Aaron’s Sermons
“…the sin which doth so easily beset us…” – Hebrews 12:1
“Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us…” Hebrews 12:1
“…the sin which doth so easily beset us.” So easily! Think of it! You had hardly a moment to consider, only a narrow second to wrap your mind around the consequences sure to follow the sin that presented itself before you – and just like that . . . bondage. How deceitful sin is! It always over promises and under delivers. The cords of Satan are strong and your personal ‘will power’ is no match for the tailor-made temptation that he has prepared just for you . . . but the blood of Jesus that flowed from Calvary 2000+ years ago is still (!) as beneficent as ever and it is powerful to deliver from the cords of sin and bondage that would tie the believer down and keep him/her from running the race of faith. The Lord wants you free and that freedom comes only one way -renouncing faith in every other method and means (be it religion, will power, good works, relationships, self help, positive thinking, etc etc etc) and casting the anchor of your life/heart to the Lord Jesus Christ and His finished work on Calvary. I’ve heard a wise preacher declare this truth, “The power of sin is broken where the penalty for sin was paid.” If sin – along with it’s dominion, power, and consequences – can be addressed by anyone else, anywhere else, then why did Jesus have to come and give His life? His one great errand in this world was to deal with sin in the life of every individual that would receive Him and fit them for renewed relationship and eternal life with God the Father in Heaven. Sin becomes bondage, and bondage becomes baggage, and you don’t have the time or the strength to carry all of that with you on this narrow way. You can take it to Jesus today. And while it may be easy to fall, He is powerful to deliver. Keep running.
“Repent therefore and return…” – Acts 3:19
“Repent therefore and return, that your sins may be wiped away, in order that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord…” – Acts 3:19
Repentance and faith in the shed blood of Jesus are the keys that unlock the funnels of grace from the portals of Heaven. It’s not, “Say you’re sorry and keep going…” — it’s “Repent…and return…”. Go back! Go back where? To Calvary’s Cross! Weep for your sin under the shade of grace where the just wrath of a Holy God was poured out for your sin on His very own Son, Jesus Christ. Hebrews tells us that we have ACCESS to the Throne of Grace whereby we might receive mercy and help in our time of need. On what basis does that access come? Our own personal godliness? Our ability to adhere to our church’s membership standards? 21 days of fasting? The duration of my daily prayer time? Success in my year long Bible-reading plan? No! The priests in the Old Testament had access to the Holy of Holies – where the very presence of God dwelled – through the blood of the sacrifice slain for the sins of Israel. And so it is with us. We have access through the blood of the Lamb slain before the foundation of the earth. There is no sin too great, no shortcoming so extensive that it can’t be wiped away by the precious blood of Jesus Christ… but there is no refreshing without repentance. The Holy Spirit cannot comfort where sin is not confessed. Its antithetical to His very nature – “holy.” Jesus came to tear down the barriers that sin had built between God and mankind – barriers that can again be erected in each of our individual lives if we insist on walking in defiance to His Word rather than dependence on His Work. Is your heart battered, your mind anxious, your soul sick? When you’re ready to cry out to Him with a heart of repentance, He stands ready to meet you with times of refreshment.
“…took…led…multiplied…gave…” – Joshua 24:3
And I took your father Abraham from the other side of the flood, and led him throughout all the land of Canaan, and multiplied his seed, and gave him Isaac. Joshua 24:3
Is this not what the Lord does for us? He takes us from the backside of sin and bondage and leads us to the foot of Calvary where relationship between a holy God and sinful man can be restored. Is it not there, by way of the precious blood of Jesus, that all the grace and mercy of God can be ours in abundance? Has He not multiplied you, giving you tenfold joy far beyond the ravages that sin had brought upon you, giving you a hope and a future? The enemy of your soul would lie to you, making you believe that God is punishing you for your past. If you are a child of God through repentance and faith in Jesus Christ, all the just punishment that your sin incurred was poured out on God’s Son on Calvary’s Cross. For the believer, He doesn’t work on the basis of punishment to bring pain, He chastises to bring correction. Are you being disciplined by the Lord? Be assured it’s because He loves you far beyond your ability to fathom, and He will not tolerate you going any other way than grace and faith in the finished work of Christ. Repent and look to Jesus, going His way, and watch Him take, lead, multiply, and give you what you could never work for, earn, or deserve.
