Living The Faith

Pastor Corey delivers his weekly message titled "Living The Faith" 

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SPEAKER_00 0:00

So title of the message today, Living the Faith. So if you have your Bibles, turn with me to Hebrews chapter 12. Let's stand together in honor of the reading of God's Word. And we're going to look at several subscriptures, but this is our main passage for the message today. Faith, living the faith. Hebrews chapter 12, beginning in verse 1. The Bible says here, therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses. Now, before we go any further, who's he talking about here? Since we're surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses, you always have to look at the Bible and realize that the Bible wasn't written in chapter and verse. It was written in paragraph form, in letter form. And so everything that he says here in chapter 11 is what he's talking about. We're surrounded by all these witnesses that have gone before us. I mean, they witness and they testify to us about the great faith of the saints. And he says here, so therefore, since we are surrounded by these, by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles us. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith. For the joy set before him, he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. Now, we're gonna really focus in on that when we get to Hebrews chapter 12 about this passage about focusing in on Jesus. But I want to read it in its context here. In verse 4, it says, In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood, and you have completely forgotten this word of encouragement that addresses you as a father addresses his son. It says, My son, do not make light of the Lord's discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you, because the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and he chastens everyone he accepts as his son. So endure hardship as discipline. God is treating you as his children, for what children are not disciplined by their Father. Now, I'm weaving in and out of several deep passages here, and we're not going to be able to deal with everything that I read here today. We're going to get to it when we get out of chapter 11 and into chapter 12. But you'll see where I'm going as we dive into it here in just a moment. So I'm looking at parts of it here that really speak to what I want to say today. Living the faith. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for your word. And thank you that the Bible is alive and living, and it's it's speaking to our hearts. It's not just speaking to our minds. And that as we read your word within us, we our spirits burn, knowing that you're speaking directly to us. So help us today to realize that our faith is not just something in our heads, but it's what we live out each and every day. It has practical application to our life. Help us to be obedient in living out the faith once and for all delivered to the saints. And I prayed in Jesus' name. Amen. And you may be seated. I want you to see three things today about living the faith. Now, before I jump into them, I want to say this to you. It's easy to talk about having a mature faith. It's easy to talk about enduring in our faith. It's easy to talk about generational faith. It's kind of easy to look at all of this stuff from a mental point of view and say, yep, you know, that's true. Yep, I should be more mature in my faith. Yes, I need to grow in my faith. Yeah, all of these things. But where the rubber hits the road is where you and I live. We can talk all day about living for Christ and about being a Christian, but you're not really living out your faith until you start obeying the Word of God. We can talk all day long about, you know, about this great thing called Christianity and about, you know, boy, we have to trust God. And it's amazing to me. Look, and I say this with all due respect, but I'm around a lot of friends and a lot of family sometimes, and we all claim to have faith, but it doesn't resonate in the way we speak, it doesn't resonate in the way we live, it doesn't resonate in our decisions that we make and what we do with our bodies. As a matter of fact, sometimes the way we live actually seems to be contrary to what we already profess. And so it's important that we realize that it's not just talking about the faith, but it's actually living the faith. And that's what it's all about. Christ has saved us so we can live for him and we can live the new life. So how do we how do we flesh this thing out? How do we live the faith? Okay, I want you to see three things. Number one, and and and let me say this. Uh, they put it up, okay. I