In this lesson, our missionary Brian Shortmeier discusses what it really means to walk by faith and why serving as a missionary is actually a manifestation of normal Christian faith.
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hey well good morning I am Brian shortmeyer and my wife who a lot of you like is not with me she’s uh with our son up in Schenectady I came down yesterday uh from there and she’s got help and through a program he’s got today and I’ll go back up and get her tomorrow so she’s sends her apologies that she can’t be here um and so you have to put up with me ah we um uh we’re both from New Jersey I’m from here from Central Jersey grew up in Warren back before it had fancy homes and uh my wife’s from South Jersey outside of Camden so you know she went for Philly’s you know Philadelphia teams and I was in New York and we met in training with uh with at the time called new tribe’s mission now the name is ethnos360 and that was in 1982 and uh we got to the mission Field in 1984.
and Calvary started uh supporting us somewhere around 2000 I think it was so it’s been over uh close to 22 years now uh let’s go ahead and open in prayer Lord uh we are so dependent upon you in every area of Our Lives Lord uh that’s just a great place to be because you have uh everything available for us everything that we need or everything we need to live a Godly life Lord one that you continue to can work in us and work through us thank you for this time right now we ask your blessing upon it and guide us and use it to your honor and Glory we pray this in Jesus name amen okay now I’m sure you all know that as Believers we speak a lot of what Christian needs right all right and we need to do less of that when we’re conversing with non-Christian friends but when talking with each other it can be a Time Saver you know just like every profession’s got their anagrams or their shortcuts for things we do as well but it’s important to understand make sure we do understand the things we’re talking about and not just well it’s what we say I’ve got uh four verses here with a common topic okay so I want you to we’re going to get into that Romans 8 1.
there’s therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus who walk not after the flesh but after the spirit Galatians 5 25 if we live in the spirit let us also walk in the spirit Colossians 2 6. as you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord so walk ye in him in second Corinthians 5 7 for we walk by faith not by sight so I’m going to be talking a bit about walking by faith okay now um I’m not one that believes in you know the uh current active uh flashy spiritual gifts okay they’re ready for a time okay but those are mostly finished now but um walking by faith is not a spiritual gift okay it’s something that we are encouraged in a sense almost commanded to do so I started thinking and asked myself well okay what did the Jews know about walking by faith was it even understood was it taught in their synagogues although it could seem to the Casual reader that theirs was a works-based life that actually isn’t true either they had a lot of laws telling them what is it had to do what not to do requirements for worship offerings for sin the law wasn’t ever Present part of their lives at least it could have been but we know the law never saves them okay not what it was designed for the law was meant to teach them and us that all men are sinners women too and that no one’s Deeds are good enough to pay to get them into heaven well we know more clearly now that the righteous shall live by faith you know that’s repeated three times in the New Testament got in Romans Galatians and Hebrews but where did it start in the Old Testament and habakkuk 2 4 we read that the righteous one will live by his faith and I thought about that because I try to understand what was happened in the Old Testament by keeping it in context and I mean it’s not just it all didn’t happen in one year you know it was a long time progressive revelation that’s the way God has worked with us throughout history it’s like okay you know this much now you’re going to know this now you’re going to know that okay I thought well um yeah that’s in back at 2-4 but in the Jews defense wasn’t that at the end of the Old Testament I mean way after the time of Moses and David during the demise and destruction of both the northern and southern kingdoms yeah that’s true but the see the thing the words of the backic were never meant to be new teaching but a reminder of what God had always wanted and which had been demonstrated in the life of Abraham specifically when God called Abraham to go to a place he would later receive his inheritance what did Abraham do he obeyed and went he didn’t even know where he was going but he went Hebrews 11 8.
