A Better Example - August 16, 2026

It is my privilege to invite you to today's sermon podcast. I have made the

Apostle Paul's prayer request my own.

When he states in Ephesians 6.19, Pray also for me, that whenever I open my

mouth, the words may be given to me, so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel.

May today's sermon come alive to you and aid you in your understanding of God's plan for your life.

What if the most significant impact that you have for God will be unnoticed by everybody else?

How do you feel about that?

What would you think if somehow in the future you were given a glimpse into

that and you see that everything you do for God,

personally and maybe outwardly, nobody even notices, would you still do that?

Would you still stay true to God in those quiet things?

So we've got a different measure of success that's out and about right now, don't we?

How many likes do you have? How many followers? How many friends on Facebook do you have right now?

None. That's all right. I don't have Facebook.

No, I do have Facebook, unfortunately. We have this major success that says

if you want to be considered in the eyes of everybody else good,

then you need to have this. You need to have that.

Each one of us personally, but also pastors and churches have this as well.

Well, how many people did you have in worship last Sunday? How many people were

baptized? How many people were saved?

How much do you send to missions? How big is your church budget?

There's all these measures of success that are out there to say, you should be like this.

I mean, how many billions of dollars are spent in every year with advertisements

helping us to know that we're not successful, but if we buy their product or

take their service, then we will be great.

There's all kinds of things like that.

When we think about this kind of dissatisfaction, we've got to guard against

it in our own faith life, in our own Christian life.

Because the temptation is there to do things for show so that other people can

see so they know that we're okay with God.

But go back to my original question. What would happen in your life?

What impact significantly would it have if nobody knew anything that you did for the Lord?

There's a story that I want to share with you just really briefly from 1912.

Have you ever heard of the millionaire missionary?

Anyone ever heard of the Millionaire Missionary? Well, this will be your first time this morning.

In 1912, there was a wealthy family named the Borden family.

Some of us know the name the Borden family from dairy and the condensed milk.

I don't know that this is the same family because there's another Borden family

that had some silver mines in Colorado.

Nevertheless, it doesn't take away from the story that they had a son named

William. William Borden.

And he was to inherit this vast fortune.

But God had something else planned for him. You see, in 1912,

William Borden, he sailed to Cairo, Egypt.

God had put a call on his heart. This young, highly educated,

and this heir to this great substantial fortune, he could have chosen comfort.

He could have chosen a life of influence, of politics, a life in public for

everyone to see how he spent his wealth, but he didn't, because God called him

to serve the Muslim people in northwest China.

That's the call that God had placed upon this young man's heart.

And so he prepared himself. He went to Yale, and he went to Princeton Seminary,

and then he was going to go to Cairo, Egypt, so he could learn Arabic and become

familiar with Muslim culture so that when he went to that northwest part of

China, he could most effectively,

minister and reach out to those people that God had placed on his heart.

The sad part is he never made it to China. Within a few months after getting,

to Cairo, Egypt to study Arabic, he contracted or he came down with spinal meningitis and he died.

He died at the age of 25.

From the world's perspective, people would call that what a waste,

a tragic waste, that this young man, he had so much potential.

He had so much education, so many plans, and his life was in many ways unfinished.

And perhaps even in the church, we might say that.

Why did he waste all that money? He could have given that money to start and

train several missionaries to go to northwest China.

And so we stand back not understanding the stuff that has happened.

But when we look to Hebrews 11, it gives us a different way to see life.

When we look at Hebrews chapter 11, there's a verse, and it will come up in

Hebrews 11 · chapter mention

next week's passage, but it says this.

It talks about all these faithful people, and it says they died in faith,

not having received the promise.

I don't think that William's faith was any less rewarded in heaven,

or will be rewarded in heaven, because he was not able to complete the call.

He was faithful in every step that God laid in the way, even up until his death.

But when we look at Hebrews this morning, we're going to be in Hebrews chapter 11.

Hebrews 11 · chapter mention

We kind of remember some of the success pressures that the first hearers,

especially who this letter was written to, these Hebrew believers,

the pressure that they faced.

And they were being marginalized, shoved off to the side.

They were tempted to go back to Judaism, to go back to all the works,

all the sacrifices, after having received Christ as their Savior.

