Monday, February 18, 2013

Living As A Christ Follower

Hey there friends! Below is my outline of a great chapter in the bible that walks us thru how to live as a Christian with other believers and with non believers! There is amazing stuff in there so I encourage y'all to read the chapter before you read my outline (read the best before the worst right?!)!

Hebrews 4 - Christian Living
1.     4:1-3 – Make every effort to maintain unity
a.     You must “live a life worthy of the calling you have received” (vs. 1).
                                               i.     You live out this calling by being “completely humble and gentle”. You also have to “be patient, bearing with one another in love” (vs. 2).
                                              ii.     Another part of the calling is to “make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace” (vs. 3).
2.     4:4-6 –            We should be unified because God is unified.
a.     It is important to remember that there is only one God but He is triune in nature. Since God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are one, we as a church should be as well.
b.     List of “one’s” (vs 4-6)
                                               i.     One body
                                              ii.     One Spirit
                                            iii.     One hope
                                            iv.     One Lord
                                              v.     One faith
                                            vi.     One baptism
                                           vii.     One God and Father
3.     4:7-16 – Christ gives us gifts to edify the body.
a.     4:7-10 – Christ gave us all a gift but had to pay a price to do it.
                                               i.     To each believer “grace has been given as Christ apportioned it” (vs. 7).
                                              ii.     Christ “descended to the lower earthly regions” so he could “ascend higher than all the heavens, in order to fill the whole universe” (vs 9,10).
4.     4:11-16 – Each believer has their own gift set which increases the maturity of the body.
a.     “So Christ Himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers” (vs. 11).
                                               i.     Every gift has its own purpose for the body.
b.     These gifts are meant to “equip His people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up” (vs. 12).
c.      This edification of the body of Christ will lead to “unity in the faith”, “knowledge of the Son of God”, becoming “mature” and “attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ” (vs. 13).
d.     If we do this we will be firm in our faith with Christ and will not be “tossed back and forth by the waves and blown here and there by every wind of teaching” (vs. 14).
e.     We will “speak the truth in love (vs. 15)” and the body will “build itself up in love as each part does its work
5.     4:17-19 – Gentiles live a dark life away from God.
a.     Don’t live as non-believers (gentiles) do because “they are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts (vs. 18)”.
                                               i.     List of what the gentiles have done (vs. 19)
1.     They have lost all sensitivity.
2.     They have given themselves over to sensuality.
3.     They indulge in every kind of impurity.
4.     They are full of greed.
6.     4:20-24 – Live a life that is centered on God.
a.     As believers, we were taught “to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires (vs. 22)” and “to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness (vs. 24)”.
7.     4:25-28 – Be honest and do not stay angry.
a.     We are called to “speak truthfully to your neighbor” because “we are all members of one body” (vs. 25).
b.     If you “allow the sun to go down while you are still angry (vs. 26)” you “give the devil a foothold” (vs. 27).
c.      We must “steal no longer” (vs. 28).
8.     4:29-32 – Do not speak unwholesomely and be kind.
a.     4:29-30 – We need to edify others or else our actions will “grieve the Holy Spirit (vs. 30)”.
b.     We must get rid of (vs. 31):
                                               i.     Bitterness
                                              ii.     Rage
                                            iii.     Anger
                                            iv.     Brawling
                                              v.     Slander
                                            vi.     Malice
c.      Instead we must “be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just in Christ God forgave you” (vs. 32).


Thanks for reading! If you have any questions let me know!

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