WHAT FAITH BRINGS (PART 1)

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

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.

Hebrews 11:3

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

If 1 Corinthians, chapter 13 is the love chapter in the Bible, the eleventh chapter of Hebrews is the one centered on the matter of faith.

We were given an introduction to this in yesterday’s opening message as we looked at how the Bible defines faith. This set us up well for what’s to follow, a nineteen message series titled, “What Faith Brings”, as we cover the rest of the chapter in micro-fashion while unlocking a lot of great truths within.

We begin today with verse 3 and these words from the author of this letter.

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.

No one was alive when God spoke creation into reality for as we read in Genesis 1, mankind wasn’t brought to be until the sixth day after everything else was. God then gave mankind dominion over things already made.

Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”

So God created mankind in His own image, in the image of God He created them; male and female He created them.

God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”

Then God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds in the sky and all the creatures that move along the ground—everything that has the breath of life in it—I give every green plant for food.” And it was so.

Genesis 1:26-30

No one was an eyewitness to creation and so it’s simply by faith that Adam, Eve, and every other person after them, including you and me, “understand that the universe was formed at God’s command”. It wasn’t made from anything visible, like someone used something that was made to manufacture or produce something else. That’s not what happened. God brought everything into being through His command and so “what is seen was not made out of what was visible”.

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth before speaking parts into them.V. 1

God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. God saw that the light was good, and He separated the light from the darkness. God called the light “day,” and the darkness he called “night.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day. Vv. 3-5

God said, “Let there be a vault between the waters to separate water from water.” So God made the vault and separated the water under the vault from the water above it. And it was so. God called the vault “sky.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the second day. Vv. 6-8

God said, “Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear.” And it was so. God called the dry ground “land,” and the gathered waters He called “seas.” And God saw that it was good. Vv-9-10

God said, “Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds.” And it was so. The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the third day. Vv. 11-13

God said, “Let there be lights in the vault of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark sacred times, and days and years, and let them be lights in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth.” And it was so. God made two great lights—the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars. God set them in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth, to govern the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness. And God saw that it was good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the fourth day. Vv. 14-19

God said, “Let the water teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the vault of the sky.” So God created the great creatures of the sea and every living thing with which the water teems and that moves about in it, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. God blessed them and said, “Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the water in the seas, and let the birds increase on the earth.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the fifth day. Vv. 20-23

God said, “Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds: the livestock, the creatures that move along the ground, and the wild animals, each according to its kind.” And it was so. God made the wild animals according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good. Vv. 24-25

And then, as we already have covered, God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.” Vv. 26

God said that things would be created and so it was. Such is the almighty, incredible power He possesses, a power without equal or rival.

There is no need to question whether or not God did as the scriptures say He did for our faith brings us to where we simply believe it because when we read the rest of the Bible after Genesis 1, we come to know a God through which all things are possible, to include speaking things into being.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.

THE DEFINITION OF FAITH

Can I pray for you in any way?

Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.

In Christ, Mark

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

** Follow The Christian Walk on Twitter @ThChristianWalk

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. This is what the ancients were commended for.

Hebrews 11:1-2 GNT

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

None of us have seen God or Jesus. Not one of us.

That time, the time when any person will be able to meet God and Jesus, and then abide with them forever is still yet to come. All they need to have done before then is believe in Jesus as Savior. That’s it.

The Bible promises this salvation and associated everlasting life. It’s a promise from God Himself and in His perfect righteousness, He possesses no ability to lie. And so whatever He says will happen, will happen. He will do whatever He said He would do.

That’s all one needs to hold onto in life. If God said it would take place, then it will take place. If He said He would do something then He will do it. There’s no reason to entertain any thoughts of doubt. Any Christian only needs to show an uncompromising trust and faith in the Lord through which all things are possible.

This is the foundation for today’s first two opening verses of Hebrews, chapter 11, and this lead in message to what will be a lengthy examination of what faith brings to the believer.

Note in our passage that the writer of Hebrews provides a concise definition of faith to his audience, the Hebrew Christians. I’m using the Good News Translation but the essence of these verses is the same no matter what Bible you use. Here’s what he writes on this matter:

Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. This is what the ancients were commended for.

The first thing the scriptures tell us here is that faith equals confidence.

...faith is confidence in what we hope for...