well what did we learn from Hebrews how did he go by faith he lived as a stranger in a land that at that time wasn’t his how by faith without understanding why it was necessary Abraham gave up claim to the life of his only child well his only child of promise how by faith I don’t that’s something I difficulty comprehending it happened you know but Abraham’s Faith was unbelievable at least as far as I can see Hebrews 11 teaches us about faith in chapter 11 of Hebrews and some people call it the hall of fame or faith but I wonder is it really a Hall of Fame or really basic classroom instruction on one of the most fundamental principles of the Christian Life Hebrews 11 6 tells us and without faith it’s impossible to please God because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him well why does it say the one who comes to him must believe that he exists well because we don’t see him we don’t hear him we’ve got to believe in something we can’t see or hear and quite honestly that’s a stumbling block for many people today and it was a stumbling block for many Jews back then so I think well what was the thing that caused all of Judea to sit up and take notice of Jesus when he started his ministry well it was the Miracles that accompanied the message he brought the miracles of Jesus were done as a verification of the message he brought now though there were exceptions the Miracles were primarily done for the benefit of who the Jews okay you got to remember that Jesus preached the gospel to those around himself in order to authenticate the message he told people John 5 36 I have testimony weightier than that of John for the very work that the father has given me to finish and which I am doing testifies that the father has sent me okay what he was doing which included all those Miracles testified that he was sent by Jehovah by God the Father did the Jews catch the connection that the Miracles authenticated the claim of him being the son of God interesting time there in chapter 10 of the Gospel of John beginning of verse 30.
Jesus said I and the father are one again the Jews picked up stones to Stone him but Jesus said to them I have shown you many great miracles from the father for which of these do you Stone me we are not stoning you for any of these you apply the Jews but for blasphemy because you a mere man so they thought claim to be God oh Jesus answered them is it not written in your law I have said you are Gods if he called them Gods to whom the word of God came and the scripture cannot be broken what about the one whom the father set apart as his very own and sent into the world why then do you accuse me of bless me because they said I am God’s son do not believe me unless I do what my father does but if I do it even though you do not believe me believe the Miracles that you may know and understand that the father is in me and I in the father okay God knows and knew Jews needed miracles okay Jesus came and did those and that was enough even though the Jews didn’t understand and I look at him thinking I wouldn’t have understood either at the time I know I wouldn’t have but the Miracles can only be done by someone who was sent by the father so if they couldn’t believe in Jesus just by faith then they should believe because of what they could see in here Jesus was saying believe the Miracles this wasn’t the only time Jesus said this John 14 10 he said don’t you believe that I’m in the father and the father’s in me the words that I say to you are not just my own rather it’s the father living in me who’s doing the work believe me when I say that I am in the father and the father is in me or at least believe on the evidence of the Miracles themselves you see the Miracles before a specific purpose Jesus himself pointed us to the value of not relying on what we can see and hear and touch though there was a specific time for that because later in returning the Book of John this time in chapter 20 start in verse 26 this is later on the ministry a week later his disciples were in the house again after the resurrection and Thomas was with them though the doors were locked Jesus came and stood among them and said peace be with you then he said to Thomas I can imagine him just looking over the group and going he said his eyes zeroed in and said directly to Thomas put your finger here see my hands reach out your hand and put it on my side stop doubting and believe and Thomas said to him my Lord and my God then Jesus told him because you have seen me you have believed blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed and that’s us that was for all those that were going to come later now did Miracles stop then no not yet after the resurrection many miracles were done through the apostles the initial ones were to the Jews but then many were also done among the Gentiles was that to convince the Gentiles of the Gospel or was that to convince the Jewish Believers that Gentiles could also be saved that’s my opinion which was a thought so distasteful to the Jews that it wouldn’t have been seriously contemplated without signs from heaven okay as you go through the New Testament you’ll see the Miracles that were to the Gentiles but they don’t zero in on them those are to the actually to the Jews to convince them yes this is what God is doing when Peter preached the word of God to Cornelius who was a Gentile he was taking a task right by the Jewish Believers in Jerusalem the Jewish Believers were demanding an explanation as to why Peter would go into the house of a gentile and eat with him so Peter explained everything to them precisely as it had happened acts 11 15.
