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Psalms
144:1-15 A Psalm of
David. Blessed be the LORD my Rock, Who trains my
hands for war, And my fingers for battle—My lovingkindness and my fortress, My
high tower and my deliverer, My shield and the One in whom I take refuge, Who subdues my people under me.
LORD, what is man, that You
take knowledge of him? Or the
son of man, that You are mindful of him? Man is like a breath; His days are like a passing shadow. Bow down
Your heavens, O LORD, and come down; Touch the mountains, and they shall smoke.
Flash forth lightning and scatter them; Shoot out Your arrows and destroy them.
Stretch out Your hand from above; Rescue me and deliver me out of great waters,
From the hand of foreigners, Whose mouth speaks lying words, And whose right
hand is a right hand of
falsehood. I will sing a new song to You, O God; On a harp of ten strings I
will sing praises to You, The One
who gives salvation to kings, Who delivers David His servant From the deadly
sword. Rescue me and deliver me from the hand of foreigners, Whose mouth speaks
lying words, And whose right hand is
a right hand of falsehood—That our sons may
be as plants grown up in their youth; That our daughters may
be as pillars, Sculptured in palace style; That our barns may be
full, Supplying all kinds of produce; That
our sheep may bring forth thousands And ten thousands in our fields; That our oxen may be well laden; That
there be no breaking in or going out; That there be no outcry in our streets. Happy are the people who are in such a
state; Happy are the people
whose God is the LORD!
Father God guide us as we travel through this life here
on earth. Help us to understand why we are here. Send you’re Spirit to us each
day to guide us in obtaining true faith. Without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who
diligently seek Him. In Jesus name we pray, Amen!
Book of Hebrews 11:1-40 NKJV
This
whole chapter is about faith. It is faith that we must have in order to be
saved. The OT Saints had faith in God and that He would one day send a Messiah
for them, the promise, but they did not see Jesus, yet they had faith in what
God said. We have the scriptures that Jesus came, was real, died for us, was
buried, rose on the third day, and ascended into Heaven. This is what we must
put our faith in for salvation.
Faith
is a difficult thing to grasp. It is something our senses cannot sense,
therefore it is difficult to understand. This is why some people believe
everything evolved over billions of years. It is something that is logical to
them so they can believe in it. Faith is believing that God created everything
out of nothing by speaking it into existence.
The
definition of faith: 1) Complete trust or confidence in someone or something.
2) A strong belief in God based on spiritual fear of the hereafter, rather than
proof. Number two is what causes a person to completely trust in God and
believe what His word says.
Faith
is in general the persuasion of the mind that a certain statement is true. Its
primary idea is trust that a thing is true, and therefore worthy of trust.
Faith
is the result of teaching (Romans 10:14-17). Knowledge is an essential element
in all faith, and is sometimes spoken of as an equivalent to faith (John
10:38; 1 John
2:3). Yet the two are
distinguished in this respect, that faith includes in it consent, which is an
act of the will in addition to an act of understanding or consenting to the
truth, which is the essence of faith. The ultimate position, on which our consent
to any revealed truth rests, is the authenticity of God.
Faith
in God can be compared to a jet plane. Most of us don’t really know all that
makes a jet fly, but through our knowledge of what we have been taught, we
place our faith in the engineers that designed the jet, the people that built
the jet, and the skill of a pilot to fly the jet, to get us from point A to
point B. It is the same way with faith in God. We don’t fully understand the
Word of God or spirituality of God’s Kingdom, but through the teachings of the
Bible we acquire knowledge and with knowledge we gain wisdom and with wisdom we
grow in faith. It is then our faith in the message of the Cross that gets us
from point A (Earth) to point B (Heaven).
Another
good example of faith is the TV’s, smart phones, and radios in our homes. We
don’t fully understand how we get a picture and sound from a TV or smart phone,
or sound from a radio, but we have faith that when we turn it on it works. We
have grown up to accept the workings of them without fully understanding how
they work. It is the same way with God and His Kingdom, all we have to do is
read the Bible, accept the teachings, and place our faith in the Cross.
