Faith comes in CANS.
Most of my childhood I was raised by a single mother. Her favorite saying was, “CAN’T never did anything but sit on a fence post & cry!” Whenever I said, I can’t do this. I can’t face this. She would respond with this saying. She wanted me to live in the land of FAITH, the land of CAN.
Faith changes our language, our self-talk, what we say to ourselves and to others.
Faith is not fantasy. It doesn’t say I can do whatever I can imagine”.
I can imagine jumping off a cliff and flying but I can’t do it.
Bur Faith says, Whatever God wants me to do, I CAN do.
It says with Paul in Philippians 4:13 I CAN do all things through Christ who strengthens me!”
In these 10 verses we will study today we find out that:
Faith EMPOWERS us to see the invisible, love the unloveable, endure the unbearable, and do the impossible.
Faith is the bridge between my reality and God’s ability! Do you hear me?
1. 11:20 By faith I can IMPART blessing to others.
20 By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau in regard to their future.
Isaac was the son of Abraham whom we studied last week. He had two sons. Jacob and Esau. And Isaac wanted a blessing on their lives.
Although it is an involved story Genesis 27 speaks of the blessing Isaac imparted to his sons.
Isaac said I CAN impart a blessing by God’s power t to my children. And that’s what happened.
Do you realize you can IMPART blessing to others? If you are a follower of Jesus the HS is living in you. Consequently you can release or withhold the spirit of BLESSING to them.
This is especially true to your children bc God has given you a position of authority in their lives.
*Lindsey, my daughter I would daily pray over her and say, “I bless you in Jesus name”. She stood for Christ, she won awards, she became Homecoming Queen.
We need to practice saying with FAITH these words, “I bless you in the name of Jesus”.
2. 11:21 By faith I can leave a LEGACY.
21 By faith Jacob, when he was dying, blessed each of Joseph’s sons, and worshiped as he leaned on the top of his staff.
Jacob blessed his grandsons Ephraim and Manasseh and then worshipped God, even though he couldn’t stand without leaning on his staff. As he was dying Jacob wanted to imprint upon those near him that his priorities were his God and his family, prayer and worship.
Listen to part of his blessing from Genesis 48:15 “May 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.
Jacob left a legacy that was being spoken of 1000 years later.
What kind of LEGACY will you leave? Your legacy will be one of treating God as real and important or not. Your legacy is not formed in your dying breath, but as you live your life.
Faith can help you die well like Jacob, but more importantly it can help you live powerfully.
*My Grandpa Fred…the last time I saw him as he was dying, said, Larry trust the Lord all your days. His life had been a picture of that and his legacy lives on in me everyday.
3. 11:22 By faith I can impart VISION & HOPE to others.
22 By faith Joseph, when his end was near, spoke about the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt and gave instructions about his bones.
If you remember Joseph in the Bible, he was the one who sold into slavery by his brothers, carried off from Canaan, the Promised Land and taken to Egypt and after doing prison time, God elevates him to second in command to Pharaoh. During a famine his family has to flee to Egypt and there the family grows but there arises a Pharaoh that enslaves the Israelites.
As Joseph is dying, by faith he prophesies and says, “You are going to be set free and return to the Promised Land. I am so certain of this that I don’t want you to bury me here in Egypt. Take my bones with you.”
By FAITH Joseph saw the promises God had made to Abraham coming true.
By FAITH Joseph spoke to the Israelites, TAKE HOPE, freedom is coming, things are going to change, God sees you, God is at work, God loves you. God is able.
And I will stake my very bones on his promises!
Is that the kind of language people hear from you? The language of FAITH? Vision? Hope?
4. 11:23 By faith I can take COURAGEOUS action.
23 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.
To understand this you must know that the Pharaoh of that time had issued a decree that all male babies be thrown into the NILE River. If a parent didn’t comply, they and their baby were put to death. But Moses’ parents looked at their newborn son and said, this kid is amazing, he is filled with potential, he is a beautiful boy…we are going to Have FAITH that our God CAN protect him and us and we are going to defy Pharaoh.
Their FAITH gave them COURAGE to take ACTION at great risk.
