• Hebrews 2:1-4

• “By signs and wonders and by various miracles”

  • Mark 16:20

  • Virtually every person believes that miracles happen, even if they do not believe in God. The Big Bang would have violated the laws of physics, so if it happened, it constituted a miracle!

  • The same problem exists for the origin of life. The law of biogenesis would have to be broken. Life would have had to come from non-life.

  • David Hume reasoned that because miracles are rare, they have little evidence. Wise people don’t believe in things with little evidence.

  • Norman Geisler rebutted Hume’s argument by pointing out that rarity of events is not the issue. Rare things happen constantly!

  • Exodus 14:21-28 – How do we know this happened?

  • Acts 2:22-24 – It would be pretty hard to fake this!

  • Acts 13:6-12 – Paul’s miracle proved his words were from God. The proconsul was amazed at the teaching (not the miracle itself!).

• “Word spoken through angels … just”

  • Hebrews 1:1-2

  • Hebrews 10:28-29

  • Psalms 51:4

• “How shall we escape it we neglect so great a salvation?”

  • Hebrews 2:1

How to change (continued)

Shape your environment so it will help shape you. (continued)

• I Corinthians 15:33
• Ephesians 4:17; 5:1-2
• I Peter 4:1-5

Create good habits and stop bad ones.

• Serving God is a way of life – not a one-time action.

  • Ephesians 2:2, 10; 4:1, 17; 5:2, 8, 15 – Notice the term walk. This is a figure for way of life.

  • Romans 6:4, 13-16 – After baptism, a Christian is to walk in newness of life. We are slaves for obedience. We’re not a slave for a day. We are to submit to God from now on.

  • Colossians 1:10; 2:6; 3:7; 4:5 – Walking

• Remember to shape your environment to make good habits easier and bad habits harder.

  • Daniel 6:10 – Daniel had a well-engrained prayer habit. He had a place just for praying.

  • Deuteronomy 17:18-19 – Israel’s kings were to read God’s law everyday.

• We tend to do what’s easy and convenient. We must reduce the friction for good habits and make the bad habits harder and inconvenient.

Examples:

Let’s say you want to do a better job of loving your spouse (Ephesians 5:22-33). List some ideas that would help in that endeavor:

• Think of yourself as a new person.

  • “I am the kind of person that thinks of her first.”

• Shape your environment so it will help shape you.

  • Have a career that allows time for family.

  • Shrug of bad advice about marriage from those who do not fear God.

  • Watch how strong couples interact and love each other.

God is strong; we are weak.

• Job 38:1-5, 22-30, 33-37
• Psalms 147:1, 7, 10, 15-19
• God says something and it happens! His word has tremendous power.
• God used His word to give us laws. The elements must obey, but we have a choice.

Count your (basic) blessings.

• I Kings 17:10-12 – This woman was pretty desperate at this point!
• Philippians 4:11-12
• II Corinthians 11:23-27
• I Timothy 6:8 – Are we content with food and clothing?

It’s wise to be prepared.

• Matthew 25:1-13

What happens if I don’t put on the new self? (continued)

It allows spiritual laziness to continue.

• II Peter 1:5

It implies that some sins are okay.

• John 9:28-34 – Is it possible for members of local churches to have this sinful attitude?
• I John 3:7 – The one who practices righteousness is righteous! Wearing a label doesn’t make you righteous.

How to change

Think of yourself as a new person.

• Ephesians 4:23-24
• Romans 6:2, 11
• Colossians 3:2-3

Shape your environment so it will help shape you.

• Deuteronomy 6:6-9
• Proverbs 5:8; 7:7-8, 25

• Love them when they are unlovable.
• Commit to lifelong companionship.
• Find delight in them.