December 9, 2008

• Hebrews 11 part 2 by Pastor Don

  See Part 1 here. 

  Pastor Don took us back to Hebrews 11.

  Hebrews 11:1-3 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. For by it (by faith) the elders obtained a good testimony. By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible.

  The invisible realm becomes physical.  That is the right process of producing something on the physical plane.  Believing in faith is the invisible aspect of what is in the material realm.  We need to wrap our minds around the fact that the invisible is greater than what we can see or perceive with our senses.

  When we got saved we prayed, believed, repented and it was done.  Do we think our salvation was not fully done, only 10% done?  Why would it be different for other things that we pray and believe for our betterment or protection?

  We were not saved out of hope, but out of faith.  We believe in the sovereignty of God who is our Father in Faith.

  Do we have faith in faith, or faith in hope, or faith in our need?  Or is our faith in God?  If we put our faith in His hands, shouldn’t we leave it in His hands?  Faith will work.  Hope will lead us to believing and to faith.  God in His sovereignty knew that what we needed to do was believe in faith, and to speak faith.

  Moses was told to speak to the rock.  He had enough faith to honor God and speak to the rock.  Speaking to the rock would have been sufficient to provide water for the millions of Israelites, but Moses succumbed to frustration with the Israelites and struck the rock instead of speaking to the rock.  Moses did it wrong.  God could have closed up the rock, but in His sovereignty He still brought forth water.  God provided water for the Children of Israel. God was moved by what would be for the ultimate good, in spite of Moses’ error, but that error made it impossible for Moses to enter the Promised Land.

  God answers our prayers, but it may not look like we think it should look like.  If we have faith to believe that God will supply the answer it is a done deed.

  John 14:12-14 “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father. And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask anything in My name, I will do it.”

  We pray in His (Jesus’ name) for His mission.  Sometimes our mission is not what God wanted for us or is God’s best for us.

  John 15:7 If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you.

  God established faith.  Our faith may be imperfect, but we can ask for what we need in God’s name.  God doesn’t look at our circumstances.  God’s faith is not shaky.  God knows that He speaks and it is done.

  We need to pray to be patient to realize that it’s going to be alright.  No matter what our circumstances are, it will be OK.  I am not afraid.  Yet, we need to realize that God is sovereign and He has things in His control and in His perfect timing.  We often get impatient. We hope for something, pray in faith believing, and at the end of our prayer say in the name of Jesus. Then we wait impatiently, and it doesn’t come the way we think, or as quickly as we think it should and we begin to speak words of doubt and unbelief.  When we committed our situation to God we needed to give it to God and leave it with God.  We also need to listen to God’s instructions and act on them.  Sometimes we wait for someone to make it happen, when God wants us to take some steps in faith.  We need to abide in Him and trust in His sovereignty that things will be good in the right time.  When we get in our spirit that our prayer is answered, we need to change our prayer to, “Thank you God for providing _____.”  We may not see the thing with our physical senses, but we know that in the spirit God has made the situation change, and we continue to pray in faith believing, knowing that God will release it at the right time and that it will manifest.

  If it is not the right time for it, you either prayed amiss or with the wrong motive. We need to get the Word of the Lord on it. 

  Mark 10:29 So Jesus answered and said, “Assuredly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands, for My sake and the gospel’s,

  Notice that the people left house or family for JESUS SAKE and the GOSPEL’s sake.  We all have stuff in our lives that we have to deal with.  Some of the stuff is our own making.  We want to make sure that what we are doing is for Jesus’ sake and the Gospel’s sake.

  Mark 10:30 who shall not receive a hundredfold now in this time—houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions—and in the age to come, eternal life.

  We are to receive these things NOW.  People like to claim the first part of this passage, but tend to ignore that these things come with persecutions.

