Thank you for listening to this message from LifeHouse Church.
Good morning, LifeHouse. Good morning. Turn to somebody give them a high five right now.
Do it right now. Tell them it's good to see you. Good to see you. Amen. It's good to have everybody
here at LifeHouse this morning. Yeah, excited about Fall Fest. Lots of food, lots of fun, lots
of games. We always have a great time. It's just a good time to sit and talk and settle in with one
another. So make sure you turn out to that. Also, in two weeks, can't believe it, two weeks the campus
launches, East Shore launches. This Thursday night, October 5th, we are going to have a meeting
at the East Shore campus. If you want to find out more about the campus, you're interested in the
launch team, what that's all about. That's going to be really informational for you. Please show up.
We're going to have that at location at East Shore. And again, two weeks at all launches. I know this
couple right here, Pastor Eric and Abby, they're excited. We're excited about what God's going to do
in Harrisburg, right? North of Harrisburg in Linglestown area. We know God spoke to us about
doing this and we have been planning and prepping. As a matter of fact, we've been planning and
prepping so long, we just want it to happen. We're ready and we're just trusting God what He's going
to do there. But this morning, I threw out this week, took a little bit of time and I looked at
some statistics online. I don't know if you ever do that or not, but once in a while I do, especially
when I'm getting ready for a message, sometimes I'll look at stats and I came across some stats for
malnutrition and starvation. And I was a little shocked. Over 8 million people will die on this
planet this year because of starvation. And put that a little bit of perspective, that's a thousand
people an hour across the world will pass away from starvation. And that's sobering. It's a
sobering statistic. I know it's something that probably should drive us to do something in the
body of Christ about this. And oddly enough, 20,000 of those people will be in the USA that will die
from starvation. And that caught me even more in a country that has unfathomable wealth. And we do.
I don't know if you know that. If you've traveled around the world at all, you'll find out that we
are crazy wealthy here and we have vast resources at our fingertips. 20,000 people will die of
starvation in the United States. It's staggering. And while I've experienced a lot of things in life
and my many decades of life, I have never really truly experienced malnutrition or starvation.
If you look at me, obviously that is not the case. Now to my shame, on more than one occasion,
I've acted like I was starving to death. Anybody with me on that? You miss lunch,
you miss supper, you miss breakfast. And what do you say? I am starving too.
Yeah, I'm not going to make it. You get really dramatic. I'm famished. You start coming up with
all kinds of adjectives. And it's ridiculous, I know. Because you missed a meal. And honestly,
the closest I've ever come to understanding hunger at all was actually on a spiritual fast. I remember
going on a spiritual fast one of the first times. I went on a long fast. It was a 21-day fast. And
the church I was attending, they called us to fast. And when you go on a fast and you start to
experience hunger, the first day you're very spiritual, by the way, on the fast. Like,
I am skipping food for Jesus. You feel really spiritual. It's like, amen, amen, God bless.
Second day, you're a little jittery. Skimming food for Jesus. By the third day, you're just angry.
Okay. He's like, I need food. You know, I want food. Jesus, give me some food. And you know,
everything starts to look good. It doesn't matter if it smells good, right? If it would taste good,
you would eat it by day three. You're really well. And as mental game starts that you start to go
down when you want some food. And I remember in this particular fast, it was a 21-day and one of
the guys from the church where we were serving, he kind of gave a testimony. He said about two days
in, he went to the dental hygienist and he said while he was getting his teeth cleaned, the
hygienist said, hey, there's a piece of meat stuck back here in the teeth. And he said, let it along.
He said, let it there. He literally told me, he said, let it there. And you know, this was during
the fast. And I've been very fortunate not to have ever suffered malnutrition or starvation.
