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8/27/2023 Worship Service and Sermon from Brick Lane Community Church in Elverson, PA.

Scripture: Hebrews 11:8-10, 13-16
Title: Faith Through the Unfamiliar (Abraham)
Speaker: Steve Estes

By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. For he was looking forward to the city with fundations, whose architect and builder is God.

All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance. And they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth. People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. Instead, they were longing for a better country--a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.

Notes:

1. The life of faith often involves leaving all that's familiar
A. What Ur was like
B. God's command to leave Ur
C. Abraham's faith in unfamiliar Canaan
D. Abraham's life pictures faith when we leave all that's familiar

2. The life of faith often means seeing only one step at a time
A. When he left Ur, Abraham did not know his destination
B. Even when Abraham learned the general trajectory, he was detoured
C. Had God's word dropped to the ground? No.
D. The life of faith is one step at a time for all believers

3. The life of faith often involves disappointments in how God fulfills His promises
A. Abraham had constant struggles
B. Abraham needed to keep moving
C. Abraham and his family were foreigners in the land
D. For all believers, this life is full of disappointment with how God's promises are fulfilled

4. The life of faith involves knowing that God's promises--only dimly fulfilled in this life--will come blazing true in heaven
A. Ur
i. for Abraham
ii. for us
B. Canaan
i. for Abraham
ii. for us
C. Disappointing Canaan
i. for Abraham
ii. for us

D. What God had in store was far greater than Abraham pictured

5. Closing: God will not fail to keep His promise

#Hebrews #faith