 Hello everyone. Thank you for connecting. Let's pray and get started with our session here where we're talking about the book of Hebrews. So one of us would like to lead and pray before we start with the last part of chapter 10. Maybe Rosalind? Rosalind, are you able to pray? Yeah, let's begin. Dear Father, we thank you Lord for this beautiful day. Thank you, Daddy, for this class that we are going to have. We pray, Father God, to give us the spirit of wisdom and revelation to understand what we are now going to study. Lord, I pray to anoint our dear pastor as she will be teaching the word, Father God, and help us, Father God, to live for your glory. In Jesus' mighty name we pray. Amen. Amen. Thank you Rosalind. We were at Hebrews chapter 10 verse 25 where we were saying that we must encourage one another and recently we are seeing it a sort of a practice or a trend where people don't want to go to church and they want to remain a believer by themselves. But then the Bible encourages us that fellowship is important. The assembling together of saints is important and that there is a significance to that and so we should not forsake the coming together of believers and particularly as we draw closer to the second coming of our Lord Jesus, it's going to become quite relevant and important for us to keep meeting together. Okay, let's pick up from verse 26. It's quite a long passage there. We'll read from verse 26 and go on till verse 39. Can somebody please read that? Verse 26. It's fine, Rosalind. Let me explain this much and then maybe we can read the remaining. Thank you. So here we are looking at the context becoming something like what we saw in Hebrews 6 where somebody who has experienced God strongly falls away from God then it becomes impossible for such a person to come back to him and so there is this emphasis on a person who is sinning willfully. Okay, sinning willfully is what we know that our life is not aligned to God because of our disobedience and we continue in that willfully we are doing things that are not pleasing to God. Then what happens? It says there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins because it's not that the blood of Jesus has lost its power or the sacrifice of Christ is no longer perfect that a person cannot receive from what we said earlier. Hebrews 7, 25 we said that he saves to the uttermost. So even if a person commits many sins, it can be forgiven. It comes under the cover of the cleansing work of the blood of the Lamb. But here the point is willfully willfully that also shows us that the believer is not wanting to grow in the Lord but what are they doing? They're just trying to take advantage of the finished work of the cross which is so wrong and there is a warning for believers to not treat the work of Jesus lightly or be ungrateful about it or be like, how do you put it? It's a very careless attitude where we say, yeah, we have all the benefits of the cross, we have all the blessings of the covenant and we'll just live our lives however we want because we already have it. Positionally I've already been made righteous but our lifestyle or the living out as a child of God, as that person in Christ Jesus, that's not aligning to the Word of God. We are only depending on that positional truth that we understand and we are saying we can keep sinning but our position in Christ doesn't change. We can keep sinning and the blood of Jesus still cleanses us. So taking advantage in a way of what Christ has done and that is a very disrespectful dishonoring way of living our lives and that is what we are being warned about. So sin willfully, that's one thing there and he says in verse 27, fearful expectation of judgment and fury indignation which will devour the adversaries. So we can expect when we are living without honor and reverence unto the Lord, there's going to be a judgment and then he points to Moses and his law and he says there that if people rejected, whenever people rejected the law of Moses confirmed by two or three witnesses, they experience the consequences of that. So how much more we who are now living in grace and we've already seen Jesus much greater than Moses, the new covenant much better than the old covenant. So when God has brought us into the fulfillment from the shadows and now we are saying that yeah we can live however we want and nothing will happen to us because we are covered by the grace of God. That's a very dangerous thing, so dangerous. Verse 29, he says of how much worse punishment do you suppose will he be thought worthy who has trampled the Son of God underfoot. So it's not that literally we speak blasphemy or we deny Christ with our words or we do something obvious like that. Maybe we are not but with our lifestyle, with the willful sinning, with disobedience, with dishonor, it is like trampling the Son of God underfoot and that's so sad. We are saying we are believers but everything else is not matching up to the glory of God, to the honor of God and our lives are so far away from what it should be like. Isn't it? So he's then reminding us that when a believer goes to this extreme extent it's like trampling the Son of God underfoot. We would never think of doing something like that, isn't it? How could we? Our whole life is a result of what he has done for us and his love for us is what has given us life. We can never think of trampling him underfoot but you see our sinful lifestyle is like that as if we are trampling him underfoot and he says counted the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified a common thing just being irreverent. Yeah, the