Jeff Miller

June 11, 2023

Why Jesus

Why Jesus? Faith Endures.

Jeff Miller

June 11, 2023

Why Jesus

Introduction:

Why I Am Not Motivated to Run the Faith Race As I Should (Hebrews 12:1-3):

I Sabotage myself. (Heb 12:1)
I'm too Near Sighted . (Heb 12:2)
Romans 8:18 - For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.
People have worn me out. (Heb 12:3)
Luke 23:34 - And Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”

Jesus Endured Hostility from Sinners By:

Understanding their condition.
Praying for them.
Loving them.

Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!

00:48-01:13
Hebrews, chapter 12. Let's just pause for a second. I know Pastor Taylor prayed for me, but I'm going to ask you to pray for me right now so that I would be faithful to clearly and accurately communicate God's Word. And I'll pray for you to receive it, all right?
01:13-01:14
Let's pray.
01:16-01:19
Father, your word tells us that you have exalted your word even above your name.
01:20-01:24
This is a big deal to you and it should be to us.
01:26-01:34
And Father, we've all come in here tired at times, distracted at times, not ready.
01:36-01:44
I pray, Father, just now that you would do a supernatural work to prepare us to hear what your word has to say.
01:47-01:48
Nothing for show.
01:50-01:51
Father, we wanna sincerely follow you.
01:53-01:54
We wanna know you.
01:56-01:57
We wanna live lives of worship.
01:59-02:04
So may your word equip us to do that just now, Father, we pray in Jesus' name, amen.
02:05-02:07
Hebrews chapter 12, we're gonna be looking at the first three verses.
02:08-02:08
Are you there?
02:11-02:46
It says, "Therefore, since we are surrounded "by so great a cloud of witnesses, "let us also lay aside every weight "and sin which clings so closely "and let us run with endurance "the race that is set before us." Looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him, endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.
02:48-02:59
Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself so that you may not grow weary or faint-hearted.
03:02-03:08
Today, we are going to talk about running.
03:11-03:12
Who are my runners here?
03:12-03:15
Raise your hand if you enjoy running.
03:16-03:17
One of you.
03:18-03:19
Exactly one.
03:22-03:26
Sorry to put you on the spot, but that's, Doug, that's one more than we should have in this room.
03:29-03:31
Because I hate running.
03:35-03:38
I hate running.
03:41-03:42
How much do I hate running?
03:42-03:43
I'll give you a couple examples.
03:43-03:44
I got new shoes.
03:45-03:46
Do you see these bad boys?
03:48-03:52
I'm like, I won't lose those in the dark or miles away or anything.
03:53-03:55
And I'm like, boy, those are really bright.
03:56-03:57
Somehow I missed it.
03:57-04:01
I got them home, looked at the box and the box said running across the top.
04:02-04:03
I'm like, well, I'm a hypocrite.
04:05-04:06
Like guess what you guys won't be doing?
04:07-04:07
Running.
04:08-04:10
So now I kind of view them as rescues, right?
04:11-04:13
You're a rescue dog, I rescued your shoes.
04:13-04:17
You're never gonna have to run, ever.
04:18-04:19
How much do I hate running?
04:20-04:26
My wife knows because she got me this shirt and she saw this, she goes, this is you.
04:27-04:29
Not this one, this one.
04:30-04:35
If you're listening on the podcast or way back there, It says, ready, set, nope.
04:43-04:45
Look, to be fair, I used to run.
04:46-04:50
I used to be an athlete a couple of decades ago.
04:52-04:57
So I used to run and I hated every step of it.
04:58-05:04
Every step, even when I was in shape and 40 pounds lighter and I hated every step.
05:05-05:08
I was attacked over the course of my running career.
05:08-05:11
I was attacked by so many dogs.
05:11-05:23
So many dogs came after me out of their yard, out of breath, every joint in my body, excruciating.
05:25-05:31
Have you ever seen somebody running like you're driving down the road and you see, have you ever seen somebody running?
05:32-05:33
Have you ever looked at their face?
05:36-05:47
Because I've met people that they're like, "I love running." I'm like, "I've never seen that guy." Every single person that I see running looks like they're being tortured.
05:47-05:51
They're like, right?
05:52-05:53
Nobody enjoys running, okay?
05:53-05:54
So stop pretending.
05:57-06:03
Just say you're being nebby about what's going on in the neighborhood or something, but nobody loves running.
06:05-06:09
But, but, spiritually.
06:13-06:19
In this passage, we see there is a striving that follows faith.
06:20-06:29
There is spiritually an intense effort on our part, which is why a common metaphor for the Christian life in the New Testament is running a race.
06:30-06:37
And did you know the Greek word for race is the word agona, which is where we get the word appropriately, agony.
06:43-06:44
That is true.
06:46-06:50
But listen, when we talk about running the race, we're not talking about competing against one another.
06:52-06:52
Like, well, what is it about?
06:52-06:54
Listen, you're gonna wanna write this down.
06:55-06:58
It's striving through suffering to get to the finish line.
06:58-06:59
That's the metaphor.
06:59-07:04
It's striving through suffering to get to the finish line.
07:06-07:07
That's why it's called a race.
07:07-07:10
I am striving through suffering to get to the finish line.
07:14-07:30
And here's the problem, church, especially in our culture and even in this church, Too many Christians have reduced the definition of faith to mean that I intellectually agree with a doctrinal statement.
07:32-07:34
And for some people, that's what faith is.
07:35-07:39
I just agree with a doctrinal statement.
07:42-07:44
That is not what faith is.
07:45-07:53
Many years ago, about the time of my life that I did run, But many years ago, I ran a senior high boys' wilderness camp.
07:53-07:57
And in this wilderness camp, I would take, oh, it was, some of you guys would love this.
07:57-08:02
We went rappelling and rock climbing and hiking and canoeing and all that stuff.
08:02-08:04
It was a blast.
08:04-08:09
But I remember there was this one kid in particular, we were on one of our hikes, and he was just the whole time,
08:10-08:10
(imitates dog barking)
08:10-08:12
just complaining about everything.
08:13-08:15
And I'm like, what is the matter?
08:16-08:17
Like on the trail, I turn around, I'm like, what's the matter?
08:18-08:31
He goes, "Why are we doing so much (beep)?" And I said, "What did you think was gonna happen "when you signed up for wilderness camp?" And I had a moment I'm not proud of.
08:33-08:35
I was frustrated because hiking's kind of like running.
08:38-08:39
A pain.
08:39-08:49
But I had this moment I wasn't proud of that I said to this senior high kid, I said, "You know what, how about this?
08:49-09:11
"Next year, we'll have beanbag camp "and we'll just get beanbags and Nintendos "and we'll just lay around and play video games all week." And as soon as those words came out of my mouth, I'm like, "You are such a jerk." And I'm like, now I'm thinking I get to apologize to this kid and in this moment of my brain processing, he goes, "That would be so cool."
09:12-09:13
(congregation laughing)
09:14-09:15
And that became a thing for years.
09:16-09:25
People are like, "When can we do beanbag camp?" But listen, that's the kind of Christianity that people want.
09:30-09:32
But that is not in the brochure.
09:35-09:50
Listen to me, if you find your faith to be convenient and easy and always making you feel good, You don't have faith by any biblical definition.
09:52-09:55
Because Hebrews 11 showed us what faith is.
09:55-10:01
It's a belief in God's word that shapes every decision of your life.
10:03-10:09
It moves you to work hard for God's kingdom while you wait on his promises.
10:09-10:19
And that's why after he gives this whole list of people, a plethora of Old Testament saints and what faith looked like in their lives.
10:20-10:34
Now the exhortation to the church, to us, he says, "Because of these witnesses," he goes, "Now run." Because real faith is striving through suffering to get to the finish line.
10:34-10:35
That's what real faith is.
10:37-10:42
I have to ask you, does that describe your Christian journey right now?
10:48-10:49
How's your run?
10:50-10:52
Are you running hard right now?
10:57-11:01
Are you running hard in your Christian race right now?
11:01-11:02
Running like you want to win?
11:05-11:09
Are you running right now like you wanna finish strong?
11:16-11:17
Or have you slowed down?
11:21-11:34
Has the agony and the dogs and the breathlessness and the sweat, has it made you just wanna quit?
11:37-11:38
Is that where you are?
11:41-11:53
Do you notice three times, we just looked at three verses and in each verse, the same word shows up, some variation of the same word, the word endurance, endure, enduring.
11:56-12:01
That literally means to remain under the challenge.
12:01-12:02
That's what that means.
12:04-12:05
In other words, it means to suffer.
12:07-12:12
In other words, it means this, church, listen, you gotta keep running when you don't feel like running.
12:13-12:14
That's what that means.
12:17-12:22
We need endurance in this Christian race.
12:23-12:27
And I have to ask you, church, are you wearing out?
12:30-12:31
Like, well, how do I know?
12:33-12:34
How do I know that I'm wearing out?
12:34-12:35
Well, there's signs.
12:36-12:37
There's signs that you're wearing out.
12:39-12:41
A big one is this, how's your prayer life?
12:42-12:46
When was the last time you got on your face and actually prayed instead of just saying your prayers?
12:47-12:48
Because there's a huge difference.
12:48-12:53
And I would also say, when was the last time that you saw a prayer answered?
12:53-12:57
That you're like, I prayed for this and I saw exactly how God answered.
12:58-12:59
When was the last time you saw that?
13:04-13:05
Are you slowing down?
13:08-13:09
When was the last time you were in the Word?
13:11-13:14
And I don't just mean reading the one little verse at the top of your devotional.
13:14-13:23
I mean like in God's Word, studying, meditating, and memorizing, and praying it back to God.
13:23-13:28
When was the last time you really got into the word like you wanted it?
13:32-13:39
When was the last time that you shared the gospel with someone because you had a burden for their spiritual condition?
13:39-13:42
Or you invited them to come to Harvest to hear the gospel?
13:43-13:45
When was the last time you've done that?
13:46-13:47
Are you slowing down?
13:51-13:57
Here's a big one, 'cause there's a lot of people in this church who serve in so many capacities.
13:58-14:07
Let me ask you this, right now in your service, whatever capacity you serve, are you serving out of obligation?
14:09-14:16
Or like, you know what, I'm doing this, but deep down, if we're gonna be honest, I really don't want to.
14:17-14:19
I don't feel like doing this anymore.
14:20-14:26
I'm doing it just because they're expecting me and they're kind of counting on me, but I really don't wanna do this.
14:27-14:28
That's a sign that you're running out of endurance.
14:30-14:36
All of these are signs that you're running out of endurance and that's why he tells us, endure, endure, endure.
14:36-14:39
You gotta keep running when you don't feel like running.
14:41-14:50
And listen, I can tell you how to run and I can give you some reasons why, but I can't give you the want to.
14:51-14:52
I can't give you the heart.
14:53-14:54
I can't do that.
14:56-15:14
You see, I can't come beside you and say, "Hey, you should run the race." You're like, "I know, I should." And I'm like, "Well, what's the problem?" And you're like, "I just don't want to." I'm overwhelmed right now in my life and I feel beat down.
15:15-15:18
And look, I know I need to run, I just don't wanna run.
15:21-15:29
Well, like a doctor today, I just, I wanna properly diagnose your problem.
15:31-15:32
The word of God will do that.
15:33-15:39
Because only when you properly diagnose your problem, why am I not motivated?
15:39-15:40
Why am I not enduring?
15:41-15:43
Why am I slowing down and wearing out on my race?
15:43-15:52
If we can diagnose why, then we can seek the remedy, and then we can get motivated.
15:54-15:58
So let's get real and see why I'm not motivated to run.
16:01-16:07
Why I'm not motivated to run the race of faith as I should, number one, write this down, I sabotage myself.
16:08-16:11
Here's a reason maybe you're not enduring in your race.
16:11-16:13
I sabotage myself.
16:13-16:14
Look at verse one again.
16:14-16:40
It says, "Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and sin which clings so closely and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us." So one reason that some of you, some of you are not running the race as you should is because you sabotaged yourself.
16:41-16:48
You believe in Christ, you're in the race, but you've weighed yourself down.
16:49-16:51
It's a pretty obvious picture, isn't it?
16:52-16:55
Like if I called you up and I said, "Hey, you wanna go for a run?
16:55-16:57
"Don't worry, that's never gonna happen.
16:57-17:08
"You will never get that phone call, but we can pretend." But if I called you up and said, "Hey, do you wanna go for a run?" And you're like, "I got my fluorescent shoes, Pastor Jeff.
17:08-17:14
"I am there." and you come to my house, I'm like, okay, first I'm gonna need you to carry this on your run.
17:15-17:18
You're like, what am I gonna do with this?
17:18-17:19
Are we building a house when we get there?
17:19-17:20
No, I just need you to carry that.
17:22-17:23
Oh, here, carry this too.
17:27-17:29
Who wants to go running with me carrying these things?
17:30-17:30
Anybody?
17:32-17:32
Doug?
17:33-17:35
Doug still says yes.
17:37-17:38
I love you brother, but you are a maniac.
17:41-17:42
He probably would.
17:44-17:48
But even he would admit, it suddenly just got a lot harder, didn't it?
17:49-17:49
To run?
17:49-17:52
How many steps do you think you'd make it running with these?
17:55-17:58
You're like, I'm not sure that I'd wanna run carrying these things.
17:59-18:00
He said, that's the point.
18:00-18:01
That's what he's saying here.
18:01-18:10
He's saying some of you are not enduring in your Christian race because you're carrying all this extra stuff you don't need to be carrying.
18:10-18:11
And you're like, well, what is that?
18:12-18:13
I'm like sweating just holding this.
18:15-18:16
You're like, well, what is that?
18:16-18:22
Well, for the Jews that he was writing to, it was like the Judaism, dead works kind of thing.
18:24-18:27
But for us, you know, it can be religion.
18:28-18:32
For some people it's carrying this burden of, I gotta make God happy.
18:32-18:38
I gotta do all these things to try to, Please God, and you're not running as you should because that's weight that you don't need to be carrying.
18:40-18:44
And for a lot of you also, it could be shame.
18:46-18:47
It could be shame.
18:50-18:57
You're hesitant to run because you don't have confidence that maybe the weight is like your past mistakes.
18:58-19:02
You're like, I know I need to run, but I've never really done things the way I should.
19:02-19:04
And you don't know some of the things I've done in my past.
19:04-19:34
and you're carrying this past shame, and I really can put this stuff down, but you're carrying this stuff, and you're like, "Why am I not running as I should?" And that's why the Hebrew writer says, "Look, you gotta get rid of this stuff, because it's a lot easier to run when you're not carrying all this unnecessary stuff." You gotta drop the burdens.
19:34-19:35
You're like, well, what are they?
19:37-19:38
Well, he says the weight, right?
19:38-19:39
We talked about that.
19:39-19:44
It's former Judaism, shame, religion.
19:46-19:51
But the next thing he says that we do to sabotage ourselves is sin.
19:53-19:57
Notice the Bible says it clings, it entangles.
19:59-20:01
The word literally means to gather around.
20:01-20:07
And there, I guess, using our running metaphor, the picture is this, you're going for a run and somebody tied your shoelaces together.
20:08-20:10
That makes it hard to run too, doesn't it?
20:15-20:20
Listen, some of you can't run your race confidently because of a pornography addiction.
20:23-20:25
Why am I not running like I should?
20:28-20:30
You've tied your shoelaces together with pornography.
20:31-20:33
That's why you're not running like you should.
20:36-20:41
For others, maybe it's a drug and alcohol addiction, drug or alcohol addiction.
20:44-20:50
Man, I wanna run, I just don't, why am I not, why is my thing with Jesus, why does it seem so?
20:50-20:52
You're sabotaging yourself, that's why.
20:55-20:56
Put the bottle down and run.
20:59-21:02
For some people it's worrying about everything.
21:02-21:03
And that's a sin, by the way.
21:04-21:08
We almost make it look as a virtue, like, "I'm just kind of a worrier.
21:08-21:09
I'm just kind of a worry." That's a sin.
21:11-21:20
And for some people, that's why they're not running as they should because the sin of worry has them tangled up and they're not running like they should.
21:26-21:29
You're never gonna have endurance if you sabotage yourself.
21:35-21:36
You gotta drop the weight.
21:38-21:39
You want some inspiration?
21:40-21:42
He gives it to us right here, the cloud of witnesses.
21:44-21:51
All the people that he mentioned in Hebrews chapter 11, they demonstrated a life of faith.
21:51-21:52
We went through all that.
21:53-21:54
We saw the highs and lows.
21:56-21:58
We saw the victory and the agony.
21:58-22:03
We saw the God showed up and we saw the, I'm waiting for God to show up.
22:05-22:13
And all of these people that we've studied over these past several weeks testify to the greatness of running the race.
22:13-22:16
And I promise you, you track them down in heaven.
22:17-22:26
Keep this list, you track them down in heaven and you grab them and you say, Tell me about the stuff that I read about you in God's word.
22:26-22:29
Every single one of them are going to say it was worth it.
22:31-22:36
Everything that I endured was worth it.
22:39-22:44
And see, we're encouraged by people who went before us.
22:46-22:49
And there's a real sense in which we should draw inspiration from them.
22:51-22:52
And this is a whole nother sermon.
22:54-23:03
I didn't want to really bark up this tree, but I was thinking a lot this week about the people that God's put in my life, past and present, who inspire me.
23:04-23:11
Part of the witnesses, so to speak, who inspire me to run, I think of Pastor Bob, who went to be with the Lord.
23:14-23:19
He taught me everything I know about being a pastor, and I am not 1% of the pastor that he was.
23:21-23:25
And I think of my friend Mike Singer, who died in a motorcycle accident years ago.
23:26-23:29
Just what an influence he had on me, the way he loved his family.
23:31-23:38
Just his trust in the Lord and the joy that he just constantly seemed to be ringing through his life.
23:41-23:46
I think of Barnabas, who's going to be coming over here and preaching in October.
23:47-23:49
and the work that he does for the Lord.
23:49-23:57
You see, I look at these guys and I could go on and on, but my point is I look at these guys and I say, I wanna run the race like they did.
24:01-24:08
But then I think also, I should be motivated by the fact that I'm a witness too.
24:10-24:10
Right?
24:12-24:13
And there are people that are watching me.
24:15-24:31
And you know how motivated I am knowing that there is this enormous herd of little people back there that are evaluating the Christian race based on how I'm running it.
24:34-24:40
And if you're a leader in this church, serving in any capacity, they're watching you too.
24:43-24:45
How do they see us running the race?
24:47-24:48
So do you want endurance for your race?
24:50-24:52
Now you go, it's so hard to run the race.
24:52-24:55
Well, stop sabotaging yourself and it'll get a lot easier, all right?
24:57-25:00
Number two, why am I not motivated to run the race as I should?
25:02-25:03
Why sabotage myself?
25:03-25:04
That's a problem.
25:05-25:05
Here's number two.
25:06-25:07
I'm too nearsighted.
25:08-25:09
Look at verse two.
25:12-25:24
It says, "Looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him, endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.
25:27-25:37
You see, for some of you, your problem is this, you don't live like you really believe that there is a finish line.
25:41-25:48
Maybe you have a health issue, or worse yet, somebody you love very much, that's very close to you has a health issue.
25:49-25:51
And you're like, you know what?
25:51-25:52
Nothing's ever gonna change.
25:53-25:54
Nothing's ever gonna change.
25:54-25:58
Well, that kind of attitude results in no motivation to run.
26:00-26:04
Or maybe you have a spouse that doesn't know Jesus and you're like, my marriage stinks.
26:07-26:08
Nothing's ever gonna change.
26:09-26:11
And you've just resolved yourself to that.
26:11-26:12
Nothing's ever gonna change.
26:12-26:16
And when you resolve yourself to that, And that results in no motivation.
26:21-26:33
You see, like a real race, if you don't think there's a finish line, you're not going to be motivated to run very long, are you?
26:36-26:39
Like, who's going to sign up to run endlessly?
26:40-26:41
Nobody.
26:44-26:46
The problem is some of you are just too nearsighted.
26:47-26:54
You're too focused on the here and now because today's problem was also yesterday's problem and it's gonna be tomorrow's problem.
26:55-26:57
So why bother running?
26:57-26:58
But look at what he says here.
26:59-26:59
Here's the game changer.
27:00-27:04
He says, "Looking to Jesus." Don't miss this.
27:05-27:06
This will change your life.
27:06-27:10
It says that Jesus was able to endure the cross.
27:13-27:17
because of the joy that was set before him.
27:17-27:18
You're like, well, what joy?
27:18-27:20
He tells us right here.
27:20-27:24
He says he's seated at the right hand of the throne of God.
27:24-27:26
Like, what's the point?
27:26-27:26
Here's the point.
27:27-27:33
Jesus was able to endure suffering because he knew what was on the other side of the cross.
27:37-27:50
You see, if Jesus was nearsighted like we are often, if Jesus was that nearsighted like I am, Jesus would say, "What, you mean to be humiliated "and executed by these people?
27:52-27:57
"Hard pass, I'm not doing that." Like, well, why did you do it, Jesus?
27:58-28:00
Because he knew what was on the other side of it.
28:00-28:02
He wasn't so nearsighted, you see?
28:03-28:04
He saw the finish line.
28:06-28:09
Jesus was like, "Hey, the cross isn't forever.
28:11-28:48
"The shame isn't forever, but the glory "that is on the other side of being seated "at the right hand of God, that is forever." And I would be remiss not to quote awesome verse, Romans 8, 18, says, "For I consider that the sufferings "of this present time are not worth comparing "to the glory that is to be revealed to us." Look, I would never run a marathon.
28:49-28:50
You're like, yeah, I think you made that clear.
28:52-28:53
I would never run a marathon.
28:55-28:57
You're like, yeah, and I can tell by looking at you that you never have.
28:58-28:59
Look, I would never run a marathon.
29:03-29:38
But, if you told me for sure, promise, reality, if you told me that there is a cure for autism at the finish line of this marathon, I promise you, I will run and I will crawl and I will puke and I will claw my way to that finish line and I will have a smile on my face the whole way if there's such a glorious thing at the finish line.
29:41-29:42
Do you see the motivation?
29:43-29:44
Do you get it?
29:47-29:48
Paul got it.
29:50-29:51
Heaven's gonna be awesome.
29:51-29:56
So can we just, please people, can we suffer for 15 minutes until we get there?
29:58-30:01
Can you take your eyes off of yourself for a minute?
30:01-30:04
Can you take your eyes off of the obstacles?
30:04-30:07
And can you take your eyes off of the other runners?
30:07-30:11
And can you put your eyes on Jesus and everything that he's promised?
30:13-30:18
Because he is, he tells us here, the founder and perfecter of our faith.
30:20-30:27
Well, that's huge because he began our faith and he will complete it.
30:28-30:30
and there's an eternal glory on the other side of suffering.
30:32-30:36
So, do you want endurance for your race?
30:38-30:40
Stop being so nearsighted.
30:42-30:46
I have it on good authority that things will not always be as they are now.
30:49-30:58
And then finally, why I'm not motivated to run the race of faith as I should.
30:58-31:00
Number three, people have worn me out.
31:02-31:03
People have worn me out.
31:03-31:04
Look at verse three.
31:06-31:27
It says, "Consider him who," look at this, "endured from sinners such hostility against himself so that you may not grow weary or faint-hearted." Nothing saps your motivation to endure like dealing with hard people, nothing.
31:30-31:34
I've been in pastor ministry now for like two and a half decades or so.
31:35-31:52
And I can tell you this emphatically, mission trips, sermon prep, administrative work, hospital visits, small group meetings, No one ever quits running the race because of those things.
31:54-31:56
But deal with people who are against you.
31:59-31:59
And that is brutal.
32:05-32:07
Deal with people making accusations against you.
32:11-32:13
Deal with people who are gossiping about you.
32:15-32:17
Deal with people who are slandering you.
32:20-32:21
Or how about this one?
32:23-32:37
Get the email from people that say, "Hey, we're gonna have a meeting "because I didn't like "what you said, what you did, what you wore, "insert thing here.
32:37-32:45
"And I'm gonna have a meeting because I didn't like this." People wear you out.
32:47-32:48
They just do, right?
32:50-32:51
Look at the verse again, look at verse three.
32:51-33:09
It says, "Consider him." "Consider him." You know, I did a lot of reading this week, studying this, "Consider him." You know what, like, the consensus was about that?
33:09-33:14
Everybody was like, It was like, Jesus had it worse than you did.
33:16-33:17
That's what he's saying here.
33:18-33:19
You're going through some hard stuff.
33:20-33:21
Jesus had it worse than you did.
33:23-33:24
Do you think that's the point here?
33:24-33:27
When it says consider him, does that really help anybody?
33:28-33:31
I worked with this guy many years ago.
33:31-33:34
He was what you call a story topper.
33:35-33:36
Do you know a story topper?
33:37-33:38
Don't point at anybody in the room.
33:39-33:40
Do you know what I'm talking about by a story topper?
33:40-33:41
It's obnoxious.
33:42-33:45
But here's how a conversation with this guy would go.
33:45-33:52
He'd be like, "Man, I'm really tired today." He'd say, "Oh, you think you're tired?
33:55-34:06
"I haven't slept in 75 hours." I'd be like, "Well, I guess the reason I'm tired "is I've just been working a lot." "Oh, you think you've been working a lot?
34:08-34:09
"I just got done with six doubles."
34:10-34:10
(congregation laughing)
34:11-34:12
And I had four triples before that.
34:13-34:15
Like, I don't think a triple's a thing.
34:15-34:16
(congregation laughing)
34:17-34:18
Like, well, I guess I've been working a lot.
34:20-34:22
I've needed the overtime because I'm broke.
34:23-34:24
Oh, you think you're broke?
34:25-34:26
(congregation laughing)
34:28-34:30
I got negative 750 in my bank account.
34:30-34:31
(congregation laughing)
34:34-34:37
And at that point, I'm like, do you think you're helping?
34:38-34:39
'Cause it isn't.
34:40-34:42
You see, that's how a lot of people treat this passage.
34:42-34:43
You're like, consider Jesus.
34:44-34:49
Like, man, my life is hard, but not as hard as Jesus, so that's okay.
34:54-34:55
I don't think that's the point at all.
34:56-35:01
Listen, here's the point, 'cause this is game changer stuff.
35:02-35:05
I say that a lot, but it kind of all is, all right?
35:06-35:15
Jesus dealt with so much ugliness and nastiness from people so much.
35:15-35:16
How did Jesus endure?
35:19-35:23
How did Jesus persevere under the hostility of sinners?
35:28-35:32
There are so many passages we could look at, so many.
35:34-35:46
But for today, there's one thing that Jesus said more than anything else that shows us how he endured.
35:46-35:52
This one statement showed us how he endured such hostility from sinners.
35:53-35:59
And this statement came when Jesus was on the cross, when he was mocked, humiliated and brutally executed.
36:00-36:03
Luke 23, 34, look at his statement.
36:04-36:16
And Jesus said, "Father, forgive them, "for they know not what they do." Look at this.
36:16-36:24
This was the ultimate display of Jesus' endurance of hostility from sinners, because this was the ultimate hostility.
36:25-36:38
And in this one statement, in this one statement, We learn a lot about how Jesus endured hostility from sinners, all right?
36:41-36:42
I'm gonna go through this very quickly.
36:42-36:48
Jesus endured hostility from sinners by, letter A, right this time, understanding their condition.
36:50-36:50
Do you see that?
36:51-36:56
Jesus said, "For they know not what they do." He understood their condition.
36:56-37:00
And I know somebody would say, "Oh, they knew exactly what they were doing.
37:01-37:04
"They were crying out for his death." They knew exactly what he was doing.
37:04-37:14
And I would say, did they understand the full weight and impact of the choices they were making?
37:15-37:16
According to Jesus, no.
37:16-37:20
Jesus said they didn't fully understand what they were doing.
37:21-37:22
So yes, they were guilty.
37:22-37:23
Yes, they were responsible.
37:24-37:25
Yes, absolutely.
37:26-37:32
But according to Jesus, They didn't understand the gravity of all of this.
37:34-37:35
They were blind.
37:35-37:37
They were so blinded by sin.
37:42-37:45
Second way Jesus endured hostility from sinners was by praying for them.
37:46-37:46
Do you notice that?
37:46-37:52
He cried out, "Father, Father." He's praying here for them, right?
37:52-37:57
His dying breaths could have been spent cursing them.
38:00-38:00
Right?
38:02-38:03
They're standing down there mocking Him.
38:05-38:07
He could have been cursing them.
38:09-38:10
To hell with you people!
38:15-38:23
But instead, through the agony of the cross, Jesus used what energy He had left to pray for them.
38:25-38:28
And finally, how did Jesus endure hostility from sinners?
38:28-38:29
It was by loving them.
38:31-38:32
Father, forgive them.
38:33-38:34
Did you see that?
38:34-38:37
He cried out for their forgiveness.
38:39-38:47
The people who mocked him as he died, I can't think of anything more loving than that.
38:47-38:48
I tried this week.
38:49-38:53
Is there a scenario where you could demonstrate a greater amount of love and grace?
38:53-38:56
I could not think of one than this statement right here.
38:57-39:02
So everybody look up here, look up here, take a page.
39:05-39:06
Yes, it's hard.
39:07-39:10
Yes, this is counter intuitive.
39:12-39:16
But when he says consider Jesus, this is exactly what he's talking about.
39:18-39:30
Consider and emulate Jesus Christ, Because listen, you're going to faithfully endure when you truly understand that the people who hate you are broken people.
39:33-39:41
And yeah, there's one level I'm sure where they do know and understand and are guilty and responsible for the choices that they're making.
39:42-39:44
But deep down, they are broken and blind people.
39:46-39:47
And you need to remember that.
39:48-39:55
The people that hate you and mistreat you and gossip and slander and accuse you, they're broken people.
39:59-40:13
You're not gonna be worn out with them if instead of complaining about them or slandering them back, try this, try loving them.
40:15-40:18
Try praying God's grace upon them.
40:19-40:20
(congregation laughing)
40:23-40:25
So do you want endurance for your race?
40:28-40:29
Stop letting people wear you out.
40:32-40:35
I'm gonna ask if our elders would come forward in our worship team.
40:38-40:40
We're going to close with communion.
40:42-41:10
And I love this, this passage says, "Look to Christ, consider Christ." And I would say, "There's no better way to do that "than to gather around his table." Jesus Christ endured the worst that man could do to him, and yet remained perfect and sinless.
41:12-41:17
And Jesus finished his race all the way to the finish line.
41:19-41:21
His victory is your victory.
41:25-41:42
Your sin and shame are taken away and you can run your race to win, knowing that because of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, You've already won.

