Hebrews 12
Jeff Jue exhorted us last Sunday morning (5/4) again from Hebrews; this time from chapter 12, in his sermon "The Author and Perfecter of Our Faith."
Jeff reminds us that for some of us, the faith he preached about last week is one we often feel is lacking in our own lives. We may ask ourselves, "Why doesn't my life exemplify that kind of faith?" "Why does my faith seem so fleeting?" Often, our faith ebbs and flows like a young person who goes on a retreat, gets all fired up for God, and makes many important committments before God, only to return to her humdrum life as a high school student, quickly forgetting the faith commitment she made the previous week. Maybe this is how faith is in your life and mine.
Do not allow this pattern to cause you to despair. The author of Hebrews recognizes this pattern and in Hebrews 12 offers practical application for people of faith. The authors begins in chapter 11 by describing the indicative (who you are—or, in this case, "what is faith") and follows up by describing the imperative (what you should do, or in this case "now live this way"). So chapter 12 shows what it means to live by faith, while chapter 11 describes what faith is.
The author begins this passage by describing a great cloud of witnesses (those who come before us, those with us now, and those who are to come). They are:
- Witnesses to something (the power and faithfulness of God).
- Witnesses of something (those who come after them).
You can view the complete service on our YouTube and Vimeo channels.