Latest / Calvary Church with Ed Taylor Podcast / #20251214 - 2026 GREATER Faith - Hebrews 11:1-3

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#20251214 - 2026 GREATER Faith - Hebrews 11:1-3 · Calvary Church with Ed Taylor Podcast

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Welcome to the study of God's Word with pastor and author Ed
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Taylor, recorded live at Calvary Church in Aurora, Co.
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To learn more about the many resources available through
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Abounding Grace Media or to tune into our live stream services,
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visit us online at Calvary Co dot Church or download our free
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Calvary Church app. Now.
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Here's Pastor Ed to take us into our study.
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Amen. Amen.
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Open your Bibles to Hebrews Chapter 11.
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We are just beginning a four week series I've entitled
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Greater looking forward to the new year.
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We're in between our studies of Galatians and Ephesians.
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So we just finished Galatians and then we'll start the book of
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Ephesians in January. But until then, I wanted to look
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forward to a new year and ask the question, what awaits us in
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the new year? And one of the ways that we can
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answer that is greater faith. That's the title of our Bible
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study today. Greater faith, greater faith.
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It's comforting. You know that God knows what
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he's doing with your life. He knows the why, the how, the
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what and the when. That seems to be the underlying
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theme of our series as well, that we enter into a new year
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just knowing God knows what he's doing with our lives.
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He knows exactly where he's leading us, how he's handling,
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what he's allowing and heading into the heading forward into a
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new year, we're praying for greater, greater.
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And, and today I want to talk about greater faith.
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Now I looked up the word greater in a dictionary.
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I don't remember which dictionary it was in particular,
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but I found that the definition was quite comical.
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Actually, The word greater means more great.
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That's what it said more great. And it's like, OK, that's good.
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It's used over 1000 times in the Bible.
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The word great or greater a variation greater itself and the
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new King James is used 82 times greater in a variety of
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different ways. The Greek word behind the word
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greater actually is a very familiar word to you.
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The Greek word is megas where we get our word mega from.
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We want mega faith going into the new year and this word often
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describes greater size, greater number, greater amount, greater
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price, a greater cost, greater importance.
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It's really a great word, no pun intended, to remember and to
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hold on to moving forward, praying for a new year because
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again, you you entering into a new year, you can look back on
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what happened previously and then you have a whole clean
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slate moving forward and you can look to say, OK, Lord, I see
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some things I want to repeat from this year, some things I
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don't want to repeat, but I also have some goals and some
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desires. I want to see you work in
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different ways in my life. I sense for our church that this
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word greater. I felt like God gave that to us
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so that we can move forward. I was thinking of this verse in
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Ephesians chapter 3 and verse 20.
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It says now to him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly
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above all that we ask or think according to the power that
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works in us, to him be the glory in the church by by Christ Jesus
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to all generations forever and ever.
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Amen. I've been meditating on this
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verse for quite some time because in March I'll be
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teaching at a leadership conference and they asked us
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what do we want to teach on? Like they asked us our top three
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picks. This was #1 #2 and #3 for me and
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they ended up giving me all my picks.
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So this is what I get to pick and what I get to teach on.
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So I've just been really thinking about this abundantly
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the how God wants to do more exceedingly abundantly what
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we're asked. So ask big and and ask God and
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knock and seek for big things because God's able to do even
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more than that. But we started this series
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little by little, didn't we? That's important to understand
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that God has his own timing with us.
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He knows what he's doing and sometimes it seems to go be
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going very, very quickly. But most of the time God is
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doing things little by little. We learned from the children of
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Israel that he said, I'm going to take you into the land.
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I'm going to give it to you, but you're not going to get it all
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at once. It's going to happen little by
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little. One of the reasons why is that
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you can't handle it. You won't be able to handle the
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whole thing all at once. So the process, little by
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little, is for training and preparation.
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We learned, didn't we, that God is preparing us today for what
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He has prepared for us, that nothing is wasted.
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He, he's using everything in training and preparing us for
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what's up ahead. So we get to enjoy today, but
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we're also prepared for tomorrow.
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It's his will, his way, His power, and his timing.
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Why? For his good pleasure.
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I, I found a few scriptures. If you want to jot them down, we
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will get to Hebrews. But before that, you can hold
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your places there. Turn over to Isaiah chapter 46.
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I want to show you a few things. I want you to see it in your own
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Bible in Isaiah chapter 46. A reminder, this is a theme
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throughout the Bible and how God knows what He's doing in our
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lives and in Psalm or excuse me, Isaiah 46 in verse 9, Isaiah 46,
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verse 9, it says, remember the former things of old, for I am
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God and there is no other. I am God and there is none like
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me. And we say, Amen.
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Yes, God, we know you are unique.
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You are a creator, our Savior All in all.
