welcome back to GBC live i'm pastor tim from grace bible church in Menefee thank you for joining us for this study tonight as we go back to Hebrews chapter one and our study of the majesty of Christ there so whether you are on the other side of the world or listening in your car or with a group of others here in Menifee watching tonight welcome it's a real joy to get to teach and to be together in God's Word let me show you the dates for the upcoming studies just as a reminder two dates in September and also two dates in October September 4th and 16th and October 2nd and 23rd so you can see this is about every other week but if you follow our Facebook page I think they'll update you about each of those remember that those who don't want to use Facebook can watch this stream at find hope net /live you don't have to be a Facebook user for that and you can text comments or questions using that phone number nine five one eight zero nine three one nine four that's if you're not on Facebook and if you have any problems with the stream or if the stream stops working and you want to check with us about when we'll be back up it should just be a minute or two but you can always use that phone number to communicate with us if something goes wrong with Facebook if you are on Facebook use the comments or questions there if you have any comments or questions put them in there in the comment section as we go along and we'll be keeping an eye on that throughout the study tonight so if you haven't shared this stream yet on Facebook go ahead and do that that's your way to invite other people to come study the Bible with us here this evening okay make sure you have your Bible ready and let's turn our attention to God's Word now throughout this study we'll be bringing the Bible up on the screen also Hebrews 1 and let's go ahead and read verses 1 through 3 long ago at many times and in many ways God spoke to our fathers by the prophets but in these last days he has spoken to us by his son whom he appointed the heir of all things through whom also he created the world he is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature and he upholds the universe by the word of his power that's where we will finish up this evening so our focus tonight is that phrase in verse 3 he upholds the universe by the word of his power now as you look at that both the words he and the word his are referring back to the Sun remember in these last days God has revealed himself spoken in a son so he the son Jesus upholds the universe by the word of his power Jesus's power so let me ask you first of all what do you think that means what do you think of when you read Jesus upholds the universe by the word of his power and it's not a setup I'm not asking you that so that I can then prove you wrong I just want to get our minds and our hearts engaged with this so I want you to ask yourself now what do you understand that to mean that Jesus upholds all things by the word of his power and why does it matter why does it matter to you that Jesus does that so what we're gonna do here is we're actually gonna step away from our stream for just about two minutes here I mean we'll still be live but step away from me for about two minutes here I don't want to let you think about that if you're in a group watching this you could share your first thoughts with one another you can also jump into Facebook and comment there so here's the question if you look on the screen he upholds the universe by the word of his power so what are your first thoughts what does that mean why does it matter get those in the Facebook comments or talk about that with one another we'll be back in less than two minutes okay let's get into our text here and for just a moment let's go ahead and review together so from last week he is the radiance well from two weeks ago he is the radiance of the glory of God so we said last week two weeks ago that the climactic revelation of God it wasn't fire it wasn't thunder it wasn't quietness or an angel or a rainbow or precious jewels or some of those things that we see in Ezekiel the climactic revelation of God was a son right and the reason why is because that son is the radiance of God's glory when God's glory shines to us it looks like Jesus why because God's glory belongs to Jesus he is God the Son so he is the radiance of the glory of God because God's glory is his and the exact imprint of God's nature and what we said is that's that word that character word Jesus is the true representation of who God really is all the fullness of deity dwells in Jesus so those two phrases mean that if you've seen Jesus you've seen God like Jesus said in John 14 okay so from there we come to our text for tonight he upholds the universe by the word of his power and so our focus tonight will be on the word upholds but let's touch on a couple other parts of the phrase first so it says that he upholds the universe so what does that mean well we actually already talked about this back in verse two we read that he is the heir of all things and that through Jesus the father created the world and when we talked about that world we noted that that includes everything created time space matter everything that's not God okay so this word universe in three is gonna refer to the same thing it's gonna refer to time space matter everything God created everything that's not God we could we could depict it like this if we draw a circle here to represent God and we have Father Son and Holy Spirit one God then everything outside of this everything that's not God was created by the father through the son and all of that is upheld by Jesus God created it through Jesus it's inherited by Jesus and it's upheld by Jesus so that's what that's what universe here means everything created everything that's not God is upheld by Jesus okay then how does Jesus uphold those things well our text says he upholds the universe by the word of his power by the word of his power and this almost certainly means his powerful word no power here is Dunamis it's the word that focuses on capability so it's translated with things like strength and might the ability to accomplish something so Jesus word has capability