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Thank you, Mark.

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Thank you for your ministry today.

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Would you take your Bible and turn to Galatians chapter 3 as we look at a text this evening,

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which will be our jumping off point in getting into the message, God is late in my heart.

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Galatians chapter 3.

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We're going to read verses 6 through 9.

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I want to talk tonight about faith that gets results.

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Probably two of the key words that we hear and which we use over and over again are the

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words believe and faith.

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But however commonly they are used, I fear that too often they are little considered.

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And yet no truth is more significant, more key, more central to the Christian life than

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that of faith.

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Dr. Charles Pfeiffer called it the guiding principle of the Christian life.

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You will see those words used in the text I'm going to read.

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Even so Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness.

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Therefore, be sure that it is those who are of faith who are sons of Abraham.

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And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the

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gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, All the nations shall be blessed in you.

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So then those who are of faith are blessed with Abraham the believer.

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To understand faith a little bit better, and particularly the theme that we're thinking

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about tonight, faith that gets results, I'd like for us to consider Abraham as he is mentioned

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in the epistles of the New Testament.

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For Abraham possessed a dynamic faith that did not fail, but rather that got results.

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And I believe that by looking at his example and noting the three secrets that Abraham

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knew regarding faith, that we can experience the same kind of dynamic faith.

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The first secret that I see regarding Abraham's faith is that his faith rested upon God.

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That doesn't seem very profound, does it?

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And yet in its essence it really is.

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Turn with me back to Romans chapter 4, and let's review a passage that we have looked

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at in some detail a while back.

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Romans chapter 4, beginning in verse 16.

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For this reason, it is by faith, that is, justification is by faith, that it might be

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in accordance with grace, in order that the promise may be certain to all the descendants,

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not only to those who are of the law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham,

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who is father of us all, as it is written, the father of many nations I have made you,

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in the sight of him whom he believed, even God, who gives life to the dead and calls

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into being that which does not exist.

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In hope, against hope, he believed.

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In order that he might become a father of many nations according to that which had been

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spoken, so shall your descendants be.

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And without becoming weak in faith, he contemplated his own body, now as good as dead, since he

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was about a hundred years old, and the deadness of Sarah's womb.

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In other words, God had given Abraham a promise, and the promise is in essence what is said

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in verse 18, so shall your descendants be.

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God had promised to Abraham a seed, a son, through whom the blessing would come.

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That was God's word to him.

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And yet Abraham considered his circumstances.

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He was almost a hundred years old.

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His wife was barren.

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It was humanly impossible that they could have a child.

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That was the set of circumstances Abraham contemplated.

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But verse 20 goes on, yet with respect to the promise of God, he did not waver in unbelief,

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but grew strong in faith, giving glory to God, and being fully assured that what he

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had promised, he was able also to perform.

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And of course, God did.

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We see here the truth that Abraham's faith rested upon God.

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The secret to faith is not its possession, but its position.

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The secret to faith is that upon what faith is fixed.

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For you see, everyone exercises a kind of faith.

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Every day, every person expresses a kind of faith.

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Sometimes that faith is in self, what one is able to do himself.

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Sometimes that faith is in money, what he can buy.

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Sometimes that faith is in religion or the church.

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Sometimes the faith is in the corporation.

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But every day, everyone exercises a certain kind of faith.

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But faith is only as valid as its object.

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Faith is no more good than the object in which it is placed.

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I can sincerely believe that a certain thing will happen, but that faith is only as valid

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as the object of my faith.

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I think we have an example of this back in the book of Isaiah, if you would turn back

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there with me, as Isaiah gives a satirical denunciation of idolatry.

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Isaiah chapter 44.

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In verse 9, the prophet says, Those who fashion a graven image are all of them futile, and

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their precious things are of no profit.

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Even their own witnesses fail to see or know, so that they will be put to shame.

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Who is fashioned a god or cast an idol to no profit?

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Behold, all his companions will be put to shame, for the craftsmen themselves are mere

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men.

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Let them all assemble themselves, let them stand up, let them tremble, let them together

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be put to shame.

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What is he saying?

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He's saying the one who worships an idol, along with those who manufacture them, should

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all be ashamed of themselves.

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He moves ahead.