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And then he says in verse 10 as God, there's none other.
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He says I declare the end from the beginning and from ancient
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times, things that are not yet done, saying My counsel shall
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stand and I will do all my pleasure.
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Now we often will refer to this passage about God's prophetic
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word where He says something in advance because he knows what's
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going to happen. But also you can look at this
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for your own life. God knows what He wants to do
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with your life and what's required in you and me is to
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surrender by faith, trusting Him.
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Let me show you another 1. John chapter 6.
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What a great episode in the life of Jesus.
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I love this verse. It's become very important to me
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over the years. John chapter 6.
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When you get there, notice with me in verse 6.
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It's a very simple statement but very profound at the same time.
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It says in John 6/6. But this he said to test him,
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for he himself knew what he would do.
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Here with the feeding of the 5000, Jesus was testing Philip.
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He already knew what he was going to do, but he was drawing
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out what faith from Philip. Trust me.
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You can hear that over and over and over from God.
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Trust me, trust me, trust me. Let me show you another one,
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Ephesians chapter 1. We'll get there soon enough, but
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notice with me, Ephesians chapter one, another great
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insight of God's knowledge of your life.
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How in the new year, God's looking for more belief and more
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steps forward, more trust, more reliance.
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And He says in verse 11 of chapter 1, He says, in whom also
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we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to
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the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel
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of His will, that we who first trusted in Christ should be to
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the praise of his glory. This theme is over and over
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again. Now the book, you know, when you
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get to Ephesians chapter 1, there's all this debate and
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argument about the elect and predestination, and you lose the
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simple part of the verse. There is a complicated part to
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the verse, but there's also a very simple part, and that is
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according to God's good pleasure and His perfect will.
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He knows what He's doing with your life, and you can trust
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Him. And God's looking for greater
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faith this year. Which brings us to Hebrews
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Chapter 11. Hebrews Chapter 11.
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Hebrews is a book written to a group of Jewish believers who
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were struggling so much that they were ready to walk away
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from Christ. They were ready to turn their
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backs on Jesus and go back to Judaism.
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And Paul, I believe the author to Hebrews wrote a letter to
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them encouraging them to look to Jesus, his sufficiency, all that
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we need for life and faith. The the one that inspires faith,
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the one that is worthy of our faith.
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Or again, jot this down. Second Peter, chapter 1.
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Peter put it this way and I love the Bible because it gives you
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all these different angles on the same exact topic.
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And this is how Peter put it. Listen, he said, as His divine
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power has given to us all things that pertain to life and
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godliness through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory
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and virtue. All things have been given to us
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in Christ. Every single need that you have
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in two ways, like you're completely covered for life and
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godliness. Godliness would be your vertical
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relationship with God. Everything that you need in a
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relationship with God has been given to you in Christ.
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Godliness and then our horizontal, our horizontal
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relationships with each other, that's life.
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And everything that you need and I need in relation to one
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another has been given to me by Christ.
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The way to know peace is to know Jesus.
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The way to know the progress and going forward, whether to go or
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to stop, whether to turn left or turn right, everything has been
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given to me in Christ, His divine power.
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This is more than just a Bible study or more than just
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understanding a Greek word. When you have a Bible study, you
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know a Greek word. It's God's power.
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And we learned, didn't we? God's power.
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It works in us both to will and to do for His good pleasure.
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When you think of a new year and you look forward to what God has
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in this clean slate of a year, you have to thank God.
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I need greater faith. I want to trust you.
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Notice what the Bible says here in Hebrews Chapter 11.
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Now faith, this is verse one. Now faith is the substance of
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things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen for
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by it. And if you like to write in your
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Bibles, you might as well just write it now if you haven't
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already. It is a reference to faith.
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You can just write faith there, for by faith the elders obtained
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a good testimony. Many of you already know this,
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but Chapter 11 of Hebrews is known as the Hall of Faith.
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True story after true story after true story of men and
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women just like you and me live their lives by faith and are
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remembered for their faith. They're remembered by their
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commitment to Jesus. They learned long before you and
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I learned that it's Jesus that will lead you like today.
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Let's put it into today's conversation.
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Like let's make it relevant for today.
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You don't need Jesus and some self help book to get victory in
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your life. You don't need Jesus and drugs
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anymore. You don't need Jesus and
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alcohol. You don't need Jesus and some
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escape. You don't need Jesus and some
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coping mechanism. You have all that you need to
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live a full life by faith in Jesus Christ.
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If you really believe that, then it will come very naturally to
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say, well I want more faith. I want to trust God more.
