A Blueprint for Christianity and Your Faith

Welcome to this week's message from the Church at Chelsea Westover.

Our core values are vibrant worship, intimate fellowship, fulfilling service, and clear biblical truth.

We pray that this message changes your life.

Let's tune in to today's message and see what God has in store for you.

Turn with me to Hebrews chapter 11 this morning.

Hebrews 11 · chapter mention

If you do not have a worship guide, raise your hand and I'll make sure you have one.

Does everybody have their worship guides?

That's great.

Because we're going to get into the word.

We got a little saying around here about the word of God, and it goes like this.

And it says what?

We love it, we learn it, we live it.

Let's say that together.

We love it, we learn it, we live it.

And that is our motto about the word of God.

In Hebrews chapter 11, and there's some other verses, faith is one of the most dynamic elements taught in Scripture.

Hebrews 11 · chapter mention

Even in the Old Testament, they still had to believe.

They had to have faith in God.

Whereas in the New Testament, we put our faith in Christ.

But we all, faith was the foundation of the very, in fact, verse 1 in your Bible, in Genesis chapter 1, verse 1, literally says, in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.

Genesis 1:1

Now it takes faith to believe that.

And we are living in a world, especially in a humanistic world and humanistic education that says that God did not create the heavens and the earth.

That it was an evolution process, that it was a, they call it the Big Bang theory, that all of a sudden out of nothing became something.

Did you catch that?

Out of nothing became something.

That means if out of nothing became something, that would mean there's no order.

Amen.

There's no order.

So that really is a ridiculous ideology.

It is an ridiculous philosophy to believe that out of nothing, God, uh hey, out of nothing, something began.

No, we know the story.

Can I get an amen?

And the story is in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.

So you gotta have faith to believe the first verse in the Bible.

And if you can't believe the creation, hey, principle and fact of the Bible and the fact that God created the heaven and earth, you can't believe John 3.16.

Amen.

Amen.

So it all started Genesis chapter 1, verse 1.

Genesis 1:1

And by the way, that is the definition of faith.

In fact, by the way, out of all the faith verses, and let's look at some.

I want you to look at uh Mark 11, 22.

Jesus said, have faith in God.

Romans 14, 23, Paul said, and he that doubts is damned if he eats, because he eats not of faith.

For whoso, hey, for whatsoever is not of faith, now watch, is sin.

That's pretty powerful, folks.

In other words, if we don't believe and exercise and practice our faith, we're living in sin.

Hello?

That's what it says.

I didn't write it.

And then Hebrews 11, 6, in the passage that we're in, in the chapter that really gives us the definition of faith, he said in verse 6, without faith, it is impossible to please God.

For he that comes to God must believe that he is, that he is a rewarder of those that diligently seek him.

So today, this chapter is the great faith chapter in the scriptures.

And uh, it was written to encourage persecuted Hebrew Christians.

This chapter basically was written directly to the, hey, the Jews.

It really was, to the Hebrews that had come out of their belief system of the law, of the belief system of the law of Moses and all the rules and regulations, and they had put their faith in Christ Jesus.

And because of that, they were receiving severe persecution.

And persecution is part of the package.

If you really get saved and really believe, and you, hey, take a true stand on the word of God, you'll be persecuted.

You'll be laughed at.

You'll be thought weird.

I've been thought weird all my life.

Guess what?

I've been weird all my life.

Amen.

Amen.

I just got a reason to be weird now.

I got a truth to, hey, hey, to stand upon.

And so it's so true here.

So we see that they had left the law of Moses to embrace faith in Christ and when suffering greatly for their faith.

And then the writer of Hebrews, we don't know who wrote Hebrews.

Some believe it was Luke, the physician.

Some believe that it was Paul.

I kind of believe it was Paul because it follows the other Pauline epistles.

But I can live with Luke.

I don't have a problem with that either.

But the writer literally, and by the way, one of the reasons it it could be Luke and be so similar to Paul is because Luke was with Paul most of his ministry.

He was his personal physician.

So he saw the good, the bad, and the ugly and everything with Paul.

So in my own heart, I believe it was, if it wasn't Paul, it was Luke that wrote Hebrews.

But that's my personal opinion.

So that has nothing to do with the inspired word, but the inspired word is definitely God wrote.

Let's put it this way: whether you use Paul or use Luke, God wrote it.

Can I get an amen?

But with that said, it's an account firsthand.

And we literally see two things that I want us to look at this morning.

First of all, I want us to look at the description of faith, and then I want us to look at the demonstration of faith.

And in verses 1 through 3, as we read, now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

For by the elders obtained a good report.

Through faith, we understand that the worlds were framed by the Word of God so that these things which are seen were not made of things which do not appear.

Wow.

So faith, to begin the study in this chapter, which is all about faith.

Many people define faith as some wishful hope or some promotion that everything's gonna be a blessing, everything's gonna be good.

I mean, in fact, I grew up with my grandmother watching Or Roberts.

Anyone else remember Or Roberts and the big tent meetings at all?

I mean, every Sunday morning I'd I'd hear him get up and he would say, something good is going to happen to you today.

I mean, I can see him.

I can see it every Sunday morning when I was living with my grandparents.

And by the way, something good does happen when we put our faith in Christ and we start living by faith, walking by faith, and not by sight, second grace by seven.

But there's a lot more to it than that.

And we see right here that what God's word says, but the faith the Bible speaks about, and you may want to write this down, is a belief in the word of God as being true and believing it to the extent that you live your life according to the word of God.

Now that is true biblical faith.

Let me repeat it.

I wrote it down for me.

The faith of the Bible speaks about a belief in the word of God as being true and believing it to the extent that you act according to the word of God, that you live according to the word of God.

In other words, you and I become doers of his word.

Can I hear an amen?

Be ye doers of the word.

