 Welcome back to the second lecture of BC 111 on faith. This is our second lecture for today. So let's pick up here. We've just been looking at Hebrews chapter 11. We go ahead and share the notes. So Hebrews chapter 11 is pointing us to people in the Old Testament. It says, look at all these people and it doesn't give us a full list. But it says all these people walked by. Let's point out a few things there. First of all, walking in faith gives us a good testimony before God. So we all want to please God. And you and I, we want God to be happy about us. We want to please God. In one sense, we are accepted in the beloved. You'll be studying on who we are in Christ, about our identity in Christ. We are already accepted in the beloved. We are already made righteous. There is nothing more we can do in our standing before God to be accepted, to be loved by God. We are already loved by God. But we also know that in our day-to-day life, how we live, we want to be pleasing to God. We want God to say, well done. Francis, yes, you all got to say well done. And how is that going to happen? The Bible tells us here in Hebrews 11 that by faith, we obtain a good testimony. And this is God, what is testimony? It is what we say. So this is God giving testimony to us. So God says, what a nice person he is. God is giving testimony. That's amazing, right? That when we walk by faith, God gives testimony to us. God is giving testimony. So, our faith in God, just like the Old Testament, it gives us a good testimony before God. So remember, every time you walk by faith, every time you stand in faith, every time you do something in faith, you get a good testimony before God. See right now, actually, maybe a couple of months back, I think maybe three months back. So I was challenged. Somebody challenged me. They said, yeah, so we were thinking, okay, now everything is opening up. We have to get back to our missions work. Before lockdown, we were doing a lot of missions work, travel around India and ministering and all that. Everything came to stop during COVID. Now we have to restart. So somebody challenged me. They said, you know, let's do something big. So I went before God. I said, God, give me something big to do. I want to do something big, something that's big. What can we do? So remember that I was praying and I was praying at home or just praying, but I was taking this up as a challenge. God, give me something that's large or the language where you say it's on scale, something that's big on scale, you know, that can impact the nature. So I was praying. I had this whole idea about a church planting accelerator program. So the idea was to bring a thousand church planting teams, train them in one year. So usually our church planting happens through our Bible college students, right? So they study with us. And so many of our churches that have been started around the country have been started by Bible college students. They came like you. They studied here. Then they said, we want to go and start a church and then we help them start a church. So that's how many of these churches have started. But, you know, that's a slow process, meaning three years. It's a good process, but it takes three years for the students to study with us. And also now we want it accelerated. So it's okay. You know, what if you bring a thousand people here and train them for one year intensive. And then these are people who have already been doing ministry. That means they already have experience. They're not new to the ministry, but they have been doing ministry for at least, you know, two, three, five years. You bring them here, you train them, and then we send them to start churches. It's okay. So I started doing calculation, thousand people to keep them here in Bangalore. To bring them here and keep them here in Bangalore. It'll cost so much then to support all of them for three years, you know, it'll cost so much. And it became like so many big crores, you know. But then there were practical issues, you know, where will you keep thousand people? So I said, okay, God, you know, let's start. Let's we will get there. We'll get 2000. But with what we have, we can start with 50 people. But even with 50 people, you need several crores of rupees to do that. That means to bring 50 people from around the country, bring them here, train them for one year, send them back to start churches around the country. So we launched it or we are in the process of launching it. I announced it to the church. This is what is going to cost us. We're going to do this. We're going to bring 50 church planting teams. A team could be one person or four people, you know, it depends on from around the country. We'll train them here, send them out. So but it's going to cost so much. If you do the calculation and think about it, what the cost is, it'll cost us so much. Do we have that money already? No. What do you do? You step out. So you step out and say, God, I'm willing to do this. My goal is to train a thousand church, a thousand people, plant all those thousand churches around the country. But