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“A Picture of The Father’s Love for Humanity!”
Filed under: Bible, By Pastor Timothy, By Tim Brassell, By Timothy Brassell, Children's Ministry, Christian Living, Christianity, Church, Discipleship, Easter, Evangelism, Faith, GCI Windsor Mill, Maryland, God, God Father Son and Spirit, God the Trinity, God's love, good news, Gospel, Grace Communion Baltimore, Grace Communion International, identity in Christ, Inclusion, Jesus Christ, Lent, Love, Ministry, New Life Fellowship Of Baltimore Maryland, New Life Fellowship Of Windsor Mill, MD., On Mission with Christ, Participation with Christ, Participation with Jesus, Perichoresis, Prayer, relationship with God, Relationships, Resurrection, Scripture Paraphrases, Sermons, The Church, The Dance and Dream of the Trinity, The Father, Son and Holy Spirit, The Gospel Project, The Holy Spirit, The Plan of Adoption, Timothy Brassell, Trinity, Uncategorized, union, Union In Christ, Union with Christ, Witness, Witnessing to God, Witnessing to Jesus, Worship, Worshiping God, Worshipping Jesus | Tags: Adoption, Basic Christian Doctrine, Being In God's Family, Christian Faith, Christian Living, Christianity, Church, Faith, Father's love, First Sunday In Lent, fix your eyes on jesus, GCI Baltimore, God's Faith, God's Grace, God's love, Gospel, Grace Communion International, Having The Peace Of God, Hebrews, Hebrews 3:15, Hebrews12:1-2, How God Reveals Himself, Humanity Revealed, Humanity Revealed In Jesus, Jesus, Knowing The Father's Love, Life In Christ, Life's meaning and Significance, Love, New Life Fellowship Baltimore MD, New Life Fellowship Of Baltimore Maryland, Participate Doc't Spectate, Press On, Relationships, Revealing Your Life's Purpose, Run With Endurance, Sharing God More Accurately, Sharing In God's JOy, Sharing In God's Laughter, Sharing In The Divine Nature, The Basic Christian Belief, The God Who Is Love, the reason for your existence, Timothy Brassell of New Life Fellowship, Trinitarian Theology, Trinity, Understanding God, Understanding Human Beings, Understanding Life's Calling, Who Is God?, Who Is Jesus?, You Belong
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Audio Part A:
Audio Part B:
Full Audio Message:
Watch on YouTube:
Summary:
In this sermon, Pastor Timothy Brassell proclaimed a powerful hope-filled message from Hebrews. Rather than focusing Lent merely on self-denial, the sermon lifted our eyes to Jesus, the Son who fasted, trusted, obeyed, suffered, and was glorified on our behalf. At the heart of the message was this profound truth: Jesus took our humanity into Himself and lived the faithful human life we could not live. He actively obeyed the Father and passively entrusted Himself even through suffering and death. As Hebrews calls us:
“Let us run with endurance the race that lies before us, keeping our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith.”— Hebrews 12:1–2 (CSB)
Jesus did not save us from a distance. He entered fully into our humanity. As John Brown wrote: “The Son of God, had He never become incarnate, might have pitied, but He could not have sympathized with His people. To render Him capable of sympathy, it was necessary that He should become man that he might be susceptible of suffering, and that he should actually be a sufferer that he might be susceptible of sympathy.”— John Brown, An Exposition of the Epistle to the Hebrews
This is the Father’s love on display. Not abstract compassion, but incarnate solidarity. As Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote: “God loves human beings. God loves the world. Not an ideal human, but human beings as they are; not an ideal world, but the real world. What we find repulsive in their opposition to God, what we shrink back from with pain and hostility, namely, real human beings, the real world, this is for God the ground of unfathomable love.” — Dietrich Bonhoeffer, A Year with Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Because of this love, we are not spectators but participants in Christ’s communion with the Father through the Holy Spirit. Hebrews warns us: “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.”— Hebrews 3:15 (CSB)
Lent is not about coasting but pressing on. As Bonhoeffer also wrote: “When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die.”— The Cost of Discipleship
This death is not destruction but the surrender of pride and unbelief. In Christ, humanity has already been lifted, healed, and brought into communion with the Triune God. The call of Lent is clear: take Jesus most seriously and then take your life in Him seriously. Look up. Trust deeply. Press on. Respond today.
Key Themes and Reflection Questions:
- Take Jesus Most Seriously 🙌👑
Theme: Lent calls us to look up, not down. To fix our eyes on Jesus, who has already defeated sin and stands as our faithful human representative before the Father.
