Hebrews 3:15-19 & 4:1-2

Hebrews 3:15-19 & 4:1-2 “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 fell in the desert? 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. 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 gospel preached to us, just as they did; but the message they heard was of no value to them, because those who heard did not combine it with faith.

Faith unlocks the door to heaven, to the kingdom of God, to salvation. Nothing else pleases God and provides victory in our lives. How much easier it would be for us humans to know God if we could come through the doors of rational thinking: through knowledge, wisdom, or our senses. But God does not allow us to approach him according to our human abilities; He demands unmitigated faith in his existence, in that which we cannot smell, touch, hear, or see with our natural abilities. We can read the Bible all we want or we can make long prayers to him, but without energized faith in his reality, these activities will profit us little. The message they heard was of no value to them, because those who heard did not combine it with faith. Faith is the catalyst to victory in a Spirit-led life. We must believe in Christ, the Alpha and the Omega. We must trust in God's active involvement with us and the reality of his plan for our lives: this is a victorious life of faith and hope in God.

Ten of the twelve who spied out the Promised Land came back with a story of giants in the land that were too big and too powerful to conquer. They testified the Israelites were as ants compared to the inhabitants of this new land. The ten despaired, for they lacked vision that the children of Israel could defeat such a mighty foe. In their rational thinking, they lacked the power to accomplish God's work. The ten were right that giants are not easily overcome, and they knew the giants controlled the precious Promised Land because of their strength and power. These realities hardened the hearts of the spies because they lacked faith to trust in God's care and to believe He would overcome any obstacle preventing the children of Israel from inhabiting their place of rest. Rational thinking, knowledge, wisdom and their visceral senses convinced them of the impossibility of inhabiting the land of Israel. With hearts fainting from unbelief, God's chosen people agreed with the ten and not with Caleb and Joshua, so God judged them harshly for their hard hearts and made them wander in the wilderness for another 40 years until all who failed to believe God's word passed away. Their bones were left in the wilderness because God cannot lead people anywhere who lack faith to enter into his rest, his accomplished work. God's planned for his people to inherit the land of promise, but the children of Israel lacked faith to enter into his work; in other words, they did not believe God had accomplished the work that would fulfill his promises.

Yes, believers use their minds to navigate this secular world, but when we look to God to fulfill his plan in our lives, we need faith, a firm belief in God's intricate involvement in our lives. Facing the obstacles of life, we should constantly remind each other that God delivered us from Egypt, the land of sin and death. As we fully appreciate that deliverance, we will understand the land of promise is already ours. By faith, we live each day in his land of blessings, a land of rest. We forsake worrying about tomorrow and rest in Christ's finished work. Such faith challenges all of us, but God desires us to rest in his sufficiency, his eternal supply. As He promised a land to the Israelites, He promised you an abiding place, a place of safety in Christ. Therefore, step out in faith today, believing God will supply his best for you. Since He has already redeemed your soul through the miracle of salvation, He will advance your spiritual life from glory to glory. As you rest in God's strength and yield to the Spirit, God will lead you to green pastures, new experiences with him. He will increase your desire to do his will and not yours. Yes, for many of us, we see giants in the land and wonder how we can overcome them. God says to each of us, "Rest in me and believe in the work I have accomplished." As we rest in the assurance that He is faithful and true, we will not let our hearts become fearful or hardened by unbelief. As you trust him, God will richly bless you and make your life fruitful for him.

Hebrews 3:7-15

Hebrews 3:7-15 So, as the Holy Spirit says: “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion, during the time of testing in the desert, where your fathers tested and tried me and for forty years saw what I did. That is why I was angry with that generation, and I said, ‘Their hearts are always going astray, and they have not known my ways.’ So I declared on oath in my anger, ‘They shall never enter my rest.’” See to it, brothers, 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 we hold firmly till the end the confidence we had at first. As has just been said: “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion.”

