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Jul 08, 2018

Three Keys to Living a Life of Faith

Passage: Hebrews 11:23

Preacher: Jeremy Anderson

Series:Heroes

Detail:

When I was in college, I had to read a book for a class called Branding Pays. The whole idea of this book was that every single person—not just companies, but even you as an individual—has their own personal brand. It was saying, “Everything you do as a person goes to make up your brand.” Any post you make on social media, any of the conversations you have with people, what you do for a living, your hobbies—all of these go together to build your brand. It was kind of challenging—well, honestly, it was kind of a weird book to read and I wasn’t entirely sure why we were reading it.

The idea of leaving a legacy asks, “What are you known for? What will you be remembered for?” I remember as a freshman in high school sitting in a Bible class and the teacher was talking about this idea of leaving a legacy. “When your time on this earth is done, how are people going to remember you?” This is how he challenged us as freshmen. If you can think back to your first year in high school—or you students, where you are right now—the idea of leaving a legacy doesn’t even make sense. All you’re worried about is what’s coming out next in theaters or playing video games and hanging out with your friends. You’re not thinking about leaving a legacy. But our teacher really implanted that idea in our hearts and minds.

Today I want to challenge each of us to leave a legacy of faith. We’re working through this series in Hebrews 11, looking at people who have left a legacy of walking in faith with God. What an awesome legacy that is to leave!

This last week at Lake Ann, I was just encouraged and challenged myself there to walk closely with the Lord and not underestimate what God can do through His people—through me as a person and through His church. As I was there at Lake Ann, prepping and studying, God really put this on my heart from the get-go: “This is a message you’re going to share with Village Bible Church, but this is a message you need to hear first. This is a message that’s going to hit your heart.” I pray that each of you will be able to walk away with an encouragement and a challenge in your own walk with the Lord after hearing from God’s Word today.

Please open your Bible to Hebrews 11:23. We’ll also be reading in Exodus 2, where we’ll be able to gain a more in-depth picture of what we read in Hebrews. What’s interesting is that we’ll be looking at Moses’ parents. As you read through these texts, we aren’t told their names—although we can find them later in Exodus. Let’s read Hebrews 11:23.

By faith Moses, when he was born, was hidden for three months by his parents, because they saw that the child was beautiful, and they were not afraid of the king’s edict.

Now turn to Exodus 2:1–10:

Now a man from the house of Levi went and took as his wife a Levite woman. 2 The woman conceived and bore a son, and when she saw that he was a fine child, she hid him three months. 3 When she could hide him no longer, she took for him a basket made of bulrushes and daubed it with bitumen and pitch. She put the child in it and placed it among the reeds by the river bank. 4 And his sister stood at a distance to know what would be done to him. 5 Now the daughter of Pharaoh came down to bathe at the river, while her young women walked beside the river. She saw the basket among the reeds and sent her servant woman, and she took it. 6 When she opened it, she saw the child, and behold, the baby was crying. She took pity on him and said, “This is one of the Hebrews’ children.” 7 Then his sister said to Pharaoh's daughter, “Shall I go and call you a nurse from the Hebrew women to nurse the child for you?” 8 And Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Go.” So the girl went and called the child’s mother. 9 And Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Take this child away and nurse him for me, and I will give you your wages.” So the woman took the child and nursed him. 10 When the child grew up, she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter, and he became her son. She named him Moses, “Because,” she said, “I drew him out of the water.”

Let’s talk about three keys to living a life of faith that we’ll find in these passages.

Realign your values.

The first key to living a life of faith is to realign your values. As a middle school youth pastor, one of the greatest struggles I have in connecting with these students is my expectations. I’ll expect a 12- or 13-year-old kid to essentially be a 25-year-old me. I put expectations on myself, then I transfer those to the students. “Why don’t you care about this? Why don’t you care about that?” I fail to recognize that, as a 12-year-old, where they are in life and their values are very different from mine.

