June 15, 2025 • 32 mins
This message explores what real, active faith looks like by examining five biblical fathers from Hebrews 11’s “Hall of Faith.” Each figure—Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, and Moses—demonstrates a unique expression of faith: worship, walking with God, preparation, obedience, and godly decision-making. Their lives show that faith isn’t passive or future-based, but present and action-driven. These examples offer practical guidance and encouragement for believers facing uncertainty, reminding us that true faith transforms lives and lights the path through any challenge.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Pick your Bibles up.
Let's get into the Word tonight.
We lift those Bibles up, makeJesus glad and the devil bad.
Say this together.
Say, heavenly Father, what awonderful time to be in your
presence tonight.
Thank you for the baptism ofthe Holy Ghost.
Thank you for the Word of God.
It's the Word and the Spiritthat are working together in my
(00:23):
life to put me over, to positionme for the end time ministry
that you've called me to.
I wouldn't be living right nowif you didn't ordain for me to
be living in the end days.
So I'm alert, I'm awake and I'mready to be used in Jesus name.
(00:45):
Hebrews 11 please Feed yourfaith some more tonight.
Verse one wonder how manyhundred times I've preached out
of these Hebrews 11, one Now,faith is, faith is now.
(01:07):
It's good to always remember,remember your tenses.
Don't say when you're, whenyou're walking by faith.
Don't say gonna Gonna happen,will happen.
No, faith is now, it's alwaysnow present tense.
Everybody say faith is presenttense.
So I'm not going to be healed,I am healed.
I'm not going to be healed, Iam healed.
I'm not going to be blessed, Iam blessed All right.
(01:30):
Now.
Faith is the substance of thingshoped for, the evidence of
things not seen, not seen as yet, for by it the elders obtained
a good report.
Through faith, we understandthat the worlds were framed by
the word of God.
So the things which are seenwere not made of things which do
appear.
By faith, abel offered unto Goda more excellent sacrifice than
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Cain, by which he obtainedwitness that he was righteous,
god testifying of his gifts.
And by it, he, being dead yetspeaketh.
And by it, he, being dead yetspeaketh, or is spoken of yet is
spoken of, says in my margin.
By faith, enoch was translatedthat he should not see death and
(02:14):
was not found because God hadtranslated him.
Just think about that.
I mean, what happened to Enoch?
Have you seen Enoch lately?
Where'd he go?
What happened to Enoch?
Have you seen Enoch lately?
Where'd he go?
He was not found because Godhad translated him, for before
his translation he had thistestimony that he pleased God.
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For without faith it isimpossible to please God, for he
that cometh to God must believethat he is and that he is a
rewarder of them who diligentlyseek him.
And so tonight I wanted to do afollow-up message on Father's
Day and talk about the fathersof faith.
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Fathers of faith.
We honor the fathers of faithon this Father's Day.
All these that I'm going totalk about the two that I talked
about and three more five.
I'm going to talk about fivefathers of faith that are listed
in here in Hebrews 11.
They all Old Testament saintsand they're written about
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according to 1 Corinthians,chapter 10,.
They were mentioned and writtenabout in according to first
corinthians, chapter 10.
They they were mentioned andwritten about in detail for our
admonition, upon whom the endsof the age are come, and of
course, paul wrote that twothousand years ago.
How much more does it mean tous?
Because he's that much closer?
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I mean the end of the age isupon us, and so we need a
warning, we need admonition, weneed to be reminded of these
things.
We need these five flamingtorches to light our way as
examples.
Flaming torches to light ourway as examples.
(04:08):
And here in Hebrews 11, in thischapter, one version says by
faith.
It says by an act of faith.
So you know, we read, you knowby faith Abel, by faith Enoch,
and we're going to go down thelist.
By faith Noah.
You know, we read, you know byfaith Abel, by faith Enoch, and
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we're going to go down the list.
By faith, noah you know Claireused that speaking about me this
morning.
By faith, abraham.
By faith all the way through.
So by an act of faith.
Everybody say an act of faith.
See, faith requires an action.
Initial action is speaking inline with what you believe.
You've got to speak it.
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But it always requires yetanother action.
You've got to act like faith.
The simple definition of faithis acting like the Bible is true
.
Acting like the Bible is true.
I just like that definition.
Acting on the word, that's agood one, but acting like the
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Bible is true.
Acting like what you say istrue.
If you're going to confesssomething, then you can't act
like it, different than what yousaid.
I mean just kind of makes sense, doesn't it?
So let's dig into these fiveflaming torches.
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I mean I like to say we standon their shoulders.
We stand on their shoulders andthe shoulders of others in the
Bible, and not only them, butpeople like Smith Wigglesworth
and Brother Hagen and you knowjust different men and women of
God that I've known in my life.
I stand on their shoulders.
I mean I'm so grateful for thelife I've had, the kinds of
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ministry that I've received andthe kind of associations that
I've had.
So, by an act of faith, let'sstart here with Abel, verse four
.
By an act of faith, abel offereda more excellent sacrifice than
Cain, and that's found inGenesis, chapter four.
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Now, cain was the firstborn ofAdam and Eve.
I was thinking about thisrecently.
I was thinking about God andhow patient he is, and sometimes
I'm not.
I want things right now, I wantthings to happen right now, but
God just think.
I mean he's God.
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God made Adam and then he madeEve and they failed.
And then, you know, theirfirstborn failed.
So he's got three strikesalready.
God, you got three strikes, youknow.
But he didn't quit.
You know you shouldn't eitherjust because you didn't work out
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quite the way you thought.
You know, things didn't workout the way I thought on a lot
of occasions, but you know, youjust don't quit, you just keep
on going.
And so what was Cain's problem?
Well, the Bible says, when yougo back to Genesis 4, that Abel
brought the firstling of theflock Because that's what Adam
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taught him to do.
