It's pretty remarkable if you think about it. In the Bible, written specifically to our Jewish friends, is a who's who of those with incredible faith. This is found in Hebrews 11. We join the family of God though Christ and it is also the way in which we continue living for him. Too often we enthusiastically join the family of God via faith, then live defeated and without faith for God's daily care. I trust you will enjoy this series called Champions of Faith.
Hebrews 11:1-3
We all have faith. We exercise it everyday. Faith that the light switch will illuminate a room, faith that the bus will get us o the grocery store, and simply even simpler faith that a chair will support me. This kind of faith has no consequence for eternity, like Christian faith does. We claim a church, we carve out time for some Christian activity, but do we actually have faith in God. This series can strengthen our foundation of faith, faith, faith.
Hebrews 11:1-4; Genesis 4:1-10.
Everyone’s challenges in life are mixed with our struggles with pride. Unfortunately this can be clearly seen even in our approach to God. It is fascinating that on the subject of us and God, that we would have any pride at all. But of course we do. Abel expressed his -Hebrews commendable- faith in God in three ways. We still can do the same thing, Are you Abel? Or Are you Cain?
Hebrews 11:5-6; Genesis 5:21-24
The suffix “ian” means resembling; if there were someone to resemble, it would be Enoch. Of course he was a great example of faith (so says Hebrews 11), and he was therefore a remarkable example of walking with God and pleasing God. Relax, no pressure, all we need to do is understand where we to go and continue to head that direction. Let’s all walk like an Enoch-tian.
Hebrews 11:7; Genesis 6-9
I imagine an old flannel graph, cartoons and a gathering of children when I hear the name Noah. Today we speak more of the adult version of Noah, and actually more of his own self and character than the infamous large boat story. He was strong, alone, victorious and faithful…. All when the world was not. I think that we too live in a corrupt culture and are well equipped to be Noah- like, to Noah how too best live in a, unscrupulous society.
Hebrews 11:8-10; 17-19
What is unique in the great faith chapter of Hebrews 11 is the complimentary angles of the life of faith. Each ordinary person’s faith listed in the chapter has jewels of insight for all believers, all the time, and for all ages. Today’s example is clean and crisp. We can all leave today with a clear path to strengthen our faith.
Hebrews 11:11-12; Genesis 16
We all have certain things in common. We all laugh, we are all self-critical, we all want to be liked, and we all have good days and bad days. This morning, let’s talk about the similarity that we all have, we all fail. Sarah, in the Old Testament, is as real God follower as anyone could be and she had a remarkable failure to success story. This is why I love Sarah so much (also the Sarah in the Bible), she looks and acted just like us. Let’s lie encouraged by someone known for faith, but also failed miserably.
Hebrews 11:23-29
Last week when I preached, I kind of took too much time. So today we will stick to a brief three points. Well, five points hidden in three. Moses was a fantastic example of faith and by many considered the greatest Jewish person ever. In the brief section on Moses (yet a long section as compared to others in chapter 11) there are five mentions of “by faith”. Let’s look at them and mark some “by faith” applications for our own lives.
Hebrews 11:31. Joshua 2:1-24
Rahab was truly remarkable and her story leaves us in wonder. She had a long distance to go in order to be a hero; she had to overcome her past, to make up for her career, and to embrace a totally new way of life. She did all of that while rescuing the people of Israel from an otherwise likely defeat. It seems that we can all be greatly encouraged by the story of Rahab. The lower you have gone in life, the greater distance God is willing to take you… by faith.
Hebrews 12:1-3
We have studied many wonderful faith characters and now we come to the end. After all the lessons, tips and significant examples everything comes down to you. Would you like to improve your life of faith? Here are three exceptional next steps for you, a great champion of faith.
Pastor Robb Williams
21 Guinn Drive, Washington, PA 15301 United States
Copyright © 2024 Pastor Robb Williams - All Rights Reserved.
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