was gonna say before they put it up. Let me just say this. Come back next week. I'll be more positive. But I think what we have going on in America today in a lot of churches, we don't talk about this subject very much anymore. We don't. As a matter of fact, the Bible says that judgment must begin first at the house of God. It's easy to point out the sin in everybody else's life, but there's but but it's hard to see. It's like my pastor used to say that don't listen to this message today with a mirror. When the message is coming at you and you mirror it to somebody and say, Oh, yeah, he needs to hear that. But I'm asking you today to take the word of God and the message that God's laid upon my heart and look internally at your life because that's what I'm doing. So living the faith, number one, if we're gonna live the faith, the sin in our lives must be dealt with. It has to be dealt with. In verse 1 of Hebrews chapter 12, it says, Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles us. The sin in our lives must be dealt with. You see, guys, listen, when we give our lives to Christ, we can't live like we used to live before we receive Christ. People ask me, Pastor, how can I know that I'm truly saved? How do I know? And I'll tell you, to me, for me, it's a real simple answer. And this is experiential in my life as well as biblical. For me, it's this. This is how I know that I'm saved. Prior to salvation, when I sinned, very seldom did I ever feel wrong about it. Every now and then I might have felt a little guilt, especially if I did something wrong to somebody else. You know, you know, the conscience, your conscience comes into play. But for the most part, what we do when we're lost and we're living in sin, it's all about us. And we we have a selfish justification for why we do everything that we do. But when you get saved, your heart changes. The Bible says in 1 Corinthians, and it lists the sins of the flesh and the sins of living, and it goes on and talks about sexual sin and talks about financial sin and it talks about heart sin and all of these other things in Hebrews, I mean, I mean in 1 Corinthians chapter 6, and then it says this, but such were some of you, past tense, such were some of you, but you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and this is how I know I'm saved. Know when I sin, I'm telling you, the conviction of the Holy Spirit is burned within my heart, and I know it, and no man has to ever tell me that I've committed sin because the Holy Spirit tells me and tells you. And you know now I can't live the way I used to live because I have the Holy Spirit living within me. Christ has come into my life and He's changed me from the inside out. And as I grow older, I can't be like a lost man who grows older and gets cynical and bitter and hates everybody and becomes more selfish, and so forth and so on. As I grow older in my walk, and as I grow older physically, I must be renewed and changed day by day because I'm a Christian and Christ lives within me. And I'm different, and so are you. And so that means that the sin that so easily ensnares us, the word entangles literally means to wrap, to twist, to control. So the sin that tries to entangle us likes to twist itself around us. Y'all ever watch these guys that handle these uh these constrictor snakes? You know, in in central more South Florida, you know, they have these teams that go out looking for these invasive uh pythons, uh I don't know, different kinds of pythons, I guess, that are just wreaking havoc on the environment. And they're they're like, you know, yeah, we'd like you to catch them alive. Catch them alive. How about taking some dynamite with you? Snake, boom, blow just everything up in pieces. That's what I would do. But I watch these guys handle these snakes and and and man, they start wrapping around their arms, and I'm like, the next thing is your neck, pal. And they constrict. But that's what sin does to you and me when we let it have its little place in our lives. I heard one person say about one of those snakes one time, yeah, my snake sleeps with me in the bed. He just loves me. No, no, no. He's waiting to get big enough to kill you and eat you. He's a snake. That's what he wants to do, and that's what sin wants to do. Sin wants to entangle itself around your life, twist all around you, and then it can control you. And the Bible says that we, speaking to Christians here, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily, easily entangles us. Look, it's easy to get caught up in the web of sin. It's easy. It's all all around us, it's right there. Coach, throw me my phone. Give me my phone, please. Thank you, thank you. There it is.

