M&M - "By Faith" - Lesson 2 - Hebrews 11:1

Hi ladies! Welcome back to M&M. We are now in our second week. This is our second lesson
of the new course by faith things are not as they seem. I’m Barb Bindewald, if this
is your first time and I want to welcome you all. Especially I want to give a warm welcome
to some new ladies: Debbie in Singapore, Fiona in Cambodia, Beth in Germany, Dr. Beverly
in the states. Connie, in Charlotte who was for 20 years in Niger. A warm welcome to Eileen
and Megan in Japan, to Angie in Indonesia, Susan in Atlanta, and many other new ones.
We welcome you. And my prayer is that M&M would be a blessing to you. I believe it will
be and it doesn’t have anything to do with me. It is because you have chosen to memorize,
hopefully, or at least read a lot, but meditate on God’s word. To handle it, to chew it.
To slow down and spend time with a little verse for a week and God uses his word. He
shows up in His word. He meets you and so I know He will bless you. So thank you for
wanting to do this good work.
I’m in Japan! I can’t believe it! This is our first recording from Japan. You can’t
tell from where I am. I’m in my bedroom of the house we’re staying in for a couple
weeks. We move tomorrow and the next day to our new house. You can’t tell but right
out this window here there is a Japanese neighborhood. Probably right now as you’re watching I
am sound asleep. So there’s a big time difference. 13 hours. It is truly the land of the rising
sun. It is bright and sunny at 4:30. So, it’s been easier to wake up. We’re about over
jet lag. I wanted to tell you, tell my friends, that Yes, we’re in Japan. We can’t believe
it and we are grateful for all of our financial supporters and prayer supporters. Saying that,
I am very grateful. But I want to tell you it has been hard. The last two weeks, we’ve
been here two weeks, the last two weeks have been difficult. We are reliving the changes,
the adjustments that we went through 25 years ago when we first came so I thought it wouldn’t
be so hard. But we have been back in the states for 15 years and I think I had kind of rosy
picture of—my memory was quite rosy. It has been hard. There have been many opportunities
to die to self. And I want to tell you—I don’t like it. I don’t like to die to
myself. It hurts. It is not pleasant. I don’t enjoy it at all. At the time it’s very difficult.
BUT, Dave and I had to remind each other, we have decided to follow Jesus. And so, if
dying to ourselves is what it takes to follow him wherever he is leading us then we will
do it even if we don’t like it. God is merciful He has been very tender toward us and he has
not given us more than we can bear. So I wanted to share that with you. It’s not much fun
being an alien, being a foreigner, being stared at. Dave and I are now official—we are official
aliens. We are registered. SO, I think, every Christian when they become a Christian should
get an alien registration card. Because every time someone is born again into Christ, he
or she becomes an alien to this world. So it has been a good object lesson to be a certified
alien.
I am so grateful for M&M. I need it now more than I ever have before. It is hard when your
props are taken away. When you lose your ability to communicate freely and from your heart
it is a fearful, a lonely feeling. A frustration. So just last night as I was laying on my “fu-ton”
I think you all say futon. As I was lying there my mind reeling, feeling alone, feeling
far away from loved ones. Which I am. I finally remembered, God’s word. Ok. Let’s call
it up. Let’s call it to mind. And I did. And the Lord blessed me through his word.
“I delight greatly in the Lord, my soul rejoices in my savior for he has clothed me
with garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of righteousness. He loves me, I
am his. I know his favor because I am in Christ.”
And I was reminded as I recalled verses that I have memorized what is the truth and it
greatly comforted me.
So, let’s M&M. Are you ready? I hope you have a door nearby to shut. There! So, let’s
start the way we always start…reciting the hymn, “Lord I Have Shut the Door.” Make
this as a prayer, use this as an opportunity to quiet your heart.
Lord, I have shut the door; speak now the word
Which in the din and throng could not be heard. Hushed now my inner heart; whisper Thy will
While I have come apart, while all is still.
Lord, I have shut the door; here do I bow. Speak, for my soul attent, turns to thee now.
Rebuke Thou what is vain; counsel my soul; Thy holy will reveal; my will control.
In this blest quietness, clamorings cease; Here in Thy presence dwells infinite peace.