Adam taught his boys.
The only approach to God wasover a bleeding sacrifice.
You cannot get to God without ableeding animal.
That's just how it.
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That's how God operates.
And so you know his younger son, simple, and you know he's not
as sophisticated as Cain, butyou know he just did what his
daddy told him.
He brought a firstling of theflock.
He took he's a shepherd boy.
He's got some lambs and hekilled that their first one, the
nicest one, the best one.
He killed it and he came to Godand he offered it to God and
God accepted his sacrifice.
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But the Bible says about Cainthat in the process of time he
brought an offering.
In the process of time, hebrought an offering In the
process of time, in other words,when it was convenient for him.
He's walking through the fieldand say, yeah, I need to give
God an offering here.
Let me snatch a couple of thesestalks of wheat and I'll just
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bundle that up and throw it on afire.
God will have to be happy withthat.
Well, that's not the prescribedway to reach God.
That's not the way that he wastaught by his father to approach
God.
And you know, the proper waywould have been if he had no
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firstling, which he's probablynot raising any lambs or sheep
or whatever.
I guess he's just growing hiscrop.
The proper thing to do was totake of his crop and buy an
animal from his brother.
But he didn't and he wouldn't.
And he was obstinate.
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And you know, this is just apicture of religion.
Religion wants to make its ownway to God.
Religion wants to establish itsown rules.
It wants to and it wants tobully everyone else into
accepting it.
He didn't like his brother.
He didn't like his brotherobeying his father and he didn't
like his brother.
He didn't like his brotherobeying his father and he didn't
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like his brother showing him up, and he certainly didn't like
God rebuking him about it.
So he went and killed hisbrother, murder.
So Cain wouldn't repent.
He said look, if you'll just doit right, don't you know your
offering will be.
God tried to reason with him.
Look, if you'll just do itright, don't you know your
offering will be?
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God tried to reason with him.
Look, if you'll just do theright thing, don't you know
it'll be received.
But if you don't, sin lies atthe door.
You doofus, he was ironheadedand it cost him, cost him.
So getting back to Abel, nowhe's a flaming fire to light our
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way.
So what was his act of faith?
His act of faith was worship.
He worshiped God according tothe prescribed way.
I mean, his approach to God wasworship.
Did worship benefit him?
No, it cost him the first linkof his flock.
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He had to give the best.
Worship is not for you, worshipis for God.
I loved our children.
They got that principle.
I mean, I found out aboutworship.
Worship is not for me.
Worship is not for me to getall worked up and dance around
and have a happy old time.
No, worship is just, absolutelyis all to God.
It's all to God, all to God.
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And we like people, you knowreally, we like people rejoicing
, we like people dancing, welike people running.
We like people verydemonstrative during praise
because we're praising.
We like people verydemonstrative during praise
because we're praising.
But there comes a time when wepraise God until the spirit of
worship falls and then it's nolonger in order to dance and do
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a bunch of stuff.
It brings attention away fromhim.
Worship goes straight up andit's only for him, it's not for
anybody else's eyes.
Now, I've seen this for a longtime.
I mean, you've got these praisedancers and all that and all
this and they try to act likethat.
That's worship.
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It's not worship, it's brass.
It's brass and it will neverwork.
And God is not glorified.
It's no different than Cain.
You're getting something out ofit.
You've practiced and you've gotyour little uniform on, you've
got your little shoes.
You know, look, that's notworship.
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Worship is just you and God.
And maybe you're flatter than aflitter.
It doesn't matter about yourvoice.
You make a joyful noise andyou're worshiping him.
It's all for him, he's theaudience.
Have you ever seen people tryto make you know you're the
audience?
They're trying to do all thisstuff.
You know, had one guy.
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You know that's not God.
You're pulling away from him.
You can do that during praise,all you want to, but when
worship hits, worships for him.
I loved it when the kids gotthat.
I mean several of them talkedabout it this morning.
His act of faith was worship.
So let's, let's worship God.
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I mean God is seeking.
He's not even looking for thepraise dancers, he's looking for
those who will worship him inspirit and in truth.
I mean he'll take it, he'lltake that, he'll take.
I mean I like running, I've runmyself.
I haven't run much lately, butI can, I have.
But when you worship, it's allfor him, it's all in his
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direction and no one else is theaudience.
All right.
So by an act of faith, abel.
His act of faith was worshipand it was an excellent
sacrifice, all right.
Number two, verse five it saysmy faith.
Enoch was translated that heshould not see death and was not
found because God hadtranslated him and he had this
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testimony that he should not seedeath and was not found because
God had translated him and hehad this testimony that he
pleased God and he walked withGod.
In Genesis, chapter five, saysEnoch walked with God and was
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not for God took him.
He walked with God or hecontinued with God.
So here in Hebrews it says thatGod translated him, that he had
this.
You know that he translated him, that he pleased God.
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He had this testimony that hepleased God.
So he had to have faith tocontinue or walk with God.
So you know, I noticed thatEnoch lived along.
He's like eight or ninegenerations away from Adam, he's
way later.
I asked the Lord years ago.
I said where in the world didhe get the faith to walk with a
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God he couldn't see?
I mean he couldn't see God.
He'd never seen him, he didn'tknow him, he'd heard about him.
Where did he get all that faith?
He said Adam, adam.
Adam told him Adam and I had togo back and do the begets.
I had to go back and do thegenealogies and I discovered
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that Adam lived 57 years, youknow, past the birth of, or in
other words, enoch was 57 yearsold when Adam died.
So for for 57 years then, enochand no one else, methuselah,
not none of Elam elect, none ofthem, none of them, none of them
got anything from Adam.
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But but I, you know this, this,this man.
