WEBVTT 00:00:00.239 --> 00:00:02.640 So we've been going through the book of Hebrews. 00:00:02.720 --> 00:00:04.080 We are in chapter 11. 00:00:04.160 --> 00:00:09.599 This morning we're going to study the first half of chapter 11 of the book of Hebrews. 00:00:09.679 --> 00:00:11.519 So let's jump right in. 00:00:12.320 --> 00:00:13.359 Verse 1. 00:00:13.599 --> 00:00:18.079 Now, faith is the assurance, and that's going to be our key word pretty much for the whole sermon. 00:00:18.239 --> 00:00:22.960 The assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. 00:00:23.120 --> 00:00:27.199 For by it the people of old received their commendation. 00:00:27.440 --> 00:00:35.280 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. 00:00:35.439 --> 00:00:37.600 So that's our key word, assurance. 00:00:38.079 --> 00:00:39.840 That faith gives us assurance. 00:00:40.000 --> 00:00:46.640 It doesn't give us more anxiety, it doesn't give us fear or a scorecard inside of ourselves that gives us assurance. 00:00:46.799 --> 00:00:49.039 And that word is connected to faith. 00:00:49.119 --> 00:00:56.240 So it's not the sum of our faith or how much or how little, but that we have faith is actually creating assurance in us, and that assurance is connected to hope. 00:00:56.399 --> 00:00:57.920 We're going to make sense of all that. 00:00:58.240 --> 00:01:00.799 A few years ago, I went to buy a new car. 00:01:00.960 --> 00:01:06.239 I was looking very specifically for a 2008 Gray Toyota 4-Runner. 00:01:06.319 --> 00:01:11.040 Now I needed to be around 100,000 miles specifically, hopefully, one owner, maybe two owners. 00:01:11.120 --> 00:01:17.280 I might entertain it, but really a one-owner, 100,000 mile car that was like 12 years old. 00:01:17.439 --> 00:01:18.239 That's what I wanted. 00:01:18.319 --> 00:01:20.719 It took like six months for this car to pop up. 00:01:20.799 --> 00:01:24.000 And so when it popped up, it was at the CarMax up in Kennesaw. 00:01:24.159 --> 00:01:26.239 And so, of course, I don't know anything about cars. 00:01:26.319 --> 00:01:27.439 I didn't even go ahead and say that. 00:01:27.519 --> 00:01:28.480 Like I don't I don't know anything. 00:01:28.560 --> 00:01:30.000 I can put gas in it and I can drive it. 00:01:30.079 --> 00:01:30.480 That's about it. 00:01:30.560 --> 00:01:31.599 I've never even changed the oil. 00:01:31.680 --> 00:01:33.680 So I don't know anything, but I can watch YouTube. 00:01:33.760 --> 00:01:37.680 So I watched YouTube and I watched a few videos of how you check out a used car. 00:01:37.760 --> 00:01:42.159 And so I show up like I know stuff with my flashlight, and I'm all over the car. 00:01:42.319 --> 00:01:46.159 I'm in the car, I'm under the car, tugging, you're supposed to pull on the door. 00:01:46.319 --> 00:01:48.000 I did that, I pulled on the door. 00:01:48.159 --> 00:01:49.200 I'm doing all of it. 00:01:49.359 --> 00:01:51.760 Then at the end of it, I said, Well, we'll just go on a test drive. 00:01:51.840 --> 00:01:54.799 And so the salesman says, Okay, let's go to, we're gonna go around the block. 00:01:54.879 --> 00:01:56.239 I'm like, Yeah, we're not going around the block. 00:01:56.319 --> 00:01:59.680 Like, we're getting on the interstate, because that's what the YouTube video told me to do. 00:01:59.920 --> 00:02:04.959 We gotta go on the interstate, and so we went on the longest test drive that this guy's ever done in his career. 00:02:05.120 --> 00:02:06.719 And why did I do all that? 00:02:07.200 --> 00:02:08.800 Because I'm neurotic, part of it. 00:02:08.879 --> 00:02:10.080 I mean, that's definitely part of it. 00:02:10.159 --> 00:02:12.960 And the other part of it's just like I want an assurance, right? 