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Well, good morning.
I'm glad that you guys are here with us.
Today is a special day.
We're going to acknowledge a family in our church today, several times a year, we, as a church, offer what we call our baby steps ministry of what we have and what this is for.
A lot of times it's for parents that have a newborn child, but it's not just for parents who have a newborn child.
And what it is for us is we recognize that being a parent is a wonderful, beautiful gift and responsibility that is given by God to us.
And it is a long journey to go on.
You don't stop being a parent when your kids turn 18.
That's a lesson that I'm learning from those seasoned parents beyond me like you.
Continue walking on that journey with your kids as long as God gives you life on this earth.
And so for baby steps, what we try to talk with our families about is this is this journey you're on.
You're taking a step of faithfulness after a step of faithfulness as you commit to what we refer to as family discipleship, that we recognize it as the church that God has called all of us and equipped us as the body of Christ to come alongside one another to make disciples.
So that's what we're doing.
That's what we're doing in the hour before.
That's what we're doing during fellowship.
That's what we're doing now.
But then, even more importantly, that's what we feel called that we go and we are released to go and do where we live, work and play wherever God sends us.
And where God sends us oftentimes, right, is our home.
And so God has called us as dads and moms to be the disciple makers ultimately within our family.
And so when we have a family that's willing to sit down and talk with us and walk through this process, that's what they're committing to.
And so we had them ask the Dyson family if they'll go ahead and come up here on stage with me.
So we had the Dyson family that committed to this process with us.
And so dawn and I sat down a few weeks ago and talked with them about this, about their wonderful family and their beautiful baby girls.
If you've been around our church, especially in kids ministry, you definitely know who Sarah is as she leads worship.
She's done so for VBS and for kids camps.
And let's move this so that they can see you, because they don't care.
Anything about seeing my iPad.
Right?
So we've got Sarah here, we got.
Justin, and then we got Riley and little Ellie that's hanging out right here.
Y'all say hey to them.
You say hey back to them.
It's like, bo, why are you doing this to me?
You're putting me on the spot.
Right?
But they committed as a family to.
Agree to this core of family discipleship, that they understand that we as a church are wonderful brothers and sisters in Christ that they could lean in on and that we will pour into with them.
But they've committed that above all things.
In their home, that the name of Jesus Christ would be shared, that discipleship would happen, that it would take place, that it would begin in mom and dad, in their life, of what they've committed to is Jesus Christ as their.
Lord and savior, that it would be.
Modeled, it would be taught, it would be lived out.
It would be given as an example that discipleship would not be an event that they go to, but a culture that is welcomed into their house.
And then they've got all of us as friends and family to walk alongside with them, to encourage them, to affirm them, to speak truth in them, and to remind them that they are God's special chosen ones, to be mom and dad to these beautiful, beautiful little girls.
So what I'd like for you to.
Do as we affirm the Dyson family and all that they've committed to is join me in a time of prayer as we pray for this family.
God, I thank you so much for this family.
Lord, I thank you how special they.
Are in my life.
I thank you for their friendship and their partnership within the gospel.
I thank you how they poured into this church so faithfully since they've been a part of our church family.
Lord, I lift up this mom and dad to you.
Lord, I know being a parent is difficult.
It is hard, but it is wonderful and such a joy, God, that you give us this privilege.
Lord, I pray for them as they lead.
Lord, I pray for their walk with.
Christ, that it would grow and be strengthened.
Lord, I pray for these two little girls.
I pray that they would see a.
Relationship with Christ, they would hear about a relationship with Christ.
But above all things, Lord, we pray for them that they would come to know Jesus Christ as their lord and savior, and that generation of faith after generation of faith would continue on and continue on Jesus.
Be with this family, embolden them even more so for the gospel.
Protect their family, unify their marriage, and may they be an example and a picture of God's love.
And it's in Jesus name we pray.
Amen.
Thank you, guys.
Well, good morning again.
If you've got your bible, we're going to get into our message time together.
Want to invite you to join me in two places this morning, Genesis chapter 25 and Hebrews chapter eleven.
