A Faith That Worships

A Faith That Worships

Griffith Baptist Church – 10/19/08

A.M. Service

Text: Hebrews 11:4

Key verse: Hebrews 11:4 – By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts: and by it he being dead yet speaketh.

Premise: Through Abel is demonstrated that our faith ought to be exemplified in our constant worship in our time, our life, and our reputation.

The Introduction

“King David used to be a hero of mine but not anymore,” little Brodie told his mother after church one Sunday. “Why not, Son?” she asked. He said, “I learned today that he killed the Jolly Green Giant.”

All of us have heroes, people we look up to.

It might be a father or mother, or maybe another relative.

Maybe it was a famous person in history or others who have done or do great things.

Hopefully, your greatest hero is Jesus.

Here in Hebrews 11 we have listed the heroes of faith

• People like Noah, Abraham, Moses, David, Isaac, Jacob, Joshua and Gideon.

• We even have colorful individuals like Rahab and Samson

All of them have something to teach us about faith and the first one to consider is Abel

Read Hebrews 11:4

To get a better a better understanding of this verse, let’s take a trip back to Gen. 4:3-5:

Genesis 4:3-5 - 3And in the process of time it came to pass, that Cain brought of the fruit (notice, not the first fruit) of the ground an offering unto the LORD. 4And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof. And the LORD had respect unto Abel and to his offering: 5But unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect. And Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell.

Our faith is worship

1. Worship brings glory or ascribes worth to God

2. Trusting God implicitly brings glory or worship to God

3. Thus, having a godly faith is worship, which is what He desires

4. In fact, you can’t please God without faith (Heb. 11:6)

Transition Statement: Exhibiting faith in worship means giving God your first and best in the giving of your time

Body

1. In Time

A. How would you like to spend 2 years making phone calls to people who aren’t home? Sound absurd? According to one time management study, that’s how much time the average person spends trying to return calls to people who never seem to be in. Not only that, we spend 6 months waiting for the traffic light to turn green, and another 8 months reading junk mail.

B. Every second counts

i. Ephesians 5:16 – Redeeming (make wise use of) the time, because the days are evil.

ii. A lot of time is wasted in our lives

C. What do we need to take time to do?

i. In Ecclesiastes 3 we know there is a time for everything and at the end of Ecclesiastes we are told – Ecclesiastes 12:13 - Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.

ii. Time to worship God – John 4:23 - But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him.

iii. Time to get to know God – Philippians 3:10 - That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death;

iv. Time to serve God – Hebrews 12:28-29 - Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear: 29For our God is a consuming fire.

Transition Statement: Exhibiting faith in worship means giving God your first and best in the surrender of your life

2. In Life

Someone has calculated how a typical lifespan of 70 years is spent. Here is the estimate:

Sleep 23 years .32.9%

Work 16 years 22.8%

TV 8 years 11.4%

Eating 6 years 8.6%

Travel 6 years 8.6%

Leisure 4.5 years 6.5%

Illness 4 years 5.7%

Dressing 2 years 2.8%

Religion 0.5 years 0.7%

TOTAL 70 years 100%

Our Daily Bread, November 25, 1992

A. God honored Abel’s sacrifice because Abel imitated God in his sacrifice.

i. God killed an animal to clothe Adam and Eve and committed the first sacrifice to cover the shame of their nakedness.

ii. That is what every sacrifice is designed to do.

iii. The blood covers the sin and the blood cannot come without the death of the sacrifice.

iv. That is why Jesus had to die and shed His blood, so our sins could be covered once and for all.