The Choices of Faith

Welcome to Built on God's Word, the preaching and teaching ministry of Highland Park Baptist Church in Bartlesville, Oklahoma.! Pastor Mike Scrivani preaches on Hebrews 11, verses 23-28.

At Highland Park, we exist to develop disciples of Jesus Christ, to delight in Him, and demonstrate His goodness as we declare His gospel, the gospel, to our neighbors and to the nations.

And so I pray and hope that as we continue to work through Hebrews today in chapter 11, verses 23-28, that the Lord will use this message to encourage us as a church to accomplish His mission, to be His light in this world.

If you would stand with me as we honor the reading of God's Word together again. Today, we are in Hebrews chapter 11, verses 23-28. By faith, Moses, when he was born, was hidden for three months by his parents because they saw that the child was beautiful, and they were not afraid of the king's edict.

By faith, Moses, when he was grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. He considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking to the reward.

By faith, he left Egypt, not being afraid of the anger of the king, for he endured as seeing him who was invisible. By faith, he kept the Passover and sprinkled the blood so that the destroyer of the firstborn might not touch them.

May God add a blessing to the reading of His Word. Would you please be seated? Now, we're in church, so I want you to be honest when I ask this next question.

Raise your hand. How many of you have ever heard of the musical No-No Nanette? Raise your hand. I'm shocked.

There are four or five of us who know the musical No-No Nanette. Okay. Now, raise your hand if you've heard of the name Babe Ruth. All right.

That's almost everybody. On December 26, 1919, Boston Red Sox owner Harry Frazee sold Babe Ruth to the New York Yankees for $100,000 and secured a $300,000 loan to finance the Broadway musical No-No Nanette.

Though Frazee profited from the musical, history remembers him for making what is considered the worst trade in professional sports history, for trading baseball's greatest legend.

Babe Ruth led the Yankees to four World Series wins, sparking decades of dominance, and it wasn't until another 86 years before the Red Sox won another World Series after trading Babe Ruth.

In 1919, $100,000 was worth about $2 million today. And many at the time thought the Yankees were reckless for spending so much money on one player.

But today, the Yankees are worth nearly $10 billion, and Babe Ruth remains a legendary figure known by people who never saw him play and don't even like baseball.

Some trades may seem reckless to some people. They may not think that the thing being traded for is worth the price.

However, the person who sees the true worth of the thing being traded for is willing to give much because they know that they stand to gain much in return.

In Matthew 13, Jesus teaches his disciples about the kingdom of heaven. This is a central theme of Matthew's gospel.

The kingdom is present now as Jesus reigns in believers' hearts, and he will reign when he returns physically. But look with me at Matthew 13, 44 through 46, and what Jesus teaches his disciples through a couple of the parables mentioned in these verses.

The kingdom of heaven, he says, is like treasure hidden in a field which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.

Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls who on finding one pearl of great value went and sold all that he had and bought it. What Jesus wants us to learn about the kingdom of heaven in these parables is that losing everything on earth to get the kingdom is a happy trade-off, is the best trade-off.

Having the omnipotent, sovereign reign of Christ in our lives is so valuable that if we lose everything, to have that is a joyful sacrifice.

The writer of Hebrews is encouraging his readers to hold fast to Christ, to persevere in faith until the end that they would receive the final reward.

He's encouraged them to this point to not shrink back, to not neglect the great salvation of Jesus, to not drift away from following him. In chapter 11, the writer of Hebrews provides illustrations of faithful men and women who persevered, enduring suffering, who pressed on in hope of receiving the final reward.

In chapter 11, verses 3 through 7, we see that faith pleases God, that it's impossible to please God without faith. It sees what is invisible.

In verses 8 through 22, the writer of Hebrews captures the future character of faith, focusing on the future promises of blessings to be received from God by those who follow Christ in this world.

Verses 22 through 31 emphasize faith that trusts in God during times of suffering and in times of danger. And through the example of Moses, we learn that whatever earthly treasures are lost, forfeited, or traded to identify with Christ aren't truly losses at all, but in fact are great gains, the greatest gain, because in Jesus we have an eternal reward.

And so the main idea for this morning's sermon is biblical faith is demonstrated by choosing eternal reward over earthly treasures. Biblical faith is demonstrated by choosing eternal reward over earthly treasures.

In our text this morning, we see four choices those who live by faith make. The one who lives by faith demonstrates their faith in God because they've realized that Jesus is the reward.