00:02:13.120 --> 00:02:19.280 Like I want to be assured this is a good car, like this is a car I can sit in and drive for years to come. 00:02:19.360 --> 00:02:22.000 Like, like it'll it'll hold me for a while. 00:02:22.240 --> 00:02:30.159 And that's this image here of assurance that faith gives us that it can hold us, it's stable, it has substance. 00:02:30.319 --> 00:02:32.080 That's the word, substance. 00:02:32.400 --> 00:02:41.360 Minister and author David Zoll, when he's writing about Hebrews chapter 11 and assurance, he starts to compare it with reassurance and self-assurance. 00:02:42.000 --> 00:02:43.599 Here's what he says. 00:02:43.840 --> 00:02:47.840 Oftentimes religion boils down to a strategy of reassurance. 00:02:48.000 --> 00:02:51.919 Reassurance is a pat on the back, a pep talk, a hug even. 00:02:52.080 --> 00:02:53.759 Hang in there, it's gonna be all right. 00:02:53.919 --> 00:02:57.680 At best, reassurance is a reality check, a reminder of how things really are. 00:02:57.840 --> 00:03:01.599 At worst, it's a pie in the sky dismissing another's fears or doubts. 00:03:01.840 --> 00:03:05.120 Either way, reassurance depends on the reassurer. 00:03:05.360 --> 00:03:08.719 So do you get that when you when you live in reassurance, you're depending back on yourself. 00:03:08.800 --> 00:03:12.639 It's like having faith in your own faith rather than having faith in the one who gives you the promises. 00:03:13.520 --> 00:03:14.560 And that's the point here. 00:03:14.639 --> 00:03:17.599 And this is almost the toxic game of people pleasing, right? 00:03:17.840 --> 00:03:21.840 Like you get enough likes or enough pats on the back, and then you're good. 00:03:22.719 --> 00:03:30.639 But if those go away, suddenly all the reassuring you're using to feel validated or worthy or forgiven. 00:03:30.960 --> 00:03:32.319 Now, where do you stand? 00:03:32.800 --> 00:03:33.439 I feel that. 00:03:33.520 --> 00:03:35.199 I mean, that's strong in me. 00:03:35.360 --> 00:03:41.520 I mean, I want to do a good job at what I do, and I want to use all that encouragement to feel like I'm a worthy human being, right? 00:03:41.599 --> 00:03:42.159 That's strong. 00:03:42.240 --> 00:03:44.879 The problem with it is what happens when it goes away. 00:03:46.000 --> 00:03:50.000 Then David Zall goes into what self-assurance does for us. 00:03:50.319 --> 00:03:59.520 Self-assurance, on the other hand, is a way of creating our own hope, reacting to those things unseen by attempting to bring them into being ourselves. 00:03:59.759 --> 00:04:02.800 Self-assurance is tied to our performance and ability. 00:04:03.039 --> 00:04:11.520 As such, it works well when the stakes are small or when we're in our comfort zone, not so much when we've exhausted every avenue. 00:04:11.759 --> 00:04:15.280 What happens when our best isn't good enough? 00:04:15.840 --> 00:04:20.319 So, this would be how we talk about a performance-based life, that it doesn't work. 00:04:20.720 --> 00:04:24.959 It works as long as you're performing well, but as soon as you don't, what happens? 00:04:25.120 --> 00:04:26.399 What does that mean about you? 00:04:26.560 --> 00:04:26.800 Right? 00:04:26.879 --> 00:04:32.079 This is the internal scoreboard that we can so easily live by. 00:04:32.240 --> 00:04:36.560 And that's a performance-based life that's eventually gonna leave you exhausted and condemned. 00:04:36.800 --> 00:04:39.199 You score enough, you're good. 00:04:39.360 --> 00:04:41.600 But as soon as you don't score enough, it doesn't work. 00:04:41.759 --> 00:04:45.920 That's self-assurance, and eventually it'll crush you. 00:04:46.160 --> 00:04:47.759 And for me, that's strong also. 00:04:47.839 --> 00:04:49.759 I'm like, I want to do that, right? 