He sat at, at, at great, great,great, great, great, great
grandpa's feet and got animpartation of the love of God.
Can you imagine the hole thatwas an Adam, the grief that was
an Adam when he used to walkwith God, and the Ruach, the
breath of the day he used towalk with God, he continued with
God and he, he knew God, he sawGod, he heard God.
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He didn't even need faithbecause he, god, you know God
apparent to him and all of asudden he fell from that.
Now he doesn't see him, he, hecan't hear him, he's dead to him
.
Uh, he has no more contact withhim like that, but he's still
talking about it Hundreds andhundreds of years later, 900 and
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some odd years later, he'sstill talking about God and he's
impressed his, his great greatgreat grandson.
He's impressed his great, greatgreat grandson so much that his
great great grandson says youknow what?
I'm going to walk by faith.
I believe my grandpa, I believehe knew God.
I'm going to walk with God eventhough I can't see him.
I'm going to give him worship,I'm going to give him the
firstling of the flock, I'mgoing to continue with God.
(16:42):
And so his faith pleased God somuch.
He said all right, come on uphere.
You don't have to live downthere with all the hellions.
By that time everything'sdegraded.
By that time things are gettingdicey down there.
So he just took him up.
God's going to take us upbefore it gets too much worse.
He continued I'm about to sayI'm continuing with God.
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It's not how you start out, aswhether you keep going.
Let's keep going with God.
Let's not just start good andend up on the scrap heap.
So his act of faith.
Then why buy an act of faith?
What was his act of faith?
Walking, or, we could say,continuing.
It takes faith to continue withGod.
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You know, because you're goingto come up with things that you
don't understand.
You're going to get beat upSometimes you're going to get
circumstances are going to turnagainst you and you're going to
have times when it's just notthat, you know, easy to serve
God, but you just serving.
It hadn't been real easy forthe last eight months to drive
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back and forth to Huff Smith andsee my wife just a few, you
know, a couple hours a day whenwe've lived together for 57,
almost 57 years now the end ofthis month.
But you know we just serve God.
I mean, you know I justsometimes I'll sit out in the
driveway, headed home, in frontof the little house and now
she's back home now.
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But there have been more thanone time I'd sit out there and
I'd say well, you know, lord,I'm just not moved by what I see
, I'm not moved by how I feel,I'm only moved by what I believe
that's got me through.
I mean my faith continues,it'll get you through.
I mean my faith continues,it'll get you through.
I mean if you continue, he'llcontinue.
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Hallelujah, I stand on Enoch'sshoulders.
He continued Get anything outof this.
I want your faith to get builtup because we're going into some
things.
It's exciting and yetchallenging at the same time.
I was impressed this morning,about 24 hours a day.
You know these kids are targets.
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The world is contending againstthem, trying to draw their
attention away from God, andthat's not just kids, that's all
of us.
All right, number uh, numberthree is Noah, verse seven by
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faith, noah, claire, use thisfor me this morning I really
appreciate that.
It was very touching that wholeservice.
I just really was moved.
I didn't expect it, I didn'tknow it was coming, so it was
really precious.
By faith, noah being warned ofGod, of things not seen as yet,
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moved with fear, prepared an arkto the saving of his house, by
the which he condemned the worldand became heir of the
righteousness which is of faith.
Noah moved with fear, reverence, the fear of the Lord is the
beginning of wisdom.
I mean just for to to receive awarning of something that had
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never been seen.
I've had warnings that you knowthat weren't that dramatic, but
they were warnings nonethelessand I took heed, which is why
this church is the way it istoday.
I, I mean I took heed towarnings.
He's warned me over and overand over, and so we take heed to
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those warnings.
That's the fear of the Lord.
And when you do that, thebeginning of wisdom.
God will give you the wisdom tonavigate through the troubled
waters that the warning is for,just like Paul.
And God warned him, hey, thisvoyage.
He didn't directly warn him, hewarned him in his own spirit.
He said I perceive, I perceive,this voyage is going to be with
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a lot of hurt.
And so he obeyed that warning.
And then God gave him thewarning to preserve all the life
on the ship.
The ship was lost in thewarning to preserve all the life
on the ship.
The ship was lost, but the lifewas preserved.
And so the same with Noah.
He moved with fear.
He didn't just sit around andworry about the problem.
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He, he not only built an ark,he prepared an ark.
There's building and thenthere's preparing.
There's building and thenthere's preparing.
I mean, he did build it, noquestion, he constructed it
according to the plan that Godgave him.
I mean board by board, you know, room by room, stall by stall.
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But then he didn't stop there,he didn't just build it, he
equipped it, he furnished it, heoutfitted it, he put the food
in it.
Are y'all with me now, this isspeaking of the apostolic.
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This is the apostolic at work,because the apostolic is a
procurement and then adistribution.
I mean it's a gathering, I meanit's a lot of things that are
tied up with that word prepare.
We've prepared this church forthis time, right here.
God has outfitted it with youand the different giftings, and
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he's added my family, he's givenmy family, he's changed their
ministries and he's added myfamily.
He's given my family, he'schanged their ministries, he's
added to them and moved theminto places that, quite frankly,
I just go, wow, this is justamazing what God has done.
He's done it.
We didn't set out wanting to dothat.
We didn't set out thinking thatthat was part of the deal.
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We just built a local church,but no, he's equipped us An end
time work, a barn for theharvest, if you will, and this
is not just this building andthis church.
A barn is the association ofall of the fantastic ministries
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that God has allowed us to workwith and moved us in position to
be part of.
God has allowed us to work withand moved us in position to be
part of, and so, while heprepared, the world perished.
While he prepared, the worldperished.
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Second, peter 2.5 calls him apreacher of righteousness.
With every swing of the hammer,with every preparation that was
made for the ark to actuallycarry the family and all those
animals and successfully housethem for as long as it took for
the flood to recede, I mean,that was that whole time.
