Live: By Faith
By Faith • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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The natural drift of swimming it the ocean.
Resist the drift.
The writer of Hebrews is going to give us a lot of insight on how to keep the faith and resist the drift.
We are going to spend multiple weeks in Hebrew 11. The hall of faith as some would say.
We are going to study the different hero’s of the faith and learn from them on how we too can live by faith and resist the drift.
6 And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.
Faith
Must believe that He exists (wait, doesn’t the devil believe?)
We are going to learn that our faith matters more than you failures. Some of you all you think about is your failures.
We are going to learn that our faith is what God celebrates not our failures.
Look up and stand up.
Not looking where I was going when I was riding my bike in middle school.
When we stop looking up and focusing on Jesus all kinds of things can slowly creep into our lives.
Our average screen time is now a whopping 4 – 6 hours per day (or 3 months per year) - PsychNewDaily
If you are always looking down, don’t be surprised when you feel down. Look up!
If you want to lift your spirits you need to look up to God in faith and trust in Him.
6 And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.
Look up!
1 Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.
Confidence in what we hope for
1 Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.
Assurance about what we do not see.
True Bible faith is not blind optimism or a manufactured “hope-so” feeling. Neither is it an intellectual assent to a doctrine. It is certainly not believing in spite of evidence! That would be superstition.
True Bible faith is confident obedience to God’s Word in spite of circumstances and consequences.
This faith operates quite simply. God speaks and we hear His Word. We trust His Word and act on it no matter what the circumstances are or what the consequences may be. The circumstances may be impossible, and the consequences frightening and unknown; but we obey God’s Word just the same and believe Him to do what is right and what is best.
1 Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.
What we do not see.
“Faith enables the believing soul to treat the future as present and the invisible as seen.” - Dr. J. Oswald Sanders
2 This is what the ancients were commended for.
It is going to list out all the amazing things that happen by faith.
Have ever sat and thought about all the great people of faith in the bible. Those that God did great feats for and through. It is easy to think they are amazing and I am not.
Hebrew 11 has all these hero’s of the faith but you will notice in the coming weeks that God does not talk about their failures. He talks about their faith.
Genesis: Jack up families in the first book of the bible.
The first recorded husband and wife disobey God (Genesis 3).
Their firstborn commits murder of his brother (Genesis 4:8).
Sarah’s grief over infertility moves her to give her servant, Hagar, to Abraham as a concubine to bear a surrogate child (Genesis 16). When it happens, Sarah abuses Hagar in jealous anger.
Lot, reluctant to leave sexually perverse Sodom, Angels appear and a mob comes to his door wanting to have sex with them and he offers up his tow virgin daughters instead. (Genesis 19).
Isaac and Rebecca play favorites with their twin boys, whose sibling rivalry becomes one of the worst in history (Genesis 25).
Esau has no discernment. He sells his birthright for soup (Genesis 25), grieves his parents by marrying Canaanite women (Genesis 26), and nurses a 20-year murderous grudge against his conniving younger brother.
Jacob (Esau’s brother) manipulates and deceives his brother out of his birthright (Genesis 25) and blessing (Genesis 27).
As we go through some of stories of the hero’s of the faith you will continue to see that God does not celebrate their failures, he celebrates their faith.
We will see and can see their lives were messy too. But God still used them.
So whatever is happening in your life you can look up to Him, focus on Him, find hope in Him and trust in Him. As you practice the sermon title: Live: By Faith
So how do we practice Live: By Faith
Creating and apply spiritual practices in our lives:
Reading our bibles
Praying
Going to church and worshiping with other believers
Serving others needs
Giving generously
All of these will help us “resist the drift” in our lives. And even when you don’t want to do them, you do them anyway. - Like working out.
1 Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God.
Stand
6 And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.
rewards those who earnestly seek him.