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I want to cling to Him. I want to set aside, I want to
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set aside the things I've been leaning on and I want to learn
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to lean on the Lord. All the world's methods, all the
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world's advancements have definitely brought confusion to
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believers today where we're kind of looking at the world, we're
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seeing what's happening and, and everything that's happening,
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whether it's technology or AI or any, you're watching it happen
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right before your eyes. It's happening so rapid you may
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not even notice it, but the message being sent is, is you
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don't really need God's word. You really don't need God's word
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because I have a lot of these other tools that will tell you
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about God's Word and it's just not true.
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You don't need any tools. You don't need to look to any
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resource. God's word is enough.
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God's Word is sufficient. God's Word will be illuminated
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by the Holy Spirit to lead and guide you.
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Now when you're reading through the Bible, it can be a very
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daunting challenge because there are there is some understanding
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to grasp about how it's put together, who the authors were.
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There's a lot of underlying information that will help you
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understand the Bible. But without all that
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information, if you just read the Bible, God will speak to
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you. If you just open up the Bible,
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Genesis chapter one verse one, and you're right there, it says
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in the beginning, it's not your name, is it?
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In the beginning God begins to give a whole frame of reference
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for the entirety of your life and Genesis just explodes with a
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God who loves and creates and cares for his creation.
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And you're reading through the Bible, reading through the
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Bible. Eventually you'll get to
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different passages that are challenging for sure.
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And this is where many make the mistake of just putting the
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Bible down. Like I'm sure for the new year,
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a lot of you, I hope all of you make some kind of commitment to
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read through the Bible. We again on the you version app,
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we have different Bible reading plans up there that you can use.
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We have the church one up there where you can go through the New
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Testament twice and the Old Testament wants in one year and
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it's all there. It tells you what to read.
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It opens up on the on your app and you could read through the
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Bible right on your phone or your tablet.
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But you know how it is Genesis pretty easy, Exodus pretty easy.
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Leviticus, forget about it. He's like, what is this?
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The whole Bible just turned and took a left turn.
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But you know, Leviticus has some very significant lessons.
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I mean, Leviticus is a very bloody book.
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I mean, it's, it's very daunting.
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It's very different than Genesis and Exodus, although blood is
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involved in Genesis and Exodus as well.
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But when you get to the Leviticus, you don't want to
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just set it aside because it's hard to understand.
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You just keep taking it in because the book of Exodus
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really is pointing singularly to the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.
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There's a lot of reason why God gave Leviticus to the children
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of Israel, for sure, and you can learn that over time.
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But what you're looking for when you're reading the Bible is
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where is Jesus? Remember, Jesus said in the
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volume of the book, it is written of me.
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He's everywhere in the Scriptures, Old Testament and
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New Testament, as a matter of fact.
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Jot this down if you're already taking notes.
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I want to recommend a resource to you that will help you so
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that you don't just put your Bible down when it gets tough.
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And this is an overview of every book of the Bible that will help
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you understand who the author is, when it was written, what
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the theme is, what are the key verses.
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And what what struck in my mind last night when I was teaching
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this to recommend this book is that there is always an every
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chapter of this book as it goes through all 66 books.
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Where is Jesus in this book? And it's called Talk through the
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Bible by Bruce Wilkinson. Talk through the Bible by Bruce
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Wilkinson. I was introduced to that to that
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book because in my study Bible that's 30 plus years old at the
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beginning of every chapter is the chapter in that book.
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And they just put it in a separate book for those of you
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don't have study Bibles in this particular 1.
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So every time I open up, I can see and be reminded if I need
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it, who the author is, what year was this written?
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Where does it fit in the whole scheme of the Bible?
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What's the significance of Leviticus?
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Why is where is Jesus? How is it pointing to the cross?
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And it'll help you so that you don't put the Bible down.
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Why it's important that you read your Bible every day.
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Let me say it again. It's important that you read
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your Bible every day because faith comes by hearing and
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hearing by the word of God. You want greater faith, You'll
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need to spend greater time in God's Word.
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You'll yeah, it it just goes hand in hand where you're
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opening up the Scriptures, and you can read through it in order
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if you like, or if you just spend time reading the Gospels
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and reading again. Here's another way to read the
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Bible. You ready?
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Just jot it down #1 you should read a chapter of the Proverbs
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every day. There's 31 chapters and so like
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today is the 14th, so Proverbs 14, and just allow.
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And what are you getting when you read the Proverbs Wisdom,
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wisdom, you're getting the wisdom of God, these little
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Nuggets of wisdom. And it doesn't read like
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straight through, although some of the chapters do, but rather
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it just gives, hey, think about this, think about this, think
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about this. And one of them is going to, one
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of them is going to hit your heart or two each day.
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Every day you can read a chapter of Proverbs.
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It'll take you 6090 seconds. Even for those of you that are
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slow readers. And if you have a learning
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disability or you have a difficulty reading or you have
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dyslexia, you can take EU version app and it'll read to
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you. It'll read.
