Faith Evident | Elder Peng Hoe

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Up your tea faith evident.

I'm going to bring us through scripture, mainly a portion

of scripture that I realized I've never preached from. I

never really taught because I thought it was just so

much in it. And this is Hebrews chapter eleven, one

of my favorite chapters in the entire Bible, Hebrews chapter eleven.

In your notes, there are some verses that are taken

out from Hebrews chapter eleven. I'm gonna go the whole

Hebrews Chapter eleven. Okay, We're gonna go through it. And

one of the reasons why I think maybe I never

really appreciated, because it's so if you want to preach

it and teach it in detail, every character has a

whole story. Today, I'm gonna wag them all in okay,

and I pray we see something. But I'm gonna read

the scripture first, and I'm gonna read from the NLT,

and I want us to some things. Then I want

you to read it as well, because it's a powerful,

powerful chapter. The chapter that we know it's on faith,

and Verse one starts by saying this faith shows the

reality of what we hope for it is the evidence

of things we cannot see.

Through their faith.

The people in days of All earned a good reputation.

By faith.

We understand that the entire universe was formed at God's command,

that what we now see did not come from anything

that can be seen. It was by faith that Able

brought a more acceptable offering to God than can did.

Able's offering gave evidence that he was a righteous man,

and God showed his approval of his gifts. Although Able

is long date, he still speaks to us by his

example of faith. It was by faith that Enoch was

taken up to Heaven without dying. He disappeared because God

took him, for before he was taken up, he was

known as a person who pleased God, and it is

impossible to please.

God without faith.

Anyone who wants to come to him must believe that

God exists and that he rewards those who.

Sincerely seek him.

It was by faith that Noah built a large boat

to save his family from the flood. He obeyed God,

who warned him about things that had never happened before.

By his faith, Noah condemned the rest of the world,

and he received the righteousness that comes by faith. It

was by faith that Abraham obeyed when God called him

to leave home and go to another land that God

would give him as his inheritance. He went without knowing

where he was going, and even when he reached the

land God promised him, he lived there by faith, for

he was like a foreigner living in tents, and so

did Isaac and Jacob, who inherited the same promise. Abraham

was confidently looking forward to a city with eternal foundations,

a city designed and built by God. It was by

faith that even Sarah was able to have a child.

Though she was barren and was too old, she believed

that God would keep his promise, and so believed that God,

and so a whole nation came from this one man,

who was as good as they, a nation with so

many people that, like the stars in the sky and

the sands on the seashore, there is no way to

count them bursttain. All these people died still believing what

God had promised them. They did not receive what was promised,

but they saw it from a distance and welcomed it.

They agreed that they were foreigners and nomads here on Obviously,

people who say such things are looking forward to a

country they can call their own. They had longed for

the country they came from. They could have gone back,

but they were looking for a better place, a heavily homeland.

That is why God is not a shame to be

called their god, for he has prepared a city for them.

It was by faith that Abraham offered Isaac as a

sacrifice when God was testing him. Abraham, who had received

God's promise, was ready to sacrifice his only son, Isaac,

even though God had told him Isaac is the son

true whom your descendants will be counted. Abraham reasoned that

if Isaac died, God was able to bring him back

to life again, and in a sense, Abraham did receive

his son back from the day. It was by faith

that Isaac promised blessings for the future to his sons,

Jacob and Isaul. It was by faith that Jacob, when

he was all and dying, blessed each of Joseph's sons

and bowed in worship as he leaned on his staff.

It was by faith that Joseph, when he was about

to die, said confidently that the people of Israel would

leave Egypt. He even commanded them to take his bones

with them when they left. It was by faith that

Moses' parents hid him from three months when he was born.

They saw that God had given them an unusual child,

and they were not afraid to disobey the king's command.

It was by faith that Moses, when he grew up,

refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter. He

chose to share the oppression of God's people instead of

enjoying the fleeting pleasures of sin. He thought it was

better to suffer for the sake of Christ than to

own the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking ahead

to his great reward. It was by faith that Moses

left the land of Egypt, not fearing the king's anger.

He kept right ongoing because he kept his eyes on

the one who is invisible. It was by faith that

Moses commanded the people of Israel to keep the pass

Over and to sprinkle blood on the door poles so

that the Angel of Death would not kill their firstborn sons.

