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Trusting God | Hebrews 11:1-3 · Bayside Davis Podcast

0:05
SPEAKER_00: Welcome to the Bayside Davis podcast.
0:07
SPEAKER_00: You are now listening to our current teaching series in the book of Hebrews.
0:16
SPEAKER_00: The title of this message is Trusting God.
0:21
SPEAKER_00: Whenever I think about a time when I had the most faith, I'm brought back to 2017.
0:28
SPEAKER_00: 2017, May, June, I graduated high school and I was just enjoying my life up until I started doing all the process and all the things to apply for a visa to come to the US.
0:44
SPEAKER_00: Now, that wasn't smooth at all.
0:47
SPEAKER_00: There was a lot of ups and downs along the way.
0:51
SPEAKER_00: So essentially, as an international person, I speak French.
0:55
SPEAKER_00: So when a French speaker is trying to go to an English-speaking country, you have to pass proficiency tests and all the things in order to show that you can you will be able to survive and adjust and all the things.
1:08
SPEAKER_00: So at the time, I did not know that.
1:11
SPEAKER_00: We just did all the things.
1:12
SPEAKER_00: I got my interview for the at the embassy.
1:15
SPEAKER_00: I went there.
1:16
SPEAKER_00: I'm like, you know what?
1:17
SPEAKER_00: Just to increase my chances to get the visa, let me just speak in English with the interviewer, just to increase my chances.
1:24
SPEAKER_00: And the thing is, like, there were stalls, so technically I could even hear the conversation that was happening next to me with another interviewer and another person that was hoping to get a visa.
1:33
SPEAKER_00: And mind you, that dude, he was speaking French the whole time.
1:37
SPEAKER_00: I'm like, brother, do you not want to go?
1:39
SPEAKER_00: But somehow that dude got it right there and then.
1:43
SPEAKER_00: And then I was having my interview, and then eventually the interviewer was like, hmm, is that your dad?
1:49
SPEAKER_00: And I'm like, yeah.
1:50
SPEAKER_00: So he calls my dad over, and I'm like, oh shoot.
1:54
SPEAKER_00: He's like, why are you having her do these English courses when she gets there when she's perfectly fine to speak?
2:01
SPEAKER_00: He was like, Whoa, no, no, no, no, no.
2:03
SPEAKER_00: So he's like, you know what?
2:04
SPEAKER_00: You guys go, have her do the tofu, and then come back, and then we'll rediscuss this.
2:11
SPEAKER_00: At the time, bro, we literally left.
2:13
SPEAKER_00: I was crying.
2:14
SPEAKER_00: I was just like, bro, this is so unfair.
2:16
SPEAKER_00: That guy was speaking French, mind you, he didn't even try.
2:19
SPEAKER_00: And I did, and all the things.
2:21
SPEAKER_00: Eventually, the Lord had to change my perspective, and I'm like, you know what?
2:25
SPEAKER_00: Fine.
2:26
SPEAKER_00: It was a lot of prayer, a lot of fasting, a lot of studying.
2:30
SPEAKER_00: Because mind you, I had to prepare for the tofu in a very, very short time.
2:34
SPEAKER_00: That test, you need at least like 70 to 80 points in order to be deemed proficient.
2:41
SPEAKER_00: So I had two weeks of every day, like three or four hours of just like polishing my speaking, my writing, my listening, and all the things in order to pass the test.
2:52
SPEAKER_00: And that was that was a doozy.
2:54
SPEAKER_00: But eventually that got done.
2:55
SPEAKER_00: But also in the meantime, I'm always like, okay, we need to stay in prayer and all the things.
3:00
SPEAKER_00: And mind you, the way Africans move, when you're doing stuff, at least the Christian ones, you don't say you don't say anything to anybody.
3:08
SPEAKER_00: So nobody knew that I was even doing all that kind of stuff.
3:12
SPEAKER_00: My friends, they were like, oh yeah, we're going to France for school and all the things.
3:15
SPEAKER_00: I'm like, good for you.
