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Welcome to Day 5 of A Look Through Hebrews, Chapter 11. I almost hate to see it
end, don't you? This is a great chapter about how to live a life of faith, and I
want to start today by reading the last 11 verses of this chapter that are about
many, many actions of faith that people took.

Let's just dive into these verses, listen to what God has to say about faith in
verses 30 to 40. By faith the walls of Jericho fell, after the people had
marched around them for seven days. By faith the prostitute Rahab, because she
welcomed the spies, was not killed with those who were disobedient.

And what more shall I say? I do not have time to tell about Gideon, Barak,
Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel, and the prophets, who through faith conquered
kingdoms, and ministered justice, and gained what was promised, who shut the
mouths of lions, quenched the fury of the flames, and escaped the edge of the
sword, whose weakness was turned to strength, and who became powerful in battle,
and routed foreign armies. Women received back their dead, raised to life again.

Others were tortured and refused to be released, so that they might gain a
better resurrection. Some faced jeers and flogging, while still others were
chained and put in prison. They were stoned, they were sawed in two, they were
put to death by the sword.

They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted, and
mistreated. The world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts, and
mountains, and in caves, and in holes of the ground.

These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had
been promised. God had planned something better for us, so that only together
with us would they be made perfect. Now as you read these verses about faith,
they're a reminder of the truth that where faith gets you is not where faith
will take you.

In these verses we read that faith often gets you into the most difficult of
circumstances. Wow. I mean, jeers, and flogging, and chained, and sawed in two,
and put to death by a sword.

Wow. Do I really want to be a person of faith when I read all of that? Where
faith gets you is not where faith will take you.

Faith doesn't leave you there. We're waiting on God for something better. When
you look at Hebrews 11, it says, "None of them received what was promised.

Only together with us will they receive what was promised. " God had a plan that
was much, much bigger than their current circumstances. Now what does this mean?

Only together with us? It means that Jesus is going to come some day, and only
together in Jesus are we going to receive the full promise. They couldn't see it
fully in the Old Testament.

We see it fully now. It's not because of us, it's because of Jesus and us
looking to him together. But there's a deep truth here as you look at these
people who waited on that promise.

Waiting on God delivers God's best in your life. My wife Shondell always loves
to say, "God gives his best to those who wait on him. " You see, you and I,
we're not wired that way.

We don't like waiting. We want what we want when we want it. But God doesn't
give us what we want when we want it.

We think that's because God doesn't want us to have what we want when we want
it. But the truth is, God doesn't give us what we want when we want it, because
God wants to give us more than we ever dreamed of. We want a little.

God wants to give us much. We want now. God wants to give us eternity.

And waiting is one of the ways that God refocuses our purpose so that he can
give us what he wants to give us. These verses talk about Samuel. I mean, notice
these great people of faith like David and Samuel, they just get one word.

They don't get a whole story like Moses and Abraham. There just isn't room. He
says, "I don't have time.

" Samuel, one of the great stories in the Bible about faith in 1 Samuel 1 to 3.
It's a story of Samuel's mother, a woman by the name of Hannah. Hannah, you
might remember, had waited for children.

The difficult thing as you read the story of Hannah is that her husband had
another wife by the name of Penina who kept having children. And she wasn't too
kind to Hannah about it. In fact, the Bible literally says that Penina provoked
her bitterly to irritate her.

How would you feel, especially in that day when being a mom, a wife being a mom,
was the ultimate of what you could give into that society and you're not able to
have children? And you're the husband's other wife. They had more than one wife
back then, which didn't work well from them.

And that's why the Bible says not to do it. Obviously, they weren't following
God's commands. But there's this struggle that comes out of this.

There's this, "Hey, Hannah, I got another baby. How about you? Hey, look what I
have.

Look what you don't have. " Year after year, this happened. This enemy had more
children.

Hannah had none. And year after year, the Bible tells us Hannah would go to the
temple and she talked to God about it. "God, I pray that you would give children
into my life.

" And she waited and she waited. The Bible tells us that one day, God heard her
prayers and answered her prayers. And God sent into Hannah's life a boy.

You know, we never hear the name of any of Paninna's children, but we do know
the name of Hannah's boy. His name was Samuel. Samuel became the great prophet
of Israel.

Samuel became the great leader who laid his hand on Saul and on David and said,
"You're going to be the next king. " Samuel, listen to this Paninna, Samuel got
two books of the Bible named after him. That's not bad.