Now, watch, not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.

James 1.22.

What do we deceive ourselves of?

We deceive ourselves of the blessings of the results of walking by faith.

Ladies and gentlemen, when we walk in the flesh, we will not receive the blessings of God.

You say, how do you know that?

Because the Bible says in Romans 8.8, for they that are in the flesh, now watch, cannot please God.

So we are to walk by faith.

Faith is more than a mental assent that the Bible is true, but it is an adjustment.

Now, hey, listen.

Faith is more than just believing the Bible true.

Most of us sitting in this building right now would say, I believe the Bible is true.

I don't think we would have one that would doubt that, probably.

But the question is, are you adjusting and living your life according to the Bible?

Now it went quiet.

Do you see how quick that got?

Huh?

Are you literally adjusting and living your life according to the Word of God?

Because if you're not, you're not walking by faith.

And what's not of faith is what?

Sin.

Remember?

Romans 14, 23.

So we can believe it, but if we don't adjust our lives accordingly and live it, we're not walking by faith.

We're walking by flesh, and we're living in sin.

Woo! That's tough, preacher.

I know it.

Amen.

I told you, I told you, we're gonna see the true death.

By the way, the only definition of faith, the only definition in the whole Bible is right here in chapter 11.

Only place.

Now it's talked about everywhere from Genesis to Revelation, but the definition is right here.

Only place.

So it's gonna be exciting as we look and as we're looking at the definition of faith.

Therefore, do not boast in our, we are not to boast in our faith if we're not obeying the scriptures.

Come on, help me here.

Say, oh me, oh me.

So we are not to boast that we are walking by faith if we're not believing and acting on the premises of the scripture.

No way.

We're walking by sight.

True biblical faith is confident obedience to God's word in spite of circumstances and consequences.

In other words, you believe God's word and you stand on God's word, you preach God's word regardless of the circumstances or the consequences.

And I'm telling you, with the new Supreme Court ruling, persecution is coming to the church.

It's already here.

But I'm talking about in America, persecution has been, I meant, horrendous in third world countries for the last 200 years.

But it's coming like we've never seen it before in America.

It's headed here.

Because, again, Satan can't stand people walking by faith.

I mean, it's it's that simple.

Faith, I want you to see this, Romans 10.17.

Faith, in fact, I want you to quote it.

Many of you know it.

Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

Read it, church.

Read it for me.

Okay, read the next verse.

2 Corinthians 5.7, church.

Read.

So, what's the difference in walking by faith and not by sight?

Well, after what I've just given you is the definition, to walk by faith means that we align our lives, our everything that we do, we align it up with the word of God and we obey the word of God, and that's walking by faith.

The contrast is if we don't align our lives and what we do with the word of God, we're walking by sight.

We're walking in the flesh, and for they that are in the flesh cannot please God.

So, we see how important it is to walk by faith.

We trust his word and act on it no matter the circumstances or the uh consequences.

Hey, and by the way, no matter how how impossible sometimes the circumstances look.

Amen.

I mean, really, sometimes you look and you say, There's no way.

Guess what?

That's a good place to be in.

You say, What do you mean, preacher?

When there's no way, then God has to step forward and provide the way.

Amen?

Amen?

Wow, how exciting.

How great.

So, we see how in, man, this gets me so excited because, hey, by the way, believing him to do what is right, let me tell you what is walking by faith.

Regardless of the circumstances or even knowing that the consequences could be tough, we believe God anyway because we know that what, hey, God knows what's best for us.

Romans 8 28.

We know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are called according to his purpose.

That's why we walk by faith.

And faith is the substance of things, hope for, the evidence of things not seen.

Manly Beasley taught me, he said, what that really means, young preacher, and I was a young man back then.

He said, faith is believing something is so when it's not so, so that it becomes so because God said so.

Hello.

Amen.

I knew God was going to build a church once he told me and David and Christy and Susan in our hearts, God said, Pastor, this is it.

This is what I want you to do.

Go build a church in West Over and Chelsea.

Go do it.

I knew.

Now I hadn't didn't have a clue what that really meant.

I knew we had a building, praise God.

Amen.

And I knew we were in a pretty good late location, amen.

But I didn't know all of you guys would be here three years later.

I didn't have a clue.

Amen.

But boy, you look good.

Amen.

I didn't have a clue.

I just did what God told me to do.

Trusting God, regardless of the circumstances, regardless of the situation.

Just trust God and do what God tells you to do.

Amen.

I mean, and we'll see that.

That's what he's talking about.

It's what he's talking about.

That is the definition of faith.

Taking God at his word, believing it.

Believing it.

Believe in it.

That is the character of faith.

That's the character of faith.

That's the definition of faith.

Notice the second thing under the description of faith.

That's the character of faith.

Number two, look at the, no, number two under faith.

Go back.

I messed you up, Jason.

I got to preaching, lost my place.

The character of faith is under the description, but the second thing under the description of faith is the consequences of faith.

Now look at the consequences.

We've got the definition.

The definition of faith is taking God's word, believing it, to the point that we line up our lives with the word of God and we obedient to the word of God.

Let me remind you of one verse that I quote to myself every day.

If you're willing and obedient, you eat the good of the land.

If you refuse and rebel, you're devoured by the sword.

Isaiah 1:19 and 20.

Isaiah 1:19

That's pretty plain and very simple.

Obedience, hey, brings blessings.

Disobedience brings curses.

It's just that simple.

You're going to get in trouble.

By the way, you usually get in trouble by being obedient, but at least you got God on your side.

Can I get an amen?

Amen?

But that's good trouble.

There's a difference between bad trouble and good trouble.

We want to be in good trouble.

Say we want to be in good, good trouble.

You want to be in good trouble.

Being in good trouble is standing on the word of God, even though people persecute you.