SPEAKER_01 11:48

Right here, I can access anything, anything, and most of it is bad.

SPEAKER_00 12:01

It's there for you. I'm gonna be as honest as I can be, and you can judge me all day if you want. I'm a pastor, but I still have a cell phone like you. How many of you be honest? And you don't have to raise your hand just going, mmm, it's kind of not with me. How many of you get, you every now and then, man, you'll get, you'll get like like on Facebook or on, I get, I get these, um, on Twitter, I get these um, it shows up on my timeline, is what I'm trying to say. And it's like, check out these never seen before pictures of movie stars or of this and that, and it's usually got some some half-dressed woman on, and you're like, oh boy. No, it's tempting, it's easy to fall into the trap. It's easy, it's all around us, and so the sin in our lives must be dealt with. Look at what Galatians chapter 6, verses 7 and 8 say. You know this passage really well, but listen to what it says: do not be deceived. God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. Whoever sows to please their flesh from the flesh will reap destruction, and whoever sows to please the spirit from the spirit will reap eternal life. God is not mocked. You know, we mock God when we say, I claim to be a Christian, but I can live in all the sin that I want because God will forgive me anyway. You are mocking God, and what you're doing is, and what I'm doing when I do that, is I am sowing into my life sin and destruction, and one day that's what comes up out of the ground. That's what that that's that's the natural effect, that's what you get. And so if you and I are gonna live the faith, we cannot sweep under the rug the sin in our lives. It's gotta be dealt with. Now, let me just say this: when you gave your heart to Christ, your your original sin, your sin was dealt with, past, present, and future. However, the Bible talks about that. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves in 1 John chapter 1. And the truth is not in us. But if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. And we can walk in the light as he is in the light, the Bible says, and we will have fellowship with one another. And so we have to do our part in that because sin has to be dealt with. Look at what Romans chapter 6, verses 1 through 4 says. And there's there's a method to where I'm going here with these scriptures. What shall we say then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? There were people that were saying in those days that you know what? Well, if if that means that that God, you know, the more sin I have, the more grace I get from God. So let's continue to sin. That way we can have more grace. And Paul is saying, Shall those of us who died to sin, he said, by no means. We are those who have died to sin. How can we live in it any longer? Or do don't you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We therefore are buried with him through baptism into death, in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. A new life. Lived, that we may live a new life, living the faith. The sin in our lives must be dealt with. Now listen, you say, what should I do, preacher? What should I do? If I've been living against God and I'm a Christian and I've not been obeying the word of God, what should I do? Should I continue to live in this guilt? Well, first of all, let me say this: the guilt you are facing or experiencing comes from Satan. Conviction comes from God. Because guilt wants to keep you there. Conviction wants to change you. The conviction of God. And what your experience is, it's conviction. And what you and I need is we need to repent of our sin. What does repent mean? It means to have a 180-degree change of heart and mind, which leads to an outward action. So it's literally this: I'm living my life, doing my thing, going totally away from God, thinking I can do it my own way. It's my life. I can live the way I want. And you get your heart right with God, you have a change of heart and mind, and it's a 180-degree turn, it's a military turn, and you begin to live for Christ. You repent, you change your heart and mind about your life and the way you're living, because you don't have it all together. And that's what we need. And I'll tell you, I'll tell you what's going on why the church is powerless today in America, because we have dry altars a lot of times. We have where we ought to be broken over our sin and say, God, how could I? Instead, we're saying, God, give me more. Do more for me. And I again, I don't mean to be ugly, but there