Confidence means we believe with surety and certainty. It’s an unmovable feeling that God will bring what you place your hope in and what we put our hope in should always be in accordance with His will for our lives. This is affirmed in these words from John’s first letter:

This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of Him. 1 John 5:14-15

This passage is important because we have hopes that may not be covered by an absolute statement in the scriptures. For example, we all get sick and although we know God is the Great Physician and able to heal anyone, we also know that there will be a day when our bodies will fail us and cease to function anymore. This certain death is totally at God’s bidding and so while our hope may be to recover and be totally healed from our affliction, God’s will may be for us to die.

And so as Christians, we may pray with confidence in what we hope for, which is to get well but if that doesn’t happen and the Lord deems that life here on earth is over, then we as believers get to shift our confidence to the hope that has been guaranteed through our Savior Jesus Christ, the hope of salvation and eternal life.

In this scenario, we can see a win-win scenario, each grounded in a confident faith in the Lord. That’s how we exercise trust in the midst of challenge while being sure that our Lord, who we cannot see, is indeed working all things out for our good, the ones who love Him and have been called according to His purposes (Romans 8:28).

This is the same faith that has been practiced since the earliest days of the Bible and for at least the next two weeks, we are going to look at examples of what faith brought to those who placed their fullest trust in God, those ancient God believers who were commended for their faithfulness.

As we do, let’s remember the core definition of faith as presented to us by God’s word. For it’s:

The confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.

DON'T LOSE CONFIDENCE

Can I pray for you in any way?

Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.

In Christ, Mark

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** Follow The Christian Walk on Twitter @ThChristianWalk

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

Remember those earlier days after you had received the light, when you endured in a great conflict full of suffering. Sometimes you were publicly exposed to insult and persecution; at other times you stood side by side with those who were so treated. You suffered along with those in prison and joyfully accepted the confiscation of your property, because you knew that you yourselves had better and lasting possessions. So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded.

You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what He has promised. For,

“In just a little while, He who is coming will come and will not delay.”

And,

“But my righteous one will live by faith. And I take no pleasure in the one who shrinks back.”

But we do not belong to those who shrink back and are destroyed, but to those who have faith and are saved.

Hebrews 10:32-39

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

The scriptures are clear on two key things.

First, anyone who believes in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ will be saved and have eternal life (John 3:16, Romans 10:13). There is no condemnation of them as, justified by Jesus, their sins are covered and they are destined for Heaven (Romans 8:1, 17).

Did you catch the end of Romans 8:17, the part about sharing in the sufferings of Jesus so we will later share in His glory?

This is the other truth about the Christian life. For although we have a sure salvation through Jesus, that is what’s ahead, the victory that awaits us when this worldly life is over. Until that time, we can rest assured that persecution will come as we boldly go forth and proclaim the Gospel as Jesus commanded (Matthew 28:19-20). In fact, He promised it would happen:

“If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated Me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you. Remember what I told you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will persecute you also.” John 15:18-20

These prophetic words of Jesus didn’t take long to manifest themselves in reality. For as soon as the Christian church took root in Jerusalem starting in Acts, chapter 2, persecution of Jesus’ followers ensued and it has continued ever since then.

In other words, it wasn’t easy being a Christian in first century A.D. when Christianity was by far the minority religion.

This is why we find the writer of the letter to the Hebrew Christians sending words of encouragement because the believers needed it in the midst of what they were going through. Those words of encouragement were as follows:

“Do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded.”

In other words, the writer was essentially saying to his brothers and sisters in Christ, don’t lose sight of the victory you have been given, the certain salvation through Jesus Christ. Hold onto the confidence and hope you have in Him, an assured inheritance of the very Kingdom of Heaven that no one can take away from you, an inheritance that is more valuable than any possessions that someone may have plundered from you. You may suffer in the short term, even imprisoned for what you believe in, but persevere because once God has determined your time on earth is finished because you have carried out His will, then He will reward you richly just as He promised.

Today, Christians are still being persecuted for their belief and service to the Lord Jesus Christ. Even in places where there had been freedom to freely practice Christian faith, we are seeing an insidious infection of intolerance and harassment of those who openly profess Jesus as Savior and uphold His principles and standards.