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There's no excuse not to receive the word of God.
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None anymore. We have all this technology
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that's available that you can just take it in #1 read the
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Proverbs chapter a day #2 spend some time in the Psalms, the
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Psalms. So you got the Psalms in the
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Proverbs are together in the Bible.
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And if you read a couple of chapters as much as you want,
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because some are small, some are large, what will you do?
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As you're reading the Psalms every day, you're going to be
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learning to worship God. So you're taking in the wisdom
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of God, but then you're also learning to worship God and
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you're reading like Psalm 7 today.
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I mean, you're reading David's heart and he's like, man, David,
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you, you're really, really being attacked, aren't you?
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And he's like coming to God. He goes, you know, if it's true,
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Take Me Out, Lord. But I know it's not true.
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I'm sure many of you, I've felt that way before.
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You know, if it's true, Lord, then Take Me Out.
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But I know it's not true. And so I come to you, Lord, with
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all my cares and all my difficulties.
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I mean, you're reading the Psalms.
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You're like, you might, might sound like you're reading your
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diary. It's like, this is my life.
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Yeah. Because any you're turning to
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the Lord and you're worshipping. And then if you have some more
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time, I mean we're talking 15 minutes, 20 minutes in the
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morning, that's not much at all. I mean, you can spend that much
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time scrolling through social media.
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Just set that aside, 1520 minutes in the word from the
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Psalms and the Proverbs. Then you go to the Gospels.
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They'll go to the Gospels. That's Matthew, Mark, Luke or
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John, any of the Gospels and you're just going to follow
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Jesus. Most of the gospels are
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describing the life of Jesus and what will you, what will you be
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receiving daily when you're going through the gospel?
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You'll learn how to walk with Jesus, wisdom, worship and walk.
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If you did that for a year, I guarantee you, you'll be a
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different woman and a different man Guarantee you.
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So he said, well, you know, every year I just stop at
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Leviticus. OK, let's try a new thing.
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New Thing. Proverbs.
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Songs. Gospels, I can't say personally
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that I do that every day, but I do it a lot.
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I used to do it every day, but I do it a lot.
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And there'll be days while just camping the Proverbs because I
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need wisdom. And there'll be days where I
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just camp in the Psalms because my heart needs to learn to
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worship. And then I spent a lot of time
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in the Gospels because I really want to learn what it means to
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follow Jesus, because he's the one that said come and follow
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me. A church didn't tell you that Ed
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is not telling you that. Calvary's not telling you that.
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Jesus is saying you come follow me.
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I'm going to lead you and guide you because I know what I'm
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doing with your life. Coming back to Hebrews, faith,
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faith, faith. Mark these words in verse one
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substance, substance. It's the word hoopostasis.
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HUPOSTASIS. It's the Greek word.
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The New Testament was written in the common language of the day,
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Koine Greek. The Greek word means foundation
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or assurance. Faith is the foundation or the
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assurance of things that we hope for.
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And then that second word you can write next to it,
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conviction. Conviction.
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It is the foundation of things hoped for and the conviction of
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things not seen. This tells me something about
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faith. Faith operates in the context of
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things that have not yet happened and cannot be seen.
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Faith happens in those areas of life that are not visible to the
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human eye and are unable to be figured out by man's mind.
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Faith operates in those places where I have this hope in God,
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but I can't see it right now. I don't know what God's going to
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do. I'm not sure what the future
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holds, but my hope is not in a circumstance, but in God.
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That's where our faith, our faith is not in something that's
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going to happen. Our faith is in someone whom we
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trust with all the affairs of our life, and it is the very
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foundation and the conviction. So what true faith does is it
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leads us to live out our beliefs.
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You know that you're walking in faith when you're living out
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what you believe. If you believe God is good, then
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you're going to live that out in your life.
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You believe God's going to come through, then you're going to
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live that out in your life. You, you believe.
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And I'm sure you have people in your life right now.
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When I say, hey, do you know anybody that's a woman of faith?
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You go, Yeah. And a name pops into your mind.
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Why? Because they live out their
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faith. They live it out.
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They have conviction. Yeah.
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You, you might throw your hands up.
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Oh, woe is me, woe is me. But there's always that friend
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that says no, no, no. The only woe that you have is
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you don't trust God, because when you trust God, you're
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operating in the realm of faith. And who doesn't want that for a
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new year? I need to trust God.
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I need to trust God with my prodigal kids.
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I need to trust God in my singleness.
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I need to trust God with my marriage, with my money, with my
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future. Everything about me starts with
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today, what I hope for the substance, the foundation, and
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the conviction of my faith in God.
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Now, faith is not wishful thinking that something one day
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might come to pass somehow one day in the future.
