A Thankful Faith Hebrews 11:1

I. Is a satisfied faith,

1 Is a satisfied faith,

1.1 EYE-GATE TO A CITY UNDER SEIGE. SO:

1.1.1 Make a covenant with your eyes: ,

He died suddenly and unexpectedly nine years later at the age of 45.

Proverbs 27:20 ESV

20 Sheol and Abaddon are never satisfied, and never satisfied are the eyes of man.

1.1.2 Accept God’s discipline, ,

Live each day with a THANKFUL FAITH.

1.1.3 Realizing God is everywhere,

Is a satisfied faith,

1.2 Application:

In 1965 Mick Jagger sang: “I can’t get no satisfaction”. Just like death and destruction faithless human eyes can get no satisfaction.

Pledge to fight not perfection

A. EYE-GATE TO A CITY UNDER SIEGE. SO:

Pledge to win by faith not willpower

1. Make a covenant with your eyes: ,

Job 31:1 ESV

1 “I have made a covenant with my eyes; how then could I gaze at a virgin?

Job 31:7 ESV

7 if my step has turned aside from the way and my heart has gone after my eyes, and if any spot has stuck to my hands,

Pledge in context of grace and sanctification

2. Accept God’s discipline, ,

Job 31:2 ESV

2 What would be my portion from God above and my heritage from the Almighty on high?

Job 31:3 ESV

3 Is not calamity for the unrighteous, and disaster for the workers of iniquity?

3. Realizing God is everywhere,

Job 31:4 ESV

4 Does not he see my ways and number all my steps?

1 Is a trusting faith, , ,

B. Application:

1.1 Leads to understanding,

Pledge to fight not perfection

1.2 Leads to pleases God,

Pledge to win by faith not willpower

1.3 Leads to intimacy with God,

Pledge in context of grace and sanctification

1.4 Leads to saying yes to God,

When we retreat into our fantasy world or to our computer screens, believing no one can see us, we become like H.G. Wells’ Invisible Man. In the story, a bizarre scientific experiment renders Mr. Griffin completely invisible. Throughout the story Griffin gets away with burglary, assault, arson, and is eventually driven mad by his own feeling of invincibility.

1.5 Leads to seeing beyond this life,

II. Is a trusting faith, , ,

Hebrews 11:1 ESV

1 Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.

Hebrews 11:13 ESV

13 These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth.

Hebrews 11:16 ESV

16 But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city.

A. Leads to understanding,

Hebrews 11:3 ESV

3 By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible.

B. Leads to pleases God,

Hebrews 11:5–6 ESV

5 By faith Enoch was taken up so that he should not see death, and he was not found, because God had taken him. Now before he was taken he was commended as having pleased God. 6 And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.

C. Leads to intimacy with God,

Hebrews 11:7 ESV

7 By faith Noah, being warned by God concerning events as yet unseen, in reverent fear constructed an ark for the saving of his household. By this he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith.

D. Leads to saying yes to God,

Hebrews 11:8 ESV

8 By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going.

E. Leads to seeing beyond this life,

Hebrews 11:9 ESV

9 By faith he went to live in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise.

A woman's red station wagon was crushed by an elephant at a circus. The owners of the animal apologized, explaining that the animal, for some reason, simply liked to sit on red cars. In spite of the damage, the woman's car was still drivable. But on the way to the garage she was stopped short by an accident involving two other cars just ahead of her. When the ambulance arrived a few minutes later the attendants took one look at her car, then ran over to assist her. "Oh, I wasn't involved in this accident," she explained. "An elephant sat on my car." The ambulance attendants quickly bundled her off to the hospital for possible shock and head injuries, despite the lady's vehement protests.

III. Is a faithful faith

A. Israel & Judah had become 2 lewd prostitutes, ,

Ezekiel 23:12 ESV

12 She lusted after the Assyrians, governors and commanders, warriors clothed in full armor, horsemen riding on horses, all of them desirable young men.

Ezekiel 23:19 ESV

19 Yet she increased her whoring, remembering the days of her youth, when she played the whore in the land of Egypt

B. Faithlessness is rampant.

Ezekiel 23:35 ESV

35 Therefore thus says the Lord God: Because you have forgotten me and cast me behind your back, you yourself must bear the consequences of your lewdness and whoring.”

C. Are you willing to faithfully stand in the gap in this faithless generation?

The two biggest sellers in any bookstore, according to Andy Rooney, are the cookbooks and the diet books. The cookbooks tell you how to prepare the food and the diet books tell you how not to eat any of it.

Ezekiel 22:30 ESV

30 And I sought for a man among them who should build up the wall and stand in the breach before me for the land, that I should not destroy it, but I found none.

A California scientist has computed that the average human being eats 16 times his or her own weight in an average year, while a horse eats only eight times its weight. This all seems to prove that if you want to lose weight, you should eat like a horse.