Hebrews 13:8-25 NIV

⁸ Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.

⁹ Do not be carried away by all kinds of strange teachings. It is good for our hearts to be strengthened by grace, not by eating ceremonial foods, which is of no benefit to those who do so. ¹⁰ We have an altar from which those who minister at the tabernacle have no right to eat.

¹¹ The high priest carries the blood of animals into the Most Holy Place as a sin offering, but the bodies are burned outside the camp. ¹² And so Jesus also suffered outside the city gate to make the people holy through his own blood. ¹³ Let us, then, go to him outside the camp, bearing the disgrace he bore. ¹⁴ For here we do not have an enduring city, but we are looking for the city that is to come.

¹⁵ Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise—the fruit of lips that openly profess his name. ¹⁶ And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.

¹⁷ Have confidence in your leaders and submit to their authority, because they keep watch over you as those who must give an account. Do this so that their work will be a joy, not a burden, for that would be of no benefit to you.

¹⁸ Pray for us. We are sure that we have a clear conscience and desire to live honorably in every way. ¹⁹ I particularly urge you to pray so that I may be restored to you soon.

²⁰ Now may the God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, ²¹ equip you with everything good for doing his will, and may he work in us what is pleasing to him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.

²² Brothers and sisters, I urge you to bear with my word of exhortation, for in fact I have written to you quite briefly.

²³ I want you to know that our brother Timothy has been released. If he arrives soon, I will come with him to see you.

²⁴ Greet all your leaders and all the Lord’s people. Those from Italy send you their greetings.

²⁵ Grace be with you all.

First Impression?

• Wrap it up. This was a long, long letter, and we finally have reached the end.

Yesterday, Today, and Forever – Why is it important that Christ is never different?

• The unchanging perfection of God allows me to deal with the constant changes on earth knowing that right and wrong have been defined, and standing on what I believe God tells me is easier if I know it does not change. Now I might figure I out I had it wrong, but God never does.

Ceremonial foods – Do you know of any ceremonial foods still eaten today?

• The main thrust was Jewish ceremony as that is what we are most familiar with in a Biblical study, but many pagan cultures have ceremonial foods today and we are generally unaware of. As Paul said, if you do not know, assume it is ok.

What is this bit about not right to eat?

• I struggled with where this was going, but my mental image of the Lord’s supper dominated my thoughts as only Christians need participate. I am sure there is an underlying bit about participating in the blessing of having the Holy Spirit live within you, but my only real take away is that not all will be saved. Although if even the evil people get a new body incapable of sin and submit, I should only be concerned with me and the sin of mine that has been forgiven.

Bearing the disgrace He bore – What disgrace is that?

• The vision of the red letter on my chest tells me that I have to stay humble.

Praise, do good, share – When did you last forget to do so?

• Every moment of everyday. I have a memory issue. It may be a direct result of how important things are to me, but it also may be an inherent physical characteristic. I have rejected the concept of putting note cards everywhere or carrying a notebook for ideas or using my phone to put the ideas in and every other idea to solve my issue, so maybe I am just stupid.

Your leaders – how do you choose your leaders and do you have confidence in them and do you submit to them?

• I was surprised by how clear my selection (with God’s help) of my leaders contrasted with that of some of the others. I clearly believe God has placed a hedge around parts of my life and put good leaders in when I had no choice, but when I had a choice, He clearly showed me the right path, even if I took more time to see it than I should have.

Be a joy, not a burden – How could you be a burden and how can you not be?

• There is really no way not to be some kind of burden for your leader. Otherwise, they are not leading you. But the idea I saw here was to follow the leader, and not to fight what they tell you. If your leader tells you to read the Bible every day, then you should do it rather than argue why you should not.

Pray for us and may Jesus equip you – For what are we praying and being equipped for?

• I am having dinner with the core of my 9^th grade boys that I helped lead for three years. I wanted to see them off to college so to speak and to get in one last push to be good Christians and just spend time with them. My brain ran off and figured out a great speech to make as I was drifting off to sleep. I promptly forgot most of it, but decided to recreate it, on a note card no less, as I felt God was helping me. I have been praying and being equipped to support them. I’ll probably write about the content of the note card specifically another time, but the idea here is that we are praying to be equipped to share the love of Christ with others.