Latest / Bayside Davis Podcast / Trusting God | Hebrews 11:8-12

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Trusting God | Hebrews 11:8-12 · Bayside Davis Podcast

• 0:05
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome to the B-Side Davis Podcast.
• 0:07
  SPEAKER_00: You are now listening to our current teaching series in the book of Hebrews.
• 0:16
  SPEAKER_00: We are in Hebrews chapter 11.
• 0:19
  SPEAKER_00: Hebrews chapter 11.
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_00: We're gonna be reading in verse 8.
• 0:23
  SPEAKER_00: So while you're opening up to Hebrews chapter 11, verse 8, uh for those of you who do not remember, uh, I have three kids under five.
• 0:34
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you for praying automatically.
• 0:36
  SPEAKER_00: I really appreciate that.
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_00: And it was, oh gosh, a couple years ago, back when I only had two kids, um, where I had driven home one night.
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_00: It was a long day of ministry.
• 0:48
  SPEAKER_00: I had just finished preaching at a men's ministry, and I had just gotten home, I pulled into the driveway, and I looked, and everything was just calm.
• 0:57
  SPEAKER_00: Right?
• 0:57
  SPEAKER_00: This was November 1st, and I pull into the driveway, everything's fine, everything, it's a totally normal night.
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_00: I go inside, and to my surprise, the house is quiet.
• 1:07
  SPEAKER_00: Like my wife's just sitting on the couch, hanging out, and my kids are both asleep, and I'm like, awesome, like this is great.
• 1:13
  SPEAKER_00: And so we just, instead of like turning on the TV like we normally do, we just sit down and we just start chatting, we just start talking, uh, and it was just so quiet and calm, and like the world felt like it was one of those nights where you're like, man, this just feels so awesomely calm.
• 1:31
  SPEAKER_00: Uh do you guys remember the last time you had like a night like that?
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_00: Or just like a moment like that where you're like, wow, it's quiet, I don't have my phone out, I'm just kind of disconnected uh from from like the from the internet and everything, and I'm just so calm, and everything feels so great.
• 1:47
  SPEAKER_00: And that's when I heard a loud bang, bang, bang on my front door.
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm like, what is happening?
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_00: And like we both kind of freeze, and I look at the door, I look at my wife, and I'm like, You gonna go get that?
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_00: And and so, and then I hear it again bang, bang, bang, and I'm and it's like frantic.
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_00: So I get up and I don't know what to expect.
• 2:07
  SPEAKER_00: So I go up to like the door and I'm like kind of like about to look through because I don't know if like I'm about to be assaulted or attacked or what.
• 2:13
  SPEAKER_00: And I look through and I and I peek out the window, and then suddenly I see my neighbor's face just put like right in front of me.
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm like, hey, like, how's it going?
• 2:23
  SPEAKER_00: And and he goes, and he shouts through the window, your house is on fire.
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm like, no, it's not.
• 2:33
  SPEAKER_00: I was just out there 30 minutes ago.
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_00: Like my house could not possibly be on fire right now.
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_00: And so sure enough, I go outside, I go into the front yard, and in our side yard, there are there is a pillar of fire that stretches up to the entire, that stretches up to the top of our chimney.
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_00: Right?
• 2:53
  SPEAKER_00: It is like 15, 20 feet in the air, this pillar of fire in our side yard.
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_00: And so we grab a couple of hoses and we start fighting this fire down.
• 3:01
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and about 15 minutes later, seven fire engines, seven fire engines all swarm into our neighborhood, and they're putting out the fire and everything.
• 3:12
  SPEAKER_00: But you know what I did in that before before we started fighting the fire dine?
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_00: You know what I did in that moment?
• 3:17
  SPEAKER_00: I ran inside and I looked at my wife and I said, our house is on fire.
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_00: We kind of stood there for a second and then went, because what do you do when your house is on fire?
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_00: You what?
• 3:27
  SPEAKER_00: You grab what matters most, right?
• 3:29
  SPEAKER_00: So I run into my son's room and and I see there's orange flames on the other side of his window.
• 3:35
  SPEAKER_00: I pick him up, he wakes up, he's crying.
• 3:37
  SPEAKER_00: So I grab him, I go out, my my wife has already grabbed my daughter.
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_00: We look, we look at the down, the dog is at our feet, I look at him, I just say, follow.
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_00: And so we run out, and thankfully he followed.
• 3:49
  SPEAKER_00: And so we run out of the house, and so we we fight the fire down.
• 3:53
  SPEAKER_00: Luckily, our house did not burn down, but it was like scorched on the side, right?