it has strength and might and that means his word is quite different from our word I mean we talk about how our words have influence and it's true that words can do good or words can do harm but that's on an extremely limited basis in our circles of people and oftentimes our words have very little Dunamis very little power so like our toddler won't obey us you know a two-year-old our lawnmower own obey us our employees can't remember what we told them to do and so on we learn every day the ways in which our words are extremely weak Jesus words aren't like that they have power they have might they have they're capable of accomplishing whatever he them to accomplish they are powerful words and this is quite evident from another use of this Hebrews 11 verse 3 the universe whoops let's try that again the universe was created by the Word of God he can create a universe with his word now this word word we need to talk about for a minute this will be important now and it's going to be important later too so let's just click on it here and when we do hopefully this isn't too small hopefully you can see right down here that this is the word Rhema word is Rhema this is Hebrews 11:3 the universe was created by the Rhema of God now watch Hebrews 1:3 he upholds the universe by the word of his power what's the word it's Rhema again right down here now why is that important well a couple words for word in the New Testament one is law Goss but and then here we have Rhema Lagos is more common and a lot of the time Lagos and Rhema or cinema synonyms there's not really any distinction but sometimes there's a difference and when there's a difference let me show you the meaning of Rhema and we can see what that difference would be so the definition here that which is said a word a saying an expression a statement of any kind okay so when Rhema is distinct it refers not just to kind of words in general but to a specific thing that was spoken a specific word a specific statement that was made okay so if a basketball team says the coach had a word or two for us at halftime they're not referring to words in general they're referring to some specific things the coach had to say to them think about a library there are lots of words in a library but if the librarian has a word with some unruly boys that refers to some specific things that she said to them okay so in Hebrews 1:3 it's definitely possible that Rhema could be used in that distinctive sense of specific words or sayings now think about what that means that means that Jesus upholds the universe not just by words in general but by specific things he says the statements of Jesus he makes plans he commands he promises he orders he speaks and it happens what happens in the universe is a response to his powerful words whatever he speaks okay so let's let's go back to our slides and just kind of put together the two things that we've that we've got done so far the universe that Jesus upholds that's everything that is not God everything created and then the word of his power that's how he upholds the universe refers to his powerful statements the powerful ways he speaks the powerful things that he says okay so back to our text then he upholds the universe by the word of his power by his powerful statements he upholds everything that exists so now we're gonna come back now and we're gonna focus on this word upholds for the rest of our time this evening and talk about what that means let me pause and just look at your comments here about first thoughts about what what it means he holds it all together he's in control it I look at it as if God has his hands upon the heavens and with his might could destroy it at his will someday he will let it go and it will all fall apart whistling Lee with a bang to quote someone famous nothing would continue to exist without him okay great those are great answers let's start to dig into the word a little bit here and see see what this word uphold means so let's start with this guy this is Atlas here he is holding up the earth I actually think that in this picture they have stars and the signs of the zodiac around the ball maybe to picture more than just the earth to picture the heavens to picture of the universe see in Greek mythology Atlas was condemned to hold up the heavens for all of eternity and so there are statues of Atlas all over Europe and they often depict him as partly bent over usually kind of he's got a cringe on his face and he's he's under the weight of his endless burden his punishment so that it's obvious then that in many ways Jesus is nothing like the mythological Atlas Jesus does not hold up the universe as some sort of punishment for himself nor is it some kind of weight that it's hard for him to carry but is there some sense in which that picture of Atlas holding up the universe is is that kind of similar to what the author of Hebrews is saying should we picture Jesus holding up the universe and and the answer is that's definitely possible that's a uncommon meaning of the word upholds in this verse and we'll talk about the more common meeting later but it's definitely possible that it could mean that here and I can show you this actually in the in the dictionary so the word up holds here is the word Pharaoh down here so let's go look that up pull up our dictionary alright ignore these other uses for a minute okay you can't cheat and look ahead because we're gonna look at those later right down here the dictionary lists this as a fifth possible meaning of the word to cause to continue in a state or condition to sustain and then see that they list Hebrews 1:3 as the only place in the New Testament where they suggest that the word is used this way so the word is used sixty six times in the New Testament and they're saying this is a really unusual use of it that might mean to cause to continue in a state or condition to sustain and that's the way all the translations either translate it uphold or else sustain so let's consider some of the ways that could be true let's consider some of the ways that the Atlas imagery might be helpful for us does Jesus hold it up well yes because number one he is creator the existence of and laws