The Father tells us in Hebrews 11 about Faith–and it is a remarkable picture of what Faith is……and I would like to spend my next two sessions writing about it.

 

Hebrews 11:  1Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.

 

I have read that verse so many times and yet just recently something caught my eye—and then my heart.  Faith is “being sure of what we hope for…….”

 

To be honest:  many have lost hope….and we do not EVEN KNOW WHAT TO HOPE FOR!!

 

So let me ask you this:  What if what He says is true?

  • What if I REALLY am a citizen of heaven….in other words—what if heaven is AWESOME and I, once I accept Jesus, am royalty there?
  • What if He truly is rooting for me and actually OFFERING His Son so that I might be in His favor NOT ONLY IN HEAVEN BUT HERE ON EARTH?
  • What if I actually could DEFEAT THE DARKNESS (Satan), DEFEAT MY FAULTS (sin), and DEFEAT MY MORTALITY (death)?
  • What if I could actually see my friends and family in heaven—and there was ACTUALLY no disease, no tears, no striving and failing….what if I could see people living in harmony like I want to see here?

 

Well, if all that were true, it would rock me to the core.  That would change everything….it would change the way I loved myself—and thus how I loved others.  It would change all my relationships.  It would change the way I treated people and the way I responded to things that could look, in the flesh, as if they were hopeless.

 

So let me testify to this fact:  ALL OF IT IS TRUE.

 

We ARE Citizens of Heaven when we accept Jesus….We are ROYAL.

We ARE, in Jesus, able to defeat Satan, sin, and death.

We ARE, under open invitation, able to receive Christ in our lives and ensure an eternity that would blow away EVERY GREAT THING THAT WE HAVE EVER SEEN…..

 

And He is offering to come and do it in our lives here on earth……it is what we are crying out for when we say:  THY KINGDOM COME, THY WILL BE DONE, ON EARTH AS IT IS IN HEAVEN……it’s just that, we don’t truly always mean it when we say it……

 

So here’s the good news:

That can all change in a moment…….

 

We are a nation……a people……that lacks hope.

 

Because if we understood the promise of the gospel and what He truly did on the cross…… our homes, our schools, our cities, our states, and our country would look incredibly different…..

 

Think about it……..even a select few of us could actually change a nation.

 

So what are we waiting for?

 

Get down on your knees and cry out….and I mean CRY OUT….and ask Him to change your heart and to actually put HOPE INSIDE OF YOU.

 

Because if He puts His HOPE INSIDE OF US…….our world will never look the same again.

 

In the Name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.

 

Amen.