That's good trouble.

The consequences, though, of faith.

I want you to see this.

This is good.

Look at verse 1 again.

Faith, there's four words I want you to see in verses one and two.

Four words that give us the example of faith.

Four words.

Verse one, the word substance of things hoped for.

The second word, the evidence of things not seen.

The third word is found, and look at it, in verse 3, through faith, we uh excuse me.

The third word is found at the end of verse 2, good report, that means witness.

For by it the elders obtained a good report.

In other words, they were pleasing to God.

They got God's approval.

And then verse 3 says, Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God.

So there's four words here.

We see, first of all, the word substance.

Now that Greek word is a Greek word.

It's hupatasis.

Hupatasis.

And here's literally what that word means.

It literally means confidence.

It means assurance in God.

In fact, they use back in those days for the word substance could also be translated title, a title or a deed.

For example, when you buy a car or you buy a house and you pay them off or you pay cash, you get a what?

A title that says that that car is yours.

Amen?

So that's what the word substance means.

It literally means in this that God has given us a faith, He's given us a title, He's given us a deed through the power and the person of the Holy Spirit, taking up residence in our life that we know it's like a wedding ring being put on my finger by Susan when we got married.

That is a sign, that is a title, that is a deed, that is a recognition that I'm hers.

That was good, honey.

And that she is mine.

Amen.

So we have a title deed through the person of the Holy Spirit that took up residence in our heart when we got saved, that we are his.

We're his.

You're a child of the king.

Can I get an amen, Darren?

That's a good time to say amen.

Amen.

We're a child of the king.

He's taken up residence, and we are his.

We've been purchased, we've been bought by the blood of the Lamb by Jesus Christ's death on Calvary.

So, but notice the next word, the word evidence.

That's a powerful word, too.

And we're going to look at it in.

So, so the first thing if you fill in your blanks, faith is our substance and our proof that we are a child of the king.

Can I get an amen?

It's the substance, it's the proof, it's the person.

1 Corinthians 12, 13, for by one, for by one spirit have we been all baptized into the body of Christ.

We've been bought.

We've been bought.

So it's the proof.

It's the proof.

Now notice the next word, evidence.

Faith is the substance of things hoped for.

Now watch, the evidence of things not seen.

Now the word evidence is elicos.

Elikas.

And here's what that means: it means conviction.

It literally means conviction.

So if you're filling in your notes, faith is our evidence, but evidence means, you may want to put out on the side, conviction.

In other words, we are convicted of the truth that Jesus Christ died for our sins.

He was raised the third day.

He's seated at the right hand of God the Father right now, making intercession for us, and that he wrote the word of God, and his word is truth, and his word is our roadmap.

His word is our, hey, hey, our textbook.

His word is our love letter.

His word is the way that we should live our lives.

And we are convicted about that.

And the reason we are convicted is because it's truth.

Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free.

John 8 32.

And because of that conviction of the truth, we stand and don't compromise.

And we live our life according to his book.

According to his ways, not our ways.

It's a conviction.

It's powerful.

Notice what else it is.

Verse 2.

By it, faith the elders ordained.

Excuse me.

The elders obtained a good report.

Faith brings praise from God.

If you want praise from God, you got to believe his word.

Can I get an amen?

If you want praise from God, you got to live by his word.

That gives God excitement and praise and adoration.

We are pleasing to him when we listen to him.

Can I tell you there's nothing more that pleased me when my three children was when they would obey me?

When they would obey me, I meant not obey me because they had to, but obeyed me because they wanted to.

There was nothing more pleasing.

And guess what?

There was nothing more rewarding.

And guess what?

They got a lot more rewards when they did that too.

Hello?

It works both ways.

You want to be obstinate?

You're not getting squat from me.

Hello?

Hello?

You're gonna get in trouble.

You may even go to the woods here.

Hello?

Amen?

That's also Hebrews 11.

But now notice, notice, it's a witness.

It's a witness.

Hey, God witnesses his, we're pleasing to God.

We're a witness to God that we're pleasing to him, but we're also a witness to each other.

Remember, hey, conviction produces evidence.

Evidence of what?

Our testimony.

We are convicted to live the word of God, and because when we're convicted to live the word of God and we live the word of God, it's evident to everybody we're around.

Amen.

Our attitude's better.

Our speech is right.

It's evidence.

In fact, blessed is the man who walks in his integrity.

His children will be blessed after him.

Proverbs 27.

Amen.

Let me repeat that.

Blessed is the man who walks in his character, his integrity.

His children shall be blessed after them, Proverbs 27.

And there was another verse God gave me early this morning.

I love it.

Proverbs same chapter verse 11.

He said this a child is known, now watch, by his works.

Whether they are pure or whether they are right.

We are known by our works.

Whether they're pure, whether they're right, or whether they're unpure or not right.

We're known by our works.

That's powerful.

So our conviction produces our works.

Why?

Because conviction produces our attitude toward the truth, and our attitude toward the truth is whether or not we live it or we don't live it.

And if the attitude's right, we live it.

If it's wrong, we reject it.

So it's very important that we understand.

Hey, they obtained a good report.

Let me ask you, do you have a good report?

How many of you remember report cards?

Do they still do report cards today?

Huh?

I didn't like report cards.

I didn't like them because I knew I was going to get in trouble.

I never, never got a good grade in conduct.

In fact, I was doing okay the first three years of elementary school because I had my parents convinced that the word F in conduct stood for fine.

Man, I'm doing fine.

And then when they found out what that F stood for, I was in trouble.

My backside really felt it.

But conduct, you and I want a good report.

Hey, listen, I got news for you.

One day every knee's gonna bow, every tongue's gonna confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.

We're gonna stand before him, and we're gonna have our report card read.

Amen.

Now it has that report card has nothing to do with our salvation, but it has everything to do with our rewards.

