Walk by Faith not by sight (spiritual warfare)

all right um who remembers what we spoke about last week the week before i know greg just reminded you guys so you got a little cheat lord we love you so much where we thank you that we are able to come and to meet and fellowship and to worship and to pray lord i pray that we would hear from you we want to hear from you teach us to hear your voice teach us how to listen to you how to hear you how to follow you how to obey help us to be better listeners to your voice but we love you so much we praise you in the name of yeshua amen i feel like i'm kind of sitting in the dark tonight we have less spotlights on so it's not as bright up here as it normally is do i look like i'm really dark um yeah i'm just used to having more lights shining on me so it's kind of weird i can actually see you guys faces right now yeah oh [Laughter] i could tell if you're awake or not we started mark chapter four tonight's gonna be a little different normally i have like the main text up front and then we just have supporting text you know kind of going along and tonight i'm kind of doing it backwards my main text is at the end and so we're going to start off with some of the smaller supporting texts kind of build up to where i'm going mark chapter 4 verses 35-40 on the same day when evening had come he said to them let us cross over to the other side now when they had left the multitude they they took him behind they took him along in the boat as he was and other little boats were also with him and a great windstorm arose and the waves beat the boat so that it was already filling but he was in the stern asleep on a pillow and they awoke him and said to him teacher do you not care that we are perishing then he arose and rebuked the wind and said to the sea peace be still and the wind ceased and there was a great calm but he said to them why are you so fearful how is it that you have no faith and so this the disciples were looking at the storm right they were looking at the chaos the storm the the terrible wind the boat was getting tossed around and they were afraid it says and yeshua's response is what caught my attention though he got up and he rebuked the storm and he said why are you so fearful do you have no faith how is it that you have no faith and so this this idea that you having fear means you have no faith have you ever thought about that the bible says we need to fear god alone right he says we don't need to fear man we need to fear god we don't need to fear the chaos that's going on around us we don't need to fear what's going on in the government we don't need to fear these things this is one of the reasons why i tell people just don't pay attention to conspiracies because what does that do that stirs up fear it causes you to focus on something else instead of focusing on yeshua so tell people don't don't don't watch the news don't watch the conspiracies don't read about that that stuff just focus on yeshua because you take your eyes off of him you start looking at the storm and you start having fear you look at the riots you look at the pandemic you look at everybody running around in mass and what is that doing to the people in the world people are walking around in fear there's chaos there's fear there's confusion why why don't they have faith because their their eyes are not on yeshua their eyes are on everything else they're watching the storm they're watching the chaos and it's causing fear second corinthians 5 7 says for we walk by faith not by sight so i was thinking about the storm and why you sure rebuke the disciples their eyes was the problem they were in the boat looking around they see the waves they see the storm they see the chaos they were afraid they weren't walking by faith they were walking by sight they were letting their eyes deceive them they're learning letting their eyes confuse them the bible says that faith comes by hearing the word of god right it doesn't say it comes by seeing you know the world kind of has this idea that seeing as believing you know i won't believe it till i see it right seeing is believing that's not what the bible says says faith comes by hearing faith comes by hearing the word of god how many times did yeshua when he was doing something he said he who has ears let him hear over and over again he said that right he who has ears let him hear and the idea of hearing in the bible is that you not only listen but then you apply it you think about the uh the parable he told about the man who who built his house on the rock and not the sand what does he say the wise man builds his house on the rock the fool builds his house in the sand and then he explained what that meant he said you know he who builds his house on the rock is one who hears and obeys he hears and applies it to his life the one who builds it on the sand maybe he heard but he just didn't apply it there's a difference between hearing and listening you know that the idea that you you you heard what was said but it didn't apply into your life it didn't sink in it didn't transform you it just goes one ear in one ear and out the other right the the biblical concept of hearing is that that it transforms you it changes you it registers and sinks in makes a difference you are transformed by it you obey but yeshua rebuked the disciples for having no faith because when they saw the storm they were afraid they let what they saw with their eyes caused fear is that not exactly what's going on in the world today you think about when people go outside and they walk around they see everybody with a mask on their face what does that do to somebody i i better maybe i should put a mask on i need to be afraid something really bad is happening everybody is wearing masks they're afraid of this thing they they're i should be afraid too that's that's what it instills in people's minds right you watch the news and you see oh they're throwing bricks at cars and they're burning down police stations and they're rioting and they're tearing up stuff i don't know if i should leave my house i should maybe i should barricade myself because i don't want to go outside and get attacked it's instilling fear all the stuff that's going on in the world today is the enemy trying to cause fear and chaos and confusion is trying to steal our faith he's trying to take your faith and and get you to throw it away and just focus on everything else is that not what's going on do you see have you seen people do this people you thought wow you know i can't believe this person why is this person doing acting this way i recently um there was somebody who you know that i have a lot of respect for it was it was somebody who was a christian someone who was one of my teachers in college and he came over to my house to to get something and he was wearing a mask and i thought why are you wearing a mask i'm so confused don't you have faith we were meeting on my front yard it wasn't it was like me and him meeting he gets out of his car with a mask on and we meet in my front yard and he's afraid to talk to me without a mask why do you have this fear about you people are looking at the chaos and they're afraid there's another story in the new testament where yeshua's walking out to them there's a storm again they're on the water they're in the boat he's on land and he walks out to them on the water right peter says hey let me walk out to you too and he starts to walk out on the water and while he's keeping his eyes on your shoe he's great right he's fine he's walking on water he's not sinking but as soon as he looks around he sees the storm he sees the waves he starts to sink the application of that is don't put your eyes on the store and put your eyes on yeshua right this is this is what we need to be thinking about when there's chaos around us stop looking at the chaos put your focus on yeshua we walk by faith not by sight yeshua was standing in front of peter when peter was looking at yeshua he was walking by faith right he was walking on the water he wasn't sinking because his focus was on yeshua he didn't look down to see if there was something to stand on he just trusted that his feet