Tag Archives: sanctification

Highly Qualified – Hebrews 9:11-14

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the-sacrifice-on-the-cross“So Christ has now become the High Priest over all the good things that have come… With his own blood—not the blood of goats and calves—he entered the Most Holy Place once for all time and secured our redemption forever…For by the power of the eternal Spirit, Christ offered himself to God as a perfect sacrifice for our sins. That is why he is the one who mediates a new covenant between God and people, so that all who are called can receive the eternal inheritance God has promised them.” (Hebrews 9:11-14, NLT).

In the ancient Jewish religious order God’s presence was represented as residing in the Most Holy Place in the temple behind two sets of curtains. Only a high priest could enter into this Most Holy Place once a year and then never without a blood sacrifice, which he offered to make atonement for his sin and the sins of the people (see 9:6-7).

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Compelled By Love – 2 Corinthians 5:14-15

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compelledbylove“For Christ’s love compels us, since we have reached this conclusion: If One died for all, then all died. And He died for all so that those who live should no longer live for themselves, but for the One who died for them and was raised” (2 Corinthians 5:14-15, HCSB).

There are two ways to live a holy life, two versions of sanctification. These verses describe the right way sanctification should be manifested or lived out in our lives.

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The Present and Future Disciple, Part 3 – The Productivity Proposition

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inextricable In Matthew 25 Jesus tells a number of “second-coming” parables, one of which is the well-known and oft-quoted Parable of the Talents.

In this parable a man makes an extended trip to a far country so he entrusts his servants with some of his financial resources to invest while he is away. He gives one servant five talents (talent was a unit of weight, about 75 pounds, to measure coinage and now is used to indicate an ability), one two talents, and the other one talent.

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The Present and Future Disciple, Part 2 – The Eternity Factor

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inextricableIf you knew the teaching of Jesus that is repeated the most times in the Gospels, wouldn’t you want to do it? As His disciple, wouldn’t you want to apply it to your life?

Well, here it is: “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it”  (Matthew 16:24-25, NASB).

Yes, it’s a familiar verse. You’ve probably heard many sermons and Sunday School lessons preached and taught on these verses.

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The Present and Future Disciple, Part 1 – Inextricably Linked

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inextricableWhen Jesus said, “store up for yourselves treasures in heaven” and “seek first His kingdom and His righteousness” (Matthew 6:20, 33, NASB), He identified the connection between what you are and do in this present life to what you will be and will do in eternal life.

In other words, your life in this present age is inextricably linked to your future life, your eternal life.

By “inextricably” I mean that the connection between your present and future is so intricately entangled as to make it impossible to escape from it.

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