In the dust of His feet,
Sunni Hoffman
“And the two were running together…” – John 20:4a
(3) So Peter and the other disciple went forth, and they were going to the tomb. (4) The two were running together; and the other disciple ran ahead faster than Peter and came to the tomb first; (5) and stooping and looking in, he saw the linen wrappings lying there; but he did not go in. – John 20:3-5
Who are we running with and where are they running to? Peter and John (‘the other disciple whom Jesus loved’ – vs. 2) had walked in closeness of proximity, but now they ran in camaraderie of spirit. After the darkest, yet most victorious, day in all of history, they ran together to find Jesus. We may walk alongside many by virtue of similar interests, but run alongside far fewer by virtue of singularity of focus. I don’t have time to take detours with the double-minded; my youth is near spent and the harvest is now ripe. There were many who followed Jesus to the healing of Jairus’ daughter, but only three (Peter, James & John) were allowed in the room. Why? Scoffers on the outside, believers on the inside. Link arms with those who see the need and know the Answer – Christ and Him crucified – for every problem that ails mankind. Run with those who are going to join you at the finish line and who will help you pull in your ‘catch of fish’ along the way (Luke 5:7).
“…very much of the land remains to be possessed.” – Joshua 13:1
“Now Joshua was old and advanced in years when the Lord said to him, “You are old and advanced in years, and very much of the land remains to be possessed.” Joshua 13:1
How many territories of the heart remain yet unconquered, held captive by Satan who is frantically trying to ‘hold the fort,’ tying the ropes of bondage tighter and tighter lest you come into a full understanding of the great victory wrought for you at Calvary? God says it’s yours – all of it is yours. “…Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.” (1 Cor. 2:9) Just believe! That is the fight of faith – the fight to believe that what Christ has accomplished is MORE THAN ENOUGH to banish the enemy of my mind that depresses, the enemy of my soul that oppresses, and the enemy of my spirit that regresses – because there is nothing for me behind me. All God’s richest and best lie before me in the uncharted territory of the Spirit.
Joshua, nearing the end of his life, had taken all of the land for which God had allotted him in his lifetime. But there was still yet more. May it never be said of me, at the end of my life, that I left plains of blessings untouched; gifts from a good Father unopened. May it be shouted from every mountaintop high and valley low in my soul, Jesus Christ is Lord here and this – all of this – it’s mine.
In the dust of His feet,
Sunni Hoffman
“…love covers a multitude of sins.” – 1 Peter 4:8
“Above all, keep fervent in your love for one another, because love covers a multitude of sins.” – 1 Peter 4:8
“Above all…” Should any of us desire to do anything of value for the Kingdom of Heaven, let love be the primary motivating factor. Serving, without love, is a self-righteous show of good deeds; giving, without love, is pious money lending; teaching, without love, is a bland lecture; preaching, without love, is a harsh scolding. But love! Let God add it to your serving, and you will delight in those humble trenches. Let God infuse it in to your giving, and you will long to meet the needs of another with no expectation of repayment. Let God pour it out on your teaching, and your heart will burn to push others nearer the Throne of Grace. Let God ignite it in your preaching, and your words will plead good news of grace and mercy to the weary and defeated. Attempting any of these things without having first looked upon the pinnacle of God’s love for all mankind, the very blood-stained Cross of Calvary, is a weighty mistake. Going to ‘the source’ on Sundays is not enough; burn out and self pity are sure to ensue. Provisions have been made for us to access the very source of love Himself daily through the precious blood of Jesus. We can come and freely take of the supply of our Father’s storehouse! Like a warm blanket on a cold day, love stretches out its corners over the sins of a failing brother or sister in the Lord. Love sends husbands and wives to the prayer closet with one another’s shortcomings to lift up rather than the news feed to tear down. Love considers the feelings of a co-worker caught in a grievance when others concede to the clatter of the break room. Thank God, love took our sin to a tomb rather than a teleprompter. Love does not delight in putting private pain on public display. Love covers.
