{"id":29056,"date":"2023-12-08T22:00:46","date_gmt":"2023-12-09T05:00:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/hebrews-11_8-19-copy\/"},"modified":"2023-11-29T11:44:24","modified_gmt":"2023-11-29T18:44:24","slug":"hebrews-11_20-29","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/hebrews-11_20-29\/","title":{"rendered":"When Faith Empowers You"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hebrews 11:20-29 <\/strong>\u00a0(CLICK HERE FOR\u00a0BIBLE VERSES)<\/a><\/p>\n

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Hi GAMErs!<\/p>\n

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Today\u2019s passage is\u00a0Hebrews\u00a011:20-29.\u00a0\u00a0Let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n

Hebrews\u00a011:20-22 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n20\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau in regard to their future.
\n21\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0By faith Jacob, when he was dying, blessed each of Joseph’s sons, and worshiped as he leaned on the top of his staff.
\n22\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0By faith Joseph, when his end was near, spoke about the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt and gave instructions about his bones.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses\u00a020-22:\u00a0\u00a0When your life is empowered by God-pleasing faith, you will have a heart to encourage and help the next generation.<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0That\u2019s what happened in the case of Isaac, Jacob and Joseph.\u00a0\u00a0There is so much you could say about each of these men \u2013 just look at how long the book of Genesis is!\u00a0 And yet, the writer of Hebrews decides to focus here only on what Isaac, Jacob and Joseph did toward the end of their lives. \u00a0(It\u2019s a reminder for those of us who are up there in years, that if you feel like you are past your prime, that your best or most important years are behind you, what we do in the twilight of our lives is just as important to God as anything else we have ever done.)<\/p>\n

And notice this:\u00a0 at the end of their lives, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph all spoke words to bless, protect and guide the generation coming after them.\u00a0\u00a0These men saw their story as being connected to and continued by those in the next generation.\u00a0\u00a0Likewise,\u00a0may you have a heart to bless, protect and prepare the next generation, and may you see the next generation not as competition but as a continuation of the story God is writing in and through your life<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Hebrews\u00a011:23-27 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n23\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0By faith Moses’ parents hid him for three months after he was born, because they saw he was no ordinary child, and they were\u00a0not afraid<\/strong>\u00a0of the king’s edict.
\n24\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh’s daughter.
\n25\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0He chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a short time.
\n26\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt, because he was looking ahead to his reward.
\n27\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0By faith he left Egypt,\u00a0not fearing<\/strong>\u00a0the king’s anger; he persevered because he saw him who is invisible.
\n28\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0By faith he kept the Passover and the sprinkling of blood, so that the destroyer of the firstborn would not touch the firstborn of Israel.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 23-28:\u00a0\u00a0Here the writer of\u00a0Hebrews\u00a0now focuses on the life of Moses.\u00a0\u00a0From these verses about Moses\u2019 life I learn five important lessons about what living by faith looks like.\u00a0\u00a0When your life is empowered by God-pleasing faith\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n

1.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0You are no longer controlled by fear.<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0Just as Moses\u2019 parents courageously hid Moses despite Pharaoh\u2019s edict (v23), just as Moses courageously left Egypt despite Pharaoh\u2019s anger (v24), when faith empowers your life, fear steps to the side.<\/p>\n

2.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Your value system changes.<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0You consider God\u2019s eternal kingdom of greater worth than the temporary riches and pleasures that this world offers (v24-26).<\/p>\n

3.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Your sense of identity changes.<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0Moses identified himself more with God\u2019s people, even if it meant an inferior worldly status, than to be known as the son of Pharaoh\u2019s daughter (v24-25)<\/p>\n

4.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0You are empowered by a different vision.<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0Just as Moses \u201cpersevered\u00a0because he saw<\/em>\u00a0him who is invisible\u201d (v27), just as Moses\u2019 parents hid Moses \u201cbecause<\/em>\u00a0they saw\u00a0<\/em>he was no ordinary child\u201d, people who live by faith have a vision that faithless people do not have, and that vision causes them to do things that faithless people wouldn\u2019t consider doing.<\/p>\n

5.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0You go out of your way to keep God\u2019s Word<\/strong>, believing that it is for your protection and the protection of those you love.\u00a0\u00a0Just as Moses kept God\u2019s commands concerning the Passover in the book of Exodus (v28), people of faith go out of their way to obey God\u2019s Word, believing it will bring blessing to their lives.<\/p>\n

Hebrews\u00a011:29 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n29\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0By faith the people passed through the Red Sea as on dry land; but when the Egyptians tried to do so, they were drowned.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verse 29:\u00a0\u00a0When you live by faith, you can accomplish things that people without faith cannot do.\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong>That\u2019s because God-pleasing faith is the key to experiencing God\u2019s power working in your life.<\/p>\n

Father, thank You for the difference that God-pleasing faith makes.\u00a0\u00a0May God-pleasing faith empower every decision I make and every action I take today.\u00a0 In Jesus\u2019 name, AMEN!<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Copyright \u00a9 2021 Justin Lim. All rights reserved.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hi GAMErs!<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is\u00a0Hebrews\u00a011:20-29.\u00a0\u00a0Let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n

Hebrews\u00a011:20-22 (NIV)
\n20\u00a0\u00a0By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau in regard to their future.
\n21\u00a0\u00a0By faith Jacob, when he was dying, blessed each of Joseph’s sons, and worshiped as he leaned on the top of his staff.
\n22\u00a0\u00a0By faith Joseph, when his end was near, spoke about the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt and gave instructions about his bones.<\/p>\n

On verses\u00a020-22:\u00a0\u00a0When your life is empowered by God-pleasing faith, you will have a heart to encourage and help the next generation.\u00a0\u00a0That\u2019s what happened in the case of Isaac, Jacob and Joseph.\u00a0\u00a0There is so much you could say about each of these men \u2013 just look at how long the book of Genesis is!\u00a0 And yet, the writer of Hebrews decides to focus here only on what Isaac, Jacob and Joseph did toward the end of their lives. \u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":29058,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-29056","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gametime-sharing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29056","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29056"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29056\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29059,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29056\/revisions\/29059"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29058"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29056"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29056"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29056"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}