Transcript

Today’s Bible Translation

Bible translation used in today’s episode: Ch. 1-4 NET

Podcast Introduction

It’s Epistles Sunday, and we’ll begin the book of Hebrews with the reading of chapters 1-4. I’m calling this episode “Avoid Spiritual Drift.“

Summary

In chapters one and two of Hebrews, the author is writing to Christian Jews, seeking to establish the identity of Jesus in relation to the Old Testament. They emphasize the importance of recognizing Jesus’ divine nature and his role in salvation. By drawing from Old Testament scriptures, the author highlights Jesus, and the significance of his redemptive work. The the message is to pay close attention, remain steadfast in faith so as not to drift away from the truth of who Jesus is.

Hebrews 3: In this chapter, the author compares Jesus to Moses. By doing so, they aim to demonstrate that Jesus surpasses Moses in authority and importance. The author refers to Psalm 95, warning against the hardening of hearts and rebellion towards God. They draw parallels between the Israelites’ disobedience during their wilderness journey and the need for believers to remain faithful and avoid falling away from God’s grace.

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The Team

Lifespring Family Berean, Sister Denise: Transcript Correction
Michael Haner: Podcasting 2.0 Chapters
Scott Snider: Show Art
Jason Paschall: Show Art
Lifespring Family Berean, Sister Brittaney: Newsletter Publisher

Transcript

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Steve Webb 0:00
We must pay closer attention to what we’ve heard so that we do not drift away.

Steve Webb 0:13
This is the Lifespring! One Year Bible coming to you from Riverside, California And podcasting since 2004. I’m your OG Godcaster. Steve Webb. It’s a pistol Sunday And we’ll begin the book of Hebrews with a reading of chapters one through four. The website is Lifespringmedia.com. And I’ll have contact information at the end of the show. I hope your weekend is going well. Let’s read. Let’s pray before we read, our Heavenly Father, we thank you so much for your word. And we thank you for our time together. As we read today, I pray that You would bless us teach us I pray this in Jesus name. Amen. All right, are you ready? Let’s begin.

Steve Webb 0:54
Hebrews chapter one, after God spoke long ago in various portions, And in various ways to our ancestors, through the prophets, in these last days, he has spoken to us in a son, whom he appointed heir of all things, And through whom He created the world. And the sun is the radiance of His glory, And the representation of his essence. And he sustains all things by his powerful word. And so when he had accomplished cleansing for sins, He sat down to the right hand of the Majesty on high, And thus he became so far better than the angels as he had inherited a name superior to theirs. For two, which of the angels did God ever say, You are my son today I have fathered you. And in another place, he says, I will be his father And he will be my son. But when he again brings his firstborn into the world, he says, Let all the angels of God worship Him. And He says, of the angels, he makes his angels spirits, And his ministers a flame of fire, but of the sun, he says, Your throne, oh, God is forever And ever, And a righteous scepter is the scepter of Your kingdom. You have loved righteousness And hated lawlessness. So God, Your God has anointed you over your companions with the oil of rejoicing. And you founded the earth And the beginning, Lord, And the heavens are the works of your hands, they will perish but you continue, And they will all grow old like a garment, And like a robe, you will fold them up, And like a garment, they will be changed, but you are the same And your yours will never run out. But to which of the angels Has he ever said, Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet? Are they not all ministering spirits set out to serve those who will inherit salvation in