I have a spouse. I have a full-time job. I’ve got other responsibilities. I’m not thinking, “This is summer break. When am I going to hang out with my friends? Does that girl like me? Does that boy think I’m cute? Do I have all my homework done?” Most of those are not even values and I fail to remember that. So, when I’m interacting with these kids, I start to get frustrated that they’re not where I am. I want them to be like me, where I am right now. But I need to remember they’re 12 years old. They’re in a completely different situation in life.

I think that happens for all of us in this church. We transpose our own expectations, roles and responsibilities on to the people around us, when sometimes those things don’t line up. As we realign our values, it’s not just about understanding the differences between being 12 and being 25—or 40 or wherever you are in life. Rather, we should realign our values so that they agree with what God values. He is the Author of all that’s valuable, so we have to start there.

Moses’ father’s name was Amram; his mother’s name was Jochebed. Very interesting names—if you’re going to have a kid soon, you might consider them. Maybe not. You might come up with a cool nickname—I don’t know. But Amram and Jochebed have a baby boy and we know they had two older children as well. Miriam was Moses’ sister who watched him down by the river in the reeds, and Aaron was his brother.

Pharaoh had given an edict that all boys under the age of two were to be killed. The Israelite population was getting so large that he feared they would overthrow his kingdom, so this was his plan to prevent that. It’s likely that Miriam and Aaron were older than two, so they were safe. But when Moses came along, his parents saw that he was a beautiful child and wanted to protect him. This is what connects this text to Hebrews, but if all we read is the verse in Hebrews, we would miss the heartache that is part of the story.

The Israelites had been enslaved for many years, having come to Egypt through Joseph. You recall the stories—how he had been sold into slavery by his brothers, then the ordeal with Potiphar’s wife and was sent to prison. The cupbearer and baker had dreams which he interpreted, then eventually he interpreted a dream for Pharaoh and ended up second in command in the nation. Because of Pharaoh’s dream, Joseph saved enough food to basically save the rest of the world during the years of famine.

During that time Joseph’s entire family moved to Egypt and started to multiply. In Exodus 1:7–8 we learn that they “multiplied and grew exceedingly strong, ”but then a new king rose to power in Egypt who did not know Joseph. He threw the Israelites into captivity. After years and years of captivity, now their baby boys were being killed. We don’t understand this kind of pressure. We’ve never lived through something like this in our culture today. We can look at it from afar and say, “Yeah, that sounds really tough, but we’ve not experienced the hurt that comes with that.” Instead of giving into the pressure, Amram and Jochebed rose up in faith and agreed with God’s values. Rather than allowing the Pharaoh’s verdict to rule in their lives, they risked everything to agree with God. In their case, government was the cause of their trouble.

We’ve learned that we can’t rely on government all the time. As Americans, we often get caught up in everything that’s going on in Washington and in our state governments. We say, “Why is the government letting us down? Why is the government not demanding morality in every way?” Well, the government doesn’t have that responsibility. The government is supposed to govern; it’s God’s morality that we’re to follow. We look to God and to Him alone.

Some of you parents rely on schools a lot to teach your kids to be good and to be responsible. But that’s not their job—that’s yours as Mom and Dad. And the church should come around you as well to instruct in what it means to be a child of God. We can’t rely on the secular world to define our values. We define them based on God’s Word.

What are some values God’s Word calls us to? Some of these values are static, that is, they apply no matter what stage of life we’re in or what culture we’re in. God says, “This is to be of value to you because you are a child of Mine and this is what I have decreed.” Scripture is one of the things we are to value; it’s also where we learn about what God values and what He considers to be priorities.

Our responsibility it to learn God’s values, then to agree with them. But that’s more than just “seconding” what He says. Our lives must also agree with them. We should live in a way that reflects His values. For example, as we see in this story, God values life. We are to value people. We should not oppress people, because they have been created by God and their life has been given by God. Each of us is given life from God every day and it’s something we should never take lightly.

