SPEAKER_01: You're listening to this tradition of the road.
SPEAKER_02: Faith pleases God.
SPEAKER_02: So here's our definition of biblical faith.
SPEAKER_02: Rooted in a relationship.
SPEAKER_02: It's a relationship with God, characterized by trust and action.
SPEAKER_02: Biblical faith is a relationship with God.
SPEAKER_02: It all stems out of relationship.
SPEAKER_02: You have that relationship with Jesus.
SPEAKER_02: You have a personal relationship with Jesus today.
SPEAKER_02: Have you received Christ?
SPEAKER_02: Are you walking with God?
SPEAKER_02: It's that relationship, and then it's characterized by trust, trust in who he is, trust in what he says, and action, and we'll get to that.
SPEAKER_01: At The Road, our vision is to raise up wholehearted disciples of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_01: For more information on the road, visit theroad.org.
SPEAKER_01: We hope you are encouraged by today's message.
SPEAKER_00: Well, my brother's here.
SPEAKER_00: I've got about a million jokes that I could tell about him, but I'm not going to, not after that video.
SPEAKER_00: Um he's a pastor.
SPEAKER_00: He's been a pastor for as long as I have, and he uh grew a very large church in Wisconsin and now is planting a church.
SPEAKER_00: It's about four years old in Athens, Georgia, right next to the University of Georgia.
SPEAKER_00: He's a husband, he's a brother, he's a father, he's an uncle to my kids, and now he's a granddad.
SPEAKER_00: As of yesterday, little Carter was born.
SPEAKER_00: And so, Grandpa David, come on up.
SPEAKER_00: Give us the word of the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: So, Father, I bless my brother.
SPEAKER_00: I thank you for him.
SPEAKER_00: I thank you, God, for how much he loves you, how much he loves his wife and his family, how much he loves me and my family, and now little Carter.
SPEAKER_00: He's gonna make a great granddad.
SPEAKER_00: And Father, I just thank you that you've got a word for us from him today.
SPEAKER_00: Bless him and strengthen him in your name.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_02: All right, man.
SPEAKER_02: It's a privilege to be here.
SPEAKER_02: We're gonna be passing pictures around of my grandson throughout the service, so no.
SPEAKER_02: You guys talked on Easter about Jesus wins.
SPEAKER_02: And I know you're in a series on Revelation, and when Steve first asked me to preach, I felt strongly that I was to preach a message called You Win, how we win based on who we are in Christ, and how God's victory in Jesus is bestowed upon us.
SPEAKER_02: And then about a week ago, and these are all these uncomfortable situations when you feel like the Lord gives you a curveball and says, Not this, but this, and I don't have that happen real often, but I feel very strongly that He wants me to speak to you today about faith.
SPEAKER_02: And I believe that this message is going to be extremely timely for some of you.
SPEAKER_02: Some of you are going to feel a confirmation today about some area of your life that you need to exercise greater faith in.
SPEAKER_02: Some of you today is going to be the beginning from the Holy Spirit of a process whereby he kind of plants something in you, and then he's going to confirm it and confirm it, and he's going to bring it to fruition maybe in the weeks or months ahead.
SPEAKER_02: So I really want to encourage you to listen carefully today because I believe many of you, this is going to be kind of one of those Rhema messages, those real personalized.
SPEAKER_02: It's going to be very specific to you.
SPEAKER_02: The Holy Spirit is going to implant something in your mind and spirit through me today, to you, and so I'm excited about this.
SPEAKER_02: The Bible talks about faith a lot.
SPEAKER_02: The just shall live by faith.
SPEAKER_02: For by grace are you saved through faith.
SPEAKER_02: As you therefore have received Christ, so walk in him.
SPEAKER_02: You receive him by faith, you're to walk in him by faith.
SPEAKER_02: Whatever is not of faith is sin.
SPEAKER_02: Whoa.
SPEAKER_02: Without faith, it's impossible to please God.
SPEAKER_02: We are to walk by faith, not by sight.
SPEAKER_02: Over and over, God's word talks about the importance of faith.
SPEAKER_02: What is faith?
SPEAKER_02: What does it mean to walk by faith?
SPEAKER_02: How is our faith challenged?
SPEAKER_02: That's what we're going to be talking about today.
SPEAKER_02: First point is this.
SPEAKER_02: I have seven points.
SPEAKER_02: Y'all have been in Revelation, so there's importance to numbers.
SPEAKER_02: And seven is the perfect number, so I have seven points on faith.
SPEAKER_02: The first one is this faith pleases God.
SPEAKER_02: If you're looking in your Bibles, verses 5 and 6 of Hebrews chapter 11, so that's where I want you to be today, Hebrews 11.
SPEAKER_02: This is an entire chapter about faith.
SPEAKER_02: Once again, showing how important this topic is.
SPEAKER_02: God's word devotes an entire chapter to faith.
SPEAKER_02: And we call the people in this chapter, many call this the hall of faith instead of the hall of fame, the hall of faith.
SPEAKER_02: Men and women who've live this and are examples to us.
SPEAKER_02: And the first point we see in verses 5 and 6 is faith pleases God.
SPEAKER_02: And that's where it says, without faith, it's impossible to please God.