Discipleship Question: In what area of your life do you need to stop focusing on your weakness and start focusing on who Jesus is and what He has already done? - You Belong to the Father ❤️🏠
Theme: The Father’s love is revealed in giving His Son to become human forever. In Christ, humanity is not rejected but embraced, you belong to the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Discipleship Question: Do you truly live as someone who belongs to God, or are you still trying to earn a place in His love? - Participation, Not Spectating 🤝🔥
Theme: Jesus did not act instead of us but on our behalf so we could share in His life. We are not spectators cheering from the stands. We are participants in His obedience, faith, and communion with the Father.
Discipleship Question: Where is Jesus inviting you to actively participate in His life rather than passively admire it? - Press On with Endurance 🏃♂️✨
Theme: The Christian life is not coasting downhill but pressing forward with endurance. We run the race by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of our faith (Hebrews 12:1–2).
Discipleship Question: Are you striving to enter God’s rest and grow in faith today, or have you begun to coast spiritually? - Guard Your Heart — Respond Today ⏳💛
Theme: Hebrews warns against hardening our hearts. The Holy Spirit is drawing us now. Delayed obedience leads to spiritual dullness; receptive faith leads to life and glory.
Discipleship Question: Is there something the Spirit is asking you to respond to today that you have been postponing?
Reflective Moment:
Take a quiet moment to picture Jesus standing before the Father, faithful, obedient, fully human, and fully alive. Now remember: He stands there not apart from you, but for you and with you. Hear the Spirit’s gentle call: “Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your heart.” Ask the Father to soften your heart, deepen your trust, and strengthen you to press on with endurance. Thank Him that in Christ, it is “all but impossible to fail,” because Jesus has already gone before you.
Once Faithless, Now Faith-Filled!
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Part A:
Part B:
Full Message:
Bible Verse: Hebrews 11: 1-12
Sermon Summary:
Are we living by faith? How do we live our lives as righteous people by faith? Romans 1: 17 –
- When it comes to faith we have to know WHO we really are. – 1 Cor 6: 9-11(CSB). We have to understand who we’re NOT – 2 Cor 5: 17 – 19(CSB)
“If we’re living our lives faith-filled, then we’re living out who we really are and understanding what we’ve been given in the newness of the life we’ve been given (in Christ) – We’ve been given reconciliation!”
“Our circumstances don’t dictate God’s love towards us and that’s what we’ve been clothed with – HIS LOVE! THAT is who we really are. So despite our circumstances we can really walk in this faith-filled life because of Jesus and who HE is. So we have to understand who he is and know who we are in him.”
“By faith, believers can live a life of sacrifice and consider mistreatment, torture and abuse from the world as worth suffering for Christ’s sake. Faith in Christ does not guarantee a carefree life but a life that is full of trouble and includes many demands to leave behind worldly pleasures and walk with God according to his will.” –Tesfaye Kassa
- We have to know WHAT faith is. – “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen”- Hebrews 11: 1-3(CSB)
“Faith is the connecting power into the spiritual realm, which links us with God and makes Him become a tangible reality to the sense perceptions of a person. Faith is the basic ingredient to begin a relationship with God.
Faith is the assurance that the things revealed and promised in the Word are true, even though unseen, and gives the believer a conviction that what he expects in faith, will come to pass. Faith is the tangible essence of what is hoped for – so tangible that the faith itself, is the evidence/reality of those things that are not yet visible. In other words, it becomes so tangible that you now possess it. It becomes a reality in the spiritual realm.” – Wikibooks
- When it comes to faith, we have to know HOW to find it. – Romans 10: 17(CSB)
”Are you hearing about Christ? Faith comes by hearing the message about Christ!”
When we understand the WHO, WHAT and HOW of faith, then we can begin to LIVE by the faith of Jesus Christ! – Hebrews 11: 4-12
Theological Theme:
“By defining faith…as ‘assurance’ and ‘conviction,’ the author indicates that biblical faith is not a vague hope grounded in imaginary, wishful thinking. Instead, faith is a settled confidence that something in the future—something that is not yet seen but has been promised by God—will actually come to pass because God will bring it about. Thus biblical faith is not blind trust in the face of contrary evidence, not an unknowable ‘leap in the dark’; rather, biblical faith is a confident trust in the eternal God who is all-powerful, infinitely wise, eternally trustworthy—the God who has revealed himself in his word and in the person of Jesus Christ, whose promises have proven true from generation to generation, and who will ‘never leave nor forsake’ his own”–David W. Chapman
Jesus is the source and perfecter of our faith. “We can’t be anchored in anything or anyone else. God [Father-Son-Holy Spirit] IS THE SOLD ROCK – an immovable foundation!”
Christ Connection:
To the author of Hebrews, faith is the “reality” and “proof” of the existence of something that at the moment cannot be seen. This is why in Romans 4, Paul said that the Old Testament patriarchs were justified by their faith in the promise—a promise that was yet to be seen. These Old Testament saints hadn’t seen the object of their salvation (yet), but they trusted in God’s promise to one day provide it, which He did in Jesus Christ.