As believers, we should also value fellowship. No matter what stage of life we’re in, fellowship with other believers is important. God’s Word says it’s necessary for us to grow. The Bible also says that bad company corrupts good character (1 Corinthians 15:33). You might be four years old and just learning what Christianity is from Mom and Dad and in Sunday School. Or you might be an adult—but everyone stills need to fellowship with, learn from and encourage each other as Christians.

However, some values are not static, but are moving. They can shift with our stage in life. Think back ten years—what did your life look like then? I was 15 and my values were different then from what they are now. Back then, I didn’t have a wife. I didn’t have a full-time job. I was in school, I was playing basketball, I was hanging out with friends. I’m sure back then I didn’t have all my values in line with where they should be, so what was valuable to me back then was different.

Someday I’m going to have a child, and that child will be of great value to me. Lord willing, someday I’ll have grandchildren. Like some of you. The way you spend your time, what you value, will be different from where I am today. But the core values stay the same through every stage of life.

Right now, you’re listening to a sermon in which I’m telling you to realign your values. You’re either not listening to me anymore and you’re thinking about your values, or you’re listening to me but you’re not thinking about your values. If you’re not examining your values right now, you need to go home and spend some serious time with God. “All right, God, what have You called Your people to value? What are my values to be in my place in life?” Then see if your values are lining up with His.

If they’re not, you need to sit down, wipe the slate clean and say, “Let’s figure this out. Help me to realign my values.” That could take hard work, maybe even a life change. Some of your lives may have to look different after today. You may say, “You know what? God has challenged me that I’m putting way too much value on this area, but it’s not that important. I need to take some of the value that I’ve ascribed to it and direct more time and effort to my children. I may need to get a little more involved in my church. Perhaps I need to take steps to be more of a light in my workplace.”

Whatever it may be, we need to get real with God without making excuses. It’s easy to justify where we are. We may think, “Well, these are my values.” If we prioritize them from one to ten, we might say, “One and two are good. Ah, number three probably shouldn’t be that high on the list, but, you know...” Then you justify the list. If God is convicting us on something, if He is calling us to realign our values, we must listen to Him.

God is smart. He’s the One Who has created the whole universe. He designed the way things should be. He knows what our values should be, and He tells us what they should be—not arbitrarily, but because He’s created us and knows what’s good for us. The best situation for each of us is to live with our values in line with God’s Word. When our values start getting out of whack, life becomes out of whack as well. Then we’ll wonder why we’re struggling; why there’s tension in our lives. Maybe our spouse is telling us, “You should spend a little less time on the golf course.” “Maybe you should spend less time watching the cake shows.” Listen to them, because God has given us our spouses to help us.

Some of you may be looking at your values and thinking, “I’m in a pretty good spot right now.” That doesn’t mean you can let your guard down, sit back and drink cold lemonade on a summer day, thinking, “I’m good.” Nor does it mean you can disconnect, thinking, “I’m going to pull back from being involved in my small group.” Rather, if you’re in a good spot, that might mean God has positioned you uniquely to help other people.

Maybe the person next to you right now is struggling with where hia values are and it may be an opportunity for you to come alongside him to mentor him. “Let’s sit down for coffee and talk about your life.” Let God use your life to bring glory to Himself and benefit those around you. It could be an awesome opportunity!

Take action.

After realigning our values, the second key to living a life of faith is to take action. There is a guy named Lecrae who is a Christian hip-hop rap artist. Some of you may wonder why I know about him. Well, I don’t listen to him a lot, but I do know who he is. When I was in high school I listened to Christian rap quite a bit. I played basketball and my pre-game thing was to pop in my ear buds and listen to Lacrae. He was upbeat, and he helped me get ready for the games.

Lecrae has a song called “Go Hard.” I’m going to read you some of the lyrics; I won’t to try to rap them, although you’d probably enjoy it if I tried.

“If you didn’t know Christ would your life look the same?

Can they tell you value Jesus by the way you rep His name?”

