SPEAKER_00: Return with me in your Bibles to Hebrews 11, which is on page 1007 in the Pew Bible.
SPEAKER_00: And we're going to read verse 1 and then 13 through 16 and then 39.
SPEAKER_00: Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.
SPEAKER_00: We'll turn to 13 through 16.
SPEAKER_00: These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth.
SPEAKER_00: For people who speak thus make it clear that they are seeking a homeland.
SPEAKER_00: If they had been thinking of that land from which they had gone out, they would have had opportunity to return.
SPEAKER_00: But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one.
SPEAKER_00: Therefore, God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared a city for them.
SPEAKER_00: And all these, though commended through their faith, did not receive what was promised.
SPEAKER_01: Thank you, Chad.
SPEAKER_01: It is for Jane and me a great privilege, really, to be able to be here this weekend.
SPEAKER_01: We came in on Friday.
SPEAKER_01: Chad texted me and said that I brought the sun with me, I guess.
SPEAKER_01: And we're leaving, and there's supposed to be snow tomorrow, so not exactly sure what conclusion you should draw from that.
SPEAKER_01: Our goal here this weekend is to continue the process of seeking what uh God's will is for us as we consider the next phase of life in ministry.
SPEAKER_01: And indeed, we want to talk a little bit more about that this evening, give you a bit of a background of who we are as people and the path that God has had us on.
SPEAKER_01: And uh but this morning I would like to uh to really it's all working, look at that.
SPEAKER_01: I'd like to not focus on myself.
SPEAKER_01: Thank you.
SPEAKER_01: She also tells me when it's time to stop.
SPEAKER_01: But after 43 years of marriage, I've learned to ignore that at times.
SPEAKER_01: So uh 46 years of marriage.
SPEAKER_01: We've been married 46 years.
SPEAKER_01: 43 of them have been wonderful.
SPEAKER_01: No, I'm just um where was I?
SPEAKER_01: Uh what I'd like to do this morning is to uh to look at this chapter, Hebrews chapter 11, which hopefully is very familiar to us.
SPEAKER_01: And I'd like to just highlight, as it were, uh just a couple of verses in this chapter.
SPEAKER_01: I had Chad pull out several, three different verses, because as you will see, as you follow along in your Bible and as you listen, and if I can communicate effectively, you will see that the whole question of faith, which is so central to us and to our experience, we are men, we are to be men and women of faith.
SPEAKER_01: Men and women of faith.
SPEAKER_01: And we better know what that involves.
SPEAKER_01: This church is faith, evangelical free church.
SPEAKER_01: We better know what faith means, what it involves, what it is to be a man or a woman of faith.
SPEAKER_01: And in this chapter, we find portraits, we find pictures, as it were, a whole bunch of pictures, a whole series of people who are set forth as examples of men and women who took God at his word and arranged their life and made decisions and lived accordingly.
SPEAKER_01: And that is the key element of faith.
SPEAKER_01: By God's grace, we learn to take God at his word and to live accordingly, to make life decisions, to structure our lives, to spend our money, to raise our family, to carry out whatever particular job you have, to live in a way that reflects who God is and what he has said.
SPEAKER_01: We take God at his word.
SPEAKER_01: God has spoken and he has not stuttered.
SPEAKER_01: The question is not, has God spoken?
SPEAKER_01: The question is, are we listening?
SPEAKER_01: And as we listen, the people of faith take him at his word and they live their lives in accordance with that.
SPEAKER_01: And we have a gallery, as it were, of individuals, and interestingly enough, we won't have time to go through all of them and certainly not their life stories, but these are real, simple, fallible, sinful people just like you and me.
SPEAKER_01: One of the dangers with a chapter like this is we see them as heroes.
SPEAKER_01: We see them as somehow or another different than we are, and that's absolutely not the case.
SPEAKER_01: These are all people just like you and me.
SPEAKER_01: Nothing special about them except, except perhaps the fact that they have learned to take God at His Word and to live their lives in accordance with that.
SPEAKER_01: We're going to be looking at three basic principles involved in that.