we'll start with 50 next year. And then we can take it up more higher and higher and higher each year. Then by the time our students are graduating, that we will, you know, with them as well, we will support them. But the reason I started telling you that is when you step out in faith, when you start acting in faith, you start doing something in faith. You get God's approval. That is what God says. That's a good testament. So you get a good testimony before God's. When you start doing something by faith, it's not like we have all the answers. We've never done this before. We've never, you know, brought so many people and trained them and sent them out in one year. We've never done this. It's a new thing. We're trying to do something. And the cost is much higher than what, you know, we've ever done before in that area or in that kind of work. When you work your faith, when you start doing something by faith, what happens? You obtain a good testimony. So all these people, you look at Hebrews 11, all these people, they did something in their lifetime by faith. It's not that they had all the answers or they had everything. No, by faith, they started doing something and the Bible says they obtained a good testimony. Right? So I'm going to challenge you, you know, at different times in your life, God is going to challenge you to do something. Go do this by faith. Say, God, I don't know how to do it. That's why you do it by faith. God, I've never done this before. Yeah, that's why you do it by faith. God, I don't have the money. Yeah, that's why you do it by faith. God, I don't know how it's going to happen. Yeah, that's why you do it by faith. Right? So you pray, God gives you an idea, but then now you have to carry it out. That is going to be a work of faith and your work of faith gets a good testimony before God. Okay? So that's the first thing we learn. And the second thing we see here in Hebrews 11 is that we also live by faith. In the promise of future things. So all these Old Testament people, they were promised things, but which are way out in the future. It was not in their lifetime, but they still walked by faith, looking ahead, looking to what was promised. Right? So in Hebrews 11, it says here about Abraham, God did say, I will give you a land which he gave him, but there was something more that was God had spoken to Abraham, which is not very obvious in the Old Testament, but Hebrews 11 tells us that he was looking, Hebrews 11 verse 10, he was looking for a city which God had built. So he was not looking just for an earthly city. He was looking for a city that God had built. What is that? That's the heavenly Jerusalem. You read about Revelation 21, 22. That's the city God has built. And he's telling us Abraham was looking for that city which God had built. So although he was, by faith, he was going into the land, the physical land. He was looking beyond that. He was looking for a city that God had built. He also saw about these other people that Hebrews 11 verse 13, these all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off. But a short of them raised them and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. That means these Old Testament saints were also looking ahead for that eternal life or that life with God in heaven. They were looking for that. And therefore they were willing to live like pilgrims on the earth. And so they confessed that they declared that that's what they were. Verse 14 says, for those who say such things, they claim plainly that they seek a homeland. And this homeland that they were looking for was not their own country, but they're looking for a heavenly country, a heavenly homeland. Therefore God is not the same to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them. So what can we learn from these Old Testament people? They walk by faith, but their faith, but they also were looking for something that God had promised. An eternity, a heavenly city, a heavenly country. And because they were looking forward to that, as they went through life, they confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims. Look, we're just passing through. They lived like that. And the Bible says in verse 16, God is not ashamed to be called their God. It's not ashamed to be called their God. That's an honor for God to say, I am so and so is God. That's an honor. So what do we take away from that? So we, like them, can also live by faith in what God has promised in the future, in our heavenly city, in our heavenly country, which God has promised to us. We can live by faith in that. You all with me? Okay. So I'm just highlighting a few things from Hebrews 11. Right. So they saw the promises, they were convinced, they embraced and they confessed. You know, if you look at Hebrews 11 13, we can highlight these four words. They saw, they were convinced, they were embraced and they confessed in line with the promises. That means they saw it afar off with their mind's eye. They were convinced about it. They embraced it and they confessed the promise. And all of them obtained a good testimony