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You know, I hope, I hope it happens.
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One day my Prince will come. You know, that's not, that's not
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faith, that's cartoon stuff, that's fairy tales.
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Faith has a substance. The Christians hope and faith is
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a belief in God against the world and against everything
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that we see. We trust God against everything
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that we see. We see the world falling apart
23:55
and we go, wait a minute, God said it was going to happen.
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I trust God as everything's falling apart.
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I trust you go over the head. It's not falling apart in the
24:03
world. Everything's falling apart in my
24:05
life. Well, I trust God when
24:06
everything's falling apart in my life.
24:08
Why? Because Jesus said in this world
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I'll have tribulation, but I can be of good cheer because I've
24:14
overcome the world. Faith is not wishful hopeful
24:17
thinking. One day maybe, you know, faith
24:20
is a substance, has a foundation and a conviction to it in those
24:24
areas that we can't see. Let me tell you something else.
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Faith is not faith, is not what has been laid out through
24:32
televangelists and teachers over the years.
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Some kind of power where you can tell God what to do, where you
24:40
can use it for your own selfish purposes.
24:42
Faith. You just have to have more
24:44
faith, you know, And if you gave to my ministry more faith, you
24:46
have more money and you're going to have more faith.
24:48
There's a new word now actually that's being introduced that's
24:52
very, very popular. And I hope none of you are into
24:55
it. But if you are, stay away from
24:57
this nonsense. It's not biblical.
24:59
And it's this whole idea of manifesting.
25:01
I'm sure some of you, oh, I'm just going to manifest.
25:03
I'm just going to manifest $1,000,000.
25:05
We'll come and do it right here, right now.
25:07
Come and do it. We'd love to see that happen.
25:10
All matter of fact that that you can't do anything that God won't
25:14
do for you. You can't do anything.
25:16
Well, you know what, pastor? You don't know how I drove here
25:18
today. I don't really care how you
25:20
drove here today, but I'm going to tell you something.
25:22
It didn't start with you. It started with God.
25:25
He's the one that provides. It's not you making something
25:28
happen. It's not you and me like I have
25:31
more faith than you. Because if flip side happens
25:34
too, right? It's like something negative
25:36
happens or you don't have enough faith.
25:37
What are you talking about? I've given everything I can to
25:39
God. What do you mean I don't have
25:40
enough faith? I trust God with my life.
25:43
Yeah, but why are you suffering? Well, because that's God knows
25:46
what he's doing in my life. That's why sends a part of this
25:49
world. It's not because I don't have
25:51
faith. Although there probably are
25:53
times where I I want more faith, I want greater faith, I want to
25:56
trust God. But even that's not wasted
25:59
because God's going to use my lack of faith to cause me to
26:01
trust Him more as I see my life apart from Him.
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The person of faith believes and lives out his or her beliefs.
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That has to be our new year. A life committed to what your
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mind and spirit are convinced are true.
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Why? Because of verse 2, we've
26:22
already seen this, but, and you've written it down in your
26:25
Bible already, for by it, what does it refer to?
26:28
Church Say it out loud, faith. So by faith, by this
26:32
foundational conviction in the unknown circumstances, in a well
26:37
known God, by faith the elders obtained a good testimony.
26:43
The testimony of our lives is directly related to our faith
26:48
and it's by faith that good testimonies come, the testimony
26:52
of your life. That's the rest of Chapter 11
26:55
over and over again by faith, by faith, by faith, by faith, by
26:59
faith. You can take the by faith and
27:02
then attach it to the verb of what faith moved them to do.
27:06
That was their conviction. And it's amazing what happened
27:09
all throughout Chapter 11. By faith, the elders obtained a
27:12
good testimony. So let me ask you a question.
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Do you want to obtain a good testimony, Church?
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It's going to happen by faith. You want a great testimony.
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It's going to happen by greater faith.
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And God is ready. He's ready to give it to you.
27:25
He's ready for your life to be a testimony.
27:28
Again, mark that word testimony. It's the Greek word martoreo.
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Sometimes it's also translated martorus, but here it's
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martoreo. It means to be a witness or to
27:38
testify of the truth. And we get our English word
27:41
martyr from this word, the idea of dying for your faith.
27:46
The elders have obtained a good testimony.
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They have given you this picture of the faithfulness of God
27:52
through their lives. And how did they do it?
27:56
By faith. We'll see in a moment here in
28:00
verse 6. Without faith, it's impossible
28:03
to please God because it says he who comes to God must believe
28:08
that He is and that he's a rewarder of those who diligently
28:14
seek Him. The testimony of our lives will
28:17
come directly related to our faith.
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You're reading through the Chapter 11 and just just read it
28:26
with me real quick here. Verse 4 by faith, Abel offered.
