You Are Destined For The Deep Series

In 1993 in the movie, “The Sandlot” there was a young guy named who they called “Squints” whose whole name was in love Michael “Squints” Palledorous.

If you saw the movie, you will know that “squints” was secretly in love with the lifeguard, Wendy Peppercorn and his love for her was so deep; that it drove him into the deep. That’s right, although he could not swim, he jumped into the deep end of the pool and almost drowned so that she would rescue Him and provide “mouth to mouth” resuscitation.

As she was resuscitating him, he woke from his near-death experience and shocked everyone with this smile for his friends and a kiss for Wendy Peppercorn.

Although he could not swim, his love drove him into the deep end of the pool. He could not stay in the shallow anymore; He had to get out of the kiddie pool because He knew He was destined for the deep.

Transitional Sentence:

Hebrews 6 is an intriguing chapter because it addresses two different types of people:

a) People who think they are Christians, yet the seed of salvation had not taken root;

they are as verse 8 says: “thorns and thistles” people who received God’s Word

but their concern for the world choked out their acceptance of Jesus.

b) People who were truly Christians who the seed of salvation went deep, it had taken root,

and it was impacting their life as they were challenged to leave “shallow” “pseudo” “fake”

Christianity and “go deep” because of their love for Jesus.

Let me ask you which are you? “Are you a kiddie pool religious person or has your love for Jesus driven you to the deep?”

Perhaps today you are on the edge of making a true commitment to Jesus. Why should you do it? Why should you leave behind the shallow thorn and thistle belief and become a true believer?

Transition: Why take the plunge?

I. There’s No Satisfaction in the Shallow

Vs. 9- “But beloved we are convinced of better things concerning you....”

Explanation:

This passage is penned to the real believers. We know this because it begins with a simple phrase, it is the second word in verse 9. The word is the word: “beloved.” (agapetoi)

This phrase is God’s title of endearment for us. It’s like calling your wife “honey” “sweetie” or “pretty momma.” Right?

The word is set aside for believers who genuinely accept Jesus, make Him their Lord and Savior, and have set out on the journey of life following Jesus. It is the highest expression of how God feels about us: He loves us!

It is used 60 times in the New Testament and often it is used in contrast to the Heavenly Fathers love for Jesus and His love for us. It is precisely the same. Remember when Jesus was baptized? God the Father spoke from heaven and said: “This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.” (Matthew 3:17)

God feels the same way about you if you’ve truly joined His family and accepted His Son.

After identifying who He is talking to He tells us why it’s not safer nor it’s it satisfying to hang out in the shallow. He tells us why it’s so satisfying to “go deep” and “take the plunge” when it comes to following Jesus.

When we follow Jesus:

a) His Presence In My Life Is More Than Skin Deep- vs. 10- “For God is not unjust so as to

forget your work and the love which you have shown toward His name....”

In verse 10 we are reminded that when our relationship with Jesus is authentic, His presence is

authentic in our lives. He is present and knows everything we are doing and He remembers

what we have done because He’s been there with us all the way.

The verse here speaks of God “not forgetting.”

Illustration: The Hippocampus

Do any of you struggle with forgetting things? If so, take hope, a recent study was done that says that the average adult loses 9 items that they own ever day.

We lose our keys, our phones, glasses, remotes, and other stuff. Guys, not good news but one study concluded that we lose stuff more than women and that we spend an average of 15 minutes a day looking for things we misplace.

Yet, did you know that there is a neurological reason for it? The study says that the reason we misplace things is because we have an “encoding” part of our brains that controls our attention and memory drive.

That’s right. Here’s the scientific excuse we can now use for forgetting stuff. Ready? This is the scientific explanations: “ The hippocampus is like a camera for our brain. It is responsible for taking a snapshot and preserving our memory in a set of neurons and when it is not activated due to lack of focus, we don’t have a snapshot stored and can’t retrieve our stuff.”