Verse of the Day 11/3

Through the Bible - Jeremiah 39-41, Hebrews 3   Good morning, In yesterday's devotional we were warned about drifting, from from the Word of God and from Christ.  The two tend to go together.  The tendency for man to drift, to depart from the faith, goes all the way back through the Bible.  As a society crumbles, time and time again it has been when God's own people have been deceived into following false gods and drifting away from the Living God.   This was not only true in ancient times, the 20th century had plenty of examples.    For today's verse we go to Hebrews chapter 3 for the remedy, for believers to encourage and exhort one another daily.    Heb 3:12 See to it, brothers, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. 13 But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin's deceitfulness.   NIV In 1938 as the church was losing it's witness in Germany, Dietrich BonHoeffer wrote, "God has put this Word into the mouth of men in order that it may be communicated to other men. When one person is struck by the Word, he speaks it to others. God has willed that we should seek and find His living Word in the witness of a brother, in the mouth of a man. Therefore, the Christian needs another Christian who speaks God's Word to him. He needs him again and again when he becomes uncertain and discouraged, for by himself he cannot help himself without belying the truth. He needs his brother man as a bearer and proclaimer of the divine word of salvation. He needs his brother solely because of Jesus Christ. The Christ in his own heart is weaker than the Christ in the word of his brother; his own heart is uncertain; his brother's is sure". (Life Together, pp. 11–12)    The same word that is translated "encouraged" here is used here in 3:13 is also used in Hebrews 10:25:   Heb 10:23 Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. 24 And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. 25 Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another — and all the more as you see the Day approaching.   NIV We here a lot said today of community.  What is said in these verses is what Christian community is all about.  If something speaks to your heart from God's Word, share it with a brother or sister in Christ.  If it came from a brother, confirm it and pass it on.  Notice that verse 25 says "let us not give up meeting together", this means church services, small groups, in homes, at church and at work.  We need each other. We are not to be "Lone Ranger" Christians.   Bonoeffer concludes, "A Christian needs another Christian who speaks God's Word to him. He needs him again and again when he becomes uncertain and discouraged."   Drifting isn't necessary, it can be avoided.  We can hold fast to what we believe, helped and encouraged by others, or we can let ourselves be deceived and fall away from God.   Who will you be meeting today?  How may you encourage and exhort them in their faith?   Read the passage from the Amplified Bible below.  May it encourage you.   In Christ, Mike     Heb. 3:12  [Therefore beware] brethren, take care, lest there be in any one of you a wicked, unbelieving heart [which refuses to cleave to, trust in, and rely on Him], leading you to turn away and desert or stand aloof from the living God.     13But instead warn (admonish, urge, and encourage) one another every day, as long as it is called Today, that none of you may be hardened [into settled rebellion] by the deceitfulness of sin [by the fraudulence, the stratagem, the trickery which the delusive glamor of his sin may play on him].     14For we [c]have become fellows with Christ (the Messiah) and share in all He has for us, if only we hold our first newborn confidence and original assured expectation [in virtue of which we are believers] firm and unshaken to the end.