Amen.

Everything.

Everything.

And so we see true faith is a blessing to God.

It pleases God, and you get a great report.

You get a great report.

So we're to be witnesses.

And then look at the other word.

In verse 3, through faith we understand, the word is understanding, that the worlds were framed by the Word of God so that things which are seen were not made of things which do not appear.

Faith gives us a perceptive mind.

One of the areas in which faith gives us a perceptive mind is in the matter of creation.

I'm not going to dwell on it because I did at the beginning of the message.

That was my introduction.

If you can't believe Genesis 1:1, you can't believe John 3.16.

Genesis 1:1

Amen.

It starts right there, in the beginning.

God created the heavens and the earth.

It's our understanding of that truth.

It's our understanding.

By the word of the Lord were the heavens made.

The Bible says in Psalms 33, verse 6.

Psalms 33:6

By the word of the Lord we live our life.

So that is the description of faith.

We see the character of faith and we see the consequences of faith.

What is the consequence of our putting our trust in God's word and living our lives according to God's word?

Hey, man, look at it.

We have proof.

We have confidence in our salvation.

We are convicted to stand on the truth.

We're convicted that, hey, abortion's murder.

We're convicted that homosexuality is wrong.

We do not believe in same-sex marriages.

We believe in what God's word says.

And God created Adam and God created Steve.

I was waiting.

I was waiting.

God created what?

Adam.

Male and female.

Male and female.

There's a joke about Steve, but I'm not even going there.

But anyway, it's so important we understand that, folks.

That we live our.

Let me tell you what's happened to the church.

We are living in a society today, in a world, especially in America, that believes the Word of God, but they don't live the Word of God.

We even have people believing that God's ordained same-sex marriages.

How in the world can you believe something that God's word deliberately and passionately rebukes?

But that goes with all the other sins too.

I'm not just picking on that one.

Can I get an amen?

Adultery, by the way, is just as bad.

So, we gotta be convicted through the word, the truth of the word of God.

Now, when that happens, and we have, we have the conviction, and our testimony lives.

I love this.

If you haven't memorized this verse, memorize it.

2 Corinthians 3, 2.

You are our letters written in our heart, known and read by all men.

When I first heard that at Liberty University, the preacher said after he quoted that verse to us that we're a letter, we're a living testimony written and read by everyone.

He said, You're writing a gospel, a chapter each day, by the deeds that you do and the words that you say.

Men, read what you write, distorted or true.

What is the gospel according to you?

In other words, you are a living testimony, all that Jesus is.

We are influencers.

Amen?

We are communicators for the gospel.

So, with that said, then he goes on, after he gives us the description of what faith is, he gives us the excellence of faith and what it is.

Then he gives us, I love it, demonstrations.

I don't have time to preach the rest of the chapter because it's just one after another.

But I decided I wanted to preach four, or three of the four that I've never preached on.

I always preached on Abraham's faith and Moses' faith.

You know why?

More is written about Abraham and Moses in this chapter than any of the other patriarchs.

Why is that?

Remember, it was written to the Hebrews.

And the Hebrews' founders, guess who they were?

Abraham and Moses.

Those were the two key figures of the Hebrew history.

So with that said, but I said, I wanted to go back and I wanted to look at the faith of the first people.

I meant, look at Abel.

When we look at Abel, man, this is good.

Abel was one of the first persons that lived on this earth.

And here we see in verse 4, the Bible says that by faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous.

There's that witness again.

Remember the word we just looked at?

Witness.

In other words, there was evidence of his conviction that he trusted and believed God.

There was always, listen, listen, true conversions.

True, true conversions, right up front.

Once you get saved, there's always evidence of a changed person.

Always.

Always.

Now you've got to enter into the second phase of sanctification and growing.

And if you don't start growing, you can stay a baby, and that's not a good thing to do, to stay as a baby.

But a brand new Christian, there's always evidence that they've gotten saved.

Can I get an Amen?

And guess what that evidence is?

They desire the Word of God.

As newborn babes desire the sincere milk of the Word that they may grow thereby.

There's a hunger.

Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after God, for they shall be filled.

There's a hunger to do what God wants them to do when you get saved.

Now, if you didn't have that hunger when you supposedly prayed a prayer, you had an emotional or intellectual or an intellectual and an emotional decision, but you didn't give your will to God.

Because when you give your will to God, you change.

You change.

Somebody say that's good, preacher.

That's a little deep, isn't it?

Pretty simple.

Pretty, pretty simple.

Therefore, if any man be in Christ Jesus, he's a new creation.

Old things have passed away.

Behold, all things become new.

Wow.

That's it.

That's it.

And that's that conviction.

That's that witness.

That's that understanding.

That's that substance.

That's that proof that we're Christians.

But now notice what he says here by faith.

Abel, the fourth person of the human race, is the first example.

I want you to notice the proof of his faith.

Look at it.

Offered unto God.

Offering unto God was a form of worship.

Offering unto God is a form of worship.

If you're not offering yourself and your time and your talents and your treasures to God, you're really not worshiping God.

You are offering yourself.

Romans 12, 1 and 2.

I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.

Be not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind through the word of God, that ye may prove what is that good, acceptable, and perfect will of God.

Wow, that's good.

That's good.

The word of God transforms you.

And as you are convicted, and as you heed, and as you obey, you become like him.

Oh, and he's pleased.

But we see that truth, the proof, faith and worship go hand in hand.

Look at John chapter 4, verses 23 and 24.

John 4:23

He said, The hour has come and now is when true worshipers, hey, and I love that, but the hour's coming now is when true worshipers, what's the true worshiper?

He tells us the Father in spirit and in truth, for the Father seeketh such to worship him.

Now that word spirits there is not talking about the Holy Spirit.