I would like to tell you it’s going to get better but the scriptures tell a different story and it’s not a pretty one. Thankfully, a large number of Christians will escape the greatest tribulations because of the Rapture but anyone who believes in Jesus after, and there will be multitudes who do, will have to persevere and endure to the end when Jesus returns to judge the world and all mankind. To them, the encouraging words from Hebrews will still be relevant:

“Do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded.”

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.

A DREADFUL END

Can I pray for you in any way?

Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.

In Christ, Mark

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

** Follow The Christian Walk on Twitter @ThChristianWalk

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God. Anyone who rejected the law of Moses died without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. How much more severely do you think someone deserves to be punished who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, who has treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified them, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace?

For we know Him who said, “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” and again, “The Lord will judge His people.” It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

Hebrews 10:26-31

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

The truth in regard to everyone’s spiritual self (aka the soul) is that everyone is going to live forever. Death might be the end of the body but your soul, the spirit and essence of who you really are outside the physical machinations of your bodily organs, will go to one of two destinations when you die: Hell or Heaven.

There is no third option nor is there an option to opt out of one of the two destinations. The sure reality is that when your body ceases to function, your soul will either go into the eternal damnation and torment of Hell where you will abide with Satan forever or the everlasting glorious, magnificent beauty and blessing that is Heaven, dwelling with God the Father and Jesus, His Son and your Savior, for perpetuity. And the determinant as to which place you will go hinges solely on whether or not you placed your belief in Jesus. It’s that simple.

Refuse to believe in Him and reject God’s offer of salvation and you’ll be in Hell.

Believe in Jesus and gladly accept God’s offer and you will automatically become a co-heir to the Kingdom of Heaven (Romans 8:14-17).

Only a fool would choose the former over the latter but unfortunately there have been scores of foolish people across the history of mankind and it continues today as it will until that day when Jesus returns as He promised He would. These people have opted to live in a way described by the author of the letter to the Hebrews as we look again at our passage today from chapter 10. There, he writes:

If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God. Anyone who rejected the law of Moses died without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. How much more severely do you think someone deserves to be punished who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, who has treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified them, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace?

For we know Him who said, “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” and again, “The Lord will judge His people.” It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. Vv. 26-31

The “knowledge of the truth” here is simply knowing about the salvation that can be gained through Jesus, the Lamb of God who came and bore the sins of all mankind (John 1:29), those destined for God’s wrath and judgment. In order to receive pardon from Hell, all a sinner has to do is believe in Jesus and he or she will not perish but be saved and gain eternal life (John 3:16).

If they reject Him and “deliberately keep on sinning” then there is no other “sacrifice for sins...left” to deliver them. They only have “a fearful expectation of judgment” and of the “raging fire that will consume the enemies of God” (Revelation 20:15). They will receive the punishment they deserve for trampling “the Son of God underfoot” and treating “the blood of the covenant” shed to sanctify them as “an unholy thing”. Indeed, the day their soul is ushered into Hell forever will affirm that it truly is a “dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God”.

If you’re reading this today and are a Christian, rejoice and be glad that you are a co-heir to the Kingdom with Jesus and know your soul is destined for the glory of Heaven.

If you’re reading this today and you have rejected Jesus up to this point, the choice between where your soul goes, Hell or Heaven, is up to you. I would encourage you to choose Christ right now and ensure you have the guarantee of the best life ever when this life is over. To do otherwise would seal your fate in Hell for all eternity and that indeed is the most dreadful end anyone will ever experience, one that was totally avoidable.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.

 

SPUR ON ONE ANOTHER

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Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.

In Christ, Mark

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** Follow The Christian Walk on Twitter @ThChristianWalk

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

Hebrews 10:24-25

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

I have had the opportunity to play on a lot of sports teams in my lifetime. The best ones were where everyone on the team mutually supported each other, cheering others on when they succeeded and picking them up in times of difficulty and failure...and those times are sure to come on everyone.

Now not everyone may have competed in sports or other competitions but everyone has lived life and frankly, it can seem like a game that we’re all playing. To affirm this, there has been a board game that has been around for a very long time and it’s called...you guessed it...”The Game of Life”.

If life is a game, then this means that we win at times and lose at others as we play day by day. And since we’re all playing the same game, we’re all on the same team because we’re not competing against one another but life itself.