They were tempted to retreat from their public faithfulness because they knew

that would invite persecution if they stayed faithful and remained faithful to Christ.

They could have a more comfortable life if they would just yet go back to what

everybody else was doing, but they did not.

And we see in Hebrews chapter 11, we're going to look at verses 1 through 16,

Hebrews 11 · chapter mention

but I'm only going to read the first six verses this morning.

Just a powerful statement, a reminder of faith and what faith is all about.

As we read this morning, I invite you to stand if you're willing and able,

and let's hear the word of the Lord together.

Hebrews 11, verse 1. Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.

Hebrews 11:1

This is what the ancients were commended for.

By 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.

By faith, Abel brought God a better offering than Cain did.

By faith, he was commended as righteous when he spoke well of his offering,

when God spoke well of his offering.

And by faith, Abel still speaks even though he is dead.

By faith, Enoch was taken from this life so that he did not experience death.

He could not be found because God had taken him away.

For before he was taken, he was commended as one who pleased God.

And without faith, it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes

to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.

Father, thank you for your word. And as we look at these scriptures and the

ones that follow, Lord, I just pray that you would speak to our hearts, God.

Lord, we ask this morning that you would affirm in our own life where our faith

is strong and help us to continue to believe and to continue to trust you.

And Lord, we also would ask that you would help us and convict us in those places

in our hearts where our faith is not as strong, where even our faith is weak, God.

Help us to trust you in those things we don't understand.

Lord, help us as we look to these biblical examples today, biblical examples

that teach us how to worship, how to walk and how to witness.

And Father, we ask this in Jesus' name, amen.

Thank you. You could be seated. Hebrews this morning, it's Hebrews 11,

the first part of it, it shows us that faith isn't flashy.

Most of the time it's steady, but it's also messy. So this morning,

I just want to encourage you that the book of Hebrews here gives us a better

example of what a life that pleases God really looks like.

Like I said, it gives us an example of our worship, gives us an example of how

to walk with God, and it gives us an example of the witness that we hold because we do follow God.

And so this morning, let's first look at the better example,

or a better example, and example of better worship, and that is Abel.

Cain and Abel, you perhaps know the story from Sunday school,

but if not, they were the children of Adam and Eve.

And Cain and Abel, one was really into farming and agriculture as much as it

was the very outset of humanity.

And the other was a hunter and skilled in bringing meat to the family.

Well, it came time for these two brothers to bring an offering to God.

And in bringing this offering to God, they would bring of their choicest vegetables,

harvest of such and of the meats.

And so they brought them both to God. And in this, God accepted and saw Abel's

offering as more pleasing to him than Cain's.

We know as what happens and erupts after this that Cain is not too happy with this?

And as the story goes on, eventually we see amongst the first things in Genesis, we see the first murder.

As Cain kills Abel. Talk about sibling rivalry taken too far. Siblings don't do this.

Let's look back at what the point of this story and the point of Abel's name

being mentioned in what we call Hebrews 11, this hall of faith.

We think about this example of better worship. Abel's offering was accepted

because it came from his faith, because Abel believed.

His gift was merely not just an outward religious act. He wasn't just bringing

it because, okay, God said it, so we're just supposed to do it.

Abel truly believed that he was giving back to God the choicest of his harvest,

the best that he could give.

And it was the expression of a heart that loved and honored God.

And this really came because of the faith that he had. You know,

when we think about faith, there's many definitions. I want to use a working

definition this morning for all intents and purposes. You could see kind of

the clear definition that comes from verse 1.

We think about what faith is. Faith is trusting someone enough to act on what

they say or in response to what they do.

And that's what was going on here. Abel, in response to his faith in God was

bringing the choicest of what he had to give to God.

Cain brought an offering, don't get me wrong, he fulfilled that,

but it says that Abel brought his best.

Abel brought the choicest that he had, placed it on the altar,

because the act was about what was happening in his heart, the faith that he

had in his heart shone outward.

I see that all the time when we're in here, when we give of our offering.

Some give out of the abundance of what God has given them.

That's how we're to give joyfully and cheerfully. We give that way because of

the faith in our heart, because we're trusting that God has asked us to give

this and we're going to give it.

And so, yeah, not just, yeah, I did what God wanted me to do,

put a check mark by my name.

No, we're giving because of the love we have for God. That same spirit here that Abel had.