are gonna keep going and he's gonna keep moving toward yeshua but when he started trying to use his sight instead of his faith he looked looked down looked around his faith disappeared and he started to sink so we walk by faith not by sight yeshua made a faith a statement about faith that should really get our attention and is in luke 18 verses 7 and 8 it says then shall god not avenge his own elect who cry out day and night to him though he hears sorry though he bears along with them i tell you that he will avenge them speedily nevertheless when the son of man comes will he really find faith on the earth when the son of man comes will he really find faith on the earth and this really this verse is one of those verses that you know when i read it i think wow am i do i have the faith that he's looking for when he comes is he gonna look at me and say where's your faith oh you have little faith why do you have no faith why do you not have faith why do you fear this is one of those verses that really troubles me because i don't want him to look at me and say where was your faith yeshua spoke about the time of the great tribulation it would take place before he returns he talked about wars famine pestilence persecution a great deception and chaos that are coming on the world he warns about these things right we see all throughout the scriptures the prophets warning about it yeshua warns about it the apostles warn about it there's a time coming that it says the bible describes it will be like no other time before it's called the great tribulation because it's there's never been a time like it before right it says that this great deception is going to be so great that if possible even the elect could be deceived and so this great deception is troubling because he says when the son of man returns he's coming at the end of the tribulation right it says after the tribulation those days then the son of man will appear in the clouds right and everybody will see him coming they'll see the sign of the son of man in the heavens he'll return there's going to be trumpets the resurrection he's going to slay all of his enemies he's going to establish his kingdom this is what's going to happen but the tribulation comes before he returns and he says will the son of man find faith when he returns because it's possible that the tribulation could steal your faith when you look around and you see the chaos you see the confusion you see all the horrible things happening the persecution the pestilence the deception the wars the famine sickness starvation the world falling apart it's possible you could lose your faith because if you use your eyes you'll be deceived if you look at everything else take your eyes off yeshua you're going to be deceived by it you're going to be caused fear fear is going to steal your faith because of what your eyes see that make sense people are already living in fear because the virus and i've i've already seen people in the world just crippled by fear and that fear is causing panic it's causing people to turn against each other too you know they have people trying to basically tattletail on each other now right call this number and tell if you see somebody not abiding by the social distancing or the masts or whatever call and tattletail on them and people are doing it why because of fear because they're afraid if if you're not social distancing or if you're not wearing your mask or if you're not doing whatever the guidelines say that you're somehow a danger to society i gotta i gotta call the authorities and have you turned in it's fear the bible says that people are going to turn against each other brothers are going to turn against each other parents are going to turn against their children children against their parents neighbors against each other why i'm guessing because of fear fear is one of the greatest weapons of the enemy when you when you think about most of the depictions of satan what are they they're terrifying aren't they people when they draw pictures of satan or when they say that they've you know seen some kind of a demonic thing it's usually a very terrifying being right because the enemy thrives on fear faith conquers fear we have no reason to fear him we have no reason to fear the demonic is he who is in you than he who is in the world the bible says right so we walk by faith not by sight people are afraid of the riots they're afraid of loss of jobs they're afraid of the economy going to crash fears consuming people and stealing their faith the bible talks about a time when uh there's going to be something happen in revelation it talks about this uh this beast beast system that's going to take over it talks about an image that's going to be set up a mark that's going to be handed out it says that the whole world is going to be forced to receive the mark and to worship this image revelation 13 verses fourth radius says so they worship the dragon the dragon is satan by the way so they worship the dragon who gave authority to the beast and they worship the beast saying who is like the beast who was able to make war with him and he was given a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies and he was given authority to continue for 42 months then he opened his mouth in blasphemy against god to blaspheme his name his tabernacle and those who dwell in heaven it was granted to him to make war with the saints and to overcome them and authority was given him over every tribe tongue and nation all who dwell in the earth will worship him whose names have not been written in the book of life of the lamb slain from the foundation of the world says the whole world will worship him unless your name is written in that book everybody is going to worship except those who have the name written in the book of life this is a you talk about a separation of the sheep and the goats the wheat and the tares this is a huge separation that can be happening at this point you're going to know who's who is worshiping the beast and who is not those who are not worshiping the beast you can be guaranteed that they're following yeshua they know who he is they have their name written in the book of life they're sealed right it says they're gonna be the name of god sealed on their forehead right you're gonna see him and you're gonna be like oh thank goodness you're not worshiping the beast i'm so glad to see you here everyone will be forced to worship the image of the beast i think it's interesting because it says that this image says it's going to speak this is going to be a different kind of image than what we've seen throughout history and when you look at the bible they have this golden calf and it does nothing it just sits there they have idols of moloch and idols of baal and idols to ashrae right and they just sit there their piece of stone or a piece of wood it does nothing it's interesting that this image though it says that it's given a mouth to speak revelation 13 11-17 it says then i saw another beast coming out of the earth and he had two horns like a lamb and spoke like a dragon and he exercises all the authority of the first beast in his presence and causes the earth and all those who dwell in it to worship the first beast whose deadly wound was healed he performs great signs so that even makes fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men and he deceives all those who dwell in the earth by the signs which he was granted to do in the sight of the beast telling those who dwell in the earth to make an image to the beast who is wounded by the sword and lived he was granted power to give breath to the image of the beast that the image of the beast should both speak and cause as many as would not worship the image of the beast to be killed the image itself is gonna speak this is curious to me this is not like just a typical idol you know you think of where the world has come the technology we have i mean could it be some kind of an ai i don't know some kind of artificial intelligence that they create maybe i mean it could just be that box sitting in your living room that talks to you too i don't know but somehow this image speaks it's going to cause everyone