Peter says as I began to speak the Holy Spirit came on them as he had come on us at the beginning and then I remembered what the Lord had said John baptized with water but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit so if God gave them the same gift as he gave us who believed the Lord Jesus Christ who was I to think that I could oppose God when they heard this being the Jews the saved Jews in Jerusalem they had no further objections and praise God saying so then God has granted even the Gentiles repentance unto life so who is the miracle for the Jews Peter’s defense was a retelling of the vision God gave that led him to Cornelius and then testifying to the miraculous outpouring of the Holy Spirit on these gentiles and only then did the Jewish Believers back off and believe Jews demand signs Jews always have that’s not my opinion that’s First Corinthians 1 22.
see biblically signs are for the people of Israel and God’s dealing with them because Jews ask for signs First Corinthians 1 22 you’ll also see it in Matthew 12 and John 4.
today signs are not generally part of God’s dealing with the church to the church the Lord promised I will come again and receive you to myself that where I am that is in my father’s house where I go and prepare a place for you there you may be also signs do not last signs like addictions require more and more bigger and bigger well that’s what you did for us last time what are you going to do this time that’s a sign Jesus often criticized those who asked for signs and Jesus remarked positively about those who believed without any signs it’s interesting Jesus prays biggest praise for those who believed without signs were for Gentiles see the signs of the Old Testament and the signs of the New Testament were fourth season and signs are not necessary for believers today I mean you have probably maybe you’ve said it yourself at some time in your life and you’ve probably heard it from others well if God would only give me a sign and that’s not how God works the signs um Paul explained to the Corinthians that quote God’s people and members of God’s household were built on the foundation of the signs no on the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets with Christ Jesus himself as the Chief Cornerstone Ephesians 2 19 and 20 Jesus ministry and Earth gave way to the ministry of the Apostles and Prophets which is now in the hands of evangelists pastors and teachers so every single Christian has the same opportunity to walk in the spirit if you don’t like that terminology because you’re um that’s a little too Pentecostal for me okay walk in faith it’s the same thing abiding Christ same thing different words explaining the same very thing walking under the control of the Holy Spirit is not a positional thing secured for us at the moment of salvation walking by faith is a moment by moment thing which is what rewards will be based on it won’t be based on who had the shiniest gifts such as healing or teaching or evangelism why would anyone get credit for something that was given to them and we’re given different gifts you don’t get credit for a gift you have that was given to you mm-hmm rewards are based upon what you do under the spirit’s control with what you were given the man who doubled the talents were both given the same reward the man who earned five did not get a bigger reward than the man who earned two both got the same praise from the Lord both did all they could with what they were given I was given this I doubled it I doubled it I didn’t hide it away so how do we walk by faith it’s sad to me that I see so many Christians that believe the right theology and go to church and go to Bible studies but don’t know what it is to walk under the control of the Holy Spirit to abide in Christ to walk by faith well we do know that we have a great advantage over all the Old Testament Saints in that every believer every single believer in the church age is indwelt by the Holy Spirit first John 4 4 you dear children are from God and have overcome them because the one who is in you is greater than the one who’s in the world first John 4 4.
and again from second Corinthians 1 21-22 now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ he anointed us set his seal of ownership on us and put his spirit in our hearts as a deposit guaranteed absolutely guaranteeing what is to come now walking by faith is a tremendous privilege I’m going to go back again to Abraham when it says in Hebrews 11 and without faith it’s impossible to please God because Abraham is not just the father of the Jews he is our father too again in speaking of Abraham and Romans 4 Paul wrote that Abraham is the father of all who believe I mean we all have I’m sure you’ve all sung that song Father Abraham now in this walk of faith what about this Moment by moment stuff okay does that mean we’re zombie-like moving at the control well this is not Michael Jackson at the Holy Spirit no no no no when we trust in him and obey his Spirit he does guide us in this walk of faith his spirit is faithful to let us know what we should be doing his spirit is faithless let us know what we shouldn’t be doing how do I know I know because God is faithful all the time even when we aren’t and Alive it has to do with learning to listen and then when you hear obeying oh Abraham that’s why he’s the father of the faithful when he heard what God wanted there was no question there was no hesitation he obeyed perfect example for how God wants us to live our life the thing is so many of us we might I mean not that we hear an audible voice but it’s like all of a sudden the thought comes to us oh look at that person over here in the corner and no one’s talking to them I almost guarantee you that was probably God talking to you prompting you to go do something you’re like oh yeah I’m sure someone else would do that yeah I really need a cup of coffee and what do we just do we heard and we disobeyed that’s not walking in the spirit man it’s learning to listen and then immediate obedience when you do and God doesn’t just point out what’s right and what’s wrong he doesn’t just point it out he then empowers us to do the right thing such as going to talk to someone who’s too shy and he enables us to not give in to temptation I’m not sure you’ve probably I don’t know all that’s that’s taught here but you’ve probably heard the term appropriate have they uh as Christians it’s there we just have to appropriate it take it for ourselves it’s waiting for us the power to obey the power to do what we should do the power to not do what we shouldn’t do right it you just oh you do it as you obey everything you need is right there again I can guarantee it why because God’s faithful God is always faithful he can’t be anything but faithful one of the first verses I learned I know the guy that was witnessing to me after I got saved I was like uh less um I’m having some issues here Temptation and he said you know what try memorizing First Corinthians 10 13.
