The Gathering Surf City

All right,

well, we continue in the
book of Hebrews.

And interestingly enough,

this. I'm always surprised,

I guess,

and I don't guess I
should be anymore,

that God brings real life examples of
what it is I'm supposed to preach

on on Sundays,

that things happen during the
week that caused me to go,

oh, wait a minute,

I'm preaching on that Sunday.

I should have expected it.

I should know.

That's how God works.

So we're continuing in what many in
chapter eleven have referred to as

the hall of Faith or the
hall of fame or the,

you know,

I titled today's message the
Faithful patriarchs.

And remember,

I told you last week that if you really
look at that list and go back

into Genesis and throughout
the Old Testament,

what you'll find is that these guys were
not all the cream of the crop.

Some of them were not very at times,

reputable. And so,

as we consider them,

what we realize is that the most important
words in this chapter are the

two words by faith.

And I want y'all to know something.

It's interesting to me that I had a number
of people this week actually

talk to me about this idea of faith
and the challenge from last week.

And the question that I offered
you last week is really,

what does your faith look like?

What does your faith look like?

What steps of faith,

what things in your life are,

the portrayal of what you
believe about God,

what you believe about
what God has said,

what you believe about
the word of God,

what you believe that God has,

has put in place for you.

Because I actually had to turn back to
psalm 37 during my just personal

quiet and reading time this morning.

And remember these words right here.

And I know you know them
cause we all know them.

A person's steps are established
by the Lord,

and he takes pleasure in his way.

This is psalm 37,

verse 23.

Though he falls,

he will not be overwhelmed because the
Lord supports him with his hand.

A person's steps are established
by the Lord.

That's the one where you hear it,

if you read it in King James,

like anybody my age did,

God orders a man's steps,

right? God is the one who establishes
the steps of our path.

And so what we have to do is we have
to pay attention to what God is.

We have to pay attention to what
God directs in our lives.

And then before we pick up our
foot and put it down again,

we have to have prayed and trusted and
known that God is directing our

steps. Because quite honestly,

a lot of times we just rush into things
and do things and don't commit it

to prayer and that sort of thing.

Years ago when I was
running marathons,

and I don't do that anymore,

somebody was talking
to me this week,

even this week,

about training for a marathon.

And I said,

you know what the problem with a marathon
and training for a marathon is?

It's more mental than
it is physical.

I mean,

if you breathe and if you eat
well and if you exercise,

anybody can do a marathon.

Now, I've had people
over the years go,

uh, uh,

uh, uh.

Yeah, you can.

Your body can do it.

You've just got to do the
work to get there.

But here's the thing.

I remember in.

In mile 21 of a 26.2 miles marathon,

because guess what?

Marathons are 20.6.2 miles.

It amazes me how many people go now.

How long is.

Yeah, 26.2.

In my mind,

I'm thinking the whole time,

pick your foot up,

put it back down.

Pick your foot up,

put it back down.

Pick your foot up,

put it back down.

That's the only thing in miles 21
through 26.2 that kept me going.

Right? Because the thing is,

is you step,

you step,

you step.

And if you're going to
follow God by faith,

if you're going to pay attention to
what God has established for you,

then you got to pick your foot up,

put it back down as God leads.

And that's what these chapters
are all about.

Because last week we dealt
with the Abel,

and we dealt with the enoch,

and we touched on Noah,

and we touched on Abraham.

And then when we get down to the part
about Sarah being not able to have

children and Abraham as good as one
who's dead and having children.

And then we get to verse 13.

It says,

these all died in faith,

although they had not received
the things they were promised.

But they saw them from a distance,

greeted them,

and confessed that they were foreigners
and temporary residents on the

earth. Now,

remember last week,

what it said about Abraham and his
descendants is that they were

temporary residents,

aliens, foreigners in the land.

Now, it's.

They were,

they were just temporary
residents on the earth.

Now, those who say such things make
it clear that they're seeking a

homeland.