Everybody's mocking him.
They're thinking, oh, he's time.
Everybody's mocking him.
They're thinking, oh, he's nuts, he's another nut job and and
he's a preacher of righteousness.
There's a lot of a lot ofpreaching can be done by just
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our actions.
I know preaching means words,it means proclaiming, but
actions many times speak louderthan words.
I mean he could have preached.
Who would have listened?
Nobody.
Instead, he just got.
I'm not saying he didn't preach.
He might have said something,he might have answered some of
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them, but mainly he built and heprocured and he prepared.
Amen, hallelujah.
So his act of faith ispreparation, prepared, he
prepared.
We're going to have to worship,we're going to have to walk and
continue.
We're going to have to prepare,keep preparing.
I mean, let's prepare forwhat's ahead.
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We don't even know all about it, but let's be prepared, all
right, by an act of faith.
Number four, abraham, verseeight by faith.
By an act of faith, abraham,when he was called to go out
into a place which he should,after receive for an inheritance
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, obeyed and he went out, notknowing whither he went, for he
looked excuse me at verse 9.
By faith, he sojourned in theland of promise, as in a strange
country, dwelling intabernacles with Isaac and Jacob
(25:52):
.
So let's break that down by anact of faith.
Abraham obeyed God.
Well, not knowing Just onesentence Leave your father's
house, okay, and can you pointme in a?
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At least point me in adirection.
I'll show you where later.
Just leave your father's house.
I mean, that's almost as bad asstarting this church, really.
I mean, broke, just foreclosedon the only prettiest house I'd
ever built, the biggest houseI'd ever built, just been sold
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on.
The Ford House steps to thehighest bidder and, yeah, go
start the church.
He obeyed God, not knowing Justone sentence of command.
That's all you need.
As a matter of fact, if you'renot going to obey God's word,
you're not, probably not goingto hear the next word.
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Sometimes we're waiting for aparagraph, sometimes we're
waiting for a novel, sometimeswe're waiting for the end of the
story.
Come on, give me a novel andgive me a good ending.
And then I'll obey.
No, he'll give you.
He'll give you just thestarting, the start, just give
you the start.
He'll give you just thestarting, the start, just give
you the start.
And you got to be prepared tostart.
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And that's what Abraham did.
He started not knowing and thenhe went to a land.
When God did finally show himthe land, it wasn't his.
He didn't get to own any of it,it was not his to own.
He didn't get to build thePonderosa, he didn't get to
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build the Tara, you know, youknow, gone with the wind.
You know he didn't get to.
He didn't get to build the bigranch house.
He didn't get to do that.
He's living in a tent, and sowere his boys and his grandson.
I mean, they never did ownanything until later.
It was for his heirs, israel.
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He said look out here, this isall going to be not yours but
your heirs one of these days.
And I just that blows my mind.
You know he didn't even get toowning it, he got to sojourn.
So what were his two acts offaith?
Obeyed and sojourn.
So what were his two acts offaith?
Obeyed and sojourned.
He didn't try to turn it intohis kingdom.
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He didn't try to turn it intohis thing.
He stayed in obedience to God.
And what was his aim?
A city whose builder and makeris God, something he didn't see,
something he couldn't possiblysee, and that's why he's the
father of faith.
That's why we're the seed ofAbraham.
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He stuck it out.
We stand on his shoulders forhis obedience.
He got to advocate for hisnephew.
He got to advocate for Sodomand Gomorrah.
He got to procure, he got togather.
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He was very rich in cattle,silver and gold, but, thank God,
he obeyed and he sojourned.
Are you getting anything out ofthis now?
Alright, the last one is I'mgoing to talk about I could talk
about Sarah, but she's not afather, so I'm going to skip
over to Moses.
No disrespect Sarah, but it'sFather's Day.
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I'll talk about her on Mother'sDay, alright.
Number 5, moses, verse 24.
But it's Father's Day, I'lltalk about her on Mother's Day,
maybe, all right?
Number five, moses, verse 24.
By faith, by an act of faith,everybody say an act of faith.
By an act of faith, moses, whenhe would come to years, refused
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to be called the son ofPharaoh's daughter, choosing
rather to suffer affliction withthe people of God than to enjoy
the pleasures of sin for aseason, esteeming the reproach
of Christ greater riches thanthe treasures in Egypt.
For he had respect unto therecompense of reward.
(30:16):
So you know, I could keep onabout him, but I just want to
make a couple of points abouthim.
Moses, greatest prophet in theOld Testament, wrote the
Pentateuch was so revered byIsrael that God hid his body so
that he wouldn't be turned intoan idol when he died.
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Moses chose Israel over Egypt.
He chose persecution over thepalace.
He chose to slay the Passoverthan to satisfy Pharaoh.
You know, he could have madepeace with Pharaoh, he could
have made up with Pharaoh, buthe slayed the Passover lamb and
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poured the blood on thethreshold and splashed the blood
on the doorposts with a hyssopand the death angel passed over.
I mean he would not compromise,he would not choose Egypt, he
would not choose that place.
He chose persecution, he chose,he chose.
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That was his act of faith.
By an act of faith he chose.
We all have a choice and how wechoose could either be faith or
foolishness, or presumption.
He chose God's reward overEgypt's reward.
Egypt had a reward Pleasures ofsin for a season.
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He had a reward he could of sinfor a season.
He had a reward.
He could have been the son ofPharaoh, but he refused to be
called the son of Pharaoh.
He wanted to be named with thename of his people.
So he chose his act of faith.
So our fathers of faith haveilluminated the way for us and
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for those in the Bible and thosein this life.
We stand on their shoulders andwe live the faith life.
Amen.
Everybody say I'm living thefaith life.