blood will cleanse. I'll keep living my life. I'll keep committing my sins. So it's very irreverent of the believer. It's like counting the blood as a common thing and insulting the spirit of grace. Wow, it's quite very strong words, trampling underfoot, counting the blood a common thing, insulting the spirit of grace. You can keep saying grace, grace, I'm living under grace. Okay, but never forget a life of grace should also have truth in it because that's what we see, isn't it? In John chapter 1, I think it's verse 14 where we see that the Lord Jesus was full of grace and truth. So it's a healthy combination of the grace of God and truth. We should not abuse the grace of God. That's the point. Okay, now let us read from verse 30 to verse 39. Verse 30, For we know him who said, Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord, and again the Lord will judge his people. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. But recall the former days in which after you were illuminated, you endured a great struggle with sufferings partly while you were made a spectacle both by reproaches and tribulations and partly while you became companions of those who were treated for you had compassion on me in my chains and joyfully accepted the plundering of your goods knowing that you have a better and an enduring possession for yourselves in heaven. Therefore do not cast away your confidence which has great reward for you have need of endurance so that after you have done the will of God you may receive the promise for yet a little while and he who is coming will come and will not tell you now the just shall live by faith but if anyone draws back my soul has no pleasure in him but we are not of those who draw back to perdition but of those who believe to the saving of the soul. Thank you Rosalind. You've been reading long passages. God bless you for that. We saw how the author is telling the believers not to be discouraged and to go to the extent where they are letting go of their faith or they are falling away or they are dishonoring the work of Jesus on the cross instead from verse 30 you see he's encouraging them and he's saying that you know don't let go no matter what you're going through and he's reminding them that we have a God who will help us we have a God who will reward us for the faith that we have and also remember that God is a God of vengeance so when we do the wrong thing then of course there will be consequences and scriptures also tell us that the Lord will judge his people so keep that fear of God in your mind before you let go of him or before you given to a sinful lifestyle due to discouragement and verse 31 it says it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God so we don't want to be in a position with God where God is angry with us or you know God is judging us and we are no longer under the cover of the work of the cross that's so scary isn't it like we cannot face the wrath of God that's why Jesus came he hid us he covered us he bought us now if we are exposing ourselves outside of the work of the cross it's so dangerous it's so scary that's why he's saying it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God if we were to judge us just on account of our sins it's terrible to think of you know what lies ahead of us that kind of a judgment and I know that sermons have been preached on this theme right like it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God by some famous preachers in the past where they used to speak about heaven and hell and charge the people to make a decision for salvation so I know that nowadays a lot of us don't preach like that fire and brimstone hell fire but yeah we emphasize the fact that you know the Lord Jesus has has come because of his love and when we accept his salvation we can walk in his blessings we are changed transformed and if we neglect here is also another reality that we must bring out which says that there is a very dire consequence to that in this life as well as the life ahead and then you know he goes on encouraging the believers we see some portions there where he's telling them how faithful they were how in the early days through their struggles of persecution they endured now when we look at the Bible and what Jesus has done God predicted us from sicknesses okay but when it comes to persecution and opposition even Jesus had to face it there was no way out there were times when he encountered opposition and he overcame he went ahead with the mandate that God gave him so this just shows us that it is going to happen they who persecuted Christ we are but his disciples will they not Jesus said that even you will face persecution so he did not prevent or he did not assure us that there will be no opposition that is something that that we see in scripture he never said that okay I've covered you you will never have persecution you will never have people opposing you for your faith that is something that we may encounter from time to time but we have to be strong through those difficulties the these believers seem to have been strong in the early days so he's just reminding them and he's saying that come on you've done it earlier you were strong you were hospitable to others you were kind continue with the same confidence we have such an assurance from God that he will reward us when we don't throw away our confidence verse 35 is so beautiful but therefore do not cast away your confidence which has great reward in our lives as believers will there be moments where we will be so challenged maybe so tired maybe so discouraged maybe you