♪ (Music playing) ♪ Hello, I'm Keith Moore. Welcome to Faith School. Faith School's the place where
our spirit and our faith gets fed, our spirit grows stronger,
and we learn how to be, as God ordained, overcomers. We've saved you a seat right
here in the front, so get your Bible, get something to take
notes on, and get ready to receive from the Lord today. All this week we've been talking
about how faith is not passive but faith seeks, and faith is a
receiver of what God has so graciously given. If you hadn't heard this before,
don't just take our word for it personally, but follow along in
the Scriptures and see what the Scriptures say about it. If you've heard it before, you
hadn't heard all there is to hear. Let the Lord open your eyes and
heart to even more, because there is so much more to receive
in God, and we'll do it according to our faith. So, let's pray let's come into
agreement and release our faith for exactly what we need to hear
and see and receive today. "Father, in Jesus' name, we
agree together, all the class here and all over the world,
asking You for utterance, for the anointing, for grace, for
strength, answers, direction, exactly what You know we need to
see and hear and know and do right now. As we receive it and see it,
we'll be thankful, we'll esteem it, and we purpose, as You show
us how, to put it into practice and do it. And as that happens we know
great things are going to manifest because You always
watch over Your Word and cause it to come to pass and perform
it. There is no Word of Yours that's
void of power or incapable of being fulfilled. And we thank You for it in
Jesus' name. Amen." Let's go in the end to our
Textbook again to Hebrews the tenth chapter; all of this flows
together into the great faith, chapter Hebrews eleven. And let's go further into what
we've been studying. If this is your first day
joining us, it would behoove you to go back to the previous
broadcasts. They're available. You can see that on the
information on your screen as it's displayed and won't cost
you anything. You can go and either just watch
or listen or download, and we build each day on what we
learned the previous day. Hebrews 10:35 says, "Cast not
away therefore your confidence, which has great recompense of
reward." Trusting in God and not stopping
but holding on will result in Trusting in God and not stopping
but holding on will result in great reward. He said, "You have need of
patience, that, after you've done the will of God, you might
receive the promise. For yet a little while, and He
that shall come will come, and will not tarry. Now the just shall live by
faith: but if any man draw back, My soul shall have no pleasure
in him." Here we're seeing the opposite
of faith. We see just a few verses later
in Hebrews 11:6, "Without faith it's impossible to please God,"
and here He said, I won't have any pleasure if you do this, as
opposed to living by faith. "The just shall live by faith:
but if any man draw back, My soul I have no pleasure in him." What is He referring to drawing
back? Other translations bring out "If
he shrinks back My soul takes no pleasure in him." Another one says, "If he
withdraws himself." Another says, "If he turns,"
another translation says, if he turns, "back in fear," so this
is regressing, retreating, and it describes a giving up. It describes a passiveness. And this does not please the
Lord. Well, this is something we don't
want to do then. How many want to please the
Lord? Well, what pleases Him? Faith. And faith is not a retreater,
faith is not one that just quits and passively waits. Faith, as we've learned already,
is an advancer. Faith is a receiver. Faith is a seeker. We see this, if you look in
Hebrews the eleventh chapter now. It begins in verse one saying,
"Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence
of things not seen." And let's just keep reading, if
you would, in the second verse. He talks about by it, "The
elders obtained a good report," just keep going. "Through faith we understand the
worlds were framed by the Word of God, so that things which are
seen are not made of things which do appear." Verse four, "By faith Abel
offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain," and as we
studied earlier, every one of these you'll see they did
something; not just a passive waiting, but they-their faith
was expressed through word and action. Faith is a doer. And here we see verse five, "By
faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; he was
not found, because God had translated him: for before his
translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God." This is what flows into verse
six, for, he goes on to say, "But without faith it's
impossible to please Him." Now this-the idea of what
happened with Enoch is continued into verse six here. Enoch pleased God. Now, we're not given a lot of
detail about Enoch's life, but if you look back in Genesis, one