In the dust of His feet,
Sunni Hoffman
“As You Have Received Christ Jesus”
“As you have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk you in Him.” Colossians 2:6
If there is one thing that is natural for human beings, even Christians, that is operating in independence. Watching a little child grow, it’s natural for them want to become self-sufficient and do things “on their own.” While independence is good in the growth of a child, there is no place for it in the growth of the child of God. No where in Scripture are we taught to become more ‘independent’ as we grow in the Lord, but in fact, to become more dependent. Jesus said in John 15:5, “I am the vine, you are the branches: He that abides in me, and I in him, the same brings forth much fruit: for without me you can do nothing.“ In the title verse, Paul was exhorting Christians, who would be facing persecution and deception, to not forget the fundamentals of their faith but to order their lives by them each day. How did they receive salvation? By simple child-like faith in Christ and what He accomplished on the Cross. What do coaches do when their team begins to make mistakes? They go back to the fundamentals! As a follower of Christ, we must always remember how we first received Him (by grace through faith in Jesus Christ and His atoning sacrifice on Calvary), and daily order our life by looking to the Cross as the object our faith. How did you receive Him? Not by any good work, merit, or righteous effort on your part – but by simple faith in the blood of Jesus.
The word “walk” in Colossians 2:6 speaks of “ordering one’s life,” meaning we are to approach each day with the same child-like faith that we expressed when we first got saved. Jesus said, “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.” (Luke 9:23) Taking up our cross is not a religious activity we perform, but rather the direction of faith we choose. As we daily direct our faith back to the Cross of Christ, the Holy Spirit will have free reign to change and empower us, supplying to us all the benefits for which Christ died. If we attempt to “move beyond the Cross” (as some teach) we will, in fact, backslide. The shed blood of Jesus Christ is the only thing that pleases the Father and He calls us to renew our faith in it every single day. In so doing, we will experience the “life and life to the full” that Jesus spoke of in John 10:10.
Each day, our prayer ought to be: “Lord, today I am just as incapable of producing any fruit of worth on my own, and I need your mercy and grace to help me. I place my faith in the Blood of Jesus today, just as I did when first surrendered to You, and ask for the help of Your Holy Spirit to make me what I ought to be and change me from what I am.”
In Christ,
Aaron Hoffman
“…’You shall never again return that way.'” -Deuteronomy 17:6
The Holy Spirit has but one direction – always and only forwards. The children of Israel had been delivered from the bondage of Egypt just as the child of God has been delivered from the bondage of sin. To return would be ruin. But isn’t ‘returning that way‘ the temptation for most? How easy it is for us to forget how great a taskmaster sin is and the painful wages it delivers! The temptation for a king in the new nation of Israel would be to say, “Oh, we’re just going back to retrieve some horses and chariots! You know, in case we need to defend ourselves in our new land.” God forbid! The one thing that pleases God is ‘faith.’ Can He not be trusted? Must I go back to providing for myself? The daily fight for the child of God is to renounce all dependence on self and that which we can ‘provide’ for ourselves by the means of the flesh. As a blood-bought redeemed child of God, EVERYTHING I need has already been provided by my elder brother, Christ Jesus, and His atoning work on Calvary. Now, do I really believe that? If so, I can conclude that it is not God’s will for me to go back to ‘Egypt’ and bargain with my former employer, the devil, for a relationship, job, peace, joy, a reprieve from loneliness, etc, etc. God’s best for me is before me, prepared in eternity past by a good Father who loves me and has prepared a way, the way of faith, to those who would but dare throw the weight of their being on Jesus – Who He is and What He has done.
In the dust of His feet,
Sunni Hoffman
The Hoffman Herald 