Yonder, the strife and cry, yonder the sin; Lord, I have shut the door, Thou art within.
Lord, I have shut the door, strengthen my heart;
Yonder awaits the task – I share a part. Only through grace bestowed may I be true;
Here, while alone with Thee, my strength renew.
Now, I want you to hear what the Lord says; a new verse I want to memorize. Isaiah 55:
2 and 3. We have just said, “Lord I have shut the door, speak now the word.” And
He says to us, the Lord says,
“Listen to me and eat what is good and your soul will delight in the richest of fair.
Give ear and come to me. Hear me that your soul may live.”
Let’s sing our song. Our new song that we are trying to memorize, “All Must Be Well.”
[music]
Through the love of God our Savior, All will be well
Free and changeless is His favor, All is well
Precious is the blood that healed us; Perfect is the grace that sealed us
Strong the hand stretched forth to shield us;

All must be well
Though we pass through tribulation, All will be well
Ours is such a full salvation, All is well
Happy still in God confiding;
Fruitful if in Christ abiding
Steadfast through the Spirit's guiding
All must be well

We expect a bright tomorrow; All will be well
Faith can sing through days of sorrow, All is well
On our Father's love relying
; Jesus every need supplying
Yes in living and in dying;
All must be well
On our Father's love relying
; Jesus every need supplying
Yes in living and in dying;
All must be well
[music]
Let’s pray.
Father, as we come together again from various parts of the world, various time zones, different
situations, different nationalities, it’s amazing! We thank you for the gift of technology
that we can gather in this way. Father, meet with us. You are omnipresent, no matter what
time zone we’re in, no matter what country. You are here. You have promised to be with
us. So Lord we look to you as we think about walking by faith, would you teach us? Lord,
be our teacher. Quiet our hearts that we may hear your voice. Sharpen our eyes of faith
that we may look through the situations that we are in and see you. So we offer to you
our hearts, plow them up, make them soft and tender, ready for the seeds of truth that
you plant right now. We pray in Jesus name, Amen.
Ok. It’s reciting time. Are you ready? We have worked on two verses. Our benediction
verse and our number one verse. The benediction verse is Ephesians 2, 8 through 10. And remember!
Anytime we recite you are welcome to read it. Ok? You are not a second-class citizen
if you do not memorize in M&M. Just read it and read it and read it and meditate on it.
That is the main thing we are about.
Ephesians 2, 8 - 10. You ready? For by grace you have been saved through faith.
And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,
See, I messed up!
it is the gift of God, not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are
his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand,
that we should walk in them.
See, we just let it all out there exactly the way it is. I mess up, you mess up, we
have a good time anyway. So I could cut this and have them redo it. But I’m not. I’m
just gonna keep it the same. So let’s do it again.
Ephesians 2, 8 - 10. For by grace you have been saved through faith.
And this is not of yourselves – see I did it again – it is not your own doing; it
is the gift of God, so that no one may boast.
I’m gonna start again.
For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the
gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship,
created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk
in them.
Should we do it again? I need it!
Ephesians 2, 8 - 10. For by grace you have been saved through faith.
And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that
no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which
God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
Did I get it right that time? Ok! Next one’s shorter. Hebrews 11:1. Ready?
Hebrews 11:1. Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not
see.
Let’s do it again. Hebrews 11:1. Now faith is being sure of what we hope for
and certain of what we do not see.
One more time! Hebrews 11:1. Now faith is being sure of what we hope for
and certain of what we do not see.
Ok. Now it’s the time of M&M when I share what God has put on my heart as I have mediated
on our verse. This week our meditation was on Hebrews 11:1. Let’s say it one more time,
Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.
What a life we Christians live! What a life we are called to. Have you ever thought about
this? You know the previous M&M verse was “We walk by faith, not by sight” or “we
live by sight not by sight”, depending on what translation, what version you use. We
walk by faith, not by sight. And we just learned that faith is being certain of what we do
not see. Do you realize that we are called—all Christians—we are called to live by believing
not by seeing. What a life. It’s just, it’s unbelievable. Our bodies, God made us, we
see, we see things. We feel things. We hear things. We feel things with our emotions,
but that is not the way we are to live our Christian lives. Things are not as they seem.