SPEAKER_02: For he that cometh to God must believe that he is, that he exists, and that he rewards those who, you use the new King James, who diligently seek him.
SPEAKER_02: And I know you're here today because you want to please God.
SPEAKER_02: You're here with Bibles in hand, taking notes, a part of this church because you want to please God.
SPEAKER_02: What could be more important than to please your Creator, Almighty God?
SPEAKER_02: To know that your life, your faith, brings a smile to the face of the Almighty God.
SPEAKER_02: What could be better?
SPEAKER_02: What could be better than to stand before God one day on judgment and hear, well done, my good and faithful servant?
SPEAKER_02: Hallelujah be to God.
SPEAKER_02: And so this is awesome because we study this and we're learning something today that we know pleases God.
SPEAKER_02: If you live a life of faith, if you walk a life of faith, if you persevere with God, if you believe God against all odds, you please Him.
SPEAKER_02: Oh, don't we want to please Him?
SPEAKER_02: Contrast that with what it says in verse 16 when it says that God is not ashamed to be called their God.
SPEAKER_02: Whoa.
SPEAKER_02: That says to me that God is ashamed to be called some people's God.
SPEAKER_02: They may profess with their lips one thing but live another.
SPEAKER_02: That doesn't please him.
SPEAKER_02: God is, in a sense, ashamed to be called their God.
SPEAKER_02: That's taking the name of the Lord in vain.
SPEAKER_02: To profess one thing and live another.
SPEAKER_02: But you want to please God.
SPEAKER_02: And when you live a life of faith that pleases God.
SPEAKER_02: And notice in verse 6 how diligently seeking God is linked to faith and pleasing Him.
SPEAKER_02: And here's how that works: you have to be a person who diligently seeks after God, who spends time with God, who prays, who fasts, who pursues God with a holy pursuit.
SPEAKER_02: When you do that, when you diligently seek God, what does it say?
SPEAKER_02: He promises to reward you.
SPEAKER_02: That's a promise from God Almighty.
SPEAKER_02: He will reward, he will bless, he will reveal himself to those who diligently seek after him.
SPEAKER_02: Don't you want to know him?
SPEAKER_02: Don't you want to know him better than you know him now?
SPEAKER_02: Don't you want to see your faith increase?
SPEAKER_02: Remember when the disciples said, Lord, increase our faith?
SPEAKER_02: Even they wanted to see their faith increase.
SPEAKER_02: And this is the cool thing and the adventuresome thing about walking with Jesus is that you can see your faith go from one level to another level.
SPEAKER_02: To another level.
SPEAKER_02: You can see your faith grow.
SPEAKER_02: It's like a muscle.
SPEAKER_02: It must be exercised to grow.
SPEAKER_02: And so when you seek him, you get to know him better.
SPEAKER_02: As you get to know him better, you fall more in love with him.
SPEAKER_02: As you grow to love him more, you trust him more.
SPEAKER_02: That's how it works.
SPEAKER_02: But it starts with diligently seeking him.
SPEAKER_02: You cannot trust a God you don't know, and you cannot know a God you don't spend time with.
SPEAKER_02: Faith pleases God.
SPEAKER_02: So here's our definition of biblical faith.
SPEAKER_02: It's rooted in a relationship.
SPEAKER_02: It's a relationship with God characterized by trust and action.
SPEAKER_02: Biblical faith is a relationship with God.
SPEAKER_02: So it all stems out of relationship.
SPEAKER_02: Do you have that relationship with Jesus?
SPEAKER_02: Do you have a personal relationship with Jesus today?
SPEAKER_02: Have you received Christ?
SPEAKER_02: Are you walking with God?
SPEAKER_02: It's that relationship, and then it's characterized by trust, trust in who he is, trust in what he says, and action, and we'll get to that.
SPEAKER_02: So it's not just something up here.
SPEAKER_02: It goes from here to here to here and here.
SPEAKER_02: Okay?
SPEAKER_02: Point number two: faith believes for the unseen based on the seen.
SPEAKER_02: In verses one and two, it's interesting because he talks about the assurance of things hoped for, conviction of things not seen.
SPEAKER_02: So we're believing God in faith for something that is not yet seen.
SPEAKER_02: That's the hard part, isn't it?
SPEAKER_02: Believing him for something not seen, but watch closely, it's not a blind leap in the dark.
SPEAKER_02: It's not this hope upon hope and believe and just kind of wish yourself into this, because in verse 2 it says, by faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible.
SPEAKER_02: So you have this interesting thing in verses 1 and 2, there's the not seen, but then there's the seen.
SPEAKER_02: And the not seen is based partly upon the scene.
SPEAKER_02: Okay?
SPEAKER_02: This was brought home to me when I moved from Georgia to Minnesota.
SPEAKER_02: Graduated University of Georgia in 1983, moved to Minneapolis, Minnesota to go on staff with a man named Dave Busby as his college pastor.
SPEAKER_02: And it was my first experience with real winters, really cold winters.
SPEAKER_02: And I remember one day I was taking a walk and it was in the dead middle of January, like 10 below, and there's a lake.
SPEAKER_02: And the lake had ice on it, but I had never experienced real frozen lakes.
SPEAKER_02: And so I'm kind of at the edge of this lake, kind of doing this.