It was by faith that the people of Israel went

right through the raid sea as though they were on

dry ground, but when Egyptians tried to follow, they were

all drowned. It was by faith that the people of

Israel much around Jericho for seven days, and the walls

came crashing. Now it was by faith that Rehab the prostitute,

was not destroyed with the people in her city who

refused to obey God, for she had given a friendly

roylcome to the spies. How much more do I need

to say? It would be too long to recount the

stories of the faith of Gideon, Barak, Sampson, Jephthah, David, Samuel.

And all the prophets.

By faith, these people over true kingdoms, ruled with justice

and received what God had promised them. They shut the

mouths of lions, quenched the flames of fire, and escaped death.

By the age of the sword, their weakness was turned

to strength. They became strong in battle and put whole

armies to flight. Women received their love ones back again

from death, but others were tortured, refusing to turn from

God in order to be set free. They placed their

hope in a better life after the resurrection. Some were

jeered at and their backs were cut open with whips.

Others were chained in prisons. Some died by stoning, some

were sought in half, and others were killed with the

sword somewhere about, wearing skins of sheep and goods. Destitute

and oppressed and mistreated. They were too good for this world.

Wandering over deserts and mountains, hiding in caves and holes

in the grounds. All these people earned a good reputation

because of their faith. Yet none of them received all

that God had promised. For God had something better in

mind for us, so that they would not reach perfection

without us. The Lord bless the reading of his word.

It's a powerful scripture. Actually it goes on. The continuation

is in Hebrews chapter twelve, verse one, which says, therefore,

let us strip ourselves of everything, so that we can

keep our eyes focused and peel on the pioneer and

the perfector of our faith, Jesus Christ is his name.

So I'm gonna start off by saying this.

Those who walk by faith are those who are absolutely

certain of things that nobody else can see, because faith

is the very substance of those things.

It's the substance in you of being certain.

Faith is something that is tangible to the person who

has faith, and you can feel the faith, you can

know that faith is there and it is tangible evidence

that you can hold on to, not just a figment

of your imagination. You see Thomas, everyone remember Thomas. Thomas

was one of the apostles. They call him doubting Thomas sometimes,

but he spoke for many of us, many of us

because that's how we feel. And he says, until I

can push my fingers through the wounds of your hands,

Lord is going to be really hard for me to

believe that you are real and you are really alive

right now. And Jesus was so gracious, he was so

gracious to Thomas. No, I think he knew that this

was the man that, Okay, he's going to set up churches.

I know he's going to be planting ches, one of

my disciples, one of my apostles.

Okay.

He says, all right, you can handle me, and he

allowed Thomas to stick his finger into the wound. And

we know because of that Thomas believed. And we know

also because of that historically today we have a lot

of churches called the mar Thoma churches, mainly from India.

Because Thomas was not rumored.

Thomas actually traveled with the Gospel of Jesus Christ all

the way. I think it was probably southern India where

he planted himself and planted churches in the continent and

in the whole area of India. And today, really this

is the legacy that has been left behind.

But Jesus didn't stop that.

He actually says, no, but blessed are those who have

not seen but have believed, because not everyone would ever

have the privilege that Thomas had. And he says more,

blessed are those who did not see, but yet they believe.

And so today I'm going to attend to do three things. Firstly,

I'm going to attempt to explain faith. Okay, the first

is explain faith. Then the next thing I want to

do is to highlight examples of faith. And then I'm

going to point us to some scriptures to see how

we are told to exercise faith, treat ease, explain examples,

and exercise. So let's start off with the basic explanation

of faith, and it is right here in Hebrews chapter eleven.

What is it?

The biblical definition is now, faith is being sure of

what we hope for. Sounds like a bunch of mumbo

jumbo sometimes when we are reading it, Huh, what is

being sure of what? We hope fall well, I believe

sometimes it sounds far fetched, only because the word hope

in the English vocabulary has diminished in its value.

It becomes more.

Of an uncertain word than a word that connotes certainty.

That's that's why when.

We like, like you know, when we are praying for

the weather, I hope it doesn't rain today, because I

got this big event that I'm organizing. But when you

say I hope, I hope it doesn't rain today, you're

not stating a fact. You are claiming something that It's

almost like wishful thinking sometimes. But the difference is the

word hope in the Bible is not wishful thinking. The

word hope in the Bible actually gives out a meaning

that is very certain, very sure, very strong. If somebody says,

are you going to heaven? You don't really just say

I hope, so you are saying I'm absolutely certain of

it that I'm going to heaven. How many of us

can hope the way the Bible taught or teaches us

to hope, because what else is faith? Faith is also

the certainty of what we do not see. Okay, So

the first thing is faith is the hope being sure

of what we hope for. Being certain of what we

hope for. But faith is also the certainty of what

we do not see. You see it to be as

certain of what you cannot see is a gift from God.

