What Faith Is? Tim Mackie (The Bible Project)

you guys hi good good to see you guys ha how are you great good good yes thank you I do feel very welcome all right welcome there's probably a whole bunch of you maybe you becoming a Black Hawk just within the last year and so I don't know you hi my name is Tim and I was formerly one of the teaching pastors here at Black Hawk and actually one year ago this very Sunday was my last Sunday here and we moved to to Portland Oregon which is my hometown to go be a part of a just a few year old church that is started and is just focused on reaching the urban core of Portland and I'm having the time of my life and it's wonderful so so good to be back we came back for we my wife and my son Roman and I and then a little one who's going to come out in about two months okay I made our way back to Madison for the pulse conference and I've had so much fun being a part of it for many years and it's just great and then Chris was like hey we want to do a talk and I was like okay so here we go about how it that's about how it went down so good be a Masson it's good buddy extra funny to be back in the city that's just full of normal people all right so I haven't I haven't seen one man wearing a kilt I haven't seen any double-decker bikes I haven't seen any people riding their bikes naked as happens on an annual basis at the pedal Palooza in downtown Portland so this just feels practical good hearted Midwest folk okay there you go so it's kind of it was kind of like a devil take a lover is fully clothed and it just looks normal around here so anyway there you go so it's great it's good too good to be back with you guys you guys have been journeying through the book of Hebrews and actually it's funny my my first Sunday at door of Hope Oh to the names of Church in Portland we it was my first Sunday start speaking there and I opened up a series on the book of Hebrews that we camped out in for the whole all summer it was such a good season for for our church and so Chris gave me a call like in the fall as he was starting to prepare for this series and so there you go so somewhere along the way I got wrangled into saying how about you preached the whole of the longest chapter in the book of Hebrews yeah really chapter 11 so there you guys you guys ready for action okay I want to grab your Bibles and turn with me to the book of Hebrews chapter chapter 11 I came a helpful image for me to think about this amazing anonymous book from the the pastor he or perhaps a sheet we don't know riding to a community of followers of Jesus it's an incredible incredible impassioned of work that completely focuses on on Jesus his life as death his resurrection and and I like to think if it's kind of a big it's kind of a big book and I like to think of it as something like a door like a big huge door the front of that door being really ornate and was like maybe painted and carved woodwork and a window in it or something and that represents the first 10 chapters of the book it's just an incredibly beautiful statement exalting the the person of Jesus of proclaiming to this congregation of people that has forgotten their first things and the first commitments and convictions about Jesus so it exalts him as God become human the one who came to do for each of us what we could never do for ourselves and to be the human you and I could never be and to take into himself the consequences of arson and brokenness and conquer it was his love and rising from the grave and being our high priest everything here we go Hebrews 1 to 10 yes it's awesome it's amazing it's a beautiful beautiful front door and what we're going to see today at the end of chapter 10 is like the hinge on which the great door swings and chapter 11 the we again we begin to see the back side of the door which is all about how do we respond to this one who loved us and gave himself for us and is our high priest how should we live how should we think how should we each other and that's what you're going to be camping out in the in the weeks to come and so we're going to dive into the Hebrews 11 today once you actually write before 11 go to the end of chapter 10 with me look at verse 30 36 and again he's turning the hinge on the doors these sentences right here in light of who Jesus is for us he says verse 30 60 y'all need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God you will receive what he has promised for and then here he quotes from the Prophet Habakkuk for in a little while he who is coming will come and will not delay who's that he's talking about the return of Jesus so we need to persevere as we keep our focus on Jesus who is bound and promised to return and restore our whole world so he was coming he will come and he won't delay and another passage from Habakkuk but my righteous one God's people need to live in the season will live by face and I take no pleasure in the one who shrinks back and then the pastor says but I know you all and I know we don't belong to those who shrink back and are destroyed rather we belong to those who have faith and are saved and so he the this pastors vision of the whole Christian life is that on we're on the other side of Jesus's lies in death and resurrection but we're before his return and so we live in this like this limbo period post resurrection but pre return and what character trait is he for most going to what do we need to cultivate to exist and live in this limbo period what does he say he says face my righteous one will live in this period