to worship the image the image will speak and cause everyone to worship the image that's curious and those who don't worship are going to be killed he causes all both small and great rich and poor slave and free to receive a mark on their right hand and on their foreheads that no one may buy or sell except one who has the mark or the name of the beast or the number of his name fear is going to be the motivation in this when they set up you know when the this beast system comes in place and there's an image and there's a mark and all this stuff that's going on its fear is going to be the motivation people are going to be driven by fear this is you know it says who is like the beast who is able to make war with him this is a proclamation of fear who is like him he's too powerful who can make war with him not me this is going to be the attitude of the people they see this beast and it terrifies them fear is what will drive people to worship this beast fear is what will cause them to take the mark and fear is what will cause them to worship the image this is all motivated by fear fear comes from what you see your eyes what you see when you look off at the world around you when you what you're watching on television what you're seeing in the in the media the chaos that's going on around you causes fear this is the enemy's number one tactic to steal your faith is to cause fear when when israel was wandering in the wilderness what happened they got to the border of canaan they sent over spies and they saw what giants there's giants in the land and we're just like little grasshoppers joshua and caleb said hey we got god our god is bigger than those giants but everybody else was afraid because what they saw they saw the giants and they were afraid and what happened they all died in the wilderness and never got to see the promised land god said okay because you don't have faith to enter now you're gonna you're gonna sit out here in the in the desert for 40 years and then your kids will go in and you don't get to because you don't have faith i don't know about you guys but i don't want to sit in the desert for 40 years we walk by faith not by sight lately the last probably month or so the last three or four weeks i am just continually reminded of the book of daniel and specifically about ananiah azariah and mishael right shadrach meshach and abednego and about daniel and what what happened with them i'm just continually reminded of them and i know most of you are probably familiar with the story so i'm not going to read the whole story but i want to read just just a couple things out of here when um shadrach meshach and abednego were told they must worship the image that nebuchadnezzar set up you know they blow the trumpets they they make the announcement everybody's supposed to bow everybody in the kingdom bows and there's these three guys that are just standing there it's obvious to everybody that they're not bowing so they get called before the king and the king says hey listen i'm going to give you guys another chance maybe you didn't understand you're supposed to bow i'll give you i don't want to have to do this i don't want to have to throw you into the fiery furnace but if you don't bow i'm gonna toss you into the fire so i'm giving you one more chance you can you can bow it's okay just go ahead and bow it's not a big deal right and the response to him is what i want to read nebuchadnezzar said if you do not worship you shall be cast immediately into the midst of a burning fiery furnace and who is the god who will deliver you from my hands shadrach meshach and abednego answered and said to the king o nebuchadnezzar we have no need to answer you in this matter if that is the case our god whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace and he will deliver us from your hand o king but if not let it be known to you o king that we do not serve your gods nor will we worship the gold image which you have set up i love that response our god is able the god that we serve is able to save us but even if he doesn't we're not going to bow i will not bow before your god i will not bow before your idol my god is greater than yours i love that response but you know they saw the fire they saw the furnace they knew what that meant can you imagine being tossed into a fiery furnace having your clothes catch on fire around you your flesh start to melt the the smell of human flesh burning and then you you know it's your human flesh that's burning that's a horrible way to die is it not they were faced with a very horrible death they said i don't care light me up i'm not gonna bow that's faith you know people today are like oh they're making fun of me really these guys got tossed into a furnace if you're not aware of it um churches today are starting to face some persecution you know i spoke about you know california how they are saying you know you can't sing worship songs or recite liturgy because it's some kind of a public health danger and from what i understand i guess they've like closed churches again told them they can't meet now is it indefinitely so they've indefinitely closed churches in california so you may be praying for christians in california they are under a lot of persecution but it's it's not just california there's other places that are facing similar persecution and it's it's coming this way too and it's already started to happen around here it's just not as severe there's going to be there's going to come a time when it is it's going to come a time when we do face severe persecution but you know there's laws that are going to be put in place right we're going to pass this law to prohibit your worship we're going to pass this law to prohibit you from gathering together in spite of what the constitution says in spite of what our uh bill of rights says you know law the government can pass no law that prohibits uh assembly or the freedom of religion i mean the government's not supposed to be able to do that but yet they do that and i'm not trying to get into politics right now i'm speaking what the bible says there's going to be laws that are passed that force everyone to not worship the god of the bible but to worship whatever image they have set up there's going to be laws they're going to force and require everybody to do that just like shadow wreck meshech and bendigo worship this image that we've set up so are we going to stand like shadrach meshach and abednego and say i'm not going to bow i'm not going to worship your idol where is fear going to take over there's uh i want to bring up daniel now daniel 6 7 it says all the governors of the kingdom the administrators and the say traps the counselors and the advisors have consulted together to establish a royal statute and to make a firm decree that whoever petitions any god or man for thirty days except you o king shall be cast into the den of lions this this come from the governors it says the governors and the administrators came up with this law it wasn't the king what's going on right now is that not exactly what's going on the president says no we're not gonna we're not gonna hinder churches we're gonna let churches meet and yet the governors and the mayors and the different administrators council people they're the ones that are making these rules and they're saying you know you need to not have assemblies of so many you know you need to limit how many people you gather together or not gather at all or not do certain things or social distance or you know various things like that all this stuff is going on and they're they're they're hin they're setting up laws that are hindering our worship hindering our assembly hindering our fellowship this is coming from the governors the administrators just like daniel they're saying oh you can't worship any other god so listen to what daniel did therefore king darius signed the written decree now when daniel knew that the writing was signed he wasn't ignorant about it he knew exactly what was going on when daniel knew the writing was signed he went home and in his upper room with his windows open towards jerusalem he knelt down on his knees three times that day and