3:18
SPEAKER_00: I'll be cheering you on from over here.
3:20
SPEAKER_00: But nobody knew what I was doing.
3:22
SPEAKER_00: And then eventually I was just like, you know what?
3:25
SPEAKER_00: I kind of like got fed up.
3:26
SPEAKER_00: I decided to go into my parents' room and I grabbed two of their suitcases.
3:30
SPEAKER_00: Mind you, my parents, they re go regularly to Israel and stuff.
3:34
SPEAKER_00: So they had bought like these nice camo leather suitcases within Christian Jerusalem on it.
3:42
SPEAKER_00: And I started packing.
3:43
SPEAKER_00: I was packing and like making sure that I was ready to go to my promised land because a couple years back I had received a prophecy that God was gonna send me to the US.
3:53
SPEAKER_00: So I was like, you know what?
3:55
SPEAKER_00: Since God said it, I'm gonna just be ready.
3:57
SPEAKER_00: So whenever the time comes, I'll be gone.
3:59
SPEAKER_00: So literally I had my my whole two suitcases were packed and ready to go before I even had my second interview.
4:07
SPEAKER_00: And then eventually we went back, and then the guy was like, You see, you did it.
4:12
SPEAKER_00: Now there you go.
4:13
SPEAKER_00: And then literally a week later, I arrived in the US on December 9th, 2017.
4:21
SPEAKER_00: All that to say, for that period of time, and it was very hard.
4:25
SPEAKER_00: I'm smiling and making jokes and all the things, but it was very hard.
4:29
SPEAKER_00: I had to cling to what God said, to the promise He made, even though I couldn't see it.
4:36
SPEAKER_00: My circumstances made it hard to see, and it didn't happen in the way that I thought it would, maybe the first time around, but everything happened in the way it needed to, the best way it could, God's way.
4:52
SPEAKER_00: So let's read Hebrews 11, verse 1 to 3.
4:56
SPEAKER_00: It says, Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.
5:06
SPEAKER_00: This is what the ancients were commended for.
5:10
SPEAKER_00: 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.
5:21
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
5:21
SPEAKER_00: Let's pray.
5:23
SPEAKER_00: Jesus, we thank you for today.
5:26
SPEAKER_00: Thank you for this other this new year that you've given unto us.
5:30
SPEAKER_00: Lord, I pray that um this message would just touch my heart, but also everyone's heart here.
5:36
SPEAKER_00: Lord, I pray that you just speak to us and increase our faith in you, increase our trust in you because it's the best thing that we could do.
5:44
SPEAKER_00: Lord, I pray that I would decrease so you increase.
5:47
SPEAKER_00: Lord, I pray that your spirit would move in this place.
5:50
SPEAKER_00: In Jesus' name, amen.
5:54
SPEAKER_00: The author of Hebrews is unknown.
5:58
SPEAKER_00: There are speculations that it could be Paul, Luke, Barnabas, Priscilla, and so many others.
6:06
SPEAKER_00: At the time, the Jewish Christians were being persecuted at a social level, but also a physical level.
6:13
SPEAKER_00: So much so that it was threatening their commitment to Christ.
6:17
SPEAKER_00: The author addressed this letter of Hebrews to them because they needed a renewal of confidence and exhortation to persevere.
6:28
SPEAKER_00: They were tempted to go back to previous religious traditions, but the author was pleading with them to walk by faith.
6:39
SPEAKER_00: Now, what is faith?
6:41
SPEAKER_00: The dictionary provides various explanations.
6:46
SPEAKER_00: One is belief and trust in and loyalty to God.
6:52
SPEAKER_00: Another one is belief in the traditional doctrines of a religion.
6:58
SPEAKER_00: Another one goes, firm belief in something for which there is no proof.
7:05
SPEAKER_00: Or complete trust.
7:08
SPEAKER_00: All these are good.
7:13
SPEAKER_00: So on verse 1 it says, now faith is confidence in what we hope for, and assurance about what we do not see.
7:24
SPEAKER_00: Faith is defined by two words: confidence from the Greek hypostasis, which means that which stands under, and assurance from the Greek elenkos, which means proof.