All the examples of faith in Scripture pale in comparison to the life of Jesus Christ, who for the joy that lay before Him endured a cross and despised the shame. Because of His work, the faith and hope of all who have gone before us will be fulfilled when He returns. We have assurance of the reliability of God’s promises.
While we find encouragement from this cloud of witnesses, we ultimately find that the pinnacle of enduring faith belongs to Christ Jesus, and we should emulate Him.
Missional Application:
Once we are in Christ, we are not finished with faith. Faith is not just the key to unlock the door of salvation; it is how we continue to work out our salvation so God [Father-Son-Holy Spirit] can produce in us and through us the good works He has planned for us. Living by faith is difficult, but God has called us to look at the examples of faith in Scripture—most notably that of Jesus— and draw courage from them as we focus on Christ and fulfill His will for our lives.
Just as it is grace through faith that saves us from top to bottom, it is grace through faith that sustains us beginning to end. We do not start anew in Christ by faith and then embark on a great “good works” selfimprovement project. No, we “walk by faith”
God, through his Holy Spirit, calls us to draw courage from the example of the faithful through the centuries as we fulfill God’s will and focus on Christ.
Conclusion:
Do we see God as the author and finisher of our lives?
Do we see him as the one who directs our steps and says “go left and go right”?
Do we see him as the captain of our ships – the navigator?
Do we see faith, active in our lives despite the obstacles that seem insurmountable in our own lives?
Do we hear God’s “Yes” and God saying “Do” as something that is tangible in our lives to really mandate how we live in our lives?
We must keep our eyes on Jesus. Every good work must be submitted to the glory of Jesus. Every spiritual discipline must be conducted as a means of deepening our friendship with Jesus. Every religious book read, every theological idea explored, every biblical doctrine studied must have as its aim a stirring of our affections for Jesus. It is only by focusing on Jesus that we will be able to endure in the Christian life and have a faith that lasts to the finish line….Jesus gave us the greatest example of enduring faith when He trusted in the Father during His journey to the cross. Jesus trusted in the Father throughout the greatest evil, the greatest hardship, ever. And He did so with the joy that lay before Him—the joy of obeying the Father and glorifying Him. Ultimately, it is Jesus who is able to present us blameless before God’s glory without stumbling. Let us fix our eyes on Him to the very end.
“The foundation of the Christian life is repentance and faith. You never move on from that, but you do want to build on it.” –Matt Fuller
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Fixing Our Eyes on Jesus
Filed under: By Bill Winn, Love, Trinity, Uncategorized, union | Tags: cloud, fix your eyes on jesus, golf, Witness
Comments (4) Recently my daughter, Abby, and I have been golfing together. She’s eleven and very new to the game so I am careful not to give her much instruction or set her expectations too high. Right now she just starts each hole at 50 yards and works her way in. She is making par on some holes already and seems to enjoy going with me.
For Abby and I, the chance to be together outdoors is what makes our golf outings most enjoyable. But… there is another thing that excites her. Once we get out to a flat area of the course I move over and let her drive the cart. Now I know what Harvey Penick said, “In my opinion, no young player can develop his or her game to its highest potential if he or she rides around the course in a golf cart.” But… renting a cart and letting her drive it is another way to keep my younger daughter interested in the game and, if all goes well, maybe she’ll fall in love with golf and go to college on an athletic scholarship.
So the first time Abby ever drove the cart she made me seasick!! She was literally swerving from one edge of the cart path to the other. Thankfully she wasn’t going very fast but in any case we were driving twice as far as we were going, if you catch my drift. (see what I did there)
Finally, I asked her a question, “Abby, are you looking at the cart path right in front of the cart or are you looking out ahead a few yards?” She responded by telling me that, indeed, she was focused on what was immediately in front of her.
I made the recommendation that she keep her focus a short distance ahead of the cart and after that she did well. She drove the whole back 9 and only bumped the curb once. I was highly impressed with her hand-eye coordination, timing, and skill… and that was just in handling the cart, not to mention the half dozen times she made bogey or par.
Arriving home, I told my wife that there was surely a spiritual lesson in the cart driving experience Abby had that day. Well, I think there is and I think this is it:
Too often in our walk with the Father, Son, and Spirit we are tempted to focus too much on what is right in front of us. We get focused on our doubts, our financial situation, our politics, or the latest “ism” or “schism” the Christian Church is talking about. What we may find helpful is to keep our eye on the Big Picture… his name is Jesus. Sure we must keep watch for what is right in front of us but our main focus should always be on Jesus, as he relates to our Father, in the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, and our inclusion in that life of love.
Yes, rather than bump and weave our way through life from one side of things to another, perhaps we’d be a lot better off paying heed to these words found in Hebrews 12:
Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, (emphasis mine) the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
FORE!!!
~Bill Winn