Small Group Discussion
Read Hebrews 12:1-3

What was your big take-away from this passage / message?
Which of these 3 do you think hinders your race the most…?
- Self-Sabotage
- Near-Sightedness
- Dealing with Difficult People
How do the “cloud of witnesses” (Heb 12:1) inspire you to endure in your race? Who have you known personally that has inspired you?
How did Jesus endure hostility from sinners (Hebrews 12:3 - and see Luke 23:34)? How does Jesus inspire and empower you to do the same?
Bonus: Would you say that you “hate” running or that you “despise” running?

Breakout
Pray for one another.

Taylor Brown

June 4, 2023

Why Jesus

Why Jesus? Faith Gives Courage

Taylor Brown

June 4, 2023

Why Jesus

Introduction:

Courageous Faith... (Hebrews 11:32-40)

Gloriously conquers What Seems Unconquerable . (Heb 11:32-35a)
Hebrews 11:1 - Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for and the conviction of things not seen.
Steadfastly endures Pain and Persecution . (Heb 11:35b-38)
Patiently waits for God’s Deliverance . (Heb 11:39-40)

Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!

00:48-01:20
Alright you can turn your Bibles to Hebrews chapter 11 verses 32 through 40 You this past week. I fell down the rabbit hole of studying all the different phobias that exist in the world and According to Google which is never wrong. There are over 500 listed phobias and the list gets bigger and bigger with each passing year I want to walk through some of the most interesting phobias that I came across and And I worked really hard to nail down the pronunciation of some of these phobias.
01:21-01:21
So hopefully I get them right.
01:22-01:24
First, there's anathediotophobia.
01:25-01:26
That was the hardest one to learn.
01:28-01:29
Who wants to guess what this means?
01:31-01:31
Anybody?
01:35-01:41
It's the fear that somewhere, somehow, a duck or a goose is watching you.
01:44-01:46
I guess ducks can be somewhat creepy.
01:46-01:48
Maybe their eyes are a little bit beady and weird, I guess.
01:51-01:52
What about this next one?
01:53-01:54
Arachibutrophobia.
01:55-01:58
Not arachnophobia, arachibutrophobia.
01:59-02:00
Anyone know what this one is?
02:02-02:08
This is the fear of peanut butter sticking to the roof of your mouth or choking on peanut butter.
02:11-02:14
This next one's a little bit easier to guess.
02:14-02:15
Vestophobia.
02:16-02:17
No, it's not a fear of vests.
02:17-02:19
What do we think vestophobia is?
02:19-02:20
Although that's pretty close.
02:21-02:22
What do we think?
02:23-02:25
This is the irrational fear of wearing clothing.
02:27-02:34
Upon a quick scan of the room, I am very happy to report that none of us appear to be struggling with that fear this morning.
02:36-02:39
This next one might actually jumpstart a new fear for some of us, that's fun.
02:40-02:41
There's xenophobia.
02:42-02:44
Does anyone know what xenophobia is?
02:45-02:46
This is the fear of mole rats.
02:47-02:48
Look at this picture, these pictures.
02:50-02:50
You know what?
02:50-02:51
I kind of get this one.
02:52-02:54
These pictures will be haunting my dreams later tonight.
02:56-03:00
You know, some of the parents in the room will be related to this next one.
03:02-03:03
Epibiophobia, epibiophobia.
03:03-03:06
This is the irrational fear of teenagers.
03:08-03:08
(congregation laughing)
03:09-03:16
You know, as a former youth pastor, I can say that I'm both excited and terrified of my kids becoming teenagers someday.
03:18-03:24
But in all seriousness, we all have specific fears, whether they're rational or extremely irrational.
03:25-03:27
Take a few minutes, not a few minutes, a few seconds.
03:27-03:28
Some of you would do it for a few minutes.
03:29-03:36
Take a few seconds to share with the person next to you a fear that you used to have or you still deal with to this day.
03:37-03:38
Take a few seconds to share that.
03:42-03:44
All right, all right, time's up, time's up.
03:47-03:54
You know, maybe, maybe you share with the person next to you that you have a fear of spiders.
03:55-04:03
I would advise you to steer clear of me because my son was looking at my nose the other day and said, "Dad, is there a spider up there?" That made me feel really great, right?
04:04-04:09
Or maybe you'd be terrified to be doing what I'm doing right now.
04:10-04:43
Who is willing to admit that you have a fear speaking and some of you definitely do. You're not raising your hands because you're worried I'm gonna pull you up on stage like this is some kind of magic show or something. Maybe you're like me and you have claustrophobia. Who's claustrophobic? Don't leave me alone up here. I'm pretty sure I can pinpoint why I'm claustrophobic. My older brother used to put a pillow or blankets over my head and sit on me for minutes on end while I screamed but my screams didn't help him "Get off of me." Maybe you constantly worry about finances.
04:45-04:47
How you're gonna pay the next bill or saving for the future.
04:48-04:52
Most, if not all of us, worry about what other people think about us.
04:53-04:56
Fear is a fact of life in a fallen world.
04:57-04:59
It's not a question of, will you experience fear?
05:00-05:04
Instead, it's a question of, how will you handle fear when it arises?
05:05-05:09
This morning we're gonna wrap up our study of the Hall of Faith in Hebrews chapter 11.
05:10-05:17
The author of Hebrews kicks off this chapter with a very simple and clear definition of what faith really is.
05:17-05:37
He says, "Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for "and the conviction of things not seen." Over the past month or so, Pastor Jeff has unpacked this definition and walked through example after example of faith in the Old Testament, ranging from Abraham to Rahab.
05:38-05:46
Our passage today lists a lot of Old Testament figures and accounts that seem to be all over the place, but they are united by one key theme.
05:46-05:50
And this key theme is courageous faith.
05:51-05:56
Courageous faith in the power, provision, and promises of Almighty God.
05:57-06:14
And I want us to know that being a person of courageous faith doesn't mean that you're free from any and all fear, being a person of courageous faith means that you willingly trust the Lord and obey him in the face of any and all fear.
06:15-06:29
So I hope that the Lord will use this message to get us off that hamster wheel of worry that leads nowhere, and instead get us on the path of courageous faith, which leads to true and abundant life.
06:30-06:34
So let's begin by reading Hebrews chapter 11, verses 32 through 35.
06:35-07:01
What more shall I say, for time would fail to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah of David, and Samuel and the prophets, who through faith conquered kingdoms, enforced justice, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, were made strong out of weakness, became mighty in war, put foreign enemies to flight.
07:02-07:05
Women receive back their dead by resurrection.
07:07-07:14
So courageous faith, number one, courageous faith gloriously conquers what seems unconquerable.
07:15-07:18
Gloriously conquers what seems unconquerable.
07:20-07:26
And I love how the author of Hebrews jumpstarts this section, 'cause I relate to it so much as a preacher.
07:26-07:44
Again, he writes this, "And what more shall I say, for time would fail to tell me "of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, "of David, Samuel, and the prophets." In other words, I could go on and on with dozens of more examples of faith in the Old Testament, but time is running short on this letter and I have to move on.
07:45-07:53
This reminds me of a morning or late night talk show and they had to cut a celebrity guest or an exciting segment because they're running to the end of their time.
07:53-08:00
Or you ever had this happen to you when you're writing a note to somebody You write way too big early on, and you realize that you have like no space left.
08:00-08:05
You write teeny tiny at the very end, or even worse, a happy birthday banner.
08:05-08:11
You arrogantly write the biggest happy you possibly can, and you realize, oh no, I barely have any room for the birthday.
08:11-08:13
It's like happy birthday!
08:15-08:16
You run out of space.
08:17-08:31
As a preacher, the difficult part of giving a message is then figuring out what to say, painfully cutting out what doesn't need to be said for the sake of time and your listeners attention span.
08:31-08:35
So the author of Hebrews quickly closes out this hall of faith.
08:35-08:46
Instead of exhaustively covering all these others Old Testament figures, instead he gives us the cliff note version of their successes and their sufferings.
08:46-08:53
So let's slowly work through this list of impossible successes in verses 33, 35.
08:53-09:00
"Who through faith conquered kingdoms." That's true of Gideon, Jephthah, Barak, and David.
09:00-09:05
"And forced justice, obtained promises, "stopped the mouths of lions." Who's he talking about there?
09:07-09:08
Daniel and the lions then, right?
09:08-09:12
"Quenched the power of fire." Who's he referring to here?
09:13-09:18
"Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the fiery furnace "when they refused to bow down to the statue.
09:19-09:25
"They escaped the edge of the sword, were made strong out of weakness, became mighty in war, put foreign enemies to flight.
09:25-09:29
Women received back their dead by resurrection.
09:29-09:38
The prophet Elijah brought a child back to life in 1 Kings chapter 17, and his successor Elisha did the same in 2 Kings chapter four.
09:39-09:43
What an incredible list of accomplishments and miracles.
09:44-09:51
But as we read this list, as we study the Old and New Testaments, we can get a little discouraged by our own lives and experiences.
09:53-09:57
Sometimes we can idealize these historical figures from the Bible.
09:57-10:07
We are rightfully blown away by what the Lord was able to do through them, but we put them on a pedestal and act like God can never use us as he did them.
10:09-10:13
But it's important to remember that these men and women were far from perfect.
10:13-10:15
In fact, they constantly failed.
10:15-10:20
They constantly fell flat on their faces just like you and I do every single day.
10:22-10:24
Let's look at some of the names that are listed in verse 32.
10:24-10:25
Gideon.
10:26-10:35
Gideon was a cowardly player of hide and go seek when the angel of the Lord found him in a wine press and called him to fight against the invading Midianites.
10:36-10:48
And in Judges chapter six, Gideon tears down an altar to Baal, but at the end of his life, he actually builds a golden ephod, a golden idol that he and his family worship.
10:49-10:52
So the idol destroyer becomes an idol worshiper.
10:53-10:57
Samson, he's a Nazarite judge with super heroic strength.
10:58-11:01
And as you read his story, to be honest, it's really hard to like him.
11:01-11:03
It's really hard to root for him.
11:03-11:07
He thinks he's so smart, but he's so incredibly stupid.
11:07-11:16
He falls for the most obvious of traps and he gives himself over to compromise and sexual sin, which leads to his downfall and his death.
11:17-11:25
Or Jephthah, another judge, whose legacy is tainted by a rash vow that led to him sacrificing his own daughter.
11:27-11:38
Or David, he's famously known as a man after God's own heart, but he's also famously known for committing adultery and then murdering that woman's husband to cover it up.
11:39-11:49
The Hebrews Hall of Faith is filled with men and women used by God to conquer the unconquerable and accomplish that which seemed impossible.
11:50-11:58
But the Hebrews' Hall of Faith is also filled with liars, adulterers, murderers, and idolaters who committed shocking sins.
11:59-12:04
These are messed up people in desperate need of God's saving grace, and so are we.
12:04-12:09
If the Lord used these flawed people, then he most certainly can use you and I.
12:11-12:14
Your past sins and mistakes do not limit God in the slightest.
12:15-12:19
Your weaknesses, inadequacies, and shortcomings are not a hindrance to him.
12:20-12:25
Our God loves to shine his infinite glory through our many weaknesses.
12:26-12:38
This hall of faith shines a spotlight on the reality that is a specialty of our God, to take those who were broken by sin and refurbish them for his perfect purposes.
12:39-12:43
So please, stop acting like you're of no value to anyone around you.
12:44-12:51
Stop sitting on the evangelistic bench and believing that God can never use you to share your faith, to share your testimony.
12:52-12:58
Stop hiding away in your house from your neighbors and avoiding eye contact with them, whatever you see them when you're doing yard work.
12:58-13:03
Stop that feedback loop in your mind that tells you you can never lead your family spiritually.
13:03-13:06
You can never teach your kids the word of God.
13:07-13:12
Don't buy into the lie that you don't have a place in this church, that there's no place for you to serve.
13:13-13:27
If you're a born again believer in Jesus Christ, the same God who stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the fires of the fiery furnace, and dominated an endless list of enemy armies, lives within you.
13:28-13:30
He is in your corner, He is on your side.
13:31-13:37
If you step out in obedience and faith, He can and will use you to do things you never thought were possible.
13:38-13:41
He will use you to do things you never thought you could do.
13:43-13:48
Secondly, courageous faith steadfastly endures pain and persecution.
13:49-13:52
Steadfastly endures pain and persecution.
13:56-14:03
So the author of Hebrews swerves from the successes of the Hebrews Hall of Faith and moves to their many sufferings.
14:03-14:07
In verses 35 to 38, let's read about these sufferings.
14:07-14:14
Some were tortured, refusing to accept release so that they might rise again to a better life.
14:14-14:18
Others suffered mocking and flogging and even chains and imprisonment.
14:18-14:22
They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were killed with a sword.
14:22-14:31
They went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, afflicted and mistreated, of whom the world was not worthy.
14:33-14:38
Wandering about in deserts and mountains and in dens and caves of the earth.
14:39-14:41
Once again, this is quite the list, isn't it?
14:42-14:54
The author of Hebrews very intentionally put these lists side by side to show us that courageous faith leads to both peaks and valleys, ups and downs, praise and persecution.
14:55-14:59
If you truly want to be used by God, then pain is unavoidable.
15:01-15:08
Jesus said that his path is narrow, hard, and few find it.
15:09-15:11
But the way of this world is like a smooth sailing HOV lane.
15:12-15:16
It's comfortable, it's wide open, many go by it.
15:17-15:24
We're told in Acts 14, 22, that is through many tribulations, we must enter the kingdom of God.
15:25-15:27
Quite the sales pitch for Christianity, right?
15:28-15:30
Would you put that on the brochure on the front cover?
15:30-15:36
The way to everlasting paradise is paved with pain.
15:37-15:43
But I want us to see and understand that there is victory in what the world views as defeat.
15:43-15:47
There is always the light of hope and purpose in the darkest of situations.
15:48-15:58
Suffering, pain, and persecution are not roadblocks that keep us from experiencing God's best, but are actually on ramps to his greatest blessings and lessons.
16:00-16:04
You know, I recently went to go visit a former youth group student of mine in the hospital.
16:04-16:08
He received a really hard diagnosis recently.
16:09-16:11
And I feel so bad for this young man.
16:11-16:14
He's gone through so much in his life leading up until this point.
16:16-16:20
And I go to visit him in the hospital and he said something to me that I'll never forget as long as I live.
16:21-16:27
He said, you know, people keep telling me that what I'm going through is tragic, but it's really not.
16:28-16:35
What would be tragic is if I went through my entire life without ever going through anything really hard and having to trust in the Lord.
16:36-16:39
That's an 18 year old saying this, by the way.
16:39-16:44
I went there to bless him, but he instead blessed me beyond measure.
16:44-16:49
I was blown away by this declaration of faith.
16:49-16:51
That is victory.
16:52-16:59
That kind of courageous faith in the face of the worst that life has to offer is victory.
17:02-17:11
So let's work our way through this list of suffering again, but look at these trials through the lens of victory, through the lens of hope.
17:12-17:19
To some were tortured, refusing to accept release so that they might rise again to a better life.
17:20-17:29
The Greek word for tortured here actually refers to a barbaric practice of being stretched across a massive drum and beat with clubs until you're dead or close to dead.
17:30-17:38
And we're told that these faithful followers didn't resist death in this moment because they knew that God had something much better waiting for them.
17:39-17:45
While they wouldn't be resurrected in this life, they'd be raised to newness of life in the next.
17:46-17:52
He goes on to write, others suffered mocking and flogging and even chains and imprisonment.
17:52-17:53
They were stoned.
17:54-17:59
The prophet Zechariah was killed in this way and church history also tells us that the prophet Jeremiah was as well.
18:00-18:01
They were sawn in two.
18:02-18:05
This is how the prophet Isaiah met his end.
18:05-18:07
They were killed by the sword.
18:07-18:17
We learned a few moments ago that some were escaping the edge of the sword because of their courageous faith, while others met their end by the sword because of their courageous faith.
18:19-18:28
They went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, afflicted, mistreated, wandering about in deserts and mountains and in dens and caves of the earth.
18:28-18:44
The prophets of God were hated. They were poor outcasts who often had nothing, nowhere to stay, and no clothes that were acceptable to society. They were ignored. They were cast out. They were rejected.
18:46-18:50
So after going through this list in detail, you might be thinking, well, this sounds horrible.
18:51-18:52
Where is that light?
18:52-18:53
Where is that victory?
18:53-18:56
Where is that hope you were talking about before?
18:58-19:09
As I was studying verse 38 this past week, I became obsessed with the description of these faithful saints who courageously endured persecution for the sake of the Lord.
19:09-19:10
Listen to how they're described.
19:10-19:21
"Of whom the world was not worthy." I haven't been able to get that line out of my head all week of whom the world was not worthy.
19:22-19:25
Imagine being described in that way.
19:25-19:29
Imagine leaving behind that kind of legacy.
19:30-19:37
You know, sometimes I think about what my kids will think and say about me once I'm gone someday, which leads me to think of my funeral.
19:39-19:41
What stories will be recounted?
19:41-19:46
What qualities and characteristics will people point to?
19:47-19:52
if my son and daughter are able to in that moment, what will they share about me as their father?
19:54-20:11
Imagine living in such a way that someone stands up at your funeral and says, "This broken and dark world was not worthy "of such a faithful man or woman of God." I hope that you have the same exact question in your mind that's been going through my mind all week.
20:12-20:14
How can I become that kind of person?
20:15-20:17
How can I leave behind that kind of legacy?
20:19-20:26
There's only one way, by faithfully and courageously modeling your life after the example of Jesus Christ.
20:27-20:34
His whole mission, his whole ministry revolved around not giving people what they deserve.
20:37-20:43
He left the glories of heaven to stoop down to this earth and become like one of us and pursue after lost sinners.
20:44-20:47
He went after those that society labeled as gross or unclean.
20:48-20:54
When he was slandered, when he was gossiped about, when he was reviled, he didn't defend himself.
20:54-20:59
As he hung on the cross, he was ridiculed by his executioners and the religious leaders.
21:00-21:01
Instead of fighting back, what did he say?
21:03-21:04
Father, forgive them.
21:05-21:06
They don't know what they're doing.
21:08-21:15
After he rose again, he didn't bail on his disciples who bailed on him when he needed them the most.
21:15-21:21
Instead, he equipped them, he encouraged them, he loved them, he got them ready for what was to come.
21:22-21:25
This world is not worthy of Jesus.
21:26-21:28
You are not worthy of Jesus.
21:29-21:33
I most certainly am not worthy of Jesus.
21:34-21:38
But he chose to give us his unconditional grace anyway.
21:40-21:47
He has lavished the blessings of heaven upon his people and set us up for a future of joy and fulfillment.
21:48-21:59
If the almighty God of the universe can show such care and grace to those who are so undeserving, who are we to withhold our love and grace from other people?
22:02-22:09
Maybe there's someone in this room right now who's harboring bitterness against someone right now, probably many of us.
22:11-22:15
Maybe this person wronged you, they hurt you, this person may not even be alive anymore.
22:16-22:20
And you know that God calls you to forgive, but you're thinking to yourself, I just can't do it.
22:20-22:22
They hurt me too much.
22:22-22:23
I can't let this go.
22:25-22:26
Listen, I get it.
22:27-22:31
I get that it's hard, but you just don't have that option as a follower of Christ.
22:32-22:36
You don't deserve forgiveness either, but God showed it to you nonetheless.
22:37-22:43
We can't experience the radical forgiveness of Christ and then refuse to show it to other people.
22:46-22:52
If you don't let that go, that hatred, that anger is gonna hollow you out emotionally, spiritually, physically.
22:52-22:57
That lack of forgiveness will hurt you way more than it hurts the other person.
22:58-23:06
So ask the Lord for the strength to be someone this world is not worthy of and release that person and let them go.
23:08-23:16
Maybe you have a family member, a friend, a co-worker who gets on your last nerve, gets under your skin, and you snap at them, you're harsh with them.
23:19-23:21
Be someone this world is not worthy of and show them patience.
23:22-23:27
Show them the long suffering of God who has to put up with us all the time.
23:28-23:30
Maybe there's someone in your life right now who's mistreating you.
23:30-23:32
They're talking badly about you.
23:33-23:34
They're saying things about you behind your back.
23:36-23:43
Instead of fighting fire with fire, choose to be a person this world is not worthy of and refuse to stoop down to their level.
23:45-23:54
You know, we live in an overly politicized and polarizing time when it's easy to have an us versus them mentality with those who disagree with us.
23:55-24:04
Maybe you struggle with viewing other people who disagree with you as the enemy instead of the one who holds them enslaved to those beliefs as our one true enemy.
24:06-24:13
Choose to be someone this world is not worthy of by praying for the miraculous salvation of those who oppose your beliefs.
24:15-24:21
Instead of bad-mouthing them, draw near to them in love and show them the grace of Jesus Christ.
24:23-24:30
How sad of an existence it is for believers just to interact with other believers and never get outside of our comfort zone and our bubbles.
24:32-24:43
You know, we have millions and millions of brothers and sisters in Christ around this world who are experiencing very similar suffering to what we read in this list.
24:46-24:52
They are paying with their freedom and even their lives for Jesus.
24:54-25:02
They're paying a high cost to gather together with other believers to share the good news of Christ.
25:03-25:08
You know, for a long time, it's been easy and cost-free to be a Christian in this country.
25:09-25:15
And the day is fast approaching, and in some ways is already here when it's actually gonna cost you something.
25:16-25:17
Are you ready for that?
25:18-25:24
Instead of being surprised that the world hates us, I'm always just laughing at Christians, like, "Why do people hate us so much?
25:24-25:26
"Jesus said they would!" Right?
25:27-25:34
Instead of being surprised by that, instead of bemoaning, I wish we can go back to the way things used to be, back in the quote unquote good old days.
25:35-25:37
Let's stop wasting our time doing that.
25:37-25:50
Instead, let us prepare our hearts and our minds to join the long line of faithful saints throughout history who willingly suffered for the name and fame of Jesus Christ.
25:51-25:55
I don't know if you've studied church history, but this is the time when the church explodes.
25:56-26:08
This is the time when the church thrives under persecution for those who have courageous faith and are willing to trust in a God who turns our worst moments into our greatest victories.
26:10-26:16
Finally, courageous faith patiently waits for God's deliverance.
26:16-26:20
Courageous faith patiently waits for God's deliverance.
26:25-26:35
So before closing the chapter on the hall of faith, the author of Hebrews returns to a point that we've discussed many times throughout this series, but we'd be reminded of yet again.
26:36-27:00
He writes this, "And all of these, "all the men and women we studied this morning "and this past month, though commended through their faith, "did not receive what was promised, "since God had provided something better for us, "that apart from us they should not be made perfect." As we've been talking about over the past few months, Old Testament believers were saved in the same exact way that we are today.
27:00-27:03
They were saved by grace through faith.
27:03-27:08
They looked forward to what God would do while we look back to what Christ has already done.
27:09-27:10
But think about this.
27:11-27:25
Men such as Noah, Joseph, and Joshua had no idea that God himself would become a man and come to this earth, live a perfect life, die a sacrificial death, rise again, and ascend back into heaven.
27:25-27:26
They didn't know any of that.
27:28-27:33
These flawed yet faithful saints trusted in the goodness of a God who always keeps his promises.
27:33-27:42
They believed that salvation belongs to the Lord even though they had no idea how these things would happen in the future.
27:43-27:53
Men such as Isaiah and Zachariah prophesied about the coming Messiah, the coming Savior, but they didn't see any of these promises fulfilled in their lifetimes.
27:53-27:56
but they believed that God would keep his word no matter how long it took.
27:58-28:05
These Old Testament believers were in the dark on so many details that we now get to know, study, and enjoy.
28:07-28:11
As I said earlier, we often wish we could experience what the Old Testament saints did, right?
28:12-28:14
We wish we could see the 10 plagues play out.
28:14-28:16
We wish we could see the Red Sea parted.
28:17-28:20
We wish we could see that wall of Jericho come tumbling down.
28:21-28:22
We have it all backwards.
28:23-28:29
These Old Testament saints long to be in our shoes and know what we now know.
28:31-28:33
Peter talks about this in his first epistle.
28:33-28:35
We should have that on the screen behind me.
28:37-28:52
"Concerning this salvation, "the prophets who prophesied about the grace "that was to be yours searched and inquired carefully, "inquiring what person or time the Spirit of Christ in them "was indicating when he predicted the sufferings of Christ "and the subsequent glories.
28:52-29:13
"It was revealed to them that they were serving "not themselves, but you, "and the things that have now been announced to you "through those who preach the good news to you "by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, "things which angels long to look into." These prophets knew, this isn't for me, it's for the followers who are to come.
29:15-29:24
How blessed are we to be on this side of the cross, to have the full word of God, to know this story of redemption that we can marvel at, that we can live in light of.
29:25-29:33
How blessed are we to see all of the ways that the promises of God find their yes and amen in the person and work of Jesus Christ.
29:34-29:40
If your walk with the Lord seems boring and uneventful, that's only that way because you allow it to be.
29:41-29:45
We have been gifted with the answers to the greatest mysteries of life.
29:46-29:57
We have been entrusted with the truths of scripture and the mission of being ambassadors and messengers of the Lord of all creation, the Savior of sinners, how can that possibly be boring?
29:58-29:59
Yet somehow we find a way, don't we?
30:01-30:10
These amazing truths should light a fire in our hearts, should stimulate our minds and get us moving to be the hands and feet of Jesus.
30:11-30:19
The best and most exciting life of all belongs to the man and woman with courageous faith in Jesus Christ.
30:19-30:20
Do you really believe that?
30:22-30:23
'Cause many do not.
30:26-30:31
On the other hand, we're in the same boat as His Old Testament saints.
30:31-30:38
We also must live by faith and choose to believe God's promises about our eternal future.
30:40-30:47
I don't know about you, but I've never seen heaven, but I believe it exists, and I believe that God's prepared a place for me.
30:48-30:57
God hasn't circled the date on my calendar saying, "This is when Jesus is coming back." But I know it's gonna happen, even though we've been waiting for over 2,000 years.
30:59-31:05
We must patiently wait for the Lord's deliverance, even though it's extremely hard.
31:07-31:10
I know that we're all struggling in different ways.
31:12-31:19
Some of you are waiting for the Lord's deliverance from an illness that you're dealing with or a loved one is battling right now.
31:21-31:21
You know what?
31:21-31:29
I would love to be able to stand up here and guarantee you that God will heal you and God will heal that person in this life.
31:30-31:33
I would love to do that, but I would be lying if I said that.
31:34-31:38
I know that he can and I know that he might, but I don't know that he will.
31:39-31:50
But I can confidently promise you that there will be total deliverance in eternity from every illness, every disease, every affliction.
31:50-31:58
In heaven, there'll be no cancer, there'll be no Alzheimer's, no heart disease, no chronic pain, no strokes, on, on, the list goes.
32:00-32:02
Others of you are waiting for deliverance from a family issue.
32:03-32:06
You have an adult child who wants nothing to do with Jesus.
32:08-32:12
You're on the outs with a certain family member and you feel like that issue will never get resolved.
32:13-32:16
It's even hard for you to be around your families on holidays.
32:18-32:25
Again, I wish I could promise you that God will definitely give you your desired outcomes for these issues, but I cannot.
32:26-32:32
But I can promise you that one day, there will no longer be any arguments, division, or strife.
32:32-32:35
All these horrible things will be banished from the presence of God.
32:37-32:41
I know others of you are struggling with the reality that you have an unmet desire in your heart.
32:42-32:47
You have a prayer request that you've been praying for years and God hasn't said yes.
32:48-32:54
Again, I would love to say that God's gonna give you that yes someday in this life, but I don't know that.
32:55-33:03
But what I do know is that one day in the presence of God, you will no longer have any unmet longings and desires.
33:03-33:03
That's a guarantee.
33:06-33:07
But again, it's so hard to wait, isn't it?
33:08-33:09
It's hard to trust in the Lord.
33:10-33:15
It's hard to hold on to his promises when life seems chaotic and pointless.
33:16-33:21
It's easy to think, well, if God's not gonna give me the things I want right now, why should I even bother following him?
33:23-33:26
I know many people who've walked away from the faith because of this question.
33:27-33:29
They try to give God ultimatums.
33:29-33:31
God, if you heal me, then I'll follow you.
33:32-33:38
God, if you give me that job, If you give me that family I so desperately want, then I will follow you.
33:39-33:41
But faith isn't a bargaining chip.
33:41-33:47
Faith isn't a wrestling move you can use to pin God down, make him say uncle and give you whatever you want.
33:47-33:51
Faith isn't you jumping in the driver's seat and calling the shots.
33:51-33:58
Faith is you riding shotgun in the passenger seat and willingly going wherever God takes you.
33:59-34:02
Even if it's the bad part of town that you'd rather avoid.
34:03-34:07
even if it's down that dark, dusty, dirty road that's hard to navigate.
34:08-34:12
A person of courageous faith doesn't jump out of the car when life gets tough.
34:14-34:18
A person of courageous faith doesn't give God a list of demands or ultimatums.
34:19-34:24
A person of courageous faith gives God their full allegiance, their full devotion, no matter what.
34:26-34:34
A person of courageous faith trusts that the Lord will bring deliverance, whether in this life or in eternity.
34:36-34:43
Well, at this point in the sermon, you may be thinking, well, Taylor, I would love to be a person of courageous faith, but it seems so far beyond me.
34:43-34:47
I doubt, I stress, I worry, I complain, I mess up.
34:48-34:51
My faith meter goes up and down with each passing day.
34:51-34:55
How could I possibly be a person of courageous faith?
34:57-35:02
Well, if it was up to you, and how much faith you have day by day, you're right.
35:03-35:06
You would be in a hopeless position without any possibility of change.
35:07-35:12
But the most important thing is who you're placing your faith and trust in.
35:13-35:22
If you place your faith in the all powerful, all knowing, and ever present God of the universe, he will embolden you to do things you never thought you could do.
35:23-35:26
He will strengthen you to endure whatever life throws at you.
35:26-35:33
He will equip you to wait on Him and hold on to His promise that He will bring deliverance.
35:34-35:35
Let's pray.
35:39-35:43
Lord, we thank You for all that You've done for us.
35:44-35:50
We thank You for the promises of Your Word that we can hold on to, we can stand upon when life is hard.
35:53-35:59
Lord, I know that all of us are struggling right now, and some of us in very extreme ways.
36:00-36:02
God, I pray that you'd fill us with a sense of your presence.
36:03-36:10
You would fill us with a sense of your nearness, that you would help us to understand that you are closer to us than we could possibly imagine.
36:12-36:18
Lord, instead of running towards doubt, fear, and anxiety, help us to embrace faith.
36:20-36:24
Help us to have a conviction of things we can't see with our own two eyes right now.
36:26-36:31
Help us to live by faith and not by sight this week and every week after that.
36:32-36:34
In Jesus' name, amen.