Steve Webb 2:49
Hebrews chapter two. Therefore, we must pay closer attention to what we have heard so that we do not drift away. For if the message spoken through angels proved to be so firm that every violation or disobedience received it’s just penalty, how will we escape if we neglect such a great salvation, And it was first communicated through the Lord And was confirmed to us by those who heard him while God confirmed their witness with signs And wonders And various miracles And gifts of the Holy Spirit, distributed according to His will, for he did not put the world to come about which we’re speaking under the control of angels. Instead, someone testified somewhere, what is man that You think of him or the son of man that you care for him, You made him lower than the angels for a little while, you crowned him with glory And honor, you put all things under his control. For when he put all things under his control, He left nothing outside of his control. At present, we do not yet see all things under his control. But we see Jesus who was made lower than the angels for a little while, now crowned with glory And honor because he suffered death, so that by God’s grace, he would experience death on behalf of everyone. And for it was fitting for him, for whom And through whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, to make the pioneer of their salvation perfect through sufferings. For indeed, he who makes holy And those being made holy, all have the same origin. And so he is not ashamed to call them brothers And sisters, saying, I will proclaim your name to be my brothers in the midst of the assembly, I will praise you. Again, he says, I will be confident in him. And again, here I am with the children God has given me. Therefore, since the children share in flesh And blood, he likewise shared in their humanity so that through death, he could destroy the one who holds the power of death, that is the devil And set free those who were held in slavery all their lives by the fear of death. For surely his concern is not for angels. But he is concerned for Abraham’s descendants. Therefore, he had to be made like his brothers And sisters in every respect so that he could become a merciful And faithful high priest in things relating to God, to make atonement for the sins of the people. And for since he himself suffered when he was tempted, He is able to help those who are tempted.

Steve Webb 5:21
Hebrews chapter three, therefore holy brothers And sisters, partners And a heavenly calling, take note of Jesus, the Apostle And High Priest whom we confess, who was faithful to the one who appointed him, as Moses was also in God’s house, for he has come to deserve greater glory than Moses, just as the builder of a house deserves greater honor than the house itself. For every house is built by someone, but the builder of all things is God. Now, Moses was faithful in all God’s house as a servant to testify to the things that would be spoken. But Christ is faithful as his son over God’s house, we are of his house if in fact, we hold firmly to our confidence And the hope we take pride in. Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says, Oh, that today you would listen as he speaks, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion in the day of testing in the wilderness. There your fathers tested me And tried me, And they saw my works for 40 years. Therefore, I became provoked at that generation And said, their hearts are always wandering, And they have not known my ways. As I swore in my anger, they will never enter my rest. See to it, brothers And sisters, that none of you has an evil unbelieving heart that forsakes the living God, but exhort one another each day, as long as it is called today, that none of you may become hardened by sins deception, for we have become partners with Christ, if in fact, we hold our initial confidence firm until the end. And as it says, Oh, that today you would listen as he speaks, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, for which one’s heard And rebelled? Was it not all who came out of Egypt under Moses leadership, And against whom was God provoked for 40 years? Was it not those who sinned, whose dead bodies fell in the wilderness, And to whom did he swear they would never enter into this rest, except those who were disobedient. So we see that they could not enter because of unbelief.

Steve Webb 7:29
Hebrews chapter four. Therefore, we must be wary that while the promise of entering his rest remains open, none of you may seem to have come short of it, for we had good news proclaimed to us just as they did, but the message they heard did them no good, since they did not join in with those who heard it in faith. For we who have believed enter that rest, as he has said, as I swore in my anger, they will never enter my rest. And yet God’s works were accomplished from the foundation of the world, for he has spoken somewhere about the seventh day in this way, And God rested on the seventh day from all his works, but to repeat the texts cited earlier, they will never enter my rest. Therefore, it remains for some to enter it, yet those to whom it was previously proclaimed, it did not enter because of disobedience. So God again ordains a certain day today, speaking through David after so long a time as in the words quoted before, oh, that today, you would listen as he speaks, do not harden your hearts. For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken afterward about another day. Consequently, a Sabbath rest remains for the people of God, for the one who enters God’s rest has also rested from His works just as God did from his own works. Thus, we must make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by following the same pattern of disobedience. For the word of God is living And active And sharper than any double edged sword, piercing even to the point of dividing soul from spirit And joints from marrow, it is able to judge the desires And thoughts of the heart, And no creature is hidden from God, but everything is naked And exposed to the eyes of Him to whom we must render And account. Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast to our confession. For we do not have a high priest incapable of sympathizing with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in every way just as we are, yet without sin. Therefore, let us confidently approach the throne of grace to receive mercy And find grace whenever we need help.