Luke 11:9-13 “So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened. “Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead? Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”

The children of Israel failed to enter the Promised Land because their hearts were hardened by unbelief. They did not believe the God who delivered them from Egypt could now give them a new land of freedom. Because of their unbelief, God disciplined them, making them wander the wilderness for forty years until the faithless generation died off, except for Joshua and Caleb. Then God called them once again to his land of milk and honey, and with faith in God, this new generation took the land and entered into God's rest. In today's passage, the author of Hebrews encourages people not to fail to enter into God's rest because of unbelief. Christians must believe God has a new life planned for us, a reality we should enter by faith. By faith we know God delivers us from the land of sin and death as He brings us into a new life, a Promised Land, where we rest from our works, knowing we please him. We no longer evaluate our acceptance in this place of rest, for we know IN JESUS, WE ARE PLEASING TO GOD. As we look to Jesus, the author and finisher of our salvation, He changes us from glory to glory. As we take on his attributes, we become more tolerate, kind, gentle, and loving as we receive the spiritual strength to love even our enemies. These attributes come by faith as we yield to Jesus, for God's kingdom and his likeness come to us not by our works but by faith in Christ's finished work at the cross.

At the time of their rebellion, the children of Israel did not fully understand God had prepared the way for them to possess the Promised Land. They thought it would be too hard to enter into the rest God had promised for them. Since they thought the price would be too high, God was angry with them, for they failed to appreciate fully that they were HIS CHILDREN, THE APPLE OF HIS EYE. As his children, He would not give them a snake for a fish because He was not an evil father but a good father. Today we must also believe He is a good father. We please God not because of our works but just because WE ARE the redeemed, his chosen people of faith. As Abraham was chosen so are we chosen in his loins of faith. God gives his gift of new life to "whosoever will." We must really believe we can emphatically and permanently rest in the complete price Jesus paid for our salvation. The Promised Land is ours, and just as God rested from his work on the seventh day, we too now rest from our labors as we rest in him. We believe in the perfect life in Christ God has planned for us.

The Bible tells us to encourage each other with the hope we have in Christ. As we share our faith, the deceitfulness of sin will not harden our hearts. If sin deceives us, we will fail to accept his sufficiency by entering into his rest: either we will go out and try to live our lives as our flesh desires, not believing in Christ's redeeming work, or we will try to win our salvation through our efforts, our works. Either way we lose the Promised Land and forsake God's rest. We continue to function in the wilderness; therefore, we remain under the discipline and anger of God. But we who gather around the breakfast table this morning are not unbelievers, for we have been born again into the body of Christ. As members of God's family, we partake of his Spirit, for He gives the Holy Spirit to those who ask him. We are the people of peace, the people of rest. We are his faith children, beloved of God.

Hebrews 2:18 & 3:1-6

Hebrews 2:18 & 3:1-6 Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted. Therefore, holy brothers, who share in the heavenly calling, fix your thoughts on Jesus, the apostle and high priest whom we confess. He was faithful to the one who appointed him, just as Moses was faithful in all God’s house. Jesus has been found worthy of greater honor than Moses, just as the builder of a house has greater honor than the house itself. For every house is built by someone, but God is the builder of everything. Moses was faithful as a servant in all God’s house, testifying to what would be said in the future. But Christ is faithful as a son over God’s house. And we are his house, if we hold on to our courage and the hope of which we boast.

Hebrews 8:7-10) For if there had been nothing wrong with that first covenant, no place would have been sought for another. 8 But God found fault with the people and said: “The time is coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. 9 It will not be like the covenant I made with their forefathers when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they did not remain faithful to my covenant, and I turned away from them, declares the Lord. 10 This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time, declares the Lord. I will put my laws in their minds and write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.