He is the treasure in the field. He is the pearl of great price. He is the author of our salvation. He is our peace. He is our reward. Whatever earthly treasure is lost, exchanged, or traded for to have Christ, no matter how bad of a trade-off it may look to the world, is totally, completely, and eternally worth it.

Do you believe that? Are you choosing today to live by faith? I'm sure that most of you would say yes.

Yes, I treasure Jesus, my salvation in Him, my hope in Him, more than anything. You would say, yes, I trust Him.

Yes, I am choosing to live by faith. But functionally, practically, is that belief reflected in your choices?

When it comes to your career, your money, your relationships, your goals, is Christ central to all the decisions and choices that you make?

Do you consider Him and His will for your life and all that you do first? Or is He an afterthought?

Is He your life or is He a part of your life? Do your decisions and choices truly reflect a life being lived by faith?

Or do they reflect decisions that seek security and earthly treasures that have no eternal reward? In the eyes of the world, Moses had it all.

He had status. He had wealth. He had a future of ease and plenty ahead of him. He was the rags-to-riches story.

A Hebrew born in slavery, adopted by Pharaoh's daughter, transported from a life of hard labor to a life of earthly pleasure. However, as we read in verses 23 through 26, he chooses something different.

He traded earthly treasures to be mistreated with the people of God. He considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasure of Egypt. Why?

Well, because he lived by faith, choosing a better reward, one that is eternal. And we know today that Moses made a good trade.

And I hope that the Holy Spirit uses the words he's inspired through the example of Moses to encourage us all to choose eternal reward over earthly treasures.

That we'll lay aside every weight, every sin and desire for earthly reward and pleasure to follow Christ.

If you're here this morning and you don't know Jesus, then friend, you are in the right place. The best place for you to be right now. You're going to hear good news today. The best news that there is.

And I hope the Holy Spirit reveals to you today that Jesus is the greatest treasure worth surrendering everything you have to gain what you can only get from him.

So we see four choices today that are made. The first in verse 23, choose to defy commands that oppose God's will. How do we live by faith? How do we demonstrate we live by faith through the choices that we make?

Well, one, choose to defy commands that oppose God's will. Verse 23 again says, by faith, Moses, when he was born, was hidden for three months by his parents because they saw that the child was beautiful and they were not afraid of the king's edict.

The initial faith we are shown is not Moses' faith, but the heroic faith of his parents, of his mother and his father. Remember, after Joseph's rise from slavery to imprisonment to becoming the second most powerful man in Egypt, he moved his family.

He moved his family to Egypt with the blessings of Pharaoh. And that arrangement lasted for about 300 years. However, as time passed and the memory of God using Joseph to save Egypt from famine faded, a new pharaoh decided this arrangement no longer suited him.

He was afraid of the growth of the Hebrew population and saw them as a threat to Egypt's national security. He was concerned that they would join with Egypt's enemies and eventually overthrow the nation.

So Pharaoh enslaved the Hebrews, forcing them into hard labor in an attempt to curb the growth of their population, but that ended up having the opposite effect.

The Hebrews were having more babies. Their population was booming. So when this plan failed, Pharaoh devised another one. He ordered the Hebrew midwives to kill every newborn boy as soon as they were delivered.

The midwives defied Pharaoh's command because they feared God and God blessed them for that. But the failure of the extermination program did not deter Pharaoh.

He issued another command, this time to all of his subjects, demanding the murder of newborn Hebrew sons. We read about that in Exodus 1.22.

Then Pharaoh commanded all his people, every son that is born to the Hebrews you shall cast in the Nile, but you shall let every daughter live. Baby boys, baby Hebrew boys were taken from their homes, ripped from their mother's arms, and cast into the Nile River where they drowned and were eaten, I'm sure, by alligators.

By the way, Margaret Sanger, the founder of Planned Parenthood had the same objective. She discriminated against groups she considered to have lower status in an effort to curb the growth of their populations.

Moses' parents didn't see their son as an unwanted problem though, but a gift from God. And they defied Pharaoh's order seeing that their son was beautiful.

In Scripture, that Greek word is used to describe beauty that is perceived in the light of God's purpose and not merely in an outward appearance.

Perhaps God revealed to Moses' parents the future plans that he had for him. We don't know. What we do know is that they knew Pharaoh's command contradicted God's command to be fruitful, to have children, to fill the earth.

