 Okay Welcome back everyone we'll continue with our study here about the steps of Abraham and we were saying that Abraham the first important thing that we learned from his life is that he believed God and then secondly We just started talking about how he had hope when There was so much of hopelessness and I was just starting to tell you that when we journey with God Sometimes it feels like this. It's not easy throughout the journey In the initial stages, we may feel that we are full of energy and That we can't trust God, but when the going gets tough. That's the time when There is that temptation to give up against all odds No, the scripture tells us that He believed so I'm just going to read verse 18 of Romans 4. It says who contrary to hope In hope believed So that he became the father of many nations according to what was spoken So shall your descendants be so contrary to hope means hopelessness Okay, hopelessness as in there's nothing to look forward to and Circumstances seem like the promise that God has spoken will never be fulfilled So there can be a sense of hopelessness, right? We feel that No matter what we do, we can't make it happen what God wants What God has once spoken to us, but what is it that we learn from Abraham the second step Contrary to hope in hope believed Okay, we saw in Hebrews chapter 11 that faith is now now faith is Isn't it so faith is now, but hope is in the future Isn't it things that we hope for those things that we hope for are in the future What is hope hope is an expectation where we are we have a desire Yes, God, this is going to happen. Now. I am going to walk in what you have spoken You are going to You know Make certain things take place in the future. So there is an expectation But what is hopelessness not having hope is like saying nothing will happen. Nothing can happen You know, sometimes we find ourselves in that place when we think of God's promise Because it's too big. That's how God speaks to us Usually when God gives us a promise, it will be bigger than what we can handle Are you understanding because if it is just something that we can handle Then where is the faith? Where is the hope? Right, but when God speaks to all of us like Abraham a man who does not have even one child What does God say? Altitudes are going to be your descendants So it's big Maybe a sense of hopelessness hit him at some point where he was feeling how can it happen? I don't know how this can happen Right. So even in our life circumstances somewhere We get into that mode when it is so difficult to hope and have the expectation from God Okay, hope is nothing but an active Expectation where you know little children when you see them and if their birthday is coming They'll tell the whole world. Please come to my house this day. It's my birthday Why because they're so happy. They're waiting. They're expecting. They're desiring. It's gonna be my birthday I'll wear a new dress. I'll give chocolates to my friends So but hopelessness is like have you ever seen a little child who's not happy about their birthday? No If that child is not happy about their birthday something must be seriously wrong Because they've lost all hope Expectation is not there We may need to counsel the child But normal. What is normal? There's a sense of joy desire Expectation and when we are believing in God we need to have hope Expectation has to be there inside us somewhere inside. We feel like yeah, God will do it It'll happen. It's coming Right, even though circumstances are opposite From inside, what do we have hope? So what does faith do? Faith will pull the hope Because there is faith there will be hope Do you understand? Are you understanding what I'm trying to say? There'll be a sense of expectation or a desire where From inside We have some joy Right that God will do okay right now I can't see anything but God will do and that is what we learn about Abraham Against all hope in hope he believed he had expectation in his heart Nobody could take away that expectation from him that God will do it Okay, so Abraham because of his faith he also You know, he he pulled on the hope and there was hope in his heart When circumstances were challenging in the beginning and this is true for all of us when we journey with God When we start off this might happen where the initial enthusiasm Little bit starts to come down then we find our self in a little bit of hopelessness But if we are still carrying faith, what will faith do faith will pull the hope inside Then like those little children will also be expecting. Hey, it's okay. Even though things are tough I know God will do God will do God will help me right so expectation and hope is necessary right when we Trust in God now moving on to the third step So what did we say initially there's faith and Then as we journey with God, there could be a sense of hopelessness, but when we have faith Hope will come then third one is that Abraham He did not become weak in faith verse 19. It says and not being weak in faith He did not consider his own body Already dead since he was almost a hundred years old and The deadness of Sarah's womb. So what are some things that make us weak in our faith? By from your experience, what are some things that make us weak in our faith? Unbelief okay, unbelief, but how does it come? Yeah, when the situation is difficult then You know slowly that weakness can affect us What else anything else which will make us weak in our faith? Correct. So when we see our situation from our side, it feels very difficult for example If you take the Israelites, they are standing in front of the Red Sea Okay, imagine if they didn't have