The Gathering Surf City

Guess where we are in the
Bible this morning?

Hebrews. We've been in Hebrews
all year long.

Hope you're not getting
tired of it yet,

because we got a few more
chapters to go.

Just a couple.

And today is where I've been telling you
that chapter ten was kind of the

sort of,

in summary.

And now chapter eleven really gives us
sort of the kind of the effect and

what follows.

And so I just go ahead and tell y'all
how many of y'all know the word

discombobulated? Everybody
know that word,

right? If you look that
up in Google,

because Webster's doesn't
count anymore,

but you look it up in Google,

it means confused or disoriented.

Right, folks,

truth of the matter is Satan's
having a field day.

He is thoroughly loving what he sees
going on in our nation and in our

country and even in our community.

Y'all, there's all kind of.

And here you go.

I'll go ahead and tell you.

There's all kind of division.

People are just at each other's literal
throats and the talk that goes

along with it,

this is what I.

It throws me off.

Cause I always want to go back
to Satan in the strongholds,

you know,

Satan wants us at each
other's throats.

Satan wants us having hard feelings
toward each other.

Now, I would love to be able to take
a poll right now and find out where

y'all think I'm talking about,

right? Some people immediately go to
the whole idea of the national

stage. And then some people
want to go to the locals.

Some people are already thinking
about their own dinner table,

right? Because let me just tell you,

the stronghold of Satan is to divide
people from the presence of God.

Satan doesn't want us
relying on God.

Satan doesn't want us believing
that God is on his throne.

Satan doesn't want us trusting God.

There's a song that I have had to lean
on all week long that came out of

elevation worship,

trust in God,

the idea of just trusting him.

And then I go and read chapter eleven
and I've been studying it for weeks

and get to this.

And it says,

now, faith is the reality
of what is hoped for,

the proof of what is not seen.

For by this,

our ancestors were approved.

So we get to chapter
eleven and y'all,

this particular,

this, the first verse,

we love to put it on a plaque
and hang it on the wall,

but I really,

really challenge people when they
start talking about that.

I go,

what's that mean?

Why don't you tell me what you mean,

when you quote that,

why don't you tell me what that now?

Faith is the reality of
what's hoped for.

Well, if it's what's hoped for,

then it's not quite reality yet,

right? I.

If it's something that
we're hoping for,

we're not holding.

It's not tangible.

It's not in our hands.

So what is it?

And then it says,

the proof of what is not seen.

Wait a minute.

How can that be?

So then we get into the examples,

and this is where it gets good.

So I'm gonna read it,

and then we're gonna pray.

You ready?

By faith,

we understand that the universe was
created by the word of God,

so that what is seen was made from things
that are not seen or visible.

By faith,

Abel offered to God a better
sacrifice than Cain did.

By faith,

he was approved as a righteous man,

because God approved his gifts.

And even though he is dead,

he still speaks through his faith.

By faith,

Enoch was taken away,

and so he did not experience death.

He was not to be found because
God took him away.

For before he was taken away,

he was approved as one
who pleased God.

Not without faith,

it is impossible to please God,

since the one who draws near to him must
believe that he exists and that

he rewards those who seek him.

By faith,

Noah, after he was warned about what
was not yet seen and motivated by

godly fear,

built an ark to deliver his family.

And by faith,

he condemned the world and became an heir
of the righteousness that comes

by faith.

By faith.

Abraham, when he was called,

obeyed, and set out for a place that
he was going to receive as an

inheritance. He went out even though
he did not know where he was going.

And by faith,

he stayed as a foreigner
in the land of promise,

living in tents,

as did Isaac and Jacob,

co heirs of the same promise.

For he was looking forward to the
city that has foundations,

whose architect and builder is God.

By faith.

Even Sarah herself,

when she was unable
to have children,

received power to conceive
offspring,

even though she was past the age.

And since she considered that the one
who had promised was faithful.

Therefore, from one man,

in fact,

from one as good as dead,

came offspring as numerous as the stars
of the sky and as innumerable as

the grains of sand along
the seashore.

All right,

now we need to pray.

Alrighty, let's pray.

God, we thank you for your word.

God, we thank you that these words that
we have here in black and white

on the page transcend
thousands of years.

They come to us in a form that God,

we stop and we read and we consider
and we meditate and we pray.

And God,

we trust you.

That's what by faith means.

We trust in you.

We trust your word,

God, we trust what we see
that you have done.

And yet,

God, we trust what we
have not yet seen.

So God,

as we consider what this word,

these two words by faith mean,

Father, let us abide in that place.

Let us rest there and understand,

God, that your purpose,

your plan,

the provision of redemption
and salvation,

the progression that you've placed us
on toward glory is still in place.

It's still intact.

And God,

we can count on it.

And we pray it in Jesus name.

Amen.

In these twelve verses,

we have 21 chapters of summary.