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The man shapes iron into a cutting tool and does his work over the coals, fashioning it

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with hammers and working it with his strong arm.

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He also gets hungry, and his strength fails.

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He drinks no water and becomes weary.

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We see here a craftsman working with the hot coals and with metal.

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This blacksmith, shall we call him, fashions his god.

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And yet the very one who is fashioning the god who is to help him grows weary and thirsty.

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And Isaiah says, isn't that rather silly?

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That one is growing weary and tired, making his god who is in turn supposed to help him.

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He says in verse 13, another shapes wood.

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So here we have the carpenter.

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He extends a measuring line.

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He outlines it with red chalk.

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He works it with planes and outlines it with a compass and makes it like the form of a

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man, like the beauty of a man, so that it may sit in a house.

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Surely, he cuts cedars for himself and takes a cypress or an oak and raises it for himself

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among the trees of the forest.

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He plants a fir and the rain makes it grow.

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And then it becomes something for a man to burn.

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So he takes one of them and warms himself.

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He also makes a fire to bake bread.

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He also makes a god and worships it.

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He makes it a graven image and falls down before it.

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Half of it he burns in the fire.

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Over this half he eats meat as he roasts a roast and is satisfied.

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He also warms himself and says, aha, I'm warm.

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I've seen the fire.

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But the rest of it he makes into a god, his graven image.

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Again he pokes fun at a person who plants a tree and then goes down and cuts the tree

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down.

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He takes half of the tree and goes over and builds a fire in his fireplace.

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And he warms himself with that fire and cooks his food.

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And he's filled and happy.

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And then he takes the other half of the same tree and out of that he fashions his god and

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puts it in the corner of his house.

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And he falls down and worships it.

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He says in verse 17, he also prays to it and says, deliver me for thou art my god.

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And then he goes on to say, they do not know, nor do they understand, for he has smeared

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over their eyes so that they cannot see and their hearts so they cannot comprehend.

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And no one recalls nor is their knowledge or understanding to say, I've burned half

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in the fire and have baked bread over its coals.

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I roast meat and eat it.

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Then I make the rest of it into an abomination.

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I fall down before a block of wood.

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He feeds on ashes.

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A deceived heart has turned him aside, and he cannot deliver himself nor say, is there

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not a lie in my right hand?

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He shows here the utter deceit that has captured the heart of the one who worships an idol.

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He should be able to recognize that with part of that piece of wood he has helped himself

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by fashioning a fire and making his food.

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And at that same little piece of wood he is worshiping, but his heart is deceived in that

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blindness.

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And he's unable to deliver himself and to see that he is lying to himself in thinking

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that that idol will help him.

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Because you see that idol is his god.

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And though he has sincere faith in the idol, that faith will not cause the idol to help

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him.

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His faith is only as good as the object of his faith.

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What is the object of your faith?

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My friend, that is an important question because tonight hell is filled with people who had

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faith.

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The problem is that they had faith other than in Jesus Christ.

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Now you have perhaps trusted Jesus Christ as your Savior.

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Your faith for the eternal salvation of your soul rests upon him.

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Then let me ask you this question regarding your walk with God.

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Upon what is your faith resting tonight?

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It is faith that rests upon God and his promises, which does not fail and which gets results.

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If your faith rests upon how fervently or how loudly or how often you pray, then your

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faith is misplaced.

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If your faith that God is going to work on your behalf rests upon how good you've been,

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how obedient you are, how much you've given, then your faith rests upon a wrong object.

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If your faith rests upon what a friend says he has experienced or upon what some preacher

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says to you is right or wrong, rather than upon what God says in his word and what God

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promises and what God commands, then your faith has an invalid object.

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It will not achieve what it might.

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Rather I exhort you, like Abraham, whatever your circumstances may be, to place your faith

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in God.

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Let it rest in him and his word.

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We have some tremendous examples of this in the Word of God.

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Perhaps one of the most exhilarating is found back in 1 Kings 18, where we find recorded

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for us a spiritual battle between Elijah, the prophet of God, and the several hundred

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priests of Baal.

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Elijah challenged them.

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Now, make no mistake about it, these prophets of Baal had faith.

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You would not go through what they did unless you had faith.