I love that. I love that. Things are not as they seem. It’s kind of a du-du-du-do…not
really. But it’s the idea that what I see out there, what I see is not all there is.
There is a higher reality. There is a deeper reality that is more real than this because
this, every thing is temporary. Remember? We fix our eyes not on what is seen but on
what is unseen for what is seen is temporary and what is unseen is eternal. So, what a
life we live!
Two other versions of our new verse: Weymouth New Testament says “Now faith is a well
grounded assurance of that for which we hope and a conviction of the reality of things
which we do not see.” And the New Living Version says “Faith is the confidence that
what we hope for will actually happen. It gives us assurance about things we cannot
see.” So living by faith is radical. When you are born again you become a Christian,
you become—you and I begin a new way of living. (singing) A whole new world…duh,
duh, duh...like that. It’s a whole new world. It’s a whole new way of living. Vance Havner,
a southern Baptist evangelist used to say about this chapter in Hebrews 11 about Christians
who walked by faith: “They saw the invisible, they chose the imperishable and they did the
impossible.”
Now I want to remind us before we get any further—and this is a neat thing! Faith
is temporary. Do you realize that? It is for this life only. We are to walk by faith UNTIL
we can walk by sight. When we leave this world—when we die—and when we go to Heaven, we will
then walk by sight. What a hope! Faith is temporary. It is temporary but it is vital
because it is the way we live now. It is also something that can be strengthened. You have
new eyes, you have new muscles and each time you choose to think to walk, to live by faith,
you are strengthening those muscles. Every time. So they are like muscles. They can be
strengthened with exercise. Now what is faith? Someone has said, I’m
sure you’ve heard, faith is not creating something new. It is resting on something
already there. It is not the Cowardly Lion of the Wizard of Oz, remember he’s holding
his tail, he’s scared to death. He’s rubbing his tail and he’s saying, “I do believe!
I do believe! I do believe!” That is not biblical faith but I think that’s what we
do sometimes.
Now, how do we know that living by faith is so important? Listen to some of these Bible
verses. I already quoted Second Corinthians 5: 7…”We walk by faith, not by sight.”
That gives us the idea that walking—it reminds us that our lives are a journey. We are on
a pilgrimage and while we are on this pilgrimage, this journey through this world, we must walk
by faith, not by sight. Remember this verse?
Hebrews 11:6, “Without faith it is impossible to please God.” So it must be very, very
important.
“It’s by faith from first to last” it says in Romans 1:17.
One of my favorites, a former M&M verse, Hebrews 11:27, “Moses persevered because he saw
him who is invisible.” Is that not cool? He persevered because he saw Him who is invisible!
How does that happen?
We’ve got to learn because it is the way we are to walk. So we want to—we are called
to—see Him who is invisible. Amazing! And then in John 6 when the disciples asked Jesus,
“What must we do to do the works of God?” Do you remember what he said? Jesus said “To
do the works of God you must believe in the one he has sent.” Believing is our work.
And then in Galatians 2:20, “The life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the
son of God who loved me and gave himself up for me.” So, again, that is the life we
live now by faith. And another…some quotes. You know I love quotes. So here are some quotes.
“Faith is knowing that God is who he says he is, has what he says he has and will do
what he says he’ll do. And then putting ourselves in a position where our lives depend
on it.”
I’d rather talk theoretically, theologically about what it means to live by faith. Wouldn’t
you? You remember the story about the guy taking the wheelbarrow across Niagara and
he’s saying, “Do you think I can do it?” “Yes, you can do it!” and he goes across
and he comes back carrying this wheelbarrow and everyone says, “Yes, yes, you can do
it!” And then he says, “Do you think I can do it carrying a person in the wheelbarrow?”
“Yes, yes! We believe you can!” And then he says, “Ok. Who will volunteer?” Who
will get in that wheelbarrow? If you believe, you must get in. You must step out. That quote
was by Graham Steele.
Here’s another one. “Believe he can do what he says he can do.” Now this part I
often forget. “Believe YOU can do what he says you can do. Believe he is who he says
he is. Believe YOU are who he says you are. We can speak to the world to our fearful hearts
and say ‘NO, I don’t believe you anymore.’”
Andre Seu said, she’s one of my favorite people, “Fight the good fight of faith.