If you go read in Genesis one,

one in the beginning,

God, then you get to chapter
21 and Isaac was born.

So in these twelve verses we've got
21 chapters of Genesis in summary.

And I look at this and I go,

there is no way I can preach this.

So y'all go home.

No, I'm just kidding.

What God's given us right here is
not the individual stories.

Though going back and reading the stories
is fascinating to consider.

What he said here in these
twelve verses.

It's incredible to sit
here and he says,

faith is this.

Faith is something that we trust in
something that we believe in.

And we believe in God.

We trust God.

We trust what God has said.

I tell you all the time,

I pick up a leaf and trust that.

Guess what?

The veins in that leaf,

though they are veins that transport
vitamins and nutrition and all kind

of stuff to the leaf in the plant,

are nothing like the veins
running down my arm,

though they do the same thing.

And there are those.

Scientism would have us believe that
all that happened by chance,

some freak of accident and mutation produced
the difference between the

vein in the leaf and
the vein in my arm.

Sorry, I don't believe that.

What do I believe?

I believe and trust that God said,

this is a plant and this
is a human being.

Right? God did it.

God, I trust it.

By faith,

we understand that the universe was
created by the word of God.

God spoke it into existence so that
what is seen was made from things

that are not seen.

God spoke it into existence.

You see,

man, by faith,

Abel offered to God a better
sacrifice than Cain did.

So meat's better than fruit?

No, what is he talking
about right here?

By faith,

he was approved as a righteous man.

What is it that God was looking at?

Was God looking at the sacrifice?

Well, the sacrifice
has a part in it,

but God is looking at the faith,

the faith of Abel,

the heart condition of Abel,

right?

He's looking at.

Yes, he.

Yeah, man.

I mean,

there are people that break this
down so much better than I can.

But the fact is,

is that it was Abel's heart
that made the difference.

The sacrifice was better not because
the sacrifice was better,

but because Abel's heart
brought the sacrifice.

And then they get into the fatty portions
and all that kind of stuff

which later is revealed through the
law and the sacrificial system and

all that sort of thing.

And I'm not denying those things.

I'm just telling you that the.

The message of these twelve
verses is by faith.

It's what we trust and believe in.

You see,

that's the whole point of this.

I love it that it lists all
these people by faith.

Enoch. Enoch's one of my favorite
characters in the Bible.

And there's only like five verses that
even address would address Enoch.

He disappeared one day.

Enoch Junior went to his bedroom,

went, hey dad.

Mom? Dad's not here.

Well, where is he?

Don't know.

Gone. Taken away.

So he did not experience death.

He was not found.

Not to be found because
God took him away.

For before he was taken away,

he was approved as one pleased God.

So how do you please God?

By faith.

You want to please God,

trust God.

You want to please God,

believe God.

Don't pick up the Bible and go,

well, you know,

I don't exactly believe,

you know how I feel about
that right now.

Without faith,

it's impossible to please God,

since the one who draws near to him must
believe that he exists and that

he rewards those who seek him.

Some of the other translations says,

must believe that he is.

I like that translation.

Here's why.

Because to say he is,

is a derivation of I am.

Right. I am this Yahweh name of God.

You know,

I wonder if Moses went
to Pharaoh and said,

I am sent me,

or if he went to Pharaoh and said he
is sent me because I believe him,

I trust him.

You see what I mean?

Must believe that he is by faith.

Noah, after he was warned about
what he had not yet seen.

A lot of people believe that's rain,

could be flood.

I don't know.

But motivated by godly fear,

he built an ark to deliver
his family.

By faith,

he can.

Now, how long did it take
him to build the ark?

Anybody know?

Gotta go read it.

Right? 120 years,

right?

What did he do for 120 years?

He preached what he believed.

He preached to.

To the ungodly people around him.

Because there was no
good in them at all.

It was only evil all the time.

And God regretted that
he had created them.

And Noah preached,

that's what all this is about.

By faith,

he condemned the world and became an heir
of the righteousness that comes

by faith.

And by faith,

Abraham, when he was called,

obeyed and set out for a place that
he was going to receive as an

inheritance.

He went out.

And even though he did not know
where he was even going,

by faith,

he stayed as a foreigner
in the land of promise,

living in tents,

as did Isaac and Jacob,

co heirs of the same promise.

For he was looking forward to the
city that has foundations,

whose architect and builder is God.

This city doesn't even.

It's not even a picture
that he can look at.

What city is this referring to?

This is referring to
the city of God.

This is not referring to Jerusalem.

You see,

by faith,

even Sarah herself,

when she was unable
to have children.

All right,

so 75 years old,

God makes a promise to Abraham.

I would venture there's some
75 year olds in the room.

See, I don't even have
to go that direction,

do I?

Right. 75 years old,

God makes a promise.

You will be the father of a nation.