by faith welcome to Hebrews chapter 11 and faith is one of those words just a religious word like all kinds of words with redemption or salvation or something grace and they get tossed around or maybe some of us have grown up around them but we actually have no real idea of what they actually mean anymore we just kind of say them we might have an idea of what they mean but in fact there are many many layers of meaning and significance to those concepts we just don't even know about and we haven't even begun to think through the implications of them that's what we're going to do with faith here today Hebrews 11 is the longest chapter in the whole book this 40 verses and we don't even begin to have time to work through it slowly we're going to focus in on a few themes focusing on what faith is what faith isn't and how faced face a biblical faith Christian faith begins with reason and thinking and results in committed action but before we did any of that I just want us to hear the whole of the chapter it's such a magnificent piece of literary art and just the way it affects you and so I just want us to hear it read so Micah born a who you in this room you've already heard him supposed to be watching on on video he was one of our artists who performed at the pulse conference over the weekend his voice is so awesome I think he should read it what do you think yeah toi so Micah yeah yeah go for it now faith is the assurance of things hoped for the conviction of things not seen for by it the people of old received their commendation 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 by faith Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain through which he was commended as righteous God commending him by accepting his gifts and through his faith though he died he still speaks 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 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 by faith Noah being warned by God concerning events 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 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 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 for he was looking forward to the city that has foundations whose designer and builder is God by faith Sara herself received power to conceive even when she was past the age since she considered him faithful who had promised therefore from one man and him as good as dead were born descendants as many as the stars of heaven and as many as the innumerable grains of sand by the seashore these all died in faith not having received the things promised but having seen them and greeted them from afar and having knowledge that they were strangers and exiles on the earth for people who speak thus make it clear that they are seeking a homeland if they had been thinking of the land from which they had gone out they would have had opportunity to return 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 by faith Abraham when he was tested offered up Isaac and he who had received the promise was in the act of offering up his only son of whom it was said through Isaac shall your offspring be named he considered that God was able to even raise him from the dead from which figuratively speaking he did receive him back by faith Isaac invoked future blessings on Jacob and Esau by faith Jacob when dying blessed each of the sons of Joseph bowing in worship over the head of his staff by faith Joseph at the end of his life made mention of the exodus of the Israelites and gave directions concerning his bones by faith Moses when he was born was hidden for three months by his parents because they saw the child was beautiful and they were not afraid of the king's edict by faith Moses when he was grown up refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter choosing rather to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin he considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt for he was looking to the reward by faith he left Egypt not being afraid of the anger of the king for he endured as seeing him who is invisible by faith he kept the silver and sprinkled the blood so the destroyer of the firstborn might not touch them by faith the people crossed the Red Sea as on dry land but the Egyptians when they attempted to do the same were drowned by faith the walls of Jericho fell down after they had been encircled for seven days by faith Rahab the prostitute did not perish with those who were disobedient because she had given a friendly welcome to the spies and what more shall I say for time would fail me to tell of gideon barak samson jephthah of david and samuel and the prophets who through faith conquered kingdoms enforce justice obtained promises stopped the mouths of lions quenched the power of fire escaped the edge of the sward were made strong out of weakness became mighty in war put foreign armies to flight women received back their dead by resurrection some were tortured refusing to accept release so that they might rise again to a better life others suffered mocking and flogging even chains and imprisonment they were stoned they were sawn in two they were killed with the sword they went about in skins of sheep and goats destitute afflicted mistreated of whom the world was not worthy wandering about in deserts and mountains and in dens and caves of the earth and all these though commended through their faith did not receive what was promised since God had provided something better for us that apart from us they should not be made perfect dude mica what so epic