• 3:59
  SPEAKER_00: And so we had grabbed our kids, I had grabbed my phone just so that I could make sure I could call somebody or call both the emergency services and call my family and be like, hey, everyone's out of the house, we're okay, everything's fine.
• 4:11
  SPEAKER_00: But you know what's interesting about like when your house catches fire is it suddenly puts into sharp perspective what matters most.
• 4:23
  SPEAKER_00: What actually matters most in your life.
• 4:26
  SPEAKER_00: And what I love about Hebrews chapter 11 is that I believe the author is trying to get the audience, the recipients of this letter, back to what matters most.
• 4:41
  SPEAKER_00: What actually matters most in this life.
• 4:46
  SPEAKER_00: So Hebrews 11, verse 8, it says this.
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_00: It says, By faith, Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his iner inheritance, obeyed and what?
• 4:58
  SPEAKER_00: Went, even though he did not know where he was going.
• 5:02
  SPEAKER_00: By faith, he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country.
• 5:07
  SPEAKER_00: He lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise, for he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God.
• 5:19
  SPEAKER_00: And by faith, even Sarah, who was past childbearing age, was enabled to bear children because she considered him faithful, who had made the promise.
• 5:30
  SPEAKER_00: And so from this one man, and he as good as dead, came descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky, and as countless as the sand on the seashore.
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_00: Like, will you pray with me as we dive into this passage?
• 5:44
  SPEAKER_00: Heavenly Father, you are God and I am not.
• 5:47
  SPEAKER_00: Your word is is is your word.
• 5:50
  SPEAKER_00: This isn't my book to do with what I please.
• 5:53
  SPEAKER_00: It's not, it's not the thing that I should just take and try and make it fit to what my life wants it to say.
• 6:00
  SPEAKER_00: But God, this is your word, so you speak it to us, Lord.
• 6:04
  SPEAKER_00: Lord, let these be your words.
• 6:05
  SPEAKER_00: Let uh let me be open to what you want to say today.
• 6:08
  SPEAKER_00: Let us be open to what you have to tell us about yourself, about your people, and about your glory.
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_00: And so, Father, we are so grateful and thankful that we could gather here today and study your word.
• 6:19
  SPEAKER_00: And in your name we all prayed.
• 6:21
  SPEAKER_00: Amen.
• 6:23
  SPEAKER_00: So, we are talking about faith.
• 6:27
  SPEAKER_00: Everyone say faith.
• 6:29
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, come on, say it with your chest a little bit, all right.
• 6:31
  SPEAKER_00: Everyone say faith.
• 6:33
  SPEAKER_00: Faith, right?
• 6:34
  SPEAKER_00: We're talking about faith.
• 6:36
  SPEAKER_00: And speaking of faith, right, there's been a lot of people throughout history who have shown a surprising amount of faith.
• 6:45
  SPEAKER_00: You take uh, and not even just in inside of like all of Christendom, right?
• 6:49
  SPEAKER_00: But also throughout uh American history or human history.
• 6:53
  SPEAKER_00: Uh you take the Wright brothers, for example, yes?
• 6:55
  SPEAKER_00: Uh these were the Wright brothers were guys who uh you would not bet on them to have been the ones to invent man-powered flight, right?
• 7:03
  SPEAKER_00: Uh there was other people at the time who had way better funding, way better resources, way better everything, uh, who could have gone after it and and and they were the people to bet on, but the Wright brothers, they had a vision for what this could look like.
• 7:17
  SPEAKER_00: You take uh you take uh Dr.
• 7:19
  SPEAKER_00: Martin Luther King, right?
• 7:20
  SPEAKER_00: Uh who had a vision of what the world could be like, of what our country could be like.
• 7:26
  SPEAKER_00: Uh you take uh Fred Rogers, Mr.
• 7:28
  SPEAKER_00: Rogers.
• 7:29
  SPEAKER_00: Anyone ever watched uh Mr.
• 7:30
  SPEAKER_00: Rogers?
• 7:31
  SPEAKER_00: Yes?
• 7:31
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, um, Mr.
• 7:33
  SPEAKER_00: Rogers, who, when the government wanted to pull public funding from educational television, uh and he went and and by himself went up against you know all of the government and went and argued that his case for why they shouldn't pull funding.
• 7:48
  SPEAKER_00: Not only did, and and everyone thought he was crazy for doing that, and yet not only did they not poll funding, they actually gave him 20 million dollars that day.
• 7:57
  SPEAKER_00: Right?
• 7:57
  SPEAKER_00: So not only did they not cut the budget, they actually gave him more money uh to go after uh and change the lives of kids all around the world.
• 8:06
  SPEAKER_00: You know what all these people had in common that I have found?
• 8:10
  SPEAKER_00: They lived with a vision of the world that was different than everyone around them.