Not many of us are able to.

Be certain of something in which our senses cannot fully sense.

It's just normal.

And that's why I say it's God's gift, because it's

not something that.

You can work up or work out.

You can't just brainwash yourself and say that I'm gonna believe,

I'm gonna believe.

I'm going to believe.

If it's just you trying a mind over matter kind

of a technique, you will realize that it's going to

be very shaky and it will collapse the minute something happens.

The mining you go through testing, it will collapse. But

if you want to know who is it that God accepts,

He accepts those who believe now in the present, those

who are not going to say our way and see

how things turn out. I believe right now that He

is real. I believe right now in the promises that

He has made. These are the people that God commands.

And that's why faith is always the language that God understands.

Some people have.

Said, but the cannon once upon a time say this,

faith is the currency of heaven.

How heaven traits is in faith.

If you don't show faith, it's going to be hard

for the Lord to acknowledge who you are. But it's

not being able to see and believe in. That is

what faith is. And faith is not just about the present.

It is very important at the present can we say

we believe? But it also goes further forward because it

is also sure of the things that are in front.

Not only is it sure at present, it is also

sure of things that are It is also sure of

the future.

But not only that.

Faith is also backwards to a certain extent, because it

is also sure of the past, which a lot of

us cannot see. How many of you can see the

entire past. We may have read about it, but none

of us may have lived it, And so no one

can tell us the truth or the untruth of the

first ten words of the Bible. Do you realize that

in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

Who was there to say that it is absolutely true?

And that's why some people say that it's absolutely not true,

and others will be like, I'm not sure.

Maybe it's true, maybe it's not. Just let it be.

But faith is saying that I believe, because it is

faith that we believe that something was made and God

is the creator. It is by faith that we believe

that something was made out of nothing. It is by

faith that we believe God simply had to speak and

matter and energy begin to become. And it is by

faith that you can believe that you know the past

requires faith as well. Everything that the Bible says requires

faith because none of us were there. We didn't see it,

we didn't experience it, we didn't hear it other than

reading God's word and reading the account. And that is

why people who have strong faith always appear very rigid,

very dogmatic. The word dogmatic means that you hang on

to something that you know and you ain't gonna shake,

And we hate people sometimes like that. This is so dogmatic,

So regid cannot cannot move and cannot be a little

bit more flexible.

Who are you to say that it's.

Not that that didn't happen or that did happen, because

none of us can claim to be there.

But we are certain? Are we certain?

Because the reality of it is they are not people

who have a lot of faith. It's not having a

lot of faith in themselves. They're not being sure of themselves.

The reality is they're being sure of God and of

Heaven and of creation.

Does that make sense?

So let us now turn from the explanation of faith

to see all these wonderful examples that we have, because

you can always understand it better when you look at

specific examples. And Hebrews chapter eleven is a wonderful chapter

that talks about all these wonderful accounts. Because the truth

is the Bible is personal. It does not come to

us just merely as a book that is philosophical, or

just merely as a historical book, or not a scientific book,

or not just merely as a systematic book of theology. No,

it comes to us in life. That means the Bible,

the Scripture is alive. It comes to earth in the

form of people. It comes to us in the form

of real people and real situations.

That's what makes it so different.

And ultimately we shall see as we read on, you

will also take your mind off the people we are

going to look at, because the Scripture tells us ultimately

to look to Jesus one person. If you look to him,

that is enough to have faith, because it says that

he is the initiator of our faith, and he is

the one that also completes our faith.

But we will get there.

But let's go through this whole account, because there is

nothing at all knew about faith. It is actually an

old record. Maybe this is why the modern world finds

it difficult to listen to all these accounts. But it

was as old as the First Family. Do you realize

that the story of faith brings us back to the

First Family. If Adam was the first man to have

lost his faith, his son was the first man to

have found it. And that's where we start the story

of faith with Abele's life. It says, by faith Abel,

and what did Able do? What did he do well?

He had the right attitude towards God. Read the scriptures slowly, carefully.