The writer of Hebrews tells Christ's followers, to FIX your thoughts on Jesus, the heavenly messenger and founder of our faith, and the high priest who forever presents us holy before Father God. Jesus, our Lord, became man to fulfill man's part in a new covenant with God. Because of sin, mankind failed to fulfill his part of the old covenant: his promise of remaining faithful to God. Self-interest and lust led people away from a God-focused, righteous life to a self-focused, worldly life. However, Jesus who was without sin or waywardness, who always did the will of the Father, fulfilled completely God's demands on humans: loving God with all his strength, heart, and mind and loving his neighbor as himself. As the perfect man and unblemished Lamb of God, Christ fulfilled the old covenant and the law and established a new covenant with man, one written down on the hearts of men. His sacrifice appeased God's wrath on sin. His substitution on the cross brought eternal life to all those who believe in him, for his righteous, sinless blood dealt with their sins. He conquered sin and death at the cross; therefore, we who believe, not only died with him, but are resurrected with him. As Christ ushered in this new covenant through his finished work at the cross, He enabled Christians to become A PART OF HIS BODY, the literal house of God where He dwells.

Just as Moses faithfully led the children of Israel, the earthly dwelling place of God, out of bondage in Egypt, Christ, the builder of the spiritual house of God, faithfully and eternally leads all who believe out of bondage to sin and death. Moses and the brethren he led were finite men, but even though Christ became man, He was also God. As creator, He built everything that was made; consequently, He alone could reconstruct and redeem the house of man that sin had ravaged. This reconstruction came through his sacrifice, his death for man's rebellion. The blueprint of this house had "start over" stamped on it. No longer would God use laws and regulations to make man better, but he would give mankind a fresh start by placing him on a better foundation. No longer would the integrity of the house be dependent on man's will and efforts; instead, God would build on a secure foundation, even the chief cornerstone, Christ Jesus. As the perfect plumb line, Christ insured a forever perfect construction. As the chief architect of our souls, our home, Jesus made those who are found in him pleasing to God, a perfect dwelling place for the Spirit of God.

What a great salvation we have in Jesus! No longer building on our good works, our faithfulness, we now build upon Jesus' good works and his faithfulness. When we fail, we start over, thanking him for his structure in our lives. When we succeed, we also thank him for creating us for good works. In all things, we thank him for his light and life in us. We glorify and praise him for making an intrusion into the inner sanctums of our lives and for his abiding Spirit within our souls. We humbly fix our hearts on him and follow him because we live in victory only because of him. We do as the author of Hebrews advises us, as holy brothers, (we) who share in the heavenly calling, fix your (our) thoughts on Jesus, the apostle and high priest whom we confess. Every day, we abide in him, and through his strength, we know the heavenly joy that comes to his servants. As his lovely ones, so wonderfully made in his image and freed from sin, we stand boldly before the Father. Praise God that Christ's works are constantly before the Father and not ours because none of us could last for a day in the presence of a holy God, but IN CHRIST, we are his for eternity. Blessed be the name of the Lord!

Hebrews 2:14-18

Hebrews 2:14-18 Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death — that is, the devil — and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death. For surely it is not angels he helps, but Abraham’s descendants. For this reason he had to be made like his brothers in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people. Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.

Jesus Christ, the Son of God, became to release men from the fear of death. As a perfect man, He also had the temptation of fearing death, living as if the angel of death hovered over the house at all times. But He came to take that fear away by placing his blood over the door portal of the house of each man and woman. He came to free us from this life of fear by protecting us evermore from the eternal death authored by the devil. As in the days of the children of Israel in Egypt, his blood releases the children from Pharaoh's (the devil's) hand. As freed children, we are now on our way to the Promised Land. As the Israelites were freed from their captivity in Egypt, we too have been freed from the bondage of sin and the hands of the enemy.

