Hebrews 11
And Jesus went out, and departed from the temple: and his disciples came to him for to shew him the buildings of the temple. And Jesus said unto them, See ye not all these things? verily I say unto you, There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down. And as he sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world? And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you. For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many. And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places. All these are the beginning of sorrows. Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name’s sake. And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another. And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many. And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved. —Matthew 24:1-13
There will come a day when the people of this world will witness and experience the very things Jesus spoke to His disciples about in this passage. But for any season, there are three important statements Jesus tells His disciples that will help us today:
1. Take heed that no man deceive you. When troubling times come, so does the fear of man and events and panic. People will rise up to deceive the hearts of the many who are fearful, unaware, or insecure. Some will come saying they are Christ or at least someone presenting themselves as one who can provide comfort or substance from the external pressures and events surrounding them. Their words will be carefully chosen and possibly be filled with a bit of truth, but their motives will be filled with deceit.
Isaiah 26:3 – Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee.
1. Life is tough. There’s so much going on around us that we feel that we are drowning without a life vest or help. We try to come up for air to take a breath from the struggles of the day, only to be pulled back into the abyss of reality. We fill stuck, trapped, and without hope. We spend our days disappointed, impatient, and frustrated. We want peace and freedom, but they seem to slip through our hands just when we think it’s in our grasp. An endless cycle of chasing peace and freedom, only to be disappointed again and again. However, there is a way to experience a perfect peace.
Exodus 3:7-8 – And the Lord said, I have surely seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt, and have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters; for I know their sorrows; And I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land unto a good land and a large, unto a land flowing with milk and honey; unto the place of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites.
The Lord Himself had seen the affliction of the children of Israel and has heard their cry. He previously stated that after four hundred years of affliction in Egypt, Abram’s seed would be delivered (Genesis 15:13-16). That nation of people would return to the land promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Israel (Jacob) after the iniquity of the Amorites was full (Genesis 15:16).
As we face afflictions, trials, tests, and difficult times, may we not forget that God sees and hears our afflictions and will deliver us in due time. Let us be faithful unto Him and wait for His deliverance and restoration.
Hebrews 11:6 – But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.
Additional scriptures: Exodus 2:23-25, Psalm 11:4, 33:13, 34:17, 145:19; Hebrews 4:13
Photo courtesy of CreationSwap/lovesr
Romans 10:17 – So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
Faith in the Lord begins with hearing His Word. More often, we receive the hearing of the Word though preachers that are sent by God (as described in Romans 10:11-15). Within this context, many are given the opportunity and privilege of receiving God’s purpose of love through His Son Jesus.
In most societies today, people would only come in contact with their church preacher once or twice per week (Bible Study and Sunday Service). These same individuals would probably agree that 2.5-3 hours per week of the Bible is not enough to sustain a person from the perils of the world or even their flesh and the enemy. With such verses as Joshua 1:8, Psalm 1:1-3, Psalm 119:1-2, Psalm 119:97, an emphasis exists on consistent reading and meditation of God’s Word. Additionally, James 1:22-25 adds the completion of not only being a reader of God’s Word, but a doer most importantly.
Ephesians 5:16 – Redeeming the time, because the days are evil.
In our lives before God, many of us would find that we’re not good at managing our time. Not only that, but we spend much of our day doing things that draw us further away from our purposes in the Lord. We consider free time as time to do nothing but watch TV and weekends and holidays as the same. After some time (or even at the end of a year), we look back and wonder where all the time went…only to repeat the same course of action the following year.
Sound familiar?!
There are many things we can do in this life, but only those that were in Christ will remain. Once you use your time, there are no refunds or exchanges. Once it’s gone…it’s gone. So, how do we redeem our time?!
Proverbs 30:8-9 – Remove far from me vanity and lies: give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with food convenient for me: Lest I be full, and deny thee, and say, Who is the LORD? or lest I be poor, and steal, and take the name of my God in vain.
Here are the words of Agur…a prayer unto the Lord to live with integrity (and balance) in His presence. When many people are asking God for more success, money, and power, Agur prayed that he have neither poverty nor riches and to be fed with food that’s convenient for him. When many people are waiting for their ‘overflow’ of blessings, Agur desired to remain in a state where he would neither deny the Lord or take His name in vain through His actions.
Why do I always have to go through trials and temptation? I don’t want to continue facing the same things over and over and over AND OVER again! I just want to be free.
Have you ever felt like that? Have you ever felt like the Apostle Paul when he said that when he wants to do right, sin is right there (Romans 7:21)? OR the things you want to do you don’t do, but the things you don’t want to do, THAT you find yourself doing (Romans 7:15)? Many of us can relate to Paul’s statements of temptation and sin, but we often stop there without going any further. We continue to live in a cycle that goes from temptation-sin-repentance-temptation-sin-repentance and it never seems to stop. We want to get off the merry-go-round, but it doesn’t seem like we ever can. Why do I have to go through this? Why can’t God just take it away because He knows I want to serve Him. If I didn’t have this ‘sin’ issue, I could just run for Him.
Have you ever felt your ministry was not growing?!
Yes, you are thankful for the lives you have touched and you want to touch even more. You want to continually go deeper; expand wider; and grow higher.
Living for God and serving Him in ministry isn’t about growth. Serving God is about faith and obedience. Even in the slowest periods of life and ministry…when nothing seems to be working, reaching people, or growing, our purpose is not to look with our eyes, but with faith. God may not reveal His entire plan for a particular season of our life and ministry. Therefore, He does not need our help to progress things along if they aren’t moving to our own satisfaction. He needs us to trust Him – especially when the entire plan hasn’t been revealed. It’s faith that pleases Him (Hebrews 11:6).
In God’s time, the seeds we plant today in obedience may be watered by another and someone else may witness God’s harvest of that seed. Regardless of what today or tomorrow brings…
- be a servant that is faithful over a few things – no matter how small
- be a servant that can be trusted to fully administer God’s counsel – no matter how things seem
Photo courtesy of freeimages.com/Marco Michelini
Hebrews 11:1 – Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
1. Faith proves what you believe. Faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen. For those mentioned in Hebrews 11, the substance of what they were hoping for was the eternal city (Hebrews 11:13-16) and the evidence of what they were hoping for was their obedient life. They were living as if they believed they would receive entrance into the eternal city (eternal life). Their lives proved (gave evidence) of what they hoped for.
2. Faith doesn’t fill in the blanks. The path the Lord desire you to travel upon (before reaching eternal life) doesn’t come with complete instructions. There will be times when the Lord will not tell you where money will come from, where you will live, who will help you, or what will happen tomorrow. You must believe that He will never leave or forsake you as He promised.
Matthew 5:38-42 – Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth: But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if any man will sue thee at the law, and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloak also. And whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain. Give to him that asketh thee, and from him that would borrow of thee turn not thou away.
At some point in our lives, we have all heard ‘an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.’ When I was a child, I heard people say, ‘if someone hits you, hit them back.’ As children of God and citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven, Jesus provided ‘guidelines’ for our behavior and actions (as illustrated in the scripture above). Though it may seem His ways are foreign, it is the world’s ways that are foreign to believers of Christ (Ephesians 2:18-22; Hebrews 11:1-13; 1 Peter 2:9-12).
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