prayed and gave thanks before his god as was his custom since early days he prayed every day three times a day morning noon and evening this is traditionally how prayer was done morning noon and evening the time of the daily sacrifice morning noon and evening the disciples were doing the same tradition we read about it in the psalms morning noon and evening the dedicated also talks about this dedicated was an early christian writing talking about prayer offered up three times a day morning noon and evening we see it throughout the bible it's part of christian history this is the way worship was given through prayer three times a day morning noon and evening and when this law was passed that you're not supposed to worship any other god daniel said i'm just going to keep on doing what i'm doing i'm going to pray the way i've always prayed i'm going to worship the way i've always worshipped i understand that the king has passed this law to say i can't do this anymore now you notice he didn't riot he didn't hold a picket sign and say oh change your mind o king give us back our freedoms he just went to his room and prayed just like he always had just continued on life is normal he didn't look at what was going on around him he was looking at god he knew what the king has said but he didn't look at the lion's den he didn't look at the the guards who were going to come and capture him he got on his knees and he prayed walking by faith daniel he didn't protest to rebel he simply ignored what was going on around him continue to pray and worship by keeping his eyes on god any of the penalty for his actions understood it may be lion food he understood that this may be the last day that i get to pray so we took advantage of it i'm going to pray just like always and i'm going to continue doing it because who knows if this is the last opportunity i have to worship my god before i die that's faith he was not afraid he walked by faith not by but not by sight faith means we fear god more than men that's what faith is you fear god more than men faith means we trust god no matter what the circumstances are around us and we understand we know the end of the story we know that when shadrach meshach and abednego went into the fire there was a fourth man in there with them right they said oh he looks like the son of god they came out without a scorch on him we understand that when daniel went to the lion's den that the mouths of the lion were sealed they didn't they didn't harm him not a hair on his head was harmed we understand that because we've read the story these things were given to us to encourage our faith but we also understand that all the disciples died as martyrs every single one of them except john john is the only one who died of an old age they tried to kill him but it didn't work they tried multiple times to kill him he's the only one who lived to be an old man but they tried to kill him all the rest of them died martyrs and throughout christian history there have been lots and lots of martyrs so we have to understand that god doesn't always close the mouth of the lion god doesn't always pull you out of the fire and that's what shadrach meshach and abednego said is our god is able to but even if he doesn't i'm still not going to bow so we have hope that maybe god will rescue us from the hand of the enemy that he might save us from the hangs noose or from the mouth of the lion or from the sword or from the fire or whatever it might be but even even if that doesn't happen where's your faith you have faith that's willing to take you all the way faith to the end those who endure to the end will be saved the bible says right walk by faith not by sight and we're going to get to the main text tonight the main text is hebrews chapter 11. okay and i actually just want to look at the entire chapter now faith is the substance of things hoped for in the evidence of things not seen notice again that faith has to do with things not seen it's not by sight it's by hearing the word of god faith is the evidence of things not seen trusting in god even when we can't see this chapter gives a number of examples of what that means as we look through this we see example after example after example of men people throughout the bible who walk by faith starting verse three by faith we understand that the words the worlds were formed by the word of god so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible faith is believing the word of god instead of what the world says faith is believing the origins that are explained in the bible faith is believing that god created everything from nothing do you believe the word of god or do you believe what some man told you where did this all come from where did the universe come from where did the sun moon and stars come from where did the earth come from where did man come from do you believe what the bible says or do you believe what somebody else said where's your faith right it says by faith we understand that the worlds were formed by the word of god by faith we understand this you know how many christians don't believe genesis 1 how can you say you believe the word of god if you don't even believe the very first chapter of the very first book that makes no sense to me if you can't believe the first chapter the first book of the bible then how can you say you believe anything else it says that makes absolutely no sense to me it's the foundation by faith abel offered to god a more excellent sacrifice than cain through which he obtained witness that he was righteous god testifying of his gifts and through it he brings he being dead still speaks what happened here cain offered some of his produce right but he said abel offered the first fruits the best the first of his flock and the best of his flock why because that's an act of faith you know if you're if you're raising food for your family and you say you know what this is the first born of my flock this is the fat one this is the best one i don't know if i'm gonna have any more this one's a good one i'm gonna give it to god hoping and trusting that he's gonna give me more this is the idea of what first fruits is you offer the first of your crop you offer the first of what you've been blessed with an expectation that god's going to continue to bless you beyond that now our greed wants to say hey i'm going to hang on to this i'm gonna keep this for myself this is the good one this is the best one i want that one all you know if there's there's some other stuff left over i'll give that to god that's kind of what cain did he just gave some of his some of his produce he gave a portion he didn't give the best portion he didn't give the first portion he just give some i'm gonna give to god i just don't i'm not gonna give him the best you know this is forbidden in the torah you cannot offer any animal that is blind or lame or mangled or maimed in any way you can't offer a crippled lamb that's forbidden you don't give god the leftovers you don't give him the junk you give him the best you give him the first you give him the fat one the one that is the your prized possession your prized animal the best sheep in your flock the best cow in your herd that's what you give to god why because it's faith it's an act of faith you're trusting god that he's going to bless you beyond that walk by faith not by sight so abel brought the best and cain just brought an offering he had faith that god uh he had faith that if he gave god the first and the best that god would provide for him anyway believing in what he could not see by faith enoch was taken away so that he did not see death notice again faith connected with sin and enoch was taken so that he did not see death i think it's interesting that that phrase is used see death they say he was taken so that he didn't die so he was taken so he didn't see death what does that mean does it mean that maybe he didn't see death did he fall asleep and god took him while he was asleep i don't know enoch was taken away so that he did not see death and he was found and he was not found because god had taken him for before he was taken he had the testimony that he pleased god this faith had