Faith in God's Promises.mp3
Hebrews 11:1-3,8-16
1Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. 2This is what the ancients were commended for.
3By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God's command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible.
8By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. 9By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. 10For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God.
11By faith Abraham, even though he was past age—and Sarah herself was barren—was enabled to become a father because he[a]considered him faithful who had made the promise. 12And so from this one man, and he as good as dead, came descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as the sand on the seashore.
13All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance. And they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth. 14People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. 15If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. 16Instead, they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.
Hitchhiker
- Jimboomba to Brisbane, running late, Browns Plains
- Where are you headed? Ipswich
- What's in Ipswich? Work
- So you don't own a car? No, I'm a christian and know that God will provide.
- You don't fear that you'll be late for work? Have been sometimes, but I've been doing it for more than a month and I get there eventually.
- Exchange pleasantries, and dropped him off where our destinations parted. I offered to drive him further if he wanted, but he insisted he will be fine.
- Why was I late? Why did I stop? Am I being an instrument of God to this hitchhiker?
- Feeling challenged by this outward display of faith. Do you? Is this Faith? Is this putting the Lord God to the test? We pray for God to provide us this day our daily bread. Is getting to work by faith the same as daily bread?
Abraham
Hebrews 11:8 - "By faith Abraham, when CALLED TO GO to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. "- Abraham had faith in a promise of God
- Covenant between God and Abraham
- Scene of the Heifer, Goat and Ram cut asunder.
- Covenants of the day.
- "What you do to these animals, you can do to me if I break my promise"
- Getting late, getting scared.
- God alone passes through the dead animals.
- This is my promise to YOU. This land will be yours, your descendants will be as countless as the stars.
- Abraham just had to believe that what God said was to come true. He obeyed, sort of. Hagar.
Noah
Hebrews 11:7 "7By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in holy fear built an ark to save his family."
Genesis 6:13-22 "So God said to Noah, “I am going to put an end to all people, for the earth is filled with violence because of them. I am surely going to destroy both them and the earth. 14 So make yourself an ark of cypress wood; make rooms in it and coat it with pitch inside and out. 15 This is how you are to build it:" ...
Gen 6:22 "Noah did everything just as God commanded him."
- Noah's faith was once again to follow the command of God, to expect that what God had said will come true.
- Evan Almighty
- Looking silly, News sensation.
- Noah feeling the same?
- Journey of faith may not be the easiest path to live through the world, in fact it's almost guaranteed not to be.
- Noah's actions are rewarded however, quite literally through survival. God's word did come true.
- God then set another covenant with Noah to never flood the earth again. A promise from God.
Listening to God
So how do we hear God's promises to us? Listening to His voice through the Bible. Is there time set aside to hear God?
- Faith 5
- Highs & Lows, Read, Talk, Pray, Bless
- 5 minutes. Enough?
- How about church attendance too?
Not enough for God, he wants to be with us more than that. He loves us more than we love our children, more than newlyweds. When you're in love you can't think of anything else better than spending time with your loved one. It doesn't even cross your mind that 5 minutes should be enough. God wants to be with us, to talk to us and share our lives every second of the day. He's there when we go to work, when we're eating dinner, when we're sleeping, even when we're in the shower. God wants us to walk with him.
Genesis 6:9 "Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked with God."
Enoch
Hebrews 11:5 "By faith Enoch was taken from this life, so that he did not experience death;"
Genesis 5:24 "And Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him."
God's Promise
There is a promise of God to be found for us. It's there in the Bible for us to read, and up on the front of St John's church for the rest of Bundaberg to read.
John 3:16 "For God so loved the world that he gave his only son, so that whoever believes shall not perish, but have eternal life".God's new covenant prepared for us also required the ripping of flesh, but not animals, Jesus life. This is how serious the promise is. Paid in blood.
God's love for us is so great that he would suffer the humility and pain of crucifixion just so that he gets the chance to spend eternity with us. Us, the ones drenched in sin.
Our faith starts with believing this promise. Holding it as a certainty in our lives. It's a promise God intends to keep so that we may be free to respond in kind and love God and one another with no bounds.
We join with the giants of our faith written in Hebrews, Abraham, Enoch, Moses, Noah:
Hebrews 11:13All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance. And they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth. 14People who say such things show that they are longing for a better country—a heavenly one"
Hold in your heart the promise of God.
"Whoever believes in him may not perish but have eternal life"
This is most certainly true.
Amen.
