Not Believing in God Means Not Being Able To Share In His Blessings & Promises

Hebrews 3:12-19; 4:1,2

Be an eager student when it comes to learning about God's blessings; if you don't know how He blesses, those blessings might go right by you

Soul Food

Hebrews 3:12-19

“See to it, brothers and sisters, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called ‘Today,’ so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness. We have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original conviction firmly to the very end. As has just been said:

‘Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion.’ Who were they who heard and rebelled? Were they not all those Moses led out of Egypt? And with whom was he angry for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies perished in the wilderness? And to whom did God swear that they would never enter his rest if not to those who disobeyed? So we see that they were not able to enter, because of their unbelief.”

Hebrews 4:1,2

“Therefore, since the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us be careful that none of you be found to have fallen short of it. For we also have had the good news proclaimed to us, just as they did; but the message they heard was of no value to them, because they did not share the faith of those who obeyed.”

Soul Search

• Can you remember the last time you were having a conversation with someone and a difference of opinion arose about your respective belief systems?
  How did you handle it?

• Have you ever been confronted with differences between what you believe and what God has said in the Bible?
  Can you describe something you have believed that you later learned was contrary to, or different from, what the Bible says?

• Do you carry personal beliefs right now that you hold dear but that you know the Bible does not agree with you on?
  What are they?

Soul Moves

• Ask God to help you bring your belief system into alignment with His.
  You probably already know areas where you hold beliefs that are different from what the Bible says.

• Have you ever felt the conviction to change your beliefs based on what the Bible says?
  If you have changed some beliefs, can you discuss what those were?

• God’s rewards from accepting and holding onto His promises in the Scripture are far different from the rewards you will experience from accepting and holding onto our cultural and societal standards and norms.
  Ask God to give you a desire and motivation for His rewards above any cultural or societal rewards.