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And many of the people in Israel had faith in Baal.

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But Elijah and 7,000 plus others rested their faith in God.

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There's a confrontation.

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It's on the top of Mount Carmel.

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An altar is prepared.

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An oxen is slain and put upon it.

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And Elijah says to the prophets of Baal, call upon your God and let him answer from heaven

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with fire.

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And so with sincere faith, they called out that Baal would bring fire upon that sacrifice.

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And they prayed that way for three hours from nine o'clock in the morning until twelve o'clock

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noon.

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And then Elijah had a word to say to them.

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He says, hey, you guys better call out louder.

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He's your God, isn't he?

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Apparently then he is either busy right now or he has gone on a little trip.

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Maybe he is occupied with something.

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It could be he's asleep and he needs to be awakened.

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You better call a little louder.

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And so with sincerity and with faith, those prophets of Baal began to scream and they

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jumped about on their altar and they cut themselves that their blood might flow for three hours

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and nothing happened.

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And so Elijah said to the people who were watching, come over here.

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And they came over there and he built an altar with twelve stones, one for each of the twelve

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tribes of Israel.

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The other oxen were slain, cut in pieces, put on the altar.

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Elijah said dig a trench around it.

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So they dug a trench.

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Then he said to his servants, put water on it.

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So they put water on it.

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He said do it again.

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They did it again.

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Do it a third time.

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They did it a third time.

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They soaked it.

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They soaked the wood.

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They soaked the altar.

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They soaked the meat that was there.

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And then Elijah prayed.

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He said, O Lord, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, today let it be known that thou

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art God in Israel and that I am thy servant and that I have done all these things at thy

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word.

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Answer me, O Lord.

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Answer me that this people may know that thou, O Lord, art God and that thou hast turned

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their heart back again.

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And so he prayed, and his faith was in God and in God's word.

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And God answered from heaven, and fire fell out of heaven that licked up not only the

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sacrifice but the whole altar and the ground around it.

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And the people were so moved by that powerful demonstration of God that they repented of

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their idolatry and turned to the Lord, and all the prophets of Baal were slain.

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What was the secret of that faith that got results?

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I'll tell you what it was.

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I don't know that it's Elijah had more faith than the prophets of Baal.

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It's just that his faith was in the living God.

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It makes all the difference.

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And it is not that Elijah was a spectacular man unlike us.

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The Holy Spirit says to us in the book of James that he was a man of like passions as

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we are, and yet when he prayed, he fervently prayed.

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He believed God, and God answered.

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In what or in whom is your faith tonight?

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We could talk about the three Hebrew children as they are called.

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Facing to bow down before the great image Nebuchadnezzar had set up, facing the fiery

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furnace heated more hotly than it ever had been, so hot that as men approached to it,

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they were slain.

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What did they say?

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Well, they said, Nebuchadnezzar, we're not going to bow.

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As the spiritual says, they wouldn't bow, they wouldn't bend, they wouldn't burn either.

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We're not going to bow, and our God is able to deliver us.

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And if he doesn't, we will still not bow to that image that you have set up.

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Were they lacking in faith?

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And they said, but if he doesn't?

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No, they realized that God was going to deliver them one way or the other.

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He was going to take them out of the hands of Nebuchadnezzar by taking them home, or

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he was going to deliver them out of the fire.

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They said, our God's going to deliver us.

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They believed God, and God did.

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A miracle that is still spoken about to our day.

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We could go on and on with illustration after illustration of what a difference it is when

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faith rests upon God.

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As we look at the challenge that is before us, the challenge of reaching the Twin Cities

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for Christ, which is kind of a glib little expression, isn't it?

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But it ought not to be.

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It's one that is packed with vision and with burden.

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As we contemplate what God has called us to be a part of in Grace Church, and the planting

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of local churches around the Twin Cities that are working together cooperatively to see

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their area won, see the gospel preached, delivered to the homes, people invited to come in, people

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saved, people growing in Christ, as we begin to see what that vision is, there's only one

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way it can be accomplished, and that is as our faith rests upon God.

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If our faith rests upon the preacher, upon the elders, upon ourselves, or some organization,

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or some millionaires, it's never going to be accomplished.