know so put any other situation in it that we come to a place where we want to give up yes it could happen but we are being reminded don't let go no matter what don't cast away your confidence which has a great reward okay build the finish line finishing strong that's what God wants from us reaching 90% of the you know the the track almost I almost made it almost is not good enough make it to the finish line that's what God wants from all of us make it to the finish line Jesus he said it is finished all of us should be able to say it is finished nothing that we encounter of faith should bring us to a place where we are saying okay enough you know I give up I ran a good race so far and now I'm letting go so never do that do not cast away your confidence which has great reward so when we hold on by faith we will receive the reward of that and then no he reminds them that they need endurance what is endurance you know endurance is a capacity where we bear up under pressure when there's no pressure it's okay that's why when we talk about weightlifting and all we say oh endurance exercises because there there are some weights that are putting some pressure on us and it's not the most comfortable thing with the pain and with you know the discomfort we are still doing it because there are benefits of bearing those weights in the same way in life there will be circumstances that have pressure on us while we're living for God and we are wanting to live for God but in those moments we need some endurance don't just let it go because it's heavy don't just let it go because you feel some discomfort keep going that's endurance to keep bearing up under pressure so that you know when we have done the will of God you may receive the promise so now he is is going to start talking very quickly about examples of people who did not let go of the faith they made it to the finish line it's all about getting to the finish line and he's saying there will be phases of the race where under pressure we may want to give up firstly don't cast away confidence secondly endure endure come on keep going even in the midst of that pressure because what is going to happen you'll have the reward you'll have the promise and there are people who have done that who have received the reward so he just a reminder again in verses 37 to 39 where he says for yet a little while for he who's coming will come and will not tarry that just states the real assurance that we have about you know when we see Christ we know the fulfillment of everything that we are hoping in God for will take place right even in terms of this body being transformed many things are going to happen at the culmination of things and we are putting our faith in it we are putting our hope in it he's saying it's the real deal it is going to happen Jesus is going to come back and you know we will walk into the fullness of everything and he says now the just shall live by faith but if anyone draws back my soul has no pleasure in him so just a reminder stay in faith don't give up because God is not happy when we give up verse 39 but we are not of those who draw back to perdition but of those who believe to the saving of the soul you know it's like a parent or a teacher correcting a young child where they say that you know we should be hardworking but you're already hardworking so they don't want to discourage the child so they they kind of affirm the child also and say that okay come on you are doing it and I'm sure you will make it so with the heart of compassion he is encouraging the believers not to give up so let's just pause for a moment we'll move into Hebrews 11 which is a very famous passage that talks about faith but let's pause for a moment answer some questions and maybe also have a little bit of discussion and then we can do Hebrews 11 so here in the chat it says when when it says the Lord will judge his people what kind of judgment it talks about okay the Lord will judge his people so we know that when it says we will be judged there are different judgments right like ultimately there's that white throne judgment and there is something known as the rewards right that will happen in the after the secret coming of Jesus in heaven for the life that we have lived for Christ rewards will be given to the believers so that is also something we can take into account but when we say judgment ultimately as believers we know that we are going to be judged by the work of Jesus heaven and hell separating of those who don't come under the work of the cross and those who come under the work of the cross so we will be judged into like the blessings and you know God's eternal presence yeah that's broadly what it is but I think in eschatology pastor teaches quite elaborately on the on different judgments is that okay definitely fine any other questions or have you ever had any uh circumstance a situation where you endured okay and you can you can share something that's not too sensitive uh that you're comfortable to share with others but any anything that we've all I'm sure we've all been through something where we felt like oh I can't take it but when we held on we did not fast away our confidence right uh we saw God's reward or his promise would anyone like to share how about our brothers from Africa I missed that question okay no Lubega I'm saying uh have any of you had any experience where you have endured and uh you know because you didn't give up a blessed I'll just share okay sure sure incidents that happened in my life uh so my mom and my dad they were working in different places for uh quite a long time uh uh