Believe for It - Hebrews 11:1

William Booth was greatly stirred by the needs of the poor of London, and realized that most churches were doing nothing to reach the “undesirables”—drunkards, morphine addicts, prostitutes, and the poor. He set out to reach them with what he called the 3 S’s: soup, soap and salvation. Thousands were saved among those that most churches had no interest in reaching. Booth gave his life for the cause of reaching others.

In his 80s, Booth’s work began to be hindered by blindness. He briefly lost his sight and then recovered it, but later he lost his vision permanently. His son Bramwell came to bring him the bad news that he would never see again. Booth replied, “God must know best, Bramwell. I have done what I could for God and the people with my eyes. Now I shall do what I can for God and the people without my eyes.”

The life of a discipleship is fueled by faith. Trusting in God’s word and believing in his abilities.

How do we walk by faith in a world that has to see results in order to believe?

Hows does a church move forward in a hostile culture?

“Faith sees the invisible, believes the impossible, and receives the impossible.” - Corrie Ten Boom

The book of Hebrews

Jewish Christians have fallen on hard times under the persecutions of emperor Nero. Many were leaving the faith and returning to Judaism.

Pressure to remain Jewish. Sacrifices.

Unwillingness to grow as a disciple.

The writer of Hebrews wrote to encourage the people to endure.

Keep going.

It is worth it.

Believe for it.

READ (Hebrews 11:1)

What does faith produce?

1. Confidence

“Faith” (pistis)

Assurance, confidence, what can be believed.

Faith provides the substance for men and women to walk through life.

(Galatians 2:20)

Faith is the nucleus for Christian belief.

Family Discipleship. Raising children to be different.

Why? Because faith in God’s promises can fuel your choices.

Faith is our center of stability.

2. Expectation

“hoped” (elpizo)

hope for, look for, hope to. Expect

The trauma of persecution shook the people to their core.

They needed to look to their faith in Jesus to locate their spiritual power.

They were to be a people of expectation.

Some day, we are all going to die. Many fear the unknown.

Faith is legitimate.

As we follow Jesus, our belief matures from a sense of wonder to confidence expectation.

(Romans 8:28)

Faith provides our ability to expect God to accomplish His good purposes.

3. Testimony

“proof” (elenchas)

Argument of disproof, evidence for.

The Jewish Christians could believe and testify to God’s goodness.

Strand Discipleship - Testimony.

(Rev. 12:11)

Christianity does not sit in helpless wonder. Christians believe and testify to God’s goodness.

You have a faith story. We have a faith story.