you get a you get a feel remember that you know you guys are studying Hebrews over many weeks this was meant to be read at one go in a Sunday gathering of some of the earliest followers of Jesus and you can see the power with which these chapters are crafted the impact they meant they meant to have obviously this whole chapter is about faith and we're going to explore what faith is what faith isn't but just first just want to make an observation our English word is faith I think for most of us first things that we think of is something that happens inside of our heads so you guys with me like we say do you believe that do you faith in that we're thinking of of some sort of mental activity that goes on do I'm say so d do you believe that we think of something in your mind is Hebrews 11 a chapter about what's going on inside people's heads what is it primarily a chapter about about people's behavior their actions and their choices and we're gonna see there are a couple very important points where it refers to the activity of the mind but it's always connect Christian faith is always something that begins with reason but it's completed only by faithful action and obedience that's where we're going here once you look at verse one with me first one is actually one of the only explicit definitions of faith that's in the whole Bible just the first sentence right here and I'm reading from the New International Version and it reads as many of your translation is going to read now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see how many of you have either those words or the ideas connected to those words yes with me something like that so okay good a good number of us there are a whole bunch of others of you who have something different and actually actually not just different words but it seems to have a different idea and this is where I get to geek out for a couple minutes okay so indulge me so as you know I always want to do to teach you some Greek words that you'll forget in a week but that's okay so if you want to take a crack at it faith is the hmm pasta sis of things hoped for and the Ellen cos of things not seems the two Greek words that that the pastor uses the who pasta sees and the and the Ellen cos now many of you have already just read have something that reads like this this would be like translation number one that many English translations have faced is the assurance or some translations have faces the confidence of things hoped for it's the conviction of things not seen so basically you read that sentence you go okay face is an internal kind of state of mind that I get myself into about something that I can't be sure of and that I hope for does that make sense you guys with me so confidence assurance conviction those are all references to things that are going on inside of you these the things that you think or maybe a mental choice that you make I'm going to consider this sure and so it's about getting yourself into a state of being I really think that this is true even though I'm I don't know for sure I hope it's true but I don't know for sure that's that's the idea that's in many of our English translations many of you have something different and they're very interesting so this would be option option number two in the King James Version of the contemporary English version and a handful of others as well read something like this faith is the substance of things hoped for or some of your translations might read face is the reality of things hoped for the evidence of things not seen so according to these translations faith is not a mental state you have to get yourself into faith is an experience that you have that puts you in touch with the you get a taste of some kind of the reality of the substance of the that you are hoping for you with me are those two different they're totally different they're totally different so and this shouldn't bother you at all and I'm so totally serious about that so nobody's tampering with the Bible here there's only one Bible it's written in Greek and Hebrew and so there it is and no two languages are exactly alike and no know any language if you're trying to translate it into another one there's no precise equivalent word for word for especially for more complex words like this assurance or confidence or substance right those are very simple ideas right so no of course not so to render those in English it's challenging and to render it according to what exactly nuance did the author intend here this heart and so here you go welcome to the fact that the Bible is written in another language at another time and when you open its pages it's like getting on airplane going to another country and you don't always immediately grasp you have to learn you have to think it think it through and so essentially that's what we're seeing here is this is a division of opinion in people who know Greek and study you know Greek words and New Testament all this kind of background and stuff like that is the parting of the roads here on what people think how this should be translated I read a pile of commentaries almost the vast majority throughout history and present think that number two is exactly what the pastor intends here and so and just for a number of different reasons that will bore you to death until I won't go into them I think that number two is correct I could be wrong I don't think I am but it could be wrong so I'm hoping for correction but I think number two and as we explore what number two means I think I hope