We are not wrapping up our study in Genesis, but we are wrapping up our section where we're looking at the life of Abraham.
We may refer back, but our time with him has come to an end.
It's been a long time, right?
We started this with Abraham.
We started in Genesis in March.
We started with Abraham in chapter twelve.
And then we've continued to go through and look at his life.
Now, what we've seen in this, we've seen a man who has faced some ups and some downs.
He's gone through some difficulties and some varying seasons of life.
Joel Berger shared with me this week about the song they were going to do.
And as he described it to me, it's just that picture of what we see so often in the life of Abraham.
And I hope there was parts of that song that stirred your affections for Christ, that reminded him of his goodness and his faithfulness in your life.
But when we see this in Abraham, we look at all of the events, and if you've been on that journey with us, you know what they are.
We see a man, ups and downs, difficulties and successes of life.
But what marks through all of that is we see that he's a man of faith.
We see that he's a man of faith.
And so this morning's message, what I want us to look at, and this is where we'll jump to eventually, when we get to Hebrews, is we're going to look at what does it mean to be marked by faith and to live a life that what comes from our life is not that we're trying to earn a faith, but that we are people of faith in our ups and our downs, in our successes, in our failures.
What does that look like?
Now?
I'm going to ask that today for all of our Old Testament theologians that are gathered in the room, if you've looked down at Genesis 25, you know, we're about to go into one of those things that we see with a lot of those chapters, with a lot of names in here and not too many Jim's and Fred's and John's and Joe's.
Right.
So y'all extend me the grace.
I heard a pastor say one time, when you don't know how to pronounce a name, say it boldly and confidently, because no one else in the room.
Knows how to say it either.
All right, so that's what we're going to do.
Genesis, chapter 25.
Starting in verse one, Abraham took another wife whose name was Kitura.
She bore him Zimram, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbach and Shua.
Jokshan fathered Sheba and Dadan.
The sons of Dadan were Ashurim, Leitushim, and le Uhim.
The sons of Midian were Epfah, epfer.
Hannok, Ibida, and elda.
All of these were the children of Keturah.
Verse five.
Take note of this.
Abraham gave all he had to Isaac.
Let's just pause here for a minute.
I think this just kind of summarizes.
What we see in the life of Abraham.
We see the journey if we were to take the time and to go back and do our best to understand historically what is happening in verses one through four.
But we're reminded of Abraham putting his faith, his hope, and his trust in the God of promise.
And the God who gave him the son of promise in Isaac, in the covenant that God had committed to.
Abraham.
Gave all he had to Isaac.
Verse six.
But to the sons of his concubines, Abraham gave gifts.
And while he was still living, he sent them away from his son Isaac eastward to the east country.
Verse seven.
These are the days of the years of Abraham's life.
175 years.
Everybody say, whoo.
Right.
Abraham breathed his last and died in a good old age, an old man and full of years.
And was gathered to his people, Isaac and Ishmael.
His sons buried him in the cave of Makpala in the field of Ephron, the son of Zoar, the Hittite.
East of Mamre.
The field that Abraham purchased was from the Hittites.
There Abraham was buried with Sarah, his wife.
This is what we read about in Genesis 23.
After the death of Abraham, God blessed Isaac.
His son just reminded, continuing on and on again, of God fulfilling what God is going to do.
And Isaac settled at Beerley Hiroi.
Verse twelve.
These are the generations of Ishmael, Abraham's son, who Hagar, the egyptian Sarah's servant, border Abraham.
These are the names of the son of Ishmael, named in the order of their birth.
Nebaoth, the firstborn of Ishmael Kedar, Adbil.
Mibsum.
Mibsha.
Duma.
Massa.
Hadad.
Tima.
Jtor.
Notfish.
Kidema.
These are the sons of Ishmael, and these are their names by their villages and by their encampments.
Twelve princes according to their tribes.
These are the years of the life of Ishmael.
Hundred and 37 years.
He breathed his last and died and was gathered to his people.