and God planned that together we would, you know, we would enter that kingdom through faith. The people of Israel inherited the land of promise. So that's a very interesting, a very interesting point here because the Bible tells us and we read about this in Romans 15. And also in 1 Corinthians 10 and several places, the Bible tells us that the things that happened to the people in the Old Testament were lessens for us. Okay. What happened to the people in the Old Testament are lessens for us in the New Testament. So you read about in Romans 15 verse 4, the things that happened to them happened to us as a lesson, our example. Same thing you read about in 1 Corinthians 10 verses 1 through 11. Paul writes, says the things that happened to them happened to us as examples. That means it happened to them in the natural, but it has spiritual implication, spiritual meaning for us. So what was it in the natural? In the natural, they had to inherit the land of promise. It was a physical land. They had to make a physical journey. They had to go and occupy a physical territory. But they did it by faith. What is the message for us? That for us to occupy what God wants us to have today, we also occupy by faith. We conquer our giants by faith. We conquer those cities by faith in God. So the promises God has given to us, they were given a land of promise. We are given great and precious promises in Christ. This was a physical land of promise. Our land of promise, our inheritance is a spiritual inheritance. And of course it does impact our everyday life and it also affects our everyday life. But how do we enter into those promises? By faith. We enter into those promises. So a parallel and we can take that lesson from them. David, he was a shepherd but he killed Goliath. Goliath was a trained warrior. How did he do it by faith? Through faith in God. David, a shepherd killed the giant Goliath. And so we can learn that as well. So from the Old Testament, there are great examples of faith. But what we want to do is focus in on Abraham and look at his walk of faith and learn from his walk of faith. The reason is because the Bible points, the New Testament points us to Abraham and says he is the father of faith. Walk in the steps of the faith of Abraham. What happened to Vijay? He's a day scholar. I suddenly saw him missing. Alright, back now to chapter 6. So in Romans 4-11, let's read Romans chapter 4 verse 11. So come to Abraham. After he, that is Abraham, received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had while still uncircumcised, that he might be the father of all who believe that they, though they are uncircumcised, that righteousness might be imputed to them also. And the father of circumcision to those who not only are off the circumcision but all who also walk in the steps of the faith which our father Abraham had while still uncircumcised. So what Paul is saying here is Abraham had faith in God even before he had this covenant of circumcision, with covenant with God through circumcision, the sign of circumcision. He was a man of faith. So it's not about the law, the circumcision that came in later on. It's about him having faith. And because faith came first, he's the father of those who believe, where is this? He's the father of all who believe. He's the father of all who believe. And we who are not of the circumcision, we are not Jewish, but we walk in the steps of the faith of our father Abraham verse 12. So two things I want to highlight here. Abraham is referred to as the father of all who believe or the father of faith. Father in the sense, he's a forerunner. He is the model. He is the prototype. He is the first person that we who walk this walk and we should follow his example. He's a father in that sense. And what do we do? We walk in the steps of the faith of Abraham. That means you follow his same steps, step one, step two, step three. Follow the steps of the faith of Abraham. So God is pointing us here in Romans chapter 4 verse 11 and 12 by the Holy Spirit and says, I have an example for you about faith, Abraham. And I want you to follow his example. Walk in the steps of the faith of Abraham. Follow his example. So we are going to study carefully the life of Abraham and say, okay, how did he have faith in God? And what must we do? What are the steps of the faith of Abraham? And so I'm just going to break it down like step one, step two, step three, step four. This is what Abraham did. And we will follow that when we want to have faith in God. Now, just as an overview of the story of Abraham, we know that God called him out of his homeland. So Abraham to begin with was not a believer in Jehovah God. He came from a family that worshiped idols, right? So his ancestry was that they worshiped idols. They were in the area that we call as Babylon in that area. And so God called them out and said, Abraham, come, I'm taking you. I'm going to take you to a land that I want to give to you. And so by faith, he stepped out, he walked. Now, along the way, Abraham had doubts. He was not a perfect man. He had doubts. There