It has been a couple of weeks since I last wrote on this blog. The boys are doing well. Mom and Dad are totally exhausted, but loving every minute it!
On January 13, I preached a message from Hebrews 1:5-14. This is an extraordinary passage of Scripture because relays to us that Jesus Christ is better than the angels. For a time back in the 1990s, it seems that everyone was decorating their homes with an “angelic” decor. It lasted for a couple of years. Everyone was excited about angels. We constantly hear at funerals that when someone has died and gone to heaven “there’s a new angel there.” No, people, when they die, do not turn into naked babies playing harps while sitting on a puffy cloud! Angels are created beings that Jesus Christ Himself, as the Creator (cf. John 1:1-5; Colossians 1:15-20; Hebrews 1:1-4) created for His good pleasure. They are His servants because He is their Master. Even the 1/3 of angels that fell with Lucifer are under the bidding of their Creator! The point is this: Jesus Christ, after He had made purification for our sins, inherited a much better name than any angel that He created. (You can listen to the sermon by clicking here!)
Sunday evening, January 13th, I preached a message out of Exodus 5: Israel’s Labors. The Pharaoh was a mean dude! He increased the labors of the Israelites because they wanted to go out into the wilderness to make sacrifices to the Lord. He thought they were just lazy and told them to keep making bricks. But the difference is that they would have to get their own straw to make the bricks. The Egyptians used to get the straw for them. Then the Pharaoh also said that he expected them to keep the quota of bricks that they had prior to having to get their own supplies. God, however, was working out what He was going to do on behalf of the Israelites. He was going to rescue them because He is the Great Rescuer! (You can hear the message by clicking here!)
Sunday morning, January 20, I preached a message from Hebrews 2:1-4. It is a heart wrenching passage of Scripture because it simply tears your heart out if you self-examine yourself and see how far you have drifted away from the Lord. But it happens to everyone who knows the Lord. We become complacent and apathetic and the drifting away is ever so subtle. Before you know it, our hearts are hardened and we only have one recourse: Paddle back to the Savior! Paddle back to the One who has made purification for our sins and who has inherited a greater name than the angels! Turn around and come back to Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior! (You can hear the message by clicking here!)
In Exodus 6, God makes Himself known to Moses. He promises that He will make Pharaoh let His people go. And the Pharaoh will do this under compulsion! So who’s doing the compulsing?!? It is God Himself! He will show the Israelites what it is that He is going to do on their behalf. And why will He do this? Because God is the Promise-Keeper, the Covenant-Keeper! He’s the One who said that He would do this and keep them freed from the Pharaoh. (You can hear the message by clicking here!)
D.J. Gorena 