00:04:49.920 --> 00:04:56.160 Like I would have felt like that I can reassure myself because then I don't have to live by faith in God to me. 00:04:56.240 --> 00:04:59.920 I can just live in my own faith and myself. 00:05:00.399 --> 00:05:04.399 But there's a third way, and that's the way of faith, the way of assurance. 00:05:04.560 --> 00:05:06.800 Just like Tim Keller talks about, there's three ways. 00:05:06.879 --> 00:05:10.639 There's religion, there's the world, or secularism, and then there's gospel. 00:05:10.800 --> 00:05:12.480 There's three ways here for us. 00:05:12.720 --> 00:05:20.720 There's reassurance, people pleasing, there's self-assurance, I'll just do it all myself, and then there's assurance, which comes by faith. 00:05:20.879 --> 00:05:21.600 That's verse one. 00:05:21.839 --> 00:05:28.079 Now, faith is the assurance, the word there's like substance that we can stand under of things hoped for. 00:05:28.160 --> 00:05:32.160 So it's connected to that which we're hoping for, the conviction of things not seen. 00:05:32.319 --> 00:05:37.680 Point number one is this faith is relationship with God, resting in God's promises for you. 00:05:38.079 --> 00:05:39.120 It's all of that. 00:05:39.360 --> 00:05:44.639 Faith is a relationship with God, it's about being with God long before it's about doing things for God. 00:05:45.040 --> 00:05:46.800 And then it's about his promises for you. 00:05:46.879 --> 00:05:49.199 That's that in which we're hoping for. 00:05:50.879 --> 00:05:54.160 Years ago, we lived in Atlanta, and Christy and I we were on a walk. 00:05:54.240 --> 00:05:55.680 We were walking around Chastain Park. 00:05:55.759 --> 00:05:56.319 Have you ever been there? 00:05:56.399 --> 00:06:02.560 There's this sidewalk that goes around this big park, and inside the park, there's normal park, there's tennis courts, there's playgrounds, there's also a big golf course. 00:06:02.720 --> 00:06:05.920 We were rounding the south end of the park, and I think it's Power Sperry. 00:06:06.319 --> 00:06:13.279 We were coming back up the other way, and as we were coming back up, we could see these just massive black clouds coming in from the north side. 00:06:13.439 --> 00:06:20.240 It was summertime, it was hot out, but within like three minutes it dropped like 20 degrees, got really cold. 00:06:20.480 --> 00:06:23.839 The wind started to pick up, like limbs started to fly around a little bit. 00:06:24.079 --> 00:06:26.240 Suddenly, like some huge limbs fly around. 00:06:26.399 --> 00:06:28.000 A road sign toppled over. 00:06:28.160 --> 00:06:34.319 We looked across the golf course, and there was a little micro tornado whipping across it. 00:06:34.480 --> 00:06:43.360 And it just all of a sudden, everybody, no discussion with everybody, just all of us that are walking on that sidewalk just headed into this neighborhood, like sprinted into this neighborhood to take shelter. 00:06:43.519 --> 00:06:52.480 As Christy and I were running across the street, we hear this crack and we we look back, and the tornado had picked up an oak tree, just fully picked it up and just laid it on its side. 00:06:52.720 --> 00:07:01.759 And within seconds, Christy and I and another couple, we are under the shelter of a front porch of somebody's house we don't know, and we are huddled in the corner, the four of us. 00:07:01.839 --> 00:07:03.680 We became good friends with these people. 00:07:05.759 --> 00:07:06.079 Right? 00:07:06.240 --> 00:07:10.959 We needed something of we needed something of substance to stand under. 00:07:11.040 --> 00:07:11.680 That's this word. 00:07:11.759 --> 00:07:12.800 This is what faith gives us. 00:07:12.959 --> 00:07:16.959 Now, in that moment, that wasn't about like us, like look at all of our faith, right? 