By faith, I stand before you here this morning, and by faith, we're gonna last through this entire message. But if I have to run out quickly, I'll be right back. We're looking at Hebrews chapter 11. We're gonna look at verses 30 to 39. If you have your Bibles, you're welcome to open up to chapter 11 of the book of Hebrews. Does anybody know what chapter 11, what is the key point of chapter 11 of the book of Hebrews? Faith, right. If anyone wants to know what faith is, that's the chapter you turn to pretty much. But there's thousands of examples of faith throughout the Bible. So let's look at a couple, 30 to 39. By faith, the walls of Jericho fell down after they had been encircled for seven days. By faith, Ahab, Rahab, the harlot, did not perish along with those who were disobedient after she had welcomed their spies in peace. And what more shall I say? For time will fail me if I tell you of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Japheth, David, Samuel, and the prophets who by faith conquered kingdoms. performed acts of righteousness, obtained promises, shut the mouths of lions, quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, from weakness were made strong, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight. Women received back their dead by resurrection. And others were tortured, not accepting their release so that they might obtain a better resurrection. And others experienced mockings. and scourgings, and yes, also chains and imprisonment. They were stoned. They were sawn in two. They were tempted. They were put to death with a sword. They went about in sheep skins and in goat skins, being destitute, afflicted, ill-treated. men of whom this world was not worthy, wandering in the deserts and mountains and caves and holes in the ground. And all of these, having gained approval through their faith, did not receive what was promised." The subject of faith is something that we as believers, as Christians, need to understand. And every time I share the gospel, every time I preach, every time I have opportunity to a pulpit, I like to share with those that are listening what God is doing in my life at that particular time. And so what I'm gonna teach or share this morning on faith is something that God is teaching me also. It's, I don't have a total grasp on it. I don't fully understand it. There are passages of scriptures that are totally foreign to me, that I read them and I'm clueless with what they say. So as I share this morning on faith, it is my prayer, one, that you have grace on me that I don't fully understand the subject. And two, it is my prayer that somehow through it, that your hearts and lives will be challenged to what this very important subject is. There's two verses that are very important. Hebrews 11.1 and Hebrews 11.6. Hebrews 11.1, now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. In Hebrews 11.6, and without faith, it is impossible to please him. For he who comes to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of those who seek him. So we have two very important verses here. One, we're told what faith is, and two, without it, it is impossible to please God. I was at lunch just a couple days ago with a gentleman, a friend of mine, and he says, you know, as I do these things, and I do these works, then I please God. And I said to him, I said, no, really, Mike, that's not how it works. I said, because let's look at Hebrews 11, 11, 6. It says it's by faith that we please God. The works are an outcome of faith. And we read that passage in James chapter 2, which we'll look at in a second. But Martin Luther, the great reformist, even he said that he didn't fully understand faith. He said, we are saved by faith, by grace, through faith. And he actually, this is a quote from Martin Luther, from a friend, who said that he had mentioned to him he would love to cut out the book of James and throw it away. because it was so difficult and contrary to his heart that God had revealed to him that we are saved by grace through faith. And he couldn't put the two together. I understand that. And it's easy for us to get a little confused about what faith is. So let's just look at that. Faith. is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. So assurance, what's that mean? To anticipate, to expect, to trust with confidence. It is this absolute confidence of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. Now the word hope, it can be a little tricky. When you try to translate God's word from another language into English, you're gonna have struggles with those words because we have way of saying things in other languages that we can't easily say in English and vice versa. And Jane and I found that out as we were studying the Maikiri Tare language in the middle of the Amazon jungle. And you tell the Maikiri Tare, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son. And you think that, oh, we could just translate that, that God loves us and gave his son. Well, what would