Fellowship Wrap Up 11/20

It's Thanksgiving week! But as you know, here at Charis, we give thanks to God weekly.

This week's thanksgiving:

- Enery is thankful that he was able to avoid illness.

- Jane is thanks God for her boss granting her permission to go to Hong Kong in February despite just starting work in December.

- Jenn is simply grateful for a good week.

This week's prayer requests:

- Enery would like us all to continue to pray for his health and the health of those around him.

- Kai has an autism presentation on Wednesday. Please pray for his preparation.

- Daniel has a lot going on: UC applications, tests, and various activities. Keep him in your prayers.

- Jennifer is inviting a group of friends to the Thanksgiving fellowship. Please pray that God would soften their hearts to attend.

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Bible Study: Hebrews 9 - 10:31

(Notes courtesy of Enery)

9:1-10 Description of the Tabernacle (Temple)

· What was the purpose of the Tabernacle?

o Worship and an earthly place of holiness (Heb 9:1)

o Analogous to church? (Discussion)

· The Holy Place & The Most Holy Place (aka Holy of Holies)

o Encompassed a golden altar of incense and the ark of the covenant

· Day of Atonement

o Only the High Priest can go in once a year when he offers sacrifices atoning for the sins of the people (Heb 9:7).

o The veil is the symbol of the spiritual separation between God and man (Heb 9:8)

9:11-28 The OT Typology of Christ (High Priest)

· Christ as High Priest (Heb. 9:11)

o Was the tent really where God dwelled? If so, why is it destroyed?

o What does the author of Hebrews have to say about this? (Heb. 9:14)

· The New Covenant (Heb. 9:15)

o New covenant is initiated with blood (Hence it began when Christ died on the cross)

o Christ’s sacrifice is superior to the Old Covenant institutions (Heb 9:26-28)

10:1-18 Why the Old Covenant was Imperfect

· Christ’s sacrifice was perfect (10:1)

o It is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sin (10:4)

· God does away with the first (sacrifices) in order to establish the second (doing His will) (Heb. 10:9)

· Jeremiah 31 about the New Covenant

o God will write His laws into our hearts by the Holy Spirit!

o There is no longer any need for sin offerings b/c Christ’s was sufficient (10:18)

10:19-31 Exhortation to Draw Near

· Therefore!...

· Jesus is the reason to draw near to God in light of what we just discussed.

· “draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith” (10:21)

o The imagery implied is entering the Most Holy Place… imagine what a privilege it is, that something only one person got to do once a year… you can do whenever you want!

o Draw near with a heart submissive to God, “I desire to do Your will”

· How do we do this?

o Verses 24-25! Meeting together, encouraging each other…

· Sinning deliberately = Willfully sinning and refusing to repent

o The difference is repentance

Be sure to join us on Friday, December 4th for our second to last study of Hebrews. We'll be studying 10:31 all the way to chapter 12!