Jesus First

In this episode of the PRESS Movement Podcast, we journey into Hebrews 13 with Erin Harris and explore one of the most powerful closing prayers in Scripture. The unknown author of Hebrews concludes a book filled with faith, endurance, sacrifice, and perseverance by pointing believers back to the One who makes it all possible—Jesus Christ. 

Throughout Hebrews, readers are reminded that Jesus is greater than angels, greater than Moses, greater than the priesthood, and the perfect sacrifice for sin. He established a better covenant through His blood and opened the way for believers to receive eternal redemption. The closing prayer reflects all of these themes, asking God to make His people perfect in every good work and equip them to do His will. 

Erin shares her personal testimony of walking away from God, discovering that her own path led only to pain, and finding restoration when she surrendered to God's will. Her story becomes a living example of Hebrews' message: God is able to keep us, transform us, and complete the work He started in us.

This episode reminds us that Jesus isn't merely a solution to our problems—He is the path to becoming who God created us to be.

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Transcript

Press means to apply force when God said press prayer reaches every single situation He gave us permission to apply force to every situation that we will go through And in this podcast we are going to learn to apply force to what's applying pressure to us Hello everybody. Welcome back to the press movement podcast In studio today. I have a newcomer who is not new to the press by any stretch but new to the podcast And she is one of my beautiful nieces who i'm so proud of And she's here to share with us today Say hi, erin.

Hi And she is involved with the press on uindy's campus, which is the university of indianapolis here And by the time you hear this we will have had our baptism day And a successful year of ministry where many have been saved touched and this girl's a part of that so Prayerfully she won't come to you too nervous, but Even if she does you need to stay tuned because i'm telling you she's got something to say So we're headed to the book of hebrews for the first time and actually the last time So i'm gonna hand it over to erin to take it from there. So Our scripture our prayer is found in hebrews 13 verse 20 through 21 I'm going to read the scripture and then talk a little bit about the book of hebrews So hebrews chapter 13 verse 20 says now the god of peace That brought again from the dead Our lord jesus that great shepherd of the sheep through the blood of the everlasting covenant 21 Make you perfect in every good work to do his will Working in you that which is well pleasing in his sight Through jesus christ to whom be glory forever and ever amen So this prayer is at the end of the book of hebrews and it kind of wraps up what The book of hebrews was talking about the book of hebrews the person who wrote this is unknown But the purpose of this book was to encourage Those facing persecution to remain faithful and to endure suffering and hardships and so again going back to This passage of scripture It is again the closing and what the closing is is a benediction So a benediction is an act of blessing an expression of good wishes a prayer for divine grace a blessing spoke of a congregation often invoking peace and this Was a benediction a closing for peace and for them equipping themselves to endure hardness There are a couple themes That I found in this book one being patience having faith believing The fact that perfection is attainable How jesus was the perfect sacrifice how he was the mediator? And the testament a testament in hebrews chapter 9 Talks about how there could not be a testament unless there was somebody who died in a sense the death of a testator so in the old testament, it was called the old testament because There were bulls and goats that were being sacrificed on behalf of the people so that they could be Their sins could be covered and in the new testament The reason why it is the new testament is because jesus he died so that we could be saved from our sins So there was no need for anything or anyone else to die because he was the perfect sacrifice for us Chapter one chapter two talk about the parallel between god and jesus and how he is god and he is the express image Of god and how even though all the angels are subject to him He made himself lower than the angels so that he could deliver us from death and how he Did that so we wouldn't have a lifetime subject to bondage just found in verse 15 of chapter 2 in chapter 3 and 4 The author makes a comparison between jesus and moses The unbelief of the children of israel and how they could not receive the promise Or enter into the promised land because of their unbelief and they could not receive the word Because there was no faith mixed in with it And if we want to enter into his rest, which is his promise and if we believe and hold on until the end We can because he did it chapter 5 through chapter 7 talks about how he is the high priest and how he suffered and he was tempted and how we must be aware of falling away and Be diligent and steadfast And hope in god and hope in his promise It also talks about how the new covenant as i've already talked about replaced the flawed old testament because again Animals had to continue dying for other people's sins But with jesus, there's only one sacrifice needed And in that we can now be saved Hebrews 8 through 10 reiterate him being the new covenant and the mediator And reiterating him being how he provided eternal redemption rather than temporary Cleansing for our sins hebrews chapter 10 talks about how The law was only a shadow of things to come and how jesus's single sacrifice finished the work Hebrews chapter 11, which is a very popular chapters In the bible talks about the hall of fame of faith and how all those people who are named abraham enoch rahab Gideon And goes on and on and on how they endured suffering And despite hardships and uncertainty they had faith in god. They weren't able to see the promises of god, but they had faith Despite that and then hebrews chapter 12 to 13 is just encouraging believers to endure until the end And run The race that was set before us and then we get to the benediction He is the god of peace who brought again from the dead our lord jesus who he rose from the dead He is the great shepherd of the sheep Through the blood of the everlasting covenant, which was emphasized many times throughout the book of hebrews And that he can make us perfect in every good work to do his will which he did through the shedding of his blood Working in us that which is well pleasing in his sight through him And so it is emphasizing that we can make it that we can endure until the end Despite the hardships that come because he died he suffered he was tempted He did it for us so that we could know we could make it too So the author is giving his final words now the author as you said is unknown.

