Gary Gleans

For it was not to angels that God subjected the world   to come, of which we are speaking.    It has been testified somewhere,   “What is man, that you are mindful of him,   or the son of man, that you care for him?    You made him for a little while lower than the angels;   you have crowned him with glory and honor,   putting everything in subjection under his feet.”    Now in putting everything in subjection to him, he left nothing outside his control. At present,   we do not yet see everything in subjection to him.    But we see him   who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus,   crowned with glory and honor   because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might   taste death   for everyone. The power and preciousness of the Gospel is a Person: Jesus Christ.  Angels are created beings with a power and glory that are greater than those of man in this fallen state.  Since Jesus became a man in the incarnation, some might conclude that angles

Therefore we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it.    For since   the message declared by angels proved to be reliable, and   every transgression or disobedience received a just   retribution,   how shall we escape if we   neglect such a great salvation? It was   declared at first by the Lord, and it was   attested to us   by those who heard,   while God also bore witness   by signs and wonders and various miracles and by   gifts of the Holy Spirit   distributed according to his will. The message of the Gospel requires a response.  That response will determine what effect the Gospel will have on the person.  Some people will suffer condemnation because they have rejected the Gospel.  Some will enjoy salvation because they have placed their faith in Christ in response to hearing the Gospel.  We must be sure to listen closely, understand, remember, believe, and obey the Gospel.    REMEMBERING THE GOSPEL PREVENTS DISTRACTION: This world is full

For to which of the angels did God ever  say, “ You are my Son,   today I have begotten you”?    Or again,   “I will be to him a father,   and he shall be to me a son”?    And again, when he brings   the firstborn into the world, he says, “Let all God's angels worship him.” Of the angels he says,   “He makes his angels winds,   and his ministers a flame of fire.”      But of the Son he says,   “Your throne, O God, is forever and ever,   the scepter of uprightness is the scepter of your kingdom.    You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness;   therefore God, your God,   has anointed you   with   the oil of gladness beyond your companions.”    And  “You, Lord, laid the foundation of the earth in the beginning,   and the heavens are the work of your hands; they will perish, but you remain;   they will all wear out like a garment,   like a robe you will roll them up,   like a garment they will be changed.    But you are   the same,   and your years will have no end.”    And to w

Long ago, at many times and   in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets,   but   in these last days   he has spoken to us by   his Son, whom he appointed   the heir of all things,   through whom also he created   the world.    He is the radiance of the glory of God and   the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power.   After making purification for sins,   he sat down   at the right hand of the Majesty on high,   having become as much superior to angels as the name   he has inherited is more excellent than theirs. The most important question to answer it: Who is Jesus?  Man’s answer to that question determines his eternal destiny.  It was the question Jesus asked His disciples to answer, and it is the question that the Jewish people to whom this letter was written needed to answer.  The unknown author of this book is seeking to help them and us answer that question correctly. JESUS IS THE REVELATION OF GOD: Since the fall of man reco

So if you consider me   your partner, receive him as you would receive me.    If he has wronged you at all, or owes you anything, charge that to my account.    I, Paul, write this with my own hand: I will repay it—to say nothing of your owing me even your own self.  Yes, brother, I want some benefit from you in the Lord.   Refresh my heart in Christ. Through the work of Christ in our lives we are being conformed to His image.  It is for that reason that our relationships with one another should mirror our relationship with Him.  The things that we have received from Him are the things we should demonstrate towards one another.  Paul illustrates in his relationship with Onesimus many on the most precious truths of the Gospel and the relationship that all who believe have with Jesus. IN CHRIST WE HAVE RESTORATION: Sin breaks relationships.  Most importantly it breaks the relationship between God and man.  It also breaks our interpersonal relationships.  This is why we have so many broken

Accordingly,   though I am bold enough in Christ to command you to do   what is required,   yet for love's sake I prefer to appeal to you—I, Paul, an old man and now   a prisoner also for Christ Jesus—   I appeal to you for   my child,   Onesimus, whose father I became in my imprisonment.    (Formerly he was useless to you, but now he is indeed useful to you and to me.) . I am sending him back to you, sending my very heart.    I would have been glad to keep him with me, in order that he might serve me   on your behalf   during my imprisonment for the gospel,   but I preferred to do nothing without your consent in order that your goodness might not be   by compulsion but of your own accord.    For this perhaps is why   he was parted from you for a while, that you might have him back forever,   no longer as a bondservant but more than a bondservant, as   a beloved brother—especially to me, but how much more to you,   both in the flesh and in the Lord. Transformation is the work of Go

Paul, a prisoner for Christ Jesus, and Timothy our brother, To Philemon our beloved fellow worker and Apphia our sister and Archippus our fellow soldier, and the church in your house:     Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.     I thank my God always when I remember you in my prayers, because I hear of your love and of the faith that you have toward the Lord Jesus and for all the saints, and I pray that the sharing of your faith may become effective for the full knowledge of every good thing that is in us for the sake of Christ.     For I have derived much joy and comfort from your love, my brother, because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed through you. This is Paul’s shortest and most personal letter.  We get a glimpse into his relationship with a special family that is active in ministry and has been faithful partners for the advancement of the Gospel.  It is a story of transformation through the power of Christ that is born out of relation