Latest / The Daily Word / July 15 – Keep Your Eyes on Jesus
Transcript
- Cory: Good morning, good afternoon, good evening, good we hours of the night, whatever time you're joining us. Welcome to the Daily Word Podcast from Lakeshore Christian Fellowship. My name is Corey Barnes, my privilege to pastor Arkatawa Campus, and I'm excited to be sitting down with you for another devotion from our daily Bible reading plan. Now, today is July the 15th. That means we are reading Hebrews chapter. And that means we're nearly finished with the book of Hebrews. It's important that as we're reading chapter 12, we remember that everything that's said here is kind of it's it's laid on the foundation of everything else that the author of Hebrews has built from chapters 1 through 11. Namely, that can kind of be summarized as Jesus is better. Jesus is better than. than anything, everything that came before him, anything that everything that came after him. Jesus is just better. No now yesterday we read chapter 11, which is often called the Faith Hall of Fame, because it recounts the stories of heroes of the faith from the Old Testament and how they lived out their life in faith following God. These these stories are inspiring and there's a lot we can learn from these men. And women of God and their stories are worth going back to and looking at. In fact, we're going to be doing that this Sunday when we look at Hebrews chapter 11 and what it has to say about Father Abraham. And we're going to be preaching about that this Sunday as we continue our series, Faith, the Life We Now Live. So that's just a sneak peek of what's coming up this Sunday. But as we're jumping today. Into chapter 12, the author of Hebrews tells us that since we're surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, which just means since we have all these examples that he just finished listing in chapter 11, all these examples of people that actively lived out their life of faith, those stories should inspire us to run our own race, to live our own lives of faith. And ultimately, while the stories of these men and women they're valuable and they are inspiring. And what what's truly going to empower us to keep running our race is to keep our eyes fixed on the one who is yet again better than all those who went before him, namely Jesus. It's it's Jesus we should keep our eyes fixed on. It's good to be inspired by the stories of these heroes of the faith, but it's only Jesus that is the Perfect example of a life lived out in faith, which he lived by enduring the cross for the joy that was set before him. Now, Hebrews 12 chapter now Hebrews 12 verse 2 tells us looking unto Jesus, remember keeping those eyes locked on him, the author and finisher of our faith. We keep our eyes locked on him. Now it tells us that he is the Author of our faith. Now, that Greek word that's translated there as author, it actually has a couple different nuances that I think it would be good to take a look at. First, that word means originator, it means that our faith originates in Jesus, it begins in him. Secondly, that Greek word can also mean captain, chief leader. Or prince. So that means that not only is does our faith begin in Jesus, it's also directed by Jesus, the same way that like a captain directs or steers a ship. And that's good news for us because it means that that Jesus is actively involved in every step of our faith journey from the very first. First, little little cute shuffling baby steps all the way to our mature, adult, confident strides, and eventually our running. Jesus is there with us, guiding and directing us every leg of the journey, every bit along the way. And to what end is he leading us? We see it again, verse two, looking into Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. The word finisher means completer. Or perfecter. And that means that Jesus is directing our faith. While he's doing that, he is doing it all the way to it being perfectly mature and all that it needs to be for us to live our lives for him. And that's such good news because it means that anytime Jesus directs us to engage our faith in life and our race. That we're running, we can rest assured that he is right there with us. And he is actively supplying, originating the faith we need, and then directing that faith for us, showing us cap like a captain directs the ship, showing us how to apply the faith he just gave us. And he's doing all that actively bringing it to a perfect completion in our lives. And I don't know about you, but that takes so much pressure off of me. It takes so much of the concern of do I have enough faith? Will I have enough faith of this circumstance, if that circumstance pops up? Will I have enough faith to be able to handle that? It takes all that dependency off of myself. And I don't have to look for what I need in me. I now get to look for what I need in Jesus. In him, I can depend on Jesus, the man who demonstrated perfect faith by going to the cross, despite the shame and brutality of it, for the joy that was set before him. He perfectly walked a life and ran a race of faith. And he is the one that is with me every journey. Every step of the journey coaching me, captaining me, chiefing my faith, doing everything that I need. If I just rely on him, I can trust he is going to get me where I need to go running this race. So, what is our application for today's devotion? I think it's appropriate to take a look at our lives. And and see the different areas where we are believing Jesus to come through and bring victory. And then just ask ourselves, am I relying? Am I relying? Corey. Is Corey relying on Corey for the faith that I need in those areas? Are you relying on yourself to have what you need to believe Jesus in those areas? Or are you even relying on him to give you the faith you need? To rely on him. See, Jesus wants us completely, totally dependent on him. He wants to walk alongside us. He wants to bring what we need in the moment we need it. And he wants us to trust him to do that. So as we are examining ourselves. Recognize, you know what? Maybe I'm being a little bit too dependent on myself. Maybe I'm looking for to myself for that more than I should. Jesus, I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry that I would ever believe that I have what it takes to follow you by myself. I when I should be completely, wholly, and totally dependent on you. Let's pray. Father, I just thank you for the example we have in Jesus. That as we look to him, we can look not only to him as an example, a perfect, beautiful example. We can also look to him as the supplier of what we need every step of the way. All, every aspect, complete, total, the whole package of what we need for our faith journey is found in Jesus. You're so good, God, that you gave us. Jesus, you're so good that you tell us right here in Hebrews, look to him, keep your eyes on him, keep your eyes on him. If you take your eyes off him, you might stumble, you might not make it. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus, that you are entirely faithful. And anytime we come to you and we recognize I've been doing this on my own, will you forgive me and will you lead me? You are just ready to tick us, pick us up, and keep on going the journey with us. We thank you that. The joy that was set before you, this relationship that we have with you, you considered worthy of the sacrifice that you made. We love you, Jesus. You are beautiful, you are holy, and you are perfect. We praise your name. Amen.