Well church family uh turn to Hebrews chapter 11 um and uh we’re back at it uh but do keep this in mind it’s been a long time since I mentioned to you that the book of Hebrews Hebrews New Testament book probably written can’t prove it it’s not important but it seems to have Paul’s the Apostle Paul’s fingerprints all over it whoever wrote it because we he doesn’t introduce himself whoever wrote it he’s assuming his audience knows who he is he’s assuming that they’re going to understand what he

talks about because he is speaking on a level to those who came out of Judaism Judaism Church listen I’m not slamming Judaism other than saying this about it Judaism is what the Jewish religious leadership created in lie of receiving Jesus as Messiah or understanding the prophetic scriptures that Messiah would come and so they created because listen when man is left alone man will create a religion but what happened is that these Hebrews that he’s writing to they saw Jesus as Messiah and they came out of

the works of Judaism and the author again Paul I believe is writing to them about details that only a Jew would know and all along the way he’s telling them over and over again this is what it’s all about it’s all about faith not works and it’s all about you having a Passover Lamb not every year but once and for all it’s all about you understanding that you have a great high priest that’s Eternal he doesn’t die he lives forever it’s all about having one who will intercede for you with a special ability to approach

the father in full equality can you imagine an attorney walking up to the to the a judge in a in a in a case and you you see the attorney laying on the bench and that’s you’re not supposed to do that you don’t lean on the bench it’s the judge’s bench but this attorney leans on the bench maybe puts his elbow like this and says Hey Dad I’m representing one of your kids over here and uh he’s he’s put his faith in me at the cross and he believes I died for his sins and rose again from the

dead and Dad I I know I know that uh Louie Louie Lucifer over here is accusing him of everything but uh the truth is he’s been washed in my blood so I’m asking for all of these charges to be dismissed and the father just says well son why didn’t you say so earlier case dismissed and and listen you go free and it’s not like your record is expunged it’s not like your record is sealed your record is cleansed your record is gone and the Bible tells us that through Christ Jesus the righteousness that he

bought for us at the cross God imparted to you and I the moment we came to faith in Christ I know that seems so insane because none of us are worthy as soon as I said that you thought I I can’t handle that of course you cannot none of us can that’s how good God is it’s radical to realize that all that Christ Jesus in his resurrection inherited from the father as our mediator Our Redeemer our Salvation the Bible says all of that was inherited by Christ the Bible says we too as followers of his inherit all that Christ

has inherited he said well where is it oh you’re in route to it there’s an there’s a song I don’t know who wrote it Beatles maybe or Kenny Ranken you can check and see I don’t I don’t know but it’s something like people get ready there’s a there’s a trainer coming Curtis Mayfield are you serious Curtis Mayfield well he should get more credit people get ready there’s a train coming it’s picking up passengers from coast to coast right and I don’t remember much after

that but James Taylor sings it as well but it’s it’s all you have to do is take the ticket because the Lord bought it and and to get on board take the ticket and get on board and just say praise the Lord and yeah that’s true and uh wow so here we go let’s stand to our feet it’s been a while since we’ve done this because we had a wonderful Interruption last Wednesday night that was fun right having a a giant come uh I looked back and I looked at the photos and I’m a I’m I’m 510 510 and a

half but listen how could this be I’m 510 he’s uh 611 and so how could but how can it be like five feet I mean how is it that I’m in I’m in his armpit I I I just oh my goodness I that was fun what a message though boy I tell you what people who are uh struggling with fears and phobias and setbacks and intimidation please listen to last week’s message uh Jonathan Isaac’s from the Orlando Magic he the things he shared you would never suspect a man like that to be crippled by fear and intimidation but Christ got a hold of

them and I love that I I just it’s been amazing so I’ll read verse 30 pick it up in verse 31 and we’ll read this together nice and loud so hell can hear us we want hell to hear this by faith the walls of Jericho fell down after they were in circle for seven days by faith not perish with those who did not believe when she had received the spies with peace and what more shall I say for the time would fail me to tell of Gideon and Barack and Samson and jeepa also of David and Samuel and the prophets who

through faith subdued kingdoms worked righteousness obtained promise stop the mouths of lions quenched the violence of fire escaped the edge of the sword out of weakness were made strong became Valiant in battle and turned to flight the armies of the aliens receive their dead raised to life again others were tortured not accepting Deliverance that they might obtain a better Resurrection doesn’t that pump you up isn’t this amazing we should like do this uh before we go out into the world every day it’s