of the universe are his remember that Hebrews 1:3 says that through Jesus God created the world and Hebrews 11:3 says the universe was created by the Word of God so we could ponder the ways in which our planet and our solar system seemed to almost miraculously balance just the resources that are needed for life to survive here isn't Jesus holding all of that together in such a way that life can continue this is really the primary way John MacArthur interprets it and his words are worth quoting so I'm just gonna read from him here for a moment we base our entire lives on the continuance of laws when something such as an earthquake comes along and disrupts the normal condition of things even a little the consequences are often disastrous can you imagine what would happen if Jesus Christ relinquished his sustaining power over the laws of the universe we would go out of existence if he suspended the gravity only for a brief moment we would all perish in unimaginable ways if the physical laws varied we would have an unbelievable mess we could not exist what we ate could turn to poison we could not stay on the earth we would drift out into space we would get flooded by the oceans periodically countless other horrible things would happen many of which we could not even guess so the fantastically delicate balance of the universe comes from the creator and the sustainer Jesus the only other alternative to seeing that Jesus is the source who holds this balance together so that we can exist the only other alternative is to take the tact of the evolutionists and say that we're just incredibly lucky to happen to be on the planet where it all just has worked out like this so we're gonna do something we haven't done before and it might not work but we're gonna give it a try we're gonna switch to show you a little PowerPoint video and this is an evolutionary video from Richard Dawkins talking about how fantastically lucky we are to be on this planet that can sustain life let's give it a try here you you ins of Sahara certainly those unborn ghosts include greater poets than Keats scientists greater than Newton we know this because the set of possible people allowed by our DNA so massively outnumbers the set of natural in the teeth of these stupefying odds it is you and I in our ordinariness that are here we live on a planet that is all but perfect for our kind of life not too warm and not too cold basking in kindly sunshine softly watered but gently spinning green and gold Harvest Festival of a planet [Music] yes and alas that her deserts and slums there is starvation and rattling misery to be found but take a look at the competition compared with most planets this is paradise and parts of Earth are still paradise by any standards [Music] what are the odds that a planet picked at random will have these complacent properties even the most optimistic calculation who put it at less than one in a million imagine a spaceship full of sleeping explorers deep-frozen would be colonists of some distant learned perhaps the ship is on a foreign mission to save the species before an unstoppable comet like the one that killed the dinosaurs hits the home planet the voyagers go into the deep-freeze soberly reckoning the odds against their spaceships ever chancing upon the planet if one in a million planets is suitable at best and it takes centuries to travel from each star to the next the spaceship is pathetically unlikely to find a tolerable this alone safe haven for its sleeping cargo but imagine that the ship's robot pilot turns out to be unthinkably lucky after millions of years the ship does find a planet capable of sustaining life the planets of equable temperature bathed in warm star shine refreshed by oxygen and water the passengers Rip Van Winkle's wake stumbling into the light after a million years of sleep here is a whole new fertile globe a lush planet of warm pastures sparkling streams and waterfalls a world bountiful with creatures dashing through a lien Green felicity our travelers walk in Christ stupefied unable to believe their unaccustomed senses or their luck the story asks for too much luck he would never happen and yet isn't it what has happened to each one of us we have woken after hundreds of millions of years asleep defying astronomical odds admittedly we didn't arrive by spaceship we arrived by being born and we didn't burst conscious into the world okay so there you have our two options you can worship the fantastic luck which wit with which we ended up on the perfect place where it's almost impossibly hard to believe that life could exist or you can worship the creator and sustainer who holds all of those things together does he hold it up yes because he is creator the existence of and laws of the universe are his number two he holds it up also because he's the ruler and the heir of all things and he has full authority with the universe so those themes about Jesus as ruler and heir those are very clear in Hebrews 1 so as the American folk song said he's got the whole world in his hands because it's all his he's the risen reigning ruler and heir of it all so if the world is still here today it's because he has chosen that to be so can you picture yourself in the kitchen with an apple that is starting to go bad and you're trying to decide what to do with it do you try to salvage part of it or do you just throw it away in the trash can no Jesus values what he has created infinitely more than we value an apple but the point is that we should make no mistake about the fact that he could discard the universe as easily as you can discard that Apple but instead he continues to sustain it he has that much authority let's go to our third aspect of this then number 3 he gives common grace and he restrains the full effects of sin so that the universe continues we talked about this recently in our Sunday morning Bible study were it not for common grace and restraint upon sin and sinners we would have ceased to exist a long time ago as the human race and the number four another way that he holds it up he has patience with humanity restraining final judgment I don't want to get overly complicated here but another occasional meaning