Steve Webb 9:49
We don’t know the author of the book of Hebrews, but we do know to whom it was written. It was written to Christian Jews in for their benefit as well as ours. Most of chapter one is dedicated to establish of who Jesus is in light of the Old Testament. And then chapter two begins with this sentence. Therefore, we must pay closer attention to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away. Now, we’ve already talked about this before on the show, but whenever I study the Bible And come across the word, therefore, I asked myself, what’s the therefore therefore, the word therefore is a link between two thoughts. It’s like saying, because of what I just said, Now, I’m going to say this. So in this case, the therefore refers to the message of chapter one, namely, the truth of who Jesus is. chapter two verse one could say, since Jesus is God, we need to really pay close attention to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away. Now, I grew up here in Southern California, And I lived within about a half an hour’s drive to the beach. And when I was in high school, I learned how to surf. And for some time, I would go surfing almost every day before school most of the time. Now, one thing I learned when I learned how to surf was when you’re surfing, you often spend a lot of time sitting on your board, waiting for the next wave waves often come in sets, almost always actually. And there could be several minutes between sets. So you’re just sitting on your board watching for the next set. And many times here in Southern California, And this is probably true of most beaches around the world, there are currents in the water that flows parallel to the beach. If you were standing on the sand, looking out of the water, the current would be coming from either the left to the right or the right to the left. Now an interesting thing about these currents is that when you’re in the current, you can’t feel it, you’re carried along in the current at the exact same speed as the current. So you don’t have a feeling of movement. The only way you really know you’re moving is if you look at some sort of landmark on the beach, And you’ll see that you’re moving in relation to that landmark, maybe you’re looking at a lifeguard tower, or a towel on the beach or a big rock. But you can see that in relation to that item, you’re being moved by the current. And sometimes the current is quite strong. So if you’re sitting on your board, you can easily be carried quite far from where you started. It takes no effort at all to find yourself 100 Or more yards down from where you began. So to stay in that sweet spot you want to be in when the next set comes through, you have to continually be paddling against the current, it takes effort to stay close to that spot, or you’ll drift away. verse one says, Therefore, we must pay closer attention to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away. Beloved, we have to put effort into our relationship with Jesus so that we don’t drift away. If we ignore the teaching we’ve received. If we don’t continually paddle our spiritual surfboard to fight the current of life that is continually trying to move us away from him, we’ll find ourselves far away from where we want to be. And just because you’re close to him today, does not guarantee that you will always be in the sweet spot. This is as true for a new believer as it is for an old god or like me, who’s been a believer for over 50 years, I’m sorry to say the current never goes away. We have to continue to paddle that board to stay close to Jesus. Now let’s move over to chapter three. The author of Hebrews in chapter three compares Jesus to Moses. Why would he do that? well, because the primary audience for the book is the Hebrew or Jew, And Moses is their most highly regarded person. The author was explaining how And why Jesus was to be held in even higher regard than Moses. He does this by making some opening statements in the first six verses. And then he refers back to Psalms chapter 95, a book of course, from the Old Testament, or is the Jews note the Torah. In doing this, he takes them to familiar ground. Psalm 95 is a warning to the Jews not to harden their hearts toward God, as their ancestors did when Moses led them through the desert for 40 years. Did you ever notice that we humans tend to be forgetful when I was a new believer, And I’ve mentioned this on the show before, the first time, I attempted to read through the Bible And read about how God delivered the Jews from the Egyptian pharaoh And slavery, how God parted the Red Sea to make an escape route as they were being pursued by Pharaoh And his army, And how they soon turned to worshiping a golden calf when Moses was on the mountain receiving the tablets from the hand of God. I was completely amazed at how quickly they forgot the Lord. How stupid can these people be? I thought, how can they forget the miraculous way that God delivered them? Why would they so quickly turn their backs on God? And then you know what happened? God spoke to my heart in He said, Steve, you do the same thing. And it was true. Being so young And my faith, I’d only been a Christian for about maybe five years at that time. I knew there were times that I’d forgotten God, I knew that I had already failed him And decided to do my own thing. Yes, God is faithful. And when I asked forgiveness, He was quick to forgive. And as he gently spoke to my heart about how I was no different than the Jews who forgot him, I realized that I was no better And no worse than them. And I realized at that time that I needed to make a concerted effort to stay close to Him, to make an effort to remember the times that he did something wonderful, And yes, even miraculous for me. Now, I wish I could say that since that day, I never turned my back on God. But if I said that, I’d be lying. I was about 21 years old, then And I’ll be 68. Soon. Over the years between then And now. I’m sorry to say that I’ve failed him countless times. I’m not proud of it. But being a bit of a perfectionist, I hate falling short. But like the apostle Paul wrote in Romans 719, for the good that I want, I do not do but I practice the very evil that I do not want. And then dropping down to verse 24. Paul continued, wretched man that I am, who will set me free from the body of this death. Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Yes, beloved, over the years, I have learned And I have grown ever more appreciative of Jesus gift of forgiveness. He promises in His Word to forgive us, not because we deserve it, but because of what he did for us. As I look back, I’m amazed And humbled that God cares for me, but it’s only because he sees me through the lens of the sacrifice of Jesus. The father sees me through that lens as blameless. Psalm 103 Verse 12, says, As far as the east is from the west, so far, has He removed our transgressions from us. Does God forgive? Oh, yes, he does. Praise His name. Yes, he does. Hallelujah. Isn’t it good to know that he forgives? What are your thoughts? Do you have a comment or question contact information is at the end of the show. And if you have a modern podcast app, you can always comment via boostagram. Tomorrow will be the law Monday And we’ll read chapters 25 through 28

