TRENDSETTERS OF FAITH
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OUTLINE
1. ABEL
2. ENOCH
3. NOAH
4. ABRAHAM AND SARAH
5. ISAAC AND JACOB
6. JOSEPH
7. MOSES
THE MESSAGE
TRENDSETTERS OF FAITH
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1. ABEL
Abel has set the trend for us to follow in giving to God by faith. Abel beleived in the greatness of God and honoured the Lord by giving Him the best that he had. Abel beleived that God deserved the best. The Lord was pleased with his attitude and accepted his offering. We must honour the Lord by giving our best and the Lord has promised to bless us abundantly. God loves the cheerful giver.When we give to God generously with a heart of gratitiude and worship and love , we will receive an overflowing blessing in our lives.
SCRIPTURE REFERENCES
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HEBREWS 11:4
By faith Abel offered God a better sacrifice than Cain did. By faith he was commended as a righteous man, when God spoke well of his offerings. And by faith he still speaks, even though he is dead.
GENESIS 4:3-5
In the course of time Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to the LORD.
But Abel brought fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock. The LORD looked with favor on Abel and his offering,
but on Cain and his offering he did not look with favor. So Cain was very angry, and his face was downcast.
PROVERBS 3:9-10
Honor the LORD with your wealth, with the firstfruits of all your crops;
then your barns will be filled to overflowing, and your vats will brim over with new wine.
2 CORINTHIANS 8:6-7
Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously.
Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.
LUKE 6:38
Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you."
2. ENOCH
Enoch has set the trend for us to follow in walking with God and by faith living a life that is pleasing to God . Enoch was taken by God without seeing death . Before he was taken away he had the testimony that he pleased God. We must please God in order to be taken up when Jesus returns .We please God by our faith . We must come to God with the complete assurance that He will reward us when we seek Him diligently.
SCRIPTURE REFERENCES
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HEBREWS 11:5-6
By 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.
And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.
GENESIS 5:24
Enoch walked with God; then he was no more, because God took him away.
1 THESSALONIANS 4:16-17
For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.
After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever.
LUKE 17:34-36
I tell you, in that night there shall be two men in one bed; the one shall be taken, and the other shall be left.
Two women shall be grinding together; the one shall be taken, and the other left.
Two men shall be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left.
3. NOAH
Noah has set the trend for us to follow in obeying God by faith. He built an ark by faith even when there was no sign of rain. He took the warning of God seriously and prepared an ark to save his family. In these last days we must take the warning of God seriously and be prepared for the coming of the Lord . We must not let the cares and burdens and the pleasures of life fill our hearts so that we would be unprepared to meet the Lord.
SCRIPTURE REFERENCES
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HEBREWS 11:7
By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in holy fear built an ark to save his family. By his faith he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness that comes by faith.
MATTHEW 24:37-39
As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.
For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark;
and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.
LUKE 21:34-35
"Be careful, or your hearts will be weighed down with dissipation, drunkenness and the anxieties of life, and that day will close on you unexpectedly like a trap.
For it will come upon all those who live on the face of the whole earth.
4. ABRAHAM AND SARAH
Abraham and Sarah have set the trend for us to follow in beleiving the promises of God. At the age of 75 , the Lord asked Abraham to leave his land and his people and go where He would show him and the Lord promised to bless him there. Abraham beleived the promise of God and by faith left everything and followed the leading of the Lord. The Lord was faithful to fulfill His promise and blessed Abraham abundantly. Abraham once again showed his faith by beleiving God for the birth of his son Isaac even when both he and his wife Sarah were beyond child bearing years. When God asked Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac , he was willing to do so because he beleived that God could raise Isaac from the dead. Jesus promised that those who sacrifice everything for his sake would receive a hundredfold blessing. When we beleive the promises of God wholeheartedly , we would be willing to sacrifice whatever the Lord requires of us.
SCRIPTURE REFERENCES
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HEBREWS 11:8-19
By 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.
By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise.
For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God.
By faith Abraham, even though he was past age—and Sarah herself was barren—was enabled to become a father because he considered him faithful who had made the promise.
And so from this one man, and he as good as dead, came descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as the sand on the seashore.
All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance. And they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth.
People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own.
If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return.
Instead, they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.
By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice. He who had received the promises was about to sacrifice his one and only son,
even though God had said to him, "It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned."
Abraham reasoned that God could raise the dead, and figuratively speaking, he did receive Isaac back from death.
GENESIS 12:1-4
The LORD had said to Abram, "Leave your country, your people and your father’s household and go to the land I will show you.
"I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing.
I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you."
So Abram left, as the LORD had told him; and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he set out from Haran.
GENESIS 13: 2, 6
Abram had become very wealthy in livestock and in silver and gold.
But the land could not support them while they stayed together, for their possessions were so great that they were not able to stay together.
ISAIAH 51:1-2
"Listen to me, you who pursue righteousness and who seek the LORD : Look to the rock from which you were cut and to the quarry from which you were hewn;
look to Abraham, your father, and to Sarah, who gave you birth. When I called him he was but one, and I blessed him and made him many.