of this word the word translated up holds another occasional meaning of that is to put up with and that's actually the way the word is used two of the other times that it's used in Hebrews let me show you this hopefully this will not be too confusing the reason why it's confusing is because this is not him holding something up this is talking about people but it's the same word right here so this is talking about the people of Israel at Mount Sinai they could not endure the order they could not put up with the voice of God that was speaking that was so terrifying for them and over in Hebrews 13 13 therefore let us go out I did it again therefore let us go to him outside the camp and bear the reproach so that word bear right there that's our same word Kerry put up with be willing to continue with the reproach that he endured now in both of those instances it's people that are bearing with something but this idea of bearing with the same word is the word in Romans 9:22 what if God desiring to show his wrath and debate make known his power has endured with much patience vessels of Wrath prepared for destruction okay endured is our word to uphold so what's that saying in Romans I think the idea there is that he continues to hold up the vessels of Wrath rather than allowing them to plunge into destruction so he has patience with humanity draining final judgment from happening at least for now so if we go back to our slides those are those are four ways in which we could say that yeah that the atlas picture is kind of helpful Jesus does hold everything up he's his creator the existence of and laws of the universe or his he's the ruler and heir so he's got full authority he gives common grace and restrains so that we still exist and he has patience with humanity restraining final judgments so those are all ways in which he just holds it up now we should add one more point to that list though to make sure we personalize that a little bit number five he holds our lives in his hands let's switch back to our scripture and we're gonna go to acts acts 17 we actually start studying in acts 17 this next Sunday morning acts 17 verse 24 you switch so I can mark this for us acts 17:24 the God who made the world and everything in it being Lord of Heaven and Earth does not live in temples made by man nor is he served by human hands as though he needed anything since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything and verse 27 that they should seek God and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him yet he is actually not far from each one of us for in him we live and move and have our being okay so he gives to all mankind life and breath and everything in him we live and move and have our being and those things were spoken to people in Athens who did not know the true God did not believe in Jesus how much more are those things true for those whom he has purchased with his own blood so rather than atlas kind of cringing under the curse of the universe the picture for the Christian would be more along the lines of the father or Jesus holding us in his hands so when we read Hebrews 1:3 is it okay to have something a bit like atlas come to mind does Jesus hold up the universe causing it to continue in a state or condition yeah he does there are several ways in which that's true and practically that means that reminds us that he holds us in his hands right now but as true as those things are I don't think we've actually yet gotten to a key idea that this word uphold involves and we haven't quite gotten the fullness of it yet so here's what we're gonna do now I'm going to show you the most common uses of this word uphold and as I do that I want you to watch for what is different from the Atlas imagery picture Atlas holding on to the universe with it above him like that standing there holding it and I want you to see what is there about this word that indicates something more than that than just standing there holding it so we're gonna look at the word and then we're gonna take a brief break and that'll give you a chance to put your answers in the comments here or text us what do you see that's different that's more than just Atlas holding it up so we'll read it take a break let you put your comments in and then we'll then we'll come back okay so we want to go back to our word its Pharaoh right and go over here to our dictionary now we already looked at definition five to cause to continue in a state or condition but as we said that's that's rare they're saying this is the only place in the New Testament where it's used that way so let's look at the other five most common meanings 1 2 3 4 & 6 ok let's go up here to number 1 to bear or carry from one place to another with focus on an act of transport number 2 to cause an entity to move from one position to another number 3 to cause to follow a certain course in direction or conduct to move out of position or drive number 4 to move an object to a particular point to put or place number 6 to afford passage to a place to lead to okay so as you've heard those five definitions what did you hear there that's more than just the imagery of Atlas holding things up you give an answer in the comments while we take a brief break we'll be back in less than two minutes okay let's look at what this other idea and we have one correct answer in the comments but unfortunately it's from my wife so you're all gonna think I paid her off to say that so she says the idea is that of movement and that's absolutely right to just see that in each of those definitions let's go back oh there you go John thanks for rescuing her from that so if we go back to our go back to the Bible here for just a minute if we could do that to afford passage to a place to lead to to to move there number four to cause to follow a certain course number three to cause an entity to move number two so you see that normally this word is used with ideas that are related to movement so I think what we want to say is Jesus is not just holding something up he's carrying something somewhere maybe we should picture Atlas's walking so in addition to the five ideas that we've already seen where let's let's talk about some ideas