7:37
SPEAKER_00: Faith is the monominal verb for the faith is the nominal form for the verb to believe.
7:44
SPEAKER_00: In Greek, you will say pistoon.
7:47
SPEAKER_00: That was so hard to say.
7:48
SPEAKER_00: It therefore means trust or confidence in God, in what God has promised, resulting in a life of faithfulness and perseverance.
7:59
SPEAKER_00: Meaning you and I, because of what God said, we continue to believe, we continue to trust, and we do not give up.
8:07
SPEAKER_00: Faith is the foundation for the Christian life and the means by which all unseen things are tested.
8:15
SPEAKER_00: So if you're a note-taker, write it down.
8:18
SPEAKER_00: If you're not, start today.
8:20
SPEAKER_00: Stole that from Wesley.
8:21
SPEAKER_00: My first point is faith and reason.
8:25
SPEAKER_00: Faith and reason.
8:28
SPEAKER_00: Now here's the catch.
8:29
SPEAKER_00: Mentoring will say that there's a dissonance between faith and reason, like they don't go together.
8:35
SPEAKER_00: Because with reason, you want sufficient ground of explanation, a logical defense, a fact, something rational.
8:45
SPEAKER_00: But let me get this out of the way.
8:47
SPEAKER_00: Faith is not blind.
8:50
SPEAKER_00: We are humans, we are rational people.
8:54
SPEAKER_00: In the words of René Descartes, I think, therefore I am.
8:58
SPEAKER_00: Je pense donc je suis.
9:00
SPEAKER_00: We process information, we process data, we make decisions, we doubt.
9:04
SPEAKER_00: So we are smart, and by the grace of God, our brains are functioning.
9:09
SPEAKER_00: However, faith cannot be measured in a lab.
9:13
SPEAKER_00: There is no scientific evidence for faith.
9:16
SPEAKER_00: Faith is needed for what we cannot see and cannot touch.
9:20
SPEAKER_00: If I can touch it, smell it, feel it, see it, then there's no need for faith.
9:27
SPEAKER_00: Hear me when I say this.
9:30
SPEAKER_00: Faith does not contradict reason, though it may go beyond reason.
9:38
SPEAKER_00: One may objectively prove that the Bible is the most impactful book ever published in human history, more than any other book.
9:47
SPEAKER_00: But only faith can prove that the Bible is the Word of God.
9:53
SPEAKER_00: Therefore, this is a belief beyond reason, but not in contradiction to reason or against reason.
10:02
SPEAKER_00: So, yeah, having faith may sound a little crazy sometimes, but it is an intellectual, well-thought decision that I make, that you make, and that we make.
10:14
SPEAKER_00: In verse 2, it says, This is what the ancients were commended for.
10:22
SPEAKER_00: I lost my train of thought.
10:25
SPEAKER_00: I don't know about you, but I'm so glad that I'm not the first Christian to walk this earth because I don't know what how we would have done it.
10:32
SPEAKER_00: It's cool and helpful that so many people have gone before us, imparted wisdom.
10:37
SPEAKER_00: They've gone through different things, different experiences, and we're able to be encouraged by their faith.
10:42
SPEAKER_00: It can be in the Bible, but also people that we know or people that we've heard about in mainstream, like Tim Keller.
10:50
SPEAKER_00: He's awesome.
10:51
SPEAKER_00: And think to all the books that he published, I feel like we get little nuggets here and there about how to walk this life on earth.
11:00
SPEAKER_00: But also, because of the oral culture of storytelling that the Jews had at the time, very, very frequently they will be talking about all the things that their forefathers did, from Abel to Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Rahab, to name a few.
11:19
SPEAKER_00: Through their stories, we get to understand their circumstances and their obedience to God when it didn't make sense.
11:28
SPEAKER_00: Their stories remind us that Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever in Hebrews 13, 8.
11:37
SPEAKER_00: Their faith helps my faith.
11:40
SPEAKER_00: Your faith helps my faith.