00:07:17.040 --> 00:07:22.720 I mean, that that was that was like mustard seed stuff, like like I can get here, but like this is about the structure, right? 00:07:22.800 --> 00:07:25.680 Like this wasn't about me, this was about the structure. 00:07:25.920 --> 00:07:29.360 That's why our faith can give us assurance, and it's not self-assurance. 00:07:29.600 --> 00:07:34.399 It's because it is about the relationship with God we have and his promises to us. 00:07:34.560 --> 00:07:41.759 That's the image we have here, is that of substance that we are under God Himself. 00:07:42.560 --> 00:07:47.839 Verse 2 for by it the people of old received their commendation. 00:07:48.000 --> 00:07:49.279 So this is a Sunday school point. 00:07:49.360 --> 00:07:50.399 This is what I would call this, right? 00:07:50.480 --> 00:07:54.480 The question in Sunday school would be well, if Jesus is salvation, well, how about all the people in the Old Testament? 00:07:54.560 --> 00:07:56.240 Like, you know, how did they get saved? 00:07:56.480 --> 00:08:01.199 And the point here is that people who live before Jesus are also saved through faith. 00:08:01.439 --> 00:08:10.560 While we are saved by faith in that which God did for us on the cross, they are saved by faith in that which they were looking forward to, a coming Messiah. 00:08:11.120 --> 00:08:14.480 So they have faith resting in that which would come. 00:08:14.800 --> 00:08:16.000 Sunday school point. 00:08:16.240 --> 00:08:26.959 Verse three 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. 00:08:27.600 --> 00:08:34.399 Point number three is this faith informs us about our world, our beginning, and our story. 00:08:35.200 --> 00:08:36.799 Faith's not against science. 00:08:37.360 --> 00:08:47.039 Like we welcome science to come in and help us make sense of the wonder of God's creation and his creative process. 00:08:47.679 --> 00:08:56.000 And that gives us what it means to be stewards of a story with a creator intelligent God. 00:08:56.720 --> 00:08:58.480 In the beginning of our story. 00:08:58.799 --> 00:09:00.480 That we're not accidents. 00:09:01.120 --> 00:09:02.720 That's how it intersects our stories. 00:09:02.799 --> 00:09:04.080 You're not an accident. 00:09:04.480 --> 00:09:05.600 You didn't just happen. 00:09:05.759 --> 00:09:08.799 You're a purposed child of God with a calling. 00:09:08.960 --> 00:09:16.320 You have a beginning and a story God is writing, and knowing the beginning of that story really helps us as we live our lives of faith. 00:09:16.480 --> 00:09:22.399 Genesis 1 can really revolutionize our hearts as we see we're not just sinners in need of grace. 00:09:22.559 --> 00:09:24.000 We are creating the image of God. 00:09:24.080 --> 00:09:26.000 We are worthy and beautiful. 00:09:26.240 --> 00:09:32.879 And we are sinners in need of God's grace, looking forward in hope to the world of heaven to come. 00:09:33.039 --> 00:09:33.919 All four parts. 00:09:34.000 --> 00:09:36.000 This is a four-part story for us. 00:09:40.080 --> 00:09:45.679 You are a beautiful creation of God who's a sinner in need of grace, holding the hope of heaven. 00:09:45.919 --> 00:09:56.639 So at this point in our passage, the writer takes us from this conversation about faith and our origin, and then he begins to give us all these stories, these examples of people of faith. 00:09:56.879 --> 00:10:03.840 Now it's so easy once we start to read examples of people of faith in the Bible, to just go, oh, like Bible heroes, like people, you know, super Christians. 00:10:04.000 --> 00:10:05.200 It's like, no, that's not what it is. 00:10:05.279 --> 00:10:13.919 Like if we dissect all of these, like these are train wrecks of people who happen to be people of faith who took steps of faith, but they are train wrecks of people. 