Come on, lift your hands andreceive the word tonight.
Thank you, lord.
Did that help you tonight?
Want to feed your faith for thelast days?
We're not in this by ourself,are we Praise God?
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Thank God for that.
We've got a helper and his nameis the Holy Ghost.
Amen.
Pick your Bibles up.
Let's get into the Word tonight.
We lift those Bibles up, makeJesus glad and the devil bad.
Say this together.
Say, heavenly Father, what awonderful time to be in your
presence tonight.
Thank you for the baptism ofthe Holy Ghost.
Thank you for the Word of God.
It's the Word and the Spiritthat are working together in my
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life to put me over, to positionme for the end time ministry
that you've called me to.
I wouldn't be living right nowif you didn't ordain for me to
be living in the end days.
So I'm alert, I'm awake and I'mready to be used in Jesus name.
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Hebrews 11 please Feed yourfaith some more tonight.
Verse one wonder how manyhundred times I've preached out
of these Hebrews 11, one Now,faith is, faith is now.
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It's good to always remember,remember your tenses.
Don't say when you're, whenyou're walking by faith.
Don't say gonna Gonna happen,will happen.
No, faith is now, it's alwaysnow present tense.
Everybody say faith is presenttense.
So I'm not going to be healed,I am healed.
I'm not going to be healed, Iam healed.
I'm not going to be blessed, Iam blessed All right.
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Now.
Faith is the substance of thingshoped for, the evidence of
things not seen, not seen as yet, for by it the elders obtained
a good report.
Through faith, we understandthat the worlds were framed by
the word of God.
So the things which are seenwere not made of things which do
appear.
By faith, abel offered unto Goda more excellent sacrifice than
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Cain, by which he obtainedwitness that he was righteous,
god testifying of his gifts.
And by it, he, being dead yetspeaketh.
And by it, he, being dead yetspeaketh, or is spoken of yet is
spoken of, says in my margin.
By faith, enoch was translatedthat he should not see death and
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was not found because God hadtranslated him.
Just think about that.
I mean, what happened to Enoch?
Have you seen Enoch lately?
Where'd he go?
What happened to Enoch?
Have you seen Enoch lately?
Where'd he go?
He was not found because Godhad translated him, for before
his translation he had thistestimony that he pleased God.
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For without faith it isimpossible to please God, for he
that cometh to God must believethat he is and that he is a
rewarder of them who diligentlyseek him.
And so tonight I wanted to do afollow-up message on Father's
Day and talk about the fathersof faith.
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Fathers of faith.
We honor the fathers of faithon this Father's Day.
All these that I'm going totalk about the two that I talked
about and three more five.
I'm going to talk about fivefathers of faith that are listed
in here in Hebrews 11.
They all Old Testament saintsand they're written about
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according to 1 Corinthians,chapter 10,.
They were mentioned and writtenabout in according to first
corinthians, chapter 10.
They they were mentioned andwritten about in detail for our
admonition, upon whom the endsof the age are come, and of
course, paul wrote that twothousand years ago.
How much more does it mean tous?
Because he's that much closer?
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I mean the end of the age isupon us, and so we need a
warning, we need admonition, weneed to be reminded of these
things.
We need these five flamingtorches to light our way as
examples.
Flaming torches to light ourway as examples.
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And here in Hebrews 11, in thischapter, one version says by
faith.
It says by an act of faith.
So you know, we read, you knowby faith Abel, by faith Enoch,
and we're going to go down thelist.
By faith Noah.
You know, we read, you know byfaith Abel, by faith Enoch, and
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we're going to go down the list.
By faith, noah you know Claireused that speaking about me this
morning.
By faith, abraham.
By faith all the way through.
So by an act of faith.
Everybody say an act of faith.
See, faith requires an action.
Initial action is speaking inline with what you believe.
You've got to speak it.
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But it always requires yetanother action.
You've got to act like faith.
The simple definition of faithis acting like the Bible is true
.
Acting like the Bible is true.
I just like that definition.
Acting on the word, that's agood one, but acting like the
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Bible is true.
Acting like what you say istrue.
If you're going to confesssomething, then you can't act
like it, different than what yousaid.
I mean just kind of makes sense, doesn't it?
So let's dig into these fiveflaming torches.
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I mean I like to say we standon their shoulders.
We stand on their shoulders andthe shoulders of others in the
Bible, and not only them, butpeople like Smith Wigglesworth
and Brother Hagen and you knowjust different men and women of
God that I've known in my life.
I stand on their shoulders.
I mean I'm so grateful for thelife I've had, the kinds of
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ministry that I've received andthe kind of associations that
I've had.
So, by an act of faith, let'sstart here with Abel, verse four
.
By an act of faith, abel offereda more excellent sacrifice than
Cain, and that's found inGenesis, chapter four.
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Now, cain was the firstborn ofAdam and Eve.
I was thinking about thisrecently.
I was thinking about God andhow patient he is, and sometimes
I'm not.
I want things right now, I wantthings to happen right now, but
God just think.
I mean he's God.
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God made Adam and then he madeEve and they failed.
And then, you know, theirfirstborn failed.
So he's got three strikesalready.
God, you got three strikes, youknow.
But he didn't quit.
You know you shouldn't eitherjust because you didn't work out
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quite the way you thought.
You know, things didn't workout the way I thought on a lot
of occasions, but you know, youjust don't quit, you just keep
on going.
And so what was Cain's problem?
Well, the Bible says, when yougo back to Genesis 4, that Abel
brought the firstling of theflock Because that's what Adam
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taught him to do.
Adam taught his boys.
The only approach to God wasover a bleeding sacrifice.
You cannot get to God without ableeding animal.
That's just how it.
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That's how God operates.
And so you know his younger son, simple, and you know he's not
as sophisticated as Cain, butyou know he just did what his
daddy told him.