faith in God if Moses didn't have faith in God Don't tell me how can the seapart it's not possible So looking at situations and circumstances with our own mindset It discourages us because there is no hope If we are going to do it only from our limited thinking isn't it? So we may look at our circumstances as brother said and think yeah God is telling me that okay for example, you know God is calling you to be a pastor You look at your own self and you say No, but I don't know how to speak like how Moses he's said right. I don't know how to speak. I am stammering How will the people accept me? We have so many questions. Why because we're looking at it from our perspective But when we look at it from God's perspective our faith will be strengthened so looking from our perspective can also make us weak in our faith That's correct. Okay, unbelief then our own perspective. What else anything else can make us weak? We can have a faith How about what people say? Sometimes if there are comments which are opposite to the promise of God It may affect us if we let it affect us people may say, okay, let's say for example, Gideon He did not think that he was strong enough to win a battle and Maybe people would have told him you can't do it Gideon God will you know choose somebody else? You're not the right person. So when this happens somewhere we accept what people are saying and We reject what God is saying God is saying you can but what if the people say you can't What if we go by what people are saying even then our faith can be weakened sometimes we can look at the circumstances Right Circumstances are as I told told us if the Red Sea is in front of you What are the facts the facts are that yeah, there is water you have all these physics laws Right, so you need to you need to build a big boat that is the right way because there are all these principles where You can only float on the water. You can't walk through Sea There's no such physics principle if that was the case you wouldn't need aeroplanes, right today We'll all be walking across oceans and go to whichever country we want to go because That's how the the laws of physics are however, that's the facts are different. So when you look at the facts Even then our faith can get challenged. So maybe you know when we are sick and The reports say this is wrong with you that is wrong with you You can't this can't be cured that can't be cured the facts are there in front of us Somewhere those things start to affect us, isn't it? But look at Abraham He did not deny the facts. It was a reality in verse 19 We read that his body was already dead It says that to do what that to basically be able to multiply Right to procreate and so his body was already dead Since he was about a hundred years old That was the reality and the deadness of Sarah's womb that is the reality But in the midst of that reality all the reports were there with Abraham Sarah But they did not let That weaken their faith. So don't let the facts Weaken your faith. Okay, that is also something we learn from Abraham So if we don't want to don't want our faith to be weakened, how to keep faith strong How to keep faith strong? We talked about different things that can make the faith weak. How to keep it strong Pray, okay. What else can we do? How to refresh Our faith just to hope against all hopes Yeah, so hope against all hope Um, fine. So you make you take the initiative to to hope is what you're saying Okay, that's fine. So my question now says is how to strengthen Your faith how to strengthen one's faith. That's the question Okay, Parimita says read the word of God then bless he says remembering the remembering God's promises Lucy says having a relationship with God. Okay, great What else can we do? focus on Okay, focus on God. Don't don't focus on other things focus on God What are some practical things that we can do to focus on God? Declare the promises of God. Okay, correct. So we can declare the promises of God so some practical things can be as You know Nelson said focus on God Don't focus on the facts Facts are there. We are not denying the facts. They do exist But we are focusing or we are a sort of zooming in on what God says and For that what we have to do is You know spend time with God prayer is one thing and Assisted the truth just now pointed out you declare the promises of God So what can we do we can list out all the scriptures that let's say if it is Sickness there are so many scriptures that talk about healing and the fact that God is a healer So what can I do? I can pull out all those scriptures and I can start to declare them I can start to read them often So I don't know how many of you've heard this testimony, but it always inspires me there is you know a particular Woman of God who was diagnosed with the final stage liver cancer? Okay, and this was way back way back in I don't even know which year it was but she was around She was around in her 40s and now she is You know in her 80s. I think okay, so 40 years ago So you can imagine 40 years ago when people were diagnosed with You know a serious condition They wouldn't have had the medical help the kind that we have today So the doctors told her you won't survive. You have a very serious issue. It's a stage Three or something stage for liver cancer. You have only a few days to live So at that point she was very disappointed because she like as a family they believed in God's healing power and so they Immediately started praying and asking God to heal But one thing that God showed her was to take the Bible verses And to start making declarations. So they told the doctor that okay I will I will get