Small Group Discussion
Read Hebrews 11:32-40

What was your big take-away from this passage / message?
What fears and doubts has the Lord helped you to overcome in the past? What fears/doubts do you currently struggle with?
What is God calling you to do right now that seems impossible?
What does it mean/look like to live as a person “the world is not worthy of”? (Hebrews 11:38)

Breakout
Pray for one another.

Jeff Miller

May 28, 2023

Why Jesus

Why Jesus? Faith Makes My Choices

Jeff Miller

May 28, 2023

Why Jesus

Introduction:

  
    Three Choices Faith Makes (Hebrews 11:23-31):

“I Fear God , not Man .” (Heb 11:23)
       
“What God offers me is Better than what the world offers me.” (Heb 11:24-27)
    
“I obey God even when it doesn't make Sense .” (Heb 11:28-31)

Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!

00:48-00:50
Turn with me please to Hebrews chapter 11.
00:51-01:10
And as we approach the word of God, I would just ask, please, if we could just pause, and I'm going to ask that you would pray for me to faithfully communicate God's word, and I will pray for you to have your hearts open to receive God's word, all right?
01:10-01:10
Is that a deal?
01:11-01:12
Do we have a deal?
01:13-01:14
All right, thank you.
01:15-01:15
Let's pray.
01:19-01:26
Father in heaven, this is, what we're about to do right now, Father, we believe this is something supernatural.
01:28-01:34
That your spirit works with your word and transforms our hearts.
01:35-01:38
This isn't some sort of a pep talk.
01:42-01:48
This isn't just some shot in the arm, go team kind of thing, Father.
01:48-01:56
This is, according to you, this is where change comes from.
01:58-02:16
And I pray, Father, that you would minister to every heart here, everyone who's watching the stream, people who are going to be watching this video online later or listening to the podcast later.
02:17-02:19
Father, let your word be clear.
02:20-02:29
Let your name be glorified and use this Father as you will, we pray in Jesus' name.
02:29-02:32
And all of God's people said, amen.
02:34-02:44
We're in Hebrews chapter 11, and it's sort of a series within a series kind of thing, because he's been talking about faith, right?
02:45-02:45
What is faith?
02:47-02:58
And listen, this is so important that we get this right, because it's a word that we use all the time, and we attach very heavy significance to that word, right?
02:59-03:00
We're like, you gotta have faith.
03:00-03:01
You have to be a person of faith.
03:02-03:04
Righteousness comes from faith.
03:04-03:07
We are saved by grace through faith.
03:07-03:09
And we just throw that word around a lot.
03:09-03:12
What does it mean to have faith?
03:12-03:21
Well, he tells us, but I think something that's really beneficial about Hebrews 11 is he shows us.
03:21-03:23
This is what faith looks like.
03:23-03:30
If you are a person of faith in Jesus Christ, this is how it shows up in your lives.
03:32-03:36
All right, so I want you to be asking yourself, do I have faith?
03:38-03:46
And as we go through Hebrews 11, you evaluate by asking yourself, does my walk with Christ look like this?
03:47-03:54
All right, so quick review, and I told you last week, I was kind of kicking myself 'cause I didn't realize these would all be Ws, right?
03:55-04:02
But we learned able, Faith worships, right?
04:02-04:04
And in Enoch, faith walks.
04:04-04:06
And in Noah, faith works.
04:06-04:08
And in Abraham, faith waits.
04:08-04:12
And then last week we saw Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph, and we saw faith wins.
04:13-04:17
And now we have a major chunk of the Old Testament that's going to be covered.
04:17-04:24
We're going from Moses, that's Exodus, to Deuteronomy 34.
04:25-04:33
And then we're going to go to Joshua in his self-titled book, where he leads the Israelites into the promised land.
04:33-04:35
And what does faith do here?
04:37-04:42
If we're sticking with the alliteration thing, wisely chooses.
04:44-04:46
Are you okay, you do it.
04:52-04:54
But here's the thing, we're gonna talk about choices today, right?
04:55-04:56
That's the theme here.
04:57-04:58
We're gonna talk about choices.
04:58-05:00
you're gonna see it very clearly in the text.
05:00-05:07
And the reality is, church, our lives are marked by the choices that we make.
05:10-05:14
Every single day of your life is made up of choices.
05:16-05:21
Every single day, you have to make the choice on how you're going to spend your time.
05:24-05:27
What are you going to do with the 24 hours that God gave you today?
05:29-05:32
Every day you have the choice on how you're going to spend money.
05:35-05:39
Every day you have the choice on what words you're going to say.
05:41-05:42
Is it to build up?
05:43-05:44
Is it to tear down?
05:44-05:44
Is it to be crass?
05:46-05:47
Is it to share God's word?
05:48-05:51
Every day you have the choice on what attitude you're going to have.
05:52-05:56
Am I going to be thankful and joyful in Christ?
05:57-05:58
or am I going to be negative?
06:00-06:01
Am I going to be complaining?
06:03-06:07
What is the driving force behind every choice that you make?
06:08-06:10
It's what you really believe.
06:10-06:12
Your faith makes your choices for you.
06:13-06:19
What you really believe, your faith makes your choices.
06:20-06:22
And we've been saying this, we're gonna say it again today.
06:23-06:39
Look, if you're calling yourself a Christian, If you're saying that I am a born again believer in Jesus Christ, that necessarily means this, that there are things in your life that you can point to and say, because of my relationship with Jesus, I have to do these things.
06:39-06:42
Like I have to, that's not legalism.
06:42-06:48
It's my faith compels me to do these things and I can't help but do them because of Jesus.
06:49-06:54
And there should be things in your life that you can point to and say, I absolutely will not do that.
06:55-06:56
Why? Because of my faith in Jesus.
06:57-07:02
Your faith should drive your decisions in every area, right?
07:05-07:06
Excuse me.
07:11-07:13
So you'll see it here.
07:14-07:15
Three choices faith makes.
07:16-07:17
Hebrews 11.
07:18-07:20
Three choices that faith makes.
07:21-07:25
Number one, I fear God, not man.
07:26-07:27
That's where it starts, right?
07:27-07:28
I fear God, not man.
07:29-07:29
Look at verse 23.
07:31-07:32
Look at verse 23.
07:32-07:49
It says, "By faith, Moses, when he was born, was hidden for three months by his parents because they saw that the child was beautiful and they were not afraid of the king's edict." Okay, stop right there for a second.
07:50-07:54
The first choice that faith makes is, I fear God, not man.
07:54-07:56
I'm gonna give you a chance to say that.
07:57-08:00
All right, and see if by faith, you can say it with great conviction.
08:01-08:01
Can you?
08:02-08:03
I'm gonna give you a chance.
08:03-08:05
I'm gonna say it, and then I want you to say it right after me.
08:05-08:05
Okay, you ready?
08:06-08:08
I fear God, not man.
08:09-08:10
I fear God, not man.
08:11-08:12
That was fantastic right out of the gate.
08:12-08:13
Gotta tell you.
08:14-08:22
But the first example we have here of people whose faith made a choice for them is Moses' parents.
08:24-08:25
You remember their names?
08:27-08:29
I had to look it up, I forgot to.
08:31-08:32
Abram and Jacobed.
08:33-08:34
That sounds like a power couple, right?
08:37-08:39
Well, we're going back to Exodus chapters one and two.
08:40-08:50
The king of Egypt, fearing this rapidly growing Jewish population, He made an edict for population control.
08:51-08:56
Remember Pharaoh was like, wait a second, these Jews that are living here, this population's growing.
08:56-09:03
And if we get attacked by like an outside nation and the Jews might be like, hey, we're joining the attackers.
09:03-09:08
And now we're really sunk because we got attacked from the outside, attacked from the inside.
09:08-09:23
So the Egyptians made them slaves ultimately, but part of the population control is, we're gonna kill the male babies, throw them in the Nile to control this population growth.
09:25-09:35
While Moses was hidden in a basket on the Nile and through God's providence, he was discovered by Pharaoh's daughter.
09:36-09:43
But wait, the plot thickens because Moses' sister was keeping an eye on what was gonna happen to baby brother in the basket.
09:44-09:46
And she saw he was found by Pharaoh's daughter.
09:47-09:51
So Moses' sister runs up to Pharaoh's daughter and is like, "Hey, what you got there?
09:51-09:52
"Oh, a Jewish baby.
09:53-09:53
"You know what?
09:54-10:05
"I can probably find you a Jewish woman "to nurse this baby." And she took Moses right back to his own mother.
10:06-10:08
That's an awesome work of God, right?
10:09-10:09
Awesome.
10:10-10:12
Now, I do get to clarify something here.
10:14-10:18
It says here that they saw the child was beautiful.
10:20-10:21
Like, what does that mean?
10:21-10:22
This is very important, actually.
10:23-10:29
Now, every parent thinks that their child is beautiful, right, every parent does.
10:31-10:34
And the rest of us don't have the heart to tell you if your kid's ugly.
10:43-10:43
(audience laughing)
10:44-10:45
You're like, so what does that mean?
10:45-10:51
It's very significant because in Acts chapter seven, we see a little further clarification.
10:52-10:55
What that means is beautiful in the sight of God.
10:55-10:57
You're like, well, doesn't God think every child is beautiful?
10:58-11:00
Yes, what it means is very specific.
11:00-11:03
It means God has a purpose for this child.
11:03-11:04
That's what that means.
11:04-11:09
When they saw the child was beautiful, it was God has a plan for this baby.
11:09-11:10
That's what that means.
11:10-11:11
Very, very important, okay?
11:12-11:17
So what was the choice that Moses' parents had to make?
11:18-11:19
It was just simply this.
11:20-11:22
Am I going to fear God?
11:24-11:25
Or am I going to fear man?
11:26-11:39
Because they're like, hey, this child, God has a special plan for this child, but the government is demanding that we kill all the male Jewish babies.
11:42-11:43
So what do we do?
11:44-11:47
And I know right now, right now you're thinking, I know what you do.
11:48-11:50
You just resist the government, right?
11:51-11:53
That's what the Jews should have done, right?
11:53-11:56
The Jews should have resisted the government, right?
11:58-12:05
They should have just said, hey, if the government's saying to do something outlandish and outrageous, then we should just resist, right?
12:05-12:07
Right, isn't that what the Jews should have done?
12:07-12:08
They should have just resisted.
12:09-12:16
And some people think it's just that easy.
12:17-12:18
Just resist the government.
12:21-12:22
Do you remember?
12:23-12:25
I'm really gonna test your memories here.
12:26-12:30
Some of you I can, I think are old enough to remember this.
12:32-12:34
Do you remember COVID?
12:35-12:36
(congregation laughing)
12:38-12:39
Do you remember COVID?
12:40-13:05
Do you remember when the government was like, "Don't have Thanksgiving, don't see your family, don't leave your house, don't have church." We saw with our own eyes that no matter what outrageous nonsense the government is demanding, people were all too ready to obey.
13:08-13:12
Now listen, do not misunderstand me.
13:12-13:14
I am not calling for insurrection.
13:15-13:17
I'm not even sure what that word means anymore.
13:19-13:24
I'm not calling for revolution or lawlessness, not at all.
13:24-13:29
I'm not calling for that at all, because the Bible is clear that we should submit to the governing authorities, right?
13:29-13:32
Romans 13, one, but I am saying this.
13:34-13:40
When God says to do something and the government says not to, or vice versa.
13:41-13:41
God says, don't do that.
13:42-13:43
And the government says, you must do that.
13:44-13:45
We have a question.
13:46-13:47
Who are we going to obey?
13:51-13:53
You're like, oh, that's a tough one.
13:53-13:54
No, it's really not.
13:55-13:57
Because faith makes that decision for me.
13:59-14:00
I have to do what God says.
14:01-14:02
I have to do what God says.
14:04-14:11
You're like, oh no, but I hear what you're saying, Jeff, but what if there's consequences for disobeying?
14:12-14:14
And I would say, well, there always are.
14:17-14:20
But I have to ask you, whose consequences would you rather face?
14:21-14:24
The government's or God's?
14:27-14:39
You're gonna be put in situations where the line is drawn And you're gonna have to ask yourself, who do I really fear?
14:42-14:52
It could be the next ungodly government edict, or it could be at your workplace, or it could be at the school board, whatever.
14:52-15:04
You're going to be put in a situation where you're going to say, am I going to go along with man, even though I know this is clearly wrong, or am I going to stand up and do what God wants me to do?
15:04-15:06
you're going to be put in that situation.
15:09-15:11
Your faith makes that decision for you.
15:12-15:13
I fear God, not man.
15:13-15:15
That's the Hebrew writer's whole point here.
15:16-15:17
Moses' parents were like, yeah.
15:20-15:23
I hear what the king of Egypt is saying, but yeah, I hear what God's saying.
15:24-15:25
This child means something.
15:26-15:27
So who do you fear, God or man?
15:29-15:30
That's a choice that faith makes.
15:30-15:31
I fear God, not man.
15:32-15:36
Secondly, what God offers me is better than what the world offers me.
15:37-15:40
This is a conviction that is stated by faith.
15:41-15:45
I'm gonna say it again, and then you're going to say it with great conviction back to me.
15:45-15:45
You ready?
15:46-15:49
What God offers me is better than what the world offers me.
15:49-15:50
Say it.
15:50-15:54
What God offers me is better than what the world offers me.
15:55-15:55
Amen.
15:56-15:56
Amen, look at verse 24.
15:58-16:11
It says, "By faith, Moses, when he was growing up, "refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, "choosing rather to be mistreated with the people of God "than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin." Stop there.
16:12-16:15
Moses had to have known his story, right?
16:15-16:25
As he was growing up, you know, raised in his very early years by his mom, he had to have known how they hid him and the way God worked all of that out.
16:25-16:27
And Moses had to have known his purpose.
16:29-16:40
But you know, the Bible tells us that young Moses was taken from his mom back to Pharaoh's daughter to be raised as her son.
16:41-16:43
He was raised as a prince.
16:44-16:55
And eventually, eventually Moses refused this position of being the son of Pharaoh's daughter.
16:57-17:05
And instead he chose to identify with his blood who were now slaves in Egypt.
17:06-17:15
All right, at some point Moses was like, I'm not going to live as royalty, I'm gonna live with my bloodline here.
17:16-17:17
Do you know when he drew that line?
17:19-17:19
Do you know when he drew that line?
17:19-17:22
I'll tell you, he drew the line in Exodus chapter two.
17:24-17:29
When Moses was 40, he saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew.
17:30-17:41
The Bible says, I'm paraphrasing here, but the Bible says Moses looked around, nobody's looking, and gah, gah, gah, gah, he struck down the Egyptian and buried him in the sand.
17:43-17:43
Right?
17:44-17:45
And it sounded just like that.
17:46-17:52
And then Moses went to Midian for 40 years because now Pharaoh wants Moses dead.
17:54-17:54
Right?
17:55-17:56
Because murder is still illegal.
17:58-17:59
Look at verse 26.
17:59-18:16
It says, "He considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking to the reward." Do you realize Moses could have had anything and everything?
18:20-18:22
And we can't gloss over that.
18:22-18:29
Growing up as Pharaoh's daughter's son, he would have been absolute royalty.
18:32-18:33
He would have had a Hollywood lifestyle.
18:35-18:38
I was gonna put this in my notes, but I wasn't sure how to spell it.
18:39-18:42
But Moses would have been like the Kardashians.
18:44-18:45
Right?
18:47-18:48
Did you ever see that show?
18:48-18:49
I hope not.
18:49-18:50
I've never seen it, but I've heard of it.
18:51-18:51
What would you call it?
18:52-18:53
What would you call it for Moses?
18:54-18:57
Like not keeping up with the Kardashians, was it like Moses smell the roses or something like that?
18:58-18:58
I don't know.
19:00-19:20
But think of what he would have had in the royal family, houses and chariots and clothes, women, drugs, anything and everything that he could have wanted.
19:21-19:26
But your Bible says that he considered, that word considered is huge.
19:26-19:28
It literally means he made a judgment.
19:29-19:35
That Moses was like, okay, here's what I could have living the Kardashian lifestyle.
19:37-19:39
Again, just to paraphrase, he didn't know the Kardashians, you know.
19:40-19:44
But he's like, here's what I could have as a prince.
19:44-19:49
He's like, but on the other hand, Here's what God's offering me.
19:49-19:51
He's like, you know what?
19:51-19:54
What God's offering is a whole lot better than even that.
19:58-19:59
Look at verse 27.
19:59-20:12
It says, "By faith, he left Egypt, not being afraid of the anger of the king, for he endured as seeing him who is invisible." Okay, so now we go to Exodus chapter five.
20:13-20:15
Remember Moses, he went to Midian for 40 years.
20:16-20:18
He returned to Egypt.
20:19-20:29
And again, I think sometimes we can gloss over these stories in our Bible and not really, not really like let it soak in the impact of this.
20:29-20:43
But here Moses returns to Egypt and he walks into the office of the monarch of the greatest empire of the day and says, hey, you know all these Jewish slaves that you have?
20:44-20:44
You're letting them go.
20:46-20:47
because God said so.
20:51-20:54
It's pretty gutsy, right?
20:56-20:59
But you see here, Moses' faith made a choice for him.
21:01-21:14
Moses' faith made him go after what God offers because he said, "Eh, that's a lot better "than what the world offers." And we're told exactly why Moses' faith motivated him quickly.
21:14-21:16
I'm gonna go just back through these very quickly.
21:16-21:20
In verse 25, it says, "He chose God's will over pleasure." Why?
21:22-21:24
Because sin's pleasure is fleeting.
21:25-21:26
There's his motivation.
21:28-21:29
Do you see that in verse 25?
21:30-21:37
Look again, choosing rather to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin.
21:37-21:42
Or maybe some translations say, sin is pleasurable for a season, right?
21:44-21:45
Let me tell you something.
21:47-21:49
Sin is fun.
21:51-21:55
You're like, I don't think you're allowed to say that in church, Pastor Jeff.
21:57-21:58
Sin is fun.
21:59-22:02
Like, what kind of a church is this?
22:03-22:04
Listen, I didn't make that up.
22:04-22:06
It says, doesn't your Bible say that?
22:07-22:08
Sin has pleasure.
22:11-22:11
I mean, come on.
22:12-22:13
That's not a news flash.
22:13-22:14
Some of you look shocked, come on.
22:15-22:15
Come on.
22:15-22:16
"Not me.
22:19-22:21
All I do is fast and watch the Waltons." Like, come on.
22:23-22:23
Come on.
22:24-22:25
Sin is fun.
22:27-22:29
Otherwise, nobody would be doing it, right?
22:32-22:33
Ah, but there's a problem.
22:34-22:37
The problem with sin's pleasure is it's only passing.
22:38-22:39
It's only for a moment.
22:40-22:42
It's, you see, that's the problem.
22:43-22:44
That's the problem with the pleasure of sin.
22:46-22:50
Sin is the high on drugs.
22:51-22:52
Yeah, that feels good for a minute.
22:54-23:05
And then what follows is the years of destruction and broken families and financial woes and health issues.