like almost 15 years and that used to come on the weekends and uh growing up I think we used to pray every every week when he comes and my mom used to say that the times are like people used to say it's enough either you move back or decide something because we were all grown up and I was I was almost 13 so many years has passed away and we thought we thought that's how life is going to be like forever like that will come on your weekends but I always wanted my dad to be at home I think it's it's nice to stay together and uh and when we were thinking like that uh the posting for him to come became much more harder there were exams interviews and all this coming up and then my dad wrote first time the exam finally he won he started writing exams at a point and he failed the second time he failed and then the third time he wrote again and he actually failed but the government changed the rules and somehow he passed and uh and I don't know like we know he failed and he was preparing for the fourth time but in between the process uh he actually passed and then even after he passed they said the posting is gonna be very very hard and uh my my grandma fell sick we did angio for it we were all focusing on that and that's when my dad got a job so we like when is it really happening is it I was I was thinking maybe okay he got a job okay that's it maybe he's he's gonna be less far away but then mom said no no he's coming and I think I was very like I was in my teenage and I was able to I'm not a kid like oh not just to enjoy but I was able to catch the emotions of what's happening and life has uh totally uh changed upside down after he came and like people said like it's it's never gonna happen and I think even I came to a point where I kind of stopped praying like like something it was kind of an everyday prayer but sometimes you don't feel like it anymore like okay if god wants if god wills let it happen or it's fine and uh recently I think last year he was transferred back to the place again and again it was like again a challenge and uh I even thought of not coming on campus I thought I'll stay back at home and then but I think that experience built us up like after 15 years he came back my mom sent my mom said this one thing like before you come back dad would have got a transfer and when I went uh like when I went back he got a transfer so I think that that kind of bills are failed and the second time when it happened we were all so strong we're all like even again but there were always struggles always people saying it's not gonna happen uh the people whom we think they will encourage they will be the one to save the first one like it's all gonna happen just give up on it thank you jefina thank you for sharing I think it's quite a personal story but you were generous enough to share it with us and it is building our faith it's not easy you know 15 years we are just hearing it in a couple of minutes but what all of you may have gone through to trust god in those difficult moments is uh only you know uh but you know thank god you didn't give up on your faith and it's about receiving the promise that god gave you about your dad's transfer back to your own city and so that he can stay with you so it's a good example right it's a good example and I I just wanted us to think because I I know that all of us go through some of the other periods of discouragement struggles when we're waiting on the promises of god so want to keep it very practical uh how about we we take time to maybe listen to one or two more testimonies and maybe we'll wrap it up with that today and then we will start off with Hebrews 11 in the next class so please feel free to share if uh you have held on and received the promise of god in any situation I'll share about a couple um in our yeah the church in Kerala um so they were very close to us personally and they uh they were not having children for 17 years even after marriage and they held on to that promise and they tried all possible medical ways they tried IVF they tried all possible ways and still it was very difficult for them to conceive and after that uh like after 17 years of marriage god blessed them with a child and we were able to witness that and it's so amazing to see the child now she's around five and it's so wonderful to see the power of god praise god praise god thank you so much uh uh john it is amazing 17 years is a long time to trust god right almost like the Abraham story 25 years uh but yeah today they stand with the testimony and we glorify god for that thank you for sharing anyone else please let's let's share some stories today some testimonies can I share of course of course zellie please go ahead it's kind of a bit personal but I want to share it for the glory of god um um I grew up in a very dysfunctional family and um my dad was addicted to alcohol for more than 35 years like uh growing up as a child and as a teenager I saw him struggling with alcohol and really had a very negative impact on our life as a children and as a family as a whole so when I accepted jesus at the age of 17 you know like uh I started to pray for my dad and you know as a family my mom my brothers and sisters we used to get together we used to pray for him continually and at times we thought that he's not going to give up uh the addiction at times we lose hope but you know the holy spirit is the one who encouraged us and motivated us to keep on going and praying and also you know the church the church family you know they were praying for my dad and you know like only uh after his um retirement from the government