God desires a people whose worship flows from that genuine love,

that genuine trust, and that genuine obedience.

I mean, they're authentic in what they do. They're not trying to pull one over

on someone else or pull one over on God, but we do what we do because we truly

love God, because we truly trust Him,

and because we truly want to be obedient to Him, because we know that a life

that follows what God has laid out for us is a life that is blessed beyond compare.

That's what Abel was doing.

God's not just looking for religious rituals or religious activities that help

us maintain appearances, like going to church.

Go to church so I show that I'm spiritual. I show I'm a Christian.

I make sure everyone sees what I give because then that shows I'm checking the right boxes, okay?

People need to see me at different church events so they know that I'm a Christian.

You can do all those things from an outward appearance.

As a matter of fact, Jesus said something about that to the religious leaders of his day.

He said, y'all look good on the outside, but on the inside, you're filled with like dead men's bones.

Outside, you look whitewashed and beautiful and pristine and clean for a tomb,

because inside, it's just a bunch of dead works in there.

Rather be rough on the outside, a little grungy, a little gritty,

but yet have a pure intent on the inside.

We think about what God desires. God desires us as a people to have that kind

of worship that flows from a genuine love for God.

And I hope you come here Sunday morning because you love God.

You gather with his people. You serve by encouraging others.

Man, you do everything you do here when you gather together because of your

love for God, first and foremost.

But because you trust him and because you want to follow through and be obedient,

that you won't forsake the assembling of yourselves together.

God desires that kind of people. He just doesn't want lives that are managed by religion.

He wants people that are transformed by his love and grace and not afraid to show it.

As we sang in Sunday school before, this little light of mine,

I'm going to let it shine.

That we're not ashamed or afraid to let our light shine because we have a true

and genuine love for God.

And so this morning, I would just ask you this question. Are you giving God

your whole heart or are you just simply keeping up appearances out of a routine,

because at some point in your life, you named Christ as your Savior?

My action point for you on this first point is just simply this.

Give God more than a routine.

Give God your whole self in every single area of your life.

Faith-filled worship says, Lord, you are worthy of my first and my best, not my leftovers.

I don't know about you, but I got a lot of good intentions with leftovers.

If you come to my house after church, you're welcome to them,

but I can't guarantee how fresh they are or that you would even want to eat

them. There might even be some green vegetables added to them that aren't really

vegetables. It's probably something like mold.

We have good intentions with things, but leftovers aren't always best.

If you love spaghetti, leftover spaghetti, the second day I've heard is the

best, if you like spaghetti.

Abel shows us something here, that faith-filled worship leads to our daily walk.

There's a translation there.

If you're truly loving God and worshiping him with all that you are,

it leads to what happens in your daily life. And that's what Enoch shows us next.

In verses 5 and 6, we have an example of a better walk.

In Genesis, it says that Enoch walked with God. That's a powerful statement.

Here in Hebrews, it explains what that means, that Enoch pleased God and did not experience death.

His relationship was so close to God that he did not die. God took him home.

God saw his faith, his obedience so much.

I think the word is used, he was translated. Wow. It means he was taken from

this life and taken right into the presence of God.

That's how close his life was to the life that God wanted him to live. Powerful statement.

Did not experience death. If you look at Enoch's life, he didn't lead a great

army to battle against those unbelievers.

He didn't build a kingdom for God himself and have princes and princesses.

He didn't leave behind this public platform that was all about God's people.

His legacy was just simple, and his legacy was profound. He lived in close fellowship with God.

Faith is necessary, we're told in verse 6. Check that out again.

Without faith, it is impossible to please God.

Again, faith, trusting someone enough to act on what they say,

or trusting someone enough to respond to what they do. That was Enoch.

Faith is not only available to you in a crisis moment, when you get that diagnosis,

But when you have this expense that's hit your household and you still don't

know how you're going to take care of it,

when it seems like your life is in panic mode and things are falling down,

faith is good there, but faith is not only meant to be exercised in those tragic,

crazy emergency moments.

Faith is meant to be lived every single day with God.

You know, when we think about walking, it's truly astounding how human beings can walk.

I mean, I know we probably can't think back to when we learned how to walk.

Perhaps your parents or grandparents have videos of that in this day and age.

