Co-Mission sermons

That's Hebrews chapter 3 starting at verse 7. So as the Holy Spirit says, Today, if you hear his voice do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion during the time of testing in the wilderness. Where your ancestors tested and tried me. Though for 40 years, they saw what I did. That is why I was angry with that generation.

I said, their hearts are always going astray, and they have not known my ways. So I declared on in my anger, they shall never enter my rest. See to it brothers and sisters that none of you has a sinful unbelieving heart that turns away from the living god, but encourage 1 another daily as long as it is called today. That none of you may be hardened by sin's deceitfulness. We have come to share in Christ.

If indeed we hold our original conviction firmly to the very end. As has just been said, today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you in the rebellion. Who were they, who heard and rebelled? Were they not all those Moses led out of Egypt? And with whom was he angry for 40 years?

Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies perished in the wilderness? And to whom did god swear that they would never enter his rest, if not to those who disobeyed. So we see that they were not able to enter because of their unbelief. Therefore, since the promise of entering his rest still stands, Lesus be careful that none of you be found to have fallen short of it. For we also have had the good news proclaim to us just as they did, But the message they heard was of no value to them because they did not share the faith of those who obeyed.

Now we who have believed enter that rest, just as god has said. So I declared on oath in my anger, they shall never enter my rest. And yet, his works have been finished since the creation of the world, for somewhere he has spoken about the seventh day in these words. On the seventh day god rested from all his works. And again, in the passage above, he says, they shall never enter my rest.

Therefore, since it still remains for some to enter that and since those who formerly had the good news proclaimed to them did not go in because of their disobedience, guard again set a certain day calling it today. This he did when a long time later, he spoke through David as in the passage already created. Today, if you hear his voice do not harden your hearts. For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken later about another day. There remains then a sabbath rest for the people of god.

For anyone who enters god's rest, also rest from their works just as god did from his. Let us therefore make every effort to enter that rest. So that no 1 will perish by following their example of disobedience. For the word of god is alive and active, sharper than any double edged sword It penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints, and marrow. It judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart Nothing 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 an account. It is lovely to be here with you this morning. I felt very warmly welcomed. It's lovely, by the way, to be somewhere where the lectern is at a proper height.

I can actually see my notes, which means there's a better chance that I won't have to make it all up. It's really good to be here. As Philip said, just over in Raines Park had done on a we feel very close to you guys at Cornerstone, partly geographically, but as Philip said, there's a number of you working at at the factory and, that's nice. You get a bit of news of Cornerstone and that sort of thing. And on that basis, I think we could make a deal this morning, which is that I won't report back on you if those of you who work at the factory promise not to report back on me.

And that way, we can all just say what we like. And, it's a lot more fun. But look, it's really good to be here. And, I'm gonna pray as we begin and ask god for his help as we come to his word. So we pray.

Our father your word is a lamp for our feet and a light unto our path. And in a world that lives in darkness, it gives us the light that we need, and it brings life. Because it points us to the lord Jesus Christ the giver of life. And we pray now that as we come to your word, you might point us to Jesus. We pray that Jesus would be bigger in our lives because of What happens now?

So we ask for the help of your spirit as we come to your word that he would be at work. In our hearts. And we pray this in Jesus' name, amen. I don't know if you know the story of the 6 blind men, and the elephant, 6 blind men in a room, touching an elephant trying to work out what it is. 1 touch is the belly and sort of thinks it's a wall.

The other grabs the ear flapping around and assumes it must be a a fan. The other, the tail thinks it's a rope. And on it goes, 6 men groping around in the dark. None of them really sure what it is. At the point of the story, but many of you will have heard it When it comes to god, everyone is blind.

No 1 really can be more right than anyone no 1 is really sure about god who he is, what he's like. Now of course, there are 2 big problems with that idea of the elephant in the room. For a start, the story is told from the viewpoint of someone who knows that the elephant is an elephant. So someone is claiming to have an accurate knowledge of god. Whilst, of course, saying that no 1 else can.

Or to put it another way, when someone says all routes lead to the top of the mountain, doesn't matter how you get there, somebody is claiming to be in the helicopter above the mountain which is to look down on god. For the story to work that the narrator telling it has to have an accurate knowledge of the elephant. But the second problem in this story is even more serious. It is a perfectly good description of human inability in matters of the divine. That that that is on our own, we can't work it out.