happen if you don't have a word love in their language? The Magi thought he didn't have that in their language, the word love. And so to try to translate that was very cumbersome to the translator, Franny Cochran, who was a co-missionary friend of mine. And when he's trying to translate the scriptures, it was very difficult. And so this word hope, as it comes out here, this is not the English hope that you and I understand. I hope I win the lottery. But there's a billion chance against it. And chances are I'm not going to. OK? So that's the hope we have in English. I hope this happens. Or I'll say, when I go out to the shed, I hope my Harley-Davidson starts. There's a good chance it won't. That's the hope in the English. But the hope in the Greek is a confident assurance. Your hope is not in you. It's not in how you feel. But it's in who we are talking about, God. OK? A biblical, and I'm gonna give you a worldly picture of a biblical hope, all right? I know at 7.34 p.m. today, without shadow of a doubt, you're gonna have high tide down here on Nassau Beach. I checked it out online. And they have the tide schedules for years and years and years to come, why? Because it always happens. And they can project when the tide is going to come up or when it's going to be at low tide. So that's more like the biblical. You just know it's going to happen. If you're planning to go fishing. You look at the tide charts, and you flick through, and you say, OK, I'm going to go surf gassing this afternoon. And I know that high tide is going to be this time. And you all, I don't know if any of you are fishermen, but we fishermen have all these ideas that the best time to catch fish is when the tide is going out. And others say, no, the best time to catch fish is when tide is coming in. Nobody really knows. You're lucky you catch a fish. You catch a fish. But anyway, because everybody has their own day. But I can say with confidence assurance at 7.34 this evening, you're gonna have high tide. That's more of the understanding of the biblical faith, okay? The biblical hope. Faith is trusting in something or someone with absolute conviction and confidence. Okay, you have to understand this. Faith is trusting in someone or something with absolute confidence. We all have a choice to who we're gonna put our trust in. We all have a choice of what we and who we're going to put our trust in. In Venezuela, Jan and I worked down there for many years, and when we arrived there, they believe our, their currency was at 69 to 1. And the economy was busting. They had oil reserves and billions of dollars going to that country every year. And there was a saying in the Spanish language, oh, those are cheap, I'll buy two. Meaning that they just had so much money in the Venezuelan economy back in the early 90s that they traveled all over the world, they bought everything, everything was going well. Nobody could have projected that within 10 years the Bolivar had devalued from 69 to 1 down to 4,500 to 1. Meaning that a person who has a million dollars in the bank now has $5,000 in the bank. The folks that put their confidence in their economy lost it. What are you putting your confidence in? What do you put your confidence in? I read an article by researchers of the University of Oxford, and they compared the suicide data from before 2007 with the years of the crisis and found more than 10,000 economic suicides associated with the recession across US, Canada, and Europe. 10,000 economic suicides. There have been a substantial rise, as she's quoted as saying, During this recession, considerably more than we would have expected based on the previous trends, says the author. A post-doctrinal researcher on sociology department at Oxford University. See, people who are putting their trust in money, and when they saw the market crash and they lost their wealth, they committed suicide. Because their trust was in their wealth. We, as Christians, are called to put our trust in who? God. He is going to take care of us in our older years. He is going to take care of us when we are sick. He is gonna watch over. He is our provider, Jehovah Jireh. And there's many names that he calls himself. We, by faith, have to trust him at his word. That's what faith is. We can trust in things or we can trust in him. I remember one time I was trusting in my abilities. I was preaching at a very large church in Springfield, Massachusetts. They had three sermons. Church was huge, over 1,500 people, I think. And so I went out in the first sermon, and I preached this gospel, the message, and it Really well, very well accepted. People, you know, nodded when they should have and laughed when they should have. And it was a good message. You could just tell as a speaker whether or not you came across and people could understand. And so I went back to the pastor's study after the first service and I sat in the pastor's chair and nobody else was in there. And I'm like, okay, I'll just do the same thing that