When we accept Jesus as Savior, we experience the Day of Atonement. God washes away our sins and cleanses us from every work that leads to death. Jesus' work on the cross becomes our path to life forevermore. We are no longer captive to sin and death. Although once held in slavery by their (our) fear of death, when Jesus becomes our life, we are free. The angel of death cannot touch down to our households. We will experience the shadow of death and not the death of the soul. We will not die in Egypt, for we are bound for the Promised Land. John Wooden, a wonderful Christian man and probably the best basketball coach ever, was asked for his secret to a long life (he died when he was 99 years old). "Not being afraid of death," he replied, the answer ever Christian should give concerning his or her life. We abide in God's hands, not in Pharaoh's hands. We live by his breath, not by ours, and his breath is eternal. The Lord has not destined us to stay here; we are moving on to an eternal land. This hope of a better place is our reality. Without this hope of eternal life, we Christians would be most miserable, for we would believe a lie. But those who walk in the light are people of the truth, with resurrection life within us and the testimony of the Holy Spirit in our souls. His still small voice guides us through our days, gives us peace to sleep at night, and encourages us as we arise each morning. We are IN HIM and He is WITHIN US--the reality of Christianity.

Therefore, my brethren, cast away all your fear. Open up your minds to the reality of God within you, our hope of glory. The death angel will never touch down in your life, for you are eternal. God became man, suffered as a man, so He could experience our pain and provide an escape from the grave. He experienced man's captivity to death and the devil's work. By experiencing the life as a man, He made a way to life through his sacrifice at the cross and resurrection from the grave. He became the perfect Lamb of God who takes away sin forever. We are not alone because He came to us as a perfect man, a perfect sacrifice, to appease God's wrath toward sin. Because He is perfect, we are perfect in him. He has substituted his life for ours by paying the price for our sins. He interfered with the consequences of sin by conquering death and bringing his life to each of us. Now it is not our lives we live, but his. Rejoice, because through the sinless Christ, God made us whole, righteous. Yes, the Holy Spirit placed the blood over the portal of every believer's heart. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. (Colossians 3:3) Again, I say, rejoice! Amen!

Hebrews 2:10-13

Hebrews 2:10-13 In bringing many sons to glory, it was fitting that God, for whom and through whom everything exists, should make the author of their salvation perfect through suffering. Both the one who makes men holy and those who are made holy are of the same family. So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers. He says, “I will declare your name to my brothers; in the presence of the congregation I will sing your praises.” And again, “I will put my trust in him.” And again he says, “Here am I, and the children God has given me.”

Jesus Christ, the author of our salvation was made flesh for our deliverance and adoption into God's family: Both the one who makes men holy and those who are made holy are of the same family. As a man He experienced all the calamity of finite flesh, even death. Yet, He was without sin. He knew the frustrations of life, but He did not yield to its temptations. He became perfect through his suffering by having faith regardless of circumstances, for He was unwilling to bow to the vicissitudes of life or to the devil's will. Because of his human experience, He calls us brothers, for He was once like us. Jesus is not ashamed to call them (us) brothers. And because Christ is our elder brother who declares God's name to all and who sings praises to God, so do we. If Jesus sings praises to God and testifies of his goodness and greatness, so should we. Without that attitude, we cannot be called his brothers. We cannot claim to be a member of the family if we don't honor the head of the family by worshipping him.

What a mystery that people call themselves Christian, but fail to sing praises to him or to worship him. Their clandestine faith keeps them closet Christians. However, Jesus says, "I will declare your name to my brothers; in the presence of the congregation I will sing your praises.” Likewise we should declare God's name and sing praises to him. Choosing not to bite our lips in silence, we should sing joyfully, for even the rocks will sing if we, MEMBERS OF HIS CONGREGATION, fail to praise him. GOD WILL BE PRAISED, FOR HE DESERVES PRAISE. Our acts of worshipping and singing are the actions of love. When we love someone, we want others to know our joy. If we respect someone, we honor him with our hearts and lips. At Christ birth, the angels praised God: Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests.” (Luke 2:13-14) Revelations shows all creatures singing and praising God. Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all that is in them, singing: “To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be praise and honor and glory and power, for ever and ever!” (Revelations 5:13) Love emits praise and honor.

