Do Not Fear, Only Believe

"Do not fear, only believe." (Mk. 5:36)

Jesus always says the best stuff.

Be Blessed!
Andrew

Confessing Jesus From the Book of Hebrews

A few days ago I went through the book of Hebrews specifically with the intention of discovering every explicit truth about Jesus I could find within it’s pages. I did this for two primary reasons:

1. To broaden my confession about who He is.

2. To broaden my confession about what He has accomplished on my behalf.

In total, I found fifty-two clear truths about Jesus my first time through (some of these truths repeated a number of times throughout the book. I did not, however, include the recurring ones in my final count). The following is a list of all fifty-two – in order of when they appear in the book with verses included for each:

•       Jesus is the Son of God and heir of all things (Heb. 1:2)

•       Jesus is the creator of the universe (Heb. 1:2)

•       Jesus is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of His nature (Heb. 1:3)

•       Jesus upholds the universe by His word (Heb. 1:3)

•       Jesus is better than angels (Heb. 1:3)

•       Jesus now sits at the right hand of power/majesty (Heb. 1:3)

•       Jesus' throne is forever (Heb. 1:8) and His years will have no end (Heb. 1:12)

•       Jesus will have everything put in subjection under His feet (Heb. 2:8)

•       Jesus is crowned with glory and honor because of His suffering and death (Heb. 2:9)

•       Jesus has tasted death for everyone (Heb. 2:9)

•       Jesus is the founder of salvation (Heb. 2:10)

•       Jesus is not ashamed to call us brothers (Heb. 2:11)

•       Jesus has destroyed the devil (Heb. 2:14)

•       Jesus became 100% man (Heb. 2:17)

•       Jesus is the merciful and faithful high priest (Heb. 2:17)

•       Jesus helps those who are being tempted (Heb. 2:18)

•       Jesus is the apostle and high priest of our confession (Heb. 3:1)

•       Jesus is worthy of more honor than Moses as the builder of all things (Heb. 3:3-4)

•       Jesus is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword (Heb. 4:12)

•       Jesus was and is without sin (Heb. 4:15)

•       Jesus is a priest forever in the order of Melchizedek (Heb. 5:6)

•       Jesus is the source of eternal salvation to all who obey Him (Heb. 5:9)

•       Jesus cannot lie (Heb. 6:18)

•       Jesus has gone as a forerunner to open the veil on our behalf (Heb. 6:20)

•       Jesus is the King of righteousness (Heb. 7:2)

•       Jesus is the King of peace (Heb. 7:2)

•       Jesus is without genealogy and has neither beginning of days nor end of life (Heb. 7:3)

•       Jesus lives (Heb. 7:8)

•       Jesus became a priest on the basis of the power of an indestructible life (Heb. 7:16)

•       Jesus is the better hope through which we draw near to God (Heb. 7:19)

•       Jesus is the guarantor of a better covenant (Heb. 7:22)

•       Jesus holds the priesthood permanently (Heb. 7:24)

•       Jesus is able to save to the uttermost those who would draw near to God through Him (Heb. 7:25)

•       Jesus lives to make intercession (Heb. 7:25)

•       Jesus is holy, innocent, unstained, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens (Heb. 7:26)

•       Jesus is the minister in the holy places (Heb. 8:2)

•       Jesus is the mediator of a better covenant that is enacted on better promises (Heb. 8:6)

•       Jesus has secured an eternal redemption (Heb. 9:12)

•       Jesus has entered heaven to appear in the presence of God on our behalf (Heb. 9:24)

•       Jesus appeared once for all to put away sin (Heb. 9:26)

•       Jesus will appear a second time (Heb. 9:28)

•       Jesus came to do the will of God (Heb. 10:7)

•       Jesus has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified (Heb. 10:14)

•       Jesus is faithful to His promises (Heb. 10:23)

•       Jesus is a better possession and an abiding one (Heb. 10:34)

•       Jesus is the author and perfecter of our faith (Heb. 12:2)

•       Jesus' blood speaks a better word than the blood of Abel (Heb. 12:24)

•       Jesus is a consuming fire (Heb. 12:29)

•       Jesus will never leave us nor forsake us (Heb. 13:5)

•       Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever (Heb. 13:8)

•       Jesus is the great shepherd (Heb. 13:20)

•       Jesus is deserving of eternal glory and honor (Heb. 13:21)

There is a high likelihood that I missed a few in there, so if anyone finds any that I overlooked please let me know in the comments section below.

I put these in my blog not to impress you, but rather to help you. I’m serious when I say that confession of truth is one of the most important disciplines we can possibly cultivate in our lives. It has strengthened my own walk with God tremendously and I know that it will yours.

Challenge: Take 10/day for 5 days this week and put them into your confession. You will be amazed at how much your faith in who Jesus is and what He has done will grow!

Be Blessed!