And they settled from Havalah to Shur, which is opposite Egypt in the direction of Assyria.
He settled over against all of his kinsmen.
In verse 19, we'll read 19 and 20.
These are the generations of Isaac, Abraham's son.
Abraham fathered Isaac, and Isaac was 40 years old when he took Rebecca, the daughter of Bethul the Aramean, the Patamaran, the sister of Laban the Armenian, to be his wife.
And when we look back and we see all of the chapters of everything that we've read, not just starting in Genesis twelve, but starting back in Genesis one, what is reminded of us in this were to go through and look at all the genealogies and look at all the tribes and look at all the splits and look what's happened at Babylon, and look what's happened in the flood, and look what's happened in Noah's descendants, and look what's happened in Egypt.
And we see all of these things.
Here's what we see.
Here's what we see from Genesis one through Genesis 25.
And here's what we're going to continue to see all throughout the rest of scripture.
And as we cling to the words of the songs that remind us of the truth of our life, of what we just sang, that God is faithful to do all that God has said he will do.
That.
If you were to ask me, but what is the Bible about?
What is it?
In one sentence, it is this.
God is faithful to do all that God has said he will do.
And it's the story of God redeeming for himself a sinful and rebellious people, because he is good and he is holy and he is righteous.
He is king.
God is faithful to do all that he said he would do.
God said he would choose for himself.
A people, and he did.
God said he would bring a savior.
From these people, and he did.
God said he would bring hope to.
The world, and he did.
The reminder for us when we read and when we dive into scriptures is that as we've been enjoying, I've been enjoying, the story of working through so much with Abraham has been stretching me so much in my life is that the story of Abraham is not the story of Abraham.
The story of Abraham is the story of God.
It's the story of God and God's faithfulness in a man that made great choices and poor decisions.
We're reminded that when Abraham was unfaithful, God was faithful.
That when Abraham was faithful, that it was a reminder that God was faithful.
And so we see this father of our faith, we see his life come to an end.
We see what would have been laid out amongst the obituary of what's there as 175 years lived on this earth has come to an end.
And we see what is the commentary that happens found in Hebrews, chapter eleven.
So I want you to turn to that.
And this is where we're going to be for most of our time today as we look at this summation of this man's life.
Now, the writer of Hebrews, as we move toward eleven.
In chapter ten of Hebrews, he is referring to Christ's once and for all sacrifice for all.
In chapter ten, he refers back to the Old Testament sacrificial system.
And he talks about, look, you have multiple sacrifices after multiple sacrifices, yearly sacrifices after yearly sacrifices for the sins and the obedience of what God has called you to.
But then he says, but in verse twelve, he says, but Christ offered for a single sacrifice for sins, and that by this offering, being Christ himself, he has perfected for all times those who are being sanctified.
So it's the work of Christ and the sacrifice of Christ for all of mankind.
And then he says, in Christ, we have confidence.
Through faith.
We have confidence through faith.
And then what he does in Hebrews eleven is he list different men and women in the Old Testament who placed their faith in God and in a messiah that historically had not yet come.
Where their hope was found.
And this is what he says starting in verse eight about Abraham.
And he'll speak to Sarah as well.
We're going to read all the way.
Through this section, so join with me.
He says, by faith, abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was going to receive an inheritance.
And he went out not knowing where he was going.
By faith, he went to live in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise.
For he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God.
By faith, Sarah herself received power to conceive even when she was past the age, since she considered him faithful, who had promised, therefore, from one man in him all good as dead were born.
Descendants, as many as the stars of heaven and as many as the normal grains of sand by the seashore.
Verse 13.
These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen.
Them and greeted them from afar, and.
Having acknowledged that they were strangers and.
Exiles on the earth.
For people who speak thus make it clear that they are seeking a homeland.
If they had been thinking of that land from which they had gone out.
They would have had opportunity to return.
But as it is, they desire a.
Better country, that is a heavenly one.
Therefore, God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city.
Verse 17.
By faith, Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises was in the act of offering up his only son, of whom it was said, through Isaac, shall your offspring be named.