And not like so many in the world, but I have found myself spiritually malnourished. I have
found myself at times in life, deeply hungry for the things of God to the place almost famished,
weak. I don't know if you've ever suffered soul starvation, but it is a thing where you get starving
for God. Anybody know what I'm talking about? Am I the only one in the house? Come on. Yeah,
there's this place and over the past year, I've had this hunger, not starvation, but I've had this
hunger for God. I've had this hunger in my soul for more and more of God. I want to, I want to
experience more than just a little bit of religion. I want to experience more than just a little
tingly, right? At church on Sunday. I want to experience God in a new way. I've been serving
God a long time and I just want more of him. I want to know what it feels like in his presence
more and more. I want to hear from him. I want to hear the voice of God in my spirit and the voice
of God in my life. I want to know his ways. I want to know what it's like the closer I draw to God
and he draws near to me. That's what the word of God says. What is this like? Right? It's hungry.
You know, I want to know his manifested presence and not just my intellectual presence of God,
right? I mean, we read about God and we kind of form this intellectual idea about God,
but I want to know his manifested presence, his tangible presence, what he's really like.
I want to be near and it's easy to understand that, right? I want to know what it is to be near him
and understand his manifested presence and that's easy with you and I because I can come over here
and sit by Pastor Andrew, right? And I've just experienced his presence. He gave me a tap on the
back, right? That's easy with an individual and a person, but it's different with God, isn't it?
You know, because we can't be in his presence in that kind of way. I want to know. Anybody with me
on that? So what brings me near to God? What gets me close to him? If I really want that,
what is it that will get me to a place where I'm close to God? Is it praise and worship?
Because we do praise and worship every Sunday morning and I love it. We praise God and I think,
yep, that has something to do with it, right? Because God inhabits the praises of people.
If I sing enough to God, will that get me near him? Now, some of you like, I don't sing so well.
If I keep singing to Jesus, he's gonna leave, right? But you know, if I sing enough, you know,
is that going to get me close to God? Is it the spiritual disciplines? You know, is it prayer,
Bible reading? Is it meditation, fasting? You know, is that was the things that get me close to God?
Well, I think those are things that help you draw near to God, but you got to have a right heart
with all that, right? Because the Pharisees in scripture, they got all that right. They,
matter of fact, they were religious about doing all those things and Jesus called them vipers
and hypocrites because their hearts weren't right with it. So what is it? Is it showing up to church
enough times in a row? All right, I might even get a pin for that one, right? If I go to church
enough times in a row, you know, will that get me close to God? What's the answer? What gets me near
to God? What brings God near to me? You know, and as I started mulling this question, you got to look
into God's word. I always go to the same place because all the answers are there. Is God's word,
how do I get God close to me? So I started looking at people on God's word who were close to God and
God was close to them. I figured that's a great place to look. And if you really want to get a
nice list of that, you got to go to Hebrews chapter 11. So if you got your Bible this morning,
I want you to head to Hebrews chapter 11. We're going to start with verse one and Hebrews chapter
11 is kind of a who's who of faith in God. It's a who's who of people who drew near to God, right?
Who God moved on their behalf, who God began to shift things around them. And it all happened in
Hebrews chapter 11 one where they start to list them. So I'm going to pray this morning. Lord,
thank you for your word. Thank you for this day for God, each one who's listening in the house,
out of the house online. God, in two short weeks at the new campus, Lord, I thank you for all that
you're doing in our lives. And God, as we look into your word, God, help us understand, God,
who you are and how to draw close to you. And everybody said together. Amen. Hebrews 11 one
says this, now faith, say faith, is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not
seen. Now, here is one starts off with the definition of faith, right? I can't see it,
can't taste it, can't touch it, can't smell it, can't feel it yet, but I'm hoping for what's there.
I've got this great hope. It's such a hope that I believe that it's going to happen. Right? So now
faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen for by it, the elders
obtained a good testimony by faith. We understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God so
that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible by faith. Abel offered
to God a more excellent sacrifice than came through which he obtained witness that he was righteous.