like just recite this out loud still others had trial of mockings and scourgings yes and of chains and imprisonment they were stoned they were s in two were tempted were slain with the sword they wandered about in sheep skins and goat skins being destitute Afflicted tormented and of whom the world was not worthy they wandered in deserts and mountains these are your brothers and sisters Friends of the past in dens and caves of the Earth all these having obtained a good testimony through faith did not receive the promise God having provided

something better for us that they should not be made complete or perfect apart from us and Jesus name and all God’s people said am amen you may be seated your life on faith we’re in part six of this little miniseries and it’s important that we are because if Hebrews chap 11 is the chapter of the lifestyle of the righteous and faithful then that would be consistent with God’s nature that in some beautiful loving way this chapter is still being written because you’re still alive it closed out in verse 40 by saying that

those of the past with all that God did in their life Christian list listen up to this with all that God did in their lives and we’ll go through this tonight God is doing the exact same thing in our time and then for that matter every generation of Believers that requires them not to be qualified yet or or uh approved of or complete yet because we’re not done yet in other words there’s a Oneness of the body of Christ both of course the church but for all the saints now remember this everybody you should write this down if

you don’t know this the Old Testament Saints are called the elect David is part of the elect Noah is part of the elect John the Baptist would be interesting do you know this John the Baptist would be the elect of Old Testament or new very good I’m impressed Old Testament Jesus said John the Baptist is the greatest of of all the Old Testament prophets John the Baptist isn’t it amazing John the Baptist was linking both Testaments together and um the church is known as the elect and as we’ve been learning in the Book of

Romans on Sundays that when a Jew or a gentile comes to faith in Christ they are the elect and the elect are those who’ve responded to the offer of the Gospel of God which presented to them they say yes to but God God knew Before Time and Eternity that when the offer of the Gospel came to you that if you said yes to it he knew that before you were ever born and the Bible says he has decided his election based upon predestination and predestination is based upon forn knowledge God knew what you would do with the gospel when you heard it a

trillion billion years ago if I could put it that way so he gets all the glory and um we give him all the praise and we’re thankful for all of that and so now we’re looking at this uh beautiful issue of Faith we’ve been looking at Faith for quite a long time in fact the book really is themed about faith and uh want to say this I’ve said it uh in the past I want to say it again uh non-believers I used to be one you used to be one uh made fun of people who were people of faith we we made fun of people who believed in God

and it was so bizarre because when we made fun of people who believed in God what was it that we were believing in at the moment we were laughing at those who believed in God oh some of us were believing that we used to be related to little tadpoles and monkeys and then when you study that stuff you realize gosh I don’t have enough Faith uh to be an atheist that takes a lot of faith or what whatever it might be the human is designed to operate in faith we have to have it and uh I don’t care if you’re here tonight or you’re

watching right now or you think you’re an atheist I don’t believe you I don’t believe you I don’t I don’t even believe in you you’re an atheist how can I believe in you right think about that I don’t believe in your religion your religion is there is no God the truth is there is a God and he loves you and he wants you to exercise real Faith because our faith as Believers is Faith founded upon fact and you’re going to hear some of these facts tonight so picking it up at verse 30

your life on faith number one is this is that you and I will face impossible situations we started this a couple weeks ago we never finished it and it says by faith the walls of Jericho fell down we gave you some uh depictions we gave you some uh archaeology on that after they were or had been encircled by the children of Israel seven days and by faith the Harlot Rahab remember her did not perish with those who did not believe when they had received the when she had received the spies with peace and so uh number

one the whole issue about Jericho the whole issue about Rahab th those two things are inseparable the walls came down that was an an amazing Act of Faith and then the other thing is the only uh Pagan that was spared was Rahab and her family because she believed in the god of the Jews these two spies that came uh and they were being uh they were spying out the area of Jericho when she put them on the roof do you remember we talked about did Rahab tell a lie or not that was pretty fun and we’re not going to recap it you go back and listen that

was a lot of fun is she is she in trouble for telling a lie when the cops came and said where are the men who came into your house today where are they we we want them and she said I haven’t seen these guys or fact I guess I did they took off and they hit it that way all the while she was hiding them on the rooftop with the stalks and and uh self-righteous uh namp poop uh Christians will say oh my goodness she told a lie and we talked about the ethics of all of that did she really tell a lie or was something more noble