And he considered that God was able even to raise him from the dead, from which, fearly speaking, he did receive him back.
We look at Hebrews chapter eleven, one of my favorite chapters of scripture.
And we look in and we see these men and women, and we see the actions.
We see this summation of their life and what they're known for.
When we go through, we see in verse four about Abel, we see in verse four about Enoch, verse seven about Noah.
We'll continue on for Moses and continue on throughout the chapter.
And we can look at each one of these instances and draw from them the action that they did.
And then we can look from that action and say, this is how I should model my life.
But if we're not careful, we'll miss what the writer of Hebrews, for every single one of these characters, these historical people, for every single one of them, what he does and what he establishes is this.
In every single one of their lives, no matter how significant we may see.
Their actions, he starts it by saying, by faith, by faith, by faith, when.
It comes to our life for the Lord, when it comes to, as we continue on and as we've looked previously at in Genesis, may we understand this, that faith comes first.
By faith comes first.
The writer of Hebrews, every single time we saw it there in Abraham and.
In the life of Sarah, by faith, not by reason, not by evidence, not by logic, but by faith.
And this is why the story of Abraham is the story of God.
And this is why the prayer for me for your life and for me for my life, is that it would be by faith as the story of God.
Every yes of Abraham, every yes of Sarah, every yes for you, every yes for me is not found in and of ourselves, but found in God.
The writer of Hebrews, at the very.
Beginning of chapter eleven, he defines faith for us.
Starting in verse one, he says, now, faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.
For by it the people of old receive their condemnation, commendation.
And by faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God.
So that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible.
Does faith have evidence?
Yes.
You see the evidence of the fruit, of the life of people surrounding you.
You see the evidence of the fruit of your life.
You walk through your journey, you walk through your life, and you know what a relationship with God looks like, what it feels like.
But faith is beyond the evidence.
Faith extends beyond that.
It says that faith is the assurance, the conviction.
Or what we can break those two words down into is the confidence.
And things hoped for, but things not seen.
And we become to understand that with faith.
That faith is a willingness to trust, to rely on, to hope for and to cling to.
That's what we saw in Genesis, chapter twelve, with Abraham Abram, at the time a pagan man from a pagan land.
But God opened his heart and everything in his life began.
Not when he decided to be a man of character, not when he decided to be a man of integrity, but when he decided to be a man of faith in God, in the work.
Of God, in his life.
And in Genesis, chapter twelve, when God.
Calls him to leave his home, to.
Leave his family and to leave his country in obedience to him, it's not through a messenger.
It's not through a sign.
God himself didn't appear.
It simply says that God spoke and Abraham heard, and Abraham responded.
And in this beautiful moment of faith, in chapter twelve is what we see was then what marks Abraham's life?
It's his faith in God that lands and resounds on the pages of Hebrews, chapter eleven.
Not his faith in himself.
So what do we learn about faith?
How God worked and God moved in the life of Abraham.
What can we draw from this, from our.
I think there's four things we can delve into today.
We want to look at these briefly, and the number four is this.
By faith we obey.
It will not be.
We obey.
So we obtain faith.
It's by faith we obey.
By faith, Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was going to receive an inheritance.
And he went out not knowing where he was going.
Do you understand?
All of Abraham's inheritance in this earth.
He left behind, he walked away from.
He left it all but to go and to step out in faith, going to where God promised him.
But here's the thing and what we see, his faith was a little less than perfect, wasn't it?
He was still the God that struggled.
Abraham, probably more so, is marked by delayed obedience.
God, as I journey with you, I'm still going to cling on to these things that I hold on to.
But what did God remember him for?
Did God remember him for his.
No, no.
God remembered him for his faith.
God knew that Abraham was not a finished work.
So the beauty of it is this.
God kept working on him, and God kept working in him.
That's the beauty of what we see in the gospel of what God does.
So by faith we obey the second.
By faith we go.
We go.
Verse nine.
By faith, he went to live in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, living intense with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise.