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But only as we say, Lord, this vision is from You and we trust You to show us how to do

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it, we'll get done.

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Likewise the vision that we have to see a facility here that will care for the people

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that God is bringing in, how is that going to be done?

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Someone jested with me some time ago and said, well, you need to pray that two or three millionaires

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will join the church.

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Oh no, we don't need two or three millionaires.

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Our faith is not in millionaires.

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Our faith is in God.

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And God will provide the way He wants to and in the time that He wants to and will show

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us how it shall be accomplished.

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Our faith must rest upon Him, not upon ourselves, our wisdom, our ingenuity.

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Our faith rests upon God and His Word.

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Abraham did not stagger in unbelief.

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He did not waver when he saw how critical were the circumstances before him.

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But rather he grew strong in faith and gave glory to God and God gave him His Son.

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His faith rested upon God, so shall ours, by the grace of God.

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A second secret that I see to faith that gets results is that Abraham's faith gripped the

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unknown.

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Turn back to Hebrews with me for a moment.

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That great section of Hebrews that deals with faith.

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Folks, my need is to learn to walk by faith and not by sight.

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Maybe you share that with me.

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We are so used to walking according to our senses or our feelings or our reasoning, aren't

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we?

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If Abraham had been depending upon his ability to rationalize his situation, he would never

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have had a son.

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I want us to look here in Hebrews chapter 11 at what happened to Abraham.

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But first let's take a look at verse 1.

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Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.

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That verse tells us that faith puts us into contact with the unknown.

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It is the unknowns that cause us to have anxiety, isn't it?

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And basically there are two kinds of unknowns.

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There is the unknown future, what's going to happen if, what's going to take place tomorrow,

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what if this or that occurs, the unknown future.

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And then there's the unknown invisible.

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We are aware that there are things about us that we cannot see that are taking place.

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And that's all unknown to us.

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How do we face the unknowns?

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By faith.

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It says in the first place that faith is the assurance of things hoped for.

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That word assurance literally means to stand under something.

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The idea is the foundation of a building.

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It also came to be used as the proof of claim to a property.

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And so one translator says that faith is the title deed to tomorrow.

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How do I face the unknown future?

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What tomorrow may hold by faith.

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Like the songwriter said, and I've forgotten who it is now, I don't know who holds tomorrow,

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but I know who holds my hand.

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We don't know about tomorrow.

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It's unknown to us, but by faith, by faith we have a title deed to it.

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God's already in tomorrow.

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He's eternal.

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He's there already.

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And so as we just take a hold of His hand, we can face tomorrow.

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What about the invisible things?

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Well, it says in the last part of that that faith is the conviction of things not seen.

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We're used to seeing things or feeling things or tasting things or hearing things using

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our five senses.

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But here we learn that there is a sixth sense which the Christian is to exercise.

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That sense that relates us to the realm of the Spirit.

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It's called faith.

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Faith is the conviction of things not seen.

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That word conviction is a word that was used in some of the Greek writings of a legal document

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which proves an accusation against somebody.

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So what it's saying here is that faith is proof of things that are invisible to us.

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In fact, the very idea is illustrated in Moses later here in the chapter where it says in

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verse 27, he endured as seeing him who is unseen.

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Isn't that a great thought?

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He saw him who is unseen.

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So faith gives us a grip on the unknown future upon the unknown invisible.

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Now what about Abraham?

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Well, in verse 8 it says, by faith Abraham, when he was called, obeyed by going out to

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a place which he was to receive.

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Abraham had never seen that place.

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God simply appeared to him and erred the Chaldees and said, Abraham, there's a land I'm going

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to give you.

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Come on.

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You know by faith he gripped the unknown.

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He didn't say, Lord, I don't know what, so I've never seen that land.

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It's invisible to me.

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I've never seen that.

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I don't know what's going to happen.

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Is that what he said?

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No.

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He said, I'm coming.

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So he went.

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He obeyed by faith and then it says in verse 9, by faith he lived as an alien in the land

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of promise.

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In other words, he was a stranger.

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He was a pilgrim.

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He was a sojourner there.

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God had given him the land.

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He didn't see it as his.

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In fact, all of his life he never experienced that.

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It was unknown to him, but by faith he lived there.

