On July 11th, we invite you to hear from Riverbend Worship Leader, Michael De Selm. He will be sharing about freedom from shame, and the ministry of reconciliation.
The "Freedom Starts Today" series is inspired by the 90 day devotional (of the same name) by John Elmore. This book encourages us to practice confession and repentance daily, in order to live lives worthy of our calling. We hope you can join us!
July 4th we hear from our creative arts pastor, Christopher Dean. He will be sharing his personal story of transformation and freedom by God's power.
The "Freedom Starts Today" series is inspired by the 90 day devotional (of the same name) by John Elmore. This book encourages us to practice confession and repentance daily, in order to live lives worthy of our calling. We hope you can join us!
*Within today's sermon there is a clip from season 2 of "The Chosen". We strongly encourage you to watch BOTH amazing seasons of this series for FREE at www.thechosen.tv/app
Audio was originally recorded at Riverbend’s Sunday Gathering on June 13th, 2021.
Riverbend Gathering Audio originally recorded on May 30th, 2021. “Finishing Well” is the conclusion of the Run Your Race Series - a study on Hebrews 12 - 13.
This week speaker Matt Kay continues through the book of Hebrews (13:7-18) - Teaching on the importance of remembering, considering, and imitating the author and perfecter of our faith, Jesus Christ.
This week Pastor Travis continues through the book of Hebrews, teaching through 13:1-7.
Throughout the Bible, we hear of the voice of the Lord is powerful- that when God speaks, all of creation is subject to His will. Psalm 29 focuses on this power and majesty of the voice of the Lord- it breaks the cedars, it flashes forth fire, it shakes the wilderness. The author in Hebrews points to this and says that God’s voice will “shake” or “consume” that which is temporary, so that what is permanent (“unshakeable”) will remain. We are reminded to stay sensitive to that voice, and to focus our worship on that which is truly worthy, rather than that which will be burned away. None will be more worthy than the center of this unshakeable kingdom, God Himself.
Mount Sinai, where Moses received the ten commandments, was a place where the people were rightly introduced to the fear of God in light of His holiness and justice. However, in Hebrews, the author makes the point that we no longer stand in the shadow of Mount Sinai, but in the shadow of Mount Zion. Here, we are not confronted with our sin but where our sin is covered in the righteousness of Christ. We are free to joyfully run the race set before us, qualified to win because ofJesus qualifications on our behalf.
This week, Pastor Travis continues through Hebrews 12 - teaching through the story of Esau, and the importance of understanding the value of our inheritance.
An encouragement to us as we run the race of faith is that we are a child of God. He is our Father. He provides for us what we need, and loves us more fully than we would imagine. But as a Father, he gives discipline- hardships that He allows to enter our lives. He does not do this callously or menacingly, but He does this from a place of closeness and deep relationship. He has our best interests at heart as he delights in us as his children who have been made righteous in His eyes through what He gave for us in Jesus.
The great men and women of faith from the Old Testament are a “cloud of witnesses” that inspire us to run a race of endurance as we pursue the righteousness of God and wait for His promises. But, we have something that those who came before do not have- Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith (Hebrews 11). He went to the cross to assure us that God does know our struggles intimately and cares for us infinitely. And our faith is not in vain because he rose and is victorious against sin, that chasm which had separated us from the righteousness of God and his promises.
The usefulness of faith is not so much defined by how good a person is at practicing that faith, but instead by the object of the faith. When the object of our faith is Jesus, the one who fulfills a better resurrection, even the most severe sufferings of this life are endurable. This is possible because this faith asserts that sin, leading to eternal and final suffering, doesn’t have the last word in our story. Instead, this faith in Jesus knows of a victory over sin and death, a victory that we specifically reflect on during this week leading up to Resurrection Sunday.
Hebrews 11 is often called the “Hall of Faith”, looking at the people of God in the past and explaining how they did things that, on the surface, didn’t make sense. They do this because they have a confident assurance in who God is, they have placed their faith and hope in the right One. And even though there are failures, this faith that tethers their heart to the God who conquers all, justifies them. And today, we all through faith are able to be justified in spite of our failures through Jesus whom God sent for us.
This Sunday we will conclude our teaching series, "Greater Than" as Elder Drew Dolan will teach through Hebrews 10 - unpacking the Hope of the Church, the Beauty of the Church, and the Hope for the Church.
The concept of covenant is further expanded on here in chapter 9. One of the things that this new relationship with God through Christ does is to clear our conscious and to free us to serve him. The sin that clings closely to us has been dealt with once and for all, and through this God shows he loves us and he will not forsake us.
The Christians receiving the letter to the Hebrews were found to be drifting away from who they are in Christ, and turned back to things that were familiar and comfortable to them. The passage in Hebrews chapter 8 we looked at this week is almost entirely a quote from Jeremiah 31. Contained in that quote to the Jewish people hundreds of years prior, there was a promise given of something better- a new covenant. That new covenant would make obsolete the old ways they tried to obey and make themselves ‘right’ with God. A better way was here, ushered in through Jesus obeying God perfecting and making us ‘right’ with God through the finished work on the cross.
We are made for covenantal love- the kind of love that is committed and lasting, in spite of when one side falls short of expectations. We see this primarily in the love that God has for us, that in spite of the shortcomings of his people (both communally and personally), he calls out to us “I will be your God, and you will be my people”. God does this through a new kind of priest- one who isn’t made a priest because of his lineage, but because of how he lived a perfect life. This priest is Jesus- the king of peace and righteousness, the one who upholds our end of the covenant with God.
This week Jesse Velarde continues through the book of Hebrews, teaching through Hebrews 6:1-19, and the hope available to all those who remain in Jesus.
We are starting a new series through the book of Hebrews called “Greater Than”. This title reflects that a central theme of Hebrews is that Jesus is greater than (insert anything here). For the Jewish audience, it is key to show that Jesus is greater than any angel, priest, or old covenant institution (sacrifices, the temple, the law of Moses, etc). He is the heir of all things, person through whom God created and upholds the universe, the one who can make purification for sin once and for all. We should value Jesus as superior over all things in our lives.
Hebrews chapter 4 focuses on the word “rest”, a rest that is offered eternally by being in God’s presence, washed of sin by the work of Jesus. This is deeper than just the physical, mental or emotional rest that we so often long for. It is the rest for our soul, the safety found in the promise of salvation. There is an inner-striving we have that undermines any trust in God, and makes us weary. This chapter bids us to strive to trust God more, to have faith that the finished work of Jesus is enough. When we strive for this, we find rest.
Riverbend Community Church
795 Roble Rd
Allentown, PA 18109
Questions? Reach out by
info@riverbendonline.org or text (610) 595-9156
Gatherings held Sunday at 9 and 11 AM