God testifying of his gifts and through it, he being dead still speaks by faith. Enoch was taken
away so that he did not see death and was not found because God had taken him for before he was
taken, he had this testimony that he pleased God, but without faith it is impossible to please him
for he who comes to God must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of those who diligently
seek him. By faith Noah divinely warned of 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 is according to faith. By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to the place
which he would receive as an inheritance and when he went out not knowing where he was going by faith
he dwelt in the land of promise as a foreign country dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob
and heirs with him of the same promise for he waited for the city which has foundations who builder
and maker is God. There's a reoccurring theme of those who got close to God. There's a word
that identifies the reasons of the who's who in this list of people and there's more if you go
into Hebrews if you read further there's a reoccurring word that goes over and is spoke over
and over again in this passage. I'm going to give you a big hint it starts with an F, it ends with an
H and has an AIT in between. All right it's faith. It's faith in God. If we want to get close to God
we got to stir up our faith in God. If you want to draw near to God and you want God to draw near to
you, you got to increase your faith in God. If you want to see God do big things in your life
then you got to bring big faith to God for God in God. Enoch had so much faith when I read this
it just takes me right he had so much faith that God literally just took him. Can you imagine
he's just walking with God he's talking with God and God's talking with him and they're conversing
and God says you know what Enoch I just like you all right I like you a lot and in fact I think
I'm just going to take you with me I think I think I'm just going to snap you up and take you right
on up into heaven we'll just skip the whole death thing all right we'll just skip the funeral we'll
skip the morning we'll skip all that you're just going to go with me and he had so much faith in
God that God just grabbed him from this earth and took him now I know if this was modern day right
they'd be like it was a UFO right just took him I'm like yep it was an unidentified Jesus is what
you know right he just took him he just took him and he skipped all the rest every patriarch every
matriarch matriarch in the word of God had this faith in God he put their they put their faith
in one who cannot fail they they got next to God because their faith in God was that strong
it was a fact that they believed in God fully when there was virtual no evidence in front of
them some of these patriarchs and matriarchs when there was no evidence that God would do this or
it would actually happen they would believe God and God would do it and Hebrews 11 6 lays it out
there lays it out plain it really does it says this but without faith is impossible to please him
for he who comes to God must believe that he is and that he's a rewarder of those who diligently
seek him right you can't get near somebody unless they are pleased with you
know what I'm talking about you can't get near listen take off your spouse this afternoon
just go ahead and do it take off your spouse this afternoon and see how close we're going to get to
you tonight all right you might be sleeping on the couch all right if you take them off right
for all you that are out there in the dating world I'm going to give you a little advice I'm here
I'm here for you okay if you're out there in the dating world guys if you want to get close to that
young lady you need to please her in some way right you need to open the door when you're going
out on a date you run around the other side you open that door let her get in you close the door
there you go sweetie right just let her get in that car door and she's going to smile from ear to ear
all right and amen my wife saying amen you better step up your game boy all right
man you buy her some roses and you show up with some flowers that's going to please her right come
on you cheapskate buy some flowers for her we if you want to get hey come on cheapskate all right
cheapskate all right all right come on if you want to get close if you want to get close to someone
you got to please him and the writer of hebrew says if you don't have faith in god you'll never
please him a matter of fact he said it's impossible to please god without faith it's not the roses and
the holding of doors with god it's not the grand gesture sometimes that we want to put out with god
it really isn't it's faith in him and if we're not pleasing him we're not going to get close to god
if we're not if we're not having deep faith if we're not praising god and coming in with a
heart of faith then we're not pleasing god and we're not going to draw close right he said it he
said it if god faith is this if god said it i believe it period amen come on it's true say it
if god said it and i believe it that is faith period if god said it and i believe it it is faith
period it's the fact that i am completely convinced that when god speaks it is the truth
what he's saying is truth and it is moving in a way that that shows that all right pastor andrew
i'm gonna ask if you drag that chair up here for me all right and this gets happens a lot i used
to do this in youth group and i know this illustration has been around for a long time and
this is just a regular old sam's club chair but how many when you walk up to a chair what do you do