23:05-23:10
And all that's not advertised on the front end of the drugs brochure, right?
23:12-23:14
People do it because it feels good for a minute.
23:16-23:20
You know how it's affected my family, some of you.
23:23-23:24
Feels good for a minute.
23:24-23:27
What about like sexual sin?
23:28-23:34
Do you know how many people have ruined their lives and destroyed families for a few seconds of pleasure?
23:36-23:38
Like, yeah, sin is pleasurable for a season.
23:38-23:43
It's passing, and it's so not worth it.
23:45-23:49
But on the other hand, the pleasures, the joy that God gives to people of faith is eternal.
23:50-23:50
That's eternal.
23:53-23:54
And see, that's the contrast there.
23:54-24:08
Moses is like, oh yeah, I could have the best of everything for 15 minutes, of everything of the earth, that is, to clarify, I could have the best of everything the earth has to offer for 15 minutes, or I can have what God offers for eternity.
24:10-24:12
Moses is like no contest here, right?
24:13-24:16
Secondly, in verse 26, says he chose poverty over treasure.
24:17-24:18
Again, we're looking at the motivations.
24:18-24:19
Why?
24:19-24:20
He was looking to the reward.
24:20-24:22
Again, the world offers rewards.
24:22-24:23
It's here, it's now.
24:23-24:24
God offers rewards.
24:24-24:26
It's in heaven, it's forever.
24:29-24:29
Same principle, right?
24:30-24:30
Which one's better?
24:31-24:32
What God offers forever.
24:33-24:39
And then verse 27, Again, just like the first verse we looked at, he chose courage over fear.
24:39-24:40
Why?
24:40-24:41
I love this phrase.
24:41-24:53
I had to read it a few times because I'm like, "Is that really what it says?" It says, "He saw him who was invisible." I thought if you were invisible, you couldn't be seen.
24:55-24:56
Like, what does that even mean?
24:57-24:59
He saw him who was invisible?
24:59-25:00
Do you know what that is?
25:01-25:02
That's faith.
25:03-25:04
That's what faith is.
25:05-25:08
Faith is seeing an invisible God.
25:11-25:13
The ability to see what can't be seen.
25:14-25:20
I mean, the world may not see God right now, but he is an infinitely greater authority than any on earth.
25:20-25:21
Moses got that.
25:22-25:23
Here's the bottom line.
25:23-25:24
Moses didn't take what he saw.
25:27-25:30
He went after what he couldn't see because he believed in it.
25:31-25:36
And all through life, people chase money and power and status and fame.
25:37-25:41
And Moses, he wasn't chasing those, he already had them.
25:41-25:48
And he gave them up for God's will.
25:49-25:54
Because Moses believed that God would reward with things greater than what he could have now.
25:56-25:59
There's such an interesting phrase in verse 26.
25:59-26:04
It says he considered the reproach of Christ, greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, the reproach of Christ.
26:04-26:05
You're like, what is that?
26:06-26:08
Like, are you saying that Moses knew Jesus?
26:08-26:11
No, that's not really what that means.
26:12-26:13
What is the reproach of Christ?
26:15-26:26
You see, Moses, as we see here in this passage, he gave up everything to identify with his people so that he might deliver them.
26:27-26:27
Does that sound familiar?
26:29-26:40
Jesus Christ gave up everything so that he could come down and be with his people so that he might deliver us.
26:40-26:42
That's the reproach of Christ.
26:42-26:48
Jesus Christ in heaven, holy God, had every, literally had everything.
26:50-26:51
And he made himself nothing.
26:52-26:56
He emptied himself for the purpose of God's salvation.
26:56-26:57
That's the reproach of Christ.
26:58-27:01
that Moses chose for himself.
27:03-27:05
You know, Jesus calls us to deny ourselves.
27:06-27:09
Deny ourselves, Matthew 16, 24.
27:09-27:13
That's saying no to pursuing what my flesh wants and instead pursuing him.
27:15-27:23
And listen, when we talk about denying yourself, that's not some special kind of faith.
27:24-27:25
That's the only kind of faith.
27:27-27:27
That's bare minimum.
27:31-27:42
You know, I could invest my life in getting every single thing that I want and being world renowned, but this life is gonna end.
27:43-27:45
And in the end, what did it really matter?
27:47-27:48
See, Moses took the long view.
27:49-27:54
When I stand before God someday, all that matters is his kingdom and what I did to advance that.
27:55-27:55
That's what matters.
27:56-28:03
And if I make that my life purpose, I will discover reward far greater than anything that I can get from the earth.
28:05-28:07
So three choices faith makes.
28:07-28:08
I fear God, not man.
28:09-28:11
What God offers is better than what the world offers.
28:13-28:17
One more, number three, I obey God even when it doesn't make sense.
28:18-28:20
All right, I'm gonna give you a run at that one.
28:22-28:25
I'm gonna say it, and then you're going to say it with great conviction.
28:26-28:26
You ready?
28:27-28:29
I obey God even when it doesn't make sense.
28:29-28:30
Say it.
28:30-28:33
I obey God even when it doesn't make sense.
28:34-28:34
Amen.
28:35-28:35
What are we talking about?
28:35-28:36
Look at verse 28.
28:37-28:47
It says, "By faith, he kept the Passover "and sprinkled the blood so that the destroyer "of the firstborn might not touch them." That's Exodus 12, that's the 10th plague.
28:48-28:56
This was how God was going to get Pharaoh to not only let the Israelites leave Egypt, But hey, we'll pack your bags and give you some travel money on the way.
28:58-29:12
And you had to put the blood of a spotless lamb on your doorframe so that when the destroyer came through, he would pass over any home that wasn't covered under the blood of the spotless lamb.
29:13-29:15
That's where the name comes from, Passover.
29:15-29:20
If you were not covered under the blood, your firstborn would die.
29:20-29:21
Do you see the picture of the gospel?
29:23-29:28
We are safe from death when we're covered by the blood of the spotless lamb.
29:29-29:41
Verse 29 says, "By faith, the people crossed the Red Sea "as on dry land, but the Egyptians, "when they attempted to do the same, were drowned." Now we're jumping to Exodus 14.
29:42-29:54
Remember the Egyptians were like, after the death of the firstborn in the 10th plague, they're like, "Leave, go, here you go, "here's spending money, get out of here." And then they changed their minds and they pursued Israel.
29:54-29:55
And do you know what God did?
29:56-29:57
God led Israel to a dead end.
29:59-30:04
God said, here's exactly, if you study your Bibles, God says, here's exactly where I want you to go.
30:05-30:09
And when you look at it on a map, God was saying, Israel, I want you to go to a dead end.
30:09-30:11
He led them right to the Red Sea.
30:14-30:15
God, why would you do that?
30:19-30:21
because then God parted the waters for Israel.
30:21-30:27
But when the Egyptians followed, God unparted the waters and drowned them all.
30:28-30:28
Right?
30:29-30:44
Verse 30, it says, "By faith, the walls of Jericho fell down after they had been encircled for seven days." Jericho, now we're fast forward to Joshua 2 and Joshua 6.
30:44-30:54
You're like, "Hang on, hang on." You're like, "Hefei, you're telling me that we went from the Red Sea to Jericho.
30:56-30:57
That's quite a jump.
30:59-31:04
We went from Exodus 14 to Joshua 2.
31:06-31:09
Like, why don't we have anything in the middle there?
31:09-31:10
Do you know why?
31:11-31:11
What's in the middle?
31:13-31:15
Israel wandering through the wilderness for 40 years.
31:15-31:17
Are you familiar with that story?
31:18-31:20
Was there much faithfulness then?
31:20-31:24
Was there anything that you could point to during that time, aside from like Joshua and Caleb?
31:25-31:27
Was there anything you could point to and say, yes, by faith this happened.
31:28-31:32
Those years were marked by complete lack of faith.
31:33-31:35
That's why the Hebrew writer just skips right over them.
31:35-31:40
Next big faith exercise by Israel was Jericho.
31:42-31:47
So Joshua led the Israelites into the promised land, the first obstacle, this walled city of Jericho.
31:47-31:52
And they are given the most brilliant military strategy of all time, Joshua six.
31:53-31:57
March around the city once a day, every day for six days.
31:57-32:01
And then the seventh day, march around the city seven times.
32:01-32:06
And then, (imitates trumpet) blow your trumpets and scream.
32:08-32:10
I'm sorry, can we start over?
32:10-32:11
You lost me somewhere.
32:13-32:14
Who's doing what now?
32:16-32:17
That was the plan.
32:18-32:18
And do you remember what happened?
32:20-32:21
God took the walls down.
32:25-32:28
Then in verse 31, this is our last verse for today.
32:28-32:38
It says, "By faith, Rahab the prostitute "did not perish with those who were disobedient "because she had given a friendly welcome to the spies." What's going on here?
32:38-32:41
Actually, quick flashback to Joshua chapter two.
32:41-32:53
Remember the Israelites spied on Jericho and as they were spying out Jericho, they found a very unlikely ally, a prostitute named Rahab.
32:55-32:57
Interestingly though, here's another word that strikes me.
32:58-33:02
It says that she did not perish with those who were disobedient.
33:02-33:03
And you're like, hang on a second.
33:04-33:05
How were they disobedient?
33:06-33:08
I mean, did they know God?
33:08-33:09
Absolutely they did.
33:09-33:11
We're not gonna look it up and write it down.
33:11-33:11
Joshua 2.10.
33:13-33:16
The Jericho residents knew all about God.
33:17-33:19
They knew all about the Red Sea.
33:20-33:23
They knew all about the kings that were defeated along the way.
33:26-33:28
And they rejected God.
33:29-33:30
See, that's why Rahab stands out.
33:30-33:32
She did not, she believed.
33:32-33:36
She believed in the living God.
33:36-33:38
And our proof of that is she hid the spies.
33:42-33:53
So when the walls came down, the Bible tells us that Israel charged in and slaughtered the Jericho residents, but Rahab and her family were spared.
33:54-34:01
Isn't that amazing that in God's word, we're having a list of all of these faithful people and on the list is a prostitute?
34:04-34:05
That's a whole other sermon.
34:07-34:09
Here's the sermon we're doing today.
34:10-34:12
In this chunk, we have three things.
34:12-34:13
Ready?
34:14-34:19
Passover, the Red Sea, and Jericho.
34:21-34:23
What do those three things have in common?
34:27-34:30
You're like, three places I've never been.
34:32-34:33
Three things not in my refrigerator.
34:33-34:34
What do these three things have in common?
34:36-34:37
(congregation laughing)
34:38-34:39
Here it is.
34:40-34:42
Passover, Red Sea, Jericho, here's what they have in common.
34:45-34:51
Faith made God's people obey God in very strange ways.
34:54-35:00
So, they could see God do something that only he could do.
35:01-35:02
That's what those have in common.
35:04-35:09
I mean, from a human perspective, I'm talking purely from a human perspective, doesn't this stuff sound kind of nuts?
35:11-35:12
Like Passover?
35:15-35:20
Paint your doorpost with blood so that your firstborn doesn't die?
35:20-35:22
That sounds a little strange.
35:25-35:25
But God was right.
35:27-35:28
What about the Red Sea?
35:28-35:34
Hey, everybody, we're being pursued by the greatest empire of our day.
35:34-35:35
So let's all run to the beach.
35:41-35:45
I'm just saying it doesn't make sense from a human perspective.
35:47-35:48
Or what about Jericho?
35:51-35:58
We're going to seize this land that God promised Abraham and we're gonna do it by tooting our horns?
35:59-35:59
Really?
36:01-36:09
But God did all of that so that after the fact, everybody's like, "God showed up!" And nobody was like, "Yeah, that was totally me.
36:10-36:11
"That was totally me.
36:11-36:19
"It was my trumpet that took the wall down." Like, nobody thought that because God got the glory.
36:20-36:30
And He's calling them and He's calling us sometimes to obey Him, sometimes in very strange ways, to see if we really believe Him, that he's gonna show up and do something glorious.
36:35-36:37
See, their faith made their choice.
36:39-36:52
And your faith is gonna make your choice too, if you have it, if you have faith, because God's gonna call you to do something crazy, something that's contrary to the culture, something that's contrary to the natural way that you think.
36:54-37:04
And you're gonna get to a place in your life where faith is gonna make a choice for you, where you say, you know what, this makes no sense to me at all, but I have to do this because God said so.
37:08-37:09
We see that all the time, don't we?
37:10-37:12
Like people getting baptized.
37:14-37:15
Isn't that strange?
37:15-37:17
Like what happened at church today?
37:17-37:18
Oh, it was awesome.
37:18-37:21
We grabbed this dude and there was like this hot tub.
37:21-37:30
It wasn't bubbling, but there was like this tub and the pastor like totally just like jammed him under the water, (gurgling) and like, doesn't that seem strange?
37:33-37:37
But it's an act of obedience because of God doing something glorious.
37:37-37:39
What about giving, right?
37:40-37:42
We talk about giving as an act of worship.
37:42-37:44
You're like, do you mean to tell me that God needs my money?
37:45-37:46
Yeah, God doesn't need your money.
37:47-37:48
God doesn't need your money.
37:49-37:51
God has a trillion dollars in the cup holder of his Lamborghini.
37:53-37:55
Okay, he doesn't need your money.
37:57-37:58
(congregation laughing)
37:58-38:00
Like, so why do I have to give?
38:00-38:02
Because it's an act of faith, it's an act of worship.
38:02-38:06
You're saying, God, you gave this to me, and this is my way of saying thank you, and I'm trusting you for the rest.
38:07-38:11
But it's a strange thing when you think about it, but it's an act of faith.
38:11-38:14
Faith calls us to obey in strange ways.
38:14-38:19
For some of you, you're considering, not considering you're doing it, I'm sorry.
38:19-38:23
Some of you are adopting and fostering other kids.
38:24-38:32
Do you realize there's like a trillion kids in our kids area, like we got plenty, but you have a heart that says, I wanna reach out to less fortunate kids.
38:33-38:39
That makes no sense, unless God's calling you to do it because he's going to do something huge, right?
38:43-38:49
Whatever it is for you, there are going to be things in your life that you're like, I know God's calling me to this, and my neighbors think I'm nuts.
38:51-38:53
And I can't deny that this is what God told me to do.
38:54-38:55
And faith says I have to do it.
38:56-39:04
Oh, the biggest one, by the way, is turning from your sin and receiving Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior.
39:07-39:16
A man who claimed to be God in the flesh and proved it by resurrecting from the dead, he died for you about 2000 years ago.
39:16-39:23
And God's word tells us that when we believe in him, and we receive Him, our sins are taken away.
39:28-39:32
That's a command to be obeyed, and we obey even when it doesn't make sense.
39:34-39:38
So Passover, Red Sea, Jericho, do you know what else they have in common?
39:41-39:42
You know what else they have in common?
39:42-39:47
They were all victories for God's people, and they were all destruction for those who didn't have faith.
39:48-39:49
I think we have to mention that, right?
39:50-39:51
Faith has consequences.
39:51-39:52
Faith has consequences.
39:53-39:54
You know the consequences of faith?
39:54-40:00
You get to see God show up and do something God-sized, God do something huge.
40:02-40:05
And there is nothing more glorious in this life.
40:06-40:14
There is nothing more glorious in this life than when God shows up and does something and you know it was God because there's no other explanation.
40:14-40:17
And you're like, that was all God.
40:17-40:21
There is nothing more glorious in this life than experiencing that.
40:22-40:31
And that is why church, listen to me, you will never, ever, ever regret obeying God, even if in a moment it seems pretty crazy.
40:31-40:34
And I've been doing pastor ministry now for two and a half decades.
40:34-40:38
I've never, I've never heard the guy say, or the gal say, you know what?
40:39-40:41
I trusted God and I believe God in that.
40:41-40:43
And boy, that was the worst decision I ever made.
40:44-40:45
I've never heard that.
40:46-40:50
But I can tell you what I've heard plenty is I didn't do what God said to do.
40:51-40:52
And boy, was that a mistake.
40:53-40:56
I ruined everything because I refused to believe.
40:59-41:06
Faith has consequences, and so does lack of faith.
41:09-41:12
Rejecting the word of God always has consequences.
41:15-41:22
Ask Egypt if no faith, lack of faith has consequences.
41:22-41:26
Ask Egypt at the bottom of the Red Sea.
41:28-41:32
Ask Jericho if you can dig them up from under the rubble.
41:35-41:42
Ask those in hell who in this life refused to heed God's word.
41:44-41:50
Here's the bottom line, church, if our worship team would come forward as we prepare to close.
41:51-41:56
Church, I don't need to tell you what choices you need to make.
41:58-42:01
I'm simply telling you to believe God's word.
42:03-42:07
And your faith is going to make your choices for you.
42:11-42:21
And in the end, you're going to see, and the whole world is going to see, it was worth it.
42:23-42:24
Faith makes my choices.
42:26-42:27
You bow your heads with me, please.
42:28-42:39
Our Father in heaven, what an incredible string of testimonies.
42:45-42:52
And it's so easy to point at people on a page and criticize lack of faith.
42:56-43:02
But Father, we are people who need to believe You, even when it doesn't make sense.
43:04-43:11
when people in positions of power are saying to flagrantly disobey you.
43:15-43:24
Father, I thank you that we don't have to get the elders of this church together to try to figure out what is the choice that we need to make.
43:24-44:27
Our faith makes the choice for us, God, as we seek to honor your word and as we walk by your spirit, Father. Your truth is what determines our choices. So, Father, may we never shrink back out of fear or lack of faith. But whatever's ahead, whether it's this afternoon, tomorrow, next week or next year, God, this church is going to be, metaphorically speaking, the beach of the Red Sea. And I just ask, Father, that you would give us the faith to always choose to trust you wherever you're leading us. For this church, Father, for every home, every individual. Father, glorify your name by letting the world see choices being made because of faith. We pray in Jesus' name, Amen.

Small Group Discussion
Read Hebrews 11:23-31

What was your big take-away from this passage / message?
The Bible says we should submit to the governing authorities (Romans 13:1). But in this passage, we see 2 instances where people did NOT submit to the government (Hebrews 11:23,27). How do you know when and how to disobey the government?
What specifically motivated Moses to walk away from being royalty to identifying with his people Israel? How can you allow these things to motivate you?
Tell of a time you obeyed God when it didn’t make sense to you, and you saw Him do something only He could do.

Breakout
Pray for one another.

Jeff Miller

May 21, 2023

Why Jesus

Why Jesus? Faith Blesses Others.

Jeff Miller

May 21, 2023

Why Jesus

Introduction:

Real faith shows up not only in how you Live , but how you Die .

  
    Three Things That Don't Have to Keep You from Finishing Faithful (Hebrews 11:20-22):

What your Parents have done. (Heb 11:20)
       
What You've done. (Heb 11:21)
    
What's Been Done to you. (Heb 11:22)

Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!