Think about that for a second. If you didn’t know Jesus, would your life look the same as it does right now? If your answer is yes, you might have a little bit of a problem. You might need to realign your values. We’re called as Christians to take action, not just to sit back and say we’ve got faith. Lecrae’s lyrics continue like this:

“What does it mean? It means we should be up, out in the streets,

Not just in houses with our Bibles summarizing what we read.

Man, this isn’t deep. Why ain’t we doin’ what we read?”

So why can’t we, the redeemed of the Lord,

Act out what He said and make a scene for the Lord?

Here’s a Christian rap guy putting it in Christian rap lingo. But he’s making a point. We don’t just join Bible studies to sit there and say, “Yeah, look what I learned today.” We as Christians can join 18 different Bible studies, three on Wednesdays, a couple on Sundays. We like to post on Facebook everything we’re learning. We tell other people, “You’ll never believe what I learned from my study in Hebrews!” But then our lives don’t look any different. We don’t apply the things we’ve learned to how we treat other people, how we set priorities, how we work as an employee, as a mom, as a dad, as a friend, a brother or sister. If we don’t apply the Word of God, we’re missing it.

James 1:22 says, “Be doers of the Word, not just hearers of it.” We should not just sit and listen to a sermon on Sunday morning, then go home. I’m guilty here. We tend to listen to sermons, pocket them in the back of our knowledge bank—and that’s where it will sit. We fail to take the application from what God has taught us intellectually and apply it to our lives. As believers, we need to take action. It’s not about sitting on the sidelines.

There was a kid on a basketball team with me, but this poor kid did not understand basketball. He was clueless. You put him in the game and he would just kind of stand there looking around. I wanted to tell him, “Go! Do something! Even if you just move, you’ll do something. If you put your hands up, it will be good.”

Often, that’s the picture of what we do as Christians. God has saved us from an eternity in hell, then He says, “Now you’re in the game. Do something.”  We’re standing on a makeshift football field, feeling like we should be doing something. Get in the game!

Don’t just sit there and say, “Yeah, I go to church on Sundays. I’m part of a small group. I read the Bible every day.” Those are great things, but if they’re not applied, your faith is dead. James goes on to say, “Show your faith through how you live.” If you do not have any actions to back up your faith, your faith is dead.

Sometimes we have a lot of dead Christians walking around—dead-faith Christians who proclaim one thing, but then their lives look no different from unbelievers. If someone were to spot them during the week, they’d think, “What are you doing, man?” We put this act on every Sunday, thinking we have it all together, walking with God and being great Christians. Meanwhile, we’re really struggling.

I’m not just trying to rip on you here, saying, “You’re just not doing anything.” There may be some authentic struggles going on in your heart. You might have some real questions. “I need some answers here—I don’t understand this. I don’t get how A and B work when we’re reading this in Scripture. I just don’t get it.” That can lead to sitting on the sidelines instead of stepping up. We think the church really doesn’t like people who are doubting or struggling with their faith. We don’t want to admit, “I don’t understand this Jesus thing and I’m struggling to see how it applies in my life.”

A few weeks ago, we were talking about God’s Word and how important it is, and an eighth-grade boy—who isn’t part of our church but who had come with a friend—very honestly said, “I don’t care. I don’t see how this benefits my life at all. If I’m going to read something, I want to read something that’s going to be helpful to me.” That made my heart hurt. I wanted to say, “But it is! It is helpful—you just don’t see it.”

I appreciated his honesty so much—you have no idea. We in the church never say things like this. We won’t say that, because we know people will think we’re bad Christians, that we’re just not getting it, that we have a lack of faith. We’re so ready to judge each other, preventing people from feeling like they can admit they have questions. What happens then is we harbor doubts or insecurities, then just go over to the bench to sit. We take ourselves out of the game and become unproductive Christians. But God has called you to step up into the game and take action. What an awesome privilege it is.

