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Dec 31, 2017

A Cynic and Hope

A Cynic and Hope

Passage: Hebrews 1:1-3

Speaker: Steve Brown

Series: Guest Speaker, Steve Brown

Today we welcome guest speaker and author, Steve Brown. Steve Brown is a radio broadcaster, seminary professor, author and the founder of Key Life Network. He previously served as a pastor for over twenty-five years and now devotes much of his time to the radio broadcasts Key Life and Steve Brown, Etc.

Order of Worship

Call To Worship: Psalm 85:8-9
Readings:
Old Testament: Ezekiel 34:20-24
New Testament: Colossians 1:15-20
Central Text: Hebrews 1:1-3
Sermon Title: A Cynic and Hope
Benediction: Jude 24-25

Readings/Scripture

Call To Worship: Psalm 85:8-9
LEADER: Let me hear what God the LORD will speak,
PEOPLE: for he will speak peace to his people, to his saints; but let them not turn back to folly.
LEADER: Surely his salvation is near to those who fear him,
ALL: that glory may dwell in our land.

Reading(s):
Old Testament: Ezekiel 34:20-24
“Therefore, thus says the Lord GOD to them: Behold, I, I myself will judge between the fat sheep and the lean sheep. 21 Because you push with side and shoulder, and thrust at all the weak with your horns, till you have scattered them abroad, 22 I will rescue my flock; they shall no longer be a prey. And I will judge between sheep and sheep. 23 And I will set up over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he shall feed them: he shall feed them and be their shepherd. 24 And I, the LORD, will be their God, and my servant David shall be prince among them. I am the LORD; I have spoken.

New Testament: Colossians 1:15-20
He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. 16 For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. 17 And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 18 And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. 19 For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, 20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.

Central Text: Hebrews 1:1-3
The Supremacy of God's Son
1 Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, 2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. 3 He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,

Benediction: Jude 24-25
Leader: Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, 25 to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever.
People: Amen

Post-Service Text: Mark 13:31
Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.

Related Scriptures:

  • Numbers 12:6, 8
  • Joel 2:28
  • Matthew 28:18-20
  • Hebrews 9:13-14

Discussion Questions & Applications:

  1. On what basis do you give someone/something authority? How has that changed over time?
  2. The letter to the Hebrews is an extended epistle--some say sermon--to make the case for Jesus’s authority. Why do you give Jesus authority? (Or why might you be hesitant to do so?)
  3. How does trusting in His authority affect the way you think of your aspirations, your relationships, your lingering questions, your sufferings? What’s hardest at this very moment to trust in Jesus’s authority for?
  4. How does Jesus aid in our understanding of God’s nature? How does He do the same in what it means to be human?

Quotes:

I think back on my life in this stillness

I consider the days of my youth

And the moments I find myself willing

To surrender and just tell the truth
‘Cause I’ve committed every sin

And each one leaves a different scar

It’s just the world I’m livin’ in

And I could use a guiding star
Over the Rhine, “Another Christmas”

"How could men be reasonable beings if they had no knowledge of the Word and Reason of the Father, through Whom they had received their being? They would be no better than the beasts, had they no knowledge save of earthly things…" Athanasius, On the Incarnation

"Jesus does not come to us like a pagan god with the answers to all our questions and the solutions to all our problems. He comes as one who stands beside us, bearing with us and for us the unbearable weight of our problems and the darkness of our unanswered questions. His revelation of God’s grace is not given in thunders from heaven, or in ten legions of angels sent to deliver us; it is given in cries and tears like our cries and tears, alongside of us, on this earth." Lesslie Newbigin, The Good Shepherd

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