Camp Joy - Tuesday Night

Introduction

This week we’re continuing to look at what it means to be friends of God. Last night in Hebrews 11 we saw that in order to be friends with God, we have to have faith in God. Hebrews 11:6 tells us that without faith it is impossible to please God! It doesn’t matter how many good things you do. It doesn’t matter if you memorize the whole Bible. It doesn’t matter if you are a really nice person. If you don’t have faith in Jesus Christ, you cannot please God. To put it differently: The only way to become a friend of God is to have faith in Jesus Christ.

Whenever we have faith in Jesus, that means that we’ll live a different life. We demonstrate that faith with the way that we live, the things that we say, and the things that we think about. Tonight in Hebrews 11 we’re going to learn more about how faith changes how we live our life. How following God sometimes means that you have to do things that are hard. You have to go to places that aren’t always easy to go to.

Think of a person in the Bible that God called to do something that was hard to do

Moses - going to Egypt

Paul - going on missionary journeys

Jonah - going to Nineveh

Abraham - going to Canaan

Tonight we’re going to see the story of a man named Abraham in Hebrews 11:8-19

Hebrews 11:8–19 CSB

8 By faith Abraham, when he was called, obeyed and set out for a place that he was going to receive as an inheritance. He went out, even though he did not know where he was going. 9 By faith he stayed as a foreigner in the land of promise, living in tents as did Isaac and Jacob, coheirs of the same promise. 10 For he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose architect and builder is God. 11 By faith even Sarah herself, when she was unable to have children, received power to conceive offspring, even though she was past the age, since she considered that the one who had promised was faithful. 12 Therefore, from one man—in fact, from one as good as dead—came offspring as numerous as the stars of the sky and as innumerable as the grains of sand along the seashore. 13 These all died in faith, although they had not received the things that were promised. But they saw them from a distance, greeted them, and confessed that they were foreigners and temporary residents on the earth. 14 Now those who say such things make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. 15 If they were thinking about where they came from, they would have had an opportunity to return. 16 But they now desire a better place—a heavenly one. Therefore, God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them. 17 By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac. He received the promises and yet he was offering his one and only son, 18 the one to whom it had been said, Your offspring will be traced through Isaac. 19 He considered God to be able even to raise someone from the dead; therefore, he received him back, figuratively speaking.

Biblical Faith Follows God (8-10)

Whenever you have faith in God it means that you commit to follow God wherever He calls you to go. How many of you are sometimes asked by your parents to do something that you don’t always want to do? I’m sure that you never have this problem and always obey your mom and dad, right? Sometimes we have trouble following directions and doing what we’re told to do. Look at what happened to Abraham in Hebrews 11:8 - he was called by God to go to a place that he didn’t even know of… but he obeyed. Can you imagine God telling you to pick up all of your stuff, load it in your car, and take off for another country? That’s crazy! Now imagine that you don’t have a car. You don’t have a map. You don’t have air conditioning. You have a lot of servants and a lot of livestock and you pack it all up and you just start walking. That is Biblical Faith. Abraham leaves his home. He leaves his family. He left behind all that he had known in order to follow God.

Is following God difficult?

YES!

Luke 9:23 CSB

23 Then he said to them all, “If anyone wants to follow after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow me.

This isn’t easy to do… this is hard! But this is what God calls each of us to do. To deny ourselves, pick up our cross, and follow Jesus Christ. This means that sometimes we have to do things that are hard. Things that might not make sense. Whenever I was your guys’ age, I wanted to be a doctor. I’ve had 7 surgeries in my life and whenever I was a kid and a teenager, I thought that it would be cool to be a doctor and get to help people who are sick and hurting. Also, I thought that it would be cool to be a doctor because doctors have a really good job and they get paid pretty well. All through junior high and high school, I had a plan to go and be a doctor. I had applied to medical school, I had a really great scholarship package from Baylor University and I was going to not just be a doctor, but be a neurosurgeon and work on people’s brains! That was my plan and it was a good plan… but it wasn’t God’s plan. Just before my senior year of high school, I felt a call to go into ministry. My dad has been a pastor my whole life. I did not want to be a pastor. People can be mean. People don’t always like you. It’s hard on your family. I did not want to be a pastor… but it was what God called me to do and I’ve learned this over the last few years. Whenever God calls you to do something, you have 2 options: Obedience or Disobedience and delayed obedience is disobedience. As a Christian, we are responsible to follow God and to submit to His perfect plan, even when that plan seems difficult or even when other people don’t understand. We must follow God’s plan.

This is what Abraham does. He leaves his home because he has faith in God and God’s plan. We see in the Bible that he lived as a foreigner in this land and he lived in tents.

How many of you like to go camping? How many of you would like it here at Camp Joy if instead of staying in your cabins or campers, we stayed out in tents with no air conditioning and no shelter from the rain and heat? That would be hard, wouldn’t it? Tents don’t provide us with a lot of protection or shelter. See, a lot of people live their life in tents - not really, they have a house, but they build their entire life things that can be taken away by a strong storm. We’ve sang several songs about how Jesus protects us in the storms of this life. Whenever you follow God, God promises to protect you! That doesn’t mean that you don’t have problems, Abraham had plenty of problems in his life… but he knew that God was with him and that God had a plan for him. He was looking forward to what God promised to do in the days to come. As you think of your life today, if you’re a Christian, you and I are called to have faith in God and to follow Him even when it’s hard and we can do this with confidence because of what the Bible tells us. We belong to God. He has a plan for us. He is not only our friend, but He is our Father. So we trust in our Father and we do what He tells us to do

Biblical Faith Waits For God (11-16)

So Abraham leaves and goes to this new country as he follows God’s plan. But there’s a little problem… Abraham has to wait a long time for God’s plan to unfold. How many of us sometimes have problems waiting in life?