I'm going to just go through it, but I pray

that we catch something. By faith, Abel had the right

attitude towards God. When he and his brother Cain came

and offered things to God.

God said no to Cain and yes to Able.

Why And we are told in scriptures that God looked

not at the offering, but at the attitude of the offerer.

In Cain's heart, he did not find faith. But in

Abel's heart God found faith. Why because there is faith

now in the attitude. How he came about was so important.

Abel had faith and Cain did not have faith. Cain

was els and God actually warned him, get your attitude right,

get your heart right.

In fact, actually, are you really carefully?

God also asked him to get his face right, because

he was like, he was not happy, he was frowning.

He was like, uh, get that right, then I will

accept your offering. But Kin didn't and he went out

and he killed Abel, the first murder in history. But

you know, because Abel was righteous. The scripture says he

is among those who are still alive. And we will

read more about this later and I'll explain it now.

Let us move on to Enoch and all of us,

many of us loved the account of Enough because Nough

was someone who didn't suffer. He walked straight into the

presence of God.

That was wow.

How he died. The man who never died because he

pleased God. And the man who went for a walk

one day and just walked right into glory. Never came back.

And why did he not walk with God? Because he

believed in God. Faith and believe is the same thing.

Faith and trust is the same thing. Notice that he

doesn't just say he lived for God. It is something

much more intimate. He walked with God. The account says

that he walked with God. And when you're walking with someone,

he actually implies a very personal relationship. Daily walk means

step by step, not just one short moment in my life.

Maybe in the morning I just whispered a few words. No,

it's daily. He was walking, step by step. And Enoch

stands there as one who believed in God's existence, as

one who believed that God was interested in him, as

one who knew God walked with him. Ennoch had a

personal relationship with the Lord. And you know what, he

is one of two recorded in scriptures that went straight

to heaven. The other one was Elisha if you read

the scriptures. But let's move on. We moved to Noah,

and Noah built a ship in the middle of the desert.

People would have thought this guy is cuckou, and people

laughed at him, people mocked him, but he went on

building The art and faith puts a man in the right,

and everybody else in connection with that man is in

the wrong. That's what the scripture says in Hebrews chapter eleven.

Basically because of Noah, what happened is he chose to

do what is right. But because of his choice, everything

else contrary to what he chose became wrong. And ultimately

there were only seven other people who shared his faith,

his wife and his three sons and their wives. So

Noah put himself in the right, and he was accounted

as righteous, but he put everyone else in the wrong

unless they shared his faith. And because of that, God

of course did what he had to do, and the

great flood came. But he also made a promise thereafter,

and the promise is stilled with the rainbow, saying that

he will not again destroy in this manner, but one

day he will come to judge. And that is a

reminder that we need to have. But Noah was a

man of faith. Now let's move on to the greatest

man of faith of all, and we know his name

is Abraham. He was one of the greatest believers, really

believe in the Bible, because at eighty years of age,

he was asked to move out of his comfortable bungalow

and start walking the desert aimlessly because God promised him

something even more wonderful life. And for the rest of

his life Abraham lived in the tent. He never had

a place to call his own. When he finally had

one little piece of property, one cave in which it

says that he buried his wife in. But other than that,

he had nothing at the end of it all but

years he stepped out by faith at that advanced age.

This journey talked him to hundreds of miles into the desert,

into the mountains, but his obedience showed faith.

And then not only that Sarah was barren.

Everything might have finished with Abraham, but you get to

the end of human resources, that's where you start realizing

that God's resources is even more. And I believe that

it's how Abraham came about when he realized, oh, we

are at the end of it.

We are all we are barren. What else can we do?

And that's where the beginning of the resources of God

became real. And sometimes we think faith means pretending our

problems do not exist. Faith doesn't ignore reality. It just

decides which voice has the final authority in our lives.

Do we believe in God as the final authority or

do we believe in the circumstances that sometimes can be

so obvious as the final.

Authority of our lives?

Because God says to Abraham, you are going to have

a baby, and he's like, humh, your descendants will be

as many as the stars, and we sang the song

thist money as the stars in the heaven. Isn't it

marvelous to receive something by believing? And Abraham believed. Abraham

had his faults, of course, big faults actually, if you

think about it, because the Bible is such an honest book,

it tells you of the faults of not just Abraham,

it tells you of the faults of Isaac. It tells

you of the faults of Jacob's. Abraham tried to pass

his wife off as his sister, and he was actually

willing to let his wife.