Speaker 2 17:39
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Steve Webb 17:45
I’ve got some praises And prayer requests to share with you today. Let’s start off with the praises. This one came in from James in Norway. He said hi again, Steve. Thanks for the praise And prayers on last Sunday show a new AFib report came in on dad’s Apple Watch this morning, which showed only 2% AFib events over the past week. Now, let me stop right here. You know, I’ve got a, an Apple Watch as well. And the first time I saw that particular Notification come in for me. It actually said for me anyway that it showed 2% or less AFib events over the past week. So ask your dad to take a look at that. So it isn’t necessarily exactly 2%. For me, it gives me that same report every week, even though I’ve had zero AFib reports because zero of course is less than 2%. So I think that’s their bottom threshold. Anyway, continuing here with James’s note, he reckons it’s partly due to his improved mood And lower stress from my having spent time with him recently to sort out some long standing computer problems. So you’re that guy in your family. I’m that guy in my family. I’m the dude named Ben from my family, Leanne, obviously, plus my mother in law And sometimes even other family members. But anyway, let’s continue. And from his brother visiting him from out of town for some days, he’s probably right. But in that case, I can’t help asking who nudged me And his brother into reaching out to him. And he put a wink emoji. He says, I do believe I do believe some more prayers in order here. Yes, indeed. Praise the Lord for that. He continues, this all reminds me to tell you about something really boss that I’ve noticed when you lead us in prayer on the show. Now that’s a term I haven’t heard in a long time. Back when I was a kid. We used to say, oh, that’s boss. So I guess that’s the slang in Norway now. That’s cool. Anyway, when you lead us in prayer, when you lead us in prayer on the show, sometimes you ask God to bring the right people into contact with the person we’re praying for. I think this is especially boss because it was just a string of the right people quote, unquote, that led me to join the Lifespring family. Among them was my product. Every coach, believe it or not, who recommended a few books for me to read. One book suggested I quote, try to live like someone is watching me. Unquote. Another said we should all quote read something wise, unquote, like the Bible every morning. My two science degrees. And I certainly didn’t expect for me to end up here with you proclaiming Hooray for Jesus. But here I am. That’s awesome. You probably know this already. He continues. But I’ve been meaning to tell you that I think that you’re praying for the right thing when you ask God to bring the right people into your son’s life. I join you in praying for this for your son. Thank you, James. I appreciate that. That still is a matter of prayer. I’ll just leave it at that. PS I’m also praying for one of your eyeballs tomorrow, was it? well, yeah, he sent this in a few days ago. So yes, when you sent it, it was going to be tomorrow. I appreciate your prayers. And I’ll talk a little bit more about my eyeball in just a minute. And let’s see, Kathy had a checkup at City of Hope this past week, Dell said that her markers went up a little bit. But her doctor isn’t concerned because of the CT last month, which I shared with you here on the show. And all the lab results at COA to this week, were good except for one or two. So the doc is very pleased. So that is certainly a praise. And then next Cassie is home now I think I shared that with you. And she’s doing well. But she’s having quite a bit of pain from the hole that was drilled in her skull during her surgery. I don’t know why that would hurt the holes only about the size of a quarter. Also, Brian said that she does have some nerve pain. But the doctor said that’s because of the manipulation they had to do during the operation. And he assured her that this pain would disappear. So we’re still praising God because by all accounts, she will heal And her pain will be a thing of the past. So praise the