Being up at Lake Ann last week, I realized there are lots of trees in northern Michigan. I happened to be doing some sermon prep under a tree one day and because it was a hot sunny day, I realized what a great thing a tree can be. The shade, the breeze—it was nice. And I thought, “This is a great picture of what faith looks like.” Faith isn’t so much the tree you see—the bigness, with all the leaves and branches. Faith is more like the root that’s underground. You know it’s there because the tree is there. That root goes deep and it grows wide. It has a couple responsibilities.

First, roots are in charge of collecting nutrients from the soil that make it possible for that tree to grow and spread its branches and do what trees do best: give us shade and sometimes even fruit. In the same way, our faith in God provides us with the spiritual nutrients we need to live a life of faith. Our life is like the tree we can see; faith is like the roots we can’t see.

Then roots also secure the trees in the ground. Have you ever tried to pull a tiny tree out of the ground? You think, “That was easy.” The roots were small. On your way outside today, stop by one of those trees out in the forest and try to lift it up out of the ground. It would be funny to watch you try. It won’t happen, right? Those roots are deep. They have secured that tree so it can take the storms. That tree isn’t going anywhere. Doesn’t our faith do the same thing? Our faith grounds us, so when we go through the struggles of life and are tossed by the storms, we’re still able to stand secure because of our faith in God.

Here’s what’s beautiful—that faith comes from God. We can’t tell ourselves, “Look what I’ve conjured up. I have made myself secure.” Faith is given to us as a gift from God. So, when we’re beaten and torn by the storms of life, when people are watching how we respond to life’s difficulties, they will see how our faith stands strong and even provides the blessing of “shade” for those around us. We cannot say, “Yeah, I’m this big tree.” Rather, we can say, “I’m strong because of the root God gave me.” That gives God the glory, not us. God makes our roots go deep. When we choose to pursue the Lord, this is the result. So, we need to continue to take action.

We read in Hebrews 11:23 that Moses’ mother and father “saw that the child was beautiful, and they were not afraid of the king’s edict.”  I think fear in believers’ hearts and minds is one of the greatest things that prevents us from taking action for God. We’re afraid. As I was reflecting on this verse this week, I asked God, “What are we so afraid of?”

One night at Lake Ann, I stayed up late. The skies were so clear that I could see a bazillion stars. “Ohhh, that’s cool.” Then I thought, “I wonder how much space is between me and those stars?” Light years of space—an unreal amount of space. We can’t even fathom it. Then I thought, “Wow, God holds it all in the palm of His hand. We serve a massive and powerful God!”

Yeah, we get scared. We’re afraid. God may have called us to open our mouths, to tell someone at work about Jesus—and we’re scared to do that. But we forget that God holds the whole universe in His hands. Why should we be scared of what our friend at work is going to think of us? “Oh, you’re one of those Christians.” So what? Don’t be crippled by fear.

What are we afraid of? We can be afraid of making the wrong decision. You’re pondering a big decision or a change in your life, and you’ve become scared you’ll make the wrong one. You’re standing in front of Doors A, B, C and D. You’re thinking, “This is a spiritual multiple-choice quiz, God. I don’t know what to do. I didn’t study for this one. Do I go through A? What happens if I go through A? I don’t know. Maybe it’s D. Maybe God wants me to go through B. Awwh! If I mess up and choose the wrong door, God’s plan is just gone. I’ve ruined it all because I went through the wrong door.” You may think, “God, can I get a 50/50 thing going here? Can You take away two of the doors so I have better chances? Can I phone a friend?” We’re scared to make a decision, because what if it’s the wrong one?

We’re also scared of losing control. I’m talking to all of you control freaks out there—myself included. I like to be in control. We’re sometimes scared to walk by faith, because that means we have to open our lives up to God. We’d have to say, “God, do what You please with my life.” That’s a scary spot to be in, because what if God calls me somewhere where I’d be uncomfortable? What if God calls me to do something I’m unsure of? We’re scared of losing control in our lives. So instead of giving things to God in faith, we’ll hold them tighter and tighter. We’ll say, “Okay, here’s this one God. You can use this, but don’t touch these other areas. These are mine. You use this however You want but leave the rest of these to me.” We don’t get the blessings of walking in faith because of our fear of losing control.

