Sabbath School Class Week 15

Sabbath School Class Week 15

Well, I am up at Pisgah and I have been all week. I wish I was going to be there to study with you tomorrow.  This is a wonderful passage and such an encouragement to me.  In my bible the heading for this passage is "Faith in Action". Faith in action... how would that look to you?  I often think faith is something that is better paired with words like, peace, surrender, or maybe waiting, but action? What is faith in action. Is it a super hero type action or a martyr type action?  

Read Hebrews 11: 1-2

Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. 2 This is what the ancients were commended for.

Now faith is confidence in what we hope for... 

What do you hope for?

Do you have confidence in what you hope for? 

What does it mean to have confidence in what you hope for?

"And assurance about what we do not see." 

Perhaps this is one of the most difficult things to do.  We often think that this is faith... beginning and end..  is it? 

The rest of the chapter reads like a poem.  It has a rhythm.  Read it together, then pick a story that is similar to yours, or a story that is your favorite and share why.

Read Hebrews 11:3-12

3 By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible.

4 By faith Abel brought God a better offering than Cain did. By faith he was commended as righteous, when God spoke well of his offerings. And by faith Abel still speaks, even though he is dead.

5 By faith Enoch was taken from this life, so that he did not experience death: “He could not be found, because God had taken him away.”[a] For before he was taken, he was commended as one who pleased God. 6 And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.

7 By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in holy fear built an ark to save his family. By his faith he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness that is in keeping with faith.

8 By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. 9 By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise.10 For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God. 11 And by faith even Sarah, who was past childbearing age, was enabled to bear children because she[b] considered him faithful who had made the promise. 12 And so from this one man, and he as good as dead, came descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as the sand on the seashore.

By faith... each of these individuals had a journey were faith in action.  It wasn't just faith and sit still.  But faith and move forward.  

Read Hebrews 11: 13-16

13 All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance, admitting that they were foreigners and strangers on earth. 14 People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. 15 If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. 16 Instead, they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.

All these stories have what common factors?  

1. They were still living by faith when they died.

2. They did not receive the things promised

3. They admitted they were foreigners and strangers on earth

4.They longed for a better country a heavenly one.

So many times we link faith with results.  If we have faith, if we pray... if we have faith and pray right then....will happen or not happen etc.  But here it is made quite clear that that faith had nothing to do with things happening.  They never saw things materialize. Yet they still had faith and "God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them."

Our challenge this week is to look at where we need to have faith.  Can we have faith in those areas if we don't see the results we hoped for?  How can we put faith in action?  

Do you long for heaven, do you feel like a stranger here on earth?

Focus on turning things over to God and moving forward in the places where you know He is leading.