Gleanings From Grace

TEXT: Hebrews 10:25 Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.

Not forsaking….. Implies such a desertion, leaves others destitute in deep trouble or distress, when they are needing help.
WHY GO TO CHURCH? {Read More…}

Scripture Reading: Hebrews 13:1-9
Text: Hebrews 13:9 Hebrews 13:9 Be not carried about with divers and strange doctrines. For it is a good thing that the heart be established with grace; not with meats, which have not profited them that have been occupied therein.

Introduction: Make no mistake about it; Christians DO backslide. That is not to say that they lose their salvation. A believer has eternal life and will NEVER perish (John 10:28). However, it is possible for him to back away from Christian service, causing him to lose joy, peace, fellowship with God, and rewards in heaven, as well as provoking God’s chastisement. The main reason Christians backslide is that they never got “established,” to start with.
While it is true that most Christians who do not get established also never get grounded in doctrine and truth, it is ALSO true that many people backslide who know correct doctrine. Getting deeper into doctrines that are past the grasp of new believers does not establish the heart, according to our text. GRACE establishes the heart. I believe that the following definition matches the way “establish” is used in the context: IT MEANS
a. To place or settle in a secure position or condition; install: They established me in my own business.
b. To make firm or secure The grace of Christ is defined in scripture:
2 Corinthians 8:9 For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich.
Grace is a willingness to give up that which you have, that others may benefit. It is to spend and be spent for others. {Read More…}

TEXT:HEB 11:30-40

INTRODUCTION: Faith is the heart’s intake, and love is its outlet. For real faith never comes away from God’s well with an empty vessel. Faith believes only that which is true. Faith has an understanding. For the beginning of doubt is the end of faith, and the beginning of real faith is the end of doubt. Someone has said, “give me faith that will not worry, whine or wrangle, but watch, work, wait, and warble, AND A WINNING FAITH
Faith can go no further than the Word of God, but must always be limited by this phrase “It is written.” For faith is merely saying amen to God. And a firm faith in the promises of God is the very best theology. With this in mind lets at our text and see how these people became winners in the faith. {Read More…}

TEXT: By faith Moses — Heb. 11:23-29

INTRODUCTION: Moses’ life can be divided into three forties: He was 40 years in the court as a prince, 40 years in the field as a shepherd, and 40 years in the wilderness as a leader of a nation. Faith is expensive. At the beginning of Moses’ life some would say he was a fool at the end a failure. But in between he was a man of faith. We see three things in the faith life of Moses: {Read More…}

TEXT: Heb. 11:8-19

Intro: Abraham is one of the great men of the Bible. When we think of men like him, we tend to see them as being larger than life. We seem to imagine that they started off at the top of the game and them just stayed there. Then, if we are foolish enough to compare ourselves with them, we feel like we are always struggling, always failing, and always facing some obstacle or another. We may begin to think that we will never succeed spiritually, but that we are doomed to a life of struggles and defeat. Well, I want to let you in on a little secret. Abraham didn’t start off as a man of God! Neither did Moses, Joshua, Caleb, Elijah, John the Baptist, the Apostle Paul, etc., etc. They started off just like you and me! In fact, Abraham started off as a idolater, a sinner a million miles away from the Lord. But one day, God did for Abraham what He did for you and me, if you are saved. He called Abraham to follow Him. Abraham did and by that simple, small step of faith, he began a new life with God. Don’t think for a minute that it was any easier for him than it is for you. Abraham had to overcome some very real obstacles before he became the spiritual giant we read about in the Bible. He had some very high mountains to climb before he earned the title “Friend of God”, James 2:23. Allow me to share some of the obstacles that Abraham had to overcome and you may find that you have more in common with him than you thought. Because, thee are several obstacles that we must overcome before we can become the men God wants us to be! (Ill. The need for FAITH! At home, at church, in the community!) {Read More…}

TEXT: By faith Noah — Heb. 11:7.

INTRODUCTION: Faith is to trust God without terms. For when God has a big job to be done, faith gets the contract. A person can never be a hero unless he is first a hero in faith. For we do not test the resources of God until we try the impossible. Even faith can stifle science. It is faith that expects from God that which is beyond all expectations.
Noah knew that there was no better way to show his trust in God than to bury himself in the thing God had asked him to do. For he found that faith was the key that unlocked the cabinet of God’s promises, and emptied the content of its treasures into his soul. Noah walked with God in a day and age when “all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth” (Gen. 6:12). This verse should be of special interest to all of us living in these days. Jesus told us, “As the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be” (Matt. 24:37). {Read More…}

TEXT: By faith Enoch…Hebrews 11:5,6.

INTRODUCTION: Someone has described Enoch’s relationship with God thus: God and Enoch often walked together. One day, in the cool of the evening, they walked a little farther than usual. Enoch said to God, “Lord don’t you think we had better be getting back home? It is beginning to get a little dark.” God turned to Enoch and said, “Enoch, you are right. Yes, it is getting dusky dark. But you know, Enoch, today it is closer to my home than it is back to yours. Why don’t you just come on and go home with me?” Enoch did as God suggested — went to God’s home without going through the natural process of death. “By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death” (Heb. 11:5). Up until the time of Enoch’s translation into Heaven, pleasure and pain, living and dieing, birth and burial was the commentary on life. “AND he died — and HE died — and he DIED,” signified life’s ending. Only once in 1,500 years did this not happen. “And he died,” could not be said of Enoch. By faith Enoch — {Read More…}

TEXT: By faith Abel — Heb. 11:4.

INTRODUCTION: In the physical realm, higher life (man) is sustained by the death of lower life — animal and vegetable. In the spiritual realm, lower life (man) is sustained by the death of higher life - God.
We see, one lamb for ONE MAN — Abel. He worshipped God with an offering — a lamb sacrifice. We see, one lamb for ONE FAMILY — the Passover Night. This lamb was to be — “without spot or blemish, a male…a lamb for a house” (Exo. 12:3). We see, one lamb for ONE NATION — the Great Day of Atonement. This was the day the high priest went into the Holy of Holies once a year. A scarlet rope was tied to his ankle. If he should die while in there, he could be extracted. When he had concluded with the sprinkling of the blood, and came out, he shouted — “it is finished!”

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TEXT: Heb. 11:1-2.Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. For by it the elders obtained a good report –

INTRODUCTION: The word “faith” is used 242 times in the Scriptures; yet it is one of the most neglected doctrines of the Bible.
It is one thing to believe that God CAN; it is quite another to believe that God WILL. This principle is the real test of spiritual faith. Yes, we say we believe God CAN because God is God - and God can do anything. However, to believe that God WILL is faith in practice - predicated, of course, upon His perfect will.
Doubt is of the mind, unbelief is of the will, but faith is of the heart. Someone has said, “if your faith fizzles out before the finish, in all probability it had a flaw from the first.”
Dr. Porter Barrington says, “faith does not make anything easy, but it does make all things possible.”
The wealth of faith involves the –

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