of the most significant things that says about him is that he
walked with God. He walked with God. How do you walk with God? How do you walk with Someone you
can't see, or physically hear, or touch? It would have to be-see, he
keeps referring to things not seen, doesn't he? It would have to be by faith. "Faith is the evidence of things
not seen." Back up, verse five, look at it
again, please. He says, "Enoch," verse five,
Enoch, "was translated that he should not see death; and was
not found, because God had translated him." So, faith will translate you. Now, there were instances of
people being translated in the Book of Acts. Now, you know, what He's talking
about specifically is being supernaturally transported and
removed from one place to the other, and in some cases
instantaneously, I guess, in both of these cases. But, we may not need to be
physically transported and translated, but there will be
situations that you need to be transported out of this into
this, you need to get out of this bad situation and get into
the good situation. Well, faith will transport you,
allow God to transport you. Faith can cause you to be
translated out of darkness into light, out of bondage into
freedom. And he says that Enoch had this
testimony, "That he pleased God." Now, keep reading verse six,
"But without faith it's impossible to please Him:" like
Enoch did, "for he that comes to God must," not optional, must,
"believe that God is, and must believe that God is a Rewarder
of those that diligently seek Him." Now, this gives us insight into
what happened with Enoch. How did Enoch walk with God? We know he did it by faith. We know that in order to commune
with God by faith, you'd have to believe He is, but you also have
to believe-and this is where so many people have come short: you
must believe He is a Rewarder of those that diligently seek Him. And this is where Enoch was
different from many in his generation. At some point, Enoch tired of
hearing stories about his predecessors, Adam and Eve,
walking with God. Because, you know, a lot of
them, if you just look at how long they lived, their lives
overlapped. And many of the older ones were
contemporary with generations following. And so no doubt they had heard
about Adam and Eve walking with God in the cool of the day,
communing with God, you know, paradise lost. How that God had come down
Himself personally in the cool of the day, in the afternoon
when it-whenever it was, and they would walk and talk with
God. They would commune with Him. You know, this completely
disagrees with the origin of human beings being animalistic. These are not slightly evolved
animals that are grunting at each other. These are beings made in the
likeness and image of God, intelligently communicating with
Him and with each other, able to hear Him and understand Him. Commune with Him, at least at
some degree, on His level. People talk about evolution. "Don't you believe that, Brother
Keith?" No. I believe in devolution. Man has-man was created in the
likeness and image of God and has devolved to the point where
many have lived like animals. But if you read the Scriptures,
we were not created just as another animal, we're created in
the likeness and image of God. And so, Enoch would have heard
about great-grandpa Adam and Eve walking with God, communing with
God. And so at some point, he's tired
of just hearing stories about the past, and he's thinking, why
can't I do that? I know, you know, they messed up
and I know that the curse is in the earth, and I know that the
garden is off-limits, but I want to I want to walk with God. I want to walk with God. And maybe some others had had
similar thoughts, but he didn't just stop there. He believed that God, God's
still here. He didn't God didn't go away. He used to talk to them, why
won't He talk to me? And at some point, Enoch moved
past believing that God exists into believing the second part,
that if I will talk to Him, if I will reach out to Him, He'll
respond to me. And so he, at some point, went
out-I don't know where, outside his tent, or his house, or
wherever he was, and just my faith started saying, "God, I
know you're there. I think You'd like to talk to
me, too. I want to talk to You." And by faith he started
communing with God. Well, the thing about faith, God
likes faith. God loves faith. God is pleased with faith. God responds to faith. So, just knowing what little I
know about the Lord, I know what happened. He didn't do that very long
until he sensed the presence of the Lord. It wasn't exactly like what
happened with Adam and Eve because of the curse and the
fall, maybe he didn't see the glory, maybe he didn't, you
know, he didn't hear the audible voice of God, but that doesn't
mean you can't commune with God because you don't see something,
or you don't feel something, because He's Spirit and we're
spirit. And by faith, you can connect