they’re half note again this is the version I learned it in there hath no temptation taking you but such as is common to man God is faithful who will not suffer you to be tempted above that you’re able but will with indentation also make a way to escape that you may be able to bear it I have found that verse so so true in my life over and over um I’m 67. Temptations haven’t stopped they’re there they will be there until the Lord takes me home uh one of my common thoughts throughout the day is Jesus help me things came in I I don’t want to dwell on it it’s like Jesus help me Spirit please now you know it’s not magic it’s God and before I know it it’s not that thing as we can see don’t think about the pink elephant in the room don’t think innocent you know of course that’s not all you can think about I I offer up a quick prayer on a regular basis Jesus helped me and before I know it my thoughts are on something else and no longer not trying to think of the things I’m thinking of it’s like I moved on God is so faithful Moment by moment you can’t say oh well I’m getting tired of that can I take a break no I mean Moment by moment every day 24 7 365.
and it’s always enough always enough now in this walk of faith what about the unusual the things that aren’t part of your typical American Experience well thing is God’s faithful there too and he’s looking for others who are willing to be faithful and stand in the gap heard that phrase before we need people willing to stand in the gap okay yell out what book is that from Ezekiel all right very good hey Ezekiel 22 30 God tells us Ezekiel quote and I saw it for a man among them that should make up the Hedge and stand in the gap before me for the land that I should not destroy it but I found none this is the same God who said in chapter 6 verse 8 in Isaiah whom shall I send and who will go for us again the the Triune God right there you know it’s like for us who who can I send who will go I love that picture Isaiah is there in a vision God has shown in this he’s saying he’s seeing God say who can I send yeah volunteers Isaiah answered I’m sure very timidly here am I send me because that’s all God needed that was enough because Isaiah didn’t have to have all the power and all the elegant words it was all going to be gods he just needed someone who was willing a lot of people wonder well I don’t know if I could do that or do this and I’m waiting for God to make it definite I’m thinking you’re waiting for a sign you know does God let people make decisions just based on faith absolutely that’s what we’re talking about you can make decisions based on faith don’t well a lot of people say well don’t God’s people who want to enter into full-time Ministry need a call and if I step on anyone’s toes here I’m sorry but just ignore me because I’m the visitor here don’t they need a call or some special sign I don’t see that God gives us gifts to use for the building up of his church and then expects us to use them Paul wrote to Timothy this is a true saying if a man desires the office of a bishop he desires a good work it’s a noble thing right where do you think the desire in that man’s heart came from the first place came from God God put you know I’ve had people say like well yeah I’ve wondered about doing that you know what if you seriously wondered about that and you said well maybe maybe someday maybe that someday was the wrong thing to say maybe that was God speaking to you right then and saying time to act on faith Paul didn’t say he needed a vision or a miracle he got them he never looked for them I wonder what some people are waiting for when they say they’re willing to be a pastor or a missionary but they’re waiting for God to confirm it or they haven’t yet received the call um that whole Macedonian call thing it’s got more people into trouble or stop more people from doing what I think God wanted to do but it was a specific thing for a specific time [Music] um foreign if you’ve ever felt stirrings in your heart to do something like that well could I if you felt the stirrings in your heart might not that be just evidence of the leading of the spirit right then in a very simple situation without needing a lot of fanfare because isn’t that how God speaks to us simple still small voice just wanting us to hear and obey so I wonder if many of God’s people who say they’re willing to be a full-time worker not that the rest of us aren’t doing God’s work right because we all are called to do that no matter what we’re doing okay but I wonder if some of those people aren’t really just waiting for a sign and hopefully I’ve demolished that thought that’s not how God works today does he do signs yes okay am I going to define those no uh things are different he can do what he wants when he wants to do it but it’s not the standard way he operates foreign obviously I’m leading towards and talking about full-time missionary Service as well that’s one of the things I’m heading towards here is it more difficult to be a missionary than it used to be hmm some parts are harder other parts are easier but then you have to say Well when did the difficulty of a task ever indicate that God wasn’t in it I mean we love all those stories in the Old Testament about how God overcame all these unbelievable odds against the Israelites so difficulty of a task might even indicate God is in it I’m not based at a Doctrine on that but I wonder at times you look through the word of God and you’ll