I encourage you to take out your Bibles and turn to Hebrews chapter 11. Hebrews chapter 11, this time thing, you've got to pray for me too. When I marry people, I always ask the bride and groom, how long do you want the ceremony? I try to honor that. And one time I had a couple that I was marrying and they wanted about 45 minutes.

So I was walking out during the recession, 45 minutes on the dot. I was pretty proud of myself, got to the reception, had an older lady come up to me and said, that is the longest wedding I've ever been to in my life. She said, do you preach that long on Sunday morning? I said, no ma'am I preach over an hour on Sunday morning. She said, well I'm glad I don't go to your church.

I said ma'am that makes two of us. Hebrews chapter 11 we're talking about preparing for the future by faith. Hebrews 11 verse 23 and following I broke my glasses so if I misread some words just pray for me and go on. By faith, Moses, when he was born, was hidden for three months by his parents, because they saw the child was beautiful, and they were not afraid of the king's edict. By faith, Moses, when he was growing 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 is invisible, and by faith he kept the Passover sprinkled the blood so that the destroyer the firstborn might not touch them. And in verse 29, by faith the people crossed the Red Sea on dry land, but the Egyptians, when they attempted to do the same thing, they were drowned. Father, we pray in these last few minutes of this session that you will bless this time and give us ears to hear what the Spirit has to say to the church. In Christ's name we all said.

Hebrews 11 is called the Hall of Faith. This passage of scripture begins by defining what faith is. Do you know it's important to define the terms, folks? Especially nowadays. And sadly there are some on the political far left that are better at redefining terms than we are defining them.

And in chapter 11 verse 1, now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the convictions of things not seen. We have to Understand what faith is and what faith isn't because there are some religious subcultures That they see faith has taken a few scriptures often out of context and trying to Theologically back God into a corner to serve their sovereign will. Amen? That's not faith. There's two components of faith that we see.

First of all, it's the convictions of things not seen. Faith works for the future. It's not for now. It's not what we see and Secondly, we have convictions for that day We have convictions that who God says he is he is and what God says he will do he does That is faith Looking to the future but living by conviction today knowing the choices that we make will be rewarded by God in the future. Now it goes on from there in Hebrews chapter 11 to give a whole litany of illustrations of people who lived by faith.

By faith Abraham left the security of Ur, down to Rahab who by faith received the spies. And can I tell you those who are teaching elders here, We have got to take theology and give it feet for this next generation? It's not enough just to talk doctrine or orthodoxy. We got to have orthopraxy knowing how to live. Ephesians is the best book about that.

The first three chapters orthodoxy. You've got to have doctrine, but the last three chapters are orthopraxy. How do you live that out? And I see these young theologians, they want to talk doctrine, doctrine, doctrine, doctrine, doctrine, but never how to implement that and because of that they unintentionally add to the sacred secular split. On Sunday we talk about the sacred but do we live like the sinners on on Monday?

The sacred and the secular, the theory, the application, the orthodoxy, and the orthopraxy Must come together and I think we really need this especially for the next generations for the battles they will face when between a have or Abraham and Rahab is this section of scripture about Moses. Like Bil Dwell and Plant, this was a difficult season for the Hebrew people. They went from heroes to zeros in a matter of a few hundred years from Joseph's salvation to being enslaved by the present Pharaoh. But just like in Babylon, the people of Israel grew in captivity. They increased.

And all my friends, I don't know what's coming down the pike. Like I think Curtis Bower said, I don't see good things in the near term. I'm a short-term pessimist but a long-term optimist, so that makes sense, right? But even in difficult situations, it is a testimony of the Church of Jesus Christ when things that would break the world down builds us up. And regardless of the season that we're in, we can grow by faith through Christ.

I love what Isaiah said to Hezekiah, during a difficult time you can take root downward to bear fruit upward. And there are times in your Christian life young people especially I will be speaking to you you're my heart I Think it's easier to build boys and girls and to rebuild men and women And so I want to challenge you in some seasons of your life. It is just mundane It's just doing the same thing over and over and over. But all the time, your roots are getting deeper and deeper and deeper. And the bigger the building, the deeper the foundation must be.

Don't minimize these days that you're in now as if they're boring nothing days these days now you are creating habits appetites and perspectives that will serve you your entire life Let me repeat that Young people you're creating Perspectives appetites and habits that will follow you through the rest of your life. There are no small things. If you sow a thought long enough, you will reap an action. If you sow an action long enough, you will reap a habit, good or bad. You sow that habit long enough, you'll reap a character.

You sow that character, you will reap a destiny. All because you sowed a thought way back when. And it starts when you're young. You start getting serious with God in these young years and build that spiritual compound interest over time. Pharaoh became so threatened by the Israelites' growth, by the Hebrews' growth, he instructed the midwives to kill all male children.