By faith.

He believed it.

He trusted God.

What did that faith look like?

We're going to get to
that in a minute.

She received power to conceive offspring
even though she was past the age

since. She considered that the one
who had promised was faithful,

therefore, from one man.

And this phrase right here
just kills me every time.

In fact,

from one as good as dead,

all you 75 year olds,

right? I'm just kidding.

No, no.

He was hundred.

By this time.

He's around 101 came offspring as numerous
as the stars of the sky and as

innumerable as the grains of
sand along the seashore.

See, God is giving us a
definition of faith,

but it's not a definition because faith
is something that's difficult to

define.

It's what you believe.

What do you trust?

Who do you trust?

Right.

It is recounting for us what the first
nine and a half chapters of the

book of Hebrews does,

which is take us from
creation to Christ.

Okay? That's what the first
part of Hebrews does.

Everything in the Old Testament
points to Jesus.

Everything in the New Testament
reveals Jesus.

Hebrews points it all out,

says this and this and this and this and
this and this and this and this.

Now focus on Jesus.

Pay attention to Jesus.

Make Jesus your priority.

Trust me.

Is what God's saying.

Cause I have a purpose and a plan,

and I have provided for it,

man. And then I look at
this and I'm not,

like I said,

I just break some of it down.

But I mean,

the idea that Abraham,

when he was called,

obeyed. So we know Abraham and
his family with Terah,

his father,

they all set out from
ur and went to Haran.

They stayed in Haran
until Terah died.

And then God moved Abraham from
Haran down into Canaan,

and they traveled north to south,

down into Canaan and went
as far as the Negev,

but there was a famine,

and then they went to Egypt.

And y'all,

through the years,

I've heard this chapter called the hall
of faith or the hall of fame of

faith or the great faithful.

If you go examine these guys lies,

I don't know,

we see some not exactly
faithful behavior,

don't we?

If you go examine,

I mean,

let's take a look at Abraham.

Abraham, you know,

he's 75 years old.

God says,

you're going to have a kid.

There's going to be
a child of promise.

Through you,

all the nations will be blessed.

What's he looking for?

Oh, in the next day or two,

we're going to find this out,

aren't we?

No. 25 years later,

how many times do we pray and
ask God for stuff and go,

right?

You know,

I remember my psychology
professor in college,

he said,

you know what?

He said,

we've become an instant,

an instant society man.

He said,

you know what?

He said,

when I was younger,

if you didn't percolate your coffee,

you were lazy.

He said,

so families would go and get instant
coffee when it finally came out.

And they were frowned
upon for being lazy.

Now, guess what?

We don't even go into restaurants.

We just sit in the car and wait till
they bring it to the window.

Don't even do that anymore.

Now we just park in a special parking
place and let them bring it out to

us. And so we approach the
throne of God and say,

God, I need help with this.

I need help with that.

We go,

right? Abraham waited 25 years
for God to fulfill a promise,

right?

You see that?

He trusted God.

Now listen,

Abraham was not a most
likely living in Ur.

He was a pagan.

He was worshiping the river gods of
Mesopotamia like everybody else.

And more than likely because,

and one of the commentators I read
up on and listen to said,

you know,

60, 65 years of his life,

he's married,

wanting children and no children.

And because of the belief
system back then,

not having children was seen as
a punishment of the gods.

So according to probably
his faith system,

he was being punished
with no children,

right? And then all of a sudden,

Yahweh speaks into his
life and says,

I'm going to give you a child,

and you're going to
have descendants,

and you're going to be a nation,

and all the nations of the earth are
going to be blessed through you.

Suddenly, God spoke.

Now, you know what the Bible
says about the other gods.

They're not really gods at all,

right? But Yahweh spoke to Abraham,

and he was,

okay, all right,

I believe.

I'll follow.

I'll obey.

I'll do what you've asked me to do.

And he takes off and leaves.

Haran goes down into Canaan
looking for a city.

Is it a city he's looking for?

No, he lived in tents.

His son lived in tents.

His son's son lived in tents.

The family lived in tents.

When did they get to see
the promised land,

the promised rest?

Not until after the exodus.

Abraham never,

like it says,

never physically saw the promise.

So is that the promise God
was talking about?

Is that the land of rest that
we all are counting on?

No, see,

the promise is for something
beyond what we can see.

The promise is for an eternity
in the presence of God.

Wow, man.

I look at this,

and I'm just like,

next week,

I have an even better
challenge for you,

because I want to ask you,

I want us all to consider it this week
before next Sunday's message,

because, quite honestly,

I think the challenge of this
chapter is the words,

by faith,

what do you do?

By faith,

what do you do?

Well, can I be really condescending
right now?

Well, I don't need your permission.

I'm going to do it anyway.

What do I do by faith,

I sit in a big room with
a lot of other people.