What this is a muscular kind of telling yourself the truth. From the scriptures - instead of
listening to all the screaming banshees in your brain.”
And Sarah Young said, “This is not some sort of escape from reality. It is tuning
in to ultimate reality. Faith is the confirmation of things we do not see and the conviction
of their reality. Perceiving as real fact what is not revealed to the senses.”
Now I want to tell you what God taught me a long time ago but what I constantly forget
and have to recall and be reminded of. But a long time ago, as a brand new Christian
I listened to a cassette tape by Nay Bailey called “Faith is not a feeling.” And in
there, she referred to, let’s see, I believe it is Matthew…where was that…it is the
part where in Matthew 8:8, the centurion.
The centurion comes to Jesus and says “Lord, my servant lies at home paralyzed and in terrible
suffering. Jesus said to him, ‘I will go and heal him.’ The centurion replied, ‘Lord,
I do not deserve to have you come under my roof.’ But just say the word and my servant
will be healed. For I am a man under authority with soldiers under me. It tell this one go
and he goes and that one come and he comes. I say to my servant, ‘do this’ and he
does it.”
Now the first time I read that I thought, “Oh, pretty neat.” You know what scripture
says about it? When Jesus heard this, He was astonished. And said to those following him,
I tell you the truth; I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith. Just say
the word. He didn’t ask Jesus to go home with him. He trusted that if he said it, it
would be done because he was a man who had authority.
So that little cassette tape, that message that I heard 40 years ago, 38 years ago…what
I remember from it is faith is not a feeling. Faith is taking God at his word. And then
this statement: God’s word is truer than anything I see, I hear, I feel, I think. God’s
word is truer, more true, than anything I see, than anything I hear, than anything I
feel or I think. That - it was a wonderful grounding. It gave me a handle on what faith
is. Taking God at his word.
And one more quote. And this is from a friend and it comes from the big book of Alcoholics
Anonymous. “It is not the passionate appeal that gains the divine attention as much as
the quiet placing of the difficulty and worry in the divine hands. So I will trust God like
a child who places its tangled skein of wool in the hands of a loving parent to unravel.
We please God more by our unquestioning confidence than by imploring him for help.”
Isn’t that a good picture? It is not so much our passionate pleas, but yes, we plea,
we pray, we pray unceasingly but I love that picture. A child has something beyond her,
she cannot do…she takes that tangled up skein of wool and says, “Here Daddy.”
She puts it in his hands. And she might even run away and go play and, “I’ll get it
later.” It is the—what did this say? The quiet placing of the difficult and worry into
God’s hands. Many times in our lives, Dave and I, have prayed, “Lord, we are your children
and we don’t know what to do. We don’t know. Things sure do look impossible. Things
sure do look difficult. But we are your children and you are well able, you are the omnipotent
God, nothing is too difficult for you. So we place this in your hands as your children.”
So I encourage a childlike faith.
So faith is vital, as you see, from all these Bible verses, from these quotes from other
people…we are to live by faith. But, here’s my last word on this, faith is temporary.
Faith is vital. BUT, we are not to look at faith, we are not to look to our faith, we
are not to look at our faith, we are not, what I do all the time, is take our spiritual
temperature. Are you a spiritual navel gazer? “Oh, how am I doing today? How am I doing?
Do I have strong faith? Do I have weak faith? What’s my faith like today?”
Faith is a strange thing, vital, but we are not to look at IT. Now, I love this and I
believe you’ve been given this card. Spurgeon says; “It is not your hold on Christ that
saves you. It is Christ. It is not your joy in Christ that saves you. It is Christ. It
is not even faith in Christ, though that be the instrument. It is Christ’s blood and
merit. Therefore, do not look so much to your hand with which you are grasping Christ as
to Christ. Do not look to your hope but to Jesus, the founder and perfector of your faith.
We shall never find happiness by looking at our prayers, our doings, or our feelings.
It is what Jesus is, not what we are, that gives rest to the soul. When you waken in
the morning, look to him. When you lie down at night, look to him. Oh, do not let your
hopes or fears come between you and Jesus. Do not let your hopes or fears come between
you and Jesus. Follow hard after him and He will never fail you.”