all right some you just sit down with your coffee and church you're sipping right you're just still
enjoying life right how many of you stop and say you know i don't know about that chair
you know i think i'm gonna call sam's club i'm not sure about the engineering of this chair
i'm gonna see if i can get a name so i can call and check out the the specs on this chair i want
to see about the engineering this chair you don't do that do you when you come up to a chair you
just sit down in that chair you know why because you got faith that that chair is going to hold you
up you believe in your heart that that chair is going to hold you up you don't you don't question
it do you know what happens when you don't believe in the chair you don't move you'll never move
forward to sit in that chair if you don't believe in that chair if you don't think that chair is
going to hold you up you're not going to sit down in that thing right you don't want to flip over
backwards and look ridiculous right you don't want to get fall down and get injured you will never
move and that's how it is with god if you believe what god is telling you if you believe what god
said is the absolute truth when he speaks you will move forward you won't think about it you won't
flinch you won't ponder you won't pontificate you won't spend hours and hours just mauling it over
in your mind when god says move or when god says to do something or when you read something in god's
word that says to do something you'll just do it and you know what he sees when you do that faith
and it pleases god it pleases him he says oh there they are they just trust in me they just believe in
me that and he smiles from ear to ear and he begins to draw near to you and you begin draw near to him
and it happened all through god's word noah built an ark on dry land right by hand
to carry all the animals of the earth because god told him to he could he could have said i don't
know about that god he could have said i i need i need i need to i need to wait a while and confirm
that this is the real deal all right i he could have prayed about it for the next 10 years i don't
know god you know god if somebody brings me a big pile of wood that i'm going to believe that it was
you he didn't do that god spoke it and he started building he went and got the wood right he went
started putting the wood together he started coming he's listening for god's design he began
to move he had faith in what god said and god always shows up with that god always comes and
meets us with that he always draws near to those if you look in scripture right every single person
in scripture in god's word god pulls right up beside them when he when he speaks and they just
moved they just did it abraham takes off for a country he doesn't even know where he's going
or what he's doing he just left right god told him to go and he went it's faith it's faith on display
that gets me close to god say faith on display turn the person beside you preach at him a little
it's faith on display it's faith on display what do i mean by faith on display it's when the faith
that's on the inside of me starts spilling out onto the outside of me that's what faith on display
is faith on display is when the faith that's inside of me starts to spill out jesus recognized this
kind of faith matter of fact he pointed it out in scripture he was entering a small fishing town
called copernum one day and it's located on the northern side of the sea of gallilee and he went
into go into copernum he ran into a centurion soldier a roman soldier the enemy okay rome rolled
over the jews they didn't like one another this roman soldier comes up and approaches jesus and
after this conversation jesus points to this roman soldier says that is faith let me read you this
matthew chapter 8 verse 5 you can turn that quickly matthew 8 5 says this now when jesus had entered
copernium a centurion came to him pleading with him saying lord my servant is lying at home paralyzed
dreadfully tormented and jesus said to him i will come and heal him now i want you to listen to the
story the centurion answered and said lord i am not worthy you should come under my roof but only
speak a word and my servant will be healed for i also am a man under authority having soldiers
under me and i say to one go and he goes into another come and he comes and to my servant do
this and he does it and when jesus heard it he marveled and said to those who followed surely
i say to you i have not found such great faith even not even in israel this guy is a roman soldier
and he is so convinced that jesus is who he said he is that he is the son of god that that what was
on the inside of him spilled out to the outside he approaches jesus he tells jesus this didn't
happen back in that culture the romans ruled over the jewish people they told them what to do
he comes to jesus humbly he comes and gives him his problem he's got a servant who's sick right
and jesus says well i'll come and fix it he could have said great that's awesome jesus come on
right come and fix my problem come and heal my servant he doesn't even do that he says you
don't even got to show up jesus i'm not worthy for you to come to my house he said all you have to do
is speak the word into the atmosphere just speak the word into the atmosphere just say it jesus
that's all you have to do and it'll be well my servant will be healed and jesus is blown away
he says i have not seen that kind of faith in all of israel he says just speak it this centurion
soldier now listen jesus has all his followers with him he's got the 12 disciples with him
this centurion soldier schooled those boys in faith right completely you ever been schooled at