uh uh you know service god set him free and it's just such a miracle you know he's come to part his colleague whom he used to hang out and drink together almost all of them are dead but it's just a miracle that my dad is still alive and um you know like uh he had a stroke two times and he was admitted in the hospital two times and we told that these two times also that you know all their relatives the loved ones that uh the uh you know our neighbors they visited him thinking that that would be his last day but it's just the hand of god over his life that he survived two stroke and by the grace of god he's uh he's uh he's still alive and he's thriving in life so i want to praise god that wish uh that uh the years of prayers it was not the you know uh it was a long journey for us in all those seasons god told us to be patient to wait on him and not to give up so we want to thank god that uh for his life and he's safely from the addiction of alcohol praise god thank you zalee i know it's probably uh so sensitive and personal to you and yet you shared so uh we appreciate that and 35 years is not easy at all right and to see hope in the midst of what is going on day to day and to now witness that uh your prayers and your faith uh has seen the work of god being fulfilled in your dad's life is so amazing it's a very powerful testimony and we thank and praise god for uh uh you know your dad's good health and his life in christ now and uh yeah we'll continue to pray for you and your family thank you so much for sharing uh anyone else we'll probably close with that and anyone else also wants to share you can please share any stories of endurance because he was living his full of stories lots and lots of stories so how about we start with ours first and then we will get into that okay children of god have you have you received any promises by faith could be a a simple one also so don't worry about that okay maybe i'll just share one quick thing uh i think in my life one of the hardest um phases was after my graduation when i was trying to get a job because that was also a period when i was trying to decide where i must invest my energy uh you know whether i want to go more into the clinical line or whether i want to go more into the research line or you know be an entrepreneur so there were many options uh and so it was a real struggle real struggle and while you're struggling just trying to make those decisions to get a job to sustain yourself uh and and you know at least it gives you some space where you can keep growing and then eventually you can make your decisions about your master's program and uh other things but i was not getting something suitable so it was the the hardest thing and apparently it happens to a lot of people who are in the medical line uh so i graduated and then the the struggle was so real and there would be days i i got some jobs but i was not enjoying it so it was really painful every day to wake up and go uh and wonder god why did i why did i choose this career and what is going to happen you know so i it was really such a difficult period and i think it ended up being a couple of years before i actually opted for my master's like i made up my mind what i want to study but those years were the toughest where every now and then i would think of okay come on just give up just do any job you know just survive it doesn't matter anymore excellence doesn't matter so you go through so much and then you're wondering like lord do you even have a place for me is anything even going to happen but today as i look back just keeping faith in god is so powerful because i've seen god open doors and lead me through a journey where you know i i can say that god was there his power was there to make it all happen to you know pick the right master's program be able to study it and then graduate from that and then find suitable jobs and eventually you know how god led me into the ministry it's amazing amazing but those days if you would have asked me i would be sitting in front of the computer like this only researching and you know i really feel like crying at the end of the day because the it felt like there's no hope and uh that the break will never come but thank god you know the journey has happened and i i feel grateful to god for just being there with me and leading me in this area of of my life so just want to glorify god with that okay so yeah um let's take time to thank god this morning he's a god of breakthrough he's working in all of our lives and in the next class we will go over the lives of people one by one and see how very similar to each of us they waited on god's promises made to them personally okay and we learn lessons or we draw inspiration from their steadfastness in the lord so let's pray and close right now uh and i just want to request uh someone on the call to please pray maybe zellie zellie are you are you okay to pray before we wrap up yes let's pray how do we come before the president says we want to thank you for this wonderful session whatever truth we have learned in this class was not her past lord and remind us of the spirit so that our faith will be stronger in you that no matter what the situation comes in a way that will not give up on our faith but we will cling to you we will lean on you we will depend on you for god help us for the spirit please just not we thank you jesus for god as we request from this class may your holy spirit continue to guide us lead us to just love in jesus name amen amen amen thank you thank you zellie thank you everyone god bless you stay strong in the lord at all times