and closer to Holiness with the Most High God and allows you to become a vessel, a messenger, and an intercessory prayer warrior--in order to help save the lost, out of Love--which is the way of a priest. A priest is the image of God.

Jesus is the guarantor of the New Covenant for the sense of security. Since God swore Jesus was priest forever, He lives forever! He guarantees power of life that cannot be destroyed--unlike ancestory law where nothing was ever made perfect or guaranteed to last. There is nothing on earth or in man that has the power to secure life. With God swearing to it, enough said.

Lowly places happen when we try to do life on our own, resulting in broken promises or finding little hope. I seek the face of God here on earth, and seek refuge or flee to my grantor of Grace because I recognize how powerless I am. While holding God as my refuge, I will stand on His promises, and I stand on the guarantee that man cannot live by bread alone, much less use one another as refuge. Christian hope dffers from man's hope (hoping for truth) by 'life everlasting'. Man may be able to throw a lifejacket to another man, but man cannot save another man's soul. Actively holding and embracing God in our lives means that we trust in Him and not ourselves. This embrace puts us in union with the anchor Himself and this embrace becomes our own 'oath' of a future to Him, for Him and with Him. Therefore our hope belongs to Him and not ourselves, resulting in life everlasting, joy, peace, good health and righteousness in all things. How encouraging!

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Part of keeping in good health is with exercise. With our Christian life, exercising patience and faith for the long haul means that no matter what time period we need to use it or have it, we must exercise it no matter what. I dont think you can borrow faith for just anytime or take it out on loan. The long haul to me means through it all! The perspective it gives us is that through anything, we shall not fear and we shall not want. We will have built ourselves up to be in good health and not wimp out on the overall objective here - eternity! Saying "pfffft" in the midst of a storm wont get you anywhere but disappointed with God. And since he is the author and finisher of our faith, the perspective should be to accept it, release it and move on. Let Him finish it! Thats exercising it. Once its turned over to Him, patience comes. That is if you truly let it go. The hard part is exercising our own will in letting him have it, in order to keep our Christian life fit. We can resist the temptation of thinking negative about our salvation by offering supplication.

A spirit-filled Christian today recieves all that is in verse 4-5; enlightenment, sharing in the Holy Spirit, goodness of God and powers of the coming age. I beleive the writer describes it this way in order to show us what we can choose to have or to show us what we can loose out on. It is either a closeness with God or else a distant relationship with Him. Being spirit-filled resembles what a pillow is to a mattress. It assists with its covering. For heavens sake, just sharing in the Holy Spirit alone is miraculous, and incredibly a gift that isn't wrapped in a box or with a bow!

First off, we need to determine what is meant by milk? If we cannot live by milk alone, or as the writer said: Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. Milk is simply something that fills the belly; it also offers calcium, and other vitamins needed to start a new life. And It may look good, it may last for a little while, but you can bet your baby bottle, that in a few hours, we will be starving and screaming for more! It only lasts a little while. Milk helps carry us in the beginning, yet makes us full over and over and over. We will never be completely satisfied with just milk. Sooner or later, our brain will need something new, our hair will need new nutrients, our bloodstream will need more vitamins. Yes milk is good for a new start but, we can not stay alive without having many deficiencies on just milk and we will eventually lack other growth harmones and our strength will wither away. Or as the chapter is titled, Fall Away. How do we become mature? We grow by eating the PROPER food and swallowing it; not throwing it up; not finding ways to stay slimmer; not reducing calories; not staying away from bread and potatoes ( of course ths is an example); not cheating ourselves of the proper teachings of scripture. In other words, we do not use man's diet, we use Gods diet to mature. Things we can do to mature in the word is: 1. Take hold of a bible. Hold it for a while. You may not have a glimps of whats inside, but at least commit to it. Keep it in mind and on your mind while driving, while riding the bus, at lunch, and while in the shower. Keep it in mind when jogging. When at your relatives. Think on it, even if you havent ever read it. 2. When the time arrives, open it. Read one paragraph at a time or as much as you can contain, retain and sustain. Close it. 3. Sit still, Listen to what you read. Ask yourself, do you know what you read? If you didnt know what it meant, close your eyes. 4. With your eyes closed, ask God this: " God, in all your power and mercy, please speak to me. God, reveal to me what the paragraph in your word means" Say this: "please Lord, I come to you with my heart open, my mind is clear and I need you to show me what it is you want me to learn. Help me Lord to mature in your word and to grow up strong. Take me off this milk Lord, that I can be a strong witness for you. In Jesus' name I pray, Amen". 5. Pick up the phone, call someone you know who can go over the chapter with you. If the other person is not available, close your eyes. 6. Sit still. Say this: "Dear Lord, take all of me. Use me to better do they will. Help me with scripture and your word so that my food makes me strong and so that it gives you all the glory" 7. Lastly, before you stand, stretch out your hands as far as they will reach and say" thank you Lord, I know you heard my prayer and I will be listening - thank you" and dont ever doubt that you will not mature by asking. Milk fills the belly but, solid food (the word) fills the soul and provides maturity and growth. We simply cannot get it by man alone or milk alone or any other way; alone or not.

