“Getting Excited Part 3, By Faith”

Jeremiah 23:16 ¹⁶Thus says the Lord of hosts: “Do not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you, filling you with vain hopes. They speak visions of their own minds, not from the mouth of the Lord. ¹⁷They say continually to those who despise the word of the Lord, ‘It shall be well with you’; and to everyone who stubbornly follows his own heart, they say, ‘No disaster shall come upon you.’”

            We live in a world that is being taken over by Hollywood through actors and actresses who played a role of a smart person, or some great politician, or an airline pilot.  We are allowing our world to be changed by role models that think because they played a wise and great person in a movie they too are great and wise and become philosophers and profits in their own mind.  These people play a make believe scenario of life and now are convincing people they are life’s experts.  And, for what?  So they can justify their own sin by convincing you if they do it, it is ok for you too.  

Hebrews 12:3 ³Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted.

Jeremiah 23:17-18 ¹⁷They say continually to those who despise the word of the Lord, ‘It shall be well with you’; and to everyone who stubbornly follows his own heart, they say, ‘No disaster shall come upon you.’”

            ¹⁸For who among them has stood in the council of the Lord

to see and to hear his word,

or who has paid attention to his word and listened?

            At one time in the history of mankind, actors and actresses were look down upon as people who were too lazy to work.  Don’t misunderstand me, there is a lot of work in their business however acting a part of Moses is not the same as being Moses, nor does it make you an expert on Moses.  You see these people and others count on your faith being little to none.  The false prophets of our time want to take advantage of your human nature, and obscure your sinful nature to make it look all good.  Where is your faith and how easy are you trapped by the unknowledgeable?

            Faith in God described, is to believe in what you have been told by God will happen even if you cannot see it before it happens.  What faith is not is doing it yourself because you’re afraid that it won’t get done otherwise.  In the book of Hebrews chapter 11 the author writes a list of examples of faith.

Hebrews 11:17–31 ¹⁷By faith Abraham, offered up Isaac his only son, Abraham considered that God was able even to raise him from the dead,  (all of the “By Faiths” is paraphrased)

²⁰By faith Isaac invoked future blessings on Jacob and Esau.

²¹By faith Jacob, when dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph,

²²By faith Joseph, at life’s end made mention of the

            Each of these people did not see the promise given by God in their life time, yet they still had faith in God’s promises.  Their faith comes from believing that God will fulfill all of His promises in heaven and in the new earth, and in the new Jerusalem to come.

²³By faith Moses, when born, was hidden for three months by his parents, because they saw the child was beautiful, and were not afraid of the king’s edict.

²⁴By faith Moses, refused to be the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, ²⁵choosing rather to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. ²⁶He considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking to the reward.

²⁷By faith Moses left Egypt, not being afraid of the king, as he endured seeing him who is invisible.

²⁸By faith Moses kept the Passover and sprinkled the blood, so that the Destroyer of the firstborn might not touch them.

²⁹By faith the people crossed the Red Sea as if on dry land,

            Though Moses and the Hebrews with Him did not see the promised land, their offspring’s did.  Though the promised land on earth did not welcome them, they are all being welcomed into the promised land of God’s kingdom of heaven.

³⁰By faith the walls of Jericho fell down after encircled 7 days.

³¹By faith Rahab the prostitute did not perish with the disobedient, because she had given a friendly welcome to the spies.

            By faith we come to worship the one who is not seen

By faith we believe that Jesus Christ died for our sins.

By faith we read and study the word of God and take it as the inerrant and inspired word of God.

By faith we believe that our baptism in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, cleanses us from all sins and assure our name to be written in the book of life.

By faith we believe that when we take the bread and wine with the word of God that we are taking Jesus Christ’s true body and blood.

By faith we, help our neighbor and forgive one another.

By faith we have the courage to step out of our comfort zone and know that God’s will for us to succeed is real.

By faith we know that our little church congregation can give the gift of peace and that we might be part of the heart of God.

Hebrews 12:1–3 ¹Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, ²looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.

            By faith Jesus Christ endured the pain, suffering and humility to the cross, and died on that cross trusting that He did not die in vain.  So then, by Christ we have been given faith, for God keeps all of His promises and has promised His Son that this act of grace and mercy needed to be accomplished to save His fallen and misplaced children.  We are misplaced through our sin, that is, we are separated from God.  However God through Christ Jesus bought us back denying deaths hold on us by giving us mercy as we deserve death.  And God gives us eternal life, a grace we do not deserve, He washes us and clothes us to be perfect with the blood of the one who is perfect Jesus Christ our Lord.  By faith we can be excited in that we have a God who loves us into eternal life and relationship with Him.  Amen.