were times he doubted God. He had moral failure, meaning I think two times he was fearful and he lied about his wife, right? Not like it was half a lie. I don't know how to say it. Because Sarah was his wife, but also like a half sister, like step sister. So half lie, whatever you call it. But two times, is she your wife? No, she's not my wife. She's my sister, which is true, but not the full truths. But he was afraid. That's why he did it. So he made mistakes along the way. God encouraged him by giving him a clear picture of the promise, right? So God came to him and said, Abraham, look at the night sky. What do you see? I see stars. God said, look, Abraham, that's how many I'm going. Your descendants are going to be. So he told him, look at the stars. So he gave him a picture of what the promise, the fulfilled promise will look like. See the stars. That's how many descendants you're going to have. And then Abraham, God declared him righteous by faith. God changed his identity. You know that one day God came and said, Abraham, Abraham, I'm changing your name to Abraham. And I'm changing your wife's name from Sarai to Sarah, right? So I'm changing. So God came and he changed. Now everything God does, he does intentional. So we need to understand why he did that. And Abraham received the promise. But then God also called him to offer up Isaac, which he was ready to do. And what's so amazing is when we go to James, Abraham is referred to as a friend. Friend of God. You know, James 2, 23. He's referred to as a friend of God. That's amazing. Right? Somebody asks God, who's your friend? I have so many friends. Friend of God. Somebody close. It's a good relationship. Friend of God. It's quite amazing. He became a friend of God. He became the father of faith. Right? So we want to look at Abraham's life and understand the steps of the faith. Steps of faith he took. How did he have faith in God? Now what's interesting is in the New Testament, the Holy Spirit is giving us the steps of the faith of Abraham. The Holy Spirit is giving us the steps of the faith of Abraham. And the Holy Spirit is giving us a summary of Abraham's life. And what is so interesting is the Holy Spirit does not point out the mistakes Abraham made. See, if you and I were to write Abraham's life, two times, he lied about it. We will highlight the mistake, underline it, color it. But when the Holy Spirit is highlighting Abraham's life, giving us a summary of Abraham's life, he's not mentioning any of the mistakes. He doesn't mention Abraham's mistakes. He doesn't mention Sarah's mistakes. Very interesting. So that's our God. He tells us something about God. That when God forgives, he also forgets. I say, okay, I bury your sins in the depths of the sea. As far as the east is from the west, so far I have removed your sins. Forget it. Don't bring it up. Only people who bring it up, we only bring it up. We keep remembering God. You remember so many years ago I did this. We are the ones who create the problem, not God. So very interesting. And the Holy Spirit is giving an outline of the life of Abraham. He does not bring up any of his mistakes. But he says, these are the steps of the faith. This is how Abraham walked by faith. So we find this in Romans chapter 4, verse 17 to 21. Romans 4, 17 to 21. In these five verses, the Holy Spirit is giving us the steps of the faith of Abraham. He's outlining Abraham's life for us. So let's read that very carefully and let's break it down one by one. Okay. Verse 17, as it is written, I have made you a father of many nations. So this is the promise. This is the promise. Abraham, I have made you. I have made you. Correct Hindi. Sometimes correct Hindi comes. I have made you. Thank you. I have made you. Even God is speaking. He's speaking in the past tense. I have made you. Finished. I have made you a father of many. Think about it. Suppose God comes to you and says, I have made you a pastor or something like that. God comes to you and says, I have made you a big pastor. But God, I am sitting here in Bible college, first year class. I still have another five semesters to go. But God says, I have made you. I've already made you. As far as God is concerned, your future is already over. Finished. He's done it. But in time, starting from where we are, we have to walk with God into that future. But as far as God is concerned, he's done it. I have made you. I have made you a father of many. But at that time, Abraham had no children. Not even one child. Abraham is not even one child. But God is already saying, I have made you. And he does not have a single child. But think about this. I'm just emphasizing this because this is from God's perspective. From God's perspective. This is how God is seeing you. This is how God is seeing his plan, his purpose for you. I have finished. I have made you. In the mind of God, it's already done. In the mind of God, it's 100% success. 