admitted just give me some time So she went back home because anyway, there was no treatment those days So she went back home and she wrote out all these Scriptures and she talks about how it was very difficult because she was having all the symptoms like you know She's vomiting blood and having Pain and not able to sleep and not able to work. So facts are there But what does God's word say what has God promised God had promised her I will heal you So she wrote down all the verses and she started declaring them Okay, and how often did she declare them? So she shares in her testimony that she you know how we take tablets when we go to the doctor The doctor tells us take one in the morning one in the afternoon one at night So she told God God your word is my medicine. I don't have any other medicine The doctors are saying they cannot help me your word is my medicine I'm going to take the word every day. So she wrote it down on paper Every day in the morning when she woke up she went through all the scriptures one round then again in the afternoon No around lunchtime. She went through all the scriptures again declaring them, you know over herself And similarly in the night before she goes to bed again take that paper Declare all the verses regarding healing. So she kept doing it and as I told you she's still alive She's still alive. She's 80 plus years old and she talks about this testimony of recovering from you know The final stage of liver cancer 40 years ago and every time she goes for a blood checkup now apparently the The lab people say that hey whose report is this everything is perfect with this report Obviously, it's not just her fate But also it depends on so many things managing your health well and all that as well Which we don't want to neglect but the point that I'm trying to make is see Circumstances can be there, but we have to learn to focus on who God is what God says. So prayer Focusing on the word declaring the word right these are all ways in which we can build our faith When our faith is strong no matter how the circumstances look It shouldn't shake us You know after a while we're quite strong. That's what happened to Abraham. He made his faith very strong Even though he knew the facts He didn't let those facts shake him Same thing should apply to us in the beginning Abraham believed second His faith was so strong that in the challenges He still had hope that God will do third is that He did not become weak But kept his faith very very strong and that is our responsibility We have to take care of our faith. It don't let anyone rob your faith or in other words Don't let anything rob your faith pay attention to the word of God in problems for versus 20 to 22 we see there you know Scriptures tell us that Pay attention to the word of God keep the word in the midst of your heart So when the word is inside my heart, no matter how the situation is I can still be very strong and keep moving forward with God So that is the third step of Abraham. He was strong and not destroyed by the facts now moving on to The fourth step here He did not waver at the promise of God through Unbelief so verse 20 says that he did not waver at the promise of God through Unbelief see when we are journeying strong with God will come to a place in our faith where We're already Convince sort of you know, we're already strong So whether it is fear Whether it is worry whether it is doubt whether it is confusion whether it is You know the words that other people are saying or the the reports that we get We've come to a place where we no longer shake No, sometimes you see some trees in the wind what happens some trees which are Not so strong when the wind blows they'll also move. Isn't it? They shake But you find some trees They are so strong so firm that even if there's a strong wind the tree never moves Some leaves here and there may shake, but the point is that when we journey with God and Strengthen our faith our faith becomes so strong that Winds can come waves can come right all kinds of things can come But our faith is so strong at this point that it doesn't matter What somebody says doesn't matter, you know the fear that seems to be trying to tempt us doesn't matter anymore You're already strong But we have to come to that place As far as our faith is concerned. We can't just remain in that old place where we first started Okay, so strengthening yourself. Look at Abraham. He just strengthened himself He was not wavering. Okay at one point he was firm and That happens when we are journeying forward with God. It can't happen, you know, like just like that You have to journey with God and strengthen yourself in the Lord. And so you come to this place where You know, you're so strong, but even at that point We have to guard our hearts against unbelief, you know, this is the this is the reality of the Christian life We can keep getting stronger and stronger in God, right as believers We are definitely stronger than the day that we started Journey with God. However, no matter how strong you become maybe, you know, you're you're Many years many decades. You're a believer. You're a strong believer and so many miracles have happened Signs wonders have happened. You have thousands of churches thousands of people, you know what even then One has to guard their faith We can't play around with the faith that God gives us No matter how strong we are in God, we have to guard our faith and continue to to build ourselves up in faith At that point, we can't say I'm already so strong, you know, I've already done so much ministry It's okay. What can happen? Nothing can happen. But you see, that's what Satan is