And sometimes we’re afraid of failure. That’s common to all of us. We’re afraid of messing up. So instead of saying, “You know what? I’m going to take a leap of faith and obey. I’m going to tell that co-worker about Jesus,” we’ll say, “What if they ask me a question that I don’t know how to the answer? What if they make an argument that I can’t respond to? What if I fail?” So, we’ll sit down over there and not do anything. We’ll say, “Let somebody else take care of it.”

Fear can become a very crippling thing. As an example, there’s a new Monopoly game out, for you Monopoly lovers. It’s called “Monopoly—Cheater’s Edition.” In this game, when you go to jail, you actually get handcuffed to the board. When we as Christians choose to live by fear instead of faith, this is what we do. We shackle ourselves; we limit ourselves. Instead, God has called us to lives of freedom. Our chains are broken, and we get to walk with Him by faith.

Take action. If God is calling you to something, do it. Jump. You may not know where the outcome goes but follow God through faith. Some of you are sitting here and God is putting on your heart that thing He’s been telling you to do time and time again, but you keep making excuses or you keep putting it off. God is saying, “Listen, now is the time for you to obey. Now is the time for you to take that step of faith.”

I don’t know what it is. For some of you, it’s small things. For some of you, it’s a big thing. Just start taking the steps you need to take in obedience to God and by faith. Don’t just sit home and summarize everything you read and learn. Get out there are live. Show the world what it looks like to follow Jesus.

I’m going to tell you—it’s an awesome journey. Take it from somebody who puts that shackle on and gets fearful and doesn’t want to do it. I’d rather just sit back. But when you take that shackle off and say, “I’m going to trust God; I’m going to step out,” how often do we turn and look back, thinking, “Wow. That was really cool! That was a lot of fun. It was a little scary sometimes, but we got there. God is great! I want to do this more.” The next time an opportunity comes up, don’t take up the shackles again. Let’s live by faith and take action for God.

Leave the results to God.

The third key to living a life of faith is to leave the results to God. We live in a formula culture, don’t we?, where we want to know exactly what the outcomes are. We want to know, “If I do A, B and C, then D is going to happen. If I take this action, then I know this outcome will take place.” We like to know these things. But when Jochebed made that little basket and stuck Moses in there and set it out in the reeds by the river, do you think she had it in her head that Pharaoh’s daughter was going to pick that basket up and fall in love with the baby and want to raise him as her own?

To me, it seems more like she was thinking, “All right, God. Here You go.”  She sent her daughter to watch what happened. Maybe you want to watch what happens when you step out in faith. You want to see what God does. I wish I could stand here and tell you that if you walk closely with God, everything in life is going to be easy. You’ll be healthy, wealthy and wise. Wouldn’t that be wonderful? But I’m going to be honest with you. Walking with God may bring some difficult times. You may be ridiculed for your faith. God may call you to a place where you have to step out—and it’s hard. It’s not always easy. God has designed it that way, because in our trials we get to glorify God all the more.

I remember John Piper said in one of his sermons that Americans especially take the prosperity gospel message out to the world, saying, “If you walk with God, your sheep won’t die, etc.” But John says, “This is garbage. God is made to look really great when you go through the most trying time in your life, the most difficult circumstance you could possibly imagine—and you stand there and say, ‘God is enough. God is good.’”

We’re not called to be Christians just in the good times—we’re called to be Christians in the difficult times. I wish I could tell you that if you walk closely with God, everything is going to go well. But what I can tell you is that if you do walk closely with God, you might avoid some junk. That’s because if you walk closely with Him, you’re a lot less likely to sin. As you learn to be obedient, you’ll avoid the garbage that comes with sinning, the anger and the disruption. When we sin, we’re inviting these things into our lives. We can avoid the struggles we bring upon ourselves by walking closely with God. Then we need to leave the results to God in all we do.