Abraham was a man of means in his life, but the only land he ever owned was the land him and his wife were buried on, we see in Genesis 23.
But what is beautiful about when he went, he was going toward God.
He was going toward where God had him.
He was going for what God had for him and what God had for him.
And the promise was more of God.
So his citizenship would not be marked by his address.
His citizenship would not be marked by his border, but his citizenship would be marked by his faith.
What determines who I am and what determines who you are is not where.
We are located, but by the faith in the God who chooses to send us.
That's who we are next.
By faith we see in Hebrews eleven.
By faith we receive.
I love the story of Sarah.
Love the story of Sarah, says verse eleven.
By faith, Sarah herself received power to.
Conceive even when she was past the age, since she considered him faithful who had promised.
Get that?
She knew she was past age, physically speaking.
Her body had changed to where she could not conceive a child.
But she knew.
She knew that God is the God of promise and that he would fulfill.
Like Abraham, her faith wasn't perfect.
I love the irony of the Lord sometimes.
And when she found out that she would do this before she wrestled with what God had for her in unbelief, she laughed.
Really me?
Really?
At my age, surely God.
But she put her faith in what she couldn't understand, in what she couldn't process.
And then when she gave birth to Isaac, she was so filled with joy that the Bible tells us that she laughed.
She laughed.
The picture of what we see.
You ever think and ask the question, could God really use me?
Could God really use me?
Let me answer that question for you.
If your faith is in yourself, God's not going to use you.
But when your faith is in him, in him alone, God will use you beyond what you could ever possibly imagine.
And when God decides it's time to use you, the question I have for you is this.
Will you receive that calling?
Do you know when God wants to use you?
Did you wake up today?
We use a phrase sometimes that every.
Day is a blessing from God.
That's a true statement.
Every day is a blessing from God.
But the statement doesn't stop there.
Oftentimes we take that statement every day.
As a blessing from God.
And then what we add to it is, so now I get to do what I want to do for myself.
But as men and women of faith, every day is a blessing from God.
And every day is an opportunity for God to use us for his name, for his glory, and for his power.
Every single day.
I love the wording that the writer of Hebrew says.
It says that by faith Sarah received, she grasped hold of, she held on to when the years and years of infertility continued on, when the chaos and the dysfunction of her sin sought to tear through the family that she had in those moments of brokenness, I can only imagine that she clinged to her faith.
God, I've messed all of this up, but God, I cling to that.
You're a God who's sovereign and who knows and who's in control.
And God, I receive what you're going to do in me.
And lastly, of what we see is by faith we sacrifice.
By faith we sacrifice.
Hebrews 1117.
By faith, Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he had received the promises, was in the act of offering up his only son.
God said, go.
God said, sacrifice.
And Abraham went.
Abraham went.
Why?
Because Abraham, his faith was in the giver, not in the gift.
His faith was in the giver, not in the gift.
The writer of Hebrews explains, because he knew what God was capable of.
He knew what God could do.
And in spite of the circumstances around him, he didn't put his faith in himself.
He didn't put his faith in Isaac.
He put his faith in God.
And he knew that closeness to God was more precious than anything else.
Today I want to ask you a question.
Who is your faith in?
Have you put your faith in your hope and your trust in Jesus Christ.
Not in an intellectual sense, that I.
Simply believe what the Bible says about him.
I think there's a lot of people that.
They think that faith is simply knowledge alignment, that if I believe this about God and I accept it to be true, then that's all that there is.
And then there's a disconnect from the head to the heart.
You see, Hebrews eleven doesn't say by faith, by faith, by faith, by faith, by faith.
But there's a work of God that then moves into the heart of mankind that then is displaying the actions of faith.
And so what is faith?
It's a dependence on, it's a clinging to, it's a desperation for, it's a trust in, it's a love for, it's a submission to all that God is in Christ Jesus.
I want to close with this story.
Emma asked me, coming up on stage if I was going to share an illustration about the family.
I think to prepare herself.
At that time I said I didn't know.
And then God laid this story on.
My heart and sweetie, I'm sorry.
This will be about your brother, so he can start sweating.