But I was told I was one of those kids that never crawled. My crawl was a military crawl, right?

So I would learn how to move. And then just one day I pulled myself up and then I started walking.

There's no proof of that. I can't prove that to you other than my parents' words.

But do you remember the first steps of some children, maybe your own or somebody

else's that you saw, and how wobbly they are and how much coordination it takes

to take that first step, to take the second step, and then to walk a little

before falling on your face?

I think the term walking here is important for each of us because that's kind

of how the Christian life is, is step-by-step you learn how to follow Jesus.

Like Enoch here, he learned how to follow Jesus so well that God said,

I need to take you home with me.

We think about what the faith walk is, learning how to trust God and what He

says, learning to deny yourself, learning how to give to others, to sacrifice yourself.

A walk is not dramatic, folks.

It just happens. We know it's necessary. We need to.

But it just happens at one step at a time. You keep moving. You keep adjusting.

You keep balancing. You keep heading in the same direction.

Any of you that have lost your ability to walk for a time, you know how valuable it is.

Though it may seem ordinary to everybody else.

You know, if you've had vertigo, the room spins, everything,

you can't get your balance to walk.

You know how important that is, even though it may seem ordinary to everybody else.

And you know, I want to tell you, that's what a holy life often looks like. Boring.

What's a holy life? It's steady faithfulness in the ordinary places,

doing what God wants you to do, even in the mundane things.

What I want you to do this morning, I want you to stay close to God in ordinary,

everyday life. Stay close to Him.

Those of you that are going back to school, stay close to God,

not just when it's test time and you didn't study, right?

Hey, study and then continue to pray through the test.

Wherever you go in life, God is with you, whether you realize it or not.

So where are you taking God?

Stay close to Him in your ordinary life. Remember, God is pleased,

and you are formed in quiet obedience when you obey God wherever you're at,

in private or with other people.

If you're at home, your faith is being built there. If you're at work,

your faith is being built and grown and on display there.

In the conversations you have with other people in person, and I'll say online

as well, it can be a place where your faith grows.

In decisions no one else sees, your faith is being formed right then and right there.

When you come up to that intersection and there's a sign that says stop and

there's nobody else around and there's no one else around because it's late

at night or early in the morning, do you stop or do you coast through?

And those decisions of integrity that we make, I've got to tell you,

God is with us and our faith is being formed.

Stay close to God. Holiness, it's not about perfection being performed in front of other people.

Did you get that? If you're going to live a holy life, a life without sin,

it's just not a put on. It's just not an act.

It's deeper than that, so much deeper. What it is, it's living so close to God,

that his character, the character of God, increasingly shapes your response.

It increasingly molds your priorities.

And it is increasingly evident in the relationships you have with other people.

That's what holiness is, lived out practically, staying close to God.

So my question for you, What would it look like for you to walk with God,

not just come and visit him on a Sunday morning or when you need something,

but what would it look like if every day you keep in step with the Spirit,

one foot after the other, walking and following every step of the way where

the Holy Spirit of God is leading you?

That which is revealed in Scripture and that which comes to you in everyday

life, which you have to use discernment in order to decide, how am I going to

truly live out my faith in this complicated world that we live in?

Stay close to God. Enoch, his quiet walk, so quiet that God just took him home.

It leads us to this next point in our Scripture passage where we get to look

at Noah, Not my son now, but the original Noah.

The OG, but the O-N, Noah, and Abraham.

Their faith became visible through obedience and their obedient witness.

If we were to continue on in verse 7, by faith Noah warned, when warned about

things not yet seen, in holy fear built an ark to save his family.

By his faith he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness that

is in keeping with his faith.

Think about Noah for a minute. If you're not sure about this story,

you've perhaps heard about Noah and the ark.

You perhaps have heard that this guy Noah, man, when called upon,

he had a choice to make. He could follow God or not.

And what was being presented to Noah, he obeyed God.

It was something he'd never even seen or heard about? Rain? What's this rain stuff?

Floods? What is this flood stuff? God had set in place an incredible system,

in which to water the world.

Fog that would come down and make everything moist and wet and water the plants,

take care of their needs, refill their cisterns and that.

All of that, amazing. So this was foreign. And then God said,

I want you to build an ark. What's an ark?

We see when we look back in the Old Testament, the specifications for what it

was going to be, it wasn't just a little boat.