If God is calling you today, or tomorrow, or if He’s been calling you for 40 years to do something, and you keep putting it off because you don’t know what it’s going to mean or what tomorrow is going to hold, you need to let go of your insecurity and hold on to the security of the faith God gives. Instead of being afraid, you should ask, “I wonder what God is going to do with this? I don’t know where this path will lead, but I know God has put the path before me.”

It starts by just taking a few steps, then keep walking one step at a time. I want to make sure you hear this: I’m not necessarily talking about big deal things. I’m not saying God wants you to change your whole-life decisions. I’m talking about walking out in faith in the little things. One step. Another step. Little things. And before long you’ll look back and realize, “Wow, I’ve come a long way.” But if you tried to jump all the way from over there to over here, that’s crazy. You might not be able to do it. But through daily walking with God, He can refine you. Leave the results to Him.

I want to conclude with something that I think is important about this passage. We’re not here just to praise Amram and Jochebed for hiding Moses. We’re not here to say, “Isn’t it cool how she made the basket and how she put Moses in it and sent him off.” If that’s what this was about, then we’d be telling you to go make little baskets, send stuff off and do things like that.

The very first two words in verse 23 are what this is about: “By faith...” It’s the faith we admire. As Pharaoh had given the edict that these young boys were to be killed, I can’t imagine that Amram and Jochebed were the only parents who tried to save their kids.  I think people were doing whatever they could. So why do we hear just this one story? Was it just to say, “Hey, look what they did?” Or is it also to look at God’s greatness in it? This is why we leave the results to Him. They acted by faith, then God used this Levite couple and their son Moses. He grew up in Pharaoh’s household as the son of Pharaoh’s daughter and was given an Egyptian education. But eventually he had a heart for his own people that led him to flee Egypt for a season in the desert. Then after that, God sent him back to lead His people out of Egypt. We see that faith is a great thing to be treasured, but God also gives us this story because Moses and his parents weren’t just randomly chosen. Rather, God used their faith to eventually lead an entire nation out of Egyptian captivity and into the land of promise.

We need to look at the tasks God calls us to act on by faith. They may not be designed to lead a nation out of captivity, but our faith might lead a family member out of captivity to sin, as God works to redeem that person. It may mean sharing the gospel with someone at work. Or maybe you’re in the grocery store and happen to run into someone you know, at the exact moment they need someone to talk to.  

You know how those conversations can go. What if you bring Jesus into the conversation? Take a leap of faith, trust God and you might be able to bring Him glory.

You’ll never know what the blessings will be when you walk with God in faith if you never take the first step. If we are afraid of what that step will lead to, and what the next step will lead to, we’ll sit still and eventually become a calloused Christian. We’ll be calloused by fear and regret. The people I know who have the most vibrant relationship with Jesus Christ—the ones who amaze you when they talk about Jesus—will talk about walking with Jesus like it’s the greatest thing in their entire life, something they wouldn’t trade for anything. I’m impressed with what they’re saying, but they’re just thinking, “Well, let’s see where this one goes.” And they take the next step for God.

When we learn to keep moving, to keep walking with God, to take action, God is able to do things through us. You can’t steer a stopped car. But as we move with God, we will enjoy the great blessings that He brings to us. This life might be hard, but what a blessing we’ll receive in glory with Jesus one day. Then we’ll look back and marvel at how He has worked through all eternity. We’ll be in heaven enjoying intimacy with God then, but even now we can experience some of that, especially as we share His truth with others.

This week, we need to start by realigning our values. We need to spend some serious time with God. We must get real with Him, without making excuses. Then when our values are realigned, we need to take some action, leaving the results to God and just enjoying the walk with Him. Enjoy that relationship and the blessings of it all.

 

Village Bible Church  |  847 North State Route 47, Sugar Grove, IL 60554  |  (630) 466-7198  |  www.villagebible.org/sugar-grove

All Scriptures quoted directly from the English Standard Version unless otherwise noted.                                            

Note: This transcription has been provided by Sermon Transcribers (www.sermontranscribers.net).