We are blind. None of us on our own, can know god for ourselves, but here's the thing. The story of the elephant in the room never considered the game changing question. What if the elephant speaks? What if he tells the blind men in the room.

Yeah, look, that wall like structure, that's actually my side. And the thing flapping about creating the draft, that's not a fan, that's my ear. And by the way, that rope, that's actually my tail. And would you get off it, please? My trunk, rather.

If the elephant were to say all of that, would the 6 blind men in the room then be considered as humble for ignoring his word. It sounds, doesn't it very humble? Who are we to know what god is saying, how can we claim to know what god thinks? You know, god is so much bigger than that. Actually, when you examine that statement more closely, it is profoundly arrogant because what appears to be an attempt to kind of set god free from our sort of small mindedness, you know, god is so much bigger than us.

Actually ends up muting god as if he cannot speak. That's the world we live in, isn't it? That that that's the political correctness of wherever it is you work or the conversation you have at the school gate or or or with your neighbor, people disagree all the time, surely it just comes down to a matter of interpretation. Well, it depends if you think god speaks clearly or not. What if the elephant speaks?

Well, the truth is, god does speak. He speaks through his word, And it is that conviction that shapes our movement and our churches and our own lives today. We live by the word of god. If you've been a Christian for any length of time, you've, probably heard something about the attribute of god. Basically, what does the Bible say about god?

So god's holiness, his justice, his mercy, his sovereignty, and so on. Those are the some of the attributes of god. But for many of us, we're we're less familiar perhaps with the attributes of scripture. So here's a very quick, it's very quick. Introduction to the doctrine of scripture.

That's kind of what we're thinking about this morning. And traditionally, there are 4 essentials, which evangelicals would hold as being true about the Bible scan, is how to remember them, sufficiency, clarity, authority, and necessity. So, sufficiency The scriptures contain everything we need for salvation and godly living. Clarity, The saving message of Jesus Christ is plainly taught in the scriptures for all who have ears to hear it. We don't need official pronouncements from the Pope or the bishops or anyone else, to tell us what the Bible means.

Authorities, the Bible always has the last word and we must never allow the the teachings of science, of human experience, or or the church councils to take precedence over scripture. We listen to those things, but we're not governed by them. Can you still hear me, by the way? It's my mic gone. We okay?

Have you got sound? Great. We've got sound. I'll carry on. Okay.

Necessity. That's the fourth 1. That is to say general revelation in the world around us. Is not enough to save us. Yes, there is evidence for god all around us, but to know god savingly That doesn't come through personal experience or human reason.

We need scripture to tell us how to be saved. Or if you like to rearrange the order, god's word is final. That's authority. God's word is understandable. That's clarity.

God's word is necessary, necessity, and god's word is enough, sufficiency. And it's that last 1 that the sufficiency of scripture, that means we have no excuses for disobedience. No 1 can say that god has not revealed enough for us to be saved or for us to live a life that pleases him. Paul tells Timothy in 2 Timothy chapter 3 that scripture makes us thoroughly equipped for every good work. Not some good work, but every good work.

So the Bible really is all we need. Which means that for the Christian, the Bible is our our Swiss army knife. You might have come across this idea. Here's my penknife, it's a Swiss army knife. Occasionally I take the kids, I've got 3 3 small children, 2 boys, and a girl, and occasionally I take them out on survival training.

Which means we go to Richmond Park for a couple of hours on a a Saturday morning. Now it's not exactly bear grylls, but in heavy weather, you know, the wilds of Richmond Park, that's gonna test you a little bit. And I tell the kids that if they've got a Swiss army knife, they've got everything they need to survive because that's the thing about a Swiss army knife. It's got the lot It's got the knife and the saw. It's even got and, you know, if you're trapped on a mountainside somewhere, you're gonna need the toothpick You know, that is that is gonna get you out of trouble, isn't it?

And there's the micro. I love these. There's the micro tweezers. You're gonna need that, aren't you? When you're stuck in the wild.

And a Swiss army knife, you see, it does everything. There's nothing it can't cope with. And so we tough it out in the wilds of Richmond Park. For about 20 minutes. And then we go and get a latte in the cafe.

And anyway, you get the idea, okay, with the Bible. It is all we need to be saved, and more than that, to be fruitful in god's world. But interestingly, in, in Kevin De Young's, excellent, little book, taking god at his word. I've got it here. I don't know if you've read this.