• 8:15
  SPEAKER_00: That they lived where in a world what what that what the world considered unreasonable, irrational, ludicrous even, they viewed as possible.
• 8:27
  SPEAKER_00: I heard a pastor put it this way one time.
• 8:29
  SPEAKER_00: He said, What seems crazy to others in one season will be called faith in another.
• 8:34
  SPEAKER_00: Imagine what living like this could do for your job.
• 8:37
  SPEAKER_00: Imagine what living like this could do for your marriage, your relationships, with with your friendships, with your with your small group, with your community, with your with your classroom, with your coaches, with your team members.
• 8:51
  SPEAKER_00: Uh what could this do in your community?
• 8:54
  SPEAKER_00: Hebrews 11, 1 through 2 says, now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do and not see.
• 9:05
  SPEAKER_00: This is what the ancients were commended for.
• 9:08
  SPEAKER_00: So what do I believe God is trying to teach us today?
• 9:10
  SPEAKER_00: I believe he's trying to teach us that the best way to live our lives is with seemingly rational and absolute trust in him.
• 9:20
  SPEAKER_00: In other words, I believe that the best way to live is by faith.
• 9:25
  SPEAKER_00: Everyone say faith.
• 9:27
  SPEAKER_00: Faith.
• 9:28
  SPEAKER_00: So, why does this matter?
• 9:30
  SPEAKER_00: Why should this matter?
• 9:31
  SPEAKER_00: Why should we talk about this book a couple thousand years later?
• 9:35
  SPEAKER_00: Why should we talk about uh faith today?
• 9:39
  SPEAKER_00: Um so I've I've been married almost 10 years now.
• 9:43
  SPEAKER_00: So this July will actually be 10 years of marriage uh for my wife and I, which is amazing.
• 9:47
  SPEAKER_00: Uh thank you.
• 9:48
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 9:49
  SPEAKER_00: Uh it hasn't been easy, uh, but uh I've just been so gracious and generous to her, and it's just awesome.
• 9:56
  SPEAKER_00: No.
• 9:57
  SPEAKER_00: I married way out of my league, uh, and I am very we're so she's so far out of my league, we're not even wearing the same jersey.
• 10:04
  SPEAKER_00: Um, similar to the football game last night.
• 10:07
  SPEAKER_00: Um yeah, I know.
• 10:08
  SPEAKER_00: It was sad to me too.
• 10:10
  SPEAKER_00: Anyway, so but fascinatingly, so uh in our first year of marriage for Valentine's Day, I decided, hey, I'm gonna make dinner at home.
• 10:20
  SPEAKER_00: And so we lived in this small, like 640 square foot apartment with our dog.
• 10:25
  SPEAKER_00: And so I'm in there and I'm like, I'm I'm making chicken.
• 10:29
  SPEAKER_00: Uh I made um uh this asparagus with like that was pay that was wrapped in pastry.
• 10:35
  SPEAKER_00: I I had toasted almonds.
• 10:37
  SPEAKER_00: I was going, I was like, I was going all out, okay?
• 10:40
  SPEAKER_00: Uh and some of you ladies are are nodding, and yes, you they your your boyfriend or husband should be taking notes.
• 10:45
  SPEAKER_00: Um but so I was cooking and going after it, but then uh I was like, you know what, for dessert, I wanna make her favorite dessert.
• 10:52
  SPEAKER_00: I wanna make this chocolate brownie waffle thing.
• 10:57
  SPEAKER_00: I saw it on Pinterest, and so I saw it, and I was like, I'm gonna take this recipe, and but my now here's the thing you have to know, my wife is gluten-free, okay?
• 11:07
  SPEAKER_00: And she also is intolerant to egg.
• 11:10
  SPEAKER_00: And so I'm like, okay, this is this'll be fine.
• 11:13
  SPEAKER_00: I don't need egg, and I don't need gluten.
• 11:17
  SPEAKER_00: And so I'll just take that out of the recipe, I'll, you know, put the mixes together, I'll throw it in the waffle iron, and then I'll go get ready, and then we'll be good.
• 11:27
  SPEAKER_00: And so that's what I did.
• 11:28
  SPEAKER_00: I I I put all of these ingredients together, I put it in the waffle iron, I didn't put in egg, I didn't have any, uh, I didn't, I used a gluten-free mix, and then I moved into the other room and I got into the restroom and I was getting ready for our date.
• 11:42
  SPEAKER_00: And then about five minutes later, I come back, I realize something's wrong.
• 11:48
  SPEAKER_00: I can smell it, right?
• 11:50
  SPEAKER_00: And I open the bathroom door and suddenly it hits me like a truck.