And you know the rest of the story. Moses was found by Pharaoh’s daughter as he floated in basket on the Nile River and she adopted him.
Where do you get your courage to confront life? What makes you brave enough to raise children, start a new job, witness on the job, stand up for Jesus at a family reunion, face unemployment, try a new ministry, give God the first 10% of your income when times are tough?
Your courage is directly linked to your faith. You are either going to look to yourself or to God.
Either God is your source and you stand up, move forward, and defy the devil. OR
You are limited to your own strength and resources.
5. 11:24 By faith I can choose my SELF-IMAGE.
24 By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh’s daughter.
So Moses grew up as the Prince of Egypt, he grew up surrounded by the Egyptian gods, learned their language, ate their food, watched their TV shows. He was immersed in the Egyptian culture. But when he was a grown man, he had to choose how he viewed himself. Pharaoh’s daughter accidently hired Moses’ mom to help raise Moses.
(Mom’s how many of you would like to be paid to raise your own kid? God works things out!”) She had helped Moses understand the true God. So now Moses had a choice about how he was going to view himself. He had to select his self-image. Egyptian or Israelite?
*This would be like being adopted by Bill Gates but then choosing to instead to be known as the son of the immigrant who does Bill’s gardening.
BY FAITH Moses makes the choice. His self-image is shaped by his FAITH.
He said, MY FAITH in YAHWEH GOD is who I am and how I want to be KNOWN.
So often I have been told by people, “Well I am seeking to discover who I am!”
And I tell them, forget that. Decide who you are. Decide who you are going to be.
Yes. God wants to use your roots, your story, your journey, your dna, your strengths.
But you have to decide how you view you and how you want others to view you.
What do you want your reputation to be? Will your FAITH be the main thing people say about u?
6. 11:25 By faith I can see through the PLEASURES of sin.
25 He chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a short time.
Moses didn’t just choose his self-image, he took action to identify himself w\ the people of God. He says, I am one of them. These God-loving folks are my homeboys.
Now that choice was like choosing to chew a vitamin instead of eat a bowl of ice cream.
Identify with the Egyptians and he would have all the wine, women, and wealth he wanted.
Identify with the Israelites and he would have all the rejection, poverty, and hardship.
So why did he do it? His FAITH gave him XRAY vision…an XRAY sees beneath the surface.
It shows you wants going on inside.
A person can look fine on the outside but on the inside be filled with cancer.
His FAITH gave him eyes to see through the temporary pleasures of sin.
He saw through the bait to the hook. He saw through pleasure to the pain of sin.
Don’t let anyone tell you that some “sins” are not fun or pleasurable.
The Bible says, “stolen water is sweet”…sex with a stranger can feel good. Pornography can feel good. Gluttony, Gossip, Too much alcohol, Drug use, Materialism, can feel good.
But the clock is ticking. Pleasures of sin are only for a short time. SHORT TIME.
Sin is short term pleasure, long term pain. Faith let’s you see that. More faith, more xray vision.
*Nicole...got drunk, had sex and then asked me...”why didn’t you tell me about the morning after?” Faith helps you see the morning after.
7. 11:26 By faith I can accurately see eternal VALUES.
26 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.
Vs. 25 deals with the pleasures of Egypt. Vs. 26 deals with the treasures of Egypt.
The NLT vs 26 reads. He thought it was better to suffer for the sake of the Messiah than to own the treasures of Egypt
Now most people would look at this verse and say, Moses you are mentally messed up.
But Moses made an evaluation. He did a value analysis on two different investment.
One investment option: Disgrace, shame, rejection, persecution by standing up for God.
The other: Treasures of Egypt, the prestige, power, and profit of being Prince of Egypt.
Servant of God or Prince of Egypt? Hmmmmmm…
But Moses was a savvy stock analyst and he knew that Egyptian Inc. was only a short time away from bankruptcy…while Kingdom of God, Incorporated was soon going to post record gains and be the most enduring and profitable company ever!
**If you had choice of 10k a day for 10 days and you get it now. Or 10m a day for 10 months but you get it in 10 years. Which would you choose? One is 100k the second is 3 billion.Most people go for the 100k. Why? Because it’s NOW. They live by feelings instead of FAITH!