And I'm in the pharaoh's harem? Is it Pharaoh? Yeah?

I think it's the pharaoh's harem just to save his

own skin. Shame on him, right, what a thing to

do to your wife. God is not a shame to

be named the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Think

about it, and that means he's not a shame to

be named by you and I if you exercise faith,

he's not a shame to be named the God of Mabel,

the God of Lizzie and Karah, the God of John.

Soon doesn't matter to him. And so let's look at

another remarkable example of Abraham's faith. Because the little boy

Isaac was born. And you know it's funny, right because

his name is Laughter is laughter because they all laugh

when God say you're gonna have a baby.

It's like years of age. Yeah, Sarah laugh, Abraham love.

And then of course God tells him, okay, time to

sacrifice your son, and Abraham set off with the wood

for his own son's execution. What a moment, right looking

up into his dad's face, Isaac is like that, we've

got the wood, we've got.

A knife, we've got everything bad. What are you gonna kill?

And of course Abraham says, the Lord will provide. Wow.

How could Abraham bring himself to do it? Two reasons.

First, he believed that if God had promised something.

He would do it. That's faith, the scripture records it.

And then the second thing is this, having thought of it,

how could God do this. How could he ask me

to go and kill my own son. Well, it is

definitely because God intends to raise him from the day.

That was what Abraham was hanging on to. Abraham was

prepared to kill his own son because he believed God

could raise him from the day. That is faith, and

that is why when he left the servants before going

the last bit of the journey to Mount Moriah, he

turned to them and say, you wait here and we

will return. You see that we will return. Do you

ever notice that little word we. He was not trying

to fool the servants and try to cover it up.

He was actually expressing his faith. He knew that God

is going to raise my son up after I have

sacrificed him. And so it is natural that Isaac, when

he grew up, shared that faith with such a dad.

Isaac not a lot of records about him, but you know,

Isaac did show faith. Slightly more quiet, Isaac showed faith

when it was time for him to die. He made

a will and testament and he left to his son

the property that he never had. That's faith. No, of course,

something else. The children be like, huh, merelyah, what is this?

What are you leaving me. You don't even heavy, you

don't even possess it at this point now, And by

word or monk, he just says, I'm leaving all this

to you.

It wasn't his yet, but he believed that's crazy. Fair.

Jacob did the same thing, old men, leaning on to

his staff, and then he approaches all twelve of his sons.

Ye're here.

I leave you this land, and I leave you that,

and I leave you the others. And none of it

was his to leave, but yet he left it to them.

And they all say, thank you very much that whatever

it is that you are living to us.

But they had faith.

That's why the lod of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob is

the god in whom we recognize today. And all these

people live by faith. The record continues. Joseph, one of

Jacob's sons, looked at his faith when he came to die,

and he had faith because he told them, hey, guys,

I'm going to die there. We're all here in Egypt,

and I don't.

Know how long we'll be here.

But when I die, you bring my bones to the

Promised Land, because I know that's where you're all going

to end up. And when they set off from Egypt.

They took with them a coffin. That's why the last

word in the Book of Genesis is actually the word

coffin is Joseph's sort of coffin that they were bringing along.

They didn't just bring along for a short journey.

They journey forty years, even though they were in the wilderness,

reaching the Canaan Land, the Promised Land. But they believed,

and they eventually got to the Promised Land. Moses, at

forty years of age, chose to suffer the mistreatment with

the people of God rather than to enjoy the pleasures

of sin for a season. That's what the scripture records.

Moses got them all out of Egypt. The desert was

behind them, the mountains was in front of them, the

Egyptian army was on the left. The raid sea was there.

And what does Moses say speak to the people of Israel,

that they go forward and forward in faith? They went,

And as soon as they did that, the raid sea

dried up, and they walked through on dry ground. And

it was by faith, not coincidence. As soon as people

without faith stepped in there, they were drowned. But when

Moses led them it was by faith that they stepped

on dry ground.

Amazing.

Right, Let's move on to Jericho, because it was Joshua

who led the Israelites to march around the walls.

And what was it that they were doing.

They were lifting praises like what pasce Sarah says, raised

a Hallelujah, and down came the walls by faith, Hallelujah.

In one of the houses, along some parts of the

walls that was unbroken, lived a prostitute by the name

of ray Head.

And she saw the.