are people that say this to me from time to time. They live their lives ungodly, and then this stuff happens to them. And they say, Why did God let it happen to me? And I want to say to them, not in that moment, but at the right time, I come back and say, it's called the law of the harvest. You sowed it, now you're reaping it. That's just what it is. And the Bible says on the positive side, if you sow toward the Spirit, you're going to reap the things of the Spirit. All right. Number two. Number two. Living the faith, we must live up to our commitments if we're going to live the faith. We must live up to our commitments. I go back to Hebrews 11, 28, that we talked about two weeks ago, and we dealt with the Passover, and it says, by faith, Moses, he kept the Passover in the application of blood so that destroyer of the firstborn would not touch the firstborn of Israel. By faith, he kept the Passover. He kept his commitment that he made to God. Look at what the Bible says in Hebrews 11. I read that. 1 Corinthians 4, verses 1 and 2. It says, This then is how you ought to regard us as servants of Christ and as those entrusted with the mysteries God has revealed. Now it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful. The day you receive Christ, you've been given a trust. You've been given something very valuable. You have eternal life now. You have Christ living within you, which is the hope of glory. God wants to use you. He's given you a spiritual gift or several spiritual gifts. And now he wants you to use those spiritual gifts to glorify him. And you must prove to be faithful, the Bible says. You gotta live up to your commitment. I say this with a broken heart. And there have been times as a pastor where certain trends you see taking place. I remember when I was a youth pastor back in back in the 80s, that uh some of you like that was a hundred years ago, right? But back in the 80s, youth pastor, Satanism was huge back then. And we had teenagers killing their families. All kinds of crazy stuff was going on. And man, it was like a it was contagious. And as time has gone on, I've seen different trends. And recently I'm seeing a trend. And y'all, it might be anecdotal, but by that I mean it's what I'm experiencing as a pastor, and I can't, I can't, I can't even tell you what I know. I couldn't, I I can't. I I gotta go to my grave with all of it. But I will tell you this what's heartbreaking is to see the lack of commitment in marriages today. It's just heartbreaking how people who stood before God, their family, their friends, and gave their word that they would be true and faithful to that person in good times and bad times till death do us part, in just with with no conviction at all, with very little thinking at all about it, throw it all away and walk away from their marriage. What has happened to the commitment that we should have for one another? Now, some of you, you've been in a marriage where you were committed and your spouse chose not to stay with you for whatever reason. And I've always said it this way: it takes two to make it, but all it takes is one to break it. And you can be as committed as you want to be. And if your spouse doesn't want to be committed, they won't. So I'm not trying to pile on anybody who's going through some of that. But what I'm trying to tell you today is that it breaks my heart because I'll tell you, as the marriage goes, so goes the country. As Marriage goes, so goes the family. The family. We wonder why we have what we have going on in this country, and people are going crazy. One of the best videos I've ever seen. And it was from a couple of years back. But it was one of these so-called protester riots, and this teenage boy was out there rioting, doing all kinds of crazy stuff with a mask. And it's funny because you can put a mask on, but mama knows who you are. And mama came looking for him, and she grabbed him in the middle of the street and she wore him out. He was a man, and she spanked his butt, she kicked him, she was slapping him in the head, she grabbed him by the hair, she pulled him back to the car, and she's like, You want to raise that way? You coming over here. And I'm thinking, where are all the other parents who need to be doing that kind of stuff? Commitment. The family is important. And guys, you claim to be a Christian. I claim to be a Christian. It matters what I say. It matters the commitment that I make. It matters. Penny and I are at the age now, I'm not gonna tell you her age, but I'm 54. I stepped in that one. I always do, every week. Um we look in the mirror.