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Verse 5 by faith, Enoch was translated.
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Verse 7 by faith Noah moved with godly fear, but verse 8 by faith
28:40
Abraham obeyed. Verse 11 by faith Sarah herself
28:44
also received strength to conceive seed you, you jump down
28:48
to verse 17 by faith Abraham when he was tested, offered up
28:52
Isaac. Verse 20 by faith Isaac blessed
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Jacob. Verse 21 by faith Jacob when he
28:58
was dying was blessed each of his sons.
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Verse 22 by faith Joseph when he was dying, they'd mention by
29:04
verse 23 by faith, Moses when he was born was hidden three months
29:09
by his parents. Can we just pause there for a
29:11
second and say your kids are blessed by your faith?
29:15
Can you imagine? Can you imagine building a
29:18
little? Just thinking, what am I going
29:19
to do with my kid? I don't have many choices here.
29:22
The the leader of the known world wants to take my kid out.
29:25
What are we going to do? I know we'll do.
29:27
Let's build a little box and let's cover it up, put our kid
29:31
in the box and launch them out on the Nile.
29:36
How could you do that unless you trusted God for the betterment
29:40
of your child? Now, I'm not suggesting you
29:42
build a box and launch your kid out on the Aurora Reservoir.
29:46
I said, well, that's what the Bible says.
29:47
That's not a good application of what the Bible, but I want you
29:50
to know your faith in God will bless your children.
29:54
Your faith in God is blessing your children.
29:57
I don't care how they're behaving right now.
29:59
I don't care what their attitude toward God is.
30:01
Your steady life toward God in faith blesses your children,
30:07
even your 50 year old children or your 60 year old children or
30:11
the babies that you're swaddling in the nursing moms room.
30:15
This was an amazing thing that in verse 23 by faith, Moses when
30:19
he was born was hidden three months by his parents because
30:23
he's they saw that he was a beautiful child and they weren't
30:25
afraid of the King's command. They weren't afraid they trusted
30:30
God. That's a whole Bible study in
30:33
and of itself. But here's what we here's where
30:35
we're headed in 2025. We too will get a testimony
30:40
related to our faith. We too will have a testimony
30:43
related to our faith. These men and women were just
30:48
like you and me, except they had far less to depend on than you
30:54
and I do. They had no radio, they had no
30:57
television, no Internet. They had no technology of any
31:02
kind, no worldwide travel, no airplanes, no trains.
31:06
They didn't even have Veggie Tales to teach them the Bible
31:11
stories. But you know what They did have
31:15
faith. They did have faith and it's a
31:20
warning for us today too, isn't it, To just examine our lives
31:24
and see where our faith is leaking out on all these other
31:28
things, trusting all these other things in our lives and not just
31:32
trusting God, not just looking to him.
31:36
I there's a towel in my life that I know that I'm starting to
31:39
wander away from trusting God in a situation.
31:42
And it usually surrounds this phrase, whether I'm thinking it
31:45
or I say it, where I'm in a situation and I start to think
31:49
or say I really need to figure this out because that's how God
31:53
wired me to figure things out. I have that gifting of
31:56
administration and leadership and that gifting of
31:59
administration and leadership sees chaos and wants to bring
32:02
order to it. That's just my natural way of
32:04
thinking. However, when a difficulty comes
32:07
my way or something needs to be figured out, that can't be my
32:10
first. I can't turn to me figuring
32:13
anything out. First I need to learn to turn to
32:16
the Lord. He already knows.
32:18
I really don't need to figure anything out.
32:20
What I need is wisdom of God. I don't really need to figure
32:24
stuff out. What I need is to turn to the
32:26
Lord. What I need is to seek first the
32:29
Kingdom of God and His righteousness.
32:31
And then what will happen? All these things will be added
32:34
unto you. The Father knows that we need
32:38
these things the Bible says, but when I start thinking about
32:41
figuring things out, I know I'm not operating in the realm of
32:44
faith necessarily. I need to pay attention on it.
32:47
I wonder what it is in your life that you have seen where you
32:50
just know that is leading you away from God.
32:53
It doesn't mean it's sin, and it doesn't mean like you're
32:56
rebellious or anything. It just means that you have
32:59
created something in your life that doesn't require faith for a
33:03
situation that does require faith because your whole life
33:07
requires faith because we just learned without faith it's
33:12
impossible to please God. And I know that's at the heart
33:16
of every true believer. We want to please God.
33:20
So looking forward to a new year.
33:22
Greater faith is a life that pleases God in greater ways
33:27
where you finally surrender the throw up your hands, ask God for
33:32
his wisdom, learn how to worship, follow Jesus in your
33:36
walk. You too can obtain a good
33:40
testimony by faith, a greater testimony with greater faith,
33:47
before you write yourself off, before you take a Bible study
33:51
like this and put it into a category of that will never be
33:54
me. I'll never experience greater
33:57
faith. I'm not a great woman of God.