to do with not seeing death you know when you're faced with the fiery furnace when you're faced with the lions den when you're faced with a hangman's noose are you going to be seeing death where's your eyes going to be focused on what's your you're going to walk by faith or you're going to walk by sight you're going to look at the hangman's news you're going to look at the fiery furnace or you're going to look to your salvation look up for your salvation draws near the bible says right where's your eyes are they on what's going on around you are they on the lord this is the difference between walking by faith or walking by sight verse six but without faith it is impossible to please him for he who comes to him he who comes to god must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him now you know james james says that demons believe in him and they tremble they don't have faith right no one would argue that demons have faith in god but the bible says they believe they believe he exists and they tremble so what's the difference in faith that saves faith that trusts in god believing faith unto salvation believing faith that god is pleased with says that you know we can't come to god unless we have faith what's the difference in that kind of faith in the faith that the demons have demons believe and they tremble they're even afraid of him they don't have saving faith so how does our faith look different than theirs any ideas the uh the bible talks about faith in in a way that it unites faith with obedience the belief and obey you believe and obey what does that mean if i believe that i can walk on water then i will step out and stand on the water right it's an act of faith to obey when yeshua says come out to me and peter just starts walking he believes that he can walk on the water he believes that that water will support his weight right so he obeys out of faith believing and trusting that his lord would not allow underground faith causes you to be able to obey that make sense and also if you believe something you will act on it right if i believe that you know if you hand me a cup of water and i believe that you put poison in it i'm not gonna drink it right because my faith has caused me my belief in what is in that cup has caused me to turn it down and say no i'm not gonna drink that poison right but if i believe that you've given me a cool refreshing drink of water and it's you know it's a hot sunny day and i'm thirsty i will drink that because i believe that it's cool and refreshing water that's gonna satisfy my thirst right you act on what you believe if you believe something's dangerous to you you avoid it if you believe something's good for you you'll do it god said the commandments i give you today are for your benefit if you do these things that i command you you'll be blessed do you really believe that but god said if you obey my commandments i will bless you says these blessings will come upon you and overtake you is the phrase he uses do you believe that because if you believe that you'll act on it says it not that without faith is impossible to please him for he who comes to god must believe that he is it exists and that he rewards those who diligently seek him he blesses those who diligently seek him well if you believe that he's going to bless you for diligently seeking you are you diligently seeking him right if you believe that you're gonna do it if you believe he's gonna bless you for doing it won't you diligently seek him seek him with all your heart chase after him do your best to try to find him if you believe that you're gonna if you seek him you will be rewarded and blessed are you not gonna do that so when you look at your life would you say hey i am diligently chasing after god it says this is required to please him to diligently chase after him believing that he rewards those who seek him so do you diligently seek after him walk by faith not by sight right you don't know what that looks like what is this reward that's ahead of you we don't know but god says that he rewards those who diligently seek him what's this blessing that comes for obedience i don't know god said he blesses those who obey what is the kingdom of god going to look like i don't know but i believe it's it exists and if we seek him follow him and trust him and have faith one day we'll get to see it one day we'll get to be there so you walk by faith not by sight we have hope for the blessings and the provision that we can't yet see you know the person who says hey i lost my job i'm gonna trust that god's gonna put food on the table tomorrow because there's no money in the bank tonight they're walking by faith not by sight right i'm gonna trust that god is gonna take care of me even though i don't know how that's gonna happen i don't have a job the economy's falling apart they tell me i have to take this mark if i want to be able to buy or sell anything or get a job right they tell me i'm gonna have to buy uh take this mark and bow down to this image i don't know how i'm going to feed my kids that mark might look pretty tempting to you when your kids are hungry and they're crying and saying do we have anything to eat do we have to eat tonight we haven't eaten in days are you gonna say okay you know what i'm gonna go get this mark so that i can feed my family or you can walk by faith and say god's gonna take care of us and even if he doesn't i will not bow he is able to save me from this tribulation he is able to save me from this situation but even if he doesn't i will not bow is that the kind of faith we have by faith noah being divinely warned of the things not yet seen again warned of things not yet seen he hears the word of god to warn him about what he hasn't seen divinely warned about things not yet seen moved with godly fear prepared an ark for the saving of his household by which he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness which was according to faith you imagine this lived in a world where there'd never been rain and god says hey i'm gonna send water out of the sky it's gonna flood the whole earth he'd never seen a flood before in his life he'd never seen rain before in his life and god says hey it's gonna pour water out of the sky i know you've never seen that before but it's gonna happen i want you to build a big boat i want you to gather up all these animals noah walked by faith he believed what god said rather than what he had seen he'd never seen a flood but he believed what god told him about the flood he walked by faith by what he heard from the lord listening to the word of the lord not what he saw with his eyes not what he had experienced but what he heard from the lord walked by faith not by sight by faith abraham obeyed when he was called to go to the place which he would receive as an inheritance and he went not knowing where he was going abraham hadn't seen the land yet i told him pack up your stuff and start walking i'll let you know when you get there abraham didn't know the destination he didn't know where he was going but he walked by faith trusting that god would take him to where he needed to be one step at a time walk by faith not by sight abraham followed god even though he had no idea where he was going verse 9 by faith he dwelt in the land of promise as in a foreign country dwelling in tents with isaac and jacob the heirs with him of the same promise rewaited for the city which has its foundations whose builder and maker is god god told abraham that he would be the father of many nations and he would inherit the promised land you know abraham never saw that he never saw the many nations he never saw the inheritance of the promised land even though he was walking in the promised land he didn't see the fulfillment of this right walking around this land as a foreigner he didn't own the land he didn't it wasn't his he was there as a stranger as a foreigner but he walked by faith by faith sarah herself also received strength to conceive seed and she bore a child when she was past the age because she judged him faithful who had promised therefore from one man and him as good as dead were born as many as the stars of sky and the multitude