Now, if.

And I'm gonna break this
down a little bit.

As they go,

if they.

If in seeking a homeland,

they were talking about
where they came from.

If they were thinking about
where they had come from,

they would have had an opportunity
to go back,

to return.

But they now desire a better place,

a heavenly one.

Therefore, God is not ashamed
to be called their goddess,

for he has prepared a city for them.

Now remember that the two most important
words in verses one through

twelve are by faith.

By faith.

By faith.

By faith.

You see,

the people that we're referencing here
in chapter eleven are those who

walk by faith.

And we know that without faith,

it's impossible to please God.

That's what it says with
regard to Enoch.

And so when we look at this thing,

it's this faith walk that God's
looking for in their lives.

It's this faith walk that God's
looking for in our lives.

And then it says,

by faith,

Abraham, when he was tested,

offered up Isaac,

he received the promises,

and yet he was offering
his one and only son.

What were the promises?

The promises were,

you're going to have an heir.

You're going to have a son,

that through your son you're
going to be a nation.

But he goes to offer him up.

It says,

he received the promises,

and yet he was offering
his one and only son,

the one to whom,

it has been said,

your offspring will be
traced through Isaac.

He considered God to be able even
to raise someone from the dead.

Therefore, he raised him back,

figuratively speaking,

by faith,

Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau
concerning things to come.

By faith,

Jacob, when he was dying,

blessed each of the sons of Joseph.

And he worshiped,

leaning on the top of his staff.

And by faith,

Joseph, as he was nearing
the end of his life,

mentioned the exodus of the Israelites
and gave instructions concerning

his bones.

Hmm. There's a whole lot
in these few verses.

Pray with me,

please. God,

we thank you and we praise
you that you have spoken.

Thank you,

God, that you planned,

you ordered our steps this morning,

God, that we might see this passage,

that we might consider your
words in this passage,

and God,

that we might gain some understanding
as to how you want us to walk,

how you want us to talk,

how our lives are supposed
to be ordered,

that we might live by faith,

that our faith might be evident.

And that,

God, we can trust you.

We can believe you.

We can believe what you've said.

So, God,

help us to trust your words.

Help us to trust your word.

Help us to follow.

And we pray it in Jesus name.

Amen. So everybody that he's
talking about right here,

because what we've got
now is Abraham,

Isaac, Jacob,

Esau, Joseph,

Joseph's kids,

the Israelites,

all of they're all waiting
for this promise.

And this is the point that we made
early on in the book of Hebrews,

because the book of Hebrews is.

This is this case.

God's making this case,

this argument for the
priority of Jesus,

that we're supposed to be paying
attention to Jesus.

You're supposed to be paying,

I told you,

weeks. Weeks on end.

I told you,

you should consider Jesus
in the morning,

you should consider Jesus at lunch,

you should consider Jesus
in the evening.

You should consider Jesus
all day long,

with every activity,

attitude, action,

choice of your life.

What is it that Jesus
would have us to do?

Okay? Because the truth
is a faith walk,

a faith step is.

Is that.

Guess what?

My life is dependent on my
identity in Jesus Christ.

So I was thinking about
it this week.

I fail so often,

y'all.

I fail to trust God,

man. I go up to South Carolina
or over to South Carolina.

Cause it's about even,

actually. But I go over to Belton,

South Carolina,

every week,

and I think about things like,

I need to get this done.

I need to get this done.

I need to get this done.

And all through the I need to get this
done stuff I know God's telling

me, just trust me.

Trust me.

I'm going to handle that.

I've already got that plan.

I'm already in your tomorrow.

Bobby, would you just.

Just hang on.

Don't get ahead of me.

Don't run away from me.

Don't try to work something that
I've already got worked out.

I can tell you a very
real example of it,

and I will in a minute,

but not now.

Because what this little text here,

verses 13 to 22,

is really talking about
is that Abraham,

Isaac, Jacob,

Esau, Joseph,

and all the Israelites,

none of them,

none of them received the promise.