Paul
gives us his definition of faith in verse one being the substance of things
hoped for, things of an intangible nature. Since Paul uses this whole chapter
explaining and giving us examples of faith, to help his Hebrew listener and us
to better understand the Gospel, I will only make brief comments. I think the
verses pertaining to faith are self explanatory. I might also add there are
many other examples that Paul didn’t mention.
Hebrews 11:1-13
1 Now
faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
2
For by it
the elders obtained a good
testimony.
3 By
faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the
things which are seen were not made of things which are visible. (Meaning
God spoke things into existence.)
4 By faith Abel offered to God a more excellent
sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained witness that he was righteous,
God testifying of his gifts; and through it he being dead still speaks. (Abel
offered the blood of a lamb, life giving blood, because of his faith in God. It
is blood that sustains life! Cain was a cultivator of the soil, meaning he
raised vegetables and fruits and his offering was unacceptable to God because
there was no blood in his offering. You can’t get blood out of a turnip!)
5 By
faith Enoch was taken away so that he did not see death, "AND WAS NOT
FOUND, BECAUSE GOD HAD TAKEN HIM"; for before he was taken he had this
testimony, that he pleased God. (Enoch please God with his faith in
Him.)
6
But
without faith it is impossible
to please Him, for he who comes
to God must believe that He is, and that
He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. (Faith in anything other than Christ and the Cross
greatly displeases the Lord. This verse is a key verse in seeking
God. Read it several times and let it sink in to your soul.)
7
By faith
Noah, being divinely warned of things not yet seen, moved with godly fear,
prepared an ark for the saving of his household, by which he condemned the
world and became heir of the righteousness which is according to faith.
8
By faith
Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to the place which he would receive
as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going.
9
By faith
he dwelt in the land of promise as in
a foreign country, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him
of the same promise;
10 for he
waited for the city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God. (Abraham knew all of this would lead to something Heavenly.)
11 By faith
Sarah herself also received strength to conceive seed, and she bore a child
when she was past the age, because she judged Him faithful who had promised.
12 Therefore
from one man, and him as good as dead, were born as many as the stars of the sky in multitude—innumerable as the
sand which is by the seashore. (As hopeless as it may have seemed to
Abraham and Sarah at their age, God delivered Isaac as He promised, and the
many descendants of Abraham.)
13 These all
died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off
were assured of them, embraced them
and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. (All
these people died still believing what God had promised them. They did not
receive what was promised, Jesus Christ, but they saw it all from a distance,
understood it, and welcomed it. They agreed that they were foreigners and
nomads here on earth.)
14 For those
who say such things declare plainly that they seek a homeland. (Obviously
people who say such things are looking forward to a country they can call their
own. Their faith was in God to provide a home, Heaven.)
15 And truly
if they had called to mind that country
from which they had come out, they would have had opportunity to return. (If
they had longed for the country they came from, they could have gone back; This
is symbolic in the OT and current times. Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Jacob, and
Joseph were buried in Canaan which they considered the promise land. Jacob had
spent 20 years in Mesopotamia and Joseph died in Egypt, but both requested to
be buried in the promise land, Canaan. As NT believers we look to the new life
created in us when we were Born Again, and the reward of Heaven, not the old
way of life and Hell.)
16 But now
they desire a better, that is, a heavenly country. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God,
for He has prepared a city for them. (This goes hand in
hand with verse 15.)
17 By faith
Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the
promises offered up his only begotten son,
18 of whom
it was said, "IN ISAAC YOUR SEED SHALL BE CALLED,"
19
concluding that God was
able to raise him up, even from
the dead, from which he also received him in a figurative sense. (Abraham
knew that God would deliver a Saviour through his linage, therefore he had
faith that God would raise up Isaac if he was sacrificed.)
20 By faith
Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau concerning things to come.
21 By faith
Jacob, when he was dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph, and worshiped, leaning on the top of his staff.
