Prepare your heart for the Sermon by looking through these suggestions that will assist you in making the most of our time together hearing God's Word.

You will find suggestions for thinking more critically through the passage, meditating more intently on the text, and prayerfully seeking wisdom to deepen your understanding of the passage to be preached this Sunday.

Carefully Think

• We start a new series in Hebrews after completing 1 Corinthians last spring. Read the entire book of Hebrews. It contains 13 chapters and is readable in approximately 45 minutes at a moderate pace. You could also listen in a bible app or online.
• As you read through the book, skim it first looking for the type of writing (i.e. narrative, letter, historical, poetic, etc.), author, recipients, and common words used over and over.
• Also, look for contextual clues to location, timing, cultural indicators, issues being addressed, purpose, etc. Notice section headings to identify themes and other topics.
• As you read through the text, try to identify presuppositions (pre-conceived ideas and understanding) about the book and how you came to those notions. 
• If you have access to a good study Bible, reading through the introduction to Hebrews would be a helpful step to introduce you to at least one perspective on its historical context, structure, and themes.
• The Sermon Study equipping class notes are available online for anyone wanting to dig deeper. Please review this week's notes to help study this passage. Click here for the notes.

Prayerfully Meditate

• The book of Hebrews deals with many issues facing its original recipients.  Pray that as these issues are preached, our church body would be reflecting on similarities in our body to those issues addressed in Hebrews and how we should Biblically walk through them as a body together.
• Pray for God to show you clearly areas in your heart that you have already formed ideas regarding Hebrews that might cause you trouble being open to the teaching of God's word.
• Pray for a framework to be developed that will help build a solid understanding of the author’s intending meaning for his audience and how this helps us grow in our understanding as the Scripture is exposited.