33:59
I'm not a great man of God. I'm just an ordinary person
34:03
before you do that. Even if you do do that, let me
34:07
remind you, God loves to use ordinary people.
34:12
You want to know why there's no other kind of people, just
34:16
normal folks like you and me? God will use us as we look to
34:20
Him. Let me show you.
34:21
Turn over to 1st Corinthians chapter 1.
34:24
Don't write yourself off. Don't think you're
34:26
insignificant. Don't think you you don't have
34:29
anything to offer God. Offer this community, offer this
34:32
church. No way.
34:35
The exact opposite has told us. You just need to believe God.
34:39
This is what he says. He says in verse 25 of First
34:42
Corinthians chapter one, verse 25.
34:45
The foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of
34:52
God is stronger than men. And we say, OK, Lord, I look to
34:56
you, you're wise and you're strong.
34:58
And then he says in verse 26 where you see your calling,
35:02
brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many
35:07
mighty, not many noble are called, but God has chosen.
35:12
What does your Bible say? The foolish things?
35:15
Oh, by the way, if you like to write in your Bibles, just
35:17
circle that and right next to it, that's me, that's me.
35:22
God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put the
35:25
shame, the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the
35:28
world to put the shame, the things that are mighty, the base
35:31
things of the world, the things that are despised.
35:33
God has chosen the things that are not to bring to nothing the
35:37
things that are because in verse 29, He doesn't want any flesh to
35:41
glory in His presence. God loves to use ordinary people
35:46
like you and me. If you'll just come to Him in
35:49
faith, just trust Him with your life.
35:52
God has chosen the foolish things.
35:55
I find no greater explanation in the Bible of why I get to be a
36:01
pastor and serve you than this verse right here.
36:04
God has chosen the foolish things.
36:07
He didn't go to the seminary looking for me, didn't go to the
36:09
Bible college looking for me. He didn't have me go get trained
36:13
so that I'm all ready to move to Colorado.
36:15
God found me in the gutter with a broken, completely destroyed
36:21
life. That's how I walked into church,
36:24
into a church just like this, actually.
36:27
I walked into a church really, really, really messed up without
36:33
any hope of the future. It was actually a shock.
36:37
Maybe it is for you too, that you're in church.
36:40
It's a shock for me to be in church.
36:41
What the heck am I doing here? All these people singing and the
36:46
music I just didn't get, and I wasn't into that kind of music,
36:52
but God knew what he was doing all along so that I couldn't
36:57
stand here and go, well, you know, guys, I'm in the pulpit
37:00
today because I am very smart. You know, I have learned a lot.
37:05
If you come into my office, I don't have wallpaper.
37:08
I have degrees. They're all over my office.
37:11
I collect them like baseball cards.
37:16
No, I'm just an ordinary guy that serves an extraordinary God
37:21
just like you. And the testimony that I get to
37:23
hand down to you is by faith. I trust God, I trust Him in His
37:28
Word. I trust that what He says is
37:29
true. I live it out in my life.
37:32
I come to Him when I fail and I repent and I have a walk with
37:36
the Lord just like you do. So don't write yourself off.
37:39
Just come to God with your faith.
37:41
Come down with what you have. It's amazing, we think that we
37:44
have to have all of this to come to God, but He receives you as
37:46
you are. Just come as you are, but you
37:48
got to come. You can't just set it set out.
37:51
You know, some of you aren't even in the room.
37:52
You're out on the radio, maybe driving around or you've got
37:55
another appointment, or you kind of skipping out on worshipping
37:57
God today. Look, don't you got to come to
37:59
Him. Without faith, it's impossible
38:02
to please Him. You have to come to Him for the
38:04
faith. The Bible says that He gives to
38:05
all of us a measure of faith. You have to come to Him and he,
38:10
you have to admit that, look, you're not going to be you.
38:13
Some of you do have a lot of degrees, and I'm grateful.
38:15
I think if my life wasn't backwards, I would have school.
38:19
I'm one of those guys you'd probably be mad at because
38:21
school is very easy for me. I would have been a degree
38:25
collector for sure. It would have been very easy.
38:27
I love learning. It's super simple for me, but I
38:30
couldn't do that. My life took the left turn.
38:32
I couldn't recover from it. The left turn sent me in a whole
38:36
new direction in my life that God knew what He wanted to do.
38:40
It was the best direction for my life, even though it was hard
38:43
and challenging. But some of you you didn't take
38:46
that you went to you went the straight and narrow.
38:48
So you did get degrees and you're in very important places.