But all of them received
the promise.

You see?

What's he talking about right there?

If. Remember,

I told you once when we were looking
back at the whole entrance and

entrance into the land,

during the first chapters
of Hebrews,

I said,

if the land,

if the nation,

if the city of Jerusalem were the
rest that God had promised,

then Joshua delivered it.

But that's not what the.

That's not the rest God had promised.

What's the rest that
God had promised?

The rest that God had promised
is this heavenly one.

But they now desire a better place,

a heavenly one.

Therefore, God is not ashamed
to be called their goddess,

for he has prepared a city for them.

You see?

So what are we looking at here?

We're looking at a faith
that goes beyond today.

Now, it's faith that includes today,

but it's faith that
goes beyond today.

So I want you to think
about something.

So this is in want of heaven.

All right.

These folks are all talking about.

All right,

this is what we want.

We want this relationship
with our God,

our creator.

This is what we're living for.

This is what we're striving for.

And so every day of their lives,

they have to take steps of obedience
that display their faith now,

not in works.

It's not like they earned
heaven or anything,

but that in their lives.

As we read the account of their
lives after the fact,

we know Abraham didn't
do everything right,

Abel. I'm sure Abel didn't
do everything right,

Enoch.

Yeah. You know,

nobody's perfect.

I love asking you guys
if you're perfect,

to raise your hand.

Go ahead.

Raise your hand if you're perfect,

go ahead.

See, nobody is right.

And yet is our life.

Is the portrayal of who we are in
trusting God that I trust him?

Because most people,

if you ask for some explanation
of their faith.

Tell me about your faith.

Well, I was baptized
when I was eight.

My answer is always,

yay, what about today?

What does your faith
look like today?

And a lot of times I'll ask
church people this,

and y'all know what I mean by that.

Tell me about your faith.

Well, I went to church this morning.

My answer is always,

yay, that's a good thing.

Love it that you join in worship,

that you unite with the body
of Christ in worship.

That's fabulous.

I want y'all to think
about something.

Think of the day,

a day in your life when
you moved your family.

I say,

all right,

so somebody.

Somebody just this morning said,

yeah, we just moved here to topsail.

Cool. Yay.

Yay. Is a good answer for me.

And I spell it y a y,

not y e a h.

Just so you know.

Cause y e a h is.

Yeah, not ye.

Think about the day you
moved your family.

Did you pray about it?

Was it a situation?

You said,

God, where do you want us?

See, I tell you about the story about
a lady that was a member here,

and they were very active,

and he was a deacon,

her husband was a deacon.

And she came up here and she says,

bobby, I've got this job opportunity.

Would you pray that I get this job?

And I went,

no. And she went,

why not?

I went,

because here's what I will pray.

I will pray that God puts you in the
job where he wants you for his

kingdom's sake.

Right? Because we need to be
where God wants us to be,

not where we want to
be all the time.

We need to be in the place
that serves God,

that serves God's kingdom,

that accomplishes kingdom,

works, kingdom,

purpose, that furthers and
advances the gospel,

that lets people know,

lets people see in our
lives a dependence,

a trust,

a faith in God.

If somebody writes your
story one day,

right, let's say somebody writes
a summary of your story,

just like the writer of Hebrews
is writing up there.

We can't study Hebrews.

Chapter eleven in three weeks time,

y'all. There's too much here.

As a matter of fact,

I'll go ahead and tell y'all after
we finish romans in mid 2026,

I'm gonna go back and do
all of Hebrews eleven.

I've already.

It's already planned out.

I'm sitting here praying and
working on it this week.

I'm like,

I need to preach that,

like, four weeks in a row.

I need to study that four
weeks in a row,

y'all, for my own sake.

See, the day that you
moved your family,

was it God's direction,

or do we.

And I think this is sort of.

There's a skeptical,

almost cynical way that we
pray sometimes and say,

God, if this is not your will,

stop me.