Jesus learned obedience by Gods hand. As scripture reads, no one takes this honor upon himself. Men do not choose to suffer this way. Who would designate themselves to be lashed at as Jesus did? We do not offer ourselves as sarifices to be hung, beaten, ridiculed. In fact, we do all in our power to not suffer this way. By Jesus taking on the burden of Gods will for him to save us, he learned obedience without a fight. Thats a sheer sense of humility and acceptance. Something we all have trouble with. Jesus learned obedience from the sense of accepting his chosen position. I never once read where Jesus tried to take off running from his perpertrators--or hide from them or did he ever call the police.

Hello again fellow students of Hebrews. Although I'm laggin' behind with the studies, I wanted to stop in and share the news. If you havent already read or heard about it, it is exciting! Click here for the report - http://edition.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/meast/09...l.ap/index.html Be blessed.

We should come to the throne with confidence like the ambassadors that we are: joyful in heart & with gladness because our confidence testifies that we are walking in light and victory. Boldness is a sign that we agree with His Holiness and that we accept his promises as the truth. Otherwise, coming to the throne with doubt or with my head hanging down would mean that I may not have accepted the Written Word as it was written. Or perhaps that I may need to read it again. For we are saved by His grace - no matter what. Its pretty simple. Its glorious! Coming to the throne with confidence is evidence that I trust His Word, that He carrys me, that He forgave me, that He had mercy on me, as imperfect & as sinful as I am. The promise is that no matter what my needs are, Jesus went through it in every way & although he was without sin, He 'has gone through the heavens'. Since God offers me mercy & grace for my sins when I repent of them (and 13Nothing in all creation is hidden from God's sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account) & once I agree, accept and seek the throne, the promise is once my heart is laid bare, I will want to be sinless, like Jesus. As a result, the basis is that God is a giver of Life, not death. Therefore justice is served to everyone, so that we may all receive it. Precisely why 12 'the word of God is living and active'.

Q2. (Hebrews 4:15) In what ways did Jesus share our weaknesses? In what ways was Jesus' tempted? Because we know he didn't sin, were his temptations easier or more difficult than ours? Do we have any temptations he didn't have? Why does it comfort us that he can sympathize with our temptations and weaknesses? Some ways Jesus was tempted or shared our weaknesses are: 1. In insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. 2. He was made like his brothers in every way (testing of our faith, lacking wisdom, believing and not doubting) 3. When we do not know what we ought to pray for (Rom8: 26) and at the last hour, we cry out to GOD.