SPEAKER_02: And then I look across, and there is a huge pickup truck driving across this lake.
SPEAKER_02: All of a sudden, what do I do, man?
SPEAKER_02: I'm stepping out with total confidence.
SPEAKER_02: See, it occurred to me then that it's not a matter of how much faith you have, but what your faith is in.
SPEAKER_02: The object of your faith is far more important than the level of your faith.
SPEAKER_02: See, I could have had all the faith in the world, believe, believe, believe, that if I stepped out on that lake, I would be able to walk across.
SPEAKER_02: But if it was in Georgia and I had this much ice, what am I going to do?
SPEAKER_02: Fall in no matter how much of faith I have.
SPEAKER_02: But I can have just the tiniest bit of faith in a solid object of ice that was about this thick, and I could walk across.
SPEAKER_02: Now, in verse 1, it says faith is the substance of things hoped for.
SPEAKER_02: I love that verse because it says there's substance to our faith.
SPEAKER_02: Faith in Jesus, faith in God is not a blind leap in the dark, hoping he exists.
SPEAKER_02: Now, we can't see God and touch God like our person sitting next to us today, but I'll tell you this: there is substance to our faith.
SPEAKER_02: And I remember about a year after I became a Christian, and then I went to the University of Georgia and had professors challenging our faith and saying, well, people don't believe the Bible anymore, it's full of contradictions.
SPEAKER_02: Nobody believes that stuff anymore.
SPEAKER_02: And it really kind of shattered my faith.
SPEAKER_02: So what did I do?
SPEAKER_02: I went and started studying.
SPEAKER_02: At that time, Josh McDowell was a big figure.
SPEAKER_02: Apologetics.
SPEAKER_02: What's the evidence for our faith?
SPEAKER_02: What's the historical evidence for Jesus?
SPEAKER_02: The Bible, the resurrection.
SPEAKER_02: And all of a sudden, my ice got thicker and thicker the more I studied that stuff.
SPEAKER_02: Because I saw there is substance to my faith.
SPEAKER_02: There's archaeological, historical evidence, there's intellectual evidence, there's fulfilled prophecies.
SPEAKER_02: You can go to Jerusalem today and see where Jesus did miracles and died and rose again from the death.
SPEAKER_02: My friends, there is substance to our faith in Jesus.
SPEAKER_02: Hallelujah.
SPEAKER_02: You're standing on a solid object.
SPEAKER_02: And if you're here today and you think it's a blind leap in the dark, then you need to do some more research.
SPEAKER_02: You need to do some homework, my friend.
SPEAKER_02: You need to study it, investigate it.
SPEAKER_02: I love what Josh McDowell said one time.
SPEAKER_02: And Lee Strobel says the same thing.
SPEAKER_02: And by the way, if you haven't seen the movie on Lee Strobel, what's the name of it?
SPEAKER_02: Thank you.
SPEAKER_02: Case for Christ.
SPEAKER_02: Great movie.
SPEAKER_02: And Josh McDowell said what I'm sure Lee Strobel was saying.
SPEAKER_02: I wish there were more atheists today who would investigate.
SPEAKER_02: He said, I wish there were more people who try to disprove Christianity.
SPEAKER_02: Because if they do it and they really study it, they'll run headlong into the evidence and they'll become a believer in Jesus.
SPEAKER_02: So you see how this faith thing works.
SPEAKER_02: There's the unseen part of it, but the unseen is what we're believing him for.
SPEAKER_02: But we have our faith based upon who he is, what he's done in the past, and all the evidence for who he is.
SPEAKER_02: And by the way, I think we have it easier than the people in this chapter.
SPEAKER_02: You know, people a lot of times will say, Oh, I wish I was back in Moses' time.
SPEAKER_02: Wish I was back in Abraham's time.
SPEAKER_02: I wish I could have been with the Israelites and seen the parting of the Red Sea.
SPEAKER_02: Well, I'll tell you what, I know that if I'd lived then, my faith would be about this.
SPEAKER_02: We have more evidence now.
SPEAKER_02: They didn't have the whole Bible.
SPEAKER_02: They didn't have Jesus.
SPEAKER_02: They didn't have a record of history of all the ways that God has worked and the biographies like we do today.
SPEAKER_02: So, in one sense, we have it easier today.
SPEAKER_02: We have more to base our faith in.
SPEAKER_02: You understand?
SPEAKER_02: All right.
SPEAKER_02: Which, by the way, those last two verses a lot of time confuse people when it talks about they didn't receive what was promised for better things concerning us.
SPEAKER_02: That's talking about the promise of the Messiah.
SPEAKER_02: It's saying they didn't receive the full promises of the coming Messiah.
SPEAKER_02: We now have that.
SPEAKER_02: We're on this side of Jesus.
SPEAKER_02: They were on the pre-Jesus side, we're on the post-Jesus side.
SPEAKER_02: Therefore, there's righteousness that we have that they didn't fully participate in.
SPEAKER_02: That's what verse 40 is talking about.
SPEAKER_02: So, speaking of the importance of evidence, the third point's very important.
SPEAKER_02: Faith is rooted in God's word.
SPEAKER_02: Rooted in God's word.
SPEAKER_02: Romans 10, 17.
