Scripture: Hebrews 11:5–7 | Runtime: 7 min

Enoch never died. Noah survived a flood that destroyed the world around him. Their stories could hardly be more different, yet Hebrews commends both for the same thing: they trusted God and lived like it.

In this episode:

• The rhythm of Genesis 5, “and then he died,” and the one man who breaks it
• Abel and Enoch had very different endings. Outcome isn’t a measure of faith.
• Verse 6: believing God exists is necessary, but faith also trusts that He is good and worth seeking
• Noah walked with God before he was ever warned about the flood
• Board by board: the ark as visible evidence of faith
• Faith isn’t only something we think or feel. It shapes what we do.

Reflection: What would trusting God look like if it took visible form in your life today? Where is He asking you to take the next faithful step?

Engage God Daily Podcast — Jesus is Better: A Study of Hebrews, Week 8. Hosted by Lisa Scheffler.

Hear the message for this week's devotional on our YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@ChristFellowshipMcKinney

Get the written devotional at: https://cfhome.org/EGD

If you are in the North Dallas area and would like to join us for services each week, you can find all the information at https://cfhome.org.

Scripture: Hebrews 11:1–4 | Runtime: 7 min

Hebrews 11 is one of the best-known chapters in the Bible. Before the author names the people who lived by faith, he defines it. Biblical faith isn’t blind. It looks back at what God has done and trusts Him with what’s still ahead.

In this episode:

• David DeSilva on “confidence” as a foundation and a title deed: the property is yours before you’re standing on it
• “Assurance” as evidence: a life of trust shows the promises are real
• By faith we understand the universe was formed at God’s command
• Abel was righteous, and Abel was murdered. Faith doesn’t guarantee an easy life.
• “By faith Abel still speaks”
• John Chrysostom: if everything Christ foretold has come to pass, why doubt the rest?

Reflection: Write down ways God has shown Himself faithful to you. Then name one promise you’re still waiting for, and bring it to Him in prayer.

Engage God Daily Podcast — Jesus is Better: A Study of Hebrews, Week 8. Hosted by Lisa Scheffler.

Hear the message for this week's devotional on our YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@ChristFellowshipMcKinney

Get the written devotional at: https://cfhome.org/EGD

If you are in the North Dallas area and would like to join us for services each week, you can find all the information at https://cfhome.org.

Scripture: Hebrews 10:32–39 | Runtime: 8 min

These believers had already been insulted, persecuted, and stripped of their property, and they accepted it joyfully. The author doesn’t ask them for a new kind of faith. He asks them to remember the faith they’ve already lived, and to keep going.

In this episode:

• The serious warning in Hebrews 10:24–31 about deliberately walking away from Jesus
• “Joyfully accepted the confiscation of your property”: how they could let go of what they had
• Better and lasting possessions
• Perseverance is often ordinary: a daily decision to keep going
• Habakkuk’s word in a bleak season: “My righteous one will live by faith”
• “We do not belong to those who shrink back”

Reflection: Pray for brothers and sisters who face persecution today, in China, the Middle East, Nigeria, India, Pakistan, and Somalia. Pray that they won’t shrink back and that they’ll know they are not forgotten.

Engage God Daily Podcast — Jesus is Better: A Study of Hebrews, Week 8. Hosted by Lisa Scheffler.

Hear the message for this week's devotional on our YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@ChristFellowshipMcKinney

Get the written devotional at: https://cfhome.org/EGD

If you are in the North Dallas area and would like to join us for services each week, you can find all the information at https://cfhome.org.

Scripture: Hebrews 10:19–23 | Runtime: 10 min

We place confidence in all kinds of things every day: the coffee maker, the car, the paycheck. As a kid, Lisa wondered what went on in the teachers’ lounge. Then she became a teacher and was allowed in. Week 8, “Walking in Confidence,” opens with the place almost no one could enter, the Most Holy Place, and the invitation that comes through Jesus.

In this episode:

• Where we place our confidence, and the sentence that carries the whole week: “He who promised is faithful”
• “Therefore, brothers and sisters”: everything we’ve studied about Jesus is what makes this invitation possible
• Two invitations: let us draw near, and let us hold unswervingly
• Amy Peeler: the new and living way isn’t a thing but a person
• Our confidence rests on the blood of Jesus, not on a good week or a strong spiritual record
• Scot McKnight on believers who know they’re forgiven but still lack confidence

Reflection: Do you approach God like someone who belongs in His presence? Ask the Spirit for the confidence to know you’re right where you belong.

Engage God Daily Podcast — Jesus is Better: A Study of Hebrews, Week 8. Hosted by Lisa Scheffler.