It was an incredible skyscraper on its side that was supposed to be used. I mean, incredible.

Noah obeyed God to follow those directions, to build that.

And the scripture we just read said, he became heir of the righteousness that

is in keeping with faith, with his trust in God, obeying even though he can't

see the outcome or what it's going to be like, but trusting God every step of the way.

We also see in the scripture passage, Abraham. Abraham left what was familiar,

not knowing every detail of where God was leading him.

The scripture says, by faith, in verse 8, when called to go to a place that

he would later receive as an inheritance, he obeyed and went,

even though he did not know where he was going.

Can you imagine that?

Hey, Abraham, I know you're just chilling here. You're trying to make this great

life for your family in this land, but I want you to pack everyone up and Let's

take a road trip. Where are we going?

Just let's take a road trip. Come on, let's go. I'll show you where we're going to go.

I mean, have you ever taken one of those kind of trips with your family?

Hey, let's pack up and let's go for a trip.

Where are we going? What do I need to pack? How long is it going to take?

Is there restrooms along the way? Are there restaurants along the way?

I mean, we have all these questions. We don't know all the details,

but yet we're called to pick up everything and go. That's what Abraham was told.

Pack up everything. You pack everything and let's jump in and let's go.

Abraham didn't know every detail, but when told to pack up and let's roll, he did.

As a result, he lived in tents as a foreigner in other lands because he chose to follow God.

He looked beyond the temporary, what was here and what was now,

and looked toward what God was promising him in the future.

As the scripture says, he was waiting for the city without foundations,

whose architect is the builder, whose builder is God.

God promises something amazing, something incredible.

Their faith was anchored in God's future, not merely their present circumstances.

For both Noah and Abraham, their anchor was somewhere ahead of them.

I mean, can you imagine that? You're out in a boat and there's no power to it. It's calm waters.

And you've got to get back to the shore because you're baking in the sun.

It's just coming down on you.

Of a sudden, you kind of drift toward this rope, and as you reach down to pull

the rope, you notice far off that the anchor is on the shore there where you're wanting to go.

And so pull by pull, bit by bit, you help to propel your craft to the shore

where, again, you'll be safe and you can go and you can take care of things.

Our future hope is anchored with God, folks.

Just like Abraham, just like Noah. We don't know all the details,

but we do know where the anchor is.

And so let's follow that, pull by pull, tug by tug, step by step to follow and

to live into the hope that God has given us.

That's what Abraham and Noah were doing.

They were living into that hope. Scripture says they died without receiving every promise in full.

Man, I can imagine back to our first story with William had great aspirations

of how many people he would lead to Christ, how many Muslims would be led to

Christ through his ministry in northwest China.

But he didn't even finish language school because he passed away.

And again, you can look at that. What a failure for the kingdom.

What a failure for this man and his family who had big dreams for him.

Imagine the same feelings were there for Abraham and Noah. I mean,

think about Noah. Dude, what are you building?

I mean, it wasn't just like a weekend project. We're talking decades, 100 years, a century.

Out there hammering right, people making fun of him.

People wondering, why are you wasting your life doing that? There's so much

better things to do. The festival is in town.

Come on, Noah, bring your family. It's family friendly. Let's go. No...

Got something to do. I've got to build this ark. God's promised me something big is coming.

We can look at that and say, what a waste. But yeah, we, 21st century America

can look back and say, wow, what faithfulness, what obedience,

what a great witness that in the midst of everything, he continued to be faithful to God.

I want to tell you, I don't think they died disappointed. I think Abraham,

I think Noah, they died trusting that anchor that was in their future, what God was going to do.

I want to invite you in this action point today. Obey before you know the outcome.

If God has placed something on your heart, do what God says before you know

how it's all going to work out, before you know how God's going to put it all together.

Now, board members, I know you're holding your seat tight. Pastor,

what are you talking about?

There's times we just need to step out in faith and let God fill in the pieces.

That's hard for me because I'm a planner, and I like to know those details.

Okay, we do A, then we do B, and then we do this and that, and this falls into

place. All right, I can see the way. Now let's go.

God doesn't always work like that.

Sometimes he wants to see our step of faith, if we're going to do it or not.

A quick story. When I first became a full-time youth pastor at the first church

of Nazarene I was ever a part of, it took a few years.