Jews without any weapons of offense, no, but somehow she

believed that they would get the city. She believed that

God would give them her city. It's quite amazing. And

so when the men came sneaking into the city, she

was on the lookout. She saw them, she invited them in.

She hit them, and she says, I know that God

is going to give you this city. And then they say, therefore,

hang this scarlet, tread at your window, and will know

which is your house and you will be safe. That

was the promise, and Rehab became one of the ancestors

of our Lord Jesus Christ. It's crazy, a believing prostitute

because she had faith in God's mercy. You see, God

doesn't ask for perfection. He doesn't ask for.

Moral purity to start with.

That is his object and the end, but he doesn't

ask for that as the beginning. He doesn't ask for

it right at the very stunt. If he did, none

of us would have made it. And the biggest mistake

the Pharisees ever made was to think that they have

got to start with perfection before you can be right

with God. But it is the man who christ God,

be merciful to me, a sinner who goes down and

is then justified, made right by God in and you

end up being in God's good books. And see because

of that, Rehab became one of the heroes, the heroines

of faith. She's one of the two women who are

mentioned in this chapter, the other, of course being Sarah.

And I wonder how Sarah would feel being identified with

a prostitute, because Sarah was quite a but Rahab a prostitute.

Here she's there recorded because she believed so many others.

The scripture says Gideon, Sampson, Barrack, Jafta, David, Samuel, and

the prophets, long line of witnesses. But then comes something

even more trilling because it goes on to say some

conquered by faith, and some were conquered and still showed faith.

Do you realize that some escaped the age of the

sword by faith, who by faith I didn't end up dying.

Some were put to the sword by faith, some were

raised from the date by faith, and some were sworn

in two by faith. That's probably Isaiah's account. See, the

Bible can see both as examples of faith, and until

we have seen what we have not seen, we won't

get the full picture. The Bible can see both as

examples of faith, and we must be able to see

them both as examples of faith because it is very

natural and very instinctive for us to think that it

is by faith that we get out of trouble. But

sometimes it is by faith that you actually end up

going in to it and having to face it. When

we realize this, then we can glorify God in our

bodies whatever happens. Do you see that we may be

healed and we can glorify God for the faith to

be healed. We may not be healed, and we can

still glorify God by the faith that we have in Him.

We can glorify God by becoming martyrs as well as

by being saved from death. We can glorify God like

how Joe glorified God naked. I come into this world naked,

I will leave. The Lord gives and the Lord takes.

But blessed be the name of the Lord. Because by

faith we subdue. By faith we succumb as well. But

it can be faith both ways. You can overcome and

you can be overcome. And these great heroes of faith

and heroines of faith, they did wonderful things, and horrible

things happen to them. Horrible things have happened and will

happen and will continue to happen to God's people. Do

you realize that? And that's why it's not always Oh,

everything is going to be fine. And then the you

know the song that we sung just now, the Son

of Suffering. We worship a God who went through suffering.

He did not promise that our life will be free

from suffering, but he promised that He will get us

true every moment in life if we have faith in him.

And all these witnesses that we just read about, they

are waiting because they have not yet received the promise yet. Why,

you know, what they're waiting for. They're waiting for a

better community. The witnesses are being kept waiting until you

and I join them. That is what scripture tells us.

That means, one day together the Old and the New

Testament will merge. It will be the last will of

Jesus Christ. He is the Shepherd and he is the truth.

And that is why they are waiting for all of us,

because one day we will all meet Jesus together. But

they are cheering each and every one of us on.

Abraham is cheering you on. He's saying, Kajan, let's go,

keep going, don't give up, don't stop. He's telling us,

come on, keep going, Jason, keep going, Ian, keep going,

don't stop.

Amen.

Let us therefore, it says, strip of everything that handicaps us.

Let us therefore stripped of every way that is bad.

And we are not to look at Abraham or Isaac

or Jacob. We are not to pray to this man.

Know when the scriptures is say, glorify this man and

pray to them. No, we are to fix our gaze

only on one person, the pioneer and the perfector of

our faith, who went through it all, who died, who

faced it all who himself died without having received the promises,

but who for the joy that was said before him,

and build the cross, despising the shame. And that's how

it ended for Jesus, because he said, Father, into thy hands,

I commit my spirit. And he was exercising the same

faith as all these witnesses, but to a degree beyond

what we can ever imagine. Jesus was exercising faith as well,

because Jesus's faith was tested in the darkness of this

world and tested to its limits. And yet he says,

and he was almost there when he said, my God,

my God.