with Him instantly. You can put your mind on Him. You can reach out your heart
towards Him. You can talk to Him in faith,
and if you really mean it, you really from your heart, He will
respond. He is a Rewarder. Didn't the Bible say, "Draw near
to God and," what would happen? What would happen? "He will draw near to you," is
that truth? And that's Bible, right? That's truth. So, as surely as you reach out
and draw near to Him-not trying something, believing He's there,
believing He hears, and going further, believing He'll
respond, believing He's a Rewarder of those that
diligently seek Him. Well, Enoch kept doing this day
after day, month after month, year after year. He walked with God, the
Scripture said, for years he's doing it. We know from Hebrews eleven
how's he doing it. He's not going by what he's
seeing. He's not going by what he's
hearing. He's not going by what he's
feeling physically. He's doing it by faith. "Faith is the substance of
things hoped," for or expected. It's, "the evidence of things
not seen." But, knowing God a little bit,
and I'd just I know what happened, the stronger his faith
got, the more real the presence of God got to him. Became to him. And he'd go out there and
commune with God and talk with God for hours, and he'd forget
that he's not seeing God or not feeling God because his spirit
is sensing God's presence. And over a period of years, he
got so close and the presence of the Father got so close, that he
left this place. He left this this planet. The next thing he knew he's in
the presence of the Almighty. And the Father said, why don't
you just stay with Me? No need in you going back. So how did it happen? Enoch walked with God by faith
and that faith pleased God unto the point where God received him
and he was translated out of here. And then it goes on to say-this
applies to all of us, without faith none of us can please God
in any regard, in any kind of-I don't care how long you pray,
how perfect you're quoting the Scriptures may be, if there's no
faith involved He's not pleased. And again, faith is not just
believing He's there, but believing there's a reward,
there's a response, this is going to pay off me praying, me
seeking Him, me talking to Him. There hasn't been enough
emphasis, I don't think, on the reward. Listen to some Scriptures. Jesus talked about the reward
quite a bit. In Matthew six He talked about
how not to give, and how not to pray. He said don't, "Pray vain
repetitions," and don't give publicly and making a show of it
and drawing attention to yourself and that kind of thing. But notice what He did say. Sometimes people only see the
negative and they don't get the positive. Listen to what He did said to
do. He said in Matthew 6:3, "When
you do your alms," now they're different kinds of giving and
this giving is specifically giving to those who are in need. And when you're giving to
somebody who's in need, you should not broadcast that they
are in need. You should not do anything that
would embarrass them. That's what He's talking about. He said, "Don't let your left
hand know what your right hand does." Verse four, "That your arms may
be in secret: and your Father which sees in secret Himself,"
will do what? "Will reward you openly." Verse six talks about the same
thing. "When you pray, enter into your
closet, and when you've shut your door, pray to your Father
which is in secret; and your Father which sees in secret will
do," what? "He will reward you even
openly." Verse seventeen was referring to
fasting, and basically you see this has to do with seeking God. He said, "When you fast, anoint
your head, wash your face; that you appear not unto men to fast,
but to your Father which is in secret: and your Father, which
sees in secret, shall reward you openly." But can you see every one of
these was an action? You're giving, you're praying,
you're seeking God, fasting. These are actions. This is doing something. And the reason why so many
people don't do it is because they don't believe, they don't
believe it would benefit. They don't believe it would do
them any good. You hear this referred to in the
Book of Psalms and also you'll find it in Romans, in the New
Testament. In the Book of Psalms 14:1 it
says, "The fool has said in his heart, there's no God. They're corrupt, they've done
abominable works, there's none that does good." Verse two, "The Lord looked down
from heaven upon the children of men, to see," what? "To see if there were any that
did understand, and seek God. They're all gone aside, become
filthy: there's none that does good, no not one." He said looking at the planet as
a whole, and even today with all the billions of the people on
the planet, how many are seeking God on the planet? The percentage would be very
small. And why? Why aren't people seeking God? Well, the two big thing: they
either don't believe that He exists, or they don't believe it
would do any good to seek Him. They don't know His character,