Hear the message for this week's devotional on our YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@ChristFellowshipMcKinney

Get the written devotional at: https://cfhome.org/EGD

If you are in the North Dallas area and would like to join us for services each week, you can find all the information at https://cfhome.org.

Scripture: Hebrews 10:1–7, 10–14 | Runtime: 8 min

Every priest stood because his work was never finished. Jesus sat down. Lisa brings together the threads of the week and closes the long argument that began in Hebrews 8: the shadow has given way to the real thing, and nothing is left to add.

In this episode:

• A shadow is always cast by something real: what the law’s sacrifices showed and what they couldn’t do
• If you had to take your car to the mechanic every week, it wasn’t really fixed
• Psalm 40 in the mouth of Jesus: “A body you prepared for me… I have come to do your will”
• Standing priests and a seated High Priest
• Made perfect forever and still being made holy: both are true at once
• Jeremiah’s promise returns: “Their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more”

Reflection: Where are you still standing as if the work depended on you? What would it look like today to rest in what Jesus has finished?

Engage God Daily Podcast — Jesus is Better: A Study of Hebrews, Week 7. Hosted by Lisa Scheffler.

Hear the message for this week's devotional on our YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@ChristFellowshipMcKinney

Get the written devotional at: https://cfhome.org/EGD

If you are in the North Dallas area and would like to join us for services each week, you can find all the information at https://cfhome.org.

Scripture: Hebrews 9:23–28 | Runtime: 8 min

There were many Days of Atonement but only one day Jesus died. Lisa follows the word “appear” through today’s passage. It shows up three times, and each one tells us something different about what Jesus has done, what He is doing, and what He will do.

In this episode:

• Why would heavenly things need purifying? Scholar Amy Peeler’s answer
• He has appeared: once for all, “at the culmination of the ages,” to do away with sin
• He appears now: in God’s presence on our behalf
• He will appear again: not to deal with sin, but to bring His people home
• The Day of Atonement picture: the people waiting outside the curtain for the high priest to come back out

Reflection: Where do you feel the waiting most today? What are you longing for Jesus to finally make right?

Engage God Daily Podcast — Jesus is Better: A Study of Hebrews, Week 7. Hosted by Lisa Scheffler.

Hear the message for this week's devotional on our YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@ChristFellowshipMcKinney

Get the written devotional at: https://cfhome.org/EGD

If you are in the North Dallas area and would like to join us for services each week, you can find all the information at https://cfhome.org.

Scripture: Hebrews 9:1, 7–14 | Runtime: 8 min

Only one person could go behind the curtain, on only one day a year, and never without blood. Then he had to do it all again the next year. Lisa takes us inside the tabernacle to explain why Jesus’ blood reaches somewhere animal sacrifices never could: the conscience.

In this episode:

• The two rooms of the tabernacle and the Day of Atonement
• What the Holy Spirit was teaching through a way that “had not yet been disclosed”
• No priest in the Old Testament ever offered himself. In Jesus, the priest and the offering are the same.
• Outward cleansing versus a cleansed conscience
• N.T. Wright on “exuberant and joyful service,” free from guilt and fear

Reflection: Why is such a freeing message so hard to believe and remember? Is it hard for you to believe, or hard to live as if you believe it?

Engage God Daily Podcast — Jesus is Better: A Study of Hebrews, Week 7. Hosted by Lisa Scheffler.

Hear the message for this week's devotional on our YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@ChristFellowshipMcKinney

Get the written devotional at: https://cfhome.org/EGD

If you are in the North Dallas area and would like to join us for services each week, you can find all the information at https://cfhome.org.

Scripture: Hebrews 8:7–13 (Jeremiah 31:31–34) | Runtime: 8 min

Hebrews 8 quotes Jeremiah 31, the longest Old Testament quotation anywhere in the New Testament. Lisa asks listeners to count how many times God says “I will.” The people broke the covenant, and God responded by promising to do what they couldn’t.

In this episode:

• Why a new covenant? The covenant was fine. The people didn’t stay faithful to it.
• From stone tablets to hearts: God’s law written on the inside
• “I will be their God, and they will be my people”: the relationship God always wanted
• Everyone will know Him, “from the least of them to the greatest”
• What “obsolete” means here: God is keeping His earlier promises, not throwing them away

Reflection: Which of the “I will” promises from Jeremiah do you most need to hear today?

Engage God Daily Podcast — Jesus is Better: A Study of Hebrews, Week 7. Hosted by Lisa Scheffler.

Hear the message for this week's devotional on our YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@ChristFellowshipMcKinney

Get the written devotional at: https://cfhome.org/EGD

If you are in the North Dallas area and would like to join us for services each week, you can find all the information at https://cfhome.org.