Now, this is interesting to me because in different seasons of life you may be surprised at the means of grace God will use to sustain you or deliver you. See, when the church is doing well, if it's a season of plenty, we can be a little bit arrogant sometimes. We think we know whom God should use and how God should work and when he should work. But when desperate times come, when difficult situations come, we don't get near as picky do we? We just want deliverance of at some level.

We just want God to help at any level. The Baptists will even let the Presbyterians be used. The Presbyterians let the Baptists be used. Even some Methodists might be used by God. We'll get that desperate, because God will use who God wants to use.

Do you realize? Back at the revolutionary time, let's say this was the culture. About 90% of it was led by a Judeo-Christian value You had the Presbyterian Parsons thundering out of the pulpits about revolution. But now, instead of having 90% of 100%, we have about 10% over here and we spend much of our time fighting and bickering against one another. Folks it ought not to be that way.

We're going to need each other. We're going to need each other. Those who don't share quite the same beliefs that we do. I'm not saying they're heretical, they're just nuanced. I tell my kids often that prosperity ruins more people than poverty does.

When we're in a poor situation things are difficult. It's much easier to look up to God. In my personal readings I've been in Romans for the last six months. Matthew Henry and I have time in the morning together. And I've been in Romans 14.

Folks, there are main issues that are non-negotiable, but after that there's a lot of secondary issues. And Romans 14 teaches us how to deal with these secondary issues. Kevin, like what Kevin said, do so in love, do so in prayer, do so in humility, because again, we'll need each other as time goes along. So in this portion of scripture, we get about four things from Moses's life his parents life that can help us as we look to the next season whether it's Egyptian bondage Babylonian bondage or maybe even American bondage number one when God appoints the beginning of a new season He is already appointed. It's in Never repeat that When God appoints the beginning of a new season, he is already appointed its end.

Let me repeat that. When God appoints the beginning of a new season, he is already appointed its end. Consider Genesis chapter 15. This is God talking to Abraham before even Joseph shows up to lead them into Egypt. Then the Lord said to Abram, know for certain that your offspring will be soldiers in a land that is not theirs, and they'll be servants there, and they'll be afflicted for 400 years.

This is centuries before Moses even came on the scene. In God's sovereign absolute control, he ordained this season for the Hebrews to go into Egypt but before he even caused that season to start he had already ordained its end amen think about the implications of that there's a lot of them If I had more than 20 minutes, I'd give you a lot of them, but I don't have. I'm not bitter about this 20 minutes thing though. Little bit, okay. But I know if God's grace can reach Kevin Swanson to do 20 minutes, it can do me too.

Every season we go through my friends, we go through by faith. This is what Hebrews 11 is all about. If you have a season of abundance, you go through that season by faith, by faith that God did that in your life. It wasn't your own doing, it was the work of Christ and his grace. It also causes us to walk in restraint, kind of like the seven years of plenty they didn't just go out and blow it all as Carlton's did a great job with finances They were thinking of the future so you learn to live restrained lives young people just because you can doesn't mean you should Just because you can doesn't mean you should.

Sometimes God will want you to show self-re-strength. That's a part of the fruit of the Spirit, not fruits. It's not an orange and a banana and an apple. It's a tangerine with different sections. We're supposed to have all those, including self-control.

I had a farmer friend of mine who said, Kirk, I can do a whole lot more for my kids if I wanted to. They looked at me and winked and said, they might marry a pastor someday. So they know how to live frugally. Parents, we need to give our kids what they need than what they want. And that's in seasons of plenty.

But also it's the same God who ordains seasons of difficulty. That means no matter how bad things get by the grace of God the Spirit of God and the Word of God We can stand through every season Because God has already ordained the end as he did the beginning God is the perfect steward of His grace. He does not waste a thing. The least of all that He gets is glory from whatever season that we are in. Young people, you should be asking yourself if you're in a season of quote-unquote waiting, Waiting is not passive, it's active.

You're preparing for the future. Your main concern should be not how do I get to the next season, but how could I glorify God in this season? Because God has ordained this season in your life. So many young people wish their life away. Can't wait time 16 I get my driver's license.

Can't wait time 18 I graduate high school. Can't wait till I either get married or go to college. Can't wait till my first job. Can't wait till my home. Can't wait till the first, second, third.

I'm a grandparent too now by the way. I got 47 pictures on PowerPoint. We're going to show it just a second here. And next thing you know, you wake up and you're 50 or 60 years old you think what happened to my life? We did not rejoice in the season God had us.