He brought a firstling of theflock.
He took he's a shepherd boy.
He's got some lambs and hekilled that their first one, the
nicest one, the best one.
He killed it and he came to Godand he offered it to God and
God accepted his sacrifice.
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But the Bible says about Cainthat in the process of time he
brought an offering.
In the process of time, hebrought an offering In the
process of time, in other words,when it was convenient for him.
He's walking through the fieldand say, yeah, I need to give
God an offering here.
Let me snatch a couple of thesestalks of wheat and I'll just
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bundle that up and throw it on afire.
God will have to be happy withthat.
Well, that's not the prescribedway to reach God.
That's not the way that he wastaught by his father to approach
God.
And you know, the proper waywould have been if he had no
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firstling, which he's probablynot raising any lambs or sheep
or whatever.
I guess he's just growing hiscrop.
The proper thing to do was totake of his crop and buy an
animal from his brother.
But he didn't and he wouldn't.
And he was obstinate.
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And you know, this is just apicture of religion.
Religion wants to make its ownway to God.
Religion wants to establish itsown rules.
It wants to and it wants tobully everyone else into
accepting it.
He didn't like his brother.
He didn't like his brotherobeying his father and he didn't
like his brother.
He didn't like his brotherobeying his father and he didn't
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like his brother showing him up, and he certainly didn't like
God rebuking him about it.
So he went and killed hisbrother, murder.
So Cain wouldn't repent.
He said look, if you'll just doit right, don't you know your
offering will be.
God tried to reason with him.
Look, if you'll just do itright, don't you know your
offering will be?
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God tried to reason with him.
Look, if you'll just do theright thing, don't you know
it'll be received.
But if you don't, sin lies atthe door.
You doofus, he was ironheadedand it cost him, cost him.
So getting back to Abel, nowhe's a flaming fire to light our
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way.
So what was his act of faith?
His act of faith was worship.
He worshiped God according tothe prescribed way.
I mean, his approach to God wasworship.
Did worship benefit him?
No, it cost him the first linkof his flock.
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He had to give the best.
Worship is not for you, worshipis for God.
I loved our children.
They got that principle.
I mean, I found out aboutworship.
Worship is not for me.
Worship is not for me to getall worked up and dance around
and have a happy old time.
No, worship is just, absolutelyis all to God.
It's all to God, all to God.
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And we like people, you knowreally, we like people rejoicing
, we like people dancing, welike people running.
We like people verydemonstrative during praise
because we're praising.
We like people verydemonstrative during praise
because we're praising.
But there comes a time when wepraise God until the spirit of
worship falls and then it's nolonger in order to dance and do
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a bunch of stuff.
It brings attention away fromhim.
Worship goes straight up andit's only for him, it's not for
anybody else's eyes.
Now, I've seen this for a longtime.
I mean, you've got these praisedancers and all that and all
this and they try to act likethat.
That's worship.
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It's not worship, it's brass.
It's brass and it will neverwork.
And God is not glorified.
It's no different than Cain.
You're getting something out ofit.
You've practiced and you've gotyour little uniform on, you've
got your little shoes.
You know, look, that's notworship.
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Worship is just you and God.
And maybe you're flatter than aflitter.
It doesn't matter about yourvoice.
You make a joyful noise andyou're worshiping him.
It's all for him, he's theaudience.
Have you ever seen people tryto make you know you're the
audience?
They're trying to do all thisstuff.
You know, had one guy.
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You know that's not God.
You're pulling away from him.
You can do that during praise,all you want to, but when
worship hits, worships for him.
I loved it when the kids gotthat.
I mean several of them talkedabout it this morning.
His act of faith was worship.
So let's, let's worship God.
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I mean God is seeking.
He's not even looking for thepraise dancers, he's looking for
those who will worship him inspirit and in truth.
I mean he'll take it, he'lltake that, he'll take.
I mean I like running, I've runmyself.
I haven't run much lately, butI can, I have.
But when you worship, it's allfor him, it's all in his
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direction and no one else is theaudience.
All right.
So by an act of faith, abel.
His act of faith was worshipand it was an excellent
sacrifice, all right.
Number two, verse five it saysmy faith.
Enoch was translated that heshould not see death and was not
found because God hadtranslated him and he had this
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testimony that he should not seedeath and was not found because
God had translated him and hehad this testimony that he
pleased God and he walked withGod.
In Genesis, chapter five, saysEnoch walked with God and was
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not for God took him.
He walked with God or hecontinued with God.
So here in Hebrews it says thatGod translated him, that he had
this.
You know that he translated him, that he pleased God.
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He had this testimony that hepleased God.
So he had to have faith tocontinue or walk with God.
So you know, I noticed thatEnoch lived along.
He's like eight or ninegenerations away from Adam, he's
way later.
I asked the Lord years ago.
I said where in the world didhe get the faith to walk with a
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God he couldn't see?
I mean he couldn't see God.
He'd never seen him, he didn'tknow him, he'd heard about him.
Where did he get all that faith?
He said Adam, adam.
Adam told him Adam and I had togo back and do the begets.
I had to go back and do thegenealogies and I discovered
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that Adam lived 57 years, youknow, past the birth of, or in
other words, enoch was 57 yearsold when Adam died.
So for for 57 years then, enochand no one else, methuselah,
not none of Elam elect, none ofthem, none of them, none of them
got anything from Adam.
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But but I, you know this, this,this man.
He sat at, at, at great, great,great, great, great, great
grandpa's feet and got animpartation of the love of God.
Can you imagine the hole thatwas an Adam, the grief that was
an Adam when he used to walkwith God, and the Ruach, the
breath of the day he used towalk with God, he continued with
God and he, he knew God, he sawGod, he heard God.