going on she’s commended for acting in faith on several levels she hid the Spy spies and saved their life then she told them I know we know this whole city knows that your God’s awesome your God brought you through over dry ground in the Red Sea your God slew your enemies that came against you and now you’ve crossed over the Jordan your God’s amazing and for that she’s Pagan she’s a pagan Canaanite and a prostitute now I got to tell you I didn’t I didn’t get a chance to tell you

last time I got to tell you this time you would be surprised how many commentaries of great theologians spend so many pages trying to argue with you from 500 years ago I’ve got some old books saying there’s no way that this translation regarding Harlot means Harlot it’s got to mean something else and I’m thinking what are they talking about why are they saying this the Bible says she’s a harlot doesn’t it make sense that the police came to her house to look for the men that came to her

house earlier that day why would they suspect that the Bible says she was a harlot no but listen a lot of of the Puritan uh commentators said that’s just too much to handle that’s too much it must mean I’m not joking it must mean that she was a woman of hospitality and entertainment I should say they couldn’t come to the grips and it turns out it turns out that in their Puritan way of looking at things that kind of sin is too big for God to forgive you see oh I’m happy to tell you his blood there is no sin that is

greater than in his blood there is no sin that he cannot forgive there’s no sin listen there is no situation there is no no way anything going on in your life that warrants you thinking that you’ve come to the end of the line no way if God can bring the walls of Jericho down and by bringing the walls down he somehow keeps rahab’s house together can you imagine the whole place fell down but her little apartment is still standing oh by the way the the signal do you remember the signal hanging out of her window was a scarlet

cord red it was red had to be red why red why not blue why not pink blood blood red and then listen verses 32 to 34 is this your life on faith means this that you’ll never stand alone listen you uh lean on Jesus you call Upon Jesus you come you come back to the god that created you when I say come back I mean if you’re a prodal come back but listen if you’re an atheist or if you’re not a Believer come back to the god that created you regardless of your decision of what you do with your soul forever he’s still

the god that created you he made you he’s the Creator God he’s the god that gives life and it’s amazing to think that God God gives life life life what life of all things life of anything life it’s amazing you ever look at a do any work with a microscope you see life this issue about um when is it life on this abortion issue it’s all raging right now by the way all the all the politicians are trying to run away from the issue have you noticed that right now uh I’ve been making some comments

about that in other places and been getting in trouble about it and I’m not going to stop here’s the thing listen you you back you back away from defending babies you’re going to set yourself up for some trouble God says defend those that are defenseless can you think of anyone more defenseless than a baby and um the amazing thing to me is well when is it life honestly you guys um I’m try I’m I’m trying to exercise the fruit of the spirit right now now I would think a freshman in high school knows

this when somebody says when is it life I think Satan invented that question he said know Pastor you know this is very controversial that’s why the second point is you’ll never stand alone if you stand on Truth you’ll never be alone well what if nobody stands with you I you we do not need anyone to stand with us there’s only one standing with us anyway that matters there’s only one that can defend us and listen we stand with him because it’s his truth so an egg in a female has to be alive correct freshman High School

freshman correct they know that um the the male sperm has to be alive so when somebody says when is it life are you nuts how did you ever get out of school when is it life it’s all life the question should be cuz it’s odd it’s odd the Oddity is is it dead there’s no pregnancy something was dead it was either him or her try again right read the instructions if it doesn’t work repeat why because everything’s living and when those two living things Collide it is a mathematical someone’s done this

I don’t I can’t even get close the data is something like 10 to the 29th power it’s the the number 10 with 29 zeros behind it is the amount of how they measure the data explosion of consumtion Life collides and makes a life a new life a different life isn’t it amazing I don’t want to upset anybody but here’s the deal I think I’m a big fan of adoption I’m not a fan of murder here’s the thing here’s the thing here’s the thing if you find yourself pregnant and you don’t want to keep your CH your

child let us know let us know but watch this here’s the thing the the baby in you is a DNA it’s a complete separate DNA human being it’s not listen it’s not your body this is a miracle it’s my body I can do whatever I want my body yes you can yes you sure can you can I can you can too we all get to but I can’t do what I want with your body and you can’t do what you want with my body you keep your body there I’ll keep my body here so when somebody says it’s my body it’s my choice that’s

impossible do you understand it’s impossible the moment the Collision took place it’s somebody else you’ve got someone in you they got it’s and it’s all written down and instant that there’s the Collision of conception the hair color the dimples the the nose it’s all coated on a blueprint it’s all it’s remarkable I don’t know why I’m so excited about this but listen you don’t have to be bashful about this you say I I believe in voting pro life if people say you’re