SPEAKER_02: Now faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
SPEAKER_02: Look at all the mentions here of promises or what God says.
SPEAKER_02: Verse 4, it talks about the land of promise.
SPEAKER_02: Verse 11, it talks about faithful who had promised.
SPEAKER_02: Verse 17 and 18, it talks about the promises and what was said.
SPEAKER_02: Verse 33 talks about they obtained promises.
SPEAKER_02: See that repetition there?
SPEAKER_02: Whenever you're studying a section of scripture, it's always good to look at repeated words, phrases, or ideas.
SPEAKER_02: It's one of the ways that God is saying, hey, this is what I want you to focus on.
SPEAKER_02: Clearly, one of the themes, phrases, repeated ideas here, is promises.
SPEAKER_02: What God says, his word.
SPEAKER_02: Turn, if you would, please, to Romans chapter 4.
SPEAKER_02: Just go to the left a few books.
SPEAKER_02: Romans chapter 4 concerning Abraham.
SPEAKER_02: This ties in really well with this point and with the theme of faith.
SPEAKER_02: Romans chapter 4, verse 18.
SPEAKER_02: Talking about Abraham.
SPEAKER_02: Remember, Abraham, Sarah were given a promise that they would give birth to a child who'd be the father of many nations, but it wasn't happening.
SPEAKER_02: Wasn't happening on their timetable.
SPEAKER_02: Hello.
SPEAKER_02: And this is part of what we're going to get to in a minute, the testing of our faith.
SPEAKER_02: Because there's a promise, and when it doesn't happen as quickly as we'd like, it's very easy to throw the towel, conclude that God is not faithful, and give up.
SPEAKER_02: And so that's what it's talking about here in Romans 4, verse 18.
SPEAKER_02: In hope he believed against hope that he should become the father of many nations.
SPEAKER_02: As he had been told.
SPEAKER_02: Verse 19.
SPEAKER_02: He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was as good as dead, since he was about a hundred years old, and when he considered the barrenness of Sarah's womb, no unbelief made him waver, no unbelief made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew, hello, that's a process, strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised.
SPEAKER_02: So even Abraham and Sarah went through this battle.
SPEAKER_02: They looked at their flesh.
SPEAKER_02: This is humanly impossible, but God you said, humanly impossible, but God you said, our bodies are getting older, but God you said.
SPEAKER_02: And this doesn't give the complete picture because they didn't fully pass the test.
SPEAKER_02: Unfortunately, they made the deal with Hagar and we had Ishmael and we know where that's gone historically, not real good.
SPEAKER_02: And so they didn't fully pass the test, but at the end they did.
SPEAKER_02: Okay, so this isn't even in my nose.
SPEAKER_02: We're getting to this idea of faith being tested.
SPEAKER_02: I want to encourage you today.
SPEAKER_02: If you have failed some tests, if you have had areas of your life where you've been disobedient, if you have things in your past that you look back on with regret and you say, Man, I blew it here, I drifted here, I became a prodigal here.
SPEAKER_02: Take heart.
SPEAKER_02: Many of the saints and heroes in Hebrews 11 were not perfect, did make mistakes, failed many times.
SPEAKER_02: Beloved, let me tell you something.
SPEAKER_02: It's not how you start, it's not even how you do midstream, it's how you finish.
SPEAKER_02: It's how you finish.
SPEAKER_02: And so, some of you, let me tell you this.
SPEAKER_02: You're being lied to by the enemy.
SPEAKER_02: He's saying, because of the past, you're not worthy today, you can't write a new chapter.
SPEAKER_02: That is a lie from the pit of hell.
SPEAKER_02: Believe God for today.
SPEAKER_02: There's mercies new every morning.
SPEAKER_02: Hallelujah.
SPEAKER_02: There's forgiveness, there's healing, and the past doesn't matter as much as the future, and today can be the first day of the rest of your life.
SPEAKER_02: Be encouraged.
SPEAKER_02: There is hope for every one of you today if you apply this.
SPEAKER_02: No matter the past, forget what lies behind.
SPEAKER_02: If anybody had a good reason to just kind of throw in the towel based on his past, it was Paul.
SPEAKER_02: He killed Christians.
SPEAKER_02: But all he says about his past is, I forget what lies behind.
SPEAKER_02: I was the chief of sinners, but by the grace of God, I am what I am, and I'm moving forward.
SPEAKER_02: And so I hope that is a message for some of you today.
SPEAKER_02: Are you in God's word?
SPEAKER_02: Are you searching God's word for promises that you can claim?
SPEAKER_02: Do you have a situation right now that's challenging and you need to get some scriptures that apply to that situation?
SPEAKER_02: Now, let me be real honest here.
SPEAKER_02: This is where the walk of faith can get a little bit dicey.
SPEAKER_02: Okay, listen closely.
SPEAKER_02: When does a historical promise apply to us personally?
SPEAKER_02: Okay?
SPEAKER_02: You know, when we talk about the Logos word and the Rhema word, the Logos word is the more general word, it applies to everybody, but a rhema word is a specific word for a specific situation that God kind of speaks into your spirit and heart.
SPEAKER_02: And so that's where this can kind of get dicey, can't it?