to convince you I think ever - in other words faith is not I don't think and I don't think the pastor is saying here faith is not just a mental state you have to whip yourself into or muster up the faith I need to somehow make myself feel sure about this thing that I can't really be sure about right so I don't think that's what it's being said here it's actually something much more profound that faith is not just a mental activity it is that it begins there but it actually is an experience you have because of the choices that you're making and that when I live and a in face I actually begin to get a taste a live experience in my life of a bit of the substance and the reality of the thing that I'm hoping for listen that might seem very bizarre to us what on earth what on earth does that mean so so think about it like this well one of the things we miss our friends here very much and nine years we planted deep roots here in Madison and and so there you go part of life transitions is exactly that and so there are many things that we miss about Blackhawk and Madison one thing I do not miss is the winter I mean come on you guys I just and you guys are suffering I know it I know it it's April its snowed in in a tow like to days ago yeah what is wrong with the world if I say so I'm really I'm really sorry so and right from the get-go like the winters were very difficult to me after we moved here in 2003 and so you know you just can't it you know you get into this you know snow comes around Thanksgiving or early December and you just get in by February you're like what here's the color green have I ever seen it before not sure you know is there such a thing as the Sun that produces warmth I don't know I just see the Sun but it's always cold so here I'm going to show you a picture here this was a picture I took the first snow of winter 2010 so just a couple years ago and you guys know this the scenery very familiar to you and this was the first note that came is in early December of that year and it basically doesn't change for about four months this is how it goes and somehow in March typically typically there's a string of sunny 47 degrees 52 and the snow starts to recede some sometimes you get a flash of like sunny and 60 they're like one day or something have you had even one of those in March it's always grumbling grumbling guys right I don't know II we got so alright okay but they do sometimes come don't they yes so here's so here's the interesting thing about about Madison you've probably experienced this those first day is sunny 47 degrees at least down on campus it's all the students it's like flip-flops shorts and t-shirts it's 47 degrees we're going to save you no that's ridiculous behavior but it makes all the sense in the world when you saw winter with eternal and there's a sunny day and it's actually you know your skin is not going to crust over it with ice or something so you know I'm saying you guys know what I'm talking about it's 47 and people were wearing shorts to celebrate so this is a strange behavior I think strange behavior so and one of one of the things that comes along with this with this new behavior of adjusting to a world of warmth and so on is there's a flowers the first flower that blooms in Wisconsin after eternal winter has died away smaller flower with the cold the crocus flower and so Jessica planted Seminary in our yard and so what we look forward to more than anything right at the at the turn from winter into spring is to see the crocus flowers all right but then you get a scenario I kind of look what happened this last week where maybe the crocus fires come out but it'll snow again and you're like wait is it winter or spring what's going on here so you get little things like this this is one of the best little pictures I have of our former front yard here in Madison so are these wonderfully beautiful crocus flowers they are proof physical tangible proof that winter is not eternal right right I mean you're looking at it but yet it snows again okay yes snows again and so it's by face that you put on your shorts and your flip-flops and you wear a t-shirt and you go outside even though it's only 48 degrees that's phase let's face that is not blind face that's face that has a very good reason for it right and you're looking at it there it it I can point to it I can go touch it right is there this is the idea is that when you're actually when you're wearing that t-shirt that's 47 you're actually beginning to experience a bit of the reality of sunny in 70 degrees right it's not much it's a taste and if you sit around thinking about wearing your shirt that's not going to do any good you're just entertaining a possible idea say is is both thinking in response to a reason a good reason that something is changing that the world is going to be different than it is right now and it's actually living in light of that reality and as you do so it puts you in touch with the substance or the reality of the thing that you're hoping for that's precisely what the pastor is trying to tell his people right here essentially what Hebrews is trying trying to tell us right now and those export us a little bit more here and so this has come twin ways that we experience this reality is that biblical faith is we're gonna see here it begins with thinking it begins with with reason now I don't I don't actually know where this came from it's probably a long complex history of European thought and philosophy and so on but somehow it's come into our minds that