SPEAKER_01: Uh as we go through this, we're going to be seeing that those who are men and women of faith have a confident assurance of things that they have not seen.
SPEAKER_01: Seeing is not believing.
SPEAKER_01: Believing is having confident assurance of that which we have not yet seen, tasted, touched, and felt.
SPEAKER_01: Believers live their life on the basis of realities that we have not yet seen.
SPEAKER_01: We read about them, we hear about them, we walk in their direction, but at the essence, as we'll see, it has to do with things unseen.
SPEAKER_01: We'll also see that faith, the person of faith, the man and woman of faith, the young person, the child of faith, begins to have his or her desires, his longings, our affections, our yearnings become fixed on a place that we have not been.
SPEAKER_01: Home.
SPEAKER_01: This is not our home.
SPEAKER_01: And men and women of faith are so focused on home that they live differently.
SPEAKER_01: They take God at His Word and they live in accordance with that, and we are drawn homeward.
SPEAKER_01: And we'll see thirdly that men and women of faith eagerly await that which we have not yet experienced, or only experienced in part.
SPEAKER_01: Just a foreshadow, just the tip of the tongue and the spoon.
SPEAKER_01: And so we take God at His Word on the basis of things unseen, and we live our lives on that basis.
SPEAKER_01: We find our affections and our desires focused on a place that we've never been, and we wait eagerly in faith for that yet which we have not yet fully experienced.
SPEAKER_01: Now, we're not going to take the time to look at all of these people.
SPEAKER_01: What I see as I read this, that the author highlights three particular principles and then gives us many examples of that, many portraits of what faith looks like based upon the believers in the past.
SPEAKER_01: And so we have this wonderful chapter which gives examples to us of what faith is like.
SPEAKER_01: And this chapter begs for us to ask the question.
SPEAKER_01: For me to ask the question of myself, and for you to ask the question of yourself, what is it that God wants me to do or be as a person of faith?
SPEAKER_01: It begs for a response.
SPEAKER_01: I didn't have Chad read the follow-up verse to chapter 11, and it's the beginning of verse 12.
SPEAKER_01: If you have your Bibles, please look there.
SPEAKER_01: Since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, that's all these portraits of people in the past who have been men and women of faith.
SPEAKER_01: Since we have these examples, let us also lay aside every weight and sin which clings so closely and let us run with endurance the race set before us.
SPEAKER_01: This demands a response on our part.
SPEAKER_01: We must never read the Word of God simply with our intellect.
SPEAKER_01: We must never sit under the teachings of the Word of God only to fill our notebooks.
SPEAKER_01: We are called to a life response.
SPEAKER_01: And not just any response, the response that scriptures present for us.
SPEAKER_01: So we need as we approach uh the teaching and preaching of God's Word, we have to approach it with an expectation that God wants a response from us.
SPEAKER_01: I got to thinking about this matter of portraits uh a while back.
SPEAKER_01: I guess I have to turn this on to be able to control the world here.
SPEAKER_01: It helps if I use the switch to control it.
SPEAKER_01: Do you have any problems with using the remote to your TV?
SPEAKER_01: Or I should say the remotes, you know, four or five of them that clutter the area.
SPEAKER_01: Supposed to simplify life, they befuddle most of us.
SPEAKER_01: Anyway.
SPEAKER_01: Um a while back, Jane and I uh had occasion to be at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.
SPEAKER_01: Uh we were there, we have a uh a son and his family who live in Washington, D.C.
SPEAKER_01: And uh Kara, our daughter-in-law, desperately needed some time with their second child, so we took their first child for the day.
SPEAKER_01: It was arduous grandparent service.
SPEAKER_01: Um we were Kara suggested that we take little three-year-old, five-year-old, I don't remember what she was at the time, Annalise, to the National Gallery of Art.
SPEAKER_01: Because we were told that there is a particular painting there that she really uh enjoys.
SPEAKER_01: And it is a a renoir painting, uh a French impressionist painting, very famous of a little ballerina.
SPEAKER_01: Now, I don't know how many little girls uh want to go to the Museum of Art, but this little girl did.