100% sure what he has purposed for your life. I have made you. Now, Abraham had to walk into it. Just like you and me, how we have to walk into the purpose of God. Right? So in the presence, continues verse 17. In the presence of him whom he believed. So God had given his words. And Abraham stood before God in whom he believes. In the presence of him whom he believes. So God, I believe you. I'm standing before you. You've given me your words. You said, I have made you forever, father of many nations. I have made you. I'm standing before you believing, believing. So that's what God calls us to do. Stand before him. Believe him. The one who spoke the promise. One who gave you the promise. Stand before him. Believe him. In the presence of him whom he believes. And then it tells us something about God here, verse 17. God who gives life to the dead and calls those things which do not exist as though they did. Two things about God. He gives life to the dead. That means for God, the situation you find yourself in doesn't mean anything. He can change it. He gives life to the dead. So the situation that God gives life to. So my situation would be hopeless. God gives life. God contains the situation. So you stood before God and whom he believed. This is a God who changes situations, who changes life situations. He changes things in this natural realm. He gives life to the dead. And second thing about God. He calls things that do not exist into, he calls things that do not exist as though they did. I have a question for you. Is it good to follow God? Or is it bad to follow God's example? Is it okay to follow God, to be an imitator of God? Or you should not imitate God. Trick question. Answer simple. We have to imitate God. Follow God. God calls things that do not exist as though they did. So imitate God. Call things that do not exist as though they did. Example. Right now. If my body is not alright. Example. If my body is sick. What doesn't exist? Healing. So I call healing. I say I declare my body healed. In the name of Jesus. So I'm calling something that doesn't exist as though it did. So I declare my body healed. I declare my body strong. I declare my body well. I declare my body whole. So I call things that don't exist as though they did. Same thing with money. Same thing with situations. Same thing, whatever. In our life situation. If it's dead, we declare life to it. And things that don't exist, you call it it. Call things that don't exist as though they did. You're following God's example. Okay? So this is Abraham. What 17 says. God gave him a promise. The promise was in the past tense. So what did I have made you the father of many nations? What did he do? He believed. He stood before God. He believed. And he recognized two things about God. That the God in whom I believe can change my natural situation. Because he's the God who gives life to the dead. And the God in whom I believe, he calls things that don't exist as though they did. So that's the God I believe in. And I must, if I'm going to walk with God, I have to be in agreement with God. Right? Amos chapter 3 verse 3, can two walk together unless they are in agreement. So if you're going to walk with God, you have to be in agreement with God. If God is calling things that don't exist as though they did, we also do the same thing. Call things that don't exist as though they did. You speak the words of faith. We will talk, we'll see more about that later. Verse 18. So here are the steps to the faith. Verse 18, who contrary to hope, in hope believe. I'll read all the verses then we'll break it down. Who contrary to hope, in hope believe. So that he became the father of many nations. According to what was spoken, so shall your descendants be. And being not weak in faith. He did not consider his own body already dead since he was about 100 years old. And the deadness of Sarah's womb. He did not wave at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God. And being fully convinced that what he had promised, he was also able to perform. So the Holy Spirit is telling us, this is how Abraham had faith in God. Holy Spirit is explaining. This is how Abraham had faith in God. So follow the steps of the faith of Abraham. You all with me? Follow the steps of the faith. So we're going to break this down of the steps of the faith of Abraham. I'll just go over it as an overview today, and we'll pick this up next week. So I'll just run through the steps of the faith of Abraham. Number one, Abraham believed God. It says in hope he believed. We will examine all of these things. Abraham believed God. Against all hope in hope, he still believed. That means he believed and there was no reason for hope. Number three, he was not weak in faith and didn't look at the circumstances. Number four, he did not wave at the promise of God through unbelief. Number five, he was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God. Number five, he was fully convinced. Number six, he was fully convinced that what God had promised, he will perform. So you break it down. You can find these six steps. And we'll get into each of these on how we can apply this in our lives. So we're going to stop here for today. We will pray and we will close. I know we still have 10 