I'm not seeing it yet...

 Read Hebrews 2

In the next service I will focus on 2 words:  PAY ATTENTION.

I thought about preaching two other words:  CALM DOWN. That never seems to work.

I thought it went well with Be still and know that I am God. Actually, it works about as well. We don’t know how to calm down or be still or trust in the Lord with all of our hearts.

We struggle. Sometimes we go for a good stretch trusting God or at peace with God and our neighbors, but then we give into our human nature and own understanding.

We struggle.

Can you blame us? God is in control and this world looks like an absolute mess.  How can I calm down? How can I be still?

Why do I even want to PAY ATTENTION? We will spend more time on that later.

There are a few other words in this chapter that I want to spend some time on as well. Most folks don’t focus on them, but you are getting them this morning.

For in that He put all in subjection under him, He left nothing that is not put under him. But now we do not yet see all things put under him.

We have yet to see all things put under him. We don’t see the orderly world that we think we should see. What does that mean?

Sin is still thriving in the world.

The Devil has not yet been consigned to his fiery eternity.

The righteous must endure the rule of the wicked for a while longer, though the faithful know this time will not endure.

We just don’t see everything falling into place like it should be, or like we think it should be. So, does that mean that God’s plan has gone awry?  

If you ever pay attention to a card trick, you will find that the owner of the trick wants you to follow along closely. He or she just wants you to follow the wrong things, so that he can pull off the trick.

We don’t see the perfect things of God because we get distracted. It is not God who is distracting us. We distract ourselves by relying on our own human nature which includes our own understanding.

Think of Peter being distracted by the storm and taking his eyes off of Jesus.

We don’t need sleight of hand to distract or deceive us. We deceive ourselves by not believing the promises of God.

We must affirm the statements and promises of God as we go through our lives.

It’s not a once-a-week thing to affirm that God has good plans for us. That’s a daily thing. In this upside world, it might need to be an hourly thing or a moment-to-moment thing.

We need to affirm to ourselves and each other that God really does love us.

We need to affirm to each other that God is love.

We need to affirm that God really is in control.

We need to affirm that God is indeed sovereign.

We need to affirm that the blood of Jesus really did take away our sins.

We need to take on his yoke and follow him.

We need to put his words into practice.

If we affirm these things on a regular and recurring basis, we might get a glimpse of the world turned right-side-up. It won’t happen on our schedule but we can see what is to be in the kingdom of God.

Therefore, we should live by what God has told us is true and will come. Thus…

We are never discouraged. God wins.

We never lose hope. He is faithful and just. He’s got us.

We never throw in the towel for we know what God did for us in the person of Christ Jesus. He stepped out of heaven and lived and died as a man so our sins would be forgiven and we would have a great High Priest who knows firsthand what it is to live the human life.

Jesus was tempted in every way but did not sin. What advantage did he have?

He knew his Father's kingdom was for real. He knew the journey, no matter how arduous, was worth it.

In his blood we receive his righteousness. Let us also receive his assurance that these trials are temporary and that heaven is real.

We are to be strong and courageous.

We live to be known as his disciples by our love.

We don’t know the whole story now, but we trust the Author.

We can’t see the whole picture now, but we trust the Artist.  OBTW—this is the same Artist that made you into a masterpiece.

We don’t know what tomorrow holds, but we know Who holds tomorrow.

Amen.