something i have all right i'm not proud of this moment okay i'm gonna tell you story i'm not proud
of this moment please don't go do this but when i was young and foolish i got into a drag race out
on a highway okay i had a shine i know please don't do this i had a shiny red camaro and i
thought i was all that in a bag of chips right it ran pretty nice and i hopped out on the highway
one day and the ugliest green mustang you ever saw pulled up beside me that thing was dog ugly
okay look like a piece of garbage and he pulled up beside me just started taunting me right
just gonna i'll look all right here we go and don't do this okay and i took off and he took off
and all i saw was his tail lights pulling away from me that's why he destroyed me he he didn't
just beat me he humiliated me all right he he was so far out ahead of me i almost just wanted to
turn off in sheer humiliation somewhere but i was on a highway i couldn't right and all i wanted to
know after i got over the moments of humiliation in the vehicle by myself all i wanted to know was
what that guy had under his hood what kind of motor was in that piece of junk you know and i
think i think the disciples stood by and looked at this roman soldier the same way what kind of
faith does this man have he had such faith he told jesus just speak it you don't got to come you
don't got to come you don't got to lay hands you don't you don't have to you don't have to follow
me anywhere you just speak it into the air jesus and it's done i understand authority i know who
you are that's faith that's faith i'm gonna ask if you'd stand the praise team comes look look
look what jesus says to the centurion soldier in verse 11 he says this and i say to you that many
will come from the east and the west and they will sit down with abraham and isaac and jacob in the
kingdom of heaven but the sons of the kingdom will be cast out into outer darkness where they'll be
weeping and gnashing of teeth do you know what he was telling them in this passage of scripture
he was saying that the jews you know they're the god's chosen people they they know their god's
chosen chosen people they're they're descendants of abraham and isaac and jacob and they think
they're going to come into into the kingdom of god because of who they are and who they're connected
with and jesus said nope that here's what's going to happen with them they're going to they're going
to be cast out to heaven and he says you know what kind of people are going to be in heaven do you
know what kind of people are going to be near me do you know what kind of people are going to be
close to me people like you mr centurion people who have faith in me are going to be near to me
and jesus said to the centurion go on your way and as you have believed so let it be done for you
and the servant was healed that very same hour faith on display got this centurion near to god
he came close he came near he was right up beside him and so many times we think it's all the things
that we do instead of what we believe and you know why we like that we like it about being do
do things because we can check it off the list right like i read my bible i prayed did praise
and worship today and we should do all these things right i i i meditated on god for a while
and we like this list because then we can measure it god says all those things are good and all
those things help you learn about me but what do you believe about me what do you believe about me
do you believe if i speak it into the air it will happen do you believe that do you believe
that i'll do that for you what do you believe where's your faith where's your faith
that's how you get near god you got to believe you got to believe so much that whatever he says
you'll do you'll sit on that chair you won't even think you won't even blink because it's him
amen we're gonna pray this morning if you're comfortable i want you to just come to the front
i like coming up front sometimes just make your way to the front if you're not you can pray where
you're at just make your way up just slide up to the front if you would
here's what i'm going to ask you this morning maybe a little tester sometimes you need a little test
in your life right help you measure what's really there do you believe that jesus is the commander
of the seen and the unseen in your life okay once you close your eyes right so you're not looking
at me you're not looking at anybody else responds just so you get focused do you believe do you
believe this fully that jesus is the commander of the seen and the unseen that's what this centurion
believed he believed that he was the commander of everything seen and everything unseen do you believe
this it is god who draws near to us when we believe that he is the commander of the seen
and the unseen in our life father we come before you humble lord i thank you for your word god
that is light in his life to us i thank you lord that we trust and god put our faith in you
and god today lord you are the commander of the seen and the unseen god you are the one who rises
up and god begins to move in our lives lord when we turn all of it over to you and we say lord
whatever you say i'm gonna do i'm not gonna i'm not gonna fuss i'm not gonna delay i'm not gonna
wait when you speak i'll move when i see it in your word i will do it god when you when you when
you tell me lord to rise up or to sit down i'm not gonna question it lord when you tell me to go
forward or you tell me to wait i'm gonna do what you speak and lord god it is that faith that brings
us close to god it is when you draw near god you always meet faith it's threaded all through your