more minutes. We'll just take a few moments to pray and we'll close. Okay. So we're going to next week. We'll come back to Romans chapter 4 verses 17 to 21. And then we will talk about the steps of the faith of Abraham. Any questions? Yes. Two questions asked both. Please. Yes. Hmm. Hmm. Okay. So Psalm 105 verse 20. So it says the word of the Lord tested Joseph. Right. So it's not. So here what the Psalmist is referring to is not about the temptation. Right. It says in verse 19, until the time that his word came to pass, the word of the Lord tested him. Psalm 105 verse 19. Right. So the question is prior to coming into the prison, he faced temptation, but he was thrown in prison. And the word of the Lord tested him. What was the word of the Lord? He had to go back when he was a teenager. He had a dream. The sun, the moon, the eleven stars would bow down before Joseph. That means God had given him a word. I'm going to elevate you in life to the place where even your parents and all your brothers are going to bow down before you. That was a word God had given through a dream. But at that moment, Joseph was in prison. It says in verse 18, they hurt his feet with petters. He was laid in. That means he was in prison. But what was happening? The word of the Lord is Joseph. You really believe this. So you can imagine Joseph sitting in prison. He's like at the lowest place a person can go to. But God had given him a word. I'll put you in a place where your father, mother and your brothers will bow down before you. So the word of the Lord tested him. Do you still believe that? Do you still believe God can do this in your life? You believe that this dream God had given to you when you were a teenager. Can it be fulfilled? You're sitting in prison. You're sitting in the lowest place. Any person can go to in that situation. So that's what it means, the word of the Lord tested him. And then God lifted him up. Second question. That's an interesting question. How did Abraham or for that matter, even people in the Old Testament, especially the prophets and so on, how did they hear from God? We don't know for sure. But when you look at the Hebrew words, especially in the context of the prophet. Okay, let me put it like this. There are three ways, three possible ways. One is there was the audible voice of God. And we see examples of that in Samuel. God called him. Samuel, Samuel, he runs to Eli. Eli, are you calling me? So that was an audible voice. But we also see and I think a good example of this illustration. This is number 23 when Balaam is having his experience. Now we know that Balaam went into error. So the New Testament points to him as a false prophet. But Balaam actually prophesied, correct things. He prophesied about the coming of Jesus and all of that. And in this prophetic experience, he explains this. He says, my eyes were opened. So that's the second way. That means through visual, through what you see. You also read about this in Numbers chapter 12 verse 3. When Moses is unlike other prophets, I speak to him face to face. But when I speak to a prophet, I speak through visions. I speak to dreams. That means the second way is through visuals. So what you see, whether you see it in a dream or in a vision or in an open vision. So that's the second way. And the third is, so that experience we refer to as a sea of prophet or a prophet who sees, they see visuals. The third is a nubby prophet. The word nubby means to bubble up. It comes by inspiration. So the knowledge of the most high just is imparted to the person. So three ways. One, audible. Second, what you see. Third, by what comes up. So Abraham or the other people who heard from God. It doesn't mean that every time it says the word of the Lord came to me. It doesn't mean it came in an audible voice. It could have come through a visual. It could have come through a bubbling up. Our word is coming for. Because we see all of these three prophetic experiences or mechanisms through which God speaks in the Old Testament. Okay. Short answer, but big question. Good. Any other questions? Okay. So let me see if there's any questions here from people on the online class. All right. Anyone? Any questions on the online class? Any things today? Okay. Fine. No questions. We're going to close in prayer. Come. We're going to pray and we close the class. Well, we'll pray for this and close quickly and pray. Thank you, Lord. Come near to you, Lord Jesus. We pray, Lord Jesus bless us with your wisdom and knowledge, Lord Jesus. Today we learn about Abraham's faith, Lord Jesus. Help us to be like Abraham, Lord Jesus. Lord Jesus, we have little faith. Lord Jesus, make our faith like the faith of Abraham is great on you, Lord Jesus. Lord, we pray everyone in this Bible college. Grow in your spiritual wisdom and knowledge, Lord Jesus. Fill us with your mighty power, Lord Jesus. All glory belongs to your name, Lord Jesus. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Thank you. All right. We'll take a quick break. Get ready for the next class. Thank you all. See you again next week. Bye now.