I'm like,

whoa, why don't we step
out in faith and say,

God, where can I serve you best?

How. How can I fulfill my identity
in Christ for you,

God? Is this where you want me?

Is this who you want me
to be hanging out with?

I tell folks in this gathering,

people say to me,

say, well,

you know,

I go,

look, you gotta be in worship where
God wants you to worship.

You're not gonna find fulfillment.

You're not gonna grow.

People say to me,

say, yeah,

we decided to come over here
and worship with y'all.

Cause we just hadn't
been growing lately.

Whose fault is that?

Yeah, see,

I can be rough on you,

I promise.

See, the point is to ask yourself,

where is it that God wants you not just
for worship on Sunday morning,

but in your home,

in your job,

in your relationships?

What is it that gives
God honor and glory?

What is it that lets the
world know that,

guess what?

I belong to Jesus,

and I'm letting him order my steps.

How will it be written in your life?

The day you moved your family,

right? The day you decided,

well, we're going to move over here.

Well, why?

Well, got a new job.

All right,

how'd that come about?

You see,

because inevitably it might
not be you writing it,

but chances are your descendants,

right, will give the story the
account of their lives.

And they'll say,

well, guess what?

Mom and daddy thought that this job
was the end all and be all for our

family.

But might be the case that
it wrecked our family.

We decided that we needed
to live here.

Because, you know,

all the reasons when our reasons
in Christ should be,

guess what?

We found a place that God wanted us
to be for his kingdom's sake.

Did it make us wealthy?

No.

Was it paradise?

No. But God used us in that
place for the kingdom.

See? I mean,

Abraham was obedient,

right?

He got up one morning,

if you go back there and
read in chapter twelve,

God told him,

you know,

he said,

oh, look,

get up.

Leave your family.

Go to a place.

I will show you.

Do you know right there in the
beginning of chapter twelve,

he doesn't tell Abraham,

I'm going to give you that land.

He said,

just go to the land.

When Abraham finally
gets to the place,

right, it's Shechem and Mamre
and on down into the Negev.

God finally says,

look east,

west, north,

south, I'm giving it all to you.

But right now,

you got to go to Egypt,

because you're going to starve
to death if you don't,

right? Did he give it to Abraham?

No. It was 400 years after slavery
that they received the land.

Why? Because Abraham was
obedient in the step.

Okay?

One step at a time.

One day at a time,

right? God wants us to follow
him in the moments.

What the morning looked like when
you made the decision to move,

maybe you didn't move that day,

but one morning,

you got up and go,

I'm going to use surf city and
topsail island as an example,

because guess what?

We know where we live.

And, you know,

I wake up on mornings when it's,

like, 73 degrees,

and I go,

whoo. This is why we live here,

right? I mean,

beautiful, right?

What moves us to a place like this?

You know,

I jokingly tell folks,

I mean,

I moved here from the mountains.

I lived for five years in Brevard.

And brevard's a beautiful place.

Mountains everywhere.

Majestic, all that sort of thing.

And I tell folks I moved from Brevard
to Surf city in 2009.

I moved from the mountains to the beach
because everything in between was

boring. People from Charlotte
find offense in that.

I don't know why.

Right? Why do we move?

Why do we do the things we do?

What will be said about the
decision we make that day?

What did the morning look
like of the move?

We loaded the van,

we got up,

we drove.

Where? What in that will communicate
to generations your faith.

You see,

how about each step of your family?

What about that first child?

Those of you who are parents,

when people talk about your lineage,

your descendants,

well, they go back and say,

well, it all started when mom and
daddy meth in Bible study.

See everything,

every step,

every choice.

Does it honor God?

Does it proclaim what God has
said about who we are?

All right,

this week,

there was a number of things I
needed to get accomplished.

Mom and dad may be watching
right now,

and that's cool.

My sister's listening,

I'm sure.

This week I had a number
of things get done.

Lawn mower's broke.