Yes, the Holy Spirit's teaching us, but he's talking about our inward self, our inward spirit, all that we are, our hearts, our souls, our minds, everything.

We're wholeheartedly in.

Can I get an amen?

One of the things the covenant class does when you go through the covenant class and you sign the covenant.

Here's what you're saying.

I'm in with CCW.

I agree with CCW.

I want to be a part of CCW and what they stand for scripturally, and that they love God and they love people and they want to be a living testimony or writing the gospel, a chapter each day by the deeds that we do, the words that we say.

Hey, men read in Westover and they read in Chelsea the things that we write.

Things that we say.

Now that's it.

I want to be a part of that.

I don't want to play church.

I want to be the church.

Big difference.

Woo! That was good.

I don't want to play church.

I want to be the church.

I didn't say be perfect.

All of us have our flaws.

But bless God, we have each other to encourage each other and to help each other when we fall down.

Get them back up and say, hey, ask God for you to give you, get back on the right road.

Get out of the ditch and get on the right road again.

There's too many ditches around.

Iron sharpens iron.

Yes.

Notice the other thing.

Notice not just the proof, but the purity.

Offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice.

Excellent sacrifice.

You know what that means?

It was pure and real and holy.

See, Cain's sacrifice was polluted and filled with sin.

Abel brought the right sacrifice, the first, the very best.

Cain brought what he wanted, hey, what he wanted, and hey, it wasn't the best.

And it wasn't even what God asked him to bring.

He brought what he wanted to bring.

Hello.

A lot of us come to church when we want to come to church.

We give when we want to give.

We do it when we want to do it.

And that is not an acceptable worship to God.

All of us are guilty sometimes.

Can I get a know-me?

Mm-hmm.

Why?

Because we're doing our thing.

Instead of God's thing.

Big difference.

Big difference.

But notice the purity.

Then notice the price.

Abel gave of his substance to God, faith, sacrifices, and giving.

2 Samuel 24, 24, look at what it says.

David said, I will not offer up anything to God.

Now watch.

And the king said unto uh, nay, but I will surely buy it of thee at a price, neither will I offer a burnt offerings unto the Lord my God of that which does not cost.

Wow.

Faith is, hey, faith, faith costs something.

Can I get an amen?

Look at what he said.

Faith costs something.

In fact, faith is not cheap toward God.

Say that with me.

Faith's not cheap.

Say that with me, church.

Faith is not cheap.

It cost.

It costs God his very best, his only son.

It costs Jesus his life.

It is not cheap.

Time, talents, and treasures.

We figure this out.

Darren said you got to give a minimum.

10% of 168 hours a week is what?

16.8 hours.

16.8 hours.

That's just a tithe to the Lord of our time.

Just a tithe.

And that can include your quiet time.

All of that.

But that'd be a challenge this week for us to really see if we're giving 16.8 hours to the Lord in prayer and study and worship and service and helping people, doing our giftedness.

Ooh, that's time.

I don't know if I want to do that or not.

Not if you're not walking by faith, you don't want to do that.

That's just 10%.

That's right.

Is that, well, let me ask you this.

Is 10 giving your very best?

That's the question I asked me through this message.

That's very convicting to me right now.

Is 10% just is that my best?

Is that my best?

Now watch.

Watch.

That's the price.

Now look at the premium.

A more, here, and I was going to answer my question.

Here it is, a more excellent sacrifice.

Look at it.

Abel gave his best.

Genesis 4, 4 says, Abel gave the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof.

Faith gives the best he's got to God, and it's the first to God.

Woo! That's convict.

That means, hey, the first dime, before you spend a dime, before you pay a house payment, before you pay anything, but that first check ought to go to God.

If you really believe what I'm preaching.

Giving your best.

Most of us wait and see if there's any left over.

Oh me.

And we wonder why we can't ever get out of the hole.

Can't get out of the hole if you're digging it deeper.

Hello?

You okay out there?

No?

Man, we've gone from shouting to mmm.

Hey, he's talking about money.

I'm not just talking about money.

I'm talking about time, talents, treasures.

Some of you got a lot of gifts that you can help us.

We're gonna need a lot of work.

Now, several of you have already said you're ready to help us clean.

We're gonna need a lot of work on this land because we can't afford to pay for it.

And all of it, all the work done.

We need help.

And not only that, I want us to be involved in it.

Can I get an amen?

It'll be exciting.

You're out there building God's land, not our land.

Can I get an amen?

God gets excited about that.

But notice, let me read it again.

He said he, a more excellent sacrifice.

There's one thing the sacrifice, then there's a more excellent sacrifice.

That's what God got my attention this week when I was studying this.

Hey, I really do believe I sacrifice in a lot of my areas, but is it a more excellent sacrifice?

Am I really giving the very best I've got?

That's for me to deal with and for you to deal with individually.

I can't answer that for you.

You can't answer that for me.

But we know.

Very quickly.

Well, he already is right now.

He's eating us up.

And then, watch this.

There's the picture.

He obtained a witness that he was righteous.

God testifying of his guilt.

Faith produces righteousness with God.

And then, watch this: the persecution from his faith.

Look at it.

Look at it.

He being dead.

Abel died at the hand of Cain in the first act of persecution.

The first act of persecution in the Bible was a brother killing his brother.

So, what am I saying?

It's a beautiful illustration.

It's a fact, a fantastic illustration that when we live our lives by faith, we're going to be persecuted.

Amen.

We're going to be persecuted.

Teenagers, don't worry about it.

You stand.

God will bless you.

He'll bless you greatly.

In fact, I'm learning something.

When I stood, I was in high school, I wasn't, before I got saved, you didn't.

I was.

Well, anyway.

So when I got saved, everybody looked at me and said, you know what they call me?

Holy roller.

But you know what my closest friend said?

