Thursday, November 6, 2008

Hebrews 11

IDEA: Biblical faith orients our lives to God and His values against the perceived realities and values of the world.

PURPOSE: To help listeners get a grip on the nature of faith.

George Guthrie tells of an experience of landing in a plane in El Paso, TX in a blinding snowstorm (with 22 inches of snow on the ground, unusual for west TX).  "The pilot told us that we would land in almost zero visibility. This was not comforting. The jet descended through a white winter curtain that opened only at the last second revealing the ghostly lights of the runway. We flew in on the instruments, and the ride was neither comfortable nor enjoyable. I do not like flying blind."

I. The Christian flies blind on instruments.

Everything in our culture blows against our progress in faith.

But faith keeps a steady nose pointed to where God's Word indicates we have a promised destination.

Just as the pilot had a bold, though perhaps tension-filled, confidence in his flight plan and instruments, so the Christian lives step by steady step on a path whose Maker and End are imperceptible to an earthbound eye.

II. Faith pushes against our fears.

There's much in this world of which to be afraid—evil people who oppose the gospel as well as natural catastrophes on all sides.

These fears call us to shrink back from life, and at times, from our Lifegiver.

Yet although the world is dark, God blows evidences of His presence and blessing into the corners of our lives. There really is no other way to live.

CONCLUSION:

Biblical faith orients our lives to God and His values against the perceived realities and values of the world.