At fifteen, I placed Jesus in the center of my life. From that time until now, 55 years later, I have never stopped singing of God's goodness and grace. I have often wondered why singing welled up within me at the time of my salvation. The above scriptures reveal very clearly why singing is an important part of a Christian's life. When we receive Christ into our hearts, his Spirit begins to sing praises within us. The Bible says, out of our innermost beings will flow living water. We express what the Spirit is saying about Jesus and God through words and songs. The Spirit came to honor God, by revealing Jesus' grace and mercy. He continually proclaims the goodness of God. When we are hidden in Christ, our nature reveals Jesus' nature, and we will want to praise and honor God as He does.

My breakfast companions, let the songs of the Spirit that lift up God's name emit from your lips. This action might take faith for some of you. Some of you might just be saying, I want to praise him, but I need songs of praise in me, his revelation in me. If so, open your mouth and praise him; sing with your mouth of his goodness and as you practice his presence new songs of joy and victory will arise from within you. Maybe a little rap would be your offering if you don't feel you have a melodious voice, but whatever you do, allow his words and thoughts to come and remind of his greatness, of his goodness. Let the river of life flow and overflow. You will find strength for your souls and edification for your spirits as you yield to the Spirit's leading, and God will be blessed by your sacrifice of praise.

Hebrews 2:5-9

Hebrews 2:5-9 It is not to angels that he has subjected the world to come, about which we are speaking. But there is a place where someone has testified: “What is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him? You made him a little lower than the angels; you crowned him with glory and honor and put everything under his feet.” In putting everything under him, God left nothing that is not subject to him. Yet at present we do not see everything subject to him. But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, now crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.

In his great kindness, God brought us near to him through the blood of Jesus Christ. Before the cross, we were aliens, recalcitrants, lost, outside of God's Kingdom; but now because of the mercy and grace of God, we who are IN CHRIST come boldly into God's very presence. God chose to put all things under Christ, under his authority. Now we who live by faith live under and in his authority. However, the Bible says, God put Jesus a little lower than the angels where He faced the hardships and vicissitudes of life as a man. He would even experience the fear of death: Take this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.” (Mark 14:36) Jesus experienced all the weaknesses and temptations of life, for He was made wholly man. Yet, as a man, He lived a victorious, sinless life in the Spirit. He did only the will of the Father. Because of his perfect life, He became the PERFECT SACRIFICE for sin. Only the Lamb of God without blemish could deliver God's children from the bondage of sin and the devil's work just as the lamb's blood over the doorposts in Egypt delivered the children of Israel from Pharaoh's hands.

God required the children of Israel to bring him a perfect, unblemished animal for their sin sacrifices. Only a perfect animal would be acceptable to God, for only perfection could withhold God's wrath towards sin. But the blood of animals could never wash away sin. The blood could only protect sinful man from the wrath of God for a while; therefore, animal sacrifices had to be offered often. But Jesus, the Son of God, became our PERFECT SACRIFICE, our eternal sacrifice for sin, once and for all time. For believers, his sacrifice cleans our slate of sin. His sacrifice continually eviscerates sin from our innermost being. His cleansing and redemptive power allows the Holy Spirit to write the law of love and righteousness upon our hearts because if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin. (1 John 1:7) From the innermost being of every Christian flows living water. God's eternal Spirit activates our souls to live a freedom and holiness as we testify of God's goodness. Now, because of the work of the cross, those who place their faith in Christ have his nature and his eternal life, for He created new creatures who will never taste death.

My breakfast companions, praise God, for He is good, and He is faithful to keep his promises. He has brought new life to you because of his Son's sacrifice. He loved us so much that He gave his only begotten Son as a propitiation for our sins. What a debt we have to God; therefore, our lives should reflect this same love to others that God displayed towards us. This is our reasonable sacrifice as God's beloved children. In the book of Philippians, we read that we should take on the nature of the only begotten Son. As He became a servant to all, we should also become servants to others. His sacrifice was for every human being, even his enemies. We also should love our enemies, not just our friends. We are commanded to love everyone, sharing the grace and mercy of God. To do so, we need to yield to the power of the Holy Spirit within us. We need to allow him to show us how to love, how to fulfill God's will. Oh, what a great sacrifice God made for us! Consequently, we also should be a sacrifice of love to the world, especially to those who lack the light of Christ.