religious face is what it is because there is absolutely no reason for believing it your disability is blind you guys heard the faith the phrase blind faith or something like that we're leap a leap of faith a blind leap of faith into the dark right and so that's not Christian faith it's not difficult days that's stupidity that's what that is okay to believe and stake your life on something for absolutely no good reason that's not having faith please don't call it that that's being stupid that's what that is right speaks to that there's no good reason to believe for something don't believe it for goodness sake you know I'm saying look at look at verse 11 with me there's a couple examples of this there are three examples in Hebrews 11 of where faith began with someone's reason and they're thinking look at verse 11 we hear it by faith even Sarah who was past childbearing age she was enabled to bear children because she considered him faithful who had made the promise now just slow down and think that through for a second so what we're hearing we have Sarah she's in like her late 80s at this point in the story of Genesis she gets a promise that yeah you're gonna have a kid and what's her response she laughs but yeah right of course right I'm in my late that's not going to happen but then we hear even further commentary in the book of Genesis and then the commentary of the pastor here in Hebrews 11 and we hear that something she went through this process here where she had to consider do the mental math and so what does she do she considers whether the one who's making this promise is actually faith worthy or trustworthy so they've been in the land that they traveled to for like decades now God's completely provided for them even though they don't actually have a home they're just itinerant kind of kind of Shepherd crew wandering around the region and so God's provided for them he's brought them wealth and abundance protection peace and so on so she has God already been faithful up to this point what's the answer yes she has a crocus flower she can point to here's the proof that God has been faithful to his word so far therefore is it reasonable to think he will continue to do that answer does she have absolute certainty no but does she have a reason to believe in her faith yes she's thinking it through doing the mental math go down look at verse 17 by faith Abraham when he was tested by God he offered Isaac as a sacrifice he who had embraced the promises was about to sacrifice his one and only son even though God said to him it's through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned this is this is a pinnacle story in the life of Abraham the whole story up through Abraham's life is about this promise son this promise son everything hangs on this promise son and then he's told to do this crazy crazy thing of giving up his promised son and so what does Abraham do look at verse look at verse 19 what does he do I want to hear you say it out loud okay by faith what does he do he reasons he reasons he does the mentalness so the reason I have a son the reason Isaac exists is because God has proven himself trustworthy Isaak is his crocus flower he can point to it there's proof there for Abraham reasoned however it is that God's gonna get me out of this and solve this problem he's gonna do it because he's already done it so far he reasoned God could even raise the dead and in a manner of speaking he did receive Isaac back from that he had a choice about not just his thoughts about his behavior what's he going to do it put him in a situation of face and the first thing he did was sit down and think it through like so this is so counterintuitive I think for many of us because we by faith means you ditch reason at the door whatever and many of you your friends and family think that you're sitting right here right now because we pass out kool-aid at the door yesterday right and I think you're crazy you're buying into this whole thing I hope you're not buying into this whole thing just and have no reasons for it we have a very good reason an extremely could razor for why we're gathering and why we're staking our whole lives on following this Jesus and what is that reason the reason is the fact that he was a man who existed on the stage of history 2,000 years ago and there's testimony of hundreds and hundreds of people about his life about his death and about his resurrection so much so like that Paul the Apostle in first Corinthians 15 he can write to people who were living hundreds and hundreds of mile miles away from Jerusalem and he can say listen I know for some of you this is very difficult to believe there were 500 of us who saw him alive from the dead at once if you want you can go talk to him a lot of them are still alive he appeals to reason the life of Jesus didn't happen in a corner on the stage if it happened right at the center of one of the most prominent cities in the ancient world hundreds and hundreds of people saw him alive from the dead that's a reason that the reason now is it a reason that subject to poking and prodding and questioning totally and I hope you do some of that if you if you need to but it's a reason and in the whole worldview of a follower of Jesus Jesus is life and death and resurrection is the crocus flower that tells us that sin and death and violence and the brokenness in your relationships and inside of my heart and yours that that does not get the last word resurrection life and grace has the last word how do I know that