22 By faith
Joseph, when he was dying, made mention of the departure of the children of
Israel, and gave instructions concerning his bones.
23 By faith
Moses, when he was born, was hidden three months by his parents, because they
saw he was a beautiful child;
and they were not afraid of the king's command.
24 By faith
Moses, when he became of age, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's
daughter,
25 choosing
rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the passing
pleasures of sin,
26 esteeming
the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt; for he
looked to the reward.
27 By faith
he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king; for he endured as seeing
Him who is invisible.
28 By faith
he kept the Passover and the sprinkling of blood, lest he who destroyed the
firstborn should touch them. (Here again we have that life giving
blood.)
29 By faith
they passed through the Red Sea as by dry land, whereas the Egyptians, attempting to do so, were drowned.
30 By faith
the walls of Jericho fell down after they were encircled for seven days.
31 By faith
the harlot Rahab did not perish with those who did not believe, when she had
received the spies with peace.
32 And what
more shall I say? For the time would fail me to tell of Gideon and Barak and
Samson and Jephthah, also of
David and Samuel and the prophets: (Paul is simply stating
that he could go on and on with examples of faith and martyrdom.)
33 who
through faith subdued kingdoms, worked righteousness, obtained promises,
stopped the mouths of lions,
34 quenched
the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made
strong, became valiant in battle, turned to flight the armies of the aliens.
35 Women
received their dead raised to life again. Others were tortured, not accepting
deliverance, that they might obtain a better resurrection.
36 Still
others had trial of mockings and scourgings, yes, and of chains and
imprisonment.
37 They were
stoned, they were sawn in two, were tempted, were slain with the sword. They
wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted,
tormented—
38 of whom
the world was not worthy. They wandered in deserts and mountains, in dens and caves of the earth.
39 And all
these, having obtained a good testimony through faith, did not receive the
promise,(The Messiah
didn’t come during their times, but they had Faith He ultimately would come,
and He did!)
40 God
having provided something better for us, that they should not be made perfect
apart from us. (This places it all on Christ, Who made it possible for both the Old
Testament and the New Testament Saints the rewards of home; Heaven through
Faith.)
I hope
you have a better understanding of faith. Reading the Word of God, believing
what it says, changing the way we live to conform to God’s standards through
faith in Jesus Christ and what He did for us, is what it takes to enter into
His Kingdom. Read the prayer below with your heart and make Jesus your Saviour
today.
Colossians 1:16 For by Him all things were created
that are in heaven and that are on earth,
visible and invisible,
whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers.
All
things were created through Him and for Him.
Romans 3:23 for all have sinned and fall short of
the glory of God,
Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our
Lord.
John 3:3 Jesus answered and said to him, Most assuredly, I say to you,
unless one is born again, he
cannot see the kingdom of God."
Bill
Wiesbrock https://www.facebook.com/bill.wiesbrock?ref=tn_tnmn
The
Lighthouse Full Gospel Church
Sinners
Prayer; Pray this, and if you believe it with your heart, Jesus will save you!
“Lord Jesus I know I am a sinner. I confess my sins to you; I am sorry for my
sins; I repent (Meaning, desiring to turn from a sinful lifestyle.) of all my
sins, and I am asking for your forgiveness of all of my sins. I believe that only you can forgive sin. I commit my life to you and ask you to come
into my heart, direct, and take charge of my life. I believe that you died to set me free from
my sinful lifestyle and you rose from the dead to give me eternal life, and
right now you are seated at the Right Hand of God Almighty. I believe you are
the Son of God; the only Way, the only Truth, the only Life, and my
Savior.” I believe this and have faith
you will make a new person out of me, by sending the Holy Spirit to dwell in my
heart and lead me in a new life. In Jesus name I pray Amen.” (John 3:16,17;
Romans 3:23; 6:23; 5:8; 10:9-13; Ephesians 2:8-10; 1
John 5:11-14; 1:6-10) (Sin: Rom.
1:22-32; Gal. 5:19-21; Eph. 5:3-7)
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