ROMANS 4:18-21
Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him, "So shall your offspring be."
Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead—since he was about a hundred years old—and that Sarah’s womb was also dead.
Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God,
being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised.
MATTHEW 19:27-29
Peter answered him, "We have left everything to follow you! What then will there be for us?"
Jesus said to them, "I tell you the truth, at the renewal of all things, when the Son of Man sits on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.
And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or fields for my sake will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life.
5. ISAAC AND JACOB
Isaac and Jacob have set the trend for us to follow in blessing our descendants by faith. Isaac blessed his sons by faith and pronounced the blessing and the favour of God over their lives. Even though he was old and weak and blind , his faith was strong and he fully beleived that the blessings he pronounced over his children would be fulfilled. Jacob had the same faith on his deathbed and pronounced the blessing of God over his grandchildren. We must exercise our faith to bless our descendants with the spiritual authority that the Lord has given to us. We must not speak negative words and curse our children and grandchildren as it would affect their future.
SCRIPTURE REFERENCES
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HEBREWS 11:20-21
By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau in regard to their future.
By faith Jacob, when he was dying, blessed each of Joseph’s sons, and worshiped as he leaned on the top of his staff.
GENESIS 27:26-29
Then his father Isaac said to him, "Come here, my son, and kiss me."
So he went to him and kissed him. When Isaac caught the smell of his clothes, he blessed him and said, "Ah, the smell of my son is like the smell of a field that the LORD has blessed.
May God give you of heaven’s dew and of earth’s richness— an abundance of grain and new wine.
May nations serve you and peoples bow down to you. Be lord over your brothers, and may the sons of your mother bow down to you. May those who curse you be cursed and those who bless you be blessed."
GENESIS 48:15-16
Then he blessed Joseph and said, "May the God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked, the God who has been my shepherd all my life to this day,
the Angel who has delivered me from all harm —may he bless these boys. May they be called by my name and the names of my fathers Abraham and Isaac, and may they increase greatly upon the earth."
6. JOSEPH
Joseph has set the trend for us to follow in having confidence for the future by faith. Even on his deathbed , Joseph had the faith to beleive that God would bring his people out of Egypt and lead them into the promised land. He was so sure of it that he asked them to carry his bones with them to the promised land. He inspired the faith of his brothers and gave them hope for the future even on his deathbed. We must use our faith to have a strong hope for the future and inspire others to beleive God for a great deliverance and victory .
SCRIPTURE REFERENCES
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HEBREWS 11:22
By faith Joseph, when his end was near, spoke about the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt and gave instructions about his bones.
GENESIS 50:24-25
Then Joseph said to his brothers, "I am about to die. But God will surely come to your aid and take you up out of this land to the land he promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob."
And Joseph made the sons of Israel swear an oath and said, "God will surely come to your aid, and then you must carry my bones up from this place."
7. MOSES
Moses has set the trend for us to follow in esteeming the eternal rewards of God greater than the suffering we may endure for His sake. Moses was willing to sacrifice the treasures of Egypt in order to suffer with the people of God because he beleived that the reward that God gives has greater value. When we beleive in the eternal rewards of God , we would be willing to sacrifice and suffer for His sake. By faith Moses led the people of Israel out of Egypt even though he had no army with him to defend against any attack by the Egyptian army. By faith they passed through the Red Sea and the Red Sea responded to their faith and remained parted till they passed through. But when the Egyptian army who had no faith in the God of Israel tried to pass through , the Red sea closed in on them and they were drowned. Our faith in God can create a pathway for us and keep it open till we pass through.
SCRIPTURE REFERENCES
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HEBREWS 11:23-29
By faith Moses’ parents hid him for three months after he was born, because they saw he was no ordinary child, and they were not afraid of the king’s edict.
By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh’s daughter.
He chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a short time.
He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt, because he was looking ahead to his reward.
By faith he left Egypt, not fearing the king’s anger; he persevered because he saw him who is invisible.
By faith he kept the Passover and the sprinkling of blood, so that the destroyer of the firstborn would not touch the firstborn of Israel.
By faith the people passed through the Red Sea as on dry land; but when the Egyptians tried to do so, they were drowned.
JAMES 1:12
"Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him."
REVELATION 2:10
" Do not be afraid of what you are about to suffer. I tell you, the devil will put some of you in prison to test you, and you will suffer persecution for ten days. Be faithful, even to the point of death, and I will give you the crown of life. "
MATTHEW 5:10-12
"Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness,for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
"Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me.
Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you. "
ROMANS 8:17-18
" Now if we are children, then we are heirs ”heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.
I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us."
II TIMOTHY 2:12
" if we endure, we will also reign with him. If we disown him, he will also disown us; "
1 PETER 4: 12-14, 19
Dear friends, do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering, as though something strange were happening to you.
But rejoice that you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed.
If you are insulted because of the name of Christ, you are blessed, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you.
So then, those who suffer according to God’s will should commit themselves to their faithful Creator and continue to do good.
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