SPEAKER_01: So we we went there.
SPEAKER_01: The National Gallery uh is an impressive building.
SPEAKER_01: It's located in an impressive place.
SPEAKER_01: It's on Constitution and Pennsylvania Avenues at that intersection on the National Mall, directly across from the Smithsonian.
SPEAKER_01: You look one way and there's Capitol Hill, you look the other way and there's uh there's the White House.
SPEAKER_01: And there in the middle is this uh National Gallery of Art.
SPEAKER_01: It is a very large building.
SPEAKER_01: Uh in art galleries, there aren't just one or two paintings or works of art or sculptures, but many.
SPEAKER_01: And they're organized in galleries, big rooms with many pictures.
SPEAKER_01: And in the National Gallery, there are many big rooms with many pictures.
SPEAKER_01: And finding this one was no small matter.
SPEAKER_01: But we were on a mission, uh, so we were looking for Renoir's uh the ballerina, and we wound through gallery after gallery after gallery, and we finally came to the French Impressionists.
SPEAKER_01: And that was a huge gallery, and then we finally found this picture.
SPEAKER_01: Um and what struck me was how many portraits, how many paintings there are, and I got thinking about the book of Hebrews in this chapter.
SPEAKER_01: Um, what we read in Hebrews is just a small portion of the examples of men and women in faith throughout the centuries.
SPEAKER_01: And there is a place for us.
SPEAKER_01: There is a place for you in God's gallery of faith.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, you'll have to forgive me for a moment for being a proud grandfather.
SPEAKER_01: Um Jane took Annalise, and there's the ballerina, picture of the ballerina behind her.
SPEAKER_01: What struck me is across from that was another Renoir painting, a very famous impressionist painting of a little girl with a watering can.
SPEAKER_01: And what struck me is that Renoir used our granddaughter as a model.
SPEAKER_01: Um, or at least Kara dressed her in that particular dress, which surely inspired the.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, that has nothing to do with this passage, it just has everything to do with being a grandfather.
SPEAKER_01: What I want to suggest is there are portraits of faith in this passage, and there is a place in God's gallery of faith for each of us.
SPEAKER_01: I'd like to hang in that gallery.
SPEAKER_01: This is not just for them, this is for us.
SPEAKER_01: This is to motivate us to be men and women of faith who take God at His Word and live their life accordingly, and I want to hang in that gallery.
SPEAKER_01: Wouldn't it be wonderful if Faith, Evangelical Free Church had a whole corner of that of a whole corner of a gallery?
SPEAKER_01: There's the faith gallery of faith.
SPEAKER_01: Portraits, pictures, yours.
SPEAKER_01: Good, bad, indifferent, ugly, attractive, whatever.
SPEAKER_01: These were just normal people.
SPEAKER_01: But I want to live my life in such a way that that's where it stands.
SPEAKER_01: And I would love to hang there, and I would love to hang with you.
SPEAKER_01: Wouldn't it be wonderful to hang together in God's gallery of faith?
SPEAKER_01: So, what I want to do as we are going through all of this is to just help you realize this is not for them alone.
SPEAKER_01: They are examples of how we are to be, and we are to aspire to be so characterized by taking God at His Word and living our life accordingly, that we live on the basis of things we've not seen, our desires are firmly fixed on a place where we have never been, and we eagerly wait for that which is to come, which is better by far than here.
SPEAKER_01: That is what faith results in in believers.
SPEAKER_01: So if the Lord were to lead for us to come and have you be subjected to my words and so forth over time, um, you just need to know that my own desire is to hang in God's gallery of faith.
SPEAKER_01: And my deep desire would be that together we would find a place of our own.
SPEAKER_01: There is a picture frame waiting for you in God's gallery of faith.
SPEAKER_01: This is not for others, this is for us.
SPEAKER_01: And so that's what I want to think about this morning.
SPEAKER_01: We're gonna look at these uh three verses.
SPEAKER_01: Chad has already read them, I've already touched them.
SPEAKER_01: Uh verse one focuses on a confident assurance of realities that we've not yet seen.
