By Faith: An Introduction

Wilderness Faith

Let's see next what it is about these acts of faith that we are supposed to notice. In all three of the situations, it was an act of trusting submission or submissive trust, that seemed contrary to sensory evidence, and that was exercised in the context of despair. Let me unpack that: #1 – Submissive trust #2 – That seemed contrary to sensory evidence #3 – Exercised in the context of despair

Joseph & Moses: A Future Faith

Those who do actually believe will often see the beginnings of their faith, in childhood … Even before childhood, in the faith of their parents. Probably a lot of people here today would be able to say, "since I've come to believe, I've rediscovered my past, my parents, God working in my life before I had any consciousness of that work. And now with the eyes of faith, I see God at work in my past… Even in the days before I knew Him or believed in Him at all. That's there, Moses receiving God's work in his past, BUT the big idea in both Joseph and Moses is not so much the past, but faith enabling a new posture toward the future.

Jacob & the Ol' Switcheroo

Everyone has faith and everyone sees the world through belief in something. Faith in God's promises and His acts in history, THAT'S the faith BY WHICH the Patriarchs saw God and saw themselves and saw how to live and conduct themselves in an often-hostile world. Those are actually our three points: 1. Faith is HOW to see/know God 2. Faith is HOW to see/know OURSELVES 3. Faith is HOW to see/know LIFE (it sets our course of action)

Abraham & the Only Begotten Son

If you're a Bible reader, what comes to mind when you think of Abraham? What are the big events in Abraham's life? He was called out of Ur and Babel in Mesopotamia. He received God's promise to be blessed and to BE a blessing to all nations. He received the promised son and heir and then… that big moment, the watershed, crisis-experience for Abraham – the sacrifice of Isaac. So, let's look at: #1 – the event itself – this is the third or fourth event in Abraham's life given as an example of faith – let's think about it. #2 – let's ask, "What IS it, IN the event/action, that we're meant to notice and that exemplifies faith? (What we've called "the highlighted feature".) #3 – how are WE to follow this example, how to practice this highlighted feature in our own pattern of believing?

Sarah & Abraham: Believing Together

Today, we meet the first woman on the list of people who lived, "by faith", that is Sarah. She's not the last woman on the list – more in verses 31 and 35. AND this first woman appears in tandem with her husband. What we really have here is an example of a couple believing together – marital faith/belief. So, let's follow our regular outline and ask, 1. What IS the event used to illustrate faith from this episode. 2. What is it about this event or action that's important? And 3. How are we to follow the overall example?