FAITH allowed Moses to “look ahead to HIS reward”…to the long term pay off for himself.
Moses had SELF-INTREST in mind. That’s not bad. God motivates us by promising us real rewards. But only FAITH sees and believes those rewards. Do you see them? Believe them?
Moses investment decisions were deeply rooted in faith.
*Last Sunday…I had a $100 bill in my pocket and God told me to give it to an unemployed person in our church. I really wanted to keep that 100 but God said, hey aren’t you preaching on faith? 3 hours later through a random circumstance someone gave me three 100 bills!!
8. 11:27 By faith I can have spiritual VISION that imparts courage and endurance.
27 By faith he left Egypt, not fearing the king’s anger; he persevered because he saw him who is invisible.
Moses left Egypt two times. When he was 40 & he spent the next 40 yrs herding sheep in the desert. The next time he left Egypt was when he was 80 and he had 2 million Jews behind him.
But that process of leaving involved 9 denials by Pharaoh. 10 times Moses went to Pharaoh at the risk of his own life and said, Let my people go!
Moses kept on asking until he got the answer he wanted. How did he persevere?
How did he have the necessary courage and resilience and endurance needed?
It tells us here…he persevered because he SAW him who is invisible.
Only faith will allow you to see the invisible God. There is plenty of evidence for God, and apologetics can help you logically think your way toward God…but only faith will take you to him.
Only the eyes of faith will reveal God’s face and allow you to walk with Him.
By faith Moses had spiritual vision that allowed Him to see God, to stay focused on God.
It was the same way David slew Goliath. His eyes weren’t looking at the Giant, nor at himself.
His eyes were focused by faith on the invisible God..and the giant fell down.
Pharaoh was a giant on the warpath. But Moses kept looking to God!!
Moses said, There’s Nothing My God can’t Do!!
I asked Kim to sing a song God gave her. My hope is that you leave service today singing this chorus. Those of who know Kim know that she has faced some giants recently.
Her husband Len died from a rare lung disease 9 months ago. She became CEO of his complicated company that was filled with challenges. She faced her own health battles.
But Kim decided she was going to live BY FAITH. She walks around ProMark singing this song, “There is nothing our God can’t do!”
9. 11:28 By faith I can claim the power of the blood and DEFEAT the destroyer.
28 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.
Now the writer of Hebrews speaks of the plague that finally brought the giant to his knees.
The 10th plague on Egypt was the death of the firstborn in every family in every home in Egypt.
But ANYONE in Egypt could escape the plague if they listened to the instructions God gave to Moses and BY FAITH applied the vaccination to their home.
The vaccination was simple. Kill a lamb, and paint its blood over the front door of your house.
Then during the night the destroying angel went throughout Egypt looking for the sign of FAITH.
Wherever the destroyer found the evidence of FAITH, the blood on the doorpost, he PASSED OVER that house. And the firstborn were untouched.
Wherever there was no faith, that household suffered judgment.
Faith in the blood of the lamb defeated the destroyer.
The same is true for YOU!
1 Peter 5:8 “…Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in faith…”
How do you get the lion to pass over, pass on by your door? Faith in the blood of Jesus!
*I often claim the power of the blood of Jesus over my household, my family.
Rev 12:11 “And they overcame him (Satan) by the blood of the lamb…”
10. 11.29 By faith I can pass through WHATEVER life brings me to.
29 By faith the people passed through the Red Sea as on dry land; but when the Egyptians tried to do so, they were drowned.
The final Moses story is about his encounter with Red Sea. You know the story well.
Moses is leading the people across the wilderness to the promised land.
Pharaoh changes his mind & leads his army on a mission to recapture their Israeli slaves.
So there Moses is trapped between the devil and the deep blue sea…only this is the red sea.
It looks like the escape party is over…like there is no hope.
But Moses said to himself, God didn’t bring us this far to leave us now.
There has to be a way out of this.
God says yes Moses there is…but the way out of it is to go through it.
Moses believes God can make a way through it when there seems to be no way. "If God brings you TO it, he will take your THROUGH it".
God will make a way when there seems to be no way!
So the question to you today is…Are you living in cans or can’ts?
Are you living by faith or by sight?