• 11:54
  SPEAKER_00: Just the smell of burnt brownie waffle is just filled the air.
• 11:59
  SPEAKER_00: I go over to the waffle iron, I open it up.
• 12:01
  SPEAKER_00: It is just it looks nothing like the picture, okay?
• 12:04
  SPEAKER_00: It's just this molten, hardened mess of brownie waffle.
• 12:10
  SPEAKER_00: And so 30 minutes later, my wife walks in the door and she sees me with all of the windows and doors open in our apartment, and I'm sitting in the middle of our living room floor with the waffle iron and an ice pick trying to jam out all of the waffle mess, uh, craziness, and I just look up at her and I say, Happy Valentine's Day.
• 12:33
  SPEAKER_00: You know, what I've found from that is I was missing some what?
• 12:39
  SPEAKER_00: Some key ingredients, right?
• 12:41
  SPEAKER_00: I had not put in the key ingredients to actually get what I thought would be a good, refreshing dessert.
• 12:48
  SPEAKER_00: Instead, I was missing some key ingredients.
• 12:51
  SPEAKER_00: Can I ask you, have you ever met a bitter Christian?
• 12:54
  SPEAKER_00: Have you ever met somebody who has been so burnt out on faith?
• 13:00
  SPEAKER_00: Can I submit to you that maybe when that happens, because I've been there.
• 13:05
  SPEAKER_00: I've been in the stage of bitterness, I've been in the stage of feeling burnt out on my faith.
• 13:10
  SPEAKER_00: And when I look back at that season, I realize that I had been missing some key ingredients in my faith.
• 13:19
  SPEAKER_00: And that led me down a path of bitterness and and and and getting burned.
• 13:24
  SPEAKER_00: And can I just encourage you?
• 13:26
  SPEAKER_00: I don't want the same for you.
• 13:28
  SPEAKER_00: And maybe you're in that season of bitterness, and I and I want you to know I am praying for you.
• 13:33
  SPEAKER_00: Uh we as a church are praying for you, and I want to encourage you, don't lean back, lean in.
• 13:42
  SPEAKER_00: Because God can bring healing out of anything.
• 13:44
  SPEAKER_00: And so, what do I believe some of those key ingredients to real faith looks like?
• 13:48
  SPEAKER_00: What does it look like to live with authentic faith in today's day and age?
• 13:52
  SPEAKER_00: I'm so glad you asked.
• 13:53
  SPEAKER_00: Here's my first point.
• 13:54
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, faith, I believe, starts with a yes.
• 13:58
  SPEAKER_00: Faith starts with a yes.
• 13:59
  SPEAKER_00: If you're taking notes, you can write that down.
• 14:01
  SPEAKER_00: It's in verse 8 it says, by faith, Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as an as his inheritance, obeyed and went.
• 14:10
  SPEAKER_00: Check this out.
• 14:11
  SPEAKER_00: Even though what?
• 14:12
  SPEAKER_00: He did not what?
• 14:14
  SPEAKER_00: Say it with me?
• 14:16
  SPEAKER_00: Know where he was going.
• 14:19
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, years ago, uh, my mom went on a game show called Let's Make a Deal.
• 14:24
  SPEAKER_00: How many of you remember that game show?
• 14:26
  SPEAKER_00: Yes?
• 14:26
  SPEAKER_00: Uh Let's Make a Deal, hosted by the Wayne Brady.
• 14:30
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, and and it was incredible.
• 14:32
  SPEAKER_00: So she and my sisters, uh, who are identical twins, they all go on this game show.
• 14:37
  SPEAKER_00: Uh it's it's it's her and another woman named Carol, and then my identical twin sisters.
• 14:42
  SPEAKER_00: And to get on the game show, to get picked, uh, you you kind of have to have like a gimmick.
• 14:47
  SPEAKER_00: Like you have to have something that makes you stand out.
• 14:50
  SPEAKER_00: And so they were all marry wearing matching camo onesies, okay, to get on this game show.
• 14:56
  SPEAKER_00: So they were all in this game show, and it was incredible.
• 14:59
  SPEAKER_00: They wore matching everything, and and they get down there and they do everything they can to get picked as a contestant, and my mom gets picked as a contestant.
• 15:10
  SPEAKER_00: And the way this game show works is you're given one thing, right?
• 15:14
  SPEAKER_00: You're given something to start, and then Wayne Brady walks up to you with his award-winning smile and goes, Hey, let's make a deal, right?
• 15:20
  SPEAKER_00: And he points to over here and he's like, Hey, behind this curtain, there could be something that's either worse or better than what you have.
• 15:29
  SPEAKER_00: And so, do you want to swap for what's behind the curtain, right?