now that are about Jesus carrying the universe forward because that's really a key idea in this word so number one he is carrying everything forward in line with the father's plans and purposes just this morning in my Bible reading I was reading Matthew chapter 26 which is the account of Jesus and his arrest in the garden and when they the chief priests and the elders and the soldiers are come to him and he says to them you know the father would send me twelve legions of angels if I just asked him but how then would the Scriptures be fulfilled and so that that little line is just one of countless examples of places in the Bible where the events of human history are said to be playing out according to God's plans Jesus is carrying everything forward in line with the father's plans and purposes so that's the first way that we can see that he's not just like Atlas standing there but he's carrying it forward by the way we had some other good answers here that I just hadn't gotten to come up on Maya on my feed yet before but thank you for those of you who jumped in on that number two he will bring human history to its conclusion all right I love this idea the the book of Revelation describes the events that bring human history to its conclusion right so there are these this series of seals and trumpets plagues bowls of judgment and then the fall of Babylon the Great and then the coming of Jesus ultimately there's then the final defeat of Satan and the great white throne judgment and and new heavens and a new earth so all of those events seem to come from a plan a script like it's found in a scroll and so before any of that begins all that starts in Revelation six before any of that begins there's this scene in Revelation five let's look at in our Bible revelation five then I saw in the right hand of him who was seated on the throne a scroll written within and on the back sealed with seven seals so this is God the Father seated on the throne and he's got this scroll that it it's like it contains the the plans for the end of end of the world and verse two and I saw a mighty angel proclaiming with a loud voice who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals and no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll or to look into it and I began to weep loudly because no one was found worthy to open the scroll or to look into it so just pause right there that is a remarkable statement from John he wept loudly at the thought that no one could bring things to their conclusion no one could open the scroll that has the the plans for how all this finally ends verse five and one of the elders said to me weep no more behold the Lion of the tribe of Judah the root of David has conquered so that he can open the scroll in its seven seals and between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders I saw a lamb standing as though it had been slain with seven horns in the seven eyes which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth and he went and took the scroll from the right hand of him who was seated on the throne and what the rest of revelation five describes is how all of heaven rejoices that the lion lamb has taken the scroll and then if we go down to revelation 6 and verse 1 now I watched when the lamb opened one of the seven seals and there it all starts to unfold from then on so it is Jesus who is the lion Lamb who is worthy to bring human history to its conclusion Jesus carries all things along until he unrolls the scroll and the end unfolds okay so that's number two back door slides then number three he will present the kingdom to the Father now let me admit right away that I have not seen any other commentator or teacher make this connection so maybe you should be tentative about what I say next but one of the meanings of this word uphold is to bring a gift to someone this is the word used a lot of times in a Greek translation of the Old Testament for the Israelites bringing sacrifices bringing gifts and offerings to God and there are a couple places than in the New Testament where it has that idea to actually one of them is that beautiful phrase in 1st Peter 1 about how we should fix our hope on the grace that's going to be brought to us at the revelation of Jesus Christ the grace that God is going to bring to us when Jesus comes again so as I think about that idea for this word the idea of bringing a gift to someone it's intriguing to me that Jesus carries everything forward in line with the father's plans and purposes bringing human history to its conclusion and then first Corinthians 15 tells us that he presents it to the father look at first Corinthians 15 24 then comes the end when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power in verse 28 when all things are subjected to him then the son himself also will be subjected to him who put all things in subjection under him well that's a mouthful that God may be all in all so okay what I'm saying here is that I wonder if start with Atlas right start with the picture of just holding it up and then get Atlas walking but of course Atlas is mythology we're talking about the real Jesus pictured Jesus carrying the universe along for the father's purposes bringing human history to its conclusion and then presenting it all to the father all along he's been bearing a gift to present to the father now again I admit that I might be going beyond the scope of what Hebrews 1:3 has in mind there I haven't heard anybody else bring up that idea but it still seems like a sequence of truths that are important so if we look back at our PowerPoint then we've said three things here about Jesus carrying the universe forward number one he's carrying it forward in line with the father's plans and purposes number two he's gonna bring human history to its conclusion number three he's gonna present the kingdom to the father so all of that has this movement idea not just the Atlas holding it up idea but then let's make it practical again number four he is carrying our individual lives forward he's carrying our individual lives forward there's actually a hint of this in one of the other uses of this word uphold in Hebrews and and again I know I kind