SPEAKER_02: People claiming something historically for themselves and maybe or maybe it wasn't.
SPEAKER_02: And here's all I'll say to that it is complicated.
SPEAKER_02: And this is where you need confirmation.
SPEAKER_02: The bigger the decision, the more you need to ask God to give you confirmation in it.
SPEAKER_02: Don't just take one situation and think that's all it is.
SPEAKER_02: It's also the place where you get wise counsel.
SPEAKER_02: Get godly counsel.
SPEAKER_02: And that's where the body of Christ is so awesome.
SPEAKER_02: God puts us with people who are wiser, walk with God longer, and you can go to them and say, you know, I've been praying about this situation, and I really felt like God spoke to me in my quiet time today for about from this situation from this scripture.
SPEAKER_02: I know that scripture was for Abraham or Moses or Noah, but I really feel like he personalized that to me.
SPEAKER_02: I believe he does that.
SPEAKER_02: I've seen it happen many times in my life.
SPEAKER_02: But I would never make a major decision on a single word like that alone.
SPEAKER_02: I pastored this church in Wisconsin for 18 years.
SPEAKER_02: It grew from 80 to 1400.
SPEAKER_02: And things were going fantastic.
SPEAKER_02: And I began to sense a stirring in my spirit that God was calling me to leave, to move back to the south to be closer to our aging parents.
SPEAKER_02: And one of the verses he gave me was the verse to Abraham, where it says, God told Abraham to go to the land I will show you.
SPEAKER_02: He didn't give him all of the GPS marks before he called him to leave.
SPEAKER_02: He had to leave, and then God would show him as he walked that out.
SPEAKER_02: And that was a verse I felt God gave me.
SPEAKER_02: But the day I got that verse in my quiet time, I didn't submit my resignation and leave the next day, you see.
SPEAKER_02: I actually documented 17 specific confirmations that God gave me over a year and a half before I left that church.
SPEAKER_02: But as I looked back, that was one of the main ones was go to the land I will show you.
SPEAKER_02: Because I left not having a calling to another church, and for nine months waited on the Lord, had no job, no income, and it was one of the scariest times of my life.
SPEAKER_02: But that was a verse he gave me.
SPEAKER_02: But this can get a little subjective, right?
SPEAKER_02: And that's why you need confirmation and the counsel of others.
SPEAKER_02: You see, if it's not based on God's word, it can be reckless faith.
SPEAKER_02: It can be kind of a faith in faith.
SPEAKER_02: And that same place in Minneapolis that I told you about earlier, a friend of mine that was in the college ministry there, we were on a walk once, and it was earlier in the winter, true story.
SPEAKER_02: And this guy was a little reckless in his faith.
SPEAKER_02: And we were, I think, at the edge of Lake Minnetonka, and he goes, I think if I have enough faith, this guy was real young in the Lord, I can I can walk across this lake.
SPEAKER_02: And there was a teeny bit of ice, there was not much at all.
SPEAKER_02: He said, I just believe that if I have enough faith, I can do it.
SPEAKER_02: And he steps out and we went home and he was soaking wet.
SPEAKER_02: He fell in.
SPEAKER_02: The guy was a little bit foolish.
SPEAKER_02: And so if we don't have a clear word, then this idea of faith walk, living by faith, can be a can get a little foolish.
SPEAKER_02: Now, before I'm too hard on my friend, it leads to point number four.
SPEAKER_02: Faith involves action.
SPEAKER_02: I do applaud him for being willing to step out.
SPEAKER_02: Kind of like that scene in what was the Writers of the Lost Ark movie where, you know, until he took the step, remember that?
SPEAKER_02: And when he stepped out, then the path was made.
SPEAKER_02: One of the things that stands out to me almost the most of any in this chapter is how much it speaks of people taking action.
SPEAKER_02: If you just go through chapter 11, I'll just quickly, verse 4, Abel offered to God a sacrifice.
SPEAKER_02: That's action.
SPEAKER_02: Verse 7, Noah constructed an ark.
SPEAKER_02: That's action.
SPEAKER_02: Verse 8, by faith Abraham obeyed and went.
SPEAKER_02: Verse 9, to live.
SPEAKER_02: Verse 17, by faith, Abraham offered up Isaac.
SPEAKER_02: Verse 21, by faith, Jacob blessed each of his sons.
SPEAKER_02: Verse 27, by faith Moses left Egypt.
SPEAKER_02: In verse 29, the people by faith crossed the Red Sea.
SPEAKER_02: This is a very common theme in chapter 11.
SPEAKER_02: See, faith is not just an intellectual assent to facts.
SPEAKER_02: Faith is not just believing in your heart something, but very often faith requires action.
SPEAKER_02: I had to, by faith, leave my church.
SPEAKER_02: Salvation, it begins at salvation.
SPEAKER_02: By faith, you receive Christ.
SPEAKER_02: You do something.
SPEAKER_02: You pray and invite Christ to come into your life.
SPEAKER_02: By faith, you spend time with God, believing that as you do that, he will reveal himself to you.
SPEAKER_02: Where is God calling you today to take a step of faith?
SPEAKER_02: Maybe for some of you it's receiving Christ.
SPEAKER_02: You've heard the gospel, you know the information, and you just haven't made that step where you say, I receive Christ into my life.