word god you give us example after example after example after example god i praise you now thank
you lord help us measure our faith this morning and god put our faith squarely in you holy spirit
stir up within us faith you are the voice that is in our ear you are the one that speaks into our
heart you're the one that that translates and brings to our spirit what god is speaking
to us in your holy spirit god help us to move on it immediately in jesus name in jesus name
we always want to be right amen listen we always want to be a noah
right we always want to think about like what it would have been like to be on that boat
and and been the person who listened to god right or moses who led the children of israel
right out of slavery we want to be that person but it starts with faith it starts with faith it
starts with what nobody else sees it's deep inside of you how much faith do you have how much faith
do you have and it's a simple thing if i can believe in a stupid chair come on i believe in
a stupid chair i can believe in god it's that easy it's that simple i don't want to make it sound
like it's a hard thing like man i'm gonna have to really work at this it's not it's just simply
decided like okay i trust god as much as i trust the chair amen can you can you trust him that much
trust him just do what he says what he says if you're young old somewhere in between
i look around i think about all the stages that are represented here y'all in different places in
life y'all gonna have to believe some of you are in school right now you're gonna have to believe
god for certain things while you're in school they're gonna be different from it right they're
gonna be different from the things that you believe when you're when you're just getting married or
when you're just dating or or when you're later in life and your children are leaving or when you
maybe in those years there there's more years behind you that are in front of you
you're gonna have to believe god for different things in different ways but it's still the same
thing it's faith man i'm gonna end with this pastor jack keiler god bless him he he went to be with
the lord a long time ago but i remember i was a very young minister and you know and thought i knew
everything and he used to tell me over and over and over again he always said it almost almost to
a point of annoyance but he'd say kip it's all about faith it's all about faith and i'm like
it's all about faith and i'm like yeah but pastor jack there's just let me let me walk you through
the word like i really knew i was talking about you know and he and you know there's all these
other things he's like no it's all about faith it all boils back to faith it all comes back to faith
he was right he was right all the rest builds and girds it up but it's about faith amen
as your faith rises think of it this way as your faith rises you open the doors for god to move in
your life do you know that as your faith rises you open the door for god to move your life in every
area of your life man i don't know why i'm laboring here but somebody needs to hear me okay as you
open listen just as you open it'll open the doors every every time you you believe god for one more
you believe god for one more thing right in one more area of your life i mean though it's a journey
right i'd like to say man i got it all right right at the beginning it's not you're stepping
through some of you some of you it's going to be in relationships some of you it's going to be in
finances some of you it's going to be in your job some of you it's going to be believing god for the
future or maybe to get rid of your past one of the one of the two right or maybe even just to get
in the present but you need but as you begin to have faith in those areas and your faith begins
to rise god began he starts to move in that particular area it just happens here testimony
about it all the time can i give you one more last story i feel like storytelling a little bit today
all right go for it i got one that's good enough it's all i need i remember hearing a minister
talking about how god was using him mightily he was actually going out and preaching and teaching
all over the world and and he he spoke about how god had used him in in these great ways in these
services but he said there's this one area of his life was messed up and it was in his finances
he said i couldn't figure it out he said like i'm going to preach and god's moving and all these
great things are taking place and ministry is expanding and all things he said my finances were
all jacked up and he said i finally went back and i started reading like god what am i doing
and god took him into the word and he started reading about how he was supposed to give
it was literally that simple and his faith began to rise there and he started doing what god said
in in the word about giving and all of a sudden god began to bless there and god drew near into
his finances and began to bless him and all of a sudden he started to understand god's cycle
with all this and how if you pour out god pours back in and and it and it was his faith right
so you're not going to get it all in one shot but there's going to be step by step god will start
building faith in your life right for each area maybe physically you're suffering and you got to
believe god as you're walking through that right that's a whole different thing amen it's true
thank you for tuning in to this message from life house church we pray that you were impacted
powerfully by this message if you have been personally affected by our ministry and you
would like to partner with us as we love god love people every day visit our website at www.lifehousecog.com