This is brilliant, but I read this a couple of years ago. Absolutely brilliant as a clear, simple short book on, the Bible. He reckons that it's this 1, this idea of sufficiency that evangelicals tend to forget first. So of course the Bible comes under attack today, on a whole load of different fronts. We see this all the time, don't we?

So for a liberal, authority is the issue. You know, we listen to the culture, but not the Bible. For the atheist or the agnostic necessity is the issue. Look, if there's no god, then well, no bible would need to listen. I mean, it's just it's just rubbish, isn't it?

And of course in a post-modern culture, clarity is the issue. You know, it's just a matter of interpretation, anyone claiming to know the truth. That's just again. We got we can't be sure on what's clear. But for the ordinary Christian believer, for you and me, So often it's sufficiency that we struggle with.

So we believe the Bible. We wanna follow Jesus, but we're just not sure if the Bible is enough. You know, we question if the Bible can really speak to us in our struggles. We wonder if the Bible's out of date on gender and sexuality and ethics and everything else we face. And for some of us, we just long for a revelation from god that feels more more personal.

You you you know a special word from the lord that's just for you? Are we long for that, don't we? And if that is how we think, well, then we'll go looking for god elsewhere. And will end up confused. So if we're to live by the word of god, we need to have clear convictions about the word of god.

And for that, we're going to turn to our passage in Hebrews 3 and 4. Do have that open, in front of you. And, Hebrews is a letter to some first century Christians. The big idea of the the whole book is that god has spoken by his son fully and finally. So god has revealed himself through his son, and he has redeemed his people from sin through his son, which means god has spoken decisively in history through his son.

And with his mission accomplished, job done, there really is nothing more to say. That's basically how the letter begins. Opening verses of Hebrews 1. And yet Hebrews 4, as we've just looked at it, tells us that god continues to speak through what he has already said. And indeed Hebrews 3 tells us, we've just read it that when the scriptures are read, the Holy Spirit still speaks to us today.

It's not that he's saying anything new. Okay. There's no new doctrine being revealed today, but god is speaking to us. And so what god said through his son back then as it were, he continues to say today. Back in August 19 40 at the height of the battle of Britain Winston Churchill famously said in parliament, never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few.

Those were the words he spoke back then talking about the bravery of the RF pilots. And yet, 70 years on, if you like Churchill still speaks to us today. Every year around remembrance Sunday, we're reminded of those words as we remember those who gave their lives. If you like what Churchill said then, he continues to say today. Well, in a manner far more profound, let's be clear Winston Churchill is long since dead.

God has spoken and yet he keeps on speaking. We see it here in Hebrews chapter 3. Can you see it there in verse 7? Hebrews 1 tells us God has spoken by his son, but now here in chapter 3, the Holy Spirit says verse 7, today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts. So although god has spoken by his son, verse 7 here tells us that he continues to speak, and the Hebrews are being told to listen.

You see for Israel in the Old Testament, this is what we're reading about in these 2 chapters, an entire generation of believers disobeyed god. And as a result, they failed to enter the promised land. That's verse 16, 17, and so on. In chapter 3. They died in the wilderness, and the writer to the Hebrews is worried that these first century believers will make the same mistake.

And so he warns them not to do in Israel. Don't do in Israel with god's words. Listen. That's the message of Hebrews. And 2000 years later, nothing's changed.

The spirit of god continues to speak the words of the son of god today, and he does that. Through the pages of the Bible. And this is why in our movement, in our churches, in our own lives, we live by the word of god. Just to be clear, when I refer to our movement, I'm talking about commission. At that point, I'd like to get a cheer.

Can I have a cheer? Yeah. Thank you. Okay. Don't do that every time or we'll be here for hours.

No, I'm not gonna say too much about it. Don't worry. But, anyway, we're gonna turn now. Just to 2 verses. That's what we're gonna do this morning.

Just 2 verses in Hebrews 4 verses 12 and 13. Which explained for us, these are the 2 things we're looking at, what scripture is, and therefore what scripture does. And that takes us to the 1 at the very heart of scripture, Jesus Christ. Because here's the 1 we need. So 2 points, then here's the first, the character of scripture, what it is, the character of scripture, what it is.

Verse 12, the word of god is alive and active. So it's alive. In verse 12 of chapter 3, we read of the living god. Now in verse 12 of chapter 4, we read of his living word. So what is true of god is true of his word.