SPEAKER_02: I surrender my heart to God.
SPEAKER_02: Today's the day.
SPEAKER_02: Others of you, it might be ending a relationship that you know is not right.
SPEAKER_02: Hello?
SPEAKER_02: You're in a relationship and you know it's not of God, and it's not drawing you closer to the Lord, and today God is saying, by faith, you need to cut that off.
SPEAKER_02: It would not surprise me if some of these things are true of some of you in this room today, and that this is why the Holy Spirit impressed me to change my message.
SPEAKER_02: For some of you, it may be finances.
SPEAKER_02: I'll tell you what, one of the areas it takes a lot of faith.
SPEAKER_02: Believing God's word is tithing.
SPEAKER_02: And to believe that 90% with God's blessing is greater than 100% without his blessing.
SPEAKER_02: I'd rather have 90% blessed by God than 100% not blessed by God.
SPEAKER_02: You say, well, I've got debt.
SPEAKER_02: Well, how about getting God on your side as you try to get out of debt?
SPEAKER_02: Start tithing now.
SPEAKER_02: Steve didn't tell me to say this, I promise you.
SPEAKER_02: But that's a huge area at which we can put feet to our faith as our finances.
SPEAKER_02: What about a calling?
SPEAKER_02: Some of you may have been wrestling with a calling.
SPEAKER_02: You're in this vocation, but God's calling you to this vocation.
SPEAKER_02: I'm not just talking full-time ministry.
SPEAKER_02: It may be that you're in this kind of employment, but you've sensed that stirring in your heart that you need to step out and pursue this or go back to school or go to college in the first place.
SPEAKER_02: What is it for you?
SPEAKER_02: Maybe it has to do with missions.
SPEAKER_02: And you've just been kind of chicken to step out because you're like, oh, the money, how's the money gonna?
SPEAKER_02: If what God calls, God will provide.
SPEAKER_02: Hello.
SPEAKER_02: So what is it for you?
SPEAKER_02: Where is God calling you to step out in faith?
SPEAKER_02: Number five, faith will be tested.
SPEAKER_02: By whom?
SPEAKER_02: God.
SPEAKER_02: God will test our faith.
SPEAKER_02: In verse 17, it says, by faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac.
SPEAKER_02: Ooh.
SPEAKER_02: Hey, I don't like that word any more than you do.
SPEAKER_02: It's uncomfortable, it's challenging, but I want to encourage you today to see it as an adventure.
SPEAKER_02: What you have viewed as negative, view as positive today.
SPEAKER_02: Well, what's a test?
SPEAKER_02: Well, a test is like in school.
SPEAKER_02: You get a test to see if you've mastered the material.
SPEAKER_02: You get a test to see if what you've studied, you know.
SPEAKER_02: You get a test if it's a mechanical type thing, see if you really know how to build that whatever that you've studied about and practiced.
SPEAKER_02: And if you pass the test, what happens?
SPEAKER_02: You advance and you have greater influence.
SPEAKER_02: If you fail the test, you either have to retake it or you get demoted.
SPEAKER_02: I don't want to get demoted, and I don't want to have to retake tests, so I'll be real honest.
SPEAKER_02: Sometimes my motivation for passing tests in the Lord is because I don't want to have to go through it again.
SPEAKER_02: But the Bible talks about this: the testing of our faith.
SPEAKER_02: And so He will put you through a series, of me, through a series of tests to see if we will pass or fail.
SPEAKER_02: And if you pass, you advance.
SPEAKER_02: Your faith grows to a higher level.
SPEAKER_02: And you have greater influence on others.
SPEAKER_02: You have greater ability to help those who are in the quick sand of unbelief.
SPEAKER_02: You've passed that test, you've come through that.
SPEAKER_02: Like if somebody doubts the existence of God or doubts whether Jesus really came or doubts whether the Bible is the word of God, man, I can help them because I've studied that.
SPEAKER_02: I wrestle with that too.
SPEAKER_02: And I can say, look, let me show you what I've discovered, and I can pull them out of the quick sand of unbelief upon the rock of faith.
SPEAKER_02: And you will do the same.
SPEAKER_02: And you are.
SPEAKER_02: You're going to be able to help others.
SPEAKER_02: Faith will be tested.
SPEAKER_02: In Psalm 105, verse 19, which a brother of mine who's very prophetically gifted, I mean, he hears from God.
SPEAKER_02: I am in Georgia during that nine-month period of waiting after leaving Wisconsin, struggling with God.
SPEAKER_02: What in the world have I done?
SPEAKER_02: Nothing seems to be opening up.
SPEAKER_02: Felt like I was in a wilderness, and out of the blue, I get a text from a friend who just has Psalm 105, verse 19.
SPEAKER_02: I'm literally walking a dirt road of the 800 square foot guest house we were living in with my wife's parents.
SPEAKER_02: They have a little guest house we were living there during that time.
SPEAKER_02: And out of the blue, literally, I was wrestling in prayer, walking this dirt road, and I get Psalm 105, verse 19, and it says this before the word of the Lord came to pass, God tested Joseph.
SPEAKER_02: And it was so encouraging because I felt the Holy Spirit saying, I am testing you, David.