00:10:14.080 --> 00:10:15.840 They're like me and they're like you. 00:10:17.519 --> 00:10:22.080 Point number four is that people of faith are ragamuffins, trusting God is enough for them. 00:10:22.159 --> 00:10:23.600 That's what that's what people of faith are. 00:10:23.759 --> 00:10:25.200 It's nothing more than that. 00:10:28.159 --> 00:10:34.320 And in the resting in that substance of sitting under that which is faithful to you, you can take a step of faith. 00:10:34.639 --> 00:10:39.840 The story that's focused on the most here in Hebrews 11 in the first half is Abraham and Sarah. 00:10:40.559 --> 00:10:46.399 So this is the man that God covenants with in the Old Testament to build out the people of Israel. 00:10:46.559 --> 00:10:49.600 Eventually, Jesus comes out of that lineage. 00:10:50.080 --> 00:11:00.159 But let's not forget, this guy goes and he sleeps with Hagar to produce a child because he was so frustrated that his wife wasn't producing the child for him. 00:11:00.960 --> 00:11:02.080 Train wreck. 00:11:03.120 --> 00:11:06.720 But a person of faith who still takes steps of faith. 00:11:08.000 --> 00:11:09.200 Verse 8. 00:11:09.600 --> 00:11:17.120 By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance. 00:11:17.279 --> 00:11:19.519 He went out not knowing where he was going. 00:11:19.679 --> 00:11:28.960 By faith, he went to live in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise. 00:11:29.120 --> 00:11:31.360 So Abraham and Sarah, they took steps of faith. 00:11:31.440 --> 00:11:32.639 They had these two promises. 00:11:33.039 --> 00:11:35.120 Have a child, get the land. 00:11:35.600 --> 00:11:35.919 Right? 00:11:36.080 --> 00:11:37.840 These are absurd promises to them. 00:11:38.000 --> 00:11:39.440 Sarah was barren. 00:11:39.679 --> 00:11:47.600 So, I mean, what an absurd promise for her to accept or to trust in or to have any joy that this would come or play out in her life. 00:11:47.679 --> 00:11:49.120 And then finally she has a child. 00:11:49.279 --> 00:11:51.440 God names the child Isaac, or laughter. 00:11:51.759 --> 00:11:58.720 I read this week is that this was God's way of marking God's joy in upending our expectations. 00:12:00.399 --> 00:12:01.840 And they received the child. 00:12:02.000 --> 00:12:04.399 Out of that comes the lineage of Jesus. 00:12:04.879 --> 00:12:06.399 The second promise was land. 00:12:06.480 --> 00:12:09.919 So for them, land was safety, it was provision. 00:12:10.240 --> 00:12:12.720 It still is, by the way, in this world. 00:12:13.279 --> 00:12:15.519 But it meant all of that to them. 00:12:16.000 --> 00:12:18.080 So they moved to Canaan to that land. 00:12:18.159 --> 00:12:20.879 But verse 9 says they always lived in tents. 00:12:21.679 --> 00:12:26.000 So they lived there, but they never lived there in complete rest. 00:12:29.120 --> 00:12:30.480 And stability. 00:12:31.679 --> 00:12:32.960 So we get verse 10. 00:12:33.200 --> 00:12:38.799 For he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God. 00:12:39.039 --> 00:12:48.720 By faith, Sarah herself received power to conceive, even when she was past age, since she considered him faithful who had promised. 00:12:49.519 --> 00:12:54.320 So verse 10 gives us the reality of living faith in this world. 00:12:54.960 --> 00:12:57.360 We're living in faith, but we're looking forward in hope. 00:12:57.519 --> 00:13:01.440 We have these promises, but they're not all playing out perfectly in our lives. 00:13:02.639 --> 00:13:05.519 Sort of three sentences came to mind of like, what does this feel like? 00:13:05.600 --> 00:13:09.039 What does it feel like to be a person of faith in this imperfect world? 00:13:09.279 --> 00:13:11.039 For me, at least, it feels like this. 00:13:11.360 --> 00:13:14.559 We're given promises of God of which we will receive. 