And we know that, don't we? Who we are is revealed in what we say. Politicians get in trouble, don't they, when they're, caught off camera because in an unguarded moment, they say what they really think and their words reveal who they really are. You pick up the newspapers every week and there's another story. And it isn't always good for winning votes.

Well, what is true of god is true of his word. And literally here, the word of god is alive. You see, god is the source of all life. He is the giver of life. His word is full of life.

Go back to Genesis 1 in the very beginning, and it was by his living word that he created the universe. He gave life to the heavens and the earth, which means his word is powerful. That that is really what alive means here. It means powerful. In America, in the late nineteenth century, a man called BB Warfield, no relation, by the way, was 1 of the key thinkers on the doctrine of scripture, and, still is today, really.

And he said simply that what scripture says God says. Just think about that for a moment. What scripture says, god says God is speaking as we read the Bible. Now, of course, b b warfield men's scripture as properly interpreted So so we need to understand the background, the type of literature, the the historical context, of course, but put like that if we want to hear god's voice, we need look no further than his living word. And that means that the Bible is more than simply words on a page.

A few years ago, I took James, he's our our eldest, to watch Liverpool play football at Anfield. He's a Liverpool fan. He's watched them on TV. You know, he's got the poster on wall knows all about anfield and so on. And, of course, we've got the photos from that game, you know, bought him a scarf, we've got the match program, all the rest, and so on.

And and yet any fan will tell you that the photographs won't give you the experience. You know, they won't convey the atmosphere. The things from the visit, you know, the, a scarf won't take your breath away. None of those things can give you that wow moment when you walk through the tunnel to find you'll see and you see the pitch there under lights and all the rest of it for the first time. Because to experience that, you need to see it live.

Well, when we read the living word of god, it's as if we are there live. That is when we encounter god in all his power. And we hear his voice. I'm reading the bible at the moment with, a man who's just recently started following Jesus. It's early days, and, there's a lot of baggage to unpack, not least in his marriage.

But out of the mess. I won't give you the details, but it is a mess. He's professing faith in Jesus. And, as I sit with him and with his wife, she's been a Christian for a long time, he's now learning what it looks like to live by the word of god. And a couple of months, as I sat with him, he told me about some of the things he's done and pain that that has caused.

And we looked at the parable of the 2 sons, and if you've read it, you'll know that wonderful moment in Luke chapter 15, when the younger son who's blown it all goes back to his father. And verse 20 says, But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him. He ran to his son through his arms around him and kissed him. It's a wonderful picture of god's love and forgiveness for sinners like us who've blown it. And as this man read these words, He wept.

And he said, I can't believe that god would love me that much, but I think I can see that he does. A grown man weeping at the extent of his sin and the depth of god's love. And if you want to know what's grabbed my heart in the last few months, it is that. And I think that is what the writer means here to the Hebrews when he says. The word of god is alive.

It gives life to those who were dead. It's a wonderful thing to see. And I think we see that power in our churches mean, not just in our own lives, but in our churches in in commission, you know, humanly speaking, our churches are pretty ordinary. You know, we don't always feel very big. We we we'd love to have more people and more money and more everything and all of that.

So how on earth did any of them ever get started? How is it that any of them grow? Why is Cornerstone what it is today? Or the power behind the movement that the life here at Cornerstone, which I love, is the living word of god. And we celebrate that.

But, of course, something can have power, and yet still not do very much. You know, it is possible for something or someone to be powerful and yet not be very effective. Well, when god speaks, things happen. Look again at verse 12. That's the the word active here in verse 12.

The word of god is alive and active. Or more literally, the sense here, effective. That is when god speaks, he acts his word does something. And you see that, for for you and me, that is sometimes true, but not always. As part of my training at bible college, I had to do a 2 week, chaplaincy placement to sort of tick a box along the way.

And a mate of mine, Matt, is a colonel in the army in the parachute regiment, and so he arranged for me to spend 2 weeks shadowing him and the padre of 3 para and absolutely fascinating, you know, access to everything, sat in on everything, and got to see lots of army life and so on. And, on the basis of that, 2 week placement. I think I can legitimately tell stories that begin with the phrase during my time in the army. So, during my time in the army, got the chance to watch my mate Matt at work, and, it's very obvious watching him at work. He's a colonel in 3 Paris senior guy now that his word is effective.

It's not just that he's powerful as a senior officer, he is effective because when he speaks, what what you say is that it isn't just noise from his vocal cords. When he speaks, things happen. In the army, there's a chain of command. You know, you give an order. It gets done.