Lord for that. And I want to praise the Lord for the thus far great results with my cataract surgery on my left eyeball. My vision is not yet completely clear in that I but each day is a little bit better. At this point, I’m actually hopeful that I’ll be able to see better out of that eye than I have in many, many years. I think I told you that this is the eye that has never really had good vision, even with glasses. So at this point, it’s been less than a week before the surgery. And it can take up to about a month for the vision to stabilize. So we’ll see. But it actually looks, it looks promising. And now prayer requests. This one came in from Brother John in Canada, brother John has been a Lifespring family member for many, many, many years. And his prayer request says this. life feels especially heavy, it’s busy as always, And even more so than it has been. And I feel like I’m being crushed under the weight, praying And trying to learn how to leave the burden at the cross without picking it up again. I’ve agreed to help out in my church by taking on the bookkeeping, And I have doubts whether it was a good choice, praying for peace And wisdom in how to go about this. Still working the other two jobs to try to keep up. Life is busy praying for some relief, or at least peace And hope that this is the way I should walk in, as it says in Isaiah, chapter 30 Verse 21. Thanks, Steve, for all you do. I’m closer to being caught up. I’m on the June 13 Show And blessings to you And your family. Thanks. well, John. Yeah, thank you for that. And I had been praying for you, since I got this request in the mail. I mentioned this to you on my return email to you. But I’ll say it here also for other people that might be in a similar situation. Leanna And I have always been really, really involved in the churches that we have attended. And there have been many times where someone in the church would say we have a need in this area. And you know, we’ve known that others could do it. But don’t volunteer And wanting to be useful servants we have volunteered even when we were already too busy. And that that hasn’t always worked out. Great, because life is busy. And when you have many other responsibilities, even, you know, in the church to pick up yet another thing sometimes just is too much. So, John, I’m not giving you any advice here other than to you know, we’ll continue to pray that God will give you wisdom. But you know, for others, if you’re already doing something And you’re already busy And having a difficult time keeping up with things. Sometimes it’s okay to make other people uncomfortable as the Lord works on their heart to be able to bring them to the point where they’ll come forward And say yes, I can do it. So you might even look at it like when you step in too soon you are depriving someone else the blessing of being a servant. So for what that’s worth, And then I think it was yesterday, Lester said In a donation, And in that donation, he mentioned an accident that he had been in And he asked for prayer. And so now here is his prayer request. Lester says I was involved in an accident on March 24, And lost my car but was not hurt. Praise the Lord for that part of it. Insurance settled on a part of the car’s value, And I still have 1000s ofdollars to pay because they did not cover all of it. And I don’t have money for another car. I felt like God is telling me to not borrow money or to do car payments, at least for now. I was just approved to receive Social Security And it does not cover everything I need. But God has been faithful, And he is having me experience His goodness. Yes, Lester, God is always faithful. He continues, my dilemma is that a lawyer could help me recoup more money to pay off my bills And get another car payment free. But they want me to do things like I was hurt personal injury lawsuit, And I was not hurt. I’m trying to be patient with what God wants me to do. And I don’t like lawsuits, but insurance says that this is the only option I have, as they won’t respond to anything else. I have four years to file a claim. But I’m praying that God would give me peace about doing the right thing. Sorry for