I did last time. And the second service will work out fine. So in the second service, I go out and I do the same thing. But this time, I fell on my face. Fear came up within me. My mouth was dry, and I couldn't get my points across. And everybody was looking at me with confusion and question marks above their head. And I'm like, oh my word, I have fallen flat here. And I went back to the pastor's office between the second and third services. I fell on my knees. I said, Lord, forgive me. And I felt the Lord say to me, Walter, when you serve me, you better do it by faith. Don't depend on your own strengths, abilities, your witness, your nice personality. You can't do that when it's preaching the gospel. I went out in fear and trembling between second and third services. And I went out to the third service and I'll tell you, I was like, Lord, forgive me. And I kept saying that probably a thousand times. because I was depending on myself. I was depending on my ability to get the word across, and the Lord taught me a very strong lesson. What are we trusting in? Are we trusting in our abilities? You know, the Pharisees, there's a Pharisee and a publican, a tax collector, and they were in the temple, and Jesus was telling the story. He says, I'm gonna tell you a parable of some people who trusted in themselves that they were righteous. This is found in Luke 18. And they viewed others with contempt. Two men went up to the temple to pray. One was a Pharisee, the other was a tax collector. The Pharisee stood off and was praying to himself, God, I thank you that I'm not like other people, swindlers, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector over here. The Pharisee, was self-righteous. And he was looking at this tax collector who's on his face trembling next to the altar. I fast twice a week. I pay tithes of all I get. But the tax collector, yeah, But the tax collector, the publican, was standing some distance away and was even unwilling to lift his eyes to heaven, but was beating his breast saying, God, be merciful to me, a sinner. And Jesus says, I tell you that this man went to his house justified rather than the other. For anyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbled himself will be exalted. By faith, the tax collector understood that he was a sinner. that it wasn't by his self-righteousness that God receives him. It's for by grace that you are saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, right? It's a gift of God, not of works, least any man should boast. And we have seen, we see hundreds are thousands of opportunities throughout the scriptures of people who live by faith. In Hebrews 11, there's over 51 examples. So if you have any confusion about, what about in this instance? Or what about in this instance? In Hebrews 11, we can see 51 different examples of how people walked and lived by faith. Remember, faith is the complete trust or confidence and confidence in something or someone, even if you have not experienced yet. So that's complete faith. If you put your faith in Jesus Christ, death on the cross for your sins, you will be saved. That's what he says in his word. Put your faith in what Jesus did on the cross that day, that you turn and you look to the cross and you say, Jesus, forgive me. You will be saved. That's faith. And it says in 1 John 5, 12 and 13, he who has a son has life. He who does not have the son does not have life. These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life. He has given us this opportunity that we can know that we have eternal life. Not because of what we did, because of what Jesus did for us. It's what He did. My faith is not in me, it's in Him. It's what He has accomplished on the cross that day. It has nothing to do with me. And in John 14, three, if I go to and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to myself, and where I am, there you will be also. That is a promise that is going to happen. It is absolutely 100% going to happen. Jesus is now preparing a place for us, those who have put their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, and he's coming back and he's gonna take us to this place. Incredible. This is what faith calls us to. It's a firm persuasion and expectation that God will perform all that he has promised to us in Christ. It's the assurance work together. Faith and assurance, they work together. Faith and assurance work together. And this is a mental understanding of a trust of who God says he is. This is your part in it, to trust who God is. the writer of Hebrews, we don't know who that is exactly, but he gives us practical examples of Noah, Abraham, Moses, and others from the Old Testament. And they were all looking forward to the fulfillment of God's promises. for something better than their present situation. You and I need also to have that mindset that this is not our home. We are pilgrims right now. We are traveling through a world, a dark world. We are suffering. We are being persecuted. We are