Within this team which is comprised of every person in the world, there are two divisions but again, these divisions aren’t in competition because despite the division, members of each side are the same in that they are sinners before a God who hates sin. The only item that divides one division from the other is belief in Jesus Christ, the Savior of the world.

The division of Jesus believers is comprised of Christians and it is to them that we find today’s verses speaking out from the tenth chapter of Hebrews. Look at these words again here:

And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching. Vv. 24-25

Every day, Christian believers are taking one more step forward to “the Day approaching”, the day when Jesus comes back for all those who placed their hope and trust in Him as He promised (John 14:3). As they walk through the days of life together, they are expected to do so as a part of a community of faith, a team playing the game of life together with Jesus as their leader. And just as any good team has players who mutually support one another, members of the Christian side are to always “consider how (they) may spur one another on toward love and good deeds”. There is a call for intentional fellowship, a “meeting together” in order to “(encourage) one another”. Proper Christian communities integrate, celebrating victories and lifting people up when tough times happen.

Christian fellowship happens within a church and even more so within a small group within the church where there are smaller numbers and an opportunity for increased intimacy. I have had the privilege to be a small group teacher and leader for around thirty years now and can’t express enough the importance for Christian believers to be connected this way, studying the Word together and sharing life in general with all its associated wins and losses, joys and sorrows.

As you read this today, are you connected to a Christian community within a church, a place where you can plug in and be a part of a small family of like-minded believers, a family where people spur one another on toward love and good deeds while encouraging one another?

If not, I would encourage you to change that this weekend. Seek out a small group and engage at your church, participating in an active fellowship of the saints. I assure you that you’ll be very glad that you did.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.

A HOPE TO HOLD ONTO

Can I pray for you in any way?

Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.

In Christ, Mark

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** Follow The Christian Walk on Twitter @ThChristianWalk

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for He who promised is faithful.

Hebrews 10:23

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

If you were going to take an inventory of the most precious things any one person has, I believe hope would be at the top of the list. I say this because our very outlook on life itself hinges on whether or not we have it. This sentiment was echoed by Russian author, Fyodor Dostoevsky, who simply wrote:

“To live without hope is to cease to live.”

We all need hope. Everyone craves it, whether they want to admit it or not.

And yet, it seems to be so elusive for people, so much so in some instances that they surrender their spirits to feelings of utter hopelessness which is exactly the place where Satan wants us all to be. He’s very skilled at drying up any springs of optimism within us, leaving dry desolation and despair in its place.

Maybe you’ve been in this place before. Maybe...you’re there right now.

Thankfully, there is another option, one the enemy doesn’t want people to find.

This way to hope isn’t of this world because this world is not going to endure. A day is coming when Heaven and earth as we know it will pass away and when it does, there will only be two possible destinations for every single soul, and we all have a soul that will live on long after our bodies fail us.

One destination is a place of true despondency and misery. If you think this world and life is hopeless, you haven’t seen anything compared to the eternal damnation and torment that awaits an unsaved soul in Hell. I don’t know about you but knowing this is as depressing as it gets but unfortunately, a multitude of people will foolishly walk down that road to eternal perdition and a residency with the very Satan who enticed them there.

The good news is that a hope exists for every single person, one they can hold onto and be assured that everything is going to be okay, no matter what this life brings. It’s a hope only found by believing in Jesus Christ as Savior, receiving the free salvation offer God extends through His Son, and becoming a co-heir to the very Kingdom of Heaven. It’s the hope that we find the author of Hebrews writing about in chapter 10 as we read these words:

Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for He who promised is faithful. v. 23

Through Christ Jesus, every Christian believer has the sure victory over death and the grave. Death no longer has any sting and nothing can separate the saved Jesus follower from the love of God that is found in His Son. Our Lord has never made a promise that He didn’t keep and when He proclaimed that no one would perish but have everlasting life through belief in Him, He did so with the full intent of making good of His word.

My brothers and sisters in Christ, our belief in Jesus has brought us a certain hope that we need to hold onto “unswervingly” because our Lord is always faithful to what He has promised. The best is still yet to come for us, a life beyond the one we have now, a life where we will be made new and live forever, free of sin and affliction in glory, love, and light.

If you’re reading this today and you haven’t gained this hope yet, I urge you to believe in Jesus as Savior this very moment and grab a hold of your own assurance of hope. It’s a decision you will never regret.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.