see that the difficult tasks are the ones that God often specializes in now we’re going to uh do we need to lower the screen oh over there the TVs oh all right screens are so old I know it’s like hey uh there’s a short video I want to show you here and it’s called I couldn’t be a missionary and uh I’d like you to pay attention to this couple uh they are um uh had to go through a lot I had to go through a lot to get to the field uh just like any of us nothing different nothing special in fact they have some things that made even harder to get there but I’d like you to hear their testimony it was plain before a person doesn’t really change when they get on the plane to come to Papua New Guinea I love seeing more trust in the Lord come from coming here the motivation grew to more of God I I need you today please meet with me today we had a lot of obstacles to come it comes for you there are gonna be obstacles from the enemy and just normal life things that happen when you’re doing what the Lord wants you to do it’s not always going to be easy in fact a lot of times it’s going to be hard I do struggle with the fear of flying and there’s a true anxiety there that I just had to take to the Lord whenever I get on an airplane we had a lot of supportive people in our lives then we had some people that weren’t thrilled about us making this decision family wanting you to stay I mean you have your kids and so your parents grandkids are being moved across the world you were a lot of times where we just wondered when are we ever going to get to go I had a couple fears the primary fear was I had a family we like our conveniences we had fears two young kids a six-year-old daughter just afraid for her here’s what I still deal with I really struggle with bugs our son he’s super young so what kind of sicknesses is he going to get just a bunch of different things that me Lord kept just being faithful showing himself faithful to us and all these obstacles those fears were still with me on the plane coming over here and from day to day they’re they’re still there but you you just gotta trust the Lord with with every step I have seen bugs here and they’re huge and it’s totally okay like I haven’t died getting over here I’m absolutely loving it there’s not been a single thing you know made me think I don’t know if we can do this we’re so worried about our kids you know our our kids gonna do well with homesickness having less stuff having less toys and God has been so faithful and just helping them love life here when people say I could never do what you are doing I get really sad the people who are saying that are looking at themselves they’re looking at their own strengths their own weaknesses the focus is on them he promises in his word that he will use the weak and he will use the foolish because he gets glory for that you gotta trust the Lord he’s the one who commissioned us he’s the one who desires for all nations to be reached and he uses weak people and he doesn’t send the people that are necessarily the best equipped or the most fearless or courageous are the people that would be the best missionary the best at cooking from scratch the ones that love camping maybe sometimes he does but if you don’t fit that mold it doesn’t mean that you’re exempt you you got to look to the Lord for for his enabling we’re loving life here and we’re so grateful for God’s faithfulness because I wouldn’t rather be doing anything else but this I am way outside my comfort zone he is my comfort zone so I want to run to him during that time [Music] thank you it was interesting I was at a conference if it was last week or the week before and one of the uh things that I heard the speaker say I thought I said that 15 20 years ago I was like okay you know so I wasn’t crazy uh he was with it had been with a group of people and they were talking about you know the the greatest hindrances to get into the mission field and I guess they had a white board and had listed about 30 different things and was ready to go on and there was a hand in the back it’s like like I said oh you have something that wasn’t up here like I said yeah yeah I the greatest hindrance to get in the mission field as far as I’m concerned is Christian parents I remember saying that talking about that 15 or more years ago there used to be a time back before we were so modern you know it’s funny every age at the time is the most modern that it that it could be all right there was a time when parents would say wow I’d love it if one or two of my five or six kids as a pastor or a missionary we talk about that sort of thing it’s not done anymore a very seldom most Christian parents in America are like wow you know we’ve worked hard to get where we’re at and I want my kids to have a a good life in a place where you know they can raise their kids in security and peace and get a good education so then they can you know they could get a good job and they’re not falling behind are those things wrong no but there’s very few Christian parents these days to talk about when I really hope one of my kids just goes into full-time service or more or all of them it’s not a goal anymore and this guy who brought this up at this seminar said you know my parents never ever once challenged me or any of my siblings to consider that I wanted to make sure we went to a good college and we got a good education and we went into a profession where we’re going to get a good salary I think that’s