When I came to that church, they had a lot of teenagers, and we We built that

up, and some were stinkers, the pastor's kids.

And, you know, it was hard to minister to those teenagers, especially the pastor's kids.

But we did, and we strived along, and we slugged it out.

The youth group grew, and there was a need that I would need to become full-time. But guess what?

Church budget said no.

That is not going to be possible, Mike. I said, no worries. I'll keep working

the jobs. I worked a full-time job and did a full-time youth ministry,

and the Lord took care of us all along the way.

But then it finally came time to where I just didn't need to be the youth pastor,

but there were some duties in the church that I had skills that would be useful there.

And so without knowing how it was going to come to pass, the church board said,

Pastor Rod, we're going to follow your lead and you say that Mike needs to be full-time.

We're going to make that happen. Mike, you can resign your job over at the food

bank and you can join us full time.

I said, okay, does this like for one month?

I'm going to quit my job if it's just going to be one month.

And then we're going to look at the balance of the budget spreadsheet and say,

nope, sorry, go get your job back.

Took a step of faith. And in that step of faith, here's how God worked.

It's crazy. I don't know who gave or how it happened, but in the next month,

the church received a special giving, special project for my whole salary for the next year.

The Lord put that on someone's heart. I think it was several someone's,

but it was a step of faith for that pastor, for this pastor,

for that church board to all take at the same moment, to take that step of faith.

Now, I'm not trying to pull a quick one here and say we're hiring someone,

so let's take an offering. That's not what I'm saying this morning.

But I want you to see how that works with the Lord.

When you take those little steps of faith, sometimes a big step of faith,

God will come through for you. He came through for Noah.

He came through for Abraham.

But they had to obey before they would see the outcome, even if they never saw the outcome.

And you know what? Obedience feels slow.

Like, man, is this ever going to happen? If you ever drive by my house in Parma,

you'll see our patchwork lawn out front.

Man, I've been working on that thing.

And slowly but surely, the little green grass is sprouting up.

If you drive by, you'll see a big bear spot in my yard where I hoed up all of

the, what they call it, goat heads, puncture vines, got rid of some other weeds.

And slowly, I've been working that soil, just this little patch,

probably five, six feet in diameter, but it's an eyesore to me.

It looks green to everybody else or used to, not anymore, but working that and

working at it ever since the beginning of summer, finally starting to see some little shoots come up.

In our life, there's going to be times where obedience just seems slow.

God, I'm doing what you say, but I'm not seeing any results.

Don't stop obeying. Don't stop doing what God calls you to do.

You're going to see an outcome.

Delayed results don't mean that your obedience is wasted. All right? Keep at it.

Like Abraham here. We're aliens and strangers, not space aliens.

That's not what I'm talking about.

In this world, we're foreigners. We're pilgrims, not permanent residents.

Yeah, we like to build up. We like to take care of our family,

but our biggest hope is not in what we can build here.

It's what we're storing up in heaven. It's what we're storing up ahead of us.

God is going to take care of us if we continue in that.

Where is God asking you to trust him before you see the whole picture this morning?

Is there something God's asking you to do?

As we conclude this morning, I want you to know that true faith is about trusting

God, even when the outcomes aren't visible.

You still trust him. You still have confidence that he's going to come through for you.

Is there an area of your life that God has called you to do something,

to step out in faith, to step out with the kind of long-haul obedience that

Noah had, the kind of obedience that was extended like Abraham had.

I mean, think about Abraham just for a second.

God made him a promise that I would make a great nation from you through your

heir, which would be Isaac.

And then God challenged that and said, hey, why don't you and Isaac go camping,

and we're going to sacrifice him. What?

We know how that story came out, but Abraham had faith that God was still going

to keep his promise, even if he would to plunge that knife down as the sacrifice

into Isaac, that God would somehow bring him back from the dead.

I mean, it's just a powerful statement of Abraham's faith. The world wants us

to chase recognition, to chase comfort, to chase what has immediate results right now.

But we know Hebrews 11 calls us to a greater example.

This morning, we have this example from Abel of a better worship,

example from Enoch of a better walk.

We have this example from Abraham and Noah of a better witness,

the long haul, the long view.

So what is it this week that you can do to take a step of faith?