It won't last long.

It's just an emotional thing.

It won't last long.

Well, guess what?

It started lasting long.

And everywhere they'd say, hey, let's go.

Let's go do this.

Let's go do this.

That I used to lead them in doing.

I said, no, I can't do that.

Oh, well, why can't a little fun never hurt anybody?

I said, that kind of fun does.

I said, I make a I make a deal with you.

Why don't you come experience my fun first?

Why don't you go to church with me?

Church?

Oh my.

Oh my.

Church.

No, no, no.

Why don't you?

Hey, come here.

Why don't you go with me?

Let me show you what God showed me this morning with the word.

Let me tell you what God's doing in my life.

And I start.

Next thing you know, after a year, 22 of the football players had come to know Christ on our football team.

The principal thought, he said, where did Danny go?

I said, Oh, the old man, the old Danny's gone.

He's a new man.

He's a new creation.

But what I'm saying, it took two years, but by the end time I graduated, I had left a mark.

I'd been able to reach a lot of my friends.

Why?

Because of conviction and a witness and them seeing the difference in my life.

And I didn't, I was not pushy with them.

Well, it might have been a little bit.

But but but I I was so, it was so real and so exciting.

I wanted them to have what I had.

Still do.

That's why you think I'm crazy now.

I am.

And you he's but I want you to have what I got.

What I got is real.

It'll change your life.

It'll make you a new creation.

You'll love it.

You'll be, you may not understand it.

By the way, they didn't understand it either.

Abraham didn't understand when God said you're gonna leave.

He's I don't know where I'm going, don't care.

I'm just believing.

I don't know when, don't know how, don't know why.

But bless God, God says, go, pack it up, move it out.

Woo! The persecution came.

But watch this.

The proclamation came too.

Even through his death, hey, the proclamation of the gospel were presented, and let me tell you something.

What I saw here, and the boy, I had a spell when I saw it.

Even when we're dead and gone, if we're living by faith, our faith will live on.

Woo! Our faith will live on.

It'll change our kids, it'll change our grandkids.

It'll change this church and the church of this, the legacy of this church will continue.

It won't be a dead church and dying out.

It'll continue because it window.

We're laying the foundations for 20 years from now.

I may be in heaven, binging them, and your kids and our grandkids will be here.

And I'll tell you what, we'll be up in heaven in the cloud of witnesses looking down, saying, Get them, get them, get them, get them, get them.

That's it.

That's it.

They're living it out.

Even in their death, their legacy will still be preaching.

My granddaddy and my grandmama are still preaching through me right now.

Amen.

I can hear Papa saying, I told you, Danny boy, I told you.

When God shows up, he shows out.

I told you.

I told you, reading this book will keep you from sin, and sin will keep you from this book.

I told you.

I hear it.

Revelation 14, their works do follow them.

Psalms 112, verse 6, the righteous shall be, hey, in everlasting remembrance.

Psalms 112:6

Oh, the memory of the just is blessed, but the name of the wicked will rot.

Proverbs 10, 7.

Notice quickly, secondly, Enoch's faith.

Never hear these guys in their faith.

By faith, Enoch was translated that he should not see death and was not found because God had translated him.

Underline that.

For before his translation he had the testimony, there's the witness again.

Do you see this every time we see the witness, the testimony?

And then watch what happens.

That he pleased God.

His testimony was that he pleased God.

And because he pleased God and he was walking with God so intimately, and they had been talking so long together that day, I don't know, but I think God just showed up and said, Hey, you know, we've been talking all day long, and it looks like you're a little closer to my house than your house.

Why don't you just go on home with me?

Woo! He never died.

He didn't die.

He just walked on home with Jesus.

Man, I can't wait to get to heaven and talk to Enoch.

How was it when Jesus just said, Well, don't you go home with me today?

He also told a thief one day.

He said, Will you just remember me?

He said, No.

Today, today, you're going with me.

Today! Behold, now's the day of salvation.

Behold, now's the time.

Don't miss that salvation.

Now, today.

Let me tell you what else this is.

This is a picture of the rapture one day.

Guess what?

Some of us may be just like Enoch.

We're just gonna be walking, and all of a sudden, we're gone.

See, y'all look at me like I'm crazy.

I'm not crazy.

It's in the book.

The Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel.

And the dead in Christ shall rise first.

That's the only time it's gonna pay to be dead.

They shall rise first.

And then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air.

So shall we ever be with the Lord.

Wherefore, comfort one another with these words.

1 Thessalonians 4, 16 through 18.

What a picture of the rapture early in Genesis.

Walking with God, pleasing God.

One day we're gonna be taken out of here.

Amen.

Well, we're going through the triple, all that stuff.

I may preach the book of Revelation.

I probably ought to do that.

But I everybody so gets hung up in the prophecy, they forget the present.

That's why I've not preached a whole lot on prophecy.

I love prophecy and I've studied it thoroughly.

But what happens, people get caught up on all the what's gonna happen, and they miss what's happening right now.

My question to you is what's happening in your life right now?

How are you walking with the Lord?

How are you sharing the Lord?

What influence are you being with the Lord right now?

Because all that matters in those prophetic utterances when we do stand before the Lord is what you're doing now.

Somebody say that's good, preacher! He had his testimony that he pleased God.

Look at Noah.

Noah's faith.

Did I fill in the blanks for y'all?

Abel has faith in worship.

Enoch has faith, he pleased God.

Noah.

His faith believed the impossible.

Noah's example of faith is all centered upon his work.

His construction of the ark.

You remember that?

Anybody remember the ark story?

You remember what had happened?

How long did it take Noah to build an ark?

Somebody want to Google it?

Hundred years?

I think.

120.

Thank you.

That's what Google said.

It's gotta be right, right?

I'd prefer you look up the verse and tell us what it said.

