What is the #1 thing that separates Christianity from every other religion?What is the one thing that separates Christianity from every other religion? One thing. Do you know it? You want to know it. You should know it. Watch this podcast to find out. We're going to let you know. We are picking up in Hebrews chapter 13 verse 21. Let's go. This is going to finish up the book of Hebrews. So we're going to start by reading chapter 20 and then we'll start interpreting with 21.Now may the God of peace who brought up our Lord Jesus from the dead, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you complete in every good work to do his will, working in you what is well pleasing in his sight through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen. So he says, make you complete in every good work to do his will. You see, God equips us.One of the things to think about is lot of people say, I'm not equipped. I can't go out. I don't know the Bible well enough. I can't tell people. I can't answer their questions and therefore I'm not going to witness for God. But what we know is some of the greatest evangelists, some of the people who have just been so impactful for the kingdom of Christ have not been great theologians. They have been people who have been changed by Christ, accepted Jesus as their Lord and Savior, and they're so excited and they realize how importantimportant this is, how eternal this decision is, how much of an earthly impact with peace and joy it has on them, that they just go out and start telling people. And that is a huge witness. So if you're being held back or you're holding yourself back is really the issue from telling people about Jesus because you don't think you can answer their questions or you don't know enough about the Bible, you'll never know the Bible completely. You'll never know the Bible well enough to be able to answer every single question that someone can throw at you.And it is totally fine to be in a conversation with someone and just say, you know, I don't know the answer to that. Let me go pray about it, research it, and I'll get back to you. But what you're going to find is that God doesn't call the equipped. He equips the called. If He calls you to do something, whether it's telling your neighbor about Jesus, your colleague about Jesus, going to Third World for a week to do a short-term mission trip.going to the food bank and telling people about Jesus and handing him food, whatever it is, he's going to equip you. And it could be as simple as just saying Jesus loves you. Most people don't get into a big theological discussion. And those who do, oftentimes, don't really want to know about Jesus. They just want to win a debate and an argument. So be careful, right? And God even tells us that. Jesus tells us that in the Bible. He says to kick the dust off your feet.If you go somewhere and you're telling them about Jesus and they're just not listening, then just shake the dust off. Go to the next house, go to the next city, go to the next town, whatever it is. But God will make you complete in every good work to do His will. We are here to carry out His will. He gives us these incredible, godly desires. And then we have to use our free will to decide whether we're actually going to use those to advance God's kingdom.or whether we're going to continue down the path of just making this life all about us and not stopping to live for Jesus and not making him a priority or a purpose in our life, but just a sidecar, something in the backseat. You got this little motorcycle with the sidecar and you kind of put him in there and you're like, hey, Jesus, you're going to tag along with me wherever I go. Throw him in the trunk of your car and say, you're just going to go along with me. Instead, give him the wheel. Let him drive. And you say, I want to go with you.

Mike Massey (00:00)

Jesus is dead. Wait, what? All right. This is what the majority of the world believes. What do you believe? What do you think? Did he rise from the dead? Because if you don't believe he rose from the dead, then you don't believe he's God. Only God could come to earth in the form of a human and die and pay the price for our sins. He's the only one qualified.

There are so many people who say, yeah, he's dead. He was a good teacher, a good moral teacher, but he's gone. No, no, no. Right. Even the Muslims, you can look in the Surah and they believe that Jesus did not die, but went to heaven. We'll later come back and then die at that point in time. But Jesus is not dead. We're going to get into that in Hebrews chapter 13, verse 20. And just a second talking about God, father raising him from the dead. But right now we're going to start with chapter 13 verse

18 let's go pray for us for we are confident that we have a good conscience and all things desiring to live honorably. Pray for us. Do you understand how powerful prayer is? It is so wonderful when someone says to me and to you, I will pray for you. Let me pray for you right now. Let's not underestimate or undermine prayer. is powerful means of communication. It's a powerful form of bonding to people that we're not even with at that moment.

Because when you pray for someone, you have a heart for them. So don't forget to pray, pray for people and pray for them right there on the spot. Don't just say you're in my thoughts and prayers, right? No, no, no. And don't just say, I'll pray for you. Say, I'll pray for you. You know what? Let me pray for you right here, right now in the middle of this mall, in the middle of the store, in the middle of the street, in the middle of the office, wherever it is, do it right then, right there. It's one of the most powerful things you'll ever do in your life. promise. How do I know this? Because I learned it.

and I continue to do it and I love doing it. It's one of the most powerful parts of every day that I have. It says, pray for us for we are confident that we have a good conscience and all things desiring to live honorably. We should live honorably. We should want people to look at our lives, our deeds and our words and see Jesus. We are the hands and feet of Jesus. And if we do that, then we can live with a good conscience knowing that God's going to

Help us. He is going to forgive us. In fact, he already forgave us. This is one of the big points. So many people think when I die, uh-oh, Jesus is going to shake his face. He's going to point his finger at me and say, look what you did. You hypocrite. No, that's not how it works. The moment you accepted Jesus as your Lord and savior, right then you were forgiven past, present, future sense. His arms are spread wide on the cross, East and West. And he is essentially saying,

I forgive you as far as the East is from the West. He holds nothing against those who have accepted him as their Lord and your Lord and savior. And verse 19, we're told, but I especially urge you to do this, that I may be restored to you the sooner this restoration, we should continually be seeking to love other people in the name of Jesus, to be in community with those around us.

to love on non-believers as well because they're watching us. We may be the only Bible that they read. We want our actions, our attitudes, our deeds, our words to reflect Jesus, not for our salvation, because you were justified the moment you accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior. But the rest of your life, you get to live with that peace and that joy, knowing that the devil and his demons are gonna try to knock you down all the time and get you off your rocker. Happened to me yesterday, very tough day. The earlier start today.