11:43
SPEAKER_00: And hopefully mine helps yours.
11:47
SPEAKER_00: What brings me to which brings me to my next point?
11:51
SPEAKER_00: Faith and community.
11:52
SPEAKER_00: I can write that down.
11:55
SPEAKER_00: Faith and community.
11:58
SPEAKER_00: Going through hard times alone is never helpful.
12:02
SPEAKER_00: We need each other to have faith to grow and to mature.
12:07
SPEAKER_00: Hence why it's so important to be surrounded by people to share your stories with.
12:13
SPEAKER_00: Hearing how God has been good to you encourages me.
12:17
SPEAKER_00: It makes me know that God did it for you, and He can for sure do it again and again and again.
12:23
SPEAKER_00: And it makes me trust him.
12:25
SPEAKER_00: I was catching up with my friend Jayla, and she gave me a couple of gems that I want to share with you.
12:31
SPEAKER_00: She said, when you feel like nothing is happening, actually everything is happening because God is always moving.
12:39
SPEAKER_00: You just don't see it.
12:41
SPEAKER_00: Another one she said was, when Jesus is in the boat sleeping, because she was referencing, like, you know, the disciples in the boat, and then Jesus was sleeping, and then the waters were raging.
12:51
SPEAKER_00: They were like, ah, we're gonna die.
12:52
SPEAKER_00: Jesus, why are you sleeping?
12:54
SPEAKER_00: So she was like, Well, if Jesus is sleeping in the boat, then why should I not be sleeping too?
12:59
SPEAKER_00: I'm chilling because he's chilling.
13:01
SPEAKER_00: What I see or don't see doesn't really matter because he's there with me.
13:07
SPEAKER_00: As she was saying these different things, I felt very encouraged, and my faith got boosted a little.
13:14
SPEAKER_00: So when does faith come in?
13:18
SPEAKER_00: Well, in difficult times.
13:20
SPEAKER_00: So my third point is faith in difficult times.
13:26
SPEAKER_00: Life is 90% what happens to you and 10% how you decide to react or respond.
13:32
SPEAKER_00: And I'm gonna be honest, I am not somebody that responds well to bad to bad stuff.
13:42
SPEAKER_00: I don't always have the right posture, I don't always have the right attitude, and I literally sink into this prayer.
13:48
SPEAKER_00: I'm like, oh woe is me, oh my goodness, why?
13:51
SPEAKER_00: And it takes me a while to actually get out of the funk.
13:55
SPEAKER_00: Um, it's not that I don't have faith, I do.
13:58
SPEAKER_00: The Lord has proven to me time and time again that He's been there, that He's faithful, and that He makes things out of nothing.
14:07
SPEAKER_00: But somehow my fears and the uncertainty of life trump what I know to be true.
14:15
SPEAKER_00: That God is and can be trusted.
14:20
SPEAKER_00: In the text, the Jewish Christians were going through a lot, so much so that they were thinking of just reverting back to their old ways, old patterns, a life before Jesus.
14:33
SPEAKER_00: But they were completed with to continue to walk by faith.
14:40
SPEAKER_00: Continuing to verse 3, it goes like this 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.
14:56
SPEAKER_00: Faith is the willingness to trust in, to rely on, to cling onto God.
15:04
SPEAKER_00: Very easy to say, very, very hard to do, but you have to choose over and over every single day to trust, especially when it's scary, because it is very scary.
15:18
SPEAKER_00: Also, especially when it doesn't make sense, because we serve a God that made everything we see out of nothing, so nothing is too big or too complicated or too, I don't know, for God to do.
15:36
SPEAKER_00: He can handle it, he can exhibit it.
15:39
SPEAKER_00: Let's talk about creation.
15:40
SPEAKER_00: Let's turn over to Genesis 1, verse 1 to 5.
15:45
SPEAKER_00: Genesis 1, verse 1 to 5.
15:50
SPEAKER_00: In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.
15:55
SPEAKER_00: Now the earth was formless and empty.
15:58
SPEAKER_00: Darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.