I can look at the crocus flower and it might snow on the crocus flower it might snow all over your lives right and it might snow more on your life than on your life and even more on that person's life than on your life and that's just the reality of living in a broken world but it's by faith that we begin with a reason to believe Jesus rose from the dead I believe that because of eyewitness testimony it's not a blind leap of faith it's face based on reason are you guys with me here okay yes witness is very important however is face only based on reason as Hebrews 11 about a bunch of people sitting around thinking and entertaining new ideas now remember we have a number of examples it begins with reason but that but that reason is what keeps my faith only from becoming an interesting idea that I might entertain whether or not you do anything about it right so look at verse eight with me this is a good example of how a reason and faith worked together so by faith Abraham when he was called to go to the place he would later receive at his inheritance sat around and thought about it so what did you he obeyed he acted and he went even though he didn't know where he was going by faith he made his home in the promised land even though he would like a stranger living in a foreign country and he lived in tents as digit son Isaac his grandson Jacob although they were all heirs with him of the same promise so you have this for one reason or another we're not told he considered Yahweh this God who called him faithful and trustworthy he could point to something he responds in obedience to this call faith and obedience are two sides of the same coin they're not different concepts it's not phases not something in your head and obedience is something reaction faith is action that begin by thinking it through of whether the one calling me to action is trustworthy in if he is i actin says this is this is biblical to robust Christian Christian faith and so that active that active so maybe I kind of a simple it might be stupid but a simple illustration is there a stool behind me right now no nope there's no stool behind me so I sure hope you don't believe that there's a stool behind me so and I if I say oh yes yes there really is a stool absolutely there really is a stool am I having faith or am i stupid I don't know why so there was a reasonable even though I've never seen one I've never heard about one none of you can see one but I really believe that there is one so that faith is that stupid stupid okay now pretend you're not seeing me do this all right so pretend I didn't just do that okay but now I can see it so is there a stool behind me can I see it right now no I can't is there a good reason to say it for me to think there's a stool behind me right now what is that reason well there's a whole bunch of you who can see it right there's a little bit there's a whole bunch of these people who saw it now how how am I going to be guided to find where it is I'm going to land my face well I have a whole bunch of people here who can guide me I actually have a whole bunch of people sitting in my church community who can guide me okay so I'm trusting left and I did hey all right so there so what just happened I got a whole bunch of things just happened right so it was but it began with reason but it would just be entertaining a new idea if I didn't do something about it it's not face unless you do something about it but I can't do something about by myself I rely upon the testimony of others I rely upon the guidance of a community of faith to come around me and help me know where and how to do this following Jesus saying and then there's a transfer of trust a transfer of trust from my own like self sufficiency thinking I know how to navigate myself through this world and there you go and you know in some degrees I still can't see it but I can have the experience of being empowered and elevated and carried by something that is not my self you with me it with me faith is the substance and the reality of the thing that you're hoping for and it's not just pie in the sky it's um have you've ever acted in faith and experience God's faithfulness that carries you in that act you know exactly what this feels like this right here it's a transfer of trust and and there's very good reason for for doing this the crocus flower has blossomed Jesus Jesus rose from the dead and so there's some of you this is a whole way to reframe how you think about like obedience right so the following Jesus is very difficult can I get naman right so he calls us to to live in these ways that are so counterintuitive they're so difficult and they seem crazy to the people around us in our cultural setting sexual integrity sexual purity is laughable ludicrous to do that to not sleep with somebody you're not married to and to like care about that until I keep yourself from doing that until you're in a covenant relationship with somebody that's the laughable idea in our culture but well the the crocus flower has bloomed which means resurrection has the final word which means there's a new creation on its way I don't know when but the coming one will come as he says at the end of chapter 10 and so imagine a world of completely healed relationships where I have intimate friendship and community with people who fully know me just as I fully know them and there's unconditional acceptance and grace and collaboration and community in that kind of a world sexual integrity makes all the sense in the world are you with me