• 15:33
  SPEAKER_00: So that's how the game show works.
• 15:34
  SPEAKER_00: And so she gets picked as a contestant and she goes round after round, she's making deals all the way until the end, and they and she gets to this last decision moment of what does it look like?
• 15:47
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, what of what she's gonna do to make this deal.
• 15:50
  SPEAKER_00: Which, by the way, would you like to see that?
• 15:53
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I have the clip today, so for the first time in Bayside Davis, let's make a deal.
• 16:04
  SPEAKER_00: Is a car.
• 16:07
  SPEAKER_00: Really?
• 16:08
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, ma'am.
• 16:09
  SPEAKER_00: No defans of butts.
• 16:10
  SPEAKER_00: I promise you there's a car there.
• 16:13
  SPEAKER_00: Is it a real car?
• 16:14
  SPEAKER_00: I can't tell you.
• 16:47
  SPEAKER_00: You know what I love about that is before she went on the game show, she had told us, if I get picked as a contestant, I'm gonna say, like, you only get to do this once, right?
• 16:58
  SPEAKER_00: You only like you very few people ever get to do this multiple times.
• 17:02
  SPEAKER_00: And she was like, if I get picked as a contestant, I'm gonna say yes every time.
• 17:07
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I'm just gonna make that deal every time.
• 17:10
  SPEAKER_00: And she had what?
• 17:11
  SPEAKER_00: She had predecided, before she even got to be as a contestant, she had predecided, you know what, if I get to do this, I'm going to say what?
• 17:21
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 17:23
  SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna pre-decide to say yes.
• 17:26
  SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna go for it.
• 17:28
  SPEAKER_00: Before even knowing what was on the table, she had already given her yes.
• 17:33
  SPEAKER_00: What if you lived like that?
• 17:37
  SPEAKER_00: Because you and I are so used to living with an I don't know.
• 17:43
  SPEAKER_00: Like, ah.
• 17:46
  SPEAKER_00: God's calling you to do that.
• 17:48
  SPEAKER_00: Ah, God wants you to use your gifts, talents, and abilities to serve someone else.
• 17:53
  SPEAKER_00: Ah.
• 17:55
  SPEAKER_00: What if they find it good?
• 17:57
  SPEAKER_00: What if I'm not really good at it immediately?
• 18:00
  SPEAKER_00: What if I don't get that dopamine hit?
• 18:05
  SPEAKER_00: What would it look like if you had to pre-decide to say yes to God?
• 18:12
  SPEAKER_00: How would that change your job?
• 18:14
  SPEAKER_00: How would that change your relationship?
• 18:16
  SPEAKER_00: How would that change the way you pray about your future?
• 18:21
  SPEAKER_00: What if you pre-decide to say yes?
• 18:23
  SPEAKER_00: You know what I love about that, by the way, is she won the car, right?
• 18:27
  SPEAKER_00: Like she gets this car, which is incredible, but then because she had already pre-decided to say yes to God with whatever he wanted to do, God called her to donate that car into an auction and to auction that car off, and then she took all of that money and used it for student scholarships for base, I guess, for students.
• 18:50
  SPEAKER_00: Why?
• 18:50
  SPEAKER_00: Because she had already pre-decided to say what?
• 18:55
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 18:56
  SPEAKER_00: Can I can I just encourage you and maybe even challenge you with this?
• 19:01
  SPEAKER_00: Your faith doesn't start until you say yes.
• 19:06
  SPEAKER_00: So, what does it look like to pre-decide to say yes?
• 19:09
  SPEAKER_00: What would happen in your life if you had predetermined right now, today, to say yes to whatever God has for you?
• 19:18
  SPEAKER_00: I believe faith starts with a yes, but then I also believe this that faith is built daily, that faith is built in the daily.
• 19:24
  SPEAKER_00: Look at this, in verse 9, it says, By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country.
• 19:31
  SPEAKER_00: He lived in tents as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise.
• 19:36
  SPEAKER_00: For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God.
• 19:42
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I I want I I was trying to figure out, okay, what's the best way to show you this?
• 19:47
  SPEAKER_00: Because oftentimes, uh like we live in a culture of instant gratification.
• 19:52
  SPEAKER_00: And I know that's pretty like cliche to say, right?
• 19:56
  SPEAKER_00: Like you hear that a lot, right?
• 19:58
  SPEAKER_00: But you like think about it.
• 20:00
  SPEAKER_00: You if you get on your phone right now and you get on Amazon, don't do that right now, but if you get on Amazon right now uh and you want to order something and have it arrive by tonight, you can do that.
• 20:13
  SPEAKER_00: Right?
• 20:13
  SPEAKER_00: Like, you don't have to go to the store.