innumerable as the sand which is in the seashore abraham and sarah were how old 90 hundred i think sarah was around 90 and abraham was around 100 i don't know the exact age but way past child bearing age they'd never seen someone in their 90s give birth to a child before right but they believed god would give them a child walking by faith not by sight not by what they had seen they'd never seen an old lady have a child but they believed it because god told it to them these all died in the faith verse 13 these all died in faith not having received the promises but having seen them afar off were sure to them what did they see him with their they saw him with faith they didn't physically see them they saw them with spiritual faith with their eyes their spiritual eyes believing what god was showing them they saw the future what god had shown them not what they saw with their eyes these all died in faith not having received the promises but having seen them afar off were assured of them embraced them and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims in the earth they lived like strangers in the earth this is not my home i don't need to get comfortable here i don't need to belong here i'm just passing through is the attitude they had this isn't my destination this isn't my inheritance this isn't what i'm working for this isn't my reward i'm just passing through i'm just a stranger here i'm a vagabond this life is not my goal the attitude they had they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth for those who say such things declare plainly that they seek a homeland and truly if they had called to mind the country which they had come out of they would have had the opportunity to return but now they desire a better that is a heavenly country therefore god is not ashamed to be called their god for he has prepared a city for them because they didn't make this world their home he's prepared something for them instead this is should be inspiring this so this world is not my home i don't want to be at home here i don't want to fit in here i don't want to belong here i don't want to be too comfortable here because i'm my home is someplace else my home is better you know and i don't care what the the kingdoms of this world are saying and doing because this is not my kingdom i don't belong to this kingdom i belong to a different kingdom when my king comes every knee is going to bow this is our attitude or should be this isn't my kingdom men on earth right now they're not my king i don't bow to them my king is greater they believed god's promises they lived in the world of strangers they were living for a heavenly country they had not seen yet walking by faith not by sight verse 17 but by faith abraham when he was tested offered up isaac and he who had received the promise offered up his only begotten son of whom it was said and isaac your seed shall be called concluding that god was able to raise him even from the dead from which he also received him in a figurative sense you imagine this god tells you i'm going to give you a son he's going to be the heir he's going to be the you're going to be the father of many nations and through this child i will raise up all these descendants all these nations and then god turns around and says okay go kill him that son that son of promise that i promised you you'd have in your old age that is going to be the the lineage where you're going to have all your other sons go kill them you haven't had any kids yet you're just going to kill the only opportunity for the lineage you have was to say abraham believed that god would resurrect him would raise him from the dead abraham had never seen a resurrection you realize that abraham had not seen a resurrection there was no no stories about god raising the dead when this happened what did abraham see he saw stories he'd heard stories about adam and eve and about them sinning and about them getting cast out of the garden cain and abel cain killing his brother uh the the flood and noah and god destroying the earth entire battle of god confusing the languages and then we get to abraham nobody had been resurrected at this point this history of the world there has been no resurrection and abraham believed that god would raise his son from the dead something he had never seen or heard of walk by faith not by sight you know we can look back and say well you know we saw resurrections yeshua resurrected lazarus he resurrected himself he resurrected a dead girl elijah resurrected some people elisha resurrected some people peter resurrected somebody you know there's there's accounts of resurrections all throughout the scriptures now we can say well yeah of course god resurrects the dead abraham had not seen that he had never seen or heard of a resurrection before and god tells him to kill his son the only son the one who the promise was supposed to come through and he trusted god that god would resurrect his son it says he didn't trust that god was going to stop his hand from putting the knife down he was planning to plunge the knife he expected god would raise him from the dead he believed that god had the ability and the power to do that walked by faith not by sight verse 20 by faith isaac blessed jacob and esau concerning things to come by faith jacob when he was dying blessed each of the sons of joseph and worshiped leaning on top of the staff by faith joseph when he was dying made mention of the departure of the children of israel and gave instructions concerning his bones you ever thought of that one joseph he's in egypt he hasn't seen moses yet moses hasn't been born joseph in egypt he sees the departure spiritually he understands that god is going to bring them out of egypt god showed him not with his physical eyes i spoke to him they believed what god had said he believed that god was going to lead his people out of egypt he didn't know how he didn't know what that was going to look like he had faith and so he told him here's what you're going to do with my bones when this happens take my bones with you i don't want to stay in egypt when you get to leave i want to leave too god's gonna take you out of here i'm not gonna be around to see it but when he does take my bones with you and bury me in the promised land that's what joseph's faith looked like he'd never seen the redeemer he hadn't seen moses moses wasn't born yet he believed that god was going to lead his people out right by faith isaac bless jacob and esau by faith jacob when he was dying blessed each of his sons they they were given if you read those blessings they're prophetic god's given them things about their children it's going to happen in the future and they bless them in that way god's going to make you this way god's going to do this with you you're going to be like this blessing them prophetically with what god said to them it wasn't because what they saw because what they heard from the lord verse 23 by faith moses when he was born was hidden three months by his parents because they saw he was a beautiful child and they were not afraid of the king's command noticed that they weren't afraid of the king they hid their child by faith not being afraid of the king again we see fear and faith contrasted they weren't afraid you know that the the midwives weren't afraid either told midwives kill those babies what did they say they didn't fear the king so they helped the babies be born moses parents had faith to defy the command of pharaoh those midwives had faith to defy the command of pharaoh had the power and authority to kill them to do whatever he wanted with him they said you know what i believe in god i'm going to do what he says instead by faith moses when he became of age refused to be called the son of pharaoh's daughter choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of god than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin i think it's an interesting way to phrase that it chose to suffer affliction rather than the passing pleasures of sin does your faith cause you to choose affliction suffering or would you rather enjoy the pleasures of sin esteeming the reproach of christ great ext esteeming