00:48-00:50
Open up your Bibles with me, please, to Hebrews 11.
00:51-00:59
And in this series within a series, we are really just asking a couple of questions.
00:59-01:01
And the first question is, what is faith?
01:02-01:04
You come into a place like this and you hear that word a lot, right?
01:05-01:07
You gotta have faith and have faith in Jesus.
01:07-01:08
And what does that mean?
01:08-01:14
Well, we saw in Hebrews 11, he says that faith is the assurance of things hoped for.
01:14-01:17
There's things that are coming that I'm sure are going to happen, right?
01:17-01:19
And then he says, it's a conviction of things not seen.
01:19-01:28
I haven't seen heaven, I haven't seen God, I haven't seen the rewards, but I know, I have this conviction and I'm building my life on it.
01:29-01:33
And what he does is he gives us examples from the Old Testament.
01:33-01:35
He shows us what faith looks like.
01:35-01:42
When you really have faith, really have true biblical faith, it shows up like this, right?
01:43-01:45
He's doing more than just defining faith.
01:47-01:54
And it should be bringing you to the place and be bringing me to the place where we say, do I have faith?
01:55-01:57
Do I really have biblical faith?
01:58-01:59
That's what we're doing here.
01:59-02:02
Does my walk with Christ look like this?
02:04-02:05
So what have we seen so far?
02:05-02:10
And you know, I was writing the review this week and I was kicking myself.
02:11-02:13
'Cause if I ever preach this again, I know how I'm gonna change it.
02:14-02:16
Is it, it's all alliterated here.
02:16-02:18
I don't know how it's gonna work next week, but here's what we got so far.
02:20-02:24
With faith, with Abel rather, faith worships.
02:25-02:27
With Enoch, faith walks.
02:27-02:29
And with Noah, faith works.
02:30-02:33
And we saw last week with Abraham, faith waits.
02:34-02:37
And today we're going to be looking at Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph.
02:37-02:40
And we're going to see that faith wins.
02:42-02:44
So let's look at verses 20 through 22.
02:47-03:35
It says, "By faith, Isaac invoked future blessings on Jacob and Esau. By faith, Jacob, when dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph, bowing in worship over the head of his staff. By faith, Joseph, at the end of his life, made mention of the exodus of the Israelites and gave direction concerning his bones." And you're like, "Huh, that is not a lot of material." And I would say, "That is based on a lot of material." It's funny because when you're going through Hebrews, Abraham got a lot of material.
03:36-03:40
And then you're gonna see next week, Moses gets a lot of material.
03:41-03:46
But you get to Isaac, Jacob and Joseph and...
03:50-03:51
Here it is.
03:52-03:55
They knew God's covenant with Abraham.
03:56-04:02
And they knew, these men knew that out of their family, God was going to make a nation.
04:03-04:10
and that nation was ultimately going to bless the world, and these men never saw the promise fulfilled.
04:10-04:21
But in the last moment of their lives, they believed, and they blessed, believing in that promise of God.
04:21-04:25
They made plans, believing in that promise of God.
04:25-04:28
They had faith in the face of death.
04:31-04:44
And they said, "God's word is true, "and all of his promises will come to pass." And I have to ask you, what am I gonna say at your funeral?
04:49-04:50
Just got real quiet and cold in here.
04:53-04:54
But what am I going to say at your funeral?
04:59-05:05
or when your family gets up to share a few words about you, what are they gonna say?
05:08-05:17
I hope that you're aware that you are writing your obituary with the way that you live your life right now.
05:21-05:22
So, do you have your outline?
05:23-05:23
Here's the sermon.
05:25-05:30
Real faith shows up not only in how you live, but how you die.
05:33-05:34
That's it.
05:40-05:45
That is the lesson from Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph.
05:46-05:47
You're like, that's it?
05:49-05:51
I'm like, that's it.
05:54-06:05
You mean, you're like, you mean to tell me with everything that's said about them, you realize their story kind of picks up in Genesis 24.
06:06-06:09
And you know, Genesis is the longest book in the Bible, right?
06:09-06:16
So their story picks up in Genesis 24, and it goes all the way to Genesis 50.
06:18-06:21
And there's all that material, and that's all that's said about those guys.
06:22-06:22
Like that's it?
06:24-06:28
Look, you got the same Bible that I got, right?
06:30-06:31
That's what it says.
06:34-06:37
So I gotta tell you, last week I was like, I read this and I'm like, woohoo!
06:38-06:39
Short week for me.
06:42-06:42
That's it.
06:44-06:44
That's all it says, right?
06:54-06:55
So what do you want to talk about?
06:59-07:07
I got to tell you though, as much as I wanted to just sort of sit back and be like, "That's all it says.
07:07-07:08
That's all I'm going to preach.
07:09-07:15
The end you are loved." But I gotta tell you though, the brevity really bothered me.
07:17-07:18
I mean, it really bothered me.
07:21-07:28
What I did was I went back in Genesis and I reread their stories, actually several times this past week.
07:32-07:35
And I'm like, there's so much more to these guys.
07:37-07:40
I mean, yes, they died believing.
07:40-07:42
We see that in Hebrews, yes, absolutely.
07:43-07:51
But I was really bothered not by what the Hebrew writer said about them, but what the Hebrew writer didn't say about them.
07:52-07:55
Like, really, with everything that happened, that's it?
07:56-07:57
That's all you got?
07:57-08:06
Like, I went back and read their stories, And I'm like, they had so many obstacles along the way.
08:11-08:12
But they died believing.
08:15-08:24
And I realized that the obstacles that they had in their life in their lives, excuse me, didn't keep them from finishing their lives in faith.
08:26-08:34
And I just want to commend some things to you because the obstacles that you're facing don't have to keep you from finishing faithfully either.
08:39-08:43
So, here's another sermon.
08:44-08:48
Write this down, here's three things that don't have to keep you from finishing faithfully.
08:49-08:52
Three things that don't have to keep you from finishing faithfully.
08:54-08:56
You're like, I knew that couldn't possibly be it.
08:58-09:01
I'm just being honest with you, it bothered me.
09:01-09:02
Like look at verse 20 again.
09:03-09:19
It says, "By faith, Isaac invoked future blessings on Jacob and Esau." I'm like, that's all he said about Isaac?
09:19-09:32
What about the time in Genesis 26, when Isaac was in Gerar and he was worried that somebody was going to kill him and take his wife, because she was really beautiful.
09:33-09:37
So he lied and said, she's my sister, she's not my wife.
09:37-09:43
And then Abimelech looking out the window, the Bible says, saw Isaac laughing with Rebekah.
09:43-09:49
Now it wasn't laughing like, hey, you know, did you hear the one about the, you know, the rabbi in the saloon or whatever?
09:49-09:57
The Hebrew implies that this laughing was more husband and wife intimate kind of thing.
09:58-10:02
Because Abimelech was like, dude, You don't do that with your sister.
10:03-10:04
You lied.
10:04-10:05
Why in the world would you do that?
10:05-10:08
If someone would have taken your wife, we all would have been guilty.
10:10-10:10
You remember that?
10:11-10:12
That was a paraphrase.
10:16-10:17
But where did Isaac learn that behavior?
10:23-10:27
You know, his father, Abraham, did it twice.
10:27-10:28
Did you know that?
10:29-10:32
Genesis 12, Genesis 20, this is mind blowing.
10:32-10:36
The second time Abraham did it was in Gerar, the same place.
10:39-10:43
Three things that don't have to keep you from finishing faithfully.
10:43-10:44
The first one is what your parents have done.
10:45-10:52
And here's the thing, look, we all have this tendency to repeat what our parents do, good and bad.
10:53-10:55
Good and bad.
10:57-11:04
And as much as I've said in my life, you know, my father did this, my father acted like this, and my father spoke like this, and I will never do that.
11:05-11:06
I will never do that.
11:07-11:15
Do you know how many times in my adult life I've said something and I've stopped myself and I'm like, hmm, that sounded just like Richard.
11:22-11:23
You're the same.
11:24-11:27
Like it or not, you inherit some things from your parents, good and bad.
11:30-11:31
I see that with my own kids.
11:36-11:40
And I try so hard and I'm such a failure sometimes.
11:46-11:50
I see so many times in Cade acting like me.
11:53-11:57
But you know, it'd be easy for us to make the excuse, you know, I can't help it.
11:58-11:59
This is how I was raised.
11:59-12:01
This is the example that I had.
12:01-12:06
Look, none of us, none of us grew up with a perfect example, none of us.
12:08-12:11
But listen, at some point, you have to take responsibility for your own actions.
12:14-12:17
You aren't going to stand before God and give an account for what your parents did.
12:19-12:23
And on that day, it isn't going to fly to say, I couldn't help it, I had a bad example.
12:25-12:30
On that day you stand before the Lord, what matters is this, did you believe God's promise?
12:31-12:37
Because if you did, if you received Jesus Christ, he will forgive you and you will die believing.
12:39-12:46
So when I read Hebrews 11, 20, I'm like, so what about Isaac's tendency to repeat his father's sins?
12:49-12:50
A Hebrew writer doesn't mention that.
12:52-12:57
He only mentions Genesis 27 when Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau.
12:57-13:03
And maybe you know the story, Jacob was the one who got the blessing regarding the covenant to Abraham.
13:04-13:12
Hey, this is a great encouragement because in the end, yes, he repeated his dad's sin, but ultimately he trusted God's promise.
13:13-13:14
And that's what's remembered about him.
13:17-13:19
Three things that don't have to keep you from finishing faithfully.
13:19-13:22
number two, what you've done.
13:24-13:25
Let's look at verse 21 again.
13:29-13:48
It says, "By faith, Jacob, when dying, "blessed each of the sons of Joseph," this would be his grandkids, "bowing in worship over the head of his staff." Some translations say head of his bed, it doesn't matter.
13:48-13:52
All it's saying is he was old and feeble when he did this.
13:52-13:53
That's all that's saying.
13:54-13:57
You know what doesn't have to keep you from finishing faithfully is what you've done.
13:59-14:08
So I read this one verse here and I'm like, wait, wait, wait, that's all that you're saying about Jacob, really?
14:10-14:16
What about the time in Genesis 25, he convinced Esau to trade him his birthright for some lentil stew, lentil stew.
14:16-14:18
No! What were you thinking?
14:20-14:24
Apparently they didn't have Chick-fil-A, or maybe it was Sunday when that happened.
14:24-14:27
But what about the time in Genesis 27?
14:28-14:37
With help from his mother, he tricked poor, blinding, old, dad, Isaac, into blessing him instead of Esau by pretending that he was Esau.
14:38-14:40
And what about the time in Genesis 30 and 31?
14:40-14:43
He hornswoggled his brother-in-law, Laban, over and over.
14:48-15:37
Jacob was a deceiver. He was a self-serving manipulator. You know, when he was born, he's a twin, when he was born he was second born of the twins and he was holding his twin brother's heel. And that's a metaphor for tripping somebody up. That's what Jacob means. It means cheater, deceiver. And that picture of holding his brother, tripping up his brother, so to speak, that typified Jacob's entire life. And you know, sometimes we let our past mistakes, we We let our besetting sins define us.
15:39-15:40
And we make them our identity.
15:42-15:43
And we just can't get past it.
15:45-15:49
You know, that's the cry of besetting sin in our day.
15:49-15:53
People say, "Hey, I was born this way." Right, have you heard people say that?
15:53-15:56
"I was born this way." That might be true.
15:58-16:01
Maybe that's why Jesus said you must be born again.
16:03-16:09
No, you are going to stand before God and you are going to give an account for what you did.
16:09-16:15
And on that day, it isn't going to fly to say, well, I had this besetting sin.
16:15-16:17
I couldn't help how I was.
16:17-16:19
What matters on that day is this.
16:19-16:22
Do you believe God's promise?
16:22-16:29
Because if you did, if you received Jesus Christ, He not only forgives you and takes away your sin, He changes you.
16:30-16:32
You don't have to be who you were born.
16:33-16:34
Right?
16:34-16:40
He changes you. And you will die believing.
16:43-16:45
So what about Jacob's sins?
16:46-17:03
The Hebrew writer doesn't mention any of that. He only mentions Genesis 48. When Jacob blessed each of Joseph's sons, that would be Ephraim and Manasseh. You know You know what, that's a great encouragement for me.
17:04-17:11
Because in the end, yes, Jacob made a lot of mistakes, but ultimately, what is he remembered for?
17:12-17:13
He trusted God's promise.
17:15-17:25
And then finally, three things that don't have to keep you from finishing faithfully, what your parents have done, what you've done, and finally, what's been done to you.
17:26-17:27
What's been done to you?
17:28-17:29
Look at verse 22 again.
17:30-17:41
"By faith, Joseph, at the end of his life, made mention of the exodus of the Israelites and gave directions concerning his bones." You know where this is going, right?
17:42-17:45
I read that and I'm like, that's all he said about Joseph?
17:46-17:47
That's all?
17:48-17:55
What about the time in Genesis 37 when Joseph had these dreams about his brothers bowing to him and they hated him?
17:55-17:57
And they're like, we're going to kill him.
17:57-18:00
and then they decided instead to sell him as a slave.
18:00-18:01
Remember that?
18:01-18:11
Well, he ended up in Egypt and through God's providence, he rose to prominence, but then he was falsely accused of trying to sexually assault Potiphar's wife.
18:11-18:30
He was imprisoned and he was abandoned, but God wasn't done yet because Joseph prepped Egypt for the coming famine that God revealed to Joseph, long story, But eventually his brothers came to Egypt for food because of the famine.
18:30-18:37
And when they came, not knowing who he was, they bowed to him, as God said they would.
18:39-18:59
And Joseph said, "Hey, hey, what you did, "you meant it for evil for me, "but God meant it for good for everybody." So much of Joseph's life, he was a victim.
19:01-19:09
He was abused by so many people, including his own brothers.
19:11-19:19
And honestly, I think more than any of these others, it would have been easy for Joseph to start to doubt God's promises.
19:20-19:21
It would have been easy for him.
19:24-19:36
But Joseph knew that God is sovereign and God uses even terrible things to accomplish his purposes.
19:38-19:41
God uses terrible things to accomplish his purposes.
19:41-19:46
And if you ever struggle believing that, I just want you to think about the cross of Jesus Christ.
19:46-19:49
God uses terrible things to accomplish his purposes.
19:53-19:54
What he says will happen.
19:56-19:58
So what does the Hebrew writer say about Joseph?
19:58-20:00
He's like, hey, Joseph had faith.
20:00-20:07
You remember he was like, yeah, the exodus is coming, so pack up my bones, take them with you.
20:11-20:17
Listen, some of you have suffered terribly at the hands of other people.
20:24-20:31
And I meet with people and I counsel people and I talk to people and honestly, there's so many times that I wish I could take that away.
20:35-20:53
But I have to ask you, is it possible, is it possible that God is using the suffering that others have done to you to shape you into the person that God wants you to be and ultimately use that to bless others.
20:58-20:58
Is that possible?
21:01-21:04
And I gotta tell you, this is gonna be hard to hear.
21:04-21:05
It's hard to say, it's gonna be hard to hear.
21:06-21:12
But so many times over my ministry, I've heard people that have gone through hard times say something like this.
21:12-21:14
Like, look, yeah, I'm having a hard time.
21:14-21:16
I don't wanna hear Romans 8 28.
21:16-21:17
I've heard people say that.
21:18-21:19
I don't wanna hear Romans 8 28.
21:19-21:20
You know what Romans 8 28 says?
21:20-21:24
That we know that God causes all things to work for good for those who love him, and are called according to his purpose.
21:24-21:26
And people are like, I don't wanna hear that.
21:26-21:30
I don't wanna, I'm going through a hard time, and I don't wanna hear Romans 8 28.
21:34-21:44
And I just think, oh, you don't want reminded of one of the most glorious purposes of God, One of the most glorious promises of God.
21:45-21:54
You don't want reminded that God can take this horrible stuff that happened to you and use it to glorify his name and bless you and bless others.
21:54-21:56
You don't wanna hear that glorious promise.
21:58-22:01
So I'm like, okay then.
22:04-22:06
Stinks to be you, I guess.
22:09-22:21
Listen, I just wanna lovingly challenge you that maybe it's in those times of suffering at the hands of others that we need to be reminded the most that God causes all things to work for good.
22:23-22:24
He did it in Joseph's life.
22:25-22:27
He did it in the life of Jesus Christ.
22:27-22:37
Is it possible that God's using the suffering that you're experiencing to shape you into who he wants you to be and to bless other people?
22:42-22:45
You aren't going to stand before God and give an account for what others did to you.
22:46-22:53
And on that day, it isn't gonna fly to say, you know what, God, I would have believed that people were so mean to me.
22:55-22:56
On that day, do you know what matters?
22:58-23:00
Do you believe God's promise?
23:03-23:07
Because if you did, if you received Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior.
23:07-23:17
He will use everything in your life ultimately for good, even if it doesn't look good at the time, and you will die believing.
23:21-23:30
So, what about all of Joe's suffering at the hands of others?
23:31-23:32
I'm sorry, Joseph.
23:32-23:35
I paraphrase in my notes, I write Joe like I went to high school with him.
23:36-23:36
(congregation laughing)
23:37-23:38
Remember Joe?
23:41-23:46
So what about all of the suffering that Joseph experienced at the hands of others?
23:48-23:50
The Hebrew writer doesn't mention any of that.
23:51-23:54
The only thing he points out is Genesis 50.
23:55-24:01
It says, "Joseph mentioned the Exodus "and gave directions concerning his bones." Like, what's that all about?
24:01-24:18
Well, if you know the story, Israel ended up staying in Egypt, and they grew and they became so big that they were like, "Hey, the Israelites are getting big "and if we get attacked by somebody else, "they might like join up with them "and now we can't have that "because then we're gonna be facing like an army within, "an army without." So they enslaved the Israelites.
24:20-24:21
The Egyptians did.
24:21-24:33
And did you know 64 years after Joseph died, a baby was born that they put in a little tiny basket in the river.
24:34-24:51
His name was Moses and God raised him up to lead the Jewish people out of the land of Egypt and into the land, promised to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph.
24:53-25:07
Joseph died a leader in Egypt, but he still believed, despite that, he still believed that his family was going to leave and receive what God promised.
25:09-25:10
That's a great encouragement to me.
25:12-25:25
'Cause in the end, yes, Joseph could say, I could say, and I know many of you could say, people have not been kind to me a lot in my life.
25:27-25:30
But ultimately, Joseph trusted God's promises.
25:33-25:37
So much happened to these three men.
25:39-25:40
So much.
25:43-25:44
A lot of lows.
25:46-25:54
And you see, it would have been so easy to get immersed into all of that and then miss the point.
25:59-26:01
So I told you the brevity bothered me.
26:03-26:09
The Hebrew writer left a lot of stuff out, and then I realized, that is the point.
26:12-26:26
That no matter what your parents have done, or what you've done, or what's been done to you, at the end of the day, what really matters is, do I believe God's promise?
26:28-26:47
The Hebrew writer tells us that God made a promise to Abraham, that He passed along to Isaac, that He passed along to Jacob, that He passed along to Joseph, and it has gone down the chain throughout history, and it's been passed on to you now.
26:51-26:56
But over history, that promise has seen fuller revelation.
26:58-26:59
We've gotten more explanation.
27:01-27:05
And we, because of Jesus Christ, have better promises.
27:08-27:09
Are you passing those along?
27:10-27:11
Because faith blesses others.
27:13-27:14
Bow your heads with me, please.
27:15-27:22
Father in heaven, as we come to your word today, it's aggrieving what you don't say here.
27:26-27:34
And Father, I just believe that that's what you're trying to teach us, that what matters is at the end of the day, do we really believe your promises?
27:37-27:39
Because we got all kinds of problems.
27:40-27:48
And it's easy to get so focused on that, that we lose sight of the big thing.
27:52-27:57
For us, Father, that big thing, that you have made a promise in Jesus Christ.
27:58-28:02
You have promised us that you would take our sins away.
28:02-28:05
You have promised us, Father, that we would have eternal life.
28:07-28:24
You have promised us, Father, just even in the meantime, while we're waiting on the ultimate fulfillment of salvation being in your presence, Father, you have promised us your Holy Spirit who changes us.
28:28-28:37
So Father, I pray today that we are ever mindful that we're writing our obituary with how we live.
28:40-28:48
And might it be said of us, as it was said of Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph, that we died believing you.
28:49-28:51
We pray in Jesus' name, amen.

