Coffee With The Lord

The words “By faith…” appear over and over in Hebrews 11 like a mantra… One case study after another emphasizing “the walk of faith” … what faith does, how faith acts, how faith expresses itself in the daily challenges of life. Today I’m focusing on Hebrews 11:4-7…

Verse 4 emphasizes faith responds positively – even to disappointments! Cain offered his best effort… Able offered God what He desired – what was acceptable to Him. Cain got bitter and focused upon himself rather than on what pleased God. He stiffened, soured and was swept away by envy and hatred. Faith seeks to please God and repudiates self will!

Enoch just flat out did it… “He walked with God!” (Genesis 5:24) His life of continual communion and fellowship with God is a challenge to us all… He did it without a Bible, without a host of encourages, and sustained it through thick and thin longer than any of us comprehend (365 years!). Finally God just came and caught him away… He proved something absolutely fundamental… simply trusting God every day of your life and walking through life with that trust “pleases God!” (Verse 5)

In verse 7 Noah illustrates another powerful faith lesson… Faith takes the warning God gives very seriously! Faith lives life in “reverent fear.” He took the obedient steps that were necessary to save his household from an evil and decadent culture. His life became a message to his culture and he “became an hear of the righteousness that comes by faith!”

Verse 6 sums up the “the walk of faith”! It communicates a principle I must never forget… “Without faith it is IMPOSSIBLE to please God! For whoever would draw near to God must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who seek Him!”

Gotta tell you… I NEVER, NEVER, NEVER want to forget that!

“The Faith Walk” … Today we’re considering foundational faith… starting point faith! … Here is what the Bible says… “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.” (Hebrews 11:3)

Gotta say… that runs totally counter to everything secularized science would tell us! That, however is NOT what God’s word tells us! Don’t want to choose? Sorry, you’ve got to choose! It’s foundational!

You see, once you embrace the possibility of the supernatural – the miraculous – the Genesis account of origins is not a problem at ANY LEVEL! (And furthermore it opens a wonderful doorway to incredible living… life filled with wonder, adventure, and possibility! … “All things are possible to the person that believes!” (Matthew 19:26; Luke 18:27)

Oh, I’m aware of the scientific arguments – the apparent contradictions… but I accept the Genesis account in a straightforward reading of the text (the way the first audience would have read it… the way it was intended to be understood)! I’m not attempting to accommodate the Genesis account of origins to ANYTHING or anyone’s opinions… If I don’t accept Genesis 1-2 as an accurate account everything else that is miraculous in the Bible becomes negotiable as “myth” and the target of rationalistic arguments and explanations (including the resurrection). Not going down that road… So here’s where I’m at…

-God exists! (read vs. 6)
-God created the universe out of NOTHING!
-He did it by speaking it into existence! (just as described in the Bible).
-I embrace that by FAITH!

It’s foundational! My faith walk begins with that and moves to everything else… and everything else suddenly becomes possible!

During “Coffee with the Lord” this week I’ve been reading Hebrews 11 … It describes “The Walk of Faith” of a host of people in the Bible… case studies in “faith,” if you please… How “faith” acts … what “faith” does. I’ve decided to do a series of “coffee with the Lord” posts this next week on “The Walk of Faith” … stay tuned…
Let me set the stage this morning with the “Forward” to that series taken directly from one version of the Bible…
“Now faith is being sure of what we hope for, being convinced of what we do not see. For by it the people of old received God’s commendation! (Hebrews 11:1-2 NET Bible)
“The Faith Walk”… Living all of life (even the hard parts) in light of unseen realities… in light of what God has promised… in light of what He has said… regardless of cultural whims or temporary advantage. Living “all of life” to receive His commendation! That’s the way I want to live!!