being so long winded. Thanks, Steve. well, Lester, again, praise the Lord that you weren’t hurt. Again, I’m not going to give advice other than we know that God wants us to always be truthful. And he does own the cattle on 1000 hills. So he has a way to provide a car for you. And we will pray for wisdom for you And that he would provide. So beloved, let’s go to prayer. Our Heavenly Father, we thank you so much for the book of Hebrews. Thank you for reminding us in so many ways that we need to always fight against cultural currents. Help us Lord to hold on to you, strengthen us, strengthen our faith, strengthen our resolve, And keep us completely dependent on you. Father, we thank you for the praise as we heard today, And we thank you for the good report about James in Norway’s dad’s afib, we ask that the occurrences would be rare or even non existent. And thank you, Lord, for continuing the healing. And Kathy, we pray that you would strengthen her body more each day, then we thank you for the success of Cassie surgery. And we pray that you would relieve the pain in her skull And in her nerve. And I thank You, Lord for my cataract surgery. And I humbly ask that as the healing takes place, that you would restore the vision in my eye to even better than it was. And now Lord, I pray for John And Canada. We know that we need to give our burdens to you. And we need to trust you. But so often, even after we give them to you And acknowledge that we need you, it’s hard to rest in that. Sometimes we just pick it up again, Lord, help John to give it to you in the interest to know down to his core that you’ve got this. You have him And his family in your hands. We pray that the Holy Spirit would comfort And strengthen him. And Lord, give him wisdom as to what to do with this new responsibility at church. And Father, we pray that You would bless him as he works two jobs to provide for his family, you know their needs And as our provider, everything we have comes from you. And I pray that You would give John And his wife wisdom as to how to most effectively utilize what you’ve given them. We pray for Lester, Lord, we thank You that he was not heard in the traffic accident. And we pray that you would provide a car for him. Give him wisdom, Lord, we know that you want us to be truthful And he wants to do what’s right. So we ask you to provide for his needs as you have promised to do in your word. If we seek you. Give him wisdom And his finances, Lord. Again, we ask for your provision. Lord, I thank you for each one listening right now. Thank you for the Lifespring family, you know each person And you know their needs. Help us to rely solely on you And to trust you. I pray that You would give us peace And joy that is above any circumstances that we may be in because you are our God, And we are your children. Help us Lord to understand what that means. May we thirst after you more each day And see your blessings in our lives. I pray this in Jesus name. Amen. Our next time of prayer will be this coming Wednesday. If there’s something you’d like us to pray with you about I’ll tell you how to tell me about it at the end of today’s show.

Steve Webb 29:27
I would like to hear from you if you have a comment if you’ve got a question or a prayer request or a praise report. Here’s how to reach me. To leave a voice message call the Lifespring family Hotline at plus 1-951-732-8511 If you’d prefer to type your message for prayer requests And praise reports, go to prayer dot Lifespringmedia.com. For comments or questions, go to comment Lifespringmedia.com And of course boostagram ‘s are always welcome. My email address is Steve at Lifespring media.com

Steve Webb 30:04
Thanks to Sister Denise Michael Haner Scott Snider, Jason Paschall who did today show art And SR Brittaney for their donations of time And talent. I enjoyed our time together today. Thanks for inviting me along with you. I’m looking forward to tomorrow. Until then, may God bless you richly. My name is Steve Webb. Bye

Announcer 30:27
the Lifespring media family of programs are made possible by the generous support of listeners like you. Thank you

Transcribed by https://otter.ai