of risk confusion by showing us these other uses but it's the same word it's here in the same book so I think it's worth looking at it's in Hebrews 6 verse 1 says therefore let us leave the elementary doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity now you might look at that and say wait a second I don't see I don't see the word for upholding in that verse but if we if we click on go on here the word go and look down here at the bottom it's Pharaoh that's our same word now it's in the passive here and this is a little bit of a technicality it could be middle it could mean let's bring ourselves carry ourselves along to maturity or it could be in the passive let's be carried along to maturity it's a passage that emphasizes our responsibility yet at the same time it is ultimately Jesus who's going to carry us along to maturity so that could connect with this idea that he is carrying our individual lives forward but if that's too obscure then let's just go to Philippians 1:6 I am sure of this that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ now that verse doesn't use our word but it surely uses our point he is carrying our individual lives forward he's not carrying your life as a burden on his weary shoulders as a curse like Atlas he's carrying your life forward like a guide on a trail like the gardener tending to his vine to help it grow like a shepherd carrying his sheep like a father holding the hand of his child like the redeemer caring for his treasure and like our Creator carrying our lives toward their intended purpose and they're an eternal conclusion he is not just holding everything up though that's true he is carrying our individual lives forward okay so let's take all this and let's squeeze the whole lesson onto one slide and if you have any questions to ask jump into the comments now and ask them and we'll catch them before we finish here so here's hopefully this is not too small for you to read Jesus first of all we said the atlas picture does help Jesus is holding the universe up number one he's creator the existence of and laws of the universe are his number two he's the ruler and the heir of all things he's got full authority with the universe number three he gives common grace and restrains the full of specks of sin so that the universe even is here number four he has patience with humanity restraining final judgment and number five he holds our lives in his hands but then we said we need to have this idea of movement he's taken it somewhere carrying the universe forward one he's carrying everything forward in line with the father's plans and purposes - he's gonna bring human history to its conclusion three he's gonna present the kingdom of the Father and that means today he is carrying our individual lives for we okay so what should we conclude from those things well hopefully there's some comfort hopefully there's just some encouragement and being reminded of the hand of our Savior in all things and in our lives but then on a very practical level what I want us to do here as we as we finish up is loop back to the beginning of our lesson because at the beginning we said Jesus I mean it's it's just what's in the verse Hebrews 1:3 can we just go back and look at that for a second at the beginning we talked about the universe and we talked about how he up holds it by the word of his power okay so let's go back to that idea of he upholds by the word of his power it is his word that is sustaining it is his word that is upholding and carrying everything forward and so that should probably remind us of something like Matthew 4 verse 4 man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that comes from the mouth of God and if we look at what this word for word is here it is Rhema the specific statements that God makes on a very practical daily level our lives need to be sustained and carried forward by the word of Christ not just in general but by the specific statements of God's Word we can't live by bread alone we've got to have the things God says to carry us forward to sustain us and we could also connect that then the same word is in Ephesians six not seven if even 617 take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit which is the word the Rhema of God and this word sword back here is the word for the the short sword you see that down here at the bottom the little dagger that you can carry with you all the time so the specific statements of God the words of God are the sword of the Spirit and we can't live without them so so what we're saying practically is that if the whole universe is upheld by him and being carried forward by him then when he tells us look you need my word if the universe is upheld by his word and he tells us you can't live by bread alone you got to live by every word of God that ought to click together for us and we ought to say oh yeah I see it's the specific statements of God it's the specific words of God it's the things Jesus says that carry hold my life up each day and carry my life along in God's purposes each day I think that's a great way for us to take these truths and apply them now let's go back to Hebrews 1 let's read our text one last time we'll make one last check for any questions from you and then we'll be done for this evening Hebrews 1:1 long ago at many times in many ways God spoke to our fathers by the prophets but in these last days he has spoken to us by his son in a son whom he appointed the heir of all things through whom also he created the world that son is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature and he upholds the universe by the word of his power what a great Jesus and we're not done yet after all these phrases we've studied there's still so much more to come in these next verses in Hebrews 1 so our next study is scheduled for September 4th and hopefully you'll join us then that's two weeks from tonight at 7 p.m. I don't see any final questions that I need to answer from any of you so don't forget that you can still share this after it's over so that you can invite other people to come here and learn about these same truths - we'll see in two weeks thanks for being a part of GBC live tonight good night