• 20:15
  SPEAKER_00: You can just get on your phone and order something.
• 20:17
  SPEAKER_00: Some of you are hungry.
• 20:19
  SPEAKER_00: You could, you know, you could DoorDash something right now to have it at the end of service.
• 20:25
  SPEAKER_00: Right?
• 20:25
  SPEAKER_00: Like you, we could see if if somebody, if I see somebody with DoorDash walk in at the end of service, I'm gonna know some of you did not listen to the rest of the sermon and decided to order food.
• 20:34
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and I hope you share with me.
• 20:36
  SPEAKER_00: And so, but like we live in a world of instant gratification.
• 20:40
  SPEAKER_00: We live in a world of like, okay, like if I take my first step, then I've arrived, right?
• 20:46
  SPEAKER_00: But that's not what a life of faith looks like.
• 20:49
  SPEAKER_00: It's not a sprint, it's a marathon, right?
• 20:51
  SPEAKER_00: It's the long haul here.
• 20:54
  SPEAKER_00: Like it's the day after day after day.
• 20:57
  SPEAKER_00: And so I was trying to figure out, okay, what does it practically look like for us to live with faith?
• 21:03
  SPEAKER_00: And I had thought of this object lesson that I wanted to show you.
• 21:07
  SPEAKER_00: I'll bring it out over here.
• 21:08
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, but I have in my hand what?
• 21:11
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's a stool, right?
• 21:13
  SPEAKER_00: Now I have got this stool, and I'm really thankful uh um uh production gave me this stool.
• 21:18
  SPEAKER_00: Uh but like here's the deal, okay?
• 21:20
  SPEAKER_00: I if I set this stool here and I and I can tell you all, right?
• 21:24
  SPEAKER_00: You're all smart individuals.
• 21:25
  SPEAKER_00: We live in Davis.
• 21:26
  SPEAKER_00: Everybody here has an IQ of like three million.
• 21:29
  SPEAKER_00: Uh and so I've got this stool here, okay?
• 21:32
  SPEAKER_00: Now I can tell you, if you ask me, hey Scott, do you do you believe that that stool will hold up your weight?
• 21:40
  SPEAKER_00: I can look at you and say, Yeah, I I I believe it'll hold up my weight.
• 21:44
  SPEAKER_00: Now, am I telling the truth?
• 21:48
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, maybe.
• 21:49
  SPEAKER_00: Some of you are like smelling the trick question there, right?
• 21:54
  SPEAKER_00: Now, hear me on this, okay?
• 21:56
  SPEAKER_00: Here's this stool.
• 21:58
  SPEAKER_00: And some of you are like, did you get a cut?
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_00: stool like you're suspicious of the stool now right but I've got this stool here and I can tell you I can spend all day long saying hey you know what this stool can absolutely hold my weight in fact I can give you formula I can give you mathematical formula for why this stool can hold up my weight I can spend an entire year arguing the philosophy of stools and the and how chairs for generations have been able to hold up our weights and so that is why that this chair should be able to hold up my weight.
• 22:37
  SPEAKER_00: I could spend I I could go and find other stools like this.
• 22:42
  SPEAKER_00: I could grab other stools and show example after after example of look here's somebody who you know in 1892 we had Greg who sat in this stool and it held his weight Greg was 300 pounds so it'll hold my weight right like I could go over example after example after example I could argue until my face is red and blue that this chair could hold my weight and yet I would still not have faith in this stool I could tell you all the reasons why I think this stool could hold me up but that's not what faith is it friends the major difference here is this faith is not intellectually assenting that something is true.
• 23:30
  SPEAKER_00: It's not saying oh yeah this stool could hold my weight faith is actually putting your weight on the stool this is what faith actually looks like it's actually taking a second and actually putting your whole weight and trust that this stool will hold up that's what faith is it's not just looking at the stool and saying because because here's the deal you can do that with this book you can do that with God.
• 24:06
  SPEAKER_00: You can give me every philosophical reason for why God exists.
• 24:10
  SPEAKER_00: You can look at the historical accounts you can go back and look at at the annals of history and look at Tacitus and and all the extra biblical writings and all the archaeological evidence for why Jesus existed and and why it's reasonable that you can believe that Jesus rose from the dead but until you actually take your life and actually put your weight on the promises of God it's not faith faith is only when you put your weight on it it's when you actually take your life and you practically trust in God when was the last time you actually put your weight on the promises of God when you put your trust in his presence in his power do you trust the word of God that he says what he has said and that he will do what he has done and what he will do what he will do.