00:13:15.279 --> 00:13:16.159 You'll get it. 00:13:16.320 --> 00:13:20.000 Like, you know, and some of these are so clear, like forgiveness, like you get it, right? 00:13:20.159 --> 00:13:27.039 Like, but some of these promises that we have about being healed and being whole, some of those are like the already and not yet. 00:13:27.360 --> 00:13:32.240 Like we're already that, deemed that, but we haven't yet like experienced all that in fullness. 00:13:33.039 --> 00:13:39.679 We're given promises of God, of which we will receive, some we will wait upon, and some we're only gonna experience in part. 00:13:40.240 --> 00:13:44.799 And that's why this faith and assurance is connected to the hope that we look forward to in heaven. 00:13:44.960 --> 00:13:52.399 Number two, our faith is not in our strength or the promises, but in the one who gives the promises. 00:13:53.360 --> 00:14:01.600 And then number three, being a person of faith is about a relationship with God in the context of his promises and our steps toward what he calls us to. 00:14:01.759 --> 00:14:02.720 It's all those things. 00:14:02.879 --> 00:14:08.879 That's what's happening in this chapter, it's kind of communicating to us about giving us a definition of faith and giving us examples of faith. 00:14:09.039 --> 00:14:10.480 For me, this goes into three things. 00:14:10.559 --> 00:14:12.240 Like, how do you know what God's calling you to? 00:14:12.399 --> 00:14:14.159 Well, for me, it goes into three things. 00:14:14.559 --> 00:14:16.320 It's what does scripture say? 00:14:16.799 --> 00:14:17.679 Just right or wrong. 00:14:17.759 --> 00:14:18.559 How do I handle a situation? 00:14:18.639 --> 00:14:19.440 Look at what the scripture is. 00:14:19.519 --> 00:14:21.200 How would the scripture say for you to do that? 00:14:21.360 --> 00:14:22.799 Is this right and is this wrong? 00:14:23.039 --> 00:14:24.320 Number two, wise people. 00:14:24.399 --> 00:14:28.000 What do the wise people around me say about this? 00:14:28.159 --> 00:14:31.600 And then number three is what is the Holy Spirit leading me to do? 00:14:31.679 --> 00:14:32.559 What am I sensing? 00:14:32.720 --> 00:14:37.519 Now I don't start in number three typically because maybe it was the bad dinner I ate the night before. 00:14:37.679 --> 00:14:43.759 And also it can just be my abreaction, to be honest, it can be my ab reaction to past wounds or a current wound. 00:14:43.919 --> 00:14:49.679 So I'm aware of that, but I gotta kind of live in these first two parts, and they all go together. 00:14:50.879 --> 00:14:52.240 What's the scripture say? 00:14:52.399 --> 00:14:53.759 What are the wise people saying? 00:14:54.000 --> 00:14:56.480 What am I sensing the Spirit asking me to do? 00:14:56.720 --> 00:14:59.840 Start something, stop something, mend a relationship. 00:15:00.080 --> 00:15:04.639 All these things go together for what it means to be a person of faith, taking steps of faith in this world. 00:15:04.799 --> 00:15:05.919 Verse 13. 00:15:06.639 --> 00:15:07.919 These all died in faith. 00:15:08.080 --> 00:15:10.559 Think about all these people of faith taking great steps of faith. 00:15:10.639 --> 00:15:11.279 Here's where we're headed. 00:15:11.360 --> 00:15:13.360 We're all going to die, by the way, just to let you know that. 00:15:13.519 --> 00:15:17.519 These all died in faith, not having received the things promised. 00:15:17.919 --> 00:15:26.879 So they didn't get all the promises, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. 00:15:27.200 --> 00:15:31.600 For people who speak thus make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. 00:15:31.759 --> 00:15:37.120 If they had been thinking of that land from which they had gone out, they would have an opportunity to return. 