They hid Moses for three months and then his mother placed him in a basket in a little ark which God's hand sovereignly guided to Pharaoh's daughter.

Moses' sister was following the basket and when Pharaoh's daughter pulled Moses out of the water she was there to recommend a woman whom she knew who could raise the child for her who happened to be Moses' mother.

The message for the original readers at this point is clear. Even if they feared trusting the Lord or worried that obedience might put them at odds with powerful authorities who could harm them, they should follow the faithful example of Moses' parents.

They must do what is right in the eyes of the Lord and not fear to act in defiance of authorities who issue commands that defy God's commands. Living by faith means choosing to defy commands that oppose what God has commanded.

Now it's important that we use other scriptures to inform our understanding of governing authorities in this case and in what situations they should be defied.

Romans 13 1-4 says let every person be subject to the governing authorities for there is no authority except from God and those that exist have been instituted by God.

Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed and those who resist will incur judgment for rulers are not a terror to good conduct but to bad.

Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority then do what is good and you will receive his approval for he is God's servant for your good. But if you do wrong be afraid for he does not bear the sword in vain for he is the servant of God and avenger who carries out God's wrath on the wrongdoer.

Those who are in authority have received their authority from God and we know that we are commanded to pray for them whether we voted for them or not whether we like them or not 1 Timothy 2 1-2 tells us to pray for everyone who is in authority over us for kings for presidents in our case governors senators congressmen you name it and that we are to live in obedience to them we read that in 1 Peter 2 13-14 however when those in authority over us try to force us to do things and support things that defy God's commands we will we must submit to the Lord and defy them how we defy them is important Moses' parents didn't incite a mob and say hey we've got the numbers let's all get together and let's just go through the streets and let's give back to them what they're trying to do to us they didn't do that they didn't ride in the streets they didn't sin in their defiance like Shadrach

Meshach and Abednego they refused to bow they refused to submit to comply with the command of Nebuchadnezzar and so should we we will not defy God to obey men who will try to force us to obey commands that would cause us to sin unlike this time or the early history of the church we have a say in our nation as to who will lead us so please use your vote to support candidates who will uphold biblical values and morals when they are in office I will vote for those who support life I will vote for those who support two genders that God created who support parental authority who support righteousness goodness and godliness pray for everyone who is elected speak the truth in love don't sin in your defiance don't sin by defying

God's command to preserve your life in a way that avoids you persevering for Christ so now we come to the second choice that is demonstrated by those who live by faith choose to delight in Christ choose to delight in Christ verses 24 through 26 say by faith Moses when he was grown up refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter choosing rather to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin he considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt for he was looking to the reward so now we jump forward about 40 years into the life of Moses years after he was adopted by Pharaoh's daughter and now he refuses his title he refuses his royal designation as the son of Pharaoh's daughter in the Greek the word translated refused expresses an intentional denial a complete break from a life of ease and pleasure as Pharaoh's grandson in Moses' case to identify himself with the people of his heavenly father

Moses again had power being Pharaoh's grandson meant he had status he had prestige he had wealth and access to whatever sinful pleasures he desired power wealth pleasure these are the things that our world tells us to pursue these are the things we are told will make us happy and satisfied in life and give us peace even as Christians we are tempted to pursue such things and think our life would be better if we had more say if we had more money more luxury and more pleasure all these things Moses had he had them all and he traded them all to be mistreated with God's people he refused he disowned he broke away from the life that most people want from the life that most people assume is best why well first we read that he understood the fleeting pleasures of sin the reason why people sin is because they're born sinful but also because in the moment for a time sin is pleasurable but it's fleeting it's temporary the more people indulge in sinful pleasures the greater their craving becomes for them gradually they grow addicted and ultimately enslaved to those desires the more they have the more they live in fear of losing what they have the more money they have the more they fear losing it the more they seek pleasure in sin the more fleeting that pleasure becomes for them the more time they spend trying to feel the pleasure they felt at first the more willing they are to sacrifice good things to get it and they leave a trail of brokenness in their wake many people have sacrificed marriages families relationships at the altar of sinful pleasure ultimately they choose to trade the truth of God about pleasure for the lies of this world and so brother sister beware of twisting