being tempted. We are being challenged, made fun of. But we understand that this is not it. This saving and having my 401ks is not the end of life's questions. Having all my ducks in line, you know, as a friend of mine who's a financial advisor would say, you know, you've got to have everything all set up in line so that when you're 56 years old or you're 65 years old or whatever that age is, then you can sit back and enjoy life. But see, that's not what we're supposed to put our trust in. Are we supposed to be wise with God that's given us? Absolutely. But that's not where our trust is. If we were to lose it all, would we commit economic suicide? Faith like this is not wishful thinking. It says in verse 39, and all these having gained approval through their faith did not receive what was promised because God had provided something better for us. It's not wishful thinking. It's taking God seriously at his self-revelation in who he says he is that we find in the scriptures. He is who he says he is. He is sovereign. God is sovereign. If you could understand just that one part of God, your life would be freed up from pain and suffering. Not from physical pain and suffering, but from the worries of those things. This is the attribute sovereignty by which he rules his entire creation. It is the application of all his other attributes, all-knowing, all-powerful. It makes him absolutely free to do what he knows to do best. God is in full control of all things at all times, no matter how sick you get, no matter how poor you are, no matter how rich you are, no matter how healthy you are. God sees this, knows it, and understands it. And we are able to give our lives over in such a way that we have full, absolute confidence in Him during these times. He calls Himself the Almighty God, El Shaddai, or Elion, the Most High God. This is what He reveals about Himself. Adonai, He says, I am Lord, I am Master. Jehovah Jireh, the Lord that heals. No, Jehovah Jireh is a Lord who is a provider. Jehovah Salom, the Lord is peace. There's an anonymous quote, it says, to believe God and not obey Him is to not believe Him. To believe God and not obey Him is not to believe Him. And we see that in James chapter two, that was read earlier. It gives us a picture of this. And this is a book that Martin Luther would love to have cut out. What use is it, my brethren, if someone who says he has faith, but he has no works, can that faith save him? That is a tough question. If a brother or sister is without clothing or in need of food, and one of you say to him, go in peace and be warmed and filled, and yet you do not give him what is necessary to his body? What use is that? Even so, faith without works is dead, being by itself. faith without works. But someone will say, hey, you have faith and I have works. Show me your faith without works and I will show you my faith by my works. You believe that God is one, you do well. The demons also believe in shudder. So what he's saying here is if you truly have faith, you are going to have, the outcome of that is gonna be works. Jesus even taught about this in the Beatitudes where he says, you know, If you even look at a woman with lust, you've committed what? Adultery in your heart. If you say raka to your neighbor, you fool, you've committed what in your heart? Murder. See, the sin starts here, within our heart. It doesn't start at our fingertips, the work part of it. What is believed in the heart is what you are. It comes out in your fingertips. That's the brain center. But the workings of your heart come out in your, it shows in your life. I will show you, he says, my faith by my works. Try and show me your faith without works. That's what he's saying. It's impossible. It can't be done. You cannot show me your faith, you can't, without works. It's an impossibility. Because what you're saying is, I have faith in God. And so what? The demons have faith in God. They know God exists. They have no doubt in their heart and mind that God exists. But they shudder at the thought of it. See, you can have faith in your mind, but not in your heart. And when it's in your heart, you're gonna see works come out your fingertips. This is why he gives this example that you say to a poor man or a person who's cold, go and be well fed and go and keep warm. Really? If you truly understood the life that Jesus Christ has given us, then by faith you would serve. This writer, Jerry Jackson, states, faith is the result of hearing God's word, submitting to the mind and body to its dominion, and acting in accordance to what the Lord has instructed. So faith is submitting your mind and your body, your fingers, to its dominion, and acting in accordance to what the Lord has instructed. This is where faith and works come together. Abraham, when he was with Lot, He was traveling through the desert in Genesis 13, and Abraham and Lot, they were very wealthy, and they had all kinds of sheep and goats and camels and wealth, tons and tons and tons of