SPEAKER_01 23:33

And I'm like, what happened? You'll never get to that point. Oh my hair used to be black. What happened? I ain't got no neck, I got so much weight on me. I ain't got no neck. I'm just then he goes, Do you still love me? I don't look like I used to. I said, Well, what do you think this is right here?

SPEAKER_00 24:11

Good gracious. I mean, I go to bed perfectly fine and I wake up with three injuries. How does that happen? We wake up in the morning sometimes when we look at each other and we're like, till death do its part, baby. I mean, that's all we got. First of all, who would want me? That's what I'm thinking, you know. But secondly, no, seriously, we make these commitments, and I'll tell you this, though, making fun of all that, but I do wake up in the morning and I look at my bride. You know what I told her this morning? Ask her. Ask her, she'll tell you. So she's the early getter-upper during the week. I'm the early get her-upper on the weekend, hunting in church. So I got up early, I went and finished working on my message and spent my time with God early this morning, and it was time for her to get up. So I came in the room, turned the light on, and all I could see was her head from under the covers, because you know, I got it like 40 below in the house, and she's like that. And I'm just I'm I said, you are so beautiful in the morning. And she goes, Really? I'm like, I'm like, yes, you are. And I know what she's thinking. She's going, what does he want? I'm like, you're so gorgeous. I I couldn't think of anybody I would want to wake up with than you. See that, see, we made a commitment in 1984, and I want to live up to that commitment until the day that I die. Because I'm a Christian. And it's more than just about me. It's about her, it's about us. I've been given a trust, a stewardship. I'm gonna give an account. And if we're gonna live the faith out, we have to live up to our commitments. If it were easy, everybody would be faithful. It's not easy. And it's not always fun, and it's not always glamorous, it's hard. But it is worth every bit of it. Let me give you the last name. Living the faith, number three. True living faith has an endurance mindset. An endurance mindset. Hebrews verses 1 and 2, you know, he goes here, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles us. Let us run with perseverance, the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith. He says, For the joy set before him, he endured the cross. Verse 7 says, Endure hardship as discipline. Look at what Galatians 6, 9 and 10 says. So the same passage about God is not mocked. The next verse says, Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers. An endurance mindset. We will reap a reward if we don't give up, if we endure. True living faith has an endurance mindset. It's not about instant gratification. And I will tell you this: there is something gratifying. Trust me. Hey, young people, listen, you're going to get to a place one day if you live long enough. You'll get to a place one day where if you did it right and you did it according to God's word, there will be, it won't be pride, but there will be a satisfaction deep in your soul that you've been living for Christ and you won't regret it. Yeah, right now, while some of your buddies are going out and doing this and having fun, you're thinking, oh man, you know, I'm living this boring life because I'm obeying Christ. I'm not going to all what they're doing. But, you know, so my life is boring and this and that. And you think that you're not having a great time. But all of a sudden, you wake up 20 years from now and you see what their lifestyle has led them to, and you realize how grateful you are that you, when you had the opportunity to ruin your life, you didn't, and you stayed on the course for him. And you realize that endurance matters. It's worth it. It's worth it. It's worth waking up in the morning and looking at that woman that I've been married to for 36 years. And to think of all the threads of life, the threads of experience, the threads of joy, the threads of heartache, the threads of the challenge, of all of those things that make this garment called a marriage. And you wake up in the morning and you're at a place and you realize, man, thank you, God, that you helped me endure. Now, here's the question, here's the thing. I haven't arrived. I'm still living, right? So I have to still have an endurance mindset. And it's not just about marriage, but it's about Christ. While the world is going crazy, and I'll tell you, you want to know what I believe a lot of this COVID control is all about. The virus is real, we know that. And there are some people who've gotten deathly sick and people have died from it. And we know that the majority of people, 99.6% of the people who get it, survive it with no problems. We understand that. Just like the flu, just like anything else. But this COVID control comes from people. Listen, comes from people at the top who the only thing they have is this life. They don't have anything beyond. Well, let's not get, let's not go there, okay? In church. You can have your opinion, but I'm conservative, you know where I stand on all of that. However, there are people, I call them left-wing tyrants that want to have control over our lives. You know why? Because they're scared to die. And the one who has an endurance mindset understands that death is not something to be scared of. It's graduation. It's a moment where we will go into glory and we'll realize what the scripture says that says eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor the mind conceived, the things God has prepared for those who love him. There's no way on this side that we'll ever be able to get a grasp of what heaven's all about. Ever. We'll never. We can preach about it, we can read about it, we can study the dimensions of the uh heavenly city of Jerusalem. We we know all about these things, but we'll never be able to quite conceive it. You see, because there's something for us that is far greater than