God's word and those who twist God's word to make it condone what scripture what God explicitly condemns making you think or believe that God wants you to take pleasure in sinful choices that will destroy you remember in the garden Genesis 3 in paradise the serpent twisted God's word and deceived Adam and Eve into thinking that what God said would happen if they disobeyed him wouldn't happen and that disobeying God's command would make their life better Satan didn't force Eve to take the forbidden fruit and eat it and she didn't force Adam to take it and eat it either but Satan twisted God's word did God actually say and he planted the seed of doubt in her mind encouraging her to trade the truth of God for a lie and then he left her with the choice what she and Adam should have done is flee to God instead look with me at

Genesis 3 6 through 7 so when the woman saw that the tree was good for food and that it was a delight to the eyes and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise she took of its fruit and ate she also gave some to her husband who was with her and he ate then the eyes of both were opened and they knew that they were naked and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths and eventually they hide from God instead of turning her eyes away from the forbidden fruit Eve saw and the more she saw the more she delighted in what she saw she desired what she thought defying God would give her she took it she ate it she consumed it and she encouraged Adam her husband to do the same and I wonder if Eve's giving it to Adam was also a way for her to justify what she had done to condone her actions that's what people do when they indulge in sinful pleasures isn't it they want people to join them to feel justified to feel accepted for what they've done to feel like this thing that they're doing is okay but this thing definitely was not okay

I share this because every day we are tempted with forbidden fruit we are tempted to trade the truth of God's word for lies we are encouraged to delight in sin and the only way we are going to be able to resist these delights that destroy our lives is to delight in something better something that truly satisfies something that saves our lives instead of destroying our lives Moses made that choice Moses didn't fall into mistreatment he chose it he chose it he chose to identify with the people of God knowing the cost he chose to separate himself from a life of sinful fleeting pleasures he chose to reject life in an earthly palace to suffer reproach reproach that word in the Greek gathers up ideas of insult disgrace ridicule and public shame

Moses was raised by his parents no doubt he was told about the one true God the problem of sin and the promise of a savior and Moses chose to identify with the promised Messiah than the pleasures of Pharaoh he pursued a relationship with the promised Christ which meant refusing his relationship to Pharaoh why he was looking forward to the eternal reward he delighted in the promised Christ the one who would come to crush the serpent's head the one who would rule in righteousness the one who can completely satisfy us the one who gives true lasting and eternal!

eternal pleasure Augustine said in his prayer to God you have made us for yourself O Lord and our hearts are restless until they rest in you is your heart restless this morning if so it's probably because you are delighting in the wrong thing the things we are tempted to delight in are things we become enslaved to it becomes the source also of our fear and anxiety the source of our worry you become like Lenny of mice and men remember Lenny Lenny who delighted in petting things and he'd grasp them and he'd pet them and he'd hold them and pet them so hard until that thing died in his hands escalating from a mouse to a puppy to a person the problem that he had ultimately led to his own demise it's only in Jesus delighting in him that we are set free from earthly pleasures that are fleeting and deadly what reason do we have to delight in Jesus well one verse that we can look at is 2nd

Corinthians 8 9 for you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ that though he was rich yet for your sake he became poor so that you by his poverty might become rich remember how the writer of Hebrews identified Jesus at the beginning of this letter that he is the son of God he's the heir of all things he's the creator of the world he is the radiance and glory of God he is the exact imprint of his nature who upholds the universe by the word of his power who made purification for our sins Jesus Christ the God man had infinite wealth as the second person of the trinity he is as rich as God is rich because he is God owning everything possessing everything in his incarnation he became poor he became one of us he died with no earth possessions they stripped him of his clothes before they crucified him on the cross and the one piece of clothing that he had was being gambled over by

Roman soldiers at the foot of his cross Jesus became poor in his incarnation he died poor so that in him we would become rich rich in his infinite love clothed in his infinite righteousness recipients of his infinite grace redeemed from the eternal consequences of our sins set free to live a life in this world that has purpose and makes sense has significance gives us hope and eternal reward that endures he made us his treasure he made us his bride he made us his body he made us his brothers and sisters through adoption to God's family to the degree that you grasp the gospel you will delight in Jesus and nothing else will compare no cost will be too much no price will be too steep to pay no earthly treasure can compare so preach the gospel to yourself every day every day when you wake up remind yourself of who