16:07
SPEAKER_00: And God said, Let there be light, and there was light.
16:13
SPEAKER_00: God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness.
16:19
SPEAKER_00: God called the light day, and the darkness he called night.
16:24
SPEAKER_00: And then there was evening, and then there was morning, and then the first day.
16:28
SPEAKER_00: But think about it, just as our eyesight is the sense that gives us evidence of the material world.
16:35
SPEAKER_00: For example, I'm wearing a black shirt, I know that.
16:38
SPEAKER_00: You have a purple book right there, you have a green Bible right there.
16:42
SPEAKER_00: Our eyes give us the evidence of the things that we're seeing.
16:46
SPEAKER_00: But then our faith, on the other hand, gives us the sense, the evidence of the invisible spiritual world.
16:56
SPEAKER_00: Think about it, everything we see came from nothing.
17:01
SPEAKER_00: Nothing, literally nothing.
17:03
SPEAKER_00: There was nothing, there was no blueprint, there was no model, there wasn't any precedence.
17:08
SPEAKER_00: Nobody had ever done this before.
17:10
SPEAKER_00: How blue the sky is, and then it turns gray, and then it turns all the things, and especially, bro, the pretty the pretty colors like orange and pink and all the things at sunrise and sunset, that's kind of crazy.
17:22
SPEAKER_00: How the sun and moon, like clockwork, they tag team, and then like, okay, brother, you're eight, now I'm out, and all the things like every single day that like they were scheduled perfectly.
17:32
SPEAKER_00: How every living creature speaks to the intention behind how they were created, from the birds in the sky to even us humans.
17:40
SPEAKER_00: Can we even talk about our bodies like the way they work, make it make sense?
17:43
SPEAKER_00: Like it doesn't make sense to me.
17:45
SPEAKER_00: And okay, to sustain every single living being all at once, all the time, at the same time.
17:54
SPEAKER_00: It doesn't make sense, bro.
17:55
SPEAKER_00: Even how our brains think till now we haven't even figured out like all the things that our brains can and cannot do, and how high the mountains go, and how vast the waters go, and all the things that just make our earth the way it is.
18:11
SPEAKER_00: Even bro, even the fact that we're living on such a planet that if we were to live on any other planet, we will literally die because the oxygen is not there.
18:22
SPEAKER_00: Anyways, all those things, God commends them, and they are just like that.
18:30
SPEAKER_00: It's like a well-oiled machine that never stops.
18:33
SPEAKER_00: It's kind of crazy to me.
18:34
SPEAKER_00: I don't know about you, but I am very much mind-blown.
18:37
SPEAKER_00: And it's very hard sometimes for my mind to make it make sense.
18:40
SPEAKER_00: One thing though, bro, the day I catch Jesus in heaven, I'm gonna be like, brother, sit me down.
18:46
SPEAKER_00: I need you to like I want to see a movie, I want to see everything, I want to see how you did it, because like it's it doesn't make sense to me.
18:54
SPEAKER_00: Also, I want to know if actually dinosaurs were real, but that's beside the point.
18:59
SPEAKER_00: But yeah, but it's because of all those things, even though my mind doesn't comprehend how he even did it, faith makes me know deep down that with all the conviction that I can muster, that God does exist, that God is true, and that God is to be trusted.
19:26
SPEAKER_00: I came to the US and all the things.
19:28
SPEAKER_00: No great story.
19:30
SPEAKER_00: But as years passed, as I became older, and as hardships and trials came, they kind of made me more reserved and afraid in a sense.
19:44
SPEAKER_00: And it's actually very sad to say.
19:47
SPEAKER_00: I feel like as time went on, I feel like especially now, I have more to lose than I did back then.
19:54
SPEAKER_00: I mean, back then, bro, I had not even gone out to see the world, I had not made my faith my own.
20:00
SPEAKER_00: It's like it was very much like I was being carried by my parents' prayers all the time.
20:05
SPEAKER_00: I had not gone to college and gotten in a degree, I had not lived with like amazing housemates, I had not been engaged to my favorite person in the whole world, like none of those things.