this earth. And that's why we must endure, endure to the end. I know this is gonna sound conceited, but please know my heart when I say this. I don't laugh wanting bad to come upon people because I want everybody to come to know Christ. But but I do laugh sometimes thinking, look at these idiots who they have no hope. And as the world gets crazier, I get I just go to my Bible. I just I it those things don't scare me. It doesn't worry me. The election not going the way I wanted it to go doesn't scare me. Now, I don't like some of it. I endured eight years of a president that I totally disagreed with. I'm still alive. Now, don't get me wrong, and I it policies affect us. I get it, I understand that. And I got strong opinions and beliefs about those things, but there is no political victory or loss that will take the place of my walk with Jesus and my faith that I have in Christ. And as a matter of fact, most of the Christians throughout history have lived under tyrannical leaders and have given their lives. When he says you have not shed your blood, there are some of the people who did shed their blood, but they they didn't die as a result of it. That's what he's saying. You haven't become a martyr yet for the cause of Christ. We have it pretty good. And so true living faith has an endurance mindset. So going back to marriage, when I look at my spouse, I don't look at what she is right now, I look at what she can be in Jesus. I look at what our marriage can be if I change. Endurance mindset. When I look at the way the world is living and what other people are going through and what other people have and don't have or what have you, I don't look at that. I look at what God has called me to do and what he's doing in my heart and in my life, and I want to be faithful to live for him. Now listen, I'm not gonna read the final passage of scripture. You can read it, that's just bonus material for you. But listen to me when I say this. Um I think the most exciting life is the Christian life. It is. Now I'm getting a little older, so I do forget things, but it's not because I drank myself into a coma last night. I can't remember what happened last night. It's just because I'm getting old. We were in bed last night at 7:30. I'm like, we are we we're getting old. You know why? Because I got a full day today. I needed to have some endurance. In the same way, we need to look at our Christian faith that way. You will never regret living for Jesus today. You'll never regret it tomorrow. But you will often regret not living for him today, tomorrow. Let's live the faith, people. And if you haven't been living the faith, listen. You're not a lost cause. Now I will call you a scoundrel because I am too. I will call you a worm because I am too. I will call your righteousness as filthy rags because that's what my righteousness in and of itself are. That's what the scripture says. But the fact that you're breathing, and secondly, that you're here or you're watching on live stream, God wanted you to hear this today so your life can change. And he wants to forgive you. He wants to move in you. He wants you to return to the faith of your mother and your father that you uh received when you were growing up. He wants you to renew your walk with him. Because if you're gonna have a living faith, you gotta put the work in too. We don't work to earn our salvation, but after we get saved, we produce work. And I get what I put in. That's what the scripture says, you you reap what you sow. And you plant nothing, you get nothing. And so today, realize that you have a God that loves you, he never gives up on you, and you can become more than a conqueror. We have people in this building today who have overcome horrendous life decisions that they have made. But through the help of Jesus Christ, their lives have been radically changed. Now they're they're living their faith out. And they will tell you and they will testify to you that this is the best way, this is the only way. And it's never too late to do it. Some of you might be saying, Well, I ain't done anything that bad. Well, listen, it's not about what you've done as far as it bad or not. Who are you committed to? You're gonna be committed to something one way or the other. And as Paul told Timothy as we studied in Sunday school this morning, where he was laying out the world system and the love of money and greed and all of this, and he says, but you oh, you man of God, you flee these things, but you pursue righteousness, godliness, love, gentleness. And if you don't pursue it, something else will pursue you and grab a hold of your heart. Amen. Amen. Would you stand with me? Let's pray, Father. We are so grateful for your word that we have your truth. We have a roadmap to live without our faith. This message, as you know, God, wasn't intended to make anybody feel bad. It was intended prayerfully through the Holy Spirit to bring biblical conviction to our lives so that we take serious the call of the gospel and our faith, our Christianity, our walk with you. And for those who need correction, Father, may they respond lovingly to your biblical discipline. And in my life, Father, thank you for speaking to me first. And that's what you do to all of us. Help me to respond to what I hear from your word. If you've never given your life to Jesus Christ, I think we've made it clear and plain today that when he comes into you, he changes you. And I'll just say this: if there's no lasting change in the way you live, there's probably no salvation to begin with. Because when God comes into us, he changes us from the inside out, and it's powerful. It's the most powerful force on earth. It's the greatest miracle that can ever happen to a human being. The miracle of salvation. I'll be standing here, be willing to speak with you. We can give you counseling if you need it. This altar will be open for you to pray. However, God is leading you, you be faithful, you obey. Don't let Satan steal from you what God has done in your heart this morning. And we pray it all in Jesus' name. Amen.