Christ has made you to be in him that he loves you that you're his treasure that he keeps you and will preserve you and that he has an eternal reward prepared for you that no one else can give no one else can provide that no earthly treasure is worth trading for when you see the fruit of earthly pleasure you won't delight in it because you've tasted and you've seen and you've experienced that the Lord Jesus Christ is good and he is better now we come to the third decision that those who live by faith make choose to dismiss fear of powerful people choose to dismiss fear of powerful people verse 27 says by faith he left Egypt not being afraid of the anger of the king for he endured as seeing him who is invisible there's some debate on this verse some scholars think this refers to Moses after he returned to

Egypt and then left leading the Hebrews out of Egypt unafraid of Pharaoh because when Moses killed the Egyptian when he first left Egypt he did flee in fear others think as I do that the writer of Hebrews is going chronologically through Moses' life and that while he fled originally in fear he fled trusting that God would preserve his life which he did either way the original readers were encouraged to choose to dismiss the fear they might have had of those who were persecuting them for their faith in Christ taking a stand with Christ puts us in opposition to the world and those who reject him those who love sin and refuse to come to the light because they hate it they don't want their sins to be exposed so we have a choice every day whether it's your boss at work or a classmate in school who has power in the sense that they can influence people and how they treat you will you fear being associated with Christ because of the reproach that it might bring to you

Matthew 10 28 through 33 Jesus told us whom we should not fear and why and do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell are not two sparrows sold for a penny and not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your father but even the hairs of your head are all numbered fear not therefore you are of more value than many sparrows so everyone who acknowledges me before men I will acknowledge before my father who is in heaven but whoever denies me before men I will also deny before my father who is in heaven now we come to the fourth choice choose to depend on God's deliverance choose to depend on God's deliverance verse 28 by faith he kept the Passover and sprinkled the blood so that the destroyer of the firstborn might not touch them the Passover is one of the signature events in Israelite history the Lord put to death all of the firstborn sons in

Egypt because Pharaoh's continued refusal to obey God's commands and let his people go let them go free those who were spared obeyed God's command to slaughter a choice lamb they were to apply the blood of the lamb to the doorposts of their homes and when the angel of death came through he passed over the homes of those who had the blood of the lamb painted across the doorposts of their homes Moses and God's people trusted in what must have seemed like a strange act of deliverance here of course all of this pointed to Christ the lamb of God whose blood was shed that those who believe in him whose blood is spiritually applied to the doorposts of their hearts will have their sins forgiven and passed over by faith

Moses and God's people chose to depend on God's deliverance they trusted in God's provision not in themselves not in their good works but in the blood of the lamb of God to the world the instructions were strange if you think about it the demand was costly and unprecedented but they did precisely as they were told in faith they did what God said they obeyed and they were saved you know today to many the cross seems foolish to many the cross seems cruel and unnecessary history 1st

Corinthians 1 22 through 25 the apostle Paul says for the Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom but we preach Christ crucified a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles but to those who are called both Jews and Greeks Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God for the foolishness of God is wiser than men and the weakness of God is stronger than men in Christ the Lamb of God God has provided the only way for salvation the only deliverance from sin that there is the only hope of eternal life of eternal reward it is in Jesus alone the best rags to riches story is the story of those who have been saved by God's grace through faith in Jesus

Christ when sinners are forgiven when sinners become saints when enemies of God become children of God when those who sin the consequence is an eternity separated from God and hell who are transformed and who are given this reward in Christ and have eternal life friend if you don't know Jesus he's brought you here today to hear this warning whatever it is you're pursuing whatever it is you are delighting in you know it in your heart it does not satisfy you you just think about it like whenever you buy something new whatever it is I talked about guns earlier maybe it's a gun or a car or a house or whatever it is there's a feeling of satisfaction isn't there hey I got this thing that I wanted and that feeling lasts for a while and then it fades away and we almost become just like it's not as big of a deal to us anymore and so we start pursuing other things buying other things

I'm sure like you like me your house is full of stuff that at one time brought you pleasure but now is in a box stuck in some corner in some closet that you've probably forgotten about and won't remember until you go to clear out the closet we're constantly trying to fill our lives with these things that we think will satisfy us we do it with immaterial possessions we do it with people we think that this person this relationship will give me satisfaction it will give me purpose it will give me pleasure we end up treating that person like they're our God but people are sinful and they let us down they break our hearts they hurt us even if they don't they're not capable of satisfying us in the ways that we most need it cannot completely help us to overcome the delights of this world people do this with with addictions drugs alcohol you name it they're hurting and they think the answer is to suppress it with these substances that work for a while but then don't work as good so they pursue more and more they become enslaved to that addiction in their life becomes worse and worse you will not find satisfaction lasting true satisfaction in this world through anything that is of this world the only one who can save you the only one who can break you of these addictions the only one who can show you and give to you what your heart most desires is relationship with the

