Sermons

This last week in my Bible reading I read a powerful passage in Hebrews 4, and I want to share it with you.  Let’s turn there together.  If you need a Bible, go ahead and raise your hand and we’ll bring a Bible to you.  Hebrews 4 is on page 1002 in the Bibles we are passing out.

What struck me this past week was verses 14-16 –

14            Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession.

15            For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.

16            Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

Here we learn two truths about Jesus.  First of all, in v.14, Jesus is our great high priest.  In the Old Testament the High Priest offered animal sacrifices as a way to picture what Jesus would do on the Cross.  And that pointed to Jesus who is the Great High Priest who offered Himself on the Cross.  When Jesus died on the Cross he was taking upon himself the punishment for our sins, so that if we will repent of our sins, and trust Him, we will be completely forgiven and brought into relationship with God as our loving Father.  Jesus is our great high priest.

Secondly, in v.15, Jesus sympathizes with our weaknesses.  He has been tempted in every respect as we are, yet without ever sinning.  So he knows by personal experience the weaknesses we face, the struggles we face, the difficulties we face.  And he sympathizes with you in your weakness. 

Then because Jesus is our great high priest (v.14) and because He sympathizes with our weaknesses (v.15), here’s what we should do.  Read v.16 again --

Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

What we should do is understand that because of Jesus’ death for us, if we are trusting Him, then God’s throne is not a throne of judgment, it’s a throne of grace.  And whenever we face a time of need, we should draw near to the throne of grace – that means coming to Him in prayer, seeking Him in prayer, asking for whatever we need.  And as we do that, the result if that we will receive mercy and find grace to help in our time of need.

Now there’s lots of ways we can do this.  You can do this Sundays during worship, you can do this by yourself tonight, you can do this with your home group.  But this morning I want us to do this by – in a few moments – breaking into smaller groups and praying for each other with the laying-on of hands.

The laying-on-of-hands is a practice you find throughout the Bible.  It involves people laying hands on a person, and asking Jesus to come and do something supernatural right there and then in the person they are praying for.

And when God’s people come together in Jesus’ name and lay hands on someone and pray, Jesus will come and do supernatural works right here and now.

Every single person here this morning has needs.  We all need to receive mercy from Jesus this morning; we all need to find grace from Jesus this morning.  And what I want us to do is share our needs with each other, and then take time to lay hands on each other and pray and ask Jesus to bring you mercy and grace for your need.

 

Maybe you need to have your faith strengthened – He can do that right here and now.

Maybe you need to be freed from some temptation – He can do that right here and now.

Maybe you need to have wisdom for a decision – He can give that to you right here and now.

Maybe you long for an outpouring of His love in your heart – He can do that right here and now.

Maybe you are sick and need healing – He can do that right here and now.

So in a moment, I’m going to ask you all to stand up and rearrange your chairs into circles of 8 to 10 people.  Go around the circle and briefly introduce yourselves.  Then one person needs to bite the bullet and share a need.  Don’t go into a lot of details, but share your need.  Then the group will lay hands on you and pray.

Now this is crucial: as you pray, go ahead and pray for their need and ask Jesus to work supernaturally right here and now.  Focus your prayer on things that the Holy Spirit could do in them right here and now.  For example, if they are unemployed, there will be a time to pray for a new job.  But this morning, as you lay hands on them, focus your prayer on asking the Holy Spirit to comfort them, give them peace, give them wisdom.

And as you pray for Jesus to do supernatural things right here and now – be thinking and listening to see if God brings a thought into your mind to pray over them, or a verse to speak to them.  Many times Jesus brings His power through truth from His Word.

And as you pray, watch to see what Jesus is doing.  Keep your eyes open.  Sometimes you can tell God is doing something powerful because of the way they respond.  Sometimes you can see God’s power touching them physically or emotionally.

And give it time.  Our goal is not to pray for everyone in the group.  We will pray for one, maybe two or three.  So don’t rush.  Give it time.

And as you pray, don’t be afraid of silence.  Use silent time to ask God if there’s any special way He wants to lead or guide the prayer time.

And after you have prayed for a while, you can stop and ask them what Jesus did as you prayed.  It’s good to hear what the Holy Spirit is doing in them.

And then you can either stop praying for them, and move on to someone else, or you can pray again for them.  Whatever you sense is best.

Then when we are finished, I will have a spokesperson from each group come up and share what God did.  Your privacy is very important to us, so when they share, they will not mention any names.

So let’s have the leaders stand – and then let’s break into groups – introduce yourselves, share a need, and start praying.