Surrounded

Hebrews  •  Sermon  •  Submitted   •  Presented   •  36:38
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Does it matter?

The question we ask, even if not out loud. Does it matter how I live? Does it really matter what I do? Does what I do really influence and effect others? Closely connected is the question: Does anyone notice? Depending on how we answer this question we may start to wonder...

Do I matter?

Not only does this get personally, the answer can truly be life and death. To someone who is listening to this and contemplating suicide or harming themselves listen: YOU MATTER!!! You may not feel like you do but you matter! Talk with someone, reach out to a counselor, myself as your pastor, but you matter. I know it may not seem like you do but not only do you matter to Jesus you matter to others. It’s okay to talk about suicide. It’s okay to get help.

Our “heroes” are normal people.

We get to this list and we typically think about it being the “hall of faith”. 1% of baseball players get into the hall of fame. There are only 346 individuals in the pro football hall of fame. We can easily take a similar mindset in where the character of the Bible are extraordinary individuals and we can never match up with them.
What made them a hero then? God testified about them, that’s how. In verse 2 we read this is what they were “commended” for. However, it can also be translated, “this is what they were testified concerning”. Who is doing the testifying, giving witness? God himself.

Faith is NOT blind.

Sometimes we get this concept of faith of just a blind leap into the unknown. I admit that can be helpful but faith does not just go into the unknown. It is on evidence.
We have faith because we can see something. This is the reason for the remarks about creation. Faith though we will say who created not just that something exists. Faith starts with what is known and then takes you further.

Faith comes from God’s Word.

In this list, and in our life, we have faith because of God’s word. When God spoke the individuals responded. This is the example which starts with Noah and definitely Abraham.

Faith sees beyond reality.

Faith will take us beyond what can be seen into the world of the unseen. Or for Hebrews, into the future where we are seeing things which are not completely realized in the present.

Faith requires action.

You cannot have faith without doing something about the evidence you see and the word of God. All those on our list did something for the Lord. How do we know this?

We see suffering differently.

Faith allows us to see reality and especially suffering differently. There is a problem of evil in our world. Bad things happen to good and at times undeserving people. This is a reality. Yet, we can see suffering differently. We can see suffering as pointing us to a better place. We can see suffering being redeemed by Christ.

Remember we are surrounded by those of old.

We do not do this life alone. Not only are we called to be part of a church, the gathering of people here today. We have those who have gone before us, surrounding us, encouraging us to just keep moving forward. Our task is not to be “heroes” as the world would define them but instead as one of the movies Elliana asked me to watch with her said, “do the next right thing”.

Look to Jesus.

When we do this we start to see even more clearer. We start to see that life on Earth does matter. We start to see I matter. We start to realize that even if I am experiencing the darkness, despair, and weariness of life, there is hope.

Keep pressing forward!

Stay the course, don’t give up! Stop sinning, throw off the things which get in the way of seeing Jesus and just keep moving forward. We don’t know what the next day or year will look like. But we have a savior who has blazed the trail

YOU MATTER!!!

Don’t forget this! Please don’t forget this. Jesus says you matter. This church says you matter. I say you matter.
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