More times than you can count. You've studied it, taught from it, lived by it, and still there are places in you that it has still not reached. The writer of Hebrews was not addressing the uninformed. He was not warning the untrained. He was warning the anchor. People who had already heard, already received, and already built, and he said, Watch yourself. You can know the language of his word and still be building your own kingdom in his name. You can believe every member is a minister and still be in competition with others.
You can still see that God builds relationally, but never trusts another person. You can carry the vocabulary of equipping while quietly making yourself indispensable. The word's effect is not just theological, it's personal. For the word of God is alive and active, sharper than any double-edged sword. It judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.
Hebrews 4 12. Not just your doctrine, not just your structure, your motives. This is the version of ministry that carries biblical language.
Yet it is angered to nothing. What the next thing you build. Well, Christ knows the difference, and the extraordinary mercy of it is that He is asking you to let Him show you now, before the storm arrives, before the difference is made plain by force. Sunday we asked what your work was standing on. Monday we asked if you are truly standing. Well, tonight, what is the word show?