Isn’t that great? Isn’t that great? I do that! I start looking to my faith. Those
of you who know me, you know my favorite illustration about faith. There’s two men. They’re
both going to ride an elevator. The one man has been in therapy for months because of
a phobia of elevators. Scared to death. The counselor has taken him through all kinds
of therapies, so forth, to get him to the point where he can hopefully ride that elevator.
So, the other man has no problem with it. He walks up, he pushes the button, he waits,
the elevator opens, he gets in, he pushes the 11th floor button and he goes up. Doesn’t
think twice about it. Has a lot of confidence in the elevator. He’s not even thinking
about it. He just does it. The other man, with great persuasion and pleading he walks
up to the elevator. His heart is racing, his hands are trembling. He can hardly be still.
He is looking at that elevator. He pushes that button and the elevator doors open. He
thinks, “I can’t do this. I can’t do this.” He is sort of pushed, persuaded in,
he gets in, and he’s there before the panel of buttons. His hands are trembling so much
he has to hold it and he slowly gets his finger over to the 11th floor button and somehow
he pushes it. And the doors close and he goes up. He’s trembling the whole way but he
arrives on the 11th floor.
Whether your faith is great, confident, much faith, or whether your faith is weak—if
you have faith at all…if you are looking to Christ, that is the key. Your faith may
be weak and shaky like the man—the elevator is what was the important thing—was the
elevator trustworthy? So, don’t get so worked up about measuring your faith. I feel like
we’re always saying, “Lord, my faith is too weak, it needs to grow, needs to grow…”
and the Lord is reaching out and putting his hand under my chin and saying, “Barbara,
Barbara! Look at me. Gaze at me. Don’t look at your faith! Gaze at me.” And then faith
comes as we gaze at Him.
So I’d like to end with…this is a book I’m reading now, “1000 Gifts” by Anne
Voscamp. I love um, I’m in the chapter: What do you want? The place of seeing God.
And she refers to Luke 18 around verse 41, 35-43. Remember, a blind man is sitting. He’s
in Jericho. A blind man is sitting by the roadside begging and he hears the crowd going
by and he asks what’s happening and they say Jesus of Nazareth is coming by. So he
calls out, “Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me!” And those who were there rebuked
him told him to be quiet but he wouldn’t, he just said it again louder then Jesus stopped.
And he says to the man, “What do you want me to do for you?” “What do you want me
to do for you?”
And let me read some of what Anne Voscamp says. “What do you want? What do you want?
Pain is everywhere. And wherever the pain can be, there, wherever the pain there can
be everywhere grace. And yes, Jesus, I’m struggling and I get turned around. But I
think I know, at least in part, what I want. I may not know all that it means but this
is what I want. This kingdom—laden with glory. This, the pearl of great price. The
field I’d sell everything to possess. This is the pearl that crams me with the happiness
that throbs. Serrated edge pit open wide for more of his glory. The only place we have
to come before we die is the place of seeing God. This is what I’m famished for. More
of the God Glory. I whisper, with the blind beggar, ‘Lord I want to see.’”
Faith is being certain of what we do not see. Let’s ask him for sight. It is His gift
to give.
Let’s pray. Lord we thank you for this wonderful topic of ‘by faith’. And Lord we come
to you acknowledging of course what you already know. But you want us to put it into words.
We don’t see very well. Lord, I am consumed by what my eyes—my physical eyes – see
and what I feel and what my heart tells me. But Lord my sisters and I, we long to see
You. Here, in this life, not just in Heaven. Although we long for that. We ask you to open
our eyes and show us things of wonder in your word and in this life that you have given
us. Lord sharpen our eyes. May we be like the centurion that says, “just say the word
and it will be done.” Help us. Give us faith. Give us trust. I think of that time when you
said to the father, Jairus, and things looked hopeless…that his daughter had died. And
in that crowd of people, when others were saying, “Don’t bother the master. Your
daughter is dead.” Lord, you looked at him. You looked at him…straight in the eye, I
think. And you said, “Don’t be afraid. Just believe.” So Lord, help us to know
your word so well that we know your thoughts, we know your word. It is in our hearts and
in our minds. And Lord, then, may we simply, like children, believe you and act upon that.
We thank you. We praise you. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Have a wonderful week M&M’ing our number 2 verse. Thank you for watching with us. Bye-bye!