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He gripped the unknown.

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It mentions Sarah in verse 11, but Abraham can be thought of along with her, of course,

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regarding the birth of their child.

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It was unknown that they could have a child at that age, and yet Sarah and Abraham gripped

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the unknown.

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They said, God, if this is what you say, I don't know all about it.

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I don't understand it all, but we believe you.

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Verse 17, by faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac.

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Here was the one that God had promised him, through whom the seed was to come, and yet

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God says, offer him up.

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How was Abraham to do that?

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By faith he gripped the unknown.

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He had never seen anybody resurrected from the dead.

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That had never happened before, and yet Abraham got ahold of the unknown.

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He gripped into it.

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He believed God, and God in a figure gave him his son back from the dead.

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You see, faith does not stop with what circumstances seem to be.

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Faith goes into the unknown and grips it.

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Right now we do not know how this building is going to be built.

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By faith there are many of us who are reaching into the unknown and gripping it, and saying,

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God, you have led us this far.

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God, you have raised up this ministry.

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Your promises are to provide where you lead, and we are gripping the unknown.

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We do not have to have all of the answers, do we?

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If we had all of the answers, it would not be faith.

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That is why sometimes God leaves us a great big unknown out there.

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He says, how much can you trust me for?

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How big a handle on the unknown will you take a hold of?

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You see, Abraham's faith got results because he was unafraid to grip into the unknown.

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John Greenleaf Whittier said, faith steps into the seeming void and finds a rock beneath.

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That is what Abraham did.

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He had never seen the land when he was there.

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It did not belong to him, but he lived there obediently because that is where God said

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he should.

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God said, were you going to have a son?

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It had never happened before.

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It was unknown to him, but God gave him the son because he stepped on that void and believed

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God and there was a rock beneath.

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God said, offer up your son.

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He went through all the motions even to the point of having the knife ready to slay his

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son.

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Obedience, in faith, it was all unknown, but he gripped the unknown and God answered.

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God provided.

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And then a very final and brief thought, turn over with me to James chapter 2 and we see

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a third secret regarding Abraham's faith.

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It is that his faith was accompanied by works.

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And that is James' emphasis, you will recall.

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James says in verse 21, was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up

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Isaac his son on the altar?

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You see that faith was working with his works and as a result of the works faith was perfected

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and the scripture was fulfilled which says that Abraham believed God and it was reckoned

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to him as righteousness and he was called the friend of God.

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You see that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone.

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In other words, it is not enough for a man to say, well I have faith, I know God is going

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to answer.

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There need to be works on the basis of that faith.

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Faith must be accompanied by works.

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Abraham's was, God answered him and so must ours be.

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You see faith is not something that is idle, indolent, waiting, laying back.

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But faith is something that is aggressive, it's active, it's obedient, it steps out.

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Just as God said to those priests as they had the ark of the covenant on their shoulders

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facing the flooding Jordan, he said step into the water and then I will make the water part.

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And they did and the water parted and they went across on dry ground.

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You see their faith that God would answer had to be accompanied by that step.

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The steps that we take show that we truly believe God.

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God does not do for us what we can and should do for ourselves and nor will he do his work

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until we have fully obeyed in our part.

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That is illustrated over and over.

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Naaman is an example isn't he?

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I heard about a preacher one time that told his congregation that that night he was going

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to preach on seven ducks in muddy water.

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And the people, what in the world?

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Seven ducks in muddy water?

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What is he talking about?

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And so he turned to 2 Kings 5 and preached about Naaman.

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He ducked seven times in muddy water before he got healed.

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That's right, seven ducks in muddy water, that's what it was.

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Elijah or Elisha rather said to him, you will be healed by God but go out there into that

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river Jordan and duck yourself seven times in the water.

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Naaman didn't like that very well.

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But ultimately he did what he was supposed to do.

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You see he believed the word of the prophet of God but it was accompanied by works that

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God required of him to evidence that he truly believed.

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And when he came up the seventh time he was whole, he was clean from his leprosy.

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Do we not see this again in the book of Judges in Gideon's example?

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The Midianites and the other enemies of God had gathered together in the battle to destroy

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the people of the Lord.

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Gideon got all of the folks together who could fight and then God began to separate them.