20:16
SPEAKER_00: And especially now because of this economy, but also the political climate, I feel like at any given moment, everything could just come crashing down.
20:27
SPEAKER_00: And that literally terrifies me.
20:30
SPEAKER_00: So, but then that doesn't mean I don't have faith.
20:33
SPEAKER_00: I have faith.
20:35
SPEAKER_00: I just overthink a little too much sometimes, and then I get into my head and I'm like, oh my god, what is happening?
20:41
SPEAKER_00: The sky is falling, the sky is falling, the sky is falling.
20:45
SPEAKER_00: Which brings me to my next point childlike faith.
20:49
SPEAKER_00: I can write that down.
20:51
SPEAKER_00: Childlike faith.
20:55
SPEAKER_00: Matthew 18, verse 3 says, Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.
21:09
SPEAKER_00: Children are so gullible, trusting, innocent, and very open.
21:15
SPEAKER_00: They are not marred by the intricacies of what it means to be an adult, insecurities, social and professional pressures, relationships, and all the things.
21:24
SPEAKER_00: Life makes us jaded, I will be the first to admit.
21:28
SPEAKER_00: But let us try to be open-handed, to be hopeful, to be brave.
21:35
SPEAKER_00: When you know with every fiber of your being that God got you, there's a different way that you walk, there's a different way that you experience it, there's a different way that you see things.
21:45
SPEAKER_00: You walk differently, there's more ease in the way that you move every single day.
21:50
SPEAKER_00: In Psalm 119, verse 105, it says, Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path.
22:00
SPEAKER_00: You don't need to see where you're going because you have the greatest navigator to give you the direction.
22:08
SPEAKER_00: And he sees the whole picture.
22:10
SPEAKER_00: So you know for sure that he's never gonna lead you astray.
22:15
SPEAKER_00: Trusting God is the best decision you could take.
22:19
SPEAKER_00: In Proverbs 3, verse 5 to 6, it says, Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding.
22:28
SPEAKER_00: In all your ways, submit to him, and he will make your path straight.
22:34
SPEAKER_00: God knows where you're going, and he's the best person to get you there.
22:43
SPEAKER_00: Faith and perseverance.
22:47
SPEAKER_00: Faith and perseverance.
22:50
SPEAKER_00: Faith helps us stay the course and persevere.
22:54
SPEAKER_00: As Christians, we're called to mature in our spiritual lives.
22:59
SPEAKER_00: The faith that I had back then was necessary for back then.
23:03
SPEAKER_00: I need renewed faith now for the things that are coming.
23:08
SPEAKER_00: And it is okay to ask God to like, Lord, God, please, like help my faith, renew my faith, strengthen my faith.
23:14
SPEAKER_00: Because he's the only one that can do it.
23:17
SPEAKER_00: In Mark 9, verse 14 to 29, it says, There was a little boy that was possessed by an impure spirit, and then the dad was like, Oh, he heard about Jesus, so he brought his son to Jesus.
23:27
SPEAKER_00: Like, Jesus, please, can you heal my son?
23:30
SPEAKER_00: In verse 21, Jesus asked the boy's father, How long has he been like this?
23:36
SPEAKER_00: From childhood, he answered.
23:39
SPEAKER_00: It has often thrown him into the fire or water to kill him.
23:44
SPEAKER_00: But if you can do anything, take pity on us and help us.
23:49
SPEAKER_00: If you can, said Jesus, everything is possible for one who believes.
23:56
SPEAKER_00: Immediately the boy's father exclaimed, I do believe.
23:59
SPEAKER_00: Help me overcome my unbelief.
24:02
SPEAKER_00: The father's ask was a little reserved, and he sounded unsure about whether Jesus could actually do it or not.
24:09
SPEAKER_00: But we know the story, we know that Jesus did.
24:12
SPEAKER_00: We know he can.
24:14
SPEAKER_00: So I would just encourage you.
24:16
SPEAKER_00: At any point, you can just go to Jesus like this.