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He didn't even need faithbecause he, god, you know God
apparent to him and all of asudden he fell from that.
Now he doesn't see him, he, hecan't hear him, he's dead to him
.
Uh, he has no more contact withhim like that, but he's still
talking about it Hundreds andhundreds of years later, 900 and
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some odd years later, he'sstill talking about God and he's
impressed his, his great greatgreat grandson.
He's impressed his great, greatgreat grandson so much that his
great great grandson says youknow what?
I'm going to walk by faith.
I believe my grandpa, I believehe knew God.
I'm going to walk with God eventhough I can't see him.
I'm going to give him worship,I'm going to give him the
firstling of the flock, I'mgoing to continue with God.
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And so his faith pleased God somuch.
He said all right, come on uphere.
You don't have to live downthere with all the hellions.
By that time everything'sdegraded.
By that time things are gettingdicey down there.
So he just took him up.
God's going to take us upbefore it gets too much worse.
He continued I'm about to sayI'm continuing with God.
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It's not how you start out, aswhether you keep going.
Let's keep going with God.
Let's not just start good andend up on the scrap heap.
So his act of faith.
Then why buy an act of faith?
What was his act of faith?
Walking, or, we could say,continuing.
It takes faith to continue withGod.
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You know, because you're goingto come up with things that you
don't understand.
You're going to get beat upSometimes you're going to get
circumstances are going to turnagainst you and you're going to
have times when it's just notthat, you know, easy to serve
God, but you just serving.
It hadn't been real easy forthe last eight months to drive
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back and forth to Huff Smith andsee my wife just a few, you
know, a couple hours a day whenwe've lived together for 57,
almost 57 years now the end ofthis month.
But you know we just serve God.
I mean, you know I justsometimes I'll sit out in the
driveway, headed home, in frontof the little house and now
she's back home now.
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But there have been more thanone time I'd sit out there and
I'd say well, you know, lord,I'm just not moved by what I see
, I'm not moved by how I feel,I'm only moved by what I believe
that's got me through.
I mean my faith continues,it'll get you through.
I mean my faith continues,it'll get you through.
I mean if you continue, he'llcontinue.
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Hallelujah, I stand on Enoch'sshoulders.
He continued Get anything outof this.
I want your faith to get builtup because we're going into some
things.
It's exciting and yetchallenging at the same time.
I was impressed this morning,about 24 hours a day.
You know these kids are targets.
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The world is contending againstthem, trying to draw their
attention away from God, andthat's not just kids, that's all
of us.
All right, number uh, numberthree is Noah, verse seven by
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faith, noah, claire, use thisfor me this morning I really
appreciate that.
It was very touching that wholeservice.
I just really was moved.
I didn't expect it, I didn'tknow it was coming, so it was
really precious.
By faith, noah being warned ofGod, of things not seen as yet,
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moved with fear, prepared an arkto the saving of his house, by
the which he condemned the worldand became heir of the
righteousness which is of faith.
Noah moved with fear, reverence, the fear of the Lord is the
beginning of wisdom.
I mean just for to to receive awarning of something that had
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never been seen.
I've had warnings that you knowthat weren't that dramatic, but
they were warnings nonethelessand I took heed, which is why
this church is the way it istoday.
I, I mean I took heed towarnings.
He's warned me over and overand over, and so we take heed to
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those warnings.
That's the fear of the Lord.
And when you do that, thebeginning of wisdom.
God will give you the wisdom tonavigate through the troubled
waters that the warning is for,just like Paul.
And God warned him, hey, thisvoyage.
He didn't directly warn him, hewarned him in his own spirit.
He said I perceive, I perceive,this voyage is going to be with
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a lot of hurt.
And so he obeyed that warning.
And then God gave him thewarning to preserve all the life
on the ship.
The ship was lost in thewarning to preserve all the life
on the ship.
The ship was lost, but the lifewas preserved.
And so the same with Noah.
He moved with fear.
He didn't just sit around andworry about the problem.
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He, he not only built an ark,he prepared an ark.
There's building and thenthere's preparing.
There's building and thenthere's preparing.
I mean, he did build it, noquestion, he constructed it
according to the plan that Godgave him.
I mean board by board, you know, room by room, stall by stall.
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But then he didn't stop there,he didn't just build it, he
equipped it, he furnished it, heoutfitted it, he put the food
in it.
Are y'all with me now, this isspeaking of the apostolic.
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This is the apostolic at work,because the apostolic is a
procurement and then adistribution.
I mean it's a gathering, I meanit's a lot of things that are
tied up with that word prepare.
We've prepared this church forthis time, right here.
God has outfitted it with youand the different giftings, and
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he's added my family, he's givenmy family, he's changed their
ministries and he's added myfamily.
He's given my family, he'schanged their ministries, he's
added to them and moved theminto places that, quite frankly,
I just go, wow, this is justamazing what God has done.
He's done it.
We didn't set out wanting to dothat.
We didn't set out thinking thatthat was part of the deal.
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We just built a local church,but no, he's equipped us An end
time work, a barn for theharvest, if you will, and this
is not just this building andthis church.
A barn is the association ofall of the fantastic ministries
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that God has allowed us to workwith and moved us in position to
be part of.
God has allowed us to work withand moved us in position to be
part of, and so, while heprepared, the world perished.
While he prepared, the worldperished.
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Second, peter 2.5 calls him apreacher of righteousness.
With every swing of the hammer,with every preparation that was
made for the ark to actuallycarry the family and all those
animals and successfully housethem for as long as it took for
the flood to recede, I mean,that was that whole time.
Everybody's mocking him.
They're thinking, oh, he's time.
Everybody's mocking him.
They're thinking, oh, he's nuts, he's another nut job and and
he's a preacher of righteousness.