sad how sad that the Lord has blessed us in this country so much we have so many resources and for a lot of us a lot of the church we hold those for ourselves he didn’t bless us so we could just be blessed he blessed us to be a blessing to others foreign there’s lots of reasons why not to become a missionary or pastor but for missionaries visas aren’t easy to get particularly missionary visas that era has basically gone yes it’s important to make sure kids get a good education and churches missions budgets are more stretched than they ever were local churches here need faithful members elderly parents need help I know of missionaries who in the last couple years have quit the field because they were required by the government of that country to get a vaccination to stay in that country of service it’s like no one’s going to tell me what I have to do with my body I have rights I’m an American even when you’re in overseas country amazing people say that okay the government said look you’re a foreigner you want to stay here you have to have a vaccination Ohio missionaries that have quit the field I guess the price of getting a vaccine was not someone else worth someone else’s Eternal Soul and maybe that sounds pretty harsh but I think it’s true maybe Paul was wrong when he wrote to the Corinthians in First Corinthians 9 verses 19 and 22 the lion free and belong to no man I make myself a slave to everyone to win as many as possible I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some and then there’s the Clincher when I hear most commonly the supposedly Noble reason I could never be a missionary because I won’t beg for money I say if that’s what you think God requires of his servants then you have a really low opinion of God yes God sends us to speak to churches and individuals where it isn’t to beg it’s a share the vision and give God’s people the opportunity to be a part of what God is doing in the world we’re grateful for the prayers and financial gifts but my wife and I were ambassadors from the Royal Court of the king of all creation I don’t look to an individual or to churches for support I appreciate it but I don’t look to them I look to the Lord if one Church chooses to get not and get involved that’s between them and the Lord but it’s for me I have the same confidence in my God that Mordecai had when he told Queen Esther that if she chose not to participate in God’s plan to provide for his people well provision would arise from another place and her opportunity would be lost forever in this life following God can cost a lot including having a comfortable life and we’ll speak more of that during the church service these two messages kind of go together I’m sorry this is more like a sermon than it is a Sunday school but you know that’s what you get for being faithful and showing up you know if God is pricking your heart to give up all to follow him just do it don’t make a pro con list don’t look for a rational argument don’t wait for the right time the time is now God himself said that the workers are few and told us to petition God to send more workers into the Harvest fields Matthew 9 37-38 that was two Millennia ago and there’s still plenty of work to be done lay up treasure for yourself in heaven not on Earth living by faith walking by faith is not just for missionaries it’s for all of God’s people second Corinthians 5 7. we live by faith and not by sight at least that’s how it’s designed now there are lessons to learn about walking by faith all throughout scripture many people are comforted by the Psalms of David for good reason but regarding David’s life personally I’ve learned a lot from first Samuel and been challenged Time and Time Again by David’s refusal to turn against soul and wait many many years on God to remove Saul what a man of faith that was he had been anointed by God he’s been told he was going to be the next king of Israel you would think oh well if I’m going to be the king then let’s do it shades of Macbeth but no he waited on God over and over and over Elijah stand against the 450 prophets of Baal thrilling the courage and confidence of Daniel and his three friends who the king renamed as Shadrach Meshach and Abednego stirring and encouraging and the lessons in leadership we learned from Moses is from Nehemiah can redirect entire Ministries we can learn many things from the various lives of people in the Old Testament but again the person I keep coming back to that I think that I should try to emulate most is Abraham the father of the faithful I relate to Abraham he made mistakes but he trusted God remember he had no word of God in written form look at what we’ve got nothing written down that was going to happen later with Moses Abraham had no written form of the word of God sometimes he went years potentially decades without hearing from God gave a message and it wasn’t the next week the next month the next year there might have been a case in there where he went two decades by that hearing again from God he left his clan his tribe his entire support structure he had no fixed residents always living on someone else’s property God told him he would have a son but God let him wait until all natural hope of that happening was gone as far as having the natural ability to Father a son the writer of Hebrews described Abraham’s body as as good as dead now he must have really gotten revitalized because after Hagar not after uh Sarah died he did have more kids