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Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2 looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.

Look around. Read the Bible. Listen to some history. We are not the first generation of believers. Look at the testimony of those who’ve gone before us. Don’t get caught-up in things that experience shows us do not matter. Sin and also everyday distractions. We have a race to run. You have a course laid out before you. Run. Run to win. Do your best. Look to Jesus’ example above all. Anticipate your future, it is great. Let that encourage you to stay the course, just like Jesus did. If you follow Jesus, you have profound joy in your future, be encouraged!

By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible.

How can we know how and why we’re here? I don’t mean what happened, we can postulate and theorize about the “big bang” but how did that which went “bang” come into being, and why was it there? It is by faith we trust in God. Science does not even ask such questions, that is the realm of Theology and Philosophy, but it is only answered by revelation. The Bible tells us, and we have faith.

12 But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, 13 waiting from that time until his enemies should be made a footstool for his feet. 14 For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.

Jesus’ death is enough, for all time. You don’t have to worry about those things you’ve done since you’ve become a Christian, He’s already died for them. It is good and right for us to confess them, but understand, that debt has already been paid. Jesus is seated, He is waiting. You have been saved, and you are being saved. Day by day, moment by moment, you are being transformed into the likeness of God’s Son, if you are His. Is that true in your life? If not, why not?

11 But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation) 12 he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption.

Don’t put your trust in anything you can do. Don’t rely on any other person. Only trust in the completed work of Jesus Christ. The Bible is crystal clear, Jesus died for you. There’s nothing you can give to God that’s worth more than the blood of His own Son. That’s the only sacrifice enough to pay the penalty for all of our sins, and Jesus gave it freely. Won’t you trust Him today?

“Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord,
when I will establish a new covenant with the house of Israel
and with the house of Judah,
9 not like the covenant that I made with their fathers
on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt.
For they did not continue in my covenant,
and so I showed no concern for them, declares the Lord.
10 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel
after those days, declares the Lord:
I will put my laws into their minds,
and write them on their hearts,
and I will be their God,
and they shall be my people.
11 And they shall not teach, each one his neighbor
and each one his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’
for they shall all know me,
from the least of them to the greatest.
12 For I will be merciful toward their iniquities,
and I will remember their sins no more.”

13 In speaking of a new covenant, he makes the first one obsolete. And what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away.

Today is the day, ever since Jesus died on the cross, of the New Covenant. It’s the covenant through His blood (as He said at the Last Supper). It’s not like before, when the rules were etched on stone tablets, now we have the Holy Spirit living inside us showing us the truth. It’s not subjective, it is still God’s eternal law, but now we no longer rely on our ability to learn it, the Holy Spirit is here to guide us. The Old Covenant (“agreement”) was not faulty, but the people were (are). So God created a better way, the only way, for us to know Him, and that’s through the death of His Son, Jesus, as our sacrifice. Because Jesus has come, the Old Covenant is no longer needed, it’s “obsolete.” Praise God for Jesus’ sacrifice on our behalf.