SPEAKER_01: Verses 13 to 16 focus on desires, uh longings that have been that are growing within us for a place that we've never been, and then to eagerly wait with anticipation for that which we've only begun to taste.
SPEAKER_01: So let's take a look at that.
SPEAKER_01: First one of chapter 11, and uh I always use the ESV, I believe that's what you have in the pew in front of you.
SPEAKER_01: That's great.
SPEAKER_01: Um Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things unseen.
SPEAKER_01: And we really ought to just spend the rest of our time with that.
SPEAKER_01: It is faith is the assurance of things hoped for, and what we hope for we don't yet have in full.
SPEAKER_01: The writer of the book of Hebrews, in talking about faith, was really very similar to what Paul was talking about throughout his epistles when he talked about hope.
SPEAKER_01: And hope that is seen is not hope.
SPEAKER_01: We hope for things we have not seen.
SPEAKER_01: I hope it doesn't snow today.
SPEAKER_01: The weatherman tells me it will.
SPEAKER_01: The weatherman is not infallible, but I don't know whether it will or not.
SPEAKER_01: So I hope it doesn't.
SPEAKER_01: We use hope for things that we would really kind of like to see happen.
SPEAKER_01: The Bible uses hope and faith to talk about things that are absolutely sure and certain.
SPEAKER_01: And the reason we know they're sure and certain is because God has said so.
SPEAKER_01: Full stop.
SPEAKER_01: It's very interesting to me.
SPEAKER_01: The very first example of faith comes at verse 3.
SPEAKER_01: 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_01: Very interesting.
SPEAKER_01: When he's wanting to help us understand what faith is, he immediately talks about something that you have never seen.
SPEAKER_01: I can rest quite confidently assured that you were not there at creation.
SPEAKER_01: And we believe that God created the heavens and the earth not because we can disprove evolution, not because uh intelligent design has a great deal of power and is logical and makes a great deal of sense.
SPEAKER_01: We believe in the creation of the world by God for one reason, and that is because God says so.
SPEAKER_01: He's very explicit in the scriptures.
SPEAKER_01: And we may be encouraged by intelligent design, we may be suspicious of evolution, but we don't believe in creation because of any of that.
SPEAKER_01: We believe, even though we've never seen it, that it's true because God says so.
SPEAKER_01: And when God speaks, he neither studies, stutters, nor misleads.
SPEAKER_01: So, right away in talking about faith, the writer marshals something that we've never seen and says, How do you know it?
SPEAKER_01: Because God has said it.
SPEAKER_01: And that's at the essence of faith.
SPEAKER_01: Um, there's other aspects of this.
SPEAKER_01: We're not going to look at all of these, but let's look for a moment at verse 7, Noah.
SPEAKER_01: Um the Lord said to Noah, Build me an Arkee, Arkee.
SPEAKER_01: Uh isn't that how many of you know that?
SPEAKER_01: I won't Lord said to made it out of hickory barkey barkey.
SPEAKER_01: Um by faith, verse seven, Noah being warned by God concerning events as yet unseen.
SPEAKER_01: You notice that?
SPEAKER_01: Events that were future, that were not yet seen, and in reverent fear, out of utter respect for God, he constructed an ark for the saving his household, and by this he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith.
SPEAKER_01: In what way was this an act of faith on Noah's part?
SPEAKER_01: Noah did not build the ark because he saw the dark clouds on the horizon.
SPEAKER_01: He did not build the ark because he saw and had tangible proof that it was going to rain.
SPEAKER_01: He built the ark because he trusted God.
SPEAKER_01: He took God at his word, and so he acted in accordance with that.
SPEAKER_01: Now, Noah was for his countrymen a great fool.
SPEAKER_01: A great fool.
SPEAKER_01: Noah, what in the world are you doing?
SPEAKER_01: Well, I'm building an ark.
SPEAKER_01: Why are you doing that?
SPEAKER_01: Because God said so.
SPEAKER_01: That is the defining characteristic of a man or woman or a young person, a child of faith.
