Obey your leaders; submit to them. They are keeping watch over your lives, you see, as people who will have to give an account. Make sure they can do this with joy, not as a burden. That would be of no value to you.
Pray for us! Our conscience is clear; we are quite sure of it. We wish to act appropriately in everything. I beg you especially to do this, so that I may be quickly restored to you.
May the God of peace, who led up from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the eternal covenant, make you complete in every good work so that you may do his will. May he perform, in you, whatever will be pleasing in his sight, through Jesus the Messiah. Glory for ever and ever be his, Amen!
I beg you, my dear family, bear with this word of exhortation; I've written you briefly, after all. You should know that our brother Timothy has been released. If he comes soon, I will see you and him at the same time.
Greet all your leaders, and all God's people. Those from Italy send you greetings. Grace be with you all.
I used to absolutely refuse to teach Sunday School. I was asked to facilitate the class a few times by the Sunday School Director, but I had read that teachers are held to a higher account and not many should do it. That was a risk I was not taking, peoples lives hang in the balance...not to mention I know God doesn't need any more ammo to blast me with...He's got the goods as it is. Eventually, the lord prompted me to fill in in an emergency and then once or twice more. Even then it was a program that you just follow along with so I couldn't screw it up too bad I figured.
It wasn't until my senior pastor at my current church invited me to share a word with some guys at an addiction recovery project called "All The Way". This was a new program that was just busting out with great people that were discovering the new life our King offers and this was an opportunity to share the story with them and lead them to see where they fit in the plot. Besides who could turn down teaching the scriptures at a gathering called "Happy Hour". My co-laborer, Mike Rosa,and I started with the John's gospel. God thus started me on a journey of teaching and preaching the Word that would change my life and toss me overboard into the most passionate relationship with the Father and my brothers and sisters at ATW that I never imagined. I was out of the boat and it was great, because Jesus was right there. The fellowship was intimate, there was opportunity for discipleship for those who wanted to really dig in, accountability in the brotherhood was strong and people had and shared serious testimonies of dying and we got to see many rise again.
I never forgot the responsibility that this placed on my shoulders though. We are quite literally talking about peoples lives when we take on leadership roles in the ministry (particularly teaching), you can't just say time-out, oops...real people...real lives...real struggles...real wounds...real time. They needed the real Jesus and Mike and I were the witnesses God sent into the mix. Who deserves such an honor, to speak before so many of God's children? I still pray over those the Lord gave us to look after and minister to and serve and will continue to do so, they made it an absolute joy for me. I've rarely been around such a large group in one place of people genuinely hungering and thirsting for the justice and mercy and faithfulness that only Jesus offers...
Our time at ATW was short, but I pray many take seriously the Word we spoke...Jesus is Lord, turn to Him and you will find healing and refreshment until the day of the renewal of all things, there is rest in the arms of the King. In the meantime though, there is also a battle in front of us and there is an enemy who would have us harden our hearts, carry us off in all sorts of directions, lead us into confusion and try to break down the bonds that have been built in the Spirit. This is only exacerbated by our own sinful natures that we constantly must battle against. However, having had our eyes opened to King Jesus through this "short" exhortation carrying in it some of the sternest warnings in the new testament about falling from grace and staying the course side by side with some of the clearest exegetical encouragements and teachings in the history of theological literature. We have learned, I hope that scripture speaks into real situations to a specific time and specific place and specific people, but as we read them and join in the story we find the Holy Spirit reminding us of many things and making it our story, changing us forever...even as the walls are crumbling about us and within us, The Father's grace, the King and the Kingdom are unshaken.
I pray those who have been following along for Hebrews have been blessed and will now go and be a blessing with anything you've gleaned, giving all glory and honor and praise to our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen
All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.
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