• 25:10
  SPEAKER_00: By living according to his word by obeying what he's commanded by loving the Lord your God with all your heart with all your soul and with all your strength and loving your neighbor as yourself when was the last time you consciously and and and daily put your weight on God not just assenting that he exists there's a big difference between thinking a stool can hold you and believing that the stool will hold you how do you show that you have faith this is why James in chapter two says this but someone will say you have faith I have deeds show me your faith without deeds and I will show you my faith by my deeds you believe that there is one God good even the demons believe that and shudder the word also says do not merely listen to the word and so deceive yourselves do what it says I have met a lot I've grown up in the church I've been a Christian for 30 years?
• 26:16
  SPEAKER_00: 30 years now since the time I was five years old I've met a lot of mature Christians I've met a lot of immature Christians I've met a lot of Christians who but but the saddest Christians to me that I have met are the people that I that I've met who have who as I like to put it have been one-year-old Christians for 20 years.
• 26:39
  SPEAKER_00: Or they've done the they've done all the right things they they come to church daily you know weekly they they know their Bible backwards and forwards and yet they don't do what it says.
• 26:49
  SPEAKER_00: They don't put their weight on what God has said the scariest part to me about that verse do not merely listen to the word and so deceive yourselves do what it says is that you and I can spend our entire lives in church in youth groups memorizing the Bible backwards and forward and you and I can still be deceived because we're not putting our weight on it because we're not actually trusting God and trusting in him trusting him with our decisions our lives so faith starts with yes and faith is built daily it's not one day it's it's multiple days it's day after day it's our daily bread from him but then here's our my here's my third point go ahead and write this down if you're taking notes is that faith transforms our lives.
• 27:44
  SPEAKER_00: Faith transforms our lives check this out and by faith even Sarah who was past childbearing age which if you're taking uh if you're if you understand how old she was she was 90 okay so if you think God's done with you and you're not 90, well guess what?
• 27:59
  SPEAKER_00: He's not done with you.
• 28:00
  SPEAKER_00: And even if you are 90, he's not done with you who was past childbearing age was enabled to bear children because she considered him faithful who had made the promise.
• 28:11
  SPEAKER_00: And so from this one man and he as good as dead which is another way of saying Abraham was so old that it wasn't even him came descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as the sand on the seashore.
• 28:26
  SPEAKER_00: If you know I I if you I I'm not gonna assume that you know the story in Genesis it's fascinating uh three messengers from the Lord appear to Abraham and they tell him when he's like off he's 99 years old okay they tell him hey your wife will conceive and give birth to a son and you are to name him Isaac you're to name him Isaac right and Abraham is like I'm 99 years old okay I'm past the diaper stage of life okay I don't know like I okay and but he believes God right and then the they give him the same promise in Sarah's hearing Sarah overhears this she's 89 years old and she goes and and she actually it's it's it's really funny she goes uh hold on let me look it up she she says this she laughed to herself and as she thought after I am worn out and my Lord is old will I now have this pleasure and then the angel confront her and they're like hey why did you laugh?
• 29:27
  SPEAKER_00: And she goes and she was afraid and she's like oh I didn't laugh and I love it at the end of at the end of eight uh near the end of 18 the the angel just goes yeah you did you laughed like just confronts her right then and there and then if you jump forward a couple chapters in verse 21 it says Sarah said God has brought me laughter and everyone who hears about this will laugh with me.
• 29:49
  SPEAKER_00: You know what the word Isaac means it means he laughed.
• 29:55
  SPEAKER_00: In the Hebrew Yitzhak that word when she a couple chapters before it is a mocking laughter it's a laughter of derision it's a painful laughter where she laughs in pain and says there's no possible chance and then a couple chapters later the laughter the term that she uses a couple chapters later is the same term in Hebrew but because of the context its meaning becomes different.
• 30:24
  SPEAKER_00: It's no longer a painful laughter it's a joyful laughter.
• 30:30
  SPEAKER_00: Same word but because God intervened he transformed her painful laughter into joyful laughter and I know some of you in here have had painful laughter maybe even showed up this morning with painful laughter saying I don't know if God can I don't know if God can do this show.
• 30:52
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know if God can do this and I just encourage you this is the God who transforms life and he can transform your painful laughter into joyful laughter I want to read to you something that I wrote about my dad um it's it's some of our as a family's testimony and so um I'll read it out loud to you and then I've got one more point before we close excuse me so it says this so I I wrote this my dad is awesome when I was five years old he planted Bayside Church which quickly grew into one of the largest and fast and growing churches in California if not the entire US he's faithfully led our family and raised all four of us kids he's been faithfully married to my mom for over 40 years.
• 31:44
  SPEAKER_00: He's never raised a hand against us never abandoned us and was never ashamed of us despite some of our actions he stands in our opinion as one of the greatest dads in the world he did not however have a good dad my grandfather was a rageholic alcoholic.