SPEAKER_01: We do what God says, not because it makes sense, not because it's tangible, not because we can prove it, not because we can feel it, taste it, touch it, measure it.
SPEAKER_01: We do what God says because God says, and we've learned that God is utterly faithful.
SPEAKER_01: He's true, he does not mislead, he can be trusted.
SPEAKER_01: So we take him at his word.
SPEAKER_01: Or verse 29 and following, talking about the Israelites who stepped into the Red Sea.
SPEAKER_01: Great true story.
SPEAKER_01: By faith, people crossed the Red Sea as on dry land, but the Egyptians, when they attempted to do the same, were drowned.
SPEAKER_01: And, you know, Cecilby de Mille has helped mislead us a little bit, perhaps with, but you know, picture that.
SPEAKER_01: The armies of Egypt are behind them.
SPEAKER_01: There's nothing but water in front of them.
SPEAKER_01: And God said, step out.
SPEAKER_01: And the water parted because God told them to act, and he was trustworthy.
SPEAKER_01: Maybe a simpler example for us to relate to is Peter stepping out on the water.
SPEAKER_01: Why in the world did he do that?
SPEAKER_01: Because Jesus said, Peter, come here.
SPEAKER_01: And he stepped out and it made no sense.
SPEAKER_01: It was risky.
SPEAKER_01: It was pretty bizarre, and it was an act of faith.
SPEAKER_01: And those are often characteristics of acts of faith.
SPEAKER_01: Things that don't make a whole lot of sense at a certain level, things that involve a certain amount of risk that put us potentially in a dangerous situation.
SPEAKER_01: Verses 36 and 38, another portrait, an example of this, be in the middle of verse 35.
SPEAKER_01: And at this point, like me, his time was running out.
SPEAKER_01: He said in verse 32, Time would fail me to talk of Gideon and Barak and Jamson, Samson and Jephthah and David and Samuel and the prophets, who through faith conquered kingdoms, enforced justice, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the power of the fire.
SPEAKER_01: Skip down the middle of verse 35.
SPEAKER_01: Some were tortured, refusing to accept, some were tortured, refusing to accept release, even though they could have been released.
SPEAKER_01: But they chose instead to remain in that situation so that they might, knowing that they would rise again to a better life.
SPEAKER_01: Others suffered mocking and flogging and even chains and imprisonment.
SPEAKER_01: They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were killed with a sword, they went about in skins of sheep and goats and destitute, afflicted, mistreated, people of whom the world was not worthy, men and women of faith who did things that was not safe, did things that were not logical, did things that were not did not lead to security, did things on the basis of things they could not see.
SPEAKER_01: So what we find that the walk of faith, and I wish I had the time to tease this out a little bit more, but Jane is looking at me rightly so.
SPEAKER_01: The walk of faith seems foolish.
SPEAKER_01: We skipped over Jericho.
SPEAKER_01: How is this for a battle strategy?
SPEAKER_01: You march your troops around Jericho seven times and then you toot your horn.
SPEAKER_01: That is crazy.
SPEAKER_01: That makes no sense.
SPEAKER_01: That is no battle strategy whatsoever.
SPEAKER_01: But it was the people of Israel living their life in accordance with what God had said.
SPEAKER_01: God told them to do it, and it didn't make any sense.
SPEAKER_01: It seemed foolish, seemed radical, seemed reckless.
SPEAKER_01: These people who were tortured, they could have been released, but they allowed themselves to be mistreated, knowing that God has something far better for them.
SPEAKER_01: They were people, all of these, who believed the unseen, namely what God said.
SPEAKER_01: The question for us is: are we willing to live that way?
SPEAKER_01: What is there about your life and mine that puzzles or confuses or perhaps disturbs the unbeliever?
SPEAKER_01: You see, the walk of faith always sets us apart from those around us.
SPEAKER_01: The person who lives by faith and organizes their life that way, makes decisions that way, is not normal.
SPEAKER_01: You are, God willing, not normal.
SPEAKER_01: Just a little aside here, uh we just bought a house in Indianapolis.
SPEAKER_01: We just moved.