wealth, Abraham and Lot. But God had told Abraham to go to a land that I'm gonna instruct you. Didn't tell him where, just says go out. So by faith, Abraham packed up all his wealth all his goats, his donkeys, I'm sure he had a nice place where he was living, in Ur-Kalides. He probably was living fine. Very wealthy person. But God had told him to leave. So by faith, he left. He didn't know where he was going, but God told him to leave. So he left. And so him and Lot, his nephew, are going through the desert, and their herdsmen start arguing and fighting. Because there's just not enough land to sustain all the animals. And so Abraham calls Lot and says, hey, come over here, dude. We've got to talk. And our animals, our herdsmen are fighting. And you know what? Let's just split up. And Abraham did a very interesting thing. By faith. He was the elder. He was the one who could have dictated what direction they went. By faith, he says, Lot, if you go east, I'll go west. You go north, I'll go south. You go left, I'll go right. And it says a very interesting thing. And this is something to always be watching for in the scriptures. It's very interesting how often this comes up. He says, So Lot lifted up his eyes in verse 10 of Genesis 13. Lot lifted up his eyes, saw all the valley of the Jordan, and that it was well-watered everywhere. And this was before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah. And it was like a garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt. So Lot chose for himself all the valley of the Jordan. And he headed eastward. So he saw, he didn't inquire of the Lord. He said, I'm going that way. Those are green pastures. And so he headed down and says, and he pitched his tent towards Sodom and Gomorrah. You all know what happened in Sodom and Gomorrah. The next thing you see is not only Lot is near Sodom and Gomorrah, that he's actually in the city of Sodom. And he is actually part of the leading men in the city. And because of his choice that he did not inquire of the Lord, but he walked by sight, not by faith, it cost him everything. It cost him his wife. It cost him his son-in-laws. It cost him all his wealth. All he ended up with was his two daughters, very immoral daughters, by the way, that were corrupted because of Sodom and Gomorrah. They were totally corrupted because they lived in the city and they grew up in the city. So Lot ended up with his two immoral daughters in a cave with nothing. That was what he ended up with. Why? Because it says here that he looked with his eyes and he saw. Now Abraham, on the other hand, settled in the land of Canaan while Lot settled in the cities of the valley and moved his tents to Asadom. And the men of Sodom were exceedingly wicked, and they were sinful against the Lord, which you all know that story. Faith comes from knowing God. So, how do we gain faith? I'm gonna give you three different examples of growing in your faith. How do we grow in our faith? First, we are told in Hebrews 12, two, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that is set before him endured the cross, despising the shame and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Jesus Christ is the author and finisher of our faith. You have to come to know God so well And as you get to know Him, and you trust Him, and you see how His hand is moving, then that strengthens your faith. Because you can say, I see God working in this situation. I see how He is doing this. But not only that, I have seen how he has worked in this situation prior to this. And so your absolute confidence comes in God, who you have seen has worked, and you're confident that he's going to continue to work and live like he always has throughout your life. You know, this faith has to be in such a way that you have absolute trust in what you've seen in him do. and we'll do it again. I have a son, his name is Jacob. And when he was just a little boy, Jane mentioned in the house, she said, is dad around? And Jacob said, well, did he kiss you goodbye and say he loved you? And she said, no. He says, well, he's still here. See, Jacob knew me so well, even as a little tiny squirt, that he knew before I left the house that I would kiss her goodbye and say I love her every single time. So he grew up with that, thinking that. And so it was a very logical, simple answer. He's like, you don't understand this woman? Really? Did he kiss you goodbye? Did he say he loved you? Well, no. Then he's still here. He's down cellar. He's outside. He hasn't left. See, this is the point that we get to know God. Can we get to know God in this way, that we know confidently how he's gonna react in any situation? Absolutely. So how do we do this? We pray. We pray and ask God to increase our faith. Luke 17, five says, the apostles said to the Lord, increase our faith. The apostles knew and understood that Jesus was the author and finisher of the faith, even before that book was written. And they said, increase our faith. Another story is