with Keturah so God revitalized that man but at the time body good is dead and then when that child arrives begins to grow into man God asked him to not only give him his son but to physically sacrifice him himself and Abraham didn’t hesitate he didn’t say I’m waiting for a bigger sign I’m waiting for the right time let’s talk about this God Abraham didn’t only believe in God’s promises for the hereafter I find this amazing he reasoned that God can raise the Dead he believed and because he believed and trusted he acted a life of faith walking by faith is a wonderful privilege because Faith pleases God not just faith for salvation but faith for every day living and of necessary faith for dying if you want to grow in your understanding you want to mature walk by faith don’t look for signs don’t pray for miracles to strengthen your own faith believe what he’s already said and appropriate it act in faith and do it I’ve got one final video we’re going to show you it’s actually being streamed off of Facebook from a couple named David and Emily reinstadt they stepped out by faith entered the training with ethnos360 to become Church planners no previous training before this they’ve just and they’ve been there about seven weeks sorry seven years taking them to get to this point they just as of today but it’s 16 hours ahead in Papua New Guinea so Sunday message that they were giving today they just completed week eight about halfway through the Chronological Bible lessons in the tribe that they’re in teaching from Genesis to the cross and the Mali yali tribe in Papua New Guinea this is our update from week three so about five weeks ago on September 18th like you’d hear what they have to say yesterday and we are headed in to week four of teaching tomorrow and so we just wanted to take the time to give you an update let you know how this last week was and what we are expecting for week four in teaching just right off the bat thank you for praying I know last week we said we were going to be teaching some really big lessons and our biggest concern was just that it would come across clear and the Lord was so gracious because it came across Crystal Clear um to the point that a lot of the Molly people were in tears because they were finally seeing um just their stance with God was a creator of the universe and so we’re super grateful for that thank you for praying um for all of those things yeah guys I mean two things that we’re super shocked by one is people are just Faithfully coming like we we weren’t sure how it was going to go but after the couple of the weeks the first three weeks I mean people are Faithfully coming they’re on time which is like it’s shocking so it’s not PNG yeah it’s not it’s not Molly olly culture and so we’re so so grateful your prayers are being answered we’re so so so so so grateful um and then second is yeah like Emily said the receptiveness towards the message is incredible some of these Concepts we were we were wondering if people are going to stand up and be angry or people are gonna leave because they’re ashamed but people are not just hearing it but they’re asking critical questions they’re really thinking about the text that they’re hearing and so it has been it’s been an amazing week of teaching and it feels like we’re we’re just getting started so this next week a week four so tomorrow Monday we’re teaching on uh just what happened after the fall Adam Neve received the clothing from the Lord uh they’re sent out from the garden but what we want to capitalize on is just Genesis chapter 3 verse 15 the promise of the Redeemer coming so we’re going to introduce this is the man or this is there was one who will come who will be able to get us back into God’s line um so that’s going to be really exciting uh Tuesday is the story of Cain and Abel Wednesday and Thursday like you guys know it’s their break Friday is going to be uh Noah part one and Saturday’s two lessons it’s going to be Noah part two and then the Tower of Babel so again another big week but some exciting stories just to start having them move along but they’re going to move along now in the story knowing up the Redeemer is coming there’s a man who will come who will be able to get us out of Satan’s line and back into the clan of God so we’re stoked for the people to start hearing those lessons yeah and like you know we have lived here among the malioli for the last five years and in this time we have been Learners we have been Learners of their languages Learners of their culture um we didn’t come in and say oh this is wrong this is wrong this is the way you need to believe this is we have done none of that and when we haven’t been able to you know say spiritual conversations and so I think that is one of the biggest blessings that all of us as a team are talking about is like man we are having spiritual conversations using God’s word um talking with the malayali people and that is just like it’s just a crazy new season for us that we’re really enjoying uh one of the things that we’re trying to do as a team is that every night after teaching uh one family goes to a different a family house here in the village and you can cook food for them or just hang out with them and just talk about the lesson and so this week I went and visited my friend numi and just sitting in the house with her it was one of those aha moments like we’re getting to talk about scripture I’m asking her you know reading these questions like