waiting for the moment. We say I'm already strong. Nothing can happen. That's the time when he's very happy. He says, okay Now this person has led their guard down Now I can tempt them now I can cause them to fall So there is never a moment no matter how strong we become in our faith where we say It's done and I don't have to guard my faith anymore. That's a lie Even when we are strong enough it. Yes, unbelief doesn't affect us anymore. Why he doesn't affect us anymore? But I still have to protect my faith. I cannot play around with with The lies of the devil, you know, or even in my mind entertain. What does Paul say? Paul teaches us take every thought captive one thought one doubt one Un you know unbelief in our mind. That's enough. That's all Satan wants. So take every thought captive and pull it down So This is this is really crucial for us that we should come to a place where we are strong in God But at the same time Just because we are in a place where we are strong in God. Don't let your guard down Instead all the more work on your faith and continue to keep the faith strong I'll come to the questions. There are lots of questions in the chat. I Just thought that I'll go ahead and finish what we have for us right now Okay, moving on so Abraham he did not waver at the promise of God then what else the next is he strength. He was strengthened in the faith Giving glory to God. So we've talked about this when we said about the kind of prayer, right? Thanksgiving Thanksgiving is also in the category of prayer. So sometimes when we are waiting upon the Lord We can thank God Before we receive the promise and say, you know, God, I want to honor you Because you have already blessed me. I know you have already done it Remember the way Jesus prayed before he raised Lazarus from the dead. He said father I thank you because you always hear me So Jesus was giving thanks before the miracle and that is also something we see in Abraham's life So Abraham He had such strong faith in God. He kept his hope alive He Did not become weak by the facts He did not waver at the promises of God and also he strengthened himself in the faith By giving glory to God so giving thanks to God giving praises to God before the miracle happens That is also something that we learn in Abraham's life. So in my personal journey I feel like the step five of giving thanks to God. It takes a little bit of time to get here So in the beginning itself, we want to say thank you God for The promise it's already happened, but we may be battling at that time to be convinced We may be battling at that time to be so strong in our faith, but initially when you journey Properly with God then we can come to that place where in our hearts. It's a settled matter Okay, and see it's not about convincing anyone else But this happens inside our heart and maybe we won't be able to explain it to others But we can rejoice in the fact that it's already happened We can't convince others but in our heart we know in our spirit We know that we have prayed for so long We have built our faith for so long and God has actually done it It's just a matter of time before we can actually Before others can see it and so at that point what happens we start thanking God We start praising God. We start glorifying God because in our hearts we are sure That God has done it Right, so this is what it is. This is also when we are seeing the journey of Abraham. It's like Praying a believing prayer remember we talked about all these things where You have to keep moving forward with your faith And you come to a place Where you as you know people say that you know that you know that you know that God has done it and it is going to Be fulfilled so Abraham was giving glory to God and the sixth step here is When Abraham is fully convinced that what God had promised He was also able to perform so he came to a place where Nothing could take away his faith anymore Fully convinced That's where we should reach as far as our faith is concerned So when God speaks his truth to us, that's the starting point but We need to journey till we come to that last station. What is that? Fully convinced no doubt. No worry. No confusion. I know That's what God is going to do Being fully convinced that's a very powerful place to be so these are the steps of Abraham Abraham was not perfect. That is why at a time when There was no hope Right, he still had to really work on his faith to keep hope alive Like any other human being same thing happens to us. It's not like we are perfect in the beginning. We believe yes We believe but we also go through ups and downs Right, but we have to come to that place where we are We don't be ever at the faith. We give thanks to God and finally we are fully convinced This is what God said God will do it and That's the place where we have to reach in our faith But you see it's going to take some hard work, right? But we can't just say, okay, I have faith now faith will grow in my heart and You know faith will just be there. It will become strong. No, we got to work on the faith If you don't work on the faith remember we earlier said faith is what it's like a muscle So if I don't work the muscle It can't become strong because the only way the muscle can become strong is you have to put it to work The same way I have to strengthen my faith and it's my responsibility To strengthen my faith come to a place where I am fully Convinced so Abraham journeyed with God in this way and we see that Abraham Lived the promise of God. He was not You know He was not this discouraged because of his body or you know his wife's body It says in the book of Hebrews that he