What is one act of quiet obedience that God is calling you to take this next week?

Something that He wants you to do.

And who can you share quietly with as part of an accountability partner.

So that's what I want you to do this week. I always give you homework,

right? It's school season. You got to get used to it, even though see that aren't in school.

I want you to do this week. Choose one small act of obedience that no one else might see you do.

You don't have to choose right now, but this week, something that reflects your

trust in God, something that reflects your faith in God. You're not doing it for visibility.

You're not doing it for applause. You're doing it because you want to take this step of faith.

I want you to write that down, whether it's on the back of your bulletin or

a little notepad later or somewhere when you get home, then share that with

one trusted friend, with your spouse, perhaps, with your Sunday school group

or a Sunday school teacher.

Share it with someone. Well, wait, Mike, that seems counterintuitive.

You want us not to tell anyone, but you want us to tell one person.

What are you saying to me here, man?

I'm saying, tell that one person that's not going to shout it out to everybody

else that you can trust for accountability because you want to take this step of faith.

Now remember, or maybe you don't remember, when you're trying to walk,

sometimes you had to hold somebody's hand to help take that step of faith.

That's just what this is.

You're like, but I'm a full-grown Christian, man. What are you talking about?

Well, sometimes when God really puts something on our heart,

we need to be accountable to help us to take that step of faith.

If that person knows, then they can ask us about, hey, did you do that?

How did it work? Give them a copy of your piece of paper.

Let them ask you about it next week, but don't forget to do it this week.

Again, choose that one small act of obedience that no one else will see.

A private act of generosity. You slip something into the tip jar that maybe

you normally wouldn't have done.

You see someone in need and you try to meet that.

Maybe it's a hidden act of repentance. There's something you need to turn away

from and nobody else knows about it but you and the person you're going to tell.

And maybe this is the week that you finally get some victory over that and you

repent, you turn away from that, that sin, that attitude, that behavior.

Maybe it's a quiet commitment to pray for someone every single day for a specific

need. Man, look at our bulletin. There's lots of needs that we need some prayer warriors on.

Maybe it's a step of obedience in a difficult relationship that you have.

Maybe you've been butting heads with someone in your family,

and now it's time just to figure out how you can stop doing that and how you

can, again, share the relationship, maybe even better than you once had.

Perhaps it's a choice to surrender or a habit, give up some time that you've

been wasting and invest it somewhere else?

I don't know. There's plenty of ideas. I'm not telling you what to do because

I know God's going to tell you what to do.

If you open your heart and faith and trust God, that he'll lead you along in that.

Why do I want you to share that with someone else? Why do I want you to do this

in the first place? Well, faith grows when you take good intentions and put them into actions.

That's when your faith grows.

God meets us also most deeply in the obedience that nobody else notices.

You want to get closer to God? You want to meet God? Do those things that he's

asked you to do without nobody knowing. Take those little steps of faith.

Before long, you will be running the marathons of faith.

Doing bigger and greater things than you could ever dream of with God.

You know, we said true faith isn't flashy, it's steady. And as we look to the

story of some of these guys, sometimes it's messy.

This morning, would you trust that God is shaping you most in the unseen places of obedience?

Follow God this week, folks. See where he leads you. Let's pray.

Father, thank you for the opportunity to be here today, to gather together with

your people. So, Lord, to have this challenge from Hebrews 11,

not even the whole chapter, God, but I thank you, Father, for the challenge

we have to step up and to do what you have called us to do.

And Lord, help us to continue to be people of faith.

Lord, in the seen places, not showy, but God, just living out who you've called

us to live out, even if it's opposite of what the culture is doing.

Lord, may we not shrink back from that to do what you have called us to do.

Lord, even in those private moments when we don't have to follow you,

when no one else is looking, when no one else sees us, Lord,

help us to remember that in those moments, perhaps more than ever,

we need to truly exercise our faith.

And so, Father, be with us this week, we pray. Help us, Lord,

to live out true faith that is steady and goes the distance.

We love you, Father. It's in Jesus' name that we pray this today. Amen.

I want to thank you for joining today's sermon podcast. You can find a copy

of today's sermon, as well as other sermons, and the sermon outline from today

on our church's website,

www.mvcnaz.org.

It is my prayer also that you will seek out a church home that recognizes the authority of the Bible.