• 32:04
  SPEAKER_00: He regularly got into fights with my grandmother when my dad was little the fights would get so bad that my dad would have to sneak my aunts his sisters out of the window of their Southern California house and walk around the neighborhood at night.
• 32:17
  SPEAKER_00: They'd wander the streets until they would come back to the house and no longer hear crashes and screaming.
• 32:22
  SPEAKER_00: My grandfather did not have a dad either my great grandfather was also an alcoholic and suffered terribly from PTSD.
• 32:31
  SPEAKER_00: No one knew what that was at the time and when my grandpa was 10 years old he found out his dad had committed suicide.
• 32:37
  SPEAKER_00: When my dad turned 10 years old that's when my grandfather checked out and started drinking.
• 32:43
  SPEAKER_00: My dad grew up as an atheist and even talked a guy out of becoming a Christian.
• 32:48
  SPEAKER_00: And finally someone invited him to put the resurrection to the test.
• 32:52
  SPEAKER_00: My dad thought it would be easy after examining all the arguments and the testimonies and the evidence he crossed what he's called the line of faith and he answered God's call.
• 33:02
  SPEAKER_00: I'm standing here in front of you today as a living testimony of what God can do for a faith.
• 33:08
  SPEAKER_00: My dad didn't grow up with a good dad but he found a real father in God.
• 33:16
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe some of you had a good dad maybe you had a terrible one maybe you had to grow up faster than others or maybe you had a well-meaning one.
• 33:24
  SPEAKER_00: But the good news of the gospel is this you have a father in heaven who loves you.
• 33:29
  SPEAKER_00: He wants to give you a new identity he wants to give you security he wants to plant something new in you he wants to give you purpose and meaning he is inviting you he is calling you to himself he is gentle and patient he is loving and kind strong and mighty our God is able to trade your sorrows for laughter and he is worth putting our faith here's my final thought phrase see faith starts with a yes it's built daily and it transforms our lives but faith is only the beginning faith is just the beginning.
• 34:10
  SPEAKER_00: One of my favorite stories uh that that my parents would read to me growing up is uh from C.S.
• 34:16
  SPEAKER_00: Lewis the Chronicles of Narnia in the last book called The Last Battle the Pevense children uh all are gathered together and and they are in this brand new country and they watch through a doorway as Narnia is destroyed it is it's it's stars rain down from the sky and it all is blackness through the doorway and then the door shuts and Narnia is no more and then they look around and they're in this brand new country there's amazing things that they see uh the grass is greener than they've ever seen green before the the air is sweeter the fruit tastes better the smells are incredible everything is more real than it was before and as they're walking around wondering what this new country is all about Aslan shows up the Christ figure Aslan shows up and explains to them how they have died and they are no longer in what he calls the shadow lands but now they're in the real world the real Narnia and that their old lives are over and now their real life is just beginning.
• 35:28
  SPEAKER_00: And as they're looking around stunned and and they're all looking around wondering what this means one character named Jewel sums it up.
• 35:36
  SPEAKER_00: He says this I have come home at last.
• 35:39
  SPEAKER_00: This is my real country I belong here.
• 35:42
  SPEAKER_00: This is the land I have been looking for all my life though I never knew it till now the reason why we love the old Narnia is that it sometimes looked a little like this come further up come further in you know that same idea is echoed in the next passage in Hebrews see the author continues in verse 13 and says all these people Abraham all of the patriarchs all all of all of all of the people before who had their faith in God all these people were still living by faith when they died.
• 36:16
  SPEAKER_00: They did not receive the things promised they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance admitting that they were foreigners and strangers on earth people who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own if they had been thinking of the country they had left they would have had an opportunity to return.
• 36:34
  SPEAKER_00: Instead they were longing for a better country a heavenly one therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God for he has prepared a city for them.
• 36:46
  SPEAKER_00: Can I just encourage you this morning don't get me wrong I love this state I love living in California.
• 36:56
  SPEAKER_00: The weather's amazing I love I love living in this country the freedoms that I get to experience are are are breathtaking.
• 37:04
  SPEAKER_00: I love getting to meet people I love this world seeing the sights I love getting to drive out to the ocean at times and just smelling the salt in the air it's one of my favorite things about living on the coast this is not my home I am looking forward to my real home a better country a heavenly I'm just a pilgrim and I'm on my way home and I cannot wait to get there.
• 37:46
  SPEAKER_00: And sometimes I get distracted in my life from all of the circumstances all of the contextualization of everything that's going on in the world and but then I'm drawn back to this truth that God has prepared a place for me and that he is faithful and I can put my faith in him