SPEAKER_02: And whether you fail or pass, if you pass will determine what happens after this period of testing.
SPEAKER_02: I do not believe Living Hope Church in Athens, Georgia, would be in existence today had I not passed that test.
SPEAKER_02: Now maybe in his sovereignty he'd have called somebody else to do that.
SPEAKER_02: You know, I'm cool with that.
SPEAKER_02: I believe in that strongly.
SPEAKER_02: But in that, I believe in my heart that passing that test, which resulted in my serving as an associate pastor for the next four years, which was another test, I had been a senior pastor for 18, then be an associate for four, then God said, it's time to plant Living Hope Church.
SPEAKER_02: I couldn't have, I could not, I did not have the faith to plant Living Hope Church when I graduated from seminary.
SPEAKER_02: I did not.
SPEAKER_02: But because I had seen God's faithfulness in providing finances for multiple mission trips, and I had seen God provide for our church in Wisconsin, therefore I was willing and I believe was at the place where I could start a church from scratch, trusting God for all that comes with that.
SPEAKER_02: What does the testing of your faith look like?
SPEAKER_02: Being in situations that are hard and your flesh wants to sin, but God says, Hold fast to me, obey me, and I will bless you.
SPEAKER_02: It's the time of waiting when you're praying for someone who's out of God's will.
SPEAKER_02: And you pray and you pray and nothing seems to be happening.
SPEAKER_02: That's when your faith is tested.
SPEAKER_02: Or when some tragedy strikes that rocks your world.
SPEAKER_02: The death of someone close to you, a rape, a murder, loss of a job or home or marriage, and you feel abandoned by God, that's when your faith is tested to the core.
SPEAKER_02: It's very hard.
SPEAKER_02: That's when you really need the truths of God's word, especially about his sovereignty.
SPEAKER_02: And you need people around you who'll support you and allow you to struggle and wrestle with God just like Jacob did, and not make you feel like a bad Christian for doing so.
SPEAKER_02: Or it might be verse 25: Moses being mistreated with the people of God rather than enjoy the passing pleasures of sin.
SPEAKER_02: My faith has been tested many times.
SPEAKER_02: Broken engagement, seeing friends die that I prayed for, seeing my mother-in-law die two years ago, and people had given us many promises.
SPEAKER_02: This sickness is not unto death.
SPEAKER_02: This is where it is, this is like I said earlier, this is where it gets real dicey, subjective.
SPEAKER_02: We're wrestling with God.
SPEAKER_02: I'm in that prayer chapel at the hospital every day, crying out to God, claiming promises of healing, people giving me verses, this sickness is not unto death, and she died.
SPEAKER_02: Was that due to our lack of faith?
SPEAKER_02: Was it our fault?
SPEAKER_02: Some will say that.
SPEAKER_02: I don't think so.
SPEAKER_02: This is one of those you sometimes have to file in the Deuteronomy 29-29 file.
SPEAKER_02: The secret things belong to the Lord, the things revealed belong to man.
SPEAKER_02: I tell people sometimes there's just things in your life, and some of you have them, it's coming to your mind right now.
SPEAKER_02: There's things you just have to say, I'm just gonna file that in the 29-29 file.
SPEAKER_02: Because 1 Corinthians 13 says, now we see in a mirror dimly, then face to face.
SPEAKER_02: Now we know in part, then we will know fully.
SPEAKER_02: And so there's certain things you just have to say, you know what?
SPEAKER_02: I did the best I could.
SPEAKER_02: I believed as much as I could, I claimed promises.
SPEAKER_02: God, you're sovereign.
SPEAKER_02: I don't fully understand this, but you're gonna show me one day.
SPEAKER_02: And so that leads to number six faith produces great victories and deep hardships.
SPEAKER_02: And really, all I'm gonna do is read verses 32 to 37, and then we'll go to the final point.
SPEAKER_02: We're wrapping it up.
SPEAKER_02: This kind of reminds me of that wild world of sports thing.
SPEAKER_02: You know, the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat.
SPEAKER_02: May not be defeat so much, but the agony of not understanding, not seeing it fully play out like you thought it would or hoped it would.
SPEAKER_02: And I take great comfort in this chapter as I just read verses 32 to 37.
SPEAKER_02: I'm reading out of the ESV.
SPEAKER_02: And what more shall we say?
SPEAKER_02: For time will fail me to tell of Gideon, Barack, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel, and the prophets, who through faith conquered kingdoms.
SPEAKER_02: Hallelujah! We love that, don't we?
SPEAKER_02: Enforce justice, yes, that's a victory.
SPEAKER_02: Obtain promises, hallelujah.
SPEAKER_02: Stop the mouths of lion, you betcha man, this is where it's coming.
SPEAKER_02: Now it's happening.
SPEAKER_02: Quench the power of the fire, escaped the edge of the sword, made strong out of weakness, became mighty in war, put foreign enemies to fight.
SPEAKER_02: Yes, this is victory.
SPEAKER_02: Women received back the dead by resurrection, but we gotta keep reading.
SPEAKER_02: So that's the victory part, and it happens, and we celebrate them and we give praise to God, don't we?
SPEAKER_02: But just as much a part of the equation of faith is what is about to come, some were tortured, refusing to accept release, so that they might rise again to a better life.