Whatever season God has you in right now it's ordained by him. Number two, Real change happens as a direct result of church and family life. The Hebrew people were the foreshadow of the New Testament church. They did two things. First of all, they cried out for deliverance.

They prayed. Romans 8, 26, and 27. Think about this. You cannot go wrong with praying. You can't go wrong with ever praying.

Likewise, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings that cannot be uttered. And He who searches the hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God." So you're praying. You don't know what to pray. There's times I've just prayed God and there's nothing else that comes out because I don't know what to pray.

But the Holy Spirit takes that one word and He begins to move that around and begins to intercede for us to the advocate Jesus Christ with groaning so deep it cannot be uttered and he's always praying for according to the will of God And that means we cannot go wrong when we pray. The only thing that will stop our prayer life is not praying. I realize James says, don't ask a miss according to your own lust, but when you're in a difficult situation, you're not praying lustful things. You're praying just to survive. And know at that point when you pray, God is going to hear you because the Spirit is making intercession for you.

The second thing they did, they made family lifestyle choices. Look at your text in verse 23. By faith, Moses when he was born was hidden for three months by his parents because they saw the child was beautiful and they were not afraid of the king's edict. Moses' parents here, not mother in Exodus, his parents, dad was right there with him making this decision. By faith, hid Moses for three months at the risk of their own lives.

Folks, as the culture pushes in, you've got to make family choices by faith Choices that may cost you something in the long term. You must not be motivated by fear But again by faith not fear of man, but fear of God You must decide Whether you're gonna live a pragmatic life or a biblical life. And that's so easy to say here in this context, is it not? It's easy to say those words. I had a lady one time call me and she was visibly upset, kind of crying.

And she said, Kirk, my family and some of my friends say I'm a problem now. And she said, because the choices we're making with our families, making them uncomfortable. They say, I'm the problem. Help me out here. And I said well you are the problem.

Not what she wanted to hear by the way. I said God's grace is at work in your life. The Holy Spirit is illuminating the Word of God to you and you're changing your lifestyle accordingly. And what happens folks, you need to understand this, when you make a choice, a family lifestyle choice by faith, people in the culture, even the church culture, will assume you're making a commentary on their choices. Does that make sense?

And can I tell you, I've got enough problems of my own, I don't worry about other people's choices? I've got enough problems the way it is. But Nevertheless, people will assume if you choose to do this, you're commenting on the fact that they don't do that. You gotta be okay with that. Because you cannot fear man's opinion, you must fear God.

Now, there's many examples of this that we could give. Let's just give a simple one. Boy, this timer must be, it's off, it's going way too fast. Discipline. I've had several grandparents lately tell me with remorse how ill-behaved their grandkids are because their children refuse to spank them.

You know Proverbs 13 24 spare the rods for the child When I discipline my kids, that's an act of faith Unless if I'm motivated motivated by frustration That's not faith if I'm motivated by anger That's not faith and some parents even Christian parents, will discipline by frustration, and they don't understand that the wrath of God, the frustrations of parents, do not produce the righteousness of God So we discipline by faith because God's Word says to discipline and what these young parents are doing They're listening to psychologists. They have more faith in psychology than in theology That's dangerous We can choose our actions. We don't get to choose our consequences. Young people, do you hear me there? Say amen if you hear me young people.

Young is 25 and younger or 61 either those groups Think about how discipline works your child misbehaves and you apply appropriate discipline by faith What happens after discipline your child somebody? Pardon They hug you they're open we talked about you know you had sin in your heart here. You know you're acting like your mom, don't do that. My wife's not here, what habs at St. Louis stays at St.

Louis, right? They're open to it. They receive instruction. They're very huggy. I don't know about you, but if somebody beats me on my backside, we got problems.

Right? That doesn't make sense that you discipline your child and he loves you for it. But that's the way God set it up. We choose to walk by faith in man or by faith in God. As we prepare for this next season of life, in whom and in what will you put your faith?

Will you be moved by faith or by fear? Number three, young people, this is for you. Moses chose his lifestyle by faith. He chose his lifestyle by faith. Look at verse 24.

By faith, Moses, when he was growing 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 for his reward. Many people, Many Christians, many young people think they can have the best of both worlds. You can't. You can't have it all and you can't do it all.

So you've got to make choices by faith for your future. And once again, you can make your choices but not your consequences. They come naturally. When you live by faith, you have to understand young people, you may miss opportunities, especially when they're given by the world. The world will not give you a Christmas card every year.

Not going to happen because you're doing things quite opposite to them. You might suffer loss, but if you suffer loss you do it by faith, not in complaint and murmuring, and this is so unfair God. God, I'm standing upon your word. I am standing in conviction of this choice for a future blessing down the road. Moses could have had the high life of treasures of Egypt, but he chose the affliction with God rather than worldly comfort without Him.