Now.
Those of you may know this about me and about my family.
We like to be outdoors.
We like to be outdoors, like do outdoor things.
We like to grow stuff, we like to plant stuff, we like to hunt, we like to fish, we like to do things like that.
And my kids have always liked to.
Do that since young age.
I want to say, the first time.
That they went hunting with me, I think Grayson may have been three years old, I think Emma may have been four years old.
And this is before we moved up.
Here in Columbia Lexington area.
We were down living in Aiken and my father in law had a piece of property that he still has that we go to from time to time.
And it's got a swamp that runs through the property.
And this swamp, it's not a very big piece of land, but it's a swamp that's got a lot of critters.
That like to live on this swamp.
A lot of critters that I'll be honest with you, I can be a.
Little bit terrified of from time to time.
There's water moccasins and there's rattlesnakes and there's wild hogs.
We may have seen one time about an eleven foot alligator that I got about 5ft from.
Right.
I know that I can't walk on.
Water, but I walked on air back.
To my truck when I saw that.
When my kids wanted to go hunting with me.
I love to take my kids.
I love to do stuff with my kids.
I love to do stuff with my wife.
I love do stuff with my family.
And first time I took my son hunting, I wasn't raised hunting, so I didn't know what it was like to take a little kid hunting.
We went there, and we got in.
The stand, and about 10 seconds in, I heard this phrase, and if you're.
A hunter, man or woman, and you've.
Taken a little kid hunting, you know this phrase, right?
I'm bored.
So I decided to be proactive when.
I take my kids hunting.
So we would go out there with.
Ipads and phones and dvd care books, coloring books, microwave ovens, heat and blankets.
It was like, the know, like, headed back in there that just missed multiple generations.
That day, Grayson and I, he'd gone down there, and I was going to sit for a pretty long time.
So it meant that I needed to have a mini survival pack with me to get him there.
And so we got settled in, and I get seated there, and he had us his little wooden toy rifle that he had always hung out.
He'd sit there, and he'd look down that scope and then look back, and nothing ever got bigger, but he didn't know.
Right?
And so it was good.
It was good.
I gave him my phone.
He's playing on my phone and doing things on my phone.
Probably playing angry birds, right?
Again, that just missed a generation, too.
And then.
So he was playing on angry birds, and then after several hours of being there, and I remember thinking like, man, that got dark quick.
That got dark really quick.
And I look over there, and my phone.
The screen's black, which meant the battery is dead.
It was an overcast night.
I'll never forget this night.
It was overcast.
You couldn't see a star in the sky.
We had about a 400 yard walk back to my truck, but it was through the swamp.
And so I said, well, grayson, I'm going to get out a flashlight, buddy.
I had one of those headlamps that you could wear.
I'm going to put that on, and we're going to be good to go.
So I put that on and clicked, and nothing.
Now I'm panicking.
And so I said, I got a flashlight.
And I grabbed the flashlight, and it was one of those flashlights, like, it lit up about that big.
I said, budy, I got to hold this flashlight.
We're going to walk back to the truck now.
I've got a Mountain of stuff that I got to carry of yours, and I've got my backpack, and I've got my gun.
And I said, grayson, here's what I need you to do, buddy.
I'm going to carry everything.
And normally, he would just walk with me with his own headlamp where we could see, but we couldn't see farther than right in front of our feet.
Here's what I want you to do.
I want you to get right behind me, and I'm going to put this arm right here behind me.
I'm going to put my hand right here, and I'm going to have everything else, everything that you brought into this deer stand.
Budy, I'm going to carry it.
I'm going to carry everything that's mine.
I'm going to carry everything that's yours, and you're going to hold on to my hand.
And I don't know if y'all remember, Grace, when we first moved here.
He's like this big legs, about this tall.
He's like three years old.
And I said, budy, I'm going to take small steps, and wherever I step, I want you to step, because wherever I step is safe for you to step.
So he said, okay.
So we climbed out of that stand, and I started, for me, the most terrifying walk.