they don't know that He's good, that He will respond, that He
will reward everybody that diligently seeks Him. Nobody, nobody, I don't care who
you are, where you come from, your background, no one on the
planet that sincerely seeks God comes up empty because He is Who
He is. And just like when Enoch went
out there and started talking to Him and expecting a response
from God, he got a response from God. And boy, before it was over
with, he got a response nobody expected. Everybody was like, where is
Enoch? Where did Enoch go? Where is Enoch? He went home with God. Wow. One of these days we'll get to
go home with God, but until that time He told us how He wants us
to live, how He wants us to function and operate. It's by faith. And faith is not a passive
waiting, or a passive begging, passive pulling back, drawing
back; that displeases the Father. And one of the reasons it would
displease Him is because we're not receiving when we're doing
that. Of all the things that Jesus has
bought and paid for that the Father-if He hadn't wanted us to
have it, why would He have done all that? You know, sometimes you hear
people say, "I'm just not sure if God wants to forgive me or
not." Are you joking? I mean, why did He put your sins
on Jesus? Why did Jesus pay the price for
them? People say, "Well, I just don't
know if it'd be God's will to heal me or not." Can you stand at the scourging
post and see them beat Jesus and while that's going on, while the
stripes are being laid, the cause and source of every
sickness and disease is being laid on Him, are you going to
look at Jesus on the cross and say, "You sure You want me
saved?" Why is He there? On the scourging post, "Are You
sure you want me healed?" Why is He there? Yes, He took our sins so we
could be saved and free and righteous. He took our sicknesses and pains
so we could be healed. He took the chastisement of our
peace so we could have the peace that passes understanding,
hallelujah, and even joy unspeakable and full of glory. No, it doesn't please Him when
we're not receiving. That's why it says if you draw
back, if you pull back, if you lay back, if you sit down, if
you quit, if you give up, if you don't try, it's not going to
please the Father. He's displeased with that. And so, there are-and it can be
because of ignorance, there are so many, even church-going
people, they're not trying at all. They're not seeking, they're not
praying any appreciable amount. Why? Well, they might not say it, but
they don't think it'll do any good. They don't spending extra time
seeking the Lord. You know, many don't give. He's talking about giving in
this passage. Why? They think, well, I need the
money and what good's it going to do? And in fact, if you read in
Malachi, the Lord actually said that. He said to the people at that
time-of course it applies to any similar situation today, He
said, "Your words are stout against Me," and the response
was, "What?" And He said, in that you've
said-I'm paraphrasing now, it does no good to serve God. It does no good. Well, even though if you
believe God is, you are not believing the other part, the
second part, when you say it does no good; it does no good to
pray, it does no good to give, it does no good to endeavor to
live right and do the right thing, it does no good; these
are lies. God is a Rewarder of everyone
who diligently seek Him. You believe it, class? Hallelujah. He is a Rewarder. When it says there none that
understand, there none that seek after God, that's also recorded
in the New Testament in Romans the third chapter. When you have faith, "Deep calls
unto deep," and when you got the sense in your spirit there's
something, seems like there's something more, seems like God
has more for me, you know why you have that feeling? Because God has more for you,
every time, every time. "I just feel like there's more
out there." You better believe there's more
out there, way more than you're sensing right now. But- "Well, if there's more,
when's God's going to do it?" He's already done it. He's already bought and paid for
it, accomplished it in Jesus. You remember at one point Jesus
said, "It is finished," and then when He rose from the dead, the
Scripture said, "He has now sat down at the right hand of
Majesty on High." Why? When you sit down that's because
it's done, it's accomplished, it's done. And so now what remains for us,
is to find-read this Book, read our Textbook, get stirred up in
Faith School, find out what's been given to us and rise up. Say it out loud: "I am not one
that draws back, one that gives up, one that doesn't try. I am a faith child of a faith
God. An overcomer in Christ,
hallelujah." Praise God. This is what happens in Faith
School. We get filled up with faith and
that makes us happy. It makes God happy, too. And that's a win-win any day. Well, that's it for Faith School
today. We'll see you next time in Faith
School.