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Those who should not be a part of it were sent home and finally there were 300 along

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with Gideon who could do the battle against these thousands of Midianites and others.

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Well what did God do?

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God said, look here's what you do Gideon, you get a sword or torch rather, your right

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hand.

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He said, you fellas get a pitcher, a pot, a clay pot and put it around that sword and

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hide it and a trumpet rather, I didn't mean a sword, a trumpet in the right hand and a

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torch in the left hand with a clay pot over it and let's sneak up on the enemy.

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And so they got around the hillsides, around the camp and then at the appropriate time

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they all broke the pots and they held up their torches that were lit and all of a sudden

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these Midianites, it was about 10 o'clock in the evening, they were all looking around

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and saw all this fire all of a sudden.

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They were sure there were multiplied thousands of soldiers out there apparently and they

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began to run and then they began, the Israelites began to blow the trumpets and as they blew

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the trumpets, ram's horns and sounded out that word and shouted the sword of the Lord

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and of Gideon, all these Midianites began to fight each other and their army was completely

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destroyed.

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Now what was it that gave them that great result?

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Well it was faith, they had to believe God in order to get around that Midianite camp

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my friend.

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They had to trust God but they also did something, they did what they were supposed to do.

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They took along the clay pots and the torches and the trumpets and they broke them and they

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blew the trumpets just like they were told to do and as they took their steps of obedience,

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God blessed and gave them the victory.

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You know it's going to be that way in our church too as we face the future.

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God isn't going to send us a check in the mail for a million dollars and say please

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use this on your building signed God.

470
00:36:56,620 --> 00:37:00,660
He's not going to do that.

471
00:37:00,660 --> 00:37:02,220
You know why?

472
00:37:02,220 --> 00:37:07,140
Because God wants to provide in a way far better than that.

473
00:37:07,140 --> 00:37:12,660
God wants you and me to take steps of obedience.

474
00:37:12,660 --> 00:37:19,300
We look at a faith promise goal and we think of the missionaries that need to be supported.

475
00:37:19,300 --> 00:37:24,540
How are we going to do that at the same time as we try to bring together our resources

476
00:37:24,540 --> 00:37:28,100
for the constructing of a building that seems to be essential for us?

477
00:37:28,100 --> 00:37:29,420
How is that all going to work?

478
00:37:29,420 --> 00:37:37,860
I don't know but if we just take the steps that God tells us to take, He will provide.

479
00:37:37,860 --> 00:37:39,660
That applies in a personal way too.

480
00:37:39,660 --> 00:37:43,660
Are you unemployed tonight?

481
00:37:43,660 --> 00:37:49,540
You can do your part in looking for a job.

482
00:37:49,540 --> 00:37:50,540
Trust God.

483
00:37:50,540 --> 00:37:52,860
You take the steps you should take.

484
00:37:52,860 --> 00:37:53,860
Trust God.

485
00:37:53,860 --> 00:37:57,860
In His time, He'll provide the job.

486
00:37:57,860 --> 00:37:59,860
Are you ill?

487
00:37:59,860 --> 00:38:02,100
Asking God to heal you?

488
00:38:02,100 --> 00:38:04,140
Don't forget to go to the doctor.

489
00:38:04,140 --> 00:38:06,380
That's your part.

490
00:38:06,380 --> 00:38:08,180
You take the steps you can take.

491
00:38:08,180 --> 00:38:09,180
Trust God.

492
00:38:09,180 --> 00:38:12,520
Do you have a troubled marriage?

493
00:38:12,520 --> 00:38:16,900
You're asking God to do a miracle in your home to pull the family together?

494
00:38:16,900 --> 00:38:17,900
Great.

495
00:38:17,900 --> 00:38:20,140
But you take the steps you need to take.

496
00:38:20,140 --> 00:38:25,940
Go see that marriage counselor or one of the pastors.

497
00:38:25,940 --> 00:38:28,380
Are you in financial trouble?

498
00:38:28,380 --> 00:38:34,300
You're saying, God, provide for us or we're going down the tubes.

499
00:38:34,300 --> 00:38:39,180
What steps do you need to take, my friend, so that you can do your part?