24:19
SPEAKER_00: Jesus, I know I'm a little jaded, and I probably sound like a broken record, but please help me trust you more.
24:28
SPEAKER_00: I know you're good.
24:29
SPEAKER_00: The Bible says you're good.
24:31
SPEAKER_00: I know you're kind.
24:32
SPEAKER_00: The Bible says you're kind, and I know that you can do all things.
24:37
SPEAKER_00: Please strengthen my faith.
24:39
SPEAKER_00: Help me not doubt you, help me fight my mind so that I know always you always have my best interest at heart.
24:50
SPEAKER_00: Here's my final illustration.
24:53
SPEAKER_00: Two to three years ago, I used to work as a campus missionary for crew.
24:58
SPEAKER_00: And every year, like clockwork, we had a conference called Vision.
25:02
SPEAKER_00: So it was a conference that gathered international students all across the US.
25:07
SPEAKER_00: So we literally end up in the ballroom, thousands of us, and we get to sing in different songs, sing different Christian songs in different languages, we get to learn more about Jesus, we get to make friends and share our cultures with one another.
25:20
SPEAKER_00: It's amazing, it's a blast.
25:23
SPEAKER_00: One of those years, there was a female speaker that came, and she was from a Muslim background.
25:29
SPEAKER_00: And if you know anything about Muslims, like basically how it's practiced, it's like from one hustle to the next, it's like the things can be a little different.
25:38
SPEAKER_00: But her in particular, she was in a very strict household, and she was very devout to what she believed in.
25:46
SPEAKER_00: Until she went to college, that's when she like met new people and started like reading the Bible and going to church and all the things.
25:55
SPEAKER_00: And then eventually she started to like wrestle.
25:58
SPEAKER_00: It's just like okay, this is what I grew up believing in, and all the things, but it's like this Jesus kind of like makes sense to me.
26:04
SPEAKER_00: So she was like wrestling for a very, very long time because you need to understand in their culture, because of how Islam kind of like permeates everything, if you decide to leave the faith for something else, it's like you're rejecting your culture, rejecting your tradition, and you're rejecting your family.
26:24
SPEAKER_00: So it is a very, very big deal.
26:27
SPEAKER_00: Eventually, she decided to give her life to Christ, which was amazing.
26:33
SPEAKER_00: So many people were happy for her, but then that meant very hard consequences.
26:39
SPEAKER_00: When her family knew what happened, they cut off contact for years.
26:46
SPEAKER_00: They did not speak.
26:47
SPEAKER_00: She even got married, they never showed up.
26:50
SPEAKER_00: She had kids, they didn't want to be involved.
26:52
SPEAKER_00: And for her, those consequences were real, and she had a lot to lose, and she did, but then again, she had a lot to gain because she decided to trust Jesus, and she continued to pray and hope and believe that one day, hopefully, one day, the Lord will redeem her relationship with her family.
27:13
SPEAKER_00: Mind you, she's doing she's saying all of this, like everybody's crying in the road, like you could literally hear a pin drop, and then she was like, Look at the front row, her parents were there, they were there to support her.
27:27
SPEAKER_00: Why am I about to dry?
27:29
SPEAKER_00: They were there to support her, and they were they were they were there, and like their relationship was restored, and I'm like, that is so beautiful.
27:38
SPEAKER_00: So, yeah, for her, she had a lot to lose, but then she gained so much more.
27:46
SPEAKER_00: She gained Jesus, she gained salvation, and she gained hope.
27:52
SPEAKER_00: So, to close, I would just say faith is a life, is a life of uncertainty based on the certainty that God has good plans for you.
28:07
SPEAKER_00: Faith assures us and gives us the confidence that what we hope for is real.
28:15
SPEAKER_00: It allows us to believe the promises of God, that obedience is worth it, and that there is a greater reward.
28:24
SPEAKER_00: Faith helps us persevere and not give up.
28:28
SPEAKER_00: Faith helps us know that everything to we have everything to gain despite the losses.
28:36
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is the reward, and he is very much worth it.