SPEAKER_01: We've been there about six weeks, and we're thinking that God may well be calling us to come here of all strange places.
SPEAKER_01: We just bought a house six weeks ago.
SPEAKER_01: We don't even have things unpacked.
SPEAKER_01: Why would we do that?
SPEAKER_01: Uh the the people in the neighborhood that I've explained that, you know, this is you know, we're probably gonna be gone for a year or two, they just kind of scratch their head and say, they don't say it.
SPEAKER_01: They don't know me well enough to, or don't have the freedom to say, but are you nuts?
SPEAKER_01: Why would you do?
SPEAKER_01: And really, why in God's name would you do something like that?
SPEAKER_01: Well, if God says it, we do it.
SPEAKER_01: We act on the basis of the fact that God is good, God knows what he's doing, he does what he will, and what he wills is good, and so we live that way.
SPEAKER_01: What is there about our lives that puzzle, confuse, and perhaps disturb unbelievers?
SPEAKER_01: Are our choices in life based on what is safe, what is responsible, what gives us security, and is as risk-free as possible?
SPEAKER_01: You see, as people of our world, we are driven for safety, for security.
SPEAKER_01: We tend to make choices based upon what makes sense, what's logical, what provides us with safety and security, and we want to minimize risk.
SPEAKER_01: And God says, you don't get it, folks.
SPEAKER_01: He says that to me.
SPEAKER_01: I think he says it to you as well.
SPEAKER_01: Because the walk of faith is not all about being as secure as possible, having the biggest nest egg possible, making decisions that protect our assets.
SPEAKER_01: I'm not saying we be foolish.
SPEAKER_01: I say we be men and women of faith, that we make our decisions based upon what we believe God is saying to us.
SPEAKER_01: And men and women of faith often find that they are asked to do things that are foolish, potentially bizarre, dangerous, and not without risk.
SPEAKER_01: Those whose portraits hang in the gallery are characterized by that.
SPEAKER_01: They walk by faith and not by sight.
SPEAKER_01: Seeing is not believing.
SPEAKER_01: Faith is the confident assurance of things we do not see, but we believe because God says it.
SPEAKER_01: We know God, his faithfulness, and his goodness.
SPEAKER_01: We're not going to get to all of my points, but I trust whatever point it is that God wants to make in your heart, we will get to this morning.
SPEAKER_01: Another characteristic of faith.
SPEAKER_01: We find our desires firmly fixed and focused on a place that we've not yet been.
SPEAKER_01: Read with me if you would, verses 13 to 18, talking about all of these people, the patriarchs, a whole bunch of people.
SPEAKER_01: They died in faith.
SPEAKER_01: Now listen, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth, people who speak this way make it clear that they are seeking to go home.
SPEAKER_01: They are seeking a homeland.
SPEAKER_01: If they had been thinking of the land from which they had gone out, they would have had opportunity to return.
SPEAKER_01: But as it is, they desire a better country, a heavenly country, and God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city.
SPEAKER_01: We find ourselves drawn forward, not driven forward, but drawn forward to a place we have not yet been.
SPEAKER_01: A couple of the many examples here.
SPEAKER_01: Verses 9 and 10, Abraham.
SPEAKER_01: By faith, Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance, and he went out, not knowing where he was going.
SPEAKER_01: He didn't know where he was going to end up, and he was the great example of faith.
SPEAKER_01: But he knew God was faithful, he knew God was true, he knew God was trustworthy, and he made decisions based on not on what he saw, but he moved forward based on what God has promised.
SPEAKER_01: He saw something from afar, he acknowledged that he was a stranger and an alien.
SPEAKER_01: He went to live in the land of promise, but he didn't live there as his homeland.
SPEAKER_01: It was the land of promise, but he lived there as an alien and a stranger.
SPEAKER_01: He was not home here.
SPEAKER_01: This is not our home.
SPEAKER_01: Our home is heaven, and heaven is better by far.
SPEAKER_01: And we don't, the men and women of faith, don't just settle down and try to get as comfortable as possible, as secure as possible, and as risk-free as possible.