There's a lot of a lot ofpreaching can be done by just
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our actions.
I know preaching means words,it means proclaiming, but
actions many times speak louderthan words.
I mean he could have preached.
Who would have listened?
Nobody.
Instead, he just got.
I'm not saying he didn't preach.
He might have said something,he might have answered some of
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them, but mainly he built and heprocured and he prepared.
Amen, hallelujah.
So his act of faith ispreparation, prepared, he
prepared.
We're going to have to worship,we're going to have to walk and
continue.
We're going to have to prepare,keep preparing.
I mean, let's prepare forwhat's ahead.
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We don't even know all about it, but let's be prepared, all
right, by an act of faith.
Number four, abraham, verseeight by faith.
By an act of faith, abraham,when he was called to go out
into a place which he should,after receive for an inheritance
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, obeyed and he went out, notknowing whither he went, for he
looked excuse me at verse 9.
By faith, he sojourned in theland of promise, as in a strange
country, dwelling intabernacles with Isaac and Jacob
(25:52):
.
So let's break that down by anact of faith.
Abraham obeyed God.
Well, not knowing Just onesentence Leave your father's
house, okay, and can you pointme in a?
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At least point me in adirection.
I'll show you where later.
Just leave your father's house.
I mean, that's almost as bad asstarting this church, really.
I mean, broke, just foreclosedon the only prettiest house I'd
ever built, the biggest houseI'd ever built, just been sold
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on.
The Ford House steps to thehighest bidder and, yeah, go
start the church.
He obeyed God, not knowing Justone sentence of command.
That's all you need.
As a matter of fact, if you'renot going to obey God's word,
you're not, probably not goingto hear the next word.
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Sometimes we're waiting for aparagraph, sometimes we're
waiting for a novel, sometimeswe're waiting for the end of the
story.
Come on, give me a novel andgive me a good ending.
And then I'll obey.
No, he'll give you.
He'll give you just thestarting, the start, just give
you the start.
He'll give you just thestarting, the start, just give
you the start.
And you got to be prepared tostart.
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And that's what Abraham did.
He started not knowing and thenhe went to a land.
When God did finally show himthe land, it wasn't his.
He didn't get to own any of it,it was not his to own.
He didn't get to build thePonderosa, he didn't get to
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build the Tara, you know, youknow, gone with the wind.
You know he didn't get to.
He didn't get to build the bigranch house.
He didn't get to do that.
He's living in a tent, and sowere his boys and his grandson.
I mean, they never did ownanything until later.
It was for his heirs, israel.
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He said look out here, this isall going to be not yours but
your heirs one of these days.
And I just that blows my mind.
You know he didn't even get toowning it, he got to sojourn.
So what were his two acts offaith?
Obeyed and sojourn.
So what were his two acts offaith?
Obeyed and sojourned.
He didn't try to turn it intohis kingdom.
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He didn't try to turn it intohis thing.
He stayed in obedience to God.
And what was his aim?
A city whose builder and makeris God, something he didn't see,
something he couldn't possiblysee, and that's why he's the
father of faith.
That's why we're the seed ofAbraham.
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He stuck it out.
We stand on his shoulders forhis obedience.
He got to advocate for hisnephew.
He got to advocate for Sodomand Gomorrah.
He got to procure, he got togather.
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He was very rich in cattle,silver and gold, but, thank God,
he obeyed and he sojourned.
Are you getting anything out ofthis now?
Alright, the last one is I'mgoing to talk about I could talk
about Sarah, but she's not afather, so I'm going to skip
over to Moses.
No disrespect Sarah, but it'sFather's Day.
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I'll talk about her on Mother'sDay, alright.
Number 5, moses, verse 24.
But it's Father's Day, I'lltalk about her on Mother's Day,
maybe, all right?
Number five, moses, verse 24.
By faith, by an act of faith,everybody say an act of faith.
By an act of faith, moses, whenhe would come to years, refused
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to be called the son ofPharaoh's daughter, choosing
rather to suffer affliction withthe people of God than to enjoy
the pleasures of sin for aseason, esteeming the reproach
of Christ greater riches thanthe treasures in Egypt.
For he had respect unto therecompense of reward.
(30:16):
So you know, I could keep onabout him, but I just want to
make a couple of points abouthim.
Moses, greatest prophet in theOld Testament, wrote the
Pentateuch was so revered byIsrael that God hid his body so
that he wouldn't be turned intoan idol when he died.
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Moses chose Israel over Egypt.
He chose persecution over thepalace.
He chose to slay the Passoverthan to satisfy Pharaoh.
You know, he could have madepeace with Pharaoh, he could
have made up with Pharaoh, buthe slayed the Passover lamb and
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poured the blood on thethreshold and splashed the blood
on the doorposts with a hyssopand the death angel passed over.
I mean he would not compromise,he would not choose Egypt, he
would not choose that place.
He chose persecution, he chose,he chose.
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That was his act of faith.
By an act of faith he chose.
We all have a choice and how wechoose could either be faith or
foolishness, or presumption.
He chose God's reward overEgypt's reward.
Egypt had a reward Pleasures ofsin for a season.
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He had a reward he could of sinfor a season.
He had a reward.
He could have been the son ofPharaoh, but he refused to be
called the son of Pharaoh.
He wanted to be named with thename of his people.
So he chose his act of faith.
So our fathers of faith haveilluminated the way for us and
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for those in the Bible and thosein this life.
We stand on their shoulders andwe live the faith life.
Amen.
Everybody say I'm living thefaith life.
Come on, lift your hands andreceive the word tonight.
Thank you, lord.
Did that help you tonight?
Want to feed your faith for thelast days?
We're not in this by ourself,are we Praise God?
(32:35):
Thank God for that.
We've got a helper and his nameis the Holy Ghost.
Amen.
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