What is the hardest thing you’ve had to wait for?

Christmas!

Birthday

End of School

Friday to get here

God made a promise to Abraham and that promise was that he and his wife Sarah would have a son named Isaac

Genesis 17:19 CSB

19 But God said, “No. Your wife Sarah will bear you a son, and you will name him Isaac. I will confirm my covenant with him as a permanent covenant for his future offspring.

Abraham was 75 years old whenever God made this promise to him and his wife was 65 years old whenever this happened. That’s hard to imagine that they’ll have a child! In fact, we would probably say that this is impossible. That’s why the Bible says that from one as good as dead came numerous offspring. Think about this though - God made a promise to Abraham. Can God break His promises? No! This means that as crazy as this sounds, it will happen because God said that it would… Abraham simply had to wait. Sometimes waiting is really hard. I remember when Gabriel was about 8 months old, Lindsey and I had to take him to the Emergency Room because he had a really high fever and wouldn’t take any medicine. It was really scary! We drove to Springfield and got him checked in… but then we had to wait. And wait. And wait some more. We waited for over 3 hours just to get back into a room. Can I be honest with you guys? I didn’t do a very good job waiting that night - because my son was sick! Lindsey and I prayed, walked around, tried to keep him happy, but we simply had to wait. There are times in life where we have to wait. We see this in the Bible as well. The secret to waiting well is trusting in the power and provision of God! Remembering that God comes through on His promises. Remembering that He is faithful. Remembering that He has a perfect plan. Remembering that He saved us and that He will sustain us. We get into trouble when we don’t wait well and take matters into our own hands.

The Bible tells us that God’s Word is a lamp for our feet and a light for our path - we usually want to know the whole plan! But we aren’t given the whole plan. We’re often given the next step. And if we get a step ahead, we’re walking in the darkness… and if we get too far behind, it can be hard to see where to go. Our call as Christians is to walk in the light. To wait for God. To trust in His plan. This is what Abraham and his wife Sarah do - they wait and they trust in God. This is what we must do as well as God’s friends, we have faith in Him, we wait for Him, and finally, we trust in Him.

Biblical Faith Trusts in God (17-19)

We follow God, we wait for God, and we finally trust in God. Last night we talked about faith being confidence in the promises of God. We know that God can’t break His promise. This means that whenever we read the Bible, we trust what we read. We really believe that God made the world. We really believe that sin separates us from God. We really believe that God sent His Son, Jesus Christ to save us from our sins by dying on the cross and raising back to life. We must trust in our God.

What are some things that people place their trust in as humans?

Money

Friends

Relationships

Popularity

Sports

Instead of trusting in these things, the Bible instructs us to trust in God and what the Bible says.

Sometimes it can be hard to trust in God, though. Whenever people don’t agree with what the Bible says, whenever we wait for a long time, whenever we’re struggling, it can be hard to trust. James 1:2-3 encourages us to keep trusting, though

James 1:2–3 CSB

2 Consider it a great joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you experience various trials, 3 because you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance.

Abraham was tested in his life - just as we all are tested at times. We go through trials. In these times we can either trust in ourselves or we can trust in God. Abraham was called to do something really hard and offer up his son, Isaac. God was testing his faith. Would Abraham trust in God or would he trust in something else?

Abraham had waited 25 years for his son, Isaac. God made a promise that Abraham would have a large family through Isaac. Now God is testing Abraham and asking him to do something that doesn’t quite make sense. What does Abraham do? He trusts in God. Look at verse 19 -Abraham believed God to be able even to raise someone from the dead. Before Abraham took Isaac up the mountain for this sacrifice, he told his friends that both he and Isaac would come back down the mountain together. Abraham believed that God would save his son. He didn’t just kind of trust in God, he completely trusted in God.

Let me ask you this: Do you completely trust in God? Do you trust in God’s plan for your life? Do you trust that God knows what is best? If your answer is “yes” then how are you demonstrating that faith and trust?

You guys are living in a confused world. A world that idolizes self, sacrifices truth on the altar of feelings, and celebrates sin. There will be a million temptations for you to fall in line and do the same. Do this thing and you’ll be popular. Do this and you’ll be respected. Do this and you’ll get a lot of likes or views. Do you remember what the first lie was? Do this and you’ll be like God - don’t listen to these lies! Look first to God’s Word always. Don’t bend the knee to the world. Don’t trust in self. Don’t place your faith in this world. Follow God’s path. Wait for God’s timing. Trust in God’s plan. Even if everyone tells you to do something, if the Bible says that it is wrong then it’s wrong. The Christian life isn’t always an easy life, but it’s always worth it.

“Biblical faith is confidence in the promises of God that leads ordinary people to action and results in various earthly outcomes but always results in the applause of our Father in heaven.”

Do you have this faith tonight? Have you repented of your sins and trusted in Jesus? Are you living for Him?

If your answer is yes, understand that Jesus has changed your heart and He is with you forever. He will never let you down. He loves you and He has saved you. You have hope today because of what Jesus has done for you. But if you’re here at camp and you’ve never trusted in Jesus to save you from your sins, if you have not placed your faith in Jesus as your Savior, I want to be real honest with you. That’s the only way that you can become a friend of God. There’s only 1 way and that is through Jesus Christ. If you’re not currently a friend of God that means that you’re an enemy of God - that’s not a good place to be! So here’s what we’re going to do - we’re going to pray and if you want to know more about the importance of trusting in Jesus as your Savior and becoming a friend of God, I’d love to talk with you afterwards and I know your cabin counselor would love to talk with you about that tonight as well. As we get ready to pray, I want you to remember the name you wrote down on the cross last night - remember that name, and let’s ask God to use us to help that person see that they need Jesus. Let’s pray!