There's a lot of speculation Some people say it was paul. I actually don't believe that this is not written like anything else paul writes Some say it was apollos, but we have nothing to prove that with but only that apollos was articulate and well-versed in hebrews, too And this does give that but all that speculation What we do know Is that to encourage people you have to have known the encourager and have had encouragement and so in writing these words, I can only imagine the the strength of god flowing through the author Now the god of peace that brought again from the dead our lord Jesus christ the great shepherd of the sheep through the blood and of the everlasting covenant make you perfect In every good work to do his will see you can't take that kind of word from just anybody But I love how this author whomever they are Always points back to jesus he says things like Consider him who endures such contradiction of sinners against himself Lest you become faint and weary in your minds. He is always pointing back to jesus Today, we see so many alternatives And people actually turn to alternatives before jesus But what do you have to say concerning why jesus first? If you were the author if you're ready to encourage them and you don't have to share any testimony or anything like that But you've walked with god a while Since you were a child you've known him and you've learned to walk with him.

Why jesus? I would say jesus because He is such a Faithful father. He is such a keeper And as I will testify a little bit About how I did learn and grew up in the church and I learned god and I learned his word But I decided that I wanted to go out and do my own thing on that what he had is not what I wanted and so I did what I wanted to do and I suffered And there came a point where I was tired of being tired and I was tired of Living life how I was and I knew that I needed god And I knew that his word works and I knew that his presence works And I hated being in church and not feeling his presence and I hated being in church And just not doing what I was called to do and knew what I was supposed to do And so I asked god for help and I asked god to help me be saved And he begins to remove people out of my life that were not necessary or that were hurting my salvation And I had to be alone at times and I had to sit by myself sometimes but god made it all worth it And he's making it all worth it And throughout college, you know people lose their minds in college. They want to go party and Etc.

But god has kept me in college. He has kept me every year every semester god has kept me And that is a testimony that I am grateful for and i'm almost done. I finished college in december and There is no turning back and I just appreciate god for who he is Because he's making me perfect In every good work to do his will and he's helping me do his will and he's working in me The things that are pleasing in his sight and he's working the things out of me to help me be pleasing unto him And I remember praying this I looked at this prayer and I prayed this prayer I said well, let me put myself in their shoes and I prayed this prayer multiple times over and over and over again And it encouraged me knowing what he's already done to help me because of verse 20.

I can now do 21 so because he is the god of peace because he brought again from the dead our lord jesus Because he is the great shepherd of the sheep through the blood of the everlasting covenant He can make me perfect in every good work to do his will He can work in me that which is well pleasing in his sight through him and he gets all the glory forever And today I pray that not only you're encouraged But that you'll try jesus Some people just want to try him to feel better Or for his benefits But his goal is to make you perfect And every good work so you can do his will and as aaron was stating you'll find out his will is what's best for you His will is safe. His will is perfect So I pray even as she did that we'll all learn to pray this today god Essentially have your way in me So I can do your will make me right in your sight and be glorified And we know we can pray this because jesus Already overcame In this world and he can help us overcome this world through prayer because prayer reaches every single situation be blessed Join the movement join the community like share and subscribe to this podcast Visit us at press to pray.com or find us on instagram or facebook Did you know that when you are quiet your voice is missing to god's ears I know some of us have prayed and were wondering how long should I pray about this? Why should I pray if god already knows how will I know god is answering? And what do I do when I feel like god's not listening? But god is listening for your voice. It's too quiet in this world for the troubles We have you have to raise your voice and god wants to hear from you It's too quiet a book about prayer is designed to answer your prayer questions and build your faith Visit press to pray.com

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