I thought, what a great place to work? I like this. Of course, at home, he'd been the first to say. He's not quite the same. He's got young children, children don't really do chain of command.

Doesn't always go quite so well. With god, When he speaks, it is always the same. His words are effective. I read last year, this little book, words of life by Tim Ward. Again, a really helpful book on on scripture.

And he says on this that to encounter the words of scripture is to encounter god in action. To encounter the words of scripture is to encounter god in action because when god speaks, He acts. That is the reminder here in Hebrews 3 and 4. You see in the old testament, the people of Israel experienced god in action when having been told that they wouldn't enter the promised land of canaan. They ignored god's word and tried to enter it anyway.

And they were driven back, and they fell by the sword. God's word, that day, was effective. And it's the same today when god speaks, his word is effective. I think we see that in how our churches grow. So we hear god speaking to us in the bible.

We're convicted by the truth of the gospel, and so we want to tell others about Jesus. I don't know about you, but I think few of us find evangelism easy. Maybe some do, but many of us don't. We don't always get it right. We struggle sometimes to find the words.

I wish I was better at it. But why do we do it? Well, because we hear the word of god. And it prompts us into action. And right across commission, that is how our churches grow.

That is how Cornerstone grows because hard though it is and hostile though our culture is we want to tell people about Jesus because we've discovered him here in god's living word and that prompts us to go out and say something. When god speaks, he acts. So That's the character of scripture, what it is. Now to the power of scripture, what it does. That's our second point, the power of scripture, what it does.

Let's read again from verse 12, sharper than any double edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints, and marrow. It judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. Nothing 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. And because god's word is alive and active, it is doing this all the time. It penetrates, it judges, it exposes.

So it penetrates It was the sword that day that kept Israel from entering canaan when they defied god's word and tried to enter the land that canaanites and the AmeloKites put Israel to the sword. And the Hebrews remember that day. I mean, you would, wouldn't you? It is hardwired into their history. And the double edged sword Well, it's pretty obvious really, isn't it?

It's it's sharpened on both sides. And now the Hebrews are told the word of god is even sharper. So sharp, in fact, that it penetrates to the deepest and tightest spaces. It finds even even the most subtle divisions within the heart of the human being. You see soul and spirit joints and marrow.

They are the hidden depths of the soul. They are the darkest corners of our hearts. They they are the things that the person sitting next to you can't see. And the word of god we're told here goes all the way in, and it cuts us wide open. It's as if god is the great surgeon And the word of god is the scalpel in his hand as he opens us up.

And when we listen to his word, we are the patient laid out on the operating table. Lying there in theater at the mercy of the surgeon, on relationships, on forgiveness, on money, sex, power, on work, and ethics, on greed, and, whatever it is, whatever it might be. The Bible penetrates. It cuts deep, and it finds within us, within our hearts, the divisions, the inconsistent the hippocracies, the the twisted motives, all those things that lurk there. And as it penetrates, it judges.

The role of the judge in a a legal process is to to sift the evidence to to weigh up the fact to come to a verdict and where appropriate he or she convict. And that convicting work, spiritually speaking, is the work of god's word in our hearts. Back in chapter 3 and verse 8, just have a look at it. Chapter 3 and verse 8, the Hebrews were being urged not to harden their hearts. The writer was worried they'd stop listening to god's word.

You see, spiritually speaking, the heart is the nerve center of the soul. The heart is where we make our choices And when we allow god's word to judge our thoughts and our attitudes, we allow ourselves to be convicted. Oh, we know this, don't we? Yeah. If you're a Christian here, you you'll know You know that experience of reading the Bible, listening to the Bible preached it, and you're utterly convicted of the that that sin I'm a stop, that thing I really need to do, the person I need to forgive, and you just know God is speaking.

Or maybe you're here today as someone perhaps perhaps looking in at the Christian faith from the outside, not fully persuaded, or or you're trying to follow Jesus, but you know that you're not really living as a follower of Jesus, just at the moment. And you can feel yourself convicted. Well, if that is you this morning, then that is god speaking to you. That is the word of god convicting you as you hear god's voice in your heart. And it isn't usually a comfortable experience, but as god speaks, our hearts come under his judgment.

And his word this morning says, listen, don't harden your heart. Listen. And of course, as it judges, we then told god's word, exposes. Can you see it here? Nothing is hidden from god's sight.