SPEAKER_02: Others suffered mocking and flogging and even chains and imprisonment.
SPEAKER_02: They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were killed with the sword.
SPEAKER_02: They went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, afflicted, mistreated, of whom the world was not worthy.
SPEAKER_02: Wandering about in deserts and mountains and in dens and caves of the earth.
SPEAKER_02: You see, sometimes faith will result in great victory.
SPEAKER_02: And sometimes faith runs you headlong into hardship, suffering, and even death.
SPEAKER_02: The martyrs of the Christian faith lived faith just as much, if not more.
SPEAKER_02: And God did not abandon them because in God's sovereignty, sometimes he knows that he gets more glory through the suffering and even through death.
SPEAKER_02: You look at a guy like Jim Elliott, who was martyred, and then after his martyrdom, the massive increase in people committing themselves to the mission field.
SPEAKER_02: We have a man in our church, I'm about to wrap it up.
SPEAKER_02: We have a man in our church, this will lead to the final point, whose nephew, you can look him up, his name is Weston Lee.
SPEAKER_02: Three weeks ago, he was killed in Mosul, 25-year-old.
SPEAKER_02: His uncle is in our church.
SPEAKER_02: And so we had grieved that as a church.
SPEAKER_02: He was buried at Arlington this past Thursday, and then last Sunday morning, Dewey Lee stood up in front of our church and told an amazing story about how Weston Lee had befriended an atheist at the University of North Georgia Delanaga when they went through the military school there.
SPEAKER_02: And he had been sharing Christ with this atheist for seven years.
SPEAKER_02: Every opportunity he had.
SPEAKER_02: They're in Mosul together.
SPEAKER_02: This atheist had been on a number of missions, come back really like jolted.
SPEAKER_02: And one mission was so dangerous that he was jolted so much that he went to talk to the chaplain and that night gave his heart and life to Jesus Christ and was born again and made righteous by grace through faith.
SPEAKER_02: And it was Weston Lee about to leave on the very mission that he didn't return from.
SPEAKER_02: This atheist found him.
SPEAKER_02: And just as they were leaving, and said, I need to tell you, Weston, I just gave my life to Christ last night, and I want to thank you.
SPEAKER_02: And Weston went and he died that night.
SPEAKER_02: Beloved, let me tell you something, and this is the final point.
SPEAKER_02: Faith ultimately looks to the eternal.
SPEAKER_02: Because it's not always the final determiner of faith and glorifying God is not the conclusion that we see on earth, but it's an eternal perspective.
SPEAKER_02: And you look at verse 4 and it talks about, well, we'll look at these real quick.
SPEAKER_02: Look at how much eternity is spoken of.
SPEAKER_02: In verse 4, it says, though he died at the very end, he still speaks.
SPEAKER_02: He's still speaking because his influence affects us today.
SPEAKER_02: Verse 13, these all died in faith, not having received the things promised.
SPEAKER_02: They didn't fully see what they had believed God for, but having seen them and greeted them afar, having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth.
SPEAKER_02: For people who speak thus make it clear that they are seeking a homeland.
SPEAKER_02: If they had been thinking of that land for which they had gone out, they would have had an opportunity to return.
SPEAKER_02: But as it is, they desire a better country, a heavenly one.
SPEAKER_02: Living with an eternal perspective.
SPEAKER_02: And so is your life being lived for that which will outlive you.
SPEAKER_02: It was Jim Elliott, the martyred missionary, who said, he is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.
SPEAKER_02: Let's review our points today.
SPEAKER_02: We've learned today that faith pleases God.
SPEAKER_02: We've learned today, number two, that faith believes for the unseen based on the seen.
SPEAKER_02: There is evidence for our faith.
SPEAKER_02: Number three, faith is rooted in God's word.
SPEAKER_02: Are you in God's word?
SPEAKER_02: Are you claiming his promises?
SPEAKER_02: Are you digging deep?
SPEAKER_02: Are you going hard after God?
SPEAKER_02: Number four, faith involves action.
SPEAKER_02: Where is God calling you today?
SPEAKER_02: To action, to take a step.
SPEAKER_02: Number five, faith will be tested.
SPEAKER_02: Some of you are in a test right now, and God wants to supernaturally strengthen you through this message to pass that test.
SPEAKER_02: And number six, faith produces great victories and deep hardships, but ultimately those hardships need to have an eternal perspective.
SPEAKER_02: So final point is that faith ultimately looks to the eternal.
SPEAKER_02: Beloved, there's nothing more fulfilling than living a life of faith.
SPEAKER_02: There's nothing more adventuresome than walking by faith.
SPEAKER_02: God has called you to be wholehearted Christ followers, and this is part of that journey.
SPEAKER_02: Will it always be clear?
SPEAKER_02: No.
SPEAKER_02: Will it always be easy?
SPEAKER_02: Absolutely not.
SPEAKER_02: But it is worth it.
SPEAKER_02: And don't you want to stand before God and look back on your life with no regrets and look back on your life and say, okay, I blew it there, but I came back.
SPEAKER_02: Don't give in.
SPEAKER_02: Don't give up.
SPEAKER_02: Continue to hold fast to God.
SPEAKER_02: And you will never, ever regret it.
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