the reproach of christ greater riches than the treasures of egypt it's interesting that they're tying moses faith to christ here he hadn't seen christ yet but you know there's verses that say that abraham and moses they had faith in him that they had faith in christ is interesting yeshua himself he said that abraham saw my day he glorified god abraham died thousands of years before yeshua was born how did he see his day it's what god showed him spiritually what god told him about what he envisioned prophetically spiritually with this eyes that god gave him not his physical eyes eyes of faith not the eyes of the flesh esteeming the reproach of christ greater riches than the treasures of egypt i'd rather be reproached i would rather be condemned i would rather be persecuted for christ than have all the riches in egypt i'd rather be tortured for my faith than have all the riches of the world this is the kind of faith that the bible speaks of we looked to the reward by faith he forsook egypt not fearing the wrath of the king for he endured as seeing him who is invisible seeing him who is invisible seeing him who you cannot see i think that's interesting phrase as well again by faith not by sight seeing what you cannot see faith is seeing what you cannot see isn't that crazy moses walked away from all the wealth and status he had in egypt to follow god he had everything he was an heir to the king he was in the king's household he was one who belonged in the king's house had access to all the riches and wealth of egypt and egypt was the richest nation in the world at that time pharaoh was the richest man in the world at that time and he forsook it all to go wander around in the desert that's faith he had everything and he left everything to follow god verse 28 by faith he kept the passover and the sprinkling blood lest he who destroyed the firstborn should touch them by faith he kept the passover never heard of a passover before god told him to do it never heard of a death angel passing through egypt before but god told him it was going to happen by faith he obeyed by faith he put blood on the doorposts by faith that killed the lamb by faith they ate with their sandals on their feet and their belt in their waist and their staff in their hand by faith believing that god would lead them out of egypt they were saved by grace through faith in the blood of the lamb you see that by faith that god rescued them out of egypt by faith they believed god would spare their home so they obeyed you see that their faith caused them to obey they believed that if they put the blood on the doorpost that the death angel would not kill their son so they put the blood on the doorpost they believed and obeyed walk by faith verse 29 by faith they passed through the red sea as by dry land whereas the egyptians attempting to do so were drowned by faith the walls of jericho fell down after they were in encircled for seven days imagine that let's walk around the city seven times and the walls are gonna fall down i've never heard of that happening have you other than this story they had never heard of that happening before they never seen that before they just walk around the city blow some trumpets and the walls are just gonna fall over they walk by faith they believe that god would do it so they marched if they didn't believe god would tear down those walls why were they spending the time walking around the city seven times for seven days why'd they bother to do it if they didn't believe they did it because they believed their faith caused them to act the face caused them to obey they believed that god would do what he said he would do so they did what he said to do they walk by faith trusting in what god had said trusting in the word of god believing in the word of god and obeying the word of god you see how faith belief and obedience are intimately linked together this is what paul and james were talking about too with abraham right he said that abraham believed god it was accounted to him for righteousness james says abraham believed and obeyed by faith the harlot rahab did not perish with those who did not believe when she had received the spies with peace and what more shall i say for the time would fail me to tell of gideon and barack and samson and jeff nine also david and samuel and the prophets who through faith subdued kingdoms worked righteousness obtained promises stopped the mouths of lions quenched the violence of fire escaped the edge of the sword out of weakness were made strong became valiant in battle turned to flight the armies of the aliens women received their dead rays to life again and others were tortured not accepting deliverance that they might obtain a better resurrection still others had trial of mockings and scourgings yes and of chains and imprisonment they were stoned they were sawn in half they were tempted they were slain by the sword they wandered about in sheepskins and goat skins being destitute afflicted tormented of whom the world was not worthy of whom the world was not worthy these people were tortured it says the world was not worthy of them because of faith they wandered in deserts and mountains and dens and caves of the earth and all these having obtained good testimony through faith did not receive the promise god having provided something better for us that they should not be made perfect apart from us you know what that means they're not going to be made perfect apart from us is that at the same moment when yeshua returns we're all going to be resurrected together we're all going to be given immortal bodies at the same time they weren't made perfect apart from us they're still waiting for their reward just like we are and when yeshua returns we're all going to receive that reward together and immortality that he promised that everlasting life that he promised walking in the kingdom with him that he promised we received that together with abraham with david with moses we get to see yeshua face to face at the same time that moses does that cool we get to see yeshua's face the same time abraham does at the same time noah does isn't that cool we all get to go in together but it's only those who have faith are the ones that are going to go in though those who walk by faith not by sight those are endured to the end those who hold on to the faith no matter what yeshua told a parable right parable the soils right you guys remember this one hey toss us the guy's tossing seed out says the seeds the word of god and the seed lands on these different soils you've got the the the road you've got the stony soil you've got the weeds you get the good soil okay the word of god is going to all these different places but there's only one soil that it actually takes fruit and produces fruit a good soil now there's a couple of them where it looks like it could have potential right follows them on the rocks and you think hey it's starting to sprout up it's starting to produce some life but it has no roots and when the sun comes out and scorches it withers and dies when trials and tribulations come faith falls away and then the one that falls among the weeds it comes up and it starts growing right it produces what looks like going to be life the seed has taken root and it's done something in your life it says that the cares of this world choke it out just like a weed the cares of this world the concerns of this life choke it out just because the the seed has been scattered just because it takes root doesn't mean it's going to produce fruit you've got to pull the weeds you've got to cultivate the soil you've got to let the roots dig down deep you've got to be good soil the bible says these things are written for our admonition and for our example the stuff that's written in the bible is given for our admonition and for our example when we look to abraham we look to moses when we look to elijah when we look to david shadrach meshach and abednego all these different people throughout the bible their stories are written for our admonition this includes the the disciples too i believe the apostles what was written in the new testament was written for our admonition the scriptures were given