Everything is uncovered and laid bare. We've got a guy, at Don Donald who, is a fireman based over in Wandsworth. And, 1 of their favorite bits of kit he tells me, showed it to me once is the thermal imaging camera, the tick they call it, TIC. It's what, you know, the thing they use for looking through walls or in the darkroom, you're trying to find where life is in a big pile of rubble or whatever it is. And that it's quite a cool bit of kit.

Well, if you like the Bible is like a thermal imaging camera for the heart, Because in the darkness of our sin, it sees it exposes what is really going on. Or behind the walls that we put up, or beneath the layers of of pretense and respectability. You know the kind of layers we put on. There are 2 things you do on Sunday morning, aren't there? You put on your coat, and you put on your layer of respectability.

But you see the Bible sees through all that and it sees who we really are. You might recall there was, quite a lot of heat about 6 months ago in the press about who's earning what at the BBC and the gender pay gap and all the stuff that goes with that salaries were published, all was revealed, some were embarrassed, some were outraged, but everything was uncovered. And laid bare. And it left some people with nowhere to hide. And it's the same with the Bible.

You see the the power of god's word exposes our hearts. And as our hearts are revealed, we find ourselves well, we're just unable to defend ourselves. We got we we got nowhere to go. So at the BBC, it was very interesting listening to John Humphreys from the Today program on radio 4, speaking. I I thought with commendable honesty about about his salary.

It was 1 of the big ones. He said, on paper, absolutely nothing justifies that amount of money. On paper, he said, I can't defend it. Uncovered, laid bare, defenseless, in politics just recently. For Damien Green, you might have read about that.

The contents of his hard drive have been uncovered, laid bare. It's costing his job in government. No. I don't know what's on your hard drive as it were in your heart. You don't know fully everything is on mine.

But whatever it is for each of us, whether it's pornography or or just greed or or self righteousness, a bit less grubby than pornography. But still utterly foul before god. Whatever it is, when we listen to the bible, it reveals what is there. And it exposes our sin. And this is why as these 3 come together penetrating, judging, exposing, what a friend of mine said to me is he became a Christian.

I wonder if this is, rings bells for you. He said it was like the preacher knew everything about me. It was as if someone had been telling him all my secrets while he was writing the sermon. Now, of course, the preacher had never met him. The preacher didn't know.

But what my friend was experiencing was the alive and active word of god penetrating, judging, exposing his heart. So the character of scripture, what it is, and the power of scripture what it does. And finally, then briefly, as we finish, here's where we land. The purpose of scripture where it leads. You see, for my friend there, exposed by the power of scripture, he found himself with nowhere to run.

Know where that is, except to a savior. Jesus Christ. You see, the exposure here is not as in naked, but rather kneeling, kneeling, helpless, defenseless before a holy god to whom we must 1 day give account. And of course, that is what drives us to our great high priest. If you look ahead to verse 14 where the writer goes next in chapter 4, our great high priest and the throne of grace, which is our only hope as helpless sinners.

And that is ultimately where scripture leads. It reveals to us. Our need for a savior. It shows us the mercy of Christ, and it prompts us to run to him for forgiveness. And that is why as we live by the word of god in commission, we make much of Jesus Christ in our churches.

And we wanna make much of Jesus Christ in our lives day by day because as we open up god's word, we see our need for a savior and we run to Jesus. And so, verse 15 of chapter 3, today here at Cornerstone, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts. The danger for the Hebrews was knowing the content of god's word whilst refusing to be changed by god's word. And in 20 18, we do not want to make that mistake in our churches. So let's be people who allow god to speak to us and to change us.

As we run towards his son, the lord Jesus Christ, because that is where scripture leads us. I'm gonna pray. Should we pray? Let's pray. Our loving father, we thank you For your living words spoken to us this morning, we thank you that as we've opened up the Bible, we hear your voice speaking to us today in the power of your spirit.

And father, we pray that it might be our conviction. Today, indeed every day that we live by the word of god. And we pray father that you might make us in the year ahead, people who are hungry for your word, people who are willing to be convicted by your word. And as we're convicted father, would we run to the lord Jesus Christ? Would that be where scripture leads us every time?

And we pray father that in our churches, in our lives, day by day, we would be people who make much of Jesus Christ because we find him in your word and we delight in him. In your word. Help us we pray in Jesus' name. Oh, man.