Small Group Discussion
Read Hebrews 11:20-22

What was your big take-away from this passage / message?
What sticks out to you about the stories of Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph? Why do you think the Hebrews writer didn’t mention any of the volumes of details about the lives of Isaac, Jacob, or Joseph?
What can you be doing today to ensure you will finish your race strong? Be specific!

Breakout
Pray for one another.

Jeff Miller

May 14, 2023

Why Jesus

Why Jesus? Faith Obeys God.

Jeff Miller

May 14, 2023

Why Jesus

Introduction:

Romans 4:1-3 - What then shall we say was gained by Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh? For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.” (Genesis 15:6)

When I Believe God's Promises (Hebrews 11:8-19):

I don't need all the Details . (Heb 11:8)
John 10:27 - My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.
I'm willing to Wait . (Heb 11:9-10)
I'm focused on God's Ability , not mine. (Heb 11:11-12)
I take the Long view. (Heb 11:13-16)
I Obey even when it's hard. (Heb 11:17-19)

Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!

00:49-00:51
Let's bow our heads and I'm gonna ask you pray for me.
00:53-00:54
I'll pray for you.
00:54-00:59
We're approaching the word of God and this is really serious, right?
01:00-01:09
And let's just pray that our hearts would be open to receive it and again, pray for me to be faithful to communicate it accurately.
01:10-01:10
Let's pray.
01:12-01:14
Father, we're approaching your word right now.
01:17-01:21
This is what you have given to us to reveal who you are.
01:23-01:27
What you've done and how you call us to respond.
01:29-01:33
So I pray, Father, that our hearts and minds would be tuned in.
01:33-01:38
I was gonna say I pray against any distractions, but there's always distractions.
01:41-01:42
We can't help that.
01:43-01:50
What we can help is what our heart and mind and eyes are focused on.
01:52-01:53
Let it be on you, Father.
01:54-01:55
We pray in Jesus' name.
01:55-01:58
And all of God's people said, amen.
01:58-02:03
All right, how many of you this past week have been practicing drawing the lion?
02:05-02:06
How many of you have?
02:07-02:07
Come on, don't be shy.
02:08-02:11
So I know some of you have because you told me, and now you don't want to admit it in the group.
02:12-02:13
So, all right, we'll do it again then.
02:14-02:16
All right, this is what we talked about last week.
02:17-02:20
To draw a line, you just gotta draw three diamonds, right?
02:20-02:22
And the more you do this, the better you get at it, right?
02:22-02:25
So you draw an X, right?
02:26-02:27
Are you doing this with me?
02:27-02:30
I know you're drawing your bulletin like during the sermon anyways.
02:31-02:32
So don't pretend that you don't.
02:33-02:35
And then another one here like that.
02:39-02:42
I've been working on this because Miss Debbie says I need art lessons.
02:44-02:47
OK, and then remember we draw the two circles here, right?
02:48-02:50
And then this little area here we fill in.
02:52-02:52
All right?
02:53-02:54
He's looking a little-- he's leaning.
02:55-02:56
You try to talk and draw.
02:57-02:58
It's not easy.
02:58-03:00
All right, then we draw that there.
03:00-03:01
All right?
03:01-03:03
Oh, then we got to finish the diamond up, right?
03:03-03:11
So there's this here, and there's this here, And then the top of these diamonds here, right?
03:13-03:22
And then this, the purpose of this is that it gives you perspective and it shows you where the ears and eyes are in proportion to each other.
03:22-03:27
His nose is a little crooked, but you know, it's scarf and the Lion King, right?
03:27-03:29
So, all right.
03:31-03:45
But that's what we've been studying here in Hebrews chapter 11 is I can tell you this is what a lion looks like, or I could show you here's how you draw one, right?
03:45-03:49
And in Hebrews 11, he tells us, he's talking about faith.
03:49-03:59
He says, "Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, "the conviction of things not seen." And we use that word around here all the time.
03:59-04:01
Have faith, have faith, you gotta have faith.
04:02-04:04
Faith is what matters, you gotta have faith.
04:04-04:07
And you're like, "Well, what does that even mean to have faith?
04:07-04:21
What does that mean?" And well, this is what the Hebrew writer is doing, is he's saying, "Let me show you what it looks like to actually have faith," right?
04:23-04:29
So what he does is he takes us back to the Old Testament and he gives us examples.
04:29-04:33
Here are people that had faith.
04:33-04:36
Look at what they did.
04:37-04:41
And that shows you what faith looks like.
04:41-04:50
Because again, review from last week, I could define faith for you, right?
04:51-04:58
And you could Google faith and get a million results, but that's not why you're here.
05:00-05:04
We're seeking the Lord, we're self-examining, we're asking, do I have faith?
05:05-05:05
Right?
05:08-05:23
And last week we talked about Abel, we talked about Enoch, we talked about Noah, we saw how faith, we saw faith rather worshiped, walked and worked.
05:24-05:35
So if you're going in your Old Testament, after Abel, after Enoch, after Noah, who's the next big character that shows up in the Old Testament?
05:37-05:38
It's Abraham, right?
05:39-05:40
And that's where we're going.
05:41-05:45
Genesis 12, we're talking about 2000 BC.
05:46-05:57
And this would have been really important to the Jews that were receiving this letter because Abraham was the father of Israel.
05:57-05:59
He was the first Jew.
05:59-06:04
Abraham, if you'll pardon the expression, he was sort of like their George Washington, right?
06:07-06:15
And the Hebrew right here is proving the point that salvation is by faith.
06:15-06:19
And that checks out even to father Abraham, right?
06:19-06:22
This is a New Testament example we see throughout.
06:22-06:26
Like look what Paul says in Romans four about Abraham.
06:28-06:29
Do we have those verses?
06:31-06:32
Oh, there they are.
06:32-06:33
I thought we did.
06:33-06:38
It says, "What then shall we say was gained by Abraham, "our forefather according to the flesh?
06:38-06:45
"For if Abraham was justified by works, "he has something to boast about, "but not before God.
06:48-06:53
For what does the scripture say? Abraham believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness.
06:53-06:59
And then I added that citation, Eric Paul quoted Genesis 15, 6.
07:00-07:07
So the Hebrew writer here is showing how faith was demonstrated by Abraham.
07:08-07:10
And here's the word of the day, ready?
07:12-07:20
The word is promise, because as we go through this passage, you're going to see this word at least five times.
07:22-07:27
And here it is. This is the short version of the sermon.
07:31-07:38
You have real faith when your life revolves around God's promise.
07:41-07:43
I'm gonna say that again, this is the short version.
07:44-07:47
If you're like, I only want the short version of the sermon, here it is.
07:47-07:51
Your, oh, excuse me, you have real faith.
07:54-08:00
You have real faith when your life revolves around God's promises.
08:02-08:05
And if all you want is a short version, you can go, you're loved.
08:07-08:14
But if you're like, my Mother's Day lunch isn't for a little while, I have some time, I'd like to hear the rest of it, okay.
08:16-08:18
I'll unpack that a little bit for you.
08:19-08:22
You have real faith when your life revolves around God's promises.
08:24-08:27
You wanna talk about a real world example of life revolving around promises?
08:28-08:30
Look at an engaged woman.
08:33-08:36
An engaged woman has the ring, right?
08:37-08:44
An engaged woman gets on Facebook 70 times a day with the countdown.
08:46-08:51
You know, the wedding is in 281 days, five hours, 16 minutes, 30 seconds, right?
08:52-08:56
An engaged woman sends out the save the date.
08:56-08:59
And then right after that, she sends out the wedding invitation.
09:00-09:06
She lines up the venue, she lines up the caterer, she has to get the dress, and we're planning the honeymoon.
09:07-09:09
Why does she do all of this?
09:13-09:17
Because her life revolves around a promise.
09:18-09:19
Oh, she has to get a flower girl too, right?
09:20-09:21
She has to get a flower girl.
09:22-09:25
Her life revolves around a promise.
09:25-09:32
And the engaged woman obviously lives as if she believes the promise, right?
09:33-09:35
She's consumed by it.
09:35-09:37
Everything in her life is about this promise.
09:40-09:43
And that's what we're going to learn from Abraham today.
09:48-09:49
Do you believe God's promises?
09:52-09:54
Do you believe God's promises?
09:54-09:56
Do you believe God's word is true?
09:56-10:01
Do you believe God is actually going to do what he said he's going to do?
10:01-10:02
Do you believe that?
10:05-10:11
then your life is going to be shaped by how much you believe that.
10:13-10:13
Right?
10:13-10:24
So on your outline from the life of Abraham, when I believe God's promises, when I believe God's promises, number one, write this down, I don't need all the details.
10:26-10:29
When I believe God's promises, I don't need all the details.
10:31-10:42
Look at verse eight, it says, by faith, Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance.
10:42-10:45
That's the promised land, Canaan, Israel.
10:48-10:49
Look at this, here it is.
10:49-10:53
And he went out not knowing where he was going.
10:55-11:00
He obeyed and went out not knowing where he was going.
11:02-11:05
And it didn't bother Abraham.
11:08-11:11
Your Bible just says that he went out regardless.
11:15-11:17
Like Abraham, where's God taking you?
11:17-11:20
And Abraham says, I don't know, but we'll find out when we get there, right?
11:21-11:22
We have to start here.
11:22-11:25
This is where the Hebrew writer starts with Abraham, because this is where we struggle.
11:27-11:30
I want all the information first, right?
11:31-11:32
How many people are with me on that?
11:33-11:34
I want all the information first.
11:35-11:40
Like for example, I was thinking this week about this building search that we're on.
11:40-11:43
We're trying to find a place of our own.
11:44-11:49
And you would be great as if the Lord just gave us all that information on the front end.
11:50-11:51
Wouldn't that be awesome?
11:52-11:57
If the Lord was just like, here you go, I got it all written out here, right here for you.
11:59-12:04
That the Lord was like, here, this is going to explain everything.
12:07-12:12
This is going to explain where you're going to go, the address of the place, here's a picture of it.
12:12-12:15
This explains where the money's going to come from and how the work's getting done.
12:20-12:26
I just, I wish God would just, I wish he would have told me that stuff like yesterday.
12:29-12:31
But you know God doesn't do that.
12:36-12:39
Why doesn't God front load the information?
12:40-12:42
You know, he could have just told Abraham, right?
12:43-12:46
Like here's a picture of the place and here's what it's gonna look like.
12:46-12:49
And he can do that for us.
12:49-12:50
Here's the building, here's the address.
12:51-12:52
Why doesn't he front load it?
12:55-12:55
Here's why.
12:59-13:10
If God gave us all of the information up front, we would plow ahead and think that we didn't need him.
13:11-13:14
That's why, right?
13:17-13:24
Hypothetically, like if God did say, okay, here's the address and here's where we're going And here's, and okay, God, you know what?
13:25-13:25
This sounds great.
13:27-13:30
We'll check back in with you when we move in, right?
13:35-13:40
We would lose the moment by moment dependence in the journey.
13:41-13:43
That's why God doesn't tell us everything up front.
13:44-13:47
We talked last week about Enoch walking with God.
13:47-13:48
It's step by step.
13:49-13:54
And God wants us to trust Him and seek Him with every step.
13:56-13:56
Right?
13:56-13:59
Jesus described our walk with God this way.
13:59-14:00
I love this.
14:00-14:16
John 10, 27 says, "My sheep hear my voice." This is Jesus saying, "My sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me." You see, Jesus is the shepherd and we are the sheep.
14:16-14:17
And here's the thing about sheep.
14:19-14:20
Sheep don't get an itinerary.
14:23-14:28
Sheep literally have one job, and that is to follow the shepherd.
14:33-14:35
You know, we can sit around saying, "What's going to happen tomorrow?
14:35-14:36
What's going to happen next month?
14:37-14:43
What's going to happen next year?" And people say, "Pastor Jeff, what's your five-year plan?" And they're shocked when I tell them what my five-year plan is.
14:43-14:50
"I don't have one." Here's my plan, you ready?
14:51-14:55
My plan is to try to follow Jesus today, just today.
14:55-15:02
And if he gives me tomorrow, I have the same plan.
15:05-15:07
I'm gonna seek to follow him tomorrow too.
15:08-15:11
But like Abraham, you're not gonna get all the details.
15:12-15:14
And faith says, you know what?
15:16-15:18
I don't need to know all the details.
15:19-15:21
Just gonna follow the shepherd, right?
15:22-15:25
So when I believe God's promises, number two, I'm willing to wait.
15:28-15:28
I'm willing to wait.
15:28-15:30
Look at verses nine and 10.
15:31-15:50
It says, "By faith, he went to live in a land of promise "As in a foreign land, living in tents "with Isaac and Jacob, "heirs with him of the same promise.
15:53-16:02
"For he was looking forward to the city "that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God." Do you see that?
16:03-16:04
He ended up in the land but living in tents.
16:04-16:05
How many people like camping?
16:06-16:07
Raise your hand if you like camping.
16:08-16:09
I hate camping.
16:10-16:10
Hate it.
16:11-16:12
I just hate camping.
16:14-16:16
All right, living in a little fabric house in the woods.
16:19-16:21
Eating outside like a raccoon.
16:23-16:23
Pass.
16:24-16:26
Hey, if that's your thing, I'm not judging you.
16:26-16:29
If that's your thing, go camp.
16:29-16:32
I'm just saying, it's just not mine.
16:33-16:34
It is just not my thing.
16:35-16:36
But that's how Abraham ended up.
16:37-16:37
Look at this.
16:38-16:42
He was in the land, but he didn't possess the land.
16:43-16:50
And maybe you're familiar with the story, but famine brought the Israelites to Egypt, remember, end of Genesis.
16:50-16:58
And then Egypt started, or I'm sorry, Israel started growing in Egypt and then they enslaved them and God raised up Moses to lead them out.
16:59-17:04
And then you get to the book of Joshua where Israel eventually enters the land that God promised to Abraham.
17:04-17:13
But for Abraham, he was given a promise that he didn't receive right away.
17:14-17:15
He had to wait.
17:17-17:22
Do you realize we right now, right this second, we are in the exact same boat as Abraham.
17:24-17:28
Because we are, you know the Bible says that we're going to inherit the earth?
17:30-17:33
That someday this world's going to be ours, but it's not yet.
17:34-17:36
Right now we're kind of like Abraham.
17:36-17:48
We've sort of pitched a tent in a place where we don't belong yet, but we will get someday.
17:50-17:51
So what did Abraham do?
17:52-17:52
What did he do?
17:52-17:53
What did he do?
17:54-17:54
What do we do?
17:56-17:57
We wait.
18:01-18:02
Waiting stinks, doesn't it?
18:04-18:06
Show of hands, how many people like waiting?
18:06-18:08
Nobody likes waiting.
18:09-18:10
Nobody likes waiting, right?
18:11-18:13
Tom Petty said it was the hardest part, right?
18:14-18:19
And especially for us Americans, look, we don't wait on anything, do we?
18:20-18:28
We are the people that stand in front of the microwave and go, "What's taking this thing so long?" Right?
18:28-18:36
We are the people that we order something from Amazon, click check out and then we go to our window to see if they're putting it on our front porch.
18:37-18:38
We don't wait.
18:39-18:41
We don't wait, right?
18:42-18:44
And everybody's got jokes about the DMV.
18:44-18:46
Why do people hate the DMV so much?
18:46-18:47
Tell me, why do people hate?
18:48-18:50
Because you go there and wait.
18:52-18:54
And they're really friendly while you wait, but you go there and wait.
18:56-18:58
But we hate waiting, don't we?
18:59-19:00
We hate it.
19:03-19:10
Do you know the Bible says to wait on the Lord something like 116 times?
19:15-19:26
And here's the thing that Abraham learned, and gosh, I'm still learning, but it's this, faith in God's promises includes trusting his schedule.
19:28-19:29
See that's the challenge.
19:30-19:31
What's the proving ground?
19:35-19:39
Is the proof of faith is really enduring, right?
19:46-19:48
Are you willing to be faithful while you wait?
19:49-19:51
That's the challenge.
19:53-19:55
Like, well, why does God make us wait?
19:56-19:57
It seems a little cruel, doesn't it?
19:59-20:02
I mean, could God just give me everything He's promised me right now?
20:03-20:04
Yeah, He could, He could.
20:05-20:06
Like, why doesn't He?
20:07-20:08
I'm gonna tell you, this is a whole nother sermon.
20:09-20:11
Ah, I'm just gonna say this though.
20:12-20:13
Do you know what He's doing right now?
20:15-20:20
In the waiting, He's preparing you for when He does give it to you.
20:22-20:23
That's why we wait.
20:26-20:27
There's so much more I wanna say about that.
20:29-20:31
That'll be another sermon though, someday.
20:32-20:32
Here's what I wanna say today.
20:33-20:34
God's promises happen on his timetable.
20:35-20:41
And when I believe God's promises, I'm willing to wait, right?
20:43-20:48
Number three, when I believe God's promises, I'm focused on God's ability, not mine.
20:49-20:49
Write that down.
20:50-20:51
I'm focused on God's ability, not mine.
20:52-20:54
Look at verses 11 and 12.
20:54-21:04
It says, "By faith, Sarah herself received power to conceive even when she was past the age, since she considered him faithful who had promised.
21:06-21:19
Therefore, from one man and him as good as dead were born descendants, as many as the stars of heaven and as many as the innumerable grains of sand by the seashore.
21:22-21:25
When I believe God's promises, I'm focused on God's ability, not mine.
21:27-21:28
I love this.
21:28-21:34
The Bible describes Abraham being old as being as good as dead.
21:36-21:37
Like, ouch.
21:38-21:40
Like, Abraham was old.
21:40-21:40
How old was he?
21:40-21:42
Yeah, he was as good as dead.
21:45-21:49
And this, I guess this is appropriate for Mother's Day, but you see how Sarah's described?
21:49-21:51
She's just past the age.
21:53-21:54
Oh, that sounds lovely.
21:54-21:55
(congregation laughing)
21:56-21:59
She wasn't old, she was past the age.
21:59-22:00
You can use that.
22:02-22:14
But here's the thing, God's promise to Abraham was land and people, and Abraham had no children because he was old.
22:14-22:16
How old is good as dead, right?
22:16-22:18
When Abraham was a kid, the Dead Sea was only sick.
22:18-22:21
That's how old Abraham was.
22:22-22:23
He had no kids.
22:25-22:27
But interestingly, this is so interesting.
22:27-22:35
I had to really study this a lot this week because it says that Sarah considered him faithful who had promised.
22:41-22:42
Sarah considered him faithful who had promised.
22:43-22:45
And I went back and reread that account in Genesis.
22:45-22:47
And I'm like, not at first, you did.
22:48-22:48
Not at first.
22:50-22:54
'Cause when you read the account, Remember the story, Sarah doubted.
22:54-22:58
In fact, when God said, you're gonna have a baby, the Bible says she laughed.
23:02-23:07
Here's the thing, God does fulfill his promise to those who believe, that's true.
23:09-23:13