(Mark13:37-40 He answered, "The one who sowed the good seed is the Son of Man. The field is the world, and the good seed stands for the sons of the kingdom. The weeds are the sons of the evil one, and the enemy who sows them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvesters are angels. As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire; so shall it be in the end of this world.) We hold fast our confession because weeds grow fast/multiply and will choke & smother the good fruit, or harvest. We hold fast, to constantly be prepared for attacks by the sons of the evil one. We confess in order to stand as sons of the kingdom and to claim our place in the kingdom of God. And to not be a tare. Our confession of faith is that Jesus hung alive, on the cross, and died for our sins. And on the 3rd day, he rose again and ascended into heaven to sit at the right hand of the Father. Our confession is that we say with our mouth as Pastor said - that Jesus is Lord. Its when we wont keep what we said with our mouth. Then we are in trouble. Why is maintaining this confession so vital? Dueteronomy 23:21-23 says: If you make a vow to the LORD your God, do not be slow to pay it, for the LORD your God will certainly demand it of you and you will be guilty of sin. But if you refrain from making a vow, you will not be guilty. Whatever your lips utter you must be sure to do, because you made your vow freely to the LORD your God with your own mouth. I believe professing, confessing & asking Christ into my heart is a vow. He reigns over my life and so if I ask Him to guide me, surely I promise to be what he asks me to be. This assures (verse 13) " ...all things are open and exposed" but, to God.

'For the Word of God is living and active' relates again to TODAY. It is our means of provision today, our means of forgiveness of sins today and our true sword to combat death and sin today. The Word is living and alive to assist us in gathering lost sheep and is again, for beleivers who labor (hear and do), in order to enter rest. It is for sinners who need to find rest. It is so that we may ALL give account to Him. And by Him judging our thoughts and attitudes, we are to labor even more at being more like Christ. We need to continually expose ourselves to the Word, as the writer says: "so that no one will fall by following their example of disobedience" or so we will not fall into the way of the world, even though we are in it.

Rest. In the carnal, we use the term rest to be lazy, to relax and to take it easy. Ha, that sounds easy. But here, rest precedes labor. Verse 6

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The writer says to us that every house is built by someone but that God builds everything. He reminds me that man can build a house but it doesn't belong to man. It belongs to God. He says we are His house, If we hold on. If is a probability that some won't. (Righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe (Romans 3:22) and sad to say, not all believe.) But as Pastor outlined, believers can let go of our grip and loose courage, get distracted and get lost in doctrine. It was my experience when I lost courage, I lost my boldness. I believe I lost my boldness because I lost my will to boast (about Christ). I'm more then certain I lost my will to boast (about Christ) because I lost my Faithfulness. With the writer reminding me that Christ is the son over Gods house and encouraging me to hold on, I picture how Christ held on by the skin of His flesh. This verse is very uplifting and exhilarating to me. It is the very boost I need to keep on keeping on, no matter what. It is the very Word that keeps under my skin when I am tired. A pressing on verse! For I am only His house if I hold on and keep the courage. Then I 'share in the heavenly calling', as he puts it in verse one.

While Matthew 4:5 reads that the devil TOOK Jesus and TOOK Him and set Him (or stood Him) on the high point or pinnacle of the temple, and again at verse 8, the devil TOOK Him again, I am hearing in the Word that while Jesus was made flesh, the devil did succeed in some sense that he TOOK Jesus somewhere. But Jesus defeated him by using THE WRITTEN WORD. Jesus cleared the devil out of His path. What's most amazing to me is that Jesus was led by the Spirit to be tempted by the devil. I believe God made Him flesh in order to show us how to overcome our troubles, and the enemy. He teaches us exactly what to do when lead by or lead to those same high places. He knew we would need it and He uses the WRITTEN WORD for us to succeed. I asked myself, if God in all His power and glory and might made Jesus flesh, why didn't he make his flesh live forever--through all generations of the earth? But I concluded...there would be nothing written about that would stand as WRITTEN WORD. God's plan provides us with an incredible testimony about flesh--and through Jesus being made flesh, we have the solution to fight that thing! By successfully defeating the enemy with THE WRITTEN WORD, we can now share our testimony through Him (the living testimony) in us, and it becomes our living purpose.