  Matthew 6:31  “Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’

  Do not worry SAYING.  Notice that we will have what we say, if we speak our abundance or our lack. In this passage the person was worrying “SAYING.”  No matter our circumstances, we need to be careful what we say about them.  Remember faith comes by HEARING and hearing by the Word of God.  We hear what we say, and we can have faith for both good things and bad things. Be careful what words come out of your mouth.

  Matthew 6:32-33  For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.

  We all seek these things and God knows our needs.  But if we seek the kingdom of God FIRST, then we will have these things added to us.  The Gentiles will witness the abundance of God in our lives, and this will be a powerful witness to them.

  Hebrews 11:1  Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

  Faith is a SUBSTANCE of things hoped for.  We begin our process to faith with hope.  If we ask in CHRIST, the things we hope for.  What kind of things?  Kingdom things.  Our niche in the Body of Christ, ways to serve Him.  God will give us the desires of our heart, and if we ask for things, in Christ, our asking will center around what will help provide for the betterment of the Kingdom of God. 

  God will not withhold any good thing from us, and He wants to give us things so that it brings glory to the Lord, and so that we are well positioned to work for the Harvest of the Lord, and to be a blessing. 

  Can we ask for things and receive what is not for our best interests?  Yes.  Pastor Don talked about a member who wanted a house, and while this house outwardly looked good, it was the worst possible house for her.  She prayed and claimed that house, and they got the house.  It turned out to have so many problems and required so much money for upkeep, that they realized they had made a mistake, and sold the house, choosing the house that was a better fit for them and for their ministry.  

  God will sometimes let us learn by our mistakes.

  If you have the hope for something, use faith.  Faith energizes hope and creative power is released in the spiritual realm.  On earth we are in Chronos time (hours, minutes, seconds) but God is sovereign and He is not in our realm of Chronos time.  He is above and beyond our limited dimension of time.  In God’s time, our request will be granted, but we need to have patience to wait in Chronos time while our request is manifested.

  Hebrews 11:3 By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible.

  Anything that we look at on earth was made by faith.  The invisible realm becomes manifest in the visible at the right time.  We will accomplish His (God’s) will in the earth, and finish on schedule.  In the process our faith will be stronger, and we will learn to speak things as they should be spoken to the Glory of the Lord. 

  Psalm 27:13-14 I would have lost heart, unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living. Wait on the LORD; be of good courage, 
  and He shall strengthen your heart; wait, I say, on the LORD!

  Someone brought up Isaiah 55:8  “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,” says the LORD.

  When God does not seem to answer a prayer, people fall back on Isaiah 55:8. But if you look at Isaiah 55: 7 Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the LORD, and He will have mercy on him; and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon. we see that God is speaking to the wicked, who will not know God’s ways or thoughts.  But we, as believers, have been given the Holy Spirit and the Word of God to help us know His ways and thoughts.  We need to keep our focus on God and He will direct our paths.

  Delight ourselves in the Lord and He will give us the desires of our heart.  He can even place godly desires into our hearts.  There is a big difference between good ideas and God ideas.  If we get thoughts that are not of God we can reject them, and choose to agree with thoughts that line up with God’s will.

  When a true supernatural idea drops into our spirit – say to call someone from church, that thought will keep persisting, and if we ignore it, we may miss a God appointment.  But if we listen to the godly thought and call the person, we may be used by God for His good purposes.

  Hearing God’s voice, and discerning that it is God’s voice, is the most important thing we can do when we want to line up with God’s will for our life.  When we choose to line up with His will, it makes life easier for us.

  2 Corinthians 10:4-6 For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, and being ready to punish all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled.

  We want to take all our thoughts captive to Christ.  Not every thought is a God thought and we need to discern what is of God and what is not of God, and hold those thoughts captive that are of God.  When our hope on the inside is attached to faith, then it lingers, and the Spirit of God, will help us in the situation.  Pray to have patience to wait on the Lord.

  We went overtime in this Bible study, but it was well worth it.  God has so much richness in His Word, and I count myself so blessed to be able to attend this Bible study.  Hoping you have a great day.

  Heather

  • 8:49 am
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