SPEAKER_01: And Abraham never got in this life to the place of possession that he was called to.
SPEAKER_01: He was there as a stranger and an alien.
SPEAKER_01: Moses, Moses, I won't take the time, verses 24 and 27, intentionally chose mistreatment because he saw with an eye of faith something far better, better by far.
SPEAKER_01: And so he is an example of faith.
SPEAKER_01: Many, many, many others, I won't take the time to go through it.
SPEAKER_01: A fixed focus on home.
SPEAKER_01: Homeward bound.
SPEAKER_01: That is not a movie about fuzzy little cute dogs.
SPEAKER_01: Homeward bound is the direction of our lives as we walk in faith.
SPEAKER_01: It transforms everything.
SPEAKER_01: The way we arrange our lives, the choices we make, how we spend our money, how we spend our time, and the things that we value.
SPEAKER_01: Jim Elliott, famous missionary, quote, it's not just for the missionaries, folks, it's for you and for me.
SPEAKER_01: He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.
SPEAKER_01: You cannot keep your house, you cannot keep your health, you cannot keep your children, you cannot keep your job, you may not even be able to control your bladder before it's all over.
SPEAKER_01: You will lose it all.
SPEAKER_01: And if we live for that, we are fools.
SPEAKER_01: We are to live for that which is to come.
SPEAKER_01: This is not our home.
SPEAKER_01: And when we begin to feel comfortable here, we're missing the reality of the walk and life of faith.
SPEAKER_01: We learn to willingly sacrifice.
SPEAKER_01: Sacrifice means, and Lord willing will have a chance to work this out in the future, we willingly give up things that we love and cherish for things that we've learned to love and cherish more.
SPEAKER_01: There's nothing wrong with a home.
SPEAKER_01: There's nothing wrong with security, there's nothing wrong with a bank account, but there are things that are far more important than that.
SPEAKER_01: And so we willingly do things that are foolish in the world's mind.
SPEAKER_01: We give up things because there's things that we love and cherish more than the things that we have.
SPEAKER_01: Reputation, respect, the list goes on and on.
SPEAKER_01: I want to keep my desires firmly fixed on home.
SPEAKER_01: I'm a man who wants to go home.
SPEAKER_01: The sooner, the better.
SPEAKER_01: Because God says home is better by far.
SPEAKER_01: The most wonderful, the most fulfilling, the most beautiful, the most satisfying things in this life, and there are many things that are wonderful and beautiful and satisfying.
SPEAKER_01: They are not worthy to be compared to that that we look to.
SPEAKER_01: And the worst things of this life, the worst trials we go through, that's as bad as it will ever get.
SPEAKER_01: The best, the best is yet to come, and I want to go forward in faith.
SPEAKER_01: I want my picture to hang in God's gallery of faith, and I want to hang together there with you.
SPEAKER_01: The question for us is what does God want us to do as we begin to unfold and understand what faith involves?
SPEAKER_01: Focused on things unseen, zeroed in on that which is to come and eagerly awaiting that.
SPEAKER_01: If I had another hour and a half, I would uh flesh this out a little further.
SPEAKER_01: What I really want to say, folks, is what is it that God wants from you as a man or a woman of faith?
SPEAKER_01: Would you pray with me?
SPEAKER_01: Heavenly Father, this passage demands a response.
SPEAKER_01: You demand a response.
SPEAKER_01: Lord, I want to be a man of faith.
SPEAKER_01: I want to be so believing who you are and what you have said, that there's things about my life that just don't make sense to most normal people.
SPEAKER_01: I want to be so focused on somewhere else that I'm not immeshed and entrapped and bound by the things around me.
SPEAKER_01: And I don't want to get distracted from that which lies ahead, which I've only barely begun to taste.
SPEAKER_01: Oh Lord, may I be a man of faith.
SPEAKER_01: May my brothers and sisters, the folks here, be people of faith.
SPEAKER_01: Lord, what would you have us do?
SPEAKER_01: We ask in Jesus' name.
SPEAKER_01: We're gonna uh sing