for us as examples how we should walk the kind of faith we should have i remember i read last week i was talking about in james how it says that uh elijah right elijah has was a man just like us he had a nature just like ours and he prayed for three and a half years it didn't rain and then he prayed again and it reigned james chapter five right he's saying that elijah is not a superhero he's nothing special he's just a guy like you the only difference between elijah and you is he he prayed he pursued god he diligently he had faith he prayed with faith you could do just that you diligently seek god diligently fall on your face diligently pray be just like elijah he's no different than you he wasn't an angel he wasn't a supernatural being he wasn't the son of god he was a guy just like you and me same with moses same with noah same with abraham same with david they weren't superheroes they weren't cross you know they weren't they weren't angelic offspring of of some kind of nephilim thing right i mean they weren't the demigods that the pagans worshipped they're just human they're just like you and me they were men of faith there's nothing special about them but there's something special about their god the bible says these things are written for admonition and for our example how we should live first corinthians 10 11 says now all these things happened to them as examples and they were written for our admonition on upon whom the ends of the age have come for our admonition upon whom the ends of the age have come believe we are living at the ends of the age don't you i mean the apostles talked about it 2000 years ago they talked about being in the last days acts chapter 2 peter's sermon he says he quotes amos and he says in the last days god reported spirit sons and daughters will prophesy and dream dreams old man will dream dreams young men i'll see visions right it talks about the outpouring of the holy spirit in acts 2 and says this is we're living in these days these last days well the day with the lord is a thousand years that was 2000 years ago so that's two days on the third day he'll raise you up hosea says where do you think we are in this we're at the end of that two days at 2000 years we're about to see the beginning of the third day what happens on the third day is the resurrection of the dead yeshua returns and the dead rise why do you think the world is in chaos right now because satan has got his last chance to set up his kingdom before your true returns he's putting things in place he's getting prepared i'm not saying that uh right now we're seeing tribulation i'm saying that what we're seeing right now is building up to it these are the birth pains these are the things that are being put in place and i don't think it's gonna be long we're gonna see what this beast is what this mark is what this image is i think it's coming i don't know how soon maybe tomorrow maybe 10 years from now i don't know how soon it is but i believe it's getting closer and closer and closer we're nearing the door of this are we ready you know people keep talking about how to prepare we got to get prepared we got to stock up on this stuff we got to have all these this equipment we got to have a fallout shelter we're going to have a plan how we're going to bug out right let's prepare let's prep let's get ready you know how you prepare fall on your face learn how to hear god's voice learn how to walk by faith not by sight because he is going to lead you through the wilderness you're not gonna do it on your own your preparation bucket is gonna rot he is gonna lead you through the wilderness manna from heaven water from a rock he will lead you through the wilderness but you have to learn how to hear him learn how to walk by faith that's how you prepare this is spiritual warfare the enemy is trying to steal your faith your faith is what is going to save you okay learn how to walk by faith not by sight keep your eyes on yeshua learn how to hear his voice learn how to be led by the holy spirit that's the only way you're going to get through this thing guarantee it that's the only kind of preparation we can do stockpiling food and supplies is not the way you're going to survive you have to learn how to walk with the holy spirit learn how to hear his voice i want to close with one final scripture and i'm saying this as a preparation for what may come down the line hebrews 10 23-25 it says let us hold fast to the confession of our hope without wavering for he who promised is faithful and let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together not forsaking the assembly of ourselves together as is the manner of some but exhorting one another and so much more as you see the day approaching so much more as you see the day approaching as you see the day of the lord approaching stir one another exhort one another to not forsake the assembly when they come down the line and they pass laws that say you can't assemble anymore bow down to our god is what they're saying you can't gather you can't worship you can't pray you can't go to church you can't assemble what they're saying is now down to our idol oh we're gonna we're gonna slap some finds on you we're gonna put you in jail this is a fiery furnace that's a den of lions can't pray to your god well it's just for a limited time you remember in daniel for 30 days tell them don't pray to their god just for a limited time it's not it's not for eternity we're not saying don't ever do it just for this short amount of time you know i repent for closing church and having home church a couple months ago that was wrong we should not have done that we were forsaking the assembly of ourselves together and that was wrong and i will not do that again okay our god whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace and he will deliver us from your hand o king but if not let it be known to you o king that we do not serve your gods nor will we worship the golden image which you have set up walk by faith not by sight i'm not planning to go back to home church no matter what they say now we may not be here there may be sometime when they say we can't meet here but we're going to be somewhere okay i don't care i don't care what they say we walk by faith not by sight [Applause] father god we love you so much lord we thank you and we praise you for the opportunity we have to come and assemble together to worship and to fellowship to hear from you but we thank you we praise you that we are able to do that now we have the freedom to do that now lord we pray that whatever happens that you would be with us that you would give us strength and that you would give us faith to do what is right and what is pleasing to you to follow you to hear your voice lord we repent for the times when we did not follow you the way we should have but i pray that you would lead us that you would lead us through the wilderness that you would give us water from the rock that you would give us manna or that you would be our provider our protector our shield that we would not fear the enemy that we would fear only you that we would trust you and follow you no matter what lord we believe help us with our unbelief but we we trust you help us to trust you more but help us to have faith that is pure and undefiled of us to have faith that is in your word only what you say help us to have faith in you and faith in your word would help us to learn how to to follow the holy spirit to walk with the holy spirit help us tear your voice help us to keep our our eyes on you and not whatever's going on around us supposed to walk by faith and not by sight lord we praise you we thank you the name of yeshua [Music] is [Music] the shalom [Music] may lord bless you and keep you may lord cause his face to shine upon you'll be gracious to you may look good lift up his compass upon you give you peace you're dismissed

Channel: The Grafted Church

Views: 2,604

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Keywords: church online, sermon, Bible Teaching, Lex Meyer, Grafted Church, spiritual warfare, faith, walk by faith

Id: hPKi4o7YrXY

Length: 87min 49sec (5269 seconds)

Published: Sun Jul 19 2020