In our walk this month we will discover the book of Hebrews. The book is written to Jewish people and the primary purpose is to identify Christ as the Son of God and High Priest according to the order of Melchizedek of the Old Testament. He is over the angels, and greater than Moses. Hebrews will point to Jesus as Son of God as the High Priest. The message is that Jesus’ purpose was to come and fulfill the Old Testament Law. Jesus is the perfect High priest who makes the perfect sacrifice. Through Jesus the barrier of sin is taken down and by faith they have access to God. Faith is the key to life demanded by God. Faith is not merely belief, but complete surrender and trust in to live your life. In this Book you will learn to appreciate the Old Testament and its heroes and more importantly on how to apply it to your life; it is in the life of Christ and his mission on earth that led to a cross that accomplished salvation for us. We have redemption through the blood of Jesus the perfect Lamb of God. My favorite chapters are 11 (By Faith) and 12 (The perfecter of our faith). The goal is Hebrews 12:2 “Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”
This leads us to our next book; the book of James. Luther wrote some harsh words about the book of James. His concern was work righteousness. The book is written to encourage Christians to walk the walk. In other words it begins as Christians’ being justified by the payment that Jesus had on the cross so therefore we are free from sin to now walk the walk . What is our response? What do we do now? The word is sanctification. James 2:14-26 is key! Faith without works is dead! The relationship to faith and works all lie in the Holy Spirit who leads us to faith and believe in Jesus and then leads us to worship God and live in Christ. We are sinners who need to come to the cross daily – yet we are saints that come to worship and give glory and honor to our God in all that we say and do.
1 Peter is titled “suffering Christians.” The purpose of the book is to instruct and encourage followers of Jesus as we endure the challenge of life in Christ. The
foundation of the book is set on the foundation that Christ bore our sins and suffered
for us. In this focus, we are living stones and a holy people connected to Living stone who is a stumbling block to the world, but is the corner stone of a whole new world.
(1 Peter 2:4-8)
We are now a special people to God to proclaim the one who has called us out of darkness into His marvelous light. Key words that come up in 1 Peter are Hope, Grace and Mercy, Salvation, Love, Joy, Sober, Fear, Humility, Precious, and Glory. See if you can locate them and what they teach us?
I titled 2 Peter – “Faith; hang on to it with all that you got!” Luther says this book is written against those who think that the Christian faith can be without works. We need to continue to grow in our faith. The solid foundation will be found in Jesus. We find Him in His Word (1:19-21). We will need God’s wisdom to discern the false teachings and false prophets that will try to lead us to our old way of life in sin. The certainty is that this world will pass away. The Day of the Lord will come and we need to keep our hope on the promise of a new heaven and new earth will come. Let us seek first His kingdom and righteousness. His promise is to take us home to live with Him forever.
Continued blessings on your journey...
Pastor Randy Stroming
Mount Olive’s "Read Through The Bible" continues! Join us in the Coffee Shop on Sunday mornings at 9:00 AM. We will review the discussion questions each week and meet until 9:30 AM. The Elders will be facilitating this study.
Read Through the Bible Discussion Groups. A discussion group opportunity is offered weekly on Thursdays at 7:00 PM in the Meeting Room. John and Ellen McKee facilitate this group. We will always discuss the previous week’s reading schedule.
The Wednesday Morning Men’s Bible Study meets at 6:00 AM in the coffee shop where they are also studying "Read through the Bible." Contact Jeff Paschke at 763.427.5539 for more information.
Various HOME Groups are also studying "Read through the Bible" as they meet. Email randy@mtolive-anoka.org for more information on these groups.
If you choose to use your own Bible, the reading schedule for each month are listed below.
Read through the Bible in Two Years Schedule and Discussion Questions:
Year 1 - 2011
Year 2 - 2012