a lunatic say yeah call me a lunatic but life is awesome I’m sure you appreciate your life I love what Ronald Reagan said he said I noticed that all those who are against abortion were are those who have already been born it says in verse 32 what more shall we say for the time would fail me to tell of Gideon and Barack and Samson and we’ll cover that list this way let’s let’s look at it like this when he says what more shall I say I I wrote down in my notes really you can’t stop it’s an endless

testimony throughout the ages what more can I say it’s we can never stop imagine just in this room tonight if you wrote down your story of your life and how God stepped into your world I met a man Monday who recognized me and we said hi and he said I want you to know something he goes my he said I I uh I was guilty of so many crimes I had uh five armed robberies I’ve did I did all kinds of stuff he said I was in prison I got I was I was going to be in prison for a long time and he said uh but Jesus got a hold

of me long story short we were in that store forever no it was awesome Lisa goes where did you go but here two men in TJ maxxx that’s where we’re at TJ Maxx Two Men and we’re just talking straight up big bold and loud about Jesus and and it was just awesome and now this guy’s he’s got a a business I think it’s worldwide he does Ministry all these other things it doesn’t matter here’s the point the point is this he said he said I was literally living out of a tra he said I would eat food out of a trash

can that’s how when I got out of prison that’s how that’s how Des who I was he said but God got hold my life and he said transform my life that’s one story about what God does in someone’s life what’s your story you’ve got a God’s story and so we’re going to be looking at these God stories and before we do write down Malachi 3:16 Malachi 3:16 this is for all of us I love this in fact whenever you open your mouth with another brother or sister remember this verse then those who feared the Lord

spoke to one another and the Lord listened and heard them so a book of remembrance was written before him for those who fear the lord and who meditate on his name that’s a book in Heaven by the way you say how many books are in heaven well this is one of them a book of remembrance he has a book every time you talk about the Lord he writes that down think of the emotion behind that I mean I I I can only imagine look you have emotion and the reason why you do is because God does he likes this this get he’s loves

that what was what was that you guys were saying he just loves it speak of the Lord often to one another it’s the only worthy conversation anyway doesn’t the Bible tell us that when our kids wake up in the morning talk to them about the Lord walk with God during the day and then when we tuck him in at night says it again do that okay with that let’s look at some of these impossible situations where men and women of God never stood alone and we’re looking at them because it describes your life and mine let’s

look at Gideon love this man love him his message in his life is in Judges chapter 7 but the Lord said to Gideon the people are still too many now I guess I should say by this time God has already called Gideon you guys remember how Gideon started Gideon was a farmer he was trying to winnow the wheat the and he was uh they what they did what they do in Israel in the Middle East they find high ground and they take the grain up to The High Ground and that’s where they either thresh it or beat it so the breeze blows the chaff

away and the meat of the grain stays so Gideon’s terrified so he’s doing it on the hilltop but he’s doing it in a hole and God says Gideon you mighty man of Valor can you imagine and who are you talking to God calls him a mighty man of Valor the guy was terrified hiding out and God speaks to him listen God speaks to him prophetically this is who you’re going to be when I get done with you I love that you say is this the Gideon that laid the fleece out with the wet and then dry wet dry dry wet wet dry

dry wet wet and dry dry yep and people should never make fun of him you want to know why he did that because he said I’ll do what whatever you tell me to do I just have to make sure you’re the one telling me to do it I love him for that I am all for that but the Lord said to Gideon the people are still too many you’ve got too many guys with you Gideon for this fight that’s up that’s you guys are about to engage in bring them down to the water watch this he’s got his troops and they’re in the

thousands getting ready to go to war Gideon’s going to lead them God says I’m going to test them for you there God say I’ll take care of that I’ll pick the I’ll pick the Warriors then it will be that of whom I say to you this one shall go with you the same shall go with you and whoever I say to you this one shall not go with you the same shall not go so that’s pretty cool right God just okay that’s all right that’s we’re going to go in this big battle you’re going to

pick the best warriors I think we’ve got 20 or 30,000 soldiers so this is going to be good you’re going to put all the tough guys up front thank you God verse 5 so he brought the people down to the water and the Lord said to Gideon everyone who laps the word means pulls up to the mouth from the water with his tongue as a dog laps you shall set apart by himself likewise everyone who gets down on his knees to drink then the Lord said to Gideon by the 300 men who lapped remember that lapped pulled up the water