I'd come out of that deer stand more times than I could remember.
With batteries, dead.
With flashlights dead.
With phones, dead.
Not a big deal.
But I came out of there with my son walking behind me, and I was petrified.
So I walked.
He walked.
I could feel his hand.
I feel all of that behind him.
All of that that's there.
And we walked slow back to the truck, and I reached in, and when we got where I could kind of see the truck, and I hit the unlock, and the light shined everything, and we got back in the truck.
He's buckled in.
I'm there.
And you just exhale, right?
No snakes, no hogs, no alligators.
We're good.
Aaron's not going to kill me tonight, and I'll never forget this.
I said, buddy, were you scared?
He said, no, never forget it.
I said, why?
He said, because I held on to you.
I held on to you.
You see, he had been with me in the woods before.
He knew about snakes.
He knew about wild hawks.
He knew about alligators.
He knew what they could do.
But he knew that the safest place.
For him to be was holding on to his father.
That's faith.
That's faith you're going to go through life having put yourself in some predicaments like Abraham did, you're going to go.
Through your life walking through situations that are difficult, that God has you for, for a reason.
And I want to tell you this, if you want to know how I.
Describe faith, it's this.
Regardless of the circumstances that are around you, regardless if you feel that you're equipped to face them or handle them or not, is that in everything that.
You do, you're holding on to your father.
You're depending on your heavenly father and you're taking the steps as he leads.
You, because what we talked about last.
Week, he'll never leave you or forsake you.
And I think that's what it means to have faith.
That's the question I have for you as we close this morning.
What are you holding on to?
Anything other than Jesus is insufficient.
Who are you following?
Anything other than Jesus is insufficient.
And who are you trusting?
Anything other than Jesus is insufficient.
Would you pray with me?
God, I thank you for being the God who radically loves us, who saves us, who calls us to faith.
And then, Lord, you don't just send us onto a journey by ourself to.
Report to you.
The situations and circumstances that we find.
But you're a God who with every.
Single one of us, all of us who know you and who are known.
By you, Lord, you walk with us.
You carry us, you hold on to us.
God, I pray that we would be a people who cling to you.
God, if there's anyone here this morning who does not know Jesus Christ as their lord and savior, Lord, maybe they've made an intellectual decision to believe in who you are.
But Lord, they have not made a heart response to you, to submit to you as Lord and savior of their life.
Lord, they may be thinking about the events and the circumstances that come with tomorrow, that come with next week, next month and next year.
And Lord, I pray that those thoughts would leave them.
And Lord, that they would focus on their right now.
Who are they in Christ?
Is it a simple knowledge of you?
Or is it a belief of faith.
Of response, of submission to you, of.
Repentance to you as sinners who desperately need the grace of Christ?
Lord, I pray if there's anyone in here, and they are a follower of Jesus, but today is another day where by their will would, by their gifting would, by their abilities would by themselves, they will seek to do whatever it is that this day brings for them.
And Lord, I pray.
I pray that what would mark us.
Is by faith, by faith, by faith, God, by faith, we trust you on the mountaintop and by faith, we trust.
You in the valley and Lord, by faith, we trust you in the road in between.
Lord, by faith, we trust you when.
Finances are good and Lord, by faith, we trust you when finances are bad.
Lord, by faith, we trust you when we are healthy and strong, and by faith, we trust you when we are unhealthy and weak.
Lord, by faith, we trust you when our families are united for the gospel.
And by faith, we trust you when.
Satan is attacking and tear us apart.
Lord, by faith, we trust you with our thoughts and our actions, with our words and with our deeds, and by all of who we are.
And may God, when people see us with what they see, with what would land on them, may they see the light that we shine for Christ, and may they give glory to the God.
In heaven, Lord, and we'll give you all the praise and honor and glory.
God, may we hold on to you as we go on this path of life.
Lord, wherever you may take us, it's in Jesus name we pray.
Amen.
Thanks again for listening, and be sure to check back next week for another episode.
In the meantime, you can visit us@willowridgechurch.org or by searching for Willowridge Church on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.