Now, what was God doing? Why was God making Hannah wait? Because while Hannah
was waiting, her life was developing.

She was developing patience. She was developing a prayer life. She was
developing a trust in God.

Don't you think that when that little boy, Samuel, that God wanted to use so
much, when that little boy Samuel was growing up, don't you think Hannah didn't
pass along some of those things to him? Of course she did. In order to develop a
Samuel, God first had to develop a Hannah.

And he did it through a time of waiting. He wanted to give her more than she
could ever dream of. God uses times of waiting in your life, in my life, to
refocus our purpose.

The truth is, sometimes, many of the times in life, we have to wait for what is
best. Now we love to say that to our kids. Sometimes you have to wait for what's
best, but we hate to say it for ourselves.

But waiting, waiting renews, it refines, it refocuses, it brings strength and
character and purpose into our lives. Now you might be thinking, I've spent a
lot of time waiting, none of these great things have happened to me. I'm not
seeing what you're talking about here, this strength, character, purpose.

I'm just more and more angry. The fact that we waited, that we just had to wait
for something, if that automatically developed our character, then the people
with the best character in any city would be the people who spent the most time
in rush hour traffic. But I've seen some of those people.

They don't seem like the people with the greatest character sometimes. It's not
just that we wait, it's how we wait. And Hannah teaches us, wait with faith.

You live with faith, you act with faith, but you also wait with faith. You see,
Hebrews chapter 11, this chapter we've just looked at together, it gives us the
definition of faith and it gives us the actions of faith. I memorized this
chapter, Hebrews 11, a few years ago, when I was feeling a lack of faith because
I wanted to be encouraged in my faith.

And as you memorize this chapter, you begin with what faith is, the definition.
Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we don't see, but it
doesn't take long to see that faith is something that acts. Actions come out of
that faith, actions that you and I do because we trust.

The actions that people took in Hebrews 11 because of their faith, it isn't just
about praying and going to church once a week. They affected every part of their
lives. There are a multitude of directions that a step of faith might take you,
but let me just read you.

I just went through and made a list of the actions of faith in Hebrews 11. Let
me just read to you what happened when people had faith. When people had faith,
they understood, they offered, they decided.

In Hebrews 11, they built, they went, they trusted, they blessed, they saw, they
refused. Because people had faith in Hebrews 11, as you look through the
actions, they left. They persevered.

They kept. They crossed. They marched.

They welcomed. They conquered. They administered.

They gained. They shut and quenched and escaped. They became powerful.

They faced jeers. And then at the end, they were all commended. They were all
commended for their faith.

I want to be commended for my faith at the end of my life. I want you to be
commended for your faith at the end of your life. Well done, good and faithful
servant.

The well done is for the actions of faith. As you read this incredible chapter,
there are these words at the end that are just amazing. God had planned
something better for us.

All of these awesome actions and activities and experiences and results of faith
that you read about in Hebrews 11, and then it ends with saying God had planned
something better for you. Wow. This is not the story of history.

This is the story, Hebrews 11, of that to which history was looking. And it's
right now, this moment, this moment when you and I, knowing Jesus, can live a
life of faith, that is the moment which all history was looking. Wow.

As we pray together, let me just go through those words again, those actions of
faith, some of them. And as I go through those words, just think in your mind,
in your heart, what action of faith do I need to be taking in my life today?
Maybe because of your faith, there's something you need to understand.

Or you just say, Lord, because of my faith, is there something I need to offer?
Lord, because of my faith, is there something I need to decide? Out of my faith,
is there something, Lord, I need to build?

Lord, out of my faith, is there somewhere I need to go? Is there some way I need
to trust? Is there someone I need to bless?

Is there something I need to see? Is there some evil I need to refuse? Is there
something I need to leave?

Is there some way I need to persevere? Is there some promise I need to keep? Is
there some way I need to cross from where I am to where you want me to be?

Is there something I need to welcome into my life? Is there something that needs
to be conquered? that needs to be administered, managed, stewarded?

Is there something that needs to be gained? Father, just pray this with me, just
these simple words, "Father, make me a man, make me a woman of faith. " I ask
this in Jesus' name, amen.

Well, next week we're in Hebrews chapter 12, which believe it or not, even after
this great chapter. Hebrews 12 is my favorite chapter in the book of Hebrews.
I'll see you for next week.