But Google probably has done that.

Chapter, is it Genesis 6?

Look and see how long.

Anyway, it took him a long time.

Now watch.

Prior to God telling Noah to build the ark, it had never rained.

Never.

So now God comes to Noah and says, You got to build an ark, because I'm gonna send rain and it's gonna destroy the earth.

Wow.

Hundred years.

Somebody find it yet?

Somebody?

Nobody?

Well, I'm gonna say a hundred plus years.

He had been working on the ark.

Okay?

Hundred years.

That's more most of us live.

Nobody.

And Noah's telling everybody that when they're walking by that, hey, I'm building an ark.

God says it's gonna rain and he's gonna destroy the earth.

You better repent.

You better believe in God.

They all laughed at him.

They made fun of him.

They said he had lost his marbles.

Now think a minute.

Think, think.

All right, with that said, let me show you what God taught me.

Look at the premise of his faith.

By faith, Noah being warned of God.

Noah being warned of God.

Hey, hey, faith is not mere wistful thinking, but it is belief in the word of God which controls one's behavior.

Even though he didn't understand it, he had never seen it.

He went to work building an ark.

Had no clue what an ark was.

God gave him the description.

Instead of saying, but God, how it doesn't reign around here.

God, how big is that's too big.

That's not big enough.

He didn't go into all the questioning.

The Bible, right here, listen to what it says.

This is so powerful.

By faith, Noah being warned of God.

Hey, and then he says, move, verse seven, move with fear.

Faith is the great inspirer and prompter of action.

And then look at verse 7.

He prepared an ark and looked to the saving of his house, by which he condemned the world, became heir of the righteousness which is by faith.

Unbelievable.

That one verse is so packed with so many truths of God's example of faith, it blows my mind.

I've never really seen it all.

Until I took it apart.

And here's what it is.

First, the prompting of his faith, he was moved with fear.

The premise of his faith, he believed God's word.

Hey, the prespiration, the hard work, preparing the heart.

Can I say something?

Walking by faith is not easy.

Hello.

For somebody to tell you it's easy, it's not.

Because you and I face a battle every day with our flesh.

It's a hard work.

It's hard for Danny Lovett to get up in the morning and say, Lord, I present my body, a living sacrifice.

I want to live every moment, thinking every day, every thought, every moment for your will, and I don't want to do anything I want to do.

Most time I get up thinking what I want to do.

Thank you.

I had two amens.

Can the rest of you please agree and because you are that way too?

It's hard.

And then look, he prepared an art.

And then, but what's so rewarding to the saving of his household?

His faith saves his household.

Can I get an amen?

And ladies and gentlemen, I have determined by God's grace, through God's promise or through God's word, that if me and my house we're gonna serve God and I'm claimed I'm not gonna lose my kids even now.

Hey, I'm not gonna lose them.

I pray for them, I fast for them, I claim the promises, I rebuke Satan, I'm not losing my kids.

And I'm doing the same thing with my grandkids right now.

I'm interceding.

Wow.

Now look what else.

His faith condemned the world.

Uh-oh.

Well, I'm just not gonna say anything.

I'm just gonna live my life.

Look at what it says.

He spoke out.

He preached against sin.

And then look at this prospects of faith.

He became heirs.

He spent an attorney with God.

And then I'm finished.

Abraham.

Abraham's, I preached on him so much.

So I'm just gonna give you what Abraham was.

It was very simple.

First of all, he was called.

Look at verse 8.

Secondly, it was, hey, hey, it was a pure calling.

It was a real calling.

He said, go out.

It was very simple.

Go.

Thirdly, into a place.

Look at verse 8.

Go to a place.

And then he said, now this is it.

This is a toughie.

After received for an inheritance.

After, after, says Abraham had to wait for divine blessings.

Abraham to wait.

Do you know how long it took Abraham to get that son Isaac?

25 years.

God told him, I'm going to bless you with a son named Isaac.

I'm going to give you an inheritance.

First of all, he had to deal with that.

Because he was a little old.

He was 100 and Sarah was 90.

But he still had to wait 25 years.

25 years.

I would have gone slap like crazy.

Three things.

He believed God.

He believed God when he didn't know how.

He believed God when he didn't know where.

And he believed God when he didn't know when.

Wow.

Why?

Verse 10, he looked for a city which had a foundation, so its builder and maker is God.

Do you know he never saw that city till he died?

All a lot of the promises to Abraham didn't take place during his life expectancy after he died.

They were fulfilled.

Wow.

That's why your legacy does matter afterwards.

I close with this.

I want you to write them down.

I didn't, God gave me this later after I'd already done the outline.

This is powerful.

I want to show you four things and I'm through.

I want to show you four things that show the same elements of faith in each of these four examples.

Number one, God's word.

God spoke to them through his word.

God will speak to you just like he spoke to them about your faith.

The word.

You better, huh?

That may not be, that dream may not have been the Lord.

Hello.

Hello.

Listen to me now.

I'm helping you.

But God spoke to every one of these men through his word.

And the lady, Sarah, through his word.

Number two?

Their inner selves were stirred in different ways.

They had a stirring in their heart that God was dealing with them.

Search me, oh God, know my heart.

Try me, know my thoughts, see if there be any wicked way and lead me in every way.

In the way of everlasting.

There's a stirring.

Do you have that stirring?

Have you had that stirring?

Oh, there was a stirring.

There's a stirring.

There was a stirring in my heart.

Oh, four times I've moved.

There was a stirring in my heart to go to Liberty.

There was a stirring in my heart to go to open door.

There was a stirring in my heart to go back to Liberty.

There was a stirring in my heart to go to Tennessee Temple.

And there's been a stirring, there was a stirring in my heart to be here.

Five times I've moved.

And then number three, they obeyed God.

Regardless of the circumstances or the consequences.