38:51
The Bible says he says here understand this that you see
38:55
your calling brethren, not many wise, but God has chosen the
38:58
foolish things. It doesn't say not any.
39:01
It just says not many. So you don't look down on the
39:04
fact that God open a door for you to be in this place in
39:06
society and you got this position and you have this place
39:10
of influence and you have these degrees that that's not the
39:13
issue here. The issue is this, without
39:16
faith, none of that matters for the Kingdom.
39:20
It might make you progress in the world a little bit and give
39:24
you a little more money, a little more influence, a little
39:26
more security, which is all wonderful and great.
39:29
But when it comes to the Kingdom, your wisdom, your
39:34
nobility, your upbringing, your family, your personal strength,
39:38
your physical strength, that that's not what gives God the
39:41
glory. What gives God the glory is He.
39:44
He uses weak things and base things and those that are
39:48
despised. God has chosen, God has chosen
39:52
you for this coming year. To me, that's a huge open door
39:57
for us. God doesn't always call the
39:59
qualified into service, but He always qualifies those that He
40:04
calls. He always gives to us what we
40:07
need. We learn in Ephesians chapter 2,
40:11
verse 10 that we are His workmanship, created in Christ
40:17
Jesus for good works which God prepared beforehand, that we
40:22
should walk in them. The Hall of Faith starts with
40:26
us. This is the beauty when we think
40:30
of Hebrews Chapter 11 and we think to a new year of greater
40:34
faith, we just know that God is working in US.
40:37
First he says in verse 3. By faith we understand that the
40:43
world's were framed by the word of God.
40:45
The hall of faith actually starts with us because when we
40:49
think of God as creator and we go by faith, we understand the
40:52
world, how the world was created.
40:54
I wasn't there. Were you there when the world
40:56
was created? None of us were there.
40:59
So when we look back to the word of God, we like, I trust, I
41:02
trust that this is what God has done and the evidence is
41:07
overwhelming for creator God in our lives that elicits what from
41:12
us faith, we trust God. You want greater faith this
41:16
coming year? I do too.
41:18
So Father, thank you for the reminder today.
41:22
Very simple, but very important that we receive God the the gift
41:28
that you have for us in trusting you with our lives.
41:32
There's some really significant stuff going on in people's lives
41:35
today, for sure. A lot of pain, a lot of trauma,
41:38
a lot of fear, a lot of anxiety, a lot of family tension,
41:43
especially around the holidays. But we just give it all to you,
41:45
Lord, we give it all to you. We don't want to trust in our
41:48
education, as good as it might be, or our experience, or our
41:54
knowledge. We want to learn to trust in you
41:58
with all our heart. Lean not on our own
42:00
understanding, acknowledging you in all our ways.
42:03
And you'll direct our paths. And we look forward in that
42:06
coming year, God, that you'll direct our paths a greater
42:11
dependence upon you as we respond in faith that you might
42:18
pour out your spirit, a spirit of faith and trust among us
42:22
today. And just as you're praying right
42:25
now, I'm not going to ask for any public acknowledgement, but
42:27
you know who you are in relationship to your faith
42:31
relation with God. You know how who you are.
42:33
And if you just sense that you need more faith and you want to
42:38
trust more, just acknowledge that.
42:40
So like, I want to believe more, I want to trust you, God, you
42:43
can acknowledge it out loud or in your heart.
42:46
And as you do, I'm going to pray for you.
42:47
And again, I don't want to embarrass you.
42:50
I don't want, I don't think it'd be embarrassing anyway, but I
42:53
just wanted to be between you and the Lord today.
42:56
And God, you know those that you have spoken to that this is an
43:01
area of their life. They're single, they want more
43:03
faith. They're married, they want more
43:06
faith. They're afraid of the future,
43:09
they want more faith. Wonder what's going to happen
43:11
with their kids. They need more faith.
43:13
Looking at their bank account, their employment, they want more
43:17
faith. They want more faith.
43:18
God, pour out your spirit of faith upon them.
43:22
Love, hopes all things, believes all things.
43:27
Pour out your agape love on your church that we might trust you
43:32
and believe you that you do love us, for God so loved the world.
43:39
We just want to trust you with that today.
43:43
Greater faith. We know it's going to happen
43:46
little by little, but we trust you.
43:48
You brought us thus far, thus far greater, thus far so good.
43:54
Have your way with us Lord, in Jesus name, Amen.
43:58
We pray that you've been encouraged by this Bible study
44:01
delivered live from the sanctuary of Calvary Church for
44:05
prayer. Call us at 87730 grace that's
44:09
877-304-7223. To listen to this message in its
44:15
integrity or to join us for our live stream services, visit us
44:19
online at Calvary Co dot Church or download our free Calvary
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Church app. Be blessed as you worship Jesus
44:27
this week.