Besides defeating the devil and freeing us from fear, God reveals His power through Christ's death. Here He demonstrates to us He is the maker (in sharing) of flesh and blood and He rules over death and the devil. God literally shows us death of the flesh but also, here is where we 'turn our will and way-of-error' and TRUST His power when He makes the tremendous PROMISE to guarantee new life. A conquering scripture and especially important to fear and slavery of all sin of the flesh. Our lives are 'saved' from His accomplishment - We can claim His promise and be set free indeed. "I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world." John 6:51 "Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. John 6:54 A result for our lives and for the future was spoken: "He who belongs to God hears what God says. The reason you do not hear is that you do not belong to God." John 8:47 "I tell you the truth, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death." John 8:51

Q1 Because Jesus' suffering was not of His own will, but from the will of the Father and because of His obedience and sacrifice for us, Glory is a promise with the Father in eternity. Through repentence, sacrifice and obedience, we too are granted salvation and eternity- or brought to Glory with the Father. Glory, meaning for everything and anything, I ask His will not mine and follow through with His voice, not mine. For today, glory means action as I pass through here. Q2 Jesus did everything that was pleasing to God. He obeyed perfectly, never once drifting, falling away or choosing His own will. He heard and He followed and He obeyed to the " T " (cross). Q3 The implications are that I do what God wants me to do. Not that I have done something for God.

A Word of implications: Loving the fear out of the world means we see others for what they can be, not for what they appear to be now. Jesus called Peter a rock when the fisherman was still acting on impulse (Matt. 16:18), and God called Gideon a mighty man of courage when he was hiding from the enemy among piles of grain. (Judges 6:11-12) God calls us to encourage and affirm each other (1 Thessalonians 5:11), seeing those around us in terms of their purpose and mission in life. *from a daily devotional

Your light has encouraged me today from an attack! God Bless you. I just want to say that this study has proven more then once to help me speak the Word Of God with my mouth. Its great!

Q1 Christ tasted death by sacrificing and offering his life for us; by giving man authority to beat Him and betray Him. He was an offering so that man would have his way with Him, so that man could and would show his true colors

Jesus suffered by all the ways man could think of. It was scriptual and it was Gods will for him to suffer but when I think of 'ways' he suffered, I see man's ways. If I sat here and listed mentally, physically and spiritually how Jesus suffered, I would tally up all the ways nature inflicts pain on one another and ourselves. Verse 9 states 'But we see Jesus who was made low'... And so I comprehend that to mean Jesus was made to suffer so that man could 'see' Him suffer, in hopes that it would touch a mans heart. To watch and feel his pain. How sad it is to hear of all the murders taking place in our nation today. I think of hardened hearts and those who suffer from it. The innocent. Unsaved children have literally crucified one another and left body parts in refrigerators! Humans have left bodies lying in the bottom of river beds, on the ocean floor and in dumpsters. They kill their children! A few of the ways we suffer today as we 'see' these things happen. We suffer from loss. We suffer from death. Selfishly we suffer when we think we deserve something that we dont. We suffer when we have lifted ourselves up and our ego gets damaged. We suffer when we are without. We suffer when we are sick. We suffer because we think we should suffer. We suffer mostly from ourselves and mostly when we dont pray. Suffering's value is what unsaved is to the Cross. Pain is very parrallel to gain! Without suffering, our limbs would never get pruned and we would never produce new crops. Our vines would get thick and smother out new growth. Therfore our crops would eventually die. It resembles a chopped off limb for a season and a full harvest the next-- a natural picture, a natural scene. Has anyone ever seen a frozen flower in the winter but because it had underground warmth and a bulb, it came back in the spring? (like a tulip) Some have to be plucked up and kept away from the elements, in a frozen state, or in hibernation. All its air and all its soil and all its fertilizer was withdrawn from it! All the life taken from it. And it may have suffered a season but it made the 'Best Show' the following spring! Then therfore, a testimony is produced. Just the way suffering's value brings about Christ's Wholeness and Radiance, and Brilliance and Glorious Light and God reveals a portion of His glory! When we live in a way to shut out suffering, we live in a false world and are disillusioned. Suffering is mandatory. One could barricade himself off from living with others but he would surely suffer from lonliness. Unless of course he chose a false hope. Romans 5:3 Not only so, but we[c] also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.