Why have you deserted me?

But it all finally came true victoriously, because he he declared,

it is finished, Father, it is finished. And so Jesus

is the pioneer. He begins our faith. Imagine him at

the starting line, pulling the trigger, setting us off. But

he is also the perfect that that means he sets

us off. He's also there holding the finishing tape for

you to cross over, and he's cheering you on. And

I believe not just cheering you on, not just having

being there the end so that you can fix your

eyes and remain focused.

But he is also.

Running alongside me and you, and we with this great

crowd of witnesses, are looking to him. That means we

are all fixing our eyes and our gaze on Jesus

until one day we will be made perfect.

That is the goal, and that is the end. That

is not the beginning.

Remember that by faith this that not makes the examples

that we have seen. It's not far and few between.

It is not far fetched. These are examples that we

can learn from. Romans Chapter ten, verses sixteen to eighteen

says this, but not everyone welcomes the good news. For

Isaiah the prophet, say Lord, who has believed our message?

So faith comes from hearing, that is, hearing the good

news about Christ. But I are but I ask, have

the people of Israel actually heard the message?

Yes, they have.

The message has gone throughout the earth, and the words

to all the earth. So what can we really learn

from all these wonderful examples of faith. There is a

difference between those who have heard and those who have heeded.

Those who have heeded are those who take warning and

comfort from what they have heard. Those who have heard

only just listen and never do any about it. You see,

most people don't have trouble with their hearing. A lot

of us have trouble with our heeding. Can we heat

God's word means can we follow God's word h eed?

And that is what is wrong with the Jews in

this passage. If you read Romans chapter nine eleven talking

about the Jews many because many would not come and

follow Jesus's way, They would not come by faith. Only

a small group of them came by faith. A small

group of Jews, and most of them are recorded in

Heros chapter eleven as those who came by faith, but

many refuse to believe rather than build on the rock

of Christ. One day they met Christ face to face.

They did, actually, the Jewish nation met him face to face.

They were so close. But what did they say to him?

They say, Crucify him, Crucify him. His blood be upon

earth and our children. And the rock on which they

might have built became their stumbling block. And the Jewish

nation was wrecked against the stone of Christ.

It was because they chose not to believe.

But yet we thank God for the wonderful group that

theyd believe, because there are the names that are recorded

in Hebrews chapter eleven and so we must therefore allow.

Our faith to be evident as well.

There are so many who have not heard, because there

is no preacher to go out to preach to them.

Who will go to them? How will they believe unless

they hear? How will they call on the name of

Jesus unless they believe that He is alive there? For

you and I have a responsibility. We need to, as

we have heard and heeded God's word, go to those

who have not heard and share with them so that

they cannot just hear but also heat. Therefore, our faith

always has a corresponding action. That's why in James Chapter two,

verse eighteen, it says, now someone may argue some people

have faith, others have good dates. But I say, how

can you show me your faith if you don't have

good dates. I will show you my faith by my deeds.

Faith that is not active but passive is technically faith

without works.

Our faith has to be active.

Faith without actions has content in it, but it doesn't

have confidence in it. And that's why active faith that

works always have confidence.

Believe.

It's not just I don't know what I'm believing in.

I'm just believing blindly. No, it's not it actually, when

it goes in hand, faith actually has both content and confidence.

And many times we lack faith means we lack the confidence.

And then you can look at the disciples. Okay, look

at the disciples here, and this is my last scripture,

and I pray that you all see something today as

we call it a close. You see the disciples when

Jesus was teaching them, and Jesus thought on forgiveness, and

you told them, guys, you need to forgive ah forgive those.

Who hurt us. Yes, how often all the time?

Basically that's what Jesus said, because he says, not just

one time, but seven.

Times in the same day.

If this person offends you seven times on the same mistake,

you keep forget forgiving that person. That is essentially what

Jesus told them, keep on forgiving them. And straight up

they are like, uh, I don't think that's possible. And

so the apostles said to the Lord, show us how

to increase our faith because they thought it's impossible. But

how did Jesus answer them. He says, if you had

faith even and this is why Pass Sarah referred to

just now, if you have faith even as small as

a mustard, seed.

You could say to.

This malberry tree, may you be uprooted and be planted

in the sea, and it would obey you. Quite a

perplexing thing when they ask Jesus, and Jesus, increase our faith.