knew me what are you thinking about this you know and she’s telling me man at first I read it and I was mad but then I really am mad about what Adam and Eve had done but then I realized like that affects me like now I am separated from God and I’m sad you know and so I think it’s just such a joy to finally that’s who we are is to be able to like communicate God’s word with them yeah it’s been a crazy Joy because like Emily said we’ve we’ve kept that to ourselves for Years Learning their language and learning their culture and being able to have spiritual conversations is I mean just the bread and butter of the work the lessons are great them sitting down and hear it phenomenal but really where the rubber meets the road is us spending time outside of the lessons having those deep spiritual conversations uh man after the fall of Adam and Eve uh it was a a big big lesson where Adam and Eve tried to cover themselves up but they couldn’t they were ashamed and when the Lord came and the coolness of the day they ran away and hid for our people that was huge uh there’s a man here in our village that is probably one of the most self-righteous guys he believes that everything he does is good enough and um it was the first time I after the lesson you know we sit down and we ask questions with people and just make sure if they heard it correctly and he was sitting alone and I just went up to him and I sat down and we began to look at we have these little sheets with uh questions on it we I began to ask him questions and his eyes began to tear up and my eyes began to tear up and he starts weeping and I start weeping and his wife is kind of looking at both of us like what’s wrong and we Embrace each other and he he just says for the first time I see myself clearly and I have sin and the sin is not only just filling up my mind but it’s filling up my heart but then it my everything about me is just screwed up now because of sin and I see myself clearly for the first time what can I do and that’s a lot of the people are asking themselves that question we’re saying hey do you think you can get back into God’s plan do you think you can go back and be friends with God and a lot of people are just saying know and then we say well what do you think would get you back there and they said we don’t know and so a lot of people are just asking that question man what can we do to get back to the relationship that Adam and Eve had in the very beginning in the garden and we just keep on telling him just wait wait we’re building a house and we’re building it slowly uh but you’re about to find out not you know what can you do but what God is going to do for all mankind yeah unlike David said that’s an illustration we’ve been using for them as we’ve been going through this foreign she said they’ve been there what uh I forget how many years that she said they’ve been there right now what five years in those five years they’ve had five different medical emergencies they’ve had to travel back to the United States or to Australia and about 10 days ago more medical issues and they were told by the doctor in Papua New Guinea you have to leave through all the years that they’ve spent now they have partners okay like you have to get this treated elsewhere and I’m not sure if it’s for them or one of their children because they’ve been kind of vague on some of that and some of the more current stuff is just them crying it’s like this is what we came for but the doctors have said we can finish the teaching as soon as the resurrection is presented you know and the gospel is clear we have to leave for example we are praying that we could be back to America we can get the issues taken care of and we can get back there because these people need to be discipled okay they are just common ordinary Americans okay no special Aid before they enter the training with ethnos360 no specialized training in linguistics okay no specialized training you know in uh in Bible translation we’ve taught them everything they they needed to know to get in there and they’re like now you’re going to learn a lot more while you’re there but God will take you through it all right I’m just so excited when I hear them when I see what they’re doing it’s like that is what God has for every one of us to be about the business of building up the church the bride later will you read you know the bride hath made herself ready what do you think that means at the end time when God says the bride hath made us who’s the bride it’s the church it’s us how does the bride make herself ready well what job has he given us to do hey to spread the gospel and build up the body of Christ that’s what we’re all about we’re supposed to be about any questions okay um again during the service we’re going to be in a different section we’re going to be in Mark but you’ll hear some similar themes you know that keep counting array at the same thing okay let’s pray God we thank you for the time we’ve had right now Lord I Thank you that you continue to work in US for the moment we’re born again until you take us home we are so grateful to you for your work and Lord for the privilege the privilege of walking by faith knowing that that pleases you we thank you and we praise you we just again ask you to to continue to use these words in our heart and our minds Lord help us to be about the business of building up the church wherever we’re at in the world we thank you and praise you in Jesus name amen