What does your faith
look like on Monday?

What's your faith look
like on Wednesday?

What does your faith look
like in the fire?

What does your faith look
like in the deep water?

What does your faith look like now?

Here you go.

Now you're gonna know why
I said what I said.

What does your faith look like when
the world around us is whirling in

confusion and dissension and discord
and hatred and violence?

What does our faith look like?

You see,

can I just tell you?

Satan's having a field day.

And I'm going to get
really specific,

and some of you get mad and.

But the Bible says you
have to forgive me.

So here you go.

Sometimes our faith is only
seen in the words we say.

What words come out when you look
at the world around you.

How do you pray when you see
what's going on around you?

Who do you pray for when you look
at what's going on around you?

Can I just tell y'all,

I've been challenged this
week by these verses?

Been challenged,

not just what's going on in
the biggest big scene,

the things that are going
on close to me,

I'm challenged.

What am I praying?

It's not just about what
I'm asking God for.

Cause I always got a shopping list,

y'all. Okay,

question is,

what am I trusting God for?

What am I trusting him to do?

What will God do that is in
accordance with who he is,

right? How do I speak about the things
going on and yet bring glory to

God?

I know one thing.

I've told you all this before,

man. I run from the news.

I don't want to hear it.

I have to wait till people
tell me about it.

Whether it's national news,

international news,

or even local news.

I wait till people tell
me something,

and then I go,

God, do I say something?

Do I not say something?

What do I say?

Do I say what I find in your word?

Do I talk about the fact that
Satan's having a field day?

Satan's actually having a field
day with a lot of believers.

Y'all know that.

I mean,

people that are our brothers
and sisters in Christ,

and Satan's having a field day.

Satan loves it when we
attack each other.

Do y'all know that?

Loves it.

You know,

I've said this about,

and I'm gonna use the word even though
y'all know how I feel about it.

One of the things I say about,

quote the church,

Jesus is the one who said,

a house divided against itself
can't stand by faith.

All right,

so where does faith start?

With us.

At least it starts with Jesus.

Do you know Jesus?

Have you trusted him by faith?

Have you surrendered the
eye disease to him?

I said this to somebody this week,

and they laughed at me.

Problem in the body of Christ
is eye disease.

The I,

me, my,

mine hour.

You see,

it's eye disease.

Have you surrendered the
eye in your sentences?

Have you surrendered the
my in your sentences?

Have you surrendered the me see?

Because in the garden you will not
surely die is what Satan said.

God knows you will be
as God by faith.

We surrender.

We give ourselves up.

Christ died for us.

That's what Hebrews is all about.

The sacrifice that God made through
the shed blood of Jesus Christ.

And if you don't know Jesus,

you need Jesus.

Maybe you're a Christian.

Maybe you know it beyond
a shout of doubt.

I know that I am a believer.

I'm a Christian.

I follow Jesus.

Great. Then.

Then you have an assignment
this week.

Examine your words.

Examine your faith on Monday.

Okay? You see,

it's a tough thing to do.

I've been doing it all week long.

I've been here,

I've been there,

been over yonder watching.

Am I.

Do the words that are coming out of
my mouth bring glory to goddess?

Or did the words that come
out of my mouth destroy?

Be careful.

Careful. So if you're mad at me,

go ahead and pray now so that
you can forgive me.

Maybe you want to be a part of what
God's doing here at the gathering.

We've had some folks come and be a part
of the gathering in recent weeks.

We did baptism last week.

I know we've got a lot of baptism
coming up in the days ahead.

Nick asked me this week.

He said,

pastor Nick,

he said,

bob, what if you just announced you
were baptizing every Sunday?

I was like,

well, the baptistry is always full.

We might as well.

I brought swim trunks today.

You see,

you want to take a stand for Jesus,

let me know.

We'll go to the beach.

All right?

See, by faith,

what do we do?

By faith?

By faith,

we live for God.

We exalt God.

We let our lives be a testimony
to his glory.

We point people to Jesus.

Okay, if you don't know Jesus,

you got to know him to
point people to him.

Okay, let's pray.

God, thank you for today and
for your word and God,

what you want to do and
what you're doing.

God, I admit I am.

I'm a little disoriented,

a little discombobulated.

Cause it seems like there's a swirling
going on around us all over.

Not just.

Not just in the big picture,

but even in the small picture,

there's this whirlpool.

God, I need for my feet
to be planted in you.

God, I need to walk in you.

I need to walk by faith.

I need to trust you,

not just for the next moment,

but for my life.

The very oxygen that I breathe,

God, thank you.

I want to praise you for providing.

God, I want to say that I love you.

I love you.

You loved me first.

You loved me best.

God, I just love you.

God, help us to love you,

God.

Is there those that need to make
decisions for you this morning?

I pray God you'd move
them to that place.

We pray it in Jesus name.

Amen. I.