Daddy's little scooter car that he
rides around the yard like a four

wheeler, which it's not.

The batteries going weak on it.

And I was thinking,

you know,

daddy really could use a golf cart right
around the yard instead of that

little handicapped little car,

you know?

You know what I'm talking about?

Wheels are about that.

Big Daddy's using it,

going down hills in
his yard and stuff.

I'm like,

oh, man.

I said,

daddy could really use a golf cart.

So I've been looking on.

Where have I been looking?

Y'all ready?

Facebook, marketplace.

Man, I'm looking all over the place for
a golf cart that we can afford,

right? And I can't find one.

So the man up the street
works on golf carts.

I'm gonna go ahead and
tell y'all this story.

Cause it really is a big deal.

He's got a pink one,

y'all. If it had a decal
on it that said Barbie,

it would have been perfect.

So I'm over here talking to.

And this guy's name's Bobby,

also. So I'm talking to Bobby
about this Barbie cart.

He says,

well, buddy of mine just stopped by and
said he's getting rid of his golf

cart because he's gotten
another one.

I said,

just.

He said,

yeah. I said,

what's he want for it?

Well, it's less than
the Barbie cart.

And I was like,

well, if I give you the
money to get it,

will you get it?

He said,

we go look at it right now.

I said,

all right.

I went to the bank.

We went and looked at the cart.

We loaded up the trailer.

We put the cart on the trail.

Guess what Bobby was doing?

Bobby had already taken
the Monday evening.

Bobby had already taken the
starter off the lawnmower.

The starter came in on
Wednesday afternoon.

Bobby put the starter
on the lawnmower.

We loaded up the lawnmower.

I drove the new golf cart home.

Bobby brought the golf car,

the lawnmower home.

Everything that I was struggling,

and I'll confess it.

Here you go.

Here's my confession.

Everything that I was worried about on
Monday morning was handled by 530

on Wednesday afternoon.

Done. I was like,

thank you,

God. I am afraid if anybody was watching
my mind Monday morning,

they wouldn't have seen faith.

See, by faith,

Abraham, when he was tested,

offered up Isaac.

You know the story.

Go read it.

In Genesis,

he took two servants and his son and
all the things for a sacrifice,

except the sacrifice.

And he said,

me and my son are going
up the mountain.

The boys.

The servants said,

well, I told him to wait here.

He said,

we'll be back.

Go look at it.

Abraham told his servants,

we'll be back.

Because he believed that even God.

That God could even raise
someone from the dead.

See that?

By faith,

Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau
concerning things to come.

Isaac really liked Esau.

Y'all know that,

right? Because he made good beef
stew or some kind of stew.

By faith,

Jacob, when he was dying,

blessed each of the sons of Joseph,

not his sons.

He blessed Ephraim and Manasseh
as parts of the nation.

By faith,

Joseph. Now this is the one.

And this is where I want to finish
because we got a wrap.

You ready?

By faith,

Joseph, as he was nearing
the end of his life,

mentioned the exodus of the.

How many hundreds of years
before the exodus?

Did Joseph say,

when you go back,

take my bones with you,

Mandev. By faith,

y'all, are we walking by faith.

If you don't know Jesus,

you need to know Jesus.

If you're not trusting what God has
said about who you are in Christ,

then you need to get in the
word and figure it out.

Because in about 15 minutes,

you're going to walk out of here.

Will your steps be steps?

By faith?

Let's pray.

God, thank you for today.

And I thank you for your word.

Pray God that you would guard our
hearts and guide our steps.

God, you have ordered them.

God, help us like Abraham,

to be obedient.

Help us to walk it out the
way you set for us.

God, I thank you and praise you right
here in front of this whole

gathering. Thank you for
ordering my weekend.

Thank you for doing things that I was
struggling with and worried about.

And you already knew what
your provision was.

God, I thank you for new friends who
helped accomplish your purpose.

God, help me to walk by faith today,

one step at a time toward you.

I pray it in Jesus name.

Amen.