Hard to forgive the same person the same mistake that

he has offended me on the same day seven times. No,

it's quite impossible. And so they say, God, increase our faith.

But that response is actually Jesus rebuking them, because it

is not enlarging that our faith needs. It is exercising

that our faith needs a lot of prayers. A lot

of our prayers need some examinations. Sometimes are we trying

to make him do what we should be doing in

our own prayers. Sometimes we all ask a lot, Lord,

you do it. You enlarge my faith and everything becomes easy.

And God is saying, huh, you just want me to

enlarge your faith so that you can do it.

I'm not going to do that.

He says, you exercise whatever little faith that you have.

And he's saying that even if it's as little as

a mustard See and ex kids have done this. I'm

sure many times show that children what a little mustard

seed looks like? It's tiny, super duper tiny. But even

if you have super duper tiny faith, Jesus said, would

you use the little faith you have, because he's essentially

saying it is not bigger faith that you need. It

is for you to exercise whatever little faith that you

have been already given. That is the way to a

stronger Christian life. Jesus says, your faith may be no

bigger than a mustard seed, and that is the tiniest thing.

But in reality, if somebody gave you a mustard seed

and you say, I asked for a tree, why do

you give me a seed, And the answer would actually

be I've given you one. You just need to take

that seat, bring it to the ground, plant it into

the ground, and that tiny.

Thing will get you your tree.

It is one of the most profound spiritual principles that

you can get stuck spiritually if you don't use what

you have. There is no use for praying anymore. If

you don't use what you have. If whatever little faith

that you have you don't exercise it, it will be taken

away as well. So if your faith was only tiny

and you were prepared to use it, you could speak

to the maul bra tree which has the strongest roots,

and say be uprooted, and it will be uprooted. And

I believe that the real reason why Christians get stuck

and we do not see more is not necessarily the

fact that we don't pray earnestly that God.

Will do more.

It may be that we are just not exercising whatever

little faith that we already have in our lives. That's

why I started off today by saying, remember this, what

do we need to do when it comes to prayer.

Don't worry, learn to pray specifically. That's exercising faith. A

lot of times we're like, I think God knows God,

you know my heart right, I don't have to pray.

No pray, Learn to pray specifically. Learn to give thanks

another very difficult thing for us to do. How to

give thanks when everything I can seem to be thankful for,

in fact, I want to blame God. The scripture also

tells us don't blame God because God did not wish

for bad things to happen to us. That is the

truth of what the Scripture tells us. And so the

little things that we can do. Learn to pray specifically,

learn to say thank you, not just please do this

for me, but thank you God, and then you will

experience his peace that will come upon your life. And

when His peace is upon your life, it becomes almost

like that protective barrier around you that will continue to

allow you to exercise one more step of faith, one

more step of faith, and that is the life of

every believer and what God wants for every believer.

Amen.

We should not just live on the past faith of others.

We should not just dwell on Hebrews chapter eleven, not

just dwell on pas. The Cannon is a man of faith.

A lot of us have been inspired by his faith.

It's amazing. A lot of us came to ex Chiang

because of his faith. But he does not want those

faith stories to only be his and his alone for

ex church. He wants every one of us to have

our own faith stories. He wants our young people, our

esthers and our Noahs, our Ordelias and our Jadens to

have their own stories of faith. Will you, therefore, exercise

whatever little faith that you have, it doesn't matter. Learn

to exercise it and see how God can use that's

small to do wonderful things. Don't measure God's ability by

our circumstances, measure our circumstances by His ability. Exercise whatever

little faith we have, and let God move the mountains

in your life. Because faith isn't confidence in ourselves. It

is the confidence in the God who keeps his word.

And we can trust the God who has made promises.

And if you place your trust in the right person,

the evidence of which will be so overwhelming you will

see the truth unfold.

In your life.

I'm going to invite the ban I'm done, and so

this is my encouragement. Let history, which is His story,

God story, write your story today and the days to come.

Let our faith be evident in our life as we

exercise whatever faith that God has placed in us. All

of us believe in something. Let that grow and keep growing.

And you realize that your faith is not something that

is quiet and hidden. Your faith can be so loud

and so victorious that it causes others and helps others

to also overcome.

We hope you've been blessed by this message. For more

information on our church, please visit as Church Org. We

are also active on Facebook and Instagram. We're believing that

this week is going to be a good week ahead

for you. God bless