For our discussion this morning we are going to talk about what God wants for us.
This is a cool thing to talk about because God has made Himself clear about this subject and we don’t even have to work hard to discover it.
Discovering it is not the hard part, finding the strength and the ability to go after it is what’s hard.
There’s a word that sums up how to find the strength and the ability to go after it.
The word is Carpe Diam
CARPE DIAM Picture
We have to seize the opportunity.
God has made the opportunity available and we just have to seize it in the context of our circumstances and opportunities.
I’ve got a film clip for you that sets the stage for what I am going to talk about this morning.
After we watch the clip we will read our text and pray for God to move amongst us this morning and on into this year as we Carpe Diam Together as a church.
SHOW CLIP – The Final Season – Remembered
How Do You Want To Be Remembered?
Let’s read our text Hebrews 11:1-2
I. God Tells Us How He Wants Us To Be Remembered.
He starts by having the author of Hebrews give a definition:
a. Hebrews 11:1 Defines what faith is.
Vs. 1 Faith Is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.
Faith is that simple and as we grow in our trust relationship with God by seizing the day when God makes opportunities available to us, the result is a certainty about faith begins to replace fear and uncertainty and hesitancy.
Practically speaking I believe that we get overstressed about having faith because of how easy it is to rely on ourselves instead of doing what the Scriptures tell us to do.
Which is what Zechariah 4:6 is about.
Zechariah 4: 6 So he said to me, "This is the word of the LORD to Zerubbabel: ’Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,’ says the LORD Almighty.
Faith is not about us it’s about God.
It’s about us trusting God to do what He has promised.
b. Being People Of Faith Is How He Wants Us To Be Remembered!
After He’s defines Faith the writer of Hebrews says this in vs. 2
Hebrews 11: 2This is what the ancients were commended for.
Of all the things that they could have been remembered for in God’s economy this is what Hebrews says they were commended for.
They were commended for being people of faith.
And today that’s what they are remembered for, their acts of faith.
Vs. 4By faith Abel offered God a better sacrifice than Cain did.
Vs. 5By faith Enoch was taken from this life, so that he did not experience death; he could not be found, because God had taken him away. For before he was taken, he was commended as one who pleased God.
Vs. 7By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in holy fear built an ark to save his family.
Vs. 8By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going.
And on it goes until it brings us to my final point:
II. There Were A Lot Of These Great Faith People
Vs. 32And what more shall I say? I do not have time to tell about Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel and the prophets,
He’s saying there were a lot of them and it’s not beyond you.
This is not a rarity.
We just have to step up and carpe diam, seize the day to believe that He will do His part when you step out and believe Him.
So all we have left is to decide How Do We Want To Be Remembered, corporately as a church, and individually as His People?
Let’s Pray!!!