00:15:37.200 --> 00:15:39.360 But as it is, they desire a better country. 00:15:39.440 --> 00:15:40.799 That is a heavenly one. 00:15:40.960 --> 00:15:42.240 See, this is what they were hoping for. 00:15:42.320 --> 00:15:45.840 They weren't hoping for just the land they were sitting on, they weren't hoping for the land they came for. 00:15:46.399 --> 00:15:49.360 Their hope is being placed in the world to come, a heavenly one. 00:15:49.519 --> 00:15:54.320 Therefore, God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city. 00:15:54.559 --> 00:15:56.000 Point number five, last point. 00:15:56.240 --> 00:15:57.919 Assured in faith. 00:15:58.399 --> 00:16:04.639 We live in this world looking forward to the next world. 00:16:05.279 --> 00:16:06.879 You ever been homesick, right? 00:16:07.039 --> 00:16:09.600 Like the trip was just one day too long? 00:16:10.159 --> 00:16:16.960 You went to camp and it was day one, it was like the first evening, and you just you just wanted to go home. 00:16:17.279 --> 00:16:22.240 I can remember being in college and going to Europe, and I just wanted to eat at McDonald's, right? 00:16:22.320 --> 00:16:24.399 Like you're in Paris and you want McDonald's. 00:16:24.480 --> 00:16:28.080 That doesn't even make any sense except that like you're longing for home. 00:16:28.240 --> 00:16:29.759 You just want to be at home. 00:16:29.919 --> 00:16:35.679 Now, part of that certainly is sort of like our discontentment and our sin, like nothing's enough, and we're discontent. 00:16:35.759 --> 00:16:37.039 And part of that's our sin. 00:16:37.200 --> 00:16:42.320 Part of that is just like as believers, we're always going to be longing for heaven. 00:16:42.879 --> 00:16:48.159 That there's part of our faith that is hope, looking forward to the next world. 00:16:50.399 --> 00:16:57.679 The message of Christianity, of being a person of faith, faith walk, sometimes it feels like faith crawl, certainly, right? 00:16:57.840 --> 00:17:00.799 It's just like being welcoming home and assurance. 00:17:01.279 --> 00:17:06.480 David Zoll, the same minister author I quoted earlier about self-assurance and reassurance. 00:17:06.559 --> 00:17:08.559 Here's what he says about assurance. 00:17:09.839 --> 00:17:16.400 Assurance is to those of us losing hope and drowning under all the other failing ways of the world. 00:17:17.119 --> 00:17:17.359 Right? 00:17:17.440 --> 00:17:18.160 Don't we need that? 00:17:18.319 --> 00:17:26.319 Like all the ways that the world fails us, don't we need a place to go to sit ourselves under something of substance that can hold us? 00:17:26.559 --> 00:17:36.079 And that is the objective, powerful, one-way love of God that we know securely in the work of Jesus Christ, death, and resurrection for us. 00:17:36.319 --> 00:17:37.440 Let's pray together. 00:17:38.000 --> 00:17:49.839 God, thank you for your good gospel to us that finds us not always in great faith, but sometimes in just mustard seed faith, but thank you that our faith has assurance because you are of substance. 00:17:51.119 --> 00:17:53.119 You are of perfect character. 00:17:53.839 --> 00:18:03.680 And while we don't experience all your promises perfectly here, we receive the ones we do and we look forward to all of them in fulfillment in the world to come. 00:18:03.920 --> 00:18:06.799 Help our hearts live in faith in these days. 00:18:07.279 --> 00:18:09.279 Help us to trust you in greater ways. 00:18:09.519 --> 00:18:16.640 Forgive us for the ways we don't, and help us set our eyes on a world to come where there will be no fear. 00:18:17.119 --> 00:18:18.480 And there will be no tears. 00:18:18.640 --> 00:18:20.480 In Jesus' name we pray. 00:18:20.720 --> 00:18:21.359 Amen.