But like us too often, Abraham and Sarah were slow to get this.
23:14-23:18
That God makes a promise, and we think that it's our job to help him out.
23:22-23:30
And if you study the account, do you see how desperate Sarah got to help God out?
23:32-23:37
She got so desperate, she had her husband make a baby with another woman.
23:39-23:41
That is like the ultimate in desperation.
23:48-23:55
You see, when God calls us to do something, we're just so tempted, like I am, to take that burden on ourselves.
24:00-24:09
And the world doesn't help, because the world's advice is, you need, if you want something, you gotta believe in yourself, right?
24:10-24:11
You gotta believe in yourself.
24:11-24:14
And that is such a huge fail, believe in yourself.
24:14-24:16
Like, what does that even mean?
24:17-24:18
Believe in yourself?
24:20-24:21
Such a fail.
24:22-24:23
You're right, Pastor Jeff.
24:23-24:29
I'm glad that kind of creeping doesn't, I'm glad that kind of thinking, excuse me, doesn't creep into the church.
24:30-24:32
I'm really thankful for that, that we don't think that way in the church.
24:34-24:34
Oh, we sure do.
24:36-24:38
Like the Word of Faith movement.
24:38-24:40
You familiar with the Word of Faith movement?
24:43-24:44
It's name it and claim it.
24:45-24:47
And if you speak it, it'll happen.
24:49-24:50
There's a problem with that.
24:51-24:53
There's a huge problem with that.
24:55-25:02
Many years ago, our family attended a very large church in this area.
25:03-25:04
You're like, which one?
25:05-25:05
You wanna know which one?
25:06-25:08
I'm not gonna tell you, but it was a very large church in this area.
25:09-25:13
And I remember the preacher got up, and this was the gist of the sermon.
25:14-25:18
He said, "Every prayer is answered yes.
25:18-25:21
Everything you ask God, the answer is yes, everything.
25:22-25:23
God answers every prayer yes.
25:24-25:33
The answer to every prayer is yes and amen." I'm like, "Well, I gotta hear this." And the text that he preached from was the parable of the sower in Matthew 13.
25:35-25:37
Do you know what the parable of the sower is about?
25:38-25:38
Not prayer.
25:40-25:41
(laughing)
25:43-25:47
but that certainly did not stop him from butchering the text.
25:48-26:00
But the sermon was, if for some reason you don't get exactly what you want, then maybe you're shallow hearted, maybe you're hard hearted, maybe your heart's full of weeds.
26:00-26:05
And the parable of the sower describes for us why prayer isn't answered.
26:09-26:18
So I remember while he's preaching, you know, Aaron looked over at me "You know, guys, when you're married long enough, "you can tell exactly what your wife's thinking "with a look, you know what I'm talking?
26:18-26:19
"Yeah, Dan, you know what I'm talking about.
26:19-26:23
"Your wife looks at you and you're like, "I know everything Alicia's thinking right now." That was me in that moment.
26:24-26:30
Aaron looked at me, and I'm like, "All right, get your stuff, we're out of here." And it really bothered me.
26:31-26:40
And what bothered me was the place was packed to the rafters, and all these people were hanging on this message of God's going to give me every single thing that I ask for.
26:41-26:42
Like, God, that just bothers me.
26:44-26:45
So, I called the church.
26:46-27:06
I'm like, "Can I talk to the pastor?" And they're like, "Well, you can't just call and talk to...you can't just call and talk to the pastor." I'm like, "I can talk to the God of the universe anytime I want, but I can't talk to this guy?" Like, "Who is he?" They're like, "You can talk to one of our associate pastors." I'm like, "Fine.
27:07-27:09
You know what associate pastors are."
27:09-27:11
(congregation laughing)
27:18-27:20
You're laughing because it's true.
27:23-27:32
So they put me on with some associate pastor and I said, "Hey, our family was at church Sunday." And I said, "I'm just really bothered by the message.
27:32-27:35
"God gives everything you ask for in prayer." Absolutely he does.
27:35-27:38
"Everything I ask for, God's gonna give me." That's true.
27:38-27:41
And I'm like, I struggle with that.
27:41-27:42
He goes, why?
27:42-27:44
I said, 2 Corinthians 12.
27:46-27:47
I said, Paul had this thorn in the flesh.
27:48-27:50
And he said, I asked the Lord three times to remove it.
27:50-27:52
I said, do you remember what the answer was?
27:52-27:53
I said, God said no.
27:55-27:59
He says, my grace is sufficient for you for power is made perfect in weakness.
27:59-28:06
I said, Paul, the apostle to the Gentiles, you know, the greatest missionary of all time.
28:07-28:09
He didn't get a yes to his prayer.
28:10-28:12
And I'll never forget what this pastor said to me.
28:12-28:26
He said, "Oh," he said, "Paul had the power to remove that thorn, not God." And I'm like, wait, I'm like, you said that backwards.
28:26-28:27
(congregation laughing)
28:27-28:28
Let me say that again.
28:28-28:29
Like, what?
28:29-28:49
He goes, "No, no, Paul had the power to remove the thorn, "not God." I said, "Huh." I said, "What kind of whacked out theology "teaches that God locks in the power to do anything?" And it turned into one of those, we get to agree to disagree kind of things.
28:49-28:55
And I'm like, (sighs) my point in that is you see the problem.
28:58-29:03
You see the problem with that kind of theology, where does the power lie?
29:04-29:05
I mean, he just flat out said it.
29:05-29:06
It's not in God.
29:07-29:10
"and made." See the problem?
29:14-29:16
You start to have faith in yourself.
29:17-29:20
You start to think that you have some kind of power that you don't have.
29:20-29:21
You know what you are?
29:21-29:22
You're water and dirt.
29:23-29:25
God put his spirit in you.
29:25-29:26
God gave you the breath of life, yes.
29:28-29:29
You do not have power.
29:30-29:32
God has the power.
29:36-29:49
And you see, Abraham and Sarah, I think at first they put their faith more in themselves, but they learned, and that's what he's talking about here.
29:49-29:51
She considered him faithful and promised.
29:52-30:00
They learned just as we need to be learning, as I need to be learning, we must consider God faithful.
30:03-30:06
And that means not focusing on our ability, been focusing on God's ability.
30:07-30:10
He made the promise, he's gonna make it happen, right?
30:10-30:12
That's how faith works at the end of the day.
30:12-30:14
God made the promise, God will fulfill the promise.
30:15-30:18
He does not need my help, all right?
30:18-30:23
Number four, when I believe God's promises, number four, I take the long view.
30:25-30:26
Look at verse 13.
30:27-30:37
It says, "These all died in faith, "Not having received the things promised." Stop there, these all died in faith.
30:37-30:40
That's Abraham, that's Sarah, that's Isaac, that's Jacob.
30:40-30:44
They all died in faith, but it says they didn't receive the things promised.
30:49-30:50
Like, wouldn't that be a fail?
30:52-30:55
If you've made a promise and it doesn't happen, isn't that a fail?
30:55-30:59
Nope, because they knew the best was yet to come.
31:02-31:03
again, because they were willing to wait.
31:03-31:05
Look at, pick up there in verse 13.
31:06-31:35
It says, "But having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth, for people who speak thus, make it clear that they are seeking a homeland." If they had been thinking of that land from which they had gone out, they would have had opportunity to return, But as it is, they desire a better country that is a heavenly one.
31:37-31:41
Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God for he has prepared for them a city.
31:43-31:45
The Bible says they saw the promises from afar.
31:45-31:48
And you're like, how afar were they?
31:49-31:51
Like all the way to heaven afar, right?
31:51-31:52
All the way to heaven.
31:56-31:57
We just talked about waiting.
32:00-32:02
This is the companion piece to that.
32:04-32:06
We're able to wait when we take the long view.
32:09-32:15
Like Abraham, like Isaac, like Jacob, taking the long view is what motivates me to wait faithfully.
32:17-32:19
Because like Abraham, we have a promise.
32:21-32:23
We have a promise of the long view, don't we?
32:25-32:30
The greatest verse in the Bible, in my opinion, is Revelation 21 five.
32:32-32:57
It says, "Then he who sat on the throne "said, 'Behold, I'm making all things new.' "Also he said, 'Write this down, "'for these words are trustworthy and true.'" That is a long view promise, And I get to tell you, church, I cling to that every day.
32:58-33:04
I recite that out loud almost every single day, sometimes many times a day.
33:06-33:14
Because that reminds me, the glorious promise that things will not always be as they are now.
33:16-33:17
That's why it's hard to wait.
33:19-33:22
Because sometimes it seems like things aren't changing.
33:23-33:24
This is how it is.
33:25-33:28
This is what my life is and it's never gonna change.
33:30-33:36
I have it on really good authority that someday everything is going to be new.
33:40-33:42
You know, I went to the eye doctor last week.
33:43-33:48
First time in, I don't know what, Aaron, 10 years, 15 years.
33:48-33:52
It's been so long, I could not tell you even what year it was.
33:52-33:53
It's been forever.
33:53-33:59
So I went to the eye doctor and she said, "I have a cataract." A cataract!
34:01-34:02
Oh, you're laughing.
34:05-34:06
Laughing at my pain.
34:07-34:17
Well, do you know, last November, I went to my doctor.
34:17-34:19
I have this ringing in my ears.
34:21-34:24
It is so loud, and it is all the time.
34:26-34:33
It's like, weeeeee, all the time.
34:36-34:41
Weeeeee, eeeeee, all-- you're like, dude, that's annoying.
34:41-34:41
Yeah!
34:43-34:44
Yes, it's annoying.
34:45-34:46
I know.
34:47-34:49
I have a degenerated spine.
34:51-34:53
You're like, why are you telling us all this?
34:56-34:57
Because I'm so excited.
34:57-34:59
Things are not always going to be as they are now.
35:02-35:04
Things are not always going to be as they are now, not for my health.
35:05-35:08
And you know the struggles of health that I have in my family.
35:10-35:12
Things are not always going to be as they are now.
35:14-35:16
Because Jesus said, he's making all things new.
35:16-35:17
Can I take the long view?
35:19-35:24
Can I take the long view and stop whining about my cataracts and spine and eee!
35:24-35:25
Can I take the long view?
35:29-35:34
Can I take the long view and I'm tempted to lament at the health problems that my family has?
35:36-35:38
Say things aren't always going to be as they are now.
35:40-35:43
And then we turn on the TV and there's just, there's so much corruption.
35:45-35:47
and there's people that are mocking God.
35:50-35:53
And I'm reminded that things will not always be as they are now.
35:57-36:09
There's violence on all scales, whether it's war in Ukraine or a shooting at a picnic in Pittsburgh.
36:11-36:13
Things will not always be as they are now.
36:14-36:20
You realize someday that's all gonna be history because Jesus promised that he's making all things new.
36:23-36:25
That's why when people ask me, hey, how are you doing?
36:25-36:26
I have the same answer.
36:27-36:27
How are you doing?
36:28-36:30
I always say, not as good as I'm gonna be.
36:33-36:36
Especially if you're at a store, restaurant or whatever, that throws people off.
36:36-36:37
Like, hey, how are you doing today?
36:37-36:39
I'm like, not as good as I'm gonna be.
36:39-36:40
And they're like, why?
36:43-36:49
And I tell them, I said, I'm going to heaven and it's gonna be awesome.
36:50-36:58
And there's gonna be a few bumps and bruises along the way, but I'm taking the long view, right?
36:59-37:08
And then finally, number five, when I believe God's promises, I obey even when it's hard.
37:11-37:12
I obey even when it's hard.
37:18-37:26
By faith, Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac.
37:28-37:52
And he who had received the promises was in the act of offering up his only son, of whom it was said through Isaac, "Shall your offspring be named." He considered that God was able even to raise him from the dead, from which figuratively speaking, he did receive him back.
37:55-37:56
Just stop there.
37:57-38:00
When I believe God's promises, I obey even when it's hard.
38:01-38:03
Now we're up at Genesis 22.
38:05-38:10
Abraham was told to offer Isaac as a sacrifice.
38:12-38:14
That sort of begs the question, doesn't it?
38:14-38:15
Like, wait, wait, wait.
38:16-38:27
How is Abraham supposed to receive this promise of God if the child through whom the promise was supposed to come is supposed to be sacrificed?
38:29-38:30
I would have asked that.
38:31-38:34
I would have been like, "Hang on, hang on, back up, God.
38:36-38:41
You want me to do what now?" But the Bible doesn't say that Abraham did that.
38:42-38:47
Again, I went back and I read these accounts as I'm studying, and you know what I saw?
38:48-38:50
I saw Abraham didn't question God.
38:52-38:53
He just obeyed.
38:56-38:57
He just obeyed.
39:00-39:01
God says, "You know that son I gave you?
39:03-39:18
Give him back." And Abraham said, "Okay." Okay. Well, if you don't know the story, Abraham had the knife up, he's about to sacrifice Isaac, and then he was stopped.
39:20-39:25
God stopped him and God provided a ram caught in the thicket by his horns to be sacrificed instead.
39:25-39:28
And he revealed that this was all a test of Abraham's faith.
39:28-39:30
And you're like, "Wait, wait, wait, wait, Pastor Jeff.
39:30-39:44
You mean to tell me that God didn't know if Abraham had faith, So God had to have Abraham go through this test so God could learn if Abraham had faith.
39:44-39:45
No, no, no, no.
39:46-39:47
The test wasn't for God.
39:50-39:51
The test was for Abraham.
39:55-40:01
You see, God was saying to Abraham, "Once upon a time, you laid everything down to follow me.
40:03-40:10
Are you willing to do it again?" And the proof of faith is obedience, right?
40:10-40:12
The proof of faith is obedience.
40:13-40:19
Obedience, it's no sweat when it's easy, right?
40:20-40:21
It's no sweat when it's easy.
40:22-40:36
Like if I say, "Finish your ice cream, "finish your ice cream." You're like, "All right, I'll finish my ice cream." Like obedience is no sweat then, And obedience is no sweat when it makes sense.
40:36-40:40
And I'm like, "Hey, you need to disciple your kids." You're like, "Well, yeah, I guess I do.
40:40-40:53
"That makes sense, 'cause if I don't, somebody else will." Here's the thing, if you only obeyed when it made sense or felt good or was easy, you wouldn't need faith.
40:55-40:58
The evidence of real faith is this.
41:01-41:08
This is incredibly difficult, what God's calling me to do, but I trust Him, so I'm going to do it.
41:10-41:12
That's evidence of real faith.
41:16-41:29
I love this passage because it shows that Abraham had the best reasoning out of anybody in the Bible outside of Jesus himself.
41:33-41:38
Just imagine for a second that you're Abraham.
41:38-41:40
Can you kind of put yourself in his shoes for a second?
41:43-41:49
That God says, yeah, the son that I gave you, now I want you to offer him to me as a burnt offering.
41:49-41:50
I want you to sacrifice.
41:50-41:52
I want you to kill your son.
41:54-41:55
And you would be like, wait, wait, wait.
41:56-41:59
Sacrifice Isaac, that doesn't make any sense.
42:03-42:05
So how would you reason that out?
42:07-42:08
How would you reason that out?
42:09-42:10
If you were like, okay, all right, all right.
42:11-42:13
Let's just map this out here.
42:15-42:18
Like, okay, so God gave me this son, right?
42:20-42:24
And then now God says, kill the son.
42:27-42:29
That's a knife, it's not a very sharp one.
42:32-42:36
Therefore, okay, so God gave me a son.
42:38-42:39
Now God says, kill the son.
42:39-42:42
Okay, so now I have a son who's dead.
42:47-42:48
How would you reason that out?
42:53-42:55
Maybe, no, you know what?
42:56-42:56
Maybe God lied.
42:57-43:00
Maybe this wasn't the son that the promises were gonna come through.
43:00-43:01
Maybe God lied.
43:01-43:04
Or, you know, maybe I don't wanna call God a liar.
43:04-43:06
Maybe God was mistaken.
43:09-43:16
Maybe he said Ishmael and I heard Isaac, or how would you reason that out?
43:19-43:20
How would you reason that?
43:27-43:28
Do you see what your Bible says?
43:31-43:32
Look at verse 19 again.
43:34-43:41
It says, "He considered that God was able even to raise him from the dead." Do you see Abraham's reasoning?
43:42-43:44
Abraham's like, "Okay, let me map this out here.
43:44-43:54
Okay, God gave me a son." God says, "Now give him back, but this is the son that the promises are gonna come through.
43:54-44:03
So if this is the son the promises and I kill the son, oh, then that must mean that God's able to raise the dead.
44:03-44:07
Oh, that's the only thing that makes sense.
44:11-44:15
And church, we need to reason like Abraham to say this.
44:15-44:17
Look, God's calling me to obey him on something right now.
44:18-44:21
And it is incredibly hard and it doesn't make sense.
44:24-44:32
We need to learn to say, hey, when that happens, Hey, let's get the popcorn because that means God's about to do something awesome.
44:33-44:34
That was Abraham's reasoning.
44:36-44:37
It needs to be ours.
44:40-44:41
You see, faith obeys God.
44:44-44:49
It proves that we love him because it shows that we trust him.
44:52-44:54
Like, and why should I trust him?
44:56-44:57
I'll tell you why.
44:57-45:21
Do you know, 2000 years after the Isaac incident, in the exact same spot that Abraham took Isaac, another son was brought to be sacrificed by his father.
45:25-45:28
But that time, you know, it wasn't called off at the last second.
45:32-45:33
That time it wasn't a test.
45:36-45:38
That time there was no ram caught in the thicket.
45:41-45:50
But that time a father did sacrifice his son so that your sins could be forgiven.
45:52-45:53
(congregation laughing)
45:57-45:58
Faith obeys God.
46:01-46:07
You know, many years ago, a very popular TV preacher came out with a book called Your Best Life Now.
46:08-46:12
And I was thinking about that this week as I was studying through this.
46:12-46:33
And I thought, you know, I imagine if Abraham was like at the bookstore and saw this book, I imagine he'd just kind of roll his eyes the title "Your Best Life Now," I think Abraham would be like, "Nah, how about, 'Your Best Life is Yet to Come'?" I don't need the details.
46:34-46:34
I'll wait.
46:36-46:44
I'll keep my eyes on God, and I'm going to take the long view, and I'm going to obey, even when it's hard.
46:46-46:46
Let's pray.
46:48-47:05
in heaven. It's one thing to examine a life on a page, but God, I pray that this is moving us and motivating us to examine our own lives.
47:08-47:09
(congregation laughing)
47:16-47:41
My God, I'm sure every single person in this room and watching this stream and downloading the podcast or whatever later, I'm sure every single person would say, "I have faith." But Father, I pray that your spirit would drive this home, that we would ask ourselves, "Do I have faith like Abraham?" Because God, I confess to you, sometimes I don't.
47:46-47:50
But I pray, Father, that you would increase our faith as the disciples said to Jesus.
47:53-48:10
And in so doing, Father, as Dan prayed earlier, show us any area of our lives where we just need to obey, not get all the details, not figure everything out, I'll try to reason around it, but just clearly obey whatever it is you're calling us to do.
48:12-48:15
And to trust you with whatever comes from it.
48:17-48:19
Thank you, Father, for the example of Abraham.
48:23-48:25
We pray in Jesus' name, amen.

