Hebrews 13:17 Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they keep watch over your souls as those who will give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with grief, for this would be unprofitable for you.Church leaders have the God-given task of caring for Christ’s Church on earth—serving His people, preaching His word. They are to preach Scripture, reprove, rebuke, and exhort—in season and ou...

Romans 12:10-13 Be devoted to one another in brotherly love; give preference to one another in honor; 11 not lagging behind in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord; 12 rejoicing in hope, persevering in tribulation, devoted to prayer, 13 contributing to the needs of the saints, practicing hospitality.Christians offering themselves to God as living sacrifices (12:1) both love and hate—havi...

Hebrews 13:15-16 Through [Christ] then, let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God… 16 And do not neglect doing good and sharing, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.            The sacrifice of praise in Hebrews 13:15-16, through Christ unto God the Father, is also encouraged by the Apostle Paul: “Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a li...

Hebrews 13:15-16 Through [Christ] then, let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that give thanks to His name. 16 And do not neglect doing good and sharing, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.            Having moved out of Judaism into its ultimate fulfillment in Jesus Christ, the Jewish audience was no longer required to make sacrifices with anima...

Hebrews 13:10-14 We have an altar from which those who serve the tabernacle have no right to eat. 11 For the bodies of those animals whose blood is brought into the holy place by the high priest as an offering for sin, are burned outside the camp. 12 Therefore Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people through His own blood, suffered outside the gate. 13 So, let us go out to Him outside the cam...

Hebrews 13:7-9 Remember those who led you, who spoke the word of God to you; and considering the result of their conduct, imitate their faith. 8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. 9 Do not be carried away by varied and strange teachings; for it is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace, not by foods, through which those who were so occupied were not benefited.       ...

1 Timothy 6:9-10 But those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a snare and many foolish and harmful desires which plunge men into ruin and destruction. 10 For the love of money is a root of all sorts of evil, and some by longing for it have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.            Having just explained that false teachers are known by their love of...

Hebrews 13:5-6 See that your character is free from the love of money, being content with what you have; for He Himself has said, “I will never desert you nor will I ever forsake you,” 6 so that we confidently say, “The Lord is my helper, I will not be afraid. What will man do to me?Continuing the list of Christian evidences from Hebrews 13:4, the fifth evidence of a genuine Christian is that he i...

Hebrews 13:4b …and the marriage bed is to be undefiled; for fornicators and adulterers God will judge.Marriage, a holy creation of God to be “honored” by man (Heb. 13:4a), demands that the marriage “bed” (Gr. koita) be “undefiled.” Though a “bed” can obviously refer to a piece of furniture for sleeping, it is also used as a euphemism for sexual intercourse (cf. Rom 13:13) and in the sense of conce...

Hebrews 13:4a Marriage is to be held in honor among all…Continuing the list of Christian evidences from Hebrews 13, v. 4 presents a fourth fruit that grows in the life of Christians: an honorable marriage. The fact that the author even broached the subject of marriage points to the fact that marriage was being corrupted, perhaps even in the churches. It is known that certain ascetic influences in ...

Hebrews 13:1-3 Continue in brotherly love. 2 Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by this some have entertained angels unawares. 3 Remember the prisoners, as though in prison with them, and those who are ill-treated, since you yourselves also are in the body.The author of Hebrews spent the first ten chapters writing doctrinal truths. In chapter 11 he gave examples of faithful belie...

Hebrews 12:28-29 Therefore, since we receive a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us show gratitude, by which we may offer to God an acceptable service with reverence and awe; 29 for our God is a consuming fire.            The “therefore” in v. 28 draws the author’s argument to a conclusion. Having reminded that God will return to shake the world and burn it with fire at Christ’s return (vv. 26-2...

Hebrews 12:25-27 See to it that you do not refuse Him who is speaking. For if those did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, much less will we escape who turn away from Him who warns from heaven. 26 And His voice shook the earth then, but now He has promised, saying, “Yet once more I will shake not only the earth, but also the heaven.” 27 This expression, “Yet once more,” den...

Hebrews 12:22-24 But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to myriads of angels 23 to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the Judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, 24 and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood, which speaks better than th...

Hebrews 12:18-19, 22 For you have not come to a mountain that can be touched and to a blazing fire, and to darkness and gloom and whirlwind, 19 and to the blast of a trumpet and the sound of words which sound was such that those who heard begged that no further word be spoken to them. 22 But you have come to Mount Zion…       The Hebrews author contrasts two literal mountains in 12:18-22: Sinai in...