They obeyed God.

And then number four, God bore witness about them.

God blessed them.

God was pleased with them.

And God bore witness that they had God on their side.

Let me tell you why I know God's blessing this work here.

Because he's pleased with us trying to do his word.

Can I get an amen?

Clear biblical truth.

That's it.

That's what we do.

Vibrant worship, intimate fellowship, and serving at home and abroad.

But mainly, if you notice, the first thing is clear biblical truth.

Everything we do is based on the word of God.

We are biblicists.

Not what men think, but what God's word says.

You just were taught word for word, verse for verse, right there.

There it is.

What God's doing here, only God could do.

See, we didn't have any idea what we were doing when we started this church.

I mean, we had a little idea.

Go ahead.

When David said, I want to show you this.

We got here and we sit here and we prayed and we said, Let's do it.

We had no idea.

We didn't even know what kind of church God really wanted, except we knew he wanted a biblical church.

Can I get an amen?

We prayed a long time whether or not we wanted to be a Southern Baptist church.

Did we want to do this?

Non-denominated, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

All that.

And we prayed and we allowed God to give us wisdom and direction on that.

And you're gonna look, you'll hear all that in the covenants class.

You'll hear that.

We'll tell you how that happened.

But then we didn't even know, we had no idea what kind of community.

We had done our demographics, okay?

But the demographics, we didn't realize how young this community was.

33 to 34 with two and a half kids and two dogs or two cats.

That was the demographics of Chelsea Western.

And we didn't know, we said, well, what are we gonna do?

What are we gonna do here?

We know we, you know, we we're gonna need some land.

But what are we gonna build?

What do we want to build?

And all that, and we just kept praying and seeking God.

And I'll never forget, I was driving, visiting, knocking on all these doors, and I crossed that river track and I looked at that land, that sign that had been there for a long time.

And I went and I told David, I said, David, you're not gonna believe this, but God's told me we're gonna get this land.

He kind of laughed at me.

Now he'll say he didn't, but he did.

He said, we don't have that kind of money, we're just a new church.

We can't do that.

I said, I understand all that, but I just believe God says we're gonna have this land.

So you know me.

I didn't, I said, we'll keep looking, and I didn't just stop.

I kept looking, but but then I then I met Jerry, and I finally got said, call Jerry.

I called Jerry and I said, Jerry, we need to meet.

I said, I want to talk to you about your land.

He said, I'd love to sell you that land.

I said, well, I'd love for you to give it to me.

Have not called you ask not.

So we talked and he he laughed.

He laughed at me when I said that too.

And I said, Yeah, but God's in this.

If God's in this, wouldn't you like to be a part of something bigger than Jerry, Lucas, and that bigger and Danny Love It and David Wilson and this whole kid, wouldn't you like to be a suck?

And he's a dynamic Christian guy.

Well, when I started telling in my background with Jerry Falwell, he loved Jerry Falwell.

He said, now I know why you're asking me to give you the land.

And then you know what I did?

I just, I said, well, pray about it.

Then about three months later, I called him back and said, Jerry, okay, we can't afford, and at that time it was 800,000.

I said, we can't afford that, but I said, will you sell us 10 or 15 acres right behind Surpro, right here, so we can build a multi-purpose building, build some, and have some room to do some stuff.

Because God began to give us the vision of the ball fields and reaching these kids, upward basketball, upward soccer, upward flag football, upward, all of this, all of it.

The frisbee golf course, all this, all this started just, hey, this will reach these kids and bring them on here.

We can present the gospel.

And then I said, God said, hey, here's what's gonna happen.

I'm gonna you're gonna get that land for$500,000, you're gonna pay him$250,000, and he'll finance the other.

I said, okay, that sounds good to me.

I went and told David again.

I said, what about that?

He said, well, we're gonna get the$250,000.

It wasn't that he was doubting, he just had, he's a businessman.

He asked the right question.

And you know, I gave him the right answer.

I don't know.

Faith is something's hopeful, everything's not seen.

But I said, gotta do it, gotta do it.

And then I started asking.

Next thing you know, I get$50,000.

Next thing you know, next thing you know, we get a house given to us, sell it for$110,000.

Then we have another gift for$100,000.

Woo! That's over$250.

Hello?

You with me, sir?

We got$300,000.

So Jerry calls me up.

Jerry calls me.

Said, let's meet.

I got a deal for you, preacher.

I said, I'm open for a deal.

You gonna give it to me?

He said, not that good a deal.

But it's a good deal.

So we met.

He said, I'll sell you the 20 acres for$250,000.

I'll sell you all of it for a half a million, and you give me$250,000 and I'll finance the rest.

Woo! Don't tell me God's not real.

Woo! Woo! Hello! And God had told me a year before that that's what he's gonna do.

I'm still trying to get it for nothing.

Amen.

Now that's faith.

That's faith.

That's faith, folks.

And I'm not saying that was a I was just listening and being in the book and asking God to show us what to do.

And I just trusted him.

I didn't know.

I don't know how all the I see it, but I don't know how we're gonna do it.

But it's gonna happen.

And the next step, I want you to be praying right now that the county approves so we can get the inner the entrance and all done.

Would you pray that?

Would y'all pray that?

Let's get that done now.

Then we're gonna start building the soccer field, which we can use for all other fields, then the baseball field.

Then we're gonna build the golf course.

The golf course be easy.

Uh you just stick things in things, boom, start throwing them.

So, but but but we got a big creek down there we're gonna clear out and have walking paths.

We got we need your help there.

We got a lot to do.

But we're crossing over the Jordan.

Amen.

Christianity and our faith.

Thanks again for tuning into this week's message.

We pray that your life has been changed.

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Send us an email at office at the church at cw dot com.

We hope you have a wonderful day and again, God bless you.