500
00:38:39,180 --> 00:38:45,540
I repeat, God does not do for us what we can and should do for ourselves, nor will He do

501
00:38:45,540 --> 00:38:51,860
His work until we have fully obeyed in ours.

502
00:38:51,860 --> 00:38:59,740
Hudson Taylor, and with this I close, Hudson Taylor was sailing on a vessel to China, his

503
00:38:59,740 --> 00:39:02,340
first trip there.

504
00:39:02,340 --> 00:39:07,780
Close to the shores, apparently, of some islands inhabited by cannibals, the ship was

505
00:39:07,780 --> 00:39:12,740
becalmed and there was no wind.

506
00:39:12,740 --> 00:39:18,940
And that large vessel began to drift with the current toward the shore where the eager

507
00:39:18,940 --> 00:39:25,420
savages were lined up, waiting their feast.

508
00:39:25,420 --> 00:39:32,220
The captain came to Hudson Taylor and said, Sir, pray for wind.

509
00:39:32,220 --> 00:39:37,980
And Taylor said, Only if you will set the sails.

510
00:39:37,980 --> 00:39:42,140
The captain said, Well, I would look utterly ridiculous doing that.

511
00:39:42,140 --> 00:39:43,580
I will not do it.

512
00:39:43,580 --> 00:39:47,820
And Taylor said, I won't pray.

513
00:39:47,820 --> 00:39:54,860
Later, as the shore got closer, the captain decided to change his mind and he said, All

514
00:39:54,860 --> 00:39:56,940
right, I will set the sails.

515
00:39:56,940 --> 00:39:58,980
Go pray.

516
00:39:58,980 --> 00:40:03,460
And so Hudson Taylor went down to his cabin and began to pray.

517
00:40:03,460 --> 00:40:06,900
It was not long before there was a knock at the door and the captain said, Taylor, are

518
00:40:06,900 --> 00:40:08,900
you still praying?

519
00:40:08,900 --> 00:40:11,180
He said, Yes, I am.

520
00:40:11,180 --> 00:40:22,060
He said, Well, you better stop because we have more wind now than we can manage.

521
00:40:22,060 --> 00:40:29,300
It takes some longer to get the point than others.

522
00:40:29,300 --> 00:40:33,500
Let me ask you a question.

523
00:40:33,500 --> 00:40:36,500
You are praying.

524
00:40:36,500 --> 00:40:41,700
You are saying, God, my faith rests in you.

525
00:40:41,700 --> 00:40:45,820
You are reaching out and gripping the unknown.

526
00:40:45,820 --> 00:40:47,740
You don't have all the answers.

527
00:40:47,740 --> 00:40:53,940
But you know what God has said in His Word and you are reaching out there into that darkness

528
00:40:53,940 --> 00:40:56,980
taking a hold of what God has promised.

529
00:40:56,980 --> 00:41:02,100
Have you got your sails set?

530
00:41:02,100 --> 00:41:12,440
Heavenly Father, I pray that we may truly expect great things from you.

531
00:41:12,440 --> 00:41:20,500
I pray that our faith will not only be strong, but that it will be properly positioned, resting

532
00:41:20,500 --> 00:41:26,900
not upon what others can do or what we ourselves can do, but resting solely upon what you can

533
00:41:26,900 --> 00:41:33,140
do, what you are able to do.

534
00:41:33,140 --> 00:41:44,900
And then I pray that you will teach us to lay aside our reasoning in the proper way,

535
00:41:44,900 --> 00:41:55,580
to lay aside what we feel, and to be willing to reach into the unknown and to take a handle

536
00:41:55,580 --> 00:42:02,340
there on the promises of God.

537
00:42:02,340 --> 00:42:11,220
I pray that along with our faith there will be works indicating that we are obeying, taking

538
00:42:11,220 --> 00:42:13,580
the steps you have called us to take.

539
00:42:13,580 --> 00:42:18,340
Now, Father, that may need to be applied in many, many ways in different homes and lives,

540
00:42:18,340 --> 00:42:20,700
as well as in our church.

541
00:42:20,700 --> 00:42:24,700
So take this message and use it for your glory in our lives.

542
00:42:24,700 --> 00:42:33,980
In Jesus' name I pray, amen.