And you might lose some things as time comes along. You've gotta make that choice by faith. In times of distress, you gotta understand this folks, the devil will parade people in front of you. People who choose the fleeting pleasures of sin while you are suffering in affliction. He wants to rub it in your face.

But at that time you again got to choose by faith because Moses chose the temporary reproach of Egypt for the reward of God in the end. Young people you better know this, God's reward is sure. He will not fail you, He will not let you down. There are seasons that you walk by faith people the jackrabbits of life seem to be blowing right past you But you're that steady turtle steady plotting steady plotting according to Proverbs Day in day out making those choices that nobody else sees for God's glory I'm over so let me make one of this quick last point. Keep going.

Kevin said I keep on going, Scott. Okay, I got two points then. Cause of Kevin said, my wife, about 20 years ago, went through a little bit of a pouty period. We had about five kids, six kids, the oldest one wasn't really quite old enough to help yet. Huh?

The white, The women are too, they'll just, it's like a bad miss raising her hand. Okay. A lot of her friends and family members were going to Evansville, Indiana, it's our nearest big town. And they were having movie day out, mom's movie day, mom's shopping day, mom's lunch day, and my wife is having puke all over her dress every day. And she said she felt some resentment building inside and took her about three or four weeks to work through that.

And she said, what we are doing is the lifestyle that we're making by faith. This is what God has called us to do. Parents, you're here this weekend. You're making a sacrifice. You are here by faith this weekend.

And what happened, my wife, by God's grace, got a hold of herself, got over her pity party, said, this is the life that we've chosen that was 20 years ago my kids rise up and called their mother blessed every single day And those women who are going to mom's movie day, over half of them are now divorced and their kids are train wrecks. See, my wife is making the choice of conviction for a future day by faith. And moms, let me tell you, when you're tired, you're worn out, you're not saying no to blessings, you're just postponing them with compound interest. And one of these days, your kids will rise up and call you blessed, you look around your table and the vines are there growing fruitfully. We see that in our home now.

There were some tiring days, some difficult days, but by God's grace we stood, sometimes ugly, sometimes ugly, but we stood. Fourth and finally, I love being the last speaker of the day by the way, a fake faith will not cut it. A fake faith will not cut it. The Israelites went down to the Red sea, water could have fallen on them at any moment. They didn't know what to do, but take the next step.

Sometimes that's the Christian walk. We take the next step by faith and that's it. We can't figure it out. We don't know how we're going through this red sea, what turns are going to be. All we can do is take the next step by faith.

But when the Egyptians tried it, they were drowned because one did it by faith in God and his word, the other did it by imitation. Too many people live by imitation rather than revelation or illumination if you choose. They find the longest line and they get in it. And my friends, in this culture today, if you're in the longest line, you're probably in the wrong line. If you're doing what everybody else is doing you're probably wrong.

Let me give you one last illustration to wrap up with. You remember that instrument of torture and death in sixth grade math called the protractor. Protractor engineer right? What's this called? Right angle, 90 degrees.

What's this called? 45 degree otherwise known as a acute. That's what I was going to say. Can you see the difference between this angle and this angle? Yeah, But what would happen if I drew a 45 degree angle and a 44 degree angle without a sharp pencil?

At the point called a vertex, I believe. You're an engineer, correct? Vertex. I had to Google that, by the way. I'm a words guy.

I'm not a numbers guy at the vertex if you have a fat pencil hadn't been sharpened Can you tell the difference between a 44 and 45 degree angle somebody no it overrides each other? But if you start going out a little ways you start seeing a difference, right? You go out towards eternity and that one degree back here, you can drive a freight train through it back here. By faith, right now you parents are making those one degree decisions that seem so meaningless. But time is going, time is going.

And that one degree with your kids will get bigger and bigger and bigger the closer you and they get to eternity. Remember my wife once said, Kirk, it seemed like we're making all these sacrifices and our four and five year olds, we don't see a difference yet with other people. And I said, honey, we're not living for four and five, we're living for 45. When our kids are 45 and 50 and 60 we'll see the difference. My friends I want to encourage you today as you're doing family life do so by faith.

I'm doing by faith that Scott's not going to fire me for being six minutes over because I trust for God's mercies and Scott's too. Folks, let's build, let's dwell, let's plant. Amen. Father, we pray that by faith we'll walk with you and God let us never be ashamed for you said those who waited for me will never be ashamed thank you for this day God for these folks who have taken time energy and resources out God they take some precious nuggets home to apply to their life and to see the glory of God manifest in the next generation. In Jesus' name we all said.

Scott? Okay.