about a young boy who was demon possessed, he's foaming at the mouth, falling in the fire, and his father brought him to Jesus. And he said, it's gonna kill him, this demon possession. And he said to Jesus, he says, but if you can do anything, take pity on us and save us. And Jesus said, if you can, all things are possible with him who believes. And immediately the boy's father cried out and said, I do believe, help my unbelief. See, he understands God does not mean or require of us anything that we can't do. He understands our limitations. He understands we struggle. So we simply say, Lord, help me. Increase my faith. Help my unbelief. I'm really struggling in this, Lord. I remember sitting in the parking lot before I walked into the prison for the first time. God had called me to go and speak to a young man at a prison. I didn't want to go to the prison. It was dark. It was rainy. It was cold. It was nighttime. It was 9 o'clock at night down in Denham, Massachusetts. But I knew that God had asked me to go and visit this man who I did not know. He spoke Portuguese, which I don't speak. But God had put it very clearly in my path that I was going to go and talk to this young man, Lino Mar. So I get to the prison, it's down on 128 in Dedham, Massachusetts, and I drive all the way down there, and the entire hour and a half of driving down there, I'm nervous, I'm scared, I'm, Lord, I don't wanna do this, I don't wanna be a part of this. But by faith, I'm gonna trust that you have something in this, Lord. I get to the parking lot, it's dark. Why they don't have lights in the parking lot of a prison? I don't know. I'm clueless, but it's dark. And I see the barbed wire and the razor wire and the high walls, and I'm scared. And I remember bowing at my steering wheel saying, by faith, Lord, I'm going to walk in that door. By faith, I'm going to go in there because I really don't want to do that. But I know you want me to do that because it says in your word that when I was in prison, you came and visited me. I know it says that in his word." And I'm like, okay, Lord, I'll do this. So I get in the prison and there's all ladies in there and they're all getting dressed up and putting makeup on because they're all going to visit their husbands and boyfriends and sons and everything else. And there was no other guys there. I was the only guy and I felt a little uncomfortable there, but there was a whole group of women there. And I'm like, what do I do? And they're like, oh, just stand over here and the guard will call you in. And so I went through, you know, giving the paperwork out and to the CO. And if you've ever dealt with COs, sometimes they're not very nice people in the prison because they deal with the difficulties they deal with in their jobs all the time. And so I get into the I give him my paperwork, and he tells me to go stand over there. I go and stand over there. And then he calls us all in. And we stand in a trap where there's cameras and windows and lights. And then we go through another trap. And that's where you're trapped in between doors, two doors, that's what they call it. And the big steel metal doors, clang, hitting the walls. Some of you might know what that sounds like or feels like. It's a horrible place to be. But I was saying the whole time, I was, Lord, by faith, I'm doing this. I don't want to be here. Every bone in my body is saying, no, run the other way. Quit this. You know, this is foolishness. This is ridiculous. I don't even know this guy. I don't know what he looks like. I have no idea. Every bone, every wishful thinking in my heart wants to go the other way. But I know that by faith, God had called me to do this. So I get in there, and they have these big glass windows with telephones in the booths, and I'm watching all the women. And this is my first time in a prison, basically. And I did go many years earlier to visit someone. And all the girls are sitting in the booths, and they grab their phones. And all the men are let in there. And all the men sit at the different windows. We're talking to their girls and their wives and stuff. And I see one kid, young kid, come walking in. And he's looking back. And he looked like a kid at Christmastime. That expectation in his face of joy was unbelievable. And he's all excited. He's looking all around. And he doesn't recognize anybody who would come and visit him. I'm sitting there all by myself. He goes to the CO, the corrections officer. And the corrections officer, you can't hear anything because it's behind this glass wall. But I can just see him give him a dirty face and point towards me. So Linda Mata comes over and sits down in front of me and picks up the phone. He said, are you here to visit me? I said, are you Linda Mott? And he says, yes, I am. And he just started crying. He started just bawling. He says, I've been here 10 months. I have not been tried yet. And he said, I prayed last night that God would send somebody to visit me. And I can tell you