and so what I'm called to do is lit put on my put on my t-shirt and my flip-flops and live in this limbo land of winter spring as this summer is already here let's face it say and when you do that you find yourself beginning to be carried by this empowering present and guided by those around you who are also experiencing that same presence of Jesus empowering their faithful obedience why do you have any good reason to forgive someone who has intentionally purposefully wronged you and hurt you what possibly good reason could you have for doing something as crazy as what Jesus asks you to do forgive you're an appraiser them pray for their well-being and the good stuff will happen to them why would you ever do such a thing that makes no sense in our current world rule structure but imagine a world where every relationship is reconciled and healed by the death and the resurrection of Jesus all of a sudden bitterness and unforgiveness in the new creation is like wearing your down jacket when it's 70 and sunny outside in the summertime like why that doesn't even fit here it's going against the grain of the universe and so what we're called to do is in this limbo land of winter spring transition is to forgive to forgive and to give a glimpse of the substance of what a whole reconciled world of human being could look like and it might be the craziest thing and why would you there's no reason you should do that but you do it and you experience this grace empowering you to obey do things you never knew you were capable of doing as people come around you and guide you about how to transfer your tress away from your own view of the world and what's right and actually following Jesus in faith and so you know I don't know where this lands with you guys you know there might be a whole bunch of you who you're kind of more on the sceptical prodding poking side is this is the stool really there is it does it really exist know is it worth trusting and so my encouragement to you is poke and prod don't don't take a step forward until you've you've got your questions if you've moved towards your questions in a really serious way and some of you might you know you would call yourself Christians but you have deep struggles and you're frustrated by the other Christians who just like just believe you know just have faith you know stop asking so many questions and you're like no doing this hogwash that's what that is like stop no move towards if the stools not really there I would rather be at the skateboard park you'd rather be somewhere else right now you know say like let's just go home if it's not really there but we have lots of testimony that it is there and we have lots of testimony of experience here in the community that it's really there we need to come around and and and celebrate people's questioning because that means they're on a journey of growth that's what it means and there might be some of you who it's not about intellectual doubts you're just straight up looking at a choice you've got to make you know what is the right thing to do if you're going to be faithful to Jesus and everyone thinks you're crazy and you're going to be made fun of and it's people think you're not and what are you going to do are you going to transfer your trust and bring others around you who can help guide you through that process or are you just going to let this Jesus thing just keep being an idea that you never do anything about and so the choice is ours the choice is ours and Jesus is Grace is here to meet us in our inadequacies and help carry us and to do things inside of us we never thought we could do let's face this biblical faith amen amen let me close us in prayer Jesus I pray for my brothers and sisters here thank you so much for how this church family my lord you know each person's story you know where their moments and decision of faith what's in front of them right now if it's a step of obedience if it's a doubt is it a struggle if it's a question I just pray and and can say in confidence because of your life and death and resurrection for us that when we are open you will meet us through your word through your presence through each other for those of us who need to experience you're carrying grace as we step out in faith even even tomorrow or this week with what's before us we just we ask for your presence Jesus and an awareness of your grace that carries us as we seek to follow you we thank you for your grace Jesus we pray in your name amen amen let's uh go with a prayer today that's about this hope in this this face and this journey that were called to as followers of Jesus that comes from lamentations chapter three hoste adonai kilo Tom do kilo ha ha ha ha ha da Shi ma Bukhari murabba Munna Tessa Koki Adonai amar enough she okay no clue it's because of Yahweh's mercies that we did not perish and his compassion never fails it's new every single morning how great is your faithfulness Oh God and so I say to myself I say Yahweh he is my future inheritance therefore I will put my hope in him and I hope has become reality to us in Jesus or crocus flower may we may we walk and face as we go into we came in amen love you guys you guys are awesome are you going to gather next week Sunday gathering no you guys did you hear me are you going to gather next Sunday no love Madison have a great week love you guys [Applause]

Channel: Tim Mackie Archives

Views: 202,051

Rating: 4.9188557 out of 5

Keywords:

Id: A-zK3Uy-QcY

Length: 44min 43sec (2683 seconds)

Published: Mon Aug 14 2017