Blueprint Church

If your hand is closed around your money and possessions, if you don’t care about the needs of others enough to give, if you don’t value the kingdom above your personal pursuits, then Heaven can’t be read on your palm because it isn’t what you love. If your hand is open, you have let go of what is “yours” and understand that it is His. An open hand is evidence of an open heart, open to God and His purpose; a heart oriented to the world that is to come.

In the parable of the dishonest manager, the manager realizes that a day is coming when he will have to live with the consequences of his stewardship. With the little time he had left, he began to use his position and access to wealth to secure a better future for himself. The master commended the dishonest manager for his shrewdness. In the same way, we are to use our resources and position to secure for ourselves a better future in God’s Kingdom. We are to steward everything we have for God’s glory and for the spiritual health and well-being of others.

Stewardship is a call to trust in God. Yet we often give out of our bare excess because we really don't trust God to provide for tomorrow's needs. As we fight to trust in God and His provision, we are to look to Jesus and give generously.

Money deceives us into thinking that if we have it, it will make us happy, while all other purposes of life fall away. But the more clearly we see Jesus, the less likely we are to see money as life.

What we do with what God places in our hands, reveals how we are relating to God in our hearts. Stewardship is the essence of what it means to be human, and includes the totality of who we are and what we’ve been given. We reflect God the best, when we steward well what He has placed in our hands.

As the Church we are called to baptize, but often times we as believers either overemphasize or underemphasize the importance of baptism. Baptism declares that we are united with Christ and can walk in the newness of life.

According to the Author of Hebrews, the Christian life consists of two things primarily: holding fast our confession to Christ while being faithful to Him, and holding fast in our commitments to one another as brothers and sisters in Christ.

How can we obey His commands if we fail to believe in His promises? Let us be people of behavior, yes, but let us be people of behavior who are rooted in belief of the promises of God and the Truths of His Word.

We are part of a squad of ultimate significance, a cloud of great witnesses, who cheer us on as we run the race. They don’t just cheer for us, but for also those running alongside us. Because we aren’t just called to run the race for ourselves, but to help our brothers and sisters run and finish well.

By faith we see beauty in the midst of brokenness, are prepared to choose hardship over happiness, and look to the Savior rather than ourselves.

Reflecting on the importance of biblical faith allows us to walk in Light of the resurrection of Christ.

Commitment to Christ is commitment to Christ's people.

Christ is particularly great because His work is complete.

If we are going to have hope in the midst of a hopeless society, we must put our hope in something that is sure, something that is eternal, and something that is not fading. Our hope must be in what Christ has done on our behalf.

Blueprint Church

Many before Jesus were qualified to be priests because of their ancestry. Jesus was qualified because of His Superiority, perfection, and indestructible life.

The problem in Hebrews 6 is not just mere unbelief, it is something more serious, it is unbelief in the face of so much Light. The greater the Light, the greater the judgment; the enormity of Jesus increases the enormity of the crime. Our only hope is knowing that there is a God who cannot lie, and a Christ who cannot fail.

Because of what Jesus has done, we're encouraged to draw near to him with confidence. And because of his mission, we're called to join with him on the path of suffering.

Jesus is our high priest. Not just any priest, but a priest who died on the cross to pay for our sins and one who intercedes on our behalf before the Father. Jesus, a priest who doesn't need to make atonement for Himself, but becomes an atonement for his people.

Seeing Jesus as our better brother, keep us on being a better brother. Holding fast to Jesus is more than acknowledging that His work makes us part of the family, it propels us to act like part of the family.