honestly, my friends, when I looked into his face, I saw Jesus Christ. It was an incredible feeling. I saw Jesus Christ. And ever since that time, that has strengthened my faith in the ministry of prison ministry. It's like, wow, now I go with expectation, a joyful expectation of what is God gonna do today? And I go every Tuesday. This is exciting. Now I go there and I have a joy and I just want to go through the traps. I have seven traps to get into the prison and I look forward to it and now it's part of my life because I have learned that my father loves those guys and he wants to use us to minister to them. Or, this is crazy, they can minister to you. That's what's nuts about the whole thing. I have grown so much from knowing the namad. My life has changed. That's faith. I didn't have it. I didn't have it. Second way, we study and listen to God's word. The first way, we pray. The second one, it says in Romans 10, 17, so faith cometh by what? hearing, and hearing by what? Word of God, amen. Faith cometh by hearing, and the hearing of the word of God. You want to grow in faith? You've got to be in this book. You've got to be in here. You're not going to grow in faith. You're not going to grow in courage. You're not going to grow in strength. You're not going to grow in joyful expectation unless you spend time in here getting to know him. Because when you get to know him, it's like, I know how he acts. I know how he thinks. So I can see this, and I can know how he's going to react in any given situation. And when people say, oh, this is horrible. This situation is terrible, you can say, Really? God is still sovereign, nobody kicked him off the throne. Faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God. And in Romans 12, two, transformation comes by the renewal of your mind. So those are just two verses to show us that we can grow by faith through hearing God's word. The third way. we step out of faith. Second Corinthians 5.7 says, for we walk by faith and not by sight. Remember Abraham and Lot, Lot walked by sight. And when you look through the scriptures and you see that people saw, you can see that they're running into trouble. Every time you see that in scriptures, pretty much every time, not all the time, when people saw and they did not inquire of the Lord, it cost them dearly. Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for and the conviction of things not seen. And without it, it is impossible to please God. So it's very important that you understand what this is, that I understand what it is. Without faith, it is impossible to please him. For he who comes to God must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of those that seek him. And again, our definition, it is a complete trust or confidence in something or someone, even if you have not seen or experienced it yet. And secondly, faith is seen through our actions. Faith cannot stand alone. It proves itself through its actions. It's actually very simple. I know a lot of people have confusion about James chapter two, but it's simply a consequence of faith. Work is. If you truly believe, you are going to give. If you truly believe, you are going to serve. If you truly believe, you're going to love the unlovely. You're gonna visit those in prison. You're gonna visit those in the hospitals. You're gonna clothe the naked, give water to the thirsty, give food to the hungry. Somebody will say, you have faith, I have works. Show me your faith of all works. I'll show you my faith by what I do. It's a result of hearing God's word and submitting the mind, body to its dominion and acting in accordance to what God has instructed. If God says it, we are called to do it. And finally, so faith cometh from hearing and hearing by the word of God. If we are not hearing God's word, that we download offline sermons. You know, like I have an MP3 player and I download messages, sermons online. So when I'm out cutting the grass, I put my headphones in and then I put earmuffs over those so that I can hear and I listen to messages. When I go skating, as exercise, a cardio exercise. I listen to sermons. And I know after two and a half sermons or three sermons, I've done my day's worth of cardio exercise. There's times that you and I can be feeding ourselves with God's word, therefore getting to know him and growing in faith. It is my prayer that this morning we can go out from here and exercise what we're learning about him. Let's pray. Lord, thank you. Thank you for this time. Thank you for the opportunity to look at your word this morning. It is our prayer that you have been glorified, that we have been encouraged. And it's our prayer as we go off from here, that we will be the lights and the testimonies in our community that you've called us to be. And by faith, we're going to be the witnesses that you call us to be, even though it's not easy. And Father, we pray these things in the only name that we can pray in, Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.