Andrew

You Have Been Sent

"As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you." (Jn. 20:21)

There is no doubt that this statement of Jesus' has profound ramifications. The problem is that I had never really considered them before. Maybe you are in the same boat? Well sit back and allow me to share some thoughts!

Just a short time before Jesus left His disciples on their own he dropped this statement on them. Now for sure Jesus had dropped plenty of other mind-blowing statements on them, but I believe that this one may have set in with even more force than any prior to it. Was it because it was it was coming from their newly resurrected friend? Perhaps. Was it because it was immediately followed by them receiving the indwelling Spirit for the first time? Likely. Was it because the reality of their divine destiny just became that much clearer? Also very likely.

To tell you the truth, every one of these reasons (not to mention countless others) probably made this statement pierce the hearts of the disciples. And the fact is that this statement ought to pierce our hearts in similar fashion. In the same way that Jesus was sent by His Father, we have also been sent. Humbled.. Privileged.... Responsible........ All words that came rushing to my mind as I pondered the implications that I have become a co-laborer with Christ in His mission to:

• Seek and to save the lost (Lk. 19:10)
• Destroy the works of the Devil (1 Jn. 3:8)
• Reveal the Father (Mt. 11:27)
• Proclaim the Gospel of the Kingdom (Mt. 4:23)
• Heal the sick (Mt. 4:23, Mt. 10:8)
• Raise the dead (Mt. 10:8)
• Cast out Demons (Mt. 10:8)
• Make Disciples (Mt. 28:18-20)
• Forgive people of their sin (Jn. 20:23, 2 Cor. 5:19)
• Testify to the truth (Jn. 18:37)
• Serve (Mt. 20:28)

(This list is by no means comprehensive; it is just a sampling of verses that I considered during the short time I wrote this. Any more that you can think of would help me to expound on this topic and would be greatly appreciated! Please put them in the comments section below.)

Now to be sure, His work is unrepeatable (Heb. 9:26) - but His works are meant to be repeated and even amplified (Jn. 14:12). For all who have put their faith in Christ: We have been welcomed into a partnership with God (2 Cor. 6:1) that is beyond the ability for words to fully describe. This is an important element of our divine destiny that we must surrender to - In the same way that Jesus was sent, so are we.

We have both the privilege and the responsibility to bear fruit for God. This fruit would be impossible to bear except for one fact: we have been given the Spirit of the resurrected Christ - He lives in us and through us (Col. 1:27, Gal. 2:20). The impossible has become possible. There are no longer any viable excuses. With Jesus' words in Jn. 20:21-22, all who have been born-again into a living hope are left with no other options but to partner with the God of the impossible. That is good news!

Be Blessed!

Andrew

Confess the Truth About Yourself

Back in January I wrote about how there are two sides to biblical confession in the life of a believer: the confession of sin and the confession of truth. Both are found throughout the scriptures. However, one is leaned on heavily in the church today (confession of sin), while the other is actually quite neglected in practice (confession of truth). The truth is that both have a place in our lives, but one is more necessary to grasp. It is my belief that if we get truth into our confession more then sin will be in our confession less.

Read my post from January 28th of this year to read more of an explanation of this subject:

http://andrewhess2.blogspot.com/2012/01/confession-of-truth.html

Today, I simply want to give you a few verses that are in my confession regularly. Most of these particular truths are focused on identity (who you are in Christ). My challenge to you is to confess these things daily to the Holy Spirit for the next week or two and watch your confidence in who you are in Christ grow exponentially. Making this a daily practice takes no more than a few minutes, but make no mistake - doing it by faith has more eternal significance than we know.

Note: It is important that we don't just speak these things to the air (nothing will happen), we need to confess them to the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit Himself supernaturally transforms us to become the very things that we confess about ourselves from God's Word. The demonstration of the Spirit follows the declaration of a believer. It is His work, but He won't do it apart from us.

The following are ten confessions that are true about every disciple of Jesus: 

• I am the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus (2 Cor. 5:21).
• I have been re-created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness (Eph. 4:24).
• My sin has been separated from me as far as the east is from the west (Ps. 103:12).
• I am dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus (Rom. 6:11)
• I am a slave to righteousness (Rom. 6:18).
• There is no condemnation for me because I am in Christ (Rom. 8:1).
• I am a child and heir of God (Rom. 8:16).
• I am a new creation in Christ, the old is gone and the new has come (2 Cor. 5:17).
• I am an image-bearer of God (1 Cor. 15:49).
• I am blessed with every spiritual blessing in heaven (Eph. 1:3).

There are countless others I could list, and probably will in the future. But for now, each of these scriptures are packed with truth about who you are in Christ. Through faith, get them into your confession today and watch the Holy Spirit cause the Word to become flesh again in you. Seriously, start today!

Be Blessed!

Andrew

PS - as always, comments are appreciated!