God who created you and that can only come through Jesus Christ his son if you are a Christian we must never forget that in a way is down that the lives that that we have have been given to us by our creator the new life that we have is through faith in Jesus Christ and what he's done to save us and that life brings a transformation a change of heart a change of mind a change of choice in action look with me at Philippians 2 1 through 11 so if there is any encouragement in Christ any comfort from love any participation in the spirit any affection and sympathy complete my joy by being of the same mind having the same love being in full accord and of one mind do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit but in humility count others more significant than yourselves let each of you look not only to his own interest but also to the interest of others have this mind among yourselves which is yours in

Christ Jesus who though he was in the form of God did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped but emptied himself by taking the form of a servant being born in the likeness of men and being found in human form he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death even death on a cross therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father when I was a freshman in college going through some hard things I was called to the ministry and I decided I'm not going to do that I don't want to be in ministry and so

I thought I could bargain with God you know I'm playing baseball hey Lord if this thing works out I promise you anytime I can I will give you the glory that will be my testimony right you make me famous and I'll make you famous was kind of the deal that I thought I could make with God so that had happened some not in a good place and I called my youth pastor back home and asked if he had time to talk my college was about an hour away maybe less from where I went to church and he said I'm coming right now and I remember he was sitting with me in my dorm room just us two and I was telling him all these things about my life about my plans about my struggles about these things that I wanted and he told me you know a lesson that I haven't forgotten like so often we want to live our lives like this with our hands clenched on the things that we want like that's not the way to follow

Christ you need to live your lives like this your hands out hands open whatever God puts in it's his decision put in and likewise whatever he takes out it's not yours to grasp whatever he puts in you be a good steward of whatever he takes out God's doing it for a good reason and I remember that but it's hard isn't it and so I encourage you this morning ever more so every day you preach the gospel to yourself these hands are open Lord whatever you put in I will do my best to serve you with this thing in these ways and whatever you take out I know you're doing it because you love me some reflection questions for us to look at as we go to the Lord in prayer do your decisions demonstrate that you prioritize obedience to

Christ over earthly treasures when you make decisions how prayerful are you in that decision making process and when you pray are you trying to convince God that this is the decision that you should make are you being humble are you submitting to him and asking him to inform your decision do your decisions show that you fear God more than people maybe you don't say what you should say maybe you don't do what you should do because you're afraid of offending someone instead of telling them the truth being nice instead of being kind true kindness speaks the truth in love are you willing to obey the Lord regardless of the earthly cost no I don't know what's going to happen in the future we don't know what's going to happen tomorrow we don't know what will face the church and our nation or this world in the years to come but we do know that God is sovereign that Christ rules and Christ reigns and we have these examples in scripture reminding us that whatever cost we pay for following

Christ is worth it it's gain if only we might show the world whom we truly delight in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ let's go to the Lord in prayer Lord I pray that now as we have heard your word and we are coming before you in prayer as we look at these reflection questions Father I pray for each one of us here that right now we would think about our decisions that Holy Spirit you would reveal to us whether or not these decisions that we're making are made with you in mind and what's truly best for us I pray

God that we would think about our relationships especially with those who are in position of influence whether that's a boss or a teammate a classmate somebody who's in our social circles and Lord in our interactions with them when we have opportunity to speak are we silent when we have opportunity to do what is right we look to others to do it first if they don't do it then neither do we are we bold as you have commanded us to be bold Lord are we willing to obey you regardless of the earthly cost we have the examples we've read in the life of Moses as we've gone through

Hebrews chapter 11 and we see Lord we read and we trust that these men and women who paid the cost whatever it was that it was worth it Lord I pray that that knowledge in our minds would sink into our hearts be engraved into our hearts and that Lord we would do whatever you would have us to do endure whatever the cost might be knowing that you are better that your reward is better and keeping in mind the cost that you paid to die on the cross for our sins to atone for our sins to set us free from sin and to give us eternal life Lord help us to be more like you to delight in you that you would be glorified in our lives we ask this in

Jesus name amen to learn more visit us in person or see the website at