understood that both of them were in a so-called dead situation but In that dead situation He still believed God and God was able to work a miracle and that is why do we really look up to Abraham And some additional thoughts here is faith is as I told us earlier. Faith is not just about Having faith in our hearts, but we have to put it into action So James writes about it and in the life of Abraham that is also something that we observe No, what did Abraham do? Abraham he believed God that in itself was counted as righteousness to him and then Whatever God called him to do. He stepped out, right? So here you have James chapter 2 verses 20 to 26 That teaches us about faith which must Have works alongside Faith without works is dead. So in the life of Abraham tell me what are all the works that he did? He believed God, but when God told him come out of your own people. He did it Imagine if Abraham said I have faith in God. I'll just be where I am But where is your faith? If you have faith, you got to do something, right? What did God tell you come out of your own people and Because he had faith there was some action. He came out then what else God told him You will have a son, right? So he journeyed with God he believed God and then he finally had Isaac then when God said okay, Abraham I want you to go sacrifice Isaac Abraham has faith in God that God can even raise the dead But did Abraham do anything when God told him go sacrifice your son? Or was he at home? Yeah, so Genesis 22 it says early in the morning He rose up and he kept you know all the they would have had certain Things required to make the sacrifice. So he what he did is He walked out his faith He put action to his faith just think with me Let's say you are interested in something for example if I tell you okay, there's this Cricket match okay in some place. Let's just give it a name someplace Bombay or something and There is a free ticket Okay, and you've won the free ticket and you can go tomorrow to Bombay to watch the cricket match But the flight is at 3 a.m Would you go? What would you do to get the flight? What would you do to get the flight? What do we all do? Yeah, get up early Get up early is one thing, but would you have packed your bags the previous night? Yeah, you pack your bag everything ready. So okay fine You wake up so early then maybe the airport is one hour away We make all the effort enthusiastic so enthusiastic That we can go and we can watch the match but Think about Abraham that day. What did God tell him? Your son will be sacrificed Do you think he was enthusiastic about it? But you know what the Bible says he woke up in the early in the morning He took everything which was needed which means He was still enthusiastic. He had to pack. He had to organize himself He had to wake up early in the morning for what to sacrifice the son But the point I'm trying to make is He had so much faith in God that he thought God is telling me to do. He must have a good reason why but I am sure that even if my son dies, he'll come back to life So let's see what God does. He was excited about what God is going to do And so he displayed a great enthusiasm Right, so that is the journey of Abraham. He put actions to his faith He did not simply say, yeah, I know God can save Isaac. I'll sit at home. I'll sleep. We'll see tomorrow No, there was always some action Along with the faith. So same way. What is God telling us to do today? If God is saying, um, you know, uh, that You're going to be a teacher of the word. What should I do? Okay, let's say somebody got this promise. You're going to be a teacher of the word preach straight away go and preach a Prepare yourself correct. Okay. So see all I'm saying is when God gives us a promise There is an action a corresponding action from our side We we need to do something as well To walk in that promise So if the promise of God says that you know, I'm going to be a teacher of the word then I might as well Put in a lot of time to study the word To study it in a proper way to learn it to memorize it to declare it to pray Right, uh, maybe even write sermons. I've heard so many pastors say that before their ministry started They wrote so many sermons. So sometimes it takes sermons out of what they had written long ago And they preach now, but it's not like they wrote the sermon for the service No, that sermon would have been written 20 years ago when they waited in the presence of God and God gave them A word Right. So the point is Yes There is a promise of God Yes, I have faith But what am I doing With that faith? I got to do something I can't just keep saying yeah, God has said God has said yeah, but what are what am I doing? What are we doing? How are we preparing ourselves? How are we equipping ourselves? What are our plans? Show me your plans You got it? So faith Is seen through action People believe that Jesus could heal. What did they do? They went to Jesus. They didn't sit in their house You just find like, you know one or two places where Jesus says, okay, I'll come to your house But most of the other time People are running after him coming to the street. Okay. Jesus is walking on the street, you know, I better touch him I better cry out to him. I got to do something I have faith that he can heal me, but If I don't know then how how will I receive my healing? So imagine people who didn't do anything Maybe Jesus is walking on the street, but there are people they believe that Jesus can heal but they're just sitting there So sad They might have missed their chance because faith will do something Got it. So this is how even in the journey of Abraham Abraham obeyed God we see