Hebrews 2:1-4

Hebrews 2:1-4 We must pay more careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away. For if the message spoken by angels was binding, and every violation and disobedience received its just punishment, how shall we escape if we ignore such a great salvation? This salvation, which was first announced by the Lord, was confirmed to us by those who heard him. God also testified to it by signs, wonders and various miracles, and gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will.

Hebrews 3:7-11 So, as the Holy Spirit says: “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion, during the time of testing in the desert, where your fathers tested and tried me and for forty years saw what I did. That is why I was angry with that generation, and I said, ‘Their hearts are always going astray, and they have not known my ways.’ So I declared on oath in my anger, ‘They shall never enter my rest.’”

The author of Hebrews warns us to heed the message of Jesus Christ and the apostles. Their New Covenant message was confirmed by various signs, wonders and miracles. Their message was also validated by the Holy Spirit who came to inhabit believers. His miraculous presence in the body of Christ brought God's power and authority to men. Then Peter said, “Ananias, how is it that Satan has so filled your heart that you have lied to the Holy Spirit and have kept for yourself some of the money you received for the land? . . .You have not lied to men but to God.” When Ananias heard this, he fell down and died. (Acts 5:3-5) Because of the evident power of God with men, the writer of Hebrews warns Christians to pay careful attention to the true message and to not drift away from that message.

Interestingly, the author tells us not to drift away. This warning basically connotes not turning away or rejecting the gospel but just growing cold or indifferent to the gospel, which is dangerous because the gospel was not confirmed merely by angels, but by the Son himself who validated his ministry of grace and mercy through miraculous signs and wonders and eventually his own death and resurrection. If we become dispassionate to such a heavenly affirmed gospel, how can we escape God's judgment and discipline? The implication is that we cannot. We cannot treat Christ's plan of salvation cavalierly and then go on thinking we are pleasing to God. Salvation demands wholehearted commitment from every believer. The Bible indicates God will spew lukewarm Christians out of his mouth. We cannot use God for our selfish purposes and interests without yielding control to him. Our lives must be totally his, under his authoriey at all times. We cannot compartmentalize our lives, giving some parts to him and keeping the rest for ourselves. IN CHRIST, we are totally submerged, committed fully. Such devotion does not wander away, for the Holy Spirit dwells within each Christian. He constantly makes us aware that Jesus is always with us: in our good and in our bad times, when we act correctly and when we are out of control. The Spirit always informs us that we are not alone and that we are ALWAYS HIS. Such a salvation is worthy of our all.

With these facts uppermost in our minds, we will constantly desire to conform our attitudes and our lives to his image. We will want the Holy Spirit's attributes to shine through us. We will seek God's presence and sit at Jesus' feet. Our voices will sing forth his praises daily whenever we find ourselves alone. We will continually commune with him in our spirits when we are not confronted with the mundane duties of this world. Our relationships with him will be minute-by-minute. We will not go for hours without hearing his voice and seeking his will. Our hearts will be humble as we wonder why the God of the universe would so graciously choose to love us. With contrite hearts and open minds, we will obey, serve, and worship our Lord.

Now, the Bible instructs us to enter into his rest as with the children of Israel when God asked them to occupy the land He had given them. Yet because of unbelief, they rejected his plan and did not enter in. Therefore, God judged them harshly and made them wander the wilderness for forty years before he would allow their offspring to enter into the Promised Land. Today, "Enter into my rest," remains the cry of the Lord. Today, turn your heart wholly towards the Lord as you commune with him. Today, draw near to him. If you choose to enter in, you will find rest and the joy of your salvation. Just as God finds joy in your salvation, you will find your joy in him, for He SELECTED YOU to hear his voice and to find his peace. His marvelous plan is sufficient for you if you do not drift away into complacency and unbelief. Dear one, remember that He will never forsake you or leave you fatherless. Today, accept the inheritance of a child of God procured by the shed blood of the Lamb of God.