Small Group Discussion
Read Hebrews 11:8-19

What was your big take-away from this passage / message?
Why doesn’t God give us His whole plan for our lives up front (Heb 11:8)? What are the benefits of “not knowing where we are going”?
What does it mean to “wait on the Lord”? Why do you think we struggle with that? What should we actually be doing while we wait?
Tell of a time you’ve obeyed God when obeying was extremely difficult. What motivated you to obey God?

Breakout
Pray for one another.

Why Jesus? Faith Endures.

Introduction:

Why I Am Not Motivated to Run the Faith Race As I Should (Hebrews 12:1-3):

Jesus Endured Hostility from Sinners By:

Why Jesus? Faith Gives Courage

Introduction:

Courageous Faith... (Hebrews 11:32-40)

Why Jesus? Faith Makes My Choices

Introduction:

Three Choices Faith Makes (Hebrews 11:23-31):

Why Jesus? Faith Blesses Others.

Introduction:

Three Things That Don't Have to Keep You from Finishing Faithful (Hebrews 11:20-22):

Why Jesus? Faith Obeys God.

Introduction:

When I Believe God's Promises (Hebrews 11:8-19):

Upcoming Small Group Questions CLICK HERE

How much of the Bible have we covered since 2011?

Introduction:

Why I Am Not Motivated to Run the Faith Race As I Should (Hebrews 12:1-3):

Jesus Endured Hostility from Sinners By:

Audio Transcript

Introduction:

Courageous Faith... (Hebrews 11:32-40)

Audio Transcript

Introduction:

Three Choices Faith Makes (Hebrews 11:23-31):

Audio Transcript

Introduction:

Three Things That Don't Have to Keep You from Finishing Faithful (Hebrews 11:20-22):

Audio Transcript

Introduction:

When I Believe God's Promises (Hebrews 11:8-19):

Audio Transcript