obedience as the The characteristic Of Abraham mentioned in many places He heard from God. He had faith in God But how did he put his faith to work? He was obedient He did what God was calling him to do. Okay, so that is a lesson for us So we'll come back to um other things here, but I'll quickly look at the questions in our chat Okay, I'll go back to the question during the break. I think Daniel Oliver asked Before Abraham had the promise Stun Isaac what evidence did Abraham Have that he believed God so deeply Can you quote some things which made Abraham to build faith on God in the beginning? So Daniel, I think we've discussed those things, right? All the things that helped him to build his faith the kind of focus he kept the way he obeyed God the way he Saw the facts, but he he did not waver at the promise of God how he thanked God All these things helped him to really build his faith now One more thing that you're asking here is what evidence Did Abraham have what evidence? Okay. Okay. Good question. So Hebrews 11 1 that's what it says faith is the substance of things hope for the evidence of things not seen So look at it like this. Okay today. I want us to understand For us as believers evidence is first inside Then evidence will be outside Got it. So what evidence did Abraham have? Faith it was already inside and that's what we are saying. He was not wavered At the promises wavering at the promises of God was strengthened giving glory to God. What is all this? Something is there inside Abraham Hope against all hope Abraham hoped in God Abraham believed in God Evidence is sitting inside So for all of us as believers we have to ask the question Whatever vision God has given me for my life Am I carrying an evidence or the substance inside? Okay, so spiritually I need to sense That yes strongly on the inside I'm journeying to a place where I am convinced That God is going to do it. So once I come to that place inside of being convinced That's when the evidence will manifest outside. That's what Hebrews 111 says Faith is the substance of things hoped for the evidence of things not seen So what evidence did Abraham have? He had faith inside How do we know he had all the promises came to pass? No It got fulfilled. It was inside first and it happened outside Same thing with all of us when we are journeying with God Check faith. Do I really carry faith in my heart? Do I have the substance inside? If we have it inside then it will Take place outside But if inside my faith is weak my faith is shaking right my faith is affected by Worry doubt unbelief fear all these things I'm not convinced then I am not convinced How can I expect something to happen? Promise of God to take place. No, I can't so I to journey like Abraham till I come to a place where within me I am convinced That is the evidence So question is Are you convinced? That God will do what he has promised If not yet convinced Then better journey with God strengthen your faith Till we come to a place where like Abraham The last step or the last station where we are fully convinced Yes, he will do it I'm sure he'll do it and just keep putting actions to the faith. Okay Daniel, I hope that helps you now. Let's moving on Questions Okay, not really all of them are comments. So that's fine We can wrap up here Unless you have anything to ask Okay, so Sanjay says is a supernatural hour Well to one Open for online students via the main naughty page. Yeah, that's right So it is open sanjay. You can connect. There'll be a link Post it. So you just connect using that link It'll start at 12 noon Okay, great All right. So if there are no more questions, we'll just wrap up with the word of prayer Nelson you'll pray Yeah One second. There's a question here How to check our attendance percentage Okay on google classroom I think we'll have to take Help from our it So We will be able to check I don't I don't think that the students will be able to check But I request us to those who are attending online Please make sure that you don't miss classes and when you log into your classes Please ensure that you stay for the entire class If you're an online student for those who are on campus their attendance is different But the people here online That is my advice to you And our team like the it will be able to check your attendance and assignments. Yes I know I told how I mentioned last week that will be up last week, but it was a little tight for me So I'm hoping to have it up today. So today it'll be up For both your subjects faith as well as prayer and then you'll have sufficient time to complete it Okay, great. And in any other questions So you need a minimum of 85 percent attendance if it goes anywhere less than that, we won't be able to help you So you've got to help yourself Make sure that you attend All the classes don't miss even one class Okay, let's close Nelson, please pray Dear father, we thank you for this day As we today study about Abraham and his faith Lord in his trouble time. He kept faith upon you He strengthened himself with faith and lord You helped him in his While he was in his journey. So lord we ask you For that faith he had in our life too. So as we have been studying here help us to get faith While we are studying and everything we do will we do what we will do with faith or lord and lord we Study everything help us remember for future days lord So we can study well and we'll be doing good in study also In this in Jesus name. I pray lord Amen amen. Amen. Thank you. Thank you Nelson. Thank you everyone. Um, god bless you. Have a good day Okay, so I will see you all in the same Uh subject next week. Thank you. Bye for now