Can You Hear Me Now?

Shiloh Bible Church

Hebrews 1:1-2a

Can You Hear Me Now?

Introduction

“Did I get any mail?” [Walk over to mailbox prop and look inside for a letter.]

Many of us growing up can remember how excited we were when we received a letter. Most letters were addressed to our parents. But do you remember how excited you would get when you received a letter addressed to you? There was something exciting about receiving mail—even if it was “junk mail.”

Have you ever waited for any important letter? Maybe you were waiting to hear from an employer that he had hired you. Or maybe you waited to hear from a college that you had been accepted. Or maybe you were just waiting for a letter from that certain special someone in your life. How good it was to find out that you had mail.

Even in our day of e-mails, fax machines, and text messaging, the postal service is still a popular way of getting a message from here to there.

Now, we have people here at Shiloh that have worked for or are working for the US Postal Service—Dick Casey, Joe Yachimowski, Jeff Dressel, Rodney Leighow, Kris Neidig.

You know, last year the US Postal Service delivered 208 billion pieces of mail to 137 million households. That’s a lot of mail! I’m amazed at how very few of it gets lost. The mail always seems to get through somehow.

The Farley Post Office building in New York City has these words inscribed on it: “Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds.” That motto was actually used in ancient times to describe the Persian couriers in 500BC. The Persians had a vast postal system that stretched from the Mediterranean Sea to India—a distance of over 1600 miles. They built relay stations every 14 miles for the swift transfer of men and horses. The couriers who carried the messages were so speedy that they could travel the distance in a week.

Now, our modern day couriers—the letter carriers of the Postal Service—are still making their appointed rounds despite snow, rain, heat, or other elements. They are determined to see that you get your mail. They want you to be able to say, “I’ve got mail.”

But the Postal Service is not the only one who is concerned about getting a message to you. God sought to get a message to you as well. Please turn with me in your Bible to the book of Hebrews—Hebrews chapter 1.

We are just starting out on our study of this fascinating letter in the New Testament. Last week we discovered that the author wrote this letter to encourage a congregation of Hebrew Christians who were facing persecution. Because of their suffering, they were tempted to abandon their Christian faith and return to their former Jewish religion. So the writer of Hebrews encourages them to not to do this, but rather to move forward in their relationship with Christ. Because Jesus Christ is far better than anyone or anything they’ve experienced.

Now, the book of Hebrews begins by describing God’s communication to man. And we know one way that God has communicated to us is …

1. THROUGH CREATION

Listen to what David wrote in Psalm 19:1-4: “The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge. There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard. Their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world.”

David tells us that God communicates to us through His creation. And what does His creation tell us about Him? Well, when you look up into the sky and see the sun, moon, stars, and planets, what does that tell you about God?—Doesn’t it tell you that the One who created all of this is great and powerful and majestic? Doesn’t it also tell you that He is a God of intelligence, design, and order?

One night Rich Myers—our Youth Director—and I were outside. It was a clear night. And we were able to pick out the North Star, the Big Dipper, the Pleiades. And we began to joke about how all this happened “by chance.”

Show the pennies numbered 1-10.] Suppose I numbered 10 pennies from 1 to 10 and placed them in my pocket. Then I put my hand in my pocket and pull out a penny. The chances of me pulling out the penny with the number 1 on it are 1 in 10. Suppose I place that penny back in my pocket and mix the pennies around. I again put my hand in my pocket. The chances of me pulling out the penny with the number 2 on it would be 1 in 100. The chances of repeating the same procedure and coming up with the penny with the number 3 on it would be 1 in 1,000. To do so with all of them—1 through 10 in order—would be 1 in 10 billion!